The Carnival

[Orion]

Orion chuckled lightly as Victoria stood, all too aware of her red stained lips. Her eyes scanned for a water fountain to remove the dyed discolouration, but her saiyan companion reached into an inside pocket of his robe and retrieved a plastic bottle. He handed it to her, immediately placating her wild, roving behaviour.

"Thank you," she said, pouring a small quantity into a cupped hand and splashing it against her face.

Orion watched on in puzzled curiosity as this "bounty hunter" patted away the red on her face. Her demeanor was mismatched to the stereotype that was usually produced by the mercenary way of life. Eating a snow cone, enjoying a carnival, ... these things were characteristic of a teenage human girl, not a cold blooded killer. How could she even claim to be part of the profession if she hadn't heard of the saiyan race, or other aliens for that fact? Had all her contracts weighed her down here? Was there no assignments she had completed off-world?

Describing her life as a shut-in only sparsely broken up by leaving some building owned by The Company shed some light on her behaviour. Orion had heard of cases like her; found as a child and capable of remarkable feats from an early age, they trained her to become an efficient tool of their dastardly vision yet only use her when it's appropriate. Her actions conveyed a sense of social immaturity, as if her non-business rendezvous even inside The Company were limited and unstimulating. In that sense, he pitied her; if she was indeed an expendable mercenary programmed to follow orders to the T and she hadn't a choice in the matter, that would be a sad state of affairs.

If that was the case, however, her lack of interaction with others hadn't dampened the child like wonder that she still retained. Hell, she was enthralled by a snow cone. Orion pondered how deep the young aspects of her personality ran; was it a separate entity from her bounty hunter persona, activated by The Company when they desired? Or was there a true distinction between her identities, and her lack of life experience lent credence that she could be both people without cognitive dissonance? Or a third option; was this all an act? Orion had bumped into contract killers who were as talented with the tongue as they were with the blade.

"What are you thinking about?" Victoria suddenly asked, noticing the saiyan staring into space.

"What? Oh, nothing," he replied, clearing his throat. "So you say that you're a bounty hunter?"

"Yes, that's right."

There must have been something special to this girl if she was a bounty hunter but retained so much naivety. "Do you have any distinguishable skills?"

"I'm good with guns," she mentioned.

"Lots of mercs are," Orion replied dryly. "If they're not, they end up dead. Is there anything else?"

"Oh!" the android exclaimed, surprised that she didn't think of it sooner. "Yes! I can do this!"

Victoria lifted her open hands, palms facing each other. A bright spark of light jumped from finger tip to finger tip, bridging the distance between her hands with a writhing strand of electricity.

Orion's eye widened for a moment. "That's not something you see every day."

The candy haired bounty hunter smiled proudly. "I'm still learning how it all works, but it's fun."

"So you can manipulate electricity? Create it?"

"Yeah, all of those things. Like I said, it's all pretty new to me. I hope to get better at it as time goes on."

An innocent human woman having dominion over lightning? How curious, he mused internally. An idea formed. "Feel free to decline, but I would appreciate it if you could display your power."

Victoria frowned. "How do you mean?"

Tense anticipation built in Orion's chest. "I would like to spar you. I would like to see your powers in use."

"Really?" she replied. Why was everyone that she met so eager to fight her?

"Yes," Orion responded, cloaking his excitement. He had never fought against a sapient who could command electricity that wasn't a mindless jellyfish-like life form. If this Victoria was a mercenary as she said she was, her combat skills would prove an entertaining challenge. "So how about it?"