Introducing Bronze Babe

 

First episodes of a Superheroine RPG Serial by Daphne Orgone and Friends. Re-edited from posts at her Yahoo group.

 

Moving Day, Fall Semester, 2005

 

Daphne sat in her room staring at the duffel bags, her brow furrowed in consternation.  Had she forgotten something?  She'd spent days packing, trying to figure out what she might and might not need to take to college, and she was sure she must be forgetting something important.  Sure, she could always fly back home and pick up whatever it was, but that wasn't the point.  The point was that she ought to be able to do something simple like this the way other kids did, without using her super powers.  It never dawned on her that they might forget things too, or that instead of flying home, they might just pick up the phone and ask their parents to send whatever it was.  Daphne just didn't think of that.

"Daphne," her dad called from downstairs, "are you almost ready?  It's a two hour drive, and we need to get going if you're going to check into the dorm on time."

"Yeah, Dad. Almost ready," Daphne called back even as she reached down and picked up the massive duffel bag in one small hand.  The other girls' father would probably be carrying their stuff for them, but not Daphne.  Jonathan Orgone would have, sure, but he'd long since learned not to push such things with Daphne, and besides, he did have a bad back.  Glancing back down the duffel bag in her hand one last time, Daphne did one last quick check with her Ray vision of its contents before stopping and giving her Teddy Bear, a large bear with some sort of German costume on it, a quick last hug.  She was leaving her childhood behind her.

The prospect was not one Daphne relished.  For all that her childhood had had its share of difficulties, it was a known quantity, and she had more or less figured out how to deal with most of the problems that came up.  College, living on her own, without her parents to help her cope was going to be much harder.  And she didn't even want to think about the academics.  Daphne knew, deep inside her that she had no business going to college, and it was only the promises of help from her friends that made her relent to her parents wishes.  She could cheat, sure, and eventually, she did catch on to stuff that seemed impossible at first, but from day one, school had been a struggle, even before her powers started causing all sorts of other struggles.

Daphne sighed, sitting back down on the bed, trying to imagine what her life would have been like had she not been what she was.  Short, fat and dumb probably would be what she'd be, and when she thought about it, it wasn't really all that different now, even if she wasn't fat, well, except in a few places.  But Daphne probably would be happier, she was sure of that.  If she wasn't so different, she'd have to be happier, or at least, well, she'd have less excuse.

"Daphne, honey" her mother called, "your dad's in the car already and you know how he gets."

"I know, Mom," Daphne called out, grabbing her bag again and hurrying down the stairs.

The drive up to State U seemed to take hours, especially since Daphne had flown up there in a fraction of the time the day before, even while flying slow to sight see.  She did, however, have to admit that her dad's driving was a lot safer.  Daphne's takeoffs were great, but her landings left something to be desired, and she could swear, just swear that that billboard had moved in front of her instead of the other way around.  Daphne smiled at that, but as she sat in the backseat, her mood soured pretty quickly.

Daphne was scared, terrified really of college.  She'd been shot, hit by cars, and had dozens of what should have been life threatening experiences, but nothing prepared her for the harsh reality of living on her own, of being miles from her parents, and of course, from facing college teachers.  Daphne had barely survived high school teachers, even with the help of people like Mendel, but now she was in the big leagues.  She was sure they'd spot her for a fraud, just sure of it, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.  Daphne shifted in her seat a bit, biting her lip as she watched the miles go by and forcing herself to breathe normally.  While Daphne didn't need to breathe nearly as often as humans, she'd discovered aways back, before her powers came in full strength, that she could hyperventilate, just like she could bust her own lip by chewing on it, which she almost had.  Dad would really freak if she messed up his car, so Daphne forced herself to breathe softly, but regularly.

As the school came in sight, Daphne's mom finally leaned over the back seat and looked at her.

"You OK, Daph?  You're awfully quiet."

"Yeah Mom" Daphne said softly, "I .. um.. I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"You'll do fine honey," her mom said.  "Honestly Daphne, if your father and I didn't think you were up for it, we wouldn't let you go.  We know you can do it."

"Thanks Mom," Daphne replied, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.  Mom meant well, but she had NO CLUE.

"Listen, um, you guys, well you don't need to walk me up the dorm room and all.  I mean ...."

Daphne's mom cut her off.

"Daphne.. promise me you'll let some nice young man who's supposed to be able to carry your luggage do it, and we won't embarrass you.  The letter did say that there were Volunteers to help with luggage, remember."

"Right Mom. I'll get a big strong guy," Daphne said smiling. Everyone in the car chuckled.

So it was that the ten-year-old sedan pulled up alongside the freshman dorm.  Daphne, clad in a pair of faded blue jeans and a yellow sweater hopped out quickly, jumping to the back to grab the luggage before her father with his bad back could.  She did, thanks to her mom, though, remember to pretend to struggle as she set the two duffle bags down on the sidewalk before kissing her parents goodbye.

Only then did Daphne turn and face the college, and along with it, the throng of kids shuffling this way and that with their luggage. To her relief, it looked like she wasn't the only one looking a bit lost, and she wasn't even the only girl standing on the curb next to her luggage.  Maybe this might not be so bad after all.

Daphne stood there for a long while, watching the other kids, but really waiting for her parents car to drive away before leaning down to pickup the duffel bags.  They weren't THAT big, and surely, if she pretended to struggle with them, it wouldn't hurt.  Besides, while Daphne wouldn't mind being rescued by a guy, she sure as heck didn't want to look like she needed rescuing.  She'd get them away from the curb at least, and over to that table with the line, the one with the cute guy in the brown shirt standing in it.

 

Flashback: Spring 2005

Daphne was pissed. Coming up her for the frat party had sounded like a great idea, and by rights, it should have been, as long as she was with her friends. Daphne liked parties, liked dancing, and she liked guys, but she definitely didn't like being separated from her friends, nor did she like being the only girl in a room full of guys.

She wasn't really, of course; but the little blonde was the only high school girl in the room, and somehow, Biff or Dick, or whatever his name is had deftly managed to separate her from the crowd, leaving her surrounded by half drunk guys, all doing their damndest to get her drunk. Everywhere she looked, there were guys, and if their hands weren't reaching for her, they had drinks in them.

And the dress.... Why in the world had she let her friend talk her into this dress? It was a pretty blue, with nice lines and a slit up the side which she actually kind of liked, but it was also cut way too low. Too low for any guy in the place to ever look her in the eye, and Daphne was, well, just way too big not to be noticed in this kind of thing. Playing the role of man-bait, it sounded fine and dandy, or at least not so bad when the girls had suggested it, but Daphne had pictured things going a bit differently. Instead of a crowd buzzing Daphne and her friends, her friends were gone, and the crowd was pretty much just buzzing Daphne. And flying the hell out of here or cracking a few skulls seemed like a really anti-social idea, not at all the way she wanted to start things out at college.  If she screwed things up here, well, there was no way she was going to get in anywhere else.

"C'mon, Darcy," one guy said, towering over her and staring down her dress as he handed her another shot of lemon lime flavored alcohol.  Daphne had already had a half dozen of them, and hadn't fallen down yet, but these guys seemed determined to try. "Just one more."

"Um, OK," Daphne said, taking the drink, even as she stared through the guy, scanning the place with her X-ray vision for her friends.  She downed it without even thinking about it, and stepped to the side to avoid one guy's hands, only to bump into another one.

"Oops," she said, backing up, and then reaching up and removing the guy's hands from her chest. This dress was a mistake, she thought as she spun around only to have two guys follow her.

"Where ya goin?" one of them asked.

"I'm ..." Daphne stopped and turned, sighing as she looked up at the guy. He was sort of cute, and if he hadn't been part of a pack of drunken frat guys, well. "I was looking for my friend. Red head..  green dress."

To his credit, the guy smiled.

"She's OK, hon. Actually, she's up front chatting with a whole bunch of sorority chicks, and I think she's wondering where you are."

Daphne's eyes grew wide for a moment, but she didn't say anything.

"She actually wanted me to come check on you. I guess she was afraid you'd end up with a bad reputation or something down here in the basement with all the guys."

Daphne blushed, uncertain what to say.

"Don't' sweat it hon," he said, "It's kind of my job to rescue the high school girls who wander down here, only, well, in that dress.... I didn't think..." The guys' eyes were focused on Daphne's chest, and Daphne rolled her eyes.

"So rescue me, already!" she said, grabbing the guy by the arm and gently shoving him towards the doorway.

Daphne didn't let up until they'd reached the courtyard, at which time, the guy grabbed his arm and rubbed it, staring down at her.

"Jeez, you gotta grip."

"Err.. sorry," Daphne said, quickly scanning his arm. No broken bones.

"Listen, um, I'm Jake, and I was sort of wondering, if, um, maybe you'd, well, uh, let me get you a drink."

Daphne started to say something, but Jake was quick on his feet, and quickly added.

"Like a coke or something. Or maybe even a sandwich. I know what those guys were up to, and..."

"And you're not?" Daphne said smiling.

"Nope. I mean, well, if you want to...."

Daphne shook her head and tossed her hair.

"No, I really don't want any more booze, and um, ..."

"I'm not gonna get lucky?" Jake jumped in.

Daphne's jaw dropped and she quickly realized that she was about to lose the first nice guy she'd met all night.

"No, I mean... um.... it's not.. it's .. just..."

"Relax, Daphne" he said. "Contrary to what you may have heard, not all frat guys think we can score with every hot high school chick or even want to. Personally, I'd rather wait until you're up here all nice and legal, first, and then I'll throw myself at you."

Daphne beamed, literally beamed as she replied.

"Promise?"

"Nope. Competition's probably gonna be too stiff for you, so I won't promise anything, but I AM trying to get my foot in the door early, in case you still remember me."

"Oh, I think I'll remember you, Jake," Daphne replied.

 

Three hours later, on the steps of XYD Sorority House

Jake stopped as they reached the top step, and smiled down at Daphne, bringing his hand to her cheek, caressing it lightly.  Daphne, all too aware of his throbbing manhood, was even more aware of the fact that he'd ignored it all night, and she was grateful.  The guy was, well, fantastic. Without a doubt, he was the nicest, most gentlemanly, funny, sexy guy she'd ever met, and there had been at least a half dozen times she'd been tempted to.. well... do things to him, but she'd kept her cool, and to her delight, so had he. That made it all the better. And as he raised her chin with his fingers, she let him, opening her mouth slightly as she returned his kiss.

Of course, return wasn't quite the right word. As his arms wrapped around her, one of hers wrapped around his waist, and her lips parted, but Daphne was really concentrating way too hard to really get lost in the moment. She'd done this before, of course, and each time, she got a bit more used to it, but it was still pretty tricky. She had to stay relaxed, very relaxed, or the poor guy would think he was kissing a statue, and at the same time, she needed to move with him, anticipating his moves so as not to inadvertently provide resistance, or worse yet, actually hurt him.  His hands were gentle, sliding down her but, and then, Daphne concentrated hard just then, and it paid off as she felt his hands squeezing her buttocks. He seemed to like that, but all the same, Daphne risked a bit of initiative, pressing herself against him, mostly her boobs, before he realized that the buns he was squeezing were much harder than steel. She'd long since figured out that, while, her boobs were far from normal, at least they didn't scare guys.. much, anyway.

She knew the instant she'd done it, she'd screwed up, and she stumbled forward to try to discretely catch him as he stumbled backwards. At least he hadn't passed out or broken a rib. But the moment was lost, and he broke the kiss, although, to her delight, apparently he didn't realized exactly what had happened.

"Uh... I uh..." Jake stammered, slightly out of breath.

Daphne, who'd been holding her breath for ages, wasn't at all out of breath, but she felt like it nonetheless, and still managed to reach up and touch him lightly on the lips.

"Thank you, Jake. For a wonderful night."

"Uh.. yeah...." Jake replied, shifting his weight.

Daphne smiled at Jake, glancing down at his crotch for a split second before looking back up at his face. Hopefully, her eyes didn't reflect her sadness as she spoke.

"Good night, Jake."

"Good night, Daphne."

Daphne made it inside the doors, signed in with the guard, and slipped quietly into the room she was staying in, not even bothering to turn on the lights as she stepped inside and began to undress.  The room was empty. The other girls, both her friends and their hosts were still out partying, and Daphne was glad as she slipped out of the dress and into a huge Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. Then she lay down on the bed and buried her face in the pillow.

Daphne, who needed perhaps a third of the sleep that a normal girl her age did, was asleep within minutes. Asleep with a smile on her face as she dreamed of Jake. Only, in her dreams, well, things went a bit differently than they did in real life, differently than they ever could. Daphne moaned softly into her pillow as she imagined it. But only for a second. Daphne didn't want to get too deeply into it and tear up the bed.

 

State College, Fall 2005, by Scott Barr and Daphne

Scott Edwards walked behind the tables set up to help the incoming freshmen get oriented.  They had class schedules, drop/add paperwork, activity pamphlets.  His job was to keep things running smooth.

Yeah, right, he thought, this never runs smooth.  Scott thought back to his freshman year, now three years ago, and the chaos that ensued then.  Today wasn't much better.

Scott's job was to make sure the tables had supplies and to provide more detailed information if it was asked for.  So far no one had asked.

Grey eyes scanning the crowd, he took note of a very busty blonde.  'Daphne," he said, smiling.  She may have heard him from across the way, depending on how aware she was.  How did you make it into college? was the unspoken thought.

Scott and Daphne knew each other for years.  Scott's parents owned the general store in town and Scott saw Daphne either there with her parents or at the farm when he made deliveries.

Daphne was, as was often the case, lost in a crowd.  Superhearing and bursts of X-ray vision made them worse, but fact of the matter was, Daphne probably wouldn't have liked waiting in a crowded line much better anyway.  She was shuffling through the line, bored, stooping every few minutes to pretend to struggle to pick up her bags and drop them as she moved up, when she heard a familiar voice through the din.  Scott!!!!

Daphne's face it up, and she twirled to face him, forgetting the two sixty pound duffel bags in her hand.  She knocked the legs out from one girl and nearly got another, not even noticing them as she pranced over to Scott, grinning.

"Scott!" she said, delighted, dropping the bags and holding her arms out to her side.  What she wanted to do was hug him, and yet, to Daphne's credit, she remembered that he'd known her for a very long time, even when, well, to put it charitably, she wasn't exactly a safe girl to be hugged by.  She hadn't cracked any ribs accidentally that way in years, but Scott of all people probably remembered the last time she had.

"I missed you Scottie, you look good," she said grinning as she gave him the once over. In fact, he did, both what was outside his clothes and what was inside, but Daphne really was just checking to see if he looked like he was eating OK, honest, and as soon as she was satisfied with that, her eyes didn't linger for long on his body before looking up at his face, grinning.

"You know I hate that nickname," Scott said, hugging Daphne instead.  It was safe for her to be hugged, and he was probably one of the few men who she'd allow that close to her.  "Of course, the other one would be too obvious nowadays."

The hug may have been held longer than Daphne would be comfortable with, but Scott took whatever gropes he could, always masking it under some other pretense. Since he was old enough to know what sex was, Scott had been fantasizing about Daphne and what he would do to her, if only her abilities didn't get in the way. His partying and womanizing had become legend on campus, and he still had two years of his dual major before graduating. Plenty of time to maybe figure out how to get through the invulnerable bod, he surmised.

"I didn't think you were going to bother with college," Scott said.  "Last time I flew into town, you weren't going to bother."  Flew in was literal, though it was nearly seven months ago.

Scott and Daphne discovered each other's powers quite by accident. They were playing by the ravine and Scott lost his balance at the edge. Daphne, not thinking, dove for him and missed. he was 15, she 12.

Daphne plummeted nearly sixty feet to the bottom. She knew she was strong and mostly invulnerable but didn't know to the degree by that point. Flight hadn't yet become one of her abilities.

It was one of Scott's though. When he lost his balance, he simply willed himself to hover.

It was quite a surprise to both. After retrieving Daphne from the bottom of the ravine, they sat and talked for hours about what they could do.

"Living on campus, commuting, or will your parents let you stay at my place?"  Scott had an apartment off campus, site of many a beer bash and local band show.

Daphne was more than willing to let Scott hug her, and if he seemed to enjoy doing it a bit more enthusiastically than he should, that was fine by her too, for a number of reasons.  First, Daphne didn't actually get all that many hugs, and Scott was one of those select few with whom she didn't think she had to worry about whether her body reacted normally.  She was overjoyed to see him and happy to get a hug, even to the point of being harmlessly felt up, as long as it was fairly discrete.

Of course, there was another reason why she "put up" with him getting touchy at times, Fact of the matter was, as pitifully gentle as the contact was, it still felt good to Daphne, and it pretty much was about the best she could expect to get out of any man.  In fact, if they hadn't been in public, well, she might just have playfully reciprocated a bit.  She'd just put Scott in her safe category, a guy whom she trusted to tell her if she was going to far, both in terms of roughness, and in terms of arousing desires she couldn't satisfy, not that Daphne thought of it that explicitly.

So, while Daphne resisted the urge for greater contact, she didn't at all shy away and just grinned up at him, pulling back just enough to look at his face when she spoke to him, grinning.

"That's why I called you that, I was hoping you'd get so mad you'd pick me up and spank me."

Still grinning at her absurd little joke, Daphne continued, her expression growing a bit more serious, and perhaps even determined as she spoke.

"I'm gonna try Scott, so help me, I'm gonna really try to hack it.  I know its gonna be tough, but if I don't at least try, well... Look, I'm here, and that's that."

Smiling again as she noticed he was still pressed against her, she looked up and finally gently broke his embrace, unconsciously patting his hand lightly as she did so, as if she'd just repositioned a doll she loved a lot.

"That's sweet, Scott," Daphne replied "but the rules say freshman girls gotta live on campus. I promise I won't be over all the time bugging you and scaring off all your dates. Although... " she added grinning, "I don't promise I won't fly over sometime and peak in for just a sec, if I hear bedsprings creaking, you know, in case she ties you up and you forget the password"

Daphne continued to grin, pleased with her attempts at what she thought was both continuing their relationship, and perhaps, showing that she was a big girl now, who could take things up a notch or two.  Joking with her guy friends about other girls was something new to Daphne, but she was trying it, and somehow it made her feel a little better, like she wasn't completely left out.  She even knew about S and L, and Passwords.

 

Flashback: Spring 2004

Daphne Orgone was in a bit of a pickle, and being a superhuman alien was definitely not helping matters in the least.  If she'd been a normal girl, she'd have been blissfully ignorant about what was going on, but Daphne wasn't normal, which was one reason why she'd been so on edge about stepping into the shower with the other girls to begin with, and was probably why she'd noticed what they couldn't, even if they'd tried.  She was nervous.

They were all basically shaped the same way, although Daphne's body was a bit more exaggerated than most, but if you really looked closely, there were some  differences.  Daphne's breasts, for example, despite being larger than most of her class mates, didn't sag right, they just sort of hung out there, as if only grudgingly even acknowledging the existence of gravity.  Then there was the skin thing.  Daphne didn't get the little marks and imperfections other girls did, and even if she didn't screw up some other way, she was always afraid someone would notice something silly like that, or the fact that Daphne never had the slightest razor stubble.  It wasn't that Daphne was ashamed of her body, as much as that she was overly conscious of it, and whoever had the bright idea of taking down the dividers in the girls showers ought to be shot, or worse, given to Daphne in a closed room.

Gym class was nerve racking enough for Daphne in the first place, and she'd tried every trick in the book to avoid it, short of going to the nurse of course.  THAT could end up even worse.

The girl next to her, a tall skinny redhead coughed, and Daphne remembered her problem, taking another gander at the far wall.

To Daphne's eyes, the wall slowly dissolved, and there was Joe Rankin, class A freshman pervert, standing their peeping through the tiny hole, his hand inside his pants.  Daphne took a look down there too, and frowned.  What she saw was unimpressive, even by the standards of such things trapped in jockey shorts, and it didn't even look hard.  Daphne blinked, and swallowed.  This was one of those times she'd have to make a decision on her own, since she couldn't exactly go ask for help stark naked and leave the kid doing what he was doing.  She knew it was wrong, and knew she had to stop it, but at the same time, she didn't want to hurt him.  After all, all he was doing was looking, and she'd done the same thing to him, sort of.  Well, except she wasn't... That WAS gross.

Sighing, Daphne made up her mind. The easiest thing was to try heat vision on him, but Daphne had never figured out how to do that through another object; it was like X-ray and heat were two different things.  Plus, she wasn't real good at that sort of thing, and might hurt him pretty badly, maybe even permanently.  So that was out.  She eyed the fire alarm for a moment, and considered it, catching herself just in time as she visualized all those naked girls running out in towels.  A close one.  Instead, she stared up at the light bulbs.  Each one, and there were six of them, all fluorescent bulbs, took about a second. Pop, pop, pop.

The shower suddenly turned dark, and Daphne called out, pleased with her solution.  No light, no fun.

"What the .... who turned out the lights?"

Daphne, along with the rest of the girls, fumbled in the darkness, making their way out of the shower and into the lit, but much more private locker room area.  Daphne dressed quickly, slipping on a T-shirt and jeans, and not even bothering with the bra.  Daphne with no bra in a T-shirt was, well, semi-obscene, since she didn't need one to push anything up.  But it was also, she'd learned from experience, extremely intimidating to guys, which was just perfect for this one.

Daphne popped out from behind a locker, just as Joe barreled past, and she reached out, grabbing his shirt and slamming him gently against it, holding him there as she pressed against him.  Joe was short, only a few inches taller than she was, and by standing on her tiptoes, she could look him in the face.

"You sick little twisted pervert," she said.  "I know what you did, and I'll know if you EVER do it again."

"What?"

Daphne smiled, releasing his shirt, but not backing up.  She had him, and she had a plan, one of her very own.

"What do you think the senior guys will do if they find out a sick little freshman has been staring at their girlfriends in the shower?  I think maybe I ought to tell the principal for your own protection, don't you?"

It was good.  No superpowers, only the power of logic and a quick mind.

Joe shook his head, trying to think clearly, which wasn't easy with those boobs still pressed against him.  Holy cow, they were firm.  But he managed.

"Whaddaya want?" he said smiling.

Daphne looked up at him blankly.  She didn't know how to answer that one.  And Joe saw it, especially when she backed up and those boobs weren't pressing against him.  In spite of the fact that she could crush him like tissue paper, the tables were turning.

"Come on, Daphne, don't tell me you're really as STUPID as they say you are.  You.. you think you're the first person I had to pay off.  Hell, Daphne, who do you think doesn't know about that peephole?  You think.. you think you really want to open that can of worms?  Those are class A boobs, Daphne.  I don't really have to edit out YOUR face before they go up on the Internet."

The look on Daphne's face was pure panic, and Joe kept going. He was making it up as he went along, but Daphne seemed to fall for all of it.

"Nah, you're right, as dumb as you are, you might get some big jock to bang you, and I don't need the hassles.  Deal Daphne.  You keep quiet, and so do I."

Daphne just stood there as Joe walked off, fighting the tears. He was a little creep, but he had her number, only, well, what he didn't know was that Daphne was one dumb broad who couldn't even get a guy, not even a creep like that.  She wasn't just dumb, she was dumb and a freak, a stupid alien freak.

Daphne held it together though, and didn't start crying until AFTER she'd walked through two closed doors and made it out into the parking lot.  And the worst part was, when she finally did realize what had happened, she had to bend the steel doors back into shape and rehang them.

 

State College Fall 2005, by Daphne and Scott

It usually took a very large caliber well placed bullet to cause Daphne the kind of pain she felt in her gut as she watched Scott talk to Tina, but she didn't show it, or at least she hoped she didn't.  Tina and Daphne had been childhood friends, and when Daphne's powers first began to emerge, long before they got over the top, Tina had been there to notice odd little things like the fact that Daphne never bruised, and that, at the age of eight, she was stronger than most guys four years older.  But while Daphne had grown up into a freak, Tina had turned into a real beauty, the kind of girl that made guys, at least in Daphne's mind, contemplate love rather than lust.  Tina was beautiful, brilliant, and, as Daphne knew all too well, capable of doing anything she wanted.  Daphne didn't hate Tina; it was a lot worse than that.  It was more like Daphne was scared of Tina, scared of what she knew the girl was capable of if she set her mind to it.  The only saving grace was that Scott was the one guy she knew who MIGHT be able to handle himself around her, but Daphne still didn't like the idea of them together.

"Tina," Scott replied, flashing the girl a smile. Another townie, Scott had already decided she was going to be one of his projects for the semester. Maybe he'd have Daphne watch as he got Tina into bed. "Party at my place tomorrow.  Bring you friends. Clothing optional." He didn't bother offering an address.  If she wanted to come, if she wanted to mingle with the upperclassmen, Tina would find it.

Tina, who'd expected to leave Scott stricken speechless, stopped and just smiled at Scott, her expression clearly indicating interest, and yet, a bit of amusement as well. But before Tina could respond, Scott turned back to Daphne.

Scott had slowed and placed a hand on one of Daphne's bags, to help with the illusion of the helpless blonde.  In reality he'd be hard pressed to hold the bag with two hands.  "I expect you to be there as well," Scott said to Daphne.

Daphne's eyes widened, but she never had a chance to respond.  Tina got in first.

"Thanks for the invitation, ... its Scott, right?" Tina said, "but I'm pretty booked up tomorrow night, what with sorority rush and all."

Tina gave Daphne a friendly smile as if to say, "don't worry" fully expecting that little moron would take it at face value, before turning back to Scott and letting her grin change a bit.

"Maybe some other time, Scott?" Tina said, reaching out and touching his cheek.  "I'm in room 614."

Tina left, without waiting for an answer, confident in her ability to make an exit this time, and Daphne just stood there, her stomach twisting and turning in knots, her mouth slightly open.

When Scott didn't say ANYTHING for what seemed like AGES after Tina had left, Daphne couldn't take it anymore. Daphne's metabolism, and the way she thought was a very odd thing, and while mentally swift was not a word anyone would use to describe her, the fact was, she sometimes could process information faster than normal humans.  What she did with it was another matter, but with Daphne's supersenses, she was almost always dealing with a flurry of sensations, and so she might have jumped poor Scott just little too fast.  But she couldn't take it anymore.  After watching Scott let her touch him like that, she just couldn't stand to wait and see if he'd get some dreamy eyed look on his face.  And she sure as hell did NOT want him to talk about what he had in mind for Tina.  Other girls, maybe, but Tina.... not her.

"You coming?" Daphne asked as she abandoned on all pretenses of not being able to handle the bags.  In fact, Daphne was barely able to keep walking at a normal pace as she headed straight for the stairs, not even bothering with the elevator.  Six flights of stairs was nothing.

It wasn't till she got to the top of the stairs that she realized, she wasn't even sure if Scott was still there.  She turned around to see.

When Daphne took off on her own, bags in her hands and no pretense of being a weak little girl, Scott knew something was wrong. Bright wasn't a word to describe Daphne, but Scott knew jealousy when he saw it. Daphne was jealous of what he might do with (or to) Tina.

Daphne took the stairwell and headed up it. Scott followed her, watching as she ascended the spiral. Sighing, he lifted off the ground, a soft gold glow around him as he floated up the center of the spiral.

"Don't tell me you're jealous of her," Scott said once he floated to Daphne's level. "If anything, she should be worried about you stealing her thunder."

Daphne didn't turn around immediately at the sound of Scott's voice. She paused, swallowing hard, for a moment and tried to calm herself.  Jealous?  He was right on the money, but she was too pissed, to annoyed to be entirely rational about it, and besides, he had one hell of an ego to think that he had any part in it whatsoever.  Then she turned, her face red as she spoke.

"Screw you, Scott" she said angrily, yet without really raising her voice.  "You know.. you ought to know its not that simple, and if you wanted to come play big brother, you shouldn't have said that thing about watching while you do her.  Of all the people, Scott.. of all the people  ..."

Daphne felt the tears starting to flow, and just then, the last person she wanted wiping them away was Scott.

"Catch ya later, Scott" Daphne said, and then she pursed her lips and blew at him.  Not hard, really, and if anyone had watched it, it probably would have looked like a woman blowing out a candle.  But Daphne's lungs and mouth could compress air pretty powerfully, and the gust of air coming from her mouth was enough to knock a grown man off his feet, surely enough to send a hovering superhero across the stairwell.

Daphne turned, picked up her bags and went to her room to cry in peace, not bothering to look back.  (Unless she hears a REALLY loud splat that is).

 

Flashback - 2003

Daphne was having one of those days.  Standing there in black sweatpants and a yellow t-shirt with her hair in a pony tail, the sixteen year old was trying to deal with one of those simply impossible frustrations to teenaged superheroines everywhere ... a rejected credit card.  Although Daphne's parents both went to college and once had high powered careers, they'd chosen to move back to a farm to raise their adopted daughter.  Family farms sound cool on TV shows, but Tom Welling never seemed to go shopping, either.

"But it can't not work.  Its, um, not a credit card, its a debit card, and my dad put the money in the account this morning."

Daphne threw in her best smile, but the clerk, a middle-aged woman in a purple polyester suit with swollen ankles was having none of it. She'd taken an instant dislike to the busty little blonde with the big arms the minute she'd seen her, and every time the little airhead opened her mouth, that dislike got stronger.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but the computer never lies.  Why don't you just go now?  I'll tear up the credit card, and I won't call security."

"Tear it up?" Daphne exclaimed, her face showing her horror at the thought.  "Dad'll kill me.  C'mon, can't you just, um run in through one more time?"

The sales clerk shook her head as she realized that this little bimbo wasn't quite as dumb as she'd first thought.  Not that bright either, but the fact of the matter was, the kids card might just work after all, if the modem ever connected properly.  She sighed, and swiped it through again.

Just then, Daphne turned her head sharply, moving so fast the woman's vision seemed blurry.

"Never mind" Daphne said, deftly grabbing the card and heading for the door.  Careful to move slowly, she made it out the door, checked both ways for watchers, and then slipped behind a loading dock.  Then, bending her knees slightly, Daphne leaped, and flew into the air.

It took only a second to gain enough altitude to get a good look, and she knew which direction the shot had come from.  Sure enough, it was that titty bar along side the highway.  Daphne had always detested the place.  She dropped behind it and quickly slipped off her T-shirt and sweats, revealing the magenta bodysuit underneath.  She hated this one more than most, both because of the color and the fact that the material seemed even thinner around her nipples.  Daphne's nipples stuck through just about anything when they got hard, but some material at least molded in such a way as to not be gross.  This outfit was gross.  She then let her hair down and rubbed her hands quickly over her face, instantly removing her makeup. Some girls wore makeup to cover blemishes; Daphne wore it to create them and to enable her to look a little closer to her real age.  Without it, her complexion was flawless and her face matched her body, a body that surely didn't belong to any terran sixteen year old.  And it beat the hell out of wearing a mask.

By the time Daphne opened the back door to the club, dancers were already pouring towards it, and Daphne had to duck quickly to avoid them as she made her way to the office. To her surprise, the person holding the gun was not a man.  Daphne was sort of disappointed.  She took enough in the way of abuse from men that roughing them up just a little sometimes made her feel pretty good, as long she didn't hurt them too badly.  But women weren't nearly as much fun to play with, and women with guns, she'd learned the hard way, tended to shoot a lot quicker.  Gunshots didn't really harm her, but well placed ones could hurt like hell.

This was a naked brunette, a woman of about 30, wearing nothing but heels, standing over the body of a man in his mid fifties.  The smell of cigarettes, booze, and a slight hint of sex was everywhere.

"Put the gun down" Daphne said as she walked into the room.

"What the....? " the woman exclaimed, turning to face Daphne and pointing the gun right at her.  "Who the  f... are you?"

"Just drop the gun, please" Daphne said staring the woman for only a second before kneeling to check on the man.  He was still breathing, thank heaven.

"Get the hell away from him, bitch" the woman exclaimed as she slammed the gun down on Daphne's head.

Daphne, still trying to figure out where the guy was shot, didn't look up at all, and she really wished she had.  The gun came down hard on her head, and there was a loud crack of breaking bone before the gun dropped out of the woman's hand.  Daphne stood slowly, staring at the whimpering woman, spotted the gun, and kicked it across the room, just in case the woman could shoot left handed.

"You.. what are you?" the woman cried, still clutching her hand.

"Screw you" Daphne replied, suddenly annoyed.  She was not a WHAT!  "Listen, hon.  You didn't kill him, and the cops are on their way.  Now I don't particularly want to hang around, on account of, well, they can be real pricks sometimes, but I can't have you shooting someone else or running away.  So...."

Daphne reached out and grabbed the woman by the chin with one hand and swung her onto the desk before sitting astride her as she glanced around for something to tie her up with.

"Mother f.,,, " the woman cried as she began to beat at Daphne with her one good hand.  Daphne barely felt the blows and ignored them.  There was, however, nothing to tie her up with, and Daphne was getting very frustrated.  Then Daphne felt something like a pinprick, and looked down to see the woman shredding her jumpsuit with her nails.

"Bitch" Daphne said.  Then, without any warning, Daphne reached down and tapped the woman on the forehead with a single finger.  She was out like a light, and to Daphne's relief, her head didn't seem to twist too badly to the side.  The blonde smiled, pleased with her gentle little tap, something she'd been working on quite a bit, but her smile abruptly turned into a frown as she heard shouting just outside the door.

"Police" the man shouted.

Daphne bolted, launching herself into the air and through the closed window.  Unfortunately, it was not only closed, but heavily grated, and while the steel grating didn't stop or even slow her down much, it did sting as it scraped across her bare skin.  Daphne ignored the slight pain, and tried not to think about her costume as she flew upwards, accelerating as fast as she dared in town.

She came to rest a few minutes later, atop one of her favorite perches, the town water tower, where she did a quick once over of her costume.  Ruined.  Her top was in shreds, although there wasn't a mark on her body.  Glancing back down, Daphne spotted the cops outside the bar... counted three squad cars.

Shit, she thought to herself.  I probably did screw this one up pretty badly. Her friends had been all over her about public relations, and how to handle things right.  The idea was, she was supposed to be completely unseen and anonymous, unless it was something real gentle, like rescuing a kitten from a tree or something.  But messing with criminals, well, the cops didn't take such a good view of that, and they sure as hell didn't like the fact that they couldn't do a damn thing about stopping her.  She sighed, debating going down and talking to them.

She knew she should.  It was what she'd been working up to, to be able to work with the police, openly to help them, and not hide from them.  But, and her friends were probably right, that she wasn't up to it yet.  They'd want to ask her ALL kinds of questions, and Daphne didn't want to answer them, and worse yet, might panic.  Plus, if they got a really good look at her, it wouldn't be all that hard to find out her secret identity, and then her whole life would be over.  That would really suck.  It was bad enough being an alien, pretending to be human, but at least she could still pretend and have a semblance of a normal life.  And while they probably couldn't really hurt her, they certainly could hurt her friends and family.  The whole scene would really suck.

Glancing down at her tattered costume for just a moment, Daphne reached down and slithered out of it, standing there buck naked on top of the water tower for a long moment as she stared up at the sky.  Even with all her superpowers, Daphne couldn't see where she'd come from, and her few attempts at space flight had been complete and utter disasters.  Basically, she was stuck on the earth, a freak on a planet full of delicate beings whom she could practically kill if she sneezed, not that Daphne ever had sneezed.  But the analogy fit.  It was like she was surrounded by tissue paper, and every time she moved, she risked tearing the fabric of the whole planet apart.  And all she really wanted was to grab a piece, like all the other girls and have fun with it. Daphne bunched up the torn costume, and heaved it as hard and as fast as she could, straight up.  It was hardly aerodynamic, but it flew, thanks to Daphne's strength, sailing high into the atmosphere.

Then, stark naked, Daphne launched herself into the air and headed towards home.  Actually, she stopped at the barn, a good fifty yards from the house, and scooped up a spare pair of jeans and a T-shirt, making a note to go back for her T-shirt and sweatpants the next day as she silently crept around the back of the house and climbed up the wall to her bedroom window.  She wasn't quite so good at quiet landings yet.  Just as she crawled through the window, she heard her mother's voice.

"Daphne?" Martha Orgone said calmly as she watched her daughter crawl through the window.  "This is simply ridiculous, child.  If you weren't coming home for dinner, you could have called.  Or did you lose your cell phone again?"

Daphne didn't answer at first, not quite sure how to answer that one without getting in more trouble.  But her mother just stared at her, and finally Daphne answered.

"I left it somewhere, Mom.  I'll get it, though, I promise, and I'm sorry for not calling."

Martha sighed, leaning back on the bed.

"We still worry about you Daphne, you know that."

"I know, Mom," Daphne replied as she slithered out of her jeans and slipped off her T-shirt.

"No, Daphne," Martha replied as she watched Daphne stroll across the room and reach for her night shirt.  She loved Daphne with all her heart, but the girl still took her breath away at times, a bizarre, almost alien combination of curves and muscle that was even more dramatic when combined her personality.  Daphne was a trial, often disappointing, and yet, still the sweetest, most promising daughter a mother could ever imagine.

"I don't think you do," Martha continued.  "Jonathan and I are not getting any younger, Daphne, and we stopped being able to keep up with you years ago as it is.  What are you going to do when we're not around, Daphne?  Cell phones don't grow on trees, you know."

"I know, Mom," Daphne said sighing as she hopped into bed next to her.  "I promise I'll get it, and I'll remember to call next time, OK?  Usually, um..."  Daphne was about to say that her friends helped her remember things like that, but thought better of it.  It would only prove her mother's point.  She needed to take responsibility for herself.  Martha however, just smiled.

"I called her cell phone Daphne.  She had hers, and she tried to cover for you, too.  But your friends worry about you too.  You're a lucky girl to have friends like that."

"I know Mom," Daphne said.

"Good night" Martha replied as she got up and closed the bedroom door.