Summary: The entire time, she'd been a pawn in someone else's competition.

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

Content Disclaimer: There is violence, sexual content, and copious misuse of power in this work of fiction, and not of the cartoon variety. The characters as portrayed here are neither invincible nor morally flawless. If you've read Endgame and Play On, you know where this is going. If you haven't, I suggest you start with those so you don't get confused. However, if you are too young or attached to "beloved childhood" versions of the characters… you've been warned.

"Hang on tight gumshoes. Carmen just stole the entire town of Cairo!"

"In Egypt, this time?"

"Yep." Chief said happily. "Looks like she's feeling better."

"That great!" Zack said, and then thought for a moment about what he was saying. "I think…"

"So, what's the clue?" Ivy asked.

Zack tossed the stone in his hand and read the carvings. "Church gettin' higher."

"That's what it says?" Ivy asked. "Are you sure?"

Zack glanced down. "Yep. Got any clue what she's talking about Ivy?"

Chief started to search, enthusiastically "Well… let's see. High church typically refers to religion with a lot of ritual… especially with regards to how the Anglican Church is similar to the Catholic Church and…"

Ivy cut off his rant with a quick gesture. "Chief, she's in Jerusalem."

"Where'd you get that from, sis?" Zack asked, impressed by her speed.

"It's a song." Ivy explained.

The other two beings looked at her blankly.

"Rockin' Jerusalem." Ivy named.

Still no sign of recognition.

Ivy sighed. "Church gettin' higher is a line from the call and response section of the spiritual Rockin' Jerusalem."

"OK…." Zack said, "Good Job Ivy. Where in Jerusalem is she going?"

"Thanks! I… um… I don't know." Ivy admitted.

"Rockin' Jersusalem…" Zack muttered to himself, fidgeting with the clue "Rockin' Jerusalem…." He held up the stone inquisitively "Rock in Jerusalem?"

"Wordplay again?"

Zack shrugged. "Carmen loves a good pun. Player, cross reference. On the double!"

"How about Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem?" Chief suggested. "It's a sacred sight for all three Abrahamic religions."

Zack looked at Ivy. "Does that work?"

"Yeah," Ivy answered. "I think so. Player, C5 us there!"

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel

"You know," Ivy said in annoyance. "I bet Carmen is going after a religious site now just because I pointed out that she usually avoided that…"

"She's got me a little nervous Ives…" Zack admitted. Israel is just about the last place in the world you want to get caught if you've got the word terrorist on your file."

"Well, Carmen does like it fast and dangerous, little bro."

"Yeah, but only someone with a death wish would try…" He cut off at Ivy's glare. "Look I'm just saying that we need to get to her before Massaud or Yasam or some other local group do. This is one of those places where she could easily get shot at and those guys don't miss."

"I take your point…" Ivy said, trying not to dwell on the possibility. "We better move fast."

Ivy couldn't get over it… She kept expecting Carmen to look tired, or haggard, or… something.

By contrast, the thief was going through the usual movements merrily, as if she didn't have a care in the world.

How could she face all of this just a few weeks ago, and then ignore it?

Apparently with ease…

Carmen didn't miss a beat. As usual, her henchmen were fast and her movements were stellar. As she slid down the dome to the base, landing gracefully, Zack thought to himself that they'd have to catch her on the next stop. She was clearly going to win this one.

"See you soon, detectives…" Carmen said, jumping away from the base of the dome.

It was a move they'd seen her execute half a hundred times. Carmen's feet kicked out forcefully, and her hands worked the line expertly. Any other time, she would have repelled easily off the edge, coming to rest lightly on her heels in a flawless landing.

This time, though, the rope wasn't with her.

Ivy and Zack watched in horror as the line tightened and then suddenly went slack.

Carmen gasped and tried to grab onto the building, but she only succeeded in slowing her fall.

She landed hard on the upper side of the temple base.

The siblings froze, unable to process what had happened, staring at the still form sprawled across the architecture. "Get up…" Ivy whispered, half to herself, as she frenetically tried to find a way down from the dome. "Come on get up."

After a couple of seconds, Carmen groaned and rolled to her side. With some difficulty, she got to her hands and knees, and then her feet.

"Go after her!" Zack yelled to the agents on the ground, as she managed to escape out of range.

"Zack look at this…" Ivy said nervously, holding up the broken end of the rope.

"That was cut?" Zack gasped, looking at the end.

"I think so…" Ivy said, hefting the line. "But I'm not sure."

"I think I know someone who can figure it out." Zack said. "Player. C5 us back to headquarters, stat!"

Acme Headquarters, San Francisco

"She's not even a field agent." Ivy muttered derisively.

"Ceria knows what she's doing…" Zack defended.

"Yeah sure…" Ivy muttered, "If you want to sit in a lab and take days to figure things out."

"Ives…"

"All she has to do is run the machines…"

"It's not like all criminals leave detailed clues like Carmen…" Zack corrected. "And Ceria can find things we can't."

"We are not going to hand this case over to Ceria Labrat!" Ivy snapped. "She's too slow… and scatterbrained and…."

"Blond?" Some one asked, stepping out from behind the door. The girl had wild blond hair, pulled back into a frizzy bun and gigantic wide rimmed glasses.

Zack blushed a brilliant shade of crimson "Hi Ceria."

Ivy rolled her eyes. This was not the time for an adolescent crush.

"What's up?" The young woman asked.

"Um…. We…" Zack stammered.

"We have some things we need you to check!" Ivy broke in impatiently.

"Which case?" Ceria asked, rolling across the lab floor in her desk chair.

"We err…" Ivy tried to explain. "We brought it with us."

Ivy and Ceria looked each other over, with considerable suspicion. "Which case?" Ceria repeated.

"Off the record…" Ivy clarified.

Ceria looked back and forth from Ivy to Zack for a while. "The Sandiego Case.." She inferred shrewdly.

"Yeah…" Zack muttered sheepishly. "Can you help us? Please Cici?"

"Don't call me that…" Ceria said with a flirtatious smile. "What do you want me to look at?"

Ivy held out a printout… "Is this her signature?"

"I'll run it through the system…" Ceria suggested, somewhat astringently. "We certainly have enough of her signatures to compare it too… before and after she switched sides."

Zack and Ivy exchanged baleful glances.

Ceria fed things into the computer and pressed a few buttons. "Want anything while we wait?" she said sweetly to Zack. "I've got some cookies and pizza."

"Yeah um… sure thanks…

Ivy rolled her eyes.

"Could you look this over in the mean time?" She asked, half demanding.

"A piece of rope…" Ceria deadpanned.

"Did it break on its own?" Ivy demanded, "Or was it cut?"

Ceria turned the material over it her gloved hands. "You see on the outside, it looks frayed," She commented, "But on the inside the fibers all broke at the same point."

"What does that mean Cici?" Zack asked, smiling.

"Means your rope was cut in the middle, so it would look normal but break when Carmen put her weight on it."

Ivy glared.

"Oh come on," Ceria said condescendingly. "She's not that mysterious. I'm just jealous that she's got a mass spec in her closet." The machine beeped, and Ceria turned around to grab the readout.

"You told her that?" Ivy mouthed.

"Why not?" Zack mouthed back. "Didn't know it was a secret."

Ceria turned around, a solemn look on her face. "The handwriting is consistent…" The expert said slowly… "If her hand was shaking. It would have had to be shaking quite a lot though, so I wouldn't give a fig for her mental state when she wrote this."

"Listen, I'm sorry about all the extra work." Zack said.

"It's no trouble." Ceria responded. "I get it."

"Get what?" The redhead asked.

"She's the one case that you can't get over. Everyone has one eventually."

"What was yours?" Zack asked.

"Rape case." Ceria replied tersely. "Tried to get a profile from degraded DNA. Thought I could, but I wasn't that good. Never found the guy."

"This just in gumshoes." Chief announced somberly. "A local patrol in Israel just caught Carmen. It looks like she didn't make it too far from the Dome. And we all know how unlike her it is not to make a clean escape, so go check if she's OK, would ya?"