The first task to infiltrate The Black Chateau involved crossing the rooftops to realign Dimitri's satellite dishes to stream his information into Bentley's control antennae atop the Gang's temporary hideout. Sly took care of that task while Coco took on the next one, actually breaking into part of Dimitri's facility. As she was likely to encounter guards, she armed herself with extra knock out needles from Thief-net, and was accompanied by Murray.
The path selected turned out to be the wine cellar...and patrolled by rat guards, as expected. "Are you sure you've got enough needles, Coco?" Murray asked cautiously as he looked down at his diminutive niece.
Coco smiled softly. "Plenty," she whispered back. "Can you throw me up to the rafters? I'll have an easier time getting them all at once from above."
Nodding, Murray gently tossed her up, letting her catch the rafter above with her cane before scrambling up in silence. It didn't take her long to find the perfect position to throw. Drawing two needles with both front hooves, she hurled them in a single motion. All four guards clutched at their necks before dropping. Hopping down, Coco collected her needles, leaving the guards down for the count.
"Good job, Coco!" Murray complimented as he rushed forward, working a mechanism to open a path for Coco to advance. "Did you master that new skill Sly taught you? The one that lets you jump off air for normal maneuvering?"
"The 'double jump'?" Coco clarified. "Yeah. Works just like the safety techniques, but more efficiently. Easier than hopping off magic." She promptly leapt into the air before kicking off empty air, flipping over the partially open door to the other side.
"Good luck, Coco!" Murray called after her as she rushed forward.
The path forward had swinging laser security, but Coco's small size worked to her advantage as she raced between the beams unsinged, racing under the tables that crossed the faster grids without even having to duck. The bulkier guards with their flashlights were a momentary concern, but Coco had prepared for just such an obstacle with sharper, narrower needles coated in a more potent knock-out drug. One dropped the guard before they'd noticed her, letting her keep going.
Before long, she reached a vent leading into the nightclub proper, crawling through it and into a carpeted room with flashing lights in the corners. Another guard monitored a yellow laser grid that blocked her path, but the grid dropped with the guard after a properly placed thrown needle. Coco continued past a few coatrooms - glad to see this part of the club was actually closed for once - and reached an open foyer. Four rat guards patrolled across the way, making Coco curse under her breath. Due to positions, she couldn't take out more than two before she was spotted...so she had to take a different approach.
Ducking back into a coat closet, she stashed her thief outfit and pulled on a Buttercup Scout uniform. She then pulled out a box of cookies, and donned a Scout hat three sizes too large for her, positioning it so it would slip over her eyes at the slightest tilt of her head. With the disguise complete, she clip-clopped her way into the foyer.
One of the rat guards immediately caught sight of her. "Oy!" he barked out. "Who's dere?"
Coco let out a startled yelp, flopping over and dropping the cookie box as her hat dropped over her eyes. "I'll be good! I'll be good!" she cried out, making her voice as fearful as possible. "Just please turn the lights back on! I don't like the da~a~a~ark!" She then proceeded to sob.
Much to her surprise, the ploy worked flawlessly as all four guards were immediately at her side, helping her to her hooves and straightening her hat so she could see. "Now, no need ta weep, lass," one of the guard's spoke up. "Whatcha doin' down here? This ain't no place fer kiddos."
"I...I'm losted..." Coco whimpered, pulling out a map of Paris so badly drawn it resembled Uijeongbu. "I...I was supposed to meet with my troop to sell cookies, but I must have read the map wrong..." She sniffled, her expression obviously not far from absolute despair, and possibly crying again.
"We'll help ya, lass," one of the guards promised. "How about we each buy a cookie, then you tell us where you're meeting your troop, and we'll walk you there?"
Coco gasped hopefully. "Oh, would you?" she whispered breathlessly. "Oh, you guys are the nicest, sweetest guys I ever met!"
A quick transaction, and each guard was enjoying their cookie. "These 're delish!" one of them crowed happily.
"Now, where were you...meeting..." The talkative guard was the first to slump over as the knock out drug in the cookies did its work, and the other three soon followed.
Coco grinned widely as she silently slipped back to the coat room. "Works even better than I'd hoped," she whispered as she changed back into her thief outfit. Once changed, she made her way through another air vent, making her way to an observation deck through which she could see the very heart of Dimitri's operation. "Jackpot," she whispered as she started taking pictures of everything.
She made sure to get clear shots of every object in the chamber beyond, including Dimitri himself. She could hold plenty of photos, and she figured her Uncle Bentley could sort out which were important and which could be deleted. She did make sure to get good pictures of Dimitri, a generator, and what appeared to be a money printer built with Clockwerk's tail feathers, using them as printing plates.
With pictures taken, she made her way back to the safehouse to meet up with the others.
I was told I did an excellent job all around, and Daddy and my Uncles made much of me. As enjoyable as that was, the thrill of the op was exciting, and I was eager to get out there again, so I gently nudged Uncle Bentley into going over the pictures and coming up with the plan.
However, what he came up with was a great big 'insufficient information'. All we knew was that a direct assault - which we wouldn't have done anyway - would be suicide. However, he did have a few possible ways of getting new info.
First involved swapping a bugged painting for one in Dimitri's office. The other involved tailing him on the street. It was quickly decided I would take the first task, while Dad took the second...