Chapter Text
Sylvia crouched on the edge of the rooftop. A night time chill brushed her hooded coat and a smile crept across her muzzle beneath her face mask. Her brown, striped tail eagerly swished side-to-side as she stared at the building across the street. The Parisian skyline was where she felt most at home.
Her eyes were set on a large building across the street. A large holographic sign glowed with the name Chat D’or Bank with the symbol of a sleek golden cat. Her smile grew with anticipation.
She tapped the side of her mask and activated its onboard Binocucom. The Binocucom was just as its name suggested – a set of high-tech binoculars doubling as a communicator. The display came to life, a small scope appearing in the centre of her vision, and a pair of small windows flickered to life beneath the lenses. The face of a rabbit girl appeared on the left screen, while on the right was her own. She wore a confident smirk while the rabbit looked more apprehensive.
“Okay, Lily,” she said, “ready for an old-school bank heist?”
“Sylvia, are you absolutely sure about this?” asked the rabbit. “I’ve told you who owns Chat D’or , right?”
“Julien de Griffe,” Sylvia answered with a nonchalant smile, “entrepreneur by day, crime boss by night. Don’t fret, girl – what we’re doing is one hundred percent morally sound.”
“It’s not the morality of it that worries me,” said Lily. “It’s the fact that you’re about to break into a high-security building owned by one of the most powerful people in the city.”
“By that definition, it’ll be my third one this month. Any safe ways in?”
“I’ve got the schematics in front of me, and your best method of entry would be that air vent on the roof.”
Sylvia watched as the vent in question pulsed light blue on her Binocucom, showing through the concrete walls, and she zoomed in the lens for a closer look. “I see it. My first stop is the security office, right?”
“Right,” Lily nodded. “Just put that drive into the computer and I’ll take over from there.”
"And if anything goes wrong, we have Plan B," grinned the raccoon. "Talk to you inside."
Sylvia deactivated the Binocucom and pounced off the roof. She arched forward into a nosedive and reached for the small crooked staff on her belt. With the press of a hidden button, the staff extended into a long cane, its hook snagging onto a telephone wire. Using the rebound, she bounced back into the air and landed both feet on the wire with practised precision. Holding out her arms for balance, she danced across to the bank rooftop.
The thought of breaking into a place with security tighter than a wedding dress nearly made her burst with excitement. A lesser thief would be at least nervous about committing such a caper, but Sylvia was a Cooper – the latest in a family of master thieves dating back to the days of the Egyptian Pharaohs. What set her apart from other thieves, aside from the obvious skill difference, was that a Cooper only stole from other criminals. After all, where was the honour or the fun in swiping Joe Nobody's wallet on the street corner? Hence why tonight's target was one of the most influential men in Europe, who after some digging, turned out to be taking advantage of his bank's customers by overcharging them and keeping the bonus tucked away for himself. His leadership of the biggest criminal syndicate in Paris certainly didn't help his case either.
Once close enough, Sylvia jumped off the wire and dashed across the roof to the air vent. She pushed another hidden button and the cane retracted, the tip of the blunt end flipping open to reveal quite the Swiss army knife of thieving tools. She opted for the universal screwdriver, removing the bolts on the vent grate and quietly setting it down. She hooked the cane back on her belt and dove head-first into the vent, sliding down a ways and slowing to a safe stop after a bend.
"Okay, you're showing up on my screen," she heard Lily say in her earpiece. "The security room's just up ahead–take a left, then another left, then two rights, then three lefts, then another-"
"Lily, Lily," hissed Sylvia. "Remember what we said about 'one step at a time'?"
"Sorry," Lily muttered. Sylvia could hear the blush on her cheeks. "Take the first left."
Sylvia followed Lily's directions and scurried through the ventilation system. For a moment, she found herself wondering if any of her ancestors were claustrophobic. That would be quite the obstacle.
She peered through a grate and watched as one of the bank's night guards strolled along the floor, blissfully unaware of her presence. Sylvia was never worried by guards–she could slip down there, pick the dude's pocket and get back in the vent before he even had a feeling something was wrong.
The floors and walls coated with lasers the guard was walking through, however, she wasn't so confident about.
"de Griffe didn't skimp on the security," she whispered.
"It's a system that responds to facial recognition," Lily explained. "You get scanned when you go in, and if your face is in the database, you can go around those lasers no problem."
"But my beautiful face…?"
"Will get deep-fried, yes. Until you get that drive to the security room, that is."
"I'm getting, I'm getting."
Sylvia continued her journey through the vents, swiping through cobwebs with her cane. Some more lefts and rights later, she looked through another grate.
"You should see a room overlooking the main bank floor," said Lily. "Big bulletproof windows and a Silverkey 7000."
"I see big bulletproof windows and a big fancy computer," whispered Sylvia. "And a guard typing away on it."
"If only we had someone on the team who could sneak up on a lone guard and knock him out."
"Twist my arm, why don't you."
"Camera in the room is down, go ahead."
Sylvia rolled her eyes and slowly opened the grate to silently land behind the guard. It helped that he was too busy dealing with an offline camera feed to look over his shoulder. She slunk up behind him and with one swift motion, extended her cane and knocked the hapless guard into the air, grabbed his shirt with the hook and brought him down to the floor with an overhead slam to knock him out cold.
If Dad could see that, she thought with a proud smirk.
"Okay, now plug the drive into the Silverkey 7000," Lily instructed.
Sylvia looked around, blinking cluelessly.
"The big fancy computer."
"I knew that." After double-checking the guard was indeed unconscious by prodding his face with her cane, Sylvia crept up to the computer and fished a small flash drive out of her pouch. It took her a few seconds to find the right port.
"Sweet," said Lily. "Don't get comfy, this'll just take a sec."
"How long's a se--"
"Done. Head for the elevator."
"Huh." Sylvia retrieved the drive and ducked back into the vent. "And this'll stop me getting cooked by the lasers?"
"Yeah, but you'll wanna avoid going on the floor anyway. Computers are often easier to fool than guards."
"You'd be surprised."
Sylvia scurried to another grate and silently lowered onto the floor. She pushed the button to the elevator and watched a security beam scan her up and down. After a second, the doors slid open with a ding and she went inside, using the tip of her cane to tap the button for the top floor.
"I've got you on the security cam," said Lily. "Currently blurring you out."
"Aw, but how will anyone see me?" Sylvia mock-complained.
"Why are you so eager to get arrested?" She could hear Lily's frown.
"Ahh, you know I don't mean it."
"Anyway, de Griffe's office is just outside the elevator. He doesn't keep any guards or lasers up there because of all the requirements just to access the floor."
"The requirements we just bypassed."
"You got it."
The doors opened and Sylvia slunk to the wall, creeping along it before leaping to the opposite side, repeating the process down the corridor.
"I just told you there's no one there," sighed Lily, watching through the cameras.
"It's called 'drama', Lil." Sylvia knelt down at the door and produced another tool from her cane–a universal lockpick. She made short work of getting inside and took a look around the spacious office.
"Why do bad guys always have giant paintings of themselves?" she asked, looking at a huge portrait of a lynx in an expensive black suit leering down at her. "Talk about an ego problem."
"I don't think Sylvia Cooper: Master Thief of the World is one to talk about ego," snarked Lily. "Anyway, turn on that computer and plug in the drive."
The raccoon did just that and perched herself on the leather seat, idly running her hand on the smooth desktop while Lily worked her magic.
"You think we should get a mahogany desk?" she wondered.
"Where would we put it?" asked Lily.
"In the hideout, obvs."
"But where in the… oh." The rabbit's tone turned nervous. "Oh, this is big ."
Sylvia's ears perked. "What's up?" The computer screen suddenly had windows of details and names popping up.
"It's not just bank customers paying kickbacks. There's cops, business owners, politicians… and they're all from different countries. de Griffe's taking huge sums from nearly everyone in Europe!"
"Explains all his fancy stuff."
"And that's not all – he's not just taking money, he's also giving it away. To different names, but at regular intervals."
"You got the deets?"
"Copying them onto the drive. Just make sure it gets back here in one piece, because that's the only copy and I do not trust the Cloud."
"Got it," said Sylvia. "While we're here, we should make sure this extra money goes back to the proper owners. Y'know, the ones who really need it."
"I'm sure the mayor will be happy to repay us for uncovering this interest scam."
Sylvia could tell Lily was wearing a smirk as big as hers was. "A few thousand Euros? That's quite kind of you, sir."
She nearly jumped out of the chair as an alarm began blaring. A red light started slowly flashing.
"Oh, carrots!" gasped Lily. "I think I tripped a hidden alarm!"
"I thought you shut down the security!" said Sylvia. Metal shutters came down over the windows.
"It must be on a separate system! I'm working as fast as I can!"
Sylvia rushed to the door and pressed her ear to it. "I can't hear a thing over this stupid alarm."
"I have to transfer this data first," Lily insisted. "Once it's safe, I'll shut the backup security off."
"Something tells me it's not backup security."
"Just a little more…"
Sylvia anxiously hopped in place, darting her eyes around for an exit. The windows were barred, there were no air vents, and the hallway outside no doubt had an army of guards rushing toward it.
"Almost…"
She reached for her cane and started fidgeting with it.
"Done!"
Sylvia raced to the desk and grabbed the drive. "Sweet. Now if you could just find me a way out?"
"I'm trying to get through this firewall, but it's a lot tougher. I think you're onto something, Sylvia – this isn't just backup security. It looks like there's a whole other grid just for de Griffe's office."
"What makes him so special?" remarked Sylvia. The alarm suddenly turned off and the lights returned to normal. "Oh, nice going Lil."
"Um, that wasn't me," muttered Lily.
"Now I can get a good look at you." A man's deep voice caught Sylvia by surprise. "Sylvia Cooper, I presume? My name is Julien de Griffe."
She looked at the monitor, and her heart skipped a beat at the lynx glaring at her. His indifferent expression was mostly hidden by his steepled fingers, but that did nothing to help the icy glint in his eyes.
“Smart enough to invade my place of business while I’m out of the country,” he continued, “and yet stupid enough to get caught.”
“Having your office on a different security system is cheating!” Sylvia protested. She then asked Lily quietly, “That is cheating, right?”
“Don’t distract me,” Lily muttered. “I’m nearly done.”
“I’m afraid whatever you’re scheming is doomed to failure,” de Griffe said. “The proper authorities have already been called.”
“Like I’m scared of some donut dunkers,” scoffed Sylvia. “Besides, they’ll be pretty interested to learn about this little racket you’ve got going on.”
“Bold assumptions, girl.” Sylvia saw the hint of a smirk behind the lynx’s hands. “The proper authorities I speak of will be more interested in finally apprehending a Cooper.”
Sylvia lowered her head just a bit, to hide the surprise in her eyes.
“My security team will keep you company until then. Au revoir.”
The video call ended, and Sylvia let out a quiet sigh. She had a feeling she knew exactly who he called.
“Done!” Lily gasped.
Sylvia grabbed the drive and hopped off the chair. The door was suddenly kicked in, and a small squad of guards surrounded her from all angles. She felt like she’d never get used to having this many guns pointed at her.
“Freeze!” one snapped. “Don’t move a muscle!”
“Put your hands behind your head!” another ordered.
Sylvia looked between the two. “He wants me to freeze, and he wants me to put my hands over my head. You two are gonna have to decide what we’re doing here.”
“Quiet,” the largest guard, a burly polar bear woman, snarled.
Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Uh, Lil, I’m in a bit of a bind here. We’re gonna have to go with Plan B.”
The moment she finished talking, the polar bear rounded on the other guards. A huge fist knocked one of them flying into the wall, and another was knocked out by the butt of her gun being thrown right between his eyes. She grabbed the last two by the shirts, lifted them off their feet and slammed them into the floor.
Sylvia watched with a grin, thinking of that movie she watched once where a sleeper agent was awakened by a key phrase.
“Plan Brooke never fails,” she chirped. “Nice work, big girl. You really got into character too.”
The polar bear grunted and bumped Sylvia’s waiting fist with her own. “We done here?” she asked curtly, ignoring the pained look on the raccoon’s face.
“We’ve got everything,” said Lily through both their earpieces. “Head back to the van.”
The two dashed back to the elevator and made their way down.
“Heads up,” Lily said, “there are guards heading your way."
“You redirect traffic then head for the van,” Sylvia said to Brooke. “I’ll take the scenic route.”
Brooke nodded. Once the door opened, she clumped across the floor while Sylvia hid beneath the floor panel. She pressed a button on her gloved palm, and her body faded out of sight starting from her feet.
“She’s headed to the vaults,” said Brooke. Sylvia pounced up to an open grate just as Brooke ushered the guards into the elevator, and scurried back up to the rooftop. Once she was outside, her body fizzled back into view.
“This active camo thing is awesome. Recharge time needs work, though.”
“It’s a prototype,” Lily said defensively.
Two familiar clicks behind her made Sylvia pause mid-step.
“Hold it right there,” she heard a man say. Young, around her age.
She turned around and caught the hard glare of a fox pointing a pair of pistols at her. His grey fur went nicely with his dark red shirt and black jacket, blue jeans and black boots. A gold star glistened out on his chest.
Sylvia lowered her hood, revealing her brown shoulder-length hair, giving him a grin.
“Hey, bro.”