A few days after Clockwerk first possessed Harley Keener by terrifying Bentley in his hospital room, Harley was now in a state of panic. He now could switch back and forth between himself, Clockwerk and Neyla at will at pure random. It was worse than Bruce Banner transforming into the Incredible Hulk whenever he got angry or Dr. Henry Jekyll turning into Mr. Edward Hyde. Harley tried his best to hide his alternate personalities from Sly, Murray and Bentley. When he was asked about his strange behavior, Harley would claim he had bipolar, even though he wasn't bipolar. That seemed to satisfy the Cooper Gang for now. It would only be a matter of time before Sly and his friends would soon know of Harley Keener's dangerous secret.
Harley was unsure if he should tell Sly about the fact that he was harbouring both the souls of Clockwerk and Neyla at once inside of him. He could diguise it as having both personalities be something he does for fun or him having split personality disorder. That could only get Harley so far. Eventually, Harley realized he would have no choice but to reveal to Sly and Murray the truth about his alternate personalities. Qustion was, how would Sly and his friends react if they found out that the enemy they once thought was defeated once and for all was hiding inside their friend the whole time.
In Interpol Headquarters in Paris, France, Inspector Carmelita Fox was watching a series of tapes prerecorded from security camera footage that was taken from a museum in Italy recently. Sly Cooper had just learned from an old friend of his father named Jim McSweeny that there was a map that supposedly led to the location of the Cooper vault, a vault that was located in a remote island off the Pacific Ocean called Kaine Island. The Italian museum was off the Lingurian Coast. Sly Cooper's father Connor Cooper used to go to that museum a long time ago when Sly was a small raccoon kit. Carmelita wondered what was so special about the museum that attracted Sly and Murray to it. She didn't yet know the reason why Sly and Murray were at the Italian museum was because they were planning on stealing the map to Kaine Island in order to locate the Cooper Vault.
The vixen watched the security footage from the Italian museum heist. She saw a strikingly handsome human teenage boy with white skin and wild wavy brown hair among Sly and Murray. She vaguely recognized him as Harley Keener, who was a part of the Cooper Gang along with a little girl about the age of twelve. Carmelita watched as Murray accidentally almost broke a vase, which Sly managed to grab before it shattered. She could hear Harley reprimand Murray for being so clumsy and careless on their first heist without Bentley. Beside the vixen was a purple weasel named Winthorp. Winthorp had the hots for Carmelita. Carmelita was often too busy with her work to actually take notice of him.
Carmelita asked Winthorp to get her a cup of coffee. She continued watching the security footage. Murray lifted a walrus statue. The walrus statue was too heavy for the hippo to lift. He accidentally hit Sly over the head with the statue before the statue broke into several pieces. Sly found a canvas. They unintentionally triggered the security alarm system in the museum and they had to make a hasty retreat from the museum. She saw Harley and the little girl sprinting behind Sly and Murray. Harley then suddenly stopped in his tracks. He suddenly began to change his appearance. Harley's eyes suddenly glowed yellow. The eyes seemed to be metallic. He slowly floated off the ground. The security camera footage cut off suddenly.
Carmelita was perplexed as to why Sly and Murray were being so clumsy on their heist. She also wondered why Harley had glowing yellow eyes that reminded her of Clockwerk. She needed to calm down. Clockwerk was destroyed forever. Or at leasr that was she was led to believe. The vixen shuddered to think of the possibility that the soul of Clockwerk was in another vessel. Carmelita soon got tired of trying to figure out what Sly was up to. She decided to take a short nap. She dozed off into a deep slumber.
Meanwhile, in the steets of Paris, the teenage human boy known as Harley Keener was walking outside on the sidewalk. His body was slowly starting to rapidly deteriorate from the inside. He had no idea why his internal and external organs were starting to break down at such a young age. A few days ago, Harley had started coughing up motor oil mixed with phlegm. His lungs were slowly starting to transform into metal. He still breathed okay. He know he didn't have lung cancer as he'd never smoked cigarettes and he was too young to start devoloping lung cancer. Harley had no idea why his lungs were failing on him. He didn't yet realize the reason why his lungs had started to fail on him was because he was slowly starting to physically transform into Clockwerk. Harley had been walking outside for at least twenty minutes or so. He'd told Sly, Murray, Bentley and his sister Emily that he would be going outside get some fresh air and that he'd be back within twenty-thirty minutes.
Whilst in the middle of walking, the dormant spirit of Constable Neyla had started to arisen within Harley's human body. Neyla wanted to exact revenge on Inspector Carmelita Fox for killing her by destroying Clockwerk's hate chip. She didn't want to die in vain and in isolation within Clockwerk's damaged body. So she and Clockwerk came up with the brilliant idea of hypnotizing Harley Keener using the Clockwerk eyes so that way she and Clockwerk could inhabit Harley's body spiritually using both of their souls to control Harley Keener's body from beyond the grave. Being inside Harley's teenage human body meant that Neyla could be reborn inside of a new body without anyone suspecting that she had returned from beyond the grave. She knew that no one would suspect that a wanted former female Interpol officer who'd previously betrayed Interpol to work with Arpeggio and the Klaww Gang to be residing inside the body of a sixteen year old human boy.
Suddenly, Neyla's soul started to take over Harley Keener's mind and body. Harley stopped dead in his tracks as he suddenly felt something warm eminate from within his body. His body felt tense. Then, he felt nothing at all. His body felt normal again. He felt a little light headed. Suddenly, he heard a feminine voice sound out from within his mind.
"Go to Interpol and get rid of Inspector Carmelita Fox. Make her pay for what she did to me!" Neyla's voice said to Harley from within his mind. Neyla's soul had taken over Harley Keener's body now. Harley now had all of Neyla's previous memories from before she had merged herself with the Clockwerk mainframe on Arpeggio's blimp. She remembered everything. On the outside, Neyla appeared to exactly like a sixteen year old human boy with the exception of her eyes and him having her voice. But in the inside, there was the soul of Neyla that inside of Harley Keener's teenage male body. Harley now mentally and spiritually sounded and acted like Neyla did before she died. Neyla wanted Harley to secretly infiltrate Interpol incognito in order to get to where Carmelita Fox was at and she'd decide where to go from there.
Neyla made Harley Keener run through the streets towards Interpol HQ. Neyla knew that if she wanted to make Harley infiltrate Interpol incognito, she'd had to be discreet about it. She didn't exactly want to reveal herself in front of the Interpol officers But then again, she was inhabiting the body of a sixteen year old human boy. Even if she were to somehow reveal herself from within Harley's body, she doubted that anybody would believe that she had returned from beyond the grave from the mouth of a teenage human boy. Neyla made it to the Interpol building. Now all she had to do was figure out how to have Harley go inside Interpol incognito without arousing suspicion from the other Interpol officers. She hid behind a car in the parking lot and waited for the opportunity to infiltrate Interpol incognito without being discovered. She waited for an Interpol officer to walk out the door into the outdoor parking lot to their police cars. That's when Neyla would enact her plan of secretly infiltrating Interpol incognito without arousing suspicion from the other officers.
A few minutes later, Neyla/Harley saw a police officer exiting out the door into the parking lot to his police car. Neyla made Harley sprint toward the police officer who's back was turned toward him. Neyla/Harley then used a fiber wire to garrote the police officer like what Agent 47 did in the Hitman video games when he incapacitated people. Harley then dragged the unconscious police officer toward a dumpster. He then took off his clothing which consisted of a grey hoodie with jeans and Adidas shoes and put on the Interpol coyote officer's uniform, which consisted of a blue police coat with a badge on it. Neyla/Harley put on the police officer's uniform. It fit him surprisingly well on his body. He kept his Adidas shoes on. It wasn't like the officers were going to give a shit whether or not Neyla wore Adidas shoes as a part of the police officer's outfit that she was currently wearing. Nobody really cared about shoes in law enforcement anyway.
Neyla/Harley lifted the unconscious coyote officer up off the ground and carried him over into the dumpster to hide his body. The last thing she needed was for someone to discover that the officer was miss and for one of the officers end up finding the unconscious coyote officer's body in the dumpster. Neyla put Harley's clothing in a burlap sack that she'd brought with her. Neyla then walked through the entrance of the Interpol HQ. The main lobby of Interpol HQ was brightly lit room that had a desk with a female lynx secretary working behind the desk with a Macbook Pro in front of her. Other officers walked by the disguised human boy. Neyla/Harley's disguise worked effortlessly. Nobody knew that he was a sixteen year old human boy who was in the police uniform. To the Interpol officers, he looked like just another cop. Neyla couldn't believe that her plan to have Harley infiltrate Interpol incognito without arousing suspicion from the other officers was working.
Neyla made Harley walk up to the secretary's desk. The female lynx secretary looked up from her laptop and stared at a young human boy who unbeknownst to her was incognito in another police officer's uniform.
"How may I help you?" the secretary asked the disguised police officer.
"Yes. I would like to see if Inspector Carmelita Fox is available. I'd like to go over a case file with her." the human boy said in a feminine British accent that sounded almost identical to Neyla's accent that she had before she died. In reality, Harley was speaking in Neyla's voice and accent with a bit of his diction sprinkled into the mix.
"Uh. I don't know. Inspector Fox is usually quite busy this type of night. She doesn't usually like to be interrupted during her work time." the secretary said.
"Well, this case unfortunately can't wait. Carmelita's gonna have no choice but to be interrupted. When is she going to be available?" the officer asked the secretary.
"Like I said, I don't really know when Inspector Fox is going to be available. If you'll wait, I'll contact her to see if she wants to speak to you about the case you're after." the secretary said.
"There's no need. I'll just go knock on her door and wait til she answers. I'm sure a little interruption wouldn't kill her." Neyla/Harley said to the secretary.
"May I ask what the case you're working on is about?" the secretary asked the disguised police officer. Neyla was afraid that the secretary was going to ask Harley about the supposed case file he was working on. She didn't know what to make Harley say concerning the fake case file he used as an excuse to gain access to Carmelita Fox's office. Neyla could make Harley say that the case was confidential and it was between him and her. She didn't exactly know what the case file she made up was about exactly. Neyla seriously wished she'd thought her plan to have Harley take out Carmelita Fox through.
"It's confidential. It's between me and her. I'd rather not discuss the case with you. I fear that Inspector Fox might get angry with me if I were to discuss the case with you or the other officers. It's top secret." Neyla made Harley say to the secretary, hoping she would buy the ruse.
"Ok. I understand. Inspector Fox's office is down the hall to the left. Her door is red with a gold insignia on it." the secretary told the officer. "Do you want me to give you the key to her office?"
"No need. I've got a lockpick in my pocket that I can use to enter Carmelita Fox's office." Neyla/Harley said to the secretary. She walked away from the secretary and went down the hall to the left toward Inspector Fox's office. Neyla couldn't believe that her plan to have Harley infiltrate Interpol incognito without arousing suspicion from the other officers went off without a hitch. She didn't think the plan would work. She was surprised that none of the other Interpol officers had seen through Harley's disguise. Now it was time for Neyla to have Harley enact her plan on punishing Carmelita Fox in retaliation for her killing her when she was in Clockwerk's former body by destroying the hate chip that powered Clockwerk. Her plan was for Harley to suffocate Carmelita Fox by covering her head with a pillow while she napped on the couch that was in her office. That would be the most efficient way of punishing Carmelita Fox as revenge. The other officers would rule her death as an accident by claiming she had mysteriously suffocated herself to death using her own pillow while she was asleep.
Neyla/Harley reached Carmelita Fox's office door. Her door was red with a stained glass window that had a badge insignia engraved on it. Neyla knew that this was the door that led into Carmelita Fox's office based on her memories of when she used to be Carmelita Fox's partner in Interpol back before the Klaww Gang had started their secret spice operation using the Clockwerk parts. Before she had betrayed Carmelita Fox in the jungles of Rajan's temple in India when she had her, Harley, Sly Cooper and Murray arrested by the Contessa. Those were bitter memories she would want to repress. Harley reached into the pocket of his police uniform for a lockpick that he could use to unlock the door to Inspector Fox's office. Luckily for him, there was a lockpick in one one the pants pockets of the uniform he was wearing. Neyla/Harley then proceeded to pick the lock on Carmelita Fox's office door.
Once it was unlocked, Neyla opened the door to Carmelita Fox's office. The boy entered the room. The office had a old fashioned CRT television set that sat atop a filing cabinet with a VCR hooked up below it. The TV was off. The television that sat atop the filing cabinet was directly in front of Harley. To the left of the television set was a table that had evidence tags strewn about it that contained the head of a walrus statue of Jim McSweeny that was recovered from the Italian museum that Sly Cooper, Murray, Harley Keener and his sister Emily had broken into a few days prior along with a picture frame encased a canvas that had the map of the Cooper Vault on it. The canvas laid face down on the table. To the left of the door was a sofa that laid the body of a blue haired orange furred vixen named Carmelita Fox who was fast asleep on it. Her leather coat that she always wore laid beside her on top of the couch. She wore nothing but her blue pants, knee high brown combat boots and her dark blue mid-driff top that zipped up in front. Her shock pistol was on the floor in front of the couch that Carmelita slept on.
Upon seeing Carmelita Fox's shock pistol laying there on the floorbeside where she slept, Neyla suddenly had a change of plan as how she would make Harley punish Carmelita Fox. She decided it would be much better if she made Harley shoot Carmelita Fox with her own shock pistol instead of having him smother her with a pillow that was on the couch that she slept on. It would be quicker and more effective if Harley were to shoot Carmelita Fox using her own shock pistol. Then it would serve as a kind of poetic justice for Carmelita Fox killing Neyla whilst she was inside the Clockwerk mainframe. Neyla/Harley walked in front of Carmelita and bent over to the floor to pick up her shock pistol. She then made Harley aim the gun at the sleeping vixen.
Just as Neyla/Harley was about the trigger, the soul of Neyla suddenly left Harley Keener's human body, causing Harley to have a momentary loss of balance as the sudden exit of Neylas soul leaving Harley's body made him stumble backwards in disorientation. Harley Keener's soul returned to his own body, meaning that Neyla's soul no longer had control of Harley's body. He was back to normal. Harley looked to the left of him and saw Sly Cooper standing by the window. The raccoon had a confused/bewildered look on his face. He wondered what his friend Harley Keener was doing in Carmelita Fox's office.
"Harley? What are you doing here?" Sly whispered to Harley. The human boy had no idea what he was doing inside of Carmelita Fox's office in Interpol HQ. He had no idea that the soul of Constable Neyla had taken over his body and mind to force him to assassinate Carmelita Fox as punishment for her destroying Clockwerk's hate chip which had previously killed Neyla. One minute, he was walking through the streets of Paris at night. The next minute, he found himself in Carmelita Fox's office in Interpol about to aim a shock pistol at her while she laid on the couch sleeping.
"I don't know." Harley said in his normal voice and diction. He didn't know what to say to Sly. "What are you doing breaking into Carmelita Fox's office?"
"I'm here to steal the map of the Cooper Vault that's inside the picture frame on her desk." Sly replied.
"I figured that I would want to help you steal the map with you." Harley said to Sly.
"Oh. I appreciate it. You could've asked me if you wanted to go along with me to break into Carmelita Fox's office to help steal the map to the Cooper Vault." Sly said to Harley. "I see you decided to disguise yourself as one of the officers to blend in with the other officer to avoid arousing suspicion."
The human boy looked down to see that he was wearing a police uniform with a badge pinned to the left side of the uniform with pants. He also discovered a communication device strapped on to a belt that held the pants together. Harley had no idea how or why he was wearing a police uniform for. He had no recollection of ever putting on a police uniform before. The last thing he remembered wearing was a grey hoodie with jeans and his Adidas sneakers on his feet.
"I figured it'd be better than sneaking through the window into Carmelita Fox's office. It raises less suspicion that way." Harley said nervously. Before Sly could respond back, Carmelita Fox suddenly woke up from her nap. Sly quickly broke the glass of the picture frame that held the map to the Cooper Vault and took the canvas. She looked at the teenage human boy who was wearing a police uniform.
"Harley? Why are you in a police uniform?" Carmelita asked Harley. Harley didn't know how to answer the vixen's question. He couldn't come up with a good excuse or answer as to why he was wearing a police uniform. He just shrugged his shoulders at her question.
"Well it seems kind of odd that a minor like you would be wearing a police uniform randomly for no explainable reason." Carmelita said to Harley. She then turned her attention toward Sly. "Freeze Cooper!"
"Anyone ever tell you how pretty you look when you're sleeping, Carm?" Sly said cockily.
"Save it, Cooper. Your silver tongue has no effect on me!" Carmelita declared.
"That's perverted!" Harley said in response to the raccoon's cocky statement toward Carmelita.
"I agree, Harley." Carmelita said. "What Sly said to me about how beautiful I look sleeping is perverted."
"If you had looked at the back of it, you'd see it's actually a map to something that belongs in my family." Sly said.
"Speaking of your family, I'd like you to hand over that map." Harley suddenly said to Sly. Sly stared at Harley in shock. Harley suddenly transformed from his normal self into his Clockwerk persona. His eyes became yellow once again. His lips and nose morphed into a beak. His fingernails suddenly turned into razor sharp talons. He became Clockwerk once again.
"GIVE ME THAT MAP, NOW!" Harley/Clockwerk said to Sly. "You don't deserve to have that map to the Cooper Vault!" Sly and Carmelita both stared at Harley/Clockwerk in shock, astonishment and fear all at once. They couldn't believe that Clockwerk had returned once again.
"Clockwerk?! That's not possible! I killed you! How are you still alive?" Carmelita asked incredulously to Clockwerk.
"You want to know what's not possible?" Harley/Clockwerk said. Clockwerk grabbed Carmelita Fox's shock pistol to shoot himself in the head to prove to both Sly and Carmelita that he was becoming immortal. He pulled the trigger. The bullet didn't faze Clockwerk at all The ball of electrical energy didn't affect him at all. The bullet ricocheted off of Harley/Clockwerk's head. Any normal person would've died upon playing Russian roulette with a shock pistol.
"How's that for something that's not possible?" Clockwerk asked Carmelita before using his yellow eyes to vaporize the firearm into nothing before her eyes.
"I don't know how you returned to the land of the living but I'll make it my mission to destroy you once and for all. We've defeated you twice before, we can defeat you again." Sly said angrily to Clockwerk.
"I'm afraid that I can't let you defeat me quite so easily like you did the last two times. I've got a new body now. If you kill me this time, you'll not only kill me, you'll kill your friend Harley Keener. I'm pretty sure you don't want that to happen. You can't defeat me this time. I ain't going to let that happen. Not this time. You don't deserve that map to the Cooper Vault. I will gain access to your wealth. You'll have no choice but to be stuck with me this time. This time there ain't no microchip for you to destroy to kill me." Harley/Clockwerk said.
"Over my dead body I'm letting you get access to my vault!" the raccoon said angrily to Clockwerk.
"I'll keep that in mind when you have children in the future, Cooper!" Clockwerk said before flying out the open window of Carmelita Fox's office into the night sky. Sly was now tasked with a difficult decision to make: kill Clockwerk again for the third time in a row or have his friend Harley Keener die in the process. Sly needed to figure out a way to defeat Clockwerk without killing Harley in the process. Sly knew he had no choice but to postpone the Cooper Vault heist until he, Bentley and Murray figured out a way to defeat Clockwerk without killing Harley in the process. Little did Sly Cooper and Carmelita Fox realize that soon it'd be too late to defeat Clockwerk once Harley Keener became Clockwerk both mentally and physically.