CHAPTER 30

 

“Thank you, Veronica, you are dismissed.”

 

Veronica’s eyes shot up, and she nodded. The girl wasted no time in walking out of the room, slowly passing Franz as she left. Truth to be told, staying up all night standing in a room alone with Hermann had been somewhat of an issue, but that was the least of her worries— or the least of her irritation’s origins. Sure, Veronica felt tired, but it was always good to feel something. 

 

Veronica wanted to do more than be a bodyguard. She wanted to feel the rush of combat, being hit and shot over and over and relishing in the rush of victory and death. The girl could almost picture herself holding on to that MSA’s soldier’s twisted, bloody head. So when she heard that Jasmine and Agnes had been suddenly sent to some far-off northern town to gather information, Veronica became jealous. She strode through the palace’s halls, making her way toward her bedroom. She wanted to go too.

 

Veronica squeezed the door handle and felt it distort under her hand. Nonetheless, she gave it no mind and pushed the door open before settling on a chair next to her bed. She was bored of feeling irritated and angry. Did she need to speak to Hermann? Let him know that she was most likely a few days from snapping and destroying the entire building— perhaps even killing him? Veronica had thought about going rogue, fighting off the TIA and the military for some fun, but that would only satisfy her in the short term. The girl wanted to see what Hermann would do to Azeris and how he would change the country— but that was long term. 

 

Still, right now, Veronica was peeved, but she had no way to show it. She laid back, resting her head against the chair’s headrest. She had to come to a decision, maybe give an ultimatum to send her on something entertaining or to suffer the consequences. Veronica nodded to herself. Yes, that would be the plan as soon as Hermann came back from his propaganda stunt at the hospital. 

 

For now? She supposed sleep would do.

 

---

 

As it turned out, the propaganda stunt had lasted the entire day. The sun had already set hours ago, and Veronica had spent the entire day doing absolutely nothing. She had considered simply leaving, but where was the satisfaction in that? If she left, it would be after leaving this palace in pieces. 

 

Regardless, the metahuman made her way back to Gessner’s office as soon as she had heard he was back. For some strange reason, the agents and staff gave her weird looks as she passed them, and they were not looks of disdain for her race— Veronica could always tell when they did that, not that she cared. She equated them to fear or simply just worry, but she didn’t know why. When she reached the office door the girl knocked softly, and her fist passed through the wood, fracturing it. Veronica frowned— then she realized she was already frowning. She pulled her hand away from the door and simply tried to push it open, but she only managed to knock it down. A loud bang echoed through the halls as Veronica looked inside the office. Three agents had their guns pointed at her. She recognized Angela and Nicholas on the right, but not the third. Franz was staring at her, eyes wide, and Marshal Gessner?

 

He looked at her with a calculating stare. Veronica almost noticed his slight smile.

 

“Hermann, I must urgently speak with you.” She said in a strong, stoic voice, breaking off the silence. The girl took a step—

 

“Stay back, metahuman!” Nicholas screamed, firing a shot.

 

Veronica felt the bullet lodge itself in her shoulder, but she did not even flinch. It was painless; simply there. She stopped advancing and plucked the bullet from her skin.

 

“Why did you shoot me?” The girl asked, tilting her head. “I simply want to talk with Hermann.”

 

“Veronica, are you alright? What’s wrong?” Franz asked. She heard the extreme caution in his voice, which did affect her. How?

 

“I apologize for the door, it appears I am quite irritable today, which is the reason I came here.” She continued.

 

“How about you go take a walk?” Angela said, her voice shaking. “Calm down for a bit, yeah?”

 

“That won’t be effective. All I want to know is when Hermann is sending me to another mission.”

 

“Franz, why don’t you take Veronica for a walk and tell her to stop destroying my office?” Hermann said, speaking for the first time.

 

“Come with me, Veronica. Let’s get you out of here.” Franz said, smiling. Veronica could tell that it was fake. Irritating.

 

“Franz, I just desire a straight answer. Is that too much to ask for?” She continued, taking another step. Wood crunched under her feet.

 

Every agent recoiled, moving away from her in unison, their step back perfectly timed with her step forward. Franz approached her and touched her shoulder. They looked at each other in the eyes for a few seconds, saying nothing. Veronica relented and nodded.

 

“Fine, I will abide by your request, Franz.” 

 

“Thank you.” He started, glancing back at the agents. “Come on.”

 

Looking back in the palace’s halls, fifteen agents stood there, completely still, their guns pointed at her. Franz raised his hand, signaling them to stop, but they did not. They kept their firearms ready to shoot, with frankly did not make any sense to Veronica. They knew it would have been useless against her. In fact, they would have killed Franz if they had shot.

 

As soon as the two metahumans were out of earshot, Franz started rambling.

 

“What is wrong with you, Veronica? That could have gone very, very badly for all of us. What in the Allfather’s name possessed you to come into Hermann’s office by destroying his door and looking like an enraged madwoman?! How do you even manage that?!”

 

“I am not enraged or a madwoman, so your statement is false. I am simply irritated from boredom, which is what I was attempting to convey to Hermann.”

 

“You do look mad, which is ten times scarier when it’s you because you usually don’t look like you have anything. You usually just stare blankly in front of you, or toward someone, but you— in all the months I have known you— have never looked like this.”

 

Veronica didn’t understand. The girl lifted her hand up toward her face and touched it. Nothing seemed unnatural, but still, apparently, she had been terrifying enough to cause that strong of a reaction. The two exited the Presidential Palace, settling on a ledge located next to the driveway in the garden.

 

“This is so bad… I was just starting to make people look at us differently, and then this had to happen.” He said with a long, drawn-out sigh. “I’ll fix it, Veronica, but you need to never do that again.”

 

“If I get things to do, I won’t.” She said, looking longingly at the brightly lit city. So much entertainment to be had.

 

“No, you can’t! They’ll kill— they’ll find a way to restrain you. Plus, they might go after me and my sister.” Franz urged, clasping her arm.

 

“Get Hermann something to do tomorrow, and I’ll consider it. I am tired of none of my needs being met. If I am as crucial as he will have me believe, then he will listen.”

 

“And if he doesn’t? Then what?” He asked her, his voice settling into a murmur.

 

“Then I’m afraid it will be the end of our arrangement.”

 

---

 

Violence had been an effective tool to get what she wanted, even if it had been an accidental show of force. Veronica was beginning to understand that the government and its organizations were not these untouchable, invincible structures like she had expected when they first showed up at the farm all these months ago. The metahuman now knew for sure that the TIA did not have any way of dealing with her whatsoever. She was a wildcard. Extremely powerful in the right circumstances, but also the number one threat to their regime after the MSA.

 

And when you were a threat to the government, usually, they decided to get rid of you. Of course, Veronica was invincible, her skin stronger than every material known to man. So Hermann had decided to go for the next best option, which was to placate her by listening to her demands. 

 

No one inside of the car spoke much— not Angela, Nicholas, or even Sepp, who had been informed of yesterday’s scuffle. They had been assigned to assist her as best they could in their coming task, which of course, Veronica knew was simply a way to monitor her. She didn’t care. Her fists were budding with anticipation, a feeling she was familiar with, but deep inside her she felt excitement, which was not completely new, but rare.

 

Veronica felt her heart beating against her chest. They were almost there.

 

She noticed the high-rise building, which in itself wasn’t unique at all— in fact, it was bland. Adelind had hundreds of similar skyscrapers downtown. What made it special, however, was that it was the headquarters for ACL— All Clean Laundry— a laundromat company that had expanded into selling home appliances as well.

 

Some wary agents had briefed the girl prior to this, and the TIA had recently discovered that ACL was a front for money laundering through drug trafficking that had thrived in the post-civil war economy. Veronica hadn’t paid much attention to the numbers, all she knew was that they were pursuing highly illegal ways of making money. Hermann had tasked the four agents to get rid of them.

 

Uusually, he would not have sent so few agents into an organization as big as this one, but they had her. 

 

“There’s a parking spot right here— hurry the fuck up, it’s going to get stolen!” Sepp hissed, pointing toward the end of the block. 

 

Angela parked her car on the opposite side of the street and took a deep breath. The dark brown-haired woman turned toward Veronica.

 

“So how do you want to do this, then?” She asked with a wary tone.

 

The metahuman tilted her head. “Am I not supposed to go in and deal as much damage as possible?”

 

“No, I mean do you need us to follow you or not? To watch your back?” The woman continued. 

 

“Oh, no need for that. I will deal with them myself. Please wait for me in the car.” Veronica said, opening the door. She got out and almost forgot to go to the other end of the street to cross. The sidewalk was buzzing with activity. People were probably on their way to work, or bringing their children to school. Veronica settled in front of the sidewalk and cracked all of her fingers one by one, waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the light to turn green. When it did, she practically ran across the road.

 

The metahuman walked through one of the many sliding doors and entered the building, and then…

 

Nothing?

 

Veronica investigated the premises, but apart from a few receptionists and doors she wasn’t allowed to go through, there was nothing of note. This was supposed to be a front for shady business, but still, it seemed so normal. The girl approached what was seemingly a waiting area, seeing as it had a large number of couches and people sitting on them. 

 

“Excuse me, miss!” A man called out to her.

 

Veronica ignored him, but after a few seconds he simply called out again. “Miss Veronica Fischer?” 

 

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know me?” 

 

“I saw you on television with our Marshal, of course! I have to say, I must thank you for defending our country against—”

 

Veronica left toward the elevators and tried calling for one, but it didn’t work. Was she really only going to fight some receptionists and ordinary citizens? Was this really it? It couldn’t be— Hermann wasn’t that foolish. She walked up to a receptionist, who was sitting behind a wall of bulletproof glass.

 

“Good morning, I would like access to the upper floors, please.” She asked.

 

The receptionist looked away from the computer screen and then toward her. She pointed at the small microphone sticking up from the glass. Veronica repeated what she had just asked.

 

“Do you have an appointment? Or is it for another reason?” The receptionist answered in a shrill voice. Veronica heard the chewing of gum interjecting her words.

 

“Another reason.” She replied.

 

The two waited for around ten seconds before the receptionist spoke again.

 

“Um, what’s the reason?” 

 

“I just need access to the upper floors.” The blond girl deadpanned.

 

“You can’t just get up there for sightseeing! Now, unless you have an actual appointment, stop wasting my time!”

 

Veronica sighed.

 

Then she rammed her hand through the glass and seized the girl by the throat.