Archived Hiatus

[Chase]

Type: Free-form site-wide Role Playing Game Rating: PG-13

Rules:

• Regular role playing rules apply, please see this link.
• To enter, type your location at the start of your post to let other players know where you are then write what your character is doing.
• You do not have to be at the same location as everyone else, or you may plan to meet up with other characters in various locations later.
• If you're idle, other players will continue without you, and you may join in at a later time.

 

[Carmen]

Foreword: I've decided to establish a time frame with the first post by setting it immediately after "La Vie de Luxe." V.I.L.E. members may start their "adventures" with receiving their bonuses; you're allowed to do what you will.
ACME, based on this, the ACME building has recently been removed; write freely, your own discretion is advised.


In the darkness, Carmen struck a lighter. The action devised a small flame, and the thief smirked behind its flickering glow as her careful hands repositioned the blaze towards a sensor. Fire detectors immediately responded with a loud wailing siren and a spray of pressurised water.

In front of her, a steel door unlocked while warning signals flashed across nearby LCD screens that the system detected and contained a fire.

"Well, it still works," she surmised, the sprinkler having dowsed both her and the lighter she held. "There shouldn't have been water," Carmen stepped down from the desk she stood on, and then took off her coat, "but, at least we have access."

The men with her, also drenched, agreed that water was unnecessary, but they had gained much-desired accessibility to this portion of the building.

Carmen Sandiego and a selected handful of henchmen were inside ACME's stolen tower. This prize was well worth the lengths she had meticulously teetered. Early last year, she discovered through sources that ACME had plans to renovate, at the same time digitising their documents. The thief created a plan then, and waited patiently until operational offices began moving out of the main building for temporary ones inside the academy. She wove a story across Saigon, Paris, Quebec, and ended her spree in the fortified city of Luxembourg where an unforeseen team of agents nearly sealed her fate. Her ruse had worked marvellously, and while ACME's finest were distracted, her silent team struck in San Francisco.

Ingeniously, ACME's private corridor system played a crucial role in the theft of its control centre. No matter how she had pictured her success, the sight, the tangibility of the 16-storey building was astounding.

Inside, only hours after she had escaped from Luxembourg, VILE's ringleader began the exploration phase of her plan. With passage granted by the fire alarm, Carmen walked through the room of records. Many files were marked with a stamp to indicate their entry into ACME's new digital system. Older and out-dated documents, however, were marked for further review. Carmen looked through a few, recognised traces of her former self, and decided, "Mm, we'll have to burn these."

A sneeze interrupted her superficial walk down memory lane. All heads turned to one another, then to the direction of the source: the offices. Although Vincent had ensured that sensors detected only him, Flag, and the hacker before powering the corridor that transported the building, they obviously missed someone else.

VILE's men quickly scoured the area, and upon discovering where the sneeze came from, led their leader into Chief Weller's office. There, staring wide-eyed at her visitors, a little girl sat shielded behind a large wooden desk.

Being a scrupulous planner, Carmen had prepared for the possibility of stowaways: a renegade detective, a hapless janitor, she even had a plan devised to deal with a certain Field Director, but a child was out of her scope.

With composure, she greeted her miniature intruder, "Hello, I'm Carmen," her voice was assuring, "And you are?"

"Hailey," the little girl hesitantly sounded, swinging her feet against the leather chair, "and I'm hungry. It rained in here, did you see?"

That name was familiar, and Carmen felt herself flushing at its significance.

"That doesn't help," muttered a hand by the codename of Simon.

"Yes, it does," she contradicted, "Chief Weller's granddaughter."

An understandable silence permeated until Simon spoke again, "What should we do?"

Moving to Hailey, Carmen replied, "Nothing, we'll give everybody the bonuses they were promised so they can head home for a few weeks." Kneeling to the level of the six-year-old, she smiled, "And we'll have to get you home without reaping abduction charges, somehow."

Hailey giggled, reciprocating to the stranger's expression.

Turning to Simon, the thief took another tone, "We're adjourned," she instructed, "and tell Fumigalli to meet me, immediately, my quarters."

 

[Ken U Belevitt]

[Ken U. Belevitt]

V.I.L.E. HQ Antartica

The central offices were dark except for the glow of Ken's computer screen. Ken was reading through forum posts written by members of his conspiratorial network and watching a webcam view of the night sky. One of his proteges had claimed that there was some movement in Orion's belt, and he was trailing the astral body in search of anything juicy: strange forms of radiation, activity proving the use of alien technology, or perhaps a nearby alien spacecraft. When it came to space, the possibilities were endless.

Ken had returned from AWOL status a week ago. In the month he'd been gone he'd been helping the FBI trail a criminal known as "The User," who himself was using criminal means to bypass the law in his attempts to capture Carmen. He was also responsible for the 'accident' which fatefully dropped the television monitor on Ken's head, making him into the psychologically addled mess he is today. Knowing that he was out there, still causing people harm, and still after Carmen, gave Ken the resolve to go straight and try to bring him to justice.

Unfortunately, in the time he'd been on the right side of the law Ken ultimately was no help in furthering the case aganst The User. What's more, his diminished intellectual state made him the target of ridicule amongst some FBI agents, especially those who were privy to the real explanations behind things like JFK's assassination and Area 51. His contact in the FBI, Sarbajit Jasjiv, still had some faith in him eventually rounding up their mutual enemy, but Ken was discouraged. As soon as Carmen's missing jumbo jet had been lawfully relieved of government possession, Ken flew back to V.I.L.E.

He'd become like a ghost in the time he'd returned, not talking to anyone and simply focusing on his own agenda. He had felt like he'd let Carmen down, not just because he went AWOL, but bcause he failed to catch The User. What's more, he knew he'd have a hard time convincing anyone else in V.I.L.E that his little month-long odyssey was actually real, and Ken didn't think he could shoulder the humiliation.

As Ken watched Orion's Belt on the monitor. He heard a blip, coming from his e-mail inbox. Out of curiosity, he clicked the link. It was an auto-statement from his numbered account, claiming that a deposit had been made there.

Ken was surprised. Of all of Carmen's core group of henchmen, Ken was never alotted an expense account. Well, he had one once, but after Vic convinced him he needed several thousand dollars of useless junk from his own catalogs, it had since been suspended. Ken smply wasn't careful with money, but the fact there was a deposit meant so much more to him. It was a sign that Carmen still considered him a part of the team, and that she still trusted him.

"YAHOO!" Random papaers flew in the air as Ken spun around n his office hair. "Oh, but now what should I do with the money?"

 

[Chief]

(Amazing start! I think I'll usher in ACME's side with a post as well.)

After sending the urgent message to Chase, Chief Weller walked out of his temporary housing, located right in ACME compounds, to look at the emptiness that was once ACME Tower.

Dust flickered in the moonlight, and nearly all of the company was awake now, each asking the other what had happened. Dr. Weller's wife soon joined him.

"Evin," she called to him in a panicked voice.

"I know," Chief tried to calm her while his eyes stayed fixed on the missing building, "It's gone! She's done it, really done it this time."

"No," his wife shook his arm, "Hailey; we can't find Hailey!"

"She's not in the guest room?"

"She's not, Sally said she woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to go find you."

"Is she in our room?" confusion was obvious on Dr. Weller's face.

"No, oh no, she's not, Evin," his wife's voice shook with anxiety, "What if she went to look for you in your office? Is that possible?"

 

[Narrator]

[Crimson]

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The bus finally pulls up in front of the Bellagio Hotel on The Strip in Las Vegas. With thousands of fountains shooting up for a period of time that seemed to go on forever, in front of the European-styled resort, Crim was hooked in an instant. Las Vegas was truly mesmerizing.

But of course she didn't come to Vegas alone. Crimson was here with one of her best friends, Lory. "I've always wanted to go to Vegas, but I've never had the guts to go." Crim thought to herself. "At least, Lory is here to keep me company so I don't get into too much trouble..."

"Crim, I really want to go see Mystere Cirque Du Soleil and O Cirque Du Soleil. It's a great learning opportunity!"

"If you actually want to learn something, Lora, learn how to gamble!"

 

[Emma Bezzle]

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America

The city of Las Vegas was thriving and busy as ever. Loralye was sitting in a bus next to her best friend, one Crimson Paine. She couldn’t believe her ears. First, Crim just shows up at her hotel waving two plane tickets for Las Vegas in her face, and now this. All Loralye wanted to do was go see a few shows that were both interesting and would broaden her spectrum of French culture. But of all the ridiculous things-

“Did you really just suggest we go gambling?” she asked.

“Of course!” squealed Crim. “We’re in Vegas! Going gambling is, like, a rite of passage.”

Obviously she doesn’t see the glaring problem with her idea, Lora thought. “Hmm, yeah, about that Crim, I’m sorta still under twenty-one and therefore cannot gamble. I can’t even set foot inside a casino!”

Crimson giggled. “I already thought of that. That’s why I brought these!” She reached into her oversized purse and handed Lora a small rectangular card. “It’s a fake ID,” she whisper screamed.

Loralye looked down at the ID. “Leah Williams?” she asked.

 

[Narrator]

[Chip Masters]

Van Ness Muni Station, San Francisco

After what seemed like an eternity stuck in the tunnel, the train finally made it. As the doors opened, Charles "Chip" Masters burst out of it, quickly making his way topside. The man was not his usual self tonight - his shirt was wrinkled, his tie badly knotted, and he had 5 o'clock shadow on his face. Running across the darkened streets, he finally made it to the empty site. "Damn..." he said, looking at the space where the tower usually stood. "She didn't..."

 

[Narrator]

[Philo]

The sound of a harmonica echoed out from the inside of one of the manufactured houses. The front door swung open and Philo emerged, expertly sliding the tiny instrument across his lips. He had been oddly absent from his garage when Carmen looted the building. Now that he'd returned he was forlorn to learn that the garage and all his custom cars were gone. "As a certain dog once said..It's easy t' play deh blues when you ain't got no roof over yeh head." He coughed and then descended the porch steps, walking up towards Chip. "How yeh feelin' pencil-neck?"

 

[Chase]

(Putting some of us on the plane coming from Luxembourg)


Somewhere Between Luxembourg and San Francisco...

When miscalculations lead to a mistake, the first few seconds are usually plagued with disbelief, then as minutes and hours pass, that doubt expands; the longer the time between error and correction, the more intense the regret.

Chase Devineaux felt this.

He sat in the navigator position of the jet, unable to think about much else. Every five seconds, his eyes fell to the face of a watch that tauntingly replied with exactly the correct time, but not the right one. Beneath his stoic demeanor, his head throbbed, his veins pounded, and every cell in his body fought against the ability to do absolutely nothing.

Seventeen hours crawled by like a desert tortoise with two legs.

As San Francisco sprawled out below him, the landmark ACME Tower was nowhere in sight... as expected. Devineaux exhaled, and when doing so, realized it was his first long breath since leaving the grounds of Luxembourg City. The doubt that troubled him alleviated as soon as his eyes registered truth.

The building was gone.

...And that woman would drive him insane.

 

[Sophie]

There was nothing to be said. After all, how was one expected to respond when the news of an entire building being spirited away is relayed? Alarm and anxiety, dread and disbelief – it had all been done. These emotions and more had been expressed upon the faces of the people around her, how they acted, what they said and what they did not...

Sophie Conrad watched the surrounding men and women in silence as the aircraft she was in approached the city of San Francisco. Nineteen-year-old Mia Pierce, an ACME cadet at the Academy and her companion throughout the flight, slipped a cold hand into hers. Behind them, she heard Caleb Lake release a held breath.

Outside the window, the lights of San Francisco twinkled in the early-morning darkness. Though she had not lived on the West Coast for long, it was a sight not unfamiliar to Sophie. Along the eastern edge of the peninsula, where the city met the waters of the San Francisco Bay, an unfamiliarly darkened spot stood out ominously from the electric carpet. However, the first thing that caught Sophie’s eye was the oblong shape of the ACME Medical Centre. It was still present – obvious through the newly-created shadows the lack of the ACME Tower wrought, the white-and-blue ACME letters and the glowing red cross shining like a beacon. If she were any more insensitive or any less empathic, she would have given in to the brief sensation of relief that flowed through her.

 

[Cali]

Cali hadn't been sleeping very soundly, she was first woken by the siren coming from the ACME Tower. Then a flash of lighting appeared without thunder and a lot of noise, with someone screaming "It's Gone!" came from the grounds below.

The bomb expert looked at her alarm clock and then got out of bed to see what happened. Everyone looked like they were awake. It was too dark to see everything from her apartment, so she had to come downstairs to discover for herself the hole in the ground.

"This is certainly not an explosion," she said to whoever was next to her, but it was more for herself because she didn't know what else to say.

 

[E. Mayhew]

The trip had been awkwardly quiet. Seventeen hours on a plane was a long enough trip on its own but when combined with a need to be somewhere now and being used to instantaneous international travel calling a trip like it 'agony' was a bit melodramatic but nonetheless appropriate.

Melissa Wayward, just recently recognized by Chase Devineaux as his old partner Eleanor Mayhem (which in itself was a whole other problem), had spent most of the trip in a half awake state by one of the back windows of the private jet nursing a bottle of weak iced tea. With the exception of runs to the plane's bathroom she'd hardly moved, the only sign that she was even conscious being the occasional sounds of her playing with her blackberry.

Over the course of 6 hours of work she'd lost her cover, lost her suspect in a motorcycle chase and, though it had yet to be seen, lost her HQ. Though she had remained silent her mood to those who had tried to notice was clear. Missy, Eleanor, whoever, was in a bit of a funk.

It wasn't until the plane hit the California coast that Missy started to noticeably stir, placing her bottle in a nearby holder and moving her head so she could try to see where the ACME building had once stood. Unable to get a good enough view for her own comfort she rose from her seat, slowly approaching the front of the plane. Her feet padded the plane floor quietly as she passed the seats in front of her, carefully touching the backs of seats, ducking down just a little to see if she could see anything out of each of the windows that she passed.

Unsatisfied with the view out of each window she finally reached the plane's cockpit (or aviation deck for those who prefer it that way) and slid herself inside, silently placing herself against the tiny room's back wall as she looked out of the giant front windows at the void where ACME Headquarters had once stood. For some reason to her it hadn't really happened until now. Despite receiving the information over 17 hours ago that ACME Headquarters had disappeared it was not real until she saw it.

It felt for a moment like someone had punched her in the gut. It wasn't like it was the end of the world, was it? It was just a building. She already knew everyone had been safe, no one was hurt, most of the company had already moved to temporary offices. But it was a sign of failure. What was ACME if they couldn't even keep their own buildings safe from someone? On a level ACME had failed. She, as a part of it, had failed.

Missy/Eleanor ran a hand through her hair which had been removed from its usual ponytail and now showed signs of her restless attempts at mid flight rest and took a deep breath. It was time to wake up. They would be touching down shortly and there would be work to be done.