Home for the Holidays, Ch 3 (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Dying Informant; Missing)
Title: Home for the Holidays; Chapter 3
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Claim: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (The Dying Informant)
Table: Do-it-Yourself
Prompt: Missing
Rating: PG13
Summary: When the Messenger does not return, the Informant tries not to worry... until the Mysterious Woman arrives with a clue.
Warnings: seriousness in a light-hearted fandom
Will be cross-posted to my journal, 30_hugs, and the V.I.L.E. Headquarters fanfic forum.
Author’s Notes: Thanks again to Lucky Ladybug for more plot help with this chapter, especially with the Techie’s conversation with the Informant!
*************************
Hours passed, and the Messenger had not yet returned, but the Informant could have cared less; he was the last person he wanted to see. And the Informant was still in a less-than-pleasant mood when the Techie and the Inspector came into the ACME lounge to talk to him.
“Hey…” said the Techie. “You know he didn’t really mean those things like that. And I know you didn’t mean anything, either. He’s worried about you-just like we all are.”
“I’ll bet,” the Informant replied. “I bet you think that I’m turning my back on you guys and betraying ACME, too.”
“No, I don’t think that,” the Techie assured him.
“But we’re not going to deny that we don’t like what Patty is doing to you,” added the Inspector.
“But Patty isn’t doing anything!” the Informant insisted. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him, and right away, he thinks I’m a traitor.”
“He does not,” the Techie assured him. “Look, Patty may look sweet, but I can’t help but get the feeling that she’s taking advantage of your position at ACME. Tell me something… can you be sure that Patty really loves you?”
“Of course I can.”
“No… I mean really,” the Techie said, calmly. “Look, I’m not the best person to talk to when it comes to love, but I do know that if she really cared about you, she would’ve jumped in the water to save you-not wait for one of us to show up and do it for her. And I think that all of your praises for Patty have really hurt him; he’s your best friend--”
“Not anymore,” said the Informant, coldly. “You heard him-I’m a gone case. He wants to turn me in and get me kicked out of ACME. Well, fine-I don’t have to deal with him anymore.”
“You don’t mean that,” said the Inspector, knowingly.
“Oh, I think I do,” assured the Informant.
“Listen to yourself,” said the Techie, with a shake of his head. “Whether it’s intended or not, Patty is turning you against us. Look, I don’t want to see her hurt you again.”
“She won’t,” the Informant assured him.
“But how can you be sure?” he replied. “And regardless of that, I want to see my friends without any ill feelings towards each other--”
He was cut off as his communicator displayed an incoming message from the Messenger.
“Delivered the letter quite a while ago; was heading back when I saw Patty Larceny skulking around, and I’ve been after her all this time; I’m bringing her in on trespassing charges if I can catch up to her. The weather’s getting bad; I’ll be back as soon as I can, after I apprehend her. And then we can deal with the other matters at hand.”
The Informant scowled deeply upon reading it over the Techie’s shoulder.
“I don’t believe this!” he fumed. “He’s arresting her just to spite me!” He reread the note, furious. “…’Deal with the other matters at hand’…? Yeah, right-like what to do with ‘the traitor’!”
“That’s not it,” said the Techie, with a shake of his head. “Don’t you understand? He’s worried about you.”
“Yeah, right. Nothing worries him-you know that,” said the Informant.
“Where is he, anyway?” asked the Inspector.
“Who cares!?” the Informant quipped.
The Techie checked his tracking system on his communicator.
“Uh-oh…” he said. “Wherever he is, the weather really is terrible; it’s cutting off his location signal.”
“Oh, too bad,” said the Informant, sardonically. “Guess we’ll have to wait for him to find his way back in from the cold so that he can get me kicked out into the same cold. Well, if that’s the case, I’m going to spend one last night in my room. And when he gets here, tell him that I can’t wait to go and be with Patty. At least she appreciates me!”
He angrily retreated, Borealis at his heels. He had too much hurt and anger to feel sorry for the Messenger, who had to be out in the freezing cold of wherever he was.
“Serves him right…” the Informant muttered.
**********************************
Morning came, as it always did. The Informant had been amazed that he hadn’t been forcefully removed from his room upon the Messenger telling the Chief about him and Patty.
“Well…” he commented to the worried-looking Techie, Inspector, and Recruiting Officer as he met them in the mess hall for breakfast. “I see that someone has decided to not spill the beans just yet. What sort of blackmail is he planning for me?”
The Informant leaped a mile in the air as he heard the Chief clear her throat behind him.
“Chief!?” he asked. “Ah… what’s up?”
“You may as well know,” she said. “Your friend never came back last night.”
The Informant was too stunned to let her know that they were anything but friends at the moment, but this shock soon wore off.
“I bet he’s still chasing after Patty,” he declared. “What did he say in his latest message?”
“He never sent another one,” the Inspector explained, visibly worried.
“Oh…” said the Informant. “Well, he’ll probably show up soon, or send one… Maybe he just found a place to stay the night.”
“He would’ve told us,” said the Techie.
“Unless this is some crazy plan of his to get us… or me… to worry for nothing,” the Informant went on.
“What’s with you!?” asked the Recruiting Officer. “He’s gone missing, and this is how you’re acting!?”
“Well, we don’t know that he is missing,” the Informant pointed out. “Maybe he just got caught up in the Chase, and…”
He trailed off as the entire mess hall was suddenly drained of all of its hue. The Informant looked around, deeply confused.
“…Did we forget to pay the color bill again…?” he asked.
“No…” said the Recruiting Officer, his eyes widening as a new arrival entered the mess hall. “It’s … the Mysterious Woman…”
The Informant turned, his eyes widening as the Mysterious Woman approached; a saxophone began to play out of nowhere. The Techie, the Inspector, and the Recruiting Officer, who had all been sitting at one of the tables, all rose in unison, unable to say a word.
“Happy Holidays,” she purred, as she approached them. “But please… don’t get up on my account.”
“Too late,” said the Inspector.
“You… seem to be reduced in number,” the Mysterious Woman observed.
“Yes…” said the Chief. She folded her arms, unimpressed. “And I don’t suppose that you know anything about it?”
“Perhaps I do…” the Woman said. “But… I can’t just tell you…”
“What do you want?” asked the Techie, frowning in suspicion.
“The papers,” she purred to the Recruiting Officer. “You know which ones…”
“What!?” the Inspector asked, wondering what confidential details she wanted. “Are you seriously suggesting--?”
“You’ve got it,” the Recruiting Officer promised. “Papers it is. What’ve you got for us?”
“I’ll tell you,” said the Mysterious Woman, turning to the Informant. “Patty Larceny was last seen in a state that borders only one of the Great Lakes. Find her, and you’ll probably find your friend.”
“Uh-huh,” said the Informant, still bitter. “But that doesn’t help much…”
“Alright, then, look at this,” said the Mysterious Woman, handing him a brown-and-white feather. “That feather belongs to the state bird. Once you figure out the state, go to the Great Lake in question and head south. But be alert; if you reach the city where three rivers meet, you’ll have gone too far south.”
“Somewhere between there, huh?” asked the Informant, still glancing at the feather.
“That’s right,” she said. “You’re looking for a quaint, little hamlet with a cemetery in the middle of its park.”
“That sure sounds like it came out of Hamlet,” said the Techie, aside.
“I think you’ll find the tavern a good place to begin your search when you arrive,” the Mysterious Woman went on. “But be careful… they’re in the middle of one of the worst blizzards they’ve had in years. Perhaps it was a mistake to even tell you where to go…”
“Well, I don’t even know if I’ll be going,” said the Informant. “I’m willing to bet that he’s going to mosey on in here soon enough, with that annoying smirk on his face yet again.”
“Well, that’s your decision,” she said, and she held out her gloved hand. “My papers, please?”
“Oh, sure; here you go,” said the Recruiting Officer, taking out some decoration streamers. “These are left over from the decorations of the ACME holiday party; we’ll be holding that in a couple days. We’ve got red, green, white, silver, gold…”
“I’ll take the red and green,” she said. After taking them, she said her goodbyes and went on her way.
The Inspector took the feather from the Informant, going over it as the others merely exchanged bewildered looks.
“It looks like a feather from a ruffed grouse,” he said. “A state that borders one Great Lake that has the ruffed grouse as its state bird…”
The five of them exchanged glances.
“Pennsylvania,” they all said, in unison.
“Someone needs to head to Lake Erie and head south from there,” said the Chief. She turned to the Informant. “And I’m putting you on this assignment.”
“But…” the Informant looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Chief. He and I aren’t… we’re not on the best of terms…”
“I’m sending you on this assignment,” she repeated, firmly.
“…Yes, Chief.”
“And I need you three to track his location,” she went on, turning to the Techie, the Inspector, and the Recruiting Officer. “If the weather is as bad as the Mysterious Woman says it is, backup might be needed. It’ll be your job to see that they get it when and if they need it.”
“Right, Chief,” they all said in unison.
“And I guess I’ll be on my way,” said the Informant. “But if he shows up here while I’m searching, so help me…”
He was half expecting it… And then, of course, they’d be right back where they started-bitterly arguing over Patty. The Messenger would tell the Chief about it as he had originally intended to, and then the Informant would be out in the cold… quite literally.
Unless… something actually had happened to the Messenger while he had been chasing Patty… She hated him as much as the Messenger loathed her. Would she have done something to him? Or had something else happened to him? What was the Informant supposed to do?
In any other circumstance, the Informant would have had to have been tied down to prevent him from coming to the Messenger’s aid. And even then, he would have found a way to his side. But this was different; by all accounts, they were no longer friends.
“I’m just going to bail out a fellow agent,” he murmured as he left, heading for the Keystone State. He knew what the Chief had been hoping for; she had thought that sending him to help would help to bring an end to the hostility that she had sensed earlier when speaking to the Messenger.
“Well, it’s all his fault, anyway,” he said, to no one in particular. If the Messenger had just bothered to understand that Patty meant no harm… that she did care for him, and that he wasn’t betraying anyone… none of this would have happened. “He says I’m running out on everyone when he was the one who tossed me aside… He didn’t even give me a chance to explain. Well, he’s not getting one, either; not from me, and any rate…”
But the Mysterious Woman’s warnings of a bad snowstorm lingered in his thoughts. Surely that meant nothing… It had probably just ruined communications… And create more annoyances.
The Informant sighed, pulling his trenchcoat tighter around him, trying to keep out the bitter cold. But the weather wasn’t the only thing cold…
Was it really only a twelve hours ago that the two of them had taken the place of Egyptian statues? How terribly appropriate… the New Kingdom Pharaohs were ancient history… just like their friendship.
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Claim: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (The Dying Informant)
Table: Do-it-Yourself
Prompt: Missing
Rating: PG13
Summary: When the Messenger does not return, the Informant tries not to worry... until the Mysterious Woman arrives with a clue.
Warnings: seriousness in a light-hearted fandom
Will be cross-posted to my journal, 30_hugs, and the V.I.L.E. Headquarters fanfic forum.
Author’s Notes: Thanks again to Lucky Ladybug for more plot help with this chapter, especially with the Techie’s conversation with the Informant!
*************************
Hours passed, and the Messenger had not yet returned, but the Informant could have cared less; he was the last person he wanted to see. And the Informant was still in a less-than-pleasant mood when the Techie and the Inspector came into the ACME lounge to talk to him.
“Hey…” said the Techie. “You know he didn’t really mean those things like that. And I know you didn’t mean anything, either. He’s worried about you-just like we all are.”
“I’ll bet,” the Informant replied. “I bet you think that I’m turning my back on you guys and betraying ACME, too.”
“No, I don’t think that,” the Techie assured him.
“But we’re not going to deny that we don’t like what Patty is doing to you,” added the Inspector.
“But Patty isn’t doing anything!” the Informant insisted. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him, and right away, he thinks I’m a traitor.”
“He does not,” the Techie assured him. “Look, Patty may look sweet, but I can’t help but get the feeling that she’s taking advantage of your position at ACME. Tell me something… can you be sure that Patty really loves you?”
“Of course I can.”
“No… I mean really,” the Techie said, calmly. “Look, I’m not the best person to talk to when it comes to love, but I do know that if she really cared about you, she would’ve jumped in the water to save you-not wait for one of us to show up and do it for her. And I think that all of your praises for Patty have really hurt him; he’s your best friend--”
“Not anymore,” said the Informant, coldly. “You heard him-I’m a gone case. He wants to turn me in and get me kicked out of ACME. Well, fine-I don’t have to deal with him anymore.”
“You don’t mean that,” said the Inspector, knowingly.
“Oh, I think I do,” assured the Informant.
“Listen to yourself,” said the Techie, with a shake of his head. “Whether it’s intended or not, Patty is turning you against us. Look, I don’t want to see her hurt you again.”
“She won’t,” the Informant assured him.
“But how can you be sure?” he replied. “And regardless of that, I want to see my friends without any ill feelings towards each other--”
He was cut off as his communicator displayed an incoming message from the Messenger.
“Delivered the letter quite a while ago; was heading back when I saw Patty Larceny skulking around, and I’ve been after her all this time; I’m bringing her in on trespassing charges if I can catch up to her. The weather’s getting bad; I’ll be back as soon as I can, after I apprehend her. And then we can deal with the other matters at hand.”
The Informant scowled deeply upon reading it over the Techie’s shoulder.
“I don’t believe this!” he fumed. “He’s arresting her just to spite me!” He reread the note, furious. “…’Deal with the other matters at hand’…? Yeah, right-like what to do with ‘the traitor’!”
“That’s not it,” said the Techie, with a shake of his head. “Don’t you understand? He’s worried about you.”
“Yeah, right. Nothing worries him-you know that,” said the Informant.
“Where is he, anyway?” asked the Inspector.
“Who cares!?” the Informant quipped.
The Techie checked his tracking system on his communicator.
“Uh-oh…” he said. “Wherever he is, the weather really is terrible; it’s cutting off his location signal.”
“Oh, too bad,” said the Informant, sardonically. “Guess we’ll have to wait for him to find his way back in from the cold so that he can get me kicked out into the same cold. Well, if that’s the case, I’m going to spend one last night in my room. And when he gets here, tell him that I can’t wait to go and be with Patty. At least she appreciates me!”
He angrily retreated, Borealis at his heels. He had too much hurt and anger to feel sorry for the Messenger, who had to be out in the freezing cold of wherever he was.
“Serves him right…” the Informant muttered.
**********************************
Morning came, as it always did. The Informant had been amazed that he hadn’t been forcefully removed from his room upon the Messenger telling the Chief about him and Patty.
“Well…” he commented to the worried-looking Techie, Inspector, and Recruiting Officer as he met them in the mess hall for breakfast. “I see that someone has decided to not spill the beans just yet. What sort of blackmail is he planning for me?”
The Informant leaped a mile in the air as he heard the Chief clear her throat behind him.
“Chief!?” he asked. “Ah… what’s up?”
“You may as well know,” she said. “Your friend never came back last night.”
The Informant was too stunned to let her know that they were anything but friends at the moment, but this shock soon wore off.
“I bet he’s still chasing after Patty,” he declared. “What did he say in his latest message?”
“He never sent another one,” the Inspector explained, visibly worried.
“Oh…” said the Informant. “Well, he’ll probably show up soon, or send one… Maybe he just found a place to stay the night.”
“He would’ve told us,” said the Techie.
“Unless this is some crazy plan of his to get us… or me… to worry for nothing,” the Informant went on.
“What’s with you!?” asked the Recruiting Officer. “He’s gone missing, and this is how you’re acting!?”
“Well, we don’t know that he is missing,” the Informant pointed out. “Maybe he just got caught up in the Chase, and…”
He trailed off as the entire mess hall was suddenly drained of all of its hue. The Informant looked around, deeply confused.
“…Did we forget to pay the color bill again…?” he asked.
“No…” said the Recruiting Officer, his eyes widening as a new arrival entered the mess hall. “It’s … the Mysterious Woman…”
The Informant turned, his eyes widening as the Mysterious Woman approached; a saxophone began to play out of nowhere. The Techie, the Inspector, and the Recruiting Officer, who had all been sitting at one of the tables, all rose in unison, unable to say a word.
“Happy Holidays,” she purred, as she approached them. “But please… don’t get up on my account.”
“Too late,” said the Inspector.
“You… seem to be reduced in number,” the Mysterious Woman observed.
“Yes…” said the Chief. She folded her arms, unimpressed. “And I don’t suppose that you know anything about it?”
“Perhaps I do…” the Woman said. “But… I can’t just tell you…”
“What do you want?” asked the Techie, frowning in suspicion.
“The papers,” she purred to the Recruiting Officer. “You know which ones…”
“What!?” the Inspector asked, wondering what confidential details she wanted. “Are you seriously suggesting--?”
“You’ve got it,” the Recruiting Officer promised. “Papers it is. What’ve you got for us?”
“I’ll tell you,” said the Mysterious Woman, turning to the Informant. “Patty Larceny was last seen in a state that borders only one of the Great Lakes. Find her, and you’ll probably find your friend.”
“Uh-huh,” said the Informant, still bitter. “But that doesn’t help much…”
“Alright, then, look at this,” said the Mysterious Woman, handing him a brown-and-white feather. “That feather belongs to the state bird. Once you figure out the state, go to the Great Lake in question and head south. But be alert; if you reach the city where three rivers meet, you’ll have gone too far south.”
“Somewhere between there, huh?” asked the Informant, still glancing at the feather.
“That’s right,” she said. “You’re looking for a quaint, little hamlet with a cemetery in the middle of its park.”
“That sure sounds like it came out of Hamlet,” said the Techie, aside.
“I think you’ll find the tavern a good place to begin your search when you arrive,” the Mysterious Woman went on. “But be careful… they’re in the middle of one of the worst blizzards they’ve had in years. Perhaps it was a mistake to even tell you where to go…”
“Well, I don’t even know if I’ll be going,” said the Informant. “I’m willing to bet that he’s going to mosey on in here soon enough, with that annoying smirk on his face yet again.”
“Well, that’s your decision,” she said, and she held out her gloved hand. “My papers, please?”
“Oh, sure; here you go,” said the Recruiting Officer, taking out some decoration streamers. “These are left over from the decorations of the ACME holiday party; we’ll be holding that in a couple days. We’ve got red, green, white, silver, gold…”
“I’ll take the red and green,” she said. After taking them, she said her goodbyes and went on her way.
The Inspector took the feather from the Informant, going over it as the others merely exchanged bewildered looks.
“It looks like a feather from a ruffed grouse,” he said. “A state that borders one Great Lake that has the ruffed grouse as its state bird…”
The five of them exchanged glances.
“Pennsylvania,” they all said, in unison.
“Someone needs to head to Lake Erie and head south from there,” said the Chief. She turned to the Informant. “And I’m putting you on this assignment.”
“But…” the Informant looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Chief. He and I aren’t… we’re not on the best of terms…”
“I’m sending you on this assignment,” she repeated, firmly.
“…Yes, Chief.”
“And I need you three to track his location,” she went on, turning to the Techie, the Inspector, and the Recruiting Officer. “If the weather is as bad as the Mysterious Woman says it is, backup might be needed. It’ll be your job to see that they get it when and if they need it.”
“Right, Chief,” they all said in unison.
“And I guess I’ll be on my way,” said the Informant. “But if he shows up here while I’m searching, so help me…”
He was half expecting it… And then, of course, they’d be right back where they started-bitterly arguing over Patty. The Messenger would tell the Chief about it as he had originally intended to, and then the Informant would be out in the cold… quite literally.
Unless… something actually had happened to the Messenger while he had been chasing Patty… She hated him as much as the Messenger loathed her. Would she have done something to him? Or had something else happened to him? What was the Informant supposed to do?
In any other circumstance, the Informant would have had to have been tied down to prevent him from coming to the Messenger’s aid. And even then, he would have found a way to his side. But this was different; by all accounts, they were no longer friends.
“I’m just going to bail out a fellow agent,” he murmured as he left, heading for the Keystone State. He knew what the Chief had been hoping for; she had thought that sending him to help would help to bring an end to the hostility that she had sensed earlier when speaking to the Messenger.
“Well, it’s all his fault, anyway,” he said, to no one in particular. If the Messenger had just bothered to understand that Patty meant no harm… that she did care for him, and that he wasn’t betraying anyone… none of this would have happened. “He says I’m running out on everyone when he was the one who tossed me aside… He didn’t even give me a chance to explain. Well, he’s not getting one, either; not from me, and any rate…”
But the Mysterious Woman’s warnings of a bad snowstorm lingered in his thoughts. Surely that meant nothing… It had probably just ruined communications… And create more annoyances.
The Informant sighed, pulling his trenchcoat tighter around him, trying to keep out the bitter cold. But the weather wasn’t the only thing cold…
Was it really only a twelve hours ago that the two of them had taken the place of Egyptian statues? How terribly appropriate… the New Kingdom Pharaohs were ancient history… just like their friendship.