A Thief and her Jules (Carmen X Julia)

Glorified Secretary

Trudging through thick brushes and mud, Jules whacked at another mosquito buzzing near her face. The jungle seemed to produce an infinite number of them, all swarming around her to get a taste of her blood.

She kept tramping through the damp forest, feeling somehow boiled alive by the heat, yet drenched by the humidity at the same time. Jules was not the biggest fan of field work even in the best of circumstances, and this definitely wasn't one of them.

Eventually, she paused to catch her breath, but she knew she couldn't rest for long. The mission was too important. Completing it would signal the true end of Villains International League of Evil.

Jules still found it hard to believe that VILE was exposed to the world just 6 months earlier. After so many cold trails and disappearing suspects, the criminal organization was finally brought down, and all their members were captured. Now, somewhere in this jungle, was one final loose end to tie up.

"You ok back there?"

Jules looked up to the source of the voice. A brown-skinned girl, her ruby red trench coat flowing behind her, overtop a black jumpsuit, and an iconic red fedora atop her head.

Carmen Sandiego.

The lady responsible for exposing the truth about VILE to the world. The truth that so many organizations and people ignored while they chased her down, back when people saw her as just another thief. But Jules knew that there was more to La Femme Rouge than that, all the way back in her Interpol days.

Yet even she couldn't predict Carmen's insane journey of training under, escaping, & fighting an organization made up of thieves. And it was Carmen that helped Jules & the crime-fighting organization ACME finally bring down that criminal empire once and for all.

Who knows what Jules' life would be like without Carmen? Jules certainly didn't want to imagine it.In fact, she wasn't sure she even could imagine life without Carmen's charming smile, witty banter, warm eyes...

Kissable lips—

"Yo, Jules!"

"Wha-What?!" Jules flinched at the sound, snapping out of her daydream as she only now notices Carmen standing right in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Carmen repeated her question, a look of concern on her face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Jules replied, quickly composing herself. "I just needed to catch my breath, is all. But I'm good to go now."

"Good. Let's go then," Carmen urges her, and the two of them begin walking again. "You didn't have to join me here, Jules. I've handled much more difficult missions by myself."

"Oh, I know that. But I'm tough enough to handle missions like this, too."

Carmen chuckles at this, before stopping herself. "Sorry. It's just, you've always seemed like the kind of person who would rather be reading about jungle flora than actually hiking through it."

Jules inwardly cringed at the comment. She knew it was meant as a harmless joke, but it still sparked a sense of discomfort inside her. She had always felt insecure about her bookworm nature. No matter how good she was at detective work, she never got as much attention as her ever confident partner, Chase.

Of course, things did change when Jules joined ACME, and Chief started giving her more credit. But even that wasn't enough to stop her from doubting herself sometimes. Even at his worst, Chase was a fearless go-getter with seemingly endless determination to go after what he wanted. And oftentimes, Jules felt like she just didn't have that.

Meanwhile, Carmen was also a fearless go-getter with seemingly endless determination to go after what she wanted. But unlike Chase, she could easily be calm, collected and thought when the time called for it. And that was just one of the many things Jules admired about her, along with her kind heart, her quick wit, her daredevil attitude...