The plan to get into the museum to get the dagger was rather classic. Uncle Murray got into place where he could use his muscle. Uncle Bentley went through the sewers to get an access point to the security networks. Dad and I went via the rooftops, dodging security choppers. While Dad had trouble and needed to duck behind cover, I'd been practicing with both magic and Cooper family techniques for quite some time. I could now activate my invisibility in a split second, as long as I was standing perfectly still. Combining that with the Slow Time technique that enhanced my reflexes to the point time seemed to slow made it next to impossible for the choppers to catch me. Deik-Beck stuck close to Sly, making his own way across the rooftops and dropping in the form of some metal junk if the spotlight swung his way.
As we went, Bentley called out reminders to Dad of his various skills and abilities as a Master Thief via the binocucom, just in case he didn't remember one in particular. Understandable, since Dad admitted himself that there were still holes in his memory. It was rather fun.
Sly continued his careful hops from spire to spire, Coco and Deik-Beck following him. After a time, he took a glance off to the side as they landed on a rope they could walk up to a new rooftop...and saw Murray, riding atop one of La Paradox's trucks up to the entrance of the museum. "That was...not his entrance strategy," Sly pointed out dryly.
"Looks fun, though!" Coco piped up happily, giggling as they watched. "And he is in position now," she added as she leapt over Sly to go further up the rope to the next roof.
Rolling his eyes, Sly followed along before once more taking the lead. As they continued, security started to get tighter, though it remained less than a challenge for the trio. "It feels good to be doing this again," Sly murmured thoughtfully to himself. "Doubt Carmelita would be accepting of it, though."
"You might be surprised," Coco murmured thoughtfully, keeping her voice low. Deik-Beck clicked a few times in a silent giggle. He'd been the one directing Coco's call to Carmelita when she'd told her about the planned heist. He knew what had been said.
After a bit more hopping along spires, the trio was forced to detour as security choppers began actively patrolling areas that would allow a Cooper approach, specifically the ropes that Sly and Coco were actively using. "That was too close," Sly murmured as they dropped down into cover.
"I don't like this," Coco murmured softly. "We've had bad experiences any time someone was specifically prepared for Coopers. Seft and Neyla weren't pushovers, and did us a lot of damage..."
Sly nodded, bracing himself. "...if you say so," he admitted finally.
Coco lowered her eyes. She hadn't realized that was part of his past Sly hadn't recalled yet. Probably something his mind was specifically avoiding, for any number of reasons. She instead silently followed as he made his way to a flagpole...only for it to fall as he shimmied up it, creating a bridge back to the roof Coco was on. "...guess I'm a little out of practice," he murmured apologetically.
"Too much rich food, not enough exercise for anywhere but the hips?" Coco offered teasingly.
Sly frowned irritably. "You are much too young to be making jokes like that," he chided firmly.
"I just turned 13, Dad," Coco pointed out dryly. "Be lucky this heist came up now. Otherwise I might be heading out and bringing home boys instead of loot." At Sly's stunned expression, she smirked and decided to really push his buttons. "Or maybe girls. I haven't really thought about that part of my life yet. Then again, there are some species who are both at the same time, or so I've heard..."
"Nope nope nope nope nope!" Sly repeated to himself as he raced off towards the museum, making Coco burst into giggles again.
Before long, the pair reached the skylight that was their intended entrance. A single guard stood before it with their backs to them, a rat-person dressed in a skin-tight hazmat suit complete with gas mask. Coco frowned as she caught sight of this. "There's nowhere I can slip a needle in..."
"Still prepared for us," Sly murmured darkly. "I'm not liking the looks of this-"
Their words were cut off as Deik-Beck scampered up behind the rat and drove a single pointed leg into the base of the rat's tail, sending him tumbling over as the little bot pulled back the skylight key. "Drive in deeper!" he declared, showing how the leg had reshaped into an extra-long and sharp hypodermic needle.
"Good work, Deik-Beck!" Coco praised happily.
With us in place, we just had to wait for Uncle Bentley to shut down the security lasers so we could rappel down and grab the dagger. It was a longer wait than expected, both because Uncle Bentley himself was out of practice when it came to thieving, and because - much like on our approach - security seemed designed specifically to take our usual tactics into account to catch us unaware.
Uncle Murray ran into a similar trap. It seemed almost as though the security were designed based off reports of us, but by someone who'd never actually seen us in action leading to the designs underestimating us. What was impossible to tell was whether said underestimation was luck...or design.
Still, the security system was successfully disabled, and Dad and I slipped down to swipe the dagger. However, just as Dad was placing the calling card...
"You didn't really think you could get away with it, did you ringtail?" Carmelita called out as she opened the door, her new shock pistol leveled right at Sly.
Sly swallowed as he caught sight of her. She'd chosen a different outfit, possibly specifically after Coco's call. She still wore the same jacket and boots...but in place of her previous top and jeans, she now wore a blue tube top that shaped to her so well it was practically a strapless bikini top, and a blue mini-skirt held up by a black belt with a gold buckle, drawing the eye to her flat stomach and shapely legs. "H-hey Carmelita," he managed to greet as he hid the dagger behind his back. "Fancy meeting you-"
"Coco called and told me everything," Carmelita pointed out flatly.
"Aw, Mom!" Coco complained. "Why'd you snitch on me?"
"So Sly can know why I need you all to escape via the southern exit," Carmelita responded. "That's his private warehouse, which isn't open to public officials."
"...what?" Sly asked in confusion.
"The first thing Mom said when I told her you were planning a heist here was, 'It's about time'," Coco explained with a giggle. "She knew you'd been casing the place, and was counting on chasing you to get her the evidence she needed to act against La Paradox."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Carmelita promised. "Time manipulation's no joke. I'm not about to take any chances...even if you are in trouble for trying to pull this without telling me."
Sly crossed his arms defensively. "I'm not going to apologize for trying to protect you," he pointed out flatly.
"In that case, I won't punish you for your 'misdeed'," Carmelita countered teasingly.
"...I am so glad I bugged Uncle Scrooge into soundproofing my room," Coco murmured softly as she and Sly shot back to the roof.
After a rather more intense getaway than usual given Mom's request to open a path into that warehouse, we reached a straightaway where Uncle Murray was able to build up enough speed to trigger the time machine. Thankfully, even if we were travelling through time, Uncle Bentley'd found a way to keep in contact even through time...an offshoot of the Time Travel tech that used linked devices that communicated via two halves of a split chroniton, which resonated in response to influence on the opposite halves.
Of course, we needed someone who was reliable and could track alterations to the time stream without being affected...which meant someone with magic strong enough to resist the influence of the time stream. I always knew my time babysitting Felicia would go to good use. She'd already researched a time displacement circle before we'd even approached her. On top of that, she was the perfect one to track changes to the Thievius Raccoonus, since I'd given her a copy to read through once that she'd kept inside said circle, so it wasn't being changed. Between that and her book on time magic, she'd be the perfect contact.
Now if only the trip through the time stream hadn't been so trippy to me. It did not agree with my magic.
It's gunna break coco's heart when Deik-Beck betrays her eventually :(
I just realized that Coco could be Batmare-Rarity's version of Selina Kyle.
I'm sure this has come up already, as it's so amazingly obvious, but I don't always read the comments, so...
"Why is that thief so infuriatingly attractive!?"
Bruce: "Ah, nostalgia. Did I ever tell you about Selena Kyle?"
*ships it*
8285989
Knowing all the plot twists that Tatsurou has done in all his stories so far, I can see TWO possible outcomes.
1) Deik-Beck reveals the truth to Coco and the others and all of Deik-Beck's actions prove he is on the up and up (In a way, Clockwork KNOWS he gained TRUE immortality by being defeated by Sly Cooper the way that happened, so he is in a way preserving is OWN legacy.) and forgive him but still put Deik Beck through "probation" to regain their trust and friendship.
or 2) Sacrifices himself somehow to save everyone's collective fuzzy butts.
If there is a third option, PLEASE go ahead and tell me what the third possible option is.
lol Coco getting Sly to go nope im out of here with mentioning bringing boys, girls or species that got the best of both worlds instead of loot lol
slips into the story temporary and gives Coco credits, numbers and coordinates for the planets of Trials in Tainted Space and plans for a spaceship to reach em then slips back out of the story before Sly notices
So...
...
......
................
I'm sorry, I got nothing witty to say or questions to ask. Nice chapter and I can't wait for the next.
Dang, Carmelita, that can't be a management approved uniform.
I like this version of the main theme
And this is the point where we reach new material for me, since I've never gotten around to playing the time travel sequel
8286045
lewd
8286147
How about you do not try to ride on the popularety of others instead?
8286147
Advertise yourself on Reddit, not on someone else's work.
Thankfully, even if we were travelling thru time
1. Through.
Guess Murray was really trucking along for his part of the heist.
Guess Sly should be happy Coco is only bring home the goods and not bringing home the goods.
Strap yourselves in folks, it's time for our heroes to go on another adventure.
8286290
Actually thru is an accepted simplified spelling variant of through!
I am glad to see Felicia is going to be playing a part in this adventure! Can't wait to see how she interacts with everyone now that she can speak!
Way to make tutorials meaningful
8285992 ...Crap, it works.
8285989
8286005 That is definitely something worth considering. If we're lucky, Deik-Beck could end up like that teaching robot in Sonic X.
8285992
YES
8286273
I truly apologise, I'm new to writing stories here and I understand it was wrong to promote myself on someone's else's work. I have deleted the comment. I'll try reddit so thank you for telling me that!
8286368
Maybe so, but it always struck me as lazy grammar, so on the rare occasions I find myself editing for someone I'll change it.
8285989
Considering that Deik-Beck!Clockwork is putting all his efforts into keeping Sly alive and restoring his memories, I don't think he intends to betray her. Paraphrasing his words, since Sly beat him, no one should beat Sly.
*Giggles in a corner uncontrollably.*
8286218
designed
affected
Ooooowheeeee... this is going places, time travel! Maybe... Chronosphere time!
...
Wrong fandom.
Good show!
8286507
that none should beat sly but clockwerk
8286005
I believe he won't betray them, but do everything in his diminished power to help them survive. If a villain beat sly, then everyone would forget about Clockwerk, the Coopers greatest enemy, and remember the villain that beat the Coopers. You get what I mean.
So Carmelita will come to Feudal Japan with them??? If so, Rioichi needs to compliment Sly on getting the affections of a gorgeous Kitsune.
8287599
She's not, actually.
8287649
8287681
Sorry. But the story did state she would be checking out the warehouse.
8287698 It's I'd much rather see Carmelita as the geisha than Murray.
8287749
...well, we'll see. There might just be a way for her to get to Cooper before he leaves Japan.
Relax, Coco. Time-space jumps can turn anyone's stomach.
8289875
Wait... what if time travel doesn't make her sick but give her symptoms of getting high?
Like each jump was a baker's dozen of the special brownies? She would be a liability within rentry and probably get time withdrawals or something.
"Dad. Man. Da... Dad. We need to go back! Back to the future!"
"Dad... DAD. Your not li. li. Hehe. You're not listening. Sly! Sly, listen. Sly! Yo yo you're not listening, Ringtail!"
And the Cowboy Cooper is wanting what she's smoking.
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
;-; no love for purple boy
LOL
8660031
It's been four years between Sly 3 and 4? Hard to believe.
So, Sly and Carmelita aren’t gonna be in a fight in this version. I just wonder what will happen to Penelope in this version now.