V.I.L.E (Carmen Sandiego)

The Villains International League of Evil, known more commonly to its associates and A.C.M.E as V.I.L.E., was a vast and shadowy criminal syndicate. 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.
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.
V.I.L.E. was led by a council of five masterminds known as The Faculty, named so not just because they were the leaders of V.I.L.E., but because they were also the teachers of V.I.L.E. Training Academy for Thieves. The Faculty often took a democratic approach when making important decisions among themselves, usually putting it to a majority vote when either supporting or rejecting an idea. There were also pair of operatives known as The Cleaners, who 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 codenames, students come up with a code name for themselves while still in school, and 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. codenames, it is rule of V.I.L.E. Academy that they only give their first names.
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 become 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 twenty years, from the manipulation of financial markets to the contamination of cheese.
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.

According to the Chief (A.C.M.E. boss), only six suspected V.I.L.E. operatives have ever been captured by any intelligence agency in the past twenty 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.

Professor Maelstrom deals in symbolic crime; various ways to prove that evil will triumph over law and order. Examples of this include the attempt to steal the Magna Carta, and his desire to turn a historically significant gold coin into a set of cuff links.
Countess Cleo focuses on stealing priceless treasures and art and replacing them with forgeries, enabling her to keep them as trophies or resell to the criminal underworld. The Eye of Vishnu was kept in her residence in Poitiers, France, and it was Cleo who organized the thefts of the paintings of Vermeer.
Coach Brunt is the muscle and fighter of the faculty. Her schemes are usually simple-minded and mostly involve intimidating and hurting enemies with her strength. Crackle, after being released from police custody, made a joke about Brunt wanting him to steal the finest eclairs in Paris.
Dr. Bellum, being the scientist and inventor, handles capers that involve science, technology (such as the space station incident in Australia), and/or chemical weaponry (such as the rice destroying fungus in Indonesia).
Before defecting to Carmen's team, Shadowsan (former member) dealt in stealth-based crimes; one example being the combined use of Mime Bomb and Tigress to covertly steal a $10,000,000 stamp from a Children's Foundation Auction in San Francisco.

Professor Gunnar Maelstrom is one of the members of V.I.L.E. Faculty and a teacher at V.I.L.E. Academy who taught operatives how to deal with psychological manipulation and how to successfully do bait and switches.
Professor Maelstrom is a middle-aged man with pale skin and white hair with a receding hairline. He has broad shoulders and wears a black blazer over a dark gray turtleneck.
As stated previously, Maelstrom is seen as being an almost unnaturally pale color, hinting towards possible Albinism.
Of the five members of V.I.L.E's faculty, Maelstrom seems to command the most authority and serve as the de facto leader of the group, being the first to speak as well as hand out orders.
As one may expect, Professor Maelstrom is criminally insane, which is ironic, considering his forte is psychiatry. Professor Maelstrom often likes to tinker with his patients' psyches and enjoys psychologically evaluating students, much like someone finding joy in pulling the wings off a butterfly. He does possess some level of awareness of his own insanity, though he is quick to brush it off as a mere label that other weak-minded people have given him. it becomes clear that Maelstrom is incredibly disloyal and self-serving, as he was more than willing to leave Brunt behind back in Scandinavia.

She has a superior attitude of herself, unwilling to dirty her hands, and uses sophistication as a useful tool for manipulation of others in lower classes.
In terms of participation, she mostly keeps to herself during faculty meetings, rarely speaking to the others in favor of letting them discuss the matters with each other. Despite this, however, Cleo also exhibited an attachment to the site of V.I.L.E. Academy.
There appears to be a small rivalry between Countess Cleo and Professor Maelstrom, Maelstrom mentions wanting to melt down a doubloon for new cuff-links in order to make the Countess envious. This suggests that the Countess desires to be the first to have anything remotely fashionable and is easily envious of others for that reason.

Coach Brunt is a member of V.I.L.E. Faculty and a teacher at V.I.L.E. Academy. She is the self proclaimed mother of Black Sheep during her time on the Isle of V.I.L.E. and the one who Carmen has presumed saved her as a baby before it was discovered it was Shadowsan.
Being a Professor at V.I.L.E Academy, Coach Brunt also acted as one of the five members of The Faculty, the group who oversaw their recruits and operatives over many years, Brunt taught her class the ways of combat with her number one rule being to protect their faces, despite her harsh ways, she also took on the role as a mother figure and defended the operatives whom she deemed family, but is in actuality is a brutal, direct woman who stops at nothing until her goal is complete and does not care if she has to physically harm someone to win.
Brunt is a large, middle-aged southern woman with Texan roots that she is proud of. Due to her occupation as a combat instructor, she has a muscular build. Her hair is short and dyed both black and green, she wears a standard tracksuit in the colors of V.I.L.E.

Dr. Bellum is a small woman with a bushy white Mohawk, who is always seen wearing a pair of teal colored welding-style goggles, which are prescription and necessary for her to see, and a white lab coat.
A genius in many different fields, she has contributed greatly to V.I.L.E.'s technical capabilities, and is also fond of watching cat videos on the Internet, researching baking recipes, and enjoys doing various other things that seem to go against the more serious personalities that her fellow teachers tend to display.
Bellum constructs and develops all the advance technology for V.I.L.E., and has R&D labs in various other countries working on technological and biological weapons, such as specialized crop-destroying fungus spores, mind manipulation devices, and robot thieves.
Without her green-tinted lens, she sees very blurry, she already mentioned that those lens have a high magnification.

Shadowsan, is a former member of the V.I.L.E. Faculty who became known as a traitor and defector upon his alliance with Carmen Sandiego being discovered. He is the one who saved Carmen as an infant and who brought her to V.I.L.E. Academy.
Shadowsan is a middle aged Japanese man with a shaved head, a wrinkled face and a strong, physically fit and muscular body. His attire as a member of V.I.L.E.'s faculty included a blue-grey men's haori, accompanied by grey hakama and setta sandals. After joining Carmen's crew, he switches to a black polo with grey trousers and black shoes, as well as sunglasses. When he and Carmen engage in stealth operations, he wears a black shinobi outfit.
In V.I.L.E., Shadowsan was known for his discipline and no-nonsense demeanor, and was considered the strictest of the five Faculty members. He almost never cracked a smile, usually wearing a neutral, unfazed expression or a scowl.

He believes that origami is the best way to master the nimble touch required for pickpocketing, giving someone precision and focus, and improving one's attentiveness. He is extremely irritated by any lack of discipline, such as when 'Black Sheep' would pull pranks or disrupt class, or the times Paper Star would use her origami weapons in class for simple matters.
Upon Carmen's betrayal, Brunt's response was to try and kill her for turning on family, but it was Shadowsan who truly always cared for Carmen and didn't want her to become a VILE thief because he thought she was better than that.

A rather cocky man, Graham was eager to change professions after becoming an operative. Despite being a thief, he still took the blame for things such as taking a sacrifice by claiming he and the other three were the ones who had pressured Carmen into the water balloon attack on Cookie Booker. Though after graduating, his mood changed, and he was willing to do what it took to be the best of the best, even going as far as to attack a witness during his first caper. During his first encounter with Carmen after she took on the new name, Graham underestimated his opponent, which eventually led to his capture. He then showed fear when his memories were about to be erased.
Graham "Gray" Calloway, also known as Crackle, is a former V.I.L.E. operative who found himself arrested after a failed attempt to apprehend Carmen Sandiego. For his failure, his memories were wiped, and he was sent back to Sydney, Australia where he went back to going by the name of Graham.
After encountering Carmen sometime later, he attempted to get close to her, though Player insisted to Carmen it would be a dangerous move as it was possible Graham could be a sleeper agent. Eventually, Graham began remembering his time with V.I.L.E., where he eventually went back to being an operative for them.
After returning to Australia, Graham was a more friendly man, though he still showed signs of being cocky but also flirtatious, especially to Carmen, and was eager to help her on a mission under the belief he was helping a charity. After remembering who he once was, Graham appeared as a more confused man who did not know what he was doing, yet would then switch to his thieving nature instantly with no remorse.
Prior to being an operative, Graham Calloway worked as a junior electrician at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. After learning he could be an efficient thief whenever the lights were out, he started to steal and was eventually scouted for V.I.L.E. Academy to which he accepted.

While her first name is known as Sheena, her last name as well as other background information is unknown. After graduating, Sheena declares that she has earned her stripes and claims Tigress as her codename. Despite not much being known about her life prior to V.I.L.E, she was supposedly scouted for due to her already having a habit of stealing. During her time at the Academy, she started a rival with Carmen, the latter of which went by Black Sheep at the time, after Carmen defected, their rivalry continued, something which Sheena often put first rather than her assigned mission. Often cocky, Tigress taunts her targets and is ruthless and aggressive towards her opponents and those she does not like. When on missions, she would double down on her aggressive nature whether enemy or ally. As she possesses the ability to hold grudges for a long length of time, Sheena has often wasted time on missions due to wanting to gain the advantage over her opponent.
Tigress is a tall, physically fit, and fair-skinned young woman presumably in her early twenties, with neck-length platinum-blonde hair, baby-blue eyes and a small beauty mark on the right side of her face. She also wears maroon-purple lipstick. Tigress donned a stealthy, one-piece uniform. It is a phthalo-green suit with three matching orange stripes in the form of claw marks going from the collar to her chest area with two identical black marks at her hip areas with matching orange lines, her arms and hands are completely covered in dark green sleeves and gloves. she has sharp, claws that extends from her gloves, she would also accessorize with a pair of orange and black night goggles with lime-green, cat-eyed shaped areas that allowed her to see.
Sheena is a very formidable and tactical fighter on her own. Due to her constant rival with Carmen, she often attempts to gain the upper-hand against the former operative. During fights, Sheena preferred to fight in melee combat using her claws.

Jean-Paul is an operative of V.I.L.E. where he attended V.I.L.E. Academy during Carmen Sandiego's time with the organization. During his time, he became close with another operative named Antonio and the two were paired together.
Le Chèvre is a tall thin man with slicked back black hair and dark skin. He wears silver earrings and a slick bodysuit with mauve accents. He also wears finger-less gloves and stealth shoes.
At first, when Black Sheep met Le Chèvre, he seemed confident and gruff. In agility based classes, he was shown to be skilled, but a bit impatient due to his headstrong nature. When Tigress, Crackle, Black Sheep, and El Topo got detention, they gave themselves code names. Jean-Paul called himself Le Chèvre. When he graduated, he became more distant towards Black Sheep. When the Cleaners were bringing Black Sheep back to the island after the foiled Morocco heist, Le Chèvre shot her a disapproving glare. If someone bothers him, he usually retaliates by insulting or scolding them. Le Chèvre scorned Paper Star for disobeying protocol, declaring that he has completed more successful missions than her.Le Chèvre is an acrobatic expert, but prefers to rely on his skills and simple tools like nets and ropes even when other, higher-tech equipment could do the job faster. In Who in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, he claims he is the greatest rock climber in the world, attesting to his confidence in his own abilities. Despite his gruffness, Le Chèvre cares deeply about El Topo and worries for his "dear boy" when El Topo's safety is at risk, it's confirmed that they're lovers.

El Topo is a short man with broad features and spiked-up silver hair that has shaved sides. He is top-heavy, with a broad chest, and wears a black and violet stealth suit with claw-like gloves. His name, in fitting with his tools, is Spanish for "The Mole". He wears mole-like robotic claws and can travel underground because of them.
When El Topo met Black Sheep, he seemed like a calm, carefree person. As Antonio, he was kindhearted, intellectual, and willing to play along with a joke or prank. However, he has been shown to possess a merciless side, as he was willing to leave no witnesses during his graduation heist. He has shown hesitation in bringing harm to his allies, though, particularly Carmen and Le Chèvre.
As a thief, El Topo prefers taking "the low ground"; he specializes in underground operations, and in contrast to Le Chèvre, gets nervous when confronted with heights.
Throughout the capers, El Topo almost exclusively goes on missions with Le Chèvre and prioritizes his partner's safety over completing their objectives. He's dating Le Chèvre.

Mime Bomb is a thin, red-haired young man who looks like a stereotypical mime. He wears a grey and black striped shirt, black beret, white gloves, black spandex and black shoes. His makeup consists of white face paint, black face paint around the eyes and on the brows, and a light red shade of lipstick.
Though ridiculed for his commitment to pantomime to the point that he speaks in games of Charades, Mime Bomb is the perfect stealth observer. He moves so quiet sometimes that people almost don't notice him.
Because he is dedicated to his dramatic persona, he either blends in as a "creepy clown" or "annoying street performer". Only a person with a keen eye would suggest he is suspicious or a formidable threat.
Mime Bomb has been described as quiet by El Topo and weird by Tigress.

Mime Bomb is seen as an opportunist, immediately tattling to V.I.L.E Faculty when witnessing Carmen stowing away on the graduate mission during her holdover year. He is also prone to avoiding fights or physical contact when possible.
The V.I.L.E. faculty takes him into account because he is very good at being a spy, and also because Carmen sometimes has problems dealing with him. Despite being skilled, the rest of his teammates prefer not to get involved with him; some find him strange, and others find him annoying.

Neal is a tall man with a thin lanky frame and greasy black hair. He has buck teeth with a slight gap between, usually resting over his bottom lip. His skin is very pale, almost grey, and he has purple bags under his eyes.
Neal is a master of infiltration, and specializes in slipping into small spaces. His slick body suit, lanky frame, and skills as an acrobatic-contortionist make him a difficult man to capture and hold.
He attempted to take Shadowsan's place in the V.I.L.E. Faculty by stealing the plans to a prototype EMP device from Russia to deliver to Dr. Bellum.
He was again seen in a mission, where he partnered with Mime Bomb to attempt to steal a collection of valuable masks from a museum in Venice, Italy, but he was tricked by Carmen into stealing a box full of souvenir replicas, whereupon he was arrested by police, however, he was extricated by The Cleaners.
Neal was then taken to the new V.I.L.E. Academy to have his memory wiped, although he was oddly calm about it, and was spared due to Scotland's climate shorting out Dr. Bellum's equipment. He and Roundabout (mainly Roundabout) were given one last chance to redeem their mistakes.
Neal is described as "conniving and loyal to a fault" by Doctor Bellum. During fights, he has an affinity for making puns and teasing his opponent. Despite his goofy nature, he is a competent operative, having been able to outplay both Shadowsan and Carmen in combat— additionally having been considered a potential faculty member by Bellum.
He is revealed to be extremely laid-back and easygoing.

Paper Star is an agent of V.I.L.E. During her time there, she was among those who were tasked with capturing Carmen Sandiego and much like Sheena, Paper Star also had a great rival with the elusive thief.
Paper Star is sadistic and unpredictable, taking great enjoyment out of her missions and being willing to inflict pain on others to get what she wants. Despite her cruelty, she also possesses an extremely high intellect, enough to earn favor with Maelstrom and rivaling that of Carmen Sandiego herself. She is sarcastic and nonchalant, cracking witticisms and making casual threats towards others both in fights and out of them. She appears to be the daring type, her personality is also marked by a disdain for protocol and rarely gets along with others she works alongside.
Paper Star has incredible origami skills, specializing in folding paper throwing stars sharp enough to cut through stone. Among Paper Star's quirks is an affinity for paper of all kinds; she becomes excited when she obtains new paper, regardless of type. She tends to skip as she walks, and frequently hums the same four-note melody.
She is a slender, fair-skinned young Japanese woman (possibly in her late teens to early 20s) with long hair with straight bangs that had been split-dyed into two shades, dark blue on the right and cyan on the left. Her hair is also styled into buns that vaguely resemble horns. She also sport multicolored-nails and makeup (thick eyeliner and plum-purple lipstick).
She wears an extravagant, neon-green leather jacket with small dark silver spikes on the shoulders and around the cuffs, dark silver studs on the front and on the popped collar, as well as a blue and orange patch sewn on the right side. She also wore thigh-high dull-purple platform boots with darker-colored soles and purple utility straps.

Dash Haber is a tall man with medium-length dark gray hair. He has light skin and wears a gray bowling hat with a black stripe that conceals several blades hidden inside.[2] He also wears a long, navy blue trench coat with matching pants, a black waistcoat, blue sweater, and a white undershirt.
Dash has been shown to naturally have a kind of standoffish and snobby demeanor. However, he is capable of friendliness if not just moderate politeness during certain interactions. It can be assumed based on his appearance, attitude, and affiliations that he is a considerably vain and prideful person. However, considering his comment on the painting "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" when he was picking it up, calling it "The Woman in Blah", it seems that he does not necessarily yet have a refined taste. Despite his perceived elegance, he does not seem to be outstandingly intelligent. This is shown when he believed in a mission (though with initial skepticism) that Zack's character "The Duke" was from an imaginary place in Boston called Vermeer. He also acted with noticeable cowardice when he perceived Zack's hand motion as a death threat. His emotional control also leaves something to be desired. We see this especially at Countess Cleo's dinner in that mission, when Dash demonstrated his deep need for Cleo's approval. He also presented how childish he can be when he was rejected and mocked by both Cleo and Zack, and ended up muttering under his breath about "duke schmuke" and spent the rest of the night pointing out all of Zack's flaws and insulting him to get revenge.
his hat has a built-in scanner eyepiece, which also functions as a communicator to contact Countess Cleo.

In "The Fashionista Caper", his hat now possesses a retractable buzzsaw rim, which he calls the "Buzz Cut", capable of cutting through most materials. He can recall the hat back to him using magnetic pulse devices built into the palms of his gloves.

Boris and Vlad are The Cleaners. The two men work for V.I.L.E.. Normally, they work in janitorial duties but also work as men-in-black who are deployed to extricate V.I.L.E. members who have failed their missions by being apprehended and "scrub" any evidence of V.I.L.E.'s existence. The duo rarely speak, but are diligent in their jobs. They work quickly, quietly, and without complaint. As Shadowsan notes, they are without fear. They are also “guys who never leave before the job is done”.
Vlad is shorter than Boris and has brown hair, eyes and eyebrows, with a sharper chin than him. He possesses a more tired expression as well. His hair is revealed to be balding.
Boris's chin is more square and blunt than Vlad's and is taller than him. His hair and eyebrows are black and tilted.
They both have somewhat wrinkly faces with their hair cut short.
Their attire changes depending on their part in missions but they mainly wear pale green-grey shirts and pants with a black belt.
They have a slightly higher rank than agents, since they not only clean evidence and literally floors, but they can also handle vehicles such as helicopters or boats, they have combat experience and can also kidnap using chloroform. They are the go-to alternative for faculty members whenever something goes wrong, because they very rarely fail, and they always do their job even if they look tired all the time.

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 (who was later to be chief of A.C.M.E.). 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.
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.
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.

That December 1, when Cookie Booker 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.

After escaping, Black Sheep became the current Carmen Sandiego.

Carmen is a highly intelligent and knowledgeable individual, this quality being in part what makes her such a immense threat to V.I.L.E.. Having been raised by a revolving door of nanny's, Carmen was exposed to a wide variety of diverse places, learning of their language and culture as she grew. On top of what was taught to her, Carmen is also a gifted thinker in the practical sense. She has a keen intuition towards thievery and problem-solving, learning how to escape tight situations even as a child through her penchant to throwing pranks and avoiding getting caught. Carmen is also greatly defined by her empathy, as seen when she fought off her graduated classmates to save a dig-site crew after developing an appreciation of art. She is also a humanitarian, donating the money she steals from V.I.L.E. to children's hospitals, orphanages, museums, and various other charities. She was orphaned during her infancy and taught how to be a professional thief at V.I.L.E. Academy, but later defected as she wanted to see the world for herself and right V.I.L.E.'s wrongs. She is the leader of Team Red and friend of Player, Zack, Ivy and Shadowsan.
Carmen is a tall, beautiful young woman around 20 of Argentinean-Mexican descent. She has rakuda skin and a slender-yet-athletic physique, which forms into a rather shapely and curvy figure. She sports thick, wavy, voluminous hip-length maroon-red hair and blue-gray eyes.
Since she is usually operating as a thief, Carmen primarily sports her iconic red trench coat and fedora. Her fedora is wide-brimmed with a black band and her coat remains buttoned with the collar popped, reaching down to her calves. Underneath, Carmen wears a black form-fitting quarter zip cap-sleeve turtleneck catsuit with a gold triangle zipper and black gloves and boots. To finish off the look Carmen adorns a pair of round black communicator earrings in order to speak with her team on capers. Carmen Sandiego is her current name, leaving the name of Black Sheep.

Zack is an ally of Carmen Sandiego. He is the younger brother of Ivy, friend of Player and member of Team Red. He is from Boston, Massachusetts. Zack's personality can be described as being goofy and having a looser behavior compared to the others, but he has displayed determination under circumstances when he is needed. Despite his tendencies, he can be level-headed in capers and is surprisingly good at acting, even if he sometimes doesn't know what he's talking about (The Duke of Vermeer Caper). His confidence can sometimes convince the people he's lying to, such as when he lied to Dash Haber about being a Duke. Zack has a large appetite and will eat any food, except for fish. He also hates it when people call Boston "Beantown". Like everyone on Carmen's team, he uses his thieving skills for good. He also acts as a getaway driver for Carmen when she escapes her capers, being a highly skilled driver of both cars and boats (and once a helicopter). Zack is a big fan of action movies.
Zack has red hair, although lighter than his sister's. He has light cornflower blue eyes and freckles sprinkled across his face. Zack is shown to be decently tall. He wears a white and red baseball jersey, a black long-sleeve undershirt, dark blue jeans, and grey sneakers.
Before meeting Carmen, Ivy and her brother Zack were race car drivers. They borrowed money from a man named Sharkhead Eddie to build their car. Ivy built the car they used, and Zack drove it. They moved from amateur tracks to the professional league, where Zack met Trey Sterling, his rival. Trey taunted Zack about his car and Zack wrecked it in a reckless attempt to beat Trey. Zack and Ivy asked Eddie for more money to repair the car, but he refused, instead telling them to rob a store that was most likely used as a drop off point for the mob to pay him back.

Ivy is generally more competent, more cautious and less easily distracted than her brother. She generally takes charge when they are separated from Carmen. She has a thick Boston accent like her brother, but can disguise her voice. However, her knowledge of languages is a bit mixed up. Also, she seems to know more about other countries than her brother does. She is a master of disguise and often fills in for Carmen as a double when she needs to be. Like everyone on Carmen's team, she uses her thieving skills for good. Ivy is also known to have a small fear of heights and does not enjoy taking risks like her brother, Zack. Though Ivy can get very frustrated with her brother's actions and decisions, she loves him very much. Ivy loves chocolate, cocoa, caramel etc.
She has chin-length reddish-orange hair, and green eyes with freckles on her cheeks. She has a broad and fit figure. She wears a black t-shirt with blue sleeves, gray capri pants, and red sneakers. She is shorter than her brother and Carmen, giving off a tough image, rather than Carmen's light and speedy one.
Ivy has shown on numerous occasions to be a gifted mechanic. She was able to custom build the inters of her sibling's shared racer car, Lydia, by herself. She can also hot-wire cars without the uses of its keys.
It was at Darryl's Donut Hole that they first encountered Carmen, who had to keep them safe as V.I.L.E. used the donut shop as a front for printing money with stolen treasury plates. V.I.L.E.'s plan was to print money as a way of buying prime real estate in Boston to expand their influence and enterprises. Despite Carmen's efforts to keep them away, the siblings still aided her in finding and destroying V.I.L.E.'s money printings, making their own tea party. Realizing they have nothing in Boston, and to avoid Eddie, the siblings opted to join Carmen on her globe trotting capers.

He is the first and youngest friend of Carmen Sandiego after the former got into contact with the latter after he hacked through twenty-seven layers of V.I.L.E. Academy's security. He is a friend of Zack and Ivy and member of Team Red. He is known as a gray-hat hacker. Despite being the youngest, Player was portrayed as being one of the most mature members after Carmen and Shadowsan. He is a talented hacker, being able to contact Black Sheep's stolen phone. As a White Hat hacker, he uses his talents only for good reasons and seems to have a strong moral compass. He tends to ignore personal property when he hacks into computer systems. He seems mild-mannered and makes jokes often, being able to hold light friendly banter with Carmen. He mentions being perfectly happy in his "dark little cave", and doesn't seem all that interested in going outside for himself. His home schooling may factor into this. It's possible he's more interested in experiencing the world vicariously through Carmen's adventures. Due to his secluded location, he is the only member to never physically encounter V.I.L.E. or A.C.M.E., making his affiliation with Carmen unknown to both organizations as neither are unaware that he exists.
Player is a young teenager with side-fringed dark brown hair, greyish-blue eyes, and tan skin. He wears a grey and red jacket over a red shirt, with navy blue shorts and grey sneakers. He is also the shortest member of Team Red. Player lives with his family in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Before he turned twelve, his parents had an argument and his father decided to leave. Player used his newly acquired hacking skills to try to find his father, he had succeeded this but decided that they were fine, so he did not pursue. Some time after Player's mom remarries a "great guy". Player uses his hacking skills as a white hat hacker and eventually hacks his way into V.I.L.E..
Due to his secluded location, he is the only member to never physically encounter V.I.L.E.