Chapter Text
It was a Monday morning, and Julia just entered her office at Oxford University. She missed being able to go by the boulangerie every morning to grab a coffee and a croissant before going to work, but it felt nice to be closer to home. After hanging her blazer and taking her laptop out her bag she let out a sigh. When she was offered the position of research assistant at the University, she should have known it would also involve teaching World History 101 to very uninterested students who saw her lectures as nothing more than “dull facts about boring things.” Nevertheless, she enjoyed every extra minute of her day burying herself in her current research topic.
“Good morning Ms. Argent! Are you ready for your class this morning?” exclaimed a fellow colleague as he walked through the office door.
“Ready enough I suppose,” she responded.
“Well I brought you those scrolls you requested. Hopefully it gets you one step closer to finding a solution to this strange puzzle.”
“Thank you so much,” Julia replied. “I will take a look at them and return them to you as soon as possible.”
Looking through the scrolls she couldn’t help but think of la femme rouge. The history and secrets the text hid could reveal another clue to one of the accident world’s best kept secrets: the pharaoh’s jewels. She just knew Carmen would listen to her talk about her research for days.
“If I did stay with ACME at the very least, I would know what she was up to and I could try to prevent ACME from ruining everything,” Julia thought to herself. “Then again, I wasn’t much help in Stockholm… it’s probably best this way.”
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Carmen Sandiego was at HQ with the rest of her team when Player called to brief them about his latest findings.
“Morning Player, what do you have for us this time?” Carmen asked.
“Hey Red. Well it’s definitely a big one… probably VILE’s biggest caper ever.”
“Ah man it can’t any crazier than when I drove that car out of a plane in Dubai!” Zach rebutted while taking a bite out of some leftover pizza.
Carmen rolled her eyes. “Where are we off to then?”
“It seems VILE is targeting something that may or may not exist. It hasn’t been found, but rumors of its existence have been around for centuries; it’s the pharaoh’s jewels,” Player explained.
“So, Egypt then? Book us a flight then Player.”
“Not so fast, Red. The problem is we don’t even know what we are looking for. Rumor has it is that the pharaoh’s jewels are hidden behind several traps and puzzles deep inside one of the pyramids. To this day no one has been able to find even the first entrance to the labyrinth.
“What’s so special about these jewels anyway?” Ivy asked. “I’ve seen several pieces of Egyptian jewelry already in museums.”
Player pulled up the information he found on his second monitor. “Well according to legend, these hidden jewels include many precious stones that were not found commonly in Egypt back then, including diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. Most jewelry at the time was made of lapis lazuli and turquoise. Pharaoh’s over the centuries were said to store their most precious items in this hidden location.”
“We are going to need an expert to help us out; someone extremely familiar with the legend, how to translate hieroglyphs quickly, and knows their way around the pyramids,” he concluded.
Carmen looked around the room. “Well it seems we are a bit short on ancient history experts on the team.”
“Well lucky for you I found one already- a new researcher and assistant professor at Oxford University.”
“Oh, great Player!” Carmen said sarcastically. “We can just take them and convince them to join us before the mysterious evil people get to it first!”
“Well um…actually it’s someone you know. It’s Julia Argent.”
Carmen froze. “Jules? She’s not working for ACME anymore?!” Carmen couldn’t believe it at first, but it all made sense. When she didn’t see her with Devineaux she just assumed she was working on gathering intel instead of doing field work.
“Do you think she would help us?” Player asked.
“Well she has helped you several times before on previous capers. I don’t see why she wouldn’t want to help now. Go ahead and book me a flight then Player. The sooner I ask the better.”
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Inside the lecture hall Julia prepared presentation slides. Everything appeared to be in order. She looked around the auditorium counting how many students bothered to show up on a Monday morning. As she was counting, she noticed one student she did not recognize with a red hoodie pulled other their head.
“No, it can’t be.” She gasped to herself. She closed her eyes and opened them again. In that instant, they disappeared. “Maybe it was a student from an earlier class,” she thought. “I know that can’t be who I thought it was.”
Julia returned to her office straight after class ended. “Was that really Carmen? What on earth would she be doing here?” she kept repeating to herself. As Julia unlocked her office door and entered the small space, she heard the sound of the door immediately closing and locking behind her. She froze in place knowing full well who it had to have been.
“Hey Jules,” a voice purred from behind her.
“Ms. Sandiego! What are-“
“I was able to catch your lecture on ancient Egypt today. It was rather fascinating,” Carmen exclaimed while interrupting the poor confused Julia in the process.
“Well thank you, it’s currently what my research topic is on, so I’ve become quite knowledge in the subject.”
“I see.” she replied.
Julia looked at Carmen. “I think you and I both know you didn’t come here just to see an undergraduate level history lecture.”
“You’re right. I came to ask for your help.”
“Our records indicate that VILE is prepared to steal something so valuable that the combined value of all the artifacts they have attempted to steal in the past does not even equate to the value of what they are planning on taking. I know you have extensive knowledge about this ancient treasure.”
“The pharaoh’s jewels,” Julia gasped putting her hand over mouth over the shock of VILE attempting to find and rob a treasure still unknown to the world.
“I not even certain it even exists! I’ve been looking into it for a while now, even when I was still on with ACME. There’s still so much unknown. Even with access now to the thousands of scrolls and manuscripts I am nowhere near close to cracking the code to determine its location inside the pyramid…” She began to panic. The thought of VILE getting to this possible treasure before anyone else brought her to her knees.
Carmen reached out and grabbed her hands. “It’s okay Jules. Everything will be alright. We will get to it before VILE does.”
“We?”
“Well yes. You and me. And well the rest of my team.” Carmen replied.
Julia hung her head. “I…I just don’t think I can help…”
“Why not?” Carmen asked.
“I quit ACME because I couldn’t bear the thought of something terrible happening to you again. If it wasn’t for me, you would not have ended up nearly freezing to death in Stockholm. Getting in involved with you again will just have ACME even hotter on your trail. You are an absolutely wonderful and amazing woman Ms. Sandiego. I know you can overcome any obstacle in your path.” Julia tried to prevent herself from tearing up, but the emotions were too strong. “I just can’t help you.”
“Jules…I….”
“I just have one question… why did you quit ACME?” Carmen asked.
“My heart just wasn’t in my work anymore…,” Julia replied. She squeezed Carmen’s hand before letting go.
“If you could excuse me, I must prepare for my next class in a couple of hours.”
“I understand. Best of luck with your new career. I hope you are enjoying it more than your previous one.”
In a flash, Carmen left her office. She was thinking about what Carmen said. “Am I really enjoying what I am doing?” She kept thinking of all the amazing adventures she previously went on, from the train in Mumbai to Fashion Fest in Milan. All the adventures that first came to mind had Carmen right by her side. She looked at her desk and saw a strange phone and a note. She picked up the phone and read the note.
“If you ever need me or change your mind, dial this number on this phone only. I’ll be there for you.” – C.S.
Despite it being well after the university’s closing hours, Julia was still studying the scrolls. Translating the hieroglyphs made very little sense. Perhaps it’s some sort of ancient cypher that must be solved? Another piece of the puzzle missing again. She sighed as she started to pack up her things. She stared at the phone Carmen left her on her desk. “Maybe I should have agreed to help her,” she thought. “What use is there just studying the information when I really should be going to the actual site to do some field research? Maybe I’ll call her tomorrow…at the very least I can provide her with the little knowledge I know about the treasure.” She stashed her phone inside her secret inner pocket of her blazer.
After the long walk home, she finally reached her apartment and unlocked the door, and quickly closed it behind her.
“Well, it’s about time you finally showed up!” she heard a woman say.
Before she had time to scream, her mouth was covered with a cloth and was knocked out.
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“Hey Red, any luck with Julia today?” Player asked.
“Unfortunately, no. She didn’t want to help,” she sighed. “Well I have a feeling she did actually want to help, but something was holding her back. I always knew she loved history, but I think she loves the physical exploration of it just as much. I just wish we could have talked a little longer… I think I could have convinced her to come with me. I just hope she’s alright.”
“You know any information would be better than no information. Maybe you can try to ask her some questions after her research tomorrow?” he asked.
“Sounds good to me. Well Player I better get some sleep. Talk tomorrow.”
“Good night Red.”
Carmen however could not sleep that night. “VILE could be on their way to Egypt right now. Then again, they probably don’t have the information they need yet to determine its exact location either,” she reassured herself.
In that second, the worst possibility clicked into her head.
“Player, I think VILE has Jules!” she yelled.
After locating Julia’s home address, Carmen opens the unlocked door. Papers scattered everywhere. “This cannot be happening,” Carmen said aloud. “This is all my fault! I should have known this would happen! If needed Jules’s help of course VILE would need it too! I should have warned her, but I didn’t want to worry. I swear if they did or do anything to her, I’ll…”
“You got a flight to Cairo that leaves in 2 hours,” Player said.