Veronica Versus The Helicopter

One would think that Veronica could simply put spy business aside when she was off the clock, right?

Wrong.

Since the Intersect was oh so precious to the government, they decided to give her four handlers for "protection."

The same four people who helped her defuse a bomb in an arena last week.

And these four were everywhere.

Not only did Alex work at her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, but he lived across the street from her. Evan worked at the 7/11 and moved in next door to Martha.

There was also the fact that Veronica sometimes hung out with the Heathers, the most popular girls in school. They would go to the mall a lot, where Jeremy now worked as a sales associate. He also lived in the same neighborhood as Heather Chandler.

As for Lydia, she still went to school with Veronica and now lived across the street from JD.

Yep, there was definitely no reason for Veronica to feel like she was being watched at all times.

Honestly, Veronica wanted this thing out now. No more secrets, lies, or handlers to deal with. She wanted to go back to her life, where she knew who she could trust, and not worry about having "flashes" on any random item or person.

Veronica got distracted from her thoughts, when she felt her phone buzz. It was a text from a guy named "Thomas Anderson," AKA General Beckman:

HIGH SCHOOL – MEETING – 15 MIN.

And with that, Veronica left the house.

Of course, the meeting technically wasn't in a high school. It was beneath it, in their secret bunker, AKA Castle

The five team members all surrounded what looked like a very large TV screen with a disguised gift basket on a table. Then, they had a video conference with Generals Graham and Beckham.

"Generals, it is good to see you again. How may we be of service to you?" Alex asked.

"We have an update on the Intersect project," General Graham stated.

Veronica's heart leapt with a bit of joy, but she was also cautious. After all, she didn't know what this "update" was.

"Dr. Jonas Zarnow, our top scientist," General Beckham said with a bit cockiness, "has agreed to come to Sherwood to run some tests on the Intersect."

Evan and Jeremy practically jumped for joy at that.

"Wait? THE Dr. Jonas Zarnow?!" Jeremy asked.

"Yes," General Graham said, unsure of where this conversation was going.

Well, that only fueled the boys' excitement.

"When is he coming?!" Evan asked.

"He will meet you down at Castle in six hours," General Beckham said.

"And he'll provide some much answers, right?" Veronica asked, hopefully.

"I don't know exactly what he'll find, Ms. Sawyer, but I can guarantee you that he'll at least show us what our next step is."

Needless to say, Veronica joined the boys in their jumps for joy.

"Alright, settle down kids," General Graham said, "We also have another matter of business to discuss."

Jeremy, Evan, and Veronica settled down for General Graham's announcement.

"We realized that no matter what happens today, Operation Sawyer may need to go on for a little while," General Graham said, much to Veronica's disappointment. "Therefore, you need aliases to use out in the field. That gift basket you received earlier? General Beckham and I put in some potential new aliases in there."

The team practically tore into the gift basket.

"Lin Manuel-Miranda?" Alex said as he grabbed a piece of paper from the basket. "I like it."

"Will Connolly?" Jeremy said. "That's cool."

"Oh, actually, 'Will Connolly' was assigned to another agent this morning. Pick another name," General Beckham said.

Jeremy did just that. "Will Roland? Why do I get stuck with guys named 'Will?'"

"Just go with it," General Beckham said.

"Ben Platt?" Evan said. "More like Ben Splatt."

"Don't you dare change that name!" General Graham said. "Too much time went into one!"

"Ok," Evan said.

Lydia and Veronica grabbed the same one at the same time.

"Winona Ryder?" They said unanimously.

"Hey, that's actually pretty cool," Lydia said.

"Yeah," Veronica replied.

"Ms. Deetz, please give that name to Ms. Sawyer. It's her first time," General Beckham said.

"Ugh, fine," Lydia said as she reluctantly handed the "name" to Veronica, before picking another one out of the basket.

"Sophia Anne Caruso?"

"Do a good job with Dr. Zarnow! Bye!" General Beckham said as he got General Graham and himself out of the conference call.

"This is truly incredible," Dr. Zarnow said as he analyzed the Intersect data from inside Veronica's brain.

Not that he knew that.

"Are you sure I can't go in to see Patient X for myself?" He asked.

"Like I've told you a million times now, you can't know Patient X's identity without compromising your safety," Lydia reminded Dr. Zarnow.

"Are you sure about that?" Evan asked out of the side of his mouth, smiling. "Not even an al-"

"Not when it comes to this little project, no," Lydia said, imitating his tone.

Veronica was currently attached tied down to a dental chair in a room covered with black curtains. There were long wires attached to her forehead, with different images playing on a TV in front of her.

At first the images were simple everyday things, such as flowers and cars. Then, it got into more classified things, which caused Veronica to flash.

And she was getting tired of it.

"Well, I think I have all that I need," Dr. Zarnow said as he began to pack up his materials. "Tell Patient X that I will analyze the data more and should it go the way I think it will, the Intersect can be extracted."

Lydia, Evan, and Jeremy were relieved to hear that.

"Why thank you Dr. Zarnow!" Jeremy said excitedly as he shook the doctor's hand, followed by Evan.

"The pleasure is all mine."

Veronica was happily driving home when she got a phone call.

"Yeah?" Veronica asked.

"Zarnow's dead," Alex said on the other line.

"WHAT?!" Veronica replied, feeling as if her whole world was crumbling down.

"A bomb went off in his car. We're investigating it now. I just thought I would let you know," Alex said before hanging up.

He was looking at the wreckage with some NSA members before a CIA team approached them.

"Hey," said a familiar voice.

"Ugh, what are you doing here, Caruso?" Alex asked.

"For the same reason you are, Miranda," Lydia replied.

"Fine. Just don't interfere with me and my guys, ok?"

Everybody investigated the car, trying to find any sort of reason as to why Zarnow's car blew up. Nobody found anything, until Lydia spotted the remains of a particular phone.

She pocketed it without anybody noticing.

"Hey," Alex said, "You find anything?"

"No, but I think my team is down here," Lydia replied. "Come on, guys."

As soon as they left, Alex called General Beckham.

"What's the update?" The General asked.

"I don't know too much, but it looks like a CIA job."

"Hmm, in that case you and Mr. Hansen need to keep extra eyes on Mr. Heere and Ms. Deetz."

"Psst, Veronica," Lydia whispered as they were walking to lunch the next day. She then pointed her head in the direction of the school library.

"You can't have any private meetings with Alex or Evan," Lydia whispered to Veronica once they sat down in the library.

"What? Why?" Veronica whispered back.

Lydia discreetly looked around before pulling out a phone, or rather, what remained of it.

Veronica experienced another flash, seeing NSA logos and bombs.

"That's not a phone. It's a NSA incinerator that's designed to eliminate all biological traces," Veronica realized.

"I know, which makes me think that it was, you know…"

"Oh come on, Evan wo-"

"Maybe Hansen's innocent, but think about it. The CIA and NSA have been butting heads for years. Zarnow worked for the NSA, and the car blew up to stop the CIA from coming after the Intersect."

Veronica was definitely confused as to who should she trust at this point. "Hey," Lydia started, "Jeremy and I are the only ones you can trust now, ok?"

Once Veronica got out of the library, she was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Veronica."

'What are you doing here, Evan?"

"Beckham extended my cover. I'm now a Westerberg High student," Evan said with fake cheer in his voice. "So I saw you and Lydia in the library together. What were you guys talking about?"

"Oh, you know…girl stuff."

"Girl stuff? Huh, Lydia doesn't strike me as a person whose into that sort of thing. She seems more like a 'I'm keeping secrets from my NSA associates' type of person.'"

Well, so much for that "girl stuff" lie.

"Look, the CIA and NSA have been butting heads for years. Zarnow worked for the NSA, and the car blew up to stop the NSA from getting full access to the Intersect. Don't listen to a word from Lydia or Jeremy. Alex and I are the only ones you can trust now," Evan said.

"Funny enough, Lydia said almost the exact same thing to me. Except she left out the part where you murdered several people in a single setting."

"What?!"

"I flashed on that ring you had the other day. There's no point in lying about it."

"Those people you saw were French assassins. I had to kill them."

Before either of them could say anything else, they heard a slow beeping sound coming from inside Evan's backpack. He unzipped it and was shocked to see an NSA incinerator in it, with 60 seconds on the clock.

"The football field!" Veronica said, quickly grabbing the bomb from Evan and running towards the stadium. She managed to throw it into the sky just as the timer went off.

Evan met up with her outside. "I'm going to assume that you weren't planning on dying today?" Veronica asked.

"No."

There was a moment of silence between them before Evan spoke up. "Lydia," he said.

"What?"

"This is only further proof that Lydia killed Zarnow."

"Now, hol-"

"Her mentor went rogue and now she is too!"

"Oh, how nice it is of you to throw assumptions, Hansen," said a familiar voice.

"Lydia," Evan said as he acknowledged her, other students now coming out of the building.

"Hansen," she replied. "If you're dumb enough to believe that I would do such a thing, then you'd be mistaken."

Then, Evan's phone started to ring. He realized that it was from Jeremy and he answered it.

"Hello?"

"ARE YOU GUYS, OK?!" Jeremy yelled.

"Yeah, we're fine," Evan said before taking a few steps away from everybody. "Hey, can you look into Alex for me? I think he did this," he whispered.

"You mean the same Alex who watched the explosion with Jeremy from inside Castle?" Alex asked accusingly.

"Ok, let's pretend that it wasn't you, then who-"

He stopped once he saw a gun pointed from afar. Evan started to run, dropping his phone in the process.

Then, his whole world went dark.

"Evan?! EVAN?!"

"And then he just vanished from his phone," Jeremy said once Lydia and Veronica were in Castle.

"Almost like somebody took him," Alex added.

"But where?" Lydia asked.

Then, realization hit Veronica. "The Helipad," she said. "That's the only place where people can get private planes to fly over the Atlantic Ocean."

"The perfect place to dump a body," Jeremy said.

"Well, then let's go to the helipad," Lydia said with a hint of happiness.

"But first, we'll need a vehicle," Alex said. "Sawyer, your car is the least interesting one. Mind giving me the keys?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Veronica said confidently to her teammates' dismay. "Look, you guys pretty much control every aspect of my life now. I ain't letting you drive my car. So either let me drive or take one of your other vehicles."

Needless to say, Lydia, Alex, and Veronica drove to the helipad in a 2003 Volkswagen.

Jeremy had successfully hacked into the security systems of the Helipad, giving guidance as Alex and Lydia fought the guards that were preventing them from seeing Evan.

Meanwhile, Veronica sat out in the car, like her handlers told her, and listened to Jeremy on the phone to receive updates. She then noticed a manleaving the building with several guards and a chained-up Evan in tow, gag in mouth.

Veronica quickly got out of the car and ran. "Hey!" She yelled.

The man turned around and Veronica flashed. "You're Dr. Zarnow! And you've been selling American scientific data to North Korea!"

"So you're Patient X," Dr. Zarnow said, realization in his voice. He then started to laugh menacingly, "Leave that pathetic boy here," he said to his guards. "Take this one instead. She'll be of fine use to North Korea."

Both Evan and Veronica screamed, thrashing around for the guards to stop, but to no avail. Veronica was forced onto the helicopter.

Alex and Lydia ran outside. They untied Evan and took his gag off.

"They took Veronica!" He said.

"What?!" Alex and Lydia exclaimed, before looking at where the helicopter had just taken off.

Meanwhile, Veronica sat behind Dr. Zarnow and the pilot. She noticed a strange looking gun next to her.

Without thinking, she used the device on both the pilot and Zarnow, knocking them both out with tranquilizers.

It was then that the plane started to go down.

Veronica quickly took over, still unsure of how to safely land a helicopter.

Jeremy's voice came over the dispatch. "Veronica? Can you hear me?"

"Yes!" Veronica exclaimed once she touched the receiver.

"Ok, I can tell that you've flown a helicopter before," Jeremy said. "So just pretend like it's a simulator game."

"I've never played those!"

"Really?" Jeremy asked, shocked. "Um ok, just ease to the right and slowly use the brake."

"I got it," Veronica said more to herself than Jeremy.

"Almost there," Jeremy said as she got closer.

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Veronica said happily.

"Perfect!" Jeremy exclaimed once she landed the helicopter.

"Guys, I just landed a helicopter," Veronica said excitedly while exiting the aircraft, before she received a smack on the face.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Lydia exclaimed. "YOU COMPROMISED EVERYTHING! YOU SHOULD'VE TRUSTED ME WHEN I TOLD YOU TO STAY IN THE CAR!"

"OH, SO I SHOULD'VE ALEX TOO, HUH?!" Veronica yelled. "BECAUSE I REMEMBER TELLING ME NOT TO TRUST HIM OR EVAN!" Veronica then looked at Evan. "AND YOU TOLD ME NOT TO TRUST HER OR JEREMY! DO YOU ALL HOW HARD IT IS TO TRUST PEOPLE WHO TRY TO IMPLANT CONFLICTING IDEAS INTO YOUR HEAD?! AT THIS RATE, I CAN'T TRUST ANY OF YOU!"

"DOUBT ME AGAIN AND I'LL LEAVE! WE'LL ALL GO TO WASHINGTON! YOU'LL LEAVE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! DO YOU WANT THAT TO HAPPEN?!" Lydia exclaimed back.

"No," Veronica said weakly. "Look, I don't know what kind of issues you all have, but you need to sort them out if you ever want this team to work," she said before walking away.

Evan and Alex ran up to her. "Don't listen to Lydia," Alex said. "She's just going through a lot with Phoebe being gone and everything."

"And for the record, I thought that what you did was really brave," Evan quickly added on.

"Thanks, but Lydia's not the only one going through a lot," Veronica reminded them.

A few days later, Veronica, Lydia, and Jeremy were out in a graveyard for Phoebe's funeral. A "bank robbery," was listed as the cause of death, but they knew the truth.

Like how they also knew that the bomb explosion wasn't a "small fireworks mishap."

"I'm sorry," Lydia said to Veronica, "for all the things-"

"No, it's ok," Veronica said. "I know that this," she said, referring to the funeral, "isn't easy for you."

Veronica may not have known Phoebe, but she owed her this. Because her life was forever altered due to that one email.

Alex and Evan watched the ceremony from afar, with General Beckham on their earpieces.

"Don't too comfortable, boys," Beckham said. "The new Intersect will be up and running in six months."

"And what will happen to Veronica if she still has the current one?" Evan asked, but he did not like the answer Beckham gave.

"Well, then one of you will have to kill her."

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

So, a few things:

I used "Alex" more than "Alexander" this chapter because it's easier lol.

I obviously meant no offense to the actors used in the alias scene.

Not all of Veronica's flashes will be described in detail, partially because that's hard and THERE'S SO MANY OF THEM.

Thoughts? Any constructive criticism is welcome!