Hero vs Villain: Kryptonian Style

Here's the concept:

In season 9 of Smallville, there is a group of depowered Kryptonians living on Earth. This is where the story starts. Before Clark sends them to a new planet, some of those Kryptonians start relationships on Earth. Some of them have one night stands. However it happens, there are human women with Kryptonian babies. Despite, or perhaps because they are depowered, the Kryptonian DNA breeds true.

These are our characters.

My character grew up with a Mother who was a druggie, mostly meth and heroin. He comes into his powers recently and turns to a life of crime. He tries to rob a bank in Crown City.

Your character is a better person. When she discovers her powers she opts to use them for the benefit of mankind as a hero. Her ba aground is up to you.

One caveat: both characters wear masks in costume. Neither is ready for their identity to get out.

You try to stop me from robbing banks. We fight and find we are roughly the same strength and equal in other powers. After a few of these fights I make you an offer: I will stop robbing banks if you will sleep with me.

With my super strength I have not been willing to try to have sex with a normal girl. I think we could really cut loose together. We're both curious and no one else is available to experiment with. So you agree.

I'm looking for a female co-author. We can talk about kinks and plot lines before we start. PM me if you're interested.

Haley Jones, a.k.a. "Nova Girl"

Haley knew that all things considered she was an incredibly blessed and lucky girl. When she was still just an infant she'd been adopted by Dr. Grant Jones and his wife Carol Jones. Dr. Jones was an industrialist, head of Jones Industries, and a self-made billionaire. His wife had been a nurse before the two had married, and then later became an active member of various charity groups. Both were kind, hardworking people that genuinely cared about those less fortunate than themselves and, despite all the stereotypes that may exist about spoiled rich kids, had raised their Haley to be the same.

Haley didn't know much about her biological parents, but she certainly had her suspicions. According to her adoption records Haley's biological mother had been a single unwed mother who'd immediately given Haley up for adoption at birth, and whom had requested that the documents be sealed and Haley not be able to contact her in the future. Growing up Haley's mother had always told her that this was because Haley's bio-mom knew she wouldn't be able to take care of Haley and wanted a better life for her, but now Haley thought otherwise. She thought the young woman had been scared.

Even as a child Haley had a little more strength and stamina than what seemed normal for a girl her size and age, but it was in her teenage years that everything had really started to kick in and by the time she'd reached college she'd had it all: super strength, speed, hearing, vision, flight, and so on. All of the exact same powers as Superman. At first she'd tried to hide it from her parents, but eventually they'd caught on. Luckily they were supportive and, after the initial shock had worn off, had encouraged her that like Superman she too should use her powers to do good and to help others. Easier said than done, right?

Thankfully there were definitely some perks to being the daughter of a billionaire industrialist that was CEO of his own company. Like having access to all of the company's resources and latest technology when needing to develop your super-suit, and not to mention your dad being able to set you up with an internship at his company straight out of college. It was the perfect cover! Not that she was one to slack off, but as the boss's daughter no one would suspect a thing if she suddenly ducked out from time to time without warning.

Which is exactly what she was in the middle of doing right now actually. While in the middle of shredding some forms in the copy room her super hearing had picked up on an alarm coming from a bank several blocks down. In a flash she'd dashed up to the roof, changed into her suit, and was now soaring through the sky to go and investigate.

Jack walked up to the bank wearing a black ski mask, a black long sleeve shirt, Jeans, boots and gloves. He didn't fly up to the bank, but he could have. He didn't smash through the wall, though he could have. He was trying not to showcase all his abilities. He wanted to give the authorities as little information as possible.

This was a one and done sort of thing. Go in. Rob the bank. Leave with millions of dollars. Never need to do this again.

His Mom was in the hospital. Again. From and overdose. Again. Jack was already on a payment plan with the hospital, trying to pay off her medical bills. The hospital couldn't afford to lend him anymore credit. He couldn't afford an increase in his debt load anyway. His paychecks from the burger joint he cooked at were already consumed by the rent fro low income housing, food, electricity and Mom's hospital bills. Last month she'd managed to steal some money out of his wallet while he was sleeping to go buy more drugs. That just set him back even more.

It was a good thing Jack didn't really need to eat. If he could spend enough time outside he could absorb enough solar radiation to sustain himself.

So this heist would pay off the hospital, pay for rehab, maybe put mom in some sort of assisted living, and let Jack move far, far away from the city

When he stepped into the bank it took a minute for people to realize what was going on. He ignored the people. With his X-Ray vision he spotted the vault easily enough. He headed in that direction.

A security guard stepped in his path, brandishing a gun, saying something about stopping or whatever. Jack walked right toward him, pulled the gun out of the security guard's hand and crushed it. The bullets exploded in a suitably impressive fashion. Now they knew they were dealing with a meta human. The security guards could stand down, time to alert the police. He heard them push the silent alarm button.

Jack didn't even break stride. The national average police response time was five minutes for the first car to be on the scene. Crown City Police were not on the high side of that average. Like the rest of the cities around Lake Michigan, Crown City had been in steady decline since WWII. It wasn't as bad as Detroit, but then, it had never been as good as Detroit either. Besides, it wouldn't take Jack five minutes to do this heist.

X-Ray vision. Super Strength. Super hearing. Flight. Yes, all powers of Superman. Jack had the rest of them too. Heat vision, freezing breath, super speed, macro and micro vision. He grew up with a single mother but after his powers really started to show in high school he stopped wondering who his father was. Apparently Superman was a player.

Fair enough. Jack was looking forward to getting enough control of his super strength that he would feel comfortable having sex with normal human women. If Superman could do it, so could he. Eventually.

It was the other reason he wasn't worried about that cops. Unless they called in dear old dad, or one of his Justice League buddies, no one was stopping Jack today. Even if the Question hadn't moved on to another city, the Question would never be able to stop Jack.

Jack got to the vault. Now for the amazing part of his plan. He didn't rip the vault door off. Oh no. He punched out the wall the vault was next too and pulled the whole damn thing out the side of the building. Fucking genius. With his strength he could carry the whole damn thing away with him.

That was the plan. Nova Girl, however, probably had plans of her own.

Haley soared through the sky toward the bank, the golden cape of her “Nova Girl” costume billowing behind her as she flew.

She herself had absolutely no reservations about revealing her powers to whoever might be paying attention. She was still new to this whole superhero thing, but who knows. If she proved herself capable enough she might just catch the eye of the Justice League or Superman himself, and then maybe she’d finally be able to get some answers as to why exactly she was the way that she was and why her birth mother had abandoned her. After all, it couldn’t just be mere coincidence that she had the same powers as him. He had to know something.

She had spotted the bank and began her decent, when she suddenly froze in midair.
“What the…”

She’d been expecting a normal run-of-the-mill bank heist, but what she discovered instead was a single unarmed man dragging the entire vault right out the side of the building! Apparently he was another meta human like herself. Looks like she might get a chance to prove herself sooner than she thought.

Faster than a speeding bullet she launched herself down towards the bank and landed feet first down on the top of the vault, the force of her impact pinning the vault back to the ground and ceasing the man’s pulling.

“What’s the hurry, honey?” she asked as she placed her hands on her hips and peered down at him, an amused grin spreading across her face.

The vault jerked out of his hands, coming to a screeching halt. Jack had been trying to do the minimum amount of damage here. Using his x-ray vision, he looked on either side of the vault to see if he had snagged on any structural supports. The last thing he wanted to do was bring down the side of the building. No, he was completely clear of the building. Then he looked up to see if he was stuck on the top of the vault and saw the girl.

And with his x-ray vision on he saw everything. EVERYTHING.

"Nice tits!" was the first thought through his head, followed quickly by, "Shit, her molecular density is like mine! She must be a meta human like me! Well duh, she didn't climb on top of the vault."

Shaking his head slightly to clear it Jack took a step back as the girl in the costume said, “What’s the hurry, honey?”

Jack chuckled. Honey? Fair enough. "Well Babydoll, I'm kind of robbing a bank here. I don't want to have to beat up on the cops. I could, but normal humans are so boring to fight, don't you think?"

Jack lifted one hand up, extending his first finger to the sky. He reached out with his arm, just barely touching the vault with the tip of his finger. Twitching his finger ever so slightly, he tipped the vault over completely onto it's side.

Jack didn't think he was going to hurt the costumed heroine, she flew here after all and even if she did fall to the ground he doubted a person with her molecular density would be hurt. No, it was a display of his strength, pure and simple. He was trying to scare her off. It should work.

Should.

Haley quickly flew up into the air as the vault came crashing over onto its side, easily dodging it. Though she had to admit the display of strength had caught her a bit off guard.

Man, this guy was strong!

So strong that he'd sent the entire vault tumbling over with just the twitch of his finger! Not that she couldn't have done the same if she'd wanted to of course, but still. It was impressive none the less. No doubt any normal human would have gone running in response to what he'd just done, probably a lot of meta humans as well. But Haley was far from "normal", and flying wasn't her only skill.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," she replied, casting him a stern look as she gently grabbed the corner of the vault with one hand and set it right side up again as easily as if she was simply tipping over a cardboard box and not some giant steel vault.

"This money belongs to the bank and to the hardworking citizens of this city," she said, landing in front of him and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Now I suggest you back down and let me put it back where it belongs before you find yourself biting off something that's a little more than you can chew."

Jack couldn't help but smile under the mask. This girl was definitely something of a spitfire. He crossed his arms over his chest, matching her bravado and took a step forward so there was less then a foot between them.

"Chew on, eh?" Jack said as he looked up and down her body, letting her see him leering. "You are certainly a scrumptious morsel. There's all sorts of parts of you I'd like to nibble on. Just a quick question though."

He paused, letting the tension drag on for a few seconds, giving her almost, but not quite enough time to ask him what the question was.

"If you're out here guarding the money of the hardworking citizens and all that, then who is going to tend to all the hardworking citizens I had to damage on my way to the vault?" Jack gestured toward the inside of the bank with his chin.

It was a ruse, of course. He wanted her distracted. Just for a second. If she turned around, and she would, he would be able to toss her out of the way. A few miles out of the way.

Haley stood her ground when the young man took a step towards her, not backing down or budging an inch as he moved towards her. She knew there was a chance that he might try to strike her, but she figured she'd had no problem blocking it with her super speed if he did. She frowned with distaste as he looked her up and down in a leering manner and then turned her words on her, suggesting he'd like to have a nibble at her.

Yeah right, jerk. In your dreams.

She was about to tell him as such when he suddenly switched topics and stated he had a question, letting it hang in the air for what seemed like an eternity before finally...

"If you're out here guarding the money of the hardworking citizens and all that, then who is going to tend to all the hardworking citizens I had to damage on my way to the vault?"

Tender heart that she was, Haley couldn't help it. At the thought that there might be hurt people inside needing her help her eyes went wide and she instantly turned her head and began to scan the bank with her x-ray vision.

It was only for a second, but it was long enough.

A second was more then enough. Jack dropped into super speed, grabbed the girl and tossed her into orbit. Well, probably the stratosphere. It wasn't anything sexy or suave either. On hand on her elbow, the other on her knee and he tossed her up. Up past the tallest building in Crown City and beyond.

Jack didn't want to hurt her, just get her out of the way. She was a flyer. She could certainly recover, probably even before she reached the apex of his throw.

Which meant Jack needed to hurry. He grabbed the vault, lifted it over his head and took off flying on his own. He stayed low, lower then the tops of the buildings, probably about two stories up. He didn't want to be spotted by flying girl from the sky.

Once he cleared the city Jack planned on heading somewhere isolated to loot out the vault. Probably lake Michigan. Dump the vault there, note the location, then go get some trash bags to empty it out. Money wouldn't be ruined by the water and no one else could get to it. Not before Jack did anyway. It was the perfect plan.

If he could get out of the city.

Haley had just taken a second to scan the inside of the bank with her x-ray vision and, thankfully, realized that there were indeed no harmed civilians inside when suddenly she felt a hand clamp down on first her elbow and then another on her knee. Next thing she knew she was soaring up into the sky above Crown City.

"Son of a...!"

This guy was really starting to get on her nerves.

Putting the breaks on her launch into the clouds, she righted herself and began her decent as fast as she could back to the city below. With her superhuman vision she was able to see the bank below even though she was still quite a ways off, but she didn't see him anywhere nearby, which wasn't necessarily surprising. He obviously had super speed if he'd been able to grab her and toss her up into the air that quickly. She paused midair and took a moment to focus in on the noises of the city with her super hearing.

There! The unmistakable sound of the yells and startled cries of the people the meta human robber was passing by as he tried to escape the city with the vault reached her ears and she dashed off in their direction.

She was surprised when she caught up with him and found that he was flying! Super strength and speed, and now flying too?! Looks like she may have underestimated him. It didn't matter. She was done trying to take it easy on him after that stunt he'd pulled.

He was flying about two stories up, but she was higher as she came up on him from behind and plowed herself full force down onto the vault as he carried it above him, ramming both it and him down into the cement bellow. With his super strength she knew it wouldn't kill him, but she knew it couldn't possibly feel good either.

The people were pointing and shouting as Jack flew by. Not how he wanted to do this, but not a huge deal. He was getting away with it! That's what mattered. The money was his. Mom was going to rehab. He could move out of the city. Maybe even go to college. He could never afford college with all the shit going on in his life. Maybe it wasn't the most ethical thing he'd ever done, but fuck it. Ethics were for people who ate everyday.

And then he was eating asphalt. Jack found himself buried in the stuff, up past his head, with the vault buried on top of him. He was so far down into the asphalt he actually was in the dirt under the road. Face first in the dirt. His mouth was full of asphalt and gravel.

Damn it. Jack was pissed now.

A flick of his wrist and the vault went flying. Where? Who knows?

Jack stood and sure enough there was the blonde chick in the blue outfit.

"What the fuck?" Jack found himself shouting, "Can't just let me have this one can you? Have to stick your nose in my business? You need a knock down, drag out battle with a super villain to boost your ego? Prove yourself to the Justice League?"

Jack pulled his hands way back behind him and swung them forward in a massive clap, the sound wave shaking buildings, knocking people down and shattering every window on the street.

"C'mon then. I'm your huckleberry."

Haley felt the force of the shock-wave the robber had created hit her as she hovered in the air a ways in front of him, causing her hair and cape to billow behind her. He had to admit, she'd been pretty mad and ready for a fight when she'd slammed him into the cement like that, but seeing the damage to the buildings around her and hearing the frightened screams of the people around as they were knocked over quickly brought her back to her senses.

In truth as much as she did want to prove herself to the Justice League, and to Superman in particular, Haley preferred not getting into a "knock down, drag out battle" as he'd put it. She'd seen enough of them on the news to know the kind of damage that they could cause...to buildings and to people. Maybe she should try reasoning with him one last time.

"Are you kidding me right now?! Didn't anybody ever teach you that it's wrong to take things that don't belong to you? You're acting like I should have just let you walk off with an entire vault!," she shot back.

"Besides, if I let you get away with this now then every other crook and villain in this city will think they can get away whatever they want too. It would be absolute chaos, and there's no way I'm going to let that happen in my city."

She landed down on the ground in front of him, careful to maintain some distance this time, and planted her hands firmly on her hips as her blue eyes gazed at him sternly from behind her mask.

"As much as I would love to put you in your place right now, I'd rather not put these people here in harms way, so I'm going to give you one last chance to surrender peacefully."

Jack laughed at her. Loud and long. "Surrender? You have no idea who you're dealing with here do you?"

Jack raised his hands, extending them out to arms length on either side and did a little twirl until he faced her again. "I'm the bastard son of Superman, baby doll! You're pretty strong for a meta human, but I've got all of Big Blue Pappy's powers. All of them. So no, I'm not surrendering. If we do this, if you choose to fight me right now, I'm not stopping. It'll be the hospital for you, and Crown City will have to be renamed Crater City, cause that's all that will be left of it."

It was a bluff. Every action he'd taken so far hadn't hurt anyone. Even the hand clap of doom had only damaged property. Jack just needed the money. But she couldn't know that.

"So what's it going to be blue girl? The town loses some federally insured cash and nobody gets hurt, or you lose the entire town? Are you dumb enough to fight me, or are you going to let every scumbag out there recognize that you're smart enough to walk away?"

Haley's eyes widened in surprise at the guy's claims at being the bastard son of Superman and having all of his powers. Could he be telling the truth? What were the odds that she would find herself coming face to face with someone that had all of The Man of Steels powers just like she did?!

No, there was no way. He had to be lying... and boy did he pick the wrong person to lie to about that one!

Now it was her turn to laugh, her stance relaxing and her bright eyes lighting up with amusement.

"So you're the son of Superman, huh?" she asked, the mocking tone of her voice making it obvious that she thought he was bluffing.

"Well in that case..."

She paused as her face turned serious once more, her blue eyes changing to a glowing red as she shifted into heat vision.

"Come at me, bro."

That should have scared off any sane person. Instead blue girl was just laughing. But then her eyes started glowing red and everything clicked. Calling him 'bro' didn't hurt either.

She was Kryptonian too.

"Fuck. Superman got around," Jack muttered.

Or did he? Jack had black hair, like Superman, but the girl was blonde. She didn't share any of Superman's facial features, but she could just take after her mother. But wait, Jack didn't share any facial features with his mother or Superman. He had never thought of that before.

What the fuck was going on here?

"What the fuck is going on here? We can't both be Kryptonian, can we?"

Jack turned on his own heat vision, letting his eyes glow red to cover him taking a deep breath. He blew freezing breath at blue girl, planning to trap her in ice from the neck down. It would only hold her in place for a few seconds at best, but that would be enough time for his plan.

If it worked.

Haley's body went rigid with shock when the guys's eyes suddenly lit up with a red glow that exactly mirrored her own.

"That...that's not possible!" she breathed in disbelief, her eyes suddenly shifting back to their usual pale blue at her surprise.

She was so caught off guard that she didn't even notice he was taking in a breath until she felt a sudden icy chill covering her body completely from the neck down and realized that he had freezing powers as well. In no time at all he had encased her completely in a solid block of ice! He really was Kryptonian!

Despite being caught off guard by his freeze breath, she wasn't worried. It wouldn't be able to hold her. Already with just the flex of her muscles it was cracking.

Jack didn't waste a second. He closed the distance with super speed then reached up with his right hand and pulled a single strand of hair out of Haley's head. With his left hand he pulled a hair from his head and then held them up to compare the follicles. His eyes squinted as he used his microvision.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, bringing the hairs in front of Haley's face. "Look at that! We're both Kryptonian, but not even remotely related. I'm counting 12 molecule pairs in the helix, instead of the human 4, and the length! But our pairs don't match up anywhere. We aren't even 5th cousins. How is that fucking possible?"

Jack gave a quick burst of heat vision, freeing Haley from the ice he trapped her in.

"Where did, that is, how the fuck did this happen? Seriously!"

"Ow!" Haley cried out, jerking her head away from the guy as he suddenly rushed over and yanked out one of her long blonde hairs by the root. She supposed that she should be happy he wasn't trying to do worse to her considering he currently had her temporarily penned in the block of ice, but still...what on earth did he want with one of her hairs?!

The reason quickly became clear as he pulled one of his own hairs out as well and then squinted at them both, obviously using microvision as evidenced by his later comment about the molecular structure of their two hairs. She too used her microvision to compare the two when he held them up to her face and was shocked to find that he was correct! They were both Kryptonian, but definitely not related to one another.

She was thankful when he then freed her from the ice, seemingly having just been after the hair and not actually trying to cause her any harm.

"Where did, that is, how the fuck did this happen? Seriously!"

"I have no idea," she replied with a shake of her head, just as baffled by the situation as he was.

"Are...are you really the son of Superman?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. I just assumed. I never knew my dad, but who else could it be? How many fucking Kryptonians are there on this planet?"

At least four. Superman, Supergirl, blue chick here and himself. Was his mom even his mom? Shit.

Jack looked around at the broken street and the vault. No. He could not deal with this right now. And as it was he was going to be late for work if he didn't leave now.

"Look, I am going to have to take a rain check on destroying this little shit town with you. Tomorrow or later in the week we can have this fight you're so keen on. This," he held up the two hairs, "this changes everything."

Jack took one last look at the two DNA strands then burned them both to a crisp with his heat vision. He leapt into the air and flew off. He made sure the girl wasn't following him before he doubled back to head home and get ready for work.

I never knew my dad, but who else could it be? How many fucking Kryptonians are there on this planet?"

Haley had no idea, but she definitely wanted to find out. Usually she didn't like to use her x-ray vision to look through people's clothes, thinking it an invasion of privacy and an abuse of her power, but she wanted to get a good look at this guy.

He was good looking, and he had black hair like Superman, but other than that his facial features didn't resemble Superman's at all. She supposed he might just take after his mom, but still...you'd think there would be some kind of resemblance. They had figured out that they weren't related, but they looked to be around the same age. She herself had never really thought she looked anything like Superman either, and had always suspected that she might come from other origins...but where?

She really wanted to talk to this guy now and find out more about him, see if they could try and put together the pieces to find out where they had come from; but then...

"Look, I am going to have to take a rain check on destroying this little shit town with you. Tomorrow or later in the week we can have this fight you're so keen on. This," he held up the two hairs, "this changes everything."

And with that he suddenly burned up their two hairs and flew off into the sky.

"Wait!" she called after him...but he was already gone.

For a moment she considered following, but then her eyes landed on the vault that he had stolen, still laying on top of a car about a block away from when he'd tossed it earlier, and she knew she couldn't. The two hairs had definitely changed the situation a lot, but there were still some things that couldn't change, and she had a job to do.

Flying over to the vault she easily hoisted it up above her head and carried it back to the bank, carefully placing it on the ground right side up and then sliding it back into place inside the building. She did her best to repair what she could of the damage.

It didn't change anything.

Nothing that mattered, anyway. Jack was still a fry cook at a fast food joint. Mom was still in the hospital. Jack still couldn't afford to pay her bills.

Fuck. He was going to have to rob a different bank. Hopefully, blue girl didn't show this time.

Nova Girl was her code name. Jack had seen her on TV the next day.

Nova Girl. What a life.

Didn't matter. Money mattered. There were a few other banks in town. This time if she interfered he had a plan.

So after work Jack went home, changed into his black outfit, and took off for a different bank.

Haley had just finished up work for the day and was headed down in the elevator to the ground floor of Jones Industries when she heard it...the sound of an alarm coming from one of the banks in the city.

She swore quietly under her breath. Could it be the same guy in black as before? He had said that he was going to come back, and what were the odds otherwise that there would be two bank robbery attempts within the same week? As much as she was curious about him and what kind of clues he might hold to where they had both come from, she had also really been hoping that he would give up his plans now that he knew he had an even fight on his hands.

Sounded like she wouldn't be so lucky.

Hitting the emergency stop button on the elevator, she shifted into superspeed and changed into her Nova Girl disguise before using the escape hatch to fly up into the elevator shaft and then out onto the roof and into the sky, heading out in the direction of the alarm.

This time he went fast. Forget walking through the bank, forget talking to people, forget trying to hide the full extent of his powers. Jack floated in the sky outside the bank, using his x-ray vision to scope the place out. Once he found the vault he flew in, moving at high speed through the lobby Jack looked like nothing more than a streak of black. He had to crash through a few doors to get to the vault room. The price of doing crime.

This time Jack cut the side of the building out with his heat vision, careful not to hit any support structures. A quick puff of breath and the wall fell down. Jack pulled the vault out and pushed it though the hole. It went further than he expected and smacked the building across the way.

"Oops."

Jack super sped over to it, lifted it over his head and took off. He couldn't fly too fast, the vault was too precarious. Wind resistance could make him drop it.

This time when Haley arrived at the bank that the alarm sound was emitting from the guy in black from before was already gone. He must have really been booking it this time. She knew it was definitely him though. Who else could have carved out the side of a building so quickly. She noticed the edges of the bricks looked singed. He must have used his heat vision to do it.

He wasn't far though. Just like before she was able to tell exactly where he was by the sounds of the people on the streets as he flew by them, their startled cries giving him away. She took off in their direction and soon caught up with him, zipping into the middle of the road front of him at super speed and cutting off his path.

"Not so fast there pal, " she told him, placing her hands on her hips and giving him a wary look, "I was hoping that after our...talk before you might have had a change of heart."

"Son of a bitch," Jack said as he came to a halt, cut off by Nova Girl. He shook his head as he landed. He had planned for this eventuality. Jack hauled back with the vault and hurled it in a huge arc toward the middle of Lake Michigan. One way or another he was going to recover this loot.

"No, Nova Girl, nothing has really changed. I still need money and so I'm going to take it. Are you still going to try and stop me?"

His eyes glowed red and a line of steam erupted from the asphalt in the middle of the street. As the smoke cleared a black mark appeared under it.

"There's the not so proverbial line in the sand." Jack intertwined his fingers and cracked his knuckles. "So sweetheart, what's it going to be?"