The Superman At The End of This Story

[Big Daddy]

Chapter Ten

Outside the city of Metropolis, there was a nicely established manor nestled in the countryside; none other than the greatest thief of all time, Carmen Sandiego, owned both it and the property surrounding it. Only a day after their encounter in Smallville, Lefty and the Sleaze Brothers arrived at the manor in their truck; they were each mortified over what they had gone through in Kansas, and none of them were certain of how they should break the news to Carmen. Upon entering the manor, a man wearing a black fedora, dark sunglasses, and a black suit and tie greeted them; the man was one of the many VILE agents guarding the entire manor. His outfit was the exact same one that was worn by every agent in the organization, but that wasn?t the weirdest part of them; they all appeared to have no emotion whatsoever.

After being checked by the VILE agent, Lefty and the brothers were taken upstairs to Carmen?s office, which was an enormous room with lots of portraits of Carmen herself, accompanied by displays of all the valuable items that Carmen had stolen over the five years that she had spent living a life of crime. Lefty and the Sleazes had entered that room many times before; but every time they had, they were intrigued by everything Carmen had displayed in it. However, their admiration was shortened once their eyes were locked on the desk that sat near a gigantic window, with a view of the Metropolis city that was miles away. With her chair facing the three, Carmen spoke with an eerie hint of calmness in her voice.

?You didn?t get the crystal, did you?? Carmen said.

?Riiiight.? Lefty replied, though he really didn?t want to. ?But something?or should I say, someone kept us from getting it.?

?Let me guess?Superman?? Carmen said, and Lefty & the Sleazes were surprised that she knew, just as she tossed something backwards to them, which Sam caught at first but then dropped. Lefty bent over and picked up the object that Carmen had thrown; it was a copy of the Daily Planet that had a photograph of Superman himself on the cover. The headline read in big, bold words: ?Superman Returns!!? It explained how Superman rescued a malfunctioning jet plane before it had crashed into a baseball stadium.

?Uh, yeah?we just found out that he?s?? Sam said, but Carmen?as before?finished his statement for him.

?Back?? She said, as she swiveled her chair around to where she was facing the three criminals. ?I send you three to do the simplest thing I could possibly assign you, and you foul it up, just like that!?

?Hey, listen, Sandiego,? Sam said, getting frustrated, ?You?re the one who came to us! If you want to find someone else who can get these crystals for ya, then I suggest??

?I suggest you keep your mouth shut, Sleaze!? Carmen shouted, her voice echoing throughout the room and the rest of the manor. Sam immediately kept quiet, fear quickly replacing frustration. ?So you got your butts handed to you by Superman, at the same time you failed to retrieve the crystal.? As she spoke, she got up from her desk (in a very sultry way) and moved towards them. ?You know, each and every time you guys do something brainless, I find a better reason to turn you into supermen.?

?We?ll get the crystal for you, Miss Sandiego.? Sid assured. ?We just need a better plan.?

?Forget it.? Carmen said, moving back to her desk. ?While you three were off in the town of ?Yee-Haw?, a few of my agents and I were able to infiltrate the Vanderworth estate and get back the second Kryptonian crystal that Mr. Luthor stole from us.? She pulled out a key from one of her trenchcoat pockets and used it to unlock one of the desk drawers, which she was keeping the once stolen crystal in. ?So, not only do we have the crystal that Luthor had obtained, but we also have the one that the child and his friend had as well.? While Carmen was pulling the second crystal from the drawer, she pulled the one that she stole from Mac out of another trenchcoat pocket. The two Kryptonian crystals that Carmen held close together in front of her astounded lefty and the Sleazes.

?Great.? Sam said, with a smile that quickly faded. ?But there?s still the problem of getting that third and final one.?

?How much do you wanna bet that the bird and his friends from Mystery Inc. got it?? Lefty asked.

?I?m willing to bet your lives on that.? Carmen said, with a wicked grin. ?Knowing Mystery Inc., they?re always one step ahead of me. But, fortunately, I always find a way to get one step ahead of them.?

?You?ve got a plan, Miss Sandiego?? Sid asked.

?Don?t I always.? Carmen replied. ?While we were infiltrating the Vanderworth estate, I was able to find some notes that Luthor has been making on this master plan that he?s going to unveil soon on the world. Unfortunately, I wasn?t able to see what exactly it was that he?s planning to do, but I have found out a bit of intriguing information.?

?And what?s that?? Sam asked, just before Carmen reached into another desk drawer and pulled out a laptop and a compact disc. Setting the laptop on her desk and turning it on, she inserted the disc on the side of it afterwards, bringing a holographic image of a huge crystalline building that she immediately had shown to Lefty and the Sleazes.

?My friends, this is where we shall take the crystals to activate the gateway leading into the new planet?the Fortress of Solitude.? Carmen said, and Lefty & the brothers were impressed over the crystal structure of the complex. ?It?s Superman?s ?secret citadel?; somewhere where he can go to take a load off his mind. And it?s also a place where you can learn valuable bits of information that pertains to Superman?s former home of origin, Krypton.?

?I bet there are thousands of valuables in that pad that we can steal and make tons of money off of.? Sam said, shortly before Carmen slammed the laptop shut and glared into Sam?s eyes.

?We are not going to make cash off of crystals from another planet!? She yelled. ?We are going to use them to go to a planet that I wish to be the supreme ruler of! Yes! I?d like billions of people to bow down to one of the greatest kings of all time!? Sid couldn?t help but to notice the error that Carmen made in her last statement.

?Uh, don?t you mean one of the greatest queens of all time?? Sid said, and Carmen made a shallow expression after she realized her own mistake.

?Oh, yeah?right.? Carmen said, and Lefty & the Sleazes turned to each other with strange looks on their faces; neither of them would?ve ever expected a super intelligent thief like Carmen to make a small mistake like that.

?Riiiight.? Lefty said. ?So, getting back on the real issue at hand, how exactly are we gonna get that third and last crystal from our adversaries??

?Now that the detectives from Mystery Inc. know about my interest in the crystals, they?re going to be turning to their friends at the ACME Detective Agency for help finding out where I am.? Carmen said. ?And since the computers that ACME use in their headquarters are so advanced nowadays, I?m guessing that they?ll find the exact coordinates to our location within an hour.?

?An hour?!? Sam exclaimed. ?In that case, we?ve got to bail out of here, ASAP!!!?

?No use trying to hide from them, Sleaze.? Carmen said, while drinking a cup of what appeared to be coffee, but was black enough to look like oil. ?Like I said, their technology is very advanced, and it?d be useless to run.?

?So what do you suggest we do?? Sam asked, with a hint of hostility in his voice, which angered Carmen a little.

?First, I suggest you get the base out of your voice, before I have one of my agents turn you into guacamole that I would be happy to dip some nacho chips in.? Carmen said, and Sam immediately toned himself down, even though it really made him feel weak taking orders from a woman. ?The detectives have the crystal that we?re looking for, and we have the crystals that they would like to take away from us, in order to keep our plan from happening.?

?So you think we should play a game of cat-and-mouse with them, in order to trick them into coughin? up the last crystal?? Sid asked, and Carmen smiled at him, while applauding.

?Very good, Sid.? Carmen said, and it was difficult to tell if she was being sincere or sarcastic, since she was using a combination of both in her voice. ?Now I see who has the most brains out of the two brothers.? That comment really steamed Sam up; he had always seen himself as the one with all of the brains, seeing as how he was always coming up with new schemes. But he was able to keep himself from mouthing off to Carmen again.

?Thanks, Carmen?I mean, Miss Sandiego.? Sid said, and he looked at her with dreamy eyes, remarkably captivated by her stunning beauty, as well as her great intellect.

?Yes, since the detectives literally have no clue what I plan on doing with the crystals and because ACME?s mainframe has no record of the exact location of the Fortress of Solitude, I think that should be the perfect place to lead them to.? Carmen suggested. ?That way, they won?t see the trap that we?ll spring on them, upon entering the Fortress. It?s the perfect way to get the last crystal that we need to open the portal to the new planet.?

?Where exactly is the Fortress of Solitude again?? Sam queried.

?Up north in the Arctic, of course.? Carmen said. ?I guess Superman built it there, just so anyone who doesn?t like the cold won?t go near it. Unfortunately for him, I like the cold.?

?Yeah, but I don?t.? Sam said.

?Then I suggest you dress warmly, Sleaze,? Carmen said, ?Because the jet that?s supposed to take us there is going to leave in ten minutes.? With that said, Carmen headed out of her office, leaving Sam and Lefty feeling uncomfortable and Sid madly in love. Sam and Lefty could already feel themselves getting very cold, just thinking about the freezing atmosphere of the Arctic; but it was an unbearable love for Carmen Sandiego that kept Sid warm.

?The things you gotta do, just to obtain powers far greater than Superman?s.? Sam said. ?But, just think of it, once we do get powers like Superman, we won?t have to worry about freezing our heads off. And we probably don?t have to take any more orders from Carmen Sandiego, because we?ll be far more powerful than she?ll ever wish to be.?

?Riiiight.? Lefty said, while Sid gave the both of them a shocked look, figuring out what they had in mind. He wanted to speak up and defend someone he truly loved, but his cowardice was what kept him silent.

END OF CHAPTER TEN