(This disclaimer applies for the rest of the story) Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper or any other character from the Sly Cooper games. The only characters I own are Cedric, Hugo, Grace and any other OCs that I create and throw into the mix.

Author's note: The character contest is officially over. Thank you to those who sent in characters. The winners of the contest are (drum roll please): Kitty Petro (from Captein Amelia) and Angelina DeSanto (from Aqua Princess of Avalone). Thank you to everyone and the new chars will be entering the story at separate times starting with Kitty, right now. Thank you again everyone for your support and please don't fail to correct me if I screw up. Thank you.

An Assignment

In Paris, Chief Inspector Robert Barkley looked out his fifth-story office window and groaned. It had been a week since Inspector Fox and her partner Constable Cooper had disappeared. Barkley couldn't help but wonder if Cooper had returned to his thieving ways and had kidnaped Ms. Fox. Or, even worse, if he had convinced her to join his gang of misfit thieves. Curse that raccoon, thought Barkley.

He had previously gotten a lot of pressure from his superiors due to Fox's inability to hold on to Cooper for more than five minutes. Since Fox had taken a squad of mercenaries to some pacific island and then come back with a strangely obedient Cooper, he had gotten more and more uneasy. Fox had explained how Cooper had lost his memories and Barkley had agreed that it seemed pointless to charge someone with a crime they couldn't remember committing. So he had allowed her to have Cooper as her partner. The two of them had solved an amazing number of cases together. One week ago however, the two had disappeared right at the same time as a notable downtown Parisian restaurant reported hearing gunshots.

Barkley's men had investigated and found a few unconscious men with sniper rifles. They had been booked but refused to say anything under interrogation. However, one of them had told him that Fox's and Cooper's days were numbered and that it didn't matter if they failed, someone else would succeed. The man's cryptic comment had worried Barkley but the fact that Inspector Fox had not contacted him since then worried him even more. Fox was a stickler for the rules and would have always contacted him as soon as possible. Therefore, either she had no way of contacting him, she was compromised, or she had left Interpol completely. Barkley prayed it was the first, for her sake and his own. Deep in thought, he didn't hear the door open and was unaware of the woman's presence until she spoke.

"You wanted to see me?" asked a pretty vixen who had entered the room.

Barkley turned and saw Inspector Kitty Petro. The 20-year old vixen was an odd duck at the office. She was attractive and thus gained the attention of many of the men there, but her tomboyish attitude quickly caused many to give her up as a lost cause. She was blond with sapphire eyes and a large amount of freckles across her nose. She was a newer recruit and had worked alongside Fox and Cooper on more than one occasion.

"Yes," answered Barkley, "You of course know of Inspector Fox's disappearance?"

"Uh huh," said Kitty anxiously. She had gained Carmelita's respect on one of their cases and had become friends with both her and her beau, Constable Cooper. When the two had vanished, Kitty had known something was very wrong.

"To get to the point, I want you to find her and Cooper. We've heard reports of one of Coopers old calling cards showing up in a Yakuza hideout in Japan and we fear he may have returned to his old thieving ways."

"NO way. You know as well as I do that Carmelita would never help a thief," said Kitty shocked. She knew Carmelita well and had never met someone whose views were so plainly black and white. She would never be part of any crime, from thievery to jaywalking.

"She may not have helped him. That's why I'm sending you. You know them better than anyone else and should be able to track them down. Find out what's going on and if you find out that Cooper has returned to being a thief, arrest him and Fox if need be. Dismissed. Don't let me down," said Barkley.

Kitty walked out of the office confused. Arrest Carmelita? Impossible, at least for her. At least, she decided, it was an excuse to find out what the two of them were up to and help them if they needed it.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the gang was getting ready to board their flight to Vancouver, Canada. From there, they were going to rent a car and drive to Whistler. Today, Cedric was dressed as the standard 17-year old teenager. He was wearing black cargo pants and a long-sleeved crimson t-shirt with his I-Pod head phones on. Grace and Hugo were also able to go in regular clothes thanks to the fact that they weren't easily recognizable.

Sly had dressed in a punk outfit he had found with a purple t-shirt and green vest. He had spiked his hair and was wearing leather gloves and tinted glasses. Carmelita had changed into a standard tourist's outfit with khaki shorts and a white blouse and sunglasses. She had also put on a blond wig for the trip. Bentley and Penelope were both dressed as college professors with Bentley wearing a fake beard a tweed jacket, and holding a pipe (empty of course, Bentley knew better than to smoke).

Bentley was using his laptop to connect to Thiefnet and order their usual gadgets. Cedric was talking on his cell phone.

"Who'd you call?" asked Grace.

"Julie. She's going to meet us in Whistler. She's got us a cabin up there as our hideout and will be waiting for us at the airport with a car.

Grace gulped.

"Julie's not driving is she?" asked Grace tentatively, "Oh please tell me she's not driving."

"Why?" asked Carmelita, who had been listening to the conversation, "She can't be that bad a driver can she?"

"Carmelita," started Grace, "The last time Julie drove a car, we had to run from the cops before we even committed a crime."

"Why? What happened?"

"Let's just say the American cops don't like it when you park your car on top of their cruiser."