Ben stared at me as if he was waiting for the punchline. "Dude, office sex is amazing."
My head slapped into my palm. "Please tell me you aren't."
"Yes, sir. Mary and I had some fun before the lights were on this morning." He winked. "Just being a good employee, getting in super early. The tension of anyone finding out is the best. I'm telling you."
"Well, I'm not an exhibitionist, and you shouldn't tell me this. I'm her boss."
"Which is why you should know. I wouldn't want you to worry when she goes missing for a half an hour during the day." Ben said it like it was blatantly obvious, and I wanted to punch him.
The girls were coming back, and I didn't respond, worried Ben would keep going.
"Here, Stella, you can sit by me." I had positioned myself so that I could have Stella on the edge of the booth on my right and Ben on my left. They were two perfect buffers.
"Oh, I'll get out of the way. Rachel, take my spot." Ben completely betrayed me.
"So how'd you two meet?" Rachel picked up a conversation as soon as she sat down.
I thought about what that answer would be if I was honest and pictured describing trying to hunt down a supervillain considered extremely dangerous, and that I found her on the verge of blowing her brains out.
Luckily, I talked her down and mended her.
I nearly spit out my drink, picturing all of their reactions, and then realized Rachel was staring at me, trying to figure out why I was cracking up.
I quickly pulled it together.
"Through an acquaintance," I said. Kim was, in fact, an acquaintance.
"Those are always the best relationships," Stella threw in, trying to help.
"Ah, this is a first date for you two?" Rachel nudged, clearly wanting more information.
"Yes."
"No."
We said it at the same time.
Rachel chucked awkwardly and focused her attention on Stella. "Well, you should keep trying. This one is a tough nut to crack. The fact that you got him to take you out at all is huge."
Stella bobbed her head in full agreement. "He can be both very charming and quite grumpy."
"I am not grumpy."
Both girls nodded at each other, like I'd somehow proven their point.
Feeling a little claustrophobic, I decided to get up and get some air.
Giving Stella a polite nudge, she scooted her knees to the side, letting me squeeze my way out of the booth.
She went to come after me, but I gave her a look that let her know she should stay. The heartbreakingly sad look she gave me in return for abandoning her was intense.
"Bathroom," I quickly replied, wanting to give a reason that they could all understand.
Sure enough, she relaxed just slightly, although she still seemed like she might follow me as I left. But Rachel started chatting, drawing her attention, and I used the chance to head off.
Looking back, I watched for a moment to make sure Rachel was okay after touching her, but Stella wasn't draining her. I was proud of Stella for being able to control herself.
Stepping away from the table, I crossed the bar area to restrooms in the back.
Multiple girls turned their heads, following me as I walked past. More than a few checked out my ass as I passed, not even trying to be subtle about it. They were blatant and hungry stares, but I was used to it.
Looking around, the bouncer clearly had let other groups with large women into the club. It was closer to three to one, girls to guys. Many of the girls were in a group of other girls or by themselves.
"Hey there, good looking." A woman barred my path with a cocky grin. "Want to come with me and have a great time?"
She was a head shorter than me, but I could feel power rippling out of her. She was at least a B class super.
"Nope. Move." I brushed her arm aside, using just a twinge of kinetic force along my arm to overpower her.
She stumbled, stunned at my passing her, and I could feel the malice coming off of her.
If she tried anything, she'd be sorry. I wasn't going to use my powers openly in the bar, but there was a lot I could do more subtly.
I walked into the men's room, wondering if I'd shown Stella too much. She'd pieced a lot of my power together. Nobody else knew as much as she did, and she still didn't have the full picture.
Turning on the faucet, I filled my hands with water and splashed my face before grabbing a hand towel and scrubbing it like I was trying to get something off. I was a little extra forceful, even though there was only a bit of dirt from the day, taking my frustration out on my face.
I might have messed up helping Stella. It had gone much further than I'd intended. I'd gone there just to save the life of whatever dimwit would take the bounty, and I figured I could get close and pass on the message. But then she'd been so shriveled and pathetic looking. I'd broken the rules that had helped me stay hidden for so long.
I grumbled, wondering if I needed to do something horrible.
A small gurgle sounded, different from normal noises in the bathroom. It stopped me from going further down that train of thought.
Frowning, I looked around the bathroom for the source of the noise.
Gurgle. It came again.
I pinpointed that one to one of the stalls. Curiosity got the best of me. The door was open, and I stepped around the divider wall to see inside.
A green slimy hand shot up out of the toilet, followed by a second one that slapped on the edge of the seat.
Gurgle.
The toilet churned as a green humanoid figure pulled itself out of the toilet, dripping all over the stall.
"Fuck," I cursed, looking around the bathroom. Luckily, nobody else was around.
But standing before me was one of the bactimen that were all over the news. It rose to seven feet tall, an amorphous humanoid shape. Its slimy and not solid form kept dripping towards the floor.
I didn't have to worry about being seen and reacted.
Quickly, I wrapped a box of thermal energy around the bactiman, turning up the heat enough to simulate standing directly under the latest lunar spacecraft launch.
Instantly, the bactiman collapsed, turning into a dried mound of muck. The stall warped out from the heat and the tiles blackened.
I stared at it, making sure that it was truly dead.
I hadn't spent much time with non-human supers.
In this case, it was a string of bacteria that had gained enough ki to have a power, and then produced copies of itself. And then the more sentient, hive-mind bacteria had begun infecting the city, taking on more human forms.
Feeling good that the bactimen was dead, I scanned once more for any cameras. Feeling satisfied, I walked towards the sink to once again wash up.
As I turned the water back on, screams rang out from the other side of the bathroom door. I sighed, realizing the bactimen I'd taken down hadn't been alone.
I burst out of the bathroom as green bactimen pulled themselves over the bar, others coming out of the women's bathroom across the hall. They were coming out of everywhere and flooding the bar.
Luckily, there were other supers in the crowd. One woman seemed to have some sort of electrical power, blasting one of the bactimen with enough to fry an elephant, but it didn't even twitch.
Heat had worked, but apparently the electrical current wasn't enough. I remembered they had been becoming resistant to different powers.
I watched as another woman stood up on a table and blasted a bactiman with fire, and it seemed to be working for a moment before the sprinkler system went off and doused her to where her fire flickered out.
That was not good. This was where I'd normally bail and let one of the other high-powered supers take over, but I couldn't bail without my friends.
I turned and headed their way.
Darting across the room, I ducked as the B grade super from earlier hurled a table across the room, cutting three bactimen in half. I watched, curious about what would happen.
The bactimen's bodies shuttered for a moment, the top half leaning and sliding to the side before it re-solidified back into its original shape.
"Get back, pretty boy. The heroes will be coming soon," the B grade super told me, grabbing my collar and tossing me along the floor, sliding on the wet tile.
Using a little kinetic push, I slid all the way to my group.
"Guys, we need to get out of here."
"Zayn." Stella's eyes went wide, and a grin spread across her face. She grabbed me and pulled me behind their table. "We are holding out for the heroes."
I wanted to grumble something about how useless heroes were in the first place and yell at my friends for staying to observe them in what was clearly a dangerous situation.
Glancing around, I tried to make sure they stayed safe as the fighting continued around us.
I wondered which super Kim would send to deal with this. Many had already proven ineffective at doing much besides pushing them back. And then I remembered the bounty on Stella.
"Stella, you may be able to help with these," I tested the water, waiting to see what she'd say.
The bactimen were just bacteria suped up on ki. If she drained them of ki, they'd just collapse back to some random bacteria, or they may even die off.
"I can't." She shook her head. "My power…"
I grabbed her hand. It was the perfect answer. We could get rid of the threat before more supers showed up, and I wouldn't have to show my own powers.
"I got you." I made sure she could see my commitment to helping her in my eyes.
Her blue eyes swirled with power as they bore into my own. After a moment, she gave a firm nod. "Okay. I can do this."
I wasn't sure if she was saying it to me or herself, but it would have to do.