Archived La Vie de Luxe

[Chase]

The Gendarmerie did not give Chase much of a choice as to what he would ride. From a stable of primarily show horses, the equestrian handler brought out a gray Percheron. Known for its calm demeanor, this breed excelled worldwide, and in cities such as Luxembourg, their quickness made them more versatile than any motorized vehicle.

"Une percheon, c'est un étalon," said the Gendarmerie's stableman, "Son nom 'Normandie'. Il sait la ville, il va vous emmener partout. You can ride?"

Devineaux nodded. He was fine with a French Percheron, gladly accepting it. His only other choice was the even larger Ardennes Luxembourg, and he had no experience with those.

"Les commandes sont en français?" Chase asked to make sure it was all right to instruct the horse in French.

"A droite, a gauche, reste, seulement en français!" the handler listed a few simple commands and proceeded to tell the American to only use French.

"Merci beaucoup," he thanked the handler and mounted the horse named Normandy, just in time to hear Missy's transmission that the red Ducati might have backup.

"Focus on the Ducati, Melissa," he assured the pursuing agent, "I have you covered."

Taking the horse far and fast, Chase looked for a short cut to meet up with the suspects. The stableman told Devineaux that Normandy knew this city well, but the field director wondered how this was going to work... seeing as 'Normandy' was -- essentially -- just a horse.

 

[Flag]

Flag's reputation with the racketeers was not that much different than Vic's in the sense that he was the type that "got things done". His reputation however, followed more along the lines of that of a hit-man (even though that was not his job title). Vic might have known this from his various connections had Flag ever given his name out to any of them. He was only refereed to as "The Silverskin" by the members of the non-VILE underground (a title derived from a fictional character that the Sivoan had only minor similarities with). What Vic might find to his distaste, if he paid really close attention, is that this VILE agent had a minor resemblance in eyes and teeth to the one he worked with in Montreal.

He was standing by the hats, already with a jumpsuit in hand when he received the text message.

Vic said: He texted Flag: "At BUC, wearing orange leather hat."

The Sivoan looked up and cast his gaze over the low-lying racks of the store and spotted the offensively dressed individual and frowned slightly. He then backpedaled and grabbed another jumpsuit and hat before making his way over to Vic and attempted to speak in a casual tone.

"I found em. Let's check out and then get something to eat."

It would have been a brainless activity for either of them to steal the uniforms, but Flag felt that this wasn't the point where they wanted to draw any kind attention to themselves and paid simply with cash - two more customer's that the cashier would never remember upon checking out of work for the day.

Once they were outside, Flag gestured towards an empty restaurant which he somehow had a key for.

"We can talk in there."

 

[Vic]

Vincent Fumigalli followed his new partner into the restaurant and put his briefcase down, sitting with a nervous look, glancing around the place to make sure they weren't being watched. When he was sure they were clear, he got started.

"You know Carmen wants something, right? Something big?" he said to the alien.

Carmen warned Vic earlier about Flag, the way she warned him about Dragon. He never understood if she was attracted to strange humanoid things or if they were attracted to her, but the way she treated them like normal people, and the way she convinced all of VILE to do the same, was something he learned to like.

"They're already in Luxembourg, she and the main team," Fumigalli went on.

VILE was after a historical building of significant importance. It was a huge undertaking that took nearly a year of advance planning. Vic figured Flag knew some of this by now and was already doing the inside work.

"I came from Quebec," he explained, "got the angel safe and sound, and everyone else's got their list done, so it's up to us for the crunch."

Vic was sent to Quebec to get an Angel statue, Patty Larceny had been sent to Notre Dame de Paris to get the Gargoyle Little Dido from its roof, and all other VILE agents were dispatched to various locations to snatch something as memento. The last location on Carmen's list, was Notre Dame de Luxembourg.

"Tell me what you got so far?" the conman asked.

 

[Sophie]

:: (Co-written; edited by me. My many gratitudes, Josh.) ::


With Lee Jordan perched safely on a boulder, ascertaining that his greatest suffering was a sprained ankle became a straight-forward task for Sophie Conrad – the joint had already begun to swell. Firmly ignoring his statements about who he thought he had been pursuing and instructing him to stay still, she returned to the vel’oh! bicycle and fetched her duffle bag, from which she retrieved a blue-coloured gel-pack. She broke the plastic seal that separated the two compartments in the gel-pack, initiating a rapid chemical reaction that caused the contents of the pack to freeze.

“I don’t think you’ve broken any bones,” she explained as she waited for the pack in her hands to completely ice over, “but it appears you’ve sprained your ankle. So…” she bent over to place the now-frigid gel-pack onto Lee’s ankle, “here, hold it… and try not to move your leg too much.”


As the chill from the pack permeated his ankle, Lee Jordan made a face. He hated the feel of cold things on painful things; yet, he obeyed the doctor, sensible enough to know that he was out of options.

“This sucks,” he complained, “I was so close!”


“I’m sure the Field Director and his agents know what they’re doing,” Sophie said gently as she extracted her communications device from the duffle bag at her side.


But, Lee had stopped listening to the doctor. Instead, he was now watching her handle the communications device with vested interest, wondering if it could connect to Chase Devineaux.


“You’re going to the hospital for an x-ray – just to be sure,” Sophie continued. As certain as she was that Lee had only a minor sprain that could be completely treated outside of a medical institution, she knew that ACME would require more hard evidence than what her own experience could purport. A clean x-ray film should satisfy.

Caleb Lake was a final-year medical student at the UCSF and had written a very convincing letter to the ACME Medical Centre, seeking a three-month internship at the facility. He had proven adept and enthusiastic, even though the upper echelons had failed to agree on whether Caleb wanted more to be a detective or a doctor. Nearing the end of his stint now, his presence here in Luxembourg would signal his first and final involvement in an ACME mission as a medical student. Stationing him at the Clinique Sainte-Thérèse, Sophie hoped that the trip would commit him to a decision about his future in ACME – if there was to be any.

With Sainte-Thérèse barely five minutes away, Sophie stepped away from Lee to contact Caleb. She exposited, speedily, the situation with Lee’s ankle and by the time their short conversation was complete, a quick ride from the Pétrusse to the hospital had already been despatched.


“Is that an agent-class device?” Lee asked, pointing to the communications device, “or can you only contact the command?”

He was dying to tell Chase about who he thought was riding on the Ducati and had thought his chances dashed when his communicator was destroyed by his little mishap. Now, another opportunity had presented itself, barely a few feet away, and Lee was not going to miss it.


Sophie lifted her eyes from the communications device, terminating the connection she had with Caleb as she did so: “I can contact anyone on the ground.” And, probably in the air, if she could figure out how to fully manipulate the device...

The reaction that followed was stunning.


Dropping the cold-pack, Lee leapt to his feet and lunged for the device with unadulterated eagerness.


Surprised, Sophie took a reflexive step backwards – “Qu'est-ce---” – and regarded the man with shock on her features. “What are you doing?” she demanded.


With the communications device now rendered out of reach by a woman who could move faster than he had, Lee could only wobble on one leg and wince, mild foolishness colouring his face. He looked from Sophie to the device with sincere contrition and solicitation, “May I use it?”


Sophie did not answer immediately. She frowned with blatant annoyance and picked up the fallen cold-pack. “Sit down,” she instructed as she returned the pack to Lee and made sure he placed it back onto his foot.

“You could have just asked.” She handed the ACME communications device over.


Lee took the device silently, looking boyishly sheepish. Then, he dialled a link to Chase Devineaux.

“Sir, this is Jordan,” he said when he got through, “I got a look at her – the Ducati’s rider,” his words started to tumble out, “I think it’s Carmen Sandiego!”

 

[Carmen]

The henchman following Carmen's Ducati was significantly slower on his blue BMW. He was riding a larger bike for the sake of the captured falcon. Birds of prey were prone to stress, and while she only wanted to take the GPS transmitter attached to Phoenix's leg, the falcon was now very necessary to what she hoped to accomplish in Luxembourg.

Carmen turned her head to watch the woman on the police Yamaha; from the way the agent worked to stay parallel to her, VILE's leader guessed what her new enemy planned to do.

"Elle fait de nous diriger vers le nord!" Gresser, the trailing henchman, stated the obvious that ACME was forcing them northward. The thief gave a nod of approval, guarding the hectic city centre was exactly what Carmen would have done, had she been pursuing herself.

 

[Flag]

Vic said: "Tell me what you got so far?" the conman asked.


Flag reached into the bag of stuff that they had purchased from the uniform store and threw one of the two suits onto the table in front of Vic.

"Enough."

After setting his own jumpsuit down, he walked over to a cabinet above the bar and popped a door open, which he then propped carefully on the handle ofthe door located next to it. The missing hing of the door, the generally unkempt look of the place, and the fact that they were inside it at all made apparent that the restaurant was condemned. VILE's connections had procured a key for the small structure and Flag had been using it as a place to rest during his "tour" of the city. He even had papers claiming ownership of the place, which had already coated themselves in dust as they lie on the bars surface.

The alien returned to Vic and unrolled a few sets of blue prints, which he had been able to procure from public records once upon a time. The alien had circled a number of points on the architectural map and made some small notes. He pointed at one in particular that was circled in red ink.

"As you know we're going to need to obtain a few small pieces of equipment, which are most likely distributed from our target destination. We could get them from some of the staff, but that would rapidly lead to detection... " He glance up at Vic, "Are you prepared for that scenario?"

Before he could receive an answer, he rolled aside the top blueprint and spoke about the second page.

"Since the last time I was were there, they've switched to manual security and approval codes, which makes thing significantly harder than just getting myself arrested and beating people up... hence the uniforms."

Flag then pointed to a blue circle.

"This maintenance shed is our entry point. It connects to a emergency stairwell, a service elevator, and the parking garage. Since Carmen had expressed that she has no interest in the parking garage, we can set up the hand-helds there we get them. As long as someone stays with the ummm... what's the word? Console?... We will have no problems with this."

He flashed his sunset-colored eyes upwards from the papers to Vic. "I was hoping that you would do that part since I'm not so good with complex machines."

 

[Chase]

While Chase Devineaux had little problem commanding Normandy on paved roads, when the path became smaller, things got difficult. He concentrated, negotiating the animal through obstacles; but the horse, chewing on its mouthpiece, acted as if it already knew the way. During one brief rider-horse conflict, Chase pulled a little too hard and Normandy stopped only to continue again without further action. Devineaux realized this was what the stableman meant by 'the horse knows this city'.

Lee Jordan's report came through via Sophie Conrad's communicator, indicating that the doctor had reached her objective. When the informant enunciated 'Carmen Sandiego', Devineaux suddenly had an important decision to make. He could make this an official V.I.L.E. case and call in Chief Weller to record the sighting, or he could claim jurisdiction since his operatives are first on the scene. With a few seconds to think this over, Chase decidedly answered Lee first.

"That's only partial identification, Jordan," he explained, "I'll need more than an 'I think' to go on." By the end of that transmission, Devineaux concluded that this would logically have to be his case; throwing it to Chief Weller would take days. Logging his ID to ACME Control, he requested all files related to V.I.L.E.'s recent activities. While that tedious transfer took place, he checked the video feed from Eugene Grovington and continued on horseback towards the location of Agent Wayward.

"Euge, we're forcing the Ducati north," he sent to the helicopter, "keep supporting Missy, she's on to something."

 

[Eugene]

Sitting still, in the figurative sense, was something Euge had not done for quite some time. Most of his career had been spent moving goods, not watching. The change in pace was nice, listening to radio chatter and knowing he was not the one being hunted. The balance would be swinging back soon enough, he supposed.

"Euge, we're forcing the Ducati north," he sent to the helicopter, "keep supporting Missy, she's on to something."

"Affirmative." was the crisp reply. Before the operative had finished speaking, the helicopter was translating to the north, pilot hoping he wasn't overshooting his target. The thick woods precluded even the most advanced airborne sensors from locating anyone in the area without some sort of assistance. That assistance came in the form of Missy's communicator acting as a beacon for all operatives in the area.

Suddenly, another problem cropped up, one that Euge had been anticipating for the duration of the persuit: fuel. Leaving the field agents without air support was not an appealing option, but there was no other choice. Euge keyed the mike, "All elements, this is Euge. Bingo fuel status in 15 minutes. Be advised no air support will be available after that time."

 

[Lee]

Lee Jordan frowned when he heard Chase's acknowledgement. "Did you hear that?" he asked Sophie, who was probably close enough to hear the speaker anyway, "It's another report he doesn't care about."

The intern that Sophie talked to was on his way, but Lee wasn't in a hurry anymore. Maybe he was wrong, maybe that wasn't Carmen Sandiego. But Eartha Brute was here, right here, the chances can't be that far off. If he was in Chase's position, he'd order all the roads closed, bring the city to a standstill until he could force her to surrender. Devineaux shouldn't have all that power if he was going to do nothing with it.

Then the helicopter broadcasted that in 15 minutes, it needed fuel. That meant, in 15 minutes, if they don't get Carmen, this race was over.

"He doesn't know what he's doing," Lee commented out loud about Chase, "he's self-righteous, that's all he is."

 

[Sophie]

Sophie Conrad, through the articles accessed from the ACME Library and the unabashed chatter that occasionally circulated the Medical Centre’s cafeteria, was not completely immune to the mention of the name ‘Carmen Sandiego’. When she had first heard Lee Jordan mention the infamous thief, she did wonder what the woman might have been doing in Luxembourg. As far as she knew from the very-brief despatch instructions the Medical Centre had provided, ACME had sent a team here to track down a certain ‘Eartha Brute’.

But, things are never as they appear.

That thought renewed repressed worries that she felt her role could never allow to be voiced. Perhaps, she mused to herself, she was in the wrong department of ACME.

“He didn’t reject your report,” Sophie reminded Lee gently. She regarded him thoughtfully, considering all he had said and deliberating an appropriate reply. She was in no position to defend nor desert the Field Director; and, in all honesty, Lee’s comment about the Director’s self-righteousness had almost succeeded in tempting a smile from her – had she not been so determined to remain neutral.

“How would you have replied, Mr. Jordan?” Sophie asked, instead. “What would you have done, had you been in his position?”

 

[Vic]

Vic grinned to his new partner, "I'm prepared for just 'bout anything," he said, "part of working with VILE, ah?" With that, he looked through the plans and the circles, trying to understand them better.

"I'm no hacker," he answered to what Flag said about him manning the console, "but I know a good one, leave all the soft stuff to me, you get us in."

While he talked, he took a few pictures of the plans on the phone VILE provided. Flag was doing great as an insider, Vic was impressed, but he was going to have to ask Carmen sometime about where she found her "aliens". He looked at the uniforms and figured he'd look just fine in these, as long as he stayed away from thorough security checks.

"Carmen gave us a start-up of 10K cash, and 90K in a checking account," Vic went on, "I getta do the accounting, so anything you need, just say it."

He then sent an instruction of what he needed by text to a friend. This "friend" should reply with a quote and more information on how that console was going to get hacked.

"We should get going, ah?" Vic looked at his watch, "The boss's all set up, she's gonna be waiting on us. Have ya talked to her recent?"

 

[E. Mayhew]

Chase said: "Focus on the Ducati, Melissa," he assured the pursuing agent, "I have you covered."

Lee said: “I got a look at her – the Ducati’s rider... I think it’s Carmen Sandiego!”

Chase said: "Euge, we're forcing the Ducati north... keep supporting Missy, she's on to something." "Affirmative."

It had taken a bit of maneuvering, a couple of less than comfortable calls and more throttle pounding than most would prefer but the orange and black police yamaha was now running parrelel to the Ducati. Missy's concentration was centered on the road and the red motorcycle in her sight.

"Still on he-" she had begun reporting when from her left the BMW cut straight in front of her heading east down one of the side streets she had been passing. Instinctively screeching to a halt, the bike turned a bit sideways and she slid a few feet before coming to a complete stop. Taking a deep breath Missy watched as the Ducati carrying her subject drove out of sight and, if she had to guess, towards the city's center now that no one was there to protect it.

Turning her head away from the main road she looked down the side road she'd stopped dead in front of, watching as the BMW which had nearly caused an accident seconds ago was slowly making its way away through more crowded areas. One would have to wonder later if it was the sudden burst of anger at losing her subject that caused the clarity of mind to notice a cage attachment on the back of the BMW escaping. A cage attachment about the size of, say, a large bird of prey.

"Hey guys... lost the Ducati. I think I've found something else." she said clearly into her mouthpiece as she gave the throttle a hearty twist, then added with a lightly snarky tone, "Only partial identification, of course, but 'I think' is going to have to do for now."