Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 5 (Patreon)

The taxi pulled up at the bar. I’d decided flying with Stella was going to be too much. Plus I didn’t want to show her any more of my power.

“Ben, Kate, Mary, and Rachel.” She repeated. “I got it.”

“Just please don’t cause a problem.” I really didn’t want to have to babysit her all night. She needed help, but if she let slip about my powers, everything I’d worked to keep hidden would be in the open. I could only hope they wouldn’t believe her if she said anything.

“Miles!” Ben’s exuberant voice shouted out my name as soon as I stepped out of the car.

Ben waved at me from inside a line of red velvet ropes. The office ladies were right beside him. I pretended not to notice how their eyes lit up as I stepped out of the taxi.

I moved to the side, making room for Stella, and saw their faces fall a bit as Stella stepped out beside me.

Their expressions made me look over at Stella again. I’d been so distracted with her power and helping her, I hadn’t really taken a good look since she’d healed.

But as I did, I realized why the women’s eyes held sparks of jealousy. Stella was drop dead gorgeous.

The same gene that triggered people’s super power also caused physical mutations in about twenty percent of supers. It could be something simple, like the pair of Fox ears on Rachel’s head or as drastic as the sharkman I’d met in the alley.

The whole group was watching Stella with surprised eyes, but she didn’t seem to notice. Stella was just taking in the city, looking at all the people walking by and smiling, pleased that they weren’t collapsing and dying in front of her.

I hooked her arm through mine, trying to keep her from wandering off as we made our way to the group.

“Join us.” Ben pulled the rope barrier away and gestured us in. There were more than a few disgruntled looks from those waiting behind him.

“And who is this?” Kate said, seeming to put as much excited energy into her voice as she could. I took my time in replying, scooting Stella fully past the rope so Ben could put it back.

“Stella, meet Ben, Kate, Mary, and Rachel.” I went over them again.

“I’ve heard so much about you guys!” Stella gave them a winning smile and then pressed herself up against me in a possessive way.

I didn’t love that Stella was staking her claim, or that she seemed so obsessed with me, but I knew that her hanging on me may help keep barriers with my direct reports intact.

In weighing my options, I decided that her getting closer to me was the lesser of two evils. That would have to be close enough to good.

“I love your horns.” Rachel tentatively raised a hand.

Stella bent her head down, offering them to Rachel.

“So hard! I bet those could do some damage.”

Ben leaned on my other side and whispered as quietly as a mosquito. “Handlebars, nice.” He covered it up by speaking louder. “Oh, I see that’s your type, Miles.”

Rachel blushed furiously, and her ears did this cute little twitch. “Some guys have a thing for mutations.” She said quickly.

“Definitely.” Stella agreed, letting her little tail come out to play. She twitched it in the middle of the group for all to see.

“Now all you need is wings.” I joked.

She looked up at me with big eyes. “Do you want me to?” She backed up a little, and I realized she was serious.

“No, no, it’s fine Stella. But, you have wings?”

Stella nodded enthusiastically. “I can materialize wings. I just don’t most of the time because they get in the way.”

Ben whistled appreciatively. “Full succubus package. That’s pretty darn cool. So, how long have you and Miles been together?”

“Not long.” She pressed my arm between her cleavage. “But I think it might last awhile.”

I couldn’t help but straighten at the statement, my body telling me to run away. But we were with my coworkers, and I once again reminded myself that she needed me.

“Nice. Maybe you can get Miles to start a harem. After all, he is pushing the world hard enough to start one.” Ben nudged me with a wink.

I frowned at Ben. That would not happen. I didn’t even want one permanent girlfriend, let alone more.

“Next.” The bouncer waved our group forward, looking us over. The bouncer was a large woman. A slight mutation seemed to turn her skin green; she looked like an orc.

I could practically see her count the number of girls with Ben and I. She waffled her head slightly, clearly deciding if we’d throw off the ratios too much before shrugging and opening the rope. “Guys get in free, girls are twenty dollar cover.”

The girls all paid up, but Stella had a scared look on her face.

Discreetly using my power, I palmed a twenty out of my wallet and slid it into Stella’s hand.

She smiled and handed the bouncer the bill before hurrying in after our group.

As we moved inside, there were stairs right there that went down two flights, and a big logo for the club illuminated the stairs from the side wall. We headed down, most people going down but a few coming back up to leave.

It wasn’t until we got towards the bottom of the stairs that the music thumped, and the club opened up before us.

The club was split right down the middle. The left was a quieter area, separated by a wall. And the right area had a large dance floor with a live DJ bobbing his head. He was rocking out to his beats, headphones only covering one of his ears.

“Let’s get a drink.” Ben yelled over the music and motioned for our group to go to the left.

Surprisingly, the wall actually cut the music down to a level where we could hear each other when we talked.

“Isn’t this place really cool?” Kate turned to me, trying to make conversation.

“Super.” Stella beat me to a response, but she sounded completely shell-shocked.

Taking a quick glance, I noticed her eyes were a little wide; she didn’t seem as sure of herself. I had a feeling this was a bit like being thrown into the deep end after her years of isolation.

She was pressed up against me, but I had a feeling it helped make her feel safer, so I let her.

I’d felt her Ki. Compared to most of the super powers I sensed in the bar, Stella was very super. She was probably the peak of A class if not the rare S grade super power.

It was hard to know, because there were so few S grade supers. I hadn’t interacted with enough to have a sense of their power levels.

Even the rest of the group combined didn’t have a fraction of her power, and half of my direct reports were C class and eligible to be hired by the SHB.

“What do you want to drink, Ben? It’s on me.” Mary grabbed his arm. I smiled, glad that he was becoming their target.

Stella looked at me, and I realized she was unsure again. She could tell that women were buying men the drinks, but she didn’t have any money. Social norms had flipped on their head as the imbalance precipitated over the last few decades.

I slipped her three more bills. “Put them in your pocket and use them to pay tonight.” I told her while the girls were discussing drinks.

“What do you want to drink, Miles?” Stella asked loud enough to play her part.

I tried not to laugh at her immediately, using my money to buy me a drink. Luckily, it only came out as a small smirk. But as I caught Rachel’s eyes, I could tell that she’d wanted to buy me that drink, and after seeing my smirk, it seemed to only reinforce that desire.

“I’ll do a bourbon, neat.” I checked the back wall of the bar, looking at what was available. “Dunnington.” I pointed at the familiar emerald green bottle.

Stella pushed her way up to the bar, following Mary as the rest of the women pushed forward for their own drinks. While they were away, it left Ben and me together in an open booth in the corner.

“Damn dude.” Ben made gestures, referring to Stella’s chest. “I didn’t know you were dating.”

I rolled my eyes. “Dating is an overstatement.”

Ben nodded to me suggestively as he slowly put his hands like he was holding a set of handlebars and slowly brought them below the table.

“Stop. They are going to see you.”

“Who cares? They are all thinking about it. I didn’t know you liked the mutas. You haven’t gone after Rachel with her cute ears or Becky in finance with her cat girl package.”

“Ben,” I stopped him before he went too far. “I can find my own women. I don’t need you pimping me out to the entire office.”

He shrugged, looking completely innocent as he scoped the room. “So far your love life has seemed pretty dry.” He dragged out the word as if I needed a reminder.

“I actually have had a few dates. But I keep my love life and work separate. They might be on the opposite sides of the world. It’s better that way.”

Ben stared at me as if he was waiting for the punchline. “Dude, office sex is amazing.”

My head slapped into my palm. “Please tell me you aren’t.”

“Yes sir. Mary and I had some fun before the lights were on this morning.” He winked. “Just being a good employee, getting in super early. The tension of anyone finding out is the best. I’m telling you.”

“Well, I’m not an exhibitionist, and you shouldn’t tell me this. I’m her boss.”

“Which is why you should know. I wouldn’t want you to worry when she goes missing for a half an hour during the day.” Ben said it like it was blatantly obvious, and I wanted to punch him.

The girls were coming back, and I didn’t respond, worried Ben would keep going.

“Here Stella, you can sit by me.” I had positioned myself so that I could have Stella on the edge of the booth on my right and Ben on my left. They were two perfect buffers.

“Oh, I’ll get out of the way. Rachel, take my spot.” Ben completely betrayed me.

“So how’d you two meet?” Rachel picked up a conversation as soon as she sat down.

I thought about what that answer would be if I was honest and pictured describing trying to hunt down a super villain considered too dangerous to do more than have a conversation with, and that I found her on the verge of blowing her brains out. Luckily, I talked her down and mended her.

I nearly spit out my drink, picturing all of their reactions, and then realized Rachel was staring at me, trying to figure out why I was cracking up.

I quickly pulled it together.

“Through an acquaintance.” Kim was, in fact, an acquaintance.

“Those are always the best relationships.” Stella threw in, trying to help.

“Ah, this is a first date for you two?” Rachel nudged, clearly wanting more information.

“Yes.”

“No.” We said it at the same time.

Rachel chucked awkwardly and focused her attention on Stella. “Well, you should keep trying. This one is a tough nut to crack. The fact that you got him to take you out at all is huge.”

Stella bobbed her head in full agreement. “He can be both very charming and quite grumpy.”

“I am not grumpy.”

Both girls nodded at each other, like I’d somehow proven their point..

Feeling a little claustrophobic, I decided to get up and get some air.

Giving Stella a polite nudge, she scooted her knees to the side, letting me squeeze my way out of the booth. She went to come after me, but I gave her a look that let her know she should stay.

The heartbreakingly sad look she gave me in return for abandoning her was intense.

“Bathroom.” I quickly replied, wanting to give a reason that they could all understand.

Sure enough, she relaxed just slightly, although she still seemed like she might follow me as I left. But Rachel started chatting, drawing her attention, and I used the chance to head off.

Looking back, I watched for a moment to make sure Rachel was okay after touching her, but Stella wasn’t draining her. I was proud of Stella for being able to control herself.

Stepping away from the table, I crossed the bar area to restrooms in the back.

Multiple girls turned their heads, following me as I walked past. More than a few checked out my ass as I passed, not even trying to be subtle about it.

They were blatant and hungry stares, but I was used to it.

Looking around, the bouncer clearly had let other groups with large women into the club. It was closer to three to one, girls to guys. Many of the girls were in a group of other girls or by themselves.

“Hey there goodlooking.” A woman barred my path with a cocky grin. “Want to come with me and have a great time?” She was a head shorter than me, but I could feel power rippling out of her.

She was at least a B class super.

“Nope. Move.” I brushed her arm aside, using just a twinge of kinetic force along my arm to overpower her.

She stumbled, stunned at my passing her, and I could feel the malice coming off of her.

If she tried anything, she’d be sorry. I wasn’t going to use my powers openly in the bar, but there was a lot I could do more subtly.

I walked into the men’s room, wondering if I’d shown Stella too much. She’d pieced a lot of my power together. Nobody else knew as much as she did, and she still didn’t have the full picture.

Turning on the faucet, I filled my hands with water and splashed my face before grabbing a hand towel and scrubbing it like I was trying to get something off.

I was a little extra forceful, even though there was only a bit of dirt from the day, taking my frustration out on my face.

I might have messed up helping Stella. It had gone much further than I’d intended. I’d gone there just to save a life of whatever dimwit would take the bounty, and I figured I could get close and pass on the message.

But then she’d been so shriveled and pathetic looking. I’d broken the rules that had helped me stay hidden for so long. I grumbled, wondering if I needed to do something horrible.

A small gurgle sounded, different from normal noises in the bathroom. It stopped me from going further down that train of thought.

Frowning, I looked around the bathroom for the source of the noise.

Gurgle. It came again.

I pinpointed that one to one of the stalls.

Curiosity got the best of me. The door was open, and I stepped around the divider wall to see inside.

A green slimy hand shot up out of the toilet, followed by a second one that slapped on the edge of the seat.

Gurgle.

The toilet churned as a green humanoid figure pulled itself out of the toilet, dripping all over the stall.

“Fuck,” I cursed, looking around the bathroom. Luckily, nobody else was around.

But standing before me was one of the bactimen that were all over the news.

It rose to seven feet tall, an amorphous humanoid shape. It’s slimy and not solid form kept dripping towards the floor.

I didn’t have to worry about being seen and reacted.

Quickly, I wrapped a box of thermal energy around the bactiman, turning up the heat enough to simulate standing directly under the latest lunar spacecraft launch.

Instantly, the bactiman collapsed, turning into a dried mound of muck. The stall warped out from the heat and the tiles blackened.

I stared at it, making sure that it was truly dead.

I hadn’t spent much time with non-human supers. In this case, it was a string of bacteria that had gained enough Ki to have a power, and then produced copies of itself. And then the more sentient, hive mind bacteria began infecting the city, taking on more human forms.

Feeling good that the bactimen was dead, I scanned once more for any cameras. Feeling satisfied, I walked towards the sink to once again wash up.

As I turned the water back on, screams rang out from the other side of the bathroom door. I sighed, realizing the bactimen I’d taken down hadn’t been alone.

I burst out of the bathroom as green bactimen pulled themselves over the bar, others coming out of the women’s bathroom across the hall.

They were coming out of everywhere and flooding the bar.

Luckily, there were other supers in the crowd. One woman seemed to have some sort of electrical power, blasting one of the bactimen with enough to fry an elephant, but it didn't even twitch.

Heat had worked, but apparently the electrical current wasn’t enough. I remembered they had been becoming resistant to different powers.

I watched as another woman stood up on a table and blasted a bactiman with fire, and it seemed to be working for a moment, before the sprinkler system went off and doused her to where her fire flickered out.

That was not good. This was where I’d normally bail and let one of the other high-powered supers take over, but I couldn’t bail without my friends.

I turned and headed their way.

Darting across the room, I ducked as the B grade super from earlier hurled a table across the room, cutting three bactimen in half. I watched, curious about what would happen.

The bactimen’s bodies shuttered for a moment, the top half leaning and sliding to the side, before it re-solidified back into its original shape.

“Get back, pretty boy. The heroes will be coming soon.” The B grade super told me, grabbing my collar and tossing me along the floor, sliding on the wet tile.

Using a little kinetic push, I slid all the way to my group. “Guys, we need to get out of here.”

“Miles.” Stella’s eyes went wide and a grin spread across her face. She grabbed me and pulled me behind their table. “We are holding out for the heroes.”

I wanted to grumble something about how useless heroes were in the first place. And yell at my friends for staying to observe them in what was clearly a dangerous situation.

Glancing around, I tried to make sure they stayed safe as the fighting continued around us.

I wondered which super Kim would send to deal with this. Many had already proven ineffective at doing much besides pushing them back.

And then I remembered the bounty on Stella.

“Stella, you may be able to help with these.” I tested the water, waiting to see what she’d say.

The bactimen were just bacteria suped up on Ki. If she drained them of Ki, they’d just collapse back to some random bacteria, or they may even die off.

“I can’t.” She shook her head. “My power…”

I grabbed her hand. It was the perfect answer. We could get rid of the threat before more supers showed up, and I wouldn’t have to show my own powers.

“I got you.” I made sure she could see my commitment to helping her in my eyes.

Her blue eyes swirled with power as they bore into my own. After a moment, she gave a firm nod. “Okay. I can do this.”

I wasn’t sure if she was saying it to me or herself, but it would have to do.