Chapter Text
What do we know?" Chief said tensely, her very real heels clacking over the floor as she paced. Agent Castro spoke.
"Carmen Sandiego and her two accomplices broke out of our cells at 1:27a.m. last night."
"And why weren't the cameras being monitored?" Chief questioned.
"Security has never needed to watch the cells, Chief; an old habit, unfortunately. They were...slacking. Besides, there were two fully trained and armed guards outside the exit to the fortified cells. Still investigating how she managed to get out."
Chief nodded as a signal to continue.
"On the way Sandiego encountered Agents Davies and Argent. Unfortunately, we do not have footage from this area, but our next frame shows Sandiego holding Argent at gunpoint and taking an unconscious Davies outside, before loading them both into an awaiting vehicle and driving away."
"Any sign of their location?"
"Working on it. It has been ten hours since their kidnap. We don't know what Carmen has done before, however their driver was the man Devineaux was tortured by in Poitiers. We can assume hostile."
Chief grimaced and pulled out her pen.
"Agent Zari," she said into the microphone. "Gather a team. We need to get our agents back."
A pause. "We'll have our dart guns ready and loaded, Chief."
"Not this time." Chief said grimly. The room stilled. A few agents glanced up at her sharp outline with wide eyes.
Chief's resigned fury caught in her yellow irises. "Sandiego has kidnapped two people and we have reason to believe she could be torturing them. Get your guns. Your real ones."
--
Jules, dressed now in some of Carmen's things, had happily kept them supplied with coffee as Carmen had talked; she'd taken right to the base and had insisted she take care of everyone.
Gray listened without interrupting, wide eyed, a little disbelieving, but...everything clicking. His original hostility gone. Tiny, fuzzy wisps of memory attaching themselves to little hidden folds of his mind that were slowly coming to light.
She started with what had happened a few hours ago. Then she went to the year Gray couldn't remember.
When Carmen finished with New Zealand, it wasn't her Gray was looking at. His mind had skipped ahead to their next meeting. The ambush. He was looking at Julia.
"ACME didn't trust me, did they? That's why none of them came forward to help me...arrest Carmen. Chief looked at me like..." He paused. "Were you told to keep an eye on me, Julia?"
Julia nodded slowly. Gray didn't look all that surprised now. "VILE didn't trust me enough to let me keep my memories. ACME didn't trust me. You probably don't trust me now, any of you. And why should you?"
Carmen leaned forward. "Gray. Our relationship has been...awful. You tried to kill someone in front of me. Then you tried to kill me. I know you don't remember but it was still you. I acknowledge that I lied to you- for your safety, though maybe I shouldn't have. I also just took you here against your will. But on your half its been nothing but backstabbing and injury since that night in Morocco."
Gray looked away. It was true in the part of his life he could remember. What about when he had been a fully trained murderous criminal? He could have gone with her. Defected. She would have offered that night if he hadn't...been like he was. Dead set on the ways of VILE. Hot shame washed over him. He liked her. Really, though, all he'd ever done was hurt her.
"But." Carmen's voice surprised him. "I'm willing to give it one last chance. Build a new relationship on neutral ground and trust. I'm hoping we can work things out. Try not to arrest or fight each other at every meeting. Will you try with me?"
Gray chuckled weakly. "I'll try. I...thank you. For giving me one last chance."
Ivy piped up on the couch. "Hey, you're not going to go all Crackle on us and murder us in our beds, are you?"
"Oh, probably not." Graham said lightly. At the looks, he hastily added, "Kidding! I don't remember being...well, a murderer. I hope...I hope I never do. I want that side of me to be gone forever."
Little tendrils flashed through his head; was it Carmen's vivid description, or did he have a vague image, a small memory of being on that train with her? A faint twinkling city passing under him when suddenly someone slammed into him from behind with a cry of...the memory shot away before he could grasp the words. And now his head was really starting to hurt.
When he looked up, Julia was coming over to get the empty coffee cups. Before she could grab any, though, Carmen reached upwards and pulled her down onto the couch. The agent landed on top of her with a yelp and pushed herself off. "Carmen!" Her cheeks were pink.
"Come on, Jules, you're a guest, relax! Let someone else clean up." The thief grinned.
Graham watched with a twinge of envy before standing up. He had to earn Carmen's trust and respect back. "I can do it." He volunteered, getting the coffee cups under Shadowsan's suspicious eye.
"Thanks, Graham." Carmen said. As Graham retreated to the kitchen, the red thief turned to Julia.
"So I take it you recognized Zack in Australia. You worked with him and Ivy in Milan."
Julia looked a bit guilty. "Well. I did. Also, ACME has a police sketch of Shadowsan from Devineaux's memory. It is amazingly accurate for the state he was in."
Carmen whistled. "That man's facial memory is off the charts."
They both smiled slightly with the shared knowledge that Julia never really had been entirely on ACME's side.
"I was planning on resigning, but then the new guns got introduced, and, well, one thing led to another. I never found a good time. And then you- er- invited me here. Does it count as a resignation if I live with the organization's main target?"
Carmen playfully flipped the hood of her hoodie, which Julia was wearing, over her head. "If you want it to."
Julia blushed again, keeping the hood up; Carmen was not ignorant of her own charm. Ivy, Jules, Graham. She'd gotten them all to blush at some point. A fact that annoyed her mechanic, mostly because of the teasing it resulted in from Zack.
Graham poked his head out from their little kitchen area, drying his hands. "Hey, where are we, by the way?"
Carmen pursed her lips. "I know this is hypocritical of me, considering the big sappy talk on trust we just had, but I'm going to hold off on telling you for a bit. Until I know I can trust you and you won't bring the whole of some organization that's after me or another crashing down on us."
Graham nodded. "Understandable."
Have a nice day." Zack muttered, and then laughed at himself. Carmen, of course, looked incredibly confused; as was always the case with meme references.
Carmen stood to break the awkward silence afterwards. "I'm going to work out, be in my room if anyone needs before I go up to the gym."
The room nodded; everything was awkward, awkward, awkward as Carmen disappeared down the hall.
"So..." Graham said awkwardly.
"So." Ivy said back.
"How did you guys meet Carmen? You never- either of you ever date her?"
At this Zack, who had been drinking water, promptly spat it out like a cartoon character and Ivy burst out laughing while patting a laughing and coughing Zack on the back.
The others laughed awkwardly with them.
"That's a good one!" Ivy choked after a bit, wiping a tear from her eye. "Date her. Carmen has less dating experience than a snail."
"Oh," Graham smiled awkwardly.
When Carmen's door opened, it was Julia and Graham who nearly choked. Carmen was in her workout gear, one toned arm raised to gather her hair into a pony tail. "Everyone okay out here?" Carmen laughed, making sure she got nods before entering the elevator.
As soon as the doors closed, Ivy grinned at the very red pair of agents. "Less dating experience than a snail," she amended, "but maybe she could use some." The redhead grinned and winked before getting up and trotting off to the garage, her brother close behind.
If Graham and Julia's faces were red before, it was nothing compared to now.
Shadowsan sighed.
--
"Chief!" The call was urgent and direct with a tone that had to mean they'd found something. Chief was by the agent's side immediately.
"They took a flight from Seattle to...San Diego, California." Agent Castro said disbelievingly, showing security footage.
"She's playing with us." Chief growled. "Status of our agents?"
"Agent Davies seemed unresponsive still; condition unknown. Agent Argent was blindfolded on the drive to the building they are currently in, which we are now monitoring."
"Zari." Chief barked. "Get your team to San Diego. We need to get them back."
"Permission to use lethal force if needed?"
"Granted."
--
Carmen had worked out for a few hours and then disappeared into a back room with the Bostonians, Shadowsan supervising. But Julia was looking for...
"Graham?"
He was sitting on the couch, head in his hands. She sat next to him.
"I-I'm getting a memory. I'm holding something and there's a police officer in front of me." His voice went low and choked. "Julia. I-I think I killed him."
Julia's eyes widened. "How do you feel about that?"
Gray glared. "Well bloody awful, don't I?" He groaned.
Julia smiled a little. "Well, feeling regret for it is the first step, right? It would be worse if you were okay with it."
"But that was me. Is this me right now? Who's talking? What if I'm just a copy, my real self just waiting to get out and hurt people?"
To this Julia had no response. Graham shook his head. "I'm going to go lie down. Maybe I can escape my own brain if I sleep."
Julia stayed on the couch. Not knowing what to do.
A few minutes later, Carmen poked her head in the room, fresh bandages on. "Have you taken care of your burns recently? I mean I know not recently recently because- well. But Ivy has everything out if you and Gray wanted to.." She gestured at the bandages on herself.
Julia got up. "I think Graham's taking resting...he's having a bit of an issue with some stuff he's remembering. But I'll go if that's alright."
Carmen nodded and directed Julia back to where the rest of the team were already before sitting in a chair at the bar. Thinking about the harmless lies she had told ACME instead of the truth when they had interrogated her. Wondering if she should have helped them out.
So absorbed in her thoughts, she did not notice the armed agents encircling the house until they rammed in the door.
--
Zari signaled to her agents. Time to go in. They nodded and one stepped forward and rammed the door open with his shoulder. The agents poured in, guns out.
Sandiego was sitting near the entrance; with the flurry of motion she stumbled backwards off her stool and backed into the open space behind her. Her expression went from shock and anger to cold fear as her gaze settled on the guns.
She gasped quietly. "ACME doesn't use lethal weapons." She said disbelievingly. Zari was reminded of just how young the thief really was as she levelled her weapon at her.
"Just because we don't doesn't mean we can't. You kidnapped two high-ranking law enforcement agents and are working with a man we know has a history of torture." She raised her voice to ring hard and loud through the quiet warehouse. "I'm authorized to use lethal force."
To Carmen's dismay her team came pounding down the hall at this, each skidding to a stop right before they went fully into the room, looking at the force of agents. "Carm!" Zack and Ivy yelped in unison, Ivy putting her hands over her mouth.
Shadowsan's eyes widened and Carmen didn't think she'd ever seen him so afraid before. She was reminded in full force of the story Shadowsan had told her of the day her father had been shot- this was how he had died, staring down the barrel of a gun in the hands of of a police officer. She shook herself out of the memory, making sure her hands were visible.
Some of the agents shifted their weapons to her team. "Don't move or your leader goes down with a bullet in her forehead." Zari snarled. A new fear shot through Carmen's heart- what if they shot one of her team?
"Do what she says. Make sure your hands are visible. They just want Gray and Jules." Carmen said clearly. The three followed her orders, shooting glances at the guns worriedly.
At this point, Julia herself came out and, by coincidence, Graham did too, roused from his bed by the yells.
"Agent Davies! Agent Argent! Come over here. You're safe."
Quite contrary to what the agents had expected, both were looking shocked and scared, rather than relieved. "What are you doing?" Graham yelled. "You could kill someone!"
"That is rather the point. We were afraid you two would be brain damaged in a basement somewhere by now, but clearly we found you in time."
A few of Zari's agents looked uneasy. Their comrades were uninjured- actually, well taken care of, it seemed- and roaming the house; they looked more upset at the intrusion and guns than their situation.
"Lin-" One of the agents, Zari's former partner, addressed her. "I think we may have this wrong."
"Shut up," she snapped. She directed her attention to a still motionless and white Carmen. "Our task is to bring them home and arrest or otherwise subdue the others."
She released the safety on her gun. "How about this. Get over here now or I pull the trigger."
The immediate reaction was a scream from someone and a jump of motion as both Graham and Julia launched themselves separate directions. Julia protectively in front of Carmen and Graham, arms spread, in front of her team.
"Step aside! You're confused." Zari snarled, her gun wavering for a second before dropping.
"No!" Graham hissed. "They're all- well- its complicated, but they aren't dangerous. Carmen- she- I-"
He glanced at Julia.
"We love her." She finished quietly. "We have for a while."
Zari's eyes widened. "No you don't. You can't." she looked around wildly for a second before raising her gun again swiftly, aiming-
Her ex-partner launched himself at her and ripped her arm up and away from Carmen; a shot fired harmlessly into the ceiling as they struggled before the other agents joined in and pinned her down.
There was a pause in which the air seemed frozen, and then motion broke free.
Carmen threw herself on Jules in a hug. "That was the most stupid thing you could have done never do that again." She said in a rush, before kissing the agent on the cheek. The thief turned to Gray. "And you protected my team; for that I will always be grateful." She kissed him on the cheek too, leaving two very red agents as she turned to Zari's ex-partner.
"We were authorized to use lethal force if needed. I don't know what the hell is happening here but it isn't kidnapping and torture." He said. He paused. "Never thought she'd go that far."
Carmen nodded. "We can work things out peacefully. Later." He nodded in affirmative, his eye still suspicious but no longer harboring the hard fury it had had when they'd broken down the door.
She turned away, to her team, and hugged each one tightly.
"I was so scared." She said quietly. "That they were going to hurt one of you."
Zack chuckled weakly. "You were the one with, like, five guns trained directly on your forehead."
Carmen laughed a little. "I have been in better situations than that." She smiled a little. Then she went back over to Graham and Jules.
The superthief paused, her face now red in addition to her clothing. "Did you both mean that? What you said?"
They both nodded. She smiled gently. "I love you both too. But...I'm not sure if I can do relationships."
"Yeah." Graham said awkwardly. "Crime fighting and such."
Julia nodded.
"You could help me. Join my team. Both of you would be valuable assets and...I would enjoy your company." Carmen said in a bit of a rush.
Julia's eyes widened, and she smiled. "I'd like that."
Gray nodded. "So would I."
The thief grinned gently. "Well, that's settled then."
ACME would be another issue later. But right now it was just the three of them in the moment, relieved and happy.
"We've made a lot of choices in our lives..." Gray started. Julia finished with a smile.
"...but I think this is the best one."