So, um, hi. Yea, been a bit. Couple of weeks, right? Well, my mother fell deathly ill in the hospital and I changed some priorities. Add that with increased physical training, Christmas shopping, some serious drama in the home, and of course, finals for the semester, I just haven't had the time. My humblest apologies. But I spent a good time daydreaming about getting back to this, and finally, at 12:39 on my last night at my mother's house, the muse kicks me so hard in the ass I can't help it. By the way, I got a Droid and I do use it for reading fanfiction, so I'm up to date on all the stories I've been reading. Kudos to pasta16 for doing his 25 days of christmas thing, while short, and quick to the point, I found it quite entertaining.

Now, to solve a cliffhanger and leave another, ah, it feels good to be writing. By the way, a really good song is "She wolf" by Kyria, she does English trance versions of several famous Shakirra songs. I like Kyria more than Shakirra.

Yes, I'm a guy who listens to Shakirra, did you not read my profile and see DANCE listed?

...I digress, to the story you've all been waiting for!

All rights to the creators of Sly Cooper.


The situation Sly was in could simply be summed into one, simple, four letter word.

Shit.

Yep, shit definately described his predicament. As Carmelita mourned the loss of her fellow officer and mentor, Sly scoured the for anything. And he found it.

A tiny speck that looked like a bug. Deciding it may be important he stood up and put his hand on Carmelita's shoulder.

"This is officially a crime scene, I'm going to get the forensics kit." she nodded slowly. As Sly walked away, she called out to him, voice cracking.

"W-wait, if someone else were to come...what's our cover? We need a story."

Sly froze midstep. Was Carmelita talked about lying and covering up a murder? He thought a moment on their situation and decided that it was indeed the best course of action. They had nothing but a body and a little bug he had yet to investigate.

"You left your cell phone in your desk."

"Okay, then why would we be up here?"

"We heard a gunshot."

"And the fire extinguisher?"

Sly bit the inside of his cheek as he thought, finally he had an idea. A temporary solution.

"The chief was on fire, we tried to put him out."

"But a simple autopsy will reveal his wasn't on fire."

"But it'll buy us time to gather evidence for the truth."

"And if there is none...?"

Now that REALLY shocked Sly. The ever hopeful Carmelita wondering if there no evidence to be had. He knew then that he needed to wrap this up and get her home, she wasn't thinking clearly.

"Then we solve this through my means." The firmness in his voice startled Carmelita. She knew what he meant. A police officer can only get so much, but a thief can get anything they need. She shook her head.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that."

"Agreed." and with that, Sly opened the door to the stairwell and vanished down it.


"So you failed me?"

"Not entirely, the host was killed. I personally executed him."

"Ahh, then the damage is done none-the-less. Now my minion, listen well. You will take your weapon and head to the where the temple once was. There, you will unveil your true power and eridicate all who oppose us. Remember, this is a revenge thousands of years in the making."

"Of course my master."


Sly returned to the floor and snapped on a pair of rubber gloves and collected the insect and put it into a small vial. He then commenced to take photographs of the scene and noted the time in each one to help support his story should they get into any kind of trouble. After putting the camera awat, he poked the carpet and found several more of the peculiar insects, especially concecrated around where the body was. Soon he had the vial's bottom full of them and he closed it and pocketed it. He pulled out a black body bag and began to collect the shattered body of his once boss. He paused every so often to listen to Carmelita's soft whimpers of despair as she sat in a cubicle in a chair, her arms wrapped around her knees pulled to her chest.

When Sly finished the clean up, he removed the blood from the carpet and zipped up the body bag.

"It's done Carm."

She stood up shakily and nodded. A brief moment of eye contact and then the two of them embraced deeply. Carmelita cried heavily and unrequitedly into Sly's chest. Fear, remorse, grief, despair, pain, anguish, nervousness; a thousand emotions that became a torrent of tears and a flood of fears.

And Sly was no better.

Sure, Sly was used to breaking laws, but this, THIS.

He could be labeled a cop killer. He had never killed anyone in his life. It went against the teachings of his family.

Yet, as he looked down at the swollen eyes of his blue haired love, he felt a rage in him like never before.

Sly Cooper was no killer, but he was going to kill who ever did this.

He looked down again and noticed something shining in a corner.

"What the..." Carmelita followed his eyesight to the shining object, a ring in the corner. She walked over to it and picked it up.

"I've seen this before. Chief wore it once..."

Carmelita knocked lightly on the Chief's door. He grumbled an 'enter' and she did so. She saw he was wearing a rather formal suit and was fumbling with something in his hand.

"Yes Ms. Fox?"

"I have the report you asked for sir..." She laid it on his desk gingerly. Part of his was slightly afraid, the other curious. She had never seen the Chief so focused and concerned before.

"If I may sir, what is bothering you?"

The Chief looked up at her and showed her the ring.

"Do you know what this is?"

"No sir."

"It's a ring of a powerful organization. One that I have been privileged enough to join. The trouble is...I cannot say much on the subject, but let's just say, there's going to be a flood coming, and we are the ones trying to stop it."

"And who is 'we'?"

"The Freemasons." Carmelita said in a daze.

"As in the same Freemasons from 'National Treasure' and all that?" Sly questioned her. She nodded.

"They are an old organization. Rich and powerful. It makes you wonder..."

Sly snapped his fingers in realization.

"The Freemasons originated in Egypt. Same as-"

"Your first ancestor."

"Slytutkhamen. What does it mean though? Could there be anything there?"

"I don't know Sly. The Freemasons are thought to just be a bunch of old furs meeting in lodges to discuss women and golf now-a-days. But, still. There could be more."

"I'm going to take these insects to Bentley for analysis, he'll believe our story." Carmelita's blood went cold.

"What?"

"We need people we can trust right now Carmelita."

"I know but..."

"We're not going to steal anything. We're just going to the safehouse...." Sly trailed off. Carmelita immediately knew he was thinking of something risque.

"Sly?"

"Carmelita...what if we take the body with us? That way, no one will know he's dead, he'll be listed as missing and Bentley will be able to take a look at it too. I know its VERY illegal, and makes us an accessory to murder, but right now, we need to stay out of jail and found out what the HELL all this means. Just trust me."

Carmelita clenched her fists and stormed up to Sly. He winced and prepared himself for her onslaught but was only greeted with her handing him Barkley's ring.

"I hope your right Sly. I REALLY do. I'm going to trust you."

Sly nodded and smiled.

"Take the fire escape and take a taxi to the apartment, I'm going to take this all by rooftop to the safehouse, then I'll come back for you."

"Alright." The two looked into the other's eyes, looking for something. A sign, a signal; anything to spark the fuel of passion that was ready to explode between them, yet in such a time, the spark just couldn't ignite. Carmelita blushed under the intense gaze and looked away and smiled at him once more before heading towards the stairs. Sly watched her go, her hips swaying slightly as she went.

Sly let out the breath he was holding and hefted the forensics kit onto his back and picked up the bodybag. The awkwardness of the broken pieces shifting the black plastic made it hard to carry, but Sly knew he had to.

He had to hide this body to protect Carmelita.


All was quiet in the White House. The past week had been very lax on the President, and it showed in his demeanor. As he rested in his chair in the oval office, he couldn't help but enjoy the rare moment of relative peace he had. All the lights were off and he had his eyes closed, taking in the sounds of the most powerful building in the world. But even from under his eyelids, he could see the light coming in from under one of the doors. He opened his eyes when the light went dark for several moments. He stared at the door and then the light returned. He shrugged and kicked back into his chair once more.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed the chair and spun it around and the President found himself staring into the red eyes of a creature seemingly made of shadows.

"Finally, after centuries of planning and waiting, one of you is in the seat of power. One who knows all the answers to the questions I have."

The President gulped and played with the Freemason ring on his finger. Being of high accordance in the society, he knew with what he was speaking with. He seethed out it's name as if it was an old relative come to visit with a one way ticket, trying not to show his fear.

"Agony."

"I see that my name is not lost, even after your people escaped me in your little ships to this 'new world'. There is much for us to discuss....."