...Okay, not QUITE the end.
Tokyo-3 Municipal Middle School, mid-afternoon...
It had been at least a year since the sentencing of the SEELE council (and, following a separate trial, Gendo Ikari), and life was peaceful (for the most part) the world over. In Tokyo-3 especially, NERV would be operating for one last year in order to free those trapped in the cores of the Evangelions (which had been mostly dismantled), so the now-former pilots could finally be full-time regular teenagers (aside from the occasional call to come into HQ for testing involving the core research). In light of the many revelations that led up to the end of the war with the Angels, a number of friendships and relationships were reevaluated-especially when it came to Asuka Langley Sohryu, in regards to her fellow pilots. Speaking of Asuka, right now she was in the middle of a very different sort of duty: after-school cleaning duty, specifically, as her name had been added to the roster that day by her best friend (and class representative), Hikari Horaki.
*Sigh* Guess being best friends with a class rep can only get you out of this so many times...Asuka mentally muttered as she carried her two boxes to the empty storage room. Rei, carrying her own load, followed behind her, and they were in turn joined by the new girl, Mari. Mari "Illustrious" Makinami had been a provisional pilot for NERV based at their U.K. branch, but once the Angels had been defeated and the SEELE conspiracy exposed, she essentially found herself 'without a job'. NERV-Central brought the tall, bespectacled, eccentric girl over to Japan to help her get settled back into full civilian life, and had her grouped with the other former pilots to assist in her reintegration. Asuka had found her annoying at first, but eventually she (and the others) began warming to her the more they hung out together.
"How was your date with Shinji the other day?" Rei asked.
Asuka briefly turned a shade of pink before she answered her. "Your brother was well-behaved throughout the entire outdoor concert he took me to," she answered, mustering up her self-assurance. It still felt a bit funny for her to refer to Shinji and Rei as siblings, even after learning they were indeed related, which helped dissolve a lot of the initial jealousy Asuka previously held towards the bluenette. Asuka began to smirk slyly before she continued. "But enough about me-what about you and the artist-formerly-known-as-Tabris?"
Rei sputtered a bit as she blushed, eliciting a bit of snickering on Mari's part, before she recomposed herself. One of the odder things to happen following the humanizing of the 17th Angel was the unusual level of interest Rei took in getting him acclimated to human society, despite her own relative newness to it. "*AHEM* Kaworu and I enjoyed a quiet evening listening to some old hi-fi compilations before taking in a marathon of Galaxy Express 999 reruns."
Instead of poking fun at the choice of activity like she would have done before, Asuka shrugged before responding. "Not bad. A little binge-watching never hurt, and I know you two aren't quite there yet in terms of being social butterflies, so good for you."
Soon the trio arrived at the storage room and entered, where they began unloading their current allotment of the boxes that needed moving.
"I knew all those years of mastering Tetris would pay off someday," Mari mused as she placed her two boxes on top of another two they'd brought in earlier.
"Whatever works for you, Mari," Asuka said, "whatever works..."
"Would it help if I started us off on a 'work song'?" Rei asked. "It seemed to be effective for the Seven Dwarves."
"We've really gotta wean you off those Disney movies, Wundergirl," Asuka said with a slight shake of her head. Since finding out about Rei's origins, the redhead had been seeing the former First Child in a new light, and as such made the effort to start things over with her. With help from Hikari and later Mari, it had been an interesting 'project' helping Rei become more sociable and versed in pop culture. (Though part of her regretted accidentally letting Mari sit her through a whole Disney marathon; she knew should've stepped in and balanced things out early on by turning her on to Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry.)
"Ah, let her have her fun, Princess," Mari said. "I'd say it's doing wonders for her."
"Look, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here," Asuka said as she moved to set another box down, "I'm just saying there's only so much I can take of hearing 'Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho' again and-"
Her train of thought was interrupted when she accidentally jostled a box that sent an object falling off the top of one high stack. The object bounced off of Asuka's head before it landed on the box she had just put down.
"Huh? What's this?" Asuka asked as she picked the object up. The object turned out to be a black top hat, and upon reaching inside, she pulled out what appeared to be a 'magic wand' typically used by stage magicians.
"Those might be props from the drama club," Rei surmised.
"Or maybe a student used them for a talent show," Mari guessed.
Asuka examined the two items before she said anything. "Heh-makes me think of this girl I knew at university who was a big comic book geek," she mused with a slight chuckle as she set the hat down (the opening facing up) and waved the wand a little bit in jest. "Her favorite superhero was Zatanna."
"What does this Zatanna do?" Rei asked.
"She's a stage magician with real magical powers," Asuka explained. "She'd usually cast spells by speaking backwards."
"Care to demonstrate?" Mari amusedly suggested.
Asuka rolled her eyes a bit. "Eh, can't be that hard. Let's see..." She thought about what to say for a moment before deciding on something random. She then tapped the interior rim of the hat with the wand as she said:
"Ekam su seorehrepus!"
Suddenly, a bright light began to glow from within the hat, making the eyes of all three girls go wide with surprise while Asuka dropped the wand beside the hat. The hat then began to fidget atop the box, causing the trio to start backing away very slowly...
"Um...wasn't I just kidding?" Asuka asked, mostly to reassure herself.
The hat then stopped fidgeting and unleashed a glittery geyser of pinkish-white energy that enveloped the room, before it then surrounded the three girls, gently lifting them a couple of inches off the ground. Then, the truly unexpected happened, as the three girls then began to glow to the point where only their eyes and silhouettes were visible-something that wouldn't have been out of place in a Sailor Moon rerun. This, in turn, was followed by each girl undergoing a distinct transformation.
Asuka was compelled to tear open her school uniform, revealing a certain costume underneath. Rei found a glowing golden lasso in her hands that she was compelled to twirl around her own spinning form as the makings of her own fanciful outfit began to take shape. Mari, in contrast, found an odd golden ring on her finger that she was compelled to press a tiny button on, opening the ring up and unleashing a red mass that she somehow vibrated her way into.
When all three girls had finished their changes, the wave of energy subsided and flowed back into the hat, which then stopped glowing. The girls then landed back on their feet on the storage room floor, and when they looked up at one another, they gaped at the sight of the results of the strange transformation they'd undergone. While all three had gained more athletic builds (well, in the case of Asuka and Mari, more athletic than usual), it was what they were wearing that proved to be astonishing.
Asuka was now dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt with a familiar-looking yellow and red 'S' shield, along with a flowing red cape (with an all-yellow 'S' shield on the back), a red skirt, and red boots. Rei's new garb consisted of a pair of silver bracers on her forearms; a golden tiara with a little red star in the center; what appeared to be a red-topped, blue with star-patterned bottom one-piece swimsuit (with the top portion covered by a golden bustier in the shape of two stylized 'W's' on top of each other); and a pair of red boots with a white vertical stripe ending at a white cuff at the boot tops. Mari was now clad in a red bodysuit with lightning bolt 'bands' along the forearms and the waist, a white circle with another lightning bolt through it, and a pair of golden yellow boots; additionally, on the sides of the suit's cowl (which covered all but the top of her head) were two golden yellow discs with a lightning bolt sticking out of each.
"Holy scheisse!" a bewildered Asuka exclaimed as she looked herself over, even feeling the cape to confirm that she was, in fact, not imagining things.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," Mari said as she took in her own new duds.
"It appears that the hat, and the wand, were both truly magical," Rei stated as she held up the golden lasso in her hands.
Asuka, looking at her, scratched her head absent-mindedly. "Guess my calling you 'Wundergirl' all the time wasn't too far off," she said, before something else occurred to her. "Hang on-we've got the costumes, does that mean...?"
As if anticipating the rest of the question, Mari suddenly zipped out of the storage room, and was soon back with a snack bag from the vending machine-specifically, the one at the opposite end of the entire school building. "I'd say 'definitely'," she said while munching on her snack mix.
"Hmm..." Asuka sounded while thinking, before a slight grin graced her lips. "What say we...expedite our cleaning duty, as further testing?" she suggested.
Getting at what she meant, the other two nodded, and soon they'd used their now-superhuman levels of speed and strength to quickly retrieve the remaining boxes and store them, all in the blink of an eye. The three of them stood for a moment as they admired their handiwork, before Rei posed a question.
"Since we have finished our cleaning duty ahead of schedule," she began, "what shall we do now?"
"Well, since we've become superheroes for some reason," Mari started to suggest, "shouldn't we be out fighting crime or something?"
"Good point," Asuka said as she began focusing her new super-hearing and telescopic/x-ray vision. "I'll see if I can find Misato and Dr. Akagi, maybe we can tag along with them."
The superpowered alter-egos of Misato and Ritsuko had become something of an open secret throughout NERV-Central, but thankfully all personnel were smart enough to stick to 'what happens in the Geofront, stays in the Geofront', as far as the rest of the world was concerned. Before that, Asuka was at first somewhat resentful of her guardian and the chief scientist hogging the Angel-beating glory that by all rights should have been hers, but when the dark secrets of NERV were brought into the open by the two of them (and Kaji), she changed her tune.
"Found them," she said after a few minutes. "(Wow, that's handy.)" A mildly unpleasant thought then occurred to the German, causing her to give herself a facepalm. "Oh, gott..."
"What is wrong?" Rei asked.
"I just realized-I'm Supergirl," Asuka started to answer with a slight groan. "That means I'm effectively Misato's sidekick! I'm never gonna hear the end of it from her!"
"Easy there, girl," Mari said in an attempt to reassure the redhead. "I thought you were done with the whole 'inferiority complex' thing. Let's just meet up with them and give 'em a hand in whatever it is they plan to tackle. Besides, I'm really itching to stretch these legs-that snack run was small potatoes compared to what I imagine I can really do."
Asuka was about to grouse further, before realizing Mari had a point. "Eh, what the hell, you're right," she admitted before turning to the door. "Up, up, and away then?"
Soon the three girls sped off out of the school and made their way towards Misato and Ritsuko.
Lake Ashinoko-3...
En route to Misato and Ritsuko's current location, the trio passed by one of the three Lake Ashinokos, where in a small boat out on the water sat Shinji and Kaji. The latter had sold the former on a late afternoon of fishing to take their minds off the tedium in their respective jobs, telling him it'd be something of a bonding experience. Shinji actually appreciated the peace and quiet out on the lake, even if he hadn't any bites on his line so far. Suddenly, the two of them heard the sounds of rapidly-approaching objects that made them look up...just in time to briefly catch sight of the costumed Asuka, Rei, and Mari speeding by them, making their eyes widen and mouths go agape in surprise. Their looks of surprise became more pronounced when Mari briefly zipped back and helped herself to one of the sandwiches they'd packed.
"HiPuppy!ByePuppy!" she quickly said before zooming off to rejoin the other two.
Shinji and Kaji blinked simultaneously, not saying anything, until the former finally turned to the latter and spoke. "...Tell me I wasn't just imagining that, was I?" he asked.
"Nope," Kaji nonchalantly replied. "That was definitely real."
"...Should I be worried?" Shinji asked.
Kaji, a bit hesitantly, gave it some thought before answering. "For now, not really," he said with a shrug. "But...when you and Asuka get to the point where you decide to be a little more...intimate with each other? Then you should be a bit worried. Fortunately, I've found a decent strength and endurance exercise regimen that should be helpful..."
"What are you-?" Shinji started to ask, before his eyes widened further and a very luminescent blush appeared on his face. "OH."
A building rooftop overlooking the coastline...
"...So we're thinking of going with a simple, small ceremony," Misato was saying to Ritsuko as they shot the breeze while scanning for signs of trouble; they'd been discussing hers and Kaji's upcoming wedding for the past fifteen minutes since they arrived at their impromptu lookout spot. "Mostly friends and family in attendance. (You as maid of honor, of course.)"
"Sounds fair," Ritsuko commented. "Makes the logistics easier for the reception, I'd imagine."
"Probably," Misato said before a sly half-grin appeared on her face. "Sooo, how's life with the missus?"
Ritsuko briefly gave Misato an annoyed look before responding. "We're not quite there yet, thank you."
"Don't be so sure," Misato teased. "I mean, who knows just how I'll toss the bouquet...?"
"*Sigh* ANYWAY," Ritsuko started to say, "I'll tell you, Maya has been a complete breath of fresh air. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve her."
"Well, you do, so don't say otherwise," Misato said in turn.
"I'm going to let you in on a little something," Ritsuko said. "The two of us have been talking, and we're going to use the metaphasic transmuter one last time before it's decommissioned. (Off the books, of course.)"
Misato's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Really? What brought that up?"
Ritsuko smiled a bit before she explained their reasoning. "Maya and I want to ensure we're equal in this partnership, and I didn't want to leave her in an awkward position between the two of us. We've gone over all the variables, so at some point soon, we'll probably have a third hero joining us."
Misato smiled a bit herself on hearing this. "Heh, maybe we can prove the phrase "three's a crowd" wrong," she mused, before she soon picked something up with her super-hearing. "Oh, great..."
"What is it?" Ritsuko asked while she started focusing with her own super-hearing.
"Some nutball mad scientist-type managed to take control of Jet Alone," Misato answered with a shake of her head. "I swear, it's like the third time this month we've encountered one of these weirdos."
"Repetitive or not, we've still got to stop whatever they're planning and end that thing's rampage," Ritsuko stated with a mild sigh. "In a way, I somehow feel responsible for leaving it vulnerable to hijacking like that."
"No kidding," Misato sarcastically said, earning a look from Ritsuko before she reassured her with, "Don't worry, you've more than made up for that incident twice over." She then turned back towards where the chaos was starting to unfold as the two of them began floating in the air. "All right, let's go stop a runaway robot...again..."
"Room for three more?" a new voice posed.
Misato and Ritsuko turned at the sound of the new voice, and shocked looks adorned their faces when they saw the costumed, superpowered Asuka, Rei, and Mari having caught up to them, with Asuka sporting a very pronounced, very confident smirk. Both Asuka and Rei were floating in mid-air, while Mari was fidgeting at speeds both women could barely keep up with, even with their superhuman levels of perception.
Misato and Ritsuko, mouths still agape, did a double-take from each other to the girls and back, before Misato looked at them again.
"How did-?! What did you-?! When did you three-?!" a sputtering Misato asked, before Ritsuko's hand on her shoulder stopped her from going further in her confused reaction.
"Misato," Ritsuko began to calmly say, "contrary to my profession in the scientific field, I believe this is one of those times where it's better not to know."
Misato, staring at her friend in utter disbelief at first, let out a resigned sigh before she addressed the girls. "*Sigh* All right, I'm guessing you guys want to help us out?" The girls nodded 'yes' in response. "*Hhhhhh*-Okay, but follow our leads, got it?"
"No problem," Asuka answered. "Just one thing, though."
"What's that?" Ritsuko asked, one eyebrow raised.
Asuka, smirk still present, furrowed her eyebrows before answering simply: "Don't call us sidekicks."
-X-
"On that day, a new team of heroes was born, to face greater threats than any one of them could handle alone," Bat-Mite narrated as he typed on the sheet of paper currently in his typewriter. "In the wake of their stopping of the runaway Jet Alone's repeat rampage, the five were bombarded by the press with questions as to whether they'd be sticking together, and if so, what name they'd call themselves. (Of course, all but Rei super-speedily blurred their features to keep their identities secret; Rei's tiara, on the other hand, somehow magically kept her features hidden.) Mari, aka the Flash, quipped that maybe they'd call themselves a bunch of 'Super Friends'; Asuka, aka Supergirl, scoffed at this, and put forward that they'd be more like a 'Justice League'. It was Misato, aka Superwoman, who formally gave their fledgling group a name that had more staying power-coincidentally, it was the 'Power Squad'. It proved a hit with the press-it was catchy, easy to remember, and most importantly, marketable. As time went on, the Power Squad became well-loved by the public at large, as they continued to protect the planet from even stranger and more terrifying foes that ran the gamut from giant (non-Angelic) monsters, to invaders from another dimension, to bands of supervillains who thought they could go ten rounds with the women warriors.
In matters of the, shall we say, personal: a few years later, the day indeed came when Shinji and the now-superpowered Asuka were ready to take their relationship to the next level; and on that day, Shinji, thanks to a new, specialized exercise regimen, was well-prepared for the night to come.
(NOW it's) THE END."
Bat-Mite plucked the paper from the typewriter and handed it off to Mr. Mxyzptlk. "All right, Mxy-your thoughts?"
Mr. Mxyzptlk took the page and bundled it with the rest of the addendum Bat-Mite had typed up to go with the story he himself had initially written. He read through the whole thing briskly before handing it back to Bat-Mite. "It's...okay," Mxy said. "Decent follow-up, don't get me wrong, it's just it was missing a little something."
Bat-Mite raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And that'd be?"
"FANSERVICE!" Mxy loudly answered. "And I'm not talkin' about the little references you peppered in throughout the story, I mean the kind Misato always hints at during the 'next episode previews'! I mean, you coulda put it in the transformation sequences at least!"
Bat-Mite rolled his eyes at this. "Puh-leeze, Mxy," the dark mite scoffed, "they're teenage girls, for Dini's sake! I mean, we may be superior beings, but we're not smut peddlers! (In spite of the hint of lemon in both our stories put together.) Still, your feedback will be noted." With a wave of his hand, Bat-Mite then turned the packet containing the story into a digital document, and then uploaded it. "It's in the fanboys' hands now. If you'll excuse me..." He then turned to leave.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Mxy asked in a mildly annoyed manner.
Bat-Mite smirked a bit before answering. "Oh, nowhere special-just need to return something I borrowed." With that, he *poofed* out of the 5th Dimension to take care of his errand.
An apartment in another universe, a few minutes later...
Damn it, where in the seven hells did I put those things? Zatanna Zatara asked herself as she turned the bedroom in her apartment upside-down. She had a show to perform in half an hour, and when she went for the hat and wand that capped off her signature look, they were strangely nowhere to be found. Granted, earlier in the day, she'd done a bit of spring cleaning since being out on the road a lot didn't leave her with time to keep it tidy for long, but that probably wasn't how she'd misplaced her two props. So she started looking in every nook and cranny for them, hoping that they weren't stolen (which would've been hard to do anyway, since she had more hidden magical defenses that could keep even a fly out of her apartment).
In her distracted state, the Princess of Prestidigitation failed to notice a *poof* within a nearby closet. Inside, Bat-Mite cleverly slipped the hat and wand in question back on top of a chest of drawers he'd taken them from originally, and quietly pushed the door open. Knowing it was enough to get a sliver of Zatanna's attention, he quickly turned himself invisible and watched as the magician walked over to the door, opened up the closet, and smiled with relief upon finding her missing props.
"I need to find a better way to keep these on me," Zatanna said to herself as she used the wand (in tandem with a quick spell) to shrink the trunk containing the rest of her props, pocketed the trunk, grabbed her keys, and exited the apartment, locking the door as she did, which re-engaged the aforementioned magical defenses.
When the coast was clear, Bat-Mite became visible again, floating in the center of the bedroom. He then looked our way and chuckled with satisfaction.
"Gee, ain't I a stinker?" he posed while riffing on Mr. Mxyzptlk, finishing with a wink.
(NOW we're at the) END.
**Author's note(s)**
By 'popular demand', or rather, more of a suggestion from Deviantart user Jkl6667, we have this addendum to the story to really cap it off. The main meat of this part was based on a proposed commission they'd worked out with OrionPax09 that was never fully started beyond a couple of concept layout sketches.
Asuka's 'don't call us sidekicks' line riffs on the tagline for the initial season of Young Justice.
Mari suggesting 'Super Friends' as a team name is based on the Wally West Flash doing so in the third episode of Justice League.
The Power Squad was an all-female superhero team pitched by DC writer Jack C. Harris and artist Trevor Von Eden during the Bronze Age of Comics (according to an interview, roughly around 1980 to be exact). It would've been composed of Supergirl, Batgirl, Vixen, and Enchantress.
And now, a bit of fun to truly cap things off!
Omake 1 - Ritsuko's Retrospective History of Power Girl
Some time after the incident with the metaphasic transmuter, Misato and Ritsuko were at their secret 'training ground' in one of the larger wooded areas near Tokyo-3, spending another late afternoon fine-tuning their skills with their new powers. While Misato was doing a little 'weight training' with some boulders she'd found the last time they were here, she noticed Ritsuko, floating in mid-air, looking at something on her laptop.
"What're you looking up?" Misato asked.
"Just information on Power Girl," the bottle blonde of steel replied. "I mean, everyone's heard of Superman, and to an extent Supergirl, but I wanted to know more about the character whose powers and costume I got endowed with." She threw a quick glance down at her chest. "Speaking of..." she muttered. "(Boy, was there a lot of fan art to get past...)" She jokingly shuddered at that thought.
"So what'd you find?" Misato probed further while juggling a few boulders.
"Turns out she's got a bit of a fascinating publication history," Ritsuko started to explain. "First off, she's actually the same as Supergirl, just from an alternate universe where instead of arriving on Earth as a teenager, she was in her early-to-mid-twenties."
"Basically, 'college grad' Supergirl?" Misato posed.
"You could say that, with a bit of 'Women's Lib' thrown in, since she debuted in 1976," Ritsuko answered as she perused some of the pages she had open. "There's an anecdote about how Wally Wood, one of the artists who drew her in her initial adventures, felt that his editors weren't paying attention to anything he did, so his inker started drawing her breasts bigger until someone noticed; he pulled it off for around seven to eight issues."
"Huh," Misato commented. "Must've been a really subtle inker."
"Anyway, her being 'Earth-2 Supergirl' was her status quo up until 1985, when DC Comics put out the story Crisis on Infinite Earths, which wiped out their multiverse and condensed everything into a single universe. Strangely, while Supergirl herself died in the story, Power Girl for some reason stuck around, and since the powers that be wanted Superman to really be the 'last son of Krypton' going forward, they rewrote Power Girl's origin so that she was granddaughter to an ancient sorcerer from Atlantis. She wound up as a member of the 'Justice League International' and a short-lived team called the 'Sovereign Seven', while also being saddled with a number of weird developments in-between."
"Like what?"
"At one point," Ritsuko elaborated, "one writer gave her mood swings caused by drinking diet soda, and another had her undergo some kind of magical 'virgin pregnancy' before another continuity-changing story that same year."
Misato whistled in astonishment. "Sounds like they really didn't know what to do with her."
"Not too far off, actually," Ritsuko said as she scrolled through Power Girl's DC Wiki page. "They finally managed to get a handle on her when they put out a title called JSA and she was brought in, where they revealed that her whole 'Atlantean' backstory was a lie. Then came yet another continuity-changer in 2005 called Infinite Crisis, which actually restored Power Girl's Earth-2 origin, making her effectively not just a survivor of a dead planet, but a dead multiverse."
"Hmm," Misato sounded while doing a bit of knife-free 'woodworking' with a fallen tree. "So it seems like they managed to get her act together after so long."
"Emphasis on 'seemed'," Ritsuko said. "She even got her own solo comic that lasted a good 27 issues. Then DC did another continuity-changer in 2011 with Flashpoint, which then led into the New 52 relaunch of a lot of DC comics and more attempts to 'modernize' their characters, Power Girl being one of them. At this point, I think I'm better off not going any further, all these retcons and reboots are enough to give even my brain a hard time."
"Certainly did mine," Misato said as she finished her woodworking, having crafted a wooden sculpture of a marching line of penguins similar to Pen-Pen (her pet warm-water penguin), which she then put down. "Okay, enough internet research-let's get those muscles working, Rits!"
"All right, all right, settle down," Ritsuko said as she closed her laptop before eyeing Misato's handiwork. "Nice penguin carving. Bet I can make a troupe of waltzing cats out of stone."
Misato grinned. "Bring it."
Omake 2 - Enter: MaxiMaya
Ritsuko and Maya were in the lab that housed the metaphasic transmuter, calibrating it for its final usage before it would be dismantled. The one being subject to its effects would be Maya herself, and even if they didn't show it, they were a bit nervous. (Though Maya would say 'nervously optimistic'.) They'd double-checked, no, triple-checked the settings and any variables to take into account, until they felt they were ready.
"All set, Maya?" Ritsuko asked, standing next to the main console that controlled the transmuter.
Maya, standing in the same spot where her girlfriend and Misato had been transformed roughly a year ago, nodded warily. "I'm ready. Fingers crossed."
"That makes two of us," Ritsuko said as she slipped on some safety goggles. "Stand by." She then pressed the button and activated the transmuter, the turret whirring to life as it focused on the technician standing in its path.
Pleaseworkpleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework...Maya thought repeatedly while crossing both her fingers as she closed her eyes. The transmuter soon fired off a green, glowing wave of light that passed over Maya, and as suddenly as it happened, the beam dissipated and the transmuter shut off automatically. Ritsuko walked over to Maya to check on her, as Maya shook her head to get her bearings.
"*Oof* Definitely wouldn't want to feel that more than once," she said as she rubbed her temples a bit.
"Should've seen Misato's reaction," Ritsuko said. "Said it was like she'd drank out of a car battery."
"I can see why," Maya said as her body shuddered slightly without her noticing. "So, what comes next?"
Ritsuko smiled a bit before answering. "Oh, you'll find out in about 3...2...1..."
Before Maya could express any confusion over her girlfriend's statement, she heard the clasp of her uniform jacket's collar snap forcibly open, followed by the concealed zipper in the front as she looked down to see her chest expanding, causing her to gape. She then looked back up at Ritsuko as her bra struggled to keep her growing bust at bay. "Why didn't you say anything?!"
"Honestly? I wanted to see the look on your face, that's how it went for me," Ritsuko replied with a slight chuckle. "Now comes the rest of your body-whatever you do, don't fight it, just let it take its course."
Maya was about to ask Ritsuko to clarify when she soon got the gist after she began to feel her arms and legs growing, indicated by the tightening of her uniform. Soon rips and tears started to appear all over her clothes while her arms and legs gained a bit more muscle definition.
Amazing...an astonished Ritsuko thought as she observed Maya's transformation. I know I've gone through it, but it's just so incredible seeing someone else...
Finally, Maya's body halted its growth, as the molecules that comprised the remains of her clothes began growing brightly while they rearranged themselves around the tech's figure. Ritsuko, on instinct, covered her eyes as a great flash lit the entire area; when she brought her arm down, she gaped at the sight before her, an action Maya also took as she looked down at herself.
Maya's new physique, while not as muscular as Ritsuko's or Misato's, was still pretty impressive, bordering between the former's and that of an Olympic-level athlete. Her costume proved to be quite a standout as well. On her legs were yellow-gold boots, the right one thigh-high (with a diagonal top that angled downward on the inner thigh) and the left one ankle-high (with a similar diagonally-cut top). On her arms were opera-length gloves, with the half above the cuff the same yellow-gold color, and the other half (cuff included) a rich emerald green. On her torso was what looked like a somewhat-daring swimsuit, colored the same green as the gloves. It bared most of her stomach, and the bottom had a red band along the waist that centered on a triangular point aimed up towards her navel; the top half had a part that was the same yellow-gold as the boots and upper glove halves, though the lower left half was gone, exposing a diagonal view of the skin above her chest; the rest encased her neck and the rest of her upper chest. Two green shoulder pads flared out from the green portion of the suit, and flowing from the back was a near-translucent cape that seemed to shimmer.
"Whoa..." Maya sounded as she turned towards a reflective surface.
"Ditto," Ritsuko said.
After posing for a bit, confirming that this was actually real, Maya turned back to her girlfriend. "So...whose powers and costume do I have?"
Ritsuko (who'd quickly shifted into her own powered form a minute prior) got out her tablet and brought up a few pages she'd bookmarked. "Let's see, let's see..." she muttered as she scrolled through a character ID page she'd found quite useful. "Here we are, found her!" She then showed Maya the page in question. "Apparently, it looks like you've got Maxima's."
"Maxima?" Maya repeated, somewhat-incredulously. "What, do I have car powers or something? Am I Kia's spokesmodel?"
Ritsuko knew immediately she was joking. "Har-har-har," she said as she looked over the character's bio information. "It says here she was queen of the alien planet Almerac who got obsessed with Superman, wanting to make him her mate and have him rule by her side. Her powers include psychokinesis, superhuman strength, speed, and durability, telepathy, and a bit of teleportation."
"Woof," Maya commented. "And all that in a Superman stalker."
"Not quite a stalker, but close," Ritsuko said, "she at one point joined the Justice League to prove to him that she was sincere about trying to be a hero. She still carried a torch for him even after he married Lois Lane."
"Considering she's a redhead, she kind of makes me think of Asuka before she got over her crush on Kaji," Maya responded as she tried out a bit of her newfound psychokinesis on some machine parts nearby.
"Thankfully there's a version more akin to yourself," Ritsuko elaborated as she reached another section of the page. "During the later issues of the New 52 Supergirl comic, a new Maxima was introduced who was a lesbian that left Almerac because she couldn't stand the demands of her cultural traditions."
"I hear that," Maya said as she let down a few pieces of machinery she was mentally levitating.
Ritsuko then put her tablet down as she held a hand out towards Maya, a knowing smile on her face. "Well now...shall we blow this pop stand, my queen? Maybe conduct a more...thorough test of your new abilities?"
Maya, smiling back, took the proffered hand. You read my mind, Rits, she mentally projected into her girlfriend's mind, briefly surprising Ritsuko, although, shouldn't it be the other way around now? With that, the super-couple flew out of the lab to find a more...private setting for what they'd do next.
The minute they exited the lab, Mr. Mxyzptlk poked his head in from 'stage left' and looked our way, a sly grin on his face. "See? Now THAT'S the kind of fanservice I was talking about," he said while pointing with his thumb, capping off this omake with a wink.