Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 12 (Patreon)

I walked down the stadium until I reached the floor level, then I headed over to the women’s locker room. No one bothered me, but I got more than a few looks from women gathered around. I could feel them staring at my ass as I walked past.

Stella was waiting outside the locker room, still wearing her beaten up superhero costume.

“Go change. I’ll wait here. Promise.” I reassured her.

She paused, but then nodded and bolted inside. I wondered if she’d tear her clothes rushing to get into them.

“Miles.” Omnigirl approached me, walking a little unsteadily, holding onto her ribs. But it was impressive that she was walking on her own after the punch she’d received. She had a massive bruise forming, just under her right eye from her fight with Stella.

“Oh, hey.” I waved at her and went back to waiting on Stella.

Omnigirl didn’t take that well. She stepped up, putting an arm on the wall behind me. “What about our date? You left so quickly that I didn’t get your number.”

I was not into aggressive women. And she was taking it to a new extreme. I had to hold myself back from flinging her across the stadium. But I wasn’t about to risk showing my power for something so petty.

“Yeah, look, I’m sorry. I tried to let you down easy. The fact that I didn’t stay around or give you my number might have given you the hint.” I hated when the woman needed me to spell it out for them. Sometimes they could be so pushy.

The smirk on her face fell into a glower. “I’m the best thing that could ever happen to you.”

“Sure.” I ignored her, once again turning back towards the entrance.

“Miles.” Stella came running out of the locker room. Her wings were gone, and she was dressed in a pair of skin-tight jeans with a girly pink crop top.

The only thing that gave her away were her black horns. Her tail blended in like a high-waisted belt.

Stella paused immediately, taking on Omnigirl’s position in front of me. “Get the fuck off him, or do I need to teach you another lesson?” I watched as tension permeated her entire body, but I didn’t have to get her help.

There was nothing Omnigirl could do to me if I didn’t want her to.

Omnigirl pushed off the wall, cracking it in a show of force. “You got lucky today. If I studied up on your super powers, I bet I could wipe the floor with you.” She sneered at Stella before she flipped her blonde hair behind her. Heading off, she strode into the locker room.

“Sorry.” Stella apologized.

“Don’t be. She wasn’t more than a nuisance.” I brushed it off.

Stella hesitated, biting her lip. “Thank you. For the help.” She clarified after a pause.

“Ben and the girls dragged me out to see this, and I didn’t want them to see you lose.” I lied a little, not wanting her to think it meant more than it did.

She wilted a little. “Oh.”

“But, since you passed, I thought I might offer for us to go out tonight after work. We can celebrate your joining the Bureau, even if I’m not their number one fan.” My stupid stomach was doing backflips. I hadn’t been nervous in a long time.

Stella stopped and grabbed me, turning me to face her. “Really?” She looked like she was waiting for me to turn it into a joke or prank.

“Yeah. We can talk about other things too. And I’d like to have dinner early, maybe six o’clock? I’ll meet you in the lobby of my apartment, if you remember where that is.”

“Of course, I’ll be there.” She nodded so sharply she nearly hit me with her horns.

I grabbed her elbow and pulled her back into walking. People were starting to stare. “So, how’d you do?”

Stella stuck out her tongue, making a goofy face. “Tier 3 hero.”

“What?” I was shocked.

“Kim said, ‘You need to learn control. I don’t need a hero that can’t control their power like that.’” She did her best impression of Kim, and it wasn’t too bad.

I shrugged, making sure no prying ears were listening before talking. “It’s not entirely your fault. You were running on fumes at the start of that fight, and I boosted you well beyond your natural capabilities.”

“Is that what you did?” She leaned over, seeming to enjoy being my co-conspirator..

“Yeah. I can manipulate your superpower, or anyone else’s. I’m able to turn them up or down.” Shock rode through me. I couldn’t believe I’d just told her that, but I found that I really trusted Stella. She’d shown she wasn’t some airhead that would let information slip, and she’d been nothing but loyal to me.

I used my abilities to deaden the vibrations in the air outside our conversation to hide our words. I would not risk somebody with super hearing being able to catch our conversation.

Stella was being oddly quiet. She was just staring at me with a shocked expression.

I held a single finger over my lips. “Don’t tell anyone. You’re the first person in…” I struggled to identify the last time I’d ever told someone about my powers. Even back when they first came out, my aunt and uncle were already repeating the words of the news, calling me a monster.

I’d never even told them. As for my mentor, we discovered them together. I had told no one since I understood just what they were.

“I think you’re the first person I’d ever told.” I said out loud as I realized it.

“Thank you.” She grabbed my hand, giving it a small squeeze. “I can see how a superpower like that would breed caution. People would do horrible things to get you to use it.”

I nodded, and she didn’t even know all the ways my power could be used.

Even with my strength, I didn’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, knowing the one time I relaxed would be when someone would swoop in and contain me.

As we walked out of the stadium, Ben was standing with the others. When they saw the two of us holding hands, Ben started jumping up and down.

“He’s a lot, isn’t he?” Stella watched the large man bounce around.

“Kind of grows on you, like puppies and mold.”

She turned slowly and raised an eyebrow at my comparisons.

“It's true.” I shrugged. “But I have to get back to the office and at least show myself. Six o’clock?”

“Even if there’s another bactimen invasion, I’ll ditch it and be there.” She smiled. Then she leaned in and kissed my cheek, leaving a little tingle where her ability drained a touch of ki from me.

She lingered for a second, but then continued on her way, doing a little happy hop when she thought I wasn’t looking.

“Duuuude.” Ben’s hand slapped down on my shoulder. “You two just made up?”

“Sort of. We are going to have dinner after work. But enough about that. We need to get back to the office and show our faces or Candice will realize we’ve been gone half the workday.”

I made eye contact with all Ben and the three women. “We just lost track of time at a team lunch. We worked during it, anyway.”

They all repeated after me with smiles.

“Good. Now let’s get back to work. Mary, Kate, I need both of you working on setting up the logistics for a shoot in two weeks. Rachel, do me a favor and get a list together of the supers we picked. Send it to the Bureau so they can arrange for the supers to meet us for the shoots.”

“Can do.” Kate nodded.

“What about me?” Ben asked.

“Ben, you don’t work for me.” I reminded him.

He shrugged. “Honestly, I just goof off at work most of the time. I wrote bots to handle most of my tasks.”

“Then… I don’t know… help Mary.”

He grinned widely and bounced his eyebrows at my direct report.

“No. Down boy.” I wagged a finger at him. “She needs to get work done.”

Ben looked crestfallen. I really didn’t need him distracting Mary, though. We were already on a tight timeline,

“I’ll keep him under control.” Mary promised me.

***

Stretching in my office chair, I let my eyes take a break from emails and budget reports. Blinking, my eyes found the clock on my office wall.

I cursed. It was already past five thirty.

Leaning over to the right, I looked out the little window in my office. The bullpen of cubicles was empty. I imagined a little tumbleweed rolling through.

Candice was probably the only other person in the office by now. It often cleared out by four thirty.

And I couldn’t hang around much longer. I needed to get going if I was going to make it home for my date with Stella.

Closing my laptop, I called it quits. Whatever else was there would have to wait until tomorrow.

Which meant that, of course, Candice chose that moment to swing by my office, popping into my doorway. “Miles, can I get you to look at something?” She even put a little of her ability into her voice.

I knew that meant it was important. “Let’s make it quick. I have to get home.”

“Moonlighting for the BSH?” Candice squinted her eyes at me, and she put a pretty heavy dose of her ability in her voice.

“No.” I said, even as I stamped out her power. “A date.” I told her honestly.

She looked shocked. She’d never known me to prioritize my personal life over work in the time I’ve been here. “Lucky lady. It’ll be quick.”

Now I was shocked. I hadn’t realized she’d consider that a valid reason to hurry out of work. Usually when she wrangled me, she’d keep me for hours.

“There’s this bounty that the BSH is trying to wire to our accounts for distribution, but we have no record of posting it.” She grabbed her laptop, pointing at emails. “We have a federal obligation to give the bounties out once earned, so we need to fix this.”

Oh, I knew exactly what the cause was… me.

Leaning over her computer, I pretended to look at the emails for a moment. “I think I know what happened. Send this to me? Ben will have to do the fix in the morning.”

“Really?”

“It’s happened before, but Ben caught it before it escalated to you.” I lied.

“Ben really is a godsend. That boy gets so much work done.”

It was everything I could do not to crack up. Ben loafed around in my office most of the time doing nothing. But I still liked him.

“He really does great work.” I agreed.

Candice nodded distractedly as she started to send me the email and turn away. “Have fun on your date.”

I wondered for the first time about Candice’s personal life. Did she have somebody she made time for? Or was the lack of a person in her life making her want me to have something different? Because she had never let me off the hook with such urgency before.

Whatever the reason, I took my opening.

I had a little pep in my step as I hurried out of the office. The elevators were empty, so it was easy to get out.

As I hurried, I nearly ran into the security guard.

“Careful.” She dodged out of the way, moving surprisingly quick for her size. “See you tomorrow.” She saw I was in a hurry and didn’t bother me, just waving me a good day.

Her mood had certainly improved since I’d worked with the BSH this weekend.

Not bothering with thinking about it further, I hurried down the street. It was past peak rush hour, so commuters were closer to a trickle. And it was those who stayed late that were heading home.

More suits, fewer polos. And far more people were on their phone as they walked, not bothering to look both ways and just crossing the street.

I got about two blocks down from work when a loud whoosh above me caused me to look up.

Omnigirl was flying overhead and crashed down in front of me, cracking the sidewalk.

The crowd around me all scattered and I grumbled to myself. I was already late.

“Calm down everyone. I have the situation under control.” She pointed at me. “You, do not attempt to activate your superpower. On behalf of the Bureau of Super Heroes, you are under arrest.”

Now she had my attention.

And apparently the attention of everybody around us. The crowd gasped and stepped back, horror in their eyes.

All it had taken was a few words from Omnigirl and in all of their minds, I was now officially a villain. Their faces masks of shock, barely hiding the disgust that rode beneath.

“Omnigirl, what the hell are you doing?” I was pissed.

I did not appreciate the way the crowd had turned on me so quickly at her words. This was bullshit.

And it was triggering memories I so carefully kept buried. My superpower rode just at the edge of my awareness, ready if I needed it.

“If you come quietly, I won’t have to use force.” She pulled a pair of zip ties out of her utility belt and handed them to me. “Put these on.”

I stared at them for a moment, really considering squashing her like a bug right there on the pavement.

But a part of me was also curious about what she was after. I knew she was pissed about earlier, but I wondered if there was more.

I had a feeling she was going to take me away somewhere, somewhere quiet. Likely, it wouldn’t be any prison or actual system for criminals. No, this was personal. I’d rather not show my powers anywhere that had so many eyes, anyway.

Bringing me to a secluded spot was going to be her biggest mistake.

Ripping the zip ties out of her hands, I played my role, pretending to accept my fate.

I was certain she thought I only had some physical enhancements. She was really going to be surprised when she learned what I could do.

“Good.” She grinned, seeming proud of herself before she turned and addressed the crowd. “Everyone, the villain is apprehended. Please clear the area.”

Grabbing my collar, Omnigirl ripped me off the ground, hurtling both of us up into the air.

“Having fun?” I asked casually.

“You…” she squeezed the collar of my shirt just a little more than a warning. “Be quiet. You only talk when I tell you to.”

Twiddling my thumbs, I wondered if I should just knock her out of the air right then and there. But then I wouldn’t know if others were involved. Her manager could likely be in on whatever this was.

So I waited, biding my time. Heck, I might even be able to clean out the riffraff from BSH for them. They would owe me big time, even if I was sure they wouldn’t see it that way.

As Omingirl flew, I noticed the position of the sun in the sky. I cursed. I was missing my date with Stella.

Her trust in me had already been tested. If I stood her up, I wasn’t sure if she’d give me another shot.

But I had to hope she’d understand. I needed to see this through.

Those thoughts were cut short as Omnigirl descended towards a nondescript warehouse. I smiled, glad that I’d been right.

She landed on the roof and pulled the lever for a hatch. Once it opened, she carried me down on her shoulder. As she landed, my gut drove itself into her shoulder.

I let it happen, not quite ready to show my hand yet.

The warehouse was dark with only a few lights on, leaving large pools of inky darkness between the racks.

“You got him?” Omnigirl’s manager stepped out of the shadows and into the light under one of the lamps.

I ticked off another win for myself, listening to see if there was anybody else.

“He doesn’t look so special.” A slippery smooth voice stated.

A puddle of swirling pastel colors ran out into the space next to the manager, and then a woman rose out of it. Her body was a strange alternating color of lavender and a pastel green.

Her hair, her eye shadow, and even her lips switched between those two colors.

“Who’s Puddles?” I joked.

“I’m Mindfuck, you twat. Now I see why you called me.” She rolled her eyes at Omnigirl, who still held onto me.

I knew that name.

Mindfuck was a famous villain in the area, known for altering and manipulating people’s brain chemistry and turning them into small-time robbers and thieves.

In the end, the mindless drones would be caught, but the valuables they had stolen would be nowhere to be found.

She had managed to stay in the shadows, but now I knew why.

Mindfuck was working with Omnigirl.

“Just come to mommy. I’ll fix you all up.” She held out her arms to me,and I watched as small drips came off of them, like she wasn’t entirely solid, even now.

She puckered her wet, liquid lips, and I grimaced hard.

As much as that was tempting, even with my powers, I was not going to risk losing my mind to her.

“It’s just you three? No more coming out of the shadows?” I asked.

Omnigirl’s eyes narrowed suspiciously before she went to throw me at Mindfuck. Refusing to let Mindfuck touch me. It looked like it was time to take my powers out for a spin.

I halted myself mid air. “You’ve made a big mistake.” A savage grin spread curled on my lips.

AN - Didn't want to mess things up with daylights savings so this one came out an hour early. But I'll go back to 2 AM tomorrow. Also, a little of Miles' bad self is about to come out. Poor Omnigirl.