The doors abruptly flew open and the hot steam enveloped her. She set her shoulders back straight and removed every ounce of emotion from her face. She stopped and deliberately scanned the shower room. She knew which one she wanted; he was at the far wall – he was the only one that made a move to cover himself when she walked in. Definitely the new guy. She began taking large, fast strides in his direction, Griffin behind her.
He was hurriedly wrapping a towel around his waist. There was a chick in the shower! And no one cared! They didn't even give her a second glance! She was coming right at him. He backed up against the tile wall; it was a little colder than he would have liked. He clenched the towel around his waist.
She came right up to him, the tips of her shoes resting on the tops of his toes. He looked at her eyes and looked abruptly away, avoiding her icy stare. The tile wall suddenly felt warmer and he wished it would swallow him whole.
Maybe she should have left her contacts in for this. No, she wasn't going to wear them all the time just to make him feel comforted.
"Everyone, out," she ordered loudly, still staring at the new recruit.
The few other men showering in the room picked up their towels and headed for the locker room. Griffin turned on his heels and followed them. Oh, dear God, don't leave me alone with her, the new recruit was beginning to panic.
"What the hell, Griff?" Jazz said, toweling himself off.
"Rhone's – instilling respect in the new guy," Griffin looked at the swinging double doors to the shower.
"Like you did to Awol?" D asked suspiciously.
Griffin looked at the three men before him for a moment, "…Yeah."
The three men looked at one another for a moment, rushed to the swinging doors, and shoved their ears against them. "This is gonna be sweet," D whispered excitedly.
"Shut up, Asshole!" Thaxx jabbed D in the ribs with his elbow.
Griffin brought his hand to his eyes to rub them. He was second in command. Certainly, he should do something… He walked toward the doors, toward the men that were crouched there. He straightened into an authoritative posture and slowly leaned his ear against the door.
She hadn't taken her eyes off of him, even moved a muscle, since the other men had left the room, and that felt like hours ago. Although it was probably more like two minutes. …Those eyes…
"Do you have a problem, Soldier?" she growled at him.
"Umm…" it would be impolite to say what he was really thinking, "You're in the guys shower." It was something else that was nagging at the back of his mind.
She looked at him as though he had thrown her into a silent internal rage. Then, she took a step backwards and began walking the parameter of the shower room. "Do you know who I am?" she suddenly appeared to find something very interesting about the tile wall adjacent to the one he was leaning against.
"Um, well, no," he admitted.
"I'm Rhone Chade," she said flatly. She was having a difficult time concentrating on being a bitch, which normally took little to no effort. She looked over her shoulder when he didn't respond. He was looking her up and down with wide eyes. "Is there some kind of problem?" she snarled.
"The way they talked about you," he implied the men he had met so far, "And well, everyone else I met was a guy."
"I see," she said as though she were looking though a microscope at some lab specimen. She walked to the center of the room and stood there. Finally, she said, "Everything you saw today, this entire complex is mine." She did a complete turn and held her hands upturned in front of her as though enlightened by some divine force. "And from what Griffin tells me, what you see when you look in the mirror is mine as well," she referred to his enlistment.
She saw a look of mild terror cross his face. She had to stifle a smile. She kept her stoic face, "Front and center, New Guy." She pointed at the ground in front of her.
"My name's…" he started.
"Your name, like your old life, is irrelevant now. You are a soldier, nothing more," she informed him like she was teaching algebra. He didn't move, just looked at her. She pointed to the area in front of her again, "NOW!"
He jumped and ran -- as fast as the wet floor and clutching a towel would let him – to the exact position she pointed at.
She started to walk a tight circle around him, keeping about six inches from him at all times.
"This is too good!" D whispered quietly.
Griffin tried to hide his smile but was unsuccessful. D and Thaxx had taken the position of rolling on the floor and holding their stomachs, doing everything in their power not to laugh out loud. Jazz was crouched down, beating his knee with a closed fist.
"Poor guy," Griffin said quietly as he shook his head – grin still evident.
They turned their attention back to their source of entertainment. "…So, to make a long story short, you," she emphasized the last word, "are in my shower."
"Ahhh… Sorry?" he ventured an apology – he didn't know what else to say.
She was still circling him like a bird of prey, hands clasped behind her back. She stopped near his right arm, "Drop the towel, Soldier."
"Wh-What?" he clutched the towel even tighter.
That was it, Griffin wrapped his arms around his stomach and slowly descended to the floor in wide-mouth, silent laughter.
"I said, drop the towel," she didn't know how far to push this bad cop thing. Eventually, he would get used to showering with her, all of the others did. …Just one of the guys…
It took every ounce of his will to unclasp his terrycloth shield. It hit the floor and he stared straight ahead.
She continued to circle again, never really looking down. She didn't want to check him out, she wasn't interested… She never checked out any of the guys, it would be like sleeping with a close relative – maybe not a brother, but a close cousin or something. "As I was saying, you are in my shower," after a moment she added, "You are my bitch." She made a point of looking at the towel on the floor. "I'm sure that Griffin filled you in on all the finer points of training and operation. You will begin real training in the morning – oh-four-hundred," she said stoically.
The four men on the floor quickly crawled in a vain attempt to scatter before she walked out the door. They needed to find something to pretend to do, fast.
She let the doors shut behind her. She guessed that New Guy would stand there for a few minutes trying to regain his sense of self. She surveyed the room, "What are you doing?"
Griffin looked up from filing D's toenails. "What do you mean?" he asked innocently.
"At least Jazz and Thaxx are doing something believable," she gestured to the two men that were shaving and combing their hair. She started to walk out, "And besides." She paused for a moment, "You guys were so damn loud, I could have shot you in the dark."
She peered over the ledge. This part of the city was dingy and impoverished, but one could tell by the buildings that it was once pristine – perhaps, sixty years ago. It was so dark, with its abandoned buildings and lack of public lighting. This was her favorite place – for this anyway.
She raised her right hand, liquid metal shooting from it in a tight stream. Before it hit the ledge of the building across the street, she jumped. Her momentum brought her over the next ledge. She walked toward the front of the building. Every so often, there would be a small stone animal mounted on the ledge.
She reached the larger than life winged lion that marked the front of the building. It was on all fours, wings outstretched – as though it was frozen in time just as it was about to take flight. She jumped onto it with ease and sat on it as though it had the potential of taking her into battle – and waited.
She looked down at her hand and raised it for a better view. She rotated it in front of her. Its reflective surface allowed her to see her face in it – despite the darkness. Well, it wasn't her face, it was the smoothed out surface of her armor. She was completely covered in it right now, like a solid human mirror. After her first – mistake – whenever she went out like this, she made it look like she had a masculine frame – well, more of one, which wasn't very hard.
She continued to gaze at her hand, thinking of her talk with Griffin. He had a more optimistic view of Lex's behavior. There was no real fight: no raised voices, no hurtful remarks… It was more of a disagreement over – well, that was up for debate. Griffin contributed it to anything from the dangerous nature of her occupation to her leaving without goodbye sex – or any contact at all for that matter. In any case, he held to the belief that it stemmed from affection. She shook her head. …Poor optimistic sap.
He pointed out that she should have given her cell phone number or "The Number." She didn't mention that she had given "The Number" to Clark. She doubted the boy would ever use it – right? She contemplated Clark briefly; he might call just to invite her over for milk and cookies. …Damn their superpower bonding.
She folded her arms on the lion's stone mane and rested her head on them. She felt hollow inside…
…She missed him? No. I am beyond such things, she reassured herself.
She told Griffin that he had been wrong; she should never have told Lex. She didn't blame her understudy for this misfortune, but Lex was a civilian and had problems accepting.
Besides, she thought proudly, I need no one and I need nothing. I am Rhone Chade. It was odd how fast that inflated sense of dignity faded. She chose to ignore it.
She should be thankful for the time that they had together. The time that she enjoyed with him, even if he didn't feel the same way, was perfect. She was unwilling to pinpoint what exactly those feelings were. …And this way, he was safe.
She had told herself from the beginning that they were impossible. What would he really want with someone like her anyway? Nothing, he wouldn't want her in the first place.
There was a scream from farther down the lifeless street. Her head jerked up instantly. She simultaneously raised her arm and liquid metal careened toward a building nearer the scream. She pushed hard off of the forequarters of the winged lion and entered into a tethered fall.