Courtney, the teenage runaway with a rebellious streak, had zero combat training to speak of. Strip away her powered equipment and she couldn't even match Kara— both girls were getting absolutely worked by Alex, crying and cursing in equal measure.
Thea clicked her tongue, leaving them to their scorching training session, and headed back out to continue shopping with Diana.
By the time the sun touched the horizon, the two of them had accumulated enough bags to stock a small boutique.
They were setting their haul down when two figures streaked across the sky overhead.
"Faster! Come on, faster!"
"You can't beat me!"
Supergirl and Stargirl — two teenage girls gone completely feral — tore through the evening sky like comets.
"Ha." Diana smiled warmly. "Looks like they've been cooped up too long."
Thea felt a small smile tug at her lips. Those little gremlins had spent the entire day getting their powers suppressed during drills. She couldn't really blame them.
The two women set down their shopping and headed for the hot spring. It was a completely private space — Thea had ringed the entire area with a magical ward that would blast any man who dared approach.
Without the flattering armor of their costumes, there was no hiding anything.
The competitive instinct between women — even among a gathering of righteous heroines — proved entirely immune to the call of justice. Most members of the Justice Girls had assembled in the steaming water, each pointedly staring straight ahead while their peripheral vision conducted a thorough survey of every other body in the pool.
Silently judging those shorter. Quietly envying those more generously gifted. The eternal, unspoken war between women.
Most heroines present had superhuman eyesight. In a space this small, if you wanted to look, you could see everything.
Through the drifting wisps of steam, one woman raised an arm with studied nonchalance; another tossed her hair with practiced casualness. Everyone was subtly angling to show off the beauty usually hidden beneath their battle suits.
Setting aside the three married members, every other heroine in that pool was a consummate warrior. The rhythm of strength and beauty ran deep in each of them — elegant curves, lines both supple and taut, none of the bulging muscle mass of their male counterparts. What the heroines embodied was something composed, graceful, effortless.
When Thea and Diana stepped in, a soft ripple of admiring murmurs spread through the water.
Diana was the tallest woman in the room. Years of combat had honed her body into something like a drawn bow — fierce, coiled, explosive.
Thea had the finest figure of anyone present. Striking features, with eyes that seemed to look straight through to the soul.
The divine portfolio of Art and Beauty was no empty title. Her artistry permeated everything, including her physical form — surpassing every other woman in pure balance. Not too heavy, not too light. Not too tall, not too short. Not too much, not too little. Even Diana, herself a goddess, came in a fraction behind when it came to sheer proportion.
The two goddesses found a private little pool in the corner, reclined in the warm water with eyes apparently half-closed — while conducting a furious gossip session over their private mental link.
"Barbara's waist is a little thick..."
"Starfire's eyes are green, but her figure is exactly like ours..."
"Hey — what do you think they're saying about us?"
"Obviously that Lady Thea is devastatingly gorgeous, of course!"
Thea was about to fire back when she caught the sound of approaching footsteps. She swiveled her neck toward the entrance before the first figure even appeared.
Half the pool did the exact same thing, with varying degrees of subtlety.
Supergirl, Stargirl, Miss Martian, Raven, and Cassandra tumbled in from outside — five semi-wild teenagers, immediately met with a wall of collective disdain from the assembled heroines.
Just a bunch of kids. The first thought in many minds.
Raven, slowed by her Trigon bloodline, had developed at a glacial pace — she still looked very much like a kid. Cassandra had trained so brutally and traveled so relentlessly with her mother that her development was similarly stunted.
Miss Martian was utterly shameless. Her figure was entirely average, but the moment she felt the room's collective gaze, she used shapeshifting to adjust her appearance and manufacture the illusion of a far more impressive silhouette. One withering look from her friends made her scratch her head and quietly revert.
Kara was the oldest of the group, and now that she had a job and spending money, she'd been eating with gleeful abandon. Her figure had filled out accordingly, little by little.
And yet she still couldn't beat Stargirl. Stargirl was three years younger, but she carried herself with surprising confidence. Wrapped in her conservative costume it was impossible to tell, but here in the hot spring — well. She looked a lot more grown-up than people expected.
The assembled heroines lost interest in the teenagers quickly and looked away.
Tired of having the entire pool's attention aimed their direction, Thea erected a privacy barrier around their corner — sound and sight completely blocked. No one outside could see or hear them, but they could observe everyone else.
The two women stretched out their legs side by side and compared.
"Your legs are still longer than mine," Thea said, a little chagrined.
Diana glanced at the barrier, feeling the flow of its magical weave. Even Zatanna couldn't eavesdrop through this.
She flicked Thea's hand off her own calf. "It's the only thing I have over you!"
Thea nipped lightly at her earlobe. "Who says? Your fingers are exceptionally strong too — unlike us delicate magical types, right?"
As she spoke, she drew one slender finger slowly across Diana's lips — then pressed gently past them. Finger and tongue tangled together, and both women's eyes went warm and hazy.
"You're not seriously thinking about doing this here, are you?" Diana wanted to speak, but Thea's finger was still in her mouth — she could only ask over the mental link, her voice carrying a note of hesitation.
Thea played innocent and kept going.
"Back to the room," Diana murmured. For once she wore the expression of a girl quietly pleading — which made Thea laugh.
Flushed with mischief, Diana tried to trigger a teleport back to their room — but her magical training was nowhere near Thea's level, and Thea simply snuffed out the spell with a pinch of her fingers, watching Diana with an amused half-smile.
Thea had no intention of anything scandalous in a public place. Diana embarrassed easily, and Thea herself wasn't quite that daring.
"We're just talking. I won't do anything..." she murmured, then let the tip of her tongue trail across Diana's delicate earlobe.
You little devil. Diana wanted to wrap Thea up in the Lasso six ways to Sunday and make her pay — but she knew she couldn't cause a scene.
Passive defense wasn't the Warrior Princess's style. Her tongue forced the intruding finger out of her mouth, and in one swift motion she grabbed Thea's shoulders, spun her a full hundred and eighty degrees, and pinned both arms firmly behind her back.
Diana looked extremely pleased with herself.
Thea found herself exactly where Diana intended — both goddesses' eyes swirling with warmth, lips meeting in a deep and tangled kiss, their long legs curled together like two entwined snakes.
Maybe a friendly match right here? The thought surfaced — and was immediately drowned by both of them at once.
Back to the room.
Just as Thea was about to trigger the teleport, gunfire erupted from the street outside.
"Hold on — ease up. There's trouble out there," she said quietly.
Diana didn't have X-ray vision, but she listened for a moment. Her adorable nose gave a snort. "Don't think you can trick me. It's just a few small fry — with this many heroes here, you don't need to lift a finger. I'll let you go tonight..."
Diana, you've gotten bad. Not that Thea was entirely opposed to the arrangement — it was actually somewhat thrilling.