I Dated a Retired Hero (Blind Date Corporation #17)

Chapter One

N ova Class Origin

Litha was working on her homework when she felt her hands tingle. She put her pen down and flexed her hands. She shook her hands out, picked her pen up again, and started the next sentence. The tingle returned, and a soft glow started.

Mom! Dad! Something is happening!

She walked to the living room, and her parents were already on their feet. Her dad darted away and came back with a scanner. How do you feel, honey?

Warm. Prickly.

Right. We are going to fix that, hopefully. Get in the back of the truck. We are going to the reactor.

Litha was shaking. What are we going to do there?

We are going to get you through your activation, huggy bear. Now, come on. Road trip! Her mom smiled.

Litha followed directions, got into the back of the truck, and hung on.

The drive to the reactor took forty-five minutes, and Litha didn t mind the wind. It helped cool her down.

When they got to the reactor, her dad flashed his credentials, and when the security official came around to see her, he suddenly crumpled to the ground as her mom held her stunner. They drove up to the reactor entrance, and her parents began a crime spree of taking out all of the security staff, leaving those managing the tank and water levels.

Her mother said, Litha, jump into the tank. If you need to breathe, swim up and do it, but for now, just get in the tank. You know how the generator works.

The water boils, and it makes steam. Steam turns the turbines.

Honey, you are hot enough to boil the water, and this place will keep topping it up at a fast rate.

Litha could see the heat waves, and her shoes had already melted. Okay. I will go into the tank.

She waited until her dad opened the door and stepped clear, and when she was in, they closed it behind her. She looked at the churning water and her glowing body. With a deep breath, she jumped into the water, and it bubbled and churned around her, but she felt better.

Four days later, Litha climbed out of the tank and looked up at two guardians who were standing there with a towel. Here you are, little miss.

She took it and wrapped it around herself before fluffing out her hair and drying it. What happened to my parents?

They have been arrested and questioned. After sending an analytical talent to view your progress, it has been decided that your parents quick actions have helped to create the first nova class active.

What? Me?

Yes. There is a lot of training ahead of you, but you have a career on a team.

That doesn t sound optional.

The large male guardian looked at her and sighed. It isn t. It is either this or solitary confinement.

Oh.

How old are you?

Fourteen? She blinked up at them.

We will get you into the program, and you can begin learning to control your output.

Aren t I young to go into the program?

He smiled. You can t afford not to.

Litha held her towel and said, Right. Where do I start?

They escorted her out of the reactor and into a vehicle that had a contained space. It was an arrest vehicle.

They drove off with her wrapped in a towel and rocking on the seat as they headed for the research arm of the university. It looked like her parents didn t have to spend anything on her education. She was being tucked right into the best education centre in the area, and all she had to do was not leak radiation over the students. How hard could that be?

* * * *

T wenty-one years later

Litha sat through the first two rounds of interviews and was now facing the final boss.

So, I see you are an active. Zera smiled at her.

Yes. I don t let it get in my way when I work.

That is admirable. You were on one of the teams?

Yes, the stellar team, on special missions only.

You have been in space?

Yes. I specialized in meteor and asteroid interception. I did three tours and am now retired and ready to focus on textiles for difficult activations.

Oh, yes. I selected you for this round because of that. Z-Corp has a sterling reputation. It is so good that we are opening a branch in Aksalla that focuses on tech development. If you are willing to relocate, we can get you a work permit.

So, living in Aksalla?

Yes.

Are there restrictions on where I can live?

Zera smiled. No. That position pays one hundred fifty thousand.

Oh. Who would I be working with.

Dr. Kritz is our main developer, but his focus is biotech. The textile department would be entirely under you. Raises are regular, and bonuses for rapid response are common.

I see. She nodded. May I have a day to think it over?

Certainly, but if you are hungry, why don t we talk it over over lunch? Zera stood.

Uh. Sure. Litha looked at the woman who was younger than she was.

They got up, and Zera gave her a quick tour before going to the executive dining room. They were midway into a roast chicken dinner when a defender came in. Litha blinked.

Zera looked at him and sighed. You wrecked another one?

Litha looked past the purple skin to the torn uniform. What is that, carbon base?

Zera smiled. New polymer. Torun, this is Dr. Litha. Litha, this is Torun.

She was staring at the fraying edge of the cut and got up to examine the damage to the fibres. She heard a voice from above her. Does this pass for foreplay?

She muttered, No, but if you don t want your grape hide at risk, I will get to analyze the damage and components.

Zera snickered. So, Litha, where do you want me to send this contract?

Can I take a sample of the suit?

Torun smiled. If you can.

She smirked, pulled the fabric away from his skin, and used her free hand to draw a line that had a perfect oval of cloth in her hand.

Torun blinked. That s... that shouldn t be possible.

Zera smiled. This is why she s getting a contract. She s incredible. And she used to be a performer in the Capitol Ballet.

Litha ignored them and used her com to examine the tear with an enhanced view.

She started to mutter notes, and Zera and Torun started making out.

She agreed to the contract with a few modifications and became the textile department head of Z-Tech. Her parents would have been proud.

Litha got the tour of the new building and saw the crews who were working to finish things.

There was a woman on the electrician team who looked weak, and Litha looked at her with thermal vision. Oh, geez. Litha walked over and said, Excuse me, miss.

The exhausted woman looked at her. Yes?

Litha cocked her head. Do you need something to eat?

The woman looked grateful. That would be great.

Get up and come with me.

The woman rose up on wobbly legs. Litha took her to the commissary and asked if she had ever considered office work.

My two tickets make good money. The woman ate her third meal.

Yes, but they wear you out, which is causing you to lose a lot of the benefit by increasing that hunger.

The woman blinked. Oh. I haven t actually run the numbers before.

Well, if you do so, I will cover the costs of your certification and security screenings.

Why?

Litha smiled. Because I recognize people that I think will fit my grand plan, and your electrical skills will keep me from having to call maintenance constantly.

The woman paused and said, I make seventy-eight thousand a year.

Matched. I need an assistant, and I think you can use a job that uses your brain instead of your body. Your body is exhausted.

The woman sat back and sighed. I... yeah. I am. Will I have to go through HR?

Yes, but I will fast-track you. I need a reliable assistant, and you feel like the correct choice.

You don t even know my name.

Litha smiled. I don t. Mine is Dr. Litha.

Drinella. Drin. I will state up front that I am the emergency contact for my nephew. If I get a call, I go. Is that acceptable?

Sure. Litha chuckled. Do we have a deal?

Yeah.

Great. Let s go to HR and get you a stats sheet. Personally, my focus will be on sourcing, but they will want reports and things.

Sourcing?

Getting chemicals and new substances from around the world so that we can continue the research to provide specific actives with materials that will help them move through the world without being self-conscious or afraid of hurting those around them.

Drin perked up. That sounds like something I would like to be part of.

They shook hands and got Drin dessert before they headed down to HR.

Litha had her assistant.

Two years after that meeting, Litha sat in her office and listened to Drin and one of her partners in the outer office. The second masculine chuckle made Litha sigh. Two of them. Lovely. She forced down pangs of jealousy.

Drin had joined the BDC after Litha had, but her metabolic activation was easier to find partners for. Litha was still stuck with one match who just wanted to take her on picnics and rides in the park.

She felt a little grumpy when a date request came up on her com. She jabbed a denial. The last time she had been out with him, he had rushed to help a bus load of children tipping over a bridge and had been shocked when she had sliced the hands off the men who had been trying to take the children hostage. It wasn t so much slicing as burning the hands to ash so they couldn t use their detonators.

Her patron had rescued the bus, and she summoned a lift back to the city as he left her alone to face the agents and peacekeepers.

She walked into the BDC headquarters and removed her mask. Zera was in the hub and doing some paperwork. Wow, Litha. You look like hell.

Yeah, well, I think my foray into trying to find romance is over. She walked to the change room and changed into her normal daywear.

What if your patron calls for you?

Litha sighed. He can fuck himself or one of the other ladies on his roster. I am done. Done. Done. Done. I resign from the BDC.

Zera came into the change room. You are joking.

Litha looked at the woman who had become a friend. Not joking. I am so frustrated I want to carve an expletive on the moon.

Zera blinked. Please don t. What s really wrong?

Just what I said. I am so lonely my skin aches all the time, and there is no one willing to hold me. Litha looked at her. Don t even tell me that you know what I mean. I see you and the team together, and I just want someone to hold me the way they hold you. It s definitely desperation.

And howling loneliness. We have an escort who can give you a mental experience.

Litha shrugged. No. I don t think that would be a good idea. My self-control is all that keeps me from scorching the city around me. You remember all the panels I had to go through when you imported me.

Zera sighed. I... hadn t thought it through when I approved your patron.

Well, you can un-approve him, for me at least. He can find someone else to hang out with when he just doesn t want to look like he s solo.

I guess you two were a bad fit. You aren t helpless enough for him.

Litha turned to her friend and exhaled slowly. No. I am not. You didn t mention that in his dossier. Well, that explains the camaraderie that we have. I am just done.

Was there anything in particular tonight?

Litha dragged in a deep breath. A set of kidnappers. A bus was pushed to the edge of a bridge. I took out the detonators the guys had and their hands to the elbow. He got the bus back into position. We talked to the investigators, and he flew off.

He left you there?

Yeah. I am done. Done. Done. Done.

She smoothed her hands down her work skirt and exited the space. Consider this my official resignation.

Zera paused. From the BDC, right? Right?

Litha looked at her. I am going to think about it. I don t know if I can continue to be around so many happy couples. It s wearing on my nerves.

Her friend froze. I hadn t considered that. Oh, god. Right. We can reassign Drin.

No. It s fine. I am just going to confine myself to the lab and turn out reports. What I was hired for.

Zera reached for her, but her hand stopped short of Litha s skin.

Litha chuckled dryly. The one activation even you don t want. Right. I am going to work. There isn t anything else.

She headed to the main elevator and switched over to the lab elevator. She slapped her card on the scanner and worked her way into the depths of the lab levels.

She looked around, delved into her work, and tried to make a living bandage to be applied to wounded actives in the field. The theory got her several grants, and now, she just needed to make it practical. She may as well.

* * * *

Z era contacted Harmik . So, what happened tonight?

He didn t pretend not to know. She s an active.

Of course. All the women you have dated are actives. She s just more dangerous than most.

She disarmed the attackers with the flick of her finger. Literally. I can t be romantic with a woman who has all the earmarks of a stellar activation. She s too much for me.

Harmik, you were dating Tirra.

Yes, when she needed someone to support her. The escort I saw tonight doesn t need anyone.

Zera stared at the screen with her mouth open, and then, she closed it with a snap. Right. Good evening.

Wait. This won t affect my access to the other escorts, will it?

Zera shook her head. No. It won t. Good night.

The screen went dark, and Zera looked around. Well, fuck.

She called Arcady, and the soft giggles that arrived before Arcady s features were visible gave Zera a sudden understanding of what Litha was dealing with.

Zera, what is up?

Can we take this private?

Arcady sobered and climbed out of bed. What is it, Zera?

I think Litha is going to quit, and my successful matchmaking is to blame.

What?

Litha blocked her patron tonight. There was an issue, and she helped rescue a busload of kids, and he didn t feel that she needed him, and that is his kink.

Oh. Right.

And I think she might be on the edge of leaving Z-Tech.

Fuck. Why?

Zera winced. Everyone is having sex but her. She s lonely. Even Harmik only held her hand, and her attacking the guys kidnapping the kids was a complete turnoff.

Arcady s eyes widened. Oh, right.

And she s in her mid-thirties and tired of waiting. I think she s gonna retire.

Oh, no.

Zera nodded. Oh, yes.

What can we do? Arcady muttered. Find a black hole?

No jokes. She has gotten us all the military uniform contracts that we have received in the last five years. And so many emergency wraps and assists that can be carried by anyone. We ve won more awards with her work than with Kritz s.

Arcady blinked. Well, what does she like?

Zera paused. I don t know.

I think we need to figure it out.

* * * *

A s Litha flew home from the shower on Daycross, she thought about her future, or lack of it. She had always assumed she would have some kind of family. She wanted someone to hold who would squeeze her back without fearing her. She hated that people were afraid of her. It had been fun at first, but now, it made her heart sink.