And after an incredibly long wait, chapter fifteen is finally here! Another one that takes out a whole episode! It's been too long since I've worked on this fic; Only one chapter has gone up this year. I aim to finish it before it's third anniversary comes around. I'm insanely close to finishing it, just one more episode to go!


Chapter Fifteen: Bear Teeth and Batteries and Bisons, Oh My!

"Well. At least we know we're in the right place," I said slowly, as we took in all the fallen trees that were laid before us. Jean Bison was most absolutely here. Where here was, I wasn't quite sure. We'd gone off the map hours ago, and had just been following the Northern Lights. I was surprised that they'd lead us to the right location.

"This is an ecological disaster," Bentley groaned into his hands.

I nodded and sighed. "Yeah, this guy is definitely not winning any awards for wildlife preservation or whatever,"

"Those talons have got to go," Sly said, shaking his head. "The world just doesn't need to make room for another strip mall,"

"Agreed," I said.

We then climbed back into the van, and drove down the steep hill we were perched on. The road had gotten pretty dangerous, but luckily we'd found some snow chains in the van and had affixed those to the wheels. That minimized our chances of going of the road quite a bit. Of course, it helped that Murray is an expert driver.

We soon drove into the lumber camp that we'd been staring at, and carefully chose an empty building to be our new safehouse. We parked the van outside, and unloaded our equipment per usual.

"Okay," Bentley said once we were all set up and ready to go. "So here's what we know; Arpeggio's blimp is on it's way to pick up a battery from Jean Bison. And two, the only way we'll get a crack at Arpeggio's Clockwerk brain is by finding a way to sneak aboard his blimp,"

"But, before we do that, we'll have to snag the Clockwerk talons off Jean Bison," Sly added. "Time is short, and we've got a lot to accomplish,"

"True, true..." Bentley agreed. "But first things first. This lumber camp isn't on any of my maps. I need you and Nyx to poke around and take some recon photos, they'll help to get my sensors oriented,"

"No problem," Sly replied, turning to grin at me. "Recon photos we got covered,"

"Alright then, let's get to it," I said as checked to make sure all my gear was in place.

Sly tossed an arm around my shoulders as we headed for the door. "Are you sure you're the same girl I saved back in Paris? 'Cause she surely would have had a few questions to ask before leaving the safehouse,"

I laughed. "Y'know. I'm not even sure anymore. A lot has happened,"

"It sure has," Sly agreed. "I'll be honest, I never expected you to end up working with us,"

I snorted. "Me neither. But it's worth it,"

"Glad you think so," Sly purred.

I smiled. Even if it came with some downsides, I would always be happy that I'd chosen this gang. I then turned to Sly, ducking out from under his arm. "Are you sure that bullet wound is healed enough?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry," Sly replied, shrugging off my concern. Bentley and I had wanted to take him to a proper hospital after we left Nunavut Bay, but being wanted criminals makes that hard to do. That was one of those downsides I just mentioned.

I sighed. "If you say so,"

Sly clapped me on the shoulder and then made for a wall of ice. "Trust me, I'm fine,"

I rolled my eyes, and then headed into the logging camp. There were various guards out and about, so I had to be vividly aware of myself, and my surroundings.

The first thing of note that I came across in the camp, was a large old bear that was lumbering around. Had I not been paying attention to everything, I might've walked right into him. He moved nearly silently, but I took notice of him just in time to leap backwards out of his way. A bear was not something I wanted to cross paths with...

I pulled out my binocucom and snapped a picture of the large grizzly, once I was sure he wasn't going to come after me. Bentley would probably want to know if there were bears around. They'd been pretty useful last time, after all.

"This place is bear country, alright," Bentley said in regards to my photo. "...Interesting. He's putting out a slight radio signature..."

"A radioactive bear, huh?" I joked as I moved farther away from the bear, making sure to not turn my back on him.

"Not likely," Bentley replied. "I'm working on figuring out what it is,"

Navigating around the bear, I headed towards a building that was near a giant wall of ice. While the ice wall was impressive, my focus was the rather rusty looking saw blades that were on the side of the building. They lead to a wooden chute, which then lead to a truck that was full of wood. Every now and then, logs would come out of the saw blades, freshly sliced by them, and they'd roll down into the truck below.

I decided to take a picture of the whole set up, just in case we needed it. Bentley probably wanted all the intel he could get.

"Those saw blades look particularly old," Bentley mused. "I guess this logging camp has been around for a while,"

Wondering what else I should photograph, I began heading back the way I'd come, darting in between guard patrols. Doing so still scared the hell out of me, but by now I was sort of confident that I could navigate through them. I'd navigated through the tanks, had I not?

Sure, the one tank had almost got me, but that's not relevant...

"Nyx," Bentley said after a while. "Why don't you come back to the safehouse now? I'm sending Sly over to the lighthouse to check out what's in there,"

"Got it," I replied. "I was getting bored, anyways,"

"How can you be bored while sneaking around a lumber camp owned by a man from the 1850's?" Sly asked, and I could hear the raised eyebrow in his voice.

"I was being sarcastic, Sly," I laughed.

"So was I," the raccoon chuckled back.

While Sly headed for the lighthouse, I returned to the safehouse. I had to take the long way around, due to the bear, and thus returned to the sound of Bentley saying something in regards to a photo Sly had taken.

"-But where's the battery Arpeggio is coming to pick up?" the turtle was saying.

"The mystery of the missing battery, hm?" I asked as I took a seat.

"Indeed," said Bentley. "Sly's found the charger in the lighthouse, but the battery is nowhere to be found,"

I hummed. "Interesting,"

Sly then sent in another photo, this time of the front door, which was being held shut by a steel bar.

"I was right," Bentley hummed. "The entrance is barred from the inside,"

The next photo that Sly sent in was of Jean Bison himself. No matter what angle you photographed him from, he was just really unattractive looking, apparently...

"Oh, Sly! Listen in! He's mumbling to himself!" exclaimed Bentley, turning up the volume on his laptop.

"Come on, Jean, ya got it in ya," the bison was saying. "Those lumberjack games need some more competition, eh? What would attract the participants?"

There was a beat of silence before he continued. "Bullseye! I'll post the Clockwerk talons as a trophy! That should bring in the competition. Although who am I kiddin', eh? I'mma gonna win just like every other year,"

Jean Bison took a moment to laugh at himself. "Oh, it's tough bein' this tough, it sure is, yeah,"

"We need to talk about these 'Lumberjack Games'," Bentley said. "Come on back to the safehouse,"

"What even are Lumberjack Games?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bentley shrugged. "Just another thing we need to find out,"


"So, how did you like playing bear dentist?"

Sly smirked as he crawled out of the bear den and found Nyx standing there waiting for him. "It was great," he replied, words dripping with sarcasm. "They said I'm the best dentist they've ever had,"

Nyx laughed. "Maybe you should change professions, then,"

Sly shrugged. "Nah, I prefer being a thief. Makes more money,"

"True that," Nyx agreed as Sly handed her three transmitters that were grossly attached to bear teeth. She grimaced at them.

Sly laughed at Nyx's reaction. "See you back at the safehouse. Good luck,"

Nyx rolled her eyes and then checked which locations Bentley had assigned to her, heading off for the nearest one. At least Sly hadn't told her to be careful this time.

To the uneducated, transmitters attached to bear teeth likely didn't make much sense. But it was all part of Bentley's plan. They needed to know more about Jean Bison and his operation, and thus Bentley planned to bug him. Using the transmitters from the bear teeth was just a way of cutting corners to speed things along.

After all, they had a lot to accomplish before Arpeggio's blimp arrived. Bentley's master plan - If it worked - Would result in them hiding inside the battery he was coming to pick up, like a modern day Trojan horse. But getting there wasn't going to be easy. And the first step was figuring out more about what Jean Bison was up to. Nyx wished it didn't involve bear teeth, but oh well.

The first transmitter needed to be placed on a tree, which was growing atop a small rock pillar. Nyx assessed it a moment, before scrambling her way up a pole that was attached to the wood chute. Slipping between the sliced logs, Nyx used the height of the chute to then leap down to the rock pillar.

She didn't land on her fee; Of course that was too much to ask, but she landed on the pillar at the very least. Glad that no one was around to see that one, Nyx picked herself up from the floor, and placed one of the transmitters onto the base of the tree.

As she began moving towards her next waypoint, Jean Bison's voice suddenly sounded over some kind of intercom. "Perk up your ears, boys, I'm gonna tell you the tally from last month..."

"The blue lumberjack team managed to clear out about a hundred and twenty acres of forest," Jean Bison announced. "Not bad considerin' they had to kill all them badgers to do it, eh?"

Nyx made a face as she listened to the bison speak. Was this was he considered fun? Or even sport?

"But now, the gold lumberjack team. Bless their hearts, those boys chopped down two-hundred and eleven acres! Ya'll hear that? Two-hundred and eleven acres of progress!" Jean Bison exclaimed, sounding very enthusiastic.

"I cannot believe this guy," Nyx muttered into her earpiece.

"He's got a real twisted sense of progress, doesn't he?" Sly responded.

Nyx sighed. "Indeed he does,"

"It's kinda sad, though," Sly went on. "He's just a normal guy from the 1850's. In his day, he'd be a hero,"

"But in ours, he's a villain," Nyx said, finishing the raccoon's sentence.

"Mhm," hummed the raccoon.

Jean Bison had stopped talked by that point, having praised his men for their 'jobs well done'. By then, Nyx had reached the building where her second waypoint was placed, and was clambering her way up to the top. Climbing things with foot and handholds was so much easier than climbing vertical pipes...

She placed the next transmitter against the chimney of that building, and then leaped down from it and back into the snow. Only one more left on her end.

The third waypoint that Bentley had set wasn't too far from the previous building, in fact, Nyx could see it from where she'd landed. It was atop another large rock, though it looked like the oil main next to it might let her get up there without too much fuss.

Hoisting herself atop the oil main, Nyx used it to climb up onto the snowy rock, and placed the third transmitter against another rock that was up there. Alright, mission accomplished.

Nyx leaped down from the big snowy rock, and began heading back towards the safehouse, following the yellow waypoint that marked it's location. About halfway there, she had the hell scared out of her by an arm suddenly slinging itself over her shoulders.

Nyx forced the scream in the back of her throat to become a strangled squeak as she flailed away from the gray-furred jerk that had snuck up behind her.

"Sly!" Nyx hissed, glaring at the raccoon that was now laughing at her.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" Sly asked, clearly not sorry at all.

"Yes, you did!" Nyx replied, letting out a long breath as she let Sly lead her back to the safehouse. "That was rude,"

Sly laughed a bit and held up his hands. "Sorry, I couldn't help it,"

Nyx narrowed her eyes, though she wasn't actually mad at him. He'd just scared her half to death, sure, but she couldn't truly be mad at him.

"Are you guys on your way back to the safehouse?" Bentley's voice came in over their earpieces just seconds later.

"Yeah," Sly replied. "You need us for something else?"

"Just you, Sly," Bentley said. "Murray's run into a snag over at the RC combat club, he needs you to reach a disguise on the upper floor for him,"

Sly nodded. "On it," and then he removed his arm from Nyx's shoulders and headed off towards the mulch mill that housed the RC club. "I'll see you back at the safehouse,"

Nyx stuck her tongue out at the raccoon as he left, and then continued back towards the safehouse. "Sly is a jerk," she announced as she entered.

"Oh really?" Bentley asked, sounding rather sarcastic.

"Yeah, he came up behind me and scared the living daylights out of me," Nyx proclaimed, dropping into her chair.

"Did you expect anything less from him?" Bentley asked, chuckling a bit.

Nyx was silent for a moment. "Yeah no, not really,"

Bentley laughed now, and then turned his laptop so that Nyx could join him in watching the raccoon defy the laws of peripheral vision and also gravity. He was currently sneaking behind the group of guards in the room, and was making his way towards a pole in the back that seemed to lead up to the upper levels.

Once at the pole, Sly dodged a lone spotlight that was panning back and forth, and then climbed his way up the pole. In the room below him was another guard, so Sly chose to perch upon the edge of the fence there, and edge to the left, towards the wall.

He then jumped over the guard's head, landing near silently behind him. Keeping his eyes on the guard for a moment, he moved towards the passageway that could be seen from the left side of the room when he came in.

Though perhaps 'passageway' wasn't the best term for it? There was no floor, unless you counted all the sharp saw blades down there, which Sly certainly did not. There were a few claws mounted to the roof, which were used to move logs. Only one of them had a log currently held in it's grasp, while the other two were empty and closed.

Nyx was going to ask how Sly was going to get across that, when the raccoon suddenly leaped towards one of the closed claws, and hooked his cane onto it. He swung from this claw to the next, and then landed on the log. He leaped onto the edge of a saw blade from there, and used it to reach the next area with an actual floor.

"His lack of self-preservation will forever amaze me," Nyx said, staring at Bentley's laptop with a nearly blank look on her face.

Bentley chuckled at her statement. "It took me a while to get used to it, too,"

Meanwhile, Sly was busy walking across lengths of razor blades. Razor blades that occasionally moved at breakneck speeds. Again, Nyx found herself staring blankly at the screen as she watched Sly. She was used to Sly doing dangerous things, but walking on blades was just a little too much for her.

The next area that Sly came across was completely and utterly full of large razors, all spinning rapidly. "Please don't tell me he's going to crawl under those..." Nyx asked, hoping that saying it aloud would make it happen.

It didn't, and Sly went crawling underneath the blades, being mindful of where his tail was at all times.

Nyx waited until he was clear of the razors before saying, "You are the biggest idiot on the planet,"

Sly chuckled a bit as he spire jumped onto the tip of another claw. And here he'd thought that she was used to the way things worked in his gang.

After swinging on another claw and slipping by another guard who had fallen asleep, Sly climbed up another pole to reach another set of claws that he could spire jump to. These lead him to the uppermost area of the mill, where there was a guard, and the disguise that Murray needed.

The raccoon slipped underneath a few tables, and skirted around the edge of the guard's flashlight to reach the disguise. He tossed it down to Murray, and then leaped off the platform to slip out the door.

With Murray now in disguise, he openly approached the group of guards who had been fiddling with various RC devices. "Hey fellas, any of you guys think you can beat 'The Mur-" Murray stopped, realizing his error, and both Nyx and Bentley found themselves holding their breath.

"-'The Moose'? Maybe put a bet on it?" Murray managed to recover from his error, and at least not sound like he'd just made an error.

The guard he was speaking to seemed none the wiser to Murray's blunder. "Oh, I'm in, eh! I ain't got a lot of money for the wager... But there's no way I'd lose to a new guy like you,"

Murray was then invited into the combat circle, and both he and the guard prepared their RC tanks. "You ready to go, eh?" the guard asked.

"You know it!" Murray replied, and with that the match began. The tanks didn't have native ammo, and it seemed that part of the battle was to reach the ammo that other guards threw into the ring.

Murray controlled the tank rather well, and Nyx began to wonder if he'd done this before. The other guy was able to land in a few hits, but in the end, Murray was the one who was victorious.

"You won, eh. But I ain't got no money," the guard said begrudgingly, as if he couldn't believe he'd lost.

"That might be okay," responded Murray. "It all depends,"

The guard raised a brow. "Depends on what?"

"On whether or not you know the location of the Northern Light battery," Murray said.

The guard sighed. "Oh well, I guess I owe ya..."


"After reading through the log chopping guide, it's become painfully clear that to win in the lumberjack games, we'll have to cheat," Bentley said pointedly.

"Now, I've constructed a plan that hinges around us acquiring an eagle's egg. Which is more difficult than you'd think," Bentley continued. "First, Murray and I are going to destroy the local oil mains. Once destroyed, the pressurized oil should ignite, and create updrafts, which Sly will then use to paraglide over to the eagle's nest. Grab an egg, and then head back to the safehouse,"

That sounded a lot easier than Nyx figured it likely would be. After her experience with the eagles on the train with Bentley, she really didn't want to go antagonizing them. But Bentley had his reasons...

"Thanks to Murray's undercover work in the RC combat club, we've learned that the Northern Light battery is hidden in a silo nearby," the turtle went on. "The battery needs some serious modification if we're going to hide it to sneak onto Arpeggio's blimp. First, we'll short the battery with grapple lines on local boats. Then, we'll all break into the lighthouse and sever the power flow to the battery. That way it won't re-charge,"

"Given my electrical engineering background, this plan has a ninety-seven percent chance of success," Bentley said. "Pretty good, huh?"

"And what about the other three percent?" Nyx asked, skeptically raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that's the percent where we get electrocuted by the battery," Bentley said, although he didn't sound nearly scared enough of that option.

Nyx stared at him for a moment. "Oh. Well that's a lovely thought,"

"Don't worry, that likely won't happen," Bentley said, shaking his head.

"Well, I sure hope you're right," Nyx sighed, resigning herself to the fact that dangerous things were just normal around these guys.

Bentley chuckled. "Aren't I always? Now, are we ready to begin?"

"'The Murray' is ready to destroy some oil mains!" Murray cheered, smacking his fists together.

Bentley nodded. "Alright. Nyx, how do you feel about coming with me to help out with that one?"

Nyx raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged. "I guess so?"

"Good to hear it, let's go then. Sly, you get to man the binocucom station until we get back," Bentley said, leading Nyx and Murray to the door.

"Aye aye, Captain," Sly said, kicking his feet up onto the table.

The three headed out into the snowy lumber camp, and Bentley pointed Murray towards where he needed to go. Then he lead Nyx to another location not far away.

When Murray reached his position, he stared at the big oil main before voicing his concerns. "These oil mains look pretty sturdy. 'The Murray' is strong, but his fists can't punch through metal,"

"No problem," Sly said over the binocucom. "See that old bear down there? His name is Grizzle Face, the guards ignore him because he's blind and practically nerve dead. Except for his sense of smell. If that old guy smells fish, there's no stopping him. Use him to take out the oil mains,"

"But I don't smell like fish!" Murray protested, but then lifted an arm to smell under it. "Do I? How can I lure him around?"

"Bentley and Nyx have taken up a post along the river," Sly explained. "They'll keep tossing bombs into the water, and the fish should get blown sky high. Plenty should land near your position,"

"So you want me to throw a fish at the oil mains so that old Grizzle Face will knock 'em apart?" Murray questioned.

Sly nodded. "That's the idea,"

Over by the river, Bentley was finishing up with giving Nyx a crash course in bombs. She had practically jumped out of her skin when he'd handed one to her, but she was a little less jumpy now that she knew how they worked.

Bentley tossed the first bomb into the river, and within a few moments it exploded, sending various kinds of fish flying out of the water. One particularly big fish landed at Murray's feet, and he didn't hesitate in picking the slimy thing up.

"Blegh," Nyx make a face. "Touching fish is gross,"

"But yet you'll eat fish?" Bentley questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Ssshh. I'm a cat, okay?" Nyx playfully hissed, watching as Murray tossed the fish onto the oil main. Was this actually going to work?

It was a few moments after throwing the fish onto the oil main, but eventually old Grizzle Face came loping around a corner, and proceeded to tear the oil main to shreds as he tried to get the fish.

"Wow," Nyx said as she tossed the next bomb into the water. "I didn't know bears were that strong,"

"They are indeed a force of nature," replied Bentley, as if he found it beautiful.

Another fish flew through the air and landed near Murray, and he picked it up to haul it over to the next oil main. Old Grizzle Face wasted no time in following, and Murray almost didn't have the time to dart out of the bear's way once he tossed the fish onto the main.

The cycle continued twice more, until all four oil mains in the camp had been smashed to pieces. "Solid work, Murray," said Bentley. "Now that the oil lines are exposed, Sly's all set up for a paragliding job off the lighthouse,"

"Speaking of that eagle egg," Nyx said as she and Bentley began heading back for the safehouse. "We're not going to hurt the baby, are we?"

"Not if I can help it, no," replied Bentley. "We just want to harness the parent's protective power to our advantage,"

Nyx nodded. "Okay good. Proceed as planned,"

When they returned to the safehouse, Bentley began looking over various blueprints and plans, before yet again grabbing his crossbow. "Alright. Sly, Murray, I need both of your help for this one. We've gotta short out that battery. Nyx, you'll stay here, and keep an eye on things from this end,"

Nyx nodded and gave a quick salute. "You got it,"

Bentley nodded back to her, and then lead his other teammates out of the safehouse and into the camp. Crossing the river to get there, they made their way over to a small boat that was docked in the surrounding waters, which wasn't too far off from the silo they were targeting.

"If we can trust Murray's informant, that's the silo with the battery hidden inside, right?" asked Sly as the trio stood there.

Bentley nodded. "Yes. To prepare it for travel, we'll have to drain off it's Northern Light Energy,"

"Am I the only one still asking how the Northern Lights can power a battery?" and there was Nyx, once again questioning the logic of everything going on around her.

Sly laughed. "Yeah, I think so,"

Bentley shook his head, though he couldn't help but smile a bit. "Anyways - By attaching a boat's grappling hook to the top of the silo, we should be able to deplete power from the battery,"

"Sounds easy enough," said Sly. "What's the actual plan?"

"I need you to get on top of the silo, Sly. You'll attach the grappling hook once Murray and I commandeer the boat," instructed Bentley. "It's Murray's job to get me over to the boat, and keep an eye out for trouble,"

Sly nodded and started for the silo. "Got it. Hope you know how to drive a boat,"

Bentley rolled his eyes as the raccoon went. Of course he knew how to drive a boat... He then lead Murray to leap down from the ledge they were on, to one of the lower snow-covered walkways. "Alright Murray, you ready to toss me over there?"

"The Murray's throwing arm is at full capacity!" confirmed Murray.

That was all the confirmation Bentley needed, and he leaped up into Murray's arms to let the hippo toss him over onto the small boat.

Once there, Bentley wasted no time in starting to hack at the boat's control system. While he did, Murray kept an eye out for possible guards, and Sly was busy climbing up the silo.

Back in the safehouse, Nyx was reclined in her chair, watching three different screens do three different things. "Hey Sly," she said after a while. "How good do you think you'd be at this job if you were scared of heights?"

"And where is this question coming from?" Sly questioned in return.

"I dunno," Nyx replied. "Curiosity, I guess..."

Sly snorted as he reached the top of the silo. "You know what they say about curiosity and cats, right?"

"Nooo," Nyx drawled, clearly being sarcastic. "What do they say?"

"Oh, don't tell me you've never heard the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat'?" Sly purred, taking Nyx's sarcasm and rolling with it.

Nyx laughed. "'Course I have. But not many people know the rest of the saying. There's a second part that says 'But satisfaction brought it back.',"

"Lookit you, coming in with the obscure knowledge," chuckled Sly. "I really do need to stop leaving you with Bentley,"

Nyx rolled her eyes, even though Sly couldn't see. "Just answer the question,"

Sly laughed and then sighed. "Guess I would be pretty crap at this if I was scared of heights. But then again, aren't you scared of heights? You're managing,"

Nyx hummed. "Okay, true. But I'm a cat... We're good at climbing, at the very least,"

"But yet you're really bad at landing on your feet..." Sly purred, as if he were trying to deduce something important.

Nyx stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at the raccoon. "It's not every day that I go using mushrooms as trampolines or go diving out of windows, y'know,"

Sly laughed. "Well, you better get used to it, if you plan on sticking with us,"

Nyx snorted and rolled her eyes again. "You still need to teach me how to jump out of windows properly,"

"Oh yeah," Sly drawled. "Remind me to do that once we've taken care of the Klaww Gang,"

Nyx found it interesting that he didn't say 'Destroyed Clockwerk', because wasn't that his main goal here? She chose to not comment on it though, figuring it best to not do so. "I'm holding you to that,"

"Are you two done flirting?" Bentley suddenly asked, pulling up to the silo with the first commandeered boat.

"It's not flirting, Bentley," Nyx protested. "It's a casual conversation between teammates,"

Bentley hummed. "Uh-Huh. You ready for this grappling hook, Sly?"

"Born ready," replied the raccoon.

Bentley moved the heavy grappling hook slowly, aiming carefully up at the top of the silo. He didn't want to hit Sly, but he needed to get the hook up there... Eventually, he lined his shot up, and fired the hook.

Sly caught it perfectly with his cane, and hooked it onto the silo. "Alright, that's one grappling hook attached,"

"Okay, Murray, let's find the next boat," said Bentley, motioning for Murray to follow him. The two slipped around the guards, and headed for the next boat that Bentley had located.

From the safehouse, Nyx watched as Murray tossed Bentley onto the frozen form of the mammoth they'd previously - And briefly - Rescued from the deep freeze. "So Bentley... You're standing on a frozen mammoth..."

"Don't remind me..." mumbled the turtle.

Sly chuckled slightly. "I was wondering what happened to that guy... Guess he just prefers to be frozen..."


"Do you have any self-preservation at all?" Nyx asked as Sly strode back into the safehouse with a eagle egg cradled in his arms.

"Nope," Sly replied, not even giving it a second thought. He was pretty used to dangerous and sometimes stupid things by this point in his life.

Nyx on the other hand - Despite some of the dumb things she'd recently done - Was not. "What if you'd fallen into the water? Who would've came to rescue your ass?"

Sly shrugged. "I made it back, didn't I?"

Nyx sighed and shook her head. Then she turned to Bentley, who was setting up that familiar slide machine. "So what's the plan, Bentley?"

"Give me a moment..." said the turtle. "And I'll tell you,"

Nyx reclined in her chair as Sly procured a warm towel to wrap the eagle egg in, so the little bird inside wouldn't freeze. It was pretty cold out there, after all.

After a few more minutes, Bentley had his projector set up, and was ready to brief his team on the upcoming 'Lumberjack Games'. "The Lumberjack Games are upon us. Now, despite Murray's study of the log chopping guide, none of us are skilled enough to beat Jean Bison at his own game... So, though it pains me to say it, we'll have to cheat..."

"Murray; You'll participate in the power log chopping competition. Get us a good score, then let Bison up for his turn. While he's chopping, I'll sneak the eagle egg into his trousers, and the protective parents should disturb his axe swings," Bentley explained. "Sly; Given your ascension skills, I've signed you up for the ice wall climb. We'll keep Bison from beating your score by pulling him off the wall with some nearby grappling lines. And finally - I'll represent our team in the log rolling competition. With my knowledge of rotational mechanics, we're sure to get a stupendous score. Sly will be in charge of greasing Bison's log, so he has no chance of beating it,"

"Nyx; While I know it's boring, I need you to hold down the fort here, and make sure nothing goes wrong. If we need you, we'll call. If you guys are ready, I say we head out and show these meathead lumberjacks what we're made of!" Bentley concluded, his slide show clicking off as it reached it's end.

Sly handed the eagle egg off to Bentley, and rolled his shoulders. "Let's do this thing,"

"Be careful out there, okay? Let's hope that Bison doesn't recognize you guys or something..." Nyx said as her teammates geared up.

"Don't worry about it," said Sly. "We've got this,"

Nyx snorted. "Seems like you always do, huh?"

Sly winked at her as they went, a silent confirmation that they'd be fine. And after all this time, Nyx found herself a little less worried than she logically felt she should have been. Maybe she wasn't completely accustomed to all this, but she was getting used to it.

Outside the safehouse, the trio set their sights on the Lumberjack Games below them. "Okay guys, let's head down there and win those talons from Jean Bison. Sly, try to keep a low profile when we get close, Nyx is right; We don't want him to recognize you,"

Sly nodded. "Got it,"

The three then made their way through the camp, and down to the site of the Lumberjack Games. Bison was the only other person there. Apparently no one else was dumb enough to challenge him.

"Excuse me, sir," said Bentley as they approached Bison, trying to use his most 'macho' voice possible. "We humble lumberjacks would like to participate in your Lumberjack Games,"

"Think you got what it takes to win the Clockwerk Talons, eh? Well, I'm sure enough gonna let ya play. So long as you pay the entry fee,"

Bentley had seen this one coming, and had brought plenty of money with him. He produced some from his pocket, and handed it over. "Much obliged, partner. We'll uh. Just take our positions for the competition,"

"Enjoy the moment while ya think you're still got a chance. It's as close to winning as you'll ever get!" Bison then growled.

Bentley chose to not say anything to that, and just ushered his team over to their positions. From their ears, Nyx's voice came over. "Well, he's not a very good host, is he..."

Replying quietly, Sly laughed. "No, he's really not. I'll be glad to take him down a few notches,"

Nyx hummed in agreement, but said no more. It was best if her friends weren't caught talking to imaginary voices... The three waited for a short while, before the Lumberjack Games officially began. Jean Bison announced them loudly, calling all participants over.

"This year's first event will be a power choppin' contest! Not like anyone's gonna beat my record... But! Let 'em try!" said Bison, as Murray stepped up to the log, axe in hand.

Sly rolled his eyes at Bison's arrogance, but said nothing. Soon enough, Bison would know defeat.

The event started as soon as Murray took the first swing, and the hippo determinedly began swinging as quickly and precisely as he could. Not to mention powerfully. It was a power chopping contest, after all... He made quick work of the log, and soon enough it was chopped in two.

Murray turned to the judges as they raised their scoreboards; It was 10s all across. "Not bad, hippo," said Bison. "But watch and learn as I destroy that log without even breakin' a sweat!"

Man, was this guy full of himself. And it really showed in the way he strode up to the log, and began hacking at it. Though no sooner than he'd begun, Bentley had started sneaking up behind him, already having been in position.

Dodging the angry parents of the egg, Bentley quickly made his way to Bison, and slipped the egg into his pants. It took no time at all for the parents to start swooping down on him, disrupting and throwing off his previously perfect swings.

Bison ducked, causing the egg to roll from his pocket and into the snow. The eagle parents were quick to scoop it up and fly off with their offspring, but that was fine. They'd done their job; The judges were giving Bison flat out zeros.

Sly smirked smugly as Bison was given a bad score. But then Bison started glaring at the judges. "What?! I think you better rethink them scores, boys. What you intended to give me was perfect tens! Right?!"

Utterly and completely intimidated by Jean, the judges quickly changed their scores to tens, pleasing the large bison. Everyone present stared as this took place.

"That's not fair!" Nyx hissed through the binocucom. "That was an absolutely terrible go! Those eagles made sure of it! He thinks that's worth tens?!"

Sly shook his head. "He's so full of himself..."

"What if he keeps doing that?" Nyx protested. "What if he keeps threatening the judges? How are we gonna win?"

"Just stick to the plan," muttered Bentley, checking over the grapplings they were going to soon use to pull Jean off the ice wall.

There was a short moment of silence from Nyx, and then, "And what do we do if we don't win?"

"We improvise," said Sly.

Nyx sighed. "I was afraid of that..."

Jean Bison's booming voice then sounded, signaling that the next round was up. "So your pink friend knows how to handle an axe. Let's see how you handle a vertical wall of ice!"

Sly grinned, and headed for the wall. He stretched briefly, before beginning the long ascent upwards. Unsurprisingly, he was lightning fast, never lingering on one hook for too long. He reached the top in what was likely record time, looking pretty pleased with himself for it.

"Pretty good for a scrawny raccoon..." mumbled Bison, as the judges gave Sly perfect tens. "Now watch and learn as I demonstrate the art of power climbing!"

Using the Clockwerk Talons as his climbing device, Bison began climbing up the wall at an impressive speed for someone of his size.

Murray was quick to get on the grappling hooks, aiming them towards Jean Bison's trousers. Aiming at a rather fast moving target wasn't easy, but Murray managed to hook him with all three of the lines before he reached the top.

As the grappling lines pulled, Jean lost his grip, and went tumbling down. The grappling hooks came loose as he fell, allowing Murray to reel them back in, and leaving it looking like Bison had fallen due to his own lack of skill.

As per the plan, the judges gave Bison straight-up zeros for that performance. Of course, Bison wasn't having that in his own competition, and started pulling out the threats. "It seems you have pulled the wrong cards again. Did I ever tell any of you the story about the judge from last year's competition who mistakenly gave me a score other than ten?"

That had the judges quaking in their boots, and they quickly amended their scores to tens. That pleased Bison well enough, and he turned to his competitors. "I see we're tied with only one event to go... Unfortunately for you, I've saved my best event for last! The spinning log competition!"

It was Bentley's turn to step up to the plate here, though he was indeed a bit nervous. "Okay, looks easy enough... I just need to stay out of the water..."

As Bentley began the rolling log event, Nyx hissed into the binocucom. "He's gonna keep cheating the judges, guys... What happens if we end on a tie?"

"I dunno," Sly replied. "But we'll figure it out. We're not letting him get away with the Talons..."

Nyx sighed. "Yeah..."

Bentley proved to be rather good at keeping his balance on rolling logs, and earned their team another set of solid tens. "You're one lucky turtle, I'll give you that..." muttered Bison in response. "But now, watch how a skilled log roller does it,"

Bentley rolled his eyes, and rejoined his teammates. It was clear on their faces that they all felt exactly what Murray proceeded to say, "This is crazy! Jean Bison's got those judges so intimidated, there's no way he can lose!"

"You're right. Those guys need to go..." agreed Sly. "Okay, I'm just making this up on the fly, but... What if I were to lure the judges, one by one, into that cave? Once inside, you two will knock him out, and take their clothes,"

"...That's not a half bad plan B..." Nyx mumbled over the com line.

"It's ingenious!" decided Bentley. "When all three judges have been restrained, we'll be able to don our disguises, and take their place at the judges' table!"

Nyx hummed. "But how are you going to lure them?"

Sly chuckled in response to that. "Remember that alarm clock thing I woke you up with?"

"I considered throwing that out the window, y'know..." Nyx replied flatly. During their short break in which Nyx learned to actually be a member of the gang, Sly had thought it would be cool to place a rather loud alarm clock he'd gotten off ThiefNet right next to her... She truly had thought about throwing it out the window...

"Good thing you didn't. It ought to get the judge's attention just fine," purred Sly, producing the offending device from his pouch.

"You'll have to move fast," advised Murray, as Sly tossed the clock up and down. "Once Jean Bison finishes the log rolling event, the gig is up!"

Sly nodded and watched from the corner of his eye as Bison stepped up to said event. "Don't sweat it, pal,"

Bentley and Murray retreated to the cave, as Sly headed towards the judges. Using the alarm clock to catch the first judge's attention, Sly lead him back to the cave, where Bentley and Murray ambushed the duck. Once the guard was subdued, Bentley proceeded to take his place at the table.

The routine repeated itself, this time ending with Murray taking a judge's spot. From the safehouse, Nyx watched as Sly started leading the last judge, wondering if this plan was really gonna work... Jean didn't seem like the kind of guy to make idle threats...

There was no time to voice that concern, though, as the plan was already in motion. Soon enough, Sly had taken the third judge's place, just in time for Bison to finish. As he leaped back to solid ground, he scowled upon seeing the 'judges' giving him complete and utter zeroes again.

"What?! I thought I warned you judges about the consequences for incorrect scores!" growled Bison. As the 'judges' refused to change their scores, Bison's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Wait a second..."

"Oh crap..." Nyx hissed to herself, leaning forwards towards the computer screen. The gig was up, wasn't it?

"You aren't the judges I hired! It's the scrawny raccoon and his annoying friends!" Jean Bison yelled. Yeah, the gig was definitely up... "Well, if you want the Talons, then why don't you just take 'em!?"

And then, in an obvious fit of rage, Bison threw his Talon-adorned staff at the people who dared try to rig his competition (Like he hadn't been doing so himself...). Before even Sly could react, the heavy object had clobbered all three of them, sending them spiraling down into unconsciousness.


I let out an undignified shriek as I watched Bison throw his staff and take out my teammates. The binocucom lines went with, likely damaged by the impact. That was not good, that was really not good...

I tried hard to not panic as I tried hailing my friends over the audio line. "Sly?! Bentley?! Murray?! Shit, can you guys hear me?!"

There was no response, even after I waited a few seconds. Okay... Definitely not good... My teammates were now incapacitated, and I had no idea what to do about that...

I thought about rushing down to the location of the Lumberjack games, but I then thought better of it. Rushing out of the safehouse didn't do me any good the last time... I needed to approach this logically... Which was hard to do when I was rather close to panicking, but I managed to hold onto some form of reason as I tried to think of a plan.

If my friends were still alive (Which I seriously hoped they were...), Bison would likely imprison them somewhere, right? The logging camp was pretty small, so there were only so many places he could do so...

But how would I find it... We didn't have much time before Arpeggio's blimp would be arriving, and we had to get into that battery beforehand... So how would I find them in time...?

I stared at Bentley's laptop screen for a moment, panic and vague concepts swirling around my head. For the first time, it was just me. Only me. I didn't have anyone else to help me figure this out. And it was a daunting task. After a few moments, I shook my head to clear it, and then started furiously typing in the binocucom system. There was a way to track the individual units, wasn't there? Maybe one of them would still be operational enough for me to get a signal from it?

But I had no idea how to work that feature of the binocucom program... Bentley just hadn't gotten around to teaching me that. No one had ever gone off the radar like this before...

I sat there for an unknown length of time, typing with shaking hands, trying to figure out what I was meant to do to help my team. I became absorbed in my task, not paying attention to anything else around me. Perhaps that was why I didn't immediately notice the sound of heavy footsteps marching towards the safehouse, and Bison's voice echoing through the camp.

Once I noticed it however, a sinking feeling settled into my chest... I froze where I was for just a second, before rushing over to one of the front windows. I glanced out, and saw none other than Jean Bison marching his way towards our safehouse, bringing a small army of men with him. How the hell did he know where to find us?!

That question was soon replaced by a feeling of complete and utter panic. I had to get the hell out of there, otherwise I'd end up captured, too! I rushed back to the table, and closed Bentley's laptop in a hurry. I was going to need it if I were to locate my friends.

With the laptop under my arm, I started thinking of how I was going to get out of there. As I looked around the safehouse however, a horrible realization hit me as my eyes scanned over the Clockwerk parts that were piled in the corner of the room.

If Jean stormed the safehouse, he was going to find the parts... We'd loaded nearly everything else back into the van before the Lumberjack Games, but since we'd parked in a more open area this time, we'd opted to keep them inside until it was time to go.

I couldn't just leave them there for Jean to have, could I? We'd fought tooth and nail for those things, they were the entire reason we were here... The reason we were heading for Arpeggio's blimp... We couldn't let them fall back into the hands of the Klaww Gang...

But there was no way I could get them out of here... I couldn't lift half of them, and Jean Bison would be arriving at any moment...

As I contemplated my problems, what was no doubt the Clockwerk Talons swung into the door, majorly splintering the wood and announcing that Bison had indeed arrived. I was out of time...

I stood frozen for a few more seconds, before acting on pure impulse, and turning towards the back windows. I was already cursing myself for this, and hoping that Sly would forgive me...

But I had to make a choice, and this one seemed more logical... It was the choice that resulted in me getting away to hopefully free my team so we could keep fighting back.

Wishing that Sly had properly taught me how to do it, I launched myself out of the window, just as the door behind me was forced open and reduced to splinters. I felt glass dig into my right shoulder as I broke the window, and a few shards nicked my face as I went through.

I landed on my back, cradling Bentley's laptop against my chest to prevent it from being damaged. Glass dug into my back, too, but adrenaline numbed the pain enough so I could work through it.

I dragged myself off my feet as I heard Bison start yelling for his men to find whoever had just been in the safehouse, and I sprinted away from it as fast as my legs would carry me. I had no idea where I was going, but I had to get somewhere safe... Clearly, the safehouse was no longer it.

I felt guilty for leaving the Clockwerk parts behind, but I also knew that there was nothing I could have done. If I'd stayed even a moment longer, Bison would have caught me, too.

It was best if at least one of us was still out there, trying to figure this out. I sprinted through the camp until I reached the far corner of it, coming to a stop behind one of the milling buildings. I pressed my back to the cold wood, panting heavily, and listened for the sounds of men coming after me.

I waited for what felt like entirely too long, waiting to hear footsteps rushing towards me. But they never came, and eventually I resolved to open Bentley's laptop again, and resume my search for my team's locations. I still listened around myself carefully, though, completely expecting an ambush. But the camp was suddenly rather quiet... I wasn't sure if that was more alarming than it would be if it was bustling with activity instead.

I frantically worked with Bentley's laptop for a while more, not getting anywhere with my search. The binocucom program was complicated, likely something that only Bentley truly knew how to operate. I really wished he'd at least given me a crash course in it... But we'd never gotten that far, somehow. After the prison, our training had mostly been in fighting and thief moves. We didn't have much time for computer lessons. And to be honest, I didn't expect to be put in this kind of situation, so I hadn't thought them necessary. I knew how to work the main console, how to monitor audio and video and the like, and that seemed like enough before now.

I was starting to get frustrated as the time ticked on, counting down the minutes until Arpeggio's blimp arrived and our only way of getting to him slipped away. I was running out of options to try, when my earbud burst to life with a familiar voice. "Nyx? Come in, do you read me?"

"Sly!" I gasped, entirely too happy to hear his voice. "Where are you guys?! I can't get the binocucom to locate you!"

"I don't think they're working right, but that's not important," Sly said, speaking quickly. "According to Bison, he stormed the safehouse and took the Clockwerk parts..."

I sighed harshly. "Yeah... I didn't have time to stop him before he burst through the door... I'm sorry..."

There was a brief pause, and a frustrated whoosh of breath. "Don't be. He sold them to Arpeggio, so we've got to get onto that blimp at all costs... We're almost out of this room Bison locked us in... But we're running out of time. Meet us at the battery, quick!"

"Got it!" I replied, closing Bentley's laptop and pulling myself to my feet. I sprinted off towards the battery on tired legs, vaguely remembering it's location.

When I arrived at the battery, I could see Arpeggio's blimp nearly upon us. We were really cutting this close... As I rushed to join my friends, Murray was in the process of helping Bentley inside the battery.

Sly looked relieved to see me as I joined them, but said nothing, just helped me into the battery, following Murray. There was a cold look on his face that I'd never seen before...

No one said anything as we settled into the dark battery. Bentley had been right about his plan to drain it working; That other three percent wasn't something we had to worry about. We'd made it... Almost hadn't, but we'd made it...

We waited in silence for the battery to start moving, and it felt like it took eternity to do so... But eventually, there was the sound of something hooking onto the battery, the force of it shaking the whole thing. Moments later, and we were airborne, being lifted off the ground towards Arpeggio's blimp.

I looked around the battery as we all silently sat there. And as I took in the state of my friends, I knew we all felt the same way. We'd failed. The Clockwerk parts were gone, after everything we'd done to get them...

Sly was tense and couldn't seem to stop twitching his leg. I'd never seen him look so pissed off before... I'd seen him get frustrated before, but this was a whole new side of him.

Bentley took his laptop as soon as he realized I had escaped with it, and started working on something, likely a plan to help us. But by the annoyed look on his face, it looked like it wasn't going well. He was probably just doing it to give himself something to focus on...

I, myself was fighting back the urge to cry. Everything had gone wrong in such a short amount of time, and I wished there was something I could have done about it... I found myself wishing that I'd been with this gang longer. Maybe I could have done something if I had more experience...

Out of all of us, however, Murray was definitely taking it the worst. He was silently sobbing, watching out the windows of the silo as the cherished team van floated farther and farther away. I'd been with them long enough to know that Murray was incredibly proud of that van...

Carefully and slowly, I reached out to grasp one of Murray's hands, drawing his attention to me. It felt wrong to see someone like him cry... I tried my best to smile at him, despite the fact that I, too, wanted to cry.

Murray tried hard to smile back, but it didn't reach his eyes, and the tears kept coming. I kept my hand in his, and squeezed tightly, trying to tell him that we'd be okay.

We sat like that for the longest time, before the swaying feeling of being airborne was replacing by the battery jostling around as it was set down and anchored to something metal. After that, the battery was still.

I looked to Bentley, and then to Sly. They both cautiously looked around as well, trying to deduce if the coast was clear. I chewed at the inside of my lip as we waited, half expecting to be found out.

But aside from the sounds of mechanical whirring, it was rather quiet outside the battery, and eventually Sly decided that it was safe. "Okay Bentley, what's the plan?"

There was an edge to Sly's voice as he spoke; He was trying to not sound as pissed as he truly was, trying to remain the calm and level-headed leader we knew him as. I wouldn't have minded if he'd chosen to express his anger, though; We were all pissed. But brash displays of emotion weren't Sly's thing, it didn't surprise me that he was staying rather calm through all this.

Bentley sighed. "I don't know. We're in a rather grim predicament..."

"...We have basically no supplies... And it looks like only the binocucom audio is working right now..." I said quietly. "Video went out when Bison clocked you, and I'm not sure what's up with GPS tracking..."

"I can't get it to work either... So I suppose that should be our first objective..." said Bentley. "Fix the binocucoms... But like you said, we have no supplies..."

Sly hummed. "There's gotta be tools somewhere on this blimp, right?"

"I would assume so, yes. But if we're to find them, I'm going to need you two to get out there and take some recon photos of the place," Bentley replied, nodding slowly.

I looked over to Sly, and then nodded firmly. We had no time to waste just sitting there... "Let's do it, then,"