Chapter Eight.
Matt was holding a clipboard in his hand with the names of the Threatening Three written on it. He crossed out Jackson's name. "I couldn't have done it without you guys" he said to Sly, Bentley and Murray.
The next few days were spent travelling around the world. They had little known fact that Gerald King was actually Carmelita, and they had little known fact that Carmelita had been replaced by Neyla. They had visited many countries, old and new, and had even picked up the Guru from the Australian Outback. To make matters better, Penelope had won the Dogfight in Holland, and Murray, with the help of Garry, had raced to victory in the Mexico Grand Prix.
But now, fun was over, and the Cooper-Tember Gang was back in business. They had studied up on the second member of the Threatening Three. Their next opponent was a squirrel named Nelson. Born with extra-large teeth and a bushy tail, he was picked on by other children. He did, however, idolize the comic-book superhero Captain Lightning, and ambitioned to be just like him.
Unfortunately his plans were unsuccessful. So he became a mad scientist, and built himself armour-plated equipment with built-in damaging missiles. Anyone who messed with this supervillain would be under his control. He currently resides in London, England, where he is about to receive the ultimate doom, the TornadoFly, which would enable Nelson to fly and hypnotize the streets of London at the same time.
By the time Sly and the gang had reached London, they could not believe their eyes. More shops than there were in the whole of New York! There was an unused alchemist's, which the gang used as their safehouse. Murray was about to go to the hamburger stall, as was Penelope to the mechanic's, and Guru to the yoga practice, but Bentley pulled them away. "We're on a job, remember!" He pulled them all into the safehouse to formulate a plan.
"Right" he told them all. "We've got to stop that TornadoFly from getting here. That way, Nelson won't be able to use it, and the streets of London will be saved."
"How do we do that?" asked the Guru, translated from his own language.
Bentley was just about to reply when Lawrence interrupted, "Well, it's pretty simple really. The TornadoFly is due tomorrow, and the delivery guy is using some high-tech technology."
Everybody gasped. "Like robots?" asked Murray. "I've always wanted a pet rob…"
"Murray, ssh" said Bentley. "Carry on, Lawrence."
Lawrence continued. "So we need to take out all the delivery guy's security, and stop him from getting to Nelson's place. Garry, do you remember those big boulders we passed just now?"
"Oh yeah" Garry replied.
"Well, you and Murray will each take a certain amount and stack them in big piles at each end of the city."
"Nice plan, Lawrence" said Matt. Sly nodded in agreement. "But what about that slip road I saw earlier?"
Lawrence slapped his right hand against his head like Homer Simpson. "Darn, I forgot about that! Bentley, do you have any thoughts on that?"
"Indeed I do, my good friend. Guru, do you remember that water tower? Well, all you gotta do is "possess" some local guards, and ram them into the tower. This will cause the tower to collapse, and hopefully it will block the delivery guy's path. About 5 guards should do the trick."
The Guru was delighted. "I love ramming things! Especially with guards!" he said, translated from his own language yet again.
Lawrence then moved on. "That'll be all the roads blocked… what about the skies, though? And the waters?"
"Penelope can take care of that" said Bentley.
The pink mouse jumped for joy the moment she heard the mention of her name. "You betcha, Bentley! Nobody messes with me and my RC Chopper! I'm the pink mouse with the black attitude, so beware!"
Bentley giggled. "You tell 'em Penelope! That's my girl! Now, what about the waters? None of us can swim!"
"What about Dimitri?" asked Murray. Everybody was looking at him; no wonder; it was the smartest thing Murray had said in quite a while.
"Good thinking, Murray!" cried Bentley. "Then we…"
Then Sly interrupted, "But what's my job?"
The turtle giggled. "Sly! As if I'd leave you out of any heist! You have the most important job of all: unplugging the electric. With no lights on, the delivery guy would think he'd got the wrong place! Oh yeah, you also have to find Dimitri. Word says he's in the local bar."
"Right" said Sly. "I best go get him now. You wanna come with me, Matt?"
"Oh, sure, why not?" The two heroes then left the safehouse in search for Dimitri. It wasn't long before the other gang members set out to do their jobs.
First up were Murray and Garry, the muscles. They had immediately spotted a pile of over 75 slimy black boulders. Murray and Garry each took a boulder, and each ran to one end of the city of London. When they had placed the boulder, each of them ran back to get another boulder.
Next was Penelope's RC Chopper. Bentley had modified the Chopper by adding a FireHomer (which shoots balls of fire, which chase after opponents). Penelope's job was therefore made easier, since the homing fireballs never missed a target.
Next up was the Guru. With the help of his magical transformation technique, he was kept out of danger from passing guards. Whenever a guard came by, he waited for the guard to pass, and then he would jump on the guard's back, leading him ramming into the water tower. "Phew! Four guards left!" Guru wheezed in his own language.
Sly and Matt were having difficulty finding Dimitri. They had searched two bars, there had been no sign of him. "Third time lucky, I hope" said Matt, as he and Sly walked through the door of a third bar called The Dancing Pony.
"You're absolutely right, Matt!" said Sly. "Look!" He pointed to the far left-hand corner, where an unmistakable iguana, in a green suit, was standing.
"Cooper!" he shrieked. "We meet again! And what's this?" he looked at Matt. "Brought a friend, have you?"
'OH, WHERE ARE MY MANNERS?" cried Sly. "Dimitri, this is Matt Tember. Matt, this is an old friend - and foe - of mine, Dimitri Lou…"
"SSH! DON'T SAY THE SURNAME!" the iguana barked in his French accent. "Anyway, nice to meet you Tember." He shook Matt's hand. "What do you want me for anyway?" he asked Sly.
"Well, you ever heard of a guy named Nelson who was planning to hypnotize the city using the TornadoFly?"
"Ya?"
"Well, we've got to stop the delivery guy from delivering it to him. And he could get in any way… through the sky… underwater… and since you're our underwater expert, you've got to stop him!"
"And how do I do that?"
"Swim underwater and if you see any holes leading anywhere, block them up."
"Roger." Dimitri replied. "Now let's go!" The three of them then left the bar and set off towards the River Thames. By then, Dimitri had changed into his scuba-diving gear.
"Bentley will tell you what to do, through the binocucom" said Matt. "See ya later!" Dimitri bid farewell to Sly and Matt and leapt into the water.
Sly and Matt ran back to the safehouse where the rest of the gang were waiting. "Did you do it?" asked a curious Bentley.
"Yep" replied Sly. "Dimitri's dong his thing as we speak."
"Well, how come the power lines are still on?"
"Oh yeah!" replied Sly. "Come on, Matt…"
"No, this is a job for you ALONE, Sly" replied his turtle companion. "Let Matt have some rest."
"Oh, alright then" Sly ventured out into the city, in search of the electrical cables. All he needed to do was pull out a few wires… how hard could it be? He had only just reached the box when a voice from behind him shouted, "Freeze, Cooper!"
Sly turned around to see a shadowy figure behind him. "Carmelita?"
The figure then stepped into the pure light, revealing her identity. Sly WAS shocked! "N…Neyla?! I thought you were dead!"
"INSPECTOR Neyla" she corrected. "And no, I'm not dead. I jumped out of Clockwerk's body just as you and ex-Inspector Fox pulled that turret on me. And I'm afraid, Cooper, it is time to say goodbye!"
"Goodbye." Sly had then immediately cut the electrical wire. Carrying it with him, he ran as fast as he could towards the safehouse. Even though it was pitch-black, he could still see where he was going, and so could Neyla!
"Uh oh" Sly thought to himself. "She's onto me, and I can't let her see the safehouse! She'll expose the Gang! I know! What if I hide?" He looked around for a hiding-place. And there it was! A small cottage with broken windows. Sly jumped through one of the windows and hid in a tight space between a filing cabinet and a wardrobe. And he was just in time, too.
Neyla came busting through the door, her pistol pointing into the air. "FREEZE!" A man in a chair in the far left-hand corner spun around. He dropped the telephone he was holding. This was none other than Nelson!
Neyla searched the house for Sly Cooper. She ransacked the machinery that Nelson had built years ago. She tore up his paperwork and his bills. "Do you mind?" asked Nelson. "This is my house, you know."
Neyla turned to face the squirrel. "Dare you question an officer! And what is this? Ordering illegal products, I see? Well, guess what, Bushy? You'll be going to jail!" She cuffed Nelson and tossed him into the boot of her car. And without even bothering to go back to look for Cooper, she drove off.
When the coast was clear, Sly pulled out his binocucom. "Bentley, it's OK! We don't need to do any more work! Neyla's just been and arrested Nelson!"
He could hear cheering in the background. Murray then spoke. "Yes! That's a day off the job!"
"I like being on the job" said Sly. "It makes Carmelita more angrier than ever."
Sly's thoughts then turned to Carmelita. He was worried. What had happened to her? He remembered some of their finest moments together…