Victoria

Victoria was walking home and despite her outwardly calm demeanor she was on full alert.  She was in a bad enough mood because of still being stuck in Big K’s stupid detention, and her decision to wear leggings to cover the carbon fiber arcs that were now her legs was an increasing source of annoyance.  Why did she care what people thought?  She resolved to only wear short skirts and no stockings from now on.

Her nerves were on edge for other reasons too.  Even though multiple scans of her surroundings hadn’t turned up anything she knew someone was following her.  She was half way back home; all she had to do was lose whoever this asshole was and things would be fine.  Her gaze turned from over her shoulder to the front.

“Hey girlie, where ya headed?”  The man was standing at a bus stop, wearing what looked like a neighborhood security uniform at first glance, only the badge was obviously a fake.  Legacy Security would never issue a plastic badge; the gun on his hip was definitely real though.  She noticed with distaste that he had a leer on his face.

“Home.”  She said curtly, keeping her eye on the alley she was walking past.

“Yeh better watch out, there’s dangerous people around.”  He said, moving towards her slightly, hands in his pockets.

“Listen creep, I don’t know what you think is going to happen here, but I’m calling the cops if you don’t turn around and walk the other way right now.  I don’t have time for this.”  Victoria stopped, turning to face him squarely.  She hooked into her phone through its Bluetooth and dialed 911, setting her phone on speaker with the volume turned down as far as it would go so the voice on the other end wouldn’t be audible.

It was in her pocket but she was willing to bet it’d still pick up whatever was going on.  She scratched her left wrist, wondering why it itched.  As she did so, Adam’s connection to her phone dropped.  Her attempt to re-connect was unsuccessful, but she was pretty sure the call had gone through.

There were three figures moving out of the alley across the street.  One of them had something in his hand that reflected the light.  A gun with a scope?

“No need to get all uppity, I was just letting you know that not everyone thinks a mechanical freak like you should be walking the streets.”  He spit at her feet.

“By ‘not everyone’ I’m assuming you are including yourself?”  Victoria backed slowly away, keeping him between her and the unknowns in the alley.  She wanted to know who this asshole was.

“Yeah, I’m one of the People who can see what a threat you represent.”  He put extra emphasis on ‘people’ making sure she knew he didn’t include her in that classification.

“So what’s the gun for?”  She said out loud, hoping the cops were listening.  “Are you afraid of a little girl?  Is that why you brought your friends across the street too?”  Victoria didn’t understand why there was no traffic, no pedestrians; she didn’t even see anyone in their houses.  What the hell was going on?

“You ain’t no girl, you’re a fucking freak.  Sure you may look like a human but we know better.  Don’t worry about anyone coming to help you either, I used this uniform to tell people there was a gas leak and they needed to evacuate.”  His eyes darted to his left briefly.  She glanced in the direction he had looked and in that moment he sprang at her, hands reaching for her arms.

Victoria froze in place; for the first time since her operation unable to move.  Just before his outstretched hands touched her he crumpled to the ground.  As he fell, she discerned a report from a compressed air projectile launcher from three o’clock.  He lay on the sidewalk twitching, a bruise already beginning to form on the side of his face.  A quick glance told her the figures in the alley across the road had fled, most likely indicating that they were connected somehow.

The street was empty; she was the only conscious person visible.  Where was her mystery helper?  Who was he?  What the hell was going on anyway?  At that moment, a patrol car screeched around the corner.  Victoria sat down hard, shaking with adrenaline and, she realized in surprise, fear.

“Hands where I can see them, no sudden movements!”  The officer yelled, stepping out of his cruiser with his gun drawn.

Victoria looked up at him, tears streaming down her face and she realized the main source of her emotional reaction.  Adam hadn’t helped her.  It would have been child’s play for him to take her assailant down, but he hadn’t done anything.  If it wasn’t for the mystery sniper she would have been kidnapped, killed, raped; her mind raced ahead with possibilities.

She took a deep breath to calm herself.  The adrenaline that had been pulsing through her system abated slowly and she realized her wrist itched like it had been bitten by a thousand mosquitos.  Realizing she hadn’t responded to the officer’s demand, she slowly moved her hands apart.

“Miss, you’re the 911 caller correct?”  He asked, his eyes still taking in the scene.  At her nod he continued.  “I’m officer Seevers, are you injured?”  She shook her head, still not trusting herself to speak without bursting into tears again.

His radio emitted the muffled sound of someone speaking and he reached up with his left hand to activate it.  He still watched her and the fallen man, but his pistol was pointed at the ground, his finger not on the trigger.  “Affirmative.  Male suspect appears to be subdued, securing the female caller.”

Victoria strained to hear the response and could barely hear something about backup units being on their way.  She took a step away from the man, wanting to put herself out of his reach should he awaken.

“Miss?  Could you step over here please?  I’d like to put you in the back seat of my cruiser for safety reasons while I secure the scene.”  Victoria stood smoothly and walked to the car, relieved that at least her artificial limbs seemed to be functioning properly.  “Just leave your bag here please.”

She dropped her backpack where he indicated and slid into the hard plastic back seat of the squad.  Her wrist still itched terribly but otherwise she was starting to recover.  Remembering her phone, she pulled it out and thanked the 911 operator for her assistance before hanging up.  Seevers was inspecting her would-be assailant, securing the man’s pistol before checking for a pulse and putting a pair of handcuffs on him.