Disclaimer: I don’t own Sly Cooper or the Cooper Gang, or Clockwerk, or any places, persons, or things involved. They are the sole property of Sucker Punch productions. OCs are of my own designs.

Also, this is an AU of what would happen if Sly didn’t fake his amnesia in Sly 3’s ending.

Enjoy and review.

Sly 4: Legend of Thieves

Prologue

Dr. M’s Island

Cooper Vault

“NO! Not her!” a voice shouted in the cavern of the last section of the Cooper Family Vault.

The figure, who had shouted angrily and worried, was an anthropomorphic male raccoon between the ages of twenty-one or twenty-two with grey and black fur. He was slim but physically fit to be an athletic gymnast, possibly could make the Olympics… and to a certain foxy detective, considered quite cute and handsome. He was dressed in a blue pilot button coat with a yellow turtleneck collar, with the sleeves ending over the elbows, blue gloves with yellow cuffs to them, and a blue paper boy’s cap on his head, with a black ninja eye mask, to where his raccoon mask was hidden under at that time. He also wore a pair of baggy grey pants, with dark blue boots, a red backpack, and a red leg pouch wrapped around his left thigh, and a belt around his waist, keeping the jacket connected to it, with a raccoon symbol buckle on it. And next to him, a can-like staff with a golden yellow stylized ‘C’ shaped hook on the top of it. This fellow was Sly Cooper, infamous master thief of the long line of the Cooper Clan, and now… fearing for the person to whom was about to get shot at.

The perpetrator was an anthropomorphic blue/violet baboon, wearing a lab coat, and a plug-like cyber-attachment in his skull… which was attached to a spider-legged apparatus at this point. The ape’s eyes were yellow, but glowing bloodshot red with anger and hatred, not for Sly Cooper, but his late father, as well as a glint of paranoia as well. This was Dr. M, the infamous… and insanely and hopelessly paranoid… geneticist and scientist in the criminal Underworld

The other occupant, who had busted right in through the roof of the cavern near a steel glass balcony of sorts, stood directly near them, flashing an Interpol Badge.

She was a beautiful anthropomorphic female Red Fox with reddish brown and tanned fur. Her figure was slim but slender and physically fit, with golden yellow eyes, a beauty mark mole under her left eye, and long blue hair that went down her back, tied in a braided ponytail, held together by a golden band at the end of it. She looked to be twenty-four, and her height was about 4’5”, excluding her fox ears. She wore a zip up navy blue tube top and a brown jacket that exposed her midriff, and tight navy blue pants with a black belt holding them up with a gold buckle with a yellow star on it. Black combat boots with yellow soles and lacing, small yellow gloves, and a black choker around her neck, with a gold coin pendant with a police star on it, and a golden ring piercing on her left ear.

She was Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, one of the officers at Interpol stationed in Paris, France… and this was how she took criminals out… beating them to a pulp. However, unknown to her, she was the one unsuspecting of the attack about to hit her soon.

After that shout out, Sly Cooper was racing across the expanse of floor that separated him from Dr. M to Carmelita. He knew this wasn’t the time, and that his family’s fortune was in grasp, but that wasn’t important right now. The only thing that mattered now was to prevent Carmelita from getting fried by the insane former partner of his father’s old gang.

The light of fanatical revenge blazing in his eyes, M smirked, “Oh really, Sly?” M snickered as the device warmed up, as the unsuspecting Carmelita drew out her Shock pistol, preparing to shoot either Sly or Dr. M, as the madman ranted, “I think it’s high time that history repeat itself once more,” the spider’s red eye lens glowed with energy as he snickered at Sly and looked at Carmelita, the cop not knowing what was going on here, “I don’t think losing your parents to Clockwerk’s taloned hands was enough, Cooper. Neither was letting your shellback friend, Bentley, lose his legs. So now I’ll think it’s time that you lose the love interest.” M then looked to Sly and evilly mocked him, “How’s that sound… Sly, old boy?”

Sly paled at that as he saw that Carmelita was already about to bring out her Shock Pistol, but the master thief’s gut told him that she wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. In that single instant, instinctively, He knew what had to be done. There was simply too much that he had realized about Carmelita only a few hours beforehand, in the grip of that monstrous mutation earlier… and too much had happened between them over the years…for him to do anything less.

He didn’t even bother to look at Dr. M as the insanely paranoid baboon’s fingers tightened around the firing mechanism of his multi-legged device. All of his focus was on Carmelita as he ran towards her, running even harder to get to Carmelita now, than usually to get away from her after a job.

Carmelita drew out her pistol, “Cooper! M! both you thieves are going to jail! You’re both under…” but stopped as she saw Cooper running towards her. Before she could figure out what he was doing, she saw Cooper close the distance between them, “Cooper, what are you…?” However, she didn’t have time to finish that question, as she was shoved out of harm’s way by Sly Cooper himself.

Then suddenly, a bright red flash struck at Sly, slamming into his side. An agonizing electrical fire surged through the master thief’s body, and the impact blast sent the raccoon clear off his feet. He was thrown hard in the air, right into the hard metal grating of the perimeter walkway near the ceiling of the Cooper Vault’s Inner Sanctum, to where Carmelita came in from. He struck the wall hard, slumping to the walkway floor unconscious, and his cane staff slipping from his hand and clanging to the floor right beside him.

As Carmelita recollected herself off the ground, she saw Cooper take the shot. All she could to was watch in shock as Dr, M’s massive blast shot and hurled Sly flying and smash into the catwalk. It had all gone past her so fast; one minute, that crazy cyber-baboon was about to spider-walk towards her, spewing out about making Sly Cooper go through something similar in his life. And the next minute, Sly ran towards her, pushing her out of the way, and taking a fatal blast that was aimed for her… and slumped to the walkway, either unconscious and seriously injured… or…

She shook her head as she slowly got up, ‘No! That’s not possible,’ she told herself as she shakingly got to her knees, not believing that Cooper was down for the count, “Cooper’s a tough ringtail; he couldn’t…” but then she shook her head once more as she couldn’t believe she was thinking like that, ‘What’s wrong with me? Why should I care about that…?’

But then suddenly, all the memories of her past experiences with that elusive thief raced in her mind. However, it wasn’t the chases that were on her mind, the memories were of different moments. Of experiences to when her Black and White Point of View of Sly Cooper was questioned: her rescue by him from Clockwerk’s gas chamber… him rescuing her from the corrupt Contessa’s clutches (however, she was informed by that from her superiors, considering she was hypnotized at that time)… him helping her avoid Interpol at that time when Neyla framed her… even when he surrendered himself to her after the Clock-La battle, letting his injured teammates to go free and not question her loyalty to Interpol.

Carmelita’s hardened surprised face softened as she looked to the ground, surprised at something else flooding her memories. The conversation they had during the helicopter time… she had found herself laughing and smiling with him as they shared the past and some personal details in their lives… something she would never had thought she have done with a thief like him.

And then… that kiss from after Clockwerk was firstly defeated that night three years ago. It was true, she still wanted to ring his neck from that little trick… she had to admit… not openly… it was very… sweet.

And now the conflicting thoughts and emotions that were going on through her mind were only going through her in a matter of seconds. At thinking all this, she brought her head down, thinking that maybe that shot… might have… She shook, feeling fear for the master thief she had spent her career on catching… and falling for possibly… at the thought of losing him like this.

Dr. M cackled maniacally, reveling in what he probably saw as a victory over Cooper. He cackled immensely as he shouted out at the ceiling of the cave, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! See that, Connor, Old Chum? Your son’s no different than any other Cooper: A Fool!” He then noticed Carmelita’s shaking form as he mocked to her, “Awwww! You’re going to weep for the sentimental offspring of my old backstabbing partner, officer?” He then cackled some more as he insulted, “I could play a melancholy tune for you. This device comes with a MP3 player, with over a…”

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Dr. M’s spider device was shot three times in the legs, causing M to scoot back a little. The baboon doctor stumbled a bit as he glared, “What the devil…?”

Carmelita stood straight up, leveling her Shock Pistol at the insane splicer. Her grip tightening on her gun as she aimed it at Dr. M, as she glared dangerously at him as she growled, “No one hurts my criminal!” and then charged right at him, not knowing the reason of why she did so, or why she was so angry.

Dr. M stopped cackling, not showing any sign of intimidation as he sneered at her and scoffed, “Oh really?” The spider-legged device then sprung towards her, screeching and groaning with damaged sounds, “If that pitiful excuse of Connor Cooper’s son means that much to you… ” suddenly, the device charged up crimson charges as he pounced at her, and shouted, “… then I’ll bury YOU BOTH TOGETHER!” and then fired bolt after bolt right at her.

However, Dr. M didn’t count on the cop’s athletic and fast reflex skills… to be almost as equal to Sly Cooper’s. She dove to one side, in a split second, dodging the multiple blasts wherever they were fired at her. This happed about five times, with Carmelita dodging every blast as M grumbled and shouted, “Hold still! You miserable rodent!”

Carmelita rolled to one side, “Not in your life, Dr. M!” and returned fire with her Shock Pistol.

The barrage of lightning bullets hit their target, being M’s spider attachment, and caused him to backpedal. This continued onward, with a cyberized baboon and an athletic fox cop dodging and shooting at each other. However, the shots that didn’t hit them, and mostly Dr. M was getting hit, hit the floor and walls of the Cooper Vault cave. This causes a slight cracking, that was barely noticed by the two, that increased an earthquake violent vibration that rocked the cavern as the damage from the earlier battle between Sly and Dr. M began to take a heavy toll on the ancient support of the ancient Vault.

The crazed baboon sneered at this little upset in his victory; with his weapon damaged from the fight with Cooper, and bruised by Cooper and the Cooper Gang as well, the ape wasn’t about to give up. he then hopped on one of the walkways as he glared down at Carmelita, growling and sneering at her, “I’ve come too far to let it end this way! I’ve sacrificed my entire life for this day to get inside this vault; I will not be stopped by Cooper’s son, you… or a rag-tag team of misfits calling themselves criminals!”

Carmelita stood her ground as… in the first time in her life… shouted out to M, “I don’t know the whole story, but it sounds like that treasure belongs to the Cooper Family!”

M’s attitude then became an insane rage, as he hooted and hollered out, beating his chest as he did. The ape had finally lost it as he sprung at her, the spider legs about to slash and pierce her as he screamed, “THE COOPER FORTUNE IS !”

However, the ape didn’t count on Carmelita’s speed and athletic prowess at this point, seeing that he lost his mind. She ran straight towards him, and stopped a few inches at Dr. M’s incoming form. She crouched down, and back flip hopped up right at him… over his head, as she turned around, aimed her Shock Pistol, and….

B-ZAP!

B-ZAP!

B-ZAP!

B-ZAP!

B-ZAP!

The spider attachment suddenly landed on the platform at one end, and Carmelita landed at the other end, crouch style. She suddenly got up on her feet and turned to face Dr. M, as he just stood there for a moment. Suddenly, his spider leg apparatus short circuited, and blew up, sending a screaming Dr. M to a rocky platform away from Carmelita, shouting, “CURSE YOU, COOPERS! CURSE YOU INTERPOL! I WAS TO BE RICH AND FAMOUS; TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY!” and landed face first into the platform, knocked out as his butt pointing upward in the air.

Seeing that the battle was over, Carmelita holstered her Shock Pistol and looked in Dr. M’s limp body “Looks like you’ll have to settle with going down.”

However, she ignored Dr. M as she spotted something else… something she needed to focus on at this point. Right at the Inner Sanctum Entrance, or where the big smoking hole she had put there after breaking in, and lying motionless on a platform, Sly still lay there unconscious and a little smoky at this point.

Carmelita ran towards him, and with amazing gymnastic grace, flip hopped onto the platform, standing fifteen feet away from him as she looked at him; still can’t believing what had happened.

She had gotten her revenge by taking it out on the doctor, but now… she wasn’t sure of Cooper was alive… or... “No! He’s not dying out on me yet,” she told herself as she ran towards him, “I still haven’t thrown his ringtail in jail yet!”

She skidded to a halt as she was by his side, as she looked down on him. She got her pistol at the ready; just in case he was gonna try something funny, “Alright, Cooper! Get up; it’s time to haul you out and into jail!” There was no movement, not even a twitch of the thumb, as Cooper still lay motionless on the ground. Carmelita looked at Sly, still determined to see him pull off one of his hysterical bits before he would escape. But so far… nothing.

Carmelita held her pistol still as she demanded, “Come on, Cooper, get up! I’ve got a cell with your name on it for you back in Interpol!” Still Cooper wouldn’t move a muscle. This made Carmelita start to get a little worried, as she slightly let her gun drift down a bit. Her expression on her face changed from determined and mad, to one of worry as she stated, “Come on, Ringtail, this isn’t funny,” but still he wouldn’t budge one instant.

Finally, Carmelita lowered her weapon, and gently knelt down beside him. She holstered her gun, and a little worried for the worst, took Sly by the shoulders, and lightly shook him, fear dripping in her voice, “Cooper, wake up! Didn’t you get to this island for a reason? Something about reclaiming a family fortune?” Sly was still silent, adding more fear and worry to Carmelita as she shook him even more, the fear emanating from not only her eyes, but her voice as well, “What about your gang? You and they worked so hard to get here, and now you’re just gonna let it go down because of a lucky shot?”

Still no response to it as she stopped shaking him, fearing the worst now. Her hardened grip on his shoulders loosened as her hands still held him, but then slid to his chest, until she took back her right hand. She looked at Sly, fearful even more as she probably felt that it was inevitable: Sly Cooper… was no more. Her eyes quivered, as they started to water for a moment, as she closed them tight; just as tight as she gritted her teeth in keeping from crying out loud.

She lowered her head, the shadows covering her face, and whispered as her voice cracked, “Sly… Come on, Ringtail…”

Suddenly, the place started to shake and shimmer even more violently, as Carmelita finally took notice of it. she looked up and saw the cave was starting to collapse in on itself. Without thinking on it, she picked up Sly, balancing him on her as she looped one arm around her neck, grabbed the Cooper cane, and carefully dragged Cooper’s ‘lifeless’ body out of there.

Suddenly, someone came rushing into the room as Carmelita and Sly disappeared. Rolling in was a green and brown shelled anthropomorphic turtle, with thick glasses, a brown helmet, a brown shirt of sorts with white sleeves, white and blue shoes and black bike pants, with brown gloves, in a high tech wheelchair. His name was Bentley, Brains to the Cooper Gang, and trusted friend of Sly Cooper.

He called out to for his best friend, “Sly! Sly! Where are you, Sly?”

Next Chapter: A New Heist; Danger Afoot