A New Ally

Chapter One | A Lost Heart

Venice, Italy

Juila Argent walked along the streets of Italy, lost in her pursuit of a new life. The job at the museum had been quiet. No one gave her weird looks because she trusted a "superthief", no one rolled their eyes at her ideas, and there was especially no Chase Devineaux to tell her to stop doing what she loved. But it was just that, quiet, too quiet. Julia had joined Interpol, and then ACME for a reason. Yes she loved history, but she also loved the thrill of the chase, the solving of the crime. Now that she had left both places, all she was left with were old relics and untold stories, forever lost in time.

Julia stopped and admired the buildings around her, she wondered what Chase would have said.

"Miss Argent, you have to stop looking around at the scenery and stay on task! We must track down and catch la femme rouge!"

Yes, that's exactly what he would say. She groaned at her thoughts, just thinking about him gave her a headache. She didn't want this anymore, she wanted something to do, a greater purpose. She had told Chief that she left because 'her heart wasn't in the game' anymore. It wasn't a lie, it wasn't, but she didn't say why. No one believed her anymore, no one believed in her anymore. Agent Zari just thought of her as a liability and Chase just ignored her and insulted her interests. And Chief, Chief was her boss, she said the same about everyone.

Julia sighed as she neared the edge of the bridge she was standing on. She stated down into her reflection and only saw a failure, small droplets fell into the water below her. She was so lost in her reflection, in her sorrow, that she didn't notice the commotion around her. A boat zoomed by her, startling her and causing her to lose her balance. Before she knew what was going on, she fell off the bridge and landed in what seemed to be a red boat. Her eyes flickered and she let them close, giving into darkness.

Carmen Sandiego zoomed across Venice's waterways with her carte full of decoy masks. She smiled at the thought of saving the precious masks from VILE's nefarious clutches. She then thought back to what Agent Devineaux had told her when she asked about her favourite ACME agent, Jules.

"That is classified! But Miss Argent is no longer with us,"

She frowned, what had happened to her? She knew Devineaux had been fired for a while, but she could understand that, he was a bit of a mess, though he had gotten smarter lately. But Jules? Jules was incredibly intelligent and she paid attention to what was important. No, there's no way Chief would fire her. So what happened?

Before she could ponder that thought though, Neal the Eel had caught up to her and it was time to go through with the rest of her plan. Jules could wait a couple more minutes.

~

Everything turned out as planned, Neal took the bait, Devineaux was confused and didn't catch up to her, it was a good day to be her.

"W-what, where am I?" a hoarse voice mumbled.

Carmen stiffened, that voice was awfully familiar, she pulled into a small alleyway and stopped the boat. She turned and saw Julia Argent lying near her seat, hand on her forehead.

"Jules?" Carmen asked softly.

Julia's eyes widened when the red thief saw her, "C-Carmen Sandiego,".

Carmen smiled and extended a hand to her, Julia was reluctant at first but eventually took her hand.

"What brings you to my boat Jules?" Carmen asked, crossing her arms.

Julia's smile faltered for a quick second, "Oh, I fell off a bridge, onto here, it was an accident, I'm sorry,".

Carmen saw how red her eyes were, she's been crying. Without thinking, Carmen brought Julia in for a hug.