She woke up at eleven o'clock, like always, and ambled over to the main room to get breakfast. Derek was dashing around, picking up last minute items and looked up when she came in, "Hi Vee. I need to go to work now. You can go outside for as long as you want, just remember to hide your tail..."
"Wear my cap, grab a responsible lunch following the diet the doctor gave me and no chasing cats." Valerie recited in a bored half-amused tone.
"Don't take off your collar and drop your coursework over at the school. No standing up for kids getting bullied, the last one is still in the hospital. I'm aiming for my first full-time job so don't mess it up." Derek said, referencing the yellow and orange collar around her neck. Valerie completely ignored it, she was always wearing the collar.
Valerie groaned, "I can't just sit by and watch kids get beat up for no reason. Contrary to popular belief, I have a conscience. Plus, it's not my fault they get hurt so bad, I see red."
Derek rolled his eyes, "Then don't see red. It's not a viable excuse anymore. Besides, from personal experience, the kid getting beat up probably deserves it." Valerie pouted, making the sad puppy eyes. Derek face-palmed, "Fine, you can sort him out. But make sure you don't hit him too hard. And don't give the first punch, you won't be given that much leniency if you're caught."
Valerie saluted, "Aye, Aye, Derek. By the way, aren't you late?" Derek yelled in surprise and ran off with his stuff. Valerie looked around, before shrugging and pulling sausages out off the freezer. She was lucky her diet was one that could actually be enjoyed. She boiled some eggs, had her sausages and grabbed some toast before going back to her room. She turned on her tablet, looking for things to do. She slowly added a location on a list of operations to crash. She put on her red and black hoodie and carefully pulled her tail through a hole in her worn out jeans and then picked up one of her bags, which had a hole in the back connected to a secret pocket, and tucked her tail into it. She brushed out her hair, then put her headphones on and connected them to her phone. They didn't cover her ears because of their odd placement, but her sensitive hearing made then work. She made her way downstairs and out of the apartment building where she lived before taking a breath and stepping out into the day. She blinked a few times before adjusting to the light. She barely ever came outside in the daytime. As she learned to manage her abilities better, Derek encouraged her to spend more and more time out of doors, but she could never seem to enjoy bright sunlight very much. She sighed and walked down the streets, nodding her head to the tune of her favorite song. Her first stop was the tech store near her house. It was a small place, but it sold basically anything connected to computers. She trusted it the most out of every store around. She bought a game and quickly exited. She preferred to be in the crowds outside, all the better to blend in and generally avoided areas with less crowds. She got the groceries and just looking around wherever she went. She still was getting used to how different everything looked in the day. She remained close to Brooklyn, despite being allowed to go to Queens as well. She went to the school Derek had written down and given her coursework. After her accident, Derek was constantly afraid of people freaking out when they saw her enhancements, so he took any means necessary to make sure she didn't have to be thought of as a monster.
She was back in her apartment before she even knew it, turns out that she really preferred to stay inside, with a baloney sandwich in her hand. Come tonight and she'd be Dark Fox. She looked around the living room, it was still surrounded in the clutter of last night, which meant Derek wasn't back. She walked into her room and pulled back a Pokemon poster, to reveal a corkboard with newspaper cuttings and USBs hung around, connected by red string. A nearby to-do list pointed out operations that needed to be busted. Most of them were connected to the project she had caught yesterday, they had struck up a deal at some point. She hummed as she looked down the list -she called it a list but it had like five entries in it- before something caught her eye. Reports of smuggled vibranium weapons, possibly linking back to Ulysses Klaue, the smugglers she had caught had apparently bought weapons from there. She was not a big fan of vibranium herself. One of her powers were magnetic field detection, it was how she could effortlessly hit every target in darkness. Her night vision helped too in that part. Vibranium, however, wasn't magnetic so she couldn't detect it She couldn't just stick around and do nothing, though, she had to strike. She was the Dark Fox, for God's sake! She was going to scope the place out like always, it didn't matter that it was dangerous. Her life would always be dangerous. She paused in front of the pile of games she had and pulled on her VR headset. Operations could wait for night, she was still a kid.
The sun had just set when Derek walked into their apartment, clutching a case, "Vee! I'm home!" he called out. Inside her room, Valerie groaned as she got stabbed by a haunted dog from a video game cartridge. She pulled of her VR headset and sauntered out to see Derek.
"Hey! How was your day? Did you get me some new gear?" She said eagerly.
Derek raised his eyebrows at her utter lack of of subtlety but shook it off, of course she was excited. She hadn't got a tech upgrade since last year's birthday, when she got her warp tech. "Have you done the dishes?" He asked.
Valerie laughed sheepishly, "Let me get back to you..." and quickly walked out.
Ten minutes later she smugly walked into his lab, "Done!" she says brightly, "Now can I see it?" (another great little scene that really shows their complex dynamic)
Derek nodded, "Why not?" he popped open his case to reveal several gadgets. He held up the first gun, its barrel was thicker and shorter than usual and with a larger grip. "Flare gun," he explained, "To draw attention to the area without being seen." Valerie nodded, her tranquilizer guns were designed more like handguns then rifles, but they were very incriminating if she ever got caught, so catching other's attention from afar was much more appealing. Derek pulled out the next one, a thick black rod, slightly like a cuboid, with two metal fangs. A red fox symbol was imprinted on it. Valerie had no idea what it could be. Thankfully, Derek was there to explain, "It's a taser. The teeth shoot out and electrocute the guy till he faints. Or you can plunge it into his neck and electrocute him then."
Valerie looked at it closely, "So it has both long-range and short-range settings? Brilliant! How does it work?"
"They're attached to the sunglasses I've updated. Wink your left eye for long-range and wink your right for short-range. Tap the sides to take pictures and hold them to take a video. When in dire need, it will automatically open a connection between us." Derek said smoothly, he loved it when Valerie got hyped up for new gear. He pulled out a canister colored red with black flames. "A smoke bomb? Why are you putting something I could get very easily from the shops in a case containing weapons and other high-tech gear?" Valerie asked curiously.
"This isn't any ordinary smoke bomb. It contains a tiny projector, that will show your silhouette and cause a distraction while you knock the guys out." Derek said smugly. Valerie whistled, impressed. Useful. "So anyways, where will you go tonight?" Derek asked.
"I'm thinking of scoping out this place, apparently they sell vibranium weaponry. Other types of black-market arms as well, but most importantly, vibranium." Valerie explained.
Derek nodded in understanding, "Where did you get the information?"
Valerie shrugged, "I looked through their security footage, found the license plate of the car that delivered the weaponry and traced it to find out it belongs to this area and a person already involved in the situation. Well, the DMV did but its the best I got."
Derek looked over then tossed her a gun, "Take this, for emergencies." Valerie caught it and carefully looked it over for odd features.
"A handgun? You know I never kill." Valerie said.
Derek nodded, "For the more dangerous missions, just in case. Besides, where is this place?"
Valerie thought back for a second, "Queens, really close to Brooklyn. It's in the basements of one of the apartment buildings there."
Derek mulled it over for a few seconds, "Okay. As long as you're back by one AM. You need to go to the doctor tonight, next morning, you get the idea. Oh and take this." He handed her a leather belt with loops in it and a dark red mask with a cat face, to further obscure her face.
Valerie regarded it closely, "What's it for?"
"To make you harder to identify, well the mask is. The belt is to make things easier to carry. The tranquilizer guns you keep in-hand, the rest of it should be kept here." Derek explained.
"Cool." Valerie said. She was turning to go before Derek stopped her.
"What have you had for dinner?" he asked worriedly.
Valerie shook her head resignedly, "A sandwich or two and some fish and chips." Derek sighed, annoyed, "That's not enough. You can't survive on an ordinary amount of food for more than half a day. Wait here, I'll fix something up." with that, he charged into the kitchen. Valerie groaned and washed back into her room. Dinner could take a while, but she could kill time. She put on her suit and clicked on her warp tech. The thing consisted mainly of wire framework, strapped to her hands (Which had small buttons to trigger the warp process), elbows, shoulders, waist, knees, feet and converging on the orange and yellow collar around her neck. From there, two thin wires snaked up to her reflective glasses, which allowed her to choose where to warp to, provided it was visible. She tied the utility belt around her waist and tucked the Taser in her back pocket. Her tail wagged excitedly as she prepared for a scope mission. She shoved a few canisters of smoke bombs into the loops, along with refill darts for her tranquilizer guns. The flare gun was also kept in a back pocket. She fastened her cloak and walked out into the main room. Derek was setting a huge pot of soup on the table. Valerie quickly pulled out bowls and spoons and slicing boiled eggs. They ate mostly in silence, Derek taking small measured bites and Valerie quickly scarfing down the lot. You couldn't really blame her, she had enhanced metabolism and needed a lot of food. After she finished her third bowl she put it in the sink and waved good-bye to Derek, "I'll be back by one AM." she promised.
Derek grinned, "Alright, take care and good luck!"
Valerie went back into her room to put on her mask, usually she didn't put the cloak and glasses on until she reached the place, but this time she was gonna have some fun on the way. She went to the roof of her building, looking around at her brightly lit surroundings. She stood in top of the railing, stretching out her tail to balance herself. Then she zeroed into the roof of the building across the road, selecting her new location then she clenched her fists and took a leap of faith. Valerie was airborne for half a minute, and it was invigorating. She had been practicing with the warp tech and this was something she really wanted to try. Her warp tech was a few seconds late and she landed shakily on the building she had selected. Thankfully, though, she hadn't been falling for long enough to hit the roof with enough force to be injured. She gave a shaky laugh as she relaxed, "That... was epic!" she cheered quietly. She looked over the street figuring out where her destination was, probably ten blocks away from what she could see. She selected a ledge on a building across the busy main road then clenched her hands and ran forward, adrenaline coursing through her bloodstream. She had just gone over the edge of the roof when she warped over to the ledge. She let out a breath and stared at a lamppost down the street in an alley and warped there, she landed a little less shakily, her tail quickly helping her balance. She slowed her breathing and grabbed the pole to hang from it, then started swinging to build up speed, all the time not breaking her gaze from an internet tower a few blocks away. At the very height of the arc, she let go, warping straight to the internet tower in Queens. She let out a breath as she slid down, flying through the air like that gave her a rush she had never felt before, this was probably why Spiderman was always swinging around.
She pinpointed the address and silently looked closer. The suspected basement had a small window that she carefully looked into. She could see one room, it was small and had some bags in the corner. A few cartons and crates were there too. She couldn't see anyone inside, but they were probably in the other room, the one with the light on that she could see through the half open door. She slid the window open and took a deep breath. While she had a pretty decent sense of hearing and sight, her sense of smell was the best. While she would never admit this to anyone, she could easily identify a person by their scent, the same applied to many different things. So when she she quickly breathed in, she caught just a whiff of something spicy and earthy, sharp and grainy, a smell she had come to associate with vibranium. Granted, it was very light, if she hadn't known what she was looking for, she wouldn't have found it. Valerie wasn't very used to dealing with vibranium smugglers but she had dealt with them enough times to identify one of the few metals which you could smell. The smell wasn't detectable by normal humans, though, and she herself had to concentrate to pick it up. She carefully warped onto the pile of bags and crates. With the bad lighting and the way she cowered behind a suitcase, she wasn't very noticeable. On the other hand, this vantage point gave her the perfect view of the other room. Three men were there, poring over a map in a barren room with only three chairs and a table. A small shelf and a cupboard was there as well. She silently moved to a small metal case and opened it, clicking pictures for everything. Inside the case were small blue bullets, that were obviously made from vibranium. She took some pictures before shutting the case and turning to a crate that hadn't been sealed yet, she saw a machine gun, rifles, grenade launchers, none of them were vibranium but still they were incredibly destructive. This had to be dealt with quickly.
She peeked back into the room with the three men- there appeared to be no door, that meant the exit was on this side. She saw the door almost immediately beside the pile of bags and crates and cautiously opened it. There was a well-kept stairwell that led upwards. Valerie shut the door and carefully walked to the upper floor, Taser at the ready in case she was apprehended. She came out in a parking lot, a feature that she had been aware of being very uninvolved with the operation. She looked around before going back downstairs to the room with the weapons and from there she warped out of the room and next to the window she had entered through. She needed to check out the second room, but there were people in there. She reached for her phone and looked through her recordings before finally selecting one. Seconds later, a police siren sounded, alerting the people inside and causing them to quickly cover up the operation, lock up the door and rush up the stairs. Valerie warped back into the weapon storage room and looked through the shafts of the locked door. There was no glass covering the door, that meant she could easily warp inside start snapping photos. She opened the cupboard and looked inside, some forms was kept there. She didn't have time to read through then all, but she saw a logo of a skull with tentacles while she scanned the first one. She skimmed through the other documents but they mostly consisted of lists of arms they were dealing. She scanned all of them and carefully rearranged the scene and checked for security cameras before leaving the room. She warped up to the window connected to the base and carefully stood on her hands as she chose her next position. She kicked off and somersaulted through the air before vanishing. On the street corner there was a lamppost, Valerie had warped to it, grabbing the pole before she fell. She waited for a few seconds before letting the pole go, and landing in an alley down the street, she straightened up and took out her phone. 10 o'clock, pretty good time. In fact, she had three more hours before the appointment. No problem, she thought, grinning to herself, she had plenty of ways to kill time.
Author note: what do you think of the second chapter? Please give me any feedback, it is really appreciated. Something bigger is at play here, so keep your eyes open for subtle hints. Thanks for reading!