Chapter Text

September 21st, 1999 (present-day) - Carmen Sandiego's headquarters.



Carmen exclaims with a grin, "Those ACME detectives have fooled me for the last time! With this caper, I'll show them who really knows how to...handle time."



The red-painted time machine, shaped almost like a hexagonal prism but with a few more sides, powers up, with its coordinates set for January 31, 3008. It twirls away and disappears.



The final battle between the people of Earth and the Nudist Scammers is coming to an end. Bender is about to release the doomsday device, Spheroboom, which would blow-up the ship of Nudar, Fleb, and Schlump.



It is at that point that Carmen enters the picture, snatching the device. She blows up the ship of Nudar, Fleb, and Slump, but gets off with the device, disappearing without anyone noticing. To the crew of the Planet Express, everything seems normal, as they seem to have won the battle. But, in fact, time has changed.



Present day - ACME headquarters.



The Chief announces to them, "Hey, gumshoes! We have reports of activity by Carmen's henchmen in Los Alamos National Laboratory, stealing uranium of some kind. Zack and Ivy, we'd like to have you check it out. You might get an opportunity to nab Carmen once and for all."



Ivy responds, "Player, C5 us to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. We'll stop Carmen cold in her tracks!"



The Chief announces, as their travel commences, "You're going from a sunny, warm San Francisco to one of the premier laboratories in the United States, which is part of the Department of Energy. Next stop, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.



Ivy and Zack are transported to Los Alamos National Laboratory with a pixelated blue circle disappearing into thin air, and reappearing in Los Alamos.



Zack says to his sister, "Man, it looks like the uranium is being loaded into trucks for transport! What's Carmen up to?"



They look up and see Carmen Sandiego, standing on a rooftop, her red coat and fedora blowing in the wind. She looks toward them, and says: "Hello again, detectives. I've been expecting you, glad you could join us!"



Zack yells back, "You won't get away this time Carmen!"



He aims at Carmen, firing a net from his gun, hoping to catch her like he had in the past. But, as luck would have it, the net misses and only nabs an unfortunate henchmen instead. Carmen jumps down and sprays a fire extinguisher at the faces of Zack and Ivy, telling them, "Time is not really on your side." She gets away, jumping into her time machine, which disappears into thin air.

After brushing the fire retardant off his face, Zack says to his sister, "Sis, we almost had her! She always gets away!"



"Well, little bro, at least we got a bunch of henchmen and foiled her plans."

With a sigh of despair, she adds, "But, we still don't know Carmen's plan."



September 13, 1787 - Philadelphia, U.S.



Some of the most important men are signing the U.S. Constitution, what will later be called the Constitutional Convention, only four days before the Constitution would be finalized. Carmen appears outside Constitution Hall, and opens the doors, barging in, with the Spheroboom in hand.



George Washington, surprised by her presence, explains, "Lady, what are you doing here? This is a closed meeting! We are discussing matters of the greatest importance, to found a new nation. No one is allowed in!"



Carmen responds, "Oh boys, you realize so little about the world around you. Time for sweet dreams upon the fiery embers of hell." Putting a gas max on, she sprays out a sleeping gas, causing all of the participants to fall down into a temporary slumber. With that, she steals the unfinished U.S. Constitution and the unfinished diaries of James Madison.



"Ciao!" she says while activating the Spheroboom, then escaping to her time machine, to go to the present. An explosion rocks Constitution Hall, with all of George Washington, James Madison, and everyone else in that room, at the time, horribly maimed. The course of U.S. history is forever altered.



Back in the present, Zack and Ivy notice the changes. There is now a monument to those injured at the Constitutional Convention, with September 13th called "Philadelphia Day," accompanying Constitution Day, celebrated four days later. Puzzled, Ivy asks, "What's Philadelphia Day, Chief?'



"Well, Carmen Sandiego seems to have gone in the past and mucked around again, stealing the U.S. Constitution, Madison's Diaries, and scuttling the Constitutional Convention on Constitution Hall. Its like it never happened. You need to stop her, before she does more damage to history!"



With that, Zack and Ivy are given a new ACME Chronoskimmer.



Zack, bummed out from what has happened, says "Man, we can't let Carmen be a killer of the mood! September 13, 1787, here we come!"



Ivy and Zack are quickly transported to the past. They see Constitution Hall on fire. They rush in to save who they can, asking those they save to tell them about what happened.



An injured James Madison tells them: "It was a lady in red! She stole my diary and the constitution-to-be, after setting this place on fire, with that mysterious explosion, injuring us all!"



After hearing this, Zack sees an ordinary man walking upon the streets, and points to Yancy Fry, telling his sister, "Sis, lets ask this man over here, what he saw, since James Madison could be pulling our chain."



Yancy responds to their questions about what happened, telling them, "Well sir and madam, this was a monster of a fire. I saw a lady in a red coat and hat break into there building (points to Constitution Hall on fire), then vanish away in some sort of machine."



Zack and Ivy thank him for the information. Ivy then uses the Chromoskimmer, typing in the date of September 13, 1999. She then says, "Player, C5 us to ACME headquarters, in the present!"



Without consciously knowing it, Zack and Ivy slightly tinkered with the past: Yancy, after talking with them, had his foot run over by a stagecoach, tripping, and falling into a doorway of Constitution Hall, and killed by a falling board. While Zack and Ivy didn't see it, this was an event that would change history in ways they would not imagine. The Fry family would cease to exist.



May 1st, 3013 - New New York, Widows Walk, Planet Express building

Fry and Leela are enjoying each other's company, watching a sunset, when he begins to fade away.



Fry tells her, in a worried tone, that "Leela, I don't know what's happening! I can't survive while disappearing, as far as I know."

Leela takes this hard, yelling "Help! My boyfriend is disappearing! Oh no!"



Zoidberg, Amy, Bender, and Prof. Farnsworth quickly run out to the widows walk. They all watch in horror as nothing they can do to prevent Fry from disappearing in front of their eyes, vanishing from existence, forever.



Fry then says, with deep sorrow, "Goodbye, waking world!" and he fades away into nothingness. Leela bawls her eyes out.



Leela: "Why did it have to be me? Why couldn't it have been someone else! We were just about to marry, as he had just proposed to me. But, the wedding is now off.

As her crying continues, with this emotional bomb dropped on her, Prof. Farnsworth muses that this event "is very strange. Nothing like this has happened before. But someone has done this and altered the fabric of time. We must stop them. To the Farnsworth-otron!"



Amy then asks what the machine does and what it is. Prof. Farnsworth responds, saying "It's a time machine that detects any warps in the spacetime, recognizes the new time signature, and sends you there. It looks like that on Sept 13, 1787, someone altered the timeline and something happened that wasn't supposed to happen."

He quickly does an internet search for that day, September 13, 1787, telling everyone that:



"Apparently, on that day, Constitution Hall, where a select group of men were writing the U.S. Constitution, was light on fire in a mysterious explosion by a woman in a red fedora. But that isn't the time disruption that caused Fry to disappear. That happened 5 minutes later, in what some called a freak accident: Yancy Fry was killed by a board falling from Constitution Hall. According to my records, he was the oldest ancestor of Fry, and with his death, the whole Fry family ceased to exist, not just Fry himself! It is a twisted example of the grandfather paradox showing its true face!"



"So, what can we do Professor?"

"Well, we could go back 5 minutes before this catastrophe and catch the perpetrators that did it. To 1787 we go!"



Prof. Farnsworth, Bender, and Leela jump into the Farnsworth-otron and arrive just as Carmen Sandiego has left the scene, who they are not aware of as of yet, even though the Professor did briefly mention him, something which they all have forgotten.



Soon, Zack and Ivy arrive. Bender, Leela, and Prof. Farnsworth hide along the side of burning Constitution Hall, watching Zack and Ivy intently. Right after they both asked their questions to James Madison, Prof. Farnsworth tells them both, "This is the moment that the time disruption happened, and those two people (pointing to Zack and Ivy) are part of it."



Just as Zack and Ivy are about to ask Yancy Fry questions, they are nabbed by Bender, who catches them both with his bending arms, telling them, "You are bending for a bender. Stop trying to kill my friend!" Ironically, he puts them in handcuffs even though he is a convicted felon who has been arrested many times before.



Zack exclaims in terror, "Man, we were just trying to catch Carmen Sandiego!" He adds with derision, "She's getting away, thanks to you!"



Leela angrily responds back, telling Zack and Ivy: "I don't know who Carmen Sandiego is, but you two made my boyfriend disappear from existence! You have some explaining to do for your mucking about in the past! You are coming with us!"



Leela, Prof. Farnsworth, and Bender bring along Zack and Ivy in handcuffs to the year 3013. Ivy then whispers to Zack what she often says when they get in situations like this: "I have a bad feeling about this, little bro."



To be continued...