Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self.
Chapter 6
Drag Strip Island
After getting everyone settled in and making final adjustments to trains flight sensors Eclipse opened the hanger doors, and then over the trains PA system said, "Welcome aboard passengers. I am Eclipse and will be your engineer for this afternoon. Now, since this isn't an airline, I am going to cut to the chase. We are leaving now, and I would suggest putting your cheeks in a seat." The entire gang felt the lurch as the train began to rise of the ground and another lurch as the train began to move forward. In 15 minutes Eclipse had gotten them up to a safe cruising altitude. He leveled off the train as he announced over the PA system, "Attention passengers, this is your engineer speaking. We have currently reached our cruising altitude. At our present speed and direction we will arrive at Drag Strip Island at 7:00 tomorrow morning. The time is now 5:00p.m., and I invite all passengers to head to the dinning car where I will be serving dinner as soon as I finish cooking it."
In a few minutes everyone was sitting at the large table located in the train's dining car. Eclipse entered from the door near the front of the train and quickly disappeared into the kitchen. The others waited about 20 minutes, Sly and Bentley catching up as best they could. Penelope was fiddling with one of her many remote controls, and the Panda King was talking with Carmelita about how he created the fireworks Sly used to propose. At 5:25 Eclipse came walking out of the kitchen with several plates floating behind him. The plates gently glided through the air, and landed in front of everyone. Eclipse took a seat and then smiled as he said, "Dinner is served."
Everyone enjoyed the meal thoroughly. Each plate had a good sized sirloin steak, a serving of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a small bit of salad. Everyone ate the meal, and enjoyed it thoroughly. After the meal Eclipse smiled as everyone complimented him on the dinner. After that was all said in done Eclipse turned to Panda King and said, 'Excuse Panda King."
The Panda King turned and said, "What can I help you with Eclipse?"
Eclipse replied, "I was hoping you would lend me your expertise as I design the train's defense systems. Right now all we have is a make shift shield generator that wouldn't last long in a fight. Once we have landed I can create a more appropriate one, but I still believe the train would benefit from having a few weapon systems."
The Panda King smiled as he said, "I can see why you chose for me to assist you with the defense systems. My fireworks are both beautiful and destructive. I shall assist you in your planning."
Eclipse smiled as he stood up and said, "Thank you, let's head to the operations car. There is a copy of the train's blueprints up there." Eclipse lead the Panda King out of the dining car, but before he left he turned to the others and said, "Oh, Bentley, Penelope. I have something for you two to do as well."
Penelope stood up and said, "What you need Eclipse?"
Eclipse said, "There is a laptop in your room, and it has a copy of the train's stage 2 blueprints. I need you to create a program to operate the trains systems while it is in its second stage. I am many things, but a great programmer isn't one of them."
Bentley wheeled away from the table and said, "Don't worry. We have it covered."
Eclipse was about to leave and catch up with Panda King when Sly asked, "Do you have something for me and Carmelita to do?"
Eclipse shook his head and disappeared through the door that lead to the first car of the train. Bentley and Penelope left through the door that led to the passenger cars. This left Sly and Carmelita alone, and to say the least they weren't to upset about it.
Sly and Carmelita headed through the dining cars door and into the living car. They both sat down on the couch and Sly began to flip through the channels until he found one a very romantic movie. He and Carmelita were soon snuggled together on the couch watching the movie. Once the movie was over Carmelita looked up toward Sly and said, "Well, its getting kind of late. You want to head to bed?"
Sly smiled mischievously before Carmelita quickly cut him off and said, "Oh no you don't. Not until after we are officially married. You got that Cooper."
Sly faked an emotionally hurt face as he said, "Carmelita, you cut me to the quick. I have only the highest respect for you wishes, minus the ones that will end up with me serving a life sentence in jail."
Carmelita shook her head and said, "Now quit kidding around, or I'll sleep out here on this couch."
Sly smiled and raised his hands in defense as he said, "Okay, I'm done. You are right though, let's hit the hay. No telling what we will have to do to get Murray back on the team.'
Carmelita looked over to Sly and asked, "Do you remember anything about him or Bentley."
Sly shook his head and said, "No, but from what you and Eclipse said, I am sure I will remember them both soon."
Carmelita nodded her head and the two got lost in each others arms as they slowly made their way toward their own sleeping car.
In the train's operation car, Eclipse and Panda King were making many adjustments to the Sky Serpent to make it ready to defend itself. They had already designed a much more powerful shield generator, and some firework turrets that could be operated from any computer in the train. They were just working on the operation cars new laser turrets when Panda King said, "I notice that this train has many things that seem to have no use. Tell me, do they hold some secret purpose."
Eclipse just smiled slightly as he drew a line on the plans and said, "You could say that, but I would rather have it be a surprise."
Panda King huffed a little as he said, "You seem to be full of surprises Eclipse."
Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I guess it come with the job. My father and his father also were known to have their surprises when they were guardians of the map."
Panda King made a quick change to his firework turret design as he said, "So, Cooper told me that you said you knew his father. Is that true?"
Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I did know him before that night. He had actually attempted to steal the map himself. He actually succeeded in taking it and getting away, but about an hour later he came walking back to the temple gates, coming back to return the map. Evidently, he just wanted to steal it to prove he could steal what many thought was impossible to get to. Now that he had proved his point, he returned the map, and we soon became pretty close friends. I was pretty shook up when I heard he had been murdered, but that is in the past now. His son is proving to be a much better thief then even his father could have hoped."
The Panda King nodded and said, "I must agree. Sly Cooper is an amazing person, who can even make me, one of his worst enemies, an alley."
Eclipse nodded his head and drew one final line on the trains blueprints as he said, 'There, I think that's everything we should need. Thank you again for your help Panda King."
The Panda King began heading for the door, "It was my pleasure Eclipse. Now, I wish to go meditate and then get some sleep."
Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Good night. I need to work on a few things, and then I believe I will also go to sleep."
The Panda King nodded his head and left the operations car. Eclipse rolled up the trains blueprints and slid them into the shelf where they were stored. He cleaned up the car a little bit and then went up front to the engine. He checked everything over twice before he was satisfied. He had to make sure they came in at just the right angle, otherwise they would surly be detected.
A few years ago a terrorist group attacked Drag Strip Island, and since then they had built an extensive security system to stop all unauthorized air and sea travel. Eclipse had found a blind spot in security systems sights, and it was just wide enough for the train to slip through. He turned and left the engine room, and began to head toward the back of the train where his sleeping car was. As he passed the other's rooms he was happy to hear they were all sleeping soundly. He got to his car, and was asleep in about fifteen minutes
The next morning, Eclipse was awoken by the train's flight path alarm. He checked the clock and saw that it was only about 3:30, and that they were no where near Drag Strip Island. Eclipse ran to the front of the train in a minute flat and began checking the Sky Serpents GPS navigation system. He then looked out the front of the train's window and saw that they must have caught a wind current, because Drag Strip Island was looming on the horizon. He checked all his equipment and saw that they were going to miss the islands blind spot. Due to the systems design the blind spot constantly circumvented the island. Since they were so far ahead of schedule the blind spot they were shooting for was on the other side of the island now, and if they took the time to go around the island to reach it they would surly be spotted. Eclipse quickly did a scan of the island to see if there was another hole they could exploit, but there was none. They would be at the island in 30 minutes, and there entry point was being watched.
Eclipse quickly got onto the trains PA system and said, "Attention, Attention. I hate to wake you up at this hour, but it seems we are thirty minutes away from Drag Strip Island, and if we don't think of something we are going to get shot down once we get within range."
Eclipse ran back to the operations car and was happy to see everyone came running into the operations room. Sly quickly asked what the problem was, and Eclipse explained how their blind spot moved around the island in a clockwise fashion. Bentley looked at the hologram Eclipse was using and said, "I think I could try and hack their system really quick, and create a hole, but due to our time limit I can only hack a few towers."
Eclipse looked at his hologram and said, "Then you need to hack towers 5, 8, and 11. They are the towers responsible for finishing the dome like scanner array. With them down a hole will be created above the center of the island. It is are only chance."
Carmelita said, "Now wait. Are you saying we are going to dive straight down in this thing and pull up before we can all go splat on the ground?"
Eclipse smiled weakly as he said, "It's our only option right now."
Sly paused a second and then said, "Eclipse, Bentley, you guys get to work. The rest of use will get this thing ready to go vertical. Lets get moving."
The group separated quickly and began to do the risk dive maneuver. Bentley got onto the operation cars computer and began hacking the first of the three towers. Eclipse went up into the engine. After a few minutes everyone felt the train start to tip up as it began to gain the necessary altitude to make the make the dive. Sly, Carmelita, Panda King and Penelope went through every part of the train. Luckily, Eclipse had already secured all the train's furniture down with very sturdy bolts, but many of the items like desk drawers, and cabinets needed to be sealed shut. They also need to secure anything that could break if it fell from one end of the train to the other. Sly, Carmelita, Panda King and Penelope were just finished and heading back to the operations car when they heard Eclipse's voice over the PA system say, "Okay everyone. Bentley has told me that we have our hole. Please get ready for this train to go vertical. The seats in the operations room have some seat belts, so I suggest going there quickly. I start tipping this thing down in one minute."
Everyone but Eclipse was soon seated in the operations car, belted down to there seats, waiting for the train to pull the dangerous move. They could then feel the slight upward tilt of the train start to shift. In a few seconds the train was level, and they could then feel the tilt and speed of the train slowly increasing as the train began it decent. In a few minutes they had achieved the vertical position they need, and they the whole gang was holding its breath.
Up in the engine Eclipse watched the train's sensors as the engine began to pass through the hole in the islands defense web. He could have pulled up right then and their, but he doing that might cause one of the cars to move out of position and alert the island to their presence. The ground was getting dangerously close when the final car cleared the hole and Eclipse pulled hard on the train's flight control. Eclipse watched as the slowly began to level out. The ground kept getting closer and closer, but they finally leveled out just when they were about a foot away from city streets. Eclipse quickly got the train a little higher in the air and then flew it over to the part of the island where the train could hide.
The island was broken into third. On the northern most part was the world's biggest racing complex. In the middle was the medium sized town that was made up of the tracks staff, and their families. The city also had the large hotel that housed all the tourists who come to the island to watch the races. On the southern 3rd of the island was a slightly dense forest. That was where Eclipse was planning to park the train. He found a break in the trees just the right size for the train to land, and Eclipse exhaled a very relieved breath once the Sky Serpent was on the ground, and the engine was off.
Eclipse made his way to the operations car, and about broke out in laughter seeing how frazzled even the Panda King looked. Soon, everybody was calmed down, and Bentley got everyone set for his trademark slide show.
Bentley wheeled in front of everyone and said, "Alright, after that very daring entry into the island, the rest of the operation should be a cake walk. Now, we know Murray is here for the races. The top 10 vehicles from the Stock Car, Van, Truck, and other racing circuits come here to see who the best of the best is. The current champion is our old enemy Muggshot. How that guy has already gotten out of jail is beyond me, but he will be an even bigger threat to this operation then he was during the Aces Dogfight competition. Our first task is to find Murray. The racers stay at the track until after their races. These dorms are very comfortable, but we can't get into them with out one of the card keys. This is why I have talked Eclipse into entering the Sky Serpent into the races. It seems that a team dropped out, and they were in the uncommon vehicles circuit. A racing circuit that allows anything that can go around the track to enter. Now, Eclipse is going to spend the first few days before the competition modifying the Sky Serpent so it will ready for the race. Unfortunately, that is where we run into our first problem."
Panda King spoke up and said, "What is this problem you speak of?"
Bentley flipped the slide and said, "To make the Sky Serpent legal we need to get it one of this hard to come by altitude inhibitors. This device will keep the train at a constant height above the track. Unless we can show the racing judges we have one of these devices installed they will not allow us to race. So, here are the first things we need to do. Sly, you and Carmelita are going to go on recon and try and find Murray. You also need to take pictures of the track, the racer dorms, and local hotel. Sly and Eclipse are the ones who will be driving the Sky Serpent, so they will have to stay in the racer dorms. Now, Muggshot doesn't know Panda King has joined our side. So, Panda King, we need you to get in contact with Muggshot, and see if you can convince him to make you his second driver. This will give you access to his racer, and in the likely case that Muggshot intends to cheat, you can take him out of the race for use. We may not even have to race, but to get Murray back with the gang, we may have to help him either win or lose the big race."
Everybody nodded their heads and Eclipse, Bentley, and Penelope quickly left the train and began to make the necessary changes to the Sky Serpents engine to make it race legal. Sly, Carmelita, and Panda King left the train a few minutes later. The Panda King dressed in a professional business suit so know one, but Muggshot could recognize him. Sly was dressed in his usual thieving attire and Carmelita was dressed in a special something she had purchased. She was dressed in a pair of black pants and soft souled black boots. She had her usual holster on, but over top of it a black jacket. She had even painted her shock pistol black and taken off her Interpol badge. The final touch was a she put thin black strip of fabric, a lot like Sly's mask. Sly had to literally bit his tongue to keep from whistling out when he first saw Carmelita. When she was dressed like that she truly looked like a thief, and it just drove him nuts.
The trio made their way into the medium sized town. It looked like a modern city, with many of the shops focusing on the tourist trade brought around by the track. Sly and Carmelita split ways with the Panda King, and began to make their way toward the race track.