Chapter Five.
It had taken four whole hours for the Cooper Gang and the Tember Gang to finally arrive at Hamburg, Germany. Many lights were still on, because there were lots of pubs and beer-houses in Germany. Several Germans were eating wursts (German sausages) and bread rolls. Accompanying the food was a pot of thick yellow mustard.
"Sly, Matt, be careful", warned Bentley, pointing to two dumb-looking ape guards, who were drinking root beer. "They might look dumb and drunk, but it won't put them off the job, so be careful."
"Why are we standing around?" asked Sly.
"Because we don't have a Safehouse yet… come on, let's look around… and be quiet!"
"O…K…" whispered Matt slowly.
They tiptoed round the streets of Hamburg for about ten minutes, in search of a safehouse. "Hey!" said Lawrence. "What about there?" He pointed to a treehouse with a small window inside.
"Err…OK" said Bentley. "But there's no ladder. How do we get up there?"
"I've got an idea!" piped up Sly. "Murray, do you still have your Aboriginal Ball Move that the Guru taught you?"
"Why… yes, I do, Sly" replied Murray. "Why d'you ask?"
"Well, er, you can use your Ball to jump to the top, and see those planks of wood? Well, you can drop one down, and we could climb up!"
"Er, OK then… Here goes" Murray took a deep breath, and jumped to an amazing height! He managed to reach the treehouse, where there were several long planks of wood piled up neatly in a corner. Murray formed a "slide" with the planks. The rest of the team climbed up.
"Well done, Murray", said Garry, speaking for the first time since they had arrived in Hamburg.
"No problemo" said Murray. "Come on, let's go on in!"
They walked inside their new safehouse. And surprise, surprise! Everything they needed was here! A PlayStation2 console in the corner of the room. Ten comfortable red chairs, seated round a very long table. A refrigerator in another corner, stacked high with food. Everything they ever wanted. They were just enjoying themselves when a small figure about Bentley's size jumped down from the rafters. It was a very familiar pink mouse, wearing glasses that reminded you of the full moon.
"Penelope?"
"Bentley! Oh, I missed you so much!" Penelope ran up to Bentley and gave him hugs and kisses. "Sly! Murray! How are you? And who are you?" she said to Matt, Lawrence and Garry.
"Tember's the name" said Matt, bowing before Penelope. "Matt Tember. My friends, Lawrence and Garry."
"How do you do?" Penelope shook hands with the Tember Gang. "Why don't y'all have a seat?"
When they had seated, Bentley and Matt told Penelope about the Threatening Three and Jackson's Go-Go Machine.
"True. Heard about it myself" Penelope replied. "I say we destroy it!"
"Me too" said Sly. "Hey, isn't this the time where we conduct a plan to stop the bad guys?"
"Good thinking, Sly" said Bentley. "OK, guys, listen up. There's gonna be a dance recital tomorrow night. The first thing we gotta do is break into Mike Jackson's heavily-guarded office, that's where he keeps the Machine. To do that, we need to drive the guards away. The only way to do that is for Sly to go undercover…"
"Hey, I'm a master thief, too!" interrupted Matt. "Can't I go undercover?"
Bentley sighed. "Oh, very well. Sly and Matt will go undercover as guards. I've supplied your uniforms here, so you don't have to worry about stealing. Hopefully, the disguises will work, and with that you will ask the local guards for the password into Jackson's office. Once you are inside, call me and Lawrence on the binocucom. We will hack into the computer that is supporting the lasers guarding the machine. Murray, Garry, you will then carry the machine back here to the safehouse, where we will jam it up… with JAM!"
"Jam?" chorused Murray and Gary together.
"Yep, that's right" said Bentley. "Jam. From Jerry's Bar and Diner, across the road. To get the jam, Penelope will walk in, naked…"
"Hey!" shrieked Penelope. "I hope you don't mean it!"
"No! Course not" laughed Bentley. "You will... become sexy! I've got a disguise here that'll make people believe you're the bar's sexy new waitress. Anyway, while that's happening, Sly will sneak in and get the jam. Then all we have to do is jam up Jackson's machine, then we replace it again! Then, at the dance recital, Sly and Matt will sneak up to the top of the stage, disguised as guards, and when Jackson uses the Go-Go Machine, jam will spurt in his face, then you two pull the red lever to land an eavesdrop on Jackson. All clear of that, everyone?"
Everybody nodded. "OK", said Bentley. "Put these disguises on, Sly and Matt. Penelope, you too, and everyone get ready!" He handed two security guards' costumes to Sly and Matt, and to Penelope a waitress' uniform, modified to make it look sexy. They hastily put their costumes on.
Sly and Matt walked down the ramp. "OK, Sly" said Matt. "Our objective is to ask local guards for the password into Jackson's office. Now, we don't want them knowing we're thieves, so you take that path, and I'll take this. Let me know once you've got the password."
"OK" said Sly. He took the right path, and Matt took the left. Several guards were patrolling around. "Hmm". He crept up to a dog guard, cleared his throat, and said in a German accent, "Excuse me, partner, but do you happen to know ze passvord into ze boss's office?"
"Sorry. No." The dog guard eyed Sly suspiciously as he went.
Matt wasn't having much luck either. Two guards he had asked had already said no.
Hope came when a goat guard said to Sly, "Yes. I do know the password. But first, I want you to prove you're one of us. What's my teddy bear's name?"
Sly thought. "Teddy bear? Hmm… Teddy? Mr. Cuddles? Bozo? No, not one of those. I wonder if any of the guards know?"
"Hey, pal" said Sly to the goat guard. "I need the bathroom."
"No problem" grunted the goat, letting Sly go.
Sly searched around the city, looking for guards. Eventually he caught up with the dog guard that he'd seen before.
"You!" grunted the dog. "What are you doing here?"
"Um… I just wondered if you knew that goat guard's teddy bear's name."
"Aw, he's always talking about Jackie. Why?"
Before he could continue, Sly sped off to meet the goat guard again. "I just remembered!" he shouted. "Your teddy bear's name is Jackie!"
"Right you are" said the goat in reply. "And here's the password, like I promised. It's wurst."
"Thanks." Leaving the goat guard behind, Sly ran up to the top of a hill, where Jackson's office was situated. He pulled out his binocucom. "Great news, Matt! I've got the password!"
"Thanks!" replied Matt. "I'll be there right away. Bentley, Sly's got the password. Start hacking!"
"No can do!" replied Bentley through Matt's binocucom. He then turned to his computer. "Ah, nothing like a computer hack job!" Hacking was very easy. There was nothing that Bentley loved more than shooting enemy viruses. Once the job was done, Bentley told Sly to go into Jerry's Bar and Diner, where Penelope was already causing a distraction. Then Bentley turned to Murray and Garry. "OK, you know what to do. Get that machine!"
While Murray and Garry were heaving the machine back to the safehouse, Penelope was causing a distraction to the men in Jerry's Bar & Diner. Nobody noticed Sly and Matt sneak under the bar and into the out-of-bounds kitchen.
"OK, jam" said Sly. "Jam… jam…"
"Got it!" said Matt. "Let's get Penelope and go!"
Penelope was still showing off for the men's attention. When she saw Sly and Matt, she waved, causing her costume to drop! She ran quickly out of Jerry's.
"Wow!" said an ape-man. "She's nude!" He took a photo of the "nude" Penelope. What he didn't know was that his brother had set it on fire using his lit cigar.
Eventually, everybody had made it back to the safehouse. "Brilliant!" said Lawrence. "Now to fill it up with jam…" He poured some jam into the machine.
"That should do it" said Bentley. "ShowTime tomorrow night!"