Point Zero: Date

Point Zero: Date

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Commissioned by Ichypa

Wordcount: 2500

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Going out to get absolutely plastered was the same a looking for trouble back home. You didn’t get shitfaced out in a pub in the middle of the night NOT looking for a fight.

Apparently, though, Elliot wasn’t exactly aware of that.

I didn’t find out in the middle of the night, either.

He didn’t have the social graces necessary to stay quiet and save face.

“Why do people drink? It downgrades performance and lessens willpower. Many individuals increase their percentage of infection while drunk.” Elliot spoke with facts and logic staining his brain, and a few patrons of the bar we went to grumbled and found better seats. He stared after them, while I took a seat at the bar with a quite angry bartender… who went rather pale when he got a look at both our badges. “As a form of social bonding, it does not appear to be very efficient.”

“Well, boss, that sounds about right… but people like to bond over hard times, right? Well, nothing’s harder than a night being shitfaced.” I made a few friends back home crawling the pubs. A few lads got handsy, but a quick slug to the face settled things right quick. They either went to the pubs with me again, or I never saw ever again. A good system by every metric, honestly. “Don’t think about it too much. Just take the mask off and drink the day away and praise the Lord that we can still get drunk, even while we’re a few steps from becoming ravenous monsters!”

My little speech usually got a few rolls of the eyes back home, but the crowd was better at Point Zero, and got a few cheers and muttered agreements.

No free drinks, but that was because of the early hours of the evening.

Wallets tend to get looser later in the night when the sensation of dread kicks in. Nothing quite like realizing that you’ll be depressed and alone in a pub, again, that really gives you the urge to empty your wallet for the thrill of spending your hard-earned money.

But enough strategizing about getting free drinks.

I was here to talk to Verdict Commander Elliot, the man with the ability to revolutionize Infection Treatment overnight, who could destroy anything that was before him with a thought, and who was my boss—and oh my goodness he’s handsome as hell without his mask.

Thoughts about teasing him about being a pretty, young lad left my mind when he spoke to me without his mask for the first time.

“I see, then let’s drink together, O’Hara.” Controlled and firm, but as smooth and light as silk, Elliot’s voice drifted over me while my eyes traced a slender neckline bereft of an apple. I shook my head at the things that I was seeing and hearing. A quick glance towards a few lads at the pub and the bartender himself had me realizing that I wasn’t hallucinating, since a lot of the lads were sitting straighter and looking less like pieces of shite, or just staring like idiots. A quick glance at the open mask confirmed an electronic communicator installed in the mouth region, probably to allow for easy communications in high-danger situations. “O’Hara?”

That microphone system, the body armor, and the slimness of my boss’s body all conveyed the fact to me that Commander Elliot was a man. But, in fact, Commander Elliot was a rather handsome woman with a piercing gaze, a prim, blonde ponytail, and the ability to murder anything that she fought.

My goodness all my fetish buttons have been absolutely smashed to pieces.

“Bw-yeah, b-boss?” I stumbled on my words. The atmosphere in the pub changed immediately, while my face when scarlet. Glares burrowed into me. Glares of hate and jealousy… not because of my preferences, but I broke the code of bringing in a woman I’d scored time with to a pub where lads came to get shitfaced. I’m never going to be able to show my face here every again. Worth it. “W-what’s on your mind?”

She could’ve said a lot of things that would’ve gotten me all bothered, but the next set of words from Elliot took my little heart and sent it into overdrive.

“You said you’re paying. I hope that you know that I can outdrink this entire bar, before you can try anything funny… so you’ll have to ask for permission, if you want.”

Elliot said that with a confident smile and a lean on the counter that cast the slightest shadow on her face that made her red eyes shine just-so in the pub.

A lot of the lads got up and left, and I earned another glare from the bartender at that, but I sent him a ludicrous amount of money and made him quiet down.

I just met Elliot a few weeks ago.

I just realized Elliot was a woman minutes ago.

But, without a semblance of a doubt, I wanted to marry this woman.

If she would have me, of course.

…

I didn’t get to drink much, mostly because I was downright engrossed by what I heard from Gwendolyn Elliot.

I’d thought I’d had it rough as a kid, but my life didn’t come anywhere close to hers.

Orphan for as long as she could remember, killing fully-mutated beasts and fishing scrap for the massive meals that she needed the moment she could think and act of her own volition, and finally securing her place on a shuttle to Point Zero all by her own merits. I lost a lot getting to Point Zero, abandoned a lot possible relationships, and encountered a few dozen, life-threatening problems, but she did the same… and didn’t look nearly as mad inside her skull as I was.

I was tempted to drink just knowing how out of my league I was, but I couldn’t help but keep asking questions and seeing how far Gwendolyn was going to up, while I stayed utterly mediocre where I was.

It was like watching two trains about to collide.

But one train was an unstoppable, unbreakable object, while the other was my very poor self-esteem.

“So, you became the Verdict Commander by passing a single test?”

“Yes. I went through several simulations conducted by the UN. Hostage rescue, humanoid enemy confrontation, and Infected individual dispatch. I passed all three.” From what I knew about Verdict, those three were the filters in the program. You needed to pass one to get to be an Agent, since they were looking for quality over quantity. Then, you specialized. People who passed two were commander candidates, vetted, and trained up to compete for the position. Gwendolyn broke through the filter with sheer power, skill, and instinct alone and didn’t get any more training. “They consider me a blunt instrument to be applied to any terrible situation. I agree.”

Her codename was Minos, because the Americans loved to make ominous references to mythology when it came to superweapons, and I had to agree. She really did sound like a judge of the dead. Everyone she was sent after was already in the afterlife, it was only a matter of where they would go once they met her, which was entirely up to her.

Was it a problem that I took that I was terrified of that earlier, but I now thought that was incredibly attractive? I really needed to figure out how much of my personality revolved around how attractive I found other people, because this could be problematic for the future.

“I worked alone for a time, before picking you up, and soon I will have additional subordinates suited for my current mission parameters.” I was busy staring, but my brain was working properly in the background. I was very aware of the fact that I was soon going to be surrounded by some very powerful individuals with skills and talents suited for putting people down. It should’ve been scary, but my boss was straightlaced and was a stickler for the rules that would keep them all in line. In uniform… that had high boots…. With a riding crop in hand—oh, man, how repressed am I!? “You will be working with me primarily. They will be more suited for suppressing lesser elements and they will receive electronic support from the UN, which should suffice for their missions.”

“Um, ah, I’m glad that we’ll keep working together, then. It’s been a tad scary, but I haven’t been hurt working with you.” I’ve been through a fair amount of missions with Elliot. They all scared the hell out of me, but I never got hurt in the mission, let alone came anywhere close to dying. Elliot had power to spare and she used that power to protect other people. And, now I’m wondering how it’ll feel to be the small spoon. Dammit, I need to get my shit together. “So, what’re your plans for the future, then?”

Yes, that’s the right question.

My plans for the future are limited to survival and all my other long-term plans are dead and buried. I had nothing in store for my future, and I would probably be dead if not for Elliot enlisting me into Verdict. Reminding myself of all that was the shot of depression I needed to get the feelings of naked arousal and horniness out of the way. Well, mostly. It’s been too long, so it was a lot harder than it should’ve been.

Elliot was quiet for a moment, before giving the most straightforward of answers.

“I want to become strong.” Simple, but I know entirely what she meant. The world we lived in was one filled with a lot of variables, but those variables could be surmounted by strength. Elliot had the potential to do that and become untouchable, even on a planet filled with monsters, warring superpowers, and tons of other problems. Her Infection gave her the ability to fight any threat, she was smart enough to develop and innovate patents that would change the world, and she was gaining influence with one of the world’s strongest polities. “Strong enough to not just survive, but to live.”

I could do nothing but nod at those words, especially after she shared with me her previous life.

“You’ve come a long way already.”

“I have. I have an apartment, all the food that I need and want, and I am gaining authority as long as I fulfill my duties.” Elliot gave a decisive nod and took a sip of the paint-thinner that the bartender was trying to get her drunk on, before she started chugging his best stock. Even though he was getting paid, it was still going to be a pain to restock everything at Point Zero. “After I have reached my goals, I believe that I will stay as Verdict Commander. It is a fulfilling job, but no more than that. I believe that trying for more would interfere with what I like to do on my spare time.”

Oh, good.

She has actual hobbies, instead of just throwing herself at projects she didn’t have enough to finish.

That’s another bucket of ice against my staggering degeneracy in the face of a handsome woman with amazing qualifications.

“And, what do you like to do in your spare time?”

“Watch television, read, find good places to eat, and tinker a bit. Sometimes I take a part time job or just a stroll.” My self-esteem was punctured and letting loose all the willpower that I had. The drinks that I’d taken in weren’t helping. Bad memories were popping up, along with all my failings, and the fact that outside of work and projects, I had nothing to my name. I’d gone from trying to stop my brain from being hopelessly excited to depressed. As usual, I went too far with a plan without considering the consequences. “You’re not working tomorrow, correct? You spend too much of your free time working. Join me and relax.”

And, a single statement, Gwendolyn Elliot had me blushing and desperately trying to hold back from acting like an excited little girl at the chance of spending a lot more time with a person that she liked.

I needed to see a therapist, before these mood swings turned into disorder.

But first.

“Sure! Yeah, that sounds great! I’d love to watch a movie and eat some food, or something! That’s great!” My brain was filled with some remnants of my past failures and my lack of plans for the future, but in the present I was set up to spend some time with a really handsome, cool woman that had her shit together. Not only was I attracted, I also felt admiration, and I wanted to learn more. Coupling all of those emotions together with time eating and watching some television… well, I had no reason to refuse. “Let’s do that.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow, then… and don’t worry about the tab.” Elliot rose from her chair and fiddled with her communicator. A moment later, my tab disappeared and the bartender’s eyes almost looked like they were going to balloon out of his skull. She gave a hefty tip, more than enough to make up for the night, while I waved at her like an idiot with my tongue tied. “See you tomorrow, O’Hara.”

I wasn’t sure how long I was staring like an idiot, but the bartender eventually brought me back to reality by clearing his throat and offering some earth-shattering words.

“I dunno how you did things before, lady, but you should be prepared for tomorrow. You’re in the sights of a real predator.”

“W-what? No. Nothing like that’s happening. We’re going to catch some movies and eat together. That’s all.” I got what the old man was implying, but he was shaking his head from the moment I started denying his allegations. A fierce heat started crawling up my neck… and memories of all the weird things Elliot could do with her body came to mind. Just… uhh… how far could she change her everything? My mind went towards certain areas of the internet best not described in good company, so I chugged my drink and got up from my chair to beat a hasty retreat. I had… things to do before tomorrow. “But, I guess, just in case I’ll freshen up.”

“Freshen up a lot, lady. You were a mess this entire evening.”

“It’s been almost half a decade since I was in a relationship, jerk!”

“It’ll be another five years, if you don’t fix yourself up.”

I glared at the bartender for a bit longer, before turning to leave in a huff.

Now… where was the nearest place that I could shell out money to look pretty?