Chapter 5: The water Tower

I wasn't long before Bentley was making a plan. It still amazed me at how hightech his tech was. In my opinion, what Bentley had would put Tony Stark and Jarvis to shame.

We were all in Bentley's lab, where he could formulate the plan better. You wouldn't believe all the stuff in there! There were shrink rays, heat rays, a crossbow with odd looking darts and several other things. But there were also other, non-weapon experiments. There were plants in glass boxes with differently colored lights with lables saying 'Amazon', 'Sahara', 'Tropical' and 'Mountain'.

"Alright," Bentley said, walking over to a table and flipping a switch, bringing up a touchable hologram. "The water tower that Metal found is pretty big, but it's also abandoned. Wich makes it easier. We'll need to do a quick recon before we settle on any real plans. But after looking over the blueprints, I found a few advantage points here, here and here." He circled the advantage points, a couple being lofts that were high up and one being under the floorboards.

"The lofts will be where the photos will be taken," Bentley explained. "The Floorboards will be trickly though, since it's another loft but the one closest to the water."

"I can handle it." Sly said. "But what pictures can I get when under the floor boards?"

"You won't need the camera for that one." Bentley said, handing him a small device. "You'll put this bug there and get back out. Then we can hear what they're up to."

"Sounds great to me!" Murray said.

"Don't you guys usually have a safehoue though?" Carmelita asked.

"I was almost at that point." Bentley said, typing on the keyboard in front of him, making the map zoom out. "We'll set up a safehouse here. in the attic of this old restraunt. We'll be out of the way, yet it'll be easy to get to the Water Tower. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Murray said, looking at Carmelita. "You won't be calling the rest of the cops on us will ya?"

"Not this time Murray." Carmelita answered. "Believe me, I want Clockwerk perminently gone like you guys. I'll let this one slide."

"Thanks Carm." Sly said, smiling lightly. "I'm ready when you guys are."

"Alright," Bentley said. "But first things first." He rolled over to me and offered a watch. "I was thinking how you can turn into an echidna, and how it makes you sick afterwards. So, I made ya this. It's a Chaos Regulator. The shard is inside, so when you turn this dial, it opens up the chaos field and turns you into an echina without the comand. And it's on a nerve on the back of your wrist, so it won't surround you and hurt your back, It'll go strait in."

I blinked. "Thanks Bentley," I said, gentley taking the watch and putting it on. I could sense the chaos energy, but like Bentley said, it didn't hurt.

"Mind trying it out real quick?" Bentley asked. "I thought it might be useful for this mission."

"I don't see why not." I said, giving the dial a twist. Instantly I felt the chaos energy flow into me from my arm, and already I felt the changes as a light covered me. A moment after the light was gone, I was back in my echidna form, with surprisingly more energy than I had before. I stretched and walked around, but it felt like I was born in this form. "Works like a charm! Thanks Bentley!"

Bentley smiled. "Not a problem. I'm just glad it works."

"So we're ready for the heist or not?" Roxas asked.

Solas looked at him. "It's the middle of the day though."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Ty said. "We could just do what we did getting into Paris. Hide in the back of the van till we're there, then hang out there until the night."

Metal thought this over. "Sounds logical to me."

I smiled. "Then lets get going shall we?"

The safe house looked harmless enough during the day. But once the sun set and the Heartless were out in the streets, I just wanted to stay inside. They felt worse than they did back at my house, but Riku said to expect this since they were stronger than usual thanks to the hatred and the darkness they were feeding off of Clockwerk. I sat next to Ty as Sly went out for Recon work. I couldn't help but sit and stay still as the Heartless scurried around like bugs outside.

"You're doing great Sly." Bentley said, watching Sly's movements from the Binocucom.

"All the heartless seem busy." Riku said. "So that makes the job a little easier."

"Thanks Guys." Sly said as he slipped inside the water tower.

Ty smiled, but I stiffened as the first picture came in. Robert Hopkins, with his favorite insect robot Zong Li. They seemed to be working on a statue with the red stone that they captured.

"That's Old Robert." Ty said. "He's the one that Em and I have the most trouble with."

"He's not the only odd one in here…" Sly said. "And there's a familiar face here too Bentley."

"Sly, we know that Clockwerk is there." Bentley said.

"Not Clockwerk Bentley…" Sly replied, sending another picture.

The picture was of a mouse in a yellow jump suit and goggles. She had blonde hair and her ears were low. I heard Bentley gasp a little as he opened the picture. "Penelope…"

"Afraid so…"

"But even Penelope wouldn't join Clockwerk and this Robert guy." Murray said.

"Sly, keep bring in pictures." Metal said, looking hard at the picture. "Bentley, can you get a close up on her face?"

Bentley nodded and zoomed in. Penelope looked kinda tired; her eyes were at half mast, her shoulders sagged, and there was nearly no expression in her face.

"I recognize that look." Riku said. "Looks like she's in a trance of some kind. Mickey said I had that look before Sora brought me back to the light."

"Then there might be a chance that she's… Still herself." Bentley said. By the sound of his voice I had a feeling he and Penelope were close at one time.

"That's not all guys." Sly said, sending more pictures from a different angle.

The boys, Metal, Solas and I all gasp at seeing who was standing over the enslaved Jade and Joe. Esau. The Dark Angel Keyblader that stole a young Dragons wings to make The Devils Creed, a Keyblade that was the complete opposite of Ty's Angel Creed. He still looked beat up from our last encounter, but the Kingdom Blast that the boys did on his should have ended his threat.

Ty, Riku and Roxas looked stiff. I'm sure they were shocked to see he was still alive as well. Riku affirmed this by pointing him out. "He's trouble. He has a Keyblade that's Ty's opposite. He stole dragons wings from a hatchling to make it."

Solas snarled. He would have been one of the hatchlings solon if Ty and I hadn't intercepted an egg raid and grabbed his egg. It was hard to believe it was only a month ago that he had hatched. He was already as big as a german shepherd and he was practicing flight.

"Who are those two?" Carmelita asked, pointing at Jade and Joe.

"They're a couple of good friends of ours." Ty answered. "Robert used them to release a monster called Mephilis. A Monster Emily and a friend called Silver trapped a year back."

"Two years back for me." I added. "Mobius time moves faster than Earth Time."

"So it's looking like more like a rescue mission." Sly said, almost whispering.

"Looks like i-" I started. "Wait, we're getting them out of there?"

"Of course." Sly said. "We can't leave them here. And I would like to see if Penelope is under a spell or something."

Bentley smiled. "Thanks Sly."

"Not a problem Buddy." Sly replied, and I could hear water behind his whispering. "And the bugs in place."

"Great!" Bentley said, turning it on.

On the other end of the bug, I could hear Sly making an escape, but I also heard Robert's voice and a few others.

"How much longer will that statue take?" Asked a gruff voice, wich I knew belonged to Esau.

"Soon." Robert replied. "I don't read Old Mobian very well… and this version of it is different than others."

"How different?" Esau asked.

"They're more like circles." Robert said. "But we're getting there. As we americans say…. 'Chill Out."'

I snicker a little. Even if Robert's my sworn enemy, it was funny to hear him be a pain to someone.

Sly soon enters through the window. "What I miss?"

"Not much." Riku said.

"Sounds like they're trying to decode something on the statue though." Metal said.

We continue listening to them.

"I have something!" Robert exclaimed, and we hear a rustle of papers. "It says that the Four Angels of the Four Winds guard the Secret to the Key. Four angels…"

"It means the Angels of Revelation." Esau said. "They stand at the four corners of earth at the end of days, to hold back the wind. Think this is one?"

"I'm sure this is one of the Statue Angels that we need." Robert replied. "Since this is the only angel I've seen with these carvings. The other angel those Heartless lost was a faulty anyway. A replica."

Sly scowled. I guess he was like Rouge; He hated getting a replica when the real deal was much better.

"The inscription talks about Seven Servers, and Four Keepers." There's typing. "Looks to me like there's Seven statues of kneeling angels, and four like this one. We'll need these stones. Each represents an element. The Element we got here is water, so all we need is fire, earth and air."

Riku and Bentley were instantly writing down notes, but I saw Metal grin. He was recording it! But why wasn't he…. My eyes widen at how devious Metal could be. He wasn't going to tell the guys he was recording it…. yet. My attention went back to the audio as a new voice chimed in.

"And these statues will open the door?" Asked a very mechanical voice. Sly shuddered at the voice, and I could only guess it was Clockwerk.

"They will aid in opening it." Robert replied.

"Well," Bentley said, looking over his notes. "Looks like we'll have a lot to do for this heist. We need to get Jade, Joe and Penelope out and get that angel."

"Couldn't agree more." Solas said. "Since they got the real one before us."

Sly bit his lip, and did I hear Carmelita Snicker at him.

"A bit out of practice Ringtail?" She asked.

Sly blushed. "Maybe just a bit, but that just makes this heist all the more fun."

"Then here's the plan," Bentley said, typing on his computer. "An EMP bomb should knock out the robot insects and knock Clockwerk out for a while. That'll give Metal and me enough time to get into him and really shut him down. Murray, you're in charge of getting the captives out. But be careful, I'll bet they won't follow quietly."

"I can help with that." Solas said. "I remember Mr. Merlin saying something about a poisoning darkness. And since light banishes the dark, maybe I can help free them."

"Good idea Solas." Bentley said. "So you'll go with Murray to free the prisoners. Sly, Carm, you guys are to take care of Robert and get that stone and angel. Shouldn't be too hard, but still keep your guard up. From what Em tells me, he's a slick one. Em, Ty, Riku and Roxas, you guys will take care of that Esau guy."

Roxas smiled. "Sounds good to me. Esau looked pretty beat up in the picture, so he should be easier this round."

"Good." Bentley said. "Then after Clockwerk and the robots are down, we'll jump in durring the confusion. I'll even throw in some smoke bombs to add to their confusion."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Murray asked. "The Murray is ready for action!"