Big thanks to heistmaster for catching the mistake in the prelude, bad Levi, bad. It was promptly fixed to avoid further embarrassment. See? I've gone rusty in my absence.
And apparently, I've forgotten how FF.N likes to kill my format. The reason this chapter took a long time to get up is that FF.N wouldn't accept my word file for some reason.
I should warn you all now that I am incredibly lazy. And I adore Murray. Yes, you people have a Murray fangirl on your hands.
Big honkin' edit: I noticed so many errors in both format and spelling and omitted words due to having to resave the file as a .txt instead of word as I usually do, so I had to go through it personally (twice) to redo the chapter. If you see any more errors I might have missed, such as words or punctuation, please tell me so I can fix it. FF.N, please accept my word files again.
Our job-gone-wrong at Interpol of Berlin wasn't a complete waste. We didn't come out completely empty handed. Before Carmelita's untimely arrival, Bentley managed to download quite a few of the files on the murder case. Some hours later, he and Penelope decoded them and the contents were wide open to us. Of course, there were some holes in the data where we had to make some guesses, but what we came up with was a good start.
Before we had supposedly claimed credit to the crime, Interpol had done some police work and suspected a criminal group known only as the Alliance. A fairly new organization, information on them was limited, but they were known for assassination for unclear motives.
What exactly was their plan nobody seemed to know, in fact, the only other useful information that was there was a few names of suspected members and their locations.
Bentley pointed out that this could be the wrong way to go. There was no clear evidence that this Alliance was behind our framing, but I didn't care. I would go on a wild goose chase if I had to if it brought me one step closer to catching the real perpetrators.
The closest suspected member of the criminal ring supposedly resided in London, England. However, we had our doubts that Interpol knew what they were doing when they put this name on the list.
A famous British actress and known as a swan of many talents, Elizabeth was a well-known and well-loved celebrity throughout the country. She had no record of criminal activity whatsoever. Supposedly, she was the third richest woman in England, behind the queen and the author of a popular book series.
Villain or not, we weren't going to let her go unchecked, even if this did seem like a waste of our time, but hey, maybe we could catch one of her live performances if nothing else.
London, England
10:42 PM
Sly Cooper ran across the cobblestone streets as he dodged his way past several patrolmen with the famed Cooper grace he and his kin were known for. Dashing over a small bridge, he latched himself onto a lamppost and used it to jump over to the rooftops where he felt more comfortable. He stood back to take in the view for a second, he could see quite a distance from his current position. But then he heard a voice through the radio communicator in his ear and he took out his trusty binocucom peered through it, making sure to adjust the focus when everything he saw came out fuzzy.
"Well, Sly," Bentley briefed through radio contact. "I'm not sure if you remember, but Penelope's remote controlled chopper was destroyed by Carmelita's Shock Pistol back in Berlin. Without it, she can't do any air sweeps of the area, so we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way."
"You want me to take recon photos, don't you?" Sly guessed. He hadn't taken reconnaissance pictures since the time he, Bentley, and Murray had stowed away on the blimp of the technical genius, Arpeggio. He had gotten quite used to hanging out in the Safe House or indulging in relieving the local security guards of their valuables while Penelope was assigned the reconnaissance work. "When is Penelope getting a new chopper?" He asked, hoping it would be soon.
"She makes all her own stuff, you know." Bentley shrugged. "The parts have been ordered, but they'll probably take weeks, maybe even months, to arrive." There was a long silence, the turtle shook his head and sighed. He knew exactly what the nimble raccoon was thinking. "Just take the stupid pictures, Sly." He grumbled very uncharacteristically. With that, he shut off audio contact making it very clear that the conversation was now over.
Sly had no choice but to accept the fact that unless
the gang picked up a new means of air support, he'd be stuck with recon
work for a while. Leaping down, he gracefully landed onto a flag pole
and used it as a spring board to reach the next rooftop. Touching down,
he bolted off with the famed Cooper agility and made his way across
town, quickly snapping pictures of anything of interest.
He was just
in front of what was believed to be Elizabeth's luxurious home, when
his ears perked and he could hear the faint sound of a voice growing
louder by the second. He needed to hide, or he'd be caught, and that
was the last thing any self-respecting thief would want. Thinking
quickly, he climbed onto the metal fence and leapt across the courtyard
onto an entryway above a door, where he quietly settled himself onto
the stone gargoyle adorning it.
"…and I don't know how long I can keep up this charade."
The door swung wide open and out came the well-known face of the swan actress, Elizabeth, followed dutifully by two large guards brandishing flashlights and Winchester rifles. She did not seem to be talking to anyone in particular; the gun-toting brutes behind her appeared to be nothing more than bodyguards. Sly watched silently, his raccoon eyes glowing in the darkness, despite concealing himself in the shadows. However, nobody seemed to notice, and if somebody did, they would mistake them for a trick of the mind, as if the darkness was trying to trick them into believing the stone gargoyle was watching them.
"Of course, nobody would suspect someone who's in the public's eyes so much would be a criminal." Elizabeth continued, apparently in deep thought as she began walking down the brick road. The feathers on the back of her head were arranged in a fan-like fashion, and they swayed with every movement or even in the slightest breeze. "But while they are slow as garden slugs, Interpol is not stupid"
Sly was truly intrigued now. Dismounting his perch, he touched down onto the ground. However, the noise did not escape the notice of one of the bodyguards, and Sly found himself ducking for cover behind a barrel used for catching rain water. Emerging from his hiding place, he followed as quietly as he could, picking up bits and pieces of the bird's rambling.
"…won't like it. Shipments have been slow lately. They want me to send more money."
Sly desperately wanted to get closer, but with those hulking goons with the firearms were in the way, and he needed a way to get rid of them. Unfortunately, he was so absorbed in coming up with an impromptu plan, he didn't notice that Elizabeth and her bodyguards had stopped moving and Sly barely had time to stop before colliding into one of them. The thief backed away slowly, taking each step as if his life depended on it. And in a way, it did.One step back, two steps back; a few more and he'd be safely out of danger for the time being. Three steps, four steps…he was almost there when his sensitive ears picked up one last phrase.
"…and to use the Cooper Gang as bait. It's perfect."
Startled, Sly turned and made a break for it. Elizabeth and her sentries turned around just in time to see the tip of a black and grey tail round a corner.
There was a loud slam as everyone turned to look at a visibly spooked Sly Cooper leaning against the door and panting.
Why? Why did he panic and so foolishly gave away his presence when things were perfectly safe?
"Sly?" Penelope asked, finally daring to approach the raccoon.
"Here." Sly simply dropped his binocucom and the flustered mouse barely had time to catch it. "I think we've found our target." Penelope blinked once and merely nodded in understanding. Something was bothering their leader, and though she didn't know what, it was obvious he needed some time to sort things out. She looked though the binocucom, taking a sneak peek at the photos before handing the device to Bentley.
The old projector hummed loudly, as if it was protesting to being brought out yet again to be put to work like the so many times before it. It was still in Bentley's possession after all the years, and it was quite outdated. However, the turtle seemed to have a sentimental attachment to it, and he refused to throw it out or at the very least, get a new one, no matter how much Penelope chided him about it. Eventually, she just gave up and conceded to the fact that he was going to keep and use it, no matter what. It rattled noisily, and Penelope gave it a whack with her now-useless helicopter controller, which caused the racket to die down.
Bentley prepared to relay his plan in full detail, in a slightly reluctant manner. There was a problem in it, and that annoyed him to no end. All of his plans were perfect, (in theory, of course) for he was the brains of the Cooper Gang, and he was perfection. He did not want to admit to his best friends, and especially not his girlfriend that he couldn't come up with a flawless scheme. Frustrated, the wheelchair-bound reptile made do with what he had, connecting his precious ThiefNet laptop to the ancient projector and grabbed hold of the stylus.
"It's been a while since we've pulled off big jobs like this, so listen up." Bentley said, starting up his little slideshow. "Despite Sly's hard work, we only have limited information: his recon photos and what he overheard while tailing Elizabeth. So before we can do anything, we need more data. But one thing's for sure, our enemy is a national celebrity. She's constantly in the eyes of the public, and this poses a challenge, even for my brilliant mind."
Bentley went on to explain what each member of the gang was supposed to do. Concerned for the welfare of his childhood friend, Sly, though, he carefully devised a scheme that would give their fearless leader a break, at least for a day at any rate. Accepting defeat, Bentley swallowed his pride and pointed out the one problem with his plan.
"This phone line…" a slide of said object appeared on screen. "…is connected to Elizabeth's mansion, and it's critical that we tap into it. However, there's no way I can get up there." He ended with his trademark line, the one he always said when he was stressed. "I…I'll think of something, just give me time."
And while Bentley sat there and agonized over this obstacle that seemed to be getting the best of him, Murray threw open the safe house door and charged out, ready to take on anything London could throw at him, with an amused Penelope following behind.
A/N: Yes, I realize it's not nearly as exciting as the prologue, but things will heat up considerably next chapter, which should be even longer. After all, where there's Murray, there's destruction, and I love writing action sequences, when I'm not too busy tormenting the characters, kind of like what I'm doing to Sly right now.
For those of you wondering about updates, I've divided my story into episodes, just like the game, each episode about 3-4 chapters long. I've currently got the basic outline of episode one finished, and about a third of episode two done.
I try, keyword try, to update within a week of each new chapter posted, but don't be too upset if I fall behind. I am a Junior in high school.