Chapter 7: Infiltration

Sly sat back into his seat, relaxing with what time he had before his arrival at the old fort. The van bumped on the rocky terrain that seemed to be an excuse for a road. The raccoon sighed and looked down at the tablet in his hands. It contained a heavy chunk of information on the so called 'puss in boots'. Bentley left no detail out. At least, no detail that he could find. There was a lot of information missing about their feline adversary. He was a hard guy to track down, even for Bentley. Sly skimmed through the information once more and read some of it aloud.

"Puss in boots. We don't know his real name, but that's apparently what he goes by these days. Back before his involvement with 'Black Cat', he used to be an expertise fencer and won many tournaments involving swordplay. However, his dream has always to be an actor and a dancer. Unfortunately, he was never any good at either. Ridiculed for his over acting and terrible dancing, he was told to keep his footwork in his fencing career. Angered with society for ruining his only chance at his dream, he turned to crime, putting his incredible footwork and swordplay to more devious uses. Sometime after, he joined the criminal organization 'Black Cat'. Ever since then, he had operated out of a makeshift base located at an old abandoned fort."

"Sounds about right." Bentley turned his head to look at Sly. The tortoise sat in the passenger seat, next to Murray, who was driving. "He sounds like a bit of a head case." Bentley twirled his index finger around the temple on the side of his head. Sly looked down at the tablet. Even with the rest of the information, they still had no idea what this guy looked like.

'Why couldn't that grey fox guy have just told me where to find this boot wearing cat?'

"Sly." Bentley said to get his attention. Sly looked up from the tablet and switched it off. "Remember. We still don't know what this guy is gonna be like. But if he's with the group who ordered the hit on you, then we can assume he's not gonna let us just stroll in. So I've devised a…"

"Whoa, whoa!" Sly backed into his seat a little more. "Last time, we didn't need your plan. It only slowed me down."

"Last time, I was given fake schematics and…"

"I am not crawling through vents again!"

"Sly, there's…"

"We're here." Murray interrupted as the fort came into view. Sly immediately looked out of the window and smiled. He opened the door and dodge rolled out of the van.

"SLYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Bentley shouted. His voice got quieter as the van got further away. Sly stood up and brushed himself off.

"This time we do things my way." Murray slowed down to a halt and looked out of his window. He couldn't see Sly anywhere behind them.

"Are you sure you want to help her find Sly?" Neyla asked. She walked over to Julian, who was sitting down and reading a book. It was brown with a gold colour cross on it.

"Yeah." Julian replied as he flicked through the pages. "I didn't drag you back to base, so that we can't go forward with the plan. You shouldn't run off in search of Cooper like that." Neyla snorted at this remark.

"I could have easily taken him down."

"Right now, you're more useful as my asset, here in the base."

"Sure, whatever. Just let me know when it's time to kick his ass." Neyla frowned.

"Yeah." He grinned as he tried not to laugh. Neyla eyeballed him.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"This book." Julian turned another page. The thick hard back was obviously a Bible.

"Why is that funny? It's a religious book."

"This concept of God." Julian flicked another page across.

"You find God funny?"

"I find any concept of immortal beings funny." The wolf pulled a grin (a wolfish grin). He suddenly looked up as if he had just realized something. "That reminds me. How are those new implants handling?" He snapped the book close.

Sly crept through the bushes on the outskirts of the fort. It looked pretty heavily guarded, so rushing in wouldn't be an option. However, the outside of the fort seemed deserted. Cooper continued to make his way around the walls of the enormous structure until he found a large crack in the wall. Spotting his chance, the raccoon backed up against the stone wall and peered through the hole. On the other side was a mass off guards in simple t-shirts and shorts. They were all pretty similar in appearance. Boars with large tusks, running around and getting supplied to different stone buildings that had been renovated to become fully functioning parts of the base. There was even an old medieval tavern that had been renovated for a clear purpose. One of the boars was standing right next to the opening in the wall, his back to Sly. The guy was clearly taking a break, or skipping out on work. Sly began to move closer so that he could take the guard out, but flinched and moved back into the cover of the wall when he saw another guard approaching. Sly braved up enough to take another slight peak into the fort. This guy was different. He was much taller and bulkier than the boars. He wore some sort of Spanish get up and had a large frown on his face. As the man got closer to the lazy guard, it was clearer that he was, in fact, a leopard. Sly was a little worried. This guy was easily twice his height, if not taller. His muscles were pretty large too. The leopard stopped in front of the gaping hole and Sly backed against the wall and discontinued his peeking session. His heart raced as he hoped the man would not find him. The large man opened his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing here?" His voice was not as deep as Sly had imagined. Nor was it grizzly. It was smooth and actually pretty easy on the ears. The guy sounded only in his early twenties. It was an odd voice for his size. The boar immediately straightened up. "You're supposed to be helping out with the stage equipment."

'Stage equipment?' Sly thought to himself.

"I-I'm sorry sir. I just… I"

"I don't want to hear excuses. Chris won't be happy with your slacking off."

'Chris? Is that 'Puss in boots' name?' The raccoon wondered.

"I'm sorry . I'll get right on it."

"No. It's too late now. The stage is nearly done. Since you're already here, how about you get that hole fixed up." He pointed at the gaping hole in the stone wall. Sly froze.

"Y-yes sir!" The boar immediately ran off to find materials. Ruppi sighed and slicked back his black hair with his hand. The leopard turned to walk away and breathed in the fresh air. Then his nose twitched. He smelt something. Sly peered around the corner, thinking that this was his chance to creep in, just as he saw the bulky leopard turn back around. Sly threw his head out of the way and stuck to the wall like glue. Ruppi stared at the hole for a few seconds, an inquisitive look on his face. Then he shook his head and smiled, turning back around and walking away. Then he slowed to a halt and wondered. Ruppi immediately turned back around and marched up to the hall, a need to sate his curiosity. He was sure he smelled something. The Spanish looking leopard reached the hole and stood before it for a while before placing his hand on the side, his fingers touching the outer wall. Sly looked and the gigantesque hand millimeters away from him, his mouth gaping wide, struggling not to make a sound. Ruppi slowly peered out of the hole and looked to his right, where his hand was. He looked down to see a tiny mouse scuttling around and squeaking. Other than that, only long grass and bushed were visible. Ruppi looked out over the horizon to see an orange hue dash the green fields in its ambiance. He admired the view. Sly struggled to cling onto the stone wall directly above the hole. He looked down at the top of the leopard's head and almost squealed as his cane rattled on the copper ring that protruded out of the wall above him. Sly held onto his staff and pressed his feet against the wall, forcing his body to move outwards. The raccoon struggled to stay still whilst clinging to the ring with his staff. Ruppi sighed and retracted his body back into the fort. Disappointed, yet relieved, he made his way deeper into the complex. Sly sighed heavily and relaxed his body, causing his cane to move a little and thus the copper ring (and the stone brick it was attached to) came loose and fell to the ground along with the thief. Ruppi stopped and turned to face to hole again. This time he was at least fifty meters away. Sly clung to the ground like butter to bread and hoped the long grass would cover him. Ruppi stared at the hole for a second before returning to his stroll. Sly breathed out heavily and crawled around in the long grass for a while. He could not be paid to sneak through the gap in the wall. Besides, he had a better idea. Sly looked up at the wall.

"This was a terrible idea." Sly struggled to hold onto his cane as he latched onto another ring. He must be at least a hundred meters off the ground by now. "Crap." Cooper thought to himself. I remember when one of my ancestors did this. I didn't think it'd be so hard. He jumped to the next one. "Still. It got me somewhere." He looked around himself. Somehow, he had made his way up one of the towers rather than the wall. Luckily though, this fort was one of the really old ones that had square towers, so it was harder for guards to spot him from around the corners. Eventually, Sly reached the top of the tower and clambered over the wall and landed on the roof. He brushed himself down again. "I'm never doing that again." Looking up, he saw one of the boars standing in front of him, awe shocked.

"HEEL…!" Sly hit him around the head with his cane before the guard could call for help.

"That was close."

"SLY!" A voice shouted, piercing his left ear.

"Oww! What? Bentley?!" Sly asked, remembering that he had an earpiece.

"I can't believe you ran off like that. If I didn't have a back-up plan, we'd have to abort this mission. Remember Sky, we have to work as a…" Sly pulled the ear piece out and flicked it off the tower and into the grass below.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Doesn't mean I can't do this by myself for once." After standing around for a while, Sly began to regret discarding his earpiece. "Then again, I could have done with some of your useful advice." Sly Cooper looked over the side of the tower and into the fort. It was a mess of buildings and boars. It didn't look like the Ruppi guy was anywhere near, so that was a start. The thief scanned the area for possible places that 'Puss in boots could be hiding at. Most of the buildings were small and insignificant, but there was a large wooden gate near the back. Behind it was an array of lights and stage equipment. "Didn't the leopard say something about a stage?" Sly took out his binoculars and zoomed in. Sure enough, there was a large stage with a pretty professional setup. It was surrounded by the ruins of some sort of coliseum area at the back of the fort. "Great. That's gotta be where this 'Chris' guy is." Sly dropped his binoculars and looked around him. "Now for a way down." He scratched his chin.

"CAW!" An eagle sounded. "CAW!" Sly looked straight ahead to see a v-shaped wooden platform branching off the top of the tower. On top of it sat an eagle. It looked at him anxiously. "CAW! CAW!" Sly scratched the back of his head. Was it trying to talk to him? "CAW!" The bird took flight and circled the tower slowly. Sly looked at it for a while before returning his attention to the platform. He slowly placed one foot on it, then the other, cautiously balancing himself as he walked to its edge. He kneeled down at the end and looked around. He could see for miles from here. The stage was much clearer too. Though it was still far away. He had to find a way of getting down first. Sly peered over the edge to see an unusually large and conveniently placed haystack in the courtyard below him. "Maybe that'll work." He thought to himself. The thief stood up on the edge of the platform and prepared to jump off the edge and into the haystack, performing a sort of diving motion. He then relaxed. "No, that's a stupid idea. That haystack wouldn't break my fall. Only an idiot would make that jump." He turned to step off the platform, only to see the eagle fly towards him and push him off the edge.

"CAW!" It spread its talons and rammed Sly off the platform and into a free fall.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Hope you get the reference. Both of them. (The ledge/haystack is one and Ruppi is another). Reviews please (I like to get feed back so that I know whether I'm taking the story in the right direction). Also sorry for the incredibly long wait (unusually, most delays have been for genuine reasons, yet this abnormally long delay was due to simple laziness). :[