Summary: When it mattered most, her hands didn't shake. Set just after Retribution.

Disclaimer: I'm just a fanfiction writer. All hail the rightful owners.

"You want her? She's yours. If you're any kind of pilot!"

"That maniac!"

"Hold her steady Ives!"

"Well," Zack commented. "Paperwork's finally done. You want to go out and celebrate."

"No thanks, little bro." The young woman commented. "I'm gonna stay here for a little while."

The detective worked her way onto the roof of the agency.

The dark urban space was abandoned, except for a few satellite dishes. Ivy paced through the backlit terrace and tried to think.

The memory played in her mind endlessly.

The panic of realizing what Maelstrom intended…

Violent uncontrollable spasms running through her hand….

Desperately grabbing the controls with both her arms….

Had to be steady….

Unable to see

Not knowing if the next thing she heard would be screams….

It had felt so….

Overwhelming….

"It's a rush isn't it?" She heard a quiet voice say.

The detective spun around.

"Here, detective." Carmen acknowledged, stepping out of the shadows.

Ivy immediately started shifting her feet trying to cut off the exits.

"Do you think I would have come up here if I didn't have at least ten different ways to get down detective?"

Ivy kicked the ground in frustration. "When they find out you were up here…"

"Who's going to tell?" Carmen questioned mildly.

"You?" Ivy asked…. "Not much point in infiltrating Acme if you don't brag about it."

The thief calmly suggested. "Maybe I just wanted to talk with you."

The detective sat down on the cold pavement. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

Carmen smiled serenely. "You're not the only one who needs to look at the sky sometimes." The thief sat down as well, a safe distance away, though Ivy could see that her muscles were still activated, still ready to run.

"Did you come up here when you were a detective?" Ivy asked, half-curious but also a little bitter.

"The lights are beautiful…." Carmen explained. "And I liked the quiet."

Ivy snorted. "You? Quiet?"

Shoulders shifted slightly, irritably. "That was a little uncalled for, detective."

Her temper was starting to get going again. "I nearly kill you and that's uncalled for?"

"You did not try to kill me detective. Maelstrom did. And I'll thank you not to let his psychological methods get to you."

"Those helicopter blades could have…"

"Oh for heaven's sake Ivy, they didn't!"

Ivy looked up through bloodshot eyes. "What if I killed you?"

"Then it would be a lot of paperwork." Carmen commented in clipped tones. "And still not your fault."

"How close were you Carmen?" Ivy asked.

No answer.

"I couldn't see, I need to know." She demanded in a haunted tone.

"So close…" Carmen whispered softly, intimately. "That the hot wind off the rotors blistered my legs. One slip or your hand, or one malevolent move from Maelstrom, and I doubt I would have lived long enough to scream."

"Wow…" Ivy breathed. "Sorry..."

"Don't be." Carmen responded huskily. "It is an incredible feeling detective. There's nothing like it."

Ivy shook her head.

"You didn't get a rush from that, detective?"

"I guess…" Ivy speculated. "Mostly I just felt scared and sick to my stomach."

Carmen's eyes narrowed.

"I think…" Ivy explained. "It's different when it's someone else's life you're gambling with."

"Perhaps," the thief mused, standing, "But there is one thing to remember about all of this."

"Oh…" The agent said, trying to predict which way she would turn.

Carmen took a sharp step off the edge, activating her glider. "You didn't take my life. You saved it. And like it or not, detective, that says a lot about you. See you next crime."