Written by taliesan :: [Monday, 26 June 2006 11:25] Last updated by ::
by Taliesan
Author's Note: Well, here's my first foray into the realm of superheroine fiction. It's the first part in a series, although I don't know how long it's going to be at this point. All characters copyright me, of course. I enjoy plenty of feedback and critiques, send them to my PM at SWM. If, for whatever reason compels you, you'd like to post this story on another site, please send me an email. Thanks and hope you enjoy.
There's more than like likely thousands of men that can relate to this story or have one like it. And if you believe the stats on human sexuality and compare them to the metahuman census of about 10,000 metas world-wide, there's probably around a thousand women as well. Each of our stories are unique, although there is one common element throughout: we all, at one time or another, have been in love with a Goddess.
It's a hard love to maintain, and many don't last. How can you have an equal partnership with a woman that can throw a tank into orbit or lift up a bridge with her mind? The power they have is beyond anything we can understand, and it's hard too accept that there's always going to be a part of your lover that you will never be able to touch, to take part in. And it grows and festers in you, like a cancer. But despite the heartbreaks, we mortals still try to have congress with these Goddesses that we adore and love.
My story is one of the rare ones, though. Because I can honestly say, it started at the very beginning. When the world discovered that Goddesses do walk among us …
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When I was 16, my dad and I moved from Wichita, Kansas, to a small town in the Central Valley of California called Unity. Mom had died in a car crash a few years earlier, and dad wanted to get out of a city where he'd see her ghost everywhere he went. My dad was a cop, a robbery/homicide detective, and he had gotten a job offer as the Chief of Police for Unity. So, he and I packed up our bags and moved out west. Being right in the middle of my high school experience, I was plenty pissed.
So, there I was in September of 2008; a new student at Unity's only high school, and the son of the Chief of Police to boot. Dad's job brought any social life I might have had to a screeching halt. In a small town like Unity, generally the only options for teens to have fun are: a) sit around and watch TV, b) go to the lake and get drunk, c) go to someones house and get drunk, or d) drive 45 minutes to the nearest real city. Naturally, most of the teens in Unity opted for choices b and c; and who needed the possibility of the Chief of Police stopping by to look for his kid?
My social life in Kansas hadn't been any big thing either, but at least I had friends there. I was kind of always on the perimeter of everything, anyways. Just athletic enough to make the 2nd or 3rd string on school sports, smart enough to have a solid B average, and just enough love of fantasy to read comics and partake in the occasional RPG. Back home, most of the kids had known me since kindergarten, so we had some familiarity and I got invites to most of the parties. Here in Unity, no one really knew where I fit in. And just when I had resigned myself to my last 2 years of high school being something like a stint in Purgatory … I met her.
I had been in school for 3 weeks, and had a pretty regular routine for lunch. I'd sit out under a tree out near the school's sports field, eat my lunch, and do a bit of reading. Sometimes they'd be school assignments, sometimes books just for fun, and sometimes an occasional comic. Nice, quiet, and relaxing. So, here I was, reading The Scarlet Letter for my American Lit class, when a shadow fell over me. A big shadow.
“What'cha doing over here, faggot?”
I craned my neck up and over my shoulder to see Bryce McMasters, the token school bully and his little gang standing over me. Rather than waste time with him, I just sighed, closed my book and got up to leave. It wasn't that I couldn't handle myself in a fight, I could probably take him on easy, it just that this playground bullshit wasn't worth my time or effort. On the other hand, Bryce had never been noted for his intellect. He quickly pushed me back down with one hand. “You answer me when I'm talkin' to you, cocksucker.”
I rolled back and got to my feet, clenching my fists but still trying to keep out of a 4 on 1 fight. “Look … just let me go by. I got no beef with any of you …”
“Or what?” taunted Bryce. “You gonna go tell your dad on us? Huh? Gonna go home crying to daddy?”
I clenched my fists and shrugged a bit. So much for the diplomatic approach. “Guys … you really don't want to do this. Last time … knock it off and leave me alone …”
The smile on Bryce's face was wicked. “Nah … you think you're better than anyone, cause you're dad's the Police Chief …” I let Bryce get to within arm's reach, watching his movements. “Well, I'm tellin' ya … you ain't shit to us, faggot..”
It was a classic brawl tactic, keep your opponent focused on anything but your hands. Not too many kids out here had taken Law Enforcement level self defense classes, which is probably why Bryce was the king of the heap, so to speak. But I saw that he was going to punch with his right hand, so I was able to duck under it. I gave him a hard right to the stomach that doubled him over, probably more from the shock of someone fighting back. A quick knee to his groin sent him down.
But while I was focused on Bryce, I didn't notice the others joining him to pound on me. I thought that they would let Bryce take me down then play with me when he was done. But these guys were ready to mob me before I tagged Bryce in the balls. One on one, I could have taken anyone of them. But with three of them starting to attack and Bryce recovering quicker than I would have liked, I was in serious trouble. Over the sound of their fists hitting me, I heard a girl cry out. “Hey! Leave him alone!”
Before any of us knew what had happened, one of my attackers was pulled off me and tossed aside; I heard him smack into the tree that was at least a couple feet away. I looked up and saw a girl about my own age, one that looked familiar, standing there, just turning back towards us from a throwing position. Another one of my attackers went up to her and gave her a classic 'pimp slap', yelling, “You little bitch!” His shout soon turned to a yell of pain as the girl took the slap without flinching, and the guy grabbed his hand. She just grabbed him by his shirt and casually tossed him aside, onto his buddy lying at the base of the tree. That had to be about 6 feet away, although it didn't register at the time.
Taking advantage of the distraction, I slammed my fist into the last kid's balls. First rule of a brawl: do whatever it takes to win. The last guy fell backwards onto his ass, clutching his groin. He managed to scamper backwards and get up, running away. As I looked around, Bryce and the rest of his gang were beating a hasty retreat too. As the adrenalin started to die down, I winced and rubbed my chest where they beat me. They may have been bullies, but they were smart enough not to have touched my face. No visible marks for teachers to ask questions about.
“Are you okay?” asked the girl.
“nnnnhh … yeah.” I replied, rubbing my chest. “I'm just surprised it took those pricks this long to work themselves up to this … been here 3 weeks without any threats. Or anyone talking to me.” I smiled a bit. “I was beginning to wonder if anyone even noticed me here.”
She blushed a bit, drawing my attention to her face and it's perfect skin. Not even so much as a mark where she had been slapped. Her eyes were a deep blue, like sapphires. And her long hair was a rich brown that reminded you of mocha or brown sugar. She laughed and smiled back at me. At that moment, I felt part of my heart latch on to her, as if she had claimed a space there that would never belong to anyone else. “Oh, I've seen you around, just …” she shrugged. “Anyways, My name's Andrea. Andrea King. We've got Physics and World History together.”
I nodded in recognition now. “Oh, yeah … the quiet girl.” And she was pretty quiet in class; she never volunteered, only speaking up when the teacher called on her. I had though she was cute before, but now …
She just smiled and shrugged in a self-conscious way. “I guess I just don't have much to say.” She paused for a bit, like she was building up steam to go on. “And you are?”
I blinked, not realizing that I forgotten to introduce myself. “Oh … Ryan … Ryan Blake.” I held out my hand. “Thanks for the save, there.”
She took my hand in hers with a firm grip, despite what looked like a delicate touch. “Oh, it's okay. You would have been fine if those creeps hadn't ganged up on you.”
Now it was my turn to do the shrugs. “Eh … you know … you pick up a few things when you're dad's a cop. But I would have been toast if you hadn't come along.” I walked over to pick up my book and backpack. “That was pretty incredible, how you tossed those guys like that. Some kind of martial art? Right? Like Judo or Aikido?”
She looked away, almost like she was embarrassed. “Yeah … something like that.” Before she could say anything else, the bell rang. As we started back to classes, she turned back to me. “So … I guess I'll see you in Physics at the end of the day, huh?” Again, she paused to build up something within her. “Ummm … you wanna hang out after school? If you're not doing anything, I mean.”
I started to laugh a bit. I mean, here she just beat up two guys easily twice her size without batting an eyelash, and she was nervous about asking me to hang out with her. “Yeah, sure … I'd like that. I'm still pretty new here, so you'll have to decide where we go.”
Her face brightened and she smiled even wider than before. “Okay! I'll see you in class, then.” And with that, she started running off to her next class. Actually, it was more of a full out sprint, even though she looked like she was just jogging. I didn't really notice at the time, just one of those things that becomes clear with indsight. I just chuckled and shook my head as I went to my 5th period American Lit class. Maybe these last 2 years will be more interesting than I thought. The chuckles brought on more wincing as I felt the bruises in my chest starting to settle in …
***************
Andrea greeted me with a smile as I walked into the Physics class. Like me, she tended to sit near the back of the class. We still sat 5 desks away though, even though the teacher probably wouldn't mind a change in the seating arrangement. The lecture was on kinetic and potential energy, the usual first month stuff for physics classes all over America. I didn't pay much attention, to be honest. I jotted some notes, but kept looking over to Andrea, watching her. With the fight behind us, I got a better look at her. I remembered that she was a bit taller than me, I had to look up some when we were talking by the tree. She was dressed pretty casually with a red sleeveless shirt that showed off a pair of lovely tanned arms. She wore a pair of girl's cut blue jeans that my teenage brain though fit her very nicely, and a pair of black ankle-boots. With my focus now on her body, I noticed that she was well endowed for a 16 year old, with a chest that rivaled most of those I'd seen when I sneaked a look at my dad's old Playboys or watched some T&A film on cable. Overall, her build was athletic, not not overly so.
And so, 6th period went on, with my attention divided between basic physics and catching glances at Andrea. And every so often, when I tried to steal a glance at her, she was looking at me. We did the usual 'blush and go back to your notes' thing that happens when two people catch each other checking the other out like that. But there was no mistaking that we were both interested in each other. It was kind of flattering, really. Like I said, I'm kind of athletic myself, and I'd had plenty of dates with girls, contrary to the opinion of Bryce McMasters, but I'd never had anyone actually checking me out. Well … no-one I'd caught, anyways.
When the final bell for the day rang, most of the students ran out of the class like bolts of lightning, having put everything away during the last 10 minutes. Andrea and I just casually loaded up our respective backpacks and met each other at the door. “Need anything from your locker?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nope … got everything I need for tonight,” she said as she patted her backpack. “How about you?”
I smiled. “My car is kind of like my locker, so no.” A thought hit me, “Do you have a car too? I can follow you or we can take just one if you do …”
She smiled and sighed as we walked out of the science building. “No … haven't passed my test yet. Besides, who needs the expense? Gas, insurance, registration …”
I just shook my head and laughed. “Well, lucky for us, my dad does believe in providing his son with some kind of transportation …” And I spread my arms wide to show off my pride and joy as we approached her. My dad had felt guilty about taking me away from my friends and bringing me out here with him. And the best part about parental guilt is that you can get them to cave into just about anything. Case in point: my cherry red, fully restored, '65 Ford/Shelby Mustang GT-350 convertible.
Andrea's eyes popped in amazement. “Wow! Your dad is so cool!”
I smiled as I opened the passenger door for her. “Eh. He has his moments.” After she was settled in, I got in behind the wheel and flipped the ignition, bringing the engine to rumbling life. “Besides, he knows that even as fast as this baby is, I still can't outrun a police cruiser.”
***************
Andrea lead me around town, pointing out spots of interest, like the drive-in where most of the kids hung out before or after going to the lake for a beer session. We talked as we cruised and she told me a bit more about herself. Her father owned a large orange orchard and packing plant, citrus agriculture being the major economy in the area. So her family was pretty well off, although she was the only child. We talked about me growing up in Kansas, which meant questions about tornadoes. I just shrugged them off and made a remark about her growing up smack dab in the middle of earthquake country.
We talked about our interests. She liked dancing, but hadn't done it in a while. “Something I kinda grew out of,” she said. She seemed really interested in my comic book hobby and had lots of questions about it. I just shrugged and answered her as best I could.
“I mean … I'm not like totally into it like some guys I knew. I doubt I'm ever going to dress up and go to cons and all that. I just like some of the stories and characters, that's all. Why are you so interested?”
Andrea looked off to the side as the buildings of Main Street slowly passed by. “Oh, I guess I've never met anyone interested in them before. We don't really have a comics store here. I've just caught TV shows and movies based on them. But there's never been anyone I can talk to about them. Not really.”
I smiled and chuckled. “Ahhhh … so you're into the geeky guys, huh?”
She turned back and giggled. “No! I'm just … curious.” She became quiet again and went back to watching the buildings pass by.
I just nodded and kept driving. “Soooo … we're starting to run out of town here. Any suggestions where to go?
Andrea thought for a bit, then smiled. “How about the lake? Just keep going down Main for about a mile, then turn right on old 35.”
I smiled and nodded. “As mi'lady commands.” That got me another giggle and a smile.
***************
Unity wasn't a big town, only a few thousand people, mostly farmers and farmhands. It was located at a junction for the old Union Pacific railroad, and trains still came through to pick up loads of oranges and other fruit. It was a quiet little town, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. Which used to be a problem in the old days when the winter snows in the mountains melted and flooded the streets of Unity in the spring. Just a few inches, but still, it was enough of a problem that the county got some engineers to build an dam and make an artificial lake called Lake Pinnacle back in the 1950's. At least, that's what Andrea told me as we drove up the old highway to the lake.
She pointed out a road off the main highway and told me this was a back way in. It looked like a service road, but it was still in good condition and paved, so my baby should be able to handle it if I kept things slow. "It's not the main hangout, too small for that. It's a bit isolated, which is why I love riding my bike up here."Sure enough, after some twists and turns up a hill, we came to an overlook with an absolutely amazing view. I parked my car and just sat there taking it all in. Lake Pinnacle stretched out before me, glittering like thousands of diamonds in the late afternoon sun. And behind the lake, framed by two hills, were the mountains themselves. Quite a sight for a flatlander like me.
Andrea just giggled as I sat there, marveling at the scene. “Pretty cool, huh?”
I nodded and smiled. “Yeah … very cool.” Andrea got out of the car and I followed her onto the outlook that was just about big enough for me to be able to turn my car around in.
The autumn wind started to pick up, sending a chill through my body. Andrea just pointed out to the lake. “My dad and I used to go fishing out there in the summer.” There was a sadness in her voice, keyed to the words 'used to'. I put an arm around her shoulders cautiously. We had just met today, after all. I didn't know how welcome my advances would be.
“Andrea, are you okay?”
She leaned into the embrace, setting my mind at ease and my heart on fire with her closeness. She nodded in response to my question. “Yeah … I just …” A small sigh escaped her lips. “There's just been a lot of … changes in my life, Ryan. Things are just different for me now and … I guess I miss some things.”
I just smiled at her. “Well, yeah … I mean, of course things are different. We're teenagers, change is our standard.”
She shook her head. “No. No, not like this. I mean … things are really different for me now.”
I was starting to get confused now. There was also a little bit of concern as to her having some kind of trouble that was really bad. I had a lot of questions running through my mind, starting with what is she talking about. But before I could ask, and this is the only way I know how to describe what happened next, Fate stepped in.
With a few years of hiking around the foothills under my belt, I now know that it's generally a bad sign when the animals go silent. It means that there's a predator or something bad is about to happen. But then, at that moment, all my focus was on Andrea anyways, so I doubt that I would have noticed everything going quiet. I think I remember a flock of small birds taking off from some nearby brush, but like I said, at the moment all I noticed was Andrea.
Until the ground started shaking.
I was just about to ask her what she was talking about when I felt a rumble under my feet. I looked around, scared, wondering what was going on. Then the ground really started shaking. The fact that I had never felt an earthquake before heightened my fear. There was a clattering of rock that fell free from the rock face that defined the overlook, but then, like Bryce McMasters, I noticed the shadow. A very big shadow.
I looked up and saw a huge boulder falling straight for us from above. The earthquake must have shifted it loose. I crouched down, paralyzed with fear as the rock came crashing down. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.
After what felt like an eternity, I opened my eyes again, realizing that I was not crushed. I looked up, and there, with the afternoon sun shining behind her, stood Andrea. And in her outstretched arms, she held the boulder above us as the earthquake died down. It took me a while for all this to sink into my brain, but there she was, holding a massive slab of rock that would easily outweigh my car. And she was holding it effortlessly, without any strain. I stayed there in a crouching position, gaping up at her. She just stood there and tilted her head a bit, a wry smile on her face that seemed to say. 'this kind of different'.
I was right. The last two years of high school were going to be very interesting indeed.
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Next: How Andrea spent her Summer Vacation …