Author's Note: Thank you so much for all of the positive comments and reviews for this story! I was so inspired by this that I could not wait to update this story again! I am glad that you are finding my take on the series interesting and I hope you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses.
Disclaimer: Clearly I do not own Carmen Sandiego, I am sure that if I did I would not have student loans to pay off now.
Carmen awoke the next morning to find that she was still in her room at ACME. There were fresh clothes on the chair next to her bed and a tray of food was sitting on the bedside table. For a brief instance it was as if she had gone back in time. Before she had left the agency and founded VILE. Now here she was, just as she had been all of those years ago at ACME.
It was not too long however, before the events of the previous evening began to flood back into her consciousness. How on earth had she allowed that to happen to herself? Why hadn't she fought back more? Surely there was something that she could have done to prevent this? If only she had been stronger. She was Carmen Sandiego! A woman who had made a name for herself both as ACME's top detective and now as arguably one of the world's greatest thieves. All of this had been accomplished through strength, perseverance, and hard work. Where had that been last night?
All she felt now was a hollow emptiness inside of her body. Even the aches and pains she felt did little to counteract the numbness within. Something had been stolen from her this time and that made all of the difference. Her own body disgusted her now, for that wretched man had violated it. A man she should arguably never have seen again. He was supposed to be in prison now.
Of course though he of all people had managed to escape. The violent psychopath that he was. There had been no word of it on the news, and he had been in disguise, but she knew that it was him. She sat up in her bed and hugged her knees to her chest; a shiver ran through her body just thinking about it. For the first time in her life she did not want to be outside and working. The thought of resting here suddenly was not as bad as it had seemed the previous night. At ACME she was safe, she was at home.
Finally getting out of her bed she decided that she had to make some attempt at normalcy. Carmen grabbed the clothes that had been laid out for her and walked into the bathroom that adjoined her room. In this moment she was grateful that she had been given this luxury. The living quarters at ACME were not excessively spacious. Most of the detectives who lived here shared a kitchen space and hall bathroom. Of course for most of them this was not a permanent living space, just somewhere to stay when they were working on a case.
For Carmen ACME had been her home from the time she had left the Golden Gate Girls' School as a teen. This was the place where she had grown up and it had been the only place she was ever able to truly call home. Even now that she had houses, and headquarters throughout the world nothing felt more at home than being here.
Upon entering the room she looked at herself in the mirror above the sink. As she had anticipated there were now bruises on her face and she could also see them forming around her collar bone. Everything else was thankfully hidden by the clothes she was wearing. Her hair was matted and dirty. More than anything else right now she needed a shower.
As she undressed she avoided looking towards the mirror. At the present she had no desire to see what she looked like. Only to be clean. She turned the water up so that it was scalding and then climbed into the shower. The water burned a bit, but at least it distracted her from the numbness inside. Scrubbing and scrubbing until her skin was raw she did everything that she could to erase the dirt and grime from her body.
When she had finished with that she stayed there for a little while longer and just allowed the hot water to fall on her. Of course she could not stay in the shower forever, she would have to face to real world again soon, but she relished the time that she had. Once she felt that she had done enough she exited the shower and dried herself off, making sure to avoid the mirror as she dressed herself again.
Being clean did brighten her spirits somewhat and she found that she was able to busy herself by focusing on getting the mats out of her hair. It was a long and arduous process but the task itself distracted her from her other thoughts. With the dirt and grime gone from her face the bruising did not look quite as bad, but she knew that she would need some serious concealer if she was going to have any chance of hiding this from the world. Questions from her employees were the last thing she needed right now.
After what felt like hours Carmen finally allowed herself to return to her room. The Chief was waiting for her there when she arrived. He seemed glad to see that she had not run off during the night.
"Good morning Carmen." he said after a moment.
"Good morning Chief." she replied trying in vain to sound cheerful. "I trust that you are well?"
"I am fine Carmen, but you are my main concern right now. If you are up to it I feel that we need to have a talk today." He said.
Carmen sat down at the table in her kitchen nook and began to pick at her food. "Alright Chief." she said after a moment.
"We had an alert through CrimeNet last night that Arturo Toscano has escaped from prison along with some of his closest accomplices. This report came in sometime after you arrived here. Naturally, knowing the history between the two of you, I had to wonder if these two events were at all connected." Chief said. The topic was a delicate one, and one which he was unsure of whether Carmen would willingly answer.
Carmen looked away and began picking at her food again. It seemed as though she was not going to answer him. He was just about to say something else when she finally spoke up. "Your suspicions would be correct."
So, he had been right about her having been attacked. At least he now knew who the culprit had been in this situation. ACME now had a new "most wanted" criminal to capture. "From what we have heard in the last night it would seem that a lot of planning went into his escape. It was so well planned, in fact, that some of our experts believe that he was gone for a period of several hours, or even days before his absence was noted. It would seem that he was able to switch places with a person who had undergone plastic surgery to be a near exact duplicate of himself. The switch was only discovered when the other man had sustained an injury in prison and his blood type did not match." Chief explained.
Carmen nodded at this. "That does sound like something that Toscano would do. We should have known that he would still have some contacts on the outside who were willing to do his bidding. Do we have any idea which one of his henchmen had shown shown so much devotion that he was willing to undergo a complete transformation and go to prison?"
"We are still working to ascertain the identity of the man in question." Chief said. "He was taken in for interrogation last night, but before anyone could speak with him he attempted an escape himself and wound up in the hospital ward for the injuries he sustained. At the present he is in no state to be giving us answers."
"Have finger prints been checked?" Carmen asked now somewhat more alert.
"That creates another unique complication." Chief said. "You see, he has none. There are a few situations that can cause this. Some people after all are naturally born without them, but it would seem that in his case steps were taken to remove the prints."
Carmen flinched. "I understand that is not at all a pleasant experience." she said looking at her own hands as she said this.
"It is indeed incredibly painful, but there are thieves and other criminals who believe that it is a necessary step to take to pull off capers."
"Gloves." Carmen said lightly. "Any sensible person would wear gloves. There is nothing more effective in my experience. I never leave without them."
Chief eyed her somewhat suspiciously. "Speaking from experience of course."
"Even in my days as a detective." she replied without missing a beat.
"Of course." he said. "At any rate we are at something of a loss as to his identity at the time being. Arturo's whereabouts are also still in question."
"I would assume that even he would spend some time lying low once his absence was discovered. As narcissistic as the man is he is not an idiot." Carmen replied.
"You are right. With his skills in disguise and his knowledge of international languages he could literally be anywhere right now." Chief said.
"Has his escape been reported to the general public yet?" Carmen asked.
"No, in fact only certain people are privy to that information at the present. It would seem that the powers that be are concerned about worrying the public too much. They seem to think that we should be able to capture the man and have him in custody again before anyone can find out."
"If that isn't the case?" Carmen asked. "Suppose he were to pull off a major crime of some sort. What would we do then?"
"They have not thought that far. As it currently stands we have got to be working overtime to do everything we can to return him to his place in prison." Chief said. "I shudder to think of what could happen otherwise. As we have already seen he is capable of doing a great deal of damage and he does not care who he has to injure or what he has to do in the pursuit of his goals."
"How can I be of assistance Chief?" Carmen asked suddenly.
The Chief found himself somewhat taken aback. Had he heard correctly, was Carmen willing to work with them on this case? "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean Chief. I will do anything I can to see him behind bars again. I am at your disposal and any resources you need from VILE will be available to you." Carmen said.
"Carmen, after what you have been through I cannot expect you to help with this case." The Chief implored. "You have already been injured enough by this man.
"All the more reason for me to help put him back where he belongs." she said. "After all I did put him there once before."
"Yes, but that was ten years ago. A lot has changed since then."
"Are you insinuating that I could not be of use to you?" Carmen asked. "I am no slouch Chief. I can assure you my skills are as primed as ever."
"Technology has changed so much though…" he began but Carmen cut him off.
"Excuses, excuses Chief. You know quite well that is of no issue. Dare I say some of my technology at VILE might be somewhat more advanced than what you have here at the agency."
"Carmen, I cannot risk anything else happening to you. Arturo is armed and dangerous. As we have seen from last night, and your previous encounters with him, the man is capable of inflicting a lot of damage." The Chief said at last.
"I am resilient Chief, I will bounce back if anything happens to me. I have always been able to to so in the past." she said. "Last night was simply a bump in the road, nothing more serious than that."
The Chief knew however, that was not true. While she was looking considerably better today and some of her spirit had returned he knew that the man had injured her far more than she was willing to admit. He could see it in her eyes.
"You seem to think that you are not important." Chief replied at last. "That you are expendable. Which you know very well is not true. There have been too many close calls in the past few years alone. This is a very serious matter."
"Please, let me help you. If not here you know I will do everything in my power to capture him again. With or without ACME."
He knew that she was not bluffing. Carmen was a very gifted and talented woman, but she was also very stubborn. She would do whatever it took to achieve a goal. Even if it meant putting herself in unnecessary danger to do so. The Chief knew full well that she would much rather harm come to her than to another innocent person.
"It is too dangerous Carmen, I cannot in good conscience permit you to put yourself in harms way." Chief said. "Look what happened to you just last night. You have not even had a chance to recover properly yet."
"Then let me help out behind the scenes for now." Carmen said finally.
"Behind the scenes? Chief asked intrigued by this suggestion.
"Yes, while I would much prefer to be out in the field I am sure there is something that I could do to help you here. I could do research, examine evidence and clues. Anything you need me to help with."
"Carmen, that offer is extremely generous but you are here to recover." Chief answered her finally.
"You and I both know that I will go stir crazy without something to occupy my time." Carmen retorted.
"Be that as it may. It just would not feel right." The Chief replied. "Besides in all fairness what reason do I have to trust you? I would be remiss if I were not to consider the possible consequences of having a world famous criminal mastermind poking around in top secret government files."
"Oh you consider me to be a mastermind now? I am flattered Chief. Such high praise coming from you." Carmen said with a sly grin. Her right eyebrow raised. "You know better than anyone that I could easily access those materials anyway. Your allowing me access to them here would be a mere formality"
The Chief did not have a response to this. He knew that she was right. The woman was after all a genius. "For arguments sake say I was to allow you to do as you have requested. How would I explain your presence to the other detectives and employees?" He asked "Oh her over there? It's just Carmen Sandiego. What is she doing? Oh you know, going through top secret government files and using lab equipment. Don't let it distract you, just let her do her thing. I'm sure that would go over SO well."
"You could confine me to my room and have the materials brought here." she replied flatly. "The situation would not be ideal, but it could work. I am assuming that you were planning to have me remain here for the duration of my stay to begin with."
"No no no, that simply would not do." Chief said. "You would get cabin fever in here and there would be more suspicion drawn to someone being here all the time than not. As you know this room is strictly off limits. Besides it would be easier for you to be able to access information in our libraries and labs. Certainly far more hands on."
"Well then in that case I do not see a problem." she said. "I am happy to throw on a disguise and use a pseudonym."
"I am not so sure." Chief replied. "You are pretty well known around here."
"Come back in twenty minutes." she said. "I'll show you just what I am capable of doing."
The Chief had no doubt that she could disguise herself well. However she was perhaps one of the most recognizable faces on earth. Surely the trained detectives of ACME could spot her a mile away. Nevertheless he did what he was told. When he came back twenty minutes later a new person stood before him.
Carmen had pulled her hair up into a tight bun on her head, she had also donned makeup and a pair of rectangular framed glasses. She wore a black turtleneck sweater, gray pencil skirt and black pumps. The changes were simple, however the effect was nearly a complete transformation. It was Carmen still, but a Carmen that most people never would have seen. The drab colors and the make-up distracted from her brilliant blue eyes which were both visible now that her hair was mostly swept out of her face.
"Color me impressed Carmen, but it is still you, someone is bound to pick up on that fact." The Chief said.
"Oh really?" Carmen asked with a thick Italian accent. "Are you quite certain of that? Perhaps I am just the new Criminologist?"
"Benvenuto and welcome to ACME Dr. Francesca Romano." The Chief said in after a moment. "I hope you will enjoy your time with us."