Stella was lying on the kitchen table, kicking her legs in the air as she listened to Mona recount our time together. Mona was still riding the high of the three orgasms, and my legs were slightly jelly.
Melody and Angelina had also made their way down to the kitchen, showing varying levels of concern for Mona, the broken fridge, and the otherwise immaculately clean house.
None of them even batted an eye at the primary Obsidian, who was still sitting in the kitchen. Two had disappeared sometime during the second round with Mona.
"So, are you officially on team Miles?" Angelina asked the primary Obsidian as she began pouring pancakes onto a griddle.
Stella sat up abruptly at the sound, immediately walking over and pouring herself a small bowl of syrup to house the pancakes.
"It is safe to say that Miles and I have reached an agreement. But he has yet to... bend me completely. I think I'm on 'team Miles', but I am certainly not going to be working as a hero."
"Yet," I said with a smile. "You'll be seeking my approval when you do it soon."
She raised a dark, manicured eyebrow. "I do hope you can back that up." Her eyes wandered to Mona. "It seems you are capable of it."
"Master is capable of anything," Stella cheered with a mouth full of pancakes.
"Except making time for therapy.” Angelina glared over the griddle.
I held up my hands in defeat. “Tonight, for sure.”
“Miles. Look at this.” Melody thrust her phone in my face so close that I had to lean back to see it. It looked like somebody had died in an alley in Mountain City.
I stared at it for a moment before I realized it was the kid the prophets said would change Angel.
"Interesting.” I had to assume there was a broader plan, but it still was disconcerting that the kid the prophets liked had to die.
"It says that he was brutally killed in an alley," Melody continued, her brow pressing down in disgust. “Heart ripped out of his chest.”
"We should keep an eye on news about Angel for the next few days. I’m curious whether we’ll see a difference," I replied, clearly not hitting the exact reaction Melody was looking for me to have.
I had to admit that I was curious what the full story was, but I didn’t have time to fly off to Mountain City and see for myself. Nor did I really care. If this changed Angel, then it was their problem, not mine.
"Bastard," Stella snorted. "Hope someone plucks his wings."
She stabbed the remaining bite of pancake aggressively with her fork. Stella’s view on Angel had deteriorated even further it had been since the battle.
But before she could say anything else, the doorbell rang.
"More of your clones?" I asked the main Obsidian.
"Pretty sure it isn't any of them," she replied, turning to see down the hall. The main Obsidian was in the best position to see the front door. "Looks like a few gruff girls."
I paused, curious. I wondered who would send a couple of gruff girls to a house with so many supers. They would have to be absolute idiots.
I got up and went to the door. I opened it, noting a truck in front of the house with a crane and winch on the back. The decal on the side of it read 'Super Recovery Services.'
"How can I help you?" I asked automatically as the three big, gruff women came into view.
The front one was purple-skinned, with one side of her green hair shaved down to her scalp.
"Mona here?" She sneered.
"What do you want with Mona?" I realized what was happening, though I figured Mona should handle it herself.
The purple woman clicked her tongue and stepped through the door, brushing me aside. "Where's your girl? We need to talk to whoever is in charge. Looks like Mona moved up and didn't pay her dues."
"Miles?" Mona came around the corner in her maid outfit and saw the three repo women. "Shit."
Purple laughed. "You don't get out of your debts that quickly. You missed your payment."
"No, I didn't. I paid the agreed-upon minimum." Mona crossed her arms.
I nearly facepalmed that, on her salary, she could only afford to pay the minimum payment. Having seen how she was living, she clearly wasn’t putting the money anywhere else. I didn’t want to think about how large the debt had grown.
“You didn’t read the full contract. If you have a life-changing event, we get to reassess the minimum. Sorry, toots. Now that you are in a house like this, the minimum just went up." Purple laughed, and I grew angry.
The house shook as Stella stomped out of the kitchen, making little foot-sized holes in the floor.
"You chuckle fucks just barged into the wrong home." She paused for one moment, looking to me for my reaction.
I did nothing, keeping my face blank.
Purple just stood and laughed at Stella. She clearly was using the fact that she towered three feet above her as an indication that she’d win in an all-out fight.
One woman behind her tugged on Purple's shoulder urgently. "Boss. I recognize her."
I glanced over, noting the fury on Stella’s face and taking a step back. Stella and Mona had been bonding, and Stella defending her would be another good chance to build up their relationship. They each had been isolated in life and had traveled a tough road. They had a decent amount in common.
Purple turned slightly to look at her partner for just a moment.
In the next moment, the air shuddered, and the entry of the house shattered. Purple was no longer standing in our entry hall.
Instead, Stella had made an enormous hole where the front door used to be with Purple's body as it bounced across the lawn.
"I'm so sorry. We didn't know." The other two repo women held their hands up while backing out of my destroyed front door.
"Doesn't fucking matter. You disrespected Miles and came to bully Mona." Stella marched out past them and pointedly ignored Purple, who was groaning and wobbling in a failed attempt to get up.
Stella marched up to the truck in the drive, and turned to the repo women, pointing at it.
“Is this your truck?” She asked it in a sickly-sweet way.
“Look, we didn’t know, okay? I’m sure we can figure something out,” one woman replied.
Stella tilted her head before she turned and sank her hand right through the siding up to her wrist as she got a firm grip on the frame.
"Wait!" one repo woman screamed and tried to stop Stella, but the other was smarter and held her back.
Stella picked up the truck with one hand and slammed it hard enough on the lawn that the plates were clinking in the cabinet. Then she started smacking the truck from side to side, flattening the truck with each hit. Clearly, one hit wasn’t enough to take out Stella’s anger.
When Stella finished, she turned back. “Your truck seems broken.”
The repo women stood there with their mouths open, clearly at a loss for what to do. One looked like she might start crying.
A little trickle of water sprayed up from one divot in the ground. The front lawn was a disaster around the smashed car.
Stella frowned as she looked down at the water. "Look what you made me do. Now you guys need to come back and fix my place." Stella threw up her hands with a frustrated noise. "If you don't come fix all of this before I get home from work..."
Stella paused, walking over and snagging one of their hats with the company logo on it. She popped it on her head, clearly wanting to remember the repo company name.
"So, have we learned our lesson?” Stella asked the repo women, who nodded emphatically.
“Good. Knowing when you’re wrong is very important,” Stella replied, and I saw a bit of hope enter the repo women’s eyes.
“Okay, I feel better! Miles, your turn. Would you like to kill them?” Stella asked, looking up at me standing in the doorway.
The repo women quickly went from hopeful to horrified.
"No. Who's going to fix all of this, then?" I shrugged.
She lit up. "You’re right. Master is always the best."
"Besides, we can just kill them later if they even think about bothering Mona again.”
One of the repo women spoke up, "We’ll take care of this, and you won’t see us again. We promise."
"First, you apologize to Mona," Stella demanded. "You are bullies, and bullies become pancakes."
Purple groaned and lifted herself drunkenly. "Wha?" She squinted at the wrecked truck and back at Stella. "Happened?"
Her two assistants rushed around Stella to help Purple, whispering urgently to her.
"No. 'Ust Mona," Purple slurred.
Stella marched up to Mona, who was staring at her feet, trying to become as small as she could be.
I took the moment to dive into her mind and shuddered. This was why she had so much more confidence as Venus. Her past was filled with so much abuse and brow-beating that she froze, becoming so utterly submissive in the face of trouble when she didn’t have a persona to help buoy her.
Stella stopped in front of Mona. "Your turn! They owe you an apology."
I knew she needed a stronger nudge. I pulled the idea of me being upset at the destruction to my home, but I placed the blame firmly on the repo women and let Mona take the full force of that thought.
Mona looked up from her feet and snorted. “You three.”
A big sphere of light started to collect over her shoulder before it shot off and vaporized the piece of metal that used to be their truck.
"Look at the mess you made. This better be fucking cleaned up or... or... I'll sick Miles on you."
I paused, not sure if I should try to help her see herself as powerful enough to take them or accept the small step forward.
The repo women glanced over at me, clearly noting that, if I was worse than Stella, they likely didn’t want to see what I could do.
"Guys, they were just doing their jobs." Melody took another sip of her coffee, clearly not too concerned with the destruction. “I hope you have insurance,” she commented to the repo women.
The primary Obsidian floated slightly skewed, still bound in her chair next to Melody, but no longer bound by gravity.
"You feel sympathy for repo women?" I asked, shocked.
"It's a shit job, but it's legal," Melody replied, though I doubted this extent had been entirely legal.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but there are other shit jobs that don’t require you to prey on people who are already drowning in debt.”
“Are they really going to fix this?” Melody gestured to the mess.
"Doubt you actually want them to," Angelina said. "They don’t have the right skills to fix a leak, let alone make sure there’s structural integrity for the second floor. I’d rather not have it collapse on us."
I drummed my fingers on the doorway. "Okay, I'm going to get this fixed up and then buy Mona's debt for a penny. You should head into the office without me."
Melody fidgeted. "Who's going to stop you from getting kidnapped again?"
I paused, annoyed that it was a realistic possibility. "You could come with me," I offered.
"Probably the best way to keep him out of trouble." Angelina tossed out. "I can get to work fine, and the other two might do well going to work together."
It would help Stella and Mona cement a new bond.
The primary Obsidian tilted her head. "What about me?"
"Are you any good at repairs?" I asked with a smile.
She pondered the possibility. "I could, but I’d rather call someone who can actually get the building permits."
"Good. I'll leave you all to your things. Make sure no one steals anything. Melody, let's go." I walked out of the broken wall.
They were all grown women and able to handle their own affairs. And if Angelina thought it was a good idea for Stella and Mona to spend more time together, that worked for me.
The two of them could use some additional support. As much as I enjoyed being the focus of their attention, it was getting harder to give them enough time. Having another woman in the harem that they could lean on would be good for them.
Melody wrapped her arm around my waist, and we shot off from the lawn. "So, what we are doing?"
"One second." I looked up where Super Recovery Services was located and started directing Melody. "You seem calmer."
"Huh?" My statement had caught her off guard. "Calmer? I guess there is a new sense of stability being with you."
"Hero work and keeping secrets from the BSH aren’t exactly what I'd call stable. That would be a boring 9-5 salary job." My lips curled up as I realized just how quickly my life had turned away from being boring. But I was significantly happier. Everything might be more chaotic, but it was also way more full of life and purpose.
"No. But you are just such a rock in all our lives. I got kidnapped by a government-sponsored supervillain. Most would be resigned to that fate, but then you ripped apart a Fortune 500 company, went against the government's wishes, and killed a titan to save me." She turned to face me, a blush building in her cheeks. "There's nothing that can stop you. That's stability."
I paused. I’d never thought of it like that.
Instead of providing her stability through consistency, she just felt comforted that, if she fell, I’d be there to catch her with the full force of my abilities.
"Of course, Melody. Even if the worst came to pass, I'd tear off my mask and save you or any of my ladies."
She gave me a happy little squeeze. "That's love."
“It is. I love you, Melody."
She did a little spin in the air with me. "I know. But it still makes me so happy to hear it. So, how are we going to remove this problem for Mona?"
"I thought they were 'just doing their jobs'?" I teased her a bit.
"Oh, the girls coming to collect from Mona were just doing their jobs. They probably make an hourly wage. The company doing this, though? I have no qualms if you want to go all Void on them and make them disappear." Melody had a vicious smile on her face.
I squeezed her just a little tighter, proud of her. Maybe I’d rubbed off on her just a little.
"Unfortunately, if they are physically smashed, their debts will just be sold off. What we need is for them to sell us Mona's debt."
"It seems like she had quite the debt. I don't know if we can afford it." Melody bit her lip.
I began to explain. "Do you know how these places work?"
She shook her head, tossing her blonde hair before taking a guess. "Someone hires them to collect a debt?"
"Sometimes, but these girls were rough, and they overstepped. I’m guessing that whoever owns her debt now was not the same group that once did. People sell the debt to less and less reputable people for a fraction of its actual cost and let them try to work as much money as they can out of people like Mona. These guys might have bought her debt at ten percent or less of the value, and their goal is to get their money's worth out of her. And I have no doubt what she owes is ballooning as she makes the minimum payments," I explained with a sneer.
Melody scowled. "That's barely human. They essentially keep her in debt."
"It's business to them. There's no emotion to it. So, we are going to play business with them in return. It's only fair." I pointed down at an unmarked building with a small office up front and a tiny warehouse attached to the back of the office.
"They don't have a sign," Melody observed.
I chuckled. "No one wants a repossession business in their neighborhood. They'd probably get egged by teenagers just out of principal. They are the bottom of the barrel, even for repo."
My search for them had yielded less-than-stellar articles.
Melody wrinkled her nose as we landed and walked into the building. The door chime went off as I walked in, finding a lady at the desk dutifully filling out something on the computer.
"How can I help you?"
"Hello, I'm with the Bureau of Superheroes. We need to see your records." I held up my tablet and displayed my badge.
She immediately stopped what she was doing and looked at me with wide, scared eyes.
I smiled in return. There was no way a place like this was entirely above board. They were doing far more than just collecting debts from people like Mona.
"What can we do for the BSH?" she asked, shuffling some papers under others.
"We need to see a full list of your employees and... debtors?" I wasn't sure what the right word for it was.
"We can do that. Can I ask what the BSH is looking for?" She smiled, but she’d spoken quite loudly. Her words must have carried into the office because a rotund woman stepped out of the only office with a nameplate.
"The BSH. We are more than happy to work with the authorities." The boss clapped her hands together. "Why don't we set you two up in the conference room? Susan here will go get us donuts and coffee. You like donuts, right? Who am I kidding? Everyone loves donuts."
The boss chuckled awkwardly, and I glanced at the nameplate on my way to the conference room. 'Claire Smith'.
Claire spoke again, "Now, if you don’t mind, I should check your credentials before we provide paperwork."
I showed her my tablet and the badge. She jotted down the number and apologized as she went to go check it.
"This is weird," Melody said, sitting down at the long, polished table that had seen more than one violent altercation.
“My gut says they are doing more than just collecting debts and taking back items on loan. Based on what I saw of Mona’s place, they are bordering on criminal behavior. Normally, this is just what happens, and people don't care. But we are going to shake them up a little, and then I'm going to buy Mona's debt with this penny."
I slid the coin across the table, leaving it in the center.
I was ready to use my power to help change Mona’s life and maybe help a few others who had been victimized by this company. Some might call it an abuse of power, but I was completely okay with using my power to help Mona.