Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, is a beautiful place filled with cactus and beautiful people.

As in any city in Arizona, Phoenix’s citizens had to live with hot days and a brilliant sun during most of the year, but they were already used to it and it didn't hinder them during their daily lives.

But currently, a girl was sweating profusely while cursing the extreme heat.

Inside a small and cramped apartment, the girl was seated in front of a computer, typing the keyboard quickly with an expression of anger.

She was around nineteen years old, a bit chubby, and wore a pair of glasses. Her long black hair was a bit messy and she was dressed carelessly in a big white sweater on her upper body and blue shorts covering her thigs.

Dark circles had formed below her eyes, and her skin was dry due to the long exposure to the LED screen. Besides, the apartment where she was living was completely covered in trash, making it obvious that she did not clean it in a long time.

If there was a word to describe her image, then it was ‘NEET’.

However, the girl never worried about that.

She had more important things to do.

Currently, she was using the superpower she obtained not long ago to ‘show the truth to the masses’.

Yes, the girl, Veronica, was a self-proclaimed messenger of justice.

Of course, she could not use her superpower to catch criminals on the streets, but she could use it to show others the truth that the government tries to conceal.

Unfortunately, her efforts did not show great results.

“Argh! Damn idiots!” Veronica hit the keyboard angrily and cursed the people on the other side of the screen for insulting her post and calling it a conspiracy theory.

At that moment, a voice sounded from behind her.

“Are you still playing like that?”

“Eeeeeck!” Veronica jumped in fear and fell to the ground with the chair where she was seated.

“*Giggle* Still as coward as always, I see.” The owner of the voice, a fairy-like blond girl wearing a blue dress, laughed mischievously.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Alice!” Veronica exclaimed angrily. “I told you that I don’t like it when you appear suddenly behind me!”

“Huh? But it's fun when I do it.” Alice tilted her head and grinned cheerfully.

Seeing her expression, Veronica sighed deeply and shook her head. “It does not matter. Tell me, why are you here?”

“What? Can I not come to visit a friend?”

“Who is your friend!?”

“You, of course. So, I came to see how were you doing, to remind you to take a bath, eat lunch, and tell you that it’s time to clean the apartment… Though now that I think about it, I think it’s not necessary to clean the apartment anymore….”

“… What do you mean?” Veronica asked with a wary expression.

“Yeah, after all, it will be destroyed tonight.”

Veronica's expression froze up.

She then stood up from the ground stiffly, dusted up her shirt, and glanced at Alice with a serious expression.

“Did you foresee something?”

Alice also turned serious. She looked at the computer on the table and furrowed her brows. “I had a vision yesterday and learned that the government already found your location and is going to begin an operation to catch you. The local police have already been notified, and the first policeman will reach here in ten minutes to keep an eye on you.”

“Impossible!” Veronica exclaimed. “I used my skill to create the page and post the articles! Nobody can trace it!”

“You are right, but you forgot to use your skill when you commented. Though you used a different ID and changed your IP, the investigators determined that you were the writer of the articles when they compared the style of the comments with the style of the posts.”

Veronica’s face paled.

Alice shook her head helplessly. “I know that you are excited with your messenger-of-justice thing, and your skill is incredible, but I think that anybody would notice that something is wrong if you react like that every time that someone criticizes your posts.”

Veronica blushed hearing Alice's words.

"It's my fault. I can only use my skill twice each day, but I could not endure when they began to call me a liar..."

“Sigh… Well, now is not the time to speak about it. Hurry up and change your clothes to something more suitable, I’ll give you some instructions so you can escape. Fortunately, you don't have a family to worry...”

Veronica nodded and changed her clothes quickly. She wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans; moreover, she put on a cap and lowered it to hide her face.

“By the way, thanks for last time.” Alice said suddenly.

“Uh? Oh, that! Don’t worry about it, I just altered the images of some security cameras, a piece of cake with my skill.”

“…”

“Anyway, why were you so interested in helping that guy?”

“I told you, don’t I? He is part of my plans.”

“Are you speaking about the superhero thing? I thought it was a joke.”

“It was not.” Alice said with a small smile on her face. “You will help me, right?”

“Hahaha, if you truly create a team of superheroes, I’ll help you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll do it. Moreover, I already found someone that can help us with the money.”

“… Is it so? Did someone agree to support your crazy plan?” Veronica asked sarcastically while she packed some things inside a bag.

"It was a girl. She survived a game and was interested in my proposal after I contacted her..."

Veronica shrugged and finished packing.

“I’m ready, tell me where I have to go!”

Alice smiled and opened her mouth; she then explained her escape plan carefully.

Meanwhile, she thought about the next step of her plan.

The next step towards freedom.