A Story With Much Violence, But No Sex

It was around 1:00am when Sarah's eyes opened. Something was happening.

She was sleeping with Lana, also known as the superhero the Flame. This itself wasn't unusual, they had done this quite a bit in the last two months.

No. What was important they hadn't had sex first.

It was Wednesday, and she had come over after working on the days shoot, with bluerays of the first three star war movies, the new ones...well, you know what i am talking about: Episodes 1-3. Lana had never seen them before. They watched the first two. She had, of course, seen the original movies...she wasn't that strange. But not the next three Lucas made in the nineties.

They ended up watching the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Both were actually a lot better then she had remembered they were supposed to be. Both had a couple of fun action  sequences, even if some of the performances were pretty stiff. Yoda with a lightsaber made her clap her hands. Lana had made them a light dinner (for someone who claimed to want to gain weight she didn't eat that much). It was fun. As they watched them with her she seemed to enjoy it to a degree, effecting in her weird semi-emotionless, hard-to-read kind of way that this was passable entertainment. Lana, whose taste tended more toward theatre, classical music, and the legitimate arts, didn't talk them down. She sat and watched...well, like a girlfriend who was sitting with their partner and trying to like what they like.

Girlfriend: After about three months, yeah...that was increasingly the word.

And so she slept over. They had kissed before going to bed a bit and she was snuggling into her a bit, but she was still wearing her work clothes at 12:35. Tommorow she had set her clock to wake her at 7am for a 8am shoot at the studio...and yeah, she was a girlfirend coming to her SO house tonight not to have sex.

Not having sex was an important step. Her first boyfriend and her did it a couple of times before actually having sex when she was a teenager - but after that..well. Here she was. Only with Jim (who stayed with her a couple of weeks between roommates on a trial basis that never lasted more than a trial) had she ever done this with before.

It wasn't bad. Lana had a nice big bed, in an impeccably kept house. Lana was a small thing and didn't take up much of the space or the covers. And while she had the personality of a cold fish, her body was actually quite warm, in a snuggable way.

Fuck. She would have to go to work tomorrow wearing the same clothes she came into after not fucking.

Maybe it was time to ask for a drawer.

Sarah sighed. It would be impossible to walk out of the room now. And should she?

That's when it went off in her mind. The feeling...the sense. Something was wrong.

Something was incredibly wrong.

And not with their relationship.

She shook her head. She would have to deal with this...

"Lana" she said to the woman next to her.She pressed agianst her slightly.

"What is it," she asked sleepily, not quite waking up.

"Trouble. It's...I don't know...but I can sense it. Something big."

Lana woke up opening her eyes with almost inhuman speed. Like her, of course, she was slightly inhuman. Just in a different way.  "Any more information?"

"Downtown."

Lana got out of bed and went to her closet, pushing aside garments as she did, until she found her gingham dress that was the costume of the Eternal Flame. Part of the performance aspect, she had told Sarah.

"I'm coming with you, of course."

Sarah sighed. She had never gone on patrol with the Eternal Flame before. She didn't like going "On patrol". Sarah and Lana here...well, something. But 'Mazing Girl and the Eternal Flame were not nothing.

Sarah shook her head. How could she stop her? She got out of bed. " Can you drive? It'd feel odd carrying you."

"Doesn't quite work well with my image in any method. Sure."

Sarah undressed in front of her, taking off her work polo shirt her work pants. Flame was doing the same. She had undressed for her lover before. Now she was undressing as if they were going to play soccor or something.

This was important. This was a step. And she didn't know what she was feeling. Lana's advantage, and her downside as a lover, as she could never quite get a read on what she was feeling, good or bad. For a telepath, she had no real idea what she was thinking.

*******

They were taking the Flame's black '48 Packard. Lana drove a Lexus, but you know, well...image. The car was not a stock Packard. It had a much more powerful and quick engine, the tires were modern, and there was surprisingly powerful equipment built into its dashboard but the idea was the same.

They drove down surface streets, Sarah slumped in the seats.

"Do you have any more information?" Lana asked.

"It's big, and it's downtown. Like, around City Hall, I want to say. That area," Sarah told her.

Sarah was never quite sure what it was that guided her. It should be perhaps explained that all of the heroes and villains who had actual power as far as was known were mutants of a kind. Most of them where psychic, some of them were more physical. One in a million or so was like this for genetic reasons no one fully understood. Now, through large portions of human history, one in a  million meant one or two in the whole world. They often fell into myth and superstition, or hid it as whatever. It wasn't until the late 19th century that anyone really suspected they existed - it wasn't until the 1920s when proof was gained. Comic book stories were developing and they became creatures of comicbooks. Which was just as well, as circus freak or all powerful tyrant was not a good thing either.

However, Sarah had been blessed underneath her nerdy charm to be have a fair amount of religion. Nerds often did. She had grown up in a fairly religious Tallahassee area family. She had been brought up baptist, and somewhere inside her still believed in God, and that God gave her these gifts, to either use to bless humanity or punish it.

Or, to put it another way: Her family knew about 'Mazing Girl. Her family supported 'Mazing Girl. She hadn't told them about Lana and wasn't sure how to. But if they were sleeping together and not having sex, she probably ought to.

Lana drove on. "Going to turn on the scanners?"

"No need," said Sarah as she looked up.

And there truly was no need, for floating above the downtown skyline was a giant blimp emblazened with metal decals. And huge artillery raining down fire.

*****

"Deca."

The police had setup a roadblock around the downtown area, but when Flame and 'Mazing Girl came they opened the road for them. "He's doing something really big. Shooting some of the buildings. Thankfully, at this time of night, the area is mostly empty. We're scrambling some jets from Mugu, but they'll take awhile. Really glad your here."

"She gave me a lift." 'Mazing Girl nodded to Flame and the 10 police in the command center. That was technically true.

Flame had a look that made it impossible to tell what she was thinking. "So: Deca. Hes finally made his move."

"No demands, or loudspeaker, thankfully," said the captain.

"He wants me," 'Mazing Girl informed them. "Well...that's always the case. It's time we end this."

"But not alone." For a second Sarah thought Flame said it, and would feel a bit of the heart string. But no. Behind her was.... Glider.

He wasn't actually (wearing? using?) his hang-glider. He wore a suit that looked a lot like a World War I pilot uniform. All leather, with dashing cavalry pants and a leather helmet with googles. In a steampunk nightclub worn by a girl who was 20 years younger then the 40-ish paunchy hero it would look dashing. Perhaps when he started out it would look dashing. now he looked a little silly.

"He knows you can get there easily with your jumping powers. But Flame, and the others, are powerless to help. But not me!! For you can run, but you can't glide."

Catchphrase. She needed one. His was catchy, she'll give it that.

"He can fly. You can jump. I'll figure something out," the Flame at last suggested.

"Your just going to let me go up there by myself?" demanded 'Mazing Girl, shocked by her lack of emotion at all of this.

"you're your own hero, 'bnazing. you have skills and talents that i don't. i am not going to smother you," said Flame.

"Smother me?"

"Oooh," said a police officer, shaking his head.

"Don't 'oooh' me!" said 'Mazing Girl. "The last thing I need, or anyone needs in this situation, is a giant 'oooh' going on. That doesn't help ithe sitution in the slightest most infimestimal"

"are you frightened?" asked Flame.

"Yeah, I'm frightened. This guy has a giant fucking blimp. A giant fucking blimp. I am not joking. Giant fuckin....g blimp.!!!1How do you build something like that?"

Flame put a hand on her shoulder. It was very calm and friendly. "I wish I could take your fear from you, but I can't. nothing to be said.nlimp and all. all I can say is what is obvious. you are the most powerful hero in the city. you're stronger then all the rest of us put together! i have tremendous faith in your powers, and your skills."

Glider nodded. "Give me a minute to get ready. We should try a co-ordinated attack."

Flame looked thoughtful a moment. "i think it's a helium balloon, which means its non-flamable, but i'll try to figure out something, well, useful."

Glider walked away.

"I could just carry you. I have done with Knife Girl a dozen times. "

"i'll find a way."

'Mazing Girl leaned in to whisper. "are you frightened?"

((would it help you for me to say i was?))

'Mazing Girl shook her head. No reading this woman.

*******

'Mazing girl walked away from the police cars. She looked up at the blimp. It was shooting a lot of things. She saw Glider go up.

"Ready to go when you are," he boldly declared, and lowered his goggles into place as she smiled at him slightly.

Then what looked like a rocket hit him, and he exploded.

'Mazing Girl freaked out for a second and screamed, but realised that would do her nor anybody else any good. Instead, she flew up into air with the scream still on her lips.

*****

It was dark inside the blimp. No one was present. She wondered if Deca had brought any thugs or things of that nature with him. For a second it occured to her that a viable strategy might be to wait 'til she got there then detonate it remotely. It would be a smart play if he wanted to kill her, but something about him suggested otherwise.

He wanted to face her.

Then an intercom went off. "WELL, IT TURNED OUT IN THE END THAT HE COULD NEITHER RUN OR GLIDE."

"Can you hear me?" asked Mazing Girl

"I WOULDN'T MISS THIS FOR THE WORLD."

'Mazing Girl shrugged. The logical place for the control would be at the front/underneath of the gondola  but realistically it could be anywhere. Even inside the balloon itself. She looked around.

"I HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO MAKE ROBOT GUARDS. DON'T WORRY...I DO THINK YOU CAN BEAT THEM. BUT THEY MAY...TIRE YOU...A BIT"

He wasn't making this easy. Nonetheless, the Airforce was going to come in at some point and deal with this, so perhaps a viable strategy was to distract him a bit by fighting guards and come for him then.

Nope.

She saw the guard robots. It would be nice to say they were large metal robots with hands and tin pots for head but they where short squat robots that walked on four legs. With a large gun on top of their body. There were about 20 of them and they all shot her at once.

That hurt a lot.

So she ran. Right through them, down the hall they came from, past them...

Ran down on down the hallway.

Right over a large opening into the sky.

She fell in an instant, down into the sky, falling and flailing her arms and probably looking a little stupid. Then she gained calm again, from somewhere. This was moments that needed calm.

Nope...falling.

She straightened herself.

And then got shot by a giant artlerly shell.

That hurt an awful lot.

She realised that the lower half of her costume was entirely gone, leaving her in hopefully clean panties. Her dignity was hurt. As was the rest of her.

And she needed to get this fucker down...

She hit the ground, and pushed down against it, destroying the concrete street as she did. Sarah shot right up, very nearly breaking the speed of sound.

And went through the blimp like a giant bullet.

She went through the  cabin  then the balloon. Blimps have a lot of steel girders in them, she hit a couple before breaking through the top, making a huge hole as she saw the night sky.

She landed on top of it.

The blimp was bleeding helium. Despite what you might think, it wasn't an incredibly fast process but it was a process underway. It was going down. No matter what happened this flight would be over at some point in the very near future. She saw 1000's of police officers (that may have been an exaggeration) on the ground. It looked like the national guard. This would be over. Deca couldn't escape. She had won. She had saved the city.

She flopped down on top of the balloon exhausted. Her body was covered in soot and scars. Every part of her hurt. Every part of her.

Yet she would still get to work tomorrow. She didn't want to get the reputation of someone who missed days.

But now she relaxed.

"What a waste," observed Nighthawk, who was somehow standing next to her. "Pathetic."

"The blimps going down. I saved us."

"The blimps not the problem. He is! And look at you: Slacking. You and all your terrific powers. What a waste on a pathetic slacker like yourself. I worked for this...a thousand hours in the gym, training my body to the peak of humanity. And you come in with your fancy tricks to make the people love you. But they never guess what a waste you are, Sarah. Yeah...I know: Ms. Jennings. All the power in the world and you will never live up to your potential."

Mazing giirl looked at him

"Well  you mani-pedi!"

That was a good comeback. That was amazing. Nighthawk...

Well...Nighthawk suddenly had a huge hole in his chest as Deca stuck his hand through it from behind. He fell over...dead.

"SARAH HUH?" said  Deca "JENNINGS? NICE TO MEET YOU."

Sarah stood up on the top of the falling blimp. Deca was there hovering, he had some type of jetpack thingy. It made his giant black cape swish a bit.

She adjusted a bit. "What do you possibly hope to accomplish?" she asked "" I am not trying to trick you, or anything, I just honestly, honestly, want to know the point of all of this."

"You," Deca told her, in a surpsingly normal voice. "You were always the goal. He was right, you know. Ms. Jennings, you are the most powerful super in the world. Your powers, your skills, are greater then anyone else on the planet."

"No...thats not true. Hiro, Defender, Maiden of..."

"Reputation. Goverments wanting there champions to seem mighty. Newspapers selling papers. But I didn't say reputation. You are stronger, faster, tougher...all of it. You are the ultimate expression of humanity. And if I destroy that, then thats what I will be."

"No," Sarah protested. Then she realised that this guy was crazy. She had beaten him before, and that probably inflated her a bit in his eyes. It had to be that.

Wasn't it?

Ah fuck.

As it went through her mind she thought about the big heroes of the past. The one that had saved cities from destruction. Strong; Brave. sometimes backed by society - but her powers was just amazing. While plenty of them had been strong, her strength was beyond theirs. She was.....

Well, time for the most powerful hero in the world to do her thing.

"This is for Brian"

She jumped forward off the blimp grabbing him and flying forward with him at 250 miles an hour, into the side of a bank two or three miles away.

She hoped she was smashing into something heavy, but it was really just the windows. They came to a stop inside an office.

Deca then punched her in the head. That hurt probably the most of anything so far.

"Since the last time we were together I've increase my hydraulic power tenfold. I hope that's enough. I doubt it a bit...but one can hope."

She punched him agian  "This is for Joe"

Deca turned." The first one i remember....the second one"

"And that is why you suck" said Sarah as she kicked him in the chest.

"Improved armour protection, too."

Sarah paused as he punched her again. This was hurting. The artillery earlier hadn't helped, but this was hurting. She punched at him, but he dodged it. He punched her, but she grabbed his arm and threw him out of the building and to the ground bellow.

She caught her breath for a second, but then he just flew back up out the window.

"Jetpack."

It was then that a rain of bullets hit her, pounding her as she ducked behind a support column.

"Coward!" She ran through the building - literally through the building, not bothering to stop for walls - until she hit the side of the last glass wall and jumped out.

"I am not the 90 pound weakling in a stupid suit!"

She jumped towards the police men in central city. that whoudl give her more protection.

She noted that the blimp had hit the side of one of the huge courthouses and was coming down with a bit of a crash. It didn't look that bad though.

She also noted that he was following her

"PATHETIC!"

A stream of bullets flew at her, spewing into the night.

She hit the side of the courthouse with her feet and like a swimmer and flew right back into him.

This smashed him, knocking him and his jetpack down. He crashed  in a park, skidding into a fountain.

She adjusted a bit and landed on the Time building before jumping down next to him.

With her, 100 policemen encircled him.

"Stand back! Let me handle it!" "Mazing Girl commanded, with more authority then she could usually muster. They listened to her.

She grabbed Deca's body as it faltered, and punched off his mask. There was his face. His real face...like a Scooby-Doo villain. He was a small man, really...small and pathetic.

She then felt an incredible sensation at the back of her neck, felt it smashing. Her trouble-detector, only at a 100 times the normal magnitude.

He  was still on the ground. "You forgot my power, 'Mazing Girl: Getting into your mind. It is amazing. I can get in there and trigger that little sense of yours...too much? Hmmm...let's see what it does..."

Sarah fell to the ground. The sense of horror his horror was too much for her. Too fucking much she felt incredible. All of the evils of the world entering her skull unfettered by rhyme or reason.

"90 pound weekling in a suit? Guilty. All that time and energy, robots meca and i had it all along"

Sarah felt the world's pain, it's suffering, all in her head. All of it at once.

When someone else walked over.

"hello brother," the Eternal Flame greeted Deca  as she walked onto the scene from out of nowhere.

"Hello sister" said Deca. "Oh, you didn't know this? Or did you? That Flame and I are twin brother and sister?"

"near identical power-sets," said Flame. " i didn't want to fight you, i admit. nut you give me no choice."

Sarah could barely look up at the scene in front of her.

"Oh." Deca smiled, standing up.  "I just peeked in her mind. Really? Her? That's where your getting your pleasures? This makes it all the sweeter! Dear sister, do you want to know if she loves you? You're too polite, or perhaps too scared to find out...but you want to know, don't you?"

Sarah could feel the power, as it grew stronger it grew more pronouced. She realized that 92 people had died tonight, 140 had some form of injury, 12,453 where in a massive traffic jam as the restult of closing downtown, and 12,234,234 where worried watching this on the news, worried for their loved ones, worried for the families. Sarah learned that it if she had captured him that night 6 months ago none of this would have happened. She learned of the massive property damage he had caused (she had caused), all the destruction and evil that had happened. A giant looming darkness. And perhaps, in her most fevered moments, she could sense something beyond it, something beyond words or meaning. Something.

And then a thought entered her head. He was *monarching* her. He was treating this as if it was a game they were playing. None of it mattered except winning. All of that was irelevant. What was the point of taking a city that wasn't worth two licks?  Sarah was many things, but she cared. She was fat lets face it, a nerd, a slacker, and someone who ocasionaly smoked pot, but she cared.

And man did she hate the show the Venture Brothers.

Sarah was wracked with more pain then she had ever felt before, splayed on the ground. but then she closed her hand and got to her feet. Evil was afoot, and she was the 'Mazing lady sent to stop it.

Deca continued to wraped up in his monologuing. "Does the pathetic little stage-tech really care? Why bother telling you though, because now she is..."

"Done," Sarah finished for him, and punched him in the face. He fell over in a slumpy pile.

The pain was just gone. It was like it was never there. She got up as police swarmed around her and Deca's twitching body on the ground. The Flame drifted away, and she didn't see where she went. Sarah wasn't sure how much the police had heard of the little exchange. No one talked about it much, which was all for the best. But maybe just wishful thinking.

She walked away to the fire of the blimp.

Knife Girl was there, looking over the body of Nighthawk. They had taken off the mask.

"Michael."

Sarah paused. She had never seen Knife Girl's boyfriend, and a sudden thought occured to her. What if it had been Nighthawk? What if his reluctance masked the fact that it was really him and that they were secretly enemies and lovers. It would be poetic. Terrible for her, but poetic.

"Do you know him?" she asked Knife Girl.

"No. He was a TV weather man."

Sarah shook her head and looked at him, thought of glider, thought of all that had happened. The ranks of the heroes had dropped today. There would be stories about how brave all of them had been today, and what sacrifices they had made for the city. It gave little comfort. She had been a hero. She brought down his blimp defeated him, but that gave her no joy. It was kind of an awful night. And there would be another night like it soon enough. If not Deca(probably not Deca as that final punch may have broken his spine) but someone to fill the darkness with dread. And there was less light in it.

"I'm going to miss the fucker," confessed Knife Girl, and that was the exact thing to say.

And Sarah realised she was still just wearing panties on her bottom. She really hoped there wasn't a lot of cameramen.

"Can you get me, like. a blanket or something?" she asked a paramedic.

He did so, and got her water too. She went to sit down under a tree in the park.

"what a waste  my brother was," observed the flame from "when he saw our parents die he thought of fortune and fame. when he got our powers he wanted money. I let him...why not? but that wasn't enough, it was never enough. he wanted power for its own sake. greedy eyes."

Flame, of course, came from nowhere to sit next to Sarah. She put her hand on Sarah's knee.

"You should have told me" said Sarah.

"we have the same last name," Flame told her. "I would assume you could have figured it out."

Sarah chuckled slightly, and then she looked at Lana.She wasn't sad in a traditional sense, or crying. But Sarah looked up at Lana and she saw something human in her eyes. It was just a glance really, perhaps a tad of fear, worry, and panic.

"i was scared that they would get you," theFlame said. "afraid I would loose you. Thats why I didn't want to go with you. Too scared to see. Blimps."

And with that sarah paused consider something. She meant something to someone. She was melting the ice queen.

And, oh fuck, she was falling in love with her too. Fuck.

"Lana would you like a roommate?"

Was she saying this? She had a condo. Lana owned a Five bedroom house Mid-Wiltshire. A roommate was kind of silly. What, would she contribute to utilities?

Lana's eyes were starting to get misty and she could tell this wasn't tears of sadness. She was defiently breaking. Flame was getting sappy on her, and she was defiently getting sappy back.

"It would be nice you know...to have someone to come home to..and I know we can team up and stuff and..."

She was saying this. She was asking to fucking live together. In her head she thought about making a rose garden, and having children together. 401K's, and marriage with two little brides on the cake. Fuck.

Lana leaned in and hugged her. She was crying, or looked like it. She nuzzled into her neck with the look, if not incredible warmth,  tenderness.

This was so so not her. And lana was so not her type. They could never get a beer together, watch action movies together, discuss the merits of Iron Man together,  eat smoked meats together. Yet the imense desire to spend the rest of her fucking life with this women filed her with sudden mania.

"Can I read your thoughts?" Lana asked as she looked up at her. Her own eyes were weak, scared, vulnerable. Then she paused.

Sarah filled the space. "Okay. I just don...."

"No need. Your face tells me everything. It's not bad. It's not good, it's...you feel exactly what I'm feeling right now."

Sarah paused. Damn.

Lana finished Sarah's thought. "And that may not be love, that may not be forever, but goddammit if its not beautiful."

There is no perfect ending to this story. No ending that would be happily ever afte. Sarah was a bit of a flake. Lana had emotional issues up the ying-yang. Whether they stayed together or seperated they would do so with the knowledge of this perfect moment, and the fact that its promise could never be entirely fulfilled. Also, Lana was entirely lesbian and Sarah was  kind of fooling around.

Heroes didn't exist. Humanity was no good. Love's potential was doomed to folly.

But the next day Sarah went to a condo real estate agent and, damned if she didn't get  85% of her asking price. She was never happier.

Becuse it didn't have to be perfect. It didn't have to be neat, or clean or simple.

It was life.

And it was amazing.

Akward Origin Stories to Tell in Bed

"This is always awkward," observed Max as they sat in the bar.

"Yep" agreed Sarah, as she sipped a craft brew.

Max was her friend and coworker on the show as gaffer. And right now he was meeting her...

Sigh.

...girlfriend.

Sigh.

That was probably the word to describe her. She and Lana had been dating for a couple of months now. They had secret identities of course as superheroes - that was secret - but the dating part in their civilian lives was not - or at least it wasn't now. And nor should it be.

"I never thought you went..." said Max.

"I've done it a couple of times. Never in college, oddly enough...but a couple of times. This is the first time I've really ever been more then that. It''s kind of scary to be honest."

"I bet," said Max.

Sarah sighed. Lana walked in.

Lana was dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt and what looked like running shoes. Her brown hair was in a ponytail that went over her rail thin back. She looked as if you told someone - hey, you have to go to a craft brew pub with friends so wear this outfit. Perhaps even buy this outfit as you have never worn it before. Still, she was smiling. When she walked over she didn't greet Sarah with any physical affection - no kisses, no hugs...but she was there. This was probabbly a wise move. Instead she offered a hand to max.

 "Hey! I'm Lana. You must be Max. What a pleasure it is to meet you."

They shook hands. Max seemed glad to see her.

Between the plump but curvy Sarah and the razor thin Lana you could build perhaps a perfect example of womanhood. However, separately perhaps it was no great loss...they were off the dating market.

Lana Maclaine worked as a freelance web engineer for medium size websites, optimising server loads and the like. She also had an inheritance of some sort that she didn't talk about. Her tastes where decidedly more...upscale...then Sarahs. She had taken her to the opera already, and a bird sanctuary by the sea. She went to art gallery openings and drank wine there. She knew the artists by name, and artists who weren't there by reputation . She had just enough sense of wry humor that one could call her funny. She talked as if she should have an english accent.

Sarah wasn't precisly sure what to think of her. It was fun in a way to date someone who was different than you. The opera had been a blast. Big and loud and full of cool lights and stuff. The art stuff wasn't bad. Lana wasn't gentle precisely, the kind of glower of the  flame never quite left her, nor the urbane stare of the superior. However, it wasn't bad close to you. And sex with a mind reader was like losing your mind. Or maybe she was a much more skilled lesbian then her occasional tickly sessions had been.

However, it was dating. It was dating at the point now that one could introduce her as a girlfriend. However Sarah wasn't precisely sure she ever wanted to move to something more serious with Lana, and was further worried that she could read her mind and know it. Actual lesbianism kind of frightened her. Drunk, making out - was one thing. Sober, making love - was something else. But, you know, like fucking and living with someone you shared maxi pads with...

Sarah had several times met Lana's friends - never this formally, but at the art openings and such - and it was clear of course, what was so obvious now. But she never figured out before sleeping with her. Lana was a Lesbian with a capital L that she never used when talking. She had done this before, even apparently, she confessed, lived with a girl for a year and a half before coming to LA from Connecticut ("Problems that we never quite worked out. I loved her to pieces, and she me, but it never worked out"). That, Sarah discovered, was a very lesbian thing to do. Discussing your ex-girlfriends frankly.

Lana and Max talked. Lana didn't know what a gaffer did, and he informed her. He didn't know what a web engineer did and she informed him. They didn't have a lot in common but seemed to be progressing socially. Which was a fair metaphor for their relationship too.

"Did I tell you, Sarah? I got saved from a jewellery story robbery by the Flame last week."

"No," said Sarah.

Lana's expression didn't change. She was good at keeping a straight face.

"The weird goth chic hero. Yeah, I was going there after work to look for like a necklace for Justine, when a couple of robbers walked in...and then she came in, but she didn't 'come in' exactly...she just kind of..."

"Appeared," said Lana as he struggled to end his sentence.

"Yeah. Thats the word. Ever happened to you?"

"A friend of mine," Lana told him.

"She appeared...and, like, there was this weird sound of laughter in the store...and then it went dark. And all the robbers were on the floor knocked out, in like five seconds flat. It was amazing. And then I saw her for like a second...but she just walked out the door. 'Never said anything to me. 'Never said anything to anyone."

"What a world," observed Lana. "I once saw Knighthawk in the street. But never anything like that."

"I wonder what she's like," mused Sarah.

"Probably just a bitch," Max speculated. "Goth, right? I went to a club...they have whips and chains and stuff like that."

"I've been to a couple of goth clubs," Sarah said. She had the urge to defend her friend. "The whips and chains are mainly for show."

Lana shrugged. There was something ever so slight in her eye that suggested laughter. "That's the public ones. I don't really know, but you hear whispers in the art world about this dark scene of drugs and leather...it's not a good scene unless you like it. I think it's mostly consensual as it goes."

"And that's probably where she is now. They say she burned out her own heart to gain her power."

Sarah shook her head. "Oh, come on! She's not that bad. I for one support are superheroic community in all its endeavours."

Lana shrugged. "Well, there's a difference between supporting it and, well, liking it. It would be a bit  hypocritical of me to question the sexual kinks of others."

Max paused.

"Let's leave that part of the conversation there," suggested Lana.

****

They were in the bathroom 20 minutes latter. Girls, it has been observed, went to the bathroom together. But when they were...

What happened was that Lana was laughing. The kind of laughter that Sarah had rarely seen from her. There had been a polite chuckle, a guffaw, a smile...but this was beyond that.

"Its moments like that makes all the bruises the lack of sleep worthwhile. I do love the  Flame."

Sarah grabbed her from behind and held her for a second. They didn't kiss, didn't do anything porn-worthy, but she hugged her for a second as Sarah nuzzled her head into her much smaller form.

Lana nuzzled her back. It was a slight gesture. Lana wasn't the warmest in the world, and rarely expressed much emotion but she tolerated effortless Sarah. That suggested she liked it, right?

Sarah smiled. She looked at the mirror. You could easily see Sarah on both sides of Lana, and over her. But she was there and she was there.

"You look pretty tonight," Lana said at last, as Sarah broke the spell.

Sarah was wearing a sundress and old Doc Martins. Come to think of it she looked like a much larger and fater version of the Flame.

"Thank you," said Sarah. "You too."

That was a lie...except in the abstract sense that Sarah did think that Lana was pretty. She didn't think she was beautiful - she liked breasts for fun. But she was pretty, especially when she was smiling, as she was now.

"Was all of this worth burning your heart out?"

And Lana let out a mighty laugh.

***

Sarah had thought the evening with Max would move at some point to a nightclub or a movie or something like that. Instead, after a couple of beers it ended. It wasn't Lana's fault. She hadn't said no to anything. It took it's natural course, which tonight meant they walked out of the bar after about three beers. Max left them. A couple.

And they had the dreaded uncomfortable pause. They enjoyed spending time together, but unstructured things didn't work out well. Usually one person suggested something or another. And the other person agreed - unless they had the excuse of work or the other work. 

Would they do something else? Fundamentally, the idea of a movie or a nightclub was the same. They had very different tastes in just about everything. Lana didn't much go to movies, even the kind of arty stuff that plays in small theatres. They could have gone fighting crime together, but their styles even here were different. Sarah was a punchy bruiser who saved kittens from trees, while Lana stalked the night like a demonic monster.

It could be a delightful comic team-up. In the funny 'ha-ha' sense, not the graphical media. But maybe....

They ended up going to a comic book store down the way that Sarah sometimes went to. Like a lot of existing shops it was incredibly elaborate with huge figurines, paper machine metal walls from a a haunted lab, the kind of things that cost a bit of money. She supposed only by going big could such a werid business as comics not go home.

It was a pleasant-ish space to browse, and was open 'til 10.

They walked around the store. Most comics come pre-bagged to defer reading, but Lana seemed to be enjoying herself in a smilling way.

"Ooh! These must be the horror comics," she said as she picked up an issue of Venom. "I like the tongue thingy."

(((I got most of my ideas about doing this from old-timey radio I used to listen to as a child. It's interesting to see how the other half lives))

That was the weird thing about dating a telepath.

Sarah bought Lana a copy of something with magic in it by Vertigo. Or maybe it was Stranger in a Strange Land she forgot.

That killed about half an hour.

(((((

45 minute later they where naked in bed and Sarah was filling Lana's snatch with the head of a strap-on penis.

"Yeah, God! Please don't stop!"

Yet the strange thing was it was hard to say who said that.

Lana's body was moving with the skill of a dancer agianst her as she plowed into her with her powerful build.

The dildos was Lana's. Lana had a lot of stuff like that, organized in a drawer. Dildos, lubes, something that looked very frightening, and more things that looked even more frightening.

"Yes! Yes!" Lana wrapped her legs around Sarah's butt as she leaned her head down to suckle her tit. Her body kept moving at incredible speed.

It was one of the things about Sarah. She was blessed with strength, yes...but also stamina. For all practical purposes she never got tired - she could run and jump for hours on end..and well (fuck..fuck god yes fuck!!!). Her lovers, of course, were not so blessed, which she didn't mind much. It didn't take much for her to work up a respectable orgasm.

But, well...Lana. The prim and proper software engineer, yes, turned out to be a bit of a demon in the sack (she also performed as a demonic superheo). She didn't seem to possess super stamina normally - not that she had observed - but in bed...they could make love for hours, with each coming dozens of times. She would just keep moving, just keep urging her on to no end. Her voice, her touch, her mind.

((I want you to fuck me...fuck me))

Sarah, before a week ago, had never used a strap-on - never used a dildo with a lady - but found she enjoyed it immensely. She was, of course, a powerful girl. But in bed..there were limits to this. She couldn't **** kegel - IM UNSURE ABOUT THIS ONE...**** in bed, or push. but now she could use her power to thrust into Lana's sweet pussy. She couldn't use all of her strength and speed, but she was moving with the strength, speed, and power of a dozen or so men. And lana was taking it without any discomfort...on the contrary: she was fucking her back.

((God! You're incredible))

Sarah appreciated the compliment.

She lifted Lana's butt off the bed, grabbing and bending the small lady into a contortion. She began to thurst ino her faster and faster - faster then the eye could quite see - filling her up with the 14 inch phallus, working her cunt, each time pulling out to an inch them ramming it in with enough power to break wood.

"Godgodgodgodgodgodgogd"

Then her voice turned to odd grunts.

Lana's eyes rolled back into the top of her head as she came bellow her. She could feel it, see it, see something in her. It made Sarah tense down on the phallus in her, as she felt her own orgasm well up. Her eyes teared up briefly as she slouched a bit, dropping her lover. she looked into her eyes, instead of catching her breath she pulled her down and kissed her.

"Let me reverse cowgirl you a bit," suggested Lana. "While you have it on."

And then she moved without stopping to get on top of her.

*****

This went on until about midnight, before Sarah fell on the side of her and breathed hard. Even she had her limits. Lana next to her, didn't.

It would be hard to give this up. Real hard.

Extra hard.

She had never made love with a superpowered man - someone with increased strength like herself. She thought it would have been like this - perhaps more intense - but also shorter. she liked men, really...lots. But, well...they had to cum sometime. Both of them seemed liked they could keep this up for days before deydration set in. Well, that was an exaggeration but not much of one.

"Penny for your thoughts, Dear?" Lana inquired, smiling and smiling.

"Can't you just read them?" said Sarah.

"I make it a point not to do that with non-criminals. It gets complicated, and hard to sort out. I mean it happens but..I want to respect your privacy, Dear."

'Dear'. It was an affectionate term. Granted, a very old and outdated one, but affectionate nonetheless. It was only in sex, really, that Lana displayed much more then friendly versions of this or the physical or personal variety. Did she feel it? Sarah suspected, but maybe it was like a tiger - you only see it reflected back in her eyes.

"I'm thinking about how come you only call me Dear in bed."

Ouch. That was so not the question to ask right now.

Really...that was terrible.

"It will come in time, I suppose, workup to it. Perhaps I feel a little awkward about it. Of course, in bed perhaps I have a bit less control of things, and they slip out. Hope they don't embarrass"

"No, Dear," Sarah said. That was a joke. She wondered if someday it wouldn't be. That was kind of scary. She changed the subject. "So tell me the super-secret origins of the Flame."

Lana shrugged. "Not much of a story really. Born with amazing powers; my parents were murdered; vowed revenge; brought him to justice. Just the usual boring stuff like that...not too interesting."

"Make it longer."

"Do you really want me to bore you with such banalities?"

Sarah nodded.

"Not much of a storyteller, I'm afraid. I was born with these gifts. I could read people's mind, start fires, others things. I decided to keep them secret from everyone except my brother lest I be considered a freak. When I was 10 my parents were murdered at our home in Connecticut. Ghastly affair. I'm not sure my powers could have stopped it, but I thought so then...which was the important thing. So I well...vowed to bring the killers to justice. I studied martial arts, criminology, the usual stuff a young heroine does. It wasn't hard, really. I wonder what the fuss was. I learned to master my mind. By the time I graduated Yale, I was ready to find the killer."

"And did you?"

"Yes," said Lana. "A bit of an anti-climax that, actually. It turned out it was one of my father's business partners trying to hide the fact that he was embezzling money. Took me less then a week, really. After all that time. But he's in jail now, and I decided, well, to keep on at it. And thus we have the Eternal Flame."

She paused." and Mazing Girl?"

Sarah shrugged. She thought her origin story was interesting, but well...it wasn't that intresting compared to what she'd just heard.  "Well, I was born in Tallahassee, Florida. My parents are still alive, and still love me. I learned very young I was stronger and more athletic then most kids, but it bored me so I read comic books and stuff. I guess about puberty I blossomed and my powers really blossomed with it."

She tweaked her boobs, symbolically.

"I wanted to help people, be a hero. So I made a costume and became The Black Dog."

"The Black Dog?"

"I was 13, and thought it was cool that way. There's a southern myth about a Black Dog that haunts the roadway. But I'm also really white, which made doing it in the south not the greatest idea. But I did that for a couple of years, on but mainly off as my parents thought I should wait until I grew up. I did my best. Was a theatre  tech geek in high school, boyfriends and such."

"A normal childhood," interrupted Lana. "Did you go to Disneyworld at all?"

Sarah shrugged. "I came out here to Cal Arts, got a degree in stagecraft and moved from Valencia to LA. I played around a bit with superheroics in college - I had more free time. And that's when I really became 'Mazing Girl. A friend made the costume, which I intended to be a post-modern take on the traditional superhero persona, but that kind of faded after awhile. Now I'm just a good old fashioned flying brick - well, jumping brick...but it's the same"

"It's a better story than mine," said Lana.

"Your's had villains and revenge."

"I wish it didn't. I wish it was happy. Just to live, to be motivated by virtue and the desire to help others. I can see that sometimes. Sometimes I just see a sad little girl crying."

She shook her head.

"Did I mention that I spent six months studying in a hidden monastery in Tibet? Well...actually Bhutan."

****

The next day Sarah was at work.  Every couple of weeks they filmed downtown. This time near a shopping alley. In the afternoon, in a non-Chinese shop in Chinatown. There weren't many props other then usual rubber guns to worry about that day. She was reading the script for the final episode of the season, and quite possibly the show (ratings weren't great, but cable ratings were really confusing) There was a Russian nuclear bomb (maybe she could do something fun with a cyclic countdown. That could give the scene a little comic fun).

When Max came over. There wasn't a lot of lighting to gaff either today so he came over during a shoot to talk to her a bit.

"Lana seemed like a nice girl last night. You two have fun after I went?"

Sarah smiled. "In incredible amounts...the details of which whould blow your mind."

Max laughed. "you're a cute couple in a non-porn way."

Sarah smiled.

"You two getting serious?"

Sarah paused.

Damn it.

Conventional Bueaty Standards

One day after waking up from a night of anxious dreams, Sarah awoke to find she had abs.  Not the kind of flat tummy that women suggest say "hey: abs!" - but the kind of highly indented, very deep, actual muscle in her abdominal wall. The kind of muscles that appeared after 1000s of hours in a gym, and on a woman suggested maybe she had overdone it. There wasn't actually anything flat about it. They kind of bubbled up from her stomach...like, well, like bubbles.

Sarah found this surprising.

The night before she recalled her stomach looked fairly normal for her - a kind of slight pudge that maybe was looking a tad less pudgy then general. Sarahs weight, in general, tended to fluctuate a lot - she gained and lost the same 15 pounds once or twice a year.

The night before she had helped out at a charity car-toss event. Which was a lot like it sounds. They had some old cars, and she spent the evening tossing them in the desert to see how far she could throw them (about 3 miles, as it turned out). Then there was an actual bank, robbery which was something she didn't deal with all that much in the overall scheme of things. It wasn't like a superhero movie. It was at night, no one had guns, and Sarah was no master detective. But it was pretty clear that the security guard was in on it - but somehow a silent alarm was tripped. The police called her when she was finishing up the tossing thing, and so Sarah got there in time to see the robbers leaving, which lead to a high speed chase over three three freeways, and an overpass.

Actually, it had been a taxing night. Maybe she had worked out enough to loose the pudge. It was weird for her. She knew abstractly tossing a single car burned more callories then she had pounds of fat on her - but, well...life. She wasn't going to deal with how her powers in no way made sense. Someone had written a physics paper about her when she was still in college (not her college - she went to art school - but a college) which posited that she had some kind of acess to some kind of energy source...and well, it happened.

Sarah sighed. She had the incredible urge to wear a half shirt. Except she didn't own a half shirt.

She ran a comb through her hair and looked in the mirror. She was in her own bed, something that... She had a bad case of bed head, and was in her slightly scuzzy bathroom. Even despite the bed head she wanted to show it off to someone, to say 'hey!'

Sarah got out her phone. She went to the bathroom mirror to take a selfie of her stomach to send to her friend - and maybe post on her Facebook page - then she realised she wasn't 17 and decided agianst it.

Instead she went to the kitchen.

What should she have for breakfast?

She looked down. She suspected with the way she ate, that her abs would disappear in maybe a month - if her metabilism went back to normal.

She was considering one of those microwave egg sandwich things, then maybe a donut at work...but really...

******

She had lunch with Lana...her girlfriend. This was a set day, and it wasn't that tricky. Sarah lifted up her shirt.

"Impressive," observed Lana.

"You like?" Sarah inquired. It was a concept that woman looked good, that they took cared of their body for the men in their life. Lana, the very small petite dress-wearing super, aka the Flame, was not a man. But she was in her life.

(Though she was, as usual, dressed kind of butch: a pair of slacks and a dress shirt)

But the point...was there wasn't. She shouldn't look special for her...ahh well, fuck it.

"Theres a lot of muscle on me" said Sarah. "People don't realize it. Quads, pecs all of that stuff. I'm a very big powerful woman. It's the biceps you most notice it..it's just...well, a lot of it is covered in flub."

Lana nodded. "I've read up on nutrition - most bodybuilders get really muscular and kind of fat - then before the competition loose the fat in a crash diet. It's silly. "

"So....let say I want to keep it...

"Don't eat fatty food; get lots of exercise."

"I get plenty of exercise. I mean, like 300 miles last night. I lifted lots of cars...I..."

"Just observing."

Sarah left an open question. Would Lana still love her if she was fat.

That was a silly question, as obviously she didn't love her.

****

But Sarah did eat a salad that day for lunch. For dinner too.

****

That night she watched Lana while she slept. She had abs in the way it's sometimes defined - she had a very flat stomach that, if she tensed or sat up, moved in a way that suggested maybe there was a muscle somewhere in there - but well not really. A kind of blank space between her non existent breasts and her hairy bush.

She stroked it a second, and her little belly button. It was cute. She was cute. Sarah knew in a 1000 years she could never look like her.

Lana was closer to the ideal of human bueaty, and if Lana went to say a plastic surgeon probably could get her there - but Lana never would. Sarah never would anyway, obviously...no way a damn surgeon could cut her open. They would have to use fucking power tools. But in a way she was closer, much closer, than before. If the diet thing worked again the rest of her pouchy area whould go. Making her closer to, say, wonder woman.

So Sarah was left to ponder.

****

And for lunch and dinner the next day she had salad.

******

The second night she went patroling through the city, and saw something.

She landed in front of a house. Now, the image you might think of - a house is something surbiban and pleasent and green - and green it was. But the house was a bit old and run down. It was in Inglewood, a suburb of LA that, well...was "urban" in the same way Aresenio Hall was "urban".

But in front of it was a little girl. 'Mazing Girl adjusted her spot and landed in front of her.

"Help help!" said the girl. "My cat is in the tree!"

That is a litteral quote there. Six years olds can be remarkably direct.

"What happened?" 'Mazing Girl asked. She liked kids about this age. They were good at taking a grown woman in cape, who could kinda fly, at face value.

"Well, I opened the door and I'm not supposed to let the cat out, but I did, and he climbed up, way up the tree."

'Mazing Girl nodded. There was a tree. And there was, about 30 feet up, a cat. A tabby cat. Not a kitten, but a cat.

"I'll help."

"He's scared and he'll bite, but I don't want him to stay up all night!"

"I'll help."

'Mazing girl leaned in, and landed lightly. Trees were tricky. Cats where tricky. She had a hard time gauging weight, but the branch seemed sturdy enough. The cat looked at her - but it couldn't move any further up the big linden tree.

'Mazing Girl looked at it. The cat looked at her. They were going to do this.

It hissed.

Still, 'Mazing Girl thought using her powers of looking at things: We are going to do this.

Claws.

Still doing this.

'Mazing Girl leaned in, and with two hands and steady motion grabbed for the cat, got bit on the arm to absolutely no effect, and held it.

She jumped down.

"Here you go. Hold on to it"

"Thanks 'Mazing Girl. When I grow up I want to look just like you!"

'Mazing Girl paused.

"I get that a lot. Just try to be nice...and help people...and you can. Wait a second...did you say look like me?"

"Sure. Your so beautiful and thin...and white."

"Wait a second," said 'Mazing Girl "No. That is not okay. Not at all okay. You are bueatiful just the way you are. You can't get any whiter, but you will always be beautiful. Black and beautiful."

"Okay."

"Listen to me, it's very important. That is in no way okay. "

"Then thin then."

"THAT is still not okay. You should be happy with your body image. There are whole books and shows and magazines that are going to want to change what you look like, make you feel like something else, and dumb and ugly. I have been fat my entire life, and you know what? I am healthy and *extremely* strong. It doesn't make me any less displined or special. I have saved the world, and I'm okay - and you will too in your own way."

"Okay then," said the little girl. "It's my bedtime."

"Remember what I said!" 'Mazing Girl insisted. "It's you I like. Every part of you. Your skin, your eyes, your feelings. Whether old or new. The way down deep inside you. Not the things that hide you, not your toys - there just beside you. I hope that you'll remember. Even when you're feeling blue That it's you I like, It's you yourself, It's you, it's you I like..."

The girl walked away.

'Mazing Girl sighed.

And that night Sarah went to Randy's Donuts.

Dancing in Non-Euclidian Space

Sarah was rarely that scared.

There was very little of the everyday that could hurt her *physically*. Seeing no weak-spot her mentality had altered such that very little could *emotionally* hurt her either. It wasn't that she didn't feel pain - being a superhero hurt, sometimes an awful lot - and it wasn't that she didn't feel emotions - she did that too. But her coping mechanisms in both senses were very well developed, and even if she got shot at or dumped or knifed, or lost her job - well there was life.

And she was totally immune to fire.

So knowing this meant that fear had little purchase. Yes, when other people were in danger, or in particular circumstances, she could be afraid, but mostly not. She remembered reading that the definition of heroism wasn't that one wasn't scared, heroism was overcoming it - but yeah, for her to do this on a daily basis, she was mostly pretty much fear-proof.

But not now.

This was scary.

This was terrifying.

This was ballroom dancing...

*****

It had started only yesterday. 

She was having a group meeting with the rest of the art department, with a director talking about the episode they were shooting - three weeks from now.

"So I want darkness here...real darkness...that goes up and down the line."

The director was named Mary Whickman - which is important to shout out as there wasn't many female directors, especially in television, and they should be celebrated. She was also very good, though she could be very vague sometimes in the meetings. Film was a media where one was either very specific as a director and matched every detail, or vague and let the talented staff fill it out. Whickman went for the vague - and it worked. To the extent that Seventh District was a quality show - and it was a formulaic cop drama, was in the margins in the asides where kind of generic dialogue and situations where filled out. At these moments it could be legitimately funny, or tense, have a well constructed sot, or even occasionally dramatic.  

But Sarah heard her phone beep and saw that she had an email from Lana.

She should check it - she was learning a lot about lighting, when...

"Sarah,

Curious if your free tomorrow night. I have come into possession through means of two tickets to the Fifth Annual Tompkins Charity Ball. It’s at the Avalon Room in West Hollywood. It’s an event that benefits muscular dystrophy. It’s a formal event and very dressy but thought it might be enjoyable for us to attend.

Hope your day is proceeding well

-Lana.”

Sarah considered. She should do something for muscular dystrophy - a doctor once told her that a good way of describing her powers was that she kind of had the opposite of that.

Wait a second...a ball? Like when she got into a pumpkin or something?

How did that work?

Sarah had been to her high school prom, where she did not put out. She had been dancing as an adult at various music clubs in the south land. She thought perhaps that this was somewhere between A and B but where?

She suspected closer to A.

Okay...

She could live there.  That could be fun.

But did she have a good dress - something to wear - her shoes? Her prop master brain was going through the permutations of her closet Red - no . She (she had very, very little clothing that was red – because, come on, her costume was red) had a nice black dress with green trim that looked good and elegant, which she wore to industry events where it was nice to look good for. Nice pumps, no flats if she wanted to do any dancing...and...

Oh my god...she was going with a chick.

Sarah sighed.

She really needed to stop doing that. That wasn't useful at all.

"So third act we get to the scene in the distillery...I mean talking to location found a great place in the valley...but lighting-tight ceilings lots of shadows want more of them.”

Sarah realized she was in an important meeting.

Okay that may have been a stretch, to use the word important, but she was in a meeting and she owed it to them to give them her attention.

******

After the meeting, she and Lana talked on the phone. It was odd talking on the phone with her sometimes. Lana was never quite clear of what she was doing in any particular moment - and Sarah had the strong suspicion it wasn't good. Or safe. The flame was an extremely active hero. She had pieced together dozens of investigations at any one time, had claws into numerous law enforcement bodies on several levels, and well...just lots of shit. When she was at her house there were rooms she didn't want to go into. They frightened her – well, frightened was the wrong word, as Sarah didn't easily frighten, but wanted to avoid these places. Sarah didn't want to date the Flame. She didn't want to mix their magics.

But as she and Lana had a pleasant chat about it - the ball would start around 8. Lana would be happy to pick Sarah up and drive (which made sense as Sarah drank while Lana did not) around 6. They would have dinner first. Lana knew of a Thai Restaurant she had read good reviews about but never actually been to, and...it was an organized conversation. She asked about Sarah’s day, and listened to a few of her petty concerns, even offering some of her own. Lana didn't say what she had did. Sarah didn't ask. It was a pleasant conversation.

Too pleasant, perhaps.

Was she roasting someone alive on an open fire like chestnuts?

Performing tests on a sample of fibre to see if it had been near nitrous?

Standing in an alley watching a single child play with a teddy bear?

Listen to 1000 phone conversations at once of everyone in the city? And yawning?

(That last bit would have been difficult, as she was keeping up a convesation with Sarah.)

Sarah sighed. The banality of...well not evil perse, but something in relation to it.

But a ball?

Sarah had to load up a large calibre shotgun with blanks - which was tricky and messy. typically a couple of times a month she had to deal with them, and while the average person might think they were just normal bullets, except not, in reality they were temperamental little buggers with blackpowder that tended to get loose and jam the gun up, in ways that were often hard to clean. Shotguns with their pellets were theoretically easier and safer (despite the reputation if you shot someone with a gun loaded with blanks that’s it was really dangerous - but if you shot someone was a blank shotgun, yeah, you would probably be drummed out of the union...but yeah). However, they were a fucking pain to deal with.

And somehow a little of the powder caught on fire, and she was covered in soot –and...

A beautiful ball sounded divine.

******

Sarah smiled. She did look pretty. She always did when she wore something sleeveless. Her arms were her best feature. Large masses of muscle on large shoulders - but somehow graceful. Sarah could be described as a large woman - but the more flesh one saw of her the more one saw if her proportions were not some mathematic idea, they had power, and beauty. She smiled. She had a little opera coat to put over it - but no. She was just there.

And was going to a ball!!

Apparently you could do that in LA, if you paid, like, 75 dollars.

You learn things every day.

She put on black flat shoes, and got out that nice purse that matched her dress - and felt...happy.

She wasn't in love. She knew that, even though she never really had been in love. But she felt glad for this, this strange thing. She had been a real superhero for, like, 5 years. She’d fought monsters, and robots, and ninjas; and ninjas that looked like Klingons. But she had never gone to an elegant ball. This was a strange and tentative thing, but special and magical. Lana took her places that she never expected, to do things she never had done. And that wasn't a metaphor for lesbian sex.

Well. At least mostly that wasn't a metaphor for lesbian sex. 

There was a knock on the door.

And Sarah opened it to see Lana also wearing a dress. A long orange silk number that had puffed sleeves, and almost draped to the ground. It was beautiful. She was beautiful, with delicate makeup and her brown hair down in a renaissance ponytail.

And she had a corsage in her hand of a single rose.

This wasn't a friend who was picking her up, this wasn't someone who was there to look at her dress - this was...her date. Her companion, who intended to pin her, a term that she knew somehow.

And she felt terrified.

Lana smiled. Her smile.

"You look gorgeous. You really can dress up a prop master and make them look elegant. Better then a software engineer, anyway."

Sarah smiled. She had to, but the fear... "I didn't get you a flower."

"It’s just a silly tradition," said Lana. And then she kissed her gently.

Sarah was 50 percent sure this evening would end with sex. But that didn't frighten her. That was just sex. Girls have sex with other girls. But go to balls with them? Dance with them?

Oh God - they would have to dance together.

*****

But first they had dinner. Women did eat dinner together all the time. She could handle it.

Dinner was at a Thai Restaurant - a fairly good Thai Restaurant. Thai was one of those cuisines that Sarah was aware existed - but well, other then a boba milk shake once or twice, never dipped into. She remembered banana peels were important - her dish contained vegetables wrapped in them. It was good. She had a vegetarian dish so she could share with Lana, as often Lana would give her large portions of whatever she was ordering. So she wanted to return the favour.

Lana was so very thin, but her peanut sauce covered rice was quite tasty.

They got odd looks. Sarah had expected an elegant local something with fine china and attentive staff for a night at the ball. However, this was semi-divey. Formica and paper napkin holders – chopsticks, but it was well, a lot like an Asian food restraint in central LA. The patrons were a mix of Thai and non Thai - the sight of two women wearing ball gowns and obviously a couple - who occasionally fed each other - was curious.

It wasn't a hostile curiosity - but it was unwelcome. Even the waiter, an older man looked slightly tentative toward them, as if any moment something would happen: they would make out or call the fire department.

Instead they only talked. Sarah wasn't quite sure about what, but they talked. And it was pleasant, easy - it may have been about her early jobs in the industry, encounters with actors, Lana’s travels in the world...it may have been something else. But Sarah smiled, and she was happy and her fears were washed away. Lana’s hand held her and she felt firmly held.

Then she looked around the room, and felt so alone...and afraid.

And back again.

About five times over the course of the meal.

*****

They parked the car outside the Avalon, which was a dance club. Sarah had been there a couple of times - in various guises and at various stages. Trip hop night, a performance by Sleepy-time Gorilla Factory, just a night. But this was different.

But it was almost comforting that parking was a bitch. It made it real. LA was a city built around plentiful and free parking. Except in Hollywood. There it was outrageously expensive and horrible. And Sarah didn't have to deal with it!

She smiled and relaxed. Pointedly not into Lana, giving her space.

Not that Lana looked in the least bothered or alarmed, or taxed, by the experience. Her Vulcan-like expression rarely changed, as they saw a lot full and then a second...spaces. It wasn't really a story. She didn't regard it as such. Just parked the car and they got out, Leaving their carriage that looked suspiciously like a Lexus, a car that looked especially like a tarted up Toyota.

They walked together. Sarah looked down. She had to - Lana was shorter then her, though Sarah herself was reasonably short.  As she did this, she saw her own boobs. Damm. They were good. She realized that for Lana, her eyes were near there level - not quite but...

She wondered what Lana saw in her. Did she look at her boobs? She knew Lana liked her boobs. Was she like a guy, and all she saw was a pair of boobs and a cup holder? Lana thought about her.

That didn't quite make her scared, but it was there.

They reached the door. It was a plain, ordinary building - most night clubs were.  Actually, one could even describe it as ugly. Normally from outside you could hear music.

Tonight there were a couple of men in Tuxedos. And not those bouncer tuxedos you sometimes saw in LA, but actual tuxedos. And not much hair. Not from being black and bald, but from being, like, 60 and grey haired.

Men and women where gathering out in front - all well dressed. Some obviously better dressed then others.  Some of them where greeting each other, and it all looked very cheery.

And in walked two girls. Who were ‘together’. At some point Lana had put her arm in Sarah’s. It must be her damm magic. Lana reached into her purse and pulled out two tickets.

 No one outside seemed to recognize them.

And they entered.

The space was plain and boring - however it had been tarted up with too many flowers. Not steamers, but flowers, some rows of them azaleas, posies, and roses - so many roses. It looked like a Kevin Spacey movie.

The room had been setup with tables, like you might see at a wedding, in a couple of spots. The chairs looked nicer. The bar (which was of course paid) still looked divey.

There was a dance floor that was mostly empty, but the night was just beginning.

And on the stage was...a string quartet. With a piano. And...oh god...a flute

Someone had let in a flautist!

Sarah’s eyes glimmered. When she had expected a dance, she had expected - well dancing: do whatever you want dancing.

These. People. Were. Waltzing!!

My god

Waltzing!!!

*****

Sarah went into the bathroom. Closed up the stall. Fear.

It wasn't pretty.

She hated not being brave.

Hated it.

She heard a noise as someone entered. It was lana from the sound of her shoe.

"It’s not hard dancing," said Lana. "You’ve seen one of those television shows...what is it? I saw like five minutes of it once.”

"Dancing with the stars?"

"That sounds about right," said Lana. She was clearly leaning agianst the bathroom stall.

"Glider was on it."

"That sounds about right," said Lana. "It’s easy.”

Sarah paused and relaxed ever so slightly. She realized something. The Flame –Lana - she was the only one who had, recently, really scared her. Even the villains mostly just annoyed her, but The Flame - she could make her feel real fear. If one is poetic, make her feel.

And she realized something.

"How come you’re in this bathroom?" Asked Sarah.

"I'm...a girl."

Oh yeah. Funny that.

And Sarah went out to face her fear, taking Lana’s hand in hold.

And found that outside the bathroom the universe had been replaced with a non eclidian space.

***

"Huh?" said Sarah. "Are we dreaming"

"it’s not quite dreaming - it uses the same part of the brain, but that’s not the word," said Lana - who had instantly turned into The Flame. Not her dress, but how she spoke and acted. It wasn't as if they were night and day - but well, dusk and night, or something stupid like that. She was The Flame.

"Right, Jarmin, as always. You were always right...always so sure of yourself." The voice Sarah vaguely recalled from an unpleasant encounter at her gynaecologist. He was also the only one who used the term Jarmin. Sarah had meant to look it up but had forgotten - you know how it is- and she forgot his name. She hoped Lana would say it, as it could be awkward.

"shalk," said Flame. "aah."

She was a catch wasn't she?

"Did you think a western prison could hold me?"

Sarah realized that they were in an empty void with no left or right, no up or down - it could be said to be empty or completely full, endless void or 1 inch in front of her face. The only thing she had for a constant was that next to her was  the Flame. That was the constant. But she couldn't see Shalk, or be sure where or how his voice was coming. This didn't phase Flame in the slightest.

"well then, I won't use a western prison next time," observed Lana. "i was with her and used mercy. my mistake."

"I made several in our most recent encounter. I won't again. And I do see you are with her. Are you *with* her?"

"yes, no reason to deny it," said Flame.

"Revenge on both of you at once. How sweet."

"So how are we going to do this?" interjected Sarah. "’Cause we were kinda on a date. We’re going to do a little dancing, I just built up the courage, really, and I want to ride that."

"I'm not going to do anything," said Shalk. "That was my mistake the first time. I am just going to keep you trapped."

There was a dramatic pause.

"For all time."

Well, if it was going to be all time, no reason not to put in a dramatic pause.

Flame considered.

"I am not present on the psychic plane,” Shalk gloated, “So you can't destroy me. There is no space to do so either. You are trapped."

"No, we’re probably in a bathroom at a nightclub," said Sarah. "Knocked out or something. I mean even if you lock the door at closing time someone will let us out.”

"by forever" Flame said, "He is actually referring to maybe 5 seconds. a brain can process an awful lot...like dreaming we can spend forever in here.  it’s just an illusion, like time with my own private hell. Just a different type really."

"Well, that’s good. It’s then...”

"awareness of an illusion doesn't make it any less real. knowing a mirage doesn't exist doesn’t makes it any less tangible. it’s not like we can wait it out. it’s forever."

"So what do we do?"

Lana considered.

"And what happens after forever?" demanded Sarah.

"ask a priest" said Lana "i read a little thomas aquinas in college and he had some interesting ideas on the subject."

Sarah paused for a moment.

Again, she had time for it.

"So Shalk," she asked, "What’s the story?"

"I am not going to be baited by you," said Shalk.

"Well, if we’re living in a space of infinite time...if you’re putting it together...you must also exist in the same dimensional construct. You talked with us. So there’s an exit.”

"There is no escape."

"So your trapped here too," said Sarah. "Interesting.”

"Words can't help you," said Shalk.

"That’s a shame. I’ve watched a lot of Dr Who, and since I usually, well, just punch the villains, it’s a waste.”

"Ahh. You’re ‘Mazing Girl, right? I did read about you," Shalk said. “That explains how you so easily beat me. Again, then I was not prepared."

"And you’re not prepared now."

"How’s that?"

"Well, if you constructed two universes with no conceivable entrance between the two, one for us and one for you," said Sarah, "However you gave us an infinite amount of time to conceive it...this is a monkeys and Shakespeare method...there has to exist a method of breaching it, just we haven’t thought of it and ergo it must exists.”

"Well you can try."

"Sure Shalk, it may take a 1000 years but ... you know what. This is how dreams work. When you really spend forever in a dream you have a few minutes of something interesting then skip over the boring parts. Let’s do that.”

****

Sarah found herself next to Shalk.

She punched him into unconsciousness with one blow.

******

Sarah woke up, her head next to the bathroom stall.

She opened the door and saw Lana lying on the floor, still asleep.

She wondered...had she really spent forever?

And Sarah realized this could have been her chance to spend forever with her.

That would have been romantic...

Insane, in a Lovecraftian sense.

But romantic nonetheless.

Sarah leaned down to kiss her, to wake her up as a way to repay...

"you’re what happens after forever," declared Lana, looking up at Sarah tenderly. as her eyes flittered.

There were moments. There were moments after sex, now waking, when Sarah thought she saw a flicker of something through Lana, a flicker of emotion - maybe even.... - across her eyes. But it was only ever a moment. And then it past. And then she was Lana again.

Which was good. Because when she turned she saw Shalk’s dead body on the ground behind her. She also noticed that the door to the bathroom was locked.

Lana got up.

"they say you can't really die in a dream." Lana got up and walked towards the body. She smelled the remnants of his breath.

"laudanum. massive does. Its’ a drug that creates odd dreams, maybe gave him his power or worked with it. he probably intended to die. Not wanting to see after forever, as you put it."

"Who was he?" asked Sarah. "Come on.”

"my old teacher" said Lana. "one day I offended him and he could not stand it...so... a waste, but so i often i encounter it, i am numb to it."

"Like an evening, I guess."

"and it was a sealed room mystery. So many pieces...figure them out. i had worked out 23 solutions in my head, but wanted to see if you could find one first." Lana shrugged and unlocked the door. She walked out. "well, a dead body can put a damper on a ball."

Sarah followed her, stoped and grabbed her hand with hers and locked the door handle with another.

"What ae you doing?" demanded Flame.

"Well, the story is going to be an old man committed suicide in a girls bathroom at a nightclub. It’s a fucking horrible story," said Sarah. "But that story can wait. I was promised a waltz.”

Lana looked at her.

And it was Lana. Not The Flame but Lana. Sarah could tell the difference. Kinda. It wasn't the voice so much, but the eyes.

And Lana took Sarah’s hand...and they started to dance.

A beautiful dance.

An awkward dance, yes, but a wonderful one.

Sarah, being the taller one, lead Lana across the floor in a dance that, yeah, was pretty easy. If people noticed that it was two women, Sarah didn't see.

And it lasted forever.

Until they heard a very loud scream.

Well nothing lasts forever...

But Sarah had had her ball, and she was satisfied.

Blood, Guts, and Cake

'Mazing Girl's day started with walking away slowly from an exploding car. Now, mostly days ended like that, but you know...vary it up.


Technically speaking it may not be day. Sarah had woken up at 3:00am, as one occasionally does in the movie game. They had shot some crazy hours yesterday, despite the fact that they were doing it all on set, which often approached 9 to 5 - however when you start the week with crazy night shoots you end the week with crazy night shoots. It was a union thing.


But it was Saturday, when Sarah should sleep in or something like that, but ehh...she was feeling wired. Sarah had learned a while back, sadly, that Saturday morning cartoons were no longer a thing, which is why she decided after a small breakfast and kitten time to go out and make some cartoons.


Except when she got a weird sensation and went to Mariachi Square at around 4am. She was surprised when a car she was 10 feet away from exploded. You didn’t see that in cartoons a lot. More banks. Thankfully, no one was in the car when it exploded, and as it rained debris around the area it didn’t look too powerful or damaging.


Sarah walked away cooly. Though, in fact, her costume didn’t feature sunglasses, and she didn’t do it at slow motion. She needed to work on her sauntering.


Mariachi Square was a smallish public space in the east of the city - it looked a bit like something in Mexico, which was cute - mariachi bands came here during the day to be hired for performances and stuff, or when you needed drive-by mariachi music. This was the best way to hire them, apparently, as opposed to Craigslist, but she wasn’t going to judge.




Of course this was 4:30, and there was only one guy who seemed to be approaching something mariachi related - wearing a comical costume, and stretching.


She waved to him.


Okay, her weird "something's wrong" power was working. That suggested something was still wrong - which suggested that the car bomb was a distraction.


Okay.


She jumped to the top of a 2 storey building and closed her eyes and tried to figure something out.


“'Mazing girl,” said a voice behind her. She was startled.


It was, of course, the Flame.


Who was of course Lana Maclaine.


Who was… well not course, but maybe...her girlfriend. They had spent a lot of time together. And had sex. And they were kind of dating. And it was… well, it’s complicated.


Lana was looking particularly creepy and scary in the predawn light - there was just something slightly unwholesome about the prepubescent girl look - particularly in someone you're fucking. Who knew? Sara knew that it was an act, and that if you looked carefully at her you could see the fact that lana really was 32. However: still creepy. It was maybe the first time she had seen her in full costume since they had started their relationship.


And it was a moment.


“Flame,” said Sarah. It was probably bad manners to call each other by real names - or even pet names. Not that they had pet names, as they were probably not really girlfriends.


“something's up,” said Flame. “three blocks down. two gentlemen rented a small storefront next to a cake store last month, and they haven’t done anything really useful.”


“Cake store?” pressed Sarah.


“it’s a mob front.”




“And how do you know that it’s a mob front, if two people rented it and haven’t done anything?”


“don’t talk to me about my methods.”


'Mazing girl looked at her. Was it Tuesday when she was up during the day that they went to arboretum? There were ducks there. And peacocks. They had held hands. Sarah had briefly wrapped her arms around her when they sat on the lawn.


And then it struck her agian. Sarah wasn't exactly Lois Lane here, either. If She wasn't trying to scare her, it shouldn't. She was the more powerful of the superheroic pair by a good margin. Who was she trying to impress? You could ask 'Mazing Girl the same question, but really you couldn't say she was putting on that much of an air.


"Well...how should we handle this?"
"You can get there fast. Take point. I'll sweep the back."


"I could carry you," offered 'Mazing Girl.


"No," said the flame. And with that walked not bothering for an answer, in a cloud of fog.


Sarah was very mad at this...person.


Sarah sighed.
Then she jumped...


...and landed, and jumped again. It took her a couple of seconds to find the place Flame was refering to.




There was a sign above the door that said cake. That was as much as she could tell about a building that otherwise looked fairly empty. This wasn't a bakery. The cake was (wait for it) a lie. This pissed her off.


The door, however, was open. Walking out of it was a very dumb-looking hispanic man.


Sarah looked at him. he looked at her. He was carrying a cardboard box.


Now, in the absolute sense there was nothing about him that suggested he was doing anything illegal. He was a man walking out of a fake bakery at 5am. Nothing inherently wrong or illegal about that. Suspicious...yes. But 'Mazing Girl couldn't really do anything about that. Maybe he worked there, or owned the building. Maybe he was living there, which was probabbly a zoning violation but well...


They looked at each other. It was an awkward moment that lasted a second longer then it should have.


Then he turned to run away.


Now he was doing something she could stop him for. She felt kind of bad for him, despite it, even as he droped the box revealing a gun as it hit the ground. When she grabbed him - it took her less time to run and catch up to him then it took you to read this sentence (which is understandable as this a rather long sentence), she made a point to make it fairly light, and pushed him up against a wall to intimidate him - her heart wasn't in it, even as she lifted him up with one hand as his legs kicked out.


"Whats going on?" she asked.


"Um," he said.


Just then a second man walked out from the store as well. Now, the word thug can mean two things. It can refer to a large hulking figure typically employed in organized crime as enforcers, soldiers - large men who where professionally frightening. It could also refer to people who affected the kind of look as a means of fashion, typically associated with west coast Hip Hop. This man was clearly both. And he had a Glock. Which was another stereotype.


He aimed to shoot, and it took 'Mazing Girl a second to realise that he wasn't aiming at her, but at the guy in her hand. She moved quickly to put her body between them.


And the guy shot. After a career as a professional armorer, she often reflected how damm loud guns were in real life. Glocks in particular were a kind of loud weapon, that even after being shot by dozens of them she took time to adjust. They were loud but - this was fun part - were not quite powerful enough for her to worry too much about. The guy kept shooting them and she kept taking it - and this was also the fun part. It took him about 5 seconds. Semi-automatic handguns were a real waste, as the time it takes you to expend a clip was to damn fast to be useful. He kept shooting and shooting.


And then he was out of ammo.


Before he could begin to reload, she bull tackled him to the ground, grabbed his gun in mid air as he droped it, and crushed it in her hand in seconds, using fairly light pressure for her.


The thug was knocked out cold. The guy she had been holding ran away into the night. She could have followed dumb face, but instead she let him go, hoping he had many dumb faced adventures that The Skalds whould someday sing the tale of.


But she went into the storefront.


It's often said that Los Angeles was built last year in a hurry - but there was a lot of it - more then you might think that came from the turn of the twentieth century - it was typically in the poorer areas. A lot of South Central was legitimately Victorian. This made it look a little bit rundown, but it also gave it character. It would be a great place for a cake shop.


But...well fuck.


Instead, there were a couple of chairs, a folding table, and a scale. Everything else looked removed - it looked...let's say a place were one would negoiate a very large drug deal. Like in the millions. A crime was constructed in Sarah's mind - as she noted one wall had a hole cut out of it going to the store front next door - it was like something out of a sixties caper movie...except for the drug part.


As she reflected she heard machine gun fire, which was also something you wouldn't have in the 60s movie she was creating in her head - in which a group of lovable scamps create a fake cupcakes store in order to steal diamonds. Which was a shame, as she was mentally casting Alex Guinness.


She, on the other hand, adjusted her head a bit. The gunfire was coming from the basement. Or so it seemed.


'Mazing Girl lifted a foot up and kicked down into the ground, creating a hole of her own in the floor, a large hole, to investigate. The powerful impact rippled through the wood, splintering it into a massive hole in the floor, which perhaps was a shame. This was an historic building. Sarah tried to be careful about the amount of peripheral damage she caused. Someplace like this, maybe it would never get fixed at all. Which was a shame.


But there was no time for those kinds of thoughts. Instead she looked down to see what appeared to be a gun battle. Two groups of people where at opposite ends of a large basement - one group was in the back, the second at the entrance. The second appeared to have the upper hand, except for the fact that the first group was around a lot of carpets, crates, and other objects that appeared a sensible setup to form a defensive position - perhaps prepared in case this exact situation started up. Huh? Not unclever. Except for the part with the exit being covered with what looked to be 20 dudes.


Things appeared to be in a stalemate. When they saw her, everyone started shooting at either her or the person oposite them. But no one - not even Sarah - was hit.


She paused.


This required some thought.


"Okay, everyone!"


Her words were drowned out by gunfire.


"Okay."


No one could hear her.


Sarah paused and considered...


...when dumb faced raced into the store


"No no.....no! I won't! Can't! Please please please...please!"


He ran right into the giant hole.


Well. Fuck.


About a thousand bullets hit him before he even hit the ground.


Sarah winced.


She had seen people die. Hell, she'd seen a lot of people die...incocent people, children, the guilty - it didn't matter really. Death was death, and all life was precious to her. But there was something particularly bad about loosing someone she had mixed feelings about. It was easy to watch people you hate die. It was sad to watch those you loved. But it was another to see someone you kind of disliked, but who you sort of knew didn't deserve it...even in a punisher comic.


Or perhaps the Shadow.


The Flame walked in.


"okay everyone...lets just end this"


Then all the furniture, the carpets, everything in the room bellow, was suddenly on fire...


...and there was much screaming.


Sarah watched as people started to shoot at each other and hit. She saw the door to the exit lock and burn. She saw...


The Flame walked calmly to the hole, and with a controled jump, landed on the ground.


A man raced at her. She grabbed him, and used him as a human shield as another gunman shot him. Then Flame tossed him toward it the first gunman, just as the gunman was shot by someone in the back. Then his gun exploded.


She turned and watched someone's hair catch on fire - which caused him to leave cover and he was shot at he ran to the Flame, who comforted him on the back even as he bled out all over her body.


Sarah closed her eyes, then she heard screams. Horror. Just utter horror and destruction, as the stand off turned into a massacre. The Flame didn't kill anyone. That wasn't her thing thing...but Sarah watched as she let the two sides kill each other, fighting at their worst, like demons, as if attacking and fighting over little powders would end the horror. Sarah watched as more blood and guts splattered over the Flame, who could seem to walk through the bullet filled room with aplomb, just ignoring it, passing it, feeling it...as Sarah was left to imagine it. She wanted to end it, to stop it, to do...something.


And so she jumped down and grabbed someone's gun, bending it upwards hoping it would end the chaos.


Just before he got shot in the back by someone who looked to be from his own side.


The horror...


******


After the fight was over, firetrucks came. There were fires. And 'Mazing Girl.


She looked at the store window. Again the sadness. She wondered...how hard would it be to get some cake for breakfast? When a shadow came behind her. It was a particuarly bloody version of the Flame, looking a tad like the girl at the end of Carrie.


“would you like to go out tonight to the movies” Flame asked. “its been a long time since I just went to a movie theatre and had some popcorn.”


“Huh?”


“the remake of robocop is coming out. i remember seeing the original when I was a kid. That could be fun. get some popcorn and...what do they call those raisin candies?”


“This is fucking werid” noted Sarah.


“What?”


“You're covered in blood.”


'Mazing Girl watched her face. It changed. There was a subtle pain, a hurting, in it.


And 'Mazing Girl leaned in and kissed it instantly, because that was the one thing she didn’t want to see. It was a cliché that superheroines were physically invulnerable but emotionally... That was bullshit. Especially because she had seen her get shot, like, just 2 months ago. Regardless of how she was and what she was to her - she didn’t want to see her like that. So she kissed her and held her in her arms until the look in her eyes became something closer to delight.


“How's the shoulder?” she asked after the moment was over.


“it's fine,” said Flame. “it did’t hit bone or anything, but it's fine.”


'Mazing Girl held her in her arms and nuzzled into her.


“i’ll take a shower first.”


'Mazing Girl looked down and realized that she had blood on her too. She giggled.


“I’ll do that, too.”


And a mariachi came over.


“Wait...are you, like, girlfriends?”


The answer, Sarah realised, was yes. But she let it go, not giving the mariachi the satisfaction of an answer.


“No seriously...is this like a lesbian thing?”


And so this day that started with a car explosion, ended with an okay-ish action sci fi movie - a movie that wasn’t half as good as the original but was good with her girlfriend. Also Micheal Keaton: He is always charming and should be in a lot more movies. He was great as the corporate executive who was kind of doing Steve Jobs with a tad of evil warmth. Yeah, now that he was getting older in years he could totally do that in movies, and 'Mazing Girl would pay to see it.


She and Lana held hands.