Silent Obliteration
It wasn't something the guard could have seen coming. Sure, there had been a disturbance lately, and they were on the lookout for some so-called "Cooper Gang", but this guard wasn't worried. After all, as far as he was concerned, it was probably just another small group of wannabe crooks with some half-baked scheme that would, inevitably, fail. He'd seen it happen dozens of times in his line of work.
Unfortunately for him, he was wrong. And he didn't look up.
Had he, he might have caught a glimpse of the shadow darting along the power line above him. He might have seen the shadow leap deftly onto the tip of the wrought iron fence next to him, balancing on the sharp point without so much as a wobble to betray any loss of balance. He might have witnessed the shadow make one more leap, to the ground below.
But he didn't.
So he didn't see the elusive figure slowly, carefully, edge out into the yellow circle of radiance cast by the street lamp above him. The guard didn't see the warm, sputtering light highlight the small, lithe body crouched low to the floor, the hazel brown eyes narrowed in concentration, the huge, ringed tail that marked him for what—and who—he was, or the small hands clutching a long, hand-crafted cane that was topped with a golden crook. The guard didn't see the glint of the light shining on that crook as the raccoon reached out with it, toward the guard's back pocket.
Too bad—it might've saved his life.
The guard remained oblivious as the thief expertly relieved him of the coins he'd had in his pocket—and the ruby ring, as an added bonus. Then he backed up, and reached out again with the cane, quicker this time, not aiming for the pocket, but for the guard.
The guard almost managed to let out a yell as he felt himself hooked by something and thrown into the air—almost. But before he had time to even land again, something was whirling around him. He saw a haze of blue smoke, a flash of hazel—and then nothing.
The guard was gone without even a sound.
No one was around to see Sly Cooper disappear once again into the night, up a pole, over the fence, across the power lines, nine coins and one ruby ring richer than he'd been several seconds before.
AN: As I was laying awake one night, staring at the ceiling, mind reeling in the aftermath of playing Sly 4 for just about the whole day with as little breaktime as I could get away with, I thought of this. I don't know where it came from. I don't know why. I usually don't write ANYTHING (I repeat: ANYTHING!) this short, but...there you go. I guess I just wondered about the guard's POV. Fanfiction has got me asking myself irrelevent questions like that.
That's right. I am blaming fanfiction. I'm guilt-free.
I hope you enjoyed!
