Sly Cooper: Armed and Dangerous

The Thievius Raccoonus

Entry Number 2,956

Penned by Sly Cooper

As soon as I heard those words leave Penelope's lips, I didn't believe them. Muggshot was in prison, how could he have shot Dimitri? Then, the obvious answer came to me; it was no mean feat for him to escape. Even in maximum security, Muggshot is tough enough and just crazy enough to force his way out.

Bentley's getting in contact with the guy in Italy-Marty McCoy, a well known leader of a ruthless and merciless thief gang-so that they can bring Dimitri up here. While that's happening, however, I'm to watch over Carmelita. She still doesn't know about everything that's going on, including my lying to be with her. However, as I think over everything, I realize it doesn't really matter. I love Carmelita, she loves me, and that's all that really does matter.

I've also thought hard about something else, something that tears me to the bone and will shatter the innocence of everyone in the gang; no matter how many times we put Muggshot into prison, he'll always manage to come back and make our lives hell. He's managed to three times already, what's stopping him from doing it a forth time? Plus, I think it's time I paid that bastard back in full for what he's done to us. My parents in particular. Death can only be avenged by death.

I'm going to ask the McCoy Gang, who I know have had connections with the mob, where we can get our hands on some more…how should I say it…modern weapons. A cane, fists, and a wheelchair have been a good arsenal so far, but now, its time to go to war. And war always involves guns. Somewhere out there, there's a bullet that's reserved for Muggshot's head, and I'll be the one pulling the trigger.

Sly Cooper

And the gang

In

ARMED AND DANGEROUS

Paris, France

2:14 am

6 days after the end of the previous chapter

This was it. Bentley tensed up, gripping the armrest of the wheelchair tightly, which turned out to be a mistake, since a bomb suddenly shot out on a robotic arm. Bentley froze, keeping the button pressed, and the bombed remained inactive. Looking around, he quickly spotted the fountain in front of the Peacock Nightclub, which Dimitri had managed to buy back. Dimitri had actually been on holiday in the Naples safe house when Muggshot had attacked him, which explained why he'd been there in the first place.

Slowly, Bentley wheeled down the ramp, heading for the fountain. Reaching it, he glanced left, then right, then dropped the bomb in, wheeled quickly back to the ramp in front of the safe house, and tried to look calm as it exploded. The fountain wasn't damaged, but he couldn't be sure that it wouldn't attract attention. Now, back to the earlier events.

Bentley had tensed up because this was the day that Murray would be back from Prague, with the McCoy Gang and Dimitri. Bentley had called him up to alert him to the recent turn of events, which soon got Murray on the run back to Paris from his break from the circuit. He'd been in Kinderdijk, Holland, the town that Penelope had owned as the Black Baron. Of course, his boss was furious that he actually cashed in the rest of the vacation time he'd earned, which was about two months total. Murray had definitely earned it, though.

Bentley once again tensed up at the sound of an engine, then relaxed when he realized it was just a passing cab. Another reason he was so uptight today was behind the door at his back, for he knew that if the police figured out what was going on and that Inspector Fox and 'Constable' Cooper were inside, all their asses would be going to hell and back in a hand basket.

The door opened, and Bentley practically launched himself out of his wheelchair in shock before he realized that it was just Penelope, coming to check on him.

Kissing his cheek, she said "Anything yet?"

Bentley smiled dryly and, looking back at her over his shoulder, said "If there was, would I still be out here?"

Penelope smiled, then leaned slightly and set her chin on his shoulder, watching the street. After a few moments of silence, she said "We're going to kill Muggshot, aren't we?"

Bentley sighed and simply said "Yes."

After a few more minutes, Penelope asked "Is that why you're bringing the McCoy Gang up here?"

Bentley sighed again and replied "They've got the skills, the weapons, and the connections we need to win. What more convincing do we need?"

"They're just a bunch of merciless cowboys who shoot at everything they see! You remember the explosion in Germany that made Carmelita that way? That was their work. And now you're bringing them here!" Penelope stood back up, to her full height, which wasn't much taller than Bentley's when he was sitting, and exclaimed "You're not the Bentley I knew."

Bentley, in a rage, spun around and snarled "The Bentley you knew died before you met him! Either that, or you didn't know me at all! During the Clockwerk affair, during the India job, Sly and Murray were captured, and I was alone. Something snapped inside me, and when I reached Prague, I became more vicious, more bloodthirsty than ever before. I didn't care if I killed the guards; it only made me even angrier. I finally calmed down a lot after I got in this wheelchair. I still fought harder than before during the Cooper vault affair, but it didn't happen to me again; until Dr. M came against us. You remember?"

Penelope, close to tears, nodded shakily. Dr. M had faced Bentley and Murray in the Cooper vault two years ago, and while Murray was preoccupied with wrestling the baboon in a power game, Bentley had run around grabbing rigged crystals to help. However, he'd been attacked by large, genetic experiments that Dr. M used for guards, and Bentley tried to fight them off with the Grapple-cam. However, one went for Murray while he was busy, and something seemed to snap inside Bentley. He'd then started throwing bombs around and whacking things left and right, not caring what he hit, until all the thugs were scattered around the room in bloody pieces. Then, when Dr. M fled into the vault, Bentley had, in a rage, gone after him, ready to kill. He probably would have had he caught up to the maniac ape.

Bentley seemed to calm down a bit as he saw the hurt look on Penelope's face. Gripping both her shoulders, he said, much quieter than before "Look, you just need to trust my judgment. You've done that before. We need the McCoy Gang to kill Muggshot. Otherwise, who knows what'll happen. Who'll be next Penelope? You, me, Sly, Murray, Guru, Panda King, he might even go after Dimitri again and finish the job. We'll never be safe from him until we end it all. One of us will have to die; him or us. That's exactly why I'm going to ask you to please keep your involvement in this to a minimum."

At the look of indignation and shock on Penelope's face, Bentley forged on, saying "You can still fly your helicopter or drive your car, but when it comes down to field work, please don't go out very much. Things just won't be safe."

"But I've gone up against gun-slinging thugs before, remember?"

Bentley did remember. After the gang broke up, Bentley and Penelope had decided to try a bank robbery for their first heist together. It would've seemed relatively easy, had this bank NOT been controlled by the Russian mafia lord Katurskay. It turned out that the man had put machine-gun toting guards in the bank, and that's what the two thieves hadn't counted on. Bentley had been shot in the belly, and Penelope, acting fast, had thrown a few bombs in the room. There were six in all, and four were killed, one wounded, and another uninjured. The remaining man had then grabbed Bentley, putting the gun to his head, ready to end the turtle's life, when Penelope had grabbed another gun, put it to the back of the man's head, and pulled the trigger. She had cried about it for days on end, but eventually, Bentley was able to get her to come out and get back on track.

Bentley sighed and said "Yes, but not all of them will be coming after me with their backs to you. Gangsters don't care at all for any kind of life; all they do care about is money and killing. When you were first captured by LeFwee, you said you trusted me. Now, I need you to trust me again."

Penelope, still shaking slightly, nodded after a few moments hesitation. Bentley could see that it was stillhard for her to accept his decision, so for reassurance, he gave her shoulder a squeeze and said "I don't like it very much either, but if we're going to end our problems with Muggshot, this is the best thing we could've hoped for."

Penelope gave him a light smile and said, in barely more than a whisper "I trust you Bentley."

And that's when, with a rumble, screech and crash of metal on wood, the team van pulled up in front of the safe house, crashing through a table in front of another shop. There was silence for a few seconds, then, the side door was flung open, and a wolverine leapt out and began kissing the ground. Before Bentley and Penelope could exchange confused looks, a black panther and an oddly colored horse followed him, both clutching their stomachs.

The horse leaned back into the van and said, in what sounded like a New York accent "Alright, Murray, you made your point. This van can indeed go above eighty miles per hour in under twenty seconds."

The panther, obviously annoyed, pulled him back, then snarled into the van "Just don't ever, ever, show us again."

That's when Murray came from the drivers' door, grinning like an idiot, and walked around to the side door, went in, and then reemerged with a bloody, battered, and bruised Dimitri. The horse pulled out some luggage-nothing much, just a few suitcases and a guitar case-then pulled out his real prize. It was simply a large crate, but the horse popped the top, pulled out some expensive pottery, handed them to the panther, who set them down near the safe house stairs and said, in a Russian accent "This is for a show of good faith" then walked back, kicking the wolverine in the side and muttering something incoherently. Then, the horse rummaged in the straw packing and pulled out a twelve gauge shotgun, still glistening with grease from the factory. As he handed it to the panther, who in turn leaned the gun against the van, he kept pulling more out, and soon, there were two shotguns, one sniper rifle, and five automatics leaning against the side of the van, which wasn't much room and made the guns look like they were about to fall over. Then, the three lined up in front of Bentley and Penelope. Murray had taken Dimitri inside, so they were alone. Silence reigned for a full five minutes while everyone studied the other party.

Then, the wolverine stepped forward and, earning himself a smack upside the head that knocked his beanie off, said "Someone order an army?"