Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the character Todd and the other elements of the story I have created my self.

Chapter 10

A Slow Dance & a Question Asked

They arrived at the party right on schedule. Strong Arm had made his hideout, which usually looked like a simple warehouse, into a form of Egyptian palace. The inner dance hall looked like the inside of the Pharaoh's palace. The wall had been covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics as were some columns that were set up around the dance floor. Outside the ring of columns many tables and chairs were set up as was a buffet table. On the inside of the ring Strong Arm watched the guests dance from an Egyptian like thrown positioned on one side of the ring. On the other side the band was playing and in the center stood the grand obelisk. The obelisk was a true Egyptian obelisk, not one created just for the party, but a true artifact. Todd introduced Carmelita and Sly to Strong Arm and was turning to leave when he caught something out his eye. It was the hieroglyphics on the obelisk. They described a prophecy that, if Todd wasn't mistaken, described Slytencaumen. Against his better judgment he slipped his own binocucom and took a picture of each side of the obelisk before he left the ball room to get changed into his black wizarding robes, which were better for hiding and stealth.

Carmelita and Sly check up on Murray for a second, making he was sure he where he was supposed to be, right beside the obelisk. Sly and Carmelita then began to dance to the music. It was a fast waltz, but they enjoyed every minute of it. Sly was looking deep into Carmelita eyes, as she was looking into his. Almost everyone else stopped dancing when a slow song came on and the pair danced so elegantly someone might mistake them for angels dancing on a cloud. Once the song had ended everyone else continued dancing as Sly and Carmelita continued to dance to the song that was no longer playing.

Todd's shadow appeared on the roof of the building over top of the obelisk before he himself appeared there, using a little magic to levitate there. He watched Carmelita and Sly dance for a second before he got to balancing the 8 different forces contained inside the sword. Luckily for him the process didn't require much of his attention because, he, Murray, and Bentley would have been extremely disappointed if they had not witnessed the coming event either in person or from the buildings security cameras.

Sly and Carmelita finally noticed that the song had changed 5 times and they began to dance to the bit faster beat of the current song. Sly bit his lip a second, doubting if he should do what he was going to, but eventually he threw caution to the wind and said, "Carmelita."

Carmelita looked up the Sly's face before she said, "I thought we were undercover Sly."

Sly nodded his head and said, "We were, but this song is so loud the only people who could hear what we are saying, or even care what were saying is Bentley, Murray, and Todd."

Carmelita smiled and said, "So, what is so important you would risk the operation for it."

Sly sighed a bit, but then amassed his quickly wavering courage and said, "Over the past few days I have gotten used to you being at the hideout, and I was wondering."

Carmelita asked, "Wondering what Sly?"

Sly took a deep breath and said, "I was wondering if you would like to become a permanent member of the Cooper gang."

Carmelita's heart was leaping for joy, but she somehow contained her excitement and said with a straight face, "I don't know Ringtail; I might consider doing it on one condition."

Sly got a worried look in his eyes as he asked, "What is it."

Carmelita smiled and gently kissed Sly on the lips as she said, "You add a marriage proposal to that and I'll say yes. I must admit Sly, for quite a while, even while I was trying to put you behind bars, you captured my heart with your charm and sweet words mister Cooper."

Sly almost shouted to the heavens, but Todd made a quite noise into his communicator that brought Sly to his senses. After a quite second he said, "I am not in a real position to propose…" Sly suddenly felt a lump in his pocket and when he reached down he felt a small, soft box. He glanced up to where Todd was hiding and he swore he saw Todd's hand appear out of no where and motion him onward. With out hesitation Sly got down on one knee and asked, "Carmelita would be my bride."

Carmelita smiled as she opened the small box and looked upon one of the most gorges rings she had ever scene. The band of the ring was a sterling silver with gold designs on it, and the gem of the ring was a jewel that had a mixture of red, blue, and green colors all swirled about. Carmelita took the ring and slid it on to her finger as Sly stood up and they shared on kiss.

It was lucky for them that no one, but a few people seemed to notice the quick but meaningful scene. It would have gone on much longer, but Bentley's voice came over everyone's radios as he said, "We will celebrate this event later, now, its time to get to work. "

Sly, Murray, Carmelita, and Todd nodded their heads as Carmelita and Sly began to dance toward where Murray was standing. It took a bit of work but Sly was able to manage it so that he and Murray brushed shoulder a little roughly and Murray said, "Hay, watch where you are going light wait."

Sly turned to Murray as he put on an angry face and said, "Excuse me sir, but staff members at such an affair, especially security guards, should be seen not heard."

Murray grunted a little and said, "I think you should take that back before I pound you in front of your women."

Sly growled in his throat as he said, "You shall regret referring to her like that." With that Sly jumped Murray and they began to role along the dance floor. While this was going on Carmelita pulled a small chip out of a pocket Todd had put on her dress and while the other four guards that were guarding the obelisk were prying Murray and Sly apart Carmelita set the chip on the obelisk and radioed to Bentley, "The chip is in position."

Bentley radioed back, "Understood Carmelita. Get back with Sly and start making your way to the door that is if Strong Arm doesn't have you to thrown out of the party." Bentley then switched over from Carmelita's radio channel to Todd's and said, "It's your game Todd."

Todd nodded his head and said, "Understood, get ready for utter chaos."

With that Todd broke the spell that was holding him self in the air and as he fell past the sword he took hold of it and easily removed it from the obelisk. Once he hit the ground he brought he left palm down onto the ground and within a few minutes several statue look a likes of the Cooper gang mystic began to terrorize the guests. Sly slipped toward Todd and handed him the sheath they had made for the sword. Todd slipped the sword into the sheath, and then Sly began to leave the party, with the sword or 8 elements hidden in his sleeve.

Todd teleported Murray safely out to the Cooper van in an explosion of flame to make it look like he incinerated Murray. Sly and Carmelita were outside in a few minutes after Todd had made his big entrance and were in jumping to the Cooper van. They were back to the house in a few minutes and were ready to celebrate the successful heist with Todd when they found out he had yet to transport himself back to the house.

Everyone waited for Todd to return for about thirty minutes when they began to worry if something had gone wrong. That was when the phone rang and Sly picked it up and answered, "Hello."

The voice on the other end said, "Is this the Cooper gang."

Sly answered, "Yes, it is."

"Good, this is Strong Arm, the guy you two bit thieves just stole from, but I got something of yours out of the deal. It's blue, furry, and goes by the name Todd."

Sly eyes widened as he said, "What do you want."

"It's simple, bring back the sword and you get your amigo back. You don't and he won't live to see sunrise. You have two hours to bring the sword to me here at the warehouse where the party was. If you are one minute late, trust me, you will regret it." With that Strong Arm slammed the phone down. Sly turned to Carmelita, Bentley, and Murray, but they could tell from Sly's face that Strong Arm had gotten a hold of Todd. They all were heading for the garage door, the sword in hand, but when Sly tried to open the door it wouldn't budge. They checked the lock on the door, but it was unlocked.

The gang was heading for the front door when they heard someone calling to them over the gang's radio system. Bentley rushed over to the unit and raised the volume as the voice said, "I repeat, do not give Strong Arm the sword."

Bentley's eyes widened as he said, "Its Todd. He is using his magic to make it so he can talk to use over the radio with out actually moving his lips."

They heard Todd chuckle over the radio as he said, "Bentley, you always were the quick one. I will miss you my friend."

Bentley rushed over and picked up the microphone attached to the radio unit and said, "Don't talk like that Todd. We'll bring the sword, and get you away from that mad man."

Todd sighed and said, "I can't allow you to do that. The sword is just too great of weapon to be left in the hands of Strong Arm or any of his associates."

The four of them argued with Todd for thirty minutes, but he still wouldn't allow them to leave the house. Finally Carmelita stormed down the hall to the garage and they heard her pounding on a door, while the others continued to try and reason with Todd.

The scene was looking grim, because even if they wanted to they could never get across town in time to give Strong Arm the sword with out risking getting caught by a traffic police man. They were on the brink of giving up when they heard Carmelita stomping down the hall back to the living room. When she came into view they noticed that she had a dark green book in her hands as she said, "If he won't let us leave, let's use the sword to bring him here."

Bentley eyes widened as he took the book from Carmelita and began to flip through the pages. After pausing on a page for a few seconds he said, "I usually wouldn't approve of this Carmelita, but I think your right. If Todd won't let us give use the sword as payment for his freedom, we'll use its power to bring him home. Now, according to this book we will need to use pure chalk to create a circle on the floor with these patterns."

Sly looked at the diagram in the book and said, "Doesn't look to complicated, and I know where Todd stashes his chalk." Sly then began to rummage in the drawers of the entertainment center while Murray and Carmelita got the other things they would need to cast the spell. The items were 8 white wax candles and the sword of 8 elements. While Carmelita and Murray were raiding Todd's closet for the candles Sly and Bentley went about using the pure chalk bust to create the pattern necessary for the spell to work.

The spells preparation took several minutes, and Todd would be killed by Strong Arm in thirty minutes when Bentley read the final step of the spell and gasped as he said, "No, we can't cast the spell."

Sly walked over to Bentley and asked, "What's the problem?"

Bentley pointed to the page and read, "This spell must be cast by either one who is a wizard, or by two people who contain what is called the Flame of the Thief. The only one here that has the Flame of the Thief is Sly, and we don't have time to set up another spell."

Carmelita put her hand on the book and said, "So, we try anyway. Sly and I will try to cast the spell."

Bentley eyes bugged out as he said, "ARE YOU CRAZY. If the spell is done wrong we could kill Todd."

Carmelita took the book out of Bentley's hands and said, "It will be better then Strong Arm killing him. Strong Arm is known to make anyone he wants dead suffer an extremely long, painful death. Even if we mess the spell up, it's a better death then the one Strong Arm probably has planned for him."

Bentley sighed and nodded his head in agreement. Sly and Carmelita took their places on either side of the circle and read the incantation in the book in unison, "

We require transport this instant

To transport Todd across a great distance

Take him from there to here

From my the clutches of Strong Arm to the Cooper Gangs lair

Take them with the speed of light

But let them be like shadows in the night

Hidden and concealed from sight

The chalk circle began to glow a bright white as did the sword of 8 elements which was positioned in the center of the circle. The light grew brighter and brighter till everyone had to shield there eyes. The light stayed like that for about a minute, but as the light finally began to die down they saw a figure standing in the circle, leaning against the sword of 8 elements. As the light continued to die they could start to make out what appeared to be blue fur. Once the light had completely died down the gang stood in silence as they saw Todd standing in the center of the living room, still as stone.

They all feared the worst, but then Todd took a deep breath and then said, "Not as smooth of ride as I'm used to, but who's complaining when the alternative is death."