"Have you eaten anything at all today?" Selena asked.

I jumped. I was poking and prodding at the weapon I took from Dr. Lana. As always, thoughts of that woman irritated me to no end.

Sure, I felt a little better about everything now that it'd become apparent she had a ringer helping her with everything. At least I assumed she had a ringer helping her with everything with that signal from CORVAC. Assuming that wasn't another layer of her bullshit.

I liked to believe CORVAC was helping her. That meant she wasn't stealing and modifying all my best shit all on her own. I was still irritated that she was able to steal and modify my best shit at all, but I felt a little better about it.

At least I could be pretty sure CORVAC had nothing to do with making the weapons that took Selena's powers. If he did, then he would've revealed those weapons when he was helping me defeat her. Unless, of course, not giving me those weapons was part of his plan to ultimately betray me and try and get me out of the picture so he could become the premier villain in Starlight City.

It was all a convoluted web, and I was so sick and tired of all of it.

I looked over to the old sandwich sitting on the table next to me, then back to the weapon I'd been poking and prodding at. But I hadn't even been able to crack the thing open yet. I worried about activating some fail-safe that would blow the whole thing up in my face.

Thankfully it was in an explosion hood that was impervious to most stuff short of a nuclear weapon. Still, I didn't want to accidentally blow up the one copy of the thing I had. Not after I'd paid so dearly to get it.

"I don't remember when I last ate," I finally said, staring at that sandwich and blinking.

"Okay, Natalie," she said, putting her hands on my shoulder and starting to rub.

I squeezed my eyes shut. That sent a tingle running down through my body.

"That feels good," I muttered, letting out a quiet gasp.

She didn't have to have her super strength to hit the right spot with a good old-fashioned shoulder rub.

"You aren't trying to butter me up to get me in bed, are you?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Isn't that a thing people do? Joke about the shitty back rub that inevitably turns into disappointing sex?"

"Well, there are a few things wrong with that assumption," Selena said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"First off, my back rubs are fucking awesome. There's no such thing as getting a shitty back rub from me."

I groaned and leaned forward. She'd moved her hands up and was working at a knot in my neck that was always a problem. Like I'd tried to invent a massaging machine that would be able to get at it. I'd even gone into the city and tried to get work done with an actual masseuse, and none of it had managed to work it out.

But there was something about the magic touch Selena had that took care of it, or at least it had back when she had her super strength.

"Second, I would never dream of trying to get laid by giving you a back rub, shitty or otherwise," she said.

"You wouldn't?"

"If I wanted to get laid then all I need to do is arch an eyebrow at you and gesture to the bedroom, and we're good to go."

"Yeah, you've got a point there," I said.

"And finally, no sex you ever have with me is going to be mediocre or shitty sex, even if you did happen to get a mediocre back rub that led to it. Which you never will because my back rubs are fucking awesome, as we've already established."

"You're very confident in yourself."

"Results speak for themselves," she said.

"You keep making those good points," I said.

I reached around and put a hand on hers. She kept right on working at that knot in my neck, and I let out another quiet gasp. She really was damn good at that. It was unfair for one person to be that good at massaging. But I was glad she was here in the lab with me to do it.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I glanced over to the sandwich next to me. She really was just watching out for me, even if I was irritated. I was irritated with the weapon in front of me that was keeping its secrets. I wasn't irritated with her. I needed to remind myself of that.

My stomach growled in time with my glance at the sandwich. I looked up at a clock on the wall and realized it was getting on into the evening.

"Damn," I said. "I guess I really did lose track of time."

"You certainly did," Selena said.

I turned to look up at her. She stared down at me with those striking green eyes that I loved to get lost in.

"So, what do you say?" she asked.

A chill ran through me. All of that talk about shitty back rubs leading to shitty sex had me hoping a great back rub was about to lead to some great fun in between the sheets.

I looked in the direction of the bedroom. Which was actually a two-story complex with a bed at the top in a loft, and then there was a literal water slide that went down to a combination pool and hot tub, depending on what I was feeling in the moment. And there was a floor to ceiling screen straight out of something in the back of Captain Pike's room that showed off whatever I wanted through the window.

Plato and his cave could eat their heart out. My eyes and my brain thought I was looking at whatever was on the other side of that high-fidelity screen, and so I didn't care that it wasn't real. I even had sounds and smells that leaked through depending on what it was showing me.

I figured if I was going to have a secret villain's lair then I might as well make it a comfortable secret villain's lair that catered to my every whim in the way I hoped the world would one day cater to my every whim once I'd conquered it.

"No, I wasn't looking at that," she said, grinning and shaking her head. "I swear, you're impossible sometimes."

"Can you blame a girl?" I asked, licking my lips and looking up at her from my seat. "Especially now that you're, y'know."

She frowned for just a moment, and then she smiled like she wasn't sure what to make of that or how to react.

One of the few pleasant side effects of her losing her powers was that she didn't have to worry about hurting yours truly when we were getting physical. Which had been a nice surprise the first time it happened.

"Maybe we can do something like that later," she said. "But for now I was thinking something else."

"What were you thinking?" I asked.

"It's a surprise," she said, hitting me with a smile and a wink.

"You know I don't like surprises."

"And you know I like springing surprises on you," she said. "That's just one of those relationship quirks we're going to have to get used to."

"You know I don't have to put up with that stuff now that you can't punch me to the moon."

"Of course you do," she said, leaning down and hitting me with a toe-curling kiss.

"Okay, you make another compelling point," I said.

"I always make compelling points," she said. "Even when my arguments aren't happening with my fist."

"Whatever," I said. "So what are we doing?"

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you," she said. "But you need to head over to the common area. The first part of your surprise is waiting there."

I let out a frustrated noise, but I went along with it. I could grouse all I wanted about how I wasn't a fan of surprise parties, but I think that deep down Selena realized on some level that I actually did enjoy them. Maybe. At least I assumed that's why she did it from time to time.

And I was really curious about what she was going to surprise me with this time around. She always seemed to have a way of coming up with something I didn't even know I wanted until she got it for me.

So I walked into the common area. I looked at the table where we usually had our lunch and dinner. It was right in front of a big board that could show me television, or it could show me whatever was going on throughout Starlight City.

Right now it was showing a bunch of different views of downtown. I'd kept the place on observation for the past week or so after our fight with Dr. Lana. I wanted to make sure everything was under control. I wanted to make sure that somehow, Dr. Lana wasn't going to return.

Talk about a stupid narrative device, but surprise resurrections were something that seemed to happen with annoying regularity here in Starlight City.

Selena came in and stood next to me. She was doing that cute pose where she had her hands behind her back, and she kept leaning forward. Which had the side effect of causing her breasts to press out. Talk about a distraction."

It was all that talk about that back rub leading to a little bit of fun. Now that I wasn't getting that fun, I was getting whatever the lady equivalent of blue balls was."

"Selena," I said. "What am I…"

But then my breath caught as I got a look at what was sitting on the table where we ate. There was a sparkling black dress right there.

I walked over and picked it up. I looked the thing up and down, and then I turned to Selena.

"What is this?"

"What do you think it is?" she asked. "You're the evil genius."

"It looks like a dress."

"Well, if the evil super genius says it's a dress, then it's probably a dress."

"Damn it, Selena, I'm an evil super genius, not a fashion designer."

"And yet you got it in one," she said, biting her lip and chewing on it.

Which was another one of those distracting and oh-so-interesting looks. It made me want to kiss her right then and there. The dress made me want to kiss her right then and there.

I could rock a good modified super suit that allowed me to go toe-to-toe with the most powerful nations in the world and the most powerful hero the world had ever seen, but I was also a sucker for a good dress.

"So why do I need a dress like this?" I asked, trying to ignore the fluttering in my stomach.

"That's simple," she said, still smiling that secretive smile. "I'm going to take you out on a date."

"A date?"

"Well, yeah," she said. "It's been a week since we had our date night interrupted by a bunch of stupid robots coming in and causing trouble. I figure I owe you a legitimate date night after all that."

"Wouldn't I be the one who owed you a legitimate date night after all that?" I asked.

She stepped forward and pressed against me. We were eye to eye because we were about the same height, something I'd noticed the very first time the two of us went toe-to-toe in a super-powered slug fest.

"You're the superhero who saved me that night," she said. "So I think I'm the one who owes you a date."

Her arms snaked behind my neck. She leaned in and pressed her lips against mine.

And for a little bit, I forgot about date night. Only for a little bit, mind you.

I was excited about the idea of going wherever she wanted to take me. And getting to do it wearing this fabulous sparkling black dress!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.