Bentley's Lab, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 7:21am 27 July 2013
A whole bag of mixed emotions has gone through that laboratory that night, but in the morning it is like nothing had ever happened. It looks completely normal. Murray has already eaten a stack of pancakes or six and is cooking up another batch for everyone else. Carmelita is twirling her badge around a table, this involvement with the Cooper gang is certain to have changed her ideas. She's an agent, working with the people she's trying to put away. She doesn't have choice though. Interpol would put her back in prison, and for what? Because she had to leave that one-day when Bentley came past? Did they somehow find out about the true nature of her 'late night stakeouts'? She doesn't know the answer; all she can do is smell the batter frying up on the stovetop and hope that someday she will be busting criminals again. She looks at Sly as he gets out of his room walks to the table and sits beside her. She sees Sly is different to all of those other criminals, 98% are just rotten people who deserve to be in no other place than prison. 1.99% are people who put up a decent fight then get caught after they can't live with the guilt. But then there is Sly. What would have been an impossible contradiction in her mind before they met, a good-hearted thief, is sitting beside her. Maybe criminal activities and being good are not mutually exclusive events after all. She sees it right now and has seen it constantly ever since she saw him.
Another batch of pancakes is made and is brought to the table by Murray. The others have all joined them at the table and they dig in. Murray has had his fill so he doesn't need to steal any extra from them. They are all going to need their energy for today, a lot is in store for them.
Kinderdijk Airfield, The Netherlands. 8:03am 27 July 2013
The sun is up in the high in the sky already, the European summer means very long days. Perfect conditions for flying. They see the new airfield for the first time. It is changed greatly from the place they saw in 2005. Gone are the grass farmland and windmills, It is replaced with a huge runway and multiple hangars. Bentley never realised that she was actually rebuilding the place; he never had any reason to question her. Oh what tricks the heart can play when you're in love. They can see the airfield but there is a canal between them and the airfield. This rules out any sort of entrance for Sly from this end but it does open up certain opportunities elsewhere. It's good they have Dimitri back because they'll need his frogman abilities for this part.
"I've run some schematics of the airfield. It seems that we can access the airfield by using the underground drainage tunnels that pass underneath the airfield. Dimitri, you are going to swim across the channel and plant a bug beneath the drains, giving us an ear on the inside." Bentley explains his plan.
"I'm gonna be smooth." Dimitri exclaims.
"Just be silent." Sly adds.
Dimitri already has his gear on, along with a waterproof bag containing the bugs, which he needs to place around the airport. The channel is easy, there have been much worse waters that he has swum in, and even the boats that come past are easy to swim under. He makes his way to the drain entrance on the other side of the bank. The gang can see him from the other side as he uses his ring to cut through the wire grate that covers up the drain. The pieces of the grate are thrown into the river to be carried away somewhere. Dimitri takes off his facemask and wanders through the tunnels, using the binocucom to find his way to the first grate, it looks like it's just below the runway. He places the first one and moves onto the next one, which is in a hangar, but he can hear a noise. It stops and starts, once he gets the bug down, its amplifying capability allows Dimitri to listen in.
"Let me tell you something, you better pay me now for what I've done so far. I've got the others but I need more money for last one. Yeah that guy was expendable, we don't need him anymore. Look I need to get back to work, just have that money or I'm out." Penelope says, sounding like she's on the phone to someone. Dimitri can't do much else but listen and plant the other bugs with only a steady stream of water flowing along his feet for company. It's not what some would call the glamorous job but it is these types of jobs which allow for the more eye-catching things to happen in the future. The gang is just waiting around as Dimitri comes back with the job done. Dimitri gives the thumbs up as Bentley gets the array of bugs working together. He comes back with the news of what he has heard.
"She's a gold-digger." Dimitri blurts out.
"A what?" Bentley asks.
"She wants the greenbacks baby!" Dimitri shouts.
"Penelope is doing it for the money?" Sly asks, puzzled at her motives.
"That's what I heard." Dimitri reaffirms.
"It's all we have, we have to wait till those bugs tells us more." Sly says as Murray gets in gear to make the hour-long trip back to the lab. The bug that they had was working fine, all they heard constantly was the German pilot constantly talking about the plane and getting all of the parts to perfection, using only terms that Bentley could possibly comprehend. It was getting nowhere; they needed some more direct recon. Bentley is going to use one of Penelope's strengths against her. It is an RC drone that they can fly from the lab here to Kinderdijk. Bentley, as usual, has got some fancy tech bolted in the drones sky blue paint to blend in with the sky. An array of cameras to get surveillance from every angle. High resolution and thermal mounted in the front side and back, all inside a sleek carbon body. For all its technology, it still needs a person to launch it. That person is Murray. The hippo lifts it above his head like he's lifting another barbell. He uses the lift to get to the ground floor and walks the worn wooden stairs that groan and squeak under the weight of Murray. He reaches the roof and sees the open sky.
"Bentley, I'm in position." Murray radios in. This cues Bentley to power up the miniature jet engines on the wings. The wailing of the engines breaks the idyllic silence surrounding him. The force of the engines is making Murray's muscles tense as he tries to hold on. But he starts his action and throws it into the air and the plane takes off into the distance. Murray re-joins the gang as they crowd around Bentley's chair as he pilots the plane to its destination. But Carmelita has taken Sly away into their room away from the gang. They need to discuss very private matters.
"Listen, about last night." Carmelita starts.
"It was great." Sly smugly says.
"I'm being serious here."
"Seriously great."
"Sly, I need to you to listen to this." Carmelita says as she tries to get Sly to snap out of his mood.
"I'm all ears." He says, eager to hear what she says. There is silence then a deep breath leaves the vixens mouth.
"I'm pregnant." She says, almost coming to terms with it herself. Sly is shocked at first. But there is happiness bursting out inside of him. The next Cooper is inside her. Tears roll down his eyes but no crying takes place, he gives his partner a big hug as they both feeling incredibly happy for each other in an ecstasy of joy. The moment doesn't last as like as they would like. They still have a job to do. They walk out of the room trying to hide any other emotions from the group. It's their little secret for now. Meanwhile the plane's immense speed has meant that Bentley is already circling the hangar, taking videos and photos of the exterior, formulating possible entry points and getting the layout of the airfield. The schematic he has are only very basic, giving nothing of the above ground buildings that adorn the airfield. Mysteriously, they are incredibly well protected. Any hack would take weeks to get inside, even with all of Bentley's technology and computer know how.
"Preliminary scans complete. Switching to thermovision." Bentley announces out loud. The screen changes from the normal camera to black, white and different hues of grey. They can see the blobs inside the hangar but they don't know who is who. The temperature differences in body heat only produce a blob as their body heat radiates into the air, just like Joey said before. But this is before Bentley resolves the image until it is crystal clear, clearly showing the outlines of the plane, many guards and Penelope who is standing across from 5 locked up prisoners.
"Patching through bug feed." Bentley announces.
"Now when I said not to escape, naturally you tried. But you failed. So now one of you shall become a rug, the question is who." Penelope says speaking to what looks like some people locked up very tightly.
"What about that raccoon you keep talking about? Surely you would spare one our lives if we got him." One of them states in a Brazilian accent trying to save is own life.
"But if you don't bring him back here, you all die." Penelope warns.
"This is bad idea, I shall blame you for my death." Another one states, in a Chinese accent.
"We can't turn on our own." A Mexican accent states to the Chinese thief.
"Why did you even think of that?" A South African accent despairs back towards the Brazilian. They don't work well together. The infighting is desperately obvious.
"Get me another ice bath, or else I won't work." The last one states, clearly being too fussy for the job.
"Looks like a decision has been made, I get to see what's black, white and red all over." Penelope says as what looks like a penguin is dragged away from the hangar to be turned into a rug, more like a foot mat given his size.
"Why did you even get him? He's the worst thief in the world." The Mexican thief complains to Penelope.
"That's not your business, your new business is trying to find Sly Cooper and bring him here. Now go." Penelope instructs, but none of them are leaving quite so soon.
"Why don't you show us who he is? We can't find him if we don't know what he looks like." The Chinese thief asks, Penelope is ready to give herself a face palm. Their target is so obvious; they can't be that dumb.
"It's clear who it is. You're thieves, you should know him." Penelope angrily despairs towards them; this just annoys her further but she has no other choice, she has work to do here which prevents her to go after Sly. She takes out a photo of Sly and gives one to each of them. They know who it is this whole time; they just want to make her angry because they need something to cheer them up once she is finished with them. "Urgh, here, take this and don't come back till you get him. Oops, one more thing. I've put a GPS tracker inside your bodies so don't think you can hide from me. Now go." She states as one of her guards opens a small door for them to leave. Trusting strangers who may not be loyal to capture the world's best master thief is very risky. Too risky in her eyes, she wouldn't have done it this way but she's not in charge of this mission.