Work Text:
Written by Frozarburst
Based on Sly Cooper by Sucker Punch Studios
It was a stormy night aboveground at the museum of Cyrille Le Paradox. A famous world-renowned collector of rare and valuable treasures. Secretly, he's begun an intense operation to become absolute ruler by way of erasing the Cooper family from history using the methods of time travel invented by one such member of the Cooper Gang, Bentley. Only a rare few are aware of his schemes, including Penelope, the blue mouse with long blonde hair and a yellow jumpsuit entering through the building's front door. With her yellow visor, she sees a perfect x-ray lens of the lavish hallways and the hidden entrance beneath the surface. A button behind a painting of Cyrille sitting on a beach quietly transforms the glass floors into a staircase downward.
It doesn't take long for Penelope to head down into the main deck of the absurdly large hangar bay, stretching almost the length of an entire football stadium. And at the heart of it all is a massive blimp outfitted with the technology owned by the scientist. Up ahead is the rest of the organization of five: The skunk leader Cyrille himself, the smoking tiger El Jefe in his dark gi, the mad-happy, gunslinging armadillo Toothpick, The Grizz from the streets, and the elephant with a trumpet in her trunk, Miss Decibel. Soon as Penelope enters the stage, Le Paradox is there to greet her.
"Ah, Madame Penelope," he cheers. "What a pleasure to finally meet you in person!"
"You too, partner," she nods and grins.
The Grizz, perhaps equally confused over how short the young scientist is, steps up to her. "Ey, I thought'chu was with the Cooper Gang."
"I was…," she emphasizes. "But it got boring. Poor ol' Bentley wouldn't shut up about Sly instead of looking at the future."
"What a shame," says Cyrille shaking his head. "A mind like his doesn't deserve to be second fiddle to a halfwit like a Cooper." He walks up to Penelope and pats her shoulder ever so gently with a smile. "That's why I know you'll be different."
He motions himself over to the airship along with the rest of his gang, each admiring the craftsmanship of the shuttle Penelope designed, modeled after the ones made during her run in her Black Baron persona. They enter the elevator to the main bridge where several of Paradox's men in gas masks and armed with light weaponry are taking positions for operating the various computer terminals.
"This is my mobile fortress," announces the skunk. "It will be our main method of transport." He takes center stage at the bridge rotunda, looking at the data on the monitor in front of him for confirmation of their first jump through time. "I'd like to thank Penelope, and to an extent Bentley, for providing my men with the technology to build this marvel."
"Happy to help boss," Penelope cheers, wagging her long tail.
"Once you have all been dispersed, you'll have free reign to do whatever you please to the Coopers so long as you retrieve their canes. And I will ensure that the present is secure. That will confirm if the plan succeeded or not." Cyrille motions his hand toward the pilots at the controls. "You may prepare for launch! Coordinates are already set in the computer."
YES SIR
The coordinates are inputted and the turbines begin to spin fastly. Electricity sparks around the ship's exterior as the clamps holding it in place release. Very slowly, it hovers into the air, then in a sudden flash of light vanishes out the now empty hangar! Waves of colors zip past the blimp seen from the control post. All but Penelope gaze in awe at the wonders of time travel, anticipating a much different setting than the present. Perhaps a time set in feudal Japan, or even the Ice Age. Either way, there would be a Cooper to steal from, ending the tradition of thieves once and for all. Eventually…
BOOM!
The jump ends and the ship hovers in an evening orange and pinkish sky, right in front of two seagulls smacking into the window of the bridge! All are cheering for a moment over the idea that time travel, a fictitious concept, was able to be achieved in such a short span, and that they'll finally be able to remove the Cooper family's successes from history…or so they believed.
Peeking through the viewport from the low end of the bridge, Miss Decibel notices two odd things: The Eifel Tower and modern city streets. Even Le Paradox's museum is still present as if they had jumped to an earlier time before their plan could be set in motion.
"One moment…," she says. "I thought we were going to the distant past."
"What're ya talkin' about," asks the armadillo. "Course we are! Look! The museum's…there…" He removes his Texan hat and scratches the top of his head in a gap between his shell plates.
El Jefe also comments, "We were supposed to be going back in time. Correct?"
"We were," barks Cyrille. "I already checked the coordinates!" He begins stroking his chin, wondering if he really has made a mistake. "Perhaps I should have quadruple-checked in case."
"Oh no," Penelope smirks, straightening her visor "You didn't goof up. You're just not the captain of this ship!"
All of a sudden, her lens displays several red shapes converging toward the blue outline of the blimp, then switches to settings on display reading, "CONTROLS: MANUAL. FORWARD 1 DAY, 5:40 PM EST".
CRASH!
From nearly every window of the ship, squads of what seem to be Interpol and task force marksmen on jetpacks flood in, blasting every one of Le Paradox's men with their stun guns while Penelope smugly walks next to a door toward the side of the bridge. Carmelita, the inspector fox once hellbent on apprehending Sly Cooper, now her husband, bursts through the hatch firing the instant she steps foot from her helicopter to the ship's interior! She easily shocks Toothpick, Miss Decibel, and The Grizz, but El Jefe leaps over one of the shots and makes a hasty retreat to a different hatch exit. One that is quickly blown open in his face and knocking him into a daze, sliding him across the floor tiles! All that's left is Le Paradox, who comes close to relying on his natural abilities as a skunk before he's abruptly jumped from behind by the soldiers! They place a huge metal cuff around all but his head, rendering him frozen. The rest of his men are all silenced by tranquilizers, including one man who's swiftly knocked out by Penelope's tail without her having to move an inch from her leaning against the wall.
Carmelita joins her, also smirking and giving a fist bump while watching her troops cuff the blimp's personnel. The commander of the task force, a cat person with a thick mustache, gives a hearty thumbs up to them as his men wheel Cyrille with a cart. Before he's taken away on the helicopter outside, he darts at Penelope.
"Penelope, what is the meaning of this," he demands!
"Congratulations, Cyrille Le Paradox, for participating in the Pentley Tech field test!"
"A field test…?!"
"Yep," the mouse nods. "A whole sting operation meant to beta our security system! Bentley an' I heard about you and your criminal empire. So we figured it'd be as good a time as any to give a demo to Interpol to show off what we can do. All it took was a promise that a big scary blimp with bat wings would pop up above Paris at exactly 5:40 the next day."
"But you hated Bentley and the rest of the Coopers."
Both Penelope and Carmelita share a quick chuckle. "Not in a million years," she says. "The gang isn't even in business anymore. Anything to do with Sly was used for data to catch people like you."
"Have fun trying to prove your innocence with all the evidence we've gathered," Carmelita grins confidently.
"Evidence," El Jefe overhears when he's been cuffed by police. "No… Paradox, this whole vessel is rigged with their technology!"
"I don't believe this…," shakes Paradox. "You gave my men the means to build the ship so you could use it against me… That was…well-executed…!"
"I know," Penelope winks. "But'cha can't flatter your way outta this one. I'm sure the task force or whoever has a special place where you can think of more things to compliment me on."
"Take 'em away men," Carmelita orders. "And good work, all of you!"
"Phew…! What a relief," says the mouse switching her visor with her round glasses. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried the jump forward wouldn't work. Bentley an' me only did it once and my goggles're drained."
"But it worked flawlessly, just like you said it would. I never doubted you two for a second!"
Bentley, as if prompted, wheels himself out of the helicopter beside the two ladies, boosting himself with the rockets on his wheelchair.
"Yep! We're just that good!"
"I know how much Sly's been able to get away from you all," Penelope notes. "So maybe our company can help stop crooks like these from popping up again."
"Admittedly, Interpol's not the best when it comes to catching the Gang," Carmelita confesses. "I just wish we could have worked with each other a lot sooner. Especially with you, Bentley."
"Eh, it was fun watching you chase us while it lasted," says the tortoise.
"I'll be sure to tell Sly that after we finish installing Interpol's new security grid. The only question left is…what are you going to do with your time machine? I thought it was just fiction and yet here we are!"
Both Penelope and Bentley share a look of confusion, peeking back and forth at the machinery around the blimp.
"Eeeeeeeeh, it's uh…"
"It's kind of…uh…" Eventually, Bentley stops droning and makes up his mind. "Well, let's just say it's a work in progress. But the fact that it functioned at all is proof that it's too dangerous for any one of us to handle."
"Yeah," Penelope agrees. "Who knows what someone like Paradox could've done if he were in control!"
"That's perfectly understandable," nods the fox. "And it keeps my sanity over the thought of going back to meet another Sly. I say trash it, just in case."
"Amen," Bentley tips. "Looks like our compromise paid off after all, Penelope."
"Sure did!"
She turns around, facing the rest of the ship's interior as it's being examined by inspectors and soldiers, for once smiling after such a successful mission. Le Paradox and his gang have already been shipped out. The museum beneath them is being raided according to Penelope's note on the secret entrance to the hangar. With the case officially closed, all she can say to that is…
"Guess we got a lotta work to do…"
This short was made for fun and for the Sly fandom. Thanks for reading!