Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Honor: The Cooper Vault

Sly, Carmelita, Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Clockwerk made their way through the metallic door that was in front of them and continued walking forward, as they knew that there had to be something in front of them, though that was before they found what appeared to be an Egyptian pillar that was resting next to a portrait of one of Sly's ancestors. Just a few steps away from the portrait was an opening that allowed them to see out into the Vault itself, where their jaws dropped for a moment as they took in all the piles of gold and other treasures that had been stolen by the numerous members of the Cooper Clan over the years. It was shocking to see just how much wealth Sly's ancestors had accumulated over the years, treasures that had been stolen from all over the world and carefully stored away like they were in a museum, and they all knew that the historians would have a field day if they even got access to a place like this. They stood there for a few minutes, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, and realized that the treasure that their gang had acquired already was nothing compared to the hoard of treasure that they were currently staring at... even Clockwerk, who usually wasn't phased by things like this, was taken aback by the sheer size of what he was seeing, as it was more than he initially believed the Coopers had taken over the many years he had been hunting them.

After another few moments the group shook their heads and stopped staring at the treasure that was in front of them, as they had come here to do something and they weren't going to be able to do that by just staring out at the massive hoard of treasure that they had discovered.

"Sly, your ancestors sure knew how to decorate... nothing but big piles of gold and all the treasures that they had stolen over the years." Carmelita commented, being the first one to speak after the discovery of all the gold that the Vault contained, even if this was only a fraction of what was in here, since there had to be more treasure stored in the massive cavern that they were in.

"I'll say." Sly said, his tone revealing that he was agreeing with Carmelita, before he turned towards the portrait that they had walked by and investigated it, where he found a pair of small canes resting on a pedestal in front of the stone slab, though it was easy to recognize the thief that it was depicting, "This place must have been started by Slytunkhamen II, the son of Slytunkhamen Cooper, the original author of the Thievius Raccoonus. He built his fortune in the employ of the great pharaohs... that must have been around 1300 BC."

Derpy glanced at the opening that was in front of them again and found that there was something new in front of them, as a few moments after Sly made his comment she found that there were some barrels that were tied to something under the water, as they were floating on top of the water and moved in a pattern that eventually made then sink and then rise a few seconds later. As the others gathered around the opening Sly, noticing the same pattern that his sister had spotted, jumped onto the barrels as they got closer and crossed over to the cane shaped point that someone could stop on for a moment, before using the hooks and barrels that were in front of him to get to the next bit of land. When he came to a stop he turned around and beckoned for the others to follow, where he watched Carmelita go first and remind him why he felt that she was good at being one of them, since she flawlessly executed the same moves he used, before Derpy, Gilda, and Diz took their turns and ran the first obstacle as thieves, instead of magic users. Since Clockwerk didn't have a body like them, and couldn't perform the techniques, he simply flew after them and made sure to take good mental notes on what was around them, that way he could tell the others what their group had discovered while they were in here.

When they were all on the next bit of land they found a few chests, all full of gold and treasure from what appeared to be the medieval time period, a sword stuck in a stone, a new portrait with a weapon that was a cross between a cane and a lance, and some armor that was resting nearby.

"Sir Galleth of the Knights of the Cooper Order." Carmelita said, staring at the knight that happened to be riding on a horse, confirming the time period that they were all thinking about at the moment, while they all also heard the sound of the next obstacle being raised into position for them, "The Thievius Raccoonus states that he was an honorable knight and a cunning thief, while carrying a lance that had the signature cane shape at the tip of it."

"Makes you wonder what sort of obstacle he came up with," Derpy added, though at the same time they took turns crossing over the set of three barrels that were in front of them, and using the wall hook to get on top of the platform it was attached to, before they found out what had been built after Galleth's portrait.

What they discovered was that there were two tracks with circular rolling stones, carved in such a manner that the middle of each stone had a metallic core that allowed them to move down from where they came out, and that there was an alternating pattern that they would need to follow to get to the other side. Sly was the first one to step forward and started following the pattern that all of them had noticed, before Carmelita and the others followed his lead and made sure to jump before one of the rolling stones could hurt them, allowing them to make their way towards the other side of the tracks. The only thing they had to be careful about was the occasional instances where there were three stones back to back, forcing them from one track to the other, but fortunately all of them had trained in the arts that this gauntlet were testing and were able to avoid the stones before they could get hit, and when Sly reached the end he stopped and watched the others as they made their way over to him.

Once all of them had reached the end of the tracks they used their paragliders, as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz also purchased one of their own in case they ever needed it because someone hurt their wings, before they glided down to the platform in front of them. There they discovered a number of Arabian carpets, somehow still pristine after all these years, a few Arabian spires near the portrait that was in front of them, and a cane that seemed to me mixed with a sword, with a lamp resting next to it, like a lamp that resembled the one that was in the legend about a powerful wish granting genie.

"Salim al-Kupar of Arabia." Diz said, staring at the portrait of the Cooper ancestor that was in front of them, though at the same time he recited what he knew from the Thievius Raccoonus, which all of them knew by heart at this point thanks to their studies to become master thieves, "It was said that he had the stealth of forty thieves."

After discovering which ancestor that they were near the group headed to the other side of the platform that they were on and continued forward, jumping over three barrels that were floating in the water, swinging on two hooks that happened to be past them, and climb up the wall hook that was in front of them. From there they had to paraglide down to the next stone area, where a rotating pillar stood in their way and required that they use the wall hooks that were attached to the sides of the four stones that made up the pillar, the first moving left, the second heading to the right, the third moving to the left, and the four heading to the right, to reach the top of the pillar. Sly, of course, was the first one that tackled the challenge that was in front of them, followed by Carmelita and the others when he reached the top of the pillar, but when he reached the top he used his paraglider to head over to the next platform, though he was surprised that they had found the next ancestor already.

When Carmelita and the rest of his family joined him they took in the area that was around them, which included some stone pillars that were different from what the other ancestors had, before laying eyes on the massive cane with a stone tip that was resting in front of the ancestor's portrait.

"The strongest of the Cooper Clan, Slaigh MacCooper, could break any lock with a single blow." Gilda said, though that made sense considering the time period that the ancestor in question had been born in, as that was when locks were rather weak and could be broken in such a way.

The first obstacle, following Slaigh's portrait, was a contraption that resembled the number eight, with two stone spheres moving around the two circular parts of the device, but fortunately there was an easy way around it, as all they had to do was jump onto the top part of the circle that came down towards them, walk over the contraption, and them jump off when they neared the next obstacle. After that they had to take turns sneaking across the walkway that was in front of them, avoiding the stone axeheads that were swinging up towards the walkway that they needed to cross, so they had to wait for them to swing down towards the area below them before they could move. When Sly reached the end, since he was still the first one to tackle everything since he was more connected to this place than the others were, he found a rope that lead to the area above them, where he found a second walkway with stone axeheads that he had to avoid, causing him to start all over again as he headed in the opposite direction of the first walkway. From there he discovered another rope that brought him to a third walkway with the same challenges, to which he said nothing as he patiently waited for an opening and walked across to the other side.

He noticed a new portrait when he reached the end of Slaigh's obstacle course, to which he patiently waited for the rest of his family to catch up with him before doing anything, though when they did catch up they discovered that there was a stone serpent dragon statue, a suit of samurai armor, and a portrait of a very familiar ancestor.

"The Ninja Spire Jump was perfected in Feudal Japan by Rioichi Cooper." Derpy commented, though at the same time, since it appeared that some of the challenges had been made by the ancestor whose portrait they had discovered, that meant that they might be using the named technique to get through this challenge.

The challenge, as they soon discovered, was that they needed to take turns moving through the passage one at a time, jumping from the tips of the naginata pole weapons that emerged from the holes and were pointed towards the ceiling, using the tips of the blades themselves, to reach the other side. In addition to that they had to avoid the blades that were coming out of the ceiling and had to patiently wait for the blade ahead of them to come back out of the hole it was supposed to come out of, but Sly was patient and knew that the rest of his family was as well. At the end of the passage Sly found that they would have to jump on a stone pillar for a moment, use two hooks that would bring them to a wooden walkway, and then glide down to where a wall hook was waiting, and, based on what he was seeing already, he could make out a portrait of the next ancestor on the other side of the obstacles that he had found. Fortunately it wasn't long before his family had joined him and they crossed over to the walkway, before gliding over to the second one and then climbed up to where the next portrait was located, as they were eager to see who they would find next and what sort of obstacle course they would have to move through this time around.

What they discovered was a number of treasure chests, a few cannons, and a female Cooper that happened to be standing on the deck of a wooden ship, one that looked similar to the one that they had taken in Blood Bath Bay, before they recognized the fact that the Cooper in question had an eyepatch over one of her eyes.

"Henriette 'One Eye' Cooper sailed the seas and stole from pirates." Carmelita said, remembering what they had read about the ancestor in question, as there was a very detailed entry from her, like some of the other ancestors that came both before and after her, before she chuckled for a moment, "I guess that we really take after her, even if four of us aren't Coopers by blood."

Sly smiled for a moment, as despite the fact that none of them were actually pirates they had likely done Henriette proud by what they had done at Blood Bath Bay, before turning towards the obstacle course that was in front of them, which appeared to be a simple walkway from here to the other side. The problem was that they needed to duck under the overturned rowboats that were scattered on the walkway, with both their fronts and backs removed, to avoid the deadly yellow wall that was generated by the glowing skull that was moving down the passage and disappeared when it reached the end, though there was also more than one of them. Sly ducked under the first rowboat and waited for the first skull to move by him, though once that happened he moved out and headed under the second one, while at the same time Carmelita and the others followed after him one at a time, as when he moved Carmelita would move and then someone would duck under the first rowboat to follow the pattern that they were carefully following. Fortunately there were only five rowboats that they had to duck under and the passage was short enough so they wouldn't feel like they were wasting time, but at the end they found a rope that they could ride on to reach the next Cooper portrait that was closer to the water than the last two.

When they reached the new platform they found a number of western styled moneybags, a few glass containers that were also from that era since they were square shaped and not circular shaped, before finding a cane that was a mixture of a cane and a gun, but all of them knew who this cane belonged to... and, at the same time, Sly noticed that Clockwerk had been unnaturally quiet, no doubt taken aback by the sheer size of the Vault and the various ancestors that they were finding along the path they were taking.

"It's said that 'Tennessee Kid' Cooper learned to slide along railroad tracks in the Old West." Gilda stated, though at the same time she smiled, as that was what many ordinary people, who knew about history, said, as if Tennessee Kid was actually from somewhere else, "Makes sense when you read his entries and find that he did a number of things in the Old West, and that riding rails is only the technique he developed."

After staring at Tennessee Kid's portrait for a few seconds, or rather his wanted poster since he likely didn't have the time to sit down and have a professional make one for the Vault, Sly and the others started moving again, where they found that they had to cross over three more barrels in the water and walk along the top of a metallic version of the figure eight they had encountered earlier. The interesting part was that they had to cross over three of the devices to reach the other side, where the next obstacle waited for them, and they took turns to make sure that everyone had a chance to get across on their own before they looked at the obstacle that was now in front of them. What Sly discovered was that they were going to have to climb some rope to reach the top area, though while doing that they were going to have to avoid the wheel shaped devices that were moving down the two ropes, which also had sharp sticks to whack someone off the rope if they weren't careful, and he determined what they needed to do immediately. Sly moved forward and latched onto the first rope, only darting over to the next one and back when one of the wheels approached him, and when he reached the top of the obstacle, and got off the rope, he waited as the rest of his family repeated his movements.

Once the group was back together they opened their paragliders and glided down to the next platform, where they found moneybags that were entirely different from the ones that were around Tennessee Kid's area, along with a few couches, a golden goblet, and a cane that had a ruby attached to the hook.

"According to the Thievius Raccoonus, Victorian-era London was the stomping grounds for the most gentlemanly thief, Thaddeus Winslow Cooper." Diz stated, reciting what he knew from his readings, while at the same time staring at the nice portrait of the ancestor that they had discovered, who seemed to be a gentleman in the picture and had penned many entries into the family tome, including the section about disguises.

A few moments later Sly discovered that the next obstacle required them to jump onto two moving barrels so that they could reach a series of four hooks, which opened after a few seconds and then closed moments later, to reach a little rock formation that likely held their next challenge. Thanks to their skills they were able to traverse the obstacle without any problems, even if they had to patiently wait for the barrels to come out of the water and for the hooks to reform, but once they were together they noticed that they would have to use the Ninja Spire Jump to traverse some points to reach a wall hook that would get them even closer to their objective. After that they stared at the wall that they would have to climb by jumping from the top of one machine arm to the top of the one that would strike the area above their heads, which meant this challenge was all about timing and Sly showed the others how it was done, impressing them as he moved off to the side and watched them replicate the same movements that he had gone through, until all of them had gotten to the top, allowing them to move forward once more.

Behind them rested what many would assume was a low level mechanic's shop, as there were tool cases spread out, biplane pieces laying against the walls, and even the propeller cane that was the signature of the only true mechanic in the entire Cooper Clan, one that they all knew by heart.

"Besides being a thief, Otto van Cooper was a great fighter ace and mechanic." Derpy stated, speaking what was on their minds at the moment, as it was hard to not say anything after they had done so for all of the other ancestors that they had walked by on their quest to explore the Cooper Vault.

With that done Sly and the others took turns crossing over the nearby gap, using the pair of hooks in the process, but at the same time they all noticed that the biplane that was Otto van Cooper's treasure was suspended near his portrait, and it appeared to be in good condition, despite the time that it spent inside the Vault. After that they had to cross through a passage that had a few spinning propellers as points for them to jump onto and then move forward, but only one of them could cross at any given moment and, as usual, Sly took point to see what else was in front of them while also showing off how to get things done. When they reached the end of the passage, and grouped up once more, they found a few treasure cases that were filled with gold and gems, a machine that was generating the Cooper symbol across the gap in front of them, a laptop that was near the portrait, and an empty pedestal, where the ancestor's cane would have gone... though that was before they stared at the ruined portrait that was in front of them, with the unknown ancestor balancing a little raccoon kid on his knee, a scene that Sly remembered all too well.

"No way." Carmelita said, as she hadn't been expecting them to find this particular ancestor while they visited the Vault, not when Clockwerk and the rest of his gang had done in the member that they were staring at, before she glanced at Sly for a moment, "Sly, is this..."

"This is my father's work... I recognize this scene anywhere." Sly replied, though at the same time he stepped forward and rested a hand on the part of his father's portrait that he could see, the lower half that contained him, before he turned towards the gap and noticed the laser beam that was shooting across to the other side, "How am we supposed to get across this? He made this challenge for a move we've never learned... there's nothing like this in the Thievius Raccoonus. Come on, dad, help us out here."

"Sly... I think your father designed a laser walking technique." Diz said, though as the group turned towards her she pointed at the laser, where they could faintly see the blue sparkles that occasionally appeared when they were looking for thieving opportunities.

Sly's eyes widened as he jumped forward, spun around like when he used the rail walk technique, and sure enough he landed right on top of the laser beam like it was nothing, before riding it down to the other side and jumping off when he reached the other end. He had known that every Cooper developed their own special technique at some point in time, as it was something that all of them had done, but while his father never had the chance to pen in this particular technique Sly knew that the first thing he'd do, once this was all over, was dedicate a section to the technique for future generations, before trying to figure out what his special technique was. Once he was at the end he watched as the rest of his family followed suit, riding down the beam like it was nothing and proving that this was a challenge only a Cooper could pull off, before they turned to the series of laser beams that they had to ride down to reach what was likely the inner sanctum, to which they wasted no time in getting underway and rode down the beams with a smile on their faces... even Clockwerk, who was responsible for Conner's death, had his version of a smile, as he had never seen anything like this and was sure that Conner would have been proud of his son.

The Inner Sanctum, as they soon found out, had to be the core of the Cooper Vault and the entire island, though as they used the laser beams to get to the center they stared at the hanging vehicles that had been stored in here, a large door that lead to the outside for easy access if a Cooper had such a vehicle, and a number of things that made the entire adventure seem overwhelming.

"This is just overwhelming!" Carmelita commented, as everything that she had seen in the Vault surpassed her wildest expectations when she heard that such a place existed, and at the same time she was speaking what everyone else was thinking at the moment, before glancing at one of the machines, "Amazing! How'd Thaddeus make a flying machine in the 1800s? Bet this thing still works."

"Oh, I'm sure it's operational." a voice said, though that was when the group was a little surprised to see Dr. M touch down nearby, meaning that he must have placed a tracker of some kind on the cane, just before they retrieved it, so he could get the layout of the Vault and navigate the gauntlet with ease, which was what someone without honor would do, especially when it was the Cooper Vault that they were disgracing.

"Dr. M, glad you could see all this." Sly replied, as he had known that their foe would have tried playing them again in some manner, and honestly he didn't see the need to bother with looking over his cane for a small tracker, because at least this way, when he and his family beat their opponent, he could say that he knew what was inside the Cooper Vault before he was arrested and sent to jail for his crimes, "We all know you've been looking forward to it."

"Looking forward to all of this... and your death!" Dr. M replied, though at the same time the machine that he was currently plugged into tapped it's limbs on the ground, as it seemed that he had some sort of spider like attachment that allowed him to navigate the gauntlet.

"And how are you going to defeat all six of us?" Gilda asked, though as she said that the five family members drew their canes and took on their battle stances, as she, Derpy, and Diz let what little power they had left dance around their left hands, while Clockwerk spread his wings and looked as menacing as he could be given his small form.

"Simple." Dr. M stated, to which he used the power of his machine to jump over their heads and land in the middle of the Inner Sanctum, causing the group to back up and spread out a little, before jamming his machine into the power core of the entire Vault and empowering himself to the point where they'd fail, before using two of the limbs to form a sphere of electrical energy that would decimate whoever touched it, "I'm going to blow all of you away and seize everything that the Vault has for myself... and I think I'll start with you, Cooper!"

Just as everyone registered who Dr. M was talking about, as it had to be Sly, the mad scientist loosed the sphere and sent it flying towards his target, but at the same time something happened that Dr. M didn't expect, as Clockwerk flew through the air and positioned himself between Sly and the blast. At first the collision with the sphere hurt, as his body couldn't handle the sheer electrical surge that came with it, as electricity that was as powerful as this had a habit of breaking his body, but this time he felt the pain dulling as the true power of his new chip came to life, the electricity no longer hurting him, rather it was being absorbed. Clockwerk glanced at Sly and Carmelita, who would have been in the way of the blast had he not intervened, before the bright blue light returned to his eyes as he flared his wings and shattered the sphere, kicking up smoke as he activated the release function that he had been waiting to release.

"Make that five, Cooper." Dr. M said, not even aware of the fact that who had gotten in the way was still ticking, as he'd end them all soon enough, though his thoughts about the situation were that if it was that easy to take someone out then he'd just do it again and again until they were all gone.

Actually, it's still six. Clockwerk replied, though at the same time he waved his wing and knocked the smoke away, revealing his true terrifying self once more, causing Dr. M to detach from the area that his machine had been plugged into as he stared up at him with fear in his eyes.

"You're dead! The news said that you were dead!?" Dr. M shouted, to which he backed up and tried to get some distance between him and the ancient mechanical owl, who had been small moments ago, but the sheer fact that this was the mighty Clockwerk, a being that he never bothered to study since he never intended to fight it, made him realize just how screwed he really was.

You shouldn't believe everything you read on the news... besides, I'm immortal. Clockwerk stated, as the sheer power that came from the newly empowered chip made it nearly impossible for him to die, not unless one of the magic users turned against him, as that was now the one weakness, that he knew about, that he couldn't account for, though that was before he opened one of his talons and lashed out at Dr. M, removing him from the machine and knocked him over to Sly and the others, where he proceeded to tear the device apart before it exploded.

"Here's where you miscalculated, Dr. M," Sly said, though at the same time Diz surprised the shocked technical expert by wrapping a magically empowered rope around his hands, which locked down his hands like he was cuffed in iron or something, before continuing, "First off, my family and I are master thieves, each having the complete knowledge of the Thievius Raccoonus memorized in our minds and practiced so much that we perfected each move that we learned about, as well as who created the technique. Second of all, you would have been facing off against three magic users, as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz each have the power to command an element, such as wind, lightning, and even chaos itself, and that already decreased your chances of winning a fight against us. And last, but certainly not least, we reformed Clockwerk and made him a valuable ally to the team... and, since it appears that he's overcome one of his weaknesses, all of your machines, those with electrical attacks, became useless."

"And here's another thing, you'll be going to jail once Secretary Sen arrives," Carmelita added, though as a look appeared on Dr. M's face, one that told them that they were wrong since he had the deed to the island, she smiled at him for a few seconds, "You see, we found out that you stole the deed to Kaine Island, something that is only passed down through the Cooper Family from one generation to the next, and the deed that was issued to Sly's father has officially been nullified with a new one ready to be presented to Sly when our friends arrive. Sly wasn't lying when he said that you're trespassing and that you'd be in trouble for being here, though with the addition of the genetic monsters, and the fact that you willing killed so many of your guards to get into the Vault, I'd say that you're going to be spending the rest of your life in jail, along with a number of other prisoners that we've helped capture."

Dr. M found that he had been outsmarted, as he never bothered to have the deed changed to his name in all the time that he had it, as he had been so preoccupied with claiming everything that was inside the Cooper Vault, and now, with the treasure so close to being his, he found that he was losing it and everything that he owned at the same time. In the end he sighed and held his head towards the ground, as it appeared that Bentley, in all his wisdom and intellect, was definitely smarter than he was, and that it was time for him to admit defeat, because the moment he opened his mouth to shout at them Diz sealed it shut with a gag she fashioned from rope. With him subdued Carmelita found the switch to open the large door that was nearby and discovered what part of the island it was located in, one that would have allowed Dr. M to rob the Cooper Clan blind if he had discovered it's existence, before they headed out to meet the rest of the gang... and finally make Dr. M pay for everything that he had done since stealing the deed to Kaine Island, before figuring out what they were going to do with all the treasure that was now theirs.

Sly had the feeling that they'd come up with something, but for now their focus was on delivering Dr. M to the authorities and making him face judgement, and that was perfectly fine with him, as he felt that they needed some rest before they even touched the Vault and it's contents.

Comments

[Marauder15]

Excellent chapter