Dressed to Steal

by Tatsurou

Cairo Catastrophe

We didn't have much time to scout out the museum in Cairo, so our plan was very bare bones. Uncle Bentley went in through the basement to rewire the systems to grant us easier maneuvering, Uncle Murray was in position to break through some walls if we needed backup or to receive the Parts for transport if we didn't, and Dad and I entered the museum from opposite sides. The plan was Dad would go after the parts, while I spied out Mom and her 'new partner' to run interference.

Things didn't go as planned...

---

Coco stared in utter bewilderment as she finally tracked down Carmelita and her new partner, a pink and purple Bengal Tiger Coco knew to be named Neyla. She was garbed in brown shorts, a blue tank top, a red and gold hooded cape, and flat shoes, the overall look more closely resembling a video game 'archaeologist' than an Interpol detective. Her choice of weapon was a heavy whip. However, it wasn't the appearance of the partner that caught Coco's eyes.

It was the fact that the pair were already investigating the theft of the Clockwerk parts, and the Gang hadn't even gotten into the museum yet. "Dad, we have a problem!" Coco whispered into her communicator.

"What's wrong, Coco?" Sly asked quickly.

"The Clockwerk parts are already gone!" she hissed back. "Abort the operation! I'm going to see if I can get close enough to hear details."

"Be careful, Coco!" Sly warned softly.

"Always," Coco promised, breaking the communication. She then slowly made her way across the rafters until she was directly above the pair as they investigated.

"So you think this was the Cooper Gang?" Neyla was asking Carmelita disdainfully, plainly expecting her to jump to the conclusion it was them regardless of evidence. Her cultured tone failed to fully disguise her distaste.

"Not a chance," Carmelita countered, catching Neyla somewhat off guard. "The entry was too messy, and there were guard casualties. If this were a Cooper Gang op, they'd have just been unconscious. I know their modus operandi far too well."

"Indeed you do," Neyla observed coldly, her expression calculating. She turned away as Carmelita turned towards her. "Personally, this looks to me like the Klaww Gang."

Carmelita's eyes flicked upward, and Coco pulled completely behind the rafter, hoping she managed it before she'd been seen. She hid a smirk. "I'm afraid most of my attention has been on the actions of the Cooper Gang," she spoke up finally. "Refresh my memory, what do we know about this Klaww Gang?"

"Not much," Neyla allowed disdainfully, plainly disgusted with Carmelita's apparent preoccupation with the Cooper Gang. "We know they deal in illegal spice, and don't hesitate to get violent to get what they want."

Illegal spice? Coco thought to herself. What is this, Dune?

"We've only identified two suspected members, Rajan the tiger and Dimitri Lousteau the iguana," Neyla continued. "Rajan is believed to be based somewhere in India, while all that's known about Dimitri for certain is that he has an apparently completely legitimate nightclub in Paris."

Dimitri, huh? We've dealt with him before... "Thanks Mom," she whispered softly as she made her way back out, realizing Carmelita had deliberately 'played dumb' so Neyla would pass her valuable information.

---

It didn't take long for us to decide what we were doing next. Of course, we had to recover the Clockwerk parts, and the choice of who to go after first was obvious. We'd faced Dimitri before and bested him easily, whereas Rajan was a complete unknown. As such, we made our way to Paris. We didn't know if the Klaww Gang knew what they were doing or not...but time was not on our side.

Since I could now go on my own missions, all of us were getting separate objectives on each heist, and our own equipment. While Uncle Murray dressed himself in gloves and cape - calling himself 'The Murray' - Uncle Bentley relied on crossbow and tech. With preparations complete, we made our way to Paris, stopping only long enough for Dad to drop the line to Mom as agreed so she'd be on the lookout for us there.

Research indicated that Dimitri had only one of the Clockwerk parts, the Tail Feathers. We'd just have to see what he was doing with them...

---

The group quickly set up a temporary base of operations in the neighborhood of The Black Chateau, Dimitri's nightclub. They had originally planned to set up closer to the club itself, but the music was loud enough that close that they couldn't concentrate, and the rooms kept bouncing. They finally found a safe distance, and began their plan.

The first step involved having Coco scout the area for valuables they could sell on Thief-Net so they could acquire new resources, as well as anything else she might find that was useful. In addition to her talent with safes, her low slung form allowed her to grab several valuable items at once and transport them back, unlike Sly who could only strap one to his back. To her surprise, this included the discovery of a Vault, though it had a keypad lock rather than tumblers. She stared at it for a time, trying to determine exactly how she would get it open without setting off any alarms...and an idea struck her.

Placing one hoof near the opening lever, she focused her magic into the lock, trying to feel the tumblers. Before long, a smile crossed her face as she felt the tumblers shift and the lock click open. Swinging the door wide, she seized a bit of equipment that - after analysis - could be equipped to hooves, wrists, or canes to add impetus to a diving attack to render the target unconscious. Not particularly useful, but it felt good to snatch it out of the bad guy's vault.

Comments

[Emtu]

Damn, this Coco is going to make mincemeat of Suri when she gets back to Equestria. (Figuratively, of course, since by this point she's a Cooper in all but blood.)

[Oberon of the Nightwatch]

Something tells me that device that gives a person a Non-Lethal Diving attack would come in handy later. Either during the final battle with Neo-Clockwerk/Clockwerk-Neyla or with one of the later bosses or mooks long before or just before that final Battle.

7834488 We don't know if this is before or after Rarity frees Coco from that damned CT Suri. If it's before, Suri's getting her rear kicked. If After... Well, if Suri tries anything with Coco or her friends, she's getting her rear kicked into the next kingdom.

[King Leoric]

To evry one that have played the game what is your favorite level in the game? Mine is Canada

[the other sans]

Guess it's Dunely noted who stole the parts.

Guess they decided to bounce with the distractions being too close to the Nightclub.

What can we say about Coco? She's got the magic touch.

[shinigamisparda]

Ah, so the Cooper gang has already met Mr. Greasy Sweet himself, eh?

[Sigmacipher]

Obviously Coco has yet to discover assassin's creed if she thinks aerial take down isn't going to be useful...

[Grungar3x7]

7834883
Or fun as all get-out.

[Frostgear]

7834517 have fun in Griffinstone Suri

[Azreal DuCain1]

7834677
Mine too. Jean Bison cares for his minions so much it's heartwarming to hear on the loudspeakers how much he loves them. You'd think they were all his adopted cousins or something with how nice he is to them. Except for the judges for the lumberjacking competition.

[Void Runner]

7834677

To evry one that have played the game what is your favorite aria in the game? Mine is Canada

[Dirty Bit]

7834488 Took the words right out of my mouth...

[Sigmacipher]

7834894 Exactly...plus she's been trained to function as a Shinobi so her off all people should be able to make use of such equipment...

[Reader Wolf]

7834517
Actually, the 'equipment' thing is just an excuse.
Like the previous game, clue bottles were scattered over the overworld, and getting them all allowed for the unlock of a safe with a new move, all except one being for Sly, and even the odd one out being a passive boost for him and Bentley.
In this case, it was the Knockout Dive.

Tats probably mentioned the safe here because they're moderately important parts of the games, and he'd already established their role in the story.

[Grahf]

I did not know Neyla was a tiger I thought she was a jaguar or leopard this entire time. I learned something new.

[Dustchu]

Hehehehe, Man I am loving how Coco is in this story, she's so cool! :la: Hahaha, nicely done man, nicely done!
And they already met Dimitri? Huh... interesting...

Nicely done

[ultrapoknee]

7835429 He's referring to the sly cooper comics freaturing carmelita and sly. It sort of an origin story on how the two met.

[Dustchu]

7835483 There are comics? Never knew that

[ultrapoknee]

7835609 yeah there are prequel comics set in between the games. You can probably find them on YouTube or Google.

[Ladrian]

And we've reached the very first bit of Sly I ever played. Now I might actually start recognizing things.

Illegal spice? Coco thought to herself. What is this, Dune?

Heh, I probably would have thought the same thing. XD

Oh, yeah. Dimitri. I forgot about him.

While Uncle Murray dressed himself in gloves and cape - calling himself 'The Murray'

Wait, he didn't do that in the first game? That... doesn't seem right.

Research indicated that Dimitri had only one of the Clockwerk parts, the Tail Feathers. We'd just have to see what he was doing with them...

LIGHTBULB! I remember what he was doing with them! Mostly because it was really weird.

In addition to her talent with safes, her low slung form allowed her to grab several valuable items at once and transport them back, unlike Sly who could only strap one to his back.

It took until this moment for me to be actually offended by how OP Coco is. Probably because I never actually had to go through the hell of collecting all those bottles in the first game. (I originally started playing Sly on 2, and just recently tried Sly 1 on Playstation Now, couldn't do it with the controller lag, and I just gave up on the bottles pretty quickly.) The thing is, this isn't even that OP of an ability. It's only bad if you get hit and lose all of them at once... Heh, she should totally be making her way around collecting these at some point and then get hit and lose all of them, and everyone gives her a hard time about it.

"IT was ONE TIME, DAD!"

"I'm just saying, Coco, how many times did I get hit in our heists before Dimitri? Not to mention while carrying several thousand in priceless art and--"

"I GET IT!"

Also the safes in Sly 2 were the ones with the combinations hidden in paintings, right? Those were actually fun to find.

[SRXwarrior]

Did.. did Coco just use Metalbending to open a safe?

[King Leoric]

7834997 fixed it I think.

[King Leoric]

7834959 yepp.

[Fareseed]

Almost no lock can stop her...

[Just Defender]

7835934 More like the Force.

[Terabyte West]

So we're getting into Sly 2, eh?

I'm sorry, but I have to address The Contessa's M.O.. I could go on for a while, but I'll leave it at this: ANYONE WHO KNOWS OF HER ABILITIES CAN RENDER THEMSELVES IMMUNE TO THEM.

[Dustchu]

7835811
That's pretty cool actually, hehe

[Kenshinryuu]

We know they deal in illegal spice, and don't hesitate to get violent to get what they want."

Made me wonder if this is a Star Wars reference, Spice is one of the biggest smuggler items in the expanded universe.

I kind of want to see Carmelita go Mama Bear on Neyla for hitting Coco with her whip, catching it as Neyla goes for a second strike and making it clear nobody messes with her daughter.

[DarkSpider]

7835882 No, I believe the safe paintings thing is from Sly 3

[the one guy on the left]

7839953 You are correct sir!

[Greenhorn]

7834488
I can't wait to see it.

[Trsinman]

Research indicated that Dimitri had only one of the Clockwerk parts, the Tail Feathers. We'd just have to see what he was doing with them...