Duncan Quagmire and Violet Baudelaire: A Reunion

Chapter 18 - Violet Baudelaire

While Violet was holding Sunny in her arms, she and Klaus continued to run. They were running until they stood in an alleyway, panting. "We've gotten far away, let's just rest for now." Violet said. The three Baudelaires have finally escaped the Hadley's mansion. After Violet jumped onto the tree, they climbed over the high wall and started running down the road.
Klaus used some of the money in the bag to buy two tickets for the monorail towards the City because Sunny was only two still. While they caught their breath, the monorail sped past the large mansions and suburban houses. The three reached the centre of the City.
"Take out the booklet." Violet asked Klaus who was holding the backpack. Halfway in the City, they switched roles and Violet held Sunny. Klaus searched the backpack before taking out a small booklet that they found in Count Olaf's suitcase. He handed it to Violet and she flipped it open.
She's only checked the booklet once before and it was in a rush in the office, this time she took a proper look through with Klaus over her shoulder. "I recognise some of these names." Klaus said, pointing at some of the names.
"Helena Fieldman," Violet started, "She's mother's friend! I didn't know she was in the V.F.D."
"Look! You can see Dr. Montgomery Montgomery and Aunt. Josephine." Klaus pointed at Aunt. Josephine's name, at the familiar, neat, slanted handwriting.
"I think the best option is to find Helena Fieldman. She knows us and knows what to do." Violet answered. She looked back down at the booklet and looked at Helena's address.

441, Hearts Appartement, Corelin Road, Karotan, The City

"It's not far from here. We could just take a taxi." Violet spoke. "Come on Sunny." Sunny walked into Violet's arm and they walked out of the alleyway. The Baudelaires have been to the heart of the City for a number of occasions but they have never been by them selves. Violet distinctly remembered begging her parents if she and her friends could go but they said a firm "no."
"Violet? The taxi's are this way." Klaus called over the noisy traffic. They were going down the bustling pavements, tall glass buildings were shadowing over them, cars and vehicles honking all around them.
Violet, Klaus and Sunny were lining up behind a posh woman who was sporting an over-fluffy coat and platform heels. She paid the taxi driver a handful of green paper cash and slid into the backseat. The Baudelaire's hopped into the next taxi and Klaus gave the taxi driver the address. They were off.
The three were squished in the back for about thirty minutes with the frequent jolt or unexpected stop. The taxi was playing a soft jazz song while Sunny was snoozing off. The crooked-teeth taxi driver looked at the kids via the side mirror. "Are you kids all alone?"
"Yes, but we are going to a person we know." Violet responded. The taxi did not say anything else. At about a quarter to an hour in the taxi due to the terrible traffic, the taxi stopped again. "What is going on?" The taxi driver muttered to himself, looking out of the window.
Violet looked up and saw people going out of the cars and looking up. She pressed Sunny to Klaus and got out of the taxi, glad not to hear the jazz music anymore. Most car doors were open with people standing out of it or people looking upwards from inside the car. Violet felt a shadow falling over her, and she knew it wasn't another building.
Above her seemed to be a large white pyramid coming closer to the ground. It remotely reminded Violet of a rocket, with blue fire emitting from the engine mount. The rocket was pure white with a large window on one side where Violet saw a few people stand.
Now, everyone, even Klaus and Sunny were standing outside of the vehicles, watching this rocket come into contact with the ground smoothly. "What even is that?" Klaus said over the whispers of everybody else wondering what this rocket was for.
Immediately, a voice boomed from a speaker attached from the rocket. "Can Violet, Sunny and Klaus Baudelaire board this ship?" The male voice called, one that Violet was slightly familiar to, but couldn't catch whom. Klaus stood still with Sunny in his arms.
"Come on! It's blocking the road." Violet said excitedly. She started weaving through the cars and the curious people. Klaus and Sunny were about to trail after their sister before the taxi driver cleared his throat.
"Oh sorry." Klaus said, dropping the amount of cash that was on the screen next to the amount of kilometres, into the taxi drivers hand, before setting off after Violet who stood before the entrance of the rocket. Some steps were attached to the ground that led to the automatic door. She waited for her siblings to catch up and when they did, she took the first step.
Aware that everybody was watching them, Klaus held Sunny up and followed Violet into the ship which the doors zoomed open to. "Whoa." Violet gasped as she stepped into the ship. Everything was white or made or glass. The ship was bright on the inside and brightened the people that were all standing in the entrance.
The people were all wearing home clothes, but quite formal. There was a whole mix of them and when the doors zipped shut after Klaus and Sunny came in, the same voice from the speaker stated, "Welcome to the V.F.D."

Violet momentarily blinked as she looked at all of the faces smiling warmly at her. She felt the familiarity of the people tingle at the back of her brain tingle as one of the people, a woman with a sweet face stepped forward.
"Hello Baudelaires, my name is Ginevra Walters and I work in the V.F.D. I will be your tour guide around this ship." She started to walk ahead and the three Baudelaire's felt that it was the cue to start walking after her. Klaus put Sunny on the floor and as she held Violet's hand, Klaus spoke.
"So, what happened to the other V.F.D. headquarter? Why did you leave it?"
The woman turned back to face them and Violet recognised her eyes. "Too many people knew about it, including that man, Count Olaf. We weren't safe there so we decided to use this as a base. It is very handy because if there is a fire trouble, we could get there in double quick time."
The four walked into an open room, filled with white sofas and couches. A large dining table, similar to Mrs. Hadley's, filled one half of the room. One side of the wall was completely transparent, showing the city skyline.
"This is amazing!" Violet exclaimed. She walked closer to it but stopped at a good distance away.
Ginevra, noticing the Baudelaire's attention through the window, spoke up. "This observation window, is one of my favourite parts too. You could see the world through this, and don't worry, the window is many layers so it is literally impossible to break." Violet took a step closer and touched the window. "Come on now," Ginevra said, "On with the tour."
The Baudelaire's visited each part of the ship, including the bedroom corridor, the kitchen, the main office station. "This can't be all of the V.F.D. isn't it?" Violet inquired curiously after walking into another empty room.
"No, only these people work full time but there are and were obviously people who worked for V.F.D. but from their normal home too. Just like your parents." Violet nodded. She finally understood the times her parents had to go off to urgent business meetings, they had to be at the V.F.D. Violet felt the ship shifted and felt it going slowly down towards the ground again.
"What's happening?" Klaus said. Sunny was clutching his legs as they edged forward towards the entrance hall.
"Picking up another two V.F.D. volunteers. Hopefully you are familiar with them?" Ginevra smiled. The automatic door opened and Violet's smile couldn't even be more wider.