Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Sly Cooper. However, the characters and the plot used in this story are mine.

Summary: After the Cooper Vault job, the Cooper Gang members went their separate ways. However, when a recent robbery catches their eyes, they discover that Sly Cooper may not be the only surviving member of the Cooper Clan. Not only that, but they finally discover the origins of Clockwerk and his creation.

"Character thinking"

"Normal talking"

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Prologue

Police sirens echoed noisily in the area. Shades of blue and red painted the nightly landscape surrounding the museum. Police cruisers crowded the streets while yellow tape blocked off the area. Officers examined the area in pairs, or in groups of three.

Most of them were confused with the night's strange events. This, among two other robberies, was the third museum robbery of the night.

A certain Inspector was glaring at said museum. She couldn't put it together. How was it possible for one to rob three museums within two hours of the night? It only made matters worse when there were absolutely no clues that signified who was behind it. The only thing they got was that a trio of people was behind it.

Her gaze settled on a familiar male raccoon. He was seen talking with another police officer. The expression on his face gave away that, like the other officers, he was puzzled by the events of the night. Even though he was fairly new to the whole police work, Constable Sly Cooper was doing a fine job.

Carmelita's mouth curved into a small smile. She enjoyed his company, and she was more than grateful that she didn't need to chase him around anymore. Despite telling him that he was her partner, it wasn't exactly official.

It was even more complicated when word of it reached her superiors. They weren't happy about it, and demanded that Sly Cooper be put behind bars. But she reasoned with them and proved that Sly Cooper couldn't remember his past life. They didn't quite believe her. They thought it was too simply, too easy.

She understood their reasoning of wanting to punish the criminal. So she took it upon herself to 'punish' Sly as they wanted. It included keeping an eye on him 24/7. There were times when she let him out of her sights though. She trusted him. If he lied to her, she would have seen the signs. A thief couldn't give up stealing so easily. That need would always be there. But since he lost his memory, he showed no such thing. And in the end, it only pleased her further.

Her smile was short lived. The expression of Sly's face turned pale and terrified. He was staring down at the object he retrieved from one of the officers only moments earlier. Carmelita quietly joined his side. "What's the matter?"

Fear gripped her heart as she stared down at the object. In his hands rested the Cooper Gang's calling card. A card that Sly often left behind to prove he was behind it. "Where did they find this?" she demanded softly.

Sly took a moment to respond. "It was located on the spot of the missing artifacts."

"Do you know what it is? Who could have left it behind?" Carmelita was hoping that he didn't remember.

"...No," he murmured, his face still contorted in confusion, "I don't. Do you?"

Carmelita almost let out a sigh of relief. "I have an idea." she stated firmly. "But I'll look into it later tonight.

"Will you need any help?" he offered.

"No!" She quickly blurted. Sly was surprised by her sudden outburst. She cleared her throat and kissed him on the cheek. She offered a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it. You, on the other hand, need to get back home. I've noticed you've had a lack of sleep recently."

He gave her one of his trademark smiles. "I'm fine. Staying up all night is okay; besides, I spend it working along side the best and most beautiful girl in Paris."

She elbowed him with a grin of her own. "Flattery will get you no where, Sly. Now get going, I'll handle this."

Sly was hesitant in leaving her, but complied. He gave her one last hug, and waved farewell to her as he entered his police cruiser. He frowned when he looked back down at the calling card in his hand. "Bentley," he thought, "What are you guys doing?"

As he left the scene, his mind filled with questions on the robberies and if his friends had anything to do with it. He was doubtful because they'd been missing from action for so long, but he couldn't think of anyone else that had their card. Maybe it was a sign from them?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Bentley sighed as he furiously moved his hands across the keyboard of his computer.

He pushed away from the computer moments later; his head was pounding! Most of his calculations for his time machine were giving him some trouble. Some of the ideas seemed reasonable, while others didn't quite make sense.

Murray, who was sleeping on the couch, moaned in his sleep. When he didn't stir, Bentley assumed that Murray was still sleeping. A small smile graced his face as his thoughts wandered back to the old adventurous times he shared with his two old friends.

That smile soon faded. "That's right," he thought, "Sly is no longer with us."

After the explosion, they were separated from the raccoon. Bentley poured all his resources into finding his lost friend. It wasn't long before he located him at a party with Carmelita herself. He found it kind of ironic, but the sight of seeing his friend so happy made Bentley happy. Before he left though, he could have sworn he'd seen Sly glance at him and smirk. He made no move to contact Sly since.

And ever since then, nobody has seen the master thief in action.

Both Bentley and Penelope started to work on a time machine after that. They were still working on it, but they continued to have issues on why it wouldn't work. Determined to not give up the project, both geniuses continued to write out theories. They planned to test out these theories in a week's time.

Bentley grabbed the remote from the nearby coffee table and turned the TV on. He flipped through various channels; none of which were really grabbing his attention. Finally leaving it on a random channel, Bentley returned to his work.

It was a short while later when the screen was covered with, "Breaking News! Museum Break In!"

He ignored it. It was probably another young gang of thieves pulling off their first heist.

"Hello, and good evening folks," the news lady began, "if you are just turning in, we have just received reports that various museums have been broken into within the past two hours. Police haven't given us much information, but we do know that a calling card was located at the scene of the crime. The Police have reason to believe that the infamous Cooper Gang was involved."

Bentley's head shot up. The Cooper Gang? Involved? That was ridiculous! But wait… had Sly finally returned back to his old ways? No, that was impossible. He would've come back first! So who else? Who else had their calling card? It couldn't have been any of the other members; most of them were with Bentley, or off working!

The sound of tires screeching pulled the genius out of his thoughts. Wheeling his chair over to the window, he watched as a police car raced by.

Fixing his glasses, he barely noticed the silhouette that rested against the wall. When they moved into the light, it was revealed to be a raccoon.

"Sly?" Bentley gasped.

The ears of the raccoon went up as the sound of police sirens grew near. After a moment of exploring the alley, the raccoon located a ladder and quickly climbed it.

Bentley snapped out of his trance, and raced over to the sleeping hippo. Shaking him, he whispered, "Murray. Murray! Wake up!"

Penelope opened the door to her room with a big yawn. "Bentley," she groggily murmured, "what's wrong?" Murray groaned, and opened one of his eyes.

"Either Sly is back in thievery, or I'm going crazy!" The two quickly snapped out of their sleepy gazes.

"What? I thought Sly had amnesia!"

"Me too. Bentley, you said you saw him with Carmelita at a party!" Murray reasoned. "He'd never fake it. Well… He might for the sake of being with Carmelita, but I don't think he'd return to thieving without telling us!"

Bentley frowned. "I guess you're right, but that still doesn't explain what I heard on the news." He pointed towards the TV to prove his point. "They're saying that they've found the Cooper Gang calling card!"

A moment of silence passed through the room. Murray had his attention focused on the TV. Meanwhile, Penelope frowned in worry. She walked carefully over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sly's with Carmelita now, Bentley. He loves Carmelita, and you and I both know he wouldn't leave her side unless he really needed to. Maybe someone else is just trying to impersonate our gang; after all, we did kind of vanish from the thieving world."

He was conflicted. Ideas were clashing against each other. Reasonable thoughts would come up, only to be smashed down with another reasonable thought. It was making Bentley's head spin with confusion.

Penelope hugged him. "I understand that you miss him, Bentley. We all do. Maybe you're finally reaching your limit. You should get some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning." She left him with a peck on the cheek.

Bentley was still running through his thoughts. The idea that he was seeing things seemed logical, but some things still didn't add up. He was about to discuss his thoughts with Murray when Penelope whispered for the two to hurry into her room. Confused, the pair entered her room.

She was on her bed, staring out her window. "There's someone out there!" she whispered.

"It could be that raccoon I saw earlier." Bentley murmured. Murray frowned, not being able to see anything in the darkness. "There!" Bentley pointed towards the rooftop where a group of silhouettes were seen.

A female raccoon was leaning against her cane, grinning eagerly at her two companions. She flickered her tail in mild amusement when a growl came from the tigress.

"Radia, we were almost caught! Again!" The female raccoon, named Radia, simply yawned. This action only angered the tiger further. "You know, one of these days those crazy stunts of yours aren't going to work!"

"Oh? They've been working fine so far. And," she flipped her cane around and poked her friend's chest with the end of the cane. "We're unpredictable. The cops can't figure us out. That's a rather good thing, if I may say."

"No, you're unpredictable! They may not be able to figure you out, but sometimes neither can we!"

"Oh, Arazel, calm down!" Radia shrugged, moving her cane away. "You're such a worrywart."

"Hey, Radia, haven't you noticed?" a softer voice inquired. A grey feline cat, who was obviously the smaller one of the trio, stepped between the two. "Noticed what, Solitaire?"

She pointed to the cane that she carried. "Ever since we've started doing heists with that weapon of yours, they've increased security. And that card that you found in Dimitri's office? I really don't think that was a good idea."

Radia shrugged with a small sigh. "That's because this cane looks exactly like the one that the other gang has. You know, the one with Sly Cooper?"

"Speaking of Sly Cooper-" Solitaire started, only to go silent when noticing that Arazel perked her ears upwards. "The cops are coming. We've got to get moving."

"Where should we go?" Solitaire frowned.

"To Dimitri's, of course!" Radia grinned at her two teammates. After a moment of thought, they both agreed and followed after Radia as she jumped on another roof.

Once they were gone, Bentley let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "That cane!" he exclaimed. "Did you see it?"

"I did," Penelope looked worried. "But how did she get it?"

"I don't know." Bentley said. "But I do know that we're going to get it back. I'd also like an explanation on how she got it."

Murray was the next to speak. "I think we should get Sly back."

The couple gazed at each other in thought. That did sound like a logical plan, but there remained some complications. Penelope was the first to voice it. "How? He might not remember us. And it's not like we can go barging in there; he'd arrest us because he's a cop now."

"Furthermore," Bentley sighed, "he would be confused as to why we'd barge in like that. But either way, I can see what you mean Murray. And that is a very sound choice, however, I think it's best if we do this on our own."

"How do you know?" Murray asked. "How do you two know that he might not remember us? The Murray thinks we should at least try."

Bentley was silent for a brief moment before he rushed into the living room. Penelope and Murray followed him in confusion, and were even more confused when Bentley laid out the Police Headquarters blueprints. "We still have those?" Murray asked.

"Yes, and I have an idea. Obviously, personally confronting him might do us no good. The chances of us getting in there without being recognized by Carmelita are slim to none. And she'd be there, obviously, to work with Sly. So, I'm thinking we could write a letter to him instead and leave it on his desk. I believe this is the room," he pointed to one of the rooms closer to Carmelita's office, "we need to enlist the help of someone outside of the criminal force if we want our letter to reach him."

Murray scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Why not just sneak in at night and leave it there?"

"Good question, Murray." Bentley encouraged. "There are a few reasons. We don't have anyone that can move as agile as Sly could. Penelope and myself wouldn't be able to use our RC cars or choppers, as they would attract attention, or accidentally crash in the small space provided. And you wouldn't be able to get in there quickly and out before anyone could spot us."

Penelope had her eyes closed and her hand resting on her chin in deep thought. "I think I might be able to ask a friend to drop the letter off."

"That's great!" Bentley smiled. "Shall we go off to our work?"

"Is there anything I should do in the meantime?" Murray asked.

Bentley scrambled his brain to think of things for his friend to do. Penelope provided the answer. "How about you contact Dimitri and keep an eye on the news? Those girls did say something about going to Dimitri's place."

"Okay!" Murray exclaimed happily and went off to do his business. Penelope offered a small smile to Bentley before leaving to retrieve her laptop and begin her work.

Everyone was hard at work within minutes. Murray phoned Dimitri and questioned him about the robberies and the three girls; Penelope contacted her friend through messaging; and Bentley wrote the letter that would be given to Sly.

None of them saw the small robotic falcon that flew past their window and into the distance.