“Okay Elaine, three more hours. That little asshole has been completely quiet the entire week, nobody has called me in. We can do this. We’re not going to have to cancel this date.” She was pacing, and had been pacing, all afternoon. There were a few times she’d considered “accidentally” portalling her supe phone out the window, inevitably dashing it on the concrete, but she was at least 75% sure nobody would buy that lie. Still, 25% wasn’t the worst odds though, right? With a frustrated groan she power walked across the length of her apartment and into her walk-in closet to view the lovely red dress she’d bought just for the occasion. It wasn’t too cute, was it? She swatted away the thought. This was a date, not a session, she reminded herself, it was fine if Allie wasn’t intimidated by her mere presence, not that she was normally. The point was that Elaine really needed to stop over thinking it. And yet, despite all that anxiousness, those nerves, Elaine had maintained a goofy, giddy smile pretty much the entire day. Which was why she was half expecting to develop some kind of explosive pyrokinesis when her concentration was broken by her phone vibrating. If that fucker chose today of all days she swore to god she would - ah, personal phone.

“Hi Elaine, I’m really really excited for tonight. Small thing, something came up and I think maybe we should push this back say, thirty minutes? An hour? Let’s push for eight just to be safe.” That was annoying. But just annoying, one more hour of anticipation would suck but she could totally manage it. She replied with an affirmative and sat down heavily, putting away her phone and massaging her temples. She just needed to relax, she’d already thought everything through so very very meticulously, she’d even scoped out the menu down to the wine list, thoroughly researching their selection and speculating on what Allie might like, this was going to work. It would be fine and-.

“Oh god fucking dammit.” That time it was definitely the supe phone.

“Slipspace. Arcadia, formerly known as Kinetiq, is currently committing a break in at 625 S Meyer. Your relief from duty is considered over. Apprehend the suspect and return to guild HQ. Due to past events, your performance will be under scrutiny. Do not fail. Tare will provide transport in 10. - OS” A little warning next time would be nice, asshole. And how long would ASAP be? God dammit, Arcadia, that absolute piece of shit, that ruiner of dates. That was it, Arcadia could be developing the cure for cancer over there but if Elaine had to miss this date cause of a stupid break in she would beat Arcadia’s ass into next week. She rushed toward her closet, and opened the false wall, muttering to herself all the way. 

“Alright, deep breaths Elaine. Allie pushed it back an hour. That gives you four hours to suit up, get in, stop the break in, bring Arcadia back to HQ for deliberation, go home, pray you don’t get stuck on reform duty, shower, get dressed, do makeup, and hopefully not be late. It’s doable, I think.” She was wasting no time, already throwing on her sleek purple combat suit and visor. It wouldn’t take her less than ten minutes to get everything on and fitting okay, and then Tare would be ready with a long distance portal, as humiliating as that was. At least Tare couldn’t fight for shit, after that Elaine could be across town in a second. She’d get it done quick and get home. She would make it. Combat boots on, earpiece in. Another deep breath, Slipspace emerged from her closet, and strode to the center of the room just in time for her earpiece to crackle to life.

““Looks like she’s hitting some rich guy’s private museum, probably lots of valuables inside.” A familiar voice murmured in her ear.

“Tic? Why the hell are you on comm duty tonight?” She groaned. Tic just chuckled lightly on the other line.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t you excited to hear from me Slip? I wound up benched after taking a bit of a beatdown the other day, not as bad as the one you took but I’m on desk duty for a few days. I’ll keep quiet for the most part, but if I hear anything pertinent I’ll let you know.” When he finished, Slipspace simply grunted in assent.

“Ugh I really really don’t want to have to do this tonight.” She whined.

“What’s the matter, got a date or something?” He was having way too much fun teasing her.

“Yes, actually.” Her tone was flat, unamused.

“Oh, sorry. Well let’s get you done quick. Tare should be ready momentarily.” On cue the room was engulfed in a flash of bright swirling light, and an oval shaped rip in the middle of her apartment appeared, with the tinted, rippling image of a dimly lit corridor on the other side. Slipspace stepped through.

She emerged into a private gallery of sorts, the lights were dim, but she could just make out all manner of expensive looking trinkets in glass cases or hanging on walls. Whatever room she was in was fairly large, a main hall of sorts, perhaps. At the end of the hall a stretch of fluorescent light played across the nearly black wooden flooring. The source of said light was just outside Slipspace’s field of view, but given its shape, narrow and rectangular, stretching long across the hall, she assumed it could only be originating from a door left slightly ajar. She dropped low, stealing through the silent corridor, fighting the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance. Leaving doors open and lights on in a break in was downright amateurish, how has she let someone this careless get the drop on her before? She allowed herself a moment of chiding, before sweeping the thoughts aside, for the time being. Slipsapce had more important things to worry about.

She approached the door, peering inside to see a woman dressed in showy garb pouring over a laptop, which displayed a spreadsheet that appeared to function as an index of sorts. There were a lot of heroes who, at that point would take a few long strides into the room and clear their throat menacingly before delivering a speech about justice or something of the like. Elaine wasn’t that sort of heroine. Instead she searched for the darkest corner possible, crept along the wall and then teleported right in. Teleporting in was crucial, Slippace had tried to sneak through way too many doors with creaky hinges in her day. Safely inside, her target still unawares, Slipspace crept forward, closing the distance between the two of them before opening a portal and lashing out with her foot, sweeping the woman’s legs.

With a surprised shriek, the woman fell onto her back, suddenly falling silent as gaze fell upon Slipspace. While only the lower half of the girl’s face was left unobscured, Slipspace had been drilled relentlessly to recognize the subtle movements of the face to read emotion. Even with only her mouth exposed, Slipspace could see a wide range of emotions playing across her adversary’s lips. There was fear, shyness, embarrassment, maybe even relief. 

There was something else about those lips though, something tempting, familiar, safe looking. She cursed her own sexuality in her head, why did she have to turn out hot? Lost in those plump, dark painted lips for a moment too long, Slipspace played right into Arcadia’s feint, her left hand began to swirl with faint light and, just as Slipspace lunged to pin that hand, the right thrust straight out, throwing her backward. For a moment, Slipace flew. But just before she made hard contact with the floor below, she managed to recover into a handspring and skid to a halt. Her eyes smoldered in fiery anger. She was not going to let this drag out any longer than it needed to.

Arcadia rose to her feet, and Slipspace got a proper look at the woman for the first time, and that anger was nearly stamped out by the sight before her. If there was any skepticism that her nemesis really had become a woman, which realistically there wasn’t, that skepticism died. From across the room Arcadia appeared a little shorter than Slipspace, curvaceous,  slightly chubby and oh so soft looking even under the suit she wore. And that suit, god damn. 

When she was Kinetiq she had worn just a generic skin tight all black jumpsuit. Arcadia though, she was quite interesting to look at:  a black blazer and white dress shirt, the sleeves of both roughly torn off, giving way to toned, light brown arms. Her legs were covered by tight, black leather short shorts that gave way to a form fitting stream light blue glow that slid all the way down her legs and around her feet. Was she using her own powers as a fashion choice? Arcadia’s face was still covered by those same goofy steampunk goggles, though the gasmask was gone, replaced with a simple holographic overlay that doubtless did the work of modulating her voice. Still, it was an upgrade to be certain. Elaine tried to ignore that she definitely found Arcadia hot now. Arcadia stepped toward Slipspace, palms facing upward.

“Listen, Slip, please don’t do this. I’m not hurting anyone, I promise.” Her voice felt like a cool drink on a hot day. It was velvety and smooth, high and melodious even through the modulator she was using to disguise it, and Elaine had to shake herself a little to keep from making eyes at the woman before her. She tensed her jaw, then her fists, then the rest of her body just for good measure and sent the coldest, most no nonsense stare she had Arcadia’s way.

“It’s not about who you’re hurting by stealing, Arcadia, it’s about what you can do with the money you get from fencing all this stuff. I assume that’s the plan, yes?” She managed to achieve that perfect blend of disapproval, threatening, and a hint of compassion. Just enough to remind Arcadia that Slipspace was no-nonsense, but also no monster. Arcadia could give up then and there with no more fighting, if she wished to.

“How hard is it for you to believe that I’m not a bad person? Aren’t you supposed to be one of those jaded heroes who doesn’t buy into all that black and white morality crap? Is it not obvious what I used my last acquisition to achieve?” She gestured to her body, and Elaine’s eyes were drawn into those supple curves, if only momentarily. “I’m trying to help people.” Under the distorted hum of her modulator Slipspace could hear vulnerability, desperation, maybe even sadness. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be doing?” Slipspace felt a sigh escape her lips, one of resignation and what bordered on shame. She knew deep down Arcadia wasn’t cruel, wasn’t evil, but still she didn’t have the option of letting her get away with the goods.

“I know you’re not evil, okay, but I don’t really have a choice in this. If the guilds find out I aided a villain that’s it for me, I’m the worst kind of villain: a fallen hero.” The room fell silent, neither daring to speak, both tense, waiting for the other to strike. After several agonizing moments, Arcadia broke the silence.

“There’s always a choice. I -- I can’t just let you stop me every time you show up. I want to help people, Slipspace. You do too, I know you do. That’s why you haven’t lunged for me yet. That’s why you’ve never actually arrested me despite me being a thorn in your side for so long. There’s good in you. What if you switched sides? Help me instead of them. I know people, powerful people, good people who could keep you safe.” Her voice was quiet first, meek and uncertain as she found her words, but grew stronger and more assertive, more confident with each passing second. 

For the briefest of moments, Slipspace believed her. She believed she could turn her back on the miserable existence of being a guild hero, forced to bust heads or have her own head busted. She believed she could run off with Arcadia, fight the good fight, become allies, become friends. They had plenty in common, after all, didn’t they? But before long that feeling collapsed in on itself. The reality was, becoming a villain was too dangerous. What about Allie? What about herself? To leave would be to become the target of people far more formidable than she was. And the solution was for Slipspace to just place her trust in a bunch of villains? Certainly Arcadia was a good person, but there were more than a few villains who were properly dangerous, untrustworthy, deadly. It just wasn’t an option, solemnly, Slipspace shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Arcadia, it can't be that way.” She choked out, surprised by how hopeless her voice sounded, even disguised by her suit’s built in modulation kit. 

“So what, we’re just destined to fight one another forever? You’ll play puppet for your masters until one of us is taken out of the game permanently?” Arcadia sounded almost desperate, as though for a moment she had really believed she’d gotten to Slipspace, gotten through the mask and right into Elaine.

“You know that isn’t how this  works.” Slipspace found herself wondering why she sounded so pained as well. She had never really wanted to fight Arcadia, but that was more out of resentment toward the obligation. Now she didn’t want to fight because it felt wrong. But she had no choice. She silently cursed the stupid system that had forced her into the position in the first place, then begrudgingly shifted into a combat stance. Slipspace didn’t have time for more verbal sparring. Elaine had a date to go to, and she was not going to keep Allie waiting.

“No, Slip, I think it’s you who doesn’t know how this works.” Arcadia’s voice had a sad, but resigned finality to it that made Slipspace shiver. The villainess’ hand pulsed with light, and she shoved her hands forward violently. A wall of force flew across the room, Elaine’s vision went white. 

SapphicSounds

Hello my lovely readers! Long time no see, I'm back though. And I've got content. Over the course of today and tomorrow, I'll be posting a total of 3 more chapters to close out this story. If you're enjoying these new chapters, and want even more Restraints/Redemptions then I have news for you! There is more, a lot more. In fact, there is approximately 20,000 more words of brand  new content that is not on Scribblehub and, sadly, will not be. It was a tough decision to come to, but I've realized that right now my patrons don't have a ton of exclusive content. As such, I have published a full version of Restraints/Redemptions onto my patreon, as well as onto kindle books. This version contains 7 brand new chapters, as well as some extensive additions to two already existing chapters (namely, the chapter in which Elaine goes to confront Arcadia and Dr. DeLEXIous, and the following chapter between Elaine and Allie). It's available to all of my patrons, so for as little as $2 a month you can pick it up here. Hell, if you want, you can even pay the two dollars for the content, and then immediately stop being my patron, I won't tell anyone. 

That being said, I would really appreciate if you could join my patreon at as high a tier as you feel comfortable joining, and, or, if you can afford it (and are willing to give Amazon your money which, I wouldn't recommend), I would appreciate and sales of the E-Book version found here. If you really, genuinely do not have $2 to spare or otherwise genuinely cannot make the payment, and would still really like to read the new content, feel free to pm me and we can work something out.