Sara Cooper and the Band of Thieves
By: WILDARMSMusashi
Prelude: Taking Back What's Hers
Cooper's Sanction, Italy
Fourteen Years Ago...
There she was, six-year old Sara Cooper. She listened to the stories of her grandfather by a crackling fire as she sat on the floor with her ears perked up by the wondrous tales of the infamous Cooper family. The old raccoon sat in his leather chair with the Thievius Raccoonus open in his palm.
He showed young Sara an open picture of her great grandfather, Suzanne Cooper. It was a picture of a female raccoon, standing with a proud tilt of her head with a cane in her right hand and a bag of money in the other. She had a blue captain's cap, a long ponytail, blue gloves, a vest with a stuffed red ribbon, a skirt with her legs showing. A smile was across Sly Cooper's face.
"My grandmother. She was a really nice person and a great swimmer. Your great-grandfather, Colonel Reid said he could beat her anytime."
"So, what was grandpa like?" young Sara asked.
Sly said nothing but still kept the faint smile on his face. He closed the book as there were papers sticking out and stood up. "Let's get you to bed Sara," he picked Sara up with his left arm, his cane holding him up with his right. "Rajah and Samantha should be in bed as well." Sly walked up the stairs with Sara, falling asleep in his arm.
Paris, France 12:02 AM
Fourteen Years Later...
Stars filled the night sky and the streets were crawling with Paris' nightly security guards below. A shadow darted across the moonlit rooftops with a long cane in its hand. Its body slick and jet black, the hook dim gold. The figure slid to a halt as quiet as possible. The mask that was over its eyes was removed to show sapphire colored eyes and long flowing black hair. The figure appeared to be a female raccoon. Her ears perked up as she was perched near the ventilation shaft; her way in. Her mouth formed into a sneaky smile.
She could hear the feedback from her earpiece. Her eyes closed, hoping the lizard guards with their red berets, small mustaches, black and white striped shirts, and baguettes in their grip couldn't hear her. Although, they were on high alert now since they heard the loud sharp sound. "Raj." said the raccoon in a whisper with her finger over the earpiece. "Can you hear me?" A green lensed beam appeared over her eyes, connected to the earpiece to show a tiger with his orange hair sticking out in the front and a blue cap pointing backwards.
"Yeah, I hear ya Sara," the tiger answered.
"Is there something wrong?" Sara asked.
"Well," Raj paused. "We sort of have a problem."
"What is it?"
"I'm picking up some activity. It seems the police aren't letting you get out alive with the Thievius Raccoonus."
"I don't even see why my grandfather made a copy of it and the police just get it back!"
"Sara, focus!" Raj said. "The book is in the vault which isn't too far. All you'll have to do is go through a field of infrared beams below. Try not to hit one or the alarm will trigger. Security guards are on high alert now." "Because of you not fixing the feedback!" Sara whispered. "Yeah, yeah. Once you get the book, Sam and I will be in the van and we're ready to move out when ready. And don't worry, we've cleared out the safe house and left no paw prints. So got it? Get in, get out."
"Got it," Sara said with a nod.
"Good luck."
The lensed beam retracted into the earpiece and she held out her cane, the hook wrapped around one of the small bars of the locked up ventilation shaft. With one swift movement, the screen to her entrance flew off. She caught it before it flew off and hit a brick wall on the other side. Sara laid it on the hard concrete rooftop quietly and kissed her cane. She leapt through the shaft.
It was a good distance of a drop, a smile across Sara's face. She could hear the soft humming of the infrared beams to then screech to a halt as she tried slowing herself down with her extended left arm and cane. Finding herself successful, she took a brief exhale of a breath and saw a drip of sweat roll off of her cheek and fall onto a beam. A small amount of steam rose.
Phew.
Sara took a sigh as she dropped towards the beams. She bent her body, dodging all of the beams. Then there were the last pair, she also saw a guard beneath! Sara accelerated and dodged the last two beams, knocking out the guard below, swiping his clothes. She dragged him into a dark corner and soon came out a few minutes later, surprised the clothes fit, even though her tail stuck out.
She walked out formal as if she was on patrol with a flashlight. Soon walking through a small crowd of security guards, them not noticing a thief was in their midst. Once she turned into an empty corridor, she started off with a run and took off the security guard uniform, now back in her thief clothes.
"You know she's gonna come."
Sara stopped outside the door, hiding on the edge of the wall. Her head peeked in to see a male fox: Cornelius Fox. He's been on Sara's case for a long while. Her grandfather said that he was the grandson of Carmelita Fox, following in his grandmother's footsteps of trying to catch a Cooper. Sara's gotten past him before, she could do it again.
"The Coopers have gotten past us for too long," said Cornelius.
Who is he talking to?
Sara poked her head out further to see what looked like a cat! His partner, Kitten Clawze.
"SARA, ARE YOU NEAR THE BOOK?" Raj's voice bursted out. Sara's eyes widened as she could hear Cornelius. "COOPER!" She could hear him take out his gun to see a blast shoot in front of Sara. She sped out past the door, Cornelius following behind, shooting at her, dodging barely. Sara had her finger over her earpiece. "Raj!" "I'm sorry, I accidently put the Lens-o-Tron on high volume," Raj apologized. "We'll talk about this later. Is the van in place?" "Yeah." "Good," said Sara. "Cooper out."
"I'm gonna get ya this time!" she heard Cornelius yell.
Cornelius turned a corner to then see...nothing! What he didn't know, was thanks to her ancestor, Slytunkhamen's Invisibility, Cornelius didn't know where she was. His head turned left, then right to see no one so he just went left. She appeared as she went right down the corridor. Sara went on until she went through a door to see a vault. She stopped in her steps to see the vault; the vault to the book. Sara took out a small device and stuck it to the door of the vault. There was a series of clicks and then the door to the vault swung open to show the book on the stand.
The female raccoon walked towards it and grabbed the book to hear the door swing open behind her. Her head turned to see Cornelius! "I've got you now Cooper," he snarled. He started shooting as the electrical blasts shot out. Sara dodged and ran towards the window. She leapt out of the window as shards flew, the van below, the top open like it was a door. She hit the floor of the van, it shut quickly as the van sped off, Cornelius swearing to himslelf and stomping on the ground.