Supervillains 2 Chapter 33 (Patreon)

Putting the thoughts of Monster Fruit behind me for a moment, I went to the Bureau’s tailor who made super suits, hoping to catch her while she was fitting Emma.

The tailor had some sort of crazy power that let her make anything into string. She’d made Stella’s suit in a matter of minutes. I had to assume that she then had something else to help her weave the suits.

Knocking on the door before I opened it, I was met with a stunning sight. Emma was standing in front of a mirror with a full emerald-green bodysuit.

Paired with it, she had a set of metal-armored heels that looked terribly uncomfortable, and a gold brace under her breasts. Also, like Stella, she had opted for a large cutout showing off her cleavage.

I wondered if the gold brace was to prevent the suit from tearing. My eyes roamed her body, finally making my way up to her neck, where a large golden choker was dangling with a large new emerald.

Emma was watching me with a huge smile. “On second thought, can I get a second one with a zipper at the crotch?” she asked the tailor over her shoulder.

The tailor choked on a laugh. “No. You’ll have to find a cheaper material if you want another. Take care of that one.” The tailor laughed and shook her head.

Emma laughed with her. The two of them seemed to be getting along well.

“Expensive material?” I asked.

“She can merge gems into those latex strands. This suit is full of gems, mostly emeralds though. She also dyed the threads green to match.” Emma spun around. “If I knew heroes got toys like this, I would have become one sooner.”

Tossing her hair and pursing her lips at the mirror, she did another little dance. “I look hot too. Don’t you think, darling?”

“You look fantastic.” I meant it. She was stunning. The suit hugged and accented her curves in a way that made my mouth water.

She danced over with a smile and pressed me into her chest. “I’ve got you, darling. Even if everything goes to shit, I’ll be here to catch you.”

Emma purred as she pressed me into her cleavage.

“Ahem.” The tailor cleared her throat. “If you’ll please not do that here.”

I pushed off of Emma, blushing at the public display. For some reason, it was more intimate and embarrassing with Emma than with the other girls. I enjoyed the safety I felt with Emma, but it somehow felt far more private, like a vulnerability I wasn’t willing to share with everybody else.

Grabbing Emma’s hand, I pulled her with me out of the tailor’s office and down the hall into the gym. We walked up to the doors, and I spotted Stella laying on a weightlifting bench, with Melody instructing her with her arms crossed. Opening the doors, we headed in.

“But the boobs, I don’t want to squish them.” I heard Stella whine as we walked over.

“You have to bring the bar all the way down,” Melody sighed. “Besides, they’ll bounce back just fine.”

“They will,” I interjected.

Stella nearly fell off the bench. If it wasn’t for Melody’s quick thinking and reducing the gravity, she just might have taken a section of the floor with her.

Emma waved to them in her suit. “Like? It’s new.” She did a little spin in it while the two ladies watched.

“Stella, Melody, I’d like you two to show Emma the ropes for conditioning.” Then I turned to Emma. “We’ll get you set up with everything else by the analysts. Then, this afternoon, you’ll come out on patrol with us.”

Stella managed to rack the weights and then frowned at the two of us, clearly trying to work something out.

“Yes, Stella?” I encouraged her.

“Do I want to carry Kitty Cat or Master?” She hummed like this was a difficult decision plaguing her.

Emma let out a howling laughter. “You can carry me. I think your pillows are first class.”

I would be more than happy to carry you, my fated. Melody won’t be able to.

Looking around, I didn’t see Mona. “Where’s Venus?”

“Working with some of the new recruits. She was tapped to help with the practice for those that don’t have a manager yet,” Melody answered quickly.

That, and my power isn’t physical. The best exercise for me is to continuously use it, unless you were to boost my power.

You don’t want either of the drugs? I asked.

There was a grumpy noise along her thoughts. I want YOU to boost my power, my fated. These drugs are nothing compared to you.

Ah.

Now that made a lot more sense. She most likely had seen my memories of when I boosted Melody and wanted a similar treatment.

We can get it done tonight. Just help me remember. I feel like I’m juggling so many things now.

Why not now? I’m in training room seven with the new recruits. Her tone was insistent, she wanted it now.

I paused, but there wasn’t a good excuse for me to not do it now.There were plenty of things in progress, but none of them needed my personal attention. I’ll be there shortly.

“Everything good here?” When Stella wouldn’t meet my eyes, I went over and leaned down next to her. “Listen to Melody. She’s in charge of workouts when I’m not here.” I looked over at Emma. “You too.”

Stella saluted with her tongue out, and Emma copied the movement. But Emma’s relaxed fluidity completely ruined the gesture.

I rolled my eyes at both of them and left the gym amid grunts and women trying to get my attention as they worked out.

Opening up training room seven, Mona was suited and masked. She was in the process of shooting low-powered lasers at the new recruits as they ran rescue drills.

The training room was set up to be a collapsed building, and it seemed that Venus was playing the villain. It looked much more fun than the types of training Stella and I had gotten stuck with.

Can you boost me while I’m using my power? Mona asked, knowing I was in the room.

I considered it. As long as she could keep control of the level of beams she was shooting and not fry one of the new recruits, I probably could. I checked out the new recruits, noting that Amelia was spewing fog and obscuring Venus’ vision.

“A villain doesn’t care if they hit something by accident. Your fog will not stop me,” Venus reminded her.

“At least I’m not going to be a red lobster after you keep pegging me with those beams,” Amelia shouted back, and Venus sent a barrage of low-power light beams in the direction of the voice.

But I noted that Amelia was playing her part as the distraction. The others were rescuing dummies, and Ivanna was making ice ramps to get them out of harm's way.

Ignoring their practice for a moment, I focused on Mona and her power. Like all powers, there was a sort of circuit in her body. It had no physical representation. I wondered if that was why the scientists were all struggling so much. They couldn’t see what I could.

From prior tests with enhancing Melody’s power, I found that speeding up the way the power cycled had an immediate boost. That’s what I tended to use in combat. But to actually expand her power, I needed to stuff it so full that those channels expanded.

But the rapid expansion would strain them. Melody had experienced that firsthand. But at least Mona would be prepared, having likely seen that in my memories.

I pushed Ki into Mona’s channels, and she let out a small cry, hiding her excitement by blasting the trainees that were trying to get people out of the building.

Ivanna put up walls of ice, but Mona didn’t have to hold back against those, shattering them with powerful blasts and then tagging some of the dummies with just enough power to singe them.

“You are all going to have to help if you want to stop me!” Mona played the part of a villain, drawing from my own thoughts as she twirled up in the air and sprayed enough blasts that the trainees had to duck for cover.

For fun, I sped up the Ki in her body just to give her an extra little boost. I could tell that she was having fun showing off, and I wanted to reward her for doing something that made her feel good about herself.

Feeling her power begin to swell, I gave it my full attention.

Because she had two powers, there were two very distinct sets to the channels. Interestingly enough, one was incredibly thin. I had to assume that was her atrophied telepathy.

Meanwhile, her power of light was a fairly robust channel. She was a natural born S grade super. It was easy to forget she was the only one in my group.

Leaving her telepathy alone, I continued to push on her power over light, expanding it as the walls became thinner.

Amazing. This is what my power looks like. Mona was looking through my eyes. Your assessment is correct; I can feel you affecting my power over light.

I smiled, enjoying the feedback while working on her power.

Would you also improve my telepathy? Mona asked, trying her hardest to hide her eagerness and failing.

I paused at her question. She didn’t really need more telepa—

No! I want more. More connection to you.

Holding my hands up, I went ahead and finished up with her light power. It was the largest power I’d ever seen. Then I moved over to her telepathy, just increasing it the smallest amount. There was almost nothing to work with, so I didn’t improve it much before stopping.

A feeling of contentment settled in my mind.

Thank you, my fated. I might be near my boosted level naturally now.

Be careful with it. The people I’ve tested this on are limited, and I don’t want to cause any issues.

I trust you completely.

Rolling my eyes, I turned to focus on the trainees again. They were almost finished with the exercise. Most of them looked like they’d spent too much time in the sun, red irritated patches of skin covering them like they had missed spots with their sunscreen.

Amelia flew herself to the circle where they had collected the dummies and collapsed. She had more red patches than most of the others.

“I give up. You are too strong.” She pointed an accusing finger at Mona.

“I am practiced.” Mona hovered in the air for a moment before landing outside the circle. “Besides, I brought the Deputy Director here to watch you all practice. He’s the one that will get you assigned to a manager.”

“You brought him to watch us fail.” Amelia was distraught. “He’s never going to put us on a team now.”

“I can see the gems you could all be. Amelia, what you did was especially heroic, using your ability to distract Venus so that the others had a chance to save the victims. That is playing to your strengths.”

Amelia snorted. “Not very strong if she can just fire wildly into the fog until she hits me.”

“Okay, so what could you have done differently?”

She paused and actually considered it for a moment.

Ivanna was soft spoken, but she raised her concern. “You talked too much. That’s how she hit you.”

Amelia deflated. “Yeah. You are right. I should learn to shut my trap. Also, I think I should have just hidden behind a wall after releasing the fog.”

“That’s another good one,” I encouraged her, trying to push them even a bit further. “I’m actually in the process of putting together a new team for Victor to manage.”

“What about your team? Three is a small team,” Ivanna poked, looking at Venus with wide, impressionable eyes.

Amelia kicked the ground and grumbled.

“What was that?” I ask.

“We are all probably too low-powered for your team. You have fucking Venus, Demoness and… and… who’s the last one? The weak one?” she asked the other trainees.

“Pulsar,” one helpfully added.

And it made me wince. If the trainees thought that, it was no wonder Melody was feeling insecure. She was plenty powerful at an A grade, but it was true that Venus and Demoness were extra powerful.

“Pulsar performs vital roles to the job, even if she doesn’t get to be as flashy as the others.” I tried to boost Melody’s reputation; she was already down on herself.

“Like what?” Amelia asked.

Saying that she was my moral compass wouldn’t exactly go over well. They probably expected their Deputy Director to have a moral compass of his own.

“What you don’t see is that she controls gravity. She is often supporting Demoness by either weighing her down to increase her mass, or reducing the gravity on something she’s about to hit. Pulsar is also in charge if I’m unable to be present. I trust her judgment implicitly.” I talked Melody up, and it worked.

They were wide eyed, a few nodding and making eager noises.

“That’s so cool!” a shout came from the group.

“You are dating her right?” another asked.

“Well, that’s between—" I started, but they completely ran over me.

Amelia’s excited voice drowned the rest of what I was going to say. “He dates everyone on his team.”

“Really?” Several of the trainees excitedly squealed as the chatter began to rise as they all gossiped back and forth.

Great, this is what they all say about me. I’m more than a piece of man meat.

I am confused. You are both excited and terrified. Mona was rifling through my mind to see if she could answer the question. She apparently picked up on my desire not to lie to them but not the subtlety of how to do that.

“He is dating and sleeping with the three of us. He is also sleeping with the fourth that joined the team today,” Mona replied, seeming pleased with herself for being helpful.

I slapped my hand into my face as nine eager faces turned towards me. “Do not try and shoot for my team just because I date the others.”

“But there’s a chance?” Amelia asked.

Mona continued her policy of honesty as she spoke again. “Melody has actually been watching Ivanna closely. She wants someone with a power set like hers.”

“OH MY GOD. She’s his number two, you are IN girl!” The girls went crazy and started cheering on the quiet Ivanna, who was turning beet red and trying to look anywhere but at me.

“What about me?!” Amelia asked Mona.

“Miles is unimpressed with your power usage, but is he impressed with your heroic spirit.”

MONA! Stop. There is a difference between not lying and blabbing everything. They don’t need to know all of this.

But it clearly is making Ivanna happy, and Amelia seems encouraged by this even if I delivered it bluntly. Mona frowned as she touched on my thoughts.

I was annoyed, particularly with her at the moment.

And the second she saw that, she recoiled.

I cursed. I was annoyed, but I didn’t want Mona to feel bad either. Passing calming thoughts to her, I let her know that we would be fine, but she should use discretion in the future with our family’s personal matters.

That seemed to calm her.

Ivanna, on the other hand, had fled the training room after being overwhelmed by the other girls.

“Okay, the rest of you. Let’s talk about what happened before I got here and how you could have improved. Venus, go talk to Ivanna. If she’s really that interested in joining the team in a purely professional context”—I emphasized the word professional—“then please make a formal introduction between her and Melody.”

“Yes, my— Miles,” she stumbled, almost calling me by her pet name.

The girls didn’t miss that. “Oh, she almost called him his bedroom name. They are totally smitten!”

“If only I could have a man like the Deputy Director, I could die happy.” Another swooned, jokingly falling over.

I rolled my eyes at their antics, ready to focus on anything other than my relationships. But I knew they were also a younger generation. They would have grown up in schools even more heavily skewed than the general population.

“Calm down. That’s part of being a hero. Now, let’s run through your training and what you learned.”