Authors Notes: Greetings fellow creatives, Hero Central here with a new story for the new year. Long ago in 2019 I found an interest in the Netflix television series Carmen Sandiego inspired by the original cartoon series of long ago. Watching the trailer I couldn't help but feel it bore a similarity to Sly Cooper one of my favourite video games. Watching the series season after season I could see the definite possibility of a crossover between the two, and with the recent release of the final season I decided this was the time to do it.

Now the time frame is in the aftermath of Sly Thieves in Time, the idea being instead of ending up in Ancient Egypt what if Sly ended up being catapulted into an alternate dimension across space and time. Think of this as the Sly 5 we've all been waiting years for. In terms of Carmen Sandiego it takes place during season one before the Fishy Doubloon Caper. Now let's begin.

Carmen Sandiego (2019) (c) Netflix

Sly Cooper (c) SuckerPunch Productions

Cooper & Sandiego in:

The Thievius Raccoonus Caper Pt1:

Under the light of a full moon stands the city of Paris France, the centre of art, fashion and known famous sites like the Eiffel tower and Notre-Dame which stands in the ever glowing light of the city. Hence its known name the city of lights.

However whilst people sleep a shadowy figure slips across the rooftops under the cover of night. On an overlook of the vast city a shadowed individual walks to the edge and enjoys the view. This figure was a humanoid raccoon man, with grey fur, black stripped tail, brown eyes, blue elbow sleeved shirt with a yellow collar, blue boots, blue gloves with yellow cuffs, sporting a black mask with a blue cap and a belt with a buckle in the shape of a blue and white racoon symbol, and a leg pouch strapped to his leg.

In his hand he sports a brown staffed cane with a golden hook. "Okay if you only just got here, allow me to introduce myself. The names Sly, Sly Cooper."

Sly Cooper, the looking at the view and the scene flashes to him standing in a line with other raccoon thieves. Most of them dressed in Egyptian, Arabian, cowboy and knights attire.

"…and yeah I'm a thief, in fact you might say being a thief runs in the family. See I come from a long line of master thieves in my family line the Cooper Clan."

Sly continues to look at the view as his mind flashes back to past events. "Now to explain my current situation, let me take you back to how it all started…"

Flashback:

Sly is fighting his enemy Le Paradox on a crashing blimp that flew over Paris. He was fighting for the honour of his clan as Le Paradox vowed to wipe out the Cooper family to prove his family were the better thieves, by changing history with the use of a time machine compliments of the raccoon thief's former cohort Penelope. However Sly and his crew worked to undo the damage done and now he was in the fight of his life.

Le Paradox landed a few punches towards him whilst Sly blocked the attacks with his cane. Suddenly Le Paradox was flung onto the edge and grabbed on for dear life.

"I was fighting for my life on a crashing air ship against, Le Paradox as he'd been messing with time, namely stealing my ancestors canes…"

Sly helps the skunk thief up with his cane, but suddenly Le Paradox steals his back pack straight off his back and leaped off the blimp, and a parachute emerged from the backpack. However the thief's escape was cut short in the form of a plane that flew by and the skunk crashed straight into the tail fin losing the parachute as he fell to the ground.

"…He left me on a collapsing air ship and a time tunnel, I got sucked in and was falling through the vortex no way of knowing where I would end up in time or space…."

The blimp and the time tunnel on board soon exploded into a time space vortex flinging the raccoon super thief through it. All of a sudden he saw another vortex which opened a hole to somewhere else and he got sucked through. Ever falling he eventually exited the vortex.

"I kept falling until…." He hit the ground with a thud and his cane landed next to him. "…I met the solid concrete."

Sly groaned as he stirred from his unconscious state, he looked around and picked up his cane on the ground. He then found himself back in Paris at night.

"Next thing I knew I found myself back in Paris. But… as I looked around things were different, the people especially."

Sly looks down on the city below and sees the people are all different to him, they weren't anthro animals like him but they had peach skin, hair and wore clothes. Sly was completely bemused and surprised. He looked with a raised eyebrow.

"..Now I didn't need to be as smart as Bentley to see I wasn't in Paris anymore, at least not the Paris I knew and loved. I knew Bentley would find a way to find me I had to lay low…."

Later at a local clothing store, in the window stood a lone trench coat in blue with a large collar and a belt strap. Suddenly someone grabs it from the window, along with a pair of black sunglasses. Moments later Sly emerges from an alley way wearing said trench coat and glasses however his ears were tucked under his hat and his tail hidden under the trench coat.

"…so after.. acquiring a disguise I took to the streets."

Days later:

As days went by in a flash Sly spent his time blending in among the citizens, thankfully no one looked at him close enough to see his raccoon features. He sat on a bench reading a news paper, had lunch at a cafe and all that time he was waiting.

"…After days and days, I had to accept the fact that there was no sign of my gang finding me. I'll be honest, I was getting a little lonely and sad, sad that I didn't get the chance to properly fix things between me and Carmelita."

Sly walked along the streets and looked at the coins he had in his hand. He still had some coins he pick pocketed from people/henchmen back where he was from and thankfully it was the same currency where he was saw someone steal pickpocket a wallet from a man walking by. As the pick pocket walked by Sly he didn't notice the raccoon thief long enough to see him pick his pocket for the wallet.

"Sure I had some money but it wouldn't last long, so I had to steal just what I needed, I didn't like it but I had to do what I had to do…"

He soon came across a newspaper stand and saw a certain article in the news about something going on at the Louvre museum.

"…But after a while I knew I needed to think big."

The Louvre:

Soon Sly had arrived at the Louvre museum a famous gallery of art in Paris and home to the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. He walked around the gallery and at the number of historical artefacts whilst trying not to draw attention to himself from the other gallery viewers.

"..I should point out as a master thief theres only one golden rule, you only steal from other thieves. After a little research I soon found what I was looking for…"

The disguised raccoon soon arrived in the main exhibit which was comprised of different historical artefacts from different points in time like the renaissance. As Sly looked around he could see the artefacts had value.

"…apparently a huge renaissance exhibit was taking place at the Louvre, but I could smell a rat around this place, and I noticed a lot of people were looking at everything but the exhibit, not to mention a lot of out of place people."

Sly looked around and saw, something unusual like a mime walking around the gallery which was very unusual. He also caught sight of the cleaning staff on sight, they both had rather stone emotionless faces. He also saw someone out of the corner of his eyes it was a lady dressed in red who disappeared before he could get a good look.

"I was clearly onto something, so I decided to make my move, tonight…"

Present Day:

Sly stood on a lone building without his disguise looking over the Louvre museum. He looked through his binocucom to see the night staff were on patrol, so his best bet was to enter through the roof.

"Which brings us to now."

Sly then leaped from rooftop to rooftop and when he arrived at a cable line across from the museum. He uses his cane hook to slide down the cable then flipped onto it and slid down it. Landing on the roof he makes his way to the wall and dangled down to the nearest window. He reaches for his Binocucom and accesses the communication channel.

"Okay Bentley I'm in.." However he then remembered there was no-one listening. "Oh right, I'm all alone on this one."

He wouldn't admit it but he was feeling a little nervous, this was the first solo job he'd done without his friends Bentley and Murray. However experience taught him that his nervousness was a constant companion.

So He moves to open the window using a small keycard and picks the lock opening the door. However when he pushed on the window he couldn't see any sign of the guards. He could sense something was up he looked through the night vision on his binocucom but there was no sign of any security systems.

"Hm thats odd?" Sly thought as he entered the museum and closed the window behind him. He hurried down the hallways until he reached the exhibit room. He saw everything was there, but something didn't seem right.

"Wait a minute." Sly took a closer look at the artefacts and realised. "Fakes? whats…" Suddenly he felt someone else was in the room.

He looked around and had his cane at the ready in case of a fight. He stepped back slightly and kept his sharp eyes open. Little did he know however someone was also behind him, and then he felt like he bumped into someone. When he turned round he looked to see a woman standing there wearing a bright red trench coat, with a wide brim hat on her head, and was wearing black gloves and a black inner suit. She had grey blue eyes, brown auburn hair and cinnamon toned skin with red lipstick.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The thief in red asked.

"I should be asking you that?" Sly questioned. "And isn't it late for a museum visit?"

"Says the one playing dress up?" The thief then said. "Look I don't know what your game is but you need to leave immediately it's for your own safety."

"I'm not one to decline a lovely lady but…" Before any more could be said the thief was suddenly pulled aside by the one in red and hid behind one of the fake artefacts.

Whilst startled he looks to see they were hiding from, being spotted. Sly recognised two certain individuals from this morning they were the cleaning staff but in coats and hats they entered a door that was noted as no entry.

"Who were they?" Sly asked.

"People you do not want to mess with, trust me on that." The thief said.

"Wow thought there was something off about them, the stone faces give it away." Sly smirked. "But what are you doing…."

He looked to see the lady in red was no longer with him he then saw a brief flash of red move into the restricted door. He couldn't help but be impressed even he didn't see that coming. However his curiosity was aroused so he decided to follow her.

Deep in the store room close to the rear exit of the famous museum. The lady in red was sneaking around but couldn't help but admire some of the artefacts and artwork stored there.

Soon she found what or rather who she was looking for. Some men dressed in green armour who were loading the real artefacts and paintings into a truck. One of the supervisors was someone dressed like a mime with red short hair.

"Player the intel was spot on, VILE operatives are moving the real artefacts now." She said talking into her earring.

"So they replace the stolen artefacts with fakes to assure security the originals weren't stolen clever." Said a child's voice on the com line. "But what was the deal with that guy dressed as a raccoon?"

"Good question, one I'll answer the moment I intercept…" Suddenly someone strikes her from behind knocking her to the ground.

She looks up to see a woman dressed in a green cat suit with black thigh high boots with heels and tiger stripes on her boots and neck line of her suit, and sported night vision goggles in a tiger like shape. She had platinum blonde hair and a beauty mark under her mouth.

"Well well well, what do we have here." Tigress taunted.

"Tigress, didn't take you as a night prowler." Carmen said.

"Ha funny." Tigress then sheathed her claws at her gloves and slashes at the thief in red who jumps up quickly to avoid her attack.

The lady in red throws some punches and kicks at the stripped thief who just countered and dodged, then slashed at her again. Carmen ducks and then throws an upper cut knocking Tigress back.

"Always protect the face, remember." Carmen smirked. Tigress growled as she lunged straight at the thief in red.

However whilst they fought they neglected to see someone else sneak into the room. Sly landed quietly near the truck with the loaded artefacts the real ones.

"Hm counterfeit artefacts to fool the museum security, pretty clever." Sly said impressed.

However his admiration was suddenly interrupted by the sound of static electricity from behind him. He turned round to see the VILE agents armed with crackle rods and the Mime stood there rather surprised by the appearance of the raccoon man.

"Wow knew there was something off about a mime in a museum?" Sly smirked.

Mime Bomb made hand expressions telling the agents to get the raccoon thief. They charged in with their crackle rods, only for Sly to leap out of the way then use his cane to trip up the agents, and quickly blocks another attack from another agent. Acting quickly he slips under the agent then trips him up with his cane.

Whilst fighting Tigress, Carmen noticed the presence of the Raccoon man in the room. She was caught off guard when Tigress threw a roundhouse kick and knocked the lady in red backwards and soon she and the raccoon thief stood back to back.

"You followed me?!" She questioned.

"You ditched me, but I gotta admit I wasn't expecting these guys, friends of yours?" Sly asked.

"Not really." Carmen said.

"Wow, didn't know halloween came early this year?" Tigress smirked. "Who's your new friend in the dog costume?"

"Dog!" Sly said offended. "Do your research I'm a raccoon!"

Tigress just cackled at that. "Oh thieving rodents sounds right you run into trash like her."

"Okay thats just insulting to me and her." Sly said then they noticed the VILE agents finish loading the truck and were getting ready to leave.

"I gotta stop that truck!" Carmen said as she ran off.

"Wait should I…" Sly then turned his attention to Tigress sheathing her claws. "..okay I'll just deal with this."

Tigress lunged forwards at the raccoon thief who slid under her clawed hands then threw a round house kick at the VILE agent and was forced back. Meanwhile Carmen was too late to catch the truck so acting quickly she used her grappling hook located in her coat sleeve to shoot a line and swing from the scene after the truck.

Tigress growled as she and the thief in blue looked at each other square in the eyes.

"You do know tigers eat rodents like you for lunch." Tigress challenged.

"Ah rodent jokes funny, but what exactly is your game?" Sly asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Tigress teased.

"Uh yeah thats why I'm asking?" Sly said with a raised eyebrow.

Tigress lunged at Sly to try and claw him to bits and he blocks it with his cane. Only for the tiger thief to slash at him with her free hand catching his exposed arm. He cried in pain and looked to see some blood coming from the scratches on his arm.

"Ow." Sly winched. Tigress just looked completely surprised as she looked at the fur caught in her claws and after a closer look.

"Wait the furs real?" Tigress said in surprise. Sly used this to kick her to the ground knocking her down to the ground. She looked up and growled.

"Just what are you!?" Tigress growled.

"You can call me Sly Cooper." Sly introduced, before he could say anything more a smoke bomb then appeared out of nowhere and covered the whole place in emerged from the smoke and when he did there was no-one there anymore.

"Wow these guys are good." Sly said impressed but he noticed the truck and the lady in red was gone and the truck full of the real artefacts.

"And I lost the truck what else could…" "Interpol freeze!" Sly turned around to see a man with a brown suit jacket with a striped red tie, a white shirt, with brown hair and dark brown eyes. He guessed instantly this was the local gendarme.

The Interpol agent looked rather surprised not by the appearance of this raccoon man but also the fact it wasn't the one he was looking for.

"What your not Carmen Sandiego?" Devineaux said in surprise.

"Who?" Sly wondered and realised he must have been talking about the person in red he saw.

"Whoever you are stop where you are!" He then ordered as he ran forward to apprehend the raccoon thief. Sly slipped away and past the interpol officer.

"By who's authority?" Sly asked with a smirk.

"By the authority of.." Chase reached for his badge but he found it was no longer in his coat pocket.

"Inspector Chase Devineaux, Interpol." Sly read from his stolen wallet. "Interpol huh, gotta say bit of a change from the lovely and attractive police women they send after me." Sly said.

"Well let's see you live up to your name." Sly threw the badge back which Chase caught who growled and ran after the raccoon thief who fled the room. Chase makes his way back up to the main gallery and sees the ring-tailed thief escape through a window.

On the roof Sly makes his escape only for Devineaux to burst through the window and catch the thief about to escape.

"I order you to stop!" He cried and Sly stopped as he got to the edge of the roof which allowed the inspector to catch up.

"You didn't say for how long." Sly then said as he leaped off the building and Devineaux leaped after him only for Sly to pull a cord on his backpack and unleash a small parachute in the shape of his trademark logo. He was carried away by the wind whilst Chase fell to the ground.

Far below someone waited outside the museum, a young woman with fair skin freckles around her nose wore black circular glasses, with black short hair. She wore a red shirt under a greyish blue jacket with black pants and heeled brown shoes.

She was waiting for her partner when suddenly Chase fell to the ground with a thud startling her. She ran over to him and found he was still alive but groaned in pain.

"Inspector Devineaux what happened to…" "Never mind that Mrs Argent!" Chase interrupted Julia as he looked up to see the Raccoon thief slip away with his parachute.

"It would seem that Carmen Sandiego may have a new partner in crime a man who dresses as some kind of striped tailed rat!" Chase said.

"I believe you are describing a Raccoon an animal that steals trash from bins." Julia said.

"Ugh dull facts boring things." Chase said just then Julia noticed something on her partner.

"Sir something is attached to your shirt." She pointed.

Chase looked at his shirt and saw a calling card in the shape of a blue and white Raccoon face. He pulled it off and looked at it, on the back it read.

Thanks for the chase Chase

-Sly Cooper

This left a confused expression on the inspectors face. "Who in the world is Sly Cooper?"

Far above Sly had just landed on a building on the outskirts of the Louvre area. He looked around for any sign of the thieves who escaped the museum with the real artefacts in far he had no luck, but just out of the corner of his eye he caught the glint of a red coat and used his Binocucom to enhance the image and saw it was the same lady in red he met tonight.

"Hm looks like I'm onto something more than just a simple art museum heist." Sly wondered with a confident smirk. "Time to follow a little red trail."

With that Sly ran across the rooftops following the scarlet thief and something told him this night was just getting started.

To Be continued

Authors notes: And so begins a new story, Sly may not be in his Kansas anymore but he knows to do what he does best steal from thieves. Now the idea behind this chapter was that priceless artefacts would be on display like paintings and jewels, so VILE operatives would replace them with fakes whilst escaping with the real artefacts in tow. Which of course draws the attention of a certain red thief. As mentioned this takes place in the aftermath of Sly 4.

Now for the next part of this two part opening chapter before we move onto the canon episodes.