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Colleen stirred the bowl of cereal with a spoon absently as she sat in the kitchen of soon to be former home, surrounded by boxes. Dropping the spoon she looked around the room, before getting up and walking the sink, her arrival scaring off a few silverfish that had been loitering near the fruit bin. Picking up a washed bowl Colleen walked back to the table and poured the contents into it, before placing her head on the table.
"You know I'll miss a lot of things about living with you when you leave," A voice stated as the door to the downstairs bedroom opened and a handsome dark skinned man dressed in a 'Wacky Crab' T-Shirt and jeans walked into the room, "but you playing with your food is definitely not one. Not only is it messy, but recently it's started attracting the silverfish onto the table." He added as he aimed a slap at one of the aforementioned silverfish lapping at a spot of milk spilled on the table, only for the insect to escape.
"Morning Tom." Colleen grumbled as she lifted her head slightly before placing it back on the table.
"I see job hunting and apartment buying are going well." Tom sighed as he took the bowl of cereal from Colleen and started eating the contents. "You know I can put a word in for you to my boss. You did save his garage from that Recon Droid a few months ago, he wouldn’t even have to know that you're Five-Star. And even if he said no there's always those souvenir people making a pretty penny off your image. I mean you're entitled to that money surely?"
"Sure, because anybody is going to believe I'm Five-Star." Colleen moaned, as a silverfish crawled past her, before scurrying under the table. "Speaking of work, shouldn't you be there by now?" She asked, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"Nah the boss wants me to go to the Hotchkiss thing happening at the University today. He's anxious to see what this revelation is, and what it'll mean for his business." Tom told her as he put the spoon down. "You can be my plus one if you want, think about it, screaming crowds, world changing science and most of all..." He stopped as he slapped a darting silverfish, before rubbing the dead insect onto the table, "...no Monique to bother you and no silverfish to annoy me, seriously where are these things coming from?"
"Anything’s better than cereal guess." Colleen groaned as she stared at the bowl of cereal. "Let me finish breakfast and I'll be there." She added, before sliding the bowl of cereal back over to her before grimacing as a silverfish scuttled out over the lip onto the table. "On second thoughts let's just leave now."
**
The walk up the hill to the university was usually a quiet one that took anyone willing to take it through woodland and fields that ran alongside the road. Today, with Hotchkiss's announcement the slops and path were crawling with journalists intermingled with the plain curious and the swarm of opportunistic merchants looking to make a quick buck by selling postcards of the cathedral and plushies of the city’s new most famous resident.
"Ugh I can't believe that they're making a small fortune off your image." Tom whispered as he and Colleen watched a mother buy her daughter a Five-Star doll. "Come on that must boil your blood a bit?"
"Is my waist really that small compared to my body?" Colleen asked as she watched the pair walk away, , before rubbing her forehead slightly as the pair of them pushed through the crowd up to the security checkpoint crewed by a pair of well-built men squeezed into top of the line bodysuits who patted them down, before letting them onto the campus. As they walked away, Colleen turned her head as she heard one of the security guards whisper, "She's here."
"Did you here that?" She asked Tom, as the pair of them followed the blue coloured signs up to a stage surrounded by a guard rail, a moderate crowd gathered ready to hear Gavin Hotchkiss talk about the paradigm shift in energy resourcing he had planned. Minutes later the crowd had swelled and two bodyguards had arrived on the stage, each one flanking a tall man dressed in a beautiful suit, his long brown hair tied into a ponytail and his cold blue eyes looking out across the crowd contrasting with the warm, almost mischievous smile on his face.
"Ladies and gentlemen, oh and ladies," Hotchkiss stated as he shot a saucy wink at the women standing right at the front of the crowd, "I've returned to my home city for this world changing announcement because I owe this place a debt that I'd never be able to repay, and no I'm not talking about my student loan." He added much to the crowd's amusement. "But I'm not here to talk about money, I'm here to talk about the energy crisis this planet is suffering. Now is there a Colleen Petra in the crowd?"
"Right here!" Tom yelled as he pushed Colleen to the front of the crowd, her head shaking, before a bodyguard hauled her over the fence and onto the stage.
"Good morning Colleen, and sorry for singling you out, but today you are my pump model, the one I hired didn't arrive and I needed a beautiful assistant to help me out. What do you say?" Hotchkiss asked as Colleen looked out over the crowd to the science building in the distance, a gleaming glint catching her eye.
"Get down!!" Colleen yelled, as she tackled Hotchkiss down, just as a salvo of shots sounded, projectiles striking the stage and the bodyguards, the later screaming as their clothes and skin burnt and liquefied before they fell to the floor in a puddle of hissing melting flesh. Unsure whether the on stage melting was part of the show or if it was something more sinister, the crowd bolted for the exits, screams and cursing filling the air as the shooter fired a zip line down to stage.
"You need to get out of here now!'" Colleen ordered, as she picked up Hotchkiss, thick red armour plating appearing over her left hand.
"Yeah sure." Hotchkiss gasped as he headed for the steps leading off of the stage. Turning to face the incoming assassin, Colleen blasted the zip-line with a cracking burst of energy that surrounded her fist, one that sent the woman dressed in a jumpsuit and a chemical hood falling to the ground with a thud.
"Stand down!" Colleen ordered, as the assassin got to her feet, her hands grasped round a pistol loaded with a thick warhead. Rolling her eyes behind the hood, the assassin fired her weapon, the projectile streaking upwards to the sound and lighting gantry, the resulting chemical explosion showering molten metal down onto Colleen forcing her to dodge left out the way. Not wasting anytime the assassin vaulted onto the stage and stomped her way towards where Hotchkiss had fled. Getting to her feet, Colleen finished the armour's metamorphosis and chased after her.
Loading another warhead into the pistol, the assassin zeroed in on the reinforced Rolls Royce Phantom that Hotchkiss was in the process of starting. As she fired, something slammed into her back, the sudden impact sending the warhead arching towards the back of the car, rather the front where it had been aimed, the chassis melting as Hotchkiss bailed out of the driver's seat.
"You again?!" The hooded woman hissed, as she kicked Colleen in the face, before struggling to her feet and removing a pair of foot long staves tipped with the same type of warheads used in her guns. "Oh well everything melts, even do-gooders like you!" She snapped as she lunged at Colleen, the tip of one of the staves striking her in the chest, the acid chewing through the armour to reveal alien flesh underneath. Swinging again, this time the assassin's blow was blocked by a palm strike, although globs of acid bit away at the extra-terrestrial armour that made up Colleen's skin. "I don't know what you are, but this is for interfering!" She snarled as she slashed the end of the stave into the compound eye of Colleen's helmet, the pain sending her reeling. Walking away the assassin closed in on Hotchkiss, her gun un-holstered, her hands closing round the business man's throat. "Any last words you want to whimper before I kill you fat cat?" She hissed as she levelled the weapon against Hotchkiss's head.
"I'm not a man who begs, pull the trigger and be done with it." Hotchkiss remarked coolly. "Killing me won't halt the oceans march, only sparing me will. Your employer may want you to kill me, but he and his partners are killing the planet."
"I don't care unless I'm paid to." The assassin hissed, as Colleen staggered towards her, sparks radiating off her hands. Reaching out for the warhead with her one armoured hand, she slammed the projectile into the assassin's chest, before tackling Hotchkiss to the floor, her back shielding him from the acid, but not the inhuman screams emitted from his would be assassin. As those sounds died down Colleen turned, the hit woman was gone, although the footprints burnt into the grass suggested which direction she had fled in.
"Are you okay sir?" Colleen asked, as help Hotchkiss to his feet.
"I'm fine...Colleen." Hotchkiss gasped.
"You have me confused with someone else sir." Colleen answered, as she looked around for Tom or a possible escape route.
"You are, you saved my life Colleen, that's why I want to offer you a reward." Hotchkiss groaned. "It's why I chose you to come on stage, I want you to help me..." He groaned in pain as he held out his hand, "...save the world." His hand remained empty for a few seconds before a human hand devoid of red alien body armour filled it.
"How did you find out?" Colleen whispered.
"I'll tell you when we're safe." Hotchkiss announced "As of right now you're my new bodyguard."
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