Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Stella walked out of the bedroom, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned.

As she stretched, the button down of mine that she was wearing strained against her chest, and a nipple nearly popped out.

“Morning sleepy.” I had sensed her moving around and was now pretending to finish the pancakes in a skillet.

Without my powers, I was actually a terrible cook.

“Oooh. Pancakes.” Stella’s nose wiggled as she let it lead her over to me in the kitchen. “How’d you know I loved pancakes?”

“Given that was what you thought to make me, I figured you at least didn’t hate them.”

She looked to the side at the same pancake mix box that I had thrown away earlier. I’d wiped it off and returned it to the counter.

“I love them.” She took the plate as I handed it to her and made her way over to the table, her spaded tail flicking out behind her and catching the bottle of syrup as she passed.

As her tail lifted and flicked up, I got enough of a look to know that she wasn’t wearing any underwear under my shirt. My body stirred at the temptation.

“What are you going to do about clothes?” I asked, my voice gruffer than usual, as I sat down with her at the table. I placed my own stack of pancakes in front of me and carefully put an even amount of butter on each pancake in the stack.

Stella was much less careful. She took one giant glob of butter and stuck it on top before dousing her stack in syrup.

“I brought my super suit yesterday, and I can go get another outfit from the manor later.”

“You are still living there?” I asked, concerned.

She nodded. “Kim helped me out with a credit card and a little cash for food, but I don’t have a place to live. Apparently, the manor is going to get repossessed by the city, anyway; the guy was a criminal.”

She took a big bite of pancake. “I figure I have until they come to formalize and take it over to leave.”

Leaning back, I wondered about my sanity as I thought about what I was going to say. “Grab all your stuff or stuff you want from there, and we can move it here. We could do it after work if you want.”

“Really?!”

I nodded, but quickly added. “Just until you can find a place.” I needed to temper her excitement. I wasn’t sure how it would go, and we were still new. The thought of having her in the apartment at the moment, surprisingly didn’t bother me.

“Of course.” She bobbed her head while her eyes stayed locked on me. “I don’t have much, I swear.”

Something made me doubt that. Even though she’d been living in the manor, I felt like a bunch of the designer clothes were about to find their way into every nook and cranny of my pristinely organized closets.

“So then, what’s your day at the Bureau look like today?” I neatly put just enough syrup that the pancakes absorbed it, but not enough to make a huge puddle on the bottom of my plate.

“Go in, wait around until someone tells me to go beat someone up.” She answered honestly.

“Got it. Also, rule number 3 if I’m going to be your manager. You only go off to beat somebody up if I direct you to. I’m not letting them send you off on small assignments. You are not an errand girl.” They’d only given her Tier 3 status for now, and she should be higher than that. I wanted her to get high-profile saves so she could progress forward.

Stella snapped a salute. “Yes Boss.”

“At least that’s better than Master.” I glanced down at her pancakes, noting she’d already finished her food.

I stuffed a big hunk of the remaining pancakes in my mouth, getting ready to leave the table and get ready.

She grabbed my hand to stop me. “I need another kind of meal.” Slowly, she picked up my hand, waiting to see if I’d take it away.

When I didn’t, she brought the back of my hand up to her plump pink lips before she kissed it. She stared into my eyes as she did.

Her blue eyes crackled with power, and my hand tingled against her lips.

We stared back at each other for a minute in what might have been one of the most sexually charged moments of my life.

There was a wet pop as she pulled her lips off. “There. All ready.”

I paused, still staring at her, before I looked down at my hand. A lip-shaped bruise was forming. “You gave me a hickey.” I stared at it.

Stella laughed, jumping to her feet and dashing into the bedroom. “Whoops!”

While Stella got dressed, I rubbed at the back of my hand, my mind wandering to the night before.

Mindfuck knew my secret, and I needed to find her before the Bureau got their hands on her. If I didn’t, I’d at least need to be in a position to protect my secrets.

I’d been careless. I'd been too excited about a chance to let loose, and I’d been far too cocky.

Stella came out while I was brooding. I looked up, realizing she was there and staring at me with her head tilted to the side. “Worried about the Omnigirl stuff?”

“No. I told you she isn’t a problem.”

Stella shook her head. “I meant, are you worried about her waking up? Given what you’ve told me about your power, I assume you sapped her power and knocked her out.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s getting awfully close to rule 2.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “If her waking up is a problem, I need to know.” Stella crossed her arms, making her chest rise up in the temporary supersuit.

“Her waking up is a problem.” I confirmed. “So is Mindfuck.”

Stella’s eyes narrowed in determination. “Understood. Protecting your secret is too important.”

I leveled a concerned gaze at her. “You are turning your life around.”

“With you.” She added to my statement. “I’m turning my life around with you. That means we need to keep your secret. So… what can we do about Omnigirl?”

***

Stella landed with me on the steps of the Bureau of Superheroes. It was far from the secret superhero lair in the movies; it sat right in the heart of the city.

The building was a sprawling seven-story tall, with large arching roofs of reflective glass. A concrete bridge ran over a small waterway that stretched out underneath the walkway up to the building.

People flocked in like any other building in downtown Point City, except this one also had superheroes flying around it. They often landed on the large walkway leading up to the building.

“Still feels odd just walking in there. I guess this feels more like my first day on the job. The park was less formal, this feels intense. I’m not quite sure what to expect.” I commented as Stella and I walked over the bridge.

She had her phone out and was texting Kim. “She says everything you need is ready. Kim was hoping I’d snag you.”

I still had my doubts about Kim. What she’d done in the past compared to what I’d seen so far was in conflict. But I was willing to work with her, for now.

The walkway ended in a semicircle with nine sets of double doors spread out before us. I picked one, walking into a large simple and pristine lobby.

Kim was talking on the phone while walking down a set of stairs. She waved to the two of us and held up a finger for us to wait as she wrapped up the call on her way over.

Just as she got to us, she pulled the phone off her ear and turned it off. “Sorry about that. The general never really stops bugging me.”

“He’s your boss?” I asked, knowing that the BSH was a government agency.

Kim shrugged. “Up until I stood the BSH up, the military ran heroes. This is much better, though.”

She continued. “Anyway, you don’t care about that. Let’s get you settled, get things setup for you.” She waved us both to follow her.

I got the feeling Kim never really stopped moving during the day.

“So, Stella, how’d you finally manage to wrangle him down? Use your charm?” Kim asked casually.

“Not that way.” Stella blushed.

I cleared my throat, understanding what wasn’t being said. “It would be inappropriate for Stella and I to have that sort of relationship.”

Kim waved it off. “If it was a woman manager and a male hero, I’d want some more assurances that it wasn’t forced. But, Miles, the world needs more harems.” She did a little hip twist, mimicking Miss Point City in the commercial we’d given her.

I rolled my eyes, but Stella was grinning ear to ear. She apparently had taken Kim’s green light to heart.

“Well, that was just an ad.”

“That you were a big part of. Maybe you should show the rest of the Bureau that it wasn’t all talk. Seriously, Miles, the world is in for a rough ride if we don’t get more harems. Sexual frustration is often an early indicator for violent crime.”

I paused. I hadn’t known that.

“That, and the population is about to hit a major cliff if we don’t adjust.” Kim turned down another wide hall. “Stella, this is where I’m going to drop you off.” She knocked on a door before poking her head in.

“Director Smith.” An old voice said from inside.

Kim opened the door wider to show Stella. “This is one of our newest heroes and a bright star. I was wondering if we could get her a real suit.”

“Yes, I’ll put this aside in a moment.” The old lady inside had a large quantity of string hanging from her fingers as she worked on another suit before her. “Come in, young lady. We’ll start going over what you need.”

Kim practically shoved Stella inside before closing the door. “There, that’s one task underway. Come with me; I have more to show you.”

“You really don’t need to put in all this effort. This is just temporary. I am on PTO from the marketing firm.”

“Sure it is.” Kim said, not believing me for a second. “Do you know why we have managers?”

“To manage heroes.” I said simply.

“To protect heroes.” She clarified. “You not only manage them, but you also look after them as people. That’s the most important part, and it’s why you’ll stick around. When Candice told me I wouldn’t be meeting your team because you sent them home early after finishing a big project, I knew exactly what kind of manager you’d be.”

I grunted, not loving that she’d been watching and keeping tabs on me. I knew it was because of Candice’s ability to influence, but I hadn’t realized I was under surveillance.

“Anyway, here’s where the real magic happens.” Kim pushed open a set of plain double doors at the end of the hall.

The room beyond was dark, lit by a multitude of screens. People sat at desks, working through all manner of work..

Up front were three massive screens. The middle one had an overhead view of the warehouse from the previous night. To the right and left were a bunch of charts and graphs that I didn’t understand.

“What’s this?” I asked. She’d paused next to me, waiting for me to take it in.

“The Spine. Everything we do goes through here before we send a hero out for a mission.”

“Kim.” A familiar face, Beatrix, popped up from her station. “We are looking over the satellite data from last night.”

Ah, that’s what was on the big screens.

“There are strange energy readings that spiked in the warehouse about a minute before the team’s entry.” Beatrix touched something on her computer, and the right screen focused on one of the graphs. “See these delta waves? Off the charts.”

“Do we know who it is?” Kim asked, her face turning serious.

“No. There’s no hero in our records that matches this. I have a team skimming all of our satellite data to see if there has been another event like this.” Beatrix answered sharply.

I didn’t like how much effort they were putting into their search. It had never even occurred to me that using my powers to that extent would be noticeable from satellites. But I was glad that I was able to be on the inside and see how close they were getting.

I looked at all the information they had in front of them. I’d need to be more careful. Thankfully, I was sure she’d come up empty unless they went a decade back.

Kim nodded. “Well, B, this is Miles. He is going to officially join us as Demoneess’ manager. And we’ll see if we can’t get him another one or two. His team will take an afternoon shift while Omnigirl is out.”

“Shifts?” I asked.

“Heroes do shifts to keep from tiring them out. There are exceptions, like if something huge like the Bactimen or heaven forbid one of the Titans get close to our city. But otherwise, we try to operate on shifts.” Beatrix answered my question.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Beatrix shook my hand with both of hers. “I’m the head analyst. A lot of the managers get their own analyst. But until you hire one, just run requests through me.”

I turned to Kim. “I get my own analyst?”

“Or two. It’s vital we use our resources before sending a hero in.” Kim’s face was in a hard set. “What would happen if we had wrong information and sent in a pyro to a lab filled with explosives? What happens if someone gets the address wrong and a hero crashes into an innocent home?”

Beatrix parroted what sounded like a line that had been hammered into her head. “Always triple check before sending a hero in.”

Kim smiled. “Exactly. But that’s the analyst's job. They also keep an eye on what’s happening in the city. They know before you do when a crime is in progress.

“When Demoness is on duty, you’ll start getting reports about what crime is popping up.”

“Then what do the managers do?” I asked, seeing The Spine as taking up most of the functions I thought a manager would.

“Training, pre and post mission briefings. You normally have a team, and even though The Spine might come up with something for you, it is your call whether or not your heroes go into action. While in action, everything is coordinated through you.” Kim explained.

“So, if the situation evolves, I’m in the group trying to adjust?” I asked.

“Exactly. It might be something like another monster is inbound to the first. We’ll tell you and not the hero. We don’t want to distract them while they are in battle. It will be your job to determine if and when to tell them information, as well as when to tell us that they are in over their head and need backup.” Beatrix added more to what Kim had said.

I nodded. That made sense with what I’d experienced so far with the bactimen situation. “What about when we aren’t flying out to save the day?”

“Most of the managers take up some training positions. You’ll end up working with a variety of heroes, not just your own. Given that you are new and need to build up a team, I want you on power assessments and on physical fitness.” Kim grabbed a tablet off of a large desk, hers I assumed, before she handed it to me.

“Do I just—”

“B will email you a schedule. I apologize, but I need to get moving. Go check in on Stella’s suit fitting first, though. Your heroes are your priority.” With that, Kim was off again.

Beatrix shrugged. “She’s always like that. I’m not even sure she sleeps.”

I booted up the tablet. “Do you have my schedule?” I was ready to get started with the day.

“Yeah. I’ll shoot something over shortly.” She sat back down at her desk as her fingers blurred across the keyboard.

“So, question, what are the other positions?”

“Some require specialized training. There’s mental wellness, medical, a few teaching aids, even combat training, though that’s mostly retired heroes turned managers. I’ll send you some of the onboarding documents.”

My tablet chimed with notifications.

“Thanks for everything.” I gave her a little two-fingered salute, but she was so engrossed in her work that she just nodded distractedly, not looking back up at me.

Turning, I headed out of The Spine and followed the route I had taken back to where we had dropped Stella off to get her suit done.

Mimicking Kim, I knocked before opening the door.

“There he is.” The tailor nodded towards me and Stella turned around.

“Here I am. What’s up?”

Stella held up a sketchbook. The design on it was Stella in a new suit, but there were countless erasure marks and redraws.

“I think it’s lovely. Of course, the functionality of the material will be exceptional.” The tailor commented, proud of her work.

The whole design echoed Stella’s wings in the details. There were sharp points with swooping lines arching between them.

“Do you like this?”

Stella shrugged. “I just need to look good, right?”

“What colors is this going to be?” I asked the tailor.

“Purple and black. Fitting for her mutations.” The tailor nodded to herself.

I paused. Something about those colors felt off to me.

“Absolutely not. Navy blue, gold and black where you need it. She’s going to be fighting an uphill battle with her mutations. It needs to look heroic.” Marketing Stella was one place I didn’t need analysts or onboarding packets to help.

The tailor frowned, but nodded slowly. “I think I can do that.” She tapped at the sketch. “What about this?”

I took the pencil from her and pointed at a few spots. “We need to take away some of these corners.”

“And cutout here.” Stella pointed to the chest.

I turned to stare at her.

Her jaw was set with a stubborn cross of her arms.

I sighed. “Sex sells, so yeah, we cut out here and here.”

“That makes the legs separate pieces.” The tailor pointed out.

“Easier to put on anyway.” Stella argued.

I left that, moving to the top and looking at the horns on the image. “What are these?”

The tailor's eyes lit up. “End caps to protect the points, and decorative braces for the twist. They’ll have some sharp points, so someone can’t grab them so easily either.”

I nodded. It seemed functional.

I checked with Stella, and she didn’t seem to mind. “Okay. I think this is an excellent design.”

The tailor nodded, taking the sketch book and making the cutouts that Stella wanted. “I went over it with Stella, but so you know, I will make this with a special type of synthetic latex fibers. It’s going to be fire resistant, bulletproof yet flexible. Unfortunately, it’s always shiny.”

Stella looked at me for my approval.

“Shiny is good. That it protects Stella is better.”

“It’s pretty durable, but it can be a pain to wash. I’d recommend using your generic suit for training. We can give you a few more of those, no problem.” The tailor stated, and I watched her pick up hundreds of strands in her fingers before they moved so quickly my eyes couldn’t follow them.

Even though I was used to abilities, it was crazy to watch this old lady make Stella’s suit, just like in the sketch. It was so tightly woven that I would have thought she made it from a single sheet of material.

“I’ll have it for you in a few hours, dear. Best get training so you can wear it well.” The tailor murmured as she focused on her craft.

Stella looked up at me, a giant smile on her face.

AN - And now he's working for the heroes. But he's got a conflict of interest with Omnigirl and Mindfuck. Also, note, this is the last chapter for the $2 tier this month.