//------------------------------// // The Quest // Story: Dressed to Steal // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Meeting Grandpa was wonderfully fun, especially since he was so happy about Mom and Dad. He was all too happy to spoil me, and an extension to the family was always welcome. Mom being able to connect with her family over all of this got Dad thinking about his own family. To his surprise, Grandpa and Uncle Scrooge were able to inform him of a few of his Dad's old friends...specifically, his old Gang. One he was able to get in contact with immediately was McSweeney...who was actually in jail... With a little pull from Carmelita and approval from Megraw, it was easy enough for Sly to arrange a meeting with his Dad's old partner from the 'law-abiding' side of the 'bars'...though it wasn't actually bars that McSweeney was behind. The overweight pink walrus was locked behind a reinforced Plexiglas wall with ventilation holes at the top, tested to be virtually indestructible. "McSweeney?" Sly asked carefully as he approached. "Call me Jim," the elderly thief replied immediately as he reached into the folds of his flesh, extracting an old Cooper Gang Calling Card before slipping it back into hiding. "Yer Conner's boy, aren't you?" "I am," Sly confirmed. "You knew my father?" "Quite well, quite well," Jim responded readily. "We were old friends, went on many heists together. I was his muscleman, you know. Did the heavy lifting when it was called for, and was the power behind many escapes." "...Murray..." Sly murmured thoughtfully as his mind went to his missing friend. "So you have someone like that in your own gang?" Jim asked curiously. "Good, good...I suppose you have someone who handles all the tech, too?" "Bentley," Sly confirmed. "The three of us have been close friends since we were kids. But..." He glanced away, not wanting to think or talk about it. "So you've got a good relationship, then," Jim confirmed. "That's good. Value it. But keep an eye out for a mandrill by the name of Dr. M. He was our tech, and our parting with him was not on good terms. Somethin' about the division of loot, tradition, and the Vault when Conner quit thieving because his wife was pregnant." Sly was surprised that the reason his Dad stopped thieving was because of him, but another detail caught his mind. "The Vault?" he asked insistently. "Yeah," Jim confirmed, fishing around in his pockets and pulling out an old map. "The Cooper Vault. Yer family's been hiding all its loot there for generations, each one adding the lion's share of their heists to it to leave for future generations. Only a Cooper can open it." He stared at the map for a time. "When he retired, your Dad left this with me. Told me to keep it safe, and make sure it never fell into the wrong hands." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'm big and tough, never really fit with polite society, and couldn't really cut it as a thief on my own...so I figured the best way to keep it safe was to get myself arrested and thrown in jail for a long time." Shifting it back into his pocket, he leaned back and stretched. "Got a rep in here that makes other inmates - and guards - leave me alone, get three squares a day, exercise yard to stay in shape, the sheets are clean, and I get free cable! Seems a pretty sweet deal for me." "You got yourself thrown in jail...to protect the map Dad gave you?" Sly asked in surprise. Jim shrugged again. "Only place I ever really felt I belonged was in the Gang. When it broke up, I didn't really have a place of my own. Sides, long as he knew where to find me, figured I'd see Conner again when he needed to give you the map. You look a lot like him, actually." He blinked, looking around. "Say, how come he ain't here?" Sly winced. "Dad...he's dead. Mom too..." Jim blinked owlishly. "Oh...oh wow. I'm sorry. He...he was a good friend to me, a good person. And yer Mom was real lovely. Sorry fer your loss." Sly sank back into a chair. "...they were avenged," he offered softly. Jim's face briefly hardened, and he then turned away. "Oh...are you okay now?" "...yeah," Sly spoke up after a time. "I have my friends. And I've got Carmelita and Coco..." "Who are they?" Jim asked curiously. "My girlfriend, and our daughter," Sly explained warmly, a wide smile on his face. Jim managed a smile in response. "...here." He pushed the map through the ventilation grill. "Pretty sure Conner left it with me to give to you." Sly caught the map with a smile. "Thanks, Jim. I'm going to go take a look. I've got things to add to the Vault myself...and I want to look at my family's legacy." "Not alone I hope!" Sly jerked as he heard that voice. "Bentley?" Turning, he found the turtle grinning at him, a mechanized wheelchair whirring as it carried him over. "Bentley, I've missed you! Where have you been?" Running forward, he pulled his old friend into a hug that was warmly returned. "Medicine didn't give me positive results for treatment, so I turned to machines," Bentley explained. "Once I had this chair built to do everything for me that I could do when I could walk, I came to find you. Of course, it would have been easier if you hadn't moved around so much. Seriously, what are you doing in Duckberg?" Sly chuckled softly as Jim watched on with a soft smile. "Bentley, have I got a story for you..."