"I think we all deserve some answers," said a man dressed in traditional Atlantian gear. He was Poseidon, god of the sea and ruler of Atlantis, along with Big Man and six others, all wearing white skin-tight uniforms. They are the founding members of Hero Squad, the best of the best the Hero Squad had to offer. They had saved the world more times than most of the Hero Squad combined. Despite this, Samson had adopted a surly attitude out of habit. 

     "Answers for what," Samson asked, "me saving your asses?" 

     "Yes," said Poseidon through clenched teeth. "I've read up on your file, you've got quite a good performance rating for a supervillain." 

     "Why haven't I seen this file," Samson asked curiously. 

     All of the founders shared a glance, then one of them handed Samson a piece of paper. He looked it over and smiled, then his smile grew bigger until every tooth was showing. "Mark's been busy," said Samson, handing the file back to the founders. 

     "So we run into an issue here," said Big Man. "Right now, we need to hear how you did what you did." 

     "Might as well," said Samson boastfully. "To start at the beginning, I raided an unmarked military base to test out the suit against average soldiers. It was going well until they brought out their laser weapons and went hog wild. I beat them up, took the laser weapons and stole the most encrypted files I could find. I got home and opened them up to find alien technology." 

"Which species," Fatale, the strongest amazon, asked curiously. 

     "T'tachi technology," said Samson seriously. "There were focused laser weapons, FTL drives, and a file discussing what they could decipher from the alien language." 

     "You think there was a military force in communication with aliens," said Lido in his trade-marked dark and edgy voice. 

     "That's what I thought," said Samson, "until I stole a look at the T'Tachi files on their warstation. Turns out, an FTL drive is still under laboratory testing and isn't available out in the field. Only a rare few even know that it's possible to travel faster than light." Big Man had a look of realization on his face, which Samson nodded to. "The ship that Queen was on, it was probably experimental FTL technology that brought her here. The story she told to the world that one time, it was the truth." 

     "This still doesn't explain how you were able to destroy the warstation," said Lido, again in his voice that sounded like he had contracted throat cancer. 

     "Ladies and gentlemen," said Samson sarcastically, "I have unlocked the secrets of faster than light travel. The bombs I had set around the warstation were FTL bombs which turned large chunks of the station into moving particles. After that, space did the rest, suffocation and pressure differences and all that. Saving you was also FTL related, just a bit of a different principal. I made the FTL drive as small as possible, then mapped out exact coordinates between my base and your collars. It picked you up one at a time no matter where in the world you might have been, only a few seconds before the bombs were set to go off." 

     "You've unlocked the ultimate space travel engines," said Lido, "and turned it into a weapon of mass destruction." 

     "Precisely," said Samson with a happy smile. 

     "What about your suit," asked Poseidon curiously. "It had very interesting battle specs, and it was made from Starsteel, which is very hard to get your hands on." 

     "What do you guys want," Samson asked sourly, crossing his arms. 

     "We want you to join the Hero Squad," said Big Man instantly. 

     "No," said Samson flatly. 

     "Let me explain," said Big Man, and he waited to see if Samson would cut in. "We're not thinking of making you just any member of the Hero Squad. You'd be in your own special division, someone we only call on in the times of our greatest despair. You would be the 'last resort', our 'trump card' or 'ace-in-the-hole'. You'd be a part of the Anti-Villain Corp. we're creating." 

     Samson looked at his biggest challenges, the sworn enemies that would not hesitate to beat him into a pulp if given the slightest chance, and he said, "No." 

     "The benefits offer-" 

     "No." 

     "You'll want to hear this." 

     "I said no." 

     "We won't personally attack you-"

     "Nooooo," said Samson drawing it out to make his point. 

     "Will you just-" 

     "Let me explain something to you," said Samson offensively. "I, a supervillain, was forced to save you people because you were so incompetent. Do you know how embarrassing that is for me? I don't know if I'll ever be able to become a real supervillain because of this stupid little stunt!" 

    "Then why did you do it," asked a confused Poseidon. 

     "Because I can't be a supervillain without superheroes," Samson shouted as though it was obvious. "Here's my counter-offer," said Samson, and he raised his middle fingers to the original eight super heroes. With that, Samson walked out of the room wearing a big smile. Once he was clear, Samson turned into a lightning bolt and disappeared with an enormous sonic boom. 

     Back at his high rise apartment complex, Samson stood in the elevator with a bottle of champagne. He was wearing an Armani suit with oxford dress shoes and a very gold watch on his arm. The elevator doors dinged and Samson stepped out to see Karen sitting on his sofa nervously rubbing her hands between her legs. She was wearing a very nice short dress that was white all around, with no straps at the top to aide her cantaloupe melons. She looked at Samson as he stepped inside, her words a little mixed when she saw the bottle of champagne. "Tell me, how was it finding out you're an actual Queen," Samson asked as though there was nothing out of the ordinary. 

     "It was jarring," answered Karen, "but not as much as when you opened your suit." There was a long silence in the room as Samson sat down next to Karen and set the champagne on the side. 

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

     "If we're going to get everything out in the open, why don't you show me your real face," said Samson sourly. Karen sneered, then her face went from gorgeous supermodel to blue alien chick. Her eyes changed from shining emeralds to black and blue rings. Her ears shifted and curved downwards, her hair going from blonde to light blue. 

     "Now it's your turn," said Queen snidely. 

     "Alright," said Samson, and he grabbed the corkscrew from the champagne bottle and jammed it into his own heart. Queen cringed, but the sound of lightning licking the air drew her attention. "My body can shift to a lightning form to heal injuries and other things. I can also control electricity in computers and things, and I can turn completely to lightning to travel long distances." Samson pulled the corkscrew out of his heart and said, "Also, I'm a supervillain. Not officially, but I'm working on it." 

     "This is insane," said Queen, "how could I be dating a supervillain?! You passed every test, and you were always so nice!" 

     "Just because I'm a supervillain, doesn't mean I'm a bad guy." 

     "How do I know that anything you say is even real," Queen stressed. "Did you actually come from a broken family, or was that all made up, too?" 

     "The only lie I ever told you was where I got the money from," said Samson coolly. "I stole it from banks at first, then I used my electricity to quickly move it around the stock market and get the money that way. That was the only thing I ever lied to you about, but what about yourself? Telling me your real parents were BigMan and Fatale, that was a horrible lie!" 

     "That wasn't a lie, BigMan raised me as his own! I'm his daughter, it doesn't matter what color I am!" 

     "I saw right through it," Samson said. "They both have dark black hair, you're a blonde; they have blue and brown eyes, you had green eyes; there were a hundred reasons why it was genetically improbable you were thier child. You never told me you were adopted." 

     "What's wrong with being adopted," demanded Queen defensively. 

     "I didn't say there was a problem and I wouldn't have cared," said Samson stressfully. They both just looked at each other deeply, so Samson asked, "Are you the girl that I went on my first date with?" 

     "Of course," said Queen gently. 

     "Are you the girl who thought Okinawa was the name of a fruit?" 

     Queen smiled sheepishly and said, "Yes, but I swear it sounded like a fruit." 

     "Are you the girl who cried for me when I told her I was abused as a kid?" Queen could only nod, looking away with some doubt. 

     "Yes," she said finally. 

     "Are you still the girl who told me she likes anchovies on her pizza?" 

     Queen chuckled, "Yes, 'cause they're a real topping!" 

     "Who puts fish on a pizza?" said Samson as they both laughed at the inside joke. Samson reached out and he grabbed Queen's tender blue hand, feeling the texture of the skin as he gently squeezed her fingers. "As long as you're still the girl I fell in love with over the past three months, it won't matter to me what color your skin is, or whether you're a hero or not. If you're not the girl who likes hazelnut spread and caramel ice cream on a waffle cone, then you might as well leave, because I'm not going waste anymore time and effort trying to fall in love again." 

     "I'm not that person," said Queen sadly, "I'm the alien that likes hazelnut spread and caramel ice cream. I'm also the alien that likes anchovies on her pizza, I cried with you when you told me about your parents, and I honestly thought Okinawa was a fruit. I'm the alien that stole your first kiss, the one who stole your first date, the one that took your virginity. I'm not the human Karen Margaret Hunt, I'm the alien Queen that fell in love with my big sweetheart Samson Marcel." Queen cupped her hand over Samson's and they both smiled at each other. 

     "Then there's one last secret we need to share with each other," said Samson depressingly. Queen raised an attentive eyebrow as Samson said, "What we actually look like naked." Queen was about to protest when she realized she had never actually seen Samson with his clothes off. The lights were always off whenever they had spent passionate nights together, even during the daytime they had closed the curtains tight enough not to let light through. "I'll go first," said Samson, and he grabbed his jacket and took it off. 

     Standing up, Samson slowly unbuttoned his shirt and removed that as well, the Queen saw why Samson was so meticulous in keeping the lights dimmed. There were scars across his body, various indentations and scrapes being the proof of his abusive father. He undid his belt and removed his pants dropping them down and pushing them to the side to reveal even more scar tissue. It was everything from burns to cuts to ripped flesh. Samson stood there in his boxer shorts with a look on his face that Queen had only seen one other time. 

     Queen's mind flashed back to the poor girl who had been abused by her boyfriend, the one that Samson saved and the reason he went on the Late Night show. When she revealed herself naked to Samson, Alexander and herself, she looked down at the floor to avoid any pitying eyes. That was exactly the way that Samson stood now, looking at the floor because he was afraid of what he might see in Queen's expression. 

     Instead of answering, Queen approached Samson and planted a blue kiss onto his lips. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And they lived happily ever after.