Sly Cooper: Legacy of Thieves
Chapter 9
Hawaiian Hullabaloo

A large metal ship sailed slowly across the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii. The storm which pummeled Alcatraz Island was nothing more than a light sprinkle around here, so Penelope, Jean Bison, Dimitri, and Carmelita stood out in the open, their eyes piercing in the direction of their destination. Carmelita gripped her shock pistol tightly, her finger grazing the trigger, the other shock pistol fastened to her waist, Dimitri grabbed hold of his harpoon gun, his diving gear already covering his body, his mask lifted up slightly to be atop his head, Jean Bison unleashing a huge, loud, growling yawn, reaching the club he wields across the back of his neck, and Penelope held a miniature tablet in her hand and contentiously swiped and typed away on it. Her eyes would occasionally shift back and fourth from her tablet and the island before them. Dawn was beginning to break, the sun, very slowly, peaking over the horizon, causing everyone to have to squint their eyes; this excluded Dimitri, because he had a stylish pair of black sunglasses on his eyes. Everywhere they could see were other ships which they knew belonged to Alexander, each one heavily armored and fortified, with dozens of guards aboard each one, way too many to count, but for some reason they weren't attacking, even though it should be obvious who they are. After awhile the Cooper Gang's ship stopped, everyone picking up the anchors and throwing them into the ocean, causing it to halt almost immediately.

Penelope was the first to speak. As she did, she didn't move her eyes from her tablet, even for a moment. "I got a hold of the contacts that Angel has within Alexander's syndicate. That's why we aren't being targeted." It was like she could read everyone's minds. "However, I don't know how long it will last, so we need to reach the hideout immediately."

"Got a location pinned down?" Carmelita inquired matter-of-fact.

"Of course." Penelope responded with confidence, walking over to the Fo'c'sle of the ship. "But we'll have to be careful, because I can't guarantee that every guard on this island will ignore us. Not to mention, if Tony catches us then he definitely won't."

Penelope shifted her gaze towards Dimitri. Dimitri's eyes locked with hers intensely, which caused her to make a disgusted face and shift them away slightly. Dimitri licked his lips and walked towards her, his webbed diving shoes clapping loudly on the floor of the ship. Penelope backed up a little ways. The way Dimitri grinned at her made her shiver with uneasiness.

"Um, Dimitri, I need to to examine the depths of the ocean surrounding Hawaii." Penelope stated. "Your job isn't to attack anything or anyone. Just pretend to be a normal guard, and analyze anything you can. I've built a scan and camera feature into your binocucom, which should make it easy."

"Yes lady, my love will drench to the bottom and back for your loveliness." Dimitri exclaimed, earning him concerning looks from Penelope, Jean Bison, Carmelita, and the elephant guard who was steering their ship. "Perhaps once this job has been done, you shall reward me with the supple touch of your lips and bod, my sweet one."

Dimitrii grazed Penelope's cheek with one of his long, purple fingers, but Penelope reached into the pouch attached to her fanny pack and pulled out a dagger. She swiped it near Dimitri's finger, which he retracted very quickly.

"Keep your fingers off or I'll cut them off." Penelope demanded. "Just do your job and shut up."

"Ah, so harsh on me sweet, feeble heart!" Dimitri said. "But never you mind, it shall be done! I dive baby! I dive for the looooove!"

Dimitri set his harpoon gun down int he corner of the ship and then, from standing in the center of the ship, leaped all the way over the edge and splashed into the water; before he made contact with the water he quickly slid his diving mask over his face. Moments after he submerged he immediately began flapping his legs and feet rapidly, which caused him to propel fast through the water. Penelope then walked over to Carmelita, who was standing by the quarterdeck of the ship, sitting down on the floor cross legged, with her shock pistol laying on her lap.

"You're up next. I need you to do some recon around Honolulu. I don't have anything specific in mind, just snap pictures of anything that you think looks suspicious. I'll also give you the coordinates for the hideout that we've pinpointed, and I want you to investigate that location, make sure it's safe." Penelope explained.

"About time. My whole bodies been getting stiff from just sitting around on this ship." Carmelita stated, standing up to her feet.

Penelope handed her a square badge, which she used to replace her Interpol badge, placing the latter in the pouch attached to her fanny pack. She then ran over to the Fo'c'sle of the ship and did a massive jump over to the island of O'ahu, sticking the landing, and commencing with running as fast as she could. Afterwards, Jean Bison trotted slowly and loudly over to Penelope, slamming the large round tip his massive, brown, wooden club on the floor of the ship, gripping the handle in his hand.

"Any job for me little lady?" He asked in a bored tone of voice. "I been sittin' round too long, I need sum action now."

"Not yet." Penelope said. "To be honest, it will most likely be awhile before I"m ready for you to take the field, due to your rather large muscular frame and low tempter I'm afraid that you'll stand out too much. Not to mention, I don't have any tasks which would fit your particular skills yet."

"Ah, fine." Jean Bison lamented, slapping his club over his shoulder. "Imma go below deck to do some good, intense trainin' in the meantime."

Jean Bison walked over to the center of the ship, opened the wooden hatch in the floor, and hopped through, slamming it behind him, a faint thud being heard below. Once Penelope was alone she was shocked to see Bentley's face come up on her tablet, a live call. She answered immediately by swiping the screen.

"Penelope, we're on our way to Hawaii!" Bentley exclaimed in a loud, desperate tone of voice, his voice sounding more nastily and high pitched than ever.

"Bentley? What's the matter? How did your mission in Alcatraz go?"

"Surprisingly good, all things considered. I can't explain everything now, I'll tell you once I arrive. How far have you guys gotten?" Bentley asked.

"We just arrived not long ago. I've sent out Dimitri and Carmelita, and put Jean Bison on standby. Have you heard from Sly and the others?"

"Negative. I think it's unlikely that we will for awhile either, because getting reception in the Australian Outback is a pain in the ass, I know that from personal experience; it'll probably be even more difficult with Conquering taking over that area."

"When should you arrive?"

"With any luck, we should be at Hawaii within 12 hours." Bentley said confidently.

"Very well." Penelope said with a relieved sigh. "I just sent you our current exact coordinates, and I'll update them whenever we move a great distance away. Be careful."

Before Bentley could respond, Penelope heard an extremely loud whistle blow from shore, so Penelope hurriedly shut off his video conversation with Bentley. She walked over to the Fo's'cle, and saw a rhinoceros slightly shorter and less muscular than Tony. The ship was tugging back and fourth gently against the light waves in the water, and the sails were blowing a tiny bit because of the gentle breeze. Penelope picked up a wooden plank and laid it from the edge of the Fo's'cle to the ground, after which walking down it and greeting her unsuspecting guest.

"How many?" The guard asked matter-of-fact, and in a gruff tone of voice.

"Eight." Penelope responded plainly.

"I've never seen anyone travel on a sailing ship before." The guard stated with a smug grin. "What, are ou stuck in a time before any of us were even alive?"

"It was cheap." Penelope replied, placing a fake, seemingly playful smile on her face. "Plus it's much easier to use."

"Yeah, whatever. Anyways, fill out this and give them back to me. After that, you're free to remain in Hawaii as long as you desire." The guard ordered, handing her a small, thin pamphlet.

Penelope received it and walked up back to their ship. She grabbed a pen from a desk by the steering wheel, laid down on her stomach, and began filling out the forms. As she did, she reminisced how strict security is. The gang has only been chasing Alexander and his syndicate for a couple weeks, but within that time he's obtained such a strangle hold over many territories, even within the United States. It's a mystery how the US government, and other governments, seem to have no power to fight against him. And Hawaii possessed the largest fortress of his that they've witnessed yet. According to Penelope's satellites, every island were surrounded by Alexander's ships and guards, although some more than others. The island they were currently on, O'ahu, and especially the city of Honolulu, were the most populous with Alexander's armed soldiers and mercenaries. The way they patrolled the streets with their weapons aimed and their expressions bland and terrifying made it seem like an Oligarchy, but it's probably more like either a dictatorship or a monarchy considering Alexander's personality. If the gang was discovered here, they'd have no way to escape. All of Alexander's ships were heavily armed with canons, missiles, machine guns, and torpedoes, so even if they managed to plow through all of his guards, their ship would undoubtedly be sunk. The real reason they had to bring a wooden ship was because of the dozens of electromagnetic buoys which littered the Hawaiian waters. How Alexander's ships were able to be immune to their magnetic powers was unknown, but if they came with a metal ship they would have been attracted to their doom immediately. Occasionally a plane commissioned by Alexander could be seen soaring through the sky, each one possessing a spotlight on the bottom so they could observe the ground, but not frequently.

When she was done, Penelope exited the ship again and handed the pamphlet back to the guard; the guard, in return, handed her eight badges, which would signify that, herself, Jean Bison, Dimitri, Carmelita, and even Murray, Jing King, Neyla and Bentley, when they arrived, were entering Alexander's territory legally. After that she went back up to the ship and made her way below deck, where she saw Jean Bison lifting gigantic dumbbells in a corner, each one having the distinction of 1,000 pounds placed on the sides. Sweat drenched his entire body, but the up and down movements of his arms were incredibly fast, and despite the gruffness of both him and his weights were almost entirely silent, the only sounds coming from his direction being his heavy breathing, which caused his diaphragm to pulsate in and out rapidly, and the occasional light creeks of his weights. His club was laying on the ground underneath of the small, metal, padded bed that he was laying on. A computer with two monitors, two keyboards, and two mice on a long, brown desk, with one small, brown chair placed in front of it. Penelope sat down at her computer and began speedily typing, one hand on each keyboard. The right monitor and keyboard was observing and controlling Penelope's satellites that were patrolling earth, and the left monitor and keyboard was Penelope attempting to hack into Alexander's computer systems so that she could find key locations for the Gang to investigate. Jean Bison, while still lifting weights, glanced over to the computer screens, but averted his gaze because all he could see was a bunch of confusing, jumbled code which he couldn't even begin to understand, rolling his eyes. During this whole ordeal Penelope's face remained straight and unflinching, a pair of glasses on her face, which she rarely wore, and her eyes squinting, concentrating as hard as she possibly could.

Meanwhile, Dimitri swam like a bullet through the water. The waves were rather strong, but that didn't slow him down a bit. His legs were moving so fast that they could barely be seen, his eyes straight as a board by his side, his eyes fastened directly forward, water seeping little by little into his clear, plastic goggles. After awhile he saw four guards swimming in his direction, so he swam to a deeper level and ducked inside a massive reef of coral, doing his best to remain as motionless as he possibly could. One of the guards was a monk seal, the tallest, or perhaps longest, with powder blue skin, deep black eyes that could barely be seen through his goggles, thin white whiskers which were almost entirely concealed by his diving gear, a little bit of yellow on his lips, two thick, gray fins on either side of his body, a decently long, gray tail on his back, no hair on his head, and diving gear thicker and more complicated than Dimitri's or any of the other three guard's. The second was an Indian Mongoose. Unmistakably the tiniest of the four, sporting dark brown fur, deep black eyes, short but sharp claws on all four paws, small ears dark brown on the outside and light brown on the inside, and a little bit of pink surrounding his eyes, his mouth so closed and covered by fur that it most likely wouldn't have been visible if it wasn't for the air tube sticking into his mouth. Due to being the smallest he was also the fastest swimmer aside form the Monk Seal. The third guard was an Axis Dear. He had light brown fur with dozens of white dots littering his entire back, an almost entirely white underside, deep black eyes, nose, and lips, an almost 50 percent mix of white and black on all four of his legs and hooves, two long, floppy ears with dark brown on the outside and white on the inside. In addition to the rest of his diving gear, he possessed a jet propulsion system on his underside adjacent to the air tank on his back, the former helping him swim through the water much better.

And the fourth is a Hawksbill Sea Turtle. This one wasn't the tallest or longest, but he was the widest, with most of his skin being a yellowish-orangish color, two long, black fins with tons of white lines running through them which make all sorts of strange shapes and designs, deep black eyes, and a thick shell with random colors of black, gray, yellow, orange, and red all over it. Once the four guards stopped swimming they spoke to each other somehow. Their lips didn't move, and Dimitri could hear a single tiny sound coming from them, but he could tell that they were interacting verbally. While talked they were slowly and gently floating up, and down, and side to side as small waves crashed against them. After a couple minutes they stopped speaking and began swimming again, traveling deep into the dark distance. Dimitri emerged from the coral reef that he was hiding in and began to tail them, swimming slow enough so they don't see him, but fast enough so that he doesn't loose them. They eventually came to a huge, dark, underwater cave. Dimitri used his long, purple, pointy fingers to pull four tiny tracking devices out of a compartment attached to his diving gear that Penelope stuck in their earlier. He had no idea how they worked, but he knew the basics of how to utilize them. He stuck one in between each of his fingers and waved his fingers towards the four guards in front of them. When he released them they bolted towards the guards and attached to their diving gear without them noticing. When it came to the Hawksbill Sea Turtle, due to him being the only one that wasn't wearing diving gear, the tracking device attached to the center of his ovular-shaped shell. He then pulled out a small waterproof tablet. Again, Dimitri didn't know the complexities of this strange device, but there was only one thing that he needed to know about it, swiping the screen to turn it on, follow the blinking dots on the map that appeared, which signified the exact location of the guards, and read the text on the screen, which told the name of tons of crucial locations underwater, which Penelope discovered thanks to her satellites.

When Dimitri finally entered the cave as well, he flicked on a bright light which was attached to the helmet of his diving gear. The light was bright enough to guide Dimitri decently through the cave, but it didn't completely illuminate the entire thing, darkness still surrounding the many walls and crevasses that Dimitri swam past. Dimitri and the guards he was tailing didn't stop even for a moment until they reached the end of the extremely long cave. They eventually came to the end, where they saw an exit. The four guards jumped out of the water, while Dimitri treaded the water's surface, peaking his eyes above the surface, remaining as motionless as possible so that he can't be heard within the water. The guards proceeded to take off all of their diving gear, from their oxygen tanks and maxes, to their goggles, to their to their latex suites, and tossed them all over the ground in disarray. Dimitri could now see that the Axis Dear's eyes were slanted, he had a massive tattoo of a red Chinese dragon on his back, which was visible due to him being shirtless. The four then headed through a wooden door, disappearing.

"Aright, bro, time ta jump n zig-zag thru ler compounds, it be nuthin for me." Dimitri whispered to himself.

Unknowingly, Penelope was listening in, and she responded, also in a whisper. "No Dimitri, don't! Just take a picture of that room. I took the liberty of installing a camera in your binocucom."

Dimitri groaned in disappointment, but did as he was told; he hopped out of the water, took out his binocucom, snapped a picture, and then backflip dived back in immediately, after which bolting back through the cave, going at a much higher speed this time around. Meanwhile, Penelope's left computer monitor, which previously was the one which was monitoring the security that Alexander had in Hawaii, switched over to monitoring the four guards that Dimitri was tailing. They appeared as four red dots. After typing on the adjacent keyboard he was able to hack into the security cameras in the rooms that they were in, and get a clear view of those rooms. By this point all four of them were in different rooms. On her other monitor Penelope did some research on them and discovered their names. The Hawksbill Turtle was Kilikikopa Kalanianioli, the Monk Seal was Kuali'I Iolani, the Indian Mongoose, the only female of the group, was A'ia'I Pouha, and the Axis Deer, the only non Hawaiian one of the group, he was Chinese, was Liang Qigang. The room that Kauli'l was in had a massive swimming pool inside of it; without hesitating, he leaped in the air and splashed in the water, swimming around it wildly in an attempt to unwind. Kilikikopa Kalanianioli simply ducked his head, arms, and legs into his shell, remaining motionless, Aiia'l Pouha was searching around his room for something, of what Penelope could not be certain, and Liang Qigang grabbed a couple pairs of gauntlets that were hanging on the wall and fit them snugly on all four of his hooves. All four of them were had tips that were in the shape of large human fists, and when Liang bent over it was clear that he could still walk with them on. Liang's room was very peculiar; posters of ancient Chinese deities, such as Gaunyin, Jade Emperor, Wangmu Niangniang, Yan Wang, Long Wang, Nuwa, Nezha, Caishen, Cheng'e, and The Eight Immortals, among others.

One poster which definitely caught Penelope's attention was a detailed sketch which looked ominously like Panda King. She couldn't ignore it, so using Liang's own security camera she snapped a picture of it, and of all of the other posters, and Liang himself, while she was at it. Only moments after that Liang summoned fire around his right fist gauntlet and launched a fireball at the poster, incinerating it on sight. This action caused Penelope to gulp, a tinge of fear stretching the length of her spine, but she still kept hacking as fast as she possibly could. The room that A'ia'l was in was the smallest of them all; in fact, it was more like a rat's hole than an individual room, slightly bigger because Mongoose's are bigger than rat's, but not by much. This also meant that the cameras had to have been smaller as well, smaller than any other security cameras that Penelope had ever seen before. Her quarters were unbelievably filthy, with dirt, dust, and spider webs everywhere that Penelope could see on her computer, no matter which camera in the room that she switched to. The thing that caught Penelope's attention here was a large piece of paper which had some peculiar plans on them. A'ia'l unfolded them and spread them out; even though the ceiling was incredibly low, the room was surprisingly incredibly wide. The plans indicated that some prisoners were being held here in Hawaii. They were signified by the initials SR, MS, MR, PK, CW, and DO. Penelope didn't know what the initials stood for, but the plans did signify the exact locations of where they were being kept. It also mentioned someone called The Doc who was in charge of experimenting on them and interrogating them. Again, she didn't know who "The Doc" was referring to. She used one of A'ia'l's security cameras to snap a picture of those detailed plans, and of A'ia'l herself.

After that Penelope switched to another room. This was the largest of the four rooms, which had a gigantic pool in the center and Kuali'l swimming throughout it, frequently leaping out, splashing back in, and diving to the deeper sections, before repeating himself. Penelope snapped a picture of the pool alone when Kuali'l was deeply submerged, and then snapped a picture of Kuali'l himself when he briefly jumped out of the pool again while he was suspended in the air. Unlike the previous two rooms, which were surrounded mostly by bland brown stone walls, the walls in this room consisted of red tile blocks. A brown leather rug was on the entirety of the ground; around the pool was a glass shield extending several feet high which prevented water from splashing the rug or the walls. The walls were mostly baron, except for a peculiar small black safe on one of them; interested, Penelope quickly snapped a picture of it before switching the screen to the last room. This room was where Kilikikopa Kalanianioli was located. This looked a lot different than the others. It was quite small, although not as tiny as Ai'ia'l's rabbit hole. This room was more like an attic in design. The walls were lined with mysterious boxes. Penelope snapped a picture of each wall and group of boxes, as well as a miniature plexiglass skylight on the ceiling. After that, all of a sudden, twelve tiny holes opened up in his shell, and he opened up one of the boxes; Penelope took a picture of both Kilikikopa and the inside of the box. The box contained a bunch of cylinder devices of unknown origin or usage. He took twelve of them out and stuck them in the holes in his shell. After that streams of smoke continuously ejected from the holes, which caused Kilikikopa to levitated high up in the air. This sight plastered an interested, confused on Penelope's face, and she took yet another picture of him again.

After that Penelope used the information she gathered in all of the security cameras that she hacked into so far to locate some additional cameras in another room. She was unable to locate how to get to the room itself, but the sight in the room shocked and disturbed Penelope. It was larger than the previous five rooms, including the room where they entered, combined, with no doors or windows, air vents, or any other possible way to enter in sight. All four of the walls were lined with beds, twenty in total, with seven of them having certain individuals strapped to them, Sir. Raleigh the Frog, Muggshot, Mz. Ruby, The Panda King, Don Octavio, Pirate Captain LeFwee, and General Tsao. While Penelope had never gone up against the first five of them, she's definitely done research on the Cooper Gang's exploits against them, and she definitely remembers General Tsao and Captain LeFwee all too well, especially LeFwee. They were all unconscious. General Tsao was a white feathred rooster. He wore a purple gi and the golden torso plate his golden spiked shield, his purple and gold helmet with a large red feather, and golden cuffs, which would normally go around his wrists, were laying on the ground next to his bed. He had purple circles under his orange eyes, a yellow beak with a small black Fu Manchu. Raleigh was a very small green frog with brown eyes. Laying next to his bed was white gloves, white shoe spats, and a distinctive blue top hat made of metal. Muggshot was a massive bulldog with unbelievably huge muscles in his hands, arms and stomach, and abs, contrasting humorously to his tiny legs and feet, with lilac fur, a thick, black, handlebar mustache on his face and a mono-brow just above his eyes. He was adorned in a black tank top, black pants held up with a blue belt, and black dress shoes on his feet. Mz. Ruby, due to her massive tail, had to be tied down on her side.

She is a dark green alligator with a light green belly and mouth, along with sharp teeth, spikes on her tail and dark blue hair. Her attire included what appeared to be a pinkish-purple sleeveless shirt, a red bandanna on her head tying up her hair, one gold ring on each of her ankles and two of them on her wrists. She also has her fingernails and toenails painted red in addition to the ruby on her belly button, and a gold necklace around her neck. Her appearance is typical of a voodoo priestess. Her tail was so thick and long that it had to be slightly tucked underneath of the bed that she was laying on. The Panda King was a huge Panda who wore flame-striped red pants, a blue sash around his waist, was covered in thin pure snow white fur, and had purple eyes and blue face paint lining the outer rim of his eyes. Laying next to his bed was his firework bazooka filled to the brim with fireworks. Don Octavio was a lion adorned in a black shirt, black pants with white stripes, and has a white mask fitted onto his face. He has a massive yellow mane and beard, and brown fur covering his body. The black at that he's usually seen wearing was laying on the floor next to his bed. Captain LeFwee was an extremely tiny orange parrot with a beard made of feathers. He had a black eyepatch over his left ey e, and wore a purple coat that reached down to his feet, along with a black belt around his waist. He wore one purple shoe, and had a wooden leg. Next to his bed was laying a small multi-purpose hook, similar to an army knife, which was the very weapon that he used to fight against Penelope many years ago. In the center of the room was a control panel which extended from the ground several feet. As Penelope kept hacking, she noticed codes that were directing her underground, but she couldn't figure out how to reach the location that she wanted to. After that she pressed the space bar on her keyboard, which caused the screen which corresponded with the keyboard, and began to focus her full attention to the other one.

Behind her, she heard a huge thud; tilting her head to the side, she saw Jean Bison, who had sat the weights he was lifting up against the wall, all of his fur which could be seen drenched with sweat, his eyes sealed shut so the salt doesn't burn them. He remained on his back for a little while longer, breathing heavily, his chest rising and lowering with every deep breath that he inhaled and exhaled, his arms and his legs flailed out to either side, weakened from exhaustion. In the meantime Penelope returned her attention to her computer monitor. After some quick typing, she monitor split into two; one half had a moving yellow dot and the other half showed a moving green dot. These were the current and ever changing locations of Carmelita and Bentley respectively. Elsewhere, Carmelita continuously leaped buildings in a single bound, sticking the landing each time and immediately afterwards continuing to run and jump, not wasting any time at all. Far away from the docks where they arrived, the buildings of the city stretched high into the sky, and the streets below were unbelievably populated with citizens both driving and walking, but that doesn't mean that Alexander's influence wasn't still felt on a disturbing level. For every citizen of Honolulu walking in parking lots and on sidewalks there were probably two or more of Alexander's guards patrolling, armed with weapons and possessing the most stern and emotionless expressions on their faces, to the point that tension was so high it felt like someone could explode at any moment, and if that happened then tons of people would definitely die. She felt bad, but she had to ignore their suffering for the time being and continue; the only way to end Alexander's tyranny was to attack it at its core, saving a few individuals and exposing her true identity would solve absolutely nothing. Before long Carmelita was confronted by a tall Hawaiian Nene.

It was twice the height of her, with a neck longer than any of her arms or legs individually, a long, jagged, black beak, large, black eyes, long, black legs with wide, black, webbed feet and seemingly extremely sharp talons, and partially black, partially brown, partially gray, and partially white feathers littering his entire body. In one of his hand talons, which was attached to one of his wings, he held a black Uzi Sub-Machine Gun. Strapped to his back was a black Heckler and Knoch MG4, and holstered on either side of his waist was two M1911 Browning Pistols, which were mostly gray with small stripes of black on either sides of the handle. He also adorned in special glasses over his eyes. While they looked just like typical sunglasses, Carmelita recognized them as night vision goggles, which, during the day, appeared to just be sunglasses. They were invented by Interpol. The guard immediately unholstered one of his M1911 Browning Pistols, and pointed both it and his Uzi Sub-Machine Gun at Carmelita, who, without hesitation, paused in her tracks, also pointing her shock pistol at the guard. After a few moments it suddenly began to dawn on her that this was one of Alexander's guards, and so she slowly lowered down to the ground, set her shock pistol down, rose back up, and raised her hands high up in the air. The guard pointed his Uzu Sub-Machine Gun at Carmelita's waist; getting the hint, she unholstered her other shock pistol and set it on the ground as well, after which raising her hands back up again. Following this the guard pointed his Uzu Sub-Machine Gun at both of the shock pistols, sliding it on the air towards him. Carmelita then proceeded to bend down and slid the shock pistols towards him, after which returning to her position of fearful surrender.

"State your identity and business here." The guard demanded. Despite his uncomfortably commanding appearance, his voice was much lighter than one would expect, although it was still as serious as you'd think.

"I'm Carmelita…Alessandra Barrios." She responded with a partial lie. "I'm a new recruit into Lord Alexander's syndicate."

"Wait there." The guard exclaimed.

He pulled a small device out of a pouch on his waist, typing on it while still pointing his Uzi at Carmelita, directing one eye at the device and the other eye at her. After a few moments he gave her his full attention once again, putting the device away.

"Put your badge on." The guard demanded.

Carmelita did what she was told, pulling it out of her pouch and slung the band attached to it around her neck, allowing the badge to dangle just above her breasts. Unlike the Interpol badges, which were yellow stars, Alexander's badges were red pentagrams streaked with several extremely tiny white stripes.

"Carmelita Alessandra Barrios, recruited today, rooftop guard. My apologies for the confusion. My name is Milimili Moliakalaniikeola. I'm the commander of the sixth battalion in Lord Alexander's syndicate." His stern frown rose to a slight grin. "I want to give you a job then. Consider it to be a test of your skills. Interpol agents have invaded us, and we need you to hunt them down. Can you take care of it?"

"Uh, yeah." Carmelita replied. "I actually happen to be someone who defected from Interpol, and I was a pretty high ranking agent."

"Yeah, I heard Alexander was beginning to allow Interpol agents to defect. We really must be struggling with manpower these days." Milimili stated in a sarcastic tone of voice, saying that second sentence lightly under his breath. "Regardless, this is your first task, track each of them down without any aid and eliminate them."

"Okay, but how do I find you when I'm finished?" Carmelita inquired.

"You won't. I'll find you." Milimili said, after which hopping up in the air, flapping his wings, and flying away at a speed where he could quickly disappear in the distance.

Carmelita took a deep breath, in and out, using her fingers to wipe bits of sweat off of her forehead. She was so baffled that she was lost for words for awhile. She was still attempting to discern what had just happened, and how she managed to get out of that situation, but she still put a pleased, cocky grin on her face, pushing it out of her mind. She picked up both of her shock pistols, sheathed one of them by the left side of her waist, gripping the other in both of her hands, and continuing to run as fast as she can and jumping from building to building. As she did she kept scanning her eyes, in quick succession, across buildings that she didn't go near, high up to the skies, and all the way down to ground level. After awhile she saw a disturbing sight; Captain Barkley, walking on a sidewalk. Once she got a look at the front of him, she could see that he also managed to acquire a badge for Alexander's syndicate, which was strung around his neck, explaining why the guards weren't attacking him. Carmelita executed a massive backflip down quite a ways, landing lightly on the top of a light pull. After that she unleashed three consecutive shock pistol shots, making sure to purposely land them at Barkley's feet instead of hitting him; this caused him to jump from fear. Before he could look in her direction, she leaped down and did a spin kick into the side of his temple, launching him across the street and into a back ally. Before anyone could view her in detail she followed Barkley. As soon as Barkley landed he rolled a little ways more, and after that Carmelita tackled him, dragging him around the corner of the ally, and forcing his arms behind his back, pressing both of her knees up against the back of his knees, using her fingers to twist his wrists in uncomfortable ways. Barkley, unable to see who attacked him, wiggled around and did his best to struggle free, but never succeeded.

Carmelita put both of Barkley's wrists within the palm of one hand, pressing them against his back, and then unsheathed one of her shock pistols, holding it in front of Barkley's eyes; after he sees it, he quickly begins to stop resisting, his eyes widening and a small grin creeping onto his face. After that Carmelita released his wrists and stepped away from him, sheathing her shock pistol. Barkley rose to his feet, stretched his legs and arms, dusted himself off, and turned to face Carmelita, with a happy, satisfied expression on his face.

"What in sam hell are you doing here?" Barkley inquired. His voice sounded angry, but his happy grin never left his face.

"Sorry about the beat down." Carmelita said, responding to Barkley rubbing his damaged temple. "The rest of the Cooper Gang is in Hawaii too. I'm more shocked that you're here."

"Interpol sent Rick and I to infiltrate Alexander's syndicate." Barkley explained. "Winthrop as well, but he's at Alexander's main headquarters, Fort Knox. Rick, on the other hand, is here with me."

"Do you have some sort of GPS?" Carmelita asked.

Barkley shook his head yes, pulling it out. To Carmelita's shock, it looked exactly like the binocucoms that she and the rest of the Cooper Gang possessed; however, that shock only lasted for a few seconds, as she remembered that Interpol copied the source code for Sly's binocucom when he joined up with them, which is how she has one of her own to begin with. Carmelita took it, pressed a few buttons on it, and then took out hers, pressing some buttons on it as well, after which handing it back to Barkley.

"I just gave you the coordinates for our ship and hideout, and acquired the coordinates of Rick, Winthrop, and Interpol's nearby base." Carmelita explained. "Anyways, got any useful information?"

"Nah." Barkley lamented. "Alexander is incredibly paranoid, understandably considering the trouble that you and Cooper have been giving him. We're allowed to walk the streets of Hawaii, but there's very few buildings that we are permitted to enter."

Barkley began to stroke his long, thick mustache, but they were shocked when one of Alexander's guards turned the corner. The guard did spot them, but before he could attack or call for backup Carmelita leaped into action. She struck an electrical bullseye between the guard's eyes with her shock pistol, after which pulling a long, thin grappling line out of her belt and throwing it towards him, wrapping it around his leg, and yanking on it, causing him to fall on his back and be pulled in Carmelita's direction. Before he could get up Barkley punched him in the face, forcing him to go unconscious. Carmelita cuffed his hands behind is back and placed a strip of tape across his mouth, just in case he happened to wake up.

"Come with me." Carmelita ordered, as Barkley lugged the guard over his shoulder. "I'll take you back to our ship so we can interrogate this asshole."

After a little bit of time passed they returned to arrived at the Cooper ship. Carmelita hollered up at Penelope, who heard her cry, walked over to the deck, and let down the ramp, allowing both Carmelita and Barkley, along with their prisoner, to come on up, and after that the four of them went below deck before any nearby guards could notice them. Barkley through the guard on the floor, laying up up against a wall, and Carmelita hurriedly explained their situation to Penelope, the story of Barkley being here and of their unfortunate prisoner. Jean Bison, who was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, stood up and joined them, gripping his brown club in his hand and clutching his opposite fist. After a little while longer the guard wakes up. He begins by slowly opening his eyes, which fidget slightly as he does. It takes him awhile to register those before him, but once he does he freaks out. He jumps hops up in the air a tiny bit and attempts to struggle free, but soon comes to the realization that his hands are restrained, and that his mouth is sealed shut, so he can't even speak. Carmelita made one step towards him and ripped the tape off of his mouth, causing him to yelp in pain from having the hair on his lips ripped off with it. Following that Carmelita was about to approach him again, but Jean Bison placed his club in front of her, signifying for her to stop, and approached him instead, jamming the handle of his club into the guard's kneecap. It didn't puncture all the way through, but enough to cause blood to trickle down his leg and foot. The pain was great, but the guard managed to keep mostly silent by biting his tongue, instead just letting out a tiny whimper. This action did, however, cause blood to seep from tongue and down his chin and neck. Penelope looked away in grotesque fear, and gazed over to Carmelita, who was still looking at this sight unyielding.

"I can stomach a lot of stuff, but this is a bit much." Penelope lamented sorrowfully, turning around completely in disgust. "How can you look at this guy being tortured?"

"I've grown used to it." Carmelita replied, Barkley simply giving a silent nod. "Interpol has some very…interesting ways of interrogation."

"Same here, little lady." Jean Bison agreed. "It's 'bout time I cured this boredom I been feelin' lately."

Jean slapped his club across the guard's face, after which flipping it around and jabbing the end of the handle into his stomach. Carmelita and Barkley aimed one of their shock pistols at him, Carmelita at his head and Barkley at his chest.

"Talk." Barkley demanded in a loud, booming, authoritative voice. "If you value your life, tell us everything about Alexander, his operations, and the best places to strike."

"Go. To. Hell." The guard stated, after which being smashed in the teeth by Jean Bison, a few of them being knocked out.

"That's where you'll be going soon if you don't speak up." Carmelita said matter-of-fact, gripping the top of his head with her other hand and lifting him up slowly so that he was sitting up straight.

"It doesn't matter how much you torture me, I won't talk." The guard said in an extremely confident tone of voice. "All of Alexander's men have been trained to withstand any amount of torture that you people could possible give to me."

"You poor child." Carmelita said, walking behind the guard and bending down to her knees, and rubbing her hands on his shoulders, still gripping her shock pistol with two of her fingers. "Never underestimate Interpol. And more importantly, never underestimate myself and Captain Barkley. If we want someone to speak, they will speak, as you will soon discover."

Carmelita took the back of her hand, the one opposite that was holding her shock pistol, and slapped the guard across the face, so hard that she drew blood, after which using the same hand to grip the top of his head again to lift him up with, rising to her feet and walking around to the front of him again.

"I'm only going to say this once." Carmelita exclaimed with venom in her voice. "Both me and my husband have been framed for crimes we didn't commit, forcing us to become actual criminals in order to clear our names. And clear our names we will. No matter what we have to do."

Carmleita jammed her knee into the guard's face, sending him smashing hard into the wall behind him, knocking even more teeth out, and causing a large crack to be placed in the wall. This action visibly rattled the guard, but he still managed to keep sitting upright and not fall over.

"Amazing." The guard said, blood trickling from his lips. "Your hypocrisy astounds me."

"What was that, runt?" Jean Bison boomed down to him, making his club fully visible in front of him, which was previously partially hidden behind him.

"How are we hypocrites?" Penelope questioned in a concerned tone of voice. "All we're trying to do is correct the unjust accusations prosecuted towards Sly and Carmelita!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The guard bellowed, catching everyone else in the room off guard. "We haven't told any lies. All we did was bring the truth behind your lies to light."

Carmelita gritted her teeth and gripped her finger on the trigger of her shock pistol, but Penelope placed her hand on Carmelita's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. It didn't work tremendously well, but it did prevent her from shooting him.

"Sly Cooper is a thief." The guard continued. "His entire clan were comprised of notorious criminals, and the two of you," pointing at Carmelita and then Barkley, "allowed him to join Interpol on the false pretense that he had amnesia. And as far as you go, Carmelita, you have aided him on multiple occasions. Fiendish Five, Clockwerk, KLAWW Gang, Neyla, Dr. M. your past deeds basically did the most complicated work for us."

Carmelita opened her mouth, but Penelope cut her off, her tone of voice calm and strict. "We get that you twisted the past in order to frame them, but what do you gain from it?"

"If you're trying to trick me into squealing, as I've already said, it won't work." The guard responded.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Jean Bison lunged forward and whacked the guard in the gut with his club, sending him flying across the room, smashing in the wall with great force. This changed the guard's tune awfully quickly. The impact was so hard that the ropes which were tying him up were wedged pretty loose, but he was in so much pain that he still couldn't move around and run away. This caused a frown to stretch across his lips, but only a brief moment later a smile crept back on his face again in an attempt to hide his agony. He gazed up at Jean Bison and leaned back against the wall as Jean Bison flexed his his muscles in rage, stepping towards him slowly.

"I'm surprised, Bison." The guard stated in a smug tone of voice. "From everything I've heard about you, you seem like the last person help out Cooper, or give a damn what we do to them."

"Can't say I do." Jean Bison responded matter-of-fact, his deep, threatening voice much lower than normal. "But I do care about being captured, imprisoned, and experimented on. I do care about loosing my freedom. This is your last chance jollocks, answer our questions or I will break every bone in your body." Jean Bison concluded by jamming the large end of his club into the wall.

This caused the guard to jump slightly. "You win." He replied, releasing a huge sigh of defeat. "I know when I'm beat. My master is creating an army."

"What about the time machine?" Penelope exclaimed in a serious tone of voice, walking forward to stand right next to Jean Bison.

"Yeah, that too." He responded. "However, he also needs an army. His syndicate has existed for many decades, but in recent years his numbers have been dwindling."

"Sure doesn't look like it." Carmelita said, after which receiving an agreeable nod of the head from Penelope and Barkley.

"Let me be clear, when I say numbers I'm talking about competent, powerful underlings." The guard explained. "Those guards you encountered outside are only threatening in great numbers, and even that is limiting if you're equipped with the appropriate weaponry and skill sets. Individually, they're worthless, with few exceptions."

"And let me guess, that's why he captured the KLAWW Gang, Fiendish Five, and other former enemies of ours." Penelope proclaimed. "That means that he's not just delving into time travel, but mind control as well."

"You don't give his intelligence and ingenuity enough credit." The guard stated.

"Enough beating around the bush." Carmelita demanded, pointing her shock pistol at his head again and grazing it across his fur.

"Fine, but I don't know as much as you probably want me to tell you." The guard admitted. "I know just enough to do my job. His main base is on Fort Knox."

"The United States Gold Foundry? Why?" Penelope inquired.

"Why not? With all of the gold that it possesses, he literally has way more money than he needs to fund his crusade." The guard explained. "I'm also aware that the current Commander his his younger brother, which is how he was able to take control of that fortress."

"Why did it take him this long to strike if he has this much damn influence?" Barkley blasted.

"Like I said before, diminishing numbers." The guard responded. "And that is partially thanks to Shotgun's syndicate and Conner Cooper, his two greatest rivals." All of a sudden a creepy, smug grin crept across his face. "I also know one other thing that I probably shouldn't. if you agree to set me free, I might consider telling you."

Without a word Carmelita kneed him across the face, knocking some more teeth out of his mouth in a bloody mess, sending him tumbling over on his side.

"You aren't in any position to negotiate." Carmelita commanded in a venomous tone of voice.

"Fine, fine." The guard conceded, sitting back up again to lean back up against the wall. "He has a secret base in New York City. However, I don't know where exactly, it's hidden somewhere in that monolith of a city. My informer was taken out before he could give me any more data."

"Thanks for the info." Carmelita said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

After that she stepped behind him, grabbed his wrists, untied and threw away the ropes, twisted his wrists slightly which caused him to wince in pain, and slammed handcuffs on him, locking them as tight as she possibly could. She then gripped both of his shoulders with both of her hands, forced him to his feet, and shoved him in Barkley's direction, who quickly grabbed the scruff of the guard's neck.

"Can you take care of him?" Carmelita asked.

"I'll try, if I can get out of here." Barkley replied.

"The guards are pretty thick, even on the water, but there's a few patches which are absent due to lack of men." Penelope explained, sitting down by her computer and proceeding to type rapidly. "I'll print you off a map, but tread with caution.

After a few seconds the map completely printed and Penelope grabbed it, walked over to Barkley, and handed it to him. He then walked over to the center of the room, flipped open the hatch, and jumped out, making sure to keep the guard close to his own body so that he couldn't run away, after which allowing the hatch to fall shut behind him.