CitrineLeaf's Player Appreciation Week Oneshots (Carmen Sandiego)

"Shaken Up, Stirring Down" Player, Dark!Carmen, & The VILE Operatives

!WARNINGS!:
Underage drinking, past kidnapping, peer pressure, nausea & vomitting, manipulation, toxic friendships, Dark!Carmen bad vibes

Prompt: Day 4, Zack and/or VILE operatives

Description:
Player is Carmen Sandiego's hacker, always. Even when he's stuck with this twisted, awful version of her...

And a bunch of VILE operatives.

Player's hands stilled, hovering over his keyboard, as the door to his temporary room opened.

His headphones – VILE-issue, he remembered, fighting back a shiver - were good at keeping noise out, but he'd long since stopped wearing them when audio wasn't required. Too large of a risk of operatives coming into his room, speaking up behind him to scare him, get a rise out, watch and laugh as his heart rate sped up.

Player registered the gentle thump, thump, of footsteps. Just like right now...

He wondered if she had a reason for not closing the door to his workspace. She seemed to decide things on a momentary whim now, quicker to impulsivity – like the kind that had made her want her own hacker- was just another side effect of what VILE had done to her and, with how much extra loot she brought home, Player knew the faculty loved it. They felt no need to tone it down.

For Player, though? It only served to heighten his anxiety.

Thump, thump.

She was close enough that Player could hear her breathing- or was that just his imagination? Either way, any second now, and she would-

"Player." He stilled, stifling his gasp and frozen in place, as two strong pairs of hands pressed down on each of his shoulder blades. Player was stuck, pinned. Like a mouse in a trap, the cat staring them down, watching with sick satisfaction as he squirmed, knowing he couldn't get out.

"C-Carmen." Player did his best to greet her, but the words stuck in his throat. Not Carmen, she's not Carmen. Not the one I know, not my best friend.

"Something wrong?" He could hear the teasing lilt in her voice, but there was none of that fondness she used to have, none of that joy.

"Of course not, I'm- "

"You can be honest with me, white hat." The nickname struck his heart. It felt personal, being stuck in VILE and called good. A white hat instead of black. He'd told her that, all those years ago, but I'm a good hacker, Blacksheep, I help people.

Player glanced at the mesh of coding on his screen and thought, sarcastically, yeah, that sure lasted a while.

At least Carmen didn't seem interested in pressing him today. Instead, she dropped her chin, resting it on Player's head without so much as a cursory Hey, I'm going to do this! Player barely held back his squeak of surprise.

"Whatcha' working on?" The thief, the not-good, cruel, vindictive, thief asked, leaning forward to get a better peek at his screen," Anything important?"

"Not... really." Player didn't have to look up to know Carmen was smirking, whatever her plan was, it relied on him being- free. He cringed, quickly readjusting," But it's some analytics for Bellum! You know how she doesn't like to wait, so I should probably-"

"You aren't Bellum's hacker."

The hands on his shoulders squeezed, her sharpened, pristine nails digging into him. He risked a glance upward; Carmen was glaring at the screen, her grey eyes seemed to hold just a touch of green around the edges. Possessiveness, for him. Possession, from VILE. He wouldn't be surprised if she tried to punch it, or dragged him to the faculty to tell them her grievances herself.