Lupin fell down from the hoverboard and grabbed his arm, "Motherfucker!"

That platinum blonde girl got down from her hoverboard. He lay on the floor and looked at her as she stood above his face. The night lights shone behind her, they were on a tower. The floor was made of stainless steel that reflected their bodies.

He held his breath as he looked at her, "So, why are we here? I thought I would be taken to the police station?"
She removed her wig and her side bangs and threw them aside. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue and her hair shone blonde. She shook her pony that fell till her hips. Lupin dragged himself away from her, sliding on the floor, his hands were still tied up, "Who are you?" He asked.

She looked down at him, "Veronique,"
He had found her faster than expected. She took a wallet in her hand, "Wait, that's mine!"
"I know," She said as she pulled out a driving licence, "Lupin Kuznetsov, 22, issued on 12 November 20XX. So, you're from the past?" She threw the licence away and pulled out her gun. Lupin got up and turned back to run.

She fired three shots at him without batting an eye. He stopped and closed his eyes, "So I just realised...that I have been shot,"
"Not yet,"

He opened his eyes and found Giles before him with a knife in her hand. She used that knife to deflect the bullet. She looked at Lupin and broke his shackles with his knife, "You just met that person which you were not supposed to meet the most,"

Veronique took her aim at Giles and shot. Giles jumped into the air and attacked Veronique. However, Veronique showed no signs of distress, panic or even stress. She just keeps firing and reloading her gun with the face of a corpse. Lupin looked at her, blue eyes fading to grey, pale skin, blonde lashes, pink knuckles, red lips like a sinking sun, she shot with no fear or doubt in her mind, as if she knew she just couldn't miss.

But Giles was a master assassin, she wasn't easy to kill.
Though, Veronique did not plan to kill her.

Giles landed on the steel floor and ran towards Veronique. Suddenly, she felt herself slowing down. Veronique was right before her, but she seemed far away from her reach, as minutes turned to hours, and then to days, she slowly froze and Veronique kept a gun on her right temple.

As the gun went through her skull, blood sprayed all over the walls, the floor, over Veronique's feminine face. Her gun was smeared in thick, luscious bloody. Her face had droplets of blood all over it, the other side of Giles' head exploded and slowly like a warrior on a battlefield, she rested her heavy body into her own blood.

Veronique turned back. Lupin was gone.

He ran down the tower staircase, tears still wet on his cheeks, his body trembling from what he just saw, his heart beating into his head, he felt certain nausea on his temple, right where she kept that gun on Giles, the huge spray of blood from Giles' head, her eyes rolling back the moment she shot her, that gun dripping with blood, those cold blue eyes looking at him, knowing he was next. That woman,

Did she just effortlessly kill an assassin?

As he ran, he heard footsteps. Relaxed footsteps as if on a stroll. He ran towards a dark room inside the tower and looked around, he heard voices of a knife. At a distance, he could see Giles, chopping something on a wooden board. He walked towards her, "You are still alive?" He looked over her shoulder.

She was chopping her own fingers,
"What are you doing-"
She turned towards him, blood on her face, white eyeballs and a huge hole on her temple. He shrieked and ran away. It was dark, he couldn't see where he was or where he was going. He bumped into something and the lights above blinked, he ran towards the very edge of the tower and looked about 100 feet below. He could see the entire New York city before him and when he turned back, Veronique stood before him with a gun in her hand.

At that moment, conscience left him. His body stopped trembling, he looked straight into her eyes, "I've come here to kill you," She said.
"But I didn't come here to die,"
"But now you will, your time here is done,"
"It's done when I say it's done,"

'Seduce and destroy,'

Her eyes were cold and pacified, "You have no idea who I am, do you?"
He reached out his hand towards her face and she flinched, ready to attack him back. But his was a gentle touch, he wiped off the blood on her face and lightly brushed the hair out of her eyes. She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful.

He smiled, "Your hair is soft,"

She looked at him and burst into a laugh, "You are crazy,"
He looked at her with a grin and flirtatious eyes, he was trying his best to be seductive, "Aren't you too?"
She stopped laughing and looked at him, "I will invert your ribcage,"

He burst into a laugh next, "I believe a gun cannot do that unless you control it really well,"
"Oh, we have gun control. All we need is an idiot control,"
Lupin laughed, "You know how to control idiots?"
"I do," She smiled.

'She's different from what I expected, kinda...

Bubbly?'

He smiled back at her, "You are really pretty,"
"I don't get that a lot. Mostly, I hear, "Oh, you are terrifying," And I'm like, you haven't seen me without a gun,"
"So, what are you like without a gun?"
"I love skateboarding,"
"Oh God, me too!" Lupin lied.

'They should've sent Slaine, it'd be easier for him,'

"Really?"
"Yes, but I can't do it that well, I'm still learning,"
"I can teach you. I also
Her grip over her gun was loosening, her shoulders less tense, her eyes grew mellow, her lips had a gentle smile.

"I once went to the past," She sat as she sat beside him and looked at the dark night sky. There were no stars in the sky. Just a lonely moon, shining through the smog.
"YOU DID? WHO DID YOU KILL THERE?" Lupin asked.
"You talk as if all I do is kill people,"
"You don't?"
"No! I went there to see the stars and did some skateboarding while I was at it,"

"Stargazing?"
"Yes, I love looking at stars. However, the oceans here are dirty now, full of mud and plastic, the sky is covered with dust and smoke, and people have no time to appreciate art anymore. There are three healing forces in the universe. Music, ocean, stars. When we talk about music, about stars, about the ocean, I feel like it heals something inside us.

And I think that it's beautiful how a star's light travels the universe long after it dies. It's funny how you and I look up at stars and talk about how beautiful they are, even though they're already dead. I guess it just means that the beauty in everything is eternalLike just look at them, they are the same stars as last week, or month, or year.

Same when we were kids
Or when we weren't even born
And in a hundred years
No one will know who we are
But they'll know those same stars"

She spoke as she looked at the stars,
Lupin looked at her. She looked at him,

"So, what brings you to the future?"
"You opened up faster than I expected," Lupin said and immediately regretted saying that. The smile of her face was still there, but there was an explainable sadness in her eyes.

"I know, right? I hate that side of me. I trust people too easily and all I am left is regrets after they backstab me. I just want someone who likes to look at the stars just as much I do,"

'Why do I feel like...
I'm drowning myself in a huge mess?'

She smiled at the stars like they knew all his secrets.

"Tell me everything about you," He was afraid, she'd know what he really was after.
"I can speak for hours, but in the end, it's all pointless," She took a deep breath as the blood on his skin dried and her warm mouth gave out fog,

"You'll forget me too,"

-To be continued

Veronique
5500 Rebellion