Crimson Tigress silently landed on her feet. The main air ducts into Steelshayde's underground lair had gotten her this far, but from this point onward she'd have to risk following the hallways.

She was in a broad hallway with a door at each end and a metal arch above the doorway in front of her. The arch was on the end of the hallway that led deeper into the mountain; the main body of the lair was almost certainly in that direction. She moved toward the arch quickly but carefully, alert for traps.

She got caught by surprise anyway.

An energy beam hit her dead center. She tried to dodge as it continued to bear down upon her, but she was unable to move. She felt dizzy as she watched her surroundings distort like that painting with melting clocks draped over tree branches. Weird sounds played in her ears, sounding like a cacophony of voices too faint and indistinct to make out.

Finally, the beam shut off, and the world returned to normal.

"Look at me."

Steelshayde was now standing under the archway at the far end of the room.

"Look at me, Crimson Tigress," she repeated. "Do you know that the only reason I commit crimes is to get your attention? Not for money. Not for a cause. I did it to get your attention."

"Why?" Crimson Tigress still felt a bit dazed, and wasn't quite sure how to respond to this emotional confession. "If you wanted my attention, you could have tried just talking to me."

"I wanted thrills in my life." The voice sounded almost wistful. "But it's not enough. Stealing things and digging up secrets just isn't as much fun as it used to be."

The villainess sighed. "Let's not waste any more of our time fighting each other."

Crimson Tigress nodded. Yes, that would be good.

Servo arms emerged from the inner surface of the arch. removing Steelshayde's armor piece by piece and pulling it into the structure. The villainess stood before the heroine wearing only her bra and panties.

"You're the thrill I need in my life," Steelshayde declared as she ran her fingers through her jet-black hair. She tilted her head coquettishly and smiled. "If I can have you, I'll be able to settle down."

The heroine blinked. Was her old enemy offering to give up crime in return for her friendship? She wanted to believe it. She couldn't dismiss it out of hand. It would be a greater victory than she'd ever won in a fight.

Steelshayde sashayed toward Crimson Tigress, who stood unmoving as the villainess approached. Her expression was pleading as she looked the heroine in the eye and asked, "Can we be together?"

The villainess then leaned in and gave the heroine a quick, almost chaste, kiss.

"Would you really give up crime?" If there was a real chance for that, she had to pursue it. If she rebuffed it, then every crime Steelshayde committed from now on would be her fault. So she should let her kiss her, maybe even kiss her back. There wasn't anything wrong with kissing another woman. Even straight women did that just to be affectionate, right?

"If I can have you, there's nothing I could steal that would be worth giving you up."

Confused and still not quite sure it was the right thing to do, the heroine leaned in to kiss the villainess. The villainess responded passionately. Crimson Tigress felt the other woman's tongue probing at her lips. She opened her mouth to let it in. She couldn't give up this chance to turn Steelshayde away from crime over a little thing like a kiss. Hell, she'd French-kissed other girls at parties to tease the guys. If she could do that, she could do this.

Finally, Steelshayde pulled back, took a breath, and spoke. "Please don't turn me away," she pouted as she began tugging Crimson Tigress's tunic upward. "I don't think I could bear it," she added as she pulled the garment high enough to reveal the heroine's bra.

"Please don't make me angry and vengeful. I don't know what I might do if that happened." she continued as the tunic fell to the floor.

Crimson Tigress shuddered. Insane villains determined to lash out at the world were far more dangerous than pragmatic thieves and spies like Steelshayde. If she decided to outfit her power armor for sheer destructive power instead of speed and stealth, she could level a dozen city blocks before anyone could stop her.

That would be bad. Letting another woman see her tits was just a little odd, but there wasn't anything wrong with it. She was still wearing a bra... That thought stopped short as her bra fell on top of her tunic. Well, letting another woman see her bare tits was all right, too...

Letting another woman caress her tits wasn't really bad, either. She thought she remembered letting another girl play with her tits at a college party. Her memories weren't clear; she'd been pretty drunk at the time. She couldn't get drunk any more, not since she'd gotten her superhuman physique. So she was doing this cold sober. It must be what she wanted to do.

It didn't matter. The important thing was that she had a chance to convince Steelshayde to give up crime. Focus on that.

"Mmmmmm... you give me a better rush than I ever got on a heist!"

Crimson Tigress smiled at the compliment. It occurred to her that this woman's flexing fingers on her tits actually felt better than her last boyfriend's grabby paws. Why not just roll with it?

She blinked when Steelshayde's hands pulled away for a moment, and blinked again when the other woman's bra joined hers on the floor.

"Go ahead and join in," she said as she resumed fondling the heroine's tits.

The heroine's hands moved slowly and tentatively, but they moved. She wasn't a quitter. She wasn't going to quit when she had a chance to end a villainess's life of crime without having to hurt or incarcerate her.

"Ohhh yesssss... you're good at this!" Steelshayde smirked. "You must have been with a woman before, or at least dreamed about it."

"...never been with a woman..." the heroine whispered as she continued to squeeze and grope.

"But you have dreamed about it!" Her reply was a faux-mocking lilt.

Of course she'd dreamed about it. That was normal. Nobody was one hundred percent heterosexual or homosexual. If drawing upon her latent sparks of homosexuality would convert Steelshayde into a law-abiding citizen, it was the only right thing to do.

After they fondled each other for a little while, Steelshayde stopped and took Crimson Tigress's hands in hers. "Before I commit to being a good girl from now on, I need to know what a good girl tastes like," she purred.

That was certainly reasonable, the heroine thought. It was important to make sure the villainess had no doubts or reservations about giving up her evil ways. She was glad to be able to lead her to that decision.

Steelshayde knelt and slipped her ands under the waistband of the heroine's tights.

Crimson Tigress shivered as she suddenly realized what the other woman meant by finding out what she tasted like. Could she let another woman do that? Would it make her a lesbian if she did? Would it make her a lesbian if she liked it? Was there any way to say no without sending Steelshayde onto a path of vengeance? How could she live with herself if that happened?

"Oooh, a natural redhead!" the villainess cooed, interrupting the whirl of questions in the heroine's mind. The next thing she knew, she felt breath on her bush and then a tongue on her pussy lips. It was too late to object now. The only thing to do was accept it and hope she tasted good enough.

She arched her back into it as she felt the tongue probe deeper, and moaned as it found her clit.

Doing this didn't turn her into a lesbian, she decided. She was just being a thespian lesbian -- she giggled -- in a good cause. Maybe. She'd know for sure if this happened a few more times.

Never mind that. She was convincing the villainess to be good. It must be working; she was already very good at making her feel good. She giggled again. The giggles turned into gasps as she felt herself careening toward the brink, and then into a loud long moan as she came.

As she took a deep breath to compose herself, and then another, she noticed Steelshayde looking at her.

"Your turn. You won't really believe that I'm good until you find out for yourself that I taste good."

There seemed to be something wrong with that reasoning, but Crimson Tigress didn't feel like trying to figure out what. She got down on her knees and tugged down the other woman's panties.

"So, do I taste good?"

Pulling back just a bit to respond, she uttered an affirmative "Mmm-hmm!" sound. Her tongue then began licking and thrusting. She had an instinct for instantly learning an opponent's moves in combat, and the same skill served here, judging by how quickly the other woman's hips began reflexively rocking.

"Oh-oh-oh-oh-god!!" Steelshayde cried as she climaxed. "Being a good girl is more fun!" she chuckled as her companion got to her feet.

After a long silence of leaning into each other, touching foreheads to foreheads and tits to tits, the villainess finally spoke up. "I want to be good from now on, and I want us to be together from now on."

Crimson Tigress nodded. "Yes. That sounds good."

"Let's take this somewhere more comfortable and set the ground rules for our relationship. It can be what it is right now, where I stop being a criminal and we get together a few times a month, or we can make it something even better."

The heroine didn't say anything, but her expression made it clear that she wanted to hear more.

"If you really wow me in bed -- and I'll grade on a curve because I'm your first woman -- I'll team up with you and help you fight bad guys. How does that sound?"

"It sounds wonderful!" Steelshayde turning her technical genius and fighting skills to the side of heroism would be a huge advantage. The city's heroes and heroines were always stretched thin, and the police could rarely do much of anything about superpowered threats.

"Well, then, let's adjourn to the bedroom and get things sorted out."

The women walked through the doorway beneath the arch.

Steelshayde lay in bed for a while after Crimson Tigress left, alternating between daydreaming, diddling herself, and making plans for what to do next.

The Suggestibility Stimulator had worked perfectly. Under its effect, the heroine had been totally smitten by her frankly rather cheesy overtures. Her own sense of duty and justice had impelled her to offer herself as a lover in order to convert her old enemy to the side of righteousness. She saw the deal as reasonable and beneficial, and she accepted it.

They both accepted it, actually, At first, she'd planned to enjoy Crimson Tigress's sexual favors for a while before breaking it off and returning to her old ways, but she was rethinking that plan.

She had more than enough money stashed in untraceable accounts to be comfortable for life. There wasn't really any point in continuing to steal except for the thrills, and she could get the same thrills by fighting on the heroes' side. That had the advantage of working with allies who wouldn't be looking for an opportunity to stab her in the back and get all the loot for themselves.

Also, breaking off the relationship meant no more of what was, frankly, the best sex she'd had in years. If it weren't for the fact that the suggestibility effect made lying impossible, she wouldn't believe that her bedmate had been a girl-virgin until tonight.

Yes, Crimson Tigress was definitely worth switching sides for. She chuckled at the thought that the heroine had already "switched sides" for her. If the suggestibility went as deep as she thought, that would become a comprehensive change to her sexual orientation rather than just a limited one-person exception.

She pondered taking up a new codename to go with her new allegiance. It would probably involve less sneaking around and more protecting hapless civilians.

An idea came to her, and she jumped out of bed and struck a dramatic hands-on-hips pose. "Beware, evildoers, for you cannot defeat the power of Crimson Tigress and her sister-in-arms, the Steel Sentinel!"