At any given moment in a person's life infinite possibility sprawls out before them. Some possibilities are so slim and remote that the future they present is as unlikely to happen as gold raining from the sky but some are merely the roll of the dice. Such is today's tale, it begins as many such tales do with a minor oversight that spirals into a vastly different world. It begins with a donkey man distracted by a joke, his eyes filled with tears of delight as a much needed tension breaker in a rough week. In just the brief seconds of his eyes being blurred a faulty bolt makes it past his station. The faulty bolt has a defect in the metal meaning that if it is stressed even slightly it will snap. The screw makes it out of the factory and onto a shelf. From the shelf it makes its way into a contractor's supplies, and ultimately it comes to rest as one of two bolts holding up the head of a street lamp. A street lamp that Sly Cooper lands on while escaping the notice of police on some nightly exercise. Normally such a lamp would hold Cooper no problem but the faulty bolt snaps, the full weight of Cooper and the lamp head are now on the second bolt and it gives. As a result Sly and the lamp head crash to the ground making a chase that was nearly over suddenly another hour longer. Sly returns to the safe house run ragged and paranoid. The sound of distant sirens distracts Sly for an instant and instead of a water bottle he grabs one of Murray’s muscle booster energy drinks. His thirst is so great he doesn’t even taste the difference until he is draining the last drops. Sly rested on the couch in the front room idly flicking through late night television uncomfortably awake after his work out thanks to his drink choice. “-Thought lost after the blitz the tome Arcanum Fantastica has finally reappeared and is still believed to be the only one of its kind.” The news anchor read off as the background displayed a black leather book printed with gold binding and carefully stitched letters spelling out its name. Sly curled an eyebrow at it because the book reminded him heavily of The Thievus Raccoonus. “Though not for long. Despite the Museum of Britain having sought the tome since the end of the war it won’t be joining the display again.” Sly scoffed at the idea of recovering such a valuable object and not displaying it. “Instead Grimwald Caprice IV, the great grandson of the man who lent the tome to the Museum, has laid claim to it.” The camera showed a shriveled nasty curve horned goat with cloudy blue eyes scowling into the camera. “The Arcanum Fantastica has already been lost once under the care, or lack thereof, of the museum and I intend to preserve this one of a kind example of literary work from any future displays of stunning incompetence.” The wretched goat declared before a coughing fit overtook him. Sly muted the television and pulled over his laptop, with only a few keystrokes he had tabs open learning about the Arcanum Fantastica and Grimwald Caprice. After only a scant few hours more research Sly was certain of his next big move. ---- Sly grinned as he examined the dour fortress that was Castle Caprice. Once upon a time it would have been an extraordinary challenge to enter, once upon a time with its high sloped walls moat and single draw bridge in and out. For Sly though, with all the tricks of his ancestors, the positively medieval fortress was about as daunting as a gym locker room. The trees that grew up right along the edge of the moat gave him plenty of room to spring through their branches and fling himself over the watery gap. From there his ancestors' wall climbing tricks let him move up the sloped walls. Once he was inside the dim light and high cross beamed of the ceiling made evading guard patrols a joke. Sly wasn’t even halted by the locked door to the library for more than a second thanks to long mastered lockpicking skill. Sly was across the floor and had already extracted the book from its case when the library door swung open a second time. Time seemed to hang for a second, Sly stood still as a statue, the tome clutched underneath his left arm in plain view of the pair of figures that had just walked in. Grimwald Caprice was staring slack jawed but visibly shifting towards outraged with every second. The second figure was none other than Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, vixen of his dreams. “Cooper!” She called out shocked and just a bit angry. “Inspector!” the Raccoon replied with a smile. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a Bibliophile. I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover no matter how appealing it is.” “Vermin! Infiltrating my home! Stealing what is mine!” Grimwald contributed, as Carmelita drew her shock pistol. “Put the book down Cooper.” Carmelita “Now really has that ever worked between us?” Sly said dodging the first shot his dream girl fired at him. “Or that?” “I have more ammo than you have exits Ringtail.” Carmelita warned and Sly was slightly miffed to realize that she was right. The library was a tall wide room but there was only one way in or out of the room and good as his reflexes were good, but they weren’t quite point blank good. “Forma in imagine mea electa et exsequere iussa mea, gemella obscura!" Grimwald shouted suddenly ha black and purple mist spraying from his finger tips towards Sly ... right as Carmelita stepped between them. The black mist engulfed Carmelita who fell to the ground without a further sound. “So the rumors about this being a legit magic book are true.” Sly growled out as the black fog oozed away from the now unconscious but otherwise intact Carmelita and began to condense into a figure. “Guess that really means I need to keep it away from you.” “Vermin like you can not hope to stop me. I have lived a thousand years with the knowledge in that book and I will live a thousand more!” he gestured with one hand and shouted out. “Volare Fulmina!” before a blue bolt of lightning arced from his outstretched finger tip. Sly's reflexes saved him as he had started to dodge the moment the goat had started the gesture. "Volare Fulmina!" Grimawald called out, sending another bolt of lighting flying. Thinking fast Sly reached up with this cane and snagged a bit of earthenware pottery and slung it into the path of the blast. For a second time everything seemed to freeze and then everything happened all at once. The vase he had grabbed exploded into dust as if all that had held it together was positive thoughts. Grimwald screamed and collapsed into dust just like the pottery, his clothes falling to the floor empty. Lastly Sly beheld the blue light that steadfastly refused to stop dancing on the end of his cane. Sly was distracted from further questioning what was going on by the rumble that shook the steady footed raccoon and everything in the room. Darting across the floor Sly scooped up the still unconscious Carmelita and bolted. As he ran through the castle the Guards collapsed into empty suits of armor in front of him. Sly was regretting not bringing Murray or Bentley with him as he finally made it to the threshold of the old fort and beat feet down the drawbridge. As his feet finally touched the road outside the castle the structure just collapsed like a sand castle that had been kicked over. heart still pumping with adrenaline Sly found Carmelita's car and stowed her inside its engine running and air conditioner on to make sure she was safe and comfortable. Sly was tempted to try and wake her with a kiss but decided this was neither the time or the place --- “Can’t believe you went in without even telling us where you were going!” Bentley ranted as Sly’s cane rotated in the scanner. “It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. Hell, I was just gonna give the book to you.” Sly replied. “I won't go into that mambo jumbo.” Bentley said as the scanner pinged. “So it looks like your cane has absorbed some kind of arcane energy matrix. I dunno how this magic stuff works and there’s a lot of danger in just playing around with it. You might need to get a new cane made.” “A new- Bentley that’s my fathers cane. Hell as far as I know that’s the cane that every Cooper in recorded history has passed down to their child.” Sly tried not to scream but the idea of abandoning his legacy bothered him especially since he had worked so hard to earn it in assembling the Thievus Raccoonus and putting down Clockwerk. It was at that moment when he spotted the spoils of his little jaunt. “Maybe there’s something we can use here?” he said, unbuckling the tome and opening it to rifle through the pages. “Something about shifting arcane energies it-” Sly was cut off as the pages began to flip on their own settling on a passage titled Arcane Energy Transfer. Sly smiled as he read through the pages an idea quickly forming. “You know Bentley, maybe you’re right. I should make my own cane. -- Sly looked over the cane he had just made. He had carefully copied the hook from his fathers cane, with Bentley's help the titanium hook was identical to his fathers down to the micrometer. For the handle he had been forced to go with wood and Murray had spent all day polishing the blackened oak to a smooth shiny surface. At the end of his cane was a tiny blue bauble about the size of a quarter, it was a simple glass bead which Sly had poured the Arcane energies for his family's cane into. It took three days to assemble and the moment Sly had taken it into his hand he knew that nothing would be the same for him. Bentley and Murray were asleep so the sound of someone moving down stairs was enough to lure Sly’s attention from his creation. Sly crept down stairs and his heart thudded like thunder as he caught sight of the intruder. He had expected a petty burglar or unlucky thief but having strolled right into his home was Carmelita Montoya Fox. who upon seeing him dropped to her knees. “Master.” the vixen said her head bowed. “What?” Sly asked. “I am a doppelganger of Carmelita Montoya Fox. I am bound to your service.” the vixen explained calmly. "What?" Sly repeated as he pondered what the universe had just dropped into his lap. "I am yours to use as you please." the doppelganger said and that clicked something over in Sly's mind. "Follow me and be quiet." Sly commanded as he returned to his room and the tome within it. "Doppelgangers." Sly spoke to the book and its pages fanned before telling him all he needed to know about the subject. He read how they were made and realized the spell that had struck Carmelita had produced the being who was presently faithfully following him as he paced circles about his room. Under normal circumstances such beings were loyal to their creator but as Grimwald had died before she had fully formed and Sly had stolen the goat's magic he was now her master. Sly learned that the Doppelganger was a perfect physical and mental copy of Carmelita, only differing in her obedience and desire to serve her master. "You know everything the Inspector knows?" "Everything she knew up to the point I was created, Master." The Doppelganger responded. "So then you know how she really feels about me." he said with a strange knot forming in his stomach. "Yes." "Tell me." Sly commanded curiosity and dread, tying his stomach in a braid. "Carmelita feels an intense lust for you; she desires your body and dreams of romance between you and her." Sly beamed and only just resisted the urge to whoop in triumph, instead pumping his fist and exhaling through his teeth. "But she won't allow herself to indulge. She feels incredibly guilty about even having these desires due to you being a thief and criminal and her an officer of the law." Sly had never flown so high only to crash so hard. "So there is no chance?" Sly whispered. "Not without something massive changing that dynamic. She frequently masturbates to fantasies of you submitting to her justice, keeping you as a slave of mutual love. Just as often she dreams of you taking her, breaking her mind with passion, and making her forget that she ever cared about you being a criminal." The doppelganger confessed essentially unprompted. "Carmelita has sexual fantasies about..." Sly trailed off, contemplating the revelations about his paramour. He absolutely couldn't take the chance that submitting himself to her would see her decide to act out her fantasies of a prisoner of love. Nor did he have the stomach to try and force her to break with sexual pleasure, he could only see her growing to hate him for trying. "Master, Perhaps I could show you how she feels more directly?" The doppelganger asked. Sly tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?" Wordlessly the vixen before Sly slid her jacket to the floor before unbuckling her belt her pants fell to the floor revealing the soft white panties beneath. with a single tug her corset came unlaced and her bare breasts were exposed to him for the barest moment before she twirled around. Bending over she pulled her panties down to her ankles and neatly stepped free of them all the while her tail kept her nether regions hidden until she turned around presenting him with the full glory of her bare assets. "So Ringtail, are you ready to "break the law" again?" the vixen said and for the first time since he laid eyes on her Sly was briefly convinced that she was Carmelita. "Inspector, I'm afraid that's entrapment." Sly said flirting back with no effort as he pulled The doppelganger into his arms and kissed her deeper than he had ever managed to kiss the real inspector. Sly let his passions guide him, his hands exploring the vixen's body as she hummed and moaned her approval. Sly stroked up the outside of her hips squeezing her bottom before he pushed her against the bed. The vixen smiled and spread her legs fully showing off for her master. Sly took a moment to drink in the vision before pining the vixen to the bed and taking what she was offering. Her sex was tight and warm and just slick enough for him to push into with very little resistance, The vixen moaned in his ear as he claimed her for his own. Sly pumped his shaft into the vixen with a vigor that put his normal exercises to shame. "Harder Cooper, give it all to me!" the vixen requested and Sly obliged, altering his pace for fewer thrusts with more power, his testicles slapping her bottom with every body shaking thrust. Sly relished in watching the Vixen's breasts jiggle as he fucked her with all he had. "I need it, I need your cum Sly!" The vixen cried out as she reached her climax, her sex clamping around Sly's cock. if her words hadn't been enough her pussy milking him would have been all it took to push Sly over the edge with a groan of pure delight Sly unloaded into the vixen's sex. Sly panted, not willing to pull away. His mind raced as he thought about what he had just experienced and learned his head was oddly clear. "Your..." Sly gulped down air as he pulled away from the doppelgänger. "... Your name is Lita." "As you say master. My name is Lita." --- Sly stepped into the living room where Bentley and Murray were crowding around the turtle's laptop. "Boys, I'd like to introduce you to the latest member of the Cooper Gang! Presenting: Lita!" He declared as the doppelganger joined him in the room. "Hello boys, What are we getting up to now?" Lita asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow. Murray and Bentley looked at Lita at each other and then wordlessly presented the laptop to Sly and Lita onscreen was an article talking about parts of a clockwork owl retrieved from a volcano... in Russia. Sly's blood ran cold.