A Princess but no Pauper

8:50PM THE LOUVRE, PARIS

The Louvre is the world's largest museum, a repository of objects from antiquity to present. At over 18 acres of hallways, art displays and carpeted floors, it was a famous place to meet, or a good place to get lost in. And of course there was the most famous piece, the Mona Lisa, in its own little alcove in the wall of the Louvre behind a pane of bullet proof glass. Elisa Ann Watson, hesitatingly calling herself Anndroid, had decided to come visit and feed her mind and sense of culture. A big arts and culture nut, It was the next best thing to eating.

She had also come for another reason. To seek help. She had gotten a hold of Bliss Fukoyama,  after the food  fiasco in L.A. they traded contacts and would meet tonight at 9PM, after Bliss did Bliss Fukoyama things. She hoped the industrialist could help her access her locked memories, among other things.

Dextrous robotic hands glided over the small keyboard of messenger. She picked Bliss and typed in at robotic speed. "I'm at the Mona Lisa now."

= = = = =

Somewhere In the Far Eastern section, a group of five suit-wearing asian bodyguards were frantically searching the corridors for someone important."Princess Khalida!" they called out repeatedly, to no avail, garnering the attention of tourists, wondering what the fuss was about.

A young adult woman meanwhile, peeked around the corner, having cleverly avoided the search party. She traipsed through a lesser known connecting service corridor towards the main gallery, emerging before the Mona Lisa. It was late now, and there were only a small handful of tourists taking no-flash pictures of the priceless painting.

"Ah the Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you. You're the lady with the overrated smile!" She said, in tune to Nat King Cole's Mona Lisa. She leaned on the rail in a playful attitude, satisfied at how she gave her pursuers the slip. All the while, Anndroid looked at her in puzzlement.

"Miss Fukoyama?" Anndroid asked, having sent the message seconds ago.

The question caught Princess Khalida off-guard as well, looking at the blue eyed american girl who called her by some Japanese name. "I'm sorry, I think you're mistaken?"

A trail of steam rose against the mirrored image of the red tea. The ten minutes between the order and the delivery did not do enough to keep the tea from burning Mitsuko's mouth, taunting the younger half-sister of Bliss Fukuyama. The small girl wore a yellow cardigan around her shoulders with a white button up shirt and a black skirt dripping beneath her knees, sporting an escalating lift that took up the left side above her knee, along with a pair of knee high tan boots. "Can you make this cooler?"

"Ask your sister." The vibrant glow of the cell phone screen bounced off of Tori's face, putting her in the 'good light'. "Cold is kind of her thing." Tori looked at the image of her selfie cam, trying to balance her own image with the portrait behind her. She looked more casual than her counterpart in a Stanford T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"I want it warm." Mitsuko pushed her nose just over it, trying to at least enjoy the aroma. "I don't want to lick my tea."

"What do you think?" Tori put her phone up towards Mitsuko's face. "Should I post it? I'm trying to give Danny a run for her money."

"She has a lot of money." The quick flip of Mitsuko's finger swiped through the art selfies and Louvre foodies from the day. "And, none of these involve you beating up a villain. Danny goes heavy on those."

"I'm a little in between right now. I need a villain. Like someone just for me."

"Will you two shut up." Bliss continued to run her finger across her phone. Bliss wore a pair of jean shorts with a green T-shirt and a black hooded, zip up sweatshirt. "I'm trying to figure out why everything is off balance here, and the two of you just go on and on about nothing. Mitsy, tea is hot. Wait for it." Bliss extended her hands towards Mitsuko, freezing her hot tea. "Now, you can wait for it to thaw. Tori..." Bliss lowered her arm. "You're doing great."

Tori flipped her phone back into the pocket of her jeans. "Thanks Bliss!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Merci!"

"Quelle jolie fille!"

"Que c'est beau!"

One black heeled foot strode in front of the other in a perfect discourse of grace and poise. No wings displayed. It always drew attention, and with the poorly designed structures with cramped hallways and low ceilings, Yofie felt more comfortable when accommodating the odd traditions of the people of this plane. A sleek black dress hugged Yofie's form with a suit of glistening armor that shined like porcelain with the hardness of steel. Her ever present sword rested in its scabbard at her side.

She stopped. Her red pulled back hair bobbed perfectly in its perfectly fixed messy bun. She lifted her sunglasses to the top of her head. "Something feels amiss." No flames burst from her sword. Her wings did not emerge either. "This art is not inspired by any higher muse. It should not be celebrated." Yofie pointed her finger towards a curator, dropping her vengeful eyes upon his form, freezing him in his step. "Who is responsible for this Moaning Lisa? I need to speak with them about the inspiration for their vision. I do not feel as it is divine in nature and could lead to idolizing false ideals if this is allowed to continue."

Ann checked her phone, and realized the Bliss she was looking for had not even seen her message yet. And the woman in front of her now denied being the person she was going to meet. A doppleganger? identical twin? These things had an astronomically low chance of happening. But they could happen.

For good measure, Anndroid decided to take the next big step: Facetime call. She tapped the green dial button and waited for Bliss to pickup. That was when Princess Khalida approached.

"Are you talking about the tech giant Bliss Fukuyama?" She asked with a smirk. "Interesting. You have her number? I've always wanted to meet her. She and I have a thing or two in common. May I?" She didn't so much wait for consent before lifting Ann's phone off her hands.

"If you're not Bliss Fukuyama, Who are you?" Ann asked innocently.

"A princess." She responded coyly, wondering who would answer the Facetime call.

Anndroid's attention was diverted when Yofie came and dropped some disses on the Mona Lisa. A poor old french curator was babbling in French in response, but Ann decided to approach the strange looking woman. "Uhm... It's pretty common knowledge that the renaissance painter, Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. Many consider him the greatest mind of his century."

= = = = =

By some poor sense of direction or just bad luck, the five asian bodyguards found their way to Bliss instead, approaching with heavy footsteps and stern demeanors. A tanned Asian woman in a gray suit approached Bliss.

"Princess Khalida, please do not go out by yourself. It is not safe." She emphasized this by going for Bliss's arm, in an effort to escort her to safety.

As an added precaution, the other bodyguards shot Bliss's company mean looks, followed by searches on their bags and later their persons, rough hands checkig pockets and jackets for possible threats to their princess.

Whatever disturbance happened to exist between Bliss and the world no longer mattered as a troupe of suited men and a severe looking woman stepped closer to the trio. Bliss dropped her eyes to the woman's hand as it grabbed her arm. "Bitch, grabbing my arm isn't safe either, but you're taking the highway to the dangerzone."

"Bliss!" Mitusko cried out as her bag left her arm. "They're looking through our stuff!"

"Don't look through their stuff!" If Bliss could not shake herself free from the grasp, she would merely freeze the shoulder of the woman to cause the nerves to be unable to generate enough force to allow her to grip Bliss' arm. "You're all writing checks you can't cash!"

"Who is Princess Khalida?" Tori gave up her bag with less resistance, assuming some security just wanted to make sure nothing was stolen. "Do you think we stole something from her?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yofie lifted the French man to allow herself to see the robot on the other side of the room. "You know of this man?" Yofie stepped closer to Ann. "You know this Leonardo?"

Each step of her heels rang out against the marble floor, like a cadence of a potential calamity. "I need you to take me to him. It is possible everyone in this cathedral of art is under the sway of something otherworldly." Both of Yofie's wings spread out through the holes in the back of her armor. "Should you refuse this task, I will expunge you for consorting with demonic entities in order to rid the world of darkness and allow the light more celebration and light. What say you?"

Anndroid interposed herself between the old curator and the angel. She kept her eyes on Yofie, and held up her hands in front of her to show she wanted no trouble.  

"Monsieur, s'il vous plaît appelez la police tout de suite? (Sir, please call the police right away.)" Ann quickly whispered to the man, gesturing him to make himself scarce.

"Merci, Mademoiselle." He replied and hobbled off, rubbing his neck in discomfort. The French police would soon be alerted to this intrusion in the Louvre.

"You do know Leonardo DaVinci died back in the 16th Century? Like 400 years ago so..." Yofie went two-winged angel mode, and Ann's eyes glowed blue a brief moment as her mind took a mental picture and began assessing Yofie's power level.

Confronted with an angel, Ann picked up her train of thought. "...So...if you have any beef with DaVinci, why don't you take it up with your boss upstairs?"

No one returned the Facetime call, but Khalida was astute enough to see Bliss and her fashionable company had checked in at the Louvre. "Oooh they're here." She turned to Ann and saw that their newest arriving art connoisseur was no ordinary human being, but an angel? Well, she was privy to the existence of such beings, but her interest today was her doppelganger. Khalida made haste towards her intended goal.

= = = =

The bodyguard was still oblivious in spite of the display of power, and the others were still rifing through the girls' belongings. The guard that Bliss gave a little frostbite felt a sudden numbness and began clutching her arm, rubbing it to get the feeling back.

"Halt! That is not the princess!" A strong authoritarian voice rang through the Louvre's cafe and made the bodyguards figuratively freeze. Bliss's twin strode towards the bodyguards and gestured for them to stop handling the women. With snappy movements they return the bags they took, as well as any items, and lined up. They then offered deep, multiple head-bows of apology. Their heads remained bowing at the arrival of their wayward princess.

"My sincerest apologies. My bodyguards can be a bit... zealous." Khalida personally apologized to each one of them, fixing up Tori's collar.

"I am Princess Khalida. It is your pleasure to finally meet me." She introduced herself to Bliss, then handed her Ann's phone. "Oh, I borrowed this phone off of your little friend. A nice blonde girl. Probably from California."

"The creator of this man is dead? And, an entity named 'boss' did so 400 years ago. He still lives upstairs? Does he collect trophies?" Yofie could feel the fire inside of her rising, even though nothing in her spirit burst into literal flame. "You have had 400 years to stop this evil, yet you sat by in complicit approval of such heinous acts?"

The lumbering angel reached down with a surprising amount of strength for a woman who looked no larger than a runway model. Her grip would sink into Ann's shoulders, allowing the angel to lift the girl in the air. "I insist we go find this 'boss'. I have questions for this individual pertaining to the portrait."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tori, are you a princess?" Bliss shoved the woman in the suit off of her as the word 'halt' came through the room.

"I haven't done a full genealogy check yet, but I don't think so." A newcomer entered the fray, grabbed for Tori's shoulders, attempting to grab a collar, but found nothing on a T-shirt, but it did not seem as though tailoring was as important as the image of it.

Mitsuko put a well placed bag under her arm after a guard returned it. "I'm not a princess either."

"We're sisters, Mitsy."

"Half. My mom could have been-"

"Do you want me to insult your mother? Cause that's where you're heading." Bliss snatched the phone from the princess's hand, not giving her a second look. "Blonde from California?"

Tori leaned over to one of the guards. "Is it racist to say those two look a lot alike?"

Ann thought a bit and came to the conclusion Yofie was very literal in the speech department. She made no effort to connect the dots between her being an angel and her 'boss' 'upstairs'.

Once Yofie decided to lay a hand on Ann, attempting to lift her up, she would find that the 100 pound skinny looking girl was more in the 900 pound range of a robot. Not to mention, the adhesive properties of her feet helped her cling to the floor, greatly resisting the lifting motion. Still, the tiles cracked as Yofie lifted with her unearthly might, and sticked to Ann's feet as they stubbornly gripped the masonry, ruining the nice marble floor of the museum.

Ann swatted off Yofie's grip at the wrist, some Wing Chun programming kicking in. She decided to lay it out plain and simple for Yofie.

"...You seem to misunderstand a great deal. This is just a painting of someone from human antiquity. A very good painting. I think you should just leave now." Ann warned her. Then added, "For an angel, I thik you are not very nice!" with great emphasis.

=====

The lead bodyguard leaned in to confirm Tori's suspicions. They really do not get out much. "It is uncanny. Like the fable of the prince and the pauper."

Ann's phone's bluetooth was on and streamed what she saw. She was clearly talking semantics with Yofie, who was one-hand lifting old French Curators and wanted to kill Leonardo DaVinci. things were getting heated over at the world's most expensive painting.

Khalida shrugged then talked to Bliss. "Oh, some sweet american girl, really likes the Mona Lisa. She was talking to some older woman who had strong opinions about it. But more important right now. How would you girls like to attend a... street party?"

"Have you made an attempt to impugn my virtue?" A trembling began to shake within Yofie's arm. Never before had anyone of this size caused her to struggle so much. Then she knew. "A deception. Your weight troubling to me."

Still, the weight bore enough tension to cause Yofie's arm to momentarily need a reprieve. "Kindness in the face of vile deception is to allow the light to become corrupted. You are not a human. What are you?" Both of Yofie's arms crossed over her breastplate as the towering angel gazed down upon the robot. "Speak truth and I will not smite you. Unless what you tell me is you are a fiend. In which case, I will smite you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A street party?" Bliss raised an eyebrow.

"Like, a block party? Or, like a fair?" Tori kept her tone low and her expectations on the ground.

Mitsuko took focus on the cell phone and the familiar woman with the red hair. "Should we do something about that really disturbance?"

"Me? I'm not human. I'm no fiend either. I'm a machine. They call me Anndroid." Ann raised her hands again in front of her, palms open, in an attempt to quell Yofie's hostility but her stance was that of a warrior ready to strike.

"Now, there'll be no smiting here at the Louvre. I'm giving you one last warning. Leave. Now."

= = = = =

Khalida seemed a bit giddy over a simple street rave. She held up her own phone and showed a livestream of a Parisian street soiree to Tori and Bliss. "Yes! a party. in the street. with lights and music and young commoners. On the way here I saw one. I so wish to join one you see. I have never attended a street party in my life."

The bodyguards were appalled at the notion of their princess mixing with 'commoners'. "Milady, please, your fiance insisted you stay at the hotel."

The princess rolled her eyes. "I come all the way to Paris to stay at a hotel?! Are you kidding me?"

Khalida leaned in on the phone. The conflict between machine and angel escalated into super powers. "Well. This seems interesting to say the least. We can bring the blonde girl. She looks like she could use help anyway."

"Who calls you such a name? You are clearly a woman of the human race. I can tell that easily even if your weight is deceptive." The cries for her to leave continued, but Yofie paid it no heed. "You are correct. My blade is not allowing me the power I need to deliver a proper smiting. What else are you able to tell me about this situation?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I mean, I guess we can go to a party?" Tori shrugged her shoulders at the sudden invitation to an open party.

"Unlike everyone else here, I actually work, so enjoy your dirty street food, I'm going to look for-" Bliss averted her gaze. And, her phone. "You don't need to know my business. Go enjoy your thing."

"Bliss, go check on the blonde lady." Mitsuko headed in the direction of Tori and the entourage. "And, she if the tall lady is available for modeling."

Ann shook her head. It started to seem maybe she overestimated Yofie's temper. Maybe she could be reasoned with. Still she had a comprehension problem, or perhaps she was just so literal. Ann decided to take a step towards honestly. "Here, let me show you I'm not lying."

Ann reached under her chin and pressed a slide sensor, causing her face to emit a nice, sharp hiss. Her face showed lines, and slowly detached itself from her head. Ann removed it and showed Yofie her alien robotic under shell, her eyes glowing. "Robot. Not human." Her voice had a cold, electronic quality without her face.

Ann returned her face to her head. "Since it doesn't seem like we have anything more to discuss, I'm leaving now. Have a nice life." Then Ann started walking in the direction of her phone, her bluetooth helping her locate it.

= = = = =

"Guys, I want the limousine out front ready to take us around town." Khalida told her bodyguards, emphasizing with clapping. The guard were torn between obeying their princess or obeying her fiance. They look at each other and simply agreed to keep her out of trouble.

"Yes princess." They proceed to the Louvre parking area in a single file.

Khalida motioned to lead the entourage to the limo, while wishfully thinking what to do. "Then after the party maybe we can drive around Paris, then go shopping... maybe I can invite Bliss over to my country, perhaps we will make business deals, or perhaps some fun. Oh! I also wish to see the Eiffel Tower. And the Chams d' Elysee. Yes. Did I mention the Limo has a wardrobe and a jacuzzi? It's absolutely outrageous."

"Robot?" The odd word confused Yofie, but so did much of, well everything else the woman said. "Ro? Ro? Bot?" Yofie stopped caring about anything before her. Perhaps this was one of those words she heard to define a certain tribe like the oddly reclusive 'Otaku' tribe of Japan or the violent and vulgar tribe of the 'Eagle Fans' from Philadelphia. None would see the light of grace. But, only one would tear down and defile the light enough to eat horse poop off the ground in celebration.

"Stop, girl. But, a stop that is not a directive, but more of a decrease in your speed as to allow me time to catch in pace to be able to be next to you." Even the hurried feet of Yofie still rang with more grace than a Debra Messing marathon on TV Land. "It is nice you have used the power of positive energy within you to bestow a blessing upon me, but our discussion is not over. First, I must know what a 'robot' is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

"It sounds like she is planning out your life." Tori leaned over to whisper into Bliss' shoulder.

"Your breathe is really minty." Bliss arched her neck. "And, yeah. There's like a twenty percent chance this ends well."

"Because of you or outside circumstances."

"Always the second. I'm amazing and handle myself really well."

Mitsuko stepped up to interject in the conversation at a height disadvantage. "The limo has a wardrobe. I want to be in that limo more than anything."

Bliss moved away from her sister and her assistant with her hands behind her back. "Princess. One question. If I were going to your country, uh, what country would that be and how impressed would I be if I did a quick Google search on it?"

Suddenly Yofie seemed less like a mean avenging angel and more like that autistic classmate who keeps asking questions. Internally, Elisa sighed, if robots could sigh.

"A robot is a man-made machine, usually to perform a specific task. Uuuhhh..." Miss Roboto tried to keep the explanation simple, when a little roomba robot cleaner passed by, narrowly avoiding Yofie's feet as it merrily sucked up dirt. It went in the other direction and past a corner.

"Like that. That's a Roomba. she's also a robot, but all she does is clean. As for me though, I'm not sure yet. I think I was made to fight a war." Elisa kept her pace, deciding to talk to Yofie more. Her phone was moving away, and nearly out of the Louvre.

===

Out of the entire group, it seemed Mitsuko was the one who spoke Khalida's language. "Oh you'll love it, I just passed through Milan before coming to Paris to pick out some coats by Armani, and the newest from Louis Vitton. I bought two, one for a gift actually, for my twin over here."

Then she turned to Bliss, as they were leaving out the front door, the glass pyramid a captivating yet subdued feature. Such was I.M. Pei's intention that it would not overpower the classical design of the Louvre.

"Oh, it's just a small south east Asian kingdom called Jhagarata. We export mainly rare herbs and have loads of banks." Failing to mention of course, said banks were under IMF scrutiny for laundering, and herbs were used in meta-drug fabrication.

But alas, the next act had begun, and just as the Limo was literally within a stone's throw, a trio of police cars arrived rather unexpectedly. And the police riding in them all disembarked, and approached the group.

Khalida's bodyguards were not keen even with police approaching them without cause, and interposed. They raise their hands to the police officers to question their motive. "Excuse me, what do you want with the princess --AAAAH!" The lead cop placed two hands firmly on the woman bodyguard and tossed her into the fountain. The other guards were similarly man handled, literally tossed aside as the police advanced on Khalida and company.

That was when they came into the light, and one could see that the police weren't human at all, but faceless mannequins, and they were making a determined stride towards the princess.

"Uhhh.... get in the car!" Khalida barked, and swiftly sprinted to the driver's seat, the limo doors opened. She was clearly going for the Flight response in this fight or flight scenario.

"This seems practical." Yofie poked the roomba with the business end of her sword. Not hard enough to impale the small robot, but enough to put it off of its path. "It cleans you say? Where does the filth go? It cannot be good for the tiny machine."

"You are made for war?" Yofie lifted the robot off the ground, looking for how it cleaned. "I was made manifest with the creation of a song celebrating the beauty of life. My grace in battle was thrust upon me recently. Is that how robots are created?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Mitsuko wanted to love that limo. She really did, but like everything in life, it would not come easily for her.

"Is this part of your entourage?" Bliss looked as the police strode up to the group. "You must really be expecting some trouble."

The lead bodyguard stepped forward to greet the police in understanding. She understood her flight through the air led to the fountain. This understanding hit the rest of the group, but not in enough time for the bodyguards to do anything other than be handled by the police.

"I got this!" Bliss summoned a ball of ice in her hand, stepped closer to faceless police force. Once the ball of ice hit her mark, Bliss detonated the ice with a telekinetic blast. "Not so tough. If I ever need to make a quick buck, I can always just do this."

Tori and Mitsuko fell back with Khalida, falling into the limo with less grace than they would have wanted for comfort. "Did Bliss make it?"

"Um." Mitsuko looked around the limo, falling on the Blissganger. "Yeah! We're good!"

"Let's go!" Tori yelled to the limo driver.

The thought of an autistic classmate made Elisa positive somewhat. It meant there were memories buried somewhere in that synthetic brain of hers. She wonders why she was quite patient with Yofie's fascination with modern technology.

"It has a big dust box here." She nimbly flipped the Roomba over to reveal its machinery, and took off the half full dust box. Seeing a nearby waste bin she empties the accumulated dust and small rubbish that had collected there, then sent the now empty Roomba on its way. "I'm pretty sure robots are built in factories. I think I was made in a special laboratory. Huh... So you're like a Tolkienesque angel, a Maiar. That is pretty awesome. Are there others like you then?"

The sound of a fight had to cut the nerd talk short though. Elisa sprinted the last few meters to the exit, and would stop just outside the entrance of the Louvre to see the cryokinetic Bliss send an ice blast against the police. A deep shock emanating in her voice. "What have you done?! Those are cops!" But, as a few seconds pass, and the 'police' collected themselves standing up and still headed towards their quarry, Elisa breathed a sigh of relief.

She assessed the situation and realized that these police were scaring off tourists and had beaten up some bodyguards. They were also intent on attacking Bliss. Elisa moved in

"Stop this right now!" Elisa, ever the considerate one, tried to reason with them, but alas, evil blood-magic possessed mannequins were not known for being talkative.

= = = =

Bliss's ice blast knocked over some of the cops, shredding their uniforms. Had they been people, this would've created legal problems, but alas, they were all recovering, moving in an eerie marionette twitch and spasms.

Blonde robot girl had come to assist Bliss, but the Blood puppet turned its head 180 to face Elisa, and delivered a sucker punch to the face. Said face barely flinched, and Elisa heartily ripped its arm out of its socket in annoyance. With her bare hands. "I hate that!" She would hate even more the fact that the free limb was still moving and now covered Elisa's face, blocking her vision.

Bliss had three of her own puppets to contend with, as they moved in with a pincer movement, taking her from her flanks and front. These silent assassins came complete with wrist blades like in that overrated Ubisoft game, aiming to kill quickly and mercilessly.

Panic gripped Khalida, and the princess barely checked if her newly adopted twin was present. But, an instinctive glance in her side mirror meant that she saw Bliss in trouble. Considering the bullet proof nature of the limo, she hatched an idea. "Hang on!" She said to her reluctant passengers, then drove quickly and angrily, pushing the engine's RPM in a loud roar, spun the car around, and proceeded to ram a few mannequins into pieces. The respite would not last long, as the dolls were slowly piecing themselves together.

This princess managed to then drift the big limo right beside Bliss and well within the robot's range, passenger side doors opened. "Come with me if you want to live!"