Hey everyone,
WOW! Considering what I have planned, this chapter is going to be just as intense as the chapter in which Carmelita and her family explain everything to the Cooper Gang, the chapter where Sly hears Barkley's rant over the recording and the two chapters that describe Michael's plan to finally get Barkley arrested. Trust me, there are going to be a lot of emotional moments in this chapter, both the good kind of emotions and –
The not good kind,

Venquine1990

Chapter 25
Answers At Last

26th of June 2007
Heathrow Prison
Sly's POV

"You would think that, after last time, they would learn. If you're outside standing guard, you should expect someone to sneak up behind you. You need to look everywhere, not just the direction you shine your little light at." I think to myself as I once again managed to knock out officer Jones and take his uniform. This time I made sure to take a backpack with me that fits the uniform and Guru is currently hiding within it.
I managed to get back to the cellblock that holds the five inmates I want to see and talk to and while I walked here, while I pretended that I knew the guards and other officers that I met along the way, I started thinking up ways I could get four of them to talk. In the end, I decided to try and strike a deal with the four of them and I quickly, silently, contacted Michael. The leopard had been a little tired, but he had also been willing to agree to my plan.
"Just know that if things get ugly, you only need contact me. I've got a cover story or five in mind that can help you out of there, Sly." The guy had told me, yet I had grinned and reassured him. "I'm sure it won't come to that. At most, Jones might need to explain why he wasn't at his post – for the second time in a few months' time, that is." By now I've reached their cellblock and I feel like I'm at an impasse. "Which to do first. The four – or Big Jim?"

This is a thought that runs through my mind as I stick to the shadows just to the side of Panda King's cell, Ruby, Muggshot and Ralleigh being in the cells next to his and Jim being in the final cell of the block. "I'd be able to get out faster if I tell Jim the good news first, but considering the question I want to ask Ruby and the others, I suppose leaving him for last would be better for me, emotionally." This thought decides it for me.
I still sneak a quick glance around and notice something. "Bentley, there's a security camera on the ceiling. It's turning, but it seems to have trouble getting to Jim's cell. Can you get it so that it doesn't rotate towards the cells of the four either?" I ask my friend while whispering and Bentley mutters: "I'll do you one better. I'll hack the security system so that I am the only one who can see you on screen, Sly." I nod and think:

"That is the better plan, especially considering that none of these four are probably going to be happy to see me. Hopefully hearing what I have to say will keep them from trying to rat me out." And while I am well aware that I am taking one huge risk here, I wait for Bentley to give the signal. "You're good to go, Sly." Bentley tells me over the earpiece and instantly I pull of my disguise. I hide it in the shadows in which I was standing and put the backpack back on.
I easily replace the short red stick I used last time for my faithful cane and move out. I make sure that both Panda King and Ruby have enough time to spot me and then set myself against the rail of the cell block, my form just big enough that it attracts the attention of Muggshot and Ralleigh as well. "Cooper? What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?" Ralleigh asks. Yet Muggshot snarls and growls:

"Who cares for that?" Yet before he can start to shout, I declare: "I'm here to make a deal." And because they, like me, know of our history, my words shock the four, enough that even Muggshot gets silenced before he can raise the alarm. "What deal could you have to offer us, Cooper? You and your new little girly-girl are the whole reason we're in here." Ruby snarls at me, yet I can easily spot that I do have her interest, thanks to the cautious look in her eyes.
"Yes, I have made a few friends over the last few days. And one of them just so happens to be the new Chief of Police for Interpol France. And he's the one who helped me set up part of this deal that I'm willing to offer you four." This time three of the four of them look cautious, yet also intrigued. Panda King is the only one who remains seated on his bed with his back to me and his legs crossed. Yet he is also the next one to speak up.
"We're listening." These two words make it hard for me to keep my smile from turning into a grin as I think: "Step 01, complete. Onto step 02." I take a deep breath and say: "I have information regarding the night my parents were killed. However, you have the same. I am willing to trade this information through use of three questions. For each of the questions that you answer – truthfully, I'd like to add – Michael is willing to strip 1 year of your sentence."

Three sets of eyes widen and I say: "I'll leave you guys five minutes to decide." I move away from the rail and move past their cells to the end of the block. "Sly. Good to see you, little tyke." Jim says as I move over to stand in front of his cell. I grin at him and say: "Right back at you, Big Jim." The Walrus moves over to stand on the other side of the glass and asks: "How was it? How did it feel to be inside your family vault? What treasures did you see in there?"
The walrus sounds gleefully curious and I close my eyes with a grimace as I say: "I – haven't been inside, yet. Someone took over the island. He turned the whole place into some high-security facility and he himself is paranoid to boot. The whole situation makes Fort Nox look like a child's playpen. I need help if I want to get inside. I managed to get it, but my help needs training before we can start the operation. It's going to take some time."

The walrus sighs and I want to apologize, but he says: "Well, I'd rather you get in there safely than not at all. Your old man would've wanted the same." I grimace at him and I just can't help myself. "Jim, did he ever tell you? Did my dad ever tell you that he was sick? That he was diagnosed with an illness that was eating away at his muscles and his stamina?" Yet just the look on the walrus' face answers my questions before he can.
For a long while shock and horror are on the man's face, but then he turns his head and mutters: "No Sly, your dad never told me that. I – I think he probably got the illness, after I got myself in here. Remember, that trip to the Ligurian coast was the last time I ever saw either of you again. Though, if that was the case, perhaps it's for the best that this lot took him out. I wager he would have preferred that over you watching him slowly wither away in a bed."

Instantly I see my chance and a small grin is on my face as I say: "Yeah, my girlfriend thinks the same." Jim grins at me and says: "I've heard about that. You're something else, Sly. I don't think even your old man would have been able to make a cop switch sides like that." I grin at him and mutter: "Well, the circumstances of her life helped a lot, but – I do believe that there are genuine feelings between us. I'm sure in the long run, the same would have happened."
"That's good. And by the look on your face, it's pretty serious between you two, huh?" Jim asks as he is now again seated on his bed on the other side of the cell. I nod and say: "We've only just started dating, but we're both sure that we'll be married one day. I already discussed potential plans for our home together and she loves them all. Heh, we even both want the same amount of kids, four little tykes to spoil and love and raise as future Coopers."

Jim sniffles and I pretend to turn my head as he wipes a tear from his eye. "Your father would have been so happy to hear that, Sly. You really were his whole world." The man says and as happy as that makes me, it also reminds me of why I'm here. Instantly my grin is wiped off my face and I say: "I know that, Jim. But Carmelita was the one who told me about dad being ill. She also told me other stuff, but that info was limited.
I'm actually here to get the rest of that out of the inmates you share a block with." Instantly the walrus' tearful look is replaced with one of all business. "Well then, Sly. You don't have to worry about a thing. Here in Heathrow, every cellblock has a hierarchy. And I'm the Top Dog of this here block. Those four over there know they don't mess with me, though two of them did manage to work their way up to my personal guard dogs."
I grin at this as I'm sure that the title is also a pun and a reference to Muggshot and his specie. Yet while I give him a two-fingered salute, I say: "Thanks, but I already offered them a pretty good deal. I'm going to go back to see whether or not they'll accept. If not, I'll just remind them of what you just told me." The walrus nods and I head off.

Yet I only need to take two steps past the wall that separates Jim's cell from Ralleigh before the frog says: "We're agreed." I nod at him and take my previous position. "Ask your questions, Cooper, and we will answer." Ruby tells me as all four of them are now on the floor in the middle of their cells. I stare at each of them one at a time and then I ask the one question that has been bothering me ever since I first asked it back at the hide out.
"Who told you where to find us? You told Carmelita that someone told you where the farm was and when to strike? Who was that? What was his name and what animal was he? That is my first question." The foursome nods and Panda King answers: "The one who told us is most unusual. He was a mandril. And the unusual part is that that was also his name. Though after he intro –." But before the animal can continue, a loud wail interrupts him:

"SAY WHAT?" Shock and fear goes through me and I hiss: "Guru, get my disguise!" And while the little koala slips out of my bag I rush back to Jim's cell. "Jim, what's wrong?" I ask him and the walrus glares furiously at the small holes that are in the wall between his cell and Ralleigh's. "What did your pall just say, Froggo? A mandrill named Mandrill? Don't tell me he called himself Dr. M!" This statement startles me.
I want to look at Ralleigh, but then Guru rushes over to me with my disguise. And at the same time my ears pick up on hurried footsteps coming closer. I twist on my axis as I put on the disguise and deepen my voice as I declare: "Alright! Easy now, McSweeney! I didn't mean to upset you. I was just doing our old Inspector one last favor. Easy now." And just as I say this, three more dog officers rush around the corner of McSweeney's cell.

"Officer Jones! What is going on here? Why did McSweeney make such a ruckus?" One of them asks and suddenly I recognize him as the officer that had been hitting on Murray when Murray was disguised as a nurse to help me bust Bentley out of the hospital. I try not to grin at this memory and cough as I say: "Inspector Fox, while she was planning to arrest Barkley with Cooper, got into a conversation with him about his past.
She told me that there were still things that Cooper didn't know about the night his parents were killed by this foursome. So, as a way to thank her for her arrest, I thought I'd get the last few answers out of them. I just – didn't expect the answers to upset McSweeney, is all." The dogs tilt their heads and another one turns to Jim as he asks: "Jim, got anything to add to this, buddy?" And suddenly I notice that, just like before, Jim is sniffling.

"Big Jim?" I ask and I try to switch my voice so that it's like a mix between my disguised voice and my own. Jim wipes his eyes and mutters: "Mandrill. He – he was the brains of the Original Cooper Gang." And just these words utterly floor me. My mouth drops and only one thought enters my mind: "My father. He wasn't betrayed by someone who just wanted him out of the way. He was – he was betrayed by a friend, a brother in arms. Why?"
And without realizing it, I actually ask that question out loud. The others turn to me and instantly I fear for my life, my safety. I want to curse myself, but then Jim speaks up. "Tell me, Mike. If you discovered that there were people who hid truths about your past from you, would you bend the law to get those truths? Or would you trust someone else to do so?" One of the dogs turns to Jim and then he starts to rub the back of his head.
"Let the kid go, will you? He deserves his answers, if only for how he helped that old colleague of yours. After all, if not for him –." Jim keeps quiet and to my utter shock and relief, the dogs nod. I sigh in relief and pull my disguise off once again. The dogs seem only slightly startled and yet I don't care for this. Instead, I turn my teary eyes to Jim, who just grunts: "Come in here, junior." But I shake my head and mutter:

"No, I – I can't. I – I need to tell you. Mandrill, he – he's still going. He never stopped betraying my father." Everyone, even Ralleigh, are now staring at me, but I don't care for this. I close my eyes to keep the tears from falling, which they still do regardless, and clench my fists as I growl: "He's the one, Jim. The one I told you about. The one who took over Kaine Island. The one who is – who is – WHO IS TRYING TO STEAL FROM ME! FROM MY FATHER!"
I shout in the end, if only to properly release all of the emotions that are raging through me. The fury I feel over how badly my father is being betrayed. The disgust that he was betrayed by a friend when he was already sick. The wonder if Mandrill even knows that my dad was sick when he did so. And the fear for this crazy beast when I realize that Mandrill wanted me dead as well. "After all, why else would he lie? He wanted to trick them, have them kill me along with my parents.

But why?"Again I voice my thought out loud at the end and through my squinted eyes, I spot Jim shake his head. "I don't know, Sly. Sure, when things got tense, the bond between your old man and Mandrill was one of the things that was tested, but –. I mean, yeah, Mandrill always believed that he deserved a little more of the loot as, like he always claimed, it was his ideas that got us out of tight situations, but your old man was all about sharing loot evenly.
But like I said, I got here five years before your old man passed and the last time I saw him and Mandrill together was at your third birthday. And as tense as things were between your old man and him, Mandrill did take to you. I would always bounce you on my knee, but Mandrill. He actually invented and created most of the gifts you got for your first three birthdays. Mandrill was even the one to teach you how to talk."
The more the walrus talks, the more I feel like his words are sword cutting at my heart. And the more he talks, the more tears run down both our faces. I grunt and growl and grind my teeth together before I furiously yell and slam a fist against the glass of his cell. My other hand is also on the door and my forehead leans against it as my breath fogs up the glass. I pant as my emotions rage through me and yet the whole time I can only think one question: "Why?"

This one word repeats itself through my mind for several minutes, in which silence reigns through the rest of those around me. Slowly but surely, I manage to regain myself and I step away from the glass. But as I open my eyes, a solemn look is on my face and I growl: "I promise, Jim. I promise I will train as hard as I need to. I will prepare my team and we will take down Mandrill. We will take him down and we will take back what is legally mine."
Jim looks at me for a moment and then he nods only once. Yet that nod is enough as it conveys so much. The relief the man feels that someone is going to get revenge for his old late friend. The satisfaction that someone will satisfy his own need to go after the traitor of his team. The rage he feels for Mandrill, which I am sure is equal only to my own fury. And finally his confidence that I will indeed get revenge, that I can keep my promise.

I smile at him, but as I leave his cell, I remember the other reason I came here. And so I once more stop in front of the wall in the center between the four cells as before. To my shocked intrigue Ruby is actually softly sniffling. I want to raise my eyebrow at this, but then the Master Thief in me comes up and I think: "I might get revenge for my dad while out there. But if I can also get this bastard arrested, that will give these guys cause to get revenge too."
And while I decide to give them a proper reason for wanting this, as Muggshot only looks slightly put out, but nothing more, I say: "You were lied to." The four look up and I turn my head away as I say: "Mandrill. He lied to you. The initiation doesn't require for the child to be outside. It requires constant contact between parent and child. From the moment the child wakes to the hour of his birth. In my case that was thirteen minutes past eight at night."
The four gape at me and I nod at them as I say: "He lied to you. He knew that Clockwerk wanted my father dead and that you would refuse as long as I was inside. So he lied to you about the initiation, to give you a solid date to strike. I – I don't know why he wanted me dead alongside my dad when he apparently cared for me years previous, but – yeah." And this time Muggshot is the one to react as he growls loudly and slams his fist into the wall.

"Cooper! Enough! Just leave!" One of the guards that followed me snarls, but I snap back: "No, I made a deal with these four. I would ask them three questions – or better said, two questions and one bit of intel in return for the answers – and they would get three years of their sentence in return for answering me truthfully. And I still have one question I have left to ask them." The guard growls and snarls: "Fine! Ask, then leave."
Again I want to grin as I realize that my presence must be a constant reminder of the mistake he made a few months ago, yet I don't. Instead I turn to just Ruby, Muggshot and Ralleigh and ask: "After my parents were killed, I heard something. A sound of something falling down the stairs. Carmelita told me that one of you had let her fall down the stairs. Why? Why would you do that if you had just complied her wish for a painless death?"

Instantly I determine that this answer won't come from Ruby as the alligator looks just too shocked and confused. Yet Muggshot is also glaring at Ralleigh's cell, yet for some confusing reason, Ralleigh is also glaring back. "I can explain that one, Cooper. As you know, we thought you were out on your initiation. We – or better said, I – believed that you'd use your techniques to get back into the house through the upper floors.
Now yes, we had killed your mother as painlessly as we could, but – I wanted to lessen the blow that I thought you would receive when you'd find them. I again wrapped my tongue around your ma's neck and tried to get her up the stairs. I wanted her to lie next to your dad, so it would look to you like they had died in each other's arms. But my tongue skills weren't what they are now, so your mother, unfortunately, slipped my grasp.
I went back down, but then Muggshot came in, crammed those pages in my mouth, grabbed me and dashed out. I was annoyed and wanted to tell him, but then I heard the sirens. So I just glared at him, put the pages in my waterproof hat and jumped into the river that ran a few miles away from your old place. I had good intentions, but – my execution failed me." The frog seems genuinely regretful and his words help a lot in regards to my raging emotions.

I take a deep breath and growl: "I'll let Michael know. You'll have those years taken off your sentence by the end of next month. I'd promise sooner, but Michael's a bit busy cleaning house these days." Ralleigh and Panda King nod, yet Ruby, for some reason, is glaring at Muggshot's cell. And what's even more confusing is her snapping: "Tell him. He has a right to know. You tell him right now, Muggshot. Or I'll help you loosen that tongue of yours."
I look between the two and while I'm not entirely sure if I can take more bad news, Muggshot sighs and asks: "Cooper, when you were face to face with that – that menace of an avian, were you scared? Like, at all?" I seriously wonder where this is going and mutter: "For a moment, yes. But my need to get revenge for my father won out in the end." Muggshot nods and mutters: "I get that. Too bad I didn't have the same."

I raise my eyebrow at him and he growls a sigh as he says: "About a year or two after your old man came to his end, Clockwerk met up with me in Mesa City. He actually first terrorized my men, who I had gained hold of by that time, and then told me I could either keep them and do one last job for him or he would order them to take me out – and he would help them. I had already heard from Panda King what he did to your old man, so – I don't like to admit it, but –."
I frown at him and ask: "You were – worried?" I change my question at the last second and Muggshot seems to appreciate this. He shortly grins at me and then looks down again. "What did he want you to do? I mean, I didn't meet you until I came to Mesa City myself, so – what did you do?" I ask and Muggshot growls: "I know this will hurt you, Cooper. Probably somewhere on the same level as hearing of that name, but –."

Instantly fear grips at my heart, but I stamp it down and growl: "Tell me. What did you do?" Muggshot actually has the gall to get up and turn his back on me. He turns to the small barred window in the back wall of his cell. I reach behind me and want to grab my cane, more than ready to open his lock and force him to tell me, but then he talks. "Clockwerk had gone one step further in his need to hurt you.
He had razed that farm of yours to the ground and ordered me to put a bank there. To start a business on your family grounds. He gave me very precise instructions on how I should handle the bank business and told me that he would make sure that my men were his and that they would turn on me if I didn't follow orders. I – I haven't seen those lads since, but – I know they're still working there. They're still scamming innocent peeps from their hard-earned gold."

I do hear what the dog tells me, yet my mind can hardly process anything past the point of him telling me that the farm was razed. "It's gone. The – the farm. The farm where my dad wanted to raise me with my mum, where they were killed. Where I one day wanted to build a house for me and Carmelita to live in." And once again the fantasy hits me, but it's also the last thing I see. Darkness envelops my every sense and I pass out.

Jake's POV

The last few days had been bloody unusual. It had been a great shock to find out that Interpol France was full of corrupt bad-asses, who are now in holding cells and who will probably be transferred here if they are sentenced. It had been even crazier to find out that Inspector Carmelita Fox had resigned after arresting Barkley and that she was now working alongside the Cooper Gang. And just when I was getting used to these shocks, a new one hit me.
Sly Cooper inside Heathrow Prison, but then with him pretending to be one of my officer colleagues so he can get some answers in regards to the night his parents were killed. It had been shocking enough to find out about this, but I can't imagine that this shock compared to what the young lad has gone through while he was getting his answers. Because of this, I am not even surprised when the lad passes out after hearing Muggshot's confession.

Mark, who I'm sure is still sour over that instance with Cooper and his disguised friend in the hospital, wants to rush at the Raccoon with a pair of cuffs, but I stop him with a raised arm. Mark looks shocked, but I turn to the Koala and ask: "Can you get him out of here?" The Koala nods and I nod back as I growl: "Do it." And yet this order causes me to be shocked yet again. The Koala climbs on top of Sly and pulls out a staff.
There is some kind of amazing gem hanging from the top of the staff and it actually starts to glow a purple hue. And as it does, the same glow envelops the two thieves. And suddenly the two are levitated off the floor and over the railing. Slowly but surely the two are levitated down and then, on the ground floor, they levitated out of the prison. "Well, you sure don't see that every day." Robert mutters as the three of us watch them leave.

I grimace and then I turn back to the cells once I am sure that the two are out of sight. I turn to glare at Muggshot and growl: "You do realize what it means now that you admitted to this, right? That I am going to contact Interpol International and that they will probably shut down your little source of income?" Muggshot nods and growls: "I never wanted that bank. I liked the money, but I never cared for how I got it.
It – I may be a criminal, but this didn't feel right, not even for me." And while I know that Muggshot hardly has any conscience and that he takes way too much of a liking into the gangsters of old and that he would backstab anyone if he thinks it can get him up in life. I still know how to read people as that is one of the reasons I decided to become a guard in prison. And all of Muggshot, from his body language to his voice, proves that he truly does mean what he says.

I sigh and growl and then march out of the cellblock, the others close behind me. "I can't believe that we just let Cooper go." Mark growls, but I snarl: "If you had just learned everything Cooper learned of the night his parents were killed and beyond, would you really give a damn if you were incarcerated? Don't you think that Cooper got his due for his crimes? Or is this just still you being such a sore loser of your little mistake?"
Mark flinches and I growl: "Get over yourself, dolt. Cooper got a punishment worse than any we could ever dish out. And besides, we have more work to do than just send news to Interpol about this whole thing with Muggshot's bank. We also need to inform them about this Mandrill person and his role in the Cooper murder. He deserves a prison sentence more than Cooper Junior ever could." And Mark, begrudgingly, agrees with me on this.

Poor Sly,
Also, I again based this chapter on both my own head-canon and the official fandom wiki info. In canon Muggshot kept working as the enforcer of the Fiendish Five for a while before he moved to Mesa City. In my story, this move happened right after they killed the Coopers. In my story the Fiendish Five are only rarely seen working together, but their crimes when together are so heinous they are more known for those than their individual crimes.
Anyway, Sly now has his answers, but they really messed him up. So he is going to need a bit of time, though he won't just stay down. The promise he made McSweeney about Mandrill – or Dr. M. – is going to be on the front of his mind and he is going to put his all in making sure he can make that promise come true. However, in the process of this he is going to experience a few more surprises. Though these will be a lot more pleasant.
I promise,

Venquine1990