The Berlin Caper

“Carmen, wake up! Vile is up to something again. You can sleep on the train!” Player’s voice reached her ear.

“I already sent you your ticket!”

Carmen rolled out of her hotel bed and yawned.

“Already so soon after the last one?” She asked. “VILE’s getting desperate!”

She stretched.

“Where are we going?”

“To Berlin, capital of Germany!”

“And I’m going there by train?”

“Yeah! Those trains are really useful, but famous for being always late!” Player said.

“But at least they have beds on there. Nothing beats the good ol’ bed at home, but it’s much better than sleeping in a cramped seat.”

Carmen yawned again.

“Just don’t fall out of the bed again!” Player chuckled.

“I told you that in confidence!” Carmen protested.

"I'm still gonna tease you with it!" Player said, clicking away on his keyboard.

"Fine! Then I can tease you about how we almost stormed your house once because you fell asleep on the emergency button?"

The line went silent.

"Truce?" Player asked after a few seconds.

"Truce!" Carmen said, swung her rucksack on her back and almost went down.

"Wow! I need to learn how to pack less!"

"Or let Ivy carry most of the equipment?" Player said. "She specifically lifts weights for it, and you know she doesn't mind, she wants to help! You don't need to be so annoyingly self-sufficient anymore, you have a team now!"

"I know." Carmen sighed. "It's just a difficult habit to break. I'll repack some stuff on the train, we're late already."

She dashed put of the room, quickly checking if nothing was forgotten and leaving multiple hundreds of Euros for the cleaning stuff with a small note.

"Carmen, you do know that now you have to stop at an ATM machine again? You can't just give away all of our cash all the time, you can't always just use your cards here!" Player protested.

Carmen ignored him.

"Carmen, Ca-ha-har-men, my Caaaaaaarmen!" He sang, trying to annoy her into responding.

She simply started to humm along, harmonizing as she ran over the rooftops.

"On which track is the train stopping?"

"Gleis fünf."

Player heard a soft 'thump'.

"This one?"

Player double checked the GPS-Signal.

"Did you just jump on a moving train again?" Player groaned. "We talked about this! No jumping on trains! Too dangerous!"

"I was late!" Carmen protested.

"And now you have a bigger problem!" Player scolded. "'I was late' my arse! You're just too lazy to run the last few meters! Get off the train and into it now!"

Carmen jumped off the train, pulled up her hood and disappeared in the crowd.

"Did anybody see you?" Player hacked away at his keyboard some more.

"Uh-oh" he mumbled.

"The guard lost me immediately, don't worry. And what about the 'Uh-oh'?"

"What about the guard?" Player mimicked Carmen.

"Keep your secrets then…"Carmen jumped on the train.

"Where is Ivy?" She asked, while she scanned the wagon for any Agents, Acme or Vile.

"Fourth wagon, sixth compartment."

Player yawned.

"What are you yawning for?" Carmen asked bemused. "You're the one in daylight!"

"Ha-ha, very funny." Player yawned again.

"My sleep schedule is fuuuuuuucked, gonna go to sleep as soon as your safe as well." Carmen could hear him cracking his knuckles.

"And after I'm done dealing with the 'Uh-oh' problem…" Player mumbled more quietly.

"Player, microphone!" She scolded. "Also, go to sleep now, you're still growing!"

"Ha! As if! Would be nice though if I got any taller, I haven't grown an inch??? In years!"

Carmen checked the glass of the cabinet. The curtains were drawn.

Either Ivy had done the protocol or she was about to go into an ambush. Carmen put her hands on her knife and opened the door.

"Carmen!"

Ivy looked up in her goggles and continued to solder two delicate looking wires.

"You didn't lock the door!" Carmen immediately rectified that and set down her backpack by the second bed. The first one was covered with the innards of Red Drone.

Carmen slid out of the cramped compartment, locked it from the outside – If she could lock it, then others could open it, she needed to remember to close it more securely later – and checked the rest of the train for any Acme or Vile activity.

"Carmen, I already checked on the CCTV, you're fine, there is nobody! No known operative was seen even close to the train station!" Player opened the comm link again after Carmen looked through the whole train for a second time.

"I know, I know." Carmen massaged her temples. "Trains just don't feel safe anymore, after coach Brunt…"

"I get that, but you need to trust us as well! Please, go to sleep! Tomorrow is a big day!"

"You're not gonna tell me what I'm stealing?" Carmen yawned again.

"Nope!" Player popped the p. "Maybe you'll dream of it!"

Carmen had arrived back at her and Ivy's compartment. She knocked to let Ivy know she was coming in, opened the door, locked it and put a second, ‘TeamRed’-lock on there as well. That one would actually do something.

"Oh, you're back!"

Ivy was still working on Red Drone.

"Where'd you go? Check for enemies again?"

"You know I like to be safe!" Carmen chuckled, but still Ivy looked at her worried.

"I know, Team Spirit and all that, Player already gave me the scolding."

"Hey, Player, wanna say hi?"

Carmen opened her laptop and opened the video link to Player. Who was staring at them like a deer in headlights wearing a long black wig, a sundress and some light make up.

"Huh?" Ivy just asked, before having to concentrate back on her work.

"Player, do you want to tell us something? Is a pronoun change necessary?"

Player laughed nervously.

"Eh, no, don't think so. You know the 'Uh-oh' problem? Yeah, that's that."

"Player, what are you doing?"

Carmen feared for the worst.

"I'm taking down pedophiles on the dark net?" Player said, his voice getting smaller with each word.

"Player!" Carmen scolded. "You're not even eighteen yet!"

"But if I find them, I can put a web-lock on them! That pretty much stops them, online at least so they can't harm more people!"

"But what about you?" Carmen said softly. "What about your safety?"

Player scoffed. "I know how to keep myself safe online." He didn't meet Carmen's eyes.

"You evidently don't do it though."

"Carmen, I help you." Player pointed out.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I'm doing this for me, now leave it!"

The silence was deafening. Player fidgeted with one of the rings he was wearing.

"Calling in cyber-security things on my own at eleven years old is not the smartest thing to do, you know? Like, we became friends, but not all people are as nice as you."

"Player, I'm so sorry…"

"Leave it. I'm fine now. And I'm doing this, no matter what you say."

Finally, Player looked at Carmen.

"Do you at least have support?"

Player nodded.

"Please don't shut us out of this. We can help, right Ivy?"

Ivy just nodded.

"We care for you…"

"I know…"

"And we want what's best for you and if you need to do this…"

"I know…"

"Then we support you. But we can only support you if we know what's going on!"

"I know. Look, I have to go now, sleep well!"

"I love you!"

Player grinned and cut the connection.

Carmen flopped down on the bed.

"You okay?" Ivy asked.

"Sometimes I really hate humans."

Ivy hummed.

"Me too. Now go to sleep, you need it for tomorrow!"

"So you know something about that?" Carmen huffed. "Typical. Why is everything so secretive anyway?"

"You taught us well!" Ivy smirked.

"I know!"

Carmen rolled over and climbed under the duvet with great difficulty.

"You okay there?" Ivy asked.

Carmen just grunted.

"Is it okay if I work some more? I can't really sleep on my bed like this."

Carmen rolled over again.

"'course, but are you sure you can sleep in that bed?"

Ivy looked at the absolute mess on the bed, multiple things on differing drying time and all of it very fiddly to get back together.

"...No." Ivy fiddles with a spare part.

"It's fine, I'll just work through the night and sleep later." She dismissed.

"Ivy! No you don't!"

"First off, I need you as ground support! Zack is still caring for Shadowsan so we are on our own! Second, you're already tired and then you make mistakes, so no more working for you, third, if you don't sleep you get suuuper grumpy and I'm not dealing with you like that!"

"But…!" Ivy protested.

"No but! Hop in here, we can share the bed."

Ivy looked at her.

"Are you sure?"

Carmen rolled her eyes.

"Yes! You need to sleep outside though, if I try to do that, I will fall out and Player hasn't stopped teasing me from the first time that happened."

"Well, then…"

Ivy took the duvet and pulled it over Carmen properly, leaving some space for Tor herself.

"We need to spoon, the bed is not that wide."

Carmen rolled face to the wall and Ivy laid down behind her. She fumbled a bit with the duvet and struggled to place her hands, until Carmen took them and placed them on her midriff.

Ivy felt her cheeks get hot as Carmen snuggled into her. She could feel the warmth radiating off of her.

Carmen let out a huge sigh and her breathing evened out.

Ivy stayed awake for a while longer, basking in the oh-so- precious cuddle time. She didn't realize how much she had missed cuddling with her friends, and even that was longer ago the she cared to remember. Not many friends stuck around when she got kicked out of the house for the third time. At least she got Zack out that time as well.

Carmen's slow, regular breathing pattern lulled Ivy into a comfortable half-dream state, imagining what could happen after they finally took down Vile. Carmen didn't like to admit it, but the constant need for vigilance was taking a toll on her mental health. Ivy tried to help as best as she could, following protocol and everything, but she had never felt as useless as when Carmen kept on patrolling countless times wherever they went, not sleeping or eating, just looking for any danger, escape routes, anything useful at all.

Even today, Ivy was just the tech support. She liked being alone with Carmen, it felt closer in a way, but the comfort of a team and her brother far outweighed the benefits of having Carmen to herself. She was already getting paranoid after the last caper in Vienna, and Carmen's justified worries did not help.

Poor Carmen. She had started to dream, and a quiet whimper escaped her lips.

Ivy hugged her closer, burying her face in Carmen's hair, and slowly drifted off to sleep as well.

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