Archived Hiatus

[Chase]

(Replying to Matt and Crystal first.)

"When do we leave?"Matt asked Chase.

"You should leave asap," Chase Devineaux answered Matt's question, "I've transferred the video to your case file. There's no C-5, so you're taking a plane; and since the hangars are busy, you'll need to go commercial."

This wasn't too unorthodox.

"Go down to the airport, buy tickets, bill ACME," the Field Director instructed, "Call Control if you need help. Take care."

He didn't want to rush, but he had to. The phrase 'going commercial' sparked an idea. If that tower was in Tunisia, like the Lady implied, then it should be verifiable by satellite... assuming someone was watching the desert.

Devineaux chose the fastest route across the compound.


(There are currently 2 ACME agents against 4 VILE agents for New York City, if 2 more of ours want to jump in, I'd encourage it. Let me know.)

 

[Narrator]

[Heartofstone]

Matt felt relieved that the necesities would be paid by ACME.

Which means I can spend some of my pocket change on suveneirs, he thought with a small smile.

He started to walk back to his room. As he did so, he said to Crystal,"Looks like you're going to be the tour guide on this trip."

 

[Narrator]

[Rose of Pollux]

Crystal nodded along as Chase told them what to do.

Flying commercial wouldn't be a problem, she decided. An inconvenience, yes. But not a problem.

She grinned to Matt.

"Yep, guess so," she said, making a mental note to call her mentor.

((OOC: Can I go ahead and RP the Dying Informant? He's technically a canon character from the World game show, but isn't on the canon character list...))

 

[Joe Kerr]

Location: VILE HQ

"Are you sure you know how to fly the plane?" Joe asked VILE BOT as they loaded and fueled it up.

"Affirmative. Flight program found in memory. File uncorrupted. Probability of successful flight 99%" VILE BOT replied in a monotonous voice that only a robot could pull off.

"Yeah well it's not the flying part that I'm worried about. They say it's the landing that kills you!" replied Joe, for once unamused.

VILE BOT merely repeated his statement about the flight program which Joe readily ignored as they both got into the plane.

As VILE BOT made the final checks and started the plane, Joe looked out and cracked a smile that usually meant big trouble for anyone on the receiving end.

 

[Tanya]

Yesterday, there was a problematic press conference, then a long and hard off-record chat about what Public Relations truly meant with certain members of the board. In between all that was a nice bit of tea and girltalk with Ivy, which made the day less of a lost cause on ACME's newest PR Officer.

At dawn, Tanya was having a quick breakfast of toast and strawberry jam. Her apartment was a small, one-bedroom flat on the top floor of a little gift shop a few blocks from ACME Compound. Her landlord was an older gentleman by the name of James Myrth who lost his wife to cancer, and whose daughter, Tracie, still ran the business downstairs.

Checking her communicator, the Russian received many messages overnight, one of which made her frown.

Macy Gartner, from INB, wrote: "Good news, ACME, I got the Times interested, if you're still up for that exclusive. And I want to remind you: no substitutes; people want Devineaux."

Tanya could almost imagine that reporter in her usual wardrobe saying those exact words to her face. Internally, she was starting to like this position, so not wanting her mood ruined, she replied to Macy: "Bother me again, and no exclusive. Chase Devineaux is busy; he will talk when he is ready."

To her surprise, Gartner immediately returned: "You're touchy, but I like your honesty."

Happy to have her peace back, for the while, the Russian finished her toast and vowed that tomorrow; she would get herself some scones to go with the French jam.

 

[Narrator]

[Gunnar Joint post with Rose_thorn]

[Location: ACME Compound, San Francisco]

Gunnar Svensson strolled slowly about the ACME compound. He'd never seen the place before, and it didn't look at all like the pictures had shown. Of course, a missing building changes things.

He didn't like his stay here. Too warm, and not much privacy, it seemed. And the publicity from the media did not make him very comfortable. Besides all that, Gunnar didn't know anybody. A long and lonely month this would be.

But something caught his eye. He could recall seeing something like it somewhere, but he wasn't sure of the significance. A purple satin scarf flapped in the faint breeze, just like the one...

"Abby?"

Abby twirled around to see Gunnar hurrying towards her with a pleased expression. She was greatly surprised at seeing him here. As far as she knew he was on a long flight to Vancouver. When he arrived there he would find a message on his communicator saying she had been requested at headquarters.

"Gunnar! You're the last person I expected to see here. What brings you?" She cheerfully called out as he neared her.

Gunnar slowed down and stood beside her. "I'm on transfer from the ACME division in Stockholm," he told her. "I wasn't putting in any hours there, so they told me I either had to come here and work on things, or I wouldn't be with ACME longer."

The Swede wiped the sweat from his forehead. "It is so sickly hot here!"

"Well, I guess I have the right to be mad at you for not telling me you were coming here. What would have happened if I actually was able to go to Vancouver?"

She took his arm and swung into step beside him before continuing. "It really isn't that hot here. Not humid and always moderate. Though I must admit it is a change in temperature for me too."

Gunnar felt a little uneasy when she took his arm, but continued along with her. "How is that?" he asked. "What if I had come till Vancouver, and did not find you there?" He was not at all frustrated with her, yet it was a reasonable question.

"I did send you a message that you would receive the moment you could turn on your electronic device. I didn't find such a message on my device when I landed here. No matter." She paused for a moment and looked up at his face, it did not seem relaxed.

"Is all right, Gunnar?"

A list of all the things that could be bothering him then ran through her head, making the question seem a little stupid.

"Ah...yes," Gunnar replied. "I guess. Though this means I will still have to hold on to what I was trying to get off myself.

"Know you, I am a little afraid that I am easier to find, being a bit confined to this area just now. I don't think ACME knows what personal problems I have."

She raised her eyebrows. "I think I'm supposed to meet with Chase Devineaux. Unfortunately, for the life of me I can't find out where his office is, or where to find him. Perhaps you know?"

"Nej," he answered. "Faktiskt, I have never seen him, except on TV."

Gunnar began to smirk, so subtly as he usually does before "going on drift". "Why? Are you in trouble already? I expected that you would behave yourself better than so..."

Abby eyed him warily. "Not at all. I expect I have a job to do, even if it is doing an unfun one. ACME agents do have to work for their pay. And most are not independently wealthy. I really need to find him"

"That will be a shame. You will leave me so lonely."

A man strode quickly in their direction. Gunnar gave him only his indirect attention, as was his nervous habit. Somehow, he had the feeling that he recognized this person. The face seemed familiar, but Gunnar was sure that he had never met the man before. However, the determination shown on this man's face brought something to mind. He had seen it on TV only hours before.

Gunnar suddenly stopped walking, shrugged Abby's arm from around his, and--because the Swede in him knew it is impolite to point at someone--nodded his head towards the ACME Field Director as he prepared to pass by them. "Ah...I believe that I have found Herr Devineaux for you..."

 

[Chase]

Chase Devineaux paced himself as he made his way across the ACME compound. Last night, after tracing the Tower's coordinates via a placed call from VILE's leader, he requested help from an old friend in Israel. If things are as planned, information should come through in minutes.

In peripheral vision, two pairs of eyes seemingly followed his movement, and Chase instinctively returned their gaze.

ACME rookies stared in his direction, and the Field Director suddenly recalled that one of them was diverted from Vancouver to San Francisco for a case that closed only recently. With ACME Tower gone, Control probably never got back to many agents about case statuses.

"Abby Thorn," acting as Director, he addressed the agent in question, "Your case shut just before the tower was taken, I'm sorry you wasted your time."

Looking over both rookies again, another thought arose. VILE agents were heading to New York, and with ACME's resources focused on recovery, it would be nice to have new agents check out suspicious activities.

"Walk with me," he instructed, "both of you." Chase knew Swedish agent Gunnar Svensson transferred in recently, and Abby Thorn was without an assignment, if either weren't given an operation today, they would be on watch duty.

"VILE agents were discovered recently heading to New York City," Chase explained as he referred to his communicator, "I'm sending you the case file, review them. You'll be flying commercial, head to the airport and buy tickets; bill them to ACME."

Like a Sheppard, he led the aspiring detectives to the edge of ACME compound where they could get a cab to SFO, "Two other agents; Matt and Crystal should already be at the terminals, I'm letting them know you're joining them in Manhattan."

As the necessary files were sent to all agents, a message beeped, telling the Field Director that his request from Tel Aviv was ready.

"I need to go," Devineaux began to move, "Contact ACME Control, or me, immediately if you run into problems. You're on tracking mode, split into teams. Find VILE agents, and watch them. Try not to make contact unless absolutely necessary."

The briefing ended there. Chase preferred that his agents learned fast, and field experience was the best teacher. He did wish he had more time to evaluate the threat in New York, but he needed to clear Tunisia first, before someone else does.

 

[Narrator]

[Gunnar]

[Joint post with Rose_Thorn]

Gunnar watched Chase Devineaux walk away, much surprised at how sudden he had gained his new responsibility. But when he turned to look at Abby, his face showed disgust.

“Usch!” Gunnar grimaced. “I hate New York!” Then he thought for a moment, and eased his disgusted expression into a sly grin. “But…I shall not be stuck here, at least.”

"That is one busy person, doesn't quite have the southern hospitality does he?" After further thought she added, "I like those who take their job seriously." It was more of a spoken thought than one meant for Gunnar, but she soon brought her attention back and looked at him.

"I'm glad we have that in common, I never did like the cities. Well what are we waiting for?" She waved down a taxi and slid in.

Gunnar decided to hurry back and get his bag of “personal things”. That book of his would come in handy--"How to Get through Customs with Weapons". He thought for moment, wondering if ACME appreciated his sneakiness, but quickly shrugged it off. It couldn’t be too bad. It would only help him accomplish his mission, and ACME seemed to need all the help it could.

 

[Chase]

(Rewinding a little to introduce Mikal for this co-post with Chase. We wanted to keep the time difference right, this was the only way to make sure. This post occurs between Carmen’s phone call and when Chase met up with Chief.)




The night before. San Francisco, CA.

As soon as Carmen Sandiego gave coordinates to what may be the location of ACME Tower, Chase instinctively contacted an old friend: Ashraq Jal Darsha, Mikal's brother and a head figure in Sayeret Mat'kal, or the Israeli Special Forces. He knew their unit would have been interested in that area since the Algerians had a brief riot earlier this month. If Algiers was under surveillance, Tunisia shouldn’t be far behind.

The conversation was light, where Ashraq spoke of his family, teased the Field Director about life, and promised satellite feeds by morning. But when Chase gave the longitude and latitude, the Israeli chuckled in reply.

"Oh that!" Arsharq Darsha said in an accent heavily imbued with his heritage, "Flash of light in middle day, we thought some old infrastructure blown up and got exposed. We were going to send it in to Mossad tomorrow."

"If you can send the feed, I'll verify that it's ACME tower."

"I don't need too, it is ACME tower," Jal Darsha assured, "I can see your roof with your A-C-M-E logo."

In her own convoluted way, Carmen told the truth. Chase breathed, knowing what his next steps would be.

"You have the feed from the moment the tower appeared until current?"

"Yes, a snapshot of every 30 seconds, but I don't have live feed."

"That'll do. I need the make, model, and license of all vehicles in the area outbound and inbound… airborne, especially. I also need to focus on a time frame… someone at the site gave me these coordinates ten minutes ago, and I need to track their movements."

"Okay, and I can do better than that, Calev," Ashraq had a smile in his voice, "I can tag vehicles for you, and tell you where they're heading. The only thing I cannot do is send down a ground team to verify.”

"Wouldn't ask that of you."

"But you know who loves falafel and is in Tunisia?"

Devineaux understood fully. After the Venetian ruckus that December Blue Moon last year, Chase sent Mikal Jal Darsha to Amman where the Israeli uncovered a smuggling ring with the help of a certain expert from Moscow named Tatyana Erzin. When the case ended, Erzin transferred to San Francisco to both further her studies and begin practice as a Public Relations Officer. Mikal took a vacation, which probably meant he was doing unofficial duties.

"I got it," Chase acknowledged, "Thanks."

----

Later, in Tel Aviv, a man wearing a tan uniform marched down a reinforced steel walkway roughly 30 meters under ground. He carried a crisp manila folder containing very rough coordinates and a request. The request came from one of the sons of Israeli war hero Jal Darsha Bhar, and the coordinates were somewhere in Southern Tunisia, a place with little to see unless one was moderating the movements of sand.

----

Tunis, Tunisia

For reasons that should never be mentioned, Mikal Darsha was in Tunisa. It was one of the 364 sunny days of desert weather, and he was ready to leave. His phone played the tune of a Nirvana song, and the Israeli agent immediately knew the caller.

“Shalom, Captain,” he had been hoping for a call, here in the desert, any contact was better than none at all.

“Are you in Tunisia?”

“Ken [yes].. it’s very hot.”

“Right, good, I need you to head south to El Khandra, I’ll send you the coordinates.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me in San Francisco? Or in a cold place like Venice last year?”

“Mikal, listen to me,” Chase explained, “yesterday, ACME tower was stolen.”

“Meshuga! [Crazy] How?”

“Carmen Sandiego.”

“Oh, mitzta’er [I’m sorry]”

“Ashraq verified its current location. I need you to go down there and survey the ground for me.”

“Then I am happy to do it, Captain.”

“Yo’fi [great], I’ll contact you again as soon as I get to Tunisia, give me about 24 hours.”

“Lehitra’ot [see you soon].”

After wishing the Marine Captain a nice trip, Mikal Darsha eyed the southern horizon and walked through the streets of Tunis. At a stall selling thick tuna Brik, he made a purchase of some pastries and a sealed bottle of Thibarine, a local herbal liqueur.

“Party tonight, Sahmed?” the stall’s owner referred to Mikals’ alias while pointing with his eyes to the bottle.

“No, it’s for my brother,” Sahmed replied, “he got woman troubles”

The Tunisian pastry seller and the Israeli in disguise shared a knowing laugh, and the later immediately took a jeep out from the city before the sun fell.

 

[Narrator]

[Heart of stone]

A few hours later...

Matt had gotten his bags packed and was now at the airport. He was done getting tickets for himself and Crystal and was now heading for their plane's terminal when he got a page.

Gunnar and Abby were going to be joining them on the mission.

Matt tried not to groan. He really wanted to spend some one on one time with Crystal in New York City. Now he had to share her attention with Gunnar and Abby.

"Looks like we have some last minute guests,"Matt showed Crystal the page.

 

[Joe Kerr]

Location: outside San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California, USA


"She's perfect. I think I'll name her 'Allie', as in Alligator" Joe laughed
"But it is a crocodile. Nickname does not match." VILE bot replied
"Exactly. Thus the irony." Joe replied with another laugh
"What is this 'Irony'?" came the monotone reply from VILE bot.

Joe's only reply to that was a face fault. He had forgotten the VILE bot didn't understand humor or irony.

"That's what I get for working with a robot. VILE bot, nevermind the conversation about irony. Let's get to our next location before the cops show up."

VILE Bot gave a brief acknowledgement and went to work the controls while Joe looked at 'Allie' sleeping peacefully in her cage.

Phase one of his prank had gone remarkably well.

It has been almost too easy to break into the San Diego Zoo. Joe had thought that there would have been more security. Instead, he and VILE bot had managed to sneak in and out pretty much undetected, except for the nocturnal animals.
Joe remembered that while and VILE bot had been searching the maze of enclosures for the right one, several owls had spotted them and almost given them away. Thankfully the guards had decided to ignore the warnings given by their fine feathered friends. The security cameras were also pretty much a joke.

Joe had finally found the crocodile enclosure and exactly what he was looking for. While a sane person might have some reservations about getting into an enclosure full of live crocodiles, at night, Joe was perfectly fine with it.
Of couse, it helped that he had first poured in a canister of liquid CO2 into the enclosure to get the crocodiles to hibernate without harming them. After that it was only a matter of quickly selecting one specimen, bagging it and getting out of the zoo before the guards actually decided to do their jobs.

Back on the plane, Joe looked at 'Allie' and smiled. Soon, phase 2 of his prank would be underway.


[OOC: To PETA and other animal lovers out there, rest assured 'allie' is unharmed and will remain as such. I am an animal lover myself. Allie isn't that large and her cage is large enough to give her room to move about when she wakes up. There is water and food in it for her also.]

 

[Narrator]

[Rose of Pollux]

Crystal was slightly disappointed about having two more people come along.

She had wanted to have some one-on-one time with Matt, too, though she was reluctant to admit it out loud.

"Mrs. Pumpkinclanger won't appreciate all the noise that four agents will make," she said quietly to Matt. "She's the lady who lives across the alley--whenever I was there, she always yelled at us for making noise..."

She sighed and sat in one of the seats and waited for the flight to begin boarding, sending a message to her old mentor that she would be returning for a mission--with agents in tow.

The ACME Informant, or Dying Informant as he was sometimes known, was surprised to see the message from one of the old Gumshoes he had helped train.

But before he could dwell on it, he received a memo from a fellow informant downtown.

"Patty Larceny spotted?" he mused, reading the message. "Here in New York with another V.I.L.E. agent?"

He sighed and headed out into the Manhattan streets in the hopes of finding and tailing her. He would have to be careful, he knew; he had had a couple of unlucky brushes on at least two previous occasions tailing her.**

((** See the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego season 1 episodes "Island Copping" and "Case of the False False Teeth" for details!))