Chereads / N*ked S*x World / Chapter 14 - Shadowfall

Chapter 14 - Shadowfall

_Sophia knew that she had made a bad mistake in beating Emma so badly. But she hadn't been able to help herself, not really. At first, she had been driven by righteous anger; how dare Emma even consider throwing her over for a cutesy little nothing like **Madison**? And then, as Emma tried to fight back, she had been consumed with the need to make the bitch submit, to force her to admit what she had been planning.

Finally, it was the savage joy of physically mastering another, the almost sexual pleasure of beating the faithless **bitch** to a pulp, and far beyond, that had her kicking and punching Emma's unconscious body as she lay in a pool of her own blood.

It was only her innate animal caution that caused her to draw back before she took that last irredeemable step, to cease the assault before she quite literally beat Emma to death. Severe beatings, though rare, were not entirely unknown in Winslow, especially between gangs. However, even the gangs didn't set out to kill one another; just getting the other guy down on the ground and playing a tune on his ribs with the toe of one's boot was usually enough to settle matters of honour.

And Emma Barnes was no gang member; Sophia recalled how fiercely protective Alan Barnes was toward his daughter. If she killed Emma, he had an entire law firm that would be willing to nail her to the wall for it.

So she had left Emma a beaten, bloody wreck on the floor of the girls' bathrooms. Barring extensive medical intervention, or a parahuman healer, the redhead would never turn heads again; Sophia knew that Emma's sexy body would never be hers again, so she had set about making sure that no-one else would want her either, not even that snivelling little cow Madison.

Emma's nose had been comprehensively shattered, until it was spread over most of her face. Her lips were a smashed ruin, over teeth that Sophia had broken off, or knocked clean out. Sophia had pummelled her until the skin had split over her eye-sockets and cheekbones, then rubbed her face on the grimy floor until the tiles were slick with her blood. Those scars would be visible and prominent, and would be with Emma until she died.

With every punch, with every groan of pain, every time Sophia felt Emma's flesh quiver, bruise and split under her relentless assault, Sophia had felt more and more aroused, more and more alive. She had considered holding Emma down, forcing the other girl to pleasure her, perhaps forcibly penetrating her with something suitably large and painful, but Sophia's instinct was to get out, and so she did not give in to her impulses.

Knotting her hand in Emma's hair, she had raised the unconscious girl to her knees, and kissed her on the split and torn lips.

"If I can't have you," she murmured, "then no-one's going to want you."

Pushing Emma back savagely so that she sprawled on the floor, she stood over her victim for a few moments. She wanted to kick her in the face one more time, but there existed the possibility that any more injury there could cause breathing problems. She didn't want to murder Emma, just to teach her a lesson. And so she kicked her between the legs, hard, until the delicate flesh split and blood flowed. Emma was so far gone that she didn't even react to this. Sophia spat on her, then washed Emma's blood from her hands and left the bathrooms.

She had walked out of Winslow, discarding her tiny beaded apron on the way. Sophia Hess would face the world in the only way she knew how; naked and unafraid. She had burned her bridges; she knew this. After the beatdown that she had inflicted on Emma, there would be no going back, no place at Winslow for her.

It was time for her to take her place in the primal jungle that was the Brockton Bay underworld. But first she had some needs to take care of._

<><>

We paused outside the house on Stonemast Avenue. "Think she's in there?" asked Chris. Of the three of us, he was of course the most fully dressed.

I frowned, then unzipped my costume and stepped out of it; underneath, of course, I was naked except for the goggles. Almost immediately, I felt Dean's hand on my ass; I pushed back, enjoying the contact.

At the back of my throat, I started the almost subliminal humming, tuning it to our surroundings, feeling out the interior of number 33.

"Adult woman," I reported, wriggling with pleasure as Dean caressed me, "young adult male, infant child. Possibly a girl. Sophia's not in there." Turning to Dean, I leaned in to kiss him.

"Could she be in there, in shadow form?" asked Chris.

I finished kissing Dean, then turned to answer him. "Possible, but I doubt it. I don't think she's home."

"Her mother might know where she is, though," pointed out Chris.

"Good point," allowed Dean. "I'll go ask her." He began pulling the Velcro tabs on his armour.

"I'll go with," I volunteered. Gathering up my discarded costume, I handed it to Chris. "Hold on to this for me, please?"

Chris rolled his eyes behind his visor. "That's me, Tinker and costume holder. Okay, fine."

I leaned in and kissed him. "I'll make it up to you later," I purred. He brightened right up.

As we strolled up the front path, Dean put his arm around me. "Kid Win's a good guy," he observed.

"I know," I told him. "I like him. I like all you guys. You're a lot of fun." _And awesome in bed_ , I didn't have to add; Dean caught that bit loud and clear.

"We like you too," Dean stated. "Well, I _really_ like you, but everyone else does, too. Even Vista, which I find kind of awesome."

We were at the front door by then, so I held up a finger. "Finish this conversation later," I suggested, and knocked.

The front door opened a few moments later; the woman standing there had skin of Sophia's complexion, or maybe a little darker. There was enough family resemblance in the features that I was reasonably certain that I was indeed looking at Sophia's mother.

Dressed in a bra and panties, she looked a little askance at us; it probably wasn't every day that she opened the door to a pair of naked teenagers, wearing masks.

"Can … I help you?" she asked.

"Mrs Hess?" asked Dean. "Mrs Naomi Hess?"

"That's me," replied Sophia's mother. "Who are you? What's going on?" She stared at Dean. "Aren't you one of the Wards?"

Dean smiled his best let-me-put-you-at-your-ease smile, and I saw her relax ever so slightly. "Yes, ma'am. I'm Gallant, and this is Harmonic. She just joined."

"Oh, uh, I'm very pleased to meet you," replied Mrs Hess; I saw her eyes track down Dean's body and up again; when she met his eyes again, she flushed darkly. "What can I do to help you?"

"May we come in?" asked Dean. "It's about your daughter, Sophia."

I hadn't spoken so far; that was mainly because I was humming, ever so slightly. Not so much as to be noticed, but just enough to affect her critical faculties, rendering her just a little bit suggestive. I felt slightly bad, using it on her, but we did need answers as to where Sophia might be, and it wasn't as if she was being harmed by the process.

"Of course, of course," she agreed. "Come on in. Is that your friend at the gate? Kid Win?"

Dean nodded. "That's him, ma'am," he confirmed. "Can he come in too?"

She smiled and opened the door wide. "Of course," she told him.

<><>

_Over the last thirty years, prostitution had almost died out as a profession, given the relative ease with which the vast majority of the population could get access to a sexual partner. But there were still those who could not get some the normal way, or could not get it off with straight vanilla sex. And then there were those who wanted more from their sexual experience than most girls – or boys – were willing to give. Those that catered to the fetish trade had come out from behind closed doors, taking the place of the casual streetwalker. For the most part, these were licensed in their profession, and subject to regular medical checkups. But some didn't bother, or didn't care, and these were the ones that lurked in the back streets for the customers who wanted to live right on the edge.

Sophia had her tastes, ones she had carefully hidden from Emma. While the redhead had reacted well to a slap on the ass or a pinch of the nipple from time to time, Sophia had instinctively known that any attempt to convert her to a full appreciation of the sexual aspects of pain would not go well. So when she had seduced Emma, she had been relatively gentle, with just a hint of the depths to which she was willing to descend. It had been that suggestion of wildness, of risk, that had drawn Emma to her as much as the gentleness and sensuality that Sophia had used upon her.

**But she couldn't take the rough stuff,** Sophia told herself with contempt.

The cute little blonde was still working the same corner; Sophia slid up behind her, putting one hand around her to squeeze her breast and the other between her thighs to cup her pussy through the flimsy white thong she wore. At the same time, she pushed her crotch forward, pressing on the girl's ass.

"Hi," she murmured. "Remember me?"

"Oh," responded the girl in a well-rehearsed imitation of fear, "please don't hurt me, I'll do anything you want."

Sophia grinned; the way Carla said that always turned her on. She licked the girl's neck and then bit her, feeling the slim young body stiffen and then melt into her arms as her teeth scored the delicate white skin.

"You really want it, don't you?" murmured Carla, twisting around in her arms until she could kiss Sophia. "You really want this bad."

Sophia kissed her, hard, their lips crushing together. She felt the smaller girl's arms go around her, nails digging into the skin of her back, as their breasts pressed together.

For an answer, she hooked two fingers in the thong and tore it from Carla's hips, her signal that Carla was hers until further notice. Carla gasped as Sophia's hand cupped her buttock, digging her nails in deeply, savagely.

"Oh," murmured Sophia, " **yes**."_

<><>

_"So why couldn't I have gone with Gallant's group?" asked Vista reasonably.

"Because you would have spent more time looking at his ass than where you were going," Clockblocker pointed out, just as reasonably. "Ow! You hit me!"

"And I'll hit you again," Vista told him sweetly. "That was a mean thing to say."

"Enough," Aegis told them mildly. "We're nearly there."

Only Clockblocker was wearing his full costume; Aegis, stripped to mask and boots, was flying overhead. Vista, wearing just her visor and a pair of sandals, was stretching and squeezing space, moving them forward at a vastly accelerated pace, when compared to the outside world.

"Anyway, you can't talk," Vista told Dennis as they entered the main doors. "You've been ogling my ass and tits ever since I stripped down."

"How did you know?" he protested. "You can't see my eyes!"

"I didn't," she informed him smugly. "Until you told me just now."

Clockblocker groaned, then cut it off as they encountered Principal Blackwell, coming the other direction.

This time, Winslow's principal was wearing her usual attire of skirt and heels; she smiled as she greeted Aegis, giving the other two perfunctory greetings.

"We can go and talk about this in my office," she suggested, "while your friends ask the other teachers what they know."

Aegis considered this. He well knew what she wanted; on the one hand, he wanted to find out what was needed and then move along. On the other, she was remarkably uninhibited for an older woman, and he had rather enjoyed the interlude during the visit.

Vista grinned wickedly; she knew what was going on as well.

"You go ahead," she told her team leader. "Clockblocker and me will be fine."

Dennis, somewhat distracted by Vista's hard little breasts and taut buttocks, hadn't picked up on the signals, but went ahead with it anyway. "Uh, sure," he agreed. "We'll ask around."_

<><>

Dean and I sat side by side on the sofa, while Mrs Hess took one armchair and Chris took the other. While the teapot was heating up, she served cookies; Dean and I each took one.

"Wow," I murmured, trying not to spill crumbs, "these are delicious. You make these?"

She flushed again. "It's just a little recipe I have," she told us modestly. "If you want, you can take some when you go."

"Yes please," Dean told her enthusiastically, finishing off his cookie. "Those are great."

She flushed again, more darkly. Her eyes found Dean's body again, roving over his broad chest and washboard abs. He was getting erect just from her obvious attention; I grinned to myself. I could see her licking her lips as she tried not to stare.

The young guy I had 'seen' in the house wandered in, carrying an infant child in his arms. She wore a diaper; he wore nothing at all. I caught my breath at the size of his endowment; it wasn't as long as Dad's, but it was a good bit thicker.

"Uh, hi," he greeted us uncertainly. "Are you guys the Wards?"

Dean nodded gravely, taking another cookie. "Yes, I'm Gallant, that's Kid Win, and this is Harmonic, our newest member."

"Uh, right," he replied. "I'm Terry." Stepping forward and shifting the infant to his left arm, he leaned down and shook Dean's hand, Chris' and then mine. In the process, he got a good look at my body; I leaned back slightly and spread my legs just a bit, to make sure he could see all of me.

"Mom," he went on, "I've changed and fed Cassie, but she doesn't want to go to sleep. What do you want me to do with her?"

"Let me," suggested Kid Win. He rose from his chair, and picked up the hoverboard that he'd carried inside. At some kind of command, it began to float on its own, humming slightly, the anti-gravity panels underneath it emitting their characteristic red glow.

"It's not very big," Naomi Hess noted with concern.

Chris grinned at her. "I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm not really good at balancing, so I built in a force field generator. It's almost impossible to fall off this thing."

Taking Cassie from Terry's arms, he sat her gently on the board. She gurgled and waved her hands excitedly, especially when he set it moving, guiding it remotely, around the living room. As it neared its first turn, Cassie shifted her weight, lunging sideways; Naomi cried out in alarm. But, just as Chris had assured her, just as the little girl reached the point of no return, some invisible force gathered her up and pushed her back to the sitting position, safely in the middle of the board.

"See?" Chris told her. "Safe as in your arms." He guided the board around so that it hovered before Naomi, and she studied her happily chuckling baby.

Eventually, she nodded, smiling back at Cassie's evident enjoyment. "All right," she told him. "But don't frighten her."

"That's the last thing I want to do," he assured her, and the board hummed off again.

Mrs Hess looked back at Dean. "So what did you want to know about Sophia?"

"Do you know where she is?" asked Dean bluntly.

She shook her head. "She's her own girl. Has been for years. Normally she sleeps at home, but not always. Last few nights, she hasn't been here." Her expression clouded. "I was told about the assault at school. I know she's angry, but I have no idea where that came from. I thought she and Emma were happy together."

I tilted my head, and increased the intensity of the humming slightly. I wanted to be sure that she would answer candidly. "So you're unaware of her … extracurricular … activities, Mrs Hess?"

"Going out and having sex, you mean?" she replied. "She's been doing that since she was thirteen."

Dean shook his head. "I don't think she's been having sex, Naomi," he told her. "Or at least, not just having sex."

She frowned. "What else would she be doing?" she asked.

Dean and I shared a glance. _She doesn't know._

"Uh -" began Dean, but just then, the teapot began its shrill whistle.

"I'll just get the tea," Mrs Hess suggested, getting up.

"I'll help you," Dean told her, rising to his feet.

She smiled. "Thank you, Gallant. That would be most appreciated."

Silence fell over the living room as they exited; Chris was giving little Cassie speed runs up and down the front hall, to squeals of childish enjoyment.

I looked over at Terry. He looked at me.

"Would you, uh, be able to show me the bathroom?" I suggested diffidently.

He nodded quickly and got up; I stood up also.

"It's just through here," he told me; as I followed his instructions, he moved along close behind me.

I was very wet indeed.

<><>

_Sophia could not see, as the blindfold blocked out all vision. Breath hissed in through the gag she wore, and she tugged uselessly at the ropes that held her arms tied firmly up to the head of the bed. She was on her knees, with her ankles secured to the bottom rail of the bed, and several pillows under her stomach.

Carla's hands gripped her hips tightly as the thick rubber dildo rammed into her tight young pussy, reaching her depths and filling her, overfilling her, over and over again. The whip-marks on her back and butt smarted; some had drawn blood, she knew. She had sobbed and begged and screamed while Carla had beaten her, but she had wanted it. Oh, she had wanted it.

She felt the dildo slide out of her abused pussy, and then the probe was rammed into her ass, roughly spreading her buttocks, penetrating her deeply and painfully. She cried out and writhed in her bonds, but to no avail. And then the current hit her, biting at her most sensitive flesh, deep within her ass, spreading to every part of her body, causing her to twitch and quiver uncontrollably.

Carla fucked her ass unmercifully with the probe, the electrodes jolting her over and over again, ensuring that she did not simply phase away from the punishment. But she didn't want to phase away from it. She enjoyed it. The pain reached something deep inside her, some hidden savage beast that could only be tamed by hurting it.

She felt the probe being shoved as far up into her as Carla could manage, almost so far that her ass swallowed the whole thing. **She's going to fuck me again,** she thought dazedly. **Good.**

But she heard the door open, muted voices sounding, then it closed again.

"I've brought some friends over," Carla announced. "They know you like it rough. I'm just going out for a while. They can take care of you in the meantime."

Sophia's eyes opened wide behind the blindfold. "No!" she tried to shout. "No! This isn't what I want!"

But all that came out of her was a muffled mewling sound, and she heard cruel laughter. A rough hand, a workman's hand, caressed and then squeezed her breast painfully. Other hands traced the weals on her back and butt. Someone slapped her ass, hard.

And then the first penis pushed its way between her labia.

The man liked it rough, she could tell. He gripped her hips tightly, and thrust into her with all the care and finesse as a bull rampaging through a china shop. She cried out into the gag as he pummelled her vaginal canal with his rampant erection, driving deep inside her, over and over again. He was too big for her; she felt herself being forced to stretch just to accommodate his thickness. The pain brought tears to her eyes.

And she gloried in it._

<><>

_Aegis and Principal Blackwell pushed in through her office door; she was frantically kissing him, her hands caressing his body and stroking his already impressive erection. He found the waistband of her skirt and tore it from her body; she cried out in surprise and arousal.

She cried out again when he took hold of her arms, turned her around, and bent her over her own desk.

"Have you been a naughty girl?" he asked her, stroking her ass, spreading her buttocks with his strong fingers.

"Oh!" she gasped. "Oh, yes! I've been a very naughty girl!"

"Then I'm going to have to punish you," he told her, and slapped her ass, hard enough to redden it.

She jerked and cried out once more, but did not try to pull away. After half a dozen slaps, she was lying limply over the desk, moaning and twitching slightly.

Spreading her thighs, he slid his penis between them, pushing gently at her swollen, arousal-slick labia. They parted, and she gasped as he began to penetrate her slippery depths.

"Oh yes," she murmured. "Oh yes. Punish me with your big rod."

For an older woman, she didn't get much sex, Aegis decided. Good **god** , she was tight.

Holding on tightly as she began to buck, he started to pump his erection into her, deeper and deeper, harder and harder._

<><>

_The classroom was empty; Vista and Clockblocker looked around in puzzlement.

"Who's supposed to be here?" asked Dennis.

Missy consulted the class list in her hand. "Says a Mrs Knott."

Dennis looked around. "Nope." He looked back at Vista. "But while we're waiting ..."

Vista raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I have been staring at that sexy ass of yours since we left, and Aegis is almost certainly getting laid right this second, so I was thinking we might improve the shining hour too."

Missy giggled, reached out, and ripped the front of Dennis' costume off of the Velcro tabs. He assisted her; moments later, he was as naked as she was.

Hopping up so that she was perched on the edge of the desk, she opened her thighs invitingly, then spread her labia with her fingers. The sight of her pink moist inner folds galvanised him, he needed no farther invitation.

Removing his helmet to show a simple domino mask, he dropped to his knees and began to eat her out in style. She lay back on the desk and wrapped her slim thighs around his neck as his tongue hit every button she had; she gripped the edges of the desk and bucked her tight young wet musky vagina up at his face.

Her juices began to flow in earnest as his tongue delved into her secret depths and flicked across her tightly erect clitoris; she cried out and came, hard. Sucking on her clit, he gave her another orgasm, and then a third, before he gently disentangled her legs from his neck and stood up.

She gasped as his erection slid into her, sheathing its modest length within her slim young body; he lifted her up so that they could kiss and caress one another as he pumped his hips in a steady rhythm. Her vaginal canal was already on fire from his previous attentions, and the harder and faster he thrust into her, the higher her pleasure mounted.

Her nails dug into his back; he groaned and kissed her, and renewed his assault on her wet and willing sex. She had her legs wrapped around his hips as he fucked her, their bodies slapping together with the arousing noise of two young lovers in the throes of passion.

He could feel his climax approaching; his hips pumped faster, driving his slim erection hard into Vista's tight wet depths. She moaned in counterpoint, clinging to him as her own orgasms blasted through her again and again. Her vaginal canal clenched around him as she came, finally driving him over the edge. He shouted as he ejaculated, his cock pumping his spurting seed deep into her belly, filling her with the warm thick hot liquid. She felt him cumming inside her, over and over, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she imagined the semen filling her womb, the image arousing her intensely.

Slowly they came down from the not-quite-simultaneous orgasm, to find a woman standing in the doorway of the classroom, watching them quizzically.

"Can I … help you?" she asked, a smile of amusement on her lips. "Or would you prefer some more alone time?"

"Uh, no, uh, we're just waiting for a Mrs Knott?" ventured Vista, as Clockblocker pulled out of her. She felt the treacherous trickle of semen down her leg as she hopped off of the desk.

"That's me," replied the teacher. She was tall and broad-shouldered, with a truly impressive bosom. Her waist was narrow and her hips generous; the most dainty pair of transparent lace panties was her only item of clothing. "How can I help you?" she asked, entering the room, her eyes roving over both Dennis' and Missy's body in a most direct fashion. Vista felt a flush of arousal begin deep within her.

"Uh, it's about Sophia Hess," Dennis began. "When was the last time you saw her?"_

<><>

"This isn't the bathroom," I murmured, as I opened the door Terry had indicated.

"No," he breathed, his hands around my body. I _mmm_ ed as he cupped my small breasts, and pressed back against, feeling the thick erection fitting into the crack of my ass. "It's my bedroom."

I reached down behind me and began to fondle his penis, running my hand up and down it. "Now why would I want to see your bedroom?" Half-turning my head, I raised my face to his, and he kissed me.

"I have no idea," he grinned, and began to rub my shaven pussy slowly, in such a way as to drive me utterly insane in a very short time. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time."

I kissed him again and fell back on to the bed, dragging him with me. "It did, did it?" My thighs spread wide, invitingly.

As he got up above me, I reached down and guided him home; I gasped as I felt his head push between my pussy lips.

"Oh god," I groaned. "Fuck, you're enormous."

"Am I hurting you?" he asked, biting his lip to try to stay in control.

I shook my head wildly. "Fuck no, keep going."

We were compatible, but only just. If we'd taken the time to match Cards, we probably wouldn't have been more than sixty percent. But I didn't care. I was a woman, he was a man, we were both horny, and he was on top of me. That was about as far as my thought process went, right then.

As he drove his thick erection into my tender, tight, young pussy, I arched my back and groaned at the sensations. It felt as though I were being filled up to the brim, and he still had half of his length to go yet.

"Oh god," I whimpered. "Oh god, oh god, oh god." There was no way he was ever going to fit that in my ass. But that was okay, I had Dean for that.

Slowly, but with more and more force, he began to thrust into me, each time wedging a little more of his monstrous erection into me. I couldn't believe how good it felt; even without the overriding drive for sex that I had suffered for so long, I was still going out of my mind with the sensations.

When his belly met mine, I let out a tiny squeak of pain. I was stretched to my limit, and perhaps just a little beyond. But then he continued stroking in and out of me, and I could only gasp and hang on, my nails raking his back. I could not articulate, could not speak.

But I could hum. And I began to hum, just for him, as I had done for Dean.

His eyes opened very wide indeed, and he markedly increased his tempo. I cried out, clinging to him, as the first orgasm blasted all coherent thought from my mind. But I never stopped humming.

<><>

_"Milk is in the fridge," Mrs Hess told Dean, as she assembled the teapot and more cookies on a tray.

"Got it," he assured her, turning to open the fridge. When he turned back, he blinked. She had removed her bra, revealing still-firm breasts, and was in the process of stepping out of her panties.

She met his gaze and flushed again. "I -" she began. "It's been a while … since Cassie was born."

She looked down at the floor. "I'll understand if you … if you don't want to … "

Placing the milk on the bench, Dean stepped forward. Reaching out, he placed a finger under her chin and raised her face to his. She let out a tiny sigh as he leaned forward and kissed her. Her lips were warm and responsive on his.

She leaned back against the bench as he knelt and pleasured her orally; her hands were clenched in his hair as she tilted her head back and gasped for breath. One leg was thrown over his back; the other was locked tight so that she did not fall. Between her thighs, his lips and tongue were busy, sending bolt after bolt of pleasure through her.

When she thought that there was no more to be had, that the best was over, he proved her wrong once more; standing, he lifted her on to the counter top, and got between her thighs. As he slid into her, she clasped him to her not inconsiderable breasts.

"Oh yes," she groaned, as he made love to her, slowly and gently. "Oh, yes, oh yes, oh yes. Just like that."

He kissed her and nuzzled at her neck, as his hips pumped back and forth, gradually driving Mrs Hess to new heights of orgasmic bliss. She clung to him, urging him onward with broken words of encouragement, mixed with whimpers and sobs of sheer pleasure.

When he finally came inside of her, she was shattered, wrecked. She had not had sex this good since her teenage days, when she had become pregnant with Terry. The young man between her thighs had reawakened old memories, had made her feel things that she had thought dead and forgotten.

Gently, he kissed her and helped her down from the counter top. Together, they carried the tea things out from the kitchen, to find the living room empty, except for Chris, still giving little Cassie her impromptu joyride.

"Where's Harmonic?" asked Gallant.

"And where's Terry?" echoed Mrs Hess.

At that moment, they heard from above, the unmistakeable sounds of passion amid squeaking bedsprings. Both of them laughed at the same moment, and Naomi snuggled up to Gallant, laying her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she murmured. "I really needed that."

He put his arm around her. "I know," he assured her. Above, the noise seemed to reach a crescendo. He chuckled; she giggled.

"You think we were that noisy?" she asked him.

He shook his head, and kissed her tenderly. "Nope. You were a perfect lady."

She was still laughing when Harmonic and Terry trailed down the stairs, looking more than a little wrecked themselves._

<><>

_Sophia moaned softly. Her ass and pussy felt raw, abraded; warm liquid trickled from each one and down her thighs. She devoutly hoped that it was just cum. They had taken her roughly, one after the other, driving deep inside her tight wet pussy. And then, when she was too far gone to do anything about it, they had taken the probe from her ass, and taken her there as well. She had no idea how long the gang-rape had gone on, but for now, there was nothing in either of her orifices, for which she was profoundly grateful.

At the same time, on a whole other level, she was incredibly aroused. The whipping, the dildo, the probe, and then the unwanted sex, had all added up to give her a series of teeth-rattling orgasms, even as she protested the penetrations. Carla had read her perfectly; being tied down and forced to submit to that sort of degradation had driven her into the heights of her perverted pleasure.

She felt the ropes being loosened, and the blindfold and gag were untied. Groaning as limbs uncramped, she rolled over on the bed to look at her blonde tormentor.

"Well?" asked Carla, looking very pleased with herself. "How did it go?"

She had trickles of cum on her chin, and what looked like fresh bruises on her small breasts, so Sophia assumed that she'd been dealing with another customer, or perhaps even taking up the slack on some of the guys who'd been using her, while Sophia was being fucked so thoroughly.

Sophia's first punch caught Carla just under the eyesocket.

Carla stumbled back, too dazed to even cry out. Sophia came off the bed, swinging her fist again; this time, her fist caught the smaller girl in the solar plexus, and she doubled up, gagging. She hauled Carla upright, and slammed her knee up between the blonde's thighs, eliciting a cry of agony from the girl.

Sophia was in pain from her breasts, her back, her buttocks, and her pussy and ass. She had just been tied down and raped by a series of men; she was hugely aroused, and wanted to take that out on someone else. That someone else was Carla. The sexual pleasure mounted in her as she assaulted the blonde, but this time, there was nothing holding her back. Nothing to make her stop.

Grabbing the smaller girl, she threw her on to the bed, then snatched up the dildo and strapped it on. Carla cried out as she was penetrated savagely, her buttocks spreading wide under Sophia's anal assault. The dildo drove deep on its first thrust, and deeper again on the second.

This was not the one that Carla supplied for anal sex with her, but Sophia didn't care; she was causing pain to Carla, and that was all that mattered. "If you can't stand it, you shouldn't have started this," she muttered.

Carla stared up at her. "Stop," she moaned. "Please stop." She took a deep breath. "Protectorate."

That was their safe word. With that word, Sophia was supposed to back off, stop doing what she was doing.

She didn't.

Carla screamed as Sophia's hands closed around her throat._

<><>

_Principal Blackwell wondered vaguely what her students would think of her; bent over her desk, panting with lust, even as a strapping young superhero vigorously sodomised her quivering asshole. His cock pumped in and out of her, she moaned and whimpered and clenched her sphincter around him, feeling her next climax approaching.

She had never had a tendency toward anal before she met Aegis. She had tentatively suggested it on their first meeting, and had been spectacularly rewarded for her daring. He had already cum twice in her pussy, before she had begged him to do her this way again. Her eyes were nearly crossing with the sheer blinding pleasure that was blasting through her body with every powerful stroke.

**If this boy went to Winslow, he'd be in my office every morning for detention,** she told herself, and imagined being willingly bent over her desk on a daily basis by Aegis. The thought turned her bones to water, and propelled her into another searing orgasm._

<><>

_Mrs Knott's panties had long been discarded. She lay back on the desk, with Vista straddling her face. Her talented tongue drove the young Ward into heights of ecstasy, even as Clockblocker thrust into the teacher's wet and willing vagina from the edge of the desk. He held her shapely thighs on his shoulders, as he pumped his hips; her vaginal canal was almost as tight, and just as slippery, as Missy's had been. He groaned as he thrust into the older woman, rubbing her clitoris with his thumb as he had been shown.

Gladys Knott could not believe her luck. Returning to her classroom from the staff break room, she had not expected to find two teenagers rutting on her desk. And she certainly had not expected to join in a repeat performance. The boy's cock wasn't the largest, but he certainly knew how to use it. And the girl's pussy was the sweetest and most delicate that she had tasted for quite some time. Clenching her vaginal canal around the boy's thrusting erection, she clasped Vista's thighs as she flickered her tongue between clitoris, labia and vagina, driving the girl into yet another orgasm._

<><>

Terry and I stumbled back into the living room; he had to assist me, because I was having trouble walking. I saw Dean's eyes flick down between my legs, and I knew he could see how reddened I was down there. We had washed away most of Terry's cum, but it felt like he had pumped a gallon of the stuff up inside me when he came.

Gingerly, I sat down on the armchair, spreading my legs as much as possible to give my pussy access to the cool air. Dean imperturbably handed me a cup of tea; gratefully, I accepted it, and sipped at the hot, sweet beverage.

"So, you were saying about Sophia?" prompted Mrs Hess, as Terry sat in the other armchair; he was equally as careful as I was, for similar reasons.

Dean and I shared another glance. From the way Mrs Hess was snuggling up to him, Terry and I had not been the only ones getting some, and I gave him an encouraging nod. Better she hear it from someone she'd just had sex with.

Dean took a deep breath. "Uh … Sophia had a secret. She was actually the vigilante known as Shadow Stalker."

She drew back and stared at him. "You're joking."

Terry shook his head. "No, Mom, he's not."

She switched her stare to her son. "Terry? What do you know about this?"

We were all looking at him by this point; he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I, uh, caught her with her crossbows."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.

"She, uh, offered to suck my cock every night for a week," he confessed.

Dean nodded. "Ah."

"Why didn't you just have sex and be done with it?" I asked bluntly.

He shook his head. "Not compatible," he explained. "I wouldn't have been able to fit."

That, I could believe. "Ah," I agreed, in my turn.

"So has she been home since the incident?" Dean asked.

Naomi shook her head. Terry hesitated.

"Terry?" I asked him.

He ducked his head. "She came home the night after, to grab her crossbows. I happened to catch her in her room. She, uh, persuaded me not to tell Mom."

"Sucked you off again," Dean translated.

He nodded, colouring dark. "Yeah."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Terry, seriously. You should have told me. Why didn't you just say no?"

"If you were a guy, and your cock was being sucked by Sophia, you wouldn't be asking that," Terry mumbled.

"He has a point," Dean assured her.

She grimaced. "Okay," she agreed. "But is there anything else that you know about where she was going?"

He shrugged. "I followed her once. She met this girl in a back street, and they went back to the girl's place."

"See, I _told_ you she was having sex," Mrs Hess stated triumphantly.

"Would you be able to give us the address?" I asked.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I wrote it down."

Dean grinned. "Excellent," he told Terry. "That's our first break all day."

<><>

We met outside the address that Terry had given us. Aegis, Clockblocker and Vista had obviously made good time from Winslow; Clockblocker, like Aegis and Vista, was stripped down for action.

Glancing at Vista's expression of extreme self-satisfaction and the dried shiny streaks on her thighs, I burst out laughing.

"What?" she demanded, just as Dean began snickering as well.

"You three have been going at it, haven't you?" I asked. "Vista looks like the after picture in a sex aid commercial."

Missy blushed vividly; I couldn't see Dennis' face through the helmet, and Aegis' face refused to react.

"Maybe," observed the leader of the Wards, "but it's probably not a good idea to talk about having sex on the job. Piggot would ground us, hard. So, about this address?"

I cleared my throat. "Sophia's brother gave it to us. We've been observing. I think there's one person in there, probably not Sophia, asleep."

"Time to go in, then," he responded. "Vista, Kid Win, the back windows. Harmonic, with me. Gallant, Clockblocker, watch the exits in case she makes a run for it."

I nodded, and we waited for the others to get into position. Then I headed up the stairs with Aegis floating alongside.

The humming I was working on put a zone of silence around us; if the stairs creaked, no-one heard a thing. Nor did the door make a sound, even though it moved when I prodded it.

He entered the room first, slamming the door open and launching himself into the room. I followed more circumspectly, only to find that neither boldness nor caution was of need at the moment.

Sprawled on the bed, awkward in death, was a blonde girl, a little over five feet tall. Her features were distorted and swollen, but I figured she would have been cute, before the savage beating.

She was naked, and her body had been attacked, almost mutilated. Her small breasts had been savaged by someone with sharp nails, almost torn from her body. Other indignities had been inflicted upon her, but the cause of death, as far as I could tell without touching her, was the heavy bruising on her throat. Still without touching her, I held my hands over the bruises. They were caused by hands narrower than mine, but longer.

I met Aegis' eyes. "Sophia's got hands that shape."

"Fuck," he muttered. "We have to call this in, now. It looks like Shadow Stalker's not just a wanted criminal.

"She's a murderer."

Hannah sat astride Colin's lap, her only item of clothing being her sash, which was pushed up above her waist; he was wearing exactly nothing. Slowly, she rocked back and forth, his erection moving deep within her in a way that made her bite her lip. Colin held her hips and pulled her down on to him, suckling on her proud, outstanding nipples as her breasts bobbed before his eyes._

_Leaning down, she kissed him hard, then ground down on him even harder. He groaned as he penetrated her to his full length. "Gonna cum," he grunted._

_"Good," she breathed. "Me too."_

_Just then, his comm went off. He didn't pause in his caressing of her breasts as he grabbed it up. "Armsmaster."_

_" **Sir** ," reported Aegis. " **We followed up a lead on Shadow Stalker, and we just found a dead body. We're going to need forensics techs here, but I think she's responsible.** "_

_Above him, Hannah was doing something entirely too distracting with her hips; he could feel his climax fast approaching. "Alert PRT. Send request. I'll - **ungh** - okay it."_

_" **Thank you, sir. Are you all right?** "_

_"Personal time," grunted Armsmaster, propping the comm between his shoulder and ear so that he could grab Miss Militia's hips with both hands, and thrust hard up into her. She arched her back and groaned as he pumped his thick penis deep into her slippery wetness, over and over again._

_Aegis obviously recognised the popular term for 'I'm having sex right now'. " **Gotcha, sir. I'll get off the line.** " And he hung up._

_Letting the comm drop to the floor, Colin arched his back and drove his erection hard up into Hannah's soft, tight, wet vaginal passage; she cried out as she came again. Moments later, he felt his own climax begin, his cock spurting thick wads of hot semen deep into her pulsating womb. She raked his chest with her nails as he pumped his cum into her, rocking back and forth so as to get the very best sensations out of her own orgasmic blast._

_As he slumped back, panting, she eased off of him. His deflating penis slid out of her freshly-fucked pussy, and flopped to his thigh._

_"So what was that about?" she asked, as she strapped on her gunbelt again, and pulled her sash down so that it almost covered her ass and pussy._

_"Wards found a body," he told her, still catching his breath. "They think Shadow Stalker might be the perpetrator."_

_"Huh," she commented. Leaning in, she kissed him. "We're getting better, I think. That was better than last time."_

_He fondled her ass; she let him. "Well, it's good to have a close working relationship."_

_She smiled as she took her scarf from the table and tied it around her neck. "So, how close a working relationship do you have with the Director?"_

_He grunted. "We fuck every few months. She seems to enjoy it."_

_Pulling the scarf up so that it covered her mouth and nose, she nodded. "I'm not surprised. We're going to have to do this again soon."_

_He nodded. "It was good. But right now, I need you to brief the Protectorate and the Wards on Shadow Stalker. We need to bring her in, and soon."_

_Hannah nodded. "On it." Turning, she left the room._

_Almost before she was gone, Colin was concentrating on business again. Sex was all well and good, but maintaining a reputation as a serious superhero was a whole different ball game._

_**I need to talk to the Director about this ...** _

<><>

_Chris eyed Vista's butt as they made their way back to the base; the PRT forensic techs had taken over the crime scene, and Armsmaster had issued an order to return to base._

_He had to admit, he was getting more sex these days than he had for quite a while. Between Vista coming of Age, and Taylor joining the Wards - he recalled, oh so vividly, the threesome he'd had with Taylor and Vista - and the visit to the school, he'd rather gone up in the world._

_He'd had sex before, of course; even at home, he'd fooled around with his sisters, and his mom had shown him a few pointers about pleasing a woman, but taking Missy's virginity had been a special time for him. She had come to him on the day before her birthday, and asked him if he'd do it for her. She'd been naked at the time, of course, and he had agreed immediately. He suspected that if he had suggested doing it then and there, she would have immediately climbed into bed with him._

_But they'd waited, and her birthday was a fun day for her. The cake with the penis-shaped candle in the middle was a nice touch, and Dean had given her an adult vibrator to replace the trainer dildo that underage girls were allowed to buy. And then she had gotten up on the table and lain back with her legs spread, and each of the Wards had eaten her out, one after the other. She'd been climaxing even before Aegis finished on her, and by the time Chris got to her, she was a limp puddle on the table. So he had helped her up, and they had gone to her room._

_She had wanted to suck on his cock, although he was fairly sure that he would come with the slightest provocation. But she had been so sweet about it that he had let her do it. He'd come, of course, and she'd done her best to swallow all of his semen, although some did dribble on to her tiny, hard breasts, which made her more appealing than ever._

_Once she had fondled and sucked him back to full erection - with her naked in the bed with him, that didn't take long - he had lain back and invited her to get on top. They had matched Cards, of course - all the Wards had matched Cards with her, as part of the birthday celebrations. In fact, Miss Militia and Battery had made a point of coming by and matching Cards with her as well, just to show her that she was indeed a sexual adult now._

_Slowly, carefully, she had lowered her thoroughly-aroused vagina down on to his strainingly-erect penis. He had groaned as she had slid on to him, engulfing his teenage manhood. She had no hymen of course; her trainer dildo had taken care of that, long ago. He understood she had named it 'Dean'. Gallant apparently wasn't sure to be embarrassed or amused._

_He had reached up and caressed her small breasts, pinching her nipples gently. She had groaned, and slid down farther on to him, until she was fully impaled upon his shaft._

_Slowly, teasingly, she had begun to move up and down upon his penis. He had slid in and out of her, exciting them both more and more. Leaning down, while still bobbing her hips, she had kissed him; he had returned it, giving her tongue, as he had learned to do._

_After she came for the first time with a penis inside her, they had rolled over and he had begun to thrust into her with more and more assurance. She had clung to him, urging him on with broken cries. Harder and harder he stroked, louder and louder she cried out, until she came again, explosively. And again. And again._

_It took a little while for him to get to the point where he could cum, and in the meantime, she enjoyed herself immediately. She suggested doggy-style, which he found very kinky, and putting her ankles on his shoulders, which blew his mind with the depth that he could now penetrate her to. They finished off in that position; his penis deep within her, spurting his seed into her tender young womb, as she begged him not to stop, to keep doing what he was doing._

_That thundering orgasm had left them both shaken and spent; she had snuggled up with him for the rest of the night. In the morning, they had fucked again, once in the bed and once in the shower. Sex, she had agreed with him, was a great way to wake up._

_Since then, she had had sex with Dennis and Taylor, and the boys at the school. He'd had Taylor in every way that a boy can have a girl, as well as those sexy, insatiable teen girls at Winslow. But he still had feelings for Missy. Maybe it was because he'd had her cherry. That was a special time for the both of them._

_In the meantime, she carried a torch for Dean, despite the fact that Taylor was now with him. Still, they'd managed to work out a threesome agreement._

_**Oh well,** he decided. **Even if she won't be my girlfriend, we can still have sex. At least that's something.**_

_And in the meantime, he could watch her sexy little butt._

<><>

"Shadow Stalker is a Breaker 4, with a Stranger/Mover rating," announced Miss Militia. She wore a brief camouflage bikini top, and an extremely abbreviated camo-patterned skirt, under her flag-print sash. "She can attain an insubstantial state, while carrying equipment. Her chosen weapons are paired crossbows, with which she is quite accurate. She uses razor-tipped arrows, so do not get in the way of these, people."

Kid Win raised his hand. "I guess Aegis and I are taking point, then."

"Something to note," Miss Militia went on, nodding to show that she'd heard. "Her Breaker capabilities mean that if she drops or throws something while in her s

hadow state, it takes a measurable interval for it to become solid again. So yes, she can shoot through a brick wall to hit someone on the other side. Or, with even more precise timing, shoot you inside your own armour."

I raised my hand. Miss Militia nodded my way. "Yes?"

"Can she time it?" I asked. "Or does she have to stand off a certain distance to make sure it goes solid before it's gone right through?"

"You mean, can she make it hard before it penetrates too deeply?" quipped Clockblocker.

Everyone groaned.

_"Yes,_ Clockblocker, we got the sexual metaphor, thank you," Miss Militia replied, rolling her eyes. "And no, we don't know for a fact whether she can time the return of her arrows to a solid state, so be careful there too. Just try not to get in the line of fire. Aegis, we do not know the effect of an arrow materialising inside your brain, but it can't be good, so don't chance it."

_"Is_ she going to be shooting to kill?" asked Vista.

"She's already killed one innocent, and beaten another to the point that she's suffered permanent injury," Miss Militia pointed out. "Right now, she has nothing to lose."

"What are the rules of engagement?" asked Assault. "Contain, capture or kill?"

"Ideally, we're going for a capture," Miss Militia informed him. "Only if someone's life is in danger do we progress to lethal force. Am I understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Does she have any weaknesses that we know of?" asked Battery.

"None that we've been informed of," Miss Militia noted. "Guns don't really bother her, in her shadow state."

"How about fire?" asked Velocity.

"Or lasers?" added Kid Win, pulling out his pistol and putting it on the desk.

"We _don't know,"_ Miss Militia stressed. "They may have no effect. They may be instantly lethal. No-one's gotten close enough to her to find out her weaknesses."

I put my hand up again.

"Yes, Harmonic?" queried Miss Militia.

"One person has," I informed her. "Emma Barnes. The girl she kicked the, uh, beat up. They were best friends for over a year."

Everyone turned to stare at me. I flushed. "Well, it's true," I finished lamely.

"You're certain of this?" asked Miss Militia.

I nodded. "Absolutely certain." I took a deep breath. "I've only told Gallant this. I was bullied by them, up until I was recruited into the Wards."

"For eighteen months, more or less," Gallant added. I put my hand on his thigh and squeezed; a thank-you. He squeezed my butt in reply. On my other side, Vista put her hand on my leg. I put mine on hers.

"She could be an invaluable source of information into Shadow Stalker's methods and capabilities, then," Miss Militia observed.

I nodded. "She could. She's got guards on her?"

Miss Militia went very still. "Just standard police. We haven't informed them yet of Sophia Hess being a cape." She pulled a comm off of her gunbelt and hit a few buttons. "Excuse me."

Turning away, she started talking rapidly into the comm. I turned to Gallant, whose hand on my butt was getting very personal indeed. I couldn't say that I minded, or that Vista was easing her hand down between my thighs. I kissed him, then her, before Miss Militia turned back to us.

"PRT are on the way to the hospital now," she informed us crisply. "Gallant, you and Harmonic go there now as well. Vista, you can get them there fastest. Velocity, you go ahead and make sure nothing happens to Ms Barnes before the PRT arrives. Go!"

There was a whoosh of air, and Velocity was out of the room, the door banging shut behind him. I stood up, as did Gallant and Vista. I unzipped my costume, stepping out of it, until I was naked except for the goggles. Vista unhooked the tabs of her own costume, more substantial than mine, while I helped Gallant strip out of his. The sight of his naked body stirred feelings in me, but I tamped them down. _Superhero stuff now, fuck my gorgeous boyfriend later._

"Time to go to work," I told them. Vista took one hand, while Gallant took the other. Together, we ran from the room.

_Velocity ran through the streets of Brockton Bay. He wore just his mask and a pair of sturdy running shoes, the latter essential, given his personal powerset. As it was, he went through a pair a week._

_People so often got it wrong about him. They thought he sped himself up, moved faster. They couldn't figure how he could corner at three hundred miles per hour without having to take half the city to turn, or breaking an ankle. It wasn't as if his shoes had perfect traction, after all._

_What they failed to understand was that he didn't speed himself up. What he did was alter his own personal time rate. It might seem to be the same thing to the man on the street, but there was a very important distinction between the two. When he ran, the speed of his footsteps did not crack pavement; the pavement was experiencing time at the same rate that he was, so that it only experienced a footfall at the running rate of a normal man. On the downside, nor could he punch a man at three hundred miles an hour; to him and the man, it would feel as though he was moving at normal speed. He would just punch the man a lot before he could respond._

_He supposed that it was a good thing that he wasn't moving at half the speed of sound when he did hit something; he wasn't superhumanly durable, and punching someone at that speed would probably break every bone in his arm. Nor would the soles of his shoes last long at the impacts he would otherwise be subjecting them to. A blowout at several hundred miles per hour would be disastrous, to say the least._

_It was a little uncomfortable to run everywhere with his wherewithal hanging in the breeze; the constant flopping was kind of a problem. So he had invested in a snug little nylon pouch; it held his package firmly without clenching too tight or covering too much, and allowed him to run with ease. Occasionally, he found that it constricted certain blood vessels, which led to him running with an erection, but that was a small price to pay for the use of his powers. And once in a while, he found a grateful damsel no longer in distress who was willing to help him do something about it._

_It wasn't far to the hospital; he turned the corner and bolted down the street. Up the steps. Through the manual door, because it was such a pain waiting for electric-eye doors to catch up to his movement. The elevator was right out; he could read three novels, do a crossword and catch a short nap before the car reached the right floor. So he took the stairs._

_That was the other thing that people misunderstood about his powers. They thought that just because he was quick to them, that time passed quickly for him too._

_They were wrong._

_When he ran across the city, he ran at his speed. It might take him two minutes to cross Brockton Bay, but to him, it was an hour-long slog. When he did a lot of work in a short time, people saw the work had been done, but did not consider that he might have been bored to tears before it was halfway through; never mind that 'halfway through' was thirty seconds to the outside world._

_So yes, climbing stairs was a drag, too. But waiting in an elevator was a bigger drag; he could speed up his own time rate, but he could do nothing to speed up the actual mechanism._

_He was still musing on that, and thinking about how he might write up something for his own amusement, maybe research the unseen downsides of other powers and see if other people got as frustrated with their powers as he did, when he exited the stairwell._

_Slowing down as he went along the hallway, he stopped outside the door to Emma Barnes' hospital room._

_Looking down, he saw something that should most definitely not be there, in a hospital or anywhere else. A trickle of blood, just making its way under the door._

_He went to open the door._

_It was locked._

_Briefly, he considered going back to normal speed and making a report, but that would waste time. Time which Emma Barnes, if she was still alive, could not afford._

_He rattled the door handle again; yes, it was locked._

_Locked doors; the Achilles heel of a speedster, so to speak._

_He considered the problem, then looked around. Down the hallway, he spotted a solution._

_A candy-striper, young and quite pretty, was pushing a lunch cart along. It was metal, and probably quite heavy._

_A fraction of a second later, from her point of view, it was no longer in front of her; it had been whipped from her hands and was travelling at a frankly astonishing speed down the hallway. She began to open her mouth, to frame a question._

_By the time she uttered it, the action would be more or less over. Later, tucked into her bra, she would find a note with a phone number on it; Velocity was a man who didn't believe in wasting time._

_But for now, he was going to make use of physics._

_< ><>_

_It was true that he could not impact the door with all the inertia of an object travelling at several hundred miles an hour. But he could take something quite heavy, and impact it at a rather lower speed, but one that would overcome the door's natural inclination to stay closed. He trundled the cart up to the door, then backed up as far as he could go. Then he broke into a run, pushing the cart at the door._

_The first impact did not open the door, but he thought he saw damage. So he backed up and did it again._

_This time did the trick; the lock tore loose from the door, which banged open. Beyond, he saw, was a dead police officer, a ghastly wound in his throat. It had bled quite profusely._

_He let the lunch cart go as he stepped into the room; it rolled on, dropping out of his time-field, seeming to stop instantly._

_Velocity's interest was more to do with the girl lying in the hospital bed; several cords and lines attached her to various mechanisms and bags of fluid._

**_Is she even alive?_ **

_Stepping forward, he looked around warily. There seemed to be no-one in the room, apart from him and the girl in the bed. He glanced around; there was no-one in the tiny bathroom, and no-one behind the curtain. He even bent over to look under the bed. No-one there, either._

**_She must have lost her nerve, or realised that I was on my way._ **

_Taking a deep breath, he went back to normal speed; trying to feel someone's pulse at his accelerated time rate would be a waste of time. He'd be there for ten minutes before he felt anything._

_He felt something, all right. Just as he put his fingers to Emma's neck, there was a blaze of agony in his leg and he stumbled back, staring down at the crossbow arrow embedded in his thigh. As he fell on his butt, the tearing agony making it hard to concentrate on speeding up again, the naked girl rolled out from under the bed._

_**But I checked under there** , he told himself. **I**_ **checked** _**.** _

_Coming to her feet, Shadow Stalker levelled a crossbow at him. She looked at him, her gaze merciless, and he realised that whatever was behind her eyes, it wasn't really human any more._

_She squeezed the trigger; the arrow leaped out at him. Frantically, he called on his time-field, slowed time down, reached up to deflect the arrow before it could strike him, do more damage._

_But he didn't see the second crossbow come out from behind her back, not until it was too late. Even while all his focus was on catching the one arrow, the second was on its way._

_He knocked the arrow aside an instant before it would have punched into his chest, but even as he heard it clatter to the ground, the second one slammed into his shoulder._

**_She's too good at this._ **

**_Fuck._ **

_Her eyes were utterly expressionless as she began to reload her crossbows._

<><>

The three of us travelled across the rooftops as fast as Vista could move us; space compressed before us, and relaxed into its normal shape behind us.

"Which floor?" she asked as we got closer to the hospital.

"Fourth," answered Gallant. We looked up; there was a balcony there, perhaps for the patients to get a breath of fresh air. It was ideal.

"Hold on," she told us. Space twisted; the balcony leaped toward us. We scrambled over the rail, looked around. At the far end, an orderly had a nurse up against the wall. She wore suspenders and stockings; her panties were around one ankle, her short skirt around her waist.

"Excuse me," called Gallant.

The nurse, face flushed with passion, looked around at us. "What?" she gasped. Vista licked her lips as she watched the man's thick erection plunging into her. I had to admit, it was an arousing sight.

"Could you tell us where room four-thirty-four is?" asked Gallant.

The nurse clutched at the orderly. "To the right -" she gasped. "Oh god yes! To the right, halfway - oh god! - halfway down!"

Gallant nodded. "Thanks," he replied. Turning, he opened the door. I lingered, wanting to see more; Vista had to tug at my hand to remind me to follow.

Vista crunched space down the corridor; we travelled a hundred feet in a second. Suddenly, Gallant winced, and pointed. "There!" he snapped.

We were at the door in an instant; I was first through.

I saw Sophia Hess.

<><>

There was more in the room than her, but she was all I saw, right then. Slim, deadly, carrying two crossbows. Bolts tucked into holders strapped to her ankles and thighs. Pushing an arrow into one crossbow as I entered the room. She turned fast, aiming the crossbow.

"Give it up!" I shouted, starting the humming, as hard as I could, trying to confuse her critical faculties. If I could get her to surrender ...

She hesitated for a split second, then Gallant pushed into the room; he shot one of his emotion bolts into her.

Or rather, into her shadow form; as fast as he fired, she turned shadow just as fast. It barely seemed to faze her.

I changed the tone of my humming, trying to see if I could pick her up with my sonar effect.

I couldn't, but I could 'see' another person; half-turning, I looked.

Velocity sat on the floor, against the wall. An arrow stuck in his thigh, another in his shoulder. Blood pooled around him, the pool growing larger by the second.

If we didn't do something to help him soon, he would bleed out and die.

But if we took our attention away from Shadow Stalker, one of _us_ would certainly die.

_Fuck,_ I thought. _What do I do **now**?_