Hi everyone! I'm back with a new Sly Cooper story, and I think you will like it. This story takes place 10 years after the ending in Space Thieves. Sly and Carmelita, now married and top-notch cops, investigate a robbery only to disappear without a trace! Now their 15 year old son, Michael, must find his parents and discover who is behind it before it is too late! Without any delay, here is the first chapter!

The Raccoon, the Panther, and the Divine Gods

Chapter 1- The Robbery

It was a busy night at the Interpol Headquarters in Paris, France. Most cops do paper work, while others bring in the usual thugs and their bosses. However, two certain cops were doing neither. They were in one of the janitor closets for some "personal" time. One was a beautiful fox with long, dark hair with light brown fur. She was wearing a medium yellow jacket, long black jeans, and boots. The other was a handsome raccoon with gray fur, black eyes and a very bushy ringed tail. He was wearing a dark blue Interpol uniform with black pants and small dark brown shoes. Their names were Sly and Carmelita Cooper; the two best cops at Interpol.

They were also the most romantically active; they find a place to hide and make out whenever they had the chance. That is how much they love each other. Over a decade ago, Sly was a master thief and Carmelita was always trying to catch him without success, thus frustrating her. Overtime they start to have strong feelings for each other. The problem was that they were both too stubborn to admit it. On one of their chases, Sly, his gang of thieves, and Carmelita were captured by aliens from another world. The leader of these aliens had plans for Sly and his friends. He sent them on a mission to convince the leader to take them home.

It was during their adventures in space that Sly and Carmelita finally realize their feelings for each other. They have been in love ever since. After they have discovered an insidious plot by the alien leader, they fought and defeated him. They then returned home, thanks to the friendly aliens that they met along the way. They found a way to be together and ended up happily ever after. Unfortunately, there is always evil no matter where you are. And if you were a former master thief and married to a cop, you tend to attract a lot of trouble. Like tonight…

While Sly and Carmelita were "busy", someone knocked on the door to the closet. The two split apart in disappointment. "Well, looks like we've been caught red handed." said Sly. "Again," replied Carmelita in annoyance. Sly opened the door to find their boss, Lieutenant Barkley, with his arms crossed and an amused look on his face. He was an old badger with a cigar usually in his mouth. He allowed Sly to join Interpol as a request from Carmelita, thinking that Sly had suffered amnesia and couldn't remember being a thief. Boy, if he only knew Sly did remember!

"There you are." said Barkley. "I have been looking for you love birds everywhere! Honestly, can't you two stay professional while you are working?" "Well sir, technically, we are not working." said Sly with a smile. "Last time I checked, sir, we were on our break from paper work." said Carmelita in agreement. Sighing while rubbing his forehead, Barkley asked them to come to his office immediately. "Sure sir, its not like we got anything better to do at the moment." said a sarcastic Carmelita. 5 minutes later, they were in Barkley's office. It was full of medals and awards from his long service in Interpol.

After they had sat down on the chairs available, Barkley got more serious. "Okay, listen up. I have just received a report about a robbery at the museum downtown. I want you two to investigate and see if you can find anything on the guy who broke in. I could have selected other officers for this assignment, but you two are the best we got and I want it done quickly. A famous billionaire is coming in two weeks to take a look at the museum, and I don't want him to know that one of the most secured buildings in Paris has been robbed! You understand?"

The couple got on their feet and answered. "Yes sir. We will get on it immediately." answered Sly and Carmelita. Pleased by their response, he sent them on their assignment. After they stepped out of the office, Sly turned to his feisty wife. "Man, the guy needs to take some yoga; when does ever relax?" She shook her head. "Beats me, Sly. Maybe he just needs to lay off the caffeine for a while." They laughed as they walked to their police car and headed off to the robbed museum.

When they got there 20 minutes later, they were greeted by museum security. The Head of Museum Security approached them. "Ah, good to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Cooper. I am glad that you are here, the robbery has left my security team baffled." "Really? Tell us exactly how it happened." asked Carmelita. The man took a deep breath, and talked. "Well, whoever broke in knew precisely what they were doing. All cameras went offline, all motion sensors deactivated, and all guards down on the floor with no memory of who attacked them. Honestly, I'm stumped."

Intrigued, Sly spoke up next. "What was stolen in there?" The security chief turned to Sly and shrugged. "The robber just took some old headband in the Egyptian exhibit. Everything else has been left untouched." Sly and Carmelita looked at each other, wondering the same thing: Why would the robber want to steal only one item but leave other priceless objects alone? 'This doesn't make any sense. What was so special about that headband?' Sly thought. Knowing that thinking alone will not get the job done, Carmelita asked if they could go in and look at the crime scene.

The security chief nodded. "Sure, be my guest. Let us know what you find." After the discussion had ended, the Cooper cops went into the museum to begin their investigation. The lights were on and there were no other guards in the building, apart from the area of the robbery. The Egyptian exhibit was two floors above the main lobby, and once they have made it up there, they met a lot of ticked off museum guards. One of them turned to the couple and explained the situation.

"Me and my buddies here were just doing our duty, nothing out of the ordinary, and then BAM! No lights were on, and someone jumped us in the black out. By the time we woke up again, the head band on that Ra statue had been taken." He pointed to the statue of Ra; the Egyptian Sun God. He looked like a tall hawk with a majestic look and had two deadly looking blades of gold. Sly and Carmelita looked closely and the statue's head and noticed a bald spot where the headband should be. Sly turned to the guard again. "What do you know about the stolen headband?"

But before the guard could answer, the lights went out again. There was darkness everywhere. Sly and Carmelita got out their shock pistols and stood alert. Then suddenly, they heard the guards being attacked from all around them! "Not again!" one of them shouted before being silenced by an unseen enemy. As soon as the attacks started, they stopped: Sly and Carmelita were the only ones still standing. Sly moved his head slightly towards her. "Something tells me the robber is back." said Sly in amusement. Carmelita had enough of being in the dark.

"Alright, come out and show yourself! Stop being a coward and give yourself up!" The lights immediately came back on. But when they did, Sly and Carmelita noticed that there was no one else in the exhibit other than themselves and the unconscious guards. The couple didn't lower guard for an instant; their instincts told them that the robber was still in the room. Sly decided to say something. "Whoever you are, you really know how to get a party started! Isn't this supposed to be the moment where the host introduces himself in a dramatic entrance to begin the fun?" They then heard footsteps behind them and instantly turned around.

The person who was making the footsteps was wearing a black cloak and gloves, and the face was completely covered, except for the eyes. The stranger was tall and slender, about as tall as Sly. Sly and Carmelita pointed there pistols at the stranger. In one of the stranger's hands was the headband that was taken from Ra's statue. It had silver wings on each end and had three different colored gems encrusted in the middle: the left one was blue, the right one was white, and the middle gem was yellow. That confirmed to Sly and Carmelita that the cloaked stranger was the robber.

"Okay, now that you have shown yourself, I suggest you put that headband down put your hands on your head." demanded Carmelita. The robber did not move a muscle. "Maybe you didn't hear my lovely wife, buddy. Put down the headband and we'll settle this at the police station." said Sly. The stranger finally talked back, and it was female. "Why Sly Cooper, I have never known you to be so forward. Nor did I expect you and Carm there to tie the knot. Guess times really have changed…for all of us!" Sly and Carmelita looked startled and confused. "Do we know you?" asked Sly.

The female robber then lowered her hood and shown her face to them. They had looks of extreme shock and disbelief! The person standing in front of them was someone they had never expected to see again. "YOU?!" exclaimed Carmelita in total surprise. Before they had a chance to react, the robber ran up to them and jump kicked them both in the heads! They lay on the ground, out cold. The stranger then put her hood back on and stood up in apparent triumph. "Nice. Phase one is complete. Now to get phase two underway…" She then raised the headband.

It emitted a blinding white light everywhere in the museum. When the light was gone, the female stranger had disappeared. And she took Sly and Carmelita with her. Not long afterward, the guards woke up with their chief standing above them. "I saw a flash of light from the inside and came to check on it. What happened in here?!" A chubby guard answered his superior. "Well sir, we were talking to the Cooper officers, and the then there was another black out. We were attacked again and fell down. We just came around, sir." The head security chief looked around.

"Where are the Coopers? Did they capture the robber?" They shook their heads. "We don't know sir…" "Wait sir! I know what happened!" The chief turned to a younger guard standing to his left. "Well, what did you see, kid?" He answered. "Well, I was the first to regain consciousness and saw the robber standing in front of the Coopers, holding the headband. I heard the robber talk in a female voice. I saw her lower her hood, but I couldn't see her face; my vision was still bleary. She then jump kicked the Coopers to the ground, apparently unprepared for such a quick strike. She said something about "completing phase one and moving on to phase two". The woman then raised the headband and a blinding light shined from it. When I could see again, the woman and the Coopers were gone."

The security chief shook his head. "This is very bad. Whoever stole the headband and kidnapped the Coopers is obviously very dangerous. You men better head on home; you took enough abuse for one night. I'll give Interpol a call, telling them that Sly and Carmelita Cooper are missing."

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Lieutenant Barkley hung up the phone after talking to the head of security at the museum. He couldn't believe it; his two finest officers were taken by some maniac with a hidden agenda. And it had something to do with that strange headband… He then got up, took his coat and opened his office door. 'Well, guess I better pay Michael a little visit. Poor boy, he is not going to like this.' he thought to himself as he closed the door behind him.