AN: Well, I'm currently snowed in down here in Tennessee, so I figured it was a good time to type. Now, time for Sly to find the main computer room with WWIII going on outside. And now I proudly present:

Sly 5

Return of the Thievious Raccoonus

Ch14 OERATION PHEONIX

Part 2

About 4 miles above Tokyo

3rd Person POV: The battle was raging on all around the fortress. Aerial units were pouring out of launchers in the fortress, just to be blasted by the Pheonix's missile swarm. Meanwhile, in a hardened launch pod in the middle of the swarm...

Sly's POV: Crap, crap, crap, crap! How did I let Shadow talk me into this? I'm in a steel tube in the middle of a war! This is insan-

KLUTHUNK!

I flew up from impact and banged my helmet into the top of the tube. I didn't feel anything, but it did make an annoying ringing sound inside. The tube then split apart into four pieces, with me standing in the middle. I looked around, and saw I was on an armored platform that ringed the fortress's 3 mile circumference. It was the first time I had been able to really see how big it was. Shadow had told me earlier that it was a massive sphere, but this was ridiculous!

"Sly, you hear me? Sly?"

"I'm here Shadow."

"Okay, good. Looks like that impact did something to your electronics. Your fine, but the map of this place I put on there is scrambled. I'll have guide you myself. I've got a feed from your suits optics, so just follow me lead."

"Okay." With that, I darted towards the nearest entrance, only to be met by a pair of GOOFs that my gunblade quickly dispatched. I headed inside, to find a maze of tunnels and corridors greeting me.

"Sly, take the left middle tunnel. And keep you sword ready, this place is full of automated defenses. I should be causing enough havoc outside for them to notice you, but the automated stuff doesn't really care about me."

"Okay". I headed down the tunnel, noticing that I was very close to the outside of the fortress. I though nothing of it, until the flaming remains of a Sky type Zaku crashed trough the wall in front of me.

"Whoops. Sorry bout that, but I don't control where the rubble hits." Hearing this made me think of all the people down below, and I began to fear for their lives.

"Shadow, what about all the civilians on the ground? This stuff has to be raining down on them as well!"

"Don't worry about it Sly, they're all safe. It's amazing how many of the old air raid shelters are still around from WWII. After all, where do you think they have been hiding?"

Hearing this calmed my fears, but still, all this mayhem was bound to destroy what was left left of the city. But it could be rebuilt, and lives couldn't.

"right at the next juncture, that should get you away from the rim, and closer to where you need to be. Shouls be- BEHIND YOU!"

I darted right as a large sword came down where I had been standing. I turned and faced my new foe. It was small, definitely an ARMOR., about 9ft. It was far more lean than the other mechs I had fought, but I could tell it was even more heavily armored. The legs and arms ware stark white, but the chest was colored a bright red. Two large triangular fins tuck out at 180 degree angles from it shoulders, and it's head looked like a normal face, wearing some type of helmet. Two green eyes made up its optics, and a large gold V on the forehead, and two large swords on its back and the shield on its arm completed the anime look. The IFF database said I was facing down an Impulse-Sword type, a "G" series unit. Weird naming system.

"Sly, stay away from that thing, those swords are anti-ship swords, it can go one on one with a battleship with them!"

"Then how can I fight it? If I don't destroy it, it will just keep chasing me down!"

"That is where something I installed will come in handy. Left hip, your find some round cylinder, pull on out and grip it hard."

I did as he said finding four on my left hip, and four others on my right. When I gripped it, green flames like those Shadow seemed to be able to materialize shot out of the end of it. They quickly dispersed, leaving behind an off magenta cone of energy.

"I have a lightsaber?!"

"Beam saber, specially designed for blade to blade combat against a foe with a superior blade, it will carve right through it."

The Impulse sliced at my stomach, but I skillfully flipped over it, bringing my blade down on it. It tried to raise the other blade in defense, but I went right through it, taking off the right arm, leaving it with a sword and shield on the left. I came back around and struck its shield. To my surprise, it held.

"Anti-Beam Coating (ABC) covered shield eh? Hit it with the gunblade!"

I swung again, this time with my normal sword, and sliced through the shield and decapitated the mech. It fell to the ground and I was off before it hit the ground.

I soon arrived at the main computer room and destroyed the guards, a quartet of Zakus. I sliped in and called Shadow.

"Alright, I'm here, now what?

"There is a covered port on your right arm, flip the cover up, there is a cable in it. Pull it out and plug it into the mainframe, and get read for a bit of hacking."

"I don't think that hacking in in my skill set."

"Don't worry, the program uses a virtual reality projection that it displays on the HUD. It will allow you to use you skills to hack. In your case, it will look something like a 2D hack and slash. Just pretend its a game any slice down all in your way!"

"Okay Shadow."

I pluged it in and was greeted by my HUD displaying a snow covered mountain side, with a cell-shaded me, and a horde of Zakus in front of me. Just like shadow said, this was a hack and slash. I charged in, waving the sword in my hand like some kind of lunatic, cutting down the virtual representations of the firewalls and security programs. A meter in the left corner was displaying progress rapidly climbing till it hit 100%. When it did, my avatar jumped into the air, flipped his hat into the air and caught it, and an out of place treasure chest appeared and popped open, allowing me full access to the mainframe.

"Alright Shadow, I've cracked it. Pretty fun way to hack too."

"Though you'd say that. Now, let me do some remote access. DUNBINE System, take over."

Shadow's POV: "Alright, I'm inside." I though to myself. Much like Sly, I was using a VR interface to access the mainframe. Unlike him however, I was standing a a huge room full of doors and chests, each representing folders and documents and programs. And I had just found what I was looking for.

"Joshua, time to wake up."

When I said that, the door I was in front of opened, and out stepped a boy, an owl. He was about 5'6 and began to speak with an accent of an old British butler.

"Ah, Master Shadow, time for me to play?"

"Yes Joshua, its time to play. Activate programs: BOSS, YURIKA, MOLE, and then download yourself to Alaska Base."

"I'll get right to it Sir. And, if I might ask, do you want me to disable the self destruct as well?"

"No, deactivate access inside, and slave it to me."

"Very well, I'll go get my toys."

He turned and went back into the door ha came from. H soon exited with tree figures in toe. One was a large gorilla, about 8ft, with a large sledgehammer and a name tag that said Boss. The next was a ditzy looking butterfly with a large megaphone and a name tag that said Yurika. The final one was the oddest, a mole that looked like a cross between a KGB agent and a librarian. He had a large number of duffel bags, all filled with papers. They were each representations of special viruses that I had placed inside the mainframe with Joshua in secret while I was undercover in the fortress. BOSS was designed to cause general mayhem and wipe the files, allowing MOLE to send copies of everything to my main headquarters unnoticed. And YURIKA was a scrambler for Li's IFF that would cause her mechs to fight each other and allow me to slip into the fortress unnoticed. All we under Joshua's command, a highly advanced true artificial intelligence, and an important part of my... organization. They all began going about there work as I disconnected.

"Sly, head to the main hanger I marked on your HUD, I restored your mini map while I was in the computer, so you should be able to find it easy. I'll be heading down soon."

"Alright, but be careful, everything just went crazy down here."

"Duly noted." I said as I cut off the line. Time to act crazy. I undid the cockpit of the still fighting Pheonix and leapt out of it, falling towards the base bellow as all of Li's forces here began to fight each other. I was still just in the skin suit armor, but that needed to change. Conjuring up my guitar once more, I began to sing again, but this time, different words flowed from my lips.

"I don't want to know why

Everybody ready, lets get it on!"

Green flames enveloped me as I hurled down to the battle.

Havoc ensues below

and a shining warrior falls to the fight

AN: Well, this took awhile to type. I've been having a bit of writers block lately, as well as being snowed in, but I think this turned out okay. So, next time, will we finally get to see this SRW that Shadow and Li are fighting over, or will someone else intervene. And what of this organization Shadow mentioned? Could it have something to do with those figures that intervened in the Mojave a while back? Only time will tell.