Getting the painting placed in Dimitri's office proved to be a cakewalk. With a good portion of the guards patrolling with Dimitri to watch his back while Dad tailed him, I barely even needed to sneak. The only problem I had was the painting was as heavy as me. However, I hit on an unexpected stroke of luck as I made my way to the office with it...specifically, not far outside it.
The heavy duty guard stared down at Coco as she practically hid behind the painting. "And just wut are ya doing with that paintin?" he demanded fiercely.
Coco shrank in on herself, doing her best to make herself as adorable and non-threatening as possible. "I-It's a Dimitri original..." she stammered out. "I...I was hoping he'd s-s-s-sign it..." She made her eyes water fearfully.
A huge grin split the guard's face. "Aww...I think he will." Bending over, he picked Coco and the painting up in separate hands. "But ya could use some help with that paintin. Wouldn't wanna damage it tryin' ta carry it when it's too big for ya."
Coco smiled softly. "T-thank you..."
"The boss is out o' the office raight now, but if'n ya wait there, he'll find ya!" With that said, the guard dropped Coco and the painting off in Dimitri's office. "Now don't touch nothin, ya hear?" With that, he turned and left.
With a smile, Coco swapped the paintings, and then slipped out the window with the original. Bentley'd told her that if she successfully retrieved it, he could sell it on Thief-Net for a good amount to finance further operations.
Dad's luck was as good as mine. He was able to follow Dimitri to a door that led to the club's aquifer, and saw him enter the secret code to open it. That information - and what we picked up later from the painting bug - gave Uncle Bentley what he needed to come up with a plan.
The first stage of the plan was executed simply. Uncle Murray went through the door to the aquifer and smashed the pump room to bits while Dad and I kept an eye out for interference and results. As expected, this resulted in water being piped into the club from the old water tower. This set the plan in motion.
Dad and I were to sneak into the theater to pick the guard's pockets for control keys for the spotlight control center to shut off security lights when the time was right. With the two of us in the shadows together, it would be a true cakewalk. While we were doing that, Uncle Murray would tackle the exterior alarm horns...literally. While that was going on, Uncle Bentley would be dropping the ball...the disco ball, specifically.
The only thing I found concerning at this point was that Mom still hadn't shown up. Of course, who we encountered instead...
As Sly and Coco crossed the rooftops, Constable Neyla dropped down in front of them, her whip clutched in her hand. "Hold it Coopers!" she snapped out, standing ready.
"Constable Neyla," Sly observed softly. "Another police woman hot on my tail."
Coco shot him a glare that promised 'I'm telling Mom!' if he didn't keep the flirting to an operation-minimum.
"Oh please, I led you here," Neyla countered playfully. "The only reason I was so open about the details of the documents when Carmelita asked was because I smelled your little pony in the rafters. Predator senses don't lie."
Coco winced, and made a mental note to develop a technique to keep her from giving off any scent or pheromones. "So why help us out?" she demanded quickly to cover the slip.
"You think I don't know why Carmelita asked in the first place?" Neyla countered. "She doesn't want those Clockwerk parts in the hands of the Klaww Gang anymore than I do, and for some reason she seems to think they'd be safe in yours. I personally think they'd be safer in police hands, but I'll follow her lead as far as it goes. After all, you can go places that - officially - Carmelita and I can't."
"So it's a race, then?" Sly asked slyly. "I'm all for a moonlit romp across the rooftops. Winner take all?"
Neyla chuckled softly. "Oh, I do love a man who catches on fast," she purred before leaping off into the night, Sly and Coco in hot pursuit.
Neyla proved to be nearly as maneuverable across the rooftops as Dad or I...which concerned me. While I'm all for the police having agents who can act like thieves, some of the techniques she utilized bore an unsettling resemblance to Cooper Clan techniques from out of the Thievius Raccoonus. While I would have liked to shrug it off as coincidence, the book was divided and scattered for a long time in the hands of criminals, especially Clockwerk. Between that and the Clockwerk parts being the focus of this investigation...
At the time, I thought I was looking too deep into it, so I didn't say anything about my suspicions. I'd come to regret that later.
After chasing her through Paris, she gave us a key to the nightclub's back door once we proved we could outrun her. This let Uncle Bentley take care of his part of the plan, while Dad, Uncle Murray, and I took care of ours. Once we'd pickpocketed the four keys, we were able to hop across the fans in the room to splice into the spotlight security guns, destroying the power boxes for the printing press room. ...I'm still amazed that nobody heard that.
After that, we all met back up at the hideout to plot out the last stage of the plan.
once again, Coco would get along swimmingly with Rarity/Batmare...
Ah, she sure will regret not voicing her concerns.
Hm I didn't think that Nayla's moves resembled cooper' s in till you mentioned it. Nice catch.
7851820
Same, although I suspect it was a case of the devs wanting someone with a similar skills set for the player to interact with. This being a fanfic, though, I quite like how the author took that parallel and ran with it.
Guess the problems are starting to flood in on Dimitri.
We all know how Murray tackled the alarm problem.
Something smells funny about the situation and it isn't Coco, she took a bath.
I hope Coco doesn't get capturedin Sly 2: Chapter 3. It would make for some interesting development for Coco's character.
7851977 What, helping Bentley save Sly and Murray?
-Dark
7851857 Of course she took one have you smelled horse farts?
And before you say it after this night, she is going to be a little horse.
Shouting match between artists will ensue after all.
Dimitri vs Coco and Sly... my bets are more on Coco stunning him with a combination of both everloving cuteness, and possibly some of those knock-out needles she always carries.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7851785 reading your comment made me realize Coco would be Rarity/batmares catwoman
I honestly never thought of this... it's kind of chilling that some of the Cooper legacy could be perverted to enrich scumbags. And Neyla.... I will not be surprised if she was Clockwerk's protege or something now that the connection has been suggested.
7852539 Makes me wonder how a day at the boutique would go. I can see the two of them agreeing it's neutral territory and poking at one another, then come night time they're out in costume doing the criminal vs hero thing.
7852569 or both of them rushing out to get changed and they run into each other awkwardly
7852054 Yeah. Mostly because the Prague levels were scary (at least to me) and we haven't experienced Coco in a situation where she is afraid. I'm hoping that she would get scared at some point and Bentley, being a supportive uncle, could support her by saying things like "I'm right here" or something like that.
Besides, what prison (besides Juvenile Hall) imprisons kids?
7852576 True, that also works.
Uncle.
I never sell the treasures... i just pile em up
7852441 Actually, with Dimitri's character in the games, I would not be surprised if they are able to defuse things without a fight here. Dimitri's fight with Sly in the games was more frustration than anything else....I'd need to play it again, but I seem to remember Sly insulting his fashion sense and artistic ability just before the fight started. Dimitri may be an odd bird, but in canon he was actually a pretty nice guy, however he also cannot get away from the Klaww Gang's clutches without at least trying to prevent Sly from taking the tail feathers...not that he realizes he needs to yet.
7852624 all of them if the crime is bad enough.
7852624
7853309
Her only crime is theft though.
7853561 Yeah. But who's to say Neyla won't weasel some false info or something to get her incarcerated? Not to mention what psychological horrors The Contessa could afflict...
7853639
No matter what Neyla claims Coco has done, a child is still a child, and a criminal can threaten a child to do anything.
7853728 We'll just have to wait and see what the author comes up with.
Will Coco swing the bat?
7853561 I know, but that wasn't your question.
Bleagh, Neyla... I despise her.
Nicely done Tat!
7852569 I thought Neyla was just naturally agile being that she's a feline.
7851785 Who says they're not?
They could have a catwoman/batman thing going on.
"But we can't!"
"Don't you feel it!? THis beating of ours! Our hearts together! How can something bad..."
"Feel so right! Oh Coco!"
"Rarity!"
"Coco!"
"Rarity!"
"Oh!'
...
Whoops. Wrong scene.
7852948 I don't know. By this point, Coco has deceived, what, six thugs? By this point, I'd say that Coco's presence alone would be aggravating to Dimitri. Not to mention, unless Coco uses her childlike demeanor to her advantage, I doubt Dimitri will just let them walk away. Especially given how greedy he is.
And even then, Dimitri is pretty vain. Coco's charm might not even be enough to make him give up.
However, it's not Dimitri that I'm worried about. After all, there's a bigger bug that I'm afraid of...
7851820 7851834
This was something I noticed whenever I played Sly 2. Though there is one thing to keep in mind, if you look closely at the way Neyla performs her version of the railwalk you'll notice that while she is much faster than Sly, she has to keep her arms extended outwards to keep her balance. Whereas Sly, despite doing the same, has mastered the technique, and doesn't have any balance issues whatsoever. He can even quickly change his direction on wires without falling. Her moves might be similar, but they are still cheap knockoffs nonetheless. Which actually further reinforces one of the themes surrounding her throughout this game: that no matter what she does, she's still inferior to someone else. That might be one of the main reasons why she goes so far off the deep end at the end of the game after merging with Clockwerk.
7857697 ok who else wants to see coco form her own gang I already have a few ideas for muscles and brain members.
Yeah, trust your instincts.
8659399
hello Vitruvius
The story is amazing! I do hate to be a stickler for detail though, but the number of keys that were in the pickpocketing mission in this part of the game was six not four.