Moments of Victory 28 (Patreon)

Lisa had a problem.

To be accurate, she had many problems, ranging from the big ones like her boss to smaller ones like trying to keep Rachel from killing Alec every day. But, at this moment, she was dealing with a particular problem.

Marcus Jude. The fuckbuddy of their latest recruit.

Taylor’s recruitment was a point of pride for Lisa. She felt that her pride was justified. Not many thinkers could convert a potential hero with an email and a little payout of two thousand dollars, and Taylor had committed to them.

To be fair, it was the predictable reaction of Rachel that sealed the deal. The signs of bullying were too obvious for Lisa to miss even without her powers, and it was equally obvious that she was using her cape identity as a coping mechanism. A challenge from Rachel that Taylor linked to bullying was all that was needed to ensure she was committed to proving otherwise.

Now, all Lisa needed was to keep Taylor waiting by dangling the idea of bringing in the big fish. After the bank heist, and maybe a couple more crimes to be sure, she would realize that there was no turning back.

Lisa found it cute that Taylor thought she had kept her aims secret. Of course, she wished that it was not necessary, but Lisa needed people she could trust in the team against Coil. Taylor was just impulsive enough to attack Coil once Lisa was ready. The best part was, unlike the others, Coil didn’t have any blackmail on Taylor to control her.

Everything about Taylor was perfect … except Marcus, who had an undue influence on Taylor. And, it was already causing problems.

Lisa had been planning to meet with him the day before, but an inconvenient migraine headache ruined that plan. It was why she hated hanging around in public spaces. It always overworked her power.

During that delay, he clearly managed to get some information from Taylor, giving her some smart ideas about contacting the heroes to turn her undercover mission official. Of course, it was nothing more than a slight inconvenience, as Taylor had made the mistake of trying to reach Armsmaster again, thinking their experience with Lung would help, only to be rebuffed badly.

A glory hound with less personality than a drywall was not exactly a difficult challenge for Lisa even remotely.

Still, Lisa needed to get a measure of him to understand the future troubles he might create. She wasn’t entirely happy about the necessity, as she much rather call a couple contacts in the local police to get him arrested on fake charges, just enough to make him disappear for a week or two.

Unfortunately, a detail that Taylor had mentioned changed her mind. Apparently, he was ‘friends’ with Glory Girl as well. And, arranging a fake charge could get far more complicated with Glory Girl mixing in.

A more careful approach was necessary, preferably without Taylor’s presence. This was why Lisa had responded to his ad on model search, easily customizing her responses based on what she had learned from Taylor, with a few extra suggestions from her power.

A positive response was only to be expected.

She knocked on the door. “Come in, the door is open,” he shouted. Lisa opened the door, only to find him fiddling with his camera. A second-hand one, with a lot of action, but also well cared for. Lisa tried to keep herself from noticing too many details. The more her power worked, the worse the headache would be.

“You must be Marcus,” Lisa said, doing her best to smile wider even as she forced herself to pose more alluringly than her usual passive state.

“And, you’re Brenda, I presume,” he responded, using the fake name Lisa had used in the application.

Lisa blinked for a moment, ignoring the flash as he tested his camera. Instead, she paid attention to him, trying to see if he was particularly alert about her presence like someone would be afraid of a cape. He was not, which was good.

Her subtle interrogation of Taylor had already told her that, but it was always better to be sure. He was harmless. “Yes, I’m here for the test shot. I want to be a model,” Lisa responded.

She could have easily turned back and left, but at the last moment, she decided against it. He was on good terms with Glory Girl, meaning, he was indirectly connected to Panacea.

As a villain, the prospect of an emergency healing was too tempting, even if the possibility of success was relatively low.

“So, have you ever worked as a model before,” he asked.

“Just a few fashion shots,” Lisa said, forcing herself to smile seductively. “Do you want me to go and change?”

“Sure. Let’s start with a test shot,” he said. “You’ll find yoga pants and a sports bra in the room. Put them on, pick a shoe you’re comfortable with, and come here.”

Lisa’s eyes widened slightly at the explanation. Yoga pants were not exactly what she had expected, but she said nothing. Ultimately, it was nothing extraordinary. And, leggings would make her task of seducing him slightly easier. Of course, Lisa had no intention of actually going all the way.

Even if she wanted to whore herself for the mission, it was impossible. The idea of even kissing someone while her power fed her all kinds of observations would have been disgusting, let alone having sex.

Ironically, even masturbation didn’t work. The observations of her power were a buzzkill even when it was her own body. With her power, she was pretty much destined to die without knowing what an orgasm was.

She disappeared into the dressing room, the signs of some recent sexual activity lingering despite the attempt to clean the place. Lisa wondered if it was Taylor — as she carried the signs of a recent sexual encounter when she returned to the safehouse — or if he had another partner once sending her away.

When she returned to the studio part, however, her eyes widened. Because, at the corner, there were multiple devices, the kind that she hated.

Exercise tools. Suddenly, her costume made far more sense.

“Come on, we don’t have too much time to waste,” he ordered. “I hope you’re ready to start sweating.”

Lisa looked at him in shock. “Do you expect me to…” she questioned. “The listing didn’t mention anything like it.”

“Come on, just a few jumping jacks, maybe a few push-ups. The client needs the pictures to actually evoke the idea of exercising. Don’t tell me that you can’t handle it.”

Lisa hated physical exercises, particularly when the weights didn’t look particularly light, at least by her standards. If it wasn’t for the possibility of somehow making contact with Panacea, she would have turned and left.

Her power had already confirmed that Marcus was harmless. He was more like a golden retriever that humped anything that moved.

Too bad the possibility of getting healed was too valuable.

“Now, let’s start with something simple, Barbara. Grab two dumbells, and give me five squats.”

“It’s Brenda,” Lisa corrected even as she grabbed the two lightest dumbells from the set, and started working.

“Sorry, Brenda. Now, give me a big smile, and get in the mood. You’re a part of the gym, and you’re determined to reshape yourself,” he started. She followed. “Now, drop the weights, and give me a warrior’s pose. Stand with your legs hip-width apart, one leg slightly forward. Square your hips. You’re powerful.”

Lisa forced a smile to her face as she followed his direction, and the flash started to explode. She expected them to trigger a horrible headache. To her surprise, it did not. Instead, she started to get lost in the flow. Even her power wasn’t as active as usual.

She wondered whether it was the pain of the exercise, or the constant flashes occupying her attention, but her power calmed down, not feeding her with many pointless directions. It was an unusual experience that she enjoyed immensely.

“Excellent. Now, let's capture some movement. Do some lunges, Brenda. Focus on extending your front leg and keep your back straight."

Lisa followed. Her legs burned a bit, but as long as her power wasn’t driving her crazy, she was happy to exercise more than she usually did. The lunges turned to jump jacks, followed by high knees.

She couldn’t see his gaze behind the camera, but his appreciation was obvious. Luckily, her power wasn’t particularly active, and more importantly, it seemed to be more fascinated by the details of the room than the ugly details of his fantasies.

That meant she didn’t feel the usual reflexive disgust she felt whenever she had been dealing with catcalls.

 Lisa had to admit, it was a nice feeling. It left a nice tingling on her body … or was that the exercise. “Now, some burpees,” he ordered. She tried to follow … but as she jumped up before laying prone for a push-up, her gaze started to darken.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to catch a breath. It would pass in just a second… "Trouble?” he asked.

“Just a bit of a headache,” Lisa said, which wasn’t a lie. She always had a headache.

“Actually, I’m not bad at massaging,” he said as he took a step forward, and pressed his hands on her temples. To her surprise, he wasn’t wrong. Under the skillful movements of his fingers, her constant headache already dulled.

She even got lost in the moment a bit.

“I think that’s enough for today,” she finally called. As much as she enjoyed the massage, she had a lot of things to do. She had already confirmed that he was harmless. She had other things to do.

“Sorry for pushing you. You look like you’ll have better conditioning.”

“I think it’s just skipping lunch,” Lisa answered, which might be the case. She looked at him, trying to see if he had done it intentionally, but her power confirmed that it was not the case.

Excellent.

“I think that was a productive day,” he said even as she walked toward the changing room. “I’ll hit you when there’s another good set.”

“Perfect,” Lisa said. To her surprise, it was the truth. Being a model had been more pleasant than she expected.

And, the massage that solved her headache certainly helped.