Lov 1 Ch 02

Chloe's day had started fairly normal, the first of a dozen alarms blaring her awake even as she instinctively silenced it. The second alarm broke through the fog of sleep though as she yawned and stretching, Chloe began to go about getting ready for her day... although, there was always optimizing Minerva's learning algorithm to do. Before she could get that thought started, alarm number 3 blared to life to remind her that she definitely had class today and to not get distracted.

She was never a chronic oversleeper, if anything she was fairly successful at being punctual. The plentiful alarm system she had setup was to keep her from hyperfocusing on any of the dozen problems she could be working on and keep her focused on getting to the coffee pot and getting some caffeine to bring her back to somewhat normal. With some coffee in her, she's a bit more ready to concentrate on getting ready for the day, a daydream of how Dollmaker had modified the Technovile tech in the shower interrupted by yet more beeping alarms. Regardless, taking care of future problems was going to have to wait for her to finish class today before they could be worked on.

After getting dressed in some jeans and a casual T-shirt before flinging her bag over her shoulder and exiting her apartment, it took her being halfway to her first class before she began to think something was up. Rapid Rivers University wasn't too far from the Florida Keys and was certainly close enough to the beach that on any day, it wasn't too uncommon to see everyone showing a bit of skin but something was... off. She couldn't pin down exactly what it was but as she walked to her first class of the day she couldn't remember the student body being as... chesty as it was right now, or willing to show it off.

It wasn't just her own confusion that was setting off the beginning of alarm bells, as most of the male student body (and a non-zero amount of the girls) were appreciative of the scenery but she wasn't the only one thinking something was different. No, some of the guys she had noticed on her normal morning route looked as bewildered as she felt considering the rather forward and friendly nature of some of the girls this early.

Feeling one and one click together to make two, Chloe quickly pulls out her phone to send a quick message and to click onto the PicUp app and find the profile Minerva had mentioned last night. Letting Jen know that something was off on campus, she tried to find something more to go on, but the only real change Chloe could notice was that Kathryn preferred going by Kitty now.

Considering she was a bimbo to begin with, that wasn't too crazy right? Chloe didn't notice that her quick inspection of Kitty's PicUp account was turning into a deep dive, scrolling and clicking on every half-naked, exposed and slutty picture, eyes searching for something off from what was normal. Minerva hadn't had anything new to add this morning, but Chloe felt there was something she was missing as her fingers scrolled and clicked over each picture, drinking in every inch of the horny bimbo's lifestyle.

Her focus on trying to find some sign of Bimbette meant she was unaware her own changes as her obsession grew, Chloe not noticing her comfortable jeans and shirt transforming mid-walk, a skin-tight pair of capris taking shape as her shirt's hem climbed, the comfortable crop top encasing a modest pair of breasts larger than the ones she had walked out of her apartment with. If it wasn't for how engaging Kitty's profile was, Chloe might have noticed her own breath growing a bit ragged as the constant feed of the bimbo was starting to turn her on, her free hand starting to inch towards enjoying those feelings before another alarm blared to life.

Turning it off and cursing at losing track of time, Chloe realized she was about to be late to her first class, not that she needed the education but she tried to be punctual and respectful of the teachers whenever she could. She was about to store her phone back for the run to class but she found herself drifting towards her own profile... Having spent the time exploring Kitty's social media she realized how bare her own was; barely updated since her own high school graduation.

Naturally, her own apathy towards it meant next to no one was following her outside of a few friends and her own family and that... didn't feel good. She didn't normally think that way, but Chloe couldn't help but be annoyed at it. She knew she was cute... and hell, she knew how to make an impression when she wanted to.

The #girlsofRRU tag Kitty had been using recently came to her mind unbidden, and Chloe found herself taking a quick selfie before she had to scramble to make it to class, a bubbling feeling coming to the forefront as she posted the cute picture of herself, happy she took the extra time this morning to make sure her hair and makeup were good before adding the cute top and fitness leggings she wore to show off her legs. She was about to take more pictures considering how good she looked but another alarm rang again and, cursing silently under her breath, she hurried to her first class, hoping that nothing crazy would interrupt her day when she was already feeling a bit out of it...

_______________________________________________________________________

Jennifer Powers was enjoying a quiet day off in her downtown penthouse suite when her phone vibrated. The youngest daughter of the famous Miracle Man and Miracle Woman, Jen's life of heroism was more the result of it being the family business than any wants of her own. For awhile it was enough too, and being a member of the 'Miracle Family' afforded her luxuries like this penthouse apartment at the top of one of the most expensive buildings in Rapid Rivers (a luxury she'd probably have long since discarded if the shower wasn't to die for) and an allowance that would put her lifestyle on-par with their heiress heroine teammate Magdalena if she so desired.

She also had her parents to thank for her powers, a set of super strength, flight, and durability shared among them and her older twin brother and sister. She could also thank them for the same statuesque frame, dark brown hair, brilliant blue eyes, high cheekbones, full lips, and perfectly proportioned figure packed into 6 feet of supermodel beauty. All of this of course leading to 'Miracle Maiden' being every bit as popular and famous as the rest of her family... for better or worse.

There were complications behind the scenes, of course 'America's Super Family' had to look perfect to their adoring public, and the cult-like following her parents had encouraged and cultivated meant keeping anything that could threaten that image buried. It also meant that every corner of Jen's life, from her costume to what she could say at events to who her friends were allowed to be, was curated for her to be America's Sweetheart... right up until the moment she snapped.

Leaving home to go solo was sold to the media as just "teenagers being teenagers," but her relationship with her parents was nearing a point where Jen was going to do a lot worse than leaving NYC. Between having no agency in anything she did, to her parents still having plenty of that 1930s mentality that they grew up with, flying off to do her own thing was worth any risk.

She was also a bit shocked that they let her, but her brother Jason let slip that they fully expected her to fail spectacularly and come sobbing back home, especially considering she came to Rapid Rivers of all places... and they were almost right. A few years ago, Rapid Rivers was victim to one of the worst supervillain attacks that had ever happened in the US, not because of the damage caused but because of how close the villain had come to winning.

No one knew much about Technovile, the sinister tech-genius who brainwashed over half the city and the local American Hero Project (AHP) chapter, but he left his mark in his first and only big battle. In addition to running the AHP, Jen's parents belonged to a group of heroes known as the Gallant Four at the time, the four greatest heroes the world had ever known. Starting with Miracle Man and Woman, there was also Nike; a former WW2 archaeologist turned Goddess of Victory known as much for her heroics and unbreakable will as her genuine and gentle nature (and also the Ladies of Victory technical founder and namesake), and Kartikeya; the mysterious and suave British-Indian man who more than earned the title of as "The Most Powerful Telepath in the World''.

Any threat said world had ever come under since they allied had been defeated, but Technovile's machines and own mysterious talents took what should have been a routine supervillain fight into a near-disaster. Her mother had ended up brainwashed fairly quickly, and was her father's equal in every way as she began to mercilessly attack him. Kartikeya couldn't break past whatever shields Technovile had on himself, and he was spending the majority of his energy keeping the brainwashed civilians from joining in the fray and attempting to untangle whatever enslavement Technovile had them under. That left Nike to fight off the combined forces of the brainwashed superheroes and even some brainwashed villains in an effort to reach and stop Technovile.

The mad scientist needing all that combined might to stall her was certainly proof that she was one of the most powerful heroes in the world, but the near constant battle was wearing even her down. The day seemed lost until a flash of white light enveloped the city, Technovile finding his machines dismantling before his eyes as his brainwashed slaves fell to the ground near-simultaneously; and radiating a brilliant glow, Athena descended from the heavens. An inhumanly beautiful sculpture of technology and science, her obviously feminine form defined by a series of bronze and gold swoops and panels, Athena's eye-catching appearance caused as much a stir as her sudden entrance and successful defeat of a supervillain.

Jen's parents were initially suspicious of the gilded, cybernetic angel but, with Nike's enthusiastic support, and considering 'she' had turned the tide and saved the day in a single swoop? It didn't take much convincing to turn the Gallant Four into the Gallant Five.

Now little more than an unpowered human, Technovile was imprisoned in an unknown location, so secretive even she didn't know where he was, and the Gallant Five had more important things to do than watch over a single city, leaving Rapid Rivers with an unfortunate super-powered void. None of the AHP heroes who protected the city before wanted to return, whether due to the trauma of being under Technovile's control or not wanting to be left to clean up the mess, and that void was filled with crime, both normal and super-powered. A few vigilantes tried, unsuccessfully, to stem the tide, but because their numbers were few and unorganized, it led to them either hanging up their tights or falling victim to the super-criminal and criminal elements of Rapid Rivers.

If it wasn't for Chloe, Jennifer might have been among their number when she set out to prove herself by coming down here from New York to make her own way, her very first super-villain fight not exactly going to plan. It wasn't the last time Chloe had helped her, and Jen had a few times to return the favor, so when Chloe and surprisingly Nike asked her if she wanted to join a superhero team in Rapid Rivers, she was happy to be a part of it.

Considering Nike had no interest in superhero politics and grandstanding, Jen never got around to figuring out how Chloe convinced her to start the Ladies of Victory, or letting Chloe pick the team, or how the two even knew each other in the first place, but considering the weight Nike's name carried in the superhero community it wasn't hard to convince her parents to let her leave the AHP. Their only demands were that she wouldn't play second fiddle to anyone (and much to her annoyance Chloe agreed having the famous Miracle Maiden as the face and leader of the team was perfect) and surprisingly to take on Slingshot.

Nikki Cole was a powerful super-heroine in her own right: speed, strength, super-invulnerability, and an attitude that was perfect for Rapid Rivers underneath her professional reputation so she was more than a welcome addition. It was probably that attitude along with some behind-the-scenes drama that Jen wasn't aware of that made her free of her parents' yoke, but Jen was happy for a friendly and familiar face. Chloe somehow also convinced Voodoo Queen to leave New Orleans, and although Anita Marquis was a bit of an icy and reserved young woman, she was also one of the most powerful sorceresses this side of the Atlantic.

Flamera and Ninjette made sense as recruits as well, the two vigilantes having been active in Rapid Rivers at least as long as Jen had. Keiko was a transplant from Japan whose father was a local, but Ember's family had lived in Rapid Rivers for years and she was well-known and loved in part for helping her community... and because she's won Sexiest Superheroine in the World two years in a row. Considering all NuGen supers end up looking gorgeously attractive that said a lot about how spectacular she was in particular. Where it got interesting though was where Chloe had chosen to round out the team... and while Jen couldn't disagree with her logic, and none of the other girls seemed to mind too much, it had led to some early hiccups.

Tricksterella (or as much as Beatrice Angel hated to admit it, her father The Trickster) was well known in the super community, and although her magic was limited in a fight, her ability to connect any doorways together to teleport was one of the most powerful tools any super-team could ask for. Similarly, There was no doubt Cassandra Baker was a powerful telepath, Kartikeya had mentored her himself after all, but there was a reason Psychometra found herself unable to stick with a team. Having your powerful telepathy be entirely at the whim of needing skin-to-skin contact, and EVERYONE knowing that, meant that you were less useful when a super-villain just had to wear a full bodysuit just to counter your powers.

Dr. Demi was a completely different story from those two heroines, the beautiful young doctor hadn't been one for very long, as apparently an experiment with a "Mr. Hyde" style formula had gone terribly wrong for Dr. Demented, a former nemesis of Nike and very much male mad scientist, turning him into a curvaceous, goody two-shoes, very female Demi. No one trusted the story... except Chloe and Nike, and both felt bad enough for her to give her a home in Rapid Rivers. Demi hadn't done anything since her transformation to deserve the kind of distrust and suspicion others had for her, and no one could claim that she wasn't a capable doctor and biologist so she could at least serve the team well in that manner.

The same couldn't be said for Paris de Bretagne, who was a stereotypical beautiful, blonde billionaire heiress and airhead, from the top of her perfectly manicured face to the bottom of her designer heels. Courtesy of an accident during one of Nike's rare open-digs for students that she bought her way into, Paris had somehow stumbled upon the hidden tomb of Mary Magdalene and came out with a shard of the Spear of Destiny lodged in her chest. Becoming host to a bevy of enviable super-powers, Paris had dreams of super-popularity and fame, giving herself the moniker of Magdalena, but found out the hard way she couldn't buy her way into heroism.

She also didn't know it was more of a charity case when Nike had offered to let her join the Ladies of Victory on a temporary heroine license... and the bubbly extroverted bimbo wasted no time in trying to make friends or dragging the unfortunate Keiko out partying. For better or worse she was mostly harmless, but her foray into early heroism as they worked to clean up Rapid Rivers after becoming an official team hadn't gone as easily as she hoped... or dulled her sparkly optimism at being a heroine.

It wasn't all that dissimilar to most of the girls' introduction to Rapid Rivers though. The city definitely attracted a sort of type when it came to villains. Maybe it was the sun or just the attitude of Rapid Rivers in general but the bevy of wanna-be brainwashers, mind controllers, and body manipulators had led to some rather embarrassing photos and videos that not even Chloe's tech wizardry or Jen's own parents efforts to preserve her image could quite quash. The Ladies of Victory were certainly beloved by the city in the short time-frame they'd been here, but outside of Rapid Rivers they were getting a rather lascivious reputation not helped by the fact they were an all-heroine group.

Perhaps Chloe was onto something though, as most of the other girls didn't seemed to really care (Voodoo Queen and Ninjette were not as easy going about it in comparison to Slingshot or Magdalena, but they hadn't quit yet) and while some certainly had some reservations about Psychometra or Demi, they were both uniquely suited to fixing problems caused by the rogues that came and lived in Rapid Rivers. Such as Bimbette; a magically warped bimbo whose very presence causes others to undergo the same changes she was cursed into. Although mostly just annoying, the woman was responsible for endless strings of robberies when she spies something she wants... and doesn't care who she has to transform to get it.

While her powers made her difficult to capture, Voodoo Queen was a strong enough sorceress to combat Bimbette's aura and arrest her when necessary... which came far too frequently as the villainess found herself out on the streets of Rapid Rivers no matter where they seemed to put her away. Which was why Chloe's text wasn't entirely unexpected, Minerva had released an automated alert this morning on possible Bimbette movements and the local university was in the zone. Stretching her long frame, Jen went to her bedroom to disrobe and prep for today's adventures as Miracle Maiden, a smile tugging at her face despite her friend being in possible danger and her own lack of immunity towards the villainess in question.

She definitely didn't mind the city and its evil-doers, as she was as free as she could get from the shackles of the life her parents wanted for her, while simultaneously forcing them to let her "lead" the team because she couldn't be anything less AND leaving them in fits every time a fight turned sordid showed up on the internet. Chuckling to herself, Jen pings her communicator to open up a line with HQ to let everyone know she wasn't taking the day off while she gets dressed...