Bring on the bullets

They ended up in Hawaii, right by the very waterfall where Sara had inadvertently begun the process that would result in the creation of Maya.  They lay together naked, the cool waters playing at their feet.  Sara brushed some hair out of Maya's eyes.

"Feel weird?" she asked. "I mean, being here?"

"Yeah, kind of.  This is where my life ended.  I have all these memories of being me that lead up to this point, and after that, it's all different.  I have a whole new life now."
For the first time, Sara understood what Maya was going through.  She, too, had undergone an incredible transformation, but she could always tell herself that she was the same person deep down. 
Maya had gone through much, much more. "You know I'm really sorry."

Maya smiled. "Sorry for not letting me die? Don't be. You did the right thing.  And what you gave me...well, if I died here yesterday, then I'm in heaven now."

"Two days ago."

"Huh?"

"We were here two days, seven hours, annnnnd...thirteen minutes ago."

"Really?"

Sara's face grew more serious. "Yes, really. It's all so obvious.  Apart from our ability to measure actual personal time passing, it's clear from our latitude and the angle of Betelgeuse that it's exactly 2:21 in the morning, local time. Maya, it's like you're holding back sometimes. You don't communicate with me telepathically, either. I don't think you've looked into my mind once since you've changed."

Maya breathed deeply, sending counter-ripples across the pool. "I just don't know if I'm comfortable with all of this yet.  It's hard enough adjusting to having a new body.  But having this much power...well, I'm afraid that if I cut loose I'll lose everything about my old self."

"Like I did?"  Maya knew Sara's tone very well.  She knew she had to tread carefully.

"Sara, you're amazing.  After all you've been through, you're still the same happy, funny, witty woman that I love.  Even when you say things that make me a little frightened, I don't worry because I know deep down that you're still you inside there." 

Sara sat up, it took a long time for her to respond. When she spoke, it was in slow, measured tones. 

"I don't think you've changed a bit. I love you, Maya, but you're always one to test the waters before you do anything.  You calculate the odds and dither for hours before you make a decision that's obvious to everyone around you."  Maya shrugged.  This discussion was not new. "But it's only a matter of time before you see things my way.  There's no chance that we can live a normal life now. 

Ordinary people are going to be terrified of us, and they'll want to put limits on us.  We can either become prisoners and test subjects, or we can live life on our own terms, taking what we want and enjoying ourselves.  I'm not talking about being evil, hurting people for fun or forcing people to worship us. I'm just saying that we need to live life on our terms, and to send a message to anyone who tries to stop us."

Maya sat up, too and exhaled again, this time aiming her breath at the waterfall itself, which bent 90 degrees and dissolved into mist before it could hit the pool below.  "Are you in my head now?"

"Yep."

"What do you see?"

"A lot of confusion. And some kinky fantasies.  You're giving me ideas, you perv."

Maya blushed, then laughed.  "You're damn right I'm confused. And you should be able to see that I'll never have your ability to jump into something headfirst.  I see that things are going to be different now. But I don't think I can take the first step just yet. Are you saying we should just walk into Buckingham Palace and tell the Queen to move out?"

"Something like that, yeah," Sara said, grinning. "But not Buckingham Palace. It's a dump.  I want someplace with a better view. The Riviera was nice."

Maya nodded.  "Yeah, I wouldn't mind living there.  But I can't just move into someone's home and tell them to get out."

"Why not?" 

Maya sighed.  She knew that Sara's argument amounted to 'because we're stronger,' and that troubled her.  Yet she had also felt the thrill of power, and she would be lying if she said that a tiny part of her didn't want to lord her abilities over ordinary people.  She wasn't cruel by nature, but she felt so much more than human now.

"You're considering it, aren't you?" Sara said, leaning in and giving Maya a little tickle.  Maya was as ticklish as she had always been in her old body.  A tank couldn't stop her, but tickling could leave her helpless.  It was her kryptonite.

Maya squealed.  Sara always knew how to put her thoughts to rest.  "Maybe."

"But claiming a home is a little much for you.  Fine," Sara said matter-of-factly.  "We'll start you small.  How about a little shoplifting to get you going on your life of crime?"

"You mean, walk into a store, stick a couple of dirty magazines under my bodice, and walk out without paying?"

"That's pretty much the definition of shoplifting.  But dirty mags?  Don't I do it for you?"

Now it was Sara's turn to get tickled.  She was almost as bad as Maya.  "Fine.  Then I'll take a six pack of beer."

Sara smiled.  "So I take it you have no moral objections to stealing beer?"

"I suppose not.  You're really determined to follow through on making me a bad girl, aren't you?"

Sara actually considered this carefully.  "No, not really.  We're beyond good and bad.  This is about helping you to do what you want.  Do you want a beer?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Good.  Let's find a convenience store."

They actually had to fly to Oahu to find a store that was open at that hour.  They found one in a seedy industrial area just west of the naval base ("Hawaii has dumps like this? Who knew?" Sara asked). 

Two motorcycles were parked outside, and two rough-looking Asian youths were inside buying bourbon and cigarettes.  Maya hesitated before approaching the door.  Sara nudged her forwards. 

"Go on, I'll think you're cool," she teased.  "C'mon, what are they going to do? Arrest you? Shoot you? The only thing holding you back is you."

Maya gave her a look. "Have you always had a criminal lurking inside of you, or is this a new attitude to go along with your new look?"

Saralaughed.  "No need to worry. I'll be right next to you the whole time."  She turned invisible. 
Once she had disappeared, Maya felt a spectral hand grab her firm, heart-shaped ass.

"Funny. You better not do that inside there. I'm nervous enough as it is."

"Aw, that's so cute.  Every advantage is on your side, and still you're nervous," came Sara's disembodied voice.

"All right, let's go," Maya said, and she strode into the mini-mart.

The three men inside the store all looked up as Maya entered.  She was dressed in her skimpy outfit, and one of the men audibly moaned in desire as he admired Maya's ample curves. Maya found the attention intrusive, but she also enjoyed the power her appearance gave her.  She strode with confidence to where the cooler holding beer was.

"Can I help you, miss?" the portly Hawaiian clerk asked.  He was in his twenties, and he had on a greasy yellow polo shirt. 

"No, I'll help myself," Maya answered.  She studied the selection for a second.  Why did places like this always have such crap beer, she wondered. At last she took a six-pack of Lowenbrau and walked towards the door.

"Want me to carry that for you? Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," one of the bikers said.  He and his friend came up uncomfortably close behind Maya.  She knew she had nothing to fear from them, but she could not help feeling more than a little intimidated by them.  If she didn't have superpowers, she would be terrified.  It didn't help that Sara was practically laughing in her ear at her situation.

"No, I have this," she said, walking towards the door.  The clerk made no move to stop her.  She froze in the doorway and turned around, irritated.  "Aren't you going to try to stop me?" she asked.

"For you, wahine, it's on the house," the clerk said, eyeing her dreamily.  Maya rolled her eyes, and the three men each could swear they heard another woman laughing. 

Maya considered her actions.  "Then I'll take this also," she said, grabbing a stand of cigarette lighters.  "And this," she said, taking a whole rack of DVDs of the latest Adam Sandler movies.

"Jeez, lady, mellow out," the clerk said, looking annoyed at the babe who seemed determined to make him call the cops.

"I'll be going, then," Maya said, daring the clerk to try to stop her.  Instead, the two bikers moved to cut her off. 

"You want us to teach her a lesson?" one asked the clerk. "Maybe she needs a real man to teach her some respect." He reached up to put his arm around her. Maya turned to leave, ignoring him, and his hand wound up copping a feel.  Again, Sara's laugh was audible, and Maya's eyes opened wide.

"What did you just do?" The man made no move to remove his hand.

"You like that? Do I get you hot, baby?"

Maya reacted out of instinct.  She didn't think she hit him hard, just a quick jab to the face.  She wasn't even thinking about superpowers at the time, just about wiping that perverted leer off of his face.  She did more than that.  When her fist made contact with his face, his head exploded into a red mist and the rest of his mangled body went sailing back through the store, knocking over a rack of chips.

"Holy shit!" his friend yelled, and, grabbing a knife, he lunged at Maya.  Maya, now thinking more clearly, held her ground.  The knife stick her just above the collarbone, snapping in two and causing her assailant to jerk his hand back from the impact.  Maya caught his wrist and pinched.  It was like squeezing mashed potatoes. His hand fell to the floor, and he cradled his stump of an arm, screaming.  Maya looked at the hand, trying to feel shock and horror at what she had done, but those emotions didn't come. Instead, all she could feel was the sense that the two men got what was coming to them.

"I don't know what you are, but you just get out of here," the clerk said with a quavering voice. Maya noted with interest that he had produced a shotgun from under the counter and was waving it at her.

"Do you really think that scares me?" Maya asked with contempt. The more this went on, the more she began to agree with Sara.  "Go ahead and shoot."

"I don't wanna shoot. I just want you out of my store," the clerk yelled. He seemed rather tightly wound for a Hawaiian. 

"Shoot," a voice said directly in his ear.  Sara chose this moment to become visible.  The clerk panicked and pulled the trigger.

Time slowed down for Maya.  She could see the blast leave the muzzle, and she could make out each pellet as they raced towards her face.  She knew that she could dodge easily, or she could pluck each pellet out of mid-flight and flick them into the clerk's forehead in a celtic knot pattern.  Instead, she chose to let the blast hit her full-on in the face. She didn't flinch, and she barely felt the impact that would have torn her head off if she did not have powers.  Little flattened balls of lead clattered to the floor.  The clerk stood there dazed, and the two women smiled wickedly.

"Oh, now you've gone and made her mad," Sara said.  "Been nice knowing you."

The clerk just froze as Maya stepped up to him, her hips swaying provocatively.  She grabbed the barrel of the gun and squeezed tight.  The gun screamed under the strain.  Maya clenched tighter, until little rivulets of molten metal flowed through her fingers and splattered onto the floor.  The clerk started to quiver uncontrollably.

"Bye sweetie," Maya said, turning on her heeled boot.  "Have a beer on me."

Sara followed, walking though the counter and the plate glass window without missing a beat.

"Showoff," Maya said.

"How do you feel?" Sara asked.

"I killed a man in there, and I maimed another."

"Yeah, and you made a third wet himself.  But how do you feel?"

Maya frowned. "I really thought I would feel worse.  But I can't bring myself to care."

Sara sighed and put her arm around her lover.