A/N: Suggestions? I'm on Discord! Feel free to send me a message. My account is rc3wondere. Enjoy!

The gang didn't really want to move forward without Bentley. Daniel knew almost everything about Clockwerk, but he never fought him before like Sly and his friends have. He couldn't even imagine fighting him. He was brave enough to do so, but Clockwerk's strength was unimaginable compared to his. It was a machine compared to a tiny raccoon. It didn't take a genius to figure out who'd win that fight.

Skylar wasn't willing to wait any longer for Bentley. She was getting anxious to get Sly and leave Egypt. It was scorching hot, and the lack of water started to make her feel dehydrated. Rascal started to feel the same way, except he was becoming more dehydrated than his sister. His fur began to stink from the amount of sweat he was producing, which wasn't too pleasant especially for his small ego.

"It's so hot." Skylar complained. "Bentley is smart, he can find us. Why not we just go and find Sly so we can get out of here?"

"I'm not battling Clockwerk alone, Skylar." Daniel snapped. "I'm certainly not going to allow you to do it."

Skylar groaned. "I can snatch Sly without Clockwerk noticing."

"Clockwerk is a thief himself." Daniel corrected. "He will know what you're doing."

Rascal thew himself down to a laying position in the sand. "Who is this Clockwerk, anyway? Why would he want Sly?"

Nathan sat down in a crisscross position next to Skylar. "Yeah, who is this Clockwerk, dad? How come you've never really mentioned before?"

Sweat started to drip down Daniel's face. "I assumed Clockwerk was dead. I didn't think he would return or wait this long to do anything." He sat next to the kids and sighed. "Clockwerk was an eagle who wanted the Coopers destroyed at all costs. His hate was so great, he managed to make himself almost immortal, replacing his body parts slowly with machine parts that would last an eternity." He laid down on the sand. "I just assumed maybe he was dead or something. Nothing lasts forever, not even Clockwerk. I figured his heart would've given out by now. I didn't even know how old that bird was!"

Nathan groaned. "But how come you didn't tell me or my brothers, dad?"

"Because I didn't want you guys to be scared." Daniel explained. "Clockwerk thinks I am dead, so I didn't think he'd be after us. Knowing your mom, this would've been blown out of proportion, so I kept my mouth closed."

This answer didn't really satisfy Nathan, but it was the best answer he possibly could've gotten. Skylar and Rascal weren't surprised to not hear about Clockwerk, since they didn't even know if their mother was involved with the ancient bird or not. Even if she was, she never really spoke about her criminals she had detained in the past or the present. They were left just curious if Clockwerk was ever involved with their mother directly. They obviously know now that he was directly involved with Sly, and they felt it was their duty to rescue him from those razor-sharp talons.

"It's getting late, you guys be best getting to bed, now." Daniel rushed the gang, realizing it was hardly night."

Skylar wasn't ready to go to sleep, not at all. She was determined to find Sly right now, and she didn't care what it took.

"Don't you think it's a bit early for bedtime?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"No, it's sunset. We have a long journey tomorrow. I think we all should call it a day." Daniel laid his back down on the sand and closed his eyes, resting his head on his arms.

Skylar looked at Rascal with narrowed eyes, indicating she was planning something. She soon grinned mischievously, making Rascal nervous. He didn't like it when Skylar gave him that look, because it normally meant she was thinking of something that would get them both into trouble. "Skylar, whatever you're thinking, please don't do it." He pleaded.

"I'm not plotting anything, Rascal." Skylar leaned up against the van. "We need to stick together, remember?"

Nathan stared at Skylar for a while, trying to read her expression. Her mischievous grin was her famous sign she was going to do something that would get her into trouble. "Skylar, please wipe that grin off your face. It's making me nervous."

Daniel didn't respond to the conversation that was going on, as if he was starting to trample into a deep sleep. He didn't make any noise sleeping, but the gang was sure he was asleep.

"Daniel wanted to clock out early, I see." Skylar stated with a mischievous tone. "Why should we have to continue to sit around here? We will never find Sly at this pace."

"Because we need to stick together." Rascal argued. "Do you have any idea what Daniel will do to us if he finds out we left him here? Not to mention we could get into trouble by Egypt itself. We don't belong in this time period, and one slip up can screw things up further."

"I'll be careful." Skylar insisted. "Besides, I'm itching to do something, to do a heist. This trip has been boring."

Nathan leaned up against his cane. "Skylar, I'm itching for a heist too, but Rascal is right. We need to stick together, and that means not leaving any of our team members behind."

Rascal narrowed his eyes at Nathan, making Nathan irritated. Rascal has always held a grudge against Nathan ever since they came to live with Daniel. Some think its jealousy, but the real reason lies with Rascal himself.

When Daniel brought the twins home after Carmelita's death, both were frightened and confused as of what was going on. Rascal was especially confused, and scared. Skylar wasn't really scared of much, so she handled the situation much better, however she was just as confused.

It is important to note that the twins were not born totally healthy. Skylar was perfectly healthy, but Rascal had some issues, which still remain with him in the present. He was born very small and underweight, having to be put in an incubator until he was bigger. Rascal was also born with a bad heart, having to receive a pacemaker when he was just a baby. This handicapped him into not being able to pull heists with his sister and live up to the Cooper name, which caused him great depression when he got older.

Rascal always took the Cooper name very seriously, more serious than Skylar actually. Instead of learning the signature Cooper moves with his sister, he spent most of his time studying his family history and how to perform successful heists. One could call him the 'Bentley' of the family, but not quite as smart.

Rascal didn't really mind Nathan when they first met, but after finding out Nathan was working as a car detailer angered him. It might not seem like a big deal to most, but in Rascal's world Coopers getting jobs was terrible, with the exception of Rioichi's sushi restaurant. He feared that with Nathan working that he would just prefer making money the old-fashioned way instead of carrying the Cooper tradition. Sure, Nathan performed heists every now and then, but his heists seem to be committed less and less often as he continued to work. Rascal's fear was that Nathan was going to breed out the thieving trait of the Coopers, therefore sparking his hatred towards Nathan. Rascal already felt like a failure not being able to perform heists, and he was not about to let an able-bodied Cooper lose his thieving roots.

"I think you're jealous, Rascal." Nathan boasted. "Quit giving me that look, I'm trying to defend you here."

"You know what Nathan?" Rascal approached Nathan and stood on his toes to reach his face. "You're a poor excuse for a Cooper. You don't even perform heists anymore. All you do is work all day and all night. You ought to be lucky you can do all the moves a classic Cooper can do, because some Coopers can't." He pointed a finger in his face. "You aren't living up to what the Coopers do, Nathan. You say you do, but I never see you do it. All you do is sit around on your video game when you get off of work. How is that honoring the Cooper name? Answer me that!"

Nathan grabbed Rascal's hand and moved it back down to a normal position next to his body, but not harshly. He laughed a bit because he really could not believe what he was hearing. "You can't be serious, Rascal." He chuckled.

Rascal narrowed his eyes further, almost to the point to where they were closed. "I'm dead serious."

Nathan laughed once more. "I literally have performed more heists than the number of birthdays you've had, little man. My brothers and I used to go out all the time causing trouble. But when they moved out, I really couldn't do those heists on my own anymore. You should know that better than anyone."

Rascal relaxed his figure and eyes. "I can't perform any of the Cooper stunts. I can't continue the Cooper name."

Nathan shook his head. "Rascal, just because you can't perform the moves doesn't mean you're not a Cooper. I only work at this job because I need to help mom and dad out with the bills. Heists isn't going to cover it anymore, especially with the increased security standards and guards. Sly was an excellent thief, sure, but he never performed heists by himself if you think about it. He always had a genius and some muscle on his side. My brothers were the same way. But when they moved away, I was left alone. All I could do was little heists, and they weren't satisfying the bills, you know." He sighed a little, remembering his two brothers and how they used to perform what seemed like the perfect heists together. "Dad is usually busy with mom, and mom isn't her best now. Dad now has two kids on top of all the junk he has to deal with. Skylar by herself is enough to make anyone crazy."

Skylar turned around at the two and growled. "I am not hard to deal with."

Nathan laughed. "I'm only joking, Sky. You're wonderful to have around. Anyway though Rascal, life happens, and shit for sure happens. You can't always just do what you love all the time, especially when you have added responsibilities. Besides, I stole a company vehicle and didn't get caught, doesn't that count as stealing? I don't remember the Coopers committing grand theft auto, so don't you think that should give me at least a little boost?"

Rascal sighed. "Yeah I guess so."

Nathan smiled. "So, you forgive me?"

Rascal smiled back. "Yeah, I forgive you."

Skylar looked back at the two guys and smiled. "We all can't be perfect. I know for sure I'm not."

Rascal laughed. "That's because you have a hard head, Skylar."

Skylar groaned. "Well you two aren't angels yourselves you know."

Nathan sighed. "We all have flaws, yes, that's the classic cereal box message." He laughed at his own joke. "But anyway, we really need to set aside all of our beef and stuff and really try hard to stop Clockwerk, whoever he is."

Skylar started to tear up as she thought about bringing Sly back. Nathan hated it when she cried, because half the time he never knew the reason. The last person he wanted to cry was Skylar, and here she was starting to sniffle for some unknown reason.

"What's wrong?"

Skylar wiped her face. "Well, if Sly comes back, none of this would have ever happened. I would have never met your or Daniel or anyone. Rascal and I will literally revert back to fetuses."

Nathan was taken back at this statement. "Wait, you two are going to die?"

Rascal looked at Skylar with weary eyes. "Well, yes." He tried to think about how he was going to explain this. "If we return Sly to the present day, it will jack with time and really cause some problems, even possibly resulting in a hole in time. This is because of his age. Sly has not aged here, and we can't just plop him to where we are now. We have to put him back to where he went missing."

"Can't you just put him there and go back to our present time?"

Skylar stopped sniffling. "Not exactly. We will be different because Sly will be in our lives. We will have a different version of ourselves. This version won't exist anymore."

"We need to trust that Daniel will seek us out when this is over." Rascal explained.

Nathan didn't know how to react to this. He had no idea his cousins were going to disappear, well at least these versions of his cousins. Does that mean that he will never see them again? What if Daniel never seeks the family ever again? That means he will never be able to see or remember them ever again. He would especially miss Skylar. He looked to her as a little sister, and he would give anything to protect her. It was killing him that he was going to have to tell her goodbye shortly. It just feels like it should be the other way around.

"Sometimes events are just fate, Nathan." Rascal explained with a bit of sadness in his voice. "I don't think Daniel met us by accident. I believe fate caused that. With that in mind, it is almost guaranteed that we will meet again, that is if you chose to live with your parents."

Nathan smiled a little. This made him feel slightly better, knowing his cousins weren't going to completely go away. He still hopes that for some reason he will still have his memory of his little cousins. He loved them both so much, just like he loved his brothers. Hopefully they won't have to leave the universe painfully. All he could hope was that whatever happens to them it happens peacefully and painlessly.