Funny seeing you here- A Carulia Fanfiction

Night at the Museum

Carmen added a new line to her grappling hook and aimed for the roof. If she got this right, she would be able to restore a painting that had "belonged" to an art collector for years where it belonged. In a museum, with other works by the artist. Where it had been.. Until VILE had stolen it.

And sold it off the highest bidder, Carmen thought bitterly, using the hook to bring herself up to the roof.

"Security cams disabled, Red!" Player's voice, perky (even when it was supposed to be four in the morning in Ontario. That boy drank entirely too much coffee), as he fired off a complex line of code. "You're in the clear." A pause. "But... I think there's someone else in there. Could be a trap."

Carmen bit her lip. It could be a trap. But she was too far to go back now.
"Only one way to find out," She muttered, slipping in through an open window.

It was dark in the collector's art room. You never would have guessed half, if not more, of their art pieces were illegally obtained... by VILE, of course. She pulled out her flashlight and began to look around. Carmen's stomach clenched as she looked around at all the statues and paintings she wouldn't be taking. But this was a precise operation. She could only take one painting, because that was all she'd planned for.

And besides, Carmen thought, passing a gilded chair that must have been worth thousnads, I can't exactly fit a marble statue into the folds of my coat.

The beam of her flashlight cut through the darkness, landing on the painting she was here for.

Carmen smiled. Van Gogh's paining may have been underappreciated during his lifetimes,but Two Women In The Woods had a certain ethereal realness to it that couldn't be found in a modern painting, as if the paints themselves had been arranged by miniscule, skilled hands, until a color pattern had been found that felt right.

Careful not to damage the centuries old painting, Carmen slowly lifted the painting off its hook. She knew from Player's digital recon that there were no pressure sensors in the room, and anyway, a missing painting may attract attention from the authorities, who likely wouldn't miss the fact that the painting wasn't the only thing that didn't belong.

Suddenly, Carmen heard footsteps. She swung around, expecting a fight.

Carmen's eyes widened. Then she grinned.

"Sonia?" Carmen whispered.

Sure enough, it was her, holding a painting in her hands.

"What are you doing here?" Sonia whispered.

Carmen gestured to the painting in her hands. "Two Women in the Woods," Sonia read. Then she looked up at Carmen.

"Should have guessed this guy had more stolen stuff than what I supplied ," Sonia whispered, gesturing to her own painting.

"Guernica. Had no idea VILE was into abstract art." Carmen adjusted the heavy painting in her arms. "How've the past two months gone?"

Sonia shrugged. She was different, Carmen could tell. More determined, somehow. Carmen knew the look. It was the look of someone with a mission.

"I ran into someone who knew you," Sonia offered.

Carmen stiffened. "Good or bad knowing?"

"You tell me."

"Red," Carmen has nearly forgotten Player was still in her ear. "Someone's coming."

Carmen pulled out her grapppling hook and offered her hand to Sonia, painting wedges between her elbow. "Let's finish this outside."

Sonia took her glove, and Carmen launched herself onto the roof as the door began to open.

Carmen and Sonia sprinted over a few rooftops before they stopped, walking at a much slower pace.

Carmen turned on Sonia. "Okay, now tell me. Who'd you meet?"

"Some person named Julia. She was with the first painting I stole back. I think one of the other professors bought it."

Proffesors. It made sense that someone like Jules would have preferred a job like that to ACME.

"Oh no, I love my job. I just love history even more, I suppose."

Carmen felt herself smile. Julia would be, well, happy, it seemed like. Without her.

That's better, she thought. Without Julia, there'll be no more Stockholm repeats.

Still, Carmen felt something in her chest. Sadness?

Julia had been, stockholm aside, a valuable ally, she supposed. Maybe that was it. Chase was harder to trust, and Zari was unreadable. And, well, she couldn'tr exactly send an Email to Chief explaining her reasons. Carmen didn't exactly want to collaborate with a murderer anyway.

"Uh, where are we going?"

Sonia's voice cut through Carmen's thoughts. She blinked, hard.
"I'm rondeveuing with Zack and Ivy," Carmen explained. "Do you want to come with me, or...?"
Sonia shook her head. "I'm good," she said.

"Well, goodnight."

Sonia waved and walked over to the edge of the roof. But, then she seemed to remember something.

"Carmen?"

"Sonia."

"She misses you. That much is clear."

Sonia jumped down before Carmen could say more.