"So now that we've gotten the photos and have taken care of their security system, it's time we move onto the next phase of this heist. Ace, we'll need you to take this painting I bugged and switch it out with one in Dimitri's office. Once that's in, we should be able to listen in on his communications. Remember if any of us comes across Dimitri, follow him. Any information we can get off him would be useful and will make this a lot easier. Once we've got a proper understanding of the operation, the tail feathers are as good as ours."

I payed close attention to the plan while Bentley laid it out for us. My part seemed like an easy task. Bentley slid a suitcase over to my side of the table we sat at. I opened it up to see a utility belt with all sorts of gadgets installed into it.

"This was originally for Sly, but he insisted I give it to you for your first mission.", Bentley stated while Sly winked and gave me a thumbs up. I took out the pair of binoculars and closely examined it. "That's your binocucom, it allows us to communicate with you along the way."

I could already tell I'd have to be real stealthy during this mission. The guys wished me good luck as I exited the hideout. I hope this all goes according to plan, otherwise we're busted.

"Do not worry my hairless friend! The Murray believes in you!", Murray announced patting me on the back.

"Murray's right Ace, you've got this.", Sly cheered.

-Dimitri's Nightclub-

So far being sneaky wasn't all that hard. There were times where I'd been almost caught by a patrolling guard here and there, but I managed to stay hidden. I brought out my grappling gun and aimed it at a nearby rooftop. Once on the roof I planted my feet firmly on the ground, nearly landing on my face. Thankfully I didn't damage the bugged painting strapped to my back.

I knew this'll take some time getting used to, I'm no acrobat like Sly. Drawing out my binocucom I answered a call I was recieving from Bentley.

"Alrighty Bentley I'm here. What do I do now?", I quizzed in anticipation. A small screen popped up in the left lense showing Bentley and another in the right one showing my face.

"Now that you've made it near the Nightclub you'll have to sneak into Dimitri's office on the second floor. You can enter the ventilation system on the roof to navigate throughout the building. That belt I gave you also has smoke pellets, so if you end up getting caught don't hesitate to use them if necessary."

"Gotcha Bentley.", I nodded with understanding.

Taking a couple of steps back, I proceeded to sprint off the rooftop and briskly whipped out the grappling gun. I shot it towards the roof of the Nightclub and glided through the air before landing into the gravel beneath me. I got to my feet, dusting myself off and looking for the ventilation system Bentley mentioned.

In plain view I spotted a single vent going downward into the club. Getting infront of the vent I reeled my foot back and thrusted it forwards, busting the panel off it's hinges. Goddamn, I'm surprisingly strong to bust open a steel vent with one single kick.

"Here goes nothing.", I groaned climbing into the duct.

As I crawled through the vent the loud booming of disco music rattled the vent. To be honest the music was kinda catchy, but I'm not gonna let that distract me from the task at hand. The wireless communicator rang and I answered the incoming call, this one coming from Sly.

"Hey, What's up?"

"Hey Pal, Just wanted to check in and see your progress so far.", Sly responded. "How's your first mission going?"

"Pretty well Sly, I'm in the ducts now looking for Dimitri's office. I'm starting to get the hang of the whole "being a thief" thing. It's actually kind of fun.", I replied seeing that I was nearing the end of the duct, a bright light becoming more visible. I wondered where in the world this duct lead to in the first place.

"Sweet! Just remember to be careful in there. Talk to you later."

Now at the end of the duct, I managed to squeeze out of the exit and landed on a soft and fluffy carpet like surface. Standing up, I checked out my surroundings taking notice of pictures of a purple iguana man showing off expensive looking jewelry and clothing alligning the walls encased in fancy frames. Now all I had to do was replace one of these with the bugged painting I brought.

I simply selected one of the paintings at random to replace. I carefully removed said painting and inserted the bugged one where it originally once was. After I finished the deed I called Bentley through the wireless communicator.

"I've done it Bentley.", I announced with a smile.

"Great! Now get out of there and head back to the hideout."

"Oh, um ok!", I responded and climbed back into the same vent I'd originally entered Dimitri's Office through. Although I didn't wanna keep the guys waiting, I promised Todd the other night that I'd visit him. After finding out that he was an orphan, I could kinda relate to him. Being in an environment that you're unfamiliar with, along with not having any knowledge of who your real parents and family are.

I'm not gonna leave Todd all by his lonesome.

-Happy Sun's Orphanage-

If I were to be honest, this orphanage in particular looks more like a prison than a home for children in need. I aimed my grappling hook at the roof of the building and pulled the trigger, sending the hook flying through the air until it latched onto the shutter of a random window and zipped through the air with swiftness.

I held onto the window's ledge and peered through the half open window. I couldn't make out a thing inside because of how dark it was. So I decided to squeeze myself through the open window as silently as I could, as to not draw any attention to myself. Once I had climbed in and fully inspected where I was, I froze in my tracks.

The room itself was a heck of a lot bigger than I originally thought it would be. There were rows of decorated baby cribs that lined the room, which held tiny infants of all sorts of species. I even noticed that their names were painted on the frames of their cribs. I quietly aww'd to myself as I got a quick peek at some of them as I passed by. I came to a halt when I realized one of them, a wolf cub began to whine and squirm underneath his sheets.

I stealthily made my way over to the fussy baby's crib and carefully swooper the child into my arms. While rocking my body from back and forth closely I examined his crib to see what his name was. "Oscar huh? Don't worry little fella, go on back to sleep.", I whispered. Thankfully it didn't take much time for the crying pup to settle down and adorably drift back into slumber. Setting the resting infant back into his crip, I hurriedly exited the room, now in a long, wide, and dark hallway.

"Now I gotta figure out where Todd is.", I muttered, before noticing a board with all the children's names and their room numbers listed in an organized fashion. "Well, lucky me."

I dragged my finger across the board checking off each name. "Sally, Michael, Tito, Nick, Ashton, Beth, Albert, Rebecca, Peggy, Jason,...Aha! Todd, Room 27 on the third floor." Luckily for me, it looks like I'm already on the third floor. "Here I come Todd."

[Split]

Here it was, Room 27. I clutched the doorknob and slowly entered, the door loudly creaking. I found Todd sound asleep, his small form encased underneath his blankets. I giggled to myself and decided to surprise him, so I pulled out the chair that sat in the far left corner of his room and sat near his bedside. Little guy looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. I then noticed his eyes started to flutter before he completely lifted himself out of bed. I watched as he cluelessly searched the room while rubbing his tired eyes and yawning.

"Having good dreams?"

He yelped and nearly jumped out of bed at the sight of me. "I'm guessing that's a no?", I asked.

"Ace? What are you doing here?", Todd asked, sounding very surprised. If Todd wasn't fully awake before, he is now after seeing me.

"I'd promised I'd visit, didn't I?", That statement alone brought a smile to the young leopard's face.

"Yeah, you did.", He smiled with glee. "Oh! I almost forgot."

Todd reached over into the drawer beside his bed and dug around. I patiently waited as he searched until he found exactly what he was looking for. He handed me a neatly drawn picture from a seven year old. It depicted me standing over the thugs in a triumphant pose. I was in my usual "attire" which was a prison jumpsuit I got stuck with when that asshole Carmine found me. Though, I also saw I had the most angelic wings and a golden halo over my head. A smile formed on my face as I felt my heart melt with joy.

"This is amazing, Todd. Why do I have wings and a halo though?", I questioned looking back at the drawing.

"Cause you're my guardian angel.", Todd answered in an endearing way.

"Aww, I can assure I'm no angel. I was just doing the right thing and I would've felt horrible had I not saved you.", I admitted, anxiously rubbing my elbow. "Plus, kindness goes a long way. If it wasn't for my friend Sly, I'd still be locked up somewhere...alone."

"You were locked up? Where's your Mom and Dad?", Todd asked hesitantly.

My Mother? My Father? The two people who gave me life, and I couldn't remember who either of them were.

I tried to answer, but no words came out. Out of everything that has been happening to me lately, the whereabouts of my parents never crossed my mind, not even once. I'd been on my own for so long I had forgotten their existence, but also remember that the chances of them being alive was out of the question, considering I'm the only human now.

"I...they're gone.", I sadly stated.

"Oh...I'm sorry for asking.", Todd frowned.

"No, it's fine. There's a lot of things I have to adjust to now, that includes moving on from any past life I had previously before this.", I wistfully added before there was a prolonged silence between the two of us. I got up from the chair and opened up his window preparing to leave. "Anyways, I should get going. My friends are waiting for me to return home."

"Wait! Before you go, could you maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"Sing me a song, to help me go back to sleep."

I paused for a moment before smiling at the leopard cub with kind eyes, "Sure."

I sat back down while Todd got comfortable underneath the sheets. I cleared my throat trying to think of any songs. Luckily there was one I remembered, one that resonated with me on an emotional level that I couldn't quite understand.

Fly me to the moon,

And let me play, among the stars,

Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars,

In other words Hold my hand,

In other words, Darling kiss me,

Fill my heart with song,

And let me sing forever more,

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore

In other words, please be true,

In other words, I love you.

I hummed out the rest of the song once I realized that Todd was fast asleep. I backed away as quietly as I could, so as to not wake him back up. Once I was outside, I glanced back at the kid one more time.

"Goodnight."

-The Hideout-

"Hey guys, I'm back.", I announced.

Bentley typed away on his computer doing whatever he was doing, Murray was seated at the table eating a box full of some very delectable looking donuts, and Sly was lazily sprawled across the couch reading some sort of magazine. He took his eyes off the magazine and stood up to greet me.

"Welcome back bud!", Sly congratulated.

"Glad to see your first mission was a success.", Bentley stated.

"Yeah, way to go my friend!", Murray commented very enthusiastically with his mouth full.

"Thanks.", I grinned. I awkwardly stood in the same spot before walking over to the couch Sly was sitting in before plopping down next to him. "So um, why do we need these 'Clockwerk wings' anyway?"

"Well, we're collecting the parts that belong to an old enemy of mine before they end up in the wrong hands. If Clockwerk is brought back, who knows what'll happen. I put him down for a good reason, I'm not gonna allow anyone to bring that monster back.", Sly explained with malice and pure hatred in his voice.

"Geez, what did he even do?", I asked out of curiosity.

"He hated my family, all of my ancestors including my father always had the upper hand over him and he hated us for that. When I was little, he and the rest of his gang 'The Fiendish Five' murdered my father and mother right in front of me and stole the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus."

"Woah, what happened after that?"

"With the help of Bentley and Murray we were able to track down each individual member, including Clockwerk and get back the pages.", Sly finished.

"Dang, now that I've got some context for these parts I'm more determined to help you find them. That Clockwerk sounds like a real menace. I'm sorry for what happened to your parents.", I said with sincerity and understanding.

"It's fine, that stuff is all in the past. I have a new family now.", Sly said.

My smile soon faded when I heard that one word, "Family".

"Something bugging you?", Sly questioned, sounding worried.

"Nah, I'm cool. Anyways we should get ready to start the next phase of the heist.", I suggested.

"You know, You're starting to sound like a real thief the more you hang around us.", Sly chuckled.