DISCLAIMER: Don't own anyone or anything from Sly3 or RE4.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this is a kinda desperate plea, but could Heiduska and Silver Horror, my only two readers for this story, please tell a friend? Thank you. I appreciate your nice reviews, but only two people sending in reviews... not working for me.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO:

SLY'S ATTITUDE

Sly walked hurriedly down a narrow passage on the castle balcony. Good thing I don't hate heights, he thought as he looked down. "This is a big freakin castle," he muttered to himself outloud.

After seeing the woman in red, Sly had climbed down cautiously from his perch, only to run into more monks that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. After taking care of the monks Sly met a merchant for the billionith time and bought another rocket launcher, since he had used the other one to kill the monks. Now he found himself on almost the top of the castle on a balcony probably walking around in circles trying to find Leon, Murray, Sammie, and Jennifer.

Sly dodged about ten barrells in one cluster sitting in the middle of the walkway. Who the hell put barrells in the middle of a balcony walkway? Sly thought as he looked back at the barrells. He walked past a fountain with about four crows drinking from it's water.

Suddenly a bullet flew through the air, barely passing Sly up as it smacked into the crow on the top of the fountain. The crow squawked once and dropped down. The other three crows paid no attention to their dead partner and winded up dead in the next twenty seconds. Sly looked around for the cause of the bullets.

"Sly!" He heard a familiar voice and saw stepping out of the shadows, Leon and Murray. Murray ran towards Sly, while Leon kept his composure and fast-walked over to the raccoon.

"Where have you been?" Leon asked. Murray looked at Sly expectantly. Sly shrugged. "Guess I just got seperated from you guys - again. What have you two been doin?"

"Solving puzzles and kicking monk asses. What else?" Leon answered, looking around. Sly shrugged. Anyone could've guessed the answer.

Suddenly Sly remembered the woman. "Leon, do you know any Asian-American woman in a long, red dress?" Sly asked. Leon glanced at Sly. "No I don't think so. Sounds familiar though. The woman in red." Sly was about to question further when Leon interrupted. "Okay come on guys. Got alot of ground to cover and enemies to kill if we wanna make it out alive. No time for talk." Murray agreed and Sly nodded slowly. The question of the mysterious woman in red would have to wait. Maybe he would see her again.

Sly and Murray followed Leon where Sly had just come from. Leon stopped suddenly and cocked his head back at Sly. "Sly, where exactly did you come from when me and Murray ran into you?" Sly thought a moment. "I really don't know. You know me, I'm always climbing on the rooftops. Don't really pay attention to what's on the ground." He smiled sheepishly. "Though I did see a huge hedge maze close by, and it didn't look too friendly." Leon rolled his eyes. "Oh great, I wonder what Salazar has in store for me now."

The three continued across the walkway, and Leon smashed the ten barrells that were in Sly's way a few minutes ago. "Who puts barrells in the middle of a walkway?" Leon asked outloud. "My point exactly." Sly said. Leon smiled.

Leon cautiously opened a huge, metal door at the end of the walkway, and the three slowly entered into another huge walkway, but 2 feet underneath the rails was what Sly had mentioned: a huge, not too friendly looking hedge maze. A medium sized room connected to the castle walls surrounding the hedge maze was six feet away from the door that they had entered from. Leon started toward the door. "More than likely it's gonna be locked, Leon." Sly said, making Leon stop in his tracks and notice for the first time that the door had an empty indention as a lock. He rolled his eyes. Of course, another puzzle. Leon turned back to the two animals.

"Okay, Sly, you're right. It's locked." His eyes wandered to the hedge maze and he shuddered slightly. He more than likely was going to have to go into that maze, and more than likely Salazar and Saddler had put monks, zealots, ganados, or something even worse in there to keep him company. I am going to take a LONG vacation after this, Leon thought, warily rubbing his temples.

"Leon, you alright?" Sly asked. Leon glanced up at the concerned raccoon. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinkin about how this is going to be the LAST agent job I'm goin to take in awhile. I need a break." Sly nodded in understanding. "Same here. I'm not an agent, but a thief, but I'm still gonna take a break. This mission is wearing me out."

Leon turned around and walked past the locked room and started down the stairs, with Sly and Murray at his heels. Suddenly his radio went off. Leon stopped and pulled it out of his back pocket, all hope that it was Hunnigan dying away when he saw Salazar's child-like face.

"Hello Mr. Kennedy. I see that you have survived, even though I don't know how." Leon was about to respond when Sly jerked it out of his hands. "Listen you little punk. Where the hell is Sammie, Ashley, and Jennifer? You tell us now." Salazar laughed. "Like I'm going to tell you. But I can tell you this much: the hedge maze you are about to enter is filled with my cute little pets-"

"Dude, I don't give a fuck what's in the hedge maze! I want to know where the girls are - NOW! My feet hurt, my head hurts, I'm tired, and I don't have another rocket launcher at the moment, so please be a dear and tell us where they are so we can hurry up and leave." Salazar gave Sly a funny look before ending the transmission. Sly growled and threw the radio on the ground. Leon looked at Sly before picking up the radio and putting it back in his pocket.

"Calm down Sly. We'll get outta here, I promise." Leon said as he continued toward the gate that opened into the hedge maze. He looked back at Sly who hadn't moved. "Sly you comin?" Leon asked, surprised at his sudden attitude. Sly had gotten pissed at Salazar in the past, but nothing like what had just happened. I mean sure, Leon was losing his patience (and temper) with Salazar and Saddler, but he wasn't gonna blow up like Sly had just done.

Sly shook his head. "Nope. I need to calm down before I do something stupid and wind up getting killed. I'll stay here." Sly sat on the second to last step. Murray looked at Sly, then put his hand on Leon's shoulder. "I'm with you." Murray said reassuringly. Leon nodded his thanks and slowly opened the gate.

NOTE: Hope I'm not making Sly too bratty. That doesn't really sound like something Sly would say or do, but then again this is a fanfiction story, not the real thing. The woman in red is gonna show up in the next chapter.