A Conflict of Interest

Untitled Part 1

The air between them had been shifting. It swayed and blurred between different thicknesses over the last few months. Dynamics had changed, dominances asserted and rules set into place. It had been 8 and a half days since what they called the 'incident'. Or mostly, what she called it. It wasn't declared an outright mistake, but just an event that had transpired after much deliberation. It had been at the forefront of Julia's mind, the possibilities of it before it happened, floating around in the back of her mind for quite some time. After one particular face he made, a gesture he carefully gifted to her in a moment that seemed comfortable to them both that flicked the switch.

He was clueless for sure, yet somehow it felt like he knew exactly what he was doing by the gradual shift in demeanour.

At first, it was forced repentance. It only took one more failure immortalised by Chase that burned them both with a scald from Chief that sparked the uprising. Julia told him this time around things would go her way and that she wouldn't stand around in his shadow watching the chaos unfold. She was the superior being and had always thought such inside, but now finally let him realize it.

They had argued before after Chief aired her discrepancies with only Chase and his actions. After they parted from the meeting, he was in a foul mood, more than always. He implied things that enraged her. His inability to see the bigger picture and realize his faults made her fume. This time the fault lay between them, if not perpetuated by Chase and his brash decision against her own wishes. They were both reprimanded. It was embarrassing.

The entire argument he seemed unwilling to give up his front that it wasn't his fault. She only knew he did so out of spite and bitter protection of his wilting ego. Julia didn't think he was an idiot. He knew he was mistaken, she could see the fear in his eyes that he would let it slip, but the stubbornness that raged within kept it from bursting out.

After one titular comment about his opinion on Julia's 'real' obsession with clearing Carmen Sandiego's name was Chase's claim that the constant obsession with the woman was that of romantic inclinations. Julia cracked. It was true. Her visage was that of fiction. The mystery was impervious to anyone. Whether it is a male or female who donned the suit. The inclination disposition of a masked vigilante with a heart of gold was too tempting not to pass up. It was a fleeting daydream she never thought could be real.

After that, he continued and finally presented his full opinion on her, something they had almost been waiting on. He deemed her naïve as they come. Blind to the dirty underground that was everyone is out for something and no one does anything for free. He told her that no one does anything out of the pure goddess in their hearts and that she is, has been, duped by the one she fantasizes about so openly.

Chase himself had bear witness to the truthful separation between VILE and Carmen Sandiego and was at least accepting of that. But he refused to accept her innocence in the grand scheme of things.

He stated how he physically could not even respect her due to her inability to separate a childish fantasy with the actual world. That, and the fact that he knew she despised him, yet she didn't have the guts to say it to his face.

Julia went red at that moment. Silence befalling them as Chase smirked ever so slightly as if finally getting confirmation for his opinion.

On viewing his expression, Julia quashed whatever victory he had gained with a violent speech on his incompetence that decimated him, body and soul.

It surely had an effect. He was shrewd for a while after and quiet, distantly annoyed. She expected him to not turn up at the airport for their next assignment, but he did. He quietly decided to no longer dignify her with responses during the first weeks of their newly established partnership.