Disclaimer: I don't any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch.

Claimer: I own my original characters.

Since I couldn't sleep, I typed this chapter up last night and could post it this morning so please read and review and let me know what you think along with any constructive criticism.

Chapter 5: Stirring the Pot

It had been a few days since I visited my sister in her office and I still hadn't gotten my safe back from Interpol. I had decided I would wait a few more days until my car was fixed. While on that matter, I was sitting next to my car while my brother looked at the engine. We had been trying to repair it for a few days and so far we'd gotten no where. We did manage to get the trunk open and the things out of if and just got the hood off so we could actually look at the engine. Sitka was the mechanically inclined one out of the three of us. Charlotte had some mechanical training but she was more book and planning smart. They were older and had more experience, or so they say. They were a maximum of two years older than I myself and Carmelita always tried to pull the age card on me. They way she figured, since she was a full eight minutes older than me then she had more life experience. So as a rebuttal I always said that twins were equal no matter which was born first.

"Well," Sitka's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, "I can't fix this stupid thing so you're going to have to get a new car and add everything to it. I've tried everything I can possibly think of." I was happy that I would get a new car, but the only problem was that in order for me to get everything in order for it to work like my old one, it would set me back at least two weeks. And I didn't have that kind of time if I was going to get everything collected on schedule.

"Great, do you know how far that'll set us back? That's at least two weeks if everything goes smoothly."

"Look, it's either wait two weeks or don't do it at all." He stood up straight and continued, "We've done some research and we need to do some recon around Interpol headquarters and figure out the best place that they would keep confiscated items." He wiped the grease from his fur.

"That's great. Just tell me what I'm looking for and I can go out tonight."

"That's the problem. It's too big of a job for you to go solo and you and I both know Charlotte and I aren't very light on our feet. So, we were thinking that would could get some assistance from Cooper and his gang and things could-" I cut him off.

"No. I can do just fine on my own and I don't need any help from another thief. I can do it on my own if you just tell me what I'm doing."

"And that's another problem. We need more brains on this one, Interpol headquarters will be heavily guarded and there will be security systems out our ears."

"I can help you with the planning, but we're not asking for help from anyone else. The three of us have this covered." I was standing and had my arms crossed at this time and my brother was the same.

"Can't you just accept the fact that we'll need help on this job and actually take it?"

"No I can't! The three of us have always gotten things done on our own and we can do this as well." I gave a huff and turned to walk out of the garage.

"I swear you are the most stubborn raccoon I've ever met! One day your pride will get us all arrested or killed!"

"Speak for yourself!" I rolled my eyes and was gone. My brother and I didn't fight often and when we did it didn't last more than a few hours. Again, I was starting to get in a bad mood and decided that I would go to my apartment and cool off for a while. It was starting to get chilly outside and I would have to remember to start wearing warmer clothes outside.

Once I was inside my apartment building, I picked my mail from the mailboxes and proceeded to the elevators. I casually flipped though the assortment of bills, junk, and letters until I could walk off to my floor and reach my front door. After getting the door opened, I almost dropped almost all my mail at the sight in front of me. Glass was everywhere and my sliding glass door was shattered. I threw the mail and my keys on the nearby counter and avoided the glass on my way to the shattered door. At first glance, it looked like it had been simply hit by a rock and the glass broke. That part was true but it for sure wasn't an accident. I picked up the rock, which was extremely heavy and almost as big as my paw, up off the floor and ripped off the letter that was attached. I tossed the rock back onto the floor and ripped open the letter. It was rather short and got straight to the point. It was a threat from the one person I was set on taking down. After trying to read through the hand written mess, I learned that it basically said that if I didn't quit meddling and collecting the gems in crystals, then I would be 'very' sorry. Then emblem of my enemy sat in the bottom right corner was displayed proudly. A giant red 'N' surrounded by an equally red circle.

I crumpled the note and tossed it to the side. I refocused my attention to my shattered door and figured I'd have to get it repaired tonight to avoid anyone else breaking in, stray animals, or bad weather. I very carefully picked up the large pieces of glass from the carpet and used the vacuum to pick up the smaller shards and splinters. Picking glass up off of a cream colored carpet wasn't easy, or fun, but I got the job done and then moved onto the balcony. I swept up the pieces of broken glass from the ground and threw them in my trashcan. I would have to call down to the management office and have them come up and replace the glass tonight before I could do anything else.

I spent the rest of the night watching the maintenance workers replace my window and make sure it would stay. They were quick, efficient, and rather nice men who usually gave out cookies to all the residents during the holidays. They weren't the smartest group of people but they meant well. They spent two hours replacing and securing the two parts of the door and finally left around eight. I picked up the threatening note again and read it over a few times. I knew I should take it seriously but this wasn't the first time I had been threatened like this. They usually left notes in my car but this was the first time they left one in my apartment and did damage. So this meant they knew exactly which apartment I lived in and knew it could only get worse from here. I decided to brush it off anyway and go ahead and eat, shower, and get ready for bed. I'd stop back by my brothers' tomorrow to see if we could work something out so I wouldn't need to rely on help from another thief. I was never one to admit that I needed help. Like my father, I had too much pride. I was also one not to show that much emotion, mainly sorrow and fear. My mother had drilled it into our heads that since we were from the Fox family we didn't show emotion. We were too tough and strong willed for it. So, that's exactly what I did. I decided that I would go ahead and go to bed, even though it was early, and try to sleep on some things and get ready for a recon job in a few weeks.