A/N- to answer somebody's question as to how you pronounce Emile Largo's first name, its': Em-eel. And in addition, the other Cooper Gang members WILL make an appearance hopefully in either the next chapter or the one after. So R&R.

Warning: major ass kicking in this chapter!

Don't Get Your Hopes Up

Kaine Island, 80mi SW of Fiji- freighter S.S. Narrung- 0945hrs- 2 days later

Emile Largo laid back on his deck chair on the forecastle of the lead freighter. On both sides were several more freighters, all of them owned by one of Condor's fronts, Lemke & Buechner. All together there was a fleet of five freighters, a personnel boat, and two heavy lift vessels carrying three barges each for the machinery.

Just the night before, Interpol had lifted its blockade around the island deserted, leaving the island uninhabited and unprotected. Perfect conditions for treasure plundering.

Emile smiled as he watched the island slowly come closer. And then finally the Narrung's baritone whistle rang out across the ocean, signaling the other ships to stop. At the rate the fleet was traveling, it nearly took forever for the vessels to slow to stop.

"Why'd we stop?" Emile demanded as he entered the bridge. "We're still a good half-mile away."

"Sorry Mr. Largo," the captain apologized. "But the personnel boat that pulled ahead of us did a sounding and apparently there is ring of reefs and shallows circling our side of the island. It's deep enough for all the ships to come through, but when the freighters are fully loaded, we'd be grounded on them. You predicted two days of operations, but I hope you've made room for another two, 'cause I'd give this project three days, four days tops."

"Very well Captain Lenargos," Emile said. "Radio the other ships, and tell them to disembark all personnel assigned to this job and converge on the beach head, straight ahead."

"Aye aye sir." Lenargos replied.

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Paris, France-Interpol Paris Division-0955hrs

Sly sat back in his chair. For the past two days, nothing exciting had happened. So far nothing had competed with the excitement involved with busting Charlie's nose for a second time. His tail twitched in annoyance. So far, he was ready to jump out the window; at least that was something to do.

BANG!

The door to the office flew open as Carmelita kicked it open, her face contorted in sheer anger. Sly figured there were only two things here at Interpol that could get her so flustered like this; either Barkley chewed her out again, or the horn-dogs down the hallway it on her again.

"Barkley?" Sly asked.

"No" she replied, slamming the door and heading for her seat.

"Charlie?"

"No," she answered, her demeanor calmer now as she sat back in her chair. "Stopped when you broke his nose and used his face as a glass breaker."

"Your welcome," Sly smirked.

Suddenly, the door flew open again and Barkley stepped in. "Need you two down on Rue le Dodge, now! A repeat of West Hollywood is going on over there!"

Rue le Doge was over on the opposite bank of the Seine River, several blocks away from the Sacre-Coeur. Pulling up in Carmelita's red convertible, they were instantly taken aback by the chaos that was ensuing.

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Kaine Island, 1010hrs

The trek up the mountainside was perilous due to the loose soil and rocks as well as the steep drop-offs. Eventually, the group of men led by Largo reached a rusting metal platform littered with disused lasers and drills. The platform was also strewn with wooden canes tipped with a brass-like question mark. But the prize here was the opening to the Cooper Vault. Already opened, it provided instant access to the inner dwellings of the Cooper treasure.

"No good," one guy said. He was peering down the shaft that led to the entrance lobby of the gauntlet.

"What?" Emile asked, strutting over to the rabbit. "What do you mean it's no good?"

"The shaft," the rabbit said. "It's blocked. Must've caved in."

Sure enough, the drop off that should have been several dozen to several hundred feet deep, only ended about five feet down, completely blocked by rubble.

"Then we'll find another way in," Emile said. "He motioned to another rabbit."

"Radio the base camp to get the drilling equipment and seismic equipment," he muttered. "Tell them main entrance no good, need to make news one."

The rabbit nodded and pulled out a radio.

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Rue le Dodge, Paris-1015hrs.

Sly ducked as a bullet struck the hood of the police cruiser in front of him. Looking around, there must have been three gunmen at least, and god only knows how many inside the bank. Several police cruisers were now reduced to nothing but bullet sponges, and three officers were down, but not dead. He noticed that the officers that were able to get a shot off were only hitting the body armor over the gunmen's torso.

"AIM FOR THE LEGS AND HEAD!" Sly yelled, pulling the trigger a few times on his gun. Sure enough, he hit one in the kneecap.

There was a cloud of blood as the kneecap of a gunman seemed to explode from the bullet, and the gunman collapsed, his hands now being used to try to stop the bleeding instead of holding the assault rifle. This managed to provide a big enough distraction for Sly so that he could sneak away into a neighboring building.

Climbing the stairs, he kicked out the door to the roof. On the far end was the roof of the back, a good ten feet or so from the roof he was on. Sprinting across the roof, he feral pounced the distanced and landed safely. Coincidentally, the door to the rooftop blew open, a gunman exiting it, unnoticing Sly. Quick as lightning, he dispatched the robber, using pretty much the same technique he used on Charlie.

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"Where's Cooper?" Carmelita asked. She lost track of him when a barrage of bullets tore through almost everything.

"Dunno," an officer replied.

"AIM FOR THE LEGS AND HEAD!" a familiar voice yelled.

She looked around but couldn't see her partner. Then suddenly a gunman collapsed, his kneecap blown off. Looking around again, she thought she saw that familiar ringed tail disappear into the neighboring building.

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Sly was now in the back room of the ground floor, hidden, but with no way of getting into the lobby without being spotted-and shot at-by three other gunmen staking out there. He needed a distraction. Running back up the stairs to the second floor, he opened a window and aimed his gun. This time, the bullet hit a ducking gunman in the rear end, causing him to collapse on his side, screaming "MY ASS! SOMEONE SHOT MY ASS!"

He was taking aim at the third one when somebody else shot him. His right leg severed at the knee from the round.

Sly now had his distraction. With Interpol now gaining ground outside, the robbers were now trying to fend them off. Pulling out the grating to a vent, he crawled in. He now found himself if the manager's office, which was connected to the bank vault and provided little view from the main lobby. There, he saw a fourth robber pulling out a duffel bag full of euros. Carefully, he removed the grating, and struck.

The robber didn't see it coming. Sly landed on him, the momentum thrusting the robber's head into the desk, knocking him out. The lobby had the lights shut down so that it was harder for the police to see inside. So Sly turned them on.

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"Hey!" an officer yelled. "The lights are on!"

"I see three gunmen in there," another officer said, peering through a pair of binoculars. "WAIT! I see somebody else."

"Who?" Carmelita asked, snatching the binoculars away from the officer, the strap choking him. "Cooper!"

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"FREEZE!" Cooper yelled, quickly pulling the trigger, a bullet catching a gunman in his right arm.

The others, taken aback, made themselves instant sitting ducks. Sly pulled the trigger again, but it was empty. Thinking on the fly, he threw his gun, catching a second robber in the head, causing him to fall back onto a low-rise table, his gun flying to the other side. Leaping for the legs, Sly caught the other below the waist, casing him collapse into the window, causing it to crack.

Turning around, he saw the second guy get up, running across the table to get his gun. Sly was much faster, and stomped on the end of the table, causing it to catapult the robber forward, smashing his head into the brick wall. Picking up the guns, and punching the other two robbers out cold, he walked outside, tossing the guns to the side.

There was somewhat of a cheer and a mob of relieved cops overtook him.

"That was an awesome can of whoop ass you opened up in there!" someone said.

"Wish you were my partner," a female cop said in a flirty tone.

"Well done Cooper," Carmelita said, pulling him away from the crowd. "You should get a promotion for this."

"Please, just call me Sly," Sly replied. "And thanks Inspector Fox."

"Your welcome, but please," Carmelita said. "Just call me Carmelita."

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Kaine Island-2200 hrs

"No, no, NO!" Emile yelped.

All around, there was nothing but water and rock. The giant cave was empty, with the exception of the occasional gold piece lying on the ground. Several minutes before, the drill team hit the cave.

"WHERE IS IT?" he shrieked, collapsing to his knees, covering his face with his wings.

A/N: whoo! Hope that was long and action-packed enough for ya! And if you seen the ending to Sly 3, then you should know where the treasure went.