Chapter 21

Oh, what have I done? What have I done?

I had totally embarrassed myself. No, it was much worse than that. Much, much worse. I had totally humiliated myself. Under the influence of the Orgone I had raped and killed three Arion Primes.

I didn't feel bad about killing the Arion Primes; they would have done the same to me if I had given them the chance. But even though I had been chasing them, I hadn't been trying to kill them; I had been chasing them so that I could fuck them. And I had caught them. And then I fucked them and I enjoyed it! Enjoying every fucking minute of it! At least until their bodies had disintegrated in my arms, even the nearly invulnerable bodies of Arion Primes unable to survive the force of my Orgone-induced passion.

I didn't feel too bad about the sex with the Arion Primes, being a Velorian I seldom felt bad about sex. And it wasn't the first time that I'd had sex with an Arion Prime, though the first time it had been Meelek raping me. And then there was Karen, even though she was only half Prime. But it had never been rape between us. Karen was different. Very different. Oh yes, she was different!

This time there had been three of them. I could probably have lived with myself if that was all I that had done. But it wasn't. I had made a public spectacle of myself with the last two, repeatedly fucking them while a crowd had gathered. A TV news crew had gotten most of it on tape. The whole country, the whole world, had seen it. Well, there supposedly were a couple of monks in Tibet who hadn't seen it, but everyone else in the world must have seen it. More than once.

They had seen the woman they had come to accept, and maybe even love, as 'Supergirl', making mad passionate love to two men, destroying buildings and endangering innocent bystanders, as their nearly invulnerable bodies came together again and again. Dozens had died, and hundreds more injured, as 'Superbimbo' apparently enjoyed herself with those two men. Not cool at all!

'Superbimbo'. That was the new name the media had given me.

Oh, what have I done?

No one wanted to have anything to do with 'Superbimbo'. The blonde bimbo who had let those people die while she was too busy enjoying herself.

Oh, what have I done?

It wasn't the sex part. All of my friends knew about that aspect of me, even if I'd never done it in public before. No, it was all of those deaths. I hadn't lifted a finger to try to help those people. Even worse, I had actually been responsible for causing their deaths.

As a result, my friends had all but abandoned me. They were totally ashamed of what I had done. I really couldn't blame them, but oh, it hurt! Not cool at all!

Oh, what have I done?

I hadn't even bothered to help with the rescue efforts. I could have helped the rescue teams dig bodies, both alive and dead, out of the rubble. I might have been able to save some of those lives, getting to them far quicker than the rescue teams could have. But I had been too occupied with Mark, first in the park, and then back in our hotel suite.

Oh, I had been too occupied. And it had felt so good. But I was sure that it wouldn't have felt anywhere near as good if I had known what was going on, the damage that I had caused. The deaths that I had caused.

The deaths that I had caused, while I was too busy fucking those two Arion Primes. I had been having some of the best sex of my life, while innocent Terrans were dying around me.

Innocent Terrans were dying all around me, and I hadn't done anything about it. I hadn't even noticed. Not cool at all!

Oh, what have I done?

Even Mom, who always had a smile for me, who had always been there for me, even when I had hurt her, would barely listen to me when I tried to talk to her. She wouldn't talk to me. She'd occasionally talk at me, but that was all. And then she talked at me she would always call me 'Julie'. I was no longer 'my little one' to her. She never smiled at me, let alone winked.

I had lost something that I thought I never could lose, her love for me. The mother's love that she'd given me all of my life was gone. That hurt more than any physical pain could possibly ever have.

If it had just been me fucking the Primes, she might have let that pass. She was an Arion, and a nurse, and she knew what Orgone could do to a Supremis. But the way I had killed those innocent people, that she couldn't just let pass. This just was not cool at all!

Oh, what have I done?

And my darling husband! He wouldn't sleep in the same bed with me. He wouldn't even sleep in the same house with me; he'd gone back to his parents. At least he didn't tell them the real reason, just that we'd had a fight. He still had some respect for my secret identity. He just didn't have any respect for ME anymore. He had no respect for the 'Superbimbo' that I'd become.

He wasn't interested in talking with me. He'd listen politely, but then would just turn and walk away. I really couldn't blame him, but if he wouldn't talk to me, who would? I knew I could use my Velorian muscles to hold him and make him talk to me, but that would only make matters worse. That would be just the kind of thing 'Superbimbo' would do, not the kind of thing I wanted to do.

That would be no better than my raping him. That wouldn't express my love for him, the love that I deeply felt for him, any more than my raping those Arions had expressed any love for them. This just was not cool at all!

Oh, what have I done?

Even the government was threatening to cut off our funding. They were beginning to wonder if it was worth having us fighting the Arion invasion. Not if their primary weapon, yours truly, was going to be fucking the Arions, and killing innocent Terran bystanders in the process. The Terrans that 'Superbimbo' was supposed to be protecting. Not cool at all!

Oh, what have I done?

Even Danny probably would have run off screaming if Supergirl, or rather 'Superbimbo', were to show up on his doorstep. And he'd had a crush on her since day one and always had been a big fan of hers, collecting every newspaper clipping and every picture that he could find.

Oh, what have I done? What have I done?

Sirren stood alone on the sidewalk, holding the money machine in her hands. She had one of Carlos' tee shirts on over her Warrior Prime uniform, leaving her long legs mostly bare. At least she had gotten Carlos safely away, where his fragile body wouldn't be hurt. In the confusion he had managed to mingle with the other Terrans as they quickly fled the scene. At least as quickly as they could, to Sirren they appeared to have been moving in slow motion.

She looked around at the three police cars that ringed her in a semicircle, their lights still flashing as their occupants crouched behind them, pointing their puny weapons at her.

She really didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Didn't this money machine, the one that used to be in the brick wall behind her, give out money to anybody who wanted some? So what if she had damaged it ripping it out of the wall? She had seen plenty more of them around the city, what was one fewer? She had patiently waited until everybody else in line had gotten what they wanted, hadn't she?

"Okay, lady. Put the machine down and put your hands over your head." At first she didn't seen who had spoken. Then she saw that one of the men had a device in front of his mouth, the end toward her flaring out in a horn.

"If you want some money, you should have been in line, like the others," she called out to him.

"We don't want the money, lady. Just put the machine down," the man with the horn-like device said.

"Oh, if all you wanted was the machine, why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Holding the ATM in her left hand she drove her right hand into it to pull out the money cassette. "Here you go. Catch."

With a casual flick of her wrist she sent the mangled remains of the ATM flying towards the cop with the horn device. He and his partner managed to scramble clear as the ATM landed on top of their patrol car, crushing the lights on the roof as well as the roof itself, and caving in the passenger compartment. Glass flew in all directions as every window of the car shattered. One of the tires blew out from the impact.

Having given the man what he had asked her for, she turned around and started walking off, still holding the money cassette in her right hand.

Frank had enough. Nobody did this kind of crap on his beat and got away with it. Not in his ten years as a Sergeant on the police force. And certainly nobody did this kind of crap to his car. Especially not a dumb broad! Propping himself up on his elbows, he raised his police revolver. Taking careful aim, he fired at the woman's retreating back. He was satisfied to see her go sprawling on her face. "Take that, you dumb broad!" he thought smugly to himself.

Sirren felt the sharp impact on her back as she went sprawling on her face, causing her to lose her grip on the money cassette. Brushing the hair out of her eyes with her left hand, she started to get back up to her feet, bracing herself just in case they shot her again.

In her training she had experienced these light hand-held Terran weapons before. She hadn't been prepared for it this time; otherwise it never would have knocked her off her feet. She knew that these puny weapons couldn't possibly hurt her, but she also knew that she had just been the recipient of what these Terrans called 'deadly force'. She knew that these puny weapons were truly capable of killing Terrans. Stars, why should they do that to her when she had given the man the money machine as he had asked her to do? He'd said that he didn't want the money, just the machine. So why shoot her?

Frank couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew that he had hit her, he could see the ragged hole in the back of her tee shirt. Yet there she was, getting back up to her feet, brushing the hair out of her eyes with one hand.

Before she could do any more than get up on one knee, he fired again. He saw the second hole in the back of her tee shirt, but other than that there seemed to be no effect. He fired again, and again, but she just continued to stand up. He continued firing as she turned around. He also heard his brother officers firing at her as well. But the combined firepower of the six officers seemed to have no effect on her, except for ripping her tee shirt to shreds.

Stars! Sirren was really beginning to get annoyed. Hadn't she done what that policeman had asked her to do? She had given him the money machine as he had asked her to do. So why were they trying to hurt her with their weapons? What else did she have to do?

Even though they couldn't actually hurt her, they did kind of sting a little. Though it did kind of feel good when she turned around and they began hitting her soft breasts. Even better than when Carlos fondled them with his big hands.

Looking around, she saw the man who had been talking to her through that horn device. He was lying prone in the street, with his puny weapon still pointed at her. Ignoring the few remaining bullets pinging against her, she squinted her eyes and focused a narrow beam of intense heat at the weapon, until the intense heat forced him to drop it.

"Why are you doing this to me? What have I done wrong? Didn't I give you the machine like you asked me to?" Her hands idly rubbed her body, removing the few remaining shreds of her tee shirt.

Frank still couldn't believe his eyes. She had thrown the ATM at him, destroying his patrol car. She had withstood the combined firepower of six policemen. And now, she was asking what she had done wrong?

He recalled the stories about the 'Battle of the Rio Grande' a month earlier. Damn, was this broad one of them?

He remembered that an entire Army battalion had been unable to bring down two of the supposed aliens. They'd needed the help of Supergirl. Help? Damn, Supergirl had done all of the work, according to all of the news stories.

Some Supergirl! She had been in the news a lot lately, after what had happened up in Kentucky. The blonde broad sure looked good, but she was just a bimbo. Or 'Superbimbo', as the press were calling her now. She had been fucking two of the other aliens, while destroying buildings. What was the death toll, over twenty, wasn't it?

This broad had to be another one of them! She clearly wasn't Supergirl, her hair was jet black. But with her tee shirt gone, she certainly looked like a super girl.

Still, nobody, not even a supergirl, got away with robbing an ATM and destroying a police car and resisting arrest. Certainly not on his beat. Yet what could he do about it?

Deciding that there was no point in any further discussions with people who shot at her for doing what they had asked her to do, she turned around and picked up the fallen money cassette. Ripping it open with her bare hands, she took out the crisp new bills. Tucking them into the top of her costume, under her left breast, she turned to leave. Leaping over the head of the nearest of the policemen who had closed in on her, she ran down the street. She turned the first corner and sped up.

Frank ran after the broad. Damn, just what was she? Nobody should be able to run that fast. He was panting by the time he reached the end of the block where she had disappeared. Turning the corner, he stopped and stared in amazement. He could just barely see her; she was already over three blocks away, her long legs eating up the distance, before she turned another corner and disappeared from his view. Damn! He probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with her in the police cruiser. Just who was this broad?

He stood there panting, bent over with his hands on his knees. Crap, what was he going to do with a supergirl on his beat? How was he going to deal with a girl who ripped ATMs out of walls and then tossed them onto police patrol cruisers, crushing them? Though at least this one hadn't killed anybody, unlike that blonde supergirl, that 'Superbimbo'. Still, what was he going to do with a girl, a supergirl, who bounced bullets off of her chest?

Though that had been quite a chest, hadn't it?

Oh, what have I done?

I hadn't seen George for the whole week, even though we were both in town. On Friday I finally decided that I had to talk with my darling husband, and have him talk with me. I called him up at work. It took several tries before I got through his voice mail. "George, please don't hang up on me."

"What do you want, Julie?" He hadn't called me 'Julie' since our first year in high school. I had always been 'Jule' to him.

"Oh, George, please come home. I'll do anything you say. I'll cook anything you want. Please come home. I just want to talk with you."

"Julie, I can't."

Oh, that hurt! My darling husband doesn't want to come home to me. "Please come home. I just want to talk with you. I won't lay a finger on you unless you let me, I promise. Please come home."

He finally agreed to see me, but not at home. We agreed to meet for dinner that evening at a restaurant. He was still afraid to be alone with me, being the only Velorian-enhanced male on the planet, the next best thing to an Arion Prime male.

Oh, but he was not the next best thing to an Arion Prime male, he was better, far better, because there was more than just the physical aspects between us.

Was. That was the operative word. There was something there before, it wasn't there now. I still loved him with all of my heart, with all of my body. But what good was it, if he didn't love me back?

Oh, I could force his body to make love to me, as I've done with plenty of other men before. But that wouldn't get me his heart back. And if I didn't have his heart, what good was the rest of his body?

If I couldn't win my darling husband back, how could I ever win anybody else back?

"Hello, Julie," he said as he stood up to greet me. He made no attempt to kiss me, and I didn't even try. He didn't even take my hand.

I sat down across from him at the table. "George, can't you call me Jule?"

"Julie, that was someone else, someone that I loved very much. You're not her."

Those words from the mouth of my darling husband hurt more than anything the Arions had done to me ever did. I could see the pain in his eyes, as well. I had to fight to hold back my tears.

"George, you've heard Mom say what Orgone does to us. I won't ask you to forget what I did. I won't even ask you to forgive me, though I hope you will, one day. But I will ask you not to forget what we had, what we still can have."

"Please, Julie. Don't make this any harder for me. I loved her with all my heart." He was close to tears himself. Not tears for me, but for someone he had loved, and he had lost.

"But George! She's not gone! She's still right here, if you'll let her." I started to reach for his hand, then remembered my promise not to lay a finger on him and drew my hand back away from his.

"I wish that it was so. I'd like to believe that. But how can I, after what you did?"

"Please, George. I lost you once when I dumped you for Larry. I don't want to lose you again. Isn't there anything I can do to get you back?" Despite the wetness in my eyes I tried to give him my most seductive smile. "Anything at all?"

That didn't work at all. He looked down at his plate. He looked around the restaurant. He even looked at the waitress. He looked at everything but me.

The rest of the evening passed in almost complete silence. At the end, he wouldn't give me a good night kiss. He wouldn't even shake my hand. I cried myself to sleep that night, as I had been doing all week.

Carlos was glad Sirren made it back to his apartment. They'd been on their way back from the gym, before going out on the town for a Friday night. He'd just gotten up to the ATM when all hell broke loose. Sirren had pulled off that stunt again, this time ripping the entire machine out of the wall to get to the money inside.

He'd wanted to stick around and see whether he could help. Yet when the bullets started flying, he knew that there wasn't a thing he could do to help. It certainly wouldn't help her at all if he got shot. Losing himself in the crowd scurrying for cover, he had decided to go back to his apartment to wait for her. As he came out of the stairwell, he was surprised to see her waiting for him by the door, wearing just that strange bikini, the one that she called her uniform.

As he unlocked the door she slipped in ahead of him. As soon as he had closed and locked the door behind him, she picked him up and carried him over to the couch. Setting him down, she sat down beside him, scooping a stack of bills out of her uniform and setting it down on the table in front of them. "Carlos, tell me. What did I do wrong? Why were those policemen trying to kill me?"

Madre de Dios! What was he supposed to say to that? How was he to tell a girl that had just ripped an ATM out of a brick wall and destroyed a police car with it that she had done something wrong? What was he to do, spank her? What good would it do to spank a girl who had just bounced a couple of dozen bullets off her chest?

He remembered his initial thoughts when she had ripped open that ATM the first night. There were plenty of other ATMs in the city. Dios, she could probably rip open a bank vault with her bare hands!

It would be an interesting way to make a living, being Clyde to her Bonnie. And what a Bonnie she would make! It would certainly an interesting night job. And a lucrative night job. And even if the police somehow managed to catch her, which he doubted they could, he could always deny knowing her.

Of course, it wouldn't be a lot of money; there probably weren't more than a few hundred dollars in each one. Still, a little money was better than none at all.

He explained his plans to her that night, when she had left him alone long enough for him to catch his breath.

Well, I struck out completely with my darling husband. I had to work on the rest of my family and friends. I knew the next step had to be Mom, if I couldn't win her over, I'd never get Steve or anybody else back. If Mom wouldn't love me, who would?

Oh, Mom! What have I done?

She's the one who's taught me everything I know about being a Velorian. She's the one who's taught me everything. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to have sex with ordinary men without killing them. She taught Mike and Rob so that they could teach me. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have my darling husband.

What have I done?

I finally got her to agree to talk with me. I was glad to see that she had a big pot of hot chocolate all ready when I went over to visit her that Saturday, that at least meant something to me.

I couldn't hold back my tears as I sat down. "Oh, Mom! What have I done? You know I didn't mean to do that."

She didn't come around and put her arms around me as she probably would have done in the past. Instead she poured the hot chocolate and then sat back in her chair, sipping at her mug as she looked at me over her mug.

"Mom! Don't just sit there! Say something!"

There was no change in her expression. "What do you want me to say, Julie?"

'Julie'! Not 'my little one'. I tried to wipe away my tears. "Oh, Mom! Please, everyone's been so cold to me."

She didn't even offer me a napkin or a handkerchief. "What did you expect? How many people died while you were having your little fun?"

"Mom! How can you say that? You, of all people, should know that I wasn't having any fun. You know what Orgone does to one of us, you told me yourself. And I am sorry about the deaths. Even if I'm not a Protector, I still feel things. I'm supposed to be Protecting these people, yet I let them die."

"You let them die? You LET them die? It seemed to me that you were the cause of it, just as much as the Arions were, if not more." Her shoulders shook, as if she was trying not to cry.

"I know that. I'm sorry. I really am. Don't you think that it hurts?"

"Does it? You haven't been acting like it."

"Mom! What was I supposed to do? You said that I shouldn't appear in public, at the memorial services. There's nothing I can do to bring them back. All I can do is try to stop the Arions from killing any more people. And I need your help for that. I need all of you. George, Steve, Karen, everybody. I can't do it all by myself."

She finally dropped her stony mask a little. I could see the pain she'd been trying to hide behind her bright blue eyes. I also saw a glimmer of love in them. "I know, Julie. We've all been with you a hundred percent, up until now. But now, to know that the only person capable of standing up to the Arions had caused the deaths of so many innocent people. My own daughter!" The floodgates opened up, as I was now no longer the only person at the table crying. She looked up at the ceiling. "Where did I go wrong? I tried to bring you up as your mother would have. Oh, I tried, for her sake. But those deaths, that was so horrible, so...." She buried her face in her hands, crying.

"So Arion of me?" I whispered, peering out from under my eyelashes.

She actually looked up at me and cracked a faint smile. "Yes, that might be the best way to put it. I've brought you up as I've been brought up, not as your mother was brought up."

"Mom! You did not bring me up as an Arion. You did much better than that, and you know it."

"I've failed you. And, and, I've failed your mother." She buried her face in her hands again as more tears came pouring out.

"Mom! You haven't failed, and you know it. You didn't kill those people, I did. I didn't do it because of what you did, or didn't do. I did it because of the Orgone."

"But if it wasn't for me, maybe those people wouldn't have died. I've failed you. And, and, I've failed your mother." More tears. A lot more tears. "I tried to bring you up as she would have. As she wanted me to. And I've failed." Even more tears. I've never seen her like this before.

Was she blaming herself instead of blaming me? No, she couldn't! The blame was mine, all mine. "Oh, Mom, it's not your fault. You did bring me up well. You could have brought me up to join the Arions instead of fighting them. If it wasn't for that damned Orgone making me so fucking horny...."

"Watch your mouth, young lady!"

We were talking about my having killed two dozen people, and she's telling me to watch my language? So much like a parent!

So much like a parent. Of course, she's my Mom. "Mom! You didn't kill those people. I, I, I did." My tears started anew.

This time she came around the table and put her arms around me. I leaned into her hug, putting my arms around her. We cried on each other's shoulders for a long time. Somehow, paradoxically, reassuring Mom that the blame for the deaths lay completely with me and not with her made me feel better.

"C'mon, my little one. The hot chocolate's getting cold," she said. That seemed to lighten the mood a little as she broke off and began brushing my hair back from my face with her hand. I reached out to do the same, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

It was then that I noticed the single strand of white among her jet-black hair. I looked closely, but I could see no other white hairs. Grasping it, I plucked it from her head. "On top of everything else, Mom, I'm giving you white hairs." I showed it to her.

That seemed to lighten the mood completely. She actually laughed as she took it from me. "Finally! It's about time, my little one. This definitely goes into the scrapbook. The first white hair that you've given me."

"And I promise I'll try not to give you another one for a long, long time."

"Oh, sure. You're a Velorian, my little one. I expected to be completely white by now."

Once Mom had forgiven herself for causing the deaths, it was easier for her to forgive me. Perhaps because she had never really blamed me. She had blamed herself for everything I had ever done wrong, thinking that she had erred somewhere in raising me, that she had failed not only me, but my mother as well. I hoped that if I ever had a child of my own, that I could be that forgiving, that loving.

With Mom back on my side, things began looking up. Things began returning to normal. She never told me, but I was sure that she had had a little talk with everyone. Steve was the first, threatening to spank me if I ever did anything like that again. Karen was the next, as she told me that she was sorry for the way she had treated me. She tried to crush my ribs with her hug, but all she managed to do was to flatten her breasts against mine. Linda and Mark started talking to me again. Mark gave me a big hug, as the twinkle was back in his eyes. Linda then gave me a much harder hug. Mike and Rob were all set to have me visit them again at their condo. But I couldn't accept their hospitality, not until I had reconciled with one more person. But he was still holding out on me.

The lone holdout was my darling husband. He still refused to come home, staying with his parents. I didn't want to jeopardize any remaining chance I might have with George by taking up with Mike and Rob.

Fortunately, the temptation didn't last too long. Work, as it has a nasty habit of often doing, intruded.

Nancy and Ted brought to our attention an unusual string of robberies in southern Texas. "If it was just a bunch of convenience stores and liquor stores, we wouldn't have thought twice about 'em," Nancy said. "But we thought you should take a look at these. It seems to be right up our alley."

She was right. A string of ATMs had been broken into. Not hacked, and not blown up, but they had been ripped open as if they had been nothing more than aluminum foil.

"It sure looks like a Prime, or a Velorian," Mom said, looking directly at me. We were studying the initial reports that Nancy had brought with her.

"Hey! I was here the whole time. But why a Prime? Couldn't it be a Beta?"

"As fast as you can fly, that's not an alibi, my little one. But it could hardly be a Beta. You know how well those things are built?" She pointed to one of the photographs. "I know that I can't rip one open like this one has been, and I'm twenty times stronger than a normal Beta."

"Oh? And how do you know that you can't? Have you ever tried?" I just had to give her some flack in return.

"Never you mind, young lady," she said, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Let's just say that there's only two people in this room who could have done something like this, and I have my doubts about one of them."

I turned and looked over at Karen. "Hey, cousin! You wanna we go find us an ATM and see if you can rip it open?" Most of the people in the room laughed. Apparently I've been completely forgiven. By everyone except for one.

She was game, she always was. "Sure! And if I can't, then you can weaken it for me a little."

I flexed an arm. "Sure thing, if an Arion wimp like you can't do it by yourself." She stuck her tongue out at me. I retaliated in kind.

"Girls, girls!" Mom quickly tried to restore order. It took her a while; Karen and I were laughing too hard, as was everyone else in the room. Even Mom was trying to cover the smile on her face.

It was definitely no laughing matter the next day when we saw the additional data that had come in during the night. A couple of the surveillance cameras had caught a young woman with black hair ripping the ATMs apart with her bare hands. But she must have gotten smarter, for she started to melt the lenses of the surveillance cameras to slag before moving into the picture area. There were some pictures of the cameras as well.

"Definitely an Arion Prime, not a Beta," Mom announced. She didn't get any argument from the rest of us. I wasn't about to point out that it could have been a Velorian as well, covering her blonde hair under a wig.

So far, she hadn't killed anybody yet. In fact, she almost always struck at night, when there was nobody else around. The only time there had been any witnesses at all had been during one of the earliest ones. She'd had a brief encounter with the police before running off into the night.

As if we needed any proof, the police report on that one convinced us that she was indeed an Arion Warrior Prime. The police had shot her repeatedly. The only effects their bullets had was to shred her clothes, revealing her Prime uniform underneath. A uniform identical to the one I sometimes wore, except for the color.

The big question was, what were we going to do about it? There was no question about the who, it was going to have to be yours truly. Mom and Karen together, even armed with our laser rifles, would be no match for one unarmed Arion Warrior Prime. And we didn't know how many of them there were; all we had was a couple of pictures from the earliest incidents, they seemed to show the same woman. But we didn't know whether she was responsible for all of them, though the timings and the locations did seem to indicate only one perpetrator.

So, the question remained, what was I going to do about the Arion Prime on the loose in Texas? How was I going to find one Arion Prime in Texas? How was I going to find one Arion Prime who didn't want to be found by a Velorian? Talk about the proverbial needle in a haystack!

We couldn't possibly hope to cover every ATM in southern Texas. The Army probably couldn't cover every ATM in southern Texas, not that that would do us much good. We had already seen how ineffective the Army's field weapons were against Primes. We would need heavier weapons than that, and we couldn't use heavier weapons in the cities and towns. After all, ATMs were seldom found by themselves in the countryside.

We could find no discernable pattern in the robberies. It was almost as if she got up in the morning, flipped a coin to determine which direction to go that day, and then hit an ATM that night.

We finally decided that I should go down there anyway. Some of our people staked out some likely ATMs in the area. I would fly overhead, staying in radio contact with our people on the ground. With some luck, she would hit one of our stakeouts, and I could get there before she disappeared. Our people knew better than to try to tackle her themselves, if they saw her they were to call me and then keep their heads down. Both Mark and Ted especially stressed on them the importance of not tangling with the Arions themselves, both of them speaking from personal experience; though neither of them had tangled with full Primes, they had both tangled with Betas.

That was a frustrating week. Every night I would be flying over a different town or city neighborhood, as we tried to anticipate where she would strike next. She did strike twice, but not any of our stakeouts. We finally gave up. It seemed as if we could spend the rest of our lives down here before we stumbled across her. We knew that we had to find some other way to catch her.

Not that I was that unhappy to come home, even if it was to an empty house. I certainly didn't enjoy fighting Arion Primes. I never had, and I didn't think that I ever truly would. I knew that one mistake, one unlucky break, and that would be the end of yours truly. Then who would stop the Arions from taking over the world?

I also couldn't forget what had happened the last time that I had fought against Primes, and all the deaths that had resulted.

I didn't think that I would ever forget about that last fight against Primes. I knew that I would never forget about all those deaths.

Sirren and Carlos were taking a shortcut back to their motel from the diner where they had just eaten. She heard before she saw the three men approaching. As she walked holding Carlos' arm, she felt him stiffen and then stop as he finally saw them coming from the other end of the dark alley. Even as Carlos started to turn around, Sirren knew that there were more men behind them, trapping them in the alley. Three of them, judging from the sounds of their breathing.

She knew that she had nothing to fear from a mere half a dozen Terran men. A little after-dinner exercise might even do her some good, though it probably wouldn't be very much of an exercise. But she knew that Carlos was at risk, and she didn't want anything to happen to him. Even if he was only a Terran, his local knowledge had been very helpful. He also did provide her with some entertainment, though again he was only a Terran. Spotting a second-floor fire escape across the alley, she quickly put her arms around Carlos. Jumping across he alley, she lifted him up onto it.

Ignoring his urging to join him, she turned around and stepped forward to face the six men who had formed in a semicircle around her, trapping her against the wall. For the first time she noticed that they were all wearing the same color shirts, almost like they were uniforms. She recalled from her training that this was one way that many of these groups, called street gangs, showed their identity. She had fought against some of these gang members in her training. Even without any formal training, some of them were pretty good fighters. For mere Terrans, that is, with barely enough strength to stand up even in this weak gravity.

"Look, it's Wonder Woman, getting her man to safety first," one of them said as the others laughed. "Hey, little boy, don't worry, your mommy's gonna protect you," another one taunted Carlos, causing even more laughter.

"Why don't you boys go on home to your mommies before you get hurt?" She called out to them, trying to goad them further. The more of a fight they put up, the more she would enjoy beating them.

"Ooh, I'm scared," one of them laughed. "I'm shaking in terror."

"So, are you guys going to bore me to death?" she asked them, taunting them further.

"Okay, let's have it, bitch," the one the furthest to her left said, stepping towards her.

She quickly reached out and grabbed his wrist, remembering at the last moment how fragile these Terrans were and not gripping too hard. Stepping back, she swung him across her body and flung him to her right. The two men furthest to her right went down from the impact.

The other three only hesitated briefly before rushing at her simultaneously. A quick kick caught the middle one in the chest, sending him flying. He hit the wall on the other side of the alley fifteen feet above the ground. He was dead before his body slid down to the ground, though it would be hard to pinpoint the exact cause of death, not that it would have mattered to him in the slightest. His ribcage had been crushed from the kick, while his skull had been crushed from the impact against the hard cement wall.

Before the other two could react her right hand flashed out, quickly followed by the left. Two bodies slumped down almost at her feet, their heads not much more than bloody stumps on their necks.

Turning around, she saw the first three men still lying on the ground in a tangle of limbs, trying to get themselves free of each other. Striding over to them, she quickly bent down over them. When she straightened back up with one of the men tucked under her left arm, the only motion below her was the blood flowing from two broken necks, where she had snapped them.

Sirren was a little disappointed. The entire fight had not quite taken ten seconds. Less than two seconds per man. Not a great time, especially when dealing with mere Terrans, but she hadn't been trying for speed. She had hoped that they would have put up a little more of a fight. They hadn't even been able to draw any weapons, not that that would have much of a difference.

There was only one of them left alive, the one who had rushed her first. Straightening up, she set him down on his feet, her left arm still around his waist. She hardly felt his struggles as he tried and failed to break her one-arm hold. Making sure that he was watching, she raised her right arm. As he cringed from the expected blow, she slowly flexed her arm. She saw the amazement in his eyes as her arm exploded, her bicep slowly tearing the sleeve of her tee shirt as the mere cotton fabric proved to be no match for her Arion muscles.

"Was this what you wanted from me?" she asked, smiling and still looking at his eyes. She pulled him closer. "Or is this it?" she whispered, bringing her right hand behind his head, pulling his face down to hers and kissing him. Forcing her tongue past his teeth, she felt the pleasant sensation as he bit down as hard as he could on her soft tongue. She playfully chased his tongue around the inside of his mouth, before flicking her tongue to break some of his teeth. Tasting his blood, she withdrew her tongue from his mouth.

She thought back to all of the Terran males she had killed during her training. Her smile widened at the memories. These Terrans were so fragile, so easy to kill, that the problem wasn't with the killing itself. No, the problem was deciding how to kill them, how to have a little fun in the process. She remembered the last one she had killed. His body was still shuddering from his orgasms as he died in her arms. Yes, she would do the same thing to this one. She slowly licked her lips in anticipation.

Adjusting her grip so that she had her hands on his waist, she pulled him even closer against her. Feeling her large breasts flatten slightly against his chest, she stopped, knowing that his fragile male ribcage couldn't take much more pressure before collapsing. She began moving him up and down, gently stroking her breasts with his broad chest, his knees buckling on every down stroke. She felt his body shudder with his orgasm. Terran men were so easy! She clasped him tighter to herself, enjoying the feel of his ribs breaking against her soft breasts. She muffled his dying screams with her mouth, kissing him again and tasting his blood again as he breathed his last breath into her mouth.

As she let his body fall to the ground before he could bleed on her, she wiped off her bloody hands and mouth off on the back of his shirt. She then went back to Carlos and helped him down from the fire escape. He would have to help her with her after-dinner exercise, once they got back to their motel room.

Next time, she might have to do it slower, so that she could enjoy it a little more. She had especially enjoyed the feel of his ribs breaking against her soft breasts, using the softest parts of her body to destroy a man, as she held him against her body much harder than she dared to hold Carlos.

It just wasn't right. It just wasn't macho.

Carlos was embarrassed. He was ashamed. Here he was, a big bodybuilder, cowering on the fire escape, while his girl was down there in the alley, alone against six gang members. It just wasn't right. It just wasn't macho.

The taunts of the gang members stung. Never mind that she had put him up here to keep him safe. He was the man, and she was the girl. He should be protecting her, not the other way around. It just wasn't right. It just wasn't macho.

He was certain that she could handle the situation by herself. Far better than he could. He knew that he couldn't handle the situation. Against one, certainly. Against two, perhaps. But not against six. She had the strength to handle them by herself. If he tried to help her, he would only be in her way. In the way of this supergirl. It just wasn't right. It just wasn't macho.

Here he was, a big bodybuilder, cowering on the fire escape, while a girl barely half his size was down there in the alley, alone against six gang members. It just wasn't right. It just wasn't macho.

As he watched, he wasn't sure which surprised him more. The easy way in which she obviously killed the first five men or the way in which she slowly killed the last one. The last one actually scared him a little. She really seemed to enjoy it, holding him to her, kissing him, rubbing his body against her large full breasts.

She had done all of that to him before. He enjoyed being held in her strong arms. He enjoyed kissing her sweet lips. He enjoyed having her pick him up, holding him as if his weight meant nothing to her, and rubbing her breasts with his chest. It felt so good when she pressed her large full breasts against him. Or rather, when she pressed him against her large full breasts.

But he had not realized until now just how gentle she had always been with him. He had often received bruises on his chest when she had pressed him too hard against her seemingly soft breasts.

But from even up here he had heard the man's ribs break as she held him against her breasts. And she didn't even seem to be exerting herself as she crushed a man's large hard ribcage against her large delicious feminine mounds.

She truly was a supergirl, to so effortlessly crush a man's hard ribcage against her softest flesh.

Dios! He hoped that she would never use that much of her strength against him.

He knew that he was safe, as long as she was by his side to protect him. But just wasn't right. It just wasn't macho.

That night, Sirren showed him just what she thought of his manhood. But again, as always, she was the one doing most of the work. As she worked over him, and made him work over her, he no longer cared about being macho, or not. She was his girl, his supergirl.

A couple of weeks later, I was back in Texas. Nancy had asked me to meet her in Corpus Christi. Quickly packing my travel bag, I took off. I flew down the fast way, without bothering to wait for a jet that would be slower anyway.

The police there were investigating six deaths that had happened in a dark alley a couple of nights earlier. All six were members of the same street gang. At first glance, it looked like a simple gang fight, hardly worth my coming down for. But on taking a second look, I immediately saw what had prompted Nancy to call me in.

By the time we got there everything had been cleaned up. We had only the reports and the photographs to go on. But they seemed to be conclusive.

The coroner's reports, along with the photographs taken at the scene, showed that this was not a case of a simple gangland killing. Ordinary street gangs don't kill like this. And these guys weren't expecting a fight; their guns and knives were found still in their pockets. The only blood found at the scene belonged to the six; they apparently hadn't even hurt whoever had killed them. Yet none of the six had been killed by bullets or knives. I was sure that I knew what had killed them, but I refrained from explaining to the police detectives investigating the case.

Two of the men had their skulls completely crushed; their faces completely caved in, making identification difficult. Two of them had their necks snapped cleanly. Another had been found at the base of a wall, the back of his skull apparently crushed from the impact against the wall; there had been some of his blood about fifteen feet above him. His chest was also crushed, as if from a hard blow. The last had some teeth broken; though there was no sign of a blow to the head. Instead, his chest was completely crushed, as if something hard had been pressed into him with incredible force. Two somethings, judging from the photos. His semen had been found in his shorts.

Yes, I had a pretty good idea of what had killed them. There were plenty of other men in the police 'unsolved cases' files, in Colorado and elsewhere, who had also died in similar mysterious ways from similar mysterious wounds.

A single punch would crush skulls just like that. Snapping necks like that wasn't any harder. A single punch or kick could crush a man's chest, while sending his body flying across an alley; he would usually be dead before his skull shattered against the wall. A tongue could break teeth, possibly while smothering a scream, as a man's hard chest was crushed against a woman's soft breasts.

Yes, I had seen lethal wounds like these before. Yes, I had seen deaths like these before. Many times. All caused by a single unarmed assailant. A lone woman. A woman who wouldn't need to be armed to deal with men like these. At least not if the men were mere Terrans, and the woman was a Velorian.

Or if the woman was an Arion Prime.

An Arion Prime, just like the one who was responsible for the string of ATM robberies.

I imagined that these six men had come across a lone woman in the alley, expecting to have some fun with her. They had gotten something completely different, as they had learned not to mess with that particular woman. Unfortunately for them, that had apparently been the last lesson they had learned in their lives.

Just as some other men had learned not to mess with a particular golden-haired woman.

Somehow, paradoxically, I felt more remorse about the deaths of these men than I did about the similar men that I had killed. I wasn't sure, but it felt, well, it felt right when I had done it.

I felt as if these men were innocent victims of the Arion, even though I thought that they hadn't been innocent victims at all, intent on at least a mugging, and more likely a gang rape.

Since the Arions had come, I hadn't killed too many rapists. Not even when I had gone out looking for them. I had tried to reserve my killings for the Arions, trying to avoid killing the Terrans.

Except for that one painful incident in Kentucky. Not only had I not avoided killing Terrans, I had actively caused their deaths. My darling husband still hasn't forgiven me for that.

I knew that it wouldn't buy my way back into my darling husband's good graces, but as we visited the scene of the fight, I resolved to do what I could to find and stop the woman responsible for these six deaths. Nancy and I got some hotel rooms and we started getting our stakeout teams put together again.

She struck again that night, but on the other end of the city from where we had our stakeouts. The next night everything was quiet; I didn't even see a single mugger from my patrol above the city.

Carlos looked around again. He didn't see anybody. There were a few cars around, but none in this corner of the parking lot. He saw Sirren also looking around, squinting a little, her bright blue eyes sparkling. Apparently she didn't see anything either, for she opened the door and went in the little shelter housing the ATM.

Bingo! I found her. Or rather, one of our stakeouts found her. Two of our men were in an unmarked van, parked in one corner of a department store parking lot. They had deliberately chosen a corner away from the ATM in its little shelter, in order to be a little more inconspicuous. When they saw a black-haired young woman get out of a car and approach on foot, they radioed in. I acknowledged their report and flew over, watching from above.

Sure enough, the surveillance camera lost its picture. Seconds later, our hidden monitors reported the destruction of the ATM. As the men relayed that report to me, I flew down lower.

As a black-haired woman emerged, I flew down and tackled her. She definitely was not a Terran; her body was much too hard. She had to be the Arion Prime we were looking for. I hit her in the back of her head; all that did was to drive her face into the cement sidewalk, putting a hole in it. A hole in the sidewalk, not in her face. I punched her again, driving her face deeper into the cement as cracks radiated outwards. Cracks in the sidewalk, not in her face.

I was trying to sit on her back, while trying to pound her face clear through to China. Then she did something. I wasn't quite sure how she did it, but somehow she bucked me off of her. I was flung off of her back, back against the ATM shelter. And into it, going through the steel and the glass. I came to a stop with my back against the ATM.

If that ATM wasn't in bad shape before, it was now. My back side had totally destroyed it, I had to dig my ass out of it in order to stand up. I charged out of there, just as the Arion Prime was getting back up to her feet, brushing the cement fragments out of her black hair.

She looked as if she was beginning to get angry. As angry as I already was. Angry at what she had done to those six men in the alley. Angry at what she was doing, going around robbing ATMs. Angry at what her people were trying to do to my world. Angry at the spectacle I had made of myself in Kentucky. Angry at having lost my darling husband.

Did I mention that I was angry? Standing right in front of me was something that symbolized all of the things that I was angry at.

I charged straight at her.

Sirren knew that she was in for the fight of her life. This was not going to be like that fight in the alley with those six gang members. This wasn't even going to be like that fight with the six policemen. She was facing only a single opponent this time.

But what a single opponent. It was one thing, to be fighting against the Terrans with their puny weapons. But now she was faced with a much tougher opponent. Even alone and unarmed, a Velorian Planetary Protector was not something to be taken lightly. By the Stars! Sirren knew the young woman with the golden hair was not to be taken lightly. No, the ringing in her ears wouldn't let her take this single opponent lightly.

As proud as Sirren was of her fighting abilities, she knew deep down that she was no match for a Velorian Planetary Protector. No Arion Prime was. One of her martial arts instructors had a crooked leg, courtesy of a Protector. The only reason that he had been an instructor was that he was one of a few Warriors Prime to have actually survived an encounter with a Protector. The Velorian bitch had survived unscathed, while the rest of his combat team, four other Warriors Prime, had died in the battle.

Still, Sirren was too much an Arion to back down from a fight. If the Stars had decreed that she die fighting a Velorian Planetary Protector, then let the Stars make it be a glorious fight! She would fight to make her old martial arts instructor, the crippled one, proud of her.

She had been taken by surprise the first time, the cowardly Velorian bitch striking at her from behind. But she wouldn't be caught again. Her head still reeling from having been smashed into the ground, she braced herself, preparing to meet the charging Velorian bitch.

Oof! You'd think, even a blonde like me would have learned by now not to lead with her face. It'd been a long time since I've been hit that hard. This was not cool! Maybe I've never been hit that hard, I certainly didn't make a habit of measuring the force of punches with my face, and this Arion knew what she was doing.

Even in my anger I should have known better than to go charging in like that. I was still too used to fighting Terrans. I could have charged an entire street gang like that, and mopped them up in one fell swoop. Even an entire infantry platoon.

But I wasn't fighting against a street gang. Nor was I fighting against an infantry platoon. I was fighting one opponent.

Instead, I was fighting one Arion Prime. We circled around, trading punches. I managed to block most of hers with my hands and arms, but she also managed to block most of mine.

Any one of those punches, either one of mine or one of hers, would have smashed completely through the thickest armor of an army main battle tank. And probably through the armor of a battleship, as well. Yet I couldn't see any effect my punches were having on her, no bruises, and certainly no blood. I hoped that her punches were having no more effect on me, though they stung and I felt sore. I sure hoped that she felt just as sore as I did.

We continued circling around each other, gradually moving out of the side street onto one of the main streets. I heard the squealing brakes as a car skidded to a stop, its hard chrome-steel bumper just inches away from being crumpled against my bare legs. Without taking my eyes off the Arion, I reached down and gave the car a gentle push with my left hand. I wasn't quite gentle enough though, the car went sliding across the street until the rear bumper went crashing through the plate glass window of a storefront, the airbags deploying and almost trapping the driver inside.

With the car out of the way, I lunged at the Arion, swinging my right fist, intending to get her with my left as she ducked. However, instead of ducking, she grabbed my wrist and spun, swinging me all the way around her, smashing me down on the trunk of another car. The metal crumpled and wrapped around me.

I peeled away the sheet metal, even as I saw the driver running away from what was left of his car. Looking up, I saw the Arion coming towards me. I rolled away as she brought her clubbed fists down, finishing off the back end of the car.

I lashed out with my legs, kicking her in the ribs, sending her flying across the street. As she came down, a parked car cushioned her fall. The car collapsed under her shapely and nearly invulnerable body as the car's anti-theft alarm set up a racket. She rolled away as I leaped at her, coming down on the metal wreckage and putting a big hole into the asphalt pavement underneath. Even though I missed her, at least I shut up that annoying alarm.

As I tried to get back up, she leaped onto my back, driving me back down, my soft breasts putting two more holes into the asphalt. She pounded me on the back, driving me further into the asphalt. I managed to roll over; her fists began pounding my breasts. If she had only been hitting me there about a hundred times harder than a heavyweight boxer, that might have felt good. But she was hitting me with all of her Prime strength, and that hurt!

The pain was excruciating! This was definitely not cool! I flailed weakly with my arms. I lashed out with my legs. Any one of my blows would have easily snapped a man's spine. Yet they seemed to have no effect on her. Her fists rained down on my breasts. I tried to cover myself with my arms. Her fists came down on my face. When I tried to cover my face, she went back to pounding my breasts, and my stomach.

With a supreme effort born of desperation, I lashed out with my legs again, finally managing to hit her thigh and knocking her off of me. She flew across the street, landing on her back on the car I had shoved through the store window earlier.

We both got back up to our feet, slightly slower than before, and circled around each other again. I finally realized that I was going about this totally wrong. I might be stronger than the Arion, but not by enough to give me a decisive advantage. Unless I was under the influence of Orgone, and I didn't even want to think about that. She was definitely strong enough to hurt me. And she was much too skilled a fighter, I hadn't been able to get a good hold on her, either to crush her or to take her into space, as I had always done with the other Primes that I had defeated in the past. If we just traded punches, she might get me before I got her.

But there was still one more thing that I could do that she couldn't. Ducking under her swing, I bought myself a little time by kicking out at her. Getting my leg under me again, I flexed my legs and leaped straight up into the sky. Continuing to flex my legs, I flew up a couple of thousand feet. Turning around, I headed back down. I could see her looking up at me. Circling around the block, I came at her from behind her back. I knew that I was going supersonic. It was an easy decision to make, between my breaking some windows or her destroying the whole city.

I put everything I had into it as I smashed into the small of her back. She went sailing for nearly a block, smashing into the corner of a partially finished building about thirty feet up. A spray of cement and steel and glass came out the other side, covering the parking lot below, setting off a number of car alarms. The Arion Warrior Prime was in the middle of it, falling down to smash into an empty minivan in the parking lot. I flew after her, trying to think up a good way to finish her off quickly.

Damn, she was tough. Even as I approached, she was ripping her way out of what was left of the minivan. Seeing me coming, her arms bulged with feminine muscle as she picked up the full-size pickup truck next to her and threw it at me.

Rather than simply avoiding the pickup and letting it do however much damage wherever it came down, I juked and caught the pickup, setting it down in the middle of the street as I landed. I then turned towards her, more than half expecting her to throw another car at me.

Sirren knew that she couldn't hope to win a contest of pure strength against the Velorian. Especially not when the Stars-forsaken blonde bitch could fly. With her head still reeling from the triple-whammy, the sucker punch, the building, and the car, she knew that she had to find some other way. Trying to buy herself some time, she picked up the pickup truck next to her and threw it at the Velorian flying at her.

Instead of avoiding it as she expected, the Velorian caught it and set it down. Of course, the Velorian bitch was a Protector! She didn't want to take the risk of the flying car hitting any of these frail Terrans that were scrambling for cover all around them. She could use the Protector's foolishly tender heart to her advantage. If she couldn't win this contest using her muscles, then she would have to win this contest using her brain.

Her body exploded into a mass of feminine muscle as she picked up another car and threw it. But this time she did not throw it at the Velorian bitch. When she saw that she had achieved the desired effect, she turned and ran. A tactical withdrawal, her strategy and tactics instructor would have called it. "Don't stick around in a fight you can't win," he had repeatedly said. "Withdraw, regroup, and choose a more advantageous fight."

Even then, she felt like a Stars-forsaken Kintzi, slinking away with its tail between its legs. Still, it was better to be running away from the Velorian bitch than dying.

Damn! The parking lot provided her with too much ammunition. She turned around. Her arms bulged again with her huge muscles as she picked up another parked car and cocked it over her head, preparing to throw it at me. I prepared to catch it to prevent he form doing any more damage to the area.

But she didn't throw it at me this time, she knew that that wouldn't do her any more good than the first one had. No, she turned and threw it where it would do her much more good. She threw it at a bus on the bridge over the river.

She might be strong, but her aim wasn't perfect. The car hit the roof of the bus a glancing blow, striking sparks, before sailing off to splash into the river. But it had enough of an effect; the bus went sliding sideways until it hit the guardrail. Other cars swerved and skidded, trying to avoid hitting the bus. The bus was teetering on the edge of the bridge, about to go over into the river. I didn't think that the guardrail was going to hold much longer. Especially if one of the cars were to hit it, nudging it over the edge.

I had to make a snap decision. Faced with the choice of going after the Arion or of saving the people on the bus, I made the only decision I possibly could.

Without even looking back I leaped and flew towards the bridge and the bus.

I got to the bus just as the guardrail started to snap. I managed to catch it just as my feet touched the water. Flexing my legs harder, I stopped its descent, my legs sinking past my knees into the river. I slowly rose up, balancing and carrying the bus over to the riverbank and setting it back down on its tires so that the passengers and the driver could get out to safety. As much safety as there could be with an Arion Warrior Prime on the rampage, that is.

I went back to the parking lot and the Arion. But she was gone. With her speed, she could be anywhere in the city by now. But I didn't have time to go look for her right now. The building that the Prime had smashed through looked like it was about to collapse. The police were starting to clear the spectators from the streets below.

I approached the building and saw what the problem was. Apparently an arm or a leg had clipped the steel girder that made up the corner of the building and sheared it completely in two. I flew up and tried to catch the girder above the break.

Oof! That thing was heavy! Flexing everything I had to generate the maximum flying power, I managed to steady it and keep it from collapsing any further. Flexing everything else I had, I slowly raised the upper portion up to the break. I set the top part onto the bottom part. It wasn't a perfect fit; the steel was too mangled for that. It wasn't even a good fit. But I thought that it might hold the weight of the upper floors.

If it stayed put, that is. The bent and mangled ends were threatening to slip at any moment, undoing my efforts. There was only one thing that I could do. Steadying the upper portion with my hands, I focused my heat vision on the break. I poured on the heat, melting the steel. I welded the two pieces back together, rubbing my hands over the molten metal to smooth the edges and to help cool it.

It wasn't a great welding job, I'd never welded anything this big before. When I was sure that the building would stay in one piece until the construction crews could do a proper repair job, I flew up above the buildings and searched, but I couldn't spot her. I spent the next several days looking for her, but I couldn't find a single sign of her.

At the end of the week I finally had to admit defeat and go home. The first Arion Prime to survive a fight with me, and I had left her to run loose. I felt like a total failure. This was most definitely not cool!

Sirren had never felt so tired in her life before. Nor had she ever ached like this before. Nor had she ever been so sore before. Stars, that had hurt!

But by the Stars, she would take the soreness over the alternative! She could have been killed at the hands of that Velorian Planetary Protector.

Stars! She was still alive! So was the Velorian bitch, but Sirren was still alive! But Stars, that had hurt!

Would her old martial arts instructor be proud of her? He had been crippled in his fight with a Protector; Sirren was sore and aching, but basically unhurt. But Stars, that had hurt!

This was twice now that she had encountered the Protector. She had never met anyone who had survived two encounters with Protectors. Granted, the first time hadn't been much of an encounter, she had fallen out of the drop shuttle as the Protector ripped it apart. Still, she had encountered the Protector twice, and she was still alive and unhurt. So was the Velorian bitch, but Sirren was still alive! Sore and aching, but still alive! But Stars, that had hurt!

She knew that she didn't want to have to face that Velorian bitch again. Not anytime soon. She would lay low, and see whether she could come up with some sort of trap for that Velorian bitch.

She hoped to the Stars that the others had seen that fight. Maybe they would find her and take her back to the ship. Maybe the next time she wouldn't have to be alone when she faced that Velorian bitch.

But if the Stars had decreed it, then she would face that Velorian bitch alone. Maybe she could find herself a weapon that she could use against the Velorian bitch.

But that didn't seem to be too likely. Ordinary Terran weapons wouldn't kill the Velorian bitch, though they might hurt her. The primitive Terran nuclear weapons might, but she knew that they were well guarded. Too well guarded, from what she had learned. She would stand a good chance of being injured in an attempt to steal one. And such an attempt would be certain to bring the Velorian bitch, flying as fast as she could.

Certainly not a good way to set a trap for the Velorian bitch. No, she would lay as low as possible, either until she found a better solution, or until the others on the ship found her and came to take her back.

It turned out that I wasn't a total failure. The media made a big deal out of the fight. They repeatedly pointed out who they thought was the heroine and who was the villainess. They repeatedly pointed out that yours truly had rescued the bus and its passengers instead of going after the person who had tried to kill them. They backed it up with the video footage of the blonde supergirl saving the bus and its passengers after the dark supergirl had tried to kill those people. They also showed me preventing the building from collapsing, saving who knew how many lives. In their eyes, and through them the public's eyes, I was no longer 'Superbimbo' but again 'Supergirl'. The 'Blonde Supergirl' to distinguish me from the Arion, whom they dubbed the 'Dark Supergirl'. And it wasn't just because of the color of her hair; they had seen what she had tried to do, throwing that car at the bus on the bridge.

I had let the 'Dark Supergirl' get away. But I had saved the people on the bus. Some of them had scratches and bruises, and one man was in the hospital with a broken arm, but amazingly no one had died.

Surprisingly, none of the other bystanders had gotten killed. Many had gotten hurt from the flying glass and metal and asphalt, but none had died. The driver of the car I had pushed into the store window had suffered cuts from the broken glass. Fortunately the store had been closed for the night, so there had been nobody inside. And the building that I had smashed her through was still under construction, and hence was still unoccupied.

It might have been a different story if the battle had taken place during the day. The streets and sidewalks would have been busy, the stores and offices would have been filled with people going about their business.

But at night, there hadn't been that many people around. The streets had been mostly empty, as were the sidewalks. And the buildings were deserted.

When I got home, I got the happiest surprise of my life. My darling husband finally came home to me. He was waiting for me at the door. The first thing he did, after giving me a not-so-quick welcome-home kiss, was to ask me how I was. Like everyone else, he had seen the battle in Corpus Christi.

"When you saved that bus, and then that building, I knew that it was you, Jule. 'Superbimbo' wouldn't have done that. But I was so afraid that you had gotten hurt."

After all that I had done, after all that 'Superbimbo' had done, my darling was worried about me. My darling husband had been afraid that I had gotten hurt. Oh, I loved him so much!

He even had dinner waiting on the table, complete with flowers and wine. But afterwards, when I tried to do the dishes, he stopped me. Putting his arms around me, he turned me around to face him. "You can do that later. Isn't there something else you have to do to welcome me home properly, Jule? After all, you've been gone too."

I barely managed to refrain from carrying him up the stairs to our room. Instead, I let him scoop me up in his arms and carry me. I did cheat a little, though, using my flight powers to lessen his load. After all, I didn't want him to get tired out too quickly. At least not if this was going where I hoped it was going.

Once we were up there, we slowly undressed each other. After some kissing and cuddling, and some more kissing and cuddling, I lay down on my back and spread my legs, inviting him in.

Oh, it felt so good! I had missed having a man inside of me. I had especially missed having my darling husband inside of me. It felt even better once he started moving. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, tight, but not as tightly as I knew that I could with his enhanced body. I still didn't want to force anything on him that he didn't want.

But he had just gotten started when he stopped and lifted himself off of me. Oh, no! Now what was wrong? Was there still something else?

Rolling off of me, he propped himself up on his elbow, looking at me. "It looks like you, it even feels somewhat like you. But it's not you, not the Jule that I know and love."

I was totally confused. "What do you mean?" I still wasn't his Jule? What was wrong? I had thought that I had gotten my darling husband back. What had I done? What was wrong?

Seeing the look on my face, he grinned at me. "I mean, that's not the way Jule would welcome me home after a long absence. She wouldn't wait for me to start. She'd be all over me."

I immediately understood what he meant. "You mean, like this?" I pushed him over onto his back. I covered his face and chest with my kisses. The grin on his face told me that this was indeed it.

Kneeling astride him, I leaned forward. I smothered him with my large breasts. I shook my shoulders, banging his head with my soft mounds. I hit him harder, hard enough to crush an ordinary man's skull. He just stuck out his tongue and licked my breasts as they dragged across his face.

Raising myself up, I put my hands on his hips and lifted him up into me. He put his hands on my breasts and squeezed as hard as he could, hanging on to my 'handles' as I stroked myself with his body. I tightened my inner muscles around him, delaying his climax until mine.

Then I started getting rough and physical with him.

I kept my darling husband awake most of the night, until even his enhanced body could no longer keep going. I also didn't let him get up until nearly noon the next morning. And he didn't complain at all.

We didn't even bother doing the dishes. We went out for lunch. Then, when we got back home, we picked up right where we had left off. And I don't mean about the dirty dishes.

Things were finally back to normal in our home. And I don't mean about the dirty dishes.

Yes, things were finally back to normal in our home. My darling husband was back home, where he belonged, with his loving wife. With his Supergirl, with his Jule.

Yes indeed, things were finally back to normal in our home.