Before the events I started this story on, my family gave me...a test. To see if I could handle myself and learned all the skills they'd passed onto me. Until I was able to successfully pass this test, I wasn't allowed to go with on the various heists Daddy went on with Uncle Murray and Uncle Bentley. Instead, I would stay in the van, usually in the lap of one of my Uncles. As such, I was really eager for when I was finally ready to take this test. Of course, it came in many stages...
Sly smiled down at Coco as she bounced eagerly back and forth, plainly looking forward to these tests. "Alright, Coco, pay attention now." He was pleased to see her immediately sit still and look straight up at him. "Before we can let you do anything regarding these heists, we need to make sure your skills are top notch. From everything we've all been able to determine, your skills naturally flow towards ninjitsu, and as such we've begun giving you a modified form of kunoichi training. Today, we'll test how much you've managed to absorb, and how well you've mastered your skills. I will be testing your stealth. Murray will test your speed and agility. Bentley will test your cunning. And Carmelita - when we drop you off with her - will test your...accuracy and diplomacy." He shook his head, uncertain how she intended to combine those two tests. Instead, he focused on the now, beckoning Murray.
Murray came in, carrying a training dummy that jingled with every step. He carefully set it down in front of Coco as Sly leaned against the wall.
"Here is your test on stealth," Sly explained. "This dummy has several gold coins and one other item of value in its pockets. However, its entire structure is laced with bells that will ring if they are jostled even slightly. Your goal is to get as many valuables out of the pockets as you can in five seconds, without making a sound." He reached over to the light switch. "And since you've been trained as a ninja, this must also be done...in total darkness. The test begins when I turn the light off, and ends when I turn the lights on, or if a single sound is heard." With that, he switched off the lights.
He barely - just barely - heard the sound of fabric shuffling, but chose to let that go, as it was so quiet he wasn't entirely sure it wasn't just his imagination. At the end of five seconds, he turned the switch back on, and heard loud jingling from his arm.
Turning, he saw that his arm was now festooned with every bell from the dummy sewn to his sleeve, and bits of fabric on a string falling away showed Sly both the fabric sounds he'd heard and how Coco had kept them quiet while she worked. Every coin from the dummy's pockets was arranged by size and value before Coco, and she herself was wearing the pendant that had been the extra treasure.
Murray's jaw dropped in shock. Sly smirked softly. "I think we can call that a pass."
For the test on speed and agility, Murray had set up a massive obstacle course with numerous paths, twists, turns, and obstacles of various sorts, the kind that would make the 'Ninja Warrior' shows he liked to watch whimper in envy. Straight down the middle of it was a path with only solid walls blocking it.
"Here's how it goes," Murray explained calmly. "You see that winner's circle at the other side?" Coco looked over to the large red button on the ground surrounded by a green circle, and nodded. "Your goal is to get there before I do. I will be taking the middle path, smashing through the walls. You can take any path you can maneuver except that one. When one of us depresses the button, the rest of the course will retract. Ready?"
Coco looked over the course for a while, determining the best path. Finally, she nodded. "Ready."
"Then go!" Murray yelled out, rushing down the central path. As he smashed through the first of ten walls, he reminded himself that he intended to grade her based on which course she took and how far along she was when he got there. Despite her progress, he didn't think she'd be able to make it to the end on any of the courses before he did. He'd designed it intentionally to prevent that, so as to also test how she dealt with defeat.
As such, he was quite surprised when the fourth wall lowered before him rather than stand up for him to smash through. As a result, he stumbled a bit, coming to a halt as he saw Coco sitting pretty in the winner's circle. "Wha?" he gasped out, stunned. "How-?" He paused as he noticed a twined thread rope hanging beside Coco.
Following it up, he saw it hooked to the rafters by sewing needles, like a makeshift grappling hook. Glancing back towards the start of the course, he saw a bit of thread caught on the rafters, obviously where Coco had climbed up before taking the upper route.
"You did say I could take any route I wanted, right?" Coco asked nervously, plainly worried she'd broken a rule.
Murray couldn't help but chuckle. "I sure did," he admitted. "Next time we test you, I'm making an outdoor course."
Bentley stared across the table at Coco. "Do you see the safe behind me?" he asked calmly.
"Uh huh," Coco muttered, sounding a bit distracted.
"It has a digital lock," Bentley explained calmly. "Inside is a small statuette. Your goal in this test is to somehow gain access to the statuette from me via trickery and cunning. If you can do that, you'll pass. If you attempt to input an incorrect code at any time, or open the safe by any means other than the code, you fail. Do you understand?" Coco didn't respond immediately. "Coco?"
Coco blinked. "Oh, sorry Uncle Bentley," she apologized. She pointed to where his computer was on. "I was distracted by that program you have running. What is it?"
"Oh, that?" Bentley asked, glancing over. "That's a hacking program I've been working on. With computers becoming more and more commonplace, I figured we'd encounter computer-based security systems before too much longer, and I wanted a special program to hack past any firewalls."
"Really?" Coco gasped eagerly. "That's fascinating! Can you tell me more?"
Bentley grinned eagerly, always happy to share this side of his work with Coco, who was always an appreciative audience. He immediately began explaining every detail of the program's workings, both in technical terms and - when he saw those went over her head - in more layman terms. He soon became so enveloped in explaining that he forgot what it was they were doing there.
After a time, Coco stood up. "Keep talking, Uncle Bentley," she encouraged. "I'm just gonna get you a drink."
Smiling, he nodded. "Thanks, I am getting a bit parched." He continued his explanation, pitching his voice so she could hear him.
"Say, what's the code for this fridge?" she called out, tapping the safe.
"37452," Bentely responded absentmindedly. It was only as he heard her typing as he jerked back. "Wait, that's not a-"
The safe beeped and swung open, and Coco removed the statuette. "So I pass?"
Bentley chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his head. "Clever girl..."
Carmelita walked calmly over to the shooting range at the local Interpol office. She'd encountered enough of her more honorable coworkers while on outings with Coco that her having a secretly adopted daughter was now an open secret amongst those working at that office, and they also knew it was worth their jobs to inquire any further into the matter. However, Coco had managed to be charming enough with those she'd met that they wouldn't dream of doing anything to upset her, let alone her mother. A few jokes had been made, but nothing beyond that...and all jokes had come to an end when Carmelita made it clear that anyone who made a joke where Coco could hear that needed to be explained to her would have to do so themselves with all their coworkers watching.
Coco walked behind her, flinching slightly each time a gunshot rang out. Her much stronger sense of hearing was doing a number on her here, and she knew she'd need to learn to deal with that eventually. Noticing her discomfort, however, Carmelita quickly slipped one of the range's shooting earmuffs over her head, protecting her sensitive ears.
She walked up to a group of rookies, watching them shoot for a while. When they finished, she looked over their performance and tsked. "My daughter can shoot better than that, and she can't even hold a gun," she chided irritably.
Most knew better than to take bait like that, but one of the newest recruits apparently had something to prove. "Oh yeah?" he demanded angrily, snorting defiance. "Prove it."
Carmelita nodded. "Four called shots on the metal target board with the weapon of your choice, against the same for Coco. You win, you get to skip the next week of lectures. She wins, you're scrubbing toilets for a week."
"Deal!" the rookie proclaimed, picking up his gun. "Two head, two center mass!" He let off four shots in quick succession.
When the metal sheet was drawn back to the front, it could be seen that his two head shots landed in each eye of the target, and one had landed in the center mass. The fourth had hit the hand of the drawn target, however. He tsked in irritation. "You're up, little girl!" he teased Coco.
Coco hopped up onto the gun bench in front of the next target over. She then beckoned one of the other rookies over. He came readily. "Blue," she said, pointing to the exact center of his chest. "Green," she added, pointing to right over his heart. "Yellow," she continued, pointing to the bridge of his nose between his eyes. "And Red," she concluded, pointing to just below his pelvis, making him back up and wince.
"What's that mean?" the challenged rookie demanded irritably.
Smiling, Coco reached into her mane and pulled out four sewing needles, each with a loop of thread tied through the eye, one each in the four colors she named. Turning, she hurled the needles at her target. With a loud sound of bent metal, the target came off its hook to fall to the floor. "Umm...could someone bring that back for me please?" she asked softly.
Carmelita glared at the rookie who'd taken the challenge. He walked out onto the range to pick up the target...and swallowed. Not only were the needles embedded in the sheet of metal so far that half the needle stuck out the back, and the needles were in exactly the position Coco had proclaimed, colors matched. Turning to see Carmelita's smug smirk, he sighed. "I'll get the toilet brush..."
"This was fun," Coco offered warmly. "Can we do it again sometime? Without anything on the line?"
The rookie managed a smile. "...sure."
Carmelita smiled proudly as she led Coco back out.
Two years of training, study, and enriching play had paid off well. I'd passed what my family considered the 'beginner' level of being a Master Thief. I still wasn't anywhere near Daddy's level, but I was good enough I could be trusted to handle myself on heists with supervision. It was a moment of great pride for me...and only the first of many.