Carmen Sandiego: The Pure Gig

The Pure Gig

Carmen sits on a bus, talking to Player about the current operation. The bus passes slowly through the winding roads of the mountains, the roads surrounded by thick forests of trees. Leaves fall from the trees in a ballet of red, orange, and yellow, a display of the start or Auttum that lines up with her arrival in the southern town.

"So before we go on I need to ask a weirdly specific question," Player explains with news articles pulled up on his computer. One image is visible in the bottom left corner of his screen, showing a teen in a white hockey mask, standing in a blood stained parking lot next to a burning building.

"What's up?" Carmen inquires, confused.

"Have you ever drank?" Player inquires, "I won't judge if you have."

"Player if you're about to tell me you're drinking you're way to young to be-" Carmen began to retort concerned.

Player assures her, "oh no it's not like that. I'm underage I get that. I'll take that a no then. I'm just looking at some info. There's a vigilante in that town and he hates underage drinking. I was worried it would be trouble if you ran into him."

"Vigilante?" Carmen inquires curiously, "and no I haven't drank so, won't be an issue. I travel so much I decided to look into science for that rather than the laws. Science says the age is 21, and frankly it's never interested me anyways. Maybe when I'm older but, not now."

"Well this dude's been fighting the cartel down there," Player elaborates pulling up videos of the teen fighting. The teen's fighting style is wild and unrefined, borderline feral in style. He fights tooth and nail like a cornered animal. "He appeared in Summer. Been causing a lot of issues for the police. What he does is he targets child abusers and drug dealers, beats confessions out of them, and sends the recordings to the news."

"What?" Carmen inquires, "Why not just call the cops?"

"Well the southern U.S.A. has a major corruption issue," Player explains, "And by going to the news he forces them to act as failing to do so would expose them. It's an unspoken balancing act between looking legit and being corrupt. An act he exploits. His last big hit was fighting a bunch of pro underage drinking parents outside a burning winery. Despite severe injury, he took them out while wildly outmanned."

"Is he dangerous?" Carmen inquires, "It may be worth helping the police apprehend him while I'm here."

"He doesn't seem to have killed anyone and has claimed to have a no killing rule," Player explains, "But he does appear mentally unstable. It's your call. He goes by Purity, and since you're stopping a massive import of drugs, you could run into him. Why are we doing this though?"

"I feel I've grown rusty," Carmen explains, "And stopping illegal substances from entering the U.S. is a good thing. I need to get my head back in the game in terms of my fighting skills before I search for my mother. VILE is gonna find me sooner or later. Way I see it, even if it's not our usual job, it's two birds with one stone."

"Alright," Player shrugs, "The boat with the good arrives at 2am at a boat dock in town. You've got time to kill until then."

"I'll take a look around," Carmen replies, "This Purity character has got me curious. Maybe I can learn a bit about him..."

Carmen gets off the bus, keeping her face hidden under her signature red hat. The town is a ghost town compared to her usual locals of exotic cities and popular tourist destinations. There's not many people around at the run down, cold station. She exits it quickly, the emptiness of the place giving it an eerie and unwelcoming air. As she walks down the street, pulling up a map on her phone, she looks for a place to grab a bite to eat before going down to the boat docks.