As I walk into my new apartment I see Marcy sitting on the couch watching the TV. Seems like the furnishings they gave the place are pretty sweet - everything looks new, and it's big enough we could easily have guests over. Marcy looks a little concerned, though.
"Hey, Tamara! It took you a while...is uh, everything alright?"
I give her a wave as I set my backpack down against a chair. "Oh, nothing to worry about, I was just sucking him off in a storage closet for a bit."
...Shit, I probably shouldn't have said that, right? Maybe I need some practice at this infiltration thing.
For her part Marcy gives me a shocked look before bursting out into laughter. "Tamara! Oh my god! You shouldn't joke about things like that, you know, you're gonna get somebody in trouble!"
I respond with an awkward laugh of my own. "Aha, sorry, bad habit I guess. You uh, picked your room already?"
"The one on the right, but as far as I can tell they're identical. I was thinking of heading to bed soon actually, but uh...maybe tomorrow we could hang out a bit? Get to know each other?"
I give her a thumbs up before grabbing my stuff and heading left. "Sounds like a plan, roomie!"
The next morning I'm enjoying breakfast and thinking about my heroic plans. Apparently they did stock the place with a few basics for new arrivals, but for the most part we'll be needing to use the cafeteria or do our own grocery shopping. It's Marcy who makes a suggestion first, though.
"So, just to check, we're not stuck on a specific hero patrol duty or anything like that, right?"
I nod as I enjoy my Sugar Flakes. "Liberty Stars isn't really the 'give orders' sort of organization from what I've heard. Apparently super-people don't usually take well to being told what to do? That sort of thing is for the smaller teams, or unless like, Legally Distinct Godzilla attacks the city or something. And honestly, from the pamphlets and shit they left out on the table I think they'd be fine with newbies just spending a week getting used to the place. That and filling out paperwork."
Marcy turns somber for a moment. "I hope they don't attack Poseidon. I saw the videos from Miami...those poor people." I can see her focusing on cheering up after saying that. "So yeah, I was thinking maybe we could do that? By 'place' I mean city, that is. I've only visited Poseidon City once or twice before, how about you?"
"Never been. Seen it on TV, I guess." I consider the idea. "I suppose if we're going to be patrolling, we do kind of need to know the city a little bit first. So sounds good!"
Marcy smiles. "Great! We can head out after breakfast, then."
We do so, and it is a pretty educational trip. I know the history of Poseidon City, of course. It used to be kind of a small beach town, but after Richmond was burned down in 1937 during the Werewolf War of Appalachia the capital got moved out here. There weren't as many superhumans around back then - not nearly as many radio towers, let alone cellular towers - but it was the superhumans who ended up beating back the werewolves before they could spread across the entire east coast.
That meant that Virginia ended up having some of the most pro-superhuman laws in the country. Best laws for privacy, lowest liability (assuming 'good faith efforts'), and some of the first legal protections for mutates in the country. That meant that even though Poseidon City might not be as big as New York or Chicago or LA, it still has one of the largest superhuman populations in the country.
Which is also why it has one of the highest populations of super villains in the country, too.
Now, Tamara, you might be asking, why would so many villains set up shop in a place with so many heroes? Surely there's juicier targets up in New York, right?
Well, wrong. Popularly, people might think villains are all about bank robberies and jewel heists but that's amateur-hour shit. Jef's good at collecting the real stats, and you know what villains are really after?
Superhumans.
Not just heroes, mind you. That average Joe whose trick is freezing glasses of beer at parties? Susie who has a perfect memory for all of the paperwork at her office? Those people are worth big money to the right customers. If you're a serious super villain, at least seven times out of ten your main bread and butter is in some way related to superhuman trafficking. Whether it's people looking for genetic samples, people looking to build less-than-voluntary armies of superhumans, or just plain old sex trafficking with an exotic twist? Even minor powers can add tens of thousands of dollars to a human's value.
The good news for heroes at least is that if a villain beats them, unless there's a personal grudge there they'll almost always take the hero alive. They're just worth too much money to kill! As long as they can get rescued within a few days they might be a little worse for wear but they'll be back on the job in a week or so. Of course, not everyone does get rescued, but honestly for me that's all the better. After all, the disappearance rate for superhumans in Poseidon City is probably going to be going up a few percent now that I'm around...
Obviously that's not the shit that Marcy and I talk about during our self-guided tour. We check out the shops around HQ, make sure we find out where the nearest hospitals and police stations are, and swing by the beach for a gawk at all of the breedable-looking humans. We eat out for lunch and do a bit of shopping, burning my limited cash reserves. Basically all I have for pocket money is a couple thousand bucks Jef pulled off of our previous subjects, so unless I want to get a job I'm probably going to have to start mugging the dudes I arrest.
We head back to HQ to have dinner at the cafeteria, and it's definitely not bad - better than most moonbase food at least. While we eat, Marcy gets to talking about more personal topics.
"So...ah, I can't believe I'm finally going to be a hero! I dreamed about it since I was a little kid, you know? I was so excited when my powers appeared, thank god they built that new 5G tower behind our neighborhood a couple of years ago. How about you? Was it...hard, going through a mutation like yours?"
I shake my head as I chew the meat off of a rib. "I was born this way. It's an inherited mutation, actually." Sort of true, which means it's a good lie! "And honestly I really like my body! No complaints, really."
I can see it as she eyes the body in question. "Honestly, I can see that. I mean...no offense, but for an insect mutate you kind of, uh...came out really well. God, that sounds stupid, ignore me."
"No, no, I agree." I grin, but it's time to get the conversation back off of me. "How about you, any family? Anyone in the business?"
She shakes her head in return. "No - I mean, yes, I have family, of course. Parents, two younger brothers. My dad has a power to hold his breath for like, half an hour, but it virtually never comes up. It's body-related though, so maybe it's related to the regeneration I got? I've never been really convinced on how inheritable stuff like that is."
It's a question Mom and Jef had as well, fortunately we're probably going to be doing a lot of testing on that in the near future, with any luck! "So you came here right out of high school, then?"
"I'm almost twenty, I actually spent a semester working towards an English degree." She brushes back her hair, the purple stripe on her left in particular. "But after I got my powers and they started looking pretty strong I dropped out. No point in spending all that money, right? How about you?"
I chuckle. "Guess I'm a little older than you, never went to college but I was homeschooled pretty well and, uh...got a lot of college credit, you might say." While I don't actually have any official degrees, I'd bet that my education from Jef's lessons is as good as any science degree. "Got interests in astronomy and biology, mostly. But yeah, I always figured this would be my career. Just needed to train a bit first, you know."
"Oh, I'm curious to see what you can do, then!" Marcy smiles before suddenly turning awkward for some reason. "Uh, anyhow, do you want to go back up and maybe watch some movies together? Maybe tomorrow we can start looking at the hero side of things around here."
"Sounds like a plan!"
On the elevator ride up a thought occurs to me. I do have some privacy with my personal bedroom, but Marcy being a roommate could be a bit of a security risk. I mean, what if I need to Embrace someone in the apartment sometime? If I dose the common area in some low-level Embrace though it could help make Marcy a lot more suggestible. I could ask her to leave if I need some space, or maybe get her to take a nap. Maybe she'd even straight up ignore some crazy shit she sees if it's effective enough on her. Assuming her powers don't mess with it...either way, now would probably be a good time to test it out.
So as Marcy picks out our first movie for the night, I start exhaling some Embrace around the room. Even better, I volunteer to make the popcorn, and while she's not looking I'm able to squeeze out a few drops of the good stuff from my mandibles and mix it into the bowl. If that doesn't have an effect on her, then at least I'll have some warning before things get serious!
...Unfortunately, about an hour into the movie things start getting serious in a totally different way. Embrace does make our prey more suggestible, yeah...but also a lot hornier. I was kind of expecting her to just take off after the first movie and take care of things in her room, though.
Instead, she starts leaning against me on the couch and I don't just mean with her shoulder. She's wearing a pretty thin pajama shirt with no bra, and when she lies down across my lap those curves of hers definitely make themselves known against my legs. I can see her thighs rubbing against each other, and before I can speak up, Marcy does first.
"You're so comfortable...I know this might be strange, since we just met yesterday and all, but...I can feel like you're a really nice person, right? Like...I'm glad we're roommates."
I rest my hand on the side of her hip while brushing her hair with the other, but I try not to get too touchy-feely just yet. I'm not entirely sure where this is going, after all. Marcy sure seems to have a destination in mind though!
"...You weren't joking about giving Impact a blowjob, were you? I mean...it kind of felt like you were being serious there."
I freeze up for a bit, but there can't be any harm in admitting it, right? I didn't actually do anything wrong...yet. "Uh...yeah, actually! I really enjoyed it, too. Honestly, I'd love to do it again sometime."
"Even though you literally just met him like an hour beforehand?"
"Hey, not like it takes more than a few seconds to see if someone's hot, right?"
She nods and remains silent...for a couple more minutes. "Do you, uh...think I'm hot, Tammy?"
I can't help grinning. "Are you serious? Look at this bod! I mean, I could get a better look. Honestly I've been feeling like I'm two minutes away from ripping all your clothes off ever since you laid down on me."
She rolls over slightly so that she's looking up at me instead of at the TV. "...You can do that if you want, I think. I think I'd like that."
As she says that, I can feel a certain bit of anatomy down below start to twitch. My Impact-eggs are definitely ready to go.
Is it time to recruit my first incubator?