Sly 5 Line of Thieves CH6

SLY 5 LINE OF THIEVES (6)

CINEMATIC CUTSCENE (SLY POV)

Kaluk Warek had disappeared and Penelope was being rehabilitated, but the timeline still wasn’t fully restored. When Dimitri mentioned something about the time of high upper class…I think, because once again I didn’t totally understand his weird speech. But so far as I could understand, it was Thaddeus Winslow Cooper III who was in trouble. My ancestor had perfected the art of disguise amongst the Cooper Clan. Without his entry I wouldn’t have been able to steal the Clockwerk Wings from Rajan, or steal that bar of Swiss expensive chocolate. Probably he had some lieutenants left who didn’t know their boss was out of the picture. I guess it’s time for a quick reminder then.

SLY COOPER AND THE GANG IN: THE GHOST OF LONDON

MISSION: GENTLEMEN THIEF

Sly patrolled across London, where pelicans with old fashioned guns patrolled the rooftops, Lizards that look like high stuck up noble classes wielding canes (not like Sly but still knew how to use theirs) and horses with flashlights and rifles.

Sly: I see the bad guy patrol, but no idea who their boss could be, any leads I could use?

Bentley: Well, I fixed the DNA scanner we used to find Salim, but this time I can project holographic markers to point you in the right direction. Just follow them and we find Thaddeus.

Sly: That should make things easier…kind of.

Sly snuck around, avoiding guards or just smacking them down, sometimes picking some pockets for loot in the progress. He reached the first marker, near the front door of a barber. The marker looked like a DNA helix.

Bentley: It appears your ancestors are fond of grooming. He definitely has been here. Move on to the next marker.

Sly found the next marker in proximity to a large looking building.

Bentley: The opera house…He must like coming here often, not sure why. There have been no records of theft around the house.

Sly stared at a poster of the theater, displaying an attractive female raccoon on the poster.

Sly: I kind of have an idea.

Sly then started to look for the third marker, which was near a stand on the marketplace.

Bentley: Thaddeus normally goes near these crowded spaces to pick some pockets…definitely what a Cooper would do…I should be able to calculate his most likely position right now…It leads back to the opera, but near the attic section. You’re the thief, you should be able to climb there easily.

Sly went back to the opera house, climbed his way up to the attic and entered. There were a few guards and some security systems, but nothing Sly couldn’t get by. He reached the inner sanctum and saw there was a nice view upon the opera stage from which he was standing.

???: Like the view, old chum? (Sly turns around to see a raccoon wearing a raincoat, monocle and top hat) I always watch the wonderful Maria perform from here, but she barely appears to sing anymore, ever since the Phantom went rogue and started gathering these crooks and provide them with these odd modern weapons.

Sly: My name’s Sly, Sly Cooper. A reliable source tells we’re related. You’re Thaddeus, right, the master of disguise?

Thaddeus: You bet, governor. Though most of my disguises are left to the safehouse, which the Phantom has burnt to the ground. I have enough to sneak around here to be noticed.

Sly: Then allow our gang to help you out. We got the resources and we have dealt with these modern weapons.

Thaddeus: Excellent suggestion, old chum!

MISSION COMPLETE

CINEMATIC CUTSCENE (SLY POV)

We served some tea and cookies (or biscuits as he called them) to Thaddeus as he told us about the Phantom. The Phantom was a thief whom he had a friendly rivalry with, both were skilled thieves in their own way and both have a code of honor. Only the Phantom’s identity was unknown. And recently the Phantom has been acting funny.

Normally the Phantom works alone, but now he has gathered a gang of crooks and started organized crime opposed to thievery and apparently has abandoned his code of honor. So in a nutshell, he’s gone nuts. I suspect Penelope and Kaluk previously brought him a visit. Well, we must find out what makes the Phantom act so funny…if it’s the same Phantom Thaddeus has faced before.

CHALKTALK (BENTLEY POV)

Thaddeus has told us the Phantom rivals him, so this is a cunning foe we’re dealing with. We can’t rush in blindly so we need to gather info first. Thaddeus’ disguises have been diminished but we can work with what he has, he’s going to plant a bug for us. Also, Murray needs a quick refreshment course of the Dreamtime cause those abilities will come in handy. I myself will need to tag the Phantom if I can find him. I also detect signals coming from the opera house, and I’m sure I’ll probably need to do some hacking. I also suspect there is some weaponry hidden. We’ll have to take those out too. I’ll brief you in more detail when the missions starts, but for now, let’s move!

MISSION: MASTER OF DISGUISE

Thaddeus stood near the barbershop.

Bentley: Thaddeus, the building next to the barber shows some unusual activity. We need to plant a bug so we can listen in on any conversation that might happen. Your disguises come in handy. You just have to pretend to be a guard.

Thaddeus: Lucky for me it was smart to keep the guard costumes of all things.

Bentley: There are different types of guards, and each guard has his own tricks, so you’ll have to use each costume’s abilities well. The lizard costume comes with a cane to switch certain levers, the horse costume’s light can activate certain light-sensitive sensors, and the pelican costume allows you short gliding distance. Use them well!

Thaddeus: I will…it’s my specialty after all, old chum!

Thaddeus did well using each costume differently and efficiently, navigating through without being recognized. When he saw levers of which the sticks were missing, he used the cane of the costume to plant it in the lever and pull them over, the pelican costume, while not the same as the paraglider had decent glide distance and the horse guard costume lighted his way. He could sneak into the office and plant the bug.

MISSION COMPLETE

MISSION: IN YOUR DREAMS

Murray: I feel so zen all of a sudden. I almost forgot what it felt like to wear this costume…so you said you needed my ball form again?

Bentley: Indeed. You just need to get to the top of that building, drop down in ball form and bounce around, you need to use it to smash apart a few of those stands near the market, who aren’t really stands but crates of supplies for the Phantom in disguise.

Murray: Whatever it is, if you need smashing, call upon the Murray! Hey, that’d be a good slogan for a demolition company!

Murray just did what he did best: smash the crates, once he had dropped down from the right height and bounced all the way, and voila!

MISSION COMPLETE

MISSION: TAGGING GHOSTS

Bentley: Carmelita, we have to lure our the Phantom. He’s not going to show up on his own accord. It’s normally not your style, but with your shooting skills, you are the only one who can stir enough trouble to get the Phantom out while keeping your distance enough.

Carmelita: Sounds fair, but what if he shows up?

Bentley: That’s where I come in! I’ll tag him several times and then we can track his movements.

Carmelita: I hope this’ll work, chaos is normally not my thing.

Murray: No, that’s my thing!

Bentley: Murray, give back the mike!

Carmelita just entered the building and it became another dodge and shoot like she had in the wild west. It worked and after blaster her way through guards, the Phantom went out to see what was going on. All they could make out from the Phantom was a white mask and a black cloak with a hood.

Phantom (in distorted voice): Are the Coopers causing trouble again? Haven’t they learned that I no longer stoop to their low level.

Bentley: That’s my cue.

Bentley followed the movements of the Phantom, who jumped around with great agility, comparable to a Cooper or Carmelita’s. There were only few instances Phantom would stand still, so Bentley needed to be fast or Phantom would be gone before he could be tagged. But Bentley managed to do fine, and the Phantom was tagged.

MISSION COMPLETE

MISSION: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Bentley: The opera is closed, but there there are still guards patrolling Sly. Both outside and inside. Thaddeus will need to go in, but the only place he can get in after closing time is locked, you just will need to find the guards who have the keys.

Sly: Say no more…I love pickpocketing. I always love to see the look on their faces when they realize their pockets are empty.

Sly just searched the whole area, and with the help of the markers found the guards with the keys, and quickly took the keys from them, no biggie. Sly opened the door and let Thaddeus in.


Thaddeus: Why thank you, cuz!

Thaddeus snuck in, once again donning his disguise. He made his way across the puzzles and located the computer.

Thaddeus: What a drole device…if it wasn’t used by Phantom for evil.

Bentley: I know how to handle it, Thaddeus. Just step back.

Thaddeus had lowered some platforms, or raised a few so Bentley could make his way to the computer to hack it.

He began the hack, the Alter-Ego hack. He had to blast his way through nano-machines, avoided lasers and warpholes, and made his way to the end. The final program to fight was a huge version of the Phantom’s mask, which Bentley defeated.

HACK COMPLETE

MISSION COMPLETE

MISSION: HOUSE OF CARDS

Bentley: Okay, Murray, there is a huge weapon hidden in this facility, and it’s your job to take it out.

Murray: I see it…it’s a huge organ of sorts.

Bentley: My scans indicate it’s a sonic cannon, weaponized soundwaves. Cleverly disguised as a musical instrument. We have to destroy it. Though right now it’s protected. You can’t get past those lasers unless you roll down in your ball form, and then disable the lasers by rolling into those bulbs.

Murray: Leave it to me, I’m…on a roll! Oh come on, you totally set me up for that one.

Murray curled up into a ball, rolled under the lasers and took out the probes. That made sure the security around the organ was disabled. Now Murray had a clear shot and started pounding on the organ.

However, the organ sprang to life and created a shockwave that knocked Murray back.

Bentley: That thing has an AI? It’s self-aware…I’m sorry Murray, but without ranged weapons it’s not up to you to take it out.

Carmelita: Leave that job to me!

Carmelita traded attacks with the organ-like weapon. Dodging bullets of compressed soundwaves, jumping over shockwaves and shooting the pipes of the organ. Sometimes streams of flames or lasers came out of it, but nothing Carmelita couldn’t dodge. Soon Carmelita’s shock pistol had hit the organ enough times and its circuits were fried, Carmelita was victorious.

MISSION COMPLETE

MISSION: WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE

Bentley: Robin, I need to do some bombing, I need to cut off that bridge, which is how Phantom might call upon reinforcements. But there are no boats or platforms to get me where I need to plant the bombs, so you have to create some ice platforms for me!

Robin: Count on me, my arrows are as precise as the weight of the heart pieces in mother’s haggis.

Bentley: Suddenly I lost my appetite.

Robin’s aim was impeccable so she had no trouble creating ice platforms which Bentley used to get to the bridge, and placed the bombs at strategic points; He had to be careful of falling rubble as he destroyed some support beams but he pulled through and the bridge was gone.

MISSION COMPLETE

CHALKTALK (BENTLEY POV)

Bentley: Time for Operation Ghostbuster! Now, this is how it works: at first Thaddeus needs to infiltrate the guards’ cafeteria and spike the food, so they can’t call in reinforcements as we’ll face the Phantom. But the serum we need to spike the food is in a vault with a computerized lock, so I’ll do some hacking. Once again, he needs to be lured out, but Murray can do so by causing a Brawl. Sly, you’ll need to be fast and keep up with him so we can take him. If everything goes according to plan, you and Thaddeus should meet up together and take him out.

OPERATION GHOSTBUSTER

Bentley: Thaddeus, wait for me, I’ll retrieve the serum. Phantom uses it to put guards of establishments he wants to rob to sleep but it’s time we use it against him.

Thaddeus: fighting fire with fire? Excellent idea, governor!

Bentley infiltrated the place where the serum was held. To clear the security around the vault, he avoided some guards and hacked the mainframe. This time it was the overhead view hack. But this one heavily used the Spark Code, as it involved Bentley getting a lot of charges. Only the shell code appeared to pick up some keys and the Speeder code for a loop or two, but Spark was central. But the hack was no problem for Bentley.

Bentley got the serum, Thaddeus got it from Bentley and he infiltrated the cafeteria. For an establishment to merely eat there was some security, which Thaddeus overcame with his disguises. He snuck to a huge pot of soup and dumped the serum in it.

Thaddeus: Pleasant dreams, my duckies!

Bentley: Murray, we need to lure the Phantom out, cause a fight scene on the market, where he keeps his valuables, he wouldn’t want to risk losing it.

Murray: For once, I understood everything you said! Time to crack some skulls!

To say the least, Murray made short work of the guards, this lured out Phantom.

Phantom: No, my smuggling business! (Saw Sly approach) No, a Cooper! I won’t let you get me!

The Phantom runs off, Sly giving chase, doing his best to keep up, avoiding guards and obstacles, and sometimes using ropes and climbing to catch up with the Phantom, which he managed to corner.

Sly: Nowhere to run now, Phantom!

Phantom: Then I won’t run, I’ll fight!

Phantom opened up by creating duplicates of himself. Sly picked out the real one by seeing which one had a shadow. He moved closer, avoiding sonic attacks the Phantom was somehow using, and bashed him several times. Sometimes the Phantom would teleport away to another spot and the process would repeat. One third of his health was gone; Thaddeus tagged along.

Thaddaus: What happened to you Phantom? I used to think of you as a friend. You had honor!

Phantom: Honor? Don’t know the meaning. Less talk, old fart, more fighting!

Phantom clouded himself in an aura of darkness, which made him invincible. But Thaddeus could disable the aura with the flashlight of the horse guard uniform, which gave him an opening to strike at the Phantom. The Phantom would still use sonic attacks, and teleport to another spot, aura restored, and the progress repeated. Two thirds of his health gone, and Sly was back in.

Phantom: Another honorable raccoon idiot? Why won’t you leave me alone?

Sly: Because we don’t want you to hurt anyone!

Phantom: They get in my way, they’ll pay the price, just like you!

The Phantom cloned himself again, but this time each clone has a dark aura so you couldn’t see the shadow and the clones were invincible. However, they kept their distance the whole time and teleported when they were cornered, so this time Sly wouldn’t be able to hit them. But he noticed the street lights. He just climbed on top of them while dodging the sonic shots hit it with his cane, and a flash of light spread through the area, dissolving the clones and the dark aura, giving Sly an opening to smash him. After a few times he would restore the copies and aura and the process repeated until Sly had brought his health down.

Square, Sly bashed the Phantom. The Phantom charged, Sly uses X to jump and Circle to kick the back of his head. Thaddeus comes in and lashes with Triangle, but Phantom dodges and launches a kick. With Square Thaddeus grabs the foot and flips Phantom on his back. Triangle and Thaddeus snatched it’s mask, unmasking him.

Sly: The Phantom is a lady?

Thaddeus: That’s Maria, the opera star! You’re the Phantom?

Maria: Huh? What am I doing here?

Bentley comes onto the scene and takes a look at the mask.

Bentley: The mask is equipped with mind control technology, and even after Kaluk and Penny are gone the mask continued to influence her.

Maria: I was always a fan of your work Thaddeus, that’s why I became the Phantom. But the owl and the mouse jumped me and…

Thaddeus: It’s okay my dear, Sly told me all about those two and I know how dangerous they are. Truth is I am also a fan of your work, you have such a beautiful voice. I came to listen every night…

Maria: Thaddeus, you still need a partner in HONEST crime?

Thaddeus: I’d be honored.

MISSION COMPLETE

CINEMATIC CUTSCENE: SLY POV

The Phantom was unmasked, and freed from the darkness. Thaddeus got a partner out of it. This commander was different because she was unwilling but the damage she had done was very much real. But right now it has been fixed, and Thaddeus’ section of the Thievius Raccoonus was restored. There was only one more timeline left to fix, and that one would be the most painful to visit, once Dimitri informed us that the section that now had disappeared was my father’s…Since my cane was once his we already had the key to enter his timeline, but the question was…could I work up the courage to see him?