Chapter 7: Mr. I'll make a Cooper out of you
The sun had set leaving behind the chilly night air. Carmelita sat impatiently in a spinning chair at a desktop of the lab back on Kaine Island, waiting for the communication lines to come up again. Clyde was playing with some old blocks that Penelope found in the attic of their house for him in the corner, he looked so peaceful. Carmelita took note of the fact that he was ignorant to the cruelties of the world around him. She feared having to tell her son that his father wouldn't be coming home ever again.
Penelope fought her tears the hardest she could. She'd noticed when Bentley paged her to listen and watch the webcam chat Morgan had had with the gang through a secret camera, she'd heard Morgan's sweet voice asking how she was. I'm fine baby girl, please come home. She remembered whispering to herself. She clicked and ticked her keyboard until her head fell into her arms on top of the desk and she let her tears loose. She didn't want to believe what she knew she had to, the illuminating fear that her husband was gone, not Morgan gone, but dead, had started to sink in.
She squeaked out a few sobs and lost her will to even try to fight them anymore. Her drones would be arriving at the wreckage within the hour and she couldn't bear to look at what they'd find. She felt a hand on her shoulder, of all people Carmelita Fox, the once bane of her and the gang's existence, was now standing over her knowing she needed comfort. It felt too surreal to her, almost impossible. Her husband who she woke up this morning thinking they had years upon years left was probably gone. Her daughter who she kept close always for the sake of helping her knowledge grow and expand, but mostly to keep safe was also lost in the world, and now this, Carmelita Fox standing over her watching her sob into her arms.
She lifted her head momentarily and stared blankly at the computer screen. Her sadness was evolving into an anger fueled by a hate that she'd felt so long ago, a hate that had a newfound purpose. She felt a fuel burning inside her, her insides grew warm and her expression turned angry. She slowly turned her head to her shoulder and moved it enough to push Carmelita's hand off. She rose to her feet and turned to face her completely. The anger in her eyes burned a hole in Carmelita's soul. Penelope felt this and let it be her defense, her cope, she took out what she'd been holding in ever since Carmelita arrived here in the first place.
Carmelita stepped back, she knew Penelope was upset but she couldn't place why she'd suddenly turned against her. She felt the burden of the silence and knew that something was brewing inside of Penelope, a mix of emotions that she was about to blow on her. Without thinking she looked over to Clyde hoping Penelope could at least wait until he was out of the room. "Clyde, it's time for bed, go back to the room we stayed in last night with daddy okay?" Clyde put the blocks down and obliged.
"Okay mommy, is daddy coming home tonight?"
Her heart skipped a beat and she felt immense sadness. She simply shook her head and behind sorrowful words all she said was "Not tonight."
As expected Penelope's expression softened but only briefly and only long enough for Clyde to clear the room. When Carmelita turned her gaze back, she was ready to fire her loaded emotional gun, one that had been counting down, one that was lit and ready to blow.
"I know you are angry Penelope, but there's."
"Stop," Penelope interrupted Carmelita's rational. She saw it as more of a plea for mercy. That was something Penelope couldn't spare her right now, probably not ever again. "This whole mess started because of your incompetence as a police officer, your incapability to be a mother, but most of all, your blatant disregard for the people who've been helping you the past few days even though you deserve nothing, NOTHING, from them at all."
Carmelita's head fell to her chest as she took everything Penelope dished out. "You couldn't have just told Bonnie from the start? You couldn't just let her know Sly Cooper was her damn father? You are the reason she went rouge, you're the reason my daughter and Seth followed. Now you've got Sly, Murray, and…and my husband's death on your hands. You spent all that time hunting those three like dogs, and you…" Penelope stopped for a moment.
Carmelita looked up to meet her gaze perplexed. Penelope gazed far off as if realizing something important she'd forgotten to do. "Dogs." She repeated again.
Carmelita raised an eyebrow. "Listen Penelope I know you're grieving but I don't know what-"
Penelope shushed her, "I don't care what you have to say. I've no desire to hear your pathetic words of comfort, this is all on you and I hope you carry it with you forever. I've got a bigger fish to fry, or should I say dog to catch."
"Well I don't care if you want my opinion or not, my daughter is still missing and if you have a lead I want to know."
Penelope rolled her eyes, but she knew Carmelita wouldn't budge, just like she wouldn't take responsibility for her damn actions she thought. Come on Penelope focus. If she had to be clued in maybe it would shut her up and keep Carmelita off her tail. "Dogs, well specifically one dog, Mugshot, remember hauling him in."
Carmelita shook her head in acknowledgement, "Yeah that was the guy I hauled in after Sir Raleigh, how could I forget? I had missed catching Sly Cooper that time too."
"That is no different than every other time you've tried to catch Sly Cooper. Anyway, exactly how could you or I or anyone forget? Bentley used to love telling the stories about him! The video transmission the kids sent, the lighting, the sky in the background it looked too, bright almost tropical but slightly barren."
"I don't understand." She said.
Penelope rolled her eyes, "Of course you don't. The gang and us, we knew enough about the kid's whereabouts that they were traveling to some of Sly's first heist gigs."
"Yes but how do you know they're in Mesa City?"
"The weather, the brightness of the area they were in. Sir Raleigh's fortress was hidden in rain and dark skies; Mz. Ruby was in the musty grim bayou, Panda King, now our ally, still in China, snow and cloudy skies, then Russia for Clockwerk, just as snowy, except volcanic and dark just the same. The only warm place any of those missions included was Mesa City. That's where those kids are I know it."
"Okay it makes sense, but how can we convince them to come back here?"
Penelope shut her computer down and started to disengage the rest of the lab. "I'm sorry, we?"
Carmelita followed her as she exited the lab and placed her hand on the locking pad. "Yes we I'm coming with you."
Penelope walked out of the study of her home that Bentley used to read in and tell Morgan all kinds of stories from his heisting days and her heart twisted with pain. "Thanks for the offer but you coming along would make things so much worse. Stay here with Clyde until I come back, you're allowed to use the facilities and treat this place as if you lived here. It…It needs something of a family to keep it feeling homey. I'll be back, and I'm bringing those kids with me."
Penelope strode into the kitchen and punched in a security code by the back door. "Override security measures."
A speaker in the wall proceeded to repeat those words, "Overriding security measures. Please state command access code."
Penelope faltered, "Access code: 678 Bentley and Penelope"
"Access code accepted, state your security measure."
"Add proxy to house security protocol measures, grant them access to the grounds minus the lab entrance, lab itself and all the floors in between including the hangar. Do not grant full override privileges of subject's locational limits, access and alert me if the subjects leave the grounds or make changes to the system immediately. I'll be flying in jet 8, my personal one. Enlist me as the new head of household."
"Specifications set, initiate proxy voice command."
She looked at Carmelita, "Say your name."
Carmelita looked a bit confused, "Carmelita Fox."
"Security proxy, Carmelita Fox granted access to the household grounds and areas within jurisdiction and necessary security measures."
Penelope pushed a button and the voice went away. "The house security system will now recognize your voice and you will be protected. Be warned if anything happens or if you leave you will be restrained by the security bots and won't be released until I can retrieve you."
Carmelita just nodded in understanding. "I'll be here with Clyde until you come back." Penelope headed back into the study and reopened the lab door just to give her passage through it. Then it shut and locked behind her. Carmelita was once again alone, and having to hope for the best once again. However this time there was a little more heartbreak in her than ever before. "I'll miss you Sly." She muttered as she heard the faint sound of a jet taking off. Alone.
"Mommy?" she turned to see Clyde standing just behind the wall of the study that led to the stair case. "Where's Aunt Penelope going?"
Carmelita just went over and kneeled down to hug him, "she is going to go find your sister."
He grew wide eyed, "I have a sister?"
"Yes you do honey, and she is going to meet you hopefully very soon. But for now it's time to get you in the bath and ready for bed."
Together they walked upstairs.
*Mesa City, Utah*
Morgan sat by a fire huddled in a blanket; she'd refused any of the hotdogs that Seth had made. She just sat motionless staring at the flames as they flickered. No one said anything. They all sat in remorse and silently filled themselves with false hope. Seth's grieving was different, he gorged himself in the food that they'd had. He couldn't stop eating. He was becoming his father, but it was that thinking that made him eat more. He didn't want to feel his feelings he was too hurt, so he filled himself up to the brim and then some just to avoid any shred of feeling that could sneak up on him.
Bonnie was different she snuck away from the crew, in a not so sneaky way. She more or less walked away from the fire and the van. She took the Thievius Raccoonus with her and started to read it. She was able to manage the pipe climbing, jumping and perching atop certain surfaces. She climbed to the tallest building she could find amongst the few that mugshot owned. She wound up on top of the one with the busted neon lights and she just looked out over the desert skies and felt the pain she knew she would feel eventually. The night had crept in slowly that day, when they were all surrounded by darkness it felt even more surreal.
All along they were one step ahead, too good at what they were doing for their own good. Now they were potentially murderers, and of their own parents no less. The longer she looked at the skies the longer she contemplated if she should have ever left home. Granted she thought Sly dead all those years, he actually wasn't. If she never left, Sly…her dad would still be alive. She sat on the ledge of the building and put her head in her hands. "What is wrong with me?" she asked no one in particular. "I should have never left. Morgan would be with her parents, Seth wouldn't have to indulge himself to ignore the hurt. My dad, Morgan's dad, and Seth's, they'd all still be alive."
She shook her head and began to cry. Her thoughts snuck up on her once again leaving her feeling like she was responsible. She knew she was. She let herself lay back on the roof as her feet dangled off the side of the roof. She stared up at the stars in between tears when her vision wasn't as blurred by them. There was nothing she could do, but she kept telling herself what she would have done to disregard the repercussions of what she had done. After that webcam went down and Morgan disabled the virus, there was an eerie sense of lost will. None of them wanted to be the thieves or the momentous heisters who heisted their master thief parents.
Morgan hasn't touched a computer, Seth didn't volunteer to drive/fly to a new location, and herself, well she didn't suggest either of them do anything of the sort anyway. As horrible as she felt she could only imagine how much harder it was for her comrades. They'd gotten to be with their fathers their whole life. Memories, relationships, love, it was all there, those two had more to lose, and yet she still hurt.
Granted she'd only known Sly Cooper as her father for two days now, she's heard of him her whole life. Hearing of him, being abandoned and forgotten because of him. She had never brought herself to blame her dad though, half the time she'd liked being away from her mother whenever possible. She let out a sigh. The more she thought on it the more she thought that she shouldn't even rejoin the crew for the night. They've been friends forever, she was the newcomer. The newcomer who ruined everything. Up here on the building is where she felt safe.
They'd lost so much more than she had, and she felt the one to blame. She didn't want to keep moving forward, to find a new place to hideout and train. She knew deep down the others didn't either. Deep in her heart of hearts she just knew that all three of them had given in, they had wanted the signal to be tracked and they had wanted to be found by their fathers. The heist is over, the next generation lost. Bonnie was willing to surrender the cane if it meant her dad could come back. Instinctively she rolled to her side and brought her feet up from dangling as she clutched the Cooper cane, all she had left of her father, the notorious Sly Cooper.
She wept well into the night, until her mind gave out and surrendered her body to nightmare infested sleep.
*Kaine Island*
Carmelita tucked Clyde into bed and strolled downstairs into the office, she began to release her emotions, the sorrow, the pain and, the love so strong. She sat at the desk and began to see if she could have access to the computer, she needed an outlet to take her mind off of things. "Security system, can you grant me access to this computer."
"Proxy Carmelita Fox I will ask the head of household one moment please…" A minute passed. "Access has been granted to utilize electronic facilities without granting access to the lab."
Carmelita was amazed with the technology. It was leagues beyond what they had at the precinct. When the computer unlocked thiefnet was up and running so she scrolled through for a bit. She saw a few things that struck her interest, Jean Bison had escaped custody this morning, and The Monkey Lisa was stolen from an art museum back in Europe and was now for sale!
She didn't understand what motivated a thief, she didn't let it deter her though. She kept scrolling and was really interested. How could she have not stumbled upon such a website before, she beat herself up wondering about how many times Sly could have been on here. Finding him would have been easier if she'd known of it.
The scrolling continued on for another ten minutes or so until she'd discovered an article on a rogue thief that came out of Paris, except this time it wasn't about Bonnie. She read further a little perplexed with the idea. How many bad things could happen in Paris in one week?
Miss. Fox, the head of household is attempting to reach you. The drone footage of the plane wreckage has been recovered. Shall I patch it through to the current desktop you are using?
Carmelita hesitated, with all of her being she knew she wasn't going to like what she saw, but she knew she had to know. "Patch it through."
In a few seconds time the computer screen changed into a video playing format. She watched in horror. The plane had indeed crashed and there was no sign of either Bentley, Murray or Sly. She looked at the crumpled steel and the flames rising from the disconnected cockpit. All she could make out of the wreckage was a pretty damaged wheelchair, but with no Bentley in it. Tears filled her eyes. She had hoped for any shred of evidence, something to signal that they were alive, but looking at the disfigured plane, the sprawled out burning debris, she knew the chances were unlikely.
She let her tears fall, embracing the hard truth. She'd heard that transmission as well as Penelope. Carmelita knew that the gang's survival was unlikely, she also knew that it made her daughter a murderer. She was merely a petty thief back in Paris, escaping as well as her father used to. Right under their noses right out from under her grasp. However this? It was worlds away from what Sly used to do. She fought the idea for a while, tossed it around quite often in her head, but ultimately she knew, as a former officer of the law. Murder was murder. Her daughter, a murderer, she couldn't take the pain. It filled her soul and she screamed out her sorrow. Sly was now actually dead, the hunt is officially over, and her daughter? Her daughter had to be brought to justice. She messed with the bull, in the most awful way possible, now she gets the horns.
The household security system made a ding and pulled up a holographic image of a plane heading this way. Miss Fox I'm detecting an oncoming bogey plane with an unidentified personal manning it. Shall I activate security protocol and remove the plane from the sky?
She looked at the plan that was approaching her location, she wiped her eyes to see clearer. "Security can you zoom in on the pilot?" The security system obeyed and once she saw who it was she replied. "No disengage security measures!"
Any reason being Miss. Fox? Bogeys do not appear frequently around our location. It is unlikely that the pilot is lost. My sensors detect that the pilot could be hostile or have harmful motives.
Carmelita rolled her eyes through some tears that still wound up falling, "He won't be hostile." She muttered. "I know him, disengage security protocol, open up the rooftop landing pad. That's an order."
Your demand has been received. Security protocol disengaged and the rooftop landing pad has been displayed. The head of household has been alerted of the disruption to the security system.
Carmelita wiped her eyes, she didn't want to be alone and she knew he would understand. She didn't know how he found her, but she was sure it would be explained. She climbed up to the roof just as the plane had landed firmly she still felt somber but she knew she would soon have comfort. The drone footage really took its toll on her.
He came out of the plane and approached her. She didn't hesitate, "I don't know how you did it but thank goodness you found me I could use someone to talk to right now."
He tilted his head to the left and cracked his neck. "The time for talking is long over Carmelita."
Her eyes grew wide however no longer containing sadness, but fear. He lunged forward and she found herself in a brawl that she wasn't equipped to handle.
*A plane headed west*
Penelope let the footage deter her thoughts more than she had wanted too. When she saw Bentley's wheelchair she had to put the plane in autopilot and sit in the communal chairs to just weep. Her daughter had gone too far, all of those kids had gone too far. Her husband was dead, her friends were dead. All at the hands of their very children, her very own daughter apart of it.
She silently hoped that the kids hadn't run from the location Penelope had known they'd be at. She hoped they'd at least feel enough pain to not want to run anymore. When she was emotionally stable enough to regain control of the plane she sent the footage to the desktop Carmelita had requested earlier. As annoyed as she was at Carmelita, she knew it would hurt her too. They both had connections to the gang, whether it was actually being in it, or chasing them from the get-go. Both ways there were ties to the gang, and they were both affected by them. Penelope tried to consider that as she hoped Carmelita was okay after seeing the footage.
Not long after it was sent a message came up across her dashboard.
Security protocol's disengaged, unidentified bogey approaching household. Miss. Fox knew the culprit and allowed entrance. This is your notice.
Penelope shook her head, no one has been able to find Kaine Island in years. She pulled up the footage, so how did this guy? She asked herself. "Security do not disengage the systems defense lines. Just because Carmelita knows him doesn't mean anything."
It is too late Miss Penelope the culprit has landed, Video footage of his arrival is transmittable.
"Pull it up then please."
Penelope flicked the plane into autopilot and watched the holographic video footage of the strange man dismounting his plane. She watched him get off onto landing pad and approach Carmelita. She had said something and he had replied, then he lunged for her and they fell down the hatch back into the house. Penelope silently cursed for not having cameras in the house. She didn't think she'd ever need them, they were safe and no one could find them. "Security lock down Clyde's room and activate defense lines around his room." She silently prayed Carmelita could handle herself. However she knew Clyde couldn't so she made sure he was safe. "No overrides permitted to Clyde's bedroom door without my knowledge first. Oh, and security, however you can find ways to help Carmelita in that fight do it. I have to get these kids before they leave Mesa City."
Requests received. She really didn't need this at the moment. The kids were still loose and hopefully feeling extreme regret for all of this now, and now someone had invaded her home and put her and Bentley's work in jeopardy. Their home could get destroyed and her world just seemed to start crumbling apart and she certainly didn't like it. She looked at the dash, two hours before her arrival at Mesa City, she was determined now to just retrieve the kids. That's top of the to-do list. No matter how awful she felt or how devastated she had to ignore her feelings for the sake of getting the kids back. In her heart she knew seeing the kids would crush her soul, a bunch of murderer misfits who bit off way more than they could chew. Penelope stop. You heard Bentley's transmitter they didn't want this. They will feel remorse so much so that they will probably willingly come with you. Just handle it as a mother would, not as a vengeful…widow would. She tried to tame herself with her thoughts. She didn't know how seeing the kids would play out. There was a swirl of emotions inside her, and they only thing she knew for certain was that one way or another they were going to come out.
*Mesa City Dawn*
Morgan sat upright, she'd realized that she must've fallen asleep on the log she was sitting on last night. The fire had hushed greatly and Seth looked sound asleep. She wondered how true that was. She huddled herself a little more in her blanket because the brisk morning air sent a shiver down her spine. The second she could regain logical thought, she thought of her father and cried. She didn't know what happened to him, and with all her heart she wanted to know that he got control of the plane after she killed her virus.
It was wishful thinking though, and she let herself feel the pain surround her. She rose to her feet and surveyed the area, wondering where Bonnie had gone off too. She disappeared last night when everyone felt really miserable and ashamed. Morgan hoped Bonnie didn't blame herself for this. She had a fluent track record of doing that, for some reason she just failed to understand why. She had stolen from her parents and left on her own to save Bonnie. She was the one who got Seth involved, and Seth willingly came. Bonnie was too hard on herself, they were all at fault here.
She looked around the disheveled city for a few more moments before she heard a mysterious beeping sound coming from the van. She rushed over to it and realize that a video call was trying to come in through thiefnet. She answered immediately, not caring who had found them. She was quite disarmed and ridden with guilt and immense sadness when she saw her mother on the other line.
"Mom," she muttered through a sob filled voice.
Penelope looked equally as sad. "Yeah baby girl it's me." They were silent for a few seconds before both of them simultaneously erupted the silence with "Sorry"
"Mom you have no reason to be sorry, all you wanted was to keep me safe and I didn't understand that and now I've…I've murdered my own father." She fell to her knees and cried loudly. Seth stirred a little from the other side of the camp they'd set up but he didn't wake and if he did he didn't show any signs to give that away. Even if he did Morgan wouldn't have cared. She was grieving at her mistake. All of their mistakes.
Penelope's only answer was tears just the same. She tried to find the words but she just couldn't do it over a video call. "Morgan I'm approaching your position, do not leave please honey this needs to end. We will figure this out together okay? I'll be there soon."
Morgan didn't know how her mother had found them, but she just didn't care. The video chat ended and she strolled back toward the camp. This was over, she was ready to retire before even starting. Seth apparently did wake up cause he was sitting upright against the log Morgan had slept on during the night and was staring into the ashes of the dying fire. "So it's over then huh?" he asked.
She sat beside him, "Do you really want to continue?"
A tear escaped his eye, "No."
They shared a small side hug and sat in silence for a few minutes. Seth broke it when he asked, "Where's Bonnie?"
Morgan shrugged, "She disappeared into the night, and she probably blames herself again." With everything he had Seth wanted to blame her too. Their dads were dead and it all started with Bonnie, but he knew inside it wasn't true. He didn't want to accept the blame that he shared just as much as her and Morgan did. He willingly came along and because of that he was involved, without any blame on Bonnie.
He looked up toward the broken down buildings on his right. "Well she shouldn't, and I hope she'll come to us because I'm too distraught to look for her."
Morgan agreed silently, "My mom found us, she'll be here soon."
"So what happens now?"
"We go home?" Morgan answered his question with another, however she asked it a bit somberly.
"What home?" Seth asked,
She didn't have an answer, she didn't know what would come of them. They sat in silence until they heard a plane in the distance from overhead. "Come on," She said, "We'll pack up camp before my mom lands and we'll find Bonnie when she gets here." The two started cleaning and packing the van again as the plane overhead began to descend. Once it hit the ground it was about 300 feet from the camp.
Seth walked over and put his arm around Morgan as the landing pad began to open, "Whatever happens, I'm glad I got to experience freedom while I had it."
She looked up at him shedding a tear, "Me too, except I know now that freedom comes with a cost." They both hugged and tried to stay strong knowing they'd have to embrace whatever punishment came their way, even if neither one of them cared very much regardless.
As they broke the hug, they waited in silence for a few minutes for Penelope to get off the plane. However when someone did get off the plane, it wasn't Penelope. Morgan's eyes lit up so wide. "Seth that's my dad!" He squinted a little and saw that old turtle trudging along in a wheel chair toward the two of them.
"Wait what?" He looked harder, another figure dismounted the plane and he saw his father. "Dad?" he hesitated before screaming, "DAD!" He didn't wait, he started running. He looked briefly to his side only long enough to realize that Morgan was doing the same. They ran so fast that the sadness and pain they'd felt was falling away at the sight of their parents.
On the roof of one of the buildings where Bonnie had been sleeping, she woke suddenly and with rapid breaths due to a loud noise that shook her loose from yet another nightmare. She stood gripping the cane to see a plane landing a few hundred feet from the camp where she'd spotted Morgan and Seth, not long after that she saw them running towards it. She squinted to see but she didn't have that great of a view. She crawled down a few pipes trying to get closer to the ground.
When her vision got a little better, she squinted yet again but this time she made out two figures coming out of the plane. She saw Seth run into what she assumed was his father's arms. Then she saw Morgan hug her dad so sweetly. They were alive. Bonnie was ecstatic for them, the only problem was she didn't see her father, she didn't see Sly. She sat on the edge she had climbed down on feeling a little defeated. Maybe he just didn't want anything to do with her. Why would he? She almost killed him, she stole his family heirloom. She was not the type of kid even a thief would want.
She looked down at the other two feeling happy for them. She never wanted them to lose what they almost had. She couldn't help but smile, maybe she could forgive herself now that they would be okay. She watched for a few more minutes before a voice broke her thoughts.
"Quite a view up here." She jumped in alarm and wielded her cane in an attack ready position. For the first time ever she was looking directly at her father, physically standing before her was Sly Cooper. She was so excited and yet very cautious while seeing the man who'd almost been the center of her life as much as her mothers. He continued to speak sensing her bewilderment. "Yeah, Bentley picked up another body from his thermal scanner on the roof before he landed. I knew it had to be you so I used my paraglide on the way down, got here just before you woke up actually."
"You…You're not dead," was all she could muster.
He folded his arms and leaned against a nearby pipe. "Sorry that disappoints you."
She stuttered for a moment. "No well I, I didn't mean, it's not like that."
Sly laughed, "Relax there kid, I'm just being sarcastic."
Bonnie tried to smile she couldn't get one out. Her thoughts raced a mile a minute. This was her father, and yet also the bane of her existence. Everything she did wound up getting her in this position. Her curiosity grew stronger with each passing moment. Howver she couldn't decide if she should run away or run into his arms and be glad she had a father. This was strange for her; she could only imagine how strange it was for him. Through a crippling silence that she knew both of them felt, she tried to ask the questions that she needed answers too. "How did you-"
"Find you? Survive?" he interrupted, "it wasn't hard really. Bentley knew what you were doing the minute you tried to video chat us, he was informed of an unidentified installation of some type of virus that he assumed Morgan developed. Just as you tried to keep us talking on that chat line, we were doing the same. He had some tech etched into his wheelchair and he typed a message that relayed into our ear pieces so we were all in on it, fortunately when he wheeled closer to the camera you couldn't see his hands moving. He even turned on a separate video chat with Penelope his wife, and Carmelita your mother. Anyway, he rigged the controls on the plan to fail regardless. He knew the virus couldn't get control of the plane's cockpit if he rigged them to fail before it was even encrypted into our system. That's why when the plane was fully out of our control we knew it wasn't in yours either because we began to descend."
"Wait so you played us? You let us all think you were dead."
Sly shrugged as he stopped leaning on the wall and walked closer to Bonnie. She retreated a few steps and Sly knew why. This was all very strange, like really strange. He saw it a little bizarre himself. He thought of it as if he was saying "Hey it's me your long lost father who you didn't know but wound up stealing all his family heirlooms and then parading around the world trying to escape him and then I faked my own death along with my colleagues to make sure you felt awful, like accidental murderer awful. Because I knew you'd blame yourself, we figured you'd stay put so we could find you. Now hug me I'm your dad. He shook his head at the thought. It didn't make much sense to even him, but there was still more to discuss he had to push passed the awkwardness before she tried to escape or fight him or who knows.
"We knew that if we had let you believe we were dead, you would feel remorse, you wouldn't want to run anymore. Part of you three would want us to find you just so you'd know if we were alive. Through your video chat Bentley couldn't completely figure out where you were because you had us all frantic. You almost won. However then the plane began to fall and we couldn't let you see us escape so I shut down the chat. It took a little bit of extra time but I got it off with about 15,000 feet to spare. Murray had pretended to be unable to smash the door holding the parachutes prior so it would look like you really had us. Once I shut it off he unbuckled and shakenly punched through the door. When you killed the virus, Bentley didn't try to regain control of the plane since it was either that or track your location. He synced up whatever info he could on you three and I grabbed him out of the wheelchair and fastened him to my parachute. We jumped to safety since we were still over Europe at the time we wound up landing in Greece."
"It doesn't make sense though, you knew we would stay here? How did you get here?"
Sly rolled his eyes, "You're good Bonnie you've gotten this far, but you've got a lot to learn. A simple plane high jacking and an hour of modifications and we were on our way. Now here we are."
Bonnie stood in silence. He was good, all of them were good. They played on her and Morgan and Seth's emotions and they knew it would work. That's quite the mastery skill. "Well I commend you Mr. Cooper," She said handing him the cane. "You've won fair and square."
Sly put his hand on the cane and took it back. He spun it in his hand and looked it up and down for a minute. Bonnie's eyes looked at the ground. In that moment he felt everything he'd missed. Birthday's year after year, birthdays that he even knew Carmelita missed because she had been chasing him. First words, first steps, first day of school. There was so much that he knew he'd never get back. His heart shattered, he wished he'd known so long ago. He wished he could have seen her grow up. Sure he had Clyde and he loved Clyde just as much, but finding out about her had shook his entire world, and then thrown it upside down. He couldn't lose her now, not after seeing her skill, seeing all that potential, hell she must have mastered some skill from the Thievius Raccoonus already to have gotten up here. She was everything he used to be, she's even given him the chance to relive the youth and great times he's had with the gang. He didn't want to lose any more time, he wanted her to be his daughter, and he wanted her to be the next Cooper legacy. "You know Bonnie, I have a name it's none of this Sly Cooper nonsense, its dad!" He handed her back the cane and looked her in the eyes as an attempt to show the love that he already knew he had for her.
She looked up at him to see that he was handing her back the cane. She couldn't understand why he was being so nice, especially after all of the havoc she'd caused the past few days. She looked a bit confused and Sly sensed this, he silently prayed that she would accept him nonetheless. "I don't understand. You don't want to send me back? Get revenge?" she asked.
Sly just laughed with a bit of unease coursing through his veins, "Though I've never known it, you're my daughter Bonnie. You're more like me than I'd like to admit. You got spunk kid, you just need some training is all. I'm impressed you've made it this far." He hoped even harder that she'd accept him now that he'd addressed the fact that she was his daughter. A few quite moments passed and he grew weary of whether she'd take the cane or deny his advances at his first attempt of being a father to her.
Though she was skeptical she eyed the cane and softly reached out to take it back. This was the start of a new life for her and though it was strange and a bit awkward for both of them, she knew that he was trying and that was enough to make her want to try too. "Thanks," there was a pause. She wanted to say what she'd been waiting to say for a couple of days now. Since the moment she found out, she just didn't know how accepting of it he'd be, however considering she'd almost lost him, she couldn't risk losing another moment she continued her gratitude with the preceding word, "Dad."
He looked up at her and smiled, not realizing that her acknowledgement of him being her dad could fulfill the greatest of wishes he didn't know he'd ever had. "Since it's been about sixteen years in the making, is it okay to ask my daughter for a hug?"
She hesitated, but knew that she wanted to hug her father too. All her life she'd been wondering about her father, thinking he'd left her. Hearing never ending stories about this magnificent Sly Cooper, never realizing he was the father she always wanted. She smiled right back at him and ran into his warming embrace. It felt like now she knew where she belonged, a missing piece of her had finally fallen into place.
A few moments passed before he broke the hug, "Come on let's regroup with the others, I brought an extra paraglider we can head down together." She harnessed herself in alongside her father and together they jumped and glided through the bright morning sky toward the landed plane. Through the wind blowing her face and just being near her father, the way the Cooper cane felt saddled against her back on the way down. Everything felt wonderful she laughed through the sky and couldn't lose her smile. She knew she was the heir to the cane, she was the heir to the legacy, the next generation Cooper, and she was glad her father wanted to hone in on the opportunity to help her grow and develop under his wing, well in this case paraglider. She smiled at the thought, with some training from her dad, she would be the next living Cooper Legend.