Chapter Text
“Aw, we just got a HQ, too,” Zack mumbled as he slouched on the hotel’s couch, looking extremely uncomfortable in Jules’s jacket.
“I guess Carmen Sandiego’s never-ending tour really isn't ending,” Ivy sighed.
“Hey guys, it isn’t all bad,” Carmen tried to cheer them up. “For one, we get to have midnight room service again.”
She glanced over at Shadowsan. Though hardly the most expressive person, it was clear he wasn’t impressed with the tight new clothes and lack of a home base, either. Carmen sensed that not even room service would to cut it for him.
She found her gaze drifting across to Jules, perched awkwardly on a chair. Shadowsan had stubbornly seated himself between them on the car ride here. Carmen didn’t know what his problem was, but seeing the unease on her new partner’s face, they’d need to have that talk he’d mentioned earlier.
Later.
For now, …
“Hey Jules, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
“No… I suppose I haven’t had the chance.” She replied, pushing her glasses back onto her freckled nose. From the corner of her eye, Zack looked sheepish.
“Well, that’s the first order of the day then,” Carmen grinned, picking up the phone. "What do you fancy?"
“We need to organise a plan to retrieve the gems.” Shadowsan finally spoke. He gave Carmen a side glare. “Without distractions.”
“Perfect.” Carmen narrowed her eyes back at him. “Good thing we have an expert planner in our midst, right, Jules?”
Her eyes rounded. “Well, planning is not my expertise, but I suppose I could be of some assistance.”
Carmen winked, and Jules ducked her head as red blossomed across her face.
Ah, there’s my favourite colour. The thief found it strangely endearing how easily she was to fluster.
“Well, with my favourite A.C.M.E. agent, four thieves and our skilled hacker friend, we should be able to pull this off no problem. The objective is to take the jewels back. Destroy the trackers.” She tugged on the hem of her shirt. “And to find some bigger clothes.” She smirked. “Preferably in red, of course.”
While Jules was eating her toast and Zack and Ivy were bickering over which kind of pizza to order, (Carmen had sided with Zack on this one - Hawaiian was clearly the superior option), Carmen slipped outside the room. She didn’t need to look behind her to know that Shadowsan had followed.
“What’s your problem?” Carmen turned to glower at him. “Is it because she’s a girl?”
Shadowsan’s frown deepened. “I do not care in the least that she is a girl.” Carmen hadn’t really suspected him to be homophobic, but his response still sent a trickle of relief through her. Though she prided herself in her ability to read people, understanding Shadowsan was about as easy as drowning a fish. “But she is a distraction,” he continued. “If not for her, we would most likely already have already made a plan.”
“Jules is an extraordinarily observant, perceptive agent helping us to fight V.I.L.E. She even let us stay at her place when we didn’t have anywhere else to go. If anything, she’s a great benefit to our team.” Carmen crossed her arms. “If that really is your issue.”
“She is also a part of A.C.M.E. Did you not tell me that she betrayed you? That she was the reason you nearly froze to death?”
“She didn’t mean for that to happen,” Carmen argued. “I know Jules. She wouldn’t betray me. I trust her.” She tucked a stray hair behind her ear before adding more quietly, “I like her.”
“Such sentiment makes one blind,” Shadowsan grumbled. “But I can tell that you will not listen to me.”
“When it comes to distrusting Jules? No. But I do appreciate your concern.” A small smile tugged at her lips. “She’s more sensible than Zack, Ivy and I combined. I’d have thought you’d be glad about someone who wasn’t a ‘child’ joining our crew.”
Shadowsan simply grunted. Carmen decided to take it as a positive response.
“Speaking of children, does Player know how to hack into the tracking devices?”
“I’ve never seen a piece of technology he can’t get into,” Carmen replied, ignoring the jab at her friend’s age. She took out her phone. “But we may not have enough information at hand to give him.” She dialled.
“What do you need, Red?” his cheerful voice rang out from the phone.
“Player,” she acknowledged. “I wanted to ask if you could figure something out.”
“So you think V.I.L.E.’s using their own Satellite system to work the trackers?”
“Yes, something like that. I’m not able to block them. They'll have to be disabled from somewhere inside V.I.L.E. Sorry, Red.”
“Right, then.” The tightness in her throat – she knew it was what other people described as fear. Having to think on her feet all her life, being raised on an island for thieves and the professors always having her back meant it was unfamiliar. Unnatural.
Swallowing, Carmen squared her shoulders. This needed to be done. “We’ll need to hitch a ride to V.I.L.E. island on a mode of transport already set to go there, as to not arouse suspicion.”
“The closest V.I.L.E. operative to France that I’ve picked up on is sent to land in Poitiers in around two hours,” Player frowned. “That’s right near you!”
“Are you able to access their objective?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. They’re getting harder to intercept. Either they’re following the trackers…or they’ve come for something else entirely.”
“Or both.”
Jules had poked her head out from the door, a few stray toast crumbs attempting to blend in with her freckles. “If they’d simply wanted to capture us, why wouldn’t they have tried last night, when they had the chance? However, I cannot think of anything they would want to steal in Poitiers, and I can presume that we are not the only targets that are being tracked.”
“What exactly are you suggesting?” Shadowsan inquired.
“I think they may be tracking Agent Devineax.”
“And why would they do that? They have already found that he knows minimal about us.”
“Maybe they’re simply taking precautions. After all, V.I.L.E. always has a smokescreen.” Carmen reminded.
“I have known V.I.L.E. far longer than you have, Carmen Sandiego. But I do not think that this is a move they would make.”
“Well – whatever they’re doing, we’ll just need to be extra careful.”
The crew dropped into the nearest clothing store to grab something comfortable to fight in. Carmen picked up a scarlet hoodie. This should do. Now she just needed to find some class of shirt…
“I hope you’re not planning on stealing that.”
Jules stood behind her, hands on her hips, her pale face unnaturally stern.
“Well, seeing as I’m pretty much broke_”
The agent snatched the hoodie from her, marching to the counter before proceeding to hand the cashier fifty-nine dollars. She then came back, handing Carmen the purchased good.
“Well, thank you. I haven’t quite finished, though…”
“As part of my job, there’s only one thing I’m entitled to let you steal.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow. “And what is that?”
Jules’s mouth twitched into a smile. “My heart.”
“Right, the V.I.L.E. operative has just landed. They’re near to the Pont Achard train terminal.”
“Thanks, Player. Just driving there now.” Carmen slid her hands into her pockets. She’d only taken a few of her tools with her – ones that she was sure did not carry a tiny tracker, and to be truly honest, she felt a little exposed without her trench coat. She could only hope that once they had disabled the trackers, she could retrieve her coat from Jules's apartment afterwards. If she made it out.
Seemed like she was going to have no glider on this mission.
"Well, apparently to Agent Devineax, you do seem to get into many conflicts via train." Jules gave her a sly grin. "And, not to be too sentimental, but I do remember our first encounter fondly."
No glider, but Jules is worth more than a hundred gliders.
She slipped her hand into the agent's nimble fingers.
"I regret not having the chance to ask you out for a drink, but I hope passing you the Magna Carta made up for it."
"Oh, trust me, the chance to lay my eyes on such an important artefact was more than adequate. As I've told you, I do love history." Jules moved closer to her, dark eyes sparkling behind her frames. "Although, I must say, those flowers after the caviar incident were also rather lovely."
Carmen smiled.
We can do this.