Big Trouble!-2

-by Lynceus

Doris and Lena have managed to make a life for themselves in the big city, with a little help from the Green Lantern! But Doris is still having problems dealing with her new life; will the horrors of customer service lead her to a life of crime? The girls grow closer to one another, and then, Giganta is called in to handle a super brawl in the streets!

Interlude: Ruling the World

Lex Luthor sat in a darkened room, watching a row of monitors displaying events from around the world. His scientists had isolated the metagene before this outbreak of mutations swept the globe, but even with that knowledge, he hadn't been able to truly take advantage of the event.

Granted, the Green Lantern had been an unexpected wrinkle, but he would deal with her aliens masters in due time. It rankled him to think that a race of beings beyond the stars possessed the utter gall to police the world. His world!

Even now, the Green Lantern had deputized several of the planet's new superbeings into a crude but effective force. It was an arms race; a metahuman arms race. Whoever controlled the most metas would become master of this world; and perhaps other worlds as well.

After all, if Jade was any indication of how powerful an individual Green Lantern was; already there existed several metahumans who rivaled her power. With an army of superhumans, Luthor could challenge even these 'Guardians'. But first, he needed to know more about them, which meant acquiring their technology.

The door to the room opened, and Mercy entered. The lights came on, and he turned to appreciate her beauty. Mercy Graves had once been a rather mousey-looking member of his companies' secretarial pool. But mandatory blood testing had revealed she possessed the metagene.

Dr. Zhan's 'Athena' formula had activated her latent genetic abilities, and transformed the once-petite woman into a nineteen year-old goddess. Standing at 6' 3”, Mercy now possessed an athletic frame endowed with great strength and agility, all without compromising her feminine qualities. Very attractive feminine qualities.

She had cut her blonde hair short, which emphasized her strong features; combined with her icy blue eyes, she had an almost Nordic look about her. It was like having his own personal valkyrie, really. She had taken to dressing like a chauffer, and he admired her sense of the professional.

“Mercy, always a pleasure.”

Coolly, the blonde stopped and held up a clipboard. “You may disagree when you hear my report.”

Luthor sighed. “More setbacks? This is starting to become a trend. Well, get it over with.”

“Top item on the agenda, your daughter's trust fund was completely cleaned out.”

Luthor's eye twitched dangerously. “By whom?”

“Unknown. The hacker left no trace. They went in, transferred the money out, and closed the account without anyone noticing for three business days. The money got bounced around from account to account during that time, and each time it was transferred, the sum got smaller. And then it simply fell off the face of the Earth.”

Luthor frowned. “That may be an apt analogy. Interesting, however. I had thought perhaps my enemies were going to ransom Lena, but instead, they simply stole the money I had set aside for her. That implies some level of collusion.”

“On that note, Hope found the girl's mother.”

“Lori?” Luthor's feigned disinterest vanished at once. “Hope didn't...”

“No Sir, as per your instructions, your wife was not harmed. She wants nothing to do with you, I'm afraid. Her story is that Lena ran away from home some time ago.”

“Hmm. Did she seem worried?”

“Not really. Her statement to Hope was, and I quote 'My daughter is more than intelligent enough to take care of herself. Her mind is the only useful thing her father ever gave her. When she needs me, she'll call me.'”

Despite himself, Lex chuckled. By all accounts, Lena was her father's daughter. “I was the same way when I was her age. Independent, and convinced adults were useless. Fine, if Lori wants nothing to do with me, so be it. I was tired of that harpy anyways. But my daughter is to be found.”

Mercy nodded. “Of course, Sir. Do you want Hope to stay in the field?”

Hope was another success of the Athena activator. Of course, unlike Mercy, she had once been a man, a mechanic working down in the company motor pool. Luthor's experiment to activate Hope's metagene had granted her powers (and a figure) very similar to Mercy's. At first, Hope hadn't been too thrilled at losing her manhood, but she had gotten over it.

Oddly enough, Hope was the more girly of the two young women, no doubt some repressed aspect of her psyche coming to the fore. Luthor normally kept her at a distance however. He found her attractive, even cute, but he had serious reservations about ogling a former man.

His scientists were still working on Athena; while an army of superwomen had it's merits, not all of his candidates were willing to risk losing their gender. The military hadn't had much better luck, if American Dream was any indication. There was a disturbingly high percentage of male metahumans becoming female, high enough that Luthor had yet to grant himself powers yet.

Other than his great intellect, Luthor's metagene sequence remained dormant. He had to get Lena back before the young girl developed her own abilities. Or he'd never be able to control her.

“Yes, have her keep an eye on MacGuire. I'm no longer convinced he is an asset. I mean, how hard is it to find a jumbo-sized naked woman anyways?”

Mercy grinned. “Especially with that red hair; it's so bright should be able to see it from orbit.”

Luthor shook his head. Mercy had a weakness for attractive redheads, another reason to keep Hope away from home! “What else do you have for me?”

“Thornton's condition is improving. He's started to develop some chlorokinetic abilities.”

Luthor smiled. “To think that fool turned out to be useful in the end. I take it he remains attached to his manhood?”

“For the moment. Our scientists speculate his abilities will be worth deploying in another week or so.”

“Well, this news hasn't been all bad.”

“I'm not done yet. We have confirmation, the second Green Lantern is real.”

Lex frowned. “Not...what I wanted to hear. Is it true they were fighting?”

“At first, but then they joined forces to save some civilians after an accident occurred.”

“Hm. Score another one for the good guys. Jade has a real advantage when it comes to recruiting. So both of them were involved in that phony hostage situation?”

Mercy nodded. “I have to admit, Sir, that was pure genius, setting up your own business to be robbed like that.”

“I try not to brag, but it's hard to be humble when your plans work out. Keep up operations in that area, let's see if this new Lantern keeps operating in that city. If she's less experienced, then we have a greater chance of acquiring her technology.”

“Understood. Will there be anything else, Sir?”

Luthor grinned like a shark. “Why don't you slip into something more comfortable and join me?”

Mercy smiled. “I thought you would never ask, Sir.”

-

Chapter Seven: Heroes and Villains

I sighed while I waited for Tom to finish the customer's order. The good news about having a new identity was being able to work again. The bad news was, given my apparent age, the quality of jobs available. In this case, working as a waitress in a diner.

A job I had only gotten because of my looks. If you ever needed a reason to become a supervillain and wipe out modern society, work a shift at a restaurant. Trust me on this. You will encounter humanity at it's utter worst. Not that all the customers were monsters, but the ones that were...they were selfish, rude, and demanding. On a good day!

What always got to her was the fact that a customer could walk into an obviously busy restaurant, and then be angry when they A) didn't get immediate service, and B) didn't get their food within seconds. I mean, especially in a diner.

Despite the fact you could clearly see the cooks at work! I mean, what did these people think, that all you had to do was press a button, and zap, your food would appear? The U.S.S. Enterprise, this place wasn't. The shoes didn't help either; my feet hurt. As a waitress, you needed a good pair of shoes with decent traction, something my knock-off power ring had a problem with. But wearing any footwear standing up for eight hours on end was an exercise in slow, methodical torture.

Which is why I normally went barefoot; my density powers made the soles of my feet tougher than any shoe on the market (it was likely those same powers that interfered with the ring's costuming features). But working here, I didn't have that option, and right now, I felt all 190 pounds of my weight.

Yeah, even by default, I'm no lightweight. It wasn't fat either; save for the appropriate amount of padding, I was just under five-feet, eleven inches of trim, athletic girl. Lucky me; while it got me good tips, it also meant that I had to put up with the occasional slap on the rear, and other insults to my newly-acquired gender.

Normally, male attention was kind of flattering, but I could live without wandering hands, thank you very much. And the owner had made it quite clear that I was not supposed to break the customers. I mean, one time a girl snaps and dislocates a pervert's jaw, and you never get to live it down!

Lena thought I was crazy to work this job. Somehow, she had managed to con Jade's power ring into stealing a good-sized sum of money from Lex Luthor. Well, technically it was located in a trust fund for Lena, which meant she was, in theory, the owner of said money. Which had been a large part of her argument.

In the end, the ring had agreed it did not violate the rules it's makers had set down, and now Lena had a large sum of cash to work with. Enough that neither of us needed to work. But it didn't feel right, just leeching off of her.

I didn't understand it myself, really. I'd had no problems spending my own money on Lena when she didn't have much. But now that she did, I stubbornly insisted on working. Was it the last vestige of my male ego, that I didn't need a woman to support me? Or if it wasn't chauvinism, was it some kind of foolish pride?

As horrible as this day was going, I decided to talk with Lena about it after work. My order finally came up...wrong. I sighed. There goes my tip!

-

Nate sighed. I'd really done it this time. This snooty bitch of a customer came in, with the whole 'the last two times I was in here' routine that defied all logic. Even when I repeated her order back to her (and wrote it down on my notepad to show to her), she insisted her freshly cooked meal was both cold and wrong. Twice!

When she started in on me, using some very colorful language, I might add, I finally lost it and slapped the woman. Not hard, I knew my own strength, but enough that everyone in the restaurant heard it. Things had gotten very quiet, and I let it all out.

I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I guess something like this was inevitable. I just wish it had been some hired thug of LexCorp instead of a stuck-up bitch. Granted, as I walked off, I heard applause from the other customers (and my fellow employees), but now I was in Nate's office. Nate was my boss, and he was a really nice guy. He also had a business to run.

“Doris,” he finally began, “you're a really good kid. You're smart, way too smart for this line of work, pretty, and kind. Sweet, even. But this temper of yours...what am I going to do with you?”

I felt terrible. He'd been nice enough to get me this job, and I'd disappointed him. I felt like I was twelve again. I stared at my shoes. “I...I'm sorry.”

“Christ, don't cry, Doris! I don't get it, you're taller than I am, but I swear, you make me feel like a big bully.” He reached out and patted my arm. Nate was kind of uncomfortable around pretty young women, especially emotional ones, but he did try.

I looked up at him. “I'm not crying, Nate.”

“No, but you look like you're going to. Ok, tell you what, just take the rest of afternoon off. Go on home, unwind a bit, and we'll talk again tomorrow.”

“You're not going to fire me?”

He grinned. “For what? Telling that fat bitch off?”

“No, for slapping her.”

He waved it off. “She ain't going to cause any trouble, or she would have called the cops. Hell, the other customers enjoyed the show, everyone except you got big tips.” He ran a hand through his thinning hair. “I mean, don't get me wrong, you can't go abusing the customers, but...I can't blame you for snapping. I would have, after all.”

The funny thing about teenaged girl hormones is that they make you kind of impulsive. Before I realized what I was doing, I was hugging my boss! “Thank you so much!”

“Hey, hey, I need to breathe, jeez you're srong, girl!”

“Oh, sorry.” I let him go, but he had an odd grin on his face.

“Go on, get your butt home, tomorrow is another day.”

-

It was strange, really. In my mind, I still thought of myself as male. Despite the fact that I'd never really been all that manly, even when I was a man! And yet, I kept doing things men just didn't do, like break down and cry, or impulsively hug people. Like, male people.

What was next? Was I going to start flirting with guys? I sure hoped not! The whole idea of having sex with a man, let alone being attracted to one, made my stomach do flip flops. Plus, I had a girlfriend...although that was another problem in of itself.

I cared for Lena a great deal, but she was so much younger than I was! I didn't have any issues when we were together, I mean, she was beautiful, at least to my eyes, and it was hard to keep my eyes (and hands) off of her.

But when we were apart, I felt like a total pedophile. This wasn't right, I was taking advantage of her or something. And how could I be in love with her? Granted, the sex was amazing, I'd had no idea how wonderful it was to be a woman...but was my attraction just physical?

Was I just imprinting on her or something? Mistaking the pleasure she gave me for something deeper? I was so confused anymore...and I didn't have anyone I could talk to about it. I mean, I'm sure Jade has more important things to do, saving the universe and all, than listen to a grown man whine about having a sexy young body, and a cute young girlfriend!

I mean, she'd seemed fairly understanding of my relationship with Lena, but I didn't really know Jade. She probably didn't approve; she seemed to be a good girl, likely had a religious upbringing and a loving family.

I didn't want to think about my family. We were dead to each other long before I changed into this person they would neither recognize, nor accept. Oh shit, now I was crying. What was wrong with me!

That was my state of mind when I got to the warehouse. Rather than get an apartment, Lena had decided we needed more floorspace so that I could practice using my powers. We still didn't know quite how big I could get; anything more than 40' or so, and even the warehouse got kind of cramped. Curled up into a ball, I could grow to what Lena estimated was likely 60' feet or so, and I knew...or rather, felt, that I could get even taller.

Rather than focus on reaching my maximum size, however, I'd been working on speed. It occurred to me that being able to reach a good 'combat height' quickly was more important than seeing if I could get bigger than Godzilla!

Plus, if I became too big, who knows what kind of damage I could do without meaning to! I had visions of stepping on people, tripping over cars, that sort of thing. In the comics, giant heroes were usually clumsy, easily tripped up.

With my ability to increase my density, plus my lower center of gravity as a girl, I actually had very good balance. Of course, there were other problems, like concrete and asphalt surfaces cracking under my weight, for example.

But one advantage to the warehouse; it did feel good to stretch a little, if you know what I mean. We still had no idea how I gained mass, or where it went when I shrank. I can even shrink smaller than my default height, although I was much more limited in this regard; with effort, I'd managed to dwindle down to about 4' 3”, my current limit. So becoming doll-sized was likely out of the question.

Part of the warehouse had been converted into a sort of loft apartment for us, and I could see Lena was sitting in front of the tv playing Bayonetta again. Probably still trying for 100% completion. Lena didn't just play games, she conquered them.

I kicked off my shoes and climbed up the stairs to the loft, and sat down on the couch next to her. “Doris? You're home early, what's wrong?” She paused her game and set aside her controller.

“Lost my temper again.”

“Come here, baby.”

I lay down, using her lap as a pillow as she gently stroked my hair. It felt so relaxing and my eyes half-closed. “Mm...this feels nice.”

“Doris, why do you put up with that stupid job? You don't need it!”

“I know. I don't know why I do it. Maybe I'm just being stupid.”

“You're not stupid. Very far from it.” I could hear the love in her voice, and I wondered why I'd ever had doubts.

“I just have all these stupid hang-ups I don't understand, my emotions are out of control...I'm screwed up.”

“No baby, you're not screwed up. You're a teenaged girl! Your problem is you're not used to being one, that's all.”

I shrank a little, cuddling up closer to her. It's a facet of my powers that I really enjoy when I'm with Lena. “If you want to get back to your game, I could use a nap.”

“I don't mind being your pillow, beautiful, go right ahead.”

I closed my eyes, and let my problems drift away.

-

When I woke up later, we took a shower together (always a good time!) and I started dinner. Lena can't cook worth a darn, where I have years of experience at being a bachelor. Although I do have to make more these days; I eat like a horse, and Lena isn't exactly finicky either.

Lena came up behind me, putting her arms around my waist, and I could feel her breasts against the small of my back. “There's something sexy about you when you're being domestic.” She practically purred.

“Don't you think I'm sexy all the time?” I smiled.

“You're confusing the issue with facts.” I could imagine her mock pout.

“I am a scientist, you know. Although lately...I haven't been feeling all that logical.”

“My poor Doris. Everything is so new to you.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I don't know if I'm coming or going most times.”

She ran a fingertip along my spine, which made me shiver. God, how could she make me want her so much? “Oh I think you know when you're coming, just fine.”

“I feel like Humbert Humbert.”

She chuckled. “You're nothing like him, honey. Look, turn around.”

I did and she looked up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, and something inside me melted. I couldn't deny this girl anything, and she knew it. It was scary, how much power she had over me.

“Doris, you have to get over feeling guilty about everything. I don't know where it comes from, but it has to stop. I know you're a tough girl, when the going gets tough, you never quit. Never. Even Jade's ring says you have a lot of willpower. But when I least expect it, you get all meek and vulnerable.”

She paused before continuing on. “And I don't mind that side of you, I really don't. I like holding you, telling you that everything is going to be alright. You're the first person who ever really relied on me for anything. I want to be the person you rely on, that you can depend on. That night, when we first met, I warned you that this wasn't love. But I was lying to myself. I couldn't let you go if my life depended on it. I want to be here, with you, always. But you can't let yourself be happy! You keep thinking of reasons why you shouldn't be, why we can't be together.”

I sighed and made sure dinner wasn't burning. “I..you're right. That is what I do. And no, I guess I don't believe I can be happy. I don't want to push you away, Lena.”

“You won't. You can't. I know how you really feel, Doris. When we lay together at night, I lay my head on your chest and listen. Listen to your heart. You're so kind and loving, and I know you love me.”

I reached out and touched her cheek. “I do love you. I'm sorry that I can't let go.”

“Who did this to you, Doris? Who broke you?”

I sighed. “It wasn't any one person. My father hated how weak and girly I was. He was a strong man, and I shamed him. My mother lived in his shadow; I think she always regretted not standing up to Father. It was really his decision to raise me as a boy. I think it broke Mom's heart knowing that I really wasn't one. That I was being forced to live a lie.” I felt the tears stinging my eyes. “Damn it...”

“Hey, just turn off the stove and let's sit down for a bit, baby.”

I nodded and let her lead me to the couch.

-

“Look, I guess it's time we shared everything. So I'm going to start. Really, this story doesn't start with me, but with a man named Abernathy. Abernathy was working on using an extremely rare isotope to develop a new energy source. He also had a pretty young wife and a daughter. Abernathy worked for a guy named Lex Luthor, I bet you've heard of him.” She shook her head.

“Anyways, there was an accident, and Abernathy died. And Lex Luthor was there to personally console his widow, Lori. The usual sort of thing happened, they got married, and then they had a daughter. I don't really remember Dad very well, to be honest. Just vague impressions of a tall man who never talked down to me, and spoiled the hell out of me.”

I put an arm around Lena and held her close to me while she talked.

“I actually cried when he left. I was too young to understand. Mom had found out that Lex was possibly involved in what happened to Abernathy, and that was that. But Lex, he wouldn't let it go. So one night, Mom packed me and Marlene up, and we lit out. Mom changed our last name to Thorul, don't ask me why she bothered.”

“Marlene is your older sister, then?”

Lena nodded. “Yeah, she never held it against me, being Luthor's brat. We were pretty close. When she was around; she ran away a lot. And when I got older, I did the same thing. Mom...she's not a bad person, but she got married too young. Losing her first husband, being betrayed by the second..it made her colder. More distant. She'd get angry a lot too.”

“She hit you?”

Lena shrugged. “Yeah, but not often. It was the verbal abuse mostly. She never let me forget whose kid I was. Like I wasn't really hers, but some lab experiment Lex put inside her body.”

“That's horrible, Lena...!”

“She wasn't always like that. But when she started drinking, that was when I knew it was time to get out. I swore this would be the last time.”

I kissed her hair. “It will be. If anyone tries to hurt you, I'll destroy them.”

She leaned against me. “I know, Doris, I know.”

I sighed. “Listen to me, acting like I'm the strong one.”

“You are, Doris, you so are! You have to forget how you were mistreated as a kid. I mean, look at you now! You're strong, tall, and beautiful!”

“I am, aren't I?” I kissed her. “I'm glad I have you to remind me of these things.”

“Mmm. I told you, I'm happy to support you in any way I can.”

“Give me time, my angel. I'm learning to accept that.”

We stopped talking about there, and moved on to more interesting things, while dinner remained forgotten.

-

I lay back on the couch, Lena in my arms, curled up next to me, dozing lightly. I buried my face in her hair, which smelled very nice. I gently ran my fingertips along her body; she twitched as her body reacted, but the poor thing was too exhausted from our lovemaking to stir just yet. I couldn't really figure out exactly what she'd done, but at some point, it was like she'd flipped a switch; normally, she was the aggressive one in our relationship. Not this time, though. I smiled, thinking about it.

I've never loved anyone as fiercely as Lena. But if I was going to love her, that meant without boundaries or limits. I was going to have to push aside my self-doubts. I'd feel bad for quitting on Nate, but if it made Lena happy to support me, then I'd let her.

My ring started to glow, and I heard Jade's voice. “Oh jeez, Doris, please say this isn't a bad time!”

“Ten minutes ago, and it would have been. What's up?”

“You sly fox, you! Sorry, ok, there's something going on not far from your location, downtown. Two metahumans are brawling with each other, and there's a real risk of someone getting hurt. Think Giganta can handle it?”

I grinned. My code-name was kind of goofy, but Lena had chosen it. “I'm on my way, Jade.”

Lena pouted when I woke her up, but I tucked her in bed with a kiss and promised to make it up to her when I got home.

-

Not for the first time, I wish I had superspeed. Or a driver's license. I was definitely going to have to enroll in Driver's Ed. Maybe Lena would buy me a car. If not, well, there was always my job at the diner.

Still, we weren't too far from downtown, and a jog sure would kill me! I heard the fight long before I saw it; the ground literally shook, and I wondered if we were somehow on a fault line! I caught a glimpse of a glowing light flashing downward. Great, one of them could fly.

I had no idea how I'd deal with a flier just yet.

I managed to slip into the area cordoned off by the police, and I got my first good look at a super brawl. The first contestant was a woman who looked to be about seven feet tall, and made out of metal! I could tell she was obviously a woman because she wasn't wearing anything save a pair of high-topped running shoes and a pair of boxer shorts. White with red hearts on them, I kid you not.

She was yelling something at the flier, a tiny girl with red skin and large bat wings. She bore a striking resemblance to a comic-book succubus, and she was also pretty much naked. She threw a ball of flame at the steely girl, who shielded her face with her arms.

I used my ring to change my outfit, letting the full red of my hair show, altering it's appearance to where it hung over one eye. It was a neat effect I'd discovered on accident; I could see perfectly fine through the 'hair'. I thought a mask was too cheesy, but obscuring my features this way was kind of neat. Although I did use the ring to subtly alter my facial features as well. For a uniform, I had a short skirt, and a sort of vest-like garment with long sleeves. I didn't know what to call it (remember, I still have the life experience of a man!), but it looked very hot. No shoes of course.

The metal girl ran to a parked truck and grabbed it's frame so violently the metal twisted. Damn, she was strong! But I knew I was stronger. I started running towards her. As I ran, I started to grow, and by the time I caught up to her, I was well over two stories in height.

It was a little trick I'd worked out, by increasing my mass and density while in motion, I could use the momentum to add force to my opening attack. In this case, a low kick that sent Metal Girl (and the truck) flying backwards. She hit a light pole, which bent in half. The truck hit the ground, flipped end-over-end, and landed on top of the girl.

“You big bitch, leave her alone!” A gout of flame came dangerously close to me. I might be very hard to hurt with kinetic attacks, but chemical ones were a whole different story!

“Me leave her alone?! You were trying to fry her!”

“Shut up, it's none of your business!” Darting like a humming bird (way more maneuverable than she had any right to be, I might add), she zipped around me, and I just barely managed to avoid getting a fireball in the face!

I thought about trying Metal Girl's trick and throwing a car at Succubus, but if the impact didn't kill her, the fall would do it for sure! I grew even taller, until I was over 60' high, the concrete below my feet cracking ominously.

“Dayum, how big can you get?” Succubus flew higher, just out of my reach.

Or so she thought. I swatted at her a few times, letting her get the idea that I couldn't possibly hurt her. She paused, hovering in mid-air, and taunted me by slapping her ass. And that's when I got a chance to try out another new trick.

I crouched down and jumped, dropping my density as fast as I could, rocketing me up into the air. I gave Succubus a playful smack; she went hurtling into a building, and then started to fall.

I was there to catch her; she landed in my hands, breathing, but not moving.

“I'll kill you!” There was a sharp pain in my foot, as if I'd been hit by a ball peen hammer! Holy fuck that hurt!

Looking down, I saw Metal Girl was back, and pissed! I increased my density, ensuring that the second hit would hurt a lot less, but still...fucking ow! “Enough! I don't know what you two are fighting about, but it's over!”

“Fuck you, I'll tell you when it's over!” She moved to hit me again. And so, I used the move that launched a million fetish sites across the globe. I stepped on her.

“Hey, you ok down there?”

“Get the hell off of me, you giant slut!”

I chuckled. Then there was a sharp pain in my thumb. Looking down, I saw that Succubus had bit me and was sucking blood out of my thumb! Her teeth must be incredibly sharp to penetrate my skin!

I closed my fist. “Let go, or I'll crush you like a pop can!”

She stopped, and I grinned.

“Ok, boys in blue, you can come out now, it's over!” I shrank down to about 20', and sat on Metal Girl, cranking up my density so that she would remain helpless.

-

Luckily, Jade showed up about then, and she vouched for me. Creating restraints out of her ring's energy, she was able to help the police transport the two girls. I later found out that they had been dating before they transformed; the former guy in the relationship was still pretty upset about it, having once been on his school's football team.

His girlfriend, fed up with his emo attitude, had snapped on him, and it wasn't long before the fight ended up out on the streets. The funny part, oddly enough, was that Succubus had been the football star, and Metal Girl was his/her cheerleader girlfriend!

I'll get back to them later.

“Nice work, Doris. I know you were worried about using your powers effectively, but I think this proves you'll do just fine.”

I smiled. “Thanks Jade. I think I got lucky, taking them off-guard.”

“I like the outfit, by the way.”

I posed, turning around slowly. “Do you?”

“Oh...yeah. Well, as much as I'd like to chat, I got to meet Alena.”

I blinked. “Alena?”

Jade sighed. “You heard about that new Green Lantern? That's her.”

“Huh, what, she found a ring laying around?”

“It's complicated, don't worry, I'll bring her around soon, and give you the whole story. She's a good kid, but she has a lot to learn.”

I nodded. “Ok then, if you need anything, just call.”

She gave me a thumbs up. “You got it.” And then she flew off.

I wish I could fly!

-

When I got home, I woke up Lena in that special way that I knew she would appreciate. I'd been a little rough with her before, so I made sure to be extra gentle. Afterwards, when she clung to me, her naked body shuddering against mine, I knew she'd appreciated it.

After we got cleaned up, I told her about my night. We watched it on the news, and when she saw me step on Metal Girl, she groaned. “Oh jeez, Doris! That's going to be all over the internet!”

I rolled my eyes. “What's new about that? Let's face it, I stand out.”

She giggled. “Yes, but you're mine! I don't care how much of you there is to go around, I don't want to share!”

“It's ok. You're more than enough woman for me.”

She preened at that comment, and let me know how pleased that made her.

It was a little later when I explained the story of Succubus and Metal Girl.

“Wow, that has to suck. Big football star, turning into a petite sexy demon-girl.”

“I imagine Miss Cheerleader wasn't too happy either...although, isn't that weird? Two young kids who are dating just happen to be metas, change about the same time...”

Lena finished my sentence. “...and end up with some pretty ironic mutations. Well you said the metagene, or whatever it is, is somehow empathic.”

“Yes, but I really doubt Mr. Jock wanted to turn into a 4' 11” Succubus.”

“Hmm. So what do you think happened?”

I shook my head. “I'm not sure. But it definitely sounds like some outside force is at work.”

“Maybe there's a way to influence how powers manifest.”

I considered that. That had probably been what Amy had been working on, when she created her 'Athena'. And then another thought occurred to me. “Wait, let's assume my hypothesis is correct. That the metagene manifests as a result of stress, and it reacts to your mental and emotional state. What if you were in a highly suggestible state, due to hypnosis or drugs?”

Lena frowned. “I guess, in that case, you might be able to influence the mutation. But this is more complicated than getting some Jock wasted and whispering 'you want to become a demon-girl' in his ear. Plus, how would you know the guy is a meta?”

“I don't know, but I'm going to call Jade later. This could be the start of something...uh...big.”

Lena laughed. “A little late for that. So, I'm starving, you want to just go out and eat?”

“As long as you're buying.”

“I can think of a few ways to let you earn your dinner, Hero-girl.”

Now this was the kind of work I didn't mind at all!