Xander didn't wait up as he sped his way to Russia, though they were in different sections of Interpol, Carmelita was still a friend and one that he would not leave to chance as he soared, finding that he was soon joined by the Cooper Gang as Sly spoke. "Hey, you heading our way?" He nodded as he replied back.

"Carmelita went on ahead on some intel, the lead is heading to the Krakarov Volcano, got room for a bat?"

"Are you crazy!?" A nasal voice shouted form inside as Sly replied back.

"Bentley, we need all the help we can get, so don't worry about it, he didn't kill me when he was given that chance, he's okay in my books." Sly turned back with a nod as Xander did the same and drove behind the van as it opened and he rode in, parking his ride with a turret next to him as he spoke.

"So, we are thinking Clockwerk here?"

"Oh yeah, we are and maybe you can help puzzle something out." Sly openly gave the Thievius Raccoonus to Xander and he cracked it open as Sly spoke. "In the main pictures of my ancestors, there is a shadowy owl-like figure in the pages and they are similar to the police reports of Clockwerk, so is it a strange coincidence or is something missing here." Xander didn't know as he looked it over, he understanding the skills and techniques in the book, but the image of this owl sent shivers down his spine, how old was the Clockwerk name or... was Clockwerk... something else now?

He didn't get his answer as Murray spoke. "Hey, Sly, the road to Clockwerk's fortress is blocked. Do me a favor and shoot out that lock for me, would ya pal?" Sly nodded and Xander took a front seat to the entrance in, but it was terrifying as mines, robo-falcons, and even boulders caused by a freaking death ray barred their way before they reached the next area, at the cost of the turret because Murray didn't think to retract it back into the van, but that didn't stop them as Xander proved an ample danger and marksman with his aim with the Zaptron for Bentley to pull the data out of the hanging computers before they pressed on.

Just as fast as it happened, the party made it inside to find Carmelita trapped before Xander dialed in the right frequency for her comms while Sly got to work to reach her in time. "Inspector Fox, this is Winter Watch Fangmeen, listen to me, Cooper is coming to get you out, be on guard for any traps."

"Cooper! He is the reason...!"

"FOX!" Xander growled and that caused both Murray and Bentley to jump as Carmelita actually paled to his tone. "We are currently in the last of the Fiendish Five's lair, Cooper has been collecting his family legacy from them, I should know, I was sent to KILL him!"

"K-K-Kill him!? No, that's not...!"

"Not justice, Fox. Not justice." Xander spoke as he continued. "Now, let Cooper help you and then argue with me and Barkley about justice, we know it is not so black and white like that." She was quiet as Cooper made it through as he entered a trap, but made his point clear.

"I'm here to rescue you!" But the chamber started to flood with gas and Sly took the final breath of air before covering his face as Clockwerk appeared on the four screens on the other side as he mocked with a laugh.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha — you sentimental fool! Empathy has always been the downfall of the Cooper clan." Bentley exclaimed with raised hands.

"I knew this was a trap." Bentley quickly went to work on his computer to get through. "Looks like I'm going to have to do some fast and furious hacking to shut down that gas before Sly's brain is turned to cheese." Xander raised a brow to that statement as Fox pounded on the container imprisoning her to get to Sly, whose battle was starting to lose to the gas, one breath and he would topple before Bentley cheered. "I'm the best! No code can stand before me!"

"Nice work there, Bentley." Xander mused as the gas shut down and vented before Sly finally took a breath in relief before Carmelita came to a understanding.

"Sly, I was wrong about you. Break me out of this forcefield by smashing its base, and I'll make it up to you somehow." Sly nodded as he struck the base and Carmelita turned her pistol on the wall, blasting an hole through as the two headed through as Xander jumped out of the van as he spoke.

"Murray, get the van warmed up, I'll keep the love birds on task."

"Okay..." The hippo blinked before he exclaimed. "Hey, wait a minute!?"

"I am not your foe, you guys, Death is a last resort and for the weak of spirit." Xander answered as he took off and Bentley spoke.

"That... is someone that I can put my trust in, someone who puts a life first before his mission..."

"I don't get it, Cooper." Carmelita voiced as the pair of raccoon and fox made it out to a scaling mountain face, leading up to the death ray that Clockwerk had. "I've hunted you for years, tried to throw you behind bars — but when you get a chance to leave me in a cage, you set me free — why?"

"Carmelita, we may be on opposite sides of the law, but you're not my enemy. Now the homicidal robotic owl that built this death ray and nearly gassed us to death — that guy's on my list!" Carmelita nodded as she agreed.

"I see your point. Alright, until Clockwerk and his evil schemes are destroyed, I suggest we work together."

"Together at last!" Carmelita raised a brow to the statement before a robo-falcon dove in and slammed into Sly, grabbing something before Carmelita quickdraw and destroyed it before Sly realized what just happened as he exclaimed. "Huh... what? I need that cane! It's been in my family for generations!"

"Don't worry, ringtail. I'll cover you while you get it back. If you can, make your way to the top of the death ray. I stashed my jet-pack there before Clockwerk nabbed me."

"Now that we're a team and all, I hate to leave your side."

"Hold on — this truce is only temporary. Once we beat Clockwerk, I'm coming after you."

"Really?"

"Well... maybe I'll give you a ten-second head start." Before Sly could retort, he was kicked on his way as Xander arrived with the flying kick.

"My gosh, you two! Focus on the mission, sort out your romantic and otherwise emotions later!" Carmelita flared red as the Zaptron was deployed. "Inspector Fox, let's keep that raccoon safe and give some covering fire, those robo-falcons and magma slugs are not going to give him quarter."

"Right!" Both agents moved to fire as Sly ascended up the rock and machine face with any problems getting shot or sniped in seconds of them popping up before he made it and had the way cleared of several barricades before he got the cane back and saluted to the pair as gestured back to Carmelita's acknowledge. "Nice job, raccoon." He headed in to find the jet pack and put an end to this vile foe...

Bentley came through to Sly as he spotted the jetpack prior. "There's Carmelita's jet-pack right where she said it would be. The magnatronic support field for the death ray got destroyed as you were making a run for your cane. You'd better hurry, this whole thing is about to fall apart!"

"I'm on it." Sly moved in quick to get the jetpack as the ray started to take a dive into the magma below, he scaling the machine and grabbing the jet pack, slipping it on before taking flight away before a portion of the machine atop shifted and broke free as Bentley called out.

"Sly! Behind you!" Sly got some distance from the machine as it spoke.

"Sly Cooper, you have escaped my gas chamber and destroyed my death ray. Remarkable. You Coopers always find a way to beat me!"

"Always?! So that was you in the background of all those old pictures in the Thievius Raccoonus. How old are you?"

"Perfection has no age..."

"What? You're immortal?"

"Revenge is the prime ingredient in the fountain of youth. I've kept myself alive for hundreds of years with a steady diet of jealousy and hate, awaiting the day when I would finally eclipse your family's thieving reputation." Carmelita got into the frequency to tell Sly the situation.

"Sly! My missiles don't hurt him, but seem to create holes in his armor. Shoot into the gaps we create!" The robotic owl gave them trouble, but between blasting the joints with shock rounds and weakening them enough for the jet pack's rockets to wreck havoc, the villain was still not easy as he crashed into the lava and emerged with flight of jets as Xander exclaimed.

"You're kidding! He should have melted! All of his immortality HAS to be somewhere in that robotic form!"

"Less talk, more shots, we need to support Cooper!" Xander nodded as the thing fired off rings of energy and Sly had to dodge them and NOT hit them before the agents weakened him again and sent him crashing into the lava once more as the two banter in the fight.

"I don't get it. You're so familiar with my family — you must have known my father had a son. If you hated the Coopers so much, why did you let me live when you stole the Thievius Raccoonus?"

"Because I wanted to show the world that without your precious book, the Cooper line was nothing."

"Ah, well, there's where you're wrong. The Thievius Raccoonus doesn't create great thieves... it takes great thieves to create the Thievius Raccoonus!"

"Enough, Sly Cooper! It ends here. I'll finish you like I finished your father. Then the Cooper line will be erased, and the only master thief will be Clockwerk!" It's equipment faltered and it finally crashed as Bentley exclaimed.

"Now's your only chance, Sly! You've got to get to his head and destroy it before his auto-reconstruct circuitry kicks in!" It took some tricky moves and dodges, but Sly made it as Clockwerk cursed him.

"Cooper! You will never be rid of me! Clockwerk is superior!" Sly bashed the head right off and quickly grabbed that last piece of the Thievius Raccoonus from the evil owl as Sly breathed, recounting his journey with the friends he now had and the foes he had to face, and something else with Carmelita, even spent ten seconds of no shock pistol and even a kiss with Carmelita before bolting out of there, his adventure having come to an end...

Xander clawed his arm as he had freed Carmelita, just in time for Interpol to roll in and find the INTACT pieces of Clockwerk, picking them out of the lava with care as Barkley spoke. "So, Sly Cooper did kill Clockwerk, just goes to show..."

"Jim... shut up..." Xander hissed as the Chief paused as Xander spoke. "What Sly Cooper did was a boon, that thing... that thing made it a mission to slaughter the Coopers, to put them down, and to make them seem nothing more than petty, worthless criminals without that book of history, legacy, and hope." Xander eased as he spoke. "That thing dates too far back to be called a criminal, the only thing we can call it is an abomination, it lives from Ancient Egypt, it menaced in Japan, and terrorized the Wild West." He rubbed his temples as he spoke. "That thing... lava should have destroyed, but those pieces are still intact, that thing still lives on somehow, THAT is what I think of it." Barkley didn't argue against it as he spoke.

"You are certain...?"

"I took a look, that bird appeared on more pictures of the Coopers than any international police body could muster." He breathed as the operation to pull Clockwerk out of the lava was underway. "...Can you imagine what fueled that creature to hate the Coopers, for so long that it would become solely a machine with immortal metals, what drove it to replace what mortal body it once had with nothing but soulless machinery, developing overtime itself to be the hunter of Cooper." He shook his head as he spoke. "No, what Cooper did, what I witnessed, that was a boon to all life, that thing shouldn't be existing anymore and if any try to use it to rule, to dominate..." He pushed off and headed away, the Cooper Gang dropping off his bike for him to ride away. "...I will have them in my crosshairs..."

But first, he was going to check up on his mother, she had gotten much better, a coincidence that when Clockwerk fell, she recovered enough to want to talk to him...

Fate either had a sick sense of humor, or there was much more going on and he needed to find out what...