She snickered, and teased, “It’s not that bad, I’m still young.”

  I mock glared, like twenty-four was old?

  She giggled, and asked, “Did you do college?”

  I nodded, “I was twenty-three when I quickened. I was getting ready to start my first year in the master’s program for theoretical physics. I became a hero instead, and I worked on my powerset. I’ve got a four-year degree in physics.”

  She sighed, “Definitely a nerd.”

  I winked.

  She noted, “You held up pretty well in the fight.”

  I grinned, “Worried?”

  She made a face, “Honestly, a little yes, but less now. When I’m casting I can’t really do much else. I don’t know how good a partner that makes me.”

  I nodded, and I got that.

  “Maybe, but with you around I don’t have to hold out long.”

  She grimaced, that’d obviously been the wrong thing to say.

  I said, “I just meant that you are looking out for me, just not in the usual way. I just need to hold my own for a short time. Against one, or even three or four I can work things that long and keep them from running I think. It’s just different working with you, not bad.”

  She smiled for me, but it didn’t reach her warm brown eyes like it usually did.

  I got the distinct impression she felt she had something to prove, hopefully she’d get over that. Not to others, but to herself. She really didn’t like the accolades at all. She was also down to Earth, and not at all arrogant because of her power. That alone was pretty impressive, given her powerset.

  Whatever it was, we finished the meal in relative silence while she drowned in her own thoughts. I wanted to fix it and make her feel better, but I knew enough to know she needed to figure it out on her own. One day I knew she’d be as confident and formidable as her power, and she’d lose that self-doubt but hopefully not her lack of arrogance, but for the moment she was still growing up as she joined the world as a woman. I knew I’d changed a whole lot over the last six years.

  Everyone does, in their college days.

  Point was, we’d devolved into silence while she wrestled with her doubts, which is why her question at the end of the meal while we were cleaning up took me by surprise.

  “Would it be clingy if I asked you to hang a while longer? I’m not ready to punch that clock and wave goodbye to a coworker, as you said earlier. I don’t want that, but I don’t want to…” she trailed off.

  Yeah, because staring at the wall in my apartment before sleep was much more appealing than spending more time with my vibrant and beautiful partner, vivacious save the last fifteen minutes of her brooding, that is. That was of course, hyperbole.

  Not that my life was that sad, but my computer, television, and all that other stuff was in the POD. I had two sets of clothes, the business casual I had on which I’d bought last night, and the jeans and t-shirt I’d had on yesterday. Fortunately, my amulet would keep them clean. Not to mention all my friends were in New York, so I was starting from scratch on that angle as well.

  I smiled, “What did you have in mind?”

  The grateful smile she returned reached her eyes that time, and I hoped she was over whatever my verbal misstep had triggered in her. One thing was for sure, she was complicated. I imagined she didn’t have many friends since her best friend’s betrayal. Despite her devastating beauty and pleasant personality, most normal people would be intimidated by who she was, and most heroes probably just wanted to bang her for bragging rights. Of course she was slow to trust, and I couldn’t blame her for that, but she also clearly wanted to reach out and accept what I’d offered earlier that day, a friendship. Obviously so.

  She shrugged and blushed.

  I suggested, “A walk? Or, I have walls in my apartment with the most relaxing beige color ever made.”

  She laughed, “Or, you know, I have a television.”

  “Sold. My stuff will be here in a few days.”

  We headed up to her apartment. Our talk was sparse as we agreed on and watched a comedy special from Netflix. She hadn’t confided anything in me, but then I hadn’t exactly shared my origin story or major happenings in my life either. It was a foregone conclusion though, it wouldn’t be a happy story. Supers quickened and gained powers under stress, it was connected to the fight or flight instinct during life threatening danger, usually under imminent threat of death.

  I did learn a few things however, small things that filled in some blanks on her personality. She actually liked my goofy sense of humor, a lot. She also teased back, but never cruelly. She was also not at all fastidious, and had blushed when we first arrived, as she gathered up clothes, magazines, and several other things in the living room and put them in her bedroom before rejoining me.

  The apartment wasn’t dirty or anything, just not very well organized. She also had knickknacks and candles all over the place. She had a nice painting of what looked like the ocean above her couch, and a lot of pictures of her family on the walls, parents and a little brother that looked maybe ten.

  She warbled between playful confidence, and shy tentativeness. I was almost positive the playful confidence was the real Alyssa. Her tentativeness came from her trust issues and the way she seemed to expect betrayal.

  I wasn’t immune to her charm and beauty, not really, but I knew any kind of romance would be a mistake and pushed that down the best I could, not that she was offering. Outside of that I just learned a few basics, much like dating, a friendship had to start somewhere, and we talked about books, movies, comedians we liked, and just basic stuff like that.

  I actually had a really good time, even if I felt like I was walking a minefield a time or two. Then we said goodnight, and I went back to my apartment to get some sleep.

  Working on a team with three beautiful heroines wasn’t going to be easy. Carol was kind of scary, Tina was intimidating, and I just wanted to wrap up Alyssa in my arms and keep her safe, which was absurd given her powerset.

  Things would get better on the team, I had to believe that, and given my partner, things could’ve been a lot worse. As for the government, I didn’t really expect much of anything from them at all, as long as they let me be a superhero, I could put up with the bullshit there.

  I tried to quiet my mind, but it’d been a hell of a first day, and it was slow to settle.

  Six-thirty would come early.

  Chapter Nine

  The sun was bright as it shone in the large eastern facing window in the workout room. I was on the treadmill, doing a five-mile jog, and trying not to look at Alyssa too often. I’d already done three circuits on the machines, so this blessed hell was almost over with.

  Really, I wasn’t a shallow guy, but hell, a man had limits, and the view was spectacular.

  Of course, the petite and curvy goddess would work out in skin tight white Lycra shorts and a tight red sports bra. She had the sexiest and most petite bubbled butt I’d ever seen, which was absolutely mouthwatering. Her legs were toned, stomach flat, waist tiny, and while she wasn’t huge up top her B cups were flawlessly proportional and generous to her petite body, and both perky and perfectly rounded. In short, size wasn’t everything, they were perfect like the rest of her body.

  Not to mention her angelically and stunningly beautiful face, even makeup free her complexion looked flawless. She also had her dirty blonde hair up in a ponytail, revealing the gentle curves of her neck and her petite ears. She was truly a vision, and I was in deep trouble.

  Distracting didn’t do her justice, perhaps intoxicating came close, if I also threw in exquisite. I also suspected her looks were more effective on me this morning, because of getting to know her better yesterday, she was more than just superficially attractive.

  She accused, “You’re quiet, everything okay?”

  I smiled, and looked over at her to answer, “Pre-coffee. I might trip or something, if I talk too much.”

  She giggled, “Liar.”

  “Fair enough, but my mind is rather sluggish before that first cup. Sleep well?”

  Granted, my body was zinging, and my heart was pumping good and well with the workout and now the job, but my mind was still sluggish. I didn’t completely trust that my mind filters were engaged correctly, and she looked far too good in that skimpy workout outfit. The soft supple light fair skin of her nubile body looked silken soft to me.

  Clearly, I was going to hell.

  She nodded, “Yes. I had a good time last night.”

  I smiled, “Me too,” and then bit my tongue, figuratively speaking, to stop the effusive compliment from pouring out. I firmly reminded myself we were colleagues who wanted to become trusted friends, a true hero team, not anything more than that.

  Yeah, I don’t think it sunk in very well, at least not in my alternate brain. It also didn’t help that Tina had set the precedent of claiming harassment. Not that she didn’t have the right, she did after what she’d thought I’d done, but in the past if a hero came on too strong to a heroine they’d just tell them off, or even smack them. This was the new hero world, where it was a job too, which blurred the lines farther and made things even more unsure.

  Whatever, I pushed all that out of my mind.

  Rose interjected, “You have a training session at two thirty, with Nate and his team.”

  Thanks. She must’ve had access to my work calendar.

  Rose replied, “You’re welcome.”

  Huh, that was a first, usually she’d have just left it at that and not thrown in the polite finishing phrase. I wasn’t sure if Rose was changing, or if she was just growing more confident at the idea of interacting with me.

  “We have a training session at two-thirty, I suppose we’ll have to patrol after that?”

  She nodded, “Sounds good. Then no patrol Friday and Saturday? What about workouts?”

  That sounded good, move to our Sunday through Thursday schedule right from the start. It wasn’t our fault our first week started in the middle of it and would wind up being two days on and two days off. Of course, we’d still be on call on those days.

  “Monday through Friday? On the workouts.”

  She said, “Great. I’ll talk to Tina and Carol, see if they’d be willing to patrol on those two days, out of their five.”

  That made sense, and it was a good plan. I hadn’t even considered talking to the other two about that stuff, but that was probably more about the fact that neither of them wanted to talk to me at all, about anything. I was shamelessly considering bribery to make headway there, but I wondered if that might backfire. I’d heard them both complaining about what a pain in the ass it was to get into their suits in an emergency, it’d take me just an hour to make two more quick-change amulets. They were low in power use, so the enchantments didn’t need my personal energy to boost for them to work.

  Most of my enchantments were like that, cleaning, basic easy ones, it was just healing, flight, combat, and shields that really needed my energy to compete with an A-class threat in a fight. Even those would work without my help, at an admittedly extremely degraded functionality.

  I nodded in agreement.

  She smirked, and looked delighted about something, but didn’t say anything to indicate why as she looked away and faced forward on the elliptical. That thing was a torture device, I didn’t like using them. I looked out the window as well, before I stared too long. I may have hated the elliptical, but I sure as hell didn’t hate the way she looked on the thing.

  “So, you going to nap all day while I’m in class?”

  I nodded, “You know, us old men need our naps.”

  She giggled.

  I said, “I’m not sure, I’ll probably work on that temporary stasis enchantment for that work with Nate’s team, to freeze a super? Other ideas too. No idea what I’ll do on a regular basis.”

  She asked, “Other ideas?”

  I nodded, “Bribes so Tina and Carol won’t hate me, and then there’s the laundry room. I was thinking about putting a laundry enchantment in there. I was also giving thought to incorporating the earbud we were given last night into my armor somehow, one less thing to carry and fuss with, and it would be active whenever I put on the suit.”

  She tilted her head and looked at me, “Bribes?”

  I nodded, “Quick change amulets, do you think that would go over well? I don’t want to be pushy, but at the same time I want to support the team, both in battle and in small ways. Enchanting can be useful. I’d make one for you too, but your spell has that covered.”

  She asked, “How much can it hold?”

  I shrugged, “I have my suit in there, plus two sets of clothes. I could probably get one more in there? My suit is bulky though, composite armor, I imagine for them they could have up to six or seven, easy. It also cleans and repairs anything you put in there.”

  She said in an offhand tone, “My spell doesn’t do that.”

  I laughed, “Do you want one?”

  She sighed, “No, I can conjure anything out of my closet with my spell. And I have another spell to launder and repair.”

  Did she just want me to give her something? She seemed almost disappointed about it.

  I nodded, “Yeah, I don’t imagine there’s anything I can enchant that you can’t just make up a spell for. Do you use magic to clean?”

  She laughed, “Yes. That’s why my apartment is just cluttered, and not a total nightmare.”

  Dear god, I loved that tinkling laugh, it sounded even better with her slightly breathless from the elliptical workout, and I couldn’t help but steal a glance at my beautiful partner before I looked back out of the window.

  Deep breaths.

  I snorted, “I cheat too, but it’s in the POD right now.”

  She smirked, “I promise not to make fun of you for only having two outfits the first week.”

  It was a good guess, she must’ve recognized the jeans and t-shirt I was working out in. Terrible workout wear, but I’d have my sweat shorts and workout t-shirts by Monday. I think.

  “Breakfast?” I asked, as my five-mile run ended.

  She nodded, “Just give me a second to cool down.”

  I smiled at her, I was doing the same thing. The amulet was as good as a shower, but if I changed too quickly, before my body cooled and calmed, I’d just keep sweating into the clothes I changed into. In truth, nothing beat hot water to cleanse the body and mind, but for a quick cleanup the amulet worked, and it kept my showers down to no more than one a day.

  I changed into business casual, while she put on a yellow sundress and sandals that was far more alluring in its subtlety than her almost scandalously revealing workout clothes had been.

  She asked, “What’s up with the inky shadows?”

  I replied, “It removes and then puts on, it’s not quite as simultaneous as your spell.”

  Her eyes widened, and she giggled, then blushed. Hell, she was adorable.

  “Breakfast.”

  I nodded in agreement, and I followed her down the hall to the kitchen.

  After breakfast, she headed to college, and I immediately pushed down the jealousy I felt at the idea of other guys staring at her in that yellow dress. What the hell was wrong with me?

  I really didn’t understand how my magic worked, how meta-energy worked. It wasn’t sentient, but somehow it worked with my mind. When I went back to my room, the first thing I did was enchant the earbud into my helmet. To do that, I should’ve needed to understand how the ten-mile range earbud worked, the frequency it was on, and the security protocols so no one else could listen in. But of course, I knew none of that.

  Which didn’t stop me at all, I just had to focus on the idea and concepts of copying the earbuds function over. Perhaps part of my powerset was to scan an object for that data? Whatever the reason, it worked just fine. I tested it too, and I made sure it would only be active if I was wearing my suit. Then I took the earbud and case, and I put it on my closet shelf. One less thing to mess with.

  After that, I went ahead and enchanted another weapon into my glove. It would be like the cuff spell, but it would take a lot more power to contain a super with energy left to burn, the offset to that would be time. It would only work for a handful of seconds then the spell would fail, which was long enough for a squad of agents to aim and fire their weapons. With the limited time, it would cost about the same amount of energy as firing a plasma bolt, or the rail gun. Those two were my most expensive weapons, so I’d added a third energy intensive one.

  The electric Taser like attack and cuff spell took a lot less energy in cost.

  Regardless, the new weapon was virtually worthless unless I was teamed up with the tactical team. It would drain my energy, but it really wouldn’t hurt theirs at all, unless they spent a lot of power trying to escape it. Even then, plasma or rail gun would do better.

  I thought about the quick-change amulets after that, and I decided I should talk to them first. Jewelry for a woman was a very personal gift, and inappropriate considering the circumstances. It’d be better if they gave me something to enchant. Hopefully they wouldn’t kick my ass.

  Even with the armor off, the scan part was always on, so just based on my sixth sense of intuition, I knew the only other supers in the building besides me were in the kitchen, which had to be them. I headed that way, and I went straight for the coffee maker. I loved coffee, but I tended to just drink two large mugs in the mornings, that was my second one.

  Then I walked over to the table. They were both stunning in their own way, completely different from Alyssa’s angelic beauty. Tina’s beauty was fully matured and girl next door, at least her face was, and Carol had a severe beauty to her face, with sharp cheekbones and a slightly pointed chin, but they were also so forbidding it was really easy to ignore.

  “Can I join you a moment?”

  Carol’s cold look was mostly neutral, and she looked at Tina.

  Tina sighed, “Go ahead. Alyssa told us what you said to her yesterday, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.”

  I nodded neutrally, “I couldn’t help but overhear you when she and I were making dinner last night. I wanted to offer to make you quick change enchantments, like the one I use. They could store six or seven of your outfits, including the super suit, and change them at will. They also clean and repair clothes, and they’ll clean you as well, whenever you change your clothes. I could even add an exception for makeup if you want, so that doesn’t get effected.”