|
|
|
this is probably all I'm gonna do for NaNoWriMo jfc
Tying her hair back, Vi considered a haircut.
It always got in the way anyway, and in her line of work short hair was generally the best way to go. But she liked her hair. She liked how it flowed and how it felt after she'd washed and dried it. Perhaps that was just her girlish side talking, but despite her chosen line of work she preferred having long hair.
She checked her supplies, some of which she'd swiped from the school. Grappling hook, check. Shotgun, check. Suction gloves, check. Lockpicking device, check. Water bottle check. She was all set to go.
The teenage girl attached most of her other tools to her belt, save the suction gloves. Her next target was in this building. According to her surveillance, he would be up in his office in about an hour and he would be alone for the remainder of the day until he left discreetly. She had plotted out a route that let her stay hidden for most of the time, but when she needed a disguise there was a closet on the way with jackets.
Still, she'd rather go the safer route. She sent one last text to Erich: Will you please put the video feed I sent you on loop?
The reply came soon after: Go ******** yourself, Rose.
Victoria sighed and pocketed the phone. Oh well, it had been worth a shot. She tugged on the gloves and the boot covers that went with them. Her plan was simple; there weren't any security cameras on this side of the building (a serious flaw in her opinion), so she was going to scale the building from this side and go from there.
Switching her phone on silent for the moment (she would have need of it later), Vi slipped it into a phone holder she'd picked up at a sports shop and secured it to her arm. That was safer than letting it hang in her pocket. She clipped the holder shut, rolled her shoulders, and started to scale the building.
Good thing Galla made us practice with these in Cove Ops, she grudgingly reflected, acknowledging in her head that the school was doing something right. Honestly, it had hired such stupid teachers she wasn't sure if it was a government facility at all.
In Vi's opinion, actually executing the maneuvers with the gloves was a hell of a lot easier when she wasn't being forced to wear a skirt. She scaled the wall with ease, silently thanking that hardass of an Ops teacher. Making her scale the practice wall fifty times had definitely increased her upper body strength. Last year she would have struggled; this year she clambered up the wall like a squirrel up a tree and reached the top in record time.
Swinging her legs over the top, Vi let herself relax just for a few seconds. She took a few swigs of her water (just because she had made it up with ease didn't mean she wasn't tired) and examined her surroundings. Her dad was a better teacher than most of the teachers at Galla; she found herself falling asleep in class because she had learned most of the stuff before.
Her moment of rest over, Vi clipped her waterbottle back to her leg and checked the roof door. It was locked, as she'd expected, but a few jiggles of the lockpicking tool later and she was in. There weren't any cameras in this corridor, but there were in the next and that made her a bit nervous; the closest was two halls over. She sent one final desperate text to Erich.
Pleeeeeeease? Look, that's the second time I said it.
I'm utterly shocked. I didn't realize you had that word in your vocabulary.
Funny. Now put the ******** video feed on loop.
Tell me why you need it on loop with this specific IP.
I'm breaking into GameStop and getting Bea that car-stealing game she was talking my ear off about.
Grand Theft Auto V?
Sure. C'mon Haxxy, just do it. Ten minutes is all I need.
Erich didn't answer back for a while. Vi was debating just sprinting across the hall when her phone buzzed.
You have five. Do whatever before I change my mind.
Vi let out a sigh of relief. This would make her job a lot easier. She didn't even have to stop at the closet now; all she needed to do was head to the air vent she'd marked on the map she'd memorized. According to her surveillance, there were never any employees on this floor at this hour, but the security guard was making his rounds in three minutes. She had to move.
Treading lightly and sticking to the walls, Victoria darted around the corners and down the hallways. Long corridors made her nervous because there was nothing to hide behind, but luckily there weren't any employees wandering around. Victoria was glad. She only had to bloody her hands once today.
Besides, taking care of this guy was going to be two birds with one stone. One of her contacts had texted her a week ago, asking if she could do her a small favor and make a certain man "disappear". Since she was going to do it anyway, Victoria was glad to say yes. In return she would be getting fresh supplies and enough cash to hold her over for a while.
Yup, that's me, Victoria thought as she scanned the hall before crossing. Victoria Penn, spy-for-hire. Dad'd probably flip if he knew this was what I was doing these days.
Then again, she was doing her father's work for him. Maybe he'd be pleased.
Vi was so lost in thought she nearly passed the air vent she needed. She paused and listened carefully. Nobody was coming, so she pulled out her jackknife, opened up the screwdriver, and went to work. She was planning on coming out the way she came, so it was alright if she left a bit of a mess. She removed the panel, put the four screws in a safe place, slipped on a mask, and unhooked the grappling gun from her belt. She aimed and fired, and a moment later she was lifted off her feet and sent deep into the ventilation system.
Vi needed to go up to go down; according to the blueprints she'd memorized, it was necessary for a more direct route, and she was losing time quickly. She had about twenty minutes to get to the man's office and set everything up. So she army-crawled through the ventilation shafts for a few short minutes, thankful for her mask and avoiding spots that appeared weak. After a bit, she climbed over a tunnel she knew from the prints led directly down and stopped. This was the part she'd been utterly dreading. Taking a deep breath, Vi wiggled back towards the tunnel a bit and let her body fall in.
She tumbled into a free fall that would end very nastily if she didn't act quickly. As fast as she could Vi slammed her hands against the steel wall of the vent. The powerful suction cups stopped her fall almost immediately and Vi felt a horrible jolt of pain in her left shoulder as her arms were nearly jerked out of their sockets. Fortunately, her crazy plan worked; she had managed not to die this far. After calming her heartbeat, the girl slowly began to work her way down. Her left shoulder throbbed something terrible, but Vi was so used to massive amounts of pain during jobs that she just ignored it. It was probably serious, but even serious problems could wait.
As her boots touched a grate, she simply kicked at it. It clattered to the floor below. Her shoulder still burning, Vi gritted her teeth and clambered down the last few feet before jumping to the ground, giving her arms a rest. She moved her arm a little and winced; she'd definitely popped it from its socket. She'd need to find someone to help. But it was her left arm, and she could do fine with only her right.
Unfortunately, as Vi took in her surroundings, she realized a few things; one, she was just outside the office, not inside; two, the grate falling had made quite a loud racket; and three, there were two sets of heavy footsteps approaching her.
s**t. She had made a mistake. Vi took a stance, trying to protect her left arm, and waited. There was no way she was going to mess up when she was so close.
Two big security guys rounded the corner. Vi's expectations dropped, but she kept her guard up. They didn't even have guns. Weren't they supposed to capture her? She could definitely take them with just one good arm. She probably wouldn't even need her knife.
Victoria took the defensive and waited for one to attack her, just like her father had taught. When one lunged for her, she ducked under the blow and delivered a powerful kick to his solar plexus, immobilizing him for now. The next one, just as she'd expected, was right behind her. She spun to the side, rolled around him, and kicked him in the small of his back to send him off balance. It worked, and she sent one more kick to his crotch to immobilize him while the first guy got up.
The first guy looked pained and angered. Vi supposed it was embarrassing to get your a** beaten up by a teenage girl. The large man swung at the smaller girl, who dodged them with ease, holding her left arm down so it wouldn't swing around too much. The first opportunity she was given, Vi dodged to his back, grabbed his shirt collar with her good arm, ran up his back, and slammed his head into the ground. He was down for the count.
Vi cheered silently, but it wasn't over yet. The second guy was up and moving, and -
BANG.
Vi yelped in pain as a bullet sliced past her right arm. Okay, so the guy did have a gun. That complicated things. It was nothing Vi couldn't handle, but it still complicated things. The guy started to aim again, but Vi was faster than that. She stood still until he started squeezing the trigger, dodged the shot, and swung her leg around to kick the gun from his hand. Without losing the momentum from the kick, Vi landed on one leg and brought around the other to deliver a hard blow to the stomach. While the guy was doubled over, Vi ran for the gun. When the guy straightened, he found himself at gunpoint.
"Hands up," she growled. The guy slowly lifted his arms.
"Listen to me," Vi snapped. "I have a dislocated shoulder on one side and a wounded arm on the other. I am in a large amount of pain and I have roughly five minutes to get everything prepared and do what I came here for. Not only are you in my way, but you're costing me time. I have been working on this ******** job for months, and I am NOT going to let a stupid thug like you GET IN MY WAY!"
She fired the gun. The guy's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted. Vi had missed purposely, but it worked just as she'd hoped. Intimidation was half of the job, anyway.
She had lied, anyway. She had roughly ten minutes, but by the time she was done hiding these guys in the broom closet, she would have five.
-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-
Five minutes later, Victoria, exhausted from dragging two large men with one arm, used the lockpicking device on the door. It opened with relative ease. She slipped in, locked the door, and sank to the floor.
She would give anything, anything, to rest for an hour. But she didn't have an hour; she had five minutes to attach the trap device to the chair, lock the windows from the outside while inside, and soundproof the walls. So she got up and set to work.
The windows were the easiest, so that's what she did first; she simply popped out the panes, melted the locks with a small laser she'd picked up in Galla's storage, and replaced the panes. The trap device was a little tricker; Vi wasted two precious minutes trying to figure out which was was up on the thing, but after that it was pretty intuitive how to attach it. Vi picked up the pace and started sealing any cracks in the walls to soundproof it when she heard a key scratching the door. Heart leaping into her mouth, Vi turned on the suction gloves and boots and scampered up the wall and onto the ceiling as the door opened.
There he was; her next target. He was due to leave in three hours, but he wouldn't be leaving today. She watched his shiny bald head move into the room and lock the door, as he always did because he thought he was safer that way. He hung up his coat on a rack and moved to the desk. Vi held her breath and prayed that the trap worked. If not, she was giving Tom such a shitstorm when she got back.
He sat down. For several moments, nothing happened. Vi prayed he wouldn't hear her heart beating so hard in anticipation.
The man logged onto his computer. Seconds later, there was a small whirring sounds. He barely had time to look around in confusion before dozens of thin steel cables exploded on either side of the chair and wrapped around him. He yelped in surprise and struggled, but to no avail.
Vi dropped from the ceiling, further shocking the man, and cursed as her shoulder groaned with pain. She really had to pop it back into place. She made a mental note to do so once she was finished here.
"What the hell is going on? Who are you?" the man shouted.
Vi felt her body grow just a bit colder, like she stepped out of herself and watched as someone else did the rest of the work. She swaggered towards the trapped man. "I'm just a girl looking for answers, Mister Peterson," she replied casually. "A cute little girl who's been all alone for quite some time, and that's made her very dangerous to those in her way."
"Who are you?" Peterson repeated.
"I'll be asking the questions here, Mr. Peterson," Vi said, ignoring him and tugging the shotgun from its holster. Peterson's eyes widened and a drop of sweat ran down his hairless head. "So what can you tell me about Sam Penn?"
"Who?"
Vi flicked off the safety. "An agent, Mr. Peterson. His last known appearance was two years ago." She retrieved her phone and opened the notes app. "Andrew Minefields, George Walters, Walter Smith, Henry Antrobus... do these names sound familiar?"
"They... they were some of the corrupt businessmen killed by the Black Rose Murderer, weren't they?" Peterson had gone white as a sheet.
"Oh, very good! You've done your research. The Black Rose has never been caught, either. There's a reason for that, you know." Vi tossed her hair behind her back. "She's incredibly good at what she does."
"I - I don't know any Sam Penn!" Peterson yelled, sweat beading on his brow. "Who is that, your lover?"
Victoria laughed. "Sam Penn is no lover of mine. Perhaps I'll help jog your memory." She scrolled through her phone. "Every single businessman on the Black Rose's murder list was, after investigation, found to have been involved in gangs, embezzling from their own company, illegally playing the market, or hiding a major scandal." She scrolled through her phone again. "In some cases, there were multiple charges."
"Now all these men, and a few others" -Peterson shuddered at the the thought- "all have something in common. They were all on a list provided only to a top agent in the CIA, one Sam Penn. He was assigned to research them, dig into their lives, in order to see if they had any dirty dealings. He met them, got close to them..." Vi looked over at Peterson. His face had gone pale. "Ring any bells?"
"John... John Hanson..." Peterson looked shattered. "He was so kind..."
"A pity he didn't find anything," Vi sighed. "But as the rumors go, he stumbled upon something - something huge, something that would blow the case wide open. And then..." Vi paused for dramatic effect. "He disappeared."
Peterson tilted his head. "John said... he had a daughter. You couldn't possibly be-"
Vi pressed the gun against the man's head, cutting off his reply. "Thomas Peterson, you have been found guilty of embezzlement, solicitation, and possible conspiracy for the disappearance of Samuel Penn. Have you any last words?"
"D... don't I get a lawyer?" the man said weakly.
Vi laughed. "I'm not part of the law enforcement, Mister Peterson. I follow my own rules. Now if you'll be so kind please d-"
Vi's phone buzzed, giving her about two seconds notice before the Phineas and Ferb theme started playing.
Vi cursed and rested the gun on Peterson's desk for a moment, retrieving her phone. "God dammit, Bea," she muttered. What did the little firecracker want now?
There was a text waiting for her. roooosieeee!
She retrieved the gun and held it back to Peterson's head; the man quivered in fear. hey.
whatcha doin?
just running an errand for someone i know.
oh, im... im taking a walk!
Vi scoffed. She really had to ruin her tension for a walk? Then again, knowing Bea, it probably wasn't a regular walk. Victoria didn't want to think about what Bea's walks entailed. Probably an explosion or two.
Wasn't she in the middle of something? Oh yes.
Vi pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang and then it was all over. One target down, one favor just about owed.
Wiping some of the blood spatters off her face, Vi set about exploring the room a bit more. There was, as she expected, the classic safe hidden behind a painting. The combination was carved on the underside of Peterson's desk, so she made quick work of it and retrieved her friend's emerald ring and three gold bars, stealing some of the cash in the safe for herself. She broke the window open with a lamp on the desk (she couldn't really remember why she'd locked the windows in the first place) and dropped the loot straight down, where there was a net that she'd set up the night before. The loot would simply be caught and slowly fall to the ground.
She cleaned the office and brushed Peterson's hand along some furniture in the room, making sure to clean up her hair that had fallen as well. She sprinkled a few black rose petals (as per her trademark) and left the office, locking it behind her. It was a simple manner to go back through the air vents and back down the wall she came with the grappling hook.
She returned the ring and bars to her contact, took her payment, and left. It was dark now, so she ordered a small pizza at a local pizzeria and rented a room at a motel for the night.
She stepped into her room, locked the door, sat on the bed...
and she cried.
 Jennalaia · Wed Nov 13, 2013 @ 05:16am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
