The next emblem piece surfaced in Greece, right in the heart of Athens. We set off and discovered the area. It looked like an easy job until we discovered the realm of a miss Ronnie Raven would make things a little more difficult...
Miss 'Ronnie' Had once been a successful young student of archeology. Things did well until the tutors realised that her obsession with Greek gods had led her to perform observational experiments on students to see if Curses were real, and she may have scared a few to pieces in the process. Angry at her conduct she was expelled, and began to continue her work in Greece. She even earned herself money by convincing others that they had no need for it, and her powers of persuasion were obviously not due to her own personality. Something had to be done...
SLY AND THE GANG IN
CURSED
Ronnie slammed her fist down onto the table. She had ruffled her feathers and was not happy. The snake sitting opposite her wiped its nose with its tail, and thenused it to check through the files.
"According to this, miss Veronica, we have several reports of your unothadox ways of obtaining land. The mercenaries you hired will not do...You're becoming a criminal for heavens sake!"
Veronica suddenly kept her cool, and pushed back her jet black feathers, and brushed down her red dress. She then clicked her fingers and several guards ran over and hoisted the sanke out of the table. She made her way towards him, lit a ciggarette and pushed it into his mouth.
"Now, I was told that this was safe place, no? You accept criminals, and I am. now you give me land plot." She smiled, and the snake angrily hissed as he was set down, and checked over the files once more.
"Okay, Okay...there's a ghost town thats near the sea and a forest railway. There's an ampitheatre you can use there. Now are you happy?" He waited for her awnser. She thought about it, then nodded in approvement.
"Okay. My people move in at the end of the day. We own everything, and I get loan on any books I see here?" She smiled, but the snake looked confused. Why would she need one? He nodded, and vaguely pointed to the shelf. It suddenly came to his notice that she knew exactly what she was looking for, as she lept over to the shelf and picked out a book with a scary looking face on the front. She opened a page and began to chant, and before he could stop her the snake began to puff up his cheeks, bellow and whizz round the room. Two of the guards, one an octopus, the other an armadillo, were knocked out as the snake merged with them. He grew and grew until he had rippling muscles ending in fists with tentacles wrapped round them, a small snake head and a huge shelled back. His feet were tiny, and his tail had also become a mass of tentacles. Ronnie laughed a long hollow laugh, and watched as her new creation lost all powers of thought or speech, and roared loudly. She closed the book, and added a chain to it's neck.
"Come, Pedro...let's go for walk."
Shelia scouted round. There'd been no activity around the piece. She logged off and turned to Bently.
"This palce is perfect...there's no-one here! It's practically a ghost town!" Shelia was happy, but Penelope clicked her tounge, took off her glove, licked her finger and lifted it to the wind. But Bently wouldn't listen, and put his map back in his wheelchair.
"Great work Shelia. If this really is the case, we'll have that cooper emblem piece in a few minutes."
"Actually..." Sly looked up at Murray, who was looking at the emblem pieces they had. "Maybe we should, like, find out what the pieces do first. I mean, why don't we set up, like...a training room?"
Sly was now intrigued. This was actually not a bad idea.
"Thanks Murray, I think you've just had the best idea. Think about it...what If we need to get through an even tighter spot than before? We can't just sit back and run out of ideas."
Panda King made a grunting noise, and tapped Sly on the shoulder. He made a grunting noise, and led him to the side.
"Sly, This timeof quiet before a storm prompts me to warn you...I...I have been facing my inner self. I see him when I pass mirrors or...I...I am worried." King looked up with a sad expression on his face and he sat down, with Slys hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, big guy, I know you still try to think about what would happen if you weren't on our side, but that's all over now. You are our friend now...and nothing can change that. Dimitri probably feels the same, and I personally despise him. The guy hasn't washed in like a week. Did you see how long he was on that couch back at the hotel?" Sly was pleasantly suprised as the Panda King laughed for the first time. Sly laughed too, and kept laughing until a small piece of thin paper protruded from the Kings pocket. Sly picked it up. Suddenly his whole mood changed, and he stared at it for some time. It was a picture of Panda and his daughter with thier backs to the camera, watching the sunset. He looked back at Panda King, and gave a look that he understood immeadiately.
"My wife...she was also called Jing. She died long ago during my time with the fiendish five. I am disheartened by her death...but it was by my own hand cooper. As she visited villiage of kyato, I...blew up the mountains and caused an avalanche. I thenaccepted Clockwerks terms and...and..." But he was lost for words, and instead closed his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks. He opened them to see Sly hand him the picture, and bring his face closer.
"Panda King, you have already shown just then that you have more heart than any-one else I know. And if your hearts in the right place, then you'll know exactly what to do."
King nodded, and watched as Sly joined the others. He wept silently, and began to hum a lullaby. Murray was also sitting apart from the others and had caught the conversation and began to cry himself, as he dreamed of a true home for himself, with parents who cared for him. Murray saw the Guru notice him, and the old koala cam and touched Murrays chest where his heart should be. Murray nodded and took his hand. This truly was the best itme for everyone to reflect. This was certainly going through Bentlys mind as he looked on. He turned to see Penelopes hand in his, staring onward. Dimitri, jealous of the intense emotions being displayed here grabbed Shelias hand, only to be karate chopped. Sly came up with the idea to have a bonfire, and a few minutes later the gang were soon exchanging jokes and stories long into the evening. Then they all headed towards thier hidden quaters, and rested. But they would not be the only ones there. Ronnie Raven appeared over the hill, and looked at ther new pet 'Pedro'. Pedro sniffed the air, turned to her, and nodded in agreement. This was definitely the right place.
"Sly! Wake up!" Sly found himself being violently jostled by Bently, and he stretched and yawned.
"What's up Bently? Did yo sleep okay..." He stopped as through the entrance window was the most terrible sight. Guards patrolled the area, followed by army trucks, food stalls and a carnival. A young Bird like woman began to motion them all in, and pointed to the various parts of the villiage. Suddenly, ordinary people walked in through a que, and they were all ready to see the supposed carnival. Sly couldn't get his head round it. Why had the one place they needed to be been taken over as though it was a heavily endangered site? Sly suddenly understood...the raven must be miss Veronica Raven herself, finally showing her face. She obviously knew nothing about the cooper gang, which would make the job easier. Behind her walked a huge person in a trenchcoat, ushering people in. However, when a farm truck got impatient and came out to complain, the huge guy grabbed the truck and tipped it over. It was a scary sight, and wierd too. Sly saw the clowns and wondered what was really underneath all the make-up. He turned to Bently.
"Uh...now what do we do? There are guards AND innocent people everywhere..." Bently nodded. He grabbed out a sheet of paper and began to write on it.
"Sly, I suppose all of the nearby houses here will become either guard territory or Carnival set up. So, we're going to have to join the Carnival...it's not like we really have a choice. You grab some costumes for the following days so we can find out what miss Ronnie plans to do, and I'll get the gang to do thier jobs too." Bently peered outside once more. "It is pretty against us out there... but I have reason to believe Ronnie is using magic," He pointed to the enourmous trenchcoat figure, " because things like that don't just come out of nowhere now, do they? I'll confront her, and we'll all grab the emblem piece at the end."
Sly folded his arms. "Nice work Bently...considering how you've missed out just about everything in between."
Murray put up his hand. "Guys, why don't we just do a proper hiest? We haven't really done a proper one in like, ages!" Murray was getting really excited by the thought of turning the tables on a villain just when they'd thought they got away wit it. This had definitely been the case for several of thier adventures, most notably the Black Baron and Rajan. Bently nodded in approval. He felt that he had certainly been doing a lot of agreeing these past months.
Sly clambered up the streetlamp and headed onto the roof. I t was fantastic to really be doing some sneaky thief work again. He lept and pressed his O button (Even after all these years Sly was still uncertain as to how he did this) and headed into next doors building. Clambering down a bookshelf he saw that the carnival clowns were removing thier hats, make-up, ans pantaloons. Wht was revealed however, were not disguised guards...but disguised creatures, all with red eyes, vicious teeth and wings. Sly, being well read on all mythology thanks to his ancestor Slaigh Mcoopers entry in the thievius racoonus, knew exactly what they were supposed to be...furies, albeit odd variations. So, miss Ronnie must be creating her own curse-like beings. Sly was terrified..there was no way he could pass off as one. But maybe...the were kinda like dimitris height when they were in disguise...Sly hid under a few dress tables, picked up a costume, and headed out. He knew he'd have to be far more careful when facing those kind of odds. He took a look round with his binoccucom, and took a big step forward. He lost his footing, and fell off of the bulding, right in front of a guards flashlight. He picked himself up and ran for his life, all the way through the cobbled streets until...phew. He hid behind a corner as several guards passed by. He cursed himself...stupid, stupid, stupid! It was rash actions like back at the rooftop that got him into this kind of trouble. Suddennly his binnoccucom had blinked into life. He picked it up.
"Hey bently, things are going well on this front...well, I might be slightly exaggerating but..."
"Never mind Sly," yawned Bently. Sly realised that the gang had hardly gotten any sleep. "Now, I've located Ronnies base, and I need you to visit it. Take a few reconnicance photos of her project. Pretty soon we can take staeps to reveal her true objective to the world. I've done several tests in my head to see exactly what she could be up to...well, seeing as i'm right nintey four point five times right out of a hundred, you're not going to like this one. just get a buch more costumes from the dressing room down the road. And Sly?"
Sly turned just as Bently made the remark. The moon had just picked itself up into the middle of the sky. It glinted off of the buildings, and Sly realised just how beautiful they looked. "Yeah pal?"
"Please check out Murrays posistion. He's got the van right outside the next dressing room. Good luck. Please remember to throw the costumes to Murray, okay?"
Sly made an agreeing noise, and leaped onto a rope hanging from his posistion. He made his way to the dressing room, each time getting used to his surroundings. A house there, a carnie truck there, and a few guard patrol areas. He darted to the ground and quickly pickpocketed one, then darted through the door. Wait, he thought to himself. Did he just dart through the DOOR???! Realising he was being watched, he was suprised to look up to see a security camera searching round, luckily not looking in his direction. Sly picked up his communicator.
"Okay, Bently, no way am I gonna get through this yet. Do you think you can destroy the cameras?"
Bently aknowleged this, and began to tap into the frequency.
"Listen Sly, Ronnies Frequency waves are harder to acess than I thought! She's added a Virus type that acts like a cell virus...It can easily hijack my hacking bug, inject it's DNA into it and divide in seconds, destorying my hacker from the inside as it does so. I'm going to need something representing a super hard protien coat if I'm going to get through this one, and I'll also need a new constabulary-standard force power in order to..."
Sly sighed. "...or, you could always ask Penelope."
"Or that." there was a noise as Bently quickly handed over to Penelope, who tapped in even faster. She then began to download several different readings.
"Well, Bentlys absolutely right, so I've added several attributes that would definitely solve the problem. Not sure how long this is going to take...And Bently, looks like your no-magic theory is a dud. Ronnies even using it in the system."
"That could be anything Penelope."
"But you've come up against magic so many times before, you must believe..."
"Ahem!" The voice of Shelia came blaring down the intercom in the one cough. "I believe you two should be destroying those cameras for Sly?"
Sly gave a smirk. He listened as the cameras suddenly made whirring noises, spluttered, and spun out of control as they burst off of the walls. Sly crawled under the following lasers, which had destroyed the cameras as they fell, and lept out at the other side of the room. Right in the centre was a whole range of costumes, which Sly gladly picked up, and destroyed the laser control right at the end. Getting out suddenly proved difficult, as a huge gate closed in front of the door. Using the roof, Sly realised that Murray was right on que, and he threw down the costumes, one by one to the hippo. Murray grabbed them, and threw them into the van. He finally gave Sly a thumbs up, and drove off. Sly finally used the binnoccucom to scout out Ronnies place. From the looks of things, she must have been up in the enourmous ampitheatre, due to the mass amount of guards outside. He was about to enter when something else caught his attention...as one of the guards gave a yawn, the flash of a police badge appeared inside of his jacket. So, Interpol was in on the case too. Not so reassuring... he saw Carmelita in a clown costume along with her clumsy dingo partner Gwen. So, they were all over the place already! He darted as quick as he could towards the roof of the theatre, and attatched a com-link to his head, with a tiny microphone next his mouth.
"Look, I'm going to need you to give me step by step guide through, and I'll need to be able to let you know about any magic forces. Sounds silly, but I need to know if there's anything I can't see. Ronnies a smart person, she'll know what traps to lay and not to lay."
"Right Sly, let me know if you need any more help than that as we go." But even as Sly made his way into the roof, Bently thought about what plan to use. He imagined how fun it would be to spook Ronnie out, teach her a lesson for her attacks on the locals. He tapped back into Slys wavelength. "Sly, listen..what if we made Ronnie think that the gods had cursed her? She need never know for once that it was the Cooper gang who would've done it. Then, if she was scared enough, she might give herself up!"
Slys head also filled with thoughts of scaring Ronnie, but they weren't as relished. He began to think about how Bently had acted like this with his underhanded plans during the Dr M incident. "Bently, that's great and all, but don't you feel that's kind of...well...mean?" Sly heard bently give an 'oh, but...,' and Sly quickly jumped in. "But like I said, it's a great plan. Besides, think of the locals who were affected by her magic." Saying so, Sly lept into the vent exit, and looked out to...an empty room. Seeing his chance, Sly ran forward only to be bounced back into an invisible barrier. He rubbed his nose, and looked at where he had hit.
"Sorry Sly...turn left,right, forward, and you need to jump over the lasers covering the door. Quickly before they switch!" Sly did as he was told, dodging all of the obstacles right down to the bumps in the carpet. He made it down a corridoor, but suddenly found himself climbing up to a nearby chandelier. Just as well, for Ronnie herself walked into the room. She studied her surroudings, and her feathers twitched. She headed over to the bookshelf and clicked her beak when she found what she was looking for. What she pulled out was certainly not any ordinary spellbook. It was a huge, tome slab of a book, which she brought over to the desk and laid down. She heaved open the cover, and began to search through the pages in mere seconds, getting more and more frantic as she went. She suddenly made a triumphant noise as she found what she was looking for, and used her fingers so that she could hang onto every word. She then made a thoughtful face, and looked around for a subject. Sly was already in the act of taking photos of both her and the book. He also took a photo of an enourmous machine behind the window. He jumped as the phone gave a long, shrill ring. She quickly sat at the desk, grabbed a pen and some paper, and picked up the phone.
"Hello, this miss Veronica Raven calling, how may I help?...I'm sorry, could please repeat...RALTIO? Piece of emblem?...how much? fifteen thousand? No can do, sir. I already have plan here, I f I find a piece driftwood then It becomes mine. Good day."
Sly mopped his brow, thankful she hadn't taken up the offer. But now she knew that there was something of interest in the area, and he would have to find it before she did. Taking one last photo of the door, he quickly moved, but a noise from below stopped in. Looking down, he saw in horror that she was already finishing a spell. With a splay of her hand the small glass of water began to collopse in on itself, turning inside out with the water sticking to the outside, and then she compressed it. While it seemed odd, Sly recorded it and put Bently onto the video. He then darted down the wall, and headed through the defences to the outside. Bently had become yelling down the intercom to him.
"Woah, calm down pal. Now, please tell me what's got you spooked."
"Sly! Ronnie wants to make people cursed. Think about it...Turn person inside out and flatten them. But there's a much more sinister plan afoot...If my calculations are correct, then she's planning to use the power to raise the tower on the ampitheatre, and use a spell to turn in something...anyhow, if she ever got lightning to strike, It must power that generator you took a photo of...but what the hell is it filled with? you better come back to the new safehouse I've set up, and we'll discuss this further."
Bently thought about all the different possibilities for Ronnies magic. He had to face the fact that magic was really the victor here. He could easily get the Guru to repel a few things, but that wouldn't really head up against the odds. Shelia didn't really know any Norse magic, and Murray obviously only knew what Guru could teach him. He quickly got everybodies attention.
"Clearly we are dealing with a mastermind, not only of magic, but of her opponents as well. However, If she doesn't know who her opponents are or has no idea that they even exist, she'll easily put it down to superstition and we can drive her out. First, we need to get the local guards spooked. Sly, you need to steal a few keys from the guards, so that we'll be able to enter any room. Murray and the panda king will blow up the Carnival tower when it is first opened to act as an omen. Penelope and Shelia will send shelias blimp to work with rain, while dimitri looks for a way to contct our old friend Crusher. I have a very special agenda to take care of involving a first class juggling act. Now go and drive those guys crazy!"
Sly lept through the air and onto the ground. There was only one key left, and the guard was so close that it almost wasn't worth it. but just as he turned the corner, the guard was confronted by a disguised Fury. Sly darted into the shadow of a building corner. But he was far from safe. His smell had already contaminated the Furies noses, and he watched as the seemingly normal clowns eyes pupils shrank, and it suddenly began to sniff the air. But Sly, just as the two enemies turned to search for him, grabbed the final key. He then crawled up the lamp to his left, and stood on the rooftop, clutching his chest and panting, it was still hard to believe how close that was. He now had the task of getting to every area and opening the door. But this was pure danger. He musn't let anybody se him, or Racoon would be on the menu. He ran, but lost his footing completely. His foot smacked onto a padlocked lift below him, and Sly sat in pain as the lift juddered into life. He stood up, and out of pure curiosity, jumped in. The lift made more metallic rumblings, and he could only breathe assuredly as he was taken below the ground. He closed his eyes, the wieght of the danger lifted from his shoulders. He opened them as he felt himself stop stock still, and peered into the gloom. Before him was a small cylindrical clearing, with light breeching the ceiling above. The rest of the area had been plunged into darkness, and bats hung from the roof of the cave. This place was sure different to the bright sunny surface town above. As he advanced, he could see that a vast amount of tunnels trailed off from the main core, and behind him was a huge map of the very complex of tunnels. Sly checked it, smiled gleefully and picked up his communicator.
"Bently, I'm just gonna grab this map here...trust me, you won't believe what i've got here."
Sly put the communicator back into his leg satchel, and slunk off to the next lift hatch. It made it's same noises, and surfaced...and the smile swept off of Slys face. He stared as he found himself at a huge square, right in the middle of the carnival stage. It was lucky that there was no-one about, but that didn't matter. He knew already what was going on: The tunnels must all be a special way for Ronnies men to get to thier bases. He looked up at the town squares clock...in the middle was a small scratch, that only looked like a speck from so far away. Sly whipped out his binnoccucom and zoomed in on the clock face. His eyes widened...The next peice of the Cooper emblem! So, that's why it hadn't been traced yet. He began to think carefully. The pieces were just appearing in random spots all over the place. He just didn't get it, just who had torn it to pieces to begin with? Dr M? Clockwerk? Or someone else altogether? Sly knew what he had to do, but he instead decided to focus at the task at ahnd. He pressed the button, the lift lowered and he began to gather his thoughts to a plan...
Five hours later, and the crowd were in full swing. The crowd were completely oblivious of the many guards posistioned on the rooftops, and the Interpol officers in the crowd and staff. Carmelita was enjoying herself, while Gwen was sitting back looking over several pictures. Carmelita didn't get it...Gwen was an idiot. She seemed to spend all her work time partying and all her party time working. There was something going on. Gwen had originally come to her aid as a constable long before Cooper had ever been in the picture...
Gwen was a colledge student who had recieved incredibly low grades. But her records had indicated her as a top agent, and worth Carmelitas time as a hotshot partner in law enforcement. But Gwen was incredibly absent minded...actually, only for uninportant things. Sometimes important...It was all too frustrating. Gwen had been seen as a young naiive girl, but Carmelita knew that when it came to catching criminals, no-one could beat her. She watched as Gwen called a guard over and whispered in thier ear. The guard laughed, and Carmelita thought nothing of it. The one person who she couldn't get a rad on..And she wouldn't even think twice about it if it hadn't been for the whole Neyla incident. She finally pushed through the crowd and sat next to Gwen.
"Say Gwen, you're missing out on Carnival time. What's the problem?"
As if trying to remember, Gwens face changed from a serious furrowed brow to her high pitched laugh, and yes, Carmelita DID notice the hesitation. But when Gwen didn't give an awnser she didn't press the matter any further.
Meanwhile, Murray stood with the Panda King at the base of the Carnival tower. He looked at the King imapatiently.
"Can I smash it?" He flexed his muscles and lifted a fist, only for king to stop it before it could reach the stone. Murray sighed and lowered his hand, muttering as he did so. King bore a serious look upon his face, and was about to ready the detanator when he heard something. He sniffed, turned to see a curtain with a shadow of a large hunched figure inside. The curtain was attatched to a box, with wires leading into the tower. A voice could be heard muttering, and the curtain was pulled back by the figure inside. What followed was a huge neck and head, dressed in running gear and a number on its back. The figure then ran like lightning, despite it's proportions, from the booth to the intruders, and looked down upon them. Murray looked sideways to panda King, who did the same. Murray nodded.
"Boy, that's one fast Girraffe."
A figure dressed in a clowns suit appeared with a drama mask, and grabbed a microphone centre stage. He cleared his throat.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the hour of Carnival to the great gods of Olympus is close at hand. I hope you've enjoyed the many delicacies from our region and our exquisite music, but now we must all begin the count down to the Carnival. The gods will be given our appreciation, and soon we shall celebrate Carnival style! 10...9...8..." He looked at the crowd. thay were getting really worked up.
5...4...3...2...ONE! A huge heaving of metal could only be heard by those not cheering. Carmelitas ears pricked up with the very odd sound in the background. There was a huge explosion, followed by a terrible tremor. Then the Carnival tower fell. It came slowly, then faster as the crowd panicked. Screams of " the gods!" and "a sign!" were heard, and Ronnie stood at the back of it all, out of sight, trembling.
"Oh, Zeus, did you really NOT want this? This is no mortals doing! It is a sign! Oh athena, your beautiful Athens..." Sly could hear every word, and was chuckling to himself. Gods? Ronnie really was a fanatic, along with her guards. The people of Athens weren't shouting cries of help from thier gods. It was people like Ronnie who gave the steryotypical view. Carmelita, unaware of any of Ronnie and Slys involvement, was scowling. Curse her foot, more like. This was an inside job...
Dimitri stood with his hand testing the air, palm spread with a bored look on his face.
"Dude, you sure Crusher gonna come with rain signal? Cause Dimitri see no rain.."
"No, no," Bently shook his head vigorously, "The Guru has contacted Crusher through his underwater communications to come here. Ronnie doesn't believe in monsters as such, but she DOES believe in posiden. Now, if we guide Crusher here through my newly set rain clouds and Shelias blimp, he should make his way here. As for you Dimitri, you'll be doing me a favour by destroying the underwater trap fence for the fishing. Any poor creature, including Crusher, will be safe after that." Bently looked up at Dimitri, who gave a narrow look with his hands on his hips.
"Okay little turtle, I do this. But really bro, I don't help no freaky deaky animals...I wear them!"
"Uh...but you are one." Bently scratched his head and checked his map. Above him the girls were setting up the rain configuration. Shelia pressed a button and the whole thing blurred a little as it absorbed the sea air. It churned it's collected vapour, only ten times faster than a normal cloud, and It began to mist and grow heavy. Shelia was just about to sit down, when she felt her arm grabbed by Penelope.
"Listen, smart...ish girl! You may think Bently is giving you special treatment because your new, but he's not! He's doing it because he knows you'll mess up so...don't!" But Penelope soon found herself grabbed as Shelia pushed her away.
"Look, I know you feel that I'm stepping in on Bently and you, but I'm not! I'm not even that smart. Navigation is my passion, and I don't want to share it yet. Please, I don't want to be your enemy."
Penelope nodded, and watched as Shelia got back to the controls. Just as she did, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that an incredibly fast figure was making it's way to Bently. Before she could cry out to him, the figure was already there. But instead of attacking, it held up both the Panda King and Murray in its hands, and dropped them. Bently applauded.
"Such power! Such finess! Who are you?"
The Girraffe bowed low and rubbed his nose.
"I am Harold lawrence, and I am a friend of Big Jim Mcsweeny. The big guy might be caught, but he's been in contact with me since..."
"A friend of Mcsweeny? Obviously a pretty recent one. No need to explain, but you'll have to break the news to my friend Sly. I've got a job to do right now, and Murray, I'll need you too. Lets get to work."
The crowd had gathered in a smaller theatre near the ampi-theatre itself, and were awaiting the carnival acts. But there was still major talk of the recent destruction, and people were scared...they hadn't seen an incident this big for a long time to come. Bently looked out from backstage, and ushered Murray to look out too.
"Murray, soon we'll have to give them a show while the Clowns are still away. Now I need you to collect some of the greek pictures in Ronnies office. I know this is Slys kinda work, but he's a little held up at the moment. Make sure you put these electrical bugs in them. And finally, do the same to the rest of her house. It's totally empty, and hopefully Sly will pick up your rendevouz point. I've calculated that the angle of my ball throwing should be enough to juggle correctly, and uhh...yeah, pretty complicated."
Murray shook his head with his chin raised. "Fear not Bently, for I shall follow your wishes and bug those pictures as if they were infested by your own awsomeness...which they will. And don't worry, the murray know no defeat...only those at the end of his legs! Kinda funny huh?...huh?" Murray shrugged, gave a salute and dashed outside. Bently got onto the stage, and without an explanation began juggling. This alerted the furies to his posistion, as the crowd cheered and clapped. They snarled and bared thier teeth as they tried to pick up a scent, for thier true blindness prevented this. But Bently could only thank god that the several air freshners that hung from his wheelchair smelling of pine would turn them away.
Meanwhile murray searched the entire house. There were so many portraits and statues to bug that it seemed impossible to get them all. Sly, who had only just turned up, was begginning to feel the same, as he bugged statue after statue after statue. He didn't really think this would work, but it had to for thier sakes. He turned as Murray finally inserted the last one.
"Great work, Murray, now let's get outta here. This palce is giving me the creeps!"
"I know what you mean. But no ghost can stand before me. I would teach them a little lesson in 'payback', and then remove thier ectoplasmic hides! " Murray beat his chest and lept forward out of the window. Sly followed suit, just as Ronnie herself entered the room. She cocked her head to one side, as if to hear something, but turned back and place the book in the grand case to be taken to her hall. She rolled it down the hall, and as she did so a small electromagnet attatched itself to her back. The bugs in the statues heads were using this force to turn as she walked. Ronnie got the terrible feeling that she was being watched...
When he entered the safe house, Sly was suprised to see a Girraffe hand out it's hoof in a greeting gesture. The Girraffe wore a baggy running vest with "runner 88" taped to it, and shoerts with the typical white stripe. He stooped a little as he shook Slys hand, and sat promptly down.
"Mr Cooper, I am Harold Lawrence. Nothing to do with you so far, I suppose."
"No, not really." Sly was puzzled.
"I happen to be a friend of Mcsweeny..."
Sly eagerly sat down. "Do tell all..."
The girraffe cleared his throat. " I was a runner for Athens a few years ago. Thought I'd really hit the big time when I won three gold medals. But I'm not ordinary.Your father knew mine many years ago, and I travelled many times to see you. You can't obviously remember all that time ago, but I always knew about your family. So Big Jim taught me how to use the fast-forward Cooper moves, like the one of the same name. But these are Cooper moves, so I dropped them. Sly did you ever ask yourself why this is a ghost town? I used to live here, and tourism boomed when they learned what a great runner I was. But one day, I grew unsure of myself. So I used the Cooper move in a race, got accused of cheating and lost my fans. People left, I went out of money, and the town went out of business. Then people left, and I had to live on the move constantly. But when I came back yesterday, I couldn't believe what had happened. Your two friends had already completed my first reveng Idea, but your turtle friend explained it all to me. I'm your man, Sly." He sat back, happy on his part with a beaming face. Sly scratched his chin in thought.
"Okay, Harold, what do you know of the Cooper emblem?..."
But Bently had already sat everyone inside, and was getting them to quieten down.
"Finally, it's time for action with my new paln. I call it Operation Freak out, as named by our friend Dimitri. Everythings been set, and we just need to add the finishing touches. I will wait until Ronnie is alone in her Mansion, and spook her. Then, Murray will drop in, defeat as many furies as possible and grab the book without Ronnie seeing him. As she gets to her main hall where her posiden statue is right on the shore balcony...well, that's a suprise. From there, we can scare her, ditch the cops, grab the emblem and retreat. Well, It's not detailed, but It certainly will be worth it! now take your posistions in her house, and follow my lead..."
Ronnie signed her finsal contract. At long last, her magic book could be shipped to the area in ten days. Feeling pretty happy with herself, she closed her order and lit a few candles, praying all the while. She jerked as she saw her statue of hephaestus. Did it just move? No, It couldn't have. He rlights flickered, and the candles did too. Bothersome wind, she thought, as she closed the windows. They flew open into her face, and shut once more. The Room did seema little eerie...but nothing would deteer her. She would soon have mass control over the land, and then use the railway to ship her poisons to the highest...She looked at the statue of Zeus. She stopped. It was looking right back. Heart fluttering, she cautiously closed her book and picked up the phone. Dead. completely dead. And then the lights went dim, and the candles went out. The sun was still very low in the sky, giving a red glow into the room. She turned round and screamed. The statue was almost at ther desk. She walked up to it, and prodded it as a laugh. It recoiled sharply and growled in a low, slightly nasally voice.
"Veronica, witch!" She screamed once more, but looked behind her to see hepeastus bang his hammer on the stone anvil singing ina low, singsong drone of a horror song. She opened the doors and ran down the corridoor, but wherever she went, all portaraits or statues turned to her. Inone room, a rocking chair turned round to reveal a smiling Panda dressed in a chefs bloodstained uniform, beckoning to her as a huge pink hippo lay on the dining table. She didn't need to not believe in horror here...she was already too scared to care. Another room held a small frail turtle about to be beheaded by a hooded figure. It took off it's mask to reveal a smoking neck with no head, and two red eyes peered out of the smoke, and it gave an exciting, chilling and high laugh. It lunged for her, and she ran to every room to be faced by yet another horror. All the while things had begun following her, but she arived at a clown to be assured. But after tapping it on the shoulder, it snarled at her, became its fury form and pounced. She shrieked as the (Bugged, thanks to Murray) Furies chased her to the great hall. She barred the door, and gasped as the red sky outside on the water created a chilling atmosphere. She ran down the enourmous room to the huge statue of posiden, threw herself on her knees and cried,
"WILL YOU SHOW ME NO PITY LORD!" The statue rose and gave a laugh, wiping her of her wits. But the last strw came, for as she prayed one last time, posiden was ripped apart along with the entire building, and a huge sea squid that was not of this earth appeared before her. This was surely revenge from posiedon, and she lost it. Running out of the house and avoising the furies, Sly debugged them quickly and thay fell away. He laughed, and gave Bently a high five. Dimitri pulled his head through the headless outfit, and the others arrived. Bu the moo was broken by the sounds of police sirens. They looked outside and shared mixed feelings as Carmelita moved towards her.
"Please, no make me go back in!"
Carmelita looked confused as Veronica pleaded to her, and she had spied the Coopers through the window. But so had Ronnie. As an officer cuffed her, she seethed with anger. Her staff flew to her, and she lept onto the building. The cooper gang were already on a hill, witnissing it all.
"YOU MORTALS! You think just because I supersticious you can scare me? NO! I make you pay! I MAKE YOU ALL PAY! PEDRO!" The trench coat figure appeared beside her, and ripped off its disguise. She held the spell book high, for she had had it all along. Murray apologized to Bently for not retrieving it, but it was too late.
"Tonight, VERONICA GETS HER WAY! AQUA HISHTA MAZODAX NHA, AQUA HISHTA MAZODAX TYA,..." The spell book quivered before her, floating, and grew as the figure on the front began to emerge until...GULP!
For pedro had swallowed the spell. He grew to an amazing size, and stared at his hands.
"Every cell in my brain exploding...my form is hideous...the power...the power!" He cupped his chin and looked at Ronnie. "All these years of imprisonment, I am eaten by a powerful simpleton and gain his form, then enhance it two thousand fold to represent my own! To think that such a powerful djinn..."
"DJINN!" Ronnie was devestated. "All these years of searching for a way to meet Ares or Typhon, or even Atlas, and I free... A DJINN! All this time and I've been using an Arabic spell book! How? It must be a translated version...NO!" The Djinn picked her up and ate her in one bite.Sly had seen enough.
"C'mon, we've got to do something!"
"Sly, we can't! That's a Djinn, and it's statistically impossible to beat it unless...we return it to the book? Bu we don't have a mystic..?"
"But I read all languages!" All eyes turned to Shelia. "I had to navigate some tough places and learnt all languages, and my mother came from the south. My granpapa was a mystic, and knew the aisian arts..and according to your records Sly, Salim Al Kupar was one too!"
"Alright, I'll join you. We need a way up there without us being noticed, so follow my lead!"
Gwen put on an angry face and marched towards the Djinn, and found her arm held back by Carmelita.
"NO! Listen Gwen, I'm not letting my new rookie get killed on her second proper mission..." Gwen had already whipped out her badge, and Carmelita was stunned.
"It's time you knew the truth. I'm a member of the F.A.W, federation against world wide criminals. We're a small base undercover for the whole F.B.I agency, and I'm not letting this case be seen as anything more than an illusion. The Cooper gang will take care of this, I'm not stupid...But You're still my friend. I couldn't tell you anything before. Now you know, you'll have to keep on your toes. Forget rookies, you're with the bigtime now."
Carmelita stuttered uncontrollably..."M-M-me?
"Of course? Your records are pretty spotless aside from number of captures, so I could easily get you in. But now, keep your head low, and follow my lead!"
Sly grabbed the book from behind the Djinn as it floated deciding how to use it's powers. Shelia pulled on her hood against the great gusts of wind.
"You scared?" She called out as he sidled next to her.
"A little, but we'll have to try!"
The Djinn looked to see the two midgets, reading thier pathetic book. He would destroy them immeadiately. He reached over to make them pay...
"Over here, Felon!" The Djinn turned to see Murray held by Harold "What are you doing clown? Don't you know I'm your master? Meet thy Endgame!"
"The Murray knows no endgame, only the Checckmate that will bring us into a combat so cool it will be a STALEMATE! OH YEAH! BEAT THAT, SUKKA! ready Harold!" Upon this he was launched, and smacked into the Djinn. And before he could even topple onto the two spell casters, they were just finishing.
Thy power is of meanful ends
but only thieves are worthy.
But while they and I escape Set sends
an anciet quote O' truly,
For within the prison of the sun
And the book that has been due,
To keep thy body still and done
TO SEND THEE BACK ANEW!
The Djinn fought for his freedom but it was too much, and he was pulled to the book. But as Sly reread the last line, A change came over the Djinn, as it's face became more understanding and noble. And then it was gone. The wind blew the clocktower and it suddenly jarred, then creaked as it struck twelve at midnight. Bently watched as the cooper piece dislodged and fell onto the ampitheatre, as the bells rang for the first time in ten years...
I couldn't believe it...not only had Sly destroyed the Djinns evil scheme, but we had also brought life back to a ghost town. The police were baffled as the recently discovered F.A.W agent Gwen convinced everyone it was a show. We also Got a new gang member out of the bargain! We jumped into the van, and celebrated. It was pleasing just to have scared the evil Ronnie out of her mind. But her superstition had also proved her undoing. I lamented for the fact that we had not forseen it...it was most unfortunate.
But apparently, It wasn't to last. I was confused as to how our van was in the open anyhow. Murray gave a shriek, and we all peered through the windscreen to see poor Crusher netted up like a poor fish. Before we could act, A very confident RALTIO gang, having found our location, had attatched a powerful roket jet to our van, and we screamed as we were launched into the air, hurled miles away...and, boy, did we land far...