Hi, Hyena King here! This chapter is the beginning of the Sly 2 chapter "A tangled web." So, without further ado, here's chapter 24!

(Sly POV.)

Time for a little payback. The Contessa, having escaped us in the prison, is now hiding out in her castle estate. It's a well-fortified, Gothic nightmare that would make any thief run in terror. Terrible of not, that's where we're headed. To sweeten the deal, we learned that the Contessa, who until recently was a secret member of the Klaww Gang, is in possession of the Clockwerk eyes. The Thievius Raccoonus describes the eyes stopping an opponent dead in their tracks, transfixed in there gaze.

It doesn't take a genius to tell what an accomplished hypnotist could do with such powerful artifacts. News of the Contessa's corruption has reached Interpol. Constable Neyla, being close to the case, was granted a case allowance to hire an army of local mercenaries. Most likely, we're walking right into a full scale war.

But we have to act now, before things go from being bad, to worse.

You could cut the tension in Prague with a knife. Tanks and boats from both armies patrolled the streets and waterways, everybody was inside their homes with locked doors, and soldiers roamed the street, one word away from battling each other.

Needless to say, the gang was just as tense. The only one not affected, not surprisingly, was Sasha and her sisters, who had commented that this felt like visiting her uncle, the god of war Ares. No one took her comment seriously; frankly, she was taken even less seriously then Pinkie, which was saying something.

If the whole army situation wasn't bad enough, Malice's influence could be felt here along with the Contessa's. Strange anthros, which looked like a cross between horses and lizards who were then dipped in lava, patrolled the streets along with the Contessa's soldiers, adding to the unsettling air in the city. This, combined with Lightning's continued absence, made everybody ready to snap.

That was what Sly was thinking about Thunder as he and the pegasus were scoping out the place. He had been unusually quite since they rescued him from Malice's clutches, and he refused to tell why. The answer to that was what Sly was about to find out as they looked down upon the city.

"Thunder, we need to talk."

"About what."

"You know."

"I told you and everypo...everybody else that I wouldn't talk about that."

"Well, you're going to talk now."

Thunder snorted, and then continued to watch the tank they were observing. But Sly wasn't going to let him off that easy.

"Thunder, you remember when I told you about how the fiendish five killed my dad when I was a kid? Did you think that was easy for me to tell you? So, why can't you tell me? I thought you were the brave one-"

"That was Lightning, and he's dead now, so there's no 'brave one' OK?!"

Sly was silent for a minute. Then Thunder recalled what Malice had told him. Every truth there was to know. When he finished, he looked close to tears. Sly then said.

"Was he lying."

"I don't know, why?"

"He probably just told you that to get to you. I'm sure Lightning's fine." Sly sighed. "When this is over, I'll help you look for him. It's the least I can do."

Thunder sighed himself and nodded. "Alright. Thanks Sly. This is the first time that someone's reassured me."

Sly patted the pegasus on the shoulder. "No prob."

Just then, an explosion of light burst from the hideout where everybody else was at. At first, as the two blocked the light from their eyes, they thought they were under attack. Then the light cleared, and there were surprised yelps, along with a joyful squeal from Sasha. Surprisingly, no guard saw the light.

Sly sighed. "That's the same light that happened when you came, isn't it?"

"Yup." Thunder replied, doing an impression of Big Mac.

Sly shook his head. "Let's turn in the photos and greet our new guests, shall we?"

"Yup"

With that, they headed back to the Hideout.

I bet you know where this is going. R&R please!