FISHING FOR FEATHERS
Job 3: Spell-unking
Sly makes his way through town, picking pockets and pocketing golden fish hooks, in a roundabout route that seems aimless but he chose on purpose. It takes him through all the guards' patrol routes that Bentley plotted earlier, and even as he steals their (low-quality but still valuable 'antique') wallets he's also making sure everyone is where they should be. It's only when he's sure there's not going to be an ambush or unnecessarily nasty surprise that he follows instructions and goes to the end of the beach to the waypoint Bentley's projecting.
Carmelita's waiting for him there, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. Sly brings up his binoc-u-com to talk to Bentley as well as her. "So, we're investigating some radio signals in this cave, right?"
"Yep," says Bentley. "General Tsao would recognize both of you—you weren't in disguise when you beat him up, Sly, or Carmelita when she arrested him."
"So?" says Carmelita. "He went down in one shot."
"He was taken completely by surprise," says Bentley, "and not in armor. Sly fought him to a draw."
"If he hadn't run, I would've beaten him," says Sly, raising an eyebrow.
"Not without taking some serious damage," Bentley says, throwing up his hands. "Look, I know you both think you have more important things to do but face facts. One-on-one you might win, but it's too close to call and together you'll kick him from one side of the island to the other. More importantly, that cave's too deep for reliable outside communication in the best of times. Those radio waves will scramble things even further."
"You're saying you want us together because we won't be able to contact you for back-up," says Sly.
"Right. You and Insp—uh, Carmelita have a history of working together in stressful situations."
Carmelita snorts, but the sound doesn't match her expression. "All right. Let's get this over with."
The two of them put their binoc-u-coms away. "So, Carmelita," says Sly. "You and me, together at last."
"Just try to keep up," says Carmelita, heading into the cave.
LOADING SCREEN
The game resumes in a huge cavern with a long, winding path through it, sloping downwards as it goes—not enough to use the paraglider, but enough to give a decent view of the whole area. Carmelita and Sly stop where they are to take it in.
There are six areas designed as checkpoints, each with two guards. Three deep, wide pits alternate with tall stone walls, partially blocking their view of the path and certainly nothing that can be climbed. Behind each barrier is a switch of some sort, set solidly into the ground, clearly designed to raise bridges or open gates so people can get through; getting to each switch would take some serious platforming skills on either of their parts, and the idea that any of the guards could reach those switches is more ridiculous than the idea of a giant fighting robot posing as a water tower.
"Huh," says Sly, leaning on his cave. "Scary as this looks, I don't think it'll be too bad."
"I've infiltrated plenty of criminal compounds," says Carmelita. "If this is any indication, General Tsao's done too much of the wrong thing."
"Are any of those obstacles going to be a problem for you?" asks Sly, tipping his hat back.
"Of course not," Carmelita says.
"Okay, but listen. Soon as we're past each obstacle, we should try to take out those guards simultaneously. We don't want them alerting their fellows."
"Are you worried about leaving a trail of unconscious bodies?" asks Carmelita.
Sly shrugs. "Never hurt anything before. Besides, General Tsao's the sort to shoot the messenger. They won't dare to tell him—and if they do, he'll write it off as their own fault."
With that, the job starts. This one involves a fair amount of switching back and forth between the two characters: Carmelita will jump to small platforms midway over the pits and across, while Sly spire-jumps and swings on curiously shaped stalactites, and the both take care of their guards at the same time, be it with a shock pistol to the back or a neat stealth slam. The walls are just within Carmelita's jump height, though she has to time it around the patrolling guards up there, and Sly can wall-hook his way to the tops. Sure, it's a long path, but they don't even have to look at the gate-opening switches located off it. They just have to keep moving.
"All right, what's down here that General Chicken's so intent on hiding?" asks Sly when they get past the final wall. The path's leveled out to a large flat circular area, where a couple fires burn unattended, keeping the air in the cave warm. Between the two fires is a pit, with a small ramp leading down into it and a large gemstone at the bottom, glowing with a gentle pulse.
"We need to take evidence back to base," says Carmelita, glancing around, her shock pistol at the ready. "That way, I can get a warrant written—"
"You mean, Bentley can analyze this and maybe get us more information so we can take him out?" asks Sly. He doesn't bother with the ramp, just jumps in, leaving his shoulders level with the ground. "You have to think about things differently when you're working this way."
"Like you had to think about things when you were posing as my partner?" asks Carmelita.
Sly winces and rests his elbows on the floor. "Look, Carmelita... I never got to say this. But... as sorry as I am for lying to you, you gave me that chance."
"I did what?" she asks.
"That day, with Dr. M," says Sly. "The Cooper Vault falling apart, you'd somehow followed me in there, it was falling apart and I'd taken my second head wound of the day. When I woke up and said I didn't remember who I was, I didn't—it came back at some point between getting out of there alive and getting on the boat. You were the one who said I was your partner; you were the one who had Interpol believing I was an informant. But I went along with it because I wanted a chance to be with you, to see if we could work this out, more than anything else I'd ever wanted."
"Sly..." Carmelita says, a little smile on her face, then shakes her head. "We can talk about this later," she says, turning her back to him. "Right now, we need to focus on the job."
"You're right," says Sly. "But—we will talk?"
"We will," she promises. "Now get that stone and get up here."
"All right. It looks pretty heavy. We may have to actually use the—"
Carmelita keeps her back to Sly, watching for enemies. "Use the what, Sly? Bridges? Gates?"
Sly doesn't answer.
"Sly?"
Carmelita turns around.
Sly stands there, the rock in both hands, unmoving. A very slight glow surrounds him.
"This isn't funny, ringtail," Carmelita says, moving around the edges of the pit. He doesn't respond, even when she's in front of him. "Sly?"
She jumps in the pit, and the camera does a close-up on Sly's face. Mouth partly open. Eyes wide behind his mask, pupils grown to encompass his whole face. There's absolutely no response, even when she waves a hand in front of his face; his entire body is glowing, matching the pulse of the rock.
So Carmelita shoots the rock from his hands. It bounces on the ground a few feet away and lays there, unharmed. "Sly!"
Sly rubs his face with his hands. "I'm okay."
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asks.
"Three. Really, I'm fine. But... I don't think we want to touch that rock," he says.
"I agree. But we can't leave it here." Carmelita shakes her fist. "I don't know what that evil, in-inhibited low-life is doing with it, but this cannot be permitted to remain here."
"Not that I disagree with you, but how do you expect to get it out?" Sly asks. He walks over to the rock and whacks it with his cane; it rolls a few feet. "Golfing the whole way?"
"If that's what it takes, ringtail."
"Well, I hope you're good at putting," says Sly, surveying the trip before them, "because we've got a long way to go."
The player takes control of Sly again. "If you can hit the first switch, I'll push our rock through the gate," says Carmelita, waiting by the rock. The switch is off the path, too far away from the wall to jump to. In order to reach it, Sly has to use wall-hooks to climb partway up the wall, inch his way along sideways, and ninja-spire jump a few times. When he stands on the switch, the gate opens; when he gets off it, it closes again. "I'll wait here for you to cross," says Sly.
Play switches to Carmelita. She proceeds to shoot the giant rock... thing... several times. Each time it bounces forwards before stopping. She can even hit it in the air, with good timing, to make it go further.
When she's through the gate, Sly lets it close. The next switch is going to be one she'll have to hit. She has to megajump onto a tall platform, then shoot a piece of the wall that juts out very unstably and looks vaguely target-like to make another platform fall, which she also has to jump to. Several stalactites block her way to the switch, fence-like, and she shoots them out before jumping to it.
Play goes back to Sly, who whacks the thing with his cane. His way of moving it is slower, but more controlled, which is good: the bridge that forms over the chasm doesn't have any railings, and while dropping it would keep General Tsao from using it, he could probably make another. If they get it to Bentley, they may be able to figure out what it is—and stop any others from working on them.
Play continues until they get out of the cave. The two of them take turns shoving the block forward, Sly whacking it and Carmelita shooting it, onto the beach. "I am not looking forward to getting this thing through town," says Sly.
"I heard that," says Bentley over the binoc-u-com. "What did you find in there?"
"Something for you to look at," says Carmelita, putting one hand to her head to get clearer reception. "But we can't touch it."
"Got it. I'll send Murray down with one of the carts the locals use to haul around fish. Think that'll be big enough?"
Sly hits the rock one more time, sending it bouncing into the sand. "I think that'll work."
JOB: COMPLETE
Carmelita does a victory pose with her gun while Sly spins his cane at the success.
Author's Notes:
Hey guys, sorry for having to say this. My apartment's had a number of issues in recent months—plumbing problems two years ago, a heat issue over the winter, and a burst pipe last week. My landlord's been thinking about kicking people out of the apartments and renovating them for a few months now, and I just got the official letter. My apartment will be first; I (and all my possessions) need to Get Out.
Because I have so much written already, changing 'writing time' to 'packing time' won't hurt updates, but a rather unpredictable schedule may make things weird. Right now, I update between getting home from work and going to bed every Tuesday. With this craziness going on, you may see an update a day early, or a day late, or at an otherwise weird time... though there'll still be one a week.
Thanks for your patience.
-EikaPrime