And here we finally are! Chapter eight! The moment we've all been waiting for! At least I have, anyways. Ever since I started this fic close to a year ago, I've been so excited for writitng Jailbreak, and now I finally get to!

My plan for ending this chapter was originally much, much different, as I was going to stick closer to canon. But I decided that I liked this messy idea much more.

There's a bit of random headcanon in the long conversation with Bentley, so I hope people will like it/not mind it.

Anyways, on with the chapter! I'm quite happy with this one!


Chapter Eight: This Wasn't in The Plan!

"Didn't you say that chopper was some fancy high-tech attack chopper or something? And a piece of cement from like a hundred or so feet away took it out?"

"It's ridiculous, I know," Bentley replied to the semi-sarcastic query, opening up the first aid kit that he kept constantly stocked with everything under the sun.

"Standards must be pretty low these days, huh?" Nyx asked, probably rhetorically. "Either that, or the chopper was a bootleg or something. What even do they call bootleg equipment like choppers? It feels like there should be a word for that..."

Bentley shook his head and rolled his eyes at the feline as she seemed to ponder what to call counterfeit helicopters. She was probably only doing it to calm her nerves; She'd looked pretty freaked out when Bentley had returned to the safehouse after his helicopter crash. He was pretty lucky he'd crashed into that tower and fallen to the bottom floor of it. He was also lucky that he was a turtle, and that turtle shells are made for protection.

"Anyways," Nyx finally said, giving up on her bootleg choppers. "Does this count as another strike to your near-death counter thing?"

"I'm inclined to say yes," Bentley replied, pulling out an arangement of bandages and anti-septics.

"Do you have an estimated number of how many you've got left, oooorr?" Nyx asked, giving Bentley a playful look with one eyebrow cocked. Now she was just being funny...

"If only life were that straightforward," Bentley replied with sarcastic wishfulness, rolling his eyes at the even more sarcastic feline. This was why she and Sly got along so well, they were both horribly sarcastic.

"Mm, indeed," Nyx agreed. "I'm trying to come up with some analogy for life and death but I'm kinda coming up short..."

Bentley laughed and shook his head. "What a shame. The world is worse off for never having heard your witty analogies,"

"Yeah," Nyx sighed. "I'll think of something eventually," her attention was then drawn to Bentley's laptop, which she was still seated in front of. It appeared that Sly was up to something... Nyx put the headphones back on, and turned up the volume.

"-Soon as this India job is over, why don't you and I go out on the town? We'll dance through Bollywood and eat curry all night long," Sly was saying, very obviously flirting.

Nyx resisted the urge to slap her palm to her face as she realized who the raccoon was flirting with.

"I'll keep it in mind," the Constable nodded thoughtfully. "But first, the task at hand. I've learned of a secret entrance leading to half of the Clockwerk heart. Legally, I can't enter the premises without a warrant. But now, a thief like you..." she trailed off, obviously expecting Sly to pick up on the idea.

Which he did without wasting a precious second. "A thief like me can go wherever he pleases. I read you,"

"Don't fall behind while I lead you to the entrance," Neyla warned, making stern eye contact. "This place is thick with guards and standing still can be lethal,"

Sly nodded. "I hear that, sister,"

And then without any further conversation or banter, Neyla was darting off into the temple grounds, with Sly hot on her tail, just like in Paris. Nyx leaned her elbow onto the table and rested her head in her palm as she watched.

"Sooo Constable Neyla is here and she's leading Sly off on a tigeress chase to the entrance to the room we saw during recon," Nyx announced to Bentley, sounding almost bored with the concept. It occured to her that she totally shouldn't have such a casual outlook on what she was doing... But she just shoved that thought back with the others.

"Hm. If Neyla's here, then Carmelita surely isn't far behind..." Bentley mused. "Let's hope we can be out of here before all of Interpol gets here,"

"Dude, don't jinx it," Nyx hissed playfully, pretending to be utterly disgusted with the turtle.

After what seemed like a lap of the temple, Neyla finally came to a stop beside a stone wall. Through the binocucom screen, Nyx couldn't make out anything special about it. But up close, Sly's trained eyes could pick out the tell-tale seams of a secret door. How had they not found this earlier?

"This is it," Neyla gestured to the door. "And remember, if push comes to shove, I never showed you this door. And..."

"And...?" Sly prompted her to go on, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"And we're on for that date in Bollywood," Neyla said. And then she was gone, having dissapeared somewhere in the temple.

Sly smiled to himself and opened the secret door, cautiously heading inside. And just like Neyla had said, it lead to the room he'd viewed during recon, with half of Clockwerk's heart suspended above a circular platform. He brought his binocucom up to his eyes, ready to listen to whatever instructions Nyx and/or Bentley had for him.

"Were you actually flirting with her?" Nyx asked, instead of giving instructions. "Honest to god flirting with her?"

"Of course. Why? Are you jealous?" Sly purred.

"Pfft, in your dreams," Nyx replied. "I just seriously don't get why you insist on flirting with someone who is most likely trying to arrest you. Is there something you like about her, or do you just like it when women chase after you with weapons and handcuffs in tow?"

Sly wasn't sure if Nyx was teasing, or being serious. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"

Nyx snorted a choked laugh. "Y'know what? Actually no, I don't. Let's keep whatever weird kinks you have to yourself, okay? Let's focus on Clockwerk's heart,"

"Gladly. What can you tell me?"

"Well, not much more than you already know. Half of Clockwerk's heart is being used to irrigate the spices at superhuman speeds - I won't even ask how half of a heart can still pump anything, let alone irrigate spice, curious as I am - It's suspended up there by that winch thingy over there,"

Sly turned his attention to the winch in question. "Looks like it's locked down pretty tight,"

"Mmhmm. It looks like all you've gotta do to get at the heart is get that winch's control panel unlocked so you can drop the heart, though. That won't be a problem for you, will it?" Nyx asked sarcastically, looking up over her glasses as well as Bentley's notes.

Sly smirked. "Nah, of course not," his gaze travelled to the two rhino guards that were on duty. "I'm sure the guards won't mind if I 'borrow' their keys..."

"Hop to it, then. Good luck!" Nyx said, and then went quiet to let Sly get started.

The aforementioned thief studied the first guard whom was patrolling the other end of the walkway he was standing on. The heart was suspended on a platform in the center of the room. The walkway he was on lead to it, but there was another guard on the other side, with his flashlight shone right on the center of the platform. Sly would have to find some way aroud to the other side of the walkway...

Sly waited for the first guard to turn his back to him, and then slipped up behind him to relieve him of both his wallet, and his keys. And once that was done, Sly introduced the guard's head to his cane, swiftly knocking him unconcious.

Now to get around to the other side... Sly took a look at the water wheel that was carrying buckets of water to hydrate the spices below. That would work, it'd get him close enough to the other walkway to jump over to it. He waited for the next bucket to come around, and carefully leapt onto it's edge, staying low and trying to keep his weight even on both sides.

The flashlights of the guards above were inches away from him, and had they been trained Interpol agents, they probably would have seen him. But these were just thugs - Hired guns - And they didn't look in his direction once. Sly hopped off the barrel once he was close enough to the walkway, and made his way around to the other guard. He emptied the guy's pockets, and then knocked him out just like his buddy.

With both keys now his, Sly turned to the control panel, unlocked it, and released the heart. The metal organ fell to the walkway below with a loud bang, and Sly felt the ground underneath him shake with the impact. He bounded over to the heart, and picked it up to regard it.

"So there's half of the heart... Okay y'know, forget what I said earlier, I really wanna know how half of a mechanical heart could irrigate spice!" Nyx exclaimed, making Sly chuckle. "Why the hell does a robot even need a heart?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Sly said, shrugging as he headed for the exit. Nyx huffed, seemingly annoyed by the lack of logic and explantion she was presented with.

When Sly returned to the safehouse, Bentley had finally reclaimed his computer, and Nyx was staring at him over the rim of a can of soda, looking both shocked and unamused. "Bentley, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"What's a good idea?" Sly asked, setting the heart onto the table and then leaning on the rickety furniture, making Nyx eye it warily. "Are you two conspiring against me?"

"No, Sly. Noo, why would we ever do such a thing?" Nyx drawled sarcastically. "Actually, we're talking about Bentley's ridiculous need for volatile explosives," she glanced at the turtle in question.

"Aw, but explosions are fun," Sly said in a mix of sarcasm and mock dissapointment.

"Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone gets blown up," Nyx stated, putting her can down and pointing at Sly. "And I'd rather that someone not be you,"

"Aww, look at that. She cares about me!" Sly swooned exaggeratedly, placing his hands over his heart for dramatic emphasis.

"Don't get the wrong idea. Else I might just change my mind and blow you up myself," Nyx countered, looking at Sly with a look that tried to be serious, but failed, as she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Your words," Sly sighed whimsically. "They wound me to my core,"

"Alright, you two, if you're done flirting," Bentley intterupted, earning himself a glare from Nyx for using the word 'flirting'. "We have a job to do, you know,"

"Alright, pal, I'm all ears," Sly abandoned his banter with Nyx, and sat down into a chair to listen to the plan. Nyx reached across the table to drag the one half of Clockwerk's heart to her, and started examining it with something like disgust and curiousity on her face. Sly watched her amusedly from the corner of his eye.

"We've been contracted to acquire that huge ruby embedded in Rajan's temple walls for a local crime ring. In exchange for the goods, they'll set us up with a Cherry Bomb 500 for the heist," Bentley explained, pulling up a few images of the ruby in question.

"A Cherry Bomb 500?!" Sly questioned, looking a bit shocked. "That's a lot of kick,"

"See? Now you understand my concern," Nyx commented, just barely glancing up at him from her investigation of the heart.

"Trust me... We'll need it," Bentley nodded seriously.

"It's the fact that you 'need it' that scares me most," Nyx shook her head, trying really hard not to smile.

"Oh, don't worry, if anyone knows explosives, it's Bentley," Sly said. "I promise I won't get blown up," then the raccoon got up and gave the feline a playful salute and smirk to match, and headed for the door.

"Does he ever just sit down and take a break?" Nyx asked, once the raccoon was gone.

"Sure he does, what do you think our times in Monaco and Bollywood were?" Bentley replied. "He's just incredibly dedicated when he's on a job. Not to mention raccoons are nocturnal, after all,"

Nyx gave a hum of recognition, not having anything else to say.

Bentley was quiet a moment, a look of thought on his face. Then he looked back over to the cat examining Clockwerk's heart. "Nyx?"

"Hm?" The cat in question looked up, with an attentive expression; Ready to hear whatever Bentley had to say.

"Did I cross a line when I left you in charge of the binocucom station?"

Nyx looked taken aback by his question at first, she wasn't expecting a question like that. But then she nervously laughed. "No, no, Bentley. I didn't... Don't mind helping you guys out," she paused, looking conflicted. "I'm just kinda... Confused, I guess?"

Bentley wasn't sure how to respond to that. He was a lot better with technical speak than emotional speak. But if he'd learned anything about Nyx, it was that she was the same way. "Well," the turtle began. "I don't want to put you in any situations you're not comfortable with,"

Nyx shook her head. "It's not that I'm uncomfortable with it. The exact opposite, actually. I really love the work you guys do, and I liked helping 'cause I know that I'm helping good guys do something good..." another thoughtful and conflicted pause. "But I'm confused because you guys are thieves. You rob people, you break the law, you're criminals. And I was raised to think poorly of those kinds of people, to see them as bad,"

"But you clearly don't think of us that way,"

"Exactly! And I'm just really confused about my own morals cause. I like helping, I guess? I like helping people I care about, and I like helping them work towards good goals... I'm just not sure about the specifics of this new cause I've found myself supporting, if that makes sense? I don't exactly know what it says about me, oorr if it's even really right," Nyx didn't make eye contact as she spoke, almost as if she felt guilty for suddenly dropping all of this onto Bentley. And really, she hadn't meant to. It'd just been bottled up so long that it had sort of come spilling out when it got the chance.

"I entirely understand," Bentley said, nodding. Nyx looked up at him finally, looking a bit surprised. "I was actually the same way, when Sly started really telling us about his family line, and that he wanted to continue it,"

"Really?" Nyx asked. Bentley seemed so devoted to the cause now, she couldn't imagine him ever not loving it.

"Really," Bentley confirmed, laughing a bit. "We'd pulled all kinds of heists when we were little, but it was all just rebelious kid stuff, really. Things like stealing cookies. When Sly started talking about big heists like robbing people, I had the same issues with it as you, I'd been raised to believe that criminals were awful people. We were in middle school, seventh grade I believe. I was a 'goody-two-shoes', as Sly put it, and he was a delinquant, really,"

Nyx snickered. "Why does that not surprise me?" she mumbled in amusement.

Bentley laughed at that, too. "I wanted to support my friend, but I didn't quite understand what that would make me if I did. Until one day when Sly got revenge on a bully who had taken some personal belongings of mine. He'd stolen everything back without being noticed. Though maybe he stole the guy's wallet, too," Bentley smirked at the memory. "And that's when I realized that Sly might have wanted to be a thief, but he didn't want to hurt people just for the sake of being powerful. He wanted to protect people in his own way. And I've been on board with him ever since,"

Nyx blinked a few times, processing all that information. "And you don't regret it?"

"Not at all," Bentley shook his head. "Sly and Murray are the best friends I've ever had, and there's nothing I'd rather do than work beside them to try and make some small change in the world. And if we get rich off of it, too, then that's just a plus,"

"Illegal doesn't mean bad, and legal doesn't mean good, I suppose?" Nyx proposed.

"Exactly. Some of the worst people are the ones who know how to bend the law to their will, and sometimes even work inside of it," Bentley agreed. "Those are the people that we aim to take down, because the law can't touch them,"

"It takes a thief to catch a thief," Nyx said, almost laughing at the cliche line.

Bentley nodded. "Pretty much,"

And then the binocucom beeped, signaling that Sly had reached the ruby mounted into the wall of the temple. Bentley pressed the microphone button to begin giving instructions. "Okay, Sly, to get that ruby free from it's moorings, you might-"

Nyx's hearing tuned out as she idly examined Clockwerk's heart. That was a lot of information to take in and add to the equations in her head... Equations that she was very slowly solving...


"Partial flooding didn't work, so it's time to go the distance!" Bentley exclaimed, firing up the slideshow for 'Operation: Wet Tiger'. "Blowing up the temple's elephant mouth should turn this grotto into a swimming pool,"

"I'll cover Murray from the chopper's gun turret, while he pries the mouth open. Once that's done, Sly will need to take the Cherry Bomb 500 into the throat, then get to high ground as fast as you can!" a series of images and drawn emphasis from Bentley indicated just how this series of events was intended to go down. For some reason, Nyx had the feeling that it wasn't going to entirely work out that way.

Next up was a picture of Rajan, where Bentley circled the half of the Clockwerk heart he had mounted on his staff. "Rajan is sure to show up and be extra angry. Jump him, snag his half of the Clockwerk heart, and we're out of here,"

With the slideshow now concluded, the gang began moving around the safehouse, preparing for this heist. Nyx watched nervously, finding some part of the plan to be unnerving. Perhaps it was because they were using volatile explosives to cause a flood? And none of them could swim? Or maybe it was the 'pissing off Rajan' part of it, considering how strong the tiger looked.

Whatever it was that was bothering her, Nyx was incredibly horrible at not letting it show. Something that Sly noticed pretty quickly.

The raccoon gave her a gentle bump with his shoulder, and flashed a reassuring smile at her. "Stop looking so worried, it'll be fine. We've faced worse and come out alive,"

Nyx snorted. "According to you," she shook her head. "I'll take your word for it, though. But mark my words, if anything happens, you're all going to be sorry for it,"

"Got it, your words have been marked and I will keep them in mind," Sly laughed. While her words were a playful threat, he could tell that she was probably saying them to reassure herself more than threaten him. She was still scared for them, and that left Sly feeling a bit confused as to why...

"Let's head out for the turret, Murray," Bentley's words brought everyone's attentions back to the heist at hand. He and Murray had geared up, and were ready to head out.

Sly shot one more smile at Nyx. "See you when we get back," and then followed his teammates as they headed out.

Bentley and Murray headed off for the tower that the chopper now called home, and Sly moved into position by the bomb to wait for the mouth to be open. Nyx anxiously sat in the safehouse, watching the whole thing from Bentley's laptop.

"Alright, I'll set up shop here, and provide covering fire while you try to pry open the elephant's mouth for Sly," Bentley said, pointing up to the tower they stood by.

Murray nodded. "Check!" and then set off for the mouth while Bentley climbed back up inside the tower to reach the chopper. It really was a miracle that it's turret still worked...

A few guards caught on to what Murray was trying to do as he reached the mouth, and began making an attempt to stop him.

"Clear out those guards, before you take a crack at opening the mouth!" Sly advised his friend.

The fight was short-lived. Those guards never stood a chance against someone that was three times their size, but they got points for trying. "Nice work, now put those muscles to the test, and pry that thing open!"

Murray grabbed the lever, and got to work trying to lift it up. Of course, that was when Rajan tried some heavier fire power.

"Gadzooks! Rajan is raining down a bunch of hunter-seeker bombs on Murray!" Bentley exclaimed to himself. "He'll never be able to get that mouth open unless I destroy all of them!"

Bentley took aim at the slowly falling bombs, and proceeded to shoot down every last one of them. There was no shortage of them, but they weren't much of an issue for someone with aim as good as Bentley's.

"All clear from my position! How are you coming with that lever, Murray?"

"I'm working on it!" Murray groaned, having gotten the lever somewhere up over his head. A few moments later and it reached the top, clicking into position and holding there.

"The mouth is open, you're all clear to bring in the Cherry Bomb 500!"

Down in the temple grotto, Sly lifted up the barrel that contained the hefty explosive, and began making his way up to the mouth. Bentley had charted a route that had few guards on it, and Sly only encountered one on his way up, whom was easy to navigate around.

Once inside the mouth, Sly took the Cherry Bomb 500 to the door that was practically leaking water, and lit the fuse. Time felt as if it were going in slow motion as he and Murray booked it towards high ground, just barely making it up to a broken bridge.

Rajan came storming out of the entrance at the other side of this bridge, and then leapt up onto a space above the door. "Black Clouds and Thunder Bolts! My spice temple... Ruined! I will no longer hide while you villains destroy my hard won empire! This place is mine!" he growled lowly.

"Here I am King! Come, face me, Cooper! With Clockwerk's black heart, I will show you true power! You are nothing! Come, face the mighty Rajan, lord of these hills!" Rajan dramatically leaned back and opened his arms to the sky as he screamed.

"Boy, when we try to tick someone off, we really do the job," Sly chuckled, regarding Rajan with an amused look.

"Yes... You do seem to have quite a talent for it,"

Sly turned towards the tigress who'd just appeared next to them. "Constable Neyla," he said, a smirk forming on his lips. "Slumming it with the thieves, again?"

"That man is an illegal spice trader," Neyla said firmly, pointing up at Rajan, whom was using Clockwerk's heart to summon bolts of lightning. "He should be brought to justice,"

"All I'm after is the Clockwerk part... You help me take him down and the bust is all yours," Sly offered, getting ready to leap into action.

Neyla's lips turned up into the slightly ghost of a smile. "Just try to keep up,"

Neyla leapt up onto the upper levels of the bridge, and began to leap across a serious of poles that had probably once held up an entire covering for the bridge. She dodged the bolts of lightning that Rajan tried to fry her with, and safely reached the other side, where she stayed low and awaited Sly.

Sly wasted no time in following Neyla's footsteps, crossing the spire jump bridge with the grace that only a Cooper could. He reached the other side where Neyla waited, and positioned himself on the other side of Rajan.

"Neyla, NOW!"

But Neyla simply didn't do anything. The smile on her lips almost turned into a sneer. "Sorry,"

"What are you doing?!" Sly demanded as Neyla leapt off the bridge to somewhere below, leaving Sly there. No sooner than the sentence had left the raccoon's mouth, Rajan caught on to him, and sent a bolt of lightning aimed right for Sly's face.

Even someone with the reflexes of a Cooper couldn't dodge something that fast when it was so close. Sly's unconcious body went flying as he was struck, his cane slipping from his limp fingers. From over the binocucom feed, both Bentley and Murray heard the terrified shrieking of Nyx in their ears.

"Wha-?" Murray spun around at the sound of Nyx shrieking, just in time to see Sly land in the bottom of a drained water basin, not moving and very clearly hurt. "SLY!"

Murray did not hesitate as he leapt into the basin after his friend. "I'm coming, buddy!" but before he could reach Sly's limp form, Rajan dropped into the basin as well, with a glare that could cut steel. Murray wasn't phased by this showoff, though, and stood his ground.

"This is it?" Rajan sneered. "This is the Cooper Gang I've heard so much about and feared these long hours?"

"'The Murray' will renew your fear!" Murray replied, raising his fists to invite Rajan to battle.

"Who's 'The Murray'? All I see is a fat, pathetic weakling!" Rajan bellowed, pointing a sharp claw at Murray.

"I might be big, and not as smart as the other guys..." Murray admitted, but then looked up at Rajan with a rivaling glare. "But one thing I'm not... Is WEAK!"

Rajan had nothing more to say, and thus began the battle. It started off as a seemingly even match as the two judged each other's abilities. Each were confident that they would win, and the odds were certainly up in the air.

From high up in the tower that the chopper perched upon, Bentley anxiously watched the whole ordeal. Sly wasn't moving, and Bentley could only hope that he was alive. The turtle was confident that Murray could best Rajan, but... Could Sly survive being electrocuted at point blank range?

Bentley shook those thoughts from his head, and instead settled on being very confused and alarmed as he saw a relatively familiar brown figure sprinting at full force towards the basin.

"Nyx!" Bentley hissed in nothing short of panic. Unfortunately, he knew she couldn't hear him from so far away, and she didn't have a binocucom earpiece; Something he was now cursing himself for. What in the name of god was Nyx doing?!

The feline in question didn't have an answer to that herself. And she wasn't interested in coming up with one just yet. She'd found a rope ladder in the safehouse, and went sprinting out of it, heading straight for the basin. Her goal? Getting Sly the hell out of there. When she reached the basin, she dropped the ladder down, secured it, and then decended as quick as she could.

"Sly?" Nyx almost mumbled, terrified to find out if he was alive or not. She turned him onto his back as best she could, and started shaking him. "Sly! Hey, c'mon, Sly! Wake up! Come on!"

It took a few moments of shaking and gently slapping his face, but Sly finally came to, groaning as he tried to focus his eyes. "Wh... Nyx?"

"Thank god, you're alive... Yeah, hi. You just got electrocuted, and we need to get the hell out of here. Can you walk? Or... Rather, climb?" Nyx was so nervous she was talking at the speed of sound, stumbling over her words. She pointed up to the ladder she'd dropped down, warily eyeing Rajan as he brawled with Murray.

The feline had spoken so fast that Sly's frazzled brain couldn't comprehend most of what she'd said. But he'd caught her question; Could he climb? He looked up at the ladder, and took a physical inventory. He felt like hell, but... "Yeah," he replied, starting to pull himself up. "I can climb,"

"Great!" Nyx exclaimed. "Hop to it, then. I'll be right behind you,"

Sly took a moment to find his balence, and then began climbing up the ladder. His limbs all felt like lead, and the movement was making him dizzy (which in turn made him nauseous), but he fought back the feelings and focused on not falling. Once he was at the top, Nyx wasted no time in scampering up after him.

"Okay, okay," Nyx panted, taking a moment to compose herself. She gave Sly a thorough once-over with her eyes; He didn't look good. He could barely stand up... "We've gotta get back to Bentley, c'mon," and then Nyx ducked under Sly's right arm, slinging it over her shoulder, hoping that it would give him balence, despite how short she was compared to him.

"Nyx-" Sly started, but she cut him off.

"Don't argue, just c'mon. Lean on me if you have to," Nyx hissed, starting to lead Sly towards the safehouse as fast as she dared to make him go.

Behind them, they both heard the sound of Rajan collapsing, having finally been bested by Murray. That gave them both momentary peace of mind.

But this was a very, very short moment, as no sooner than Murray had retrieved the second piece of the Clockwerk heart from Rajan... "Hold it right there, Cooper!"

Sly and Nyx froze, and the latter forced back a growl. Neyla... They turned to watch as the tigeress grinned venomously at them, and kicked down the ladder that Nyx had put in the basin, leaving Murray with no quick way out.

And as if things weren't bad enough, two figures emerged from the bushes to stand beside Constable Neyla; Inspector Fox to her right, and Contessa to her left.

"Here they are, Contessa," Neyla purred. "Just like I promised. The Cooper Gang and Rajan, all incapacitated," she picked Sly's cane up from off the ground, and cocked it behind her shoulder, mocking the way that Sly would do the same.

Nyx resisted the urge to growl again. Even if she wasn't incapacitated, she wasn't sure if she would be any help in a fight against trained Interpol agents. But... There had to be something she could do... She had to get Sly out of there, with how injured he was.

Nyx scanned her eyes over the three cops before her. While Neyla and Contessa were surely brutal and unforgiving, Inspector Fox had a look of worry about her as she looked at Sly.

And that was all the leverage Nyx felt she needed to give this a chance at working. It was a stupid plan, but it was all she had... "Sly," she said quietly, but firmly. "Run,"

"Wh-"

"Don't argue with me, Sly," Nyx turned to glare at the raccoon as hard as she could, begging that it would be enough to make him listen to her. "Just go!"

And then in one sudden moment, Nyx had ducked out from under the raccoon's arm, shoved him the way he needed to go, and charged towards Neyla.

Neyla barely had the time to react before Nyx had pounced on top of her with feline precision, sending both of them tumbling down to the ground. "You stupid brat!" Neyla hissed, wasting no time in connecting her fist with the younger girl's face.

Nyx hissed at the pain, and was momentarily stunned as she hit the ground. But she refused to give up so easily, and blindly leapt back towards Neyla, her claws bared. They found purchase on Neyla's shoulder, and she clung fast.

"Inspector Fox!" Contessa snapped somewhere in the background. "Don't just stand there, Cooper is getting away!"

Carmelita obeyed the order to chase after Sly, but Nyx really hoped that he'd be able to get away from her. Or that she'd let him go... She'd looked genuinely worried about his poor condition, and Nyx was hoping that she could use Carmelita's empathy as leverage. She was also incredibly relieved that Sly had listened to her, instead of being his usual stubborn self.

Neyla growled low in her throat, and kicked Nyx off of her. While the latter was certainly heavier than Neyla, the Constable was stronger and faster. Nyx resisted the urge to cry out as she hit the ground yet again. She was disoriented, and her vision was taking too long to refocus.

When Nyx finally made out the vague purple shape of Neyla, she lunged back at the tigress, but was caught by her shoulders, and promptly wrestled down to the ground via some very fancy police disarming moves. Neyla shoved the other's face into the ground as she procured a pair of handcuffs. "Don't move, you're under arrest,"

Nyx hissed and growled, struggling to escape. She had to buy him more time... Without much of another option, she tried to flip herself over, and throw Neyla off. It was a partial success, and it at least let her get her arms free and away from the handcuffs.

But as she rolled over to try kicking Neyla in the face, someone else was suddenly holding her down with hands that were much stronger than Neyla's. Nyx shrieked in surprise and looked up to see two very burly Interpol agents staring her down. A glance towards the basin revealed at least five more of them wrestling Murray out of it.

Nyx gave a defiant cry that was half growl as she tried to wrench herself away from the two men. But as something nearly popped in her right shoulder, she realized that she'd probably sooner dislocate her shoulder than escape. So she finally gave up, and stopped resisting.

Neyla smirked, and Nyx returned it with a fierce glare as she was forced back down, and finally into handcuffs. ...She only hoped that she'd given Sly enough time to escape...

The two agents hauled Nyx to her feet once she was in handcuffs, and she became aware of a throbbing pain in her right ankle, as well. She could still walk on it, so at least it wasn't sprained.

Nyx watched from the grip of the Interpol agents, as the other five of them atempted to subdue Murray. At first, Nyx thought that maybe he'd be able to fight them off and escape; Murray was incredibly strong, he'd just beaten the crap out of Rajan, his odds were pretty even here.

But then Nyx became incredibly horrified as a sixth agent appeared, and used a fancy dart gun to nail Murray in the shoulder with a sedative. Nyx resisted the urge to yell as the hippo went down; Not quite unconcious, but unable to resist. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as Murray was then hauled out of the basin, and handcuffed.

Nyx glared at the pleased Interpol agents around her, growling very low in her throat. She was still riding an adrenaline high, and the realization of the situation hadn't quite kicked in.

Carmelita soon returned, looking incredibly put off. Nyx stared at Neyla, smiling smugly upon seeing that Sly was not with the vixen. ...He'd actually gotten away.

"I lost him in the foilage," Carmelita admitted shamefully. "He knew the area too well,"

"What a dissapointment, Inspector Fox. You can't even catch one injured criminal," Contessa shook her head like a dissapointed mother.

"Actually, Contessa, there's a good reason Carmelita never caught the Cooper Gang..." Neyla interupted, a venomous smile playing on her lips for just a split second. "She's been in leauge with them the whole time!"

"Liar!" Carmelita snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Prove it!"

"This is a photo of Carmelita dancing with Sly Cooper on the night the Clockwerk wings were stolen," Neyla said, handing Contessa a candid photo of Carmelita and Sly from Rajan's ball barely two weeks prior.

"But I didn't know I was dancing with Cooper!" Carmelita protested, knowing full-well that she was telling the truth.

Contessa seemed to regard the photo for a moment, before looking back up at Carmelita. "You two certainly seem very... Familiar in this picture..." she hummed almost thoughtfully. "Men, place Inspector Fox under arrest!"

Nyx watched in disbelief as two agents disarmed Carmelita and forced her into handcuffs. "I'll get you for this, Neyla!" the vixen growled. "Don't think I won't!"

"Such a shame when an officer falls from the light," Contessa sighed in a much too practiced manner.

"Yes... Indeed," Neyla agreed, and then turned to her prisoners.

Atop the rickety tower where Bentley had watched the whole fiasco unfold, said turtle had no idea what to make of the events that had just transpired. Everything had most certainly gone wrong, and he was angry at Constable Neyla for stabbing them in the back like this. But then he was also incredibly bamboozled at the stunt that Nyx had pulled...

But he didn't have any time to muse about any of this. Sly had escaped, and they needed to find each other, and get the hell out of there before the squad of Interpol officers entirely covered the temple.

Sly would go for the safehouse, Bentley knew that for a fact. So that was where the turtle headed. And sure enough, no sooner than he'd arrived and began preparing their gear for a getaway, Sly came through the door, looking incredibly weak and out of breath.

"Are you alright?" Bentley asked. If Sly was too injured, getting out of there was going to be a problem.

Sly waved off Bentley's concerns, despite feeling incredibly exhausted and weak. "I'm fine," he pointed back outside. "Is there anything we can do?"

Bentley solomnly shook his head. "No, Sly. Not in your current state. We need to get out of here,"

Sly looked hurt; Conflicted. He couldn't just leave his friends behind. Bentley understood the feeling, but he knew there was nothing that could be done. "Sly, I know this is hard, but they'll be fine. They're going to need us to get them out of jail, and we can't do that if we're arrested, too,"

Sly sighed and then nodded. Bentley was right. "Okay... Let's go,"

The two rounded up their equipment, and then fled the safehouse as fast as they could, dissapearing into the thick foilage and beginning their hike back to the Cooper van.

On the other side of the temple, Nyx, Murray, and Carmelita were chained together in a line, and being led away towards whatever Indian headquarters Interpol had there.

But despite the grim situation, Nyx was feeling pretty acomplished.