A/N: I have nothing to say, except the silly disclaimer that everyone has and that I noticed that I didn't.

So, here goes, my official-sounding disclaimer.

Semi-Official Sounding Legal Mumbo Jumbo: The Sly Cooper video game series and all related characters are the property of Sucker Punch. This writing is merely written for recreation and the author obtains no profit from this work. However, all non-canon characters and the scenarios portrayed in this work of fiction are of the author's creation. Do not use without permission.

London Operation

Day One


Penelope patiently followed Murray around town, carrying a small parcel underneath one arm, and her remote control in the other. While it might have been easier to simply stop the hippo once she realized the poor guy had no idea where he was going, her sense of humor got in her way, as Murray's antics were on the most part, unintentionally amusing, usually at the hippo's expense. And she figured she could use the workout from keeping up with Murray, who was much faster than he looked. So she waited for "The Murray" to come to his senses, humble himself, and ask for help. Entertainment, exercise and an ego boost all in one go.

Murray, who had Penelope's remote controlled car slung over one shoulder, however, did not ask for the mouse's assistance. He managed to find the spot Bentley had directed them to go, either by knowing exactly what it was and deciding to take a scenic route to get an overview of the area, or more likely, just wandered around until he found it by dumb luck. Either way, he had taken the two of them clear across town and back again before reaching the point and whether it was intentional or not, they had a general idea on the city's layout and the best traveling routes and hiding places, plus the shortest path back to the Safe House. Setting the car down, Murray waited for Penelope to explain what to do, since Bentley did not like explaining things in detail during his slideshows.

Apparently, the real work was set on Penelope. She was almost never out in the field alone, because she had no real means to defend herself should she get attacked, other than by use of her remote controlled vehicles. Although Penelope had a natural talent for sword fighting, proven when she dueled the ruthless pirate, LeFwee, the sword she had used had no scabbard, and thus was too unsafe to carry around, at least, not until the gang finally got around to getting one for it. Not only that, the weapon was left behind at the Cooper Gang base of operations when they left for Germany in haste. Were she to find herself surrounded, Penelope would have no chance of escaping. Naturally, Bentley, being the overly cautious worrywart and protective person that he is, decided that sending Murray along would be a kind of reassurance, more for settling his own fears rather than Penelope's.

Penelope flicked the power on, and had her car drive a few circles around herself to make sure everything was in perfect working condition. For sport, she circled around Murray a couple times, just so she could watch him try to follow the swift car's movements and fail miserably. Once she had her fun, she set it forth, watching it from a real-time video feed screen on the controller through a camera on the car.

The small car bounced on the cobblestone roads, but the tiny motorized engine was much more powerful than it looked and the car rolled on without any problems. While doing recon work, Sly had found a small crack in the wall and a ventilation shaft leading into Elizabeth the Swan's mansion. It was too small for anyone to crawl through, but the remote controlled car had no problem squeezing into the opening.

Following a light ahead of her, Penelope guided the car out into a large room. A quick drive around told her two very important things.

One, there were piles upon piles of sacks of British pounds everywhere; and two, the car wasn't alone. Sitting next to what appeared to be a push cart normally used in the likes of post offices, was a person. Upon closer look, it appeared to be a brown bat wearing a long sleeved white shirt and loose green cargo pants. He didn't appear to look like the usual guards patrolling the streets. If anything, he looked like a normal civilian, probably one that had an unfortunate run in with the sentries around the area.

A bright idea came to Penelope's head. She had been adding a number of upgrades to her car, one of which was a Grapple-Cam speaker Bentley had given her as a sort of apology for taking her car's turret back in Bloodbath Bay those many months ago. She had never actually used it, and she hoped that she wired it correctly.

"Hey, you, can you hear me?"

The bat's large ears perked and he looked around the area, quite startled. Yep, the speaker worked just fine. Finally, he spotted the little car on the ground and got down on the floor to examine it with his pale blue eyes.

"Who are you? Are you from Interpol?"

"No," Penelope answered. "What are you doing here? Were you kidnapped?"

The bat shook his head. "No, I work here." Before Penelope could say anything, his eyes narrowed. "Don't say anything about how I don't look like I'm the type to be a criminal thug…I'm not."

"Then why are you here?"

The pale blue eyes narrowed, and there was a short pause, as if the bat was weighing whether or not he should tell the talking remote controlled car.

"Why do you want to know?" He counter-questioned.

"So I can judge whether or not to make you an offer." Penelope smirked. This guy had a way with words, and was obviously not going to let his guard down, for reasons she did not know. If anything, it only made her more determined to make a deal with this interesting character.

"Okay, I'll tell you, little RC car. I'm going to assume you know the owner of this mansion is a low-key, yet powerful criminal, part of an up-and-coming new crime ring. I specialize in quietly taking apart illegal organizations. Work my way in, take whatever catches my fancy, throw a wrench in their gears, and leave the rest to Interpol." The bat said with a bit of smugness in his voice.

"You're a lot like we are. We do exactly the same thing."

"We, as in…?"

"The Cooper Gang."

For the first time, the bat showed signs of shock. The Cooper Gang had very well-known thieving reputation, but the recent events surrounding them made them the talk of the criminal underworld, so to speak. While the Cooper Gang was regarded as one of the best groups of thieves around, they were also known for being some of the most moral criminals around, and that really got both lawbreakers and law enforcers talking.

"I will not strike any deals with murderous fiends like you."

It was not Penelope's turn to be taken aback. Was that what everyone was thinking of her and her friends? Beings so evil that even other thieves like this bat wouldn't even consider giving them a chance? It hurt, to be thought of like that, especially when they were innocent. Nobody should have to feel like that. Was this horrid feeling the cause of Sly's recent troubles?

"Whether you believe me or not, I must tell you this. We are innocent. We were set up. We did not kill that poor, innocent girl." Penelope was on the verge of tears. "We swindle, we fool, and we pilfer, but we do not kill. The Cooper Gang may steal money, but we don't steal lives. Ours have been taken from us, and we are trying to get them back."

Another long moment of silence, and Penelope took this as a sign that the conversation was over, and she should probably leave before something worse happens. The car drove in a semi-circle and headed back for the ventilation shaft from whence it came. It was almost there when a hand reached out and picked it up off the ground. The brown bat held the car in his hands and looked directly into the camera.

"My name is Lucas Marshal Bat, and I would like to talk to you and your friends in person. Name the time and place, and I will be there to hear what you have to say."

"Come on, Murray, we've got to go now." Penelope said as she scooped up her car and handed it to the hippo.

"But…don't we have to put that new thingy of yours to use?" Murray asked, gesturing at the package still under the mouse's arm.

"Change of plans. We'll have time for that later. We need to round up the others and get to Big Ben in an hour." With that, she rushed off, clearly not in the mood for argument.

All Murray could do was shake his head. "Bentley's not going to like this." He remarked, knowing all-to-well how Bentley liked things to go exactly the way he wanted them to, and this was definitely not what the turtle had planned.

"He'll love it, now come on!" Penelope shouted, not bothering to wait.

Meanwhile, said turtle was still busy trying to fix the little imperfection in his plan. So far, he could not come up with a feasible solution. He needed a way to get up to that phone line, but there was no conceivable method he could think of with the limited resources the gang had. There was no way to climb up to the phone line, so having Sly give him a lift was out of the question, and there wasn't any point in getting Murray to toss him up there. Were Bentley not paralyzed, that would have been the perfect solution. However, there was no way to undo the past, and that was it. Sending Penelope wouldn't work either, for she wasn't a turtle and couldn't be thrown with the same force and agility as a turtle's natural Frisbee shape could, nor was it very safe and Bentley doubted that Penelope would allow herself to be hurled into the air. Why, it seemed like that the only way the job could be done would be to sprout wings and fly…

His thoughts were interrupted as the safe house door swung open and Penelope poked her head in. Strange, she couldn't possibly be finished with her part yet, could she? Bentley figured it would be at least another hour until she came back, but yet, here she was. It was then that he noticed that she was trying to tell him something. Something about finding a solution to the wire tap problem…

What? She found an answer? Before he did? Well, she was just as smart as he was, though she didn't have his talent for coming up with ingenious and creative plans. Penelope quickly explained what she had in mind and within a few minutes, the Cooper Gang was out the door and headed for the London landmark known as Big Ben.

Penelope's "solution" was waiting for them right outside the clock tower. As they approached, the bat looked quite different from when Penelope last saw him. He didn't have that guarded look he kept up so diligently back inside the mansion. In fact, he appeared sort of timid.

"Are you really the same Lucas I met back there?" She asked in disbelief.

"Well…yes." The brown mammal answered. "I'm…very good at acting you see. The truth is, your remote controlled car, frightened the living daylights out of me, with that powerful-looking gun on it and all. I have a natural talent for hiding my thoughts and putting up an act."

"So why aren't you pretending now? For all you know, we could beat you up and take your wallet any moment."

"I don't know, honestly." Lucas answered. "And you said it yourself; we have a common goal here. And I want to know if everything you said is true, that you really were set up."

"There's no way for us to really prove that." Sly replied, rather suddenly. "You'd have to get to know us as more than just thieves to know for sure. Look, we're wasting time here. Our offer for you is this: you help us out, you get half of all the loot we steal."

Lucas appeared to think over this offer in his mind, putting one hand under his chin. A chill went down Sly's spine. For some reason, the memories of Neyla, mistress of the double-cross, came to mind, when the tiger would muse on about things in that charming way of hers. Neyla had this distinct air around her that would charm anyone in it. This blue eyed bat had an atmosphere him as well, though what kind of atmosphere was undecipherable. There was something strange about this guy, but he was the only chance they had to pull off the wire tap.

Now, just about any thief would accept that proposition no questions asked. The Cooper Gang was being more than fair; anybody else would be offering at the most, thirty percent.

"That's a very good deal, no doubt." Lucas finally said. "But I reject." He finished with a sheepish grin.

All four of them couldn't believe their ears. Who in their right mind would turn away such a good agreement? Sly instantly thought his suspicions were correct. This bat was strange for sure.

"How about this," Lucas continued. "I do what you need me to do. In return, I want you to take me along on the rest of this adventure of yours to prove your innocence. Show me who you guys really are, and that everything I've heard about you is wrong."

"So, you want to join our gang?"

"If that's how you want to think of it, yes."

The gang excused themselves for a minute to talk over this counter-offer. Sly expressed his concerns. What if this guy was going to be another Neyla, turning them over to the enemy? If Lucas was really as good as an actor as he claimed, how was the gang going to know when he was faking it and when he was genuine? Penelope argued that all they had to do was take him along for the ride, his natural gift for flight and his acting skills would prove to be very helpful. Bentley took her side; it would be very practical to recruit a flier into the gang due to the loss of Penelope's chopper, which had previously been the gang's means of air support. Besides, the gang learned a lot from Neyla, whether they wanted to admit it or not. They wouldn't make the same mistakes again. In the end, Sly agreed, though he would be watching out for any signs of treachery.

The agreement set, the terms were to be carried out. The idea was to load Bentley onto Lucas' bat, and together, they would fly up to the phone line, where Bentley would tap the wire. All the while, Penelope was supposed to pick up where they had left off in the original plan. So while she unwrapped her package, Lucas and Bentley lifted off the ground and over to the phone line.

Undoing the last of the ropes on the box, Penelope opened it and took out her newest creation, a remote controlled boat equipped with several state-of-the-art technologies. Opening a nearby manhole, she jumped in. Fortunately, it was relatively clean in London's sewers, and there was no putrid odor to wrinkle her nose at, so she set to work, placing her sleek new boat in the sewer waters and set it to work. Her job was just to get a mapping of the area, for some reason, Bentley seemed to think it was critical that they knew the sewer schematics. Normally, the gang just used sewers to escape pursuits, but it seemed like the underground would be playing a vital role in the upcoming heist.

"Oh, wow, there are a ton of thugs down here." Penelope remarked, slowing the boat down so it would attract less attention. "Maybe Bentley was right. We'll really need to know our way around this place. By now, she had data on the sector she was told to scan, and she was just about ready to turn back. However, her boat did not go unnoticed.

"Bloody…would you look at that, a little boat, down here in the sewers."

"Should we follow it?"

"Of course we should…the boss said to do something about anything suspicious. Heard that she's been worried about that prowler she saw the other night. Besides, it's not like we've got anything better to do."

Despite all its high tech features, Penelope, in her haste to complete the boat on time, had neglected to put a microphone on it. She drove her boat back, unaware it was being followed.

"Hey, look, it's a little girl!"

Penelope panicked, grabbing her boat as soon as possible and scurrying up the ladder. She had been seen, and it was time for a quick getaway.

"Run!" She shouted as she came out of the hole. "Guards coming up from the sewers, we need to get back to the safe house!"

Sly helped her out of the hole as Murray grabbed the manhole cover.

"You get Penelope back to the safe house as soon as possible." He said to Sly, holding the round object above his head. "I'll hold them off and warn Bentley once he and Lucas get back."

With a mighty hippo roar, Murray slammed the manhole cover down as with all the strength he could muster. It collided with the head of a guard and he forced it down as the sounds of yelling and tumbling down could be heard. A moment later, however, and he found himself putting all his weight down onto holding the manhole closed. He heard the faint flapping of wings and looked up to see Bentley being helped back into his wheelchair.

"Um…Bentley, we've got a situation here."

"Murray, what are you doing on the ground. Where are Sly and Penelope?"

As if to answer Bentley's question, a tremendous force was applied to the underside of the manhole, forcing Murray to give way, but the hippo quickly recovered from the break in his defenses and shoved it back down again.

"That's what!" He grunted, adding some more force and his weight to the manhole. "Penelope was spotted down there, and she and Sly are making a break for the safe house. We have to go, too."

"I understand." Bentley nodded with a strange calmness. "We'll all meet back at the safe house."

"But I don't know where your safe house is." Lucas interjected. Bentley quickly told him where to go as Murray felt the manhole shake beneath him again. Once the bat had taken to the sky, Bentley wheeled his way down a street. Stopping, he turned around.

"Murray, don't force yourself anymore, let go and make a run for it!"

With a graceful push off the manhole cover, Murray turned and followed Bentley, being pursued by several of Elizabeth's angry squirrel guards, who had begun chattering amongst themselves, forming a plan of attack.

Meanwhile, Sly and Penelope were running as fast as they could towards the safe house. While they had faith in Murray, they knew that he couldn't hold them all off. Some of them were bound to take other routes, and they must have surely informed their headquarters on the situation.

"Sly, they're closing in on us!" Penelope shouted as she could see a guard jump down from a nearby rooftop.

"This isn't good." Sly huffed as the safe house came into view. "The safe house can't protect us now, there's too many of them. We have to fight."

"But…I…I'm no good at fighting!" Penelope wailed.

"Yes, yes you are!" Sly insisted. "Remember how well you fought against LeFwee? You were a natural with that sword!"

"But, LeFwee was only one opponent! And he wasn't even that good at swords, either! His was mainly just for show, or for slitting the throats of people who couldn't fight back. His skill was minimal! These are dozens of guards you're talking about, Sly, and I'm sure they all know how to handle their weapons correctly. And I don't even have my sword here, it's at home. Listen, I'll go into the safe house and get the RC car ready. I can fight using that."

Not wanting to hear anything else, she dashed into the safe house and in a minute, the car was deployed and ready for action.

"Well, she won't admit it, but she is good with a sword. I'll have to buy her a scabbard once we finish up here in London." Sly smirked as he stood ready to defend the safe house. When the first of the sure-to-be large horde of guards made his appearance, he was greeted with a whack to the head with the famed Cooper family cane. Sadly, this honor couldn't be enjoyed as the guard fell flat on his face unconscious.

One guard down…an unknown, but very large number to go.

Sly fought valiantly, covered by Penelope's artillery fire, but the numbers were overwhelming…just like in Berlin. Memories of that event assaulted Sly's senses all at once. The sights, the sounds, the emotions, they all came rushing back to him and clawed at his mind, and the Cooper heir was finding himself overwhelmed, just like before. A guard saw his opportunity and used it to knock Sly's cane out of his hand. Defenseless, the raccoon made a dash for the cane, only to find his path blocked. Penelope saw this, and attempted to clear a path for him, but the little RC car could only do so much. As soon as she took a guard down, another would take his place. There wasn't anything she could do for him, and Penelope felt like a failure and a weakling. And on top of all that, it was her fault that she was seen and this entire ordeal started. She would be responsible for Sly's death. If she lived through this, she vowed to take that sword and practice with it every day until she was strong enough to protect her friends. If only she had done that sooner! Then Sly wouldn't be where he was, about to get killed by a mob of bloodthirsty guards.

A screech filled the air, and Penelope snapped out of her state of self-loathing to look out the window momentarily. Hope had arrived! Lucas had come. But how good was he at fighting? And Sly was still unarmed, would Lucas be able to help there? As if to answer, the bat dived down like a brown lightning bolt, getting faster and faster as he made his descent. At the last moment, he flipped up, jetting out a foot and used his speed to deliver a powerful blow to the back of a guard. This had managed to distract everyone's attention long enough for Sly to recover his cane.

The battle raged on. Sly made sure to not be disarmed a second time as he pulled off a few cane-style fighting moves he had learned during the Cooper Vault escapade. It became obvious that Lucas used the air to his advantage, taking off once again and diving low. But instead of using the flying kick maneuver he pulled last time, he began flying very close to the ground at high speeds, ramming into several guards in one go and changing direction by kicking off a side of the safe house.

But even with the added help, the odds were pretty grim. The place was being swarmed by guards, and the situation was getting worse by the minute. The chaos was so intense, however, that nobody noticed the small metal object thrown into the fight. By the time anyone noticed the faint flashing red lights, it was too late. The bomb had exploded, sending several guards flying.

"Hang on you guys, we're here!" Bentley yelled as Murray stormed into the fray and unleashed his rage. The battle lasted on for a long time, nobody was sure exactly how long, or even had a guess. All they knew was that they had fought for their very survival that night, in the worst brawl of their lives, running on pure adrenaline. At last, the assault stopped when the last of the guards were down. But instead of enjoying the victory, the gang was exhausted, having pushed themselves beyond their limits as they all slumped down in the middle of the street. Even Murray, who lived for the rush of battle, had nothing to say. Penelope, the only one who had the strength to move, rushed out with a first-aid kit and began patching up everybody's wounds quietly, except for when she came to Lucas. While he allowed her to tend to most of his injuries without complaint, he refused to let her see his left arm, which he insisted was "fine" and pointed out that Sly needed help more urgently than he did.

"We survived that," Bentley finally said as Penelope put a disinfectant on a scrape on his arm. "but they'll be back for sure. I hate to say it, but the safe house isn't safe anymore. We need to find a safe house. Now."

Closing Notes: I'm sorry this chapter is very late, but life caught up to me. And not only that, this chapter was particularly hard to get right, and I'm still not satisfied with it. Lucas, despite being a character of my own creation, was particularly difficult to write for, because as Sly suspected, Lucas is a strange character. I won't reveal what the deal with this guy is for a long time, but I will drop a few hints here and there, in fact, there are a few in this chapter already, though I don't think anyone will piece it together just yet.

Yay, FF.N decided to start taking my word files again, so there should be very few, if any, problems with this chapter.