A New Beginning...?
By: Athena

Part Five:
	

Acme Detective Agency; San Fransisco, California; Next day; 8:00 AM

	"You were the one who threw the paper away!"
	"Yeah, but you told me to, dorfbud!"	
	"Hey I-"
	Ivy stopped as she walked into the computer room with Zack. Papers
were strewn about the floor and a computer printout was trailed along the 
ground. Confused, Zack and Ivy followed the paper trail to a little girl
with bright green eyes. The child was sitting up, tearing the paper into 
bits. Something about the girl seemed very familiar to Ivy.
	"What happened here?" Zack asked of no one in particular.
	"I don't know, little bro. Maybe the Cheif does. Hey, Cheif!"
	A very tired looking Cheif woke up. He looked as though he hadn't 
gotten much sleep the night before.
	"What?" he asked sleepily. Then he noticed who was there and he 
became fully awake. "Zack! Ivy! What are you two doing here?"
	"We might ask the same thing of you, Cheif."
	"Yeah, Cheif, where'd this baby come from?" Zack added.
	"Oh, her. Ummmmm.... She's.... She belongs to one of our new agents.
Her mother had to go on assignment and asked me to watch after her daughter."
The Cheif was releived that he could remember what Carmen had told him to 
say after the night he'd had.
	Suspicious, Ivy asked, "Who did you say this new agent was?"
	"Carm- Uh, Carmel. Yeah that's it. Carmel...." The Cheif looked 
around for inspiration for a name. Then he saw a coffee mug. "Mugg. Her name
is Carmel Mugg." The Cheif inwardly breathed a sigh of releif and hoped that
the detectives would believe him.
	But Ivy, at least, wasn't to be fooled so easily. With the Carm- hint
she remembered where she had seen that child. It was Carmen's baby! 
	"So, Cheif, what's the kid's name?" Zack asked, himself a little
suspicious.
	"Es- Essie. Her name's Essie."
	Zack picked Esmeralda up when she raised her arms to be lifted. He
then crinkled his nose as he caught a whiff of a VERY foul odor.	
	"Uh, Ivy, I think she needs her diaper changed."
	Ivy, too, had smelled it and wrinkled her nose as well. Seeing the 
two detectives, the Cheif was glad he couldn't smell.
	"What do you want me to do about it?"	
	"Change it."
	"Zack, I don't know how to change a diaper!"
	"Well, neither do I!"
	"Okay. Her diaper needs changing. Cheif can you help us?"
	"Yeah, infoscan diaper changing."
	The Cheif searched through his files but couldn't find a thing on 
changing diapers.
	"Sorry, Gumshoes, looks like you're on your own for this one. Carm-
Carmel left some stuff in that bag."
	"I guess we could put her over there," Ivy said, pointing to a table
in the corner.
	Zack took Esmeralda over there while Ivy got the baby bag. She found
a changing pad that she laid down on the table before Zack put Esmeralda 
down. 
	"Hey, Ivy, how'd you know what that was for?"
	"It says on it, 'Diaper changing pad, lay down on flat surface before
setting down baby'."
	"Oh."
	"Okay, I guess we need to take off her old diaper."
	"Aw man! Ivy do we have to?"
	"Well, Zack, we are CHANGING a diaper. That would mean taking the old
one off."
	"Yuk!" 
	Zack took off the diaper with another loud, "Yuk!" He then took it to
the nearest trash can. 
	"Okay, now what?"
	"Use these wipe things."
	"No way! You're both girls! You do it, Ive!"
	"Okay."
	Ivy finished up the job and put a fresh diaper on Esmeralda. Of all
the things I do for Acme, Ivy thought, I NEVER dreamed I'd have to change
Carmen Sandiego's kid's diaper! Yuk!
	Esmeralda tried to climb off the table. Zack picked her up before
she fell over the edge.
	"You sure do get into a lot of trouble for somebody so small," Zack
said to Esmeralda. The girl laughed.
	"Hey, Ivy, don't you think she's cute? We could have a lot of fun 
doing this."
	"Can I talk to you a minute, little bro? Alone."
	"Sure," Zack answered setting Esmeralda on the ground.
	Ivy led Zack outside the computer room doors. Esmeralda tried to 
follow, crawling as fast as she could but only caught up with the closing 
door. She sat by the doors pouting.
	Once outside, Ivy asked, "Hey, Zack, don't you think there's 
something awefully familiar about Essie?"
	"No. Should there be?"
	"Think about it, Zack. The Cheif said that her name was Essie, and 
her mom's name was Carmel."
	"So?"
	"It's not really Essie; it's Esmeralda. And-"
	"And it's not really Carmel; it's Carmen!" Zack finished off. "Just
one question, Ive. Why would Carmen's kid be here? And where's Carmen? You 
don't think Interpol got her? Do you?"
	"That's three questions, Zack. I don't think Interpol got her, yet. 
If they did, the Cheif would probably be pretty upset. I have a feeling 
though that we might be able to find the answer in the survellience video 
from last night."
	"Why last night?"
	"Essie, or should I say, Esmeralda, had to have come sometime after 
we left last night, and Carmen HAD to bring her."
	"Good point, Ive. But we can't let the Cheif know what we're doing. 
He might try to stop us."
	"That's right, Zack. I'll distract him, while you get the survellence
video."
	"Got it. Uh, Ivy, how are you going to distract him?"
	"You'll see, little bro."
	Zack walked back into the computer room. Ivy waited a moment before
following.
	Ivy rushed in frantically. "Cheif! Cheif! Armando just called. He
said his communicator's busted and he needs help down there quick!"
	"In Argentina? But I don't remember...."
	"Cheif! He asked for you. Hurry!"
	"Okay! Take care of Esmer- I mean Essie while I'm gone!"
	With that the Cheif disappeared. Zack looked at his sister.
	"Whoa! Great acting, sis!"
	"How long do you need?"
	"Well, I'm in the security system right now. It's surprising how
open they keep this to agents.... Voila! Here's the video from last night."
	The two watched in amazement as the previous nights events unfolded 
before their eyes. When Carmen had left, Zack turned the video off. The 
detectives stood in silence.
	"Carmen's come back to Acme?" Zack muttered, unable to believe it.
	"She said she just wanted to clear her name."
	"Whoa...."
	Esmeralda was watching the video from nearby and laughed when she
saw her foster mother on the screen.
	"So, now what do we do?" Zack asked.
	"I say we follow Carmen!"
	"What?!? Ivy, she's going after a murderer!"
	"How do we know that? For all we know, she may be dismantling Acme
as we speak."	
	"I don't know, sis. Besides what'll we do about the kid?" 
	"Hmmmm.... What about another Acme agent?"
	"Like who?"
	"Maybe Marco, or Tatyanna, or- ARMANDO!"
	"Armando sounds good. I think he said something about having some 
siblings- What?"
	"No, Armando's here!" Ivy shouted pointing to the computer room 
doors.
	"I am glad to see that you're pleased to see me, again, amigos." 
Armando replied.	
	"Armando, we need a really big favor from you."
	"Oh?"
	"Yeah," Zack added, "we need you to do some babysitting for us while
we're gone."
	"Where are you going?"
	"Tell the Cheif we had a family emergancy," Ivy answered.
	"Alright, who am I babysitting?"
	"The kid over there," Zack said, pointing to Esmeralda. "Her name's 
Essie. Her mom's one of the new agents and didn't have anybody to leave her 
kid with."
	Armando nodded. Zack set the C-5 corridinates to land them in Mount 
Vernon, Virgina, and they disappeared, Esmeralda waving "goodbye" to them as
they left.


To be continued....