Vanessa hid. Of course she did - that's what she's always been trained to do. No one must know of her true thoughts, and no one must be able to pierce through the veil hiding her intentions.
For the most part, acting in front of people was what she excelled at. She behaved in a way that would incite people to make assumptions that she wanted them to have. She controlled what others thought of her, controlled what they saw, and what they felt.
In more ways than one, Vanessa was more adept in hiding while in plain view of people than she was in actually hiding, though lately she had become incredible at that as well. A large part of that was because of a certain blue-eyed boy! He was completely rude and impolite, always pointing out her flaws.
Once she had thought that he was nothing more than a lecherous brat, but it turned out he was not obsessing over her figure, but searching for weapons. Whether she actually looked good or bad seemed never to be a concern for him.
Moreover, no matter how she tried to lead his attention towards certain things, or try to misdirect him, Nero seemed to be able to see right through it.
Looking through her facade was just as simple as looking through her ability, which admittedly needed some work in the beginning. But it was
after
she upgraded her ability, thereby improving her ability qualitatively and became
much
harder to spot, that Vanessa experienced something… something she did not understand completely.
Deep inside, Vanessa felt a faint, almost indiscernible fear that her ability had become
too
good and that Nero would not be able to spot her anymore. Yet he did. Every time he did, Vanessa was filled with obvious agitation and indignation at her clearly amazing ability being seen through. She also felt a faint amount of relief, as well as satisfaction.
But each time that fear grew, and so did the corresponding excitement at being seen through.
The emotions were reaching the point where Vanessa would have noticed them eventually on her own. She was not dense - she just had a lot of things to deal with back in the research facility, and immediately after. But then Nero went and did something that completely stumped her, filled her with confusion and elation, and finally made her realise that she was spending more and more time thinking about him than she did her actual objectives.
It was absurd. In fact, when Nero had noticed she was not who she seemed back in Lumina, figured out her identity, and agreed to keep it a secret without any issue, she was already surprised. Based on her character profile of him - something she created and logged for everyone she met in Kolar - he was highly patriotic and sought approval and promotion.
He was a typical ambitious high performer, something that should have been a result of a lifetime influence of propaganda and brainwashing from the military industrial complex of Kolar in order to produce highly dedicated and loyal soldiers.
As much as she didn't agree with Mr. Rodney's assessment of Nero, she had to agree that if there was one thing that Kolar was proficient at, it was pumping out one generation of highly motivated soldiers after another. No one did it better than them. To fight for glory and honour was practically their culture. To die in combat was a privilege, not a forced outcome.
So Nero's deviation from the expected path threw her entire assessment into disarray. It was yet another thing she thought herself proficient in that Nero proved wrong.
Somehow, that also increased hw intrigued she was in him, so when Nero silently sent Fair Weather her way - a card that could allow access to the lower levels of Lumina to anyone, not just Neophytes, a card that Kolar valued beyond measure and handed over to the Sages alone for use - the mix of emotions she felt was immense.
Instantly she thought of how such a contribution from her could elevate her position back in Nova even more than it was already, and how it could change the national strategy of how to act towards Kolar moving forward. But for some reason, she held back from reporting it.
Until she talked to Nero, until she figured out what his intentions were, she did not want to act prematurely. That was
one
of the reasons she had influenced the scientist to have Nero summoned here. Another was that the anti-curse ability of his flames could genuinely work in their favour, so it was a win-win.
Yet as their meeting approached closer, Vanessa once again found herself filled with doubt and fear - much more pronounced this time. She feared he might not see through her as he had been doing for so long, and feared that without his many scouting cards he could not see through her ability. That was why, when she hid in the shadows, she hid right in his path.
Unfortunately, her ability really
was
too good, and let alone teenage Neophyte, but even the regular guards on patrol could not spot her hiding in the shadows unless they used shouting cards of their own. In fact, even with scouting cards many were unable to detect her - yet another testament to how incredible it was that Nero always found her.
Vanessa felt genuine nervousness as she watched him walk up to her, his gait casual and his demeanour relaxed, which was very contradictory to how he usually was. He was even snapping. Each step closer he took, Vanessa's heart beat a little faster. A little more nervousness filled her. Yet she controlled herself, and forced herself to stay calm.
Just as it seemed like he was about to walk right past her, he paused and looked right at her. Though she was hiding in his path, no one else had seen through her camouflage. No one else had detected her. Yet those bright blue eyes saw through the darkness surrounding her. They saw her.
In an instant, a mix of emotions flooded her, she herself staring back into those eyes as she slowly became visible.
Vanessa had not had an easy life, despite what many thought. She had not lived a pain free life, nor had she lived a life where everything was handed to her. It was through training till it hurt so much she wanted to cry, it was through putting herself in situations that filled her with fear and dread, it was through going alone behind potential enemy lines alone and without support that she slowly and steadily built herself up.
Yet throughout her life, she had never encountered a weapon that did to her what those eyes did to her. If an enemy ever managed to stab her, they would never get from her what those eyes got from her.
She had never felt so utterly defeated, and yet never felt so glad of it. Her emotions were contradictory and confusing, but of course nothing of it ever appeared on her face, which looked impassive as she studied him.
"How did you see through my ability?" she could not help but ask. Every time she asked him this question, and every time he answered, she improved. In response, Nero gave her that familiar, confident smirk she had grown used to seeing.
He snapped his finger, and a blue spark was produced.
"It's not hard. You just have to keep an eye on the shadows retreating from the light. If it doesn't retreat, then there is obviously something wrong."
She looked at his fingers, looked at the sparks that lasted for barely a second, and had to admit that she was impressed.
"You never fail to surprise me," she admitted frankly.
"I'm also surprised by your changing identity every time we meet, Junior Officer Abel," he remarked and pulled out a card from his case and activated it, causing a blue shield to appear around them.
"This is not a good place to talk," she said, shaking her head. "We can talk more in Perilith."
"Can you tell me what to expect from this trip, at least. After all, your protection is in my hands. The more I know, the better I can perform."
Vanessa audibly scoffed. As if
she
needed protection. Although, she could not help but have a flashback to the tentacle monster Nero fought in the basement. Maybe she might need
a little
help. Also, calling her by her last name probably meant that he finally got a hint as to her background, though he didn't seem intimidated so he might not have.
"All I can say is that do not compare this to any experience you might have had during the draft," she said, with many hidden meanings in those words. "It is
a lot
more dangerous than that. It is not casually that this dimension has been called Perilith. You will be sent a file containing some of our findings and understanding of the place. Study it carefully."