In which a superhero meets his match, masks are uncovered and a mad scientist just tries to get some mad science-ing done without getting distracted by the antics of her magical minion.

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This is ridiculous.

Shade tensed his arms and somehow scraped together the strength to push himself back up, breathing heavily.

One hundred.

He peered at his bare arms and saw them shaking, on the verge of refusing to support his weight any longer. He should not be this exhausted; he wasn’t even done with his standard training exercises.

Something’s wrong.

Shade had been reasonably okay with the loss of some of his strength that cutting back on his training would bring, deeming the increase in personal happiness worth it. But his strength continued to plummet far past the point that could be explained by slightly reduced fitness and now appeared to be in free fall.

With a soft huff he drew back into a crouch, then stood up. Running his fingers through his sweat-slicked hair he walked toward the mirror, inspecting himself.

His antagonistic relationship with mirrors had mellowed somewhat, though he still wasn’t really happy with who looked back at him. He was shirtless, his flat chest rising and falling with deep, tired breaths.

Now that he was looking at himself without wearing some corset chosen by Diane, it was undeniable. He’d lost weight. Quite a lot of it, apparently – his arms were ridiculously thin and the muscle definition had faded. His muscles were not completely gone, thankfully; he could see them shifting under his skin when he moved. But they were severely diminished. Shade, despite his excessive training, had never been on the bulky side, but now he’d shifted from lean to skinny.

Shade tilted his head quizzically and squinted. He also somehow had put on a thin layer of fat – his belly was slightly rounded, and his face had filled out, smoothing his sharply angled features to appear not quite as harsh.

His face looked… gentler.

If he was honest with himself, he had to admit that his new appearance quite appealed to him on some level, but it was also deeply worrying. People did not lose that much weight in such a short amount of time over that minor a lifestyle change. Especially when they had a healer by their side who supposedly prevented them from getting sick.

A healer. Someone who could shape and twist flesh at will.

He reached up to rub his chin, the complete absence of stubble not quite sinking in, and his gaze fell to his swollen nipples. What had started as a slightly annoying sensitivity had escalated into red puffiness that itched fiercely.

Shade met his own worried gaze. Was she doing this to him? Slowly sapping his strength? Why?

Villain, whispered that part of his mind that never quite let him forget what his lover was.


***

“I need some new stuff,” Amelia announced bluntly, slipping Diane a list. A quite lengthy list.

Diane’s eyebrows rose as she took in the more and more absurd demands. “Moon dust? Really? Where am I supposed to get that? Do you want me to get you a spaceship?”

Amelia tilted her head. “Black market? I don’t know. You don’t usually have problems tracking things down.” There was no reproach in her voice, her thoughts already back on her research. “I have confidence in your abilities.”

Diane lowered her gaze down to the list again, rereading it. Yes, she usually had no problem acquiring the things Amelia expressed desire for; she simply stole them. It had started as gifts, expressing gratitude toward her for saving her life, and had somehow become a permanent service she provided to the mad scientist. Diane hadn’t minded. In fact, she had loved testing the limits of her new powers as she battled guards, the police and heroes.

But she hadn’t stolen a thing since she’d started pursuing Shade.

It had been a purely pragmatic decision, not a moral one; he hated reminders of what she was and would never have allowed himself to sleep with her if she was still making the headlines left and right. So she’d stopped her heists and started drawing on the considerable funds she had built up.

They were nearly depleted. Funding Amelia’s operation along with paying for a luxury suite for weeks on end had chewed through them far faster than she’d anticipated. The extravagant shopping sprees to find just the right clothes for Kara had not helped matters.

Diane looked up, gazing at Amelia who was already retreating back to her lab. She owed the mad scientist her life. Turning down her request was not an option.

I want you to stop stealing.

Diane bit her lower lip. Kara would not take a return to her criminal lifestyle well.

Despite Amelia’s ominous warning, things between them could not be better. Kara was radiating happiness, and Diane was fairly sure she was doing the same. When they were apart, she found her thoughts drifting to their time together all the time, impatiently anticipating their next clandestine meeting. Kara’s outfits were getting more and more elaborate, and Diane was getting better at concealing the hints of his maleness. It helped that his body was taking to corsets exceptionally well; when he wore them, he almost looked like he had proper curves. Their little game was getting so convincing that Diane sometimes caught herself thinking of Kara in female terms.

She looked back down at the list.

This had the potential to destroy their bliss.


***


Diane was evil.

Utterly, utterly evil.

Kara moaned, thrusting her hip, desperate for release.

Her wrists strained against the vines binding them to the headrest as she writhed and bucked, but it was no use. Diane just laughed at her efforts, swirling her tongue around Kara’s engorged and hypersensitive nipples.

Kara’s body was on fire. All those ridiculous feminine sex noises that she’d always been half-convinced women faked to stroke her ego were easily falling from her lips as she grinded against Diane’s soft hands. Diane had a firm grip on her cockhead, preventing her from coming.

“Please, please, please,” she begged, long past the point of caring about her dignity. She wasn’t even sure what she was saying anymore in between gasps and moans and cries.

Diane bit her small breast and she almost sobbed. “You know the rules, my little girl toy.”

“Please, may I… may I…” Fuck. She couldn’t think, let alone remember the proper way to ask permission. “Please!” She yelled and thrust again.

Diane smirked, closing her lips around the sensitive nub and sucked. “Tsk, tsk. Use your words.”

Kara just moaned, thrashing her head.

“You are lucky I am kind and generous,” Diane continued playfully, giving her nipple another long lick. “Come for me, Kara.”

She choked out a gratified Yes, Diane before the most powerful orgasm of her life washed over her, her gaze on the woman tormenting her.

You are everything to me.


***


Kara pressed her lips to Diane’s neck, still breathing heavily as the vines slowly slithered away, freeing her. She rolled over and captured the evil villainess beneath her, grinding against her slick wetness. Kara was already hard again.

Her refractory period was almost nonexistent.

Disquieted, she stared down at the woman in her arms, who gazed back with a small smile.

Have you been modifying my body without my permission?

The words would not leave her lips. It wasn’t that she hated the changes; she was glad to be rid of that fucking 5 o'clock shadow and besides, what girl wouldn’t love to have the capacity for multiple consecutive orgasms? (You’re not making sense, went a small part of her brain.) But she definitely hated the without permission part; just because she liked being dominated in the bedroom it didn’t mean Diane got to do whatever she wanted.

“I need to ask you something,” Diane said quietly, wiggling out of Kara’s hold. Kara drew back with a frown while Diane sat up, seemingly weighing her words.

“You don’t want me to steal anymore, yes?”

“Yes,” Kara answered, at length.

“But can I steal from other villains?”

Shade tilted her head. “I’d prefer for you not to steal at all.”

Diane flashed him an annoyed look. “Luxury hotel rooms don’t pay for themselves.”

Kara blinked. Christ. She gazed around the room with a twinge of guilt. “I can pay for the room,” she assured her quickly. “Retroactively.”

Diane’s expression verged on disgust. “Called it.”

“What?”

“You’re rich.”

“Why do you say that like it’s an insult?” Kara stared at her, bewildered. With her love for money she’d have thought it’d be a welcome realization. She could provide for both of them, and Diane would want for nothing.

Wait, what?

There was no place in her civilian life for insane supervillains.

Diane just sighed and shook her head. “Keep your money. I want my own. If it wasn’t this room, it’d be something else eventually depleting my savings. So, are you gonna give me lectures if I steal from villains?” She arched an eyebrow.

Shade frowned. “It… would be preferable to the alternative,” she said slowly.

“Great!” She smiled, seeming relieved, and leaned in for a gentle kiss. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut our date short then. Things to do, money to steal, evil villains to defeat.”

Before Shade quite knew what was happening, she was already on her feet, heading toward the door while vines slithered up her body to form her villain costume.

“Wait!”

Diane looked over her shoulder and her gaze softened. “I’ll make up for lost time, don’t worry.”

“That’s not… where are you going?”

“Shade,” she said in the lovingly condescending tone one would use to explain to a child that, yes, the sky was indeed blue. “You know I care for you a lot, but money is and always shall be my first love. She calls to me, begging me to release her from evil, undeserving clutches.”

“I meant,” Shade said through gritted teeth. “Whom are you robbing?”

“Oh. The Knives of Arachne. There’s a shipment coming in tonight.”

Shade's blood ran cold. “No,” she said forcefully.

“Really, Kara? I asked permission – which I didn’t have to do! – and you said yes. Don’t go changing your morals on me now.”

“Diane,” Shade grated, standing up as well. “They will kill you. Choose another target.”

Diane looked at her with irritation. “I can take care of myself. I’ve never even gotten hurt on a heist.”

“Because you were going up against bored security guards!”

“And you,” she said smugly. “I defeated you. Thrice.”

Shade’s eye twitched, and shadows swirled.

“Dead,” she hissed, digging her long fingernails into Diane’s exposed throat, mirroring their first embrace. “The only reason you defeated me is because I wasn’t trying to kill you. I had plenty of opportunity. But unlike me, they won’t hesitate.” She lowered her voice, pressing her lips to Diane’s ear and whispering, “You have no idea what it’s like to fight villains. None.”

Shade blinked away from her as suddenly as she had closed in, evading the vine that had already been lashing out.

Diane turned toward her with an eerily slow motion that reminded Shade of a predator. “If they try to kill me, then they, like you, will find out what a mistake it is to make me bleed.”