*Ben POV*

Sly and I had to call in a few favors to get the goods on the Klaww Gang. The first of them that we found dirt on was Dimitri Lousteau, a literal lounge lizard equally parts at home in high-class art circles and shady back-alley crimes.

He started life as a passionate young art student, trying to invent his own visionary style. Unfortunately, the art world wasn't really accepting of his 'Kinetic Aesthetic'. So he gave them what he wanted and started forging old masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and the Scream. Basically, it was his way of punishing those with 'bad taste'.

He currently runs a Nightclub on the west side of Paris. It's a melting pot of jazz, funk, and all the chic range that lures in people from far and wide. I gotta hand it to him, he knows how to groove.

However, he is also in possession of Clockwerk's Tail Feathers. What he's using them for, we don't know yet...but we're gonna take them back tonight!

On the other side of the coin, I had asked Bentley to get me information about Constable Neyla. After some scrounging on the web, he came across some good juice on her.

Apparently, she was an orphan surviving on the streets who had to resort to manipulation tactics in order to survive. She ultimately became so good, that she managed to get into a local university, where she was able to trick others into doing her work for her. Interpol noticed this and decided to recruit her into their fold, finding her talents useful in potentially catching thieves and other criminals off-guard.

With this knowledge, we'd need to keep watch over her. Who knows what kind of wool she'd try to pull over our eyes. However, despite that, she fascinated me to no end...and the looks Sly, Bentley and Murray were giving me didn't help in that matter!

Once the gang set up their safehouse, Ben and Sly went to do different jobs. Sly was tasked with redirecting the three satellite arrays around town to the antenna of the safehouse so Bentley could hack into Dimitri's communications.

As for Ben, he was tasked with taking recon photos of Dimitri's operation in the nightclub. Sneaking through an old wine cellar beneath the town, he came across Murray waiting for him.

"Good to see ya, little buddy. I guess the way through the wine cellar is guarded by those rats."

Ben looked over Murray's shoulder to see some rat guards minding their own business. He then checked his revolver to make sure they were loaded with non-lethal rounds and spun the barrel closed after checking. He then twirled out his serrated Karambit Knife.

"Time for 'The Murray' and 'Phantom Joker' to kick some serious tail!"

"Totally! Outnumbered...fighting impossible odds...It's perfect!"

With the rats, they were just walking around, bored out of their minds as one rat looked to his compatriot.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

Before the rat could answer his friends' question, they heard a mighty bellow that shook them to the core.

"FEAR THE MURRAY!"

Ben and Murray leaped into the fray, the rats squealing in terror and taking out their stun batons as they tried to fight back, only to be taken out by the tag-team of the human boy and hippo man.

With the enemies knocked out, Murray lowered the bars so Ben could get across. He then found a laser barrier and was about to use Slytunkahmuen's Invisibility Technique when Bentley stopped him over the comms.

"Hold on, Ben! Those lasers appear to be heat sensors. Invisibility won't work on them!"

"Thanks for the heads up, Bents...guess I'll do the sneaky way."

Ben crouched underneath a table and crawled under it and past the laser barrier. He then saw some big buff boar guards with flashlights and smirked as he now had the opportunity to go invisible this time.

"Alright. Time for a little pickpocketing."

Ben then slinked around the guards, stealing their wallets and anything they carried, including a gold watch, jeweled rings, and even a Raggedy Ann doll. How the heck one of the guards had that, Ben didn't want to know.

Sneaking through a nearby air vent, Ben made his way into Dimitri's Nightclub, knocking out a few more guards and bypassing the laser barriers. He soon found another air vent and snuck inside, finding himself in some kind of printing press room. He saw Dimitri walking around and observing the operation.

"Alright. Good thing Bentley installed a special camera into my mask." Ben said as a pair of light blue lenses formed over the eyeholes of his domino mask, which he used to scan and take pictures of Dimitri, the Printing Press Generator, and the Clockwerk Tail Feathers.

"Ingenious! Dimitri's using the Clockwerk Tail Feathers as printing plates! Given their rare alloy, they'll NEVER wear out! Unlimited forged money!"

"Sheesh, where's the honor in that?" Ben said with a shake of his head as he snuck out the way he came in. "You know what they say, Cheaters never prosper."

Ben soon returned to the safe house. With the work that he and Sly had done, Bentley had set up a slideshow to show what the team was up against.

"The recon photos are a grim reminder of what the modern thief is up against. Spotlights, stepped up patrols...the sum of it all renders a direct assault impossible." Bentley frowned as he circled the peacock sign and scribbled through it. "We're going to need some more intelligence."

Bentley showed that he had set up a bugged painting that Sly would need to sneak into Dimitri's office so they could listen in to his communications and Ben was tasked with tailing Dimitri to see what information they could scoop out of him by following his trail.

With the plan set, Ben and Sly once more split up to cover their jobs. Ben headed over to a small gondola with a bell at the end. Taking out his revolver, he shot the bell, making it ring as he wondered what would happen. Soon, Dimitri came out of the boat, having gone there to take a break to communicate privately with the Klaww Gang.

Ben turned invisible as he followed Dimitri, who walked through town with a strut as catchy music began playing. As Ben followed the lizard, he couldn't help but break into dance while making sure to keep quiet so as not to alert Dimitri or any of his guards who were patrolling around.

Dimitri soon came to a door by the bay and Ben saw that it was a code-input door. He watched closely as Dimitri typed a code and then opened the door, strutting inside. Heading over, Ben used the scan mode of his glasses to search the fingerprints on the buttons, finding the correct order of numbers to punch in to unlock the door.

"Okay, here goes nothing...32895."

Punching the numbers in, Ben soon took out a small notepad and wrote the code down so he could give it to Bentley later to memorize.

"Man, I gotta say, Dimitri sure knows how to get FUNKY."

As it turns out, the room that Dimitri went into led to the nightclub's aqua pump room. Murray was all for the job and soon came back with a satisfied smile on his face.

"I take it the job went well?"

"Yup! That aqua pump stood no chance against The Murray!" The hefty hippo proudly said as Bentley chuckled.

"With the aqua pump out of commission, they'll be forced to route water through the old pipe tower. Those fools! They've played right into our hands!"

"You're a real devious little reptile, you know that?" Ben chuckled as he, Bentley, and Murray all high-fived each other while Sly smiled, glad to see his friends in high spirits.

Next Time: A Friendly Chat

Ben ends up meeting with Constable Neyla and the two learn a few things about each other in the process as Sly, Bentley, and Murray complete a few more jobs for the big heist.