Why ?

A complicated reconstruction

A/N : We finally reach the end... I posted the first chapter 8 months ago! I haven't seen the time pass. I want to thank everyone who read and commented, giving me the courage and motivation to continue. You are the best!

In the endnotes, you'll find links to more of my stories, including the What If series I'm starting today and a collection of one-shots (both in French and English). There will also be a link to all this fanfiction in French if you're interested.

If there is anything you are unclear about, I will answer any questions in the comments.

Carmen POV

Slash

"Say it ! The name your owners chose for you !"

"Carmen Sandiego." I said in a weak voice. My gaze was locked on Maelstrom, who was getting a little angrier with each refusal on my part.

Slash

Slash

Slash

The guard behind me snapped the whip for the umpteenth time at my back. "You're not going anywhere until you say it, Black Sheep." The end of his sentence was distant as the scene faded. Then I found myself lying on a table instead of kneeling at the pole. A blindfold was placed over my eyes as electricity coursed through my body.

"What is your name, child ?" I feel the full violence of the whip again and breathlessly I say softly.

"Black Sheep."

Again everything fades and this time I am curled up on the floor in the corner of one of Dr. Bellum's laboratories. I was held up only by a chain on my collar. She had just finished operating on me (to repair one of my broken ribs) and was now sitting at her desk, working on her computer. I was shivering from the cold as I had been left in my underwear for the operation and the x-rays. She still hadn't given me my clothes back, having more important things to do. I felt no modesty, knowing that this was nothing new and that she was the only one who saw me like this. My ribcage ached, due to the almost non-existent dose of anaesthetic that Dr Bellum gives me before every operation, ensuring that I feel the pain of this moment. She reaches for the piece of stale bread the Cleaners have brought for me and throws it to me without looking at me. Hungry, I rush to take it, knowing that the chain attached to my neck allows me to reach the bread. In my haste, I pulled at the stitches (not enough to break them) and screamed in pain. She turns to me and sees what I have done. Blood drips from my wound and as she looks on I go back to my corner and curl up, my bread still protected in my bandaged hands (Countess Cleo had broken part of my fingers when I had unintentionally touched her personal belongings). As she gets up and comes towards me, I quickly eat the piece. She pulls me close to her and checks my stitches before slapping me. She gets up and starts hitting me, avoiding my wounded area as I groan in pain.

"When are you going to stop behaving like a vulgar animal and more like the slave we want you to be !"

Slave

When they called me that, it meant I had really screwed up. She was the most patient with me though, so for her to get to the point of hitting me... It all becomes a blur again as I see myself being dragged down to the basement (still in my underwear and in front of the operatives and students) before being locked in my cage in a cellar, Dr. Bellum's voice in the background.

"If you want to be treated like one, no worries, but animals sleep in cages, without the attention of their owners."

Eventually everything fades away and I'm in the punishment room, beaten by Shepherd for releasing the ACME agent. I don't know why I did this and no matter how much I say I don't know anything more than what I've already said, he continues. I don't know how long this goes on but after a while I feel thrown into my cage as Professor Maelstrom walks out of the room. I lose consciousness and just as I think I'm waking up, I'm held in someone's arms. Expecting violence, I find only softness and warmth. A smell reaches my nostrils, one I haven't smelled for too long but I can't tell who it belongs to. Everything becomes blurrier and blurrier, I think I can see Shadowsan's face above me. Then nothing.