Alright, Chapter 6 is up and running. I know it, I don't have a specified date when I get these things out, but hey. Does anyone?

A side note. I'm sure some of you noticed I don't write these author notes to be long. I prefer getting right to the point.

Anyway in this chapter, I'll be introducing five new characters. Each with different personalities, traits and skills.

Enjoy.

Chapter 6

The sun rose lazily over Paris. By now the tenants of the apartment were starting to awaken. Among these tenants was a raccoon, and a vixen. Sly Cooper, and Carmelita Fox.

Carmelita was in the middle of drinking black coffee. When Sly came out of the bathroom, still tucking in his shirt. "So?" he said looking at her. "Mmm. So?" She turned while gulping down some of the bitter drink. "So what?" Sly smiled, approached and said. "So, what do you think?" Carmelita laughed. "About what?" she said as Sly wrapped his arms around her. "About last night." Sly said. "Oh you mean when you told me you had lied about amnesia, snuck out, and then told me at 3:00 am?" she said. Sly looked embarrassed. "It was great Cooper." She then kissed him and he kissed her. It seemed like an eternity of passion to them.

Sly then pulled away and said, "We better get going. Leigh's probably already waiting on us." Carmelita nodded and the two of them exited out the door. Indeed the wolf was waiting on them as he leaned against the wall. A flat hat on his head, bent low over his eyes. "Damn, what took you two?" Leigh said. He then noticed the ring on Carmelita's finger. He faced Sly, "Christ, Cooper! I thought you were going to wait." he said laughing. Sly just shrugged. "Wait, you told him too?" Carmelita asked looking at Sly with concern. "I didn't tell him anything. He found out." She then faced Leigh. "Relax Carmelita." Garret said, holding up his hands. "If I wanted him in jail, he'd be there by now."

Leigh then cleared his throat and said, "Now can we stop messing around, and get to work." At that moment he grimaced and pulled out his pills. They agreed and were off.

After getting stuck in traffic, Leigh was getting very agitated. His truck had failed to start and he was forced to ride with Sly and Carmelita. "CAN WE MOVE IT!" he shouted out the window. "Hey easy Leigh." Sly said while driving slowly down the road. "We'll get there when we get there."

A car behind them began honking his horn repeatedly. This continued for maybe ten minutes. Leigh finally stuck his head out the window and shouted, "KNOCK IT OFF!" The guy in the other car then flipped him off. "You filthy-!" Leigh said as he started fumbling to get out of the car. Just then another man's voice came. "Give the guy a Valium. Take one yourself!" he was of course talking to Leigh. "Oi shut up! I'm a policeman!" Leigh shouted his answer. "You- you want your car towed?" Carmelita then leaned over to Sly. "We better get him to the station soon or he's going to fight everyone here." Sly nodded in agreement.

Finally after another hour they got to Interpol. Leigh's mood hadn't improved much. "Leigh why are you so pissed today?" Sly asked as they ascended the steps to their company. "Normally I'd be having a bad bloody hangover right now and I would say anything till the meds kicked in."he said rubbing his eyes. "Wait. This is your first day without liquor?" Carmelita said. The wolf nodded. "So far."

"Well you better not be an asno when we're meeting these novatos." Carmelita said. Leigh muttered indistinctly as his answer. "Didn't the chief say they were the best at their divisions?" Sly asked. He had some knowledge of Spanish, but not enough to be fluent. Leigh nodded, "Thats right. So we're not dealing with, uh what was it Carmelita? 'Novatos?'"

Carmelita shook her head. "Siguen siendo novatos en mis ojos." She muttered in Spanish. Leigh then stopped her. "Y usted necesidad de ser más razonable." he said to what she had said. Sly stopped and stared. Carmelita looked surprised, more stunned. "༡Donde y cuando el infierno usted apredió español?" Sly was looking back and forth at the two, completely confused at what they were saying. "Cuando estaba en Iraq." Leigh said to what she asked. "No lo sabía." she said scratching her head. "There's a lot you don't know about me." The wolf said, in English. "What was that about?" Sly asked still confused. Leigh just shook his head. "Just a little discussion. Now lets not waste any more time they're waiting for us." He then patted Sly on the shoulder. Sly was still trying to understand what had happened as Leigh and Carmelita walked past him. He came back to his senses and quickly caught up with them.

When they reached their offices they saw that Barkely's office only had Barkely in it. Leigh looked back to the others, both who just shrugged.

Leigh then went over and knocked on his door. He looked up from his paper work and beckoned them in. As they all went through the door he then said without looking up, " Don't close the door." Leigh being the last one in obeyed and kept the door open.

"Where the new guys?"Sly asked his arms outstretched. "They're obviously not here." the chief said getting up. He then retched over and grabbed his business jacket and fedora. "C'mon. I need to go, confess, at Notre Dame." he said and as he exited through he turned and said, "Care to join me?" Both Sly and Carmelita were absolutely confused. "Confess?" Carmelita asked Sly. He shrugged and then turned to Leigh. Who he discovered was right behind the chief. "But there's no Mass today, is there?" Carmelita asked as she and Sly were quickly trying to catch up to Leigh and Barkely.

After walking for half an hour, they finally reached the ancient, yet majestic cathedral. Up it's steps in front of the aged doors, stood a elderly Bloodhound. "Good morning chief Barkely." The old dog said as he saw them approaching. "Good morning, padre." the chief said in response. They shook hands and Barkely went inside. "Hello Leigh." The padre said and shook the wolf's hand. "Father." Leigh said nodding.

Sly and Carmelita followed behind and after they saw the priest closing and locking the door.

They saw Leigh walk over to the bowl of holy water, dip his fingers in, kneeled, and quickly crossed himself. He then stood back up and continued his stride.

Inside the enormous church, and in one of the rows of pews nearest to the door were two older Interpol officers. Who were also close friends of the chief. Up front were five others. A Mountain Lion, an Italian Pointer, a black Panther, a White Bengal Tiger, and a Rottweiler.

After reaching the dais, they could clearly see each other. "Sly, Leigh, Carmelita I'd like you meet your new task group." The lion was sitting cross legged, spinning an 1860 Colt Army revolver in her hand. The Tiger was leaning against the wall next to the dais, his arms crossed. The Panther barely noticed them, and the two dogs were sitting next to each other, listening closely. "Leigh?" the Rottweiler asked, looking up. "Leigh Garret?" he asked again, this time standing up. "Hello Sergeant." Leigh said shaking his hand. "It's good to see you again, 'Leftenent.'" Pengelly said and nodded.

"I assume we've been introduced?" the Lion politely said, as she stopped spinning her revolver. "That's right Miss Davis." Chief said. "Alright, we're dealing with a very dangerous organization, one that extends from all corners of the globe, and even into our own divisions." The chief said, speaking to everyone of them. "That's why we had to meet here." Sly said, stating the obvious. "Now I've asked my counter-parts across the globe to bring you here, because you're the best at what you did there. And that's why I knew you all here." He then pointed to Leigh, Sly, and Carmelita. "Now these three are in charge, and they'll answer to me. They're the best cops I've got in my division. And I've told your commanders, that when you're here in my city, you answer to me, or them." he said sternly looking at all of them. "If none of you like it, fine," he said folding his arms. "Walk out now."

After a moment of hesitation, and nobody got up, Barkely nodded. "Is there anything you would like to add, Inspectors?" he said turning to Sly, Carmelita, and Leigh. "Yeah, we're going to need some things. Like a base of operations, equipment, an armory, maybe few more people. People we can trust." Leigh said. That's when an idea popped into Sly's head. "Hey Chief, can I talk to you?" he said, catching everyone's attention. "In private?"

At first the Barkely hesitated, but then nodded. The tow of them then walked over to one of the farther corners, out of earshot. "Alright Copper what is this about?" The chief said taking his hat off to scratch his head. "Well, I know of a good place for our safe house. And I trust the people there." Sly said. The chief didn't look to convinced. "You sure? I don't want this whole thing blown before it begins." he said. Sly knew the dangers of an operation getting exposed. He was determined not to make that mistake again. He nodded and said, "I trust them with my life." After a moment of thought, Barkely nodded.

The two walked back to the group, and Sly sat down. "Alright. You've got a base to work with, plus some more help." Barkely said to the others. He then turned to Leigh, "What else do you need?" He said as Leigh popped a pill in his mouth. "Technical equipment, computers and radios. We're also going to find a steady stream of weapons and ammo." Leigh said after swallowing. This caught Carmelita's attention. "Why not from the division's armory?" she said scratching her head. "No. If what Chief Barkely says is true, then there are eyes and ears in your division." Davis said sitting up. "Raiding the armory will only tell them that we're up to something." Leigh nodded in agreement. "Mallary's right. We're going to need to keep this as low profile as long as possible."

Barkely clear his throat. "Right. You all know what needs to be done." he said clearly. Everyone of them was staring at him. "Bring the Renegades down, using any methods within the law. Bend and stretch the rules if necessary, but do not break them. Or your no better then the people your going after. Agreed?" And all of them nodded. "Then get on it." he said and started walking for the doors.

"Alright. Mark?" Leigh said to the Tiger. "You're the procurer. Start tracking down weapons, ammo, and anything else we'll need." Mark nodded and then Garret turned to Sly. "Alright Sly, better talk to your people, tell them we're coming." "Already on it." Sly said pulling out a cell phone.

He punched in the number and waited. The line rung twice before the other side answered. "Hello?" Bentley's Voice came. "Bentley its me. I'm going to need you and the other's help with what I got." "Yeah, sure. What do you need?" Sly got up and walked down the aisles of pews while he explained. "That's pretty big stuff, Sly." Bentley said sounding concerned. "Yeah. I won't involve you if you don't want to."

The moments went by like they were heartbeats. "Hey, I've worked with you for like, I don't know, since childhood. I haven't said 'No' yet." Sly grinned. "Thanks pal." Bentley then asked, "Two questions. First how many are there and what do you need?" Sly turned to face the group. "Theres five of us, and we'll need technical stuff, and a place to sleep."

Just then Carmelita to face him. She smiled at him. He smiled back. Then he started thinking. Thinking about the things he had never had. A real home, family, peace of mind, and love. Those might have been a possibility had his family not been killed, all those years ago.

"We can do both of those Sly." Bentley's voice came from the phone. That snapped Sly back to reality. "Huh? Oh yeah. Um thanks." he said quickly. "And the second?" "The second, will we be arrested after your done?" Sly shook his head. "No, the whole gang was pardoned." he then heard Bentley sigh deeply. "You alright pal?" Bentley asked a moment later. "Yeah, yeah I'll tell you more later. See you in a bit." Sly said and hung up.

After walking back to the group he then explained where the safe house was and who they were going to be working. After that they all agreed to head for the safe house. "Hey Sly?" Leigh asked next to his friend. "When are you and Carmelita gonna tie the knot?" Sly was surprised by this question. Indeed. He hadn't really given thought about the wedding. "Uh, n-not sure."

After everyone arrived at the safe house. Sly went to the door. "Hey Bentley. We're here." After a moment, the door came open. It was Penelope that appeared. "Hey Sly, come on in." She said and moved back as everyone filed in. "Ma'am." Leigh said taking his off his hat to her. Penelope felt very small as the larger people filed past her.

Bentley then rolled in from the kitchen and positioned himself next to the table. "Miss Fox." he said to Carmelita. She nodded and sat herself down. "Well alright." Sly said and then pointed to the mouse by the door. "This is Penelope." all the officers nodded to her. "Bentley." The turtle then nodded to the officers. "And somewhere around here is- -" Just then a sound like a run away freight train came through the kitchen and before Sly knew it, he was being bear hugged by an enormous hippo. "SLY!" The hippo said as he crushed Sly's rib cage with his massive arms. "Murray!" Sly said hoarsely. He was struggling to get air into his lungs. "Uh Murray?" Bentley said patting Murray to get his attention. When he looked Bentley pointed at Sly. "Air!" Sly said. Murray heard Sly and immediately dropped him. The raccoon fell like a rag doll to the floor. Everyone except Sotoshi the panther broke out laughing.

"I'm sorry. You ok little buddy?" Murray said gently picking Sly up. "Ugh. Yeah I'm fine. It's good to see you Murray." Sly said patting him on the shoulder. After she had finished laughing Mallary said. "You have a very interesting set of friends Cooper." He dusted off his jacket and smiled. "Yep. I wouldn't have it any other way." he said putting his arms on each of the two's shoulders "These two stuck with me since childhood."

"Well I hate to break up the reunion," Leigh suddenly said, everyone then looked at him. "But can we get back to why we're here?" Sly cleared his throat and nodded. "Alright. As I was saying at the cathedral, Mark start looking around for cots, weapons and any information you can about the Renegades." Eaglehorn nodded, "If it's in Paris, I'll find it."Leigh nodded and continued. "If anybody needs or wants something, write it down and give it to Mark." Everyone then started pulling out pens. "Bentley how bout you and Penelope start looking on the internet for anything about the Renegades and what they've stolen." Sly then said to the turtle, who nodded and him and the mouse went into the kitchen. "And how about me?" Murray said shrugging. "How about you and me go and pick up the equipment when they're down writing?" Mark suggested. Murray then looked at Sly, like a child looking to a parent. "It's ok, pal." Sly said and passed a paper to Leigh.

After that everyone went to different activities. The hours past as everyone waited for Mark and Murray's return. Sotoshi looked like he was meditating on a couch. Luigi, was having a cigarette by the window. Sly and Carmelita we're talking together. Bentley and Penelope were still working on ThievesNet, Pengelly was also in the kitchen making coffee, and Leigh and Mallary were cleaning their sidearms at the table.

Mallary, as it turned out had two 1860 Colt Army revolvers. "Can I ask you something?" Leigh said as he was looking down the separated barrel of his weapon. "Sure." she said as she brushed out the cylinders. "Why those weapons? Why not something more modern?" Leigh asked as he began putting his .45 back together. Mallary laughed and said, "Mr. Garret. These are modern. I made them." This surprised Leigh. "You made them?" Mallary nodded. "That's right. My daddy was a gunsmith when I was growing up. He showed me how and I wound up making these suckers." she said holding one of the weapons up. "I made them more accurate, double action weapons. Plus they spit out .45 ACPs. Been using them since I was sixteen." "Hmm." Leigh muttered. "A gunhand and sniper in the same person. Not bad."

Just then a vehicle came up. "Hey they're back." Sly said after looking out the window. Everyone then went to the garage and Murray and Mark jumped out of the Cooper van. Mark preceded to the rear and opened the double doors. Inside were many crates and several olive green cots. Leigh jumped in with Mark and the two started unloading the van. "Do I want to know where you got some of this stuff?" Carmelita asked as Mark handed her a cot. "Probably not." Finally everyone of the crates were off and in the living room.

Leigh then came in with a crow bar and ripped the top off the nearest to him. Inside were twelve Remington 870 shotguns. In another ballistic vests. One had MP9 SMGs in it. Another contained several rifles. Mallary had seven sniper rifles next to her. "I take a different one for a different day." she said shrugging. The rest contained 9mm .40 S&W, .22, 12 gauge, .556, and 7.62 ammunition.

"Alright. Now that we got everything we'll need. We should start looking around for anything on the Renegades." Leigh said. "Mallary, you and Mark should head to the London, find out every thing that happened at Talon arms." They both nodded. "Sotoshi and Pengelly you two hit the streets, shake up some of the local hoods." They nodded and Leigh then turned to Luigi. "You'll stay here to watch over Bentley and Penelope while they look for something." The pointer hesitated at first but nodded. "I'll head to division with Sly and Carmelita, talk to the chief and find out anything we can about these sons of bitches." he looked at each of them, and said, "Alright? Lets get going then." they all got up and left the safe house.

"Oh, Sly, Carmelita." Leigh said stopping the two. "Here." he said picking up two Walter .22 handguns and holding them by the barrels, offered the weapons to them. "Leigh we don't use guns. You know that." Sly said. The wolf nodded, lowering the pistols. "I know. But I've dealt with scum like this before. They will shoot you and not think twice about it." he said and raised the weapons again. The two though it over and Sly then took one from Leigh. Carmelita took longer, but sighed and snatched the pistol out of Leigh's hand. Then the three set off to division.

After getting to the division and coming up completely dry. Sly, Carmelita and Leigh were headed back to the safe house. Leigh was absent mindedly looking out the window into the crowds of people. Just then he saw two ferrets walking briskly down the street, and were even shoving some people as they went by. One was wearing a backpack. "Hey wait." Leigh said patting Sly on the shoulder. "Stop the car. Come on stop the car." he added when Cooper didn't do it at first. They pulled over to the opposite side of the road. "I know those two. They are troubleshooters for the Russian Mafia." Sly looked over to where Leigh was pointing. "Russians in Paris?" he muttered. "They only come out when they're dealing guns with somebody." Leigh said as Carmelita kept her eye on the ferrets. "You think this has something to do with the Renegades?"

The ferrets then entered an old warehouse. Leigh shrugged. "I'm gonna go over and ask them." he said and got out of the car. "Wha- Leigh!" Sly said but it fell on deaf ears. "Aww damn it." Carmelita said and followed the wolf. Sly parked the car and jogged after them.

The ferrets walked briskly through the empty corridor. They turned the corner and were met with an odd sight. A rat hand-cuffed to a water pipe and gaged. One spoke in Russian as he went for his hidden Makarov. "Uh-uh!" a voice said and the sound of a hammer clicking behind them. They turned slowly to see Leigh Garret standing in front of them. A large brief case next to him.

They stopped reaching for their weapons and dropped their arms to their sides. "Hey," one of the Russians said in English. "Where do I know you from?" he said pointing at Leigh. The wolf simply said, "Gibraltar." The ferret thought about it for a moment before it came to him. "Ah yes. You took about three tons of Cocaine from us." Leigh nodded lowered his weapon so it was at his side, and said, "That's right. And I'm not sure about this, but didn't I shoot your brother too?" The ferret growled as his hand started creeping to his weapon. "Ah-ha!" Leigh said seeing this. "Go ahead mate. Lets see if you can come in first place." The ferret smirked. "You won't kill both of us. And besides," he said chuckling. "Your alone."

Then another voice came from behind them. "Who says he's alone?" Leigh grinned and the ferrets spun around. Carmelita and Sly were behind them, Sly with his new .22 drawn. Carmelita with her shock pistol.

Just then, the other ferret started reaching for his jacket pocket. "Hey!" Carmelita said. The Russian then spoke in quickly in his native language. "What he say?" Sly said to Leigh. Instead it was the first ferret that answered. "He says its only a cigarette." the other nodded and slowly pulled out a pack of cancer sticks. He then opened it up and began to pull one in the middle out. "Hey, you watch it or it won't be the nicotine that kills you." Leigh said sternly. The ferret nodded and then Leigh turned his attention to the English ferret. "Now what do you know about the Renegades?"

Just then the ferret with the smokes pressed the pulled cigarette down. There was a small click and then he dropped the whole pack. Both ferrets then ran in different directions. At the last second Leigh turned away. The hidden charge of the pack then exploded. It was a flash bang explosive. "Aah! Shit!" Sly shouted as he was blinded by the flash. He threw his hands over his eyes and started staggering around. Carmelita had blinked when the charge went off so she wasn't blinded. But she did hear the explosion and was thrown to the ground.

Leigh staggered as he saw both the ferrets running fast. Then split off from each other. One went up the stairs behind Sly and Carmelita, the other down the corridor. "Ugh. Sly!" he shouted that sounded faint. "What!" he also heard faintly. Leigh's hearing had come back and he started running after the first ferret down the corridor. "You take the one up stairs!" he shouted as he ran past Sly. Cooper nodded and ran up the stairs, Carmelita stayed with the hand-cuffed rat.

Sly followed the Russian, flight after flight. Finally the ferret had reached the roof, looked around and started going for his pistol. Sly just came to a skidding halt with his .22 in hand. "Hey! Hold it!" he shouted and raised the weapon.

The ferret shouted in Russian and spun around his weapon drawn. Sly didn't have a choice. He fired his weapon. Five times he pulled the trigger. Each one struck the ferret in the chest. As the ferret spasm violently he fell backwards through a window shattering. After falling his foot caught part of a chain and then he was just hanging there, dead. When Sly saw this he couldn't look very long. "Damn." he said. Then he remembered Leigh and sprinted back to the stairs.

Leigh ran fast after the ferret, but he was beginning to lose him. Finally after rounding a corner, the ferret vanished. "Shit." he muttered. He turned several times looking for the Russian ferret, but didn't find him. He began to advance slowly down the hall, weapon raised. He continued this even when he passed the stairwell. He took a quick glance and then kept moving.

"Stop." a voice said behind him. And that is exactly what Leigh did. He slowly lowered his weapon and placed it in his left hand, then, turned to face a Makarov pointed at his head. The little ferret had hidden in the small gap inside the wall of the stairwell. "For my brother." he said with hatred in his voice. He then pulled the hammer back. "Go ahead. If you got the bollocks." Leigh said defiantly.

Just then Sly came to a halt and saw the Russian pointing the weapon at Leigh. He raised his own and shouted, "Hey!" The ferret only turned his head for an instant. But that instant was all Leigh needed. He the brought his left arm up with lightning speed and knocked the ferrets arm away from him. But the weapon discharged as it had just cleared Leigh's head. The 9mm round then struck the wall. But then it ricocheted and then struck the next object in the stairs.

Sly yelled as the round struck him in the side and then tumbled forward. Leigh didn't noticed at first, but instead fired three times into the ferret. The dead Russian then slumped backwards against the wall and stayed there.

Sly then came into Leigh's view as he just finished. Sly then laid there in pain as Leigh saw that his best friend had been shot, by his actions.

An old nightmare resurfaced as Leigh then saw a small lynx lying in the same position as Sly. "Leigh!" a voice then came to the Wolf. "What are you doing?" Sly said as he saw the horror struck wolf. Leigh snapped back to his senses and holstered his weapon. He grabbed Sly and then threw him into a fireman's carry. Then he turned and ran back down the corridor.

Carmelita had heard the gunfire and feared the worst when there was silence. "Lord, please let them be alright." she said to herself silently. When she turned however she nearly screamed. She saw Leigh carrying Sly on his shoulders, blood running down Leigh's shirt. "What happened?" she shouted. "Later." Leigh said through his teeth. "Just call it in." Carmelita nodded and got on her radio, alerting the police.

"Don't you think it might be better to get me to a hospital?" Sly said groaning. "After being shot by the mob? And that we just killed two of their lads?" Leigh asked barely stopping. Sly thought it over and said, "Yeah, your right."

"Ok, local PD is on it's way." Carmelita said. "Now lets get Sly some help, huh?" Leigh nodded. "He's gonna get it. Lets get back to the safe house." he said. Then faced Carmelita. "You'll stay here though." Carmelita looked taken aback. "But- -" she began but was quickly interrupted. "No but's, they'll need proof of us being here."

Just then Sly barked. "Can we please get the bullet out of my stomach!" Leigh turned his head to face Sly. "Sorry mate. Yeah we're going, we're going." Leigh then began to jog fast to the car, leaving Carmelita next to the rat.

The rat, then began say something but the gag was still in his mouth so it was completely muffled. Carmelita took one look at him and said, "Shut up."

So what you guys think? I know you guys weren't expecting Sly to get shot, huh? If it was good then review and send it to me. If not then piss off! Chapter 7 is on it's way.