Chief listened with little emotion as Carmen told her story. The young superthief's torn coat was covered in blood, coating the sleeves and splattered elsewhere. Her face had a tired dullness that aged her.

Chief was quiet for a moment, studying her. "I'm bringing you in." She said flatly.

Carmen stepped back. "Ah..no. You aren't."

"One of my agents was kidnapped and seriously injured with or because of you. You can't seriously think I would let you go. Devineaux, and now Agent Argent? Not to mention your thieving." Chief growled.

Carmen backed up another step, a scowl covering the hurt and blame she felt. "I saved both of them. Devineaux would be brainwashed or worse and Jules would be dead!"

Chief's face twisted. "Agent Argent would have been better off if she'd never met you. Detain her!"

She stepped backwards and deployed her grappling gun at a nearby tree. She whisked into the branches as six puffs of gas launched at her. She swayed for a moment, scowling. "All I've done is try to help you. And this is what I get? We had a truce."

Chief frowned up at her. "Truces don't catch crime." She paused as a few droplets of blood splattered near her non-existent shoes. She looked up, and Carmen clutched her arm defensively. "If I wasn't dis-distracted I would have seen this coming. You're.." She trailed off, clutching her head. With a last glare, she leapt into the next tree and landed further away, getting into Zack and Ivy's van.

Chief held up a hand. "Don't go after her. We need to find Agent Argent." Her yellow eyes narrowed. "Besides...she'll be back."

Ivy hissed in a breath when Carmen jumped in the car. There was wet blood all over her arm, and Julia'd dried blood on her sleeves. She was slightly out of it from a whiff of gas she'd gotten, as well as..everything else that had happened.

"Carm," she said, gently taking the thief's now blood-red jacket off her. "I gotta look at that arm. It looks pretty bad."

Carmen looked up from her daze, and smiled. "Sure, Ivy, thanks."

Ivy winced. "I'm gonna need to do the rest of this in the hotel. We might need to sacrifice a sleeve of this stealth suit." Carmen grinned a little, and Ivy smiled as an appreciation of her effort.

They pulled into their hotel (wrapping Carmen in a blanket so as not to raise questions) and hightailed it to the room.

"Okay, into the bathroom!" Ivy shepherded Carmen into the bathroom and sat her down. She inspected the long cut.

She pulled out some bandages and antiseptic, before scrutinizing it further. She got up and returned with a switchblade.

Carmen eyed it. "Uh..be careful, Ivy. My sleeve's pretty tight on there."

Ivy smiled reassuringly. "O' course, Carm."

She pinched the sleeve in her fingers and began cutting the fabric off Carmen's arm. A few tense minutes and one nick later, it was off.

Ivy wet a washcloth and cleaned the blood off. "Yikes, Carm. You might need stitches on this. It's pretty deep."

"We're not going to the hospital. Er-" She looked at her arm. "It'll be fine." She slathered some antiseptic on and clumsily wrapped the bandages. "I'm fine! Its fine."

Ivy looked skeptical, but she just rearranged the bandage to be neater and tighter.

"Sure, Carm, if you say so. But tell me if it starts hurting worse than it is. You may be a superthief, but you're a human, too."

The group of ACME agents that had ambushed Carmen had gone into the hospital, flashed the workers their badges, and told them to transfer all information about Julia Argent to them.

They sat in the waiting room, looking very stiff and out of place, until Audric, the clerk who had first helped Julia and Carmen, came in.

He spoke to them uncertainty, wondering if any of them spoke French.

"Good evening. I understand that we are to keep you posted on Ms. Argent's condition?" One ACME agent translated for the rest of the group.

Agent Zari nodded crisply, the clear leader of the group. Audric nodded and spoke again.

"Good. Well, I am happy to report that her injury is not too serious," came the translation.

"Her lung was punctured, but with the small surgery we were able to fix it. Her recovery time will only be about three weeks."

Even Zari seemed to relax a little. "Good. I'm glad it wasn't too serious." Mr. Fournier smiled a little as it was translated back to him. It seemed this woman did care. Until-

"The force needs as many agents as it can get right now, and Argent is one of our most valuable.."

With that, she turned and strode out of sight, followed by the rest of the agents.

Audric frowned. They had given instructions to transfer all information to them, but the woman in red that arrived with Ms. Argent...

It had seemed like she'd cared so much. She arrived so worried for Ms. Argent, giving thorough details. She hadn't been the least bit concerned about herself. She'd called the other young woman her girlfriend.

There was something the woman was hiding, for sure. She had disappeared with the agents after being nervous and distracted the entire time he'd spoken with her. He had heard her speak fluent English and French (and, he was pretty sure, when she was really frazzled, Portuguese?). The way she was dressed, and the little gleam he had caught in her sleeve, some unknown tool.

The details she'd given of the attack? Strangely specific.

Then, when the suited agents came back, she was gone. But something gave him the feeling she hadn't left by her own choice. Not after how she'd been with Julia. She had been so much more concerned about the other young woman than the agents had been.

With a little sigh, he picked up his phone and began writing a text to the phone number she'd given.

Carmen's burner phone buzzed and she opened her texts faster than the speed of light, her eyes zooming over the text.

Zack poked his head over Carmen's shoulder at the wall of French. "Zat from the hospital? Whats it say?"

Carmen finished, smiled softly and translated aloud:

"Dear woman in red,

This is Audric Fournier, from the hospital. I helped you for the first time when you arrived with Ms. Argent. A group of agents told us to forward all the information about her to them, but you looked so worried I thought I would update you. Her lung was punctured in the attack, but luckily with a little surgery we were able to fix it and she will make a full recovery in about three weeks.

Yours sincerely,

Audric"

She laughed a little. "She's going to be okay." She leaned back on the couch and laughed, relief shining in her face. "I really need to thank Audric in some way for this."

Audric's shift at the hospital ended and he walked to his car, stopping short at the sight that greeted him. Sitting on the front seat was a bouquet of pink, peach, and yellow roses, with a red card sitting beside them.

In the card, in French, read:

Dear Audric ,

Thank you for going through the trouble to update me on Julia's condition today. And thank you for helping her.

Enclosed is something as a gift; for moving to kindness.

Sincerely,

The Lady in Red

P.S. Your car needs better security.

Startled, Audric opened up the small slip of paper, and gasped at the amount. He folded the paper; it had answered many of his questions and opened a lot more. He grinned, shook his head, got in his car, and drove away.