Battery power low. Left arm non functional. Battery power--
"Reroute all remaining power to life support and engine."
Weapons off-line.
Getting out of the base hadn't been as easy as getting in. Bellatrix flew out of the hallway with the dead marine, but a few other soliders outside stood between her and freedom. She engaged them because they were shooting at her, but after several minutes of intense fighting the battery was almost depleated. Defeating a few soliders wouldn't matter much if the battery failed, so Bellatrix bolted. She was badly damaged from the fight, her left arm dangling by a few wires.
I must get to Orion...quickly...battery wont last long at the speed I'm flying.
There was the sound of an engine shutting off, and Bellatrix cried out in terror. The battery was lower than it had ever reached before -- low enough to initiate an emergency hibernation mode. She dropped to the ground, crashed into the snow, and rolled for about sixty feet before hitting ice over a frozen lake. Everything had shut down. There was only silence...save for an electic current running deep in her chest.
***
Bellatrix awoke and saw something she both loved and hated to see. A thick cord ran into her chest and was powering her heart once more. The cord kept her alive -- and it kept her enslaved.
"We've never had to use the hibernation mode before. I'm pleased to see you came out of it. The helicopter picked you up about seven hours ago."
She was in Orion's headquarters. He looked like any man entering his 60s -- well groomed, dressed for Wall Street, bifocals with 10 karat gold trim. He wasn't a great scientist, or soldier, or writer -- but he had a knack for enlisting the help of men smarter in those fields, and then leading them as they pursued their dreams. Everyone loved and hated Orion. Love him for the encouragement and the funds he offered, and hated him for putting them in his debt. He would have been the perfect leader, except everyone under him worked to free themselves of him. But only Bellatrix was bound by her life to serve him.
Bellatrix turned and looked at her left hand. It had been repaired, and the only hint of previous damaged was the metal was still slightly warm from the new welding. "Thank you."
"Nothing but the best for my favorite 'go-for'."
Bellatrix unplugged the power cord and concentrated. The helmet, the wings, the breastplate -- they all crumpled upon themselves and pulled back into the pre-cut cavities in Bellatrix's flesh. Standing their was a woman in her late 20s, with dark blonde hair and dark green eyes. She was wearing little more than a black jumpsuit.
Orion handed her the clothing she often wore in public -- a plain trenchcoat, leather boots, and freshly ironed gloves. "There's someone I want you to meet."
Bellatrix dressed herself and followed Orion to the meeting room. An older gentleman was smoking a cigar with one hand and tossing and catching the disk drive she had stolen in the other hand. "So you're Orion's little star, aren't you?"
"Belle, this is Mr. Henry Sampson, the man who hired you for your last job."
Sampson offered his hand. Bellatrix declined and instead crossed herself. Sampson awkwardly lowered his hand. "I hope you found everything to your satisfaction."
Orion chuckled. "You'll have to forgive her. She doesn't like to shake hands."
"Er. yes." Sampson seemed nervous talking to someone that had taken out a fully-armed marine a few hours ago. "I represent some investors that put a lot of money into a rival of the Legionaire -- the Shoemaker lab." Bellatrix seemed bored. "Well, I'm quite pleased with your performance, and we'd like to hire you for a second job."
Orion was annoyed. He did not like discussing business in front of his charges. "I didn't say we'd take on this second job."
Sampson tossed the cigar. "You don't think your little mechanical bird can't handle it? Why don't we ask her?" He turned back to Bellatrix. "Our own rival with Legionaire -- a genetic variation of his experiment -- has gone and escaped. We would like you to track him down."
"I am not an assassin."
Sampson chuckled. "Didn't think you were. Capture Emmanuel Nwanjoku however you like."
Sampson handed Bellatrix another portable drive. She inserted it into her arm and read the file. "This 'Nwanjoku' boy has just incenerated a major US city. How, pray, should I disable him?"
"He was nothing a day ago. Make him nothing again. This will pay much more than a simple robbery job."
Bellatrix still wasn't impressed. "Money has no value to me. Please talk to my handler for that."
"I hate it when you call me that," said Orion. He looked at his own copy of the Nwanjoku file, then at Sampson, then at Bellatrix. "Let's work out a compromise. We'll send Bellatrix to survery this boy -- she will not engage unless she and I agree she can come out alive of the engagement. Pay half now, pay the rest when we 'disable' this boy."
Sampson got on the phone with the other investors. There was much shouting on both sides, but finally, Sampson turned back to Orion and Bellatrix. "I'm authorizing the payment. Good hunting, Bellatrix."
