Behind closed doors

Trust is thin, your intel is thinner

A caper in the US, specifically Texas. Carmen wouldn't be surprised is Brunt was the mastermind here.

Carmen stepped out of the alley she had changed in, pulling up her hood as she passed the mix of tourists and civilians that littered the streets.

She walked past stall after stall, the rendezvous point around the corner.

The thief eyed Shadowsan in the distance, they locked eyes and she looked away, doing her best to not make their exchange obvious.

"Hey, sweet darlin, care for a candy apple?" Carmen spins around at that voice, the voice she'd heard last week that'd followed her to Mexico.

She flinched immediately.

The voice matches the same cynical face she could identify anywhere.

In a fighting stance, she slowly backs away, "Brunt. I'm guessing you don't stay away from campus this long, special occasion?"

The Texas woman gave a large smile with a raised brow, "Sugar, I'm not sure what you're talking about, but maybe you're hungry." She thrust the candy apples towards her enthusiastically and Carmen felt herself in a trap.

The burly woman, oddly joyful, only rattled the tray with a smile, "Don't let 'em go bitter!"

Her face softened with consideration as she looked her over. No taunting, no Lambkins, no... Brunt?

Her stance lowered and she looked over the woman, waiting for the moment when someone would fall from the sky to kidnap her. But it never came.

"You... don't remember me?"

"There's a lot of pretty faces here in Texas, don't be sad!" She said, a comforting tone that felt incredibly out of place.

"I'm sure I can learn again."

Carmen studied her eyes, she wasn't a stranger to Bellum's brain wiping... and her face had been previously all over the news since Mexico.

Would this have been her punishment?

People continued to walk by them. Carmen followed them with her eyes, looking for any sign of chlorophyll in the apples they tried.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched, feeling like ants were now crawling in her skin. "You doing alright, las? Perhaps you would like to come in and rest your head." She gestured to a nearby flat.

Carmen schooled the frenzy of panic in her as she searched her arm for a tracker.

"The kids should be home by now," she glanced at her watch, "Actually, it's about suppertime! ...and you're looking awfully thin."

Carmen shrunk under her pestering gaze, feeling her breaths coming in short. She felt another hand on her shoulder and jumped, she knew it was a trap, this was all a mistake why would she t-

It was Shadowsan. He looked at her with immediate concern, then his eyes widened as he saw Coach.

Carmen was immediately shoved behind him protectively, his eyes narrowed lethally.

She jumped, turning it in to a wobbly smile, "Stranger danger, I see. Sir, should I call the police? Your daughter there looks awfully thin."

"Shadowsan," Carmen tried, watching as he was also enveloped with confusion. The thief felt her throat close the more Brunt referred to her.

He finally turned to her, "Shadowsan, she didn't recognise me."

The man furrowed his brows in disbelief, turning back to look at the faculty member, the woman having given up and turned to other tourists.