Interpol Underground rooms, Lyon, France. 3:42pm 28th July 2013
Sly turns around to see the rest of the gang behind him including Carmelita. Sly is happy to see her finally after so long being separated. There is no time to express feelings for each other apart from a look that suggests 'I tried' from Sly. Sly allows a small smile towards Carmelita, she reciprocates. It seems that Sly has found someone who is more willing to stand by him and his words. That brings some comfort to Sly, he feels better on the inside after seeing that. It gives him some energy to keep going and that is what fuels him further. Quickly they move out of the room with Penelope and Bentley still eyeing off each other. The resentment between them grows with each passing step or in Bentley's case, each turn of the wheel. They hold up as Connor takes point and stops them before they run into the sight of some guards that are moving their way. To Sly, his dad looks like some sort of gritty action figure, with gun in hand and a tired but pissed off look on his face that is only accentuated by some overgrown facial hair and eyes that are surrounded by bags from the lack of sleeping due to being to focused on the job at hand. Sly is sort of glad he didn't turn out like that, it doesn't reflect his own style of being clean and smooth.
Expertly, Connor detonates a smoke grenade and throws it in their path, obscuring their view and causing confusion between them. They shoot blindly down the hallway but nothing emerges from the corner. The smoke clears as the huge fan some distance away draws it out, revealing their naked bodies.
"That's how it's done." Connor says as he surprises them from behind, letting spray with some bullets. The gun fires and echoes around the corridors and filters out into all directions, so does the sound of the thud that their bodies make as they hit the ground.
"Why do you even use the cane then?" Sly asks as he is the first to emerge from the corner.
"It's helpful for close quarters stuff. This type of advanced weaponry is and will be the future." Connor says, noting the gun he is holding in one hand.
"Some people don't like to have blood spilled dad." Sly remarks.
"Some people would like to escape." Carmelita notes. Sly focuses now on escaping and turns around to keep going. He passes the box over to Connor for him to get changed into and he does so in no time at all. Thaddeus had his tricks for a quick change of disguise. They still advance forward without a single sign of activity. Bentley picks up the radio chatter on his computer.
"Guys, they're all stationed at the main computer room, we'll never get out through there." Bentley says.
"Are you sure there are no other exits?" Sly asks, trying to find an error in Bentley's statement.
"I'm afraid not." Bentley replies.
"Then we make our own." Sly says. "How many bombs do you have left?"
"If you're talking about tunnelling out of there then that's impossible, concrete encases this entire place and people at the top are going to notice a big hole emerging from the ground." Bentley explains to the gang. "Our only exit out this through there." He says as he points down the corridor.
"How about I go and disrupt them a bit without them seeing?" Sly proposes. Penelope gets what he is suggesting.
"I'll go too." Penelope says.
"There's a hundred or so guards out there so be careful." Bentley warns.
"Are you showing some sort of care for me?" Penelope asks sarcastically. Bentley doesn't answer as he gazes at his computer to send his eyes away from hers. In truth, he was talking to Sly however he did think about her. Penelope turns the virtual computer off on the wheel chair.
"Just trust me on this." Penelope says directly to Bentley's face, forcing the issue to him then walking away. Bentley stares blankly and looks for his former girlfriend only to see nothing. He looks for Sly but he is gone as well.
"He's got to show me how to do that." Connor remarks, wanting to increase his arsenal of techniques to steal the unstealable and take the untakeable. Sly and Penelope sneak silently down the corridor but a flail of bullets flies their way. They retreat hastily back to the safety of the gang.
"Can you see me?" Sly asks.
"No" Murray answers.
"They can see us. We need a plan B." Sly frantically says as he hears instructions being bellowed out from far away.
"They've figured out the thermal trick." Bentley figures. "It's times like these that define us and the character that we…" Bentleys says going to deliver a speech to rouse the gang into a battle they would struggle to come out whole. But an almighty crash thunders out from the room. The sound is unbearable and they block their ears. It's like a building collapsing nearby, only with metal on metal. Some dust flies into their path and some parts fly their way, pieces of circuit boards and chunks of metal plating fill the floor as they get closer to the wreckage. The passage is blocked by a huge metal cabinet. Murray pushes it out of the way and reveals the mass of metal and dead bodies that have been devastated in this area. They look above, the fan that was there is not anymore. The white light that was emanating form the top before now streaks down in unrestricted glory. Shining brightly on the floor of bodies and bytes. No live sound is made save for the crunching of metal and silicon under the feet of Sly who enters the room first. He looks up at the light then at the room itself. He feels the sense of awe and grandness of such destruction. He seeks such beauty in things like this, not focusing on the death but on what can be salvaged. He spots the giant nose cone sitting on it's side, the black paint scratched from it's impact ruins it's physically perfect shape. None of the computers that he saw earlier are in usable condition, a fact that is echoed by Bentley. He searches the wreckage for any useful parts. He is not immune from the temptation to take. The turtle uses his robotic arms to rummage through the piles but nothing he finds is in one piece. He also feels some sorrow for such computers, they are the things that he loves and he can't not feel sorry for them. Murray on the other hand is just happy from all the destruction that he has seen. He wishes he could create such havoc with his fists but he does not posses the force of a giant fan tumbling 3 stories to the ground.
A voice from above breaks their thoughts. It echoes down the cone shaped top.
"Hey guys." Joey shouts from the top, reaching out into the abyss. The gang looks up to stop him, Carmelita points him out and they all find his location.
"Before you say anything, that was all me. I'll tell you what happened once we leave here but first. Uhhh, Murray, that's right. I'm jumping down and you're catching me." Joey instructs. Just as he is about to leap into Murray's arms, Sly rushes to stop him, having an idea.
"Stay there." He shouts up to Joey. He stays at his post as Sly looks around for what he needs. He spots a wire that once held up banks of monitors. The steel cable is frayed at one end but it long enough to reach up.
"Murray, give me a hand with this." Sly instructs as he passes the cable to Murray. One by one the others see what Sly has figured out.
"Murray's going to throw the cable up and you find some place to tie it to okay?" Sly shouts as he watches Murray swing the cable, winding up for the throw. The cable soars into the air and Joey stick out an arm and grasps the cable. The weight of it is making it hard for him to hold onto it but he manages to loop it around a steel bar that was exposed due to the collapse of the fan. He ties it up and lets it go with his hands ready to catch it if it doesn't hold. Sly gives it a yank and he starts to climb up, cane in mouth to the top. Closely followed by Connor then Penelope. Carmelita takes longer but she makes it up without any major hiccups. The question is how to get Murray and Bentley up there. The wheel chair can't fly high enough to lift Bentley to the top. Murray already has an idea and it involves a good old-fashioned workout. He grabs the fans huge blades and moves them into a pile of some sorts, further towering up towards the right height. Meanwhile, the advance party of Joey and Penelope are first into the service walkways. Pipes and cables hang from the side from metal hooks set into the concrete tunnel.
"These walkways lead right into the vent system that we can use to escape." Joey explains as he run ahead. Penelope thinks how Bentley couldn't even know that these existed. His potential is being wasted by the second, but this is a more recent occurrence. He is making errors that any other member of the gang, with the exception of Murray, couldn't have made. Bentley is a smart, a very smart guy and she knows that, but errors like that are uncharacteristic of his usually know-it-all style. Is Bentley just not emotionally intelligent enough? He can't handle himself when complex and difficult situations involving living people present themselves. Not in the straight and predictable world of computers but in the unpredictable world outside of this is not where he belongs. She has a brainwave, a concrete piece of evidence to suggest that Bentley was becoming worse in terms of intelligence. She has heard stories from Bentley about how the gang met up and seen pictures of them together, usually after they were getting close together after the days work was done. She has this picture of how Bentley was, a timid and shy creature that was uncomfortable being more than a few metres away from a computer. A turtle that didn't really know what he could do. Only now she manages to connect the dots. It was his increased exposure to the outside world that slowed his progress from it's natural curve. She wonders what she could have become if she did what he claims. But it doesn't work that way. She handles herself her emotions too well, at time better than Sly, to be drastically affected by the situation round her. In short, she thinks, Bentley has a high IQ and a low EQ. A dangerous combination to have when the latter is exploited.
Back in the main room; Connor, Carmelita and Sly watch on as the last piece is moved into place. A crude pile of destroyed computers and fan blades is turned into a stairway to heaven, a way to the exit has been created. Bentley and Murray both jump up this unstable pile of junk to the top. The gang waiting for them at the top make space to the bulk of Murray and the size of the wheel chair to land on the top. The rest of the gang starts to run inside the walkway, hoping for an exit out of the building that doesn't involve a prison van to The Hague. Joey and Penelope have made their way along the dead straight tunnel until they reach the end of the line, sucking in the deep breaths after such run. They look back to see the gang making their way along as well with Carmelita running at the front. They find a room at the end that contains what is quite possibly the best thing they could have hoped for. A boat moored to this underground dock is an escape route from the building. Not on the plans for some reason. Penelope jumps in the boat while Joey opens up the garage door on the room to allow the boat to get out. She starts the engine as black smoke is released from the exhaust pipes. The sunlight can be seen from the left as that direction points towards freedom. The rest of the gang rush in and pile in the boat. Penelope thrusts the throttle slowly at first to clear the first turn the goes full power to leave the tunnel at speed. This boat has some power on it. They are forced back and almost fall over but steady themselves on the sides. They are travelling at speed as the boat enters the sunlight and faces the trap. Helicopters are hovering above the exit and boats are waiting for their escape.
Penelope turns left out of the turn back to the direction of the Interpol building. They pursuing forces know that they must be captured alive and not dead. A dead Sly Cooper is no use for the Director.
"Hold on Everyone." Penelope warns as she goes al the way to the other side of the river then makes a huge left turn heading straight for the bank of the river. She doesn't brake or hesitate to plough straight on. Her creative plan is going to work she thinks as she aims for the gap in the trees along the bank of the river.
"Murray got your keys?" Penelope asks they are about to do the quintessential action movie stunt that Venice did not provide the gang. The boat enters dry land and catapults up the sloped bank of the river and scrapes the bottom along the road. Sparks fly off the fibreglass body.
"To the airport." Penelope says. "As fast as possible."