Heroes Wanted

Sam considered her options, then passed the man cash for one night. Without her powers, she was going to need to eat and drink like normal, which meant she needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Thanks."

She found her room without much difficulty, matching the number on her key tag with the consecutively numbered doors leading away from the office. Inside, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the room was acceptably clean. A quiet air conditioner hummed away, keeping the interior temperature a little on the cool side, causing her nipples to harden against the thin tank top she wore; in the rush to escape the facility, she hadn't had an opportunity to put on a bra.

Letting her bag drop on the floor, Sam shut the door and sat at the edge of the bed. She knew she needed to game plan her next move and figure out a way to get from the motel seemingly in the middle of nowhere to her next destination, but all she could do was stare at the wall. Everything had unraveled so quickly, and she hadn't really had the time to process any of it. Eventually, she forced herself to get up and walk into the bathroom, where she turned on the shower. The water pressure was passable, but the spray itself was ice cold. While she waited for the water to warm, she returned to the edge of the bed, kicking off her shoes and shuffling out of her pants before pulling her tank top off. Wearing only her panties, she stood in front of the sink in the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror, trying to acclimate to the sight of herself with red hair.

"Hello again, stranger," she said to no one in particular. "Looks like we have to get to know each other all over again."

She was still looking herself over in the mirror when a sudden feeling of dread crept over her. She wasn't sure if she heard something over the pitter-patter of water falling in the shower, but her gut told her that something was off. Shutting off the water, she peeked out from the door of the bathroom. Sure enough, now she could hear the crunching of gravel outside as footsteps came nearer to the door of her room. She immediately raced to her bag, still sitting on the floor where she had dropped it, and pulled out the energy weapon Damian had given her, aiming it at the door with shaky hands.

"Please pass by," she thought to herself. "Please just pass by."

Her heart fell as the footsteps stopped by her door, and her finger dropped to the trigger. Expecting the door to be torn off its hinges, she was surprised to hear a gentle knock.

"Sam, are you there?" Jordan's voice said from the other side. "Open up, it's me."

A competing mixture of joy and terror raced through her. If he was there to kill her, there was nothing she could do to stop him. Even if she tore off her inhibitor now, it would be an hour or two before her powers returned to full strength. The pistol in her hands would be little more than a nuisance. But if he was there to kill her, why would he knock? Why not just burst in and end her life right then and there?

After a moment's hesitation, she tucked the pistol in the bat and got to her feet. If he was there to capture or kill her, nothing she could do would change that. But if he wasn't...

She flung the door open and threw her arms around his neck, not caring that it required her to step outside the room wearing nothing but a pair of white panties. He hesitated for a moment before his arms closed around her waist, and their lips mashed together in heated passion. She tugged at his neck, leading him inside. Without her strength, she had no physical control over him, so the fact that he followed spoke volumes of his willingness.

The door swung shut under its own weight as she staggered and stumbled backward, her body still entangled with his. They eventually found themselves against the wall opposite the bed; she pressed his back to the wall as he spun her in his arms so her back was to his chest, allowing his hands to roam over the front of her body, groping and grabbing at her breasts. She instinctively sought out the bulge between his legs, pressing the palm of her hand against the throbbing hardness she found there before grinding her ass cheeks against him, gyrating her hips in slow, teasing circles. Her breathing was heavy and hard as she turned over her shoulder to kiss him again, his hands cradling her cheek. She turned to him again and continued making out, the room filled with the sound of their lips smacking and sucking. She eagerly began to strip him of his clothing, craving the sensation of his hot skin against hers. He was wearing street clothes, rather than his signature uniform, which made the task significantly easier.

Once his shirt was off, she immediately dropped to her knees, panting in eager anticipation as her hands worked at his belt and fly. She moaned in impatient desperation as the buckle of his belt refused to cooperate with her efforts, but she managed to disengage it a few moments later, tugging his pants down to his knees. His cock was already bulging prominently through his boxer briefs underneath, and she tugged the waistband down just far enough to free the throbbing rod. Immediately she had one hand around him and her lips sealed around the head, bobbing and slurping as she sucked him eagerly. Her eyes remained fixed on his face as she sucked and swallowed with a ravenous hunger. His moans of pleasure and approval spurred her on as they locked their gazes on one another, each watching the other reacting to her skillful blowjob.

Eventually, when his shaft was coated and gleaming in a thick layer of her saliva and her mouth was sticky with a mixture of pre-cum and spit, she stood to kiss him again, her hand still working the length of his throbbing, wet shaft. She edged herself back toward the bed, watching as he kicked off his shoes and nearly stumbled to free himself of his pants and boxers. She nudged her panties down slowly, over her hips and then down her legs, before lying back onto the bed, supporting herself on her forearms and spreading her legs wide, treating him to a full view of her invitingly swollen pussy lips.

Without hesitation he lowered himself between her legs and began to lick, his tongue hungrily lapping at her lips, clit, and entrance as he pressed his nose into her bush. Her head fell back in pleasure and she moaned loudly, savoring the wet, soft organ intruding into her sex. His tongue was everywhere, assaulting her with long, flat strokes, coating her in his saliva from her clit down to her anus and everywhere in between, devouring her as hungrily as she had him. It was only after everything between her thighs was wet and slick with saliva and her pussy juices that he focused his attack, spreading her fleshy lips with his fingers and pressing the tip of his tongue to her throbbing clitoris.

A broad smile of pleasure stretched her face and she grabbed his hair, pressing his head between her thighs. Being eaten out without her powers was in many ways the same, and yet intangibly different. Although there was little difference in sensitivity, it still seemed to her that she was truly feeling his mouth for the first time, every touch of his lips and tongue to her swollen bud sending intense shocks of pleasure through her body.

She was getting close to cumming, moaning and gasping in wordless pleasure, when Jordan pulled his face away from her pussy with one last long lick, climbing up her body and positioning himself to enter her. She instinctively spread her legs for him, but felt a moment of trepidation as he brought his cock to her waiting pussy; with the inhibitor suppressing her powers, she was a mere human woman, about to be impaled on the cock of the most powerful man on the planet. Still, if it was her fate to die that day, she could imagine no way she would rather go than making love to Jordan.

As their lips found one another in a kiss, she took his shaft in her fingers and guided him to her entrance. She hooked one foot over his waist, holding him place. Moments later, she felt him press forward. If receiving oral sex from Jordan had felt intangibly different without her powers, penetration was noticeably different. She felt an unfamiliar twinge of pain as his swollen cockhead stretched her open, pleasurable even as it caused her to wince, followed by a heightened sensation of pleasure as her pussy gave way to him in her deepest depths. She folded both legs around his hips now, tugging him into her, urging him to continue forward until he was buried to the hilt.

"Oh yeah... yes... oh... oh ... yes!" was all she could gasp as he began to move in and out.

She came almost immediately, her legs squeezing his hips and fingers digging at his back. It was the first of many as his pace grew and grew, and then again after he flipped her onto all fours, bringing her to ecstasy with his cock from behind. She could feel his urgency growing, even as he struggled to hold himself back for fear of harming his now-powerless lover.

"Let me on top," she gasped, between passion-stricken moans and cries.

He complied, lying back on the bed as she swung her legs over him, straddling his waist. His cock, pointing straight up toward the ceiling and looking as if it might burst at any moment, caught between the folds of her pussy lips and she moaned loudly, letting the head slide up and down the length of her wet cleft while she reached between their bodies to stroke the shaft, still coated with her slick juices. After enjoying the feeling of his thick glans parting the lips of her pussy, she angled him toward her opening, still gaping from having him inside of her moments before, and impaled herself onto him in one motion, sliding down the length of his cock until their hips pressed together in sweet union.

Leaning back, she pressed her hands onto his thighs and began to bounce up and down on his lap. While she could not stop him entirely from bucking, she now had significant control of their pace, and was comfortable that she could bring him the rest of the way without exposing herself to danger.

"Oh god," she gasped, as she felt his hands exploring her body as she bounced herself on him.

The rest of her sounds were wordless cries and gasps as she came again on his cock, her hips jerking back and forth and bucking up and down frantically, causing her ass cheeks to "pop" up and down rhythmically. As she felt him beginning to tense, she grabbed his arms by the wrists and pinned them above his head, leaning forward and pressing her entire body against his, kissing and rubbing as she worked her hips up and down frantically. If he had truly wanted to, he could have pulled free of her grasp and taken hold of her in his powerful grip capable of crushing steel, but instead she felt his fists clench as he submitted to her.

"Don't cum in me," she gasped amidst her moans, an urgent reminder of the precariousness of their coupling.

"I know," came his reply, before they smothered one another in kisses again.

Her hips continued to bounce up and down, her ass slapping noisily against his thighs, while she cried out again and again in pleasure. They were both breathing hard, vocalizing their desire with total abandon. Her body was on fire, the ecstasy of each orgasm melting together with that of the one before it.

"I'm going to cum, Sam!" he gasped finally, and she scrambled off him just far enough, the shaft of his cock still resting against her splayed pussy lips as it began to convulse and jerk.

She stroked his member lovingly as it began to spew his hot seed. He cupped his hand just above his bursting head, preventing the spurting streams of sticky fluid from striking her body at full speed, but allowing it to drip down onto her skin and mass of pubic curls, leaving trails of hot white globs on her body. She fell into his arms and they kissed wordlessly, tangled together until she fell asleep.

*****

When Sam woke, hours later, the room was dark, and a glance at the clock on the nightstand informed her that she had slept through most of the day. Her bed was empty, the cooling imprint of Jordan's body next to her the only sign that he had been there. His absence saddened her but did not come as a surprise. There had been a bittersweet quality to their lovemaking, and she knew deep down that it was his farewell. On the nightstand, she saw a new envelope that hadn't been there before, with a handwritten note on the front.

For your new start. -J

Looking inside, she saw a large stack of cash - $100 bills, far more than what Damian had been able to provide her, and an additional supply of inhibitor patches. She smiled to herself. While it paled in comparison to having Jordan at her side, it would go a long way to getting her where she needed to go. With her mind finally clear, and having found a sense of acceptance and closure, she began to plan.

*****

(Epilogue - Three Years Later)

Sam was in a crowded bar, having been stood up for a blind date, when something on one of the television screens caught her eye.

"Hey, can you turn it up?" she asked the bartender.

The report was about an explosion at what was believed to be an underground, government-run facility. The reporter was ambiguous about the exact location, but Sam immediately recognized the description as that of the Project Sentinel base. Between clips of the explosion in the mountains, the report cut to segments of press conferences being given by high-level government officials, including the President.

"... we put our faith and trust in our heroes," the President was saying, "but the rogue elements in charge of the program threatened to destroy that trust. Fortunately, the men and women we trusted to protect us were not so easily undermined."

As Sam watched in shocked silence, the news report detailed how an uprising in Project Sentinel, led by Jordan and the other costumed superheroes, exposed the abuses and misuses of power taking place among the project leadership, including the project's history of subjecting superhero recruits to psychological stress, and using the enhanced recruits for illegal operations including espionage and assassination. The report ended with coverage of a speech by Jordan himself, now clad in a new red and blue costume, in which he apologized for his part in past misdeeds and pledged himself to upholding the principles of truth and justice. Already, the heroes who stood with him were working to re-establish a base of operations to take the place of the now-defunct Project Sentinel.

Sam's heart was aflutter with emotion as she paid her tab and returned home. She wished there were someone she could call to talk about the whirlwind of feelings threatening to overtake her, ranging from pride and joy to sadness at all that could have been had this simply happened years earlier. When she stepped through the front door of her apartment, however, all of that faded into the background as she caught sight of the striking figure standing by her balcony door, adorned in red and blue.

"Hi," Jordan said, with a kind smile. "I hope you don't mind, I let myself in."

She walked toward him in silence, her head swirling, as if caught in a dream. She felt her hands rising to rest on his shoulders, and then her breath caught moments before she leaned in, touching her lips to his. The sensation of kissing him after so many years was indescribable, strange yet familiar. Their lips melted together slowly, reacquainting with one another.

"I think you'd better stay awhile," she said, smiling breathlessly, when they finally pulled apart.