Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 31 (Patreon)

Melody watched in awe as I made a magical fanfare while cooking breakfast.

Plates and food swirled around the kitchen as I walked through the chaos, perfectly avoiding everything.

“You seem very happy this morning.” Stella chirped as both of them sat at the table wearing nothing but my button-down shirts.

“It’s like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.” Melody agreed. “You know, they say a lot of powers have mental components.”

Though I was reluctant to admit it, my power did feel far more natural when I woke up. “Careful, you two. It isn’t like I need to be more powerful.”

“Wouldn’t hurt.” Stella shrugged. “Who knows, maybe one day you could actually take on a titan.”

I shrugged, sitting down as our breakfast of eggs, hash browns, and sausage landed before each of us. “And why would I want to fight a titan? I’m happy where we are.”

Stella’s tail curled around my leg under the table, running along my inner thigh. “I’m very happy here, too. We know there’s going to be more, though.”

Melody grabbed my other hand. “Now that you are pulling yourself out of the gloomy mood, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have to fight to keep girls off you.”

I rolled my eyes. “You two are exaggerating. Eat up.”

“Pretty sure Mindfuck would roll over on her back for you.” Stella stabbed at her food. “You should check in on her today.”

It was everything I could do to avoid choking on my hash browns. “I don’t think that’s what she’s after.”

They said nothing, just eating away at their food with smirks on their faces.

“Besides, Venus is coming to Point City and joining our team.” I paused, waiting for their reaction.

Neither of them had a problem with it, but Melody had a pensive frown. “Is that wise, given that she’s looking for you?”

“We can only hope that I will pass smoothly under her radar as her manager. After all, she thought that the man she’s hunting was in Point City at the time of the Leviathan attack. So, I should get a pass.”

Both of them nodded, understanding my logic.

“We are going to have to be careful with your powers.” Stella reminded me.

I had gained some freedom to use my powers around the two of them, but Stella was right. With Venus joining the team, I’d have to keep them a little closer to my chest.

Hearing my tablet chirp, I drew it off the counter with my powers for me to see.

Kim’s message started with a sweating smiley face.

“Fuck. Venus is here a day early. Apparently, she’s already waiting for me at the Bureau.”

“This is going to be fun.” Stella laughed. “Definitely won’t be a massive headache.”

Melody stood up. “I need to go back to my place and get a change of clothes.” She narrowed her eyes on me. “Someone,” she emphasized the word, “tore up what I wore yesterday.”

I gave her a guilty smile. “In my defense, you were too tempting. Maybe you should try rubbing some mud on your face to deter me.”

She came around behind me and leaned over to kiss me. “I’m borrowing a t-shirt and sweatpants from you so I can get home. Should I bring a few sets of clothes over?”

I looked over at my living room, which still had bags from Stella’s shopping trip. “This place might be a little small for it, but yeah, bring your stuff and maybe this weekend we’ll go see if we can’t dust off my other place.”

“Oh. His secret home.” Stella teased. “I want to see all of your stolen art.”

“You know, that manor you were found in is going up for auction.” Melody reminded Stella. “If you wanted to, we could probably try to poach it for cheap. I hear it had an issue with a bunch of animals dying around it.” Melody teased.

Stella wrinkled her nose in thought.

I was going to immediately reject the idea because it would have bad memories for Stella, but given that she was thinking about it, I held my tongue.

“We are making a very nice salary now.” Stella started off, still thinking. Then she turned her focus on me. “Think you could talk Kim into giving us a chance to buy it first?”

“If that’s what you two want, it’s done.” I had no problem buying the manor.

Melody gave me another kiss before sashaying away in one of my shirts, letting me get a long look at her long legs.

“I like her.” Stella grabbed my hand. “But I wonder what Mindfuck would feel like. Is it like water, or jello, or maybe like a water balloon?”

I glared at her. “I do not need that in my head. After I get Venus settled, I need to check on her.”

“Yes, report back what she feels like.” Stella nodded, stretching her arms back with a big yawn. “I’m going back to bed.”

“Nope. You are going to fly me to the Bureau.” I poked her cheek before she could flee. “You don’t get to go back to sleep after keeping me up all night.”

Stella gave me a sheepish grin and scampered off to get dressed, leaving me at the table by myself for a minute.

I couldn’t believe how much had changed in the last two weeks. I felt like an entirely different person.

Stella had blown into my life like some natural disaster and picked everything up, rearranging it.

I was happy with the changes, but they brought their own new challenges.

My secret was at a higher risk, but so far I’d kept it contained. And with my new role, I really felt like I could do good and help fix the system that had been so broken for so long.

I realized I was starting to look forward to each day in a way I hadn’t before. Stella and Melody had brought light into it. And while I wasn’t sure we needed more, they’d already proven me wrong, so I’d trust their instincts as we moved forward.

The idea of what Mindfuck actually felt like flit through my mind, and I cursed Stella for putting it there.

The little minx was going to get me in trouble if she kept putting ideas like that in my head.

Wind swept into my apartment as Melody rushed out to her place, and I figured it was time to get going, anyway.

I walked into the bedroom to Stella zipping up her super suit, a big grin on her face as I held out my arms to let her carry me. “Come on. Time to head to work.”

She snatched me up, flying out the window. I closed it behind us, but left it unlocked for Melody.

***

“You are late.” Venus stood in the lobby, tapping her foot. Her eyes roved over me, and then she scowled at Stella. “I wonder why.” She raised an eyebrow as she looked Stella up and down.

Stella stepped forward, getting in Venus’ face. “You have a problem with Miles, then you have a problem with me.” She stood her ground, and I was proud of her.

Venus held Stella’s gaze for a few moments before Venus smiled slightly, tipping her head as she stepped back.

If she wanted to be a part of our team, she’d have to fit in better than that. I didn’t care if Kim had assigned her; I wasn’t going to deal with her being confrontational the entire time.

Plus, where it should be temporary, I knew it would be a much longer assignment. She was in town to find the augmentor, and I was invested in her not finding it.

“Come on. We need to do your power assessment. Then we’ll get you working out with the team in the gym.” I broke up the potential girl fight, noticing Kim enjoying the show from up the stairs.

She had a surprisingly bright smile on her face, given the state she had been in the night before. I hoped she’d gotten a bit of closure as well.

Leading Venus, I walked with her to the large armored room that we used for power evaluation. The walls were scorched and chipped where powerful supers had shown off their abilities. There were tungsten dummies rigged with dozens of types of sensors ready for demonstration.

Stella tagged along, crossing her arms and standing protectively next to me. “Don’t accidentally hit him.”

“I have far more control of my power than you do, Demoness.” Venus narrowed her eyes at Stella.

“Do you have a problem with her?” I asked.

“She used to be a villain.” Venus had clearly done her homework on our team.

“I belong to Miles now. If he wants me to be a hero, then I’m a hero.” Stella leaned against me, looking up at me with adoring eyes.

Pulling her into a more professional posture, I positioned her at my side. “Stella had her power go haywire; it wasn’t her fault. I can have you cleaning out the sewers everyday if you have a problem with my ability to manage heroes.”

Venus snorted and focused on one dummy setup in the room. “Let me show you what I can do, then.”

She floated up in the air before summoning a sphere of light behind her that rapidly fired off high concentration beams of light.

Each of them registered on my tablet. She had some firepower, but not that much more than pulsar. The difference was in her rate of fire, which was significantly higher.

“Nice. Now, let’s see something big. Maybe a blast that you can summon in under two seconds.” I clarified, not wanting her to try to use that same strike she used on a titan.

Venus floated up, throwing her hand forward. The ball of light launched a powerful lance of energy.

The lance had some strong readings. “Good. Now, are you dependent on that ball?”

“I am not.”

“Good. Stella, drain that ball every time she tries to form it. Venus, I want you to capture Stella, no telepathy.” I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have them work out some of their differences. And they needed to understand each other's powers. They couldn’t coordinate and work as a team without that knowledge.

Venus floated up, her loose white dress flapped against her thighs. “Bring it Demoness.” Several orbs of light spun around her.

I waited, hoping they’d learn to respect each other a bit more.

“What’s my win condition?” Stella asked.

“If you can knock her down to the ground or pin her, then you win.”

“Perfect.” Stella grinned.

Stella flapped her wings, rising into the air as her draining power reached out and stole away the ki that Venus was using to manipulate the light.

The orbs popped in a flash of light that I was ready for, shielding my eyes from it.

As soon as the flash was gone, Stella grabbed Venus, dragging both of them to the ground.

Venus screamed and threw a blast of light just before she hit the ground, throwing both of them back up into the air as beams of light pelted Stella.

Luckily, Stella was far too durable for them to do any actual harm. They made her skin just slightly more pink though, like a low-level burn. I waited to see what Venus would try next. She’d have to do better.

But Stella wasn’t waiting. She continued to drain Venus, using her strength as well to interrupt any attempts at attack.

“Venus, you may use your telepathy, but I ask that you refrain from breaking the first law of telepathy.” I told her pointedly.

Telepathy was an extremely powerful ability. It had only taken a month after the first telepath became known for politicians to suddenly work together on a set of laws governing telepathy and similar powers. They never seemed to agree on anything else, but apparently they could agree on that law.

It was highly illegal to root around in someone’s mind like Venus had tried to do to me back in Coast City.

“Get ready Demoness.” Venus warned before her eyes flashed.

Stella stalled mid air, stunned and confused for a moment.

It was just long enough for Venus to get a more powerful blast ready and hit Stella in the chest.

Stella shot across the training room before flaring her wings and rebounding back up into the air, still shaking off the effects of the psychic blast that Venus had just thrown at her.

“Good. But you are supposed to capture her, and you missed a chance, Venus.”

“Simple enough. I can just repeat that.” Her eyes flashed again as light gathered around her and stretched out like a net towards Stella.

I smiled at the net, proud that she was adapting her technique.

But so was Stella. Stella closed her eyes, landing on the ground. Then she threw a wild punch in Venus’ direction. It was sloppy, but for a reaction to a telepathic attack, it was pretty solid.

Her fist blew apart the net of light, and Stella blinked her eyes back open as more of her ki-draining suckers flew to Venus and started leaching from her.

Stella shot off the ground hard enough to make a sonic boom as she caught Venus once again.

This time, Venus was ready too, wrapping light around both of them.

Venus changed the script and lifted a hand at me before firing off a snappy beam of light.

I didn’t dodge, already feeling Venus retaining control of the beam. She was bluffing.

Unfortunately, Stella didn’t know that. She moved into Venus’ net, getting in between me and it, blocking the beam.

The net of light constricted around her.

“You fucking bitch!” Stella screamed, shattering the net around her as her eyes glowed bright blue. Her suckers latched onto me, trying to power herself up as much as she could. “You do not attack Miles!”

“I think I won.” Venus pointed out.

Stella didn’t see it that way, smashing the ground and shattering one of the Tungsten tiles before grabbing one piece and getting ready to hurtle it at Venus.

But I knew with her strength that shard of metal might actually hurt Venus.

I grabbed her arm. “Calm down. She was in control of that beam. I was never in any danger. Right, Venus?”

“Exactly.” The hero crossed her arms and lifted her head proudly. “I’m surprised you could think through that clearly.”

If I’d been at actual risk, I might have panicked. But I knew it wasn’t actually going to hurt me.

“Great work team. I think you both learned quite a bit.” I settled Stella, giving her a look to let her know it was over.

Stella threw the piece of the tile down on the ground with a thud then wrapped me up in a tight hug, kissing my head. I didn’t like the public display of affection at work, but I let it go since she had been trying to defend me.

“She’s incredibly strong, but isn’t it a risk that you are her Achilles heel?” Venus floated down to join us. “Without you present, I don’t think I could have won.”

Stella snorted, still clinging to me. “Low blow.”

“A villain would do it.” Venus pointed out. “You need more experience.”

I pried Stella off of me. “I think you two are getting along well enough that I’m going to leave you two here to train with each other.”

I turned, focusing on Stella. “You still have to workout though.”

Venus wrinkled her nose at the word workout.

“You too.” I commented to Venus.

“Don’t worry about us. We’ll totally go lifting together after an hour.” Stella winked at Venus.

I knew if I left them on their own, they wouldn’t be going to the gym at all. But letting them conspire together seemed like a good way for them to bond.

I’d work them harder the next day. “Okay, I need to go check on Mindfuck.”

“The villain?” Venus wrinkled her nose.

“Yes, and now the therapist. I’m having her work as a counselor for non-violent offenders.” I explained.

Venus was skeptical. “I think it’s a lost cause.”

I shook my head. “If we don’t try to turn them around, then they will just forever clog prisons. I have hope that we can redeem at least a few villains.”

Stella squished an invisible object and winked at me.

Once again, I was reminded of her request to know what Mindfuck felt like.

“Don’t hurt each other while I’m gone.” I turned and left before Stella could insinuate anything else.

“We’ll be good and workout.” Stella yelled after me.

AN - whoops I scheduled this for 2pm. Sorry for the delay.