Fantastic Foxes of Zootopia: Series 3

by J Shute

Somehow, Sly Cooper returned. -Right into a Zootopia still reeling from Padriach Rattigan's actions. But once he, Nick, Judy and their various allies have put out the fires of chaos, justice is due. That and making sure the rat fails in his plans to bring back and try to harness a terrible power the raccoon is all too familiar with. Maybe even more so than he's letting on.

9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

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Check out the A03 version for art by Ziegelzeig.

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The air was hot and loud, expensive cars pulling up and mammals dressed in their finest stepping out. Music poured from open doors, the laughs of those out on the town filling the light filled night. Weaving through them all, a comparatively small raccoon spared a glance to the enticing lobby, opened up like a clam and with gold, diamond and green-backed pearls gleaming inside.

Sly paused, giving them a quick look over, curious to see if any mammals were coming out more… Broken than others. After all, he mused, looking up at the light filled windows rising up above him and the great cantilevered palm fronds beyond, that was this place's speciality.

Sure, it was all above board, but sometimes that was the coup-de-grace of the ultimate master criminal.

Which made this master thief all the more hungry.

He turned away from the lobby only to freeze, squeals screaming out. Tires, at first. Looking back, a battle fleet of massive black cars had arrived: Cattilacs, Landroarvers, Pferdcebes Bärnz, even a massive Humroar. The many lights of the Palm Hotel reflected off their polished bodywork and gold trims, in stark contrast to the soulless voids of the tinted windows.

The Humroar opened first, a razorback boar, tough, muscled, scarred from multiple battles and half ready to start a new one walking out, the rest following. Half drunk, half about to get drunk, pumping their fists, calling and squealing out. The only thing not present were wads of cash, but Sly saw the locked metal briefcases.

He knew enough about mob politics and the many interesting ways of not getting Al Catponed to figure it out, his smile growing.

One of the boars froze, sniffing the air before looking off into the distance.

Only to see nothing there.

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With a heavy clunk the gate at the back began sliding shut, the mammals all around watching the semi-truck turn and reverse into the open loading dock. Large boars stood by, waiting, looking, faint lines of disgust painted on their faces as they glared down at a raccoon and badger supervising the delivery, walkie-talkies in paws. A second raccoon dressed in chefs' whites looked on.

Back door sliding open, a mist formed as the chilled interior hit the hot outside, a haughty looking camel walking in, dipping his head so his chef's hat wasn't knocked off, frown growing on his face. One that failed to lighten as the raccoon grabbed a truffle from a container, shrugging his shoulders.

The camel just turned his gaze to some red coloured bottles, frown curdling before turning to his mammals. "I want this offloaded and prepared for the conference guests. The bottles are his responsibility," he cast a hoof down at the raccoon. "The real food's ours." He clapped, the mammals walking in, picking up the goods and loading them onto trolleys. The raccoon picked out a pair of camels and directed them to grab one too, 'for the good stuff.'

Only for the camel to turn and order otherwise. Only a few bottles were needed, the nightcrawlers could handle that.

An angry row brewing, mammals faced off against each other, warning what the bosses would think when they learned who had screwed this up.

None noticed a silent figure slip out from behind the driver's cab and race along the top of the lorry, halting above the door. A quick scan around, the loading dock was protected by an overhanging canopy which itself had vent stacks and extractor grilles placed into it.

Easy.

Only, a little too easy.

Sly knew places like these had been getting a lot tighter on securing the vents and other passageways. However, a quick look around and he spotted a very promising alternative.

The argument still in progress, Sly crawled forward and saw the raccoon chef carrying one of the contentious red bottles, placing it down and then turning to retrieve some more. He smiled, pulled a stone from his pocket, and with one well timed throw.

A smash rang out, all eyes turning to a caracal, his tail instinctively pulled up close to him and body frozen still. "It wasn't…"

That was all he got before the raccoons and badger turned on him, the camels and other hotel staff leaping to his defense in return, all missing a small figure leap overhead, run along the wall and hook a lamppost with his cane, launching himself forward. Another quick wall run followed by a jump and he landed on an ajar window, slipping himself inside.

From between two fast running washing machines his eyes landed on a stack of neatly dried and pressed uniforms.

.

A raccoon chef stormed out into the main lobby of the hotel, arms pumping and black and grey ring-tail swinging behind him as he passed by diners and servers, his claw tips almost sparking across the marble floor. A few members of staff, dressed in formal suits, saw him and backed away, not wanting to even tempt getting on the receiving end of such an artiste's inevitable tirade.

Leave him alone, just like with the group of laughing boars moving towards the elevator.

Sly modified his path, just a little, walking over towards a large indoor rock garden full of flowering cacti and colourful succulents. Slipping behind a palm tree trunk, he gave a quick gaze in with his Binoccucom and saw one of the porcine posse swipe a card against an in-wall reader, before pressing a button encrusted with gold and lapis lazuli. The lift openned, in they got, their car closing and making its trek up.

Slipping his comm away in his pocket, he worked his shoulders, feeling the solid mass of his cane's hook up against the small of his back. And with that, on he walked, making his way towards a different set of lifts, only to just skirt by a warthog heading off in the same direction as the rest of the boars first, getting a bit too close as the tusked mammal turned and pushed him away. "Well I…!" Sly began, immediately backpedaling on his prima-donnaness "-I apologise sir."

"-You better!" the warthog yelled, turning towards the same lifts as Sly looked into his paw, frowning as all he saw were a few green bills. Shrugging, he stashed them away, carrying on his determined march, this time aiming for a prim looking mongoose carrying a small plate towards a staff lift. The small mammal, focussing on his own job, jerked suddenly as the determined raccoon almost collided with him, throwing him off balance and forcing him to use both paws to stop his tray from spilling over the floor.

"You dropped something," the raccoon huffed, pointing at the floor. The small mammal turned to look only to find nothing there. He looked back to see the raccoon leaving, probably a blessing.

He walked on, making his way to a staff lift and reaching out with his keycard and…

He paused, paw tapping the side of his trousers. He then looked down, frown increasing as it wasn't there.

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"HIT ME!"

The dealer slipped his paw out to reveal a five of clubs, the hulking razorback laughing a little. "Look at that fellas! Twenty-one!"

They oinked and cackled, the sound filling up the gilded private room. On one side were the windows, diamond shaped between the rich brown supports and detailed as they rose up, the Palm Hotel's outer skin. The floor and walls were cool white marble, the columns inlaid with rich blues and reds as they climbed to a high vaulted ceiling filled with stained glass lanterns, casting a kaleidoscope of colours down below.

Slipping out of a small staff door and making his way along a narrow lighting gantry, Sly slipped off his disguise and packed it away, re-assembling his cane as he listened on.

"AND YOU KNOW I WANNA!" The pig laughed before sighing. "But I know, I know. Alas, it is too perfect for dis' world. Hit me!"

The jackal nodded, dealing a queen and pulling back the chips.

"Look what you did to mah baby!" the boar wailed, more rounds of laughter rising as a pink skinned sow walked around, topping up their cocktail drinks and dodging the odd pinch and grunt.

A different boar tapped the queen, sighing. "You know what they say Vinnie, it's always the lady, eh?"

Squeals, oinks, laughs and trotters banging on the delicately gilded tables rang out. The lights above danced and shook just a little, the odd shadow cast up on the roof going unnoticed.

Instead, two of the boars, feeling into their pockets and only coming up with heavy wads of cash, turned and began to make their way towards the chip exchange. Other razorbacks were lining up, offloading wads of cash, a studious lion counting them one by one. Squaring each set off, he crossed off a line in a black ledger before gesturing for the next set.

There was a pause, no expression registering on his thin, short-maned, grey flecked face as he counted. "Four-hundred short."

"I…" the warthog began. "Stupid cheetah short changed…"

"In which case you report it and pass it over to recovery," the lion said, a claw pushing his glasses against his brow as he turned to a sheet. "You called in that debts had been paid…"

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, sure you can…"

"Four-hundred. Now."

A smile plastered on his face and an empty martini glass in hoof, he leant forward. "Come on, buddy to buddy, ya burn the thing anyway…"

"Not before the boss will learn of your irregularity. Would you like me to inform him personally? At the conference?" the lion asked, a boar further back in the queue leaning in and saying something about just stumping up…

He got a heavy shove for his effort, two pigs, then three, then four starting to square off, pushing and squealing.

The lion straightened his suit and reached down to pick up his walking cane, watching and waiting.

The two boars at the back of the queue gave each other a look and headed off to the bathroom instead. A bit shaky on their legs, they passed a set of palm trees, knocking and rustling them. Opening the door, one last rustle sounding out, they entered in, the lights from the lanterns bobbing ever so slightly.

.

"-What kind of a wise guy he thinks he is anyway!?"

The other boar looked on as Vinnie threw his arms out wide, waving as he spoke, spittle thrown against the glass mirror in front of him. He just nodded and chuckled on, avoiding the use of the fur clippers he'd procured until he was certain a sudden movement wouldn't come about from his partners antics.

"-THIS IS WHY YA COUNT AND DOUBLE!" he continued, arms now gesticulating so wildly his own set of fur clippers were thrown back, sliding clean out of his trotters and crashing down on the face of one of the otter maidens delicately inlaid into the mosaic floor, smashing itself apart. Vinnie scowled, turning and looking over at it, glancing around to see if anyone had seen him. Thankfully the room was empty, the only movement a door to a changing cubicle waving slightly in the breeze. A glance over to the door in, closed; a glance over at the toilets, empty; a glance at the heavy-duty mud-removal showers, ready and waiting.

"There's nuthin' Vinnie," the other boar said, clippers on and working on the rougher areas around his jaws. He stretched out his chin, profiling it, all as Vinnie grunted and reached down, pulling out a long white cloth and a jar of polish. Rubbing the former into the latter, he hung it over one of his tusks and pulled it tight, working it backwards and forwards. Fast.

"I mean mammal know ya have pride in ya work," the other boar said, clippers down and a long thin file pulled from a red velvet pouch. He began working on his trotters, Vinnie glaring at him and grunting.

"Yeah, yeah, how long yous been thinking of that, rather than saying I have an anger issue. I know, I'm working on it! -Might go over and wallow a bit before the night is out. That my prescription, huh!?" He gestured at a steamed-up glass door to the mud baths before shaking his head and starting to polish his other tusk. "I mean I don't believe it, huh! What kind of mammal doesn't count his earnings! Stinking fast cat, probably pulled a quick snap and tuck -didn't even see it."

The other boar chuckled. "Pulled a fast one?"

"You feel real proud of youself for that, don't ya?" Vinnie grunted, spitting into the bowl. "An now you're probably gonna say the 'wise' guy thought he could hustle the boss outta his dough. As if he'd got that far, to be that stupid, over a lousy three digits. -An don't go saying the Teller didn't count properly, he don't. Hell, maybe I'm real mad that stinking warthog thought he could actually weasel himself in front of the Teller, to his FACE! Today! Stinkin'… I don't believe him… Better win it all back or…"

"-Now, now winning it all back really is just stealing…"

"-From the boss with extra steps, I know! Not like I 'lose' thousands here every night," Vinnie ranted. A smile grew over his face. "Though maybe he was stupid enough to try gambling somewhere else, huh?"

"Ha… Not the first, not the last," his partner said, sighing before letting out a chuckle. "But is he asking to be a meal offering tonight…"

He received a punch in the arm. "Don't joke about those leeches!" Vinnie hissed, "Stinkin' Goombears one thing, but those…"

"Even after the Goombears wrecked up the city…"

"Some Goombears," Vinnie muttered. "Some are as bad as the Leeches. But all Leeches are Leeches, ya hear! YA HEAR!"

"Yeah, I hear! Can the Leeches!?"

Vinnie glared at him before shaking his head. "Don't care. Goombears tearing up the city, biker wolves going clean, Leeches working with us, maybe I shouldn't be surprised one of our own tries to pull one." He finished polishing his tusks and threw the cloth down, hard. "That just takes the biscuit!"

"Maybe," the other boar said. "Or maybe something else. Maybe he just got pickpocketed."

"Ha! Well, whatever pocket weasel popped that, I say is either very stupid, or very brave an' stupid." Vinnie sniggered. "Nah, I bet that idiot forgot it somewhere. Still, what kinda mammals we letting in, that does that!" He spat down. "Not like us old razors could ev…" He froze, trotter coming down on his pocket with an empty slap. He shuffled it along it for a second or two, his other trotter racing down to his other pocket and feeling around. Nothing. And then they started in a flurry, diving into back pockets and suit pockets…

All as his partner laughed, freezing as his own trotter rested on his back pocket. Then his other trotter checked the other, before both were frantically searching themselves.

Inside one of the changing cubicles, one foot paw resting on the top of the hinge and one hand paw holding on to the cane that kept him pulled upright and off the floor, Sly smiled as he heard the frantic commotion outside and looked through the wads of cash he'd just acquired. Stashing them away, he turned himself around, planted both feet on the walls, and climbed up his cane. Reaching out, one paw grasped the dividing wall between this cubicle and its neighbour, the other soon joining in to shuffle him along, away from the door, and then pull him up.

Balancing on the narrow surface, he kept his ears perked as the other two began making their way out, Sly quickly slipping down as they smashed through the door in a hurry. As it began closing he calmed his breath down, eyes looking to the shadows, and keeping to them, movements swift yet controlled as he slipped practically invisible through the room to a small alcove. From there, all eyes still on both the warthog, now lying prostrate in front of the lion known as 'The Teller', and the unusual antics of Vinnie and co, Sly had no issue sneaking over to a small set of statues and climbing up them. Up and over, into the lighting gantry, safe and all the more in the know.

He pulled out his Binnocucom, looking out over the scenes as he mulled over just what he'd learned. Vinnie and co were busy searching, other pigs going around and tactically losing and, staring down at the bespectacled lion, Sly saw the big metal case down by his leg.

Currently being filled with more binders of money.

The raccoon licked his lips, slowly prowling along the outside, studying it all from varying angles.

The Teller looked up in his direction, Sly diving down before scooting along, the dust along the seldom cleaned walkway working its way up into the base of his fur. Slowly crawling himself along to a different section of wall, he tucked his ears down and slowly peaked up. As planned, a lantern lay in front of him, the view of the casino floor rippled and coloured beyond that.

The lion was back doing his work, counting a new stack of bills and…

The raccoon pushed himself up onto the top of the lantern, holding its support wire tight as he worked himself around, leapt onto the next, then the next, cutting the distance down until he was right above him, hugging the lanterns supporting wire tight, breath steady.

A lean over, it would be quick, it would be simple. A heavy cane hit to the head, a mad dash to the loot, and then?

-Well, the raccoon couldn't exactly see any way up to the lighting gantry close by, and returning by the way he'd come would leave him exposed and open for a brutal pig interception.

And in any case he was a Cooper, he was there to not be seen.

Now, if he could engineer a distra…

-As if on cue, a set of loud squeals began rising up, Sly looking over to see Vinnie of all mammals starting to accost someone. A binnocucom view in and…

Bbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….

Sly pulled the thing away and tapped it hard, hanging up the call. Even on vibrate the stupid thing sounded like it might as well have alerted damn near everyone down there.

He pulled it up, only for it to ring again, Sly grunting as he turned to the telecoms switch and turned it firmly off. And with that he looked on again, seeing Vinnie, his friend, and the warthog from the start beginning to get physical with two others.

The raccoon smiled, his grin broadening as he saw the Teller stand up, paw up and palm open, silencing those next in line. He folded his book shut, slipped it in a jacket pocket and then clamped the briefcase shut, taking it with him.

Sly suppressed the hiss trying to bubble its way up out of him and instead made his way across the lanterns, following him, watching him dress the pigs down. They protested, starting to go on about how they had the money…

The Teller told them to stay where they were, making his way over to the lifts. Sly raced after him, watching on and making his way towards the entrance to the lighting gantry, a flick of his creatively procured access card summoning the service lift.

Time seemed to crawl on and on until, finally, it opened, the raccoon hiding behind the wall at first before the sound of nobody inside was clear enough for him to move in. Or rather move into the door, letting him jump up and stick a wad of tape over the gap between the inner and outer doors. They tried to close only to open again, sparing the raccoon enough time to parkour and scrabble up, claws driven into the panel gaps, pulling up as high as he needed to go to…

Reaching out, his cane pushed up and worked its way into the gap between the top hatch and the car roof around it. He couldn't properly open it, there'd be a lock on the outside, but if he just wiggled it he coul…

-He dropped down, claws screaming as they unhooked from the seam they'd been lodged in, but Sly grinned as he fell, feeling the cane hinge around and start to pull up the hatch. Not much but fingers crossed…

It sprung to a halt at a forty-five degree angle, the raccoon scrabbling up and pulling out a wire, focussing as he thread it through and found the small latch… Get it on, get it around, it was an awkward push… -He couldn't… Bending up and around, toes latching onto the other side of the hatch, he pushed as hard as he could an…

It jolted, the weight of him and his cane levering it open as the raccoon jerked himself up and managed to get a paw onto the hatch frame. Pulling himself out, keeping the stranded lift's hatch open in case he needed it again, he looked around the black void of the lift shaft. Already a screaming rumble was sounding out from one side, a massive counterweight swooping past.

But that wasn't what he was looking for.

Looking down, he saw a lift car a whole shaft away come to a halt, doors opening. Binnocucom up and peering through the crack, he thought… Maybe lion?

Binnocucom down, fortune favoured the bold. He leapt forward and let himself fall, across the empty pit, foot paws forward and out and landing hard against a support strut, bouncing him on again in time to land him on the roof of the now rising car.

He panted, regaining his breath, ear down as he listened inside.

He couldn't hear anything…

Well, he could hear something.

They were rising ever faster, up and up and up, the wind howling as the counterweight plummeted down past them. Up they soared, the raccoon slowly beginning to wonder just how far up they were going.

A thought entered his mind, only to be rubbed out by a far more pressing one.

Looking around at the gantries and cable gear atop the car, the raccoon lay himself down as flat as he could, below them, sparing himself from an undignified end via elevator squashing.

Hopefully.

Looking up, he began to make out the top of the lift shaft, a rather large indent present for the top of the hoist…

Sly gulped, starting to squeeze himself in tight as they slowed down, scanning around, hoping that he'd figured it out as he unstoppably approached the merciless looming hard place…

Making out the vent grilles, then their individual holes, then the stones in the concrete as…

The lift halted, a crawl space left between the car roof and the lift shaft ceiling.

Sly breathed out a sigh of relief, pausing as he heard the door open below him. He saw the hatch nearby but, rather than going for it, he crawled his way over to the edge and lowered himself onto one of the steel beams crossing the void in between the lift shafts.

He crawled himself around the nearest one, all as the lift he'd rose up on lowered down, before making his way to another beam, looking ahead, taking a breath in, and leaping into the void.

His arms snapped to a close around the wires of the lift car he'd broken out of, paws clamping tight around it and making sure he'd got a firm grip. Cane transferred to his teeth, he shimmied up, moving it back into a paw and attacking up at the grate filling the hole the wires dropped through.

"Come on…" He muttered, "Come…"

Groaning, he put the cane back between his teeth, shimmying up further and bringing out a small circular saw. Starting it up, it made quick work of the plastic, working its way around and cutting the pieces until…

"Gotcha," he smiled, pushing it out of the way with his cane, hooking it on and then, letting go of the wires, legs hanging over the black pit, he squeezed himself through the gears, pulleys and wires, up and into the lift room.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

From here, it was easy.

Amidst the rolling thunder of the lift motors he could also hear the running hum of the air plant and ventilation systems. Moving out of the lift room and working his way along, he smiled. Just plant rooms and storage here, plenty of doors but none locked. His feet made light work as he raced along, sparing a glance at the occasional crack or gap leading down below.

He was in luck. Whatever lay beneath had fancy roof-flush lighting, which meant the upper parts of the lights were exposed on his side. Covered by a layer of insulation, keeping the stifling heat up in the attic somewhat away from the presumed brisk chill below, but nothing he couldn't peel off.

He found the perfect first target, what appeared to be a large circular light fitting, for an intersection or hallway. Up the insulation came and, with a quick flick of a pocket knife he peeled away a strip of the light's plastic covering, the brightly lit LED's revealed behind. It would be too much of a risk to turn the light off, on a one and done it would be a brief thing of note down below but while filtering through to find a target… Once was a fluke, twice a coincidence, three…

Instead, he brought out his Binocucom and began filtering through the settings. -An interesting thing about artificial lights, they may look one colour but in actual fact they were several, different colour peaks along the spectrum then merging together to a mammal's eyes. But, where there were peaks, there were also valleys. Admittedly, he was still used to doing this trick in the time of old school incandescent, sodium vapour, mercury arc and those 'new fangled compact fluorescents', so it'd take a bit of tweaking before… He pumped his fist, a massive gap opening up between the blue and violet wavelengths, the rough shapes and patterns of the luxurious rooms coming into focus behind. He wandered around the perimeter of the fitting, looking for any signs of…

-Nothing.

He put down the light's cladding and the insulation after, leaping back onto the catwalk and carrying on. It would take a while and a bit of luck, but he was certain that he could…

He skidded to a halt, smiling as he saw a fire escape plan up on one of the concrete walls, giving him a perfect schematic overview of the site. Just as he expected, this was a plant room floor, likely the highest in the entire building barring any additional viewing platforms. But what interested him the most was that it was in the shape of a giant ring. Quickly guiding himself to the outer wall, he stepped into a massive room filled with air conditioner condensers, busy humming away, cooled pools of stagnant condensation water below them. Skipping and hopping between and over, Sly came to a grill vent in the outer wall, smiling as he saw the bejewelled city below, along with the balcony of a penthouse room and the fringe of one of the lower palm fronds. Already plans and ideas were forming, but he wanted to check out something else. More out of curiosity than anything.

He made his way towards the inside of the ring, keeping his eyes open and piecing together things he hadn't noticed before. Massive sloping concrete columns, sticking out of the walls or standing alone, getting more towards the vertical as he got closer towards the halfway point between the two sides of the ring, and the massive steel brackets and cables that he could see on their inner sides, pulled taught as they helped keep the supports for the massive decorative palm fronds held together.

He followed one of the cable lines towards the inner wall, finding an access door and, after a trivial lock pick, made his way out.

The dull echo of electro music perked his ears, purples and blues colouring his fur as he looked down. There, nestled in the crown of the palm with the massive fake leaves towering around and above them, was what must have been the most exclusive dance club in the city. Mammals were raving and partying, all underneath the cover of a huge geodesic roof, its triangular panes rising up shallowly to their peak in the centre, beneath the concordance of the various steel support cables coming in from each side.

Sly shook his head, knowing that his mammal wouldn't be likely to be heading there… Though still filing away that useful tit-bit of information. However, something else had caught his eye, and confirmed an earlier theory. The annular plant room was not the highest part of the building. Up above him, nestled beneath and around the mountainous bulk of the bases for the various main fronds, overlooking the interior bowl and presumably the external side as well, were massive penthouses. Some were three storeys tall, easily worth a million bucks each if they were merely located down on the ground somewhere, and maybe hitting the nine figures brackets up here.

Sly had to hold himself back as he realised he was salivating.

First, back against the wall and gaze turned up. He suspected there were around half to a dozen of these penthouses, depending on whether two shared the gap between each set of fronds… Maybe even fewer if a bunch were joined together. -Either way, the point was that he might well be under one, and one that was occupied at that. A quick glance though and he realised something else was directly above him. More of the mechanical plant or something?

He jumped up, climbing towards a gap in the panels and looking in, an eyebrow perking. A huge set of horizontal winding gear lay in front of him, along with two large empty concrete bays. It was the upper station of a cable car, or at least it was set out to be used as one, should the need ever arise.

For instance, you weren't able to sell all your penthouses and wanted to convert this place into something else, with its own special access route. Annoyingly it seemed that one of the things not yet installed were the cables themselves, so that escape route was cut out.

Turning back, Binocucom out, Sly scanned that other penthouses. At least half the windows were dark, a few of the residences had one or two lights on. But his eyes focussed on one at about ten-o-clock. Full sized, every light on and, focussing in, he could see some porcine figures in some of the windows, dressed in full black suits and toting…

The raccoon stepped back a little…

If there was any lingering possibility of a full frontal assault, it was now most certainly off. It was time to be extra sneaky, or rather extra extra sneaky…

Which led to a new question, how to get in?

This wasn't as easy as most other infiltrations, even to high-specced out buildings. With these kinds of sums, the building would be decked out with top of the range security designed to stop bats or mice from getting in. Kevlar inlays alongside the whole of the wall, ceiling and floor, inbuilt with anti-cut detection alarms; scanning cameras and microphones; electrified vent and pipe entrances.

Scanning around with his Binocucom for any signs of infra-red trip beams, the raccoon noticed a few before stepping away.

Paw on his chin he looked over towards a closer penthouse. By the looks of it, pretty much the same, albeit closed off and out of use. Of course, being out meant that a security system would most likely still be on. He judged things over for a second or two before making up his mind, slipping back up into the unused cable car station. Sure, it didn't have any use as an escape route or even an entry point, but if he was right it could present him with something else.

An alibi.

It didn't take long for him to find exactly what he was looking for. There, nestled up against a steel beam, sat a collection of twigs and feathers. Its occupants, brown and quiet, shifted as he approached, their speckled white underbellies and yellow beaks and eyelids exposed. Beneath them, their two chicks shook a little. Growing fast, but still young.

Sly gave a calm shushhh, carefully making his way towards them as he reached to his ankle bag and brought out a small dusting of powder, working its way along the edge of his cane. The peregrines looked back, one of them getting agitated, fluffing itself up and starting to make its way forward, beak out and panting.

Wings starting to flutter.

It took one step back and Sly snapped his cane against the steel beam, a flash of light igniting. The birds flinched, going silent, collapsing on their feet as they looked dead ahead, unsure.

Sly just calmly moved on, taking the nearest one and tucking him away. "You should be honoured you know," he said, making his way towards the cliff's edge. "That was the last piece of the Thievius Raccoonus I managed to recover. -Not the last bit of intel mind you, there were plenty hidden in codes or spread about inside, but that…" He froze where he was, taking a sudden step back, a gasp coming out from his throat.

One he pushed against, scowling as he marched forward once more. "Have a good time, why don't you?" He reached the precipice, hooking his cane around a steel support and leaning out around the edge, surveying the path forward before gripping the cladding tight. Feet finding holds, he worked himself around the end and towards the sloping roof of the hotel, balconies of the elite rooms below and the angular figure of an empty penthouse's front facade up ahead.

A few little more works along and… -He leapt over, feet landing on the small roof garden, terraces of stone and empty planters, sunloungers and private hot-tubs and pools rising up to a cosy overlook, a small lawn of manicure grass surrounded by greco-roman mosaic paths and colonnades. Beyond it was three full storeys of floor to ceiling glass, the night vision through his binocucom giving him a more than sufficient look at the sight within. A massive open plan atrium, sunken seating areas, kitchens, lounges, bedrooms, who knew what else branching off on either side. All draped in plastic sheeting, ready for an occupant yet to find his very humble abode, or busy on the other side of the world.

And looking up…

-Assuming all of these penthouses were the same, he was seeing some options…

He also noticed something else along the glass frontage. The hinges and the locks, and even closer, imbedded in the triple glazed panes themselves. Ever so faint but there…

The wires confirmed his suspicions about just how decked out this place was. Looking closer in, he even saw the sight of infrared heat monitors, standing sentinel over an empty room lest anything get it.

But were they on?

Might they even have found him out now?

Were it the infrared system and not the door locks and monitors he could have picked a lock, swung open a window, thrown the peregrine in there and have the security teams busy and distracted by a bunch of 'stinkin' birds' while he made himself busy. However, different problems led to different solutions.

Giving it all another quick look over, filing away every single thing he could for future reference, he patted the squirming figure in his backpack before grabbing on to the grooves in one of the lower columns, pulling himself up to the faked out break and then jumping from one to another, gaining enough height to then leap forwards towards the valley between this penthouse and the next, cane out and wedging itself between the grooves of the roofing material as his paws hooked on.

His tail gave a swish or two above the great void before he darted forward again, up past and around the erupting base of one of the giant metal fronds, up to the very peak of the proper roof as he then made his way around and towards the target of interest. Weaving this way and that, ducking around the massive green steel eruptions, balancing on beams between rooflights. The air had been still down below but up here it howled, whistling through his fur as it wormed its way through the passes. There was a soft rustling in the air from the massive structures up above, the solid steel giving way to huge taught fabric fronds, gently tugging against their anchors as they caught the breeze.

All as the electronic music from the central club pushed back against it.

Sly hooked onto the ever shifting front and he leapt over a bright lit light and slid down to the next valley. If his counting was right…

Down low, he made his way up towards the next apex, a long ridge of thick tough glass, sets of giant glass panes rising up to meet each other in the middle. He made it to the edge and looked down, scanning with his Binocucom and smiling.

On the outer side, it seemed to be set out with just a few rooms, albeit massive ones designed to host any megafauna guests. It was in the other two thirds that things got interesting. Set out like the last penthouse, albeit now showing itself off far more clearly. In the centre of the palace in the sky was a massive forum, open and wide and ready to host any function, two rows of glass lined balconies up above in case there were any onlookers curious enough to venture out of their rooms, or the gym, or personal spa or whatever.

As it happened though, as Sly looked down past the intricate contemporary hanging light fittings, everyone was on the ground floor. Busy at the diplomatic conference.

.

A small bony limb was curling around a fluted glass, see-through leather cocooning the column as it was raised up, the thick red liquid inside flowing back towards the waiting mouth, moving between two sharp pairs of fangs. With a satisfied gulp, the bat dropped the glass down, a smart looking raccoon sommelier taking it away, leaving the finely dressed mammal to look at those in front of him. The javelina, dressed in a white suit and with golden chains around his neck, looked on in thinly veiled disgust. The thin black boar next to him, standing behind like a shadow, just looked on.

"Mr Peccari," he began, smiling. "Please, do not put yourself at displeasure on my behalf. I am more than willing to go without for the sake of diplomacy with an equal like you."

The pig, an angry scowl growing on his face, brown-tan fur turning ever so slightly red beneath, shook his head. "I can manage the cannibalism," he snorted, "it's the smug self satisfied look on your face that I can't…"

"-Children." They all cut to three figures standing at the head of the table. The largest, a white wolf, looked over and scolded at them, her arms crossed. "I was told I would be here as an impartial middlemammal, not a cubsitter to petty squabbles." She laid a glare at the javelina, before turning a softer, if still somewhat harsh glare towards the vampire bat.

The former grovelled, sitting back down, while the latter waved away his sommelier. Both turned to the map of Tundratown laid between them, lines being laid out. Half complete ones here, circles there, notes and pieces of paper. Discussions moved back to a large set of docks near the climate wall, the black boar starting to calmly detail at length how it complemented the pleasure and luxury docks over in his home district and their desire not to be undercut, given the highly unprofitable and destructive temptations that a trade war might induce. The vampire bat raised in counterpoint his organisation's long-held desire for port facilities and how this facility, with its large set of cargo lifts to the nocturnal district, was by far and away the stand-out choice. More arguments and discussions began, a heavily tattooed mole rat furnishing the vampire bat with more details and figures, the javelina going on about how real mammals actually built infrastructure and that there had been plenty of potential sites over on the Rainforest side that could have been co-opted when its suzerain had chosen to abdicate her responsibilities.

The white wolfess stood silent, just like the young shrewette and older, kippah wearing grey rat lawyer to her sides.

Up above, Sly raced along one of the beams along the rooflight, up and over before ducking down against the side of the roof, scanning once more. Both sides seemed to have brought a small but formidable backup, tough razorback boars decked out in heavy armour and weapons on one side, a more motley crew of opossums, raccoons, badgers and a female vampire bat on the other. Binnocucom up again, zooming in closer, Sly bent his head before pressing the button to call in to Bentley.

"Hey, we've got some kinda…"

"SLY!"

The raccoon flinched back. "Shhhh…"

"What are you doing Sly!" the turtle scolded back, Sly moving the Binocucom back to his face. His friend was scowling, leaning down, face illuminated by the light of the computer screens as he typed. "What are you thinking! Why are…"

"Hey, I was just a little put off by the whole 'reliving my parents murder through the eyes of the murderer' experience I had, so thought I'd indulge in a hobby to distract myself. Relatable, no?"

Bentley just looked up at him, giving him a blank look. "So you're on the roof of the Palm Casino?"

"-Yeah, bit of fun looting here and…"

"-Get back now."

Sly blinked, before frowning. "Or what?"

"I'll tell Carmelita."

His mouth hung open, before shutting closed again. "That's low bro."

"As is running off to do a high risk heist with no backup, no plans, no recon, not even telling me before…"

"Hey, it was just a little thing at first, but I stumbled on a bunch of mob money laundering, and a UN conference."

"...A what?"

"A Uniatida Nostra conference, take a look."

He guided the Binocucom down to the map, discussions still going on over the port facility.

"Well okay then, you picked up a giant scoop for the ZPD and Interpol. You had your fun, record what you want and then get out of there. Don't do anything stupider."

"I… -Ah ha!" Sly jerked his binocucom up, zooming in on the figure of a lion tail peeking out from behind a wall. He began shimmying himself over, getting a better view and… "There he is," he said, zooming in on what was clearly the older lion from earlier, waiting patiently. Sly zoomed in close enough to see him flick open a gold pocket watch, checking the time and then briefly studying the inlaid picture on the other side. A sepia tinted photograph of a black and white small-cat of some breed, white eyebrows and smudge around the end of his muzzle, scowling green eyes and thin golden rimmed circular glasses perched on his muzzle.

"Is there something about…" Bentley began, as Sly moved down and focussed on the silver briefcase. "Sly…"

"That contains a ton of mob cash and records of their money laundering," the raccoon said.

"Sly. Do you want me to list the many reasons why engaging with that is a stupid idea?"

"Patience, patience, he's probably here to discuss some top enforcers losing their money, it won't be long before that case is dropped somewhere and…"

"They're on the hunt for the returned Cooper," Bentley scolded. "News is spreading among the underworld, more and more mammals know you're back, and…"

"And they probably know given that I met her before," Sly said, moving over to the white wolf currently arbitrating the meeting. "She's nice by the way."

"-So in that case…"

"I get in and out before they even learn that something is amiss! Easy."

"...One, that entirely contradicts your 'patience' line."

"I'm not much of a…

"Two, what happened in the past with Clockwerk Sly!"

The raccoon stared back, blankly.

"You KNOW you can trust us with whatever happened. We know what that thing was like, and…"

Bentley was cut off as Sly took the Binocucom away, turning it onto mute once more and walking along the length of the roof. Ears against the glass, seeing if he could hear anything or not. Their talk was mostly muffled though, as he got around to the megafauna guest suite he thought he heard… -Well, he wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it certainly sounded like a childrens cartoon.

Moving his way back along, Sly saw that the black boar had finally left the table, moving the way of the teller. The lion saw them, their eyes met, the boar said some words and the lion replied. The porcine mammal simply nodded and made his way back towards the conference table, Sly gritting his teeth.

Now or never.

He raced back towards the inner ring of the penthouses, looking on. There were four mammals at guard, a boar, a jackal, a fossa and a hippo. The small terrace they were on wasn't nearly as elaborate as the exterior sky gardens, but was still somewhat a size, and it would be a tight fit in. The door was closed, he presumed not locked but he couldn't tell, and even if he knocked four of them out cold someone inside might spot them.

Thankfully though there were the two floors above and, on each side, they had balconies looking out. Juliet balconies admittedly, so he'd have to balance on an incredibly thin ledge while trying to open what was probably an incredibly over-engineered lock… So not the easiest of…

He paused as he saw one of them open up, the raccoon sommelier walking out, cigarette in paw. Sly chuckled, reaching into his bag and bringing out the peregrine from earlier, struggling somewhat. Skipping back out of view, he brought out another little bit of powder, sparking it off in front of the bird to daze him. And then, walking out to the edge, he lined him up… "I'll try for that small pool, fella. No hard feelings?"

And then he lobbed him, ducking away as a splash rang out. There were a few shouts of confusion followed by a laugh, as Sly raced forward, hooking his cane on the roof to pivot himself around and send him down and in, straight onto where that poor unfortunate raccoon had been.

-And still was, leaning out further in curiosity. He didn't even notice as Sly slammed down on top of him and pitched forward in a roll, paw clamping over his muzzle before the scream could even come out. A push back, knocking his head on the hardwood floor, and he was out cold, Sly looking up to check the room. It was a small smoking lounge, thankfully nobody around, and he quickly pulled his victim over to a lounger and set him up in a recovery position. Glancing over his shoulder as he went, he stripped him of his clothing and stuck it over his own, even grabbing a tray and cloth, balancing them to somewhat hide his cane.

The disguise wasn't perfect by a long shot. Even those on the Sahara Square mob side might realise something was wrong if they looked at him for too long, yet alone those on the side he worked for. But it should allow him to walk along the emptier upper balconies with somewhat of a cover. His heart was beating furiously. He felt his fingers twitching.

This was living.

He walked over to the door, ear on it before walking out, the upper walkway empty as he'd expected. All the VIM's were downstairs, discussing, squabbling. Slipping into somewhat of an alcove, he bought out his binocucom and zoomed in on a hanging stainless steel orb of some kind, one of many decorations hanging from the beams of the main corridor's full length light fitting. The reflection of the main meeting down below was distorted, but he could make it out. A line was being drawn out by the javelina mob boss, who took a drink of some spirit as he did so, returning and coughing slightly…

The whole mood on the table changed for a second before the wolfess walked over, marked out an equally sized divot going the other way, and carried on. As did the raccoon, thinking he heard what he assumed was the grey rat making a comment about the wolfess following in the pawsteps of the greats.

Sly meanwhile was moving around the midway point of the room, stepping as close to the edges and shadows as he could as he kept himself as inconspicuous as possible. A glance over as he followed the path on its square detour around the wide central hall, and those at the table were still all there… Still hadn't seen him. He slipped into a corner, Binocucom up, finding a bit of golden gilding and making out what looked like the Lion once again. Still waiting. A lean out and he saw that the black boar was next to the javelina. Had he informed him, was he waiting?

Sly just kept on moving around, ears pricking as he heard what definitely sounded like kits cartoons playing. Either the owner of this place had decked out his elephant sized room with a jungle gym to make the ultimate kits playroom, or… Well, Sly didn't know what and despite his curiosity, he had his priorities.

He turned sharply as he found a staircase going down, making his way along and getting ever more careful as he reached the base. Peaking out, he saw the lift and stair lobby, sized for the largest guests, the lion waiting there dutifully, his briefcase down by his feet. -The only problem was another group of guards by the door. Once more, two from each side.

Still, looking around Sly noticed something of use. Near the lifts and stairs, just recessed enough by the wall to be hidden, was a large cupboard with a small electrical sign placed on it. A glance around and making sure that the eyes weren't on him and he darted across the void, back against the wall, before reaching up with his cane and gently opening the door. He slipped in, night vision on his binocucom showing out the various distribution boards and breaker switches for the penthouse. Almost all in one large set. He smiled, climbing up to one in the dead centre, opening the door and slipping in a small powdered charge from inside his hat. Indeed, it looked just like his hat. However, with the flick of a primer switch it became something much more destructive.

Moving a small electric relay to the base of his cane, he closed the door and walked out once more. Spying at first, but then slipping out and closing the door, waiting for the right moment to return and…

A buzz of activity rang out from across the hall, chairs scraping and mammals on the move. Sly saw the lion stand up, smoothing down his suit, before ducking back into the electrical cupboard to hide himself as mammals began to move. Through the narrow gap he saw the black boar arrive back, this time with the javelina, his face glowing red as he barely contained his rage at the interruption.

"Don't they know we're hosting the stinkin' leeches here! Don't they…"

"They do," the lion said, "Which is why I believe an outside influence is at play here."

"I…" the javelina grumbled, looking to the boar for a second. The black mammal gestured at the lion with an open expression, his boss looking back and waving him along.

The lion dutifully followed, Sly waiting for the heat to clear before pushing on after them. Eyes open, feet silent, he heard them climb one floor, then then next, ducking around the corner to see them walking towards a thick oak door, the javelina inputting a code on an electric keypad.

His heart began beating faster as he saw the opportunity open up. He slipped off the trappings of his sommelier disguise, looked up and saw the brass railing of the balustrade and the long metal beams and decorations on the hanging light fittings. One leap, then two, and he was on them, racing along with silent feet, jumping and weaving past straining support cables as he stooped down on his prey, leaping out fast with feet forward to meet the railing as his cane came down, claw on a trigger up top and detonator button on the base.

It clicked, a soft bang echoing out as the penthouse was plunged into darkness. The trio turned, just in time for a bronze cane to slam into the lion's face and hook on, Sly jerking to a halt mid-air and dropping down, cane swiping at his loosened claw as he charged forwards, pulling the heavy briefcase up against him and racing out of their range.

The mammals down below were already beginning to whisper, shout, scream, even trumpet in dismay, the three behind screaming and yelling out, as Sly panted, pushing with his legs and jumping once more onto the railing and then up onto the light fittings, barely able to do it as he heaved the heavy case with him.

This was gonna be a tough one!

But he'd done the hard part. Race along the edge, leap down one level, out the way he came in, across the tensioning cables above that nightclub and…

A sharp pain cut through the tip of his tail, his eyes widening as his feet started to stumble, almost slipping off the pinnacle of the light he was balancing on and sending his next stride to the side, forcing him to contort his body to make the next leap. He whipped his tail around only to hear a flutter and a laugh, a dinner plate sized shape cackling as she flew up and past him, almost taking an ear. He scowled, bending his legs again to make the next stride before realising a fall was coming up on him like a speeding freight train. -He leapt to the side out of its way, one foot balancing on the balustrade before he dropped himself into a fast combat roll on the walkway. He was still on the other side to the pigs and lion, so there was only the bat to…

Zip "AH!"

He smiled as he sprung up, turning to see a female bat twitching as she tried to recover her flight, scowling at him as she did so. "WHAT THE GUANO WAS THAT! DID YOU JUST ELECTRIFY ME!?"

"What can I say," he smiled, eyes narrowing. "Rolling, fur, static electricity, now if you don't mind…" He froze mid sentence, eyes widening as they turned to see the opposite side of the hallway. The javelina, boar and lion had no chance of catching him. Instead, the big cat was raising his cane up, the end pointing at him and looking very gun like. He ducked just in time for the end to flash, a deafening bang ringing out as the glass to the balastrudes shattered, a rain of shards hitting both him and the bat.

He grit his teeth, he could cope, just get a distraction down and leg it! Fortunately he still had some of that flash powder on the end of his cane and with a flick against the brass it sparked, a pop and a flash lighting up. The loud bang of the gun going off ripped out milliseconds after, followed by the ping of it sparking against the metal pawrail and hitting the wall well above him.

The raccoon wasn't even going to give him time to re-aim, he jumped up onto all fours, briefcase clutched under him, and leapt through the shattered remains of the glass wall, head smashing through and a smothering pain coming over him, before the whipping cuts of the glass woke him up again like a bucket of ice water. Eyes open, he saw the next level down on the opposite side coming up, paws out to guide him over and down, landing prone before charging forward once more.

The main squad of mooks were one floor below, the gunmammal was directly overhead and blocked by the walkway above, the…

He heard the fluttering of wings and turned, eyes widening as she came again, something long and sharp flashing out towards him. Head jerked back, the fur against his neck cut, he swung his cane at where she was going to be only for her to narrowly dodge it, laughing as the ground began to shake.

Another thrust, she missed again, the raccoon realising her eyes were welded shut, -even if he had the time to get more flash powder on his cane end it wouldn't do anything. And she didn't need to do anything either, just hold him there as whatever was bearing down on him like an avalanche caught up.

He turned and gulped, realising that the megafauna suite had very much been used for its intended use, a massive and now very angry gas-mask clad elephant letting out a muffled roar through his air filter as he swung the table the map drawing had been taking place on around and straight at him.

Sly leapt up, backflipping as the massive piece of furniture bulldozed into the glass and brass, sweeping it all straight beneath him and beyond, punching through the glass wall at the end. "Thanks for the escape route," Sly smiled, racing on and away, only to scream in pain and look down, a brown figure trying to bite through his fake fur leggings and at the artery beneath. He dropped into a roll again, trying to build up the static charge before realising that it was just charging her up as well. All as she furiously worked her way up, biting and clawing, trying to find purchase of a terminal wound to…

He saw the elephant race ahead and try to reach out with his rubber clad trunk. Sly halting on the spot and leaping forward, cane out in front of him and slamming him between the eyes. There was a muffled roar of pain, followed by a crashing and shattering as he fell back into the walkways behind them, bending them out of shape. Mammals down below were barking orders and screaming in panic, the bat beneath him had disengaged to yell out the pachyderm's name -Gus or something… The raccoon just leapt back again, paw going down and grabbing the vampire just as another loud rifle shot rang out, slicing across his back in a whip of pain.

Sly landed, crushing her against the wall with his paw before turning, hooking her with the crook of his cane and sending her tumbling away, screaming as she tried to regain control. All as he picked up the briefcase and ran, paw into his bag and coating the end of his cane again with what he realised was the last of the flash powder. WHY HADN'T HE STOCKED MORE!? Oh right, of course, he was an…

He touched it against the broken frame of the window, the flash coming out and the mammals down below covering the exit wincing back. One of them began letting rip, peppering the way up with paralysis darts. The raccoon could only throw out another one of his hat mines before looking back, freezing in terror as he saw both the elephant recover and start towards him again and the lion beyond turn onto his level, cane starting to rise.

Sly detonated it, yells of panic coming out as he charged forward regardless, even as the blind firing at his easiest way up continued. Instead, the raccoon aimed for something else, leaping out into the void and looking at the mammals down below. Two were down for the count, one was firing blindly and the other trying to reload his weapon, spotting the raccoon and trying to turn around.

Sly threw another mine hat their way, causing them to turn and panic, just buying him some time as he fell past them, feet shaking as they touched down on the guy wires for the palm frond supports. He was racing forward, balanced perfectly on the high wire, instantly. Racing over the geodesic dome, the revellers beneath there partying on regardless. One massive crowd, packed together, if only there was a…

Sly glanced back, seeing the mammals in the penthouse pooling out, weapons starting to rise. -And he flicked the end of his cane against the wire, seeing them flinch back and yell as another hat mine went off, the raccoon reaching in to find he was running low, no time to do a full count. He armed it as fast as possible, bunching it up and throwing it down in a rushed second before leaping after it, the end of his cane pulled back to touch onto the wire, setting off the detonator as it touched the waiting glass panel.

He didn't know if it just spiderwebbed it or fully broke it before his cane end swung down and kicked it open, his weight cutting him through in a sudden blizzard of slicing pain before he slammed into the trunk of a fake palm tree. Or a real one, it was hard to tell when his nose did the feeling by being slammed into it. Claws scrabbling, he held himself for a second to catch his breath before dropping down and around, carrying the briefcase past the few confused revelers and beyond, into the throngs too EDM'd out to even notice the bloodied procyonid who'd just busted through their ceiling. He brought up his Binocucom and opened the link.

"Bentley, I…"

He winced down a bit.

"-Okay, good to know you care, even if you're now wearing the 'I told you so' look. Anyway, I need a pick up and… Oh good to hear, meet you soon… -Fine, if you insist, we'll talk."

.

.

"WHAT WAZ THAT!"

All eyes turned to the javelina, so furious his face had gone beet red, visible even with the lights still busted up. A few mammals had brought out torches or their smart phones, a hurried meerkat server was going around and bringing out candles to light them.

The javelina paced madly, pausing as he saw the lion march up to him, an electric device held out and several tough looking grunts behind him. "Good! Get that thing BACK!"

The lion nodded and marched off as the black boar returned. "Security has closed off all exits to the club and is on their way to intercept him on the dance floor."

"Great," his boss snorted, turning around and giving a heavy kick to a mangled piece of balustrade that had peeled off. "All I need, bad reviews for the most exclusive club in the city! My prize jewel! He couldn't go steal my actual one so he… so he! Who does he think he is!? Some Coopah wannabe!"

"-Oh yeah, and more," came a sardonic reply, as he looked over to see the female vampire bat. She'd been tending to the fallen elephant but turned to face him. "That hat mine and flashbang stuff, that's prime Cooper clan." She shrugged. "I guess the electrified rolling must be too."

"Sly Cooper was much an unknown before he revealed himself," the male vampire bat said, turning his gaze from the naked mole rat, who in turn was tending to the raccoon sommelier. "And the other members of the gang were still active."

"You're saying Sly had a Pup, Vlad!?" the javelina barked out.

"That or just an heir, an adopted raccoon from some orphanage, who knows. There were reports ever since the chaos of that night. Many that the real deal has returned, to this city."

"-It's true." All eyes turned to the white wolf.I met him that night, I helped him and the Dark Flame Wolf try to hunt down Rattigan.

"-AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS NOW!?" the javelina roared, marching over to her, hoof thrust out. "YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BEFORE TO OFF THAT WORTHLESS…"

A loud bellow from the elephant cut him off, the masked figure shaking his head back and forth slowly, trunk pointing at the enraged mob boss.

He huffed and panted for a second or two, before turning back to her. "Care to explain yourself Lang?"

"You know I'm as out of the game now as these two," she said, pointing down at the two rodents. The shrew had been shaken up so bad she was crying into the rat, who was trying to give comfort. "Besides, given what we've just seen, consider how any attempts I might have made to give a favour to my old side would have gone. Not including the presence of the most feared vigilante in the city next to me."

He shook his head and mumbled a few things. "You know at least the leeches and their crew tried somethin'... I'm gonna have some pretty big bills comin' up here," he gestured around.

"I suppose I can lend my mammals to…"

"Oh no, this is a league above what grubby biker paws can handle, I want cold hard cash and…"

"How about a favour to downplay any media storm against the jewel in your crown?"

He looked at her for a second, a small smile growing on his face as he began to laugh. "You wolves. Screw the foxes, you're the sneaky ones. I…" He turned to see the lift opening, a group of mammals moving out, carrying some heavy boxes between them. "Good, Vinnie, prepare to repay the new raccoon induced debt you just have. You and you boys, set them up on the inner balcony, pronto."

They nodded, marching off as the javelina worked his hooves over each other, sniggering. "Okay, prepare to see how real mammals do it. Mr Cooper's relaunched career is about to come crashing right down with a nice prickly surprise-surprise."

.

.

Sly worked his way through the packed crowds, even managing to bounce and mosh with and into them. Lights were flashing, paws were up, a glance and he saw the two DJ's, a coyote and a deer both wearing some bird-plague mask things dancing on stage. He ducked to the side, making his way towards a signposted fire escape exit only to…

Seeing a bunch of black suited security mammals turn up he changed direction, pushing the other way. Towards the main entrance and…

He breathed in, breathed out, looking around. The centre of the nightclub had some kind of pavilion on it, over the musicians, and there were some operable windows that he could climb up to if he could get there and…

A flash of black coming in at his side and he sidestepped, thrusting out with his cane and clubbing the jackal security guard in the adam's apple, sending him back before hooking around the back of his neck and pulling him down onto the floor, jumping over. Picking up the pace, looking around, even managing a few jumps and boogies to try and blend in. But the mammals were coming, closing in, so he chose to make a break for it. Up towards a set of steps, filtering through and leaping onto the railing to climb up, balancing as he went and skipping over the thrown arms of…

An ibex cut through and thrust his horns out at him, Sly balancing back before grabbing on and letting himself get launched over with the backswing. A sea of horns greeted him, and what were horns and antlers and heads but very unusual ninja spires for him to race across. Some of them began to yell and shout as he raced over, before ducking down below as he heard the whizz of a tranq dart race past. Skipping through the kicking legs, he kept going through the maze as a boar and a jackal emerged on him in a pincer, tranq's drawn. Sly raced forward, punting the former's hoof up with his cane and sending the dart flying into some unfortunate civilian while swinging around to use his body to block him from the jackal. The pig made a swipe for his cane but Sly pulled it back, whacking a camel guard between the legs with the curved end before stabbing the pig in the solar plexus with the pointy. Dart gun down, the jackal curved around to get a better shot, Sly diving and swiping at his legs before rolling underneath. Up, the canine's tail between his paws and brought down on his knee, the guard howling.

Sly leapt up and slammed the butt of his cane into the back of the larger mammal's head, sending him staggering forward into the camel and boar, all of them stumbling before recovering. Recovering too fast, other mammals were cutting in.

The raccoon raced over and hooked his cane through the jackal's legs and around his paw, pulling back, yanking the tranq gun out of his grip and into Sly's owns, firing the dart straight into the camel's chest. The boar made a move, Sly swinging out with his cane to knock him before using the empty gun as a knuckleduster against a sandcat, knocking him out cold. He rolled forward, picked up the feline's gun, fired it against the jackal and then picked up both empty guns and threw them into the stumbling boar's eyes.

He then fled, cutting through the crowd as its mood began to change, mammals starting to turn, run, panic, running with him one moment and against him the next. A flash to his side and he thrust up with his cane against a boar, knocking him back and away as he turned to see a dart gun aiming up right at him. Sly skipped forward, the shot cutting through his tail fur and the raccoon scrabbling on all fours to push on towards his end goal. Up ahead was a whole fake waterfall and cliff, timber decks for partygoers on top and a pool area down below, and a gap inbetween. He slipped through, ignoring the hushed whispers and odd scream as he raced along the inner edge of the pool, turning towards the end and…

Two meerkats slid down in front and behind of him, both pulling out their weapons as Sly dove in, tackling the one ahead and wrestling his gun away, slamming him chin to the ground and holding the tranq forward against the now frozen partner.

Sly cocked his eyebrow as the meerkat took a step back, aim wavering… -The raccoon lowering his gun and darting the squirming mammal below him before throwing him forward straight at the now fleeing security agent. The raccoon turned on the spot, racing on, around the edge of the pool and…

A roar to his left and he saw the massive figure of a brown bear rising up, water cascading down his chest fur as his paw came up and around to swipe him. Sly jumped back, cane coming down to slam against his fist, then again, then the other one as the roaring mammal lunged at him. Cane thrown back and around, he threw it like a spear, straight into the gaping maw until it slammed against the back of the ursine's throat. Sly pulled back on the hook and then threw it again, the massive mammal stumbling back before crashing into the water in a blitz of tsunami waves and screams.

Sly didn't care, the musicians pavilion was just ahead, and he leapt onto the stage, scrambling under the mixer board and out through the coyote's feet, the canine, paw still held up in a rock salute, lifting his mask to give him a confused look. Sly gave him a wink as he turned, leapt onto the keyboard, leapt up onto the startled deer's antlers and jumped across them, cane out to catch on the lighting gantry and swing himself up to the next level.

A few darts whistled past him so he kept moving, giving the odd jerk and bunny hop to throw them off as he moved past the speakers, his whole body shaking from the air movements they were bellowing out. If anything, those alone could throw off the darts, the flashing lights and projections were a bonus.

Jumping onto the top of a speaker column, he saw the flagpole he needed to climb, just the other side of a pavilion… One that black suited mammals were now racing inside. Sly took a breath in and out as he saw the un-tranq'd meerkat racing in after them, the little creature giving a panicked "He's here! He's cussing here!" as the thief leapt, cane smashing through the window as he leapt in, dodging straight to the side as a flurry of darts whipped at where he'd been. He dodged around some terrified partygoers and thrust his cane out at a boar, grabbing his dart gun and turning to launch it between the eyes of a leopard. Kick forward, roll, an addax threw a bench right at him and Sly slid beneath it and him, cane up and hooking onto a bighorn's horn and yanking it forward into the bovine's, the two entwined. Up, out, cane swiping around to startle back a duo of porcupine's before he charged, hooking one and hammer throwing him into a now panicking lion, stabbing him in the shins. A screaming fennec raced at him with a pair of knives, slicing and cutting as Sly pulled his cane all the way back, parrying and deflecting as best as he could with the hooked end as he retreated, retreated, then jolted back to avoid a furious stab to the heart.

He dodged to the side against a decapitating swing, the fennec following only to get a tranq dart plucked from the floor thrown into his chest before his stunned figure was punted away. Sly grabbed a bunch more and raced on, going into a combat roll and throwing them at many of the now recovering mammals as they went in for round two, toppling each of them in turn. In his pre-sleep miasma, the addax charged forward with his horns, Sly leaping up onto them and over in a front flip, landing prone only to dodge to the side as a trio of new boars arrived, currently packing very real, very non-non lethal heat.

Sly ducked behind a column as the shots rang out behind, pinging off and sparking, new screams and shouts ringing out from outside as everything was turned up to eleven. Back against wall, panting hard, the raccoon looked up to his cane, seeing their reflections in the polished surface. Two on one side, one on the…

He ducked down into a fast roll and swung his cane right at the lone mammal's gun, forcing it up and the shots to go wide. Before he could re-aim, Sly socked him on the side of the head with a back swipe before hooking down against the arm, trying to yank the gun away only to find it held firm, the procyonid only able to hold it and his arm away enough to keep the furious flurry of shots from hitting him dead on. One, two, thre -FOUR!

He grit his teeth to suppress a scream as a bullet sliced across part of his arm, more coming as the boar struggled and Sly jerked his way around, getting the grunt between him and his two partners as they came around, ready to fire, already starting to flank to give him nowhere to hide as…

Sly jolted the cane down, the boar wincing as a crack rang out before yanking back, Sly's feet leaving the floor. In a panic, the raccoon grabbed up into his hat and pulled out a mine, priming it and tossing it down as he kicked off, working the cane out and unhooking it as he darted behind a column as more bullets rang out, the boars getting too close as he…

He hit down hard, button on the top primer and the signal going through, a blast and then scream coming out from behind him.

On either side, the two flanking boars fell, dazed and confused as Sly slammed each of them with a cane hit before racing out, grabbing two of the left-over darts and pricking each.

Panting, he looked over at the boar he'd been grappling with, thrown against the wall, his front scorched but still breathing. "Best of luck pal," he panted, shaking as he turned around. He was going to run out of the mines fast and while he still had some tricks up his sleeves there was no reason not to grab a few extra. Just pick up the tranq's and…

He froze, groaning as he saw a massive honey badger walk up, right over him, paws coming down as he tore open his shirt, complete with 'Hi, My name is Stoffel, How may I help?' tag to reveal a rack of muscles. The ratel chuckled, steel jaw-teeth bared as he raised his fists, cocking an eyebrow.

Sly just sighed, leaning on his cane for a second or two. "You're not going to take no for an answer, are you mate?"

The honey badger shook his head before charging forward.

.

.

"Mr Peccari, my associate's best efforts may not be enough to tamper down…" Lady Lang shook her paw in front of her. "The reputational damage of… This."

They looked on as the whole nightclub in front of them emptied out, the whole place giving off a creepy aura, abandoned but with the lights and the dull echo of the electro-base still playing.

"What can I say," the javelina said, smiling. "At this point I'm even admiring this stinkin' ringtails… -How'd you put it…" He turned down to the grey rat. "Hooplash."

"Chutzpah."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved off. "In fact, I think any losses will be more than paid off when I became the crime lord that put an end to the Cooper's."

"Unless," the male vampire bat next to him mused, "there is another heir. I remember when the Five were the greatest of them all, and then…"

The javelina glared at him for a second before shrugging off, looking over at his mammals and the nice surprise they had for when Cooper finally emerged. -If he emerged. He grumbled, he was starting to think like all the rest.

"Don't build yourself up," the bat said.

"What are you saying, Vladzotz?"

"To have been encountered by Cooper, as mammals of our reputation, and to survive… That is high praise enough indeed."

The javelina snorted, turning back as the black boar came up. "Any news?"

He just nodded. "The Teller and his crew are waiting and in position, the dance floor security are seemingly all spent. We've also ensured all the patrons are out and the regular exits closed and barred. -I've also sent a call down below, every razorback is on their way to flush him out if he tries to stay there. And Mr Coywire and Mr Antlerson wish to renegotiate their residency."

The javelina glared away but nodded slowly, looking forward. "If Cooper's still around, he'll be out before then. Out into our little trap."

"And away from any civilians," Vladzotz spoke, the others turning to him.

"What does that mean?" Pecarri snorted.

Vladzotz looked up, but it was the black boar who answered. "There is plenty I have heard of Sly Cooper's doings in the past. Many of which he hasn't resorted to here, likely due to the collateral damage risk to innocents."

"Indeed," Vladztoz replied. "Our family records include details on Coopers past and present. He may be weaker when he meets your soldiers alone, but he will be more than willing to win by any means necessary."

The javelina turned to him. "One, you're gonna tell us everything. And two," he smiled, turning to Vinnie and his crew. "More reason to porcupine him before he even gets to our mammals."

.

.

"GRRRRAAAARRRRGHHHHH!"

Sly screamed, teeth grit and eyes wide as he stumbled backwards, trying to force his arm down, keeping the overwhelming force of the honey badger's back muscles at bay, keeping the crushing jaws from getting too close, hoping he could also keep the claws…

He jolted as he felt himself beginning to slip, a sudden push of force by his opponent driving him closer towards defeat. His arm screamed, the slices and cuts where the mammal's claws had raked him stung, the stench of his opponents blood from the brutal cane swings and swipes mixed with the seeping terror coming from himself.

His heart roaring in his ears, he felt their combined structure slowly shift, wavering, implacable… -He felt some give and gave it his all, pushing up against the Honey badger's leg and splitting it from the other, the mammal slipping down just enough for the next gamble. Let go of the opposing arm, paw up and striking out like a cobra, two clawed fingers stabbing into the beast's eyes like water on a grease fire. He roared and swiped in a feral fury, Sly releasing and jumping back and almost out of the way, three brutal claw cuts swiping across his chest as he retreated, then leapt straight over, landing prone, grabbing his cane and swinging it around to collide with his enemy's jaw.

There was a clang and a spark, followed by another brutal swing down onto his temple, the cane pulled back before the two meaty paws could grab it and haul it in. "Fool me once," Sly warned, as the furious ratel, eyes beginning to open, charged.

Sly leapt straight over him, the mustelid turning on the spot, saw his figure, and leapt again. The raccoon was still, a sitting duck, and jaws out Stoffel grabbed his throat and crushed it like paper… -Because it was, the decoy collapsing as the attacker turned, ready for the next swipe only to feel the prick of a dart hit his chest.

He tore it out, roared, gave one last charge as Sly dodged, letting him stumble, try to re-aim, only to waver, the drugs taking effect. Panting, shaking, cuts across his body, the raccoon held his one arm, grit his teeth and forced it back up and into position with a chilling crunch. All as his opponent stumbled down into a fetal position, Sly giving him an honourable nod before racing on, grabbing the briefcase, jumping up through a glass rooflight on the pavilion and then up to the waiting pole. A quick if much more painful than usual climb and he saw the waiting roof light just ahead. -Better safe than sorry, he put his last remaining hat mines up there, primed and ready before shuffling down, firing them with a hit on the ground.

He winced at the shock, looking up to see the triangular pane loose, its hinges blown off. Grabbing the briefcase, up he went again, just as his ears pricked at the sound of doors swinging open, roars and oinks and bellows coming out. The all or nothing attempt to wipe him out.

A two fingered salute and Sly was up on top of the roof, belly to the glass as he moved the panel back over, leaving the loot by it. Pigs weren't known as good climbers, but he wanted to make sure.

-Just as he wanted to make sure there wasn't a chance that lion or someone with a sniper rifle could get him from the penthouse. He was just about on the other side of the dome, and using breathing techniques and his awareness of the surroundings, he skulked in the shadows.

Slowly climbing up.

Trying to just peer through the glass.

They were still there, trying to do something.

Spotlights?

His escape route was up the staircase to the door to the plant room, then beyond that to a gap in the panels to the cable-car station to be. Not much in the way of exposure, but it was there. It was present. And he'd rather know what he'd be up against than get exposed to it blindly.

Looking below he could see the squads moving in, searching around, expecting a lone and injured raccoon. Keeping his breath steady, he narrowed himself down against the steel supports, the bright lights from down below making him practically invisible.

.

The mammals in the penthouse looked on, waiting, all as a female figure landed back down. "I echo'd him out, he's just about to cross the apex there." She pointed, and the red pig looked through his binoculars, taking a few seconds but locating his figure just about to crest. "Rev 'em up boys," he said, as heavy clanks filled the air, followed by the whirring of heavy electric engines.

.

Sly's ears peeked as he heard the sound, finally poking his head over as a heartier roar filled the air. Like a motorcycle, ready for pursuit. Only it was… "Oh Cuss."

The red pig smiled, turning to his underlings. "-FIRE!" -And the tranquiliser dart miniguns did just that.

Sly shot back down, sliding himself down the glass edge before charging on all fours as a hail of tranquiliser darts screamed out, raining down like hornets. Most chipping the dome as they arced, but more and more coming straight towards him, only one needing to…

-He saw the loose panel he'd blasted through and grabbed it along with the briefcase, heaving it off even as his arm felt it'd be torn out again, holding it up as a shield just as one dart then two chipped off it. And then a pane of glass beneath him exploded, a pig below spotting him and opening fire.

Sly turned and ran, bunny hopping and dodging from the pot shots below as more darts rained down.

Over on the other side the three mingun's roared, used dart cartridges pouring into waiting bins as the belts were torn in to fuel the fire. Bearing's started to glow, the mammals at the control's narrowing their eyes with focus as they listened in to the comments from below, where he was heading, how well their aim was. The further he got away, the more time they had to arc, the better a chance they had.

All as Sly kept running, briefcase held painfully in his jaw, pulling himself under one of the heavy wire sets to give him some form of cover, darts slamming into them and sparking off.

Those below saw them flash, a constant merciless stream racing over.

Sly danced against shots from below, glass shield held up and pinging, -A blast of glass from his feet sent him falling backwards and rolling, darts raining down always a fur's breath away as he reached the end of the glass dome.

Not far away, through a hacked camera screen, Bentley looked on, beaked face open and quivering in horror.

Sly began making his way up the staircase, out of view of those below but in full view of the minigunners as the red pig took over Vinnie's gun, brow furrowed, a grin on his face as he leant in and unleashed the full force of the weapon against the ever more pin-pricked shield the raccoon was holding up as he scrambled towards his exit.

Sly's arm was beginning to ache as much as his jaw, the weight of the shield and the pounding of the darts against it making anything beyond his wrist numb. -Or he'd been pricked and didn't even notice it. No time for that, up the stairs, on the railing, cane into his off paw… -Even before it had been un-plugged, and he began the final climb to the gap and his way out.

"Aim above him!" The red Pig screamed. "Bring the rain!"

Sly huddled against the wall, glass shield held above him to try and give him some cover as the darts rang and pinged against the metal panelling, falling down on top of him needle first, ready to impale and deliver their load. All as others still came in from the side, all as the odd pot shot still rang up, the raccoon doing his best to try and shift himself around, make sure.

A chilling crack rang out as the glass panel jolted forwards ,split into a thousand spiderweb cracks, all as the odd spark pinged off the metal around him.

The red pig's eyes bored down as the raccoon began to stumble, slip, so near yet so far from the gap. One mistake away, just one dart…

With a furious burst of strength Sly threw the panel up and scrabbled up under its cover, chest sliding against the wall and muscles burning as his paws felt the edge of the gap and he pulled himself up and over, darts cutting through the fur of his tail before it too vanished.

There was a crash as the panel fell back down, finally shattering and shedding its load of darts. The mammals inside the dome yelled and bickered. Up on the balcony, the tranquiliser miniguns whined as they were spun down, clunking to a final stop. The bins and boxes used to store their shed cartridges overflowed, the gun's insides glowed hot.

Pushing it away the red pig spat on the floor, snout wrinkled up. "You ain't at the finish line yet, Coopah! You're gonna be desperate now! You're spent!"

"No," came a solemn incantation, the javelina turning down to the bat next to him. "He is not."

"-You on his side or something!?"

"I assure you," Vladzotz replied, looking back. "I am not. But you are right and wrong. He is desperate, but he is not spent. And from what I know of the Cooper's, they have tricks and weapon's committed to their name that could win him the day yet. Ones he has yet to field."

"Huh, and why's that?"

"Because he needed you to clear it first," the vampire bat spoke. "And now there are no civilians or innocent bystanders and he is backed into a corner any qualms over sportsmanship and honour will be gone. Your mammals are about to face a truly dangerous mammal, one who I believe will outclass them. All."

"Well," the javelina said, turning to his underlings. "We'd better help tip the odds, shouldn't we?" He smiled, his grin growing as he tugged up his shirt sleeves. "Been a while since I got my hooves dirty. Joey?"

The thin black boar nodded.

"Tell half of the razors down there, meet with me and the leeches and co. YOU!" he pointed at Lady Lang. "You're outta the game, so don't expect to come with me and try to claim any of the glory."

The white wolf gave an affirmative, silent, unrepentant nod.

All as the other razorbacks began grabbing their light arms and making to the stairs, the lumbering form of the elephant following down. The red pig moved to a drinks cabinet, reaching beneath and pulling a set of hidden levers until a drawer emerged from the frame. He picked out a sleek polished pistol from its velvet cradle, loading it with a snap before moving on. As he did so he turned to the vampire bat flying alongside him. "And you. Tell me everything."

.

.

Sly panted, his body shivering. He didn't have that much time to do a full medical check, but he knew the basics. His clothes were totalled from the cuts and blood stains, his left arm ached and his jaw felt like it had been bent down from carrying the heavy case. Parts all across him ached and his lungs burned. He needed just a few breaths in and out to…

A slight sound perked his ears, a door opening, the hush of hooves and paws starting to shuffle as quietly as they could up hard concrete steps. Pulling himself and the briefcase into the shadows, willing his body rigid as a statue, he watched on from up ahead as a small cohort of four boars arrived, scanning around, sniffing hard and soon nodding. Weapons up, they looked around, exploring the area as they tried to root him out.

Sly could have made a break for it, but then in came the fifth member. A lion, old, grey, his cane held up ready to shoot and kill. This time, the raccoon had to stifle a breath. No way out with him there. His escape from his bullets the first time had been half luck, half from the chaos of the moment. But give him a long range and a second or two to line the shot…

As if he knew he was the bolt on Sly's prison door, he kept the boars around him close. Close enough that if Sly went straight for him he'd be bagged. Maybe he could do it at peak strength, but not like he was now. A hat mine would make it easy, but he was out. Same for his stun powder.

There were other tricks though, and other powders…

He slowly reached into one of his bags, pulling out something carefully wrapped in a thick plastic covering. Even more carefully he unwrapped it, stroking it along the edge of his cane.

"For all your talk of the old country, we all know your species and mine originated from the new world," Vladzotz spoke, flying along as the rest of the forces raced down the corridor, an ever growing pool of reinforcements ready to finish off the thief, once and for all. "The same lands, the same continent. Only for your descendants to sail east, hitching rides on the Genoese ships, rooting yourself in that land to the point that every child would think of your place there as eternal, like the tomato and potato. Your vaunted leaving of the old country? Merely a return home, of sorts. And it is there that you share a commonality with the Cooper's, who were once with the bands of raccoons who trekked west across the Bering land bridge, with the camels and horses. Settling and traveling across the whole of Eurasia. Thieving and plundering as they went. From the low points of street thieves to the high peak of nobility. And when they chose to sail west?"

"-Henrietta Coopah," The red pig said, a smug look on his face. "Feared freelance Captain of the Mediterranean Sea, ambushing the Baaaarbary corsairs, leaving packs of slaves freed on the shores and taking the loot for herself. Always the favour of whichever city state or navy was most pained by them. When hired by the Venetians, she sailed a small fleet through the Bosphorus and spent four months wrecking the slave ships that sailed between Crimea and the heart of the empire, until the sultan himself ordered her hunted down and to be turned into a hat!" He let a grin grow on his muzzle. "A janissary took an eye out, but she made it up the rivers to Poland or somewhere. -Either way, she soon found employment again, packed off and sent under a secret commission by the French, to wreck enemy buccaneers in the Caribbean. Am I wrong, Vlad? Am I wrong!?"

"Indeed you are not," the bat spoke back. "Not," he paused, raising an eyebrow. "That I ever questioned it, did it?"

The porcine's face grew redder and his brow furrowed ever more as the bat continued. "She made a great living there before settling down in New Orleans, the Cooper line continuing on in the new world, even spawning a wild west outlaw centuries down the line. -My family, my species, we never left for the old world. We were there in Tenochmiztlian when Cortez almost toppled the empire, and in the aftermath we learned that whatever victory we had achieved was pyrrhic. Our vassals, our conquered lands, they knew that the priests and might could be challenged. That with the next attack, they and these mammals from across the sea could win. And so before that my ancestors left their life of glory and riches there to head north, to guard the Fangpyre line. We and the Cooper's, two great lines, we crossed, you know?"

"Are we finally getting to the good part, huh!?"

"Indeed," the bat said. "In this new world it was inevitable that the Cooper's would continue through native stock, marrying and living with those of their species who never left their home continent. And from them they learnt new techniques, new tricks of the trade." He took a breath in and out. "My family had great knowledge of the herbs, the plants, the medicine's, ancient records of what they could do and where to find them. Which would heal, which would kill, which would addict and create the most profit of them all. We supplied remote witchdoctor's and medicine men of the tribes, carrying and selling precious material for precious metal. It is how we built ourselves into what we are now. And knowledge is the most precious material of them all. And there was one piece that I read years ago that only in recent hindsight became relevant. That of my clan, centuries ago, trading rare mushrooms and other psychedelics with a raccoon medicine woman, her daughter and newborn grandkit staying with her. The records talk about how the father was of a great line of renown in the old world and new, with fabulous riches, with a great book of knowledge detailing how to take from those who had taken."

"The fabled Coopah book huh, it is real."

"It is indeed. As much as that kit was, named after the state to the east where his mother and father met, soon to become a legend and bane to the railroads and bankers. -There was no more on the Cooper line in my family's records, but some more on that old medicine sow. Scattered around, without order, jumping back and forth through the years. In a different page, almost lost, it talks about how she knew of plants to the northwest, with many properties. Those that could ease a mammal into sleep, those that could fortify their strength, and those that could induce them into a feral rage."

"Sounds like…" the red pig began, only to freeze, turning to the bat.

"They were only called by a lost native name, the purple flowers described however briefly just a passing mention as I studied the family archives centuries down the line. But it took others to rediscover their power. And from what I've studied, from the records concerning the fall of a great crimelord in India many years ago, from all I have gleamed. -The Cooper's never needed to rediscover it."

.

.

.

Stashing it away, Sly saw the juices glean against the end of his cane before turning down. One boar was marching close to him, sniffing around, the odd glance up but the shadows and poor eyesight keeping himself hidden. Two more were nearby, looking in different directions…

Pulling a detailed origami foldout from his backpack and flicking it out, Sly let it fall from the steel beam, gently tapping onto the concrete as the hunter glanced it for a moment. Before wheeling around and letting out a sudden blast with his pistol, piercing the cut out over and over as if it would make it real. All as the real Sly leapt down, cane first as it cut along the back of his head, eliciting a scream and curse of pain. Already on his feet, Sly raced to the side, climbing up once more as the two other boars wheeled around, pointing and trying to figure out where he was.

One of them pointed, hoof out at a set of paws working their way up, his gun rising up to shoot… -Only for him to scream as his fellow guard plowed into him, tusk goring into his chest. Weapon dropped, he stumbled and fell, looking on in horror as his former comrade turned, eyes turned to slits, froth beginning to foam from his mouth, murder in his eyes as…

The third boar ran in to tackle him only to get slammed back, a struggle kicking up as he dropped his gun and tried to reach for a tranquiliser on his back. Groaning as he got up, the second boar saw the fourth race in, called for him to help, only to watch as the steel briefcase crashed down onto his head, knocking him out cold.

A yell to the side cut him off as he saw his friend pinned against the wall by the newly created savage and started to hobble over to help him, gun up and trying to aim for somewhere non-lethal or…

Slit eyes turned, a squeal rang out, and the wounded mammal braced himself for the oncoming assault.

.

Up above, Sly kept to the metal beams, kept to the shadows, ignored the screams and yells cursing his name for daring to use that against them. The raccoon shut it down, his ancestors had discovered that plant and its use well before any megalomaniacal sheep. Four henchmammals now shut down, he just needed to focus on the main target…

The main target who had a much more deadly weapon, much more potent night vision and was keeping away from the fray. Out in the open, eyes glancing around, scanning. Sly could only creep in, keeping focussed, pausing as he got as close as he could get. No more shadows, no more cover. He reached into his backpack and got out a stone, looking over to a large metal electrical cabinet.

Breath in.

Breath out.

He threw it, leaping forward the second the sound of its impact rang out. The Teller was fully distracted for a moment, his eyes turning back and meeting Sly's mid-flight. His cane-gun rose up swiftly as Sly, feeling time slow to an almost crawl, swung his cane down, the two sweeping together as the lion pulled the trigger, a flash kicking out, the cane sparking as it impacted, and the bullet exploding out and nipping Sly's side as he bent away from it.

And then he was on the ground, the lion reloading as he kicked up, the raccoon dodging and rolling to the side, cane coming in for an attack on the achilles tendon only for the big cat to jump back, gun rising again to aim as Sly's cane swept up to meet it, hooking on and locking it away from him. Only for the Teller to yank him and it up, swinging it over his head as Sly reached out to grab the gun muzzle, hoisting himself up as his feet crashed into the floor, momentum carrying the gun along as it was fired, the bullet slicing across the inner side of his leg and ricocheting off the ground below.

But Sly had momentum too, using the force of the impact against the floor to bounce back, racing across the top of the gun even as it was swung up and around, fingers beneath pulling back and forward at the reloading lever. His cane swept around for a roundhouse only for the lion's left paw to let go of the barrel and jump up to take the blow instead. Sly let him, racing on further, cane bending behind him as he jumped out with two feet to sock the lion in the eyes, the feline turning his head to let the side of his muzzle take the impact instead.

-And then he snapped, Sly backpedalling to avoid getting his feet bitten off, then feeling that left paw grab his cane and sweep him around. He had no choice but to hold on, wrapping his ankles around the gun to try and drag it off with him only to fail, getting ripped off so hard he felt his legs were going to be torn out of their sockets.

The lion's gun had been pulled out of position though, his fingers were badly bent and if he could use this time…

He felt himself get thrown back with his cane, stumbling before turning it into a combat roll, landing on his two feet to see the deadly cane rising up once more. Sly tossed his cane straight at the lion's right paw, forcing him to dodge and even then clipping it, a hiss coming out as the raccoon followed on. Leaping forward, teeth bared, he went for the exposed fingers, grabbing onto the barrel as he dug in, a scream coming out. The gun fired as he forced them back before he leapt off, yelling out as he felt three brutal claw cuts slice along the top of his head. Down on the ground, cane back in paw, Sly swept it over his head to meet those fingers again as they jolted and shook to reload. The Teller pulled the cane back and let it take the force, a blast erupting out as Sly felt the bullet explode by his side.

And then the lion leapt forward to kick him, Sly rolling out of the way before turning, seeing the weapon spin in the lion's paws and the crooked end come to meet him. Cane met cane, interlocking, and Sly felt himself get yanked up again, sailing overheard. He disconnected, let himself fall down, before realising this was just what the lion had planned for.

A fist punched into his gut and sent the smaller mammal flying back, away and up against the wall, his head spinning as it clocked the hard surface. Through blurry vision he saw the lion spin his weapon around and, after a brief fumble, reload.

Everything in sharp focus, Sly ran, leaping down into the empty cablecar docking bay and buying himself some time. A few seconds, a few seconds to see one of the injured boars stumbling out, weapon rising, to jump at him and knock him out with a cane to the head and to then use him as cover.

A blast rang out, peppering him with hot concrete shards, a glance over his shoulder showing the lion in hot pursuit. The raccoon picked up the metal briefcase and began running towards the gaping void at the end of the hall, leaping down into the twin pit just before another shot lashed across his back.

Blood was pooling down his face from the lion's swipe, every ache in his body was magnified, he still felt dizzy and his lungs burned for oxygen, spent.

Hugging the wall, he looked up to see the Lion turn around, gun rising up to shoot just as Sly leapt forwards towards the void, cane out and hooking to the side, swinging him around and out of the way as a bullet shot screamed past him.

He landed balancing on a steel beam, jutting out into the void, the hall behind him filled with bangs and screams as a horde of angry mammals, big and small, arrived.

The raccoon slowly stepped back, eyes narrowing as he saw a pair of bats. Binocucom up, he saw Bentley's terrified face as he scanned up to the pair, then glanced down at the ground below.

"-Well, well, well…"

Sly stuck the binocucom away as he turned to face them. The javelina, flanked by the black boar on his left and a mad looking razorback on the right, stared at him, smiling. Silver gun out and pointing, but not ready to shoot. Yet.

"Ya know," he smirked. "Mr Fangpyre here was just trying to lecture me on how your family came back to this continent as pirates. -Something I already knew, thank you very much, but…" He laughed, a few squeals coming out. "It seems fitting you'll end your time here like this. Walking the plank."

"Well, more of a steel beam," Sly smirked.

The javelina harrumphed. "I'm surprised you haven't jumped already. But then again, that's always something I've heard about you, Sly. The arrogance, the cockiness, your long speeches about why the mobster you just robbed sucked. It's giving my mammals all the time they need to arrange myself down there." He pointed, as the raccoon raised an eyebrow. The javelina narrowed his eyes. "Ya don't think I don't know that small mammals like you can survive that fall. A raccoon isn't much different than a cat, and with the right training, especially with a big pool there down below." He smiled. "Paws out, slow yourself down, land on all fours, you can survive that just well. Maybe not with the loot. Especially not with my mammals once they're done with you."

Sly took a shaky breath out. "Well, that's one theory. But then that begs the question, why not shoot me right here, right now?"

The javelina gave a snort. "One, public relations. And two." He leant forwards. "I wanna know… Your kind, they feed on the worst of the worst, you make it your personal mission. To me though, to my associates, it's a badge of honour. Not just to be the one to bag the long absent Sly Cooper, even making him bleed like that would make me a legend of the Cosa Nostra. No, simply to be targeted. So, I've got to know, and trust me the painlessness of your next moments depends on this… What did I do to earn your presence here, tonight?"

Sly looked at him for a second or two. "I was in kinda a funk," he said, shrugging. "Thought I'd solo rob a casino for funsies."

The javelina looked on like before, his eager expression held for a few seconds before starting to curdle.

"Wasn't really that planned," the raccoon followed on. "Just…" he rolled his paw. "Doing something I enjoy."

The javelina's face began to fold into a scowl. "And do you know who I am?"

"Boss of the Sahara Square mob. Yeah. I knew the basics."

The room was quiet for a second or two before the red pig began to laugh, squeals and cackles coming out as his grin grew. "You know what? Sure. Doesn't even matter. It's a good story. So I guess I can thank you for that, and for making me the legend I'm gonna be." In a split second he pointed his gun and fired, Sly leaping off the metal beam and out into the void as it slashed through his side, the raccoon screaming.

And then he was gone, the red pig racing up to the edge, fists raised high. "I shot Coopah! I shot the Coopah!" He laughed on and on as the blue and grey figure fell, getting smaller and smaller… -Until a blossom of blue erupted, suddenly folding out into a stylised raccoon head as the parasail grew to full volume, pulling the mammal out of his dive and sending him wheeling around the edge of the hotel.

The red pig blinked before screaming, pulling out his gun and firing, the lion coming up and taking the odd long shot too. No one even asked the bats to dive in after him, though they'd only realise they had no chance at catching up later. Everyone who could was at the edge, firing down, trying and failing to hit the ever vanishing Sly Cooper.

.

Binocucom down, Sly groaned as he pulled the cords on his parasail, pausing as he heard the off pop or rip of a bullet going past, maybe nipping the edge of his chute. Even then, the wind resistance had slowed them down. They'd hurt, yes, but not be lethal. The same could be said for the wound he'd just got, hopefully. Side of his chest, in and out, but away from anything major.

Though the ever growing crowds of guards down below, gathering on the casino grounds and following him towards the edge, might have something to say about that. He pulled up again, sweeping forward, eyes kept on a building in front of him coming up fast. A few shots rang out from down below, coming dangerously close, but then he was over the lip, feet slamming into the ceiling and then almost falling over themselves as they raced to keep him up before he jumped again over the next void.

A pull on a strap and the cords began retracting, pulling the parasail back into its store, but not before he made one last jump, using what was left to slow him enough to make a hard but safe landing on the road below.

With a slam the doors on the back of the van in front of him opened up, a scaled hand reaching out to pull him in. Bentley held him close and tight before telling him to get down, the autopilot would take them home, he'd patch his friend up. He then slapped him. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING SLY!?"

"I… Wanted to do something fun, and…"

"BY RAIDING A MOB CASINO! DURING A MOB CONFERENCE! WITH NO BACKUP! WITHOUT EVEN TELLING ME!"

"Okay, I didn't know about the sec…"

"I don't CARE about the second one," Bentley yelled. "Or one, and a chunk of three. But what about four! You didn't even tell me?"

"I… -It was spur of the moment, I…"

Bentley slapped him, again. "Sly," he said. "What happened."

"I… I bit off a bit more than I could chew, I admit, not one of my bes…"

"Not now," he seethed, scowling through his glasses. "In egypt."

The raccoon looked back, blankly, eyes lingering on the turtle's eyes before dropping down to rest on his wheelchair.

"We know something happened there involving Clockwerk. We know it's screwed you up. We can't help you unless you tell us what happened!"

Seconds passed.

"It's something you're ashamed of."

"No," Sly said. "I…"

"Something you think will make us hate you," Bentely continued. "Maybe not even involving Clockwerk on that regard, or maybe so, I don't know. Because you won't tell."

"No," the raccoon said, finally. "I won't."

"-Then get help."

Sly blinked. "Get help?"

"-Y-yes! Get help, from someone, book yourself into a therapist's or something, someone who won't judge you and…"

"Just throw me out for wasting their time or try to section me and…"

"Like you'd let them, I…" Bentley growled. "Sly, get help. Or else."

Groaning a bit, Sly crossed his arms. "Or what."

"I actually WILL tell Carmelita."

…

"-Fine!" he said, looking away before turning back. "But I do it my way, you understand?"

Bentley looked up, irritated at first but then allowing his features to soften. "As long as I can be there to provide intel and backup, that's fine by me."

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AN: I had fun writing this chapter. Rocco 'The Red Pig' Peccari, the Sahara Square mob and Vern Rodenberg all belong to Merc_Marten and are from his Fire Triangle series. Vladzotz Fangpyre and the nocturnal mob were created by Upplet, and currently belong (along with Lucy Sang and the Lady Lang) to Berserker88 and MindJack. The two DJ's, Coywire and Garry Antlerson, belong to PvtScott and feature in his 'The WildeHopps Chronicles' comic series.