RIGHT AND LAW

Job 1: Master Strategist Tower

Bentley and Murray make their way around the outside of the wall together, timing their way through spotlights and hiding behind large volcanic rocks and mounds of cooled lava when necessary. Their opening is on the far side of the compound: a place in the wall, about four feet wide, that's the ugly black of newly-poured tar instead of the faded stone of the rest of it. It's the exact size and shape of the hole Bentley blew in the wall when Henriette was around, plotting to steal their binoc-u-coms and calling them all lubbuh's. And, even reinforced with modern-day methods rather than the slap-dash mess Tsao had available, it still won't be a match for Bentley's bombs.

Bentley waits for the spotlight to move away before setting up the explosives, then retreats. He pulls out his binoc-u-com. "Is everyone in position?"

"You know The Murray is!" Murray says behind him.

"Carmelita and I are set to go up that wall." Sly has his cane in one hand, a portable wall-hook in the other, and is wearing his cop's uniform, badge gleaming on his chest.

"They won't even know we're here," Carmelita promises.

"How about..." Bentley's voice catches. "Penelope?"

"Once you give me the signal, I'll use my—er, your—RC chopper to set off an alert and get all the guards over here," she says.

"We'll let you know if she goes off-plan," Carmelita adds.

"Once they're over in our area, shooting at the helicopter, you take advantage of the quiet and blow up the wall," Sly adds. "We've been over this a dozen times."

"Then you won't mind going over it again," Bentley says.

"You and I run through the walls and split up for the towers," Murray says, clapping Bentley on the shoulder.

"Then Penelope's helicopter ducks out of sight, the guards run to look at the hole, and Carmelita and I get ourselves over and to the other two towers," Sly says. "Relax, Bentley. We live for this stuff!"

Carmelita sighs. "We do, don't we?"

"Yep."

"All right then. Operation: Berlin Wall begins in five... four... three..."

Hey, what do ya know, we get to play as the RC Chopper. Which, I suppose, means we're playing as Penelope. She can go in all four directions and diagonally, and the shoulder buttons let her go higher and lower, which is useful, because there are alarms going off everywhere and shock pistol bolts fill the air. Guards, in what seem to be dozens of species and all carrying flashlights, all wearing police uniforms, follow the chopper from one place to the next. A counter in the bottom corner of the screen notes how many guards she has following her; it looks like they need a total of sixteen guards before Bentley calls it good and blows up the wall.

It doesn't take long, and the chopper hasn't even taken a hit. She flies it out of sight, Bentley blows up the wall, and, as alarms sound, Bentley and Murray hurry through it.

"See you later, Murray."

"This is gonna be awesome!" Murray says in response, then runs to the left while Bentley wheels right.

"Okay Bentley," says Sly's voice in his ear, "nice and easy. All the guards on patrol are still making their way along the wall. If you get to that tower in time, they'll never notice a thing."

"Easier said than done," Bentley grumbles, employing the rocket boosters. A harsh purple force-field stands to his left, keeping him from entering the main complex, or even getting a clear view of it. He makes it and jumps onto the spiral. "I'm at the tower."

"And so is The Murray. Different tower, I mean."

"It looks like all the guards are at the hole in the wall now," Carmelita says. "We'll make our way over and to the other towers. Move it , Ringtail!"

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Sounds like everyone's safely on their way. Good. Bentley has a tower to deal with.

A tower recognizable from just a few days ago, a week at the most, as the one Penelope was in. A graceful spiral goes up the outside, leveling out at the landing midway up, then continuing.

It's been repaired. On the way up the first time, when Murray went up the outside, he used his fists and the breaking blow to power through the obstacles in his way. Bentley takes the slower, somewhat more destructive route of bombs. And throwable bombs. Or just jumping off the side of the tower and hovering around things, where it's appropriate. It isn't until he gets to the landing and looks for the best way to continue that anything interesting occurs.

The rapidly moving guillotine thing prevents anyone sane from continuing up the ramp. No one could get past it, not at that pace; if Bentley tried, best case scenario, it'd cut the back off his wheelchair. Which, I mean, it'd miss him , but with everything in his wheelchair I imagine that'd cause a rather nasty explosion.

Good news, though: it's vulnerable to that trap sabotage gadget. Bentley can, and does, get past it that way.

Except the area immediately past it is... just as unfriendly.

Electrified sections of the floor that require hover-boosters. Pillars that simultaneously block the way and hold up the ceiling/next level of the spiral, so he has to decide which one is safe to bomb. A massive spiderweb blocking the way that only has certain sections safe to cut. A laser door that requires use of the grapple-cam to get around and hit a switch to open. This place is entirely ridiculous.

By the time Bentley's reached the top, he fully expects to see a computer there, waiting to be hacked. That and his RC car would just about round out every trick in the book. But no, it's safe, and looking through the massive windows reveals there's no one inside.

Bentley breaks the window and jumps in, looking around. A trapdoor in the floor is closed, probably leading to a rope ladder or similar nonsense; Bentley makes sure it's locked and turns his attention to the rest of the room. Just like the tower top they saw with Slaigh, there are eight large windows—though one is now broken—facing in all eight cardinal directions, with orange and white pennants hanging from the walls between them; the ones near the broken window flutter in the breeze. In the center of the room is a large column covered in machinery, with numerous flashing lights around it. A faint sucking noise can be heard from somewhere deep within.

Bentley examines it as the others chime in.

"The top is clear of criminal interference," says Carmelita.

"Man, that was tiring," says Murray. "I'm here guys!"

"That was fun ," Sly says, and his voice has a grin in it. "I haven't gotten to climb like that in ages . Hey, Carm, think we can ask to keep this tower?"

"No."

Bentley grins despite himself. "It looks like, to deactivate the force field, we have to press the red button at the same time. On Three."

"One," says Sly at the same time he does.

"Two," Murray joins in.

"Three!" shouts Carmelita along with them.

JOB COMPLETE

The sucking noise stops. Out the window behind Bentley, the purple force-field flickers from existence. Running footsteps can be heard somewhere below him, but Bentley's back out the window before anyone can appear.