A Thief's Tale
Chapter 3: Guilt
Sly knew he was beat. Dropping the bag of loot, Sly put his hands up and lowered his eyes to the ground.
"What's the matter Ringtail, no clever little quips?" Carmelita asked still angry, "No flirting? And where's your gang?"
"My gang isn't in on this one." Sly said not even attempting to look up. Something about this didn't sit quite well with Carmelita. Something about Sly was different, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Whatever was different, it made her job a lot easier.
"That's a shame; I was hoping to take you all in at once." Carmelita said, "At least I get to take you in. You're under arrest. And this time, I'm never letting you out of my sight. It's not like you can pick a lock while being watched without it being noticed."
"Probably not." Sly said letting Carmelita turn him around and shackle his hands together.
The Cooper Safe House…
"Oh my god. Everyone, come quick!" Bentley shouted. Soon after, the rest of the gang gathered around the screen used to control the grapple cam.
"Bentley, please tell me we're not seeing what I think we are." Murray said panicking.
"I'm afraid so." Bentley said, "Sly's been captured."
"But, how could he let that happen?" Penelope asked.
"I don't know," Bentley said, "I've been watching him with the grapple cam since he left. He didn't even try to escape."
"So what you're saying is" Panda King began.
"That Sly gave up? Unfortunately, yes." Bentley finished, "You know, I feel partially responsible for this."
"But why? Sly just up and split." Dimitri said, "It isn't your fault he didn't outrun the fuzz."
"If we weren't talking to him behind his back," Bentley said, "Maybe he wouldn't have had to go out and try to pull a heist without our help."
"Then we have to bust him out!" Murray proclaimed.
"I want to save him too Murray," Bentley said, "But if we help him now, after he left because he felt we were always helping him out of spots he should have been get out of by himself, his pride and feeling of self worth could be completely destroyed."
"But we can't just sit here and do nothing!" Penelope said.
"I'm going to keep the grapple cam on him." Bentley explained, "We'll get involved, but ONLY if it is absolutely necessary."
Interpol, Paris Branch…
"Hey look," one of the Interpol agents said as Carmelita entered, "Looks like she finally brought in Cooper."
"Couldn't have been too hard," another one said, "Just dangle their relationship over his head."
"She probably promised to give him a little something if he would cooperate." Yet another agent said.
"Why don't you guys shut up! She's a great cop! And so help me god, if I hear one more shot at her, I will break out of my cell and make sure you all die in the most painful way possible!" Sly shouted with venom in his voice Carmelita never heard before. That's when Carmelita noticed what was different on that rooftop. He was missing his charm. He was missing that confident, child-like, carefree look in his eyes. He was missing what made him himself. In fact, when she looked in his eyes on that rooftop, there was a new look in his eyes, the look of depression. It was the look of a man who given up. The look of a man who was utterly defeated. The look of a man who has lost everything in the world, including something she thought he would never lose, hope. No matter what happened to him, she never saw this look in his eyes. Snap out of it Carmelita, she thought to herself, He's a thief. Take pity on him now and he'll just exploit it. Then again, how could anyone fake that look?
"Well Cooper, here's your new home." Carmelita said showing Sly to the most secure cell Interpol had to offer, "Hope you like it. Because with the exception of your court date tomorrow, you're never leaving it." Sly didn't say anything. Carmelita unshackled the raccoon, pushed him into the cell, and closed the door.
"Electric lock?" Sly asked sitting down on his bed.
"Of course, you didn't think I'd leave you alone with a lock you could pick did you?" Carmelita responded.
"I would never think that you would make that mistake." Sly said, "By the way, you remember the note I left you when I went back to this life?"
"Vaguely." Carmelita responded not telling him she was always carrying it with her.
"I just want you to know, everything in it was the truth." Sly said. Nice try Ringtail, she thought to herself, I'm not falling for that.
"Hey, Carmelita," An Interpol agent said, "The chief wants to see you."
"Okay." Carmelita said then lowering her voice to a whisper, "Could you keep an eye on Sl-I mean-Cooper for me? Just make sure he doesn't try anything."
"You mean like escape?" The agent asked.
"Uh, yeah." Carmelita said. She didn't want to say that she was worried that he might try to hurt, or even kill, himself.
