Chapter Text
"We will call her.. Carmen Sandiego. For what better way to sully her good name, as she begins a new chapter doing our bidding."
Professor Gunnar Maelstrom spoke with calm voice that sent chills down Carmen's spine, despite how much she hated to admit it. Same thing with how he stroked her hair. The great Carmen Sandiego had finally been caught by VILE, and Professor Maelstrom as well as Doctor Bellum were seemingly enjoying every second of it. Carmen could see it with her own two eyes; how they were smirking, almost cackling right in her face. They had caught her, yes. She let her guard down for a second, and they did not hesitate to strike. Whatever. She'd escape anyway.. right? Zack, Ivy, Shadowsan and Player must be looking everywhere for her. She knew it. Carmen's thoughts were interrupted by Bellum.
"Relax, my dear. This won't hurt a bit."
Those were the last words Carmen heard from Saira Bellum, the mad scientist of the VILE faculty, who placed a device over her eyes. Oh, what a lie that was. As the device powered up, Carmen felt a surge of panic hit her full blow and a blinding green light came from the Mind Wipe. She could hear Maelstrom and Bellum echoing laughter in the background, before everything went black.
About a day later.
Carmen woke up in a rather.. strange room. Hold on, where was she? She glanced around and.. VILE. It looked like a hospital room, but way too VILE coded to be it. It was similar to the infirmary Coach Brunt brought her to when she often scrapped her knees back when she was a child, but it was like it had been rearranged, or maybe it just wasn't this room. Throwing the blanket off herself, she got up. Her head was spinning as she realized how much of a headache she had. She frowned and sighed, slowly sitting back down to keep herself from falling over. Right then, Doctor Saira Bellum walked in the room with a mischievous glint in her eyes that Carmen did not understand right away. The mad scientist had most likely put cameras everywhere around this room to keep an eye on the woman. Rolling her eyes, the scarlet superthief glanced towards the faculty member. She felt different and weird, but also strangely powerful despite her throbbing headache.
"Why am I here, doc?"
She asked with a voice that seemed far too harsh to be hers. Noticing her subtle frown, Doctor Bellum tried to hide her smirk. She walked closer to Carmen, her eyes on the young woman. She and Gunnar had worked together to establish the perfect plan to remold Carmen Sandiego, VILE's worst enemy, into the perfect agent they wanted her to be.
"You had an accident, my dear. Don't you remember?"
Carmen furrowed her eyebrows, taking her hand to her head in confusion. She couldn't remember a thing. An accident? What could've happened? Before she could ask any further questions to herself, Bellum spoke again. The scientist knew Gunnar would have some real fun playing with Carmen's poor, confused mind.
"So you really don't remember, mhm..? Maybe it is worse than what we thought."
Bellum had to turn her back to Carmen to keep herself from snickering right in front of the young thief. It was hilarious to see how perfectly clueless she seemed. Taking a few pills out of a small, orange bottle, the woman turned back around to Carmen, who was now standing right behind her. It made Bellum's eyes widen. When the hell did she get up? Carmen was looking down at the faculty member, with a glint of something Saira had never seen in Carmen Sandiego's eyes before.
"What are you laughing out, doctor? Do you wanna share your mind?"
Carmen asked with a smirk that wasn't laced with any amusement. More like annoyance and frustration. She grabbed the pills without even giving Bellum the time to answer, and swallowed them with a glass of water that had been left on the small table beside the bed she was sleeping in earlier. She didn't even question if the pills or water could've been poison.
"I don't have anything to say to you, Black Sheep. But go see Gunnar, he'll be thrilled to know you're finally up. By the way, the pills will help with you little... headache.
The old codename earned a glare from Carmen, who seemed even more annoyed now. She groaned audibly but didn't say anything. Bellum chuckled. The young thief didn't remember a thing. They had rewired her brain perfectly, making her think she had graduated from VILE without problems. That on her graduation night, Shadowsan was the one who fled. Carmen had turned towards the door but glanced back at the doctor, her grey eyes sparkling with evil. The type of evil the Faculty wanted from their dear little Black Sheep since the beginning.
Where's Professor Maelstrom?"
Carmen asked with a hint of confusion in her voice, which Doctor Bellum did not like. She would not tolerate any hesitation or confusion from their newly re-acquired agent once Gunnar will have done his part of the job. But something ticked her off. Black Sheep's behavior seemed mixed between her old, heroic one and the one VILE wanted her to be. She pulled one of her tablets, quickly glancing at the map of a castle. Since when did VILE had a castle? Carmen felt incredibly confused, but was a bit too unbothered about it to ask any questions to Doctor Bellum. She would find out on her own.
"Gunnar is in his office, of course. Do you not remember, Black Sheep?
"Right.. of course."
Carmen walked out of the room without answering Bellum's question. The humidity of the building hit her instantly, but she didn't care. But something did bother her, though Where was her red coat? Drifting in though, her legs guided her before she could even realize it. They lead her to a large door made out of dark wood, with a gold handle. Of course, gold. It made Carmen roll her eyes. Why was she surprised? Professor Maelstrom loved gold, but so did she. Her hand quickly made it's way to the handle, taking it off with a flick of her wrist. She was a thief after all. The door opened a second after, making her glare at whoever opened it, handle in hand. And the Faculty member in front of her did not seem happy, his blue eyes shooting daggers at Carmen.
"Black Sheep.."