Velia yawned and stretched out in her place on one side of the bed. She immediately regretted it with a wince of pain; her entire body feeling rather like a truck had rolled over her a few times. Considering she's had her ass whipped with a riding crop and then been bound under Alatha's foot for an hour that comparison was not far off the mark. Her scalp felt pretty sore from having had nails clawing into it as she'd supped between her lover's legs. It had all hurt like hell but had also felt glorious at the time.

The heroine turned over in the bed, her hands seeking her partner. Instead she found a foreign emptiness, the familiar warmth of Alatha completely absent from the bed. Her eyes cracked open a bit and she frowned at the sight. Looking at the clock she saw that it was only about 8:23 A.M., far too early to get up on a weekend. The young blonde slowly pushed the covers away and sat up, wincing as she pushed herself from the bed. Maybe it might be a good idea to try something a little more... gentle tonight. She could take the punishment, but there reached a point where pain lost its pleasure.

A quick search found the black t-shirt Alatha had worn last night still on the floor. Remembering a comment her partner had made about her wearing her clothes being rather hot she put the larger shirt on. With that the heroine shuffled out of the bedroom. She cracked a wide yawn, stretching slightly.

"Alatha? Hey, bae, where are you?"

No response. The woman wasn't out and about. Usually she was either making coffee or eating a bowl of Lucky Charms. The shower wasn't running either and a quick check of the bathroom showed it to be empty. After a bit the blonde shrugged and grabbed her bowl from the cupboard. After getting her cereal the woman plopped down on the couch, plopping a spoonful of marshmallow laden food into her mouth as she turned on the TV. Alatha was probably just out at the store. It wasn't unusual really.

She changed the channel over to the local news network as she shoved another large spoonful into her mouth. When she saw what was on the screen however, milk and half chewed cereal spilled from her open mouth in surprise.

In the middle of the street stood Alatha, dressed as she normally appeared when in the midst of crime. She was currently blasting away at what appeared to be a number of police vehicles and another Super. The rather creatively self-named Iceman was trying to smash the pyrokinetic with large chunks of ice. Most of it melted before reaching Alatha but even from the overhead view of the news helicopter Velia could see she was rather set on her heels between dealing with the other Super and the police.

Her breakfast was sat forgotten on the table as the disbelieving young size changer watched the scene unfold. Eventually the news helicopter ended up being targeted by the villainess, likely to distract her opponent. Velia felt her heart racing as she watched her lover do these terrible things. She knew it was what she did, however it had been a while since she had actually last witnessed it herself. Watching the feed in the helicopter end abruptly the heroine felt her heart skip a beat. It was fully possible the villainess had killed those people.

Part of her wanted to go right out there herself. It was technically her time off but she was a heroine. After six months of being with her lover it hadn't really sunken in what she did until right now. Certainly they joked and jabbed at their life styles, and Velia knew from experience how ruthless Alatha could be but she had never been simply a spectator to her crimes. There was fear of course but more than that there was anger. An anger that spread through her veins and lit her heart on fire.

After finding that her appetite had decidedly fled her and cleaning her bowl out Velia quickly showered and put her own clothes on. She teetered on simply leaving the apartment in a fit of anger, but instead opted to stay on the couch. They needed to talk about this. Six months was really six months too long to let this issue sit. She had just been comfortable putting it out of her mind what her girlfriend did for a living, a selfish move on her part really.

Her phone buzzed and she looked at the message on it from Alatha.

"On a job right now, be home late."

The size changer gritted her teeth and resisted punching in a rather biting response. Instead she placed her phone down on the table and consigned herself to wait for a bit. So she did what she normally did when she had some free time. She trained her shrinking abilities. Her minimum size had improved in the six months since she and Alatha had been together, approaching near the size where an ant might be considered rather giant. Needless to say the world took on an entirely different light at that size.

The couch she had sat upon became a vista of unending chains of fabric, each one a highway she could trod upon quite comfortable. Likely she would appear as merely dust to a normal sized human. She had yet to show case her abilities to her pyrokinetic girlfriend, though she suspected she might be impressed by such matters. As her thoughts turned back to Alatha Velia growled and grew once more, settling on pacing around the apartment. She couldn't train properly when she was this pissed off.

After lunch rolled around Velia heard the rattling of keys near the door and the click of the lock. Velia stood in the living area when Alatha walked in, her hands on her hips. The taller woman was dressed in more casual clothing now, likely having changed in her own home before coming here. The woman opened her mouth in greeting, probably not expecting the slap that came from the size changer.

A look of surprise came over her face. "Ow, what the hell Lia!? I let you know I was gone, didn't I?"

"Shut up! I woke up early and guess what I saw? You on the news, incinerating everything in sight." Velia growled out.

Alatha frowned and crossed her arms over her breasts. "Yeah? And?"

The response shocked Velia. "And!? You shot down a news helicopter! You probably killed people! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

The villainess adopted a scowl. "Hey, do I get on your case for locking up my friends? No, I don't! That's what I do and you've known that! We've been together six fucking months and you haven't said anything about it!"

The heroine raised her voice. "That's because it wasn't right it my fucking face! I-I didn't know-."

"Bullshit! You know exactly what I do and how I do it! You were more than happy to just forget about it, but now that you saw it on local news it's a problem? You're a goddamn hypocrite, you know that? You're happy with fucking around on the other side as long as you never see the other side!" Alatha interrupted.

Velia felt rather like she'd just been slapped and stared at the snarling villainess. It was true really. Going into this she had thought it would just be a passing thing at most but as the months went on she just swept what Alatha was under the rug. She was a hypocrite. She was treating this like it was Alatha's fault when it was really her own for not voicing these issues earlier. The heroine plopped down on the bed and sniffled, feeling tears rise in her eyes.

Alatha let out a hissing breath and turned on her heel. The heroine was vaguely aware of hearing the door to the apartment slam shut. When the villainess was gone she let the tears flow, sobbing wretchedly for how stupid she had been. Of course the woman would have been pissed if she waited half a year to talk this out. They never talked about their more professional lives. Now Velia was certain she'd fucked up the whole thing. All because she'd tossed aside her moral compass because it was convenient.

She wasn't sure how long she sat on the couch like that. All she wanted to do was just shrink away, to get away from the whole world she'd been rejecting. So she did. She shrank down to an imperceptible size and let out her pain. It didn't make it better. In fact it seemed to make things worse. Even at a size where it was unlikely anyone could see her she felt like everything was leering down at her.

The blonde haired woman was sure when she'd grown back or when she'd started driving; she wasn't even sure where she was driving to. Velia simply drove, the bright street lamps occasionally illuminating a tear stained face. It was a mystery to her what she should even do. She cared for Alatha. It might even be said that she loved her. The villainess wasn't a one dimensional cackling madwoman; she had likes, dislikes, and could be as gentle as a soft kitten at times. Thinking about it really for the first time though, it was hard to look past what she did and could do.

She felt like she was drowning on dry land. The heroine didn't want to leave Alatha, but at the same time she didn't know if she could live with the villainess in her. Could she live with knowing her lover, the same person that bent over backwards to help her experience her greatest desires, was also a woman would destroyed and killed whatever got in her way? Could she even call herself a heroine if she did?

Well after midnight Velia saw her phone buzz, a text from Alatha upon the screen.

"We need to talk."

Four words that filled Velia was more fear than she cared to admit. Talk about what? About how much of a hypocrite she was? About how she was weak willed? Perhaps about how Alatha figured it was best to end things? That last bit hurt quite a bit to think about, a dull ache in her heart forming. The young woman still found her drive taking her back around to the apartment, her heart thundering the whole way.

When she walked inside the place was dark and the TV was off. Alatha was leaning against the kitchen counter with a calm expression on her face. She gestured to the couch and Velia sat down, trying to keep her hands from trembling too much. Her eyes were anywhere but at Alatha's face, scared to even meet the eyes of the villainess. She nervously continued to play with a strand of her golden locks, her foot tapping despite her best efforts.

Alatha let out a long sigh. "Look. I think we both got a little... heated this afternoon. I didn't see you coming at me with that so suddenly and I had just gotten out of a fight so I might have said some harsh things."

"No, you are right. I'm a hypocrite. I was happy just ignoring the whole thing until it didn't suit me." Velia said, finally looking up to the other woman.

"True, but I knew it would bother you eventually. I was cutting back on things in the country but the job just seemed too well paying to say no to." Alatha replied.

That surprised Velia a bit. "Wait. Y-you were keeping things away from where I could see them for my benefit?"

Alatha chuckled, scratching behind her head. "Yeah, well, you are important to me and... sappy shit like that. Hell, I'm not good at these things. Most of my relationships were like week-long affairs. I'm not used to trying to patch things up."

Velia felt tears rising in her eyes again. She got out of the couch and threw her arms around the pyrokinetic. She felt an awkward arm around her back. "Hey, why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?"

The size changer laughed, pulling back slightly to look up at the taller woman. "No, I'm just touched you were trying to keep it away from me."

It was a long time before Velia spoke again. "We do need to talk about this whole thing though. I bothers me what you do. How you can be so sweet and kind and gentle and then you can just turn into... what I saw."

Alatha sighed and disentangled herself from the blonde, moving towards the couch herself. Velia sat down next to her, her hands on her lap. For a while there was an awkward silence between them. The pyrokinetic looked vulnerable in this state, not the queen of fire but now just a woman who was trying to figure something out. She looked a little lost, almost like how Velia had probably looked when she had been driving aimlessly.

"I can't just switch it off. What else would I do, Lia? What else could I do?" Alatha finally asked.

Velia dared to take Alatha's hand in her own, appreciating the warmth of her skin. "I know a few Supers outside of New Orleans I could talk to."

The woman snorted. "I'm not rescuing kittens from trees. That's off the fucking table."

Velia took a deep breath. "I'll look around and ask around. If I find something not strictly illegal that you could do would you do it?"

Alatha looked into her eyes for a long while before sighing. "Maybe. Let me know what you find and I'll at least give it a try. In the meantime I'll be laying low for a bit."

Velia smiled and captured Alatha's lips in her own, kissing the pyrokinetic tenderly. It was not as passionate as many of their kisses, more gentle and loving. Her own hypocrisy still sat bitterly in her gut but it was a good thing to talk this out. That Alatha was willing to sacrifice something she saw as being part of her to keep this relationship alive meant more than any amount of lovemaking.

"Thank you, Alatha. I... I love you." She whispered.

A smile. "I love you too."