DM149: I'm going to try my hand at some Sly Cooper fic. This will take place between the missions in Sly3 for getting Penelope and getting the Panda King. New member of gang! Badass alert!

Some of the story will be in Sly's narrative text but most of it will be third person.

(One night in Paris…)

(Cue slide of current Cooper Gang lounging around eating pizza)

(Sly's POV)

We were doing well, we had five members in our gang but, like always, Bentley found a flaw.

After an analysis of the island's perimeter, Bentley discovered that there were many highly trained, guards armed to the teeth with long-range sniper rifles and close-range assault rifles. It had become painfully obvious that we needed someone capable of taking them all out. Penelope and I were the only ones able to reach them but Penelope's RC chopper would be picked off from long distance and I would end up being half lead if I got near those assault rifles.

After a few restless days in his room, Bentley came up with a candidate. He calmly wheeled out of his room over to where Murray and I were, looked us in the eye and told us that we needed Marcus.

All of our ears perked up and our heads bolted upright. All except for Penelope and the Guru who had no idea who we were talking about. It was up to us to fill them in.

XXXXXXX

Marcus was an old friend, born in the U.S., he moved to Paris when he was 5. Unfortunately, 1 year later his parents were brutally murdered before his very eyes.

He wound up in the same orphanage as Murray, Bentley and I did but quickly isolated himself clearly believing no one could understand what he was going through, but I did. I told him about what had happened to my parents and we became fast friends.

He joined our "gang" in the orphanage and was a valuable asset as another person almost as acrobatic as I was. But, when we were 18, Bentley, Murray and I formed the Cooper Gang. But when we tried to admit Marcus, he declined saying he had found an actual life as a military weapons designer. One look at his blueprints and demo models gave me the impression that I was in no place to rob him of a good life, so we never saw him again.

XXXXXXX

I was completely lost, not that I didn't want Marcus on the team but if he wouldn't accept our offer then, why now?

Bentley then explained that recently he had gone through a problem involving Anna. I listened.

XXXXXXX

Now Anna, she came a little later. She wound up in the orphanage when we were all 12 but unfortunately became an outcast. I knew what it was like to be the new kid, Marcus and I were lucky to find friends fast but Anna just couldn't seem to find anyone, so someone found her.

Marcus took a leap of sitting with her at lunch and hanging out with her from time to time. He gave her that friend that would keep her from getting made fun of or being snickered at behind her back.

I don't need to go into detail but over the years, Marcus' and Anna's relationship grew a lot…ehem…stronger. She actually became one of the reasons that he felt he could never leave; they were just one of those couples that you could not separate. But that's exactly what happened.

Bentley explained that only a year ago, Anna was raped and murdered within her own home. Devastated, the grey wolf set out to find the man and when the cops tracked down the culprit, all they found was a charred skeleton locked in closet and a calling card in the shape of a wolf with red eyes that read:

"He has taken his place inside the fire with her."

Marcus soon quit his weapons designing job and started becoming an assassin. (The reason Bentley wanted him) and he cut off all personal connections, anyone he had an extended conversation with merely had to call him "Wolfbane".

XXXXXXX

We soon learned that he was on an assassination job in Barcelona, Spain for god knows what.

All I know is that with Marcus around, it'll get messy.

(Cue dramatic music and slide of Sly Cooper and the gang in…

"Paid in Blood."