Chapter Text
Carmen feels like she has a pretty good right to be annoyed. It's been so long since she's been able to get some peace and quiet, that an intruder intruding on it is nothing if not frustrating. Especially if that intruder makes "being annoying" her middle name. Carmen hasn't thought that Paper Star could get more nerve wracking than she was, but she has been terribly mistaken.
She's there when Carmen goes out to throw out the trash. She's hanging from a tree when Carmen decides to take a walk. She's here when Carmen opens the door to her balcony for some fresh air. Always sitting crossed-legged, or at least stationary, and always fiddling around with origami.
"What do you want?" Carmen demands, running her fingers through her hair. Paper Star hums non committedly, and chooses not to answer. Just like every other time they've done this. She just. Won't. Leave.
And Carmen doesn't know why. Did dismantling VILE somehow fill Paper Star with a determination to make the rest of Carmen's life a living hell? Did she just randomly decide to become her shadow?
Something tells Carmen that those are definitely not it, but the thought crosses her mind anyways. If Paper Star isn't going to explain herself, Carmen has no choice but to fill in the gaps herself.
Kind of hard to do that when Paper Star doesn't say anything. She just hums and shows up the next day, or the next week. The pattern is unorthodox and indecipherable, but Carmen knows one thing for sure: Paper Star keeps sticking around.
How utterly annoying.
An origami ball smacks Carmen on the side of her head. She pushes back her hair to glare at Paper Star before deciding to tie her hair up so it doesn't get in the way of her view on the balcony. The apartment is fairly nice, more than Carmen would be able to afford normally if not for the immense amount of money she's stolen from VILE over the years. She's surprised ACME has let her keep it, if they even know about her savings.
Paper Star's hands fly over a new sheet of paper, assembling a long hexagon shape before blowing into it. The paper puffs up like a balloon, forming another origami ball. Carmen is able to swat it away this time.
"Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"
Paper Star shrugs, smiling innocently — as if Paper Star can ever be innocent.
It's worse than talking with Mime Bomb. At least Mime Bomb actively communicated, all Paper Star does is hum and creep Carmen out.
She leans back in her outdoor lounge and keeps Paper Star in the corner of her eye. An origami crane is folded next.
A siren goes off on the other side of the city. Carmen tenses, waiting for her cue. Player crackles in her in-ear, discussing potential escape routes. It's an old song and dance by now, but she feels rusty — off-balance, as if the couple months off the streets have impacted how the roof tiles under her feel.
She shifts her weight and looks down over the people milling under the bright lights. It's barely an hour to midnight, a weird time for someone to hold a heist. It's an amateur move, honestly, unless the thief she's chasing sees something she doesn't.
Light reflects something in the shadows, shining quickly once before disappearing. Carmen's off and running, past the crowded square and to the museum up ahead.
"Approaching a jump," Player warns. She clears it with ease.
Chasing after a shadow proves to be nearly impossible. She ends up lost in the alleyways, further away from the museum than before. It doesn't make any sense, Carmen is sure that the plans they uncovered meant something. They were pretty clear cut intentions of robbing an artifact of some sort. Was the information wrong?
She's lost trace of the target. Carmen readies her grappling hook gun in her coat. A dim streetlight is her only source of light beside the moon. She heads towards the light source, keeping an eye out.
There, right behind her. Carmen's hand on her hook reaches for another tool, brandishing it in the moonlight. It stops seconds from stabbing the supposed thief in the stomach. Carmen looks up from under the brim of her hat: thick platform boots, holsters strapped to the thigh filled with paper, a green jacket.
Paper Star looks at the knife pointed towards her with barely concealed glee. And she finally says something, after weeks of silence. "A knife? Are you flirting with me?"
"Wh– what? No!" Carmen groans and sheathes the knife. "I was surprised, that's all. What do you want?"
"I wasn't aware that Fedora the Explorer had a knife on her," Paper Star coos, skipping around her and forcing Carmen to turn around.
The nickname burns into Carmen's heart. "Who told you that name?"
"Who do you think?" Her voice turns icy. "The one you jailed."
They don't really say anything after that. There's not much to say. She– Tigress has taken up more of Carmen's thoughts than she should've since she's been jailed. Technically, Carmen shouldn't even feel guilty about jailing Tigress — she shouldn't. But… she does.
It's just not fair, is it? To be stuck with the rest of the Faculty members when she was nowhere close to the upper ranks at all. Sheena has clawed her way up the rank of VILE operatives, but she was still at the bottom of the pyramid. Carmen never says these thoughts out loud, but she reflects on them often.
Paper Star expels a sigh from her lungs. The sound isn't sad, more annoyed than anything. Carmen doesn't know if Paper Star is more annoyed at Carmen or herself. Maybe even Tigress. She wasn't aware they were close.
"Uh…" Player pipes up in her ear. He sounds confused. "What's going on, Red?"
"I don't think our thief was actually planning on doing anything," Carmen replies slowly, staring Paper Star down. "I think she fed us wrong information."
"I was curious if you guys were still ruining plans." Paper Star rolls her eyes. "Why am I not surprised you guys are?"
"Why am I not surprised you want to steal?"
"You do too," she points out. "You would've stolen whatever artifact I listed before I did to stop me. And then return it, of course, because you're boring, but you would've still stolen it. The only reason you didn't is because I didn't tell you."
She's right, but Carmen won't admit it. A greater question comes to mind. Her brows furrow. "Why'd you decide to start talking now? You were quiet before."
Up-down goes her shoulders. Carmen thinks Paper Star following her around might be related to Tigress being in jail, judging from the way Paper Star's voice changed at the mention. She also wishes Player wasn't on the other end of hearing every word of this. She misses the cut and dry fighting of Sheena; at least there were no mental gymnastics.
She shouldn't have sheathed the knife. Sheena wouldn't have sheathed the knife.
Carmen remembers working for VILE as a brainwashed agent. In her mind's eye she can still see Graham's growing discomfort at the thought of Carmen being under VILE, her chance at being faculty just in reach, her ambition to steal everything valuable. She almost wishes her subconscious blocked it out just so she can ignore what she and Sheena did during the time.
"How'd you even find out where I lived?" Carmen asks, leaning against the railing of her apartment's front steps. Paper Star has completed an origami crane by the time Carmen has walked out and seen her. Two more origami cranes sit on the railing beside Carmen's elbow.
Paper Star grins. She's standing on the other side of the railing, completely disregarding the bushes that lie below her. Bent over the railing to keep balanced — a pose that doesn't look comfortable — she seems at ease. Her shoes peek through in between the poles. "How can you not find out where I'm staying?"
"What– why would I want to know that?" Truthfully, the thought hasn't crossed Carmen's mind. Of course Paper Star is staying somewhere nearby so she can bother her. "I'm not interested in where you're living."
"Shame." Paper Star winks. Carmen reddens in anger.
Another origami crane is folded within the time frame, added to the line of cranes going from Carmen to Paper Star. Paper Star pulls out another sheet of square paper. Her hands are surprisingly small; small, deft, and riddled with tiny scars. They're painted alternating shades of teal and dark green, but the nail polish is chipping and the nails are cut short. Carmen isn't surprised at the fact, but surprised at herself for noticing.
Paper Star has not changed much in the wreckage of VILE. Her hair is the same, half-black and half-teal locks piled up into two protruding buns. Even her brows are different colors, corresponding with her split-tone look. Her jacket is the same, still studded with rhinestones and spikes, but it isn't the same obnoxious green as it used to be, instead more faded and worn.
It is fascinating how Paper Star has stayed the same when Carmen feels like a truck has run her over before Zack and Ivy taped her back together again. Carmen in her regular sweats and gray hoodie does not look like the dashing thief she ever was. Even if only the news outlets called her dashing.
But maybe Carmen is just thinking too much into it. Maybe Paper Star was always like this and VILE did very little to change her. She was younger than most when she joined, not much younger than Carmen. Another prodigy — Carmen frowns at the thought, suddenly remembering how young Paper Star was — another victim.
Humming brings Carmen back to the present. Paper Star has folded a paper airplane, the little vocal stim she has interrupting Carmen's train of thought. She raises an arm, aiming the paper plane past Carmen towards the other side of the stairs. She throws it and Carmen turns to see how far it goes. It glides effortlessly, twisting through the air till it lands on the pavement.
"That's pretty good," Carmen admits. She hasn't done origami in a long time, to Shadow-san's ire.
She looks back at Paper Star; her brows are furrowed and eyes judgemental, as if making calculations about the trajectory of a paper plane. Carmen doesn't think she heard her. Even when they fought, Paper Star was coolly analytical, making decisions on the fly on the best way to take Carmen down. She's never seen her this immersed, though. It's only because they're right in front of each other that she hears her mutter, "the weight was off."
"Excuse me?"
Paper Star's head jerks up, as if she forgot Carmen was there. Her features close down momentarily before she shrugs. "I need to fold the wings longer. I'm launching them pretty slowly so the wings need more lift."
Carmen has only ever understood the basics of paper. It's impressive how Paper Star saw the plane fly and immediately knew what to fix, a skill from many years of working with her medium of choice. Another square of paper is brought out.
Eyes drifting past Paper Star's spiky jacket to the trees behind her, Carmen wonders how long it took to master origami, and what Paper Star can't fold. It's an art form turned deadly in her hands, Carmen can still feel the sting and force of her blows.
"All my life, basically." Paper Star answers, and Carmen is suddenly aware she said the first part of her thoughts out loud. "I wouldn't call myself a master, though. I can't fold like Kamiya Satoshi," here, she snorts, "not that I would ever want to."
A master origami artist, Carmen guesses. "Why not?"
"He makes things look too realistic, with the amount of folds he has. But, to each their own." Shrugging, Paper Star finishes her second plane and throws it. In a long, wide arc, it flies past the first plane and flutters onto the grass. She hums, satisfied.
Carmen observes the paper cranes on the railing. They're brightly colored, having been set down and forgotten about by Paper Star. They're perfectly folded, no imperfections among them; identical, if not for the different colors. They're folded almost easily, like an assembly line. Another one joins them as she looks, Paper Star lining it up perfectly with the others.
She steals a glance at Paper Star, who's back to folding origami cranes instead of airplanes. The way Paper Star does her makeup is the same too, though that could just be her usual style of makeup. VILE had uniforms but their restrictions were light in the customization aspect. Black eyeliner is drawn knife-sharp on her monolids, sharpening her features. Carmen has never been this close to Paper Star before without fighting, and she can't help but notice the heavy blush that coats her cheekbones and the dark purple lipstick staining her lips.
A phone rings. Carmen straightens at her phone alarm signaling the end of her laundry machine. Swiping up at the alert, she cancels it with mild annoyance. Paper Star's eyes flick towards her at the sound, but there's no readable emotion behind it. Her hands resume folding.
Right, Carmen remembers, she only stepped out for a breather. Ran into Paper Star seemingly waiting for her by accident, before demanding how she knew her whereabouts. She never answered her question.
She needs to go back and do her laundry. She takes a step back from the railing, away from Paper Star, away from the cranes. Another step without turning her back on the ex-operative, because she still doesn't know if she can trust her or not. When she does turn her side to Paper Star and faces the door, nothing attacks her on her walk to the apartment door.
"Hey."
Carmen turns at the sound, the glass door half open. A paper airplane runs into her chest, right where her heart beats. For a second, Carmen is convinced she was split open. There was force behind the paper airplane, a weightedness in the hit before it fell harmlessly to the floor. But she's not cut open; her heart is not bleeding out. Her breath catches — she's relieved.
Had it been Paper Star's particular brand of sharpness, she would've been dead. Her eyes snap from the paper airplane to Paper Star.
Paper Star flourishes a hand, almost lazily, and smirks. "Still got it."
Now that she started talking, Carmen wishes they could go back to the tedious silence they had in the beginning. It is less annoying.
"Vanilla," Paper Star observes with a Cheshire Cat grin. "How basic."
Carmen sticks out a tongue. She scoops her vanilla froyo topped with dark chocolate chips and lets the sweetness linger on her tongue, chasing out the caustic taste that comes with seeing Paper Star hanging out on a tree. To be honest, she totally forgot about the Paper Star-sized problem waiting for her on her way back to the apartment.
A black bag lays on the grass at the foot of the tree, a pile of paper cranes peeking out of it. It's gotten bigger since the last time Carmen passed by. Carmen has no idea how one person can stand making the same thing over and over again, but she knows how many origami stars the VILE operative would have needed to craft in preparation for a fight. Maybe it's a discipline thing. At least they're not weapons — at least, she doesn't think they are.
The thought is only slightly off-putting. Carmen pulls her tiny, neon green plastic spoon out of her mouth and gestures with it to her treat. "What, do you want some?"
Paper Star eyes the bright pink bowl hungrily. Her hands finish folding another crane without looking, dropping it to join the others. Carmen thinks she imagined the hunger, but she blinks and it's still there. Come to think of it, Carmen hasn't seen Paper Star eat in all the time she's been hanging around. She sees the way the ex-operative's throat bobs and decides that however Paper Star is sustaining herself, it isn't enough.
Carmen sighs, it's so much work being a nice person. She swallows another mouthful and beckons Paper Star towards her. Pivoting on her heel, she hears rather than sees Paper Star's feet hit the ground and the bag being picked up.
"Come on, there's a fast food joint not far from here."
"Fast food?" She sounds suspicious, as if she isn't the one who's been stalking Carmen for the last however-long-it's-been.
Carmen stops her eyes from rolling so hard they see the back of her head. "Don't worry, I'll buy. If you actually tell me why you're here."
"Where's the fun in that?" Paper Star skips next to her. Just her presence alone makes Carmen jumpy. It feels like Paper Star is going to cut her at any time, a wild card with a knife's edge. She remembers the paper airplane to her heart and forces her shoulders down in a relaxed position.
Maybe it's the not-fighting jitters. She's been fighting Paper Star for so long that she feels locked in to every move she makes. Every hand in pocket can bring out stars for knives, every flick of the wrist can lead to cuts, and — yet — when Paper Star reaches for something in her bag, she only brings out a blue crane. She swings her arms as they walk and hums, and the humming sounds normal when they're walking on the sidewalk on a street in a city.
Carmen's stint into normalcy has been relatively short lived compared to her career as an internationally wanted criminal. There's no housekeeping to clean her room now like in the hotels she stayed at and she has to do laundry every week. She doesn't think she's very good at it, but she got a plant recently and it hasn't died yet, so she thinks she's doing alright. Frankly, she's proud of herself for even going this long without a caper or nightmares, memories of VILE cropping up to haunt her or her fingers just twitching to steal something.
Well, she still gets the nightmares. Sheena's in them, clawing at her, desperation in her eyes and voice. The cold jail cell. Sheena never did fare well in the cold.
She wonders if Paper Star feels the same way but doesn't ask. The conversation they had in the alley comes to mind. Ruining plans. Carmen feels like this is all part of one long scheme and she's wrapped in the middle of it, somehow, but she can't figure out why.
Paper Star orders a double-patty burger, a large drink, with two sides. They slide into a booth after filling up their cups, in front of each other. Carmen watches Paper Star knot the straw wrapper carefully, making a pentagon, before wrapping the excess strips over it. She folds the strip on the top over the left and continues the motion till she runs out of paper, tucking the remainder in.
By all accounts, Paper Star should not be a part of her regular life outside of VILE being gone, but she is. She has been since she started hanging around. Their silence lasts until their order is called, Paper Star getting up to retrieve it. The straw wrapper has turned into a paper star, somehow, puffy and small on the table.
She bought food for someone on ACME's hit list. A someone who makes paper stars out of their straw wrapper and folds origami cranes whenever they can. "What's up with the cranes, anyway?"
Paper Star looks up from the burger she's devouring. Her brows are raised in a clear I'm eating here motion. Carmen waits, watching her swallow and wash it down with some lemonade.
"Have you ever heard of the thousand cranes myth?"
"Yeah, uh," she wracks her brain. "You fold a thousand of them and you get granted good luck, right? Something like that."
"A lifetime of happiness and luck, but it's either that or you get granted one wish. An old legend, yeah."
"And you're wanting a wish," Carmen guesses, thoughts forming in her mind.
Paper Star shrugs. "I just think, as superstitions go, this one can't hurt to try."
Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Carmen was not expecting Paper Star to divulge this amount of information so easily. She wants something, she's folding one thousand paper cranes, and she needs Carmen to help her do it— but what?
Tigress. It has to do something with Tigress. The vitriol in her voice when she blamed Carmen for her imprisonment had to have some relevance. And, really, when Carmen thinks about Tigress, she can only think of one thing. "You want to bust her out of jail."
Her eyes narrow and she concerns herself with her burger. That itself is answer enough.
"You were following me to see if I had any information," Carmen slowly realizes. "You need me to help you find her."
"The organization you work with covers their tracks well. And I've seen the way you looked at her when you were brainwashed." She says the latter part so callously, as if it's no big deal that Carmen had her memory wiped and altered.
Then, the remainder of the sentence registers. "The way I looked at her?"
Paper Star mutters something under her breath and chomps on a fry. She stares at Carmen intently, almost a glare. "I know how to read a face, Carmen. You liked— you treated her differently from the rest of your crew. It was almost funny, mainly pathetic, but funny."
Carmen shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Paper Star is choosing all the words that hurt, drudging up memories of better times at VILE. How did she notice? Paper Star doesn't seem the type to care unless—.
Unless.
"You liked Sheena?"
Very delicately, Paper Star wipes her mouth with a napkin. "Not liked. We were partners."
"You said the thousand paper planes granted luck and happiness for the rest of one's life or a wish. Why not go for eternal happiness?"
Her face hardens. "I don't need happiness."
Hm. Interesting.
Sheena is located in a prison somewhere in France. Maximum security, with the other VILE faculty, and no allies. Graham, Jean-Paul, and Antonio are not allowed to step a foot in France in the case of them breaking her out. Paper Star was never caught, so she isn't in ACME's database of tracked criminals, but she is on the wanted list. It's dangerous for her to go anywhere.
These thoughts rotate in her head before she groans out loud. Paper Star was Dr. Maelstrom's prodigy, she has a way with words that worm into Carmen's brain. And how she looked when saying them! Steady dark brown eyes that held the magnitude of a black hole, straight back, her usual fidgeting gone. Tilting her head up slightly at the height difference, even when sitting across the table. It was obvious she was planning on carrying out her plan regardless if Carmen agreed or not. She knew Carmen wouldn't get in the way. How did she know?
And now she's gone. She's stopped appearing at Carmen's doorstep. Origami balls and airplanes don't bother Carmen anymore. There was a jar on her balcony the day after Paper Star left, filled to the brim with multicolored origami cranes. Carmen hopes it's a thousand of them, but doesn't dare to count.
Player interrupts her monotonous schedule at exactly six-forty-three PM. Carmen picks up on the first ring, a familiar face filling up her screen.
"Pack up Red! We're going to France."
Carmen freezes all the way to her heart. "H– what?"
"Paper Star has been sighted in Paris. We don't know what she's up to, but it's definitely not good." Here, his voice turns confused. "I thought she was with you."
"She left."
"Oh-...kay, then." He picks up his voice and expression. "Well, I don't know if it's a fluke like the last time, but ACME has gotten wind of it. They're going to send in some of our old friends whenever you say the word."
The clock hits six-forty-five. Her flight is scheduled to leave at nine.
A museum after-hours in the dead of night feels more like a mausoleum. This is where dead spirits come to lie, the artifacts that once belonged to them acting like beacons. Carmen steps past the Ancient Greek exhibit to Asia. Her footsteps echo.
Beside her, a paper star whizzes out from the shadows. Carmen barely dodges in time, pivoting to face Paper Star head-on. Paper Star stalks out of the shadows like a ghost, irises so dark only the reflection is visible.
"Hello, Scarlet Santa Rosa." She purrs and three more paper stars narrowly miss Carmen. Her voice is soft and ticklish, so quiet that Carmen has to strain her ears to hear. A scroll is slung on her back, full of whatever she's stolen. Carmen thinks it's Japanese woodblock prints, but she won't know till she takes it back.
"Come on, Paper Star. Let's get this over with."
What follows is a blur of limbs. They're evenly matched in hand-to-hand combat, but Carmen can feel her lack of rigorous training taking a toll. Paper Star corners her in the stairwell, impossibly close and at risk of falling.
Carmen manages to duck a punch and reverse their positions, Paper Star now being against the wall. She pins her down with a forearm across her chest, grabbing a wrist to prevent Paper Star from reaching for weapons. There's a sharp sting on her left side — she forgot about the other arm. Carmen lets go, in pain, and Paper Star runs.
She catches her at the front entrance of the museum, tackling her to the ground. They wrestle across the tiles, origami stars spilling out of her holsters as they do. At one point, Paper Star is on top looking incredibly smug, before Carmen bucks against her and she loses balance. She falls down and Carmen pushes herself on top. Locking her hands on top of wrists, Carmen stares down at Paper Star, panting.
How is she going to subdue her, leave her tied up for ACME? Carmen has no idea. It's taken all her strength to get to this position, but as soon as she moves Paper Star will find a way to fight back again.
Paper Star goes limp in her grasp. She too is panting, her two buns are squished and lopsided from the fight. Her wrists feel so delicate in Carmen's hands, skinny and bony. It's surprising how those wrists have enough power to throw with such accuracy that it cracks pavement. The thought gives her an idea.
Carmen brings Paper Star's wrists together to be locked under one hand and reaches for an origami star laying on the floor nearby. She buries it through the sleeves into the tile, proceeding to do so with every available extra fabric. When Paper Star is fully pinned down by… well, paper stars, Carmen goes off in search of rope.
She returns to Paper Star still stuck with a petulant expression on her face. She scowls at Carmen's laugh. "It's not funny."
"It's very funny."
Paper Star is tied up for ACME, ready to be caught officially for the first time in her criminal career. It's a big day. Night— whatever.
"Why are you here for? This isn't breaking—" she cuts off, knowing that Player can hear. "There's no VILE to steal for anymore."
"I just wanted Japanese woodblock paintings for my wall."
"Your wall."
"They're so expensive," she whines.
Carmen stares. "Can't you get an imitation of the famous ones for, like, fifteen bucks?"
"Well, you might as well get the original if you're not planning on paying."
Player's voice in disbelief floats into her earpiece. "She's insane. Is she for real right now?"
Sighing, Carmen walks around the tied up Paper Star to double check that she can't escape. ACME will be here soon. Against her better judgment, Carmen slips a piece of paper into Paper Star's tied up hands before she leaves.
Saving Sheena or not, this was a stupid way of going about it. She wonders what Paper Star is really up to, and figures that this is probably part of the plan. Maybe she wanted a way into ACME's headquarters and decided to do so by practically turning herself in.
She digs her hands into her cost pocket and feels… paper? Bringing it out she stares down at a perfectly folded origami sheep made of black paper. Under it is a pink paper crane. She flips the sheep over. On it, in sloped handwriting and white pen, reads:
The thousandth crane.