The Impossible Girl

Lisa & Victoria 2

Clearly Lisa wanted to share experiences, and in comparison she'd had a pretty nice time of it growing up. She'd merely felt alienated and often under attack, but Victoria had little to relate to with her own brutal upbringing that was meant to keep her under control. She dodged her early life and tried to keep Lisa talking so she wouldn't have to provide anything. She found herself jealous of the girl, a mother and father who both treated her well while Victoria wasn't seen as much more than a mostly successful lab experiment that was constantly measured and tested. Eventually she felt like she couldn't really take it any decided to change the subject.
"Would it be wrong to assume that engineering and body building are your passions? That seems to be what you've stuck with the most."
"Oh, speaking of that, what is it the suits of armor do?" Lisa asked.
"Come again?"
"I can smell lubricant and hear mechanisms, the only thing that makes sense to me to make mobile are the suits of armor."
"Ah, I get you," Victoria smiled and gave a flashy little clap of her hands, three times in quick succession. The suits of armor pivoted sideways, each grabbed a covered platter, pivoted back to facing the table and stepped forward. In unison they opened the covers to present a dessert each. "What's your preference?"
"Ah, I shouldn't...I have a contest..." Lisa seemed like she was arguing with herself, "Oh...I'll just have to work out harder, you know...maybe I can try everything? That's not too greedy is it?"
"Suit yourself," Victoria shrugged and took a bit of her own choice and watched Lisa get a bit of everything with some bemusement. Body builder with a sweet tooth? Seemed a bit of a contradiction.
The mechanical men stepped back to their decorative positions and Lisa seemed distracted by the food until she started talking on the previous topic again, "I guess you're right. Those are the things I have the most fun with. Well, any physical activity really. I like building things, but I noticed that the degrees that are publicly associated with Victoria Cross are in engineering too. Do you like it as well?" Like she'd been reminded of something Lisa suddenly slapped her hand on the table and blurted out "I love your plane! Do you have another and could I have it? Uh, not that I'm asking to get it for free or anything."
Victoria smiled, she found Lisa's childish enthusiasm endearing in its way, "It's not completed yet, actually, building such a thing without tipping off the world's bigger intelligence agencies is a tricky feat that required intense planning and coordination with a great many different facilities around the globe with a lot of discretion. The trip to visit you was actually the first big field test of its stealth capabilities."
"Two birds with one stone huh?"
"You'll find I rarely do things for just one purpose, I try to make the best use of my time. Unlike you."
"Come again?"
"Most people look at your resume and assume you have to be making it up, but you could have done a lot more if you set yourself to do so. Instead you like to have your fun, don't you? Why else is that road monster of yours being shipped to Germany? You plan on getting this behind you and then taking a race or two down their autobahn, don't you?"
"That shouldn't be public information, and what's it to you anyway?" Lisa was definitely annoyed.
"Nothing is really unlisted, not if you know where the lists are, and it really doesn't matter to me, I'm merely pointing out you could have achieved a lot more if your life had direction. You have achieved so much by most standards, and yet you're adrift, jumping from one entertainment to another. If you seemed to have any life dream, I would offer to help you with it in exchange for your help with mine, but you don't, do you?"
Lisa's silverware hit her plate with a loud clatter and she crossed her arms, "Again, what the fuck business is it of yours what I do with my life? You're not my mother, you're not my friend. I didn't even know you existed until you decided you wanted to kick me into a bruised mess!"
Hmm, volatile... Victoria needed to defuse this mood before she tried to storm out, it wasn't time for Lisa to do that quite yet.
"It was the fastest way to convince you of what I was. Strength as close to your own as you've ever encountered, speed in excess of yours, a similar multilingual level... if I'd tried talking to you, it would have taken a while, you were ready to blow me off, I know you remember."
"If you'd just chased me down, that would have gotten my attention, there's no way you had to pull the shit you did."
"True enough, but... this may irritate you, but I really do believe it was in your best interests, I think you underestimate how much danger you'd be in if the population at large decided it was no longer going to tolerate your existence. You're used to winning, you're so used to it it's a part of your core being, you wouldn't truly believe you could be put in real mortal danger, not unless something knocked you out of your complacency. I felt my feet were well-suited to the task."
"Are you seriously trying to tell me that was for my own good? You must think I'm a fool, if nothing else how in the hell was threatening to kill a man like you did for anyone's good? You were going to kill a pretty good guy just to see how much I cared about people? In what world does that make any sense?" Lisa stood up and her fists came down on the table, with enough force to make an impression but not so much as to indicate Lisa was losing any control.
Victoria kept herself from smiling, though it was a bit of a feat this time, "I ask you to consider the possibility that I was lying about the reasons I did what I did."
"What? I always know when people are lying..."
"Normal people Lisa, do you know for sure that applies to me?"
"I didn't think..."
"Maybe not consciously, but you remember how you were trying to sound so casual as you oh so carefully moved ever closer to me. You were trying to keep me talking as you moved close enough in that you might move to save him in time. You were already aware I had physical abilities and senses like yours, so why did you try to lie to me?"
"What lie?"
"You don't play dumb very well Lisa, well not to me. You were trying to make me think you only kind of cared if I killed your, friend, for a lack of a better term. Yet you were strategically moving in and very clearly trying to keep me talking instead of acting. You cared a lot and were trying very hard not to show it."
"Did I fail your test then? Not wanting to see someone die means I'm not as superior as you are or something? No you just said that wasn't it. If that wasn't your test, what was it?"
"You kept your cool very well, I know you're intelligent, but that doesn't mean you'd keep calm and strategic in a serious situation."
"You wanted to test how I responded, if it was logical and not emotional," Lisa was clearly in thought for a moment, "Never one reason for things..."
"Rarely, I try to avoid expending energy wastefully if it's possible," Victoria answered and watched Lisa closely.
To borrow an expression one could almost see the wheels turning in Lisa's brain, that is if one could see that sort of thing sped up a hundred fold. Lisa ran their conversation over in her head a few times along with their earlier one. Victoria could almost imagine she could hear the words she must be thinking...
'I tried to look like I didn't or at least barely cared, I thought she might be a psychopath who might start killing those guys if I just charged at her so I took it slow. People are such an open book to me I get neglectful of the fact it's not a two-way street and all they saw was my ice queen face. Then I didn't take the time to tell them I wasn't that chill about their lives being in danger before I flew off to England... Most of the gym was pretty scared by the fight and left, the people who cared about me most were the ones who stayed and were threatened, and saw me act like their lives were of only the most minor of concern to me... I cancelled stuff with the photographer who likes me best of anyone I've been photographed by and I'm a no-show for a charity run...' Almost there Lisa dear, ah, the eyes go wide and there we are. Two more of my friends are alone at the hotel room.
It was just a part of a second, most people would have seen a look of brief concentration and then concern bordering on fear, and Victoria was only imagining the thought process, but she felt confident she had the right gist of things. Lisa spun in her chair and jumped out of it running for the door. Victoria let herself smile this time as she pushed a button on the underside of the table and about 50,000 volts of electricity came out of the floor plate Lisa was on. The dark skinned, mixed-race super woman barely twitched but she turned enough to glare at Victoria over her shoulder. Victoria pushed the button in quick succession and a shock about three times as powerful slammed into Lisa and took her off her feet.
Lisa recovered quickly, springing back to her feet but the suit of armor just behind her moved forward quickly and tried to wrap its arms around her. Sheer reflexes let Lisa move her arms up in time and catch the metal ones.
"You know Lisa, if you were a better friend to people I wouldn't have this kind of opening," Victoria explained as she stood up and smoothed out her dress again, "social ties are the sort of thing you need to spend time on to make sure they're strong. Some of your relationships will recover, but others will not. The cancelled arrangements will be the easiest, but the people that felt they were in physical danger will be another story."
"How long? Did you do something to them right after I left or..."
"I sent a message to collect your associates when I pulled up the chess game. I had hoped the evening would go differently, that action wasn't my first choice."
"What are you going to do to them?" Lisa's arms trembled slightly and amazingly she pressed the arms further away from herself for a moment but the movement stalled before she was quite free.
"Don't worry so much, my men will only scare them a bit."
"I would point out that pain is scary," Lisa said nearly through clenched teeth as she held the robot's arms in stalemate.
"There won't be any permanent damage, I promise. The men and women in my employ, that is my direct employ, are professionals and know how to utilize appropriate restraint. Your friends are in the company of such people, not anyone like the contractor that foolishly tried to shoot you in the airport. If they fail me, well, they don't stay in my employ."
"How's that work on their resume? Working for a secret super villain hardly seems like something you would put on one."
"Well of course I must dispose of them in a way that ensures they don't talk. My personal favorites are to utilize either a wood chipper or a pool of sharks," Victoria watched Lisa's eyes go wide with horror and burst out laughing hard enough it took her a while to settle down, "Did you think I was serious? Oh dear Lisa, you are taking this super villain thing much too literally. Really, super stringent non disclosure agreements are a pretty effective deterrent in the modern world. Some have the knowledge I can personally tear their spine out no matter how experienced, strong, or skilled they are and that helps in some cases."
"Why?"
"Well, actually killing employees not to my standard would quickly generate far too much of a trail and it would have a deleterious effect on morale and loyalty."
"No, why are you trying to cut me off? The guys at the gym are probably scared of me, definitely scared of you coming back, I cut things off abruptly and at the last minute with a lot of people...and who knows if the guys with me will want to stay at our company after I brought them here... why are you doing it?"
Victoria reached over the battling arms to lightly brush Lisa's face with her hand, such a beauty even if she was something of a human mutt, "You're right about them and you, on the surface. This inner turmoil you have, that you're not a good person? That your morals are lacking? Forget it. Embrace your surface posturing, you are superior. You're also a bit wishy-washy, if you have no other 'friends' out there you won't really have an excuse to not work with me any more. You and I can only truly be understood by each other. I'm the only person in this world you could ever truly call a friend, and you are the same for me."
"You want me for yourself? Really?" Lisa was quite clearly creeped out even as she lost another part of an inch to the robot's arms, or perhaps the emotional upset made her lose her focus.
"I want us for each other," Victoria placed a hand on top of one of Lisa's as it fought to stall out the robot's grip, "You're wasted with them, leaving them only to gawk at your brilliant performance. That is too shallow to live on. If you must have normal human contacts, share mine with me as we work towards a beautiful future, but you belong with me."
Lisa caught herself more quickly than anyone else she'd ever seen, so fast Victoria was barely even able to catch it. The full expression never materialized it happened so quickly, but Victoria had seen it far too often to mistake it, even if she barely caught a glimpse of it.
"You think I'm crazy."
"Let's say that...I'm...concerned. Put it that way... I should get to choose my social circles. Trying to cut me off like this...its only going to make me angry at you. You should try a little metaphorical honey instead."
"If they matter so much to you, then why don't you treat them better?"
Lisa's face let her know she'd hit something decent, and she lost more ground to the robot. Victoria answered for her, "Your relationships are not those of friendship, they are just as master and minion based as mine are, I am simply more honest about it."
"That's not true!"
"You don't put care into it Lisa, you're self-absorbed to a point most would be shocked you have social contacts at all. You know the reason that people attach themselves to you even though you can barely be bothered to tell them the time of day, but do you admit it to yourself? You're beautiful and universally capable, strong and fast and intelligent, you are an extreme level of alpha - and humans, like all social creatures, are partially programmed to affix themselves to the strongest alpha they can to help ensure their own survival and well-being. You're not a good friend Lisa, but you are an incredibly powerful leader, the natural pack master, and that's why you have followers in spite of what might seem to be your best efforts to be alone."
"Victoria, do you think there might be one way you really are like a super villain?"
"I talk too much?"
"You stole my line..." she looked honestly disappointed.
"Well, let's have it, what's your daring get away plan?"
"Nothing special really," Lisa kicked out against Victoria and she blocked nearly automatically. Victoria stumbled back on her high heels for only a step, the very next one she caught herself and she didn't topple meaningfully. Meanwhile Lisa's back had pressed into the suit of armor robot hard enough to make it indent and she slid down out of the way of the arms. She let go of one and let it slam into the robot's body and grabbed the other arm with both hands. She spun around it like an over sized gymnastics bar and her feet landed on the wall behind the robot. With a powerful shove headwards her feet punched dents into the wall as she tore the arm off of the robot and flipped forward to land on the floor. She swung it at Victoria, but it was far too clunky to be a good weapon and Victoria sidestepped easily. At this point the other three had closed in fairly close so Victoria stepped between them and let them fight with Lisa.
"A little bit more to these guys than fancy food server I see."
"Don't tell me you're surprised. That would be a waste of that much effort to build a robot just for that let alone four."
Lisa blocked the sword from the nearest one by holding up the arm in front of the strike. The sword cut about halfway through the arm and Lisa twisted it to yank the sword from its hand. She smacked one mace-wielding hand from a third robot away with the arm and lopped the head off the first one that had tried to pin her. She met the fourth by thrusting the sword through it which of course didn't do much on its own but then she used that savage strength of hers to fling it over her head and nearly across the room, though she lost the sword in the process. She dodged side to side with pretty impressive agility for her bulk as the others tried to close in on her. One caught her in a blow and Lisa fell with it to the ground, but it seemed a bit of a ploy as she used her downed position to snatch up the arm she'd torn off and use it to trip the two complete robots. She then jammed the arm's upper part into the torn apart robot and ripped the hand off then started to crush the hand into something like a ball.
The three robots were all rising again but Victoria estimated that Lisa would probably be able to get by them if it was just them, but she was there too.
"Victoria? Think fast!"
The reflex was of course to look for something thrown at her so she was caught by surprise when Lisa threw the crumpled metal fist in the other direction and downwards. CLANG! It hit the floor and bounced up. CLANG! It hit underneath the table. CLANG! It bounced off the floor again. Victoria had discounted the possibility before, but she realized it was only because she couldn't have thrown the item with quite enough force to do it. However, before she could evade Lisa grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her, forcing her to regain her footing. Lisa hopped and twisted. CLANG! The metal fist hit the button and a surge of electricity hit Victoria. It wasn't overpowering but it was enough to throw off her balance a moment. WHUMPH! Lisa's feet caught her in the midsection and sent her flying at the door as it sent Victoria backwards and up.
Victoria rolled up on herself as she was in the air and kicked off both of her shoes before she landed. Lisa had already reached the doors and thrown herself out through them. She could hear the other woman running down the hall. Victoria twisted a specific gem on her bracelet and spoke into it.
"Security," Victoria gulped air as she bent over from Lisa's kick, "front doors, try to detain our guest."
Victoria took a moment to catch her breath and steady herself. Lisa had got her right where she'd hit her before. The bruise had nearly been gone after a couple days, but it might be back now. She headed after Lisa with a determined and brisk pace. Two men were already down by the time she got out the front doors.
Lisa ducked under one man's swing with an electric prod version of a baton, caught him by his extended arm and threw him into a man on the other side of her. She grabbed the stun baton from each man as she cartwheeled over them and then sprung up to her feet and ran for the front gate. She went into a ridiculous spin, but the guards were too slow and a pair were hit by their own special issue brand of stun weapon. More came and more fell, Lisa dodged easily around them and knocked them down. She battered her way through twelve men barely breaking stride and then jumped up to the gates and bent the topmost part of the bars down so she could get up and over the arch with the bent part as a foothold. She dropped down to the other side with a little bit of a roll and came out of it with a spring and dashed away.
Victoria prodded the head of security with her foot to get him to rise, he looked at her and wiped his bleeding nose, "I swear we tried, but..."
"No worries, you had no more chance against her than you would have had against me."
Anger flashed over his features, "THEN WHY DID..." he caught himself and looked at her with wide eyes as he shuffled back.
"Twelve men didn't slow her down for a full second while four somewhat hastily assembled and flimsy prototypes for robotic security held her for around twenty. In addition three of those robots are still fully or mostly operational while the men should all get medically checked out. In short, field testing suggests I should automate most security with more developed versions of the... I heard someone call them Gearmen? It's evocative, I like it."