Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds
Title: In The Line of Duty
Romance: Jack x Carly
Word Count: 2,331
Genres: Humor, Romance
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Carly is a reporter. This means she reports things. Even if it's her car being stolen. And even if she's trying to get an interview with the thief. From the passenger seat.

It was one of those perfect days that came along, in Carly's opinion, not nearly often enough. The sky was a luscious shade of blue, the air was warm and clear, she was going to be seeing Jack later that day, and she had an actual assignment from the newspaper. It wasn't much, just a little article for the financial section, but Carly wasn't going to argue about it. It would help pay her rent, after all, and maybe she could check into getting some of the dents in her car fixed up as well.

Modern banking practices and how they've changed since the completion of the bridge and everything being connected. Carly hardly knew that much about banking practices, modern or otherwise, but she was a reporter! She would think of questions to ask even when there were none to be asked!

Now, the next order of business was where she could park. There was a lot near the bank that was her destination, but it tended to fill up fairly quickly, being in such a busy part of town. She was probably going to have to park on the street somewhere. Well, it wasn't as if she weren't used to it. She knew where all of the really good parking spots were anyway.

"Ah-ha! There you are!" Conveniently, this spot was just a short distance away from the bank itself. She couldn't have planned this better if she'd tried! She tucked her small car into the spot, in between a sleek black motorcycle and a sports car that wasn't anywhere nearly as battered as her own vehicle was, and hunted around for everything she was going to need to take with her.

Ring, ring, ring! At first, she wondered if her cell phone was going off. Then the noise penetrated a bit more deeply and she was out of the car a moment later. That was a bank alarm! She hadn't heard one in so long that she'd almost forgotten what they sounded like. People just didn't rob banks in this city! That was what being utopia was all about!

Or had been. Obviously that was different now. Her mind began to scatter along another wavelength. Had there been an upsurge in crime since the merger and did it have anything to do with the unification of the cities? Or were there people who already lived here who had just been waiting for the poor innocent souls of Satellite to be available to take the blame for their own nefarious doings, while they sat back in unearned comfort and laughed?

She had to get out and find out what was going on. Was it at this bank? Of course it was, there weren't any other banks around for at least four more streets, and she could hear that alarm as clearly as if she were standing right next to it. She wriggled out of her seat, searching at the same time for her notepad and camera. She couldn't waste time! The robber or robbers would get away if she did! Her editor would never forgive her if she missed out on this! Financial column be damned! This was a scoop!

Just as she got out of her car, and just barely managed to get out of it and not catch her foot on the door and fall flat on her face, she could hear quickly moving footsteps coming towards her, and shouts of "Stop! Stop!"

Carly turned just in time to see a masked man carrying a gun running towards her. No, not towards her: towards the motorcycle behind her! Oh, he was going to try to get away on that? She grinned; this was great! She could get a scoop and try to stop him at the same time!

She started forward, trying to move around the end of her car. She had to hurry if she were going to do it; he'd be out of there in no time if he got to his cycle before she could get to him.

Unfortunately, the gods were not with Carly today. Not that she would have objected a great deal if she had known that. She'd had a god with her once before, and much preferred that they stay out of her life altogether. At any rate, this particular day's lack of divine attention led her to put her foot down in a small dip in the road, scarcely enough to be called a pothole. It was, however, enough to send her balance completely out of whack, and knock her into the getaway motorcycle. And that, in it's turn, sent the motorcycle crashing down onto the ground a mere second before the rightful owner would have thrown his leg across and been ready to depart with the ill-gotten gains.

The bank robber stared only for a moment before he started to move around her, muttering a few words of profanity under his breath that might have impressed Carly if she hadn't known better ones. He shoved her to the side before she could completely get back on her feet and…he didn't! He wasn't! Carly was not going to let him get away with that! Especially without an interview first!

As fast as the robber threw himself into her car and started to fumble at the keys, which she only realized now that she'd left in the ignition in her eagerness to get out an interview him, she threw herself in on the other side even faster. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I could ask you the same thing! Get out of here!" The robber glared, getting the car going and pulling out, the side of the car slamming partially into the one that was parked in front of her. Carly managed to avoid getting squished, though exactly how she was never entirely sure, and slammed the door behind herself. "Get out!"

"No! This is my car and I'm not letting you go anywhere with it! Not without me!" This was probably not one of her wiser decisions, but she was going to run with it. What else could she do, anyway? Besides, she was determined to get some kind of an interview from this guy, now that she was there.

Some sort of sound that was a mix between a growl and a groan issued from the robber's throat. "Look, just get out and you won't get hurt. Or at least be quiet. Maybe I can use you for a hostage or something. Got anyone who might want to spend a few bucks to get you back?"

Carly thought about that for a moment or two. "Well, there's Jack. He might. Jack Atlas coming to save me…" She hoped, anyway. That would be rather pleasant…and he'd already done it once before, after all. Sort of. That was a bit of a confusing situation anyway, and one that she preferred not to think about, since she couldn't remember most of it anyway.

"Oh, let me guess. You're a fan of Jack Atlas and you think he'd come roaring to the rescue if he knew about this, right?" The robber snorted violently at that. "Yeah, you just get in line. My sister, my cousin, my brother, and half the city are already in front of you."

Carly wriggled around so she was actually sitting up in her seat. Her notepad and pen were still in her purse and she dug them out quickly. "Mind if I get an interview while we're driving?" She didn't wait around for a reply as she started to think up questions. "What's your name? How old are you? Do you do this for a living or is it some kind of a sideline to your regular job? Are you from Satellite or Tops? Have you always lived there?"

"Do you know how to shut up!?" The robber threw a quick glance over his shoulder, then stepped on the accelerator. This was not the best car that could have been picked for a getaway, in Carly's opinion. Granted, she was getting some kind of a weird interview out of this, come hell or high water, but still, he could've picked something with a little more speed to it.

Well, since it had occurred to her. "Why did you pick my car to steal? Was it just because I knocked over your motorcycle?"

"It was because it was the closet thing there that I could get into. The other car had its door locked and if I'd taken the time to smash it open and hotwire it, I would've already been caught. You were stupid, so you got me. Lucky you, right?" He yanked the wheel to the right, taking a turn far harder than Carly ever had, and sped up once again, looking back now and then to judge how close the pursuers were. "You know, I think I could make better time if I got out and ran!"

"You haven't answered my questions yet!" Carly waved her pen at him in the most threatening manner that she could manage, which really put her more in danger of putting her own eye out. "Why did you choose to rob the bank today? Was it your day off from your regular job? How much did you steal? Did you shoot anyone?"

"I'm going to shoot you if you don't be quiet!" He looked back once again, and his eyes widened. "What in the hell…"

Carly risked a look back herself, and grinned. Yes! Excellent! "It's Jack! Jack Atlas!"

"No way…" The robber shook his head. "No, it's just a coincidence. That is not Jack Atlas, and he is not coming this way."

Carly's grin only broadened. "Yes, it is, and yes he is! And he's coming because you kidnapped me!"

"I did not!" He glared down at her through his mask. "You jumped into the car yourself!"

She waved a hand carelessly. Details, details, that's all that was. "Now, are you going to answer my questions before he stops you or what?"

That got another not-answer, as the robber floored the pedal even more. Carly tried to think of more questions, noting down the ones she'd already asked. "What do you think life in prison will be like? Have you ever been there before?" She couldn't tell if he had any markers on him already or not. That mask hid quite a lot.

"No, I haven't!" He finally snapped roughly. "And I'm not going to be going, either!" He twisted the wheel again, and Carly winced, hearing the tires shriek in protest. She had hoped she wouldn't need to get new ones this soon.

Another look back showed that Jack, in Wheel of Fortune, was getting closer and closer. She couldn't see his face, not with the distance and his helmet being on, but she imagined that he was extremely furious at her being in such danger.

No matter how many twists and turns he took, however, there was no way to get away from Jack, much less from the cops that were zooming behind him. Especially not in Carly's car, and especially not with Carly there thinking up as many new questions to ask him as her bubbly brain could manage.

"Damn it!" He spat out the words as he realized too late that somehow, he'd been lured towards a dead-end. Maybe if he tried to…

Bang! The noise was horrendous, and a shriek of rubber against metal echoed suddenly even as the roof of the car dipped down a good inch or two. Carly squealed, half in shock, half in anger, as Wheel of Fortune appeared in front of them, and Jack slammed on his brakes, whirled to a stop, and simply glared at the oncoming car.

Carly always wondered if the robber had stopped the car himself or if the car stopped itself simply because of the way Jack was looking at it. It was rare to find a question she didn't want to know the answer to, but she reasoned that it didn't really matter in the end anyway.

Lights and police cars and motorcycles spun up behind them and both sides, making certain that he couldn't go anywhere. Carly wriggled out of the car and stared at the top of it for a moment before she looked over at Jack. Any words she might've had to say about died as he removed his helmet. She had seldom seen that look of concern in his eyes, and she wasn't going to complain about it now.

"Hey, can you guys get me out of here?" The robber asked plaintively. "She's crazy, I've got Jack Atlas after me, and I'd like to go somewhere with some sanity."

"Hand over your gun and the money." One of the officers declared. Carly thought he sounded like he was about to burst out laughing herself, especially as the robber obediently did so. "Come on, out of the car."

She hurried over, still feeling Jack's eyes on her back, and tapped the robber on the shoulder. "Hey, think you could answer some of my questions first?"

He stared at her, then looked back at the cops. "Can we go? Please?"

Carly wanted to ask again, but Jack's hand, firm on her shoulder, distracted her. "What did you think you were doing?" he asked gruffly.

"Uh, trying to get an interview?" She started to look over her car again, knowing that her cheeks were flaming at Jack's attention. "It all happened so fast, Jack, really…"

"Hmph. Let's get this heap over to the garage. We can get it taken care of there." He didn't wait around for her to say yes or no, just gestured for her to get inside. She smiled a little as she moved around to the driver's seat.

She wondered if she could ask Yuusei to leave the dent in the top, where Wheel of Fortune had hit it.

After all, a girl needed her trophies.

The End