Mac’s books were precariously balanced in her arms as she tried to close her door silently behind her. She and Parker had been up a bit late working, having first spent far too much time discussing Veronica’s new mission. Envying her roommate’s lack-of-class before two that day she turned to head down the hall.
“My game was so very, totally off last night.” A familiar voice bemoaned in her ear. Smiling, Mac turned to address the tiny, equally-sleep-deprived blonde.
“You went down, huh?” the girl stared at her, a pointed blankness in her expression. “I mean, you know - flaming?” the look continued. “I’m really not helping myself, am I?”
“Not a bit.” A smirk broke through.
“So, how bad was it? Which execution style; two in the chest or back of the head?”
“JFK.” Veronica grunted, passing Mac the extra coffee cup she’d been holding.
“Ouch,” the hacker smiled despite the unseemly visual, “Thanks.” She said tipping the warm drink back.
“Parker was right – good taste, not gay. Apparently the Good Professor Rosenberg went through a nasty break-up and is seeking solace. Summers is just the supporting cast.”
“Did you meet Ms. Rosenberg?” the brunette asked, as they took turns sipping and talking, “And are you sure you still want to come to this class with me?”
“Mac, I’ve been planning to come with you to this lecture since the semester started. Plus I already told my professor and I’m getting extra credit if I write a response to the topic. So yes to going, no to awkward - now lead the way!” she encouraged as they entered the Computer Sciences building.
They both laughed as they filed into the lecture hall. Everyone there looked equally tired, but not many were as put-together despite their attendance. It might have been the early-hour, but there were far too many computers with stickers for Serenity and BSG Fleet covering the symbols at the backs of laptop screens. It was equally hard for Veronica not to notice the way eyes were drawn to her and her companion.
“Wow,” Veronica muttered as they sat in two isle-adjacent seats mid-way down. “I didn’t know the Union of Allied Planets held debates on campus.” Mac shushed her quickly.
“Don’t get them started,” she warned, “Once we started discussing theories of social structure as a side-note and for the next forty-five minutes it was nothing but Jedi-this and Federation-that. It got pretty heated. I would have felt safer speaking my two-cents in a prison shower.” Veronica allowed herself a chuckle before pulling her computer out of her bag and opening it on the desk.
And, of course, no sooner had Professor Rosenberg arrived that she announced a pop quiz had been e-mailed to them on their campus e-mail. If the individual results were not returned to her inbox by the end of the period, well? She reminded them how poorly 45-percent of the class did on the last one, and a repeat performance would be ill advised. As the young teacher relayed this information with poignant eye-contact to her students in an attempt to display how serious she was, her vision fell on Veronica and Willow stumbled over her words briefly.
Veronica couldn’t help the smug smirk that came across her lips as she opened a web page, seeking entertainment while her fellow students took their quiz. When she glanced up amid the quiet clicking of keys within the lecture hall she saw that the redhead was on her cell-phone, obviously texting someone. And the next time she looked up? It was because there was a hand there on her shoulder.
“Ms. Mars, could you come with me please?” Shoving her computer into her bag hastily, she got up and followed her escort back into the hallway.
“Don’t get me wrong, getting pulled out of class will do wonders for my street cred - - but can’t this wait?” She asked the other blonde, leaning back against the Computer Sciences bulletin board.
“When I said ‘come and find me tomorrow’, I meant during my shift – not by stalking my roommate.” Veronica stood up a little straighter.
“Excuse me?” Buffy put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side, waiting. “I’m here for the lecture, Ms. Summers. Contrary to what you’ve obviously come to believe – you don’t lie at the center of my Tootsie Pop World.” Buffy actually let out a small snort of laughter at this.
“You’re here to listen to a lecture on the growing belief that dichotomous siphoning methods of organization are obsolete and best left to historical medical volumes?” Buffy asked in disbelief, “Yeah, because that has everything to do with studying the ology-of-criminals.”
“Actually,” Veronica said slowly, and Buffy’s expression faltered, “Some of the most effective ways of tracking criminals are digital. Facial recognition software, credit monitoring…Big Brother has its proven uses.”
“Just so long as Big Brother doesn’t go H.A.L. on us,” Buffy grumbled shortly, walking towards the doors back outside. Veronica followed, though she had a feeling she was being dismissed.
“So what are your hours?” she asked quickly as the older girl pulled open the door. “If you wanted me to find you, just telling me would save me the trouble of having to surveil you again.”
“Night ones. Willow teaches mornings mostly, I have classes in the afternoons, so, night is right for working.”
“You take classes?” Veronica asked skeptically. Buffy tugged on the lapels of her Hearst Security jacket self consciously, glancing around. “And is that how the song goes?”
“I’m not that old, you know.” She grumbled defensively, “And yeah, I student. Same as you.” She smiled bitterly at the younger woman as she started walking backwards down the stairs, “Some of us actually have to be taught these things. Not everyone is born with Federal Rules and Restrictions encrypted into their DNA.” Her expression hadn’t changed but Veronica was pretty sure what she had initially seen as hostility was actually more of a playful sarcasm.
“Who’d you kill?” Veronica asked once Buffy’s back was turned. She spun around.
“What?” Her expression was so seriously shocked Veronica tipped an eyebrow at her.
“For Landry’s class? Plan the perfect Murder?” Buffy actually sighed at this, chuckling.
“I haven’t had Landry yet. I’m still in Criminalist Theory.”
“Let me guess; reading a bunch of pessimistic authors with flower power? Utopia Theory? From Socialism, to Marxism, Nationalism, Lennonism, Maoism and back around to Capitalism? That kind of stuff?” Buffy chuckled and nodded.
“Well Psychology was my best subject last time I was in school so…” she squinted in the bright light of the sun as she stared at Veronica. Tugging her wrist free of her sleeve she pulled a pair of aviators out of her jacket pocket and put them on as she glanced at her watch. When she looked up she caught the smaller woman still gazing at her.
“Your lecture’s over.” She muttered, grinning as she turned and started walking away. Veronica spun around and saw people pushing their way out of the building.
“Shit.”
“Shopping list.”
“What?” she called after the equally small woman’s retreating form.
“Shopping list.” Buffy yelled, still waiting at the base of the steps. “What do you need from me? You tell me now and maybe I can have it ready for when you stop by.” Veronica jogged down the steps before glancing around at the bleary-eyed kids shuffling slowly out of the building.
“I want details about the different types of campus security and I want locations. I want to know what has video monitoring, key-pads, heavy-set security workers named Rocco with a criminal record – everything.” Buffy just blinked at her slowly.
“No.”
“What?” she knew she sounded snappish, but giver her a break! It was 9am, she’d been up half the night either plotting or failing to seduce this heterosexual woman in front of her, and now she was going back on a promise to share resources. “What do you mean no? Do we need to go over the definition of ‘collusion’?”
“No; because I know it would result in my being fired anyways.” Veronica scowled. “Look, I’ll do the research on the info you need. You ask me some specifics and then maybe I can answer your questions.” Veronica crossed her bare arms in the cool morning air. It was only fair; she couldn’t really expect some young woman to put her job on the line for a girl who was known to abuse favors from authority figures.
“What’s the case?”
“Client privileged.” Veronica answered on instinct. Buffy just smirked.
“Does that even work if you’re technically unlicensed?”
“If they’re gullible enough, and too naive to ask to see documentation.” She smiled.
“Which I’m obviously not,” she insisted somewhat impatiently. Veronica glanced around again as the last of the students began filing out.
“Vandalism in one of the science labs. I’ve been hired to try and recover the research that was stolen.” As she lifted her shades up onto her head, Buffy’s expression became serious.
“The 28 Days Later case?” The older woman asked. Veronica bit her lip to keep from smirking. Of course she’d thought up a better name for this case…
“That, and my dad’s been asked to look into Dean O’Dell’s death. He’s still considering before agreeing to the job but I think he’s gonna end up taking it.” Buffy nodded.
“Give me a few days.” She lowered her shades and shoved her hands into the backs of her jeans. “Fridays at lunch I’m usually the only one in the security office. By then everyone who doesn’t absolutely have to be there isn’t. Come and see me then.” Turning her back on the slightly younger woman again she started walking back towards the main campus.
“And I’ll make sure you get a copy of Will’s lecture notes.” She called behind her, “I’m sure your friend can fill you in on all the tech-y jokes you wouldn’t have understood anyways, Willow tends to make those up on the spot.”
Veronica shook her head as she tried to keep from smirking at her shoes. Much as she usually hated it when people got the upper hand on her – god help her, she thought it was funny when this woman managed to do it.
“Hey, what’s up? Where’d you go?” Mac asked, suddenly next to her. Veronica nodded and they started walking in the distant wake of Buffy Summers.
“That was her.”
Mac’s eye widened.
“Her, her?” Mac tried to clarify, hitching her messenger bag higher onto her shoulder. Veronica nodded. Mac let out a slow whistle. “Wow. She might be even better at stalking than you are.”
“Hey!” she halted, putting a hand at Mac’s elbow, “She may have a certain, admirable sneakiness, but she is not better.” Mac shrugged, and then needed to hitch her bag again.
“All I know is one second you’re next to me, the next you’re being taken away by Campus Security.” She let out a sarcastic ‘Hah!’ but kept walking.
“So, you gonna explain?”
“Why she pulled me out of class?”
“No,” Mac smirked, “The smile on your face when she left.” She prayed the Hacker didn’t notice her fingers slipping as they fumbled for her Sidekick. “She give you good news?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so. She told me where and when to meet her,” she pulled to a stop in front of a 70s-looking cement building. “Look, Piz is gonna get outta class in a few – I was gonna ask him to help us with our PHAT initiation.”
“You still need me and Parker for it?”
“Only if he says yes.”
“Which he will.” Before Veronica could refute the possible outcomes she continued. “You bring the sweatshirts and we’ll bring the iron-ons.”
“I have to meet Pauline and Gill Thomas first,” she said in a detached voice as she checked her phone; she’d received a text message saying there had been a second break-in. “There’s been a development.”
“Okay, I’ll go let Parker know… Assuming she’s up yet.” Veronica nodded and put her phone back in her bag. “And you’re explaining later.”
“What? The change in the case?”
Mac laughed, “The smile, Mars.”
The problem? She’d been kidding. Until she saw Veronica blink.