[Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?] Casino Nights, ch 1
Title: Casino Nights, chapter 1: The Assignment
Fandom: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Characters: The Dying Informant, the Snowball-gram Messenger, the Technet Techie, and the Freshnet Inspector
Table: 50 prompts
Prompt: Direction
Rating: eventual PG13; currently G
Spoilers/Warnings: Seriousness in a generally light-hearted fandom.
Summary: CONTROL and ACME are assigned to work together on a case in Las Vegas concerning a crooked casino owner. But Carmen has another task in mind-- one that has her appealing to ACME for help.
Author’s Note: Crossposted to my journal and the V.I.L.E. HQ fanfic forum.
Author’s Note: The characters aren’t mine, and the story is. This fic was highly inspired by the Casino Night Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the Get Smart episode “99 Loses Control.” All of the Get Smart elements of this fic are based on the 1960’s show, only exception being that I switched it to the present day, which, long story short, means that Max and 99 in my fics are based off the way that 60s’ actors portrayed them. For the Carmen element of this fic, I reference in this chapter an unwritten fic (the TMNT crossover “House of the Rising Sun”), and the details of that case will be clear in that fic. Also, it should be noted that Chapter 1 of this fic takes place before my dark AU fic “In the Glow of the Night,” while Chapter 2 and onwards take place after that misadventure. I can’t say much without spoiling “In the Glow of the Night,” but the fact that the mission proceeds does ensure a happy ending in that otherwise dark and sad fic. Also for the Carmen element, I am mixing in a little bit of canon from Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, mainly the part about Carmen’s parentage.
************************
**CONTROL Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 8:30 AM**
The young couple were talking amongst themselves as they entered the office of their boss.
“Morning, Chief,” said the young man. “You sent for us?”
“Yes, I did, Max…” said the older man. “I have a case for the both of you; I need the two of you to go to Las Vegas.”
“What’s in Las Vegas?” the young woman asked, intrigued.
“Oh, the usual, 99,” said Max, giving a knowing look to his wife. “Casinos, bars, shows… that kind of thing…”
“I know that, Max,” said Agent 99, with a patient smile. “But what exactly are we investigating?”
“You investigating the Casino Nuits; it’s a popular hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip,” said the Chief. “We’ve had reports from local law enforcement that the games there are rigged, but after probing deeper, we’ve heard of more concerning developments-people vanishing, classified information leaking out, and things like that.”
“Hmm…” said Max, folding his arms. “Sounds like KAOS at work, if you ask me…”
“It could very well be,” said the Chief. “And what concerns me is an upcoming meeting of businessmen at the Casino Nuits; these are some very wealthy and influential CEOs gathering in one place. I don’t need to begin to describe what can happen if KAOS gets any ideas to inflict any sort of harm on these men.”
Max and 99 gave a grim nod.
“When do we leave, Chief?” asked 99.
“You leave immediately,” he replied. “But we’ll be getting outside help on this case. I received a phone call earlier from the daughters of one of the businessmen attending the meeting-she identified herself as the daughter of Malcolm Avalon. She gave me the name of a detective agency in New York City-ACME Crimenet. They’re a small organization, but we checked their track record, and they’ve solved an impressive number of cases-some of them international. I just spoke to their Chief, and she said that she would send some of her best agents to meet you at Casino Nuits.”
“How will we know them?” asked Max, wondering what these New York agents were going to be like.
“By a highly specialized contact system,” the CONTROL Chief said. “One of the ACME agents will have something they call a Clue Fish.”
“So our contact is whoever is carrying around a fish?” asked 99, amused.
“That’s right. You will identify yourselves as the contacts with the words ‘Is that a Hawaiian reef triggerfish?’ The countersign that they will give you is ‘Humuhumunukunukuapua’a.’”
Agent 99 gave a nod. This was already shaping out to be a very interesting case indeed.
“Is it just the two of us on this mission, Chief?” Max asked.
“Were you thinking of taking someone else along?” the older man asked.
“Well… I would like to have Hymie and Fang come along as a little insurance policy, if that’s possible…”
“Granted,” said the Chief.
“Thanks,” Max said, with a grin. “Don’t you worry, those businessmen are as good as saved--”
Max made a sweeping arm gesture that knocked the water pitcher off of the table, getting water all over the Chief’s suit and chair. The older man just winced, but said nothing.
“Sorry about that, Chief…” Max said, sheepishly.
**ACME Crimenet Headquarters, TriBeCa, Manhattan, 9:00 AM**
It was another day at ACME Crimenet, and the ACME Messenger was gleefully setting up his latest prank in Schwemphf’s office.
“So… what exactly are you hoping to accomplish here…?” asked the Informant, watching as the Messenger proceeded to remove each individually wrapped mint from the small dish on the Vice-Chief’s desk and replacing it with another identical-looking but different-tasting candy.
“These, my friends, are Schwemphf’s cherished stash of wintergreen mints. These, on the other hand, are identical-looking super-sour apple-flavored candy disks,” the Messenger explained, proudly surveying his handiwork. “He won’t know the difference… until he tastes one.”
The Informant, the Techie, and the Inspector all began to snark with laughter.
“Hey, you guys…!” said the Rookie, following the sound of their laughter. “The Chief wants to see the five of us in her office; we’ve got a new mission…” He trailed off. “Hey, what’s so funny?”
The Messenger explained along the way to the office, and now the Rookie was cracking up. It was a challenge for them to put on straight faces as they headed into their Chief’s office.
She explained to them about the Casino Nuits, and how the crooked activates were going on while the businessmen were preparing for their arrival.
“And I’m assigning you five to the case,” she finished.
The Rookie’s eyes shone. “My… my first field assignment…?”
The Chief nodded. “You’re more than ready for one after the Dr. Mendoza case.” She turned to the Messenger. “I need you to take the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a Clue Fish with you and have it visible while you’re in the casino.”
The Messenger blinked. “Sure… but why?”
“You’ll be making contact with some agents from a federal agency-CONTROL,” she said. “That Clue Fish is how they’ll recognize you.”
“Federal agency…?” the Messenger repeated. His enthusiasm for the case now diminished.
“Why do we need them hovering over us…?” the Informant asked, frowning. “We can handle this just fine on our own.”
“I have to agree,” said the Techie. Their meeting with Agent Bishop during their case in New Orleans had left a bitter taste in all of their mouths-the cruel man had held them without just cause. They would not be willing to trust another agency anytime soon.
The Inspector just folded his arms in silent agreement.
“What’s going on…?” the Rookie wondered, aloud, puzzled by the sudden lack of pep in the room, which had been in excess a mere moment ago.
The Chief glanced at all of them, understanding their feelings; she had read the case file of the New Orleans caper personally, and had been furious with the way that Agent Bishop had treated her best agents, simply because of seeing Civil War-era spirits who resembled the Techie, the Messenger, and the Inspector. Desperate, the Informant had turned to Karai Saki, who had been in town at the time, for help, who proceeded to do so, but then tried to use his debt to her as a way of manipulating him. The others, in turn, rescued him from Karai, with help from some new terrapin allies they had met along the way.
“I promised the Chief of CONTROL that I would send my best agents to Las Vegas,” she said. “He’s counting on us… and on you.”
The others looked to the Messenger, waiting for his answer. The Messenger sighed, weighing the options he had. He did not particularly care for working with these CONTROL agents-they would undoubtedly think that the New York Agents were beneath them, and not as capable as they were. Or worse, they could even be as bad as Bishop-ordering them around and restricting what they would do, just because they had the power to do so. He didn’t want to put his brothers through that again. But on the other hand… CONTROL had come asking them for help; they had been given a chance to refuse. Bishop had not given them a chance.
“Alright…” he sighed. “We’ll take the case. But the second we start getting the slightest bit of disrespect from them, we’re coming home.”
“Fair enough…” said the Chief. “But CONTROL’s reputation is considerably better than Bishop and his organization. Still, I want you to let me know immediately if those CONTROL agents ever cross the line.”
“You can bet on that,” said the Informant, drawing an arm around the Techie’s shoulders.
“So when do we leave?” asked the Inspector, speaking at last. After the Messenger, he was the one least likely to trust the CONTROL agents. The Messenger would be trusting them even less, since he was their leader and would be expected to be cautious for all of their sakes.
“As soon as possible; the CONTROL agents have been instructed to leave immediately, as well,” she said. “But feel free to head down to the Tech-Net labs and pick up whatever it is you need before you go. You can even take one of the dogs from ACME Ruff-Net.”
“Great; Vegas will be a great change of scene for Borealis!” the Informant said, perking up.
“Las Vegas is near the desert; you taking a Siberian husky to the desert?” asked the Techie, amused.
But the Messenger grinned as the Informant shrugged. “Why not? Infy has the right idea; Borealis can shed that winter coat all the more quickly over there, so we don’t have to clean it up here!”
“Hotel housekeeping is going to love you…” the Inspector commented, sarcastically.
“Hey, I was just saying…” said the Messenger. “Or better yet, maybe we can have Borealis get hair all over those agents…” He trailed off at the look on the Chief’s face. “Only if they disrespect us first, of course… And on that note, let’s head to the lab!”
The Techie, who was particularly proud of the grappling hook pen he had developed, distributed one to each of his friends.
“We don’t need those levitating shoes with these,” he said.
“Too bad; they were a lot of fun during the Vancouver case…” said the Informant. “What else have you got?”
“An improvement on the remote control mosquito…” said the Techie. “Now, it’s a bee-it picks up and routes wireless signals as before, but, in addition, it can serve as a microphone and a small but powerful light.”
“And it can sting our adversaries,” the Messenger added. “Brilliant! I saw we take the whole swarm of them!”
“You would…” the Informant said, amused, but he took the bees anyway.
“I’ve also installed holographic options in the tracking devices on our communicators…” said the Techie. “It wasn’t exactly a necessity… but I was bored one afternoon and it was fun to put together.” He gave a semi-embarrassed grin.
“You know what you need to do…?” said the Messenger. “Put together a hologram monster like Kaiba Corp does with those game cards. According to this Case File, they have a Duel Monsters expert in the Casino Nuits to bring in a little extra money. If you beat the guy, you get the money you put up-in triplicate. Lose, and he gets it.”
“That’s generally how it works…” the Inspector mused. “Who’s the expert? Is it anyone we know from Domino?”
“I don’t think so…” said the Messenger, glancing through the report. “It’s some guy named Pete Coppermine.”
“Coppermine…?” the Rookie repeated, his eyebrows arched. “That’s an alias if I ever heard one…”
“But what does Techie coming up with a hologram have to do with this game? They provide those holographic thingies, don’t they?” asked the Informant.
“Yeah, but… we don’t have cards,” the Messenger pointed out. “We need to level the playing field a bit.”
The Informant snapped his fingers. “I know how to do that,” he said. “If we leave a little early, we can stop off in Domino City and buy some cards from the Mutos’ game shop. Then we don’t have to depend on the rented decks in the casino, and we can still investigate that card expert!”
“I think we should delegate the responsibilities of investigating the games,” said the Inspector. “If we’re all looking at the same games, people will clue in. One of us should stick to the Duel Monsters.”
“That may as well be me…” said the Informant. “Marik gave me a crash course on the game during the Anput case. I know what cards to look for when we get to Domino. And I have this prototype Cobalt Eagle that Maximillion Pegasus gave me as thanks for helping out in the case…”
“Then we’ll leave the cards in your capable hands; check out the slot machines, too, when you’re done with your game,” said the Messenger. He turned to the others. “Techie… I think your talents could best be used at the roulette wheel. There’s a lot of physics involved in how that thing works.”
“Centrifugal forces,” the Techie agreed. “Leave it to me.”
The Messenger now turned to the Inspector. “You’ve got the best poker face in the history of poker faces; you can inspect the card tables.”
The Inspector gave a nod.
“And I’ll handle the dice games,” the Messenger finished.
“Um…” said the Rookie. “What about me?”
“That’s tricky…” said the Messenger, folding his arms. “You’re under 21; you wouldn’t be allowed in the actual casino. So you have the most important job of all-keeping an eye on that business meeting in the hotel conference room. You’ll be in charge of security.”
The Rookie nodded, perking up. “I won’t let you down,” he promised.
“I know you won’t,” the Messenger said, proudly. “Now…” He took a look around at the assembled Tech-Net items. “We’ve got our equipment, so we’re ready to move out, but there’s one more thing I want to cover…” He slapped his hands on the counter. “Those CONTROL Agents…” He glanced around the room at his closest colleagues. “We need to prove to them that ACME, in spite of not being as vast as CONTROL, is just as capable as CONTROL, if not more so.”
“We all know that…” said the Informant.
“But they don’t,” the Messenger said. “They probably think we’re just some two-bit private detective agency. And that’s probably how they’re going to treat us, even if they’re not as bad as Bishop. They’ll still think that we’re nothing compared to them.”
“So what are you saying?” asked the Techie.
“I’m saying that we’re going to have to be acting like experts,” he said. “We have to let them think we’ve done this sort of thing a hundred times before, and can give them a run for their money. That’s the only way we’ll ever get respect from those CONTROL agents. And if necessary… we’ll solve the entire case by ourselves overnight if we have to.”
“Blindfolded,” added the Informant.
“That’s the spirit,” the Messenger grinned. “And when we’ve done that, we can rub it in with a Snowball-gram or two. Now, my comrades, move out!”
The case had begun.
Fandom: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Characters: The Dying Informant, the Snowball-gram Messenger, the Technet Techie, and the Freshnet Inspector
Table: 50 prompts
Prompt: Direction
Rating: eventual PG13; currently G
Spoilers/Warnings: Seriousness in a generally light-hearted fandom.
Summary: CONTROL and ACME are assigned to work together on a case in Las Vegas concerning a crooked casino owner. But Carmen has another task in mind-- one that has her appealing to ACME for help.
Author’s Note: Crossposted to my journal and the V.I.L.E. HQ fanfic forum.
Author’s Note: The characters aren’t mine, and the story is. This fic was highly inspired by the Casino Night Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the Get Smart episode “99 Loses Control.” All of the Get Smart elements of this fic are based on the 1960’s show, only exception being that I switched it to the present day, which, long story short, means that Max and 99 in my fics are based off the way that 60s’ actors portrayed them. For the Carmen element of this fic, I reference in this chapter an unwritten fic (the TMNT crossover “House of the Rising Sun”), and the details of that case will be clear in that fic. Also, it should be noted that Chapter 1 of this fic takes place before my dark AU fic “In the Glow of the Night,” while Chapter 2 and onwards take place after that misadventure. I can’t say much without spoiling “In the Glow of the Night,” but the fact that the mission proceeds does ensure a happy ending in that otherwise dark and sad fic. Also for the Carmen element, I am mixing in a little bit of canon from Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, mainly the part about Carmen’s parentage.
************************
**CONTROL Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 8:30 AM**
The young couple were talking amongst themselves as they entered the office of their boss.
“Morning, Chief,” said the young man. “You sent for us?”
“Yes, I did, Max…” said the older man. “I have a case for the both of you; I need the two of you to go to Las Vegas.”
“What’s in Las Vegas?” the young woman asked, intrigued.
“Oh, the usual, 99,” said Max, giving a knowing look to his wife. “Casinos, bars, shows… that kind of thing…”
“I know that, Max,” said Agent 99, with a patient smile. “But what exactly are we investigating?”
“You investigating the Casino Nuits; it’s a popular hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip,” said the Chief. “We’ve had reports from local law enforcement that the games there are rigged, but after probing deeper, we’ve heard of more concerning developments-people vanishing, classified information leaking out, and things like that.”
“Hmm…” said Max, folding his arms. “Sounds like KAOS at work, if you ask me…”
“It could very well be,” said the Chief. “And what concerns me is an upcoming meeting of businessmen at the Casino Nuits; these are some very wealthy and influential CEOs gathering in one place. I don’t need to begin to describe what can happen if KAOS gets any ideas to inflict any sort of harm on these men.”
Max and 99 gave a grim nod.
“When do we leave, Chief?” asked 99.
“You leave immediately,” he replied. “But we’ll be getting outside help on this case. I received a phone call earlier from the daughters of one of the businessmen attending the meeting-she identified herself as the daughter of Malcolm Avalon. She gave me the name of a detective agency in New York City-ACME Crimenet. They’re a small organization, but we checked their track record, and they’ve solved an impressive number of cases-some of them international. I just spoke to their Chief, and she said that she would send some of her best agents to meet you at Casino Nuits.”
“How will we know them?” asked Max, wondering what these New York agents were going to be like.
“By a highly specialized contact system,” the CONTROL Chief said. “One of the ACME agents will have something they call a Clue Fish.”
“So our contact is whoever is carrying around a fish?” asked 99, amused.
“That’s right. You will identify yourselves as the contacts with the words ‘Is that a Hawaiian reef triggerfish?’ The countersign that they will give you is ‘Humuhumunukunukuapua’a.’”
Agent 99 gave a nod. This was already shaping out to be a very interesting case indeed.
“Is it just the two of us on this mission, Chief?” Max asked.
“Were you thinking of taking someone else along?” the older man asked.
“Well… I would like to have Hymie and Fang come along as a little insurance policy, if that’s possible…”
“Granted,” said the Chief.
“Thanks,” Max said, with a grin. “Don’t you worry, those businessmen are as good as saved--”
Max made a sweeping arm gesture that knocked the water pitcher off of the table, getting water all over the Chief’s suit and chair. The older man just winced, but said nothing.
“Sorry about that, Chief…” Max said, sheepishly.
**ACME Crimenet Headquarters, TriBeCa, Manhattan, 9:00 AM**
It was another day at ACME Crimenet, and the ACME Messenger was gleefully setting up his latest prank in Schwemphf’s office.
“So… what exactly are you hoping to accomplish here…?” asked the Informant, watching as the Messenger proceeded to remove each individually wrapped mint from the small dish on the Vice-Chief’s desk and replacing it with another identical-looking but different-tasting candy.
“These, my friends, are Schwemphf’s cherished stash of wintergreen mints. These, on the other hand, are identical-looking super-sour apple-flavored candy disks,” the Messenger explained, proudly surveying his handiwork. “He won’t know the difference… until he tastes one.”
The Informant, the Techie, and the Inspector all began to snark with laughter.
“Hey, you guys…!” said the Rookie, following the sound of their laughter. “The Chief wants to see the five of us in her office; we’ve got a new mission…” He trailed off. “Hey, what’s so funny?”
The Messenger explained along the way to the office, and now the Rookie was cracking up. It was a challenge for them to put on straight faces as they headed into their Chief’s office.
She explained to them about the Casino Nuits, and how the crooked activates were going on while the businessmen were preparing for their arrival.
“And I’m assigning you five to the case,” she finished.
The Rookie’s eyes shone. “My… my first field assignment…?”
The Chief nodded. “You’re more than ready for one after the Dr. Mendoza case.” She turned to the Messenger. “I need you to take the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a Clue Fish with you and have it visible while you’re in the casino.”
The Messenger blinked. “Sure… but why?”
“You’ll be making contact with some agents from a federal agency-CONTROL,” she said. “That Clue Fish is how they’ll recognize you.”
“Federal agency…?” the Messenger repeated. His enthusiasm for the case now diminished.
“Why do we need them hovering over us…?” the Informant asked, frowning. “We can handle this just fine on our own.”
“I have to agree,” said the Techie. Their meeting with Agent Bishop during their case in New Orleans had left a bitter taste in all of their mouths-the cruel man had held them without just cause. They would not be willing to trust another agency anytime soon.
The Inspector just folded his arms in silent agreement.
“What’s going on…?” the Rookie wondered, aloud, puzzled by the sudden lack of pep in the room, which had been in excess a mere moment ago.
The Chief glanced at all of them, understanding their feelings; she had read the case file of the New Orleans caper personally, and had been furious with the way that Agent Bishop had treated her best agents, simply because of seeing Civil War-era spirits who resembled the Techie, the Messenger, and the Inspector. Desperate, the Informant had turned to Karai Saki, who had been in town at the time, for help, who proceeded to do so, but then tried to use his debt to her as a way of manipulating him. The others, in turn, rescued him from Karai, with help from some new terrapin allies they had met along the way.
“I promised the Chief of CONTROL that I would send my best agents to Las Vegas,” she said. “He’s counting on us… and on you.”
The others looked to the Messenger, waiting for his answer. The Messenger sighed, weighing the options he had. He did not particularly care for working with these CONTROL agents-they would undoubtedly think that the New York Agents were beneath them, and not as capable as they were. Or worse, they could even be as bad as Bishop-ordering them around and restricting what they would do, just because they had the power to do so. He didn’t want to put his brothers through that again. But on the other hand… CONTROL had come asking them for help; they had been given a chance to refuse. Bishop had not given them a chance.
“Alright…” he sighed. “We’ll take the case. But the second we start getting the slightest bit of disrespect from them, we’re coming home.”
“Fair enough…” said the Chief. “But CONTROL’s reputation is considerably better than Bishop and his organization. Still, I want you to let me know immediately if those CONTROL agents ever cross the line.”
“You can bet on that,” said the Informant, drawing an arm around the Techie’s shoulders.
“So when do we leave?” asked the Inspector, speaking at last. After the Messenger, he was the one least likely to trust the CONTROL agents. The Messenger would be trusting them even less, since he was their leader and would be expected to be cautious for all of their sakes.
“As soon as possible; the CONTROL agents have been instructed to leave immediately, as well,” she said. “But feel free to head down to the Tech-Net labs and pick up whatever it is you need before you go. You can even take one of the dogs from ACME Ruff-Net.”
“Great; Vegas will be a great change of scene for Borealis!” the Informant said, perking up.
“Las Vegas is near the desert; you taking a Siberian husky to the desert?” asked the Techie, amused.
But the Messenger grinned as the Informant shrugged. “Why not? Infy has the right idea; Borealis can shed that winter coat all the more quickly over there, so we don’t have to clean it up here!”
“Hotel housekeeping is going to love you…” the Inspector commented, sarcastically.
“Hey, I was just saying…” said the Messenger. “Or better yet, maybe we can have Borealis get hair all over those agents…” He trailed off at the look on the Chief’s face. “Only if they disrespect us first, of course… And on that note, let’s head to the lab!”
The Techie, who was particularly proud of the grappling hook pen he had developed, distributed one to each of his friends.
“We don’t need those levitating shoes with these,” he said.
“Too bad; they were a lot of fun during the Vancouver case…” said the Informant. “What else have you got?”
“An improvement on the remote control mosquito…” said the Techie. “Now, it’s a bee-it picks up and routes wireless signals as before, but, in addition, it can serve as a microphone and a small but powerful light.”
“And it can sting our adversaries,” the Messenger added. “Brilliant! I saw we take the whole swarm of them!”
“You would…” the Informant said, amused, but he took the bees anyway.
“I’ve also installed holographic options in the tracking devices on our communicators…” said the Techie. “It wasn’t exactly a necessity… but I was bored one afternoon and it was fun to put together.” He gave a semi-embarrassed grin.
“You know what you need to do…?” said the Messenger. “Put together a hologram monster like Kaiba Corp does with those game cards. According to this Case File, they have a Duel Monsters expert in the Casino Nuits to bring in a little extra money. If you beat the guy, you get the money you put up-in triplicate. Lose, and he gets it.”
“That’s generally how it works…” the Inspector mused. “Who’s the expert? Is it anyone we know from Domino?”
“I don’t think so…” said the Messenger, glancing through the report. “It’s some guy named Pete Coppermine.”
“Coppermine…?” the Rookie repeated, his eyebrows arched. “That’s an alias if I ever heard one…”
“But what does Techie coming up with a hologram have to do with this game? They provide those holographic thingies, don’t they?” asked the Informant.
“Yeah, but… we don’t have cards,” the Messenger pointed out. “We need to level the playing field a bit.”
The Informant snapped his fingers. “I know how to do that,” he said. “If we leave a little early, we can stop off in Domino City and buy some cards from the Mutos’ game shop. Then we don’t have to depend on the rented decks in the casino, and we can still investigate that card expert!”
“I think we should delegate the responsibilities of investigating the games,” said the Inspector. “If we’re all looking at the same games, people will clue in. One of us should stick to the Duel Monsters.”
“That may as well be me…” said the Informant. “Marik gave me a crash course on the game during the Anput case. I know what cards to look for when we get to Domino. And I have this prototype Cobalt Eagle that Maximillion Pegasus gave me as thanks for helping out in the case…”
“Then we’ll leave the cards in your capable hands; check out the slot machines, too, when you’re done with your game,” said the Messenger. He turned to the others. “Techie… I think your talents could best be used at the roulette wheel. There’s a lot of physics involved in how that thing works.”
“Centrifugal forces,” the Techie agreed. “Leave it to me.”
The Messenger now turned to the Inspector. “You’ve got the best poker face in the history of poker faces; you can inspect the card tables.”
The Inspector gave a nod.
“And I’ll handle the dice games,” the Messenger finished.
“Um…” said the Rookie. “What about me?”
“That’s tricky…” said the Messenger, folding his arms. “You’re under 21; you wouldn’t be allowed in the actual casino. So you have the most important job of all-keeping an eye on that business meeting in the hotel conference room. You’ll be in charge of security.”
The Rookie nodded, perking up. “I won’t let you down,” he promised.
“I know you won’t,” the Messenger said, proudly. “Now…” He took a look around at the assembled Tech-Net items. “We’ve got our equipment, so we’re ready to move out, but there’s one more thing I want to cover…” He slapped his hands on the counter. “Those CONTROL Agents…” He glanced around the room at his closest colleagues. “We need to prove to them that ACME, in spite of not being as vast as CONTROL, is just as capable as CONTROL, if not more so.”
“We all know that…” said the Informant.
“But they don’t,” the Messenger said. “They probably think we’re just some two-bit private detective agency. And that’s probably how they’re going to treat us, even if they’re not as bad as Bishop. They’ll still think that we’re nothing compared to them.”
“So what are you saying?” asked the Techie.
“I’m saying that we’re going to have to be acting like experts,” he said. “We have to let them think we’ve done this sort of thing a hundred times before, and can give them a run for their money. That’s the only way we’ll ever get respect from those CONTROL agents. And if necessary… we’ll solve the entire case by ourselves overnight if we have to.”
“Blindfolded,” added the Informant.
“That’s the spirit,” the Messenger grinned. “And when we’ve done that, we can rub it in with a Snowball-gram or two. Now, my comrades, move out!”
The case had begun.