Marcus wondered if his success was getting to his head. It must be. There was no other explanation for him to sneak into Dallon Household after midnight. It was a dangerous place to sneak in, working as the practical headquarters for the New Wave.
Of course, while he was climbing the wall, he wasn't exactly an interloper. He had been invited by Vicky. He just needed to hide his approach from her mother. He doubted she would appreciate his presence, especially since she was smart enough to realize why he would be sneaking around after midnight.
Not that he really liked her. Her bitchy attitude toward him just because he didn't let her screw him hard during the earlier deal really rubbed him wrong. He was honest to admit that fooling around with Vicky under Carol's roof was a big part of the reason why he had been taking the risk of sneaking in.
Otherwise, he would have just tried hard to convince Vicky to come to his motel room.
As for staying away from Vicky, he didn't even consider it. He wanted to say that it was about the power he received from her, which was incredibly convenient, but it would be a big fat lie. As much as he appreciated the powers he was receiving, tonight, he just wanted to finish what he started.
The idea of having Glory Girl under him, writhing in pleasure as he rammed into her again and again was tempting enough to risk making an enemy out of Carol.
As he climbed, he saw a familiar blonde looking out, a sexy smirk on her face. But, underneath, he could see that she was tense. He didn't have his connection power active, but after everything, that wasn't necessary for him to read something as simple as that.
Vicky wasn't exactly good at hiding her emotions.
"Photo delivery," he greeted her even as he finally pulled inside, and stopped. He had expected Vicky to wear something sexy, but he wasn't expecting her to wear a sexy variant of her own costume. Her costume was beautiful and inspiring, but it was also carefully engineered to look good without being revealed.
What she was wearing was very different. For once, it was very tight, enough to look painted on her. The fabric was different than her usual outfit as well. Not transparent, but certainly softer. But, those changes were nothing compared to the more major changes. The biggest difference was the length of the skirt. The original skirt didn't reach her knees, but it wasn't too far away. The new one might as well be a belt, barely managing to keep her underwear a mystery even as she stood perfectly still.
The slightest movement would ruin the mystery.
The top was even more incredible. Instead of the sensible shirt that covered her chest completely, the costume had a corset with a shockingly deep cleavage, only barely hiding her areolas. Any sudden movement, and that protection would be gone as well.
Marcus had to admit, she looked even sexier in such an erotic parody of her real costume was even sexier than her naked state, which was supposed to be something impossible, which was a great achievement.
He was tempted to take a step forward and continue where they had left, but he recognized a trap when he saw one. Especially one coming from Vicky. If he pushed, she would pull back. Her determination to tease him was very obvious.
If that was the game she wanted to play, he was not above cheating. Instead of giving what she wanted, he sat on her bed, and started digging his bag. That allowed him to pull a stack of photos for her, each showing her beauty in various states of undress. "Here is the promised delivery," he said with a wide smirk as he passed the photos.
"Thanks," she said as she grabbed them, her smile turning a little glassy. She clearly didn't appreciate her own defeat. It explained why she immediately sat next to him, their bodies brushing while she slowly started to check the photos.
Lost in her own show, she didn't even notice him taking another photo. Why should she, when she had already given him far more revealing ones.
The moment he took the photo, he noticed two presence in his mind. One was the familiar presence of Vicky, the straightforward mixture of excitement and frustration. Her emotions pulsated as she rubbed against him.
The other was a bigger mystery.
For a moment, he was sure that Taylor was the one behind the door, as the mixture of extreme self-hatred, suppressed aggression, and a growing panic that was at the edge of a panic attack was extremely familiar. Everything Taylor was dealing with… but without the convenience of dumping them to her bug swarms.
Of course, Taylor wouldn't have been skulking in Dallon household peeking at them. Certainly not from the corridor. It meant, that an extreme jumble of emotions came from someone that was at the house.
He was certain that he was dealing with another woman, so he was surprised by the sudden jolt of jealousy that had been added when Vicky leaned for a quick kiss. "Those pictures are amazing," she whispered, her gaze locked on her own naked visage.
"Only the best for you, my sexy savior," he answered, glad that Vicky was distracted by her own photos, or she would have noticed his sudden confused state. When the jealousy hit, he thought that Vicky was hiding a girlfriend around, but the intense guilt that followed the jealousy surprised him.
He didn't have a lot of experience reading the emotions of others, but that guilt was too intense to be about something normal. Combined with some other details, he was quick to reach a conclusion. A scary, dangerous conclusion.
"So, are we alone?" he asked.
"No, so you need to be silent. Mom is still in her office, working, and Amy has just returned from the hospital, sleeping."
That was not good news. He was willing to go as far as to say that it was terrible news. Vicky's explanation reinforced his guess about the identity of the party that had been bubbling with negative emotions.
Panacea, the greatest healer of America.
He bit his lips as he was thinking about it. If Taylor's horrible emotional state had scared him enough to make him take the risk of befriending her just to prevent her from becoming a cape equivalent of a school shooter — though it went way better he expected — Panacea's state absolutely terrorized her.
If anything happened to her, it would be a disaster of untold proportions.
Even ignoring all the lives she had been saving regularly, just in the Endbringer fights, she saved the lives of hundreds of capes, who then continued to defend the world against the monstrosities. If anything happened to her, the world would suffer.
And, she turned out to be a bundle of disaster that was worse than Taylor.
If the flux of her emotions were any less intense, he might have actually angled for some interesting situations, but Panacea felt nowhere near stable enough to handle teasing like that. Not right next to Vicky. Even if he was reading the source of her obsession wrongly — though he doubted based on the intensity of her self-loathing — trying to interact with her next to a family member didn't feel safe.
Lost in the moment, he decided not to stop Vicky even as she teased her. At that moment, it was not about the pleasure he was getting from the way she rubbed her leg against him, but a way to test Panacea's reaction.
He needed to understand if her jealousy would mean that she would attack him. Though she had never targeted Vicky's previous boyfriend, Marcus didn't want to test that. Unlike Vicky's old boyfriend, he was a poor orphan. Just a suggestion from Panacea would be enough for him to end up in prison.
At least he didn't need to worry about a cape attack. Panacea was just a healer, meaning he wasn't under threat from a cape attack. If she had any offensive capabilities, she would have been a part of the New Wave more offensively.
He wished that ignoring it was an option. It should have been. Panacea had a family full of famous capes that could help her. Different from Taylor. However, considering her emotional state, they were clearly not helping.
He couldn't tell Vicky, because it was clear that she was a part of the problem. He couldn't tell Carol … because even assuming that she could help — doubtful considering the emotional state of her daughter — she wouldn't believe him.
Their interaction convinced him that Carol was a stone-cold bitch that was pretty convinced of her own superiority. Claiming that she was a terrible mom wouldn't go well.
No, he needed to find a way to interact with Panacea, and make sure she wasn't as depressed. And, he could only think of one way of doing that.
"Careful," he whispered even as he turned his attention to Vicky and kissed her neck. "You're playing with fire. You'll be making a lot of noise if you manage to tempt me. You might wake up your sister. If that happens, I might have to seduce her as well."
"Such a naughty bastard," Vicky whispered. "Too bad that would never happen. You can never seduce Amy," Vicky said confidently. Her words only confused Panacea.
"That sounds like a challenge," he said. "How about a bet then?"
That earned a chuckle. "Sure, whatever you want," she said.
"A naked photoshoot with two of you," he immediately responded, which caused a flash of anger in Vicky. Panacea, on the other hand, had been hit by an intense sensation of hope, as Marcus had just offered her water after she had been lost in a desert for a week.
She had issues indeed.
"Someone is feeling confident," Vicky growled, trying to cover her genuine anger with playfulness.
Marcus decided that he needed to do something before he turned into a bloody paste. He leaned into her neck once more despite her tensing. "Someone is watching us from the keyhole. And, since she didn't burst in, it can't be your mother. I'm just messing with her. Play along," he offered rapidly.
"How do you know?" she whispered.
"No light from the keyhole," he said. "I'm a photographer. I notice those types of details."
Just like that, Vicky's anger turned into amusement. On Panacea's side, her jealousy flared once more, but hope stayed. "Let's see how long she'll stay," Vicky said as she reached for my belt without any preamble.
With one last flash of furious indignation, Panacea retreated, unable to handle the sight of her crush playing with someone else's cock.
"She's gone," he reminded her. "Do you think is there any chance of her going down and alerting your mom?"
Vicky smirked. "Only one way to find out," she said and brought her head down, her lips around his girth.
Was getting a blowjob from the Glory Girl under her roof with the risk of getting caught by her superhero mother anyway a sane choice? Definitely not.
He didn't care…