FicWad

The Chief says in a voiceover: "Where we last left off, Zack and Ivy traveled to 1787 to stop Carmen Sandiego from setting Constitution Hall on fire. But, they got there too late, with her evil deed done. In an accidental act, they killed a man named Yancy Fry, leading to a spacetime disruption and an alternate timeline. Both Zack and Ivy were kidnapped by a group of people from the future."

Planet Express building, New New York, May 1, 3013.

Leela, talking to Zack and Ivy, demands of them, "Now, what were you two doing in 1787?"

Zack responds in stride, "Man, we are from the ACME Detective Agency, in the year 1999. We were trying to stop Carmen Sandiego, the master thief. We almost stopped her in another one of her devious acts before you all intervened!"

In a retort, Bender adds, 'you keep mentioning that name, but it just sounds like a story to cover up your murder. So, I'll..."

Prof. Farnsworth cuts off Bender, asking them: "Wait, did you time travel to 1787?"

Ivy, responds with a smile on her face, telling the professor: "Yes, we did!" Pointing to a device on the ground, she tells him they used the Chronoskimmer and adds, "We are telling you the truth! We didn't mean to kill Yancy, it was an accident!"

Bender and Leela walk away, with Fry, who now exists due to the fact that Yancy was not killed by the falling board from Constitution Hall, enters the room. With a degree of skepticism, he adds ,"I don't trust either of you and don't know why you mucked around in the past, causing me to disappear from existence. Its nothing ever good! I mean I became my own grandfather and the Prof. here not only killed Eleanor Roosevelt by mistake but he killed his own "bad" ancestor, David Farnsworth. Luckily you can't do anymore damage in those handcuffs." He then walks away and outside the room.

Prof. Farnsworth, studying the chronoskimmer, says, "I know most of my crew around here are angry at you, but I trust your story of time travel, and don't think you meant to kill Yancy, just a honest mistake. Now, tell me about this Carmen Sandiego because I cannot remember that name for the life of me."

"Well, Professor," Zack says with stride, "we can arrange that for you. Player, infoscan Carmen Sandiego and her misdeeds. Bring up everything you can. We can't let anyone else be a killer of the mood!"

Addressing the Professor, the Chief says, "Nice to meet you. So, in our time, 1999, Carmen Sandiego is a master thief. She has traveled several times before, always disrupting the space-time continuum. We stopped her before, but on one of her more recent heists, she stole elephants from Hannibal, and tried to steal the Roman Colosseum, using her time machine which powered a set of rockets. Another time, she mucked about in U.S. history, stealing horseshoes off Paul Revere's horse, moving the boats filed with tea from the Boston Harbor, which were supposed to be hacked open in the Boston Tea Party, to Japan, and stole the key from Ben Franklin's lightning experiment, ending all digital technology as we know it. That is only a small sampling, but it's clear that she is up to no good! So, Professor, will you help us track her down?"

Prof. Farnsworth responds with a smile, saying "Why certainly. My new time machine detects any time disruptions. There was one I just found, in September 3008. Now, let's get in the time machine..."

Just as he says this, there is a flash of light: Carmen Sandiego appears before them. She tells them, "You won't be able to stop me. I'm into a little acquisition today. Time is the one thing that is in my side, detectives and...friends."

Prof. Farnsworth, Zack, and Ivy all look in disbelief as she disappears with the Planet Express ship and her henchman tie up all of them, while also finding Fry and Leela, who just happen to walk into the room at that moment. They are all transported, tied up and knocked out, through time, to the year 1999, the present. When they wake up, they are at the secret V.I.L.E. training facility in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

With the henchmen moving away, their task completed, Zack turns to Leela and Fry, saying:

"I know you don't like us or even trust us, but we have to work together if you want everything to go back to normal. I don't like anything that ruins the mood, man."

There's static. A TV blares: "this just in, the missing founding documents of the UN, NATO, and other organizations have been returned." The announcer continues, adding: "we have one citizen to thank for this deed: Carmen Sandiego, a woman with a mission who heads a new foundation called the Sandiego Giving Fund. She is a real model citizen and a hero in our trying times!"

Reeling from the news, Ivy exclaims, "That isn't right! She's a thief who just wants to steal for the thrill of it. Chief, what news do we have on Carmen?"

"Well, we have reports of her henchmen near the U.N. building in New York City. There is also a ceremony tomorrow at the U.N. where they are giving her a medal for her achievements, and all the documents she returned are on display."

Responding to The Chief's remarks, Leela says, with an air of skepticism, "While I still don't trust either of you completely, I want to stop this crimson shadow as much as you and stop any future time disruptions."

Zack adds, "Player, C5 us to the UN building in New York City!"

All of them (Fry, Leela, Prof. Farnsworth, Ivy, and Zack) soon arrive in New York City, just as the ceremony is about to start.

They can hear the announcer say, almost like its an award show, "And the award for the best preserver of cultural heritage in 1999 goes to an outstanding citizen, Carmen Sandiego. While she was once a world-famous thief, now she has shown to have gone on the side of good."

The doors of the U.N. General Assembly burst open, with Ivy at the front, declaring to the guards, "stop her, she's a thief!"

Carmen, displeased by the interruption, turns to them saying "Hello, detectives and friends. Your timing is always impeccable. But you aren't going stop me because...time...will keep slipping for you. You won't be able to shine a light on this one, with the tube guiding the way."

Suddenly, a blast hits the UN building, causing the place to shake. Carmen slips out the window, with the award in hand, with her grappling hook hitting her ship, a flying car of sorts, clearly repurposed with parts from the Planet Express ship. All of the documents that were on display are sucked up into the ship, using a lighted tube. As she is about to speed away, Leela uses her Wristlojackimator to fire a tracking device onto Carmen's ship, that not only tracks its GPS location but through time.

With Carmen disappearing with a flash of light, soon there is another spacetime disruption, even worse than the first one. All the screens disappear, like an apparition, including the Chief, and the screen on Leela's Wristlojackimator.

Prof. Farnsworth exclaims, "It's the television! All the TV screens are gone! The original television, created by my ancestor, Philo Farnsworth, must have been stolen by Carmen Sandiego. We have to stop her."

Ivy, thinking about it a little more, has an a-ha moment, telling the Professor, "That must be what her clue meant when she was leaving the U.N building, escaping out clutches!"

Leela responds, with her Wristlojackimator, which has become an earpiece, saying: "I tracked her to San Francisco California, by the Golden Gate bridge.'

Taking that to heart, Zack says, "Player, C5 us to San Francisco!'

The whole group arrives in San Francisco, at the spot where Carmen used to live as an orphan. However, this is not a trip down memory lane, but rather it is a building titled "The Carmen Sandiego Hall of Wonders."

Ivy, realizing what has happened, tells them all, "I know why Carmen stole all those artifacts. She wanted to have her own museum, with herself as the curator!"

The whole crew walks into this tiny museum and finds an early television, the original copies of US Constitution, UN Charter, James Madison's diaries about the Constitutional Convention, NATO founding document, and much more, on display. The front doors of the museum close behind them and Carmen welcomes them, showing them around.

Zack, shining a flashlight in her face, tells her: "Your time is up Carmen, and it's time to shine a light on your misdeeds!"

Prof. Farnsworth, adds in suit that "Stop messing with my ancestors! Get her!"

After being temporarily blinded, Carmen says with a smile, "As much as I'd like to stay and join in the fun, your time is up. Sayonara!"

Ivy, with a degree of familiarity, says, "She's getting away again!"

Leela, now fully on the side of the ACME agents, having forgotten her previous dislike of them, shouts, "Oh no you don't, le femme rouge! You won't escape on my watch!" She then fires her gun at Carmen's grappling hook attached to her ship, which snaps, but Carmen still gets away on her hang glider fitted with rockets. She gets away once again.

Zack, says with a dismal sigh, "Well, at least we got everything back she stole. Now we just have to fix the timeline and prevent this entire crime from happening in the first place!"

Fry, says with newfound confidence, "Me and Bender will go back to 1787 and return the stolen documents from Constitution Hall, since my ancestor lived in that time after all."

Leela then adds, "And I'll go back with Prof. Farnsworth to make sure she doesn't steal that TV."

Following that, Ivy says, "Well, me and Zack can stop her from stealing from the UN building. We will all meet at ACME headquarters tomorrow morning."

The next day beckons and they all meet back together. Everything has been returned to its rightful historical place.

Ivy, thinking back to the beginning of their mission, asks, "There's one thing I don't get? Why were her guards stealing uranium from Los Alamos, and what did she steal from the past other than those documents from the Constitutional Convention?"

Responding to Ivy, the Chief adds, "Well, gumshoes, while she didn't steal anything other than those few documents from the past, she clearly used an explosive of some kind, one that I've never seen! The stealing of the uranium from Los Alamos, which you both foiled, was just a distraction she pulled to get is going in the wrong direction."

Prof. Farnsworth has a realization: "That's it, it must have been the Spheroboom! If that device is the hands of anyone other than a mad scientist like me," he says as he cackles devilishly, "who knows what they would do with it!"

Thinking back, Leela adds, "I remember how, when we fought those scammer aliens, we fired it from the Planet Express ship, thanks to Bender's switcharoo, and destroyed them. That must be where she stole it from. We'll get it back and stop her. You can count on us.'

Saying with a tinge of sorrow at their departure but glee that the mission is done, the Chief adds, "Well, Zack and Ivy can accompany you to 3011, and everything can go back to normal."

Thinking it over, Fry responds in jest: "Thanks for the offer Chief, but I feel comfortable going on our own, we don't need you both to accompany us. We trust you now and hope you trust us now."

In response, the Chief hands Fry the device, adding, "here is a Chronoskimmer which only goes forward in time, to May 1, 3011, so you can all return to your time. Let us know if you ever see Carmen Sandiego in your time, just let us know using this cross-dimensional communication device. There will be no grandfather paradoxes with this device!"

The Planet Express crew quickly says their goodbyes, and speeds away to the future, to the year 3011.

As soon as they leave, Zack, thinking he has the knack and is in a killer mood, says sheepishly, "Sis, it didn't turn out all bad, as you had said. You know, if Leela had lived in the present, and didn't have a boyfriend, perhaps I would have asked her out"

Laughing with indignation, Ivy tells him, "Oh, little bro, you have so much to learn about women, but I still love you anyway." She then gives Zack a noogie on the head, lovingly.

As they both fade away, Player types "Carmen, you were foiled once again and don't know how to handle time. Next time I'll nab you, Carmen.

Carmen types back. "Player, it's about the thrill of the game, a challenge to steal what others can't. And unlike you, I have all the time in the world."

THE END.