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Carmen staggered into the wall and let herself slide down it, clutching her side and biting back a groan. Shadow-san could have left a little later, she found herself complaining in her mind, highly regretting her confident order to have Zack and Ivy meet her at rendezvous.
It had seemed like a good idea before she started staggering through a city crawling with police. The lack of tools and the likely broken ribs didn’t help. Neither, probably, did the mile walk she’d trekked before, although Shadowsan had been helping her walk then. She’d barely made it to “eh, close enough to rendezvous'' undetected without passing out.
Everything hurt. So. Bad.
She’d always sort of underestimated Brunt’s strength…or maybe her willingness to hurt her. Clearly she didn’t give a flying horse shit about brutally murdering her, and now Carmen was bleeding in a dark French alley for that particular misjudgment.
Her finger touched her ear. The earrings had given out after her short conversation with Player on the rooftop, battered along with the rest of her but less durable. She’d ditched them, the cracked and shattered diamonds doing nothing for her anymore.
So distracted was she that she didn’t notice the shadow approaching her alleyway until the person attached to it came fully into view. They were short haired and short statured, but the way they were framed in the dim light like a portrait cast their face in shadow, allowing for no further details to be discerned.
Carmen’s eyes snapped towards the movement- any sound they made was masked by the wailing sirens that penetrated every nook and cranny of the city- and she shrank into the shadows, not trusting herself to move silently and quickly enough to hide or run. She hid the VILE drive behind her.
Please pass. Please pass.
They did not pass. The short glance they cast into the alley was sharp enough to find Carmen slumped against the brick, and they were apparently not the sort of person who was too afraid or not kind enough to check a potential body in a dark alley.
“Oh my goodness, are you alright?” she said, stepping towards Carmen, who swore silently. As soon as she got close enough, they recognized each other immediately.
Carmen recognized Julia, the agent from the train in India she had handed the Magna Cartas off to, and who she had a moderately strong notion she could trust but wasn’t fully willing to right now, injured, alone, trapped, and with unknown dangers around.
Julia recognized Carmen Sandiego, young wanted superthief who had given her the Magna Cartas in India. Who she thought she could trust, who she’d thought was good, but who she wasn’t entirely sure of after the events of tonight, which included Chief’s testimony that she’d seen Carmen standing over Devineaux’s unconscious body.
Who, despite what she’d heard tonight, Julia still very, very much wanted to believe in.
And who looked like she was in an extremely significant amount of pain, from the still-bleeding scratches that riddled her arms, legs, and face to the bruises blooming basically everywhere there was skin showing to the way she clutched her ribs and half-winced every time she drew in a breath.
Both stared at each other, waiting for their silent, still mirror to make a move, Carmen tense as a coiled spring.
“What…what happened to you?” Julia finally asked softly. Carmen’s eyes flashed warily and she glanced at the dead end she’d stupidly chosen in her haze of exhaustion and pain, hand rubbing the place on her arm where her grappling hook would usually be in her now-destroyed coat.
“Can I answer with ‘long story?’” Carmen said hoarsely, eyes returning warily to Julia’s face. She tried to push herself off the ground, to give some semblance of strength or a fight if needed. She couldn’t be sure Julia wouldn’t call for back-up or pull a weapon on her, especially not after what she’d probably heard tonight.
Julia stepped quickly toward her, hand outstretched. Carmen skittered backwards, only half-upright and fighting a cloud of pain the sudden movement brought on. “Don’t-”
Julia halted immediately. “No- please. I wasn’t…please don’t get up. You look…you look…”
Like shit. Carmen finished with a thought, still blinking away the black spots that rushed her vision. She paused for a second, and then reluctantly lowered herself to the concrete again. Hurting herself or passing out wouldn’t help anything, it was true.
To Julia, Carmen’s reactions were those of an injured wild animal, a cardinal with a broken wing cornered by something that it couldn’t be sure wasn’t a cat. Julia kneeled and looked Carmen in the eyes worriedly.
She’s scared, she realized. She’s scared of me- of what I might do. And I don’t blame her.
Carmen very slightly relaxed at the gesture, though not much. Her eyes still flicked in a frightened way to-
To her jacket.
Oh. Immediately Julia began to remove her outer suit jacket- slowly, slowly- and placed it lining up so Carmen could see its contents. She placed her phone on it as well.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said softly, as though speaking to a child. “Or call anything in. I just want to understand. To help you.”
Carmen looked at the pile of Julia’s belongings and a little of the worry in her brow eased.
“I like your shirt.” She said with a small nod and a neutral half-smile that felt like a peace offering.
Julia looked down at her red blouse and smiled back. Carmen’s face sobered and she looked Julia directly in the eye.
“I’m…” She took a breath and blinked. “I’m making the decision to trust you.” The words were a warning and an oath. Jules nodded.
“Thank you. Can I…?”
Carmen nodded and Jules scooted closer to her until their faces were only a few feet apart. Jules drew in a sharp breath as she got a closer look at Carmen’s injuries and Carmen looked at her almost like a kid afraid of getting in trouble.
Julia reached for her back pocket without thinking- immediately Carmen’s tight grip closed around her arm and the thief’s eyes were alarmed again.
“Oh, gods. I’m sorry. Handkerchief. I wanted to…you can get it yourself if you need. I didn’t mean to…”
Carmen’s grip slackened- or maybe her shaking hands couldn’t hold her that tightly anymore- and the thief’s hand snaked deftly around to her back pocket and withdrew a handkerchief with so little disturbance that Jules wouldn’t have known it was happening had she not been watching it happen.
“I take it pickpocket is part of your job description?” Jules asked with quiet good-naturedness. Carmen half smiled, half grimaced. The thief brought the cloth up to her nose, eyes sharply on Julia, and then she handed it back to her with a smile that was slightly less grimace.
“Chloroform doesn’t seem your style, but I had to check.” Carmen said almost apologetically.
“I understand. I wish you’d trust me, though.”
Jules brought the handkerchief to a bleeding cut on Carmen’s cheek and Carmen winced. “I’m sorry. But, to say it directly, you’re a cop. I’m not often quick to trust cops.”
“Well, to put it directly, you’re a wanted criminal, and I’m not often quick to trust wanted criminals, but we both trusted each other before and I think we can again. Especially since I just found you extremely injured in an alleyway and you don’t have much choice.”
Carmen blinked and her eyes went softly to the floor. “You trusted me?”
“I chose to trust that you were not the one to have assaulted Chase tonight. I trusted you enough to leave you alone on the train to India instead of running after you when I couldn’t contact my partner. I’ve trusted that you were not really a malevolent thief and were instead stealing for some greater purpose.” Jules steadily avoided her eyes as she pressed the now bloody handkerchief to another oozing scrape. “Did I place my trust correctly?”
Carmen smiled and looked away. “I did always get the impression you were smart,” she half joked, no longer as tense.
“Next to my partner, anyone would look smart.” Jules said under her breath, and she was surprised when Carmen caught the words and laughed.
And then immediately doubled over with an involuntary whimper of pain, clutching her ribs.
“Are you okay?” Jules gasped, reaching to catch the back of Carmen’s head and guide it safely to rest against the wall while Carmen sucked in pained breaths through her teeth.
“I’m fine.” Carmen gritted her teeth.
“No, you are not.” Jules said, unzipping the top of Carmen’s jumpsuit and gasping at the rainbow of terrifyingly large, dark bruises that encircled Carmen’s torso like an anti-life preserver. Her fingers brushed them and Carmen winced. “Holy shit.”
“That’s fine, just rip my shirt open, my bra needed some fresh air anyway.” Carmen said through clenched teeth, eyes still squeezed shut and a nauseous look competing with the agonized one.
“Ack, sorry!” Jules yelped and she rezipped the jumpsuit quickly. “But, gods! Ms. Sandiego, you need to get medical care! You’re severely injured- those ribs have to be cracked if not fully broken by the looks of it-”
“They’re broken-” Carmen muttered.
“-and I’d like to know what the hell you did to get like this!”
“Mommy issues?”
“Ms. Sandiego!”
“What?”
“Come on. You need a hospital.”
“No. I can’t.”
“Ms. Sandiego, please-"
"Call me Carmen."
Jules ignored her. "-This will only get worse if you don’t get medical care. I could speak to my boss, get her to back off-”
“No. You couldn’t.” Carmen’s voice got firmer and she opened her eyes. “I’m not going to a hospital. They’re all watched by ACME and VILE and Interpol and I don’t need that right now. I have a plan in place. I can handle myself.”
Jules looked at her regretfully. “Are you certain?”
Carmen looked at her steadily and nodded. “Will you help me up?”
Jules’s face showed nothing but reluctance but she reached out a hand to slowly pull Carmen off the floor, trying not to react to the groans of pain the thief failed to stifle. When the thief was fully and entirely (shakily) upright, she didn’t let go of the agent’s hand.
Whether it was for support or not, Jules could not be entirely sure.
In the thief's other hand, she held a small box that Jules hadn't noticed before, pressed against her leg so she couldn't see any details. Whatever it was, it seemed important to her, so Jules didn't question it.
“I’m sorry to ask you, but would you mind keeping this on the down low?” Carmen said, voice faint and tired but entirely serious.
“Of course I will.” Jules said, helping the thief walk to the entrance of the alleyway. “You need time to recover if you’re to rise against VILE again, and having ACME breathing down your neck- and mine, for that matter- wouldn’t help much.”
“Thank you.” Carmen breathed, leaning against the wall and holding her torso with eyes closed. “If you see a red car driving around, would you tell me?”
“There’s one coming up now.”
Carmen opened her eyes. “Ah, yeah. That’s my ride. I guess it’s my fault for collapsing before I got to rendezvous.”
Jules’s eyes widened. “You what?”
Carmen just looked at her with a faint smile. “Don’t worry about it.”
The agent decided to drop the subject and focused on the car the thief was waving down. In the driver’s and passenger…
“Are….are you in that car? Twice?”
“Oh. They haven’t taken off their decoy disguises yet. No…just a little red herring trick I pulled, to apparently little success.”
“What happened-?” Jules tried again.
Carmen shook her head. “I’m sorry. The less you know, the better. Devineaux learned that lesson tonight.” She closed her eyes and grimaced. “And I didn’t do a very good job protecting him.”
Jules exhaled quietly. The little nuggets of information she garnered from the response were as valuable as gold, but she could see she wouldn’t get anything else. The car pulled to a halt in front of them.
“Carm!”
“We were worried!”
Voices chimed from the interior, but the chatter died when they saw Jules supporting Carmen next to her.
“Are you…”
“Everything’s okay.” Carmen responded, flashing a very charming smile at Jules. “Jules helped me out.”
“Alrighty.” Zack said cheerfully, while Ivy looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. Carmen turned to Jules.
“Listen. I won’t forget this. Thank you.”
Jules nodded. “Be careful, Carmen. If you die I may have to kill you.”
Carmen grinned. “No promises, but I’ll try. Be careful getting home. It’s dark.”
The thief turned and got into the backseat gingerly, rolling down the window as she closed the door.
“ Jusqu'à la prochaine fois, Jules.”
“Until next time.” The agent smiled, and the car pulled away.