A/N: This story I wrote a while back last year in 2011 and posted up on dA since I didn't really do much here anymore. But now with my revival taking place on again, I decided to throw this up here. So, please enjoy, review if you read and cheers.

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper, the Cooper Gang and all related characters are properties of Sucker Punch. Cortana Brea Harlow and other characters are owned by me, Breanna Edwards. This story isn't for profit, please don't sue. I'm just a huge fan.

Sly Cooper: Walking the Thin Line of Fate
Chapter 1

The Clockwerk disaster was finally over, after nearly 2 and a half years of first defeating him, then tracking, finding and destroying the pieces along with the dreaded Hate Chip after Neyla had been reborn as Clock-la. She even had the pleasure of stomping on the Chip herself. But still, Inspector Carmelita Fox hadn't achieved her main goal; catching that mischief-making ringtail Sly Cooper and his gang. They gypped her out once more, right when she thought she had them.

The vixen let out a deep sigh, and plopped down into her office chair. She was now stationed in Venice, Italy to investigate and stop the tar pollution to the city's water reserves. But today was a slow day. She had to go to meeting after meeting, talking with this representative and that representative... She found herself half-wishing that raccoon would make an appearance, just so she had something exciting to do.

On top of that, she had to monitor the new interns for the new training program Interpol had developed. They figured they could always use new young recruits to handle the dirty work. Carmelita scoffed, why let someone else do the job when it's better done by yourself? She leaned back into her chair, and kicked her feet up. The brilliant beams of the setting sun shown through, scattering over her, warming her fur. This was probably the first time she had a chance to relax since the Clockwerk fiasco. 'It won't hurt if I closed my eyes for a few moments...'The Inspector slid her eyelids down, arms crossed behind her head.

Outside the Latina's office, phones rang off the hook, papers were being shuffled and a loud murmur floated over the busy cubicles of the Italian HQ. Interns were helping the senior members of Interpol, eager to learn the trade of being a police officer and hopefully help out in the field to catch crooks and criminals alike.

One intern in particular, tripped the light fantastic while carrying a stack of papers. Her ears were plugged with headphones, mouthing words to a pop song as she picked a bit of lint off of her ribbed sweater. Her fluffy, ivory tail swished along with her rump to the rhythm while she bent to snatch up a stray paper that escaped the stack, leaning back up to continue her dancing stroll to an office door. She sent her platform shoe into the door, causing it to slam open.

Carmelita gasped, and straightened up in her seat, fixing her hair and her jacket. She didn't want to seem like she was lazing off on the job. "Uh, what can I help you w... Oh. Cortana. More papers, I assume?" The words rolled out of the vixen's mouth with a thick accent and dry tone.

The downy-furred intern dropped the stack of papers onto the Inspector's desk, shouting to hear herself over the music in her ears. "Here are some forms you have to do, Inspector Foxy! No time for sleep!" She tilted her head and smiled.

Carmelita frowned. This one, out of all the new interns, had to be her understudy. Why? She had to be the most annoying, loud, ignorant intern out of the bunch, and she had to be paired with her. It was just her luck. The fox sat back into her seat. Taking some of the papers in hand, she looked over them, then looked up at the intern while she putted around, fixing up various things in the office.

She had to be about 19, 20 or so. Her sense of fashion was very eclectic, her crimson platform sandals, tan-brown wide leg pants and dark blue ribbed sweater going well together. On top of the ragdoll cat's head sat a very red beret hat, with a patch in the front. The initals 'CBH' adorned it. 'Why is she here? She looks more like a fashion major than a police intern... There's no room for a fashion show here.'

Cortana turned for a moment and then back, the same badge as the vixen's sat on her chest, but underneath it was a tag labeled 'intern.' Carmelita rolled her eyes, as if it wasn't obvious enough.

The feline turned back around towards the fire-orange vixen, who quickly cleared her throat and shifted her eyes back down onto her papers. "Yeah, you need to keep this place a little neater. Being a police lady doesn't mean you can be so messy." Cortana smirked. She loved giving her superior a hard time about anything.

"I don't have time to worry about how my office looks, I'm too busy trying to catch international criminals to keep up appearances." The Inspector shot back, papers slamming down onto the desk. Cortana simpered again, and floated over to the desk, a paw coming down onto it lightly while she took a seat.

"You can't expect to have a husband or even a boyfriend with thattype of attitude. Maybe if you simply weren't so tied up in your work, you could find one. But! Then you'd lose your rep as 'Ol' Ironsides.' It's okay." She patted Carmelita's hand in a condescending way, and popped off the desk. "I'll get your afternoon coffee. Be back in a moment." With ivory tail swishing along with her rump once more, she sauntered out of the office, the music blasting out of her headphones sinking away into the murmur.

Carmelita fumed. She was 22, damn it, why was a kid, a kitten, telling her how to live her life! A fist slammed down onto the desk, sending her pencil sharpener, paper weight and other things into the air for a moment before they landed again. Her eyebrow twitched as she tried to contain her rage... As her superior, she should be able to tell her off if her father weren't the Lieutenant of the Venice branch of Interpol...

"Here you go, Inspector Foxy, nice cup of hazelnut espresso for you." Cortana smiled again, and turned, tail swooshing behind her. The vixen burned, and gave her a glare while she sauntered off and out of the office again.

"I hate hazelnut, and you know it!" She yelled after her.

"Get used to it, try new things in your life! Like not being a-"

Another police officer rushed into the office, "Inspector Fox!"

Carmelita grunted, and stood from her seat. "What's the problem?"

"We just received reports of manors in the area being broken into during the night."

'Cooper?'The vixen was half excited, half annoyed that Sly Cooper was at it again, taking her Shock Pistol off her desk. At least she didn't have to sit in this stuffy office and be annoyed by her teeny-bopping fashion queen of an understudy.

But the ragdoll cat stepped into the doorway, "Ooh, I hear we have a case, Bossy Foxy."

The Inspector let out a deep heave. It was just her luck.

The fox sped through the streets of Venice, with the feline understudy in the passenger seat, clinging to her seatbelt. Inspector Fox's new custom cruiser was a bright red convertible with the tan top down and Interpol's emblem on the two doors.

"Slow down! The crime already happened, what's the problem?!" Cortana shrieked, claws holding the upholstery.

"Shut up, you don't know anything about this! He could still be there!" Carmelita shot back, taking a sharp right turn around a building, narrowly missing it.

"Please, for the love of all that's holy, slow down!" The feline begged. The Inspector made another sharp turn to the left, sending the car spinning on the street until it came to a halt in front of an extravagant mansion, surrounded by Interpol agents. She smirked, and proceeded to exit the car.

"If you want to be a real police officer, you had better get used to the high speeds." She slammed the car door behind her, walking off to the crime scene. Cortana shakily undid her seatbelt, and stepped out of the car, wobbling a bit. She shook herself off and quickly regained her cool, following behind.

Inside was a beautiful living room, covered from wall to wall in lovely furniture, expensive paintings and adorned in exquisite wallpaper. A crystal chandelier hung above them, sparkling in the dusk's fading light through the gigantic windows. Upstairs, agents bustled back and forth, bending down to go underneath the crime tape. Inspector Fox climbed the winding stairs and crossed over, Cortana close behind.

The master bedroom was pristine, as if almost nothing had been disturbed, despite a few open drawers here and there, and an open safe behind a painting. Next to that, a security console was deactivated, and split in half, part of it hanging.

An American Longhair, white and black in fur inspected the open safe, examining the calling card left. He was tall, and his long slender white tail waved around in the air in thought. His black jacket sat over his white button up and blue silk tie and his crisp pants of the same color barely concealed his shiny black shoes.

"Daddy!" Cortana skittered over to her father, hugging him from behind. "I didn't know you'd be here! I thought you were off in Paris!" Her father looked underneath his arm, and smiled, wrapping it around his daughter.

Carmelita rolled her eyes, stopping a few feet away from them. 'How unprofessional, she's going to make a terrible cop.'She straightened her form, and addressed the Lieutenant. "Lt. Sebastian Harlow, Inspector Carmelita Fox reporting. We just got the call that this house has been vandalized. I'm already suspecting it was Sly Cooper and his gang's doing, so I can take it from here."

The older feline looked up at the Inspector, and nodded, signaling her to relax. "Ah, Inspector Fox. I've been following your track record, and you've been doing well so far. I hope my daughter isn't causing you much trouble at the office."

Her eye twitched, but she smiled and shook her head. "No sir. She's been quite the little intern." She bit the inside of her cheek; she shouldn't have to lie, but the man just complimented her on her recent capturing of the Klaww Gang. She didn't want to spoil it.

Cortana flashed a smirk at the Inspector, which sent her raging inside.

"About what happened here, sir?" Carmelita did her best to ignore the smug little brat.

"The neighbor next door gave us an account of how he heard walking on his roof top, and looked out the window to see a silhouette. It seemed the perpetrator had a fluffy tail." Lt. Harlow explained, pointing to the window, then to the floor. "The security systems were cleanly cut through with something very thin, almost as if a wire were used. There was no forced point of entry, but it seemed as if they entered through the vent here. About $100,000 worth of jewelry was taken. We dusted for fingerprints, and found none."

"Sounds like the Cooper Gang." Carmelita crossed her arms. "We'll get them this time."

"On the contrary, actually it wasn't Sly Cooper this time around."

"...What?" Carmelita asked. She stammered, "W-what do you mean, 'it wasn't Sly Cooper?' This is his motive!"

Cortana slipped away from her father to look out the window, touching at it. Carmelita snapped her head to her, "Don't touch anything! This is a crime scene!"

"Oh whatever, there was no prints. Chill out, Ironsides." Cortana replied, and the vixen boiled.

"Here." Lt. Harlow held the calling card to Carmelita. Her anger melted away, and her curiosity escalated as she examined the card. It wasn't Sly's emblem at all.

It was the four suits in blue and black surrounded by white, thin embellishments on a black card, and on the back was a typed out message: Catch me if you can.

Carmelita boiled again. There's another thief on the loose? Is the Cooper Gang influencing more crooks? People are taking Interpol for a joke now, and this shows it! She bit at her lip, containing her rage in front of the Lieutenant. It was just her luck. 'Damn you, Sly Cooper, this is your fault. Now I have to get you, your band of thieves and this new criminal. I swear it, you're all going down, if it's the last thing I do, especially you, Sly Cooper!'