San Diego, California (Team Red's Home Base)
Two Months After the Season 3 Finale
"Faster!"
"Harder!"
"Good, again!"
Julia Argent had been training with Carmen Sandiego and Shadowsan at their base for two months now. She was getting better at stealing and she had gotten significantly stronger. Carmen had told her that she was almost a good pickpocket as her, Julia had taken this as a compliment. Not only was she learning these new skills, she was also learning about Carmen and Shadowsan's history with VILE. Even when she thought she knew everything, she would learn something new. Never had she worked so hard in her life but been so happy. During the day she would train and study, in the late afternoon she would spend time with Ivy, Zack, and Carmen, and at night she would brainstorm about what Carmen had told her the first week she was here.
"You might want to change your getup to be easier to run around in,"
She was right of course, but lately she was wearing some of Carmen's training clothes. They didn't fit her slim and shorter figure very well, but it worked for now.
She was brought back from her thoughts by the deep voice that belonged to Shadowsan, "Perfect, Julia! Take a break!".
She stopped hitting the red punching bag and panted. She turned to face Carmen and Shadowsan's direction, who were having a conversation she could barely hear.
Carmen had been watching Jules train with Shadowsan for the past week and she knew that the former ACME agent was ready to go out in the field.
"I think she's ready to go on her first caper," Carmen said.
"Are you sure Carmen? She's only had two months of training as a thief," Shadowsan retorted.
Carmen made a face, "She worked at Interpol and ACME, not to mention she's incredibly smart. I think we should give her a chance, she's worked really hard!".
"As always Carmen, you are right. I'll ask Player if there's any chatter from VILE, you and Julia figure out what part she'll play, any tools she needs, all of that," Shadowsan said as he patted Carmen on the back and left the room.
Carmen chuckled a bit and walked over to Julia, who was gulping down a bottle of water. She was wearing a crimson red ill-fitting shirt that belonged to Carmen that was tucked into a pair of black running shorts that were borrowed from Ivy. Carmen had tried to get Julia to buy new clothes, but she refused, not wanting to take a break for her work. When Carmen had offered to buy them for her, she didn't let her "waste" her money on her.
"Hey Jules," Carmen greeted as she approached Julia.
Julia set her water bottle down on a box, and wiped the sweat off her forehead with a towel.
"Hi Carmen," she said, giving her a warm smile.
Carmen grinned back and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "So, you're all clear to go on our next mission,".
Carmen's insides fluttered as she saw Julia beam. Julia raised her arm and balled her hand into a fist, then she brought it down quickly with an enthusiastic "yes!". Carmen watched as Julia realized the brunette had been watching her and became flustered.
"I-I mean," her voice faltered as she straigheted herself out and erased the smile from her face, "Thank you for this opportunity,".
"Don't worry Jules, you can be excited," Carmen said, holding back a small chuckle.
Julia's emotionless face broke and she went back to celebrating, it was quite adorable. Carmen laughed quietly as she finished celebrating and turned to face her.
"What do I need to do?" Julia's voice was confident, something Carmen hadn't seen when she was with ACME.
Carmen paused for a moment and sighed, "Listen, Jules, I need you to understand a couple things before you go on a caper with us,".
"Yes?" she said, adjusting her glasses.
"First thing," she started, looking directly at Julia, "Once you've seen with us most people will see you as an enemy, I need to know you're okay with that,".
Julia's voice was soft when she spoke, "I know that Carmen, I know that joining you has it's disadvantages. But I know that I'm not doing any wrong, and that's all that matters to me,".
Carmen nodded and took another breath, "Secondly, If you're seen with me that means you're VILE's enemy too. They might try and kidnap or kill you to get to me. They could also find your family and hurt them. I would hate for you to be hurt and I need you to understand the risks, do you?".
Julia bit her lip and nodded slowly, "As I told you before, there are risks to being on your team. I'll take all of them though, this is the happiest I've been, and I- I don't really have much of a family anyways,".
Carmen's heart broke at the realization that Julia didn't have a family either. She and her crew were the only family she'd ever had, no wonder she would take all these risks. Without thinking, Carmen brought Julia into a hug, just like on the boat in Venice. Just that this time Julia hugged back instead of being frozen in place.
It was silent until Carmen spoke, "Jules, I would hate to see you hurt, so I'm going to need you to do a couple things for me, okay?"
Julia nodded as they broke apart from the hug, "What is it?".
"I want you to pick a codename and a disguise, something to use on missions so people won't recognize you at first glance. Think of it as a precaution, to keep the family and friends you do have safe," Carmen whispered, looking down into Julia's eyes.
Julia met Carmen's eyes and thought for a moment. It was smart, picking a disguise and a codename would protect her mother and her younger sister. The Argents weren't very close to her heart, and they weren't necessarily nice to her either. It was because 'they didn't approve of her profession' they said, but she knew it was so much more. But out of the love they'd shown her before they started hating her, she decided to protect them.
She thought about possible codenames for a couple minutes. Continuously glancing over at Carmen who was pacing around, probably talking to Player about their caper. Her mind wandered around things that made her happy, history, stealth, learning? No, none of those made good codenames. Her eyes went wide when she realized the best code name had been right in front of her the whole time. Carmen seemed to have sensed that she'd figured it out and walked over to her.
"So? You got it?" Carmen asked, holding her hands behind her back.
Julia smiled, "Jewel,".
"Pardon?" Carmen asked, taken aback by what she had just said.
"Since you always call me Jules and that sounds like 'jewels', I decided that Jewel is the perfect codename," Julia explained.
Carmen smiled warmly, "Well, Jewel, Player and I have a gift for you,".
Carmen brought her hands in front and presented Julia with a medium sized white case. It was wrapped nicely with a bow, obviously Carmen's work. Julia's face heated up a bit when she realized Carmen had taken time away from her planning just to nicely tie up this bow for her. Julia took it in her hands and opened up the box, surprised at what she saw.
They were glasses. They were round, just like the ones that she usually wore, just that these had red lenses. The frames were a dark navy and had some crimson red spiked sticking out at the ends, making the round glasses look like suns. Julia loved them so much, they would work perfectly with the disguise she had put together in her head.
"I- I don't know what to say, thank you Carmen!" she exclaimed, giving Carmen a quick hug.
Carmen grinned, "They have your prescription, and a few other things, Player made them,".
Julia, confused as to what she meant by 'other things' decided to try them on. As soon as they were on her face she saw everything in a red hue. She also realized that when she looked around at material things, she saw what they were made of and what was beyond them. She could see the heat signature of Shadowsan and the heat signature of the computer he seemed to be talking to. She turned back at Carmen and saw her in a red hue as well as the contents of her pockets. She processed it, that's a lot of candy wrappers Carmen.
"Now," Carmen said, clicking a button on the side of the frame that made the glasses go back to 'normal', "Did you give your disguise any thought?".
Julia smiled in a way that would make anyone know her answer was yes.
The Next Day: Late Morning
As the crew was getting ready to depart from San Diego, Julia came out, dressed in her new getup. She had spent the rest of the day yesterday and much of this morning getting ready for the reveal. Everyone gasped when they saw the new her. The glasses she received as a gift from Player and Carmen replaced her old ones. Right now they were normal, not showing her the contents of things or any heat signatures. Her old earrings were replaced with red ones, so she could communicate with Player. On her right wrist was a red watch Player had helped her make so she would always be on time. The watch also had a few tricks up its sleeve, but those would be revealed in good time. On her left wrist was a wristband she and Player had also engineered so she could scan and look things up. It was basically a computer on her wrist. Her usual blazer and orange blouse were replaced with a dark blue vest. The vest had three red circles on the right chest area. The necklace she always wore was still a part of her getup, a reminder of her past life. She had decided to keep the same kind of pants, but this time they were a different brand so she could move around easier in them. She had swapped her dress shoes for a pair of heeled boots. They were a brown so close to crimson red that you couldn't really tell if they were red or brown.
Carmen couldn't contain the blush when she saw Julia, she looked amazing. Her arms were significantly more toned after all the training with her and Shadowsan and her face beamed with excitement. She was beyond excited for the caper with Julia.
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A/N
I hope you guys are enjoying this fic! I will be continuing this and I will try to update every week. But I am in school and some weeks might be hectic, but I promise I'll, tell you guys. Here is some art of Julia's outfit I made:
Make sure to comment and vote, your support gives me motivation to continue! Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments on the last chapter, it was very much appreciated.
Until next chapter y'all!
~ Indie