Nena was feeling rather chipper after that last mission. The last few had been a freelance thing with Lorenz Ansaldo after Kalinda had told her she had to go beat up a hero to get a cape or something. Some crazy initiation thing she really didn't care too much about. But it'd let her back into Paragon, and by Nena's standards, that was good enough on its own. The fact that her partner had been a familiar red head from the week before had also made the situation even more enjoyable from the moment she'd sensed her unique brain patterns.
Nena wasn't sure what it was about "sparklies" that made her feel the way they did. Battery Acid had been her first, but while the "tingle" her brain gave Nena suggested things that weren't exactly fit for polite consumption, the electrically charged bruiser was on the List of people that Nena was advised not to casually toy with. Something about some sort of indication she's far more intelligent than her exterior indicates, blah-blah-blah-blah. Nena didn't really care about the reasons why; she just knew that Madigan would get angry at her if she broke the rules, and that wasn't worth much of anything. At least, not when there was a high risk of her getting caught.
Lithium was different. While her power levels were on a whole other level from Battery Acid's, the Infamous member was under the "who cares" category of the list, which meant as long as nothing broke operational security on the Scimitars themselves and showed their connections to Crey, Nena could do what she wanted. Their first meeting was under combat circumstances as most things were, taking down some viking lady while robbing a bank in Paragon, but Nena hadn't really been paying attention. Surfing the brainwaves of so many villains, heroes, and cops all at once made the details hard to sort out without a pressing need to, and since no one'd asked Nena for a report yet, she hadn't really bothered to straighten out her memory of the events beyond what'd stuck out to her, which was Lithium. The containment suit was interesting, and Infamous files indicated it was partially constructed by Battery Acid herself, as the older woman seemed to have taken Lithium on as a partner or protoge' or something. The general warning of what a catastrophic breach to the containment suit could do dissuaded Nena from pursuing things immediately until she had a better plan than "go find a PPD SWAT van somewhere and tell its occupants to be elsewhere."
Nena hadn't run into Lithium again until after That Girl's wedding and the minor fiasco that the new girl had caused out of Nena's stress relief. And before that meeting, Madigan had had a short discussion with the girl about possibly bringing in some long-term help. Which Nena had duly translated as "something other than a weekend toy for you to play with". Probably because of that one time. Of the potential "hires" Madigan'd suggested, Lithium seemed ideal, if only because her personality already gelled pretty well with the rest of the Scimitars, and the fact that Nena could pretty much just keep her in her room most of the time didn't hurt. Sure, there was the whole containment thing, but Madigan or Galatea typically took care of those details. It'd just be up to Nena to work on making sure Lithium wanted to stay over for as long as they needed.
Which was why she'd called Lithium in for this job to sound her out. Suffice it to say, she was pleased that it'd worked out so well. They'd just blown through a Legacy Chain base and Nena was feeling pretty good that the woman was catching her drift. The comments she'd made about feeling a little stifled in her suit had been just what the doctor ordered, and the fact that she enjoyed combat as much as Nena did (albeit for different reasons) meant that by the end of the night, they were both a little sweaty, a bit warm under the collar, and running on more than a little adrenaline.
"That was fun," she grinned as they came out of the warehouse, reaching down to type in the recall command for her armor as Lithium glanced over at where the Scrapyarders were off following the ghost of their dead leader again.
"Yep. You sure know how to show a girl a good time, kid," she said, before blinking as she turned around to see Nena in her civilian clothes instead of the full body armor she'd been wearing a second ago.
Instead, the girl was wearing boots that went all the way up to mid-thigh along with her legs, a skirt that did just what its namesake implied with decency standards, a tight Chinese cut top that covered everything but left no curve to the imagination, and a mischievous expression on her golden-eyed face. She giggled, leaning in closer. "We should do it again some time," she purred, as a few blocks down the street, a professional escort tripped over her own feet as Nena "borrowed" the skills and body language she needed.
Lithium blushed slightly at the tone and her first good look at the girl she'd been talking with, before catching herself. "Sure," she said, before her traitorous mouth used a phrase that hadn't occurred to her until about five seconds ago. "It's a date."
"Great!" Nena nearly squeed, bending up to kiss the other woman. Just a brief peck, notably, but the "tingly feeling" she'd been feeling all night exploded for a brief moment as it felt like she'd made contact with a live wire. A normal human might've described the sensation as painful, but for Nena, it just made it harder to break the contact for the split second it lasted. She ignored the startled sound from Lithium before leaning back down, trying not to sway a little. Oh, baby, if that's what a kiss is like with her containment suit on... the Scimitar thought before draping her arms around the taller woman's shoulders, leaning up against her and giving Lithium rather extensive empirical evidence that girl's physique was that of a grown woman even if her personality was a touch childish. "So...call me?" she said, hands running along Lithium's back, searching for a pocket to put her business card in, or in absence of that, suitably entertaining resting points.
"...sure, kid," Lithium said as coherent thought came back, catching Nena's hand with one of her own and taking the card from her while she pulled one of her own out and slipped it into the girl's collar, getting a blush from the redhead that made her smile a touch wider. "I'll do that." Slipping out of her embrace, she winked at her as she turned to go. "Gotta jet," she grinned, before hopping off.
Nena licked her lips as she watched her go. "See you then," she smiled, golden circuitry patterns faintly glowing in her eyes.
***
"Eeeeeeheeheeheeheeeeeee!" Nene said, spinning about her room with a stuffed lion in both hands. "Mission accomplished!"
"What the hell, Nena?" Robin said, glancing across the living room at the spinning redhead.
"I have a daaaaate," she sing-songed, getting a skeptical look from the brunette as Fate looked up from her book.
"How many of their brain cells are still intact?" she asked quietly.
Nena snorted, coming to a stop. "All of them. Honestly, I don't do that to every date."
"Just most of them," Jen smirked as she walked by in an oversized shirt. "Also, who finished off the last of the caffeine?"
"Not it," most of the others chorused as Robin looked up at the younger Scimitar. "So who's the 'lucky' guy or girl?" she asked.
"Lithium Cell," Nena said. "We went out, beat up a bunch of people, killed a couple, and then when I asked if we could do it again, she said it was a date and gave me her phone number," the redhead grinned.
"And how much of that was her choice?"
"I only nudged her a couple times....most of it," Nena snorted. "You're just jealous because you haven't gotten any since that one guy that was looking to take you to the back room back at the bar brawl."
***
Linda ran a hand through her hair as she looked at the business card sitting on her desk. Why had she said things like that? She wasn't into girls...was she? She'd thought she wasn't, but she'd been checking the Scimitar out even in power armor, and that was hardly the most flattering of occupational wear, as she could attest to. And some of the Longbow had caught her eye...male and female....but hadn't she been complaining about....was it melons? Was that about people assuming you were into girls, or just big breasts?
Linda frowned, disconnecting the portable storage coils from her containment suit and plugging the suit's connections to her apartment's main grid in as she laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She'd almost been certain that she'd been joking with the girl...Nena...about people assuming any woman in Paragon was automatically bi, but she couldn't...couldn't quit remember clearly anymore. Between all the gunfire and the violence, keeping track of those sorts of details was getting hard. And now she was on a date with the girl who she had to admit was attract- Oh, don't kid yourself, Linda. She's a fucking knockout, and your libido knows it.
Yes, but my libido's been stuck in a tin can for months now.
Either way, is it really that big of a jump? She seems like a nice kid...
Good point... Linda nodded, before sighing as this failed to completely reassure her. She'd get some sleep...that'd probably help straighten out any doubts. She was probably just tired...
The constant dreams she'd had of life outside of the suit that night, however, were occupied more by a little golden eyed redhead than they had been in past weeks....one whose voice made all the concerns go away...
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Nena wasn't sure what it was about "sparklies" that made her feel the way they did. Battery Acid had been her first, but while the "tingle" her brain gave Nena suggested things that weren't exactly fit for polite consumption, the electrically charged bruiser was on the List of people that Nena was advised not to casually toy with. Something about some sort of indication she's far more intelligent than her exterior indicates, blah-blah-blah-blah. Nena didn't really care about the reasons why; she just knew that Madigan would get angry at her if she broke the rules, and that wasn't worth much of anything. At least, not when there was a high risk of her getting caught.
Lithium was different. While her power levels were on a whole other level from Battery Acid's, the Infamous member was under the "who cares" category of the list, which meant as long as nothing broke operational security on the Scimitars themselves and showed their connections to Crey, Nena could do what she wanted. Their first meeting was under combat circumstances as most things were, taking down some viking lady while robbing a bank in Paragon, but Nena hadn't really been paying attention. Surfing the brainwaves of so many villains, heroes, and cops all at once made the details hard to sort out without a pressing need to, and since no one'd asked Nena for a report yet, she hadn't really bothered to straighten out her memory of the events beyond what'd stuck out to her, which was Lithium. The containment suit was interesting, and Infamous files indicated it was partially constructed by Battery Acid herself, as the older woman seemed to have taken Lithium on as a partner or protoge' or something. The general warning of what a catastrophic breach to the containment suit could do dissuaded Nena from pursuing things immediately until she had a better plan than "go find a PPD SWAT van somewhere and tell its occupants to be elsewhere."
Nena hadn't run into Lithium again until after That Girl's wedding and the minor fiasco that the new girl had caused out of Nena's stress relief. And before that meeting, Madigan had had a short discussion with the girl about possibly bringing in some long-term help. Which Nena had duly translated as "something other than a weekend toy for you to play with". Probably because of that one time. Of the potential "hires" Madigan'd suggested, Lithium seemed ideal, if only because her personality already gelled pretty well with the rest of the Scimitars, and the fact that Nena could pretty much just keep her in her room most of the time didn't hurt. Sure, there was the whole containment thing, but Madigan or Galatea typically took care of those details. It'd just be up to Nena to work on making sure Lithium wanted to stay over for as long as they needed.
Which was why she'd called Lithium in for this job to sound her out. Suffice it to say, she was pleased that it'd worked out so well. They'd just blown through a Legacy Chain base and Nena was feeling pretty good that the woman was catching her drift. The comments she'd made about feeling a little stifled in her suit had been just what the doctor ordered, and the fact that she enjoyed combat as much as Nena did (albeit for different reasons) meant that by the end of the night, they were both a little sweaty, a bit warm under the collar, and running on more than a little adrenaline.
"That was fun," she grinned as they came out of the warehouse, reaching down to type in the recall command for her armor as Lithium glanced over at where the Scrapyarders were off following the ghost of their dead leader again.
"Yep. You sure know how to show a girl a good time, kid," she said, before blinking as she turned around to see Nena in her civilian clothes instead of the full body armor she'd been wearing a second ago.
Instead, the girl was wearing boots that went all the way up to mid-thigh along with her legs, a skirt that did just what its namesake implied with decency standards, a tight Chinese cut top that covered everything but left no curve to the imagination, and a mischievous expression on her golden-eyed face. She giggled, leaning in closer. "We should do it again some time," she purred, as a few blocks down the street, a professional escort tripped over her own feet as Nena "borrowed" the skills and body language she needed.
Lithium blushed slightly at the tone and her first good look at the girl she'd been talking with, before catching herself. "Sure," she said, before her traitorous mouth used a phrase that hadn't occurred to her until about five seconds ago. "It's a date."
"Great!" Nena nearly squeed, bending up to kiss the other woman. Just a brief peck, notably, but the "tingly feeling" she'd been feeling all night exploded for a brief moment as it felt like she'd made contact with a live wire. A normal human might've described the sensation as painful, but for Nena, it just made it harder to break the contact for the split second it lasted. She ignored the startled sound from Lithium before leaning back down, trying not to sway a little. Oh, baby, if that's what a kiss is like with her containment suit on... the Scimitar thought before draping her arms around the taller woman's shoulders, leaning up against her and giving Lithium rather extensive empirical evidence that girl's physique was that of a grown woman even if her personality was a touch childish. "So...call me?" she said, hands running along Lithium's back, searching for a pocket to put her business card in, or in absence of that, suitably entertaining resting points.
"...sure, kid," Lithium said as coherent thought came back, catching Nena's hand with one of her own and taking the card from her while she pulled one of her own out and slipped it into the girl's collar, getting a blush from the redhead that made her smile a touch wider. "I'll do that." Slipping out of her embrace, she winked at her as she turned to go. "Gotta jet," she grinned, before hopping off.
Nena licked her lips as she watched her go. "See you then," she smiled, golden circuitry patterns faintly glowing in her eyes.
***
"Eeeeeeheeheeheeheeeeeee!" Nene said, spinning about her room with a stuffed lion in both hands. "Mission accomplished!"
"What the hell, Nena?" Robin said, glancing across the living room at the spinning redhead.
"I have a daaaaate," she sing-songed, getting a skeptical look from the brunette as Fate looked up from her book.
"How many of their brain cells are still intact?" she asked quietly.
Nena snorted, coming to a stop. "All of them. Honestly, I don't do that to every date."
"Just most of them," Jen smirked as she walked by in an oversized shirt. "Also, who finished off the last of the caffeine?"
"Not it," most of the others chorused as Robin looked up at the younger Scimitar. "So who's the 'lucky' guy or girl?" she asked.
"Lithium Cell," Nena said. "We went out, beat up a bunch of people, killed a couple, and then when I asked if we could do it again, she said it was a date and gave me her phone number," the redhead grinned.
"And how much of that was her choice?"
"I only nudged her a couple times....most of it," Nena snorted. "You're just jealous because you haven't gotten any since that one guy that was looking to take you to the back room back at the bar brawl."
***
Linda ran a hand through her hair as she looked at the business card sitting on her desk. Why had she said things like that? She wasn't into girls...was she? She'd thought she wasn't, but she'd been checking the Scimitar out even in power armor, and that was hardly the most flattering of occupational wear, as she could attest to. And some of the Longbow had caught her eye...male and female....but hadn't she been complaining about....was it melons? Was that about people assuming you were into girls, or just big breasts?
Linda frowned, disconnecting the portable storage coils from her containment suit and plugging the suit's connections to her apartment's main grid in as she laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She'd almost been certain that she'd been joking with the girl...Nena...about people assuming any woman in Paragon was automatically bi, but she couldn't...couldn't quit remember clearly anymore. Between all the gunfire and the violence, keeping track of those sorts of details was getting hard. And now she was on a date with the girl who she had to admit was attract- Oh, don't kid yourself, Linda. She's a fucking knockout, and your libido knows it.
Yes, but my libido's been stuck in a tin can for months now.
Either way, is it really that big of a jump? She seems like a nice kid...
Good point... Linda nodded, before sighing as this failed to completely reassure her. She'd get some sleep...that'd probably help straighten out any doubts. She was probably just tired...
The constant dreams she'd had of life outside of the suit that night, however, were occupied more by a little golden eyed redhead than they had been in past weeks....one whose voice made all the concerns go away...
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."