Sly, Gilda, Derpy, Murray, and Bentley were able to get together again once the doctors and the nurses were done checking them all out, giving them their thoughts on what had happened to them since their fight with Clockwerk or the guards of the other members of the Fiendish Five. Sly was, suffice to say, surprised when he learned that not only did Murray and Bentley want to do more for him than what they currently did, but that they also wanted to become active members of the team and assist the siblings in their future heists. What that meant was that he and his sisters would have to share with them the vital techniques that a Cooper, and the members of their gang, needed to know in order to avoid detection, though based on what he had see so far neither Murray or Bentley had been spotted on the various cameras in the bases they had taken out, but that could have been because of Bentley's hacking skills. It wasn't long before Sly actually agreed to formally include them as active members of the Cooper Gang, which after everything they had done for him and his sisters, by hunting down the Fiendish Five and helping them acquire the Treasure Keys, he felt that they had earned.
While Gilda and Derpy agreed with his decision, as they were thinking the same thing, Sly knew that they were more focused on what Carmelita had told them when she arrived at the hospital as well, that one of Interpol's Secretaries wanted to speak with them and, to top it off, he knew all about their new powers... and, according to Carmelita, he wanted them to train with Mz. Ruby so they could master their skills.
Bentley was able to conclude that the reason behind the decision had to be because of the elemental powers they had awoken during their fight with Clockwerk, as Gilda now controlled the wind at will and Derpy seemed to have an affinity for calling down lightning from the sky. Secretary Sen likely wanted them to master their abilities, which had reacted so strongly to their anger when the ancient owl had wounded Derpy, so that when the time came and they were angry again they didn't set off a devastating chain reaction of some kind. What that meant was that Secretary Sen was trying to prevent them from accidentally calling down a twister and wrecking dozens of homes, and potentially killing innocent people, or summoning a thunderstorm that does the same thing. He knew that the sisters would never intentionally hurt someone with the desire to kill them, save for Clockwerk since he was asking for it, but he wanted to make sure that they understood their powers and that they could control them, instead of them being ruled by the very gifts they had unlocked.
The realization that their powers could hurt people, or even kill them if they weren't careful, made Gilda and Derpy shy away from their new abilities and not access them at all, which was mostly to protect everyone in the hospital and those that were outside the building every day.
Carmelita, on the other hand, remained true to her word and stayed near them at all times, or at the very least stayed near Sly, and kept her eyes on them, though she only moved out of the room when she had business to take care of or when a certain someone moved out of the room. Sure, she had been ordered to keep an eye on the Cooper Gang, which now had five members thanks to Murray and Bentley deciding to step up, but the one she was interested in keeping an eye on the most was Sly. She was still trying to decide whether or not there would actually be anything between them, especially since the first time Sly had actually gotten close enough to kiss her had been back at the Krack-Karov Volcano, and she couldn't even bring herself to hate what had happened. It was a rush that she hadn't been expecting, not to mention that the whole reason she was even considering this was because Sly wasn't a child, like a lot of people that knew his father seemed to think of him, rather he was a mature adult and had put the safety of his own sisters above whatever he desired... especially when the one thing he desired most, out of everything in the entire world, was standing right in front of him.
She knew that Sly was a criminal, and she had taken down a lot of criminals over the years since she joined Interpol, but she had to admit that he was one of the more honest criminals that she had ever come across and always told her exactly what was on his mind... once again making her wonder if there was a possibility that the two of them might actually form some sort of relationship at some point in time.
"Something on your mind, Ms. Fox?" Sly asked, as he knew that Carmelita had decided to follow him outside the room that Derpy had been assigned to, but he never once tried to shake her once he was outside the room and knew that she would have said something by now, meaning whatever she was thinking about had to be serious.
Carmelita snapped back to reality and found that she had followed Sly to a commons area of the hospital, one of the more private ones anyway, and wondered how she could have done such a thing when she had never been here before, but then realized that she must have been keeping her focus on Sly for so long that she just followed in his steps. That was a downside of chasing him for so long, she knew his methods better than anyone in Interpol and sometimes could follow him with her eyes closed, but he always took off whenever she tried to do that. Right now he was sitting at a table and she happened to be leaning on a wall near him, as if that was something she would normally do, before she sighed and decided that she might as well answer the question.
"Yes... I've been thinking about you and your gang." Carmelita replied, as that was the honest answer, even if she had been more focused on Sly than anyone else, but she wasn't about to tell him the truth, especially when she didn't know the whole truth for herself.
"Hopefully it's all the good we did by taking out the Fiendish Five," Sly said, though while he had the feeling that Carmelita was really thinking about something else, or rather someone else, he wasn't about to ask at the moment, not when he was worried about the meeting with the Secretary, "Raleigh's no longer sinking boats, Muggshot's not running people out of Mesa City anymore, Mz. Ruby's army and plans have been destroyed, the Panda King's no longer trying to bury villages in freezing snow, and Clockwerk... well, he's no longer around to terrorize anyone."
"You know that no one's going to believe that your gang did all of those things," Carmelita stated, though the only one that people might believe, if they were told, would be the battle with Clockwerk, and right now Sly didn't need to be thinking about that ancient owl, "but you did the right thing in knocking them all out... even though you did so by breaking and entering their bases, while stealing a number of items in the process."
"You can't prove that," Sly replied, as he knew several techniques that he had learned from his father, the stealthy ones anyway, that prevented modern equipment from seeing him, not that he planned on letting that happen, and had taught his sisters the same thing, "but, in the end, all that matters is that I got back what they stole and that they all go to jail for their various crimes... we get our family heirloom back and Interpol gets to cross the Fiendish Five off their list. Though one question still remains; what exactly were you thinking about earlier?"
Carmelita opened her mouth, to say that she had told him exactly what she was thinking about, but then she saw the all too familiar look in his eyes that revealed that he already guessed at the information, though while he likely knew the answer he was letting her tell him instead of dropping it on her.
"You... I was thinking about you." Carmelita said, though at the same time she sighed and took a seat at the table, as this was more appropriate than her standing by the wall, especially because of what she was going to say, "I guess I should be more honest. I was thinking about the possibility of there being an 'us' in the future, but..."
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it now." Sly commented, causing Carmelita to look up for a moment, because he could see that she was having some trouble deciding on whether or not she wanted to go through with what she was thinking, "Just know that, when you do want to sit down and talk about it, I'll be ready to sit and listen."
Carmelita stared at Sly for a moment, who smiled at her, like she was a friend and not someone that was trying to put him, his family, and his friends behind bars, before he climbed out of his seat and started to walk back towards the hallway he used to reach this point. He only paused once, to place a hand on her shoulder to prove his point, before heading back towards the room that his sisters were waiting in, leaving her to think about what he was implying and what her reaction should be... though all she could do right now was stay there and wipe a few tears from her eyes, all while considering how she was going to go about this while she sat at the table.
Two days later, on the day that Secretary Sen was supposed to arrive at the hospital, Sly, Gilda, Derpy, Murray, Bentley, and Carmelita stood on the roof of the hospital, in a shaded area that had been rapidly constructed by the staff when they learned who was coming to visit them. Each of them were wearing their normal clothing, as there was no reason for them to be wearing hospital gowns since they had been declared as healthy, and Derpy was actually wearing the eyepatch that had been given to her, even though she missed her eye. Out of all of them Carmelita was the only one worried about what Secretary Sen might do to Sly and his gang, not only because they were criminals that were taking out the true villains, but also because she decided that the possibility between her and Sly might have a chance at succeeding. The only thing that stood in the way of that was what happened next, as while this was neutral ground, and the fact that the police couldn't arrest people like the Cooper Gang inside the building, but there was nothing to stop them from doing so once they were outside the building.
There was rush of wind for a moment, causing Carmelita to wonder if Gilda was messing with the wind, but before she could say anything she spotted a figure flying towards the roof of the hospital, to which her eyes widened as a phoenix, wearing the attire of an Interpol officer, and came complete with the proper decorations, landed in front of their group... allowing her to see that the Secretary was like Gilda and Derpy, with his wings separate from his arms and hands, and that there was a serious look in his eyes.
"Secretary Sen," Carmelita nervously said, though at the same time she saluted the Secretary, while Sly and the others seemed to follow her gesture, mostly because they had never met someone like him before, on good terms anyway, and had no idea had to properly stand before such a person, "it's an honor that you took time out of your busy schedule to come and see us."
"At ease Inspector Fox," Secretary Sen said, to which Carmelita relaxed for a moment, causing the others to follow her lead, though as they did that they felt the eyes of Sen upon them, or more specifically upon Gilda and Derpy, "I heard that you were a witness to the awakening of two people that commanded frightening power, and that the duo in question were members of the Cooper Gang... Gilda and Derpy Cooper, am I right?"
"Y... Yes, you are correct." Carmelita replied, though she was still amazed by the fact that he had heard about the fact the sisters had power so quickly, especially since she had gone to the office first, to write the report, before heading to the hospital, where she learned of this visit before she even reached the building, "From what I could see Gilda's supposed to have some control over the wind and Derpy can command the lightning."
"Is that so?" Secretary Sen inquired, to which he turned his attention towards the Cooper Gang, or rather the sisters in question, and studied them for a few seconds, where he found that one of them had lost an eye, just like in the report that he had read earlier, "Tell me, can either of you bring your power to the surface for a few seconds? I would like to see if the reports are true for myself."
Gilda and Derpy glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they hadn't tried calling on their powers since the battle with Clockwerk, but they decided that there was nothing to lose and nodded their heads, to which they stepped forward a little bit and separated themselves from the others. Gilda was the first to react as she closed her eyes and focused her mind on the feeling of the wind that was all around them, as she could feel it move through her hair and pass by the rest of their group. It was beginning to make sense why they had been asked to gather on the roof, where they had better access to the elements they had unlocked during the fight, to which she grasped what she had been feeling before. As she did that she felt the wind around them kick up, to which she opened her eyes and found that there was a small cyclone that was forming near them, but it wasn't powerful enough to do anything besides spin in place for a few seconds. Secretary Sen stared at the small cyclone for a few seconds, with a look of interest in his eyes, before he nodded his head, to which Gilda let out the breath she had been holding and the cyclone collapsed on itself.
As that happened Derpy focused her mind on what she had felt when she had accessed her own power, the intensity of her anger after Clockwerk took away her eye, and she felt the connection to the sky awaken again, though this time around several bits of lightning wrapped around her wrists and moved around in the shape of a pair of gauntlets. Once Secretary Sen nodded his head towards her, just like he did with Gilda, she released what she was feeling and the lightning disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Wind and lightning... such an interesting combination of powers." Secretary Sen commented, though at the same time a smile appeared on his face for a moment, but as that happened he seemed to pat someone on the shoulder, as if someone had been standing to his right the entire time, "Come on Diz, there's no need to hide yourself."
The group watched as someone phased into existence next to the Secretary, as if he had been wearing some sort of invisibility trinket and had dispelled it when the Secretary had asked him to, though they were surprised to find that the person in question was a male hyena, who was a year or two younger than the sisters... and, what really shocked them, was the pair of wings that were growing out of his back, which were half the size of Gilda and Derpy's wings.
"Allow me to introduce Diz S. Cordious," Secretary Sen said, to which he tapped the young man on the shoulder for a moment, where the youngster folded his wings in, though that was before he turned towards the group and noticed that they were shocked, "I found him yesterday, using his own unique abilities to pull pranks on people in a nearby park, and decided that being around people like him will be good for him, along with assisting him in adapting to a more normal life. I've already spoken with Mz. Ruby and she's interesting in taking him on as well, meaning that you'll have a fellow student if you decide to take up her lessons so you can control your powers. Before either of you say anything, just remember what happened at the Krack-Karov Volcano; you both activated your powers, for the first time, in a fit of anger towards a single individual... so I want you to think about what might happen if you went without training and had an event like that happen again."
"Another person with actual power in this world." Sly commented, as the moment Diz had revealed himself he didn't know what to think, as it couldn't have been a coincidence that the Secretary, who was going to be meeting his sisters, found another magic wielder a day before this visit.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Diz. My name is Derpy Cooper." Derpy said, to which she held her hand out towards the younger boy, who stared at her for a few seconds, as if he was mentally debating what to do next, before he raised his hand and shook Derpy's outstretched hand, before she used her other hand to wave towards her sister, "And this is my sister, Gilda Cooper."
"Sir, you did run this by his parents, right?" Carmelita asked, as while she shouldn't be questioning one of the Secretaries, as that might very well get her fired, she also noticed that he hadn't mentioned Diz's parents at all and that worried her for a moment.
"I checked the records and this guy's an orphan," Secretary Sen replied, which caught the attention of the Cooper Gang, as all of them had been orphans until Sly arrived at the orphanage that Gilda, Derpy, Bentley, and Murray had been left at, "and, despite not having gone anywhere for school, he's very knowledgeable for someone of his age. I want to help him turn his life around, though to do that he needs a greater command of his own powers, which is why he'll be joining Gilda and Derpy in their lessons with Mz. Ruby... unless they'd rather not do that and accidentally hurt someone further down the line."
"No, we'll learn from Mz. Ruby." Gilda replied, as she knew what might happen if they refused the Secretary, and her family knew what she was thinking, so it was best to accept the help and go along with it, especially since she'd rather not hurt someone that was innocent with her new power.
"Good, then I shall inform Mz. Ruby of your decision," Secretary Sen said, as that was the answer that he was expecting, because the Coopers were always protecting people and never put them in harms way, "though knowing her she already knows what happened here and will find me telling her the information to be funny. There is one last thing I would like to talk about before we take our leave, and it not only involves the entire Cooper Gang, but also Inspector Fox as well."
Carmelita froze for a moment, as this wasn't something she had been expecting, though she knew that Secretary Sen was known to have several different conversations with a group, usually because there were two or three different groups present at the time... to which she gulped for a moment and waited to see what the Secretary had to say.
"There are only two types of people that are on the criminal side of the law," Secretary Sen continued, after noticing that all of them had stopped in their tracks once they heard that he still wanted to speak with them, where he also took a second to notice that Sly was worried about something, or for someone, "There are criminals, like your gang, that local law can deal with, provided they have the means to catch you, and then there are villains, or 'baddies' as some of my fellow Secretaries call them. Sly Cooper, I want to make use of your talents in bringing justice to the more terrible members of your side of the law, just like you did when you went after the Fiendish Five, which means that Inspector Fox will still be the one 'chasing' you. So long as you inform us of which villains you and your gang are going after, and just how bad they really are, we'll be there at the end of the day to lock them up, just like Inspector Fox did to the Fiendish Five... though I'll let you two make sense of the details."
Secretary Sen could see the light in both Carmelita and Sly's eyes as he said that, as he had been expecting the two of them to form some sort of bond over what happened at the end of the battle with Clockwerk, if the report he had read was anything to go by, and it seemed that he might be right. With Carmelita as the gang's handler, in a sense, Sly would truthfully tell them who they were going after and what their criminal deeds were, not even leaving a single detail out so they could see the whole picture. That would allow them to prepare for the arrests once the Cooper Gang was done with their operations, just like Carmelita did earlier, but he was sure that the two of them would be able to come to a number of agreements over the situation that they now found themselves in. It didn't even take Sly, much less the rest of his gang, even three minutes to decide that this was better than what they were hoping, as it was essentially the game that he had played with Carmelita, only now they would be working together, in a sense, to bring justice to those that were more dangerous to society and the world.
Though as he took off, and young Diz followed after him, he knew that the other reason behind him setting this up was because of the reports that came back from the Krack-Karov Volcano, where the pieces of Clockwerk rested and were in the slow process of being pulled to the surface... because he feared that the ancient owl wasn't dead yet and, if his worst fears came to life, only the Coopers would be able to silence him again, and he knew that it would take them around the world to stop such a vile thing from happening.