PROGRAMS OF BETRAYAL

Job 11: Tower Terror

Based on the myriad noises coming from behind the door, Carmelita and Otto are almost finished stealing a biplane. Sly grins and nudges Murray as they continue down the hall. "Think we can finish before they do?"

"I don't know, Sly," Murray says. He takes a moment to adjust his belt, pulling it up higher on his belly. "That wall looked pretty tough; The Murray is strong, but his fists couldn't break it."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Sly tosses a small object from hand to hand. "Bentley's running the coms, but he did give me some... assistance for that door. We get inside the lab, steal that thing Penelope was working on, and get out. It'll be fine."

With that, Sly opens the door at the end of the hall, and the two enter the wide-open area before the tower. The door on the main level is still shut tight, and they don't have any spare bombs, so they sneak around the fox patrolling on the main level and climb the outside ramp. Once there, Murray has to pry open the door again.

A fresh wave of robotic creatures, owls and foxes alike, are ready to swarm them. By this time, though, everyone in the gang has taken these things on at least once. And Sly and Murray are ready for an all-out brawl.

Once that's accomplished, Sly fixes the tiny bomb to the heavy door to Penelope's lab in a short cut-scene. "Let's book it, Murray," he says, and the two rush outside, press themselves to the wall on either side of the door. Sly puts his hand to his ear. "We're all set for you, Bentley."

"All right, harsh amounts of exothermic activity will occur in three... two... one." Boop.

The unmistakably gleeful sound of an explosion comes from the room behind them, followed by a rush of hot, orange-colored air and robot parts. Sly grins as the wind slows to a stop, a single metal feather drifting to the ground far below. "That did the trick."

"That was AWESOME!" Murray shouts, leaning away from the wall. "Come on, Sly, we get to destroy stuff!"

"Remember the list of parts," Bentley says in their ears. "Get those and that computer chip Penelope was working on; I want to examine it."

"And the parts will be used to make something that could keep Penelope here," Sly says, grinning as he surveys the room.

"And then we get to DESTROY EVERYTHING ELSE!" Murray shouts. "This mission is the best."

Play resumes as Sly. The room is covered in laser security and spotlights, with such a solid amount around the computer chip that Sly can't actually see the chip through it. To make it worse, a solid stream of mechanical animals are still coming in from Penelope-knows-where, enough that Murray takes up a spot by the entrance to dismantle them. Various items around the room have way points on them: computer parts, gears, what in the world is this, a length of chain, and is this a stuffed animal. Getting to them requires a fair amount of finesse, ranging from spire jumps, to wall hooks, to using the laser slide.

Does Penelope even know Sly can laser slide? She may not. He only learned it in the Cooper Vault, then he spent time with Carmelita until the time travel incident with Le Paradox, so they wouldn't have had any time in between to chat or learn about it, and it's not exactly a move Sly needs to use very often. With that in mind, even Penelope, knowing everything else about what Sly and the gang can do, may have thought this room impossible to steal from.

"The controls for the laser generators are those knobs in the corners of the room," Bentley says. "Try turning them all off, then you should be able to get at that computer chip."

"Already working on it, Bentley." There are two knobs in each corner, and they have to be turned... just like the ones in the lighthouses. Sly's grateful Murray is there; this requires a lot more concentration than opening one at a time, and he's not sure he'd notice someone sneaking up on him. Having Murray around to watch his back means a lot.

As soon as he's dealt with the last set, all the lasers power down. On the pedestal where the computer chip was before there's... nothing.

"Bad news, buddy. Looks like that chip's already been taken somewhere."

"Winthorp probably has it," Bentley says. "Look around, but we may have to retrieve it during the heist. You may as well start destroying the room now."

Play switches to Murray. Sly is climbing the walls, literally, in an effort to locate that chip... but Murray has other things in mind. With the laser security off he can move around, but there are still mechanical birds and foxes coming in, one every few seconds. And now he has an ENTIRE ROOM of things to throw, punch, and thunderflop.

The Murray proceeds to be a kid in a candy shop... wait, maybe that's not the best metaphor for this. Bull in a china shop might be closer, but still not right. No, what occurs can best be described as a stampede of wrestlers competing for the honorary title of 'Most items dragged into the ring and broken over someone's head.'

Murray wins.

"That should do it," says Bentley. "Now get out of there. We're almost ready for the heist."

JOB COMPLETE

Sly and Murray high-five each other, then get out of the tower while they still can.