Requested by my buddy Donutiscooltoo!

I had a lot of fun thinking of this. Also, sorry if it turns out to be too short.

Enjoy!

Yet another caper failed after V.I.L.E. had yet again snatched some important historical artifact from Carmen Sandiego's hands.

The team wondered time and time again how this had been happening. It had been about 2 weeks since this started, where V.I.L.E. had always seemed to be ahead of Team Red in getting the artifacts they had been planning to steal back. Who knows what the faculty is doing with all those priceless stolen items?

Today was the day, though. The day that Carmen and friends were finally going to find out what or who exactly was behind these V.I.L.E. victories.

"Player, how are those security cams looking?" Asked Carmen, on top of the building adjacent to the one she was going to enter.

Player hummed in slight confusion. "Seems they've already been disabled, Red. That must mean–"

"–V.I.L.E's already here," Carmen finished in slight annoyance, mirroring the hacker's thoughts.

"Already?" Ivy chimed in through the line, her voice coming out in Carmen's other earring. "When's this gonna stop already?! Who's behind this anyway?"

"Yeah, don't they know the faster the caper goes, the sooner we can go out to eat? I'm really craving churros right now," Zack chimes in beside Ivy.

"Whatever the case, this might be the perfect chance to stop V.I.L.E. in their tracks," Shadowsan asserted.

"Indeed. I'm going in, Player. I'll contact you when I need anything decoded," Carmen informed, using her on-hand grappling hook to descend into the building from the ceiling.

"Gotcha, Red. I'm not going anywhere," Player reassured.

Suddenly, the teen hacker got a small pop-up notification on his computer screen. It was a somewhat cryptic message from someone.

???: you haven't been able to outsmart us lately, why do you think that any different this time around?

Player, being the clever individual he is, quickly caught on to what this person's message was implying.

Player: you work for VILE, don't you?

You jolted in your seat in surprise, narrowing your eyes at the screen. This "Player" character was too smart. No wonder V.I.L.E. hired you to be someone similar. This guy was Carmen's secret weapon. The key to her success, if you will.

(C/N): how could you be so sure?

                                     Player: Really? 🤨

                       Player: Isn't it so obvious?

(C/N): ok, to be fair, I didn't make my message extremely vague. BUT MY POINT STILL STANDS!

(C/N): We've been beating you for 2 weeks now. What makes you think you're finally gonna get the upper hand?

There was an ominous pause between texts that most likely lasted about a minute, if not half that. Every second kept you reeling in suspense until you finally got a response.

Player: because you made the mistake of letting me distract you. 😋

You gasped and shot up out of your seat, closing the pop-up for now and looking back at your screen. You could see the field operative V.I.L.E. sent defeated on the floor and your enemy Carmen holding the artifact.

She showed the (most likely not) priceless item onto the screen and projected the real-time video feed for the faculty to see. You were also watching the spectacle, most likely because of your newfound enemy sending the feed to you.

"This game of cat and mouse is over this time, VILE. Looks like I win again," Carmen jeered. The video then stopped.

You angrily opened the pop-up screen that had been previously closed and angrily typed back a response.

(C/N): SCREW YOU! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS! I'LL BEAT YOU NEXT TIME, AND THEN I'LL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH!!! 😤😤😤

                           Player: sure you will 😏

                        Player: real talk, tho, this conversation was fun. We should do this again sometime! 😃

(C/N): smooth talk won't get you ANYWHERE

         Player: oh really? Then how was I able to beat you tonight?

(C/N): SHUT THE HECK UP YOU SON OF A GUN!

                              Player: I love u too ❤️

And so started your rivalry, Player's little side quest, if you will. Along with helping Carmen, he'd also occasionally get to banter with you. And your increased anger towards his distractions entertains him every time.
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This actually turned out better than I thought it would! 😊

Hope you enjoyed!