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 and the extra juice from my lab’s matter-antimatter reactor, 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 storage area 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 talk about.

  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. With a human that would’ve 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.

  “What about the…”

  I held up a hand to stop him. “We’re not using those pain sticks Dr. Laura developed. I don’t need to rely on anything that came from that bitch’s copycat brain.”

  "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.

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  "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. 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 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 top, 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 thought you were so gorgeous, but I was a villain trying to take over the world 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 didn’t even rise to manslaughter.

  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. 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 an “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 cleanse.

  I closed my eyes. 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.

  "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.