Chapter Three:

Ivy sighed as she took the stairs two at a time up to the bedrooms, Carmen was her best friend, and to be honest, this whole thing was pretty freaking her out, how long had Carmen been dealing with this? Why hadn't she talked to her, or Player, or even Shadowsan?

"Carm!" she called out as she peered down the hallway, all of the bedroom doors were closed except for one, the one leading to Carmen's room.

"Carmen?" she called out, peeking into the room just in time to see a foot disappear under the bed, "Carmen?" she called again, "Zack's back, he's making his world-famous mac and cheese."

Silence greeted her, causing her to frown, "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"They're all over the place," Carmen explained.

"Wha..." Ivy began before remembering what Player had said, "I don't see anybody besides me here, Carmen, can you tell me what you're seeing."

"Acme's following me," Carmen explained, "They're everywhere, and so's Vile."

"I can understand how that can be upsetting," Ivy said, trying to figure out what she should say, "Hey, Carmen," she finally said, "Can you take a deep breath for me? Please?"

Ivy smiled as she heard a deep inhale coming from beneath the bed, followed by an exhale, "Good, now tell me..." she paused for a moment listening to the creaking of the old warehouse as it settled and the hissing sound of water running through the pipes in the wall as Zack shut a cupboard door with a bang below them, "Can you hear Zack in the kitchen?"

Carmen frowned focusing on the noises around her, until she picked up the sound of a male singing, "Yeah, he's down in the kitchen, singing that theme song he made up, you know the one that goes, 'Where is Carmen Sandiego? Carmen Sandiego, where on Earth can she be?'"

Ivy snorted, picturing her brother singing at the top of his lungs down in the kitchen, as Carmen crawled out from beneath the bed, "What else can you hear?"

"Um..." Carmen paused, taking another deep breath, a hissing noise was coming from the wall, "Water in the pipes, running water, Zack must be using the sink downstairs."

"Good, anything else?"

"You, me," Carmen began, "A dog barking out in the alleyway."

"Anything else," Ivy asked.

"No, nothing, there's no one else here," Carmen pulled herself up off the floor, "I'm just being silly again, aren't I?"

"Am I supposed to answer that?" Ivy asked as Carmen shook her head.

"No," Carmen snickered, "But..." Carmen glanced down at her feet, before looking at Ivy "I think you're right about me needing professional help."

Ivy smiled slightly, "Great, now how do we go about that?"

"What do you mean how do we go about that?" Carmen snapped, "Don't you know, this was your idea?"

Ivy gasped as Carmen glared at her, her eyes filled with anger and contempt, "You're right I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm willing to help in any way I can," she offered.

Almost immediately Carmen's face felled, "Sorry," she muttered, "I don't know what's wrong, I'm just so frustrated with what's going on."

"I understand," Ivy answered, "Honestly I'll be frustrated too, but I've..." Ivy paused, "Now don't be upset okay, but I called Player, Zack thought it would be a good idea, I told him what's been going on."

"Knowing Player he probably started doing research the moment you started talking." Carmen stood up, "I think I better give him a call and see what he found out."

Ivy smiled as she noticed that Carmen had her phone out and was dialing Player's number, she almost looked normal… if it wasn't for the fact that she needed to wash her hair she could just pretend that they were back fighting Vile together, back in the good old days before she was captured and brainwashed.

…

Player had been going through every website he could find about mental illnesses, looking into getting them diagnosed to long-term treatments when his mom entered his room.

"You still awake?" she asked as she gathered up dirty plates and cups from around his desk.

"Yeah," Player grunted continuing to read what he was looking at.

"You're still healing, you were only released from the hospital two days ago," his mom pointed out, "You might consider getting some sleep."

"I will, as soon as I heard from my friends telling me that everything is under control, Carmen's going through a mental breakdown right now and even though I'm over 2.5 thousand miles away, I'm needed, I'm her best friend the one that knows her best," Player let out a sigh, "Unfortunately that car accident didn't help things, I was MIA when Carmen needed me the most."

"Well, that explains what you're looking at."

"Yeah..." Player trailed off as his phone started to vibrate before ringing, "That's Carmen's ring tone," he announced, reaching for his phone, "She's finally calling me back… Hello, Red?"

"Hey Player," Carmen's voice filtered through the phone, sounding smaller than it usually did, like that time when she had called him when she was trying to escape Vile, "I'm sorry if I worried you, I just..."

"I know, I listened to your voicemails, that's why I pinged your phone and got Zack and Ivy there as fast as possible, you okay?"

"I'm doing better, Ivy helped me snap out of it," Carmen sounded nervous, and Player could almost picturing her fidgeting, like she did when they met in person for the first time, "So, um… do you know what I should do next? Who I should talk to?"

Player smiled, glancing at his mom who was standing there, obviously listening in on his side of the conversation, "You need to get a psychiatric evaluation, so you need to see a psychologist or maybe a psychiatrist, but you'll still have to answer questions about your past..." Player trailed off, before turning around in his chair, "Mom do you mind, this phone call is kind of confidential."

Player mom simply smiled as she walked out the door, "Tell your friend I say 'hi.'"

"Fine," Player called out, before turning his attention back to the phone, "Sorry about that, had to get rid of Mom," he let out a sigh, before continuing, "Any way you'll have to open up about Vile and your past, which makes this complicated since both Vile and Acme are top secret, yet are at the core root of this, I suggest that you talk to Chief, she'll know who you can trust."

"Do I really have to talk to the Chief about this?"

"No, you can have one of the twins talk to Chief and ask out of curiosity, but according to Agent Argent Chief is actually really caring and understanding, she just pretends to be stern."

"Since when did you and Jules had a talk about the Chief?"

"She helped me with a history assignment a while back, and well, we got sidetracked."

"Well, I guess I'll borrow Ivy's pen. Thanks, Player, for being there for me today, and sending Zack and Ivy over to check on me."

"No problem, call me tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

…

Zack took a deep breath as he opened the oven, the smell of the mac and cheese hitting him, "Hmm, this smells good," he announced as he stuck a hot pad into the oven to pull out the baking dish.

"And it's one of Carmen's favorites," Ivy added, "Which is good because she confessed she hasn't been eating well lately."

"Where is Carm anyways?" by now Zack had placed the steaming bubbling casserole on the table and was setting out plates.

"Last I saw her she said something about taking a shower," Ivy mentioned, "Maybe I shouldn't have left her alone?"

There was a large creak as the door to the kitchen opened, and Carmen stepped in, rubbing a towel through her hair, "I managed just fine without you, thank you very much," she said.

Ivy gave Carmen a once over, her face was still thin, pale, and sunken in but her hair was now clean and she was wearing an old red sweatshirt and a pair of pajama bottoms with red race cars on it.

"Are you wearing my pajama bottoms?" Zack asked, looking up at the professional thief. Carmen shrugged, "You're the one that left them behind when you left, besides I didn't have anything in my drawers and all I had was the clothes I had on, also it's my color."

Ivy and Zack looked at each other, that sounded like Carmen's old self.

"Come on and let's eat," Zack cried out, "I'm starving."

Carmen sat down, but instead of helping herself, she carefully waited until Zack and Ivy had dished up. Then she watched intensely while they ate, watching for any signs that the food had been poisoned or drugged or would harm them in any way.

"Uh, Carm?" Zack was staring at her, his fork halfway to his mouth, "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

Carmen started, "Yeah I just needed to..." she trailed off, grabbing the serving spoon quickly, dishing herself up some, carefully scooping from the furthest corner from her, what had she been thinking, Vile didn't even know where her headquarters where, and there had been no sign of them the entire time she had been there, "Sorry," she muttered, feeling her cheeks heat up.

Ivy quickly kicked her brother underneath the table, certain that if she didn't he might say something that would make Carmen feel even worse than she did, "It's alright Carm," she insisted, giving Zack a look, "We understand. Did Player have any suggestions?"

Carmen flashed Ivy a quick smile, obviously glad that she had changed the subject, "Yes," she announced, "He thinks I should ask Chief about seeing a Psychiatrist, he thinks that she might have a list of ones that she can trust not to blab about Vile or Acme or… my past."

"Good Idea," Zack said, "You can borrow my pen after dinner."