V.I.L.E. (2019)

This article is about the criminal organization from the Netflix series. You may be looking for the classic counterpart of the same name.

History[]

The Villains International League of Evil, a.k.a V.I.L.E., was a vast and shadowy criminal syndicate and the main antagonists of the 2019 Netflix series. V.I.L.E. was not just a criminal organization, but a global conglomerate as well, powerful and well-organized, working without hindrance in every country on Earth, with a massive network of well equipped agents to do their bidding from behind the scenes. Their existence was seen as a myth to law enforcement like Interpol, but members of A.C.M.E. knew for certain they exist. However, even they only ever had a hunch to go on, and the leaders of V.I.L.E. went to any lengths to keep it that way.

V.I.L.E. made an assortment of products, like smartphones, imitation rice, and even toothpaste. They have also been responsible for manipulating financial markets to cause economic recessions, corporate fraud, and white-collar crimes. To the uninitiated and to cover their syndicate secret, they went under the guise of a trading company known as the Valuable Imports, Lavish Exports company.

In the season four episode, The V.I.L.E History Caper, it was revealed that V.I.L.E.'s origins go all the way back to the Medieval era, and the V.I.L.E. that Carmen's team was working to defeat is but the latest incarnation of a long line of criminal masterminds.

As of The Dark Red Caper, V.I.L.E. is now severely crippled (if not destroyed all together) thanks to the efforts of Carmen Sandiego and A.C.M.E. All the members of the organization are now either imprisoned, in hiding, or gave up their life of crime.

Structure[]

V.I.L.E. was led by a council of five masterminds known as The Faculty, named so because they were not just the leaders of V.I.L.E., they were also the teachers of V.I.L.E. Training Academy for Thieves. The Faculty took a democratic approach when making important decisions among themselves, putting it to a majority vote when either supporting or rejecting an idea. There were also pair of operatives known as The Cleaners, they worked as janitors at V.I.L.E. Academy, but they were also in charge of cleaning up any "messy situations" that any V.I.L.E. operatives might find themselves in, hence their name.

All V.I.L.E. operatives go by code names, students come up with a code name for themselves while still in school. They usually choose something to represent an area of expertise that they specialize in, or a theme that they like to keep to. Until they have selected their V.I.L.E. code names, it is rule of V.I.L.E. Academy that they only give their first names, sharing their last names with each other is not allowed.

Class 2 — V.I.L.E. Academy students training.

V.I.L.E. Academy only graduated forty students per year (known as "The Forty Thieves"), and demanded nothing less than utter perfection. Students who attended and graduated the academy went on to be V.I.L.E. agents who worked in every country, engaging in criminal misdeeds around the world, which were planned out in accordance with the annual budget determined by V.I.L.E.'s accountant Cookie Booker, who, once every year on December 1st, delivered a hard drive containing the information for the coming fiscal year to the Academy to be uploaded onto the V.I.L.E. mainframe. For security reasons, she traveled to V.I.L.E. island by boat to avoid detection.

The Faculty expected and instilled loyalty to all of its agents, and the students of V.I.L.E. Academy did not graduate on grades alone; they were profiled by the Faculty to determine if they were truly loyal to the organization and willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals. Coach Brunt routinely considered the organization "family"; to betray one's family, leave the group, or make war against them is a heinous crime in their eyes.

Beyond simply being a thieves' guild that steals valuable items, V.I.L.E. was a deeply rooted criminal enterprise that operated in secret all over the world, engaging in any manner of unlawful opportunities with no effort spared. The group was primarily focused on the theft of rare treasures, new technology, and other items for profit, to exploit or sabotage, or for simple pleasures. However, they were not above more serious crimes, such as murder, kidnapping, torture, human testing, and acts of terrorism, should the need arise. From art heists to stealing space shuttles, nothing was too far-fetched for V.I.L.E. According to the Chief, V.I.L.E. is believed to have masterminded most major crimes over the last 20 years, from the manipulation of financial markets to the contamination of cheese.

The Hot Rocks of Rio Caper, Part 2 (77) — V.I.L.E. planned to transport hundreds of millions of dollars worth of uncut gemstones through a vast crowd by concealing it inside a parade float.

V.I.L.E. made it a top priority to keep their activities and their organization as a whole a secret; their M.O. was to carry out their missions hidden in plain sight, making sure nothing looked out of place, and they never operated without a figurative smokescreen. V.I.L.E. protocol also states that after a target has been acquired, the operative who stole it must meet up with another operative and pass on the stolen goods once their contact gives them the designated password. This way, if an operative got captured, no one person knew too much about the caper. Additionally, V.I.L.E. agents were instructed to leave no witnesses to a crime; if they were seen by a witness, they were to silence them at any cost, even if that required them to use deadly force. The organization also had a strict policy that even the members of the Faculty were subject to: "failure is forgivable, capture is not." If the police were getting close, or a mission was compromised and not able to succeed, the organization preferred for their operatives to cut their losses and retreat, rather than pursue the goal and risk greater losses or capture.

The Beijing Bullion Caper (14) — Neal the Eel's memory seemingly being erased, an action which failed

According to the Chief, only six suspected V.I.L.E. operatives have ever been captured by any intelligence agency in the past 20 years. If a V.I.L.E. agent was caught by the authorities, their operative Roundabout, who held a high ranking position in Interpol, pulled some strings to get them released before they could be interrogated. The Cleaners were then sent to retrieve the agent and bring them back to V.I.L.E. headquarters so that they could have their mind wiped of any and all knowledge of V.I.L.E. by Dr. Bellum's brainwashing machines, then be sent back into the real world and into the old life they left behind when they joined V.I.L.E. academy. Apart from this circumstance of being dismissed after being captured, no one in V.I.L.E. is allowed to leave the organization once they join, not even the members of the V.I.L.E. Faculty have the liberty to leave.

Members[]

Only the graduates of V.I.L.E. Academy get to know its true name. Others only know the Import, Export name they use as a cover.

Founders[]

Gunnhild The Gruesome
Four other unknown warlords

The Faculty[]

Former Members[]

Shadowsan
Dexter Wolfe
Roundabout
Carmen Sandiego (Escaped student and former brainwashed member)

Operatives[]

Others[]

The Cleaners (Boris and Vlad)
The Captain

Former members[]

Shadowsan (Ex-member of the Faculty and Dexter Wolfe's successor; defected)
Crackle (Ex-operative; defected)
Carmen Sandiego/Black Sheep (Ex-V.I.L.E. Academy student; defected)
Dexter Wolfe (Ex-member of the Faculty and Shadowsan's predecessor; defected/deceased)
Six suspected V.I.L.E. operatives who were captured in the past 20 years (presumed memories wiped)

History[]

Founding[]

In ancient times, V.I.L.E.'s original founders, before they attached a proper name to their brand of evil, were simply known as “The Five”, using the Roman numeral V as their original crest. The Five hailed from five geographic regions and commanded bands of raiders who pillaged and plundered along the trade routes of the Middle Ages. Among the five warlords who founded V.I.L.E. was Gunnhild The Gruesome, a Viking warrior princess from Norway. The other four are unknown.

As their empire grew in power, so too did the schemes of the Five, who grew both bolder and more sophisticated in there activities, moving on from attacking trade lines to also begin pillaging the treasure troves ancient monuments and tombs, thus expanding their fortune until it became so vast that the five founders sought a location both secure and secret enough to hoard their stolen riches. They discovered the perfect location in a hidden antechamber in the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and thus mapped clues to this hidden location across three relics which they concealed for those that followed in their footsteps to one day discover. These artifacts consisted of the original V.I.L.E. crest, which was hidden in an underground treasure chamber in Turkey; the eye of the sea monster figurehead on Gunnhild's Viking ship, which was buried along with the armour once worn by the Viking warrior in an ice cave that lay beneath an outpost she had operated out of that lay in Svalbard, which itself was found in her home country of Norway; and the fang of a crocodile statue that was carved into the wall of an ancient temple in India. The artifacts doubled as keys to the treasure repository.

Past[]

Approximately twenty years ago, V.I.L.E. operative Shadowsan was sent to track the movements of Faculty member and Stealth 101 teacher, Dexter Wolfe, who was believed to be attempting to leave the organization. Tracking Wolfe to his home just outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Shadowsan discovered that Wolfe's reason for wanting to leave V.I.L.E. was that he had a baby daughter, but before he could take care of Wolfe, Interpol surrounded the mansion. Wolfe hid the baby and attempted to flee, but was found and accidentally shot and killed by a young agent. Burning down the mansion to conceal evidence, Shadowsan brought the child back to the Isle of V.I.L.E., where she would spend her entire childhood being raised among thieves. The girl's real name was unknown, so she was given her code name, Black Sheep, early. Her only personal possession was a set of Russian nesting dolls, given to her by her father to keep her from crying while he hid her. Shadowsan was then awarded Wolfe's vacant seat in return for his deed.

Every year, on the first of December, Black Sheep would throw water balloons at Cookie Booker when she came to deliver V.I.L.E.'s budget for the coming year.

Black Sheep in School[]

After secretly making contact with a White Hat Hacker over a phone she had stolen, Black Sheep requested she be enrolled in the academy, out of a desire to get out and see the world. Four of the five masterminds agreed to Black Sheeps request, the exception being Shadowsan.

Coach Brunt gave orientation to the new class of aspiring V.I.L.E. operatives. Among them were Graham, later known as Crackle, Sheena, later known as Tigress, Antonio, later known as El Topo, Jean Paul, later known as Le Chevre, and an unnamed silent classmate who would later be known as Mime Bomb.

As the classes went on, it quickly became clear that Black Sheep was excelling in most, if not all, of her lessons at an extraordinary pace to the point where she was deemed a prodigy by her teachers.

The students spent the next year learning how to be elite agents of V.I.L.E. They learned self-defense from Coach Brunt, nimble touch from Shadowsan, eye for detail from Countess Cleo, support gear from Dr. Bellum, and general aspects of crime from Professor Maelstrom. On December 1, Black Sheep pulled her usual water balloon prank on Cookie Booker, and her classmates joined in. This was considered unacceptable by the faculty who threatened expulsion. Ultimately, they decided to give the students detention.

When the time came for final exams, Shadowsan sabotaged Black Sheep. He knew she would never accept the truth of V.I.L.E. and he knew what the faculty would do to her when she said no. Black Sheep confronted Shadowsan about this and he angrily refuted her claim.

Black Sheep, in an effort to prove herself, stowed away on the helicopter that was taking her classmates to their first caper. What she didn't know was that she was seen by Mime Bomb, who was actually a spy for the faculty.

The helicopter took the graduates to Casablanca, Morocco, where they were to steal a recently discovered gem, the Eye of Vishnu, from an archeological dig site.

At first, all was going well, but Black Sheep befriended the head archeologist and caused the caper to go wrong. In the end, though, Black Sheep was incapacitated by the cleaners and the V.I.L.E. agents successfully stole the gem.

After learning that the ideology she had grown up with was a lie, Black Sheep returned to V.I.L.E. island. There she had to repeat an entire year of school while enduring Coach Brunt's guilt, Dr. Bellum's surveillance, Countess Cleo's "attempts to tame her wild side", and Professor Maelstrom's psychological examinations. Black Sheep pretended to focus on her school work, but really, she was just biding her time.

It was around this time that she would first cross paths with her rival, the mysterious Paper Star. Paper Star was a new student who had started attending the academy that year. Like Black Sheep, Paper Star was believed to be a prodigy, but unlike Black Sheep, Paper Star was shown to be mentally unstable.

On one occasion, Carmen watched Paper Star skipping into Shadow-San's class. When Shadow-San began his demonstration, Paper Star threw an origami shuriken which he easily dodged. The origami star would end up ripping a hole in the paper door, much to Shadow-San's displeasure.

That December 1, when Cookie came to deliver the hard drive containing V.I.L.E.'s budget for the coming year, Black Sheep planned to stow away on the boat. Black Sheep, however, saw an opportunity to steal the hard drive and sabotage V.I.L.E. Black Sheep followed Cookie into the elevator that leads down to the server room and pulled a bait and switch, swapping the hard drive with a toolbox.

When Cookie noticed this, she sounded the alarm, sending the island into lockdown. Black Sheep attempted to escape through the storm drain, but it had since been bolted shut since she was last there.

Black Sheep instead trapped Cookie, who had received clearance to leave, took her hat and coat, and, with her face hidden, walked out the front door.

Brunt and Maelstrom discovered Cookie tied up and alerted the cleaners and the captain. Black Sheep managed to beat the captain and take the boat keys.

The cleaners prepared the helicopter for takeoff, only to discover that the engine had been sabotaged.

Shadowsan, with his sword drawn, charged toward Black Sheep, but Black Sheep got the boat started and away from the dock before Shadowsan could reach her.

Black Sheep left V.I.L.E. island behind, vowing never to return.

Train to Paris[]

Several months after Black Sheep's departure, V.I.L.E. had suffered a string of losses due to the actions of Black Sheep, who had adopted the name Carmen Sandiego. The Faculty decided to send her old classmate Crackle to convince Carmen to return to V.I.L.E. as a full-fledged operative, or, if she refuses, eliminate her.

Carmen had come to Poitiers, France to finally steal back the Eye of Vishnu, which was being kept in a V.I.L.E. owned building. However, she instead chose to steal something else, the Russian nesting dolls she was found with as a baby. Unbeknownst to her, the dolls were equipped with a tracker and were left in the apartment, knowing that the sight of them would represent more personal importance to Carmen than the Eye of Vishnu.

On a train, Carmen settles in but is immediately set upon by Crackle. Using his Crackle Rod, he disables all of Carmen's electronic equipment, leaving her out of communication with Player. Gray expresses confusion over Carmen's transformation from a fellow cadet to who she is now. Wanting to know how she came to V.I.L.E. academy, he issues her an ultimatum: explain her entire past before the train reaches Paris. After doing so, Crackle proposes Carmen come back to work for V.I.L.E., having proven that she's a capable thief without their tutelage. However, she refuses, with the hopes that she could have convinced Crackle to work with her instead of the other way around. Disheartened he couldn't get Carmen to see things his way, Crackle prepares to eliminate her but is subdued in hand-to-hand combat by Carmen, who breaks his EMP rod and allows her to reestablish communication with Player. With the train at the station, Carmen leaves an unconscious Crackle inside her coat.

Crackle was taken to the local police station for questioning, but the cleaners got him out before he could be interrogated.

Crackle was then brought back to the island to be properly 'decommissioned'.

Rice Fungus in Indonesia[]

After the issue of Crackle being caught was dealt with, the Faculty noted that Carmen was en route to Jakarta, Indonesia on the island of Java to investigate a V.I.L.E. center of operations, where Dr. Bellum keeps one of her pet projects.

In a lab there, V.I.L.E. was experimenting with a fungus that can feed on rice. Combined with the density of rice fields in Indonesia, V.I.L.E. intended to decimate the rice crops and then substitute their own horrible tasting instant imitation rice at inflated prices in order to profit off the famine that will ensue. The lab was subsequently abandoned before Carmen arrived.

Tigress was taking a truck loaded with fireworks with the fungal spores on board, planning on spreading them when the fireworks explode. The target was a shadow puppet play just outside the capital city adjacent to several rice patties, replacing the fireworks that were planned to be launched with their own.

Carmen's team managed to catch up with the truck and Tigress, who had a score to settle with Carmen, engaged her in battle. In the end, Tigress managed to get away with the fungus.

While the Indonesian shadow play takes place, Tigress, behind the scenes, swapped out the fireworks prepared for the festival with V.I.L.E.'s own. After informing Dr. Bellum that the weapons are ready for launch, Tigress is instructed to let things play out as scheduled, despite the fact the delay gives Carmen a window of opportunity to strike.

Tigress pointed out that this would risk another visit by "Fedora the explorer". Carmen revealed herself to Tigress immediately afterward. Tigress requested permission to break protocol and fire the rockets immediately, but the scatterbrained Dr. Bellum wasn't paying attention and was unable to hear the request before the transmission was interrupted.

The pair battle amidst the band providing the music for the shadow puppet show as Ivy and Zack arrive on the scene. Tigress "borrows" one of Ivy's stilts while Zack offers his up to Carmen voluntarily. Carmen and Tigress clash in a fierce staff duel while the siblings go to disarm the V.I.L.E. fireworks.

Eventually, Tigress was able to knock Carmen down and light the fuse on the fireworks before escaping into the night. However, thanks to Zack and Ivy, the V.I.L.E.-planted fireworks were swapped back for the original fireworks, meaning none of the spores were released into the atmosphere and the crisis was averted.

Dr. Bellum lamented that she now had warehouses full of imitation rice with no way to unload it all. She then proceeded to complete Crackle's memory-erasing.

Gold Coin in Ecuador[]

V.I.L.E. had sent Le Chevre and El Topo to scavenge a 19th-century ship that sank off the coast of Ecuador for possible treasure.

While underwater, El Topo encountered Carmen, who had found a doubloon, he knocks it from her hands and takes it for himself. As the two jockey for position to grab the coin, it's suddenly lapped up by a passing tuna, which is ensnared by a net and dragged above the water. El Topo tries to pursue the boat that caught the fish, but finds his face mask filling with water; Carmen had pulled his oxygen tube, forcing El Topo to surface.

Meanwhile, Le Chevre is trying to interrogate Zack and Ivy, whose ship he has boarded, unconvinced of their story as local fishers. Hearing Player say the name "Carmen", Le Chevre infers it to mean "Carmen Sandiego", but before he can get any more information out of the pair, he hears El Topo calling for help. Distracted by his partner's situation, Zack and Ivy throw Le Chevre into the water and escape.

Later, Le Chevre and El Topo contact Professor Maelstrom to tell him about the coin, which they wrongly assumed was worth a fortune, but was in fact, an Ecuadorian coin called an "Ecuador 8 escudos", which isn't a monetarily valuable trinket but does hold cultural significance due to being associated with Ecuador's independence. Though lacking in high monetary return, V.I.L.E. would still steal it under the assumption it was a prized treasure and thus depriving Ecuador of a cultural relic. Malestrom instructs them to follow Carmen to secure the doubloon, for which he plans to melt down and turn into a pair of gold cufflinks that will make Countess Cleo envious.

Discovering which fish had the coin was not difficult, due to Zack bidding 150,000 dollars after Carmen told him to "bid to win".

El Topo moves in on the target and attempts to escape with the fish, but Carmen trips him up, causing him to lose his grip on the fish, but before Carmen can secure it, Le Chevre nets it out of her reach. Carmen attempts to convince Le Chevre that it's not the monetary value of the coin that he's stealing, but Le Chevre is unfazed. Carmen grapples the fish and yanks both it and Le Chevre to the floor but, again, before she can move in on the fish, El Topo snatches it up. As El Topo runs for the door, Ivy and Zack stand in his way. He takes a swing at them with the fish but only succeeds in slapping the recovering Le Chevre in the back of the head, which also dislodges the coin from the fish's stomach. El Topo helps Le Chevre out of the auction house, thinking they're escaping with the fish and the coin, but Carmen had already managed to take the coin for herself.

Countess Cleo's Art Auction[]

V.I.L.E. mastermind Countess Cleo had been having V.I.L.E. operatives steal the works of Johannes Vermeer the world over and replace the paintings with near-immaculate duplicates in order to give the impression that the paintings were not stolen at all. She planned to auction the paintings at her mountain chateau, as they had a combined value that could easily surpass one billion dollars.

Cleo had already stolen thirty-three of the thirty-four works by Vermeer. The only one left was 'Woman in Blue Reading a Letter'. Before Cleo could arrange its theft, it was stolen by a mysterious individual calling herself 'The Duchess', who was Carmen in disguise. Carmen's intent was to use their theft of the last work of Vermeer to lure Countess Cleo into a sale, thus allowing them to trace the painting to the other thirty-three and steal all of them back.

Cleo sent her personal courier and art validation specialist, Dash Haber, to confirm authenticity, but Dash had arrived early due to not adjusting his watch for the time zone he was in, which set him an hour ahead of his appointed meeting

There, Dash met Zack, who, unsure of what his role should be, attempts to play himself off as "The Duke" for the sake of the con. Satisfied the painting is legitimate, he agrees to pay and is about to leave.

Needing to be led to the other missing paintings, Carmen indicates Zack to insist that he be present for whatever Countess Cleo has planned for the art. After Zack vaguely threatens Dash, Dash contacts Countess Cleo to sort things out. Not wanting to risk things not going as planned, Countess Cleo agrees to deal directly with "The Duke" if it means getting the last Vermeer and extends an invitation to Zack to attend the dinner party and art auction the following day.

When the appointed hour arrives. Zack is met outside the hotel by V.I.L.E.'s "Cleaners" and a bag is put over his head to conceal the route to the chateau as limousine travels into the mountains of the Netherlands.

At the chateau, Cleo introduces herself to "The Duke" and has the money wired in exchange for the painting. Countess Cleo takes Zack's arm and leads him into the dining room of the chateau while Dash is ordered to put the last Vermeer with the rest in Cleo's art vault.

In the dining room, which was filled with various criminals from around the world, Cleo announced that the auction would take place after dinner.

Before dessert could be served, Chase barges into the room and announces that he is there to apprehend an art thief. Chase circles the tables and explains his reason for being at the chateau. He's about to be taken out by the Cleaners when he informs the attendees that he is interested in the capture of Carmen Sandiego. Cleo dismisses the idea that Carmen would be at the chateau but floods the art vault with gas in order to flush out anyone who may be in there.

Later, after Chase leaves, Countess Cleo visits the art vault to discover all the paintings have been removed, with one frame stamped with the silhouette of Carmen. Cleo orders the chateau scrubbed by the Cleaners. The following day, the chateau now lays in smoldering ruin.

Opera in the Outback[]

V.I.L.E., interested in getting into the business of space travel, developed a plan for destroying the credibility of "The Boomerang"; an experimental rocket being developed in the wilds of Australia by a private company called "HelioGem", who had a four billion dollar space flight contract, so they could easily take over. The plan was to have Le Chevre infiltrate a production of the opera "Carmen" at the Sydney Opera House and implant a subliminal message in the music, then record and replay it at the launch facility to control Dr. Jeanine Dennam, the lead engineer on the project, who was attending the show that night.

Doing so would prompt Dr. Dennam to launch the rocket upon hearing the same music, knowing that the rocket HelioGem is developing had to be sidelined thanks to a defect, and that should it be launched in its current state, the rocket would likely fail catastrophically and pollute the land when it does. HelioGem would be held responsible and have their contract revoked, allowing V.I.L.E. to acquire the development rights.

Team Carmen went undercover at the base to locate Dr. Dennam and prevent her from hearing the music that will trigger the subliminal message, while Carmen keeps anyone else from launching the rocket.

Outside, hanging from a radar dish, La Chevre coordinated with his underground partner-in-crime, El Topo, who was in the service tunnels beneath the launch site. Utilizing the facility's own speakers, El Topo piped in music from Carmen over the sound system, causing Dr. Dennam to fall into a hypnotic trance, forcing Zack and Ivy to tie her up and stuff her into a containment chamber.

Unfortunately, Carmen is standing at the launch control deck and, due to hearing the music at the opera, the music affects her as well and she engages the launch sequence instead of Dr. Dennam. Zack heads into the service tunnels while Ivy tries to make it to the rocket to disable it manually. Le Chevre catches Ivy trying to scale the launch superstructure and goes in after her. Meanwhile, in the service tunnel, Zack runs into El Topo and fools him into thinking that his partner was attacked by dingoes, causing him to abandon his post. Zack disables the audio feed and brings Carmen back to her senses.

At the rocket, Ivy is almost successful in disabling the rocket but Le Chevre catches up to her and pulls her off. The two wrestle for the controls before both of them fall off the walkway, leaving Ivy clutching the edge of the rocket. Le Chevre makes a hasty getaway before Ivy loses her grip and falls off the rocket. Thankfully, Carmen happens to swing by and rescue Ivy as she's falling, grappling back to the top of the superstructure and disabling the rocket in a single move. El Topo and Le Chevre drive away from the launch site in frustrated defeat.

Paper War in India[]

Professor Maelstrom gave out a presentation about himself and how his deranged mind works and then showed the other Faculty members the Magna Carta, which he called the British equivalent of the American Constitution, created more than 500 years earlier. He then explained that every known surviving original copy of the document has been gathered together for the first time ever in a museum in Mumbai, India, where he plans to steal it to prove evil can triumph over good.

To do so, he assigned his star pupil, Paper Star to collect them, much to Shadowsan's annoyance. Using her origami skills, Paper Star easily took out the security cameras on the night of the heist and engaged in a fight with Carmen Sandiego before escaping with the Magna Carta, leaving the museum a mess.

Paper Star took refuge at the Elephanta Caves, where Le Chevre was supposed to pick up the Magna Carta for transport, but she decided to take them to the next post herself, the location of which she learned after paper cutting his hands, leaving them in casts. Reporting back to his superiors at V.I.L.E., Le Chevre informs them that he cracked and gave up the drop location in Agra City.

Going by an alias, "Tammy Origami", Paper Star took a train to Agra. Carmen Sandiego then became engaged in another fight against Paper Star and managed to outwit her by using the rushing wind against the paper. She tried to drop the Magna Carta, but Carmen managed to catch them before returning them to Julia Argent, who happened to be on the same train with Chase Devineaux.

Paper Star returned to V.I.L.E. Island, where she was berated for her failure by Maelstrom. She admits to the failure, but later reveals Devineaux's stolen ACME keycard to the faculty, claiming that she "never returns empty-handed".

Postage Stamp in San Francisco[]

Mime Bomb was sent to San Francisco to steal a rare. one-of-a-kind postage stamp worth ten million dollars from a charity auction. Carmen attempts to get it back, but Mime Bomb manages to escape with it in the thick fog.

Reporting to his superiors at V.I.L.E. headquarters, Maelstrom acknowledges Carmen Sandiego's involvement in this latest heist and instructs Mime Bomb to await further instruction. The V.I.L.E. instructors decide a handoff will be required thanks to Carmen's presence and Shadowsan proposes sending Tigress. Coach Brunt expresses skepticism, thanks to her previous failure to stop Carmen's interference in Indonesia, but Professor Maelstrom puts it to a vote and Coach Brunt is outvoted, even if Dr. Bellum is too busy decrypting the A.C.M.E. keycard stolen by Paper Star to pay attention to what is being voted upon.

Back in San Francisco, Tigress receives her orders to retrieve the stamp from Mime Bomb, which is currently being hidden inside a lucky cat statue. However, Carmen is also in the vicinity and spots Mime Bomb, whom she expects is at least involved with an upcoming handoff. Mime Bomb, seeing Carmen lingering in an alley spying on him, grabs the lucky cat statue and runs away just as Tigress reaches the drop site, forcing Tigress to follow him. Mime Bomb ducks into a storefront and comes out empty-handed, though not without being seen by Carmen from the rooftops. Carmen casually enters the store after Mime Bomb leaves but discovers the statue was disposed of in a sea of similar lucky cat statues being sold by the store.

Carmen goes in and peruses the statue, as she does so, Tigress sees Carmen through the shop window and storms into the store and confronts Carmen, resulting in a short brawl between the two rivals that destroys several cat statues. Tigress absconds with what she thinks is the cat statue containing the goods but Carmen is still holding onto the one she came in to get, paying for the damage caused by the fight on the way out.

Outside both Tigress and Carmen look at their finds but neither of them have the stamp, which is still residing with Mime Bomb, who is captured and interrogated by Chase and Julia. Chase attempts to intimidate Mime Bomb but Mime Bomb takes advantage of being close to Chase as he's grabbed by the collar to slip the stamp into Chase's coat pocket. Getting nothing out of Mime Bomb, Julia and Chase release him but decide to follow him in hopes of him leading them to Carmen.

Tigress locates Mime Bomb at Fisherman's Wharf, where he warns her of the A.C.M.E. agents nearby. Tigress evasively asks Mime Bomb where the stamp is hidden, which he explains through gestures that it's inside Chase's coat. However, his method of communication also clues Carmen in, who was watching the exchange from on high, to the same information. Putting things together, Carmen realizes that Chase and Julia are being led into a trap as Mime Bomb walks down the pier in the direction of Tigress. She tries to rush to the scene but is too late and Tigress slashes off the bottom of Chase's coat and runs away.

Tigress runs through an alley and then carjacks a civilian on the other side. She mocks Carmen before speeding off but Zack pulls up in a car Carmen won at the auction and takes off with Carmen after Tigress.

Tigress reports into V.I.L.E., who instruct her to meet with the Cleaners to make a drop as Coach Brunt expected there may be complications.

Tigress drives onto the bridge then comes to a stop halfway and calls in the Cleaners. She scales the suspension tower to meet the Cleaners at the top just as Carmen and Zack arrive. Carmen grapples to the top where Tigress is waiting. Tigress taunts Carmen with her failure at the academy and challenges her to steal the stamp off her person. Tigress lunges at Carmen but Carmen slides under her claw and plucks the stamp out from inside her tall boots before swiftly making a getaway off the suspension tower with her collapsible hang glider.

Tigress reaches for her communicator to inform V.I.L.E. that Carmen stole the stamp back, but discovers that Carmen also stole that as well. Shadowsan calls in but is confronted by Carmen, who smugly rebuffs being failed by him before dropping the communicator into the bay. A sullen Tigress is scooped up by the Cleaners, while back at V.I.L.E. island, Coach Brunt scoffs at Shadowsan for his prized student's inability to complete her mission when Dr. Bellum comes in to inform the other faculty members that she's broken through the encryption on the A.C.M.E. keycard, identifying its owner as Agent Chase Devineaux.

The Kidnapping of Inspector Devineaux[]

Upon uncovering the history behind Chase Devineaux, the faculty began to suspect that he was working with Carmen Sandiego, which is how she was able to succeed in foiling their plans. Initially, Professor Maelstrom wanted to send Paper Star on the case as she brought them to ACME, but Shadowsan decides to go deal with the case, to the surprise of the other faculty members. As Shadowsan was ready for departure, Coach Brunt decides to go along with him, much to his chagrin.

Carmen's Wipeout[]

When Black Sheep (Carmen Sandiego) was kidnapped by V.I.L.E after the mission of the three relics in Egypt, Dr. Bellum used the wipeout machine to erase Carmen's memories, and taking the empathy away from her, making Carmen a V.I.L.E operative with her old classmates (Like Tigress, Le Chevre, Crackle, etc.). Later the faculty decided to make Carmen one of their members, making her believe that Dexter Wolfe was killed by Shadowsan and that Shadowsan was the traitor. After that, Carmen decided to gain revenge in a mission when his team steals a valuable gem, in the same museum the series started. Luckily, ACME and Shadowsan were able to return Carmen's memories with an experimental machine ACME had, with the help of Crackle, because he wanted Carmen to follow her own destiny. After Carmen had her memories back, ACME, using her knowledge, headed to V.I.L.E's base, arresting the V.I.L.E faculty and taking down V.I.L.E.