Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

[Chapter Four: Thievius Raccoonus No More]

From the dark space of her office, Madam Teresa was speaking on her cell phone with a "resource" of hers. She was trying to listen through the static to pick up what they were saying. The reception was absolutely dreadful where she was, but then again, cell phone reception outside the city was horrible anyway.

"Salvador, what are my orders for tonight?" Teresa demanded. "You know, from the boss?"

"He says keep close surveillance on this Daniel Smith guy. He believes you might be on to something!" said the resource called Salvador.

"Well...all right...I have to say, something seems off though...It's like he's missing something Sly Cooper had...That enigma..." Teresa trailed off, blinking her ringed eyes.

"Salvador over and out!" Both of them disconnected from each other and turned off their cell phones.

Madam Teresa stood up and shoved the cell phone into her desk, locking the drawer up. She brushed some dust off her floor length skirt and ran a hand through her graying brown hair that draped on her shoulders. Adjusting her glasses, she proceeded towards the entryway door that led down the stairs.

It was inspection time.

(Thievius Raccoonus...)

There was awkward silence between Sly, Bentley and Murray. All of them blinked at each other, not knowing what to say. Sly was still dumbfounded, not able to piece everything correctly.

"Don't you recognize us, Sly?" Bentley repeated.

"I...I don't think so." Sly stood up and backed away. He casually reached towards the handle of the van door, gripping it tightly, preparing to open it and run just in case of emergency.

Bentley gazed at Sly for a moment, as if he was thinking.

"What have they done to you anyway? It's like they taught you to deny your thieving privileges when you were in that hospital!" Bentley yelped. "They made practically made you a FATHER!"

"Do you even know about what happens in that orphanage and how the adults treat them?" Sly demanded. "They're alone! Just like I was in that hospital! I had NOBODY there for me, like they had nobody there for THEM! They need me just like I need them!"

"It's a fact, Sly! You are a master thief! You don't belong there at the orphanage! You belong with us—your two best friends, Bentley and Murray!" Bentley pointed out.

"What about the children? They need help!"

"Sly has a point, Bentley," Murray agreed.

"Yes, perhaps they do, but you have to move on, Sly! Yes, there are a few things they could fix up about this place, but this orphanage isn't your place! I know I said once that I wish you'd stop thieving, but this is taking it too far!" Bentley exclaimed. "Don't you want to track down master criminals?" Sly's eyes narrowed.

"What about—"

"We know, the kids! But things have been turned upside-down ever since you left Paris, Sly! The police have gone nuts and Carmelita's gone AWOL! You have to come back!" Bentley begged. "And—and don't forget this!" Bentley handed Sly a leather-like hardbound book. There was a blue and white symbol shaped like a raccoon's head (or at least it was attempting it). Above it, there was glorious golden writing that read:

"Thievius Raccoonus..." Sly read aloud.

"It was the book you should've gotten from your father, remember?" Sly shook his head. "Don't you want to do the Cooper Clan justice?" Sly shook his head once more.

"If Sly Cooper is just a heartless thief, then I don't want to be him no more!" Sly yelled as he threw the book against the wall of the van, just barely missing Murray. Parchment-like pages fell out of the book, causing a hail of paper. Murray's eyes were big with shock and Bentley was just as shocked, except he was trying to make an effort to pick up the pages.

Sly took his chance and quickly exited the van angrily, going back to the orphanage to take Daniel Smith's place.

(Out of character...)

"The frog prince then entrusted the noble knight to—"

Cody heard a knock on the door. He was interrupted and cut off from the story he had been telling the class he had been summoned to. Normally, this time would be his break, but the regular attendant had been pulled out of class. Now, he was to tell a story to the five through seven year olds until the attendant, Daniel Smith, returned.

"Open up, Smith! This is the Mistress!" Cody heard Madam Teresa demand from the door. He quickly gave a sign to the children to remain silent as he turned the knob of the door and pulled it open.

"Hello, Madam," Cody greeted as he beckoned her in. Instead of following Cody, Madam's eyes darted around the room as if she knew something were missing. She rolled her eyes and narrowed them as cleared her throat.

"Where's Mr. Smith?" Teresa asked, trying to keep her voice calm. The last thing she needed was to give the runts another reason to call her names behind her back.

"Apparently he had to leave because of an emergency." Cody sounded rather annoyed, Madam Teresa noticed. Cody probably thought Daniel would be more reliable than this.

"How interesting... Well, since Mr. Smith is not here, I'm going to track him down. You might as well continue where you were then." Madam Teresa disappeared through the door. As soon as Cody saw the headmistress's ringed-tail disappear around the corner, he looked back at the students, who were all looking up at him nervously.

"Is Danny gonna be okay?" Charlotte asked. Cody shook his head.

"The least that'll happen is that he'll get yelled at courtesy of the headmistress. Let's hope it just stays at that," Cody answered. "Now where were we in the story?"

All of the kids looked at each other. Even though Cody didn't really seem to notice or care, his story had bored them all to death. They wanted to hear about the adventures of their favorite raccoon/master thief once more, not this pathetic excuse of a story about a frog prince that couldn't do anything by himself!

"Can anyone remember?" Cody smirked. They didn't think he did, but he knew that they were bored and weren't exactly paying attention.

"Nope," the children chorused, shaking their heads.

"Then how about I start from the beginning again?" Cody suggested. There were shouts of "NO" throughout the former classroom. "What do you suggest then?" The children looked at each other, trying to come up with ideas.

"Um...how about something on a cop trying to catch a thief...animal...thingy?" Chandler asked. He got a few glares from the other students. "That isn't Sly Cooper!" Chandler quickly added in a sarcastic tone. The students groaned as Cody mentally snapped.

"Why would you want to hear something about that LOW DOWN SCUM?" Cody pounded his fist down on the desk at the front of the room. Narrowing his eyes, he took a deep breath as the students shuddered.

"Mr. Bryan..." Mike was shivering as he trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bryan. I didn't know..." Chandler said quietly. Cody had his back turned to the kids, hoping Daniel would be back soon.

(Last five minutes...)

Sly stayed off to the side of the door, remaining out of sight. He had just snuck into the corner between the wall and the door right after Madame Teresa had left the room and down the hallway to the left.

He had just heard the whole conversation between Cody and the five through seven year olds. The way Cody had made a reference to the thief without actually saying his name...Sly found his ears were down as low as possible now. He had never heard the calico so loud before.

Sly pushed his ear against the cold door.

"WELL, OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T KNOW! DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SLY COOPER?" Cody's voice was at maximum volume.

The raccoon shook his head. 'I have to end this before it gets any worse,' Sly thought as he slowly opened the door and poked his head in.

"I'm back," Sly said as he entered the room closing the door behind him. Everyone's heads turned toward him. Some of them were distraught, some were relieved. Cody glanced at Sly as if he was about to pounce on him at any minute.

"We'll talk later, Dan," Cody whispered to Sly as he left the room. The door was closed as Sly went back to the front of the room.

"Danny, what's wrong with Mr. Bryan?" Charlotte asked in concern. Sly heard her sniff, almost as if she was about to cry.

"I don't know...I think I'll put a hold on the story with Sly though...What do you want to do right now with the five minutes we have left before we go outside?" Sly questioned.

"Can we just talk, Danny?" Chandler asked. Sly nodded. The children started chatting amongst themselves as Sly heaved a sigh. So far the day had been rough on him and now he was hoping things would look up.

Five minutes later, the bell rung.

"Let's go out!" Sly ordered.

(When she saw Daniel Smith, she thought she saw a lie...)

Carmelita pulled into the driveway as she spotted something she thought she never would at this place.

"The Cooper's van? What are his friends doing here?" Carmelita wondered as she parked the car and got out. She walked up the gray driveway and opened the door. The inside of the building surprised her, as she expected the room to be sickly peppy looking. This was the complete opposite.

"Excuse me, may I help you?" Ms. Deuducle asked.

"Is there a Daniel Smith here?" Carmelita calmly asked.

"You too? There was this turtle with this hippo looking for him earlier too...If you would follow me please!" Ms. Deuducle stood up and began walking down a hallway farther back. Carmelita quickly followed, wondering what could lurk in the corridor.

Making a right turn, Ms. Deuducle unlocked a door.

"This is the way to the backyard. Mr. Smith should be here right now," Ms. Deuducle explained as she opened the door and led Carmelita outside. The two of them scoped out the area and found Sly sitting on the edge of the sandbox with Charlotte (or at least Ms. Deuducle recognized her as Charlotte) crying in his lap with her head buried into his shoulder. Sly seemed to be trying to comfort her, stroking through her hair and patting her back.

"Aw, that's cute," Carmelita couldn't help saying out loud. She had never seen Sly this way before.

"Yeah, Mr. Smith's gotten good reports on how he treats the kids, from what I've heard from Mr. Bryan..." Ms. Deuducle trailed off. "Why don't you go say hello to him?" Carmelita shook her head.

"He looks a bit busy. I'll wait a minute...Maybe you better go back to your desk." Ms. Deuducle shook her head.

"Nonsense. It's not like anything really happens there anyway!"

"No really. You should..." Ms. Deuducle and Carmelita began arguing amongst themselves...

(Getting over our fears...)

"Danny!" Charlotte cried. "I don't wanna be near Mr. Bryan anymore! He's scary!" The shoulder on Sly's shirt was becoming moist with her tears. Sly was trying to make everything right once more, but it didn't seem like it was going to happen soon. Charlotte in particular had been frightened of the sudden outburst of their substitute.

"He won't be scary tomorrow, Char...he was just unhappy today," Sly tried reassuring her.

"I don't wanna see him!" Charlotte bawled some more, then pulled back for a moment and wiped her nose.

"C'mon, he can't be that scary," Sly said, trying to coax the kitten to calm down and go say hello to him. "See, he's right over there!" Sly gently turned Charlotte around and pointed towards the other side of the backyard, where Cody was leaning against the wooden fence with his arms crossed. "He's calmed down, see? Why don't we go talk to him?"

Before Charlotte could refuse, Sly picked her off his lap and made her follow him over to Cody. Before looking up to speak to Cody, Sly held Charlotte's hand to prevent her from running off. Sly glanced down at Charlotte one more time, seeing she faked a smile and waved. The raccoon looked back up at Cody again.

"How you doing, Cody?" Sly greeted. Cody uncrossed his arms and gazed meekly at Sly.

"I guess I'm doing fine," Cody muttered.

"Charlotte here has something to say to you, Cody!" Sly quickly exclaimed. Cody knelt down in front of Charlotte on one knee and looked at her with cold eyes and a patient expression. They were making Charlotte shake just looking at them. She bit her lip and gulped.

"Um...uh...H-Hi, M-Mr. B-Bryan," Charlotte stuttered. Cody warmly smiled, welcoming the greeting as he waved at Charlotte.

"Hello to you too, Charlotte," Cody greeted back. He pushed himself up and went back to leaning against the wall. "Nice talking to you!" Sly followed Charlotte back over to the sandbox. The kitten had started running back as fast as she could and sat back down on the edge of the sandbox.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sly asked as Charlotte looked up at him in a state of cherubic proportions.

"I guess it was okay," Charlotte answered, wiping around her eyes and nose. "I think I'll go hang out with Chandler and Mike now!" She paused for a moment before running off. "Thank you, Danny!"

"No problem!" Sly smiled as he saw Charlotte go give Chandler and Mike a high five each.

'I think I'm going to like being Daniel Smith,' Sly thought happily as he sat back down on the edge of the sandbox. He was facing the children and his feet were planted in the sand.

Suddenly, someone poked his shoulder. Sly turned around and saw the most gorgeous vixen he had ever seen (that he could remember) looking down at him. Her raven hair was pulled back into a long braid, opening up her face to his delight. She had a small, golden ring looped in one of her ears and she wore a brown jacket with a dark blue ensemble.

"Are you Daniel Smith?" she asked. Sly grinned like an idiot and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I am. Who would you be?" Sly questioned. She had a small, petite smile on her face.

"I'm Inspector—" Sly bolted up and was at eye level with her.

"Carmelita!" Carmelita's eyes widened. Did he recognize her? She checked over her shoulder and whispered as quietly as possible into his ear.

"Sly Cooper?"

(Just a little comment! That's all! Really!)

Author's notes: If you ask me, that wasn't one of my better chapters, but maybe it's just me...Okay, that really didn't make sense, did it? Anyway, thanks for reading! I have no other comments!