Hey everyone,
FINALLY! We're finally starting the Foxes training to become Master Thieves. Good grief, this story is already 12 chapters longer than the story that inspired this one and I'm still not even halfway through it all. Also, I realized that in the original, I didn't even get to the Cooper Vault, even though the Heists that they pulled were also quite amusing. This time I promise that we will get to the Cooper Vault, it's just going to take a while.
Hope you enjoy,

Venquine1990

Chapter 28
The Training Begins

29th of June 2007
Cooper Hide Out
Sly's POV

I don't know if she has a sixth sense for it or something, but Urmila actually visited us shortly after Carmelita and I went down to the living room to reassure the others that I was awake and okay again. Marcus and Carmen had been incredibly amazing as they had both hugged me like I was already their son and the concern in their hugs conveyed this even more. And when Urmila had heard about Heathrow, naturally my sister had done the same.
She had then shown off the new outfits that she had been working on for the team. To our shock and surprise, she had created both outfits for when we were out in the field and for training. And all of the outfits had looked brilliant. The designs were made specifically for each of the Fox Family's body types, yet while the coloring of all field-outfits would help their natural skin color blend in with the shadows, their training outfits just really brought out the brilliance of their fur color.
I had especially loved the light yellow and honey brown training outfit that Urmila had made for Carmelita. The outfit really placed delicate emphasis on both my beloved's gorgeous assets and body shape, but it was also designed to show off all of the strength and grace that Carmelita had acquired while she had worked for Interpol. Needless to say, after seeing the outfit, I became quite excited to finally start the training of the new squad.

Urmila had stayed behind for dinner and then left again, though she had actually convinced Carmelita that she should come around more often. "You might be a Master Thief in training now, lovely, but you are also the greatest model and muse I have ever had. I will not take no for an answer when it comes to you visiting more often, so I can design more fabulous outfits for you, Cheri." Urmila had really laid down the law when she said this.
Carmelita had relented in the end, yet I could also see that she was secretly quite excited. I had grinned and remembered that, when Carmelita had packed her things, she had only packed the cloths that I had had Urmila make for her over the years. I had also noticed Bentley nodding in personal agreement with Urmila and this made me wonder when Bentley would tell Carmelita about his own designer abilities and his dreams in regards to her.

Still, by now I'm just standing in the Hazard Room and waiting for the others. The Thievius Raccoonus is on a pedestal besides me and next to that are several levers build into the wall behind me. I'm quite sure I will only need three or four of these levers for the day, as I really just want to see where everyone is at, what their skills are and how well each of them will fare when it comes to the basics of being a Master Thief.
I have no doubt that Carmelita will do best when it comes to her family, but that's more because I know she has the most field experience out of all of her family than because of my love for the brilliant and talented fox. Then the five of them walk in and just the sight of them in their new training outfits really brings a huge grin to my face. Carmelita's is pretty similar to the outfit she wore on my birthday, but then without the jacket that she wore that day.

Cheren's is quite similar to Carmelita's and just like when I met him, I think: "If not for their age difference and genders, those two could pose for twins." And the fact that Cheren has his unusually long hair in a ponytail hanging in the back of his head really doesn't help. Helena's outfit actually modestly shows off her incredible curves, yet even as she poses, her form does nothing to entice me, thanks to Carmelita standing next to her.
I can easily see the cheeky grin on Helena's face at this, yet I just raise my eyebrow at her in return. And Carmelita giggling at the exchange makes me feel immensely satisfied. Marcus is also grinning and his outfit is slightly loose, obviously with the intent of giving his incredible muscles a chance to grow even more. Yet at the same time his build makes me worry about one of the exercises I have planned and whether or not he'll be able to do it.

I shake my head and notice that Carmen isn't with us. "Where's Carmen?" I ask and Marcus shrugs as he says: "She's still just our nurse, Sly." But at this I shake my head and say: "That might be the case, but there will definitely be Heists where she will have to come along. For that she needs to work along, if only to learn the basics of Master Thief Field training." Marcus winces and mutters: "Right, I'll go get her."
A few minutes later Carmen is with us, also dressed in a training outfit. Hers is a full body suit with an apron like skirt that covers her upper legs and with sleeves that reach up to her elbows. Her bodice is also almost completely made out of pockets and there are even several pockets running down the sides of her legs. The woman apologizes, but I shake my head and say: "It's alright. Let's get started." The woman nods and I turn to look at the Raccoonus.

"On Saturday, I showed Carmelita the Thievius Raccoonus and told her of one of the two ways through which you can gain access to its secrets. And while there is another one, we will just keep ourselves to the basic one for today. Now, one at a time, I want you to put your hand on the first page of the Raccoonus. Focus on the fact that you are now a Master Thief in training for about a minute, then close and open the book once again."
The group nods and Cheren mutters: "I have been dying to learn about this incredible book since I first heard about it from Urmila a month ago." And while I feel a great deal of pride at the fact that my family manual is so deeply respected, Cheren moves over to follow my instructions. And it might not be visible to the others, but I can definitely sense the magic of the book, the souls of my ancestors that still reside within the book, accept the older fox.

As instructed, he closes the book and opens it again. He opens it on the first page and I notice his eyes widen twice over. "Wow, these – these are hieroglyphs, but – I can read them. They – they look like normal English to me." He mutters and instantly Carmelita calls out: "My turn." And one at a time the other four Foxes follow instructions. Yet when Carmelita has her turn, my own eyes widen. For less than a second the power of the book reaches out and envelops her.
For less than a second an aura of Cooper power, which is emphasized by sparkles of blue, black and silver stars, surrounds the woman that I love with all my heart and I think: "The Ancestors blessed her; they welcomed her into the family." Once again all the conversations that Carmelita and I have shared since Saturday rush through my mind and so too does my fantasy of us living together. "I need to contact Michael about those plans." I think to myself.

The others, obviously, don't notice what I saw and just follow Cheren and Carmelita's example. One at a time, Helena, Marcus and Carmen get their acceptance of the Ancestors to read the Raccoonus and each of them opens the book on the first page after closing it. Their eyes all widen as they see the hieroglyphs get translated before their eyes and I grin each time this happens. Then Carmen is done and I move over to stand beside her.
The woman steps away and I take the book from her. And with an ease that comes from reading the book for years on end, I easily page back to the first of three pages that I am sure can help this lot in training today. I grin widely when I see the picture of my favorite ancestor and just, yet again, ignore how Clockwerk is visible in the background of the picture. "That's where you belong, you fiend. In the past." I think to myself.

I put the book down again and turn back to the group as I say: "Good, now that we have this done, you will probably be interested to know that the Racoonnus is going to be a vital part of your studies for the next few weeks. There are techniques in there that can help you ahead and techniques you will definitely need to learn. And today, we are going to focus on three of those, though each of you will only learn one. We are going to divide the three between the five of you."
The group nods, though Carmen looks a little hesitant and I gently tell her: "These three techniques help a Master Thief across various platforms and other things like that. They are purely meant for transport and will make sure that you can reach us much faster than even if you were to run." The woman nods, her confidence regained and she smiles at me. Yet I raise my finger up and say: "However, there are a few other things we will test first."

The five Foxes look intrigued and I pull down one of the levers. The ceiling above us opens up and five towers, entirely made out of crates, are set onto the floor. The crates are set in a star formation and the five towers are all held together by ropes that are vertically tied around the stacked up crates. The five foxes look intrigued and I say: "To quote Bentley, all great thieves have one thing in common. They never get lost."
I grin at the lot of them and pull out my Binocucom. "Now I might have been a Master Thief for years, but even I refresh my training from time to time. When Bentley created this room, he connected the control room with my Binocucom. Your job is to find the three markers that will be shown to you through the Binocucom and get to their location as quickly as possible. Naturally, Bentley himself is currently in the control room and will switch the locations with each of you."

The group nods and Carmen says: "I'll go first this time." To which I suggest: "How about we go in Alphabetical order and then in reverse order, depending on how many training exercises we do a day?" The whole group nods in agreement to this and I hand Carmen the Binocucom. The woman shortly seems to admire the little trinket and then nods at me. I grin back at her and say: "Remember, a thief's best friend is a rooftop."
I receive another nod and the woman puts the Binococum in front of her face. For the next few minutes I study her as she walks around and while I admire how fast she moves, I can't help but think: "She's putting too much haste in her movement. If she keeps this up, she'll tire herself out even before she gets to us." And I get proven right as the woman is lightly sweating by the time she gets to the third of the three markers.
She returns to us and I say: "Very good, you did excellent on using the Binocucom. But you have to remember that this is just training, not an actual job. You need to keep that stamina of yours in mind when you're trying to get somewhere or you'll be too tired to perform once you've reached your destination." The woman nods and I grin as I say: "Nine out of ten, great work." This earns me a beaming smile.

Carmelita also grins at me as she steps up while Marcus pulls his wife close against him and compliments her, his daughter takes the Binocucom. And just like I expected, her years of chasing me makes it so that she goes through the whole course with little effort. My eyes even widen slightly as she manages to jump onto the side of the highest tower in the center of the room and then climb up to the top. "I figured she'd manage that."
Bentley whispers in my ear through the earpiece and I grin in response. Yet when she jumps down from the second story boxes after obviously reaching the third marker, I wince. Luckily enough the look on her face proves that she's curious about my opinion and that she wants me to be honest with her. "You did excellent. But never do that again. You've already overstressed your muscles enough the last few years and such jumps are just hazardous on your knees."

Carmelita nods and Cheren mutters: "Wow, I did not see that coming." I frown at him and say: "You need to remember. I'm not just training you to be Master Thieves. I'm also training you so that you can help me get to the Cooper Vault. And considering that I didn't think that my team and I were enough for that, I hope you realize that I just cannot let my own personal feelings get in the way of preparing us all for this task that is at hand."
"Especially now that I know just who is trying to steal from me." I think to myself, but I don't say this out loud. Yet I don't need to as the others look as if they understand exactly what I'm not saying. I smile at the five of them and then Cheren takes the Binocucom from his sister. He moves into the room and I observe him as he works. And while he seems adamant not to make the same mistakes as his family, I still grimace.
The lad is definitely in good shape and he has obviously studied the room while watching his sister and mother work, yet I can't help but think: "You need to move around more. You're already forgetting what I told you about rooftops." And when the guy moves onto his first marker, I spot another something that bothers me. "So that's why." I think as Cheren seems to have trouble jumping up onto the crates.

"He'll have to work on that." I mutter and Carmelita comes over as she says: "I'm sorry, Sly. We should have told you. Cheren never got any high grades in gymnastics. His best was always a C-." I grimace, but then I say: "That's fine. We'll just make sure he works on his leg muscles. The better those are developed, the better he'll be able to jump high. That should, if nothing else, make getting up high a bit easier. Murray can help him with that."
Carmelita gives a relieved nod and when Cheren returns, I say: "I'm not going to mention that jumping problem of yours, Carmelita and I already devised a solution for that. However, understand one thing. I told you that a roof is a thief's best friend. That's because it allows you to stay out of sight when you do recon, when you check up on potential guards or enemies. Even just standing on that first level of crates would have been better than where you were while looking around."

Cheren looks a little put out, but to my relief he mutters: "Right, should have thought of that." But I grin at him and say: "A cop can stand wherever they want; they are not considered a threat to the public. A thief always needs to be on guard and well-hidden when out in the field – or they end up in prison. You just have a cop mentality and the last thing I am expecting of you guys is to change that overnight. That's what this training is for."
Cheren grins at me and walks away as he says: "Tough but fair. I wish my own gym teacher had been like that growing up." I snicker at him and think: "I have you to thank for that, Mr. Jugs, Mr. Cluck." Helena seems hesitant to approach me and I tilt my head at her. She sighs and mutters: "I have a terrible condition. It's the whole reason I had a desk job." I nod at her and say: "Just give it a try. I'll observe and see what we can do."

The slightly older and well-defined fox gives me a grateful nod, yet as she performs the task, I can see what she means. And by the end of the whole thing, like her mother, the poor thing is panting something awful, even though she hardly ran as hard as her mother or had the same climbing issues as her brother. If anything, she definitely performed the tasks with the same strength as Carmelita, yet she obviously just doesn't have her sister's stamina.
I nod at her and say: "Okay, starting tomorrow, you and Cheren can start training with Murray. He can help Cheren with his leg muscles and you with your stamina issue. Once that's covered, you can both rejoin Marcus, Carmelita and I." The two give me grateful nods and then Marcus takes the Binocucom from his eldest daughter. And the way that the muscular man practically tears through the exercise seriously impresses me, especially his climbing skill.

Just like with Carmelita, Bentley makes a marker appear on the center stack of boxes, which is three stories high, yet Marcus shows neither sweat nor effort as he climbs the tower and deftly climbs down after. And while everyone else uses the first story of boxes to get to the second story, Marcus just climbs them. Yet this makes me grimace and when he approaches, I say: "Very remarkable. Though I have one question for you.
What was different about the last marker?" The man looks confused and I answer my own question: "It was in the middle of one of the lamp lights. If this were the field, a dozen or so officers would have spotted you. Keep that in mind from now on." Marcus looks startled and then hits himself on the head as he says: "Dang, I made the same mistake as my boy." I easily shrug and say: "Like I said. Cop mentality. Just give it time."

Yet then Marcus asks: "Do we really have that? Time, I mean?" I sigh as I know what the man means and say: "We do. The Cooper Vault can only open with the Cooper Cane. M. might have been trying the last decade to get inside, but from what I was able to see the vault door still looks untouched. The gold and metal of which it was made didn't even have a scratch on it, even though he was continuously firing lasers at it.
For now, the vault will hold. Plus, we need to remember that Michael – or at least Interpol International – is now aware of M. and his crimes against my family. They'll probably, if nothing else, keep an eye out; maybe even gather intel that we can use later on. For now, just focus on your training. Leave the Vault to Bentley, Murray and myself. We'll do what we can to keep an eye out." The man nods and gives me a proud and grateful smile.

I grin back at him and say: "Alright, next exercise. Though ehm, Bentley, we might have to alter this one later. For Marcus, at least." The man raises an eyebrow at this, but then Bentley tells me: "Don't worry about it, Sly. I took care of that while you were out cold. I needed to do some venting of my own and building stuff always helps with that." I sigh relieved and Bentley lets the equipment for the next exercise come down.
The five stacks of crates rise back up into the ceiling and a tower of crates that almost encompasses the entire room from front to back in a straight line comes down. On both sides of this tower line are two platforms that are easy to get on top of and I guide the family over to the right side. I grin at them and say: "Now like I said, a rooftop is a thief's best friend. But in order to do recon work, sometimes a thief needs to get inside.

In that case, they're often required to crawl through tight spaces, like the one you can see over here." And as I say this, I motion for the opening that is in the center of the stack. The opening is about as high as my own lower leg and definitely bigger than the one I trained on a few weeks ago. I grin at this and say: "Marcus, Bentley adjusted the size of this hole just for you. Try to see how fast you can get through here to the other side."
Marcus nods and then Helena asks: "Mind if I use this version too, Sly? I started trying to get over a minor case of claustrophobia just before I met with Urmilla a few weeks ago, after you and Carrie over here retrieved her stolen collection." I smile and nod at her as I say: "Sure, you and your dad can use this one and the rest will train with the same version as I did. Once you've recovered, you can start training with that one."

Helena gratefully nods and I hear Marcus shout from the other side. I check my watch and mutter: "Nice, 18 seconds. It took me 12 to get through the smaller version the first time. Your turn, Helena." The fox gives me another grateful nod and then moves over to crawl into the hole. I jump off the platform and say: "Once you see my signal, it's your turn. Try to do this in less than 20 seconds." Cheren, Carmelita and Carmen nod and then I spot Helena on the other side.
Bentley spots her as well and he pulls the tower up and replaces it with another one, of which I'm sure the crawling space is a few inches smaller. I nod at the trio on the right and Cheren dives into the space. I turn my head the other way, yet after almost half a minute, I raise an eyebrow. I spot Carmelita bending over and she mutters: "Uh Sly, he's stuck." A statement that just utterly baffles me. But then Carmen smiles and says:

"This is what I'm here for." And to my pride, the older fox crawls in after her son. And about ten seconds later, the two of them crawl out on the other side. I grin at this and then notice that Carmelita has already crawled in. Pride fills me as the fox must have considered my grin at her family as a sign and when she crawls out, I check my watch again. For a moment my eyes widen and then my grin widens as the three of them join Marcus and Helena.
"You okay, Cher?" Helena asks and Cheren nods as he says: "Yeah. I mean, it's a bit embarrassing that my tail got stuck in a small dent between two of the crates above me, but otherwise I'm fine." Carmelita grins at him and asks: "You know I'm going to tease you with this, right?" And while Cheren groans, the two sisters laugh. "You have every right for that, Carmelita. Especially because you beat my own first try by a second."
This shocks and then greatly pleases my beloved and I say: "Okay Bentley, I think it's time that Cheren and Helena start their training with Murray while I take Marcus, Carmen and Carmelita through the last exercise of the day. Bring down the last three obstacles." Bentley gives the affirmative in my ear and the two siblings give me a grateful nod as they leave the room. I do worry over the fact that Helena still seems slightly out of breath, but leave that to Murray as I look up. The tower of crates gets pulled back up into the ceiling and three new objects get brought down.

Yep, I went there,
I decided to cut the whole training thing in two parts. One part simple exercises to prove that each of the Foxes in the family are different and that they all have their own skills, their own strengths and weaknesses. And one part to describe them practicing the first three Cooper technique exercises. I am very excited for this and already have the whole upcoming chapter up in my mind. And after that we're going back to Michael.
Let's do this,

Venquine1990