Chapter 1: A Thief Changes His Ways
A/N: I've been planning to write this fic for quite some time, but could never think of a good title, character name or abilities. After putting a lot of thought into, and with some help from my writing partner FanfictionFan360, I finally settled on basing my character off of Sly Cooper from the popular PS2 series. I will also be borrowing the characters Bentley and Murray and try my best to describe those two as humans and not as a turtle and hippo.
And by "based off", I mean that I will be borrowing the name, some of the story, and abilities of Sly from the games. Also, this is a solo fic, with some later assistance from friends. If anyone has any ideas they would like me to use, aside from other OCs please, fell free to leave them in a review or send them to me in a PM.
Well, enough of my babbling. On with the first chapter. Enjoy ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titan, any characters or locations. They belong to DC and the company that produced the show (Can't remember off the top of my head.) I also do not own the name or story of Sly Cooper. All rights for that belong to Sucker Punch studios.
Claimer: I only own the appearance of Sly for this fic and material written for this.
"" = speech
"italics" = communication
'Italics'= thought
It was nearly midnight in Jump City. A calm night as opposed to its busy days. The skies were clear and the moon was full. Although, if you were to look at the top of the Jump City Museum, you might just think otherwise of the moon. On the top most spire of the Museum, a man in black armor and a black cape sat perched atop the spire, looking down to the streets below. He moved a hand to his ear and said, "Bentley, you and Murray in position?"
"We're all set. Just give us the order." Bentley said, waiting by the back entrance.
"Ready when you are Sly." Murray responded as he left their safe house in the team van.
"Okay, I'm going in. Bentley, keep an eye on the security cameras for any security guards or the other thief." Sly said, hopping down from his spire perch and gracefully falling to the building's roof.
"Roger that." Bentley said. He was the technical genius of Sly's team, usually staying back in the van or hideout. But tonight he was getting his first taste of what it was like to be out in the field with Sly and Murray.
"I'll be waiting by the emergency exit once you've gotten the objective." Murray said, casually driving the van through Jump City's quiet and almost barren streets. Murray was the muscle and getaway driver for Sly when he needed it. And he was the most loyal person Sly knew other than Bentley.
Sly delicately opened the ceiling hatch and hopped down, closing the hatch by grabbing the inside handle with his hooked cane. "Alright, I'm in. How far is the jewel Bentley?"
"According to the security cameras, it's on the floor just below you. I think you're in the attic right now."
"Gotcha." Sly said as he started looking for his way out of the attic so he could get to the third floor of the museum. When he found the door, he opened it and found that it was at least a good fifteen foot drop. Even if he was careful not to make any sound, he would more than likely attract some unwanted attention. "Bentley, you got anything on camera?"
"You're all clear. Just be careful. The last thing we need is for you to end up braking you're leg again."
"Don't remind me." Sly said, a little annoyed about having screwed up a landing with his paraglider that should've been painless. He decided that it would be safer if he dug his cane into the wood floor beneath him and descend at least three feet of the four foot cane to lessen the fall. He managed to softly land of the floor, feeling only a slight sting in his feet from the impact.
As he started to make his way toward the jewel, he found the door to the exhibit locked down and required two keys to open it. Bentley told him that there were two guards on that floor carrying the keys and that Sly would have to pick their pockets to get the keys.
Of course when Sly heard the words "pick their pockets", he just smiled a bit and was already off to pick the keys in a matter of five minutes, returning to the door and unlocking it to find the room filled with laser security.
"Hmph, child's play." He scoffed, easily making his way through the laser grid to the jewel case. But just as he was about to lift the case, he heard a nearby window open and looked to see the second thief.
The other thief saw Sly and immediately, and on purpose, tripped the laser security, setting off the alarm as he jumped back out of the window he came in through.
"Damn it!" Sly said as he still grabbed the jewel and made his way out the same window.
"Bentley, Murray, the job's blown. You two meet up at the second rendezvous point and get out of here. I'll meet you back at the safe house!" Sly said as he ran along a telephone wire onto an adjacent building.
'This is just perfect. Now I'm sure to run into the cops.' Sly thought as he jumped down into an alley with the jewel securely tucked under his arm. "I need to keep to the shadows." He said out loud, not paying attention to where he was going, running into someone who happened to be walking by the alley he was about to leave, knocking both of them to the ground.
Sitting up and rubbing his head, he said, "Why don't you watch where you're going?"
"I could say the same too you." The passerby said. However, the voice sounded extremely familiar to Sly, almost flat, but with some emotion to it. That's when he realized that he was now screwed.
(Suggested Track: Re-education (Through Labor) by Rise Against)
"Oh crap." He said, looking at a girl in what appeared to be a black one-piece swimsuit, belt with orbs lining it and a violet cloak. In other words, Raven of the Teen Titans.
When she looked at him, all she could say was "Cooper." before he tapped his cane to the ground, releasing a small smoke bomb, giving him the perfect opportunity to escape.
He ran as fast as he could through Jump City, climbing up pipelines to get back onto the rooftops, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, phone line to phone line in an attempt to make it back to his hideout.
Unfortunately for him, Raven was chasing after him and gaining fast. It wasn't the first time they had done this though. Sly had pulled multiple jobs that attracted the Titans' attention, eventually making him their prime suspect in every robbery that occurred in Jump City. But, they weren't entirely off. Most of the time it was him, but not banks. Sly figured he'd leave those to other idiots.
But of all of the chases he's been in, he always enjoyed the chases with Raven for some reason. There was something about her that attracted him to her, but he still hadn't quite figured it out yet other than her beautiful appearance. He had always kept it to himself though, not even telling Bentley or Murray.
He eventually wound up at the edge of a building where the next building was easily twenty feet away. Knowing that there was no way he was running out in the open streets where the cops could catch him, he jumped into a nearby alley, only to be stopped by a wall of black energy as soon as he hit the ground.
"Nowhere to run now Sly." Raven said as she appeared through a black portal from the wall.
"Well, cornered again. If I didn't know any better Raven, I'd say that you're trying to send me a message but be as subtle as possible about it." Sly insinuated, going straight to the flirty chit-chat that he always used when around Raven.
"Keep dreaming Ring-tail." Raven said, using the nick name that she used the most with him. And the meaning of that is because Sly's cape actually had a grey stripe going across the bottom, and the cape for some reason resembled a raccoon tail, as if it were actually part of his anatomy.
"Well, as much as I love to chat with you, I gotta run." Sly said, tapping his cane to the ground again, releasing another smoke bomb, but forgetting to close his mouth this time, coughing violently as the smoke entered his system, causing him to drop the jewel and one of his signature "calling cards", which was a blue raccoon shaped piece of paper as he ran through the now clear alley back to his hideout, not caring about the jewel at that point.
-half an hour later-
"Sly! You're back! We thought the police had finally caught you!" Bentley said when Sly walked into the safehouse.
"Nah, just cornered by Raven again." Sly said as he closed the door and sat in a chair, his cane under his crossed arms.
"Again?" Murray exclaimed. "How does she keep up with you?"
"No clue pal. She's good, I'll give her that." Sly said flatly.
Bentley knew that Sly wasn't telling them something, and even though he knew better, he asked anyway. "Sly, what's bothering you?"
Sly only sighed before saying, "There's something that I need to tell you guys. Something that I've been keeping to myself for a long time."
"What is it?" Murray asked curiously.
"I… I have a thing for Raven."
"You WHAT?" Bentley and Murray exclaimed at the same time.
"Sly, you're a criminal, an, and she's a Titan. There's no way that that could work." Bentley said.
"I know. That's why I'm gonna turn myself over to them tomorrow morning. Plus, I feel bad for the harm I've done to Raven in the past just so I could escape."
"WHAT?" Again, both Bentley and Murray were shocked by this.
"Guys, let's face it; we're nowhere close to finding my parent's killer, and all we've been doing is pulling small jobs over the past two years. And as much as I hate to say this, it's getting really old, really fast." Sly explained.
"But, where will we go? What'll we do without you as our leader?" Murray asked as his eyes began to water.
"That's entirely up to you guys. Murray, you've always wanted to get into the racing circuit. Now's your chance to do so without us needing you. And Bentley, the police could use a brain like yours. You guys can finally follow your dreams without me needing you. We can still keep in touch though." Sly said, trying to cheer his friends up.
"I… I guess you're right Sly." Bentley admitted, removing his glasses and wiping his eyes. "I suppose it is time we went our separate ways. For the first time, we'll be on our own. But Sly, always remember that if you ever need our help…"
"We've got your back." Murray finished.
Sly couldn't help but feel his own eyes begin to sting as tears started to form. "Thanks guys. After tomorrow, we'll still have our times together, and we'll still be the Cooper Gang."
-The next morning-
It was hard to say good bye to his friends that he'd known for years. They were his family, and that would never change. But he knew in the back of his mind that if he truly wanted info on his family's killer, he would need to go straight to the people he had already locked up that knew anything about him. And the only way to do that was to turn himself in. Not to the police though, who wouldn't even let him explain himself. If anyone, he knew that there was only one, rather there were five, people who would listen; the Titans.
Titans Tower actually wasn't too far away from the hideout. It was an easy paraglide from the bridge to the front door of the Tower, which Sly had attempted and successfully landed many times in case he needed their help. But not today. Today, he went to Titans Tower to turn himself in to the only people he knew might listen.
When he rang the doorbell, which confused him as to why they had or needed a doorbell, and the door opened, Cyborg was surprised to see the thief that had been giving them trouble for about a year and a half. "Before you say anything, I just want to talk to Raven."
"And I suppose that once I turn my back you're gonna slip in here and rob us blind." Cyborg accused.
"Wow. That was pretty harsh. I know that I'm a thief, but come on, I've got feelings too ya know." Sly said seriously.
"Well, until Raven comes down, I aint goin' anywhere."
"Fair enough." Sly said as he sat down against the tower.
"Where're your friends?" Cyborg asked.
"None of your concern." Sly answered. "I'm here to talk to Raven, and that's all you need to know."
As those words left his mouth, Raven stepped outside and saw Sly sitting against the Tower. "You can go now Cyborg. I'll take care of this myself." Raven said as the mentioned Titan walked away. "Why are you here?"
"For two reasons." Sly said as he stood up to look Raven in the eye. "The first of which is to apologize for everything I've done that brought you any harm. I never meant to hurt you, just to provide enough time for me to escape."
"And the other?"
Sly sighed and said, "To turn myself in."
Raven just stood dumbly for a minute before saying, "You are?"
"Yes. Thieving has lost its appeal to me. And I figured that I'd rather turn myself in to people who would actually listen to me rather than the cops, who would slap the cuffs on me the second I step into their station." Sly explained.
Raven didn't know what to say. No criminal had ever turned themselves over before, especially to the Titans. And, she had developed a sort of attraction to Sly. He was agile, athletic, and very good looking in her eyes.
"My only regret is not getting any information on my family's killer." Sly said sadly.
Raven had a knack for reading emotions, and she could tell that Sly wasn't just saying that for sympathy; he had truly meant it, and Raven could see it in his eyes.
"I… have a better idea." Raven said after a few moments of awkward silence.
"And what might that be?" Sly asked.
"The fact that you came here to turn yourself in shows that you really are serious about giving up crime. And you're powers could be helpful to us in the future. Plus, I've never once sensed that you've ever lied to us." Raven said.
"What are you saying?" Sly asked.
"I suggest that you spend some time here with us to see whether or not you're, 'redeemable', per say." Raven answered.
"So… basically I become a Titan, but I don't."
"That's one way of putting it. But it's up to you whether or not you want to." Raven said.
Sly actually considered Raven's proposal; become a Titan, kind of, and have the chance to look for his family's killer, or go to jail and still have no new info.
He thought long and hard on his current situation, and after about five minutes, he said, "I… I think I'll take you up on that offer. The more time I spend out of jail, the more time I can look for the man who killed my parents."
"Good. Why don't you come inside then so we can explain this to the others. Something tells me that they might not take to this so well to begin with." Raven said. "And it looks like it's about to rain."
"Right behind you." Sly said as he followed Raven into Titans Tower. 'Well, here goes nothing. Mom, Dad, wish me luck.'
I finally got the first chapter finished. Not much to say here except that I'll try to update when I can.
I'm My Own OC
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