Dedicated to: Every Single One Of You!

___________

The fight resumes, granted a safe distance away from the antique tea set on the counter.

"I've missed this."
Galaxy Girl cheers once the blows resumed exchange.
"Your footwork and coordination has improved tenfold."
The villain compliments, ducking under a right hook.
"So has your ability to improvise."
She returns, sidestepping to avoid a kick.
"All those different martial arts you learned, the crazy fighting styles... who'd of thought it would be learning to ballroom dance that would finally do it." This makes them both laugh.
He grabs her hand to pin her arm behind her back, but she easily escapes by twirling under his arm like they did countless times back on tour.
"Clever girl." He smirks, feeling a spark of that power he used to feel when they danced. He didn't let go of her hand, instead he jerked until her back was against his chest and he had both his hands clasped in front of her stomach, pinning her arms to her side. With her skin against his, his power drained completely, and that spark of emotions and memories rapidly turned into a towering inferno, all the feelings he had locked away under the guise of professionalism came tearing back like the last time he tried to push Galaxy Girl through a black-hole.

The superhuman with the ionic memory, had tried so hard to forget, but with her so close he couldn't help but catch scent of her strawberry shampoo, and visions of himself and his nemesis all tangled up together both on the dance floor and off flashed. He tried to fight them, much like he was fighting her now, shuffling his feet to avoid the golden boots which were trying aggressively to step on his toes, but the wall in his mind was no longer the great barrier it once was. That is when the memories of lying to her, and then feeling his own guilt for the first time decided to rear their ugly heads. 
Toxic, realizing he couldn't do it anymore, let his arms go limp, releasing her out of the blue

She turned on her heel, arm drawn back, ready to punch him across his ever smug face but the look on his face made her drop her hand.
"What's wrong?!?" The words pour out, her big blue eyes staring up at him with genuine care, just making things worse. 

"Galaxy... I believe I have a few things that I must express." He shoves his hands deep into his pockets. She watched his aura go from its usual burn to what could only be described as a nervous energy.
"Ok...?" 
"I know we had an unspoken arrangement never to discuss any of this again... what happened on during our trip was supposed to stay there, I know..." He shakes his head.
"But I now find myself unable to move forward."

"If you do not wish for me to continue, you may arrest me right now." He holds out his hands in the handcuffed position.
"I promise I won't fight you if you do..." Galaxy Girl’s hand went instinctively to the cuffs on her hip, but seeing the needy expression written across his pale face made her drop it back down to her side.
"Say what you need to say...”
She found herself gulping nervously.

"I find it necessary to apologize for lying to you... I promise it will never happen again." His eyes downcast.
"I also find it necessary to apologize for the harsh, disrespectful things I said, also, for making you unduly upset when we were last in that hotel room." Her face was dumbfounded, he never apologized for anything, to anyone. "Now the reason I feel this explanation necessary..." He exhales.
"Is because directly following those events, I experienced my own guilt for the first time."

"You felt guilty?!" She exclaims trying to hide her thrill.
"You actually felt guilty?!" She was in disbelief.
"Yes... and like when I felt yours, it is something I never want to experience again." His whole body shivers.
"I felt a pain here." He places his fist over his heart.
"And hurting you was so excruciating that I just wanted to rip this damned thing out."
He presses his knuckles down harder onto his pounding heart, as if that would stop it.
"These damned emotions!"
Her hands covered her mouth, hearing that her rival was physically capable of feeling the one thing he had tormented millions of people with had left her absolutely dumbfounded. She stepped the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him in the most innocent hug, pressing her ear against heart. He returned the embrace, pulling her closer they started to instinctively sway, despite the lack of music.

"I am still having emotions for you Nemesis." He whispers into her hair.
"I have emotions for you too; Toxic." Her eyes well up and as she speaks, his hand goes immediately to her cheek, and hers goes to the back of his neck. Without hesitation the hero and the villain share a passionate kiss.

"These feelings were supposed to stay In Europe, but I can't stop thinking about them, or you." Galaxy Girl says after pulling away, burying her head in his neck, letting herself enjoy the moment, his warmth, the touch of his radioactive skin; allowing herself the freedom of forgetting  her place just for a few seconds of blasphemous bliss. Without saying a word, or even breaking eye contact, he reaches down to his utility belt and hits a few keys on his handheld, Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark begins emitting from the speakers in his lair.

"Would you like to dance?"
Toxic's brown eyes begged.
Galaxy Girl groans, but instead of citing everything in the book, she doesn't argue and simply takes his outstretched hand.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Stark City, within the secret lab beneath the Stockman family mansion, Mastermind rapidly approached a figure sleeping on a white hospital bed; his heart longing to see the figure so spread on the bed, sleeping ever so calmly.
After checking the life support systems, planet Earth's most infamous genius sat down onto the bedside chair.
"My love, I finally told our son the truth." He reached over and grabs the hand of his long unconscious wife. "Well...” he pauses, with his free hand he strokes her long, raven hair, watching her chest rise slowly up and down.
"Almost all of it."

-The End (Or is it?)

______________________

A/N: Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen. The complete book!
If you enjoyed it, I would greatly appreciate if you could leave a review on Amazon and or Goodreads.
If you really enjoyed it, please go and buy a copy (only $0.99 till the end of March) This will help support yet another starving artist achieve their ultimate goal of one day actually making a living solely from writing, and ie, having more time to write.
For those of you wondering, yes, their will be a sequal, but as I am currently swamped with my new job, house, and "A Thorn In The Ice" it will be a hot minute before I can get around to writing and posting it.
Thank you all so much for the support this book has recieved, and for every vote, comment, and library add.
You guys are the best!
-QueenOfGeeks