Stella stood up and stepped around the table, now brimming with confidence. My support seemed to have made the difference to her.
Ben and Rachel tried to call out to stop her, but I gave them a look to let them know she'd be okay.
Stella was one of the few standing and not cowering under a table, so she quickly caught the notice of one of the bactimen.
It flung its sticky green goop body at her, neglecting to even reach, just letting its body to the work.
Stella put her hands forward so that they were the first things to touch as the bactimen came at her. Her hands sunk into its chest.
Watching with my abilities, I saw what happened next, though others wouldn't.
The ki throughout the bactiman was ripped out and drained into Stella.
It took a moment, but the bactiman fell apart, turning into simple slime on the floor.
It was dead; the bacteria had collapsed without ki sustaining them. They were reliant on ki to survive, which meant that Stella could take them all out.
A bactiman exploded nearby as a caped super flew into the club.
"Fear not, citizens. Dynama is on the scene!" the super shouted before she punched another bactiman.
There was a muffled boom before that bactiman exploded as well, and Dynama jumped off the floor to tackle another one.
Despite the impressive power behind her attacks, the splatter of bactimen was still alive.
I watched as it dribbled across the floor back towards the other pieces of itself and then started oozing towards the dance floor.
The dancers had created a ring, trying to defend themselves.
Gurgle.
A spec of splatter near me made a series of bubbles as it rolled on after the rest.
"Stella, you need to help her. She's only slowing them," I urged her.
Stella was flexing her hands. I noticed that they looked a little red from where they had been in the bactimen.
"I got it. You stay safe." Stella winked at me, clearly enjoying that I had to play dumb with my powers as she launched herself across the dance floor, taking out another bactiman by draining it of power.
"Zayn, is your date a hero?" Rachel asked with wide eyes.
A genuine smile crossed my lips. "Nope. Not even close."
She was technically a villain, and seeing her do more good than the present hero brought a smile to my face.
Even a villain could help people more than a hero.
I couldn't wait to point that out to Kim if I saw her again, although I was hoping our interactions were done.
I cringed as I watched a wave of scattered bactimen rise above the crowd on the dance floor and crash over them.
The slime rose up from the dance floor, forming into one massive bactiman.
The group that had been on the dance floor was floating in its torso, screaming as they clutched their arms and stomachs, their bodies dissolving before our eyes.
The massive bactiman was digesting them right then and there. It was a gruesome scene to watch.
Dynama jumped into action, throwing another one of her explosive packed punches.
But the large bactiman ripped a pillar from the stage and caught her in the side, sending the hero flying through the divider wall.
Dynama's body blew right through the wall, continuing until she had shattered dozens of bottles of liquor on the back wall behind the bar.
The shelves collapsed, and more sounds of glass breaking caused us all to look, waiting with bated breath to see if she'd crawl back up from behind the bar for another round.
But Dynama didn't show herself again.
Meanwhile, Stella had finished off a few more of the lone bactimen before the large one paid a little closer attention to her, swinging for the fences once again.
"Stella!" I shouted, hoping to warn her.
But she didn't move, except to raise her hand.
The large bactiman's pillar came to a dead stop.
Stella had her fingers sunken into the pillar, then she tore it out of the bactiman's hand and tossed it on the ground.
Strutting forward, looking hot as hell, a pair of red bat wings fanned out from Stella's back, and she jumped, giving her wings a few flaps before she landed on the large bactiman, her head brushing the metal rafters.
The bactiman tried to grab at her, but she kept herself stable above it as she sunk her hands into its neck. Ki drained out of it, the edges of the bactiman sloughing off as the bacteria collapsed and died.
Bactimen were actually pretty low on density of organic mass, which meant they were also pretty light on ki.
She drained the massive bactiman quickly. Its mass continued to fall off, making it shrink until it was just a pile of slime on the dance floor with a number of dancers curled up in the fetal position, their bodies covered in slime and skin worn.
A few coughed slime out of their lungs as the crowd swarmed in to help.
I grabbed my group now that the coast was clear. "We need to get out of here. More might be coming."
We ducked out from under the table, a cheer going up around us as everybody focused on Stella.
She stood victorious among the mess.
But despite all the eyes, she was only focused on one thing, and that was me. She bit her lip, clearly wanting me to be proud of her.
Sighing, and knowing I was digging myself into a deeper hole, I gave her a thumbs up.
Her face lit up as she did a little happy dance, bounding her way over to us.
The second she got close, I pulled her in and quickly wove our group through the crowd and out of the club.
Emergency vehicles were lining up outside.
"Sir. What's the situation?" An officer grabbed me roughly by my shirt.
Stella got in his way instantly, lifting him up off the ground, anger painting her face. "Hands off. The bactimen are gone, but there are a lot of hurt people."
The cop looked scared. He wasn't even a C class super. Stella's power was so far beyond him; he looked like he might pee himself.
"Come on. Let's go." I pulled her off the cop and was thankful when he didn't pursue us. Instead, his partner grabbed him and led the rest of the emergency services down into the club.
"Did you see that?" Mary gawked at Stella. "You are so fucking badass."
"It wasn't much. Without Zayn, I wouldn't be able to do what I did." She blushed, and the wings disappeared.
"Yeah, without Zayn." Mary gave me a conspiratorial wink.
I wasn't sure how they were interpreting it, but it seemed to be off from the truth, so I didn't care much. At least my secret was safe.
"I think this is enough for me tonight," I apologized to the girls and Ben. "We're going to head home."