Whispers of The Masked Viperess Vixen

It was supposed to be a quiet Wednesday in the office, but somehow the regular rowdy bunch of gossips still managed to make a scene as usual.

Melissa chuckled to herself as she whispered to her coworker, "I'm telling you, it's Vanessa. She's got the whole 'secret identity' thing down pat. And just look at her—she's always quiet, shy, and never gets into trouble. She is the Vixen, I swear on my life!" She was referring to the recent news sensation about The Masked Viperess Vixen, a mysterious villain who kills anyone just to satisfy her lust for blood. A true demon, who had been evading the authorities for months by never leaving any trace of evidence.

"Melissa, that's not funny. V is a very sweet lady who helps everyone out, including you. Remember that late-night project YOU forgot to finish by the weekend and Vanessa stayed to help you finish?" Says Jeremy with slight reproach.

Melissa rolls her eyes and continues. "Oh, Jeremy, relax; it was just a joke, but come on. She could totally be the villain if she wanted to!"

"Shhhh! You're too loud, Melissa. Everyone is listening, but worse of all, what if Vanessa hears you? Just stop, ok."

"Ok, ok, Kay, I'll stop. You two are so annoying. Always acting extra over Vaaaneeesssaaa." Melissa cackles loudly, glaring towards Vanessa.

Kay and Jeremy look at each other, then return their gaze to Melissa. "No, Melissa, you are acting extra with this joke. It was funny two days ago, less funny yesterday, and not funny at all today. It was really bad when you printed all those flyers out saying, "Meet the Vixen today in the office at 8 a.m.". We don't know why you're so on this, but the joke is over." Kay gets up from her desk and goes to get two coffees, purposefully forgetting to make Melissa one.

Attempting to speak, Jeremy shuts Melissa down and begins to make his daily calls. Sighing heavily, Melissa gets to work as well.

As Friday rolls around, Melissa walks into work late. Everyone was whispering at this point, and no one said anything to Melissa. As she placed her bag down on her desk, she heard random coworkers speaking about Vanessa. They made jokes about her name and hoped she was The Viperess Vixen. Vanessa's beauty, intelligence, and late work nights would be an amazing headline to promote their stagnant business. Shocked and slightly pleased, Melissa never thought her joke would spread like wildfire. But maybe it was time to hang up the joke.

Melissa walks over to her coworkers and speaks in a harsh tone. "Hey, the joke is over, guys; let it go."

The three women look at Melissa with disdain. "Shut up, Melissa; we were just stating that due to Vanessa's beauty and brain's, she would be a fantastic Vixen. You're the one who started that nasty rumor of her actually being the murderous villain, so maybe you should let it go!"

"It was a joke!" Shouts Melissa.

"Not a funny one! You are always saying something about Vanessa that is cruel, as if you are jealous of her. For someone who is mediocre, you certainly have something to say about everyone, don't you?" The three women flip their hair and sashay away from Melissa quickly, leaving her to her thoughts. Mind blown, Melissa gets to work, not noticing that Jeremy and Kay are unusually distant from her.

As the days went by, Melissa's coworkers began to shun her, believing she had crossed a line by spreading and doubling down on the nasty rumor. Vanessa, seemingly oblivious to the whole ordeal, continued to work diligently. She earned more respect and admiration from her colleagues just by staying unbothered. Melissa thought it was best to apologize, but it was too late. She had become the office pariah.

One fateful night, Melissa went to sleep, exhausted from a long day. But, as she opened her eyes after hearing her window creak, she was confronted by a figure in a shiny black mask, tight leather bodysuit, and killer heals—no pun intended—The Masked Viperess Vixen, standing at her 2nd story bedroom window. In a split second, Melissa's life flashed before her eyes. But just as The Vixen was about to strike, she received a mysterious message on her purple apple watch, distracting her long enough for Melissa to escape.

Melissa ran out of her back door and into the woods behind her house. No one could navigate it like her, so she was able to get away. Stopping suddenly, Melissa's thoughts run wild. "No way! That watch, that ringtone... Vanessa?" A second wave of exhaustion comes over Melissa as she passes out on the ground.

'Lick lick'. Melissa wakes up to a stray dog licking her face. She pushes him off and jumps to her feet, staggering as the blood flows back into her face. "I can't believe it." Stunned and shaken, Melissa remembered the unthinkable: Vanessa was indeed The Masked Viperess Vixen. "I need evidence. I need to prove she is evil!"

***

Melissa set out and began her own investigation, scouring the office for clues and attempting to gather intel from her coworkers. In order to gain a little information, Melissa would have to act nice and reformed from her envy of Vanessa. Slowly working her way up, Melissa discovered a suspicious pattern of specific late nights from Vanessa. Within three nights of the murders that occurred, Vanessa would only work late. "Clue one, check."

Melissa would now have to gain access to the camera footage to see what Vanessa was actually doing at work. So Melissa snuck into the office after hours, broke in to the security room, and played all of the videos from the logs that Vanessa was on after hours. "Crap, it shows that Vanessa was here the entire time the murders were happening, but how? Wait..." Melissa stared at the computer without blinking. That's when she caught a subtle glitch. "It's a loop! I have to copy these files. Damn Vanessa, you're good, but not that good. Clue two, check." Melissa steals one of the security flash drives, copies as many logged videos as she could, turns off, and deletes any evidence of herself on camera before leaving the security room.

"Just as an added bonus, let's check out Vanessa's computer." Melissa sat down at Vanessa's desk and hacked into her computer. At first, nothing until she catches a file right in the middle of the screen. It was almost invisible. "Who is this woman?" Clicking on the folder, Melissa began uncovering cryptic messages and encrypted files on targets, The Vixen desires to go after, showing she has a pattern and doesn't go after just anyone. "Clue two point five, check!" That's when Melissa heard the downstairs door beep. It was subtle, but she knew someone had just walked in, and it would take 2 minutes at regular pace to get to Melissa's location.

After copying the folder to the flash drive, Melissa rips it out of the computer and shuts everything down, before the unknown person appeared in the office. "There's my wallet," says Jeremy, as he grabs his item and walks out, only pausing for a second after seeing a pink phone next to Vanessa's computer. Once he was completely gone, Melissa gathered her things and ran out the back door.

Early Friday morning, Melissa gets to work before everyone else except Vanessa. Melissa throws her bag onto her desk and makes a beeline for Vanessa, confronting her. "I know it's you, Vanessa. I have proof," Melissa declared, her voice shaking.

Vanessa attempts confusion, but she already figured the jig was up. Smirking, her eyes gleamed with a sinister intensity. "You'll never be able to prove it, Melissa. And even if you did, no one would believe you."

"We'll see about that!" Melissa turns away from Vanessa and sits at her desk angrily. Vanessa mocks Melissa and laughs to show she's ready for the challenge.

After work, Melissa gathered her evidence in hand and went to the authorities, but they seemed skeptical. The Masked Viperess Vixen was a master of deception, and since everyone already knew about Melissa's past rumor-mongering, it didn't help her credibility. "Look, uh, Melissa. These could be faked by you. We know about the rumors and..."

"No officer, please. I get that you and Vanessa are friends, but this isn't a joke. She literally tried to kill me not too long ago! This is all real!"

The officer quiets Melissa. "If that were the case, then why didn't you call the police that night? Sigh, this doesn't look very good for you, Melissa, and if you are going this far for a joke, then we're going to have to arrest you for wasting our time, and Vanessa could sue you for slander."

"It's true!" Melissa shouts.

"Go home. We will try to look into this, but if we find that you are being funny again, well, you know the rest. We'll be in touch." The officer shoos Melissa away as he tosses the evidence aside. Melissa leaves for home, feeling defeated.

Late that night, Melissa laid on her couch, pondering the entire situation. She knew she had to take all matters into her own hands. She decided to orchestrate a sting operation, using herself as bait to lure The Vixen into a trap. Will she be able to succeed on her own?

As the days slowly went by, Melissa would purposefully antagonize Vanessa in subtle ways that no one at the office noticed. Melissa even started being very nice and bringing treats for everyone. Truly attempting to apologize for her actions and words throughout the years, all the while, Melissa was poking the snake.

While Melissa's co-workers began to slowly warm up to Melissa's attempts to become better, Vanessa started to show cracks in her perfect exterior. Maybe it was time to rid herself of this woman before people began to see Vanessa's true nature.

As Saturday night came, Melissa sat in her backyard, smoking a cigarette. "It's been too long, cigs, but this might be my last night on earth."

"That may be true." Melissa looks up on top of her shed and sees Vanessa draped in black, ready with a blade in hand. "Let's get this over with."

"Well, hold on there, Vanessa. If you're going to kill me, then at least answer this one question." Grunting and rolling her eyes, Vanessa waits for the question. "Why?"

"Why what, moron?" Shouts Vanessa, as she hops down to the ground effortlessly.

"Why kill?"

Dark clouds covered the moon for what felt like minutes before Vanessa spoke. "Because, they deserve it. All of the men and women who I've killed deserved every second of torment. Death was just a reward I gave to them after the fact."

"That doesn't tell me much."

"Look, Melissa, I kill people who are dirty, but I will also kill those who get in my way! All you had to do was listen to your stupid little friends and shut up! But no, you had to get involved and put your fat nose in my business. But that's okay, because that's the first thing I'll cut off, then comes your tongue!"

As Vanessa walks towards Melissa, a taser line flies out from the shed and into Vanessa's back, dropping her to the concrete. Jeremy steps out and blows on the tip of the weapon as if he's 007. "Wow, I guess you were right. I owe you $1000, Melissa."

"Keep it, J, because you'll be buying my lunch for months since I won this bet," Melissa jokes as the police sirens are heard in the background. "But I appreciate your help. I knew I couldn't do this alone anymore."

Jeremy smiles. "You convince well. I really thought I'd make an easy thousand, but it's ok. I also kind of knew you were up to something when I saw your phone that night on Vanessa's desk, sooo yeah. Don't ever be a killer, because you'd be caught like instantly." Both laugh loudly as Vanessa wipes the spit foam from her mouth.

Vanessa then looks up at Melissa with fury. "How?"

"It was easy. You were so consumed with your hatred for me that you didn't even take into consideration who altered your kill list. Very detailed, but you didn't ask yourself why I was so casually waiting for you today of all days. Checkmate." Astonished by Melissa's hidden intellect, Vanessa chuckled. The one person she underestimated, turned out to be her ultimate downfall.

***

As the news broke, everyone was shocked and stunned. Vanessa's colleagues struggled to face Melissa after surviving The Villainous Vixen. Melissa, once hated, was now hailed as a hero. She had cleared her name and brought a criminal to justice. From that day forward, Melissa was known as the woman who unmasked The Masked Viperess Vixen with only a rumor.