SSV3 Chapter 5 (Patreon)

“No. I told you I can’t dance.” Stella wrinkled her nose as I got up and offered my hand.

At her reluctance, I tilted my head in disappointment. “I’m here. There won’t be anything bad that happens.”

Stella took the last of my wine and shotgunned it before blowing out a breath. “Okay. I can do this.”

She stood, and I realized her dress had ridden up to where her red panties matching the dress were briefly visible. I stared as she pulled the dress back down and scowled at me. “No cheating. That’s for later.”

But the smile in her eyes and sway of her tail behind her betrayed her excitement.

“Although, we could get to it faster if we don’t dance?” She tried, but I wasn’t letting her get out of it.

I took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. “Just let me lead.”

“Isn’t the girl supposed to?” Stella asked.

“Not always.” I lied. “Come, let me show you.” I got the two of us to an open space on the dance floor and wrapped my feet in kinetic energy. Then I found the rhythm of the song and stepped to it.

I wasn’t some expert ballroom dancer, but I could do a few basic steps and lead Stella through them. “Just follow my lead. Keep your feet in front of mine.” Holding her waist with one hand and a hand with the other, I started into the steps.

Stella made it about three seconds before she stepped on my foot and then got flustered. Her super strength would have crushed an ordinary person’s whole foot into mush.

But my barrier held, and I prevented any damage to the floor.

“Sorry.” She muttered.

“Didn’t even feel it. Come on, it takes a little practice, and that’s the fun part.” I pushed her back into dancing.

After a few fumbles, she could keep up with me on the basic steps. Soon after that, she couldn’t stop grinning as we danced.

Occasionally her eyes followed the better dancers who twirled and dipped, and I could see her interest.

“Okay, let’s try a dip. Next time we sway back to the right, I’ll dip you.” I told her.

Her eyes lit up, and she nodded excitedly.

As we swayed back to the left, she nearly threw me across the dance floor as she forcefully fell into a dip.

Thankfully, I locked down the surrounding space with my power, so neither of us went flying. “That was the left.”

Stella had a goofy smile on her face. “It was my right.” She paused. “I think.”

Better stick with a countdown. I rolled my eyes. “On three then.”

Swaying to one side, I counted off. “One. Two. Three.”

On the third, I cupped her waist with my arm and brought her down low so that her hair just barely brushed the floor. She shot up her leg like she was a seasoned salsa dancer, only to realize her dress had ridden all the way up. At that moment, she was flashing her underwear at everyone.

Stella straightened up in an instant and pulled her dress down as her face blushed to match her dress. “Let’s get off the dance floor.”

Ignoring her statement, I just kept dancing. “It’s fine. Everyone's a little tipsy; they didn’t even notice.”

“I want this to be perfect.” Stella gave me a cute pout.

“It is.” I promised her and pulled her back into dancing. The night had been lovely.

Stella relaxed, and I leaned in for a kiss.

She melted against me, still swaying to the music as we lingered together for just a moment and returned to dancing. “That I could get behind.” She let out a content sigh.

I smiled, basking in the moment with her on the dancefloor as the front doors burst open.

Surprised murmurs moved quickly through the restaurant as everybody’s attention turned towards the outburst.

Several dark-attired women stomped into the space, not looking very interested in eating. The front woman had far too many spikes on her shoulder pads. I decided to call her Spikes.

“Everyone, you are being robbed. Jewelry, wallets and purses go in the bag.” Another one of the villains held up a canvas sack.

Stella became stiff, and her eyes filled with murderous rage as she turned to the villains.

I grumbled to myself. Shakedowns were one of the most pitiful villainy moves in my book. They were messy. Unless you knew who you were going after, there was always the risk of ending up biting off more than you can chew.

“Get lost.” Stella snapped. “You are ruining my date.”

The apparent leader of the group laughed to try to stay in control. She needed to stay in command of the space, or everything would quickly turn against her. “That’s a lovely necklace.”

Stella’s demon wings popped out of her back as she dropped my hands and took a few threatening steps towards the villains as her wings worked more like shields for the rest of the dance floor.

The canvas bag holder’s eyes went wide and shouted. “Demoness!” Then the bag holder bolted out of the doors without an ounce of hesitation.

Even if Stella wasn’t wearing her suit, her horns and the wings together were a dead giveaway.

While there was still tension in the air, it lessened as everybody saw that a high-ranking superhero was present.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll start to hurt citizens.” Spikes shouted, trying to reach for the first person on the dance floor.

But Stella closed the distance with a few flaps of her wings. “You are ruining my date.” Stella grabbed the woman’s wrist and jerked her off balance before pushing her to the floor. “I ought to just crush you.”

Stella kept bending the woman’s arm up and behind her back until the villain pleaded with her.

“Please.” Spikes begged.

“Tell my date you’re sorry.” Stella turned the woman towards me. “Do it. Apologize for ruining our night together. Stupid. Idiot. Villain.” She punctuated each word by pressing the woman’s face further into the ground.

“Alright. I’m sorry.” She cried out, noticing that the rest of the villains that had entered with her had fled out of the restaurant.

She was on her own.

“See that one?” She pointed me out, apparently not satisfied with her apology. “That’s my boyfriend and we are on a date. You ruined it, and you need to apologize.” Stella was pissed and once wasn’t going to be enough.

“Mister. I’m sorry. Please call her off.” Spikes begged me.

“Demoness. All she’s done so far is disturb the peace. I don’t know if you can haul her in for that.” I reminded Stella that a crime hadn’t really occurred yet. Although we all knew it would have happened if we hadn’t been present.

Spikes nodded rapidly. “Yeah. What he said. I haven’t committed a crime.”

“You were about to.” Stella was still pissed but looked up at the nearest waitress. “Have you called the cops?”

“They should be here any minute.” The manager spoke up from further away. “I’d appreciate it if you could detain her until then.”

Stella wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I can do that.”

Realizing her chances of escape were dwindling, Spikes built up an electrical charge and sent it through Stella.

Stella’s body could handle the charge, but it electrified her hair, ruining all her work and it stick up in a staticy ball.

I cringed, knowing that the villain was now in really deep shit.

“You ruined my hair, you stupid villain.” Stella snapped a kick that caused the villain to fly over and bounce off the doors in a limp heap.

I started forward to check, but Stella already knew what I was doing. “Not dead. Just unconscious. I didn’t put that much force into it.” Her hair was extraordinarily frizzy from the static shock, and her dress had ridden up again with her movements.

A polite cough next to her made Stella fix her dress, but there was little she could do with her hair at the moment. She was running her hands through it, but it refused to be tamed.

“Why don’t we go home, Stella.” I offered as I left the dance floor.

“Stupid.” She kicked the unconscious villain once more, though she hadn’t put much force behind it given that the body stayed where it was and didn’t go rocketing off through a wall.

As we headed towards the exit, the manager approached us. “Thank you very much. We will cover your bill if you need to go. And if you ever want to come back, just text this number before you come. We’ll make sure there’s room for you.” The manager gave Stella her personal business card.

Stella paused for a moment, realizing she didn’t have a pocket for it, so she handed it off to me. “Hold on to that for me?”

“Not a problem.” I slipped it into my pants pocket and put my elbow out for Stella to hold.

About that time, a few cops showed up. They were low grade powers D and E, but they could handle the villain’s level. Especially given she was still knocked out.

We left them to it and stepped out as Stella was still trying to wrangle her hair back into something decently orderly.

“Want to get ice cream?” Stella smiled, clearly wanting to move on from the minor incident and get back into our date.

“That would be lovely.”

Stella paused in the middle of the sidewalk and squinted around, trying to remember something. “I forgot where it was.”

“That’s fine. This area is all restaurants. I’m sure we’ll find one if we just keep walking.”

She leaned on my arm. “Thanks.”

“For the walking?”

“For the dancing!” She giggled like she was drunk on happiness. “That was so fun. And you still have your feet.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me someone actually lost their foot before.”

Stella blew a raspberry. “No. But I broke a guy’s foot once. It was the last time I ever tried to dance to something beyond bouncing at a club. But I should have trusted your powers.”

We walked the streets with her hugging my arm into her cleavage.

Coming up to an ice cream shop, we popped inside. It wasn’t the one Stella had been planning on apparently, but it had customers and seemed nice enough.

“What can I get you two?” The woman behind the counter rinsed off her scoop.

“The peach cream.” Stella pointed to a yellowish ice cream container with little bits of fruit embedded in it.

“Fruity.” I commented and picked out my own. “I’d like the double chocolate brownie.” Chocolate on chocolate was never a poor choice.

The woman scooped the ice cream into cones, and we walked out.

“Want to try it?” Stella held her cone out to me.

I really didn’t, but she was being cute about it, so I leaned in for a small lick.

My face must have said it all.

“You don’t like it?” Stella frowned and licked the cone again herself, finding it wonderful.

“I don’t care for fruity ice cream. It’s just too sweet.”

“Just like me.” She winked. “How’s the double chocolate brownie?” She leaned in, expecting me to offer some of mine.

I did and she took a huge lick, only to come away with a little on her nose.

“Mmm tasty. You really can’t go wrong with ice cream flavors.” Bouncing a little extra, Stella went back into her peach cream.

Though I disagreed, trying to use my own to get the peach flavor out of my mouth.

We walked until we found a park and sat at the bench with our dwindling ice cream cones.

“What would you be if you weren’t at the BSH?” Stella asked me.

I shrugged. “Probably still working in marketing.”

“Boring.” Stella announced. “I’d be a race car driver. Vroom.” She mimed turning a wheel.

“The excitement?” I asked, trying to understand why that would be her choice.

“It feels like it would be fun.” She shrugged. “Just a silly idea, not that I’m going to quit being a hero. There’s that rush when you save someone that even a race car couldn’t complete with.”

I nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “Like those times you save a kid, then see them reunite with their mother.”

Stella nodded excitedly. “I get the chills just thinking about the times I’ve seen it. Nothing could compare to that. So thank you.”

“For?” I asked.

She kicked her legs back and forth on the bench for a moment before answering. “I still remember that day. The darkness closing in, feeling like everything was hopeless. But you came in and extended a hand to me as I was sinking and pulled me out. I’ll never ever forget that.”

“You’ve done more than enough to thank me for it.” I smiled back at her, but she shook her head.

“Nope. Never will I be able to do enough. That’s the point, Miles. I want to be by your side forever, always trying to help you. I sort of hope that at some point, you need that level of help from me, because I’ll be there no matter what to give it.”

There was a determination in her eyes.

First she had brought up marriage, and now she was saying she wanted to be at my side forever.

Part of me wanted to turn and run from that level of commitment. Not because I didn’t have feeling for Stella, but because of all the people that had died or turned on me after the Fortress incident. Even if it was long in the past, there was still this fear and doubt of permanence.

But I needed to get past that. Because, I’d love for Stella to be in my life forever. “Fine. I’d love it if you stuck around. You make my life brighter.”

She grinned like a madwoman and finished off her ice cream. “Come on. I want to do something.”

“What’s that?” I asked, finishing my own and tossing the rest of the cone in the trash.

Stella got quiet and leaned in close to whisper conspiratorially. “I want to join the mile high club.”

“Haven’t we already done something like that?”

She waved her hands. “It wasn’t a mile high. We need to be way up there, and you can make us invisible. Plus, now I know you can make a bed or table to bend me over!”

She paused in her excitement, giving me her best puppy dog eyes. “Please?”

I wasn’t about to say no to that offer. Wrapping her in my arms, I made us invisible as I lifted us up into the air.