Running Like Clockwerk

I don't own Sly Cooper, Carmelita, Neyla or any associated characters. I own Douglas, Jason and Veronica.

Chapter 25 - Jailbreak Part2

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"The tank's moving!" A vulture guard called down from the upper level of the prison. "Open the gates up!"

The front gates into the prison complex opened up, and shortly after Douglas Smicktor walked inside with his hands on his head, the tank following behind him, it's cannon pointing at his head.

"All right, all right! You got me already!" Douglas said, stopping in front of the main building, as did the tank.
"Shut up prisoner!" The same guard said, jumping down. "We weren't expecting a new prisoner tonight, but I'm sure there's a nice cell..."

Before the guard could continue, he was cut off when Sly snuck up behind him and silenced him with a stealthy knockout.

"That went well." Douglas said, walking over to Sly and pulling out his shotgun.
"Of course." Sly said. "Now cover your ears."
"What for?"

The tank started firing, blasting the door down until it was smashed to pieces.
The purple fox blinked, shoving a finger in each ear, almost deafened by the noise of the blasts.

"Well there goes the silent approach." Sly joked, finding the sight of the usually tough Douglas looking rather silly very funny.
"You guys head inside, I'll be right behind you." Bentley said through the radio.

---

"I'm having a little problem sabotaging the tank..." The turtle's voice said over the radio. "You guys head on, this shouldn't take too long..."
"Okay Bentley. We're on our way." Douglas replied, as the two entered a large main room, followed moments later by Bentley

"Ok, Bentley, what's next?" The raccoon asked.
"We need to find a way up into the security room on the upper floor..." The turtle pointed up to a higher room. "But there doesn't seem any way up there directly..."
"No problem." Sly grinned. "Thinking on my feet is what I do best."

"Most of the security was taken down when we cut off the power on the bridge, but it looks like some of the searchlights have..."
"Back-up generators." Douglas finished the sentence. "Powering basic defences, I wouldn't step on any of those spike-traps if I were you."
"I'll keep that in mind." Sly said with a nod.

Douglas watched as the Master Thief ran effortlessly past the moving beams of light and started making his way up the ramps and pipes to the upper level, taking out guards as he did so.

"You know, not every criminal knows about back-up generators in places like these." Bentley stated, curiously looking at the fox.
Douglas shrugged. "You pick up on these things. Figuring out how to deal with them is the hard part."
"Well, you do have somewhat of a reputation now of getting into and out of trouble easily."
"Either I'm good at what I do..." The fox said, watching Sly use a hook to swing across to the other side of the room. "Or I'm not good enough."

In no time at all, Sly had made his way into the security room and had entered the code.

"Success!" Bentley exclaimed, watching the large door open up. "We've got access to solitary confinement!"
"Looks roomy." Douglas said, walking inside. "Whoa, you're buddy don't look so good."

The three stepped inside solitary confinement, and saw Murray standing in a reinforced chamber, looking around with wild eyes, his hands shaking and occasionally swatting at thin air.

"He's all bug-eyed and twitchy!" Sly said.
"You said Murray was being forced to eat food covered in spices, right?" Bentley asked.
"Yeah, he said it was making him feel 'weird'."

"Spices... If The Contessa is in the KLAWW Gang then I guess it's Rajan's spices..." Douglas thought aloud. "The same stuff Dimitri was in charge of shipping..."
"Remarkable deduction Douglas!" The turtle said. "But unfortunately this is neither the time nor the place for that. Right now we've got to lure Murray out... The hard way..."

As it turned out, the hard way involved Sly making his way towards activation switches while Bentley hacked into the remaining security system from a terminal. This would activate the 'Hypno-Boxes' in the room that, so Bentley reckoned, would be enough to get Murray out. Douglas acted as protection for the turtle in case any curious guards decided to show up.

"What's that sound?" Murray demanded, looking around his cell, before clamping his hands over his ears "Angry... Get... Gone!"
"I think you made him mad..." Douglas pointed out the reaction to the first Hypno-Box being activated, slightly nervous of the hippo.
"Excellent!" Bentley said, waiting for Sly to reach the next switch. "By my calculations, when all the boxes are switched on, Murray will have no problem in breaking out!"

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout..." Murray started singing, now reacting to the second box's activation. "Tip me over and I'LL SMASH UP EVERYTHING!" He shouted, before roaring in anger.
"Uh, I'm not so sure that this is a good idea..." Douglas said, pointing his gun at the chamber which the hippo was in.
"Nonsense! The theory behind this is perfect." Bentley said.
"Yeah, but in theory everything works!"

"That's the third!" Bentley said, finishing the final hack.
Murray roared, before oddly barking, and then roaring again, beating his chest with his hands. He then charged out of his chamber, almost knocking the cell's door off their hinges.

"This can't be good." Douglas said.
"ARGH!" Murray roared, charging towards the fox.
"Oh snap!" Douglas exclaimed, leaping out of the way of the rampaging 'super hero'.

"A little help guys?" The fox said, jumping over a table to get some distance between himself and the almost possessed hippo.
"Douglas, lure Murray towards the Hypno-Boxes!" Bentley said over the radio, taking shelter under a bench in a cell. "The force of his charges should be enough to destroy them!"

Douglas wasn't in any position, or had any time, to argue, so made a sharp turn towards the nearest Box as Murray barged through the table, reducing it to splinters. Diving behind the Box, he carefully peered around the side, watching the hippo approach his position.

Sly leaned on his cane, watching from the upper level as the fox and the hippo played a dangerous game of cat and mouse, involving the destruction of strange hypnotic machinery. It allowed him to size up the abilities Douglas had. From what he'd seen, he was superior to any foe he'd faced before, but didn't have anything close to his thieving powers. Also, he was a more violent and aggressive guy, but could keep himself together when he needed. If they had to fight each other again, it would certainly be interesting.

"Uh... My head..." Murray groaned after destroying the last box. "Who? What? Is this heaven?"
"Sorry buddy, but you're still here on Earth." Sly said, jumping down and running over to his friend.
"Just take a few deep breaths, and collect your thoughts." Bentley said.
"Yeah, that'll work..." Douglas grumbled, trying to catch his breath back.

"Look guys! I've kept this half of the heart safe with me!" The hippo produced the part of Clockwerk he still had. "I've had a hard time keeping it hidden from... The Contessa!"

They turned around to see the Contessa walking away from behind a gate at the other end of the room.

"She's getting away!" Murray said.
"Murray, lift those bars up..." Sly pointed out the bars in question. "That should open up the gates so we can get after her!"

The muscle of the Cooper Gang had no problem in carrying out the request, easily lifting up both bars and opening up the gate. The Cooper Gang then ran after the spider, as Douglas just caught his breath back and began to follow them out.

"Freeze!" A voice demanded, making the fox stop.
He slowly turned around, and pointed his weapon towards the group of vulture guards he saw.
"Don't try anything!" One of them threatened, or at least tried to sound threatening. "You're outnumbered!"

There was silence for a moment. Then Douglas sighed, and began firing. In a matter of seconds, he'd knocked them all out.

"That wasn't even funny." He remarked, turning and leaving the room. "This whole situation isn't fun..."

---

"...With the three of us back together, there's no way she can stop us!" Sly stated, the Cooper Gang watching the blimp fly off into the distance.

"Where is she?" Douglas said, running up to the three.
"Escaped." Bentley stated. "But that aircraft is hardly capable of high-speed or stealth technology. It shouldn't be too hard to track her down."
The fox nodded. "Sounds like a plan...But you guys better scram, something tells me we're gonna have company all over this place."

---

It was great! The gang had been reunited and it was all because of me! Well, myself and Douglas... But Douglas made it clear that while he had a part to play, it was all down to me.

Even the van ride out of town was like a party! Murray had 2 pull over twice because he was laughing so hard! But despite all the jokes, I think something had changed.

Since childhood the 3 of us had never been apart; and our recent isolation gave us pause for thought. We'd also, for the first time, another companion with us.

Douglas was very clear in making his apologies for rebuilding Clockwerk, and insisted that even after helping Sly and Murray out of jail, he still wanted to make it up to us all. Surprisingly, Sly called in the 'favour' that was owed immediately - insisting that Douglas come with us. Reluctantly, more used to going it alone, he agreed.

In only a few months, Douglas had changed from our new enemy, to out new ally, and now was our new friend! He told us stories of his best, and worst, jobs he'd done, and his many run-ins with Constable Neyla. It was almost ironic what differences there were between Sly and Douglas, but downright weird the similarities they had! But at least he didn't have any 'special' interest in the policewoman after her.

Needless to say, we took a few weeks off before going back to work... And for the first time in my life - Murray let me drive!