A Thief's Honor [Book 2]

Ch.11 OP: Moon Crash

"You can feel it in the air, the miners are about to pack it in. In fact, they'd probably have been long gone if it weren't for the corrupting influence from the Mask of Dark Earth. It's clear we need to destroy it. Time for Operation: Moon Crash!" Bentley said as he started explaining the situation. "To start things off, we'll need the Guru to take out the gyrocopter. With it gone, we'll have clear Sly's for phase two. Now, according to aboriginal folk lore, the Mask of Dark Earth is the sworn enemy of the Moon Spirit, so given Murray's "moon shape," we'll coat him in the glowing oil and have him pose as the spirit. We'll then dangle him from the crane; the Mask is sure to spot it's ancient for and come running, and that's when we'll strike! Murray, thunderflop off the crane and obliterate that mask! With the Mask destroyed and the miners running off, the Guru will be free to join the team for the Cooper/Vixen Vault job!"

"And what if things were to, oh, I don't know, not go according to plan?" Rae spoke up.

"This'll work, I just know it."

"And yet, every single time we form plans like these, they never go as planned. Ring a bell?" Sly chimed in.

"If we experience a little hiccup in the plan, then we'll improvise, just as we always have."

"Whatever you say..." Rae shrugged.

Sly then chuckled. "I can already see this going sideways in the most colossal way..."

"Shut up, Ringtail, you're not helping." The fox said.

"Hey, you're the one who pointed it out, I'm just making a statement."

"A very bad one..."

"Okay, okay, we get it! Let's just...get this show on the road." Bentley cut in.

"Yeah, yeah..." Sly and Rae waved him off.

____________________________________

Guru was the first to start off the mission as he exited his hut, Bentley trying to contact him. "Guru, I know you have yet to formally join the team, but we need your help to destroy the Mask of Dark Earth."

"Hayahowah."

"Your objective is to take out the gyrocopter while it's refueling."

"Hoh, hayalou."

"Glad to hear you're up to it. The bad news is that gyrocopter has a sensor that can detect your Moon Stone -- I suspect that's how they found and trapped you earlier. Get too close and they'll detect you, then take off out of reach. For this job, you'll need to run guards toward it and jump off early before it senses you. Ram a few guards into that thing and it's sure to fall apart."

Guru quickly got to work, searching for guards to run into the gyrocopter. It wasn't too difficult once he positioned them and then jumped off before he could be detected. Once he had rammed enough guards into the copter, it went up in smoke, blowing up on impact with the final guard. With the gyrocopter out of the picture, Murray was being placed into position dressed in his...costume.

"Behold, the Moon Spirit rises! Woo-wooooo!"

"Everyone keep an eye out for the mask, it's sure to take the bait." Bentley said.

"Hang on, we've got a situation here, guys." Rae said. "Looks like Nick and Carmy have managed to catch up to us."

"Drat! We can't stop the operation now, we'll just have to give them a wide berth."