I do not own Sly. Sucker Punch does.

Note: Took out the death of a guard. There was no right reaction from Faye.

Chapter 7: Visions? Off to India!

Faye walked into the train car, also known as the Sly Cooper Gang hideout. She was wearing a sky-blue T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and was not wearing her cat costume. Her pants were a bit dusty, but that's happens when you wander around nature. She yawned a bit and covered her mouth, then twirled an orange staff with a yellow hook in her hands like a baton and stepped up to the main computer. Murray was lifting a weight with his left hand and resting his right arm on top of the computer, Sly was beside Bentley smiling and holding his cane, and Bentley was, of course, at the computer looking for more Clockwerk parts. It made her wonder why they didn't just leave the Clockwerk parts here. And those Clockwerk feathers? They were smaller in person than in the game, but they cramped up the van. But before she got even half way there, an image flashed before her eyes. The Sly, Bentley, and Murray she knew disappeared. Faye's form shook a bit and a sadder Murray than she had ever known faded in to her right. He looked to his left and right and stared at the ground, as if searching for something. He continued walking and disappeared. Faye looked at the computer, where Bentley faded in, but something was wrong. He was in a wheelchair and was making some kind of modification to it with a wrench. He disappeared and Sly faded in, strapping his red pack to his leg. He picked up his cane and tapped it on the floor. Sly gave a sigh and looked around the room. Faye met his eyes, but it was like his oaken ones didn't. He picked up his hat and put it on.

"I miss 'em," he said. Sly walked towards Faye and passed right through her. She couldn't believe it. Sly faded away and the typing of computer keys snapped her back to reality. Faye turned back to her friends.

'What was that all about?' She dusted herself off and peered over Bentley's shoulder.

"Has another Clockwerk part surfaced?" she asked. Sly looked at her.

"Yeah, in India," he said.

"Who's the target?"

'As if I didn't already know.'

"A mysterious spice lord known as "Rajan," answered Sly. Bentley shut down the computer and walked out the door with Murray and Sly. Faye grabbed her laptop off an orange crate and followed them. She climbed into the back of the van and Murray took off.

"So what's the background on this guy?" Faye asked aloud for anyone to answer.

"Rajan's a self-made man who grew up poor on the streets of Calcutta," said Sly. "He started his life of crime selling illegal spices in the Black Market, eventually growing a small outfit to a sizable operation and earning him a seat in the prestigious Klaww Gang. He's since crowned himself "Lord of the Hills" and while he goes to great lengths to convince others of his royalty, it's mainly to convince himself."

"So what's up with his piece of the Iron Bird?"

'Iron Bird, ha!'

"Well true to form, he's holding a lavish ball in his newly purchased 'ancestral palace.' The reason?"

"Shoot."

"To showoff his latest acquisition: the Clockwerk Wings, the symbol of my enemy." Faye closed her eyes to imagine the Clockwerk Wings, but all that came up was a cartoon-like picture.

"If you saw the Wings silhouetted against the night sky, it was already too late for you. Especially if your name was 'Cooper,'" said Faye, reminiscing over what she had heard over and over again. Sly nodded in agreement as he continued,

"Rajan believes the Wings will bring him prestige, and maybe they will. But they're also bringing me."

"And me. I don't want to see that thing up and about ever again," said Faye. For some reason, she shivered for a moment and stopped. Faye turned on her laptop and played Pinball. It was going to be a long ride.

Several hours later the van bounced like crazy, causing Faye to miss the shot and get a low score. She shut off the laptop just as everything became dark.

'The cave they hid the van in.' Faye looked up and sure enough they were. Bentley exited with Faye and he came up to the mouth of a cave, the temporary safe house. Faye just stared at the river and the palace. The river shimmered in the twilight and beautifully reflected the palace on the other side. Even the elephant appeared magnificent in this setting. The trees were alive as birds rustled in the leaves. Sunlight came through the openings in the trees and lit up the ground. The dirt looked so soft as a bird hopped about and flew off above the palace.

"I never noticed…how beautiful," murmured Faye. She stood there and took it all in. Someone patted her on the back and brought her back from her hypnotic state. Faye turned around.

"Come on, Faye," said Murray. Faye followed the pink hippo into the cave. She took one more glimpse of the beauty of India and went inside.

The interior of the cave wasn't that cheerful. The only thing Faye liked was the window peering out at the palace. Otherwise, it was just an ordinary, dull, dusty cave with a table shaped rock in the middle. Bentley set up his computer and linked it to Thiefnet, Murray was eating, and Sly was doing some exercises before going to work. Faye put on her costume and blue pack that strapped to her thigh and walked out of the hideout with her cane. Sly soon came out of the safe house after Faye. She was staring at the drawbridge.

"If we can't go through…" said Sly.

"Go over," finished Faye. She took off for the waterfall and stopped before the rocks. Sly brought out his binocucom and talked to Bentley about getting over the river.

"This calls for the Ninja Spire Jump. A technique Rioichi Cooper developed while sneaking into the thickly fortified castles of Japan," stated Faye. Sly put away the binocucom and looked at Faye.

"It sounds like you've been reading the Thievius Raccoonus again," he said.

"Whenever I get the chance," smirked Faye. Indeed Faye had been reading the great book but only when Sly was asleep, which was hard considering he went to sleep much later than she did. Which would explain why she had been yawning earlier. Faye backed up from the conical rock before her and sprinted towards it. She jumped high in the air above the brook and landed on the pointed rock just fine. Then she jumped to the next one and the next. She stood proudly and grinned at Sly. He Spire Jumped right behind her and they both got to the section of land on the other side. Faye pressed herself against the rock wall and sidled along a narrow piece of land with Sly behind her. Faye got to the end and ran as fast as she could down the road to the ballroom. She held her pack in place so it wouldn't bring attention to her.

"Faye!" Sly whispered a yell. Sly had no choice but to follow Faye. Faye had slowed down a bit and Sly finally got caught up to her.

"Why did you…"

"Shh!" Faye pointed to not one, not two, but five Rhino Guards and two Goat Guards.

"Now what?" Faye whispered to Sly. He brought out the binocucom and Bentley's voice came out,

"It looks like you won't be able to get to the ballroom this way. Try the rooftops." Sly looked around for something to jump on to get to the rooftop above. Faye bounced on a basket and waited for Sly. She walked over to the ledge and lingered for the elephant to pass. Sly stood beside her.

"What are you waiting for?" Faye saw the elephant, Spire Jumped on it, jumped from the elephant, and landed on a branch.

"That," answered Faye. Sly repeated her actions and was now on the same branch as her.

"Now where?" she asked him. Sly jumped onto another branch and made a path for the balcony door. Faye was getting a little bored of this jumping nonsense. She just made a memory of the world reappear before her eyes and swiftly hopped to the veranda.

Inside the ballroom, Sly was already taking recon photos. Faye stood to the opening of the main room. She examined the room and her eyes befell a dirty rat.

"Neyla…" Faye's eyes blazed with fury.

'I don't care if I change the storyline I am going after Neyla.' Sly eyed Carmelita and took an extra photo. Faye noticed a disturbing sound and looked through the curtains. The guards were asleep!

"Sly," Faye motioned for Sly to come over. Sly snickered and took a photo of the latent guards.

"That'll give 'em something to chuckle about," said Sly.

"So much for tight security," Bentley said through Sly's binocucom. Faye backed out of the doorway and asked Sly,

"Say Sly? Does Bentley have his computer hooked up so whatever pictures you get go directly to him?"

"Not really. The photos are stored in the binocucom and whatever I see through the binocucom, Bentley sees on his computer," answered Sly.

"Oh." Faye smiled and noticed that Sly took two photos of Neyla and another of Carmelita. She gritted her teeth and clinched her fists for a moment before Sly saw.

"That's all the photos I need. Bring them back to the safehouse and we'll start building a game plan," said Bentley. Sly left for the door with Faye. She looked at Neyla, growled to herself, and followed him out.

Faye sulked all the way back to the safehouse about Neyla the "Traitorous Dodo-Head who needed a beating."

'Ways to hurt Neyla… Throw her off a cliff into a pit full of snakes. Replace shampoo with honey and bees. Throw Dimitri at her. Bear hug her. River Dance Stomp on her head. Make her watch 'My Little Ponies' over and over. I wonder if Bentley has a spare crossbow?'

"Faye?"

'Maybe I can get one on Thiefnet…'

"Faye."

'Or maybe a chainsaw… I could always get a flamethrower…'

"Faye!" Faye came back to reality, or whatever, and saw that Sly, Murray, and Bentley were staring at her in the safehouse. Faye stared back.

"What? I'm contemplating," she said.

"So are we. Now…" Bentley turned on the projector and the photos Sly took earlier were shown.

"Stealing the Clockwerk Wings in the middle of a crowded ballroom is going to take some serious misdirection. And a squad of undercover cops only makes things more complicated. Although we might be able to use them to our advantage. But no matter what we do in the ballroom, sooner or later we'll need to deal with Rajan's security chopper. Murray can take it out with some of the local armaments. But he won't be able to get inside the palace until Sly lowers the drawbridge for him." The projector shut off. Sly got up and noticed that Faye was already heading out the door.

"Where you going?" he asked her. Faye stopped and said,

"Terrorize some guards. Raid if I can. Just going to get some coins really." Faye left with Sly and they split up at the drawbridge winch. Faye jumped from rooftop to rooftop and got a nice view from one of them as Sly pick pocketed the rhino guards.

"Sly Cooper, Master Thief, Hero, one Devious Thievius Raccoonus," Sly slammed the rhino guard into oblivion after stealing the key and accidentally gave the guard a wedgie, "And Wedgie Giver. Bravo," Faye said to herself. She chuckled a bit as the rhino went wide-eyed and seemed to pass out. There was no telling, really, if he was indeed passed out since the only indicator of anything wrong was a puddle of crimson soon appearing. However, Faye did not seem to notice that little detail as she turned her attention away to Sly almost immediately. She followed said raccoon by rooftops and ropes to the Guest House. She raised an eyebrow and went inside it.

Meanwhile, Sly had gathered all six keys and made his way to the locked down winch.

"I still feel bad about that guard, Bentley," he said into the binocucom.

"Just don't think about it Sly," said Bentley. "Underwear...shouldn't be able to stretch that far."

"Bentley...."

"Oh, right. Sorry," the turtle apologized. Sly reached into his pack and brought out the keys he had stolen. He unlocked the winch and let the drawbridge down. "Thanks Sly. Now Murray and I can access the palace grounds."

"So what's next?" asked Sly.

"Well you'll have to get into the ballroom. I'll tell you more once you're inside," said Bentley. Sly put away his binocucom and left for the ballroom.

And so ends Chapter Seven of Sly as a Cooper. Remember when I said I wouldn't be using the real dialogue? I changed my mind; I will be using the real dialogue whenever I can. I tried to put as much of "A Starry Eyed Encounter" as I could in this chapter, but couldn't fit it all. In my opinion, this wasn't a good chapter. If I could type as fast as these ideas enter my head, we'd already be past this already. Review if you want. I'm going to bug Bentley on why turtles talk.