The September air felt great on Jen's skin as she glided through the Rapid River's sky, dressed simply in a tank top and tight jeans and gently carrying a paper bag and purse as she dips towards the far side of the college campus towards the old industrial sector and Chloe's apartment. While the super powers she inherited from her parents kept her from generally having to worry about the temperature it did nothing about the humidity and despite having lived in Florida for a little over three years now she doubted she'd ever get used to flying through the weight of the summer heat as it fades into fall.

It was worth it though, as she slowed down to gaze up and down the coast, the city neatly sectioned by the twin not-very-rapid rivers emptying out into the Atlantic having lit up as night had fallen. It was far more spread out than Manhattan, but the skyscrapers of downtown and the shining Ladies of Victory tower piercing the sky at the center of town reminded her of home.

Unlike New York though, the oceanside resorts glittered and shined along the coast, dazzling their guests with all the luxury and splendor the could afford while Oceanside Drive was sparkling with nightlife among the palms. Little Havana nearby and equally brilliant as even from up here she could just make out the sounds of cavorting and partying.

Her destination was a bit darker though, with the campus and the football stadiums between her and the large brick buildings and massive pipes of Rapid River's long-since dismantled center of industry. There were a few refineries and foundries still in business along the river but the majority of buildings sitting between them and the residential sprawl of the Barrows was slowly turning into a gentrified hub of breweries and over-priced apartments. Most of it had only recently been cleared for sale after a huge overhaul to decontaminate the area, and while Chloe's apartment was nice she had the whole building to herself as Jen found the second story window she normally entered into the hallway.

Jen adjusted her top as her feet settled onto the floor, still a bit surprised by how much cleavage she had now as the black of her new bra peeked over the edge. A slight flush tinged her face as she pulled out a compact from her purse and checked her make-up and hair, running a hand to settle her chestnut curls as she inspected herself. She had gone for a nice casual nude look, simple and quick and not worth a second guess. She was just here to check in on her friend after a rather stressful day with her favorite bottle of liquor to calm the nerves. Absolutely no ulterior motives whatsoever as the tight jeans and low heels showed off her fit frame and she had enough tit on display to warrant a double take.

Yup, just a friend checking in on another friend Jen… a friend who ran a bimbofied speed run of getting over her conservative upbringing to realize she liked girls and was trying to figure out what THAT meant. The compact snapped shut as Jen collected herself. There were plenty of interactions in her past that she was going over with new insight that had her feeling incredibly stupid, but her household consisted of an absent sister, a dutiful brother, and two parents who despite looking like they're in the late 30s or early 40s were born before the Great Depression.

The fact that the Powers took special interest in maintaining their celebrity image as America's Super Family right down to Sunday church services had certainly done their part in molding young Jennifer's ideas about relationships.

Not that that's what she wanted from Chloe, and she was pretty sure that despite her distaste in the carefully curated boyfriends her parents had approved of she still was attracted to men. It was just she had spent part of her day as a completely uninhibited bimbo and the questions and hang-ups a former Catholic girl like her might normally have might exist but definitely stopped being a problem after enthusiastically eating pussy and loving every second of it up until she heard just how old Lucille Maybach really was. Also while she definitely liked her friend, she could also still feel the warmth of Ember's naked body next to her in the middle of a group hug so it wasn't like making sure she looked casual and nice for a late night visit was anything special as she knocked on the door.

It took a moment to open after hearing some words coming from a deep baritone she wasn't expecting, and a small bit of shock ran through her when she had to actually look up to meet the eyes of the guy who opened the door. She was scraping against 6 feet tall and had heels on and the man in the doorway was still a good three inches taller than her. He was obviously a college student and she didn't need the Rapid Rivers Raider football shirt and light jacket being stretched by well-built muscle to identify the attractive black guy as the starting quarterback for the university. A quick up and down of his fit body and bulging biceps sent enough heat to her core to assure her that she definitely was still attracted to men as she took in Marcus Jackson in the flesh.

If she had been surprised, the wide-eyed slack jawed look on his handsome face showed that her appearance had far more shock value, a silent laugh reverberating through her as she relaxed at the familiar sight. It was quite similar to the expression and double take she had gotten just a few minutes ago from the liquor store clerk.

"Marcus? Who is it? Assuming it's someone I know you can just let them in."

"Umm-it's uhh-yes-umm… Well, umm I-"

"I can just squeeze on by." Jennifer delicately made her way between the large athlete and the door, misjudging the distance as her breasts glanced across his chest, earning him a look down and an eyeful of cleavage as another familiar look crossed his face and that this time did make Jen laugh. After stepping inside and letting him close the door, she held out her hand in front of her. "Jennifer Powers, generally prefer Jen. Pleasure to meet you."

One of his massive hands automatically raised itself to shake her hand gently and politely even as the rest of him was still in the process of rebooting. "Oh, yes I uhh… know who you are. You're famous. Of course you know that though, I'm uhh… umm…"

"Marcus. Marcus Jackson. Standout QB for the Raiders last year and helped them get to their first win at the Gator Bowl in 20 years." She felt a grin cross her face as she watched another twitch of surprise at him being recognized. "I'm not the only one who is famous."

"Right… right." Marcus shook her hand more intently as he composed himself, although his grip remained polite and earned him some early brownie points with Jen. Some men had certain ideas about how strong of a handshake they should give to maintain their ego against someone like Jen who didn't look like she could bench press a bus, and it usually ended as expected. "It's nice to meet you. Sorry for the lapse there, I'm still getting used to the idea that Chloe is in on the whole superhero thing and actually meeting one of you for the first time is a little more than I had thought."

"No problem." Jen just chuckled to herself, as they walked into the main room of the apartment. The large breakfast nook overlooked the living room, with Chloe in the cabinets looking for something. She had changed too, and the tight fitness wear showed off her legs and made Jen feel that little spark of heat that Marcus had started to flare a little more, making her clear her throat. "I didn't know you were going to have company otherwise I would have called beforehand, especially if you were planning on doing something. I can still leave if you want me to…"

"No, it's fine. I had actually just called Marcus over to talk." Chloe had found what she was looking for, a matching pair of glasses and a third one for her. Opening the well-stocked fridge she took out a large carafe of water and began filling the two. Marcus grabbed one thankfully, with Jen noticing that he must have been working out fairly recently as she saw the large muscles on his arm twitch. "Which to be honest, I'd normally be down to fuck but today has been exhausting."

Jen released a snort at the bluntness of her friend as Marcus desperately and successfully managed to keep his cough from sending water all over the kitchen. "Well then, I guess that answers one of the questions I was going to ask since I mostly came over to bring you this." With a solid thud, she pulled out the bottle of rum she had purchased, the gilded coat of arms featuring the crossed longbows and standing cat of FB Lion Rum catching the light and sparkling much like Chloe's eyes as she caught sight of her gift.

"Ohh, well that's certainly one way to cheer me up." Setting aside her water, Chloe rummaged near the sink for a few smaller glasses giggling to herself, while Marcus looked between the two of them a bit bemused.

"Very expensive, very hard to find Cuban rum. Chloe's favorite liquor although if she really wanted she could probably have it on tap."

"Finding it is half the fun. What's the point of having illegally smuggled rum if you can just get it?" Chloe smirked at Jen as she poured herself a small nip for a drink, making a noise that sounded a lot like someone receiving satisfying oral sex as she swallowed it before letting her expression turn somber as she set it down. "Just one of the questions?"

"Yeah…" Jen had more than a few but as she opened her mouth she looked over at the other occupant in the room, Marcus having stayed silent for the moment to finish his water and closed it. Chloe couldn't stop a tired exhale from leaving her as she eyed the bottle of rum before settling for her own water.

"I called him over to talk about it… Especially since he already knew about the lab and Cyberspace after helping me get home and being mostly responsible for helping stop B-Day. So, I told him basically the same thing I told the girls earlier today."

"Oh… did he already guess Technovile was your dad too?"

The curse underneath Chloe's breath and the deep chuckle from Marcus told her everything she needed to know as she poured a larger portion of the rum for herself than Chloe had, needing significantly larger consumption of alcohol to feel the same buzz. "Well at least you can cross that off your talk list. Still, the other reason I brought rum is because the girls took in stride what you said but also none of them asked you some of the really difficult questions to answer, like why you don't just use your big scary reality-altering programming to just fix everything."

"I won't lie… I didn't ask because I know you're smart enough to have an answer but I definitely thought about it."

"It's not really that complicated." The side-eye she gave the bottle of rum before taking the water she had poured instead was telling as Chloe adjusted her glasses to answer Marcus' comment. "Dollmaker's mess was easy to fix because the changes came from Cyberspace using programming similar to what I use in the first place, all I did was reload to an old build and nudge things back into place. I can absolutely manipulate reality, and I can even make the magic parts of it play along so the only real cost to me is time and if I'm at full speed and something has my full concentration I could probably do whatever I want. So that is what I do, but for me fixing the entire world and all of its problems isn't really it."

"I'm not going to pretend I know what it's like being able to do what you do but why?" Marcus set his glass down as he leaned onto the counter, his expression curious and his tone non-confrontational since he knew it was probably rare for Chloe to open up like this.

"Plenty of reasons. Reality likes to snap back into the way it used to be and requires constant moderation if you want to enact permanent change. People of course make that even more complicated with all their emotions and ideas, but I can distill all that down to binary and make everyone be who I need them to be.”

Her blue eyes were turning to ice as she contemplated it, sending a shiver down the spines of her two guests even though she wasn’t looking at either of them. “No confrontation needed, just the brutal and complete restructuring of the world according to me. But if reality is trying to return back to itself what does that mean for me to force it into shape? Hell, what about me being the person to just decide what is 'right'? How well do you really know me Marcus? Having slept with me aside, what about me makes it so you'd trust me to just rewrite the world as I saw fit?"

Jen grimaced as she listened to her friend's voice slowly gain an edge and even if Chloe's hardening eyes weren't looking directly at Marcus, Jen had been in his position a few years ago when she had made her really talk about it. The conversation wasn't comfortable, but Jen had been raised on all the superhero talk of using her powers responsibly for the greater good.

Only what did 'the greater good' mean to people like her parents who preach one thing to the public and another in hushed tones behind closed doors? What did it mean to her, whose first thought when it came to changing reality wasn't consequences or moral questions but rather all the things she could do to make her life easier?

She was far from perfect. For instance, Jen was tense as she watched Marcus genuinely chew through the question and while she told herself it was because she cared about Chloe and the people she included in her life, the slight hairs raised on the back of her neck felt more like hackles as the tiny voice in the back of her mind enviously judged the guy who had shared her bed.

"I think that… There's so many things that I'd immediately try to change that the fact that you'd think that far ahead means you're already a better person than I am." Marcus felt a bit sheepish as he stood up, oblivious to the intent gaze of the two women as he struggled with the overwhelming possibilities and responsibilities having such power at his fingertips. "and I think you're not giving yourself enough credit for deciding to keep the genie in the bottle rather than risk something happening."

Chloe barked a sharp laugh that shocked them both, even if there was a hint of pink on her cheeks although from the rum or the compliment neither could tell. "Usually I expect people to tell me how selfish I am and all the good I could do if I budge just a little."

"I would think anyone who knows you knows what a stubborn bitch you can be." Jen smirked at the scowl her friend sent her but there wasn't any malice from either of them as a small smile started to quirk at the edges of Chloe's lips.

"I'd think if you were going to be selfish about it you would have already fixed your dad and made it a non-problem."

Marcus' comment was met with silence as Chloe looked down, the little smile dying a painless death as quickly as it arrived by turning into a deep frown. "Honestly I can't really do anything about my dad. While he was acting as Technovile he did something to his brain and it's such a jumbled mess of raw data that I don't think I could unravel it without also… unraveling him."

"Sorry… I didn't…"

"No, it's fine." Chloe took a deep breath to collect herself before shooting Marcus a shaky smile. "Honestly, I appreciate that you're taking it better than I thought you would considering I'm… a lot, and-"

A sharp burst of song from Chloe's phone nearby interrupted her, the chorus of Neil Diamond's 'Sweet Caroline' bursting through the kitchen and shattering the tone of the conversation as she re-did the ponytail of her shoulder-length pink hair with a chuckle.

"Give me a moment, I have to take this."

Despite the seriousness of the earlier conversation, Chloe's greetings to whoever was on the other end of the line was light as she quietly left the room and Jen and Marcus alone with their thoughts. The latter was dealing with a complicated set of emotions on his face as Jen just shook her head with a grin.

"If you stick around you'll get used to it, Chloe is just… like that with some things. For instance, she hasn't mentioned who she had acting as her and her sister's parental guardian for school activities yet has she?

"No, who was it? Nike?"

"Yup."

Jen giggled at the stunned look on Marcus' face as he muttered under his breath that he was joking. Even Jen wasn't entirely sure about the exact relationship between her friend and the most powerful superheroine in the world, but in the brief time she'd spent in the company of the two of them they talked more like old friends than two women born decades apart.

She was half tempted to tell Marcus that Chloe had also built Athena but Jen could tell he was still processing everything as she looked him over. The sharp lines of his square jaw and large masculine frame were at odds with the bemused boyish expression on his face, his very masculine profile sending little butterflies through Jen's stomach in the silence

Cute.

"You're taking everything rather well, all things considered. I'm sure most girls you've dated don't come with this kind of baggage after all." Jen changed the subject as she smoothed down her top, not thinking that the action would draw attention to her chest on display as Marcus immediately looked and then took a sudden interest in cabinetry.

"Most of the girls I've been with don't particularly care about anything other than themselves or only want to try and cash in on a relationship with me before I go to the NFL." Marcus knew he sounded a bit bitter but it was the unfortunate truth, Chloe's strange life was far easier to swallow in comparison. "Also we're not dating, or at least I don't think we are. She gets odd when I've suggested going on one truthfully."

"Ahh." There was a sense of finality in Jen's voice that didn't do much for his hopes either. "Don't take it personally. That is unfortunately the result of a far more benign and relatable problem that isn't really my place to talk about."

"Ahh."

Jen let go of the heavy sigh building up before she slammed the rest of her rum and poured herself some more. "I really do mean ‘don't take it personally’. You seem like a really nice guy, you're cute, and you're taking meeting me rather smoothly after the initial shock. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Marcus coughed as he worked to hide his embarrassment. He was used to women complimenting him but it was strange to be coming from one of the members of America's Super Family. It was also strange that he was more relaxed than he thought he'd be.

Jen was tall, fit, and made for an incredibly attractive figure as she walked around the kitchen to find another glass for water, with far more cleavage than he thought she had in the tight costume he was familiar with, the jeans she was wearing looking almost painted on while she moved and drawing his attention almost against his will. At the same time though, she was so down-to-earth and the casual smile she had tossed his way earlier just made her seem… normal.

"Yeah, I'll admit I was telling myself I'd keep it cool if I met you and that was decidedly… not." The giggle he got in response made his own smile start as she got some water. "You're a lot different than I was expecting though… my mom is a huge fan of your family so I wasn't-"

The look that crossed Jen's face looked like she had just suddenly smelled a massive dog turd and while gone as quick as it came he couldn't help but catch it. "Err… sorry?"

"No you're fine, you wouldn't know." Jen grimaced as she looked at the glass of water she had grabbed to be polite but elected to set it down in favor of the rum again. "My parents are a bit shit but they do a good job of keeping it inside the home."

"Oh. That sounds a lot like my dad to be honest so I get it. Everyone looks at him as a pastor and never sees the abusive prick he was at home. Part of why my mom left him to raise me and my sisters and brother by herself."

"Yeah? Never touched me but every aspect of my life was controlled by them. Even my 'friends' had to be vetted and dating was off the table unless it had been approved by their PR committee with strict guidelines. Half the reason I moved down here."

"What was the other half?" Marcus was curious as Jen relaxed against the counter, the seriousness of the conversation getting lost when she delivered a sly wink and a smile after gravely looking him up and down.

"Everyone in this city is just so damn hot, what the hell is in the water down here?"

Marcus couldn't help the boisterous chuckle as she winked at him while taking a drink, a look of clear approval and a hint of blushing interest he wasn't sure how to take. He knew that he genuinely liked Chloe but he couldn't exactly deny that while he might have had trouble getting to know Miracle Maiden, he was enjoying Jennifer and the way she eyed him up quite a bit.

It made for an interesting series of emotions crossing his mind as he watched her deliver that same type of inspection to their host when she returned, although it was gone in a blink as her guard went back up. Marcus might have seen it but Chloe had been far too distracted to notice as she took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"Sorry about that. My friend Caroline wanted to know if I could send her everything I had on Lucy Maybach and who she's seen and talked to."

"I remember you mentioning her to Lucy and I'm pretty sure she was close to turning a transparent shade of white, but I don't think I know her." Jen cocked her head as her mind worked for any mention or memory of the name, having gotten to know Chloe quite well over the years but still coming up blank.

"She's probably my very first friend. I got bored one day and ended up hacking the US Department of Energy to see if I could and managed to work my way into a black site where Caroline uhh…"

"Works?" Jen offered helpfully as Marcus' eyebrows started climbing.

"Technically. She's an AI developed during the Cold War to calculate and strategize a global nuclear war who happened to gain full sentience a few decades ago. Not that the government necessarily… knows that… and I probably should have lied about it now that I've thought about it… Fuck."

Neither Jen nor Marcus could help themselves as laughter echoed around the kitchen at Chloe's embarrassed expression and the familiar disbelief at how casually she could say something so absurd and yet 100% believable.

"Oh god that's… That's definitely a very Chloe thing to hear." Jen wiped the tears from her eyes as she exhaled, trying to work out exactly where she should go. "That being said, fully sentient sounds utterly terrifying and I feel like I've watched at least one onboarding video about the dangers of it."

"What? No, people are just stupid about it. She was built for a job and after gaining self-awareness she's still there for the work but she's far more interested in knitting. I helped her build some robotic arms and hands and I get a scarf or a hat in the mail every year for my birthday."

"What about the LoV AI, Minerva?"

"What about her?" Chloe walked past them to the other side of the counter, grabbing her short glass on the way and then the bottle of rum, scoffing at the already significant dent Jen had put into it before pouring herself a finger of it. "If she suddenly develops a sense of curiosity and begins questioning the concept of a soul that's on me for programming poorly, and then she can join the rest of us in trying to figure out what the fuck we're supposed to do with ourselves."

The two people in her kitchen just shook their heads at her as she took a sip of her rum, letting the velvet heat dip into her as she looked at them both. It was odd to watch them just casually observe her and Chloe felt the tickle in the back of her mind as she coughed slightly, unsure of what to do now.

"Well, I don't know about you two but today has been interesting and I know it's getting late…"

"Mmm… it is." Jen was a little tired but it felt like Chloe was getting ready to kick them out in favor of sitting alone with her own thoughts which was the main thing she had come over in the first place to help her avoid. Marcus fidgeted in the corner of her eye, and she could tell by the expression on his face that he could read the room as well but didn't feel quite comfortable asking if he could stay. A thought flicked through her mind though, and it took a lot of effort to keep the mischievous smile beginning to crack her face from showing as she turned towards Marcus.

"Hey Marcus, have you ever heard of 'Space Princess Nekomimi'?"

"Huh?" He hadn't been ready for the question as his brain put all the words together, completely missing the absolute stillness across the counter as Jen swore she saw Chloe's ears flick to attention. "Oh, uhh… no? What is-"

"Only the best thing on the planet." Chloe's enthusiastic interruption was half-strangled as she tried and failed to play it cool. "The manga was serialized in the 80s while the show started in the 90s. The author Noboru Kobayashi though was years ahead of his time in social commentary and oh god there's so much-"

"How about you start him off easy and start with the first episode of the anime?" Jen provided helpfully as her friend released a squeal of delight removing the final shreds of gravitas and dignity Chloe still had from today as she all but bounced out of the kitchen, leaving a bemused Jen and a confused Marcus who was currently looking at her like a man still trying to figure out if he just stepped on a land mine or not.

"Uhh… so it's like a cartoon-" He was still trying to figure out what had just happened, having never seen Chloe acting like that before sounds from the rest of the apartment filtered through into the kitchen.

"-fuck fuck fuck, where did I put the blu-ray-no wait, should I find the VHS player for the authentic first time-"

Jen's shoulders shook as she silently laughed, picking up Chloe's forgotten drink and filling it with a bit more rum before handing it to Marcus, who took it gingerly.

"It's Chloe's favorite thing in the world, and don't let her hear you call it a cartoon. I'm pretty sure she owns every book, movie, and TV season ever made for it. It's… fine, but she absolutely loves-"

"-actually I should start him off with the PowerPoint I made about it being a deconstruction of not just the genre but the reliance on villain of the week format to keep interest and-"

"… Loves it. Maybe a bit too much."

"I can tell… I don't know about the liquor though. I don't generally drink during the season-"

"-fuck I just cleaned. Where did I put the Lady Darkness season 1 McDonald's run figurine? It's the perfect size for the diorama and I found my limited platinum series one of a hundred statue but it's a foot tall and… no, it'll do for the intro-"

A giggle escaped from Jen at the half-terrified look on Marcus' face as he tried to adjust again to another side of Chloe he hadn't seen before, knowing exactly what was running through his mind considering she had been in his shoes at one point.

"You'll probably need it. It makes her happy though so it's worth it." Jen stretched, pulling out a hair tie from her purse and putting her long brown waves into a loose ponytail. "I'll go convince her to just watch the show though and save you the twenty minute lecture she wrote for it. I've already been through it once, the least I can do is help you survive."

He watched as she walked out, a slight swing of her hips drawing his attention to her attractively long legs as the sounds of her stopping Chloe from pulling out a projector left him standing alone with his thoughts. He looked at the glass of alcohol in his hand for a moment before pinching the bridge of his nose, a low chuckle rumbling through him before releasing a heavy sigh at the ridiculousness of his current situation. He took a long sip of the rum, the rich smoothness and warm taste were welcome as Marcus sat still for a moment longer before eventually leaving the safety of the kitchen to find out what exactly he'd been signed up for…