by Mia Archer
The original plan had been to run some trials with that beam weapon I pilfered from Dr. Laura and find out what made Fialux tick, but somehow that felt wrong now. I also worried about what CORVAC might try when we had her safe in captivity.
Honestly I was like the dog who caught the car. I never thought I’d get here and I didn’t have anything but the haziest plans on where to go here.
Whatever. I’d think of something. I always did. Even if the plans running through my mind mostly involved pillow fights and staying up late talking and repeating that wonderful kiss and all sorts of other things that weren’t going to help me take over the world.
Damn it.
I didn’t have a plan, but she didn’t have to know that.
"Oh Fialux, I have far more interesting things in store for you my dear."
35
Confessions
Fialux looked so beautiful strung up in an antigravity field I'd placed in the lab for just this occasion. Coupled with the stasis field I was pretty sure there was no way she could escape until I was ready to let her escape.
I hoped there was no way she could escape until I was ready to let her escape. Let’s just say it would be very awkward if I suddenly had a superpowered and very pissed off individual in the room with a hankering for destroying yours truly.
It would be like having a wasp in the room but on super powered steroids, and that was saying something considering I’d nearly vaporized a good chunk of the volatile chemical lab the last time there was a wasp in the lab. It wasn’t my fault it landed on that vat of explosives right before I pulled that trigger.
She stared daggers at me as I walked around her tapping my lips and trying to think about how best to broach the subject I so desperately wanted to broach.
Damn. I felt as nervous as my first school dance so many years ago. I guess some feelings never changed no matter how old you were.
"Would you like to prepare one of the elimination plans mistress? We could never tell if they would actually work before, but now that we have a live subject to experiment on…"
"No, CORVAC."
"But…"
"CORVAC, I've seen her get hit point-blank with the most powerful weapons in my arsenal and shrug it off without any problem," I said. "I'm pretty sure none of the tricks you came up with are going to do jack squat."
“But what about the Trinity protocol…”
“You are not detonating a hydrogen bomb to try and destroy Fialux. Besides, we’d have to go to the trouble of stealing one and you know what a pain in the ass that is.”
There was a pause. A pause that with a human would have been accompanied by a derisive sniff or some other indication of dissatisfaction. He knew just as well as I did that teleportation meant I could be the world’s third ranked atomic power in a matter of moments if I wanted it, but they were so old-fashioned and crude.
As it was, CORVAC just let some of the monitors around the room pick up their beeping before his voice returned.
"Fine, mistress," he said. If he was anything other than a computer I would have sworn he was pouting. "If you're going to be that way."
"I am," I said. "And in fact I'd appreciate it if you could turn off your monitors in this room."
"But mistress!"
"I said leave the room CORVAC. Fialux and I have some talking to do."
"Fine mistress," he said.
All the electronic banks running around the room went dark. Just to be certain I pulled out my wrist blaster and hit a button to send out a very small, very localized electromagnetic pulse that would only take out the electronics in this room.
The cleanup bots could replace the components later, and if CORVAC was listening in then it would serve him right to get a little bit of a zap.
I paused and listened for a moment but there was no protest. If he was still in the room I'd definitely be getting an earful right now. There was nothing he hated more than when I set off an EMP, whether accidentally or intentionally, where some of his precious circuits might get tickled.
Of course I’d still probably hear an earful once I was in a room where his circuits weren't friend and he could talk, but that was a worry for later. Right now it was time to do something potentially very stupid.
It was time to let the wasp fly around the room. Only this was a wasp that could pulverize me into villainous paste if she wanted. Not a malicious six-legged embodiment of malevolence with a poker on its ass and a will to use it.
I held up my wrist blaster for Fialux to see and reached out to touch the button at the side. The straps released and it fell loose in my hand. I gripped it by a strap and held it out far from my body.
I couldn’t shake the feeling I was going to regret this, but it had to be done. The plan had changed. My feelings had changed.
"I'm going to hit this button and you're going to be freed," I said. "No tricks. Nothing up my sleeve. Just the hope that you'll return my trust with a little trust of your own."
I searched her face for any sign that my peace offering was being met with approval. But the only thing I saw there was a flat stare.
I figured there was at least a good 70/30 chance this was the single most stupid thing I'd ever done in my life. And I’d done some pretty stupid things in pursuit of super science.
There was also a good chance I was about to get both my ass and my secret lair completely pulverized by an angry vengeful goddess.
Still, it had to be done.
I pressed the button and the antigravity field and the stasis field disappeared. I shook my head. All that work to create this damned thing, to nullify the basic laws of the universe as we currently understood them, and I was just turning the damned thing off.
I was either an idiot or a hopeless romantic. Probably both. I wondered if I was about to become yet another villain brought to an untimely end because I was thinking with the brain between the legs instead of the brain between the ears.
The anti-Newtonian stasis field’s subtle glow winked out and Fialux fell to the ground. Or rather she floated to the ground and landed lightly on her feet. Right, the whole unpowered flight thing.
As soon as the field was down I tossed my wrist blaster to the other side of the room. It's not like it was going to make a difference if she decided to come after me anyways, and I wanted to show her I definitely didn't mean her any harm.
Well, no harm beyond kidnapping her and taking her back to my secret lair. Admittedly that looked pretty bad now that I really thought about it. Sort of a case of me being so focused on a plan coming together that I hadn’t stopped to think if it was really a good idea in the changing context of my feelings.
But that's where the harm ended. I swear.
She brushed off her t-shirt causing her breasts to jiggle ever so slightly. Man was that a hypnotic sight to behold. She rotated her shoulder a couple of times and moved her neck from side to side then turned to face me.
That was not a pretty face. Well, it was a gorgeous face, but the grimace wasn't pretty. It promised nothing good for me.
I backed across the room as she advanced. I had some ‘splaining to do, as they used to say on ancient television.
"This was all a plan to get some time alone with you," I said. I stopped. Took a deep breath.
“Okay, maybe initially it was a little about a way to defeat you once and for all so you’d be out of the way for my eventual takeover of the world, but that changed as I got to know you and now I totally swear it was about getting some time alone with you!”
She kept advancing on me. The explanation wasn’t working. And really, when I thought about it from her point of view why should she believe me or even give me the time of day? I’d just kidnapped her in the middle of what looked like an attack on the city.
Sure it was an attack I’d orchestrated with my crazy evil supercomputer, but something told me that technicality wasn’t going to win me any points with her. More talking was in order.
“The first time I saw you I thou
ght you were so gorgeous but I was a villain trying to take over the city and you were a hero trying to save the world and so we sort of got off on the wrong foot and it tore me up."
Fialux continued advancing, not saying anything. My life flashed before my eyes. All the news profiles that came out since her appearance said Fialux never killed, at least she didn't kill intentionally, but after what I'd pulled it was entirely possible she might make an exception.
Or it was entirely possible she might pull the heroic villain death loophole and destroy my lab around me leaving me to perish and not actively saving me. Which if you ask me was about the same as killing a villain outright, but the criminal courts had held in multiple cases that it wasn’t.
Probably because the juries were always staffed with mortals who had an axe to grind against villains and figured the only good villain was a dead villain and who cares how that death happened. And they wondered why I spent so much on a lawyer who kept me safely and legally out of the legal system.
More advancing. That meant more talking. I had to convince her this was the real deal. I had to convince her to give me a chance, damn it!
"And then all of a sudden I've got all these new weird feelings I’ve never felt before and the next thing I know I'm looking at you and realizing how incredibly gorgeous you are and how much I want you but I was afraid to admit it to myself and I can’t stop thinking about you no matter how hard I try but in an “I’m hot for you” way and not a “I want to defeat you so I can take over the world” sort of way."
I was babbling. Babbling wasn't good. My back hit the wall. No more room. This was it.
I've heard it said that confession was good for the soul, and at that moment my soul was getting one hell of a once over.
I closed my eyes and the last thing I saw was Fialux moving ever closer. Walking, not flying. That was different. The past couple of times I saw her coming towards me, promising the impending doom of whatever plan I was working on, she was flying through the air with her fist outstretched.
None of that this time. She was cool, calculating.
Oh well. If I was going out then at least I’d go out with that cute face and dynamite body being the last thing I saw. Maybe that was worth it.
I felt her body close to mine. Her presence, her smell, it was still intoxicating. Hey, at least if I was going I was going on a happy note.
"Night Terror," she said, her voice soft. Not the steel I expected. What the?
I opened my eyes. Her deep green eyes stared into my own. And she was smiling. No scowl on her face this time. I hesitantly smiled back at her. What the hell was going on?
"Did you mean all that stuff you just said?"
I blinked. Maybe I wasn't going to die after all. At least not today.
"Mean it? I meant every word."
I suppose what happened next shouldn't have surprised me considering everything else that had happened leading up to this moment. That day in the dining hall. The flirtation after class every day. The little interlude in my office where Fialux suddenly seemed more interested in me than seemed strictly proper in a professor student relationship.
I still didn't understand how a goddess like Fialux could possibly be interested in me, but it was still a more than pleasant surprise when she closed her eyes, leaned forward, and pressed her lips into mine again.
All rational analysis of the situation fled my mind as I felt her body press into mine. Honestly, why did I even care why Fialux was throwing herself at me? All I really cared about was that she was throwing herself at me.
I needed to do less worrying and more going with it.
36
The Other Shoe
There are kisses and then there are kisses. Some people are terrible at it. Some people think opening their mouth and jabbing their tongue is all it takes. Some think opening their mouth like a gaping maw and lying there letting the other half do the work is good enough.
And then there are those who really and truly know what they're doing. Fialux obviously knew what she was doing.
I allowed myself to be lost in the moment. I’d worked so hard for this without realizing this is what I’d been working towards since the first time I laid eyes on her and fell for her.
But this had always been the plan, and I loved it when a plan came together!
As exquisite as that kiss was, as masterful as Fialux was with her tongue, I eventually found the willpower to force myself to pull away from her.
Making out with my sworn enemy, a sworn enemy who I realized I’d well and truly fallen for, ranked up there with the hottest experiences of my life. But there was so much more I wanted to do with her. So much more I wanted to do to her. So much more that I needed from her.
"You're beautiful," I said.
Fialux bit her lip and looked away for a moment, then back to me. When she turned back she had a huge grin plastered across her gorgeous face.
"Can you keep a secret?"
I grinned. "I think we're over secrets by now."
"I always thought you were so hot," she said.
I blinked. Me? Hot? Fialux always thought I was hot?
Okay then. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who’d been smitten from the first time we faced off against each other. I guess I hadn’t been imagining that tension between our secret identities.
Then a thought occurred to me. If she always thought I was hot then what was up with those phone calls? I opened my big mouth, knowing I might regret the answer even as I asked.
“Really? What about the mystery man who’s always calling you and pulling you away from me after class?”
That blank look almost crossed her face again but I forestalled it by leaning in and kissing her. Thoroughly.
When I pulled away she was breathing heavily and the vacant look was gone. Well then. It looked like I’d finally found something other than a dire emergency facing the city that would distract her from thoughts of that phone and whoever was on the other end.
"He’s…”
She shook her head. As though she was trying to chase away something unpleasant. As though she wasn’t quite sure what the hell was going on with that guy.
“He?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
Again she got that distant look in her eyes, but this time she brought herself back. It was like somehow she was getting more and more control of herself every time she thought of the guy.
I frowned. That was suspiciously familiar. It almost reminded me of how people reacted to some of the mind control tech I used. Particularly when they were trying to fight it.
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. "But ever since the first time I saw you, you were just so… I don't know how to explain it. You don't play by the rules. You don't care what other people think. And you always seem to go out of your way to try and avoid hurting people even if you are trying to take over the world."
“And I’m a girl,” I said.
“I know,” she said with a frown. “But when I think of…”
“When you think of who?” I prompted when she seemed to forget her train of thought.
She opened her mouth as though she was about to say something, but nothing came out. Again there was that blank look and a moment later she was all smiles. As though she’d completely forgotten what we were talking about.
Now that was interesting. And slightly terrifying. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have quite possibly the most powerful being on the planet being mind controlled by someone, and I didn’t like where that thought took me.
Both because of the terrifying power that would be at their fingertips and because I didn’t take too kindly to someone treating my girl like that, damn it.
Fialux bit her lip and looked at me again. "I know I shouldn't think this considering who I am and who you are, but it's just so fucking hot." She looked me up and down. "Not to mention I’ve been thinking since the first time I saw you that the way you fill out that suit is also pretty fucking hot. I’ve never…"
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She paused as though not sure how to proceed. Then it all came spilling out. “I’ve never felt this way about a girl before. It’s all new for me too.” She looked away, then back. Smiled. “But I like it.”
I decided not to mention the guy again. I guess that sort of explained things without bringing mind control into it. After all, it’s not like I’d given serious thought to being with a girl before all this.
Then again I hadn’t given serious thought to any sort of relationship at all. Even my last one, the one that ended with the poor bastard being teleported to who knew where, was more the convenience of the two of us being together than any actual real feeling.
It’s not like we were burning down the Applied Sciences department trying to find secluded spaces to make out, that was for sure. It wasn’t anything like Fialux.
Besides, I could figure out all that later. Right now I was too busy blushing.
Everything she was saying sounded so similar to the roller coaster of emotions I’d been riding since I first saw her. So Fialux had a little crush on me all along.
All this time we'd been at each other's throats, and she was secretly attracted to me? I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised considering the way she’d been throwing herself at me after class, but it still sent warm fuzzies running up and down my body to hear her say it. Warm fuzzies that made me feel lightheaded, almost drunk.
And even evil super genius villains aren’t above saying stupid things whilst drunk.
"I think I've loved you all this time too," I said.
Her eyebrows shot practically to the ceiling and her eyes widened. "Love?"
Oh shit!
Shit! Shit! Shit!
I studied her face trying to gauge her reaction. She definitely looked surprised. Here I was with the world's hottest hero in my arms, the woman who was the girl of my dreams even though I hadn’t even known I was interested in women until the first time I saw her, and now I'd probably gone and scared her away by using that stupid word.
