*Editing magic performed by Shyqash, plus contributions by the regular gang of brigands and neer-do-wells*
*This tale is a bit tongue and cheek as well as kinky, so be warned.*
*When you stand up for yourself, you stand alone*
[PRELUDE]
[STILL TUESDAY NIGHT]
I was busy splicing together the various visual angles from the cameras I'd used during tonight's escapades when one of my spatial sensors in my apartment went off. Since this was a one-room set up, all I had to do was look around to see the point of intrusion. Spatial sensors detected various forms of spatial gateways and teleportation, but only the really good ones pointed to the most likely areas of space/time violation.
Since mine was still chirping away, someone was creating a spatial gateway (a feat which tied two points in space/time together which weren't adjacent). In this case, the shadows were lengthening from under my queen-sized bed and around the far corners until it was an impenetrable darkness. Lucky me, I knew someone who used such a metahuman manifestation and had mastered such a power stunt.
An inky-black figure crawled out of the darkness onto my bed. When the shadows receded, they revealed a strangely costumed figure ... with the most captivating sapphire eyes.
"Hey Killer Knight," I greeted her. "This is a new look for you. I'm glad to see you've healed up fine."
"It is Princess Penumbra now," she smiled warmly, "... and thank you for saving my life. I'm absolutely sure it wasn't that weasel ... the ... ah ... Viscount of Villainy who got me away. What actually happened?"
"Hang on a second," I minimized the screen. "Aren't we supposed to avoid contact with one another now that I washed out?"
"Not precisely," she snorted in amusement. "You are to avoid contact with us, but there is no reason, or bylaw, which stops any of us from contacting you. Perks of the organization."
"Gee thanks," I groaned. "Anyway, after you were clipped by that pulse cannon, I took it out with a piece of deck plating. It blew up, knocking everyone down. I got Page up - Viscount now - handed your unconscious body to him and told him to make for the extraction zone."
"After that, I created a viable distraction so you two could slip away," I finished up.
"Oh ... that makes more sense than what the Viscount tried to sell. He took all the credit for what happened. Apparently he 'hulked out' after you fled, abandoning us, took out the cannon himself and then rescued me."
By 'hulking out', I assumed he went to a critical level of density increase, which also upped his strength ... to levels stronger than me. He could also reduce his density to the point he could phase through solid objects - something he did most of our mission, the fucking weasel. He couldn't phase through energy flows, or fields, so he wouldn't risk himself by trying to move through major walls which had power conduits and the like.
Me - I punched my way through walls, even though such actions hurt my hands, tearing the skin and cracking the bones beneath the armored gauntlets I wore. Likewise, Killer Knight had taken risks for the team on our failed mission, so she was 'okay' in my book.
"You didn't believe him?" I feigned shock.
"I might have had he not tried to paint you out to be such a coward," she grinned. "You were a team player and put your hide on the line multiple times ... which encouraged me to do the same. Honestly I believed it should have been you and me ... but I was still unconscious and you weren't there to tell your version of events."
"Afterwards I talked to my Mother and Father about this ... they informed me it was too late, but they would keep an extra keen eye out for the Viscount's cowardly tendencies," she enlightened me. "They also don't disapprove of me stopping by to see how you were ... seeing as how you saved my life."
"Your shadow shields saved me from some major pounding," I aw-shucked. "It was a team effort."
"So you aren't too bitter?"
"I'm a little upset that weasel - your words - took my Mother's spot," I griped. "As for not being part of the 9N's ..."
"The 9N's?" Princess Penumbra questioned.
"That is what my Father called the Nine Nobles Nefarious," I shyly confessed.
"Well, don't use that moniker around my Dad (King Kaos)," she cautioned me playfully. "I doubt he would appreciate it."
"Gotchya," I nodded. "As for me not being part of the Nine Nobles ... I'm okay with it. I'll find another way to make money."
"Oh," she curled her lips. "Is that what you are working on now?"
"Um ... none of your business?" I evaded.
"I stopped by earlier tonight, but you were out. Don't you have classes?"
"I have this side project I'm working on," I kept lying ... sorta/kinda.
"Who is she?" she teased ... sorta/kinda. She also took some effort to look extra seductive on my bed.
"With my background, what girlfriend am I going to inflict myself on," I sighed. "My childhood was pretty fucked up and my current life is a cover for my real, sinister identity as Baron Bedlam's son. What girl could I do that to?"
"Oh," she perked up. "That's awful noble of you. That's what I like about you. You can be hard-driven, but still care about the people around you as if they are something more than expendable pawns."
"What about you?" I changed the subject. "I imagine you are pretty hot under that mask. Even with your mother and father being wanted fugitives, you must have half a dozen boys on a string."
"Ha!" she laughed. "With my Mom and Pops being accused of being mass-murdering psychopaths ... what boy could I inflict myself upon - your words?"
"Point taken," I nodded. "We certainly share that ... difficulty."
Silence prevailed. I had the feeling she had something to get off her finely-crafted 'treasure of a chest' while I wanted to finish my work on Angelheart. I had a way around our impasse though I knew it would temporarily weaken my hold on Skye. I got up and walked over to the bed. Princess P watched me intently.
I sat beside her and took both her hands in my own ... then cut my new 'power' on. A spark of energy forcibly separated us. Once more the flood of memories came rushing in. I was better able to handle it this time. As I guessed, the memories of Skye began to fade and escape my reach as these new memories replaced them.
What ... Theresa 'Terry' Markov aka Princess Penumbra ... wanted most in the world was someone to share her time with. She felt as if she was nothing more than a pawn in her parents' plans for criminal malfeasance. They were proud of her; not for who she was, but for what she could do to advance their aims ... no concern for what she wanted. And what she wanted most in life was a soul-mate to share her tortured existence with, free of deceit and power games.
Eeeekkk!! She had her sights set on me!
In hindsight, it made perfect sense. I was a villain by birth, yet had proven myself to be loyal, brave and true. She felt she could trust me with her heartfelt secrets, wants and desires. I wouldn't hold her twisted upbringing against her, or ask her to betray her parents because I was in the same boat and cognizant of that.
"What was that?" she gasped.
"A new power I discovered I had on the mission," I related. "It gives me insight into people and helps me understand them better."
"Couldn't you have asked me first?" she pulled away. She was mentally transforming from confused to pissed-off.
"I wanted to help us communicate yet couldn't adequately explain to you what I planned to do ... so I did it before I bumbled over the words and screwed it up to the point you refused," I tossed out my excuse.
"Who is the girl ... woman?" She must have picked up one of my memories of Skye.
"Angelheart."
"How ...?"
"After you to left, she jumped me at the extraction zone. That was the first time the power came over me. Lucky for me, it stunned her because otherwise I couldn't have defeated her," I confessed somewhat.
"Oh ... why didn't you take her prisoner? That might have helped ... with Mom and Dad."
"I suffered some of the same backlash you just did," I explained. "I was barely able to stagger away from the scene myself. Taking her prisoner wasn't an option since she wasn't totally out, or beaten by me."
"She's ... very attractive."
"She's also in my mind because of the power being activated by her, Princess Penumbra," I outright lied. "I don't have a heroine fetish."
"Oh ...," she calmed down then moved closer. "I have a confused mess of your thoughts and memories. Do you really like my eyes?"
"You wear a padded armored suit and a half-face mask so I can't really say I like your eyes more than any other feature," I went back to being shy and somewhat awkward.
"Hold on," she instructed. She extended her hands behind her mask and worked some latches and straps free before removing her headgear. Her raven mane tumbled down in a constrained ponytail. Her skin was pale, with only one scar above the left side of her lip marring her otherwise smooth, flawless skin. Her eyebrows were heavier than I would have suspected, but made her sapphire eyes really pop.
"Wow!" I gulped. "You are ... like some Goddess of Night, pale yet luminescent. Your eyes are even more beautiful when set in your entire face. I repeat ~ wow!"
She was absolutely luminescent as she smiled.
"Thank you," she grinned. "I like your word usage. I was afraid you would sound like something I would say. That would have been creepy."
What could I say? I knew she would have found her literary allusions creepy so chose other words instead. My gift allowed me to reach deep within the psyche of my target and know what they loved and despised. It even helped me avoid the pitfalls of them second guessing themselves.
"I simply told you the truth from my own eyes to my tongue - no super-powered filter - sorry."
"No," she chuckled. "I liked it. You see me as a goddess? Trust me, I have my faults and foibles. I still like that you see me as beautiful."
"Don't any other guys tell you that?"
"Yes, but their praise didn't really matter. They were all 'normies'."
"I understand that," I agreed. "I sure missed not being able to participate in any team sports ... even though I was home-schooled."
"I would have killed to play soccer, or lacrosse," she sighed. "I really wanted to play at the all-girls private academy I was sent to, but it was forbidden by the parents because they knew I would dominate."
"Or, our parents could have sent us to one of those exclusive super-powered private academies so we could grow up among our own kind," I joined her in our melancholy. "Hiding my metahuman nature really blew chunks at times."
"We have so much in common," she shot a secret look my way. "If we ... ya know ... had kids, we could not repeat our parents' mistakes and instead send them to a metahuman academy."
"Hell, if we are successful enough, we could set up our own academy for the children of people like us. What do you think of that?"
"I would like that," she lowered her head onto my shoulder. I snuck a hand around her waist, pulling her in tighter. Why? I wanted to make her happy and she didn't have much joy in her life. Knowing the depths of her soul, I felt an obligation to bring her some spark of happiness ... even though I had another iron in the fire.
"I can't make any commitments until the end of the semester ... Terry," I groaned. "I also really want to get an actual diploma with the option of a regular career at some point in my life."
"Oh," she didn't move. "I understand. I have to prove myself to the other nobles ... and keep an eye on Victor (as in Victor Carmichael, Viscount of Villainy)."
"Definitely that," I hugged her.
"Why aren't you making a move on me?"
"I don't want you confused about 'us'," I elaborated. "When we start something, we are going to keep at it. You aren't a pick-up, hook-up, or One Night Stand."
She hugged me back.
"Thank you," she sighed happily.
This relationship was going to take a lot of work and had to be handled with care. Not only did Terry deserve her own shot at bliss, if she had a screaming fit, she could tear apart the entire apartment block, killing dozens of hapless 'normie' students. Worse, she could come back with eight cohorts to make me very, very dead. Yeah, I had to tread carefully here.
[AN ANGEL STUMBLES AND FALLS ... INTO MY ARMS]
[THREE DAYS LATER]
[Skye] *You BASTARD!!
[Me] **And a Good Afternoon to you too. What's up?
*You know what you did!
