Dijon, France. 12:48pm 28th July 2013
The fuel tank is empty and their perceived lead is thinning with every second the fuel pump fills up the car. It certainly is a head turner for those who are making the journey along the motorway. Some have their phones out, taking pictures of this work of art. They will only see such a car in real life only now unless they are very lucky. The tank is sizeable, the fuel bill will be large, but Joey's bank account dwarfs any price tag. They pay the bill at the machine and much to joeys delight; he gets this final leg of the journey. As they are driving out of the slipway to continue their high-speed ways, they see the quick approaching van, still going along the road at high speed. They re-join the chasing pack, accelerating out of the slipway and they pull up beside the van still with the police parading behind.
"I could have caught these people with my eyes closed." Carmelita remarks, as she
"Good thing you're on our side, which makes me think. Are you going to just go back to Interpol? Because I think that when you walk in there the first place you're going is in a cell." Joey asks for two reasons. One is the obvious, the fact she is also hunted by them along with Sly Cooper. The second is a more self centred one, one less cop on the streets is better in his eyes.
"That's too far in the future to think about." She replies, dodging the question, but it tees up the perfect counter punch.
"What about the thing inside you?" Joey replies. "You gotta admit that has some sort of future planning in it." Carmelita doesn't want to talk about that night, one of many nights that none shall hear of. She tries to remember it for a second, but the overriding aspect of that night was love, just complete and utter love for Sly. There is no other word for it.
"Hey." Joey says as he snaps his fingers in front of the dazed Carmelita Fox. "You still with me here?"
"Yeah, I'm still here." She says, having being broken out of the trance. At this time, The van drives alongside the hypercar and Murray puts down the window at 250km/h. Murray gestures for Carmelita to do the same. She obliges but the buffeting is relentless. They have to shout across the small gap.
"Guys, Sly's been caught!" Murray shouts. The two occupants of the hypercar shocked. All this racing has just been futile and worthless. This petty competition between friends has gone too far. The result is that their friend, the one that really bonds all these different groups together, has been captured. They have lost sight of what is really important to them. Just like they have seen with the 4 thieves, the infighting between the gang doesn't work because as a team, they are stronger than the sum of the parts.
"Let's stop this racing and go get him back." Murray shouts. Bentley passes over a phone to keep them in touch. He only uses a closed system of phones so that he can't be tracked. Murray throws the phone into the open window below of the TT1000, it gets blown back a small distance because of the wind but not enough to deflect it out of the path that Murray has decided.
"Follow me guys." Murray says as he shoots ahead to shield them from things like roadblocks and spike strips. The van has been equipped with things like an upgraded ram like they used in Russia, it has enough power not just to displace firebugs but entire cars from stationary position. Helpful for getting through roadblocks. The big red button covered by a thin Perspex cover is a special touch from Bentley; he knows that Murray loves these types of gimmicks. Anything for that is big, red and covered by something means that it's powerful and dangerous, which it is. The pneumatic pressure released in one of its blows is monumental, the force applied to the thick steel ram is transferred to the object in front and the object always loses. They go through this same pattern along the highway, police still trying to stop them to no effect. They continue south, soon they will come, just hold on Sly.
Underground Cells, Interpol HQ. 12:54pm 28th July 2013
It has been a less brutal entrapment for Penelope and Connor, they have cells that are next to each other, they are just like normal cells. A thick steel door prevents their escape. Penelope sits in the corner, observing the white concrete walls of the cell. Only a security camera is the only way of viewing the occupant from the outside. This screen is viewed right to the director's computer where a viewer would see Connors pacing up and down the room, looking at the door, searching for a way out. Normally he would just pick the lock from the inside, reaching around the bars to pick it open. But in the future, the police have wisened up to that trick. He still refuses to stay inside this prison, mentally he rejects the idea but physically he is trapped. Penelope is already resigned to being trapped for what she has done. All that collusion with Interpol is certainly not going to help her, most likely it will be to her detriment. The last time she was in prison, she got out with a deal but not much could persuade The Director now that he has Sly Cooper.
The Director walks slowly past the two cells, first past Connor then past Penelope. He takes a look through the tiny slit in the door, which has one-way glass so they can't see out. He is pleased that all this work and pressure is giving him some results. Not as much as his prize prisoner though. But they will be a nice side dish to the main course of a well-grilled raccoon. He then turns his pleasure to his grimace as he walks onto the next room. It is a small medical room, usually reserved for agents who need urgent care or in the event of a siege. The white tiled room is filled with specialised equipment such as an MRI and CT scanner. But the equipment being used now is an x-ray to see the extent of this broken bone. Doctors and nurses take care without suspecting the gaze of the director's dark eyes peeking inside. He leaves the entrance to that room and walks alone to his next destination. He knows that they have to save that little runt. If it were truly up to him he would be dead, and it wouldn't be a very clean and painless one either. He takes the elevator down to see his newest asset again. It has been about an hour, just like the doctor said. The whirring of the elevator is the only sound as he descends down but not as far as the war rooms to the bunker prison. It is not the only bunker in this space, it is also used to protect foreign dignitaries in the event of a mass attack so many are laid out in a grid stemming off this one dimly lit corridor. It was only cleaned up as the word of Sly Cooper rang around the building; they have not needed to use these until now not to keep something out but to keep someone in.
"Is he awake?" The director asks on a walkie-talkie while standing outside the steel door.
"Not yet, but he should be up any minute." A voice reassures him on the radio. It's good enough for the director, he swipes his card and enters a code, and then fingerprint scanners and a retina check. He steps back as the door opens up slowly, the hinges straining under the doors weight. The room is as he left it; Sly is still motionless on the bed with huge thick leather straps still keeping him restrained. The heart rate monitor is still beeping at that abnormally slow pace. The fluorescent tubes buzz on as they become brighter and brighter with each passing second, illuminating the concrete space inside also brighter. The door clangs as it reaches its maximum opening angle and bangs off the hinges, causing a loud thunk the echo around the room.
"Glad you're still here Sly Cooper." He says with distained sarcasm. "You know, I'd have thought you would have escaped already considering the continual evasion you keep doing. What are a few leather straps to such an escape artist like yourself? If you're so good why not escape, the door is open right now, hell you could get me while you're at it. I have no guns or knives on me. Go on, try it." He taunts the motionless Sly.
"No?" He asks sarcastically towards the raccoon that is now right beside him as he stands by the side of the bed. "Well, I guess you aren't as good as all the hype that I hear around the office. I knew you were nothing else but that. You're not more special as any other thief; every thief is just a common thief. They steal for money and steal for nothing else. It's the same with every thief I've seen. No matter how much they say they are doing it for something else, in the end it's always about the money. Speaking of money, you must have amassed quite a lot of treasure, I would like to know where you find a place to keep it, and such proceeds would help my organisation greatly, perhaps even this country depending on the amount. Since you aren't up yet I'll go but when you do wake up I'll be there, make no doubts about that." He says as he walks out slowly, but faces Sly in the hope that he would wake up just as he walks out. The door shuts again and the heart rate monitor rises back up. There is nothing he can do but wait, wait in silence, wait without motion until the time is right. Being patient is not the best skill of Sly, but he needs to exercise that skill for a bit longer.
"How's the chasing pack?" He asks his assistant who is once again waiting in the elevator.
"They're heading south, just past Dijon." She replies, showing him the live satellite feed from her tablet.
"Let them come, we'll be waiting for them." The Director schemes.