Being raised primarily by a criminal Gang was certainly an experience. One of the first things I learned from Daddy was what it meant to be a Cooper: only steal from other criminals, with other thieves considered the cream of the crop as far as targets. After all, to steal from another Master Thief was the greatest challenge a Master Thief could ever face. This wasn't just about the challenge of it, however. It was also about an ethical and moral stance.
As Daddy put it, in terms of civilization thieves were predators. Civilians - those who lived their lives by the law and under its protection - were akin to domesticated animals, with the government being the domesticating force, and law enforcement the guard dogs. The Cooper bloodline, however, was a family of civilized predators, in those terms. Their prey was other predators, and in that way were oddly good for civilization. In addition to keeping the criminal element in line, it kept law enforcement on their toes trying to catch them.
Once I understood as much of what could be taught to me about the Family, Daddy started teaching me the skills I'd need to be part of the Gang. He kept things simple, but I soon discovered a unique talent for it...
"There are three basic skills as a thief," Sly explained to Coco as she watched him carefully, memorizing the words rather than taking notes (written records could be used against you, after all). "The agility to evade detection, pickpocketing, and safe cracking. All the skills of the Master Thief derive from these three. If you can do these three, you can accomplish anything with enough preparation and practice. Understand?"
Coco nodded eagerly. For her training, she was dressed in a miniature version of Sly's normal outfit. A blue long sleeved jacket, a blue beret, and a black eye mask. Sly did his best not to be swayed by how adorable that look made her when combined with her shining eyes and enthusiastic grin. "Got it, Daddy!"
Sly grinned as he looked down at her. "Now, pickpocketing requires a bit more agility than you currently have, and you're a bit young to get the full scale training for agility, so we'll start out with safe cracking. After all, quite a few skills derive from knowing how to handle a safe, and it should be the easiest for you to master. Are you ready?"
Coco nodded eagerly. "Yes Daddy, I am."
Sly stepped back, gesturing to two rooms they'd set up. "Behind the door on the left is the practice room. We've set it up so you can practice safe cracking until you're ready to try it for real. Inside each room, one safe and nine clue-bottles are scattered around."
"Clue-bottles?" Coco asked curiously.
Sly nodded. "Anytime there's a combination safe, there will be details scattered around the area that will allow one to determine the combination to the safe. Sometimes these will be documents, sometimes it will be clues embedded in various pieces of art or inscribed on the walls...but there will always be clues. It's in the nature of the mind to follow patterns, and if you can decode the patterns, the combination can be determined." He smirked pleasantly. "It's why Bentley's updated our personal security to bio-match scanners of his own design, concealed behind combination locks that don't actually do anything."
Bentley rubbed the back of his head nervously as Coco turned to look at him with wide-eyed awe. "Aw, Sly...do you have to make it out to be such a big deal?" he complained, flushed with embarrassment.
"Just giving credit where it's due," Sly pointed out easily. He then tapped the floor with the butt of his cane to get Coco's attention again. "The exact number of clues available varies frequently, but for this first attempt at both training and trial run, we've stuck to nine. Once you feel confident in the training room, give the trial room a try." He gestured to the other door. "There you will be timed on how quickly you find the nine clues, find the safe, and open it."
"And don't think you can just pop the safes, either!" Murray spoke up. "Not only do we change the combinations every time, but there's also always two false combinations. If you try to open the safe with a false combination, it'll spring a trap. That's an automatic fail."
Coco nodded in understanding. "Alright. I'll go practice." With that, she made her way to the practice room.
As she'd been told, a bit of an obstacle course was set up, though with no clear finish line. Instead, she had to explore the course, finding the nine clue-bottles and the safe. She took her time in exploring, making sure she didn't trip into the mud puddles or oil slicks, which were set up to make things more difficult to complete the challenge should she fall in. Thankfully, her small size and light weight played to her advantage. While she couldn't leap as high as Sly could, she could walk on surfaces that wouldn't support his weight.
Once she had all nine clues from the bottles, she laid them out in front of the safe. She saw the safe had three tumblers 0-9, and the nine clues were the nine squares of a piece of paper with the combination writ large across them once assembled properly. The combination was 4-0-8. Looking up, she saw that the tumblers were currently set to 5-5-5.
Leaning up, she grabbed the first tumbler. Due to her size, she had to press her ear to the safe to turn it, and accidentally turned it the wrong way, to 6. "That's not-" She stopped as she heard the tumbler turning, and heard a strange click inside that sounded...wrong, somehow. "Hmm..." Turning the dial again, she listened as the tumbler moved, but there was no click. Continuing to turn the dial, she heard another wrong sounding click at 9, and then a somehow satisfying click-thunk on 4. What was odd to her was just how quiet the sounds were, even with her ear practically pressed to the safe. "Interesting..."
She continued turning the dials and listening to the tumblers. As she did, she heard the off sounding clicks and the satisfying click-thunks. Once the right code was input, she pulled the lever, and the safe swung open, revealing a small chocolate. "Is...is this my prize?" she gasped out happily.
"That's right," Sly called out proudly. "Of course, you only get one prize per room each day of training, no matter how many times you go through the training room." He chuckled as he watched her devour the chocolate eagerly. "So, want to train again?"
Coco rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Umm...could I try the trial?"
Murray chuckled at that. "Eager for her sweets, huh? Just like me."
"Alright, Coco," Sly responded. "We'll be watching from above. Good luck."
Nodding, Coco made her way into the other room. Much to her surprise, as soon as she stepped in, the safe was in plain sight, and a large timer began counting upward. She couldn't see any sign of any clue-bottles, and knew she'd have to search carefully...if she decided to look for them. Instead, she made her way straight to the safe, which currently had 3-3-3 input as a code.
Putting her ear to the safe, she started turning the first dial, listening to the ticks, the clicks, and eventually the click-thumps. After the third one, she pulled back and saw 6-0-9 input as the combination. Reaching up, she pulled the lever.
She heard a ding as the timer stopped, and the safe swung open. As she dove on the chocolate, Sly leapt down and came to her side. "So, was that a lucky guess, or something else?" he asked curiously.
Coco shrugged her shoulders. "I...listened," she explained around the chocolate in her mouth. She gestured to the safe in explanation. Sly sat back, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Uncle Bentley was able to figure out what happened there. Apparently, I heard things differently than everyone else did, logical because I was so different as a species. With my ear to the safe, I was able to hear how the tumblers moved as I input the combinations...and now I knew how to recognize both correct and incorrect combinations by doing so. As long as a combination lock was mechanical rather than electronic, I wouldn't need clues to crack it.
This made Daddy very, very proud. I got a milkshake for dinner!