Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

An emotional wound somewhere deep inside Player is reopened as he realizes he’s experiencing a brand new worst day of his life. 

Honestly, he’s been holding up pretty well thus far and has still managed to hold onto some of Carmen’s secrets despite VILE’s aggressive attempts to find out everything he knows. He’s beaten and bloodied on the wooden floor of some random shack in who-know-what-forest but he’s still alive and definitely winning this mental game of chess. 

His captors, some low-bit VILE operatives he’s never even heard of before, have yet to find out where Carmen Sandiego’s main base of operations is held. They don’t know the identities of those who help her (other than Shadowsan) and they certainly don’t know Player’s real name. His occupation was a bit easy to guess, but that’s all Player’s given up so far. 

He’s enormously proud, Player dares to admit to himself. But he’s also absolutely terrified. Player’s pretty sure he’ll never be the same after being abducted and harshly persuaded to spill informatiton, but right now all he needs to focus on is making it to the after part of all this. 

A man’s voice garbles somewhere nearby and Player assumes it’s the male operative who dragged him here – he thinks his name is Clint. When Player rolls over and opens his eyes, he sees the man he expected pointing around the room like he’s giving instructions. Then he throws something to the other figure in the room – a woman, Kass. 

Player thinks there’s been two operatives this whole time, but honestly his memory is getting a little fuzzy with the exhaustion. He hasn’t slept in who knows how long, excluding all the times he’s drifted into unconsciousness, he hasn’t eaten, barely had anything to drink, and he’s even felt his own will starting to slip at times. But he has to hold on if he can – for his team. 

The woman is standing almost directly above Player as she catches the thrown object easily and smiles down at Player, as if she’d been waiting for what comes next. She says something unintelligible to him and her face leaks with mock concern. He might not know what words she’s saying, but he knows she’s being patronizing.

All Player hears now is warbles and a high pitched tone ringing endlessly somewhere in his mind. It could’ve been hours, days or weeks ago that they violently took his hearing from him and did who knows what to the other guy. Now more than ever, Player’s had to rely on his eyes instead of his ears. 

Across the tiny, filthy room he’s in, he watches Clint hover over another body. Player almost feels enough indignant rage to push himself off the floor to go help his fellow captive. In the end, though, he doesn’t have the energy.

The woman above him doesn’t give him the chance, anyway. She’s ripped open the package that was tossed to her and has uncapped a vial in her hand. With the other, she grabs Player’s collar and pushes him off flat the floor. He looks around desperately for anything that will help and notices there are apparently three operatives here? Since when?  

The third one stands silent in the background, entirely cloaked in black. That’s…weird. Why hadn’t Player ever heard of any of these guys before? He’s combed numerous VILE databases and is fairly certain he’s aware of all functional operatives. Nothing is making sense anymore.

The woman kneels beside him and holds his forehead. It looks like she laughs and makes a small pouty face, probably at how pathetic he looks right now. She pinches Player’s face together so his mouth opens. He tries fighting back, he really does. But her strength greatly outmatches him and his throat burns as the poison is poured into his mouth. She then pushes his chin upwards, ensuring he can’t spit it all out. 

Player is trying to cough, even if no air is actually escaping his body. His lungs are burning and his face hurts but he can’t stop as she holds both his mouth and nose shut. Eventually, she releases him and allows him to collapse back on the floor in a withering, sniveling pile of limbs. 

For a few odd seconds, there’s no change. And then, all Player feels is fire. Every muscle in his body tenses and he feels like he’s going to explode. Agony like nothing he’s felt before is slowly moving through his bones causing a growing scream to claw its way out of Player’s throat. 

The woman looks confident in her work. She shrugs and tosses the empty vial over her shoulder. It clunks and rolls on the wooden floor for a moment. If Player had more of his mental faculties he’d realize how his captors immediately begin packing certain elements of this crappy, wooden cabin away as if they were in a rush. 

Clint looks at Player and winces. Something tells Player it’s more out of disgust than sympathy  and he regrets that the face of a cruel man is the last thing he sees. His vision is slowly tunneling into a large, empty void. Each breath is becoming an impossible task and he understands on an existential level that he is probably dying right now. 

The third operative from the back of the room moves for the first time and slowly approaches Player. Their unnatural height and all-black attire is really freaking him out. Maybe it’s the enormous amount of poison he’s ingested playing tricks on his mind but it almost seems like the world is beginning to warp around this newcomer. 

Player wishes he had more time to figure everything out. He wishes he had more time to apologize to everyone he’s leaving behind. He wants to see his mom again. 

It gets to a point where he can’t hold on anymore. His vision turns fully black and thankfully the pain eventually stops. Although, that third figure is still standing in front of him. Despite the darkness everywhere else, Player can make out the features beneath the hood of the cloak.

The person stares back at him with a face of Death. They slowly extend a frozen, skeletal hand. 

Player reaches to take it–

Then stops. 

He hesitates. 

And then he’s falling.

Chapter Text

The first thing Player realizes is that he’s staring at his own body. 

He has no idea how much time has passed and he doesn’t remember how he got here. But there’s no doubt that the boy tucked into pristine, white, hospital sheets and the ghost looking down are one in the same. 

I’m dead. Player can’t stop the thought from slamming into the forefront of his mind.  

He’s not dead. There’s a heart monitor beeping steadily behind both the physical and ghost version of him.

I’m dead. The voice yells again and this time, Player isn’t able to push it away so easily. 

The chest of the bandaged boy in the bed rises. Breathing tubes run into his mouth, an IV drips slowly and various machines beep as they track his vitals. The boy has industrial bandaids covering the visible parts of his arms and a thick wrap of bandages covering part of his forehead. His skin is gray and overall he truly looks terrible but there’s no doubt he’s alive (even if the machines are doing an awful lot of work).

The true mystery is why his soul occupies a different space. Player wracks his mind and tries to think back to the last concrete thing he remembers, but it’s all blank. He doesn’t know how he ended up here. He doesn’t even know where here is. 

Player turns away from the hospital bed, happy if he never lays eyes on that lifeless body again. He walks towards the open doorway, brows furrowing when he notices the mix of uniforms passing by in the hallway. Scrubs meet dark blue suits and something feels really off. He takes one step outside the room, not noticing the woman an arms-length away until it's too late. 

She walks straight through him. 

Player stumbles back on his stupid ghost feet with his hands grasping at his chest. It feels like his essence has just been dispersed for a second before pulling back together. A cold ripple extends through his body, all the way to his fingers and toes, then bounces back until his form is complete again. He’s gasping in shock and disbelief and a million other emotions, trying to keep it together. 

That’s fine. He should’ve expected another person to pass through him like a cloud of mist. Seems pretty on par for the ghost thing, he supposes. He’s totally not freaking out. Everything is perfectly and totally under control.

But like– 

A hospital??  Really?? He dies and is cursed to haunt a stupid hospital for all eternity?? How cliche. Player always thought his spirit would be a little more creative than this. The annoyance bubbling in his veins is strange at a time like this, but it’s much easier to process than grief. 

He’s…he’s not dead. He’s alive. There’s no need to grieve the living. He doesn’t need to grieve himself. Not yet, anyway. 

“Okay, okay, okay.” Player mutters to himself. No one outside seems to stop or notice him at all. At least he can have a small meltdown without making a total fool of himself to strangers. “This is fine. I can come back from this. Easy.” He’s trying to breathe through the vast range of emotions, but realizes he has no lungs. 

Welp, there goes every nervous-system calming technique he has in his book. How can he calm his mind when there’s no physical triggers to adjust its functionality? Player goes through the motion of inhaling and exhaling anyway, desperate to try anything to fix his current situation. 

There’s a knock on the door frame. Player whips around and sees the bright pop of color that is his best friend. “Carmen!” he exclaims out of habit. He nearly rushes towards her for a bear hug, but an ache pangs where his heart should be when she doesn’t notice him at all. 

Her face doesn’t match the vibrancy of her red hair and her hoodie today. She pauses for a second and smiles sadly at the boy on the bed before sighing deeply to herself. Carmen enters the cold room as if she’s always been here and makes herself comfortable on the chair nearest to the head of the bed. 

“How’re we doing today?” Carmen asks aloud as she sets a thin tote bag down beside her. 

“Awful!” Player exclaims and stands on the other side of the bed, decidedly refusing to look at his body. Carmen is here now, which means he doesn’t have to be alone. “Carmen, what the heck happened? What’s going on?” Player looks over his shoulder and sees both Chase and Julia in the hallway. They each acknowledge Carmen with a wave and continue on. 

Player’s eyes would’ve burst from his face had they been corporeal. “I’m in an ACME hospital? That’s…bad. Like, really bad.” Player looks back up to Carmen. “What did we do, Red?” Player tries to laugh, but it comes out as a cry for help. 

If only someone could hear him. 

“I brought something. I think you’ll appreciate it.” Carmen rummages through her tote bag for a moment before pulling out a small but thick book, about the size of her palm. 

“Is that a…pocket bible?” Player looks closer, curious as to what he’s about to witness. 

“I’m sure it's rudimentary to you, but I figured it’d be a nice break from all the Agatha Christie you’ve been getting lately with Ivy. She’s been hooked ever since…” The thought trails off and never finishes her sentiment. 

Player’s worried. Something’s off with Carmen. It could very well be that her hacker/best friend was in a hospital bed, but something in his gut tells Player that he only has a fraction of the story. 

“Intro to coding!” Carmen announces her reading choice aloud and turns the title so Player can see the front page.

“Ugh,” Player cringes away from it at first, then laughs. “Looks like you were scraping the bottom of the barrel in the gift shop, eh?” 

Carmen smiles sheepishly. “I know it probably seems lame. But they didn’t really have anything else you’d like in the gift shop.” 

Player shakes his head in mild disappointment. “You’re embarrassingly predictable.”

“The doctors say you should be waking up soon and that’s it’s good to talk to you in the meantime.” Carmen sighs deeply, then again. It takes her a minute or two to get anything else out. “They say that your brain activity is normal, so we’re really just waiting for your body to heal.” 

Player just stands there in silence, entirely unsure of how to respond at a time like this. It was just a guess but he assumes his soul would probably need to be inside his body in order for things to return to normal. As he is right now, Player has a feeling he’s not going to be waking up until he figures out how to make that happen. 

“But things aren’t really the same without you so…” Carmen awkwardly thumbs the pages of the small book she bought. “I miss your random facts and stupid puns. I miss our geography sessions and especially you calling me out when I need it.” She sniffles. “I feel super outta line without you keeping me in check, Player. So anytime you want to come back is fine by me.” 

Besides a controlled breathing pattern, the body on the bed doesn’t move. Tears are starting to form in Carmen’s eyes but she quickly wipes them away with the back of her hand in an attempt to maintain composure. Player knows her too well – Carmen hates crying and she especially hates doing it in public. For her to be falling apart like this in the middle of an ACME hospital, of all places, speaks volumes. 

“Wait, wait, wait, don’t cry!” He finds himself yelling, waving his hands hopelessly. Player’s never made his best friend cry in all their years of friendship. He wasn’t about to start now. “I’m right here! I’m sure I can come back if I just like…touch my body or something—“

Player lays his ghost hand on his own chest, hoping to make a connection somehow. He doesn’t have to wait long for a result, as the body beneath him jerks suddenly as if it’s been electrocuted. The monitor flatlines as the limp body flops back into the bed. The machine keeps yelling and soon, Carmen is, too. 

“Help!” Carmen shrieks and runs to the door, waving frantically. The apparition above Player panics and withdraws his hand from the body’s chest. 

All at once, the panic alarm ceases and the monitor resumes a relatively normal heart rate. The boy in the hospital bed remains motionless other than his breathing, and calm returns to the room. A second later, two nurses rush in. 

“What’s wrong?” One asks Carmen as the other approaches the beside and checks the vitals. 

Carmen is standing, slack-jawed by the door, her chest rising and falling. “I-I don’t know. For a second he had no pulse. I–” 

The nurses both whip through the room like a hurricane before Carmen can finish her sentence. Player cringes when they pull the sheet down and he’s unexpectedly shirtless in bed with way more bruises, bandages and wires than he was expecting. Both Carmen and the ghost in the room turn away as the ACME medical agents complete their wellness check. 

After a few minutes, they return the sheet and calmly turn to face Carmen. “Everything seems okay, ma’am. There don’t seem to be any changes.” 

Carmen exhales with relief. “O-oh, okay. I guess that’s good.” 

The second woman gives a sad, somewhat contemplative look. “Are you getting enough rest? It’s important for both patients and their loved ones to take care of themselves during the recovery process–” 

“I’m fine.” Carmen snaps a little too quickly. She takes a quick breath and re-centers herself and her eyes wander to the boy in the bed. “I’m okay, really. I’ll just be a whole lot better when he’s back.” 

The nurses nod solemnly and use that moment to take their leave. Carmen is left standing in the hospital and silence fills the room. Then, suddenly, she whips around and takes her ire out on the only person left. 

“What was that about, Player?? You’re going to make people think I’m losing it.” She returns to her seat and reaches out timidly to take his hand. 

Player, for one, can’t believe his non-physical ears. “Wait, you’re blaming me? I mean, I think I was technically the cause, but there’s no way you can know that!” 

Carmen sighs and suddenly they’re right back to where they were a few minutes ago. Tension refills the room like a cup and the two of them are sitting at the bottom, totally submerged. Carmen is lost deep in thought and Player makes a terrible conversation partner right now. 

“Where are the others?” He asks anyway, but she doesn’t respond. He’s not surprised. “What happened, Red? What’s going on?” Player tries again to think back to whatever cataclysmic event landed him here, but it’s all entirely blank. He’s not sure if he should be frustrated or thankful for that. 

Eventually, Carmen pulls out the little book again and flips open to chapter one. Player rolls his eyes when she starts reading. “Ugh, now this is literally going to bore me to death. Please go pick up something fiction so we can at least judge their character choices.” 

“'Coding is a creative activity that students of any discipline can engage in. It helps to build computational thinking, develop problem solving skills, improve critical thinking and exposure to real life situations to solve problems in various realms.’” Carmen reads aloud and Player honestly thinks he feels a bit of his soul vanishing. 

“Huh,” Carmen huffs out. “Well maybe I should get into coding, too.” 

Player’s holding the bridge of his nose. “I’ve been telling you that for years. Ivy was the only other person who could even kind of help with some of this stuff. You guys would be totally screwed without–” He stops, considers the situation they’re currently in and decides not to finish that thought. 

Carmen continues reading. “‘Let’s start this course by getting familiar with some fundamental practices of ethical coding.’ Ohhh,” Carmen waggles her eyebrows. “Let’s see how ethical you are, Player.” 

This is getting annoying. “Oh, great. The thief in the room wants to discuss my gray scaled moral code? This should be interesting.” 

“Oh, that’s no fun.” Carmen pouts at the book. “It just talks about being honest, trustworthy and giving credit. That’s boring. I like a good ethical dilemma.” 

“Don’t I know it.” Player sighs loudly. “Alright, I’ve had just about enough of this. Let’s get to the good part.” He moves around until he’s hovering over Carmen from behind, skimming the page over her shoulder. He doesn’t pay much attention to the subtle shiver that shoots down her spine as he’s judging the book much too harshly. 

“Yeah, sorry to tell you, Red, but this part is garbage. Here, flip to…” the part of his brain that recognizes verbal instructions won’t work on someone who can’t hear him doesn’t seem to realize he can’t touch things, either. Out of habit more than anything, Player reaches forward and tries to push the pages around in the hopes of getting to something a little more interesting. 

To his surprise, the pages actually respond a bit. He can’t quite grab it, but his ghostly interaction is enough to at least flutter the corners in an unnatural way. He stops the second he sees it, noticing that Carmen is frozen as well. 

“Woah, I can touch things?” Player looks down at his half-translucent hands with more appreciation. This opens up a ton of possibilities. He reaches over again and tries to flip the pages with more vigor, getting more of a result. A couple pages turn over completely. 

“Aha, I got it!” Player yells triumphantly, feeling some sort of tangible hope that he might not be hopelessly lost here. “No more crappy literature today.” 

Carmen gasps and closes the book harshly. She stands up and looks around, chest rising and falling as she breathes rapidly. After doing a thorough scan and finding nothing, she turns back to the body on the hospital bed. “Player…?” 

“Yes!!” Player yells at her. “Not the conclusion I would’ve jumped to, but yes!!” Had he been in her position, Player would’ve blamed the changing pages on an air vent or wind, though there were no vents in sight and the window was closed. Thankfully, Carmen’s always been more of a speculative person than him. She’s always believed in the impossible whereas Player’s more interested in debunking. 

Carmen’s shoulders sink a little bit after she hears no response. “I must be going crazy.” She sits back down, but leaves the book closed on her lap. She thinks to herself in silence for a while.

“If it makes you feel any better, Red, I think you did that years ago.” Player laughs, feeling something like relief for the first time since he found himself in this room. 

“I…I’ll be back.” Carmen reaches out and squeezes Player’s limp hand quickly before gathering her meager belongings. She stops for a second and leaves the crappy coding book on the table near the head of the bed with a smile. “For your reading pleasure.” 

“Great.” Player huffs and watches his best friend walk out the door. 

He’s left alone for a while, sitting deep in thought as he continues to thumb the edge of the book. Sometimes he can grab it solidly, sometimes he passes right through. The pattern of the occurrence makes no sense and Player feels like there might be no logic to this out of body experience anyway. Maybe ghosts and spirits are so vengeful because nothing in their intangible world makes any freaking sense. 

Alarms start blaring and people begin running down the hallway. Player panics for a moment until he realizes the sound isn’t coming from this room. He pops his head out and sees multiple staff members run through a doorway further down the hallway. People are shouting, there’s some sort of code announced over the intercom and Player feels an awful sense of dread seep into his spirit. 

Despite all this, he follows the sound, brushing past a masked doctor who’s walking away while everyone else is running towards. Their face is obscured by both a surgical cap and mask but…something feels familiar about them. The noise from the room becomes frantic, though, and pulls Player’s interest closer towards it. 

He walks over to the doorway, trying to see past the crowd of people. A man is lying on the hospital bed as medical personnel charge one of those zappy devices and deliver a shock directly to his chest. Player doesn’t even consider what he’s watching, exactly, until he sees the same man twice. Once on the bed and then again, standing in the corner. 

Another hospital spirit?

“Hey!” Player finds himself calling out. “Hey, who are you–” 

The man looks up and makes eye contact with Player, but it’s something out of a nightmare. Instead of eyes, he just has dripping holes in his face. His spirit clothes are tattered and dirty and he looks like he’s trembling. Before Player can say anything else, the spirit is suddenly standing directly in front of him. 

Player jumps back and yelps, unsure of what he’s gotten himself into. 

“They’re here to kill us.” The man without eyes speaks and Player is certain now, that this is a bad dream. It has to be. “Stop them before they come for you, too.” 

“What?” Player is still recoiling, horrified at what he’s seeing. 

“Stop them, Player.” The ghost whispers once more before something truly incomprehensible happens. What can only be described as a skeletal arm reaches well over Player’s head and touches the man’s shoulder. In a blink, his entire body begins to dissolve and fade until there’s no evidence anything was ever there to begin with.

A tingling sensation strikes down Player’s spine to belatedly alert him of another presence directly behind him. He turns slowly, terror clawing its way up his throat. The sight that beholds him has to hold the record for worst thing he’s ever seen. The figure looming over him is at least eight feet tall, hunched over at the top and entirely shrouded in black cloth. It makes no sound and very few movements. Just standing in its proximity makes Player wonder if this is what it’s like to float around in open space. 

The entity is like a vacuum, sucking in all noise, sensations and emotions. Player’s never felt more numb in his life. Even his terror fades away into a dull acceptance. 

The machines attached to the body flatline somewhere far in the background. Player can’t look away from the thing directly in front of him. It looks down and seems to notice him for the first time. 

And then it’s gone. 

The world snaps back to normal. 

“Time of death, 4:14 PM.” The doctor’s voice is crystal clear as he delivers the news. Player partially turns around so he can watch what’s happening in both the hallway and the room. Only now does he realize the body on the bed has gauze wrapped over its eyes. 

The rest of the staff enacts the next steps. There’s clearly a routine. They all work in tangent like it’s just another day at the office. It’s as if a man hasn’t just died; as if a haunted spirit hasn’t just delivered a cursed ultimatum to a poor boy who has no idea what’s going on.

For what seems like hours, Player stands frozen in the doorway, horrified.

Chapter Text

Critical thought eventually seeps back into Player’s mind and he realizes he’s been issued a warning. By a spirit. Who knows him by name, apparently.  

That’s enough to eventually snap him out of his stupor and he runs as quickly as he can back to his own room. When he gets there, he finds a doctor standing over his body with a clipboard. For a second, Player takes a breath of relief, knowing he’s in good hands. But then the doctor pulls a very non-medical looking vial of liquid from his pocket along with a very non-ACME looking needle. 

Player moves around to the front and sees the same person he brushed past in the hallway – the one walking away from all of the commotion instead of towards it. The man doesn’t pull down his mask, so Player can’t see his face, but there’s no doubt about the evil intention gleaming in his eyes. 

This man is here to kill Player, like he just killed that other man. 

“Hey, stop!” Player yells hopelessly. “Someone help!” 

The fake doctor takes his time measuring out a dosage with his syringe. Player is slapping various hospital equipment and machines, hoping to get some sort of result. Surprisingly, he’s connecting with a few. The IV bag starts swinging back and forth unnaturally and one of the various monitors scoots a few centimeters across the tile floor. 

The man pauses what he’s doing and looks up, curiously. Player tests his luck and reaches for something that looks relatively unimportant. He grabs a wire and pulls, actually managing to dislodge it partially from the machine. “Yes!” He cheers, but the glee of making solid contact is quickly overshadowed by unimpressive results. 

An infinitesimally quiet and tiny beep goes off on the wall behind the hospital bed. Player’s ghost groans. “Seriously??” Unbridled terror like he’s never felt before paralyzes him. “Someone, help me, please!” He yells again. This is like a nightmare he quite literally can’t wake up from. 

The strange man finally extracts the needle from the cap of the vial he had it in. He steps closer to the bed, reaching for the thin tube that feeds what’s probably saline into Player’s body. At this point, there seems to be no other choice, so Player takes a gamble and plays with his own life. 

As he did before, Player sticks his ghost hand straight through the chest of his body. For some reason, what feels like an electrical current rips through his incorporeal arm at the contact and it seems to truly hurt both forms of himself. The ghost cries out in unexpected pain (how can he feel pain??) and the body jerks once more as if it’s just been electrocuted. 

Now all the machines are going off loudly. Player's pulse has once again vanished and, although it hurts to keep his arm here, Player’s worried that it’ll all stop if he removes it. So he clenches his teeth through the pain and watches a panicked look spread across the fake doctor’s face. 

The mysterious man quickly pockets his murder weapon and slips out of the room just before a team of nurses rush in. At this point, Player forcefully rips his arm from his chest and stumbles back, slamming into the half-wall beneath the window that looks out into the hallway. He sinks to the floor, cradling his trembling arm. The body on the bed goes limp and the monitors quit beeping so aggressively. 

The flurry of real ICU nurses check his vitals and once again confirm that everything looks normal. “Maybe we should change the equipment.” One of them checks the outlets, plugs and connections. Player appreciates her troubleshooting and logical sense that it’s likely faulty machinery. He’d come to the same conclusion in her shoes. “This is the second time that’s happened this shift.” 

“Weird.” Another ACME nurse agrees. They spend a few more minutes ensuring everything really is okay before leaving again. 

Player’s left in the silence of his own room. His arm still feels tingly and weird and he’s grappling with the fact that he nearly had to kill himself to save his life. The irony is debilitating. The longer he sits here, the more he realizes how alone and forgotten he really feels. 

A while later, the quiet click of heels walks hurriedly into the room. Player looks up from his huddled position against the wall and sees Julia, of all people. Upon seeing him in the bed, she relaxes a bit but doesn’t move any further than the door. She just stands there, staring sadly at the body. Player doesn’t try to speak. His ghost simply watches the agent walk in and pace at the end of the bed. 

Julia also doesn’t say anything for a while, but she’s obviously thinking. Her face is slightly scrunched and her eyes move back and forth, as if she’s searching for the next puzzle piece to fit in the picture she’s trying to build. Eventually she sighs and sits down, letting her perfect ACME posture deflate into that of an exhausted teacher. 

“Well, whatever’s going on here, one thing’s for sure.” She points at Player’s body. “You should not be left unattended.” Her expression softens a bit. “Don’t worry, Player, I’ve got the best team on your security detail. They should be here soon.”

“Please don’t let it be Devineaux.” Player mumbles, but he’s thankful. Julia might be just as lost as he is, but she’s at least right about the fact that foul play’s involved. The added protection does wonders for the anxiety ripping through Player’s spirit. She stays there for a while, the two of them sitting in silence as she eventually goes on her phone. 

Player’s jealous. He’s not good at being bored. The only thing he has to focus on is the odd sensation in his arm slowly going away. Well, that, and the soft click of Julia’s stylus on her screen. 

Then, all at once, the silence is severely broken. Two lively spirits bound into the room and for a moment, Player assumes he’s under attack again. But the flashes of bright, orange hair tell a different story and he breathes a sigh of relief. 

“Ivy!! Zack!!” Player pops to his feet and smiles. A deep sense of comfort overtakes the cold room. He forgets for a moment they can’t see him and, just like with Carmen, it hurts more than he could verbalize. But at least they’re here and they’re safe. 

“Jules! What’s going on?” Zack wastes no time in cutting to the chase. He and his sister look so spiffy in their brand new ACME suits. Player’s so excited that the two of them seem to be thriving here. They haven’t graduated to full agents yet, but being part of the auxiliary was a pretty good starting point. 

“The little guy alright?” Ivy asks as her eyes scan the hospital bed, presumably for any changes. “He hasn’t woken up yet, has he?” 

Julia shakes her head. “Player’s fine…for the most part. His monitors keep giving out for some reason, but physically he seems okay.” 

The siblings both release a breath they seem to have been holding in for a while. “Then why the rush call? We’re trying to figure out where the stupid operatives went.” Ivy spits out the words like they’re poison and Player can feel her hate from here. 

Zack chuckles nervously next to her. “Yeah, the message you left us made it sound like someone was dying–” 

“Agent Hayes died a few hours ago.” Julia cuts in and drops a bomb. Zack and Ivy both instantly go still, their faces turning dark and solemn. 

“Who?” Player asks, wracking his brain to place the name. He looks back and forth between three people in the room who can’t hear or see him, but keeps asking questions anyway. “Is that the guy from earlier? Who was he?” 

Zack and Ivy don’t say anything. Julia continues. “Although Player’s monitors had acted up earlier today, he suddenly flatlined again just a few minutes after Haye’s death.” Julia’s shoulders drop a bit and she takes a breath. “Nurses checked on him immediately and he seems to be fine, but something’s definitely going on.” 

Zack is still thinking, eyebrows furrowed deeply. “How did Hayes die? Was it from…you know…” They all get quiet for a moment again. Ivy sneaks a peek at Player’s body and closes her eyes as she takes a controlled breath. 

“Unconfirmed. I’m assuming they’d have to do an autopsy.” Julia adjusts her glasses. “But his nursing team did state that the sudden negative change was unexpected.” 

“Definitely smells like foul play.” Ivy looks pissed. 

“It smells like VILE.” Julia confirms. “Which is why I’ve ordered a constant watch on Player. Chief agreed and figured you two would be perfect for the job. It’ll probably be better for him to see some friendly faces when he wakes up, anyway.” 

“Leave it to us!” Zack’s volume is a little louder than necessary, but it gets everyone to smile a bit. “With Ivy and I on watch, no one’s getting in here unless they’re welcome.” 

“Well then it’s a good thing I’m welcome.” A new voice joins the party and everyone nearly jumps out of their skin. Player startles, too, but he supposes he has no actual skin to jump out of right now. 

Carmen’s sitting casually on the chair by the bed, as if she’s always been there. The other three whip their heads around in confusion, trying to figure out how a bright red splotch like herself managed to slip by them unnoticed. Player does see the window open a crack, despite his understanding that hospital windows should be sealed permanently shut. But of course, when it comes to Carmen, anything is a potential entrance or exit. 

“Carm!” Zack and Ivy yell in unison and charge the thief with their full might. The trio nearly goes toppling over in the corner as Julia and Player stay near the door. 

Julia is still looking around. “But where did she come from?” She asks herself quietly. 

“Window.” Player supplies an answer out of habit, nodding towards the edge of the room. 

“Ah, I see.” Julia responds casually. A heartbeat later her shoulders tense and she looks around the room again, like she’s looking for something. 

“Wait, did you hear me?” Player asks, stepping towards her. 

Julia looks slightly confused, but provides no other indication that she’s aware of Player’s presence. She actually moves to the window and closes it fully, latching it as tightly as she can. Julia shoots a look at Carmen, but by this point ACME knows full well she’s not going to abide by their rules and expectations. All she can do is smile at the thief. “I’ll leave you all to it, then. Zack, Ivy, can you fill Carmen in on everything?” 

A duet of agreement fills the room as Julia walks towards the door. She takes one curious look around and for a moment, Player’s certain her eyes land on him. He tips his head at her, but she looks away, shaking her head in disbelief. The door closes behind her as she leaves. 

Player turns his attention to all the newcomers and feels every part of him relax a bit. Except for Shadowsan, who should be in Japan as far as Player knows, his whole team is accounted for. It’s been…months since they were all able to hang out together. Just seeing the look on Carmen’s face right now makes this moment worth it. 

If only he weren’t in a coma. 

Player’s ghost walks around and leans against the window wall, trying to join the conversation, but forcing himself to keep the distance he knows is still there. 

“Fill me in?” Carmen asks, looking between Zack and Ivy. “On what? Is everything okay?” 

“Well, yeah, we think so.” Ivy answers first, pulling a chair up beside Carmen. “But apparently Agent Hayes uh…died earlier today.” 

“Who was he??” Player asks again. No one hears him. He huffs in irritation and crosses his arms against his chest. “What’s the connection?” He hates not having all the information. 

Carmen’s movements immediately stop. She looks at Ivy with a look Player hasn’t seen on her face before. “What? How!? I thought he was expected to make nearly a full recovery.” 

“We’re not sure yet.” Zack gently sits on the edge of the hospital bed, careful not to squish the small boy laying there. “Julia just told us a few minutes ago. That’s why she added us as a security detail for Player. We’re going to keep an eye on him just in case.”  

Carmen’s biting her lip from the inside, nodding along with Zack. “That’s a good idea. I’ll stay with you guys.” 

“Really??” Zack asks, eyes lighting up. 

“It’ll be just like old times!” Ivy smiles widely and offers Carmen a pound-it. “Well, it’ll be more like old times when Player finally wakes up. Maybe he can shed some light on what exactly happened to him and Hayes.” 

That piques Player’s interest. “Both of us? But I’ve never even seen that guy. Not until…” Player shivers involuntarily at the scene from earlier. The haunting image of Haye’s spirit with dark, abysmal eyes is burned into Player’s mind. Paired with witnessing the other entity and barely preventing his own death, he’s not sure he can handle much more. It’s been a really long day. 

Carmen nods along with Ivy. “Hopefully. Any information at this point would be helpful in catching the rogue operative.” She leans back with a sigh. “I mean, I have no idea who could be behind this.” 

“Well, we know it’s definitely VILE.” Player thinks back to the green colored syringe and vial the man in his hospital room almost used earlier. Ugh, if he could just talk to these three, he could give them a better description of who to look for. 

“Yeah, obviously.” The words spill out of Carmen’s mouth exasperatedly before her head snaps up. She looks at Zack, then Ivy, then the motionless body on the bed. “Wait, who said that?” 

Zack and Ivy look around. “Who said what?” 

Carmen stands and looks around the room carefully. Player notices the way her posture changes from relaxed to instantly on guard. “There was a voice. Didn’t you hear that? It sounded like–” 

“I didn’t hear anything.” Ivy stands, too, also looking around the room. She knows to trust Carmen’s instincts.  

Player is ecstatic. “Wait, Red, can you hear me!?” He stumbles over himself trying to get beside her. Carmen looks right through him, but he watches goosebumps run across the back of her neck. 

“Something like this happened earlier.” Carmen says hesitantly before slowly turning to look at the bed. “This is going to sound impossible but…I think it’s Player.” 

“What now?” Ivy shares a concerned look with her brother. “Carm, are you sure you’re sleeping alright?” 

“I’m serious.” Carmen stops her before the lecture gets going. She picks up the book off the bedside table. “I was reading this Intro to Coding book to him earlier and I swear I thought I heard someone call it crappy literature.” 

“It is crappy literature!” Player feels more hope now than he has all day. Carmen can hear him! Sometimes. 

Zack laughs quietly. “It does sound like something Player would say.” 

Ivy looks at him in disbelief. “Yeah, sure, but there are other reasonable explanations, too. The biggest one being missing him. That’s normal. Hearing his voice talking to you when he’s like…this,” she gestures vaguely to the bed, “isn’t.” 

“Believe me, I know how it sounds.” Carmen meets Ivy half way. “But I figured you two of all people would understand.” She presses her lips into a line and reaches for the bag she brought with her which is noticeably more full than it was earlier. “So, since you’re here anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to help me with an uh…experiment.” 

Of all things, Carmen pulls out a Ouija board. 

“Oh no.” Player’s jaw drops. “There’s no way.” 

“Oh no.” Ivy unknowingly speaks in unison with the hacker, her face forming a similar expression. “Carm, there are better ways–” 

“Let’s do it.” Zack nods at Carmen. Then, he gives Ivy a look that speaks volumes. 

Player is, perhaps greedily, drinking in the nonverbal cues he’s finally getting from everyone. In a way, he feels like a fly on the wall: always passively listening to their conversations rather than being in them. Witnessing this in person (or as in- is proving to be an enlightening and overwhelming experience. 

He watches in awe as Zack and Ivy have a full blown heart-to-heart conversation with nothing more than a glance. She needs this, Zack urges. 

Ivy quickly yields. She smiles and nods along with him. “There are uh..better ways to talk to spirits. Haven’t you seen any ghost hunting shows? They’ve got all kinds of little recorders and gadgets now.” 

“Nice save, Ivy.” Player shakes his head. Carmen beams. 

Honestly, it’s probably the first time she’s ever done something like this. Here, with all her friends nearby, is the closest thing she’ll ever get to sleepover shenanigans. It’s worth it to go along with the charade for that reason alone. 

Carmen shrugs. “I’m not really sure what ghost hunting shows are but in all the ghost movies Player’s showed me they used something like this. Took me a while to find one by asking around, though.” 

Player immediately makes a mental note to hack into local video and audio footage to hear Carmen discovering the many different ways to pronounce the word “Ouija”. He’d bet fifty bucks she found at least four wrong pronunciations before discovering the correct one. Player can’t stop himself from laughing aloud at the mere idea of it. 

Acknowledgement blooms across Carmen’s face. 

“There! Did you hear that?” She looks to the exact spot where Player is standing. Her eyes are keen but still don’t land on anything. As well trained as she is, Carmen only has to hear something once to pinpoint its exact location in her vicinity. She knows where he is, she just can’t see him, yet. “He just laughed at me!” 

Ivy becomes noticeably more worried. Player is very aware of the power that sits in the palm of his hand. He, some random kid from Niagara Falls, has the prime opportunity to haunt the infamous Carmen Sandiego. “Oh man, Chief wishes she had this much power.” Player speaks, this time fully aware that his best friend could hear him. 

She…doesn’t. Not really. Carmen looks like she so badly wants to understand, but it’s clear that a conversation isn’t going to happen like this. The thought of not talking to his best friend when he’s right here overtakes any interest in playing (what would totally be) the world’s best prank. As ridiculous as it sounds, Player is more than ready to say anything to her, even if it’s just YES or NO. 

The Intro to Coding booklet is tossed aside as the trio clears the adjustable table. Carmen unboxes the Hasbro packaging and pulls out the board. Everyone settles in and the planchette is placed on top. Carmen puts her hands out, gently rests them on it and waits. 

And waits. 

and waits. 

“Why isn’t he saying anything?” Carmen looks at Zack and Ivy as if they’re experts. 

“Carmen.” Player facepalms. “Are you serious? You have to ask!” 

Zack shrugs. “You didn’t give him anything to answer.” He points down to the alphabet and yes/no on the board. “He’s limited in what he can say so short questions are best.” 

“Thank you, Zack.” Player exhales with a puff, unable to believe what he’s watching. Somehow, he’s landed himself in the worst horror movie and, as much as he loves her, Player also knows Carmen is not making it to the end with this kind of naivete.  

“Ask something simple to start like ‘are you here?’.” Ivy urges her with a smile. 

Carmen breathes again and repeats the words, laughing at herself a bit. “Alright then. Player, are you here with us?” 

Now that’s something he can answer. Player reaches forward to push the planchette– 

–and he goes right through it. Player stops, retries and the same thing happens. He tries one more time, really focusing as much energy as he can on pushing it, even if just a little bit, towards an answer. 

All three of his friends gasp at his successful attempt as he finally manages to get the circle entirely encased around one word. 

YES.