Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 15 (Patreon)

“That was so cool.” Stella closed the door tightly behind her.

“It was.” I had to admit. “But you heard her. It’s training time.”

Opening up my tablet, I saw that I now had meetings on my calendar. I assumed Beatrix had taken care of adding them. “And I think you are coming with me for physical conditioning.”

Stella hissed. “You know, I think I forgot something.” She started to step away, but I casually grabbed her arm and pulled her back with me.

“No, all powers, especially those like yours, work with your body. That means the better condition your body is in, the more your power has to work with.” I knew this already, but something told me there were more details in the dozen emails that Beatrix had sent me.

I had some advantage; my ability to manipulate energy allowed me to control my calories to mold my body. But I still had to work out like anyone else to gain strength.

Stella wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want to be a bulky muscle girl.”

“We can work around that, but if you want, we can also work on getting you a tight little bubble butt.”

That caught Stella’s attention. “Go on.”

We walked through the lobby again, heading to the other side of the massive building. As we moved, people stopped and turned to check Stella and me out.

At first I thought I was getting the usual attention of ladies as I walked around.

But I quickly started to notice that many of them were staring at Stella with a look of distaste.

“Careful, I think someone has started rumors about you.” I warned Stella as we left the lobby and most of the gawkers behind.

“Yeah, that didn’t feel good.” She replied, her voice quieter than usual.

Pushing forward, I opened a pair of glass doors. Behind them, every piece of gym equipment imaginable was laid out in triplicate. Most of them had strange black objects on them where weights should go.

Heroes were inside, lifting weights and running on the track under the supervision of managers.

We were noticed as soon as we stepped in.

There was an uncomfortable silence that was broken by the lumbering stride of an eight-foot tall man. He was built like a brick wall.

I instantly recognized one of the city's S class and premier super heroes.

Rocksolid was a bald, tan man. His power increased his density several folds. Supposedly, he was heavier than a fully loaded semi-truck, and all that increased density meant his body was that much tougher and his muscles packed a hell of a punch.

“Morning.” His voice sounded like he was chewing gravel. “I think it’s best that you take the day off.” He focused on Stella as he spoke.

His stature and voice made it seem aggressive, but nothing about his mannerisms suggested it.

I watched him a moment longer before deciding he was trying to be a peacemaker.

“What’s the problem?” I got straight to the point.

Rocksolid’s head swiveled toward me. “Word has gotten around about Omnigirl getting put in a coma —”

“Wait, she’s in a coma?” Stella blurted out.

The large man blinked several times. “I thought you knew.”

I shook my head for both of us. “No one told us. I’m sorry to hear that.” I did my best to be sympathetic. Despite what she did to me, to everyone in the room, she was a colleague. I knew disparaging her publicly would only create more trouble.

“Given her and Demoness’ fight the other day and some rumors floating around about her sleeping with your manager, some people think you were the cause.” Rocksolid shrugged, seeming to just repeat what he’d heard. “Your history has also been getting around.” He nodded at Stella.

A distasteful frown pressed itself on my face. “First of all, I’d never sleep with Omnigirl. Though that didn’t stop her from trying.”

I did appreciate his intel, though. It meant that the rest of the Bureau had no idea what Omnigirl was up to the night before. I’d learned that she was apparently bragging about doing something with me. And they’d apparently all made rash judgments about Demoness, despite the fact that she’d saved their asses with the Bactimen.

I looked over. Stella was frozen, unsure how to react for a moment before she spoke. “I was called in to deal with a problem by Kim last night. If she hasn’t made the report public, then there’s nothing I can talk about.”

Rocksolid grunted. “Just letting you know the score and why people are giving you the stink eye. You’re right; we should wait for Kim to release what happened.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.” I said, crossing my arms. Kim was going to protect the BSH reputation and the reputation of heroes before she’d admit what Omnigirl did, just like always. “So, are you going to block us?”

He turned his body to let us pass. “My bad. Wasn’t my intention. Sometimes I forget my own size.”

Stella held her chin high and stepped past him.

I put a hand on her shoulder. “Their misunderstanding means nothing.” I reminded her.

“Still sucks.” She snorted. “Where do I start?” She looked around the room.

And something told me that Stella had some steam to blow off.

“Here, let’s start with some deadlifts.” I walked her over to a deadlift bar that had the same black half-spheres attached to the sides. “I wonder…”

Tapping the far end of them, a little digital reading popped up. I realized the end had a little gear shaped handle that I turned and the weight dialed in.

“Can you do some of these lifts without your powers?” I asked Stella, trying to figure out what weight to set it to.

“I don’t actually know what a deadlift is.” She smiled brightly at me. “Care to show me?”

Dialing the weight in for myself, I admired the system, wondering how it worked. I had a feeling it was some mad scientists’ prize project.

Looking at it with my super power, I could sense gravity increase on the modules as I turned the dials.

“So, you bend over the bar like this.” I demonstrated for Stella. “Then you lift with your hips and push them forward. It’s important to keep your back flat.”

Putting the weight down, I stepped away. “Try it a few times with your power.”

“Okay,” she stepped up and bent down over the bar before looking over her shoulder. “How’s that?”

“Good.” I tried not to stare at her rear in the tight suit. “Now drive with your legs and hips, pulling the bar up.”

Stella stood up forcefully enough to swing the weight out in front of her until she arrested the bar’s momentum, keeping her arms locked out in front of her. “I think I did it wrong.” She took one hand off the bar, holding it idly to her side before she started to twirl it.

“Put the bar down.” I rubbed my face. I’d forgotten how strong she was.

She put it down with a sheepish grin. “Okay, let’s try that again.”

I dialed the weights up to two thousand pounds. “Okay, try this.”

Stella did it far better this time, though it still wasn’t nearly enough weight for her.

“She’s going to need at least ten thousand before you can work on her form.” A voice said behind me.

I turned and froze.

Melody, the hot blonde I’d dated before Stella, was standing there, a hand on her hips and a towel over her neck as she watched Stella workout.

“Hi Miles. Thought you were in marketing.”

“Do you know Miles?” Stella became far more interested in Melody than the weights. She came over and glued herself to my side.

Melody raised an eyebrow, looking between the two of us.

I knew she was trying to figure out what was between us, and I didn’t need that drama..

“Stella, shouldn’t you be lifting?” I tried to pry her off of me, but it was no use.

“No. I want to meet…” She left an opening for Melody to introduce herself.

“Melody.” Sure enough, Melody offered a hand that Stella shook. “We went out on a single date.” Melody trailed off as she said it, distractedly watching Stella cling to my arm.

Stella nodded. “I bet he tried to push you away. He does that with everyone, but I’ve decided that he’s not going to push me away. I even dragged him here to be my manager.”

I gave Melody a weak smile. Stella’s answer wasn’t exactly how things had gone down, but it was good enough.

“She’s good for you.” Melody finally stated. “I wish I had that sort of resolve.”

“Join me— I mean us!” Stella switched targets, grabbing Melody’s arm and pulling her along. “Miles just started today, and he needs a team. Besides, everyone is angry at me because they think I put Omnigirl in a coma.”

Melody’s eyebrows nearly jumped up into her hairline. “Wait, what?”

Melody tried to pull away, but I knew as well as anybody that once Stella set her sights on you, it was hard to separate. Sure enough, Stella jumped in, rambling. “Plus, that was a great tip on the weights! It really sounds like you know what you are doing, and you have a great body. When Miles tried to show me the lifts, I just stared at his ass. I could use some help if you have a minute.”

“Stella.” My voice was filled with warning.

It was no use. She already had Melody picking up the weights to show her. Melody was giving an expression that was amused, bewildered and sympathetic all at the same time.

I had to try not to laugh, glad I wasn’t the only one who could get stuck in her web.

She’d blossomed from the girl I first met to this exuberant woman who was currently drawing Melody down the rabbit hole.

“Okay, now you try. You can’t keep avoiding this.” I pulled Melody away from Stella and set the weight to what Melody had suggested. “Just do one repetition; we’ll keep dialing the weight up until it’s a struggle.”

Stella started lift and then worked to dial up her weights on her own.

I turned to Melody once Stella was finally doing the workout. “Sorry about this. If I knew I’d be here now, I would have told you the other night.”

Her eyes wandered over to Stella. “I can see how you got pulled into this. Do you really need more heroes?”

I froze for a moment, thinking about how to answer her question. I rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah, Kim just mentioned that today. I haven’t been able to give it more thought.” I was honest.

Melody looked back at Stella. “So, she’s just a casual fling?”

“She wears you down, but she’s also pretty great to have around. Something makes me think she’s not going anywhere.” It felt strange saying it out loud, but I knew that Stella and I were going to become more.

“If… I were to join the team, would I have the same option?” Melody asked.

I looked up, surprised at the question. Remembering that she had wanted to go on a second date, I realized what she was angling for. I raised my hands to slow her down. “That’s not why you should join a hero team.”

“No, I’m joining it because the new S grade star is on the team, and I can trust that the manager is good.” Melody clarified. “Just asking what perks I get.” She winked at me.

But I frowned. “I’m not some perk.”

She shrugged, seeming to use Stella’s approach as she went up on her tiptoes and placed a brief kiss on my nose. She smiled and watched Stella workout when she stepped back.

“What was that?” I pulled away.

Melody was shocked. “That worked.”

“What worked?” Stella dropped the weights, making the floor shake.

“He tried to push me away, so I kissed him and he stopped.” Melody clarified for Stella.

With wide eyes, Stella looked over at me. “I can do that?”

“No. Neither of you can do that. This is work. Here we are professional. Now, if you've found your weight, let's get you set up for five sets of five to build some base strength.”

Stella pouted at Melody for help.

“Sorry, but he’s right. You actually need to do some workouts. It will help with your powers.”

***

“I’m so tired.” Stella sat next to me, her chin resting on the desk.

“Good, there’s plenty of room for improvement.” I commented, scribbling on my tablet.

We’d just finished up power assessments, and I was going back over my notes, adding in more details.

Today I observed eight supers. All had odd powers and were trying to classify their power class. Thankfully, I could just measure their ki and was able to measure them appropriately. The extra tests were just for optics.

It was actually a super straightforward task to measure them.

We were about to go into our shift, so we’d stopped. I was waiting to get reports from The Spine.

Melody walked back into the room, laying down a little case in front of each of us. “Our earpieces.”

I opened up one of them, and it was a little black circle the size of my pinky nail. “This is much better than what we had before.”

“They go like this.” Melody folded back her ear to show hers sticking to her skin. “Supposedly they work with vibrations rather than actual audio, so they work underwater and underground too.”

Putting mine on, I tried it out. “Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear; it’s like you are in my head.” As Melody spoke, I understood exactly what she meant.

It was still hearing, but it sounded like it was coming from inside rather than outside. I shook my head a little. It was a very odd sensation.

“Oh, I want Miles in my head. Testing. Testing.” Stella came alive, putting the little circle behind her ear and speaking a bit too loudly.

Melody winced. “You don’t have to yell.”

“Testing.” She said normally.

“Much better. Now, let’s see what trouble we can solve for the city.” I picked up my tablet, noting that I had controls for the comms on there. If Stella got too enthusiastic, I could tone her down.

Not to mention it would seem I had full control over who had access to our conversations. Still better safe than sorry.

But I spotted a note from Beatrix letting me know we were almost up. I clicked around, viewing a live map of the city with various pings.

What drew my attention was a low, slow pulse outside the city. I took a screenshot of it and sent it back to Beatrix.

What’s this?

Titan sensors. Don’t worry about them; if they pick up a titan, the city sirens will go off.

Point city hadn’t seen a titan in a very long time. Coast city, on the other hand, had repelled one every year. Four of the seven known titans dwelled in the oceans.

They were creatures that were so powerful that no hero had ever killed one. The best cities could do was to weaken them enough to drive them back into the ocean, only for them to surface in another city months later.

Monster sighted. Approaching the city from the south-eastern quadrant.

The message popped up on my tablet.

“Girls, gear up. We have our first mission. There’s a monster coming into the city.”

Stella jumped to her feet and ran to put on her new super suit. Melody was still wearing a generic one.

“Remind me and we’ll get you your own suit tomorrow.” I told Melody, pausing as I asked. “Do you have a hero name yet?”

“Pulsar.” Melody struck a pose before sticking her tongue out to break the mood. “How was that?”

“Not bad. But let’s worry about getting the monster first.”