Choice: A Carmen Sandiego AU

Part 9: Base

Even hours after the fact, Graham was a little shaken by the look on Carmen's face when they'd shot her. Just like in Sydney, when she'd first realized he'd switched sides.

Switched... not for the first time, apparently.

According to her.

But of course, she couldn't be trusted. She was a liar.

But everything she said...?

Carmen Sandiego is a thief and a liar.

He'd repeated the words so many times they no longer sounded convincing. He'd said them earlier. Right before..

His mind seemed to have connected involuntarily to his feet, which were taking him towards their holding cells.

He had to know. He had to talk to her.

He couldn't have been a VILE operative, right? He had the hospital records.

They could have been forged, whispered his brain. Most people in comas don't wake up after that long. This is a criminal empire we're talking about.

"No," he growled out loud.

Everything makes sense. The weird knowledge of fighting and industrial-grade electricity. You seem to have gotten stronger in the hospital, not weaker. How can you explain that?

When he got to her holding cell, he admittedly had a small heart attack. She was lying motionless, many, many parts of her covered in bandages. He'd almost forgotten about his own burns, and the fire, and the explosion. Forgotten how she'd rushed in and helped so many people get out.

Almost. It was something the annoyingly right, Carmen-sympathetic part of his brain kept drifting to. Or...pointing violently at with a lot of sirens.

Then he remembered that the dart's effect lasted a few hours, and that she was also probably exhausted. Her two friends would be the same. All the same, he sat down outside of her cell.

What if she woke up? That was what he wanted, he needed. Needed to talk to her. But she'd be so hard to face. Especially if she woke up and found him creepily staring at her while she was asleep.

He sat there for...too long. Thinking. And waiting.

She didn't wake up. He even checked a few times to make sure she was still alive (she was). If she was faking being asleep...he wouldn't blame her. He'd basically arrested her.

He stood up. "Carmen. If you're awake. I'm just...I'm so confused. I need to talk to you." Paused. Waited. Nothing.

"Carmen...please. You flipped my world upside down earlier and I can't keep wondering like this. How I could possibly be.."

He trailed off, looking at her still form.

She was probably just still asleep. He probably just looked stupid, standing outside her cell talking to her when she was unconscious.

He turned and left the room. In the hallway, he then nearly smacked into Julia. Again.

He seemed to do that a lot.

Graham stopped awkwardly. "Julia.."

She had looked so terrified and angry when they'd shot Carmen. Which was kind of how he felt. And how she still felt, judging by the look on her face. She brushed past him. "Agent," she said.

He noticed she was holding a cup of coffee. He didn't ask who it was for. There were only three people in their cells and that looked like what Carmen had gotten both times he'd had coffee with her.