February 19, 2020 Update: I've reuploaded this story to AO3! This upload includes the four other drabbles found here, plus a never before seen pre-Sly3 chapter! It also has a bonus gallery! Check it out here: /works/22799098?view_full_work=true

A rewrite of this story that will also continue it is also in progress! Keep an eye out on AO3, Twitter, Instagram, and deviantART for updates!

I don't think anyone expected me to get the next chapter up so quickly, huh? Neither did I, but I had a burst of inspiration. And guess what?

This is the final chapter.

That's right, this is it, guys. After two and a half years, this story is finally complete! I can't believe it's taken so long, but it's been such a fun ride!

And for those wondering; Yes, I'm going to make a sequel fic for Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. I don't know when it will happen, but it's going to happen. I have other projects I wanna finish first, but it'll happen eventually.

Thank you all for reading and supporting this fic! I hope you'll stick around for the next one!

Chapter Sixteen: All I've Waited For

"So... We're heading east over the Atlantic, huh?" Nyx asked, trying to not focus on the fact that Sly was currently pulling glass shards from her back.

"That we are," replied Bentley, who was using stolen tools to repair their binocucom units. "I'd wager that we're heading back to Paris, judging by what Arpeggio and Bison said,"

Nyx raised an eyebrow, and then winced violently as Sly removed a shard from a rather sensitive spot. "Sorry, sorry," said the raccoon, patting Nyx's shoulder to get her to relax again.

Nyx sighed, and tried her best to not stay tense. That would likely just make Sly's job harder. "We know why Arpeggio wants to go to Paris?" she settled on asking.

"That, I don't have an answer to..." said Bentley. "But hopefully, we'll stop Arpeggio's 'final hoedown' before we get there,"

"Yeah..." Nyx mumbled, wincing as another shard was pulled free. She probably shouldn't have gone to do recon and steal tools with all the glass in her skin, but... She hadn't really thought about that at the time... Getting tools had seemed much more important. "So, who exactly is Arpeggio? Do we know anything about him?"

Bentley nodded. "I studied up on him before the Lumberjack Games. He's nothing short of a genius; He excelled in every subject at school. However, he couldn't physically compete or keep up with his fellow classmates. Later in life, he took to using his agile mind to find a cure for his physical weakness, drawing inspiration from Italian renaisennce masters. The Klaww gang took him on as their chief inventor in no time, and it's no doubt that he modified the Clockwerk parts for the others to use,"

"And now he's got all of them..." Nyx muttered, trying to put the pieces together in her head. When she did, her eyes widened and she looked up at Bentley with a gasp. "Do you think he's trying to put Clockwerk back together? He was the strongest bird known to man..."

Bentley nodded solemnly, his eyes straying briefly to Sly, who seemed much too interested in removing glass from Nyx's back, and also much too quiet. "That's what I fear... Clockwerk is likely the ultimate symbol of power for Arpeggio... And a man like him wants all the power he can get..."

Nyx stared ahead for a few moments, before her brows knit together. "We can't let him. We can't let him bring that terror back into the world!"

"We won't," said Sly, his voice too brisk and with too much edge. Clearly, the mere suggestion of putting Clockwerk back together had him on edge. Their current situation - Stuck in a battery with little tools or intel - likely didn't help.

"Damn right we won't," Nyx hissed. She'd seen only hints of the trauma that Clockwerk had put Sly through, and she'd be damned if she was going to let him come back to do more...

Bentley nodded, agreeing with the both of them. "Once I fix up the binocucoms, Sly will head out to check out one of the smaller blimps that's attached to this one, I'm picking up strong magnetic fields from it,"

"Sounds like a plan," Sly said, pulling the last shard from between Nyx's shoulder blades. He then reached for the anti-septic, and started cleaning the wounds.

Nyx winced as the cold anti-septic stung the open wounds, but tried hard to not curse the raccoon who was trying to help her. She idly thought about how the blimp in question was likely where Arpeggio was trying to reassemble Clockwerk. But she didn't want to say it out loud. It was a subject that Sly clearly didn't like.

"We don't have much intel to go on, but our main goal here is to take back the Clockwerk parts," said Bentley. "Without them, Arpeggio's scheme will likely become a moot point,"

"The problem is gonna be getting them - And us - Off this blimp..." Nyx mumbled.

"We'll... Burn that bridge when we get to it," replied Bentley. "Right now, we need to focus on finding the parts,"

Nyx bit her lip. Did Bentley actually have a plan for getting them off the blimp? Or were they going to have to hijack it or something? She shook those thoughts from her head as Sly did his best to wrap the majority of her puncture wounds with gauze.

"There," Sly said after a few moments, patting Nyx's shoulder. "Try not to go out anymore windows, okay?"

"Yes, please don't," chimed Bentley.

Nyx rolled her eyes and reached for her torn shirt. "It was my only option. Maybe we wouldn't have this problem if someone taught me how I'm supposed to do it,"

Sly snorted and stood up. "I promise I'll get to it soon,"

"You better!" said Nyx, pointing up at the raccoon as she put her shirt back on. "It's apparently a useful skill!"

Bentley shook his head and rolled his eyes as he fiddled with Sly's binocucom. After a few moments, he had the device put back together, and was running some tests.

"Are we in business?" Sly asked, sounding hopeful and eager.

Bentley was silent a moment more, then grinned. "That we are," he tossed the binocucom to Sly, who caught it without issue. "Head on out to that blimp, and let's see what Arpeggio is up to,"

Sly grinned, though it didn't exactly reach his eyes. He put his binocucom back where it belonged, and then headed for the door. "Be back before you know it,"

Once the raccoon was gone, Nyx turned to look over at Murray, who had been much too quiet this whole time. He was taking this situation a lot worse than the rest of them. She reached out to grasp his shoulder.

The hippo looked up at her, the fact that he'd been crying apparent. "You okay?" Nyx asked softly.

Murray nodded. "Yeah... I think so..."

"It's okay if you're not," Nyx replied. "I know I'm not okay. I'm pissed. Sly is, too..."

"Yeah... I haven't seen him this mad in a long, long time..." Murray said, nodding slowly. "Not since before we took Clockwerk out..."

Nyx was silent a moment. "...Was he different then?"

"Kinda. He was more tense, y'know? Had the weight of his dad's death on his shoulders and all..." replied Murray. "I guess wanting revenge does that... But things got better once Clockwerk was gone... And now..."

"Now he might be a threat again... I get it. And we've... Lost everything trying to stop him..." Nyx mumbled. Then she sighed. "But we're going to. We're going to stop him. We're gonna win this,"

Murray nodded. "I know. Thanks,"

Nyx smiled, and then turned to listen to Bentley talk to Sly. "If Arpeggio's already started reassembling Clockwerk... That blimp is where you'll find him..."

"Sounds good. I'm on my way," came Sly's reply.

"Don't waste any time here, Sly," Bentley warned. "Get to the blimp and take some recon photos. To build a plan, we need to know how close they are to reviving Clockwerk..."

"Relax, Bentley. I've got it under control," Sly responded, though he didn't exactly sound relaxed himself. He was trying to though, for the sake of his team.

Bentley rolled his eyes, and let Sly begin the mission. There was nothing to say in the safehouse as they waited for Sly to board the blimp and get some recon photos. Nyx rotated her shoulder, trying to see how bad it still hurt. Running around doing recon and the like with the glass still in had really hurt after a while, but the pain seemed to be at a minimum now that the glass was gone. She could pull a job if they needed her to.

After a few long moments, Bentley's face twisted into something like complete horror. Nyx felt her heart sink as the turtle opened his mouth. "I... I had no idea they could reassemble Clockwerk so fast!"

Nyx and Murray both scrambled over to Bentley to see the video that was coming through Sly's binocucom. "Holy shit..." Nyx breathed as she saw it.

In the few short hours that they'd be recouping and getting themselves set up, Arpeggio had entirely put Clockwerk back together... Almost...

"Calm down, Bentley..." said Sly, but once again he himself didn't sound it. "He might be in one piece, but he doesn't appear to be... Y'know... Alive. Let's stick to the format here... How about some recon photos?"

"You're right," Bentley sighed. "We need to be informed to create a plan of action... Get some shots of anything that looks important in the room..."

"Got it," replied Sly.

From the spot Sly was currently at, he focused his camera on some spinning thing that was rotating around Clockwerk's body. Nyx had no idea what they were, but Bentley did. "Those magnetic inducers seem to be holding the Clockwerk parts together..."

Sly waited for the guard below him to turn around, before dropping to the walkway below. He looked around, before taking a picture of some strange egg-like metal things that were in a room below where he'd come in from.

"I'm sensing radio activity from inside those mech-eggs... I wouldn't get too close..." was Bentley's comment on these.

"What to do you think those are for...?" Nyx asked slowly, as Sly dodged guards to get farther into the room.

"I don't know," Bentley replied honestly. "But hopefully, we won't have to see them be used,"

Nyx sighed as she watched Sly take a photo of the unmoving Clockwerk. She didn't even need to be in the same room as the huge bird to be creeped out by him. The eyes alone were enough to send shivers down her spine. They were creepy enough when they weren't attached to him...

"Clockwerk appears completely inanimate!" marvelled Bentley. "We still might have a chance!"

As Sly looked around for other things to photograph, the sound of voices at the front of the blimp caught his attention. It was muffled by the glass door, though, so Sly slipped closer to investigate.

Through the thick glass, they could see a small bird sitting in a custom bird cage, affixed with wheels and the whole nine yards. They knew this was Arpeggio, they'd seen him at Rajan's ball. They entirely expected to see him in his own blimp, but it was the person he was speaking to that they hadn't anticipated.

Sly didn't miss a beat as he photographed the purple tigeress.

"Neyla?!" Bentley exclaimed. "Neyla's here, too?! I can't believe it! She must have been working with Arpeggio all along!"

"What is she, then?" Nyx asked. "A triple agent? Quadruple agent?! She's been hiding under so many layers of cover! How'd we fall for it?"

Bentley sighed and shook his head. "She's good,"

"Too good..." Nyx mumbled, a layer of contempt in her voice, obviously aimed towards Neyla. She'd wronged them one too many times...

"Not too good for us, though, right?" Murray asked hopefully.

Bentley and Nyx both shook their heads. "Absolutely not," said Bentley.

"We're gonna take her down," hissed Nyx, clearly taking Neyla's crimes rather personally.

Sly proceeded to take a photograph of Arpeggio, not like they didn't already have some from the ball. "There he is," commented Bentley with a sigh. "The mastermind behind this blimp, and the source of all our problems... I don't need to study those photos to see the writing on the wall. Clearly, Neyla and Arpeggio have conspired together to rebuild Clockwerk,"

Bentley paused for just a second. "And it looks like they're dangerously close to realizing their goal..."

"Look Bentley, I know it's not your style, but I need a quick plan of attack," said Sly, sounding just a touch desperate. "Try to think of a way - Any way - To stop Clockwerk from getting reassembled,"

Bentley had to pause and think about it for a moment. "Well... Those magnetic inducers seem to be holding the parts together. If you reversed their polarity, it should pull Clockwerk apart. Unfortunately, the inducer speed control station appears to be locked down tight..."

"No problem," said Sly. "I'll bet the guards here have the keys. I got it covered,"

And without further delay, Sly was off to pickpocket the big guards who were armed with what appeared to be rocket launchers. Nyx didn't want to think about what those guards would do, were Sly to be caught...

Moving near silently, Sly slipped around the room, expertly relieving the guards of all their keys. Once he had all four in hand, he slipped over to the inducer control station to use them, and slow the inducers down to a much more reasonable pace.

"Now that the inducer decks are spinning slower, get up there and reverse the polarity of each deck," instructed Bentley.

"Consider it done," replied Sly, leaping over to walk along Clockwer's inanimate wing. From there, he climbed up one of the support cables holding the bird up, and leaped to the first deck as it went by.

Sly flipped the switch on the deck to reverse it's polarity, and then leaped back down onto Clockwerk. He half expected the bird to jump to life, but it was a fear he shoved back as he climbed the other support cable to leap onto another magnetic inducer, and flip it's switch. Two down, two to go.

The process repeated for the other two, and when the fourth one was reversed, Sly leaped back down to Clockwerk's wing, before quickly leaping down to the semi-safety of the floor below.

With a crash that shook the floor and left the guards running for their lives, Clockwerk's frame went slamming into the ground, leaving impact marks in the floor. But... The Clockwerk parts had not been pulled apart the way Sly had hoped...

As the glass doors at the end of the room opened to admit Arpeggio and Neyla, Sly ducked behind the archway at one end of the room. "What's all this, then?" Arpeggio demanded. "The magnets have been reversed! But... By Jove, it seems to have locked the Clockwerk parts into place! Excellent!"

"No..." Nyx hissed, digging her claws into her palms as she watched this all unfold. She wanted to sprint out of that battery, climb her way to that blimp, and have a go at Arpeggio and Neyla... Every muscle in her body screamed for her to do it, but she bit her lip and stopped herself. That wouldn't do them any good, if she just rushed into battle... She knew where it had gotten her last time...

As Arpeggio and Neyla walked down the ramp to inspect the Clockwerk frame, Sly revealed himself to them, for reasons unknown to his comrades in the safehouse. Maybe he wanted a go at the two masterminds he was dealing with? Neyla, especially...

"Sly Cooper?!" Neyla exclaimed, sounding thoroughly surprised to see him there. But the surprise didn't last long, and her voice took on a harsh bite. "Of course this'd be your doing,"

"Ah, Mr. Cooper," hummed Arpeggio. "No doubt you believed a reversal would pull the old bird apart, eh? But it seems to have had quite the opposite effect. I'm truly grateful... When fully powered up, I'll join myself to it's circuits and be born anew!"

Yeah, that was an idea that didn't sit right with any of the four thieves who heard it... This guy... Was perhaps a bit crazy. "All this... Because you can't fly? You're pathetic," said Sly.

Nyx was almost surprised to hear Sly flat out insult Arpeggio. But then again, the raccoon was well and truly pissed, not to mention ten feet away from the thing that killed his father...

"Immortality!" corrected Arpeggio. "Immortality is what I seek. The other Klaww gang members were much too short sighed. They were satisfied using the Clockwerk parts to drive their various trivial schemes. But not me, no. I saw them for what they really were; The keys to life eternal!"

"So... What? You had Neyla put me on the scent back in Cairo, and then waited while I stole the parts from the other Klaww gang members..." questioned Sly, crossing his arms. He couldn't believe he let himself and his friends be used like this... "All the while not arousing any suspicion that you were behind it all?"

Neyla wasn't even looking at him as she replied. "You make it sound easy, Cooper. I had to carry your pathetic gang through that first set of heists. I was overjoyed when Arpeggio let me toss you in jail! I could finally go after the parts myself..."

Nyx grit her teeth, the urge to march down there and kick Neyla's ass growing stronger. Her ears were flattened against her head and she swore she'd never been more pissed in her entire life. The two sat next to her seemed pretty steamed, too.

"Ah, but acquiring all the parts was only half the equation," said Arpeggio. "Think, Cooper. What kept Clockwerk alive for thousands of years?"

After a short pause, Sly muttered a response. "He was fueled by his hatred for my family..."

"Splendid, that's right!" exclaimed the bird in the perch. "Hatred! Putting his gears and wires together was child's play, compared with accumulating that much hatred,"

Sly shook his head at Arpeggio. "You can't make people hate,"

"Oh, my poor, naive boy," tutted Arpeggio. "My meticulous mind has found a way. As your Hippopotamus and feline friends will attest, spice consumption makes you both angry, and susceptible to hypnosis. The Contessa, hypnotist extraordinaire, devised a way to command people through the use of flashing lights. I've created this blimp to be a massive transmitter of those precise light frequencies. The only problem I faced was finding a suitable source of lightwaves,"

"The Northern Lights!" exclaimed Sly, finally starting to figure out how this was all tying together. "You've been collecting Northern Light energy so that you could hypnotise everyone beneath the blimp!"

"Any of what he's saying making sense, Bentley?" Nyx asked, gritting her words through her teeth.

Bentley hummed dejectedly. "I'm afraid so... He's a true genius..."

"Ah, hypnotise those who's eaten food covered in illegal spice! Thank goodness for Dimitri, through his nightclub, he got the whole city to consume the spice,"

"You're going to Paris to unleash a hypnotic light show of hate... That's outlandishly cruel!" hissed Sly. This guy was not only insane, but he was selfish, to boot.

Arpeggio didn't seem to really agree with that. "Cruel, perhaps, but necessary to give Clockwerk his spark of immortality. Ah well, my new body awaits me. Be a dear, Neyla, and keep him covered. Ta-Ta!"

Arpeggio started wheeling himself towards the Clockwerk frame, and Sly was approximately half a second away from tackling the bird to the ground - Cage and all. But before he could, Neyla had beaten him to it.

"Stupid Arpeggio," Neyla spit. "I double-crossed the Cooper gang, Interpol, and Carmelita... What made you think I wouldn't do the same to you?"

And then the tigeress had sprinted across the room, and into Clockwerk's body, before even Sly could react to stop her. Seconds later, and the Clockwerk frame slowly began to rise off the floor.

"This is preposterous!" yelled Arpeggio. "You're my protege! Not the next candidate for my immortality! I demand you exit the Clockwerk frame or... Or...!"

Before Arpeggio could think up a suitable threat, a metallic talon came down upon him, crushing both his perch and him like they were nothing. With blood on her talons, Neyla rose the Clockwerk frame into the air.

"Behold! Clock-La is born!" Neyla shouted, her voice having a layer of mechanical jitter to it.

Clock-La flapped her wings a few times, before ramming through the front of the small blimp, taking to the skies around the larger one that housed it. Sly sprinted after her, but there was nothing he could do to stop her. She was gone, and a new menace had just been unleashed into the world.

"You sure you can do this?"

Nyx rolled her eyes as she waited for Murray to pry the heavy metal door to the engine room open. "You think Bentley would give me this job if I couldn't?"

"Yeah, I know..." Sly sighed. "Just be careful,"

Nyx snorted. "I will. Though aren't you the one carrying TNT and charging it up with magnetic whats-its at this current moment?"

"...That's not relevant," replied the raccoon after a short pause.

"Uh huh," Nyx drawled as Murray finally hefted the door open. "Well, you be careful, too, got it?"

Sly snorted. "Will do,"

"Alright, you're up, Nyx," said Murray, gesturing to the now open door. "Good luck,"

Nyx nodded to the hippo, and stepped towards the door. "Thanks. Probably gonna need it,"

She hesitated at the door for just a moment, before taking a breath and stepping inside. She walked through a short metal passageway, not unlike a large air duct, before coming out into a circular room with two floors. The floor directly below her feet was grated metal, but there was only a small section of it. The rest of the room was made of solid metal, and it...

"Be careful, Nyx, that room is packed with laser security..." said Bentley over the audio line.

"Uh, yeah..." Nyx mumbled as she stared at the setup before her. "I can see that..."

"First, you'll need to make it to the far end of that room, then get up to the second floor to get at the engine room control center," instructed Bentley.

Nyx sighed heavily as she observed the obstacles she had to get through. Oh boy, was this gonna be fun... "Got it. Thanks, Bentley..."

What Nyx assumed was the engine was in the middle of this circular room, and there were an insane amount of security lasers surrounding it... Red beams on the floor, circling around the proposed engine like a wheel, and complete circles of laser beams that moved vertically from the engine, to the outer edges of the room and back... Yeah, that looked fun... Not to mention the literal walls of red death that were circling the engine. She didn't even know that lasers could do that!

For a few moments, Nyx stared at the death traps she had to get through... For one of those moments, she wondered if she could do this. The next moment was spent telling herself that yes, yes she could. She'd gotten through the death traps in Contessa's castle, she could get through these. Another moment was spent analyzing the lazers, trying to figure out the best way to get through them. And a final moment was then spent checking over her gear to make sure nothing would fall off or get in her way.

She eyed the lazers just a second more, waiting for the right time to jump in, before she ignored all self-preservation, and did exactly that.

Once she was in the field of lazers, she had to keep an eye on exactly where she was, and what the lasers were doing. The circling ones were coming at her from the front, making them easy to jump over. But the ones moving vertically came at her from either sides, making them a bit harder to get through. She had to sometimes sacrifice progress through the room to avoid tripping the lazers. But she also had to move fast, lest one of the red walls of lazer death be allowed to catch her. There was no dodging those.

Nyx's heart was pounding out of her chest as she stood in the middle of a minefield of lazers, but she fought back every urge she had to panic. She'd done this all before, she could do it again. She had the ability to get through this. And there wasn't even a Kracken to get in the way this time! It was just her, and the lazers. No tricks, no gimmicks.

Slowly but surely, she made her way through the room, and to the little alcove at the other side. Once there, she then climbed her way up to the second level, and gawked at what she saw.

Blades. There were spinning blades. Why blades? Was this Arpeggio's idea of security?! The lazers were logical, but blades? If Arpeggio were alive, Nyx would have wanted to question him about this. She also would have asked about why the floor was electrified, and why there were more red walls of death...

Nyx sighed, and hailed Bentley. "I'm at the upper level. What now?"

"Alright, the control center is opposite your position in there... With some well timed spire jumping, you should be able to get acess,"

Nyx stared at the blades for another long moment. She was supposed to spire jump on those? She sighed, and ran her hands back through her hair. Idly, she thought about how it was so much longer than it had been when she'd met the Cooper gang. It had been boyishly short then, and bleached blonde. Now it was a rather long pixie, and the previously blonde parts had been dyed a medium brown.

She'd been with the Gang for almost four months now, hadn't she? She'd changed a lot in that time frame. And that was why she was here, in this engine room, about to spire jump on blades that ocassionally spun at breakneck speeds.

She was very hesitant to do so, but Sly had done it back in Canada, hadn't he? Surely she could do this. Bentley knew the schematic of the room, and he wouldn't have given her a job she wasn't ready for.

Nyx shoved back every other thought in her head, and started studying the blades, making note of which ones moved when. It took her time, but she eventually found the pattern, and devised a route. She took a long and deep breath, and then went for it.

She was lucky that spire jumping was the one move she'd taken to rather naturally. Cats are naturally rather good at perching in precarious places. The rail walk was another one she'd taken to somewhat easily, though her balence when in motion needed work.

Thankfully, it was the spire jump she needed here. She would have hated to walk on blades... That would require even more balence and precision that she wasn't sure if she had yet.

At least she was semi-confident about what she was currently doing, as she leaped from dangerous saw to dangerous saw. Like before, she had to sacrifice progress here and there, jumping back and forth to wait for the red wall of death to move farther forwards, but as long as she didn't mess up the pattern of the spinning blades, she was good. She was of course, concerned about messing up that pattern, but she managed to reach the other side of the room without incident

She leaped into the engine control room, almost not believing that she'd managed that, and pulled the lever to deactivate the engine. The background noise of the engine's hum died as she did, leaving the only sounds being the whirring of the blades, and an occassional beeping.

"This engine's done for," said Nyx, turning back towards the blade room. The electrified floor and lazers were thankfully gone now...

"Great job," said Bentley. "Sly's almost done with the second engine..."

"And you're sure this blimp will still fly without these engines?" Nyx asked, as she was able to just walk between the blades to get back downstairs.

Bentley snorted. "Absolutely,"

"I sure hope so, I'd hate to crash into whatever city we might currently be over," said Nyx as she walked right through the lower section as well, and back out the door she'd come in through.

No sooner than she'd exited, and before Bentley could say anything about her crashing comment, there was a loud explosion on the other side of the blimp. Nyx snorted and looked in the direction of the smoke that was now floating up into the sky. "I take it that was you, Sly? Not blown yourself up, I hope,"

"Nah," Sly replied. "But no one's putting that engine to use anymore,"

"Well, that's what we wanted, right?" Nyx asked, heading back for the safehouse. There was only one more engine to take out now, and that one was up to Sly and Bentley. After that, Nyx assumed there would likely be another slideshow, to detail the next part of the plan.

"Exactly. But this is the only one we get to blow up," purred Sly.

Nyx rolled her eyes, but chose to not reply to that. She was out in the middle of the blimp now, and she had to stay sharp. There were many guards around, not to mention Clock-La circling the blimp like a hawk. And being out and about with Clock-La around was making Nyx insanely nervous... She kept expecting the bird to swoop down upon them at any moment, and it was unfortunately a rather real possibility.

Nyx made it to the safety of the safehouse this time around, however, as did Sly. When she entered the small battery, Sly and Bentley were already on their way out. "Taking out that final engine, huh?"

"Mhm," hummed Sly. "We might be a while, don't wait up for us,"

Nyx rolled her eyes as the raccoon laughed and followed Bentley towards the final engine. She then retrieved Bentley's laptop, and started monitoring their progress. Her eyes strayed to the time, and she realized that they didn't have much of it left before the blimp would be arriving in Paris... And they needed to take out Clock-La before they got there...

"You worried about something?" Murray asked, looking up at Nyx.

Nyx sighed. Had it been that obvious? "Yeah... We're running low on time... And we're still in the first phase of things..."

Murray nodded. He understood her fears. "Yeah, I know. But we've pulled some tough jobs and gotten outta a lot of tight jams before. We got this,"

Nyx sighed again, but nodded. "I sure hope so,"

There was another moment of silence, before Bentley's laptop started beeping, and a notification about an incoming transmission popped up. It was coming in via the shortwave radio Bentley had rigged to connect to the binocucom system... Nyx stared at it with confusion for a brief moment, and Murray raised an eyebrow at her.

Being that Bentley wasn't there, Nyx decided to respond to the transmission herself. She had no idea who might be sending it, but it was probably worth knowing who knew how to contact Bentley... "Hello...?"

"This is Inspector Carmelita Fox, do you read me?" came the reply that was slightly garbled by radio static.

"Carmelita?!" Nyx hissed in surprise. "Yeah, I read you. How'd you get this frequency?"

There was a pause. "That's not important. Where's that turtle? Bentley?"

Nyx floundered with words for a brief moment, before she was able to respond. "He's out taking care of... Business..."

Carmelita sighed, a sound that came over as mostly just radio static. "You're Nyx, right? The one who tackled Neyla back in India?"

"That's me, yeah," Nyx replied slowly. "What do you need, Carmelita?"

"I tracked down Neyla. I think she's on a blimp owned by a man named Arpeggio. He's part of the Klaww Gang, so I take it you guys are there already?" questioned Carmelita.

Nyx didn't even wanna know how Carmelita tracked down Neyla, but it was strange that she could easily assume where they were. "Yeah. And Neyla's... Neyla's here, too..."

Carmelita was silent for just a moment. "I sense a 'but' coming..."

Nyx sighed heavily. "Yeah. She joined herself to the Clockwerk frame and murdered Arpeggio... And the short story is that if we don't stop her before we reach Paris, she'll unleash Arpeggio's master plan... And thus become immortal..."

"No way," Carmelita hissed. "That is not gonna happen. I've got a helicopter and I'm trying to find you guys, but that blimp isn't showing up on my radar..."

Nyx hummed. "I'm sure Bentley can think of a way to send you a signal, as soon as he gets back,"

"I figured as much," replied Carmelita. "I'll maintain my current direction, in the meantime. I'm heading towards Paris, but I don't know where you'll be approaching from,"

"Got it. I'll have Bentley contact you when he returns," Nyx said.

"You better. I want in on kicking Neyla's ass," came Carmelita's almost threatening reply.

The line then went dead, and Nyx looked over to Murray, who looked just as shocked as she did. Nyx then hailed Bentley. "Hey, Bentley. You're not gonna believe who just contacted us..."

Bentley and Carmelita had a nice long chat after he returned to the safehouse. They used a lot of words I didn't understand, but I got the jist of what was going on. Carmelita had a chopper with a lot of firepower, and she was willing to take Sly up to fight Clock-La.

We just had to let her know where we were. That was the second half of the conversation. Bentley said that if they could boost the four local radio towers on the blimp, that Carmelita ought to be able to locate us with her chopper's radar afterwards. Of course, he used a lot bigger words to describe it.

Sly was the one tasked with climbing up to the radio towers and boosting their signals. It was only minutes afterwards that Carmelita confirmed that she could now see us on her radar, and was heading in our direction. We hoped she wasn't too far away, Paris was approaching fast.

"You think you and Carmelita can take her out?" I asked Sly, as we sat on top of the battery, waiting for Carmelita to arrive.

Sly nodded slowly. "Yeah. I beat Clockwerk once, by myself. And he was more powerful than Clock-La is,"

I nodded minuetely in response, staring down at the walkways below us. "I really hope you're right..."

Sly was silent a moment, before clapping a hand onto my shoulder. "Don't sweat it, okay? We can handle one over-sized bird being piloted by an egomaniac,"

I snorted and gave the raccoon a shove. "Don't get too cocky, now,"

Sly made a 'pfft' sound. "When am I ever cocky?"

"All the time," I replied, doing my best to grin at him.

Sly rolled his eyes, but the sound of a helicopter engine cut off whatever he was going to say next. We both turned to see the Interpol chopper arrive, with none other than Inspector Fox at the controls.

We both leaped off the battery, and climbed over to the small building Carmelita was hovered near. "Good to see you, Inspector Fox," Sly purred.

"Look, Sly, for once let's just cut the flirty chit-chat and get down to business," said Carmelita. "I need an experienced tail gunner. Jump in and grab the gun. We've got a bird to take down,"

Sly raised an eyebrow. "That's not flirty chit-chat?"

"Just get in," hissed Carmelita.

Sly grinned, and moved towards the helicopter. I stopped him before he climbed in, grabbing his arm. He looked back at me with a concerned look.

"Be careful," I said, staring sternly into his brown eyes. "Don't you dare die out there,"

Sly looked a bit confused for a moment, like he didn't know how to respond to that. Then he grinned. "Don't worry, we've done this before,"

And then he was in the chopper, said aircraft immediately taking back to the skies to confront Clock-La. I watched as they went, hoping to every known deity that they'd be okay. When the shooting started, I quickly headed back for the safehouse, ducking into the battery where it was some kind of safe.

"Don't look so worried," said Bentley, no sooner than I had entered. "They've... Done this before. They can do it again..."

Bentley didn't sound entirely convinced of his own words, but I nodded anyways. "I know..."

As Bentley's laptop battery slowly died, we used what was left of it to monitor the fight going on around us. The sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard throughout the entire blimp, but via the binocucom we could hear Carmelita's excited shouting as she and Sly peppered Clock-La with heavy machine gun rounds.

An unknown ammount of time passed, the air filled continuously with the sounds of aerial dogfighting above us. Eventually, Clock-La went plummetting down, crashing into a section of the blimp as she went. The whole blimp shook around us, and we could only imagine how much was actually left of the section she'd crashed into.

"You should have been a cop!" cheered Carmelita. "That was some terrific shooting!"

For a moment, we shared in Carmelita's excitement, before we heard the metallic screeching of Clock-La. Bentley and I both glanced out the window, and nearly had a heart attack.

"Sly! Sly! We've got a serious problem here! Clock-La is still alive, and she's looking mighty upset, and I think she's going to take it out on us...!"

Clock-La was on top of us no sooner than those words had left Bentley's mouth. Her talons punched into the roof of the battery, and she ripped it straight away from the blimp. I shrieked as everything violently tipped and shook, losing my balence and falling over in the process.

The feeling of being airborne like this was not pleasant. It wasn't like being lifted up to the blimp on a controlled line. This was like experiencing a massive earthquake during a hurricane.

"I'm coming, guys! Hold on!" Sly's voice came in over the audio line, and I could only guess as to what he might be doing. But if there was any one thing I knew, it was that Sly would definitely come for us.

Seconds later, and Clock-La began to dive, causing us in the battery to be smashed against it's roof. I hit my head as we went, and maybe I blacked out for just a short moment, but I came back around just in time to crash back onto the floor and have Bentley's laptop land on my head.

Before I could even move, we were being flung to the other side of the battery, and my right shoulder smashed into the steel walls. Pain exploded through it, and I shrieked again.

"Hurry, Sly! This is getting... Kinda outta hand!" Murray proclaimed, as he was flung around the battery like a ragdoll.

"Kinda?!" I yelled back, clutching my shoulder and forcing back tears. "This is way outta hand!"

"Just hang on a few more minutes, I'm nearly there!" Sly replied, sounding pissed and panicked. I'd never heard such an urgent tone in Sly's voice, and it didn't help me to stay calm in any way.

Clock-La's flight pattern continued to throw us around the battery, which did nothing for my messed up shoulder. After banging it against a few other walls, I couldn't stop the tears that started streaming down my face. I was pretty sure something was broken by that point... And I'd hit my head a good few times, too...

"I'm hyperventilating!" Bentley yelled after a while. "I need a paper bag!"

I wanted to say something to Bentley, who had retreated into his shell, but my mind was rather clouded by pain, and I couldn't even focus on Bentley's location for too long, before the battery started tipping in another direction and sending us all flying.

It felt like forever that we were in there, but eventually we could hear something going on above us. "You want a piece of me?!" that was Clock-La shouting, though it was a bit muffled. "Don't worry, there's plenty to go around!"

"You might have a new body, Neyla... But you're still the low-down, back-stabbing coward we've beaten time and time again!" Sly yelled, his voice clearer to us thanks to the binocucoms. "This won't be any different!"

"Be brave while you can, Cooper! I might not have the immortality born of pure hate... But I feel something... Some power growing within me!" growled Clock-La.

There were no more words after that, just the sound of Clock-La firing some sort of projectile, and the sound of Sly's cane smashing repeatedly into Clock-La's head. It wasn't until there was a loud explosion, and we started going down, that I realized something bad.

Without Clock-La able to fly, we were going to crash. And crash we were absolutely going to do.

I squeezed my eyes shut as we entered a free fall, entirely expecting to die from the impact. Murray managed to grab onto me and Bentley, and he held us close as we fell, as if that would do something. Regardless of if it saved us, having them both there was comforting as we plummetted to mother earth.

The fall was short, but felt like it took forever. The stop was jarring as the battery embedded itself into some unknown part of Paris. Having previously been plastered to the roof of the battery, gravity claimed us and brought us crashing down to the floor as soon as the crash landing was over. For a few long moments, we all laid there, each likely trying to figure out if we were alive. It was the frantic beating in my chest and the pain in my shoulder that told me yes; I was alive.

"Guys!" Sly's voice reached my ears after a few long moments, and then the sound of the battery door being slowly pried open.

Murray scrambled to his feet to help Sly with the door, while I tried to get Bentley to come out of his shell. Eventually, the turtle peeked his head out. "Are we alive...?"

"Yeah..." I sighed. "We made it..."

Bentley sighed. "That. Was the worst thing I've ever experienced..."

I nodded and sighed an agreement, but said nothing as Murray and Sly got the battery door open. "Are you guys okay!?" Sly demanded as soon as the door was open enough for us to get out.

"I think we're fine..." said Bentley, leading the procession out of the battery, seemingly rather eager to get out of it.

Murray helped me out of the battery, and then followed suit. The first thing I noticed as I exited the battery, was that Clock-La had crashed not even fifty feet away from where our battery had landed. And she looked pretty motionless...

I slowly walked towards the small clearing she'd crashed into, staring openly at the massive Clockwerk frame. I was somehow glad that it had been Neyla piloting it, and not Clockwerk himself...

The others followed me, coming to join me in observing Clock-La. "We... We did it!" said Sly, almost not believing it himself.

"Right on!" cheered Murray.

I gave a breathy laugh that jostled my shoulder, but I didn't care. We'd done it. This whole thing was finally over... After months of going through everything imaginable... It was over...

"It's an emotional moment..." sighed Bentley.

Of course, that was when Clock-La's eyes lit back up, and lazers shot out from somewhere in the Clockwerk frame. Sly yanked me by the bad arm to get me to move, dragging me back to the safety of our battery crash site.

"Die, insects, die!" Clock-La was screaming. "My hate will smash you!"

"Watch out," hissed Sly. "That thing's still kicking!"

We stared as Clock-La guarded herself with lazers, despite the fact that she seemed unable to otherwise fight back. Okay, so this wasn't quite over with yet...

"Clock-La mentioned something about a hate chip..." mused Bentley after a few moments. "It sounded like the source of her power,"

Sly nodded. "If we remove it, she might stop attacking,"

"Then let's do a little open head surgery!" exclaimed Murray, pounding his fists together. "I'll pry open that beak so that Bentley can go to town with his bombs!"

There was a moment of silence as we all looked to each other, before silently agreeing on that plan. It was all we had.

Murray and Bentley carefully crossed the field of lazers, and Murray proceeded to pry Clock-La's jaws open. Inside the robotic beak, was a holographic projection of Neyla's head.

"I hate you, Cooper Gang!" she screamed. "I will find you in your sleep and I will destroy you! You will never know a moment's peace for the rest of your short, miserable lives! Clock-La will know revenge! I am revenge! I am the Alpha and the Omega! Clock-La!"

"Well..." I sighed to Sly. "She's gone off the deep end..."

"You think?" Sly muttered back as we watched Bentley bomb the devices that were emitting the lazers.

Removing the lazers didn't seem to do much to Clock-La, considering the fact that she continued to scream and yell. "I still have my hate chip! You will not defeat me! Ever!"

The hologram of Neyla's head then faded, and Bentley proceeded to climb inside Clock-La's mouth to start prying something out from inside. With the lazers now gone, Sly and I joined Murray and Bentley, to watch the turtle pry what I assumed was the hate chip from Clock-La's head.

It was a few moments later that the chip came loose, and Bentley turned around to show it to us triumphantly. "Let's get out of here! She's about to explode!"

As Bentley began to exit Clock-La's mouth, I was going to say something about how getting out of there sounded like a really good idea. Before I could say it, however - And before Bentley could get out of Clock-La's mouth - The beak slammed shut.

Bentley cried out as he was trapped and likely crushed inside, and there were protests of alarm from the rest of us. Sly's were the loudest. For a moment, we all feared that Bentley was dead, before his weak voice broke the silence. "My glassess..."

"Hang on, Bentley! I'll get you outta there!" exclaimed Murray, starting to pry Clock-La's jaws open once again. Sly and I stared in horror as we watched, unsure what state Bentley was going to be in once we got him out of there...

I gave a horrified gasp that didn't have my permission to leave my mouth when Murray got the jaws open and we saw just how bad Bentley was hurt. It looked like his legs had been completely crushed by the force of the huge metallic beak... I swallowed hard and tried my best to not cry.

"Pick me up..." muttered Bentley. "I can't walk..."

Carefully, with tears in his eyes, Murray did as instructed, lifting the injured turtle into his arms. "Come on, guys," Murray said, trying to sound less upset than he looked. "Let's get outta here..."

We didn't need to discuss that one, considering the fact that Clock-La was clearly about to blow. We sprinted back towards the battery we'd called our safehouse for the past few hours, and watched as Clock-La exploded into a spray of robot bird pieces.

When the smoke cleared, we could see various Clockwerk pieces floating in the waters around us. They were on fire, smoking and sparking, but somehow...

"They look... Unharmed..." I mumbled, almost not believing it. Despite being shot at and blown up, the Clockwerk pieces looked no different than they had when they were in our van. They looked like they could easily be put back together again, given enough time.

"It's as if... Nothing can ever hurt them..." Sly said, sounding hurt and confused.

With my good arm, I grasped his shoulder, not sure what to say. He reached up to put his hand over mine, accepting the silent consolation. I really wished I knew what to say, but... After everything that had happened to those parts... If all of it hadn't destroyed them... What could?

As we watched the heaps of Clockwerk parts float around us, the sound of a helicopter engine caught our attention. Landing just a few feet away from us, was Carmelita's chopper. It was a bit damaged from the dogfight, but still operational.

"Is it over?" Carmelita demanded as she climbed out of her chopper, her hair a complete windblown mess. "Am I too late?!"

"Afraid so, Carmelita," said Sly, looking over his shoulder at her, appearing more serious in her presence than he'd ever been.

Carmelita growled, clearly cursing herself. "Maldicion!"

I had no idea what that Spanish word was, but by her tone, I could guess that it was a curse word. Sly vaguely smirked, likely knowing the word that was foreign to me. He then held up the hate chip for Carmelita to see. "There's still this - The hate chip,"

Carmelita looked at the chip for a moment, and then stalked towards us. "Give me that,"

Sly gave a grin that didn't reach his eyes, and handed it over. "Be my guest,"

Carmelita snatched the chip from Sly's hands, and looked it over for just a few seconds. Then she tossed it to the ground, and brought her booted foot down on top of it.

There was a crunching and cracking sound as the chip was reduced to just pieces and fragments, and Carmelita seemed rather pleased with herself. She hadn't been fast enough to get any personal hits in on Clock-La, but at least she was the one to destroy Clock-La's source of power.

It had another side-effect though, one that we didn't exactly anticipate.

There was the sound of screeching metal, and we all turned to watch as the Clockwerk pieces around us decayed rapidly, as if time had finally caught up to the centuries old avian. In a matter of seconds, the plague that had cursed the Cooper family name for generations had been reduced to nothing but twisted and eroded metal.

We all watched speechlessly as it happened, almost not believing that it had been that simple. Without that one essential piece, Clockwerk was done for. And he'd taken Neyla down with him. Finally... Finally, this whole thing was over. For us, and for Sly's family.

"Freeze, Cooper gang! Get your hands in the air! You're all under arrest!"

Okay, maybe I spoke too soon, again... True to her nature, Carmelita was now pointing her shock pistol at us, attempting to arrest us for everything we'd done. Somehow, I wasn't surprised.

Sly looked over to us, for a moment looking like he was planning something. But as his eyes settled on us, that look faded. And I knew damn well why. We were a mess. Murray was in tears as he held the crippled and barely conscious Bentley in his arms. My right shoulder was likely broken, preventing me from using my dominant hand. And we'd all taken a good beating as we were thrown around the battery.

We really weren't in any shape for a fast getaway. And Sly realized it the moment he turned to us.

Despite that, I stared back at him with a solid look. There had to be something we could do, right? We couldn't just give up after coming this far, could we? Even though I was injured, I was ready to fight back. I never wanted to go quietly ever again...

Sly shook his head at me, slowly. As if he knew what I was thinking, and was disapproving of it. He then turned to Carmelita. "Listen, Carmelita, how about we make a deal?"

"A deal? I don't deal with criminals," Carmelita replied, glaring at Sly over her pistol.

"I know," sighed Sly. "But hear me out, here. If you let them go, let them get medical attention, I'll go quietly. No tricks, no gimmicks,"

My eyes widened as Sly made his offer. "Sly, n-"

Sly turned to give me a stern look that was almost a glare, and it stopped the words from coming out of my mouth. Sly held my eyes for a few moments, before firmly flicking his gaze to Murray and Bentley, then back to me.

It took me a moment to realize it, but he was giving me a job. He was asking me to take care of Murray and Bentley. Get them to safety. Slowly, I nodded at him. I didn't like it, I didn't want to leave him to be arrested, but I understood now, why he was doing this.

Carmelita studied Sly for a moment as she contemplated his offer. Her eyes flicked over to the rest of us, and then she sighed. "Fine. I'll take your offer. You three better get out of here, before the rest of Interpol shows up. They won't be quite so nice,"

My eyes flickered to Sly for just another moment, wishing there was something I could do... But then I nodded, and turned away from Sly and Carmelita, motioning for Murray to come with.

Before we went, though, we stopped to remove our gear and leave it there. If we were lucky, we could get into a hospital under the guise of a car accident, and then get out before any bolos went out on the rest of the Cooper gang... I wasn't holding my breath on it, but it was worth a shot.

We limped away from the crash site slowly, and it took all of my willpower to not look back at Sly. This was temporary, I told myself. It wasn't the end. We'd get Sly out of jail, I knew it.

As we went, we heard Interpol arrive on-scene, bringing an entire squadron of cops with them. That was when I turned back to look. I couldn't see Sly amongst all the commotion anymore, but I could see Carmelita shaking hands with some short man. I supposed she'd managed to clear her name by arresting Sly. That had probably been another reason why he'd turned himself in, I figured. He was just a little too attached to Carmelita, I'd learned.

"Nyx..."

I turned back to my friends as Bentley croaked out my name. "Yeah, Bentley?"

"You don't plan on leaving him there, do you...?" Bentley asked quietly.

I silently stared at the ground before us for a moment. Then I turned back to Bentley. "You got a plan?"

Bentley gave a weak smile. "That I do..."

Nyx drummed her fingers on the steering wheel of the mini-van they'd rented from some mom-and-pop car rental company. The car wasn't the most upkept thing she'd ever rode in, but it wasn't flashy and obvious, either. And that was exactly what Sly had wanted. A car that no one would remember seeing in the hospital parking lot.

It had been seven months since the Clock-La incident. Seven long months since Bentley's injury. They'd slipped into the hospital to see him many times over the months, and they'd had plenty of time to come to terms with the fact that he was never going to walk again.

It was something that broke all their hearts, but they tried to stay strong for Bentley. The turtle himself wasn't too sure how to feel about it. It would likely take him a little more time to come to terms with it himself, and get used to his new way of life.

Normally, Sly would've wanted to get Bentley out of the hospital as soon as possible, but with the extent of his injuries, he needed all the rehab time he could get. Nyx herself spent only two days in the hospital, due to her dislocated shoulder. Getting her out had been a cakewalk, thanks to her bright idea of checking Bentley in seperately from herself, so it looked like they didn't know each other. It also helped that she pretended to have amnesia and not know her own name.

Of course, the dislocated shoulder had put Nyx out of commission for the next three months, with her arm immobile and stuck in a sling. She'd absolutely hated it, so Sly had decided to fill the void by finally teaching her to speak French. And if she survived that, Murray promised he'd teach her how to drive.

And though her sanity had worn thin, Nyx survived the recovery of her shoulder, and the French lessons. Therefore, Murray had taught her to drive, which was the only reason she was behind the wheel for this rescue mission.

Sure, there was the fact that she didn't legally have a driver's lisence yet, but... That was honestly the least of her crimes, probably. She had a fake lisence, but she still wasn't legally listed as having one. So god forbid she got pulled over...

As she waited for Sly and Murray to spring Bentley, Nyx ran her hands back through her hair. And she'd thought it was long back in Arpeggio's blimp... It had barely reached her chin then, and now the back was just barely brushing the tops of her shoulders. She'd since dyed it all back to her natural dark brown, and she wasn't too sure what she was doing with the style. She was just letting it do whatever it wanted, really.

But when she compared the length of it now, to how short it had been when she'd met the Cooper gang... It reminded her just how far she'd come since then. She'd been a lost teenager when she'd met the gang. A nervous civilian who had no idea what her role in life was supposed to be. She'd moved to Paris trying to chase some miniscule dream that she thought might work out for her.

Now, a little over a year later, and she was a wanted criminal. She'd helped rob and take down the Klaww gang, and was now a valued part of the infamous Cooper gang. She'd almost expected them to part ways after the Clockwerk/Klaww gang thing was taken care of, expected them to drift away now that there was no true reason for her to stick around. But it had turned out the exact opposite; They wanted her around more than ever, and Sly was forever sharing thief tips with her whenever he got the chance. She was part of the family now, something she'd clued into when Sly had all her personal belongings dragged to their non-job safehouse.

It wasn't exactly the way she'd planned for things to go, if she was being honest. She'd never imagined herself as a criminal. After all, before meeting the gang, she'd thought that criminals were terrible people. But now that she'd met the Cooper gang, her opinions had greatly changed. Now she couldn't imagine anywhere else she wanted to be.

Sure, it created a little tension between her and her mother, whom had learned of her daughter's involvement with the Cooper and Klaww gangs via the news and was... Understandably not pleased... But Nyx was solid in her decisions. The Cooper Gang was where she wanted to be, and she made sure her mother knew that this was where she belonged. Where she could do the most good for the world. Her mother didn't understand, but she gave up trying to convince Nyx otherwise after a few months. Her daughter had gone off the radar for four months, and had then reemerged from the waterworks as someone completely different, and she didn't quite get why. Nyx hoped that maybe one day she could introduce her mother to Sly, so she could see just why Nyx had chosen this gang.

But that was something that would have to wait a good long while. Right now, their current focus was Bentley. And Nyx was starting to wonder why it was taking them so long to get him out... Sure, there were definitely police officers guarding his door, but it couldn't take too long to get rid of those guys, could it?

Nyx was just about to hail Sly via the binocucom, when the audio line burst to life with the raccoon's voice. "We've got Bentley, and we're headed your way! Get that engine going!"

"Got it," Nyx replied, turning the key in the engine as she spoke. The mini-van rumbled to life, and Nyx gripped the steering wheel tightly, ready to make their grand escape.

It wasn't long afterwards that Sly and Murray came sprinting out of the hospital, with Bentley in Murray's arms. They sprinted to the inconspicuous mini-van, and Murray and Bentley dove into the back seat. Sly ignored the passenger's side door, and just dove through the open window to land in the passenger's seat. "Punch it!"

Nyx slammed her foot down on the gas, and sent the car speeding through the hospital parking lot. Out of the rear-view mirror, Nyx saw two Interpol agents burst out of the hospital, trying to locate where their charge had been absconded to.

But they were already halfway out of the parking lot by then, and even the cops weren't bold enough to try taking a shot at them. Nyx made a hard left out into the streets, and started speeding back towards their safehouse. It was the middle of the night, so there weren't many cars out on the streets, just as Sly had planned. They could drive fast and not have to worry about hitting too many other cars.

Backup was no doubt being called to chase them, but they were already putting the hospital far behind them. Nyx was driving way above the speed limit, something that she normally wasn't a fan of doing, and it was hopefully making them hard to track.

Nyx turned onto a dark side street, not turning her headlights on so they couldn't be seen quite so easily. Her feline night vision allowed her to navigate the streets just fine, and come to a stop next to a small town car that was parked by a vacant house. This was phase two of their plan.

Nyx and Sly climbed out of the car, and Murray carefully removed Bentley from it. Nyx procured the keys to this new car, and waited for Murray to get Bentley situated in the small red vehicle. She then tossed the keys to him, and let him take the wheel.

Sly and Nyx quickly piled into the car, and Murray got the engine going. He quickly pulled the car away from the vacant house they'd parked in front of, and back down the dark street. If Interpol found their first car, hopefully they would stop to check it, and perhaps investigate the empty house it was left at.

Murray drove just below the speed limit now, hoping that the cops wouldn't catch onto their car swap. No one had seen it happen, so hopefully they'd be long gone before anyone figured it out.

There was a long span of silence, before Bentley leaned around the passenger's seat he was in, to look at Nyx. "Who taught you how to drive?"

Nyx laughed, long and hard. Yeah, this was definitely the place she wanted to be.