by Mia Archer
Something bad was about to go down, and it was usually some sort of villain causing the trouble.
The sound of a distant explosion ripped through the room and the windows rattled. I heard a few students gasp, but I pretended not to care what was going on out there on the other side of the windows.
It was time for my performance. This I did prepare for.
"Class," I said adopting my best stern schoolmarm tone. "I'd appreciate it if you could pull your attention back to your studies. I'm sure whatever is going on out there is no concern of ours."
"But Professor Terror!" One guy close to the windows said. "There's a giant robot attacking the city!"
Another girl turned to stare at him. "That's not a giant robot. It's obviously some sort of alien attack. Look at how perfectly spherical the thing is."
I smiled. Inside. Best not to give too much away. Yet.
Good. So my deceptive camouflage was working. Sure I’d never planned to actually deploy the thing in the field since I figured the last thing CORVAC needed was access to a giant killing machine with armament that easily made him the second most powerful military in the world all by his onesies, right behind me of course, but I’d taken great care when designing CORVAC’S precious city destroyer robot to make sure the outward appearance had a design aesthetic that was sufficiently between "alien invasion" and "killer death robot" that there would be some doubt initially as to exactly who was destroying the city.
Confusing my enemies was one of my favorite parts of this gig. It was almost as important to a long term villainy career as a good sense of theatricality and the ability to backup your theatricality with the deadliest weapons in the world and the intent to use them when necessary.
Movement from the back of the room caught my eye. My inner smile turned to an inner grin, though I schooled my face to absolute stillness.
I was so close. It wouldn't do to give up the game right when I was about to take the winning shot.
I turned and my stern schoolmarm became ice. "And where do you think you're going, Miss Solare?"
Selena froze as she made her way towards the door. She looked at the rest of the class staring out the windows transfixed. She was the only one making any move to leave. It made it easier for me to single her out.
"The city is under attack!" she said.
I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. "So? Why is that any concern of ours?"
God I was enjoying playing this game. She was off to rescue the city, but she had to play it off like she was afraid and trying to get someplace safe because hey, giant robot, what else would a normal mortal person do?
And every moment she stood here bandying words with me was a moment she wasn't fighting off the killer death robot, only she couldn't just give up the game and tell me that because that would give away her secret identity.
The twisted logic of the moment was convoluted and delicious.
"That giant robot is going straight for downtown like always. Well away from the school," I said. "I see no reason to cancel class on that account. You all know what the university policy is on attacks on the city and this does not represent an impending threat to your student bodies as clearly laid out in that policy."
Not that the robot would ever reach downtown, let alone taking a swerve to go through the university. I’d capture Fialux and be done with this before CORVAC had a chance to do some real damage. Before he had a chance to get too fond of that stupid robot and do something stupid like take a detour through campus or some other highly populated area.
For an evil computer like CORVAC the shortest path between two points was the one that caused the most destruction, which had me nervous about letting this go on too long.
Sure there was a handy regulator built into the thing to prevent him from doing just that, but I was also well aware how wily he was for a bucket of bolts. Every moment I spent here trying to get Fialux to reveal herself was a moment he could figure out a workaround and go hog wild.
Not that I really thought he’d do that, but this plan felt riskier than some of the others I’d come up with lately.
Selena stared down at me and her mouth worked silently for a moment as she searched for something, anything she could say that would get her out of the situation. Then I guess she decided that dealing with a giant death robot was more important than keeping her teacher happy, because she hefted her backpack and continued towards the exit.
I took a moment to enjoy the view. She was wearing another pair of short jean shorts that were practically molded to her tanned body. The way her butt looked curved in those shorts was nothing short of amazing. And she had on a tank top that came up just enough to reveal her cute little belly button.
No piercing, I'm sure she would've avoided that even though it was the fashion right now, because how do you explain to a tattoo artist that he can't pierce your belly button because your skin has the consistency of impenetrable tank armor?
But even though I knew her skin could probably shrug off an atomic blast without any trouble, it still looked so smooth and amazing. My mind drifted back to the feel of her lips pressing against mine.
Yes, godlike powers or no, alien or no, she definitely felt all woman when her body was close to mine. I shook my head and brought myself back to the moment. I had to concentrate on capturing her, not on watching the delicious way her body bounced in that tight outfit.
"Miss Solare." I started after her as she walked towards the door. "Miss Solare!" I haven't cancelled class!"
The large windows looking out over the city, thank goodness I'd had the foresight to use the mind control clicker to get this particular classroom with that particular view ahead of time, rattled as another explosion rocked the city.
I frowned. That felt closer than it had any business being. Which meant CORVAC was deviating from the planned route or he was using way bigger weapons than he should’ve been breaking out considering the safeties I built in to keep him from doing that.
I briefly wondered exactly where CORVAC was attacking. I'd given him strict instructions to stay away from populated areas and stick to some of the abandoned docks down at the wharf. I figured there was plenty of unoccupied stuff to blow up there.
If he wasn’t sticking to the plan… but no. That was impossible. CORVAC hated deviating from a plan, even if he hated the plan. And there were the safeties to consider. They were foolproof.
The problem with thinking something was foolproof was you were the one left looking like a fool if the ball dropped.
No, he was probably just having a little fun and letting loose on an old abandoned fuel depot on the docks or something. I hadn't let him go to town on the city since the elevated train incident a couple of years back where he got carried away, but I still wondered if maybe he was taking his fun a little too seriously.
But I couldn't do anything about that right now. What I could do something about was Miss Solare. Miss Fialux.
I followed her into the hall. Completely deserted. Typical for this sort of situation. Usually when there was an attack on the city most people sought shelter in one of the many bomb shelters that had been mandated as part of city construction since it became obvious the place was going to be a playground for super powered beings of various provenance settling grudges and creating havoc for the insurance industry.
Most students also tended to seek shelter in flagrant violation of official university policy about this sort of thing. Which was probably terribly pragmatic if you were a normal with no powers to speak of.
Whatever. People violating university policy on missing class during an attack that wasn’t close to the university was perfectly fine with me.
It meant more privacy for what I was about to do.
34
A Plan Comes Together
Selena looked over her shoulder and frowned. Clearly she wasn’t happy about being followed.
"Go away!"
The voice held all the command of a goddess who was used to gettin
g her way. It was the kind of command that almost had me stopping in my tracks.
Almost, but not quite. She was still the student and I was the professor. We were still playing those roles even if I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t going to last much longer.
"Not until you explain why you think you can just leave class like that," I said.
She kept walking. I briefly thought about getting out the device here, but no. There was always the chance someone would step out into the hallway, and it wouldn't do for all my plans to go awry because some stupid college jock saw me using my stasis field and decided to tackle me from behind.
My plans had been ruined by far more stupid coincidences. This had to be perfect.
"You don't understand," she said. "I have to go."
"I think I understand perfectly," I said. "You're afraid of your feelings after that little incident in my office, and now you're running away from them."
That definitely got her attention. Was I being entirely fair? Probably not. Bringing up something like that was dirty pool, but at the same time there was nothing in the evil supervillainess handbook that said you had to play nice.
Selena turned and took a step towards me, a pleading look on her face. I almost felt bad for her. She glanced behind her towards a door I knew led to a stairwell since I'd scoped out this entire building during the planning phase.
I'm sure she wanted nothing more than to hop into the stairwell, zip up to the roof, and go out to fight the giant death robot attacking the city. And yet she still stopped to talk to me.
This was getting interesting.
A jingle sounded in the empty hallway. Her phone. Damn it! Of all the times for that thing to go off!
Then again why wouldn’t someone call her when there was a giant robot attacking the city? I was surprised her phone worked at all considering how jammed the cell towers usually got during an incident like this.
Selena pulled out the phone and looked at it. Frowned. I stared with rapt attention. Was she going to answer it?
A war of desires was clearly playing out in front of me. Her desire to save the city, her desire to talk to me, and her desire to answer her phone. Which would win? Two out of the three options worked for me.
I saw that slack-jawed look start to cross her face, the look that said she was about to answer and launch into an endless call with this mysterious boyfriend of hers, but then there was a loud explosion off in the distance that rattled the building.
Damn. CORVAC must’ve found a way around the safeties, and that wasn’t good. Unfortunately for the city and fortunately for CORVAC I was preoccupied by my master plan so he’d get to play for a little longer.
That explosion got her attention though, so maybe it wasn’t all bad. The blank look disappeared from her face, her look firmed to one of determination, and she put the phone back in her pocket.
She looked up. Locked eyes with me. I blinked. Was she actually choosing me for a change? I figured for sure her desire to save the city would win out. This was impossible, but it sent a warm feeling running through me as she spoke.
"That's not it at all," she said.
"Then what is it?"
She took another step closer. And another. She was just as close to me now as we'd been in my office the day before, only now there was no fake wood chair in between us.
I was painfully aware that she could snap me like a twig if she realized who I was and what my game was. I was painfully aware that all it would take was for one of us to lean forward and wrap our arms around the other and we would be in the middle of one of the most passionate embraces of my life.
Both thoughts terrified me.
"I don't know what it is about you," she said. "There's something about you. Something that draws me to you."
I was so caught up in her words, so distracted by what she was saying, the feel of her body so close to mine, that I almost forgot my true purpose. I almost let her go down to that stairwell to fly out and destroy the death robot that I knew wouldn’t survive a single encounter with her anyways.
Almost.
I just hoped this worked. I hoped I was right about why the anti-Newtonian stasis field didn’t work correctly the first time I used it on Fialux.
Obviously if she was already moving and in action when I activated the field there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell the field would be able to stand up to the kind of power she was throwing around. But I was about to seriously risk life and limb testing the thing in a live scenario when she was already a body at rest…
Like she was right now staring up at me with the barest hint of moisture in her eyes. Begging me to let her go and save the city. The city that didn't actually need saving since CORVAC had strict orders to disappear as soon as I made the capture.
Assuming the safeties were still working.
Hey, I might know the giant death robot was a dud, but that didn't mean I wanted to waste all the work that went into it by risking some hero destroying it. Or the military getting in a lucky shot.
It was bad enough that Dr. Laura was trying to steal my ideas. The last thing I needed were the idiots in the government getting their grubby paws on my stuff.
Yet I couldn't help but feel something as I reached out with the stasis device. An odd feeling. Something I don't think I'd ever felt before, or at the very least an emotion that I'd thoroughly stomped down up until this moment.
Guilt.
I can't say that I liked what I was about to do. But work was work. There was still the risk of someone interrupting us since we were stuck in the middle of this deserted hallway, but I wasn’t going to get a better opportunity.
It was now or never.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
Selena raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Sorry? What are you talking about?"
I activated the stasis field. It sprang up around her, the glow not quite so bright in the lighted hallway as it had been when I was fighting Fialux at night. I looked back up at her and a huge grin split my face.
"I'm sorry I'm so fucking awesome!"
Selena’s eyes went wide and joined her raised eyebrows. Immediately she started thrashing around, but I raised the field slightly so she was floating in the air and couldn't actually launch herself off of anything.
Damn. That would've been embarrassing if I went to all the trouble of capturing her in the field and she was still able to push off the ground. She flailed more and more and the glow grew brighter and brighter.
For a moment I worried that maybe the kind of power she was throwing around was still too much for the field, but even as it glowed brightly, turning blue and then purple, it stayed firmly in place.
The field was working exactly as designed when she wasn’t already throwing her momentum around. I threw my head back and allowed myself a victorious cackle. It’d been way too long since I had occasion to let out a good victorious villain laugh.
I lowered my chin and narrowed my eyes at Fialux. Because only Fialux could put out enough power to cause the field to blue shift like that.
"Damn it feels good to be a villain," I said.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this? The city is in danger!"
"Oh, right. About that."
I pulled my wrist band up to my mouth. I had the satisfaction of watching Fialux's eyes go as big as saucers as she saw the wristband. Oh yes. She recognized that.
"CORVAC, call off the attack," I said.
"But mistress, I'm almost to a populated area," CORVAC's metallic voice rang out of my wrist communicator.
"I don't care. I've got the package and it's about to be delivered. Now shut down the bot and get back to base," I snapped.
"You!" Fialux said.
I sketched a brief bow and came back up with a grin. "I suppose it's time to do away with silly costumes, wouldn't you say?"
I raised my blaster and fired at her once, twice. She didn't even flinch. The first blast knocked off her university logo shirt revealing the bright green skintig
ht Fialux top underneath.
Just as I suspected, the shirt didn't singe as I blasted it. Though I had to admit part of me was disappointed that it didn't blast away her clothes to reveal her fantastic body. Then again, I suppose she had to be ready for anything when she went out, which meant always being in uniform.
Besides, that was the kind of distraction I did not need right about now.
The second blast knocked away her deliciously tight jean shorts revealing the skirt she wore underneath. It looked slightly disheveled from being kept tight in those shorts. Obviously flying at high speeds was part of what kept it looking presentable.
"I suppose I should let my hair down too," I said.
And so I did just that. I hated that damn academic bun I'd forced myself to wear while I was teaching this course anyways. I reached up and my hair fell down across my shoulders.
There, that was far more comfortable. I didn't turn the blaster on myself, but I did very carefully and meticulously unbutton my shirt and pants slipping out of them revealing my far more comfortable carbon fiber suit underneath.
Yes, far more comfortable.
I hit a button on the wrist controller and my mask materialized into place. My custom HUD sprang to life feeding me information and I felt one with the world again.
I felt like I was walking around naked without my mask and the steady feed of information it brought me.
I couldn't help but notice the way Fialux's eyes stared at me intently, anger there for sure, but something else as well as I disrobed. Admiration? Lust? I could hope.
"I can't believe it Fialux," I said. " I finally have you in my clutches."
"Even if you kill me there are others who will try and stop you," Fialux said.
"Kill you?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. "Now what in the time we’ve spent together this semester makes you think I’d go and do a silly thing like kill you?"
"Then what are you going to do?"
I chuckled and reached out to attach a long range teleportation targeter to Fialux. I needed something to do because I honestly didn’t have a good answer for what I was going to do with her.
