[This story is set in Paragon City, taken from the former MMO game City of Heroes. All place names, hero names and registered trademarks belong to their rightful legal owners and are not intended as copyright infringement in any way. This work is purely meant as a piece of entertainment, and not for commercial purposes in any way, shape or form.]
[The precursor to this series is entitled "Mom the Superheroine".]
[Though there are incestuous elements between a mother and her consenting adult daughter here, this story is really about the personal journey of two superheroines.]
[I am grateful to my girlfriend Ashley for providing me with so much valuable insight and input, to make up for my shortcomings. <3]
They both subsided, glowering at each other.
"Now sit down! And tell me just what happened out there!"
"Mom, you should've seen her. She was out of control! She was recklessly violent, and put a lot of people in harm's way. And she... she was sadistic, the way she treated those Freakshow! I was telling her that's not how we do things here, but she refused to listen! And... and she..." Cindy swallowed, and went on. "She said I was too weak to, to keep you safe and she wanted to do it better than I could..."
Tight-lipped, Barbara turned to Vicky. "Did you say that? Why would you say such a thing?"
Instead of answering immediately, Vicky stood up and turned away, looking down at the floor. Cindy meanwhile wrapped her arms around Barbara possessively. Barbara put an arm around Cindy's waist, and kissed her cheeks, but waited patiently for Vicky to reply.
At last, Vicky turned around, and stood with hands firmly planted on her hips.
"Do you know what kind of world Praetoria is, Mother? Cindy?
"It is a paradise. Nobody has to slog for a living. All basic necessities are provided, from birth, all the way to death. If anyone does any work, it's because they want to -- and our cultural achievements are far beyond what this world can achieve, because of all the time and energy we can channel into those pursuits. Praetor Berry's Clockwork automatons do all the menial labor that ever needs to be done, and the Powers Division works tirelessly with the police to keep everyone safe from the few malcontents that dare to show their faces from time to time.
"Compared to that, Paragon City is a primitive village, or at best a medieval township. I go out in this neighborhood you call home, and I see people who are actually homeless. Homeless! This is a society that lets people sleep out on the streets without even a roof over their heads! Some people are incredibly wealthy, but others have to go without. There are pharmaceutical products that some people need to stay alive -- in Praetoria, they'd have it, without question, but here people die because they don't have enough
money
! And despite all this, the Heroes here fly all around the city and talk about 'justice'!
"But your world has a Marcus Cole, too, with all his awesome power, and there are those who are powerful enough to help him shape the world into whatever he wants. So why don't they? Why are things the way they are?
"I'll tell you why. It's because the Heroes here, like Cindy, just aren't willing to do what needs to be done to truly make the world a better place. Our Emperor isn't like that, and neither are his Praetors -- they act with courage, and conviction, and take decisive action, just as Emperor Cole had to, to save humanity from the Hamidon and forge a better world from the ashes of the old broken one.
"And so, the world he shaped is one I wish my mother... my Barbara... had lived to see -- a world without want, a world with safety for all who obey the law, a world where artists and scientists can do whatever work they want without worrying about where their next meal will come from...
"Mother... I want you to see that world. I want you to live in that world, with me.
"When you told me about how much you'd suffered... I have no words to describe the rage I felt on your behalf. Nobody should ever have the power to do such horrible things to you. Nobody.
"And in my world... with me beside you... nobody will."
She stretched out her hand. "Come with me, Mother! Come away from this wretched dystopia. Come with me! Be... be my mother!"
Barbara sat, astonished and dumbfounded. Cindy had shot to her feet, and stood, trembling with agitation.
"If you want my Mom... you'll have to go through me first, Conqueress! You won't take her from me!"
"You know you aren't strong enough to stop me, Battleborn! I'm better for her -- and I'm better than you!"
Caught in the middle of dueling daughters! Barbara knew Cindy was her very own flesh and blood -- but Vicky was, in a strange way, her daughter from another world! Surely, she couldn't turn her back on her own daughter, born of her own womb, pushed out of her own body -- but Vicky burned with the fire of her conviction, and Barbara was drawn to her flame, too.
"What should I do?" Barbara thought anxiously, as she watched her daughters begin to square off. "What should I do?"
Whatever was a mother to do?
"Stop it! Both of you, please!" she cried. She stepped in between them and kept them apart, with a hand on each of their heaving chests.
They obeyed, glowering at each other.
Barbara took a deep breath. "Vicky... I don't know what happened out there, but if you lost control and got too violent, Cindy was right to try and stop you. Maybe the law is enforced differently where you come from. Maybe there's a lot we don't understand about how your world works. But one thing we have to know is that our strength can't be used to hurt people too much. We can't sink to the level of those we have to fight!"
"That's how she taught me, Vicky!" Cindy agreed, nodding her head firmly. "And if you think that makes me weak, like you said, you're wrong -- and I'd be more than glad to show you just how wrong you are!"
"Mother deserves to see for herself what my world is like -- it'll change her mind, and she'll understand that you're too soft on evil!" Vicky shot back. "She's good, and kind -- she would be, in any universe -- and that is why she needs to be protected with true strength! No wavering, no hesitating, no fatal vacillation at a crucial moment. You can't give her that, Cindy. But I can.
She stepped closer, and so did Cindy, so that they both stood almost chest to chest.
"She belongs with me. I'm stronger and I can protect her better," Vicky said, chin tilted up arrogantly.
"She's mine, always has been and always will be. And we protect each other just fine," Cindy replied, jaw clenched tightly.
But Barbara put her hands on their shoulders. "Girls... please... listen to me. Vicky, you can't ask me to go back with you to your dimension. I don't belong there. My place is here. And... and your mother would have been very, very proud of you, I know. You're powerful, and strong, and marvelously accomplished. If I were her... I would be so, so proud. But..."
She laid a hand on Vicky's cheek. "Cindy is my daughter, not you," she said, as tenderly as she could. "My place is always by her side. She... she's the child I carried in me, the baby girl I gave birth to, the girl I brought up, the young woman who... who's become my lover. There's a place for you here, if you want -- but you can't ask me to abandon her. That's out of the question."
Vicky stood silent, eyes slightly downcast. Barbara became very conscious of their nakedness, and the intimacy they had been sharing just a few minutes ago. Now she felt a small flitter of guilt that hadn't been there before -- Cindy had explicitly agreed to share with Vicky, after all, but that was before this rift between them had appeared.
She wanted this rift to heal. She wanted them to coexist harmoniously, as sisters -- Vicky needed guidance, she could see that now. She never had anyone except an authoritarian god-figure to look up to. That couldn't have been healthy. This was a chance for Barbara to fill the void left by the unfortunate demise of her Praetorian counterpart, in Vicky's life. Living with them could very possibly soften some of Vicky's rough, jagged edges.
But for that to continue... Cindy had to agree to it as well.
Her daughter was now stripping off her costume, though. She had a grim look in her eyes.
"Vicky and I have a score to settle, Mom," she said angrily. "She doesn't seem to think I'm her equal in power. Well, how about we settle it, one on one, woman to woman,
sister
? Let's see who's really the stronger one." She kicked off her boots and stood, proudly naked, with balled fists on her hips.
"I accept your challenge!" Vicky answered swiftly. "I've been wanting to do this with you, from the very first moment,
sister
! My way has made me superior. It's time you acknowledged it once and for all!"
"No! Don't fight!" Barbara pleaded, once again interposing herself between the two of them. "I don't want you both hurting each other!"
They both subsided slightly, but Cindy said, "We're not going to brawl, Mom, but I want her to feel for herself how strong I am, how strong you've made me! If she calls me weak... she's saying
you
brought me up to be weak, and I'm not letting that slide!"
"I can understand why Mother doesn't want you to get hurt," Vicky said, with a slight sneer. "We won't fight, Mother. But we'll have it out, right here, right now, which of us is the stronger woman... the stronger daughter! If she loses, Mother, which she will, it's no reflection on you of course... it's simply that I'm better than her!"
They glared at each other steadily.
"Mom can referee," Cindy said. "She'll be fair."
"Naturally. She'll have no choice but to raise my arm, when I've beaten you," Vicky said, smiling confidently.
"We'll see about that."