OK, here we are again, and everything I write about what Ivan tells Pixie is in italics, OK? OK. Oh, and I don't own Carmen or anything to do with ACME, with the exception of Pixie and her flatmates.
"Well," Ivan began, "It all started before me or Polly joined ACME..."
It was back when Polly was about nine, and I was eleven. We went to the same elementary, middle, and high school. Even then, Polly was famous for being talented throughout the whole school. Anyway, it had been about seven years since Carmen had turned on ACME. Anyway, all of the adult agents hadn't been able to catch Carmen. However, the Chief knew of Polly-her second cousin, I think-and asked her for help. I know it sounds crazy, sending a girl in fourth grade on a mission, but that was precisely why the Chief thought Carmen would be easily caught. She wouldn't expect a child to be persuing her. Of course, she had a Good Guide-someone who's quit now-but she did all the real work. Finally, she got to Carmen, and was ready to capture her. But somehow Carmen had heard they were sending a child after her. I'm not sure what happened, but Polly disappeared from school for two months, and when she came back, she seemed... tougher. She told me that she has sworn to lock up Carmen Sandiego for good. Something happened that time, and it has made her determined to get Carmen a life sentence. At the moment, it seems unlikely, but she's still determined to do it.
Pixie was staring as Ivan finished. "I would've been eleven. I think I remember hearing Mom say something to one of her 'friends' that she 'sent a little girl into a time vortex'. I'm pretty sure she would've been talking about Polly." she said. "Well, I'll try harder to put up with her. Anyway, I'm free for the rest of the day, so I'm going home. See you, Ivan!"
"I've got a mission to take on, anyway." Ivan answered. "Catch you later, Pixie!"
Pixie was happy to be good friends with Ivan, and felt dreamy. Janie immediately noticed when she got to the flat. They were the only ones home, with Rachel on another mission and Sophie out with one of her old school friends.
"Hey, Avril." she said slyly. "Am I seeing that you have a crush on someone? You're acting weird."
Pixie blushed. "No, I don't. Who would I crush on? I only see people at ACME, and apart from the Good Guides, I only hang out with Sophie."
"Oh, I don't know." teased Janie. "It could be Rock, or Herman...or Ivan." Pixie hoped she wasn't blushing. "Come on!" Janie said. "Who is it?"
"No one!" Pixie insisted. "Herman doesn't even like me at all and I barely even see Rock."
Janie pounced on what went unsaid. "So you like Ivan? I do see you talking sometimes!"
"We're just friends!" Pixie snapped. A sly smile came over her face. "Anyway, I see you watching that agent...Jon, was it? The one a year older than you?"
"Jacob!" corrected Janie, but immediately blushed magenta when she realized she had more or less admitted her crush. She sobered up, and Pixie was relieved to have the attention taken off her.
Rachel was the next to get home, babbling about her last mission. "My Good Guide wasn't helpful at ALL!" she wailed. "I wouldn't have completed the mission if I hadn't found scraps around-I don't know how it happened, but Carmen was the one sending notes, and she's still in the ACME jail-I checked!"
"Where was it? And who was your Good Guide?" Pixie asked, mildly amused.
"It was a time mission-1675 Spain." Rachel answered. "My good guide was Renee."
Pixie didn't hide her surprise. "Whenever Renee is my Good Guide, she's really helpful." she said. "All of them are pretty good...even though they're not always as nice as Renee, but she is REALLY helpful. She always helps me just enough so I still need to use my brain but it's not impossible." and then, annoyed with her flatmate's whining about the mission, "Do you own a brain, Rachel?"
The fifteen-year-old glared at her and said "What colour is my hair?"
"Brown," answered Pixie, puzzled.
"What colour is your hair?" Rachel continued.
"Blonde. What's that got to do with anything?"
"Brunettes own better brains than blondes." Rachel said triumphantly.
"How do you figure that?" Pixie snapped.
"Because Glinda is blonde." Rachel grinned.
"Where'd you get that comment?" Pixie asked.
"Internet." Rachel muttered.
"Well, number one: Glinda isn't a real person." Pixie told her. "And number two: I'm naturally a brunette, not a blonde. My hair is bleached." Rachel knew when she was defeated and didn't answer.
Days went by. Missions continued. It finally came to a monthly visit that Pixie both dreaded and anticipated. The visit to see her imprisoned mom.
Carmen greeted her with a smirk. "Hello. So, tell me, are you bored of ACME work yet?"
Pixie scowled. "No, of course I'm not bored. I'm sure even you weren't bored of catching criminals at this time, when you were a Sr Investigator, one mission away from Detective."
Carmen's smirk didn't fade at all. "Maybe so. I thought you might be bored of those guides telling you what to do all the time. Since I was there, they've gotten so righteous. And bossy. That little girl with the short red hair especially."
"Polly Tix?" Pixie blurted out before realizing what she'd just said.
It seemed as if the shadows on Carmen's face grew darker. "Yes, that's her name, I remember now. So tell me, how are you finding her and the other guides? Her especially."
"Oh, OK, you know." Pixie bluffed, knowing that when Carmen looked that way, it meant trouble. "Not bad." She felt a little guilty for mentioning Polly's name. She reassured herself that it would be a long time before Carmen was out of jail and by then she would have forgotten this conversation. "Anyway, I just realized, gotta run. Missions and stuff. Bye, Mom." she said quickly, running out of ACME jail before Carmen could answer.
Uh-oh! Pixie shouldn't have mentioned Polly's name to Carmen. So will Carmen break out of jail? What will happen? Review and I'll try not to pause the updates so much!