Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch. The idea of Phantom of the Opera belongs to its rightful owner(s).

Claimer: I own all of my original characters.

Well, here it is…the last chapter! And just for the record, I seriously doubt I'll make a continuation to this story so I don't run the idea into the ground. I do have a couple of oneshots in progress and I'll get them posted as soon as I can. But, please read and review and let me know what you think of this story and how it turned out! Thanks! And I just realized this about chapter 11, it skips from the falling asleep to waking up in one paragraph and when I typed it I but 3 *'s to show time change but apparently it doesn't show when I post so that wasn't intentional.

Chapter 12: Midnight Run

I silently crept through the silent hallways of the local museum in search of one of the usual paintings they had on display. According to Bentley, if I could swipe them without damage he could sell them to a friend of ours for some major cash. Moonlight was pouring in through the windows on the second level and gave me just enough light to both see clearly and stay in the shadows. Midnight runs were always my favorite; sneaking around at night in the shadows, completely alone and everything was completely silent. Unless I happened to run into a headstrong rival that refused to let me leave until she managed to steal something from both me and the location we were in. Even though she hadn't heard from the Phantom for over a month now, she was still in a thieving slump and hadn't stolen anything in months. The only good side to her still being in a slump was that I might be able to steal something without having to protect it from both Ramona and the police.

I peered around the corner and surveyed my surroundings for any signs of security guards. Bentley had disabled the security cameras before I came into the building but there was still the threat of security guards. The coast was clear and I made my way into the painting room. It was filled with any possible type of painting you could think of; sketch, oil, acrylic paint, pastels, charcoal, watercolor, and just about anything else. They were hung on the wall in a simple manner and each painting was illuminated with a simple light and a plaque rested close to it. I scanned the room and eventually found the painting I had my eyes set on. It was rather large and I'd have the van pulled up to the back door to get it out of here but it could be pulled off. I gently yet forcefully lifted the painting up and off the wall and gently placed it on the floor. I got ready to pull a calling card out of my bag when I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard someone behind me.

"Cooper!" I turned on my heels, my cane clutched firmly in my grasp, but quickly dropped it when I realized it wasn't a threat but simply Ramona laughing to herself. I let out a sigh of relief and took a step away from the painting.

"Well, it's pleasing to say it's nice to see you on this fine night, Ms. Bandicoot." She raised an eyebrow at my comment and rolled her eyes, "So what brings you to the museum so late after hours?"

"I could ask you the same question, couldn't I? But, if you must know, I haven't stolen anything in a few months and I'm itching for some action!" I took a few steps forward and leaned on my cane before giving her a toothy smile.

"It looks like someone's back in her groove," She nodded and I realized she had nothing in her possessions that she had stolen. I was starting to get suspicious of her actions and there were numerous things that she could be planning, "So what are you stealing, exactly?" I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know, anything of interest I guess," I stood up from my cane as she continued, "And yourself?" I turned to motion at the painting I had lifted from the wall and almost had my eyes pop out of my head when I saw that it was no longer there. I stood there bewildered for a moment until I felt something brush against my pouch and the smell of her perfume was strangely close to me. I turned just in time to see her paw reach out of my leg pouch with the gemstone I had swiped earlier clutched in it. She took off running towards the exit after shoving the gem in her own bag.

"Found something!" she shouted playfully as I started chasing after her to get the gem and painting back, even if I had no idea where it was.

"Sitka!" I heard her shout as I pursued her throughout the museum, "get the painting to the car, I'll meet you there later!" then it clicked, she distracted me while her siblings stole the painting from behind me. I did have to admit, she was sneaky even if it meant loosing an item I had intended to keep it.

"Ramona!" I shouted behind her and I heard her bark out a laugh and start running even faster, "You little sneak!" she looked back briefly and gave a smirk and a wink and I laughed to myself. I watched as she rounded a corner a good distance ahead of me only to have her run right back around it and she started waving her arms.

"Go back, go back, go back!" she shouted quietly as she zoomed past me and yanked my shirt in the process. It hadn't click in my mine why she had turned around until I heard the familiar sound of a stray shock pistol crash against a wall and the screech feared by all thieves.

"Freeze!" Carmelita's voice rang out loudly while I followed Ramona through the museum. More and more stray bullets dissolved dangerously close to our heads as we ran but I missed the thrill of running away from the police. I hadn't been able to steal anything until my wound healed and it had finally healed a few weeks ago. Ramona had just gotten out of her slump and I could assume she felt the same.

"Got any plans?" I shouted over the blasts of the shock pistol bullets. My escape route was behind Carmelita and there was no way I could avoid all of Carmelita's bullets.

"I have my escape route," she shouted back, "How well so you handle whiplash?" I was slightly confused at her comment and I had no idea what she had in mind. I watched as the jumped slightly and partly climbed a rope handing down from the skylight.

"Hang on!" she called down and I gripped the rope loosely and still tried to sort out what she meant.

"Why do I need to-" I was cut off when she took something from her pocket, threw it at the ceiling and the rope zipped up quickly. I instantly grabbed on tighter and let myself zip towards the skylight. She always had numerous ways to escape from a situation but this had to be the strangest one I've seen in a while. She swung her legs over the edge of the skylight when she reached the top and I did the same. Police sirens could be heard and Carmelita's shouting was still audible. She threw the rope to the museum floor before taking off away from the sounds of police sirens. I followed her and let the cool night air rush through my fur. I followed her briskly and briefly wondered how she'd get to the next building when the only thing connecting that one and the museum was a rope that held banners for a new exhibit in the museum. It was too far of a gap to jump for anyone to make. My thoughts were answered when she quickly hunched over and lightly bounded along the rope on all fours. She glance back to me and called me over quickly after she was safe on the other side. I ran across the rope in my usual way and we both took off running one more after I was on the other building. Her physical abilities were similar to mine yet a world apart. We both had the same intentions when it came to running away but how each move was carried out separated us physically. A blast of blue electricity whizzed past my head and barely over Ramona's as we ran. Carmelita was hot on our tails and the police were closing in quickly. We reached the other side of the building and Carmelita was a few feet behind us. I threw a smoke bomb in her direction to but us a little space and a second later she was coughing uncontrollably.

I felt Ramona grab the front of my shirt and pull me towards the edge of the building. She slid down the front briefly before leaping to the side of the other one and repeated the action until her feet landed on the ground. I leapt over the edge myself and used my paraglider to get me down safely. We both took off down the alley and away from the police. We had run halfway across town before ducking into an empty alley for cover so we could catch out breath. We both huffed out our breath and gave each other quick smiles after making eye contact. She brushed the hair from her face and leaned her head against my shoulder.

"You know," she said eventually, "I've missed the thrill of a heist gone wrong. I really have." I nodded in response.

"If the Phantom would leave you alone you'd have it more often." She rolled her eyes and gave a snort.

"I swear if I hear 'you belong to me' or 'your heart belongs to me' one more time I'll slap the distortion off his face." I snorted.

"You or your heart doesn't belong to anyone, does it?" I playfully nudged her with my elbow.

"I wouldn't say that," she said slowly, "Someone already owns my heart." Her statement came to a surprise to me and a looked over to her.

"Really?" I questioned, "and who would that be?" she glanced up to me a playful smile came across her lips.

"Think about it." she said simply before standing on her toes and gave me a quick peck on the lips and winking. She made her way to the edge of the building and looked around before darting off towards her apartment. Knowing her mindset, I wasn't completely sure she meant me but for the moment I would assume that she meant me. I started to head for the edge of the building to go home when I realized Ramona had made off with both the painting and gem anyway. I looked in her direction and could see the end of her tail dart around another building before disappearing into the shadows.