Sorry for the chapter being a bit small, but I know you’ve guys have been waiting for an update. I’m just trying as fast as I can.

Sly 4: Legends of Thieves

Chapter 1: A New Heist; Danger Afoot

2 Weeks Later

Paris, France

11:47 PM

Hotel D’ jour

RM 3001

In the apartment room’s kitchen, a kettle was blowing its whistle at high speed. It blew for a couple of minutes, until a hand grabbed the handle and lifted it up, taking it over to a tea set. The figure was an anthropomorphic female tiger, colored bright orange and grayish black stripes styled in a Chinese style pattern than regular straight. She was dressed only in a red kimono with a green dragon design that make it look like it was wrapping itself around her body. She appeared to be in her mid fifties, but despite her age, she was built like a gymnast with a figure to die for. Her black stripes seemed a bit lighter as her age was most noticeable, and she had long grayish black hair that was tied in a bun on the back of her head, with a few strands hanging loose in front of her aged, yet captivating face, but not covering her dazzling but fierce green eyes.

She took the kettle and poured the hot water into a tea pot filled with what appeared to be Jaspen Tea mix. The tigress then set aside the kettle back on the stove and took the teapot over to the living room gently. The living room was decorated with a Chinese style of sorts, with a small end table where a tea cup was waiting. After sitting down Chinese style, she mixed the contents and for a moment, poured a bit into the cup until it was filled just about right.

She then took the cup, and lightly sipped, ignoring the alerting hot temperature of the tea water. After a few seconds of sipping, she held the cup only six inches away from her face, down to her chest, as if she was clinging to dear life.

She was about to take another sip from the cup… and stopped.

She looked at her apartment door for only a moment, noticing a shadow that was forming from under the crack at the bottom of the door. The door was then split in the center, forcing the door open, and violently striking the door on the kitchen’s chopping table. The tigress bolted up on her feet, not looking surprised or in fear, and still clutching on to her tea cup.

She looked at the one assailant that had smashed down her door, trying to get a good look at them. Unfortunately, the shadows had covered his face, but his body was noticeable. He appeared to stand nearly six-feet tall, his body was heavily muscled up, with a cat tail wagging like a lion’s, waiting to snatch at his prey. His baggy pants were purple, with bandages going from under his knees ending over his ankles. His white clawed cat feet were bandaged as well, exposing only the clawed toes and the back heels. His forearms were bandaged as well, with his right bicep had a spiked armguard. He was wearing a black gi shirt, with the arms exposed, showing gray fur with black spots, and his chest having a grayish white chest and abdomen fur. His whole face was hidden in the shadows, but the only details were his yellow eyes, which glared daggers at the tigress, and a low growl escaped the assailant’s throat as his fingers clenched slowly and harsh, making them crack as he balled them into fists.

The Tigress sighed, letting her shoulders slump; the right shoulder of her robe slipped down a bit, showing nothing underneath as there was no under strap. She then let her left hand go of the tea cup, leaving only her right hand to hold the up. She then hardened her eyes to the assailant, as she muttered, “Just a matter of time, I suppose.”

The intruder’s right hand open, and slowly out of his fingertips, five razor sharp black claws extended out. Sensing his opponent’s fighting spirit, the tigress took a deep calming breath, as if for only this moment, time slowed down indefinitely. She tipped her cup spilling out all the contents of the tea on the floor. This caught the intruder’s attention for this moment, and that was all it was needed to catch him off guard.

The tigress then threw the tea cup at the assailant, but the assailant sensed this coming for a moment. He leaned to his right, allowing the tea cup to pass him, and shatter on the hallway’s floor. She then jumped back a bit, reaching out from behind her where a bo staff collection was placed on her wall. She immediately grabbed one of them, and turned to face her opponent… who suddenly disappeared.

Grabbing the staff, the intruder, who had popped up from her side, grabbed it, and whacked her in her mid-section, causing her to go unbalanced as she let go of the staff. He then threw it at the wall, embedding it into the concrete structure. The tigress regained her stance and balance, and all time seemed to return to normal at that point, as the assailant attempted to deck her in the face.

However, she immediately blocked it with her left paw, and palm struck her assailant into the wall. She then charged forward and attempted to deliver vicious and unforgiving blows at the one who attacked her. But with every straight forward and side blow, her opponent kept blocking her advances with much skill and strength. However, when she blocked a knee thrust from her opponent, he had the opportunity to slam his elbow into her shoulder, causing her to lose focus. It was then that he had delivered two cross punches, grabbed her head, and kneed her in the face, and then kneed her even harder in the face, causing her to slam into the wall, and drop on the floor, causing her hair to come loose and drop onto her back from her bun style.

After taking a heave of breath for a moment, and wiping the blood from her lips, she immediately jumped at him, delivering two powerful punches that missed him, but destroyed a section of the wall behind him. And on the third punch, the intruder caught it, locking it in place, and then delivered a powerful elbow blow to her chest, sending her crashing into her end table, shattering it.

As she tried to right herself once again and get up, the intruder grabbed the tigress by the collar of her robe. He lifted her up, and threw her fast and hard into the kitchen, crashing into the chopping table. Nearly tired and beaten, her robe half torn as she used the table to help herself up, she used her peripherals to look around the room. As she looked at the glass wall, which showed the bright lights of the city of Paris, she noticed on the chopping table’s reflection, a set of knives waiting for her to use.

As the assailant made his way to her, the tigress immediately bolted up, grabbed the closest of the kitchen knives, and threw it right at him. He leaned to the left, dodging the knife as it hit the wall, embedded in it next to the staff. The assailant charged right at her, as she grabbed the biggest kitchen knife and slashed at him. However, he dodged her moves as she slashed swiped, and stabbed at him either dodging or blocking her.

However, at one of the stabs, the assailant grabbed the Tigress’s arm, slammed the arm onto the table, and immediately… he slammed his hardened fist into the wrist, breaking it. The Tigress cried out in pain at this infliction of pain; her broken hand letting the knife fall on the ground.

She was then grabbed by the collar of her robe, and yanked off the floor, as she grabbed on to the wrist of the one holding her up. She then struggled as she tried to speak. “So… it is you,” she groaned through her teeth, still struggling on his grip. “… the informant… told me… everything! You won‘t… you won‘t succeed!”

The figure’s gaze narrowed a bit, as his free hand reached into his open gi. The tigress was a bit frightened, but only showed it through her eyes. He slowly started to pull out something, adding more suspense to his opponent’s fears… and pulled out a small envelope of sorts, setting it down on the table, and causing her fears to disappear.

But her fears soon return as he pulled her back for a moment, as time once again slowed down for them both. And then in a fast motion, he threw her at the window, shattering it, as she and the glass fall down… fifty stories below to the streets.

37 Minutes Later

Hotel D’ jour

RM 3001

Something like a person falling down a fifty-story building and impacting on the ground dead would bound to gain attention. And it did, as a few witnesses had seen the ‘David Litterman’ incident, and called in Interpol. And like moths to a flame, they flew in as an immediate investigation of the crime/suicide/murder was underway. In the tigress’s former apartment, anthropomorphic pig and Doberman cops were looking around the precinct, digging for any clues at all to this person’s demise and the perp responsible for it.

Standing close to the shattered window was none other than Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox. She was currently studying the scene by looking out the window, and down to where the body had crashed. Luckily for civilians the body was taken away, and the blood long clean afterwards. But at this moment, the foxy inspector was deeply confused as to why this one person was murdered… when nothing was known about her at all.

She looked around and spotted the forensic officer as she placed her hands on her hips, asking, “So… any idea who our mystery gal is?”

“Her name‘s Li Mei,” the anthropomorphic weasel answered as he adjusted his bottle glasses. “Died at 53. Height 5‘7”, weight 176 lbs. … and surprisingly physically fit for someone her age. She could have been an Olympic gymnast with that kind of body… even at her age.”

“I noticed when I saw the body. For a woman her age, she was in terrific shape,” Carmelita answered as she walked over to the chopping table. She had taken a glimpse at the envelope, which had remained closed and untouched as she looked around the room. “You think this could have been a gang break-in?”

“Unlikely, Inspector,” a new voice spoke out.

Carmelita’s attention was then taken from the letter as she looked at the front door. Standing there, with a cane supporting him, was an anthropomorphic raccoon, appeared to be in his early eighties. Even though his age and the cane, he was surprisingly fit; a thick gray mustache nearly covering his mouth, and two small lens bifocals on his brown eyes. He was dressed in a blue business suit with a gray trench coat, and black loafers, and had an Interpol badge on the left side of his coat.

“And you are?” Carmelita asked, cocking her right eyebrow in confusion.

“This is Inspector Otto Nav Repook,” another voice popped out. Standing next to the aged raccoon, was an age anthropomorphic badger; a bit out of shape, but capable of handling himself. His fur was brown with grayish brown, and his mustache was big enough to cover his mouth, with big bushy eyebrows on his face. He wore a white button-up T shirt, red tie, brown pants held up on him with suspenders, and black loafers.

“Chief Barkley,” Carmelita immediately startled as she stood straight up, acting as if she was in the military. “I didn’t know you were coming, sir.”

“Relax, Fox,” Barkley reassured her as he pulled out his cigar. “I’m only here for a moment to introduce your new partner.”

This caused Carmelita to be a bit shocked by this as she asked, stunned. “What?” her question sounding more like a protest than mere confusion. “Since when?”

Barkley glared at her, causing Inspector Carmelita to shrink back, as he growled furiously, “Since I decided two heads would be better than one on the Cooper Case.”

“But… but, sir…”

“NO BUTS, INSPECTOR!” the room nearly echoed from the Chief’s little outburst as he pointed his cigar at Fox. “You had Cooper back on M‘s Island, and he still managed to get away! I‘ve let you do your loner bit, hire commando mercenaries, and you still let the raccoon get away!” after letting his anger subside, he turned to head for the door, as he finished with a calm tone, “I want you to learn from Repook. Maybe it‘ll be good for ya to learn from a pro.”

As soon as he left, the room seemed a bit quiet, considering that some of the officers were looking at Inspector Fox, but not in accusation, but mild confusion. They had heard that the good Inspector had finally cuffed Cooper when he had found him unconscious, but when she turned her back for a moment to radio for backup to arrive… she turned around and saw that he was gone, say for the cuffs she had used. It had been a bit of a smudge on her record in sorts. A smudge that wasn’t gonna be let go of so easily.

“Don‘t you all have an investigation to go through?” Carmelita finally shouted out. This caused most of them to get back to work, but only Inspector Repook walked forward. He stopped as he stood next to her as she asked, annoyed, “What?”

He pointed at the shattered glass as he answered, “This is plate glass.”

“Yeah, I figured as much,” Carmelita replied bitterly. “So what‘s your point?”

“It would take an awful lot of force to simply break it like that,” the elderly inspector pointed out as he scratched his chin, pondering on this.

“We checked the bedroom,” Carmelita pointed out as she placed her right hand on her hip and balanced her upper body on it as she sighed in dissatisfaction. “Although unlike this room, the drawers were opened, tossed through. Even the mattress was thrown off. It had to have been a robbery of sorts.”

“You‘re most likely right,” Repook replied as he scratched his chin, but then cocked an eyebrow as his attention turned towards the envelope. “But I have a hunch that this was made to look like a robbery. Miss Li Mei was an international Martial Arts Master; received outstanding in all the competitions. No history of her ever dealing with the wrong side of the law”

Carmelita looked stunned by that idea as she turned to her newly-appointed partner. “Then… what was the whole point to all this?” she asked, hoping for an easy answer. “You think this might have been a competitor killing?”

A brief moment of silence between the two Interpol cops as they looked out the broken window. The full moon was shining brightly, joining the lights of the artificial lights of Paris’s city itself. It wasn’t until after a cloud passed over, nearly covering the moon, that Repook answered, “I think… this might be a little over our heads, my dear.”

2 Hours Later

D’Jour Hotel

1:13 AM

The night above the apartment building was as cool as ice, and had darkened with clouds floating in. the police had all left the crime scene and had called it a night. Yellow tape lay posted on where the open window was currently remaining un-patched. The place seemed pretty quiet, even from afar on the rooftops as well. Except for someone running along side the edge of one of the buildings near the hotel.

The figure raced along the rooftop in high speed, reaching the edge as he jumped off it… and gracefully landed on another rooftop. He sped off, not even being slowed down by the jump or the graceful landing. Running at high pace, the runner was heading for a chimney stalk that was right in front of him. However, he pulled out a familiar can-like staff with a golden yellow stylized ‘C’ shaped hook on the top of it. He smacked right into it like a club striking a melon, shattering the chimney stock to bits.

He then jumped the clearing, revealing himself in the moonlight as he glided in the air. It was none other than Sly Cooper, Master Thief of the Cooper Clan… alive and kicking… and nearly on his way to plummet down to the street as well. But at the last minute to when gravity would do its job and send him falling down, a small RC pink helicopter zoomed on towards him. Seeing this, Sly smirked as he whipped out his cane, caught the landing gear of the mini-chopper with the hook end, and swung himself to the broken window. Breaking through the yellow tape, the raccoon master thief rolled in, and stopped gracefully on the floor.

Sly stood up, as the light finally reflected back on him, showing that he still wore the same getup as he always did. Except this time, he had something strapped on to his right leg. A gun holster of sorts, and in it was a revolver gun shaped just like his ancestor’s, Tennessee Kid Cooper; it had the same hook as the cane did, on the end of the handle. Whatever reason for the revolver, Sly had it now as he half smirked at his little feet.

“Two weeks of rest and recovery…” he told himself confidently as he tipped his hat a bit. “… nothing to do but rest in bed… and I still got it.”

“Well, that‘s very comforting to know,” Bentley remarked on the binocucomm. “but right now, we‘ve gotta find out why McSweeney sent us to come here.”

“It did seem kinda odd that he called us from jail,” Sly relied as he walked around the apartment, using the flashlight from his leg pouch. “But then again… we have been getting odd jobs in our line of work.” he then proceeded to walk around the room, in search of anything that his father’s old teammate, McSweeney, might’ve wanted in this place.

Next Chapter: New and Old Teammates, Old Jobs; Chase down Memory Lane