A few weeks after taking out Muggshot, the Cooper Gang was off to Haiti. They would need to venture deep in the jungle to tackle their next member fo the Fiendish Five. Bentley was afraid of germs and tropical diseases but it would be the least of their worries when Mz. Ruby was an actual, genuine voodoo priestess. The type that could curse you, summon the undead, that kind of stuff.

Even without magic the swampy jungle wasn't safe. But luckily the Water Safety technique he got from Muggshot's pages in the Thievius Raccoonus, along the Rail Walk and Rail Slide to cross the vines would make the swamp that much easier to navigate. Now, some parts were easy like sneaking into some compounds and take the Treasure keys. Other times he was whacking chickens to make gumbo for a ghost (why would he need to eat, he's a ghost?), get chased by a giant serpent beast (Couldn't Ruby have taken a chihuahua or something) and lighting torches by using piranhas as fuel on a timer (he's no science guy so he had to believe Bentley at his word on that).

Despite the hassle, he made it to Mz. Ruby eventually. "Mmm, I could feel that Cooper vibe coming. Most distastefully bad juju. Not that I needed my magic, because as soon as Raleigh and Muggshot were arrested, I knew it had to be you, chil'! Whom else would and could have done the things you done do?"

"Us Coopers can be stealthy. But if we want to let people know we did it, we let them know. And you'll know." "Few words of advice though, lady. Cooking up an army of ghosts isn't a very neighborly pastime. Gives people the creeps."

Mz. Ruby just laughs. Oh, Sly, I see your mouth moving, but all I hear is blah, blah, blah. Well, if jaws need to flap, then let them flap. See you in the next world, Sly Cooper." Of course she was eerie and creepy, but Sly hadn't expected her to be this...childish.

The giant skull opened and closed its jaws. Teeth clamped onto one another. Sly knew he could spire jump on the sharp teeth in the skull. If the timed it right he could do it without being chomped down. And he did. He got close enough to Mz. Ruby, whom looked in surprise that Sly got that close. She tried to hold off Sly by slamming her tail into the ground to create a shockwave, but Sly jumped over it and hit her with her cane, and she vanished in a puff of red smoke, reappearing on the other side of the room, a murky pool of swamp water standing in between them.

Sly growled furiously. Raleigh was a coward but at least he confronted him head on. That Ruby was just running away was frustrating. "Come back here! You can't run away forever"

"Quite true, quite true. Why don't I have my servant, Chumley, escort you over here" Mz Ruby replied. Sly saw an alligator snapping turtle appear in the water before him, big enough to carry his weight. He looked like those fire-headed turtles he fought all over the place. Only without the fire head.

Sly raised an eyebrow in confusion. This had to be a trick. "Alright, what's the catch?"

"Oh, not much. Just a little game I like to play with all my annoying guests." She said with a shit-eating grin. Great, she wants to play games now. "I want to see how well you pay attention." Oh, he'll pay great attention to make sure he hits all her sensitive parts with his cane when he gets close enough."I'll unleash my mighty mojo magic upon you. If you repeat what I do, you'll dodge it just fine. If not, you'll get zapped." She then laughs sadistically.

"A little voodoo Simon Says, eh?" Sly said. He could do that. He jumped on the turtle's back (perhaps it was a trick but he was at the moment the only way to get to Ruby) and prepped himself. Every time Ruby struck a pose and yelled out a phrase, Sly mimicked it. He also needed to do it while keeping in rhythm, as the spells came out at a certain speed. But being a master thief meant he had learned to pay attention to his surroundings and his enemies. So he would nail this little rhythm game. And soon he made it safely to the other side, ready to confront Ruby again.

Mz. Ruby growled. No one has ever won this game before. "All right, Cooper! You got some moves. But if you want me to stop running, you need to be prepared to feel the full power of my mojo. I got some friends on the other side." Mz. Ruby raised her hands and a bony hand shot from the floor...and then another one. And another. A whole bunch of undead warriors rose from the ground an advanced on Sly. Sly didn't waste any time whacking them with his cane, but as soon as he left them in pieces, they reassembled.

Sly didn't give up though as he jumped up, and then started to walk over the heads of the various Zombies, and headed straight for Mz. Ruby. This time she was ready for him and grabbed him in one of her clawed hands and smashed him into the ground, and then wanted to finish it by slamming her tail into him. But Sly activated his Time Slow. Given enough time, he rolled aside, jumped up and witnessed how the shockwave knocked the zombies away instead. He then did a dive attack from above and hit her on the noggin'. She stumbled around for a bit as she shook her head.

She growled in anger as red lightning-like magic charged in her hands and she fired away. However, Sly easily dodged them and lured her into destroying her undead army instead, returning them to dust and preventing them from reforming. "You aren't really good at this, are you?" Sly taunted.

"Oh, I am not done yet...Fifi!" Mz. Ruby said. Sly was surprised when that snake beast that chased him during an earlier part, rose up from the waters and lunged at him. One bite and he had gobbled up Sly. "And just like that, the Cooper line ends!"

However, 'Fifi' didn't look so good, as the beast went wide eyed and it spazzed, and then spat out Sly, whom was curled up and electrified, having activated his electric role in the mouth of the beast. More unfortunately, it spat out the electrified Cooper ball right into its mistress, zapping and knocking down Mz. Ruby. It coughed and spat out puffs of smoke. It wobbled for a bit before toppling, Sly moving aside.

Mz. Ruby regained consciousness long enough to realize Fifi was falling on her. "Oh crud!" She was still conscious, but in heavy pain as she was pinned down under her own pet. "You win, Cooper!"

Sly moved towards her, crouching down next to her. "You know, I expected a big voodoo mistress to be way creepier. But I see what you were doing. Your behavior, your taunts, your affinity for games…I understand. You were feared by others, never got anyone to play with excepts ghosts and ghouls. You were cheated out of your childhood. I know what that's like…" Sly said.

"You really do." Mz. Ruby said as she knew what he was talking about. "I am a coward. When our leader brought us together…I didn't want to go as far as we did. But unlike your father, I never was brave. Your dad, amazing man…even when he was faced with death, he was defiant, he showed no fear…even in death he beat me. And I regret it to this day. I didn't want to condemn another to a messed up childhood, like mine was. But those words mean nothing now, do they?"

"It won't change a thing, no." Sly said. He took back the last of Ruby's Thievius Raccoonus pages. They contained the invisibility technique of his ancestor Slytunkhamen. "But I used to think all of you were monsters. I thought the people whom killed my parents would be the worst kind of people in the world. But some of you just seem like people whom made the wrong choices."

"Most of us did. But not our leader. I suggest that you stop now. You probably will be able to handle the Panda King, but you won't be able to handle him… He is a true demon. He is so feared, people don't dare to speak his name. I do not dare to speak his name and I'm the creepy voodoo priestess. So if you really value your life…Turn back. Whether you go to China or not, it doesn't matter. Do not go further then Panda King." Mz. Ruby.

"I will not. I go all the way, or I won't do anything at all." Sly said as he put away the loot in his backpack. "I get better as a thief with every heist, I get stronger with every foe I beat. By the time I reach him, I can handle him."

"You are brave, young Cooper. But do not get cocky. Dark magic is not the most fearsome force in the world." Mz. Ruby said. After that, she lost consciousness, the battle being too much for her.

Sly sighed. Raleigh had disgusted him. Muggshot gave him mixed feelings, but Ruby…he pitied her. It was weird, three of the five people that he wanted to hunt down with a vengeance, and two of them were…relate-able.

"Are you feeling okay, Sly?" Bentley asked as they were in the van back to their home in Paris to plan their next move.

"I guess. But I am with so many questions. With Muggshot and Ruby, I expected more typical bad guys, like the ones you see in movies. But they were different. They did bad things, but I couldn't call them cartoonishly evil. They had mean streaks but they were not without regrets. I just feel they lost their way. Am I going too soft?" Sly asked.

"You're making it too difficult." Murray said, from behind the wheel. "Anyone can do bad or good things right? It's what choice you make. You chose to spare them, right?" Murray asked. "And they chose to do bad. And they can choose if they want to change from here on."

"You are really having a moment, Murray…are you feeling well?" Sly asked.

"Hey, I am not as smart as Bentley but I'm not that kind of dumb. I pick up a few things as well. Speaking off picking up, are we going to stop by the McDonalds on the way? I'm getting quite hungry…I could eat like a dozen cheeseburgers! With extra pickles."

"Now that is the Murray I know." Sly said. "But Murray, in all seriousness. Don't change. You have a good heart. I need you to remind me I'm supposed to have one too."

"Anytime, bro!" Murray said, raising his thumb in the air.

"There are things we managed to learn from their files. But no matter what you know about the people, meeting them in person is quite different then what you learn from reading up on them;" Bentley said. "Science is easy, understanding people is hard."

"Welcome to the real world. I guess we all have learned the world isn't as black and white as we thought." Sly said. "Though I doubt with the next person we face we will get another odd case. Panda King…I wonder what he has in store…"