Flight of Fancy

Flight of Fancy is the third episode of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. It is set in Kinderdijk, Holland, and the main antagonist is the Black Baron.

Plot[]

The Setup[]

After countless nights of analyzing the blueprints to Dr. M's fortress, Bentley concluded that if the gang is to get inside the Cooper Vault, they would need to recruit a dedicated RC specialist who had skills that far exceeded his own.

After weeks of searching techy chatrooms, Bentley finally found somebody who could keep up with him intellectually. He met a gear-head genius from Holland named Penelope who politely declines the gang's invitation to join them, saying she only works for "the best". However, her idea of "the best" is her boss, the Black Baron, a big-time dog-fighting champ in Holland. Because he was good, he had set up an international competition called ACES to attract competitors from across the globe.

Two weeks later, Penelope sent the Cooper Gang a counteroffer, in which she agreed to join them if they could defeat the Black Baron at his own game. With no time to waste, Sly obtained his pilot license the fastest way possible... by stealing one from another while Bentley and Murray worked on building a biplane for him. The gang would prove to Penelope that they are up for the challenge, even if they are making it all up as they go along.

Hidden Flight Roster[]

After settling into the hotel, Sly dresses up in a pilot disguise and heads down to the lobby, where Bentley gives him the brief on their operation. The place is packed with pilots who will be competing in the ACES competition.

If the Cooper Gang hopes to be successful in the competition, they will first need to learn who their opponents are. Bentley explains that in the past, teams would go out and sabotage each other's planes in preparation for an upcoming dogfight. To prevent another incident, the flight roster's location is now kept a secret. The flight roster is, however, not hidden from the event staff. Fortunately for the gang, Dimitri has been hired to give color commentary during the dogfights and is sure to know the roster's whereabouts. Sly scouts him out in the hotel lobby. Bentley warns Sly not to start a fight with the other pilots, or they will disqualify the team from the competition.

Once finding Dimitri, Sly has him reveal the location of the roster. However, Dimitri refuses to talk for fear of being exposed to the Black Baron and losing his job. Sly offers him a bit of encouragement, saying that a guy like him can deal with the Baron, as he has the best fashion sense of anyone he knows. After hearing this, Dimitri shows renewed pride in his ability to outsmart the Baron. He then agrees to disclose the location of the roster, on the condition that Sly agrees to owe him a favor, which will be returned in a few months.^[1] Sly accepts the bargain, then Dimitri tells him to search the Baron's air hangar and look behind one of the paintings; it is kept in a secret safe.

Before Sly leaves the hotel, the Black Baron walks into the lobby to welcome all of the pilots to another year of the ACES competition, especially the team leads by an old foe Muggshot. He then reminds everyone about the hijinks some teams pulled off in the past and that he will no longer tolerate them. He explains the rules of the hotel, specifically of the consequences for leaving the hotel after sunset. He then bides farewell and leaves the lobby. So does Sly, with Bentley warning him to be careful once outside.

Sly takes off his disguise and makes his way up to the Baron's castle on the far hill. Once there, he needs to find a way in for Bentley. Since the drawbridge is up, Sly needs to perform some skillful climbing to reach the top and find a switch. Along the way, Sly overhears the Black Baron pondering how much tougher the competition has gotten, with a slight hint of worry that he might not win this time. Once Sly reaches the roof, Bentley shows up and asks him to lower the drawbridge. But because there is no switch, Sly notices a catapult and sends it down to Bentley. Bentley uses it to launch up to the roof.

Sly heads back to the safe house, leaving Bentley to finish the job. Once inside the Baron's hangar, Bentley inspects both paintings. Bentley finds the roster in the second painting he unlocks and steals the roster before returning to the safe house.

Frame Team Iceland[]

After Team Iceland falls asleep, Bentley has Sly and Murray get into position near a manhole just outside the hotel, explaining that they are about to steal one of Team Iceland's Viking helmets. Before the mission goes underway, Murray questions his role in the mission, given that Sly can easily pick the lock to Iceland's door and steal the helmet. Bentley explains that this is a delicate business, as they are framing Iceland for a crime they are not responsible for. If there is any evidence of tampering with Iceland's hotel door, it will not take long for people to realize that Iceland was being framed. Murray understood, commenting on Bentley's deviousness and inquiring about their point of entry.

Sly and Murray about to row out of the sewers

Fortunately, Bentley points out that the underground sewer pipes will lead them to the hotel's ventilation systems. However, they are under some security, as other teams used them in years past for sabotage. Sly obtains a raft for Murray and him to use, and the two of them rowed the boat through the security-ridden sewers until they come across a dock that led to the air vent leading into Team Iceland's room. Sly hops off the raft and makes his way to the vent, while Murray stays behind and keeps the raft safe. Once inside, Sly silently slips past the sleeping Icelanders and their burglar alarms, grabs the Viking helmet, and makes his way back to Murray and the raft. Murray explains that they have to escape through another tunnel, as the valve gates changed positions while Sly was gone.

"The Murray" is, and always has been, FINESSE!

Once they make it back out to the surface, Sly hands the helmet to Murray and compliments him on his finesse in rowing the boat. Murray then makes his way over to Team Belgium's hangar, where he has to sabotage their prize plane. Murray has to use his Aboriginal Ball Form to maneuver through the hangar's security and destroy the plane. Before leaving, Murray plants the Viking helmet inside the plane, making it appear as if Iceland sabotaged Belgium's plane and rubbed it in.

Frame Team Belgium[]

Sly Cooper and Murray take up position outside the hotel for the mission briefing. Bentley tells Sly about an armored supply truck driving around town, explaining that the truck is en route to drop off Team Iceland's lucky ice sculpture for the semifinals. Bentley gave the driver some bad directions via going in circles for hours as a way to stall the drop-off for the purpose of the mission. Bentley explains that Sly will need to get inside the truck, steal the ice sculpture, and plant some evidence that would implicate Team Belgium for the theft. Bentley decides that the evidence will come in the form of Team Belgium's gold lace monogrammed handkerchief. But first, they will need to acquire one of the hankies.

Murray goes inside the hotel lobby and works to get a Belgian pilot laughing hard enough that he will stop paying attention to his surroundings. Seeing as how the Belgians are notorious for their emotionless nature, that is no easy task. Murray eventually manages to get the pilot to laugh by shoving his fist down his throat, getting it stuck in the process. Bentley, who is waiting nearby, then moves into pickpocket the handkerchief off of the pilot while he is laughing, otherwise he'll feel the pull. Once that's done, Bentley goes outside and makes sure the Guru is in position outside.

The Guru's task is to break open the back doors of the supply truck by hijacking and ramming guards into it. Once he successfully hits the truck once, the truck starts dropping traps along the path, forcing the Guru to be more cautious with later hits. After four successful hits, the top of the truck blew wide open, although the back doors were still sturdy. Bentley realizes that this won't complicate the mission.

Bentley hands the handkerchief to Sly. Sly then makes his way to the truck, jumping in through the roof, where he comes across a safe. With Bentley warning Sly that the driver starts to realize where the hotel is, Sly hurries up and cracked the safe. He then swaps the ice sculpture with the handkerchief, effectively framing Team Belgium for the theft.

Cooper Hangar Defense[]

In preparation for the ACES semifinals, Bentley has Murray meet up with him in the Cooper hangar. Bentley explains that he has been working on getting the security devices online and that they are almost operational, but he also hears from Penelope of a rumor that a rival air team might be coming to cause mischief. Bentley suggests that Murray stand watch while he finishes getting the security online, which Murray readily agrees to.

Immediately after Bentley gets to work on the security system, the hangar's doors are suddenly opened by Muggshot, who suggests allowing him to smash the Cooper plane as payment for what Sly did to him in Mesa City.^[2] Murray denies the request, causing Muggshot to call in his "army", which consisted of the Black Baron's guards that he paid off beforehand, to come and take care of Murray. A fight between Murray and the guards immediately follows, while Muggshot keeps the doors open to allow more of them to pour into the hangar.

Bentley tells Murray over the PA system that there is no way he can hurt Muggshot with his fists, directing him to a button in the middle of the room that controls an engine in front of Muggshot. Murray uses the switch to slam the engine into Muggshot's chest. After the engine hit him five times, Muggshot withdrew from the hangar, but not before warning that the attack is just beginning.

Bentley then confirms over the PA system that Muggshot isn't making idle threats and that he is detecting guards coming at the hangar from the sewers. With his security system coming online moments before, Bentley uses the system to stop the guards from coming up through the pipes into the hangar, while Murray guards the plane just in case any of the guards made it past.

After taking out all of the guards that are already close to the hangar, Bentley realizes that his security system will not be enough to stop the guards, as he detects tanks along with more guards coming their way. Needing backup, Bentley contacts Penelope through his ham radio. After a brief exchange about how "awkward" their first actual look at each other was, Penelope explains that she knows that the attack is taking place, and that she will be happy to use her RC chopper to help defend the hangar, especially since her boss has been betrayed.

Penelope flies the chopper around the grounds, using its grapple hook and boosters to launch any approaching guard or turret from a tank into the air and away from the hangar. After defending the hangar for several minutes, the assault stops, and Bentley compliments Penelope's RC piloting skills, thanking her for helping the Cooper Gang keep their hangar safe. She replies by saying that the guards deserved it and that she wouldn't allow anyone to sell out the Black Baron and get away scot-free. With the hangar safe, the Cooper Gang moves on to complete their preparation for the ACES semifinals.

ACES Semifinals[]

With Team Iceland and Team Belgium gunning for each other, Sly's goal was to defeat them both in the ACES semifinal round to qualify for the finals.

Sly went over to the team hangar to suit up and prep his plane for the semifinals. Prepared for take-off, Sly was in the plane, positioned at the top of the ramp. Bentley first warned him to stay sharp as he was still outnumbered, even though Iceland and Belgium were going to be at each other's throats. Sly showed no fear as he flew down the ramp and took off to the dogfighting arena.

Once at the arena, Sly was up against 25 planes, with Bentley giving him some safety tips and Dimitri giving his commentary throughout the competition. Once Sly defeated all of his opponents, Dimitri declared that Team Cooper had qualified for the finals.

Beauty and the Beast[]

Sly and Bentley discuss the situation they are in outside the hotel, and agree that Sly will find Carmelita while Bentley will confront Muggshot inside the hotel and bait him into going outside. Bentley approaches Muggshot and suggests that the two of them fight in the Town Square to settle Muggshot's conflict with the Cooper Gang. Not only does Muggshot know that doing so will get him disqualified, but he also does not feel it is worth attacking a relatively defenseless, handicapped turtle. Bentley throws insults at Muggshot to try to get him angry, eventually succeeding by insulting his mother. Muggshot agrees to meet Bentley at the Town Square in five minutes for their fight. Bentley leaves the hotel, finds a safe spot, and gives Sly the "go-ahead" to get Carmelita's attention. Sly brings the resulting chase to the Town Square. After Sly gives Carmelita the slip, she notices Muggshot, who is just exiting the hotel and making his way to the Town Square.

Muggshot soon notices Carmelita as well and, still holding a chip on his shoulder from when she arrested him in Mesa City,^[3] dares her to try and arrest him again. Carmelita is more than happy to oblige, and a fight ensues. After a long fight, Carmelita knocks Muggshot unconscious and prepares to bring him to jail. She notes that the booking process for Muggshot will be tedious, but she reasons that her taking down Muggshot will make Sly think twice about planning anything else soon.

Now that Muggshot is arrested, his team has to compete in the ACES final round without him, effectively eliminating one of the Cooper Gang's biggest obstacles in their mission to win the ACES Finals.

Giant Wolf Massacre[]

Bentley gets a good feral specimen of Lupus gigantormus. He has filled his sleep darts with heavy doses of Skunk Balm, which is enough to pacify the beast. He just needs to make sure the wolf does not catch his scent first. Unfortunately, the darts require a close range of a few meters to work.

Once the wolf is put to sleep, it is now up to the Guru to ride the wolf and take down the Baron's pilots. Once he successfully takes out 15 pilots, the Guru seizes possession of the wolf, and the wolf returns to its territory. With all of those pilots down and out for the count, the gang now stands a better chance of winning the finals.

Windmill Firewall[]

For Bentley, nothing satisfies him more than a computer hacking run. In this mission, he must hack into the Aircraft Control Tower, but before he can do this, he must hack the control nodes on three of the local windmills. Since the computers on each windmill is too high for normal jumping, Bentley must use his Hover Pack to help him reach each one.

After hacking the first three computers, he heads over to the Aircraft Control Tower to hack the last computer. Once he does this, the codes become unstable, causing one windmill to spin too fast. Its propeller then comes loose and spirals all over the place and hurls into the small dam, creating a hole and letting the water fill into the stream. Bentley finds this system bug to come in quite handy for the heist.

Operation: Turbo Dominant Eagle[]

Sly Cooper heads to the top of the Baron's castle to start the heist. The B-Champs round then begins. With the two teams going at it, Sly will be able to sneak onto each gunship and plant the trackers without being detected. The trackers are very sensitive to extreme changes and altitude and must be kept at high elevation to stay intact. After planting the trackers on each gunship, Sly flies back to the team hangar to suit up for the finals.

While Sly prepares for take-off, Murray must use the rowboat to pull apart the three pillars holding up the aircraft communication antenna. As he does this, he must be very cautious of the falling planes; however, they provide excellent cover for this part of the heist.

With the structure destroyed, the Baron will have to use an unscrambled radio frequency to call in the gunships for backup. If that happens, Bentley will be prepared with his "secret weapon", a windmill propeller. With the tracking devices installed on the gunships, there is no guarantee he will miss.

Sly is now at the top of the ramp, ready to fly off. Before he does, Bentley tells him to look for the Baron and take him out to win the competition. Sly flies off and tells him he'll see him at the winner's circle.

Once he's at the arena, he searches for the Baron, who is in a black plane with flashing lights. He shoots down his plane until it is disabled. The Baron then calls in the gunships, along with a spare jet. Bentley hacks one of the windmills in the arena, causing its propeller to fly off and hurl into the gunships, blowing them up and knocking them out of the air.

The Baron then realizes his plane needs a repair and flies his plane above the wing of his jet to jump onto it. Sly flies in after him to stop him from cheating. Since the winner has yet to be decided, the two decide to settle it by engaging in a physical battle on the wing of the plane. Once Sly gives the Baron one last fatal blow, it causes his mask to melt in a puff of smoke. It is then revealed to be Penelope, who was the Baron all along. She explains to Sly how relieved she is, as she figured someone was probably bound to find out sooner or later. Sly asks why, and she decides to wait for the plane to land so the two can talk on the ground where it is safe.

The Getaway[]

After besting the Black Baron in a fist fight, Sly discovered that the Baron is Penelope all along. However, the Cooper Gang was rushed to the winner's circle before they could process this turn of events. They stood there in front of a crowd of cheering fans, and against all odds, the gang became the champions of that year's ACES competition.

The Cooper Gang being announced the winners of ACES

There was a bit of an awkward moment between Bentley and Penelope. Sly guessed that the pictures they sent to each other over the Internet were a bit... exaggerated. Afterwards, Penelope explained to the gang that she had invented the Black Baron disguise as a way to bypass the strict age requirements for the tournament. In other words, Penelope was too young to fly. However, after winning, the Baron became a celebrity, and she found herself putting on the disguise more and more often.

However, the Black Baron is now out of the picture, and Penelope joins the gang without hesitation. The next day, she treated the gang to a long aerial tour of Holland in Sly's biplane for a week. She begins to fit into the team just fine.

Master Thief Challenges[]

Challenge name	Description
"Castle Quick Climb"	Get to the top of the castle under time pressure.
"Muggshot Goon Attack"	Kill 30 guards before taking down Muggshot.
"Security Breach"	Defend the fragile plane in the hangar from approaching guards.
"Defend the Hangar"	The hangar can take limited damage. Keep it safe!
"Precision Air Duel"	Destroy only the tri-winged planes.
"Wolf Rampage"	Slaughter the guards while avoiding serious damage to the wolf.
"One Woman Army"	Carmelita must defeat 15 guards before defeating Muggshot.
"Going Out On A Wing"	Defeat the Black Baron before time runs out.
"Holland Treasure Hunt"	Using your Treasure Map, follow the clues to find the hidden loot.

Trophies[]

PS3/PS Vita[]

Image	Name	Requirement
	I Think She Likes You	Ask Penelope for help in "Cooper Hanger Defense".
	Digging Up a Bone	Defeat Muggshot in "Beauty and the Beast".
	Mayday, Mayday	Defeat the Black Baron in "Operation: Turbo Dominant Eagle".
	Whirlwind of Awesome!	Purchase Spin Attack level 3 from ThiefNet.

PS4/PS5[]

Image	Name	Requirement
	The RC Specialist: Penelope	Complete all jobs.
	This Is Sly, Over	As Sly, ride the radar dish.
	The Sky Is Falling!	Drop a plane on a guard.
	What a Shocking Defeat	As Carmelita, defeat Muggshot without taking damage in "Beauty and the Beast".
	Challenge ACES	Complete all Master Thief Challenges.

References[]

↑ Episode: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
↑ Episode: Sunset Snake Eyes.
↑ Episode: Sunset Snake Eyes; Cinematic: Muggshot Busted.

[1] Episode: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

[2] Episode: Sunset Snake Eyes.

[3] Episode: Sunset Snake Eyes; Cinematic: Muggshot Busted.

[1]

[2]

[3]