by Mia Archer
"I've taken some liberties and made some assumptions with the projection," CORVAC said. "For instance in recent interviews Fialux has indicated she comes from another world, and so this projection is based on the assumption that she has the same anatomy as a normal human female which is just a best guess based on…"
"Would you shut up already?" I screamed.
"Well. If you are going to get testy."
I wasn't going to get testy. It was just that all my concentration was on the feeling between my legs as I stared up at this naked goddess before me and pressed my fingers deep inside me. God did her body look amazing. Amazing in a way I'd never appreciated a woman before. Why hadn't I ever appreciated a woman like this before?
Or maybe I had appreciated a woman like this before and was just afraid to admit it. Hell, as soon as these feelings started bubbling to the surface with Fialux I did my damned best not to admit it.
Screw admitting things to myself. I was already past that point and enjoying the hell out of being past that point. No, right now I was far more interested in the results of this newly discovered female-focused sex drive that was firing on overkill as I stared at Fialux. My hips churned erratically as I felt a tingle rising from my pussy as my hand danced. Oh fucking shit. Oh my fucking God. Holy fucking shit did that feel amazing.
The tingle spread down to my toes and up to my tingling scalp and I felt an explosion go off through my body as I imagined being on top of Fialux with her doing the exploring rather than my body. I went weak in the knees and I had to grip the holo projector console to maintain my balance as my entire body started shaking under the force of that intense feeling. My eyes squeezed shut and I was screaming at the top of my lungs and imagining Fialux doing the same which sent another wave of impossible pleasure coursing through me.
Then the feeling was gone and I was left standing there looking at Fialux and feeling just as hot as I’d been a moment ago. Almost hot enough that I was tempted to go for another round. The only thing stopping me was an irritated blinking light on the holoprojector console. CORVAC was trying to get my attention. Best to indulge him considering what he’d just witnessed.
Oh well. I took a deep breath to compose myself and turned to face CORVAC with as much dignity as I could muster considering the circumstances.
“Did you enjoy yourself mistress?” CORVAC asked.
“I did, thank you very much,” I replied.
“And has this new and rather novel research aid yielded any results mistress?”
I flipped CORVAC's nearest monitor the bird as I turned back and looked up at the projection of Fialux. She was so amazing, especially when she wasn’t flying towards me at top speed getting ready to destroy my suit. If only I could…
“Wait a minute CORVAC,” I said.
“Yes mistress?”
“I used the anti-Newtonian field on her when she was already going full speed,” I said.
“Is that a problem mistress?”
“That’s exactly the problem! The whole point is to throw her into a vacuum where her powers have nothing to act against but that doesn’t do a damned bit of good if she’s already in motion!”
“Is this more of that elementary physics you were lecturing me about mistress?”
“It’s exactly that! It’s so simple I can’t believe I missed it. An object in motion stays in motion and so she was pumping too much power into the field by the time it hit her!”
“Fascinating mistress, really, but perhaps we could discuss the chassis for the robot?”
“Forget that crap CORVAC,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “It was right in front of me the whole time. The field works, I just need to capture Fialux with it while she’s not in motion!”
“Fascinating conjecture mistress, but how do you propose doing that considering she launches herself at you the moment you announce yourself?”
“Simple. I take her by surprise.”
7: Damsel in Disguise
I slouched my way along the pitted and often nonexistent sidewalks on the old east end of Starlight City. All around me stood at the rusted out and broken remains of a part of the city that had seen its heyday some fifty to sixty years prior. The intervening years had seen nothing but depression and crime taking over.
Basically it was the perfect place to try and lure Fialux.
Not that I didn't get an earful about this plan from CORVAC before I headed out for the evening.
"But mistress," CORVAC said. "If you were fighting Fialux openly and losing with the best super powered augments you had available, what makes you think that a simple disguise will allow you to get the jump on her?"
"There's nothing a hero can resist less than a good damsel in distress situation," I said. "Trust me. This will work."
"Mistress. I think we should talk about the little incident with the mess you made on the holoprojector."
I rolled my eyes. "CORVAC, that's the last thing I want to discuss with you."
"But mistress, that made me more uncomfortable than the time you put the vibrating attachments on the telescoping probes."
"CORVAC, I said I didn't want to talk about it."
There was a pause. Pauses were unusual for CORVAC. I was well aware that his positronic matrix brain could think at speeds that made my own mind look like a slimeless snail running on a superglue track. So when he paused like that either he was really thinking about something, the digital equivalent of simulated civilizations could rise and fall multiple times in the amount of time he was taking, or he'd just got caught in another logic bomb that tied up his circuits.
That was the problem with evil super computers. They were prone to being vulnerable to logic bombs hurled by the hero at just the right moment. I'd done my best to program those out, but he still occasionally got thrown into an annoying Kirk loop that reduced the most sophisticated computer on the planet to running slower than a copy of Windows ME that had just been introduced to spyware for the first time.
"Mistress, are we still planning on world domination?"
Domination. Oh yes. Domination. I had a whole lot of domination in mind once I finally managed to capture Fialux. Maybe not the world domination that CORVAC had in mind, and not for the first time I wondered why a computer that could simulate the entirety of the known universe in a matter of milliseconds needed to dominate the flesh and blood world of humans, but I definitely planned on dominating the most powerful being in the world. And I was going to make sure we both loved it.
"Oh yes," I said. I rubbed my hands together and grinned. "Domination. Complete and total domination. That's the plan."
"Are you sure about that mistress?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You have that smile you use when you are lying to me via omission."
Not for the first time I cursed myself for ever loading that facial recognition software. Like an artificial intelligence really needed to be able to recognize the range of human expression to do its job.
A dark shadow in one of the alleys up ahead shook me away from my reverie about CORVAC and his annoying complaints. I smiled. Hopefully this was exactly what I was looking for.
Now a normal person in this part of Starlight City would probably try to cross to the other side of the street. Hell, any sane person wouldn't be in this part of town at this time of night to begin with. But I kept going. With a little luck I wouldn't have to wander around all night looking for a crime statistic that was willing to take me on.
Not that it was difficult to run into crime in this part of town, statistically speaking.
As I stumbled past the entrance to the dark alley a voice whispered to me. My grin got bigger. That’s a bingo!
"Hey. You."
I turned, my eyes widened, and blinked at the voice from the darkness. A moment later a hulking man who looked like he hadn’t seen the pointy end of a razor in weeks and carrying a gun in his hand appeared out of the shadows. He jerked the gun back, gesturing for me to join him in
that dark alley. I quickly bit back my smile and replaced it with a look of pure terror.
I was supposed to be afraid, after all.
"Oh sir please don't hurt me!"
I held up my hands and tried to open my eyes as wide as possible. It wasn't too difficult to mimic what a crime victim looked like considering all the firsthand experience I had seeing bystanders witnessing my crimes up close and personal. I hesitated to call them victims since none of them ever really got hurt as long as they were smart enough to get out of the way.
"I said get in here bitch," the guy said.
"I swear I don't have any money!" I said.
He held up his gun and pointed it straight at my face. I opened my eyes even wider and tried not to snicker. A part of me wanted him to just fire the damn thing. After all, occasionally the kinetic force shield I wore caused a ricochet, and I might just have enough time to register the look of surprise before his own bullet bounced back into him. But he didn't do anything so stupid. That was probably for the best.
I was supposed to be an innocent victim, after all.
If anyone saw some girl walking around with obvious super science then it would make it very difficult to actually accomplish my mission. It would make this part of town safe for young women wandering around alone for awhile, but that wouldn't help me at all.
"I'm not interested in any money from you bitch," the guy said. "Now step into the alley before I waste you and finish the job anyways."
Talk about your common street thug. No class whatsoever. No sense of style. I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips. "Seriously?"
The gun wavered in this hulking gentleman's hand and a look of confusion passed across his face. I'm sure this was the first time he'd gotten that sort of reaction from one of his potential victims. Well, this was his lucky night. It would also be the last time he ever saw that sort of reaction from one of his victims. This would be the last time he saw any sort of reaction from anybody.
I stalked past him into the darker parts of the alley. I definitely didn't want to be seen from the street. He did a double take as I shoved past him and looked down at his seemingly worthless gun in confusion. Then he grinned and followed, no doubt thinking that maybe I was a little crazy, but at least he was still going to have his fun.
"That's more like it," he said, reaching for his belt.
"You don't have anyone else here with you, do you?" I asked.
I glanced around the alley but it didn't look like anyone else was hiding in the shadows. Partly I wanted to make sure there'd be no witnesses, but mostly I wanted to make sure there was no chance of me salvaging this and maybe attracting a little heroic attention.
His belt buckle stopped jingling as he looked up at me with that quizzical expression returning to his face. I imagined the dumb lug wore that sort of expression most of the time. At least when he wasn't trying to be menacing and threatening.
"Well it's just me…"
"Do you do this sort of thing a lot?" I asked.
He shrugged, the oddity of the situation seemingly making him forget the gun that he still held in his hand as he awkwardly tried to undo his belt buckle while keeping control of his weapon. From where I stood keeping control of his weapon was definitely a problem. A problem I planned on fixing.
"I suppose a couple times a month maybe. It really depends," he said.
"And you're definitely not a robber?"
This time he grinned. "What's the fun in robbing a bitch?"
"Thanks," I said with a grin of my own. "That's all I needed to hear."
I reached up and undid the top few buttons on my dirty shirt. It was a ragged number I got from a thrift store and then rolled through some mud to be certain it had the right amount of grime. My assailant’s grin grew even wider as he saw me opening my shirt, but the grin turned to a frown as I pulled the shirt open revealing my suit underneath.
It was dark, but I was never one to let at little darkness get in the way of style. My suit was black, but my logo glowed a faint blue day or night so that anyone could tell who they were going up against regardless of the current lighting. So I was sure he could make out the logo on my chest. Good branding was important for a villain, and there wasn't a criminal in the city that didn't know the Night Terror brand. Or what it meant to get in the way of that brand. His eyes grew wide and his mouth worked silently as he held up his gun.
I cocked my head at him and grinned.
"Come on, we both know that's not going to do you any good," I said.
He dropped the gun. Good idea. Then he turned and ran down the alley towards the supposed safety of the street. Not such a good idea. I held up my wrist blaster, let loose with a focused beam, and a moment later there were only tiny disassociated atomic particles where criminal scum once stood. I dusted off my hands and moved out of the alley whistling a tune. I'd have to find darker pastures to get the sort of trouble I was looking for, but I could at least rest assured that I’d cleaned up a small part of the city tonight.
8: Shadow Wing
"Give us all your money," the gruff voice said.
I narrowed my eyes as I backed against the dark alley wall. "Are you sure you're after my money?"
The big guy hefted a tire iron in his hand and looked at me as though I'd sprouted horns. "What are you talking about? Of course we're after your money. Now pay up or else."
I breathed a sigh of relief. For a part of town that was supposedly the most crime-ridden area in the state, hell, maybe even in the country, I was having a hell of a time finding some crime to get victimized by. It was enough to make me wonder if the police department was padding numbers in an attempt to inflate their budget or something.
Oh well. Time to trot out the innocent victim act again.
"But I don't have any money!"
A couple of the guys behind the big one turned to each other and grinned. The big guy didn't grin, but he did start smacking his tire iron against a big meaty fist.
"Well now that is a problem," he said. "Because if you can't pay the toll then I'm afraid I'm going to have to hurt you now."
I threw my head to the sky and screamed at the top of my lungs. "Help! Somebody please help! Oh for the love of God won't somebody save me!"
The big one raised his tire iron. "You need to shut your mouth right now before you start drawing the wrong kind of attention."
Now it was my turn to put my hands on my hips and cock my head at this guy.
"Are you serious?"
He stopped his advance and the tire iron lowered slightly. "What are you talking about?"
"You're worried I'm going to call a hero down on you, right?"
"Well. Yeah?"
"And you're saying that if I don't stop screaming it's going to be bad for me?"
"Well. Yeah!"
"But I've already made it clear I don't have any money and you’ve already made it clear that because of my lack of money things are already going to be bad for me. What possible incentive do I have not to yell if you're going to beat the shit out of me no matter what I do?
The big one raised the tire iron to the side of his head and scratched. I wondered if maybe I'd broken him with logic. If so then it was a hell of a lot easier than breaking CORVAC with logic. This guy didn't strike me as the type that did much in the way of thinking. Although by the way he handled that tire iron I had the feeling he was something of an artist with it.
"Aw hell," he said. "Now I'm going to beat the shit out of you just for being a smartass."
I shrugged. "Suit yourself."
I readied my wrist blaster. It didn't look like I was going to get any sort of heroic help. And if I wasn't going to get any sort of heroic help then I was just going to have to rely on the blaster at my side. It was a pity. This was definitely the best chance I was going to get all night to draw Fialux's attention. Oh well.
The big one raised his tire iron and ran towards me with a snarl. I was just about to raise my wrist blaster out of the rags at my s
ide when a shadow descended and a guy next to the ringleader disappeared with a scream. My buddy with the tire iron skidded to a halt and looked up into the shadows overhead, searching for whatever had just grabbed his minion.
I blinked. That definitely wasn't one of my tricks. The other guys standing around the alley with various crowbars and other blunt instruments looked up in terror. One pulled a gun, not that it would do him a damn bit of good if there was a hero lurking out there.
"It's the Wing," one of them whispered.
"Well if it's the Wing that's fine by me," the leader said. He hefted his tire iron and grinned at his buddies, though it was a sickly grin that didn’t look nearly as confident as he was probably shooting for. "I hear the Wing can bleed. Not like that new Fialux chick that’s been shutting down business around the city."
"You can't make something bleed if you can't hit it," another one said.
The first one turn to say something, but whatever he said turned to a strangled scream as the shadow descended out of the darkness once again and pulled him up. I heard the sound of something getting the crap beat out of it in the shadows above, presumably on the roof, and then silence.
The shadow dropped down in the middle of us. It turned towards me.
"Run!"
Then it was running forward and engaging the other two guys.
I crossed my arms under my breasts and rolled my eyes. Great. I come out here looking for Fialux, and instead I end up pulling Shadow Wing. Just my luck that I come out here looking for a living God and I end up getting one of the numerous mortal heroes that seemed to pop up in the city on a more or less regular basis. I’d put a few of them out of business myself over the course of my career.
True, Shadow Wing had survived far longer than any other mortal hero. Usually the mortal heroes ended up dead for one reason or another. Getting killed by a regular thug because they didn’t have bullet proof armor. Getting killed by a regular thug because they did have bullet proof armor but also had exposed areas. Going up against a super villain who didn’t have my reservations about killing unless it was absolutely necessary. There were a lot of ways for a normal hero to die in this city. Shadow Wing's longevity was admirable for a mortal hero, but this particular mortal hero being in this part of the city meant there wasn't a chance Fialux would bother with us. Why get involved in a situation that was already well under control?