After Sophia had dragged me out of the complex, she seemed to lose direction, so I took over, leading her by the hand. Together, we made our way to a small park by the river, far out and quite lovely. Somehow, having this talk in the bunker felt wrong to me, the bunker was great and all but not necessarily the most romantic of places.

I prompted Sophia to sit at one of the picnic tables and got out the supplies I had brought. Coffee, strong, black and still piping hot, thanks to a large thermos jug, small breakfast sandwiches and cut fruit. Part of the hours I had been waiting before going to Sophia’s place had been well spent.

As I prepared, Sophia got more and more fidgety. Finally, she blurted out, “I’m so sorry.”

Now, I was confused but before I could voice my confusion, she started again.

“I shouldn’t have done that yesterday. I just couldn’t help myself. All year, I have enjoyed looking at you. But you were just so… aloof. I don’t know, you were always by yourself, always watching like a queen, surveying her subjects, unapproachable and proud. And then we had that group-project. You were nice. Not just a pretty face. Just brilliant, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like you. Then Clark talked to me. Threatened me. Told me, that you were far too good for scum like me. Said that he’d tell everyone that I was a stupid gang-whore, if I didn’t leave you alone. That you were far too nice to tell me your true feelings.” I could barely keep up with the words streaming from her mouth, she was talking a mile a minute. So I came across as aloof at school? Whatever that meant, I didn’t really know. How does one make oneself more approachable? But far more important, Clark had meddled once again. Why couldn’t that jerk just leave me be?

“And then I was saved by Metis. Doing the impossible. I’ve always dreaded the fact that a single doctor letting the duty to inform the authorities about powered humans take priority over his hippocratic oath to keep silent. Not that they can actually help me, my skin is far too durable for every normal doctor. When I passed out in that alley, I thought I was dead. But Metis saved me, At first I was suspicious and attacked Metis, just to get scolded like a child.

And when I heard about the drug-shipment, I had that insane idea to ask Metis for help. It’s not that I could go to the league and let them help me with my revenge. But the equipment Metis used, it had to be expensive, so I thought money would motivate her. And I was helped and not just a little. I mean, Metis could easily have done what we did without me. So when I was asked to reciprocate, I wanted to do so. The money was nice, don’t get me wrong, but improving my relationship with Metis was more important.” A small part of my brain wondered just how in the world she was breathing. I had read on the internet about the phenomenon of ‘word-vomit’ but I had never seen it in the real world, until now. But it was interesting to hear of the disconnect between identities from another perspective. I took a breath to get a word in, but not a chance. It had to be part of her super-power.

“But on the way home we were attacked and I heard Metis scream. For the first time, there was no distortion in the voice and Metis sounded young. I felt so guilty, we were attacked because of my vendetta. And Metis got hurt. Suddenly, another voice told me to grab Metis and run. That there would be a distraction and I should just run away with Metis. She sent me waypoints and talked to me while Metis was more or less out. Introduced herself as Galatea and told me that she could help you. We got to the bunker and I was stunned. It looked like some kind of secret government installation and still, the voice told me where to go and what to do. I heard the seals of the armour disengage and pulled off the helmet, knowing that I would meet someone incredible. That they trusted me to help and not blab afterward. Then I saw you. Pale, covered in sweat, terrible helmet-hair but despite all that, you looked awe-inspiring. As if your brilliance could not be contained by mortal flesh. I lashed out. Why did you have such power. I knew you were the daughter of KingCorp, I knew you were brilliant in school and now you had your own freaking power-armour, complete with support basis? Jealousy is an ugly emotion but I was swept away by it. And all of a sudden, I saw the real you. Before, I was looking at a star in the distance, muted by a mask. Now, I was looking at the fiery brilliance, unfiltered, blinding. But I didn’t burn, you didn’t burn me. You warmed me, let me in and showed me the real you. I was offered friendship, something I was missing since my brother vanished. I know that I had been… standoffish at school and kept people at bay but now there was someone.” By now, her voice had a slightly fanatical tone to it.

“The last two weeks have been sweet, sweet torture. I wanted to be close to you but you never made a move. Your ‘daughter’ reminded you that you should have a human girlfriend and you made small gestures. But never something clear. So I asked for a date. And it was wonderful. The way you ripped into the guy that wanted to pick me up. Like a lioness, protecting her pride. When we parted, I just had to kiss you. To end my first date on the perfect note. Afterwards, I realized my mistake, when I saw you standing there, unmoving, stunned, I just knew that I had destroyed everything. Now you don’t even want me somewhere truly private, you are afraid of what I’d do, are you?” towards the end, her voice trailed off, cracking a little and I felt bad, horrible even. I was lacking the words to ensure her that it had not been a mistake that I had liked it. They say that actions speak louder than words, so I let my actions speak for me. Without any idea what I was doing, I gently took her chin and turned her head towards me. Then I kissed her, gently, on the lips, trying to give her the same feelings I had felt yesterday.

Again, the smoothness captivated me for a moment but I didn’t want to press it. Or worse, do something wrong and scare her. After a moment, I pulled back and had to suppress a grin. Sophia was gasping a little, like a fish out of water.

“I liked it. I liked it yesterday and I liked it just now. It is something new to me. I have to admit, I never thought about it before. And with ‘it’ I mean romance in general. There was always the looming cloud called Clark on the horizon, my father is hellbent on marrying me off to cement an alliance with the Greene Family, that spoiled it all. So I never thought about it. Until yesterday. Until you kissed me. It did not feel wrong. It felt right. Oh, so right. But I know it could go wrong. My father would go ballistic, no, ballistic is too small. He would go nova. I am curious for you. I do not know where a relationship with you would go. But I want to find out.” At first, my voice was a little weak, almost stuttering. But with each word, my conviction grew. Why was I fighting for my freedom? Wasn’t it to do what I wanted? To live my life the way I wanted? Was I a lesbian? No idea. Why should I label myself, to conform to someone else's idea of propriety? I was me. Just me, myself. I was Alexandria King, I was Metis. Nothing more and nothing less.

“You.. you want a relationship? With me?” Sophia had finally found her voice, but it was a little squeaky. I took a small piece of strawberry and held it in front of her lips, feeding her.

“Yes, I do. It is a first for me, so please tell me if I do something wrong. And I did not bring you here because I do not trust you. I brought you here because a bunker does not give off a feeling of romance, at least in my opinion.” I told her.

She had eaten the strawberry and was now beaming at me. Her beaming smile added an innocence to her features that changed her from beautiful doll to adorable, yet sexy girl and made me want to kiss her again. Well, I had told her that I wanted her to be my girlfriend so I should give her some incentive and I wanted to learn more about kissing and to learn, there was nothing better than practical experiment.

This time, she moved a little with the kiss and it felt even better. More research was required, lots and lots more research.