"Checkmate."
Heels leisurely clicked over the aluminum catwalk, the sound echoing in the empty industrial expanse.
"You really thought you could crash my party? I'd applaud your bravery but it comes off as too idiotic for such appraise."
Max sat slumped against the wall, chin tucked to her chest. Blood trickled down from her nose, tasting sour as it coated her lips. Her limbs were entangled in bolas, much to the perpetrator's Cheshire delight. She approached with a feline grace; predator to prey.
"Geez. Where did you get those lines from? Villainous weekly?"
The lithe blonde seethed, striking out with a heel and pressing it into Max's throat.
"I wouldn't talk so freely in your position."
The brunette ground her teeth, writhing against her confinements, trying desperately to defend herself to no avail. She sputtered between gasps, "Don't you want me to talk freely? It's called interrogation."
The pressure intensified, digging into her flesh as her pursuer ground her foot back and forth. Max coughed, her throat burning with the plea for air.
"It doesn't matter who sent you. Our operations are already in their final stages of preparation. All governments will no longer to exist once Vortex has its way. Besides," A slender arm reached down the slit of her dress, unholstering her gun and hefting it from hand to hand contemplatively,
"I've been waiting far too long to kill you, little mouse." Her movements were lightning, and in one swift motion the barrel was pressing against her forehead. Max didn't even have time to blink.
Victoria leaned in as she towered over her, "Any last words, Maxine?"
She eased off with her foot, and the other girl wheezed, never breaking contact as her brilliant blues held the blonde's calculative viridian.
"Is it true," She started, moistening her lips and licking away the blood, "That you send off your victims with a kiss of death?"
The villainess grinned, pointed canines glinting brilliantly in the dim luminance offered by the skylight above. It would've been beautiful under any other circumstance.
"Only to those who are worthy."
Max shuddered with a laugh, "You read too many comic books."
Her grin dissipated, left instead with her signature sneer. "Death is an art. And I draw inspiration from many things."
"So am I worthy?"
Victoria pursed her lips, studying the brunette without reservation. Even beaten and bruised, her freckled prey held a certain allure that she couldn't help but find irresistible. Full lush lips tantalized, and lustrous blue orbs captivated her own. She could feel her breath catch as Max flushed under her scrutiny.
She leaned in, their breath running hot against each other's face. Lips sat mere inches apart, an unseen electricity sizzling in anticipation. Their pupils widened.
The space closed. Neither knew who struck first as soft lips met, moving against each other in a hushed urgency. There were no fireworks, but a searing warmth that coursed through their bodies, spreading like wildfire with the give and take. Max bit her lower lip, and a moan escaped from the back of Victoria's throat. She pulled back in surprise, face flushed with need.
And then Max headbutted her.
She stumbled backwards, body crashing into the metal railing. The sound of glass shattering quickly followed, and a downpour of shards cascaded around her. She groaned, shaking the disorientation from her head.
"You know, you should only reserve 'checkmate' for when your victory is certain."
Victoria attempted to stand and give pursuit, but a pair of bolas whirred through the air, snaring her body against the railing in one whiplike motion. Her body snapped back on impact, thrown gracelessly to the floor.
"What?! How?"
A ladder rolled down from above the gaping wound in the skylight, and a blue haired figure jeered at the top, sticking her tongue out in a childish display at the struggling blonde.
Max made for a running jump, throwing herself up to the ladder with effortless precision. She shrugged as she hung off of it casually, one arm hooped through a rung.
"You should know by now that I don't go down so easily. Anyhow. Maybe we should continue this at a later time?"
Suggestion dripped off of her words, and Victoria snapped against her restraints in a frenzied rage.
"Fuck you, Max. You're dead."
"Like I said, another time."
She disappeared beyond the rim of the glass panelling, leaving Victoria alone to smolder in her defeat. An explosion resounded off in the distance not too long after.
Nathan was going to be pissed.
….
Max sat in the back of the helicopter, gazing out as the city laid bare before them, blanketed by the moon's gentle embrace. It would have been serene if not for the buildings winking back at her in response. To an untrained eye, they were simply telltale signs of life. But to her, they brought promise of something more sinister; a hustle of activity rife with criminal intent.
She tentatively raised a hands to her lips, brushing them lightly.
She couldn't help but feel a little criminal herself, having cheated death.