Supervillains 2 Chapter 26 (Patreon)

With a flick of my wrist, I opened the maintenance door. "Come on. The tradition is no fun if we ruin it beforehand."

Emma ran one hand down my shoulder and squeezed my arm. "I can’t believe you’re making a girl wait." She flicked her fingers along my arm in a small tickle.

"Give me the details. What are we looking for?" I asked her, trying to focus her on the job.

"Seventh floor."

"Which room?" I asked, frowning.

"The entire floor is just a single room. Above the fifth floor, they are all enormous suites. There's badge entry via elevator, and cameras outside the elevator." Emma gave me the rundown as we stepped over piping and headed towards what I expected was the lobby of the building.

I snorted. "Didn't pick an easy one, did you? What about inside?"

"The local records say he got a building permit to reinforce the floor two years ago. It's wide enough for a small vault room."

"If he's put in a fucking vault room, we have to at least assume that he's got a security system. But you haven't been able to see inside of it yet, so we'll have to assume the worst." I wasn’t even putting on a show for her. It was easy to slip back into our old routine, running through the play.

The skills never really left me; I’d just gotten rusty. And it was easier to rely on brute force, just less subtle.

"You sure I can't just huff and puff and blow the place down?" I asked her.

Emma snorted. "Where's the fun in that?"

Villains could usually be categorized into three types: those who were angry and wanted their version of justice or vengeance, those who just wanted the thrill, and those that were just plain crazy.

Emma was a mix of the latter two, at least by her definition. She didn’t really need the gems, but she did desperately want them.It was not debatable if she liked the thrill. Emma lived for the heist. It was an exercise in her skill to steal something. Most of the time, she justified it through her desire to improve her power.

"Whatever happened to your stash? It never came up in the investigations for tax evasion."

Emma winked at me. "A girl has to have at least a few secrets." She brushed her upper arm, and I knew she was subtly checking to make sure she had her Nine Lives on. Hidden under her sleeve was her ultimate backup plan.

We exited the maintenance closet and walked calmly through the lobby.

Both of us were dressed nicely enough that no one gave us a second glance. It also helped that Emma had perfected the calm, don't-mind-me walk.

The elevator would be our first real challenge.

"Excuse me." I snagged the attention of a security guard.

The large woman turned, her eyes lighting up as she scanned my body up and down. "What can I do for you?"

Emma was already moving past and brushing up against the guard, while I maintained a respectful distance.

"Sorry, I thought I recognized you. You look almost exactly like my ex-girlfriend." I gave her a silly smile and shook my head.

The guard grinned, happy to look like a girl I'd dated before. "If I'm your type, then why don't you call me sometime?"

She took out a business card for her security firm and clicked a pen while keeping eye contact. I gave her a sweet smile, encouraging her as she jotted down her number.

I took the card from her and gave it a little kiss. "That sounds lovely. But I need to get going. I'll see you around."

Seeing Emma already in the elevator door, I waved to her. "Hold that please."

We played the part of two polite strangers as she held the door and I rushed in.

As soon as the doors closed, Emma was on me. She pressed me between the elevator wall and her chest. "She’s lucky she didn’t know you were with me. I wanted to claw her eyes out. You’re mine."

"I am not just yours, you know that. And we have a job to do." I knew she was just playing; Emma was always playing. "Got the badge?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course." She smiled, dangling a badge with a little black string. She’d cut it from a retractable clip.

With that done, I wrapped the two of us in a bubble of light to take care of the security camera outside the elevator. Then it took a little extra effort to reach outside the elevator and find the camera, but once I did, I just stopped the flow of electricity to it for just a moment.

If I held it too long, then likely the system would send off alarms. Someone might even come running. But just as the elevator door stopped, and we exited, the elevator moved on. The guard's security badge would be left on the floor of the elevator.

It was only about a ten second gap. It might be enough to make someone curious, but when I let the feeds continue, we would be under the camera. They would see nothing but the same old, boring hallway.

Most security guards would just attribute it up to a glitch in the system if you kept it short. I could play quick and dirty with my powers, but Emma had complained that being invisible ruined it. She wanted the thrill.

"Come on." I dampened the vibrations so that they wouldn't carry, and we went past the camera to the big wooden double doors that met us on the other side of the elevator.

"My turn." Emma danced forward and produced a set of picks from her jacket, whistling as she worked.

I continued dampening the sound as I reached around the door with my power. Instantly, I found a magnetic switch and made two copies of that energy, holding it to the two components in case either of them was connected to the system.

Reaching further into the room, I could feel faint circuits under the floor. There were pressure sensors. I lifted us both slightly into the air, and Emma didn’t even flinch. Smooth as could be. She finished the lock and swung the door open.

As the door opened, Emma gave me a radiant smile, and I almost faltered and dropped my powers. I had to focus to maintain all I was doing. I was floating us while adding an air gap to remove any vibrations, heat, or light from hitting any security defenses the apartment had in place.

It was a lot for me to focus on at once, and when Emma smiled at me like that, it was hard to do. Stealing was her foreplay.

As we moved into the apartment, I took a moment to get a good look around. The place was modern. Everything was either white or black, designed for the two colors to clash constantly, drawing the viewer’s attention to the square corners and sharp lines.

I never really understood the appeal. It was so distracting, but maybe that was the point.

"You are always the perfect partner. Pressure sensors?" she asked, doing a little twirl in the air and kicking off the wall to float across the room.

I had to separate our bubbles and create a second one to keep her from tripping alarms. Then I mimicked vibrations from one bubble to the other. "Stop playing around."

"But it is fun. I haven't been weightless in a while."

I grunted in response while looking around. "Where was the floor reinforced?"

"Bedroom closet," she replied, pushing off the wall again and swimming through the very fancy apartment.

Floating after her, I let my eyes linger on the bed.

Emma followed my eyes to the overly pillowed bed. "Is your bed that comfortable?"

"Probably. Stella loves it and bought one that was way too big."

"Stella, the one with horns?" Emma asked distractedly as she went over to the closet and opened the door to a big steel, angry looking vault door.

Emma purred as she pushed her body up against the vault door, stroking it with her hands before putting her cat ear up against the door. “A Bricker 8000. This’ll be fun.”

There were very few locks Emma couldn’t crack, and she enjoyed getting into each and every one of them. She continued hugging it as she listened to what was happening inside as she worked.

"Yep, and Stella is wonderful. Honestly, you'd get along with her pretty well. She was a villain before."

"Really?" Emma's ear twitched. One planted itself against the vault, the other swiveled to me.

She was playing with the dial, moving it back and forth as she noted the noises happening within the vault door.

"But she works for the BSH now?" Emma asked it casually, but I could tell that I’d piqued her interest.

"Yes. At one point in time, she had poor control of her power. Because of her type of power, that meant that those she interacted with often died. I found her on her bathroom floor, contemplating ending it all. So I took her in and helped her with an emergency request from the BSH to deal with the Bactimen," I explained.

Emma didn't respond for a moment as she slowly turned the dial and then spun it back the other way. "Sounds like kindred souls. You knew exactly what she was going through."

"Yeah, and I was in a pretty bad slump when I met her. She's peppy and pulled me right out of it, along with pulling me into the BSH. There are more than a few villains I've been working with to help get back on their feet."

She nodded along with me. "They are all poor unfortunate souls that you are collecting. I understand that. I did once run an orphanage. So you work at the BSH to protect them and to locate others." Emma paused. "But how can you stand working with heroes?"

Her anger towards heroes didn't run as deep as mine did, but Emma had her own issues with them.

"There’s still moments when I get frustrated. Heck, I punched a manager earlier this week, set him straight from all the grandstanding. But I do think it helped him reassess what he was doing. I can make a change from the inside. And the villains I'm turning into heroes are doing real good, more good than the original heroes."

"And you want me to become one of these heroes?" she asked, following where I was going.

Admittedly, I wasn't sure what I wanted besides keeping her out of prison again. And if I was honest, I was starting to really want her to stay in my life.

"Somehow, I don't see you wearing a cape and busting villains," I replied, scrambling to think about where she could be helpful. "Too often we are behind these organizations. I'm sure a team will get made up soon to help us investigate."

She purred and pushed her rear back against me, starting to sway. "Oh. That sounds like I would still get to prowl around."

I realized I knew exactly how to entice her. Emma needed the thrill. "Yes, taking down a dangerous organization from the inside is tricky. You’d need to infiltrate their entire organization."

Emma growled as she leaned back and popped the vault door open. Then she rubbed up against me and wrapped her arms over her back and around me. "You really think you have something."

"I’m following in your footsteps, saving wayward souls. I’m just doing it a little differently. I’m helping those who have been harmed and pushed into villainy unfairly to have a chance to turn it around.” She’d loved her orphanage because she loved second chances.

She licked the bottom of my jaw. "And bring them into your bed. One by one, marching them through your sheets."

"I'm growing attached," I admitted to her.

Emma pursed her lips and planted a single kiss on my neck. "We are still partners. Even when I went away, you helped me." She sighed. "I guess it's time I let you choose the reward you want. If you want to help a bunch of wayward souls and put them on your chosen path, then so be it. I just want to steal some gems along the way."

"We recovered and never gave back a black diamond ring. Huge thing, worth forty million. Yours for the price of joining my team."

Her eyes shined. "Black diamond?"

"Yes, and it can be all yours. But you don't lie. You have to join me."

It was only then that I saw into the vault. She had been distracting me, but as the door finished swinging open, I could see what was beyond.

"Holy fuck," I cursed.

She'd said a 'large amethyst', but this was beyond my expectations.

"I'll agree to join you if you help me get it," she purred, distracted from my previous offer.

The vault had been set in what would have been a large walk-in closet, and they needed it. Amethyst was a cheaper stone; it could be found in some fairly large formations.

What was in front of me defied my expectations of even that. About four feet of purple crystal stood before me. The bottom was still the shell of a geode, but the crystal structure was absolutely enormous, and most of the geode's shell had been removed to show it in its full glory. The thing was about the size of a motorcycle.

"How the fuck are we supposed to get that out of here?"

Emma bit her lip. "I only need to get my hands on it."

"Is that big enough that you can take me with you?" I asked, knowing that she could teleport short distances with amethysts. And she could usually only do herself and whatever was on her person. I wondered if this stone was big enough to give her more power.

"I could get us back to your manor," she commented, and I decided to ignore the fact that she clearly knew where I lived.

I nodded, looking back into the vault. To get to it, we needed to get inside.

There was a set of drop bars above the vault that blinked with a warning light. We’d set off some sort of protocol.

"This thing is going to lock us in as soon as we enter. The panel in the back disengages it. If you are wrong about being able to teleport both of us, I’ll be stuck." I knew I could make it messy and blast my way out if needed, but it would also raise more questions as the BSH investigated it.

Emma only waited, knowing it was up to me to trust her or not. Despite how she often did what she wanted, she had never betrayed me, not even when she was going down herself.

"Fine. We go in, get locked in, and then when we remove that glass. You touch the stone and get us out immediately." I made my decision.

Pulling us both past the entrance, I didn't stop any of the sensors, knowing that it wouldn't matter.

Sure enough, bars fell down over the entrance, and the warning lights blinked one last time before the panel at the back pinged urgently for me to stop the alarm.

Hopefully, we were right.

I used my power to pull the vault door closed behind us and summoned a ball of light so that we could see.

"Just break the glass if you have to," I told her.

Emma rolled her eyes. Instead of doing as I suggested, her hands turned into claws, and she cut a circle in the glass.

An alarm immediately started blasting, making me wince. The sound was highly annoying.

“Trust me, darling?” Emma yelled over the siren, putting her hand on the amethyst and holding the other out to me. “We could go anywhere in the world.”

“Back to my manor. We’ll figure out what to do with you from there.” I put my hand in hers.

Her red lips spread in a smile, and everything except us and the massive gem winked out of existence. When we reappeared, we were next to my torn leather chair.

It was the same one that she had clawed up, marking her territory and notifying me of her arrival in the city. When we had emptied my stash apartment, I'd taken it with us and put it in the attic.

"Home, safe and sound," Emma purred as she spread her hands along my chest.

A faint sound of hammers caught my attention, and I frowned before I remembered that the front of my house needed to be repaired.

The way Emma's ears twitched told me she had heard it too.

"Repair men working on our front door. There was... an accident this morning."

Emma noted that I didn’t seem concerned and moved on quickly. She leaned in and smothered my lips with hers, running her hands up and down the back of my head while her throat purred. "Bedroom?"

"This way." I flicked open the hatch in the floor, and she hopped up, wrapping her legs around my hips.

AN - The book is done at 37 chapters. So I need to speed up how fast you guys are getting them so you have the book done before release.

I've been a little quiet lately as I have been focusing on finishing this book and polishing the 2nd draft. Officially finished 2 weeks late from my original book a month schedule, but I've been sliding back every book for a while. It is going to be a tight one for me to get this through my editors and out for the 9th. I'm not willing to sacrifice quality though, worst case I am a day or two late.

Also that means I'm sorta on break now :p