Carulia Oneshots

Unexpected in Cairo

This one shot is partially inspired by my not so lawfully wedded wife   ! It kind of relates to one of her fics.

Quick pretext: this one shot is set after the events of season 3 and not affiliated with season 4—obviously, hasn't come out yet. 

Anyway, Julia is an ancient history professor. She takes her class to a world famous ancient art gallery in Cairo, knowing it had ties to VILE somehow, but not expecting to see Carmen there.

~words: 1673

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The guide's voice was killing me. No emotion about the art whatsoever and of all the people around me, seemed the most disinterested. His voice put me to sleep.

"This golden burial mask belonged to the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamen, who is more commonly known as King Tut. King Tut's burial mask is an important historical artifact of today because it's one of the biggest symbolisms of ancient history as a whole."

I zoned the guide's voice out and glanced around me at my group of university students. It had been a few months since quitting A.C.M.E. and I was finally adjusting to the life of an ancient history professor.

I turned my eyes to the other nearby exhibits. Cairo had one of the largest and most famous ancient history art galleries in the world. Before I could immerse myself in the gallery, I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye and upon closer inspection, I realized it was her.

My heart fluttered.

She was pretending to be interested in an Egyptian vase, all while intermittently throwing glances over her shoulder.

But what in the world was she doing here?

To my knowledge, the scarlet superthief didn't rob the same place multiple times. She had been here a little over a year ago and I was interested to find out what her motive was. I looked around again. For the time being, my students were taking notes and being occupied by the guide, so I made my way over to Carmen, determined to get some answers.

"Carmen," I hissed.

She turned and smiled when she saw me. "Jules," she greeted.

I lost no time in getting to the point. "What are you doing here? I know it has ties to V.I.L.E. somehow, but why steal from the gallery a second time?"

"According to my Intel, V.I.L.E. is planning to 'export'—she made air quotes with her fingers—A valuable piece of history later today," her expression darkened. "I can't let that happen." Carmen glanced at my group. "Do you have a minute to talk? I need to ask you something."

I nodded with a small smile. "Let me direct my students for the day, and then I'm all yours." I turned back to my students before I saw her reaction. I gave them a choice to remain here and browse the gallery, or to have the rest of the day off. Most of the group chose to go elsewhere for the day. The few that remained stole glances behind me at Carmen, and I could only imagine what they were saying.

I shook my head and turned back to Carmen, who smiled and gestured for me to walk with her. We turned from the Egyptian exhibit and began browsing another corridor, filled with Minoan works of art.

"Are you sure you have enough time for this?" I asked after a brief silence.

"We should," she said gazing around her at the multitude of artifacts, "V.I.L.E. shouldn't be here until tonight."

I nodded. "What have you been up to these past few months? As I'm sure you saw, I've become an ancient history professor."

Carmen looked at me sideways.