As the sun rose above the horizon, warm light shined through the shoji screens, with the faces of Lapis, Peridot, and Pumpkin having a yellow-orangish tint. In another room, dabbled light touched the faces of Stevonnie and Bismuth. The bedroom containing the women of the house, as it could be called, was empty. Utena, Anthy, and Chu-Chu were early risers, and were cooking a huge breakfast for everyone. Anthy prepared steamed white rice (hakumai), while Utena put together a delicious miso soup with dashi soup stock, tofu cubes, chopped green onion, and a bit of miso paste. This recipe would be nothing like Steven’s unhealthy “together breakfast” (waffles, whipped cream, popcorn, and maple syrup garnished with a strawberry) or Lars’s purple ube roll. It would be something unique for the Gems and Stevonnie, although normal for house’s usual occupants. After the bowls with their collection of wooden chopsticks on a woven wooden mat, with small vegetable side dishes, seasoned dried seaweed, and pickled vegetables, had been set out, the smells of the miso soup wafted around the house. It woke up Lapis with a start, as she slipped out of Peri’s embrace, who remained asleep like Pumpkin. She tip-toed down to the kitchen where she saw three smiling faces welcoming her. As Utena began to speak, Anthy spoke softly and calmly.

“Hello, Ms. Lapis. It’s a pleasure to see you this delightful morning. What would you like for breakfast? We have a wide selection here for you to choose from.”

Lapis grinned back, thanking them for making this wonderful meal. She dug right in, almost immediately. She had never tasted anything so delicious. She and Peri had grown rows of vegetables at their farm, like pumpkins, corn, and carrots, in hopes of making them sentient. But these fords were rarely used this food for cooking. Instead, awful junk food or anything either one stole from the Beach House when no one was looking was often eaten by them. This included Peri’s snatching of Steven’s clothes when he wasn’t looking and wearing the clothes, something that Lapis didn’t do, as a matter of principle. On a physical level, Lapis didn’t need to eat, but she liked to, not because it made her feel “weird” as Amethyst described it, but rather because it was fulfilling and made her feel better. For her, eating served as a sort of stress reliever from everyday hardships. As she continued eating a tasty miso soup, especially enjoying the tofu chunks, Peri and Pumpkin came into the room. She didn’t care if anyone found out about this “guilty pleasure” of hers, a sea change from how she had acted in Mystacor when fused with Stevonnie, becoming Stevolinnie. At the time, Peri didn’t tell anyone else about her love for food, keeping it a secret. Now that they were on Earth, she wanted to be more open about their relationship and herself, not hiding a part of her identity from friends.

Seeing Lapis happily chow down the miso soup, a look of shock washed across Peri’s lime green face. She didn’t expect to see Lapis act so “boldly.” She warned her of the possible consequences and worried about what would happen next.

“Lapis!...I thought you said that you didn’t want anyone to know about your love of food…Gems don’t need to eat, don’t you remember?”

Snickering heartily, Lapis tussled Peri’s messy pale chartreuse yellow hair. If she had been wearing her visor, her hair would have been more orderly. Despite what you could gather from her usual appearances, she didn’t wear the visor all day long, only when she needed to concentrate on the task ahead. She beamed at Lapis, calming down, her green eyes lovingly looking at Lapis’s navy-blue eyes. Just then, Stevonnie and Bismuth came into the room, astonished by the sight before them, despite what both knew about Lapis and Peri.

While the relationship between Lapis and Peri was obvious to any casual observer, Lapis eating food wasn’t something either one of them predicted. Bismuth, still developing her friendship with these two Gems, didn’t know what to say. Due to the confusion during the Gem War, neither Bismuth nor Lapis recalled their previous interaction. In fact, Bismuth had poofed Lapis during the Rebellion due to her alignment with Homeworld. This stopped her from being used for her “original purpose”: to terraform the Earth to help turn the planet into a colony. It led her to be imprisoned by Homeworld Gems inside a mirror for thousands of years, mistaken for a Crystal Gem. She was left behind by retreating Homeworld Gems, only to be found by Pearl. She then stayed inside Pearl’s Gem until Steven set her free as his “Beach Summer Fun Buddy.” Taking this into account, Stevonnie took the initiative and said something that brought up the obvious question: that Lapis liked food.

“Lapis, I didn’t know you ate food, since it isn’t necessary because of your Gem. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I thought Amethyst was the only one who loved food as much as me. Pearl and Garnet don’t like consuming food, so it’s great to have another friend that likes it too!”

While Stevonnie’s comment made her embarrassed, with part of her cyan blue cheeks turning dark blue, she snorted and cackled. She hugged Stevonnie back, telling them she appreciated their acceptance of her as a fellow being, respecting her wants and desires. Peri decided to share her love for food too. She enjoyed the vegetable side dishes and pickled vegetables, experiencing tastes she had never come across before. It surpassed eating ice cream, chips, or any of the junk food usually in the Beach House. While Utena and Anthy offered Bismuth food, she politely declined their offer. Pumpkin sat patiently in the same room, as she didn’t need food to eat as a sentient creature created by Steven for a “good cause.”

After finishing their meal and cleaning up the breakfast dishes, everyone, but Anthy and Chu-Chu, who went outside to pick vegetables from the garden, came into the ima, sitting on tatami mats around the small chabudai. The time to plan their next move was evident. Putting on her visor, Peri’s hair became cone-shaped, ensuring the hair stayed of out of her eyes, like how other Peridots used their visors from what she had observed. Rather than going down into the house’s bunker, the surveillance footage on the robonoids could easily be accessed from her tablet. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But she suggested a trip to the candy settlement to survey the surroundings for possible evildoers. Stevonnie, Lapis, and Bismuth were up to the challenge, as was Utena. She had one proviso: she would only join them if she could wear a blindfold to shield her from the horror, she had seen first-hand in the candy settlement. Peri accepted this and tied a handkerchief around Utena’s head, covering her eyes. As a skilled fighter who had beaten every single member of the student council at the Ohtori Academy, she could easily fight with her eyes closed.

Each of them suited up for their journey into Yokohama. While Peri had a trash lid to float on and defend herself with, Stevonnie with a new sword, and Utena with a katana in a sheath, neither Lapis nor Bismuth had any weapons other than the innate abilities their gemstones possessed. Every one of them raced toward the city at breakneck speed, Peri riding on the trash lid with Stevonnie, Lapis with Bismuth and Utena. The robonoids reported to Peri that a group of shadowy figures could be seen in the distance. As she examined the footage closer, determining the robonoids’ observations were correct, the earth began to rumble and shake. She shouted “everyone, get ready for battle! The fight is coming to us!”

Standing in front of them was a Spanish man, 5 feet three inches tall, dressed in a black stealth suit, wearing tunneling gloves, and with a tan skin complexion. Nicknamed “The Human Mole” or “El Topo,” as he called himself, Antonio faced them. About to pounce upon Lapis, Pumpkin growled and barked, and jumped into the air. Her tail-stem whipping him in the face, giving him a rash, and she bit him with all her strength. Even El Topo couldn’t face a being like her, falling to the ground in defeat. As he crawled away, tending to his wounds, his oft partner, Le Chevre, a French man with dark skin, wearing a black stealth suit, also known as the Human Goat, took his place. Tigress, Paper Star, Silky Snapper, and a legion of henchmen joined him. Although it seemed that the Gems and their friends were outnumbered, Peri had one trick up her sleeve. While her robonoids moved to safety, her green attack drones approached, controlled by her tablet. She aimed their laser cannons at the evildoers and fired a barrage, causing them to scatter. While Le Chevre did his best to protect himself and his partner, El Topo, from the incoming laser blasts, Paper Star, a Japanese teenager, ran full speed ahead toward Peri. Using her trash can, she deflected the twirling origami stars thrown at her, although she couldn’t do much more. Seeing her in trouble, Lapis used her Gem powers to push Paper Star away, making her paper soggy and heterochromic hair (half black, half white) drip with water. Angrily, her black eyes stared at Lapis, annoyed she had been defeated so easily, even though this light-composed being was unlike anything she had clashed with in the past. She lay in the dirt, growling like an irritated house cat.

With El Topo injured and Le Chevre pinned down by the attack drones, there remained Silky Snapper, Tigress, and the henchmen. A bit like El Topo, Tigress, an American in her late 20s or early 30s, with white skin and a cat suit with black and green accents and orange stripes, could ruthlessly attack anyone with razor sharp claws attached to her gloves. Putting on her night vision goggles, she approached Utena, who seemed like an easy mark because of her blindfold. But she guessed wrong. Sensing her movement, Utena went on the offensive, aggressively slicing Tigress’s claws. While she could easily fight someone like Carmen, she had never faced someone as determined. Although her hands were hurting from the slices by the katana, she continued fighting. Thinking she had the advantage, the pinkish blade of Stevonnie’s straight short sword struck her left glove, while she attempted to fend off Utena’s katana with her right glove. She couldn’t anticipate Bismuth sneaking up behind her and knocking her out cold with her arm that had turned into a hammer. Lapis proceeded to freeze and imprison Tigress in ice.

The V.I.L.E. operatives were on a losing streak. Only Silky Snapper remained. She moved headfirst with her henchmen. Unlike Le Chevre, El Topo, Paper Star, or Tigress, she didn’t have any unusual abilities or strengths. As this legion of evildoers advanced, Peri threw her trash can lid like a frisbee, hitting the henchmen in their heads, causing them to fall, unconscious. Silky dodged the lid and took out her net gun, shooting at them. Bismuth saved everyone by transforming one of her arms into scissors, cutting through the net, while she used the other to incapacitate Silky. Like with Tigress, Lapis froze her in ice, doing the same with Paper Star. Only Le Chevre and El Topo remained. The attack drones ended their attack and attempted to surround them. Taking this as an advantage, these evildoers began to storm at their foes. Moving the drones away, Peri thought she’d give Lapis a chance to fend them off.

Using her ability to control water, she struck back, chuckling with delight. Soon, a wounded El Topo and Le Chevre looked in shock at two beings approaching. They were water clones that had the same strength and abilities as them! As both evildoers tried to throw punches, these beings blocked them at every turn. After deciding to work together, the water clones began to falter, breaking apart and shattering into thousands of pieces. El Topo and Le Chevre approached Lapis and Peri with malevolent grins on their faces, with both seemingly doomed. Once again, Pumpkin saved the day. Launching through the air, her two-pumpkin seed-eyes concentrated on her target. Biting an injured El Topo, hurting him once more, her tail-stem slapped Le Chevre in the face. When he tried to grab her stubby legs, she pushed him onto the dirt. Neither of these evildoers could believe a sentient pumpkin had beaten them and were dazed from the fight.

Although injured, El Topo and Le Chevre tried to get up, readying themselves to attack. Lapis, tired from fighting people like them, angrily bound them in ice shackles while Peri took off their special gloves. Bismuth struck them both on the head with her hands, which had turned into hammers, making them fall to the soil with a slump. Unfortunately, the hot sun, even in this April weather, began melting the ice which Lapis had used to imprison some of them and the henchmen seemed to be waking up. In a striking coincidence, Anthy walked beside Utena, asking her about the fight. Seeing all the people lying comatose in the surrounding area, she exclaimed “Oh my!”

After Utena and Lapis informed her of the situation, she made a momentous decision: she would use her ability to transform others to tie up the evildoers. The ropes she was able to summon bound the interlopers together, strong enough to prevent anyone from breaking through, and carrying with them a small electric shock. Drained from this use of energy, she collapsed into the arms of Utena. With the battle won, Pumpkin excitedly ran up to Lapis and Peri, lovingly licking them with her tongue made of pumpkin guts. Both returned the fondness, rolling with her in the dirt in joy, singing in unison: “We love you Pumpkin! You are the best thing that ever happened to us! We couldn’t live without you!” Joining in the fun, Stevonnie played with Pumpkin, which respected them just as much as Lapis and Peri.

Not wanting to see this display of love, Bismuth walked away and searched for the nearest warp pad back to Beach City, where she could rejoin Greg, Lars, and the Off Colors, or even see the concert of Sadie Killer and the Suspects. Stevonnie, on the other hand, texted Carmen about what had happened, who responded shortly thereafter.

“Carmen, we got ‘em. Mission accomplished. Hope your operation is going smoothly. 'Thanks, Stevonnie. We are approaching V.I.L.E. Island right now and are about to commence the sneak attack. I’ll have some A.C.M.E. agents pick up those…vile people, haha, and can then be interrogated. 'Carm, that sounds great. Best of luck! ' Thanks! Gotta go!

The A.C.M.E. helicopters approached the drop site on V.I.L.E. Island at 3 or 4 A.M. in the morning. This island, within the Canary Islands, had been cloaked electronically from GPS signals. Carmen, Pearl, Adora, Garnet, Julia, and a host of other agents were ready for combat, helped by Player and the Chief virtually if needed. In the meantime, Amethyst and A.C.M.E. agents walked in the darkness. Suddenly, group A, composed of Carmen, Pearl, Adora, Garnet, and A.C.M.E. agents, parachuted out of the helicopter. Julia and other agents, composing group B, parachuted out of another. Since there were two major buildings, each group took one at a time. At the front of group A, Pearl summoned her spear and shot a burst of energy into the roof of the academy’s main building, allowing them to slip in. As group B descended, Amethyst waited for them on the roof, with her squad of A.C.M.E. agents. She busted the building’s roof, and the team dropped inside. Wishing them well, she led her team to retrieve data files housed in the basement below the main building of the V.I.L.E. Academy. As alarms went off, an announcement blared so loud that even those on the African coast, part of the Northern African Republic (N.A.R.), probably could hear it:

“The academy is under attack. This is not a drill. Please take defensive measures. Repel the intruders at all costs!

Pearl’s energy wave caused the wires to spark and created some smoke. Group A prepared itself for combat. Out of the smoke stepped Coach Brunt, a white-skinned Texas woman in a black, green, and grey tracksuit, who towered at 6 feet and two inches, flanked by the Cleaners and a legion of V.I.L.E. students. She grumbled that Black Sheep has gone “too far” this time, running toward them. Before Brunt could lay a hand on Carmen, Garnet stepped in and blocked her punches, serving as a worthy adversary. As both fought, the Cleaners and the V.I.L.E. students approached the rest of the group. Pearl, Adora, and Carmen took defensive stands behind a row of A.C.M.E. agents, who shot a row of bullets from their sleeping gas rifles. Their projectiles downed these evildoers one by one, causing them to fall to the floor. The Cleaners, seeing this display, retreated down the corridors, hoping to fight another day.

Brunt felt she had the upper hand against Garnet, but she suddenly felt a bullet from one of the sleeping gas rifles struck her. As a muscular and large woman, it had no effect, her green eyes fixed on Carmen. She sprinted in her direction, with the A.C.M.E. agents’ sleeping gas bullets flowing into her white skin, but not causing her to slow down. She stood before Carmen, ready to crush her in one blow, to give her one last hug of death, like she tried to do in Poiters. As the A.C.M.E. agents cowered in fear, Pearl summoned a loaded shotgun from her Gem with armor-piercing bullets. The shotgun’s recoil caused her to fly into the wall, but the projectiles struck Brunt squarely in the back. The shells went through her spine, shattering it. She fell, howling in agony. Pearl approached her with a scowl.

“Big Texan, how do you like that pain? You can experience the suffering you caused Carmen first-hand. Your strength and endurance can’t save you this time. It’s time for you to stop hurting people on this blue planet!”

As Brunt's green eyes looked up, Pearl summoned a potted plant from her gem, and threw it at the head of this evildoer, making her unconscious, her dyed green hair unmoving on the tile. While Adora was astounded at its intensity, Garnet, Carmen, and the rest of their group never thought that Pearl would do something like that in a million years, standing in complete shock. In contrast, Adora told Pearl that what she did looked “cool” and showed her bravery in the face of extreme danger. With her cheeks turning light blue, Pearl hugged Adora, glad to have such a great friend. Carmen appreciated their closeness, even though she didn’t know what to make of it. She wanted their group to continue onward. She shouted, “Let’s move!” leading the A.C.M.E. agents, and the rest of the group down the hallway, which sputtered with electric light.

Meanwhile, Julia and the A.C.M.E. agents, group B, had problems of their own. As the group fanned out, Mime Bomb approached them, acting like he was an innocent bystander who “happened” to be there. Not believing this, the agents raised their sleeping gas rifles and shot him in the chest. Mime Bomb tumbled, his red hair touching the linoleum with a thud. He had been no match for this group. Creeping down the building’s passages, not a soul lurked except for one: a six-foot-tall Egyptian woman named Countess Cleo. Her green eyes stared them down and she asked them why they had invaded the V.I.L.E. Academy. Julia giggled as A.C.M.E. agents stood behind her, with their sleeping gas rifles at the ready. Although she was shorter than the Countess, she stepped toward her in stride, her black eyes centered on the evildoer in front of her. With her short-cut black hair shining in the light, with a blueish tint, she demanded that the Countess surrender herself immediately or suffer the consequences. Thanks to her slender build and physical abilities, she could easily stand against any foe.

Although the Countess could easily identify stolen objects which were valuables or forgeries, she didn’t have any specific abilities or strengths. As a result, submission to them seemed to be her only option. As she started to surrender, a middle-aged Japanese man, dressed in a bluish grey haori, medium grey trousers, and sandals suddenly appeared at the door. As the A.C.M.E. agents prepared to shoot him, he rushed in, and with one blow the Countess lay un-moving, although not dead. He approached an amazed Julia and fellow agents, wondering why their group had come onto the academy’s grounds. To bring him up to speed, Julia blurted out something that piqued his interest.

“We are here because Carmen Sandiego came to us with some of her friends and we are collaborating together to bring down V.I.L.E. once and for all. What about you?"

This man was Shadowsan and he respected her honesty. As he served as Carmen’s secret informant inside V.I.L.E., he gladly offered his services to help them. Going together into a dark passageway, all of them raced toward the V.I.L.E. Academy’s basement, with Shadowsan setting a timer so the smaller building would explode.

Amethyst and her team of A.C.M.E. agents had reached their destination. Servers lined the walls, and a huge control panel sat in the middle of the room. At first, no one seemed to be in sight. But soon three figures stepped out of the shadows: Dr. Maelstrom and The Cleaners. The latter were otherwise known as Boris and Vlad, wearing greyish green shirts and pants held up by black belts. While the pale skin and white hair of Maelstrom, a middle-aged man, could be seen in the light, the Cleaners easily blended in, rushing toward Amethyst. The A.C.M.E. agents instinctively discharged their sleeping gas rifles, slowing down these two men. Amethyst’s energized whip with a violet hue stopped and immobilized them. Maelstrom approached, towering above Amethyst at 5 feet, 10 inches tall, and wearing his black blazer.

“Very impressive, my purple-skinned friend. But you cannot win against us this time. I will stop you in your tracks, intruder."

He pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. Unlike any ordinary gun, it couldn’t shoot any bullets or projectiles. It had one single setting: the release of an electrical field hypnotizing the person or being affected. As he pulled the trigger, she turned into a bird and snatched it out of his hand, preventing it from hitting her. His plan had failed. She demanded to know what the weapon would do. Maelstrom refused to answer, but he buckled when she threatened to shoot him with it. He admitted that it could hypnotize anyone to do their bidding. This gave Amethyst a brilliant idea. She pointed it at Maelstrom, ordering the A.C.M.E. agents to hold him down.

“You may have thought that you could defeat us, but you are wrong. You are evil and we are good. And, you see, good will always triumph…because evil is dumb!”

A surge of energy collided with his body. He writhed in agony at its effect. As her first order, she demanded he retrieve the data files from the servers. When Boris and Vlad stood up, attempting to fight her, she tied them together with her whip and shot the gun at them. Both were told to help Maelstrom with his task. Hearing footsteps nearby, she raised her weapon and the A.C.M.E. agents readied themselves. Out of nowhere she heard the cry of “Amethyst!” Opening the door, she saw Julia, whose fair skin complexion, with freckles, shined in the light. She breathed a sigh of relief, as the group of fellow agents entered the data storage room, with Shadowsan in tow, hoping to leave as soon as possible.

The lights flickering, group A walked carefully, hoping to avoid any more foes. The voice of Dr. Saira Bellum could be heard on the loudspeaker, laughing manically. She declared that nothing could stop V.I.L.E. and all of them would meet their doom. In a remote area of the academy’s main building, Bellum, an Indian woman with a bushy white Mohawk, stared at a screen with her teal-colored goggles, and wore her trademark lab coat. She pressed a button and a series of drones flew out of the room. She tracked their progress with the facility’s security cameras. Armed with mini-crackle rod cannons, the drones sped down the corridor. Tentatively stepping forward, the group was caught off guard by the fleet of drones. Even though the A.C.M.E. agents tried to fight back, they were gravely injured. Only Carmen, Pearl, Adora, and Garnet remained, surrounded by flying drones. Carmen feared that asking Player for help would allow V.I.L.E. to track his signal and lead to his death. Texting Peri in Japan, to ask for help, crossed her mind, but this thought dissipated when the left side wall blew up. Out stepped Amethyst, Julia, Shadowsan, and a slew of A.C.M.E. agents. Bellum did not expect this, with their presence catching her off guard. Amethyst snickered in delight and spoke to the camera.

“Hey, man, you can’t do this to my friends. You gonna get shut down by the B-Squad!”

Her super-energized whip flailing, some drones were entangled while others were slashed by her hair. In tandem, Shadowsan flew through the air, gracefully slashing apart drones with his samurai sword. While Julia and the A.C.M.E. agents raised their weapons, the smoke cleared to reveal every drone smashed apart in the hall. Bellum’s cry of distress could be heard over the intercom, shocked that her creations had been destroyed so easily.

As the electricity of the building continued to spark, the island’s electric grid shut down, disabling electronic cloaking of island. Immediately, Player could triangulate Carmen’s position in the V.I.L.E. Academy. Flabbergasted by this, he called Carmen.

“Red, I got your GPS location on the island. I am really confused because I thought V.I.L.E. blocked all GPS signals coming out of there. Can you tell me what’s going on? ‘Player, thanks for calling. I think the power here shorted out. We’ve knocked out or incapacitated almost everyone except Dr. Bellum. We’ve almost won, I’m happy to report! ‘Red, best of luck because I can’t help you directly if the power is out on the island. Even so, keep me posted! ‘Will do!

Walking down the dimly lit corridor the group approached an open door. Slowly opening it, a huge explosion destroyed it, throwing everyone back. When the dust cleared, Dr. Bellum stood before them with a crackle rod in her hands, telling them to “die” because V.I.L.E. would never be defeated. As she charged up the weapon, Pearl summoned a yellow pages phone book, throwing it in the air. Not dodging the incoming projectile, the book bumped her temple and she plunged with a huge thump.

Every single V.I.L.E. operative, whether in the Canary Islands or Japan, had been defeated. All involved agreed to round up these evildoers and gather as much information as possible. The team in Japan, consisting of Lapis, Peri, Pumpkin, Stevonnie, and Anthy, which remained near the candy settlement, could only report their observations, as V.I.L.E. had come on a mission to the country but did not have a base there from what they could gather. Those on the island had a different situation, as data files were in their possession. However, one commonality brought them together: the holding of V.I.L.E. operatives, whether regular agents, like Paper Star and Le Chevre, or academy faculty, like Coach Brunt and Dr. Maelstrom, in their custody.

Talking with each other, both teams agreed to evacuate all the V.I.L.E. personnel to a secure location in the northern reaches of Siberia, within Western Russia, due to its proximity to the Galaxy Warp in Tunguska Sea. In the meantime, those on V.I.L.E. Island would sweep the facility for any important materials, then destroy it. That way such a heinous organization would never return. In order to ensure these evildoers would listen, Amethyst used Maelstrom’s hypnosis gun to convince them to get aboard A.C.M.E. helicopters, which had been awaiting their departure. Garnet, Pearl, and Adora went along with them, to ensure that these V.I.L.E. operatives didn’t attempt any funny business. Another helicopter carried the wounded agents back to the headquarters of A.C.M.E. itself. In the meantime, Carmen, Julia, and Amethyst stayed on the island, assisted by Shadowsan and a legion of loyal A.C.M.E. agents, waving goodbye to their fellow comrades-in-arms.

As the helicopters sped away, The Chief and Player were able to virtually collaborate in order to return power to the island. By working together, the lights of the Academy hummed once more. With the electrical connection restored, this allowed the transfer of information from V.I.L.E. mainframes to secure A.C.M.E. servers. As a result, the data could be combed through by veteran agents and Player, as this shadowy agency wanted a continued partnership, rather than being at each other’s throats when their goals were the same. Not completely trusting them, Player transferred a copy of the data to his computer, where he could look through it.

Walking through the building, Julia had a bright idea. What if they created a museum of V.I.L.E., to showcase the organization for historical value? Carmen appreciated this idea, while Amethyst felt it was too boring, and Shadowsan wanted to destroy the whole complex, wiping it off the face of the planet. He knew, better than anyone else that underground cells of V.I.L.E. remained across the Earth. This meant that their work wasn’t over as these operatives could strike back at any time and cause havoc. He stated this openly.

“While I appreciate your idea of creating a museum, I worry that since V.I.L.E. operatives remain across the world, whether hidden in Western Brazil, the Australian Islands, the Congoan Republic, or the Central European Republic, any of them could take control of what we recover and reconstitute themselves. We may have captured their leaders, but there are still sleeper cells ready to strike when given the order.”

Despite the risk outlined by Shadowsan, the Chief enthusiastically supported Julia’s proposal, telling her that she’d back it 100%, even using A.C.M.E. funds. As Shadowsan moaned about this decision, Amethyst resigned herself to it. From then on, their motley group had a different mission: to gather materials which would be added to a new museum, in a location to be determined. Julia would be the curator and possibly Carmen would have a role.

In the meantime, the fate of the captured V.I.L.E. operatives still had to be decided, apart from being sent to a secure location in Siberia, where it was mid-morning. Adora, who had been listening to their conversation through her earpiece, thanks to Carmen who had linked her in, floated an idea. They could follow Etheria’s example by putting the former members of V.I.L.E. on trial just as the Princesses had done with former members of the Horde, after their victory due to their alliance with the Gems. A.C.M.E. tentatively considered her suggestion, but reminded her that unlike on other planets, the court system wasn’t under their control. As a result, the evildoers might not get the deserved level of justice.

Their conversation ending, Carmen, Julia, Amethyst, and Shadowsan sat together, watching the sun rise over V.I.L.E. Island. North of them, in Siberia, A.C.M.E. agents, Adora, Pearl, and Garnet could see the light of mid-morning. In Yokohama, Japan, Stevonnie, Lapis, Peridot, Anthy, and Utena watched the expeditious approach of evening. In Beach City, Bismuth slept inside the Beach House in Beach City after hanging out with Lars and the Off Colors, hoping to see Sadie Killer and the Suspects in concert the following day. While the course ahead was not completely certain, all of them would, without a doubt, stick together through thick and thin no matter what happened.