Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions/Sanzaru Games.

Claimer: I own all of my original characters.

Well, I've started another story. This first chapter is a little short, but it's a bit of a tease. This should be a long story so it'll take a little while to complete, but I'll get it done eventually, even if it takes a while. But that's it for now. So please read, review, and let me know what you think of this so far! Thanks!

Metallic Memories

Chapter 1: Big Bad Voodoo Mama

Haitian Jungle, July 23

11:57 P.M.

The Boss

The overpowering aroma of horribly scented candles, decaying swamp matter, decomposing bodies in the local cemetery, and the rather strong odor of the alligator sitting in front of me were enough to make me cough and gag at a quite often frequency. The darkened room creaked with each step either one of us took and the fact this wooden hut was sitting over a murky, stinking swamp didn't improve my attitude about this ordeal. I'd waited in this disgusting shack for hours, waiting for this voodoo priestess to fulfill my orders, and so far had only been nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes and have had my patience worn unbearably thin.

"You'd better not be wasting my time, woman." The alligator simply chuckled as she ran her long, ruby red fingernails over a pile of shells, small animal skulls, and more of her odor filled candles.

"My dear," she said after he laughs died away, "this process is a very delicate one. One simple mistake and we can have a full undead uprising on our hands. Bringing a body back from the dead is a simple ordeal; I've done it since I was just a little hatchling. However, bringing one back without a body is about as easy as trying to pull a nearly perfect diamond out of swamp water."

"You can do it, can't you?" I asked, leaning over the table to stare down the large gator.

"Of course I can," she said standing up, "if you stop breathing down my neck." She chuckled again, waddling to a back room hidden behind a moth eaten curtain. It had better work after what I'd done to put everything together and get down here. I walked from the table and looked around the small shack Mz. Ruby lived in. A rather simple dwelling, but absolutely horrid smell and look. I observed the small jars she had scattered all over the place. Some had roots and other herbs in them, some had strange colored liquids and powders, and some had assorted body parts; such as eyes, tongues, and even one of what appeared to be claws.

"Now why is it you would need me to do this task for you? You don't seem to be the type to summon the undead." Ruby called from her backroom.

"You're right. This is out of my usual realm of expertise, but I have a bit of a…vendetta…against someone." She cackled from her room, finding my mission amusing.

"So you're bringing back a dead person? This must be a rather important person?" I sighed in annoyance, not really wanting to talk about my business to an alligator.

"Do you happen to know Sly Cooper, my scaly friend?" I heard Mz. Ruby gasp followed by a clanking and the squeaking of the floorboards. The voodoo priestess poked her head from behind the curtain, a needle and dismembered arm in her grasp.

"Sly Cooper?" she repeated, "I happen to have a little grudge against him myself. How do you know him?" I looked from the dangling arm to the wide smile of the alligator and shook my head.

"It's a rather long story to tell, Ruby. Don't want to distract you from your task.

Mz. Ruby returned to her workspace behind the counter and I continued looking around the hut. Sly Cooper…how I absolutely hated that man. Smug. Arrogant. Incapable of doing anything by himself. Incredibly stupid, despite his family history. Constantly bouncing from one woman to another and never caring who seems to get hurt, even his own friends. He needed to be stopped and I intended to do this myself. I just needed a bit of help from a voodoo master and a currently deceased woman. I could hear Ruby chanting in her small room, in a language that was foreign to me, but I was glad she was finally getting around to what I'd asked her to do. If this was successful, then I would have someone I could trust on my side and I can put my full plan into action. She waddled out of her back room a few minutes later.

"Well…did it work?" I asked, almost impatiently. She nodded, seating herself at her table and motioned for me to sit across from her. I sat and crossed my arms over my chest with a huff, waiting for an answer.

"Just give it some time, you'll see. Now, before I give you your little friend, we need to make a deal with ourselves. You have a little grudge against our old friend Sly Cooper, correct?" I nodded, wondering where she was headed with this, "I'm here to make a little deal with you. If you let me take part of your little scheme against, Mr. Cooper, I won't charge you for my services. Now, as a warning, I do charge pretty hefty prices." She motioned to a shelf of shrunken heads by the door. I gulped slightly, feeling I'd maybe gone a bit too far, but it was worth it.

"So I give you a part in my plan, and I'm not charged?" she nodded, leaning back in her chair, with a smug look on her face.

"Deal," I said, leaning forward to shake on our deal, "only if this is a success." She shook my paw with the same smug on and glanced to her back room.

"Come." She barked. From the room she'd been working in I heard a groan, similar sounding to one of a person with a severe hangover. After a bit of staggering and foul language, a seemingly drunk female stumbled out of the room, half dressed and stitched up in a few places. She woman leaned against the wall, using her paw to brush her jet black hair from her face. She looked to us, seemingly groggy and rather upset.

"I do believe I don't know either of you," she growled as she staggered forward, her accent slightly slurred, "and I don't particularly care for strangers."

"From your track record, I can tell. But my friend and I here have brought you here to ask for a…favor of sorts." I said.

"A favor? What's in it for me?" she staggered to one of the open chair at the table, her chin resting on her paw, "I'm not a very charitable person."

"In it for you?" I chuckled, sliding a picture towards her, "If you help us, them you can enact revenge on your most…favorite…person." She glanced to the picture, running a finger along a stitch before her lips curled into a devilish smile.

"Any kind of revenge?" I nodded, a similar smile forming on my lips as well, "Then you've got yourself a deal." She extended a paw to my own and shook. Sly Cooper was about to experience his worst nightmare…again.