Knock, knock, knock

"Come in if you're going to." Rai called after she heard knocking on her door.

When her bedroom door opened, Sly came into view, closing the door behind himself. "Hey, Rai. You doin' okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm still just a little shaken up over what happened during my last mission." She replied.

"What did happen? When you came back, you almost looked like you had seen a ghost." Sly pointed out.

The fox sighed. "I had completely forgotten about the cellphone Kisara gave to me back in India, and when I felt it going off in my pouch, I was shocked to see her calling me. Well, come to find out she was just trying to track my location by having me on a call, but I threw the phone away before she could finish tracing where I was. However, just before I went to go get the tank schedule from the Contessa, she showed up again. Luckily, she didn't see me, but...I still couldn't shake that feeling..."

"Hey, it's alright now. You got the tank keys and the schedule manual, so it all worked out." Sly reassured her.

"I know that, but...it doesn't still mean that deep down, I'm not terrified." Rai reasoned. "However..."

Sly paused. "...Rai?"

Rai drew in a shaky breath, clenching her fist. "I have to swallow my fear, because right now, we have to rescue Murray."

Sly placed a hand against Rai's shoulder, concern shining in his hazel eyes. "Are you really sure you wanna do this, Rai? You don't have to if you don't think you're up to it."

Rai shook her head. "No, Sly, I'm alright, really. You know as well as I do that I can't hide from her forever. Sooner or later, I'm gonna have to come out and face the music whether I want to or not. I know that deep down, I'll never be truly ready, I've accepted that, but I can't just keep doing what I have been for years – run away from my problems. It was because I ran that I'm in this mess in the first place, so I have to stop and face my past. I'm done running, because now it's time I face this head on." She said determinedly. "All my life, I've been hiding. I've spent more than a decade running away and hiding from my problems, building up a name and a reputation for myself in the process simply because I knew of my parent's legacy. But I'm through hiding behind that wall. It's time that I make my own legacy."

Sly grinned. "Well alright then. If that's what you want, I won't stop you."

Rai returned his grin. "Thanks, Sly."

"Whatever choices you wanna make, I'll stand by you no matter what. I've always got your back, just remember that." He reassured.

"And I've got yours. Now then, we should get going before Bentley throws a fit."

"I couldn't agree more." The two then laughed as they exited the room.

"This was your brilliant plan, Bentley?" Rai asked as her and Sly were crawling under the moving tank to stay out of sight of the spotlights. "To crawl under this tank?"

"It was the only way to get you both in without being detected." He replied through her earpiece.

She sighed. "Not complaining, but this is probably the simplest plan ever..."

"It's not as simple as you think, Rai." The turtle countered. "It's a long and tedious process that requires—"

"We're crawling under a moving tank to sneak into the prison, only to then blow the door open and free Murray. Complicated? Yeah, I think not..."

He sighed. "Point taken... But to be fair, I didn't have much time to come up with something more elaborate."

"Hey, I was just making a statement." Rai replied nonchalantly.

Sly let out a chuckle. "You two sound like brother and sister already..."

Rai shrugged. "What do you expect from two geniuses?"

He rolled his eyes. "Sorry, Bentley is the genius, you're just the looks and the assassin."

"It's sweet that you think I'm that pretty, but we all know I'm much more than you give me credit for, Mr. Heartbreaker." She smirked.

He returned that smirk with his own. "Aww, see, you do think highly of me."

Rai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you keep tellin' yourself that, Ringtail."

"Funny, that's not what you said the other night." He chuckled, Rai glaring.

"Okay, okay, that's enough before you two do something out of hand!" Bentley cut in as Sly laughed. "And we're here anyway, so go ahead and crawl out from under the tank since I can't see you and would prefer it if you both didn't get hit."

"Roger that." Both said in unison before crawling out.

BOOM!

The tank went off, shattering the door on impact with a loud bang. "You both go ahead inside, I'll catch up with you in a minute." The turtle said, the two felines heading inside to see spotlights and lasers everywhere, along with Murray in a glass casing, but he looked...off.

"Whoa, what's up with Murray?" Sly asked.

"It must be the spices the Contessa gave him." Rai suggested.

"The Contessa's spices must be causing him to be in this agitated state." Bentley spoke up as he came in.

"He's all twitchy and bug-eyed." Said Sly.

"God, I feel so bad for him..." The fox spoke. "We've gotta get him out of here, though the question is how in the hell are we going to do that?"

"Sly, Rai, look up there." Bentley pointed. "Those control panels correspond to those Hypno-Boxes. If we can turn them all on, it should heighten the spice's effects and cause Murray to go into an outrage. You both can then lead him to destroy the boxes. If all goes as planned, once the devices have been demolished, Murray should return back to normal. Do you both think you can get up there while I hack those lasers to the panels? I just need you both to type in the codes."

"Sounds easy enough." Sly said.

"I think I can handle that." Rai agreed.

"Then let's hurry."

Both dashed off, jumping and leaping until they reached one of the control panels. Bentley did a quick hack job before the lasers stopped, Sly typing in a code as one of the Hypno-Boxes turned on, Murray beginning to spaz out. "One down, two to go." Bentley said.

"I'll get the next one." Rai said as she leaped, latching her cane onto a hook as she swung to the next platform. "It's all you, Bentley."

"Already on it."

A couple minutes passed before the lasers over the second control panel stopped, the fox typing in a code as the second Hypno-Box turned on, Murray babbling something random. "I'm a little teapot, short and stout, tip me over and I'll smash everything!"

"Well that doesn't sound too good..." Rai said to herself.

"No, it doesn't. I'll get the last control panel." Sly said as he leaped, swinging on a hook onto the platform. He dashed past Rai and went for the last box, Bentley typing furiously. "You're up, pal."

A couple more minutes passed before the lasers stopped. "There! Type in the last code and Murray can bust out of there to destroy those boxes."

"Roger that." Sly said before typing in the code.

"RRRRRROOOOOAAAARRRR!"

Smash!

Once the last Hypno-Box was turned on, Murray went into an outrage, smashing through the doors as he ran all over the place. "Rai, stay put, I'll handle this."

"Sly, I can help." She tried to reason.

"I don't want him to hurt you. Believe me, I know how to outsmart him and the last thing I want is my best friend hurting my best girl. Let me handle this, alright? Just go stay by Bentley until Murray's back to his old self."

She stared at the raccoon for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I trust you. I'll leave this to you." The fox then leapt down to leave Sly and Murray so they could destroy the Hypno-Boxes.

Sly jumped down, eyeing the panting hippo. "Hey, Murray! Over here!" He called, the hippo whipping around as he ran for the raccoon, but he leaped over him, smashing a Hypno-Box.

With one destroyed, Sly dashed past the hippo while he was trying to regain himself and went for the second one. When Murray caught a glimpse of the raccoon, he growled and sped towards him, but again, Sly leaped. He quickly flipped over Murray just before he rammed into the Hypno-Box, destroying that one too. With only one left, Sly beckoned the raging hippo towards him as he ran for the last device. The hippo gave a loud roar before speeding towards the raccoon. Just before Murray could hit Sly, he quickly evaded, just barely missing him and smashing the final Hypno-Box. Now that all were destroyed, Murray slumped to the floor, gripping his head in his hands, trying to shake himself out of the trance he was unwillingly forced into.

"Ohh... My head..." He groaned. "Who? What? Where?" Murray got to his feet, whipping around in all directions to try and process his surroundings.

"Whoa, settle down, big guy, it's us." Came Sly's voice.

"Sly! Bentley! Rai!" He exclaimed happily as he brought them into a crushing embrace.

"Glad to see you too, Murray, but can you put us down? You're kinda crushing us at the moment." Bentley squirmed.

He quickly released the three, rubbing the back of his neck with a goofy grin. "Sorry, Bentley. Guess I'm just glad I'm not in that weird trance-thingy anymore." The hippo smiled. "Oh yeah, I managed to keep this hidden from the Contessa for you guys." Murray said as he pulled out the other half of the Clockwerk Heart to show everyone. "It wasn't easy either!"

"Nice work, Murray, ya did good." Rai grinned. "Now then, speaking of the Contessa, where is that damn spider? I've got a score to settle with her..." She hissed.

"What is all this racket? I can barely—" the Contessa gasped. "The small-minded hippo is free!" She exclaimed. "Hmm... Perhaps it's time to reevaluate some life choices."

Rai's ear suddenly twitched as she whipped around, growling loudly. "Contessa!" She then took off, but the door slammed shut before she could get to her, growling again. "Ugh!? Damn you! Come back here and face me, you coward!"

"Murray, you think you can lift that crank bar so we can chase after the Contessa?" Sly asked.

"The Murray can lift anything! I shall defeat the evil spider for hurting me and my friends!" He exclaimed before grabbed the bar on the ground, quickly lifting it up as the door opened, everyone running after the spider, stopping on top of the prison wall. "You lousy, no-good, head shrinker!" He shouted when they caught up to her.

"Oh, come now, Murray. We were making such progress during our sessions."

"The only mental help I need is to never be reminded of you again!"

"And Rai, if only you had stayed just a little bit longer, then maybe we could have become great friends."

Rai growled loudly again. "I will end you, Contessa, just like I will Neyla and Kisara."

"Such hostility... If you insist on getting angry, why not be psychologically productive and channel it at your "so-called" friends?" The Contessa suggested sarcastically. "Let us face the facts - weren't they the ones who dragged you into this mess with them in the first place?"

"What I do with them is none of your concern, Contessa."

"And what about that time with Rajan? I'm sure Kisara remembers quite well." She chuckled evilly.

Rai grit her teeth, gripping her cane so hard, her hand trembled. She narrowed her eyes, switching her cane into a blade as she got ready to charge for the arrogant spider. "Shut the fuck up!" The fox exclaimed as she dashed forward, tears dripping off her eyes when she tried to slash at the Contessa, but missed just by a hair.

"You don't know goddamn thing about that, so you have no right to throw that in my face!" Rai shouted. "But I can still get back at you for the hell you put me through back in your little "sessions"!"

"Sorry, but our time is up." She then took off.

"Quit running away, you eight-legged whore!" Rai started to chase after the spider, the other three following, but just when the fox got ready to take the damn spider on, she jumped on her blimp, flying off. "No! Get back here!" She got ready to leap, until her arm was snatched.

"Rai, no!" Sly exclaimed, yanking her arm before she could jump.

"Let go!" Rai shouted.

"I'm not gonna let you jump to your death, Rai! Just let her go! We'll find her, I promise!" Sly reasoned with her.

Rai glanced back at Sly before back at the blimp, glaring as she switched her sword back into its original cane shape. "Damn her..." She cursed.

"It's alright, we're going to find her. Now that the four of us are back together, she won't stand a chance." Sly reassured.

"Hold on, Sly. What did she mean when she said, "you and Rajan," Rai?" Bentley then asked.

The fox sighed heavily. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain this, but rather then sing you my sad song, I'll give you the short and long of it: The truth is that, yes, I did have a history with the Klaww Gang, as I've mentioned before, but it was because of them and the stunt Kisara had pulled that compelled me to wear that mask. Long story short, Kisara stabbed me in the back and had Rajan..." Rai visibly tensed up. "...She had Rajan...h-have his way with me..." She forced out, both Bentley and Murray gasping as Sly gently gripped onto Rai's arms as if to try and reassure her. "And the Klaww Gang, they were also responsible for the deaths of my parents..." Rai added. "They wanted to kill me too, and they almost did, until I somehow managed to escape them... It's because of them and Kisara that I was forced to hide who I was for so long, forced to be on the run just to try and escape it all... Honestly, it's still taking all of my strength and will power not to go on a rampage, because I know that if I let my emotions cloud my judgement, it won't end well for anyone, including all of you... I'm just afraid of what I might do if I give in to that rage, so I'm trying my best to hold it all in..."

"Rai, I'm so sorry..." Bentley said sadly.

"That's no good! We have to stop those jerks!" Murray said angrily.

"And we will, but we'll do it together." Sly said. "Now come on, we should get going before we're spotted."

"I suppose Sly's right. Let's get a move on guys." Bentley agreed.

"Yeah..." Said Rai lowly.

Just as they walked off, leaping down from the prison wall, Rai glanced back at the blimp floating away. Her eyes softened sadly for a moment before she glared, but followed everyone else as they made their leave.

They'll pay, they'll all pay for what they did to me and the others. I won't let them take anything else away from me ever again...

Once they had escaped from the Contessa's prison, the gang decided to take a couple weeks off to relax before getting back to work. After all, a little time off was just what they needed to cool down, sharing some laughs and just having fun with what time they had before their work would soon continue...