Evil says: I'm sorry pals, but this is no new chapter, it's just that I'm so stupid that I confused a feq things wth Cleo.


Chapter 6.- Disbandment.

(Evil warns.- This chapter contains violence, vulgar and offensive language and some other things you may not like. I strictly warn that if you read below is under your own risk, so any flames, bad comments, or any of the kind will be punished with 23 and half eternities in Hell. NO EXCEPTIONS!)

(Thirty years ago)

Connor Cooper was running, he had just robbed a valuable painting from the Petropolis Museum, and now he was being chased by his rival and AFI Agent working for Interpol, the Detective Ramiro Fox.
- Freeze Cooper! - Ramiro yelled while pointing his gun at Connor.
- C'mon Ramiro, you've chased me since the first time I went to Guadalajara when I was eighteen, and you've never even laid a hand on me since then. - Connor said.
- Freeze thief. - Said a male cat with tan fur, black short hair and green eyes, who was wearing a blue coat, a black shirt, blue jeans and dark brown shoes.
- What's with you cops and all the "freeze thief!"? - Connor asked both the cat and Ramiro.
- Hand over the painting and I may lessen your stay at jail. - The cat said.
- Get away, he's my criminal, pal. - Ramiro said.
- That's Special TUFF Agent Alexander Katswell for you.
- Well, I'm AFI Agent Ramiro Fox, working for Interpol to catch Connor Pooer and his gang.
- Yeah, and I'm Master Thief Connor Cooper, and I must say tht no cop has ever even laid a hand on me. - Connor said mockingly.
- You're just a dirty thief, so shut up. - The AFI Agent said.
- Are you serious? - Alexander said. - Are you really playing his game?
- Well...
- C'mon pal, loose up a bit, we're gonna do this a lot the next three months, so we can have a good time doing our respective jobs.
- I don't have fun with criminals, I just catch them.
- Too bad, I just steal, I don't get caught.
And with that said, Coonor jumped from the rooftop in which they were, making the law agents gasp, thinking Connor had suicided. They went to the railing and glanced at the ground, just to see Connor waving them goodbye while he and his gang made their escape in a blue van.
- See ya later Agents! - Connor yelled.
Ramiro and Alexander growled under their breaths and cursed the lucky raccoon.

(Present time)

The gang was in the dining room sitting around the table with some pictures, all of them of places in which they've pulled off heists or operations, villains and hideouts. All the Gang members are listening to Sly's plan, little did they know that there was a "bug" in the room.
- Did you guys get it? - Sly asked while he finished explaining his plan.
- Kind of, your plan is really messy Sly. - Dudley said while scratching his ear.
- It's complicated, but I guess nobody would be expecting a plan like this from you. - Carmelita said nonchalantly.
- Thanks sweetheart, I love you too. - Sly said while narrowing his eyes at the vixen.
- Don't push your luck Sly, I'm still angry at you and Kitty. - Carmelita said while pointing her shock pistol at Sly.
- We should go to sleep, let's retake this in the morning. - Bentley suggested.
- Ok (Yawn) G'night pals. - Dudley said while stretching.
- Night buddy. - Sly said while waving slightly.
Everyone stood up and went to their respective rooms, which they sorted a few hours ago.
Sly went to the living room and saw a window, then he headed to it and opened it to then lean against the frame of the window.
- Hard day huh? - Kitty said while popping behind our dear raccoon.
- You can't even imagine it. - Sly replied.
- Of course I can Sly, I'm the other half of the problem.
- Right, sorry, I just have a lot in my mind right now.
- It's alright, I feel just like you, the cold stare that Carmelita gives me everytime she looks at me, the slight frown that Dudley has when he...
- Yeah I know, it's horrible what we did.
- Not as horrible as what we hide under our gloves.
- Hehe, maybe you're right. - Sly chuckled.
Sly and Kitty were leaned on the frame of the window in the hideout, both were gazing at the clear sky.
- Do you think they'll trust us again? - Kitty asked with great concern.
- I don't know for sure, we really did a number in their minds, making them think that we hid something really nasty and then our parts of the story.
- Will we be able to clean their names at least?
- If you and everyone agrees to my plan, maybe.
- I know they won't agree Sly, your plan is messy, really complicated and maybe some of us won't survive if we manage to pull it off.
- Do you have any better ideas?
- Actually, now that you say it, yes, I have a few ideas that could make your plan better.
Kitty whispered a few things in Sly's ear. While he heard Kitty's whispers, his eyes sparkled in revelation, how hadn't he seen it before?
- What do you think? - Kitty asked.
- Kitty, you're a genius! - Sly said while grabbing her. - Maybe the plan got a lot more complicated, but I'll eat a plasma grenade if it doesn't work!
And with that said, raccoon and cat met lips in a lovely kiss. However, fate had seemed to be against them.
- Ok, what's with all the noise?! I can't... - Carmelita said while walking down the staircase of the hideout.
Our dear vixen froze as her mind needed a few seconds to reboot. Then she felt her blood boiling, she roared and lunged at Kitty with a flying kick. Kitty fell to the ground, and then when she tried to turn, Carmelita grabbed her by her hair and slammed her face in the ground.
- You dirty, no-good, backstabbing bitch! - Carmelita said, remarking each word with a head slam.
The rest of the Gang heard all the conmotion and went down the stairs as fast as they could. Once they got to the living room, they gasped when they saw Sly trying to pry Carmelita's death grip off of Kitty's hair.
- What's going on here?! - Bentley asked looking terrified.
- I'll tell you what's going on here! - Carmelita said while kicking Sly off of her and releasing her grip on Kitty's hair. - That hideous slut was kissing Sly!
Everyone gasped at the revelation, then Dudley roared and lunged at Sly, kicking him in the chest. Sly was sent backwards and he crashed over Bentley's stuff. Sly tried to grab his cane but Dudley took it first and pointed it at the thief's neck.
- You! - Dudley said with a death glare towards the raccoon. - We gave you the benefit of the doubt and you backstab us once again!
- No, I-I just... - Sly stammered.
Then, the front door is kicked open, revealing a group of villains being led by McCullen.
- Sorry to drop unannounced Cooper, but I think you owe me a rematch. - Said McCullen with a smirk.
Sly bared his teeth at the villains, just like the Gang did a few seconds later.
- Raliegh. - Mz Ruby said.
- Tsao. - Said Jing while glaring at the old General that had kidnapped her and her father's former ally.
- Snaptrap and Dr Rabies. - Said Dudley while still holding Sly's cane.
- Jack and Madame Catastrophe. - Said Kitty while wipping her mouth of a bit of blood.
- Rajan and Muggshot. - Murray said while clenching his fists.
- Neyla and the Contessa. - Said Carmelita while taking her shock pistol.
- McCullen and Le Paradox. - Sly said while glaring at his newest rivals.
- Indeed, Cooper Gang, we thought that this little "discussion" would be the perfect opportunity to finally obtain what we are all looking for. - Le Paradox said.
- You are so not going to have my cane. - Sly said.
- We will see about that, Mr. Cooper. - McCullen smirked.
The English assassin lunged at Dudley and kicked him in the gut, while grabbing Sly's cane with his right hand.
- Thanks for the gift, seriously, it was not necessary. - McCullen said while smirking evilly.
- GIVE ME BACK MY CANE! - Sly yelled while he lunged at McCullen.
- COME AND GET IT IF YOU CAN! - McCullen said while he got in battle stance.
The villains lunged at the Cooper Gang, Penelope dealt with Le Paradox, Murray engaged Muggshot in a fist fight, Carmelita fought with Neyla, Scarlett fought with Jack Rabbit, Jing shot fireworks at Tsao, Barton lunged at Snaptrap, Mz Ruby fought with Raliegh, Bentley fought with Madame Catastrophe, Dimitri used his old electric ring against Rajan, Herbert joined Barton in his fight against Snaptrap, and Dudley, Kitty and Sly fought their doppelgangers. All the while the Guru was using his Dreamtime Spirit Magic to heal all the members of the Cooper Gang.
The hideout became a complete war zone.
Blasts, energy balls, voodoo energy beams, fireworks, shock shots and bombs were flying everywhere, hitting each person in the hideout. But only one was having trouble in trying to defeat his opponent, and that one was Sly, because McCullen was using his cane.
McCullen swung the cane and hit Sly in his side, knocking the air out of him. Sly glared at the evil raccoon and double-jumped over him, then Sly made a roundhouse kick that hit McCullen on the back. McCullen grunted and turned to try to hit Sly on the head with the cane, but Sly evaded and activated his electro-glove. Sly punched his doppelganger and sent him against Le Paradox. Rajan got distracted and Dimitri hit him with his tail, making the tiger trip and fall over the Contessa. Scarlett seized Jack's distraction and made a backflip, kicking Jack on the chin, making him fall over a coffee table. Mz Ruby launched a voodoo energy beam at her former friend and sent him crashing against Muggshot. The former member of the Fiendish Five barely felt anything, but he got distracted enough for Murray to give him a very hard punch on the chin, knocking him out immediately. Snaptrap saw that the fight was almost over for the villains, so he tried to make an escape but Herbert and Barton stopped him by making him trip over Tsao. Bentley grabbed Catastrophe with the arms of his wheelchair, the he threw her over the pile of defeated villains.
All the villains were defeated, except for one.
McCullen took Sly by the neck of his shirt with the Cooper cane and then the assassin slammed him hard into the ground. Sly grunted and fell over his back, then he rolled out of a whack that McCullen made with his cane, he stood up and was kicked in the back, making him crash against a cabinet in front him. Sly turned and McCullen pointed his cane at his neck.
- Face it, Cooper! - McCullen said mockingly to everyone's surprise. - You could not defeat me with your cane, much less now that I have it!
- You... you may have my cane, but I can still fight with many kinds of weapons. - Sly said while wiping another drop of blood coming from his mouth.
Sly carefully opened one of the drawers in the cabinet, pulling out a small, bluish object.
- I still have one weapon, courtesy of my old pal Jack Skellington. - Sly said while pulling out a green mass of the small object, which attached to his wrist.
- You have nothing that can save you now, Cooper. - McCullen said with an evil grin.
McCullen raised the cane and tried to whack Sly on the head, but something unexpected happened.
- Soul rubber! - Sly yelled while moving his arm towards McCullen's legs.
McCullen was taken aback not only by Sly's sudden action, but also when he felt that something was dragging him by his ankle. Sly made a turn and slammed McCullen face-first against a wall. Everyone's mouth dropped agape and noted that the green mass was the thing responsible for saving Sly from a certain death.
- And now I know why he loves it so much! - Sly said while showing everyone his new weapon.
McCullen was angry, somehow Sly's luck had saved him again from certain death. The evil raccoon wiped his mouth of a bit of blood and turned to face Sly.
- You can't beat me anyway Cooper. - McCullen said while whirling Sly's cane in his hands.
- Let's find that out. - Sly said while preparing the soul rubber.
"I know you hate me, and certainly I hate you too, but I really need your help to defeat this assassin, rubber," Sly thought while glancing at the green mass in his wrist.
McCullen tried to hit Sly, but he moved away and hit McCullen in the face with the soul rubber. McCullen turned and evaded a whiplash from Sly. Then the villainous raccoon kicked him in the gut and hit him in the chin with his cane.
Sly grunted and grabbed a lamp with the soul rubber, he threw the object at McCullen, who used the cane to break the lamp before it could hit him. Then, Sly grabbed one of Bentley's bombs and threw it at McCullen, who swung it back with the cane, so Sly eveloped the explosive and it exploded inside the soul rubber.
"Damn it! I could have beat him already if he did not have that thing in his wrist!" McCullen thought.
"Great! I'm still alive and kicking! God bless you Jack Skellington!" Sly thought cheerfully.
McCullen snarled and pulled out his dagger, Sly did some thinking and pulled out a kunai from his leg pouch.
- That green mass may have improved your combat skills, but mine far surpass your own, Cooper. - McCullen said.
- It's called the soul rubber, and we think you're wrong, McCullen. - Sly said with a cunning smirk.
The others were watching the two raccoons fight with each other, they were too amazed by their abilities to do anything else.
McCullen got in combat stance and Sly did the same, transforming the soul rubber in a sword.
"That weapon of his is really interesting, once I finish him, I will claim it as a prize" McCullen thought in his mind while smirking diabolically.
Both lunged back at combat, McCullen swung the cane but Sly blocked it with the sword, then the thief tried to embed his kunai in McCullen's arm, but the assassin blocked it with his dagger. They tried to push each other back, but their strenghts were matched.
- You can not win this time, Cooper! - McCullen said while gritting his teeth.
- That's what you think pal! - Sly replied.
Sly and Lancelot pushed each other back and tried to attack with their hand blades, making a small cut on each other's cheek. They glared at each other and attacked with the long weapons, creating a few sparks from them. Sly kneed McCullen in the stomach and punched him in the face, but the assassin made a backflip, kicking him in the chin with both his feet. Then McCullen landed on his hands, he reincorporated and punched Sly in the face twice, he made a scratch in his right arm with his dagger and kneed him on the chin, making him fall backwards.
The gang gasped as they watched their leader fall, but Sly transformed the soul rubber in a wrecking ball and threw it at McCullen's stomach with all his strenght, making him fall backwards as well. Both raccoons hit the ground hard, they groaned and stood up again.
- You may have won this battle, but you lost the war Cooper. - McCullen said while smirking.
- What in the name of the Force are you talking about? - Sly asked, quite confused.
- While we fought my "teammates" made their escape, and now it is my turn to do my own. - McCullen said while he strapped Sly's cane to his back.
- Give me back my cane you lousy, no-good, second-hand copy of myself!
- Just for calling me a copy, I will not... - McCullen said. - Hm, I was not going to do it anyways.
McCullen threw a few smoke bombs at the floor and ran to the door. The soul rubber transformed into a fan and Sly waved it to clear out the smoke. Outside the wrecked hideout, McCullen jumped inside a black car with Sly's cane on his back.
- Sped off already! - McCullen snapped at Jack Rabbit, who was driving the car.
- YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY! - Sly yelled while he ran after the vehicles.
The villains mocked of Sly's poor attempt to catch up with them. Little did they know, Sly's new weapon had other thing in mind.
- SOUL RUBBER! - Sly yelled while flunging the green mass at a flagpole.
McCullen was the first in notice that the soul rubber had attached to a very far flagpole, and that meant that Sly could pull the mass and be launched to the vehicle in which he was.
- Accelerate you freaking idiot! - McCullen snapped at Jack.
- Why? - Asked the former TUFF Agent.
- Just do it if you want to be rich!
Jack stomped his foot on the throttle and the car accelerated, followed by other two. Sly saw them and pulled the soul rubber with even more strength. The raccoon flew through the air, he whirled and flung the rubber again at another flagpole.
McCullen glanced at Sly and bared his teeth, then he pulled Jack out of the driver's seat and drove the car.
- Let's see what you got, Cooper. - McCullen snarled through gritted teeth.
McCullen pushed the throttle even more and the vehicle went even faster. Though Sly was not even near giving up.
The raccoon kept flying and whirling while trying to catch up with the villains.
"This certainly wasn't part of the plan me and Kitty made just a few moments ago," Sly thought while he flung the rubber at the corner of a building.
Sly flew thorugh the air and made some calculations to fall on the black car which was being driven by McCullen.
- Cooper is about to catch us! - Snapped Dr Rabies. - Do something, McCullen!
- How about this! - McCullen said while stomping on the brake.
All three cars stopped dead in their tracks, and Sly fell to the ground, not too hard but the big hit was yet to come.
- Die Cooper! - McCullen said while he sped off his car.
Sly had only seconds to react, so he made some sort of shield between his body and the car about to run over him. Fortunately, the hit was really softened by the rubber, so he was only unconscious by the hit.
- Darn it! - McCullen said while he slammed his fist on the wheel. - Oh well, at least we have the cane.
The villains laughed and left Sly on the street, completely motionless.
The gang had hopped aboard the van and the TUFF Mobile, and they were trying to find Sly. However, when they found him he was unconscious in the middle of a street. They all stepped outside the vehicles and formed a circle around Sly.
Sly regained his consciousness just a few seconds after his former friends found him, and I said former because...
- This is just a bit of what you deserve for backstabbing us again, Cooper. - Dudley and Carmelita said with derision.
- Do... Does anyone... has my... my cane? - Sly asked while he tried to get up.
- No, McCullen and the others got away with it. - Jing said. - I'm so sorry Mr Cooper, I hope we can...
- No, there's no more "we". - Bentley said. - Sly has made his last mistake.
- What the hell do you mean Bentley? - Sly asked while glaring at his former life-long friend.
- You certainly just wanted to keep your cane, your vault and your legacy safe, but you didn't even know that if we didn't come to find you we'd be dead by now.
- That's not true Bent, Sly would never do that. - Murray tried to convince Bentley.
- Think whatever you want Murray, Bentley's right, they blew up the safehouse a few moments ago. - Kitty said. - I can't believe we put our trusts in you.
- (Sarcastic chuckles) None of you know what is stored in the vault, there's more than just my family tresure, some of the worst weapons in the whole universe are inside it, weapons designed by Bentley! - Sly said.
- We had to have something to overthrow the Empire! - Bentley snapped back. - You and the other six left us defenseless against the SEOs!
- Alright, if that's what you think, I'll just go and solve this by myself. - Sly said while he flung the rubber at the rooftop of a building.
- Sly wait! - Penelope, Scarlett, Jing, Murray, Mz Ruby and Dimitri said.
Too late, the raccoon had pulled the rubber and he flew towards the building.
- Why do you want him?! - Bentley yelled at them.
- Cooper was unpolite with ya, but I saw no reason for you two to get into such an argument. - Mz Ruby said.
-Shut the hell up, Ruby!
- You're the biggest jerk I've ever seen Bentley. - Penelope said with tears in her eyes.
- I can't belive you did that to the cracker-box, you're so uncool, turtle dude. - Dimitri said.
- He was supposed to be one of our friends, we are the Cooper Gang! - Jing said.
- Yeah Bentley, Sly did a lot of things to save us, I can't believe you just turned your back on him. - Murray said with a shocked look.
- I may not know him too much, even though he's my family, but I know Sly would never do such a thing to any of us. - Scarlett said.
- We're not the Cooper Gang anymore, I'm leaving. - Carmelita said while she started walking.
- Me too. - Dudley said.
Dudley and Carmelita got inside the TUFF Mobile and left, while Murray, Penelope, the Guru, Dimitri and Jing watched them in shock.
- Goodbye, "Cooper Gang". - Kitty said.
Kitty went in the same way were the villains had gone after running over Sly, she had she arms crossed and a scowl.
- You can change your mind Murray, come with me and we'll have a new start. - Bentley said while offering Murray his hand.
Murray slapped Bentley's hand away from him and stood his ground.
- I won't change my mind Bentley. - The hippo said while folding his arms.
Bentley looked at Penelope, as if he was expecting some kind of answer from her.
- I won't go with you, what you did to Sly was horrible, this is our second breakup. - Penelope said.
Bentley huffed and left, leaving a disbanded gang without most of their comrades.
To say that Murray was devastated was a misunderstanding, there are just no words to describe the look on his face, he was angry, sad and confused, all at the same time.
In an attempt to make him feel better, Dimitri spoke.
- So Big Guy, what's the plan of action-reaction this time, my main man bro?
- I dunno pal, Bentley and Sly used to do the thinking stuff, I'm just the brawn. - Murray said half-heartedly.
- C'mon Big Guy, I can think just about the same plans that Bentley. - Penelope said, half offended.
- I know, it's just that it'll be weird not to see Sly nor Bentley around.
- Right now our biggest problem is to find a place to spend the night. - Mz Ruby said.
- Lemme make a lil' call, my friend Cleo lives not too far from our position, she can give us a hand and help us get the ringtailed cracker-box back. - Dimitri said while he pulled out his cellphone.
- I hope she can give us a place to stay while we try to make another plan, without Sly, Bentley, Carmelita, Kitty and Dudley, our prior plan won't work. - Penelope deduced.
- What happened to Barton and Herbert anyway? - Scarlett asked.
- We're here, but the author keeps putting us just as fill-in characters. - Herbert said.
- Well, it's done, Cleo's gonna give us a hand and a safehouse, she also agreed to help us with the villains problem. - Dimitri said while he stuffed his cellphone in his pocket.
The Disbanded Cooper Gang sighed and let Dimitri led the way to Cleo's house.
But they didn't knew that somebody was watching their every move.
- Hmm, this certainly makes everything easier for us. - Said the hidden criminal to himself while he watched a screen with the Cooper Gang walking away.
Suddenly, a com link opens, showing McCullen's face on a corner of the scrren.
- Hey there, we got a situation. - McCullen said.
- Why? What's the matter, McCullen?
- We found Bentley Wisetrutle and Kitty Katswell, somehow they did not even want to fight with us when they saw us.
- Capture them, we'll get everything they know about the others.
- That won't be necessary, we'll join you, if you can clean our names once you get what you want from Sly. - Said Kitty's voice.
- Why should we trust your word, Kitty? - Jack Rabbit asked.
- Have I ever told a lie?
- Besides, Sly deserves this, Dr M was right, he only treated me like a sidekick. - Bentley said.
- Ok, you'll join us, as long as you tell us everything you know about your old friends. - The hidden criminal said with an evil smirk.
- This time the Cooper Gang is finished. - McCullen said.
All the villains, incluiding Bentley and Kitty, laughed evilly.
Is this the end of the Cooper Gang?