Master of Thieves

Introduction

The raccoon peered around the building. Seeing the coast clear, he gripped his cane and dashed down the alley. The sound of a trashcan falling on its side sent the raccoon into high alert mode. A light came around the corner and the raccoon quickly latched onto a water pipe that ran up the building closest to him.

He scaled a few feet and then stopped, waiting to observe the source of light. A bull in ragged clothes holding a flashlight was knocked into the mouth of the alley. The bull fell on its chest and let out a sigh.

The raccoon still didn't move, waiting to see if the one responsible for shoving the bull into the alley would come around. He knew it was a risky move, but one he was willing to take. Besides, he had only met one person in his entire life that could knock a bull into an alley with one shove. But it couldn't be who the raccoon thought. There was no way.

After another minute of waiting, the raccoon decided that the person who shoved the bull would not show up and began scaling the water pipe all the way. Halfway up, the raccoon heard another sound. The sound of a bench or some wooden structure breaking.

He stopped, glad he was still concealed in the shadow of the building opposite. After several moments, the raccoon began to scale the pipe again, this time increasing his speed. Something was going on and he didn't want to be around when it happened.

At last, the raccoon reached the top of the water pipe and the roof of the building. He latched off and once again heard another sound, this time an explosion. The raccoon had had enough guessing and was ready to investigate, besides, you can't pull off a heist with death around every corner. Regardless if he had before.

But now times were different. Before he had friends to protect him. Now he had only himself. Sometimes he missed his friends. But then he reminded himself of what they truly were. Liars and traitors. He could never go back. Plus, he wouldn't even know where to begin looking.

The raccoon reached into his pocket, cleverly hidden in case he--the thief-- became prey to another thief. He pulled out a blue and silver object. It looked almost like a set of binoculars but not quite. Instead of having two lens, there was only one and there were indentations for the object to rest on the nose and another dent just above it, to show the separation of the eyes.

The raccoon placed the object in front of his face and pressed a button on the side, opening the lens and starting up the piece of technology. His finger found the scroll and turned it, zooming in on certain areas and zooming out on others.

After several moments of scouting the area for potential threats to the operation, the raccoon closed the device and shoved it in his pocket. Just then, a dart passed by his neck, missing him by a centimeter as he turned. Instead of hitting the raccoon, the dart hit the base of a wobbly satellite. The dart knocked it off it's hinges and it went over the edge of the building, dragging wires from the roof with it.

The wires were stronger than anyone would have assumed because as the satellite fell it dragged wires with it. But that wasn't what amazed the raccoon. The wires were pulling up the top layer of the roof.

Cracks ran toward the raccoon's position as the wires tore up more of the roof. He had just enough time to look behind him and see where the dart had come from before he jumped upon the wires and took a ride.

In the distance, the raccoon could vaguely make out the outline of a wheelchair and the occupant seemed to have a green pigment. At least that was what the shine of the moon on the back of the chair occupant's head gave off. But the outline of the dart sender was not what shocked the raccoon. It was when the sender jumped backwards and off the building. Not only could someone in a wheelchair be unable to make the chair jump, but they also couldn't create a blast from underneath the seat making them glide down to safety.

"It can't be." The raccoon said to himself as he jumped on a wire and slid on it until it came to the edge of the building, at which time he gripped a wire hanging down and swung forward, releasing his hold as the wire swung.

As he fell, the raccoon reached into his pouch tied to his leg and pulled out a disposable parachute. He unfolded it and held onto the strings, beginning to glide down.

The raccoon's feet met the ground he let go of the parachute, letting it fall to the ground. He sprinted down the alley and emerged on the sidewalk of a street, only taking a few moments to get his bearings before he was off again.

As the raccoon turned onto another street, the sound of someone being knocked to the ground came from around the next corner.

That's enough! he thought as he raced toward the sound. As he grew closer, another sound emerged from the corner and the person being attacked was knocked into the street. The raccoon simply stepped over him as he came face to face with the attacker.

"Show yourself!" he yelled into the dark alley.

The attacker did as was told and walked into the light provided by a street lamp. The raccoon knew him as soon as he walked out from the darkness. Only one person had that mask and that figure.

"It's you! It can't be you!" the raccoon shouted at the attacker.

"But it is me… Sly."