Thieves United

Discliamer: No, I don't own Sly Cooper. If I did, I'd be rolling around in money, right now, and writing the script for the next game.

PARIS, FRANCE: 3:45 PM

Bentley was sitting at his computer again, now back at their hideout, typing away. For hours, he had been trying to form a plan that would get Sly back into the gang. And to try and break Dimitri out of jail. But so far, he was getting no where.

"The Diamond is still there," Penelope announced, walking up to stand beside him. "I've just checked the security cameras."

"Good…" The turtle murmured, still lost in thought. Penelope saw this, and went to go sit down at the table with Murray, so she could eat.

'The only way we could get Sly back…' Bentley thought, chewing on a pen. 'Is if we go to him in person. But… he rarely strays from Carmelita's side, and he's always at the Interpol office…'

"We need to spy on him…" Bentley muttered under his breath aloud, and after staying really still for a few minutes, wrote that down on a piece of graph paper with the pen he was chewing on. Penelope looked up from her food.

"What?" She asked.

"We need to spy on him." Bentley repeated, this time louder. "We need to watch his usual daily life to see when he's alone. Obviously dropping hints for him isn't working."

"I don't understand, Bentley," Murray said. "Why can't we just get that thief girl to steal those jewels, and leave Sly alone?"

"Because she'd ask for pay," Penelope said irritably.

"Well, that, and the fact that Sly is our best friend, and she… isn't." Bentley said. "Anyway, once we find out what hours of the day he's alone, we'll sneak into his apartment, and ask him to help us. That's the best plan we have at this point in time."

"It's better than getting Ringo to do it again…" Penelope grumbled, crossing her arms irritably over her chest.

"Wait a sec… didn't that Ringo girl say something about having a friend in Interpol?" Murray asked suddenly.

"Why?" Penelope asked.

"Well…" Murray said hesitantly. "I thought… maybe, if we could get her to ask her Interpol friend, he'd tell Sly we wanted to meet him, and it would save us the trouble of having to spy on him. Really, I don't think spying on our best friend is all that nice..."

Bentley stared at him with a rather dumbfounded expression. Murray lowered his head.

"Just a suggestion…" He muttered.

"That idea…" Bentley said slowly. "Is…. Fabulous! You're a genius, Murray!"

"I am?" Murray asked.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that!" Bentley said excitedly, typing on his computer keyboard.

"So… what are you doing?" Penelope asked.

"I'm sending Ringo an e-mail," Bentley said. "Sly should be back on the team by tomorrow afternoon if this works out! Amazing!"

Carmelita sighed, removing her glasses from her eyes, and rubbing them tiredly. She leaned back in her computer chair, and Sly, who had been writing what Robin had told them about Ringo on a piece of paper, looked up at her.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I still find it ridiculous that Robin doesn't keep a file on this Ringo person," She said, looking at him. "It just… doesn't make sense! It's a job requirement that any Interpol officer should always keep files on their cases."

"Well," Sly said, going back to his scribbling on the piece of paper. "He's either keeping it secret for his own reasons. Or, he's telling the truth, and he doesn't have one."

"Why do you want to track this thief, anyway?" Carmelita asked, surveying him for a long time. "She isn't one of our cases."

"She –" Sly started, but then he realized, if he told the truth as to why he wanted to track Ringo down, it would tell Carmelita he didn't really have amnesia. He knew he would be faced with this problem sooner or later… "She's just interesting, that's all. And maybe we can do the job better than Robin if he hasn't caught her yet."

"I suppose," Carmelita answered. "But shouldn't we ask Robin first if we can help him with his case? I mean… seems kind of rude to butt in like that."

"He's an easy going guy," Sly said, scribbling off the last word on the paper with a flourish. "I'm sure he won't mind."

Carmelita didn't answer. She just put her glasses back on, and turned back to the computer, scrolling through information that she had brought up onto the screen earlier. Sly noticed she seemed to be a little bit unhappy. So, getting up from the chair across from her desk, he went around, and turned her computer chair to face him. She gave him a confused look as he took her hands and pulled her to her feet.

"Let's go out tonight." He said simply. "You seem unhappy. Dinner, a little dancing – I can fix that."

He knew he had repeated the words he had said to her years before he ever even considered becoming a cop, though he hadn't expected for her to remember them. When she looked at him in surprise, however, he knew that she did.

"You said that…" Her voice trailed off, and Sly raised a brow. He had to pretend he didn't know, right? After a minute, she smiled at him, and said softly, "Sure. Dinner sounds great."

"And dancing," Sly added with a charming smile. She laughed softly.

"And dancing," She repeated in agreement, and then she wormed her way out of his embrace to get back to work again.

The female raccoon thief, known as Ringo, walked up to the door of the hideout Bentley, Penelope, and Murray shared. She knocked on the door, and waited for someone to answer. It was Murray. She smiled at him when she saw him.

"Hi, Murray," Ringo said kindly. "Is Bentley in?"

"Yeah, he's waiting for you in the lab," Murray said, letting her inside. "I'll show you."

Bentley's lap was… huge. He had every gizmo possible in there, and because Penelope was so good with electronics, too, she had all of her own gadgets in this huge lab. Bentley was watching a screen mounted up high on the wall at a downward angle. On the screen, it showed a beautiful looking gem that appeared to be a huge diamond, although the color was off; it was a beautiful sky blue instead of clear.

"So, that's the diamond?" Ringo asked. Bentley turned to look at her, and nodded. He had heard her and Murray come in. Ringo watched the screen closely. There were tons and tons of security features guarding this priceless item from the classical security guards, to sensors, to lasers, to alarms. She smiled. "You want me to steal it?"

"No," Bentley said. "I want you to talk to your Interpol friend."

"What?" Ringo asked, looking at Bentley like he was crazy.

"I want you to talk to your friend at Interpol," Bentley repeated. "Ask him, as a favor from you, to talk to Sly, and get him to agree to meet us at a certain time."

Ringo raised a brow, and surveyed Bentley for a few minutes before saying softly, "Okay… sounds easy enough." Then she looked at the screen again. It was still showing the diamond. "Why are you watching it, then, if you don't plan to steal it?"

"The diamond?" Bentley asked. Ringo nodded.

"The diamond was made by a team of scientists, trying to see if they could change the colors of diamonds to make them more valuable," Penelope said, working on her RC car. "Unfortunately, when they made the diamond, Plutonium gas was formed in the centre of it. If the diamond breaks, it sets of a huge and powerful explosion, big enough to wipe out all of Asia."

"But it's in the museum," Ringo pointed out. "If it's so dangerous, why isn't it at Area 51, or something?"

"That we don't know," Bentley said. "All we do know is that it needs to be put in a confined area."

"The security around the diamond looks pretty tight," Ringo said, crossing her arms over her chest and putting all her weight on one leg. "I don't think anyone would be able to steal it."

"Not even a thief like you?" Penelope said darkly. "There is a thief who wants and is able to steal it. Security can be shut down easily if you have the right skills. We've done it tons of times. Bentley's set up his own micro-cameras around the diamond, so we can keep a watch on it and make sure it isn't stolen before we actually get a hold of it."

"I see…" Ringo said thoughtfully. Then she cleared her throat. "Alrighty, back on the previous topic; you want me to ask my Interpol friend to talk to Sly, and get him to agree to meet you. A time and place?"

"I'll write it down for you." Bentley said.

Robin H. Mace was sitting in his office, drinking a cup of coffee, and going through boring files again. With a sigh, he dropped them onto his desk. All these murder cases he had to look at, and he hadn't even been assigned to them…

"The Chief runs this place horridly…" The fox muttered rubbing his eyes. It was getting later in the afternoon, and Robin's stomach growled loudly. He hadn't eaten anything all day.

'Lunch sounds nice…' He thought, and pulled himself up out of his chair, downing the mug of coffee, and then heading for the door. He was still wearing his jacket. Just then his office phone rang, and Robin turned to look at it. People normally called his cell phone… not his office phone. Only a few people knew his office phone. It was either the chief, or someone else… Robin went over to it, and picked it up, holding it to his ear.

"Detective Robin H. Mace." He said in a business like way.

"Afternoon, Detective Mace," A woman's voice on the only line said. She sounded chipper and happy. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine…" Robin said slowly. "Who is this?"

"Aww, Robin, have you forgotten me already?" The woman said, sounding hurt. Robin suddenly laughed upon recognizing the voice.

"Merah!" He said. "What the heck are you doing, calling me at work?"

"I have a favor I want to ask of you," Merah said on the other line. "But I'll ask you that later. What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing," Robin answered, sitting down in his computer chair, grinning into the phone. "Why?"

"No… rounds about the city, or anything?" Merah asked.

"No, unless the chief asks me at last minute, but he normally gets the Inspectors to do that." Robin said.

"Good," Merah said. "Because… I think we should spend some time together. We haven't for a long time, and I miss you."

"I miss you, too." Robin replied quietly. "What did you have planned for this evening?"

"Dinner?" Merah suggested. "Your treat. Maybe a movie or we could go partying."

"We'll discuss it at dinner," Robin said, smiling into the phone. "I'll pick you up. Where are you right now?"

"Right at this very moment?" Merah asked, sounding playful.

"Right at this very moment," The fox said, giving a chuckle.

"Watching you through your balcony window." She said, and Robin looked, and saw her standing there, a cell phone held up to her ear. A grin spread across her beautiful face, and Robin jumped up from his chair, hanging up the phone, and going over to the window to let her into his office.

Ever since their discussion with Robin, Sly and Carmelita hadn't really gotten any work done except for trying to find out at least something else about this Ringo girl. They hadn't found anything, though. Carmelita was getting frustrated, so seeing as it was quitting time for most of the other officers, Sly suggested they go.

Exiting the office, Sly locked the door behind him, and followed Carmelita down the hallway, passed J.R.'s office (they could hear him talking on the phone loudly to that Westwood guy again), passed Robin's office, and moved into an elevator. They rode down the elevator in silence, Sly thinking about their plans for this evening. He was looking forward to it. It would be the first time he and Carmelita had ever been on a casual outing.

Leaving the building, they walked to Carmelita's car. While she drove, Sly was trying to decide if he should get her flowers, or something.

"Where are we going to go tonight?" Carmelita asked, breaking the silence. Sly looked at her, and smiled.

"I'll surprise you," He said.

"So I'm assuming that means your driving?" She asked, a smile forming on her lips. Sly chuckled softly.

"I guess it does," He said. She made the car turn a corner, and pulled into the driveway of Sly's apartment. He undid his seatbelt, and, opened the car door.

"Thanks for the ride," He said. "I'll come pick you up at around… seven, or seven thirty."

"Alright," Carmelita said, and she gave him a fond smile. "Call me before you leave, okay?"

"No problem," Sly said, and after giving her a wink, he closed the door, and let Carmelita drive off before bounding happily into the apartment building.

A/N: Okay, chapter's are going to be short, just because I feel as if I'm giving away too much of the story so far… and the dialogue between characters is getting difficult.

I hope you all liked this chapter. I've introduced another branch of the major plot, so… muahaha! I'm leaving you all hanging.

R&R!