Master of Thieves
Chapter 21: A Friendly Beast
Gameplay Warning
Back in the Hideout, Sly, Bentley and Slaigh were laughing to the point that Bentley fell off his wheelchair, but they were laughing too hard to even care. Eventually, the laughter died down, albeit slowly, before Sly took the initiative to grab his BinocuCom and contact Terry. He then puts on the earpiece and said "Hey Terry, did you place the Remote EMP Bomb yet?" He wore a pleasing grin as he waited for a reply, but he didn't hear Terry's BinocuCom click. He then tried to contact Terry again as Slaigh helped Bentley back into his wheelchair, but he still didn't get a response.
Sly then began to feel concerned and contacted the Time Transmitter back in Present Day, when Carmelita's voice said "Sly?! Sly, is that you, Ringtail?" Sly then quipped with a soft grin "You've just reached the hot thief hotline; if you need some flirty chit-chat, please stay on the line." Carmelita made a soft chuckle at Sly's quip, when she shedded some hot tears with her paw over her mouth. She then said with welling tears "Oh Sly, I missed your quips… I just wish you could come back right now…" Sly then wore an empathetic expression as he began to tore up some hot tears too and replied sadly "I wish the same thing with every waking moment… Hell, sometime I even wonder if ANY of this was really happening and I could just wake up in your bed in the morning."
Sly then heard Carmelita made a hard sob over the line as he wiped away the tears, knowing that the both of them are having a hard time in the current circumstances. Sly then cleared his throat and said with misty eyes "Anyway, Carmelita, can I ask you something?" Carmelita then replied with a sniff "Yeah, ringtail. What is it?" Sly then took a deep breath and asked "Has Terry called in yet? He must've planted the EMP by now…" There were a few moments of awkward silence, since Carmelita was contacted by Terry not a minute ago. She then made a sigh and replied "Yeah… Thing is…"
Meanwhile, Terry is moping on the outlook overlooking Loch Ness since he and Carmelita overheard Sly, Bentley and Slaigh laughing about his Scottish Accent and he doesn't take teasing lightly. He then rubbed his face and under his nose, looking down at the lake as he thought at how the kids in his school tease him at how scrawny he was. He then thought to himself as he followed the shore line from the right "Still, I'd like to see any of them witness this view: Beautiful mist along the lake's surface, a gentle cold breeze, Nessie being wrangled by small guards, cloudy sky beyond the mountain range…" Terry then widened his eyes at the second last thing he described and looked down to see, much to his astonishment, Nessie itself, but was being wrangled to shore by roughly 20 small guards with triple braided lassos.
He then contacted the others and said "Guys… Can you read me?" Sly then replied almost immediately "TERRY! Oh, thank goodness you answered man; I swear, me, Bentley and Slaigh didn't know…" Terry then cut Sly off by informing him "Nessie's being wrangled by some guards at the lake's edge." There were some moments of silence at the sudden update, when Terry puts on his BinocuCom and sent a feed to the others to view what is happening. Murray then exclaimed "HOLY MACKEREL! Nessie is real… I can't believe it!" Sly then replied "Yeah, but she's currently in trouble right now… We've got to help her." Terry then checked the area where the guards are to find something to help free the gentle beast from its impending imprisonment.
Bentley then noted "First of all, Nessie is a male. Second, even if we do, those guards would notify Drake the moment they spot us!" Murray and Bentley then got into an argument over Nessie's gender as Terry, in a suspected notion, scanned up the cliff face feet from the guards and saw a boulder lodged in a small crevasse, but looks like one good hit would dislodge it onto the guards. With a cunning smile, Terry told Bentley "Bentley, I have an idea on how to free Nessie without the use of physical contact… There's a boulder lodged in a crevasse above the guards, but a good strike could dislodge it. Got anything that would help?" Bentley, though Terry wasn't present, rubbed his chin for a solution, before he snapped his fingers and wheeled out of the cave hideout.
He then replied "Well, as it happens, I have something for this kind of job. I've taken the liberty of making a drone than can handle miniature, but powerful explosives, dropped from a hatch in the underside." Bentley then turned on his Holo-Computer and activated the drone from his Binocu-Com, which was hovering in front of him automatically. Seeing that the wet weather would disorient the drone's auto pilot, Bentley decided to pilot it manually from the Holo-Screen. Terry then asked Bentley "If you don't mind me asking, how do you pilot a drone anyway?" Bentley then replied as he ascended the drone at a higher altitude "Oh, it couldn't be easier… The Left Stick moves it in any direction, both the L1 and R1 buttons makes it ascend while the L2 and R2 triggers makes it descend. The X button gives it a little boost, while the O button activates the drone's unique ability: In this case, it drops miniaturised bombs that, despite their size, dish out a good amount of damage." Terry nodded with a smile and noted "Okay, let's see the E-MAD work its magic… This is going to be cool."
Bentley made a grin, sharing Terry's excitement over the explosive result, as he piloted the E-MAD over to the boulder. He then saw that the boulder was wedged in a very small crevasse, but it wasn't properly secured and was admittedly surprised it hadn't fallen off sooner. He then said "Bombs Away…" before dropping a Micro-Bomb onto the crevasse, which exploded and moved the boulder down the cliff before taking down 16 of the guards unfortunate enough to be in its path. The other 4, knowing that their objective to capture Nessie failed, fled into the hills to avoid fatal punishment from Drake.
Terry then witnessed Nessie flailing its neck to remove the rope, but the knots proved to be difficult to do so. Feeling bad for the poor creature, Terry stood up and ran to the edge with R1 and initiated a Swan Dive with the X button, landing into the chilly waters of Loch Ness. As Bentley, Sly and Slaigh rushed down to where Nessie is, they saw Terry emerge onto the water's surface and swam to the shoreline near Nessie. As he got out of the water and shook the water off like a hound, the other came to the area, still amazed to see the Loch Ness Monster right before them. Nessie was still trying to take the rope off its neck, when Terry took off his fur coat and slowly approached the majestic beast so he wouldn't spook. Nessie then looked at him in suspicion, when Terry said softly "I'm not like those fools that tried to take you… I just… need to take the rope from your neck. I can see that you don't want to be caged, so I want to help you… if you would let me…" Nessie glanced at him from the corner of its eye, before looking down at the rope and lowered its head, agreeing to Terry's help.
He then slowly undid the first knot, muttering under his breath "You poor thing… Being wrangled like a cattle drive, I wouldn't wish that on anyone… except for Drake, he can be hogtied and drowned into the bottom of the lake for all I 'care'." Nessie growled questionably at Terry with surprised eyes, before Terry shook his head and added as he proceeded to the second knot "The one who planned to cage you… He's hell bent on killing my cousin, but oddly enough not his ancestors. Guess it'd be better not to do a repeat of a failed plan, really…" Sly then crossed his arms and replied "Well, in a way, at least he's being merciful if he's only targeting ME and not my ancestors." Terry shrugged as he undid the second knot; as he went to the third rope, he wondered where the knot is, when Nessie raised its head a little and revealed the third knot, but it was already undone.
Terry then threw the rope aside and gently stroked Nessie's neck, which had marks from the rope that tried to entrap it, when it made a gentle, passive growl and smiled with its eyes closed. Bentley then took a photo of Nessie taking a gentle pat from Terry, before Terry gave it an affectionate scratch under its chin, making it shrill happily. It then raised its head and went under the water surface into the depths of Loch Ness, but everyone else were still satisfied to make contact with Nessie.
Terry then cleared his throat and told the others "The EMP has been placed… Though in order to get the civilians, if any, out of the cellar, we need to ensure about the patrols and any alternative exits so they won't come out into the courtyard." Bentley then adjusted his glasses, before he had an idea and gestured the rest of them to follow him.