Ch24: An Amazing Rescue
After what seemed to be at least a day-long drive through Prague, we FINALLY managed to get to the estate where the Contessa was. Upon arrival, we could see all the tanks, boats, and even the Contessa's getaway blimp in the distance. "I have a plan on how to free and get to Carmelita, guys," I smirked, heading off to locate the old codger known as General Clawfoot.
Yeah... here's the thing... I still don't know what the castle defense security codes are so I had to find the old coot and actually do the whole 'fake conscience' thing again, which was surprisingly easy to do for the old guy. Thanks to his utter stupidity, I learned that the code for the security gates was 42377, the Contessa's date of birth. 'Yeah... really smooth girl...'
After I inputted the code in the keypad, I called Bentley and Sly over and we were able to make it up to the Reeducation Tower thanks to my amazing jumping abilities. "Are you sure this is the tower, Sylvia?" Sly asked. I didn't answer him. I did nod my head, though. "We enter through the window," I said, plopping down right where Sly entered the tower beforehand.
Upon entering, I could see that the Contessa was right at work trying (and utterly failing) to hypnotize Carmelita with the fake eyes. It was vital that these eyes were to be stolen by Neyla, since that would mean my plan for her biggest betrayal would fall flat on her future mechanical face. "What?! The mercenaries have breached the castle defenses?! All of you go! Defend this tower to the last man!" the Contessa yelled, ordering her Shadow Guards to destroy Neyla's army.
"Don't worry my child... we shall soon have you take the fall for me at Interpol, whether you want to or not..." "The only one falling will be you, Contessa!" Carmelita struggled, her eyes not glowing green which meant the eyes I secretly made were doing there work of literally nothing. "Psst... Sylvia... are those eyes fake?" Bentley asked quietly. "Mmhmm... I had to leave a fake to throw them off my trail and not get suspicious..." I smirked.
Once we eyed the terminal, I handed Sly a pair of rubber gloves and touched the power box for the old machine. "Okay. I'll use the electric ball move to power this thing. Sly will hold me there while Bentley, you hack into it and release Carmelita. We'll meet up with her later on... that is... after Sly defeats the Contessa." Both nodded and Sly put the gloves on, holding my balled-up form to the power box which gave the terminal the juice it needed.
After a quick hacking session by Bentley, Carmelita was soon freed. "Inspector Fox? Why fight it? Don't you want to be my best friend?" Contessa asked. "Okay 'new best friend,' hands up! And I mean all of them!" The Contessa gasped and ran away, Carmelita giving chase. "We're just lucky that I also happen to have a new ability with these things," I smirked upon seeing the mind shuffler. "You guys fall back... I'm gonna blow this thing up!"
They didn't question me as I pushed the button on the real eyes and focused a gaze of death at the machine. I didn't really expect it to have any effect on it, but the machine started to short circuit immediately, the explosion happening right afterwards.
"Wow... this is no place for an asthmatic... did you get the eyes, Sylvia?" Bentley asked, saying the words I told him to say. "Don't worry chaps... it's in safe, good hands," said the cocky British accent of Neyla. She appeared to have taken the fake eyes as bait (as was my intended plan) and she gave me a very angry glare. "If you make a single move towards me, Sylvia Martin, you will regret it," she hissed. I didn't make a move, just glared at her angrily. "Mmm... this should be enough for the old bird... ta-ta." Neyla ran out of the tower right after this.
"Sly? You go after her but wait at the top of the towers and wait for the Contessa to show. I'll tell you when she's nearby," I said, Sly nodding and heading out after Neyla until he stopped at the top of the tower. "What are you doing, Sylvia?" Bentley asked me after I pulled out the real Clockwerk eyes. "Trying to determine the Contessa's location with these thingamabobs..." I frowned, intentionally calling them that to make me smile. I then pressed the button and I found that it actually connected to my Binocucom, showing me a red dot near the towers. 'Good thing Carmelita promised she'd destroy the blimp,' I thought.
"Sly? Come in. She's approaching your position as we speak. Start talking trash about her and look towards the west. She'll be in that area." I could hear the Contessa's voice afterwards, the eyes giving me her dialogue. "Do you really think you can beat me, raccoon? I know all about you and the Cooper Clan." "Then you understand why these parts need to be destroyed," Sly said. "Short sighted fool! These parts are a gift to my abilities! What do I care about your thoughts of whether I am sane or not? Let's finish this!"
"This isn't going too well..." I frowned, watching the Contessa get arrested by Neyla, seeing her get promoted to captain... with the fake Clockwerk eyes hidden in her bonnet. "What? This wasn't in the story?" Sly asked. "That's the thing... this IS part of the story. But she now believes she has the eyes. That wasn't in the game. I've been tampering with the story so much so I'm surprised that it hasn't screwed up as much as it had..."
"It doesn't matter," Carmelita frowned, having to run away with the rest of us, as per her acting. "This story hasn't really been changed much. The only major differences were that Neyla almost stole the heart and the Klaww Gang members wanting to get rid of Dimitri." "At least I helped fix those problems," I frowned, really not wanting to say 'paradox.'
"Well... now we only have three members left. We have Jean Bison in Canada, Neyla and Arpeggio, both of whom will soon be on his massive blimp." "So... who do we go after first?" Sly asked. "According to the game, we need to go to Canada first, where we steal Jean's Clockwerk lungs, stomach, and later on his talons."