I was trying to forget it, trying to tell myself it was none of my business, but my mind kept going back to the neon girls, splashing in that fountain. The innocence of it. Not the knowing, provocative performance of professional porn stars, but the playful, carefree body language of young girls, oblivious to their own sexuality, and how that power was being used.

Harrison Moore was obviously being driven somewhere, but he answered on the first ring, as I called his superhero hotline.

“Do you know where I was last night?”

Harrison said, “Yes.”

“Was it your idea?”

“No, but I didn’t stop Sonny when he started asking about you. I think he really did just want to get you laid.”

“There’s something wrong in that house, Harry. I didn’t see it, I can’t prove it, but there’s something wrong in that house. You and your guys need to investigate. Plant some undercover agents on staff or something, until you figure out what it is.”

Harry cussed and turned his head for a second. “Kovak, you are too damn smart for your own good. Please forget everything you saw in there and let it go.”

“Why are people always telling me to let shit go? I may be new, but I’m a registered superhero with an ID card and everything. If I can’t walk in and save people from evil shit, what am I even doing this for?”

“You can save people. You are saving people. But this, this isn’t something you can punch. Tim, did you have sex with anyone in that house?”

“I was supposed to have sex with Donna. I guess she’s who they assign to young guys, but something about her felt wrong, so I waved her off.”

“And you didn’t have sex with any of those girls dressed up in neon? Were you alone with any of them?”

“No. One of them tried to kiss me, but she did it in front of fifty people and I waved her off, too.”

“Dammit,” Harrison sighed. “Tim, can you trust me on something? The best thing you can do today, the smartest thing you can do - buy a dozen roses – good ones, real ones – and go back to that house tonight.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Ask for Donna and tell her you want to apologize. Then you go down into that basement, and you stay in a bed with her until she thinks you’re in love. Can you do that?”

“Hell, no!” I said. “Fuck, no! Why would I ever go back to that creepy fucking house?”

Harrison sighed. “Pink Sensation is a test and a trap, and you just failed the test. It’s mostly testing for church affiliation. If a new Bluestar recruit has ties to Christians, Olympians, Asgardians, or the Living Flame people, they’ll turn the invite down and reveal themselves.

“A normal guy will go crazy with the porn stars or the neon girls or reveal some kind of fetish they can get on camera. And once they have you on camera, they’ll stop worrying about you. They’ll know you’re a normal guy into normal shit, or they’ll have something on you they can use if you get out of line.

“But you fucked up and got yourself noticed. That house was set up to reveal guys just like you, guys who aren’t interested in normal vices because of something secret they have at home. Nobody knows what your secret is, but they know you’ve got one, and they’re not gonna rest until they figure out what it is.”

“Harrison, who really runs that house?”

“We do, of course. Not me personally, but it’s run by DMA people working directly for the Security Council.”

“Herman hides behind his libertarian consent bullshit, but you know what’s really going on in there.”

“Yeah, I do; and I’m not gonna tell you. If I told you, you’d try to stop it, and you can’t stop it. If you killed Herman, if you finished tearing that house down, they’d just start over in a new city with a new Herman and the next young guy with a Bluestar badge would be flying to Dallas instead of Chicago.

“This is too big to punch, Tim. If you try to fight this, you’re gonna end up fighting the whole damn world, and you are not ready to take on the whole damn world.

“Just go back and spend some time with Donna, and make it look good. You’re just a shy boy from a religious family who was scared by the big bad porn house. Have all the fun you want with Donna, but do not touch any of those neon girls, and don’t let any of them touch you, whether you’re on camera or not.”

* * *

I didn’t go back to the house, but I called and left a voice message for Donna.

“Just wanted to thank you for a great night,” I said. “I hope Herman’s not too pissed at having to replace stuff. Surely this can’t be the first time super people have thrown down in that house.”

“Anyway,” I said, exaggerating my shy young guy act. “I… uh… you’re really pretty and you were really nice, but I should probably tell you, I’ve been working with Denise Hardy for a while, and she’s really important to me.

“She’s got me friend-zoned pretty bad right now, but I’m thinking I’m not totally out of the running yet. And to carry on with somebody else, it felt wrong, you know? It felt wrong to do that when Denise and I… still might be something. I hope you understand.”

And somewhere in Langley, an expert system eavesdropping on the call quietly changed a line in my DMA file from “single, no attachments” to “single, infatuated with Denise Hardy.”