Once I had figured out a bit of an itinerary, I let Baldwin know. He was probably going to be trailing me, and had a little bit of advice that I took to heart.

“If she decides she wants to take things farther, I probably won’t say no, but there’s no chance of getting her pregnant unless I want to. One of the advantages of having decent control over my body chemistry. She’s clean, I am clean, and my nose is telling me she’s alright.”

Baldwin nodded, “Most of the teams have a background check, including Aquantis. Obviously, her secret identity is protected, but I know that while she’s had a couple of boyfriends, she hasn’t been sleeping her way through the vigilante circuit like I thought. It’s just… you are a virgin. Want some fatherly advice? Or maybe brotherly, since I am not that much older than you.”

I nodded, “I have read a lot, but I haven’t actually been in the driver’s seat myself. I cannot promise to take any advice, but I’d welcome it.”

He nodded, “You seem to know a lot about getting women interested, or maybe it’s just natural, but the best advice I can give you is to not be finished until she’s exhausted. Use your mouth and don’t even get started on anything until she’s going crazy. You are new at this, so you are not going to be mister endurance, but you aren’t done until she’s done, and as a meta, that can take a while.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I planned on cheating.”

“Already?” he asked curiously.

I chuckled, “Yeah, you know how I can read someone’s biological state? I intend to use that knowledge to cheat. If she’s not into it, I won’t even get started. I really am Mister Endurance, as long as I don’t get bored. I figured treating it like a workout would probably work best. A lot of guys keep their mouths shut about it, but a good workout can be a lot like sex, up to and including coming repeatedly.”

Baldwin chuckled. “My advice might be preaching to the choir then. Do you want me to play limo driver or do you want to take a taxi?”

I smiled, “For your peace of mind and job description, How about you play limo driver. As long as you don’t wear a driver suit. That would be going way too far.”

We showed up about 5 minutes early at the Park hotel. I had sent my clothes, including the new and unworn stuff, to get laundered at the new place we were staying, even though the price made me wince. I could look forward to having clean underwear tonight.

I recognized Mariah instantly, despite her change, and I could smell her delicious scent the moment she stepped into the lobby from the elevator. She had opted to look a bit like that redheaded actress from that vampire TV show, Deborah, and I growled in my throat at the look. Chromatophores were amazing and I resolved to experiment with them in the future. She was considerably less busty than before, and still had a few glittering scales, but it looked like glitter make-up and the overall effect pushed her from a perfect ten up into somewhere around 12, especially with the layer of orange sun-kissed freckles over her nose.

She smiled when she saw me and I had to make an effort of will to slow my heartbeat. She was wearing a cream-colored turtleneck top with sleeves that ended in puffy gathers just below her elbows, which was surprisingly demure compared to her previous attire, matched with a black ruffled ankle-length skirt covered with large beige appliqued flowers that matched the top.

She had opted to wear a hint of makeup to darken her eyes and lips rather than just using the chromatophores and had large golden bangles decorating her wrists and a tiny gold cross dangling from her throat above the top. Small hoop earrings and a gold clip holding her hair back completed the ensemble, and I was trying not to stare.

It was August in Chicago, which meant that it wasn’t too warm and would probably cool down later, so her outfit, with a pair of low pumps, made perfect sense for walking around for a couple of hours. My own was simple, a white button-up shirt, khaki slacks, and a pair of black sneakers, even with my build I doubted I would distract attention from her.

Men are supposed to complement the lady they were accompanying, not call attention away from her, and considering my height and musculature I had thought that would be a little more difficult than it proved.

I smiled back at her, “You look amazing.” I said and opted for the bluntness she was accustomed to. “I thought we were planning on taking a walking tour?”

She nodded, “Aren’t we?”

I nodded in return, “Yes, but you know I have a weakness for redheads. And that outfit is perfect. I am going to be spending the whole tour thinking about taking you back to my hotel and ravishing you instead of paying attention to the guide.”

She giggled, “Hah! I called it. A lot of gym guys are into the whole overblown Kardashian look, but after the way you were focused, I figured you would be more into the kind of girl that looked like she’d be in a PTA meeting. The other look is my secret ID, but this one is really close to my natural appearance, except I have dirty blonde hair instead of red.” She gave me an evil look, “I even have something to make you slobber if I figure you right, but you only get to see it when we have dinner if you can keep your hands to yourself.”

“Do you really want me to keep my hands to myself?” I asked her curiously, wiggling my fingers for a moment before lowering my hand again.

She bit her lower lip for a moment, and then slowly nodded, “Right now, yes. I haven’t had a real date since… you know. I had a boyfriend for a few months, but he was a Meta, so our idea of a date was usually take-out Chinese and Netflix. It didn’t really work, but I like the idea of doing something a little fancy.”

I chuckled, “Ooh, I have to compete with Netflix and the Gold Dragon Diner. You have ruined my secret evil seduction plans.”

She giggled again, “It was called the Mr. Kim’s Dragon diner, but that’s pretty close. Why, what were your secret evil seduction plans?”

I shrugged, “My mom, way back when, insisted all of her boys learned to cook. I was the only one that enjoyed it, which might be why my gift ties in with putting recipes together. I was going to impress you by making something delicious and complicated, and then introduce a sticky dessert with lots of mess potential like strawberries and whipped cream. I was thinking of either licking clean or using it as an excuse to take a bath with you. You know, the usual, simple-minded tricks.”

She was biting her lip again and I noticed that she smelled even more delectable. But she shook her head. “That’s not a bad plan. Especially if you can actually cook. It might have worked too if you hadn’t decided to spend the afternoon with me looking at old hotels. I am afraid, though, that we have a lot of walking ahead of us instead of you cheating with delicious food.”

I grinned, “Oh, I intend to cheat.” At her confused and slightly hurt look, I amended, “You know that with a touch I can figure out what’s going on with someone’s body. I totally intend to cheat by figuring out what you want before you know you want it. I can also smell pheromones, totally cheating, and know that if I keep talking about what I’d like to do with you we will never leave this hotel. But for now, I am going to do the honorable thing, and let you run me through the torture of building memories.”

She beamed, looking pleased, and I added, “But vengeance will be mine. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and then eaten hot,” and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “And few things are as cold, or as hot, as chilled strawberries dripping onto a nipple.”

I congratulated myself. Now she was going to be as bothered on the tour as I was, based on the shiver that ran down her body at the whisper and the way her scent grew. Good. Evil villainy strikes again!

The tour was surprisingly fun. It was narrated by an attractive and compact blonde in her early twenties. She seemed to be bored at first, but both Mariah and I kept asking more detailed questions about the crime scenes and her interest and animation grew as the tour progressed.

She was a criminology and forensic pathology student at CU, specializing in non-meta pathology, and hoped to land a job in one of the major cities as a crime scene investigator after college. Our questions provoked some insightful commentary about the pre-meta criminology of the roaring twenties gangsters, although I think we may have bored some of the tourists.

Mariah, especially, seemed interested in the way some of the bootleg king’s assassinations were carried out, and by the end of the two-hour tour, we knew that she had a scholarship and worked as a ghosts and gangsters tour guide on the weekends in order to supplement the small stipend for living expenses provided by her scholarships.

The tour was surprisingly fun and informative on a number of levels, and while I didn’t technically keep my hands to myself, making sure I kept regular contact, I didn’t let it go beyond elbow brushing, hand-holding, or a hand on the small of her back.

The guide was surprisingly helpful when the tour ended, letting us know that the naval pier and park had a fireworks display and that there were a number of nice restaurants surrounding it that offered a good view of the display. I used my phone to call several of them as we walked and finally found a nice seafood place right on the water that would accept a late reservation.

A couple of times I had caught sight of both Baldwin and Andropolis cruising or walking nearby, but I didn’t wave to them, as they wouldn’t have appreciated getting picked out during their surveillance duties.

I wouldn’t say that the dinner matched the company, the meal was well-cooked but definitely restaurant fair, with a uniquely west coast flair that I was not sure I approved of, such as mixed salads with lots of fancy versions of lettuce that wound up tasting slightly bitter, but Mariah seemed to be enjoying the meal and the wait staff appeared not to notice the sheer volume of different dishes we packed away.

Either they were very discreet about potential metas, or they took one look at my build and decided Miss Lopez was just sampling food before passing it to me and letting me finish it for her. I encouraged that illusion by leaning forward and stealing a bite of her seared whitefish while one of the waiters was passing by.

“What was that for?” She asked accusingly, although by this point her food intake had started to slow down.

I grinned, “Two reasons. The first was because we were packing away enough food for a family of four and I wanted them to think it was the big boy at the table, and the second reason is that I am tired of waiting for your surprise. I was very careful to avoid inappropriate touching during the tour, and now inappropriate touching is the only thing I can think of.”

She laughed and said, “Once we get back to the hotel. I don’t want to risk bothering the poor people eating here.”

Fortunately, she never even offered to pay for dinner. I know that it’s kind of a thing now for the girl to offer, especially when looking at a six hundred dollar dinner bill, but she knew full well that I could afford it. It was kind of the guy thing to do, and the way she was acting, I bet if we would have taken a car I’d be the one driving.

As we waited for a taxi, I asked, “Do we go back to your hotel or mine? While I certainly had fun, I am hoping this isn’t the part where we politely kiss while you go to your room and I go home. If it helps, I think room service at my hotel offers some Chinese dishes and Netflix movies.”

I noticed her fiddling for something in her small clutch purse, and after a moment she stashed a pair of contacts away in her purse. “Every hotel has movies.” She pointed out, “But I thought you were staying with your bodyguards and parole officers? I would hate to be so rude as to wake up your guardians by laughing at some rom-com or something.” She tugged out a pair of lovely glasses with slender, almost invisible golden frames and tucked them over her eyes.

I growled deep in my throat. “Was that the surprise?” I asked her.

She nodded, “Yes,” she then squeaked as I picked her up, my hand tucked under her nicely-curved bottom as I tucked my mouth under her chin, and started nuzzling at the top of her turtleneck, mouth nipping at her jaw right below her ear as she started to breath more heavily. I could smell that it was getting her going, and switched sides, nibbling at her throat and pushing down the turtleneck until she tapped on my shoulder to let me know the taxi was here.

I growled again but lowered her down. I was frustrated at having to stop, but unless we wanted to make out in jail cells, anything else would have to wait for some privacy.

We didn’t go overboard on the taxi ride back to her hotel, but I did point out that I had a single room there rather than sharing with one of the Agents.

“The lady, special agent? She was getting all antsy when we were talking in the gym.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I will admit I kind of like her, I hope that’s not a deal-breaker, but she is a DMA agent. Totally untouchable. I don’t think she was jealous, but the idea of me having a relationship outside of the DMA probably irked her something serious. She is very into her job.”

I chuckled a little and added, “By the way, those glasses. You would make a very good supervillain, that’s positively evil.”

She nodded, and the glasses made her brown eyes look even larger. “I figured that with you being into the slightly mousey look, adding a touch of librarian to it would kind of get you going.” She snorted just a bit. “I assume that it would be a good signal that I didn’t think the date was over yet.”

I nodded, and we headed up to her room. Things had cooled down a little, but I folded up on her couch and held out an arm, which she quickly accepted, sitting down on the couch and snuggling back into my chest. “You know, it’s funny you said supervillain. Until a couple of months ago, I was technically considered one.”

I unclasped the clip in her hair and started running my hands through it, enjoying the oddly silky feel that felt much smoother than even soft hair usually felt. “How do you mean?” I asked.

She sighed and scooted back further until her bottom was pressed against my lap. I was getting a little interested again, and I am sure she noticed, but we seemed to be taking things slowly so I kept stroking her hair.

“Well, I was unregistered and didn’t want to get registered and roped into spending my life with Proteus. I grew up in Texas, and when I awakened I spent a lot of time in the Gulf.”

I nodded, digging my hands into her hair and stroking her scalp, which almost seemed to make her purr. “So how did you get started in the job of the unlicensed crime fighter, if you don’t mind my asking?” I asked her curiously.

She nodded her head forward at the pressure of my fingers on her scalp, and continued, “Well, I saw a lot of stuff in the gulf. Bodies, illegal dumping, commercial dumping, coyotes pushing immigrants overboard, that kind of thing. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to do something about it. I was actually pretty good at it. I know that Proteus knew I was there, but they generally don’t mess with the small stuff, especially when it’s confined to international waters. Eventually, I got an invitation to go legit without having to register, and I happen to like fresh water a lot more than salt water, so here I am.”

She turned a bit, wiggling, and then crossed her arms over her chest, tugging the top upwards and revealing a thin silk shirt beneath it. Her glasses got caught for a moment as she tugged the top off, but she adjusted quickly, showing she was no stranger to the inconveniences of glasses.

Her analysis had mentioned poor eyesight, but she had seemed to see just fine, and I had assumed it had something to do with specialized aquatic vision. I could fix it easily enough, probably just with ingredients nearby, but the whole look, especially with the pale sleeveless shirt, was too adorable to disturb. After a moment she turned and snuggled back into my chest.

Hmm. No bra, but she wasn’t really well endowed, but perky. With the two layers she really hadn’t needed one earlier. “So how exactly did you wind up doing what you are doing?” She asked, putting one small hand on my knee beside her hip.

I sighed. “Ugh, shitty story. I was screwing up in college, where I was working on my degree in medicine, and someone found out I could make a drug that had zero side effects, a great high, and cost almost nothing. Undetectable, too. Before I knew it, I got kidnapped by a cartel. A year later, the lab got raided, and I got stuck in prison protective custody as a material witness on a charge of using powers in the commission of a felony. Two years later, here I am, making potions again, only this time it’s not to make you high.”

I leaned forward to nibble her ear a little and was rewarded with a hint of a gasp. “That sounds like total bullshit. You didn’t break any laws, how can you use your powers in the commission of a crime when you are not committing a crime? Sounds like Proteus bullshit, and one of the best reasons not to get involved with them. So, girlfriend? Boyfriend? Prison Lover named Nunzio that let you pay for protection with your body?”

She shifted a little, wriggling in the perfect way to make it obvious she was having an effect on me. She seemed to be fine with it though, slipping up so that she was sitting in my lap and I wasn’t uncomfortably jammed against her bottom.

I sighed, and she turned her head and upper body to look at me. It was bound to come out eventually. “At the end of high school, my family got in an accident and I was screwed up for a while. When I was at college, I was too busy to have a girlfriend. And then three years of being locked down, hell, in Prison I was in solitary the whole time with only a TV for company. They wouldn’t even let me have clothes or anything because I could melt them down to make potions. Nothing to do but exercise, read, watch movies, and occasionally talk to my lawyer. It wasn’t too bad, though, I was pretty screwed up and happy to just avoid getting kidnapped again.”

She nodded, and I could feel her shifting again, to get more comfortable. Dammit, I think she was actually teasing me, squeezing me with the crack of her bottom through her skirt, and it was working. “You had a girlfriend in high school?” She asked.

I shrugged, sliding my hand across her shirt and splaying my fingers across her tummy. “I sort of did. That story about the talk was true. It never went anywhere, since I looked very different then, just tall, skinny, and nerdy.”

She stopped, “Wait. Seriously? No hookers or anything?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Is this the part where you say the date is over because you don’t want to taint me?”

She shook her head, “No, I am just surprised and all. The way you talked, I thought you’d had more women than a girl’s restroom at a sports arena. Seriously though? None at all? That’s kind of sexy. I think I might want to make you a man.” She laughed a little and turned, starting to unbutton my shirt.

I shrugged, “I read a lot, but I guess I do have to warn you that I will be feeling my way around in the dark, kind of.” I pulled away from the couch as she untucked my shirt, and then pulled it off. I wasn’t wearing an undershirt since I tend to run a bit hot-blooded, and the shirt was a thick cotton weave rather than the sort of thin shirt you wear under a suit jacket. The August afternoon was more than warm enough for me, and I was actually just a little bit sweaty.

She ran a finger down my chest, between my pectorals, and then carefully lifted my right hand and put it against her breast, through the thin shirt. I caressed for just a moment, running my thumb along the undercurve of her small breast, and then she turned and snuggle back up against my bare front.

“Well, in the spirit of sharing, I have to warn you that when I get excited I ink. As long as you don’t mind getting black ink all over you, we could go quite a bit farther.”

“Ink?” I asked, I hadn’t remembered that ability from her analysis. “Seriously?”

She shook her head, “No, not seriously. I am not a squid, you just seemed to be so serious. But I do sort of shift back to my true form when I cannot concentrate. Normally it’s no big deal, but when I am not paying any attention or I am asleep, I tend to go back to what I normally look like.”

I untucked her shirt from her skirt, and slid my right, free hand beneath it to gently stroke her bare tummy with my fingertips. The other one was trapped by her side against the couch, but I was able to wiggle it down far enough to squeeze her bottom. “Are you going to tell me that your true form is a guy that looks like the creature from the black lagoon?”

She laughed and shook her head, “No. Do you want to see it?”

I nodded. This form was damned hot, but I knew she had made it specifically for me, I was more interested in seeing what she looked like underneath all the facade.

“Yes, I do,” I said. “But I also want to find out where you don’t have scales. If it’s not particularly scary, I’d definitely like to use your shower first.” The walk had been fairly long, and while I hadn’t built up the kind of funk I do when I am working out, it was definitely noticeable to my nose.

She nodded and uncurled from the couch. “Right. I should probably take one too. You can go first, but only if you do the same thing you did at the gym.” She giggled with a hint of a leer. Without a word, I grinned back and started stripping off clothes as I walked, kicking off my shoes and peeling down pants and underwear at the same time as I headed into the hotel bathroom.

She was… green. Her skin had a faintly green tinge to it, and she had tiny scales that went down her sides and hips, and maybe even covered a lot of skin, because it sparkled when she moved.

I knew this because she walked into the bathroom, totally bare, a few minutes after I stepped into the shower, and then slipped into the spray with me. Her hair was a richer green, almost the color of my costume, and the water seemed to bead and drift off it without making it any wetter. The rest of her didn’t have a speck of hair anywhere.

Her build was slender, but with the right amount of padding, and she still had medium-sized breasts. When she noticed me looking she smiled, a wave of rainbow color passing from her head to her feet in an almost hypnotic pulse.

The shower was one of the expensive kinds, with the nozzles in the walls as well as the central shower head. Then again, this was a five-star hotel, the kind I would have happily picked if I had my choice, and apparently the one where she had been living for the last two months.

I realized that from the breasts, rounded bottom, and smooth curves, every bit of her was built to be hydrodynamic. She was probably a very fast swimmer, and as she bent over in front of me her breasts only shifted slightly, very firm and capped with darker green nipples as she turned the side nozzles on.

I decided, right then and there, that green hair was almost as beautiful as red hair, at least on her. Her glasses prescription was not terribly strong, and she turned to smile as she noticed something at eye level standing at attention where she was bent over. She straightened back up and moved in, slippery body sliding into my arms, my shaft sliding up her belly to point directly upwards as she pressed into me.

“When you were talking about a relationship, were you serious?” She asked me, looking up at me as I started running my hands down her sides and hips. It was fascinating, I could almost feel a hint of hardness on her skin from the scales, but the skin was still soft and pressed underneath my fingers.

“Of course. Well. To be fair, I think I cannot even get interested in a girl if she’s normal. I think scent plays a strong role in attraction, and non-meta girls don’t really have the right smell to think of romance. If a girl has an appealing personality, is attractive to you, and is willing to have a relationship, I don’t see why someone would just be looking to sleep with someone and then go their merry way. If a girl is amazing enough to get physical with, she’s worth keeping. Otherwise, just use your hand, that’s not going to hurt anyone.”

She smiled and leaned back a little, sliding her hand around me and starting to gently slide me up and down her belly. “I like that.” She said with her free hand that wasn’t pressed against my cock tracing the muscles of my shoulders. “I have had two boyfriends, and both times I thought it was a relationship, but the first one, the first time he woke up next to me and saw what I looked like, he left, and the second one just wanted me when I looked like a Meta, he always bragged about his meta girlfriend, but when he asked me to beat up someone that stiffed him in a drug deal, I had enough and left.”

The sensation of her hand sliding me up and down her belly was indescribable. I couldn’t help but wiggle my butt to increase it, and I gasped, “Only two? Umm… if you keep doing that…”

She laughed a little, the vibrations of her torso driving me crazy. “Oh, I dress like a slut, it’s a great distraction, but I am a good Catholic girl. Well, not a great Catholic girl since I intend to have you inside me at some point, but I am not a slut. Someday I want kids, but not today. But you are a virgin, I thought maybe doing this would slow things down a little bit, so feel free.” She started moving her hand up and down, pumping me faster against her slick belly, with a predictable explosion finally catching me.

I chuckled a little and leaned forward, catching her lips with my own as I slid both hands under her bottom, gently pressing her cheeks apart with the side of one hand as the water washed away the results of her actions. We kissed for several long moments, the pounding water only making the moment even more amazing, and finally I leaned back, releasing her hand as I chuckled, “Well, you are the most beautiful fish I have ever met. I cannot imagine doing this once and then never wanting to do it again, although I am afraid we missed our chance at frozen strawberries.”

She slapped my chest with her hand, “I am not a fish. Technically I am an amphibian meta, more like a fro…” and she caught her breath as my hand, still pressed into her bottom, found a nice little warm place between her legs and my fingers started exploring.

I nodded, “Keep going.” I said and started to explore her curiously pointed ears with my lips. My fingers found what I was looking for, water washing my arm as I found a warm little aroused bead that I started gently teasing, lightly squeezing and pressing with my fingertips.

Oddly enough, she wasn’t particularly talkative after that, and I took advantage of her distraction to keep teasing her. From what I understood, some girls were a little oversensitive at first if you played directly with their clit, so I worked hard to make sure that she was gasping and murmuring as I explored her ears, her neck, her beautifully curved breasts and nipples with my tongue. I found several places that were almost scale-free and exploited them ruthlessly as I explored before I was finally kneeling in the shower in front of her.

I figured Baldwin was right, as I nudged her legs slightly more open with my shoulder and my hand playing with her, and then pushed her gently back against the shower wall, warmed from the multidirectional spray of the warm water nozzles mounted in them. I finally managed to get both of her knees bent over my shoulders, the water pounding on my head as I started exploring and licking at her.

“Oh my god.” She said once I finally removed my fingers and rose up on my knees, bracing her against the shower wall. It was really no problem for me, she barely weighed anything, and she tasted delicious as I gently teased, opened her lower lips with my tongue tip, and then finally nudged the little flap of skin out of the way so that my tongue could lick directly at her.

I had warned her I was going to cheat, so when I noticed that she was hoping for something else, my finger started caressing deeply inside the crack of her ass, teasing and then slipping inside of her bottom. She came noisily, again and again in quick succession, and I lifted her halfway up the wall. Lifting myself to my feet and then slipping myself inside of her.

“You know what?” I asked her as I started slowly moving inside of her body, enjoying the incredible tight slickness caressing my cock.

“What?” She said again breathlessly, lifting her legs to wrap them around my butt as I moved, her weight resting on my shaft forcing the top of it to rub against her pearl while I stroked deeply into her. I could tell she would come again shortly, and I slid my hands down to her wrists, lifting them over her head and trapping both of them in one hand as I started pushing into her more firmly, squeezing her clit between my dick and her pelvis with each thrust.

“I found a few places without scales with my tongue,” I responded, leaning forward to cover her mouth with my own while she started crying out against my tongue, her wrists helplessly held over her head, powerless to stop me from making her come, again and again, before I finally found my own release deeply inside of her.

Okay, being a supervillain has its perks.