She had a date! She really had a date with Wilbur! A Date with Wilbur Robinson, all alone! No Violet, who could bother them! No bank robberies that ruined the evening - because she was the bank robber. This time nothing would go wrong! Liz had a strong feeling of elation, she was so happy! She felt like she had reached a promising, long-awaited peak.
Shortly after her conversation with Wilbur, Liz had made a decision: She would stop.
Liz knew that she couldn't go on like this forever. So far she had not been caught by the police yet, and that should stay so. Now, at the point of her triumph, after this crazy victory chain, she would stop. From now on, it was over with criminal activities. From now on, a new life began! She was glad. She was so delighted this evening that her magnetism interfered the television reception in the entire house for the rest of the day.
All the more disappointed was she, when Wilbur cancelled the date... because of Pete. Ironically. There she made one mistake in her life! Her first mistake, and now she should suffer from it for the rest of her live?!
The next day.
Liz walked through the city, her mood was miserable. She carried a few bags, because she had bought more new stuff to wear. She needed a lot of new clothes, after all, she had put all her old clothes, her "boring stuff," as she called them, to the charity shop.
Liz was angry. She was angry about the fact that Wilbur cancelled their date. Well, she had to comply, sonce she couldn't force him to go out with her... But that was the last time. From now on, she would never again comply to anyone. The feeling of freedom and independence from the night of the first attack was still there. And the feeling of the ultimate thrill.
After Wilbur had called her last night, she had robbed a gas station. After that she had felt much better again. What did she need guys for, who did nothing but trouble anyway? Was there a guarantee that it would be different with Wilbur than with Pete? She better adhered what really made her happy: Crime.
She had managed to escape from this team of amateurish superheros so often already. For her it was not about the money, after all, she was rich. It was about doing something forbidden, and about not getting caught.
Liz liked the name, which the press had given her: Magneta. And she also liked the secrecy, the allure of a secret identity. It amused her to hear people talking about Magneta, full of respect, fear, admiration... and none of them would have dreamed that the once so nice and shy Liz Beckett was behind it. Maybe she would become a legend over the years: Magneta, who had tied up the city in anxiety for weeks, who had stolen a total of several million dollars, who never left a usable track, and suddenly had disappeared without a trace... And at some point, when she would be old and gray and her criminal actions were barred, she would publish a book in which she spoke about her time as Magneta and would earn millions again! Completely legal!
This absurd idea cheered her up, she even had to laugh a little.
She didn't even notice how she walked past the unimpressive café. A few steps later, she stopped abruptly.
Something was about this café, but she had no idea why she felt the need to find out. She wanted to go further, but the urge to go back was stronger - almost like against her will, she went back and looked skeptically through the window of the little café.
She had passed this store so many times, however, she had never entered it, and to be honest, she had never really noticed it until now.
The decor was bright and futuristic, and in the rear, there was a counter where they offered cakes and sandwiches, a red-haired middle-aged woman was serving the guests.
Was something wrong here? Everything looked pretty normal, but Liz felt a certain uneasiness.
Suddenly she opened the door, even before she had made the decision to do so.
She stood around a little lost at first, but the people who drank coffee during their lunch break or ate a slice of cake continued talking, without paying her any attention.
Because Liz felt stupid to stand around like this, she went slowly to the counter and sat down there. She took her jacket and her purse on her lap and looked around in surprise. The red-haired waitress smiled at her. Liz returned the smile.
"I'll be right back" the woman said, while brought two cups of coffee on a tray to another table. This place seemed to be quite nice, but Liz wondered why she actually came in - she had no desire for coffee or cake ... and sitting here all alone was stupid. She wanted to get up and leave when she suddenly heard a voice right next to her.
"Hello."
Liz didn't show her surprise. She turned her head gracefully. Next to her a young guy had taken place. She looked into green eyes and a pretty attractive face. His hair was dark blond. In appearance she estimated his age to be 23, but his eyes looked much older.
"You seem familar to me" the stranger began innocently charming. Although he tried to sound harmless, Liz was annoyed by obvious try to hit on her.
"I dont think so..." she replied coldly.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure." He insisted, "I think I saw your picture in the newspaper."
Liz tried to dissemble her annoyance, that would quite rude after all. But then she remembered that the polite, good girl was no more.
"Bullshit!" she said rudely, with emphasis, "I've never been in the newspaper!"
"Yes! I'm sure!" said this guy and looked at her knowingly. Liz suddenly remembered that she was wrong.
"There was a tournament a few weeks ago..." she began apologetically. Suddenly she was sorry that she had been so rude to him.
"There might have been a picture of me in the newspaper..."
"No, it was only a few days ago" he protested. Then he leaned over to whisper to her furtively. Liz really didn't want to get any closer to this unknown, dubious guy, she wanted to get up and go away, but - like against her will - she leaned over to him too. The closer she got, the more absurd seemed the idea of being annoyed by him. He had an extremely engaging charisma and looked incredibly attractive.
"I'm sure," he began to whisper, "It had something to do with a bank robbery."
Liz' eyes widened and froze. In horror, her stomach she slid to her knees.
He knew about it!
Now she was fucked up...! She became pale and watched silently how he - the nameless stranger – bend over the counter and spoke to the waitress.
"Rachel, my dear, would yu bring me and my new friend a coffee, please?" he asked the red-haired woman, who coincidentally had the same name like her mother. When the waitress turned away to get the coffee, Liz leaned to him again - now almost panicked.
"Are ... are you a police officer?" she asked half-frightened, half-hopeful. If she would be arrested, then by an attractive, charming young man who ordered her coffee.
But he just laughed dryly. He waited until Rachel had brought them the coffee, before he spoke. Rachel, the waitress, smiled at Liz friendly before she took care of the next guests.
The stranger turned the cup in his hand.
"No... I'm not a policeman... I rather work on the other side of the law..." he said as he looked into his coffee cup, then his eyes moved up and met hers. Liz felt pierced by his glance.
"Just like you," he added charmingly. Liz didn't quite know how to deal with the situation, and what she should think about it. She felt anger because he had scared her and because he knew her secret for some reason - at the same time she felt a strange curiosity.
"No reason to be scared, Liz -"
"How do you know my name?!" Liz hissed with a fury that was born out of fear, and grabbed him by the sleeve. He winced, because he hadn't seen this coming. Then he put his hand on hers soothingly.
Liz suddenly heard his voice inside her head clearly, without his lips moving!
"Take it easy. I know a lot about you."
Suddenly his gaze became sharp, like a knife, a scalpel he look right into her soul, nothing was remained hidden from him - it was a very uncomfortable feeling.
"Sorry," he said, and then she felt as if he operated a switch so that her tension, fear and distrust was away suddenly. She was pretty sure that he had nothing to do with this change of her feelings.
"Seems I forgot about my manners. Let my introduce myself. My name is Christian," he said, and offered her his hand. Liz took it slowly.
"You know my name already... So ... what do you want from me?" Liz asked skeptically.
"Oh, nothing special. I would like to invite you for a coffee and just talk to you." He said innocently.
"Just talk...?" Liz asked incredulously as she took her cup of coffee. She felt relaxed. Nevertheless, she knew deep inside her that it was wrong to get involved with this dubious Christian. Her instincts advised her to be careful and to escape!
But that was the old Liz. And the old Liz was no more. So she decided to do just the opposite.
"About what?" Liz asked commercially. Christian smiled charmingly and leaned a little closer to her.
"I want to make an offer ..." he said with a confidential tone.
"Hm hm" Liz made, as she sipped her coffee.
"It's about a collaboration."
~*~* THE END *~*~
Author's Note: YES! This guy is Cobra / Alpha!
I'm so sorry – for some reason i don't get an email notification anymore when I recieve reviews. I was more then shocked when i saw that this story got like 28 reviews already! Sorry, that I didn't respond to your questions. I gonna clarify some things right here:
EmmerzK said, that Cobra got arrested: yes, but that was in an alternate future.
in the epilogue of TF, Cobra died, but before that he copied his mind into his clone Alpha, so he's alive and has a new body. We shortly see him in TF - The Halloween Adventure. And NOW he's asking Liz to help him! Omg!
About the portal-criminals... well, they were just an artistic mean to get Liz into trouble somehow – i didn't really plan, who they are, what they want and so on... But I see potential there.
As usual you can continue, if you want :-)
You found mistakes? Let me know! And if you wanna be a beta-reader, just contact me via PM (for those I still get a email notification, so I'll reply quite soon)
