Ch51: Too Hot, Too Cold, Just Rhyme!

"Okay... can you possibly get this guy off me?" I asked Sly when Caveman 'Bob' Cooper tackled me when we freed him from captivity. To be honest, I didn't expect to sense Clockwerk's presence in the timeline of the Ice Age, but he was actually here... just not in immortal form yet. How did I know this? I saw his large form slowly fly over our hut when everyone else was asleep. I'm just lucky he didn't see me or Sly and that he flew off in the distance right after flying overhead of us.

And that was the only reason Caveman Bob attacked me. Because I had the exact wings of the ancient bird. (I didn't know he was THIS ancient!) (You'd be surprised, Sylvia...) (Huh? Did I just hear a female voice that wasn't you Neyla?) There was no response from either of them. I then had to wonder who it was. It didn't sound like Neyla's voice and it didn't sound like any of my family's... so who's was it?

Either way, Sly managed to pull Bob off of me (had to tell him what to name him of course... no one could understand his blabbered name. "I think we should just head back to the Safehouse, guys," I said, brushing myself off and sighing heavily. "I'm not Clockwerk, big boy. And believe you me, I didn't want these parts on me to begin with," I said with a sigh, knocking out some nearby saber tooth guards by taking flight.


"Okay... so here's what we know from both Sylvia and from Bob," Bentley said as Bob began to play around with some of the trinkets we'd found along our journey... namely the ball and chain from Sly's prison garb. "This guy, The Grizz, is responsible for stealing all the pterodactyl eggs around the area and using them as ingredients in his paintings. He then makes fake cave paintings, hides them in the dirt, then plans to dig them back up in modern times and sell them for loot. We need to shut down his operations from the inside."

"So here's the plan. First, with Sylvia's superior hacking abilities (which have far exceeded mine by now) we shall gain access to Grizz's paint factory and make our way inside via his conveyor belt. Once inside, I'll make my way to the egg beaters and destroy them all with some well placed darts. Meanwhile, Bob will climb on the wall with support from Sylvia and remove the steam pressure valves that are needed to keep the paint warm. Once all that is done, Sly, Murray, El Jefe, and Carmelita will take to the control center and guard it from any kind of person who tries to reset the system. We'll deal with the Grizz at some point during all of this, so when Bob has finished his task with the valves, we'll have Sylvia go and fight him off. Any questions?"

"Um... Remind me why I have to work with Clockwerk?" grumbled Bob with his babble talk again. "Oi vay! How many times do I have to say that I'm not an owl? I'm a cat! C. A. T. Cat!" I groaned, hating the fact that Bob was being this way. "Yes... um... anyways! Let's get down to business!" Bentley said as we started to move out... which was quickly cut short by some large shadow being projected in front of our hideout. And it wasn't an owl shadow. It was more... fat... and wore a crown.

"What's the gangster in drag doing here?" I growled, blocking any kind of attacks to the others by spreading my wings in front of the door. "Heard from a mouse that some punks would soon show, so I decided that I'd bury them in snow!" Grizz rapped horribly while holding a button. I quickly reacted before he could do anything and zapped the remote he had with a quick laser. The Grizz then exclaimed a loud yipe as he placed his hand in the nearby snow pile from just outside our hideout. "Aw? Too hot for you Goldilocks? Or is it too cold?" I asked, making fun of him whilst confusing him at the same time.

"You punks already lost this place! We've got the cave Cooper's stick so we're gonna make it out quick!" "Yeah, right behind bars, you are!" I smirked, letting my wing guns out and making him gulp. "Uh... think fast!" he exclaimed, tossing me his tacky crown and running away while he still had the chance. "You guys take this and stay here," I sneered. "I'm going to destroy his facility myself. Don't try to stop me!" I exclaimed, taking flight just as they were about to tell me something. They said it on the Binocucom at least.

"Are you freaking crazy, Sylvia?! You can't do all of those jobs at the same time! It's suicidal!" El Jefe exclaimed. "You're talking to the Mystery Bandit, Carmelita. I think I can handle a dumbass bear," I grinned back, just reaching the paint facility and entering by flight. "I'll take care of all the jobs, no questions asked guys. First, destroy the egg beaters!"

And with that I jetted forward and located each of the egg vats, destroying the beaters with a flurry of shots fired at each one. "Next up, remove valve covers!" I smirked, flying over to and prying off the plugs on the side of the giant structure in the middle of the factory. "Getting hot in here! Now time to destroy anyone who dares to reset the system!" I giggled, soaring over the lava and steam from below and arriving at the emergency system just as a guard was arriving there. "Yo mammoth!" I exclaimed, swiping him to the side with my wing and destroying the panels with my guns.

"A-Amazing work, Sylvia! None of us could've done all of that by ourselves!" Bentley exclaimed over the Binocucom. "Well, with wings like these, who needs enemies?" I smirked. "You're the queen at this, Sylvia! Now go take down that sorry excuse for a bear!" Sly said into the device. "Got it! One Grizzly Bear Beatdown coming right up!"

With those words I flew up to where Murray would've battled the Grizz and saw him in the exact area I expected him to be. In the middle of the ice skating rink. "Yo bear with the flare! Look over here! It's a cat with owl wings that's gonna teach you fear!" I rapped, sounding much better than Grizz by a land slide, mostly cause I spoke it like it was musical. "What?! How'd you get here so fast?!" exclaimed the bling-wearing bear. "Not only that, but you can say bye bye to your little paint scheme," I smiled, pointing behind me to show that his paint factory was reduced to a smoldering pile of lava, rock, and ash.

"You... You did all that?... Just yourself?... You..." Grizz gaped, falling down on the ground with a splat. "Huh... well that was easy..." I spoke, realizing after a minute that he'd fainted right in front of me. "Okay... this guy's heavy... I'll be needing some cuffs prepared when I get back, Carmelita," I said into the Binocucom. "Yeah... just don't fall in the lava on your way here..." Carmelita sighed as I began to fly with the Grizz's limp body being held by my talons.

"Poor sap... Too bad he's on the Skunk's team..." Neyla sighed, finally talking to me for once. "Neyla! I was wondering where you went to... do you know who that voice was that took over?" "Sadly... yes... it was Rioichi's daughter..." "You don't mean..." "That's right... it's Henriette... she took over the system for a brief moment to confuse you because she wanted to be funny..." "Well, she did a good job at least..." "Wanna talk to her?" "Maybe later... we gotta go to England next... and that's where we'll meet up with a certain mouse..."