Lisa gave Taylor a considering look. "I think you and I are going to get along fine, hon." She smiled. "But I think you've still got one misunderstanding."

Wearily, Taylor asked, "What would that be?"

Lisa grabbed Taylor by the back of the head and pulled her in for a scorching kiss. "I wasn't joking about seducing you."

Taylor stared blankly off into the distance as Lisa sashayed past the bound girl and into the crew quarters. The Captain sighed and began to untie Taylor.

"Right. So, introductions. That was our First Mate and Informations officer, Lisa Wilborne. This is Raider Rachel Lindt and Helmsman Alec..."

Alec gave the Captain a strange look. Then he raised an eye brow. "Did you forget my last name?"

"No. I just... It's right on the tip of my tongue!"

"You did! What kind of horrible Captain forgets his crew's names? You only had to remember three of them!" It was clear by Alec's mocking tone that he didn't care that much beyond the chance to rib his boss.

"Just tell her your name."

"Using the new girl to cover for your callousness? Classy. Just for that, I'm not going to tell you."

"Just... Fine." The captain admitted defeat and the helmsman preened. "I'm Captain Brian Laborn. We're the crew of the pirate ship The Undersider. Welcome to our little madhouse."

Dennis vs. Nightmares

(Автор: Helpless Kitten)

Dennis woke screaming. He heard the door open and turned to see Carlos entering his room.

"Dennis? I heard screaming. What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare. A horrible, horrible nightmare!"

Carlos raised his eyebrow. "I know we've seen some messed up shit, but what could make you scream like that? You damn near woke the dead."

"Skitter and Jack Slash. Procreating. She gave birth to Spider-Antichrist. Then Bonesaw nudged Siberian and asked, 'Kinda makes you want to have one of your own, doesn't it?' Then the Siberian looked at me and smiled and there were bones in her teeth!" Dennis began to hyperventilate.

"Calm down Dennis. Look, it's not like the S9 are anywhere near here. Your safe."

Dennis smiled wanely. "Yeah. It's not like Skitter and Jack Slash will ever meet and, you know, meat."

"God damn it, Dennis."

* * *

2 weeks later

Dennis pushed himself up, broken glass sliding off his back.

"No." He said in denial.

"Was that Shatterbird?" Vista asked.

"No!" He said again.

"Which means the Slaughterhouse 9 are in town." Miss Militia said gravely.

"We need to-" Weld began, but Dennis cut him off.

"I won't become The Siberian's baby daddy! I have to stop the Spider-Antichrist from being born! I have to kill Jack before he can knock up Skitter and doom us all!" And with that, Dennis ran out of the building to find and confront Jack Slash.

The remaining Heroes all looked at each other, all knowing that the same question ran through the others head.

"What the fuck?"

* * *

3 months later

"...and being awarded the congressional Medal of Honor for single handedly wiping out the Slaughterhouse Nine:" the speaker flinched a bit as he read the name, "Clockblocker."

Basic Attraction

(Автор: volantredx)

A lot of people think that the graveyard shift was the worst time for monitor duty. Dennis had to disagree. There was always something happening late at night. No, if Dennis had to pick he'd say the worst time was 3-6 pm. Nothing ever happened. He spent most of the time completely checked out.

A giggle from the other end of the bench drew his attention. The Ward's newest transfer, Fletchette who was sent to replace Vista after the younger girl's family moved out West. Dennis liked Fletchette, between her nice attitude and her experience she made a great addition to the team. The one issue was he wasn't the only one to think so.

Shadow Stalker, the team's resident lunatic, took a shine to the other girl. Dennis didn't know if it had anything to do with the red head shooting her down or what but the two of them really hit it off. Was it any other girl Dennis wouldn't have thought about it, except for late at night in his bedroom alone. But this was Sophia and Lily. It was weird. He couldn't understand it at all. He was sort of morbidly curious.

"What do you see in her?" It took him a second to realize he asked that out loud.

"You mean Sophia?" Lilly responded.

"Yeah," he knew he shouldn't let his curiosity get the better of him. Sophia would kill him if he pissed off Lilly. That is if Lilly didn't get to him first. "She's not exactly someone I could see wanting to be around."

"I dunno," the girl shrugged. "There are lots of reasons. She's not as bad as she likes to pretend. You just have to be patient with her. Besides she has her good qualities."

Dennis doubted that, but he wasn't dumb enough to say it.

"Like what?" Though he could have his moments of stupidity.

"Well, you've seen her out of costume. An ass like that makes up for a lot of crazy."

"Really? That's the thing you like most? Her ass?" That... wasn't what he was expecting.

"Well yeah. That and her legs that go on for miles. And her abs. Can't forget those." She was starting to blush a bit. Not that Dennis wasn't feeling a bit hot around the collar.

"So she's hot. That makes up for the temper? The violence? All that good stuff?"

"And well one other thing" She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "you know that track thing? That's real. I thought it was just cover but she really runs all the time. Her stamina is unbelievable. I have trouble keeping up sometimes. It's like fucking a race horse."

Ok so this officially hit TMI levels. Then at peak awkwardness another voice came over the coms.

"You know you guys left the radio on right?" The unmistakable voice of Shadow Stalker. She sounded pissed. "I'm heading back. Lilly meet me in my room. We need to have a talk about sharing. Then you're going to spend all night earning my forgiveness."

Lilly for her part didn't seem too concerned about earning back her girlfriend's good grace. Dennis would even say she looked eager.

"And Duffus." Dennis swallowed thickly at her tone. She managed to make herself sound even more pissed. "If I hear one word of this from the other morons I'm gonna um, what's it called when they cut off guy's dicks?"

"Castrate?"

"Thank you Lilly. I'm going to castrate you. Ya got it?"

"Yeah. Sure thing." He said.

The teen vigilante shut her com off at that. The other two heroes sat there awkwardly for a moment. Then Lilly began to rise.

"I'm going to grab an energy bar and some Gateraide. If I'm lucky I can finish it before Sophia gets back. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."

Dennis nodded at that. She gave him one last smile before leaving.

'Well tonight's dreams sure are going to be interesting.' He thought.

* * *

Lily guessed it must have been almost two in the morning. However she couldn't sleep despite the rather vigorous workout her bed mate and her just had. For her part Sophia was fast asleep. The sheets had become quite tangled and almost her whole back was exposed. Idlelly Lily's hand started to trace patterns on the other girl's back. Her lover's skin was deceptively soft but Lily could feel the tight corded muscle underneath. Occasionally she'd run a finger over a scar, moments from before Sophia had access to the kinds of body armor the Wards wore.

'What am I doing?' That question had been running in her head all night. It was one Lily still couldn't answer. She normally wasn't the kind of girl to jump right into bed, and her life didn't leave a lot of room for commitment. Still she had a few moments of closeness, but they were fleeting things. What she and Sophia had, or seemed to have, was wholly new.

Lily didn't have any real illusions. She knew how Sophia could be and knew that when this started that she saw Lily as a way to experiment. Explore something she really only started to know she wanted. Lily supposed that she should have turned her away, been the responsible one in all this. Still part of her wanted to be selfish, just this once. Sophia was everything that Lily wasn't. Brash and bold. All fire and passion. So much of that was misdirected. Her anger, the raw hate she seemed to have for so many. Lily was only now getting to know why. What made Sophia the way she was, and it broke her heart.

Maybe that was it? Some part of her felt drawn to Sophia as someone she could fix. Lily knew what it was to be lonely in a crowd. Sophia had so few lines left to keep her tied to people. The other Wards couldn't stand her, Lily had heard what they said behind the girl's back. And the girl Sophia loved, maybe even still loves. The teen knew a bit of the story and had seen it play out enough times to fill in the blanks. No freak outs, no declarations of hate. Just a little more distance. An invisible curtain between them now. Sophia needed someone, anyone, to help her hold her head above water. To keep her from becoming the kind person the two of them fought.

That much Lily could hold to. No matter her faults Sophia was a hero. She was even trying, Lily knew, to be the kind of person that she knew she could be.

And that's what scared her. Before Lily thought she knew where they stood. Just a bit of fun between the two of them. A chance for them to explore things about themselves. But this? This was starting to really feel like it meant something. The way Lily would catch Sophia stopping herself from saying something or doing something, the little glance after that the other girl didn't think she'd catch. Lily was changing too. She'd find herself hearing Sophia's voice in her head. Telling her not to back down or give in just to be nice. Would catch herself think about what Sophia would think about an outfit, or a hairstyle, or other little things Lily never used to worry about. All of this was starting to feel far more real than it was supposed to.

"That tickles," Sophia mumbled into the pillow. Startled Lily drew her hand back.

"Oh, gosh sorry." She could feel her cheeks redden. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"'s fine. What's keeping you up?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

"hmm well you should get some sleep." Sophia buried her head back into the pillow.

Lily started to join her when a thought ran through her mind. It was silly and crazy...but if what they had was becoming real maybe they should try and make it real.

"Hey Sophia."

"Hmm?"

"Ask me out." Lily felt a giddiness rise in her chest.

"...what?" Her bed mate asked confused.

"Ask me out. On a date."

"Umm...why?"

"Just do it. Please, for me? We've been, well together for almost two months now and we've never been out together."

"We go out all the time." Sophia insisted. This was starting to feel like a bad idea to Lily.

"Hanging out with your friends is not a date." Sophia started to respond, "and before you say it beating up Nazis together doesn't count as a date either."

"Sounds like the best kind of date." The other girl smirked. Then her smile fell. "This is really important to you isn't it?"

Was it? It started as just a stray thought. Now though Lily could feel her heart raise at the thought.

"Yes," she answered. "Yes it is."

"...alright, um would you ah would you maybe want to get a movie this Friday?" Sophia's complexion darkened with a blush.

"Yes. That sounds great." Lily felt a warmth spread from her chest outward until her fingers and toes felt warm.

"Right, good. I see you at seven?"

instead of an answer Lily lightly kissed Sophia. It was unlike any kiss they had before. Those were pure lust, just animal instinct. This was something else entirely. If what they had becoming real meant every kiss would be this good then Lily wished they had done it sooner.

"Wow," was all she could say when they pulled apart.

"Yeah that was, something." Sophia shot Lily a mischievous glance, "but now I'm not sleepy. Any ideas on how we can fix that?"

"I may have a few." She said leaning in for another kiss as Sophia pulled herself on top of the other girl's body. Lily would soon learn that kissing wasn't the only thing that got better.

Taylor / Rachel

(Автор: CptTagon)

I had finished all the paperwork for the day, and was relaxing in a hot, scented bath. Not even Golden Morning could stamp out the bureaucracy, it seemed. Still, things were getting better. Factories were opening, kids were being born, all the fun stuff civilization needed. Most importantly though, hot water was available. I leaned against the back of the tub and closed my eyes. It had been a long day, at the end of a long week, at the end of a long month. At least I hadn't had to use my power too much, and only had the faint beginnings of a migraine nibbling at my head. Even half a year after poor Taylor had beaten Scion; I was still putting out fires, trying to wrangle the remaining Undersiders into doing their part. But at least everything had been taken care of for tonight.

The door to my bathroom slammed open. I yelped and started to stand, reaching for my holstered gun resting with the rest of my clothes. I only stopped when I saw that the person who had barged in was Rachel, with Bastard on her heels. She looked angry, but then again, Rachel usually looked angry. Since she wasn't wearing her mask, she was probably here as Rachel, not Bitch. She had something clutched in her hand.

"God, Rachel, knock next time!" I sunk back into the bath, glad that that the waterline covered my breasts. She shot a cursory glance at my chest, then went right back to staring at my face.

"You've got nothing I don't see in the mirror. I need you to make tell me who to punch." She tossed me what she was carrying. I caught it in my hand, saw that it was a book, and quickly put it on the bathtub side. I stood up, grabbed a towel and dried off. Putting on a bathrobe, I grabbed the book again. It was a paperback, probably some two hundred pages. On the cover — oh my god the cover.

A large, buff woman was holding another woman up. The first woman had dirty blonde hair and a square face. She was wearing a half-closed leather vest that barely kept her large breasts in check. Glancing between Rachel and the cover, I could see the resemblance. Like the resemblance between a toddler's painting and the real world. The girl on the cover was wearing makeup, had shiny hair and all in all looked like the kind of girl Rachel hated, and would never, ever, understand or want to be like.

Looking at the second girl was even more hilarious. The long brown hair, glasses and dark bodysuit meant it had to be Taylor, though Taylor never had C-cup boobs or any of the other enhancements the cover artist had given her, like the pouting lips or the hourglass figure. The title of the book was Animals in the Night by Jasmine Willis.