Fragments of a Broken Timeline [Book 3]

Ch.34 Up in Smoke

"Alright, Sly, Murray, the thief known as "The Tiger" is being held inside that taxi shop." Rae informed the two of them when they were at their destination. "Based on Bentley's data, it shows that the interior is small, but well-reinforced. Also, there doesn't seem to be any guards at the moment, so I think this one is pretty straightforward -- just go in through the front door, basically. Afterwards, I'm sure your muscle should be enough to handle the situation, Murray."

"No problem, Rae! My mighty biceps are itchin' to go to work!" Murray smirked while flexing his arms.

This caused Rae to chuckle a bit. "Alright, well, good luck in there, you two." She said before disconnecting.

When Sly and Murray had entered through the front of the taxi shop, Murray was the first to break the silence between them. "Wow! He's right there!" Murray pointed. "This is gonna be easier than taking pizza from a baby!"

"I think you mean candy, buddy." Sly chuckled.

"Oh yeah! I love candy!" Murray gave a toothy grin.

"Hey, I think we should be careful here, Murray." Sly warned as the two began to shimmy across a small ledge to try and bypass the whirling sawblades over the gap between them and the second thief. "For some reason, I just feel like something is...off."

Crack!

As if on cue, due to Murray's size, he had cracked the wooden ledge the two were crawling across, sending a small vase flying up and over them as it brushed past the hand of what they first assumed to be an odd painting, only for the hand to swing around and plant the index finger up into its nose, seeming to be a trigger of some sort. And both Sly and Murray knew that didn't bode well either, knowing how this song and dance goes. "Uh-oh!" Murray gasped just before the wall behind them had lifted upward, causing Murray to fall backward first, unintentially dragging Sly with him when he had grabbed onto the end of his tail, the two falling down into the tunnel behind them.

Murray was the first to make it to the other end of the tunnel, but due to his side, he got stuck in the opening, and Sly wasn't far behind him either as he came rushing down through the tunnel. "Murray!! Look out!!" Sly exclaimed, only for his feet to slam right into Murray, and using velocity, that managed to free the hippo as he rolled onto his back. When Sly had popped out of the tunnel, however, the raccoon landed on Murray's stomach, which caused him to be sent skyward and over a roped fence, separating the two of them.

"That was...awesome!!" Murray bellowed when he sat up. "Right, Sly? ...Sly? Where are ya, buddy?" Murray asked, scanning the area or his friend.

"I'm over here, Murray." Sly said as he got back to his feet, dusting himself off just as Murray approached the edge of the rock cliff he was on to see Sly just a few feet below him.

"Hey, Sly, where are we?" Murray then asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure, but from the looks of it, we managed to find the secret entrance to...something." Sly noted.

"S-ly! Mur-ray! Co-me in!" Came Rae's panicked voice, though clearly staticky and breaking up.

Sly quickly took out his binocucom to try and get ahold of Rae, but the moment he did, the image on her end was full of static and she was barely even visible. "S-ly! A-re you th-ere?!" She asked in a frenzy.

"Rae? Hey, can you hear me? I think you're breaking up." Sly said.

"Sl--"

Click!