Chapter Text
Julia Argent faced a dilemma. She sat, perched on the edge of her bed, holding a scrap of paper in one hand and a phone in the other. Etched in red lettering was a phone number, which Julia had received while on a train to India. It hadn't been difficult for her to deduce who it was from: the mysterious redhead who had sat across from her for only a few moments, who had declined to reveal her name.
Only after she had disappeared into the adjacent car did Julia realize she had been face to face with the infamous Carmen Sandiego. To be fair, she wasn't in her signature red hat and coat, and Julia had never seen her up close, but looking back there were clues. Little tells she should have picked up on, if only she hadn't been so enamored by the admittedly attractive woman who had asked to sit with her.
Of course, it was only a suspicion, which was all but confirmed when she found her work partner Chase handcuffed to a train seat and he proclaimed that Carmen was indeed present. Moments later, she discovered the Magna Carta, placed neatly at the same table where she and the now not-so-mysterious woman had had a brief conversation. Among the pages of the Magna Carta, placed gently at the bottom of the storage tube, was a small folded piece of paper.
She knew she should have immediately shown it to Chase, or at least the Chief, but something urged her to slip it into her pocket and keep it a secret for the time being. Perhaps it was because she knew it wouldn't do them any good. With how elusive Carmen was in person, surely attempting to track the phone number would be futile. There was nothing A.C.M.E., and especially not Chase, would be able to do with it, and if either of them got ahold of it Julia knew she'd never get it back.
Nobody seemed to believe her theory that Carmen Sandiego was on their side, or that she only stole from other thieves. Maybe that was part of the reason, too. Truthfully, she was fed up with being undermined and placed as second best to Chase. It was always nice when Chief complemented her ingenuity and smarts, and yet Chase continued to lead the missions. Julia had hoped to rise up by being honest and persistent, but her patience at being repeatedly passed over was wearing thin.
She supposed she didn't know for sure that the number belonged to Carmen Sandiego. She wasn't certain how the Magna Carta had been stolen, or returned, but judging from the crime scene it had been taken by one of the agents of V.I.L.E. Of course, the existence of V.I.L.E. was still just a theory too, but it didn't rule out the possibility that the thief themself had left the note, intending for the Magna Carta to fall into the hands of someone else.
But that didn't seem likely. All clues pointed to the phone number belonging to Carmen Sandiego. Their chance meeting, the red writing, the reappearance of the stolen documents, all added up. The fact that she felt compelled to hide her finding had to mean something as well.
It had been weeks since their encounter, although Carmen had been spotted in connection to the stolen black on magenta stamp, which was later returned. Following that, Chase had been kidnapped, and Chief seemed to think Carmen was somehow responsible. It was curious how she had managed to locate Chase if she wasn't, but it was also curious how Carmen managed to be able to locate stolen items that had been missing for years or that most people didn't even realize had been stolen in the first place. She was full of surprises, but the most recent surprise was her disappearance. Since that night, there had been no further sightings of Carmen Sandiego.
So maybe another factor was the unexplainable concern she felt for someone she barely knew. They had only spoken a few words to each other, and Julia knew very little about her, aside from the fact that her thefts had baffled Interpol for some time. But for as long as she'd been pursuing the scarlet-clad suspect, she'd proven herself to be a help to the authorities, rather than a hindrance. Labeling her as a criminal didn't seem fair, and it was entirely possible the same persons responsible for kidnapping Chase also had Carmen in their clutches. Calling was the only way to possibly find out if she was safe, aside from waiting for her to reappear again.
Julia tapped out the number, double and triple checking to make certain it was correct. She wasn't quite sure why she was doing this, but what harm could there be? Yes, there was the matter of what had happened to Chase, but Julia just couldn't believe Carmen was capable of something like that.
Yes, she had the motive. Chase was always trying to catch her, but surely it was evident he wasn't very good at it. In his pursuit of the woman in red, he'd managed to fall off a roof, crash two vehicles, and was easily incapacitated on the train. In the one instance in which Carmen was directly involved in preventing Chase from pursuing her, there was no real harm done. And when she'd sat down at the table with Julia, she hadn't felt the least bit threatened while in her presence. Carmen had plenty of prior opportunities to harm or kidnap Chase, or even Julia herself, so blaming her for this misdeed didn't add up.
There were a lot of variables to consider when debating whether or not to dial the unknown phone number. But her burning curiosity and the desire to know for sure just where the number would lead compelled Julia Argent to press the call button. It rang, once. She shouldn't be doing this. She should hang up. This could all be a trap. It rang, twice. Then-
"Hey, Jules. I was wondering if you'd call."