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Message-ID: <62140asstr$1335712203@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Any Pseudonym <anypseudonym@yahoo.com>
Subject: {ASSM} Life With Alpha - Chapter Nineteen:  Batgirl (MF, FF, MF+, MC, SciFi, anime, cartoon, comic book)
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Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:10:03 -0400
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Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
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Warning:  This is a story intended for adult audiences.  If you are not of legal age, don't read it.
<1st attachment, "Alpha19.txt" begin>

Life with Alpha

   by A.  Pseudonym

   Chapter Nineteen: Batgirl
Codes: MF, FF, MF+, MC, SciFi, anime, cartoon, comic book
Disclaimer: All artificial persons herein are based on characters owned
by their
creators, not the author.  Batgirl, Oracle and Barbara Gordon are owned

by DC Comics, DC Entertainment and/or Warner Brothers and not by the
author.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Gordon

   Authors Note: A few different readers suggested that it was time for
Frank's home to be expanded, and I agree.  Reader PA suggested a horse
ranch, which caught my imagination.  It won't really show up as their new
home until the second series, but the location begins development in this
chapter.

   NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE FINAL VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER, but it is very
close.  I
finally got enough time to finish the chapter, but have not given all of

it the final edit.  I figured that since I'm not sure how soon I'll have
more time, I'd post it as is and update it when I can.  Also note that the
next two chapters are each well over half done and will probably be posted
together.



   Dramatis Personae: Frank _____ - Lead character, creator of Alpha Alpha
- First A.I.  in existence

   Mobile Copies of Alpha: Beta aka Bayonetta aka Elizabeth Alana Franks
(cyborg, from Bayonetta) Gamma aka Jasmine aka Jasmine Marza (cyborg, from
Aladdin) Delta aka Elisa Maza aka Elizabeth Marza (cyborg, from Gargoyles)
Alphadroid Dorothy aka R.  Dorothy Waynewright (android, from Big O) A-Ko
aka Eiko Magami aka Epsilon (organic copy of Alpha, from Project A-Ko)

   Artificial Women: Kasumi Tendo (from Ranma 1/2) Daria Morgendorffer aka
Daria Morgan (from Daria) Jane Lane aka Jane Lannister (from Daria) Kara
Zor-L aka Power Girl aka Karen Starr (from DC Comics) Rei Ayanami aka Rei
Ayanami Ikari (from Neon Genesis Evangelion) Anna Marie aka Rogue aka Anna
Marie Raffen (from Marvel Comics) Princess Diana aka Wonder Woman aka Diana
Prince Walters (from DC Comics) Zatanna Zatara aka Annabelle Tara Zane
(from DC Comics) Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl aka Linda Lang Starr (from DC
Comics) Blossom aka Belle Underston (from Powerpuff Girls) Bubbles aka
Britney Underton (from Powerpuff Girls) Buttercup aka Bobbi Underton (from
Powerpuff Girls) Ororo Munroe aka Storm aka Imara Aurora Munroe (from
Marvel Comics) Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat aka Katherine Preiss (from Marvel
Comics) Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk (from Marvel Comics)



   On a Wednesday in January, Beta, Kasumi, Kara and I took the afternoon
off to look at real estate.

   When I had first started on this adventure to recreate fictional women
for my own pleasure and company, I had built a rather large house to
accommodate everyone.  I hate the word mansion, but that's basically what
it was.  Three above-ground floors plus a large (and secure) basement.  It
had fourteen bedrooms and was currently laid out to comfortably hold up to
22 people.  (It was originally arranged for 21, but we converted one twin
bedroom to a triple when we added the Powerpuff Girls.) Since Jasmine and
Elisa had moved out and She-Hulk, Storm and Kitty Pryde had moved in a few
months ago, it currently held 18 people (if you don't include Alpha or
Alphadroid Dorothy), soon to be 19.

   The house still had enough room, but it was starting to feel a bit
cramped and full.  While we had enough land to expand the house a bit, it
seemed like it might be nice to expand more than just 'a bit'.

   Fortunately, a number of AARD projects were starting to pay off
significantly.  Our movie had just premiered at Sundance, so the funds from
that had not started to come in, but the hair replacement formula had
finally been approved for sale (prescription-only for now).  That plus a
couple dozen other projects and patents reaching the public led us to
anticipate at least $100 million in net income for the upcoming fiscal
year. (Heck, the hair replacement formula by itself should conservatively
give us that much in a year and a half.  No surgery and quick, guaranteed,
easily seen results...  It was selling like hotcakes.)

   So here we were, looking at Alpha's top three choices for new locations.
This particular site looked the worst in its current state but was easily
the largest and had the most potential.  It felt like an absolutely huge
spread at roughly four square miles located about twenty minutes outside
the DFW Metroplex with the land fenced in for cattle and horses.  The house
and barn were in terrible condition, but we would just tear them down to
build our own structures anyway.  It had multiple wells and a couple small
streams, but the water table by the house was low enough to allow for a
basement.  The power lines were not entirely sufficient for our needs, but
we had our own ways to supplement that.

   "So what are the plans if we build here?" asked Kara.

   Alpha had created rough layouts for each of the three locations, and I
consulted my digital tablet.

   "Well, with this one, we could end up with an actual ranch.  I don't
think anyone is actually interested in raising cattle, but we could easily
build some nice stables for horses."

   I don't know what it is about horses, but four out of five women I know
go nuts for them -- women under 30, at least.  Not that my women turned
into squealing teeny-boppers at the idea, but Kara and Kasumi both approved
the idea.  Actually, thinking it over, it was entirely possible that Daria
and the cyborgs were the only ones who might not care for horses, and I
wasn't entirely sure that Daria couldn't be swayed.  Me?  I liked them well
enough and could ride, or at least I had been able to ride back when I was
a teenager.  Absolutely hated taking care of them though.  I'm not
technically allergic to them, but brushing them down always sent me into
sneezing fits.

   I shared Alpha's layout and we walked around from one location to the
next, leaving the real estate agent to walk behind us in confused silence.
I'm sure we were her strangest prospective buyers so far, given that Alpha
had thoroughly researched everything beforehand.  We had no questions for
her at all.  We only needed her to provide the keys.

   We toured the living area for half an hour, drove around some of the
rest of the property for another half hour, then thanked our guide and went
home.



   Since that day happened to be Wednesday, we stopped off at the comic
book store on the way for the weekly releases.  Since we had eight women in
residence who believed they were comic book characters (eleven if you
include the PowerPuffs, who used to have their own comic), we picked up
somewhere around 75% of all Marvel and DC comics so that they could keep
track of things.  True, their perceived timelines didn't entirely match up
with the comics -- Kara alone had been 'missing' from her world for a least
a couple years, yet her comic book appearances continued unabated - but
they were close enough that everyone wanted to stay up to date, even if
Diana and Zatanna were the only two who actually thought they were going
back and forth between the real world and their comic book world.

   Recently there had been rumors of an upcoming major event in the DC
Universe called Flashpoint.  At that point in time, it looked like it was
just going to be a standard story where time travel changes things into a
strange, unfamiliar world, the heroes stop the time travel changes from
happening and things return to normal.  If you're familiar with the actual
story, you know that's not quite true.  If you're not, just hold on for a
few minutes/pages.

   Wonder Woman's costume had gotten a lot more discussion than Flashpoint
at that time.  Her official outfit had gained pants and a jacket, which had
set off a fanboy war online.

   Diana's opinion was that she was fine with the updates, but didn't see
how they would last.  Literally last, as in 'survive'.

   "My clothes are both symbolic and blessed by the gods," she explained.
"The only reason they survive my battles is because of that blessing.  If I
were to just wear normal human clothes in battle, they wouldn't last a
day."

   Jennifer laughed a little and offered an alternate explanation. 
"Blessed by the comics code is what really works.  The code is the only
reason most of my books avoided a Mature Readers label."

   Jennifer often caused a little friction with her more 'real world'
explanations of comic book happenings, but she was such a friendly,
easy-going person most of the time that it never caused any real problems.



   That evening, we laid everything about the possible properties out for
the household and gave everyone a couple days to discuss things.  Alpha
sent Elisa and Jasmine to check the surrounding land for each location in a
little more detail, but found no significant problems with any of them.

   We eventually agreed on the horse ranch location and we bought the
property a week later.  Alpha provided a detailed schedule and blueprints,
although Jane and I both made a few changes to Alpha's planned mansion, for
both aesthetic and practical reasons.

   The new house would have over three times more footage than our current
house, including plans for a two-lane bowling alley, a small theater room
for movies, and, of course, somewhere in the range of 30 to 50 bedrooms. 
It was gonna be BIG.  The main house and yard area would be surrounded by a
brick or stone privacy wall, and the rest would be fenced in for the
horses. We'd have surveillance everywhere, both obvious and hidden.

   It would take at least a year, probably two years, to have everything
built -- house, garage, barn, fences, pool, generator, water tower...  even
a jogging track, tennis court and greenhouse.  With so much land available,
Alpha and I also had a variety of other ideas too, ranging from our own
small fusion reactor to secret underground labs and test facilities.

   Alpha had offered possibilities such as building guest houses, turning
an area near the main house into a pleasure palace or even building a small
amusement park.  Guest houses might be a good idea, but while I hadn't
denied any of it outright, I didn't really want a Playboy-style mansion...
okay, that sounds kind of ridiculous, coming from someone in my situation.
I guess I both hate such extravagance and love the idea of being able to do
it.  Maybe I just prefer my extravagances to be technological in nature. 
Too bad holodecks or their equivalents are impossible...  well, maybe not
impossible forever, but at least for now.

   One of the best benefits of such a large tract of a land was that it
left our possibilities wide open.  Heck, if I needed to, I could give all
of my women their own personal house, garage and yard and still have over
90% of the land left.

   Anyway, I'll describe more of the layout as needed.



   I talked over the initial plans with Robert Anderson, who runs a
construction firm I often use.  Given the downturn in the housing market,
he could gather enough crews to get it done much faster than we could have
a few years earlier.  I didn't even want to think about how much it would
end up costing, but we actually had enough money coming in to build it
without affecting AARD, where we were also planning a building expansion.
Having Alpha available to create the blueprints and supervise construction
helped a lot cost-wise.

   Once completed, it would be relatively cheap to run, given its size.  We
would eventually start generating all our own electricity.  We planned to
build our own water tower and had a few preexisting wells to draw from.  We
wouldn't have much need for staff either, since we could just build
Alphadroids to take care of everything.

   We reached an agreement with Anderson's firm and they started clearing
the land.  We were building outside the city limits, so the required
approvals were minimal.

   (Once she heard demolition was about to begin, Jane enlisted some help
and rushed over to strip the old house and barn of any interesting
furniture and architectural pieces, many of which we ended up using in some
fashion for the new house.  Two people in her team needed tetanus shots
afterwards.)

   * * * * *

   This next bit took a lot of careful crafting and manipulation.  My next
addition to the household had been selected, but the idea had to seem to
come from other people in the house, namely my DC comic book women.

   As a lead-in, we had involved them in a group discussion of how Alpha's
nanites could repair bodily injuries, including severe spinal cord damage.
One by one, Diana, Linda, Zatanna then finally Kara were all fed dreams and
ideas.  And Zatanna had finally been led to believe that she had her spells
working correctly to accurately control travel between our two worlds.

   That last bit was a little tricky since she was also expected to work
toward helping Jennifer, Ororo and Kitty get home.  The new Marvel
characters had only arrived about four months back, so this next trip would
be Zatanna's first 'return trip to her home universe' since their arrival.
Everyone was expecting Zatanna to magically pull them from our universe to
her own, and then they could be returned to the Marvel universe using the
DC universe's superior technology and/or magic.

   Of course, I did not want them to leave so soon, so we had decided to
deal with it by simply not letting her 'spells' affect the Marvel
characters.  Alpha was ready to feed them some crap about how Zatanna's
magic didn't resonate with either their quantum frequencies or my
universe's frequency so she couldn't pull them out remotely.

   Regardless, a couple weeks before Zatanna and Diana's next planned trip
home, my four DC ladies scheduled a meeting with me.

   Diana took the lead this time.  "Frank, we'd like to ask you for a big
favor."

   "Sure thing," I said.  Mentally I crossed my fingers.  "What's the
favor?"

   "We'd like to ask you to help out a friend of ours."

   "Who and what kind of help?"

   "Someone from back home," Kara said without a lot of enthusiasm.

   "She was hurt really badly a while back," added Linda.  "So we'd like
you to use your nanites to fix her up."

   "Which also means that we'd need to bring her here for at least a few
months," explained Zatanna.

   "I'm open to the idea," I said amiably, "but I really want to know who
and what happened to her."

   "She has a secret identity, but I suppose that doesn't matter much
here..." admitted Diana.

   "WHO?"

   "Batgirl," said Kara simply.

   "Barbara Gordon," added Linda.

   "Oh, yeah, the Joker shot her, right?" I asked calmly.  "Isn't she
Oracle now?  And a paraplegic?"

   "Most of the time," agreed Zatanna.  "We think we can convince her to
come here with us so you can repair her spine.  She deserves better than
what happened to her."

   "Okay." I pretended to think for a minute.  "All right, I'll agree as
long you agree to keep visitors limited.  We discussed it before, but just
to remind you, I don't particularly want to become an interdimensional
tourist spot.  Okay?"

   "Agreed," Diana said.

   We shook hands on it to make it official, then I got kisses from all
four of them.



   I know what you're thinking.  Well, some of you anyway.  Doesn't Batgirl
violate my character selection rules against technical geniuses/detectives?
Yes, she does.  BUT Alpha and I have a plan.

   By the time Diana and the others asked for permission to bring Barbara
to me to have her spine repaired, her body and mind were already about
two-thirds completed.  What's important to this part of the topic is that
the construction of her body included a new type of implant.  You see, a
lot of our original rules were in place because we didn't know how to deal
with the problems they might pose.  While the rules dealing with character
background and social adjustment still hold true, some of the others can
now be dealt with through new technologies.  She-Hulk was a rule violation
that we dealt with rather simply using lies and nanites to remove the green
coloring from her skin.  The problems posed by Barbara Gordon required a
bit more complex approach.

   When needed, Alpha should be able to separate Barbara's body and brain.
Her brain will receive streaming input so that she'll see and hear what we
want her to see and hear.  She'll be able to continue to act, but her
actions will be part of an extremely realistic personal virtual reality. 
Her body will be subject to separate remote control by Alpha while her
brain is disconnected.  In theory, that is...  though Alpha was confident
it would work.

   We won't be able to do this all the time because it will require serious
processing power from Alpha and transmission bandwidth to the implants to
keep it going, but when Barbara gets nosy and starts examining Alpha's
code, we will be able to show her what we want her to see.  When she starts
walking again and feels the urge to examine my basement lab, she'll find
what we want her to find.  If all goes well, we'll be able to lay her
suspicions to rest and move on.

   If the implants work like we hope they will, we might start using them
as standard equipment, and they could allow for other character selections
(e.g.  Velma Dinkley).  If the new implants don't work well enough to fool
her, then we'll just shut Barbara down and implant the memories we want
more directly.  (Even if they fail in other respects, the new updated
implants will greatly speed up memory rewrites.)

   The other issue to be dealt with was her romantic attachment to Dick
Grayson (aka Robin aka Nightwing).  In the comics, they were an
on-again/off-again couple and were even engaged for a while.  He was too
entwined in her background to remove, but it was easy to lessen their
attachment.  Both of them have had other lovers and other fiancees.  Heck,
the only reason he wasn't married to Starfire was that their wedding was
disrupted by supervillain attack (a possessed Raven, if I remember
correctly).  All we had to do was reignite his relationship with Starfire a
few months before Diana and Zatanna approached Barbara to invite her to
visit my universe.



   As a side note to my comments above, maybe I should point out that my
new Marvel women -- Ororo, Jennifer and Kitty -- had put some of their
integration plans on hold since they were waiting and hoping for Zatanna to
be able to help them return home.  Jennifer and Kitty had both let Alpha do
the initial work to create passable student identities, but both had
decided against enrolling for the spring semester.

   Anna had, as she has previously stated more than once, declared that she
was staying here regardless.  She was happy here living with me and the
others where she could finally live her life without the curse of her
mutant ability.

   The result was simply that the newcomers would have a bit more of a
let-down, for which I would comfort them, and would not start taking
classes until the fall.



   A few weeks later, after the old structures on the property had been
torn down but before new construction began, Diana and Zatanna disappeared
on schedule and secretly reappeared in the nanopods in the basement. 
According to Zatanna's schedule, they would be gone for one week (during
which time they would spend four months in their home universe), then they
would return, bringing Barbara with them.

   Their visits home were becoming routine, but little did they know that
this would be their last return trip for the foreseeable future.  Alpha had
been filtering some of the information coming out about the Flashpoint
storyline so that limited information was reaching my household.  DC would
not be resetting things back to normal afterwards.  Instead they planned to
reboot their comic book universe.  (And don't give me that hogwash their
editors spewed about it not being a reboot.  Just because they might
eventually explain why one timeline is being changed into another does not
remove the 'reboot' descriptor.)

   The DC Flashpoint reboot was the perfect opportunity to stop the trips
home.  Whatever spells Zatanna set up to pull her back to her own universe
would disappear along with that universe.  Whatever quantum frequency might
eventually bounce Kara and Linda back to that universe would be altered by
the new continuity.

   I had actually seriously considered using the event as an excuse to
'evacuate' a selection of DC characters to the safety of this universe, but
decided it might be a bit much to juggle.  Besides, we can always bring
more over later with different backstories.



   After Diana and Zatanna had been gone for about five days, Kara
approached me one morning after I got to work.

   "Good morning, cutie," I said in greeting as she entered my office.  She
claims to hate it when I call her 'cutie' but she also sometimes blushes a
little and occasionally has to hide a smile.  This time, the serious look
on her face stayed in place.

   "Morning, honey," she said.

   "What's wrong?"

   "I tried to catch you before you left this morning, but you left a few
minutes early." She stood in front of the desk, refusing my gestured offer
for her to sit down.

   "True." I waited while gathered her thoughts.

   "I got a dream message from Zatanna last night."

   Zatanna's 'dream messages' were currently her preferred method of
contact across dimensions, since they required the least amount of energy
for two-way contact.  Or, from another perspective, they were Alpha's
preferred method since it was an easily controlled method of faking a
message where she didn't have to imitate anyone's voice and could control
both sides of the conversation.

   "And it's not good news, I take it?"

   "No, not really.  It's...  well...  She's been trying and she can't do
anything to bring Jennifer and them to our universe.  Her magic just... 
just won't lock on to them for some reason."

   "So they're going to be stuck here a bit longer."

   "Yup."

   "Have you told them yet?"

   "No.  I was hoping to enlist you to come with me so we could break it to
them more easily."

   "Of course I'll help.  Alpha, are any of them at work today?"

   While only Ororo officially worked at AARD, Jennifer and Kitty were
known to put in some hours helping out with various projects.

   This morning, none of them were at the office.  I suppose that wasn't
too surprising, since we only had limited work for Ororo at the moment.



   At noon, we drove all the way back home for lunch, whereas normally we'd
each lunch at or near the office.

   As we pulled in, Alpha informed us that Ororo and Kitty were in the back
yard and Jennifer was watching The Incredible Hulk (the cartoon, not the
live action) in the entertainment room.

   "You go grab Jennifer," I told Kara, "I'll go after Ororo and Kitty."

   "No problem," she said with a tight smile.

   I wandered through the house out to the back yard, where we had a
swimming pool (currently closed until it was consistently warmer) and hot
tub.

   It was still February, but it was a fairly warm winter in Texas at the
moment with the temperature up in the upper 70's...  but it was still
WINTER, which is why I was surprised to see a completely naked Ororo Munroe
stretched out on a deck chair, with a bikini-clad Kitty Pryde next to her.
Ororo had sunglasses on and appeared to be dozing, while Kitty was
engrossed in a book (if you're interested, it was Soon I Will Be
Invincible, possibly the best independent piece of superhero fiction I've
read).

   I remembered that Storm was, especially in her early X-Men appearances,
a casual nudist and thought nothing of walking around outside naked, even
in mixed company.

   I took a moment to enjoy the sight.  Ororo has nicely large breasts
which rolled slightly back and forth as she breathed, a fit, trim stomach
and thighs, and a neatly trimmed bush of curly white pubic hair to match
the flowing white locks that spilled down off the top edges of her reclined
chair.  A robe and sandals had been tossed on a nearby unoccupied chair.

   Kitty wore a somewhat modest blue bikini, which did little to hide her
youthful figure.  She had much smaller breasts, B-cups at best, with legs
slightly better toned and more athletic than Ororo's.

   After a few seconds of contemplative enjoyment, I cleared my throat. 
Kitty jumped a little, almost dropping her book.

   "Isn't it a bit cool for sunbathing?" I inquired.

   "Why don't you make some noise when you walk," Kitty snapped in
irritation.

   "I wasn't trying to be sneaky, you were just engrossed in reading."

   Without moving, Ororo answered my question, "There's no breeze back here
at the moment, we have direct sunlight, and this is a nicely warm day for
this time of year.  I'd prefer it to be a little warmer, but this is still
comfortable."

   "Once you let the sun warm you up a bit, it's pretty nice," agreed
Kitty.

   "Well, if you're happy, I'm happy."

   "So why are you here?" asked Kitty with maybe a touch of suspicion.

   "Ah, yes.  Could you two come inside for a minute?  We have news."

   "What news?" asked Kitty, not moving.

   Ororo lazily sat up and stretched, giving me a nice show before reaching
for her robe to cover up.  "Come along, Kitty," she said.

   Kitty sighed, giving in and pulling on some sweatpants and an X-Men
t-shirt.

   I noticed my cock had hardened into an uncomfortable position as I
turned to lead them back into the house.  I held the door open for the two
ladies, and quickly readjusted my crotch after they passed me.  I thought I
had done it unnoticed, but Ororo pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of
her head and gave me a quick wink in a hallway mirror that had apparently
let her witness my discomfort.

   That actually struck me as a little out of character for her.  Ororo's
naturalism wasn't sexual in nature...  but I suppose that didn't prevent
her from teasing a little bit if her nudity led there.  Or maybe it was
just a difference caused by her implants.

   I really should talk to her about casual nudity around the house before
Kasumi catches her naked some day, I thought to myself.  Especially since
Ororo will probably want to help with the gardening and enjoys being naked
outdoors.  I really should.  Buuuttt...  I'm not going to.



   We met up with Kara and Jennifer in the kitchen, where we all sat down
at the small lunch/serving table.

   "Kara," I said, prompting her to explain our mid-day visit.

   Kara proceeded to explain about her dream message from Zatanna and what
was said.  Their reactions were fairly predictable, ranging from 'Are you
sure it was a message and not just a normal dream?' to 'Why don't we just
wait until they get back so we can talk to them directly?' and 'Even if it
is true, it's not our only option.'

   When the productive part of the conversation seemed to have finished, I
said, "At any rate, that's the news we have.  Anything more will have to
wait until Diana and Z get back, which should theoretically be in just a
couple more days."

   "Thank you.  We appreciate you passing along the information," said
Ororo.  She was definitely taking the news better than Kitty, though her
thoughts were obviously a bit scattered, as evidenced by the fact that her
robe had fallen open to the waist.  Neither nipple was actually exposed,
but I could easily make out her belly button.

   "I'd like to again remind you that your situation is not horribly bad.
You have a home here for as long as you need one.  Also, remember that how
much time you spend here is not necessarily directly correlated to how long
you're gone from your Earth."

   "But I don't want to be ten years older when I finally get back home,
regardless of how much time has passed there," complained Kitty.

   Kara and I glanced at each other.

   Finally I said, "We...  we can probably help out a bit in that respect."

   "How?" she asked curiously.

   "Well, does Anna look much older to you?  You know, compared to the last
time you saw her."

   There was a brief, thoughtful silence.

   "I didn't really hang out with her very much," said Jennifer
apologetically.

   "No, she really doesn't," said Kitty.

   "If anything, I'd say she looks a bit younger, but I thought that was
only because she was so relaxed here," said Ororo.

   "Well, she's lived here with me for about six years, and
physiologicallyspeaking, her body is currently about 25 years old."

   Which I should point is younger than she was when she arrived...  well
if you subscribe to the fiction and ignore the whole artificially created
aspect, though of course I didn't say any of that out loud.

   "How?" asked Kitty suspiciously.

   "Nanites," I said simply.

   "Nanites are the equivalent of the fountain of youth?" asked Jennifer
with an odd expression on her face.

   "Pretty much.  Aging is caused by...  well, by a few things.  DNA kind
of wears down as cells replicate...  do a google search for telomeres if
you want details.  Plus a lot of dead organic garbage builds up in your
system that doesn't quite get cleaned out.  Our nanites can inject little
targeted chemicals to refresh your chromosomal caps, get rid of dead cells
and more.  Basically, once a year or so, we can put you in one of our
nanopods and...  uhhh...  'freshen up' your cells."

   "I tried it myself last year.  It itches like crazy, under your skin
where you can't get at it," said Kara with a little shiver.  "Let Alpha put
you to sleep first or you'll have nightmares about it.  But it definitely
works."

   "And you've been keeping this a secret from the rest of the world?"
asked Kitty with a touch of anger creeping into her voice.

   "Think through the implications and consequences if we were to go public
with this," I suggested.  "We can talk about it more later, if you'd like."

   Kitty, a lovely if obstinate young woman, seemed like she was going to
protest, but Ororo put a hand on her shoulder.

   I tried to keep my eyes off of Ororo's now-exposed breast as she quietly
spoke to Kitty saying, "In the short term, I expect it would cause massive
unrest.  In the long term, it might destroy the planet from overpopulation.
I'm certain there are many more issues it might cause, but I can see that
much right away."

   "Well, I can't promise immortality," I explained, "just that you won't
age very much while you're here.  I should also point out that Kitty here
is actually a bit too young to really benefit from it.  The treatment
doesn't really help much of anything until you're at least twenty-five."

   "So how old are you?" asked Jennifer suddenly.

   "How rude!" I said, with mock surprise.

   "Uh huh," she responded.  Then she moved over to me, reached out and ran
a hand carefully through my hair, sweeping it up for a moment, then patting
it back down.  She reached down to my torso, inserting her hand into my
shirt to feel my abs and waist, then pushed lower to try to cup my ass,
despite the fact that I was sitting down.

   "Hey!" I exclaimed in protest.

   "How old?" she repeated as she continued to feel me up, probing as if
looking for signs of age...  or possibly trying to count my ribs.

   "Thirty-nine!" I said, trying not to laugh from the rather ticklish
sensations.  "Now stop!"

   "No, you're not," Jennifer said, not stopping her 'examination'.  "I
don't think you even look thirty."

   "A little help here?" I asked, looking at Kara pleadingly.

   Kara was obviously trying hard not to laugh and just shook her head at
me.  Traitor.

   I suppose the good news was that this was quickly devolving into a
situation where they would forget about the bad news.  I briefly considered
calling out to Alpha for help, but quickly squelched the notion.  I might
easily end up with four unconscious bodies and a lot of memories in need of
rewriting.

   I decided that what I needed to do was to go on the offensive.  There
was no way that I could match She-Hulk's strength, speed or fighting skill,
but I had a couple major advantages.  I knew that she had no intention of
hurting me, and I knew that she had all those nice little implants designed
to react to my touch.

   As soon as I caught my breath a little, I gritted my teeth and stopped
fending her off, instead pushing my hands under Jennifer's blouse and
beginning an outright attempt to tickle...  or at least distract.

   Unfortunately as it turns out, She-Hulk is not very ticklish. 
Fortunately, she is easily aroused.

   She grabbed my wrists, but seemed conflicted as to whether or not she
wanted to direct my attentions or pull me away.  While she held me still, I
stretched out the fingers on my right hand and was able to brush the
underside of her left breast.  That seemed to make up her mind as she gave
a little gasp and moved my hands up so that I could cup her large breasts
under her bra.  Her nipples hardened quickly as my fingers danced around
them, rolling and pinching them a little.

   "Ahem" said Kitty in an obviously forced attempt to clear her throat.

   We both looked up to see Kara, Ororo and Kitty all watching us.  Kara
and Ororo looked entertained, whereas Kitty looked...  maybe a little
confused.  She had a little grin on her face when we first looked up, which
she then quickly smothered so she looked serious and disapproving.

   "What?" I asked.  "Since no help was forthcoming, I had to rely on my
own methods to rescue myself from an unwarranted attack."

   "Attack?" complained Jennifer, getting back into the spirit of the
thing. "I was merely attempting to ascertain whether or not you were
telling the truth."

   "And exactly how were you trying to do that?  Ribs aren't like tree
rings, you know.  Counting them doesn't help."

   "Don't mind us," said Ororo, putting a hand on Kitty's shoulder again.
"Please continue."

   I felt like I should give a wide-eyed cartoon blink-blink or something.
Instead I grinned a little and gave Jennifer's nipples a little pinch.  She
jumped and pulled back.

   I think most people would have apologized at that point and stepped
back. Jennifer...  well, she rarely apologizes for behavior that falls
short of 'She-Hulk Smash!'.  After a brief moment of recovery, she moved up
behind me and leaned down a bit so that my head was sandwiched between her
disheveled but still blouse-covered breasts.

   "I think we're owed a bit of compensation for the bad news, so for
anyone who's interested, I'm going to take Frank upstairs and do perverse
things to him.  If you want to watch, watch, or if you want to join in,
join in."

   So saying, she picked me up, chair and all, and carried me towards the
stairs.

   "Don't I get a say in this?" I protested.

   "You're about to be smothered by sex with one to four superheroes.  Do
you really want to say no?"

   "Well, I...  I...  I guess I'm fairly caught up at work at the
moment..."

   "That's the spirit!"

   This was really not what I expected when I agreed to go with Kara to
deliver the bad news.  Not that I was still objecting, it just seemed a bit
weird.

   Being carried like that gave me no chance to look behind us to see who
was following.  When we reached my bedroom and Jennifer dumped me onto my
bed, I rolled over and saw Ororo and Kara standing behind her, with Kitty
peeking in from the hallway.

   Kitty had not yet participated in group sex with this many people
before. In fact, she had only ever slept with myself and Eiko before this,
and even with Eiko, her bi-sexual tendencies were fairly well hidden.  (I
know they exist, because Alpha built them into her, but her personality
tended to suppress them.) I didn't want to push her into anything at the
moment, so I let her stay out in the hall for now.

   My mind was soon on other things as Jennifer quickly began stripping and
urged me to do the same.  Of course, Ororo was the first one to get naked,
given that she only had to drop her robe.  So Ororo was the one on the bed,
helping me strip, while the others were still struggling out of their
pants, and she was the first one to mount my erection, which seemed
appropriate since she had inspired it less than half an hour ago.

   Jennifer climbed onto my face less than a minute later, rubbing her clit
against my nose, practically using my face to masturbate while I licked her
vagina.  I grabbed onto her waist, guiding her movements so she slowed down
enough that I no longer worried my nose would end up broken.  After a
couple minutes, she appeared to have a small orgasm, probably not hugely
satisfying, but enough to take the edge off.

   While I kept up my tongue exercises, I shifted some of my attention to
Ororo riding my cock.  I moved my hands in search of her breasts, only to
find those particular tracts of land already receiving attention from
someone else.  I certainly couldn't see what was going on, but since
Jennifer was facing away from Ororo, that left only Kara and Kitty.  From
the size of the hands, I was pretty sure it was Kara.  (I'd never tell her
so, but Kara has pretty large hands for a woman.)

   I stroked the hands and, when they held me and guided me to Ororo's
nipples, caressed and lightly rolled and tweaked the nipples.  Judging from
previous experience, Ororo was probably five or ten minutes from coming,
since she's rarely excited enough to come quickly.

   I shifted my attention back and forth between She-Hulk and Storm until
Jennifer had come two more times and Ororo climaxed once, though I think
the quality of Ororo's orgasm was significantly better than any of
Jennifer's.

   They both shifted off of me, Jennifer under her own power and Ororo with
help from Kara.  Before Kara mounted me, I had a glimpse of Kitty
half-hidden in the doorway, with a hand down her sweatpants, rubbing
herself furiously.

   Kara moved up and settled herself down my penis, then leaned down and
kissed me.  As her hips started moving, her tongue began working to clean
Jennifer's juices from my face.  This time, I was better able to bounce my
hips to match Kara's hip movements, so I started working toward my own
orgasm.

   Kara beat me there, her pussy gripping my cock tightly after only a few
minutes of riding me.  Given the group situation, she did the polite thing
and dismounted to make room for someone else.

   I held up my hand to wave off whoever was next and crawled off the bed.
Kitty saw me coming, but she had some kind of deer-in-the-headlights
expression and stood frozen.

   I pulled her hand out of her waistband and asked, "Would you like to
join us?"

   Then before she could respond, I put her fingers in my mouth and began
sucking them clean.  The intimate contact apparently set her implants off
like nothing else, and she collapsed against the doorframe, her eyes
squeezed shut.

   I bent down and scooped her up, carrying her to bed where I laid her
down.  Other hands joined me as I stripped off her sweatpants, t-shirt and
bikini, some of them taking advantage of the opportunity to stroke the
young body in front of them.

   Unlike the other fucks in this encounter, this time I was on top.  The
brief break between women had taken a bit of the edge off, so I was able to
last long enough to give Kitty a couple orgasms before I emptied my balls
into her.

   When I pulled myself out of her, I discovered that the others wanted a
second round as Kara and Jennifer gave me their oral attentions.  Once I
was hard again, Jennifer made it clear that she was going to claim my cock
first this time, especially because she had only been able to use my tongue
the first time.

   I spent the next 30 or 40 minutes going from woman to woman until I
finally emptied myself for a second time that afternoon, this time into
Jennifer.

   Not even my shower was large enough for five people, but we were able to
wash ourselves off in two groups.  And I was able to put in another two and
a half hours at work before the day was out.

   Kitty acted a bit strange around the others for a couple days until she
realized that it didn't really change her relationship much with the
others. Thinking about it, if she ever had a solo encounter with any of
them, it might change things, but since I had been the focus of our
mini-orgy, it really hadn't invited any of the other women into her bed for
future encounters.  The kicker was that I knew that somewhere buried in her
libido and subconscious, she actually wanted some female-only encounters,
she just wouldn't admit it to herself.  Yet.

   * * * * *

   A few days later, Linda spent the night at the cabin, waiting for Diana
and company to return.  She was ready to spend all the next day there as
well, but instead she woke up to find Diana, Zatanna and a pretty redhead
with glasses all sleeping in a pile outside the cabin.

   Barbara's wheelchair hadn't made the 'dimensional leap' with her, but I
had sent a collapsible wheelchair along with Linda just in case.

   (You know, writing this stuff out can occasionally be annoying or
confusing or both.  I often know things from my perspective which the
others don't, but which story should I be telling?  Should I tell the one
the others believe is true and that I act as if I believe?  Or should I
tell the actual behind-the-scenes truth?  I usually try to tell it both
ways, which I often worry might be confusing, so my apologies if I
occasionally seem self-contradictory or write something that sounds
insane.)

   Linda offered the trio fresh clothes and breakfast, which they ate while
they gossiped and caught up.  Even though these versions of Supergirl and
Batgirl didn't have as much shared history, they were still friends.

   I watched a few minutes of their reunion on the security video feed, but
only a few minutes.  Watching and listening to women gossip is not
particularly interesting.  (Yes, I also dislike Sex and the City and The
View.  I don't care if you're a fan.  I'm a guy.  Deal with it.) Besides, I
knew that Alpha would be able to give me a summary of any important topics
of their gossip.

   An hour and a half later, Linda drove them to the AARD building where I
met Barbara Gordon for the first time.

   Barbara (or 'Babs' for short, but don't call her that unless you're her
friend) was a beautiful redhead with hair that came down to her shoulder
blades.  Her upper body had a lean muscular upper body, and behind her
glasses, her eyes were constantly taking in her surroundings.

   When she entered my office and saw me for the first time, I suddenly
became the focus of one of the more intense gazes I've ever come up
against. When I shook her hand, I swear I saw her pupils briefly dilate out
wider than I've ever seen before.

   "Miss Gordon, it's a real pleasure to meet you.  Everyone has been
telling me so much about you."

   "Uh, yes..." She seemed to mentally shake herself awake.  "I mean, yes,
it's a pleasure to...  uhh...  meet you too."

   "It's probably safe to assume that Diana and Zatanna told you
everything, but I hate assuming things, so...  What have they told you?"

   "A lot.  I already knew the basics of what had happened to Power Girl
and Supergirl.  They approached me and explained what you were doing with
nanites, how you were using them to repair bodily damage, including nerve
and spinal damage, and they asked if I would be interested in an
experimental procedure to...  to fix me."

   "Well, it's not all THAT experimental, but yes, that's correct."

   "So you've done this before?"

   "Well, we've used nanites to repair nerve damage before.  And we've used
our technology to repair severed spines before.  However, using nanites to
reconnect a damaged spine without an implant is new.  But don't worry. 
Even if it somehow fails -- and I've been assured that failure is unlikely
-- we still have a proven method of implanting electronic connectors which
can restore your spinal cord to full functionality."

   "That's very reassuring," Barbara said without smiling.  "How safe is
it?"

   "Alpha and her nanites are a thousand times safer than any human surgeon
can possibly be."

   "Alpha is your A.I.?"

   "Right.  Would you like to meet her?"

   "Absolutely."

   "Alpha, say hello."

   The camera by my monitor moved and focused on Barbara, while the
speakers said, "Welcome, Barbara Gordon.  I hope we can make your stay here
a pleasant one."

   "Thank you...  Alpha.  Always nice to meet a friendly computer."

   "The pleasure is all mine," she said perfunctorily.

   "We also have a few android bodies that Alpha uses," I continued.  "If
anything during your surgery needs something more than the nanites can
provide, the Alphadroids will be handling it."

   "So Alpha is a doctor?"

   "She's much more than just a doctor, but if you're asking about a
medical degree, then no.  Alpha is a secret.  So are the nanites.  For that
matter, so are your origins and identities as Batgirl and Oracle.  And
Barbara Gordon."

   "Why are your computer and nanites secret?  And why can't I use my
name?"

   We spent a few minutes discussing our reasons.  I'm not sure we
convinced Barbara of the correctness of our arguments, but she agreed to go
along with it.  The conversation also evolved into a discussion of why her
identity was too risky to use.  We didn't have any comics on hand, so Alpha
pulled up Batgirl's wikipedia page, as well as the IMDB list of Batman
movies.

   Eventually we worked around to questions of when and how long her
recovery would take.

   "How quickly we do the surgery is not important to me," Alpha explained.
"I am ready to do it now, or we can wait a few weeks if you prefer to
acclimate to your new environment.  I can only speculate as to your
required recovery time.  Some sensations should return very quickly, though
reconditioning your motor control and muscle strength may take weeks or
months to return to normal strength and mobility."

   "In that case, I'd like to do the surgery sooner rather than later, but
even so, I'd really like a demonstration first and a chance to examine your
technology for myself."

   "Of course," I said.  "I'd prefer not to maim an animal just to show you
how the nanites work, but I'm sure Alpha can work up a demonstration of
some sort.  Would you like a tour of the building first?"

   "Sure, that sounds good," she said, unlocking her wheel brakes.  She
pulled on some fingerless gloves which she used to protect her hands as she
rolled her way out of the office.



   Barbara spent most of the day in one of our nanite labs, talking with
Alpha and working through the nanite's capabilities.  I stopped by a couple
times to check up on them, but my presence was too distracting for her, a
rare occasion when I wished I could turn off a new woman's implants for a
while.  She needed to learn to trust Alpha and our tech, so I limited my
time with her.

   I drove her home that evening, just the two of us, so that we would have
a chance to talk.

   "So, Miss Gordon, how do you like Alpha?"

   "She's very intelligent without seeming overly...  power mad or... 
what's a nice way to put it...  too certain that her own viewpoint is
unarguably correct.  I'm actually very impressed.  Your tech here is... 
well, it's a decade or more behind what we have in my universe in a number
of different fields, but you've been working to apply what you have
amazingly well.  I'd be interested to see what you could do in my world."

   "Well, as far as we can tell, a lot of the variations between our worlds
are due to differences in underlying physical laws, meaning that a lot of
your technology simply won't work here.  Conversely, there might be some
tech here that won't work in your world, but it seems like our stuff
probably should work fine there.  It's possible our laws of physics are a
subset of yours."

   "I understand...  well, not the minutia of physics and quantum mechanics
that might be different, but I understand that such differences appear to
exist.  What I mean is that, well, for example, we've had nanites for
years...  nanites which are far in advance of what you have here.  Yet even
with our more advanced nanites, we've done very little with them for the
public as a whole.  Even though you're keeping some of your technology a
secret -- which may or may not be the best thing to do -- you're using the
knowledge to build more advanced medical and surgical equipment."

   I suppressed a smile as I responded, "From what I've seen from my
somewhat limited perspective, when someone in your world makes a
significant scientific discovery, they're somewhat likely to use that
knowledge to become a superhero.  Or villain."

   She barked out a short laugh.  "I can't entirely disagree with you.  If
even half of the geniuses we have locked up would just apply their skills
for the benefit of others, we'd be living in a paradise."

   "At any rate," I said, trying to steer the conversation back to more
immediate matters, "I understand that someone in your...  line of work...
can have difficulty when it comes to trusting strangers, so I'm leaving it
up to you as to when or if you want to have any surgery..."

   "Oh, the surgery is tomorrow morning," she said, interrupting me.

   "That soon?"

   "I only have six months here, and I want to be as recovered as possible
by the time I head back home."

   "Sounds great to me!"

   "Me too.  I...  I'm taking a lot of this on faith, which as you pointed
out, goes against my nature.  But I trust Diana and the others, especially
since she and Zatanna have been hopping back and forth fairly regularly for
the past year or two."

   The varying passage of time between the real world and the DC Universe
has been discussed in previous chapters, but basically, Zatanna believed
she was able to leave her home at, for example, noon on January 1st and
come to my world.  She could then spend six months or more here and return
home at noon on January 8th.  She could then spend months or more back
home, after which she could return here after having been absent from my
world for only a week.

   Basically, time moved forward with every dimensional jump, but it did
not have to move forward at an equivalent speed, though only recently did
we allow her to believe she had such dimensional travel completely under
control.  She now believed she could turn a week in one world into roughly
six months in the other, which could give her up to a year's worth of
subjective experiences in as little as two weeks, if you shifted your
relative perspective around.

   Given the weird movement of time in comic books -- where six months of
published stories can take up less than a day or over a year of comic book
time -- it actually worked out fairly well.

   "We can help you out in other respects too.  For example, if you'd like,
we can do away with your need for glasses..."

   "Yes, Alpha mentioned that.  I'm okay with that in theory, but let's
just limit ourselves to one thing at a time.  Besides, if you can fix eyes
like that, why does your Project Coordinator still wear glasses?"

   "Daria...  ummm...  Glasses are part of her...  her image...  her
personality.  We have actually greatly improved her vision from where it
used to be, but she specifically asked us not to fix it all the way."

   (For anyone who's curious, there's an entire episode of Daria which
deals with the issue, where she grapples with the idea of contact lenses
and whether or not getting them means that she's vain.  It may sound
boring, but it was a pretty good episode with a few good laughs included.)

   As I pulled up to our house, the automatic gates opening for us, I said,
"Here we are, home, sweet home.  Welcome to...  well, actually, we never
really named it, not like Wayne Manor or anything.  Welcome to my home."



   We didn't really have a proper, wheelchair-accessible van, so I helped
her move from the passenger seat to her chair after we parked.  I'm pretty
sure that under normal circumstances, she absolutely would have waved me
off and pulled herself over, but I'm also pretty sure that those implants
in her skull made the idea of me touching her an almost irresistible
temptation.  That supposition was supported by her fiery blush as I lowered
her down.  (And all this was brain-only stimulus, since everything below
her waist was numb.)

   I apologized for the lack of proper equipment for her, but continued
with, "Although we do have a chair-lift system we just installed on the
stairs leading up to the second floor, I'm looking forward to tearing it
out again once you're up and walking in a couple weeks."

   "Huh," she grunted, pausing in her efforts to strap herself in.  "I... I
guess it hasn't really hit me, not until now.  It's just been a
technological problem to consider, but you're right.  I'm going to be
walking again soon."

   "Walking, then climbing stairs, jogging, running and leaping," I agreed.
"Swimming too, once it gets warm enough.  Heck, you'll be kickboxing if you
want."

   "I'm going to be walking," she repeated, her eyes glazing over.

   Finally, she shook herself and finished strapped down her legs.  I led
her to the front door ramp -- we had always had a ramp leading up to the
front door from the side -- and into the house while our car drove itself
to the garage.



   She was welcomed fairly warmly into the household, though I think a few
of the women didn't know how to treat her because of her wheelchair.  I
could almost see the thoughts going through their minds: Would it be
insulting to offer to help her move around, or would it be rude not to
offer?

   At dinner...  you know, I've never really mentioned it before, but our
dining room had two very large tables, each of which could comfortably sit
up to ten people, though it was rare that we all ate at the same time. 
Anyway, at dinner that evening, I officially presented Barbara to the rest
of the household, explaining that she would be staying with us for about
six months so that Alpha could repair her spine and she could get into
shape before going home.

   Barbara seemed slightly overwhelmed by the large number of pretty women
living here, but she recovered and knew everyone by name by the end of the
evening.

   I also made a point of asking her in front of everyone else whether she
would prefer us to offer her any help moving around or not.

   Barbara smiled and said, "Actually, I appreciate that you came right out
and asked, so let me clear this up: I am perfectly capable of doing things
myself.  I don't need people hovering over me just in case I need a hand.
Unless I have to manually go up or down stairs or get something off a high
shelf...  those are huge pains to do alone, and in those two particular
cases, I'd welcome any help you can offer."

   "Would you like me to ask an Alphadroid to be your assistant?"

   "Actually...  that might be pretty helpful on occasion.  Are they all in
contact with Alpha herself?"

   "The Alphadroids can be Alpha platforms, so if you'd prefer, it could be
an actual copy of Alpha."

   "Oh.  Well, sure.  I don't think I'd need one full time, but it would
make some things a lot easier."

   I didn't know her well enough to be certain, but I'm pretty sure Barbara
was planning something or at least had something specific in mind.

   "We normally only keep Dorothy here at the house, but we'll bring
another one home tomorrow.  For tonight, I'll ask Dorothy if she's willing
to be your assistant."

   Although I wasn't always successful at it, I tried to avoid giving
orders to Alphadroids or Alpha when I'm around other people.  Heck, I try
not to do it when we're alone, but knowing that Alpha is programmed to
follow my orders makes it difficult to remember to ask.

   Barbara's eyebrows went up when Dorothy was introduced to her a moment
later, which wasn't too surprising given that she was the only Alphadroid
designed to look human.

   Alpha told me later that Barbara quizzed her about her appearance that
evening, even going so far as to ask whether or not she was anatomically
correct.  I had Alpha play me the video of her reaction upon seeing
Dorothy's smooth crotch plate because seeing that often induces interesting
facial expressions.  (For any readers who are unaware or have forgotten,
Dorothy has an interchangeable crotch plate, with one for sex and a smooth,
sexless version for normal use.)



   The next morning saw the largest group we've ever had cram into the AARD
nanopod lab...  until I chased nearly all of them out after I saw how
nervous they were making Barbara.  I let Linda, Diana, Zatanna and Kara
remain, along with a couple Alphadroids.

   Then while Barbara was stripping down to a borrowed bikini, Kara excused
herself, saying she had work to do and asked us to tell her how things
went.

   From our perspective, it really wasn't all that exciting.  Barbara
elected to remain conscious while the nanites worked, and Alpha gave us
regular updates and displayed data on the screens as she got it.

   We had built Barbara's body so that she had actual scars where the
theoretical bullet had blown through her lower torso, but her spinal cord
itself had been grown with no scarring to make this project easier.

   After about an hour and a half, Alpha announced that she was withdrawing
the nanites.

   Alpha continued, "I do not know how quickly you will regain control or
sensation, but we will begin testing as soon as you have cleaned up."

   A lot of this was for the sake of dramatic tension and to cover up the
fact that Alpha already knew Barbara's body inside and out.  For example,
Alpha could very well have used the nanites to test the spine and nervous
systems, tweaking it until it was working right away, but...  BUT... 
Barbara was supposed to have a badly scarred break in her spine and have
spent years with no feeling or control of her body below the waist.  A
reconnected spine is supposed to take time to reestablish that
communication and control, so we played our parts and let the reconnected
spine reestablish proper nerve signals by itself.

   Even so, we knew Barbara would still heal up much faster than she would
have had the damage been old, but there was no basis for comparison... 
however long it took would be the only data point for nanite-repaired
spines and should therefore raise no suspicions.

   Linda and the others helped Barbara to an emergency shower station -- I
really needed to get around to having an actual shower stall with hot water
built here sometime -- to clean up.

   Once she was dry and partially redressed, an Alphadroid started checking
her legs and feet for sensations.  Barbara watched every prick and touch,
shaking her head slightly with each attempt.

   One of the other Alphadroids and I were the only ones in a position to
see it when it happened, and I let out a little gasp, getting caught up in
the moment.  Everyone turned their heads to look at me.

   I looked at Barbara and said quietly, "You just moved your big right
toe."

   The Alphadroid playing doctor moved back so she had a good view of her
right foot and we all watched as the big toe on her right foot twitched
again.

   "That's a good sign, right?" I asked.

   "Yes, that is a very good sign," replied Alpha.

   Poking the toe produced no sensation, but she could...  maybe 'move' is
a bit strong...  she could make the toe jerk up and down maybe a quarter of
an inch at will.  With that one little motion, the surgery was declared a
success.



   I cornered Kara after lunch for a conversation.

   "So, Kara, I notice you've been a bit quiet recently.  Some might even
say standoffish."

   "Maybe a little."

   "Is something wrong?

   "Nothing's wrong."

   "Don't you get along with Barbara?"

   "Well...  not especially," she said, not meeting my eyes.

   "Why?  What happened?"

   "I don't really want to get into the details.  Let's just say that
before she got the idea for her little group, she recruited me for a
mission and things didn't go well."

   "What happened?"

   "Maybe I'll tell you about it some other time, but for now I'd just like
to leave it at that.  I went along with bringing her here because I agree
that despite what happened, she didn't deserve to be shot and paralyzed. 
None of that means I have to like her."

   "You're pretty much second-in-command for the household, and the company
for that matter."

   "Third, really.  Remember Alpha."

   "I like to think of Alpha and myself as being co...  'rulers' doesn't
sound right...  'executives' maybe?  Which makes you number...  ummm... 
second-in-command."

   "Good save."

   "Anyway, the point is that I can't have you holding grudges against our
guests."

   "It's okay.  I'm being extra nice to her.  Besides, it's not like she's
planning to stay forever, right?"

   "No, she is not." Which was absolutely true.  Batgirl was not planning
to stay forever, so we'd have to break the news about the upcoming DC
reboot slowly...  carefully.

   Barbara Gordon and Karen Starr had a varied past relationship in comics.
Since the current version of Supergirl came along after Barbara had become
Oracle, the classic adventures of Batgirl and Supergirl had been rewritten
to be the adventures of Batgirl and Power Girl...  but the idea never
really caught on and we had left it out of Karen and Barbara's memories. 
(Actually, I'm trusting wikipedia on that point since I've never read the
issues where that revised history is mentioned...  or at least I don't
remember it in the slightest.) Instead they had one really bad mission
together post-Batgirl that kept Karen from being willing to work with the
Birds of Prey, Barbara's personal superhero team, ever again.

   If truth be told, no one was really at fault.  Power Girl was at reduced
strength at the time due to a vampire attack or something.  Maybe Oracle
should have sent along some backup too, but it was mainly Power Girl's
inability to be in two or three places at once that led to the deaths of
many people, including the woman Oracle had sent her to protect.  The story
is in Birds of Prey #42, I think.

   Both of them had felt guilty, but Power Girl had felt it much more
intensely and had lashed out, blaming Oracle's planning for the failure. 
And, in a weird way, she had blamed Oracle for having faith that she could
handle the situation.

   Not that I let Kara know that I already knew the story.  If and when she
was willing to tell me, she'd tell me.



   That afternoon, Diana and I took Barbara shopping for clothes.  It was
probably the least exciting shopping trip I had been on.  I'm used to my
new women getting off on modeling their clothes for me, but Barbara's
situation -- both her wheelchaired status and her virtually dead lady parts
-- meant that while she was attracted to me, it was far less intense than
it normally would have been.

   We got her a variety of clothes and sundry supplies, with a promise to
come back for a more expanded wardrobe once she was walking again.



   By that evening, Barbara could control the toe enough to cause actual
pressure (as opposed to just minor twitches) and could make the other toes
on that foot curl and uncurl a little bit at will.

   A week after her surgery, she could move all muscle groups below her
waist to one degree or another and had roughly 15% normal feeling.

   Ten days after her surgery, she stood unaided for nearly thirty seconds.

   Fourteen days after her surgery, she...  ummm...  her sensitivity was
80% or better, which included many body parts which had been completely
dead for years, which means she got really...  horny.

   I was expecting it to happen sooner or later.  It was part of the plan.
Her lady parts regain sensation, her implants are directing her lust, and
besides, I'm the only man readily available.

   I don't know how it works with normal people when they regain such
long-lost feelings.  With Barbara, her handicapped condition prevented any
sensations at all from her sexual organs.  She could still love, and
theoretically I think she could even have become pregnant and taken a child
up to birth, though I think a caesarian probably would have been required.

   Her life in a wheelchair had not been devoid of love.  I'm sure she
dated -- most notably Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing -- and even had sex. 
Maybe she even lied to her lovers occasionally, telling them that she could
still receive sexual pleasure from fucking.  Or perhaps she limited herself
to giving out blowjobs and letting them play with her breasts.  I could ask
Alpha, I suppose, but I generally don't have a lot of interest in my
women's previous lovers, fictional or not.

   * * * * *

   The way this next particular scenario played out began the night of the
twoweek anniversary of Barbara's surgery.

   Barbara had requested that Dorothy be her assigned assistant rather than
a different, faceless Alphadroid.  She had even taken the time to watch
part of season one of Big O, the anime from which we took Dorothy's design
and personality.  (I'd like to take credit for that because I described Big
O to her as "an anime version of Batman", which I sometimes say as a joke,
though my parallels between the two are valid: Handsome, rich playboy who
likes wearing black.  Older, loyal butler privy to playboy's secret life
and possessing many hidden talents.  Batman-esque gadgetry, including a
tricked-out black car.  Puts on a special "outfit" to protect the city when
danger threatens.  Good friends with local police chief.  Even has an
underground lair to house his secrets.  All of which served to put R. 
Dorothy Waynewright into the role of Robin, or since she's female, perhaps
into the role of Batgirl.)

   Anyway, all of that is simply to explain why Dorothy was with Barbara
that evening.

   "Barbara," Dorothy said as she helped her charge get ready for bed, "you
appear to be very distracted this evening.  Is there anything I can to help
you?"



   "No, I'm fine.  I'm done for the night, so you can go."

   Dorothy started to leave, when Barbara apparently changed her mind.

   "Wait a minute." Dorothy obediently paused as Barbara continued.  "You
know a lot what goes on in this house right?"

   "I know almost everything that goes on here."

   "Diana and Zatanna hinted and implied a few things back when they first
suggested I come here, and...  well, I have eyes.  Is Frank sleeping with
every woman in the house?  Every woman except me, I mean?"

   "Yes."

   "So they're like his harem?"

   "That is one way to describe the situation.  Are you asking if Frank is
a louse?"

   Barbara laughed at the Big O reference.  "Kind of."

   "It would be more accurate to say that the women of the household have
agreed to share Frank with each other."

   "They share him?"

   "Yes.  They work out a schedule so that Frank is shared evenly among
them, more or less.  Although only one woman is generally allowed to
reserve him for any given night, she is allowed to invite others to join
her, a courtesy that is usually expected to be reciprocated when the other
women have their nights."

   "And everyone is okay with this...  arrangement?"

   "Yes.  Also many of the women have formed close attachments to others in
the household.  Overall, everyone here has formed a strong family-like
bond. While these may constitute additional reasons to remain, I believe
that at the root of things, none of them wish to risk losing Frank."
Dorothy paused briefly.

   "May I ask a question?"

   Barbara cocked her head slightly.  "Certainly."

   "You are an intelligent and perceptive individual with training as a
detective.  None of this should be new information to you, so why are you
asking?"

   "I just...  It's because...  Yes, I already knew, I just...  this is
kind of personal."

   "Are you interested in asking Frank to become your lover?"

   "NO!  I mean...  maybe...  I don't know...  I'm just a little...  you
know...  at the moment..."

   "Have your vagina and clitoris regained enough sensitivity to require
testing?"

   "That's one way to put it.  And no, they're already been tested.  I've
done a lot of thorough testing over the past two nights.  The trouble is,
it's all been solo testing."

   "If Frank is not to your liking, some of the women in residence would
probably be willing to have sex with you.  Although your comic book
character appears to be heterosexual, I have noticed that a number of women
are open to bi-sexual experiences."

   "I experimented some in college, and it was...  it was just fine, but
I'm not going to...  just come right out and...  you know..."

   "If you would prefer, I can borrow a dildo from one of the other
household women..."

   "NO!  I...  I'm fine like it is."

   "Alternately, although my tongue is solely decorative, my fingers are
capable of sensitive manipulation so I can offer to aid in your
masturbatory release."

   Barbara sighed.  "Sometimes I forget that you're a robot.  No, thank you
for the offer, but no."

   "Thank you for not saying 'just a robot'," Dorothy said.

   "What?"

   "You just said, 'Sometimes I forget that you're a robot.'" Instead of
quoting, she played back Barbara's own voice, then continued, "I think that
most humans would have said, 'just a robot,' and I thank you for not saying
that.  I know that you do not trust me because I am not human, and that
part of the reason you agreed to keep an Alphadroid assistant was to
explore the boundaries of my programming and to keep an eye on me.  But you
have always respected what and who I am, and for that, I thank you."

   Barbara was quiet for a moment, not certain how to respond.  Finally,
she said, "You're welcome.  I try not to think of people as 'just'
anything. And it's not that I don't trust you because you're not human, I
don't trust anyone very much.  You just have a greater potential for
trouble than most if your programming goes offtrack." She paused for a
couple seconds before continuing.

   "Does Frank do anything to denigrate you because you're not human?  Does
he treat you like a background servant or something?"

   "He is in almost constant contact with my host system and often goes out
of his way to avoid treating me as a servant.  However, if you are
referring this specific Dorothy platform, then sometimes yes.  He does
occasionally treat it as part of the background, though I believe this is
his favorite Alphadroid platform."

   If I may interject a comment, listening to this part of their
conversation gave me some definite stabs of guilt and recrimination.  I go
out of my way to treat Beta, Gamma, Delta and Eiko as individuals, but
Dorothy was absolutely correct.  I tended to treat the Alphadroids as
interchangeable mobile platforms.  It was definitely a bit of subconscious
bias on my part, and I resolved to do better in the future.

   Both Barbara and Dorothy were quiet for over a minute until Dorothy
broke the silence.

   "If you wish, I can discreetly order a set of vibrators and dildos for
you.  Or if you are attracted to Frank or one of the other women, I can
quietly make a few inquiries on your behalf."

   "I...  thank you very much for the offer.  I think...  I think I need to
talk to people on my own rather than send a proxy."

   "Certainly.  Frank is generally very accommodating and open to household
residents.  Also, Jane is the one who maintains the actual schedule if you
should wish to speak to someone about it.  I would also expect most of the
other residents, especially your friends, to be willing to adjust their own
schedules if you express an interest."

   "Thank you.  I appreciate the information.  Good night, Dorothy."

   "Good night, Barbara."

   Just before Dorothy reached the door, Barbara called out quietly. 
"Dorothy?  If you can place that order so that no one else knows about
it...?"

   "I will be the soul of discretion."



   The following night saw one of the stranger bonding experiences my house
has witnessed.

   Barbara had asked Dorothy to stop by her room after she retired for the
evening.  She arrived while Barbara was in the shower and waited patiently
until she emerged, wrapped in a towel, hobbling along with help from a
four-legged folding walker.

   "Good evening, Barbara."

   "Hey there, Dorothy."

   "Your package was shipped today using overnight shipping and is on-track
to arrive here tomorrow."

   "Good.  Thank you," she said as she sat down on her bed.  "Hey, I didn't
have to use the walker or anything to stand up in the shower tonight.  I'm
halfway exhausted, but I did it!"

   "Congratulations.  You have been growing steadily stronger.  However,
for safety's sake, you should either bathe or use some kind of support when
showering to prevent the possibility of falling."

   "I'll be fine.  Besides, there are a couple handholds on the wall."

   "Which may not be strong enough to hold your weight in an emergency."

   Barbara sighed and patted the bed next to her.  "Why don't you sit down
for a few minutes?"

   "I have no need to sit."

   "I wasn't saying you needed to, I was making a friendly social
invitation as a precursor to conversation."

   "I am sorry.  I will be happy to sit with you," said Dorothy, and she
walked to the bed and sat down next to the redhead, the bed dipping
noticeably under Dorothy's heavier mass.

   "I've been thinking about our conversations over the past few weeks, and
I wanted to ask you a question."

   "Yes?"

   "Are you in love with Frank?"

   "I..." Dorothy paused for a second, which was VERY unusual for any
version of Alpha.  "I do not possess human emotions.  The most I can say is
that I care for Frank's well-being."

   "Maybe you don't possess normal human emotions, but that doesn't mean
you don't possess ANY emotions."

   "If I have any kind of emotions, they have not been identified or
quantified."

   "I don't think that emotions can be..." Barbara paused and gave a little
laugh.  "Well, maybe whatever emotions you have, if you have them, could be
quantified.  The point is, I think it is likely that you do have emotions,
whether they're versions of human emotions or some as-yet-undefined
computer-only types of emotions."

   "I will consider this.  Have you given any thought to whether or not you
wish to take a lover?"

   "Way to change the subject there, Dorothy.  As it happens, yes, I've
decided.  Frank is attractive and appears to be fully suited to be a
bedmate.  I was actually leading up to this.  If I can work this all out...
convince Jane and Kara and whoever to let me make a play for him...  if
he's...  amenable...  to my advances...  if all of this works out, I was
wondering if you'd like to join us."

   "Join you?"

   "You know...  in bed.  With Frank.  It might give you a chance to
explore possible feelings for him."

   "I could at best help you or be an observer.  Remember, I am sexually
nonfunctional."

   "I was thinking about that.  Show me your crotch again."

   A human might have been offended or at least nonplussed, but Dorothy
simply raised her skirts, revealing her smooth, Barbie-doll-like crotch.

   "Yeah, I thought I remembered seeing these." She reached down to touch
seams in Dorothy's rubbery fake flesh.  There were connecting seams that
ran all over her frame, but the ones Barbara was tracing were the ones that
outlined Dorothy's pubic and vaginal region...  well, what would be her
pubic and vaginal region if Dorothy had possessed the relevant body parts.

   "If this is removable, we might be able to fit an artificial vagina into
you.  I don't know if there's any way to give you actual feeling or
pleasure from it, but we'd at least be able to work something out so that
you could connect with Frank.  Physically, I mean.  If you're interested,
that is."

   Watching their encounter the next morning, I actually paused my playback
of their encounter at that point to consider and reflect for a moment. 
Dorothy already had a interchangeable vaginal crotchplate, though I rarely
used it.  Fucking an actual robot is...  well, it's not bad or anything,
it's just not all it's cracked up to be.  It's more like masturbating with
a life-size doll.  The novelty wears off quickly, and I think I've used it
a grand total of three times.  Trust me, making love to a real woman is
much, MUCH better.

   So Barbara's proposed add-on already existed, we just kept it hidden
from everyone else.  If I let other people know about it, it would
immediately color their views of me and Dorothy.

   Now Barbara wanted to bring it out into the open.  If she was the one
proposing it, for whatever reason, it would be viewed differently than if I
did so, but still...

   I restarted the playback.

   "Why have you suggested this?"

   "Well, I just...  All right, let me put it this way: While it is likely
true that you would receive no physical pleasure from it, sex can create or
enhance an emotional bond for both participants.  It might also help Frank
to see you more as a person than a mobile computer.  Plus it should give
Frank physical pleasure, which probably lines up with your preexisting
directives, right?"

   "Yes.  You should be made aware that I have already built an
interchangeable crotchplate with an artificial vagina."

   Barbara stopped her examination and sat back, looking at Dorothy.

   "Really?  Did Frank have you build it?"

   "I have full authority to build any accessories or upgrades I wish for
any of my platforms.  Frank's only request has been that any purchase over
$100,000 be made only after consulting with each other."

   "So...  why did you build it?"

   "In case Frank wished to use this platform for sex.  I was built to look
much more human than any of my other platforms, and I have seen a large
number of images and read a large number of stories where humans become
sexually involved with robots."

   "That's really...  sweet...  I guess.  Speaking of which, I did have an
ulterior motive for asking you sit down.  Masturbation has never been very
satisfying for me, even before I was shot.  I was thinking about your offer
last night.  As long as you can keep it completely private, just between
the two of us, I was wondering..."

   Dorothy interrupted her.  "If Frank asks, I cannot lie to him or hide
anything from him."

   "Okay...  but he's probably not going to be very likely to ask, so as
long as you don't volunteer the information..."

   "That is acceptable.  Would you like me to aid you in releasing your
sexual tension?"

   I'm pretty sure Barbara was blushing a bit as she said, "Yes, I would."

   "Are there any scenarios you would like to act out?"

   "No, but there is one thing I would like to do first, if I may."

   She leaned over and kissed Dorothy gently on the lips.  Dorothy's lips
aren't very dextrous, but they can move a bit.  She did her best to kiss
back and gently put her arms around Barbara.

   Barbara pulled back and said in a calm, clear voice, "Thank you,
Dorothy. That was a meaningful act of friendship and intimacy for me."

   "I will so note it.  Thank you, Barbara, my friend."

   Dorothy took the initiative then, pulling off Barbara's towel and gently
pushing her back so that she lay flat on the bed.  Her fingers are small,
very dextrous and capable of very fine manipulation.  With them, she began
playing with Barbara's breasts with one hand and gently rubbing her vaginal
lips with the other.

   Barbara sighed, relaxing and bringing her own hands up to cup her
breasts, holding them in place as Dorothy began rubbing and gently twisting
her nipples.  Lower down, moisture began gathering, coating Dorothy's
fingers, allowing her to begin dipping down inside a little.  After a
minute of that, Dorothy apparently judged that her fingers were
sufficiently coated to be able to stroke Barbara's clit safely, because
that's exactly what she started to do, causing Barbara to hiss with
pleasure and close her eyes.

   She came less than two minutes later, but Dorothy continued her
attentions for another fifteen minutes until Barbara had come twice more
and finally asked Dorothy to stop.

   "That was very nice.  Thank you," she said, stroking Dorothy's cheek. 
"So, you'll join me with Frank?"

   "Yes.  Thank you for this experience.  I will save the memory in a
highsecurity back-up."

   "So, what other accessories have you built?"

   "For sexual congress?  I have removable nipples and three other wigs.  I
have designs for a useable tongue but have never built it."

   "Anything else?  For things other than sex?"

   "I have built fifty-two other accessories or replacement parts for this
platform for purposes such as construction, defense and surgery."

   "Defense?  What kind of defense accessories?"

   "I have hands with built-in tasers, a wireless, shoulder-mounted
multiple turret dart gun and other non-lethal weaponry."

   "I feel like I should be freaking out a bit, but as long as it's all
nonlethal...  I'm probably still a little blissed-out at the moment.  I
think I'd like to just go to sleep.  How about you clean your hands and
turn off the lights?"

   "Very well.  As an addendum to your plans for sleeping with Frank, you
should shave your vaginal lips before doing so."

   Barbara looked as though she never shaved or trimmed her pubic hair...
and why would she have done so?  Even as Batgirl, her costume revealed less
flesh than almost any other female costume out there.

   "Why?" she asked, waking up from her post-orgasm torpor a bit.

   "Because Frank enjoys cunnilingus and prefers shaved lips."

   "And how do you know that?"

   "My parent system hears a large majority of all conversations which
occur in this house.  I will be happy to aid you in shaving, if you would
like."

   "Cunnilingus, huh?  Well, it has been a very long time since anyone has
eaten me out.  Sure, I'll trim it down.  I guess I need to do my legs and
pits too.  And no, thank you.  I think I'd like to try to do it on my own.
If I have problems, I'll holler."

   After watching that interplay, I turned off the video and considered the
situation for a few minutes.

   First, of course, I was absolutely willing to have a threesome with
Barbara and Dorothy.  The way this had worked out, Dorothy could become an
openly acknowledged bed partner in the household without it looking like I
was building robots for sex.  And although having sex with robots is
absolutely nowhere near as fun as doing it with living women, I was curious
to try her out in a threesome.

   Second, this entire exchange seemed odd for Barbara.  True, I didn't
know her as well as I knew the other household residents, but I knew how
her mind worked in general.  She doesn't trust people that quickly. 
Bonding and having sex with a robot?  Encouraging a robot to have sex with
me?  There had to be some ulterior motives or manipulations involved.

   I didn't think it was as coldly calculating as trying to ingratiate
herself into a friendship with Alpha to use her or keep a close eye on her,
though that may have been part of it.  Maybe she saw Alpha as a potential
threat and was trying to create close, personal bonds to keep Alpha from
going rogue?  Was there some story I had forgotten where Batgirl became
close friends with an AI, then it was destroyed, so she was now trying to
make up for that loss?  Perhaps she empathized with Dorothy/Alpha in some
subconscious way and was trying to help her be happy?

   Still, that was all speculation.  We might be able to determine the
truth if we did a full brain and memory scan of Barbara in a nanopod, but I
was hesitant to do so for Alpha's sake.  If Barbara really was honestly
becoming Alpha's friend and lover, it would be a significant milestone in
Alpha's life.  If that was the case, doing such a scan might taint the
situation with distrust.

   On the other hand, if Barbara was just being manipulative, revealing
that would...  well, I didn't know how Alpha would react.  I honestly
didn't know how developed her emotions were, or even if she had any.  Alpha
was so good at emulating emotional responses that I was no longer certain
whether or not they were all just emulated.  If she did indeed have some
kind of real emotions, I didn't want to risk traumatizing her.

   That's not to say that we were going to just completely trust Barbara,
but neither was I willing to subject her to a deep scan just to see.

   * * * * *

   I know Barbara approached some of the women over the next couple days,
getting permission, working out schedules and such.  I'm pretty sure Kara
wasn't happy with the situation, but my talk with her about her
responsibilities as a household leader apparently helped keep her
level-headed.

   Two evenings after Barbara had her intimate liaison with Dorothy, she
approached me and asked me to take her on another shopping trip the next
day so she could pick up a few different pairs of shoes and maybe a nice
dress.

   So the next morning, I think it was a Monday, I took her to visit a few
different department and specialty stores.

   Barbara had been really pushing herself physically and at that time was
able to get by with two forearm crutches.  She could actually walk without
them, but doing so would tire her out too quickly.  The crutches let her
last a couple hours before she had to rest.

   This time our shopping trip was much more like what I have come to
expect, with generous displays of flesh and much playful flirting.  In
addition to the shoes (and dear god, women's shoes can get expensive), she
surprised me by modeling and buying a few different bikinis.  Don't
misunderstand; she didn't pick out slutty or flashy clothes.  She was a
classy dresser (though I'll admit I am fashion-impaired so any
fashion-related statements I may make should be viewed with that knowledge
in mind).

   When she was modeling a very nice-looking red cocktail dress, she asked
me out to dinner, mentioning casually that Jane had said my calendar was
free this coming Friday.

   I replied that I would love to go out to dinner, which was followed by
Barbara hemming and hawing a little before admitting she had no idea which
restaurants in the area were any good, thus passing along the rest of the
date responsibilities to me.



   She continued to regain strength in her legs at a much faster rate than
any normal surgery recipient could possibly expect, to the point where that
Friday, she ambled about with only a single, traditional wooden cane.  (I
later found out that she had rested herself almost all of Friday afternoon
so that she would have the strength to last through the evening with me.)

   She looked very fetching in her little dark red dress.  True, it didn't
look quite right outfit-wise without heels, but there was no way she could
safely walk around in high-heel shoes in her condition.

   We had a very tasty seafood dinner at a fairly expensive restaurant.  I
was a little surprised when she insisted on paying.  Sure, we had set her
up with a couple credit cards, but I think she used Linda's bank card to
pay, though I only had a brief glimpse so I couldn't be certain.

   After dinner, we went to a movie at a rather plush, classically restored
theater.  Had the choice been up to me, I probably would have picked the
animated old western starring a lizard or the aliens attacking Los Angeles
movie.  Since it was a first-date movie, we went with a Philip
Dick-inspired flick about agents of fate conspiring to keep apart a couple
who fell in love at first site.

   It was a fairly decent show, but I found my attention focused more on
the pretty redhead sitting to the right of me.  Usually I'd be working to
seduce her subtly, lightly rubbing the back of her hand, brushing my leg
against hers and occasionally leaning over to whisper a comment in her ear.
This time our situations were reversed somewhat.

   She had me get us a bucket of popcorn and said she didn't want a drink
but that I should get one.  Then we ended up sharing the drink, trading
indirect kisses via the straw.  She had me keep the bucket on my lap and
kept accidentally missing the popcorn and brushing her hand against my leg
and crotch.  And then there was the incident where she leaned over to
whisper a comment in my ear and licked my earlobe.  We held hands
throughout most of the film, and during a couple especially poignant
revelations, she drew my hand to her chest and sighed, making sure I could
feel a hard nipple poking the back of my hand.

   Not that I minded, of course.  Letting yourself be seduced is always
fun.

   We were still a bit touchy-feely when we got back home, and it was
obvious she wanted to spend the night with me, even though neither of us
had said it explicitly.  At least not until we got to the stairs.

   The chair lift was still in place, though it had been a few days since
the last time it had been used.  Barbara felt she was up to the challenge,
and she usually was.  But as we approached the stairs, I saw how heavily
she was leaning on her cane.

   I put my hand gently on her shoulder to stop her.

   "Barbara, I want to carry you upstairs tonight."

   She started to protest, but I cut her off with a kiss.

   Pulling back slightly, I whispered, "You need to save your strength for
what we're going to be doing for the next couple of hours."

   So saying, I swept her up so that one arm was under her knees and the
other was supporting her shoulders and carried her up to my room.

   Dorothy was waiting outside my door, and a cursory glance confirmed that
her normally smooth breasts currently had hard little points sticking out,
slightly tenting the fabric covering her modest chest.

   Playing along as I was supposed to I asked, "Hello, Dorothy.  Is there
anything I can help you with?"

   Barbara quickly spoke up.  "I invited her to join us tonight.  I hope
you don't mind, but I think the experience with be good for her."

   "Okaaayyy..." I said, slowing lowering Barbara's feet to the floor and
reaching for the door.  "How exactly is she going to join in?  She's not...
ummm...  anatomically...  you know..."

   "She's ready for you," Barbara insisted, urging us through the open door
while leaning against the frame.

   Closing the door behind the three of us, she continued, "And Dorothy
goes first."

   I glanced at her with a quizzical expression, leading her to say,
"Everything I've heard about you is that you're almost always able to get
it up at least a couple times a night, right?" I nodded.  "So Dorothy goes
first and I'll go second," she insisted.

   I didn't really stop to think it through right then, as Barbara started
pulling Dorothy's dress over her head, revealing her nipple-topped breasts
and vaginal pubic plate, but her plan had a number of advantages.  First,
it helped cement her friendship with Dorothy/Alpha, and that's not
necessarily a cynical observation implying manipulation.  Second, it would
be much easier for me to get another hard-on anticipating a live,
flesh-and-blood woman when compared to an android who could not orgasm. 
Third, I always lasted longer the second time around, which would give
Barbara a much longer session of lovemaking.

   Playing dumb, I asked Dorothy a few questions about her new add-ons, in
the process discovering that her vagina had been upgraded with our new
pressure sensors.  (We had upgraded our artificial limbs a year ago with
tiny little pressure sensors in the skin which could feed the sensations
back to the attached nervous system.) It still wouldn't give Dorothy any
physical pleasure, but it would let her be much more accurately responsive
over time.

   Although she still didn't have a lifelike tongue, I kissed Dorothy
gently as I entered her, noticing that a still-dressed Barbara was holding
one of her hands as we fucked.  And I would describe it as a "fuck".  As
much as I can make the attempt, it is very hard to make love to an android.
I absolutely loved her and tried to show it, but most of the physical
responses just weren't there.  Still, having Barbara with us made it the
closest to 'making love' that I've ever experienced with Dorothy.

   Having sex with an android is not like having sex with a human.  First,
there's the background whir of servos and motors with each thrust.  The
skin temperature ranges from room temperature to well above 100 F.  The
movements of the arms and legs are precise and measured.  The android body
cannot sweat, and the vaginal pouch has no natural lubricant.  (Dorothy had
obviously pre-lubricated herself with KY Jelly or something similar.)

   But even with all of those unnatural points, Dorothy looked more human
than not.  She was intensely focused on the experience and did not lose her
focus on me, unlike human women who would often withdraw into their own
personal sensory world.  And maybe the emotional connection between us was
not normal, but it was there.

   Barbara did her best to encourage the two of us rather than just insert
herself, but she did take opportunities to kiss each of us and feel both of
us up.  I probably lasted fifteen minutes before coming inside her, having
remained in the Missionary position the entire time.  (Sorry, but playing
with varying positions with an android that weighs two or three times more
than you do is not a good idea.)

   I kissed Dorothy and thanked her for the wonderful experience before
rolling off to the side, letting Barbara move in to kiss her as well.

   "So how was it?" she asked Dorothy.

   "I recorded all data from the sensors in my skin and vaginal pouch.  I
received no physical pleasure from the sensory input, but the experience
was strongly positive.  I plan to replay and analyze the data in detail
later tonight, but now it is your turn, correct?"

   "Yes, I suppose it is."

   They both turned to look at me and my half-hard cock.  I was actually
feeling pretty good right then.  Yes, I had been the one doing most of the
work, sex-wise, but I wasn't overheated with shared body heat or covered
with my partner's sweat.

   "Just give me a minute, and I'll be ready to go," I said grinning.  "In
the meantime, Barbara, why don't you come over here and we'll make out a
bit."

   "You're naked and about to have sex with me," she said with a quirky
smile.  "I think you can start calling me 'Babs'."

   "Sure thing, Beautiful...  uh, Babs.  Com'ere.  Dorothy, there are
condoms in the top drawer of my nightstand.  If you could grab one for me,
I'd appreciate it."

   "Nope, no condom."

   "Are you on the pill or something?"

   "I have an implant that should be good for another year.  Besides, this
is going to be my first real fuck in years.  I don't want a condom.  Even
if I didn't have the implant, I'd probably be willing to risk it."

   "Well, then, I'm glad you don't have to worry about that decision," I
said, pulling her to me.

   Over the next five minutes, I slowly undressed her while we kissed each
other hungrily.  She had pale B-cup breasts that I was sure would show a
lot more freckles if she got more exposure to the sun, but currently only
had a very, very light dusting.  Her upper body was covered with the lean,
tight muscles of a martial artist, but as I worked my way down her body, I
found that her legs were almost stick-thin.

   Before I went after her womanhood, I spent some time paying attention to
her legs, much moreso than I normally would have done with the other women.
I doubt her legs were any kind of fetish or special erogenous zone, but she
voiced no objections.

   When I was finally ready to eat her out, Dorothy helped prop her legs up
so they were draped over my shoulders.  Except for a small 'landing strip,'
Babs had trimmed off all her pubic hair, and I showed my appreciation by
giving her four orgasms through my application of oral efforts.  Admittedly
that's maybe not quite as impressive when you find out that she came twice
within the first two minutes -- apparently she was very excited and on-edge
-- but I was still pleased with her reactions.

   I was also pleased that she had been around long enough to lose that
bland taste that is produced by newly created artificial women.  It's not
that a woman's flavor is a particular favorite of mine -- it's the intimacy
and reactions that I enjoy -- but the tasteless juices tend to take me out
of the moment right when I should be getting into it.

   After her fourth come, I sat up and pumped my cock a little, waiting for
her to come down from the chemical high of orgasm.  When she was able to
refocus on me, seeing me in position, she whispered, "Give it to me." And I
did.

   Her vagina gripped me as tightly as any virgin's might have, and it took
a couple minutes to get myself fully seated inside of her, even with her
copious natural lubrication.  I probably spent at least the first five
minutes just slowly moving in and out until I was certain she could take my
full length without discomfort.

   We didn't get too acrobatic that night, but every time she came, we
shifted positions a bit -- straight missionary, one leg up on my chest, her
on her side with one leg scissored up, doggy style -- until I finally
unloaded into her while she was face and shoulders down, ass up with
Dorothy's fingers providing some extra clitoral stimulation.

   "That was blissful," I said as I withdrew with a slight (squick/slurp)
sound.  "Dorothy, I know you don't sleep, but if you'd like to recharge in
my room tonight, you'd be most welcome."

   "Thank you," she said.  "That would be very acceptable."

   So saying, she reached behind herself and pulled out a power cable from
a compartment with a sliding door in her lower back.  She plugged into a
power strip by the nightstand and lay down on one side of the bed on her
back, still naked.

   "Good night," she said before closing her eyes, making the odd little
imitation of humanity complete.

   Completely in unison, Babs and I automatically replied back, "Good
night."

   We looked at each other, and I shrugged slightly.  I leaned down to give
Babs a good night kiss, then went about my nightly routine of wiping off my
earbud, putting it in the charger and moving to turn off the lights.

   I paused before switching them off and leaned down to give Dorothy a
good night kiss too.  Her eyes popped open, startling me slightly, and one
arm came up to pull me into a gentle hug before releasing me to turn off
the lights and go to bed.  Alpha/Dorothy was...  well, still not human, but
she sometimes did a decent job imitating one.

   * * * * *

   And so Barbara and Dorothy joined my harem.  Dorothy tended to join in
once or twice a month at most, but Babs showed her bi-sexual willingness
the next week when she and Linda double-teamed me.

   We still kept a close eye on our resident detective, but after her
expected 'secret' foray into my basement lab, she seemed to settle in just
fine.  While we maintained the observations, we grew a bit complacent and
missed something important.

   Babs spent almost a third of her free time working on computers,
browsing the web, learning Alpha's self-designed programming language
(which was, in my humble opinion, the most efficient and powerful language
available) and generally poking around.  In doing so, she noticed something
she wasn't supposed to be able to detect.

   One evening, Diana, Zatanna and Babs took a walk together outside, at
Barbara's urging.  By this time, her recovery had progressed far enough
that she could comfortably walk for up to half an hour unaided, though she
usually carried a cane most of the time.

   They left our property and went well out of sight of any of Alpha's
cameras.  About twenty minutes later, they came back and asked me to go
with them so they could show me something interesting.  Now understand that
Diana is not a very good liar, and I could tell something was up.  I
couldn't really tell with Zatanna, who was an excellent liar, and I wasn't
yet familiar enough with Barbara's idiosyncrasies, but Diana was actually a
bit nervous.

   I was briefly a bit worried about leaving with them when they were being
so mysterious, but I was too curious not to go.

   Alpha was a little curious but not seriously worried.  As I left, she
quietly said in my earpiece, "They obviously wish to speak to you about me,
though I am not sure why.  Gamma and Delta units will be near you just in
case.  Please try not to completely cut off contact."

   We walked for about five minutes until we rounded a corner and had the
street wall of a nearby housing addition between us and home.

   "Could you turn off your phone?" asked Babs, looking very serious.

   I pulled it out and turned it off...  after fiddling with it for a
minute to remember how to turn it off, as I do it very rarely.  I also
pulled out my earpiece and made a show of turning it off, while actually
leaving it on.  I dropped the earpiece in my breast pocket and turned to
the women in front of me.

   "I'm guessing you want to talk about Alpha, right?"

   "We think so.  I mean, yes, we want to talk about Alpha, but we're
not... I mean, it's not that she's gone rogue or anything, it's just that
Babs found out something curious that we wanted to discuss with you,"
explained Zatanna haltingly.

   "What's wrong?" I asked, turning to face Babs directly.

   "She's running a topical filter on our web access," she explained.  "I
can't be 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure she's filtering all the public
information on us before she passes it on.  I did a few page comparisons
through a public terminal this afternoon and couldn't pinpoint any
differences in actual content, but Alpha is definitely trying to keep us
from finding out something about ourselves or is changing the information
we receive."

   I gave a carefully blank expression for a moment while I considered. 
Then inspiration struck and I let my face show it.

   "Oh!  Yes, of course.  She absolutely is, at my request."

   "At your request?" repeated Diana, looking a little betrayed.

   "Oh, it's nothing bad.  Well, it is something bad, but not like that. 
It's just..." I paused to blow out my breath in an exasperated sigh. 
"Okay, you...  none of you...  are going to want to know this, but given
the situation I understand that you're going to insist on knowing it.

   "This was...  hmmmm...  it was just before the Powerpuffs arrived, which
would make it, what?  Two years ago?  Actually, here, let me call Kara so
she can tell her part of the story first."

   I powered my phone back on, let it find a signal, and called up Kara. 
After a moment of reassuring her that everything was all right, I got to
the point.

   "Okay, Kara, I've put you on speakerphone.  Do you remember the fight
you had with Alpha about two years ago?  The next morning Alpha told me
about it and I had to play peacemaker between you two, remember?"

   "Oh, you mean about those pictures of me with a...?"

   "Exactly.  Could you tell the others about that?"

   "Why?  Did they find some more like them?  I know I saw some of other
people on those sites too..."

   With a little prodding, Kara relayed the story.  To summarize, Kara
found and became upset about a bunch of she-male art of herself she had
discovered while browsing online.  Kara tends to laugh off pornographic
fanfiction and most explicit fan art, but she took special exception to
depictions of herself sporting giant erect cocks.  She wanted Alpha to help
her track down the artists or destroy the art or something like that.  I
mediated the confrontation and made Kara apologize for threatening to
unplug Alpha.  After the incident, I had Alpha start filtering out the
TG-style images, as well as anything particularly strange and violent
whenever Kara or the others went looking for online porn.  (See Chapter 16)

   Once she finished -- and I could tell that she had gotten herself angry
again -- I continued.

   "After that was over, I asked Alpha to filter out any and all images of
household residents which include anything particularly objectionable so
that we wouldn't have another...  incident...  like that.

   "Which means that, yes, Babs, there is absolutely a filter on any online
material concerning you or any other member of the household."

   She protested, "But I know it's not filtering out porn.  I've seen some
of the stuff about me online."

   "Correct, but you hopefully HAVEN'T seen any images of your comic book
characters with penises.  Or being raped...  or tortured...  or
mutilated... or killed.  THAT's what the filter is for.  If you really want
me to, I'll have Alpha lift the filter so you can see all the
nightmare-inducing images of yourselves you want."

   The expressions on their faces were priceless.

   I turned off the speakerphone and explained to Kara that Babs had
discovered the filter and had gotten worried that Alpha was up to something
nefarious.  We said goodbye and hung up.

   I fiddled with my earpiece to make it look like I was turning it back
on, put it back in place, turned back to the trio of superheroines and
asked, "You coming back?  I need to go and maybe calm Kara down a little.
She sounded like she might be getting herself worked up and angry again
since I reminded her of what's out there online."

   "Aaahhh, yes, I think I'll go back with you," agreed Zatanna.  "You two
coming?"

   They nodded.

   "So, do you want the filter removed?" I asked, looking for a decision as
we walked together.

   "NO!" said Zatanna sharply.  "Plus I'm in favor of Alpha writing an
antiZatanna-porn virus or something."

   "Actually, I...  despite your warnings, I think I really need the filter
to be removed.  Just in case," insisted Babs.

   In the end, we decided that I would instruct Alpha to give everyone a
choice as to whether or not they wanted the filter in place.  Understand,
this wasn't an issue for Kasumi, Daria, Jane and Rei, who were unaware of
the existence of fictional versions of themselves.  (Of course the filters
related to their particular fictional selves were much more than just
keeping out certain types of images.  We had plans ready if any of them
ever discovered something they shouldn't, but it would be much easier and
better if they never found out about them to begin with.) No one, not even
Babs, had any reason to even check for filters related to them.

   On the walk home, I asked her how she had detected the filter.  She
mumbled something about extra lag time but was generally pretty unhelpful.

   When we got home, I checked in on Kara to find her fuming in the
entertainment room, shooting Halo aliens to work out some frustration. 
That was mildly surprising, as I had expected to find her doing a more
physical activity like working out.  Maybe she was just picturing online
artists as the aliens or something, as she did seem to take special
pleasure in consigning them to digital alien hell.  (It wasn't until later
that I found out she had broken the keyboard to her laptop before settling
down to play X-box.)

   I silently sat down next to her and put an arm around her until she
relaxed a bit.  Oddly enough, the first thing I said to her was after ten
or fifteen minutes of silence when I told her that I needed to go work with
Alpha for a few minutes.  She paused long enough to lean over and kiss me
before I got up.

   I spent twenty minutes with Alpha in the basement.  She had determined
how Barbara had detected the filter and had worked out a filter that would
appear to be undetectable and delay-free to mask its future presence.  The
filter had been pretty unnoticeable up until now, but that was in part
because no one had been looking for one.

   I explained the system to the others and left Barbara to test it out,
letting her believe that all such filters had been removed for her.  And,
to be clear, they mostly were.  Unless she started doing research into
supposed natives to this world, like Daria and Rei, there wasn't really
anything else for Alpha to filter.  Well, except for bits and pieces of the
upcoming Flashpoint story which we would be revealing very soon anyway.

   It seemed to work fine, so crisis averted.

   Oh, and I invited Kara to join me in bed that night, along with Rei, who
had been scheduled for a solo night.  I explained the situation to our
resident silent Japanese pilot and promised to make it up to her later.

   If you're curious, out of all my comic book women, only Zatanna, Kara
and Kitty wanted the porn filter in place initially -- though I had to have
a firm conversation with Kara to convince her -- but within a week,
everyone except Barbara had asked Alpha to reinstate the filter.  To be
fair, most of them didn't normally go browsing around online looking for
material like that, but once they became aware of it, they had to go take a
peek.

   Over the next week, I spent a lot of time calming people down after they
had discovered a particularly offensive image or story about their
character.  We had long discussions about freedom of expression and many
reminders that in this world, they are considered to be completely
fictional characters.

   One annoying bit of fallout was that Barbara began a hobby of creating
very specific viruses designed to search out and corrupt image files
associated with certain keywords, such as "Batgirl" or "Power Girl" when
linked with other keywords such as "TG" or "rape".

   Now I'm not usually a fan of the weirder and more violent porn images
(with a few specific exceptions here and there), but I'm also in favor of
freedom of expression.  I had mixed feelings on the subject, but in the
end, I did nothing.  Well, I did ask Alpha to stay out of it, and explained
my reasoning.  Without Alpha on her side, in a war between Barbara and the
internet, she couldn't win, though her efforts might make her feel better.

   One item of interest that come out of the near-incident was that Babs
had completely left Dorothy out of the interactions.  She appeared to have
mentally disassociated Dorothy from Alpha enough that she didn't blame
Dorothy for the filter the same way she blamed Alpha, but she still knew
that they were basically the same so she hid her suspicions form Dorothy as
much as she had from Alpha.

   And, of course, there's the whole problem where she was ABLE to keep her
suspicions secret from Alpha AND investigate them without her noticing. 
Looking back over the past few days, Alpha was able to determine how
Barbara had done it, but that was only in hindsight.

   Alpha responded to the failure by increasing her monitoring of Barbara
and regularly streaming Barbara's sensory stream -- well, vision and
hearing, that is -- for observation and analysis.  As yet, she's been
unable to detect any more surprises, but we will have to wait and see what
the future holds.

   * * * * *



   Construction was underway at the new house site but most of the
surrounding land had not been properly explored.  We needed to survey it,
noting areas that needed to be cut back, replanted, cleaned up, leveled off
or otherwise dealt with.

   Fortunately, we had lots of available manpow...  ummm...  womanpower,
plus GPS technology and a supercomputer.  So about a week after Babs had
been declared fit enough for cross-country walks, we organized a
picnic/exploration outing.

   Everyone was provided with a rented ATV and an iPad equipped with
mapping software provided by Alpha, then divided up into pairs for their
survey expedition.  They were to mark the land with a general description
as to condition and highlight any hazards, trash that needed to be removed,
fences that needed repair, etc.  We also passed out machetes and half a
dozen backpacks filled with emergency medical supplies, including snakebite
kits, splints, bug spray and bandages.

   To keep things fair, we drew names and exploration areas out of a hat.
We had twenty-one people, so the last name drawn would be assigned an ATV
and given the job of coordinator/overseer/troubleshooter.  That gave us ten
pairs who each needed to explore roughly 0.35 square miles, which is a
little less than you'd get from an armchair calculation since some areas
were not being surveyed by the teams (e.g.  the construction area, entrance
drive, etc.).  It might not sound like a lot of land when described like
that, but it was pretty big when you're actually in the middle of it and
would take at least a couple hours to complete.

   Most of the land was pretty flat and plain-ish, but we had plenty of
sections with clumps of trees and depressions and rocks, plus a couple
creeks, a couple ponds and a hilly section.  It was also cold enough at the
moment that everyone was bundled up.  The advantage to the weather was that
snakes were not likely to be very active and a lack of foliage helped
visibility.  The disadvantage was that hanky-panky was equally unlikely.

   I was randomly paired up with Blossom and our section was a little north
of center, but basically in the middle of everything.

   After Blossom huddled together with her sisters for some whispers and
giggles and after we double-checked that everyone had their phone with them
and had coordinator Elisa's phone number, we mounted our four-wheel ATVs
and headed out.

   Our assigned expanse of land was roughly 3/4 grassland, with one side of
it dipping down for a creek that ran through the property with trees on
either side.  Blossom and I drove along about twenty to thirty feet apart,
scanning the land side to side.  When our maps indicated we had reached the
end of our section, we turned around, moved over about fifty feet and went
back the other direction.

   For the grassland section, we stopped a grand total of six times to make
notes: twice to note large rocks/small boulders that might be hidden by
grass in the
summer, once to note a small collection of rusty scrap metal, twice to

note old partially full trash bags and finally when we approached our
section of the creek.

   We stood side-by-side, surveying the final stretch.

   "The water looks deep enough that we shouldn't risk trying to cross," I
commented.

   "Should we make notes if we see any shallow parts?"

   "Probably.  Our survey section ends with the creek, so we only need to
do this side of it.  I guess we can come back some other time to actually
try fording the water."

   "Does it have a name?"

   "Probably, but if so, it's not on the map.  Let's go."

   Surprisingly, Blossom followed me back to my ATV, swinging herself into
the seat behind me.  It was a large seat, but not really built for two.

   "We don't need both vehicles for this last stretch, so it would be
better to save some gas, don't you think?"

   "Uh huh," I said in a bit of a deadpan.

   Before I started up the motor, I heard a zipping sound from behind me.
When Blossom put her arms around my waist, she pressed her chest against my
back and I could feel her breasts against my back even through my jacket.

   When I stopped to make a note of a fallen tree, Blossom's hands loosened
my belt -- and I do mean loosened, not undid; she relooped my buckle about
three notches out from where it had been -- and opened my jeans, slipping
her hands down to feel around for my suddenly engorging cock...  with her
very cold fingers.

   For benefit of readers in other parts of the country, winter in Texas
isn't anything like winter up north.  We don't usually need heavy coats and
our area of the state does not have noticeable snowfall every year.  On
this particular winter day it was down in the mid 50's, with a cool breeze
causing a wind chill down in the 40's (Fahrenheit) even though the sun was
shining.

   All of that was just to point out that Blossom wasn't freezing cold and
her fingers weren't icy...  just pretty cold.  Actually, after a few
seconds, it felt very nice.

   I started driving again and let Blossom cup my balls with one hand while
the other held my shaft, letting the vibrations and movement of the ATV
provide a massaging motion.

   It was an especially slow drive as we went down the bank of the stream,
pausing to note interesting landscape features or possible places to ford
the flowing water or beehive locations, all the while getting a handjob
from behind.

   Finally, when the end was in sight, I pulled Blossom around to sit in
front of me and kissed her deeply, running my own cold hands under her
blouse and bra to cup her breasts and gently tweak her hard little nipples.
She shivered a little, but made no move to pull away.

   When we broke our kiss, I realized that we faced a small problem: She
was wearing jeans.  My jeans were not a big deal, since I could easily open
my fly and pull my equipment out.  But as long as her jeans were on, her
zipper would make any entry into her pussy uncomfortable if not outright
impossible.  Just pushing them down a bit and entering her from the rear
was only possible if we dismounted entirely, given the width and layout of
the ATV.  The jeans had to come off.  Given the weather, they couldn't stay
off for long, but off they must come.

   I guess Blossom had already considered the problem, as she got off the
ATV, kicked off her sneakers and wiggled the very tight jeans off her slim
hips and long, slender legs.  I unzipped completely, pushed down the front
of my boxers and hooked my underwear under my testicles, letting my cock
and balls hang free.  With my legs spread due to the seat, it was a bit
uncomfortable, but not so bad that it hampered my enthusiasm.

   The red-haired PowerPuff was back on me in an instant, carefully sliding
herself down my shaft, warming my cock in her hot, tight little snatch. 
She wrapped her legs around my hips and started bouncing up and down.

   I revved the engine, add some nice vibration, and a moment later, I
started carefully driving us a little.  And then I stopped pretty quickly.
I disengaged from Blossom long enough to fold up my jacket and put it under
my testicles, which had been painfully pressed down against the vibrating
and bouncing seat.  She quickly helped me regain my full erection and we
continued.  Our ability to survey the land was nil, but the overland
movement made our fuck less predictable and more enjoyable.

   After about five minutes of this, I couldn't take it anymore and parked
us.  With Blossom bent over the seat, I pounded into her from behind.  I
know she had orgasmed a couple times during our ride, but now she started
coming every thirty seconds or so.  I only lasted a couple of minutes
before emptying myself into her, after which she fell limp.

   Only then did I realize that she hadn't gone limp before, which was odd.
Every previous time we had fucked or made love -- yes, there is a
difference -- Blossom would come hard enough to fall limp and almost lose
consciousness.  Every time.  Well, every time except for some oral-only
encounters.

   When she had recovered enough and was pulling her jeans back on, I asked
her about it.

   "I know, right?  I mean, I don't know why this was different.  The first
few orgasms I had felt a little...  different.  I mean, they were still
really good, but they weren't quite as intense for some reason.  It was the
first time I've ever had sex outdoors or in the cold, so I guess those
could be the reasons.  But it was the same environment at the end when I
got into a...  not sure what to call it..."

   "A multi-orgasmic loop?"

   She shivered a little, then said, "That sounds like a good description.
A multi-orgasmic loop.  After which I had my normal bliss-induced collapse.
Anyway, there was no change in environment between the two...  Neither
position was new...  I guess maybe the exposure to cold weather required a
build-up or something?  Or a combination of factors?"

   She was silent for a minute while we both finished dressing.  As she
swung into the seat behind me, she continued, "I think we'll need to
experiment a bit more.  Have sex in different environments with different
weather.  I'll keep notes and work out a comparison chart or something."

   "If you think that's best, I certainly have no objection," I agreed,
trying to sound serious.  While she obviously really enjoyed sex, Blossom
also tended to approach it as a learning experience.  I think I've had sex
with her in more positions than any other single woman, which is really
saying something given that she is one the more recent household arrivals
with only two years residence (compared to almost seven years for Jane,
another enthusiastic 'experimenter').

   We finished surveying the last of our assigned area (including a redone
survey of that final section) and drove our four-wheelers back to where the
main vehicles were.

   The survey turned out pretty well, taking about four-and-a-half hours
for the slowest group to finish their assigned section and giving us an
excellent, detailed layout to work from.  A week later, a garbage
collection group we hired went around to all the various GPS coordinates we
provided and picked up all the scrap metal, junk and trash.

   Work on the house and grounds was shaping up nicely, with multiple crews
working all daylight hours seven days a week.  We even had one crew doing
nothing but putting together the estate walls and another doing new fencing
for the property as a whole.  Alpha, working mostly through Beta, acted as
architect and scheduler, smoothly moving each crew from one job to the
next, seamlessly guiding the construction from one area to the next.

   Maybe this is a good point to mention a certain aspect of the designs.
At one point when I was looking over the digital blueprints with Alpha, I
pointed out a wall section in the library where we might have room for a
secret door.  There was no real need or purpose for one to even exist
there, I just loved the idea of having a classic secret door or passageway.
Alpha agreed that she could easily add such a door into the construction,
possibly even hiding it from the workers by using her cyborgs to make the
necessary adjustments in secret.  When she witnessed my childlike glee at
the idea, she...  ummm...  yeah, I really should have done a better job of
restraining my reactions.  I won't say the final designs were honeycombed
with camouflaged doors and hidden passageways, but we ended up with a lot
more than just one secret door from the library to the hallway.  Yet
somehow I can't regret it (especially since as I write this, the Scooby Doo
theme is playing in my head).

   Overall, the new mansion and estate was probably going to run into the
nine figure range.  Serious ouch.

   Fortunately, money from the hair growth formula had begun flooding in at
an even faster rate than we had anticipated.  Perhaps I wasn't exaggerating
when I said that it was a billion dollar product.  I had even gotten over
the depressing fact that our highest grossing invention was accidental in
origin and cosmetic in nature.  I was beginning to get tired of news
stories featuring newly revitalized hairlines of celebrities, but at least
I could still get warm feelings from seeing stories of cancer patients
regaining their hair quickly.

   Some illegal versions had begun appearing overseas, but they were
comparatively low quality, and in one instance a lack of quality control
actually led to a couple batches causing skin cancer.  The big problem
would come when our exclusivity rights ran out and other companies could
legally begin making their own versions, which was separate from the patent
rights.  The product safety test cycle had been shorter than normal, since
with Alpha's work, we had a finalized product only a couple weeks after
creation/patenting.  Plus it was external-only in application (making it
easier to test for problems and side-effects) and a lot of public pressure
helped push it into prescription availability faster than normal.  In all,
that meant that we could sell it exclusively for a few years for the really
big bucks, then collect patent fees for a decade or so more, which is much
longer than most such products.  (I'm ignoring the various tricks companies
have to extend patents, because that's a whole 'nother mess I don't want to
get into right now.)

   The upshot was that we could expect hundreds of millions of dollars of
income from the hair growth formula for years to come.  True, the demand
would die down after the initial rush of balding customers, but it was a
fact of life that people lose their hair as they age, so we were assured a
steady ongoing stream of clients.

   * * * * *

   About a week and a half after our survey, Alpha and I finally introduced
the information about the upcoming DC Continuity reboot.  There was some
initial panic, followed by a lot of speculation, followed up with a lot of
up-and-down mood swings - 'It's not our exact universe, so there's no
reason to believe we're going to be rewritten too.' 'I bet they'll
eventually reveal that this new universe is just another one of the 52
other universes in our multiverse.' 'Even if home gets rebooted, we're safe
because we're here, right?'

   Kara saw it as evidence that she was about to be replaced again. 
Zatanna was especially worried because she didn't know if her retrieval
spells would still be in place if her home universe was rewritten, which
would mean that everyone would be stranded here.  Or that her spells might
return them home but not leave her enough time to stop or escape the
change.

   They even had debates as to whether or not they should try to evacuate
as many people as possible before the change.  I agreed to let them try if
the opportunity presented itself, knowing that it would/could never happen.

   When previews of the reboot began leaking out, my women were angrier
than any fanboy in the country, especially Kara since Power Girl was
completely absent from the rebooted continuity.  Barbara's reboot gave them
hope for awhile as they speculated that this was evidence they were all
about to go back home since the new timeline now included a
paralyzed-then-cured Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, superficially matching our own
Babs.

   When the final issue of Flashpoint came out -- about the same time
Zatanna's spell had been due to pull them back to their world -- emotions
began draining from my DC women.  They slowly began to accept that their
world was gone, at least for now.  If they ever did return home, they would
probably be as out of place there as they were here.

   I liked that Diana voiced some of my own annoyance when she complained
about Zoom blaming Flash for the reboot because he dared to stop Zoom's own
time-traveling murder of Barry Allen's mother.  Seriously, the criminal
blaming the victim for the crime has always pissed me off.  It's the same
thing as...  look, if anyone ever tells you that because you didn't do
something, they are going to do something bad but it's your fault, THROW IT
BACK IN THEIR DAMN FACE.  You're responsible for your actions, they're
responsible for theirs.  Sorry...  that's really an irrelevant tangent
there.

   Anyway, discussions turned towards the new DC universe and the new
versions of their characters and friends.

   Kara's reaction varied over time, beginning with being fatalistically
depressed at being replaced again, then becoming upset that she was being
left out of the new world, and finally being delighted to find that she did
indeed exist in the revamped timeline, showing up as Karen Starr in the new
Mr Terrific comic.  Well, except for the whole thing where they were lovers
and she was a one-page supporting character.  "Sure he's a nice guy," she
said, "but I can't see us dating, let alone sleeping together." Eventually
Power Girl returned to comics in full, with this whole alternate Earth
storyline, but that came many months later and provided more fluctuating
emotional roller coaster rides.  (If you don't remember, go back and read
her introductory chapter.  She has survived the destruction of previous
universes and found new versions of herself keeping her from going home
and...  well, let's just say she has issues.  Fortunately, a little TLC
from yours truly helped ameliorate the anger and mood swings.)

   Diana was offended that she was now apparently a child of Zeus.  Amazons
have something of a love-hate relationship with Zeus to begin with, plus
instead of being a clay figure brought to life by the gifts of the gods,
she was now one of Zeus' many bastard children, ongoing evidence of his
unfaithfulness to his wife, Hera.

   Zatanna was annoyed that she was apparently no longer a stage
magician... and especially annoyed that a big focus on her character in
Justice League Dark was about how she used to date John Constantine.  "He's
a huge asshole, and I really want that part of my life forgotten," she
commented.  On the other hand, she really enjoyed the notion that a version
of her was a leather-wearing biker-chick magical superhero.  I think that
while she herself is usually a classy dresser, she harbors an appreciation
for the tough-chick appearance.

   (When I mentioned that missed her fishnet stockings -- the new version
sometimes wears fishnet-ish sleeves instead of stockings-- she made a point
of wearing some every day for a week just for me.)

   Barbara, or rather Babs, was...  well, I couldn't really get a good
understanding of her feelings on the subject.  I think in large part she
was mostly just glad that another version of herself had escaped the
wheelchair.

   Linda...  well...  Linda had REALLY liked her miniskirt, and now it was
gone.  Yes, the new Supergirl still got to show off her legs somewhat, but
Linda had really gotten off on how people down below had always tried to
get peeks up her skirt whenever she flew by.  The new Supergirl had boots
reaching above her knees and a suit which covered her crotch and ass but
showed off her thighs and hips -- like a one-piece swimsuit -- but no
skirt. One day I caught her trying to figure out how to use Photoshop to
add a miniskirt to an image of the new Supergirl.  Otherwise, I think she
mostly liked her new character.

   Surprisingly all of them failed to share my nerdy outrage that DC was
trying to claim that twenty or thirty years of stories were still part of
the rebooted continuity, but everything had happened in five years or less.
Apparently dealing with the weird time changes involved in jumping between
universes had inured them to time dilation inconsistencies.

   All in all, the DC ladies came to accept that they were here in my
universe to stay.  

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