I have to say I thought you were telegraphing a different ending. One I'm glad didn't come to pass. After mentioning Carmen losing her virginity to the Russia and Leanne encouraging the guards in Morocco to rape her, I was half expecting Zach being forced to do likewise. Glad to see my over active imagination be proven wrong!

I have enjoyed this immensely. Just a few nits. Cairo is so much larger than a town. Also, the Temple mound in sacred to all three relgions but the Dome of the Rock is a Muslim holy site.

What an amazing ride this was! I loved every word of it

is this the last chapter

I greatly enjoy your stories, and everything I say is meant to support this statement.

A little while ago I was feeling nostalgic and decided to look into things from my youth and I found one of my old Carmen Sandiego games. This prompted me to go on a search for the wonderful Lady in Red, and I eventually came across your stories.

While I like the portrayal of Carmen in all of your stories (and I think that she is in serious need of a hug in any and all of them), I particularly like her in Endgame, Play On, and Gamemaster. You make her human. The vulnerability, the tiredness, the sorrow, make her more than just a two dimensional crook. It gives her depth. In the Trilogy you go further with this, by giving Carmen a reason for defecting from ACME beyond "I got bored."

I like the way you portray the siblings, which is saying a lot as I always found them to be to much like the tag along token kid sidekicks that can be found in other shows. Sure Zack hasn't entirely graduated from this, but that's mainly because his perspective has not been entirely explored. In Play On, he was able to shine because we, the audience, were able to see things the way he saw them. It isn't the way the others characters treat him that makes him feel like he's the tag along, the way they treat him is completely understandable. It's the way he isn't used as a tool to progress the story in some parts.

Carmen doesn't want to hurt anyone, and she especially doesn't want to hurt her favorite detectives. One of the large reasons behind this is that the siblings are kids in her eyes. Sure they will one day grow up and be legally able to vote, but they will still be kids to Carmen, and there are certain things that adults should shield children from. Carmen connects with the siblings in different ways, for Zack it's more of a intellectual way with puzzles and logic, with Ivy it's emotionally, and though that, it is much more difficult for Carmen to shield Ivy from certain issues in her life than it is for her to shield Zack. As pointed out in Play On, the siblings are the only people that Carmen has truly grown close to in the last decade, that combined with the emotional connection with Ivy makes Ivy really the only person Carmen can actually share these things with.

Suhara treats Carmen like a kid, so of course he is going to treat the sibling duo as children as well.

Ivy treats Zack like her little brother because... it's really rather self explanatory. One of sticking points of older siblings is that they want to believe that no matter what they get up to, their younger sibling will always be innocent, and really good older siblings will try to preserve that innocence.

Zack's reactions are also believable. While there are a few different types of computer nerds out there, they all have one thing in common and that is that they know what is on the internet. While it is true that most of the internet is... not child friendly, that alone will not deter them from looking, and while the internet might inform people of things it is horribly impersonal. It is always different to see a picture of something than it is to really see it. It is different to read about an event than it is to either live through it or to be told about it from someone else who lived through the event. Even still, it is different to be told and to truly know.

For some people, there is simply no frame of reference and certain things fell unreal. Sure, they may know that the person telling them these things aren't lying, but until there is hard tangible evidence in front of their faces.

Carmen can steal anything.

Carmen always escapes.

Carmen always has a plan.

Carmen never gives up.

Carmen is nigh infallible.

Carmen is a towering pillar of self confidence and inner strength.

Those are things that Zack feels he truly knows. It is exceedingly difficult for him to reconcile them with "Carmen is a Victim." Zack also knows however that Carmen is human, and that Carmen is in pain. Carmen is in so much pain that he can almost reach out and touch it, and Zack wants to help her. His reaction in the chapter Blindfolded is also understandable, because while the internet might have begun desensitizing him in certain areas, Zack is still a sixteen or so year old hormone laden teenager with little actual experience with girls and Carmen is an attractive woman who he both admires and cares for.

So I feel that it is not the character interactions that make him feel like a tag along, but how he is underutilized as a point of view. Most of the plot has revolved around emotional hardships for Carmen so it is understandable that Zack isn't used as often, but in Play On you had Zack and Carmen exchange Morse code messages, had him take part in clandestine meetings, and had him read to Carmen while she was ill/drugged. In Gamemaster you showed his indignation at Carmen being blindfolded, had him program with Carmen, had Zack work with Ceria, and had him show concern over the direction that the clues were going. You have shown what Zack could be, the dynamic his interaction can impart, and I look forward to where you decide to use him more and when he gets promoted from tag along to a more active member of the team.

I also thoroughly approve of Ceria and think Zack should try to pursue the young lady despite his sister's misgivings on the subject.

Finally, your endings. If you were trying to write anything else, then yes, your endings could be a weakness. I am going to point out however that these stories are based on 'Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego.' In the end, Carmen escapes. While the 'violent criminal' or 'minion' might be brought to justice, and the loot returned, Carmen escapes, thus denying true closure. She then banters with the Player and thus continues the extreme game of trivia pursuit. A couple of the things that I like about this is that it is easy to pick up and continue on from, and that the Player is perceptive enough to have his/her image of Carmen grow with her to the point where the Player is now pulling for Carmen. While I would like to see more Carmen/Player interaction, I realize that it would be a tall order to actually do.

So, tl;dr, I love your stories especially this trilogy, and I look forward to you continuing this universe/reality/plot line. Keep up the great work!

.wow...

Fair enough. I'm not much of a fan of my ending either. It's probably apparent from this and blind faith that finishing chapter fics is not my forte. I'm working on it, but I suppose it's one of my many weaknesses. I'm open to suggestions on generally improving my endings, especially if you know of fics/literature that do this well.

That was actually a result of a mistake I made early on in the endgame series. I was under the mistaken impression that Zack was much younger than he was. He always read very innocent to me in the series. As a result I had the characters treating him as ten because... well I thought he was. By the time I figured it out, I was committed to the over-innocent depiction of him and didn't want to backpedal. However you do raise a fair point. I tend to downplay some characters in my work, and Zack is occasionally shortchanged, especially in terms of personal growth. I'll have to give some thought to how to balance my own personal interpretation of his innocence and goofiness with the reality of his being a detective.

Thanks for the review :)

That...was...one of...the most...disappointing and blatantly cliched endings I have ever read. Now the 'fic overall was pretty good, but...just...seriously aptasi?

P.S: WTF was up with Zack's characterization? Why did he get stuck with the "naive tag-along child" title(with everyone trying to shield him from the implications of rape and torture and him being shocked at the concept of *gasp* suicide)? Yes he is the youngest one of the group, but he's 16, not 10(to say nothing being a fellow detective, which, in a story like this, should make him MUCH more mature)! Also, by the end of the story, he isn't even all that important of a character...

I have never read a finer piece of work. I loved this show when I was young and you captured it perfectly. You showed the mature, darker side of the world, but kept the characters true to form. I was almost in tears for parts of the trilogy. Thank you so much for writing it.

(since I'm bored, here's a clue, form one nerd to another. See how fast you solve it.)

74-2-75 53-16 6-18-25?

OMG ITS OVER 0_0.. :(

" the pretty one in the red coat" - i loved this quote :) and she still got away.. :)

I'm reviewing in the rain, just reviewing in the raiiin. What a glorious feeeling I'm haaappy again... :D

1) Awww it's the end. :'(

2) Yay Ivy and your smarticle thinking!

3) ARE YOU SERIOUS CARMEN? ALL THAT SMARTICLE FOR NOTHING? WHAT THE FUUUUDGE POPS?

4) Carmen, you stuborn mule! Accept the darned help! To hell with their careers! ehehe _ sorry Ivy, although you're close, I don't care enough about you to save your job...

5) The eye of Miriam? Never heard.

6) AWWW goodbye hug makes almost everything better :3

7) Of course Carmen wouldn't need five minutes, silly girl.

8) I love the innocent description of Carmen. "The pretty one in the red coat." CUTE!

9) Still no idea what those words mean... I'll google translate it later.

10) And the chase continues...

And now to get out of this darn hail!

Awww, what a nice ending. :) Carmen will always have their back. I wonder what's going to happen to Ceria?

HORRAY FOR WIRES! :D haha leanne finally gets what she deserves even though i feel kinda bad the way she got it... and *sigh* ohh carmen, why do you have to be sooooooo nice... -_-

"You're not really going to date that girl are you?" Ivy asked.

Haha, Glad I read between the lines a few chapters ago. What a great line. :) I thought for sure Carmen wouldn't done some else to Leanne besides psychological terror, but I guess it wouldn't be within her character. :( Great chapter. I still I could play THIS game.

1) YES! LEANNE WILL GET WHAT SHE DESERVES!

2) Wait...what? D:

3) Darn you for being the better person Carmen. But that makes her amazing at the same time...grumble.

4) Yaaay Ivy! Congratulations on not being the bigger person! :D

5) Yaaaay Ray for being an even smaller person! But did he have to be the smaller person right after I ate a sandwhich? Ugh...I feel sick.

6) Is it strange that I miss Leanne? Or even...feel sorry for her?

7) Niiiice. It's always the nerdy ones I tell you.

8) Yaaaaay Ceria for being the TINIEST person on the scale. Well next to Leanne. So I guess it's (smallest to biggest) Leanne-Ceria-Ray-Ivy-Carmen. Well I gues we could boost Ceria since she did it in the name of good... but so did Ray...oh forget it, too confusing.

9) "He needed killing, so I killed him." I love that line XD

10) Oh Ivy, how I love you and your wires.

Sigh...once again I get lazy with reviews. You really need to remind me when I put things off like this.

1) MWAHAHA Leanne gets a taste of her own medicine! Not so bold when you're tied to a chair, are you Leanne?

2) I think I like Ivy more now...for not wanting Carmen to stoop as low as Leanne.

3)It scared me that Carmen wanted poor little Zack to watch...

4)Ugh, how lame. Offering up Acme to save her own waste of life.

5) "I hate you, Leanne." She growled. "I hate you, and Nicholas, and Ray, and every blasted person who knew I was innocent and didn't care!" Second!

6) Ooooh I wonder if she killed Leanne?

I could've made this list ALOT longer, and the original had 18 instead of 6 but then I realized all the other ones were about your word choice and flow, so I didn't want to sound repititive. To sum up the other 12, great choice of words! All the emotions were there and it just...flowed. Bravo!