The Legacy of Eros Ch. 01

*Editing magic performed by Shyqash, plus contributions by the regular gang of brigands and neer-do-wells*

*This tale is a bit tongue and cheek as well as kinky, so be warned.*

*I lash your flesh as well as your passions. I am Eros*

Premise: A young would-be super-villain discovers he has as secret super-power - the ability to become the perfect lover to any person he touches. This includes being able to breach the defenses of any super-powered being he encounters.

[PRELUDE]

"So you are Baron Bedlam's son?" this costumed young guy came over to me while we were waiting for our final interview. We three had all been sitting down in the high ceilinged, Victorian-era hallway.

"Yes. I'm called the Squire Sanguine. You?"

"Puissant Page," he smirked. "I'll get something else soon enough."

"Like?"

"I'm going for Viscount of Villainy," he gave me a smug look.

"Oh ... my Mom was the Viscountess Venom," I was less than thrilled this punk was stepping into my family's business.

"Yeah, but she's dead now," he joked, "So she's not likely to mind."

"So ... it is going to be like that," I stood up.

"Yeah," he snorted. "I hear you are not all that tough."

"Let's not start something the elders don't want us to finish," the young woman with us jumped in. "Hi, I'm Killer Knight."

"King Kaos' daughter," the punk looked her way.

"Yes and you are the Marquis of Mayhem's son," she let him know she had some recent history lessons as well. Sadly, my Mother had been dead most of my life and my Father was currently serving Life plus 199 years for crimes too numerous to list, so I had no one 'in my corner' while King Kaos was recreating the Nine Nobles Nefarious.

My parents had helped make the 9N's infamous two decades ago, but infighting and a full court press by the World's hero groups had destroyed them. Only three of the original nine were left at large and intact. Of the rest, four were dead, one was maimed for life, and then there was my Dad - serving an incredibly long prison sentence in an UN prison facility in Antarctica.

[~]

Personally I had been living my own life free of my parents' criminal influence when King Kaos had appeared and given me this 'invitation' ... which I had a feeling I would be foolish to outright refuse. I had shown up and gone through some basic solo training for the established nobles to see what I could do and to determine if I was worthy to be part of their organization.

I was conflicted about this whole villainous enterprise. At some level I wanted to avenge my mother - murdered at a hero's hands - and to free my Father - who I despised, but come on now - he was still my Dad. Dad had been an ogre of a disciplinarian and rather derogatory toward me my entire life. He considered me a failure ... both because of my unimpressive power suite and my desire to live a crime-free life.

I was super-strong, but not especially so - touch telekinesis. I could fly - telekinesis again - though not all that fast. My resistances were more impressive, but who wanted to be famous, or infamous, for being a successful punching bag? My only 'special' special ability was a rather impervious set of mental defenses. Not only was it nearly impossible to read my mind, I was incredibly difficult to psychically locate. Oh yeah ~ I regenerated ... rather slowly.

Yep ... whoop-dee-do ...

I did have a rather impressive set of criminal and martial skills, thanks to my Dad's tyrannical upbringing. None of those skills would actually help me get, or hold down, a real job. I suppose I should be grateful I also was 'home schooled' in a regular course load as well.

See, Baron Bedlam was both a gifted psychic and a genius inventor. I was neither thus his disappointment in me. My Mother had been an alien outlaw and renegade princess who was hiding out on Earth. She had been capable of space flight as well as possessing a mastery of cosmic energy which allowed her to blast foes to smithereens and create extraordinary force fields. Yep ... I couldn't do any of that either.

[~]

As a side note: most superhero institutions didn't pay their members. If you wanted some spending cash you needed a day job, or something similar. Instead, they got plenty of wonderful perks plus a generous pension should they make it five, or more, years then retired. As for those 'wonderful perks' ~ how does free higher education sound? Free health care, room & board, free equipment, use of their high tech labs, research facilities, libraries and mystic sites? You got all that and more.

Me? My financial situation was growing dire. The upkeep and taxes on my Dad's legal properties was astronomical. College tuition at Megalopolis Crown International University (MCIU) was equal to its status as one of the premier educational Meccas on the planet - extreme. Tuition, e-books and other fees pushed it up passed $90,000 a year ... and I owned too much property to get most scholarships, or low-interest student loans.

My Father had pursued a life of crime because he refused to get a legitimate job in any number of laboratories as a research scientist. I might have to turn to crime just to pay the bills. It wasn't as if I was qualified to get any job which would meet my financial needs. I knew if I sold anything off Father had left me when he went behind bars he would make me pay ... and pay ... once he got out again.

That and too many of his properties had secret labs hidden about which could easily maim, or even kill, the unwary. I certainly didn't want to get anyone killed and explaining those hidden facilities to the authorities would require more time and effort - plus the threat of jail time - than I was willing to accept.

[~]

And now my 'criminal cohorts' knew about my unspectacular super-powered talents it seemed. I doubted Mr. Page would have had the balls to confront me unless he knew things about me and was sure I didn't know things about him. He was that kind of bully.

I still rose to the challenge. I really hated bullies. Blame my Old Man. I was 6'2" to his 5'10" and my 235 lbs. powered a much more impressive physique than his 160 lbs. or so. I didn't just tower over him in height, I shown over him with confidence and charisma. He stepped back, caught himself and was then embarrassed that he'd given me that back-step.

"You may want to consider the Nine are a TEAM," I reminded him. "And a team led by the King ... not the Marquis."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he glared.

"It means you are cheating, it's obvious that you are cheating and the only one who could have helped you cheat is your Dad, Page."

"Are you sure about that?" Killer regarded me. Though we were all wearing costumes and masks, she had the most gorgeous sapphire eyes. I was also beginning to think her name was a play on words - not Killer Knight, but Killer Night - as in she could give you one 'killer night', if you know what I mean. All that was conjecture, of course. I really didn't know the girl.

"I mean Page here is only getting in my face because he thinks he knows what I can do and that I don't know what he can do," I explained. "What he hasn't taken into account my Father was a master craftsman and inventor and I've been able to bring along a few of his final gifts with me to our final interview. I think it would be a waste of our team's effort if I have to use a few of them here and now."

"That's ... that's against the rules," he gobbled ... and backed up a few more steps.

"Not really," I shrugged. "I was told to only bring things I considered part of my usual kit ... and since I plan to continually raid my Father's stockpile of trinkets, gadgets and gizmos, I think I'm playing ... rather loosely ... within the rules."

"I think that's rather clever," Killer grinned my way. "I hope you make it."

"That makes two of us," I chuckled.

"You had better be careful, or you won't be one of the final two," Page grumbled, turned about and returned to his seat. Killer sat down next to me.

"Tough luck about your Dad," she said.

"One of the reasons I'm doing this is to see if I can get him out," I confided. "I have no realistic chance on my own, but as one of the Nine, maybe I can convince the others to break him out. Combined we might be able to do it."

"Well," she sighed, "it's that or not seeing him for a millennia. He's at the Waldheim Super Super-Max, isn't he?"

"Yes. He's in a 10'x8' cell under constant dampeners 24/7/365. No visitors. No direct living contact with the outside world of any kind."

"Harsh."

"Yeah, and I'm all he's got left," I looked away.

"So what is it you do?"

"No, ya don't," I chuckled. "We all figure out what we do when they outline (the six established Nobles) what the final interview will be - and not before."

"You can trust me," she play-punched me.

"No - no, I can't," I grinned. "There are two slots and three candidates. I'm not going to fuck you over to get mine, but I don't trust you, or Page, to give me the same consideration."

"Wise move," she nodded.

Dame Deathstroke chose that moment to open the door and step out into the hallway. We all rose.

"Come on," she greeted us in a crisp, condescending British accent. "It is time to begin."

'Oh boy,' I internalized. 'I have a feeling this is really going to suck.'

[AFTER I WASHED OUT: THE NEW ME]

What could I say? I was right. It sucked. The three of us were tasked with breaking into a top secret base run by a rival villain organization - MANTIS ... whose name meant something and who mainly dealt in selling non-Terrestrial (aka alien) technology to various corporations and rogue governments trying to contravene UN restrictions. Oh yeah, and their base was in an 'unfriendly' foreign nation ~ Sudan ... which was friendly with MANTIS.

We had to go steal something and we had twelve hours to formulate a plan and go retrieve the item. It was a Clusterfuck of epic proportions. We didn't get the item. We barely escaped with our lives. In the midst of our mission, Freedom Force, a premier hero group - from my hometown - raided the facility too.

Because Killer Knight damn near died, I elected to play rearguard while Page took her to the extraction zone. Only by the time I got to the spot ... they had already left. Instead, there I was jumped by a member of Freedom Force and had to fight my way free. I had to go toe-to-toe with Angelheart - America's (current) Sweetheart/Good Girl.

Something bizarre happened as we grappled. I felt a flood of energy take hold. I had a surge of power and alien memories come over me. I felt like I was about to pass out, the energy was simply too much. I damn near died. When I came to my senses, Angelheart was down - stunned and groggy - and I was able to stagger away under my own power.

Afterwards, I was finally able to evade the MANTIS patrols, escape the area and then drag my sorry ass back to a 9 Nobles safe house where I learned the other two had already been sworn in as members. Page had insisted I had been blown away while running for my life like the 'coward I was'. The problem was I wasn't dead, hadn't been running away, and hadn't been the cowardly one. Killer Knight was of no help because she had been unconscious for the last portion of the mission.

She did recall me jumping in front of a blast aimed at her right before she passed out ... so the 9 Nobles didn't put a sanction out on me, but I was out of the organization and was to never contact them again ... or else ... whatever that meant. Having wasted an ENTIRE FUCKING WEEKEND with those lunatics, I had to drag my sorry ass back to the university Monday morning and act like nothing had happened.

[~]

Beyond having to repair all the pounding I had taken during my failed interview process, I had these memory fragments of Angelheart flooding through my head. As the days wore on, I was able to sort them out until ... I knew Angelheart's secret identity! And she was a college student at the same university I went to!! What were the odds? Okay, there were 30,000 students at the university, but still.

Better yet, I had an idea of her capabilities (plentiful) and weaknesses (not many). More disturbingly, I had access to her deeply personal wants and desires. Moreover, my body was transforming to be able to better effect and resist all of the above. Her powers centered around 'light' (she even grew 'Wings of Light' to fly with) and biometric controls (healing and some such).

I was becoming fully, or partially, immune to all of those powers and stunts. She couldn't blind me, stun me, or put me to sleep. Her lasers would no longer be as lethal, though they would still sting - apparently my 'new' power had some limits. And then it occurred to me my 'old' powers had apparently been a response to my Father's actions all those years ago when I was a kid and they had become 'stuck' because of the trauma and repeat occurrences of his physical, telekinetic and telepathic punishments. Gee, thanks Dad!

Best yet, I still retained - to a lesser degree - those old resistances and powers because I had possessed them for so damn long. HOT FUCKING DAMN! I felt like the King of the World ... once I finally put all those pieces together ... and nearly failed an English test (this shit was real distracting plus I hadn't studied much). Still, I was feeling so much better about myself that afternoon.

And things did keep getting better.

As I was crossing the major 'Quad' after a late afternoon lab, I stumbled across no one less than Angelheart herself ~ real name Skye Steiner ~ walking toward me with three of her friends ... one being her 'boyfriend' - Chad Gordon. He was a 'normie' and her High School crush who had followed her here to MCIU (Megalopolis Crown International University).

[A note on MCIU: it used to be simply Crown College founded way back in the day when the whole State was a province of the English Crown. When the city's name was change to Megalopolis back in the 1950's, the college became Megalopolis Crown University. Finally, back in the 1980's, with so many international students attending and the creation of a robust student exchange program, they added 'International' to the name. Now you know.]

Current status ... he was getting 'nowhere' with her so had cheated - once - with Skye's closest normie female friend. Both of them felt guilty about it (from her perspective), but couldn't talk to her about it because of that sense of betrayal. Also, they thought she was keeping a secret from them. She was, but it wasn't something illegal, or another guy (or girl). She was a superhero with a plethora of enemies who might very well take out their wrath on her squishable friends. Skye felt trapped by the whole mess.

"Skye!" I called out. She and the others looked my way as I headed over.

"Yes?" she tilted her head rather adorably.

"Do you know this guy?" Chad asked her.

"I ... am not sure," she hedged.

"Hey, I missed Mrs. Athman's Psychology class last Thursday," I lied. Skye took one of those huge psych classes all freshmen heading into the Social Sciences took while I took all the second semester classes all International Business majors took. We had never crossed paths before now. As I said, this University was HUGE with students from all over the nation as well as half the countries on the planet.

"Oh ... I guess so," she smiled weakly.

"Hey man," Chad intervened. "Don't you think you should show up in class instead?"

"Sorry, I had a family emergency," I lied yet again.

"I'm sorry to hear about that," Maryland, her female friend frowned sympathetically. "What happened?"

"Why don't you give me your e-mail and I'll send them to you," Skye ignored Chad's rudeness. "Sorry about your family. What ... oh, this is Chad Gordon, my boyfriend, Maryland Kinaki and her boyfriend, Gil Wayfield."

"Well, it wasn't something tragic ... I had to visit my Dad in prison. I can only visit him on certain days and I missed the last two and really wanted to see him so ..."

"Your Father's a convict?" Chad sneered. According to Skye he wasn't normally this much of an ass, but he must have felt me gunning for his girl and was getting all super-macho on me. "What is he in for?"

"Not anything I feel like talking about," I glared at Chad - all play-acting.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Skye sympathized. "Chad, it really isn't our place to question ... him."

"Reynard ... Reynard Freiherr Irrenanstalt," I fabricated. Reynard was my actual first name. The rest ... let's just say I was happy I took multiple foreign languages as a child ~ both my parents' native tongues among them. My actual last name officially was Bedlam. The name I was using in my regular life was Haven ... which had a double meaning as well.

I tore off a piece of paper and handed it over to her. It had both an e-mail account and four critical words ~ Someone knows your secret ~ written on it - all pre-prepared. She hid her blanch well.

"Thanks," I smiled at her. "Nice meeting you all," I waved to the rest and off I went.

I knew I was running a risk of her fellow Freedom Force goons dropping in on me when I tried to meet with her, but so be it. After all, I hadn't done anything wrong - yet. In fact, I wasn't sure if I was going to do anything wrong at all ... as technically speaking I was doing what Angelheart secretly wanted to be done to her. Sadly, I wasn't a lawyer, or even a Pre-Law student.

[~]

She did contact the e-mail address I had given her. It was from a grey site on the web I rarely used as it was one of Dad's 'secure' locations.

[Skye] *What do you want?

[Me] **Who is this?

{Pause}

*Who is this?

**I asked first.

*This is Skye.

**This is Reynard. We need to meet. The alleyway behind the old Barton Biotech warehouse off Andromeda Blvd. 9 p.m. tomorrow night.

{Pause}

*If I don't?

**Do you really want to find out?

*You wouldn't dare. It is against the law! [To reveal a costumed persona's identity without their consent, or court order]

**Then don't show up.

{Pause}

*Please don't do this!

**I'm not threatening to do anything. That would be illegal.

*This could ruin my life ... my parents ... my friends ... please?

**Then be a good little angel and trust in the beneficence of others.

*You are going to screw me over, aren't you? 

**You are going to get what you really deserve.

*But I'm one of the Good Guys!!

**Keep telling yourself that ... if it helps. I know better.

*What do you think you know about me? I'm a hero!

**I know you are a fraud. I know you know that. All you fake heroes make me sick. I hate you all ... and for good reason.

*Please. I'm begging you ...

**Then show up and beg in person. If anyone else shows up ... let's just say events have been put in motion. This is all on you, Skye.

*PLEASE!!

**Good-night.

*PLEASE!!

*PLEASE!!

[TUESDAY NIGHT]

Radiant. Belligerently radiant. Even toned down, Angelheart was probably one of the most beautiful women on the planet ... not that she thought so. Her golden hair cascaded down passed her shoulders in a wild tumble. Her eyes where the most gorgeous shade of aquatic blue. Her skin was flawless - perfect in every way - just enough tan to highlight her golden tone.

Skye's physique was comic book-exquisite, with the dynamic combination of bust size to butt dimensions to make her look impossible to behold ... yet she was very real. Her short cape was golden with white trim while her bodysuit - from throat to the souls of her feet, was a whirl of gold and sky blue which simmered as she flew, or as the surrounding light played across her. She was fantastic to the eye, smelled wonderful and sounded like her namesake - an angel.

Yet inside, she was incredibly naïve and flawed. Other women she compared herself against had bigger breasts, or stronger musculatures. Their hair was more utilitarian, more wavy, or more - whatever. She felt the sin of vanity whenever she dared think she might be something more than average ... for a heroine. To me this was borderline insanity, but what did I truly know about the female psyche?