I kept myself busy -- there were no new jewel thefts reported during past week, but hero's work was never done. I've continued my online investigation, but it kept going nowhere so I've hit the streets instead to go around and be seen. Sometimes I just help people even with minor problems they would probably able to solve by themselves -- it is enough that someone brightens their day, inspires them and lets them know, that he will be always on their side. It was reassuring to know I would always be one of the good guys, helping to make things better.
But at the same time something was nagging at my mind. I haven't seen Mysteria since that day in a back alley and despite of that, I was getting more curious about the girl. I had these weird flashes, when I almost remembered seeing her somewhere long before today, but I would be sure to remember girl like that, wouldn't I? There was a way to spark my memory and I kept returning to that video of hers to look at her face and tried to place her somewhere in my past. It was a little hard to convince myself that I was not there for her cleavage. Even though I tried to concentrate on what was being said in the video, I caught myself spacing out and watching her breasts instead. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate woman's body like the next guy, I just wasn't used to be so easily distracted.
I kept looking around the streets hoping I would spot her somewhere, but South City wasn't really small, so the chance encounter had almost a zero probability. If only I had some way to contact her, but it was too late to think about rookie mistake like that. At least I had her movie to look at and maybe she would find some way of contacting me. I was a celebrity after all.
And then, one evening I had my breakthrough. I just finished watching her video again when I heard faint sound coming from my work table. I wasn't sure when it started, but the source was pretty clear. One of the metal puzzle boxes kept beeping and its lights were blinking in a pattern I have never seen before. Was it possible there was another part to the puzzle? Box was already open, but it was still possible to slide those metal parts around and I welcomed the challenge because I was hoping to reveal something new. However, it looked even more complicated than the last time.
I kept watching the blinking lights and was unable to find pattern. Maybe because their shine was so intense this time it almost hurt my eyes. For a minute there I could swear my computer screen kept flickering in the same rhythm, but that was probably my eyes being tired from too much screen time. It took me unbelievable amount of time to realize there were also moving parts on the bottom of the box and only after shifting those, I was able to make some progress. And the beeping continued the entire time almost like the box wanted to taunt me for my stupidity. When I was finally rewarded with a soft click, it was almost midnight.
It turned out there was a hidden bottom in the box and it revealed its contents when I completed the puzzle -- it was holding only a thin piece of square metal with QR code etched in the metal and a single short sentence on the other side: "Call me." Was it possible she really gave me her phone number in this contrived way? I was too excited to think it through, I got my phone, scanned the code and punched in the call before I could stop myself.
"Hello, who is this?" she answered after two rings and her voice sounded sleepy. Damn.
"This is, um, the Defender," I really did not feel too proud at this moment.
"Oh, so you finally managed to find out my number? Or have you hesitated to call me this entire time?" her tone was half mocking.
"Mostly the first thing, I am not really good at puzzles," I admitted my shortcomings.
"Well then, I won't torment you with more of those. Want to see me again?" this time there was clear challenge in her voice, almost like she expected me to chicken out and back down, but I was too invested in knowing more about her at this point.
"Sure, where do we meet?"
"Tomorrow, well... I guess today I will be taking samples on the beach behind the closet KOCD chemical plant. You can find me there around ten," and she ended the call.
That truly wasn't my best superhero moment in a long time. I debated redialing the number but I decided against it. Midnight calls weren't very polite in a first place and by the way she spoke it looked like my best chance to see her again. I did not want to mess it up, but the place she picked wasn't really optimal. Better way to putting it was that it was one of only two places in this city where I wasn't feeling one hundred percent. Even years after closing the plant they still didn't find out what the hell they were exactly cooking in there, but it was incredibly unhealthy to humans. In fact, it was toxic to a point that it even affected me. Nothing extremely bad really, I would be still near invulnerable there, but it affected my speed and I got a little weary when exposed too long.
She talked about taking samples there and it was me who wanted to see her in a first place, but anyone else setting up meeting with me there would almost surely trigger alarm in my head. There were only a few people that knew about my weakness to those chemicals and that information was pretty well guarded, but any secret can be discovered and this felt like a too risky move to meet a girl I knew next to nothing about. I already had her number and there was no reason for me to take risk with the meeting. Additionally, I could save my face by saying there was an emergency and rescheduling for another time and another place. Satisfied with this reasoning and extremely tired, I finally went to bed.
***
It was a great sleep and I woke up fully recharged and ready for another day of hard work feeling like nothing would stop me today. There was only one thing to do first and although I hated lying in general, I sat down to my computer to make a phone call and fiddled with the open box I left there night before. Lights were not flashing anymore but my eyes were caught by the symbol I have assembled to open that thing. It was of course the star with letter M inside and small swirls around -- her symbol and it was glittering in the morning sun, almost like it was beaming with some inner light. I kept thinking about what should I say to her in a first place, but there was a feeling of calmness and security pouring over me and I was suddenly unsure why I was worried in a first place. It was not like she was some kind of enemy or a danger. She was just a beautiful girl I wanted to learn more about and it was me who wanted to meet her in a first place.
The more I looked at the box, the more my evening decision seemed wrong. I did not want to wait another week to see her face and just hearing her voice was not enough. I ran over things again in my head and reassured myself -- if I did a sweep from far away first and made sure to not stay there for too long, I should be perfectly fine. And on the beach, I should see any trouble coming up from far away, so ambush was pretty much impossible. With that thought I rose up, switched into my uniform, looked into a mirror to make sure everything fitted perfectly and kicked in my speed.
I could always smell the factory district from miles away and today was no exception. As I got closer, my nose was itching and my overactive imagination kept presenting me with worst case scenarios. But everything was silent and calm, most operations were shut down for the weekend and safe for few watchmen, there was no one around. I made a huge half circle around the bay to make sure there is nothing suspicious going on and then repeated it just for a good measure but everything looked perfectly innocent. There was only one figure in distance and although she was dressed in white for a change, I could recognize her raven hair anywhere by now.
I felt a short stab of doubt about going near the factory, but at this point I could not allow myself to chicken out. I started to move again and almost immediately slowed down when my feet touched the sandy beach. It was unsettling to feel my innate powers being impaired, but as expected, only thing that was affected so far was my speed and as I pressed on, I took a slow breath to calm myself down. I knew this would happen and was prepared for it. I just had to talk to the girl, get her out of here fast enough and everything would be fine. But I also needed to do that in a composed manner -- firstly I couldn't reveal my secret and also, I did not want to seem too eager to drag her somewhere else, that would not look good for a respected hero.
I got a better look at her outfit as I got closer and that thing was unlike any scientific uniform I've heard about. She however looked very appealing even from behind -- her upper body was wrapped in a constricting white leather corset. She also had a white pleaded skirt made of same kind of leather and it barely reached down to her knees. All that get-up was complimented by knee high shoes that had to be absolutely terrible for walking in the sand. Yet here she was, dressed like that, apparently getting her samples and looking incredibly hot when trying to bend down without revealing too much of... well everything.
"Do you need assistance with that?" I asked loudly before she could turn and catch me staring.
"Oh, is that you mister superhero?" she asked without even looking. "Just in time, please come here and help me hold this."
"Heh, sure," I smirked and walked to see that she was trying to sift something into small test tube and was having some trouble.
"Just hold the sieve so I get enough of the stuff inside," she still did not look up and just waited for me to comply.
I shrugged, squatted down to her level and waited for more instructions. Portable gas burner right next to her was heating up what looked like more test tubes with various colored liquids and there was one more spot left for the one we were filling now. She was pushing the sand through the sieve I was holding so only smaller particles went through. It was painfully slow but I managed to keep quiet until she was finally finished, added some liquid and started heating the last test tube. After that she straightened herself up and finally looked at me with a beaming smile.
"Thank you for your help, mister Defender."
"Defender will suffice, and you are welcome. What are you even doing here?" I asked, being genuinely curious.
"I want to learn more about these chemical traces. I am not sure if you are aware of it, but they made some pretty toxic stuff here and we still don't know the full range of its negative effects on people," she gestured towards the closed chemical plant.
