After meeting with Carmelita's side of the family, and getting to know them, Sly had Bentley send a message to Secretary Sen the moment they returned to the gang's base of operations in Paris, a message that asked him if it would be alright for him and one other member of the gang, Carmelita he knew, to meet with Jim McSweeney at Heathrow Penitentiary. He then revealed, both to the Secretary and to the rest of the gang, the existence of the Cooper Vault, something he originally thought to be a myth thanks to the Thievius Raccoonus, and that McSweeney had something for him that would either confirm or deny the existence of such a place. Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Carmelita, all having read the book and learned the techniques that the other members of the Cooper Clan had created while reading their stories, knew the stories that he was referring to and seemed excited about the fact that they might confirm the existence of such a place. Even Clockwerk, who had been following the Cooper Clan for hundreds of years since he first turned his body to metal, had never seen the resting place of the Cooper Vault, which came as a surprise to Sly, but at the same time that only confirmed that his ancestors wanted to keep the place a secret.
Fortunately for them Secretary Sen got back to them rather quickly, where he said that it shouldn't be too hard for him to arrange an official visit for them, as he knew that they would rather not have to sneak into the prison to discover the information that McSweeney had for them.
Not even a few days later Sly and Carmelita, along with Secretary Sen as their personal escort for their visit to Heathrow Penitentiary, walked up some flights of stairs and followed their guide as he led the way to where McSweeney was staying, but at the same time they looked around at the well guarded cells that were around them. Each prisoner seemed to be well secured in their cells, all of which seemed to have been modified in some manner to make sure that their occupants couldn't escape or, in some cases, use certain skills they had gained becoming coming here to escape, making them wonder if this was where Mz. Ruby had been before being transferred to the prison she had trained Derpy, Gilda, and Diz in. It was rather interesting to think about this place, as it was located in the United States and not anywhere near Paris, but Interpol apparently had prisons everywhere and all of them seemed to be well staffed, with guards that seemed to know what they were doing, and ensured that prisoners didn't even consider attempting to escape. As they walked by some of the cells Sly found three members of the Klaww Gang, the ones that hadn't been freed because of the fact that they had annoyed, and in the case of two of them disobeyed, Secretary Sen; the Contessa, who simply sighed and looked away from the doorway as they went by, Arpeggio, who seemed to be calculating where his plans went wrong for this to happen, and Neyla... who simply sat on her bed with a look of defeat in her eyes, as she barely raised her head to acknowledge their passing and continued to stare at the floor.
Sly was shocked to see that, even a year after her plans came apart, that Neyla was still devastated by her near death experience, but in the end he knew that she deserved it for trying to tear his family apart and, at the very end of it all, had gotten Carmelita fired... but that was when Secretary Sen stopped at a cell that had a plexiglass wall with ventilation holes punched into the top, with an overweight walrus, who was wearing a pair of blue pants and no shirt, that happened to be sitting on the bed.
"Jim McSweeney," Secretary Sen said, causing the walrus' ears to perk for a moment, indicating that it must have been some time since he had been spoken to by someone that wasn't one of the guards that were assigned to the prison, before the man turned towards him as he beckoned to his companions, "you have some visitors."
"That so?" McSweeney asked, to which he stood up and walked over to the part of the wall that had a slot in it, so that he could get his meals when they were delivered or hand a guard a letter if he wanted to send one to someone, where he stared at Sly and Carmelita, or, more specifically, Sly, "You... you're Conner's son, aren't you?"
"Yes, my father was Conner Cooper." Sly replied, locking eyes with McSweeney for a moment, as he could tell, thanks to the time he spent with his sisters, that this person seemed to have great respect for his father and might have been his closest friend at one point in time, confirming Haytham Fox's earlier words, "I understand that you knew my father for quite some time, even helping him move a statue into a safe hiding place inside the home of Haytham James Fox."
"Aye, I remember that day well," McSweeney said, to which he reached into the folds of his body and pulled out an older Cooper Gang calling card, the ones that Sly's father had left on all the heists he had been on, before slipping it back into his hiding place, though when Sly glanced at Secretary Sen the powerful man shook his head, indicating that it wasn't worth asking about, where he glanced at Carmelita for a moment, "You must be Edward and Margret Fox's daughter... Carmelita Montoya Fox, if I'm remembering what Haytham told us while we were moving that statue into place."
"Actually, it's Carmelita Montoya Cooper these days," Carmelita replied, where she fingered the Cooper emblem that she now wore in place of her old Inspector badge, as sometimes it calmed her down and, in the case like this, let the man in front of them know that she could be trusted with whatever information he had, "Sly and I aren't married, not yet anyway, but we're already thinking about that in the future."
"Conner must be happy to have someone like you being his son's future wife." McSweeney commented, not even noticing the fact that both Sly and Carmelita rubbed their arms for a moment, a telltale sign that he had said something that brought up something, but since he was lost in thought he didn't seem to notice at all, "You know, Conner and I were good friends back in the day. We went on many heists together, went all over the world in the process, and gathered quite an impressive amount of loot in the process. I was his muscleman, doing all the heavy lifting when it was called for and my power was behind all the escapes that we needed to pull off."
"That sounds like Murray." Sly said, to which Carmelita nodded her head, as he was the only person in the gang that had the sort of strength that McSweeney was talking about, but at the same time that only made them wonder where Murray could have wandered off to, as they had expected him to have returned by now.
"It makes sense that you would have someone on your team that's like me, even if you didn't know about me until recently." McSweeney spoke up, hearing what Sly had said and connected it to the gang that he must be leading at the moment, reminding him of the days he ran with Conner, before he decided to ask a question to see if he was right in his thinking, "Let me guess, you have someone on your team that handles all the tech as well?"
"Yeah, Bentley and Cogs." Carmelita replied, as the gang agreed that, when dealing with people that knew more about the Cooper Clan than the average person did, such as McSweeney for instance, they would refer to Clockwerk as 'Cogs', to make sure that no one assumed they were working with the family's ancient enemy, "We've also got three magic users that double as Master Thieves as well, two of which grew up along Sly, Murray, and Bentley when they were younger. The entire gang has a good relationship going among all it's members."
"That's good to hear." McSweeney said, as he was happy to hear that Conner's son had a gang that seemed to have an even stronger relationship between their members than his own gang did, or at least between the two of them and the person that served as their tech expert, to which he turned towards Sly, "You should treasure those relationships, as I know that is what Conner did with our friendship. Though you should be on the lookout for a mandrill by the name of Dr. M, as he was our tech expect when we were still a gang... it's why Conner and I had to resort to such actions to hide the information for you to find later on. Dr. M wasn't too happy about the division of the loot, Conner's insistence that he follow the traditions of his family, his overall relationship with both Conner and myself, and, maybe more important than anything else, the fact that Conner stopped being a thief when his wife, Amanda, was pregnant."
Sly and Carmelita glanced at each other for a moment, as both of them, the rest of the gang, and only specific members of Interpol knew that the person that had killed Sly's parents was ultimately Clockwerk, but, at the same time, Sly was surprised to hear his mother's name, as this was the first time he was hearing it.
"Anyway, Conner, following the traditions of his ancestors, stored the lion's share of his loot inside the Cooper Vault before he stopped being a thief," McSweeney continued, not noticing that the duo had said nothing to his words, as he was lost in thought and was remembering things that would be useful for them in the near future, "just like each and every one of his ancestors did before him. The last time I saw him, which was before I landed myself in here, Conner handed me a map to the location of the Cooper Vault, intended for you at some point in the future as some sort of test I assume, and told me to tell you that 'Only a Cooper and open the Vault'. I knew that he wanted me to keep the map safe from those that sought to steal the entire Cooper fortune, and maybe claim they were better than the Coopers in the process, so I intentionally got myself thrown in here and got myself locked in this cell... though, as a side effect, I've got a rep that means the other inmates won't mess with me and the cell can only be opened by a very specific key that only a few members of the staff know the existence of."
"Only a Master Thief would be able to let you out." Secretary Sen said, meaning it in the sense that if someone wanted to get at the map, if they knew he had it, they would have to act like a Cooper Thief in order to get at McSweeney, even though he was thinking about testing this system against the Coopers one day to see if the prison was as great as the wardens claimed it was.
"And I'm sure that he'd fight us anyway, to stay here and protect the map dad gave him." Sly commented, knowing that McSweeney basically gave up everything in his entire life to safeguard the location of the Cooper Vault, and wouldn't let someone bust him out until he felt the time was right to hand over the map.
"Indeed." McSweeney said, agreeing with Sly the moment he started talking, as he reminded him of Conner, which only made him look around for a few moments, because when he thought about the day he'd meet the son of his best friend, like he was now, he always imagined that Conner would be here, "Say, since we've been talking about Conner for a bit, I've got a question. Where is he? I expected him to be here the day you came looking for the map."
"Dad... dad's dead..." Sly replied, to which he looked down at the floor for a moment, because despite the fact that he eventually got revenge on Clockwerk for taking away his parents, and landing him in the orphanage, it still hurt to think about the fact that he never got to truly know who his parents were, "S... So's mom..."
Carmelita, knowing that Sly usually got emotional when he talked about his parents, did the only thing that she could think of in a situation like this, she shifted her cane into her left hand and wrapped her right arm around Sly, who smiled at her for a moment, his way of silently thanking her for being there for him, just like he was there for her when they were dealing with Neyla's antics last year.
"I... I'm so sorry. I didn't know they were gone." McSweeney said, though it was in that moment that Carmelita noticed that he was genuinely upset over making Sly sad, meaning that he truly had no idea that both Conner and Amanda Cooper had been killed some time ago, but that was followed by a look of determination appearing on his face as he reached into a different fold and withdrew a well preserved map that he slipped into the slot between them, "Here... the last instructions Conner gave me, in the event that you came looking for me and he wasn't present, was for me to hand the map over to you, so you could visit the Vault, learn more about your ancestors, and, when the time is right, add in part of your loot to your family's fortune."
"Thanks McSweeney." Sly said, taking the map from the slot that was in front of them, though at the same time he looked at the walrus and smiled, knowing that his father had been a lucky man to have such a loyal friend, even one that had sacrificed his entire life to keep the map safe.
McSweeney nodded and shooed them off, indicating that it was time for them to get going so they could follow the map to where the Cooper Vault was located, to which Sly and Carmelita nodded as they followed Secretary Sen back through the route they had used to reach McSweeney's cell. As they did that Carmelita had to stop for a moment, as she felt the need to look around for a moment, and was surprised when she glanced to the other side of the holding area that they were in, as the cell that was right across from where Neyla's was located held the last person that she ever expected to see inside this prison; Barkley. The former Director of Interpol, disgraced and arrested for his crimes against both her and the crime he committed in going against Secretary Sen's orders while also allying himself with a criminal organization to take the Cooper Gang out, just sat in his cell and didn't even look up as she stared across the way at him. Part of her was angry with him, as she liked being an Inspector and keeping Sly in line from her side of the law, even if she felt that he and his gang was pretty tame already, while another part of her felt pity for him, as he had been a decorated officer and an inspiring Director that she had been planning on replacing one day, back when she was chasing Sly before she became the handler of the gang... but now, as she stared across at her former boss, who had ruined her life for a time, and thought about what happened she sighed, as now she felt no desire to speak with him and walked over to where Sly and Secretary Sen were standing.
From there the three of them made their way to a private airport, the same one they used to get to this area, and Secretary Sen had the pilot fly them out to an island that the rest of the gang was waiting on by the time they arrived, as Bentley already had an idea as to where the Vault was located. After that the gang took a boat out into the water and followed the clues that were provided on the map, finding that each one they discovered was right where the map said they would be and continued to draw closer and closer to the location of the Cooper Vault.
A day after the gang left the island that they got the boat from Secretary Sen had them come to a stop as they neared the island that the Cooper Vault was supposed to be located on, Kaine Island as it turned out, but as they came to a stop the gang noticed that Dr. M must have already set up shop. That was because there were fortress like walls surrounding the majority of the island, searchlights that would make it hard for any thief to get close to the inner parts of the fortress, and had actually exposed the entrance of the Vault, but couldn't seem to get inside. That was good news for them, as it meant that the Cooper Fortune was safe, but at the same time they knew next to nothing about the fortress and Bentley, always thinking about what they needed, had Gilda, Derpy, and Diz take some very specific photos of the area that they were in, while at the same time using Clockwerk's eyes to scan the entire structure so they could have a blueprint of everything that they saw while they were here. While all this happened Secretary Sen discovered something interesting when he reached out to another one of his fellow Secretaries, and that was the fact that the deed to the island, which appeared to be passed down through the Cooper Clan from one generation to the next, had been stolen a week after the death of Sly's father... which only made him suspect Dr. M, since he was the only one with the motive to do such a thing.
By the time Bentley was done, and the gang was back together, Secretary Sen pulled them out of the water near the island and had them headed back towards the island that they had come from, though at the same time he set the auto-pilot so they would have some time to see what needed to be done before they attempted to get at the Vault.
"So, what's the plan Bentley?" Sly asked, as he knew that, based on the familiar looks on Bentley's face, that he was in the middle of forming a plan that would allow them to get at the Cooper Vault and expel Dr. M, who Secretary Sen was already looking forward to locking away once they caught him.
"I'm sorry to say it, but even with our combined talents we won't be able to get anywhere near the Cooper Vault, and that's including all the magic we have at our disposal," Bentley said, shocking the magic users for a moment, as they had used their powers to great effect and were a little saddened that they wouldn't be able to use them in such a manner to get at the Vault, "We're going to need more members before we can take a crack at the Cooper Vault, a larger gang than what we have at the moment, and I have a list of what we need... and the first spot we need to fill is a familiar one. We need to find Murray and bring him back into the gang."
"You know, it's funny that you should mention Murray," Secretary Sen spoke up, causing the group to turn towards him for a moment, as they weren't actually expecting him to contribute anything to what they were about to do, "I've heard reports that Murray has been sighted in Venice recently, as in the last few days I might add, and it seems like he might be in the territory of the mob boss Octavio. We've been trying to rat him out for a while now... so, why don't we knock out two birds with one stone?"
Sly and the rest of the gang stared at each other for a few moments, as they were still surprised that Secretary Sen was willing to help them this much and wondered if he might have a deeper connection to the Cooper Clan than they originally thought, but in the end they agreed that it would be best if they lent Interpol a hand... and, as they headed off towards Venice, Sly had the feeling that things were about to get real exciting once they arrived.