Agent Gray, Red with Love

The Hot Rocks of Rio Caper pt. 3

  Deep below the grounds of the favela home, three ACME agents stood alone in a deserted alexandrite mine. How was it not blown up? There's a simple answers to that, dear reader: a miracle.

  Yet, that was where all good fortune ended.

  The machines once used to mine the gems were corroded with rust, and didn't even operate anymore. The forgotten conveyer belts, littered with broken stone fragments no longer operated. Trust the ACME agents, they tried. What they had gotten in return was a deafening shriek from the machine that made Zari temporarily go deaf in her left ear, thanks to the strong echo of the deserted chamber. (No one panic, she came out fine two minutes later.) 

  The ground was powdered with dust, but no foot prints save their own could be found. And even those were quickly covered up by hovering dust, floating lifelessly over the floor. There was some evidence of control panels having been wrenched off walls, indicated by some lone drill holes— but they had nothing to back that theory up with. That sort of thing was more Felix's cup of tea.

  Speaking of whom, there had been no word from Felix. 

  He had never come back from the airport, much less arrived at ACME. The group had started to get worried a long time ago, and now they were almost certain something very bad had happened. Devineaux even suggested getting faculty help.

  You see the problem with that plan however, was that Felix had never skipped work as far as the majority of ACME knew. Rodger knew they weren't sick and had lended the the planes to do their business, but he never approved their mission. He was therefore lied to, or at least deceived. If Felix was in danger, there was little he could do without having to bring in ACME legal action.

   And that paled in comparison to how Chief would react. She'd flip that they had not only lied to her face, but also to find that they went to meet Carmen without the intention of taking her down. If there was a line in how much they could get away with, that had to be it. 

  Historically, Chief didn't take being lied too very well. Just look at Carmen.

  Zari had floated the idea that Rio was Felix's home, so maybe they'd find a clue. Family or something. But Rio is the second largest city in Brazil, and filled with people. It was really just wishful thinking.

  And the cherry on top just to add insult to injury? All the evidence, the hard drive, everything Felix was supposed to bring had disappeared with him, making all of their troubles and loss in vain. They only had the coordinates to this mine because he had told them before he went off the grid.

  They were even lower than square one.

  Deveineaux picked a stone off the conveyer belt. "I see... purple."

  Zari walked over. "That would be alexandrite, Devineaux," she said. "Rarer than diamond."

  "I'm rich!" Deveinaux shouted gleefully.

  "Uh-Uh-Uh, mate. That's illegal alexandrite right there, no keepsies. And this is coming from a former V.I.L.E. thief," Graham chided.

  "Oh. Right, I knew that. Of course," Deveinaux grumbled, reluctantly putting the ore piece back. 

  "Okay, review of what we've found," Zari said, pulling up an iPad screen to read notes she had been taking. "Some ore pieces, broken equipment, some rock with drill holes, a few old crackle rods, a carnival mask—" That's when sin turns caught the Australian's eyes, hidden right in plain sight. Complete V.I.L.E. fashion.

  "And a deed," Graham interrupted suddenly, "Or at least, half of one." He had found on one of the machines a ripped and yellowed piece of paper, but visibly a deed to some sort of property. Written in English, it was likely not to any residence in Brazil.