Once the gang returned to their Paris hideout, Murray got to work on using Otto's designs to add a turret and battering ram to the van. Ben and Bentley helped him out and, after four days, the van was prepared to go off to Russia.
"Okay, it's going to be morning in Russia in roughly two hours and it will take five to get there from here. So let's get going!" Bentley said with enthusiasm.
"Time to take care of unfinished business. Are you ready, Ben?" Sly asked before noticing Ben looking at the pages written by Sly's parents in the Thievius Raccoonus. He seemed to be contemplating something if his intent staring was anything to go by.
"Ben, are you okay?"
"Sly, you may want to read this..."
Sly sat down beside Ben and looked through the pages, his eyes widening when he caught sight of what Ben was looking at. It was a personal
"Allen Shigura had always been a dear friend to me. We had worked together on many heists and I was glad to see he had married. However, when I heard his wife was having complications with the birth of their child, I knew I had to help. Luckily, I was a match for Komi Shigura's blood type and managed to save her and the child. Allen was eternally grateful to me for this one last act between friends. I'm glad to know that our families are now linked in blood. Perhaps one day, me and Winnie's child will get to be friends with Allen and Komi's..."
"Your dad...saved my mom's life when she was giving birth to me," Ben said silently as Sly was also trying to process the information he had just read.
"Then that means..."
The two looked at each other before smiling brightly, realizing what the words that Panda King had said to them upon his defeat meant.
"We've been practically blood brothers our whole lives and we didn't even know!"
Ben's smile then fell when he remembered the vision he saw of Connor and Winnie's deaths. "I guess it makes sense why I had that vision..."
Sly placed a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Don't worry. We're taking down Clockwerk once and for all. He doesn't have anywhere else to run."
"You're right, Sly. Let's get this son of a bitch."
When the group finally arrived at Krak-Karov Volcano and making it past the blockades Clockwerk set in their way with the new weapons built into the van, Sly saw something that shocked him to his core.
"It's Carmelita! She's trapped!"
"Serves that cop right. She's been dogging us from the start." Bentley said over the comms.
"It's just a misunderstanding, pal. We gotta save her!"
Ben stopped Sly from going forward. "Hold on, Sly! This might be a trap set by Clockwerk. For all we know, he could want us to go in there and then lock us in so he can burn us or gas us. If it's the latter, take this."
Ben handed Sly a gas mask with a special filtering system that Bentley had created. Sly took the mask, giving his blood brother a thankful nod.
"Thanks, Ben. Besides, if we left her in there, things wouldn't be any fun without her."
Ben chuckled as he gave Sly a wink. "Go get 'em, tiger."
Bentley sighed over the comms. "Sly, your ridiculous raccoon logic sends shivers up my shell..."
Sly and Ben both smirked playfully as Sly made his way over, using his skills to get over the booby traps across the area before entering the room that Carmelita was trapped in.
"Sly Cooper! I should have known you were behind this."
Sly shook his head. "You got me wrong, Ms. Fox. I'm here to rescue you."
Just as Ben anticipated, gas came flooding in through the chamber but thanks to the mask he gave Sly, he was protected. Ben took out a high-tech sniper rifle and destroyed the security system with a well-placed shot before rushing in and channeling Sleigh MacCooper's power.
"FALCON...PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWNCH!"
With a fiery blow, Ben shattered the glass to the chamber, the shockwave even freeing Carmelita from her own prison, the gas flying out of the chamber harmlessly as Ben held his breath to avoid breathing in the fumes.
"Nice showboating there, Benny."
"I get around."
Suddenly, screens in the chamber opened up, revealing the shadowy visage of Clockwerk and he was less than happy.
"Remarkable...I should have known the Shigura child would also still be alive..."
"You know my family?" Ben asked as he narrowed his eyes at the metallic owl.
"I know all about you and your parents just as much as I know about the Cooper Clan...and I despised them just as much."
"Wow, you must have serious issues, Big Bird. Well, keep sitting tight, because we're gonna cook your goose!"
Clockwerk scoffed and turned off the screens as Carmelita turned to the two thieves.
"I don't get it. I've hunted you for years, Cooper, try to put you behind bars, but then when you get a chance to put 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 robot owl that trapped you and tried gassing me to death, he's on the list."
"Yeah. Besides, who am I to leave the future in-law of my blood brother hanging?" Ben added with a smirk as Sly rolled his eyes and gave him a 'Dude, Seriously?' look, which he just grinned deviously at as Carmelita sighed.
"I see your point... alright. Until Clockwerk and his schemes are foiled, I suggest we work together."
Sly smiled brightly. "Together at last!"
One of Clockwerk's Robo Falcons suddenly flew in but Ben quickly aimed his revolver over his shoulder and shot it in the face without even looking. The falcon dive-bombed into the lava, its metal chassis melting into slag.
"Now, keep in mind, this truce is only temporary. Once Clockwerk is finished, I'm coming after both of you." Carmelita frowned.
"Really?" Sly smiled.
"Well...Maybe a ten-second head start would be fine." Carmelita smiled.
"Awwwwwww, you DO care!" Ben teased before realizing something. "Wait a sec, how are we gonna get to Clockwerk from here?"
"I stashed my jetpack at the top of Clockwerk's Death Ray Tower before he caught me. You'll need to make your way there through this area. I'll cover your entry from up here," Carmelita said.
"Happily appreciated."
Sly and Ben made their way down the area. A few fire slugs rose from the lava to try and attack them but Carmelita blasted them into chunks with well-aimed blasts from her shock pistol. After a tedious climb, the thieving duo got to the other end and saw Carmelita's jetpack on top of Clockwerk's Death Ray tower.
"There's the jet pack right where Carmelita said it'd be!" Bentley exclaimed over the intercoms. "However, you guys better hurry! The stabilizers for the Death Ray got destroyed on your way there from Carmelita's blasts. You gotta book it to that jetpack before this tower starts to fall apart!"
"Ben, I'll go for the jetpack, you cover me over the bridge."
Ben nodded his head as Sly made his way up the tower while Ben used the Gravity Defiance Technique to fly across to the bridge, landing on it just as the power wore off.
"Phew! Just made it!" Ben then turned to see Sly climbing the tower, a few close calls here and there before he finally reached the top and strapped on the jetpack, taking to the air.
"Yes!" Ben cheered for his blood brother before a large shadow passed overhead and towards Sly's location.
"SLY! BEHIND YOU!" Both Ben and Bentley cried, the latter through the comms as Sly turned to come face to face with Clockwerk himself.
"Sly Cooper, you have escaped my gas chamber and destroyed my death ray...Remarkable...you Coopers always find a way to beat me." Clockwerk said, letting out a dark sigh of annoyance.
"Always?! So that WAS you in the background of all those old pictures in the Thievius Raccoonus! How old are you?!" Sly asked as Ben made his way across the volcano to get a good shot at Clockwerk, noticing Carmelita nearby.
"Perfection has no age."
"What? You're Immortal?"
"Revenge is the primary 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 where I would finally eclipse your family's thieving reputation."
"And what about the Shiguras? Did you know about them from your hatred of the Cooper Clan?"
"Yes. I would not allow another family of thieves to get in my way. So I manipulated that cowardly politician into leading them into a trap to destroy them but he wasn't the one to detonate the bomb that took their lives and his, it was me!"
Ben froze in horror when he heard Clockwerk's confession. His pupils dilating as Carmelita noticed him paralyzed with disbelief before growling and aiming her shock pistol at Clockwerk, shooting him in the face as he gasped and began twitching.
"SLY! My missiles don't hurt him but seem to create holes in his armor! Shoot into the gaps they create!" The Inspector called to Sly through the commlink. Sly nodded, his own heart filled with righteous rage upon hearing that not only had Clockwerk murdered his parents but also Bens' as well.
Clockwerk scowled as he began firing his mounted plasma cannons but Sly quickly maneuvered around them, firing the missiles from Carmelita's jetpack into the gaps that Carmelita's blasts created. Soon, Clockwerk couldn't sustain the damage and nosedived into the lava.
"Nice shooting, Sly! You got him!" Bentley cheered but then Clockwerk emerged from the lava with his feet turned into thrusters, his chassis badly damaged but he was still kicking regardless.
"Wow, that's one tough owl."
Sly frowned as he narrowed his eyes at his family's immortal nemesis. "I don't get it, you're so familiar with my family, you must have known my parents 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!" Clockwerk scowled.
"That's where you're wrong, Tin Beak!" Ben roared furiously as Sly and Clockwerk turned to see him perched upon the remains of the Death Ray. "I may not be a pureblood Cooper but I know this; The Thievius Raccoonus doesn't create great thieves, it takes great thieves to create the Thievius Raccoonus!"
Sly smiled at his blood brother proudly. "I couldn't have said it better myself, Ben."
"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU! IT ENDS HERE!" Clockwerk roared. "I'll finish you both like I finished both of your parents, then the Cooper Line will be erased and the only master thief will be: CLOCKWERK!"
"Oh really? If you think you're a great master thief...then how did you not notice the explosives I planted on you while you were flapping your big fat beak?" Ben asked, having used some special Sentry Drones that Bentley had created to sneak onto Clockwerk, armed and primed to explode.
"WHA-?!" Clockwerk couldn't finish his sentence as Ben made a detonator gesture with his thumb, detonating the drones and causing the robotic bird to crash back into the lava, malfunctioning.
Taking the chance, Ben leaped from his perch and landed on Clockwerk's back before taking out his revolver and aiming it right at his face.
"This is for my mom and dad..." He fired two powerful shots, knocking out one of Clockwerk's eyes in the process.
"This is for Sly's family and ancestors!" Several shots echoed out. When Ben was done, The bottom half of Clockwerk's beak was blown clean off and his head was on the verge of falling apart at the seams.
"And this...IS FOR BOTH ME AND MY BROTHER!"
Ben then kicked Clockwerk's head off, knocking it into the lava. Even then, the robotic bird let out one last garbled phrase.
"COOPER! SHIGURA! NEITHER OF YOU WILL BE RID OF ME! CLOCKWERK...IS...ETERNAL..."
Sly flew down and managed to pick up Ben before Clockwerk's remains sunk into the lava, both of them landed on the bridge safely as Sly took off the jetpack while Ben took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
"You okay, pal?"
"Yeah, I just need a minute..."
Sly then noticed a nearby safe and went over to it, unlocking it as his eyes widened in amazement when he saw the rest of the pages of the Thievius Racconus inside. Ben made his way over as the two gazed at the fixed book, finally whole again.
"The full Thievius Raccoonus...the last I held this book, I was only 7 years old..." Sly smiled.
"I gotta say. Unlike your ancestors, you actually got to work for it. Props to you, buddy!"
Sly looked at Ben. "No, I didn't work for it...WE did. Both of us."
Ben's eyes widened before he broke out into a chuckle, then burst into full-on laughter as he and Sly hugged each other, laughing and smiling together. Ultimately, they had managed to fulfill Connor Cooper's wish; For the children of him and his best friend Allen Shigura to join together as brothers.
However, the laugh-fest was cut short when the two noticed Carmelita standing across from them. A pair of handcuffs being spun around her finger as she aimed her shock pistol at the two.
"Of course, who could forget the lovely Ms. Carmelita Fox?" Sly chuckled as he and Ben held their hands up but Carmelita just smirked.
"What are you boys doing? I promised you that ten-second headstart, right?"
"Really? Starting now?" Ben asked.
"Now."
Ben and Sly both slowly counted down the seconds, Carmelita keeping her gun trained on them. Every time she blinked, she realized they were both getting closer but didn't seem to be moving.
"Four...Three...Two..." Ben and Sly counted in their heads. "One..."
"ZERO!" Carmelita shouted but Sly hooked his cane around her arm, stepped up to her, and gave her a big kiss on the lips. A camera flash silently echoed as Ben took a picture to cement the moment before quickly cuffing Carmelita's arm to the side of the bridge before he and Sly zipped off.
"COOPER!" Carmelita roared after getting over her embarrassment. Ben poked his head out of the van as the gang drove off.
"WE'LL SEND YOU A GIFT BASKET! DON'T WORRY!"
Ben then ducked his head back inside the van, having snuck the keys to unlock the cuffs in Carmelita's coat pocket before he and Sly made their daring escape.
"Alright, gang! After all the blood, sweat, tears, and emotional trauma...LET'S GO TO THE NEAREST LIQUOR STORE AND GET SOME PRIME RUSSIAN VODKA!"
"Uh...Ben, we're not much into alcohol." Bentley awkwardly said.
"WELL, I NEED SOME VODKA WITH MY PIZZA!"
"Pizza sounds great!" Murray cheered as the gang drove off into the sunset. Despite all this, they knew there were still more adventures to be had and all sorts of treasures to plunder as newly-christened Master Thieves!
And so concludes the Sly 1 Arc! Next, we'll be getting into the Sly 2 Arc!