Alternate title for this chapter; "Cookies and Overcoming Fears"
And here's chapter 13. I originally wasn't going to upload it so soon after 12, but I figured that since it's done, I might as well. Consider it an apology for not working on this fic for so long.
This chapter was a little weird to write because I knew the general idea of how I wanted it to go, but the specifics had me sort of confused. I debated a lot about how Nyx and Bentley would get through all those death traps; I didn't want to have Nyx get over her fears all at once. But considering all the other things she's done so far, I think I did pretty well here. Transitioning rookie Nyx is fun to write, but I can't wait for the next fic where she's more experienced.
Chapter Thirteen: Taking The High Road
"I honestly didn't expect the kracken to show up," proclaimed Sly as he walked back into the safehouse, shaking his head.
"Neither did I," I agreed, followed by, "Are you okay?"
In all honesty, I don't think any of us expected there to be a huge tentacled beast living under Contessa's castle. And to make it weirder, we were miles from a proper ocean. Sure, the castle had water surrounding it, but was that even deep enough?
Sly chuckled and waved off my concern. "Yeah, I'm fine. A few bruises here and there, but I'll survive,"
I sighed, but accepted Sly's statement. Hopefully he wouldn't be too proud to admit when he was hurt, right? "So, Bentley... It's our turn now, isn't it?"
"That it is," the turtle said, grabbing his crossbow and strapping it on. "You ready to go?"
I sighed again but grabbed my baton from the table, sliding it into the sheath on my belt. "Before we go, I have but one question; Why exactly do you want me to come with you?"
"Experience. Now that you know what to expect, I figured maybe you'd want to try again?" Bentley replied. "Of course, if you don't want to, I understand,"
I thought about it for a moment. Then I nodded. "Yeah... I think I do wanna try again," of course, wanting to try again is not the same as not being scared of the thing I'm about to do. I was definitely scared of venturing into another trap-filled crypt.
But I wanted to learn how to defy that. I'd let it win last time, and I was determined to not let that happen again. So that was why I decided to go with Bentley. I had to face my fears. Everyone else had.
Bentley nodded at my decision. "Ready to go, then?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," I replied, trying to convince myself that this would be fine. Bentley would be with me, and he knew what he was doing.
Bentley nodded again, and lead the way out of the safehouse. "Be careful!" it was Sly who was calling after us.
"We will!" I called back. "It's my middle name, remember?"
Bentley took the lead as we carefully navigated the castle grounds. Bentley didn't navigate anything like Sly, I quickly noticed; The raccoon liked to climb up onto the rooftops and make me use the skills I'd learned from the Thievius Raccoonus. He was also incredibly relaxed about everything, and didn't have a heart attack when a guard came near us.
Whereas Bentley definitely looked like he might have a heart attack if a guard came within fifteen feet of us. His nervousness wasn't helping ease mine any, but I figured that if we both panicked, then nothing good would happen. So I tried putting my nervousness into a choke hold - So to speak - And not worry about it too much.
Aside from potential heart attacks, I liked the way Bentley navigated. He generally stayed on the ground, only leading me up onto a building once or twice when we really had to. As long as we stayed low and quiet, navigation with Bentley couldn't go too wrong.
We found our crypt entrance rather easily, and as Bentley typed in the passcode, I continued questioning why Contessa had so many crypts laying around her home...
Before we stepped into the room I was feeling somewhat okay about this whole mission. Bentley was with me and he knew what he was doing, so I was calm enough to rationally approach it. But then we stepped inside and I froze as I saw what lay before us.
Stretched out before us was a hallway full of death traps. Spikes were embedded into the ground, and rolling logs with more spikes were placed over them. How lovely...
"How are you going to hack the computers down there when they've got no power?" Sly asked over the binocucom.
"According to General Clawfoot, a mobile energy source is stored at the end of this hallway," Bentley said, glancing down the hallway that I was glaring at.
"'Hallway' is a pretty kind term for what looks to me like a complex medieval gauntlet of death," said Sly.
"That's exactly what it is!" I hissed loudly.
"Yes, well... While the idea of jumping down a crypt filled with whirling, razor sharp-"
"Bentley stop," now it was my turn to have a heart attack. "If you want me to come with you for this one, then. Stop that sentence right where it is,"
"Alright, alright. Sorry," Bentley responded, reaching up as far as he could to pat me on the back.
"Just make sure those traps don't tear you two into little pieces, okay?" came Sly's voice again.
"Sllllyyyy," I groaned. "Did you have to say that?"
"Yeah, I did," the raccoon responded, sounding actually serious. "I don't want anything happening to you two,"
"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Right, Nyx?" Bentley asked, though he looked just as scared as I felt.
I sighed. We needed to be strong for each other in this current moment, otherwise we'd like never get anywhere... "Yeah... We'll be fine, Sly,"
"Alright," the raccoon sighed. "Good luck,"
We were definitely going to need luck, weren't we? I stared at the spinning death traps that were spread out before us, and tried to think of some way to make them less terrifying.
"Are you ready to do this?" asked Bentley, sounding just as hesitant as I was.
I swallowed hard. "Yeah. We need that computer online. Both for us and for Carmelita," I had to keep reminding myself of that fact.
Bentley nodded. "I'm sure Sly will appreciate that sentiment,"
I had to laugh a little bit. The raccoon's crush on the inspector was sort of cute. "Yeah. Now, how are we going to get through this? Is it as simple as leaping over the logs?"
"It looks like it," Bentley confirmed. "Do you want me to go first?"
I thought about it for a moment. Yeah, I kind of did. But then I remembered why I was here in the first place... I shook my head after a moment of thinking about it. "No... I'll go first..."
Bentley looked surprised that I'd decline his offer, and stared up at me. "Are you sure about that?"
"No, but I'm going to do it anyways... I'm a cat, I'm good at jumping at the least," I replied, trying to sound a lot less scared than I really was. "I need to stop being scared, so I'm going to do this. They're not moving that fast... I think I can handle this,"
Bentley nodded, understanding that this was something I needed to do for myself, despite the fact that he looked pretty nervous about letting me go first. "When you're ready, then,"
I nodded once, and then turned to assess the rolling logs of spikey death. It was hard to believe that about three months ago I had been living in a boring apartment, struggling to pay bills. And now here I was in Prague, helping out a gang of criminals and doing things that could likely get me killed. And if not killed, arrested.
I sort of had to smile at myself. I'd come a long way, hadn't I? Even if I was still scared out of my mind, I was actually out here doing this. I dropped low to the ground as I began formulating my path. I could jump a lot farther than Bentley could (and maybe even Sly) thanks to my cat genes, so I started guess-timating how far away the safe patches of ground were.
I found myself thinking about Sly's Thievius Raccoonus training that he'd done with me on the roof of the safehouse we'd adopted before coming to Contessa's castle. He'd set up an obstacle course of spire jumps and rail walks, and once I knew the moves, the spire jump ones actually hadn't been too hard. This situation wasn't that much different, was it? In fact, my targets were even larger than the tiny perches Sly had me leaping on.
It was that sense of familiarity that helped me officially make up my mind; Yeah, this was something I could do. Maybe it would scare me at first, but I could do it. I'd come this far, hadn't I? I wasn't going to give in now.
"Alright, I think I've got a path," I announced after a few minutes of studying the traps. "I'm... Going for it,"
"Be careful," warned Bentley, sounding nervous and worried.
"Like I told Sly, that's my middle name, now," I replied, before I set my jaw and forced myself to make the first jump. I knew that if I hesitated anymore, I'd probably talk myself out of it eventually.
My heart was beating a million miles an hour as I sailed over the spikey logs of death, but I forced myself to not freak out. I landed squarely on the patch of safe ground that I'd aimed at, and then quickly had to leap over another log to the next one.
From there, I just had to jump over a third log, and I was home free. I stood up and looked back at the obstacles I had just avoided, my face blank with surprise. I had actually gotten through that... I gave a breathless and hysterical laugh, pressing a hand to my chest to try and calm my erratic heartbeat. I was practically crying, though I wasn't sure if it was from fear or relief.
Bentley gave me a short round of applause. "Great work!"
"Thanks!" I called back after catching my breath. "...Now it's your turn!"
It took Bentley a few minutes of staring at the traps as well, before he finally made a move to cross. He was likely just as scared as I was, though he was probably better at ignoring it.
Unlike me, Bentley had to utilize every patch of safe ground to maneuver through the logs. His short turtle legs didn't let him jump very far, but it was thankfully far enough to allow him to safely clear the hall.
I gave him a high five as we met up again. "We totally get points for conquering our fears, right?"
The turtle nodded. "Absolutely,"
"Can I turn mine in for cookies?" I proceeded to ask.
"Sure," Bentley laughed. "We'll get cookies on our way out,"
"Awesome,"
We proceeded up a small flight of steps, and entered into another room with spiked floors and logs. This time there were two long ones, one on top of the other, circling the room in opposite directions. I picked out the pattern relatively quickly; The logs moved slow enough that we'd have to jump to one safe spot, and then wait for a log to move before we could jump to the next one. That couldn't be so hard, right? We'd gotten through the first set...
What I was really worried about was the fact that I could see swinging axes in the hallway we were headed towards... That was definitely not something I was excited for.
"I'm... Gonna go first again, if that's okay..." I said slowly, approaching the edge of the traps. I still didn't exactly want to cross first, but I wanted to familiarize myself with doing this, without watching someone else first. I needed to learn how to navigate and plan. As well as face my fears, of course.
"Be my guest," said Bentley, apparently realizing that I was determined to conquer this.
I waited for the first log to roll by me, and then jumped to the first section of spike-less ground. I waited for the log to move forwards some before leaping over another patch of spikes to the next safe area.
It was just one more jump from there to clear that room. I stopped to force myself to breath normally. I was actually doing this, and it was going just fine... I almost couldn't believe it. I finally turned and gave Bentley a thumbs up. "Come on across!"
Bentley waved to indicate that he'd heard me, and then began planning his route. I watched as he traversed the spikes of death, and wondered if he was just as worried about me as I was about him. All things considered, he was probably more worried than I was.
"How much more do you think we have to go?" I asked as Bentley rejoined me again.
"I don't know. But just remember that we'll have to go back through all of this to get out again," answered Bentley.
I groaned. "Lovely,"
I then stared at the swinging axes that were now blocking our path. "I never wanted to see these things ever again,"
"You ready to try taking them on?" Bentley asked.
I sighed. I didn't want to. I really didn't want to... But... "Yeah. Yeah, I think so... They don't move very fast, either... I think I got this,"
Bentley nodded. "Alright. I admire your bravery,"
I snorted. "I'm not brave. I'm just determined to stop being scared,"
"The effects are still much the same," said Bentley.
I snorted again, but smiled at the turtle as I began planning how I was going to do this. I didn't have to plan a route this time, since it was just a straight shot past the axes, I just had to choose the right time to go jumping past them.
I eventually decided that jumping past them when they were both at the right side of the room was my best bet, and I ignored all my self-preservation to do just that. I felt the wind the axes created as I sailed past them, but I made it across before they got too close to me. Despite my heart beating literally out of my chest, I gave another breathless laugh. I'd done it, and it hadn't been too terribly hard.
The next set of axes were evaded much the same, and I then turned to motion Bentley over. He followed the same strategy I did, and soon we were once again together on the opposite side of the death traps.
The next room we came to had two rather long spiked logs that would crash into each other, attempting to both crush and skewer anyone who tried to cross. By now, I was slowly realizing that physically, I could do this. Cats were made for jumping and quick moves, and I was learning how to utilize that. It was the mental strain that was making this ridiculously hard, but I was also learning how to fight through that.
It seemed like Bentley was also getting used to the idea of this job, and was also learning that so was I. We exchanged a wordless glance as I approched the traps before us.
Evading these traps involved a lot of jumping back and forth, and my heart was beating so fast that I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, but I made it to the other side regardless. Bentley followed in my footsteps, and we sort of had to laugh at ourselves as we realized that we were actually doing pretty good.
It was the next room that sort of stopped us in our tracks, however, as it was a little different from the others. There were spiked logs attatched to spiked logs, creating an interesting pattern of death that we had to avoid.
Bentley and I looked at each other, before I smirked at him and nodded. I could do this, and so could he. He nodded back, and this time he decided to go first.
I watched as Bentley crossed the room, jumping over the circulating logs of death. He was calculated and precise, and that was likely why the Cooper Gang was so successful; Bentley's brain.
After Bentley had made it across, I forced myself to follow suit. Despite the logs attatched to other ones making the room look tricky, it actually wasn't much different from the others, in terms of how one evaded the logs. The pounding of my heart hadn't dared to stop yet, but I was getting slightly used to ignoring it. The adrenaline was likely helping with that, I figured.
The next room we entered into was... Completely flooded. There was various debris in the water that we could cross with, but it was the water itself that was making me nervous again.
"Bentley..." I said slowly. "How much do you wanna bet that we're about to meet the kracken?"
"I'm not going to bet anything," Bentley replied. "Because I'm pretty sure you're right,"
I swallowed hard. "Okay. So uh... I'll try crossing this, and if any tentacles come up, you shoot them?"
"Sounds like a plan," said Bentley. "Whenever you're ready,"
I stared at the water for a minute, convinced that I could see something moving under there. I then took a deep breath, and leaped to the first piece of large debris.
And as soon as my feet made contact with that piece of metal and displaced the water, a large purple tentacle rose from the water at an alarming speed.
I flinched backwards, aware that I sort of had no where to go. But before the tentacle could try slapping at me or I freaked out, a well-aimed dart hit it, making it retreat into the water. I let out a sigh as I watched it sink.
"You okay?" Bentley asked.
I looked back at the turtle. "Yeah, I'm alright. I got this," and though most of the time I'm lying to myself when I say 'I got this', I was actually pretty certain of it this time. I might have been scared, but I was starting to believe that this was a job I could physically handle.
Bentley nodded, and I proceeded to jump to the next floating platform. As I expected, another tentacle rose, and took a swing at me. I managed to leap over it, and shortly after, another dart sank into it. I took the short moment's reprieve to leap to the next platform and then to the other side of the room.
I heard another tentacle rise as my feet touched the concrete, and moments later another dart was fired. "We make a great team!" I called to Bentley.
"That we do," he replied as he began crossing the room himself, looking around warily for more tentacles.
"Do you think that thing is actually a kracken?" I asked as he joined me again.
Bentley laughed. "Probably not, but it's an apt description,"
I laughed too as we headed up the ramp that lead to the battery we were here for. Bentley grabbed it and proceeded to attatch it to his crossbow harness. "Aha! This acid battery should do the trick! Just walk close to the electrode and voila!"
I was about to question if that would really work, but then Bentley approached the computer right next to me, and I watched it light up and power on. "Oh wow,"
"Prepare to be hacked, you knave!"
"So how'd it go?" Sly asked when we returned, trying to sound casual instead of concerned for our wellbeing.
"Good, all things considered," Bentley replied.
"We dodged terrifying death traps and even had our own run in with the kracken," I said, directing a bit of anger into how I reffered to our tentacled friend. "But we doubled teamed that guy so he never stood a chance,"
"Good to know that you overcame your fear of death traps," said Sly. His words were teasing, but I could see in his eyes that he was proud of my acomplishment.
So I smiled back at him. "I wouldn't say that I overcame it. Death traps are death traps, if I'm not scared of them there's something wrong with me. But yes, I faced my fears. We both did," now that the mission was over and we'd survived it, I was a lot more calm and could look at it more objectively.
"I'm proud of you both. I'll be honest, I was a bit worried about you two tackling that one together," Sly replied.
I scoffed. "Bentley never does anything without good reason,"
"It's good to know that you trust me so much," Bentley said from across the room, where he was setting up another slideshow.
"It's impossible not to trust you, you're the smartest person I've ever met," I laughed, dropping into a chair and taking my glasses off to clean them.
"Why thank you," Bentley purred.
Murray slid a can of soda over to me, and I graciously took it. "Death traps totally don't sound fun. You guys get props for taking them on,"
"Nyx has already decided that she wants cookies as her payment," Bentley chuckled.
"Yup," I agreed. "We're buying out the nearest store of all their cookies once we get out of here.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Sly laughed, finding the idea rather funny.
"Yeah! Cookies sound great!" Murray agreed.
I smiled. "Glad we're all on the same page,"
We then talked idly about everything and also nothing while we waited for Bentley to have his slideshow ready. I eventually came down from my adrenaline high, and returned to being nervous about our next move.
I had no idea what our big heist was going to be, and I couldn't help but be worried about it. We were initiating a war between Contessa and Neyla, and then getting right in the middle of it as far as I understood. I didn't quite like the idea. But at the least, I trusted my friends and teammates, and decided that this was enough.
"Alright," Bentley finally said, standing up and firing up the projector. "Gather 'round,"
We did as instructed, and thus began the slideshow. "It's time to wage war on the castle, and in the confusion, pull off a heist I've named; Operation: High Road,"
"First, Murray and Nyx will take down the spotlights on the main gate with the codes provided by General Clawfoot," Bentley explained. "Then, with the help of the voice modulator, I'll order Neyla's forces to attack!"
"Sly will then paraglide the two of us over to the Contessa's get-away blimp, and we'll use it to get inside her re-education tower," the slideshow rotated between various recon pictures that Sly had likely taken while he was climbing the tower.
"The assault on the castle will undoubtedly draw the shadow guards from their posts, and if we free Inspector Fox, she's sure to clear out the Contessa," Bentley continued. "With the mindshuffler exposed, I'll plant the bad mojo bomb, and presto! The Clockwerk eyes are ours!"
"So if you guys are ready, let's take our positions, and get this thing started!" Bentley concluded, and the slideshow sputtered out, leaving the screen a bright white.
"Well, I'm ready to go," announced Sly. "What about you two?"
"Let's do it!" yelled Murray, fist pumping into the air.
I grinned despite my nerves. "I'm game. Let's put these two-timing cops in their place,"
"Alright guys, head for the main gate and power down those search lights," Sly instructed. "While you do that, Bentley and I will climb our way up to the top of the castle. Good luck!"
"Same to you," Nyx replied as she followed Murray through the tank patrols. He didn't seem anywhere near as scared of them as Bentley, but he also didn't navigate quite as efficiently.
Ducking in and out of the searchlights they aimed to power down was as nerve-wrecking as ever for Nyx, but the duo made it to the keypad on the other side without much trouble.
"I hope that General guy told the truth, or this is gonna get ugly," Murray said as he typed in the codes.
It took a moment for the command to register, but the lights soon went down. "Oh yeah! The lights are down, Bentley! Time to call in the cavalry! I'll see if I can find some extra fire power to help out!"
Murray lead Nyx away from the bridge, asking if she knew how to pilot a tank. To which her hesitant answer was no.
Meanwhile, Bentley began relaying orders to Neyla's mercenaries. "Attention blood thirsty mercenaries! The castle defenses are down! Seize this opportunity for aggressive military action by pressing an attack on the castle!" there was a quiet 'uhh' that followed, but then, "Charge! For victory! For glory!"
"That should do it," said Bentley as soon as he confirmed that the mercenaries were heading in.
"Now that you're done being a war monger, feel like paragliding over to that blimp?" Sly asked, pointing to the airship in question.
"Just make sure to grab the rope hanging off that thing..." replied Bentley. "I don't want to drown,"
Sly nodded and then knelt down so that Bentley could climb onto his back. Once the turtle was secure, Sly wasted no time in leaping off of the building they stood on. He quickly deployed his paraglider, and they began their slow decent towards the blimp.
Once they were in range, Sly hooked the rope attatched to the blimp with his cane, and then climbed inside. Of course, this alerted the on-board guards that something was up, and they came to investigate, looking for a fight.
"Hold on, pal," Sly warned. "This could get rough,"
Thankfully, there were only two guards on the blimp, and Sly took care of them rather easily. He considered it to be a nice warm up for the rest of the mission.
"Alright," said Bentley, climbing off of Sly's back to assess the blimp controls. "Let's head for the re-education tower,"
Bentley adjusted their course rather easily, and soon they were skirting up along the edge of the intimidating tower. They climbed out of the blimp and into the tower, arriving just in time to watch Contessa freak out over the attack.
"What?! The mercenaries have breached the castle defenses? All of you go! Defend this tower to the last man!" Contessa shrieked, gesturing wildly at her guards.
With loyal salutes, her elite shadow guards left the room one by one, leaving Contessa all alone with Carmelita. She likely thought that she was totally safe there, but she had another thing coming.
"Don't worry my dear, I still have time to finish with your 'readjustment'," Contessa purred, sounding as if this were a good thing for Carmelita. It made Sly's fur stand up on end. Was this what Nyx had gone through as well?
"Let me out of here, and I'll 'readjust' your face!" Carmelita growled, struggling against the iron that held her in place. One had to give her props for not giving in by then.
"Okay partner," Sly said. "Looks like the shadow guard is out of the picture. You ready to free our violent little princess?"
Bentley nodded. "Affirmative. That Irontech 2-50 is a fully integrated system; Access to Carmelita's restraints has to be in this old terminal somewhere,"
The turtle then got to work hacking, leaving Sly to stand guard. He decided to use this time to check up on his other teammates. "Murray? Nyx? What are you guys up to?"
"Uh well," it was Nyx's nervous voice that came in, though she was partially drowned out by loud cannon fire. "Murray gave me a crash course in tank controls, and so we're helping seige the castle..."
Sly almost couldn't believe that Nyx had agreed to get into a tank, and he planned to ask about it later. "Do you know how to drive anything at all?"
"No..."
Sly sighed. "That's reassuring,"
"Don't worry, I'm fine... Murray's got me covered," Nyx replied, though she didn't sound completely convinced of her own words. "Just worry about Carmelita and getting those eyes,"
Sly was going to respond, but then Bentley spoke up. "That should do it," looked like he was finished hacking.
The raccoon and turtle duo watched with baited breath as the shackles holding Carmelita down all popped open. The vixen wasted no time in leaping off the Irontech, and the hypnotized glaze left her eyes as she surveyed the room.
"Aha! I've isolated the brain pattern... You and I are about to become the best of friends," Contessa purred, completely unaware that her prisoner had escaped and was now pointing a shock pistol at her.
"Okay, new best friend. Hands up! And I mean all of 'em!" Carmelita growled, raising her shock pistol and narrowing her eyes. She was all kinds of pissed, and she intended to do something with that anger.
"My dear you really shou-" Contessa then realized that Carmelita had escaped, and her visage turned to panic as she fled for the door. "Shadow guard! Shadow guard!"
"Come back here, you witch!" Carmelita yelled, chasing after the large arachnid.
With those two gone, it left Sly and Bentley free to get at the mindshuffler. Bentley lowered the gate seperating them from the main room, and they jumped down into it.
"That Carmelita," Sly hummed. "Always trying to solve her problems with a shock pistol,"
"She is rather truculent," Bentley agreed, setting the bad-mojo bomb. "Stand clear Sly, this might have a larger blast than anticipated,"
Sly nodded, and Bentley then proceeded to arm the bomb. The two then sprinted away from the bomb as fast as they could. Regardless, the force from the explosion still knocked them both off their feet. Yeah, that bomb had more of a kick than Bentley thought. It had also caused the room to fill with thick smoke.
"Bentley!" Sly called, pulling himself to his feet. "You okay?"
"This is no place for an asthmatic..." Bentley declared, coughing a little. "But I've located one of the Clockwerk eyes! Can you find the other?"
"No worries chaps, it's safely in hand,"
Sly and Bentley turned around at the sound of a very British accent suddenly addressing them. As the smoke cleared, Sly's eyes focused on the figure of Neyla; With the other Clockwerk eye in her possession.
"Neyla?!" Sly questioned, wondering just how she'd known where to find them. Neyla smirked. "Thanks for clearing out the Contessa... Nothing I did could pry her away from the Clockwerk eyes," then she hummed to herself. "One should be enough for the old bird. Ta-ta!"
Then Neyla was sprinting out of the room at a breakneck pace. "Bentley!" Sly hissed. "Take the eye and escape on the blimp... I'm going after Neyla!" and without any further words, Sly was chasing after Neyla.
"But? The plan?! It... This wasn't in the plan!" Bentley protested as he watched Sly go. He then sighed. There was no use questioning it now, was there? So the turtle obeyed Sly's instructions, took the eye to Contessa's get away blimp, and began his escape.
"Attention all bombers!" Neyla announced via some remote device. "Focus your attack on the Contessa's blimp!"
"Heads up Bentley! You're about to come under fire!" Sly panted, hoping that Bentley was a good enough pilot to evade fire even while in a blimp. "Get to the blimp's turret and stay sharp!"
"Guys what's going on?! Why did Neyla just order the blimp to be fired upon?" It was Nyx's semi-panicked voice that came over the binocucom now.
"Bentley's got one of the eyes and he's on the blimp," Sly answered. "Neyla's got the other and she's trying to escape!"
There was silence over the line for a moment, but then, "Like hell she is. I've got eyes on both of you, just keep on her tail!"
Sly had no idea what Nyx planned to do, but he had no time to question her. After all, keeping up with Neyla was definitely more important.
Somewhere in the castle grounds, Nyx was was perched atop a high building, and she had a pretty good view of Sly and Neyla. The tank she'd been driving earlier had run out of ammo, leading her to get out of it and take out foot guards. When that was done, she'd ended up on the buildings, trying to assess what her next move should be.
And now her next move was trying to intercept Neyla before she could get away with that Clockwerk eye. For a moment, Nyx wondered how she was going to do that, but then she caught sight of the Interpol boat that was approaching the castle grounds from the surrounding waters. That was likely Neyla's target...
So, before she had the time to think about it and become scared, Nyx clambored down from the building she stood on, and began rushing towards the building nearest where the boat would dock. As a criminal, rushing towards the cops was not something Nyx figured was a good idea, but she really wanted to get Neyla back for everything she'd done...
Meanwhile, Neyla was feeling pretty confident in her escape. Even if her boat didn't arrive on time, she could just lead Cooper in circle for a while. She was faster than him by just enough to matter, after all.
So, Neyla was taking a bit of a scenic route, something she was rather fond of, Sly had noticed. She was hoping that if she ran him around long enough, she'd eventually lose him. At least, that was the theory.
As she approached her pick up point and realized that her boat had not yet docked, Neyla glanced behind her at Sly, who refused to be left behind. Neyla snarled, and prepared to turn, but then found something rather heavy plowing into her.
Neyla hissed as she fought with whatever had just landed on her, and as a fist made contact with her face, she realized that it was a person. She scrambled to keep hold on the Clockwerk eye, but it slipped away from her, rolling to the middle of the building she was on.
Sly was right behind Neyla, and when he leaped up onto the building, he was a little surprised to see Nyx, viciously grappling with Neyla. He had no idea how she'd managed to be at the right place at the right time, but he was sort of glad that she had.
The raccoon smirked and picked up the Clockwerk eye, watching as Nyx and Neyla battled. Nyx had lost their last fight, but only because two big Interpol agents had ended it. And now, Nyx had some proper battle training. Sly wasn't sure if she could overpower Neyla, but he figured he ought to let her try.
By then, Nyx had scratched Neyla across the face, and they'd tumbled head over heels like a wheel a good few times. Neyla had resorted to biting Nyx's shoulder, and Nyx retaliated by digging her claws into Neyla's side.
Sly had to flinch a bit as he watched the two felines fight. Nyx was definitely gonna be sore after all of this, wasn't she? Neyla looked like she packed a pretty good punch.
"You meddling brat! I should have ended you when I had the chance!" Neyla yelled, finally managing to get on top of Nyx and pin her down. "I won't make that mistake again!"
Nyx hissed, struggling against Neyla, but it was clear that the younger feline was running out of steam. "You're such a stereotypical villain, you know that?"
Neyla opened her mouth to snarl something, but then something gold struck her side, and she went flying into a collection of spider webs, where she became subsequently stuck.
"Thanks," Nyx panted as Sly helped her up off the floor.
"No problem," Sly replied, grinning.
Nyx pushed her glasses back up onto her nose where they belonged as she turned towards Neyla. She pointed an angry finger at the tigeress. "That scratch is for what you did to my friends, just so you know,"
Neyla was seething as she watched Nyx turn back to Sly, who held up the other Clockwerk eye with a triumphant look. "Get back here! Don't you dare! That eye is mine! It's mine!" she yelled, struggling to get free of her sticky prison.
And no sooner than those words left Neyla's mouth, a string of spider web appeared out of nowhere and latched onto her. It then ripped her from the webs that held her, and tossed her off somewhere. Both Sly and Nyx looked up to see none other than the Contessa staring them down.
"She escaped Carmelita..." Nyx hissed into Sly's ear. She wasn't sure if she wanted to run away, or stand her ground...
"Actually, Mr. Cooper, Miss Blythe... The eye belongs to me," Contessa said firmly, her eyes locked on the Clockwerk eye in Sly's hands.
Contessa then leaped down to the same roof her adversaries were on, and slowly began moving towards them, as if she were stalking them. There was murder in her eyes and it was making Nyx very nervous.
"Here," Sly said, shoving the eye into Nyx's hands. "Take it and run! Find Bentley and Murray, I'll catch up with you later!"
Nyx froze for just a moment, unsure if she wanted to leave Sly alone with that psychopath. But then she nodded firmly, knowing that there was no use in getting both of them caught and letting Contessa have the eye. "Be careful," she whispered before she leaped off the edge of the roof.
As she went, she heard Contessa yell, protesting about the eye being taken just like Neyla had. But she had Sly to deal with, and couldn't give chase.
Nyx remembered where the rendevous point was, vaguely, and began heading towards it. But, no sooner than she had, Bentley's panicked voice radioed in.
"Merciful Hades! Sly, can you read me? Carmelita shot out the guidance system and the blimp is decending at a decidedly unsafe rate! I'm going down! Down! Down!"
The panicked information was then followed by a loud crash, and Nyx was pretty sure that her heart stopped beating for a good few moments. But then she seemed to kick into auto-pilot, and turned towards the site of the crash. She hadn't seen it, but she'd felt it, and she figured that a blimp wreck couldn't be hard to spot.
"Bentley?!" it was Sly calling for the turtle via the binocucom.
"Don't worry about Bentley, Sly," Nyx panted. "I'm heading his way! Just worry about Contessa!"
"Got it. Thanks, Nyx," Sly sighed, sounding relieved.
"Don't mention it," Nyx replied as she leaped up onto a building. Her entire body was tired and sore, and her arms were covered in scratches from the desperate way she'd climbed things to reach Neyla. She was climbing at a very similiar pace now, and the open wounds - Shallow as they were - Really hurt. She pushed back the notion of pain, and tried to get her brain to focus on finding Bentley.
"Is anyone there?" the turtle's quiet voice came in soon. He didn't sound terribly hurt, but Nyx couldn't really tell just by his voice.
"I'm here, Bentley," answered Nyx. "I'm on my way to your location, just stay there!"
"Alright, I - What the-" Bentley's words were cut off as something else caught his attention.
"Hands up, turtle,"
"Carmelita..." Nyx muttered to herself. Of course, the vixen had shot down the blimp, why wouldn't she investigate the wreckage? Nyx tried forcing her legs to go any faster, but as it was she was rapidly running out of steam. She was surprised that she'd lasted this long, she was never much of an athletic type. She was likely running on pure adrenaline by this point.
"Give me the Clockwerk eye. I said give it here," Carmelita demanded, likely pointing a shock pistol at Bentley.
There was silence, and then a shuffling sound. Was Bentley giving her the eye? Nyx supposed that he couldn't really fight her, could he?
"Now keep your hands up for ten minutes after I leave," Carmelita instructed firmly. "I'll be watching," wait. She was leaving Bentley there?
"Carmelita, she - Oh, the guys are going to kill me," Bentley groaned.
"No one's going to kill you, Bentley," Nyx panted. "What happened?"
"Carmelita took the eye! And she's trying to escape in one of the Contessa's tanks!" Bentley replied frantically.
"Don't worry about it, little buddy," came Murray's voice over the line. "I won't let her get away. Where's the other eye?"
"I've got it," Nyx replied. "I'm almost to Bentley's location, we'll meet you at the rendevous once you've got the other,"
"And where's Sly?" Bentley questioned as he saw Nyx round a corner.
"Fighting Contessa. He sent me off with the eye to make sure she didn't get it," Nyx answered. Moments later she skidded to a stop by the blimp wreckage.
"And what about Neyla?" was Bentley's next question.
"I have no idea," Nyx said as she helped Bentley from the wreckage. "Contessa tossed her somewhere, and she's likely regrouped with the Interpol boat that I saw coming in,"
"Great, actual Interpol is here," Bentley groaned.
"Yeah," Nyx sighed, then changed the subject to one she found much more important. "Are you okay, Bentley?"
"I'm fine," the turtle responded. "Turtles are made for protection,"
"Good. You scared the hell outta me," said Nyx, sounding very relieved.
"I think the question here is; Are you okay?" Bentley asked, turning the question to Nyx. "You look like hell,"
"That is an understatement to how I feel right now, but I'm fine," Nyx responded. She was sort of lying, though. The adrenaline was keeping her on her feet for the time being, but she knew for a fact she was going to crash and burn the minute this heist was over.
Bentley sighed, knowing that she wasn't being completely honest, but decided to not challenge her answer. "Alright. Let's get to the van,"
Nyx nodded, and the two took off for the van. Hopefully Murray and Sly would meet back up with them before Interpol had the place covered.
Upon reaching the van, Bentley climbed into the driver's seat and revved up the engine. Nyx climbed into the back and used Bentley's laptop to check Sly and Murray's locations.
Sly wasn't where she left him, in fact he was on the move, likely chasing after Contessa. Murray was also moving, chasing after Carmelita. Nyx hoped that both those chases wouldn't last for too much longer.
In silence and stress, Bentley and Nyx waited for their teammates, hoping that nothing else would go wrong.
"Carmelita's tank is done for!" Murray shouted eventually. "I'll grab the eye while she's still stuck in it, and then meet you guys at the rendevous,"
"Great job, Murray!" said Bentley, then turned his attention to Sly. "Sly, how's it going with you?"
"I'm chasing Contessa!" the raccoon replied, sounding out of breath.
"Well, when you can, we'll all hook up at the rendevous for extraction," Murray said. Nyx was sort of surprised that he'd used the word 'extraction' properly. He wasn't much of a big words guy, she'd noticed.
"Got it,"
Murray joined Nyx and Bentley at the van, and took the wheel. He handed off the other eye to Nyx, who found herself looking them over while she waited. They were huge, and even when they weren't attatched to anything, there was something about their gaze that unsettled her.
Eventually, Nyx put the eyes aside, figuring that it was probably bad to keep staring at them. After all, Contessa had been using them for hypnosis...
It took what felt like forever, but Sly's voice eventually came through the binocucom line again. "Contessa's down and out. I'm on my way to the rendevous!"
"Great!" exclaimed Murray. "The van is all warmed up and ready to go!"
"Be careful out there, Sly!" Bentley warned. "Nyx said she saw an Interpol boat arriving. Neyla's likely made contact with them,"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," the raccoon replied.
Murray's foot was hovering anxiously over the gas pedal, ready to punch it the moment Sly was in the van. Nyx and Bentley kept glancing out the windows, looking for their comrade; What was taking him so long?
The question of what kept Sly from reaching the van faster was instantly answered when Sly rounded the corner, and his team saw who he was dragging with him. Nyx's jaw practically fell open, but she tossed the van doors open anyways to let the duo in.
Murray had the van in motion almost before Nyx had the doors closed, and the van accellerated at an almost alarming rate as Murray booked it for the exit.
The three who were unfortunately in the back of the van had to struggle to not knock heads with each other as Murray made sharp turns that only an expert driver could make, but it was thanks to these turns that they were able to escape before Interpol caught onto them.
After Murray slowed the van down to a reasonable speed, there were a few moments of silence, before all eyes landed on the very pissed off vixen that was now in the van with them. Even Murray averted his gaze from the road for just a moment to look at her via the rear-view mirror.
Bentley looked at Sly with an exhausted look that clearly screamed, 'Why?'
Sly shrugged and gave a guilty grin. He couldn't have just left Carmelita back there to be arrested again, and he figured that helping her escape wasn't too big of a deal.
Bentley sighed and shook his head, his mind already trying to think up some way to ditch Carmelita before she tried to arrest them. Though he couldn't blame Sly for helping her, he decided. He would have felt bad too, if they'd left her there.
With Carmelita present, the air in the van was rather tense and awkward. She was clearly not happy to have been rescued by thieves, let alone to be riding in a vehicle with them.
No one seemed to know what to say, and the silence was making Nyx feel incredibly weird. As the silence wore on, Nyx eventually decided to say something. They couldn't just sit there in silence forever, could they? She figured that if Sly hadn't said anything by now, that the duty rested on her to break the ice. "Are you okay, Inspector Fox?"
Carmelita looked rather surprised by the question, and it took her a moment to answer it. "I'm fine,"
"Good to know. I can't imagine what Contessa did to you - Actually I can, and it doesn't sound fun," Nyx replied. "At least we don't have to worry about her anymore,"
Carmelita was silent a moment, and seemed to be judging Nyx. "...You're that girl who tackled Neyla to help Sly escape, aren't you? ...You don't look like much of a criminal,"
Nyx laughed a bit. "Looks can be decieving. Though in this case, you're right. I haven't been a criminal for very long,"
"About four weeks, to be precise," interjected Sly. "Though she's been with us for way longer,"
Carmelita narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to figure out how Nyx fit into the Cooper Gang picture. "Well, I hope you realize that I'm arresting you first chance I get," was what she settled on saying.
"Oh yeah, we know," Nyx replied, smiling despite the threat. Then she moved to lean over the driver's seat to point at something. "Pull over here, Murray! Bentley owes me cookies,"
To that, Carmelita had no idea what to say. She'd probably never understand the Cooper Gang, would she?
Like Bentley promised, we bought all the cookies at the gas station I pointed Murray to, which the poor cashier seemed very confused about. Despite the fact that I was dead tired, there's nothing like rewarding yourself for a job well done, I think.
By the time we had reached that gas station, Bentley had already come up with a plan to ditch Carmelita. It was a simple plan that involved cutting the power to the gas station to lure Carmelita in, and then slipping out the back while she fought with the languge barrier between her and the cashier.
It wasn't the most elegant of plans, but it had worked. Carmelita would probably be pretty pissed at us, but hey, we left her a package of cookies to say sorry.
We camped out in a small hotel for the remainder of the night, and in the morning we learned what had happened after we left Contessa's castle.
Interpol came down on the place hard, and we had just barely missed them. Neyla claimed all the glory for taking down the corrupt Contessa, and was thereby promoted to Captain. Which I was one hundred percent sure she didn't deserve.
We took a few R&R days to unwind from the stress our past few weeks had been, and it was then that something occured to me.
I'd come to France looking for my purpose in life, hadn't I? I'd moved there because I thought I wanted to be an artist, and I thought that Paris was the best place to chase that dream.
But as I sat in our hotel room and played a loud game of Uno with my comrades, I realized that that right there was what I had wanted; To belong somewhere. I had gone to France chasing faint ideas of who I wanted to be, because I had no idea where it was that I was meant to belong. But I was now certain that going there had definitely helped me find it.
And despite how different it was from the plan I'd originally had for myself, I could no longer imagine being anywhere else.
