Ultrahuman 01 - Ugly (7 page)

Well, it was nice of her to say so, but maybe June needed therapy for this strange delusion. Considering calling a psychoanalyst, Penny turned on the TV to watch
True Powers.

5
^th
March.

‘And I need these notes entered into the system by the end of today.’

Penny looked up at the pile of random papers with handwriting on them, which looked like a chicken had crawled across the page, and then up at James Thorpe, the other senior partner. She nodded. ‘Of course, Mister Thorpe.’

Thorpe gave her what could only be described as an icy stare, turned on his heel, and walked out. He was not exactly the perfect boss, and certainly did not view the business in any ‘family’ way. He did not give Penny work often, but when he did he was usually demanding something that was difficult, if not impossible. It was after three. It might take her two hours just to puzzle out his handwriting, never mind typing it up. She would be late for practice with Bobby and…

The voices in her mind were suddenly loud, insistent, intense. She jammed her eyes closed, her hands tensing as she fought to push the sounds away. They were louder than she had ever heard them and she thought she could almost understand…

And then they were gone and she was looking at the notes she had scattered across her desk. ‘Damn,’ she muttered, starting to sort them back into order. At least Thorpe numbered his pages. She looked at the page she was holding in her right hand. Page nine, a note made at a meeting in North Beach, according to the heading. It was just an ordinary note, something about money transfers. The odd thing was the little doodle in the corner of the page, which looked like a badly drawn eagle, its wings pinned out to the sides by a pair of arrows. Weird. Also disgusting.

Frowning, Penny got to her feet, went to the door, and locked it. Then she began to take off her clothes. Other Penny could type faster than Normal Penny, and she would not be inclined to panic attacks or randomly scattering the pages again. She just had to hope no one else wanted to visit her.

~~~

‘Pen?’ Thankfully it was June’s voice on the other side of the door. ‘Why’s the door locked? Have you got a man in there?’

Penny rushed over, unlocked the door, and dragged June inside before she could say another word. She turned the lock again immediately. ‘Hush. No, I haven’t got a man in here.’

‘No, but you’re naked.’

‘Well I don’t have clothes here that fit, do I?’

‘Okay, yes, but that doesn’t explain why you’re… that shape.’

‘I needed the extra typing speed. I’m thirty or so words a minute faster like this and I don’t need my glasses.’

‘Oh… Well, are you about done? It’s time to go home.’

‘Just about. Last page. Here,’ Penny handed June page nine, ‘what d’you make of that?’

June looked at the page, her face screwing up into a grimace. ‘Eww! It’s like… It’s like a totally twisted version of the National Emblem. You know how there’s a bunch of arrows in one claw?’

‘They’re Thorpe’s notes.’

‘Why can’t he use a tablet like everyone else? And why would he draw that?’

Penny shrugged, sitting down to finish her typing. ‘I’ve got no idea. To either question.’

9
^th
March.

Penny ducked low under Bobby’s kick, which unfortunately left her open for the knee strike which slammed right into her face sending her flying backward and onto the floor. He was on her in a second, straddling her hips, and pinning her wrists with his hands.

‘You’re getting much better,’ he said, grinning, ‘but you’ve got to plan ahead. Ducking makes your head vulnerable to low strikes. Now… I have you exactly where I want you.’

Penny looked up at him. He was bare-chested, his skin bearing a sheen of sweat from their practice bouts. The weight of him over her pelvis felt far too good, but…

‘That would be true,’ she said, ‘if I wasn’t a lot stronger than you.’ Clenching her fists, she pushed upward, putting all the force she could into lifting his weight. It was easy, almost too easy; he really was no match for her in sheer power. It was his skill that let him beat her time after time, and when he let himself get into a grappling situation, he lost that advantage.

Wind whipped at her hair and he lifted off her, swinging up and away before she could take advantage of his position. ‘You really are coming along well,’ he laughed. ‘Three weeks ago it would not have occurred to you to simply push.’

Penny climbed to her feet and rose smoothly into the air until she was at his level. ‘Thanks. I have a good teacher. It’s not strictly your style, but you said to use whatever advantage I had.’

‘It is my style, gatinha. I teach that there is no such thing as a fair fight. Now, obstacle course. Go!’

She bolted off toward the first hoop. She was getting better at his course though she was not sure whether that was skill or familiarity. Her combat skills were growing too, though she had noticed Bobby frown a few times when they fought, as though something he had noticed concerned him. He had said nothing, and she seemed to be progressing, so she had ignored it for now.

‘Concentrate,’ he ordered as she clipped a hoop. ‘Let yourself flow around the obstacles, but set your mind to the task, not to other things.’

How he knew she was thinking about her performance she had no idea, but she blotted that from her mind and concentrated on the intricate dance her body was performing. She did not miss another turn.

As she finished and landed smoothly on the mats he said, ‘Very good. I think that is enough for today. Take a shower, gatinha. You’ve earned it.’

Grinning at the praise, she dropped lightly to the floor below and walked through to the guest room he had suggested she use when she was there. That meant walking through into the large lounge in the centre of the ground floor, and then turning left. She started stripping off her sweats as she walked into the bedroom with its large bed and built-in wardrobes, and was naked when she started the shower running.

It was a fantastic shower. Three heads produced a deluge of hot water which had her soaked in seconds, and there was plenty of space within the glass walls of the cubicle.

There were four guest rooms, two with showers, two with whirlpool baths. There was also a dining room, which she thought he rarely used, and a large kitchen, which he did. Bobby liked to cook, and was actually pretty good at it.

Penny let the water wash the soap from her body, exulting in the wash of hot rain, and glanced out toward the bathroom door. The cubicle’s glass wall had misted over, but there was a dark, humanoid shadow outlined against the light coming through from the bedroom. Was he watching her? If it was not him, she should find out who it was. Reaching out, she slid the glass aside.

Bobby Lee was standing there, still shirtless, but with a towel draped around his shoulders. He was watching. He did not look away at the sight of her naked body beaded with water. Her heart was racing again. She swallowed.

‘Care to join me?’ she asked.

He did not answer, but he dropped the towel and stepped forward, pushing his sweatpants off his hips, stepping out of them as they fell from his body. Penny was sure she would have tripped. She stepped back, feeling unsure of herself. She had invited him in, but she was still not sure what would happen. Maybe he just wanted a shower…

Bobby slid the glass closed behind him and looked at her for a second, his eyes scanning up her body. She fought the urge to cover her breasts. ‘Bellissimo, gatinha,’ he said, almost too quietly for her to hear. ‘Você me honra.’ She was about to ask what it meant when he stepped forward and his mouth met hers.

~~~

Bobby’s hands held Penny’s above her head, pressed against the pillows at the head of the bed. Her long legs were wrapped tightly around his hips, but they were not wrestling in the traditional sense. Her body strained in something almost akin to agony as he moved within her, slowly, teasingly, driving her to another orgasm.

She had been acutely aware, as he took her in the shower, that she had no real idea what she was doing aside from the basics. This body, however, was incredibly flexible, which made up for her lack of talent. More than that, every time they made love it seemed as though some inner power swelled within her, and left him breathless and happy after every encounter. It also seemed to leave him wanting more, and they had been at it for over an hour, maybe longer.

This time, when the fog of climax had cleared from her mind, she found him lying atop her, his head on her shoulder. He was still inside her and his breath was hot on her neck, and he showed no desire to move.

‘You are…’ he said, the words a whisper. ‘You are quite a woman, gatinha. I sense that you are not used to a man paying you such attention, and yet your body holds such sensual power… Ah… You have exhausted me.’ He lifted himself up and rolled to the side, and the shock of him leaving her wrenched a gasp from her.

‘I… I don’t always look like this,’ Penny said when her breathing had steadied. ‘I change into this shape, into this body, and the other me… She’s not pretty, or flexible. Actually, she’s a bit of a klutz and men don’t really pay her much attention.’

‘And yet, I think your friend, June, she would gladly sleep with you in either shape.’ He seemed to be taking shapeshifting in his stride. Then again, he had been an active Ultra. ‘I sensed desire in her. The kind of desire which takes a long time to develop. It comes from knowing someone well and loving what they are no matter what.’

‘We’ve been living together for a couple of years. Uh, we have separate rooms. She does want me, but I’m not into girls like that.’

‘Lucky for me,’ Bobby replied, smiling, ‘and for Red.’

Penny giggled and glanced over at the big window which took up one wall of the room. ‘Oh Hell, it’s dark! How long were we doing that for?’

There was a grunt as he moved. ‘Two, two and a half hours. Perhaps you should be getting home before June calls out the police.’

~~~

‘You’re back,’ June said as Penny slipped in from the balcony. ‘I was actually starting to get worried.’ Penny grinned at her, and was about to say something when June’s eyes widened. ‘You’ve had sex!’

Penny giggled, blushed, and pushed the window shut. ‘Is it that obvious?’

‘Uh-huh. You look like the cat that got the cream.’

‘I did, several times.’

June joined the giggling. ‘How was he?’

‘Hey! That’s kind of private…’

‘Yeah, and?’

‘Oh God, he was awesome! I think he was trying to build my confidence, but he said I was good too.’ She bounced across to the sofa, dropped down beside June, and cuddled up against her. ‘Oh, June, is this what you’re like with Red?’

‘Kind of. Maybe a little less giddy, but we’ve both been around the block a couple of times. Aside from that guy in the club on New Year, Bobby’s your first torrid encounter, you’re bound to be giddier. I’m happy for you.’

‘We both seem to have landed on our feet, don’t we?’

June sighed happily and pulled Penny closer against her. ‘I’ve definitely had worse periods in my life, Pen.’

20
^th
April.

‘Oh my God! They killed Sally!’

Penny let out a giggle at June’s squeak of outrage. ‘You
know
she’s probably not dead. I mean, she’s the title character. How can you have
True Powers
without Sally True?’

‘Well, yes, I suppose, but… How are they going to write her out of that one? She pushed the Great Beast into a portal to Hell!’

‘I figure she’ll turn up on a beach somewhere with no memory of what happened.’ Penny gave a grin. ‘Given the programme, she’ll be naked.’

‘Yeah…’ June mused. ‘Yeah… you’re probably right.’

14
^th
June.

It was a national holiday, but not a celebration. The TV channels were all showing the same thing, more or less, and there was something of a morose air to the proceedings. June the 14
^th
was the anniversary of the destruction of New York.

Penny made it a point to watch at least one of the documentaries on the event every year and there was a new one on Ultra! this year. New, but not really telling her anything she did not already know. They had interviews with some of the people who had been there, including Doctor Ultimate. Even he was just recounting things everyone knew.

On the 8
^th
of June 1988 a villain no one had ever heard of before, Magmatic, had demanded ten billion dollars in negotiable bearer bonds or, he claimed, he would destroy New York. His demands had been met with the usual response, ‘We do not negotiate with terrorists,’ and he had demonstrated how serious he was. On the 10
^th
a volcano had exploded out of the water of the Hudson, swallowing Liberty Island, submerging the Statue of Liberty in lava up to its waist, and covering most of Lower Manhattan in ash.

The city had dissolved into chaos. The bridges and tunnels had clogged with traffic as people tried to flee. The airports had been closed down with the National Guard mobilised to control the resulting riots. Calls for calm were ignored.

The Union of Ultrahumans had arrived to aid in the search for Magmatic, along with America’s national hero, Captain Freedom. He was tall, blonde, handsome, and incredibly powerful, an Avatar-class Ultra beloved by pretty much everyone in the country. He, like his Soviet equivalent, Dukh Naroda, was essentially limited to operating on his native soil, which was the only reason the two had never been seen duking it out, but he was thought to be essentially immortal, just like his counterpart.

When Doctor Ultimate had managed to locate Magmatic’s lair using seismic sensors, Captain Freedom had led the assault with Adamantium, Brightstar, and several of the other Union heavy-hitters. It had been a disaster. Magmatic had blasted up through The Lake in Central Park to escape the attack, magma had exploded upward in his wake, and it had taken Captain Freedom driving the mutant back into the volcano to stop it. Neither of them was ever seen again and most of the city was destroyed by the flood of molten rock.