Daughter, Lover, Superheroine Ch. 06

"Mom? You ok? Can you continue?" she asked urgently.

Barbara's eyes focused, and she gave a pained smile and a nod. "Yes, honey. Let's keep going."

Her mom was so brave, Cindy thought, as she stepped back and signaled for them to resume.

Michelle's fighting skills were clearly a notch or two above her mother's - but Cindy retained her faith in her strong, beautiful mother. Her mom would find a way to win somehow! She just needed to tough it out, wait for Michelle to tire or make a mistake, and then catch her with a solid blow or a proper grappling move.

That was what she would do in her mother's place, Cindy thought, against a far more skillful opponent like Michelle. Hunker down, keep defenses up, become a ball of muscle, and wait, making it a battle of endurance.

She couldn't say anything, though. She could only watch.

***

Barbara's head was swimming.

Michelle was turning out to be an even more fearsome fighter than she'd expected. She'd known at some level that the Brawler's cousin would fight about as well as the Brawler himself, but it was quite the experience to personally be on the receiving end.

Every single strike Michelle made was powered with ki - with inner force. There were quite a few martial artists Barbara had met before, both heroes and villains, who could harness the inner potential of the ordinary human body and develop it into both offense and protection. The Tsoo were all able to do this, though they also augmented their skills and mastery of ki with magic tattoos.

The Brawler was said to be somehow as impervious to most attacks as Positron's suit of powered armor, or as Statesman's skin. That was impressive, considering that the Brawler was really a non-meta human. Did his cousin have similar defenses?

She had to try and land a blow - or get Michelle in a wrestling hold.

This duel was bringing back the fire within her - the same fire that had been rekindled when Valerie first reared her ugly sneering head in her life once again. Barbara hadn't been lying or mistaken when she'd told Michelle she was a homemaker at heart, who mainly wanted to raise her daughter well, in peace.

But even a woman like her had an inner competitive urge, a desire to rise up to the challenge of a rival.

And with her daughter watching... even though she needed to lose in order for Cindy to accept Michelle as a trainer... she knew that simply throwing the match and rolling over belly-up was absolutely, completely, wholly out of the question.

It was personal, she thought - not against Michelle, of course. It was personal for herself. It was her against the specter of her own weakness, the confining walls of her own limits. It was her strength and will against her own fear and failings.

She gathered her strength, and went on the attack.

***

Barbara lunged at Michelle, arms outstretched. But Michelle somehow managed to hook one arm with Barbara's, and she swung Barbara around with a hip toss. Barbara managed to land and roll to her feet, and tried again, but with the same result.

It could work, Cindy thought wildly. Perhaps her mom was on to something - rushing Michelle would change the pace, and if she could somehow catch Michelle in a muscle tussle, the match would be hers.

But Michelle hip-tossed Barbara a total of four times, and after the last one Barbara could only clamber to her feet clumsily, trying to get her arms up quickly in case Michelle caught her off-guard again.

In a seeming instant, Michelle was standing right in front of her. Cindy saw Barbara's eyes widen - she hadn't seen Michelle close the distance that quickly! Cindy had, though - Michelle had advanced so quickly by stepping in some strange way, almost as if she had a flash of super speed.

Michelle's knee flashed towards Barbara's face. She barely managed to jerk away in time - but it had been a feint. Michelle ducked under her guard, and threw her arms around Barbara's waist.

A grapple? Cindy thought. But that was foolish, surely!

Michelle hoisted Barbara off her feet, without apparent effort. Her strength was nowhere near the equal of Barbara's - but she could definitely lift someone of Barbara's weight without too much effort.

Then she jumped straight up into the air, almost 30 feet.

Cindy gaped at this display of Michelle's leg strength. Then her hands flew to her mouth as Michelle turned in midair, in a half-somersault, and proceeded to slam Barbara's back into the floor with that jumping suplex.

That amount of force was enough to stun even Barbara. Michelle pulled her upright, hoisted her aloft, and did it again. And Cindy noticed that each impact on the ground was accompanied by the same flash-and-bang that each attack from Michelle produced. These were no ordinary attacks that Michelle was performing.

She did it 5 times in total. With each slam, Barbara seemed progressively weaker and more limp, until at the end of the fifth slam, Michelle stepped away from her prone and unmoving opponent, breathing hard. The sweat of her exertion gleamed on her heaving chest.

Cindy rushed to bend down beside her mother.

Then, swallowing hard, she began the count again. "1... 2... 3... 4..."

She could hardly believe how badly her mother was being outmatched. Barbara had not managed to land a single blow - not one. She had not managed to successfully catch her opponent in a grapple - instead, she herself had just fallen victim to a series of body slams, powerful enough to affect even superheroines.

But her mom was undeniably strong and tough - she just had to tough it out!

"5... 6... come on, Mom, you can do it... don't give up... 7..."

She had broken down and encouraged her mom directly - she couldn't help it, looking at the heartrending sight of Barbara struggling to stand, muscles quivering all over, sweat beading every inch of her skin.

On the count of "8" Barbara stood up on trembling legs, panting hard, blinking the sweat out of her eyes.

"Can you continue?" Cindy realized the question was coming out almost plaintively.

Barbara nodded.

But it seemed she could no longer muster the energy to go on another offensive. As soon as the match resumed, she half-crouched in a defensive stance. Michelle capitalized - now she was striking hard, seemingly from every direction, dancing circles around Barbara, her fists, elbows, knees and feet landing on Barbara's body with merciless force. Her blistering barrage did not let up.

Slowly, Barbara sank to her knees. Cindy knew what she was seeing, even though she desperately wanted to deny it - the mountain of motherly muscle that was Barbara was slowly crumbling, struck again and again by Michelle's thunderous blows.

Finally, Michelle came to a stop, breathing hard but evenly in front of a kneeling Barbara, who was bruised and dazed and swaying from side to side.

"Submit?" Michelle grated.

It took a few moments before Barbara shook her head slowly. "No."

Then: "Do it."

Michelle hesitated. For the first time since the match began, she seemed uncertain. She glanced at Cindy, uncertainly, then back at Barbara. "Barb. It's over. Submit."

"No!" Barbara said more forcefully. She tried to rise to her feet, but failed.

"Do it," she said again, almost pleadingly.

In that moment, finally, Cindy understood.

When Michelle looked questioningly at her again, she looked back, and gave a firm nod. The movement caused the tears welling up in her eyes to flow down her cheeks.

With a look of resignation on her face, Michelle took a few steps back. Then she jumped forward. Her knee collided with Barbara's jaw.

Cindy watched, as her mother was sent flying backwards. When Barbara landed with a meaty splat, Cindy was already by her side. She wept openly as Barbara's head lolled from side to side. Her mom was fighting to retain consciousness, but could not get up.

She began the count, as she knew her mother wanted her to.

"1... 2... 3... come on, Mom... 4... 5... you can do it..."

Michelle stood back, hands on her hips, shaking her head, as Cindy continued the strange combination of counting her mother out and begging her to get up and keep fighting.

"6... 7... you can do it, Mom... get up, Mom..."

Barbara had turned onto her side, facing Cindy. Her breathing was ragged as she tried to push her upper body off the floor with her hands, and failed.

"8... 9... come on Mom... get up..."

Cindy knew her mom was beaten. She could see it in Barbara's eyes, in every line and curve of Barbara's trembling muscles. She also knew that this was what her mom had wanted her to see.

You'll never get me to give up on you, Mom, she thought. Even to the very end. Even when she knew her mother had lost, she would cheer her on.

"10."

Barbara slumped. Cindy threw her arms around her, and sobbed.

Afterwards, when Barbara had recovered sufficiently - thankfully, it took only several minutes, since her mom did have her powers after all - Barbara and Michelle shared an embrace.

"You really lived up to your name, Michelle," Barbara told her.

"So did you... Battler Babe," Michelle said. They shared another tight hug.

Michelle turned to Cindy. "Cindy... I..."

"You were magnificent." Cindy threw her arms around Michelle, who returned the hug a little awkwardly.

She knew Michelle had only done as they had agreed, as Mom had wanted. She also knew her mother had put on this demonstration to make an important point, a point that she had been most unwilling to accept. She realized there were truly no limits to her mother's love for her. She couldn't blame Michelle for trouncing her mom. But Michelle had to be aware - no matter how badly she could knock Barbara around, she could never knock Barbara off the pedestal in Cindy's heart.

Still... the point had been conclusively made. Michelle had a lot to teach Cindy... and this time, at her mother's behest, Cindy would be a good student and do her best to learn.

Then it was time for Cindy to perform the little post-fight ritual, at Barbara's insistence.

Cindy stood, looking from face to face. She said, "You're both the best women I know." Then she took a deep breath and raised Michelle's arm up high. "The winner is Michelle. Mom... you've lost."

Barbara closed her eyes and bowed her head in acceptance, while Michelle looked a little sheepish.

Then Barbara enfolded Cindy in her arms. "Michelle," she said, over Cindy's shoulder, "I can't thank you enough for doing this. I can never thank you enough."

Michelle rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged, nodding.

"Can she begin with you tomorrow?"

Cindy detached herself partly from her mother's embrace, and gave Michelle the biggest brightest smile she could. "Michelle, I'm ready to start whenever you are. You're my trainer now - you call the shots!"

If this was what her mother wanted - for her to be a good student - then this was what her mother would get!

Her mother deserved only the very best from her, after all - in values, behavior, performance... the very best, in everything.

***

Over the course of the following months, Cindy found herself pushed beyond her limits in ways she had not even imagined.

Michelle was putting her on the same basic program she said she and her cousin Michael had been through, but modified extensively to take into account Cindy's powers.

From Michelle, Cindy learned a plethora of new skills.

Her agility and nimbleness were taken to an entirely different level. She could use her Super Jump intelligently now, to ascend buildings in a fraction of the time it used to take, and to incorporate acrobatics and keen reflexes into her movement.

A lot came down to muscle control. Through meditation techniques, she could now increase the natural toughness of her muscles, so that she now truly could repel bullets from her skin.

Michelle also confirmed that she used pneumatic strikes - ki strikes. However, those took a lifetime to learn, and ki took a very, very long time to develop, so it was impractical for Cindy to learn those same techniques.

"Also, they're kinda unnecessary for you, girl," Michelle told her. "You can already hit hard - now you need to learn to hit smart."

And she learned it - her fighting form improved. Her super strength could now be compounded by proper technique, making her much more effective in combat.

She even learned a few special moves she could use, and she decided on a whim to give them names. When she jumped up against a ceiling or pillar, and used her legs to propel her back down for a devastating punch, it was her "Victory Strike". When she grabbed an opponent and jumped up the same way, except to slam her opponent into the ground with overwhelming force, it was her "Victory Slam". And when she gathered her strength and leaped straight upwards with a rising uppercut, it would be her "Wings of Victory".

Michelle laughingly allowed her that conceit, and gave her tips that sharpened her technique while performing those attacks.

She had wondered initially why her mother could not join her in the same training regimen.

"Honey, I'm an old dog," Barbara had quipped. "I can't learn new tricks so easily! Besides, someone has to patrol Kings Row while you're in training. They can't be missing both of us at once. Let me handle what I can, my darling - you just keep making yourself stronger and better than your old mom!"

Cindy had of course protested her mother's unflattering descriptions of herself, but Barbara had insisted that Cindy would do better if Michelle could devote her attention entirely to her.

She wasn't lonely, exactly - her teacher was good company, after all.

From Michelle, she had the story about Jim Temblor's father. It was a saddening story - but fortunately, one with a more or less happy ending.

William Temblor, the first Faultline, had been a Hero, alongside a younger Blue Steel and another companion AkashiKnight. The supervillain PsiCurse had used a wicked device, the PsychoChronoMetron, to rewrite the fabric of reality itself, retroactively turning Faultline into a fellow villain and partner-in-crime. But PsiCurse's inaccurate understanding of Faultline's powers had created discrepancies that resulted in catastrophe, for both Faultline and himself. Blue Steel had saved Jim Temblor's life in the ensuing destruction.

For years afterwards, despite some strange physical evidence to the contrary, the world believed that Faultline had always been a villain - but the heroine-archaeologist Doc Delilah found that the story just didn't fit. Through her diligent and tireless research - and the assistance of Fusionette, Jim's childhood friend - she pieced the real story together.

Now the city had the truth once again, and William Temblor was where he belonged: in honored memory. And his son continued the legacy as a fully-confirmed member of Vanguard, defending the planet from all alien threats.

If such a thing were ever to happen to Barbara, Cindy thought, the sheer injustice of it would probably tip her over into an endless rage. She shuddered inwardly to contemplate what living in such a world would be like - say, if the world believed Valerie Phelps to be a heroine, while Barbara Beck was a supervillainess.

Hadn't that really been more or less what the Vixens had wanted, at the beginning of it all, when they had first kidnapped her to draw her mom into their trap? They had wanted to be celebrated as the superior mother-daughter pair, while Battler Babe and Battleborn would be degraded as their pet slaves. But the "good girls" had won in the end, by the thinnest of margins, because they had been strong enough. Otherwise... they would be living in a world where superheroines were the humiliated and shamed sex slaves of supervillainesses. It was almost too horrible to contemplate.

So she applied herself even harder to learning all she could from Michelle. If by her strength she could help prevent such things from happening to other people, then she would need all the strength she could get!

Cindy had a chance to demonstrate her new strength - in Boomtown, still a wreck from the Rikti invasion years earlier, the scrap-metal automaton Babbage was sighted once again, and Battleborn led the charge to bring it down. All agreed she did most of the work - taking most of the blows, shrugging off the electricity-based attacks that effectively disabled a few of her tech-reliant companions, battering Babbage into pieces with her skill and sheer power.

The creature would return in some form, of course, since the Clockwork King would rebuild it from scratch - but it would take a very long time indeed, thanks to the damage Cindy had done to it.

She came back to the base, glowing with pride from the commendations of the City and Michelle's personal praise, to find her mother freshly done with a workout.

"Mmmmm," she moaned, nuzzling Barbara's neck and breathing in the sweet scent of her mother's sweat.

"I've never faced Babbage before, but I've heard all about how tough that thing is. Honey, I'm so proud of you," her mother murmured, holding her close.

Cindy rested in her mother's warm embrace. Her mother's words still mattered to her more than anyone else's.

They were just about to share a warm, wet kiss - when suddenly, the alarms went off.

Mother and daughter looked around wildly - this had never happened before. The klaxons kept blaring as they rushed to the main security terminal.

**WARNING... WARNING... WARNING**

**INTERDIMENSIONAL ANOMALY DETECTED IN PORTAL ROOM**

**PORTAL CURRENTLY POWERED BY EXTERNAL SOURCE**

**97.2% POSSIBILITY POWER SOURCE IS EXTRA-DIMENSIONAL IN ORIGIN**

**RELEASING BULKHEAD SEAL. DOOR TO PORTAL ROOM IS NOW OPEN**

**WARNING... WARNING... WARNING**

Cindy and Barbara exchanged bewildered looks. What on earth was going on?

[TO BE CONTINUED]