Chapter Text
Carmen’s feet pounded on the pavement, sacrificing silence for speed in a dangerous tradeoff.
Just a little further.
Tires pursued her. She knew it, whether she could really hear them or was imagining it in some sort of paranoid haze. They were out there. Somewhere.
Fuck. She wasn’t ready.
She had to go.
It felt too familiar.
“CARMEN?!”
The word echoed uselessly down the street. A freckled redhead and a short, equally freckled woman with glasses jogged down the street while the former’s brother searched the city with the van.
“No, no, no. She isn’t ready. She might hurt someone!” Julia half-screamed, dragging her hands through her hair and looking almost surprised when they stayed there longer than she thought, her short cut grown out further than she’d noticed before. “I knew we should have done more when this happened the first time!”
Ivy caught her by her shoulders and stopped her, halting them and looking deeply into Julia’s anxious eyes. “Lia. Look at me.”
She did.
“It’ll be okay. You know that, right? We’ll get her back.”
Ivy’s tone harbored a grounding sense of reality, a deeply authentic thing that made the ex-agent take a breath.
They had a plan.
Then why did every shaky breath Julia take fill her with more dread?
“When…” She caught herself. “If they take her. You- you weren’t there. They’ll….they’ll…”
Ivy nodded. “I know. We know. But we have to.” She paused and glanced at Julia. “Have to keep searching if we’re going to find her in time.”
“Okay.” Julia took a breath. “Okay.”
Julia took Ivy’s hand and squeezed it before they resumed their jog, eyes sharp and looking for Carmen.
Or, more realistically, who was going to try to take her first.
“Target is on the run. Headed down Law Street. Team is in pursuit and distressed but appears to not have a location. We can reach it first.”
A woman smiled.
“It was only a matter of time. I’m looking forward to seeing her again. Arrange that for me, will you?”
The car stopped nearby. She heard it. She saw it.
She slowed.
Any other person, even on a relatively still night like this, wouldn’t have heard the footsteps. Carmen, a master thief (even if she was a rusty one), heard them come closer.
Like the grains of sand falling from the hourglass.
Like the seconds ticking by on a clock.
Like her heart galloping in her chest.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
A cautious little dance, almost. Carmen stopped.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Eleven.
The projectile hurt more than she expected. She stumbled. Gasped. Her vision swam. Her heart sped up despite the thing she’d been shot with wanting very much to slow it down.
Twelve.
Thirteen.
Sturdy hands caught her under the arms as she fell, her legs jelly.
Fourteen.
Fifteen…
She didn’t hear the rest of the steps as they dragged her to the car.
She fell into blinding darkness once more.
“They have her.”
Player’s voice was sudden in their earpieces. Ivy just barely managed to catch Julia as she tripped mid-jog and nearly skidded on her face, and the redhead lowered her to the concrete.
“Oh, gods.” Julia whispered.
Ivy knelt by her for a moment, head down and fists clenched against the shaking. Then a hand moved to Julia’s back.
“We can’t do anything now.”
“We shouldn’t have done this.”
“Lia..”
“Fuck. I know. But…I can’t…” Her voice shook. “It didn’t really sink in until now. She’s really fucking going back there. I can’t help but feel we’re…sending her to her grave.”
Ivy drew in a shaky breath. “I know.” She offered Julia a hand as she pushed herself heavily to her feet. The ex-agent took it. She leaned into Ivy’s shoulder.
“Please. Let’s go home.”
Ivy nodded. “Are you okay to walk? Zack’s chasing the…well. Them. He won’t be back until he’s lost their car convincingly enough.”
“It’s not too far.” Julia breathed. “I’ll make it.”
Base was quiet.
“Everything went as planned.” Tamara said. “Player and I watched everything. Everyone was convincing. The transfer went well. Zack lost the vehicle as planned. And hopefully the Administration did and will believe that Carmen is still split between herself and her evil programming and that she escaped us again.”
“I want to see.” Julia said quietly after a moment. “When they took her.”
Tamara furrowed her brow, then glanced at Player on the laptop next to her. He nodded after a small hesitation, and in a few seconds his face was replaced with a silent, grainy video from security camera footage, paused with Carmen just barely in the frame, alone.
“I just barely managed to get this before it was wiped from existence. …Julia…you’re sure?”
Julia stared at the laptop. “I’m sure.”
The video played.
Carmen ran down the street. A sleek black car pulled up behind her, the nose barely in frame. Carmen slowed to a walk, her head barely turning toward the sound but turning nonetheless. Her expression was unreadable in the poor resolution.
Julia barely felt her fists ball, or Ivy’s hand on her shoulder.
The agent of the Administration was tall and strongly built but somehow entirely faceless as they exited the car and took a few long, confident strides towards the thief.
Carmen stopped.
“What are they holding?” Julia said quietly, her eyes fixed on the agent’s hand.
Carmen stopped. The agent advanced further, raised it-
And pulled the-
And Carmen’s eyes widened as she-
And fell-
And was dragged…
“They…they…” Julia’s hands fell forward onto the table.
“Julia. We’re-”
“ They shot her .”
“We’re almost certain it was a tr-”
“ALMOST?” Julia spun, looking at the silent congregation in the living room, all either looking at the floor or the laptop or her. “They might have….she might have…”
Ivy caught her shoulders again and made her look at her.
“It was a tranq, Lia. Listen. Did you see any blood?”
She was silent.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Was there any reason for the Administration to have waited us out all this time just to kill her?”
“No.”
“She’s okay, Lia. You hear me?”
Ivy’s voice grounded her.
“...Yes.”
Julia slumped forward and Ivy hugged her. “God. I know. I’m scared too.” Ivy whispered. “You have no idea. But once this is over we’ll be done. Free of Carlotta Valdez forever. Okay?”
Julia choked back a sob and immediately lost the battle with another one. “What if she doesn’t come back?”
Ivy paused and tightened her hug, glancing at the group and steering Julia toward the kitchen. “‘What ifs’ won’t help, okay? I’m going to make us some tea. Yeah?”
“You’re terrible at making tea..”
“Alright, British girl, instruct me in your ways, then.”
Chase sighed as soon as they disappeared around the wall. “What of Ms. Sandiego now, then?”
“She is still moving.” Shadow-san reported while Player and Tamara nodded. “The tracker should work, and be untraceable by anyone but us. Zack should be back any minute now, as well.”
“God help that girl.” Tamara murmured. “She’ll need it.”
Carmen blinked awake, struggling to fight off the familiar, unwelcome grogginess. It reminded her of…
No.
She squeezed her eyes shut again. Every part of her felt sore and weak- even more so than usual- and the small white room she was in was practically blinding. She found herself in a simple white jumpsuit to match it and could immediately feel that she had nothing else on her.
The room was small, clean, and white all around, except for a mirror she could guess was two way glass. It was otherwise filled with only a bed, a toilet and sink. No desk. No bloody hearts or stars. The door had no handle and was sealed tightly, barely a seam on the wall.
The tranquilizer had been more accurate than gas, she supposed.
Effective enough to get her back to her mother.
Her hands started shaking as she slowly sat up. Her heart beat in her chest. The memories of metallic taste and bloody memories and cold white, white for days, weeks, months, nightmares she’d lived through and had and was in again-
She knew that she’d be monitored at all times.
A voice came through a hidden speaker.
Her mother’s voice.
"Welcome back."