Chapter 2

The Pieces of a Soul

A week later, a shadow was running across the Paris rooftops. In the distance, a museum alarm system was going off. The security system had once protected the Sphinx Sapphire, a valuable sapphire that had been found in a tomb in Egypt. Now, the sapphire was safely tucked away in the backpack strapped to the back of the Master Thief, Sly Cooper.

Sly continued to run across the Paris rooftops, heading for the point in the city where he was to meet up with Bentley and Murray. He had stolen that gem because the museum bragged that their security system was unstoppable. Well, that was just an open invitation for Sly to prove them wrong. It was an impressive security system, and proved a worth while challenge. Still, it ended like so many before it. Sly, with Bentley and Murray's help, got in, stole the most valuable item, and got out before a single officer could arrive.

As Sly continued to run, he began to wonder why Carmelita hadn't showed up yet. Usually, she would have been chasing after him ten minutes after the alarms went off. Now, it was easily twenty minutes since the alarms had sounded and still no sign of Sly's favorite officers of the law.

After a few more minutes of running, Sly reached the rendezvous point. He stopped at the edge of a building, and looked down into an alley to see the Cooper Gang getaway van parked just back from the street. Sly quickly used the fire escape, and got down to the alley. He knocked on the van doors, and the back panel slid open to reveal a short, green turtle with large glass.

Bentley looked at Sly for a few seconds, cocking an eyebrow as he said, "Sly, are you feeling all right?"

Sly nodded his head, and handed Bentley the Sapphire Sphinx as he said, "Yeah, I feeling fine. Why?"

Bentley took the gem from Sly, and examined it as he said, "Oh, other then fact that you didn't A, run into Carmelita, or B, didn't wait for her to find you, no reason."

"Bentley, you worry too much. Even if I had run into Carmelita, you know she will never catch me."

Bentley shook his head and said, "Sometimes Sly, I think you are too good at thieving for your own good. Still, this gemstone will fetch a nice amount of money on Thief net."

Sly nodded his head, and shut the van's back doors as he moved around front, and jumped into the passenger seat. Murray greeted him, and then started the van, and pulled out of the alley. After a few minutes of driving, the Cooper Gang reached their most recent hideout. It was an abandoned theater in the older part of Paris. While Sly, Bentley, and Murray left the front lobby and main stage of the theater alone, they overhauled the theaters old staff dorms to make them livable. It had all the comforts of a real house, and no rent or bills.

Murray pulled the team van into the theaters old loading dock, and shut the engine off. Sly, Murray got out of the front as Bentley opened the van's back doors, and jumped down. Bentley was still examining the Sapphire Sphinx as the trio headed in through the old staff door, and through the backstage area to the theater's dorms. They had taken five rooms of the dorms, and made them their home. One was the bathroom, one was a mixture of kitchen, dinning room, and living room. The other three were Bentley, Sly, and Murray's individual bedrooms. The way the rooms were set up, the three bedrooms and the one bathroom were connected to the living room which had the only door to reach the rest of the theater.

Sly was the first to walk into the living room area, and he quickly plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. Bentley had hacked the Dish Network satellites, and the gang now had 1,000 free channels of satellite TV. Sly began to surf through the channels while Murray moved into the kitchen to have a snake and Bentley went over to his computer. Finally, after finding nothing worth watching, Sly pressed a few buttons on the remote control and brought up the dish receivers built in digital video recorder.

Sly skimmed the list of newly recorded shows. He saw two of Murray's favorite action hero series, a documentary on the evolution of the internet, and the six o'clock news. To say the least, it was an easy choice for Sly start watching the recorded news program. Though there was no way the news would have anything about his heist, he still enjoyed hearing about what else was going on in the world. The weather man predicted a light shower for sometime tomorrow, and there was some stuff on a new theater company that was making a name for itself in town.

Sly was just about turn the TV off when the news anchor, a young lioness, cleared her throat and said, "Now, its time for our final story. We got this news from the local Interpol branch. A week later, the infamous Mz. Ruby was located here in Paris. It was believed that Interpol would be able to recapture this highly dangerous criminal, but everything went sour. A group of seven Interpol officers went into the warehouse that Mz. Ruby had taken shelter in. According to the accounts of six of the seven officers, they were trapped in the warehouses business offices until a few hours after Mz. Ruby had escaped, and the magic that trapped them wore out. Other then that, all that can be determined is that Mz. Ruby was creating some strange potion. It is believed the seventh officer, an Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, stopped Mz. Ruby from completing her potion."

Sly smiled, and looked over his shoulder as he said, "Hey, Bentley, Murray, get over here and watch this." As Bentley and Murray made their way over to the couch, Sly backed up the recording, and replayed the part about Mz. Ruby and Carmelita.

Sly was smiling, happy to see Carmelita getting some success in other cases when he reached the spot he stopped at, and the reporter continued by saying, "Mz. Ruby's current location is unknown, but Interpol informs us that it looks like someone fought with Mz. Ruby before something caused one of the warehouse walls to explode, allowing the rest of the Interpol officers on the scene to move in. Chief Barkley told are reporters that they believe that there was a third person on the scene, someone who fought Mz. Ruby through the use of magical attacks. Nothing is known of the person who fought with Mz. Ruby, and there may not have even been a third according to Interpol reports."

Bentley raised an eyebrow, his curiosity building as he said, "I wonder who that third person was. He would have to be a powerful mystic to go toe to toe with Mz. Ruby."

Sly shushed Bentley as he turned back to the TV, and listened as the reporter said, "Now, when are reports asked if they could speak with Inspector Fox about the events in the warehouse, we found out that Inspector Fox is currently in the New Hope General Hospital. According to Chief Barkley, Inspector Fox was found after Mz. Ruby disappeared, unconscious. According to the hospital, Inspector Fox's condition is currently stable, but she has yet to open her eyes since she was brought to the hospital a week ago."

The news program ended with that, and both Bentley and Murray turned to look at Sly. Unfortunately, Sly had already jumped over the back of the couch, and was heading toward the door. Without a word to Bentley or Murray, Sly rushed out the window, and into the cold nigh air. He used his rail walk on a cable just below the window, and got to a rooftop near the window. In an instant, Sly disappeared into the night, running in a full sprint toward the New Hope General Hospital. Bentley and Murray sat for a few minutes before Bentley got up and moved over to his computer. He typed a few commands on the compute, and pulled a microphone near his mouth as he said, "Sly, I know where you're going, and you know you're crazy."

Sly's voice came back over the computer speakers as he said, "Call me what you want Bentley, I am going to see Carmelita."

"At least wait for me and Murray. If you go in there by yourself, your liable to get caught."

"No Bentley, I have to go see Carmelita now. If you guys want to help me, you will have to catch up." With that Bentley saw the signal go dead, meaning Sly had turned his binocucom off. He turned and looked up at Murray, and the pair reached a silent agreement as they both stood up, and began to move toward the hideout's door. If they took the van, they could catch up with Sly and give him some backup.

Sly was running faster then he ever had before. He ran straight across the roof tops, not caring who heard or saw him. It didn't matter, he had to see Carmelita. It didn't take long for Sly to reach the roof of the New Hope General Hospital. Sly found a door on the roof, and used it to get into the hospital. Due to the late hour, the only people at work were the night staff, the ones stuck with the graveyard shift.

Sly slipped through the halls of the hospital without being noticed. After a few minutes of searching, Sly found the hospital laundry room and borrowed enough clothes he was able to disguise himself as a doctor. Sly left the laundry room, and walked down the halls toward the nurse's station. The only nurse at the station was a female coyote who was sleeping in her chair. Sly gently tapped on the desk, and the coyote woke up and looked at Sly with sleepy eyes as she said, "Hello doctor, what can I do to help you?"

Sly coughed a bit, and then spoke in a deep voice as he said, "Yes, can you tell me which room Miss Carmelita Fox is in?"

The coyote nodded her head, and typed a few things on a nearby computer before she said, "Let's see, according to this Miss Fox is in room 756." Sly nodded his head, and thanked the coyote before he turned, and began to head toward Carmelita's room. The coyote watch him turn a corner, and then quickly went back to sleep.

Sly moved quickly down the hospital halls, almost breaking into a run when he got close to Carmelita's room. A few minutes later, he was standing in front of a door that had the number 756 written to its right. Sly swallowed a bit, and set his hand on the door handle. In his mind, he muttered a silent prayer, "Please, let her be all right. Let Carmelita be sitting their, this whole thing some crazy trap thought up by Interpol." Finally, after a few silent minutes he slowly opened the door. He slipped his head in, hoping to see Carmelita standing their, looking right at him, with her Shock Pistol pointed right at his head. Instead, he saw her lying on the hospital bed. Her breathing was slow, and it looked like she was just sleeping. She was covered by a blanket, her arms resting on top of it. The heart rate monitors, and other instruments made a steady series of beeps as they monitored Carmelita's heart beat, and other important vital signs.

Sly moved over to the side of the bed, pulling a chair near the bed side as he took a seat. He looked over Carmelita's motionless form. The only movement came from her chest which was slowly, but steadily rising up and down. Sly slid his chair over to the foot of the bed, and picked up the clipboard that was hanging there. All the records and charts that were on the board meant little to him, but something at the bottom of the page caught his eye. It was a note from the doctor. It said that Carmelita's body was perfectly fine, that he couldn't find a single reason why she would be in a coma.

Sly flipped through the pages a few more times, and saw the same note by several different doctors. They all couldn't find a single reason why Carmelita wouldn't wake up. Sly sighed as he put the clipboard back on is hook, and looked back over at Carmelita. He slid his chair back over to Carmelita's side of the bed, and looked at Carmelita's face. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. Though he didn't know if Carmelita would appreciate it, Sly took her hand in his and squeezed. As he let his mind wander, he thought about Mz. Ruby. She had to have done something to Carmelita, but he had no way to figure out what. Sly began to cry, squeezing Carmelita's hand tighter as he said, "Carmelita, please be all right."

Sly would have stayed there all night, but a few minutes later he heard footsteps coming down the hall. He looked around the room, and noticed that a steel cable ran from Carmelita's window to the building on the opposite side of the street. With a final look at Carmelita, Sly moved around the bed, threw the window's open, and used his rail walk technique to get across the street before the real doctors could come in and check on Carmelita.

Unknown to Sly, on the roof of the hospital, a person watched him as he ran across the Paris rooftops. Sly stopped only once to pull out his Binocucom, and soon he met up with Bentley and Murray and the trio went back to their hideout. The person in the shadows watched as the Cooper Gang van disappeared into the Paris streets before he jumped off the roof, and fell until he reached Carmelita's window. Then, he landed on the metal cable, and jumped into Carmelita's room. The doctor had just left, but Carmelita was still in her coma. The strange figure stepped away from the window and into the light from a lamp in the corner of the room.

It was a black panther in black pants, black shoes, and a white long sleeve shirt, his emerald eyes going up and down Carmelita's form. The panther's name was Blain Shadow Walker, and he had watched in horror as Mz. Ruby forced the dangerous Soul Shatter potion down Carmelita's throat. He sighed, and raised his hand above Carmelita's body as he closed his eyes. After a few moments, his eyes flew open, and they were glowing white.

Blain remained like this for a few minutes before Carmelita's body began to glow, and something rose out of Carmelita's chest, coming straight from her heart. The orb of light glowed for a few seconds before Blain widened his eyes, and the orb began to take the shape of a flat disk. Blain blinked, his eyes returning to normal as he reached out and took the disk. The light from the disk faded, and Blain held a CD in his hand. Blain reached in his back pocket, and pulled out a CD case. He placed the disk into the case, and then slid it back into his pocket.

Blain looked over Carmelita's body one more time, and brought his hand up near his face. Blain snapped his fingers, and disappeared into nothing. Back across town, at the Cooper Gang hideout, Sly, Bentley, and Murray were just pulling into old theaters loading dock. It didn't take them long to get up to the old dorms, and Sly was first through the door. To their surprise, they found the lights on and a black panther standing in the center of the room.

Out of instinct, Murray charged forward and tried to grab hold of the panther, but he dodged Murray's attack as he said, "Please, I came here to talk to you about Carmelita."

Sly eyes widened, and he looked over at Murray as he said, "Murray, wait. Let's hear what he has to say."

Murray looked at Sly, and then nodded his head as he said, "All right Sly, the Murray will ask questions first, and pummel this guy later."

The panther watched Murray wearily, and then looked at Sly as he said, "I am Blain Shadow Walker. I assume you heard the news report about the fight at the warehouse. Well, I was the third person in the fight, and I know what Mz. Ruby did to Carmelita. You should sit down for this."

Sly moved over to the couch, and took a seat. Bentley and Murray to their seats next to Sly, and Blain walked around the couch as he said, "Mz. Ruby forced Carmelita to eat something called the Soul Shatter potion. It is a dark spell that breaks a person's soul into its base components, and turns them into real objects. The reason Carmelita can't wake up is that is only her body. Her mind, her feelings, and her soul have been pulled out of her body. Her soul was then broken into five pieces, and those five pieces were sent where ever Mz. Ruby wanted them to be."

Bentley leaned forward, slightly confused as he said, "Let me get this straight. So, you're saying Carmelita's body is fine, it is her soul that has been attacked."

Blain nodded his head and said, "Precisely. Her soul was broken into five parts. The first is her mind, and her knowledge which to the form of a book. The next is her conscious, which took the form of a medallion that bore the symbol of yin and yang, good and evil. The third was her will power, which was changed into a solid metal statue of Carmelita. The fourth piece, her emotions, was turned into a diamond. The final piece was turned into a clock, and it is the most crucial piece. It is the spark of life that gives the rest of Carmelita's soul its power."

Sly, Bentley, and Murray were silent for a few minutes, each letting their minds wrap around what Blain had just said. Finally, Sly looked right into Blain's eyes as he asked, "How do you know this, and what can we do to fix it?"

Blain sighed, turning his back to Sly, Bentley, and Murray as he said, "I know this because I witnessed it, and I versed in all forms of magic. My specialty is alchemy, the mixing of magic and technology to create new ways to do things. To be an alchemist, you must have knowledge on several different mystical arts and modern technologies. That is beside the point though. I can repair Carmelita's soul, and place it back in her body. The problem is we must gather the five pieces of Carmelita's soul. If we are missing even one piece, I won't be able to repair her soul. Carmelita will be lost to the ages, unable to go to heaven or hell. She will be trapped in this world as a book, diamond, clock, medallion, and statue."

Sly nodded his head, and looked at Bentley as he asked, "What do you think Bent?"

Bentley folded his hands, his mind going into overdrive as he thought about all the possibilities. Finally, after a few silent minutes he looked up at Blain and asked, "I have a few questions for you. One, how are we going to find the pieces of Carmelita's soul, and two, why should we trust you?"

Blain turned back to face Bentley as he pulled the CD out of his back pocket and said, "To answer your first question, this CD holds a special mystic code that is unique to Carmelita's soul. I visited Carmelita's body, and used my magic to make copy of the special mystical signatures that are unique to Carmelita's soul. Using this disk, we can both track and store the pieces of Carmelita's soul in a digital format. To answer your second question, you really have no reason to trust me. I am here because I feel responsible for what happened. Maybe if I had fought with Mz. Ruby harder, or made sure she was defeated before I tried to free Carmelita, maybe none of this would have happened. All I know is that, until Mz. Ruby is defeated and Carmelita's soul is back in her body, I will do what ever I can to undo what has happened."

As Blain said the last part of his pledge, he got down on one knee and placed his hand on his heart. Sly, Murray, and Bentley watched him for a few seconds before Sly asked, "What do you think guys?"

Murray turned his head toward Sly as he said, "I'll go with what ever you decided to do Sly."

Bentley nodded his head and said, "Yes, I may not trust this guy, but I trust your judgment on stuff like this."

Sly nodded his head, his gaze shifting back to Blain. Blain looked up at Sly, and all four of them were silent until Sly said, "Right now, he is our only hope of saving Carmelita. He also didn't have to tell us what Mz. Ruby did to Carmelita. He could have just left the city, and not worried about what happened to her. Instead he came back, and searched us out to try and help us save Carmelita's soul. To wrap it all up, I trust that Blain truly wants to help us."

Blain stood up, and thanked Sly. The four got to know each other a little bit more for a few minutes, but quickly went to work to find out where the first piece of Carmelita's soul was hidden.