The Berlin Caper

Amira couldn't believe her eyes as she took in what Julia was buying with a wad of cash freshly taken from an ETM machine.
Black hat, black muff, pepper spray, a multitool, a knife almost as long as a dagger, cheap black clothing, a lockpicking kit...
When Julia picked up a burner phone and SIM card, she spoke up.
"Are we planning a break in?"
"Not we." Julia simply said, putting 112 on the short cut.
"Do I need to be worried?"
"Probably." Julia said absentmindedly. Then she froze.
"Ignore that. I'll be fine. I know how to defend myself."
"That doesn't make me less worried, to be honest."
Julia shrugged as she bought a roomy fanny pack and efficiently packed all the Semi-legst things inside.

Back at their hostel, Julia changed as she loaded all of her pictures on her computer, loading her phone to 100% and eating a quick meal.
The sun was coming down quickly.
Player still hadn't contacted her.
Her other roommates teased her about going on a hot date with the mysterious red-headed woman, and she played along, grinning and looking up good escape plans.
It was time.

"Are you sure I can't come?" Amira asked.
"I'd really rather not involve civilians more than I need to." Julia said.
"Can you at least tell me what all of this is about? I promise I won't tell."
"Maybe. We'll see how this goes."
Then Julia unexpectedly hugged Amira.
"Thank you for being my friend. I know I haven't been the most approachable person, but you've really helped me live a normal life."
This felt like a goodbye.
Amira swallowed down tears.
"You know I'm gonna be looking at find my friends the whole time?"
Julia nodded.
"If I'm not back by breakfast, tell the teacher I had a family emergency and I've taken a plane to China."
Amira nodded.
Julia breathed in a big breath and made her way back to the Pergamon Museum.

vVv

Carmen stood on the rooftops above Berlin.
The view was breathtaking. She couldn't get enough of watching all the different cities from her vantage points. If for nothing else, she was glad that VILE allowed her to experience this feeling of freedom.
She pressed her in-ear piece on.
"Player, are you ready for the BERLIN CAPER!" Carmen imitated an announcer.
"Yes, gimme just a minute, I still haven't beat Julia's encryptions of her phone. She could have a second career in cyber security!"
Carmen ran over the rooftops and used her hook to connect to the top of the Pergamon Museum.
"I'm ready when you are, Player! Ivy, is red drone in position?"
Red Drone whirred up next to her and docked on the dome window, disabling the locking mechanism.
"Ivy and Red Drone report ready for business!" Ivy's voice crackled through the earpiece. She sat somewhere in the park on a bench, following Carmen through Red Drones camera feed.
"Aaaaand I finally sent the message to Julia. If she doesn't answer, we'll keep going as planned, get the Nofretete and deliver it to Devinaux, who is... on a train to Berlin? Odd, but maybe ACME got a tip."
Carmen secured the rope down and tugged at it, testing the weight. She abseiled into the room of the Greek statues, and saluted to Hermes. The god of thievery always had a special place in her heart.

Carmen made her way to Nofretete easily. Too easily. No one was there. Just as she prepared to exchange the marble head with a replica of the same weight, Player appeared back in her ear.
"Carmen, we have a problem."
"What." she hissed. "I'm almost done!"
"We were wrong, it's the Markttor von Milet! And Julia is here now! She is in the building!"

vVv

The staff entrance was easy enough to find.
Julia listened to the electricity and determined that the security was already down. Oh well. It wouldn't have been too bad for the police to be informed, but she couldn't get distracted by that now. She checked her phone for the last time before putting it on 'do not disturb' and silent, and sharing her continuous location with Devinaux. A new message appeared.
'Hi, this is Player. I hope you're doing well. Have you found anything relevant? If not, just ignore me and get back to your life. By the way, you have another career in cyber security waiting for you! XO Player'
Julia snorted and typed back 'Markttor von Milet' before also sending her location. It wouldn't hurt.
Then she put her phone away and got on with cracking the staff entrance.

vVv

"What is she doing?" Carmen asked incredulously. "She hated seeing me, why would she come here?"
"I don't know, Carmen." Player clicked on his keyboard, quickly trying to find information about the new target.
"This is my fault, I didn't write her quickly enough."
"No, Player, I shouldn't have asked her to help in the first place. She isn't in secret service anymore."
"Guys, you can discuss who's the bigger fuckup after the caper, now we need to focus." Ivy butted in. "Player, from what you just sent me this is a bigger operation than we thought. Get the police involved. Carmen, try to catch Julia before she is seen by VILE and get her out. Human life is more important than stuff."
"Copy that, Ivy" Player hacked away at his keyboard again.
"I'm getting Jules then." Carmen said, and ran.

vVv

Finding her way back to the hall of gods was easy. Finding the way to the new target not so much. She only memorized the layout of the part of the museum that she thought relevant. Oh how wrong she had been.
"Player, guide me!" she ordered.
"Yes, I'm just looking where Julia's phone is now." A few more clicks.
"Okay, go through that double door, left, right, down the stairs, go faster, right, left, hide!"
Carmen pressed her back against the wall.

Julia was crouching in the doorway, barely visible in the darkness, taking video evidence.
Paid goons were taking apart the different sections and carrying them out.
This was a lot bigger than they had thought. And now Jules was involved.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw movement. She panted as she blocked Tigress' swipe. Despite her disadvantage, Carmen managed to throw Tigress on the floor and pin her there. Holding her mouth closed so she couldn't alert anyone.
Caught in the stalemate, Carmen couldn't move forward. She had to get Julia, but couldn't let Tigress go either.
"Close your eyes." A voice whispered in her ears and sprayed something in Tigress' eyes. She immediately tried to scream and managed to bite Carmen in the hand so hard it drew blood. Fucking sharpened teeth.

Carmen felt herself pulled to her feet as Tigress writhed on the floor coughing and clawing at her eyes.
Guiding Julia back to the room of the gods was easy. Red Drone hovered next to them, showing both Player and Ivy the mission was at least somewhat successful. At least they were together now.

They slid into the room of the gods. The rope was cut.
"Fuck!" Carmen cursed. "Other way out, Player, quick!"
"What? Why?"
"Someone cut the rope!"
"Someone's coming." Julia informed Carmen, too calm for someone who was so distraught by just seeing her.
"I got this." Ivy almost screamed. "Blend I'm with the statues, I can shield you!"
Carmen trusted Icy, but did she trust Ivy with Julia's life? There was no other option.
As the footsteps approached, Carmen pulled Julia up a podium with a statue. Kneeling down and pulling off her hat as to give Ivy the best chance to hide her, she froze.
Red Drone flew up and hid by a lighting fixture. She turned and projected darkness over the two human figures still breathing hard.
Carmen squeezed Julia's hand.
"Zey must have found a different exit." a voice with a French accent cut through the silence. "Find them!"
Footsteps disappeared.

Le Chevre sighed.
"It won't be long now." A different voice appeared.
"I hope you are right, mon copin. I don't trust la femme rouge to..."
"The walls have ears." Il Topo interrupted. "Let us go."
Footsteps disappeared.
Carmen let out a deep sigh.
"Carmen?" Player asked. "I might have found a way out. But it's dangerous."
"More dangerous than being caught?" Carmen whispered.
"Good point." Player double checked directions as Carmen pulled Julia up.
"Go back down the stairs, as low as possible. There is a service door for security and everything. In the back is a different door to the sewers. Wade through them for 500m and find another door. It will be old, maybe rusted. There will be a tunnel."

They managed to find everything without running into any more problems.
"Carmen? I'm losing you" Player said, the connection already struggling before they pulled the last door closed.
"Follow the tunnel, beware if the holes, you'll come out on the other side of the river. Hopefully." The connection broke.
"Player? Hello? Player?"
Carmen turned to Julia.
"Seems like we're on our own now."

vVv

Julia had a shit evening so far. She spent way too much money, broke into a museum, witnessed and recorded a crime, assaulted a criminal, hid from more criminals, waded through shit, and was now stuck in a dangerous tunnel with a person she had very complicated feelings on, to say the least.
"Why are you here, Jules?" Carmen asked, accusing her of what? Trying to help? She literally asked her!
"Actually getting things done. Let's go, we're not safe." Julia started making her way down the tunnel, shining her phone flashlight down the path. That was what she had forgotten. An extra flashlight. Oh well, too late now.

"I asked you to help out with information, not to put your life in danger!" Carmen stumbled after her.
"That would be the first time."
"What do you mean?"
"I trusted you, and even though you endangered my life, my job, everything, I still believed in you. I believed you were doing the right thing, protecting artefacts. I now know that museums aren't the best at protecting the artefacts either, but they're better than VILE at least."
"I trusted you too!" Carmen protested. "You betrayed me!"
"I didn't betray you! Chief and Sari betrayed me too!" Julia whipped around and stared Carmen in the eyes.
"Do you know how it is to know that my bad judgment of other people almost led to you dying? I still have nightmares about you being too stubborn to ask Chief for help, or not stealing my pen, or..." Julia breathed heavily. "And then I finally convince them to take a chance on you and you hack them!" Julia turned back around and stomped down the tunnel.

"I know ACME is flawed, and I just want to leave them behind, but they still control my every move! I can't be recognized by VILE, or you, and they'll make me start over again anyway, so I wanted to at least do something to help!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't know..."
"You're so entitled to my intelligence, my goodwill, my trust, you haven't earned that!"
Julia turned around again and stepped towards Carmen.
"I. Hate." She screamed as she fell into a hole.
The door behind them screamed open.

vVv

"Where is Dora the Explorer?" Tigress asked loudly and confidently in the silence. She heard the scream.
She ran after Carmen, who didn't move until she was only 10m away. Then she turned and ran, dodging holes left and right.
They hadn't need far from the entrance, and Carmen sprinted away, Tigress hot on her tail.
Guilt knotted in her stomach, but this was the best she could do. She didn't know what happened to Julia, but Tigress finding her would only make things worse. This was the only possibility.
Player appeared in her ear again.
"Where's Julia?" he asked.
"In a hole." Carmen panted. "Tigress is after me."
"What?" Player exclaimed. "I'm sending Ivy to help."
"Is other help on the way?"
"Devinaux contacted the police just when you two disappeared from the map."
Carmen turned to see Tigress slow down.
"Come here, kitty kitty!" She taunted Tigress into following her again, which she gladly did.

vVv

Julia stuffed her hand in her mouth to dampen her scream. Her angle hurt so much.
And Carmen left her. Again.
She tried to be as quiet as possible, biting her hand as to not scream, and listened to the footsteps disappearing.
She was safe, for now. Tigress wouldn't find her. And nobody else would either. Nobody knew where she was.
Just as she wanted to just give up and cry, the earth around her shook.

She tried to stand up, balancing on one leg, and held her pepper spray in the direction of the noise.
A hole opened before her feet and a man crawled out. His eyes went wide as he took her in and he held a claw up to his mouth. Julia pointed her pepper spray at him, wobbling, but motioning him to get back.

Il Topo looked around, at his GPS-device, and at the high walls of the hole they found themselves together. Unbothered, he dug further in the direction Carmen and Tigress roughly disappeared to. Just as he disappeared in the tunnel, he motioned at Julia to follow.
Her jaw dropped. She knew this was a VILE operative, following him would definitely lead to capture. However, she couldn't really do anything else, and they now knew where she was, so Julia chose the option that brought her to the surface faster.
She limped to the tunnel, almost falling over again. Il Topo noticed her struggling and began switching between digging furiously and helping Julia catch up. After what felt like an eternity, they reached the surface. Well, the next bit of trudging through sewers, but close enough.
Il Topo checked his GPS-device again, nodded to himself, and motioned again that Julia should be quiet, who rolled her eyes at that. She didn't see how being quiet would help her now, already caught.

A figure appeared behind her, dropping from nowhere.
"Mon ami, good to see you, have you seen the red menace?" Le Chevre addressed Il Topo, ignoring Julia.
"She was pursued by Tigress. I assume they will be in a catfight now, if you haven't seen them."
"I have seen the French buffoon who kills the cars on the riverside. Sandiego took off into the city." Le Chevre's eyes rested on Julia. "I will continue to shadow him after I made sure you did not need assistance."
"I do not." Il Topo said, and kissed Le Chevre on the cheek. "I will go back and see if some of the treasure is salvageable." He disappeared back in his tunnel.
Le Chevre mimed a phone at Julia. Confused, she pulled it out.

'We did not help you'. Le Chevre typed out, groaning at the slowness of the Tastenhandy. 'Get on my back'.
Julia stared at him with doubt. She was small, sure, but this man was a stick. Precious seconds ticked away, until he turned around and pulled her up. She quickly held her own arms around his neck, as she could not link her feet, and pressed her legs around his waist. She had never felt as uncomfortable before.
Not wasting anymore time, Le Chevre sprinted down the elevated sidewalk.

Devinaux came into view, checking his phone and glancing at the museum over the water. 20 meters behind him, Le Chevre let Julia down and scaled the building next to them.
"Chase!" she exclaimed.
He spun around and ran to her.
"Julia! What happened?"
When he reached her, she felt her legs give out. Devinaux caught her, and carried her bridal style to the nearest bench.
"Are you hurt? I need to call a taxi! Where is the nearest hôpital?" he rambled.
"Devinaux!" Julia gritted through her teeth.
"First, destroy my phone, I cannot be traced."
He stamped on the phone she handed to him.
"Second, do you have a durable length of fabric? I need to bind my ankle, I've sprained it." She wiped unwanted tears from her cheeks, smearing the dirt even more.
"And no hospital, today didn't happen, you didn't see me, we never interacted, you don't know where I live now."
Devinaux shrugged off his jacked, pulled off his shirt and began ripping it into strips.
Julia whinced as she slowly loosened her trainer and pulled off her shoe. Her angle had already started to swell quite significantly. Devinaux handed her the strips as she wound them tight, pulled her sock up again and tied the laces loosely.
Then she stood up.

"The police has it handled?"
"Yes, I think so."
He looked at her.
"How will you get back to your hotel?"
Julia sighed.
"The metro. My ticket is still valid."
She glanced at Devinaux, who had already opened his mouth.
"No, you can't come."
"I will pay for a taxi!"
"Too easily followed."
Julia swayed.
"You may accompany me to the nearest station. Don't peek where I need to go."
As Devinaux held out his arm, he nodded.
"It is nice to see you again, Miss Argent, despite the circumstances."

vVv

Amira paced in the lounge of their group's hostel. She had tried to sleep, but couldn't. So she was in the lounge, alternately looking out of the window, walking a hole in the carpet and flipping through the book Julia had left with her.
Finally, as the sun already started to dawn, Julia limped into the hostel, bruised, dirty, and definitely crying.
Amira ran to her and hugged her tight.
"I was so worried! Are you okay?"
Julia smiled crookedly.
"I will be, eventually."
She looked at her state with despair.

"Can you help me destroy the evidence of my nightly forray into criminality? I don't think I can get out of my clothes on my own."
Amira looked at her bound foot.
"I don't think you can shower either." She took a mental inventory of her things.
"Just wait here for a second, I'll get you things to change into, and I have baby wipes, disinfectant and plasters. And then, if we have time, you'll tell me your story."
Julia just nodded and limped to the washrooms.
She had more scrapes that she thought before. Thankfully not too many visible on her face. She would just have to wear fingerless gloves and a long sleeved shirt.
Amira appeared soon and handed her the wipes, helped her out of her stuff trousers, and left her for privacy, chatting at her from just outside.
Then they sat on the sofa in the lounge, watching the sunrise as Amira disinfected and treated various cuts and scrapes.

"So. What is your story? Are you from the mafia or something?"
"Or something", Julia mumbled. "Like witness protection, and I fully humbled that because I had to get involved. Stupid."
Amira couldn't believe it.
"So your real name isn't actually Lisa?"
Julia shook her head.
"Short version: I started working at Interpol, accidentally saw my partner being recruited by a secret service, got involved with said secret service, figured out that the person we were looking for was an independent agent and we needed to look somewhere else, but got shot down, betrayed the trust of said independent player, lost trust in the secret service I worked for, wanted out and had to make a new life here. I wanted to study again, I'm still surprised they let me pick history again."
Julia thought for a bit.
"Oh, I also fell in love with the independent agent, but that's neither here nor there."

Silence.
"Is the independent agent the woman who spoke to you in the museum?"
Julia nodded.
"I guess there's a lot more to it than that."
Julia shrugged.
"She is a criminal. I was law enforcement." She chuckled mirthlessly. "What a cliché."
"And now you'll do crimes together! How romantic!" Amira cooed.
"Absolutely not. I left for a reason. It is too dangerous, nobody tells me anything, and it's way too much responsibility."
Julia played with a plaster.
"You miss it."
Julia pressed her eyes together.
"I really miss it. But not with the secret service."
"I guess you have a choice to make, then."

vVv