The heist had now officially begun. Sly and Ben waited for Bentley and Murray to disable the water tower and soon saw the fountain had stopped.
"Sly, Ben, the water pressure to the fountain should be disabled."
Sly nodded. "Oh, it's off alright. They're already sending out the Repair Guy to fix it up!"
The Repair Guy walked out of the nightclub and Sly held a finger to Ben, telling him he had this one. The Raccoon dove down and then snuck behind the guard, yanking his key out of his back pocket and heading back to the fountain to make the exchange with Bentley and Murray.
"I'm your eyes in the sky, guys!" Ben called from the comms, keeping watch over everything from the rooftops. Sly gave the keys to Bentley and Murray, who headed out to find the repair truck to hijack it. Sly then climbed up the peacock sign and perched himself on top, Bentley, and Murray soon driving in the repair truck.
"I'm in position," Sly said.
"Great, we're just driving up right now!" Murray called back. "Get ready to grab the tow harpoon!"
Sly got his cane ready and Murray soon fired the tow hook, which Sly caught with the hook of his cane and latched to the peacock sign.
"Hooks on, pull away!"
"Heads up, guys! Bogeys on your tail!" Ben said as several rat guards rushed to tear down the repair truck, only for Ben to smirk as he snapped his fingers, using the Time Slow Technique and then putting in some headphones.
"Alexa, play music fit for Super-Speed Hijinks."
"Received. Playing Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)."
Ben ran down the side of the building he was standing on and then got to all the rat guards. He saw the first one raising his billy club and proceeded to yank it out of his hand before smacking him across the face and turning him around so that he would end up falling on the second rat guard.
He then went to the third rat guard and leaned next to him to take a selfie before tripping him off his feet and then grabbing the fourth rat guard and holding him underneath the third rat guard so he would land on him.
Finally, with the last two rat guards, Ben made the fifth one pick his own nose before grabbing the sixth and final one and rearing his leg back so he would end up kicking his compatriot in the groin.
"And...ACTION!"
Time returned to normal as the first rat guard fell on the second rat guard, knocking them both out at once. The third rat guard landed on the fourth rat guard, the force knocking them out as well. Finally, the fifth rat guard kicked the sixth rat guard in the crotch while shoving his finger up his nose hard, breaking it as he fell down, writhing in pain.
"Man, you're sure you're not an X-Man?" Murray asked Ben as he turned to his friends and stuck his tongue out playfully.
Soon, the sign began to tip, and just as Bentley predicted, the sign fell beak-first into the fountain and demolished it in a single strike.
"Behold the majesty of gravity and inertia!" Bentley said triumphantly.
"That was real subtle, Bentley," Sly said with a smirk.
"Okay, you and Ben jump in, grab the Clockwerk Tail Feathers and we're out of here!"
Sly and Ben dove into the hole, finding themselves in the Printing Press Room, where Dimitri just so happened to be waiting for them.
"Gagh! So, Raccoonus Doodus and Funky Boy! You are both totally bumming my house up and bringing me down! So very uncool. Why can't you let birds and bees be free, bros?"
"Listen, Dimitri, you have no idea what you're messing with. It'll bring more than your house down." SLy warned as Ben nodded.
"Yeah, those fancy printing plates you got there? They're part of an even greater scheme that you have no idea about."
"What smack are you talking of?" Dimitri asked.
"Your boss, Arpeggio? He's having all the members of the Klaww gang use the Clockwerk parts for a scheme for him to turn into Clockwerk! Only Clockwerk will just assimilate him and probably become even more powerful since I have a feeling Arpeggio might have a plan to boost Clockwerk's hatred to absurd levels."
"What he said. So hand over the tail feathers and we'll leave you alone." Sly finished.
Dimitri slowly had a look of realization. "Wait... so... you mean, all them spicy treats I gave to the party guests as they were groovin'...Oh, Crackerjacks!"
Dimitri turned off the printing Press Machine and both Ben and Sly retrieved the tail feathers.
"Go get out of my club! I'll take the fall with the greasy sweet cracker cops! The lights may burn out on my disco club, but Dimitri will have the final jib-jab at the boss bird! Haha!"
"Godspeed, you magnificent bastard!" Ben said, giving Dimitri a peace sign as he and Sly made their escape and just in time, as Carmelita, Neyla, and the rest of Interpol busted down the door. Dimitri smiled and returned the gesture to Ben just as the thieving duo escaped.
"You sure showed your bling, Funky Boy. Maybe we can see each other again and work something out like two cats in a bag. Smooth partnership!"
Ben and Sly regrouped with Bentley and Murray and drove off out of Paris before Carmelita even realized they got away.
"So besides Dimitri using the printing plates to forge unlimited amounts of money, why did he have the nightclub out in the first place?"
Ben rubbed his chin. "Judging by what Dimitri said and from what I can tell about what Neyla told me, Arpeggio needs a lot of hatred to revive Clockwerk. If that's the case, then something in the spices that Dimitri put in the food at his nightclub might have something to do with it."
"Wait...you don't mean the Raging Rosetrum, do you? Those spices are sold as illegal drugs! It's fine in small doses for highs, but too much will make you angry and hostile to the point that you'll act like a wild animal. This spice has killed more cops than it has regular users, just from the anger it induces!" Bentley said in a panic as he realized what the spice might very well be.
"Well, looks like the stakes just got even higher..." Ben said as he, Sly, Bentley, and Murray exchanged worried glances. "We need to collect all of Clockwerk's parts and destroy them before Arpeggio's poorly thought-out plan causes global catastrophe!"
I tried my best to work with Dimitri's funky fresh way of speaking while also trying to make things different from jumbochamploonrules' original story.
Next Time: A Starry Eyed Encounter