Author's Note: So, we've come to the end of our merry tale. I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed my work. I sincerely appreciate it. So, now here we go. I think everyone gets the jist by now… but for those who walked in late… I DO NOT OWN CARMEN SANDIEGO. I however do own Deric and the character of Nace Bilby is owned by SoulReaver. I am actually working on sketches of Deric, Nace, Ivy, & Zack as I see them.

Epilogue:

Two weeks after the end of Chapter Four

"Congratulations, detectives," the Chief said, inputting the last bits of data on the last case into ACME's archives, "You recovered the crown of King Louis the XIV, Neil Armstrong's moon-suit, and kept the Chinese Theater from being stolen." Zack and Ivy weren't in much of a mood to celebrate.

"Carmen still got away." Ivy said, staring at nothing. She still pictured Deric Storm kissing her and then the next thing she knew, she was back at ACME headquarters with a piece of paper in her hand showing them where the crown of Louis XIV and Armstrong's spacesuit were. "Plus, there was extensive damage done to the Hoover Dam." She said, remembering the blackened interior of the tunnel from the engineering room leading to an open viewing area in the Dam's wall. The crime scene investigators had not found any trace of Deric's body. 'Cocky, stubborn bastard…' she thought, a tear starting to form, 'I told you not to play the hero. I was gonna stay and argue before you kissed me. That kiss may have saved my life.'

"There's been no sign of activity on Carmen's end in the past two weeks." Zack said, reading one of his many comic books.

"She's probably laying low and recouping some of her recent losses," Ivy said, flicking away the tear. "You have to remember, Zack, we did apprehend most of Carmen's inner circle along with fifteen 'minor' henchmen in the sting in Hollywood." Within twenty-four hours, ACME had apprehended five of Carmen's top henchmen: Al Loy, Sara Bellum, Dan O'Myte, Lars Vegas and Moe Skeeter. Also, with the inclusion of Deric being classified as missing in action, VILE had lost some of its heaviest hitters. Even for an organization like VILE, this wasn't that heavy a blow, but it was still a blow to their roster.

"Do you have anything else for us until Carmen reappears?" Ivy asked, not looking forward to days of nothing but tedious paperwork.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask of you." Zack and Ivy looked up at the Chief's floating head. "We're getting two new transfers today and I would appreciate it if you could show them around."

A Caucasian man entered the Chief's office, then. He was rough shaven; even his hair was cut extremely short. It seemed to fit on his stocky frame. He walked with a style that implied military training. "Detective Bilby, reporting for duty, sir." He said, with an accent that sounded almost Australian, and snapped a salute.

"Ah," The Chief looked at the new arrival, "detectives, I would like to introduce Nace Bilby. He is a transfer from ACME's Johannesburg branch." The Chief seemed a little confused, though. "Nace, where's your partner?"

"He had to make a quick stop, sir." Detective Bilby said as footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. The person who entered the room shocked both Zack and Ivy. Standing before them, with a bandage around his forehead, a black eye, and his left arm in a sling was one Deric Storm. The siblings were on their feet in a flash and ready to fight.

"You have to have a lot of brass or be completely out of your mind for strolling in here Deric." Ivy said, eyeing the man before her, "Or are you here to turn yourself in." Deric flashed that irritating smile of his.

"Neither." Deric said, tossing a wallet in Ivy's general direction, which she caught with ease. Opening it, Ivy was shocked to discover an ACME badge and personnel ID card. 'ACME Undercover Unit' was emblazoned above the picture of Deric. Stunned, Ivy handed the ID to Zack, who had nearly the same reaction.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Zack said, not believing what he just looked at, "Back the swerve train up. You're one of us…"

"Yep." Deric said, his smile widening, "who do you think your 'anonymous' source was when Carmen planed to steal the Chinese Theater?" Ivy and Zack's looks of shock grew at the information.

"How in the hell did you survive that explosion?" Ivy asked, starting to become angry.

"C-5'd out at the last second," Deric explained, "but as you can tell, I didn't get out unscathed." Deric motioned to his injuries. Ivy brought her hand to her chin, thinking about something.

"How?" Ivy asked. "You didn't have a C-5 communicator." Deric reached into his pocket and pulled out Ivy's missing communicator watch.

"Actually, I did," Deric smiled innocently, "You 'dropped' this in D.C., so I 'held' onto it." Ivy's face turned redder than her hair due to anger. Deric tossed the watch back to its owner and said, "Next time you may wanna hold on to it a little bit better." with a smirk. Ivy, who was absolutely fuming at this point, walked right up to Deric and smacked him flush across the face and then walked out the door.

"Freakin jerk." Ivy fumed, "I can't believe I was worried about him." Ivy could be heard snarling and swearing as she moved further down the hall. Back in the Chief's office, Zack, Chief, Nace and Deric were still standing there. The right side of Deric's now turned face held a large red welt from where Ivy's hand had struck. Zack, Chief and Nace were still pretty much dumbstruck from what had just happened.

"That couldn't have felt too good." Nace said, breaking the awkward silence.

"At least she's not angry at me." Deric said, smiling wolfishly.

"Where do you get that idea?" Zack asked incredulously.

"She didn't slug me." Deric said. Reaching out to shake Zack's hand, he said, "At least we're on the same side now." The Chief decided to speak at this moment.

"Well, until Ivy comes back, all I can say is welcome to San Francisco, detectives."