Incandescent Guardians

by D. R. Rosier

  My brain was still stuck on step one, “You’re in love with Venus?”

  She giggled, “Hopelessly in love, smitten beyond all reason, just talking about her makes me tingle naughtily. I adore her, and I can’t help but constantly touch her when we’re out. She really is an amazing person like on the cameras. She only acts haughty toward other heroes, because she’s damned tired of being hit on all the time. It’s also a relief to tell you both, I hated lying.”

  I felt like I’d just been hit over the head and was thrown into the Twilight Zone.

  She sighed, “It’s why we act totally off the wall bitchy to each other when in our suits, it was the best way to hide it. All those dreamy looks we exchange in public are not an act, so we had to go the other way with it to disguise the truth. Sorry. The only thing I regret has been I couldn’t tell you the truth before. She really likes you, you know. She gets a kick out of the banter, and of course you keep me safe when I get in over my head. We laughed together long and hard about you dropping Steelfist and telling her to fetch.

  “Oh, one more thing, I am not vulnerable to her power, at least not when I don’t want to be. My shields work against her mind powers just fine. It was just an excuse, to minimize the time I spent around her.”

  I frowned, “I think it’s going to take time to get my head around this.”

  I looked over to Elegant Prodigy who had been unusually quiet, even for her.

  Elegant Prodigy said coldly, “He hated her, for you. He flirts playfully with you, but he cares for you a lot more than you think. Have you ever heard him ever refer to another woman as a bitch? That’s got to feel like a betrayal. Emotional blackmail in some twisted game.”

  Ouch. She wasn’t wrong. I got why Lady Lightning did it, but I felt used and dirty. I also felt guilty for all the dark thoughts I’d had about Venus the last two years, which was fucked up. Because she had been a bitch to me, even if it’d been a fun act and play from her side of the equation, it hadn’t been from mine.

  I had truly despised her as a person, unknowingly on her lover’s behalf. It was a mind fuck.

  The fact Elegant Prodigy was so angry on my behalf, was both hot and heartwarming, but it was also disturbing as hell because the three of us never fought. Not before that night, anyway. Tension sure, but never angry, reproachful, and hurtful words.

  Lady Lightning bit her lip guiltily, “I know. I care about him as well, more than I probably should. But, we were hiding everything, to be safe. To keep our families, ourselves, and each other safe. I couldn’t tell you sooner. It’s not like I enjoyed pulling one over on you both, I hated it, but I didn’t have a choice. Tell me you’d do any less, to keep your loved ones safe, to keep me safe, as I’ve kept you safe.

  “I wanted to come clean last night, once I knew who you were, I knew I had to tell you. Share the risk, and all that. But I had to convince Amanda first, because I just put her in danger too. I always trusted you two, and we need to make sure none of us are ever caught and questioned.”

  I nodded. I even got her point, but it was the difference between circumspectly keeping the truth and information from her, when she was actively lying and deceiving to hide the truth. It was two different things. I did feel betrayed.

  “We’ll figure it out, we always do.”

  Lady Lightning said, “I hope so. I hate to ask, but if you do run into her tonight on patrol, you have to keep it up.”

  I blew out a breath, “Right, because you never know when a camera is looking, a single smile of amusement could give it away in the wrong time and place.”

  Amber reached out and rubbed my back, she still looked pissed off.

  Elegant prodigy said, “We will.”

  She bit her lip, “Amanda also wanted me to invite you to dinner tomorrow night, at our place. So we could talk about it, and she could meet you both.”

  I frowned, “How would we explain that? Amanda doesn’t invite strangers to her house, and she’s out.”

  Lady Lightning said, “She’s schmoozing Amber Jackson for mad scientist gear, and you’re her rich yummy and interesting boyfriend and plus one, that goes into space,” she turned to Elegant Prodigy, “It’s even sort of the truth, she’d love to get some of those small suppression devices you use. You’d just have to make them not silver and no one would connect the dots that she’s using a vigilante as a supplier. The government cuffs are way too big to conveniently carry around.”

  I snorted, “They’d fit in her cleavage.”

  Damn, where had that snark come from. I was angry. Fortunately, Serina took it well.

  Lady Lightning giggled, “More than one of them, probably.”

  I needed time to process it all.

  “Wait, she already knows who we are?”

  Lady Lightning shook her head, “No, I made up that cover story part on my own. I wouldn’t do that, but I’m hoping you agree to tell her, and come to dinner tomorrow night. She already risked herself by agreeing with me telling you who I was, to make things even, and because she trusts my opinion of you both. She’s also the love of my life, but I’ll hide it from her if you say no.”

  “It seems like all our secrets our unravelling.”

  Elegant Prodigy replied, “They are, but just between us. And not because any of us couldn’t hold our tongues, it was just… coincidence, or providence. We already know Amanda can keep a secret. Still, I feel the same way, the information can’t go any farther than the four of us. We’ll also be there tomorrow night.”

  “We will?”

  She nodded, “You’ll want to meet Amanda too, when you’ve thought it through.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  She smiled, “Because she’s a big part of Serina’s life. And like it or not, we’re all in this together now.”

  “Alright, well go.”

  Lady Lightning raised her eyes, “I just have one question.”

  “What’s that?”

  She replied teasingly, “So, did you enjoy feeling me up with your telekinesis while you made that ridiculous light show?”

  I snorted, “It’s not the same as the sense of touch, but there was some pleasant feedback involved.”

  I gave Amber another guilty look, when I realized what I’d just said. It just came out, in my defense my mind and emotions were a bit… turbulent, from all I’d learned. To my surprise, she just looked amused, and possibly a little aroused.

  I cared about Lady Lightning very much, but I wasn’t all that sure I even liked her in that moment. I felt… used.

  She looked genuinely curious, and was only half-teasing as she asked, “What’s it like?”

  I frowned, “I get a sense of things I touch with my mind and telekinetic power. I can recognize the elements, and things like that from the feedback. The sensation behind it is different, a lot less intimate. At the same time, I know every curve, and just how soft and supple your skin is.”

  She grinned, and said with a breathy sigh, “So, you’ve been inside my body, I’d have thought I’d have felt something like that,” as she glanced down at my package.

  I snickered, “Evil woman, stop trying to flirt your way back into my good graces.”

  She giggled, “Is it working?”

  “It hasn’t hurt.”

  I’d have felt manipulated, if I couldn’t clearly see how much she really enjoyed our banter. I wasn’t going to tell her just how devasting her sexy body and playfulness was though.

  She smirked, as if reading my mind and knowing exactly what I was thinking, said out loud or not I had a feeling she really did know.

  “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Lady Lightning asked.

  “Yes, we’ll be there. I could teleport to her back door, try to keep it out of the news?”

  Elegant Prodigy said, “No. Come to my house and we’ll drive over in my car. We want to be seen.”

  “We do?” I asked, and it seemed like I was going to be asking that question a lot in the future.

  She nodded,
“If we become friends with Amanda, we’re bound to be caught spending time with her and Serina in our real identities at some point. The cover story Lady Lightning came up with is plausible, and it’ll show a natural development in full view of the press. If they catch us sneaking around, they’ll dig deeper hoping for a juicy story. But a mad scientist that supplies Venus with toys, with a famous rich man for putting up satellites and the new space station as a boyfriend, will go unremarked in their lives if we’re just open about it from step one.”

  Lady Lightning nodded, “That’s exactly what I was thinking, and why I came up with the cover story. Venus can even do an interview about it, making such lovely friends after a business deal. I really am sorry. You two have no idea how important you both are to me. So, can I tell her, or should I wait for tomorrow night?”

  I did have an idea, exactly how important we were to her, the whole thing wouldn’t bother me so much, if we weren’t that close.

  “You can tell her.”

  She nodded, “I’m heading in, we’ve been hiding up here long enough.”

  Elegant Prodigy said, “Good night.”

  Lady Lightning disappeared in a flash. Hopefully her target location was relatively dry, wherever she went my telekinesis didn’t reach that far which meant she wasn’t shielded from the rain. A moment later her comms went offline.

  Elegant Prodigy asked, “Are you alright?”

  I sighed, “I think so, just shocked. I’ll get over it. I still hate Venus, for being such a bitch to Lady Lightning, which is a mindfuck. I just can’t turn that off like a light switch.”

  Amber nodded, and changed the subject as she said, “You don’t need to give me guilty looks you know. I enjoy watching you two play together, so to speak. As long as you end up in my bed at the end of the night, and it’s me that takes care of your needs. It even turns me on a little bit, knowing your mine as you get her worked up.”

  I frowned, “I don’t know why I feel guilty. I know it doesn’t bother you, and it’s just flirty fun, part of our friendship.”

  She bit her lip, but she didn’t say anything.

  “What?”

  She said, “Are you sure you want to know, I see through you, remember. I explained earlier. I know my social awkwardness makes me seem clueless, but I see more than most which is the real problem. My sense of fashion doesn’t usually help either, but that too I explained I did on purpose.”

  I smirked, “Sounds better than self-examination, hit me with it.”

  She giggled, “Fine. It’s not playful, or not just that. You’re lying to yourself. You want her, and your banter with her excites you. Turns you on. You feel guilty because you care deeply for her, lust after her, and feel affection for her far more deeply than you want to admit.”

  Fuck. Was she right?

  I frowned, “And… that doesn’t bother you?”

  She shook her head, “No. It’s also why I was so surprised when you asked me out. She wants you just as much as you want her, but she’s taken too, and until tonight there was the secret to worry about. Even I don’t see everything, especially when it comes to me. I didn’t see your affection for me at all until that night, then it was blindingly obvious how you felt about me.”

  I shook my head, “So, it really doesn’t bother you?”

  She giggled, “No. I suppose you won’t let go of this until I tell you why? I’m not entirely sure myself, it turns me on, though I couldn’t say why, no more than I can explain my need for you to take control of my body when we express our affection. It’s more than that too, it’s natural. It’s normal.

  “Maybe not the flirting part, but you being attracted to other people even as we’re faithful to each other. Women don’t like their men flirting as a rule, and they get jealous of a man splitting their attentions that way.”

  I nodded when she paused to make sure I was with her so far.

  She continued, “For me, I’ve had to come to terms with that. Even when you don’t flirt playfully with her, I can see the shared affection and strong desire between you two as plain as day. That doesn’t mean you’ll act on it, or that you’d betray me. I see what most women don’t, so I had to figure out how to deal with it.”

  “So, you don’t mind us flirting, because it doesn’t make a difference to your perceptions of us?”

  She nodded and bit her lip, “Yes. Most good men focus on their dates and wives and don’t allow their eyes to wander, and for most women that would be good enough. That doesn’t mean they don’t all feel attraction and desire when they see another beautiful woman, they just hide it for their partner’s sake out of respect. In my case, that would never work, so I had to get over it and accept that natural and instinctual drive in men, or I’d spend all my days alone because of what I can’t fail to see.

  “It also helps that for some reason it turns me on. It makes it much easier to ignore the accompanying twinge of jealousy when it gets me hot too.”

  That had to be the most surreal conversation I’d ever been in. Not only was she comfortable with me flirting with Lady Lightning, but she didn’t mind the fact that I really wanted to fuck her brains out sometimes, and perhaps worse, that I cared deeply for her, as long as I didn’t actually do it. As long as I didn’t physically cheat with her and betray Amber and my relationship.

  It felt like a trap to my male brain, but I supposed I’d get used to it.

  “You’re kind of amazing, do you know that?”

  She raised an eyebrow, “Kind of?”

  I laughed, “And beguiling.”

  She smirked, “Kind of amazing, and beguiling? Or kind of amazing and beguiling?”

  “Adorable too. Should we patrol, or call it a night?” We could always come back out in an emergency, and patrolling empty streets just sounded silly.

  She replied, “That second one, give me a half hour?”

  I nodded, I needed a shower too. It was hot and humid out, not to mention the thunderstorm below our feet. I looked into her eyes.

  “Sounds good. I said kind of, because I wasn’t sure if the word really fit. I mean, perhaps astounding or miraculous, or maybe enthralling or captivating. I mean, amazing just really doesn’t cover it, you just assumed the kind of meant a lessening of you, when it was the opposite.”

  She snorted, “How about baloney and malarkey.”

  I laughed, then tried for faux offended, “I’m wounded.”

  She blushed, perhaps reading the truth in my eyes, behind the ridiculous banter, “Thirty minutes.”

  She bit her lip, and she looked like she might just climb me like a tree right there, in the sky, but she turned and flew off a moment later.

  Damn, she really was something. I’d laid it on a little thick, playfully, but in truth all of those words fell short and paled beside the way I was starting to see her and feel about her. It was all so damned fast, and my mind and emotions were still a bit muddled from all the revelations that night, but how far a leap was love from the admiration and affection I’d felt for her for a long time now?

  Not very far, it seemed.

  I teleported home to shower, and to get ready for our home dinner date and night.

  Chapter Eleven

  When I arrived, the perky golden blonde sexpot gave me a hug, and she joined Amber and I for dinner. Angel was like a happy whirlwind, and it was obvious to me she cared about Amber very much. She did have a full range of emotions, but it was clear she loved what she did, and was extremely happy where she was. It was also clear in hindsight why amber had built her a body, I couldn’t even imagine the vivaciously spirited Angel trapped in a non-moving computer, she was too vibrant to have survived that fate.

  Amber equally loved the woman she’d created, and it was more than obvious to me I’d be getting a sister-in-law out of the deal if my relationship to Amber went the distance.

  The food itself was fantastic, she’d made Cornish hens and a spicy potato dish, as well as asparagus spears in olive oil and spices. It was clear the
A.I. could become a chef if she had the inclination or desire to do so. It was also just as clear she’d taught herself how to cook to take care of her creator and best friend. I think my compliment over the meal had pleased Amber more than Angel.

  They were clearly very protective of each other.

  The three of us had a great time, and Angel somehow didn’t feel like a third wheel at all. At the same time, once dinner was done she poured us both a glass of wine, turned on some classical music over the house stereo system which had wall speakers in every room, and then shoed us off playfully but firmly to the living room while she stayed in the kitchen to clean up.

  The dynamic was interesting, because she clearly wanted to become friends with me, but also knew when to bow back gracefully and give us our space. Which was probably a good thing, because it seemed to me that Angel was the dominant personality in the house between the two. There were no doubts whatsoever she was a tier three A.I. and fully sentient, with her own desires.

  Amber said, “I’d been thinking we could go for a walk under the stars tonight, but that’ll have to wait for next time.”

  Yeah, the rain was still coming down, I could hear it pattering against the glass on the French doors, and the large windows.

  Still, had she forgotten who I was?

  I stood up with a daring grin, and I held out my hand.

  She took it, and when she stood up, we teleported to a beach I knew in South Carolina.

  Which… was being rained on too. I used telekinesis to keep us dry.

  She looked out wordlessly into the ocean, then up, before she broke down in giggles.

  “Maybe I should’ve checked the weather first?”

  We disappeared again, and appeared on the California coastline, on another beach. It was also two hours earlier, so of course it was light out.