Author: AnonyMPC

Title: Relatively Powered #6: "Cold Shoulder, Part 1"

Summary: Two wannabe superheroes, a brother and sister, powered by incest! Alex is frustrated by his sister's sudden behavior shifts... is their heroic partnership in danger?

Keywords: mf, inc, anal, cons, superhero, scfi

****
Previously, in Relatively Powered: Alex and Tabby are two not-so-ordinary teen siblings. Not only are they in witness protection because supervillains want their dad, but they've also been becoming far closer than siblings should be... sexually close. But when they discover that acts of unprotected incest give them superpowers, their whole lives change.

In the course of an investigation, the two novice heroes paid a visit to Little Miss Menace, a well-known heroine, and while Alex would say everything went really well, his sister would disagree... for while they were temporarily separated, Alex had a chance at sex with the famous heroine... and took it. When Tabitha caught them in the act, she teleported him away... and then Miss Menace forced her to confront her own jealousy at seeing her brother with another woman. Now she's still unsure about what that means...

Relatively Powered by AnonyMPC (mf, inc, cons, superhero, scfi)

(* indicates that the code applies due to the bodies and apparent ages of the people involved and, since this is a superhero series which might eventually include elements like body-swapping or shape-shifting, and already includes many people who's aging has been halted, does not necessarily reflect the actual minds or level of experience)

There she was, in front of me, like some goddess forged in gold and silver. A sex-goddess, maybe, considering she was completely naked, posing for me, more than that, enticing me with her body... no, not even her body, more her mere expression. Even without her tail swishing back and forth behind her, even without the gold skin and silver hair that puts fear in the hearts of criminals, I'd describe her look as predatory.

Take away all that, the things that make Little Miss Menace famous, and she'd look like any fourteen-year-old girl. Hell, she could look like my sister Tabby. They're roughly the same height, both fit as fuck... Tabby's got bigger boobs (but smaller nipples), but otherwise, if you covered her with metal paint and slapped a tail on her, you might not be able to tell the difference. Okay, Little Miss Menace also has a slightly rounder nose and the hair's curlier, but close enough, my point is, her body, her face, is built like a normal relatively innocent teenager.

But the look she gave me showed the real extent of sexual experience buried inside her metal body. I'd wanted to fuck her for years, and when I first knew we were going to meet, I had idle thoughts of trying to seduce her, but in this encounter, I wasn't the seducer, I wasn't even the seduced... I was the prey. One look made me feel like she was a tiger and I was a gazelle. Except the gazelle wanted to be caught.

I was stunned into immobility for a second, and you wouldn't think I would be. I've seen the Playboy pictorials of her, so really, there was no surprises in her body, except that above the little golden crook of her slit, barely visible from the front, was just a long feather made up of filaments of silver. That playboy spread was from the 80s, bush was in back then, I guess she's taken on a more modern look. I approve. Otherwise, she looked exactly like pictures, pictures I'd seen on my computer screen so often that I could describe each of them in graphic detail, from memory alone... there was the shot of her coming out of the water, topless, water still dripping off the large puffy nipple (coated in the exact same shade of gold as the rest of the breast, but with a shape that left no doubt you were seeing both areola and nipple)... or the one of her ass with the tail hanging down between the cheeks, like it was a makeshift thong, the one where she's lying in bed, on her side, showing everything... I could go on down the list.

But it's one thing to see it all in a picture, and quite another to see it in person, especially when the person in question just offered to let me fuck her. She'd casually mentioned that the last speedster she was with had a trick called the Human Vibrator, and asked if I knew it. I did... when you can move at super-speeds, just flexing your dick repeatedly can cause a huge sensation for your partner. She then asked if I wanted to demonstrate.

Who's going to turn an offer like that down? I mean, she's a freaking celebrity! A cultural icon, even. She was a Headliner! I'm not one of those teratophiles who're mainly into inhuman features, but I'm open-minded and she's always been one of the ones that I could, and did, picture fucking. So of course I was eager at the chance to move that picture from the fantasy album to the memory album. And the moment I nodded, still disbelieving that it was actually happening, she started to strip down, and gave me that look, that hungry-tiger look... and then, she just turned away, and crawled onto her unmade bed, and looked back at me, as though expecting I'd already be there.

I broke out of my shocked state and went to her, using my super speed to cross the room in an eyeblink, and then slowed back to normal time when I was just inches from her, and grabbed her ass tentatively, marveling at how it felt warm, rather than cool, like I'd expected... even though I'd noticed the same thing in a fight with somebody else with a similar condition, I had more time to savor it now, and it felt more real than real. As I pulled the bottoms of my uniform down, to unleash my cock, I used my thumb to spread her ass, and the flesh of her mound, apart, revealing more metal inside. Wait, that wasn't right, was it?

Her tail swished, doubling back along its length and covering her slit defensively. "Not there," she said. The tail withdrew, and then stood all the way up, revealing the top of her buttocks, and, buried within the cleft, her asshole. "There." I guess I must have hesitated, because she said, "What's wrong? With a name like Deviant, you'd think this wouldn't bother you."

"I'm not bothered," I said. "Just appreciating..." She wanted it there, so I pressed my cock to that little winking eye and poked it in. It met resistance, but not much, especially for somebody invulnerable. She grunted a little as I got about halfway in, and then I withdrew until just the head was inside the tight space, and, shortly after that, slammed her all the way.

"Go on, fuck me. Turn on the speed." So I did, and sped up the motion of my cock to super-high speed while I pounded in and out of her only slightly more rapidly than normal. I probably looked like a dog humping a leg, except she was the one with the tail... which kept smacking my stomach and chest, so eventually I just grabbed it. "That's it, pull my tail," she said, looking over her shoulder at me and grinning, showing teeth. "Is that the best you can do? I thought you wanted to be a hero. Push harder."

You'd think I'd be insulted, or at least intimidated, but it just drove me on, and I gave it to her harder, and faster, holding her tail with one hand and pulling it upwards, forcing her to keep her ass higher in the air than was probably comfortable in her position. "You call yourself a speedster? Give me the maximum!"

I let my body move so fast it was a blur, and I felt my balls starting to twitch even faster, and pressed against her pussy I was sure she could feel them too, albeit so fast it was buzzing. I was near to cumming, but then, just as I was about to lose myself in the sensation, my sister Tabby appeared, right over my shoulder. "No, Alex, you can't!"

But it was too late. I was at the point of no return, I just kept fucking, and Little Miss Menace... she was giving a guttural moan, then took a breath. "Yeah, that's it, go on, I'm there, I'm there..."

Tabby yelled "No!" while Little Miss Menace screamed "Yes!" and her ass clamped down on my dick like a closed fist, and wouldn't let go, and suddenly I was cumming everywhere. I mean jets and jets of it, pouring into her ass with so much force that, even with my cock filling her up, and her sphincter making a tight seal, cum somehow still leaked out the edges.

Finally it relaxed, and so did Little Miss Menace, and she rolled over, letting my cock out, and even more cum, like she was bleeding semen. "How could you do that to me?" my sister whined, sounding deeply hurt. "I trusted you."

What? But before I could turn to her, I noticed something was happening with Miss Menace's body... her breasts were growing. And I don't just mean from a C-cup to a D, or even a double-D. Within seconds, they were bigger than her head. She swung her body, and they swung with her, slamming me across the face with a giant golden nipple when sent me flying through a window.

Somehow, on the other side of the window, her apartment was gone. I was in the storage area where I'd fought Menace, the guy we thought was the original Menace, anyway. Little Miss Menace was coming towards me, although she didn't look much like her anymore, it wasn't just her boobs, her arms and legs were now elongated and segmented like some kind of insect, and far too thin to support the weight of her breasts. Those huge boobs were the size of the wheels on a monster truck, and every time she took a step, they slammed into the ground, or bounced against each other, making a strangely wooden-sounding rapping noise. "You did this!" she hissed. "I'll kill you!"

I dodged one of her legs which was threatening to impale me with the jagged end, and then I saw another going for Tabby. My heart pounding, I raced for her, only to see her teleport away just in time. Then, the giant Menace-boobs came down on me, and I did my best to hold one up and avoid smothering, feeling like that Greek titan Atlas.

As I was about to collapse, I realize I had super-speed, and I just ran, escaping before it fell on me. But she just kept coming, and there was that strange knocking sound as she walked. "You're going to fuck me again and turn me back! In the cunt this time!" Just a second ago, she wanted to kill me, and while this was preferable, in this monstrous form it still counted as a threat... so why did I still have an erection?

"Hey, you boob!" Tabby yelled, though there was something wrong with her voice, it was higher, more annoying. "Did you forget it's Monday?" What did that have to do with it? And wasn't it Sunday, anyway?

That thumping sound again, and Little Miss Menace was upon me, and everything went black...

***

I pulled myself up in my bed, rubbing the side of my face as though that was the best way to squeeze the sleep out of my eyes. "You hear me, you boob?"

The voice was coming from my door. I could tell from the sound that it was my sister... my little sister, Lucy. Right, her name was Sally, now... my memory's fuzzier when I first wake up, and even at the best of times I have trouble remembering our Witness Protection names. When you've called somebody something for more than a decade, it's hard to suddenly switch. I still always call my older sister Tabby instead of Kathryn. I just claim it's a nickname.

It was disorienting, though, to hear her, in the blackness, and it took me a second to figure out what was going on... part of me even thought maybe I was still fighting Little Miss Menace, except now in almost complete darkness, like maybe she'd pushed me underground. But no, I was in my bedroom, which was not quite complete darkness. There were always a few isolated islands of light, from a digital display or power light, and, right now, like the first break of dawn, a distinct glow leaking from underneath the door, beyond which was the laundry room, which had its light on. That same knocking sound, what I'd thought was the sound of Little Miss Menace's boobs, came again, from there. "What?" I called, my voice wavering a little between anger and surprise.

"It's Monday, remember? Time to get up for school."

I found and hit the lamp and now it was so bright it hurt, at least for a few seconds, until my eyes adjusted. I grabbed my pants and forced them on over my raging morning wood, then looked at the clock. Fuck, I really was late. I'd forgotten to set my alarm for school. Tabby's fault, I'd gotten used to not needing to sleep at all.

As I staggered towards the door, grabbing a shirt from the edge of a chair, I thought about the dream. That's all it was, of course, although the early parts of the dream matched up pretty close to what happened. Not completely, but close. In reality, the inside of her pussy actually was pink, I just half-expected metal. I shouldn't have. Even though she was invulnerable inside and out, the metal only covered skin and hair, the outside. And of course, our sexual encounter lasted longer, and there was a little more fingering and foreplay beforehand, and she talked to her assistant to get him to keep my sister busy a while... but those are minor details. The main differences started after my sister appeared. In truth, I never even saw her there... she teleported me away, mid-stroke, before either I or Little Miss Menace got off, leaving me frustrated and horny.

Like I was again... scenes from the dream, or my memory, were again rolling around in my mind, making the bulge in my pants a little uncomfortable. I swung open the door, and saw Sally, still waiting for me. Fuck, I thought she'd have left as soon as I answered her. Now I was standing in front of her with no shirt on and an erection... I just hoped that bulge wasn't very noticeable. I especially hoped she didn't think it was about her. She was dressed in short shorts that showed off long, smooth legs and, when she turned around would show a nice tight little ass, though she didn't have much in the way of boobs, which you could easily tell by the tight shirt she wore. She was still pretty cute. And sure, I've had thoughts I shouldn't have, but I didn't want her to know.

"What are you doing here?" I grumbled. I whipped the shirt off my shoulder and started putting it on properly, trying to make it look casual, like I wasn't embarrassed at all. Was it my imagination, or was she looking at my chest? I've got a decent build, better since I started getting Powered... that tends to shift you towards more idealized body types, and excess fat beyond that usually gets burned away. I was still lean, but getting kind of ripped nonetheless. "Just making sure you're actually up and you didn't fall back asleep. I don't want to be late because of you."

"You're usually not even awake by now." That was an exaggeration, but usually it was Sally the last one to get ready to go.

With one hand she brushed some of her tangled, dark-brown hair out of her eyes and yawned, speaking through the yawn as best she could. "I'm not happy about that either, but I couldn't sleep. Anyway, you probably have time for breakfast or a shower, but not both." She looked me up and down and said, "I suggest the shower." With that, she turned and started up the stairs. I looked up after her, watching her ass moving under those tight shorts, and leaving me in a prime position to hear her last shot back at me... "Maybe a cold one, I'm sure that'd help get rid of that morning woody."

Shit. Oh well, at least she thought it was just the usual erection guys often wake up with. When did Sally get so knowledgeable about such things? Particularly guy's bodies? She's only twelve... when I was that age I thought 'hymen' was what you called male hyenas. But then, she did say 'morning woody' instead of 'morning wood', so maybe I was overestimating her knowledge of the opposite sex.

She was right though, if I only had time for one of the two, it should be a shower. I turned back into my room and tried to turn on the speed so I could gather what I was going to wear afterwards, instead of the stuff I just threw on now, but then I remembered... no super-speed. No powers at all. So I did it the slow way, and trudged up the stairs.

I really was the last person up, it seemed. Mom was in the kitchen, drinking a coffee, wearing a long t-shirt over tight black sweat pants. I went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Morning, Mom. Where's Dad?"

"Morning," she said. "Your father had to go in early. You, on the other hand, are running behind."

"I know, I forgot to set the alarm." I grinned sheepishly. "Just going to take a quick shower and I'll be ready."

She held up her plate, on which there was a piece of buttered toast. "Here, you should at least eat something..."

I smiled and grabbed it, and pretty much shoved it in my mouth as I continued my trek to the bathroom. "Thanks Mom," I mumbled through a mouthful of bread. Who says I only had time for one? I could finish the toast by the time I got in the shower. On my way there, I noticed Sally was watching TV in the living room, and I didn't see my other sister, but figured Tabby was probably just upstairs. I ducked into the downstairs shower, quickly cleaned myself, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and got my hair to that "doesn't look like he did anything special to it but doesn't look awful either" stage.

After that, I got out, went back down to the basement, threw my old clothes in my hamper, and grabbed my school books, just in time to hear my Mom shout that our ride was here. I was on my way towards the foyer, and when I turned a corner, I came face to face with Tabby for the first time that day.

She was dressed normally for school, maybe a little frumpy, jeans and a sort of baggy t-shirt that didn't really show off her best feature, her breasts (okay, second best feature... she's got really beautiful eyes... well, her whole facial area is adorable, that counts as one feature, right?). It could have been any other day, but she looked... sad. Maybe she was just tired.

We stood there, staring at each other for a few seconds, like we were each expecting the other to say something, and I was about to open my mouth to wish her a good morning, but before I could, she slid her eyes away and said, "I'm going to wait outside." With that, she turned and got her shoes on quickly and ran out the door.

So, I guess that answered the question that had been rolling around in my head since I woke up. She was still pissed.

I wasn't the only one to notice her reaction. Sally was sitting on the couch and saw the whole thing. And judging by the widened eyes, she didn't just see, she noticed. Before she could speak, Mom came in. "Where's your sister?"

"She's out already," Sally said, getting to her feet. "She's still in a mood."

Mom nodded, went over to give Sally a hug and kiss, and then me as well, and said, "You guys have a good day, okay?"

We promised we would, and headed towards the door. Just then, Mom got a call on her Handy, and answered it... one of the neighbor women that she hung up with, and pretty soon they were chatting up a storm, on the couch, while Sally and I got our shoes on together by the door. "So, Tabby's still in a mood, huh?"

"Yeah, she's been stomping around all morning," Sally said, and gave me that knowing look. She opened the door, and looked out towards the car that was waiting for us. "What did you do to her?"

I didn't know how to answer that. I wasn't sure it was all on me, but some of it was probably my fault. After all, we'd barely spoken since our fight the previous day...

***

"You want to tell me what that was about?" I said when my sister finally appeared in my room to drop off her costume in my lockbox. She can teleport stuff in and out of it, but she has to be close. And she didn't want to leave the costume in her room where Mom or snoopy Sally might stumble upon it. She couldn't avoid this confrontation, and she seemed resigned to it until I spoke, and I guess my words had too much bite, which made her want to bite back.

"Me?" Tabby said, making the folded up bundle disappear from her hands and, presumably, into the box. "What about you? I leave you for five minutes and you..." she shook her head, swallowed. "What the hell is wrong with you? You barely know anything about her!"

We were speaking in angry whispers. No yelling, people were upstairs, but it was certainly bitter... on my part, particularly. There I was, fucking an actual living breathing legend up the ass, and suddenly, I was gone. I didn't even get to finish. Tabby didn't answer her phone, leaving me to stew in anger, and a little bit of worry, until she finally returned. She did that through the front door, returning from her supposed trip to the "library", and was home for something like a half hour before she finally showed up... all that waiting, yeah, it made me mad. And it made me a little madder that she was trying to turn it back on me. I didn't feel that I did anything wrong.

"Are you kidding? She's a Headliner... and one of the most famous women in the world." I rolled my eyes at her. "I had an opportunity, and took it! You're the one who came out of nowhere and dragged me off. I have every right to be mad at you." Cockblocked by my own sister. "I don't get what your problem is... you're acting like a jealous girlfriend or something."

She reeled back like she was slapped... I guess that was a little too far. "I'm not jealous," she said firmly. "And my problem is how irresponsible you were... did you even think about the consequences? You could have... have..."

"What, knocked her up? Believe me, the way we were doing it, that wasn't a problem." Besides, she would have been on birth control.

Tabby stopped, shook her head, and for a second, I thought she was actually hurt, but instead, it was just disgust. "Really classy. But that's not what I meant."

"So what... what's the big problem? You know we can't get STDs, right?"

"Do you even think about us? At all?" I squinted at her in confusion. "What if something happened with our powers? We power each other up through sex, remember?"

A little less confusion, but it still didn't make sense. "Only with each other," I said. "Remember, we proved it."

She looked momentarily pained. "No, we didn't. You proved that if somebody else gives you an orgasm, you don't get powers." I spread my hands in confusion, not seeing her point. Didn't that prove it? "What if you giving her an orgasm did something to her?"

That stopped me. "So you're saying... you think maybe we both have the ability to give super powers through sex?" My eyes widened at the thought. Okay, Tabby had a point. It even made a certain type of sense. Maybe my sister and I had the same power, fundamentally... it would be logical, if we were exposed to the same mysterious cause.

"If it was true, you might have blown the secret of our powers. Or maybe even hurt somebody... who knows what happens when you give powers to somebody already Powered?"

My mind was still racing with the possibilities, what it might mean for us. Secondary Empowerment was not uncommon... there were a number of heroes and villains out there who got their abilities because somebody else, a Source, either temporarily or permanently gave them abilities. That was, in fact, how Little Miss Menace got hers, from her father. "Traditionally, it temporarily overwrites, but sometimes effects stack," I answered distractedly as I shook my head, marveling. Not just at the idea, but that Tabby figured it out before I did. "That makes so much sense... masturbation turns off our powers, right... maybe it's like a short circuit. We can't empower ourselves, so it wipes the slate clean."

"So now do you see why I had to stop you?"

"I guess. I don't think it would be that big a deal. Maybe she'd start flying or something." Or maybe she'd turn into her normal self, which would be nice... I'd get to see both versions of her naked. Even though her Menace form is much hotter. Without that she looks like any slightly cute fourteen-year-old. Not even as hot as Tabby. Who I had to tease a little at this point. "Anyway, I thought you didn't think girls could cum from anal."

It was an attempt to lighten the mood, or maybe get her to consider trying it with me, but Tabby was not amused. "Do you even care?" she asked. "About our secrets? You're the one who said the less people know, even heroes, the better for us."

"Yeah, yeah." Once again, she had a valid point. Even if we trusted Little Miss Menace, and I was inclined to, considering how much fun it was to pull her tail up and fuck her ass, all it takes is one telepathic villain or something and it gets leaked to the other side. And who knew, really? Maybe I'd Empower her into some kind of more monstrous form. That idle thought is almost certainly what lead to my dream the next morning, but at the time I didn't dwell on it, because I had to eat crow... she was right, it was sloppy. "Okay."

"I mean, I know you're a horndog, but this affects me, too."

"Okay," I repeated, snapping a little, but I'd already said it once and she was still nagging. "I'll be more careful."

"You promise?"

"Yeah," I told her. "Next time I get a chance to fuck a famous heroine, I'll use protection, I promise." Or just my costume would do, if I slid the cup out of the way.

Tabby inhaled slowly and sort of set her jaw angrily. "Fine," she said, and, without any further word, she spun on her heel and stalked out, getting halfway to the door before stopping, shaking her hands in frustration as she realized she could just teleport away.

***

"What makes you think it was me?" I asked Sally.

"You must have done something," she insisted, still looking out. We could see Tabby's silhouette in the backseat, the front seats both occupied by our escorts.

"Well, I didn't." At least, I didn't know what I'd done. She was still angry when she left my room, but I thought it was just residual, I'd already admitted I was wrong and apologized, and so the next time we saw each other we should have been back to our old banter. The argument was over, I thought.

That quite wasn't what happened. Oh, she wasn't outwardly hostile toward me... she didn't even say another unkind word. What she did was somehow worse... the subtle cold shoulder. I've had it before. When she was like that, she didn't conspicuously ignore me... she never initiated a conversation, but if I asked her something, she'd answer, coolly, like she didn't care one way or the other. She didn't answer my texts and e-mails... but in a way where she could pretend she just hadn't looked. I caught her, alone and face-to-face, that evening after dinner and asked if she wanted to 'port over to Crash City together, and she told me she wanted to take some time off. When I suggested we at least charge up our powers, she shook her head and said she wasn't in the mood and spent the rest of the night in her room.

It was frustrating. At least when she was angry at me, it was like we were connected, her attention was on me, and I could maybe turn her mood around with a well-timed joke. Instead it was like she was deliberately avoiding me, and that continued that morning, where she left immediately after seeing me. Worst of all, I couldn't even be sure, really sure, that her behavior had anything to do with me. Maybe she was just in a quiet mood. If it was me, I didn't understand what it was that caused it. Again, I thought we resolved that fight. I'd agreed with her, so that should have been end of it, right? Unless maybe there was something that Little Miss Menace said before she came home, that she hadn't told me. Or maybe Tabby was just holding a grudge because I was so angry at her at first when she turned out to be right.

"You know what you should do if you want to get on her good side?" Sally asked.

At this point, I was willing to try anything. "What?"

"Give me your allowance for the next three weeks."

She was totally shameless. "Yeah, right."

"No, I'm serious, it would work."

"And that's supposed to impress her with my generosity or something?"

"No, but it'll impress me. I'm much more discriminating than Tabby is. If she sees that I don't think you're a jerkwad, she'll start to think maybe she's wrong." She grinned at me. "She's not, but I'll pretend if you make it worth my while."

I did like my younger sister, even if she was a brat sometimes, and I knew she usually liked me too, but we were always just a little more antagonistic than Tabby and I. Still, I wasn't going to pay her for her goodwill, that would set a bad precedent. "No deal." I opened the door and started walking out. Sally followed me, of course.

To my surprise, on the walk to the car, Sally admitted, "It probably wasn't all you."

It got my hopes up. "No?"

"Yeah, she's been in a bad mood since she came back from the library yesterday. I guess something there didn't go like she wanted it to." That little candle of hope went out with a woosh. The library was her cover story, she went there and then teleported back to pick me up to go visit Little Miss Menace. "She wouldn't even tell me about..." She shrugged, and we were just about at the car, so she let the sentence hang, unfinished, and started a new one. "But I bet you said something that made it worse. Two weeks allowance, final offer." I gave her a little head shake, but she wasn't really expecting me to give in, she already had the door open and slid in, this time in the middle seat between me and Tabby.

After an awkwardly quiet car ride to school, I was beginning to wish I'd taken Sally up on her idea. Tabby didn't even say goodbye to me as she ran in towards class. Sally got a goodbye, as Tabby and I got out of the car at the high school, leaving her the rest of the ride to middle school alone. But for the walk up to the high school doors, Tabby didn't say anything to me, and when we split up and I said I'd see her around, she just gave me sort of a halfhearted nod.

I next saw my oldest sister during lunch. I got to the cafeteria first and was sitting with a group of mixed sex from my grade, including Eva, who was friends with both Tabby and I and gave me a blowjob once. Last time Tabby got really mad at me was because of that, that I was doing things with her friends, but we'd resolved that. I'd hoped Eva's presence might encourage Tabby to sit by us. Instead, when I saw her leave the lunch line, she spotted me and very pointedly pretended she didn't... she looked away and took a seat at the other side of the room.

I left it like that, and went back to my own conversation, but I kept looking back there... she was my sister, and she was making me feel guilty even though I didn't know what I did. And moreover, she was sitting all by herself, not really talking to anybody. I could understand her deciding to sit with friends, but alone? I just hoped friends were on their way and she was just saving them a spot.

At one point, Eva noticed me looking there, and asked, "You and your sister have a fight?" I shrugged, and she teased, "What'd you do to make her mad?"

"Why does everyone assume it was me?"

"If everyone's assuming it," she pointed out with a bit of a grin, "there's probably a reason for that. Just apologize."

"Even if I don't know what it was?"

She shrugged. "I could ask her, if you like?"

"Uh, no." It was actually an appealing thought, but given the taboo, secretive nature of my relationship with my sister, anything she said would have to be at least fifty-percent bullshit just for our own safety, and how would I know it wasn't all lies? "I'm sure she'll get over it."

"Probably," Eva agreed. "But she might make your life miserable in the meantime." She smiled. "You know, sometimes apologies help even if you don't know why you're apologizing." I shrugged, and she suggested, "You probably said something... it was probably something you didn't think was a big deal, but it hit on something she's been feeling insecure about."

Could it be that simple? Had I said something, made a comment that was about, or could be taken to be about, her weight, or her being annoying or something? I didn't think so, but I started trying to run through my recent interactions with her again, trying to remember my exact words and where the mood might have turned.

But that wasn't easy in a crowded lunchroom. Somebody at a nearby table dropped something, and then a chorus of giggles drew my attention to the door. A group of girls had entered the cafeteria, like a swarm.

"Doesn't it just burn you up?" said the girl to Eva's left, I think her name was Beth or Betty or Becca. It was something with a Beh, sound, anyway. She was in some of my classes but I didn't know her too well, she was closer to Eva than me, but kind of a hanger-on anyway. "She's been here a week and is already super popular. You guys never got treated like that. I've been here since I was a freshman and I'm still not in the in-crowd."

I'd already looked away from the newcomers, but took a second look, and lost my previous train of thought while first thinking and then biting back a snarky remark about how there was probably a reason for Beh-whatever's outcast status. She was bland with a capital B. Average looks, and didn't even dress sexy. She had big tits, but that was about all she had going for her. The girl she was jealous of was in my sister's year, the new new girl at school, and there in the center of a gaggle of girls not even stopping in the food line, just going for a table, she strode proudly, the center of attention. I knew nothing about her other than that she had a brother, a senior, and that they'd just transferred over despite it being near the end of the school year, and of course, that she was cute, but not as pretty as you'd expect from somebody instantly popular. She had vibrant red hair, a dye job, but nice enough, but her face was a little too made up which is usually a sign they're hiding something, and even with that, her chin was a little weak and nose pushed back a little, showing too much nostril. She did seem to be fashionable, dressing in sexy tights under a skirt and blouse that flattered her, I guess. Her body didn't have much visible shape to it, she was thin in the way of a runaway model, which seems to be popular enough among girls, but personally, I, like most guys I know, prefer a little more boobs and ass. But hey, if she somehow made it to the in-crowd, more power to her. "I don't care," I said. "I'm just happy I won't be referred to as the new guy anymore." Which was kind of an exaggeration, by now most people in my classes knew my name. They even knew to call me Alex, instead of my 'official' name, George. I told them Alex was my middle name.

Eva had also been looking over at the new girl, and now squinted slightly, tilting her head. "She reminds me of somebody. Can't put my finger on it."

Beh also took another look, and said, "You know what? She reminds me a little of that girl on that reality show, Alien Watch?" She waved her fork around. "The one who joined the team this year? You know, if she was older."

"No, can't be that, never watch that crap." I liked Eva a little more, hearing that. It was pointless pandering. I mean, the first couple episodes weren't bad, when they were digging into the real historical cases of Plejarans living secretly among us, or Greymen using their holographic disguises or lifelike exo-suits, but they ran out of those true stories quick. Ever since the second season, every episode I've seen was them trying to prove some normal, though odd, person, normal or Powered, was really an alien, using the most circumstantial evidence, which is all you can do. Baseline Plejaran DNA is indistinguishable from human by any test we know, even though most of them have super strength... loads of them have exotic-energy powers too, making it more complicated. Just like with Powered humans, then you usually have to rely on SPREE-testing, so forget any detailed analysis of their DNA unless they're cooperating, and why would they? And of course, they look human. So even if there were still some of them living secretly on Earth, you'd never be able to prove it. And Greymen, well, if the inteligence services can't find agents on Earth, you think these guys would? Every episode ends with something like, 'We think the evidence is persuasive that it's at least possible...' said with earnest seriousness, and I just mutter "Bullshit," to the screen.

Okay, I watch it sometimes, but only to laugh at how lame it is, and I'm glad Eva's above even that. She's kind of cool for a girl who's a friend, and sometimes I get the hint that she'd like to get something going with me again... I know it would piss off Tabby to be with her friend, so I haven't picked up on it, but otherwise I'd be down for it. With a condom, of course. You don't risk blowing your secret identity for a girl.

"It's not crap," Beh insisted. "It's really good. You wouldn't believe how many aliens are among us. A lot of people we think are Spore Kids are really aliens hiding out, you know."

"Uh-huh, wouldn't be surprised," Eva said, but looked at me and rolled her eyes. I grinned as she pushed herself up from the table. "Anyway I'm still hungry, I'm going to go get a slice of pie or something." She strolled across the cafeteria.

"I wish I could eat like that," Beh muttered as soon as she was out of earshot. "I'm throwing away half of my lunch just to maintain my weight, and that girl can eat anything."

"Some people just have a good metabolism," said Andy, one of the guys there, short guy, usually quiet but could sometimes be funny. "Don't worry, not everybody goes for the skinny type."

"Gee, thanks for calling me the fat type."

"I did not say that, I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with different body types."

She stabbed her fork into her food. "Right, like mine, the fat type."

"Jesus, I'm not calling you fat! You look totally okay."

"Okay," she said, like it was the most grievous insult to be called "okay-looking."

It went on like that for a while. It was almost painful to listen to... it was like they were dating or something. They weren't, as far as I knew, but it was like that, and I needed to pay attention to something else before I stuck a fork in my own eyes and ears, so I looked back at Tabby. Still no friends. And she still looked glum, or maybe lost in thought, and not looking in my direction at all. Did I say something?

I put my fork down and decided, the hell with it, I needed to make another effort to reach out. What's the worst she could do, tell me to go away? Besides, she was eating by herself... there were some people at the same table but they were in their own conversations. I figured even if she was still pissed at me for something, I might be better than nothing.

I left Miss Blah and Andy and the others, without even a goodbye (they didn't even seem like they noticed), got up, and sauntered past the few tables to where Tabby sat, then plopped myself beside her. She looked up, then back to her tray. "How's it going?" I said, not encouraged by the reaction.

"Fine."

That was another bad sign, one of the smartest things my Dad told me about women was that "Fine" was a dangerous word, and growing up with three other girls in the house has proven that to be bang on... but I tried to press on. "Not eating with anybody?" I asked. It really was unusual. We were still a little on the fringes of the school social ladder, but we both had at least a few people to spend lunches with, usually. Sometimes it was with each other, but that was usually because we liked each other.

She shrugged, which actually made me feel a little better. Maybe she wasn't just mad at me, but just in a bad mood generally, like she was on her period or something, and pushing everybody away. Finally, she said, "Erica and June went off-campus to go to the Red Barn."

Not my favorite place, but their fried chicken was alright. And I knew Tabby liked their Barnbusters. "And they didn't invite you? Bitches."

That at least got a hint of a smile. "It's not like they just ditched me, we're not allowed to leave, remember?" That would be my sister, scrupulously following the rules even when her friends didn't. She looked up and over at the crowd of girls who was now headed towards the door. Eva was with them, talking to the new girl. "They wanted to pick a Farmburger up for Sapphire there."

"Still sound like bitches to me," I said. But, as cynical as it was, if she was feeling a little excluded from her friends, I thought it made things more hopeful for me. "So any chance you think you might want to play Crime Busters tonight?" We were in public, so I used the name of the popular video game. Even if anybody was listening in, and I didn't think anybody cared enough to, they'd just think I was talking about that instead of actually being heroes... but I knew Tabby was smart enough to get exactly what I meant.

"I don't know," she said, picking at her fruit cup desert with a plastic fork, and I thought that meant no, but she got my hopes up a little when she finally added, "Maybe." But it wasn't one of those teasing maybes where we both knew we'd be doing it, it was like even she wasn't sure.

Better than a 'no', at least. "Okay," I said. I glanced up at the clock. "I should probably get going, I've got some short-answer homework to do before my next class and I haven't even done the reading." I grinned wryly, my "yeah, yeah, I should know better" smile, and stood up. The truth was, I did know better... It was only a couple chapters of this dull novel called "A Time For George Stavros." I hadn't done the reading very carefully, but I'd skimmed it enough that I could put together answers good enough to get by, I just had to actually write them out. I always liked to make like I do everything last minute... that way people don't expect much from me. And in high school, a lazy ass who somehow pulls off a decent grade is more popular than someone who actually does the work ahead of time.

Tabby's probably the exception to that, she probably would have thought more highly of me if I'd did it in advance... but I also knew that she wasn't likely to hold it against me. And I'd scored a win with the 'maybe', I didn't want to risk hanging around and doing something else to piss her off.

***

She ran kind of cold to me the next time I saw her, on the ride back, and for much of the night... she was a little more talkative, but I thought the 'maybe' was going to turn into a 'no,' and I was ready to try and formally apologize for whatever it was I said, even though I still couldn't think of what it might be. But, to my surprise, before she went up 'to bed', she whispered to me that she'd meet me in an hour.

Sure enough, an hour later, she knocked lightly on my door, and I let her in. I had just my boxers on, and she looked me up and down, then walked into the room, past me and towards my bed. She was just wearing a long t-shirt... and panties underneath, of course, although the shirt was too long to tell it right away, I found out soon enough. "Let's charge up quickly so I can teleport back if I have to..." She sat on the bed and started pulling her panties off.

"Kind of your own fault there."

She didn't answer, at least not in words, though she made a sound, a sharp 'hmmp'. Then she turned over and pulled her shirt up... not off, just up, but enough to expose her ass, and I kind of lost the urge to make her feel bad. In fact, my urges ran towards the opposite.

But she didn't make it easy. She just lay on her stomach, and quickly pulled a pillow out to put beneath her, just above her breasts, where she could bury her mouth in it. But beyond that, she didn't look at me.

I cupped my hands on her ass, and she twitched a little, but didn't say anything, and pulled one cheek to the side, to better look at both her pussy and her asshole. I wanted to try that some day. Fucking Little Miss Menace there was great... okay, to be honest, it was a bit of a letdown, but still a lot of fun and much tighter, like she was completely squeezing down on me, and warmer, maybe just because of the mostly unlubed friction... but to my surprise I found I preferred the smooth slide and the feeling of slippery wetness of a pussy. Yet there was something about anal that made the act seem dirtier, and I still wanted to try that with Tabby... maybe if we used lots of lube I'd like it a lot better, as, I hoped, would she. In fact, I wanted to prove my sister wrong, show her that I could make her cum by fucking her ass.

But not that night. If I tried that right then, she might never forgive me. And her pussy was a very tempting target too, the pink insides shiny and glistening. I rubbed it with two fingers, gathering the wetness, and then pulled my boxers down. My cock was at full attention, and I sort of knee-bent a little to get into position, rubbed the head around to slick up, and pushed into her.

I held myself over her with my arms, planted on either side of her, and thrust in and out, but it didn't take long before I realized that something was different, or maybe it was just more of the same treatment I'd been getting since our last excursion... Tabby wasn't into it.

Or she was pretending she wasn't, which raised some of the same questions.

She didn't thrust back into me, she didn't moan outwardly, she barely moved at all... yet, her pussy was still slick, and her breath quickened. It was like she was trying to make me think she was just doing this for my benefit, being a passive hole I could unload into.

And I can enjoy a passive hole as much as the next guy, but...sex is way more fun when the girl's into it. I continued on for a while, but finally I paused and I asked, "Am I boring you, here?"

"What?" The question sounded distracted, like she hadn't even heard me.

"You don't seem very into it. If you don't want to do this, we don't have to."

"No, keep going. We have work to do."

That wasn't the kind of response I was hoping for, but I was pretty close to cumming, and at that point I didn't really want to stop, but I kept it up slowly, kind of like I was trying to show her "Well, if you're not into it, neither am I." Whether she got that message or not, within about half a minute, she pushed her butt up a little more, though her head was still in the pillow. I similarly pulled up, and instead of leaning forward over her, stood up straight and grabbed her hips and picked up the speed, a rapid in and out stroke. Within thirty seconds, I felt that familiar rapid pulse at the base of my cock, and an upward push of energy, and I pressed into her when it reached the peak and I came.

This time, as jet after jet of semen flowed into her, I let out a grunt of satisfaction and felt the power flowing into me... with Tabby's revelation, I now visualized it something like an exchange, me giving her my sexual energy and she returning it in the form of super powers.

By the time I finished emptying my seed into my sister, I was super strong, super durable, and, of course, capable of flight. Most importantly at that moment, I was still hard and able to remain that way as long as I wanted. Now it was my turn to give her powers.

It took longer than it should have. By now, I know my sister's body, and I know there's nothing to worry about with my own skill, particularly when I'm enhanced with superior endurance. So that it took twice as long to get my sister to cum was all on her... she was holding back, consciously or not, or maybe feeling too generally depressed to properly enjoy herself. She wouldn't even really let me do another position, just diligently kept her face down and away from me... that probably had a lot to do with it, in fact. Variety's always nice.

But I did my job diligently and slammed my meat to her again and again, and eventually she brought her arm up to cover her mouth and help stifle a cry of pleasure, and I knew it was close, so I picked up the speed. A minute later, she tensed up and then relaxed, although with no sound louder than a muffled moan this time around.

That was disappointing, I guess, but it didn't really matter, in the end. We both had powers again, and could be once again play hero.

***

"What is this place?" I asked. We were dressed up in our costumes, a time zone away, looking in on one particular three-story house in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Crash City. Unlike a lot of our excursions, we only took one teleportation jump to get here, which meant Tabby had been here before. I didn't recognize it. The house looked like any others near it, except the lawn was patchy with lots of mud spots. We were on a nearby apartment building, just one story higher than the house.

"It's a drug house. People in this neighborhood come here to buy. I checked it out last night." A drug dealer got a friend of Tabby's hooked on meth... we actually got that guy arrested on one of our first nights on the town, but my sister's still got a thing against drug dealers in general. I didn't care that much, I was willing to do it for the fun, and for her sake, but there was one fact that caught my attention.

"Last night," I repeated, leaving the rest unspoken. I wasn't with her last night, so that meant she'd come here alone. At first I was hurt, and then angry and scared. "Jesus, Tabby, what if you'd gotten hurt?" Or, I realized later, run out of power and became stranded in Crash City with me hours away and no other way to recharge her teleportation.

"I didn't do anything, I just took some quick peeks inside."

"You could have brought me along, just in case."

She waved a hand dismissively. "I didn't want to bother you."

I decided to let it go for now, I guess I was trying to avoid another fight, she was already mad enough at me. It was dangerous, but nothing actually happened, and so it didn't have to affect tonight... we could still go in. As I thought, I rubbed my hand over my head, the top of my mask making it smooth. I was thinking of adding some little horns there, give me a bit more of a distinctive silhouette, and it would work well with the name Deviant that I'd chosen. "Okay, so, how do you want to do this? Teleport us in and I can smash some heads?"

"No," she said, and looked at me, lip in between her teeth. "I actually think maybe we should do this separately."

I frowned. Okay, that I couldn't let go. "I get it, you're still pissed at me. Look, whatever I said to make you mad, I'm sorry, really."

"I'm not mad at you," she said with surprising sincerity. I'd almost believe it if it wasn't for how she'd been treating me. "I just need some... space right now."

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll go in, you stay put and watch for stragglers." At least it would keep her out of the danger zone.

No such luck. "No way... I think this would be a good time to try out my temperature powers. In the field." She pulled down the front of her uniform, and her CoreWear panties underneath, revealing her pussy, still a little red and puffy from us just fucking.

I looked because you never get tired of that sight, but answered, "I don't think that's such a good idea. We don't even know for sure if you'll be bulletproof. These guys might have guns."

"Right, that's why I want those powers. I can make their guns too hot to handle." Now her tone was light, confident. Too much so, in fact.

"No way. We're not doing this. This is crazy, Tabby." Usually I was the one taking stupid risks and she was the saner, level-headed one. We needed that balance.

"You know, I could just send you home and handle this myself. I wouldn't get the powers I'd want, but I'd get practice." She said that coldly, not teasingly, and so I thought it was a serious threat. She might actually send me away and take on these guys. Whatever mood she was in, even if she seemed to dip in and out of it from time to time, was still dangerous.

Which meant it was best to give in, at least outwardly, and try to persuade her in other ways. "Look, if you want me to finger you, fine, but at least let's go in together... that way if things get hairier I can protect you." As I said this, I pulled off my glove so that my bare hand was exposed, and then stepped up beside her. My hand slipped in, warm and wet and a little gooey, probably from my own cum, but this time I didn't bend down, or even look, I just fingered her while looking at her face... a little closer than comfort, almost intimate, like we were about to kiss. She let her uniform go and it snapped up against my hand, but I was already inside.

"That's the point though... I have to protect myself. Or what am I?"

I leaned in just a little closer and pointed out, "But I'm always going to be with you." It was one of the side effects of being the way we got our powers, we had to stay close together in case we ran out of juice.

She turned her head to the side and downward, and I had to imagine her closing her eyes. "You can't make that promise."

I dug in deep with my hand, forcing her to go on her tiptoes a little. "Sure I can. Come on, I'm not going to leave you in danger."

"Yeah, unless you get the chance to fuck another famous heroine."

I grimaced. "It's not like I'm going to run off and have sex while we're off fighting bad guys. You always come first." She took a gasping breath, but didn't answer. Maybe I was getting through to her? I decided to try and change the topic, so she wouldn't notice I was pushing her out of the insane idea. If I tried too hard, it might make her all the more determined. Stubbornness runs in the family. "So how'd you find this place?"

"The website, weneedahero.com." She had to take a breath before saying the word "dot", but I knew what she meant before she got there anyway. "People come and go all day and night. They say they keep calling the police and sometimes they make an arrest outside but it goes right back to the way it was a few days later."

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" I asked. "If it even really is a drug house." One of the problems of the site is that, since you can post anonymously, people use it to call for heroic action on ex-lovers, business rivals, or just generally innocent people for fun. It would be a real problem, except actual Powered responses to the postings are rare.

"It is, I told you, I checked," she said, and then her body tensed up against my fingers just for a second. I picked up the pace. "And I figured we'd bust in, two directions at once, throw a scare into them, maybe draw some cops. We can take their money for charity again, too, but this is mostly for practice, which we both need lots more of. It probably won't make a difference, but there's always a chance, right?"

I nodded. "As long as you don't get your hopes up."

"Believe me, I have no illusions about this being long term, this is just... fooling around," she said, and then looked back at me for the first time in a while. "Faster."

I stopped talking and we continued the repowering in silence... well, not silence, she was breathing irregularly and occasionally grunting or making little meep sounds, like she wanted to moan but wouldn't let it out... she's normally a loud moaner, but she has to keep herself quiet when somebody else is home, and also tends to try her best not to be loud when we're outside, like she's shy about being overheard. Seeing her struggle against it was incredibly hot, but I always kind of wanted her to fail and cry out... except when our parents could hear, of course. I leaned in to her as I finished, starting to get a little aroused, but with the cup I wore I didn't exactly have a visible boner. Still, I felt the urge to rub up against her leg, get a little friction going, and while I did that, I seemed to push her over the top.

Her mouth compressed into a thin line, but she didn't let out any noise louder than a squeal, and then she let out a breath, and with it the word, "Okay." I stepped back, put my glove back on, and let her regain her composure. She had a slight blush in the moonlight. "There are only five guys inside right now, three on the top floor, one on each of the other two." She must have seen it with her spatial awareness before her powers changed. "I was thinking I take the lower two floors, you take the top one."

I folded my arms over my chest. "No. I don't want you in there."

"What? You can't tell me what to do." She pointed at me, and I felt a wave of cold pass between us. That's no metaphor, it was literally like some arctic wind had just blown through and onto my face, her powers kicking in. "You agreed."

"Only when you threatened to teleport me away. You're acting crazy, Tabby, and I don't know why, but I know you're smarter than this. Think about it... closed quarters, where they could grab you or shoot... and what if they have traps like that last place?" I shook my head. "Either we go in together, and watch each other's backs, or, if you still need your 'space', you wait outside. That's the only way we're doing this. I'm not kidding, I'll put you over my shoulder and fly us back to Ohio if I have to." I could tell by the way her jaw was clenched and her arms were folded, turned away from me, I'd pissed her off, so I took a more solicitous tone. "Come on, it's not like I'm cutting you out of the action, we're just playing it smart. Hell, it'll be fun, I'll drive them out, you can turn the neighbor's hose on them, and with your powers..."

She turned back towards me, and, for a few seconds she just stared at me, and it could go either way, but she cracked a smile. She must have pictured covering them in water and freezing the water, or maybe making an ice slick that would cause them to fall on their asses. "Okay," she said. "I'll wait outside."

Victory at last!

I flew Tabby down in my arms, where she seemed tense and uncomfortable, but at least there were no arguments, and got her a position between the two houses... and yes, with a nearby hose. Then I took to the skies again and found a window.

I debated trying to take out the power before I entered... the last drug dealers we tangled with had an electrocution trap on the floor, and it almost killed me. But in the end, I decided I wanted to be able to see what was going on, if it was completely dark, too much could go wrong. I needed to get some kind of night vision goggles built into my mask.

Anyway, electrocution traps depended on me being grounded, and I intended to avoid that. I flew to the top floor, circled the building, and took a quick peek in the windows. This floor was mostly bedrooms, and as Tabby said, I could only see three people upstairs. One guy was alone in one room, watching porn on a computer screen, and whacking off. If I didn't know any better, I might have thought it was some random college guy, he had kind of a dark-tan complexion, maybe he was Greek or even Middle Eastern, but didn't look obviously shifty. The porn had blonde teen lesbians scissoring each other. Anyway, one Deviant to another, I decided not to burst in on him... I'd give him time to zip up.

The master bedroom is where I decided to enter. It was a pretty big room, with a bed and an easy chair, it looked a little like a hotel room. This one had two guys, probably the same ethnicity as the first one, maybe even all related, one with a large moustache that intensified the "Middle Eastern" possibility, and the other with spikey dark hair. They were listening to music, so loud I could hear it from outside, dance music with a repetitive beat, and watching something on the TV. I shifted to another window and saw that it was soccer.

I had second thoughts about coming in at all, until I noticed that there was a gun sticking out of the waistband of the guy with the moustache, and a few other guns on the dresser. There was also a little baggy sticking out from a drawer.

It was thin, but Tabby had said that she'd checked the place out herself, and as stupid and dangerous as that was, if I couldn't trust her on that, I was screwed. Besides, I wasn't planning on hurting anybody too badly. Unlike my sister, I don't really have anything against drug dealers in principle, as long as they don't deal to little kids or do drivebys and shit. I've even smoked a little weed in my time. We were just here to put a scare in them and get some practice, and hopefully confiscate some drug money so that I could maybe impress Tabby by donating it to a women's shelter or something. If I was wrong, oops, I did some property damage. I'll steal from a real drug dealer and pay it back later.

So, with that in mind, I slammed through the window at full speed, leading with my shoulder, and yelled, "Surprise, motherfuckers!" Then I did what I told myself I wasn't going to do, I landed on the ground... it just seemed more dramatic, and drama wins over practicality. It's easier than you'd think to look stupid floating around, at least when it's indoors. Nothing happened though, there was no obvious electrocution trap.

"What the?" said one guy, the other swore. Both rolled off the couch and reached for guns.

"I hear you've been very naughty, and you need to be taught a lesson." I said, wincing at the way it sounded. I really needed to find better things to say when attacking criminals, that was so lame, and with my codename, I'd probably get a reputation for being a flamboyantly gay hero. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except it'd hurt my chances with the ladies. "I'm here to confiscate your drugs and your drug money."

The one with the spikey-hair shouted something rapidly in another language. I didn't recognize it, but at least I knew they were foreigners, which made me feel a little better... I hope that doesn't make me sound racist, but so many jobs get outsourced or given to illegal immigrants, you'd think we could at least get American drug dealers, right?

The two with guns didn't start firing right away, they circled me nervously, like they were afraid I might do something, but I was committed to giving them the first shot. I walked and picked up the baggy I'd seen earlier, then threw it out the window. "Okay, so, where's the cash?"

That got them firing. Gunshots hurt, but I knew they wouldn't do any serious damage. I put an arm up over my face because that's the only area where I'm worried damage might show (and I'd technically never been shot in the eyeball yet, that part of me might have been weaker), but otherwise I just stood my ground. It was like slaps... I didn't want to take it all day, but I could endure a few of them and pretend it didn't bother me at all.

When they ran out of ammo, I advanced, grabbed one of the guns and twisted it out of the spikey-haired guy's hand, wrenching his fingers as he did. At this point, the guy who was whacking off rushed into the room, also holding a gun, and, thankfully, his pants were up. I threw the guy I'd just disarmed at him, and then tripped the other one who was backing away and trying to reload. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. They both involve you giving me the drug money, but the hard way means more bruises along the way."

"Fuck you," said the guy I'd tripped, the one with the 'stache, and he put another clip in. I kicked his hand and he screamed... I actually felt guilty, I hoped I didn't break his hand, even if he was a criminal. I found the gun that he dropped and stomped down... I don't know why, I guess I had the idea of squashing it flat, but instead my foot went through the floorboards, taking the gun with it. "Oops. Don't know my own strength. Which is really why you should be telling me what I want."

The masturbator fired at me, while the spikey-haired guy was trying to run past him... I decided to let him go, if he got outside, Tabby could try with him now that he was disarmed. Instead, I grabbed the masturbator. "So, where do you keep your cash?" He didn't answer. "I know, you're worried about what I'll do with your money. I understand that. Would it help if I promise you, it'll be put to... Deviant uses?" Fuck, a lame pun and it didn't even make sense, because I hadn't introduced myself. "Uh, I'm Deviant. That's what they call me." Shit, how do heroes make this stuff look so easy? Do they write it ahead of time?

"We don't have any money," he said. I tilted my head at him and lifted him to the air. "I mean, not much, we just pass it up the line, man."

I could follow up on that later. "You must have some," I said. "Where is it?" I was glad Tabby wasn't here, this was starting to feel less like a heroic act and more like a shakedown. Even if it was all for a good cause in the end, Tabby might not see it that way.

"I've got a couple thousand in my room." I flew out into the hallway, and then around to where his room was. I could hear more shouting from downstairs, swearing, and the high pitched whine of an alarm. "You take it, and go, okay?" he said as we passed through the doorway. The room smelled pretty bad, acrid, stale.. the guy must be a chain smoker.

"No, I go after I remove every last drug from this place, and all the money," I said. "And if you don't leave this neighborhood, my partner and I'll come back and do it again. So where's the cash?" He pointed to a wad of bills wrapped up in a money clip. I took it, and shoved it into my utility belt. "Now, where are the drugs? If you passed all the cash up the line, you must have a fresh shipment of drugs to sell, right?"

"Most of them we keep downstairs," he insisted. "Just let me go, we don't hurt anybody, we just need to make a living, you know?"

"Make it another way." But I decided to let him go, I threw him on his bed. "Enjoy the porn."

The guy who's hand I might have broken was clutching it and now on his feet, and I just grinned at him and passed by, heading for the stairs. I flew down rather than walked, and was in a hallway. It was a little hazy looking, and I wondered if someone was dipping into their own supply. I opened a door at random, hoping to find the drugs, and, to be honest, more money, and that's when it happened.

I opened the door and instantly a fountain of flame spilled out. That's when I put things together... the place didn't just smell like smoke, it was being filled with it and it was starting to get thick and black. It wasn't from pot... although that characteristic skunky smell was there, it wasn't predominant. This was an actual, real fire. That's probably what the alarm was about earlier. The house I was in was on fire. In fact, the room I'd just opened wasn't the source, it had burned through the floor below. I ran to the stairs going down to the main floor, and the flames were everywhere, red, angry, like a living thing.

It had to be my sister's doing... maybe she disobeyed my instruction and came in the house slinging fire carelessly, or maybe she really was so pissed at me that she did set the place ablaze deliberately, just to punish me.

Either way, I think I preferred the cold shoulder...

To Be Continued...
Next Time: Cold Shoulder, Part Two!

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It's time for our letter column! Here, I'll post mail direct from (volunteering) fans, and answer questions for all. Just one letter this time around...

Landon writes:

More awesome, fun work, man! This is great. Thanks for doing it... and for giving me the setting for my next superhero game. A hard-working GM thanks YOU!

Wow, I'm a little honored, even though I assume you'll be changing a lot of the names and making up your own details for some of it. That's not something I demand, you (and anyone else who wants to) are welcome to use whatever you want, but unless you've got a very open-minded group it seems prudent... not to mention that in a game running at any reasonable pace, my stories wouldn't provide enough material on their own to make up a decently fleshed out setting! But still, honored at the idea! If you ever get around to playing it (as a former GM myself, I know that many a planned game doesn't make it to that stage), let me know how it goes!

And if you liked this installment, please provide feedback:

Note: If you want your feedback to be answered within the Letter Column of a future issue for others to read, please include a request to that effect and include a name you'd like to be called by. Your e-mail address, if you provide it, will not be published. This is completely optional, it's just for fun, to give the series a more comic-book vibe, and it will allow me to respond even if you don't want to give an e-mail address. If you don't specifically request this, your mail will be answered privately (again, assuming you provide a reply-address).

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