Every first kiss was a thrill, but like everything else with Alyssa, her sweet lips and the feel of her against me raised the bar, considerably. I got lost in that kiss, it wasn’t just lust, far from it, five days or not, too quick or not, my chest filled with a mélange of emotions that had my heart hammering, and my head swimming.

  She was overwhelmingly enthralling.

  When the kiss broke, I looked into her soft brown eyes as I caressed her face, and I had to suppress a groan at what I saw there.

  The same emotions I felt, a hot need for me, a lost look as she gazed into my eyes, lust, desire, and she was clearly breathless. I wanted to pick her up and take her against the door, but that wasn’t the only thing I saw.

  She didn’t just look lost in me, and swept up by it all, she also looked unsure, scared, and conflicted.

  It’d only been five days, but I could read her face like a book, and I saw the regret in her eyes, when the fear won. I even kind of got it, waiting was safer, we couldn’t un-fuck each other after all, but we could go the other way when she was sure.

  She opened her mouth to speak, I could see the incipient apology in her eyes and already knew what she’d say, but I slid my fingers down her face and covered her lips with one of them.

  “It’s fine Alyssa, you’re worth the wait. No apologies for that, ever.”

  She smiled faintly, and sighed as she burrowed into me, which didn’t help me, but still felt damned good as I held her tightly against me.

  “You’re too good to be true.”

  I nodded, “That’s my line. Besides, it will let me soak in the best kiss I’ve ever had.”

  She smirked, “Liar, but thank you for understanding.”

  Her eyes were still full of conflict, and her body was obviously pushing its agenda. I figured it was better to call it a night, than to extend the temptation for us both.

  I kissed her a second time, one that was soft, sweet, and lingering. It was almost physically painful to end it, and I stepped away, but I’d needed to do it before the passion crept back in.

  “Good night, gorgeous. Six-thirty work out?”

  She smirked, “Yes. Thanks again for tonight.”

  I winked, “The pleasure was all mine, Liss. Trust me.”

  She blushed, but she looked pleased I’d used her nickname at the same time.

  I let myself out, and I headed for my own apartment. Which, felt rather empty…

  She wore black yoga pants over a red skintight leotard the next morning, and I was fairly sure she was trying to kill me. She’d worn red a lot, since I’d told her how good she looked in it. The leotard had some support, but it was obvious she was braless when she’d started her morning jog, and her tight petite body moved in very interesting and mesmerizing ways. Or at least, two parts of it.

  I also thought that whomever had come up with the yoga pants concept deserved all the best things in life, because her petite bubbled ass was pure sin in the thing. It was just as well I concentrated on the workout, or I might have had an aneurism or something.

  Of course, after a night’s sleep, the sexual tension between us had returned to a low simmer, but it was certainly still there for both of us given the warm smiles and lustful looks she gave me during our workout. She seemed very smug and pleased by the fact I kept stealing glances.

  I knew the little minx was being evil, when she didn’t change before breakfast. Apparently, she really hated being admired for her power, but she most definitely wanted me to admire her body, in addition to who she was inside of course.

  There was even a somewhat awkward moment when she quick changed with a spell into a pair of jeans and light t-shirt and left for school, neither of us were sure if we should exchange a kiss goodbye or not. I wanted to, but unfortunately, the bugs decided it for me, and I watched her leave a bit mournfully. I knew I’d miss the petite minx until she got back after two for our patrol.

  Carina called from down the hall, “Got a minute, Daniel?”

  I nodded, and headed down, she was halfway out of the training room, the empty one for sparring, not the workout room.

  “What’s up?”

  The thirty-year-old special agent really was attractive. She was clearly Italian, with dark olive skin, a classically beautiful face, and a nose just a little too large for her face that both gave her, and didn’t detract from, an aristocratic beauty. She had dark brown hair, and doe eyes, with a five foot three athletic body.

  Carina made a face, “I wanted to apologize, and to thank you. The scanner is awesome, and it’ll help save the lives of my team.”

  I nodded, “You’re welcome, apologize?”

  She shrugged, “I’d been rather dismissive of you in our interview. I’d been tired, and ready for the day to end, not that it’s a great excuse. I’d met enchanters before, and I’d thought you were exaggerating and making excuses, which was wrong. I did give you a chance though, because of your ability with detecting meta-energy. If you’d have lost that fight, we wouldn’t have hired you, so you definitely earned it. I’ve been impressed with your reports since as well.”

  I said, “I appreciate it. I had wondered about that.”

  Carina smiled, “Where did you learn to fight anyway, you just popped last year, right?”

  I nodded, “Enrolled in martial arts since I was five. I was a second degree before I graduated high school. I should practice more to keep sharp. A lot of times, that’s what makes the difference in a battle, not how much I can take on my shields, but how much force I can redirect or dodge so I don’t have to.”

  “I can help with that, come on in,” a soft voice declared.

  I looked around Carina, and I saw Carol staring at me intently.

  Carol’s midnight hair was up in a ponytail, and her blue eyes bored into me intensely. She was five foot seven, with a lissome and quite flexible body, and was a total bad ass when it came to fighting. She was also wearing short sweat shorts that were tight but not skin tight, and a tight gray halter top.

  Her face was almost impossible to read as she stared me down, it was one of the things that made her so intense, but I took her offer at face value, her tone of voice had been calm at least.

  Carina smirked at me, and she moved out of the way.

  I felt like I was moving toward my doom as I walked in.

  Carol truly was very attractive, with dark tanned skin, and a typically superheroine beauty of both face and her lissome body, but I really didn’t notice that all that often past her intimidating stare.

  Well, it was my fault, I’d just said I should be practicing more. No one to blame but myself, when she kicks my ass.

  Carol smiled, not a big smile, just a tiny one, which was new.

  “I’ll go easy on you, no shields, and I won’t use super speed or strength. Light contact only. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  I nodded, and then engaged. It was like trying to punch a hanging silk handkerchief, her body just melted out of the way of my blows, or I missed completely. There was a sensuousness to her fighting style. Perhaps unintended, but she added new meaning to the word graceful, in a predatory way. Her smooth effortless movement, added to the limberness of her body, it was almost like she was dancing with me as I tried to land a kick, punch, or elbow.

  Her style was unique as well, which added to that impression. An eclectic mix of several styles I recognized, that I’d fought before, but were combined into something distinctively her own. She was way out of my league, and after a minute of trying to hit her, she reversed and flipped me onto my back.

  I wasn’t even sure how she did it, fortunately I knew how to land, and was unhurt as I regained my feet.

  Her lips twitched.

  “Not bad, better than I expected. We will do this every day, after breakfast.”

  We will? Oh hell, I supposed I’d asked for it, and she was being nice to me. Team building, it was a chance to get closer to my other teammates. At least one of them.

  “Thanks? I have to use those skills when I fight an A-Class, unless I use weapons from a distance,”

  She nodded, “Works the same for everyone, the less an opponent hits me, the longer I can fight.”

  “You’re style?”

  She said, “I’ll tell you one day, it has to do with my powerset, and is a long story. I also apologize for what I said that first day, and I take it back. You may speak to me, freely.”

  “Don’t worry about it, all the evidence said I was guilty, I don’t blame you or Tina for your flawed conclusions.”

  She replied, “Maybe, but I should have taken it back right away, not waited almost a full week.”

  I asked curiously, “Why didn’t you?”

  She said, “I was embarrassed, as was Tina, so please cut her some slack. She has… issues with men, and the misunderstanding didn’t help with that. I also wondered if there were other reasons to keep my distance, so I watched you instead.”

  Talking to her was a little surreal, she was a total badass, and far too intense with that stare, but her voice couldn’t be any more gentle or shy if she tried.

  “I suppose that makes sense.”

  She nodded, “It does, and I’m glad you are a man of honor. We begin. Now hit me.”

  Right, we weren’t done with our sparring yet. I wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘we begin’, perhaps she meant she was willing to give my idea of our superhero team of being friends to mesh together a try. I knew the two of them were thinking about it.

  I snapped a kick forward, and she twisted her body out of the way, and slapped my leg hard enough to sting when I didn’t pull it back fast enough. A lesson she backed with words.

  She said, “Must snap back, not just forward, keep your center balance.”

  We sparred, and by the end of it I thanked all that was holy for my healing ring. I felt good, warm, and loose by the time I got to my apartment. I did think of Alyssa a lot that morning, I was truly under her spell, but I kept busy and got some stuff done, before I headed down for lunch.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The alert went off in the building, for an all hands engagement, and I used my amulet to change into my armored suit.

  Lunch had gone well, if a little awkwardly. I’d eaten with Carol and Tina. While Carol was clearly fine with me at that point, she was also shockingly shy and her intense stares didn’t help with that. Tina on the other hand had tried her best to put it all behind us, but just as obviously had partially failed. She was a beautiful sexy woman, with an alluringly sweet voice that would make angel’s cry, but that was easy enough to ignore. Both because Alyssa had me more than a bit blinded that way, and because her obvious discomfort when I had my eyes on her. Even her face, which was the only place I looked.

  Directly, anyway.

  I wasn’t offended, Tina obviously had issues that way. As Carol had said, that had made the misunderstanding much worse, and I knew I had an uphill battle to get to know both women. Carol because she was completely inscrutable, and Tina for obvious reasons.

  When my suit was on, I said, “Adamantine on.”

  Jenna said, “The ex-heroes are at it again, they’re robbing four banks simultaneously. We need to move fast, there’s three at each of the locations, and there may be more nearby. Nate’s and Carina’s team will be behind you, you three need to go. If White Witch can make it, she’ll meet you there.”

  Right. I ran down the stairs and out the back.

  Red Siren and Myriad were right behind me. Neither of them could fly, and while Myriad had super speed it would still take her a while to run all the way to the strip.

  “You two want a ride?”

  Red Siren grimaced, and I rolled my eyes.

  “You know I didn’t mean it that way. Solid composite armor, I won’t even feel it, and I can get us there in seconds.”

  If anything, it would be frustrating, having both of their lissome supple bodies against my armor, and not being able to scent or feel. Of course, I kept that to myself. Beyond that, I truly wasn’t interested, no matter how hot they were, Alyssa was the one I wanted.

  Myriad didn’t hesitate, and she grabbed on my right side as I wrapped an arm around her. Red Siren rolled her eyes, but she did the same on the left.

  I extended my gravity and inertial dampening fields, and then took off into the sky, then went straight to just below Mach one once we’d cleared the buildings around us. The ladies didn’t move an inch, the fields taking care of that. We got to the strip in under thirty seconds, and we approached the closest bank.

  Myriad said, “Just drop me, you two take the second bank.”

  Red Siren frowned, “I don’t like that idea, I know you’re three, but you’re my partner.”

  Myriad sighed, “Fine, we all blitz and move on. Carina and Nate can be on cleanup, and also pick them up.”

  I took us down fast, and I landed us right in front of the bank.

  Red Siren started to sing, as Myriad exploded into three Myriads and ran through the door, with me on her heels. Red Siren’s voice was still an alluring distraction, despite the fact I had protection on and she couldn’t reach me with the psychic half of her power. Still, it was easy enough to push that away, and focus on the supervillain ex-heroes.

  Myriad engaged with two typical A-Class, and my old friend lightning guy. That asshole wasn’t escaping this time.

  His lightning knocked Myriad away, one of them at least, but he didn’t see my rail gun coming. Plasma and cold were out, If I used those attacks I’d hurt one of the bystanders with it, or even set the building on fire. Regardless, I sent three rounds at him in quick succession, and then held my fire as Myriad three reengaged. Between my two rounds, and her quick two kicks and an elbow, he went down like a sack of grain.

  I hit lightning guy with a cuff spell, and then the other two, which Myriad one and two had already disassembled. To be fair, it wasn’t just her superior fighting, the two normal A-class ex-heroes had been extremely distracted by Red Siren’s song, too distracted to run or fight well.

  As we ran back outside, I said, “One block north.”

  Red Siren explained the status of the bank, and that three ex-heroes were out cold, cuffed, and awaiting pickup as we ran the tenth of a mile, there was no point in flying five hundred some odd feet.

  Jenna replied, “Sending Nate’s team that way.”

  As we got to the bank, three of the ex-heroes ran out. Four banks or not, I was afraid the other two would get away with it, we could only move so fast, and they must be near finished as well.

  All three took off into the sky as soon as they cleared the doorway, but Red Siren’s song reached up, a more focused melody, which ensnared one of them in her will. That A-class turned and grabbed the closest buddy, and then tossed him at the ground with all his strength, right in the middle of the three waiting Myriads who gleefully took the bastard down, while I launched into the sky.

  I ignored the one under Red Siren’s control, and I fired a lightning shot at the third who was still rising straight up, two bags of money in his hands. They were all dressed in jeans and t-shirts too, obviously some kind of statement for it being illegal to wear their suits anymore.

  He shook and stalled, and I caught up with him at about a hundred feet, spun, and kicked him in the head. He went flying back down to the ground and slammed into the concrete sidewalk throwing up chalky colored dust. I followed that up with a plasma shot, but the lightning stun had worn off and he rolled out of the way and took to the sky again.

  He didn’t get far, as Red Siren’s dulcet tones had her mesmerized ex-hero diving to intercept.

  I imagined it was the psychic component that gave her ensnared victims their instructions, because her captivating song hadn’t changed. There was a brief bout of fisticuffs, and I just watched not wanting to hit the wrong one. Finally, Red Siren’s hero just gave him a bear hug, and flew at the ground, right by the three Myriads who were standing around the first hero who was unconscious.

  I shot him with the cuff spell before he woke up, or started to recover energy, and then watched as three Myriads kicked the other two asses until their invulnerability ran out. Both of them, but the one captivated by Red Siren wasn’t even fighting back.

  It was brutal, but necessary, he needed to be drained before I could cuff him.

  I shot both of them after that, and then turned around as my power scanning radar went off. Five normal A-class, one of them energy, fire, plus one S-class I wasn’t sure what she could do. She was the only one in a super suit, and like most female supers it left very little to the imagination.

  It was a light blue full body suit, with dark blue knee-high boots with five-inch heels, and dark blue gloves. She had long voluminous dark brown wavy hair, a severely beautiful face that was too perfect, almost like she’d been air brushed in real life, and a body that looked like a boy’s wet dream. Her tits were larger than any I’d ever seen, outside of porn, and her huge nipples were very apparent under the very thin fabric of her suit. Even her camel toe was clearly and lewdly apparent, in the skin-tight suit. She was kind of hot, but at the same time it was almost a caricature of hot.

  She must’ve had a very twisted idea of beauty, when she’d popped, which… suggested things I’d rather not think about.

  Carol’s suit for instance, was just as skin-tight, but it was a little thicker, not quite showing all those fine details, and was much hotter because of it. There was leaving nothing to the imagination, then there was lewd.

  “Six more incoming!” I warned, as I snapped pics of the six, just in case some escaped we could identify them later.

  But I’d forgotten Rose.

  Rose said, “The women in the suit is Mindwave, and has a psionic powerset. Mind control more like brainwashing, it takes time for her to tweak people. She also has telekinesis, and telepathy.”

  Jenna replied, “Thanks, Rose,” and I knew then that my Rose had said it to everyone.

  The women in the suit must’ve been in charge, or at least in charge of that operation.