Choice: A Carmen Sandiego AU

Part 7: Fire

"This is delicate. We need to chase her into an alleyway that's closed off, and dart her before she can zip away."

ACME was trying to capture the superthief. Yet again.

Julia was fairly sure it wasn't going to work. If it seemed like it would? Well...she could do something about that.

Zari took out a map and tapped a few locations. "Here are the closed off alleys. Got it? Okay, stay in your pairs."

She had positioned a pair of agents at each possible exit, and then turned to Graham and Julia. "You two will chase her into one of these dead ends once we've herded her to this area."

Graham saw Julia twitch at the word "herded" but ignored it. They hadn't spoken a lot since Graham had...well. It wasn't a bitter silence. Just a confused one.

"Yes, ma'am." Graham answered for them, a hint of sarcasm creeping at his tone.

Zari eyed him suspiciously for a second. "Alright." She said finally. "Everyone into positions. She'll be here soon."

Julia and Graham waited tensely in the little alcove in the wall.

Footsteps pounded along the echoey walls, almost as loud as the beating of Julia's heart. Her hand rested loosely on the holster she wore, which contained her new dart gun.

They stepped out as the footsteps got closer.

Carmen rounded the corner at a sprint, looking tired and exasperated. She narrowed her eyes as she saw Graham and Julia blocking her way, with another team blocking the other path.

She turned into the dead end.

It was all going to plan.

Unfortunately.

Graham and Julia followed, trapping her in the narrow space. They both drew their guns.

Graham noticed the Julia's was pointed way to the right of Carmen. The agent's eyes darted from the superthief to her partner uncertainly; Graham wondered what she was willing to do.

Don't let your nerve slip, Graham, he reminded himself. She needs to be arrested.

The red thief was panting, she'd clearly been chased for a long time. Carmen's eyes gleamed, and she put her hands up. "You trapped me. Good job."

Julia let out a little surprised noise and her dart gun lowered a little in surprise.

Graham trained his gun on her, but, before he could do anything, her grappling hook shot out of her raised hand, and hooked on the building above her.

She blew a kiss at the pair and shot upwards. "Arrivederci." She purred before disappearing.

Julia and Graham both turned red, and just stared at her retreating figure. Until she was gone.

Graham shook his head, pink in the face. He turned his aim fruitlessly at the spot where she'd disappeared. "Damn."

Julia had a grin plastered all over her face. "She's really something."

Graham sighed, but smiled despite himself. "Yeah. She is, isn't she."

Zari and the rest came around the corner. Zari didn't even ask. She just sighed, and signaled for them to move out.

The ACME jet flew over the sparkling light of the city, and Julia smiled out the window.

"Do you have a favorite city, Graham?"

"Me? Naw, I never really traveled, ever."

Julia looked uncharacteristically dreamy. "I like Paris. It's beautiful. And Casablanca has a lot of history."

"Oh, Casablanca's pretty, from above." Graham said reasonably.

"How do you know?" Julia frowned, turning towards him. "You said you'd never traveled."

Graham stared at her. "I- I haven't. I guess I must have seen a picture or something."

The rest of the flight went in relative silence. Graham's confused thoughts mingled with the thought of her blowing a kiss. A simple gesture that had made his head cloud and his limbs turn to jelly. A smile that affected Julia as much as it did him.

"Guns?" Shadowsan said tensely.

Carmen nodded. "I don't know if they were loaded with bullets or not. The shaft was pretty narrow. But they definitely weren't the stupid gas guns."

"You need to be more careful, Carmen." Shadowsan said seriously.

She nodded. "I know. And I will."

Shadowsan wasn't letting her off that easily. "And you need to stop flirting on the job. You must have your head in the game."

Carmen smiled and rolled her eyes a little.

"I feel like ACME's wouldn't use lethal weapons, amiright? The whole reason they're tryin to arrest ya is for information?" Zack asked.

Carmen nodded. "That's what I thought. Maybe they're not real guns."

"I wonder what they are." He mused.

Player's keyboard started clacking. "Let me see what I can pull up."

There was a pause. "I wonder if they're loaded with tranq darts." He said quietly.

Carmen raised her eyebrows. Tranquilizer darts could and would put her out of action much faster and with much more accuracy than gas. Not to mention she had no experience using basically any type of gun (and hoped she never would), so she probably wouldn't be able to use them against her opponents. She barely noticed as Player's attention was clearly diverted and his brow furrowed.

She looked up and saw her own worry reflected in the eyes of her team. "I'll be careful. Avoid conflict."

The words fell flat. "ACME is getting faster. You may not be able to avoid them as easily." Shadowsan reminded her. "Today was difficult."

Ivy cleared her throat. "What if I made somethin for ya? I have a design ready for a long range weapon, I thought-"

Carmen held up a hand. "No. I don't care what it is, I don't shoot at my enemies from far away."

"But-"

"No. Sorry, Ivy."

Player suddenly made an agonized sort of noise. Carmen was immediately struck by how unusually pale he looked, his eyes wide and frightened.

"Player?"

"You need to get to the airport. Now."