Inspector Carmelita was... well, saying that she wasn't happy at the moment would have been like saying Clockwerk was "bad." In other words, it was a good thing the room she was in happened to be soundproofed, or the whole museum would have heard her. Yes... she actually could scream THAT LOUD. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU TWO COULD BE SO STUPID! YOU WIPED THE PROGRAMMING FOR THE LASERS AROUND THE CAT'S EYE!" Yep, another screw-up, this time by TWO guards. I could continue by telling you the many things she called them, but I think you'll find it far more interesting that the Inspector was abruptly silenced... when her voice gave out. As a result, the Inspector just motioned to the guards to leave the room, and the two guards fled as if a giant snake was after them.
"Trust my voice to give out NOW, when everything else is going wrong! Thanks to those two idiots, I'll have to stay nights as well! Those lasers were programmed to trap anybody who passed through them to get at the Cat's Eye... the perfect surprise for that thief Cooper if he decides to show up! In fact the way things are going..." Carmelita's thoughts stopped right there. That was because the way things were going, it didn't matter if Cooper showed up or not; it would have been another thing that had gone wrong! However, Cooper would show up soon enough... she just wouldn't know about it immedietely.
"Sly, come in! Do you read me? I've got some good news... and some bad news." "What's the good news?" "I believe that the security directly around the Cat's Eye is off-line." "Good news? That's great news!" "Yes it would be... except for the bad news. I've made that deduction based on the fact that Inspector Fox didn't leave the museum like she has the past few days." "Hold on... she's been LEAVING the museum? That doesn't sound like her... the security around the Cat's Eye must have been really tough if she was doing that." "Now remember Sly... this is a RECON mission. Don't steal anything extra, don't go after the Cat's Eye, and DO NOT fool around with Inspector Fox. There may still be security systems that we don't know about..." "I hear ya, pal... but I didn't plan on messing around with Carmelita tonight... still trying to figure out something really special... for April Fool's Day." "You know Sly, you never cease to amaze me... and in this case, I'm not making a compliment."
The communication ended, and Sly was now left with only his own thoughts for company. "I've got to figure out SOMETHING to pull on Inspector Carmelita. What I've got already is good... but not good enough. April Fool's day is only two days away, so I've got to think of something fast. Oh well... maybe I'll come up with something while I'm on this recon mission. After all, thinking on my feet is what I do best." Sly jumped from the roof of the building onto the power lines below, and quickly made his way to a position where he could jump to the roof of the museum. Unbeknownst to him, the roof of the museum had been equipped with highly sensitive motion detectors which would detect his landing on the roof and his movements. However, just as unbeknownst to him (not to mention extremely lucky for him) they had been deactivated by the guard who was in charge of them because the pigeons had been driving the guard crazy.
Getting into the museum was easy; Sly simply cut a hole through one of the glass panels that composed one section of the roof. He slipped the rope he had in his pack out and tied one end of it to a retractable spike (another one of Bentley's ideas), which he then anchored upon the roof. He tossed the other end through the hole he had just made, and climbed down the rope to the floor of the museum. 'That was too easy... way too easy. I better be on my guard." Sly had only taken several steps when alarm horns started blaring. "I'm dead... I have no idea what other security systems are nearby, Carmelita's in the museum, and..." "NOT AGAIN! SOMEBODY SHUT OFF THAT PIECE OF JUNK! THAT'S THE TENTH TIME IT'S GONE OFF SINCE THE MUSEUM CLOSED, AND THE LAST NINE TIMES WE DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG!" "Huh? That's not Carmelita screaming... could Bentley have been wrong about Carmelita still being here? Well, either way the alarm isn't going to be taken seriously... lucky for me!" A few minutes later, Sly had discovered 6 more instances of security systems that hadn't been active during the day... and of course he didn't get caught by any of them.
"They call this security? I wouldn't trust these guys to guard a candy store from sugar-crazed kids!" Sly had just seen the guards, and he was not impressed. He'd spotted 5 guards so far, and the first two had been asleep. The third guard had looked like he'd have fainted if Sly had tapped him on the shoulder and said "Boo." "There's three more... and just like guards number 4 and 5, they don't even look like they could catch a cold!" Sly decided to snap some pictures of the guards to leave for the Inspector later on... but he decided that it wouldn't have the effects he really wanted. He still snapped the pictures though... after all his pals could use some comic relief.
Bentley and Murray were at the computer, waiting for the newest recon photos to come in. When they did, they both took one look, and Bentley turned off the audio input for the Binocu-Com at his end. They both then proceeded to fall onto the floor, laughing like crazy. "They call THOSE guards? Sly could run rings around them!" "Yeah... I've heard of "lying down on the job," but that is ridiculous!" "The person who owns the Cat's Eye must be a real cheapskate... he really got what he paid for!" Things went like this for several minutes before they both calmed down. Bentley sat down at the computer again (still chuckling a tiny bit), and turned the audio input back on. "Sly, are you there?" "I sure am... but those guards don't appear to be, do they?" "We'll have time to laugh about the "guards" later, Sly. I still need you to get a few more photos." "Shouldn't be a problem... I haven't seen nose or tail of Inspector Fox so far." "Don't get too cocky, Sly... she's pretty smart." "These guards make Muggshot look smart, so forgive me if I can't take your warning too seriously right now." "Would you prefer that the Inspector's shock pistol end up making you take it seriously? Of course, in that case it'll already be too late..." "OK, OK, I'll be careful." "Why is it that I can"t believe you when you say that?'
Two hours later, Sly was back at the safehouse, and the laughfest commenced. "You say that the alarm was ignored because it was the TENTH TIME it had gone off since the museum closed?" "Yeah, and Carmelita wasn't the one yelling for someone to shut it off." "I'm surprised that the Inspector didn't come to investigate." "Bentley, that's probably because she investigate it every single one of the nine times it went off BEFORE." "Hey Sly... you got any ideas about how we're going to keep the Inspector from catching this time around?" The laughter abruptly cut off, and Sly suddenly looked very serious. "Murray, I'm still working on that." "Sly, you said on the Binocu-Com that you were trying to think up something special for April Fool's Day... that's only two days away! I assume that's when you want to pull the heist." "That's what I had in mind." "Well, you're going to need to come up with something special because that hole you cut in the roof isn't going to go unnoticed... so the Inspector will be waiting for you to try and steal the Cat's Eye." "Yeah, that's true... but there's still one good thing about that hole in the roof. Imagine the look on Carmelita's face when she learns about it!" It only took a few seconds for the three friends to burst into laughter again.