LA FEMME ROUGE

Devineaux

Chase's POV

I was chasing this new thief through the streets.

Onlookers were gasping and pointing.

This... Carmen Sandiego wannabe.

~~A few minutes ago~~

I was walking down a side walk in Chicago.

Chief said we should find La Femme Rouge here.

La Femme Rouge?

That is the name I gave Carmen.

How dare this person come along and steal it.

Like she stole that gold statue.

Is she a thief for hire or a V.I.L.E. Agent?

Either way, she will be staying a long time in a jail cell.

Probably for a few life sentences for the value of artifacts she stole.

Unlike Carmen, La Femme Rouge shall not be able to avoid being caught.

Then I heard a sound, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked back.

And sure enough, there she was.

The new La Femme Rouge.

Wearing that damned helmet.

Also known as the Crimson Ghost, the Red Bandit, etc.

"Hello, Devineaux." She said, probably grinning under her mask. "Heard you were in town."

How did she know my name.

"How do you know my name, Thief?" I shouted.

"Instagram." She chuckled. "You haven't posted anything. In. Three. Years. God. DAMN!"

I pulled out the gas-gun ACME issued out for its Agents.

"Are coming quietly or in handcuffs?" I said.

"I never come quietly." She said.

I pointed the gun inches at her face and the gas blew into her face.

When the gas cleared, she was still standing.

Impossible.

The gas-guns always knock the target out.

"Had a bad experience with one of those things." She said. "So my helmet makes me immune. I came here to talk."

I attempted to tackle her to the ground.

She dodged.

"Fine." She said. "Guess I'll have to make you tired."

She tripped me and then proceeded to sprint down the street.

I chased her down the streets ignoring the onlookers.

I chased her for a few minutes.

I was almost out of breath.

I saw here run into an alley.

I ran into the alley, then it was like she disappeared.

"Ahem." I heard behind me.

I turned around.

I charged into the ground.

My gas-gun dropped and La Femme Rouge picked it up.

"Good night." She said.

She pointed it at me, then the gas came out of the gun.

Everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~

When I awoke, my right hand was chained to the fence in front of the alley way.

"Look who's awake." I heard her voice.

I turned to see her leaning on the wall to the right.

She walked over to me and got on one knee.

"What makes you immortal, Devineaux?" She asked. "Not that gas-gun, not that ACME pen, not that jacket. Nothing. You're risking your life to capture thieves for an agency you only new existed a couple of years ago. Tell ACME I'm not their enemy. Tell them to leave me alone."

"You are a thief!" I shouted. "You work for V.I.L.E. and you stole Carmen Sandiego's nickname."

"I don't work for V.I.L.E." She said. "I just stole the statue so they'd pay me a million dollars and then I gave it the the LAPD."

I gasped.

"You do not work for V.I.L.E.!?" I asked. "Then what did you do with the money?"

"Do you ever give to charity?" She asked. "That's where 99% of the money goes. The rest goes towards the supplies I need."

"Who are you?" I asked.

She sighed.

"I'm like a dog who dedicates their life to  chase down a specific car." She said. "But after I spend most of my life trying to catch it, I finally catch it. Then I realize, I've finished the one thing I dedicated my whole life to. Then I have to find new cars to chase. But for me, those cars represent all kinds of injustices. And the need to stop them? It's the fuel keeping me going in life."

She stood up.

She tossed me my ACME pen.

"Call some of your fellow Agents to come uncuff you." She said walking away. "I'll be gone before they arrive."

And with that, she disappeared.

Like a crimson ghost in the night.