We Become the Robots (Open)

When Bliss was thirteen she memorized the phone numbers of the girls in her class. No cellular phones or stored memories, she kept the numbers in a small address book her mother gave her from her business. Area codes and the initial three numbers always flowed subconsciously, but she always associated the last four numbers with whomever she called. When seeing girls in class those four numbers became synonymous with their name. Such an easier way to organize lists regardless of how long the name the four numbers remained the same.

Bliss pressed her thumb across the pound keys dialing a number and then erasing it. An illuminated screen continued to register the changes while Bliss pulled her hair over her shoulder. Her eyes remained hidden from the gaze of her reflected doggleganger behind the squared glasses across her face. One, back, one, back, one, back, zero, back. She continued to press this order back and forth before placing the phone on her end table.

She did not need to worry about the bills for her townhouse for the next few months, but that comfort quickly became irrelevant. Situated in lower Manhattan, giving her a view of the Dakota, the townhouse allotted Bliss more space than the spare bedroom in Ashley's penthouse. Furnished with couches and chairs from the Nineteen twenties, Bliss sunk into the tuft of cushioned love seat with her legs hanging over the arm. Everything within her townhouse came from Ashley's trust fund and accommodated her with enough comfort for her to never make contact with Ashley again. Or at least that thought controlled Bliss's mind as she pressed the "one" button that brought Ashley's name up on her phone.

Feeling mopey and out of touch, Bliss threw her legs to the ground and pulled herself up to move out of the second floor viewing room and moved towards the stairs. The empty bedroom laid just before Bliss got to the stairs. She still had yet to sleep on the large bed or unpack her things in the Chester drawers. The enormity of the room made Bliss feel small. She let her presence ring out through the creaking stairs.

A dial tone went through her phone. She left Ashley two messages over the past two weeks, but never heard anything back. The second ring went through. Bliss pulled her phone back from her head and looked at the timer. Ten seconds. Felt longer, she thought. Once thirty seconds came about this stupid endeavor could end. "Hello." A man's voice came onto the phone.

"Who is this?" Bliss asked avoiding anger from her dashed expectations.

"This is Matt answering Ashley's phone."

"So, what, you're on phone answering terms with her or something?" Bliss collapsed onto the oversized chair in her nostalgically decorated living room.

"Um, who is this." The man's voice sounded as though his finger moved dangerously close to the "end" button.

"Matt's a stupid name." Bliss beat him to the hangup action and tossed her phone to the ground. After a feeling of discontent with her actions Bliss tried to levitate her phone back to herself. It didn't quite work like that anymore. "Poop."

All of this lead Bliss to a diner just outside of Central Park. Smoke rose from the cigarette that Bliss took a drag on. Her new physiology kept her from freezing to death, but it still left her chilled. Most people agreed that setting your lungs on fire fell under the bad idea category, but given her possibly immortal genomes, Bliss felt the warmth of the cigarette came with no backlash. A bright eyed young waitress brought Bliss the coffee she ordered. The weight of the long day weighed on the pretty little Hispanic girl's face, but Bliss only viewed it from afar. Bliss kept her gaze in front of her and accepted the drink without a word. A gentle request came from the waitress and it fell to a simply "no" from Bliss.

Ice built up on the side of the cup in the tiny, empty coffee shop at two in the afternoon.

Her current guardian, a man she referred to as Mr. Khan, was quite frequently out on business ventures. Leaving her alone with the staff at his very luxuriant residence. That bored her, however. She liked living the life of adventure, often leaving to check out the city on her own. On the streets, she had a backpack slung over her right shoulder. It had only one purpose, it housed her pet rabbit whom she named Herbie. A gift from Mr. Khan which she cherished greatly.

On the streets there were various vendors, which she rarely purchased things from. But once in a while, she would get something special. She wanted to get a picture frame for Mr. Khan for a special photo the two of them shared together. She smiled as she picked one out, paid the cashier, and then stuffed it in her bag next to Herbie.

"Whoo..." She got a chill down her spine which made her shiver noticeably. It was cold out. She intentionally blew hot air out of her mouth to see her visible breath. Across the street was a cafe, she could get a hot chocolate to warm herself up.

She obtained her hot chocolate from the register, dropping the leftover change in a charity jar for a children's hospital. She knew what it was like to be alone. and if Mr. Khan hadn't shown up, she may have been in a bad medical situation herself without any money. She took a sip as she walked towards an empty table and chair. Carrying the hot beverage to a chair, she began to pass by Bliss. Instead however, she tripped over the leg of a chair that was sticking out into the aisle.

"Who-whoa-Look out!" As she fell towards the floor the hot drink sprang out of her hands, spiraling in the general direction of Bliss. The cap was on, but the hot chocolate still flew out the top of the drink. Amy was trying to break her fall but didn't want to fall on the rabbit in her backpack. Instead she took a dive at the ground, holding her arm out to break her fall.

Outside the world continued to exist in a cold season. Looking out the window the only telling signs of the turned weather wore on the coats of the passing business people either going back to work or passing through for a late lunch break. Bliss could no longer feel the external cold weather. For her everyday turned cold within her skin. She looked away from the window, back to her ceramic cup. She overran her coffee with the chilled ice of her touch.

With a sigh Bliss began to think of how she could remove the ice or how she would explain the suddenly frozen drink before her to the waitress. She never even spotted the stumbling girl lunging towards her, before she reacted with the frozen reflexes instilled within her. Ice sprung out to cap the top of the hot chocolate. Solid layers of ice stayed intact as the cup fell to the ground retaining it's tough composure.

For better or worst Bliss placed a plank of ice across two tables to wrap around Amy's waist, holding her up. This new power she possessed needed a little more honing, but this display showed the promise that Bliss could exert over it. "Are you okay?" She asked with growing concern in a soft voice. An odd feeling came across her arm. She looked to see a black and blue marking on her forearm from the drink. The burning came to her as though she could only feel the pain once she saw it existed. With the flick of her arm she brushed the hot chocolate off of her arm.

"I think I added a little ice to your chocolate. Hope you don't mind." Bliss tucked her hand under the back of her skirt before she kneeled down to pick up the drink. She would return the drink to where she created the ice block. The problem of what to do with the iced over cup moved to become a more lackluster problem with the large ice plank now resting between two tables.

Bliss laughed gently and a picture of her developed. The lazy day Bliss thought that she shared to herself drew the attention of the Clement Corporation. Her recent deeds in Germany brought her back to person of interest number one to the corporation. With her new power set and the intelligence that the MOM corporation could not harness, Clement needed Bliss more than ever. Two agents watched from a distance for now. They sat and watched, ready to make their move.

Her eyes were clenched shut, expecting the full force of the fall but was caught half-way. Surprised, her eyes sprang open. A plank of ice appeared to be holding her up from falling. A metahuman's doing? A soft voice next to her asked if she was okay. Looking up quickly to the direction of the voice, she noticed a young Asian girl who seemed to intercept her fall. She also had Amy's drink.

Amy blushed and looked away towards the ground. "Uhm yeah I'm fine. Thank you..." she said in a quiet voice. The world must be bigger than she thought. It wasn't often that she ran into other metahumans. Usually they were aggressive ones who used their powers to fight and kill others for profitable reasons. Bliss mentioned something about her hot chocolate being a bit iced. She scrunched the side of her mouth to the corner of the face wondering why she did that. But it suddenly clued in that the drink could have spilled all over her.

Quickly she returned her gaze quickly back at Bliss. She didn't seem to get any on her. "Hey, you've got pretty fast reflexes!" She said with a smile. She seemed somewhat friendly. She did catch her fall after all. Amy placed her backpack on the table where Bliss was. Herbie, the small rabbit, poked his head out of the bag.

"Herbie thanks you too. I don't mind my hot chocolate cold, I guess it'll just be chocolate milk." She probably could have reacted quicker and broken her fall herself, but didn't want to risk injuring Herbie. Luckily Bliss came along. Mist slid her hands across the table and grabbed her frozen drink. Maybe it needed to thaw a little longer. . .

Company would be nice for a change. Bliss went back to take her seat at the table with the the new comer examining her new frozen treat. "Thanks, it's a quick moving world." It would take a few minutes for the ice to thaw from the drinks and the plank. The drinks would garner no attention, but the large plank would only raise questions. "That's a cute rabbit. And, between the rabbit and me freezing everything we may be running out our welcome here." Bliss rested her hand against her chin and tried to think of the girl's name. With the gap in her thought she remembered they never exchanged proper introductions. "I'm Bliss." She stretched out her hand to introduce herself. The touch of Bliss's hand felt like a popsicle to touch.

"You look kinda young. What are you doing in lower Manhattan early in the afternoon?" Polished finger nails tapped softly against the frozen top of the coffee. "You're not skipping are you?" Bliss playfully smiled to the younger girl trying to find out the girl's reasons. For the first time in sometime Bliss wanted to know more through a conversation that did not threaten her life in anyway at all. A good feeling when she sat back and thought about it.

With a befuddled look the waitress came back to the table. Pretense of the situation and what conversation she could make flew out the window in this peculiar situation. "Someone spilled some ice." Bliss said placing her hand under the flow of her shoulder length hair. "Really odd."

The odd encounter turned out to be a welcomed conversation. Amy smiled at the mention of her pet rabbit, but it quickly wore away at the mention of wearing out their welcome. True, the ice planks were a tad obstructive at the most. But she didn't know if anyone had a problem with others with powers. She certainly hadn't used hers yet, and was not planning to unless required. Especially if Bliss thought it was a bad idea.

"My name's Amy." She replied after Bliss introduced herself. "No, I'm homeschooled. As long as I finish my school work by the end of the day, it's okay for me to be out. Though, I don't get out much these days... I'm just buying a gift for my dad. Think he'll like it?" She reached in the backpack and pulled out the picture frame she purchased just a short while earlier. The frame was fairly simple, it was mostly black but the square frame had an engraved metallic design on it. She didn't pay much for it, but it looked nice to her.

Ryan slipped inside of the small café quickly, the quaint exterior and the delightful aroma that teased him with the scent of the caffeine rich treats that lay beyond the threshold was just too much to pass up. The warmth of the atmosphere in the shop immediately took the cold out of him, as he quickly forgot about the chilling weather that awaited him just on the other side of the door. Ryan scanned the room for a moment, spotting a free table he unzipped his black sweatshirt and straightened the purple tee he had under it be for making his way toward the free space. Ryan sank into the empty seat, sliding his hood off as he did.

The pretty young waitress approached him a within seconds of him taking his seat. “Can I have just a coffee for now please?” He said smiling friendly, running his hand through his mop of dark auburn hair unconsciously as he spoke.

“Sure, I’ll be right back with that for you,” she smiled leaving him as she went to fill his order.

Ryan plucked one of the laminated menus from the center of the table. Glancing through the options for lunch listed before, him he debated whether of not he really wanted to order food. His attention was averted when he heard commotion coming from in front of him. A young girl had tripped her drink coming free from her grasp as she fell. The disposable cup tumbled through the air threatening to spill all over the woman who unfortunate enough to be sitting in front of the girl as she tripped.

Ryan was about to spring into action, but the young woman was able to act before he was. The act to only an instant to preform and ending with the contents of the girl’s drink being frozen solid, and a thick sheet of ice being formed bridging two tables and breaking the girl’s fall. Ryan was quite impressed with the display wondering if he could have done any better himself.

The waitress stood next to him her mouth hanging open in awe. In her shocked state she had not noticed that her grip on the coffee that Ryan had ordered was weakening until the ceramic mug slipped from her grasp shattering against the floor and sending a spray of coffee Ryan’s way. The hot liquid splashed on Ryan’s jeans, he feel the spilled beverage burning him through the fabric. “Oh my god I’m so sorry.” She apologized scrambling to clean up her mess.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said in attempt to reassure her “It’s not a big deal.” Ryan brushed the coffee from his jeans as he stood up to find a newer, drier table. He chose a table closer to the super powered woman and the new companion who now sat across from her. It was always nice to find someone like him especially when there were no super powered homicidal maniacs involved, so seeing her intrigued him. Settling in his new spot he attempted to discreetly watch the woman as he waited for the waitress to bring him a fresh cup of coffee.

The last present Bliss gave her father hardly counted for what someone would consider a present. "He'll love it." Bliss said confidently. Her demeanor stayed upbeat in this conversation. For the first time in weeks Bliss could feel some warmth radiate on her. Bliss thought over what she knew from the girl's past few comments, the education, the family ties, and the isolated life. She wanted to ask questions, but did not feel right prying the information from such a pleasant experience. "Is it his birthday coming up, or just an early Christmas gift?" The thought of buying a present for her father faded from Bliss's mind.

"Did you just drop in for that drink or were you planning on meeting someone?" The empty cafe looked like a place that people could escape to for a good conversation away from the rest of the world. Hell, Bliss thought that was the situation at hand right now.

"Who do you think that girl is?" The feed from their conversation streamed across the screen of Clement's surveillance feed back at their corporate headquarter.

"Could be anyone, but given our target's personality I wouldn't take her as the type to just make friends." A suit clad executive looked on with pleasure at the attitude Bliss exceeded. Her most dangerous reactions came when she looked annoyed or under duress. They never met her under pleasant situations. "Tell Julia we have another girl there, and make sure our boys on the street keep following them. Don't interact with them; we've got a good thing going here."

*Another day, another sentinels recruitment* Ace thought to himself. He was in new York yet again, to track down another young hero. Even though he was alone it wasn't quiet, every 2 seconds Agent Sullivan was in his communicator. "She's at a market just outside of your position " Agent Sullivan barked in his ear 
"Ok Sullivan where are you getting this information, I've been on a wild goose chase all day, it's freaking freezing out here"

Ace wasn't ready for the weather. He was in his usual attire denim jacket, denim jeans, a ridiculously orange t-shirt and an equally ridiculously orange pair of sunglasses. Ace was approaching the market when there was another barking in his ear "Change of plans, shes in a coffee shop to the right of your position" Sullivan yelled 
"Ok where are you getting the survelience for a coffee shop?" Ace questioned
"From a nearby signal, I'm sure it's nothing" Sullivan said, his voice not even wavering "Now be careful in there, she's a fugitive so"
"WHAT?, you couldn't have told me this earlier?" the line crackled and went dead *Im sure it's nothing* thought Ace.

Ace entered the coffee shop, he surveyed the area, there was a girl who was ordering, Ace assumed it was the person he was looking for, Ace scanned the people most of them normal people doing their normal things. Then chaos broke out, the girl tripped, only to be caught by strip of ice, then a cup broke, Ace looked over and it was Ryan, *BlackOut is here?* Ace thought *small world*. Ryan moved to a table closer to the girl, who was now sitting with another girl. Ace pulled up a chair at Ryan's table "Hey Ryan, How are you? Ace said, flicking his glasses onto his head.

Waiting for a response, Amy's eyes illuminated when Bliss said that he would love the gift. It was just the reaction she hoped for. She loved it too, but that didn't mean anyone would. It made her happy to get a second opinion on the frame.

'Hm? Oh, well no it wasn't really for a reason. I just... Well I guess I just care for him a lot." Her adoptive father had definitely earned her trust and care. She was lost and had nowhere to go, with the world against her. He not only saved her from capture but took her in, provided food, shelter, education. A home.

A cup crashed on the floor nearby and Amy whipped her head behind her to analyze the situation. It somewhat broke the calm collected conversation they had, and made her jumpy again. Quickly looking at what happened and listening to the two converse, fear left her face and she relaxed her shoulders. What made her jumpy all the time, she wasn't sure. Perhaps the memories of being on the run, adults hitting and shooting weapons at her to capture her. She was frail in comparison and wasn't trained in combat or how to skillfully use her power at all. That too had changed. Mr. Khan gave her various self-defense classes. She was still human though. Frail and easily broken.

Amy crossed her arms and rubbed her upper arms, not because she was cold but out of embarrassment in some way. The man who got coffee spilled on him moved closer to her and Bliss, but that fact was only in her subconscious. She paid little attention to the commotion of the cafe unless it was a significant interruption like the ceramic cup breaking.

She was very curious about the young woman she just met. Her ice ability was intriguing to say the least. Amy already started guessing in her mind that Bliss was an adventurer, assassin, government agent, or part of some Superhero group with a cool name. Letting go of her arms, she thought of a way to ask.

"Are you a traveler Bliss? Or do you live here in New York?"

Ryan was surprised when he saw his Sentinel teammate pull up at his table. This place seems to draw quite the strange crowd, maybe there was something in the coffee that attracted super humans he though half joking to himself. Just as the thought crossed his mind the waitress returned with a new cup of coffee for him. “Thank you.” He said smiling at the girl. Ryan brought the cup to his mouth taking a sip as Ace greeted him. “Ace, imagine seeing you here, one might even call it shocking.” he chucked to himself for a moment. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drop such an awful pun.

“I’ve been doing alright I guess, It has been a slow month for me here in New York.” He said, slightly shocked at how disappointed he sounded when he spoke of the decrease in large scale crime and chaos over the past month. "So how are things going out west is the tower done, track down any new recruits?” he inquired, interested to know how the team was doing. When he left California the Sentinel tower was still incomplete and quite empty.

Leaning back in his seat Ryan sipped his coffee still discreetly watching the two girl who sat a feet short feet way. He had never seen this woman before in his life but with her powers and the control she had over them he could tell she had been doing this for a while. Who was she whose side was she on Ryan wanted to know more about her, but for now the best he could do was observe. “What are you doing in New York Ace?” he asked looking back toward Ace and sipping his coffee.

Over the course of several minutes Bliss took notice of the influx of people. "I've been in New York since I was eighteen. I went to Queen's and graduated about a year ago." Bliss took notice of the odd behavior the girl exhibited. Not weird because of her jumpiness, but weird because Bliss knew the mindset this girl showed. She looked scared of new people; probably thought they would try to take advantage of her naivete in a large city. "I'm taking it you don't know those two guys? Looks like they know each other; maybe just a pair of college kids out..." As she tried to explain that hypothesis she noticed the age of one of the men. He was hardly a man. "I don't remember this place being so popular for kids."

Dismissing the new patrons as nothing more than two kids skipping schools. "Do you have experience with, you know..." Bliss shrugged her shoulders. "...Specially talented people?" The question could come as a shock, but with the things Bliss performed earlier this would hardly overshadow the ice trick. "You won't offend me by asking questions about it if you're trying to be tactful." Bliss struck up a counter offer. "If..." She started her deal. "...You tell me why two strangers and a broken glass in a perfectly quiet cafe can cause you to show such distress. What do you say?" Bliss brought her hands together and conjured a small amount of ice between them. She reached over and placed a small ice sculpted rabbit in front of Amy.

Ace was surprised at Ryan's pun, *I didn't know puns that bad existed* Ace thought to himself, before realizing he's made equally ridiculous puns on his own. "The Sentinels are doing fine, the tower is finished and we got some initial recruitment done." Ace replied to Ryan "But that's why I'm here, recruitment. See that girl over there" Ace pointed to Amy "She has powers apparently, according to Sullivan, even though she doesn't look it".

Ace messed with his communicator, *Hopefully i can get a signal with this thing.* Ace twiddled the tuner on his earpiece "Nothing.. Damn it" Ace cursed, he twiddled a bit more picking up local radio and another signal, something about targets and whatnot, *Im sure it's just a radio-play* Ace thought to himself. "So Ryan what are you doing here in this part of New York?" Ace asked.

He looked over at Amy's table, only to catch a glance at a, rather beautiful, ice bunny. "Hey Ryan, you see the asian girl the target is sitting with?" Ace gestured to Bliss, " Do you think she might be a super? If she was that would be quite a coincidence, 4 supers in the one cafe"

So she had been here a while, that kind of scratched a few occupations off her list. It made her wonder how she got so good with her powers. Amy could use her powers for self-defense, but her second ability took a lot of concentration for large objects. Bliss seemed to be quick with her ability, freezing the coffee and catching Amy's fall at the same time.

Bliss mentioned something about the two guys nearby, and Amy tilted her head and looked to her side to catch a glimpse of them. One seemed older than her, and one was about her age. Their conversation was slightly inaudible to her, she wasn't really trying to hear what they were saying. Ace got frustrated with something and cursed outloud where she could hear. She turned back to Bliss as she mentioned something about the cafe being popular with kids.

"No, I've never met them before. I just came for something to warm me up, it's a bit chilly out. I don't like the taste of coffee much. Maybe they live on opposite ends of the city and meet up here or something."

Bliss popped the question and Amy didn't know quite how to answer. She looked down for a brief second, but her mind had already processed what she had experienced. She didn't like to share things she thought were secrets, but she didn't know if Mr. Khan wanted to keep their relationship secret or not. Bliss noticed how jumpy the glass breaking made her and made mention of it. But if Amy told Bliss about her issue with adults, someone might call the police. Bliss might even try to arrest her by herself.

Amy closed her eyes. In technicality, she killed a man. Though the police weren't sure if it was murder or self-defense because she fled the scene. It was the latter. In a bad neighborhood, she was going to get killed. She remembered what it felt like to get hit in the face by one of her attackers with a closed fist. Her closed eyes clenched shut as she turned away from Bliss and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, she couldn't help how she felt but wouldn't let any more tears flow. "I-I don't know..."

Looking back to Bliss there was an ice statue similar to Herbie in front of her. It somewhat eased her mind. She wouldn't mention anything about herself though. One of her attackers identified her for the police, so they had her picture out as a fugitive about 1-2 years ago. Mr. Khan had gone out in public with her several times. He didn't seem afraid that others knew it. She could talk about that. "Mr. Khan does. He has abilities, but different from you. He's kind of like a scorpion, but he's not scary. He's very nice, and smart."

Ryan raised an eye brow as Ace spoke; apparently the clumsy one had powers as well. “Well Ace it would seem we have quite the coincidence on our hands then.” Ryan smiled and leaned forward resting his elbows on the edge of the table, pushing his empty coffee cup to the side as he did. This situation just became even more interesting.

“So what do you know about this girl you are tracking?” he ask curious what information Ace had on the young super. “What powers does she have? What is her story? What makes you think you will be able to convince her to join?” Ryan ran through the list of questions as soon as they formed his head. He turned back glancing at the girl again, she didn’t look like much; but she must have done something to find herself on the Sentinel watch list.

The Waitress came by refilling Ryan’s coffee still slightly shocked after witnessing the ice woman’s display. Ryan thanked as he tried to devise their next move, while Ace continued to mess with his earpiece. “I think it’s time we went over there and see what these two are all about.” Ryan said excitedly sipping his coffee. An opportunity like this was hardly one to pass up. “What do you think Ace?”