Hey guys! Man, I almost didn't even remember to update today. I've been crazy busy now that the semester is winding down. So is this story, for that matter! Only one more chapter left, then the epilogue!

I hope you enjoy!

Ugh… I didn't want to get up. I was so very tired, all of my limbs felt as though they weighed an even ton.

But… something was wrong. I wasn't sure what exactly it was, but something was nagging at the back of my brain… And why… why was my pillow wet? I felt my nose wrinkle. Why did it smell like rainwater?

… Oh.

I was half off the bed and onto my feet when I was jerked back by something attached to my wrist. I glared at the metal. "Seriously? Where did he even get handcuffs?"

I reached into my back pocket with my free hand. No lock-picks. Of course. There they were, on that nail sticking out of the wall, just out of reach. Jerk.

Even so, for once I was one step ahead. I tilted my head so my short braid fell over my shoulder and grabbed the ponytail holder at the end with my left hand. I'd taken to hooking two small picks in the elastic after China. This was the first time they had ever been of any use, but I was thankful for them.

Handcuffs are stupidly easy to pick, the locking mechanism is as basic as can be. I could have done it with a bobby pin or paperclip even if I didn't have lock picks. Then again, I didn't have bobby pins either…

I'd gotten my wrist free and was making for above deck when I heard the sound of a very familiar propeller.

I threw the hatch open and leapt onto the deck just as soon as the biplane soared overhead. I pounded on the railing with both my fists, "Dangit!" I then turned to Bentley, who was doing his very best to look innocent, and Penelope, who was deliberately interested in her RC car. "What is he doing?"

"He's taking out the turrets so we can have air superiority." Bentley held up a hand when I opened my mouth to start yelling. "I know, he should be laying down, but you try telling him he can't fight this battle for his family's legacy."

I reached up to my ear and growled, "Give me your earbud, he took mine."

"I'm going to skin you and turn your fur into a coat."

"That's been illegal for over a millennia." Sly banked to the left to avoid a duet of missiles, then to the right to take out the targeting system of the launcher that had just shot at him. "By the way, that was fast."

"I had lock picks in my braid. What were you thinking?"

"That I had to get my cane and that, unlike Bentley who pretty much just lets me do whatever when I'm sick or injured until I pass out, you'd drug me, tie me to the bed, and sit on me."

"And that if that failed, maybe I'd try to help? You need a tail gunner up there, they're launching fighters!"

"Your canon won't work against those fighters' force fields. Fortunately, I've installed a missile launcher that should take their shields down long enough for you to use your canon to gun them down."

"What I wouldn't give for a sniper rifle right now…"

Sly figured that if one had to fly over an island filled to the brim with things that wanted to kill you in an open-air biplane while severely concussed, the best way to do that would be to have Bentley and Kaia in your ear.

"Oh boy, here comes the big guns. And by guns I mean 'guns' I mean a flying, giant, whale-dragonfly thing covered in robotic junk! Wait, Dr. M is plugged into that monstrosity!"

"I guess that lab was for his weird affinity for creating patch-work creatures."

"Excellent," Sly said, turning his plane toward the creature, "We can settle this now."

"Oh yes, let's just take on the giant flying mutant with no back-up. It's a foolproof plan! Especially now that it's launching seekers at you!"

"Use your missiles to take out the seekers, save your canon rounds for Dr. M, they'll work just fine against him!"

About a hundred seekers, an empty ammo bank, and fifty bad taunts from Dr. M later, Sly had had enough. "This isn't working, Bentley. He is literally laughing at us."

"Just give me time. I- I'll think of something!"

"There's no time." Sly unbuckled his harness, "I'm settling this now, face to face."

"Paragliding over to that creature?! You're out of your mind!"

Sly jumped.

"Sly, you idiot!" I screamed into my mic as I watched the biplane plummet away from the bobbing speck of blue in the sky. In direct defiance of the rain, the lightning, and the wind, the paraglider gracefully directed itself to land atop the whale-fly.

A voice came from Sly's binocucom, "Headstrong, just like your father."

"You don't know anything about me or my father!"

"Really? Who let you in on the secret of this place, eh? Was it my old pal McSweeny, perhaps?"

"McSweeny works for you? This was all a setup to get the cane!"

"No, m'boy, once upon a time he and I worked together… For your dear old dad."

"My father wouldn't have run with someone who'd try to steal from the Cooper Vault, let alone attempt to kill his son!"

"Time does strange things to people… Just look at the real leader of your gang – Bentley!"

"Wow," I covered my mic, turning to Bentley, who looked a little weirded out at having been brought up. "This guy really know how to push Sly's buttons. Step one, insult his dad, step two, try to demean his bond with his friends."

"Whatever! He and I are friends- equals!"

"Then why is it called the 'Cooper Gang', you self-centered ego-maniac?!"

"That's enough!"

From down on the boat, we could do nothing as we watched Sly charge the baboon. There was a brief struggle before Sly retrieved his cane and Dr. M leapt off the whale-fly, a parachute catching him before he could fall to his death.

"Time to meet the past…"

When Sly jumped to paraglide over to Cooper Vault, I turned to look over at Bentley. He looked both contemplative and like he'd been punched in the stomach. What Dr. M said must have really gotten to him. I opened my mouth to say something along the lines of 'if you take that psychopath seriously, I'm going to beat you over the head with your own laptop', but Sly came on over the binocucom.

"Bentley… you there?"

After a heartbeat, the turtle replied, "Yeah, pal?"

"I'm about to head inside the Vault and… I want you and Murray and Kaia to come with me." I almost fell off the boat. "We're a team, a family… we should do this together."

Him asking Bentley and Murray, I could understand, but me too? I couldn't even pin down what I was feeling. I think it was happy tears.

"Okay, be right up… partner." Bentley said with a small smile. He and I headed down to where Murray was waiting by the van.

"Nice! We'll have the Panda King give the van a boost!"

It was with great trepidation that I got into the back of the van and latched onto the front seat. I'd seen the Panda King coming out with an armload of fireworks, I didn't want to know what he was going to do with them.

"Stand clear, Sly! We're about to get awesome!"

"The fuse is lit!" The Panda King actually sounded like he was on the verge of clapping his hands together in glee.

"Buckle up, guys… we're about to fly!"

The following five seconds were the most terrifying of my existence up until that point in my life. There was a loud noise and then we were tumbling end over end, completely weightless. I had a flashback to being trapped in a large battery over the Atlantic Ocean and squeezed my eyes shut.

Then we landed, hard.

"Eurgh…" I groaned out.

"We are never doing that again." I heard Bentley say as the van rolled forward.

"Are we alive?" I asked as the van shuddered to a stop.

The back door opened and Sly grinned, even though it looked a little forced, "I hope so, otherwise this would have suddenly gotten very awkward."

I aimed a kick at his face. "You… I'm going to yell at you just as soon as I determine that I'm not going to be sick."

He pulled me out, "In that case, can't let you settle. Come on, we've got a vault to get in to."

The vault door was behind us and a ledge was before us. We jumped down together, onto a circular platform, surrounded by old statues of raccoons.

I gaped, "Whoa…" the cavern was ancient, but didn't appear to have suffered any damage. Dr. M's drills had somehow not harmed the room in any way.

"This place is amazing!"

"Yeah, it's got to be, like, at least a hundred years old!"

"An archeological marvel!"

Sly was inspecting the remains of a bridge, clinging to life by only one, sturdy rope stretched across a gap of indeterminate depth, "Glad guys are impressed… cause it looks like I'll have to go on from here alone."

Bentley nodded seriously, though he looked a little disappointed, "Do it, Sly. This place was built for you… We'll hold down the fort here. But there's no telling what's in there, you should take some backup."

I was surprised when the genius shoved me forward. I was even more surprised when Sly nodded. "Wait, but… I mean, that's not fair if I can go and you two can't. I… I'm not…"

"Kaia." Bentley looked up at me; the torchlight (who lit the torches?) glinted off his glasses so I couldn't see his eyes. "Go watch Sly's back. We'll see you in a few minutes."

"Jinx," Now I turned to look at Sly. His hand was out, his expression unreadable, "I'd be really glad if you came with me."

I could think of nothing to say. That's a lie, I could think of a lot to say, but it was all sarcastic and downplayed the severity of the situation, so I just took his hand.

"This is going to be the payday of all time! Just think of all the loot piled up back there!"

The loot was the last thing Bentley was thinking about. What Dr. M had said had wormed its way into his brain and refused to leave. The frailty of genius, the need to over-analyze, "Do you ever feel like you're playing second fiddle to Sly? Like he treats us as sidekicks?"

"No way, Sly's cool! We're all in this together."

Bentley almost sighed. He wished he could have Murray's blind faith. All he could think about was how quickly Sly had tried to shut Dr. M up as soon as the monkey had called Bentley the 'real' leader of the Cooper gang.

"Sure, we're all here, but are we equal? Who went into the Vault? Sly." Sure, he'd taken Kaia, but only after Bentley had suggested it. The raccoon had been fully about to venture forth by himself, even though they all knew Kaia could cross the rope as well. And really, Kaia would probably be a Cooper within the next handful of years anyway if her and Sly's behavior lately had been anything to go by.

He didn't want to doubt his friend, he really didn't… but the feeling of being under-appreciated for his talents, the embarrassment he always felt when he couldn't think of something fast enough or lost it under the stress and Sly stepped in and instantly had iron control of everything that was going on… Was Sly really just humoring him, letting him think he had any sort of control beyond handling the tech aspects of the gang?

"Watch out!"

He hadn't seen the half-cobra creature until it was rearing back to strike. He leapt away, it was sheer luck that the ancient raccoon statue was there to land on. Murray was there instantaneously, he was so fast when he was fighting, taking down the cobra in no time flat.

He should have seen this coming! "Dr. M's goons! They must have forced the door after we opened the lock!"

For once in his life, Murray did not seem keen to be distracted. He looked at his friend seriously. "Think of it this way, Bentley. If you were in there and Sly and I were out here, what would he do?"

Bentley felt the shame and he felt it strong. He had to look down for a moment before he could meet Murray's gaze, "Stop these thugs… and protect his friend." Of course Sly would. He'd never let anything happen to them while he could still breathe.

"Right! And that's just what I'm going to do! Keep your head down, stay clear. I'm gonna smash a lot of skulls… and I don't want yours to be one of 'em!"

"My ancestors sure knew how to decorate... Nothing but big piles of gold!"

"Careful there, Sly, you're salivating." But he was right. We dropped right in and there was water and then – oh hello wealth of the world, I didn't know you were hiding under a teeny tiny island!

The area we'd come into was just a small cave-like room with a sort of display, a hieroglyphic portrait… thing, a pedestal where two small canes sat, a bowl of fire, and a sarcophagus propped up next to the display. The room opened up on a gigantic cavern filled with small mountains of gold, stalactites and stalagmites, and… I laughed and started singing.

"Big, big, big, big, waterrrrr..."

"Seriously?" Sly scowled at the water that filled the cavern, then me, then back at the water, "You can't name a single song by the Beatles, but when it comes to obscure nineties cartoons, you've got a song for every situation?"

I scoffed, "'The Land Before Time' is hardly obscure. It's classic."

"So that's what it is, then? You were raised on cartoons about dinosaurs?"

"Of course not. There was also Star Wars..." I trailed off, remembering sitting in my playroom and watching the originals on VHS.

"Are you sure you don't have a y-chromosome?"

"I will stab you in the eye socket with a fork." I looked over the water. "There's another platform over there… am I going to have to teach you how to swim right here and now?

"I don't think so… see down there?" He pointed under the water, where we could see two barrels attached to a pole of some sort. "Those look like they're meant to come up. Now if we could only figure out how to activate that thing…"

"You think it has something to do with this display?" I asked, crossing over to examine the hieroglyphs.

"Probably," He came to stand next to be and brushed some cobwebs away from the small canes on the pedestal, "This place was started by Slytunkhamen Cooper the second. He built his fortune in the employ of the great pharaohs. That must have been around… thirteen hundred BC."

I jerked my hand back from where I was tracing a design on the sarcophagus, "What, seriously? Some of this stuff is that old?!"

"Come on, you read the Thievius Raccoonus. How many generations did you think it would take to accumulate that many entries?"

"Shut up, I didn't think about it." I leaned nearer the small canes and saw something in the pedestal, "What this?"

It looked a bit like a crack, but it was shaped like a cane. Sly came over, ran a finger over it, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then we heard the barrels rise out of the water.

"I have to say," I looked up at the cavern. From what I could see, there were many other displays like the one we'd just seen, each leading to the next, "Your ancestors were clever."

"Being a thief isn't all acrobatics, you have to be clever." Sly pointed out, then did a front flip onto the nearest barrel. "Of course, the acrobatics don't hurt."

"You're such a show off." Just to make a point, I ignored the barrels entirely and dove into the water. It was a short swim to the next display, so I managed to make it before Sly, who gave me a death glare when I acted like I was about to throw water on him.

We walked over to the next display, which showed us a sword in a stone (I will admit to doing a stint trying to pull it out while screaming 'for CAMELOT!'), some armor, a shield, a lance shaped like a cane, and a portrait of a knight.

"Sir Galleth of the Knights of the Cooper Order," Sly said proudly, finding the trigger for the next set of barrels, "Honorable knight and cunning thief."

"You just have ancestors from all over the place, don't you?"

He grinned, "Oh, we've barely scratched the surface. Come on, I think I know who's next!"

Sly could hardly see straight, his head was pounding and his muscles ached, but he could hardly remember being happier.

He'd grown up mostly without family. He remembered his father and cherished those memories, but it was hard for him to feel like he was a part of the Cooper Clan, really a part of it, not just dressing up and pretending to be his dad.

But here, standing in this monstrous cavern, surrounded by memorabilia and relics from at least a dozen of his ancestors, he felt the lineage in his bones. And he was hoping, hoping so very hard, that one of these displays would house his father's work.

The thing that made it even better was Kaia being with him. It wasn't like her behavior had changed, but every time they came to a new display her eyes would light up and she'd absorb the information he threw out like a sponge.

If he'd gone through the gauntlet alone, he'd probably still have spoken aloud about every ancestor, but knowing there was someone there listening, getting excited with him… It made things more special somehow.

Not to mention it was funny when she asked offhand, after visiting Salim al Kupar Arabia's display, exactly how many legends the Cooper Clan had influenced, then clapped her hands over her ears and started singing very loudly when he tried to tell her about Merlin.

He shook his head in remembrance, setting her down after paragliding them both over to Slaigh MacCooper's display.

It almost made him forget the psychopath overhead, running through ancient tunnels filled with treasure, like chasing all the things that made him, well... him.

Even 'The Murray' had to admit to some fatigue after the third wave of genetically-engineered goons. Cobra/tiger/frogs and lizard/lobsters seemed to be endlessly pouring down from above.

"It seems like fewer are coming down, they seem to be running out of thugs!" Bentley called from his safe place over on the raccoon statue, "I think these are the last three!"

With that bit of encouragement, Murray grabbed the two cobras facing him by their necks and slammed their heads together. The remaining lizard was knocked into the chasm a moment later.

"Yeah! You're all knocked down and 'The Murray' stands tall! Like a freaking totem pole of strongism!"

Of course, all good things (especially victory) must come to an end. Dr. M leapt down from above, took one look at the room, and turned to the hippo responsible for the damage. "Ah, Murray. You're much stronger than McSweeny ever was."

"That's right, plug-head! I'm like a semi truck with its brakes cut!"

Dr. M's expression was very 'how nice for you' as he checked his nonexistent watch, "I have no time to get in a screaming match with a caveman such as yourself."

"Then lock horns with me," Bentley called the attention in the room to himself, "I think you'll find I'm a better match."

The monkey shook his head, "I have no fight with you, Bentley. You and I are the same."

"I gather you were the technical specialist working with Sly's father?"

That was news to Murray, "You knew Sly's dad?!"

Dr. M didn't even look over at the hippo, "Quiet, caveman, the adults are talking." The look he was giving the turtle was disturbingly paternal, "That's right, Bentley, I know the pain you suffer working under your inferior."

But Bentley nodded slightly, "It's no secret, I'm smarter than the other guys. But there's more to it than that."

"Like what?" Patronization was clear in the doctor's tone.

Bentley's eyes narrowed, "Like brotherhood."

Dr. M let out a bark of laughter, "'Brotherhood'? That's just what he wants you to think. It's a tool to keep you in line!"

"No, that's the thing that keeps us happy and alive." The turtle was on a roll now, "It's why I'm going to stop you."

"And me too!"

Dr. M sighed in agitation, "Fine, 'Cooper Gang'. I tried."

Murray used Dr. M's determination to ignore him completely to his advantage in that moment.

"Caveman attack!" he roared, charging.

"And this-"

"Oh, I know this one." I walked up to the display, a bit plain compared to the rest we'd seen, but that was understandable, given who it belonged to. I ran a finger delicately over the jade dragon that rested in front of a suit of Samurai armor, looking up at the simple portrait, "Rioichi Cooper. He invented the Ninja Spire Jump. I remember reading about him in the Thievius Raccoonus, I always thought he was cool."

Sly crossed his arms and gave his typical, teasing grin, "Come on, don't tell me I have to compete with my ancestor for your affections now."

I snorted, ignoring the flip-flop my heart did at the jest; stupid thing, "Please, if you want my affections, try flowers- legally purchased, fresh flowers." I knelt to examine a miniature tree next to the display, amazed that it had survived so long. It looked freshly tended.

"I'll keep that in mind," Sly found the etching in the wood of the frame this time. There was a whirr, a series of clicks, then the passage behind us came to life. He laughed, "Oh, Rioichi didn't just want to stop people who were bad at his technique, he wanted to kill them."

I looked past him and groaned at the passageway full of swords, "Well, it's good we got in all that extra practice before China, then."

"I'll go first and let you know how to get through," Sly said, waiting for and leaping when the first sword remerged. I waited as he disappeared around a corner and breathed a sigh of relief when I heard his voice echo back to me, "Okay, jump on the first one when it comes out, but don't go to the next one until the thief-lights for the one you're standing on leave. When they do, jump immediately."

"Yessir!" I shouted, to let him know I'd heard him. With my lip between my teeth, I waited for the sword to come up and jumped. It was a harrowing forty-five seconds to the next solid surface and I slipped and almost fell several times.

Sly caught my elbow when I finally reached him, "Well, you survived. Your form still needs work."

"Eye socket. Fork. Stabitty-stab."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, we've got two hooks and a stalactite between us and the next platform."

"That's a stalagmite."

"I thought you failed geology."

"I did. That's a stalagmite." I then caught sight of the next display, "Is that a pirate flag?"

"Well, we'll have to go and see, won't we?"

It was with relief that Bentley wheeled past Dr. M, planting the last security device on his back just as it activated.

Murray lifted the smaller man and threw him up, where the raccoon statues held him suspended as electricity coursed through him.

It was to the shock of all when, upon landing, Dr. M still managed to get to his feet.

"Gee-argh… well played, Bentley…" He turned and bared vicious looking teeth, "But it was a meaningless gesture! According to the tracking device I placed on Sly's cane, he's just entered the Inner Sanctum. I can use the collected positional data to get through the gauntlet with ease."

Bentley's eyes widened momentarily in shock, then he immediately cursed himself for not realizing sooner. Of course it had been a ploy! Why else would Dr. M have attack Sly in the sky instead of just entering the vault once he had the cane? Only a Cooper could get to the Sanctum!

"That hall's for Coopers only!" He snarled.

There was that paternal look again, "Maybe it's time for men such as you and I to change all that." He ran and, using strength he shouldn't still possess, leapt across the chasm and into the gauntlet.

"He's getting away!" Murray shouted, rapidly looking at the door and back to Bentley. "Whadda we do?"

"I… I'll think of something!" Bentley shouted, clutching his head as though that would make the ideas come faster. "Just give me time!"

"… You know something, Bentley?"

"What?!"

"You think awesome."

Even with the serious situation, Bentley had to smile. "Thanks, pal."

Alright everyone, we're nearing the end! This is gonna be fun!