A/N: I do not own Sly Cooper or any of its characters. Also is it wrong that listening to Digga Tunnah from the Lion King one and a half gets me extremely pumped? :) I am such al loser.
CHAPTER 2
The old wooden floor boards that made up the rooms floor creaked as Bentley entered the dark, dusty, and very stuffy room. Bentley, actually, had to clean his lenses after several dust particles attached to the glasses immediately. The turtle, after a few coughs, found a light switch. He gave it a flip and light flooded into the once dark room.
The lights revealed something that Bentley wouldn't give up for anything in the world. The walls were lined with picture frames that contained pictures, allot including Bentley, and newspaper clippings with titles like "Cooper Gang Strikes Again" or "Cooper Gang Escapes Interpol Yet Again." The room also contained glass cases and podiums, both of which held treasures, valuables, and memories. Bentley approached a podium nearest to him.
On top of a pillow, little, metallic black pieces lay in a pile. Bentley blew some dust of the podium's label and read "Remains of the Hate Chip." Bentley had an odd look. It looked as if he was happy and sad, the pieces bringing back a few good memories and many bad ones. He continued around the room looking at everything along the way, the whole time smiling with tears lingering in his eyes. A few exhibits he saw were "The Fire Stone of India", "Sly's Police File", "Bentley's Old Cross Bow", and "Murray's Dream Time Gear ." There was also an assortment of valuables on the walls and in cases, but these were nothing compared to what was at the end of the room.
At the very end of the room there was a slim glass case with a single podium on both sides of it. Bentley, holding back his largest amount of tears ever, forced himself over to the case and its podiums. Once close enough, Bentley looked at the wall behind the case and podiums. It was like the rest, except for one thing. Across the wall in blue paint it read, "Once a Thief, Always a Thief." As Bentley read this in his head, he nodded. Then Bentley rolled over to the case's left podium. On it, covered by a small glass dome, was an extremely old and thick looking book. It had a tattered brown cover with gold corners and bore the Cooper symbol at the bottom. A single tear rolled down Bentley's cheek as he saw the book's title, Thievius Raccoonus.
Now this may seem odd. Why would a turtle like Bentley have this entire Cooper Gang memorabilia, and why would he be so sad about it? Well there is a simple answer to these questions, and it's that Bentley Turtle was once a member of the Cooper Gang, the most successful one, perhaps, off all time.
The Cooper Gang was a gang of thieves that had existed since ancient Egypt. The gang, ever since its humble beginnings, usually consisted of only three members. The Brains, the Brawn, and the Master Thief. Generation, after generation, Cooper's were born. They grew up, learned their skills from the Thievius Raccoonus, and started their own gangs. Usually, the Cooper would play the role of Master Thief and find two other thieves to fill the other spots. Well Bentley once held the title of Brains. He was the guy who created every plan, thought of every tactic, and invented devices that put the gang a step ahead of the competition. Bentley was a special turtle, for a special group of thieves.
The Coopers and their team mates, throughout history, had an odd way of being thieves. They only stole from fellow thieves and criminals, believing there was no honor, or thrill for that matter, in stealing from ordinary people, and Bentley's Cooper Gang was no different. They stole from the fiercest thieves of modern time. In fact, that's how they had the Thievius Raccoonus.
The Thievius Raccoonus was a book that had been in the Cooper family as long as the name. Every Cooper received this book, at a moment of the parents choosing, so they could have the tools to become a master thief. However tragedy struck one night when Sly Cooper, Bentley's friend and partner who led the gang and played Master Thief, had his eighth birthday. That night Sly was supposed to inherit the book, but fate had different plans. The Fiendish Five, a group of evil thieves led by the most evil thief of all time, broke into the Cooper's home and murdered Sly's parents. Clockwerk, who had been the Fiendish Five's leader, had hated the Cooper Clan more than anything. He was so jealous of their thieving success; he replaced his living, owl parts with metal and machine ones. This allowed him to live forever. With Sly's parents dead, Clockwerk split the books pages up amongst his colleagues and fled, leaving a now orphaned Sly alive. This was unknown to him.
With no parents, Sly was dumped at the "Happy Camper Orphanage." Here he met Bentley along with Murray. Murray was also a very good friend of Bentley, in fact Bentley considered him and Sly his older brothers, the feelings were mutual. Anyway, Murray had played the role of muscle and getaway driver. At the orphanage the three clicked so well, they became a family. At the age of nine, they had already formed a gang and were stealing cookie jars and books from Mrs. Puffin, the head of the orphanage. Eventually the three became too old for the orphanage and ventured out together. The three spent many years together, officially forming the gang and stealing from some of the biggest crime lords in the world. They also met Carmelita Fox, an Inspector from Interpol who Sly fell in love with on sight.
Soon it was time to take back Sly's birth right. With Bentley and Murray at his side, Sly took out the members of the Fiendish Five one by one, and eventually reaching Clockwerk. After one of the most terrifying moments of the gang's life, Sly defeated Clockwerk and left not only with the full Thievius Raccoonus, but also a kiss from Carmelita.
Bentley let out a laugh, remembering the day that He, Sly and Murray had finally collected all of the Thievius Raccoonus pages. After Sly had stolen a kiss from Carmelita, he left her hand cuffed to the bridge they stood on and leapt into the van. Bentley remembered when they were driving away from Krack-Karov Volcano, with him yelling at Sly, Murray laughing his head off, and the raccoon himself wearing a big smile, like it was yesterday.
"Those were the days." Bentley said in his head, before noticing the many tears on his face. After sniffling, he quickly wiped them away and left the book alone. He rolled passed the glass case and over to the podium on its right side. This podium in particular held something very different then what lied on the others.
Bentley looked at the pile of clothes on the podium with a smile. A pair of white boots, a white towel, a big pair of goggles, two red gloves, and a matching red mask all lied there neatly.
"Murray." Bentley seemed surprise. He hadn't let that name escape his lips in ages. However, he ignored this and began reminiscing.
All these clothes had once belonged to Murray Hippo, who, along with Sly, was his best friend. Bentley had always loved Sly like a brother, but Murray and Bentley always had an unwavering connection. Bentley had been in the orphanage with Murray longer than Sly. Bentley really cared about Sly, but there was always something about Murray. They were both so different, yet got along perfectly.
Murray was a hippo who not only was the gangs muscle, but also the getaway driver. Obviously, being the brawn, Murray was very large, very tough, and not very smart, but this did not change the person he was on the inside. Murray, though having a tough exterior, had a heart of gold. He cared deeply for his friends, and as long as no one harmed said friends, he was able to find the best in everyone. Murray, also, was rather sensitive. Remembering this factor brought back bad memories for Bentley.
Two years after the gang's defeat of Clockwerk, the evil owl once again reared his ugly head. A museum in Egypt was displaying Clockwerks parts, but the trio knew how dangerous the parts were. Thus, Bentley, Sly and Murray set out to steal the parts and destroy them. Unfortunate for them, they arrived to discover a group of criminals known as the Klaww Gang had already taken the parts. So, the Cooper Gang left Egypt to start the next big adventure.
Now this journey was definitely an experience for Bentley. For the first time, Bentley went out into the field, planed some extremely hard operations, and had even defeated one Klaww Gang member, but that wasn't it. Bentley left their second adventure with more than the experience.
The Gang traveled around the world stealing the Clockwerk Parts, only for them to being stolen from them. During a mission in Canada the small bird Arpeggio, the Klaww Gang's leader, stole of the parts they had collected. Having no choice, the gang snuck onto his blimp to take back the parts. There they discovered something horrible.
Now that Arpeggio had all of the parts in his possession, he was able to reconstruct Clockwerk. The flightless bird planed on melding himself with the monster to gain immortality. However someone spoiled his plans, but it wasn't the Gang. Constable Neyla was Carmelita's partner, who behind the Fox's back, helped the gang out. Upsetting everyone, it turned out to all be a ruse. Neyla betrayed Carmelita and the gang and revealed she was working for the Klaww Gang the whole time. But Neyla wasn't done betraying people yet. With a crack of the tigress's whip, she leapt into Clockwerk, melded with it, and killed her former boss Arpeggio.
With Neyla now in control of Clockwerk, or Clock-La as Neyla called it, went on a rampage. Luckily, however, Inspector Fox arrived and helped Sly defeat the machine. Then Neyla, still inside of Clockwerk, died when the evil bird plummeted to its death in the streets of Paris. But the bird refused to give up. It still had a little juice in it, and the gang planed on stopping it. They planned on having Murray lift the heap that was Clock-La's beak, while Bentley crawled inside and removed the hate chip, which was its center of power. Sadly, there are some things that not even Murray is strong enough to lift.
Unable to hold it any longer, the beak slipped out of Murray's hands and slammed shut. Even worse, it slammed shut on top of Bentley's legs. In a panic, Murray was able to pull Bentley out, hate chip in hand. So with Bentley in the hippo's arms, Murray and Sly ran away from the explosion that finally killed Clockwerk.
Tears once again returning to his face, Bentley remembered what followed after the destruction of Clockwerk, the hate chip, and his legs. He was placed in a wheel chair, but that wasn't that bad part. A depressed and upset Murray continued to blame himself for Bentley's handicap and ultimately left the gang, despite all of Sly and Bentley's protests.
This memory of Murray was by far the saddest. Sure Murray dropped the beak, but it wasn't his fault. That beak was huge and made of sold steel, even the strongest man in the world would have buckled beneath it. Sadly, Murray couldn't realize this and still left, not knowing how Bentley felt. Bentley felt fine. He was able to realize that, besides meeting the guys and Penelope, the wheel chair was the best thing to ever happen to him. It made him faster, stronger, and gave him an entire new range of abilities. If anything, Bentley should have thanked Murray.
Forcing one last look at Murray's gear, Bentley wiped away more tears and left this podium as well. At last, Bentley had reached the tall glass case that contained, quite possibly, the most important thing in the room. There, in the case, stood a long cane of some sort. It was made mostly of wood, except the very top. The top of the cane was a sharp, golden hook. The cane also has a red pouch dangling from it, along with a Sly Cooper calling card. Yes indeed, this cane once belonged to Conner Cooper, and the greatest Cooper of all, Sly Cooper.
Bentley took a deep breath, feeling the tears that were trying to escape his brown eyes. This cane brought back sad memories of the last time he'd seen Sly, or the rest of the gang for that matter.
It had taken place a year after the whole Clockwerk part fiasco. Bentley and Sly had discovered a man known as "Big" Jim McSweeny. Apparently McSweeny was a member of Conner Cooper's, Sly's father, Cooper Gang. He, like Murray, was the muscle of the team. Anyway McSweeny has contacted Sly through messages sent by pigeons. When Sly visited him at the prison he was being held in, the tatted walrus revealed something about the Cooper Clan even Sly didn't know.
Somewhere, on the Kaine Island, was vault. But this wasn't just some vault. No this was a Cooper Clan vault, and behind it lied something every thief would kill for. The vault, ever since Slytankhamen had created it, had held the Cooper Gang fortune. When every Cooper had retired and finished their thieving days, they traveled to this vault and locked their fortune behind it. Not surprising, Sly was determined to find his inheritance.
Sly was disappointed to find that Dr. M, a psychotic mandrill, had already set up shop. From the looks of it he had been trying to open the vault for years, but to no success, considering only a Cooper Gang cane can open it. But after examining M's fortress, Bentley and Sly realized it was going to take more than a cane to get to the vault. They needed a group of world class thieves.
So over the following months they traveled around the world, meeting new people, and a few familiar faces, and allowing them to join the gang. However before any of this they traveled to Venice in search of Murray. The once fight first, ask questions later hippo was now living a life of peace. He had spent several months with an outback mystic simply known as the Guru, who trained Murray in the ways of dream time. Now, this Guru had sent Murray out on a walk about, spreading his teaching across the world. Bentley and Sly wanted Murray back on the team very badly, but just asking him wasn't what it would take. No, Sly and Bentley had to wait until Don Octavio, the local mob boss, attacked Bentley. Seeing his friend in danger lit a fire in Murray's stomach and "The Murray" was reborn.
So after Octavio's defeat, and a tearful welcome back, Murray rid himself of his tribal robes and put the mast and gloves back on. But having Murray back wasn't going to cut it. So the gang continued their journey. From Australia, where they got Murray's Guru to join, to Holland where the love of Bentley's life, Penelope, joined. They continued to China were the Panda King, former Fiendish Five member now gone spiritual, brought his explosive expertise to the Gang. And finally, against their will, Dimitri Lousteau joined, who like Panda King had once been an enemy considering he had been a former Klaww Gang member. So now with seven people, making it the largest Cooper Gang ever, Sly decided it was time.
Sly, Bentley, Murray and the rest of the team stormed the Kaine Islands, ready to enter the vault. But that's when things fell apart. Sly ran into Dr. M, who took the time to reveal that he was the brains of the previous Cooper Gang and that he had always hated Sly's father, claiming he took all the credit. M's words were hurtful, but affected Bentley in a different way than the rest. Bentley started to believe that the Coopers were just a bunch of attention hogs, but this feeling ended when Sly took him and Murray into the vault, well as far as they could go. Sly bid his friend good bye and entered the inner chamber, not knowing it was the last time he'd see Murray or Bentley.
Sly, with once again help from Carmelita, was able to defeat Dr. M, but not without injury. During the battle M had sent Sly crashing into the wall, knocking him out. But after the mandrill was defeated Carmelita woke Sly to discover he had amnesia, not remembering anything at all. Carmelita, now truly expressing how she felt for Sly, fibbed by telling him he was Constable Cooper, her partner. So leaving M to die, Bentley, Murray, Sly, and Carmelita escaped the collapsing vault, separately of course.
Bentley, Murray, Penelope, Guru, Panda King, and even Dimitri spent the next day searching for Sly. They scoured the jungle for hours and eventually found something, but it wasn't Sly. In a cave, deep in the jungle, the gang discovered Sly's cane, his red pouch, a calling card, and a large portion of the Cooper Vault fortune. The group store into the cave, now realizing that Sly had left with Carmelita willingly and had not faked amnesia. Everyone knew it, but no one said it. Sly had left the gang.
So here we are, Bentley standing in front of Sly's cane, holding back tears as best he could. When Sly left the gang, that's when things started changing. Without a Cooper, there was no Cooper Gang. So, knowing that it was all over, the gang started drifting apart. Panda King, the first to leave, returned to his daughter in China. The Panda King was soon followed by Dimitri, who had moved to the Bahamas to follow his dreams of becoming a professional skin diver. A few weeks after the frog man's departure, Murray had completed his training with the Guru, and after that the student bid his former master goodbye. It was definitely sad for Murray, but he was happy to know the Guru had a whole new group of students. Rumors had it that few were even rock stars.
The time that followed the Guru's departure was a bitter sweet experience. Over the course of their adventure together, Penelope and Bentley had fallen in love and started going out. Also Bentley was overwhelmed with happiness and sorrow when Murray informed him he was leaving. With the Cooper Gang over and everyone leaving to follow their dreams, Murray believed it was his turn to follow his dreams as well. So after one of the longest, hug filled and tearful goodbyes in history, Murray left Bentley and Penelope for America too become a race car driver.
Bentley let a smile escape his lips as he remembered the years that followed the gang's break up. Sure it was sad, but with Sly gone and the gang over, Bentley, Murray and the others were allowed to branch out. They started new lives, free of the crimes they had committed in the past. Murray had successfully become a race car driver with the team van, starting in independent circuits and working his way up to the pros. Dimtri's dreams, surprisingly, came true as well. He became a pro skin diver and often sent pictures of him in his diving gear, surrounded by money and women. The Guru and Panda King continued their peaceful lives, but with one difference. While Panda King calmly lived in his home in China, the Guru seemed to always be on the run from the press due to his famous pupils.
It seemed that the only members of the gang who remained together were Penelope and Bentley. Not only that, but they also were the only ones to continue their thieving ways. They made a new Cooper Vault, smaller but with even more security. There they kept the loot they collected together. However, the two geniuses were not just thieves. The duo had helped Interpol on several occasions, maybe even more than they stole. But in the end, Penelope and Bentley always did what was best for them, not Interpol or the criminals they stole from.
Over the years, the gang had stayed in contact. Murray and Bentley often visited each other and continued exchanging e-mails. Sometimes the hippo and turtle would even get letters from Sly, but this was only when he was able to sneak it by his partner, and now girlfriend, Carmelita Fox. Every Christmas the gang would get back together at one members house, except for Sly of course. They'd catch up with each other and often reveal news that surprised everyone. In fact, Bentley recalled one Christmas at Murray's where his friend and brother informed everyone he had a girlfriend, Morrigan DuBois. Bentley also remembered how people would often ask how Sly was doing. This was because even though Sly now worked with Interpol, the smart turtle kept a close eye on his pal. Everyone laughed one year when Bentley said he spotted Inspector Fox and Constable Cooper dancing at the policemen's ball. Yes it seemed that even though the gang was over, Bentley thought the good times would never end. He had no idea how wrong he was.
It all started on Christmas of 2008, three years after the Cooper Vault event. That year's Christmas was supposed to be at Panda King's, but everything was cancelled when Jing King, his daughter, had gotten engaged. He was so focused on the wedding he forgot his friends and was forced to cancel their Christmas party. Everyone though calmly accepted this and spent their first Christmas, in a long time, apart. "There will always be next year," Bentley said, but yet again he was wrong.
The team spent Christmas of 2009 apart as well. During that year, everyone's lives changed immensely. Murray was now one of the highest paid race car drivers in the world, traveling from country to country winning every trophy possible. Dimitri, however, wasn't as lucky as Murray. Due to the bad economy, and the lounge lizards reckless spending, Dimitri had lost his job, money, and girlfriends. Desperate he resorted back to a life of crime, was caught, and thrown back into prison with a five year sentence. Guru also had his own problems. He had finished teaching the rock stars, and when they revealed who their teacher was, the paparazzi attacked the koala with a barrage of questions. Confused and afraid, the Guru ran and was eventually on the run from said paparazzi. Over in China, nothing was really different for Panda King, except his new son-in-law. With the wedding over, the panda was now focused on getting the couple a house and jobs that would be able to support them. Everyone was so caught up in their own affairs, another Christmas was cancelled.
With Dimitri back in jail and Guru in hiding, it seemed that things couldn't get much worse, but they did. Bentley and Penelope's jobs as thieves who worked on both sides of the law sky rocketed. They now traveled around the world, setting up several homes and safe houses along the way. However, this combined with the things happening to the rest of the gang, made it very hard to stay in touch. Murray's e-mails came much slower and this made Bentley lucky if he heard from Murray once every few months. With the former criminals drifting apart, Bentley had become extremely depressed and desperate to complete his time machine. Originally he had began making it to travel to the future, but now only wanted it to go back in time and relive the good old days.
No longer able to take the tears in his eyes and the memories in his head, Bentley buried his face in his hands and began sobbing. "Why? Why does it have to be this way?" Bentley continued crying and forced out the words, "Why can't I just go back? Just one time is all I need. Damn time machine!" When Bentley said the words "time machine" there was a hint of anger in his voice.
The day was June 25 2010 and Bentley had given up the time machine back in January. He had been working on it since the gang broke up, making it five years. Bentley had, had many problems with the machine, but in January, when it refused to work after Bentley had completely changed its wiring, he snapped. The infuriated turtle destroyed five years of work with several of his bombs. Penelope was relieved that the center of Bentley's attention was gone, but it did not lessen his depression. If anything, it worsened it. With his only chance of going back in time gone, Bentley was forced to face the sad present.
Dimitri was still in prison, Panda King was still in China, Guru was still nowhere to be found, Murray was still racing, and Sly was still working with Carmelita, now living with her. And Bentley, with a worried Penelope always at his side, was still traveling the world, working on both sides of the law.
Penelope, worried about her boyfriend's constant depression, had always tried to keep his mind off of Sly, Murray and the rest. She even had gone to the lengths of tracking down criminals for them to capture. Currently they had been after a large group of thieves they had heard about a few months back. What was odd about this group of organized crime was they stole stuff that didn't relate to each other at all. One day they'd steal a statute from a museum in Greece, and the next a case of diamond rings from a jewelry store in the United Kingdom. Another odd thing was how they stole said items. For unknown reasons, the group was able to shut down all security systems until the next morning. This allowed them to steal what they came for without leaving evidence.
The group had barely escaped Bentley and Penelope each time, but the two were always able to catch a glimpse at the thieves. They always wore black and sometimes they'd be in groups of two, others in groups as large as fifteen. It was obvious that this group of thieves was very large and had many members. Bentley had suspected that it was simply a large group of organized crime being led by some rich mafia boss, but nowadays he never really thought about it. It seemed that even when with Penelope, who he loved more than anything, Bentley couldn't get thoughts of Sly, Murray, Guru, Panda King, and even sometimes Dimitri, out of his head. He missed them so, so much. Bentley knew he was smart, but he also felt without friends he was useless. If it weren't for Penelope the turtle knew he'd have gone mad by now.
"If only I knew five years ago, that here is where I'd be I'd," Bentley's voice trailed off as he continued sobbing in his hands. But the tears that seemed never ending stopped all of a sudden. He heard the door to the safe house open and someone step inside. It had to be Penelope, considering he had locked the door and they were the only two with a key.
"Bentley! You here!" Hearing Penelope's call and footsteps made Bentley pull out his thick glasses. He quickly wiped away the tears and placed the glasses over his red, puffy eyes.
"Mustn't let her see me like this." Bentleyremembered how sad Penelope became when she saw him sad so he quickly spun around. He sped towards the open door way but was stopped when his beautiful girlfriend, now back in her usual overalls and yellow shirt, entered.
Frozen in place, Bentley stared at Penelope's look of sadness and disappointment. "Bentley, I asked you not to come in here." Penelope herself had to actually hold back a tear of her own. "You know, every time we come to Paris and stay here you have to come in this room. You know how upset it makes you."
Pressing his glasses closer to his eyes, Bentley responded, "I'm fine, Penelope. I swear." However, Bentley knew his cover had been blown. He had no idea how raspy his voice had become from all the crying. With the same face she had on entering, Penelope slowly approached Bentley and removed his glasses, allowing her to stare into a pair of puffy, red eyes.
Penelope shuddered, as if she felt the same pain as the turtle she loved so much felt. "Bentley," Penelope said placing a hand on his green cheek, "Why did you come in here?"
"I just…..I just wanted a reminded of the way it used to be." Bentley took Penelope's free hand in his own. "Don't get me wrong, Penelope. I love you more than words can express, but sometimes I….I…"
"You miss Murray and Sly." When Bentley heard his sentence completed he simply nodded. "I understand, but we can't dwell on this. I know it hurts Bentley, I miss them to. But there is no use dwelling on it. Everyone else has moved on, it's time we do so as well."
Bentley squeezed Penelope's hand tighter and whispered, "But….but what if they miss us to. I mean, if there is just a chance that Murray, or anyone else wants to see me we could go and," Penelope frowned, making Bentley stop.
"Bentley, when was the last time you heard from anyone?" There was silence. "Look, I love you and if there is anything I've learned over these past five years it's that as long as I'm with you, I'm happy." Bentley smiled and blushed a little at the same time. Penelope smirked and motioned towards the door with her head. "Now come on, let's order some pizza and I'll show you what I found in the helicopter."
Bentley smirked. "No tomato topping though. You know I'm allergic."
Penelope rolled her eyes and laughed. "How could I forget?" So Penelope and Bentley separated and they began exited through the door, but that's what happened. On the way out, Bentley slammed the door shut, and this little slam started his next adventure. Bentley and Penelope were about to head to the kitchen, when on the other side of the door, they heard crash. The two exchanged worried glances and rushed back inside the room.
Once back in the room full of Cooper Gang memorabilia, Bentley and Penelope saw the ground was covered in glass and the glass case that contained the cane was gone. "We have to clean this up." Bentley said, to which Penelope nodded. She ran out of the room to get something to sweep the glass up with.
Bentley began to worry. The cane was nowhere to be found. He saw the calling card next to him, covered in glass, and the red pouch was somewhere in the corner but no cane. Bentley slapped himself for slamming the door so hard. If it had been any harder, he might have caused the other glass cases to fall over. Bentley looked over to where the glass case once stood. The podiums still stood, holding Murray's gear and the Thievius Raccoonus in place. However, behind the wooden stand the case used to stand on, Bentley could see the cane…..well at least half of it.
"Oh no!" Bentley yelled as he rolled towards the cane, hoping his fears weren't true. Unfortunately, like most of the time, he was correct. Next to the stand was half of the cane, and a few inches away the other. Bentley picked up the nearest half, the one with the hook on it, and stared. Hyperventilating, and sweat pouring down his face, a shocked Bentley forced out the word, "Crap."
"What's wrong?" Penelope asked this from the doorway, a brush in one hand and a dust pan in the other. Bentley, jaw dropped, turned to face Penelope presenting his cane half. "No…no! It's okay we can fix that with umm…..some duck tape!" Penelope, equally worried as Bentley, rushed over and grabbed the other half off the ground. "Hey, maybe we will be to put them back together without the tape."
Penelope took the part Bentley held and began trying to jam the two together. But while Penelope tried attaching the two together, Bentley was focusing on something else. When Penelope snatched Bentley's half, something fell out of it and rolled a few inches away. Bentley's look of worry quickly became one of curiosity. Ignoring Penelope's fiddling with cane, Bentley rolled towards what fell out of the cane and picked it up. With it now in his hand, Bentley saw it was a very, very old and rolled up piece of paper. After looking for a few minutes, Bentley unrolled the paper to see it looked like a letter. The hand writing was rather sloppy, as if the writer had written in on a time limit. Bentley was about to criticize the handwriting when he gasped.
Upon further examination, the turtle discovered the paper was addressed to Sly Cooper from none other than his father, Conner Cooper.
"I fixed it!" Penelope proclaimed, after finally forcing the two pieces to attach. "I guess the cane was always able to split in half. Who knew?" After a few seconds of no response, Penelope looked over to her boyfriend. She saw him reading the strange paper he had found in the cane. "What do you got there, Bentley?"
Bentley looked over his shoulder and motioned for Penelope to come closer, which she did. "Penelope, check this out. I found this old paper in Sly's cane. It's from his father." Penelope then came even closer so she could see the paper over Bentley's shoulder. They exchanged similar looks of surprise, and began reading.
"Dear Sly,
Son if you are reading this, I am most likely dead. As I write this a gang known as the Fiendish Five is breaking into our home and you are hidden in a closet. Now I know this is frightening for you, and I am unsure of what my fate is, but please understand that all things happen for a reason. Just remember, that no matter what, your mother and I will always be with you.
Now Sly, I don't have much time to explain, but there is something you need to know. I felt I could wait until you were a man to tell you this, but it seems I won't get that chance. I have no time to enter this into the Thievius Raccoonus, so I will be hiding in the cane's secret compartment. I just pray that you will one day find it. You have a cousin, Sly. I know this may come as a shock to you, but you weren't always supposed to be the next Cooper Thief. This is because your ancestor known as Tennessee "Kid" Cooper had, had many children with several women. So that there wouldn't be tons of Cooper Gangs running around, he made a rule that only the eldest son (his being Thaddeus Winslow Cooper) of each Cooper generation was allowed to be the next thief. I was older than my younger brother, so I became the next thief.
However, my brother had a son two years before me. Something you must also know is your uncle was a horrible man. I can't go into depth, but he taught your cousin horrible, horrible things. Things no thief should ever use. And on the day he was supposed to inherit the Thievius Raccoonus, your cousin was nine at the time while you we six, he vanished, allowing you to become the next thief. Your uncle died shortly after.
I have no idea if he is still alive, but one thing was found at the scene of his disappearance: a receipt for two tickets to Cairo, Egypt. Like I said, I don't know if he is even alive or still in Egypt, but if there is a chance you have to take it. With me gone, you and your cousin are the last of the Coopers. I don't want you to feel alone in this big world. So please, as my last request, find you cousin when you think you are ready. But just remember th (It was blank for a few spaces as if he had stopped writing for a few seconds.) Son, they are coming. My mother and I love you very much and, like I said, we will always be with you.
Love your Father, Conner Cooper."
Penelope and Bentley finished at the same time and exchanged the same look, jaws dropped and eyes wide. There was long, eerie silence as Bentley rolled the old paper up. Realizing that Bentley didn't want to speak first, Penelope decided to ask a question.
"So….what do you make of this?" Penelope took the rolled up paper from Bentley, just to make sure it was real. Bentley just sat there, jaw still open.
After a few minutes, which felt like hours to the mouse and turtle, Bentley closed his mouth and did the exact opposite of what Penelope expected. With one of the biggest smiles he'd ever had, Bentley shouted, "What do I think about this? What do I think about this? Penelope, do you know what this means?"
Penelope, slightly creped out, answered, "Um no, that's kind of why I asked you." Bentley just looked at her, with the same huge smile. "Bentley, no offense, but you're kind of freaking me out." Bentley just laughed.
"Penelope, think about it! This is Conner Cooper's last request. He wanted Sly to find the only other Cooper. Do you understand now?" Penelope, still looking at him oddly, shook her head. "It means we can get the gang back together! You, me, Murray, Guru, Panda King, not Dimitri, and Sly! I mean sure he's with Interpol, but if Carmelita loves him as much as I think, she'll allow him to go looking for this long lost relative." Penelope was no longer freaked out, but actually rather upset. Bentley was so happy he had not noticed all of the holes in his plan, but she did. "It's perfect! It might take awhile with tracking him down and what not, but it seems Egypt is the best place to start. Hell I'll just go and buy tickets right…." Bentley was stopped from exiting the room the room by Penelope, who was currently holding his arm. "What's wrong?"
Penelope sighed; she was not going to enjoy this. "Bentley, just think, you are usually good at that. Sly's dad even said it. We have no idea if this cousin is even alive. Also, I don't think getting the gang back is going to be so easy. Murray is a world traveling racer, we have no idea where Guru even is, you know how attached to his daughter PK is, and getting Sly is much easier said than done." Penelope's heart broke as she saw Bentley's smile suddenly become a frown. She took a breath and continued, "I mean, him and Carmelita are in love as much as you and I. I don't think Sly will leave that life so easily, even for a cousin. I mean he left you and Murray, and you two were like his family so…" Penelope stopped. She had now noticed Bentley had his head bowed, face hidden.
There was a silence, one much longer than the one that followed the letter, but someone eventually spoke. It was Bentley. His head was still bowed and his voice was barely above a whisper, but he did speak. "Penelope," His girlfriend nodded, so he knew she could hear him. "I…..I need this. This life, working on both sides of the law, isn't enough. It was good for a few years, but then everyone disappeared. I love you but I just…..I miss them so much." A single tear rolled down Bentley's cheek and fell to the floor. "It won't even be a real adventure. We'll get together, got to Egypt, and if we can't find anything we will leave. No questions asked." Bentley gulped and repeated what he said first, "I need this." Penelope sighed and left the room.
Bentley wanted to call after her, but he didn't get chance. This was because Penelope returned in a few seconds, now grinning with a news paper in her hand. She tossed it into Bentley's lap. Bentley looked up at Penelope confused, but she just said, "Look at the front page."
Bentley held the paper up to his eyes. He gasped, for on the front cover there was a picture of Murray, in front of the van and holding a trophy. Bentley read the front cover aloud; still a little shocked from the picture. "American hippo to represent the U.S. in international racing tournament." He shrugged, not knowing what to make of this article.
Penelope sighed and answered, "You said you wanted to get the gang back together. Well, what better way to start then with Murray?" Bentley looked at her, a mix of shock and happiness on his face. "I will do anything to make you happy Bentley, and if this is it then so be it. And truth be told….I miss them to." Bentley burst into smile and hugged Penelope tightly. When he released her they looked into each other eyes and kissed.
And so began the biggest challenge and adventure the gang had ever faced.
A/N: I had a lot of fun writing the ending for this chapter. I feel it really means allot to fans of Sly who are very desperate for a sequel. Anyways, like I said I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you like it as much as I do. Also, one thing you guys should know is the missions can't start until the gang is back together, so you might have to wait till chapter 4. SORRY! Alright guys, as usual please keep reviewing, have a very Jabala Day, and BYE!
