"Are you kidding me?" Carmelita stared at the chief in disbelief. "You want to work with Cooper?!" The chief rubbed his chin, looking down at the newspaper on his desk.

"It seems that he is the only one with information intimate enough about breaking into banks like that. We don't have many options; we need to catch this guy before he strikes again." Carmelita sighed, knowing that the chief was right.

"How do we know we can trust him? How do we know that he isn't behind these robberies in the first place? What if he helps us just to steal these things?"

"I'm pretty sure that this is someone else, isn't Cooper still in the holding cell downstairs?" Carmelita shifted her weight guiltily and glanced at the ground.

"You knew he was there huh?" The chief looked at her in incredulity.

"Did you really think that you were hiding it from me? You've been stalling his paperwork to keep him locked up for a month. Although, a month really isn't that long considering all of the heists he's pulled. He's lucky that we didn't have any charges on him." She looked back at the chief to see him smirk at her. "So, is he still there, or is there only a raccoon skeleton left?" Carmelita looked guilty again.

"I let him go this morning." She mumbled, ruefully. The chief rubbed his temples and sighed.

"How quickly can you track him down?"

"Assuming he's still in the country, he'll be back by nightfall."

"Good, get right on this, Fox. Oh, and while on this case, he's your responsibility. If he does steal something, it will be on you." He gave her a stern look.

"Yes sir," she walked out of the chief's office and into her own. She sat in her chair and turned it to face the window. "I'll find you, you bastard" She mumbled staring out into the Paris streets.

Sly Cooper walked out of the police station, blinking at the daylight. "It's been a long time since I've seen you," he muttered as he gazed up to the sky. He smiled up and watched the clouds float by for a moment. "No wonder why I never spend that much time behind bars." He let the wind whip at his fur, not even minding that it was bitterly cold. He put his blue cap on his head, and smiled at the familiarity of it. He walked across the street and darted down an alley. First things first. He ignored the rumbling in his stomach, hungry from starting the releasing process before he was brought breakfast. He scaled a pipe in the alley, and quickly hopped onto the roof. He inhaled deeply, appreciating the fresh air at the high altitude. He then started running, hopping from roof to roof, and making use of power lines that connected some more lengthy distances. He did not worry about being seen. Most people wouldn't look up, regardless of it being midmorning, and besides, he wasn't up to anything. Even if he was arrested again, he would only be able to see Inspector Fox again. After a few minutes of running the familiar path, Sly made it to the roof of his old safe house. He jumped down to the street, and walked up to the front door.

The door was locked, but the window next to it was broken. Sly entered the safe house through the broken window, inspecting any damage that may have been done. He walked through the front room and noticed drawers that had been pulled out of a desk that Bentley would utilize and were thrown onto the ground. The cushions from the couch where he would play videogames with Murray were not in their right places. As he scanned through the rest of the safe house, he noticed a similar scene in every room. He got to the kitchen and found all of the cupboards bare and the refrigerator empty. "Dirty criminals," he chuckled to himself, quoting Inspector Fox.

Through his search he had found nothing left from his gang. They must have come to clean this place out when I was in the hospital. He thought as he looked through the practically empty place. He did not see any distinguishing signs that his gang specifically had been there. Maybe Interpol cleaned this place out. He walked down a hallway to where his room was located. As he made his way, he noticed that the door to Murray's room and the door to Bentley's room were locked. When he made it to his room, his door was also locked tightly. Being a master thief, he would be able to skillfully and easily pick the lock. The average thief, who Sly assumed had been in the safe house, would not have been able to pick this lock. He could see scratch marks around the lock, as if someone had tried to break in. It appeared though that the attempts had not been successful.

The bolts in the door slid and the door unlocked. Sly slipped into the room and reached for the light switch. His ears twitched as he heard something whizzing towards him. He ducked quickly and heard something connect with the wall behind him. He turned to see a green dart sticking out of the hallway wall. I don't remember adding that during the last remodeling. I guess the gang was here. He mused as he noticed the dart was a trademark of his scaly friend. Bentley must have been trying to protect my stuff. Sly turned his attention back to his room and tried to see into the darkness. There was no light coming from inside of the room and the light from the hallway did not do much to cast away the darkness. Sly leapt forward, aiming himself for where his hammock was. In the air he maneuvered to avoid being hit by more darts as they fired at him. He landed on his hammock and reached in front of himself towards the window. He pulled away the drapes that were covering the window, keeping it dark to hide the obstacles. Once the sun could come in, Sly saw the place where the darts were coming from.

There was a small crossbow in the corner of the room, able to hit any moving target in the room due to the angle it had been placed at. Must be on a sensor, he thought, looking at the crossbow. Sly's usual way of disabling the weapon with his cane was not an option since he left it in the South Pacific. He jumped again and landed under the weapon, dodging more darts as they flew at him. Once he was under the weapon, it could no longer sense him. He reached up and pulled on a bunch of wires. He wasn't sure what the wires did, but the weapon drooped, leading Sly to believe that it had been disabled. He threw his hat into the middle of the room, and no more darts fired at the motion.

He left from under the weapon to start the search of his room. He walked to his dresser and found it still to be fully stocked. He changed into his familiar blue shirt and left the standard issue black one he received in jail on his hammock. Now that, that is taken care of, he found his old red backpack and let it rest on his shoulders. He picked up his coat and put it on over the backpack. Due to the sleek nature, and empty state of the bag, a person would be unable to tell it was there. He left the gear that he had on him, on the island. All he had to work with was whatever was left behind by his gang. He shouldn't really need gear though since he decided to give up his life of crime. He sighed as he picked up a few euros from inside of his dresser and shoved them into his jacket pocket. He'd have to start actually earning money if he ever wanted to woo the charming Inspector.

He closed the door to his room once more, hearing the lock click into place. He opened the window and perched on the sill. From there he slid the window closed and he jumped, performing a lithely flip before landing on the street. Maybe I could be a circus performer, or an acrobat. He thought, smiling to himself. He made his way to a café that was nearby. He ordered some food, internally grumbling about how much faster it would be if he just swiped a bagel from the rack behind the cashier. Despite his growing impatience, he waited for his food and paid for it in full. He sat at a table by the widow and gazed out of it as he ate. After he was finished, he left and went to a place he knew well. He approached the front of the jewelry store, slightly uncomfortable with using the front door. He had entered it many times, but from a less direct entrance. He had never been caught in the store, and knew that he wouldn't be recognized by the employees. He took a deep breath and walked into the store casually. He walked over to the cashier.

"What do you get for a woman who's pissed as hell at you?"

The woman behind the counter smiled understandingly and nodded. "Did you forget an anniversary?"

Sly chuckled and shook his head. "I'd be lucky if we ever had an anniversary. Right now she hates me."

"It's probably not all that bad," she said comfortingly, unaware that Sly was not exaggerating. "I'm sure she'll come around if you show her this." She held up a diamond necklace.

"It's beautiful," Sly said, "but, I'm afraid that her neck is already taken."

"So, not a necklace, what did you have in mind?"

Sly smiled deviously, "how about a ring?"