PIP.
Third floor.
The elevator doors opened slowly while my brain was still trying to process the question Vanessa had just whispered in my ear.
Do you want to go to the bathroom before the tests, Oliver?
That could mean many things.
The normal option was that she was literally asking if I wanted to use the bathroom before doing physical and power tests so I would not end up embarrassed in front of the entire agency.
A normal option but a bit further was that Vanessa, the invisible girl who almost hit me in the hallway yesterday and today brought me to a superhero agency, was trying to say something more.
The problem was that her voice had not sounded like a normal question.
It had sounded too soft, too close, too dangerous.
We left the elevator and the first thing I saw was a cafeteria.
It was not the incredible cafeteria I had imagined when I thought of a superhero agency.
There was no free food on long tables, no chefs preparing meat for hungry superhumans, no vending machines full of protein for people with powers.
It was a regular cafeteria.
A large one, yes, but quite empty.
There were a few metal tables, gray chairs, coffee machines, a microwave, a counter with trays, and barely a few people sitting.
Most were not wearing blue agency jackets or extravagant hero suits.
They wore standard uniforms, shirts with identification, dark pants, and small badges hanging from their necks.
Humans. Simple humans.
I did not say it as an insult. I was a simple human until last night while I was inside a bubble tub.
But it was strange to see them inside a superhero agency.
One thinks that every corner is full of people floating, shooting rays from their eyes, or lifting desks with one finger. But the reality was less exciting and much more administrative.
Someone had to prepare reports, assign shifts, check cameras, clean the hallways, and surely tell the heroes not to break the coffee machines.
The real heroes were probably the employees who kept this madness running.
Vanessa walked with total naturalness toward the cafeteria as if she had not just whispered something in my ear that was still spinning in my head.
“I thought we were going to the second floor” I said.
“We are going.”
“This is the third floor.”
“Very good observation.”
Vanessa looked at me sideways. Her face was serious but there was something different in her eyes. It was not anger. It was not mockery either.
It was as if she was measuring how much she could provoke me without me running away or saying something stupid out loud.
“Go to the bathroom” she said pointing toward the back of the cafeteria.
There were two doors there.
MEN.
WOMEN.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“We went up one floor just so I could go to the bathroom?”
“Do you have any problem with that?”
I had many problems but none could be explained in a cafeteria with human employees eating cheap salad.
“No” I replied.
“Good” she said.
Vanessa walked toward the women’s bathroom.
Before crossing the entrance she turned slightly toward me. Her gray eyes looked at me for a second and then she entered.
I stayed still.
What had just happened?
Was it a signal?
Was it not a signal?
Was she testing me?
Was she tricking me to make me look like a pervert in front of the security cameras?
I looked toward the corners of the cafeteria. There were cameras, of course there were cameras.
This was a superhero agency. Surely even the cutlery had sensors.
I took a deep breath and walked toward the men’s bathroom.
I pushed the door.
The bathroom was empty. There were clean sinks, large mirrors, automatic dryers, a row of urinals, and several stalls at the back.
Everything smelled of disinfectant and expensive soap. It was not like the bathroom in my apartment.
I walked toward one of the stalls and pushed the door.
I entered.
Before I could close it completely I felt something. It was not a sound. It was a presence. A slight movement of air next to my arm, almost imperceptible.
I stayed still.
Good.
Vanessa. I could not see her but I knew she was there.
It was absurd that I could already recognize her invisible presence, but after a woman tries to hit you in a hallway and then looks at you while you are in boxers, the body learns strange things to survive.
I looked toward the empty space next to me. “Vanessa?”
There was no answer but I felt a soft breath, very close. My hand was still on the stall door.
I could open it, leave, and pretend nothing had happened.
That would be the smart thing. That would be the responsible thing.
That would be what a person who does not want to lose their chance at a superhero agency before completing the physical tests would do.
Then I closed the door.
CLICK.
The lock sounded too loud in the silence of the bathroom. For a second nothing happened.
Then Vanessa appeared little by little in front of me.
First her gray eyes, then her face, then her short hair, her dark blue jacket, her white shirt fitted to her breasts, and finally the rest of her body.
We were too close.
Way too close.
The stall was not small but it was not designed for two superhumans to have a private conversation either.
Vanessa had a serious face but her cheeks were red.
“This is very unprofessional” I said in a low voice.
“I know.”
“We are in an agency.”
“I know.”
“There are cameras outside.”
“Not inside.”
“Are you sure?”
“I work here.”
Good point.
Vanessa took a step toward me.
I stepped back a little and my back touched the door.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Vanessa raised her gaze toward me with a strange mix of shame, anger, and determination.
“Something I wanted to do since Corvus called you cute boy.”
That left me completely frozen.
“Since then?”
“Do not talk.”
“But—”
Vanessa grabbed the collar of my t-shirt and pulled me down to reach me.
She kissed me.
It was a direct, strong, and passionate kiss. The kind that does not give you time to prepare a smart response.
Her lips were hot. Her body pressed against mine and her hands held my t-shirt as if she wanted to claim me.
My brain shut off.
At first I did not react because the surprise had left me useless. But then I raised my hands and held her by the waist.
Vanessa let out a small moan against my lips. Not too loud but enough for my heart to beat harder.
She was trembling a little.
That made me understand something. The invisible girl could enter a men’s bathroom, kiss me without warning, and act as if she had everything under control, but in reality she was as nervous as I was.
Maybe more.
I pulled back slightly to breathe.
Vanessa tried to continue the kiss making a line of saliva that connected us fall to the floor.
“Wait” I said.
Her face changed immediately. “What is it?”
“I need to ask you something important.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa frowned. “What?”
I looked at her fixedly.
“Did you see me in boxers this morning in my house?”
The silence that fell was wonderful. Her face turned red at impressive speed.
She did not say anything. She only looked away to the side. That was a complete confession.
“I knew it” I said.
“I did not see anything.”
“That is a lie.”
“I saw very little.”
“That is also a lie.”
“Oliver.”
“Vanessa.”
She looked at me with shame and anger at the same time.
“You entered my apartment invisible.”
“I was checking if you were dangerous.”
“In boxers?”
“It was an investigation.”
“What a complete investigation.”
Vanessa opened her mouth to respond but she could not. She bit her lip and that was a serious mistake for my mental stability.
This time I took the initiative.
I grabbed her by the waist with more strength but without causing any damage.
I felt my fingers sink over her clothes but I could feel her soft skin and it felt extremely good to the touch.
“Mmmm” She let out a moan.
I pulled her closer and kissed her.
Vanessa tensed for half a second but then responded with more strength.
Her hands went up to my shoulders, then down my chest and stayed there as if she was checking that I was not an illusion.
The kiss became more intense.
I did not know if this was a bad idea or the best bad idea of my life.
Maybe both.
Her body was pressed against mine and for a moment I completely forgot that I had physical tests pending and an agency waiting for results.
There was only Vanessa, her breathing that made our bodies increase in temperature.
Her hands.
Her lips with an incredible texture and taste.
The way she tried to seem bold but blushed every time I responded with the same intensity.
Then one of her hands slowly went down my abdomen.
I stayed still.
Not because I wanted to stop her.
But because my ability to think had gone to a different dimension.
Vanessa pulled back slightly from my lips and looked at me.
Her gray eyes were shining in a way I had not seen before.
“Bold” she murmured.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“You are the one who sneaked invisible into the men’s bathroom” I murmured in a low voice.
“And you closed the door.”
I could not deny that.
I was going to respond something brilliant, something that would surely go down in history as a phrase worthy of a man with fire in his hands.
But then her smartwatch sounded.
PIP PIP PIP.
We both froze. The sound was like a bucket of cold water.
Vanessa closed her eyes with frustration.
“No!” she said in a low voice.
PIP PIP PIP.
“Tell me it is not a mission” I said.
Vanessa slowly raised her wrist and looked at the screen.
Her face went from frustration to professional seriousness in less than a second.
That annoyed me a little because I was still trying to remember how to breathe.
“It is a mission” she said.
“Of course.”
Vanessa read the notification in a low voice.
“Bank truck escort. Northern route. Risk of assault by low classification superhumans. Immediate support requested.”
I stayed looking at her.
“A bank truck?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Before my tests?”
“It seems you will have to do your tests without me present.”
That sounded terrible but whatever I was going to find there was not going to break me.
Vanessa separated from me and adjusted her jacket trying to recover the professional dignity we had both lost inside a bathroom stall.
She had swollen lips from the kisses and they had become too full.
I also adjusted my t-shirt.
I needed to look like a future hero and not an idiot who had just been interrupted by a bank truck.
Vanessa opened the lock on the door but before leaving she turned toward me.
Her face was still red.
“This did not happen.”
“The mission?”
“The other thing.”
“The investigation in my house or the bathroom?”
“Oliver.”
“Fine, it did not happen.”
She looked at me with her gray eyes and a small smile escaped her.
“But it can happen again.”
Then she turned invisible. I stayed alone in the stall looking at the empty space in front of me.
Shit.
The invisible girl really likes it bold.