Wild ride, Ms Jones

<SHIELD Alliance forces continue to clash against the armies of Thanos the Mad Titan in the Unknown Region, and have fallen back to form a defensive perimeter around the mass relay at Alpha Tau Theta.>

<Admiral Amelia Shepard, commanding the exploratory forces in the region, has so far declined to comment, but a spokesperson for the navy expressed hopes that hostilities would calm following the withdrawal.>

<Possible Asari, Salarian or Turian intervention, should the conflict re-escalate, has become a point of contention during the on-going peace talks at the Citadel.>

<Councilor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy maintains that 'humanity's reckless expansion is not indicative of a race that is ready for a seat on the Council'.>

<Chief negotiator Donnel Udina rebuffed this accusation, holding that the SHIELD Alliance exploratory fleet had never attempted to settle a world already occupied by another sapient species, nor ever been the first to initiate conflict on the galactic stage, reminding the Council of the Turian Hierarchy's unwarranted aggression during the Relay 314 Incident.>

<More updates to follow as they come in. In other news...>

I tuned out the radio and focused on the lithe, lovely creature on top me.

Jessica sighed contentedly as my fingers ran up and down her spine. She was straddling me, her naked body flush against mine, not yet willing to rise and clean up.

She'd done a patch-job of fixing up her bed, but it probably couldn't handle another round without breaking it a second time, so we'd ended up on the couch.

"Feel better?"

"Mhm." She stirred lazily, running her hands up to my shoulders in response as my fingers continued trailing over her back.

A half-full glass of bourbon still glinted amber on her desk, but from what she'd told me she was down from about a liter per day to within normal human standards of alcohol consumption.

While sexy as hell, the desperation she'd greeted me with when I arrived worried me a little. My moral compass might not be pointing straight north, but I liked her well enough.

I'd been impulsive, last time. Luckily, I had the opportunity to fix it.

"You don't actually need me in order to feel normal, you know." Her face scrunched up cutely, clearly resisting the suggestion. "If you really need to, if you want to, you can just take a few breaths to center yourself when it becomes too much. Let go of all those negative emotions, get back to normal. Without drinking, without sex. Trust me, it'll help."

"I'll... Give it a try, I guess." She sounded slightly skeptical still, burrowed into the crook of my neck. A trail of soft kisses towards my jawline soon followed, making me shiver. "That doesn't let you off the hook though. You promised you'd take care of me, remember?"

There was a teasing lilt to her voice. I had said that, over the omni call. And I'd sure as hell meant it.

I pulled lightly on her hair, and Jessica gasped softly, her full lips eagerly meeting my kiss.

My hands went to her pert ass, fingers digging into her cheeks possessively. Jessica made a primal noise, low in her throat, and rolled her hips in response. My cock was quickly springing back to life inside of her as she began moving, slowly, bouncing her pelvis in my lap and gasping softly.

When we separated, interrupting the kiss solely because we both still needed air, both were breathing heavily.

My eyes were at least as darkened by desire as hers.

"I'll always take care of you," I groaned, appreciatively, "Don't hesitate to ask if you want me to drop by. God, that feels so fucking good."

She dove in and kissed me again, hungrily.

"Mmmmh - yes, it does -"

I was still acting impulsively.

I'd all but forgotten my resolution to wait, and see if the changes my voice could bring were permanent or temporary, to see how long it would last and if the effects ever lessened or remained constant.

The rising sounds of her enjoyment only stoked the fire inside my chest, made me want to fuck her brains out until there was nothing left of us but pleasure.

I rose from the couch, lifted her effortlessly and moved towards the desk, bouncing her lithe body on my manhood. Her sopping wet sex slapped lewdly against my pelvis with each step, making both of us moan, though I'd ensured it was always her more than me.

"Oh fuck - oh fuck - oh fuck - aaaah!"

I marveled internally at how powerful it made me feel. And by all accounts, I was only getting more powerful by the minute, her steadily recuperating aura blazing against my own.

I gave a hard thrust up into her, enough to make her see stars, and as she bit her lip to contain a scream of pleasure, pulled out of her tight spasming cunt, leaving a strand of seed to spill out of her onto the wooden floor boards as I repositioned her.

Jessica gasped back into awareness as I set her down, her face and hardened nipples pressed against the cold, hard polished wood off the desk.

"Yesss, do it. Fuck me, Mason." She moaned, squirming to no effect against the firm hold I had on her lovely hips. And then I plunged back inside of her from behind, until my cockhead was pressed against the entrance of her womb.

"OH FUCK! -" I started pumping my hips, sawing in and out of the wet velvety vice-grip of her cunt, "- fuckfuckfuck - aaaah, d-do it - fucking destroy me - HNNGH!"

As much as I might've orchestrated the situation I found myself in, I was also completely powerless to say no to it.

Out of respect for her neighbors - who am I kidding, because it was extremely hot - I clasped a hand over her gasping, pleading mouth as I continued pounding into her.

Jessica fit me like a glove at this angle, and the spasming of her internal muscles as she came her brains out soon had me groaning as I deposited another hot load inside her trembling body.

"Holy shit..." I muttered, admiring her pale naked body, covered in a light sheen of sweat, still impaled on my slowly softening member. I kissed her shoulder blade softly.

Our combined juices were slowly trailing down the insides of her thighs, a small puddle forming beneath her.

"Even if your trick works," Jessica murmured, radiating satisfaction, "You're delusional if you think I don't need more of that."

"I was counting on it." I chuckled, pulling out of her slowly this time and drawing her up into another kiss. "Let's go get cleaned up."

The shower was a lazy affair, filled with tender kissing and touching. I couldn't help it. I might not be in love, but good sex just builds a connection, an appreciation. And if Jessica felt differently, I had no indication of it.

I texted mom, let her know I wouldn't be home for dinner.

Jessica was... Pretty fascinating.

Fucked up, yeah, but I was helping with that in my own perverted way.

And perhaps that meant I was more fucked up still, so I had no room to judge.

I let her vent about her frustrations with the District Attorney, who so far only looked pretty likely to drop the kidnapping charges against her. And even then only because of the dozens of testimonials the cops had gotten about Killgrave's actions and powers.

That wasn't enough on its own, of course, not legally. But Jess' lawyer - still Jeri Hogarth, despite the near-miss with that woman almost letting Kevin out of his cell - had made a strong case that the involuntary imprisonment was a valid form of self-defense in this case, considering Killgrave's history.

Whatever else she was, Hogarth was damn good at her job. Good enough to make the DA nervous. And from what Jessica had told me of Samantha Reyes, that was saying something. A hard ass, and no fan of metahumans.

Hope Shlottman hadn't been released yet, but it sounded like it would only be a matter of time before Jeri got her murder charges for the death of her parents dropped as well.

Word from Clemons was that Killgrave had let his involvement in Hope's murders slip under questioning.

I had to wonder if that was due to my command to turn himself in, or simply sloppiness, perhaps despair once he realized his powers weren't coming back.

It wasn't until we were eating dinner, pizza from a place a couple of blocks away, that she dropped a bombshell.

"Trish found something that might lead to finding out about how I got my powers. I... Got them after a car crash in my teens. A company called IGH paid my medical bills... And doesn't seem to exist." She sighed, returning from staring off into the distance to focus back on me. "I'm not sure I even want to know. But it might be important. And Trish... Well, she's not exactly easy to convince when she doesn't want to drop something. Like a dog with a bone."

I gave it some consideration while I chewed.

"It does sound like it might be worth looking into." My eyes trailed over the blazing aura inside of her that only I could see, uncertainly. Maybe 67%? "But try to take it easy for a few days at least, you're not back at full strength yet."

"Yeah, I know." She responded. That made me blink.

No one had so far noticed when I was draining their power.

"What, you think I wasn't going to notice going from full strength to below half-a-tank?" Jess chuckled at my expression. "You even told me you tapped into my powers in order to follow me. Not exactly a Sherlock-level deduction to figure out what happened."

"Right. That's fair." She didn't seem mad at all, but then, Jessica was definitely a special case.

I guess if that bartender, Luke, was observant, he might not be so happy the next time I see him. I'd dropped by his bar and said hello, nicking another 10% off the top, while I was getting the pizzas. He'd still seemed friendly enough. But I took less from him, and he didn't really have any clues.

Still, I wasn't going to rule it out.

After some consideration, I convinced Jess to let me know if she was heading into something potentially dangerous, and I'd tag along as backup.

Together, we had a lot more than just her full power.

And if a company was making Powered people, well... That sounded like free samples to me.