Power Play

Chapter 7: Veronica

Chapter 7: Veronica

   "Explain to me again how exactly you wound up exposing your presence to freaks of this city and potentially jeopardizing our entire mission here," Veronica Laver, agent-in-charge of the operation in that city, demanded, staring at the team standing before her. There was one other agent in the room, standing off to the side watching, but for now she paid no attention to him.

    It wasn't the team's leader who spoke up, but rather Connor Marks, perhaps the team's most important member. "We were on our surveillance assignment, as ordered. We were following the target when she encountered another freak, one that isn't in our files. They went into an alley and Sam moved to the roof next to them to get a microphone on them, but kept back from the edge to avoid any chance of them spotting him. I was holding the cloak on our auras, so there was no chance of them sensing any of us. We didn't have an angle to observe them but we didn't press things since we had an ear on them. And then we heard talk of the unknown freak having changed form, apparently using a larikin, a mask to be specific, that allows him to alter his appearance. I know just how valuable a larikin like that could be to us and I don't know, I guess I just got curious. I moved to the building across the way from the alley so I could get an eye on them..."

    "Agent Aston, did you approve this move?" Veronica broke in.

    "No ma'am," Lyssa Aston, the team leader, said hesitantly, obviously not wanting to have to speak badly of someone under her command but unwilling to lie to cover for him. "He didn't inform the team of his actions, and with the cloak in place I wasn't even aware that he'd moved until it was too late."

    "Very well. Go on, Agent Marks," Veronica commanded, staring at the man in question.

    "There was something familiar about the man, the one not in our files, the one with the larikin. It wasn't his looks, because as was made clear they weren't his looks at all. It was his aura, the way he spoke. There was something about him, something I can't describe. But I swear I got the feeling that I knew him, somehow. I... Was trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar, and my concentration slipped. The cloak collapsed, and our auras were exposed. It's my fault, I know it. I screwed up. I really, really screwed up. I don't know what to say except that I made a mistake, and I'm sorry, ma'am," Marks told her.

    "Agent Marks, what is your primary duty, on your team?" Veronica asked pointedly.

    "To place and hold the cloak that prevents freaks from being able to sense our auras, so that we can surveil them at close range without detection," Marks answered, looking chagrined.

    "And do the jobs of watching the surveillance targets, studying them, and identifying them belong to the rest of your team, or are those yours as well?" Veronica pressed.

    "They belong to the rest of my team, ma'am. My responsibility is to hold and maintain the cloak," Marks responded, as if the words pained him.

    "Indeed. You had one job to do, Agent Marks. The safety of your team, and the secrecy of our operation depended on it, and you knew that. You developed a power that to our knowledge no freak has ever possessed, that none of your fellow agents possesses. The ability to shield auras from detection. That made you very valuable to the project, and to this operation in particular. Because it allowed you to do one very specific job that no one else could. But your value only lasts so long as you DO YOUR JOB," Veronica shouted the last words, pointing her index finger at the man. "Your number one priority is always to hold that cloak in place. You do nothing else except on the instructions of your team leader. Because you forgot that, and decided to take it on yourself to do the rest of your team's job for them without consulting Agent Aston, we may have to abandon this entire operation. All of our work up until now might be lost, might be for nothing, because you forgot your job. And I promise you that if we have to abandon this operation because of your mistake, my head is not going to be the one on the chopping block. Responsibility for this will fall on your shoulders, because I am not going to suffer the director's wrath for your screw-up. Now, Agent Aston. Agent Marks lost his concentration and the cloak collapsed, exposing you to the freaks you were surveilling. Take it from there."