Chapter 2

Issue 1.2

In the morning, Sandra woke in a strange bedroom, not entirely a first for her, but certainly an oddity; that she was alone in the bed was markedly stranger though. She climbed out of the bed, not surprised in the least that she was completely naked. She smiled almost sweetly as memories of last night/that morning flooded back.

The four of them had stayed up hours talking. She wasn’t surprised that Nico hadn’t made a serious move on her; his devotion to Stephanie was painfully clear. What was surprising though was that the redhead hadn’t made even a perfunctory invitation to join the two in bed. Oddly enough, nor had Doc, even though she could see the desire in his eyes.

Sandra opened her overnight bag and pulled out the travel sized deodorant. She made sure the trash went in the bin as she opened and then applied the gelatinous substance. She eyed her clothes. While she wasn’t very body shy, she’d already picked up on some sort of D/s vibe from Steph and Nico, and suspected that the clothes were a part of that. With a small sigh, she dressed in her bra, panties, a sleeveless midriff, and hot pants. She could smell something cooking as soon as she stepped into the hallway. A few steps took her past the bathroom door to the kitchen where Nico was grilling sandwiches on a griddle.

The young man looked over his shoulder and grinned, “Good morning, if just.”

Sandra looked at the clock and was surprised to find it was after eleven. “Good morning,” she said hesitantly. She’d expected to sleep a bit later than normal, but this was ridiculous. At his wave, she filled a coffee cup and sat down.

Stephanie walked in the backdoor a few minutes later and promptly stripped down to her half-cup bra. She walked into the kitchen one hip at a time and strutted over to the stove where she grabbed Nico’s ass, “Hey there.”

He chuckled as he leaned over and down to kiss the top of her head, “Hey there Beautiful. Go roust Doc then set the table, food’ll be ready shortly, Shorty.”

She matched his impudent grin even as she goosed him again.

Sandra watched the redhead leave and asked, “Is she like that all the time?”

“Yes and no,” the magician said. “Steph is very much the type who believes that life is meant to be enjoyed. That she’s a sex fiend simply means that much of that enjoyment is sexual but by no means is all of it.”

“Yup,” the young woman in question said as she walked back into the kitchen. “I like fucking for the sake of fucking but, and no I’m not talking about my ass, that’s just me. Too many people, including Mr. Grumpy here,” she squealed happily as her comment got her the expected swat on her ass, “take life entirely too seriously.” She opened a cupboard door and rolled onto her toes and grabbed several plates out; giving her ass a good shake in the process.

Sandra smiled as she watched the ... sex play? Foreplay? Whatever it was, the two were obviously enjoying themselves. She saw Alan walk/stumble out of the hallway and to the coffeemaker.

His motions were almost entirely mechanical. Despite what his body might have been claiming, his brain was still very much abed.

Sandra eyed the dark skinned young man as he moved to sit down at the table. Whilst he wasn’t fat per say, he wasn’t overly fit either, not like either Stephanie or Nico, though he did have pleasantly broad shoulders and the basics for what could be a truly yummy torso. “Good morning Alan,” she said in her perkiest chirp. She actually giggled at his grunted response. Apparently a Morning Person he was not.

After the sandwiches were served and the first round eaten, and Doc’s conscious mind finally putting in an appearance, Stephanie said, “So, what’s the plan for today Nico?”

“Dump Delving I’m afraid. Doc, you have a list of the parts you’re going to need?”

“Yeah mate, I do,” was the quick reply. His system always got jump started after his first cup of sludge, especially the way Nico brewed the stuff; tar the roof with the leftovers indeed!

“After that...” He suddenly remembered their guest, “Sorry, my mind got caught up...”

Sandra chuckled, “That’s perfectly fine Nico. You said you three were starting a business and it’s natural that it’s going to be foremost on your mind. I’m ... I’m ... I... ,” she quieted down as the world started to spin. She started to topple over in her chair but someone was suddenly beside her, holding her upright.

Nico slipped the filter from his vision as he looked at the brunette, “Are you alright?” The changes in her energy patterns were quick, very quick, but also impossible to miss.

“I think so,” the larger of the two women said. “My head’s spinning something fierce though.”

The magician sighed, “Have you drank any bottled water this morning?”

“Nope, nothing like that.”

“How about used any products that you opened today?”

“Well, yes,” she said after a moment. “I just opened a new thing of deodorant, but why’s that important?”

Stephanie barely had to see the look her man was about to give her before she said, “Got it.”

Nico smiled as he re-filtered his vision and watched his girl’s naked ass disappear down the hallway. “I hope I’m wrong, but I think you’re going to have a new set of problems to deal with.” Steph came back a moment later and handed him the deodorant pack and he sighed, “Yup, I was right. Did you catch the announcement yesterday about the Grey Industries debacle?”

“No... ,” came the tentative response.

“To make a long story very short; peoples unknown snuck a formula that Grey Industries was developing that would give people super powers into various consumer products, most notably bottled water. However, included were also other products, including some that can be applied topically, and I recognize the brand of deodorant from the announcement.”

Sandra worried her lower lip, “What’s that mean for me?”

Nico shrugged, “As much or as little as you want really. That you’ve gained powers is more or less a given at this stage. The questions that remain are what are your powers and what you intend to do with them?”

Sandra looked at the other three suspiciously, “Aren’t you three being a little blasé about this?”

It was Doc’s turn to shrug, “You aren’t the only one having to deal with this. All of us were changed by the formula as well.”

She looked at her three hosts, “None of you look different.”

Stephanie snorted, “The changes might not be obvious to begin with, but they’re there.”

Sandra blinked as she looked at each of the three for several seconds, “Alright, I’ll take your word for it.”

Nico looked over at his mate, “Doc, thoughts?”

The dark skinned young man frowned in deep concentration for several seconds before he started to nod slowly, “Perhaps. Sandra, I have a semi-personal question for you.”

“Alright...” was the hesitant answer.

“What is it in the world that you desire most?”

Sandra blinked at the odd question, “Huh?”

“Our experiences, along with popular literature, seem to indicate that powers will manifest in accordance with either our greatest desire or in-line with our own personal definitions of ourselves.”

Nico cleared his throat, “For example, Doc here thinks of himself as a genius, and he was; thus his powers made that brain of his even bigger, without inflating his ego,” the last part was added with a grin at his friend. “Stephanie loves attention and trust me, when her power’s active she’s pretty hard to miss.”

The redhead snorted, “You got that right buddy.”

“And as for myself,” he continued as though his girl hadn’t spoken, “well, let’s just say that it’s a reflection of my own urges and leave it at that.”

Sandra looked at her host for a second before deciding that then might not be the best time to press for details. She took a deep breath and in a very quiet voice said, “I guess, I guess it’d be safety and freedom.”

Nico’s eyes narrowed not merely at the words themselves, which would have been indicator enough that there was something nasty in her past, but also at the small, meek, rather traumatized way she’d said it. He cut his eyes to Doc and arched an eyebrow. He felt his guts churn when his mate nodded minutely.

The tiny sex fiend might have missed the men’s byplay, but she’d heard the same warning signs as her man and wrapped the larger woman in a hug.

Sandra stiffened slightly for a moment before she relaxed into the hug.

Alan let the two be for a moment before he cleared his throat, “As much as I hate to break up a beautiful moment between two beautiful women, we do need to get to work here.”

Stephanie reluctantly pulled away; Sandra’s boobs were pleasantly squishy against her own.

Alan nodded, “Aright, so, freedom and safety, I think I can work with those.” He frowned in concentration for several seconds before nodding. He leaned over and whispered something into Nico’s ear that neither of the girls could hear.

The magician arched an eyebrow at his friend then nodded slowly. He stood up and said, “Please stand up Sandra and come over here.”

The brunette woman stood up carefully and walked to the open space where her host(?) was standing and took his hands when he held them out.

Nico’s voice was low and slightly husky as he said, “Close your eyes for me darling.”

Almost despite herself, Sandra found herself relaxing, sinking into his voice.

The magician slowly lowered his voice as well as slowed down his speech as he said, “Be calm, relaxed. Let yourself go.”

Stephanie smiled, she’d seen Nico do his mesmerization routine before, but it always amazed her.

“Picture yourself, free, floating among the clouds,” he continued.

Sandra had quickly lost track of what was being said, lost entirely in the warm voice.

Nico smiled slightly as he said, “Now, open your eyes for me.”

Slowly, Sandra opened her eyes. To her immense surprise, she was actually looking over Nico’s head. “How’d that happen?”

The magician chuckled, “Look down.”

Doing so, she found that she was actually floating six inches off the floor. Regrettably, the surprise was enough to knock her out of the zone and she suddenly dropped. To her immense surprise, the sudden jolt didn’t actually hurt.

Nico grabbed her shoulders to make sure she stayed upright, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said as she straightened up, surprised at the lack of pain from her legs.

Alan nodded, “And that’s two.”

Sandra looked at her future boyfriend and cocked her head, “Huh?”

“Flight and durability,” the resident genius said with a nod of his head. “The only real question is if you got super strength to finish out the package.”

Sandra blinked, “Would you mind explaining how you ... all of that?”

Doc sat back in his chair, “The flight was easy enough. From time out of memory, human beings have sought to take to the air. For all practical intents and purposes, flight has been the personification of freedom; if you don’t like it there you can simply fly away and little can stop you. For the other two, it’s a case of your desire for safety. Toughness and durability are one half of the safety requirement, they keep you from harm. The other half of safety is, of course, offense. You aren’t the type to shoot lasers or anything else so ... gauche, thus any offensive powers you might have will likely be more subtle, unlike Stephanie,” the last part was added with a grin at the redhead.

The tiny sex fiend looked at Doc for a second before she resorted to the ultimate retort to any situation, able to trump logic or eloquence ... for a five year old. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Sandra couldn’t help but snicker.

Nico winced slightly as he held his arms out to the side, “Try lifting me. Don’t strain yourself though; and please, be careful.”

The tall young woman carefully gripped the magician under the arms and bent her knees.

Nico wasn’t overly surprised when his feet left the ground; Doc was usually right, and that was before the new upgrade.

Sandra was only able to hold it for a few seconds before she lowered him to the ground.

Doc nodded, “And that’s the Flying Brick package.”

Sandra snorted, “Flying Brick?”

The genius shrugged, “I’m something of a comic book geek, sue me.”

Nico and her retook their seats. She looked at the other three for a second before she said, “I hate to do this, but I need to ask you three a question. Is there a reason you didn’t try to fuck me last night?”

Nico smiled slightly, “You’d just come off of what had to be a very traumatic experience. From my perspective, it’d have been the same as if I’d roofied you myself and Doc’s so much of a gentleman, as well as being a gentle man, that he’s even less likely to take advantage of someone like that.”

Alan swallowed slightly at the ... interested look Sandra gave him.

Nico chuckled slightly at Doc’s ever-so-slightly panicked look. “Alright folks, it’s almost noon so we need to get to work. Steph, given that it’s Friday, I presume you’re going in tonight?”

“Yeah, rent covered or not, a grand’s still a grand.”

Sandra blinked, “You can make that much in a night?”

The redhead shrugged, “Friday or Saturday, yeah, if the crowd’s any good. The rest of the time, I count it as a win if I clear two hundred.”

The larger woman blinked again, “Okay ... I made about a hundred last night...”

“So about average, a bit above for a newbie. We can pair up for a few shows tonight and really rake in the dough. Split down the middle of course.”

Sandra frowned, “I’m not sure I could take the money, most of it would be because of you.”

Nico frowned for a moment before he locked eyes with his girl. He arched an eyebrow and cocked his head ever-so-slightly towards the other woman.

Stephanie’s eyes widened slightly and she drew in a sharp breath. Nico wasn’t usually the type to act this quickly, but he was usually right. She nodded her head.

The magician turned his attention to Doc who nodded more surely. With that, he looked at the thoroughly confused Sandra, “I might have a different option available.”

Sandra had caught the byplay, but had absolutely no idea what was in the works, “Alright...”

“This house has three bedrooms. One Stephanie and I share. The second belongs to Doc. The third we’ve used as a guest room. It’s yours if you want it.”

Sandra blinked as the words worked their way through her brain, “What ... Why?”

Nico shrugged, “You’re smart, you’re interesting, and you’ve got at least as vested an interest in keeping things quiet as we do. Of course, this in an invitation all the way in; house, business, everything. A full partnership between the four of us.”

Sandra was literally slack jawed as she looked at the three. Nico of course impassive, like he already knew the answer and was simply waiting for her to agree. Stephanie was smiling at her encouragingly. While Doc was trying not to appear too hopeful. “Alright, what’re the requirements?”

“The basics you’d imagine,” Nico said. “Chip in on the monthly rent, for so long as it’s needed, which includes utilities; contribute to the household grocery fund; and join our Super Team when we finally debut.”

The brunette woman had been nodding along, the expectations were about what she’d guessed, until the last one, “Super Team?”

“Of course,” the magician said with a smile. “All of our powers are reasonably combat oriented. You’re a flying brick, I think movies have demonstrated what a good inventor can do, Steph’s well ... she can show you later, and I should be able to hand the ranged support role rather well.”

Sandra arched an eyebrow, “That’s at least the second time you’ve alluded to Stephanie’s power without going into details. Would it be that time consuming to tell me what they are?”

Nico frowned for a moment before he turned to his girl, “Whacha say Gorgeous, what to give the lovely lady a demonstration?”

The redhead smiled brightly as she stood up and gleefully removed her bra (despite being needed she still detested the damn thing). She closed her eyes and took a deep breath (making sure to give her tits a slight shake as she did so) before she brought the other her, the new her to the forefront of her mind.

Sandra watched her new friend focus for several seconds before the other woman started changing. The fire engine red scales were the first thing she noticed, and then the other woman started to grow.

Nico had a small grin on his face as he watched Sandra take in Stephanie’s changes.

“Is that a...”

Alan nodded, “We aren’t sure if she’s a dinosaur or a dragon yet. We haven’t had the opportunity to test if she’s got any sort of breath weapon that dragons are reputed to.”

Nico nodded, “Alright Steph, change back please.” When she whined, he simply gave her a stern look.

Stephanie growled at her man for a second and stuck her preternaturally long tongue out at him before she closed her eyes and changed back. She gave him a cute pout even as she slipped her bra back on.

“We can get to that later my dear,” the magician said. “For now, it’s past noon, Stephanie prefers to go in around eight and get in a nap before that. Sandra, I presume you’d like to go back to your place and get at least a change of clothes for tonight?”

The brunette looked at Alan for a second and slowly, deliberately, licked her lips, “How about instead, I borrow Alan here and we can get me moved today. I’m paying week-to-week so there’re no issues there.”

“Regrettably, I need Doc,” Nico said, “but I can offer you Steph if you’d like.”

The redhead gave the other woman a long look and said, “I’d be happy to help you out,” in a tone that made it painfully clear that she was talking about more than just moving. “However,” she said turning her attention to Nico, “I would like at least a quickie before that...”

“No can do I’m afraid, Doc and are already running late if we’re going to get to the scrap yard and salvage what we can before Monday.”

Stephanie groaned, “But you haven’t fucked me in two days.” She looked at Sandra, “Nothing against you, but sometimes I need a hard cock fucking me.”

Sandra could feel her cheeks heating slightly as she said, “No worries.”

Nico frowned for a few seconds before nodding firmly, “Alright Steph, here’s the deal, be good today, and through tomorrow, and Sunday, I’ll make chili for supper.”

Sandra was more than a little confused as she saw that not only did Stephanie perk up more than could be explained by the promise of a favorite meal, but Alan winced ever-so-slightly.

“Now, go get dressed.”

Both Stephanie and Doc quickly got up and left the room. Sandra looked at her new partner, “What was that about?”

Nico’s face shut down as he said, “You don’t want to know.”

“I don’t want to know or you don’t want to tell me?”

He sighed, “More that I’m concerned about alienating you. As you might have guessed, Steph’s tastes tend to run to the extremes.”

She snorted, “Trust me, whatever you two do, it can’t be much worse than what I’ve had to put up with. Besides, she very obviously loves it and I’m guessing you don’t mind either.”

He sighed, “I rather enjoy it, which is what tends to be the off-putting part for others.”

Sandra nodded, “So noted. Now, please, just quit dancing around the matter.”

With a minor wince he said, “Chili will almost always give me a nasty case of gas. When that happens, Stephanie delights in giving me a rim job.”

She blinked, “So you’re...”

Nico nodded, “Farting either into her face or directly down her throat, yes. Stephanie’s a hardcore ... something. I’m somewhat torn betwixt ‘masochist’ and ‘submissive’ honestly even though neither one really encompasses her desires.”

Sandra nodded slowly, “Alright, not what I expected. Unusual, but again, you both like it so who am I to say anything.”

“I’d go with hardcore slut,” came a chirpy voice from the hallway as Stephanie almost bounced into the kitchen.

&*&

Several hours later, Nico was watching Doc assemble a contraption that was likely going to make them a lot of money. “So, just to make sure I’m straight on this: you feed plants rich in oils into that thing, it chemically processes out the oils, ejects the refuse, and then processes the oils into industrial grade plastics?”

“Essentially, correct,” the other man said. “The refuse won’t be contaminated and thus can be reprocessed into fertilizer or animal feed, or even human foodstuffs if you’re willing to ignore the tastes.”

“Which will cut into the company’s overhead even further,” Nico said with a nod. “Given I’d rather not have my brains running out of my ears, I won’t ask for the details, but you may have to provide them to more knowledgeable types than me.”

Alan winced, he hated hearing his friend disparage himself like that, but he could at least understand, “Don’t sell yourself short man. You might not have the book learning, but you’ve got the street smarts to get this operation off the ground.”

“No,” Nico said with a small smile, “I just know who to talk to in order to do so.”

“Either way,” he said closing up the thing, “this is done. At least until we can get the materials needed to test it.”

“How much do you need?”

“It’ll vary by the type of organic matter used. The richer the base material is in oils, the less that will be required.”

“Will a pound of peanuts work?”

Alan blinked as he looked over at Nico, “And this, my friend, is why I don’t like to hear you talk bad about yourself. I was thinking about more conventional substances, but you’re right. It’ll likely take more than a pound, but yes, for an initial test run, that should suffice.”

“Alright, I’ll stop by the store tonight and pick up a couple of pounds worth on my way to pick up Stephanie and Sandra.”

The super genius nodded, not even bothering to point out that Sandra had driven them both to Omar’s. Despite everything, his friend was seriously overprotective of Stephanie; it was more than mildly reassuring in a way.

“So,” Nico said, “what’s next on the agenda?”

“An inventory I think. I’ve got an idea for a new type of solar panel that should be at least twice as efficient as a current model while costing roughly a quarter to produce. I’d like to get started on a cold fusion reactor, but you’ve been indicating we may be relocating soon and I don’t want to try and relocate that thing once it’s up and running. Besides, it’d involve a not insubstantial amount of re-wiring to hook the house to take it off the grid. Excessive electricity usage is already a red flag for the authorities and a few of the ideas I’ve got would require a serious amount of energy to run.”

“Ignoring the difficulties in moving an active reactor for the moment, could you just hook your projects into the thing? Too much energy usage would alert the authorities quickly, but no energy usage in an occupied residence would be just as suspicious in the fullness of time.”

The dark skinned teen blinked, “And once more you remind me of just why we work so well together. You keep it real.”

Nico snorted, “Man, you’re a genius, please don’t try talking like a hoodrat; you can’t pull it off.”

Doc chuckled, “Maybe, but my point stands. You’re a practicing pragmatist which I need, more often than I’d like to admit, honestly.”

The swarthy skinned teen nodded, “Point. So what do you need to make the solar panel?”

With that, Alan started making two lists of materials. The first was what would be ideal for the projects and what would work for a one-off demonstrator.

&*&

Nico was ready to curse his paranoia as he drove to Omar’s. He had a smart phone and could have used it to look up the materials that Doc wanted, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it; he didn’t want anything directly leading back to them. Instead, he was going to get up at Oh-Dark Early tomorrow and go to the local library and use their internet to do price checks.

He frowned when a car followed him into Omar’s a few seconds after he pulled in. Paranoid he might be, but he’d been followed into the store as well, albeit by a different car. He got out and very deliberately didn’t look in the direction of the car as he took a moment to stretch. When no one got out, he mentally nodded to himself, “Yup, something’s up.” He casually walked towards the entrance, his hand near the hilt of his dagger, and his instincts ready to dive for cover at the first sign of trouble; to his relief there was none. “Hey Bruce,” he nodded to the bouncer, “there’s a suspicious car that followed me into the lot; C16. Keep an eye on it please.”

The big man nodded and walked off to talk to the security office.

&*&

The nice thing about being in Lansing was that the libraries tended to have user friendly hours.

In the daylight, Nico had a much easier time spotting his tail. He parked in the parking garage kitty-corner from the downtown library branch. He was hyper-aware of his surroundings as he left the parking garage despite a very carefully constructed façade of nonchalance.

An hour later, he had annotated Doc’s list and the Ideal List was marked firmly as “Hell No!” regrettably. The Acceptable List was within their means, if just. He sighed, “Steph’s going to be working her ass off if we’re going to afford some of this stuff. Sandra too probably.”

The drive back to the house was nice and relaxing, “Got to love Saturday morning traffic,” he thought to himself. He was mildly curious as to why his tail abandoned him roughly five blocks from the house. He got his answer when he pulled into the drive and saw the van from McPhearson Plumbing in the drive of the house across from theirs. He snorted, “These idiots really need to do their homework. Old Man McPhearson shut things down over a month ago and left for Florida last week.” Deciding he’d had enough of this game, he walked into the house and carefully slipped out the back.

&*&

James Buchanan was in the process of installing the new equipment when he wondered where his partner was. The kid should already have brought in the new load of monitoring gear. He walked towards the kitchen and just before he got to the door leading to the kitchen, there was suddenly someone in front of him. Someone holding a knife in a disturbingly competent fashion. Someone who was looking at him through eyes that reminded him entirely too much of a rattlesnakes. He swallowed slightly as he recognized the subject they were supposed to covertly watch.

Nico held the point of his dagger a few inches from the other man’s throat, “I don’t know who you idiots are but I hope you have a damned good excuse for following me.” The ‘or else’ went unspoken, but very clearly heard.

Jimmy cleared his throat and slowly moved his right hand towards...

“Uh, uh, uh, hold it right there,” Nico said. “I’m within sixteen feet mate. Do you really think you can get that piece drawn and aimed before I open your throat like a letter? For both our sakes, what say you put your hands on the top of your head? Good boy.”

Jimmy sighed, “We’re with the MSP.”

Nico blinked, of all the possible answers, he’d never even considered that one. However... “I presume you have proof of this?”

“My badge and ID are in my right hip pocket.”

“Right under you holster. Right. Assume the position if you would.”

The older man sighed as he turned around and put his hands against the wall well above his head. He heard what might have been a sound behind him before he heard the young man sigh.

He thought, “DAMNATION!” Nico sighed, “Alright, you can turn around now.”

Buchanan blinked as he turned around, the knife was nowhere in sight. He took the extended wallet and slipped it back into his pocket.

“Sorry about that,” the teen said with an apologetic smile.

“I hate to ask, but where’s my partner?”

“Unconscious, I got him with a sleeper’s,” Nico said with a shrug. “I knew you two weren’t what you appeared and frankly...”

“Forgiveness is easy to get if you’ve got a good excuse. Just for my information, how’d you make us?”

“Old Man McPherson left the state last week and he’d shut down business weeks before that.” He shrugged, “And I noticed that I’ve been followed for the last two days.”

Trooper Buchanan was already dreading the report he was going to have to write. There was no way he could spin this into anything less than a complete and utter fuckup. “How’d you get the drop on Jack?”

“The same way I got through the door without making any noise. I’m a magician by trade. Not being noticed is part of the trade. Now, why were you folks surveilling me?”