I want to say a huge thank you to Woodclaw, and Au Goose for sparing ideas with me, and especially to Woodclaw for helping me out with edits and suggestions.

I will also extend a thank you to EarlyQ-Gaiden for coming with some very good suggestions when I neared the end of the story!

***

Few things were ever boring in the city of Grand Springs. Especially when two of the large city’s most prominent supers, Midnight and Dawn, were trying to beat the crap out of each other.

“Hey Sun-Bitch?” yelled the crimson beauty as she hurled a massive truck toward her enemy. “CATCH!”

Dawn saw this and reacted quickly, using her powers of flight to elegantly twirl away from the truck-turned-missile’s trajectory. A fraction of a second later, it crashed into the side of a nearby apartment building, leaving a prominent hole⁠—and two very startled lovers⁠—in a bedroom on the fifth floor.

“I’ll show you who’s a bitch,” muttered Dawn. She concentrated a beam of light in her right hand as she rapidly closed the distance to her opponent. As she neared the villain, Dawn aimed a brilliant blast at the powerful psionic, leaving her blinded and vulnerable to Dawn’s main attack.

Dawn fired a punch at the blinded super, connecting with Midnight’s jaw to send her flying into a nearby parking garage. As she torpedoed into the building, disappearing in a cloud of dust, a small box she had been carrying came loose from her belt, falling toward the ground.

Dawn’s eyes widened as she dashed to retrieve the descending object, only barely getting hold of it before it hit the ground. She was so relieved, in fact, that she failed to notice the concrete pillar whistling toward her at hypersonic speeds.

Caught completely by surprise, still holding the box, the massive pillar struck her. Dawn flew across the street and down the next block before she struck the main road of the city in a shower of pulverized asphalt.

Groaning as she struggled to her feet, she had no more than the briefest of seconds to recover before Midnight reached her, hovering just out of reach with a sneer curling her full lips.

“Give me the box, Sun-Bitch.”

“Never!” Dawn retorted as she sent a blast of energy at the floating woman. The powerful telekinetic lifted both hands, however, and a car flew upward from the street to block it.

More fighting ensued before they once more clashed face-to-face.

“IT. IS. MINE!” Midnight demanded with a sneer.

“I’m not letting you take it!” Dawn rebutted.

As they both struggled against each other, neither of them noticed as they crashed into the outer wall of the city library.

***

Marian was having a bad day.

A really bad one.

Sure, for as long as she had worked in the library, she had seen a lot, but today was a contender for “the worst day in recent memory”.

First, she found out that a record number of books hadn’t been returned. It was a common problem, but these were some really popular, expensive books that she couldn’t just replace⁠—not with the budget she had to work with. Second, some kids had decided that it would be fun to walk through one of the aisles that lay out of both her and her assistant’s sight and create chaos as they ripped books from the shelves to throw them around. Her heart sank as she surveyed the damaged tomes on the floor⁠—thank god, none of the bindings had come completely apart⁠! And now, she had just learned that her library might be in the line of fire of the most recent tornado of chaos that Dawn and Midnight had released on the poor city.

Marian grunted in frustration as she shifted a lock of graying brown hair.

She remembered how Dawn and Midnight had once been the prime hero duo in the city, but something had split them apart. No one knew what exactly, as neither wanted to talk about it, but Dawn had continued being a “hero” while Midnight was more… varied.

Even as she remembered the better days between the heroes, Marian groaned, however. The two young women had never cared much about collateral damage. From the first day they had arrived on the scene, the city had spent millions of dollars fixing their mistakes and slip-ups. The city had even gotten a special reconstruction fund from the state for handling the property damage that the two always seemed to leave in their wake.

Walking back toward her desk, Marian could only hope that the superbrats would steer away from her library. She really didn’t want anything else to ruin her already lousy day.

CRASH!

Marian’s head whipped around with a snap as Dawn and Midnight smashed through the ceiling of the library, crashing right into the center of the reading hall. The impact sent books and papers flying, leaving Marian wobbling precariously on one heel.

The two superwomen groaned as they slowly began to stir in the center of their newly created crater.

As she regained her balance, Marian’s shock was soon replaced with a laser-focused anger.

Marian marched toward the young women, her stilettos clicking with every step. As she reached the edge of the crater, she noticed a small object lying on the floor just outside the damage. Barely thinking about it, she picked it up.

"Enough!" Marian shouted, pointing her blood-covered hand at these two reprobates, venom spilled forth while she violently waved her arms around "Every goddamn week with you! The city's wrecked, again! Homes are destroyed but you don't care, nonono, they should be thankful! You stopped a bank robbery! Then some Z-list villain had a mental breakdown, then you enter the scene and, somehow, it turns into hundreds dead! AND then you have the fucking AUDACITY to destroy MY library!"

Dawn and Midnight were evidently confused by Marian’s sudden outburst. They had never experienced a civilian talking down to them like that.

“I'm sick of it! Of you! Who are you even protecting us from?! It's not them, it's YOU! YOU'RE the reason that this place looks like a warzone!" They were probably going to kill her, but she couldn't shut it down, she didn't want to shut it down. She'd gotten to them somehow, she was doing this if it was the last thing she did.

“You could make things sooo much better for everyone! but nooo, you have to fight over this stupid, little thing,” Marian yelled, gesturing wildly and squeezing the metallic object in her hand. She barely considered its metallic nature before returning in full force upon the young women that were getting back to their feet.

"And what do I find out today?!" She continued ranting, "You're fighting each other, and for what? THIS stupid little thing?!" she yelled as she raised the little metallic object above her head, "ANYONE could do a better job than you! A coughing baby could do a better job than you! I COULD DO A BETTER JOB THAN YOU!" She gestured to herself as the two returned to their feet, "I bet I could make the- no, the WHOLE STATE safer! Maybe even the entire country!

As Marian spoke, she didn’t notice the building heat emanating from the metal in her hand. Her intense rage, so focused on the girls, made her oblivious to the changes that were occurring.

"I WISH I was as powerful as you," Marian yelled. She felt like she was holding onto hot coal now. She didn't care.

"No, I wish I could wipe the goddamn floor with you. I wish I could make you actually understand. I wish I could show you the meaning of pow-

She didn’t get any further as the heat in her right hand practically exploded in a shimmering wave of superheated air!

Power flowed forth from the piece of metal in her hand, its pleasurable warmth soothing her in a way that she couldn’t even begin to describe. Marian felt herself developed by the heat. A moan escaped her lips as something more than just warmth washed over her, entering her body.

With a surge from the metal, she felt her heels leaving the confines of the ground beneath her as power flooded every fiber of her being. Her hands were the first to feel the changes. Her aged fingers smoothed over and became pristine, her nails gaining a youth and polish only seen in commercials. The warmth then traveled up her arms, turning them slender. Athletic muscles filled out, threatening to burst the seams of her quickly too small jacket.

Already purring softly to herself, Marian had to stifle a moan as the energy got hold of her shoulder, chest, back, and stomach. Marian had never been a flat woman, but age had taken its toll on her… until now.

It almost felt like an explosion as the energy found their way to her chest, filling her sagging breasts with such power and firmness that her poor jacket could no longer contain them. Buttons popping and clattering around her, her burgeoning chest soared forth, so ripe and firm that they defied gravity as easily as their owner.

No longer caring about public decency, Marian began to explore her body as the energy traveled further, trimming her waist and widening her curves until she had an hourglass figure that made Dawn and Midnight look like stick figures by comparison.

“Uh… More, please…” Marian whimpered as her long legs finally got some attention. Smooth sinew rippled up her backside and down her slim thighs, molding each into shapely succulence. Likewise, her calves flared into taut swells that would make a ballerina proud.

Her mane of graying hair exploded out of its knot, lengthening as it took on a shine only truly achievable in shampoo commercials. The former gray shimmered into a marvelous display of flowing chestnut hair which reached all the way down to her alluring ass.

Age melted away from her face. Years disappeared in minutes. Each wrinkle disappeared into smooth flesh as if her skin were made of cream. Yet she wasn’t simply looking younger, she was becoming something magnificent

Thinking it would soon be over, Marian gasped. She felt the metal pulse once more, this one even more powerful than all the previous ones combined.

She cried out as everything around her was surrounded by blinding light. Her already torn clothes rearranged themselves into a skintight leotard, showing off her heartstopping new body within its clingy embrace. Her high heeled shoes turned into thigh high boots with a heel so elevated that a normal woman would wince from looking at them.

Finally, a cloak appeared on her shoulders with a hood covering her silky hair. On the outside it was the colors of twilight with the inside resembling the universe as if it was sewn into it, the silky fabric caressing Marian’s radiant skin in a delightful way.

As she finally calmed from the rush of her transformation, Marian opened her glowing eyes to gaze down at the girls beneath her. To her astonishment, they were trembling.

Marian smirked at the sight. “What’s wrong ladies? Cat got your tongue?” She melodically laughed, briefly looking herself over before seeing the mess surrounding her.

Her face contorted into a grimace of disdain as she was reminded of what had happened less than five minutes ago. “This simply won’t do,” With an air of ease, Marian lifted the two girls up with her powers.

Surprised by the sudden telekinetic restraints put on them, Midnight barked “Hey, let go of me you fucking bi-”

“Silent.” Marian said with a finality that brokered no arguments as Midnight’s screaming turned to muffled curses. Dawn had tried to struggle against her restraints, but stopped as it was made clear that it was futile to resist.

Satisfied with the silence, Marian then turned back to the rubble. Her eyes flashed intensely for a brief moment as she waved her free hand at the rubble.

In the blink of an eye, the mess that the crater had brought with it was undone, everything now looking more pristine than it had ever had.

Marian then turned to the still-shaking supergirls.

“Now, with that out of the way, I think we need to have a chat about how to use your powers in a responsible manner…” Marian purred as the now smaller metal nugget in her hand seamlessly merged with the metal clasp of her cloak before she then raised a hand towards the terrified girls.

She brought them up to eye level with her before floating up close to them…

“After all, we have a world to save.”