I like the way we feel together. We fit. I've never fit with anyone the way that we do.

They didn't speak again for a long time after that.

Sly wanted to pretend it was because they were trying to be quiet. They'd finally starting encountering guards again and it had slowed their travel considerably as they worked their way towards the supernatural factory and all its untold horrors. But he could feel Inspector Fox's gaze on him whenever she could spare the risk, and he knew the lack of chatter was because she was thinking about what she'd just seen, waiting for the right moment to broach the subject when his guard was down.

Unfortunately for her, he never let his guard down – and he wasn't going to give her the moment she was hoping for. He stayed a few paces ahead of her at all times, eyes forward, and put all his focus into traversing the treacherous terrain. It wasn't safe to be vulnerable out here. Not here and not ever.

Eventually, the ground went from wet and spongy to hard and compact, and the two saw the dark shape of something ahead of them. It was roughly the size of a building, but calling it one implied that it had a definable shape or obvious purpose. No, the thing ahead of them could only be described as a structure, and the pure malice emanating off of it was enough to give the ghosts from earlier a run for their money.

The fox crouched at the base of some foliage a few meters away from the entrance, whipping out her night vision goggles again so she could better watch the three people milling about in front of it. A rat and two turtles, Sly noted as he joined her. They all seemed to be enjoying a break together and weren't actually guarding the place.

He lightly tapped his partner's shoulder and gave her a questioning look when she turned towards him. What's the plan?

She pursed her lips, glancing back at the loitering guards, and risked whispering as quietly as she could. "I don't know yet. There's not a lot of cover between here and over there, and if I start shooting then it could cause others to come running."

The raccoon eyed the landscape. Most of the plant life was low to the ground, leaving very few shadows they could hide in, and the distance was just far enough that the guards would still have enough time to yell or sound the alarm if they rushed them. If it were only him, he could probably slip by them all without too much trouble, but the inspector was another matter entirely; he knew without asking that she would refuse to wait outside, either.

But if they used their strengths together…

"I think I have an idea," he said, studying the layout of the land. "If I can get over there on my own, I can take down at least one of those guys. I just have one question first."

She shot him a sharp look. "What's that?"

"How fast can you run?"

"I –" Carmelita glanced at the eight or so meters separating them from the goons and the entrance. Her eyes were bright and calculating as she considered the situation. "I can get there in five seconds, tops."

"Good." Sly rolled his shoulders and neck, then got down even lower until he was flat on his stomach. "Get ready to go as soon as I jump out of hiding."

"Are you sure?"

The question made him pause – not for the words but the tone of voice. He looked up to gauge her expression, and wasn't so surprised anymore that no doubt was there. Only determination and the slightest tint of worry for his wellbeing. He gave a crooked smile in return.

"Yeah. We've got this."

With that, the raccoon started belly-crawling across the dirty ground. The plant cover left a lot to be desired, but he worked with what he had and began slowly making his way towards the goons, silent as a proper thief should be. The night sky was cloudy and there were just enough torches to aid in his stealth instead of hindering him, casting long shadows that he slipped into when the foliage wasn't enough on its own. As he moved at a snail's pace, he mulled over which guard to target and the best way to do it successfully.

His cane was a no-go. Even if he was willing to risk the sound of pulling it out of his backpack, he knew Inspector Fox was watching, and there was no way in hell that he'd ever let her see what he was carrying. His father had probably been on every Interpol watchlist in every corner of the globe; the chances of her not recognizing the Cooper Cane was just as likely as the chances that the Fiendish Five would have let him live if he hadn't started working for them.

That was to say, no chance at all.

So, he was going to have to improvise on the sneak attack, but he wasn't too worried. Thinking on his feet was what he did best.

The three guards were none the wiser as Sly crept close enough to touch them. He sized each of them up and decided that if this plan was going to work, he'd have to take out the rat, who was considerably bigger than the other two and looked to be their higher-up. Slowly, he slunk around behind them until he was staring at the rat's back. He'd have only one shot, and he had to make it count.

Like a striking snake, Sly launched off his heels and into the guard. The force of his tackle was enough to send the startled goon toppling forward, but the raccoon didn't let himself get cocky. He clung to the rat's back, wrapped his arms around his neck, and squeezed with all his might.

The others had been caught so off guard by the unexpected assault that they gaped for a few precious seconds before snapping to attention with twin snarls. Before they could even think to grab Sly or call for help, a boot cracked into the jaw of one turtle as Carmelita appeared to make a spinning heel kick with all the force of her sprint put into it. They dropped like a rock, and the final guard didn't even have time to register that fact before the inspector took him down, too.

Sly saw the whole thing out of the corner of his eye as he struggled to slow the rat's desperate thrashing beneath him. The guard was gasping for breath, pawing frantically at the arms choking him, getting weaker and more sluggish with each passing second. Finally, the man went limp, and he released him with a quiet sigh of relief.

"You didn't just kill him, did you?"

"No." He hopped off the unconscious guard so Inspector Fox could cuff the guy. "He'll probably feel like garbage when he wakes up, though."

"Hopefully that won't be anytime soon." She finished securing the others, then looked down at all three of them while biting her lip. "Dammit."

"What?"

"I didn't think this through – I'm used to having a team ready to cart criminals away after I detain them. What happens if they wake up and make a ruckus before the rendezvous? My best chance to catch Mz. Ruby will be gone."

"Oh, that's an easy fix. Just gag them and drag them out of sight. That should give you plenty of time to do what you need to do."

The fox fixed him with a flat, disapproving stare. "That's inhumane. I'm not doing that."

"You are if you don't want your cover blown before it's too late," he fired back immediately. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that. Besides, it's not like you're leaving them to die. You're just…putting them on a timeout for a few hours at most before your buddies come to help arrest everyone. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

Carmelita made a face, but the way she kept glancing down at the men sprawled out around them told him she was actually considering his words. After a very obvious internal battle, she slumped her shoulders like she'd just lost an argument – which she absolutely had, in Sly's opinion – and they began the process of getting the guards safely out of the way.

There was a keyring on the rat's belt, glinting in the nearby lantern light, that caught the raccoon's eye. He unclipped it and hid it in his hoodie's pocket without a word as he dragged the man behind the nearest tree. His companion, too busy with pulling both the turtles at once, was none the wiser.

Once that was done, they headed through the entrance to the bizarre structure.

"You're a terrible influence, Ringtail," she muttered with not nearly as much heat as he would've expected. "I hope you know that. A terrible influence."

"Pleasure to be of service," he said with a self-satisfied smirk. It was fantastic to see such a hard-assed cop skirting her moral code, even with something as benign as that.

"You could at least pretend to feel bad about it, you know."

"Nah. I'm the little devil on your shoulder." Just to be facetious, he sidled up next to her and bumped said shoulder with his own.

The inspector rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, but whatever she was about to say died in her throat as they entered an enclosed space that almost resembled a factory. A dark, half-organic, filled-to-the-brim-with-swamp-water-and-supernatural-elements kind of factory, but a factory nonetheless.

There were two levels from what they could tell. The ground floor, which they were on, had more of the same strange machinery as the giant soup stirrer had been, whisking away at the thick water in slow but measured motions. Above them was a series of suspended bridges where guards with flashlights watched the whole operation and intermittently checked clipboards.

And bridging the gap between levels, gushing green liquid in a never-ending spout, was a waterfall. A waterfall overflowing with –

"Oh my god," Carmelita whispered in horror. "Are those – are those body parts in there?"

Sly stood stiffly at her side, feeling more than a little queasy at the sight of bones and corpses bits falling down into the soup below with audible, disgusting splashes. "Looks like it."

They stood together for a whole minute staring at the entire operation, taking in every detail because they had no other choice. The smell of death and decay was almost overpowering, and combined with the sight it felt like they had just stepped into the scene of a horror movie.

"We'll take over Mexico by the end of the week," had been the mystic's exact words, but while Mz. Ruby had always been a realist with her goals, the raccoon had thought that announcement sounded more like a pep talk than an actual, achievable thing.

He wasn't so sure anymore.

"We have to find a way to shut it all down," Carmelita said with a growing drive that was strengthened by revulsion. "This can't be allowed to continue any longer."

"Okay, but…where do we even start? This is – I've never seen anything like this."

Sly had never been allowed here before; he'd been told that it was for his own health and not because the alligator thought he'd ruin something. He hadn't believed that at all back then, but now, looking at the wrongness of everything before him, he was suddenly grateful for one of the few small mercies Mz. Ruby had spared him.

She had said it herself, after all: she didn't find much pleasure in tormenting children.

"We can't even go any further than this. There are guards and searchlights everywhere. We'd be caught before we could blink." It stung to admit it, but it was the truth. There was no way they'd sneak past all those watchful eyes.

The fox looked frustrated by his words. "I can't just let this – this travesty exist without doing anything to stop it! She's making zombies!"

Neither of them had any idea how the alligator was making zombies out of the mess before them, but that didn't matter. What mattered was just the fact that she was.

"I know. We'll stop it somehow." He tentatively began creeping forward, gaze flicking back and forth and up and down across the entire expanse. Carmelita followed his lead, snout twisted in disgust.

Hey there, Sly Cooper!

Sly stopped in his tracks. All his fur stood on end. Ice prickled through his limbs and straight into his heart at the voice that was suddenly in his head.

That's right, I know you're here! Mz. Ruby taunted gleefully. I've seen it in the stars; it's all over my tea leaves.

"Everything okay?" The inspector asked, turning to look at him with concern.

"Y-Yeah," he stammered, flexing his hands in a conscious effort to hold back the shroud of panic coming down over his thoughts – or maybe that was just the alligator herself, snaring his mind into her hold. "The smell of this place is just really getting to me. Feeling a little –"

I'm in your mind, raccoon!

"…Lightheaded."

Mz. Ruby couldn't hear his thoughts. She could project her voice into the minds of others, but she couldn't read them. That was the only thing that kept him from becoming absolutely hysterical.

You think I wouldn't notice sabotage in my own backyard? The mystic tutted, as if reprimanding him for tracking mud on her carpet instead of actively halting her operation. I have to say, though, I wasn't expecting you to be so bold. When I heard Muggshot had been taken down, I'd assumed you'd either been caught too or run off with your tail 'tween your legs.

"Why don't we go back outside for now?"

Sly barely registered his companion's suggestion, nor the touch of her hand at the crook of his elbow as she led him out of the factory. He walked as steadily as he could, struggling to focus on two very different voices at once.

But here you are, tryin' to get my attention. Well, darlin', you've got it! And now that you've got it…

The fresh, humid air on his face was a blast to his senses, and he wished desperately that it would drown out her words.

You're gonna sorely wish you never had it.

"How's this?" Carmelita asked, watching him with worried eyes.

"Fine. It's fine," he croaked, finding a rock to sit on before his legs gave out under him. He hung his head low and began taking long, shaky breaths. "Just – just give me a minute."

If I was you, I'd think long and hard 'bout my next choice, Sly. I know your game. I know what you're after. If you give up now and come meet me at the usual place, we don't gotta tell no one 'bout your little adventure. I'll even let you keep what you took from Muggshot! Only fair when you beat him all by yourself. Don't know how you did it, but you did it.

The realization hit him with nearly the same force as the mystic's voice in his head had, cutting through his panic like a beam of light through fog. She didn't know about Inspector Fox. She thought he was doing this by himself, without any outside help. And why would she think otherwise? She'd been the one to drill the fear of cops into his soul in the first place.

But if you keep makin' a mess of my place… Mz. Ruby hissed. All amusement dropped from her tone in an instant. Then me and my voodoo children are gonna sign you up for an eternity of zombie servitude!

The raccoon let out a harsh exhale through his nose when the intrusive weight left his mind. He shook his head as if to clear it of whatever awful psychic residue might've been left behind, and looked up at his partner, who was still hovering like she was afraid he'd keel over. He managed a shaky smile.

"It's alright. I'm feeling a lot better, now. I think the worst of the wooziness has passed."

And it had. Mz. Ruby's threat bounced in the back of his skull, keeping his fur stiff, but he had far too much practice in shrugging off her mind games once they were done. The terror he'd felt initially had been because he thought she'd found them – found him – but that couldn't be further from the truth. She'd told him to come to her, at the rendezvous point, because she couldn't find him. And, to top it all off, she didn't know he wasn't alone.

It was crucial knowledge she didn't have. It was crucial knowledge he could exploit.

That didn't mean that he had recovered completely. His body was still trembling with adrenaline as he made himself stand up. "Yeah, see? Perfectly fine. Quick question, though – how much time do we have before you go 'meet' Mz. Ruby?"

Carmelita's eyebrows came down heavy over her eyes, clearly not buying his claim that he was okay, but she dutifully glanced at her watch instead of calling him out on his false bravado.

"About half an hour, give or take," she said. "Not a whole lot of time to find a way to destroy that factory."

Sly grimaced. No, not enough time at all. "I think we're going to have to cut our losses and find something else to break."

"I can't just –"

"We have to, Inspector. You'd need an entire squad of cops to dismantle this place, and I don't see either of us pulling that out of our packs anytime soon. Besides, you need to think about travel time, too. How long is it going to take to trek back to that clearing from here?"

He watched the fox's protests die on her tongue. She huffed, clearly torn between the want for immediate justice and the patience for a long con.

"…Small details, Fox," she muttered to herself, clenching her fists at her sides as she looked back at the dark structure. "Don't lose sight of the bigger picture."

Sly blinked, wondering where that had come from, but she squared her shoulders and jutted out her chin before he could ask.

"Alright, Ringtail. We'll start making our way back, but if we find something worth stopping then I'm going to stop it."

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Don't worry. I'm not about to stop you from stopping it."

"That was terrible," Carmelita groaned, even as some of her frustration left.

"Sure, but it made you feel better, didn't it?"

"Oh, hush."

They left the zombie factory behind, and Sly shrugged off the lingering dread of Mz. Ruby's presence in his head with a little less difficulty than usual, which he begrudgingly chalked up to the presence at his side. The waning time limit, however, loomed over them both no matter how they tried to distract themselves from it.

Until they came across the wall.

It wasn't just a wall; it was practically a fortress. Made of solid stone and easily four meters high, it curved in a large arc that they followed until finding a gate that was eerily similar to the one they'd encountered on the outskirts of the alligator's territory.

"What's with this industrial-strength gate?" the inspector asked, craning her neck up high to stare at the blockade towering over both of them. "Not even the one surrounding Mz. Ruby's base was this massive. Is she trying to keep something specific out?"

Sly eyed the innocent-looking swamp beyond the wall with more than a little unease. He had never been allowed back here, just like he'd never been allowed inside the factory. He was going in as blind as his partner now, and it made him nervous.

"Maybe…she's trying to keep something in."

The fox looked at him, then at the gate again. She seemed to be considering his words.

"Well, whatever the case, it's in our best interest to find out what's behind it, especially if it has to do with her zombie production." Carmelita jerked a thumb at a nearby tree that was just tall enough to barely clear the top of the wall. "Think you can do some of your fancy footwork and get up there for me?"

"Easily."

"Good. Then, here –" she reached behind and into her backpack, pulling out a long coil of wire rope. "Take this up with you and find something sturdy to tie it to. I'll do the rest."

"Aye-aye, ma'am."

He took the rope and approached the tree, then hesitated. The tree looked normal. It looked like any other tree in the swamp. But remembering glowing eyes and reaching tendrils had him almost afraid to come too close. His partner seemed to guess why he was apprehensive, because she put a hand on his shoulder and held up her shock pistol.

"Just to be sure," she said firmly, following the statement by shooting straight into the tree. Sly gaped as electricity crackled against bark and brambles, but other than a brief light show, nothing else happened. The thing didn't come to life, or attack them, or react in any other way than a tree that was just struck by lightning.

"Ah…thanks."

Without giving her a chance to respond, the raccoon started climbing. He reached the top in no time at all and looked down at the inspector, who mimed tying the rope into a knot. Nodding, he wrapped one end around the trunk, tied it as securely as he could, and dropped the other end down the side for her to grab. She wasted no time pulling herself up with it, and soon they were standing on the top of the circular wall, surveying what was inside.

It was mostly just more swamp. Sly scanned the enclosure, but there was no sign of the supposed thing that Mz. Ruby wanted under lock and key. The water was still, the plants were lush, and bugs buzzed as if to say they were silly to find any danger at all.

"It doesn't look any different than the rest of the swamp," Carmelita murmured, confused. "I don't even see any supernatural stuff. What do you think?"

He didn't respond verbally, instead opting to begin inching his way down the other side of the wall by the gate. As soon as he touched the ground, he began creeping towards the edge of the water as carefully as he could. A quiet thud behind him told him that she had followed his lead.

"There has to be a reason for this thing to exist," he said more to himself than to her. "It doesn't make sense for her to build something so big without a purpose to it."

He turned his attention back to the gate, and noticed a large silver lock at its center – another difference from the voodoo-powered one of several hours ago. Almost out of habit, with a glance at the fox who was still staring out at the contained swamp, he pulled out the keyring he'd stolen earlier and began testing keys one at a time.

Why keep a gate locked from the inside? He wondered. That doesn't make any sense.

Inspector Fox walked a little further away out of the corner of his eye, climbing onto a large tree root to better look around her. He watched her in his peripherals as he worked methodically at his own task.

"Maybe this place is some kind of containment for all her zombies when she doesn't need them," she suggested.

"Then why all the water? Why not a place with solid ground?"

"I don't know!" Carmelita threw up her hands and kicked at the bark under her heel.

A few chunks flew off into the water below with a splash, leaving ripples that steadily grew across the surface. Sly's eyes tracked the sudden movement for a moment or two before returning to his keys.

"I'm just trying to make sense of all of it! Why would she make an undead army in the first place, huh? She's the kind of criminal who steals, and murders, and bribes the local police force to keep it quiet! Not – not the kind who takes over a quarter of Latin America!"

A quiet click made the raccoon's ears perk at the second-to-last key. He pulled away and was satisfied to see the gate begin to creak open at his light touch. Then he turned around, about to show her what he'd done –

And froze as he caught sight of the swamp. There were still ripples there, lasting far longer than they should have with just a few pieces of bark. And they were growing.

"Inspector…" Sly said, eyes locked on the unnatural movement.

"And that's another thing!" She continued, not hearing him at all. "Why not do something that draws less attention to yourself? That woman has to be in her fifties now, right? I'd think she'd want to look more into retirement like most of the rest of the Five! She's not a meathead like Muggshot!"

Something was bubbling under the surface of the water.

"Inspector Fox."

"I thought she was one of the smartest members of the group! Why this? Why any of it? Why be a criminal in the first place?"

There was no time to be bitter about the ignorant words she was spewing. Not when a dark shape was rising ever so slowly out of the swamp behind her.

"Carmelita!"

"What!"

The puff of breath over her shoulder made her freeze. She stared at Sly, who stared at the thing that had just appeared behind her. A giant serpentine head, full of teeth, with one yellow eye fixed on the two petrified intruders in its territory. Its forked tongue flicked the air and suddenly its lazy gaze turned sharp and focused.

Sly's mouth moved without sound.

"Run."

Inspector Fox launched forward just in time for the swamp monster to snap its jaws shut around the tree root she'd just been standing on. She rushed for Sly, and Sly turned and slammed into the gate with all his might. They tumbled through, barely caught their footing, and kept running as the giant snake made a terrible noise too loud to be a hiss and too wrong to be a roar.

They ran blindly, terrified of the thing nipping at their heels, feeling its hot breath at their fur and hearing the crack, crack, crackling of the swamp being crushed under its colossal belly as it followed them out of its cage and into the open bog.

Sly's mind was barely his own amidst his panic. Ancient instincts screamed at him to escape, to run until he couldn't run anymore, knowing that death was right behind him and that once it had him in its clutches then his life was forfeit. It was a feeling far too familiar, one that he'd experienced two other times in his life – once on the night he'd been abducted, and the other –

His chest ached at the memory, snapping him into a single moment of clarity where the world seemed to halt around him. He could sense Inspector Fox in a similar frenzy beside him. He could sense the monster at his back.

And to his right, far ahead, he could see the zombie factory.

Time started moving again. So did Sly.

He grabbed Carmelita's wrist with his left hand and pivoted on his right foot, jolting forward with as much strength as he could to keep them moving when she almost tripped. The giant snake let out another hissing scream and changed its direction to keep following.

"This way!" The raccoon cried out, breathless, pulling her with all his might until she understood.

He could feel the second she did, too – her head snapped up towards the dark structure in the distance and suddenly her weight was shifting, she was no longer lagging, she was surging forward with their hands still linked.

Their race to survive had suddenly become a game of tag.

Up one slope and down the next, and suddenly it was right there before them. A few guards turned at the sound of the commotion only to scatter like roaches at the sight of the huge serpent barreling towards them.

The swamp monster's attention drew to the screaming goons like a moth to the flame as they all ran inside, and suddenly its focus shifted to following them instead. But it was so big that even as it turned, its body threatened to squash the fox and raccoon as mere collateral in its curious rampage.

Sly's eyes darted everywhere for a place safely out of the snake's reach before that could happen, and found one at the top of a rock cliffside covered in vines to their left.

"Over there!" He shouted, pointing to the treacherous escape plan. "I can make it if you can!"

"Yes!" She yelled back without any hesitation.

He didn't need to be told twice. The raccoon let go of her wrist and jumped for the closest vine, gritting his teeth as slime coated his gloved hands and almost made him lose his grip. He managed to get his feet under him and began scaling the cliff as fast as he could. The vine was so slick that he was slipping with even the slightest pause, but he pushed through with thoughts of Tennessee and his father and the Fiendish Five all daring him to succeed.

And just like that, he was up and over the side of the cliff, and the serpent's giant body was no longer a threat.

He didn't give himself a chance to be relieved; instead, he whipped back around and leaned over the edge just in time to see Inspector Fox reach the top from where she had been climbing the rockface itself. Her chest heaved with the force of her breathing and he could see the muscles in her arms bulging under her jacket as he grabbed her arm to help pull her to safety.

They sat there on the dirty ground a few moments, letting the adrenaline die down while the giant snake continued on, breaking through the factory wall sitting just above the water like it was made of paper. The sounds of screaming and shouting and screeching machinery intertwined with the monster's hideous call, creating a terrible melody of destruction.

Their eyes finally met, and they shared a bewildered, exhilarated grin.

"Holy shit," the fox said. Sly felt inclined to agree with her. "Holy shit!"

"Yeah…yeah," he breathed, because what else was there to say? They'd just outran a monster! "That thing was terrifying."

"Not just that!" She shook her head with that amazed grin still in place, and he was startled to see her looking at him with respect. "You! You got us out of that cage, and you lead that thing straight for this place, and you just scaled what had to be a six-meter cliff like it was nothing!"

The raccoon shifted, uncomfortable and unused to the praise. "Thanks, but we both did that. Also, pretty sure it was just my fight-or-flight kicking in. Y'know, that thing that everyone's got."

"Well, if even half of my fellow officers had one like yours, Ringtail, we'd get twice as many cases done in half the time."

His face was most definitely red now. The only silver lining was that she didn't seem to notice it. Yet.

"Nah. What they really need is more of whatever you've got," he found himself saying, if only to chase away the weird squirming in his gut. "Outrunning a giant snake and picking up on a plan in the middle of it? Saving me from drowning despite a big tree monster being right there? First time seeing a ghost and your first instinct is to shoot it? You're the only one I'd say who makes that badge actually mean something."

It was supposed to be said flatly, like usual – half a concession to her abilities and half a barb at cops, like always – but for some reason it came out a lot more sincere than he'd meant. The inspector went still, and he did the same.

They looked at each other with mutual wide eyes. Then she cleared her throat, stood up, and offered him her hand.

"Come on," she said, not unkindly. "We should probably get out of here before someone sees us – or before that creature gets bored and comes back out."

Sly looked at her outstretched hand, then at her. The grin on her face had been replaced with something subdued but still warm, and there was no trace of condescension where he expected it to be. With cheeks still warm under his fur, he took it and let her help him to his feet.

"You used my first name back there."

His tail twitched. He couldn't figure out why, and he couldn't read her tone of voice, either. "Did I? Don't really remember in all of that 'fleeing for my life' stuff."

She let out a quiet huff of a laugh, then suddenly turned her face away to look at the distant trees, where they both knew the clearing was waiting beyond them.

"I don't mind it, you know. You can keep using it."

Again, with the tone he couldn't read. Sly hesitated a long moment, following her gaze but mostly just watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"I'll think about it," he finally said. An echo straight from Mesa, but no longer with any of the casual bite. "As long as you never tell anyone I just complimented someone from Interpol."

"Ringtail, who would I even tell that to?"

"Look at that! You've already got a head start."

Carmelita laughed, then, clear and candid and unabashed, and it would have knocked the wind straight out of him if all the running hadn't already done so. She shook her head and began to walk, motioning him along with a welcoming hand.

"Let's get out of here, Sly. I've got a date with a criminal coming up very soon."

For some reason, hearing the phrase he'd teased her with earlier was not nearly as hilarious when she was the one saying it.

A/N: I posted this chapter early on Ao3 and tumblr last night but couldn't here because of a server outage or something. Really sucks but not much I could really do :/

This chapter had the biggest mix-match of different game levels thus far, but I tried to keep individual locations as "accurate" as possible. Bonus points if you can figure out every game moment I took inspiration from!

Mz. Ruby's broadcast directly calling Sly out scared me to death as a kid the first time I heard it. I almost quit the game cause I was so scared of her haha. Nowadays I find it absolutely fascinating and a super cool way to show how dangerous she is in a way that's different than the rest of the Five.

ALSO I GOT FANART FOR CHAPTER 3 (SUNSET SNAKE EYES)! It's by saikonohero on tumblr, I can't drop a link because this site hates links but please go check it out cause it's awesome!

Anyway, thanks for reading!