Plunderers Down Under
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego characters in this fanfic. Nace Bilby, the characters of ACME Australia, and Jack von Schpliser, are my own creations.
June 24, 1999
Great Barrier Reef
"Ive, that was sure nice of the Chief to let us take that vacation in Australia." Zack said, sitting back in the beach chair overlooking the Great Barrier Reef.
"Yeah." Ivy said, "I've got to hand it to Chief on this one."
Maria and Armando were also about, "Hey, are we late?"
"No, just in time Armando." Ivy replied.
In no time, Armando got a fire going to start barbequing some food. A sudden breeze came by, blowing Armando's hat off his head. Running after it, the breeze seemed to taunt Armando, by blowing the hat slightly out of his reach. Suddenly a hand grabbed the hat out of mid-air.
"I got it mate, no worries." An Australian accented voice replied, belonging to a lightly tanned, medium built, compact fellow wearing a pair of khaki shorts, dark Raybans, flip flops, and a black No Fear t-shirt. An ACME badge was stuck in the waistband of his shorts, Armando saw as the Australian handed him back and walked off.
"You're with ACME?" Armando asked.
"Yes mate, I am. The name's Nace Bilby." The Australian replied.
"Armando DiStephano." Armando replied, "Say, there are three more of us on the beach. Want to come meet the others?"
"Sure mate." Bilby replied.
Armando came back with his hat and some new guy who introduced himself as Nace Bilby, with ACME Australia. "That's Maria, Zack, and Ivy."
"As in Zack and Ivy Darren?" Bilby asked.
"Yes." Armando said.
"You're the team everyone says is gonna bag Carmen one day." Bilby said, "At least the boys at my office say that."
"I've heard the Darwin office has had a good record too." Zack said.
"We do our bit." Bilby said modestly, "Mostly just chasing down the occasional VILE spy around here. A few of them are actually pretty hard to track. I remember having to chase one across the Outback, coming upon a conspiracy to steal Ayer's Rock."
"You're that Bilby?" Maria said, flush with admiration.
"Yes, I'm the one who single handedly stopped an attempt to steal Ayer's Rock." Bilby replied, grinning a slightly embarrassed grin, "That was because my shirttail got caught in the drive shaft of Carmen's gravity field generator, that's why her machine malfunctioned. So then about a big mob of her henchmen wind up chasing ME across the Outback while Carmen packs up her stuff and leaves. So anyway, my ripped shirt is still hanging from the wall in the lobby alongside my picture and the gravity field generator."
The waves washed ashore a particularly large clump of seaweed that ordinarily wouldn't have attracted any attention until Zack moved towards it, seeing a hand sticking out of it. "Oh Jeez. Ive, guys, look."
They all ran towards Zack, Bilby reaching him first. "That's a VILE henchman's glove, I'll wager." Bilby said, "But why does VILE want to kill their own men?"
The Chief's CGI head appeared just then as a boat carrying Australian police arrived, securing the crime scene. "Hot tip gumshoes." The Chief said, "Lee Jordan just escaped from prison."
"Lee Jordan? Oh you mean that bloke who tried to rob the Federal Mint and take over VILE." Bilby replied.
"You mean that geekwad." Zack said.
"Geekwad?" Bilby said.
"Never mind." Ivy said, "Well little bro, it looks like our vacation's been cancelled."
"You think Lee was behind this?" Armando said.
"He had to have had help, I doubt a recently escaped convict could escape from jail in San Quentin, get all the way here to Australia and kill a VILE agent in his way without help." Bilby replied.
"Looks like we'll be asking you for a lot of help on this one, Nace, Australia's like your backyard." Zack said.
"Nace?" Zack said, "Where is he?"
"I don't know, he was just standing here a minute ago." Ivy said.
"Where do you think he went?" Maria said.
"I'm right here Zack." Nace said.
"Nace?" Ivy replied, "How did you…"
"Rule number one of detective work, always watch your backs. If I was that knife man, I willing to be all of you would have been my latest victims in that time span." Nace replied, "And in response to your first question, being raised in the Outback for the better part of my life by my grandfather taught me to be able to sneak across terrain without detection as well as vanishing into crowds."
"Now lets see what evidence we can turn up at the morgue." Armando said.
"Wait a minute, if you don't have strong stomachs, I don't advise that course of action." Nace replied.
After getting into a suitable change of clothes, the detectives C-5ed to the morgue. Findings reported that the victim died of a single slash across the throat and was simply thrown into the drink. "I do remember a yacht hanging around somewhere off shore for a few days before we found that corpse, but that could be coincidence, it just didn't sound right." Nace replied.
"How do you know?" Ivy asked.
"I don't know, Ivy, but somehow my internal alarms are bleeping like crazy and that rarely happens unless I'm on to something." Nace replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
June 24, 1999
6 miles off Great Barrier Reef
The yacht was still being cleaned up by several of Lee's henchmen. Cruiser had just been broken out of jail, and two of his henchmen, blonde haired and blue eyed young men just out of their teens, Mickey and Shark, were cleaning off the decks, getting rid of the remains of the VILE skeleton watch that had been aboard this seemingly innocent yacht. Alongside the yacht was the small 20 footer, moored to this big 120-footer, their insertion craft.
Rathe, an Australian assassin whose weapon of choice was a prized collection of daggers kept in a leather brief case, walked into Lee's office with his black kangaroo leather jacket and unremarkable clothing. Rathe was the master of quick and dirty murders leaving very little evidence. Something told Lee he would need Rathe's services to keep a certain pair of ACME detectives off their backs. He handed the manila envelope to the mercenary.
"How much?" the mercenary asked.
"Well Rathe, five hundred thousand US dollars for each of them, plus the two-hundred and fifty thousand upfront. Price is reasonable, right?" Lee said, leaning back on the luxurious leather chair, his feet propped up on the desk.
"Reasonable." Rathe replied coldly, "Let me see the victims."
"Open the envelope." Lee replied.
The picture was of a short, slender built blond haired blue-eyed boy of about thirteen and a red haired, green eyed, girl of about seventeen with an athletic build. "One and a quarter million for two teenagers?" the mercenary asked.
"Not just any teenagers read the file." Lee replied.
"ACME detectives, eh?" Rathe replied, "I've evaded or dealt with hundreds of ACME probes in my time around here. Just to let you know, I'm not in it for any of your little VILE schemes, so don't try to hire me out, I'm a freelance, I take whatever I feel is a challenge and these two ACME kids don't look too challenging."
"They're pretty resourceful." Lee replied.
"A computer geek who should be in school and a spunky redhead are hardly challenging prey." Rathe replied.
"The geek I can see, but his big sister is a big challenge and it would be most beneficial for both of us if they were out of the way, permanently. Once they get on your tail, nothing short of murder will deter them. Keep reading." Lee replied.
"Black belt in several different martial arts. Hmmm." Rathe replied, "The sister could be a promising challenge. I know just where to begin to strike. I accept."
"Remember the terms." Lee reminded.
"Discretion." Rathe replied, opening his case of daggers, from needle nosed and precise blades to forearm length swords deadly in close combat, "Believe me, when you do the kills I've done, you know all about discretion. I'll start today."
~ ~ ~ ~
Zack, Ivy and the others walked out of the morgue, feeling slightly sick to the stomach, Bilby wearing an 'I-told-you-so-but-you-didn't-listen' look on his face. "I'd say we're looking at some fellow who likes to kill with knives." Nace said.
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious." Ivy replied.
"Well, any fool can shoot someone, but to sneak up and knife someone without anyone hearing takes real skill." Nace replied, "I'm saying we'd best watch our backs."
"Our backs?" Ivy replied.
"Your Chief said you'd have the Australian ACME branch's help, my boss sent me to help you guys on this one." Nace replied.
They didn't notice, as they walked through downtown Darwin, the man trailing them. He was a man in his early thirties, balding, and hawk faced with light blonde hair, eyes obscured behind conservative dark sunglasses, a seemingly ordinary and innocuous appearance. In the sleeve of his black kangaroo hide jacket he concealed a small, short bladed shiv, but he didn't expect to use it just yet, he was observing these two, he would spend the next few days doing so and then waiting to strike. He kept a discreet distance, keeping his eyes on the tallest of them for reference, the red head stood out from this group by height. The tanned Australian with them and the Argentinean in the gaucho getup were also noticeable.
He knew which one he'd kill first, already making up his mind. He'd go for the blonde boy first, use him as a sort of chip to wear down big sis and then take her down. He overheard the gaucho and the other girl saying that they were splitting up for some time. Still, it was too risky to make contact just yet. He'd have to formulate his plan for he knew nothing is more vicious than the mother protecting her brood, so by killing the boy or trying after him he'd awaken her maternal instinct. Now there just had to be a way to utilize that against her.
He then noticed two blonde men following the trio. Mickey and Shark, obviously they knew nothing about the word discretion. They were following too closely, making themselves two obvious. Those stupid muscle heads…
~ ~ ~ ~
"Don't look now, we've got company." Bilby said, "Just keep walking."
"Uh, Nace," Zack said to Bilby, "Those guys look pretty big and dangerous."
"Zack, don't let them know we're onto them. C'mon, just stick with me and we'll lose them." Nace Bilby whispered.
Nace made a sudden turn into a mall, "Act casual, try and blend in." he said, in a calm coaching tone.
He noticed Mickey and Shark running to catch up. Nace suddenly grabbed a passerby's purse and threw it into Shark's arms. "Hey, those blokes stole that lady's purse!" he shouted, when a security guard was in earshot. Nace pointed at the two blonde men.
Suddenly the guard went after the two who threw the purse planted on them aside and ran. "Lost 'em." Nace said.
"That was really good." Ivy said.
"I'm not convinced they're the real threat. Look through that crowd and see if you can see anyone that looks like they've followed or been following us." Nace replied.
"Don't be paranoid, it was just those two geekwads." Zack replied, "No one else."
"Oh, don't be too sure, Zack." Nace replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Australian ACME detective was onto him. Rathe knew better than to draw attention to himself, so he vanished into the crowd, waiting off at a safe distance until they relaxed. That Australian with them was pretty clever, and those two muscle headed cretins who didn't have a brain between either of them had just been outwitted. Rathe was too smart to be fooled so easily. All this time their backs had been open, but too risky.
He would remain observing the ACME detectives until he was sure, absolutely sure, he could make his kill undetected, swiftly and silently. That million and a quarter was well worth the wait, more so the challenge of taking down alert ACME detectives. He'd have to do a little research and raise his price. He opened up his cellular phone; he had a bone to pick with Mr. Jordan…
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego characters in this fanfic. Nace Bilby, the characters of ACME Australia, and Jack von Schpliser, are my own creations.
June 24, 1999
Great Barrier Reef
"Ive, that was sure nice of the Chief to let us take that vacation in Australia." Zack said, sitting back in the beach chair overlooking the Great Barrier Reef.
"Yeah." Ivy said, "I've got to hand it to Chief on this one."
Maria and Armando were also about, "Hey, are we late?"
"No, just in time Armando." Ivy replied.
In no time, Armando got a fire going to start barbequing some food. A sudden breeze came by, blowing Armando's hat off his head. Running after it, the breeze seemed to taunt Armando, by blowing the hat slightly out of his reach. Suddenly a hand grabbed the hat out of mid-air.
"I got it mate, no worries." An Australian accented voice replied, belonging to a lightly tanned, medium built, compact fellow wearing a pair of khaki shorts, dark Raybans, flip flops, and a black No Fear t-shirt. An ACME badge was stuck in the waistband of his shorts, Armando saw as the Australian handed him back and walked off.
"You're with ACME?" Armando asked.
"Yes mate, I am. The name's Nace Bilby." The Australian replied.
"Armando DiStephano." Armando replied, "Say, there are three more of us on the beach. Want to come meet the others?"
"Sure mate." Bilby replied.
Armando came back with his hat and some new guy who introduced himself as Nace Bilby, with ACME Australia. "That's Maria, Zack, and Ivy."
"As in Zack and Ivy Darren?" Bilby asked.
"Yes." Armando said.
"You're the team everyone says is gonna bag Carmen one day." Bilby said, "At least the boys at my office say that."
"I've heard the Darwin office has had a good record too." Zack said.
"We do our bit." Bilby said modestly, "Mostly just chasing down the occasional VILE spy around here. A few of them are actually pretty hard to track. I remember having to chase one across the Outback, coming upon a conspiracy to steal Ayer's Rock."
"You're that Bilby?" Maria said, flush with admiration.
"Yes, I'm the one who single handedly stopped an attempt to steal Ayer's Rock." Bilby replied, grinning a slightly embarrassed grin, "That was because my shirttail got caught in the drive shaft of Carmen's gravity field generator, that's why her machine malfunctioned. So then about a big mob of her henchmen wind up chasing ME across the Outback while Carmen packs up her stuff and leaves. So anyway, my ripped shirt is still hanging from the wall in the lobby alongside my picture and the gravity field generator."
The waves washed ashore a particularly large clump of seaweed that ordinarily wouldn't have attracted any attention until Zack moved towards it, seeing a hand sticking out of it. "Oh Jeez. Ive, guys, look."
They all ran towards Zack, Bilby reaching him first. "That's a VILE henchman's glove, I'll wager." Bilby said, "But why does VILE want to kill their own men?"
The Chief's CGI head appeared just then as a boat carrying Australian police arrived, securing the crime scene. "Hot tip gumshoes." The Chief said, "Lee Jordan just escaped from prison."
"Lee Jordan? Oh you mean that bloke who tried to rob the Federal Mint and take over VILE." Bilby replied.
"You mean that geekwad." Zack said.
"Geekwad?" Bilby said.
"Never mind." Ivy said, "Well little bro, it looks like our vacation's been cancelled."
"You think Lee was behind this?" Armando said.
"He had to have had help, I doubt a recently escaped convict could escape from jail in San Quentin, get all the way here to Australia and kill a VILE agent in his way without help." Bilby replied.
"Looks like we'll be asking you for a lot of help on this one, Nace, Australia's like your backyard." Zack said.
"Nace?" Zack said, "Where is he?"
"I don't know, he was just standing here a minute ago." Ivy said.
"Where do you think he went?" Maria said.
"I'm right here Zack." Nace said.
"Nace?" Ivy replied, "How did you…"
"Rule number one of detective work, always watch your backs. If I was that knife man, I willing to be all of you would have been my latest victims in that time span." Nace replied, "And in response to your first question, being raised in the Outback for the better part of my life by my grandfather taught me to be able to sneak across terrain without detection as well as vanishing into crowds."
"Now lets see what evidence we can turn up at the morgue." Armando said.
"Wait a minute, if you don't have strong stomachs, I don't advise that course of action." Nace replied.
After getting into a suitable change of clothes, the detectives C-5ed to the morgue. Findings reported that the victim died of a single slash across the throat and was simply thrown into the drink. "I do remember a yacht hanging around somewhere off shore for a few days before we found that corpse, but that could be coincidence, it just didn't sound right." Nace replied.
"How do you know?" Ivy asked.
"I don't know, Ivy, but somehow my internal alarms are bleeping like crazy and that rarely happens unless I'm on to something." Nace replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
June 24, 1999
6 miles off Great Barrier Reef
The yacht was still being cleaned up by several of Lee's henchmen. Cruiser had just been broken out of jail, and two of his henchmen, blonde haired and blue eyed young men just out of their teens, Mickey and Shark, were cleaning off the decks, getting rid of the remains of the VILE skeleton watch that had been aboard this seemingly innocent yacht. Alongside the yacht was the small 20 footer, moored to this big 120-footer, their insertion craft.
Rathe, an Australian assassin whose weapon of choice was a prized collection of daggers kept in a leather brief case, walked into Lee's office with his black kangaroo leather jacket and unremarkable clothing. Rathe was the master of quick and dirty murders leaving very little evidence. Something told Lee he would need Rathe's services to keep a certain pair of ACME detectives off their backs. He handed the manila envelope to the mercenary.
"How much?" the mercenary asked.
"Well Rathe, five hundred thousand US dollars for each of them, plus the two-hundred and fifty thousand upfront. Price is reasonable, right?" Lee said, leaning back on the luxurious leather chair, his feet propped up on the desk.
"Reasonable." Rathe replied coldly, "Let me see the victims."
"Open the envelope." Lee replied.
The picture was of a short, slender built blond haired blue-eyed boy of about thirteen and a red haired, green eyed, girl of about seventeen with an athletic build. "One and a quarter million for two teenagers?" the mercenary asked.
"Not just any teenagers read the file." Lee replied.
"ACME detectives, eh?" Rathe replied, "I've evaded or dealt with hundreds of ACME probes in my time around here. Just to let you know, I'm not in it for any of your little VILE schemes, so don't try to hire me out, I'm a freelance, I take whatever I feel is a challenge and these two ACME kids don't look too challenging."
"They're pretty resourceful." Lee replied.
"A computer geek who should be in school and a spunky redhead are hardly challenging prey." Rathe replied.
"The geek I can see, but his big sister is a big challenge and it would be most beneficial for both of us if they were out of the way, permanently. Once they get on your tail, nothing short of murder will deter them. Keep reading." Lee replied.
"Black belt in several different martial arts. Hmmm." Rathe replied, "The sister could be a promising challenge. I know just where to begin to strike. I accept."
"Remember the terms." Lee reminded.
"Discretion." Rathe replied, opening his case of daggers, from needle nosed and precise blades to forearm length swords deadly in close combat, "Believe me, when you do the kills I've done, you know all about discretion. I'll start today."
~ ~ ~ ~
Zack, Ivy and the others walked out of the morgue, feeling slightly sick to the stomach, Bilby wearing an 'I-told-you-so-but-you-didn't-listen' look on his face. "I'd say we're looking at some fellow who likes to kill with knives." Nace said.
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious." Ivy replied.
"Well, any fool can shoot someone, but to sneak up and knife someone without anyone hearing takes real skill." Nace replied, "I'm saying we'd best watch our backs."
"Our backs?" Ivy replied.
"Your Chief said you'd have the Australian ACME branch's help, my boss sent me to help you guys on this one." Nace replied.
They didn't notice, as they walked through downtown Darwin, the man trailing them. He was a man in his early thirties, balding, and hawk faced with light blonde hair, eyes obscured behind conservative dark sunglasses, a seemingly ordinary and innocuous appearance. In the sleeve of his black kangaroo hide jacket he concealed a small, short bladed shiv, but he didn't expect to use it just yet, he was observing these two, he would spend the next few days doing so and then waiting to strike. He kept a discreet distance, keeping his eyes on the tallest of them for reference, the red head stood out from this group by height. The tanned Australian with them and the Argentinean in the gaucho getup were also noticeable.
He knew which one he'd kill first, already making up his mind. He'd go for the blonde boy first, use him as a sort of chip to wear down big sis and then take her down. He overheard the gaucho and the other girl saying that they were splitting up for some time. Still, it was too risky to make contact just yet. He'd have to formulate his plan for he knew nothing is more vicious than the mother protecting her brood, so by killing the boy or trying after him he'd awaken her maternal instinct. Now there just had to be a way to utilize that against her.
He then noticed two blonde men following the trio. Mickey and Shark, obviously they knew nothing about the word discretion. They were following too closely, making themselves two obvious. Those stupid muscle heads…
~ ~ ~ ~
"Don't look now, we've got company." Bilby said, "Just keep walking."
"Uh, Nace," Zack said to Bilby, "Those guys look pretty big and dangerous."
"Zack, don't let them know we're onto them. C'mon, just stick with me and we'll lose them." Nace Bilby whispered.
Nace made a sudden turn into a mall, "Act casual, try and blend in." he said, in a calm coaching tone.
He noticed Mickey and Shark running to catch up. Nace suddenly grabbed a passerby's purse and threw it into Shark's arms. "Hey, those blokes stole that lady's purse!" he shouted, when a security guard was in earshot. Nace pointed at the two blonde men.
Suddenly the guard went after the two who threw the purse planted on them aside and ran. "Lost 'em." Nace said.
"That was really good." Ivy said.
"I'm not convinced they're the real threat. Look through that crowd and see if you can see anyone that looks like they've followed or been following us." Nace replied.
"Don't be paranoid, it was just those two geekwads." Zack replied, "No one else."
"Oh, don't be too sure, Zack." Nace replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Australian ACME detective was onto him. Rathe knew better than to draw attention to himself, so he vanished into the crowd, waiting off at a safe distance until they relaxed. That Australian with them was pretty clever, and those two muscle headed cretins who didn't have a brain between either of them had just been outwitted. Rathe was too smart to be fooled so easily. All this time their backs had been open, but too risky.
He would remain observing the ACME detectives until he was sure, absolutely sure, he could make his kill undetected, swiftly and silently. That million and a quarter was well worth the wait, more so the challenge of taking down alert ACME detectives. He'd have to do a little research and raise his price. He opened up his cellular phone; he had a bone to pick with Mr. Jordan…
