I dashed across the rooftops and landed on top of Interpol HQ, waiting for Kaylita to leave for the night. I had left her a calling card amidst all the papers that Carmelita had given her to read over this morning in hopes that she would work with me, even as a thief. The chances were slim but, I still tried to keep hope in my best friend.

She walked out of Interpol warily, taking care that no one followed her to the pier. I followed her by rooftops to make sure that we weren't going to be compromised in any way. As soon as she got to the pier, I dropped into a nearby alley and walked up beside her.

"I'm glad that you could make it Miss Kaylita," I said to her. "I'm sorry that I asked to meet you so late."

"You must be the new thief that my sister has been chasing," she said coldly. "How could I possibly be of any use to you?"

Ouch… So much venom in that last word… It actually kind of made me sad to hear it from her of all people.

"I was actually hoping that you could help me with something."

She eyed me strangely. "Really? And how may I be of service?"

"First, a warning; When Archimedes finally comes here, I wish you and your sister to stay away. He is very dangerous and I wish no harm to come to anyone. And so, here is my favor… Carmelita is very strong-willed and I know that she will not heed my warning. She will be involved whether I like it or not. With that in mind, I had hoped that Interpol will help me to put him back where he belongs, whether in jail or in his grave. Interpol can also have all rights to the press that he was your prize and not to some no-name thief. And, if something were to happen to me during the upcoming scuffle, Interpol can also arrest me with no fight if I'm not able to run."

Kaylita thought it over for a moment. "That's a generous offer, Lady Thief. All of that just for the satisfaction of getting rid of Archimedes?"

I nodded. "That's all I've really wanted. I don't plan on doing anymore heists until he's gone. Even after, I may go in to early retirement."

"I see. What if I refuse?"

"I don't believe you will. The only thing that you should worry about is if and when Carmelita finds out. On the other hand, I don't think she'll care either way. She'll get the props for getting Archimedes and possibly get a nice big promotion for her 'hard work'. I believe that's enough incentive, don't you?"

If I knew Kaylita well enough, she would agree to do this. If I was wrong…

"You have a deal," she said finally. "I'm mad that you did your homework before you came to speak to me. Otherwise, you would've lost my support."

I grinned. "I knew that you wouldn't let me down. Now, I'm afraid that I must bid you adieu. Thank you for your help."

At that, I leapt into the night. Before I could make it to my apartment, Cooper had caught me from behind and pulled me into an alley. The one second that I let my guard down…

He had me pinned against the wall with no way to escape. Damn it…

"I see that you're consorting with the police," he said.

"I only did half the job. You already got to Carmelita, as I figured that you would," came my heated retort. "You jerk! I can't believe you would go straight to Carmelita about this! Of all people!"

"Look here, Crook, a good friend of mine warned me of what's to come. It was in my best interest to keep Carmelita up to date on impending dooms and such."

"In other words, you had to flirt with her some more when you should be making yourself scarce from the police. Gee, it's SO romantic of you to lead her on while she's giving chase."

He loosened his grip on me. "Oh, is that jealousy I hear?"

I took my chance and did a reversal to pin him with his own cane. "Not a chance, you horn-dog. Who could possibly be jealous of that gung-ho, crazy, police tramp when it seems that you're the only kind of scum that she can attract?"

He managed to get away of my hold of him and moved to pin my arm behind my body. "Now that's pushing it just a little bit. I suggest that you apologize or-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I grabbed the whip that hung from my belt. I lashed it onto his arm and pulled him over my head onto the ground in front of me. That definitely knocked the wind out of him.

"Keep pushing me, Cooper. I can scrap with the best of them just like you can." I released my whip from him. "Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until next time. I have bigger fish to fry."

I left him in the alley and quickly made it home before he could recuperate enough to come after me. The nerve of him! He called me a crook! How could he be so…

Just as I was thinking that, I heard the familiar knock on my window. I quickly put my things in my drawer and put one of my enormous shirts on. I got to the window in a huff.

"You're not coming in tonight!"

"What did I do now?" he whined.

"Stay out! So help me Cooper, I'll… I'll…"

He was quite confused. "Annika, is everything okay?"

"I said leave! You're not coming in!" I calmed down for a second and realized that he was bleeding from where I whipped him. "Oh… I didn't… I didn't realize…"

I opened the window and let him in. I immediately put him in my chair. I pushed up his sleeve to take a better look at his wound.

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I didn't think that…" I almost let it slip. I have to be more careful with my words. "What happened?"

"Remember the new thief we were talking about? I cornered her to talk to her and she took a whip to me. And she got so mad at me for warning Carmelita."

I ran off to go get a washcloth and some first-aid supplies. I began to clean the wound. He winced every now and again.

"I'm sorry that she did this to you."

He shook his head. "I handled her pretty bad. She was only defending herself."

I dressed the wound and sat there for a moment. I didn't mean to hurt him. I felt awful about it…

"Annika? Is everything okay?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yes. At least, it will be once Archimedes is taken care of…"

"You're really losing sleep over this, aren't you?"

I sighed and looked away from him. "It's complicated."

He got up from the chair. "What are you not telling me, Annika? Be honest with me."

"I can't Sly… You'll understand when the time comes."

"And when will that be?"

I picked up the items I brought out to take care of his wound. "You should probably go. I need to get some sleep. Or try to."

He moved to the window and stopped. "Everything will be okay, Annika. I promise." He left me at that.

"I wouldn't be so sure…"

"~~/~~/~~

I went to the doctor's today to find out the gender of my baby. I'm excited to say that I'm going to have a baby girl! Bill was so excited and then talked about how he was going to spoil her to death. As for Cooper… I had asked him about my daughter meeting his son. He didn't seem too keen on it at all. I don't see what the problem was at all. It wasn't like I was expecting a marriage proposal or anything. Just to let them meet when the time was right. Even then, he didn't seem too excited about it. How lame can you get?

The next night I went out again. This time to investigate something that happened earlier that day. Someone or something had come and destroyed the museum and all the buildings around it. Interpol taped it off today so I couldn't get a very close look. Well, not as Annika anyway.

I scaled the rooftops and went to take a closer look. It was a complete disaster. Not only was the building destroyed, but everything in the museum was gone too. And everything around it was demolished. It was awful… And I knew who was behind it.

"You know what's going on here," Cooper said from behind me. "He's here isn't he."

"Yes," I murmured. "Archimedes…" I turned to him. "This is beyond you, Sly Cooper. Leave now and stay out of this."

He moved to corner me again. "Tell me what's going on. I need to know."

I looked at his arm. "I'd rather not whip you again. I felt bad enough that I had to take care of your wound after I've inflicted it on you."

He seemed surprised. "What do you mean? You didn't…" He trailed off then walked toward me. He reached up slowly and removed my mask. He stepped back as soon as he realized that it was me.

"Now you know," I said softly. "I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you. And I'm sorry that I said all those things about Carmelita. I promise I didn't mean them."

"Why? Why would you do this? This is your idea of getting over your past? By becoming a thief?"

"You don't understand! I found out some things Sly. Things that were hidden from me for very good reason."

"Then why? Why would you try to keep us out of this?"

"Because Archimedes killed my mother!"

The look of understanding fell on his face. Everything was now making more sense to him.

"Annika… I wish you would have told me. I could've helped…"

I shook my head. "I didn't want anyone else involved. Especially not my friends. I didn't want anything to happen to you all."

"How sweet," said a dark, sinister voice from behind us.

I froze when I realized who it was.