*Facepalm* I accidentially posted this chapter with the last chapter... Bad Cassandra, bad!

(:)

"Yo, Play, how long until we can head out again?" Carmen inquired, kicking her legs boredly out again and again, sighing dramatically. "I'm getting bored being cooped up; I have serious Isle of VILE vibes goin' on right now."

"First of all, you can go whenever you want. Forgive me for being a bad host, but this," Player waved his hand at his computer. "Is giving me a headache. Second… 'Play'?" Player snorted, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, you're not allowed to give nicknames ever again."

"I was better at the academy!" Carmen insisted, huffing. "Graham became 'Gray', Sheena's alias was 'Shin', Antonio was 'Ant', Jean Paul was 'JP', and Doak was 'Doe'."

"Who's Doak?" Player sniffed, swiveling around in his chair to face the computer and look up the name.

"Mime Bomb." Carmen informed him, shifting in her seat. "Nobody knew his real name except the faculty, and me, since I was pretty close with Coach Brunt, who enjoyed talking to me and answered almost every question I had."

"Huh." Player blinked, frowning, returning to his computer. "Doak means 'quiet'. I guess he's one of those rare people whose name actually means what he really is."

"That's…weird." Carmen stated, peering over his shoulder.

"You nicknamed Sheena 'Shin'?!" Player repeated incredulously, the information finally clicking. "Well, that makes perfect sense!" He determined, thumping the table with a laugh and an eye roll.

"Wait, it does?" Carmen blinked, straightening eagerly. "Nobody thought it did at the island! I knew that it was-"

"No, no, Sheep, or, uh, Carmen, I don't think you understand. I meant it makes perfect sense that Tigress hates you now. Like, I was all 'Wait, she hates my best friend? How could anyone? She's the coolest person I've ever met! Which, I suppose, isn't saying much, but still!' And now, that I've heard your nickname for her, it all makes sense! My life is now complete!"

"You're the worst." Carmen scoffed, nudging his arm. "Besides, she was mean to me, first. Also, I only said it in front of her once. Never making that mistake again."

"You nicknamed her 'Shin', so what did you expect?" Player deadpanned, arching an eyebrow. "Could be worse. You could have nicknamed her 'Sin'."

"Ooh, that's good!" Carmen cried, clapping her hands together. "When I go 'vigilante', I'll probably see her again at some point, and I'll absolutely use that!"

"Do me a favor, and don't tell her your best friend came up with that. She'll hunt me down, Carmen, and I really don't want that." He sighed, resting one cheek on his knuckles. "I don't exactly have the time. Especially with school starting back up after you leave. Lots of work to be done, and all that jazz."

"Haha, on my word, Player, they won't even know you exist." Carmen promised, beaming at him confidentially. "I took classes on acting, making forgeries, and on hiding secrets and objects. I can totally fool everyone into thinking I handle everything solo."

"Great point!" Player nodded, tapping his lip with a pencil he picked up. "And if you get a bigger team? Like I hope you'll consider doing because it's dangerous to be solo all the time."

"Once we decide we can trust them, we'll tell them about you. If you want." Carmen promised, crossing her leg daintily.

"Alright, here." Player tossed her the pencil and a notepad, swiveling back to the computer. "While I decode, you write down things you don't know how to do but need to do, and I'll look up some Freelancers who specialize in those tasks later. Hope you took improv classes, too, because you're going to need some cover stories to tell them."

(:)

Player had just finished online shopping with Carmen - for new fedoras and trench coats for her to wear while heisting - when a bright idea occurred to him. She had backed off to write down 'getaway driver' on her list - Player wasn't sure how he'd find someone to do that particular task; maybe an Uber would work - so the young hacker was in the perfect position to swivel around dramatically.

"How about, just hear me out, but… 'Red'." Player clapped his hands together, arching an eyebrow at her. "Like, for a nickname."

"Red." Carmen echoed back, frowning a bit as she finished writing down 'driver' on the notepad. "Huh. I mean, it fits. Rolls of the tongue nicely. A new nickname would probably also help you stop calling me 'Sheep'."

"One would hope." Player sighed dramatically, sighing. "Besides, you're trying to veto everything VILE stands for; VILE's main color is green. Yours is literally the opposite; red. Might as well solidify it, and what better way to with a nickname?"

"Agreed!" Carmen tipped the notebook as if it were a cup and she was preforming a toast. Player tapped his mouse against it in return, the best friends exchanging a grin.

"So, how, exactly, good are you at being stealthy?" Player inquired, switching back over to the tab that was tracking the shipping progress of Carmen's new outfits. "Because bright, cherry red is going to be hard to sneak around in."

"I like to think I'm good at sneaking, but I don't exactly plan to do it often. In fact, I think it'd be cool to flashy and show myself off a lot of the time. Like, before a caper, show up somewhere near ahead of time."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Player pursed his lips, hesitating, fingers hovering over the keyboard. "They'll probably eventually find the pattern eventually. Like, put together your strategy."

"When that time comes, we'll change it." Carmen shrugged, rolling her shoulders. "Besides, I can remove the fedora and trench coat at any time."

"Not a good idea if you want to carry your gadgets with you all the time." Player pointed out with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "I suppose if we hired whoever is going to craft your equipment to also build in a kill-switch… that might work. We could activate it remotely to fry everything. We'd have to build in several fail-safes, too, to make sure nobody else could control the self-destruct, because it could hurt you if they were destroyed while you were still earing your jacket."

"Good plan." Carmen nodded, tapping her chin. "I'm guessing it'd be uncomfortable to be wearing normal clothes while doing thief-y things. So, I need something to wear underneath, too, which would make sneaking easier. Especially if it were black or something.

"What about a jumpsuit?" Player inquired, looking up black jumpsuits on his mother's favorite website to online clothes shop. He found a cool one, but he noticed that, somehow, it had boots. Which would probably be very inconvenient if the myths he had heard were true. "Is it actually impossible to run in heels?"

"Uh… I don't know. I have a unique foot shape, so heels don't really work well on me." Carmen told him, cocking her head. "When we were in the costume room at VILE trying on all sorts of accessories, I liked wearing the heels – they felt fancy – but they're not good long-term. Better for ordinary-footed people, such as Tigress. Who wears them like crazy. She had no problem running and climbing in them."

"Hmm." Player nodded, staring at the jumpsuit. "Maybe we could find someone to modify the heels to fit your foot shape."

Carmen leaned over his shoulder, mouth dropping open a second later into a gape. "Wow. So, this is what you were talking about. It's amazing! Not a fan of the long sleeves if I'm being honest. Especially since I'll be wearing a heavy trench coat on top of this. Imagine how hot it would get in the Sahara! The gloves are a nice touch, but I prefer them ending around the wrist area."

"Note, if we got this, it would first go to a seamstress, who you would probably also have to meet, but only once to get measurements and to state your preferences. That way any necessary adjustments could be made; even for future projects we might send their way."

"Perfect!" Carmen agreed, clapping excitedly. "Order it!"

"Well, there's a few more choices to be made. Like color. Black?" At Carmen's nod, he clicked on the proper color. "This is actually like a charcoal grey. Pretty close to black, but not quite. Fabric? There's spandex, polyester, and then a spandex-polyester mix."

"Ooh, yeah, the wardrobe had us feel all sorts of fabrics to choose the most comfortable. Spandex is good for stretching, and polyester absorbs sweat really well, and I'm naturally sweaty. Let's go spandex-polyester."

"Both. Both. Both. Both is good." Player quoted the meme, ! Finally, for a zipper; full body, running from your neck all the way to your heel, but only down one side, or just partway down your chest?"

"Partway. Full-body seems…odd."

"Agreed." Player nodded, pressing the 'order' button. "Should arrive tomorrow; you'll try it on to see how well it fits, then we'll hire a seamstress to look into it."

"Perfect! Oooh, I can't wait to wear my costume for the first time! It's going to look so good!"

"That reminds me, Red, you said you wanted your hair long. Do we need to go wig-shopping, too?" Player inquired, tilting his head up to face her. "Or do we just need to wait until it grows out?"

By Carmen's face, there was no way she was going to be patient enough to let it grow out naturally.