Authornote:

Sorry, but I'm about to spam everyone's inbox with a massive 40 chapter upload of this story. lol I re-wrote the early chapters and decided to just repost the whole thing since I haven't uploaded here in a long time. I aim to update every 2 weeks. I also post on AO3 and there is artwork in many of the chapters there. Please leave me your comments because I really enjoy hearing from my readers.

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The Broken Silence

Chapter One

The Mission

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Carmen stared down at the city far below, feeling a little bit nostalgic as she took in the sights of the familiar streets. Her mission had brought her to Poitiers, France once again, and it felt like this city was where everything truly began. This was the city where she had first met Chase Devineaux, and when she had caught the attention of A.C.M.E.

"Red? Hello? Are you still there?" came the voice of a young boy.

Shivering as the cool Spring air blew through her long red hair, she pulled up her collar, and turned her attention to the communicator in her ear.

"Sorry, Player, got a little distracted, what was that you were saying?"

"Your mind in the clouds, Red?" Player responded with humour in his tone.

Carmen stared out the open hatch of the plane, observing how she was literally in the clouds at the moment, and she smirked . "You could say that."

"Get ready to jump." Player advised. "You need to land on the roof to avoid being seen. We need to time this just right so the fog covers your descent."

Carmen did one last check of her equipment, deemed herself ready and stepped closer to the hatch.

"You ready?" Player asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she confirmed.

"Okay, Red, at the count of three, jump," Player instructed, "Three, two, one go!"

Without hesitation, Carmen threw herself from the plane, relishing the feeling of exhilaration as she free-fell towards the city. With practiced ease, she pulled her chute, and then prepared herself to aim for the roof of the building.

"Okay, you're on track." Player stated. "The wind is low and you shouldn't run into any problems. The building is coming up, look for the large L-shaped roof with three satellite dishes."

"I see it." Carmen confirmed. "Going in for the landing."

Bracing herself, she hit the roof at a run, and cut away the parachute, without slowing her pace.

"I'm watching the security cams and no one has seen you." Player informed her, the sounds of him typing quickly coming through the com. "I've disabled security for the next 5 minutes in the air-ducts on the thirtieth floor. Your entry point is just to your left."

"Ok, on it." Carmen responded. "Zack, Ivy, are you in position?"

"Yep." Came Zack's voice. "We can be to the front doors in about ten seconds when you need us."

"We got your back, Carm." Ivy assured her. "Good luck."

Carmen didn't answer, already busy opening the air-duct. She slipped inside soundlessly, and then began crawling as fast as she could, knowing she didn't have much time.

"Michael Finnegan's office is just to your right." Player instructed.

Carmen easily found the office, and after making sure the coast was clear, she carefully opened the vent and slipped into the room. The corner office owned by Michael Finnegan was enormous, and clearly furnished to impress. She glanced around and saw the room was full of expensive and extravagant items, clearly an attempt to showcase how rich he was. She eyed a few of the more expensive antiques, but resisted and stepped past everything to make her way across the room.

"He should have a safe hidden somewhere in the room," Player informed her, "According to my research, he renovated his office about fifteen months ago, and he probably installed the safe then. There seems to be a lot of wiring and security on the North wall, and so I would probably look there."

Carmen glanced towards the North wall, and her eyes fell a large family portrait hanging behind the desk. She stared at Michael Finnegan and his family, and observed the man's red hair and cold looking eyes. His wife stood beside him smiling, her blond hair and blue eyes quite striking. Their six children stood in front of them, five with fiery red hair and blue eyes like their father, and the sixth with dark hair and dark eyes. Carmen shook her head at the sight of the family. By all accounts they looked like a completely normal family. It was hard to believe the Finnegans were responsible for causing so much pain and suffering in the world.

Carmen was going to stop them in any way she could, and her first order of business was finding that safe. Reaching out, she removed the painting from the wall, and then rolled her eyes.

"It was in the most cliche place possible," she said in amusement.

"He's rich, but apparently not very creative," Player replied with a snort, "So what kind of safe are we looking at?

Carmen inspected the safe thoughtfully for a few seconds, and then she frowned.

"Huh, interesting." Carmen whispered.

"Find the safe?" Player asked.

"It seems to have a fingerprint scanner, and something else I don't recognize." She frowned at the strange device, knowing better than to touch it.

"Retinal scanner?"

"No, I don't think so. This is something else..."

"Can you plug me in?" Player asked. "I can take a look at the security."

Carmen looked over the safe's control pad, and felt pretty confident she could get Player into it. Taking out her handheld communicator, she removed the plate covering the safe touchpad, and found a usb port.

"Oh, well this makes things easier," she whispered, plugging the com in. "Ok, Player, you should now be in."

"Already on it," Player responded, furiously typing on his keyboard. He was silent for a minute or so, and then the typing paused. "...oh no."

"What?" Carmen demanded. "What is it?"

"It's a DNA scanner!" Player exclaimed. "The safe is set to self-detonate if anyone tries to break into it. We only get one try at this..."

"DNA?" Carmen repeated with a frown. "We don't have his DNA."

"Are there any empty cups or pop bottles in the office?" Player asked.

Carmen glanced around but the office was immaculately clean. "I don't think Mr. Finnegan is the type of person to leave garbage lying around."

"This isn't good," Player admitted, "We'll have to leave and come back once we get a DNA sample."

"I can try disabling the bombs," Carmen suggested, already getting out her toolkit.

"No!" Player cut in sharply. "We can't risk it. The blast from that safe could kill you if you trip the explosives"

"If we don't get the hard drive out of this safe, a lot of people are going to get hurt." Carmen reminded him. "We don't have time to get a sample. I don't have a choice, I have to try right now."

"Wait." Player begged. "Just give me a minute, I have an idea."

"How long do I have before the cameras go active again?" Carmen asked, glancing towards the door.

"I have the camera feed on a loop from yesterday. The guards will be making their rounds in about ten minutes."

"Okay, but if you can't find a solution, I'll have to try to force my way in."

She could hear Player muttering to himself as he worked, and Carmen kept a wary eye on the door.

"If Michael Finnegan ever did one of those online ancestry DNA tests, I may be able to get his DNA information from it. There was a scandal a few years ago about his wife cheating on him, and so I bet he got a paternity test done on all of his children," Player stated thoughtfully. "I'm searching all DNA sites now, looking for him."

"Do you really think a billionaire would bother with a €49 DNA test? If he wanted that information, he probably has his own team of doctors that could perform it."

"Yes, he does have his own doctors," Player acknowledged. "But he is also incredibly cheap. This is the type of guy who never tips his waitresses, and who once shoplifted a box of cookies from a little girl selling them. I'm banking on the fact he didn't want to pay someone more than he had to."

Player went silent again as he worked, and just a few moments later, he let out a triumphant crow. "GOT HIM!"

Carmen raised a brow, "You mean he really did one?!"

"Sure did, and he used a coupon too. Only had to pay €39 plus tax. He got all of his kids done too." Player said excitedly. "Let's see here...Oops, looks like in the case of his oldest son, Michael Finnegan Jr. age twenty-two, he is not the father! That's gotta burn. His 'son' is his second in command in the Finnegan Mafia, and he's not even a real Finnegan!"

There was the sound of a bit more typing.

"Oh, wow, he wrote Jr. out of his will! That's harsh!"

"As interesting as all this is, can you hack the DNA reader to open the safe?"

"Already working on it, Red," Player assured her. "Just give me a few seconds."

Carmen suddenly glanced up in alarm, the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the outside hallway.

"Someone's coming!" She whispered to Player, quickly putting the painting back over the safe. "Going radio silent."

"Be careful, Red." Player whispered into her com.

The office door began to open, and Carmen dove under the nearby desk just as the lights were flipped on. Knowing this was not the most ideal hiding spot, she huddled as small as she could, having a feeling she was going to have to fight her way out of this room. If she had to fight, she would fail to get the hard drive.

"You should have been here an hour ago," the voice of Michael Finnegan Sr. scolded. "If this is how V.I.L.E conducts their business, then I may have to reconsider this partnership."

Carmen hadn't heard two people enter the room, but when she peered under the desk, she could see two pairs of legs.

The other person said nothing, and Mr. Finnegan muttered angrily to himself as he crossed the room. Carmen remained curled under the desk, and watched as Michael Finnegan removed the painting from the wall. Just as he was opening the safe, there was the sound of a loud bang, the sound of shattering glass, and then an exclamation of surprise from Mr. Finnegan. Carmen saw him scramble away from the window, and to her horror, she realized someone had just shot at him.

There was a deafening series of bangs that filled the room, and a rain of bullets exploded all around them. Carmen curled up even tighter as she heard bullets strike the desk, and Michael Finnegan swore loudly, and ran for the back of the room where there were no windows. When the hail of bullets finally ceased, there was pause, and then Michael Finnegan once again let out a loud curse.

"Red?" Player whispered. "Red, are you alright?! I heard gunshots!"

There was suddenly the sound of a fist hitting flesh, and Carmen saw a thin figure hit the floor hard. As Michael stepped towards the fallen man, she saw the smaller man scramble to get away from him. He was quickly grabbed by the much bigger Mr. Finnegan.

"You tried to have me assassinated!" Michael Finnegan snarled. "I knew V.I.L.E couldn't be trusted!"

Carmen winced as she heard another hit, wondering who the unfortunate operative was.

"I've heard the rumours about Russia, and the disgusting things you people are doing up there, and now I know V.I.L.E betrays everyone they partner with. I never should have trusted V.I.L.E."

There was a third hit, and Carmen saw several droplets of blood land on the floor beside her.

Michael Finnegan took a deep and angry breath before continuing. "You messed with the wrong man." he said, his voice going dangerously calm. "I am going to bring down V.I.L.E, and I will make sure each and every operative is gutted! You've made the worst mistake of your life, kid."

Michael Finnegan must have then hit some sort of alert button, because suddenly an alarm was sounding, and the room swarmed full of security.

"Is anything the matte-" the guard cut off at the sight of the destroyed room.

"What do you think, genius?" Michael Finnegan snapped.

"We need to get you to a safe room!" a guard exclaimed in alarm.

"I'm fine," Michael replied impatiently, "V.I.L.E has betrayed us, and they tried to assassinate me."

The guards immediately seized the operative. "Should we shoot him, Sir?" one of the guards asked.

"No, not yet. I want to extract every bit of information this idiot knows. Drag him downstairs and give him to my son for questioning." Mr. Finnegan ordered. "Tell Mj not to kill him until I say otherwise."

"Where should we secure him?" one of the guards asked.

"I don't care, just get him out of my sight. Make sure you search him, and take everything he has! If he escapes, I will hold you personally responsible."

"Er… yes, Sir!" the guard replied nervously. "He won't escape, I promise!"

Carmen watched as the unknown V.I.L.E operative was dragged out of the room, and knew it would be suicide to give herself away now. Staying as still as possible, she watched as Mr. Finnegan put the painting back in place over the safe, and then he approached the desk. He grabbed something out of his desk drawer, and then stormed from the room, cursing angrily as he went.

"Well, that was interesting," Player commented. "Why would V.I.L.E try to kill Michael Finnegan when they were trying to secure a partnership?"

"V.I.L.E must have just wanted the hard drive, and didn't plan on failing in the assassination."

"Who did they capture just now? Did you know him?"

Carmen frowned. "I couldn't tell who it was; all I could see were their legs."

"I have a bit of good news though," Player told her. "Michael Finnegan forgot to lock the safe. You can just open it and take the hard drive."

"Really?" Carmen asked in surprise.

"It's too dangerous for our original plan of escape, and so you'll need to grapple from the broken window. Zack and Ivy can catch you as you come down."

Although he couldn't see her, she nodded, and crawled out from her hiding spot. Removing the painting, she pulled open the safe, and found the hard drive. Ignoring the enormous wads of cash and jewels, she closed the safe, and put the painting back in place. Hopefully it would take them a while to realize it was gone.

Approaching the window cautiously, she peered out, but could see no sign of the gunman. Knowing she had no choice but to chance it, she leapt out of the window, grappling the nearby stone gargoyle as she did so. Luckily no one opened fire on her, and she lowered herself down into the waiting red convertible.

Zack and Ivy were all smiles when they saw her, and Zack flashed her a thumbs up. As Zack stepped on the gas to speed away, Carmen glanced behind her with a frown.

Who was it that Michael Finnegan captured, and what was he planning on doing to the man? Was he going to kill him? Thoughts of who it could be made her uneasy, and Carmen hoped it wasn't anyone she knew. Crackle, El Topo and Le Chèvre flashed in her mind, and she grimaced at the thought of any of them getting hurt. As much as she hated V.I.L.E, she didn't want any of her former friends to be hurt. As they turned a corner and lost sight of the building, Carmen had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

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TBC