With the Treasure Keys in hand, Sly and Coco made their way back to the area in front of Muggshot's building. Seeing nowhere else they could explore from there, they unlocked the revving car Sly had spotted when they first arrived, setting it loose to crash into the wall around the hotel entrance. With the wall smashed, they made their way inside, knocking out the guards until they came to a wall with Muggshot's face jutting out from it larger than life, jutting teeth, cigar, and all. Bentley managed to find something interesting about it, however.
"Sly, my X-Ray detection reveals a secret elevator behind that massive face," Bentley revealed over the Binoc-u-com. "It goes straight to the penthouse, which is where we should find Muggshot."
"So how do we get in?" Sly demanded quickly.
"I'm guessing that wall locked with seven Treasure Locks," Coco offered, pointing off to the corner where she'd spotted said wall.
"That's right, Coco!" Bentley confirmed. "There's a lever behind it that summons the elevator."
"Meaning Muggshot will know it's us before we even get to the top," Sly muttered worriedly. "Still, it's our only option..."
"Key hunting time!" Coco whispered happily.
The first area they went to in search of Treasure Keys was the roof access, where a key was plainly visible in a trapped skylight. Sly made his way to the neon signs along the roof, climbing across them in search of the way to disable the security system. The roof was sparsely patrolled, with only a couple guards and some guard dogs. All were dealt with readily and silently.
Coco clung tightly to Sly's back as they explored the roof, knowing that if she moved too much she could upset his balance, and one or both of them might go tumbling off the roof and to the ground far below, barring sturdy flagpoles to catch with their canes. As they made their way to the top of the building, Muggshot started threatening 'the thieves making off with all his Treasure Keys', but neither of them really paid much attention to it, leaving it to Bentley and Murray to analyze the broadcast for any clues to help them with their heist.
At the very top, they found the vault, which Coco quickly cracked. Inside were the blueprints for Muggshot's alterations to Mesa City, which were quickly pocketed as they filled in everything Bentley didn't know about the place. There weren't any controls for the security system as they'd hoped, but there was a crane with a heavy weight hanging out directly above the Treasure Key skylight. Riding the weight down, the pair grabbed the Treasure Key with no problems.
The next area the pair explored was the rooftops of the back alley behind the hotel, clambering up and down the outside of the buildings as they made their way in the direction Bentley's scanners indicated the Treasure Key waited in. As they moved, the greatest threat to them proved to be spotlights - backed up by machine guns - that swept across the sides and roofs of the buildings in regular patterns. What few guards there were patrolling the area were easy enough to deal with.
At the very edge of the rooftops, they found both the vault and the Treasure Key. Inside the Vault was a technique developed by Suzanne Cooper to kick off the surface of the water - whether flat or turbulent - to regain dry land without getting wet or leaving a trace of passage. "This is going to be very useful," Coco murmured happily as they memorized the technique. Taking it and the Treasure Key, the pair made their way back inside.
The final Treasure Key was in another area of the rooftops, specifically in a jewel case near Muggshot's penthouse. This forced the pair to detour over another section of rooftops, which at first seemed relatively clear. However, this proved a mistaken impression as Carmelita dropped in on the rooftops across the road.
"Sly, you aren't really carrying Coco around across rooftops like this, are you?" she demanded coldly. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
"Come now, Miss Fox," Sly offered teasingly. "You should know by now I don't misstep when it counts. What took you so long? I was afraid you took a wrong turn on your way here. I thought we'd left plenty of clues."
"How did you even know where to go?" Carmelita demanded coldly. "You weren't in long enough to copy the pages in the file."
"I'm afraid that was Coco's doing," Sly apologized. "Her plan A was to keep you distracted with reading her a story while I swiped the file. Her plan B was to photograph the file using the camera hidden in her storybook. I was rather disappointed she'd pull tricks like that on you, and for punishment she's not getting any dessert until the whole Thievius Raccoonus is recovered."
Carmelita chuckled softly. "Classic sting there. She learned too well from both of us."
"That she did," Sly agreed. "You aren't mad?"
"It's sapient nature for children to try and trick their parents," Carmelita responded readily. "It's part of growing up and testing limits. With how accommodating and obedient she'd been otherwise, I was worried she wouldn't develop a spine when she needed it. I'm honestly relieved to know she will take independent action when she thinks it's warranted. And at least her motives were noble."
"I'm glad to hear that didn't upset you," Sly offered warmly. "I'll do my best to keep her on a shorter leash in the future, though."
"I think it's you who needs to be kept chained, ringtail," Carmelita taunted as she leveled her shock pistol. "Take one step forward, and you'll be in range for me to start shooting. Once I have you stunned, I'll drag you straight off to jail."
"Then it's a good thing it's time to take a step back, huh?" Coco asked softly, climbing back up to Sly's shoulders.
"Coco?" Sly gasped, shocked. "Where did you go? When did you go?"
"Once you and Mom started flirting, I went off after the vault and Treasure Key," Coco explained gently, holding out a page of the Thievius Raccoonus. "I was light enough I could cross the weaker paths without collapsing them, so I made it safely back."
Sly grinned as he took the page - covering Sir Andrew Cooper's Thief Replica Technique, which allowed the user to make convincing inanimate body doubles to confuse pursuers - and quickly memorized it before pocketing it and the Key. "Good girl, Coco. Very impressive. You didn't take any risks, did you? Or leave any evidence?"
"Nope!" Coco offered proudly. "I even closed up the jewelry case and vault behind me! No one will even know I was there for a while."
Chuckling, Sly waved to Carmelita. "Guess we'll be doing this some other time," he offered, leaping back off the roof.
"Bye Mommy!" Coco called out as they disappeared out of sight.
Sighing, Carmelita holstered her shock pistol and shook her head ruefully. "That girl..." she whispered affectionately.
Are Coco's sewing needles just small enough to not leave any noticeable mark behind, or is Coco's involvement protected by her family relationships and other police officers just not connecting the dots between a notorious thief and the head of the police with Coco's situation?
First! Just kidding, I can't wait for the next chapter to be out though!
7683826
The needles don't leave forensic evidence behind that can be traced back to her without the needles themselves...which she retrieves.
Welp, Cocco now has Shadow Clones. If she learns to replace herself with a log as well I think Rioichi will really enjoy interacting with her. I can totally see the two of them playing Ninja Tag.
Awwwhahahawww, Coco is adorable~ I love it!
Nice job
Damn. She's got them both beat, badly.
you know something? I don't think Spy Coco's going to have ANY trouble finding a date when she gets older...
Another enjoyable chapter. Good work.
7683914 You know, that raises a good question. Who would she date, if at all?
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
7683914 No I'm pretty sure she isn't going to have problems with a certain overbearing bossy mare *wink wink nudge nudge*
7683912 Ponies learn fast, when they want to.
I'd love to know the world(s) Snips and Snails would land in that would make them this talented.
7684003
Street Fighter.
Snips raised by Vega.
Snails raised by Dhalism.
(Not actually going to write that, but it's what popped into my head when you asked...mostly from trying to think of a badass 'zen master'. Dhalism - though likely not completely accurate - was the first character that popped into my head for that. Then I tried to come up with a character from the same franchise that fit Snips scissors Cutie mark.)
7684007 Hm.
I was thinking more along the lines of Fairly Odd Parents.
Seems Sly didn't need to take one step forward and two steps back.
Guess we don't need to wonder water they gonna do with Suzanne's technique huh?
At least they didn't need to crane their necks around too hard for one of those treasure keys.
7684031
...ick.
7683967
not sure really... although if her friendship with Rarity carries over from show canon into this reality, I could easily see her being "introduced" to somepony somewhere down the line... ...if you know what I mean...
7683985
yeah: she's got that going for her too...
Cuuuute~
7683835 I just realized something important.
Sly gets to tke her out on a family bonding adventure. How about for one of the gmes you have Carmelita have Coco on her side?
7684168 that might not happen for a while, maybe at Contessa's prison, because they agreed for coco to live with sly, so she visits Carm, not stays long enough for this to happen, especially since Carm is official and is being watched by her superiors.
7684070 Interrogative: How far into the series are you going to go?
7684227
To the end and beyond.
Sans is back
Now that I think about it, I think that first rooftop level is the only time I've had a Sly game seriously glitch on me. When you land on the giant weight, it causes the cutscene to go off. Well, once I accidentally jumped too far to the left and missed it, then when I double-jumped to try and get back on, I touched the edge of the weight and set off the cutscene. But since Sly was to the side and slightly under the weight, it bugged out and shoved him under the broken glass skylight, and when the cutscene ended, he immediately died.
7684221 I kind of wnt to see Carmelita trying to explain to coco why catching Sly is important.
7684234 img10.deviantart.net/474b/i/2011/358/7/4/vinyl_scratch_by_xeroseis-d4k4iy9.png
orig10.deviantart.net/7b94/f/2013/057/6/a/metal_gear_vinyl__revengeance_by_metal_kitty-d5w9rj3.png
I'm Ready.
7684309 It's Really because he's a Thief that has stolen Billions, I think his Rap sheet is a lot longer than we think, how many guards did he assault, how many building did he break into, and much more, but none of this has happened, so it's really just because he's a thief.
Coco is just too cute in this fic
7684070 ...yeah, you are right.
I wouldn't want to see one of your stories get into that world.
Land Before Time and the Sonic Comics would be cool, but I'm just fantasizing.
7683837 I think that's what the decoy technique does basically.
7679724 Dang. The titles on this pony is getting long. (On second thought Twilight Sparkle might have the longest one.)
If we put every PWNY pony titles with their name then we might have to parody the theme of "Star VS The Forces of Evil" or "Camp Camp" to remember everyone. Or just Camp Camp. Just Camp Camp.
Now she's an "expert gambler magical talking pony demomare stunt-double stylish ninja from another world."
Looks like April O'Neil lost her job and joined the nut-house.
7684070 Even you can't save that train wreck. Heck, Pokemon couldn't work either.
7683837 You have it flipped... I guess? Maybe it is shadow clone decoys that can't do much?
7684221 Really? I was thinking Thieves in Time.
7685150 definitely by then, for sure. But that level from the second game would be the first time possible, the third game is very possible, and Thieves in time for sure.
Aww!
7684356 "Didn't all those guards turn out to be henchmen to an evil mastermind?"
7687049 The law doesn't see it that way for him, they never really go into detail, but in a lot of areas they are just security, or have a lawful reason to protect the property.
but yes, most of them were.
7687067 Didn't he just steal from criminals?
7690507 mostly, but do you think every guard is a bad guy, he might just be doing his job.
A bit to deep for the game, but it's true!
7690516 The whole point is that Carmelita tries to convince Coco to help her, but Coco keeps on shooting down her arguments.
7684234 like always
7683826 carmelita is usually the first to get their so she probably covered it up for the most part and the clues left might just suggest that sly had a little help, unable to connect any major dots they dismiss it.
7683826
Which is more likely someone being knocked out by a sowing needle or a dart gun?