Chapter 6: Operation: Odyssean Mountain

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Here we are again, my friends. For those of you wondering what the hell I chose that title for… Who here knows the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops? Long story short, he crippled the Cyclops to rescue his men and himself and got away with some loot. What the gang's up to here is similar in principle; cripple the mighty beast and escape with his treasure. Hey, it was the best I had, alright?

Anyways! We finally get to see what happens after all that prep. I'm excited to see what I'm thinking!

Uh, Sly Cooper belongs to Sucker Punch. I am not a thief. Do not take me to court.

Right. Let's get on with the actual story!

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List and Rick ran fast and far. Knowing the guards would be too occupied with the flaming base to pay them much mind, List took a moment to note that debris had stopped raining down on the base. Too bad - he had actually caused a highly destructive weather condition, and he was kind of proud of that.

As they reached the ski lift, Rick noted something else. "Hey, List. Wouldn't the big boss guy be down here, since you blew up his base?" he asked, as they stepped into the lift.

"Rick, it's really great that you think that. But Gol Bora is a jerk, and he doesn't care about the people he works with. He wouldn't risk his own life to save them."

"Wow. That's pretty mean of him."

"Well, to be fair, he is a villain."

"But that doesn't mean he has to be a huge jerk about it."

"…Anyways. You're clear on the plan, right?"

"Yup! I get to the vault, you break into the vault, and then we get out of here with as much loot as we can carry!"

"Good. Get going, I'll catch up."

With that, List dashed out of the now-open door, heading for the path around the back of the rustic old manor. Rick began to run too, heading for the side entrance; Abby was guiding him along the best path to the vault, the manor now empty save for the big man himself, and all the guards at the bottom of the lift.

"Right. Left. Straight ahead to the end. Right, then down those stairs. Another right. Okay, it should be right in front of you." she told the bear, as he ran according to her directions.

"Yeah. Looks pretty sturdy. I hope List can get those keys soon…" Rick nodded, looking at the huge, sturdy steel vault door.

"Don't worry. This is what he excels at, you know. He's a born thief."

"Yeah, that's right. He's always picking pockets. Once, when we were doing one of those practice heists way back when we first met, I asked him what he had just taken out of another guy's pocket. He got these big eyes on his face, and looked down at his hand, like he had no idea what I was talking about."

"You've never told me that story before. Are you really saying that he picks pockets on autopilot?"

"Yeah. I dunno, I guess it runs in the family. He's always doing thiefy things without thinking about it, you know?"

"…I guess I know what you mean. Like how he barely makes a noise when he's walking, even when we're somewhere he doesn't need to go unnoticed, or how he never loses his balance?"

"Exactly! I thought it was kind of weird at first, but it's actually kind of cool now that I think about it."

"I should check on him. I'll call you back once I've ensured that List is on his way with the keys."

"Alright!"

As Abby ended the first call, her blood ran cold. Her instincts had never been stellar, but the way the atmosphere in the room had just changed…

Back with List, he had finally tracked down Gol Bora. The monstrous Russian had apparently been woken by a guard who had informed him that the warehouse was in the process of raining down upon the lower base in large, mostly flaming chunks, and he was gearing up to get the hell out of dodge, apparently unaware that his private helicopter was in smaller flaming chunks. Chuckling inside his head, List silently approached the bear from behind, his cane extending out to snag his pocket…

Success!

Picking the keychain silently off of his cane, List made to leave, but thought better of it. He reached his cane out again, picking two things off of the bear's person with such incredibly gentle precision that he never even realized he had been robbed. Shoving the two things into the red pocket on his leg, List left, headed for the safe now. Time to rob this guy blind.

As he exited earshot from the Russian mobster, List called up Abby, tapping his earpiece to initiate the call. "Abby, I've got the keys. Heading over to the safe to meet up with Rick."

He frowned. It wasn't like Abby to not pay attention to these calls. "Abby, you there?… Abigail?"

Okay, that was really weird. Abby hated being called by her real first name. If she had heard it even in passing, he knew she'd be saying something to him as soon as she could…

Stick to the plan for now. Get the loot, get to the safe house. Resolved in his plan, List sprinted off towards the safe, finding Rick waiting. A look of concern on his face spawned a similar look on Rick's, as he unlocked the safe to reveal a combination lock behind the key lock. Sighing, he quickly cracked the combo lock, then swung the safe open.

"Grab as much as you can carry. Abby's gone dark." he told Rick, turning to the contents of the safe. A reasonable haul, mostly in gold bullion; this guy liked his gold, it seemed. Rick was easily able to carry the contents of the safe in a bag he had brought, and the big guy set about putting the treasure into said bag.

List, meanwhile, ran to the artifact hall. Quickly shattering the glass cases with his cane, he scooped up the smaller artifacts and stuck them in his pocket. The bigger ones went in a second bag, which he handed to his buddy as the strong man showed up. Satisfied with their haul, and concerned for their shared friend, they both took off for the cable car ski lift.

Rick got there first, as List had spotted one last little treasure he could fit in his bag; a sparkling purple gem, clearly ancient and incredibly beautiful. As the bear held the door for his friend, he spotted the half-coon sprinting across the snow, headed for the cable car…

…Only for the thief to be thrown backwards, caught by the shockwave of a particularly energetic shot. The doors slid shut, apparently foolproofed against firearms, and the car began its journey downwards, to the dismay of the shooter.

"Heh. I knew you'd take it on yourself to get involved in all this. Gotta know, though, what possessed you to come all the way up here, Miss Marais?" List grinned, pulling himself to his feet as the cinnamon tigress stepped out of her hiding place.

"I did not expect to find you or your gang here, Voleur. But I could not let you thieves slip through my grasp twice. It would be too much of a humiliation." came that all-too-familiar heavy French accent. "Surrender now, and I may not shoot you before I cuff you."

"Come on, officer. Surely we can work something out? I'm stealing, yes, but only from Gol Bora."

"I'll put him in handcuffs too, but you're just a common criminal, Voleur, if a particularly aggravating one."

"I take offense to that first one. 'Common' criminal? My ancestors would be rolling in their graves to hear any member of the Cooper Clan described that way."

"I don't need to hear about your family traditions, Voleur. Just cooperate. I'm not even here for you, so I'd like to end this quickly, before Gol Bora escapes."

"Oh, we have all the time in the world. I took his ammo right off his belt, so he's carrying around two guns that aren't even loaded, and Abby blew up his exit route, so he isn't going anywhere. We were kind of hoping that Interpol would show up in force to bring him in, so I made sure he didn't have bullets to shoot back, but I guess if anyone could take him out, it'd be you."

"…Why would you ever do that? You're a criminal. What concern could you have for the welfare of Interpol officers?"

"I'm not here to kill anyone. Sure, I reduced their warehouse to smithereens and Gol Bora is a lot less wealthy now, but I didn't do anything that a quick trip to the hospital won't fix to the guards."

"Argh! Why am I talking with you?! Just get down on the ground before I shoot you!"

"Actually… I'll take care of that for you." a deep voice boomed across the courtyard, diverting the attention of both criminal and cop. Gol Bora himself, in all his enormous, intimidating glory, strode across the snow, pointing an oversized double-barrel shotgun at the raccoon. "Don't mistake this for a favor. You are both trespassers, and my main hall is empty. I had no choice but to assume the two of you were responsible, and I have every right to defend my property with lethal force."

"Oh, is that so? If you think that story will fly, then please. Pull that trigger."

List brought his cane up just in time, knocking the shotgun off target as a boom sounded off. The shell hit the snow harmlessly, and as the bear reached back to reload, his eyes widened. "You little…" he growled, throwing the shotgun aside and bringing up a rifle. Again, List knocked it aside, the round splattering into the snow.

"I think that was your second and last shot, big guy. Care to try your luck with your bare hands? Because I think the lovely Constable Alayna is itching to have a… Word with you." List grinned, enraging the bear.

"Voleur, I will personally ensure that you don't see sunlight for a year." the tigress hissed, leveling her shock pistol at the mobster nonetheless. To which Gol Bora… Laughed?

"You idiots. You think I only carry two guns? I always carry third."

And with that, he pulled an enormous, single-barrel grenade launcher with an odd-looking magazine attachment out from his coat. List's eyes widened, but he had no time to react beyond leaping backwards as the huge bear fired at him. While the shell itself barely missed the young thief, the resulting explosion sent him flying again, leaving him half-conscious in the snow as Constable Alayna realized she was in for one hell of a fight. She dropped into a crouch, ready to dodge at a moment's notice, as the gun runner turned his sights on her.

"Now, police girl. Let us see how well you do against my special gun." he chortled, all too confident that he would have no trouble at all reducing the tigress to an assortment of sticky chunks.

"Gol Bora, you are officially under arrest for countless counts of smuggling deadly weapons, as well as quite a few other things. Let's slap two counts of attempted murder on there and put you in court… I am sure they will have a great time with your ugly mug." the young cop replied, before her creepy, murderous grin broke out again. Despite the risk, she was all too aware - this was going to be a fun firefight, and she was going to have a field day taking this guy down.

They both pulled the trigger.

—

Well, sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but hey. Gotta work on that fight scene, which I promised would be its own chapter. And I didn't post this yesterday! I feel good about myself for not leading you guys on any further than that. That said, this story has been pretty fun so far. I've been writing when I can.

Next time, well, I mean, we just left off with a shock blast and a grenade leaving their barrels. I'm still a pretty green writer, but I'll try to make this fight awesome nonetheless!

With Constable Alayna's intervention, this whole scenario has grown much more complicated. What has become of Abby, who went dark after talking to Rick? And what will become of Rick, who was last seen with loot in hand, watching as his friend was corned by the good Constable? What about List, who is currently mostly unconscious by virtue of explosion? And finally, what's going to happen next for the Constable and the gangster she is fighting? Who will win? Who will lose? Who will die? At least five of these great questions will be answered next time, in Chapter 7: Pain Mountain!

Review if you have something to say. Fave if you liked it. Follow if you want to see this fight go down.

KeyFire says: Stay sharp out there, guys!