Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Time: Rescue and Business

The first thing that Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Tennessee did was get Elizabeth and Daniel back to the safe house, where they found that Clockwerk was keeping himself busy by preparing a plan that would do Bentley proud, was contact the future and see how the kids had been kidnapped by Le Paradox. From what the two of them knew they had been playing outside, with Carmelita's father watching over them, and when he went inside a stranger wearing a black suit, a white undershirt, and a red tie while having a clean shaven head, snatched them before their grandparents could call them inside for lunch. When the connection to the future was established, however, they found that neither Margret or Edward were present and found Secretary Sen standing on the other side with the Thievius Raccoonus nearby, where he asked them if they knew what happened to the Foxes and the kids. Derpy assured him that the kids were safe, or as safe as they could be since they were in the Old West with the rest of them, before asking what happened to Carmelita's parents, where they discovered that Le Paradox hadn't just taken the kids, but he had also arranged for the grandparents to be take as well. It was one thing to use a time machine to go back in time to destroy the Cooper Clan, as it could cause ripples and affect the future more than they might realize, but targeting innocent children and involving them in this war between their families was going a step too far... and that wasn't even taking into consideration Carmelita's parents, who weren't even involved in this madness, meaning that they needed to keep their eyes open for them as well.

By the time they were done talking to Secretary Sen, who was upset that Le Paradox was messing with time and tasked the gang with defeating the rest of the skunks' forces, Clockwerk turned towards them and revealed that they were going to assault the prison once more, only this time they were going to follow the river and attack them from a different direction. In fact during his own recon of the area, posing as the version of himself from this time period, he had found a large wooden boat that was designed to travel on the very river that he was talking about and that it could hold some of them, especially since he wasn't planning on staying back this time around. Of course that presented a problem to Gilda and Derpy, because he was supposed to be acting like he wasn't an ally of the Cooper's to avoid detection, but Clockwerk surprised them by stating that he was going to make it seem like they were only reluctant allies and that this was a one time deal that he made with Tennessee, causing the girls to nod their heads before they left Diz in the safe house, as he had drawn the short stick and was going to watch the kids until the gang was restored.

It wasn't long before they reached the area that the boat was in and Tennessee took up steering it towards their destination, while at the same time Clockwerk positioned himself at the front so he could smash through the obstacles that were in their way while Gilda used the wind to throw back any explosives that might be thrown at them... allowing Derpy to stand near Tennessee while he did his job and got them underway to where the prison was located.

"Pardon me for asking, but you called that... metallic... owl Clockwerk, right?" Tennessee asked, though at the same time they neared the first wooden gate that was meant to block their path and the ancient owl screeched as he dove into the space in front of them, using the weight of his true form to smash through it, before using a small rocket to blow up some explosive containers nearby.

"Yeah, we did." Derpy replied, though even as she answered the question she knew what was coming, as it was only a matter of time until one of the ancestors recognized Clockwerk for what he was, and she had the feeling that the talk of the 'other version' clued him into what was going on, "Why?"

"You can't possibly mean Clockwerk, the ancient foe that's been hunting the Cooper Clan for who knows how long." Tennessee said, as he knew the stories and all of them pointed to the ancient owl being a menace to the entirety of his family line, supposedly going all the way back to the time of Slytunkhamen and his sons, "The ancient owl that's rumored to run on nothing but sheer hatred for our clan and would stop at nothing to destroy each and every one of us in the process, even though our luck lets us best whatever plans he's coming up with. You can't possibly mean he's THAT Clockwerk... can you?"

"Well, it's a long story, but we managed to get him to turn over a new leaf," Derpy answered, to which she decided to inform Tennessee of what had happened between them and the ancient owl, while at the same time making sure that the ancestor swore that he wouldn't write any of this down in the Thievius Raccoonus once she was done explaining the situation and the gang fixed his problem with Toothpick.

Suffice it to say that Tennessee was impressed by the brief tale that Derpy wove, as she highlighted what the ancestor needed to know about so he could understand how they managed to get Clockwerk on their side, but at the same time she made sure to keep the tale short so he could focus on getting them down the river. Instead of stopping for the dock switches, which controlled the larger gates they needed to pass through, Gilda knocked the guards out of the way with her wind powers and flipped the switch that opened the gate, allowing the boat to sail towards their destination without any trouble, even if Clockwerk had taken to the sky and was shooting at the guards that Toothpick had employed. Despite Derpy's claims there was one thing that the new chip didn't do, and that was prevent him from feeling negative emotions like anger and hate, as it was clear that he was angry with Toothpick, and Le Paradox, and that he was going to tear his way to where Sly and the others were waiting, just to blow off some steam and prevent a potential regress to who he had been before the chip had been changed... after all, just because they changed his Hate Chip didn't mean that he was no longer burdened by all the hatred he had carried, and doing this allowed him to prevent changing back to the owl he had been before they bested him.

Eventually they made it to the stop that would allow them to enter the prison, where it was clear that Toothpick had been expecting them to show up since he had an ambush at the ready once they arrived where Sly and the others were hanging at the moment... but the ambush couldn't stand against the sheer terror that was Clockwerk, who defeated the guards that came at them as Tennessee released the gang.

"Elizabeth and Daniel, where are they?!" Carmelita asked, though at the same time it was clear that she was angry at what had happened, not just because she and the others had been captured, but mostly because her children had been kidnapped and brought to this time period, something that they had been trying to avoid by leaving them in the future.

"Back at the safe house with Diz." Derpy replied, though as she said that Clockwerk flew into the air and started blasting the rest of the prison, taking out the rest of his anger on the remaining guards before he bothered to rejoin them at the same house, "Come on, let's get back there and reunite you two with them... and then we can talk about what we're going to do to stop Toothpick, and get the van back."

"Not to mention that the kids weren't the only ones taken." Gilda added, causing both Sly and Carmelita to turn towards her for a moment, though the look in Carmelita's eyes told her that she knew what she was going to say, "I'm sorry, but Le Paradox also kidnapped your parents as well... and we have no idea where he's taken them, or what time period he's taken them to."

Carmelita was furious, and no one in the gang blamed her for being as angry as she was, but she did calm down a little when she remembered that their kids needed them and soon she and Sly were heading back to the safe house so they could comfort Elizabeth and Daniel.

---

The kids were overjoyed to be reunited with their parents, just like Sly and Carmelita were overjoyed to find that their kids weren't harmed, even though they might have some bad memories of this entire incident, but for the most part it appeared that all four of them were happy to be brought back together, even though it didn't do anything about the worry that Carmelita was feeling for her parents. Bentley, thanks to the bug in Toothpick's office, discovered that their foe was planning on moving the stolen gold back to the future with a special train he had constructed, which was now being turbo-charged by the gang's van, and there was no chance of them heading back into the vault to get it back, meaning that they had to use a different tactic this time around. He told them that there were three parts of the track that they needed to divert if they wanted a chance at taking the vane back, so that meant that they needed to take the three keys from the trusted henchmen that were carrying them at all times, and, as luck would have it, Toothpick appeared to be holding his festival and the guards would be competing, meaning that they could beat them and take the keys... and then they would tackle the train, while it was moving, beat Toothpick at his own game, and then get the van back so they could tackle the next era that Le Paradox was targeting.

As it turned out Bentley had signed up Murray for a fight with the first key-holder, had done the same with Sly for a race against the second guard, and Carmelita would be participating in a gun contest with the third one, which was when he revealed that he had been making a shock pistol that was slightly smaller than her old one that she could use whenever she wanted, and she smiled as she accepted the device.

Diz followed Murray to where the brawl was taking place and watched as he entered the ring and started his fight with the dogs that were between him and the guard that he needed to take out, where he watched as Murray punched and knocked out every challenger that came at him, before defeating twenty of them, to the amazement of the announcer that was giving commentary during the fight. Once the pack of dogs had been taken out Wildman, as that was the guard's name, climbed into the ring and Murray started the battle between him and his target, finding that he had found a decent challenger at last, and the crowd cheered as the two of them exchanged blows with each other for the next few minutes, before Murray dropped Wildman to the floor and claimed his victory, and the key he came for. As Murray was doing that Sly, dressed in the jailbird attire since it was the only way he was going to be able to keep up with the second guard, started the race that he had been signed up in and raced through the checkpoints that were in front of him, while at the same time keeping his eyes on the jackrabbit that he was following. Derpy and Gilda, who were watching from the skies, noticed that there were t.n.t. barrels all over the course and a number of spotlights, meaning that it was rigged in favor of the champion, but at the same time they smiled as Sly maneuvered his way through the course, without touching the obstacles, and eventually outdid the guard he was racing, earning the key by the time the race was over.

Carmelita, on the other hand, ended up making a deal with the final guard, that if she bested his score she'd get the trophy, and the key that it apparently contained, and if she lost she owed him a kiss, something that immediately irritated her and made her want to shoot him already, but instead of doing that she turned her new shock pistol on the targets and started firing at them... where she showed the guard that she was just as good as he was and then shattered the score, to which she claimed her prize and walked out with the key in hand, and a smile on her face.

With the keys assembled, and the gang ready to put a stop to Toothpick's plans at long last, Bentley explained that they would be working together to take care of the various obstacles on the train, so they could get the van and the gold that Tennessee was going to steal back, before taking out Toothpick. Murray and Diz were in charge of taking care of the electrical barriers that were surrounding the van, as well as any guards in the area, before launching the van so they could catch up to where Bentley, Derpy, and Gilda would be stationed on the train, giving them time to take out their own guards and hack into the computers to blow the train's whistles, something that would annoy Toothpick. Despite his desire to punish Toothpick, and take the train out, Clockwerk agreed to stay on the sidelines and watch over Elizabeth and Daniel this time around, giving him time to cool off while Sly, Carmelita, and Tennessee dealt with their true target. Once Toothpick was knocked out, and the train was stopped, Bentley planned on taking the criminal back to the future so he could face a real punishment for the crimes he committed before fleeing to the past, and then they'd focus on which ancestor was next on Le Paradox's list.

When the time came to move the gang assembled on the bridge that was overlooking the rails that the train would be passing under and jumped out in the pairs that Bentley had stated, with Sly, Carmelita, and Tennessee going first, followed by himself, Gilda, and Derpy, and let Diz and Murray jump down onto the rear section of the train. As it turned out the guards that Diz and Murray ended up fighting were Le Paradox's rat guards, so while Diz used his powers to knock them around Murray lifted some of the explosive barrels and used them on the electric barriers that were keeping the van tied down to the area that it was in, which also protected the van from the explosions that erupted when the barrels hit their target. Once the deed was done Murray climbed into the driver seat and backed the van onto the tracks behind the train, before speeding up as he caught up with the side of the train and started to move towards the area that Bentley and the girls were in, allowing Diz to fly to the side door and open it while Clockwerk carefully flew in, thus allowing Diz to help Elizabeth and Daniel into the magically enlarged interior of the van before the owl shrunk down to join them, before the door was closed and Murray stepped on the gas once more.

While that was going on Bentley followed after Derpy and Gilda as they used their magic and tore their way through the obstacles that were in front of them, quite literally at times since Gilda's power over the wind was enough to tear apart any wooden walls or obstacles in their way and Derpy exploded each and ever explosive barrel that were along the path they were following. If it wasn't for the fact that he had seen these two battle Clockwerk, twice he mentally added, and the destruction they brought when they were annoyed or really focused, Bentley would have been worried or even frightened, but right now he was grateful to have them on their side, as it made getting to the computer he needed to access all that much easier. Thanks to them he was able to reach the terminal and start his hacking session, where they stood at the ready as he tore his way through the code that was waiting for him, and once control over the whistles were theirs, and Sly's group knew about it, the three of them headed over to the side of the train and beckoned to Murray, who opened the left side door of the van and let them all jump in, before closing it and heading to the final point where he'd be able to get the others once they dealt with Toothpick.

Tennessee was up next, as he made his way through the obstacles that were between him and the gold that had been inside the bank, which Toothpick had stolen, and it wasn't long before the door was blown open, allowing Bentley to use a new device that he had installed into the van, and never got to test until now, that launched a plunger-headed grapple hook and hauled the cart of gold out to where he and the others were, which was a good thing their van was modified by Diz to have all this extra space, otherwise they'd be in trouble. Once the first part of the gold had been recovered he headed into the second car and did the same thing, allowing Bentley to grab the second part of the treasure and promise that they'd get the rest once the train had been stopped, though when Tennessee confronted Toothpick two of Le Paradox's goons jumped him from behind and knocked him to the floor, snatching the cane for their employer as the fake sheriff smiled and returned to his business. In the following moments Sly and Carmelita, who had been running over the tops of the two cars that Tennessee had been running through, dropped down for a moment to make sure the ancestor was alright, before glaring at Toothpick as they jumped up to where he was standing and entered the area that they would be fighting him in.

Toothpick stared at them for a moment as they stood on the box that was on the flat floor that was in front of him, as there wasn't much else to stand on, and seemed annoyed with them, so much so that they could tell that he was thinking about shooting them and getting the matter over with.

"Le Paradox was right about you two... you're a pain in my sides." Toothpick said, his tone indicating that his boss actually knew more about them than they realized and that it was only a matter of time until his next hand was played against them, something that Bentley and Clockwerk were going to have to stop in due time.

"Where are my parents, Toothpick?!" Carmelita demanded, as she was through playing games with the person that had dared to endanger both of her children, just because his boss ordered him to, and wanted to know where they were hiding her parents so she could rescue them as well.

"Hey, I was tasked with handing your kids. I don't know which of the three remaining idiots were stuck watching over your parents... and I feel sorry for whoever they ended up with." Toothpick replied, though at the same time he threw a grenade into the air and it landed on the floor in front of them, where Sly recognized it and slipped into his jailbird attire, before pulling Carmelita onto his back as a laser floor appeared around them.

Sly ran over the grenade, which actually turned out to be the power source for the laser floor, and proceeded to use the metal ball that came with the jailbird attire on the steam boilers, allowing them to power up the whistles that were right behind Toothpick, which Carmelita seemed to think was a design flaw since he apparently hated the noise. Once all three steam boilers were operational the whistles blew and Toothpick fell to their level, to which Sly focused on using the ball to avoid the mini twisters and then slammed the ball into their foe, though while that happened Carmelita used her new shock pistol to shock Toothpick, mostly to deal some damage and distract him from what Sly was doing. The moment Toothpick's attack was over he fell to the floor, allowing Sly to use the metal ball to whack their foe into the grill of the furnace behind him and then the two of them used their canes to strike him down before he pulled himself off the grill and returned to where he had been when the battle started. What they discovered from that point forward was that the battle progressed in the same manner with very little change, as the second and third stages of the battle went the same way as the first one, and Toothpick continued to suffer whenever he returned to his smaller state, until eventually he was launched from the smoke pipe in the front of the train and Tennessee smiled as Toothpick landed near him... to which he removed them from the train by getting off on their stop, allowing Sly and Carmelita to move towards the front of the train as Murray caught up with them.

In that moment they discovered that part of the bridge was out, which none of them had known about, and instead of wasting time the two of them dropped down to the level near the van and then jumped over to the open door that Bentley had opened... and that was when they discovered that Toothpick had tampered with the van's breaks, to induce it's turbo-charged state, and Bentley slipped Murray's necklace into the time machine to avoid certain death. Fortunately the van slipped into the time stream, instead of falling into the ravine that they started to fall into when they reached the end of the line, but at the same time they had no idea where they were going and both Sly and Carmelita held their kids close to them as they waited to see what time period they arrived in, once they reached the other side of the time stream.

Comments

[badninja]

I think every single member of the skunks gang is about to get a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. While the skunk ends up taking a short drop. You do not mess around with time travel as Marty McFly got lucky.

[Midnight Moon]

Wow. Just, wow. Really, Le Paradox? At this rate, Sunset Hakai-ing you would be a mercy compared to what the gang here would do to you.

[schorpioen007]

a stranger wearing a black suit, a white undershirt, and a red tie while having a clean shaven head ,

you do mean Agent 47 ?