Chapter Text
Carmen hadn’t expected to see him when she opened the door to the pantry with the rare coffee beans.
Gray. Or rather Graham(she reminded herself with only slight exasperation). Illuminated by the open door, dressed up in his stealth suit with a crackle rod, trailing off from a conversation with Tigress.
“Hey fedora guess who's back,” Tigress laughed at her reaction. “Crackle I’ll handle this-”
Crack! Carmen’s heel connected with Tigress’s jaw, sending her backwards, slamming her head against the crates behind her. She crumpled to the floor quickly.
“Well that hasn’t changed at all-” Carmen’s fist flew towards him, and he barely managed to dodge by moving his head to the side.
He didn’t have time for a sigh of relief before noticing Carmen was still close enough for their eyes to meet.
“Didn’t know you were back, Gray.” Carmen grabbed his collar with the hand that failed to connect and the crackle rod with the other, tossing him across the room. He fell into a roll, regaining his footing,and sliding across the floor.
The crackle rod, however, was still with Carmen. He slowly got up. She wasn’t going to use it. He didn’t plan to either but he needed to get it b-
Crack! Carmen had brought the crackle rod down on one knee, splitting it in two. He watched as the device flickered a few careless sparks before dying. Now it was nothing but some useless exposed wires and metal.
He sighed, slowly standing back up. “There goes Bellum’s welcome back gift.”
Carmen glared as she threw it to the ground and made her way back to him. He grimaced. Probably wasn’t the best idea to crack jokes with her right now.
Why was he here? Why wasn't he yawning at some opera or at his favorite coffee shop? Why was he here ! Instead of ...
The clear recognition in his eyes...
Despite the conflicting emotions in her, Carmen had already had enough practice putting them aside to deal with the situation at hand.
Gray watched Tigress stir from the corner of his eye and a silhouette appeared on the illuminated floor.
“Tigress, why don’t you handle that,” jabbing a thumb at what he supposed was Shadowsan’s direction.
Tigress groaned as she sat up and adjusted her goggles. She looked at him, Carmen, and then the door.
“Fine but you better not lose.”She said, with a smack of derision in her voice, while flexing her claws, and then charging at the door.
“Guess you’re not gonna be up for a discussion this time?” He said.
“What are you doing here?” Carmen asked, rough and direct. If they had been alone with nothing else happening maybe she could be softer, more lenient,(much to Player's frustration and bewilderment) but this was a VILE mission. There were bigger things at stake than the crack she'd managed to keep out of her voice.
“Just came for some coffee.” He said lightly.
Her eyes darkened at that and she got into a fighting position.
It had taken VILE months to let him back in the field, warm reminders that he might be rusty mixed with colder ones that they hadn’t brought him back to be a liability. Gray expected it was more of a probationary period to make sure that he was actually as enthusiastic to rejoin VILE after everything. Still, he supposed he was grateful for the practice.
A left jab, an attempted right hook, it felt so familiar backing away from an extremely determined Black Sheep.
No .
It was Carmen now.
She had her preferences as well.
He dodged another and they kept at it for a while. Silently; Gray buying time, Carmen determined…
To not let VILE win.
To protect whatever it was VILE thought they had any right to.
She threw another punch at his head. Gray decided to catch this instead of letting it glide past him. Letting the force and weight settle, letting whatever rhythm the fight had made lull.
She narrowed her eyes at him. Her movements stuttered into the standstill. A dangerous thing to do in a fight. Even a second was too long to let your opponent think.
A joking “ looks like a tie” staying neatly in the corner of Gray’s mouth. No sense making her angrier when he was just a distraction.
But it was still too long, keeping her gloved hand in his without the next move.
Her eyes flared in anger the next moment. She used the little space and mobility she hadn’t surrendered in the moment to give him a sharp kick in the ribs.
He stepped back with a pained cough, and saw her reaching for the top of a crate they had been prying open.
Yeah ok that would be a bit harder to dodge.
BAM!
Tigress suddenly slammed into Carmen’s side, giving a little cackle as she hit the crate next to it with her hip and a desperate hand to make sure she didn’t fall, before turning to him with now newly cracked goggles.
“Crackle! Cleaners got a case, let's split.” Tugging at his arm a little bit before racing up the stairs.
Carmen shot a panicked look for the missing crate before running after him.
All three managed to make it to the helicopter rising from its platform but the head start was enough for the pair of VILE agents to grab the rising ladder from the plane as it gained a good distance upwards.
Carmen let her hat fly off in the wind the blades created for a chance to hop after them.
But her slippery grasp on the last rung of the ladder couldn’t stand up to another kick from Tigress.
“Ha nice try.” Tigress laughed as Carmen landed below.
Carmen narrowed her eyes at Gray as a flicker of emotion flashed across his face.
'It better not be pity', she thought to herself bitterly.
Then the loud humming of the generators dimmed.
“What the -” Carmen watched as the lights of the landing pad went out, and from the corner of her eye she could see the light emanating from the windows from the side of the building went missing.
The whole building. And unfortunately she felt the small static of her earpiece being hit.
“Timed blackout.” Gray shouted from the helicopter.
“I know!” Carmen yelled back with frustration.
Not quite sure what he thought it would do if they were still floating up there like a VILE shaped sign.
Crap. The black plane against the night sky. Not impossible, just harder.
She raised her arm, tempted to just yank Gray out. But her careful aim to the inside of the helicopter proved useless as something shattered against the grappling hook.
A…star?
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Small electric tendrils bloomed from the star and Carmen watched as her grappling hooks button cracked and the pincers overextended.
Carmen stared at the invention as it only warped the metal, the small electrical sparks barely registering as a thrum against her wrist. Another Dr.Bellum specialty.
“Ha!” Sheena jutted out her chin victoriously, and tossed small electrical buttons back to Crackle. “Guess my aim is pretty perfect.”
“And the name’s Crackle .”
He watched as an emotion flickered over Carmen’s face.
He didn’t look away as he wondered if it was hurt. Knowing he didn't have any right hoping it wasn't, told himself it was just righteous anger she'd wielded at him as he blandly thought that his first night out was a success.
-----------------------------
Her earpiece let out a short burst of static before clearing into Player’s panicked voice.
Carmen assured him that the radio silence was just due to needing to concentrate, and taking a small EMP hit. Ivy’s tools wouldn’t break over something like that.
“Player…The alert we put out on Graham Calloway...” Carmen said as she watched the helicopter fly out of reach. She walked over to her her hat, grateful that she didn't need to replace it.
She could hear Player’s fingers flying over the keyboard.
“Never went off Red.” Player answered. “There was just an email to the opera company that he wouldn’t be able to complete the tour and a plane ticket sale out of Australia.”
-----------------------------
“How’d it go,” Crackle asked.
“Traitor or not, he was faculty.” Tigress hissed, her face was twisted in annoyance and anger.
“So the cleaners had to clean that up too.” He laughed.
She wasn’t going to be taking losing her teacher’s pet status with Shadowsan any better now that he had made it a point to chip her goggles this time around. Her nail made a screech as it lightly scraped across the crack.
'Like Teacher like student.' He mused remembering the blow Black Sheep had given Sheena at Morocco.
“He still packs a punch for an old man. What’s your excuse?”
“Give me a break. Considering how much of a menace VILE considered her even when I was gone I think I did ok.”
She scowled and narrowed her eyes at him.
Had she seen? Seen him giving it less than his all again.
“Cheer up pussycat, we’ll be getting rematches soon.” Whether we want them or not.