A/N: Another chapter, since I couldn't get to sleep.

I had to read it over to make sure my lack of sleep didn't fuck up the flow of the story. Please point out any grammatical errors or typographical ones... Whatever you find, tell me and I'll fix it.

And Murray still has a van. It's a rental. :3

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper, the Cooper Gang and all related characters are properties of Sucker Punch. Cortana Brea Harlow and other characters are owned by me, Breanna Edwards. This story isn't for profit, please don't sue. I'm just a huge fan.

Sly Cooper: Walking the Thin Line of Fate
Chapter 2

It was already 8 in the evening, and it was time for all the interns to go home. A lot of them weren't old enough to stay and work past 9, so it was a requirement to send them all home an hour early. Cortana shrugged her coat on, and slung her canvas messenger bag onto her shoulder. It was decorated with different patches and pins, saying witty things like 'Don't Mind Me; I'm Just Fabulous' and 'Idiocy is a Disease.' She made it a point to check up on her superior and give her just a little more trouble before she went on her way. She knew she was going to stay in the office all night, inspecting the evidence from today.

"Hey, Charmalotta," Cortana purposely mispronounced her name, "I'm going home."

Inspector Carmelita Fox was leaned over her desk, staring down photographs from the crime scene earlier. Cortana waited a moment to see if she would respond, before repeating herself.

"I'm going HOME, Inspector Fox!"

"Wh-what? Oh, okay, get home then. Don't let me catch you out past 9, there's a curfew." Carmelita didn't bother to even look up at the feline.

"You do know I'm 20 years old, right?" Cortana's eyebrows went down to express a glower, but the Latin vixen still didn't bother to look.

"Right, just, get home. See you tomorrow." Carmelita sat into her seat, looking over the calling card. She had never seen one like this before, and more importantly, it wasn't Sly Cooper's. So who in the world's calling card could this be?

Cortana rolled her eyes a little, and gave a half-hearted wave, "Bye Cinderella." She turned, and headed for the door.

Carmelita finally looked up, "Oh, and could you..." But the last she saw of the cat was the very end of her tail whipping away from the doorway. "Drat."

A silhouette bounced around on the roof tops in the dead of night. The skillful shadow flipped and twisted about in the air with much grace, slipping down on a wire that led onto the Grand Museum of Art's rooftop. "Hey Bentley, I'm in position."

"That's perfect, Sly. All you need to do now is find a way in without alerting the guards or setting off the security systems." Bentley's voice came in clear as a bell over the thieving raccoon's earpiece. "There seems to be a vent over there you can use to get in. But be careful; there are many security lasers everywhere. Trip one and the operation is a bust."

Sly Cooper chuckled, "Don't worry; we've got this in the bag." He stepped over onto the gigantic glass sunroof, looking down at the many paintings and sculptures, but the one they were after was the Prima Madonna; a small sculpture of a veiled beauty, dated back in the Romantic art era. Sly thought it would be a lovely edition to their loot collection, and it was just under him, waiting to be nabbed. "Give me 10 minutes, tops, and I'll have this lovely lady with me in no time."

Just as he was stepping toward the vent to make his entry, a shadow ran by in the museum in the direction of the Prima Madonna. His face went over in a lour, and he quickly got into the vent. Just who was this making a move on his target?

Inside, the security consoles were slice through, all the lasers had been deactivated and the guards stunned and taken care of. A silky tail swished in excited anticipation, the lovely Prima Madonna in direct sight.

"Oh yes, bella mio, you are definitely mine for the taking. Everyone will be looking for you once they realize you're gone." The thief giggled, and reached their paws out to take the prized sculpture, until it was whipped away off its display from above. "Huh?"

"Yeah, about that..." Sly Cooper dangled from above, and dropped down onto the display, somersaulting backwards with ease. "This lady here is coming home with me." He patted the sculpture. "And just who might you be?"

His question was met with absolute silence. He tilted his head to the side, inquisitive, "Did they escape? Wow, they're quicker than me."

"Y-you're... Are you Sly Cooper, THE Sly Cooper?" The voice broke the dead air in eagerness.

"Uh, yeah, the only one I know about." Sly sarcastically answered, swinging his cane onto his shoulder to let it rest there. "Are there any others?"

It was silent again. Suddenly a shriek came, and out of the shadows dashed an ivory white feline that stuck herself to Sly, hugging him tightly. "Oh my god, it's Sly Cooper! It's really you! I've been looking up all the heists you've done, you're an absolute thieving genius! The greatest there is!"

Sly was a bit surprised and uneasy at how close the feline was, especially since he didn't know her from a can of paint, but he relaxed once he saw she meant no harm. He tilted his hat up and looked down just to see what she looked like, since she came at him so quickly.

The feline was a creamy ivory in color, fur downy to the touch and her hair was of a medium-short length, colored like her fur. Two strands poked out from her head and served as a bang, while two other ones, thicker ones pointed up, slightly wavy. In her left ear were two gold earrings. A pair of light emerald eyes gleamed at him as she stepped backward to properly present and introduce herself, her pink nose wiggling a little in excitement. She twirled around, and gave a dramatic pose, grinning widely.

"I'm Cortana Brea Harlow, master thief in training. This is my first big heist; I planned this all by myself! But, I didn't think you and I would be going after the same thing! I'm quite elated about it!" She clenched her gloved fists in all her excitement, and bounced up and down, her fluffy tail's tip swishing.

Sly scratched his head with the hook of his cane, still studying her. Her muffler covered the bottom half of her face and she hadn't bothered to pull it down yet. He reached his cane over to do so. "Aren't you a bit young to be doing this kind of thing? There's a curfew you know."

Cortana scoffed, eyes rolling up. "I'm 20. Why does everyone think I'm younger than I am? It's so stupid."

"That's because you look young. You're a cute cat." Sly pulled his cane back, and onto his shoulder again, continuing his study. Her attire was very stylish, he'll admit, and had quite the thieving look. Her shirt was divided into two parts, and ended at her midriff, a deep V-neckline showing a sizeable fuzzy cleavage. Sly cleared his throat, and continued on. Her basic brown utility belt, with only two pouches sat on her hips tightly, her duster floating behind her a bit, just as the ribbon on her left arm did. Her baggy harem-esque pants were stuffed into knee-high platform boots. He nodded in approval. "Do you come around here often?" He was asking honestly, but with his natural charming and flirtatious nature, it came off as such.

Cortana gave her own charm a shine, smiling with half-lidded eyes, "No, this is my first time." Putting a paw onto her hip, she relaxed herself, her starstruck state fading. She pointed her chin to the Prima Madonna, "Can I have my date back please?"

"No can do on that, miss, but perhaps I can be your date? I know a place where the spaghetti sauce is superb, and I'd love to show you." Sly returned the smile with his own charming grin.

The ragdoll cat pulled her muffler back up, still smiling underneath it. "Perhaps, at the moment though, I'm more interested... in women!" Cortana whipped out her paw, a quick and thin silvery wire shooting out at the Prima Madonna, wrapping around and snatching it from the raccoon's gloved hands with a back-whip, and grabbed the sculpture in her free paw. "But I do love spaghetti. You'll definitely have to take me there sometime."

Sly smirked, setting his cane down onto the floor, using it as a support. "Nice trick there... Never seen anything like that before, very nice." He was impressed. He raised a hand to his ear, touching the communicator that was linked to his Binocucom. "Bentley, this is gonna take a while."

The glass sunroof shattered. Inspector Carmelita Fox dropped in with Shock Pistol at the ready. "I found you, Sly Cooper!" She called, landing on The Thinker's shoulder. "You won't get away this time!" She pulled the trigger, her pistol sending a bolt of sheer electricity at him and the feline.

Sly reacted quickly, pulling Cortana out of the way with the hook of his cane, "Hold on, we're getting out of here!" He sped down the hallway, narrowly missing the fired up vixen's shots of electricity. Cortana held onto the Prima Madonna in the crook of her arm and her other arm around Sly's shoulders, looking behind.

"You're not going to escape me that easily, you OR your little partner!" Carmelita raged, hopping down and giving chase, aiming her Shock Pistol right at them.

"Alright, change of plans!" Cortana slid out of Sly's grasp, running beside him. "Catch!" The Prima Madonna flew into the air, and into Sly's hands. "Now, hold on!" She grabbed onto the hooked end of his cane, and swung her hand up, the wire wrapping itself onto a hanging light, before pulling them up and swinging them out a window with a crash. The pieces of glass sparkled in the moon's light, as they fell down into the shadows of the streets below.

Carmelita stopped dead in her tracks before she ran herself out of the window. She looked down into the shadows, seething at herself for not shooting fast enough. She slammed a fist down onto the broken window's pane. "Damn you, Sly Cooper! This is the last time you get away from me, I swear it! You can bet your sweet ass I'm going to get you, Ringtail! I'll get you!"

Down in the alleyway, both raccoon and feline hid under a tarp covering a cart in the street. Neither one took a breath for a few moments, listening for any sounds around them, but the only thing that was awake other than them, were the crickets.

Sly was the first to whisper. "I think it's safe... I don't hear her cursing my name anymore. She probably thinks we got away." He peeked out from under the tarp.

"Well, we aren't in handcuffs, so technically, we DID get away." Cortana smirked playfully, slipping from underneath the tarp and into the street. She stood, and pain made her face twist into a wince, bringing her down onto a knee.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sly slid out of the tarp after her, settling beside her to take a look. A shard of glass had driven itself into her leg. Sly tapped his communicator, "Bentley, have Murray drive the rental van over, we have a small situation here."

"Right, I've locked onto your coordinates and I'm sending them to Murray right now. His estimated time of arrival should be 5 minutes from his current location. Hang tight, Sly!" Bentley's voice transmitted over the communicator.

"Thanks. Don't move it too much, we'll get that out for you. You're not used to huge landings, are you?" The master thief smiled a bit. He had his own blunders when he was first starting out, despite them being few and far in between. But, he had blunders nonetheless.

Cortana smiled back sheepishly. "I haven't had much practice... I was hoping to leave out the vents again, just how I came in. We needed a quick escape... I know how that police woman is with her gun. She's very trigger happy."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sly pulled her arm over his shoulders, "Alright, we'll take this a little at a time. You'll be okay."

"Alright. Thanks."

Cortana rose up, but slumped down in a wince. Stretching her leg too much caused a lot of pain from the obvious injury. She limped along, using Sly as a support, the Prima Madonna in her other arm as they walked to the main street, Murray drove over, whipping the rental around so the back was towards them. The pink hippo poked his head out of the window, looking back.

"Sly! What happened?" He looked intensely worried, noticing the cat's injury. "Is she alright?"

The raccoon grinned. "She'll be fine, Murray, no problem. Just looks like we'll have an extra guest for tonight."