Hey everyone! It feels like its been forever since I posted anything on I'm back and I hope you like my latest story .

Disclaimer: I don't own Sly Cooper or any of the characters appearing in this story they are the copyrighted property of sucker punch productions, except Darkk Agent, please don't use him without my permission. But who cares about the political stuff, on with the story!

Hey, the story is down there…

Chapter 1:

Sweet Dreams

She ran hard, she could hear her heart throbbing in her chest, and her labored breath came in steady practiced bursts as sweat began to form on her brow. Carmelita Fox gripped her shock pistol tightly in both hands as the heavy clap of her boots rang through the night. Her eyes narrowed and jaw set in determination, she wasn't about to let him get away. She grinned triumphantly, this time would be different.

I'll get you this time Sly Cooper.

She rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks, her breath catching in her throat. In the middle of the long corridor there was a masked man pointing a gun at her. He had a broad rimmed hat and a black leather trench coat, his entire face was hidden under a black and white mask. She couldn't explain how, but she knew he was smiling.

Good night Inspector, pleasant dreams.

She closed her eyes tightly and heard the tell tale suppressed swish of a silenced pistol.

Carmelita jolted up from her sleep, her fur matted down from a cold sweat. She groaned and put a hand on her forehead while she laid back down, looking at the digital clock next to her bed. The clock read 5:38am. She groaned again groggily and put her pillow over her head in a vain attempt to get back to sleep.

For what seemed like hours she tossed and turned, never quite getting in a comfortable position. She grumbled and stared at the clock, trying to mentally get the digital numbers to go backwards so she could get back to sleep. The clock stubbornly read 5:41am. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Unable to attain sleep she just sat there for a few minutes, going over the dream in her head, she was sure she'd seen the masked somewhere before, she'd heard that swish somewhere, she just wasn't sure where. The voice was chillingly familiar, and the way he said good night inspector reminded her of something important, a memory long since past. It was with a sigh and sense of defeat that Carmelita got out of her nice warm bed and padded off to the shower with her tail dragging tiredly behind her.

She yawned widely as she opened the door and turned on the bathroom lights, she cursed quietly under her breath as her eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden brightness. After blinking several times she studied the tired looking vixen in the mirror. She sighed; her fur was ruffled and matted down in several places. "Well, nothing a nice hot shower won't fix."

She yawned widely again and let the water heat up before turning on the showerhead. She stripped down unceremoniously and hopped in the shower, the steamy water washing over her tired body. She smiled and closed her eyes, just letting the water caress her and wake her up. She began to hum as she lathered herself up with the fur shampoo and rinsed herself off, leaving her fur nice and shiny. Then she ran her hands through her hair, her hair was her pride and joy, she always took great care of it and wasted no expense when it came to getting her favorite shampoo, a little known brand from her Spanish homeland.

After washing her hair and drying off, Carmelita felt refreshed an awake, ready to take on another day of trying to bring that thief Sly Cooper, along with anyone else who broke the law to justice. A light smile appeared on her face when she thought of him, and an embarrassed and somewhat angry flush always came shortly after. 'What am I thinking? He's a criminal and I'm a cop. . . .' she stretched and wrapped the towel around her self and padded back to her room so she could get dressed and get ready for work, she had some new leads she had to look into and she wanted to get an early start, well originally she wanted to get a mid morning start but now that seemed almost wasteful, she was already up wasn't she?

As she dressed she heard the phone ring. She paused, halfway pulling up her jeans and frowning. She walked over to the phone, leaving her fly undone and glancing over at the clock, it was only 6:15. 'Who would be calling me this early?' she picked up the receiver.

"Hello? Carmelita?" The voice on the other end was gruff and had an edge of apprehension.

"Good morning chief . . . what's the problem?" Her voice betrayed no emotion, she sounded professional and collected, as usual.

"Inspector Fox, we're sending a car to pick you up, Officer Murdock should be there in a few minutes, this is important Carmelita, wait inside until he comes in. . .Please."

Carmelita frowned and zipping herself up and holding the phone against her shoulder and crossing her arms in annoyance. "Chief what's this about? This isn't like you at all. . ."

"NOT NOW INSPECTOR!" The chief roared into the phone and the line suddenly went dead as the chief slammed the phone down and Carmelita involuntarily winced, she'd worked for Barkley for years but still winced when he yelled at her.

Sighing she put the wireless phone down. Frowning deeply she walked over to the window and looked outside into the predawn morning. 'What's going on here? The Chief is never that worried. . .' she listened to the rain and leaned against the wall waiting for Officer Murdock to arrive and give her a lift to the office.

Johnny Murdock arrived without incident; he knocked tentatively on the door and a very annoyed looking inspector fox answered. "Howdy inspector." The Border collie smiled pleasantly and waved. He was the only American currently in the French office of Interpol and was one of the few officers who appreciated the good inspector for more than her good looks. He was also her latest partner.

His smile disappeared as she stared evenly at him and he scratched the back of his head and shifted uncomfortably. "You uh. . .might want a jacket. . .its sorta raining."

"Thank you Jonathan I hadn't noticed." She rolled her eyes and put her jacket on before pushing herself and the officer out the door. She used four different keys to lock her door and then used a keypad to activate her security system. She smirked at Murdock's raised eyebrow and followed him down the stairs.

"Why are you so tense?" Carmelita frowned as she watched her associate cautiously walk down in front of her, his hand hovering near the holster hidden in his grey overcoat. He looked up at her and licked his suddenly dry lips.

"Chief Barkley said he'd explain everything Carm. Let's just go. . ." He opened the door to the outside just as a bolt of lighting arced across the sky followed closely by the sound of thunder. After he made sure that Carmelita was secure he sped off down the street as only Johnny Murdock could.

Murdock ushered Carmelita into the station quickly and marched briskly to Chief Barkley's office. He was sitting at his desk biting his nails, something he only did when there was serious trouble, usually for one of his police officers. He looked up at his two finest officers and his tired face lit up.

"Thank goodness you're alright Inspector!" He was so excited that he knocked his coffee over, then cursed with his usual enthusiasm. He looked up slightly annoyed at Murdock as the canine stifled his laughter.

"Laugh it up fuzzy face. . ." The chief growled threateningly.

"Haha now that I have your permission boss." He doubled over and barked a series of loud laughs and Chief Barkley glared at him. He wiped a tear out of his eye and grinned at Carmelita, who was shaking her head still looking annoyed as she tried to suppress a smile.

"Alright kiddies, stow it." He gave them both a look that offered no argument and finally silenced Johnny Murdock's laughter. "Now shut the door and I'll explain everything." He sat heavily in his seat as Murdock shut the door after making sure that there was no one listening at the door. He nodded at Murdock and dropped a fat file on his desk. He watched Carmelita lick her lips and gingerly pick up the file.

She swallowed hard and looked at the name on the file. Ronald Zibach. She looked at the chief questioningly and he nodded. Opening the file she saw the picture of a handsome bobcat, the picture had been taken far away with black and white film, and he was wearing sunglasses, a half burned cigarette hanging from his lip. She began to quickly leaf through the file, he was a top of the line assassin, not the best in the world but definitely on the top tier. "What's the deal chief? Who's this guy after?"

Chief Barkley looked her in the eye. "You." He watched her sit down unshaken and leaf through the file some more. "Carmelita," he said in a kind almost grandfatherly voice, "This man is one of the most wanted men in the world, he's killed people, high ranking officials in twenty countries, including London, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States." She nodded again reading about what little they knew about his guy, most of the file was on his victims. "He was behind the assassination of the American Vice President three years ago?" She frowned that was troubling, she was starting to get a little worried about this guy, and even more so about who had the guts to hire him, not Mugshot, that goon always did his own dirty work, maybe General Sau, he'd escaped from prison not to long ago, but he'd want to keep a low profile.

He took a deep breath and sighed. "His professional name is Darkk Agent. He was the one who killed Inspector Adelio Pedro Fox fifteen years ago."

Good night Inspector. . . Carmelita shivered violently and looked up at the chief. "M-my father?"

It all came flooding back to her, the night her father died, listening to her grandfather's stories as it rained, she was looking at one of her father's medals, shining the gold star with a red handkerchief. Her grandfather Alberto Fox, a jovial and sometimes gruff man had been a top cop in his day. And her father had been the apple of his eye.

He was telling his eager young granddaughter about a master art thief who stole the Venus de Catlo, and was just getting to the good part when her father's spare radio came to life. Alberto had picked it up and they both heard the frantic voice of Adelio, he was breathing hard, and firing his weapon calling for back up, 'Claude is dead, he-he's dead!' Maria, the operator at the station had piped up, 'Adelio calm down, where are you now?' they all heard a swish and an anguished cry. Alberto looked down ashen faced and Carmelita had gripped his leg with tears streaming down her young face.

Then he had spoken, his voice was young and cold, full of a young mirthless and superior laughter, 'my dear inspector, it's not like you to run away, especially from a,' his laughter sent chills down her spine, 'a punk like me, sorry about the leg by the way, it won't hurt very long so there's no need to worry.' She could hear her father's labored breaths then another swish and he yelped loudly, followed by a pained groan. 'What's that your reaching for Inspector?' there was a shuffle and a groan, 'now inspector keep pressure on that or you'll bleed to death before that back up arrives. . .ah this must be your daughter, very pretty, here you can have it back.'

She looked up at her grandfather who was staring at the radio his mouth agape before picking up the phone and calling his old friend the police chief, demanding to know where his son's back up was. But she hadn't paid much attention to that; she had listened to the radio, the cold yet seemingly compassionate voice. 'I'm very sorry Inspector, you're a nice fella, and you've got a nice family, it's a shame you pissed off the wrong people,' they heard her father gurgle on his own blood. 'shhhh shhh, be still now, yes deep breaths. Good night inspector.' They had heard Adelio spit in defiance then another suppressed shot, and then there was silence.

"Carmelita? Inspector?" she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at Johnny. "I . . . he. . ." her shoulders began to shake and she felt a hand touch hers, the chief's hand. She took a deep breath and steeled her resolve.

"If this criminal wants me he knows- !" the window exploded in a hundred shards and Johnny Murdock tackled her to the ground to protect her. All over the building alarms sounded and bells rang, police officers ran about, making sure the building was secure. More shots sounded and then there was silence.