One. Two, Carmelita thought as she walked through the hall, counting off the doors that she passed on her right. And… three. She checked the plaque on the door. Looks like that secretary was right.
Det. Bryce Stel, it said on the nameplate. Carmelita sighed in relief; her long trek was over. Not being one to socialize much in the workplace, Carmelita had never had cause to memorize the layout of most of the Interpol building. This meant that she didn't know where the Green Wing, the location of Bryce's office, was, much less how to get to it. This led to her wandering between the floors of the building for longer then she would care to admit before she remembered that the front desk existed for these exact situations. But, after going there and getting extremely detailed instructions from the receptionist, Carmelita was able to make her way to her destination.
She rapped on the door and waited for a response. None came. She knocked on the door a bit harder and still got no reaction. The orange vixen frowned. Is he at lunch? she thought. Maybe he's just focusing on something and can't hear me. She checked the door handle and felt it give way. That clinched it; no Interpol officer left their office unlocked when they were on break. It was a security risk. She opened the door and got her first look at Bryce's office.
It was much more casual then Carmelita's office. Bryce had a dartboard up on the wall, magnetic of course, Interpol don't want their walls with filled with holes. Instead of filing cabinets, all of his files were arranged on a pair of bookshelves, behind locked bulletproof glass, natch. There was a fake potted plant, which she could tell was fake because real leaves aren't flame-patterned, in a corner across from a ridiculously large lava lamp that stood on the floor and went higher than her head. Each wall held at least two posters, all of which were askew, bothering Carmelita to no end. His desk was pressed against one of the side walls and was littered with loose pencils, papers, and pens, occupying all the space not already taken up by the computer monitor or any of the photos that were placed on it. That's not to forget the red tiger himself, slouching in a reclining swivel chair behind his desk with white earbuds in, staring at the computer monitor with one hand on the mouse and one on his chin. He could've been mistaken for a statue if it wasn't for the finger swiveling the mouse wheel.
Carmelita walked up to him and tapped him gently on the shoulder. Bryce's head jerked back a bit but he recovered quickly. Blinking rapidly, he used one hand to rub his eyes and the other to pull out his headphones as he swiveled to face the Inspector. "Inspector Fox," he said with an easy smile. "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, I thought Reeves told you about me, I had no idea he was just going to spring it on you like that."
Carmelita felt a bit awkward considering she had come here to apologize, and wasn't expecting to get an apology. "That's okay," she said. "I'm sorry for the way I acted. I had no right to disrespect you like that."
Bryce made a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, it was a dick move on Reeves's part. But," Bryce said as he stood up and grabbed a jacket that was hanging from the door, "if you're here now, I assume you're over it now?"
"Yeah," Carmelita said.
"Great. Hey, I was going down for lunch, you care to join me?" Bryce opened the door.
Tiny little alarm bells went off in Carmelita's head. She realized that, before their partnership could get underway, there was one rule she had to lay down. "Look," she said gently but firmly, her past experiences having taught her that anger at this point would be premature, "I am fine being your partner, but if you're expecting some kind of relationship out of this, I have to tell you right now that it's not going to happen."
Bryce looked at her with confusion for a moment before chuckling. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that," he said as he pointed at one of the pictures on his desk. Carmelita looked at it and saw a smiling black pantheress standing in front of a sunset at some beach.
"Your girlfriend?" Carmelita asked.
"My fianceè," Bryce said.
"Oh." Carmelita turned back towards him. Not knowing what to say, she just said, "She's very pretty."
"I'll tell her you said that." Bryce motioned down the hall. "So, what do you say? Lunch?"
Carmelita figured that she might as well take the opportunity to get to know her new partner better, and she was starting to feel hungry. "Okay." She exited the room and turned.
"Uh, actually, the cafeteria's this way."
And then she flipped around, trying to keep the embarrassment off her face as she passed Bryce.
The pair went to the cafeteria and got their food. They sat at one of the empty tables and Bryce started talking.
"So," he said, "First and foremost, what do you want me to call you?"
"Huh?" Carmelita asked, her attention taken away from her salad.
"You know, like, do you want me to call you Inspector Fox, or Carmelita, or do you have a nickname, or…" Bryce looked at her expectantly over one of his slices of pizza.
"Oh. Uhh…" Carmelita hadn't thought of that. She took a bite of her salad to stall for time. She considered asking him to call her Inspector Fox, but that reminded her of Neyla. Suppressing a flash of anger at the thought of the purple traitor, she gave him her answer. "Just call me whatever."
"Really?" Bryce's mouth split into a massive smile as he straightened up in his seat.
Carmelita leaned back cautiously at his enthusiasm. "On second thought, Carmelita's fine."
"Aww." Bryce slumped and Carmelita felt a pang of guilt until she saw the smirk on his face.
"So, what do you want me to call you?" she asked.
"Lord God-Emperor Awesome Radical McKickass, Jr.," Bryce said, completely straight-faced. "The Third. Esquire."
Carmelita put all her strength into keeping any reaction off her face as she engaged Bryce in a staring contest. Bryce broke first, looking away from her with a smile and a laugh, causing a giggle to leave Carmelita's throat before she could stop it. Bryce shook his head before looking at Carmelita again.
"As long as it has either my first or last name in it, I'm fine," he said as he took another bite of his pizza, still smiling.
Carmelita ate a few more forkfuls of salad as she tried to think of a question. "What's your fianceè's name?"
"Tekka," Bryce said. "What about you? You got someone at home?"
Carmelita shook her head. "No. No t-" Carmelita stopped midway through her usual deflection of the question when she realized she was talking to someone with the same time constraints as her who was about to get married. "No."
"Can't find the right guy, huh?" Bryce said sympathetically. "I understand that." He took a sip of his soda.
"Great," Carmelita mumbled as she stabbed at what remained of her salad. "Don't suppose you could explain it to my parents."
Bryce was just barely able to cover his mouth and nose fast enough to keep soda from shooting everywhere. Carmelita blushed; she hadn't realized she'd said that out loud.
"Sorry, sorry," Bryce said as he wiped the soda off of his hand. "So, your parents are bugging you?"
Carmelita leaned back in her chair. "Ugh. Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love mis padres, but they're..." Carmelita rubbed her forehead as she tried to think of a way to describe her parents. "Ugh."
"Mmm." Bryce finished off his pizza and gulped down the rest of his soda. He pulled out his cell phone. "It's almost time for us to get back to work." He stood up and picked up his tray.
"Yeah." Carmelita took up her tray and they went off to put their dishes in the dirty rack. "Hey," she said. "You have Cooper's files right?"
"Uh-huh. I got my copies this morning," Bryce said.
"Great, but they probably only gave you the official stuff. I've got some theories on him and his gang's methods and patterns." Carmelita began heading back to her office.
"Really?" Bryce said as he followed, impressed.
"Yes. If you're going to be working with me, you're going to need a copy," Carmelita called over her shoulder. "Then we can get to work on figuring out where he's going next."
Bryce smiled. "I look forward to it."
With that, the two went off to officially begin their partnership.
A/N: Up next: Carmelita and Bryce take on The Sly Cooper Gang in: Blood Diamonds and Decoys.
You know what's weird? Sly Cooper can't pick locks. I mean, think about it. In the games he always has to steal keys.
If you liked this chapter, please let me know with a review. They give me motivation. Thank you and goodnight.