Sly Cooper: Alliance of Thieves

by NEBSparky86

Sly Cooper is looking to finish the job that he started two years ago to finish Clockwerk off for good. Little does Cooper realize that a secret member of the Klaww Gang is starting to develop feelings for him and wish to aid him. All the while, a friendly rival from a fight long past is coming to his aid. M-rated for sexual content and profanity.

9. Chapter 9

Episode 1: An Opera of Fear

oooooooooooooo

The Setup

Sly Cooper (narrating): "Getting inside a world-class vault would take a team of world-class thieves, a group of specialists, each member contributing their own particular talent. It was clear that we needed Murray back. Not only was I missing a lifelong friend, but his brute strength helped get us out of more than a few scrapes in the past. Unfortunately for Bentley and I, Nathan and Sully said that they had to continue their search for Nathan's wife, Elena, but wished us luck in getting Murray back on the team.

"When Bentley was injured during the whole Clockwerk affair, Murray blamed himself, eventually leaving the team. All of us tried to console him, even Neyla tried, but going out on his own was something he needed to do. He said he wanted to find his spiritual center. We got word that Murray ended up in the Australian outback where he studied a mystic art called the Dreamtime from an Aboriginal guru. From all accounts, things went pretty well, and his teacher even sent him on a walkabout to locations all over the globe to complete the training. Latest reports from my lovely and Gorgeous Tigress have sighted Murray in beautiful Venice, Italy, but what he's doing there is a mystery. I just hope he steers clear of the local mob boss, Octavio.

"Growing up, this guy used to be a real celebrity in the neighborhood. Everyone loved to hear him sing opera and said he was destined to be the next great tenor, but just as his career started to take off, musical tastes changed. Suddenly, it was all about rock music, and no one wanted to listen to opera anymore. He held onto a few fans, and it was these mobsters that took him into "the business." Heading onto this guy's turf was dangerous, but worth it for a chance to make things right with Murray."

oooooooooooooo

The streets of Venice, Italy had lots of patrolling guards, roaming the streets and even the rooftops of various buildings as well. Some guards were cats, while others were pigeons and the big flashlight guards were Cane Corso dogs that were patrolling the streets as the duo of Sly and Bentley made their way to their recently established safe house that they had to rent for a month. Once everything was step up, Sly took the first step and left the safe house. Wanting to make sure that he wasn't rusty with the various thieving skills, the grey furred raccoon prowled around the safe house area for a bit, making sure his skills were up to snuff. Sly made sure that he could climb up poles, spire jump on various points and even rope walk on wires. One cat guard caught Sly practicing his skills and demanded an explanation for why he was out so late at night as his boss, Octavio, had established a curfew in the neighborhood.

"Sorry," replied Sly. "I don't have much time during the day with my 'legitimate job' to practice my skills."

"Are you some sort of gymnast or something?" asked the cat guard in confusion.

"No, I'm a thief," answered Sly before realizing that he made a mistake admitting his true profession. "But I'm not here to steal from your boss. I figured this neighborhood was ideal and safe for practicing my thieving skills."

The cat guard studied Sly for a moment as he was processing the explanation he was given. Thankfully for Sly, the cat guard took only a minute to process the explanation and shrugged his shoulders and bought Sly's lie.

"Okay then," replied the cat guard. "Just keep the practicing to a minimum and be back in your home in an hour. If another security guard catches you, I'll deny that I gave you permission to practice so late at night."

With the cat guard gone back to his post, Sly went down to street level as Bentley came on the binocucom and said to Sly, "You're really lucky that guy bought your lie. At any rate, given Murray's criminal past, it seems logical to start our search at the local police station. If he's not already in custody, the cops are sure to have leads on all the crooks in Venice."

Once Sly had gotten in enough practice and picked a few guards' pockets, obtaining a few silver watches, the raccoon master thief headed to his rendezvous point, back next to the safe house

"That massive dome marks the Venetian police station," Bentley informed Sly as Sly looked at the massive domed building.

"Cops 'round here really like to make an impression," said Sly as he looked to the police station.

"I'm afraid it's a losing battle," replied Bentley. "Don Octavio runs the show in this neighborhood. It's his "security forces" patrolling the streets, not the cops."

"Noted...," acknowledged Sly before spotting the makeshift bridge to get him to the police station. "Hmmm. Looks like I found my way inside."

"That dome is covered in glazed tile," said Bentley in protest, "there's no way to climb up there."

"Aw, come on pal," Sly said coolly, "there's always a way."

Sly easily made his way to the top of the glazed tile building. The raccoon thief jumped across one gondola boat, spire jumped across two pointed poles and used another gondola boat to jump on the rope that allowed him to reach the top of the building. Bentley then chimed in on the binocucom as he said, "Nice climbing partner, I've got the blueprints to the vent system in front of me. I should be able to guide you to the jail cell."

Sly was guided by Bentley through the ventilation shafts of the building until he happened to reach a lone jail cell. Upon reaching the jail cell, Sly noticed a shadowy figure in the cell.

"Hey, Murray... is that you?" Sly called to the shadowy figure in the jail cell.

"Murray?" the mysterious figure asked in contempt. "That name's a stain on my pants, bro... whuh!?

The mysterious figure steps towards the front of the cell, revealing himself to be a former enemy of the Cooper Gang, Dimitri Lousteau. The purple lizard was surprised to see his former nemesis in front of him as he replied, still in contempt, "Cooper! You've got some fuzzy dice to come round here."

Sly recognized one of his former foes as he replied, "Dimitri? Long time no punch. See you're still in jail."

"And you're still a cracker-box!" shot back Dimitri in seething fury at the raccoon thief.

"Let's get past the name-calling and get to business," replied Sly as he was in a hurry to find Murray.

"Looking for main man Murray, eh?" Dimitri asked before a smirk formed on his face. "Sorry, but I'd rather see you get busted big time! Guard, politzia!"

"Wait!" Sly quietly exclaimed, as he gritted his teeth.

'Gotta think of something to keep him quiet,' Sly thought to himself. 'I could try... cutting a deal.'

"If those cops get their mitts on me, who's gonna break you out of jail?" Sly asked in a logical manner.

"You might get this cell door open," Dimitri began to explain to Sly, "but the cops would throw down and bust me on the way out, and then I'll gets the double sentence, grief!"

'He's right,' Sly thought to himself, 'it'll be tough getting him out of here. I need a plan. Maybe I could... distract the cops so he can get away.'

"How about I get the cops' attention then run for it," offered Sly. "Once they're all outside, shooting at me, you can slip out no problem."

Dimitri smirked as he liked the idea and replied, "Now that's a plan I can get behind! Dimitri is free and Cooper is cooked. Key for cell is in head Kitty Kat cop lady's office."

The grey furred raccoon thief took a brief glance and noticed his violet furred tigress lover before he said to Dimitri, "Okay, great. This other lock won't be a problem... I should be able to crack it by hand."

Dimitri gave a slight nod as he replied with, "Get me out of here and I'll find Murray, no sweat. Just keep on the down low and outta sight near them coppers, bro... They're a bad bunch of bunnies."

Sly took another glance noticing Neyla as he smirked and replied coolly with, "Oh… I wouldn't worry too much about that Inspector."

Dimitri looked to Sly with a quizzical look on his face as he asked, "What do you mean by that, Cracker-Box Cooper?"

"I might tell you when I get back with the key to your cell," answered Sly.

While Sly was crawling under the tables, Neyla began her presentation to the mercenaries that were hired by Carmelita Fox.

"Your attention, please," began Neyla, as the violet furred tigress began the presentation. "I thank you for your patience, but we're now ready for the presentation. As we all know, the canals of Venice have been mysteriously filling with tar for the last month. No one is sure of the cause, but the effects have been devastating on the local wildlife and tourist trade. Our sources believe that this man, Don Octavio, is potentially responsible for the disaster.

"Unfortunately, we've got no hard evidence linking him to the pollution," continued Neyla, as the slide show continued as well. "I've yet to receive a warrant to search his opera house mansion, so we're just going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Get out there and keep your eyes open!

"You were hired over traditional cops by Inspector Carmelita Fox, because this is a dangerous assignment," Neyla said as she was finishing up the presentation. "The neighborhood is filled with the Octavio goons. It's a war out there. Get tough or you won't last 5 minutes! You hear me? She's paying for results! The city of Venice needs this situation resolved now!"

Once Neyla had finished the presentation, Sly continued to his lover's office, where the key to release Dimitri was being held. As for the violet furred tigress inspector, she had a slight shiver run up her spine as that was an indication that her raccoon lover was in the vicinity. Despite wanting to greet her lover, she didn't want the ape mercenaries to see her being friendly with Sly. That meant that she would have to wait until the opportune moment presented itself. Upon getting the key, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "Nice work, head back to Dimitri's cell and free him... if he's true to his word, we'll be talking to Murray in no time."

"Let's get back to business," Neyla said as the lights turned on. "Now, where was I?

The lights then flickered off as Neyla then said, "Hold tight lads, the power's on the fritz again... it'll calm down in a few minutes."

"Better make sure you're under a desk when the lights come back on," Bentley said through the binocucom.

The ape mercenaries had reactions when lights turned on and off. Some of them ranged from, "You look a lot better in the dark, Pedro. Really, you are an ugly, ugly man," to "This is sucking," "I can see, dah! I can see" and "It's dark. Dark like the grave, eh?"

Upon returning to Dimitri's cell, Dimitri asked Sly after he unlocked the first lock, "Can you really crack this coconut?"

"Sure," answered Sly, as he started to crack the safe lock, "just takes a light touch."

Dimitri replied with, "Good. Let's see some shine, bro. I swear, you spring me, and I'll hook you up with that plump dog, Murray. Dig?"

Bentley gave Sly a slight refresher course on cracking a safe lock. It took just a minute to crack the safe lock and the purple lizard was now free from his jail cell. After freeing Dimitri, Sly said to Dimitri, "I'll do like I promised and distract the cops so you can make your escape."

"Solid," replied Dimitri. "Don't worry no mind, straight way I'll pass word for Murray to find you. Meet at Rialto Bridge, big Italian landmark."

Sly gave Dimitri a slight nod as he then said, "Okay... guess it's showtime."

"Hold on a second, Cooper," Dimitri said to Sly before he jumped into the squad room. "What did you mean by the Kitty Kat cop won't be any problem?"

Sly thought about it for a moment and then answered Dimitri with, "Until I can fully trust you, all I can say to you is that the new tigress inspector is secretly helping us. If that info gets leaked, there won't be any place that either me or the tigress inspector won't find you and make sure you get locked up."

"No need to worry about me spilling secrets, Bro," Dimitri said to Sly, as the thought of going to jail sent shivers up and down his spine. "I can keep 'em."

With Dimitri throughly warned, Sly jumped over the tables and into the squad room. He sought to gain the attention of his violet furred tigress lover and the ape mercenaries with her. With a smile on his face, he knew exactly what he had to do.

"Hello, assorted meatheads... and gorgeous lady," Sly called out to the apes and his tigress lover as he winked an eye to Neyla, "anyone feel like some exercise?"

Neyla saw her raccoon thief lover and winked at him before she said, "Cooper? Grab 'im, men!"

"And... I'm out," said Sly as he dashed to the exit quickly with the apes and his violet furred tigress lover in pursuit.

"You're really brave to show up in my squad room," Neyla said to Sly as she chided him for showing up unannounced.

Sly cracked a smile as he replied with, "I was concerned we were growing apart."

Neyla rolled her eyes at first and then smirked before she replied with, "Oh, there's no need to worry about that. Because we'll spend some quality time together in an 'interrogation cell'."

"So forward, what happened to the demure girl I used to know?" Sly asked Neyla, even though he knew what her idea of an "interrogation cell" was.

"She grew up and wanted more from specific guys like you," Neyla answered in calm silky tone.

"'Guys like me'?" asked Sly. "Are you saying I've got some competition for your affections?"

"You're the only man in my sights right now," replied Neyla, with a slight chuckle. "I'm assuming that you freed Dimtri, right?"

"Yes I did," answered Sly, as he wasn't going to lie to his violet furred tigress lover. "Are you mad?"

"Not at all," replied Neyla. "I know why you let him go."

Neyla then began chasing after Sly, as she suspected that either someone from Interpol would be watching her or one of the ape mercenaries that Carmelita had hired was asked by the female red fox inspector to keep tabs on her and report anything suspicious to Carmelita. Neyla fired off shots from her recently acquired shock pistol, from Carmelita Fox. Most of Neyla's shots went wide as Sly was able to dodge them easily. However, a few shots nearly hit the raccoon thief, despite the fact that he was able to slide past them. Upon reaching Rialto Bridge, Murray emerges from the manhole. The pink hippo was sporting some traditional Aboriginal paint over most of his body.

"Greetings old friend... and Neyla," Murray said as he greeted his best friend and his lover.

"Hello there, Murray," said Neyla as she gave Murray a slight nod. "You're looking quite well."

"Of course, searchers," replied Murray. "We are all in need of peace."

"You're really whole hog on this Dreamtime stuff, huh?" Sly asked as he was amazed at the 180 his pink hippo friend had made since he left the Cooper Gang.

"My mind is clear," began Murray, "like the woodland after a forest fire."

"Listen, Murray... we need you back on the team," Sly said as he went straight to the point. "That thing with Bentley, it wasn't your fault. He doesn't blame you for the wheelchair."

"He is right, you know," added Neyla. "You all didn't blame me or Drake for having to abandon the safe house against Bison. None of us are blaming you for for Bentley being in his wheelchair. Besides, you should see it. Built it from scratch himself."

"Sorry, Sly and Neyla, I walk a different path," responded Murray, as he shook his head. "My Guru, in his wisdom, told me to lose myself and not return until the black water ran pure, so here I stay."

Sly looked uneasy as he asked Murray, with a raised eye brow, "You sure he didn't tell you to get lost and not come back until you've cleaned out the water filter?"

"Come on!" exclaimed Murray, as he was upset by Sly's question. "I'm on a real spirit quest here!"

"Sly, that wasn't very nice to say to someone who's like a brother to you," Neyla chided her raccoon thief lover.

"Sorry, sorry," relented Sly as he backed down. "Tell me everything. I've missed you, pal."

"Well, it's a long and awesome story," replied Murray. "You got any gum?"

Neyla handed a pack of gum to Murray as she said to him, "Here you are chum."

oooooooooooooo

After Murray told his story to Sly and Neyla, Murray went on his way. Neyla assured Murray that she'd keep the mercenaries that Carmelita hired off his back, since he wasn't in Venice to commit any criminal actions. With the assurance from Neyla, Murray departed to return to his meditation. Neyla gave her raccoon thief lover a deep kiss before the two departed to their separate ways. Once he was back at the safe house, Sly noticed that Nathan Drake and Sully had shown up in the safe house. Before he could ask any questions, Sly made his report to Bentley about Murray. After taking some time, Bentley then began his first slideshow presentation to the group, as Nathan and Sully would help out since their mission to Bulgaria was a dead end.

Bentley: Murray refuses to join the gang until the commitment to his Guru has been fulfilled. Whether we like it or not, we've got to go deal with Venice's tar problems, in order to, as Murray puts it "make the black water run pure". Thanks to Neyla… I mean Inspector Neyla's fine detective work, we already know that Don Octavio is somehow connected. As non-law operatives, we'll be able to tackle this situation in a more... "head-on" fashion. First, we break into Octavio's opera house. If he's hiding anything, we'll find it. We should also keep a close eye on the Don. Some photographic evidence of him connected to the tar might be enough to get the old mobster put away. Neyla is graciously allowing me to keep an eye on radio frequencies. So I'll monitor local communication frequencies. With some luck, we might pick up some quality intel.

After the group rested, they began their operations as night descended on Venice the next evening. Nathan and Sully had explained that their search for Elena hit a dead end in Bulgaria as they dealt with a just as crazy black vulture crime boss in Sophia. It was then decided that Nathan and Sully would help out with the gang's operation in Venice. Sly then exited the safe house and headed towards his first rendezvous point.

"Heads up, Sly," Bentley said over the binocucom. "I've intercepted a radio message from one of Octavio's men. The Don is moving towards your position!"

"Great, you want me to take him?" asked Sly as he was eager to take action against the old mobster.

"No!" exclaimed Bentley. "We need evidence that he's behind this city's tar epidemic. With some incriminating photos, we might be able to help the cops prosecute him and put an end to this nonsense."

Sly rolled his eyes as he replied with, "Never thought we'd be helping out the cops."

"Really Squirrel Boy?" Nathan Drake chimed in. "Ever since you started dating Neyla and sleeping with her, you're always eager to aid her… or Inspector Fox."

"Yeah well, they're different," shot back Sly as the lion mob boss approached his position. "Your average law enforcer isn't that... I don't know, attractive? Hold up, here he comes."

Sly watched from his position as Octavio put tar in the water fountain. The act was deplorable and disgusting to witness. But Bentley saw this as the opportunity to begin his plan.

"That's despicable!" Sly exclaimed in disgust.

"Get a picture before he finishes," replied Bentley, "this is perfect! Use your binocucom to take photos."

The raccoon thief pulled out his binocucom and took a photo of the mobster polluting the water fountain.

After Sly took the first photo, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "Excellent, a few more of these and the cops will bury this guy! Follow him, he might be headed for some more polluting."

Sly followed Octavio to the next tar pump quietly. The old lion mob boss would occasionally practice some of his opera singing as he made his way to second tar pump. Once Octavio reached his destination, he activated the second pump.

"He's at it again," Bentley reported to Sly. "Get a picture!"

Sly took the second photo and Bentley chimed in with, "That poor bird bath. I guess, more of a bird death trap, now. He's on the move again. Keep it up, Sly. This is some great work."

Sly continued to follow Don Octavio throughout the neighborhood. The raccoon thief had a couple close calls with guards as a pigeon guard had caught sight of him and tried to give chase, but was knocked off the roof and never got sight of Sly again before returning to his guard duties. Octavio stopped at his next destination activated a third pump. Sly took the next photo of Octavio turning a water wheel into a tool of pollution as tar was being pumped into water.

"Imagine, clogging a delightful water wheel with deadly, sticky tar! Monstrous!" Bentley exclaimed in disgust. "Keep on him. We want to make sure all of this horrible polluting is fully documented."

Sly continued to follow Octavio and watched him activating the fourth pump and took a photo of him doing it.

After taking the fourth photo, Bentley came on the binocucom and asked, "He's doing something, but what?"

Both Sly and Bentley then saw that an aquarium was being filled with tar, killing everything inside. Bentley then said over the binocucom in absolute horror, "I-I can't believe it, he flooded that aquarium with tar... all those poor, dead fish! As much as I hate to see what heinous crime this fiend will do next, you should probably keep on his tail... someday the people will know the truth due to your pictures."

Sly then followed the lion mobster across town. The raccoon thief remained silent as he tailed the old mobster across town. It was then that Octavio got a car on a Ferris Wheel, keeping watch to ensure that no one had followed him. As Octavio was riding on the Ferris wheel, he pulled out his phone.

"Yeah, it's me," Octavio said to one his stooges, "get that engineer on the horn."

"Sly, see if you can latch onto the car Octavio is riding in," Bentley instructed Sly. "We should eavesdrop on his phone conversation, from the look on his face, it seems important."

Sly latched onto Octavio's car very quickly as the lion mobster was dialing a number on his cellphone. Octavio had no idea that Sly was present as he waited for his engineer to answer his phone.

"Listen Giovanni, this Ferris wheel was a good idea; she's a pumping the tar fast, and nobody, but nobody suspects a thing!" exclaimed Octavio as he was unaware that Sly was listening to him. "But still... is it going to be enough to get things ready for my opera recital? Bella! When the people come to see me sing, I want to make sure they keep coming... even if they don't feel like it. One way or the other, they'll be opera fans again. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh... Okay, see you soon."

Octavio got off the Ferris wheel and left right as Nathan came on the binocucom and said, "Seriously… this guy's pissed because no one wants to listen to old farts and fat ladies sing at high pitches? Yeesh, and I thought some of guys Sully dealt with and the Klaww Gang were idiots and loony bins. This guy takes the cake."

"Easy now, Kid," Sully said to Nathan. "I'm not that old."

"Nah, Sully," Nathan replied to Sully, "you're not an old fart. You're like fine bourbon."

Bentley angrily came on the binocucom as he snarled, "That fiend! He's twisted a time-honored amusement park ride into a tool for wrong doing! Break open the control panel with your cane... I'm on my way to do a little rewiring."

Sly jumped off the Ferris wheel car and broke open the control panel as Bentley arrived and began rewiring it, causing the Ferris wheel to spin quickly. As Bentley was rewiring the Ferris wheel, he said to Sly, "Look away if you must, you're about to witness the dark side of electrical engineering."

Sly kept a close watch and spotted a trio of rooftop guards, two cats and one pigeon, approach the Ferris wheel. The raccoon thief was ready to take them on in a head on fight as they were getting closer to their position.

"Kill a bunch of poor innocent fish, will he...?" Bentley asked himself aloud as he finished hacking the Ferris wheel. "That'll do it."

Sly and Bentley run away just before the guards make it to the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel loosens from its suspenders, falling apart and killing the pigeon guard, while the cat guards run away. With the Ferris wheel out of commission, Bentley and Sly had put a dent in the operations of Octavio and they would then have to dig their heels in for the fight coming their way.

With the Ferris wheel out of commission, Sly then made his way to the next rendezvous point. The rendezvous point overlooked Octavio's opera house. Once Sly made it to his rendezvous point, he pulled out his binocucom and contacted Bentley.

"This Opera House is Octavio's base of operations," Bentley said to Sly.

Sly smirked as he replied, "Nice place, sure to be a few coins laying around in there. What's the plan?"

"If you and Drake can get me inside to one of Octavio's computers, I should be able to hack his firewall, and get the dirt on his operation," said Bentley.

"Okay," replied Sly. "Have you got a point of entry? I'm guessing the front door's not the safest option."

"That wooden hatch appears to be an ideal way to slip in undetected. Head down there and we'll meet up in a few minutes," answered Bentley as Sly looked to a side wooden hatch.

Sly quickly made his way to the wooden hatch. Sly did manage to pickpocket a couple guards of a silver watch and bronze pen to be sold on ThiefNet. Upon reaching the wooden hatch, Sly arrived right as Bentley and Nathan Drake arrived to join him in infiltrating Octavio's opera house.

"Octavio is known to rely on 3-D technology to secure his property," Bentley informed Sly and Nathan. "In order to see the security measures, we'll need to utilize these depth optimizer goggles."

"Functional and fashionable," Sly said as he and Nathan looked at the 3D goggles. "Nice touch, Bentley."

"Whoa," said Nathan, after he put on the 3-D goggles. "Wish I had these every time I went to the movie theaters."

"Perhaps after we get this job done, we'll go see a 3-D movie," offered Sly.

The group of three intruders made their way down into the catacombs of Octavio's opera house. Upon reaching first double-button door, Bentley and Sly stood by two buttons that had to be pushed.

"To open this door," began Bentley, "we'll need to press the 3-D security buttons at exactly the same time. Okay, on my three. One... two... three!"

When the duo was successful, the door opened and the three thieves proceeded to enter through the depths of the opera house.

"Nice, said Bentley as the trio descended further down.

After sprinting further, the trio came upon another double-button security door. Upon reaching the second double-button door Bentley said, "Looks like Octavio is fond of this 3-D synchronize security system. Let's do it. One... two... three!"

When Nathan and Bentley were successful, the trio proceeded to descend even further into the catacombs. Upon reaching the canal, the trio observed their situation and how they were going to tackle it.

"Drat!" Bentley exclaimed as he saw where the next set of doors were located. "My booster won't be enough to make it to that next door. I've made a number of improvements to my wheelchair, but none that can float me through this canal."

"Don't worry about it, pal," replied Sly. "I'm sure I'll find a way across, and there seem to be plenty of boats hanging around to make a nice bridge for ya."

Drake then took the lead as he interjected and said, "Why let me take a stab at getting across?"

Sly and Bentley gave the treasure hunter a slight nod, as they knew that he could swim and they couldn't. Drake dove into the water and began to swim across to the door that they were wanting to reach. The first half of the swim was going well for Drake. But as he made his way one of the empty gondolas, something began swimming in his direction as a fin appeared out of nowhere, catching the treasure hunter by surprise.

"What the hell?" Nathan asked in shock as he took notice of the fin heading his way. "SON OF A BITCH!"

The treasure hunter made a hasty retreat as he swam back to Sly and Bentley. As he got out of the water, Nathan snarled, "Dammit! That asshole's not stupid."

"What do you mean by….," Sly began to ask he noticed shark fins in the water. "Oh… gotcha."

"That Octavio is a crazy jackass for putting sharks in the canal," Nathan said as after he caught his breath from the swim in the canal.

"Or… he's smart and anticipated somebody like you trying to sneak in via waterway," offered Bentley, "and put the sharks in place for foolish thieves who would try and sneak in."

Drake sighed as he relented and said, "Fine. You're up… Squirrel Boy."

Bentley then looked to Sly as the wheelchair turtle said to his best friend, "Okay Sly, I'll wait for your signal.

"Sorry Drake," Bentley said to Nathan. "It was a good idea though."

Sly then took over going through the canal. The master raccoon thief was making swift progress through the shark infested canal waters. Sly even managed to notice shiny blue auras on the tops of the shark fins. Despite wanting to ride on the tops of the sharks, Sly stuck to his original path. While Sly made his way through the canal path, Octavio came on the intercom, "Good evening to you my fine, fine associates. Octavio here. I'm pleased to report that the tar suction levels are at an all-time high. However, it saddens me to report that some of you haven't been keeping in time with the orchestra, if you know what I mean. I like to see Mario, Rafael and Julius in the main vacuum room immediately! We're gonna discuss your retirement package, and if any of you catch these boys make a run for it, well (growls) shoot 'em in the back!"

As Octavio finished his announcement, Sly had made his way to the door. When Sly had approached the door, Bentley came on the binocucom and reported to Sly, "That door ahead of you is reinforced. We'll need to bomb our way through it."

Sly pressed the switch which released some boxes to help make a bridge for both Bentley and Nathan to cross over. After Sly pressed the switch and both. Bentley and Nathan had crossed the bridge, Bentley said, "Thanks for the assist, Sly. Maybe I can return the favor with some well-placed explosives."

Bentley was quick to plant a bomb at the reinforced door. After setting the explosive device, Bentley then said to Sly and Nathan, "Okay, stand back!"

Sly then said, as the dust cleared, "Thanks pal."

Upon the trio reaching a Plexiglas door, Bentley then commented, "Hmm, this door is made of four-inch thick, bulletproof Plexiglas. My bombs won't make a dent. See if you can find a way around it through that ventilation shaft."

Sly then began to traverse the ventilation shaft. As the grey furred raccoon thief made his way through the shaft, he noticed that two flashlight guards were down in the pump room as the lion mob boss had just arrived. Octavio looked to the two canine flashlight guards as he said to them, "Well, nice of you two to stop by for a little 'fatherly advice.' Julius made a run for it, and uh, the curtain fell. Now, normally I'd whack both of ya, but it's Carnevale, and I'm feeling charitable. So I think of something else."

"Damn," Nathan said over the earpiece. "I'd hate to think of what he meant by the 'curtain falling'."

Sly entered the first room. Unfortunately for the raccoon thief, there was nothing there of interest for him to ransack for more coins to line gang's pockets with. As Sly looked around, Bentley came on the earpiece and said to Sly, "This room's empty. Crawl a little farther. They've got to have a lock switch somewhere."

Sly then returned into ventilation shaft to resume his search. As he crawled further through the vents, Octavio spoke up and said to the canine flashlight guards, "Okay, here's the deal. You two stoolies are gonna be my new eyes and ears. I can't let no one get near my demolition switch, or sabotage any part of the operation down here. If you hear any noise from inside of the family that someone's uh, NOT CONTENT, then you tell me straight out! I can't be taking no chances this close to showtime. Got it?!"

As Sly entered the next room, a couple cat guards descended down to repel Sly from proceeding any further. Once Sly defeated the cat guards and opened the Plexiglas door, Nathan and Bentley advanced up to the next door.

"Thanks, pal," Bentley said to Sly before informing him and Nathan, "judging from the security, we must be getting close."

Bentley then planted a bomb and then warned both Sly and Nathan, "It's live!"

Once the bomb detonated, Sly and Nathan pushed on ahead of Bentley, skillfully dodging the security lasers in their way. After Sly and Nathan bypassed the lasers the duo had to defeat a few cat guards that stood in their way. The treasure hunter refrained from using his guns in order to ensure that guards wouldn't barrel down on them and overwhelm them while pulling their infiltration job. Both Nathan and Sly were able to swiftly defeat the guards as Bentley was right behind them after the lasers had been deactivated. As Bentley entered the room, he noticed that there was another double button security door. This time it would be Nathan and Bentley that would press the buttons to gain entry into the last room they needed to enter

"We're in!" Bentley softly exclaimed as the trio entered the final room and noticed the computer that he would be hacking into. "Yes! A Worlizter-700. I can splice into this easy.

"Just as long as you're enjoying yourself," said Sly, "that's the important thing."

Bentley replied with, "Aside from a few tense moments, that break-in seemed to go pretty well."

"Uh guys… it's not over yet," chimed in Nathan. "Hack the system and let's get the hell out of here before guards show up."

"Oh, it'll be a snap extracting the details on Octavio's operation from this old dinosaur," Bentley informed Sly and Nathan before he triggered an alarm. "W-what, a delay switch?! Sorry, Sly, guess the dinosaur has teeth. I'll hack as fast as I can. Watch my back. There are sure to be guards on the way.

As the alarm went off, the master raccoon thief and treasure hunter readied themselves to dig in and beat back any guard that might try to attack Bentley. The first guard, a pigeon guard, spotted Bentley and was about to attack the turtle genius when Nathan Drake grabbed him and threw him into one of fire pits and roasting him alive.

"Sorry 'pal'," Nathan said to the burning pigeon guard. "You're doing your job and we're doing ours."

"Yeah," agreed Sly as he smacked away a cat guard trying to attack Bentley. "It's nothing personal, fellas."

After fighting off four or five waves of guards, Bentley was finished as he said to Nathan and Sly, "Download complete! Now we can find out exactly what Octavio is up to!"

"Good," replied Nathan, with a slight nod. "Now let's haul ass and get the hell outta here before more of Octavio's guards show up and see the carnage of our fight."

The trio beat a hasty retreat from the catacombs of Octavio's opera house without any incident or encounter from the mobster's guards. Once out of the catacombs, Sly made his way back to the safe house so that Bentley could take to the field and he could rest with Nathan. As Bentley exited the safe house, the turtle genius gulped as he was a bit nervous to be out in the field for the first time in a year since the whole incident with Clock-tessa. Plus, there was the investigational inquiry into Neyla's decision to allow for the Clockwerk parts to be destroyed instead of going back to Cairo. Bentley was quick to push those thoughts out of his mind as he had a job to do and needed to act on intel that he had acquired, otherwise Sly would lose the love of his life. Bentley made his way to his rendezvous point at a small pier by the police station. Once there, he contacted Sly at the safe house.

"Hey, Sly, you better get over here," Bentley promptly informed his best friend. "My sources tell me that Octavio has hired the Blue Viper Gondola gang to take out Neyla."

Sly trembled in fear as he heard that his Gorgeous Tigress was being targeted by Don Octavio as he replied, "The Blue Vipers? Those guys are nasty! We gotta get to them before they get to her."

Bentley calmly replied, "She's off on her daily patrol, the thugs can't be far behind."

Sly gave a slight nod as he replied, "On my way. Just be sure to have one of those police boats hot-wired by the time I get there."

Bentley went straight to work in hot wiring the police boat that he and Sly would be commandeering. With Bentley's skill, hot wiring the boat was but child's play to him as he said to himself, "Let's see, just cross the red wire with the blue wire, and, Shazam!"

Sly arrived right as Bentley had gotten the police boat operational. As Sly made it to the boat, he jumped in. Right as Sly jumped in the police boat, four boats zoomed by them. Sly then said, "Just in time, there go the Vipers." However, the fourth Blue Viper had been sniped in the head and his boat crashed.

Bentley then said as the duo were driving through the packed canal, "I'll shoot, you drive, Sly."

"This canal is packed with shipping," observed Bentley as he looked at all the empty gondolas, piers and floating crates. "Make sure to jump and weave or we're sunk. Let's take these guys out!"

Bentley targeted the first Blue Viper. The first and second cat blue Blue Vipers were caught by surprise as their boats were damaged from the attack that Bentley was inflicting on them from behind. All of the Blue Vipers tried to evade Sly and Bentley. But the duo were still hot on their heels and refused to give up. After a while, Bentley managed to sink the first Blue Viper and his boat and Sly said with a calm demeanor, "Scratch one Blue Viper!"

The fight in the canal raged on as Bentley sank the next member of the Blue Vipers, as he was sniped in the head when his boat started to sink.

Sly then had a smile on his face as he then exclaimed with excitement, "Nice shooting, Bentley!"

All that was left of the Blue Vipers was the leader as he was unaware of his comrades being killed as they were pursuing Inspector Neyla. Once he was being shot at by Bentley, he started to notice… right before another shot rang out and a bullet was placed right between the eyes of the Blue Viper leader, causing his boat to crash into a floating crate.

Sly Cooper then exclaimed, "Way to go! That's the end of the Blue Vipers!"

As the fighting ensued between the Blue Vipers and the Cooper Gang, the violet furred tigress was unaware of battle that was taking place behind her. However after the second shot rang out, she searched around to see who was shooting off a rifle in the middle of the night. Seeing that there was no one within her excellent line of sight, Neyla then scanned the tops of of buildings to see if the shooter was hiding up on the rooftops. Thanks to her past experiences and being with her raccoon thief lover, Neyla knew that if anyone was doing shooting down to her level, they were more than likely using the rooftop. But the violet furred tigress refused to follow up on the shooting that took place as she was tired from her nightly patrol. Neyla returned to the police station from her patrol. As the violet furred Bengal tigress returned from her patrol, Neyla sighed and then said to herself, "Another uneventful patrol. This city is beautiful, but I need my Handsome Raccoon with me to enjoy this place."

Once Neyla had been confirmed returned to the police station, Sly and Bentley were next in returning to the dock.

Bentley looked to his raccoon thief friend and said to him in cautionary tone, "I hope you realize that by saving Neyla, we're only making our operation here more difficult."

Sly shook his head and rolled his eyes as replied to Bentley, "Maybe so, but what's the fun in stealing if there's nobody trying to catch you? Besides, she's helping us stay off Interpol's radar by telling them we're an asset to them."

Nathan Drake then came on the COM as he chimed in with, "That, and you're banging her."

Sly sighed as he replied to Nathan's quip with, "And I'm banging her. Look, I'll stash this boat, it might be useful for later. You stay out of trouble."

After finishing the last job for the night, the trio headed back to the safe house to rest for the night before starting again. Once the gang had gotten a through rest and good breakfast, the trio were ready for the next stage as Bentley had readied the next slideshow.

"So according to these decrypted files," began Bentley as the slideshow began. "Octavio is pumping tar from underneath the foundations of buildings, so he can sink them into the canals on a whim! He's going to demonstrate this destructive ability to the people of Venice during his opera recital on the first day of Carnevale.

"To counter this threat," continued Bentley, "we'll first destroy the balloons and sign advertising the recital. If no one shows up, he'll have no reason to sink a building. Next, the blueprints to the main tar vacuum have been cleverly split into three parts and hidden in local coffee houses owned by Octavio. Unfortunately, they're under constant guard, so you'll need to use a disguise to get us inside. Also, some big Vincenetti goons have been called in as "insurance" for the recital. Given their size, I think it's prudent to fool Neyla's ape mercenaries into taking them out for us.

"And finally, we'll have to convince Murray into taking to the field," finished Bentley. "If he's learned the Aboriginal Ball Form, it'll be just the thing for destroying the local tar reservoirs."

With the trio ready to spring into action, Sly headed for his first rendezvous point which was over at a fireworks stand. Sly looked to see if Nathan was close by as overwatch. But the treasure hunter was no where to be seen. With Nathan still at the safe house, Sly then looked to Bentley.

"I've taken over this Carnevale fireworks stand as a base of operations for our next job," Bentley said to Sly. "We need to take out the sign and balloons advertising Octavio's big comeback opera recital."

Sly gave a slight nod as he replied with, "I hear ya, if no one shows up for him to extort with his "building-sinking" scheme, then why would he bother with the demonstration. Excavating all that tar seems like a big operation, you'd think he'd hold off until he had an audience."

"Exactly," acknowledged Bentley, with a slight nod. "Now, I've cobbled together a few explosives powerful enough to destroy the anchors to those balloons. Unfortunately, I'm a little short of fuses."

"Then, I'll be quick," said Sly.

"Place the dynamite when you get near the anchor, or KABOOM! Raccoon parts everywhere!" Bentley exclaimed to Sly.

"And a certain someone will become someone's turtle soup for dinner, if she sees raccoon parts everywhere," chimed in Nathan as he reminded Bentley of how protective Neyla was of her raccoon thief lover.

Bentley gulped as he replied to Nathan, as Sly ran towards the first anchor holding one of the advertisements for Octavio's recital, "Why'd ya have to say that?"

The raccoon thief ran past a set of guards that noticed him running past him and setting the charge. Sly blew the anchor, setting the balloon free and killing the unfortunate guards that were caught in the blast.

Bentley came on the binocucom and said to Sly, "Excellent! One less ad polluting the Venetian skyline. Head on back to the fireworks stand. I've got another stick of TNT ready, and the wind's blowing in the right direction for stage two of our assault."

Sly returned to the fireworks stand promptly after blasting the first advertisement into the sky. The raccoon was amazed by the amount of power the explosive had as he saw the balloon getting blown free from its mooring. Plus, he was also thankful that he ran fast enough to ensure his life lasted a bit longer. Otherwise, Bentley would have to answer to his beloved violet furred tigress on why he had been blasted into a thousand tiny pieces… and that wasn't going to go well for Bentley.

"That explosive had some kick," Sly commented in amazement of the explosive he transported.

Bentley replied with, "It was a child compared to this ferocious beast! Don't dilly-dally with this one, it's got a longer fuse but you've got farther to run."

"Ferocious beast?" a confused Sly asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Run, Sly, run!" Bentley exclaimed as he stressed the power of the explosives he cobbled up. "Fear the beast!"

Sly ran as fast as he could to the next anchor holding up another advertisement to Octavio's opera recital. As the raccoon thief was proceeding to the second anchor, he noticed that some guards were dropping like flies. Some of the guards were mostly pigeon and cat guards. Nearing the second anchor, Bentley came on the binocucom and said, "Hurry, before the wind changes direction!"

Sly reached the second anchor and planted the explosive that Bentley had made, on the anchor with two guards coming towards him. Like with the first explosive, the unfortunate guards were killed by the blast from the explosive that sailed towards the sign of Octavio's face. Sly watched as the balloon sailed away.

"Ha-ha! Behold stage two!" Bentley exclaimed as he was explaining his plan. "The balloon, carried by the wind, will impact on the Octavio sign. The combustible gases in the balloon will ignite, and BAM! Hindenburg part two!

Sadly, for Bentley, the balloon's rope got stuck on the sign on the way up as Bentley said over the binocucom, "Drat and curses! The wind died! The balloon's caught! Sorry, pal. See if you can climb up and knock the balloon free. I'll start putting together another explosive for the sign. Such a shame. I was really looking forward to seeing that balloon burn. Fascinating chemical reaction!"

Sly began his climb to reach the sign. At first, the raccoon thief looked towards the police station as his Gorgeous Tigress was right there and he was missing her. But before he could go to her, he had a job to do. And that job entailed bringing down Octavio for his crimes and his current building sinking scheme. Sly shook his head as he began his climb up the building to dislodge the balloon free. He couldn't bring himself to wonder why someone like Octavio couldn't just… adapt to the times with his opera singing or find those who still enjoyed it and perform for them. Surely doing those things would've kept Octavio's career from going down the path it currently went.

Bentley said to Sly, as he had completed his climb, "A solid blow from your cane should dislodge the balloon."

Sly knocked the balloon free and destroyed the sign in the process. With the sign destroyed, Sly knew that Octavio was bound to finally take notice and he needed to return back to the stand. Sly then called Nathan as he said, "Nate, we're gonna need you, buddy. I don't think that Octavio didn't notice the sign of his ugly mug being destroyed. Bentley's gonna need some backup and fast."

"Already on my way, Sly," acknowledged Nathan.

Bentley then said over the binocucom, "Whoa! Looks like we've got a new ferocious beast on this operation. Come on back and, whuh? Sorry sir, we're currently clo— Hey! Let go of me! Sly! Get back here, quick!"

"Dammit," Nathan snarled over the earpiece as he was hurrying as fast as he could.

"Help, Sly… or Nate, this guy is crazy!" exclaimed Bentley over the binocucom. "I've got him locked out, but— Oh no!"

Both Sly and Nathan were hurrying as fast as they could. Nearby and unaware to the Cooper Gang, Carmelita was monitoring the situation as she was initially overseeing Neyla and how she was doing with the mercenaries that she herself hired to assist her and the recently promoted Inspector Neyla. However, the mayhem that the Cooper Gang was causing for Octavio was definitely making things a bit more interesting. Perhaps having the Cooper Gang around was an asset to Interpol, Carmelita thought to herself as the raccoon thief and human treasure hunter were nearing the fireworks stand that Bentley had taken over.

Sly and Nathan made it to the firework stand, only to find Octavio carrying Bentley over his head.

"Help!" Bentley cried out as Sly had arrived first to the firework stand.

"Ahh, Sly Cooper," said the lion mob boss as he looked to the raccoon master thief. "My boy on the inside picked up those pictures of me you sent the cops. Nice try, but I own this town."

"Put my friend down, or I'm gonna knock out all of your teeth," Sly threatened Octavio, "one at a time, and make you eat 'em."

"Hoo-ooh-ooh! That's the toughest talk you got!?" Octavio challenged Sly. "You're pathetic! Back in my day, we had enforcers that would make people pee their pants just as soon as look at 'em."

"Believe me old timer, I don't make idle threats," countered Sly. "Plus, I've got a sniper trained on you as well."

"Smile for the 'camera,' asshole," chimed in Nathan as he had his GMAL assault rifle trained on Octavio.

"Oh, I know all about you and your cracked little gang," replied an unfazed Octavio. "You ain't nothing without this little guy's brains. So, I figure I'll just scoop 'em out real slow, and use 'em to fertilize my tomato plants."

"I'm allergic to tomatoes!" Bentley exclaimed in horror.

Sly then began to chase Octavio around town. Octavio tried to slow down Sly with electrical barriers, but failed as the raccoon thief simply jumped over them, or Nathan shot out the barriers with his rifle. Bentley pleaded for Sly to hurry up and catch up with them; all the while, Octavio tried to shut the turtle genius up. Sly also had a few guards that tried to slow him down as well. However, the guards were knocked off the buildings they were doing guard duty on.

Sly and Octavio reach the opera house, with Nathan remaining in the background, ready to snipe Octavio. With no other guards around, Octavio gave up and threw the wheelchair bound Bentley at Sly as he snarled, "You want this runt?! Take him! I won't forget about this, you guys are dead!"

"That's right you old ass," Nathan said over the ear piece as Octavio ran into the opera house. "Run away like a scared little bitch!"

Sly looked to Bentley and asked, "You okay, Bentley?"

"I'm fine," answered Bentley, "my ego's bruised, but it'll heal."

With the job completed, Nathan escorted Bentley back to the safe house where he could be safe and oversee the jobs for the remainder of the operation. As for Sly, he took ten minutes to rest up and catch his breath. As he briefly rested, the raccoon thief got a text from Neyla asking him if he was alright, along with Bentley and Nathan.

"We're fine, Beautiful," replied Sly as he texted Neyla back. "We just had a brief encounter with Octavio. We'll be seeing him again, real soon."

"Alright my Handsome Raccoon," replied Neyla as she sent a message back to her lover. "Just be careful, Sly. You and I have something to do once the job is done and Octavio is behind bars."

After taking a brief rest from the last job of destroying Octavio's advertisements, Sly left the safe house for the next job, despite Nathan insisting that he take the next job. The raccoon thief wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible so he could be with Neyla. Despite having the violet furred tigress on his mind, Sly made his way to the next rendezvous point that over looked one of the legit businesses that were run by Octavio. Once he made it to his rendezvous point, Sly contacted Bentley through the binocucom.

"Octavio keeps the blueprints to his main tar pumping station in three parts," Bentley said to Sly as the raccoon thief looked at the flashlight guard standing guard. "Each is cleverly hidden behind a painting inside one of his "legit" coffee houses."

"Not very subtle," said Sly, "posting a full-time guard in front of a coffee house."

"Since we destroyed his Ferris wheel, he's gone all out on the security," explained Bentley. "In fact, he's got all his guards checking up on each other. If we're going to get inside and at the blueprints, we can't raise any suspicion."

Sly caught on to what Bentley was saying as he summarized, "I'm with you. I'll approach the guard while in disguise and pretend to take the next shift. When the coast is clear, you head inside and swipe the blueprints. With me standing out front, no one will know that something's up."

"When hailed by guards, make sure to memorize their passwords and say them back in a timely fashion," added Bentley. "Take too long or mess it up, and he'll know you're a phony."

"Don't worry about Bentley," chimed in Sully. "After what happened with the fireworks stand, I'll make sure to watch his back. I need to get a piece of the action. Can't you kids have all the fun."

With his disguise in hand, Sly quickly slipped into his disguise, away from visual sight of the guard. The raccoon thief then approached the guard while in his guard disguise. The guard demanded that Sly give him the café password. After Sly gave the correct password, the guard gave a sigh of relief as he said to the disguised Sly, "Okay, I guess you're the relief shift. Thanks for coming early, I've got big plans for tonight! Carnevale! Good time, eh?"

The guard then walked away as Bentley had just come up to the coffee shop. With no other guards in sight, Sully manned a position on one of the gondolas that dangled above the street to act as a sentry. Once Sully was in position, Bentley finally approached a disguised Sly.

"I can't believe that worked," Bentley said in astonishment, "you've got the worst Italian accent I've ever heard! No offense."

"You're really lucky he didn't mention your accent," Nathan added to Sly. "Guess Carnevale is more important than someone's broken as hell Italian accent."

Sly sighed as he shook his head and then said, "Come on guys, let's just worry about the job and get those blueprints.

Sly then said to Bentley, as he got focused for his "relief shift," "Head inside and grab the blueprints, no telling how long till another patrol comes by."

As Bentley went inside coffee house #1, Sly was unaware of Carmelita Fox's presence as the female red fox inspector was snickering and enjoying a brief silent chuckle at Sly's expense. For Carmelita, it was nice to relax a bit and watch things from the sidelines. But Chief Barkley knew that his star pupil wouldn't be able to stay on the sidelines for long, even when he assigned Carmelita as oversight for Neyla's assignment in Venice. But the female red fox inspector then looked to Sly as he remained at his post, making sure no other guards were coming by.

As Bentley was inside the coffee house, Sly said over binocucom as both of them saw the security, "First coffee house I've ever seen with wall-to-wall laser security."

Bentley approached the painting that was behind the counter. Nathan came on binocucom and suggested to Bentley that he trash the coffee house as payback for kidnapping him. The raccoon thief was in agreement as he felt that they needed to stick it to Octavio in retaliation for trying to turn him into tomato fertilizer. Bentley started destroying tables, chairs and pictures that were hanging up. As he methodically destroyed the coffee house interior, Bentley also effortlessly dodged the security lasers

After Bentley caused enough destruction to Octavio's coffee house, he made his way to the back of the shop. Sly mentioned that he thought Octavio was old school for using a painting safe. The raccoon thief also mentioned that his father used to crack them all the time. Once Bentley found the combination to the safe, he was able to retrieve the first blueprint.

"Strong work," said Sly, "we're still clear out front."

With the first blueprint in hand, the turtle genius made his way back outside to Sly. Once Bentley exited the coffee house, he said to Sly, "I'll meet you at the next coffee shop. Once you take the guard's post I'll move in."

Sly, still in disguise, gave a nod and replied, "Second verse, same as the first."

The raccoon thief made his way towards the next coffee house as he noticed Nathan staying on the rooftops, keeping a close eye on Bentley. Sly also used his disguise to fool other guards along the way to the second coffee house. He also would pickpocket guards for the treasures they had in their pockets. After approaching the second guard and saying the correct password, the canine guard was relieved to see Sly coming to relieve him.

"Ah, am I glad you're here," the canine guard said to Sly. "Mama's making spaghetti tonight and I'm starving! I'm gonna eat like three, no, four plates full!"

"Guess you really like her cooking," Sly replied in his broken Italian accent.

"Mama-mia! I want to be buried in her sauce, it's heaven!" exclaimed the guard before he walked away. "Oh… need to make sure that Mama has a bottle of her sauce ready for Octavio. I know he says her sauce is like an elixir kissed by angels."

As the guard left, Bentley descended down from the rooftop and asked Sly, "Any problems with that guy?"

"Said he wanted to buried in his mom's pasta sauce," answered Sly.

"Yeah," replied Bentley, "that's, uh... that's strange."

"Really strange," added Victor Sullivan.

Inside the second coffee house, Bentley once again decided to cause property damage to the coffee house and collect more coins for the gang, while dodging the security set in place by Octavio. As the turtle genius made his way to the next safe Sly came on the binocucom and said, "You know, I just can't get it out of my head. Have you ever had pasta sauce that tasty? I don't wanna distract you or anything, but, I just don't think I've ever had cooking that good! Are we like missing out on a whole universe of flavors here?"

Nathan had come on the binocucom and replied, "You know Italy is one of the many culinary capitals of the world. But yeah, definitely gotta find out if spaghetti sauce can be so delicious that someone would wanna go to heaven for it."

For Bentley, all he could do was roll his eyes and get annoyed as his two companions were still hung up about the second guard mentioning his mother's pasta sauce. Despite the distraction about pasta sauce, Bentley was able to remain focused on searching for the combination of the safe. After finding and inputting the combination to the painting safe, Bentley acquired Blueprint #2 and made his way out of the ransacked coffee shop.

Sly then came on the binocucom once again as he said, "Alright, two out of three. Almost there, partner."

Back outside, Bentley looked to Sly, as the raccoon thief said to him, "You know, maybe there's a good Italian restaurant around here."

Nathan chimed in on the binocucom as he added, "I second that. I'm starving over here."

Bentley huffed as he replied to the two of them, "Enough with the sauce, you two! Keep your focus, we're on a job here. Thugs everywhere, death around every corner!"

Sly gave a slight nod to Bentley as he replied, "You're right. We got one more coffee house to hit, then we're done."

Bentley returned the nod with a reply of, "Yes, now you're talking sense."

"And then we eat," finished Sly, before shook his head and muttering that he was working with children.

Getting the third coffee house was not any trouble for Sly, nor was saying the password to the third flashlight guard. Unfortunately for Bentley, he didn't account for the third guard adding an extra layer of security besides the password to relieve him as the next guard posted at the coffee shop. That left Sly to figure out the nickname of the third guard at the coffee shop across the street from the police station. Bentley suggested to Sly that he speak to the other guards about the added layer of security the third flashlight guard had put in place, trying to guess his nickname. One guard considered the third flashlight guard, Tony B, to be an egomaniac and didn't give a crap about his nickname. The second guard, a nice cat, knew the nickname… after saying that he thought of Tony B as a fathead and an idiot. Sly couldn't help but agree with the kind cat guard. Once Tony "the Killer" B left so Sly could take his place, Bentley went to work in ransacking the place as much as he could before heading the safe hidden behind the third painting. However, as Bentley cracked the safe and acquired the third blueprint, an alarm was triggered and began drawing guards to the coffee shop. Once Bentley had exited the coffee shop, he and Sly had to beat a hasty retreat back to the safe house with Sully providing as much covering fire as he could while staying on the rooftops. Luckily, all three had made it safely back to the safe house and waited for the heat from Octavio's guards to die down, once the alarm from the third coffee shop had been deactivated.

"Ah, the safety of the safe house," Bentley said as he and Sly had a couple more jobs to do before they made their move on Octavio.

Once the heat from Octavio's guards had died down a few hours later, Sly and Bentley looked to each and their human companions as it was time to engage in a turf war with the old lion mobster. With the gang feeling plenty rested and refreshed after getting some lunch to eat, Sly left the safe house for his next job. As Sly made his way to his rendezvous point, the raccoon thief made sure to utilize the guard costume in order to evade guards when necessary… or when he decided to pull a prank on the flashlight guards as picked their pockets of treasures they had. Once Sly made it to his rendezvous point, he contacted Bentley as he saw a Cane Corso guard on a flying helicopter shooting at Bentley.

"Bentley, looks like you've found one of Octavio's Vincenetti goons," Sly said to Bentley. "You on your way to the police station for the old bait and switch?"

"Yeah, he's following me!" exclaimed Bentley. "Too close for comfort... gotta move!"

Sly then pulled out his cellphone as he said, "Better inform Neyla.

The raccoon thief then dialed Neyla as he contacted his tigress lover, "Hey Beautiful… yeah, it's time."

"Alright then, my love," Neyla acknowledged over the phone. "Use the bait and switch and we'll handle the rest. You can even enjoy the show too."

Sly was quick to rush over to the police station as the raccoon thief then said as he arrived at the door, "Now to get those mercenary apes involved.

Sly knocked on the front door and said using his broken Italian accent, "Hey, all you fake cops go home-a! We don't need no more stupid thugs in Venice!"

This taunt got the attention of the ape mercenaries as Sly and Bentley ran off, as a mercenary exited the police station and faced the goon he thought had insulted him.

"I might not be a real cop," began the ape mercenary, "but I've got feelings, pal, and you just hurt 'em..."

"You talking to me, fruitcake?" challenged the Vincenetti goon as he glared at the ape mercenary. "'Cause I don't need a date."

"Eat missile, punk!" shouted the ape mercenary before he opened fire and began fighting the Vincenetti goon.

The Mercenary and goon began fighting, much to the approval of Sly and Bentley, as Sly said to Bentley, "This was a good plan, Bentley. Now we can just sit back and watch the fireworks!"

"Thank you, I pride myself on deviousness these days," replied Bentley. "With her ape guard under fire, there's a 93% chance that Nelya will arrive and take out the entire Vincenetti gang."

"Devious...," said Sly. "Oh yeah, Neyla said that we could watch the show."

"You enjoy the show," Bentley said to Sly as he started to wheel away. "I gotta go get Murray prepped for the job to destroy the tar drums."

Neyla exited the police station and approaches her mercenary under fire. The violet furred tigress knew this was part of Sly and Bentley's plan to bring down the Vincenetti Gang. But the plan seemed a bit… extreme in her eyes. For Neyla, as long as there wasn't a long trail of bodies, she would go along with it.

"Inspector Neyla," began the ape mercenary. "I'm glad to see you! This Vincenetti puke is giving me all I can handle."

"Stand your ground, soldier," Neyla calmly replied, "we'll take him together!"

The battle against the Vincenetti Gang raged throughout the neighborhood as four waves of the Vincenetti Gang tried to outmuscle the ape mercenaries. After the fourth and last wave, the lead mercenary came on and reported to Neyla, "All sectors have been stabilized. No further Vincenetti presence has been detected."

"Good work, men," Neyla said to the mercenaries. "For mercenaries, you fought with honor and distinction. I'm proud of you. Inspector Fox was right to call on you again after Prague."

Neyla then looked and saw her raccoon thief lover as she blew a kiss to him and mouthed to him, "I love you, my Handsome Raccoon."

Bentley made his way to his next rendezvous point to meet up with Murray. Flashes of gunfire and electrical energy could be seen in the background as Neyla and the ape mercenaries battled against the Vincenetti Gang. Bentley ignored the flashes as he met up with Murray and was unaware that a Cane Corso flashlight guard had gotten zapped from behind before he saw the two friends.

"Sly said you were looking for me?" Murray asked his turtle best friend.

"We need your help to destroy some tar drums," Bentley said to Murray as he got straight to business with the pink hippo.

Murray shook his head as he replied back, "I'm done with all that. I've found a new path... it's full of peacefulness."

Bentley couldn't believe what he was hearing as he then challenged Murray with, "Come on, what happened to "The Murray"? The guy who'd get into a fist fight with ten thugs wearing nothing but a towel? The guy who used to punch first and not bother asking questions later? Where's that guy? Where's my old friend?"

The guilt still lingered with Murray as he replied, "I-I'm sorry, Bentley. I-I tried to save you, but I just wasn't strong enough."

Bentley shook his head as he said, "Get over it, Murray. I don't blame you and never have. The only thing I feel bad about is losing my pal."

"Look... I want to help you," began Murray. "You're like my second best friend! It's just that I promised I'd stay here and "peacefully" meditate till the black water ran pure."

Bentley thought about it for a moment as he then offered, "Well... what if you could help us peacefully? You wouldn't have to punch anyone."

"I'm in!" an enthusiastic Murray exclaimed. "Keep it peaceful and I'll smash up anything you'd like!"

"As a student of the Australian Dreamtime, I'm sure you've learned of "the ball form"?" Bentley asked Murray.

Bentley was quick to give Murray the rundown on the job he was being asked to do… peacefully of course. Murray gave a nod of approval as he was certain that his teacher wasn't going to have problem with him helping his friends, especially if meant speeding up the process of "making the black water run pure."

"Just make sure you steer clear of the fight between Octavio's goons and Neyla's mercenaries," Bentley said to Murray via binocucom.

Murray tucked into his Ball Form and began the process of eliminating the tar drums that Octavio was using to store up the stolen tar. As he was destroying the tar drums, he was unaware that Inspector Carmelita Fox was watching him destroying the tar drums in order to land to crippling blow to Octavio's operations. The female red fox inspector was rather pleased with the results she saw from the Cooper Gang's strong man. With the last tar drum destroyed, Murray returned to a waiting Bentley. As for Carmelita, she withdrew before either Bentley or Murray saw that she had been observing them.

"Really, nice work, Murray," Bentley said to Murray, as he approached the pink hippo. "It's a pleasure to see you back in action."

Murray scratched the back of his head as he replied, "Yeah well, I haven't forgotten who my friends are... I'm just playing with a different deck!"

With all the jobs pulled, Sly, Nathan and Sully sat down to watch Bentley present the final slideshow before they made their play for Octavio's demolition switch.

Bentley: With Octavio's comeback opera recital just a few hours away, we're all set up for the main event. Get ready for Operation: Tar-Be Gone! Our objective: Get Murray back on the team. Sly, you'll start things off by using your disguise to sneak into the opera house. Make your way to the pump room, and let me in through the side entrance. Thanks to the blueprints we stole, I now know just where to bomb to cripple the machinery. Then we'll go for Octavio's detonation switch. I'm sure you'd agree that we just can't leave a weapon that powerful in the hands of such a madman. So I'll distract the old mobster with an opera duel. He's sure not to attack while we're both on stage. Meanwhile, you'll cut the lines to the chandelier and drop it on his head! I'll swipe the switch and we'll both find Murray. By then, the black water is sure to be running clear, and he'll be free to come with us.

One last thing, Sly, you'll need to call Neyla and let her know that we're going to make our move on Octavio. We'll need her to keep the mercenaries off our backs while we make our play for the demolition switch. Alright everyone, we've got lots to do and a short amount of time to get them done!

Pre-Operation: Tar-Be Gone!

At the Venice police station, the ape mercenaries readied themselves as the violet furred tigress informed them, that they were ready to make their move on Octavio. As the mercenaries readied themselves, Carmelita Fox entered the station unannounced. The female red fox Interpol inspector had come to check in on Neyla and see if she needed any backup. Carmelita noticed that the station was a abuzz with activity.

"Neyla!" Carmelita Fox called to the violet furred tigress. " Inspector Neyla!"

The ape mercenary commander took notice of Inspector Fox as he said to her, "Ah! Inspector Fox, it's good to see you again. Been a while since Prague."

"Indeed it has been, Lieutenant Gronk," replied Carmelita Fox, with a slight nod. "Where's Inspector Neyla?"

The mercenary commander looked towards the office that she was in and answered with, "She is taking a phone call right now. Said it was a private matter and then went in the office."

Carmelita Fox sighed and shook her head as she then said, "I think I know who she's talking to.

Carmelita looked to the mercenary commander and said to him, "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Carmelita entered the office as Neyla was talking to Sly Cooper. The red fox inspector had no idea what was going on as Neyla spoke to her raccoon thief lover at first. Carmelita waited patiently for Neyla to finish her conversation as the violet furred tigress said to her lover, "You're sure that this plan will work, Sly? Alright then.

"If you and Bentley can promise me that you two will get that demolition switch," continued Neyla before she noticed Carmelita Fox, "I can keep the mercenaries and Old Ironsides, who just arrived, at bay for while. You'll be seeing me soon, Love. Okay. Alright then, I love you too, my Handsome Raccoon."

Carmelita Fox sat down at the desk and then said, "So… you need to keep me and the mercenaries at bay for what? I'm guessing that Cooper's got some sort of plan in the works."

Neyla slightly nodded her head as she replied with, "Yes. Bentley came up with a plan to stop Octavio from trying to sink landmarks and homes. But he and Sly require little interference on our part. They'll get the demolition switch from the mobster and we'll swoop in to collar Octavio for his ecological crimes and other crimes he's committed."

Carmelita Fox frowned as she replied in retort, "I don't like this idea. We should be able to do this on our own.

"Do you want to take the chance that Octavio's got someone inside this police station waiting for us to make our move and warn the mobster?" Neyla asked in her own retort. "I'm asking you to trust Sly. If you're not willing to trust my raccoon thief, then trust his turtle friend. Bentley's the brains of the group."

Carmelita Fox sighed as she rolled her eyes then said, "Fine! But one mistake and…"

"Yes, I'm aware of what'll happen if there's a slip up," Neyla cut Carmelita off as she was reminded of what would happen if there was a failed collar or excessive collateral damage. "I could go to jail… for the rest of my life…. Have a littl' bit of faith in me."

OP: Tar-Be Gone!

Sly Cooper arrived at his rendezvous point atop a quint coffee house, near Octavio's base of operations. The raccoon thief looked over the handy work that he and his crew had accomplished over the last two days. Seeing that Octavio didn't have an audience was quite pleasing to Sly. After visually inspecting the work they had done, Sly pulled out his binocucom and contacted Bentley.

"This is it," said Bentley. "Octavio is due to arrive for the opera recital in just a few minutes."

"We did a good job taking out the advertising... no one's shown up to listen," Sly replied with a smirk of approval. "No audience means no demolition demonstration."

Bentley gave a nod in agreement, but still said over the binocucom, "True. But to finish the job, we'll need to take out the main tar vacuum. Use your disguise to gain entry to the opera house, then head down to the pump room and let me in through the side door."

Sly Cooper smirked as he replied with his Italian accent, "No problem, Signore."

Once Sly got access inside the opera house, he made his way towards the vacuum pump room after having to recite various passwords to the guards. One cat guard complained about having to go to the opera recital. A pigeon guard complemented Octavio and expressed his joy of getting to hear his boss sing opera. After clearing the guards the main lobby, Sly made his way down to the basement where he encountered double button door. Sly approached the door, and the door opened to reveal Octavio walking out of it. The lion mobster took one look at the disguised Sly and studied him.

"You!" exclaimed Octavio as he eyed Sly. "I don't recognize you... What's the secret soprano password?"

Sly then replied in his best Italian accent, "Tenor, bass, tenor, tenor."

"Okay," said Octavio as he acknowledged the disguised Sly. "Password to the rest of the guards that under no circumstances am I to be disturbed during my big comeback recital."

"Yes sir," acknowledged Sly, remaining in character. "I'm certainly looking forward to the performance. Once I'm done in the pump room, I'll be headed out to the stage. Um, if it isn't too much trouble, would you help me out with this double-button security door?"

Once he got through the double doors, Sly dropped his disguise and headed down to meet up with Bentley so they could destroy the tar vacuum. After letting Bentley in the tar vacuum room, the turtle genius went to work in systematically destroying tar vacuum with his supply of bombs. While Bentley was at work with his demolition skills, Sly was hard at work repulsing Octavio's guards away from Bentley. After all pipes were destroyed, the duo cleared out of the main tar vacuum room.

"Nice work partner," Sly said to Bentley. "Is there still time to catch Octavio's recital?"

"We're right on schedule," answered Bentley. "If my calculations are correct, he should be about to perform an aria, originally written as a duet. That's when we strike!"

After Sly and Bentley exit the opera house, the raccoon thief looked to Bentley out of concern. He was worried that Bentley might not have gotten over Octavio trying to snatch him up and then use him to fertilize his tomato plants. But with Nathan and Sully providing extra overwatch, it somewhat put him at ease. Still, Sly asked Bentley, "Think he'll really let you on stage with him?"

Bentley shook his head as he replied back, "Of course, he's a musician! He'll be "overjoyed" to have a lyrical counterpoint. Just be ready to drop the chandelier when I've lured him underneath."

At the Opera stage, no one had still shown up for Octavio's opera recital. Octavio walked onstage and noticed Bentley. The old lion mobster eyed the wheel chair bound turtle genius who was becoming quite the thorn in his side. As much as the lion mobster wanted to kill Bentley once and for all, he had his opera recital to perform, in which no one else had shown up for.

"Ah, Mr. Tomato Fertilizer," Octavio said to Bentley before he growled at the turtle genius. "You got a death wish?"

"I couldn't resist showing you up at what you treasure most...," answered Bentley, "opera singing!"

"You're a vocalist?" asked a not impressed Octavio before he started tuning up his vocal cords. "Fine, a duet is coming up. We'll sing first and then I'll gut you."

"Bring it on, Grandpa," replied Bentley, as he wanted to prove that Octavio didn't scare him, "I'll sing you under the table!"

Bentley wheeled up onstage and Sly rope walked to the chandelier supporter without being detected. As Sly rope walked to the chandelier support, once again, no one noticed that Inspector Carmelita Fox had returned to observe the Cooper Gang in their takedown of the old lion boss, Octavio. Neyla was leading the mercenaries on a raid into Octavio's opera house to arrest some of the supporters and thugs belonging under the lion mobster's payroll. Once the music had started, Carmelita informed Neyla to begin the raid, while she kept to the shadows and observed Cooper and his gang take down Octavio. The violet furred tigress reminded her that she was to observe, but not interfere unless something went wrong.

As Bentley and Octavio sing, Carmelita noticed Sly cutting the ropes supporting the chandelier. The female red fox inspector took notice that Octavio was inching closer to Bentley. Carmelita had halfway considered pulling out her shock pistol and start firing at Octavio. But Carmelita was an honest cop and a woman of her word. Though, on the upside for Carmelita, it was rather pleasing to hear opera music that she enjoyed so much listening to. Carmelita had to admit it, Octavio was second to none when it came to opera singing. Still, Octavio was a criminal and he had to be brought to Justice for his crimes. Carmelita noticed that Octavio got close enough to Bentley and have the chandelier dropped on his head. As for Bentley's performance… it was… decent, possibly passable had he been in a school for aspiring opera singers. But as Bentley hit that final note, Carmelita noticed that Sly was waiting for the word.

Bentley then shouted to Sly, "Now!"

Sly cut the final rope holding up the chandelier and dropped it on the unsuspecting mobster. Octavio looked up to see the chandelier being dropped on him as he cried out in shock, "Whuh? Nooooo!"

After dropping the chandelier on Octavio, Sly grabbed the demolition switch as Octavio had no choice but to accept his defeat. With no will to fight, the lion mobster accepted his defeat as Octavio said, "So that's it. The old guard's out and a new generation steps in."

As Octavio passed out, Murray had been watching the whole scene unfold. With the lion mobster passed out and Sly had the demolition switch in his hand, Murray then shouted, "That's right, stepping in! Big time!"

With the demolition switch in hand, Sly called to his pink hippo friend, "Come on, Murray, I got the demolition switch. Let's run for it... we got cops closin' in."

Sly and Murray run back to Bentley and gave the demolition switch to Bentley. Once the three friends were together, they rendezvoused Nathan and Sully as Neyla and the ape mercenaries were closing in. As for Carmelita, she went ahead and proceeded to arrest Octavio. After slapping the cuffs on the lion mobster, the female red fox inspector was sipping espresso as she sat on him as he was coughing up a few teeth after having the chandelier dropped on him.

oooooooooooooo

The Getaway

Sly Cooper (narrating): With the fight over, we managed to sneak out right under Neyla's nose… not that she minded of course. Octavio wasn't so lucky. The guy got thirty years behind bars for what he did to Venice. I guess Italians don't like it when you sink their landmarks. Ironically, he found success as a singer while in jail. After all, most of his old fanbase was already in the clink. But the big score here was bringing our old pal back into the gang. Once he put on those gloves and that mask, it was clear to everyone, most of all him, that "The Murray" had returned.

oooooooooooooo

Author's note: Another chapter in the books. Let me know what y'all think of it. I'm gonna take a break from this fic. Please and read and review.