With the plan to rescue Jing King set, the gang headed to the area of General Tsao's domain. When they arrived, they entered a duo of houses. One was down on the road a bit, where the Panda King entered, and the other was at the top of a small cliff overlooking the palace itself.
After Bentley got some surveillance, he detailed the plan to everyone. "We all know that our objective here is to retrieve the Panda King's daughter, Jing King. She's being kept against her will by this man, General Tsao. A real peach, this guy. During surveillance, I actually witnessed him kick a puppy, TWICE!"
Everyone gasped in horror upon hearing that. Murray even almost fainted had it not been for Sly and Neyla being there to keep him steady.
"Horrible! He's hurting an innocent puppy!" Penelope said with disbelief.
Bentley nodded as he continued. "He plans on forcing Jing King to marry him next Saturday. Clearly, time is of the essence. Here's the plan: First, Ben and I will approach Tsao in disguise and attempt to get hired as his wedding planners. Hopefully, with a man on the inside, we'll get some news on Jing King. Still, we need more information! Two of us will need to work together to steal a pair of twin keys and break into Tsao's house of business. Once inside, I'll need to utilize some new technology to circumvent their ultra-tight security. Finally, thanks to Penelope's air sweeps, we've picked up an unusual radio signature out in the water. Someone will need to go eyeball the anomaly and figure out what it is. We can't leave anything under chance here, or Jing King lives unhappily ever after."
"Okay Bents, let's get this done and over. However, I should probably warn you ahead of time...I might be putting Tsao in a gurney." Ben said warningly as Bentley nodded in understanding, the two putting on some decent disguises and heading to General Tsao's palace, where they heard him arguing with Jing King.
"No, you can't come out yet, my blossom!"
"But please, my father will be so worried. Just let me tell him I'm alright. I beg of you, Tsao, let me out of this prison! Is this the way you woo your wife? You have shown me nothing but cruelty. I am so unhappy!"
Ben and Bentley turned to each other, the latter shaking his head when he saw Ben's bionic arm protruding a knife out of the wrist. After retracting the blade, the duo headed inside and found Tsao, who looked at them in confusion.
"Greetings, honorable General Tsao. My colleague and I have heard of your impending marriage and have respectfully come before you to offer our services as wedding coordinators." Bentley said as Ben bowed.
"How insulting. I need no 'help.'" Tsao said with a huff.
"We mean no disrespect, esteemed General. We merely wish to offer any assistance you may feel necessary." Ben said, hiding his disdain for the Rooster Beastkin quite well.
Tsao gave a skeptical eye before relenting. "Very well, if you both are so insistent, I shall hire you as my wedding planners, but you must follow my instruction on how to do certain tasks."
"Understood, oh noble General. But I must ask, do you need any kind of other hired assistance during this wedding?" Bentley asked.
"I may be interested in hiring a photographer. Such a wedding of splendor and extravagant beauty should be captured for generations to come!" Tsao said with vigor in his voice.
Ben smirked. "We have one of the world's best photographers on retainer."
"Really? Well...If he truly is world-class, then he might get the honor of chronicling the event. However, I'll need to see some samples before I give him the job." Tsao said.
Bentley nodded. "Of course. We'll have him come by right away."
"You'd better not be wasting my time, wedding planners. I get very, very uncharitable when people waste my time." Tsao warned as Ben and Bentley simply turned and left the palace.
"Neyla, think you can handle the photography scope?" Ben asked on the comms once they were out of earshot of Tsao.
"I can do that immediately, love."
Neyla soon arrived in her disguise and Ben whistled at what he saw; her bonnet was blue as opposed to her regular red and yellow pattern and she also had her outfit consist of formal attire inspired by Great Britain. She also had her Binocucom take the form of a camera.
"Looking good, honey."
Neyla smirked as she gave Ben a peck on the cheek before taking a few practice photographs of some of Tsao's guards before heading into the palace. After a brief bit of waiting, Neyla came back out and gave her lover a wink.
"You got the gig?"
"I got the gig."
Suddenly, turret fire was heard from the far west by the bridges. Ben and Neyla headed over to see the commotion and saw Murray pulling something...It was the Cooper Gang's old Van!
Panda King was backing Murray up by eliminating the guards with a firework launching turret. Soon, Murray pulled the van all the way back to a small hole in the wall and Ben smiled at the sight.
"Isn't that your old team van?" Neyla asked as Ben happily rushed over to Murray, who had just finished talking with Panda King, thanking him for his help.
"Murray! You found the van! What happened?!"
"She was the cause of the radio signal! She was calling for me to help her!" Murray said with happiness as he picked up Ben in a hug.
"Glad to see you guys are in high spirits. Looks like the gang is fully complete again." Sly said as he headed over with Bentley, both of them also happy to see the van back in action.
Bentley had managed to download the plans with Sly's help and had placed it all on the ThiefNet computer. After everyone finished reuniting with the van, they headed back to the Safehouse to go over their next course of action.
"The operation is running smoothly. With access to General Tsao's database, and Sly successfully hired as the wedding photographer, we're ready to make an attempt for Jing King. Given the complexity of Tsao's downloaded data, I programmed my computer to automatically analyze the—what the...? G-General Tsao!"
Everyone saw that General Tsao had managed to find the Safehouse and steal the ThiefNet computer. Needless to say, Bentley began freaking out.
"He's...he's got my computer! Our whole plan is on that computer! How did he find us?! We're doomed!"
"Bents, relax!" Ben said. "Remember when you told me of the possibility of someone taking the computer?"
Bentley nervously nodded as Ben gave a reassuring smile and opened a panel in the palm of his bionic hand, revealing a tracker blip. "I used some of Bruce O' Coop's tricks from the Thievius Raccoonus to put an untraceable tracker in the computer. I'll be able to hunt him down!"
"Alright, the time for subtlety is over. Bentley, break into the palace and ransack his personal computer. He might have linked it to ours. If so, that's where we'll start. The rest of the team will stand ready. No telling where this might take us." Sly said as Ben downloaded the tracker coordinates to Bentley, who smiled thankfully at his friend as everyone headed out.
Bentley managed to find Tsao's computer after sneaking into his palace and informed the others that his diary mentioned a secret passage through the prayer bell... then a "walk across the heavens."
With help from Guru, Ben and Sly both made it through the prayer bell and across to a crawl space that led to the mountains. They soon found themselves in an area, perched across bamboo trees. It was there that General Tsao appeared before them.
"Ah, the famous Sly Cooper and Phantom Joker. It seems you and your little gang were able to follow the trail I left for you. Of course, you'll be helpless without them, as you'll soon discover."
"We're not ashamed to rely on friends."
"Who needs friends when you can have servants? Who needs affection when you can have obedience?" Tsao said angrily before shaking his head. "Ah, why try to convince you when I can simply destroy you? This sacred forest has been the stage for hundreds of battles, as my ancestors crushed anyone who got in their way, and you will be no different."
"Ha! In this day and age, there ain't no time for that worldview!" Ben laughed as he formed a blade over his bionic arm which then vibrated with blue energy. Tsao growled and lunged forward, his shield sprouting spinning blades as Ben jumped over to meet him, slicing the shield in half and causing Tsao to squawk in disbelief as he plummeted to the grounds below.
"Smooth work, Ben!" Sly cheered his brother on as Ben turned to him with a smile and a wink. The two jumped down to face Tsao, who slowly got back to his feet to see his ruined shield and angrily turn to them.
"Stop this, Tsao. Release Jing King and this fight can end." Sly said as Tsao growled.
"No! Jing King is mine. Once our bloodlines cross, it shall be glorious. The Panda King, in his day, was magnificent. With the Tsao name, a new generation of Kings will be unstoppable!"
"You really think she wants to marry a total Cock like you?" Ben mockingly said.
"She's a woman, she doesn't know up from down. Once I 'convinced' her father to take up meditation, she was ripe for the picking."
Ben and Sly looked at each other before back at Tsao with disgust. "We've faced a lot of bad guys in our time. But you...are the WORST."
"Oh, it gets worse, you two. Up until now, I've gone easy on you... but now, now you'll sample the ancient black arts of the family Tsao!"
"Really? Going easy? Is that why it was so easy for me to slice your shield apart like a stick of butter?" Ben taunted as Tsao growled before his hand glowed with black magic as he slammed it into the ground, waves of undead hands reaching out as Sly and Ben jumped to avoid them.
"Sayonara, Sucker!" Ben said as his bionic fist flipped upward to reveal a cannon, which fired a bolt of condensed plasma that sent Tsao flying back, his armor having been scorched but intact.
Tsao coughed as he realized he had highly underestimated his opponents, only for Sly to rush in and smack him across the face with his cane. Ben then jumped over his brother's shoulders and grabbed Tsao by the face, punching him several times before delivering several more to his stomach, making him cough up blood. Ben then clapped Tsao's head and then took out a grenade launcher from his coat, firing a Stun Grenade into the Rooster Beastkin's face, sending him flying back.
"How do you like that, Tsao Fried Chicken?" Ben taunted as Tsao slowly got up, his beak bent before fixing it with a CRUNCH.
"You have won this battle, but the war rages on!" The General growled as he tossed the two brothers the ThiefNet computer. "Take your foolish computer. It won't help you. Jing King is mine."
"Jing King is a person, not property. And sorry pal, but we're ending this right now." Sly said but Tsao laughed as he managed to make his escape via smoke.
"Beware...beware the power of Tsao!"
"Really? Then hear this, Tsao! There's only one way this is gonna end; You in the FUCKING MORGUE!" Ben snarled, clenching his bionic fist so tightly, it began sparking with red electricity. Sly placed a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder and shook his head gently. Calming down, Ben nodded as they headed back to the Safehouse.
"Thankfully, we've managed to retrieve the ThiefNet computer. However, all of the plans stored inside are now compromised! The wedding is still on; Jing King remains Tsao's prisoner. Yes, we are going to free her, but that's not enough. No, for this heist we really need to put the screws to this guy. He's earned it." Bentley said as everyone nodded, definitely wanting to knock Tsao down several pegs.
"So we're cleaning out his treasury as well, a feat impossible without the team van. Unfortunately, all that time in the ice has ruined its poly cellular battery. I'll need Ben and Neyla's help to acquire a new one, which won't be easy, as the General's gone all out with security. He's even resorted to black magic dragons and hopping vampires patrolling the streets. We'll need to even the odds before the wedding. Sly, both you and the Panda King will work to gather some fireworks and blow up the vampires' crypt. No crypt, no more vampires. Murray, Penelope, and Guru will handle the dragon heads."
Sly and Panda King gave each other wary glances but ultimately nodded their heads in understanding as they set out to do their job. Ben turned to Neyla with a smile as she smirked back at him, the couple heading out with Bentley to acquire a new battery while Murray, Penelope, and Guru went to deal with the dragon heads.
Next Time: Wedding Crashers!
The gang makes their ultimate move to free Jing King and bring down General Tsao's reign once and for all!
Also, the special attack Ben used on Tsao was Jax's Fatal Blow from Mortal Kombat 11. I just find it fast-paced and satisfying without it being overly fatal-looking.