Bentley's Lab, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 10:25pm 26 July 2013
Looking back on this day, they've gotten out of prison twice and still they got no useful information from Le Paradox. To them it's not a total failure. They are still alive and not in prison. But it just means they need to try again. Bentley is still hard at work on the computer, utilising all the CPU's overclocked cores to do calculations on possible locations for Penelope and motives. Still nothing turns up, calculations are done, and no answers are given. Bentley hasn't seen Sly or Carmelita recently, nor Dimitri. It's just him and Murray in the main area. Murray is respraying the van back to it's former glory with it's blue paint and flames, he's also working on the engine, trying to get every last ounce of power out of it. The twin turbo 4 litre V8 in the front gives it plenty of power. It's the same one he's used in his former racing days, it's been reliable and powerful ever since he lowered into the engine bay. Of course, no technology is immune to Bentley's genius. The gearbox is at the back for better weight distribution, the brakes are carbon ceramic, the panels are carbon fibre, these were all things that Bentley helped Murray out with to get him on the racetrack and compete with multi million dollar machines purpose built to race. Quite simply, it is no normal van.
Bentley has also deleted the security camera videos from the prison so that no one can prove what happened there. There is no evidence for them to use against Sly. Since eyewitness testimony is relied on less and less by judges, the guards testimonies could be easily wiped away by any lawyer. Sly still hasn't reappeared yet from the room he went inside over 2 hours ago. Bentley looks over to the room, there is no noise coming from the inside, that would be because it's sound proof. He continues to search when an anonymous tip off comes from ThiefNet. It seems Le Paradox is going to be moved to an even secure prison purpose built for Le Paradox. The end location is unknown, but this is the last chance that they have to get any information from him. Bentley quickly goes and knocks on the door. He waits what seems like an age but Sly walks out like nothing was going on in there.
"Sly, what took you so long?" Bentley asks.
"I was just relaxing." Sly says casually, almost too well rehearsed.
"Come on, we going to get Le Paradox." Bentley says. Bentley knows that there must have been something going on between the two of them in there. Sly tags along and Carmelita comes out frantically, still getting dressed. Sly must have been hitting it off in there.
"They're going to transfer Le Paradox to an extra secure prison designed just for him. We only have this opportunity left to get any information. Here what I have planned. There is a section of road where the prison truck carrying him won't be in radio contact with the base. It's a weak spot that we shall attack. Murray, your job is to drive the van up as close as possible so that Sly can jump onto the top and get inside. He will quickly get the information from him and get back before they even know what hit them." Bentley explains.
"And after that, pizza for everyone!" Murray exclaims.
"More like just you." Sly corrects.
"That's what I mean." Murray explains.
With that said, the gang head out into the night in search of a skunk.
Deserted road, The Netherlands. 11:12pm 26 July 2013
The side road they have pulled into is where they wait for the solitary truck that holds Le Paradox. Murray is eager to go, his right foot has been covering the accelerator for the past 5 minutes. The rest of them have their binocucoms out, Sly being on the roof, ready to make the jump across. In the distance, the night vision picks up the headlights of the truck going at a fast pace, much faster than anticipated. But Murray is prepared for any speed, He rolls it back down the incline on the road so that the truck doesn't see them as they pass. Then he drops into first and accelerates out and speeds up to chase the van. He makes up the distance in no time while Sly steadies for the jump, which he makes easily. He signals to Bentley in the passenger seat to say that he's made it and they back off slightly from the van. Sly busts open the roof hatch and sees Le paradox all sad and curled up into a ball. Sly enters the compartment, Le Paradox having not reacted at all. Sly gets out one of the syringes and pierces the skin of Le Paradox, a loud scream briefly rings out before Sly covers his mouth.
"Where's Penelope?" Sly asks forcefully. The skunk has no answer, he truly doesn't know anything.
"Why are you here?" Sly asks again while shaking the almost lifeless Le Paradox.
"Sly, I'm not here because I want to be. You ruined me, now I have to do the honourable thing for me and my family." Le Paradox says almost regretfully, with no anger towards Sly, he is disappointed with himself. "We are no different, you and I. We do the same thing, we take and take and take. I'd like to look back on what I've done think I've accomplished something. But what now I see is failure, yes, I admit it, I'm a failure! Just like all of my ancestors before me." Le Paradox says, confronting his own failings. It is powerful what he says and Sly is taken back by it. He never expected someone so vile towards him to say such things.
"You are just, better. What other word is there to say?" The skunk states to Sly. Sly is captivated by what he has just heard. Is that the serum working too well? But Bentley's quick shouting on the earpiece pulls Sly out of the moment.
"Get out of there now!" Bentley screams into the radio. Sly gets out as fast as he can as he leaps out of the escape hatch, leaving Le Paradox behind. Sly sees the van catching up from behind and Sly leaps as far as he can but it's not enough so he deploys his parachute, this catapults him into the front windshield of the van. Which means Sly can't see the huge explosion that happens behind him. He hears it all right. The sound is powerful enough to vibrate the windscreen which Sly's face is pressed against. Sly reaches around to get in via the window and sees the obliterated wreckage or what's left of it in front of him. There's no way Le Paradox could have survived that.
"What was that?" Sly asks Bentley.
"An airplane with guns." Bentley succinctly explains.
"Murray get us out of here!" Carmelita shouts.
"On it." Murray replies as his right foot reaches the floor. The sound of those turbos whistling increases in volume as the revs rising echoes in the night as he passes whats left of the flaming wreck on the side of the road. Bentley tries to hack into the plane systems to see whose inside but he suspects it might be who they are looking for. More shots ring out from the plane as they see the night sky illuminated by the flaming tails of the shots. Murray is speeding up to 250km/h where he changes gear and still, he is speeding up. The shots keep missing for some reason; it must be Murray's good driving. Bentley manages to hack into the planes sound system where he hears their conversations.
"We got no more ammo." An Australian accent.
"Ze boss won't be happy." A German accent rings out.
"No, please don't do this." The Australian pleas.
"You know ze rules." The German states.
After that, only the screams are heard as someone falls out of the plane.
"We need a new gunner boss." The German says. Bentley cuts the connection off otherwise they will know he has hacked into the plane.
"Maybe he can help us." Bentley asks the gang.
"Do you know if he will survive?" Sly states the obvious question. Bentley gets out the binocucom into the night sky.
"Judging from the trajectory of those shots, and factoring wind speed, relative humidity and so on. He must be there." Bentley says as he finds what he is looking for. He sees a parachute deploy.
"He has a parachute." He announces to the gang, still looking into the binocucom.
"He could be dangerous for us." Carmelita says.
"It's the best hope we have." Bentley says as he tracks the falling gunner through the night, directing Murray where to go. Murray drives erratically as he tries to get into the perfect spot. Eventually, the gunner lands on a side road, which Murray drives into, the headlights illuminate what he is. A wallaby, slightly taller than Bentley when he's in the wheelchair. The black tight shirt on his back is torn to reveal the tan fur underneath and the tight dark blue jeans he wears are just as torn. His feet are covered by overly large black sneakers, which fit around his overly large feet. He lies on his side, the pain from hitting the hard bitumen hurts, but not as much as the bright lights that sting his eyes every time he tries to get a look at who is watching him.
"I'll deal with this." He hears faintly in the distance as what looks like a cop walks slowly towards him. He's fearing that this is the end, he's going to jail.
"Don't move a muscle!" She shouts at him, fearing the handcuffs are coming next.
"Don't hurt me." He says, really scared about what may happen next.
"What's you're name?" She says.
"Joey." he manages to say before hyperventilating.
"You're coming with me." She says as she picks him up as Joey gets to his feet and she leads him on, but Joey breaks from the character he has put towards this cop. He's only doing that to create a different image of who he is. He lags behind slightly and immediately takes something out of her back pocket. It's a photo of her and…
He can't believe it. The excitement grows inside but on the outside he is as controlled as he was before. Joey places the photo back where he found it before he is lead into the van.
"Who are these guys?" He asks. He knows exactly who these guys are, inside and out.
"You'll find out later." Carmelita says as she gets in the van.
"Do you know the guru?" Murray blurts out to their guest.
"The whoru?" He replies. He doesn't know who the guru is.
"The guru, surely you've heard of him." Murray asks again. He thinks because he's Australian he must know the guru. Australia isn't all desert and dreamtime. He should know, he's been there himself.
"Sorry, I've never heard of him. I'm not from the bush." Joey explains to him.
"Then where are you from?" Murray asks.
"Melbourne." He replies. This gets the Bentley and Sly's attention; Murray's not so much.
"That's a long way from home." Carmelita says with suspicion.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Joey shouts, becoming sceptical about the situation around him. That he's being set up. "I know when something's up. I'm not deaf." He says getting on the offensive.
"It's just that we've never heard of such a place before. In Australia? I thought it's just bush all the way around." Bentley says as he tries to cover up the situation. He does a poor job as Joey immediately picks him out.
"Don't try that stuff on me, you look like a smart guy yourself in that pimped up wheelchair of yours." Joey says as he looks over the seat to see the chair. "What you got there, hmm, boosters, retractable arms, bomb case. Gee what's going on with you? You ready for world war 3 or something?"
"Are you going to tell us what you did on that plane?" The raccoon asks him. All of the wallabies brain power goes into trying to remain in his persona but it is useless. The relief that after all of these years he has managed to find this elusive raccoon they call Sly Cooper is too much. His face changes from the calm and collected to something that resembles glee, happiness, relief and joy all at the same time.
"You're Sly Cooper?" He asks himself in disbelief. "I believe you've seen me before." Joey states as he pulls out a tattered and faded calling card from his pocket. It's been with him for many years. Everyone is shocked that he knows his name, even more that he has been a victim of his thieving ways. This could be bad.
"No I haven't." Sly replies, hoping that no retribution could come from this theft.
"I've had this ever since I cracked open that gangsters safe…" Joey starts, going into his own world. Sly picks up the key words that tell him this might not be another victim. He might be the opposite.
"You mean…?" Sly asks but Joey cuts him off.
"That's right, I'm not some henchmen, lackey like some of those others on the plane. I'm the greatest thief down under."
"Is that so?" Sly asks their knew guest.
"That's right, there's so much gold and diamonds in my place I don't know what to do with them." Joey replies, the thrill of meeting Sly is still evident in his voice.
"Where did you get them?" Sly asks, thinking of all the places he himself might acquire such a fortune.
"There are illegal mining operations everywhere. I like to take a cut from their earnings if you know what I mean." Joey explains like it's some best-kept secret of his. Sly on the inside is impressed at his master thief traits, hopefully for Sly this will be friendly competition rather than becoming adversaries. But Sly has remembered something, he puts the pieces together, this diminutive wallaby was kicked out because he missed so much. Therefore…
"Were you the one try to shoot us?" Sly asks.
"Look, I didn't know it was you. They all used code words up there, on the display, I only see a white blob. I was forced to do it okay, that's what they told us to do and, you know, I value my life." Joey says as he tries to explain his actions whilst coming to terms that he almost killed Sly Cooper without knowing it. "You were 'the raccoon', the hippo was 'the hippo', this charming girl here was 'the fox'. And the turtle…
"Let me guess, the turtle?" Bentley answers.
"No you were actually something far more vile then that."
"Typical Penelope." Bentley utters.
"Who is Penelope?" Joey asks.
"Did you ever see a pink mouse flying the plane?" Bentley asks, trying to get to the bottom of the situation quickly.
"No, we never saw the boss at all you see. Was she the boss?" Joey asks like he knows nothing about the operation he was participating in, although not willingly. Bentley's slow nodding confirms this. "And all this time I was being controlled by a girl, no offense there… uh what's you're name?"
"Carmelita." Carmelita says, nothing taking much offense to what he said.
"Interesting name, you Mexican? Cause you are a bit far from home as well." Joey asks. He doesn't know what he's getting into here. He knows nothing of the short-tempered Carmelita Montoya Fox.
"I live here you know." She says, trying to dispel any talk about her heritage.
"Something tells me you had an experience when you were a wee kid. That's why you work for the police, no, more like uh, MI6 or Interpol or something like that, you were too motivated to work for the police. But then why are you working for the greatest thief in the world? Of course, you are willing to try your hand at the most dangerous game of love, I see." Joey says as he figures it all out. There seems to be nothing to hide from him, he just figures everything out too quickly.
"It's a long story." She replies back.
"I see, well where are we headed to now." Joey asks as he takes control of the conversation after only being there for 4 minutes.
"We are going to back to my lab to figure out a plan." Bentley replies.
"You have a lab? No wonder you have such gadgets." Joey replies.
"Look, I don't work alone you know, everyone thief needs a gang." Sly asserts to his fellow thief.
"Not this one, I've worked alone for years, I don't trust anyone, not even you guys. This is a valuable lesson for you lot brought to you by Joey." He explains like he's doing a community service announcement. Sly is getting annoyed with his constant chatter, he wants him to be quiet. He wants to get some rest for the next day. He's been through a lot. A rollercoaster of emotions that has seen him go from ecstatic jubilation to complete sorrow and sadness.
"Can we sedate him or something? He's getting on my nerves." Sly quietly asks Bentley. Bentley hands over another needle with a different mixture in it.
"Just give him one of these." Bentley whispers to Sly. Sly turns around to face the wallaby who is doing his head in.
"So Joey, I'll take on board your 'valuable lesson', but now you have to be sedated so you don't know the location of our lab." Sly states like he is holding all the cards.
"I know your trying to bend this but ok." Joey replies back. He takes the needle from the raccoon and injects himself with the liquid that makes him fall asleep after 10 seconds. He lies on the floor, rolling around whenever Murray makes a turn with the van.