Hello again everyone! I'm back and I know some of you are very anxious to see Sly and Neyla kiss, but please bear with me. I will attempt to get
them there before they leave Venice. But until then I hope this chapter can tide you over!
Disclaimer:I do not own Sly or Neyla. It's sad but true.
Chapter 11: Venice, Day 2
After she docked the boat in a safe place, Neyla returned to the hideout. When she arrived she saw Bentley had his projector set up again. She was amazed at how
fast the turtle could work. She took her seat next to Sly and then Bentley spoke.
"Alright everyone, I know it's late but this shouldn't take long." Bentley said as he started the slide show. A few of the slides used the photos Neyla had taken a few
hours prior.
"According to the decrypted files from his computer, Octavio is pumping tar underneath the foundations of buildings, so he can sink them into the canals on a whim!"
Bentley started.
"He's going to demonstrate this destructive ability to the people of Venice during his opera recital on the first day of Carnivale." he said. Then the slide moved on to
pictures of two balloons and a sign.
"To counter this threat, we'll destroy the balloons and sign advertising the recital. If no one shows up he'll have no reason to sink a building." Bentley continued. Then
the slide show changed to a picture of a flashlight guard in front of a coffee house.
"Then I learned that the blueprints to the main tar vacuum have been cleverly split into three parts and hidden in local coffee houses owned by Octavio." Bentley said
as he explained how they were now under constant guard and that Sly would have to use a disguise to get past them. Then the slide changed to a picture of an
airborne goon.
"To make matters worse, some big Vincenetti goons have been called in as "insurance" for the recital. Given their size I think it would be prudent to fool Carmelitas
Ape mercenaries, into taking them out for us." Bentley said. Then the slides moved on to a picture of Murray in his Dreamtime gear, as well as some tar drums.
"Finally we need to convince Murray to take to the field. If he's learned the Aboriginal Ball form, it'll be just the thing for taking out the local tar reservoirs." he said as
the slide show ended. After taking everything in, Sly spoke.
"When do we start?" he asked.
"We begin tomorrow, at 8:00 sharp. We'll start off with stealing the plans for the main tar vacuum. So get plenty of rest you two." Bentley said. They both nodded
and headed to their rooms.
The next morning, the gang ate a brief breakfast and went over their jobs again. Neyla and Sly were to retrieve the tar vacuum plans, while Bentley went to go talk
to Murray.
"Neyla, remember each of the plans is hidden behind a painting in the coffee houses." Bentley said. Then he handed a list to her with various four word sets.
"What's this Bentley?" Neyla asked.
"That is a list of the passwords the guards use to check up on each other. When Sly is stopped by a guard, give him the proper code." Bentley said.
"Understood." Neyla said taking the list from Bentley.
"Remember, I'm trusting you to keep Sly alive out there. Please bring him back in one piece." Bentley said. They nodded and headed out for the first coffee house.
When they left Bentley readied himself for a few moments then left to go find Murray.
Before long Sly and Neyla had reached the first coffee house. And in front of the door was one of Octavios flash light guards.
"Alright Sly, you ready with the disguise?" Neyla asked. Sly nodded as he quickly put on the magenta colored suit and beak mask of the flash light guards.
"How do I look?" Sly asked.
"Convincing at least." Neyla said. Sly simply smiled.
"Showtime." Sly said as he jumped off onto a spot right by the guard then moving into his light.
"Hey you! What's Octavio's house password?" the guard asked. Taking a quick look at the list, Neyla found the needed code and relayed it back to Sly.
"Tenor, Soprano, Tenor, Soprano." Sly said in the best Italian accent he could manage. It was all Neyla could do to suppress her laughter. His Italian accent was terrible.
"OK, I guess you're the relief shift. Thanks for coming early, I got big plans for tonight! Carnivale! Good time eh?" the guard said before leaving Sly. Once he was out
of sight Neyla collected herself and jumped down.
"I can't believe that worked. I'm sorry Sly but you have the worst Italian accent I have ever heard." Neyla said holding back her laughter.
"Well I did the best I could. Now get inside and snag that blueprint, who knows when another patrol will show up." Sly said opening the door for Neyla. After she was
inside, he closed the door and stood guard.
Meanwhile in another part of Venice, Bentley was able to make it to his meeting with Murray.
"Sly said you were looking for me?" Murray asked. Then taking a deep breath Bentley replied.
"We need your help to destroy some tar drums around town." Bentley said. Murray gave him a disappointed look as a response.
"I'm done with all that. I've found a new path… it's full of peacefulness." Murray said. This really shocked Bentley.
"Come on, what happened to "The Murray"? The guy who'd get into a fist fight with ten thugs wearing nothing but a towel? The guy who'd punch first and not bother
asking questions later? Where's that guy? Where's my old friend?" Bentley said holding back tears. This seemed to get to Murray.
"I-I'm sorry Bentley. I-I tried to save you… But, I just wasn't strong enough." Murray said.
"Get over it, Murray. I don't blame you, and never have. The only thing I feel bad about is losing my pal." Bentley said allowing one tear to fall down his cheek.
"Look… I want to help you, I really do. I mean you're like my second best friend! It's just that I promised I'd stay here and "peacefully" meditate till the black water
ran pure." Murray explained. Then an idea finally came into Bentleys mind.
"Well… what if you could help us peacefully? You wouldn't have to punch anyone." Bentley said. Hearing this seemed to fire Murray up.
"I'm in! Keep it peaceful and I'll smash up anything you'd like!" Murray said. Now he sounded like the old Murray.
"As a student of the Australian Dreamtime, I'm sure you've learned of "the ball form"?" Bentley asked.
"Yeah, sure, like my first week." Murray said.
"Excellent! Now see that vent pipe over there?" Bentley asked pointing to a nearby pipe. Murray nodded.
"If you clog up that pipe while in the ball form, the pressure build up should shoot you skyward. Maintain a good air time, and smash into the tar drums around
town." Bentley said.
"Awesome, yeah, that's totally peaceful! I'm sure my Guru wouldn't mind." Murray said. Bentley nodded and moved to a safe distance as Murray changed into his ball
form and rolled into the pipe. In three seconds, he was shot into the air.
"Where are you little combination?" Neyla said to herself as she searched the painting for the safe combination. It took her a few minutes, but she eventually found
what she was looking for. Lifting the painting to access the safe she inputed the code on the tumblers. Then the safe opened to reveal the first part of the tar vacuum
blueprints.
"Got it! Alright Sly, I'm on my way out." Neyla said as she closed the safe and put the painting back. Then she exited to find Sly still at his post.
"I'll meet you at the next coffee house. If you run into any other guards, I'll provide the password." Neyla said.
"Gotcha. See you then." Sly said. Neyla nodded then took off. Then Sly began to make his way to the next stop.
"Cannon ball!" shouted Murray as he demolished another tar drum. So far he had taken out three of the six drums.
"You're doing great Murray! Only three drums left!" Bentley said.
"You got it buddy!" Murray said. But as he bounced on the ground again, he ended up smashing into a table where four cat guards were playing a card game.
"Sorry!" Murray said as he bounced on to the next drum.
It took a bit to find the second coffee house, but Sly finally arrived. Just like last time he went into the guards flashlight.
"Hey you! What's the midnight password?" the guard asked. Neyla supplied Sly with the code.
"Alto, Bass, Alto, Alto." Sly said. Then the guard let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Am I glad you're here. Mama's making spaghetti tonight and I'm starving! I'ma gonna eat three, no four plates full!" the guard said.
"Guess you really like her cooking?" Sly asked.
"Mama-Mia!I want to be buried in her sauce, it's heaven!" the guard said and then left. Once he was gone, Neyla came down.
"That took a while. Any problems?" Neyla asked.
"He said he wanted to be buried in his moms pasta sauce." Sly said. This somewhat weirded out Neyla, but at the same time made her hungry.
"Yeah… that's strange." she said as she entered the coffee house.
This one wasn't as difficult as the other coffee house. The first one had a floor laser array, but this one had spotlights. Neyla avoided these with incredible ease, and
began work on the painting.
"I can't get it out of my head Neyla. I mean have you ever had pasta sauce THAT good?" Sly said. Everytime he brought up the sauce, Neylas hunger grew.
"Sly, please stop. You're making me hungry." Neyla told him. Then she found the code, did what she did before, and in a matter of moments the second part of the
blueprints were theirs.
"Two down, one to go." Neyla said as she headed back outside. Once outside she and Sly spoke.
"You know maybe there's a good Italian restaurant around here." Sly asked. This time Neyla went up to him and smacked him upside his head.
"Enough with the sauce! " Neyla said. As Sly massaged his head he nodded his head in agreement.
"Alright. We just have one more coffee house to hit." Sly said.
"Much better." Neyla said.
"And then we eat." Sly said. Then Neyla smiled.
"Only if you're buying." She said as she headed out to the third coffee house. Then Sly sighed as he headed out to their final stop.
"Look out below!" Murray said as he smashed into the final tar drum. Then he returned to his meeting spot with Bentley.
"Nice work Murray. It's a pleasure to see you back in action." Bentley said.
"Yeah well, I haven't forgotten who my friends are… I'm just playing with a different deck!" Murray said. Then the two went their separate ways.
Before long Sly reached the next coffee house. Just as before he entered into the guards view.
"Halt! What's the Carnivale password?" he asked. Just as before Neyla came to the rescue.
"Tenor, Bass, Tenor, Tenor." Sly said. The guard nodded.
"Yeah, you know the code… But what's my nickname? There's only one Tony.B on the payroll, and I'm famous in the family." Tony.B said.
"I'm new. Just got called in from Rome." Sly said.
Then the two had a brief conversation, before Sly was able to break it off with a lie about a phone call. Once free he asked around to see if anyone knew nickname.
After a couple of tries he got his answer.
"Ha-ha-ha, yeah that fat head likes to call himself Tony "the killer" B. Whadda idiot." the guard said.
"I couldn't agree more." Sly replied before heading out to go talk to Tony.
"So big shot, what's my nickname?" Tony asked.
"Come on, everyone's heard of Tony "the killer" B. You're the terror of every playground from here to Sicily." Sly said.
"Ha,ha,ha, real funny. Least I'm not on guard duty during Carnivale… who's got the last laugh now tough guy? Me! That's who." Tony said as he headed out. Then
Neyla came down.
"What a jerk!" she said. Sly nodded in agreement.
"Don't take to long. If that guy comes back to chat, I'm outta here." Sly said.
Once inside, Neyla saw she had both lasers and spotlights to deal with. After a few minutes, she was able to reach the safe.
"I have to hand it to you Neyla, you're pretty good at art decryption. It usually takes me about twenty minutes." Sly said. Before long she found the combination and
in seconds the third blueprint was theirs. But before they could celebrate an alarm went off.
"Get out of there! It must of been rigged to an alarm!" Sly said. Neyla did not need to be told twice as she put the blueprint in her pack and made for the door.
Outside she found Sly fighting off a flashlight guard.
"We need to get back to the safehouse, that alarm is attracting all kinds of guards!" Sly said. Neyla nodded and the two ran. As they did they were met with guard
after guard. By the time they reached the safe house the two were exhausted.
"Are you two alright?" asked the voice of Bentley.
"A little shaken, but we'll live." Neyla said as she stood up and handed her pack to Bentley.
"As promised, the blueprints for the main tar vacuum." Neyla said.
"Nice work. Now you two take it easy for a while. I need to go set up shop for our next mission." Bentley said as he headed out the door. While Neyla was talking to
Bentley, Sly tried to sneak away. But before he got far, his tail was ensnared by Neylas whip.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Neyla asked as she pulled the raccoon closer to her.
"Nowhere." Sly lied.
"Nice try Sly. You owe me lunch remember?" Neyla said. Then Sly drooped his head in defeat.
"If you'd like, you could pick the restaurant." Neyla said as she unsnared Sly's tail. Sly agreed, and after he changed back into his disguise and Neyla changed to her
black and green street clothes, they headed out in search of a restaurant.
Eventually the pair came across a restaurant that specialized in traditional Italian cuisine. After they took their seats, a waiter came to take their order.
"We'll have the special." Sly said. The waiter nodded and went to give the order to the chef. Meanwhile the two started a conversation to pass the time.
"So Neyla I noticed you and Bentley have been getting along better." Sly said.
"More or less he has been tolerating me at least." Neyla replied.
"Well you're getting there. He'll trust you eventually. But in the mean time is there anything you want to ask me about your past?" Sly offered. Neyla was slightly
caught off guard, since this was the first time Sly brought up the subject. She wanted to know all sorts of things, but only one came to mind.
"How did you and I get to know each other in the past?" Neyla asked. Sly had to choose his words carefully for fear that he may upset her. After a few moments he
spoke.
"During our last adventure, you helped us on a lot of occasions." Sly said.
"Really?" Neyla asked. Then Sly proceeded to tell her of how she helped them in Cairo, and in Paris. Then when it got to their heist in India, she became very
interested.
"You and I danced?" Neyla asked.
"Yep. We needed to distract the crowd so we could accomplish our mission." Sly said. He didn't want to tell her the whole truth just yet.
"Which was?" Neyla asked.
"The retrieval of the Clockwerk Wings." Sly said. Neyla didn't know why but hearing the name Clockwerk seemed to instill a great deal of fear into her heart. But
before she spaced out she shook it off.
"I see. Hey Sly can I ask you something?" Neyla asked.
"Fire away." Sly replied.
"I was wondering if you and I could maybe re-enact our dance sometime?" Neyla asked. Sly could barely see it but he could see the blush hidden in Neylas lilac fur.
Then he smiled.
"Sure thing Neyla." Sly said. Then the waiter returned with their food.
After they had eaten, Bentley had contacted Sly to meet him by Octavios opera house. They headed back to the hideout, switched to their thief gear, and headed out.
When they arrived they found that Bentley had set up shop in a fireworks stand.
"I've taken over this Carnivale fireworks stand as a base of operations for our next job, taking out the sign and balloons advertising Octavios big comeback opera
recital." Bentley said.
"And how are we to do that?" Neyla asked.
"I was able to cobble together a few explosives powerful enough to destroy the anchors to those balloons. Unfortunately I'm a little short on fuses." Bentley said.
"Then… I'll be quick." Sly said. Bentley nodded. He gave the explosive to Sly who ran as fast as he could towards the first anchor, catching the attention of nearby
guards. But they were not quick enough as Sly placed the explosive, and ran as it exploded, killing the guards on contact, and causing the balloon to fly off.
"Nice work Sly. Come back to the stand for the next explosive, the wind is just right for phase two." Bentley told him. When Sly got back, he just stared
at the turtle.
"That explosive had some kick." Sly said.
"It was a child compared to this ferocious beast! Don't dilly-dally with this one, it's got a longer fuse but you've got farther to run." Bentley said.
""Ferocious beast"?" Sly asked.
"Neyla will cover you on the way to the anchor. Now run Sly, run! Fear the beast!" Bentley said. Sly took the explosive and the pair ran a great distance through
Venice. While they ran, Neyla used her whip to fend off incoming guards. Once they reached the anchor Sly deployed the explosive and both of them ran as it
exploded destroying the anchor and releasing the balloon.
"Ha-ha! Behold stage two! The balloon, carried by the wind, will impact on the Octavio sign. The combustible gases in the balloon will ignite… and BAM! Hindenburg
part two!" Bentley said as the balloon neared the sign, only to get caught on the sign.
"Drat and curses! The wind died! The balloons caught!" Bentley said as he viewed the situation from his binocucom. After he cooled down he spoke.
"Sly see if you can knock the balloon loose. A good solid whack from your cane should dislodge it." Bentley said.
"I'll take care of this. Head back to the firework stand with Bentley." Sly said. Neyla didn't argue and began to make her way back. With his climbing expertise, Sly
had made it up to the top of the sign, without breaking a sweat. Then taking Bentley's advice he whacked the sign with his cane breaking the face off, and releasing
the balloon. Afterward a small explosion ensued at the top of the sign.
"Whoa! Looks like we've got a new ferocious beast on this operation. Come on back,whuh?... Sorry sir, we're currently clo… Hey! Let go of me! Sly! Neyla! Get back
here quick!" Bentley said. Hearing this, Sly quickly made his way down. Neyla being closer, made it to the stand first.
"Help!" Bentley cried out. She turned the corner and saw that he was now the captive of none other than Don Octavio.
"Ahh, Sly Coo… what?! You're not Cooper! Who are you?!" Octavio demanded.
"The names Neyla old timer. Now I'll give you to the count of three to put the turtle down, or I'll have myself a new lion skin rug." Neyla threatened. Octavio just
laughed.
"That's the toughest talk you got?! You're pathetic. Back in my day we had enforcers that would make people pee their pants just as soon as look at'em." Octavio
said.
"Trust me, I don't make idle threats." Neyla said holding her weapon battle ready.
"Oh, I know all about Cooper's cracked little gang. They ain't nothing without this little guys brains. So I figure I'll just scoop 'em out real slow and use 'em to fertilize
my tomato plants." Octavio said.
"I'm allergic to tomatoes!" Bentley said. Then Octavio started to run off with Bentley.
"Neyla! Help!" Bentley cried out. Neyla ran after the Don.
"Sly! Octavio has Bentley! Head him off at the opera house!" Neyla said on her communicator.
"On my way!" Sly said.
Before long Neyla and Sly had cornered Octavio at his opera house.
"You want this runt!? Take him!" said Octavio as he tossed Bentley onto the ground.
"I won't forget about this, you guys are dead!" Octavio said before entering his opera house.
"Bentley… You alright?" Neyla asked.
"I'm fine. My ego's bruised but it'll heal." he said as the trio headed back to the hideout to prepare for the next mission.
Meanwhile in the outskirts of Venice a lone seaplane landed near the Venetian shoreline. Once it docked, the door opened to allow a streamlined armor clad figure to
exit. Once the figure was out of the plane, it took off and set off for home. After it left the figure took out a communicator.
"Dr.M, I have arrived in Venice." the figure said.
"Excellent my dear. Whenever you're ready call me and I will send a transport. Till then good luck and happy hunting Neyla." Dr.M said. The tigress simply smiled. She
was going to enjoy this.
Well that does it for this chapter! Once again for those of you that have been waiting for them (Sly and Neyla) to kiss, all I ask is that you bear with
me. I intended for that to happen this chapter but it backfired on me. Speaking of my followers, I want to give a shout out to Illuniaone for the
awesome reviews that have kept me going these hard weeks.