The Silver Wolf

Chapter 8

When Silver Wolf awoke for the first time, it was only for a few seconds. As soon as her eyes were open, there was a frantic rushing, and people talking to her in voices she couldn't quite make out. She quickly fell back into unconsciousness.

The next time she woke up, she stayed awake for a full minute, and could make out a few patchy words in the endless stream directed at her. After struggling to stay awake, she again fell unconscious.

When Julia Argent finally awoke, she stayed awake. And no-one would ever force her to sleep again.

~~<3~~

Bellum watched the screens with disinterest. She wanted her project to recover of course, but after all the work she had put in to making it the perfect soldier, she expected it to know better. Shrugging, she turned to another monitor with much more enthusiasm. The shaking figure of their newest prisoner made a malicious grin spread on her face. Maelstrom would have so much fun with this one.

~~<3~~

Julia woke up with a pounding headache that she couldn't explain. As she sat up and tried to reach for her glasses, she realised with a start that she could see! And with that new vision, she could see that she had no idea where she was. People in lab coats swarmed her, shoving things into her face, all talking over each other, creating a loud buzzing. Julia shoved her hands over her ears and hunched in on herself, trying to make sense of the noise and blinding white. A flash of colour caught her eye, so she tried to focus on it and orient herself. She spun her head towards the green and her heart dropped at the logo she saw.

Ignoring the rush of pain, she got up and shoved everyone else out of the way, pushing the door open and blindly running through the halls. After a few minutes she had to slow down, panting heavily. Julia had no idea where she was, and maybe it was a bad idea to run after an unknown injury, but there was no way she was staying in that room. She thought about hiding and trying to contact ACME, until a voice called out her name.

"Jules?"

The voice was so heartbroken, so full of worry that Julia stopped and turned without thinking about it. Sitting in a cell, eyes bloated and red, tear tracks just shy of fresh, was Carmen Sandiego.

~~<3~~

Carmen had called out to Jules without thinking, knowing that she wouldn't answer, and was surprised when she turned around, a look of terror on her face. Carmen took a second to take in the rest of her appearance, the many bandages, the lack of mask, and the bloodstains on the uniform. Jules rushed over to the cell door, and stared at Carmen with a look of disbelief.

"Miss Sandiego? What are you doing here? And... what happened?"

Carmen let out a small chuckle and a weak smile to try and distract her.

"Come on Jules, no need to be so formal, you can call me Carmen."

The unimpressed look she got was punctured only by Julia's eyes darting around for movement.

"You will explain everything to me, but first lets get you out of here. How do I open the door?"

Carmen's eyes darted around quickly before landing on a fingerprint scanner. She motioned to it and Julia gave her a look like she was crazy.

"How am I meant to open that? I highly doubt I would be in the system, let alone have high enough clearance to open your cell."

Carmen let out a small sigh and spoke under her breath.

"I wish you didn't."

At Julia's urgent look she spoke louder.

"Just trust me on this, you're in there but we don't have much time. I remember the way out, so follow me, quickly!"

Julia nodded and slammed her thumb on the scanner. After a few tense seconds it beeped, and the door swung open. She looked shocked, but Carmen grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallways. An alarm went off, red light filling the facility, making them run faster still. Neither said anything, but they both had the same thought.

'Are we going to make it out of here?'

~~<3~~

Four out of five Faculty members stared at a large monitor with displeasure. Coach Brunt was upset that Black Sheep was escaping again. Professor Maelstrom was upset that he never got a chance to dig into Carmen Sandiego's brain. Countess Cleo was upset that Silver Wolf's perfectly good custom-made suit was covered in bloodstains. Roundabout was upset at how much money VILE would lose once Carmen Sandiego was free and stealing from them again.

Only Dr Bellum was happy, and she was getting more data on her mind wiping technology.

"Cleaners, put the facility into lockdown and catch our runaway animals. All operatives, be on alert."

Professor Maelstrom's voice echoed throughout the facility, and he sat back in his chair to watch the monitors like the rest of the Faculty. Carmen Sandiego would not get away again.

~~<3~~

Carmen and Julia stopped short in front of the door. The cleaners stood at the door, bland expressions on their faces, mops and brooms in hand. They turned around to try another way and Tigress, El Topo and Le Chevre standing there, ready to fight. Standing back to back with Carmen, Julia's mind filled with knowledge of escape routes from... where did she know all that from?

Shaking her head her eyes darted towards the ceiling. All the vents in VILE were big enough for a person and led out of the facility. Even though the location of VILE headquarters was secret, Dr Bellum liked to be prepared. Nudging Carmen to get her attention, she glanced up at the ceiling for a fraction of a second, and tapped out some morse code onto Carmen's arm.

-- --- ...- . / .---- ---..

Carmen nodded, and after a split second, boosted Julia after she jumped for the vents. Julia grabbed Carmen and pulled her up, slamming the vent shut behind her. The crawled as fast as possible to the exit, pushing it open and jumping out, rolling straight back into a run. They sprinted down the dock and onto a nearby boat, which Carmen quickly hijacked and drove away, losing their tail, and finally, relaxing.

As Carmen set the autopilot, she collapsed into the chair nearest to her with a groan. Julia, who had stood silently next to her until that point, sat into the chair opposite. Carmen cracked her eyes open to take a look at Julia, who still wore a sombre expression.

"So I guess you want an explanation now, huh?"

This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Julia stood up again and towered over Carmen, growing more and more red.

"Of course I want an explanation! What was I doing there? What were you doing there? Why was I in the system and could let you out of your cell? How did I know so much about VILE and its operations. And why..."

Julia fell back onto her chair with a sob, placing her head in her hands. Carmen got up and kneeled beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Julia met her gaze with watery eyes.

"Why does every part of me want to go back?"

Oooh, cliffhanger time! Again...

I'll try not to leave it as long, but please, let me know what you thought!