RIGHT AND LAW

Job 6: Split The Party

The four of them stand inside the main room of the theater, still decorated from when The Contessa had it: webs in the corners, fox and mice statues, a gaping hole in what was previously the dance floor, the door to the secret passage propped open with a chunk of debris. The computer Bentley couldn't reach earlier lies in plain sight, its screen gleaming green squiggles in readiness.

"Any problems out there?" Sly asks.

"I wasn't seen, if that's what you're asking," Carmelita says. "You should be in uniform, mister."

"Not while I'm underwater. Bentley, what's the plan?"

Bentley puts his hand to his head to contact Penelope. "Anything suspicious going on?"

"No," Penelope responds at once. "Though they're all jumpy; it's hard to do patrols with my—er, your RC Chopper without getting shot at."

Bentley nods and looks at them all. "I don't have enough information to know what's going on," he admits. "The second I start in on that computer, I expect the place to flood with guards. Murray, I'll need you to keep them off my back."

Murray pounds one fist into the other hand. "You got it, buddy."

"Sly, Carmelita, did either of you see anything that could be investigated?" Bentley asks.

"The volcano, but I can't do that with so many guards around," Carmelita says.

"There's a path down in the water that was a dead-end when we were in England," Sly says. "It keeps going now."

"Okay. Sly, you investigate that—do not take any unnecessary risks. Carmelita, you stay here until we have more information. Murray may need help."

"I'll contact you if I find anything," Sly says.

"Or even if you don't, Sly," Carmelita says.

"Or even if I don't," Sly agrees, looking around. Considering what they had to do the last time they were in this building, it's a reasonable sentiment.

Sly heads back through the secret passageway. Play takes over as Murray. Bentley starts to hack. "Drat! And, curses! There's a silent alarm! I'll work to shut it off—keep those thugs off my back! Don't use your shock pistol, Carmelita, it may damage the circuitry in here."

Carmelita mutters something about how they're cops not thugs, and how she wouldn't hit anything but the cops anyway, but her heart isn't in it. You can tell because she doesn't hiss or yell the words as she clicks on the gun's safety. But there's no time for much more than that, before the guards are upon them.

Friendly Fire has always been a concern in Cooper games. Whether it was trying to defend Murray with a turret in Sly 1 and knowing you could accidentally cause his demise, or that horrendous fireworks-shooter van rescue in China, players know they have to watch themselves. That hasn't been a concern in fistfights before, though.

Of course, until now Murray hasn't been in a massive fistfight against dozens of foxes in cop uniform. The odds of accidentally punching Carmelita are a bit higher than normal. Particularly when she's in the thick of it instead of firing off bolt after bolt with her pistol.

If this were the game proper, it'd switch over to Bentley's hacking when the fight was nearly over; show everyone what he'd been doing the whole time (the answer? An awful lot of unlocking). But, try as I might, I can't think of a way to depict Bentley's hacking mastery well enough right now. So, we'll just say the guards stopped coming with Bentley's shout of success, and a few minutes later he adds, "That should do it," and taps one more key.

A wall opens behind the orchestra pit, revealing a secret hallway. There's only one problem. "That hallway is too small for my hulking bulk," says Murray.

To say the least.

"Murray," Bentley says, and taps his fingers together. "We may need to come back this way. And I'd still like more information. I want you to go out and explore the town—carefully, taking pictures of everything like a recon mission—and come back here every ten minutes or so. That way, you can keep things here safe and we can get more detail on the outside. We'll explore things here."

"You got it, chum," says Murray.

Murray takes off. Bentley wheels himself through the opening, his hands almost brushing the walls; Carmelita follows, stooping to fit.

The hallway is long and dim. The ceiling gets taller as it goes, so Carmelita can walk upright, but there's still no room for the pair to walk side by side; they reach the top of a staircase. That's when the floor opens beneath Carmelita, dropping her out of sight as she yelps. Bentley spins on the spot, but that's a mistake: the staircase flattens into a ramp, his brakes aren't on, and he's facing the wrong way. He rolls down like a sled on ice, and with about as much grace. When the floor finally levels out, he's underground, the slope behind him an impossible climb, a solid wall of lasers in front of him. With a click, the slope steepens further, until it goes completely vertical into a wall, trapping him in a cell with horizontal laser bars.

Bentley puts one hand to his head. "Sly?" he calls. Static crackles in his ear. "Murray? Carmelita?" No response, none at all.

"Penelope?" he tries last, his voice breaking.

But no one's there.

Carmelita, meanwhile, is facing a rather more... immediate situation. She didn't land on solid ground; rather, she landed on a slide, one covered in so many obstacles that it looks like a medieval gauntlet of death vomited on the thing.

Switches abound, and Carmelita shoots them at will. They... kinda help. I mean, shooting the switches gets rid of the spikes and replaces them with lasers, but it's easier to dodge lasers than a solid wall of spikes. And it's easier to get past an arrow launcher that only goes off every two or three seconds instead of three times a second. And the swinging axes slow down.

Of course, when she gets through the slide, she winds up in a cell. Lasers instead of bars, and a steep slope instead of a wall behind her, but it's too steep. I doubt even Sly could get out of there without assistance.

And, on the other side of the laser fences, in shadows, someone sits.

JOB COMPLETE

Author's Notes:

Okay, based on the comments, I scared a couple people when I said the last chapter'd be the day before my birthday. You're all psyched for the end, gearing up for the big finale, mourning your soon-to-lack Tuesday reads... I was born in February, people. This thing isn't over until I've posted the credits.

Merry Christmas, everyone. See you again on New Years Eve.