Veronica Barnes: Trained to Kill

XIV.

     Date: 8/13/2016
     Location: Queens, New York

           Veronica was out on her own that day, watching for crime. Peter was busy quitting band back at Midtown. She was cruising through one of the sketchier parts of Queens, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. She didn't have her suit on, so she looked like any normal girl, but she was dressed in dark clothing.

The sun was setting as Veronica turned right at a street corner, continuing down when she heard yelling coming from the alley.

"Get off me!" a girls voice yelled, followed by some crashing and grunting.

Veronica moved quickly into the alley, climbing up the fire escape and over to see who it was. She recognized the girl. She was the one who had been drawing Veronica and Flash's fight. Veronica quietly moved to the right, now over top of the man.

"What are you going to do?" the man asked. "You're all alone."

"She's not alone," Veronica spoke, dropping down next to the man. She threw a punch, sticking her foot under his leg and knocking him to the ground. He went to get back up but she placed her leg on his back, holding him down, before turning to the girl. "I'll let you finish the job."

The girl smirked. "Flip him over."

Veronica removed her leg, leaning down and flipping the man over on his back. The girl took her foot, kicking him below the belt. Veronica smiled at her, proudly. "You want to get something to eat?"

The girl shrugged. "Sure."

They walked out of the alley together and began back down the street. "What's your name again?" Veronica asked her.

"MJ," she replied. "You're Veronica, right?"

She nodded in response. "Yep. Or 'Penis Parker's Girlfriend' or 'Buffy the Flash Slayer'."

"Seriously?" MJ asked. "Who thought up that last one?"

"Betty on the news calls me that," Veronica rolled her eyes. They turned left and headed back into the town they were from, heading to a pizza place.  "Are you on the Decathlon team?"
             MJ nodded her head. "Yeah. Are you?"

Veronica shrugged. "I don't know if I'm going join just yet."

"If we make it to nationals we get to go to D.C., if that motivates you at all. I plan on doing some protesting if we make it."

"Protesting?" Veronica asked, following the hostess to their table. "What kind?"

"Women's rights and equality, mostly," MJ responded, sitting across from Veronica in their booth. "I'm an activist, if you can't tell. Most people just call me weird because I sit back and observe; draw people. It's just the way I am."

"I like that, though," Veronica spoke up. "Most people try to be better than everyone else, and the star of the show. I never went to school before, really."

"Homeschooled?"

"...something like that," she replied. "I come from another country, actually, and have both daddy and mommy issues." She shook her head. "They left me when I was little, you could say."

MJ nodded her head. "Where are you from?"

Veronica bit the inside of her cheek slightly. "It's a really long, complicated story," she told her. "But I'm from Russia."

The girl looked slightly surprised, but then her face changed back into her normal, fairly blank expression. "Won't lie, not what I expected. Was one of your parents Russian, or are you like a Russian spy or something?" she chuckled.