The Protagonist System

235 You Get What You Ask For

I stepped home into the kitchen and saw through the window that Lady Photon's minivan was parked in the driveway. It was odd and kind of out of the blue, until I walked into the living room and saw a crying Sarah being comforted by my mother.

I immediately joined in to help and was soon without clothing and being made love to. It was both gentle and demanding, needy in a good way, and Sarah begged for me to make her a mother, too. I complied after I did a quick scan of her mind using telepathy and knew the whole story. She was pissed at her cheating husband ignoring her and then she lost two members of her team.

In the after-coital bliss, Sarah told us in her own words what had happened with Glory Girl and Panacea. Neither I nor my mother interrupted her and let her rant, and rave, and demand even more love and comfort. We provided it without question and Sarah eventually calmed down again and asked me why I wasn't upset about it, too.

“It's not worth the effort to get worked up over.” I admitted and she looked surprised. “Like you and Carol said, they are about to become adults and they made their decision. That it was something you both hate, because it was them essentially supporting each other instead of the team as a whole, is the only reason you're upset.”

Sarah looked surprised and then frowned as she thought about it. “They are my nieces.”

“Yes, they are. They also thought it was more important to keep things they way they were instead of adapting to how things were turning out.” I said as I remembered Amy's excuse to not want to touch me after she thought my powers had changed. “They were so focused on themselves and how they felt that they ignored how everyone else felt, especially you and Carol.”

“I suppose I can't argue that.” Sarah said. “I want to and I can't. All the evidence supports it.”

“If Amy had only been a little braver, she would have eagerly reached out for us, all of us, instead of being afraid of losing what she thought she had.” My mother said and caressed my bare chest.

“What she thought...” Sarah whispered and then understood. “Her power liked touching Atlas, a perfect body, and she was afraid that his power would conflict with hers. I didn't realize that also included Vicky.”

My mother nodded. “We tweaked Vicky to become as close to how my son feels to our powers, so Amy is as needy of Vicky's touch as she was for Atlas. With him supposedly changing, all she has left to touch is Vicky and she will never want to give that up.”

“Which is why she suggested joining the Wards.” Sarah said, her mind working things out. “She thinks she'll have her sister with her through it all and she couldn't be more wrong.”

“I think they're both going to be quite surprised to find out that Panacea's healing becoming the property of the PRT and Protectorate is going to be a whole different experience than it was under Carol's very careful planning.” I added and my mother nodded.

Sarah looked surprised and then barked a laugh. “They are going to separate them right away.”

“Probably before they even unpack.” My mother said. “Panacea doesn't realize how stringent the procedures are for a Protectorate cape. The paperwork alone will have her spend more time in an office than she will healing, until they start lending her out to other branches.”

“You're assuming they're going to keep one or both of them in their hometown where they are emotionally compromised.” I told them.

Both my mother and Sarah sucked in sharp breaths.

“I though Carol was joking about allotted visitation rights.” Sarah said.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

My mother gave me a thoughtful look. “What aren't you telling us?”

“Neither Glory Girl nor Panacea have gone through any kind of basic training that all Wards have to participate in, including classes on how to interact with the public, PRT policy on handling crime scenes, and everything else a huge bureaucracy handles every single day.” I answered.

“Oh.” Sarah said and then started laughing. “Oho. Ohhh ho ho. Ha hahaha!”

The three of us quickly devolved into laughter at the thought of both girls being lectured on proper procedures and how funny their faces would be as they had to listen and were tested on it. They thought their mother was strict and she couldn't compare to what a PRT drill sergeant was like.

“Alright, I feel a lot better about handing them over. They will get the essential learning they need and they will become better capes because of that.” Sarah said and kissed me and then kissed my mother. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

“We're happy to help.” My mother said and cuddled back down to my side.

Sarah cuddled back down to my other side and didn't say anything for several minutes. “This is really nice.”

“It really is.” My mother responded.

Sarah sighed. “I need to leave soon.”

“I'll teleport you and your van home whenever you want.” I offered.

“I didn't say I wanted to go, just that I needed to.” Sarah clarified.

“Then call home and say you need some time to deal with things and will be back in the morning to make breakfast.” My mother said and Sarah stiffened. “Or you can say it when you go home in the morning and serve breakfast.”

“You really think I can get away with that?” Sarah asked.

“You're Lady Photon and you're going to become Photon Mom again.” My mother said and reached over to pat Sarah's stomach. “You're a grown woman and you can do whatever you want.”

Sarah blushed slightly and then nodded. “I'll send a text to save them from worrying I'm out roaming the streets.”

My mother softly laughed and rolled off the bed to grab Sarah's clothes and handed over her cell phone. She cuddled back into me and Sarah sent the text to both her husband and her son. Neither of them answered. Sarah frowned at the lack of response and my mother plucked the phone out of her hands and kissed her.

Sarah immediately forgot to be upset and was soon moaning as my mother went down on her. I didn't want to be left out, so I dove for her breasts and she cried out as she was double-teamed by two healing capes that knew exactly what to do to her to get her to orgasm.

By the scattered thoughts forming in her brain, Sarah was extremely happy about letting herself fall into bed with me and didn't regret succumbing to her revenge on her cheating husband. In fact, when I slid myself inside of her and she came just from that, she mentally swore it had been the best decision of her life.

*

The next morning at school was a normal one, right up until I reached the hallway with my locker where the popular kids were. Neither Amy nor Vicky would look at me and Dean was trying to comfort them. It was already all over the school that they were now Wards as well and that was why they let Hebert assault me.

Team loyalty was a thing and everyone conveniently forgot Amy and Vicky were a part of New Wave. But, they all assumed the change of teams had been in the works for a while with how the girls had been acting, since someone started floating the rumor that my mother and I were their replacements to fill the holes they would leave in New Wave when they left.

Even I had to admit that was a brilliant move on Crystal's part and it explained almost everything that happened, which was exactly what New Wave needed to ride the situation out and smell like roses in the end. Surprisingly, Taylor was already there with the Wards and had a look of anticipated worry on her face.

I had to stop my laugh at that reaction and grabbed my backpack, then I proceeded to give out hugs and kisses to the popular girls. Taylor's face was increasingly red as I worked my way over to her and I noticed a few mottled patches of green appear and disappear as well. She didn't move or tried to avoid my approach, though.

I thought that was brave of her, so instead of going in for both the hug and a kiss, I paused and smiled. “Just a hug for now? I didn't start out right away with having Brittany licking my tonsils, you know.”

A few people laughed, Dennis included.

“You can't blame me for that. You're a great kisser.” Brittany defended herself with a smirk.

“O-okay.” Taylor said and braced for it.

I chuckled and she blushed harder. “It's all right, Taylor. Just relax. It's just a hug.”

“Is it?” Taylor asked and looked embarrassed for doubting me.

“It will only ever be what you want it to be.” I said and stepped close. She had to look up slightly, since I was about 4 inches taller than her, and I slid my arms around her body and leaned in to give her a comforting hug and nothing else. I then whispered in her ear that I fixed her clothes so she could Hebert without worry.

Taylor sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. “Why don't you hate me?”

“Even if we never became friends, I could never hate you. Your hair is just too awesome.” I said and she let out a little chuckle. I let her go and stepped back.

“I want a guy to hug me like that.” A girl a few feet away from the group said.

I turned and saw it was the girl that had seen the aftermath of Jensen jerking me off in class. “Bring it.” I said and motioned for her to come closer.

She blushed and her friend beside her gave her a small shove. She walked over to me and she was about 8 inches shorter, so I had to change the hug slightly for her to fit. Instead of hugging her waist, I had to hug her over her shoulders and held her tenderly. She let out a contented sigh and snuggled in and hugged me back.

I let her go and her face was slightly red. “You passed the test.”

She looked confused. “What test?”

“You didn't grab my butt and it was right there by your hands.” I joked and she smiled.

“We're allowed to grab your butt?!?” Several of the popular girls asked, shocked.

“No, you're not.” I said and they made sad sounds.

“Do you want to sit at the popular table for lunch, Gail?” Jensen asked and the girl looked surprised before she nodded. “I'll save you a seat.”

“Thanks.” Gail said.

Jensen hugged me and gave me a quick kiss. “It's another half day again.”

“Yeah, it's another quick trip to New York.” I said and put an arm over her shoulders. “I'll be heading to the studio after that to keep helping Bad Canary with her projects.”

The bell rang and everyone split up to go to classes and I went with Jensen and Gail to first period. The morning passed by a lot faster than it had any right to and then it was lunchtime. Again, some people were surprised I had stayed when everyone else in the work placement program had left.

Gail fit right in with the other girls and was well on her way to becoming a regular member of the popular crowd. Her friend had reluctantly sat on her other side and wasn't enthusiastic about how much attention she was getting for sitting there with us. It was par for the course and was the price you paid for being there, which she said might not be worth it.

I reached around Gail's back and patted her friend's shoulder, giving her the same tune-up I had already given the other girls. “You're a good friend to put yourself out there like this to make Gail happy.”

The girl blushed. “Thanks.”

“I'd sing you a song about friendships if it wasn't illegal for me to do so.” I said and they all nodded. “It's almost time, so I better go.”

“Good luck.” Jensen said and kissed me.

“Thanks.” I said and stood, said goodbye to each of the other people at the table, and left the cafeteria. Once I was out of sight, I changed into one of my nice suits and then stepped from the hallway onto the helipad on the roof of the New York PRT HQ building, only to see Flechette there waiting for me. “Really?”

Lily laughed and gave me a hug. “I'll stop cheating when they figure it out.”

I laughed as well and had another great visit while talking to her and healing.

*

Amy was dismayed that her first work placement wasn't at Brockton Bay General Hospital like she thought. It was actually an hour away in Boston and she wasn't given a choice about who to heal or in what order. She had been too used to wandering around on her own through a hospital and dealing with the worst injuries.

With how the PRT wanted things handled, she was sat in a curtained-off area and patients were wheeled through the space on gurneys. It was like an assembly line for healing and she wasn't given any medical background on them, what she should be treating first, or any real information at all.

Normally, Amy didn't care about people's names or anything, only what she needed to heal. She didn't realize how much she would miss not having access to the information, that she would usually ignore, until it was no longer available. It kicked her curiosity into overdrive and she wasn't sure how to handle asking about it.

What she didn't know was that she had been officially transferred to the Boston branch of the PRT and would be one of their Wards. They always tried to remove young capes from any influences that could negatively affect the performance of their duties as a member of the Protectorate and an entire group of independent capes was a huge influence that the PRT needed to keep her away from.

*

Vicky was shocked when she was told where her new assignment was. California. She was then unceremoniously loaded onto a transport with her suitcases and shipped off to Los Angeles to serve under Alexandria. That part was kind of cool and Vicky didn't mind that.

It was the six weeks of Cape Boot Camp and the Behavioral Studies Course that she was being forced to participate in that annoyed her. She was so much better than a cape boot camp! Why did she have to degrade herself like that? She had been a cape for a couple of years already and didn't need it. The behavior thing didn't make sense, either. Why did she need to learn about that?

Little did she realize she wasn't going to be learning, she would be put through it instead. It was going to surprise the heck out of the people running both courses how out of contact with social norms the young cape had been. Well, they were going to fix those problems right quick, especially with Alexandria right there to oversee the whole thing.

*

Dean sat on the bed in his room at the PRT ENE HQ and tried to not feel depressed. He had known it was too good to be true when he learned that Vicky was joining the Wards. The half-day at school was not anywhere near enough time for him to get used to the idea that he would be working so closely with her, then he was informed that Glory Girl's transfer to the LA Boot Camp under Alexandria had been approved.

“I hope she has fun learning under the most powerful female cape in the world.” Dean said and looked down at his cell phone's screen. The texts he had sent were unanswered and he wondered if their recently rekindled romance was going to survive with her all the way across the country. He hadn't even been able to kiss her goodbye.

A knock on his room's door distracted him. “Come in.”

The door opened and a casually dressed Vista stood there. “Are you okay?”

Dean could feel Missy's sorrow at seeing him so sad and he thought about lying. He chose not to and shook his head.

Missy closed the door and leaned against it as she gave him a longing look. Dean could feel the love she felt for him and he always denied it as a crush, since she was a few years younger than him. But, right at that moment, he decided that he didn't care.

Dean opened his arms and Missy practically teleported across the room, thanks to her space manipulation powers. He allowed himself to wallow in her feelings for him and hugged her tightly.