Soylent Green is...

Sarah felt trepedation, more so then she had in a fair amount of time. Calling it fear would be a little far, but giddy would be too far in the other direction. Trepidation.

She was about 90% sure that she was going to have sex tonight.

Now this was reasonably rare for her. She had had sex in the last year or so - as recently as last week, in fact, with her likely sex partner. About 6 times either way. But never at 90 percent. Never with the sense of, 'yeah, this is going to happen tonight'.

But she was not...absolutely sure.

And which did she want?

It was a Friday night, and Sarah had had a decent day at work. She had gotten a fair amount done on props for a medical office, which were always fun. Two days before Lana had called - using a phone, something Sarah was sure that the Eternal Flame would never deign to use - it would interfere with her mysteriousness - but yes, apparently by pressing a series of numbers on a keypad Lana could call her and speak to her, asking her if she wanted to do anything Friday night. In so many words.

Sarah knew the game. This 'being a superhero' game. It could be mind bogglingly busy: A crisis was always coming up, and 'Mazing Girl always had to save the city. Or somedays, ehh. You had go out and look for trouble, and often (but not always) find it but, yeah: she could take a night off. Of course, predicting which night was which...

But Sarah said yes.

And so it was decided that, after going to the art musuem the week before, Sarah would come over and they would watch Soylent Green.

For those not familiar Soylent Green: It's a movie about overpopulation. Soylent Green is, in some ways, kind of dated...but interesting. Soylent Green...made in the period between Planet of the Apes, which was a huge hit, and Star Wars, which was a bigger hit...in a period where big budget sci fi movies could be about ideas. Soylent Green is visually interesting, occasionally hammy in spots, and some of the sci fi ideas are a tad dated in places, prescient in others (the virtual reality scene at the end was a trip). Soylent Green is, probably, the movie that invented Cyberpunk, without having any cyber or punk.

Soylent Green...was a movie she had on Blue Ray. Even though it had never been released on Blue Ray. Because, well, she was amazing, and she had the kind of connections to make that happen.

(Actually, it had been released on Blue Ray in a limited edition, but Sarah did not have the power to know that. She could toss around cruise ships though, so best not to take that away from her)

But as she sat in her her car wearing normal work clothes - or, in fact, slightly better and sexier then normal work clothes, that to a casual eye would look like work clothes -  and spent a couple of minutes doing her makeup. She wondered if Lana (the dark mysterious avenger called the Flame, who went through the city burning things) would be impressed. Sarah was a pretty-ish curvy girl, who had a tad of earthiness to her. She was the most powerful woman in the city, and an behind-the-scenes person in the TV industry, though she didn't have any tattoos. She had a cat, an apartment and...

She was a she.

That shouldn't really get her she thought but there you go.

Sarah had, 3 times, what might be called sexual contact with women, counting the previous weeks escapade. Prior to that it had happened twice. It had all, as the expression went, made sense at the tim. Or, more correctly, alcohol and laughs had made it make sense at the time. This didn't quite make sense.

But here she was, with a fellow superhero, nonetheless. Well, life was funny. At some point a comics company (not DC, or Marvel, but Boom. You can be forgiven for not hearing about them) had come to her and suggested Her own Comic book. Turning it down had been the hardest thing in her life, 'cause well, without her secret identity, what was there to her life? 'Mazing girl was kind of a bland, pleasant hero, for the most part, who tried to save the day. It felt slightly detached. Also because her agent had pointed out that the comic involved giving away some of her life rights if they ever wanted to make a movie about her, which he thought someday could get top dollar.

But the point was: her life was funny. I am not sure why I went on that tangent.

Sarah climbed out of her car and walked to the door, going through Lana's very large front yard. Looking at the house - the word mansion may not describe it...but, well...the English language didn't quite contain the words otherwise. Sarah looked into a driveway and saw a Lexus. She looked over a landscaped space that looked fairly impeccable, in a vaguely Tudor way. She looked on at a piece of property in the heart of Los Angeles that was impeccable and beautiful.

And here she was in jeans and a nice-ish shirt/blouse type thing, holding a DVD and a Little Caesar's Mushroom Pizza. She felt a little weird, like a delivery woman instead of someone who was 90% likely going to have sex with the owner.

Which she had almost forgot.

Mentally it had been a long two minutes.

But she knocked on the door and heard distinct weird buzzing noises...and the door was open. Like weird things unlocking and...

There was Lana. There was the Flame. Wearing a camisole style tanktop and yoga pants. She looked...slightly less dressed then Sarah. Huh?

"Whats that?" asked Lana.

"What?"

"The pizza box."

"Little Caesar's."

Lana paused. "That's vaguely familiar. They sell two pizzas, and they have a man in a toga as there mascot."

Sarah paused. "No. Well...maybe was that the case. Anyway, this was one of those pizza's, if you go over, they have ready. I picked some up..."

Lana considered. "I can't recall the last time I had pizza like that. Or really any. This will be fun."

Sarah shook her head. Huh?

They entered, and went to a living room that wasn't really the size of her condo. That would be unfair to her space. She had two bedrooms after all. This one was maybe...60%. That sounded right. It was however very nice, with lots of soft woods, and house plants, and shit. A good space. With a large TV and a really large couch, which sitting on Sarah got the distinct impression had never been sat on before - not that it was new, and this was entirely an elaborate rouse to capture her and take over...but well...it just hadn't been used.

She looked at Lana, who sat on the other end of the couch. Who was she?

They put the video in, and it started...straight into the movie, as legal - but not studio issued - Blue Ray played.

Soylent Green took some time to setup its story. Soylent Green is, basically, a murder mystery set in an over-populated future, a world that appears to be going through  something similar to the Greenhouse Effect, though that term didn't exist when the film was made. Prescient.

Sarah watched it...but she also watched Lana.

She also ate pizza.

And so did Lana, who, Sarah watched eat pizza. It was dainty. She wasn't a pizza blotter, but she ate it..and it...it was something. Sarah wasn't a watcher of food but this was something.

This was getting to be a complicated event.

Lana, of course, had never watched the movie, so it was new to her. This wasn't an action movie, really, and definitely not a comedy - so there wasn't a lot of thrills, chills or laughs.

Yet after the pizza was over, Lana moved over and put her arms around Sarah.

"So, what is the secret of the Soylent Green?" asked Lana as they leaned together.

"You really don't know?" asked Sarah.

"No," said Lana. "As I mentioned, I never watched the movie before...but it's interesting."

"A heatwave all year long...a greenhouse effect..." Charleston Heston was saying in the movie.

No...wait. This was made in 1972. Sarah thought that the greenhouse effect wasn't something they discovered until the 80's. Damn, this was prescient. But there was a question...

"Oh. Soylent Green...lets watch the movie."

Lana nodded. "It's fun to watch movies. I don't really do it much. I fell out of the habit at some point.

"The movie looks neat," said Sarah.

"You work in that industry, don't you?" asked Lana.

"Props," said Sarah, "I do props"

Sarah looked on ,feeling a shoulder next to her. "I came into art design - it's kind of movies like this that caused me to get into it - it's an evocative world. Richard Fliesher the director was never all that great with actors or anything, but he's good at making the movie look interesting."

Lana nodded."It's a take on what people in the 70's would call today. Not so much the future but, today."

"Doctor Doolittle, Conan, The Fantastic Voyage...he just had an eye for visual detail."

Lana nodded "This isn't a painting, but it's something to see."

Which Sarah felt. And she put her arm back around her and drew Lana into her. Lana didn't object. And she really couldn't object, now, could she? Sarah was a thousand times stronger then her.

They sat for almost an entire act in silence. Two people together.

"I wanted to be an art director," said Sarah. "But other then some porn, and a couple of other really low budget stuff, I never got into it, so I went into props. It's easier to do with my other life."

Lana nodded.

"Know the feeling."

And then she kissed her.

Sarah hadn't remembered if they had actually kissed before. It was perhaps a shame of their relationship - if that's what they had. Sex was still a blur to her, the simple bit where their lips met had never quite happened.

But it happened now. Lana was a good kisser. It wasn't sweetness, it wasn't passion, but it was there. There was a power to the kiss, a sense that Sarah was vaguely connecting something to somehow that was tangible. Sarah was with someone. and that's what it was. Now there was no question. Something existed...

And as Lana felt her arms...then nuzzled her head in her boobs with strange passion for a passionless woman, it was very sexual.

Now Sarah was up to 91...94%...

Now that was a hand undoing her pants. This was a go.

******

They stopped the movie. Sarah was simply holding Lana in her arms a bit. It was a weird sensation, one that she felt wasn't bad. Some of the tension was gone. Now she definitely knew. Lana wasn't a friend in the same industry who she'd had a one-time fling with. That was a weirdly cheery sensation. To think beyond any thoughts of girlfriend or fuckbuddy, or any other words one would asscribe, now they definitely weren't that.

Which kind of removed some of her power.

Sarah had once read that supergirls gained a lot of the power from their costume, from their attitude. To simply take off there clothes and have sex with them - to remove their mask took that away. That, hell, that was true of just about any woman to a degree. A nude woman was a nude woman. A nude woman, in this case, with an extremly large bush. This was sexist and dehumanizing, but it was a falacy to say a woman couldn't do that. She tickled Lana's pubic hair. It was fuzzy. A rats nest, but fuzzy. Huh.

Sarah smiled. Was there any pizza left?

Then...she felt something.

"Need to go," said Sarah abruptly.

"What?"

"Superhero stuff now."

And Sarah got up.

And realised that she had left her superhero bag in the car.

And she was naked.

She grabbed her shirt, and was out of the door in like 2 seconds, before realizing she had parked on the street about 40 feet away...and well, doing anything more would remove the immediate emergency that was needed. despite the fact that she was pantsless, i repeat pantsless.
 

Well, she put her costume on when she got to the car.

Because she was going....

*****

'Mazing landed 10 miles out to sea.

"Mazing girl!" said a guy, probably the Captain. "I never expected this."

Sarah stood in the crows nest.

"Oh! You're Amazing Girl!" said a sailor with a greek accent. "I excepted someone taller!"

'Mazing Girl got that occasionally. But very rarely, as she was a decent hight.

And ever more rarely on ships that were swarming with pirates.

Actually, 'swarming' may have been overstatement.

"There's about five of them," said the Captain. "We were parking off the harbour, ready to get into port tommorow. We put out a call to the Coast Guard, but they're coming."

'Mazing Girl nodded. The Coast Guard was loud...she wasn't.

She heard automatic fire. Well, Sarah thought, she had surprise on her side, but that was gone now.

"Normally with pirates, they try to take the crew," the Captain told her.

"Is there anything valuable, on the ship or anything?" said 'Mazing Girl.

"Dunno," said the Captain. "We don't have a manifest."

Sarah didn't know that, but would read that the next day. Most ships these days litterally had no idea what was being carried in order to avoid thieves. Fun fact. Except for the pirates. and who knows, pirates could be fun.

Especially when sarah looked down from the raised dais to see that at least one of the pirates had an impressive beard.

"I got everyone on board up here," said the Captian.

"Theres only 8 of you," observed Sarah.

"Standard crew size these days."

Sarah read a lot the next day about the modern day transport industry. It was neat. Her granddad was a sailor.

That was it. He sailed.

But in the meantime

"Stay here," said Sarah "We'll try to get our pirate friends."

"They're no friend of me," said the Greek sailor.

"It's an expression."

***

Sarah casually jumped 30 feet down from the nest to the main floor, making a loud thump.

She walked over.

She saw a boat with a guy in it.

Best to cut off their escape. She had a working theory. There was something really valuable onboard. These pirates were there to get it. In Los Angeles Harbour, which wasn't exactly Somalia. Find it, get out. Smash and grab.

Sarah jumped, and landed in what looked to be a speed boat.

And then went through the bottom of the not-as-strong-as-you-might-think boat.

Damn.

Sarah didn't go all the way through. She grabbed the bottom with her arm but, she was still half in the water when she did.

The guy in the boat was looking very surprised, but got himself together and started to shoot at her with an AK-47.

Fuck.

This was hurting.

And then she felt bellow her that a shark bit her.

Fuck.

The shark cinched her legs a bit - not in a painful way.

But then he let go. Sarah knew that sharks tended to attack by taking a bite, letting go, and waiting for you to bleed out. Except she wasn't bleeding all that badly in the scheme of things. It was more like a scrape on her knee than a wound normally inflicted by sharks teeth.

It was the AK that was hurting.

She let go of the top of the boat and was underwater. The bullets were no longer hitting.

The shark  -who dimly looked like some kind of reefer, not a great white, but a reef shark - was away with a kind of smug, 'any minute now I am going to have human flesh' kind of way.

Sarah punched him for being stupid. He quickly swam away.

Then Sarah grabbed the edge of the small boat, and overturned it and the guy. He dropped his gun and screamed.

******

Sarah grabbed the guy (not leaving him for the sharks) and with one arm climbed up a rope to the main deck of the boat. She took the rope afterwards, and tied him up.

"So, where are the rest of your guys?"

"No hablo...no speak English."

"Oh, come on, you're clearly Greek," Mazing Girl observed.

"And that makes me speak english?" the guy demanded.

Sarah sighed.

Then Sarah scanned the deck, and she saw Beardy. She liked Beardy.

She ran up to him at about 50 miles an hour, and then politely taped his shoulder.

"Drop your gun."

He did so.

Nice guy, Beardy.

She picked him up and ran 50 miles an our back to the other guy, and used more of the rope to tie Beardy up. She didn't bother questioning him, as she liked him to much to be annoyed.

Okay 2...that was 3 more and...

She heard shots.

On the far side of the boat someone was shooting. No...wait...was it a boat or a ship? She knew there was a diffrence.

Again, next day: Wikipedia.

But now, she walked toward the gunman with a moment of caution. He didn't nearly have a beard - but he did keep shooting.

And shooting.

it's fun to say that 'Mazing girl got shot and shot dozens of times before his gun ran out of bullets. And they did run out...but none of them actually hit her or anything.

It's hard to shoot a gun at, what...10:30 already?

He looked down to reload.

She grabbed his gun and turned it into make-shift handcuffs - she needed a funny name for them, like a Coney Island white fish, or something.

Then she noted something...why he was shooting.

There were about a dozen boats. Some of which looked like they carried Navy Seals.

What were they carrying on this ship?

Was it soylent green?

Ahh...she didn't care.

***

The first Coast Guard came 5 minute latter aboard ship. There were two more guys on the ship, theoretically, but she left them for the Coast Guard. She and Navy Seals had a thing she didn't want to get into, 'cause of that one time...with the noodles. Not a good scene...besides...

She jumped 10 miles over the harbour. The water was pretty at night.

She thought about going home. But she had her stuff back at Lana's...including her car and her wallet. And..

The entire thing had taken 45 minutes by the time she knocked on Lana's door, still in costume.

More weird noises, and Lana came down and opened it.

Lana had dressed agian as well. "'Didn't know if you'd come back."

Sarah nodded. "Left my stuff."

"I took the liberty of folding it neatly for you," said Lana, "If you want to come in."

Sarah did see that Lana had cleaned up. The space was once agian immaculate, clean whites, nice spaces.

Sarah got dressed in another room, putting on her street clothes. She didn't have her costume bag, but that was clearly enough.

"So," said Lana.

Was this the end? Of the date - and they had sex, so it probably was a date. Was it the end of the them?

And Sarah realized the most important revleation of the night.

She didn't want it to. She wanted to spend some more time in this weird imaculate house, and watch movies with Lana...and be.

She was people. Lana was a real person who was very, very, different from Sarah, but had something. 

"Do you want to watch the rest of the movie?" asked Sarah.

"Sure."

And so they sat down and watched. And had two peices of cold pizza. They only had, like, 20 minutes of a very trippy, weird climax. The movie was known for its ending. But that was actually the second act break, as Charleston Heston tried (and failed) to save to the day. It wasn't great..

But Lana was...people. The movies where people, and for the time being at least. Lana was her... people.

And that was the secret of Soylent Green.   

.......

"Oh! they're all cannibals!" said Lana after it was over. "That's pretty dark."


The End...

A Delightful Day at the Musuem...and Nothing Else

Sarah opened her eyes. There wasn't alcohol clouding them but somehow she felt confused. She wasn't in her own bed, that much was for sure. This room had light coming in through windows that weren’t covered by thick curtains, in general it was lighter...more refined, with an air of subtle sophistication. The room was judging her and she hadn't spent a conscious minute in it. That was unfair.

Sarah then looked over. A shoe was about to drop she knew. Someone was next to her, under sheets that Sarah could already determine smelt a bit like sex and fear. Despite herself and her foggy mind Sarah found this rather enchanting. It was a mystery...a wonderful surprise in a way. Who was this enchanting delight that was part of her delightfully fucked up life? One of the treats.
 
Next to her, wrapped up surprisingly tight in blankets, was the Flame. Her long brown hair was put over Sarah’s shoulder and she wore a smile of contentment. Flame was nude of course, and Sarah got a look at her very flat narrow back. In a way it was pretty. As were her arms that looked like tent-poles compared to Sarah’s.

Eternal Flame: ‘Mazing Girl’s superhero cohort; the psychic who created fire from nothing. The  Flame the eerie looking girl who saw right through Sarah. The Flame...the gingham dressed heroine that frankly looked like something from a Tim Burton film. Woman. Female. Possessor of Oviares. That Flame. As Sarah looked around the room, she had thought it would be gothier. There was a lot of tasteful white furniture and subtle colors.

Sarah had a sensation there were several options here. Though in the last couple of months they had grown to know each other a bit, she still... well, Sarah was kind of creeped out by the girl who talked in a singsong voice that suggested murder. Yet here Sarah was, with a vigina that felt gushy...obviously something had happened that she had no reason to forget, but her mind wasn't quite remembering. Perhaps a little panic would help.

But she couldn't quite work her way up to panic.  Instead she decided to be more neutral.  She leaned over and hugged her new lover from behind, wrapping her arms around the woman who was as flat chested as a board. She nuzzled into her. Sarah cupped her breasts - or what there was of them. Flame had the kind that suggested yes, this was a breast...but nothing more. Sarah traced her stomach and several ribs, finding the smallest hint of abdominals. I mean she had to work out to be a hero...how could she be this thin? Then a finger went between her legs.

"It’s too early," said Flame’s voice. And Sarah agreed with that.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember...


********

Last night she had been thrown roughly into the room...her arms tied behind her back, her body beaten, her spirit had been crushed. Well, it was a hard spirit to crush, but it had been given a pounding.

She had been patrolling the city, feeling rather happy with herself, when she got shot in the ass. Normally that was a pain...in the ass, but this one was a very strong dart, that injected her with what she had been told was enough tranquilizer to bring down a pack of elephants.

The force of the hit disrupted her jump, and as she spiralled into the side of a building. The impact didn't do wonders. She landed on the ground in a heap...and while she tried to get up she was starting to feel really ’Mazingly groggy. Alcohol did affect her, but she was feeling worse now then she ever did in her life.

A group of thugs - anything more then their groupness and their thugness was lost on her - came at her and beat her up some more. Frankly the drugs were taking effect and she really didn't feel most of it as she half heartedly put up a fight.

She remembered throwing up on one of the thugs shoes. Take that shoes. That’ll fuck em...

She found herself being brought into a building -again a building –  and into an office.

"Ahh!” said a man waiting in the office. “The mighty ‘Mazing woman,"

"Wait till I get your hands on me," said ’Mazing Girl, almost instantly aware that hadn't really made a lot of sense.

"Charming as always," the man observed. Did she know the voice? She thought she did. Her eyes just weren't working properly.

"Set the chain," the man ordered.

She felt her hands being brought behind her back, and something put around that the informed was: "Tripple strength titanium based alloy. That strut could hold up the Empire State Building."

"So. Come on...tell me your evil plan," urged ‘Mazing Girl. It was good to fall back on what you know.

"You'll figure it out. It does involve you staying alive, so that’s something in your favor. You’re worth a lot to me alive...well, worth more to other people."

Then she put it together. "Kraygen."

"Yeah we've met" he said

Kraygen was a mercenary. She hard heard from various sources that he used to work for the Canadian government, in their secret service, which really made her give it up for Canada. He was somewhere between a thug and a criminal mastermind, depending on the day of the week. He was the kind of the guy who could, say, shoot down a flying superheroine with a high powered dart and capture her and take her to a building. It all added up.

"Put her in the room," he said. "You look like you lost some water in the process. We’ll get you some. Don't worry, I want you alive and healthy.”

By this time ‘Mazing Girl was only just shy of unconsciousness. Still she soldiered on and managed to step on the foot of the thug behind her. There was no real power in it, but that will show em. His shoes must be really messy. 

*****

So she was thrown in a small storage room. Most stories like this featured an abandoned warehouse. This looked more like a small office space. She was tossed on the floor.

"who is that?" a voice asked quietly.

This voice Sarah was able to identify more readily.

"Flame! You’re the Living Flame!"

"eternal flame," said the voice. "but points for effort."

The Flame looked Sarah over. “’mazing girl. good finally they got you."

"What?" said ‘Mazing Girl, really not feeling it.

"captured...brought here. Ttey got me two days ago when I was on patrol, the wretches. dart to the back of the neck. It put me down, but only for a short time. been fully conscious for a day or so and planning my escape. however, a big part of my plan was for them either to capture someone else like you, or..."

“How did you know they were going to?"

"i am a telepath."

Then the voices outside Sarah’s head stopped, and the voices in her head started.

((we should probably communicate this way anyway, it’s safer. as I was saying, i'm a telepath. i can read that beast Kraygen’s thoughts. such a ghastly inhuman sort. he has made come contacts in what might be called the white slave trade in asia and wants to sell heroes there for some type of underground setup.fighting maybe, sex...even he’s not sure. but he wants to get about five of us. I knew his next target was you.))

"That was your plan?"

((talk like this)))

((That was your plan?)) ‘Mazing girl thought. ((Have me get captured?))

((to help me. I know your groggy. they probably plan to keep you like that. their plan for me was to tie me up and keep me in an inflammable room, however i think with both our powers together, we can escape.))

((How?))

Just then she heard and felt drums in her ear, something coming close to her... moving. She opened her eyes to see that Flame was over her. Flame’s hands and legs where both bound up.

((i need straight contact with your skin to do this. it’s not going to be pleasant, i’m afraid. But be a good sport and buck up.))

Flame leant down as if to kiss her...however all she really did was nuzzle her neck with her face. Rather awkwardly, as she felt a nose somewhere.

It was then she felt it...a huge rush of chemicals going through her mind as if every alcoholic drink she had ever experienced was rushing through at once. It was incredible. It only lasted about a second...and then Sarah fell unconscious.

***

She then woke up, opening her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked, looking around. She felt fine now. Dehydrated, but as if the cloud was gone. Also, she had peed her costume.

((i helped you clear your mind. i have the power to get inside your head a bit...your body. i sped up the drugs about a 100 fold. it hit you hard, but you should be fine now. Now use your super-strength and we can effect an escape.))

‘Mazing Girl smiled and laughed just a bit. She felt her hand. she had been told the metal was designed to hold up the Empire State Building.

However, she had found that with enough pressure metal of any kind was really sort of weak when she pushed it. Well...after about twenty seconds of tugging and grunting...she was free.

“okay,” Flame said "they have a camera. get me, and let’s get out of here before they come in.”

‘Mazing Girl grabbed the manacles holding Flame’s hands together. They were a standard set of handcuffs. She just broke the chain, she would worry about the cuffs later. She did the same with Flame’s feet

"You okay?"

"stiff, but workable" Flame told her as she got up, moving and stretching her arms. "there. they almost certainly have more of those tranquilizers they got you with before, so be careful."

Mazing girl nodded. She approached the metal door.

"stop!" Flame warned. "i can read their minds. they’re waiting for us to bust through the door to get us. there’s five of them. kraygen. can you do me a favour?"

"Sure."

"i want you to make a small hole in the door...maybe 6 feet up. I want to see in there."

‘Mazing girl punched the door near the top, making a small hole. A bunch of bullets blasted at it, but the metal door stopped them.

Flame went over. "give me another hand. A hand up."

‘Mazing Girl leant down and made a bridge for the diminutive heroine in gingham. She noted she was just wearing a gingham dress. It wasn't a fake made of Kevlar like most superheroes wore. It was just maybe a 1/8 inch of clothing. And yes, underneath she was wearing panties.  Very sensible ones.

Flame looked through the hole. And then ‘Mazing women heard a cry. And the sound of fire.

"making the room more cozy. i forgot to ask. I myself am quite fireproof, but what about yourself?”

"I'll do. And I got an idea."

"then effectuate it partner."

‘Mazing girl grabbed the door handle, and pushed. The hinges gave way pretty quickly, pulling free even as she kept pushing.
 
Within a second the door wasn't in the wall, and she had a shield.

The room was on a lot of fire. Flame of course didn't actually set any of the men on fire...but several desks, plants, and other things weren't so lucky. Sarah felt the almost deafening impacts of felt like rockets hitting the door. Must be the launcher.

She moved up and swung the door at the source, and the man. Both flew to the side. Another met the same fate. Flame was, despite her size, good enough in a fight. She managed to disable one of the men with what looked to be very precise use of judo, even as another fled the room with his toupee on fire.

That left Kraygen. He pulled out a gun.

‘Mazing girl dropped her shield.

“I'll shoot," Kraygen threatened.

"Oh come-on. Why don't you just stop now and throw the gun at my face?" ‘Mazing Girl suggested.

"I’ll shoot her!" He then turned, and he did pull the trigger. But the gun exploded in his hand.

‘Mazing girl punched him as he dropped the gun in shock.

"lots of very flammable things in guns, i’m afraid" said Flame. "dull sort, I have done that before. I would assume it was on a fact-sheet somewhere."

****

They waited for the police to come up, put the rest of the thugs in a more presentable order...and well, talked a bit. Sarah had thanked Flame. Then Flame thanked Sarah. Both, it turned out, felt indebted to the other for others help in their predicament. It wasn't the debt, it wasn't that precisely. Or drink. ‘Mazing Girl felt, if anything, too sober. As if reality had taken an extra sheen.

Well, it somehow ended up back in Flames house in the mid Wilshire Distrct, where they had spent quite a few hours eating each other out. Very well, in fact. I mean...that was a hell of a tongue on that woman.  

Which lead to some real good sleep. which she undoubtedly needed. And eventually it lead to her waking up. And then Flame waking up with Sarah holding her.

"Good morning," Flame offered, when at last she fully waked up.

This was good as Sarah really wanted to go to the bathroom. Yet somehow she didn't want to leave Flame in bed by herself. No, a part of her really really wanted to go right now, but another part of her felt that would be seen as rude, and she didn't want to insult a woman who could burn her up with her mind.

"I’m going to the bathroom. Is that alright?" asked Sarah.

"Of course," said Flame. "First door on the left.”

Sarah got of bed gingerly separating their limbs as she did. They were rather entwined, in fact.

She went in and pissed like a mother. She had drank a lot of orange juice after another and not all of went into curing her dehydration.

"May I ask you what your real name is?" inquired Flame through the door. "I apologize...you may have offered it last night...but I don't remember."

"Can't you just read my mind?" said Sarah. Then paused. This was a step. A big step. But...

"My name is Sarah."

"Nice name," said the Flame. "Reliable. Strong. Just like you. My name is Lana, but you can probably find that from all the magazine subscriptions in there."

Sarah left the bathroom. She looked at the still nude Lana. "Do you want a robe? They will probably fit you though you are a...”

"Much bigger girl then you."

“Didn't want to say, but these tend to be one size fits all. I have this very nice kimono," Lana explained as she went to her closet. "Picked it up in Japan several years ago.” 

Lana returned with the Kimono. Sarah looked at her...well what was she? Associate...that much was obvious. They worked in the same field. At times there had been moments where they had been friends-but the kind of friend you don't actually know the name of. They now fucked each other.  Lana herself, whatever her last name was, was still so small and tiny. Sarah admired her. Even without her ’Mazing strength she could have broken her in half. Her waist must have been 17 inches and not a lot of her body was that much more shapely than that. She was a small girl of bone and sinew. From the brown hair on her head to down bellow. That Flame did smile at her suggested friendliness, so at least there was that. 

Lana handed over the silk kimono. It did fit well enough, covering Sarah in rish light blue cloth. "You look rather smashing, I must say. Charming even."

Lana put on a light blue robe of her own. "I must admit: I have always thought you were rather beautiful ‘Mazing...well, Sarah. Not a fake model, but your curves, the wash of your face, yes...I must say your gorgeous in a healthy way. I myself can't gain an ounce of weight with my metabolism, but I do envy your curves."

Sarah blushed. That was sweet. She had no idea how to end this encounter, and had the desperate desire to do so, but this was sweet, even if her eyes still looked through her.

"You look nice to."

"Thank you, from an old stick and bones," said Lana. "I can make you breakfast if you want."

Sarah paused. A million things went through her mind. This was a superhero. She made a rule never to fuck superheroes. Or supervillains for that matter. She wanted a separate, uncomplicated, life and secret identity. Of course, these were words; titles. And Sarah did sleep around a bit. Now she was sleeping round, but this...Nighthawk would know. Everyone would know. And they would whisper. And that would be no good. The fact that she was a girl too wasn't going to help anything either.

She lowered her head. "Sure."

"Are you okay?" Lana asked. The Flame, if anything, was good at keeping her emotions in check. what she was actually feeling, if anything, was a mystery to Sarah. She could be thinking the same thing, or the exact opposite. This was a mistake Sarah knew...but a person like this you didn't want to tell. You didn't want to make a person mad when they could set the house on fire with an angry thought. But something in Lana’s character told Sarah she would never do that...and besides it was Flame’s house.

And a very nice house at that. They walked down to a large airy kitchen, full of pale whites and tasteful furniture. It looked like a mansion or a mini version of that.

"Hope it’s clean enough," said Lana "I don't have any housekeepers or anything, I don't want to risk them finding anything."

Sarah paused. The flame wore no kind of mask. She wore a kind of costume one could wear anywhere, in fact, in a look normal enough kind of way. How did she actually keep a secret identity? It was a question she never actually got a decent answer to.

And the house itself looked cleaner then she ever could possibly imagine any real property looking. Fuck what a tidy fucker.

Sarah shook her head. "You have a beautiful house."

"Oh thank you," said Lana, as they walked into a kitchen of steel and light paints. "Bought it a couple of years ago. It’s serviceable. Works as a house...sometimes as an office, and I suppose my lair. I sometimes call it my candle." She shook her head. "I don't have people over often."

Sarah, as a woman of a certain moral repute, and age, in the city of Los Angeles...had woken up in some real shit houses. With guys doing blow in the bathroom. Not today. This could be considered a treat. An awkward treat. But, well...

Sarah sat down at a breakfast table. "Do you have any coffee?"

Lana nodded and went to a grinder that looked more expensive then Sarah’s car. "Oh, I get Sumatra beans from a shop in silver lake. Do you want a French grind or something smoother this morning? I want a bit of thickness, I need the caffeine, as if you couldn’t tell."

Lana looked, well, energetic was the wrong word, but if the one setting on her motor was functioning properly.

"That sounds good" said Sarah. She got her coffee from a can pre-ground. Though she did use little white filter cups, thank you.

"What do you want for breakfast? I usually eat granola bit of fresh fruit, but now I’m entertaining a lady caller for this meal, so perhaps I should get more elaborate."

"Do you have any eggs? And, like, some bacon?"

"I am vegetarian, but I do have some eggs I think still. Buy them from the farmers market." She opened the refrigerator "Scrambled? Poached? An omelette with some fresh tomatoes and basil?"

"That sounds good," said Sarah. This was really odd. The sex, the house everything.

Lana busied herself prepping ingredients behind Sarah.

"Do you need any help?" asked Sarah.

"No, I can manage," said Lana. "You know I get The Times - both the local and the New York version. Do you want to read the paper? It’s Sunday.”

It was Sunday. Sarah had no excuse...no work to go to. Which was okay, as she probably would have been late already.

"I bet it probably has some account of our exploits. How do you feel about reading your own stories? It always makes me feel a bit awkward I’m afraid."

"me too," Sarah agreed with genuine solidarity. "It’s such a weird thing. And I just don't know how to talk to the press.”

"It’s not natural for me either. Still the press loves you, and thinks me perhaps rather odd. Like I am some ghost from Chatswim. That is the effect I am going for. Still the world does need us so we must oblige. you get to be supergirl, I guess I’m The Shadow."

Within a couple of minutes there were omelettes on the table. And toast. And Orange juice. They ate in silence for a few moments.

"You know," said Lana, "It is Sunday, and I have a membership to the county museum of art. Would you like to go today?"

"I went there a couple of years ago, they had an exhibit on Jack Kirby’s art."

"No, I think you’re confusing the county with the museum of contemporary art. MOCA. That’s different, though with the problems they've been having maybe not for long."

Sarah paused, and thought, as she ate what was a very good omelette.

"You know, I came here in my costume. And I can't very well wear that to the museum.”

"Nothing I have would fit you," said Lana. "That isn't an insult, except to me."

What was she thinking? Perhaps there was just a glimmer of hope and disappointment. Or it could have been Sarah’s imagination.

Clearly the invitation meant that this wasn't a mistake. Breakfast could be a curtesy. A trip to the museum was not. The Flame thought they were enough of something to go to the museum together, enough of a ...what precisely?

Sarah realized that this could be a mistake. This entire episode had been a mistake.

But what the hell? She didn't have any plans for the day.

"I'll go home and change, then meet you there at let’s say...what time is it?"

"11:00"

“11? Jesus. Say 12:30 then?"

"That sounds like quite a lot of fun," said Flame. Yes...it was a smile, as big as this strange person sitting across from Sarah at the table could give.

Sarah smiled back.

And they spent a happy afternoon walking through the museum, looking at art from Mesopotamia, old European masters, and Japanese contemporary pieces. It was one of those things in LA that you would never quite do without company.

(to be continued)

Mazing Girl Artwork

What do you think

A Young Womans Guide to Warhammer 40k and Random Hookups.

Warhammer 40k, for those who are uninitiated is British game that combines element of classic wargaming in the Napoleonic style, mixed with Tolkienesque fantasy and the movie Aliens (also for some reason you can play a Terminator from the movie of the same name).

Many people think it's a lot of fun.


Sarah Jennings kind of agreed with them.


There were basically four parts to the game.


1. You had to buy the collectible figurines from Games Workshop (this was important - you couldn't ever ever use any figurines not from Games Workshop, or make your own).


2. Paint them, as they all came as kind of grey pewter mess. Paint them in exotic colors to make them really look great.


3. Play the actual game.


4. VICTORY!!!!!


Sarah was a crafts person by profession, but still dabbled a bit as a hobby. She liked the second part a lot. There was a lot of fun to be had spending hours painting detailed little models of cool alien creatures, and Sarah found it enjoyable, as it wasn't amazingly exacting...but exacting enough for someone who worked in the movies. And well when you get thrown threw buildings your life doesn't have to be 24/7 adreneline.


However, to get a real game going, you needed about 30-50 pieces...which was a lot. Some of them where kind of big too. And kind of expensive.


To play the actual game, which was the point (well victory was the point), the actual game...ehh. It was fun but slow. Each turn took maybe 10-20 minutes, occasionally longer, and a game took about 3-4 hours, as it involved lots of measuring with constant referencing of rules and arguing about things. Warhammer may have been a lot of fun if it was a computer game. Actually it may have been a blast. But, for reasons probably involving the fact there'd be no expensive miniatures to buy, no one had ever made a warhammer computer game.


(Okay there was Starcraft, but that's another story)


So Sarah was left with her respectable-ish Tyranid army. The army idea was really really blatanly stolen from the movie Aliens. However, a kind of organised battle against aliens was a neat idea. As a superheroine there was something fun of playing an army of tentacled monsters overwhelming beleaguered foes.


"Urrgh," Sarah said as set them up. "Conquer...must destroy the evil humans with their feelings and emotions."


"Quit it," said John.


Sarah was at an event - where Warhammer games usually happened. Groups of about 15 guys setting up 8 matches into a mini tournament. The winner made 20 bucks. You would play a game, and then watch the rest and drink semi-heavily. This was all happening in a very large garage downtown, the type that you occasionally found in LA.


John was a friend of Sarah that she never saw outside of things like this. Actually, friend was perhaps a bit of a strong word. He was someone she knew.


Sarah was going to play against his army of Space Marines, who were an army of hulking seven foot musuclar men, the ultimate of human condition, with superpowered organs and vitals. They were also, if you looked carefully at the fiction, sterile and presumably impotent...something she found amusing


And so they were off. Sarah knew just enough about the game to dangerous. She knew the principals of the Tyrandis, which was rushing as fast as you could to some place the enemy was weak-in a kind 'zerg rush' (except not). Just enough...or perhaps not.


Becuse that was the trick of the game. You l dice and there was a fair amount of luck involved. And after about 4 turns, the Space Marines really whipped her ass.


"Die you space vermin! Die in the name of Emperor!!"


Well, there went that battle.


Out in the first round, Sarah could either bail or drink. She really should be patrolling, and fighting crime, but it was a kind of drabbish drizzly January night so she decided agianst it. Plus someone had bought a case of Heineken. She checked her phones. No major emergencies, and if one came up, well.


So she watched the second round. It was an Eldar Army (space elves) fighting an Ork army (spaces....well, orcs with weird spelling). She knew the Ork guy, Laurence, from college, and knew that for an army that had a reputation of being kind of a joke, if you used the right strategy and rolled well you could do some damage. He was, thought it was taking some time.


She sat next to a guy. He smiled at her. she looked at him some more.


He was hot. Well, hot in the kind of 'he's obviously a nerd, but still abstractly kind of hot' way. It was like someone wearing black at a goth club. Goth. Black outside...maybe not. Guy with a scraggly beard at a warhammer event. Nerd. But still abstractly hot.


The guy turned out to be named Rick. Rick Hastings. He had come to LA to work for Sony, with hopes of becoming an executive, and he was in the most abstract sense, in that sony had a lot of executives - he just didn't have an actual office. He smiled at her. She smiled at him.


They drank some beers and chatted.


Games take awhile.


By the third turn it was clear they where paying more attention to each other than the game. Then he smiled and they walked outside to get some air.


******


About three minutes later they were making out.


"You taste good," Rick told her.


"I salted and buttered myself before the event," said Sarah.


"I like a little butter," Rick confessed as he slapped her ass.


"Keep at it."


She turned towards him in the street and he slapped her some, agian and agian. This would be technically described as a spank.


He lifted up her sundress and rubbed her booty. Sarah giggled. Then her spanked it, watching the flesh of her posterior fly. It didn't really get red but if was fun.


"Oooh! Nice buttery ass..."


Sarah looked around. There was either an alley or something that looked like an alley...and maybe she'd had too much to drink, but she walked in.


He followed and she breathed. She turned and kissed him for a second. She then lifted up her skirt over her waist and turned around, placing her hands on the wall


"My my," whistled Rick. "Someones wearing a thong."


"For a time being," said Sarah...and the thong fell to her knees.


Rick dropped his pants. She didn't want to speak. That was part of the fun. This wasn't a foreplay kind of night. She heard him fumble.


"I got a condom...just a sec."


"Aren't you thoughtful," said Sarah. Yeah, she should have probably thought about it, but Heineken was a good drunk for her.


It took a minute as she waited. Her ass was getting cold. She twitched a bit


"Hurry!!!" She shook her booty impatiently side to side.


"Aren't you something," observed Rick.


And then she felt it. She couldn't tell how long it was but as something pushed agianst her pussy, it was something.


"Urg," said Sarah.


And then he began. He was moving fast agianst her semi dry-opening, but it was getting wetter with each thrust. His hands grabed her breasts roughly.


And this was going well.


She wanted this...needed it. She was a good superhero, and deserved an orgasm now and then. But Rick wasn't possessed of an amazing amount of stamina. Sarah concentrated, closing her eyes. Sarah had...the power is the wrong word, but the skill that she could speed herself a bit if she had good stimulation - which this was. She was getting very close herself...she could feel it.


Rick licked her neck. She giggled and opened her eyes for a second.


Only to see, further down the alley, a girl was being grabbed by another guy who was putting his hand over her mouth.


It was moments like this that showed who she was, what she really had in her life. Who she really was. She was a girl with a guy up inside of her, in an embarassing siutation, just about to cum...but...


She screamed. She screamed really really loud. Sarah just let out as big a screem as she could made as much noise as could possibly come...which for someone with slightly superpowered lungs was a lot.


Rick let go of her, pulling out.


The rapist, or mugger maybe, ran away from the girl taking flight as fast as he could, running off into the night as the women (who Sarah could clearly see was an African American in her 50s) collected her breath.


"What the fuck?" Rick demanded.


"I saw something," said Sarah.


"What the fuck," Rick looked around.


"It was nothing."


And she started to lean down immediately, and grabbed him in her mouth and started to suck him.
When about 5 people from the game came around the corner and into the alley.


"Hey! What happened?" John inquired.


There was a pause.


"Oh." 


The group turned.


********


Sarah thought about chasing the mugger down but realised that she didn't get a great look at him, and it was a dark night. Not worthwhile odds for a crime that she couldn't really prove without the woman, which was...yeah, Sarah thought, just drop it.


Besides, she felt it very important that she should go back into the game like nothing had happened.


And so they both went. Rick had cum (at least after the audience left) in a second, and she was okay. He moved around the room, looking at guys with knowing looks and receiving a couple of high fives. Well, let him, she thought. She had the distinct impression that she would never see him again. A very distinct impression.


She watched the game. Terry won, taking out the last match agianst John. The silly, stupid, lovable Orks beat the big Space Marines. She assumed that much partying was involved, excpet for the facts that Orks, too, had no genitalia.


She did though. After a beer or so came a small sense of moroseness. She was feeling a little guilty about how she let her urges effect her. But how was that different from anyone? She could be 'Mazing Girl. have amazing adventures, and still drink, fuck, and play overpriced British wargames. She could still do all those things.



But she couldn't fall in love. That was the trick.

And the Chamber of Secrets

Sarah liked having straight-ish hair. It framed her face. As a normal person it made her look sweet and pretty, if a little devious. As a superhero it looked dramatic and spectacular, long tresses of red hair reflecting in the light over the city. It was good having straight-ish hair.

of course she didn't actually have straight-ish hair. Her natural hair was a bundle of curls and tresses that, if she left it, would look like a poof ball. Perhaps literally. There was an expression that the only honest person a woman was honest to was their hairdresser, but she never told Jan that her genetic structure was screwy. It was one of the things about being a super-being. The fact that she looked even real close 100% human was luck. Given her powers there was every chance she should have a third arm or something like that. But no, she wasn't a character designed by Chris Claremont for one of the weirder X-men stories, or Will Eisner in his supposedly realistic ones. She was Sarah Jennings: Normal person.

And Sarah Jennings, every month or so, trudged over to Universal Salon and had Jan work magic on her hair.

Jan was a nice woman, a large African American woman who was friendly, good with hair, and quick with a smile...if occasionally a bit quiet for a hairdresser. Which was perfect for Sarah.

The salon was busy on a late afternoon. She had an appointment for 4pm, but when she got there Jan was still busy with someone else’s hair. She had a nightshoot tonight. She didn't like it, but well, it was life. A night-shout actually. Working with guns on set (one of her primary jobs) was messy and loud, even if she could wear ear protection she always got powder on herself. It was an irony of kind of both her jobs. She wasn't actually very good with guns - in the shoot a broadside of a barn department (well, she could hit the side of a barn...). Armourers on film set were frequently ex-military, or cops, who really knew guns in the talk to them and join the NRA sense. She went to a class and now had a little card. Of course, unlike her most of them hadn't been shot hundreds of time and walked away from it, or had thugs throw them at them in anger after they were done wasting bullets. Most people thought superman didn't bother with guns because, well, why would Superman bother? They didn't know really, again, broadside: Barn.

But now they were going to a high school in the middle of the night, to shoot blanks in the hallways in an elaborate chase sequence through the stairwells and halls. They’d be doing fights, and stunts...and well, having a rough evening all around. An evening where people would sweat, skin there knees, and inhale too much gunsmoke.

But, well...she should look her best for it.

She had this moment of calm, and before she got dirty and smelly she had the option of reading magazines. Marie Claire, Vouge, Redbook - all the stuff she normally kept away from. This could potentially be fun, but not today. She had serious stuff to do.

She was reading Harry Potter. Book 2. She was doing this.

Whenever she looked at it she felt slightly guilty. Sarah was a girl geek. Harry Potter, as a fan phenomena, seemed designed for girl geeks. Yet she never really got into it. She had watched a couple of the movies over the years but could never crack open the books.

They were big books, and by the time she was consciously aware of them there were, like, three or four of them. Big books usually didn't stop her - she had enjoyed Wheel of Time, Archangel, and Mortal Instruments, even Game of Thrones. All of which were large and multivolume works.

She felt guilty though. Harry Potter, friends told her, was one of the seminal works of recent fiction – fantasy genre or otherwise - and the intricate universe it created was amazing. And, as mentioned, written by a woman. It also wasn't really constructed as a romance, had a non-female protagonist, and did have a complex universe that may or may not have been stolen from Dungeons and Dragons, but was something remarkable. In short, despite jokes about how the the rules of quiditch where *stupid*, that it takes nearly 3000 pages to do anything, and how some characters were incredibly deep while some were stereotypes, it was a good book series worth study. Which she should have read long ago.

Unlike like Twilight, which Sarah *loved*. Mostly because Edward was dreamy.

Sarah opened the book and sighed. She had managed to get through the first book and thought it was fun. It had a good sense of its own reality, creating a world where a 12 year old can function yet it suggested adults lived in, if only at the sides. The central mystery, the fact that the seemingly nice teacher was the villain while the evil teacher, while thoroughly unpleasant, was in fact a good-guy, had been fun. As had all of the magic stuff. 

She was 100 pages into this book...and found it was less so. Not lacking in fun, just less of it. Lots of stuff about house elves and magic car chases. Still, she read on. she owed it to...the publisher who already bought the book? The people who had read it 10 years ago and weren't going to talk to her about it? JK Rowling, who she once saw on the Simpsons and who seemed to have the proper level of weary resignation in dealing with fans?

She continued. There was magic here. She just had find it.

Even in a very bright salon, with mid 90s R&B hits playing in the background. Toni Braxton. She liked Toni Braxton abstractly. Something about waterfalls and chasing them.

Sarah looked over to see one of the other dressers working on a woman with long hair - and by long, I mean like 4 or 5 feet. It was weird. Did she wear it up or something? Sarah thought of Cord, a superheroine who lived in Denver. Her power was she could control her hair - turn it into ropes, whips or vines, or just use it to attack and grab people, like tentacles. It seemed a kind of painful power, as her hair was part of her. But in video Sarah had seen it looked kind of cool. Not always useful, perhaps, as Cord combined it with natural martial arts and a helicopter, but cool. Sarah had never met her. Despite the fact that going east Denver was probably the first really big city. Shame. The superhero world was pretty small, but it wasn't a very social one - no national conferences or stuff like that - that could be fun...

But wait. She was being distracted from Harry Potter. Curse the woman and her digression-causing lengthy hair.

She must be a supervillain...

"Hey, I can see you now, Sarah."

Sarah got up, watching the woman suspiciously.

"How long have we gotten it, Sarah?" asked Jan "Want it half-inch?"

"That sounds about right," said Sarah. "I'm just getting a little frizzy."

Jan nodded and quietly got to work. Working the straighteners would take some time and require ironing which Jane worked on.

And Sarah had a book. Ooh Mr. Potter, take me to Hogwarts...

She got into it. They where playing one of the improbably scored games of Quiditch as Jan worked, feeling herself transported to another world far away from...

Sarah heard something. Of course she heard something.

Outside someone was getting smashed into the window. It wasn't quite hard enough for the window to smash, which somehow worse. Sarah had been through her share of windows. That actually didn't hurt all that much. It’s when the glass held that you noticed it. Glass - harder than you might think.

The person against the wall was obviously a homeless man. She couldn't tell his age, but the age of homeless men was often hard to gauge. He wore a large trenchcoat that would offer some protection against...what exactly she wasn't sure. He was fighting, or being assaulted by, another homeless man. His attacker was wearing a similar trenchcoat. They could be part of the trenchcoat mafia that so terrified the early nineties. Sarah sighed.

She was being pampered. Her hair was being done, she was reading Harry Potter, and Sarah was feeling good. Her first impulse was to let the scene play out, let find its own end.

But...

Well...

She saw blood. Not “someone’s going to die” blood, but blood nonetheless, on the window.

And even without that, she knew she would not have been able to let it carry on.

She pushed off the sheet.

"Hey!" Jan protested.

“Be back in a minute.”

Sarah walked out the door to see the two men still fighting. He first was clearly much older and weaker then the man who was beating him. The younger man looked like he would make a good thug, maybe even a minor villain, if life had been kinder. He had big eyes. Not big ears, mouth or teeth, but rather large eyes.

"HEY!" she shouted at them.

You would be surprised how often that worked.

Big-eyes looked at her (using said eyes). Nope. It wasn’t going to work this time.

He punched Sarah square in the face. She sold it. This kind of thing was always tricky for Sarah. ‘Mazing Girl, naturally, didn't feel much of any pain - she could have taken it all day and her worst injury would be boredom. But "Sarah", ‘Mazing’s non-face-punch-taking alter ego could not. At least, she could not be seen to. So Sarah sold big-eyes blow, reacted to it as he might expect. But really, she didn't know if she did a good job there. She could have over sold it or under sold it. The fake taking of punches was a skill Sarah didn't really have.

He came at her in a rage of a scream, unfocused and unworded, using his larger mass to simply attack her for everything he was worth.

Sarah wasn't wearing her costume - she was wearing several hair care extends in her hair, but not her costume. What she was about to try might work, but it was risky...

She grabbed him. Sarah moved her body, picking him up from the ground and slamming him into the street with a considerable amount of force.

It looked like a judo throw, but wasn't a judo throw...well, it did the trick.

He kept screaming. He just kept screaming.

He kicked at her. She sold it for a half a second - before she realized that the wild attack didn't even make any contact. She hoped no one noticed.

****

It took about 10 minutes for the police to come. During that time a couple of people helped her with Big-eyes, who clearly looked to be on a non-prescription drug of some kind. The noise got to her.

She sighed.

Sarah looked at the man who Big-eyes had beaten. He was certainly older, obviously defeated in life...a sad wreck of man. She got his name: Thomas. He was minding his own business in his place in the alley when...well, when Big-eyes showed up out of nowhere.

Sarah knew what would happen. Big-eyes would spend a couple of days in the psych ward, and then be released...and probably get more of what he’d been on this time for whatever fucking reason, maybe even bother Thomas again. Not much the law was that interested in doing. Californian penal law was fucked. Sarah knew this pretty well. Actual dangerous persons were less of a priority than locking up someone who stole a loaf of bread 15 years ago. Fucked.

Sarah had done what a superhero should do. She had beaten the bad guy, even if he wasn't much of a threat. The police came, got a statement, and suggested they might contact her about pressing charges (but probably not). Sarah went back into the salon.

Jan said nothing about the fight. "I have an appointment in 10 minutes, we can finish up the hair straightening."

Sarah sighed, and got back into the chair, and opened her book.

And strangely, got much more into Harry Potter. Something about it clicked. She didn't want to think of the contrast between its world of black and white, and her existence as a whitish light source in a world of muddled greys. But something. Harry was the chosen one - and the books made what that meant more clear than the movies. She wasn't the chosen, but the fact that she tried, that she reached for the light, made her relate. It was better to light a candle then curse the darkness, and as Jan straightened her hair to its heroic best, Sarah felt good.

Even though Hermione was a little bitch.

An 'Mazing Girl Christmas

It was very rainy that day.


I mean really rainy.


Los Angeles isn’t a city that one associates with rain, but a couple times a year it comes down quite a bit. Gallons upon gallons of water, deluges that the streets of the city aren’t really designed to deal with. It came down in big buckets of water filling the trees, yes...with needed life, but the people with a sense of misery.


And it was Christmas.


Sarah Jennings was sitting in her condo in El Segundo, feeling a little sad and lonely. She had eggnog and whiskey for company, and whole cable channels dedicating themselves to holiday favourites, but still...


Sarah’s parents, and most of her family, were in Tallahassee Florida, which as has been observed is quite a ways from Los Angeles. She had thought about flying there...but for some reason this year she hadn't. She hadn't gone home for thanksgiving either. Did she have problems with something in a trip in summer? She didn't quite remember. In talks on the phone her family had so far been very cordial. Everyone was cordial.


But...well, here she was.


Now, one may think with her incredible super powers it would be easy, like Clark Kent, to fly there. She wasn't quite that super. Once, when she was in college and just starting the ‘Mazing Girl business, she had headed out to see how far she could go. She got to El Paso, Texas, in a day. It wasn't a very fun day though. Sure there was pleasant scenery, but she did get tired a little bit, and it was foggy, and the desert was hot. Overall it wasn't a great day. It was maybe a little further then a car could go. She got a Greyhound bus home. Not a spur of the moment thing.


So here she was. Not exactly miserable, but not having a great day.


Los Angeles (particularly the entertainment industry) has no shortage of people who come from other places and are thus alone on the holidays. She had been to several parties like that in the last couple of days, when her show went on hiatus. Most of them were that: Parties. Parties where people went to hook up and drink, and do things that 20 year olds due at parties. The one last night at least served what looked to be a Christmas dinner...however it wasn't quite the same. Sarah’s mother was a big believer in fat and drippings, and that was hard to get here.


She didn't really want a party. She wanted her mom her dad, her two cousins and her uncle who lived a mile away from them. She missed them, missed them dearly. She wanted a big tree and presents. She didn't want snow precisely, as she didn't get snow in Florida either. She just wanted.


She sighed and shook her head. She put the whiskey bottle down and got up. She pulled off her holiday sweater revealing her bra, and stretched the powerful muscles of her arms.


Time to be 'Mazing. She went to her dresser and changed into ‘Mazing Girl and jumped out the window.


***


She regretted it only minutes latter. Flying, or more accurately: jumping really God-damm far, wasn't very fun in the rain. Lots of rain interfered with her ability to judge distances. And land. She was usually pretty good at this, coming down on her feet and not hurting anything...now as she hit houses or buildings and jumped through the sky she was finding it increasingly hard to stick her landings. It would have been slightly embarrassing, but no-one was out and about to notice.


Not much crime either. That was a good thing about rain in LA. Criminals had better sense. And, well, maybe just a little bit of Christmas spirit.


But there were traffic accidents, though. A large one on the 405. She landed and helped a truck driver get out of his rig, relatively unscathed...though he waited for an ambulance on the ground. She was able to stand underneath the side of his truck for a while, which was good.


It wasn't a great day, but she was helping a bit and she didn't regret it. Perhaps.


Here she was. The most powerful ‘Mazing Girl in the city...and, well that really didn't matter did it. She was no better or no worse then anyone else, just someone with a gift to give to the world and she should give it.


She paused on the street. A guy had a flat tire.


‘Mazing walked to the car and tapped on the glass.


The guy turned. "Hey! Wow...you’re...”


"Yeah, yeah," she said.


"Tires flat, and... Well, I don't really know how to change it...”


"Let me help."


She went to the back of the car and lifted it up a bit. "Definitely flat. Go in the back, there should be a tire there.”


"You can just..?"


"It will be quicker."


Sarah reached over and turned the lug nuts with her fingers one by one. She then pulled the bad tire off.


"Looks like a nail. Kind of old though you should think about getting 4 new ones."




And put the spare on.


"Go to a gas station reinflate it if you’re not doing this immediately - getting it repaired."


‘Mazing tightened the lug nuts and was finished.


"Wow! Thank you.”


"Merry Christmas," said Sarah, smiling.


"Hey," the guy said, "I am going to something at my church."


"Not interested in a sermon" said Sarah. She had thought about that actually but decided against it.


"No, we’re doing a food event to help homeless people."


Sarah shook her head; normally. Well...




She had thought it would be depressing but it turned out surprisingly lively. About 200 guys crowded into a basement eating what resembled, on a budget, a traditional Christmas dinner. She worked a potato station most of the night.


A dirty secret of the superhero game, that had been harder to adjust to then anything, was the costume. Namely: she looked silly in it. She had found that when flying or lifting tanks or just doing general super stuff she looked fine in it – even stunning. However walking around talking to people, doing non-hero stuff, this was less true. Standing behind a counter getting a little potato on her ‘Mazing symbol for example. Pretty silly, yet here she was.


One could say the crowd was depressing, but not really. She had spent a lot of time with the homeless in LA and had found a truth. A lot of them were quite happy jolly sorts really. They enjoyed their life. Many did not. However, the ratio probably was the same in any group. Yes, there were families who were quite poor who came, which was perhaps more depressing then the actual homeless...but even they seemed glad to be here.


The kids in particular. She loved being with kids, even if she had none of her own. A small part of her psyche wanted kids. The sadder part of her psyche realized that a child inside her superpowered uterus would probably not work out. Superpowers never really passed down a family tree, despite numerous comicbooks to contrary. Still...


Well, there were kids there. ‘Mazing gave them high-fives, and autographed things. No metal bars to bend, which was a popular one, however she did her best to make them feel special. She picked them up and twirled them in the air even, the big ones.


And, yes okay, a couple of the adults. It’s Christmas.


It was turning out to be a pretty good day.


"Thank you for saving Christmas," said the preacher.


"Well, no...I didn't save Christmas."


snd it was getting media attention.


Around 6:00, a freelance reporter for The Times came over. She didn't dislike reporters, but didn't often know what to say to them.


"I was patrolling the streets today, and decided to help out. More people should, not just with time, but with food. It’s not...um, it’s not that it’s not a merry Christmas. It’s going to be one either way. But we can make it a merrier Christmas either way."


She hoped the reporter could make that sound halfway legible and interesting. Well, it would be a Christmas miracle.


She thought afterward that it might be a good time to jump up into the sky...but well, she just went in and helped some more.


Around 8:00 she actually had dinner...and found it rather delightful. The ham they where serving was very flavoursome for ham, if obviously mass produced. Maybe that was the problem with living in LA, that good local organic food isn't always actually good. Still, she enjoyed it.


And with a full house and everyone singing Christmas carols, she quietly left the room and looked out onto the night sky.


The rain had stoped, the clouds were going away, and she watched the stars. The streets were wet but pretty.


She felt kind of alone, despite what had just happened. In the last couple of months The Flame would show up at moments like this and offer her cheery wisdom in her delightfully gothic way. But not tonight. No villains either...no monsters. Just her and Christmas.


She found she wanted it. She didn't aspire to the villains to fight monsters. Nothing was more wrong then to want to fight. But there was something to the connection of it, that she missed. She even missed the flames non cackling insanity. Perhaps especially


But then she heard the carols. Hark, the herald angel sings, and she looked out on to the city and realized that perhaps she wasn't alone. That everyone was here wishing for a merry Christmas to be had by all. It wasn't a moment that could last forever; it wasn't a moment that could last her completely until she got home. But it was a moment nonetheless.


And she smiled and hoped they where all having a Merry Christmas before bounding off into the night sky toward the North Star.

Hear 'Mazing Girl Tweet!

Whether Mazing girl had, technically speaking, saved Los Angeles from utter destruction she didn't quite know. There were knowns; there were unknowns...and there were known unknowns. And there was also a giant cloud of psychic darkness that threatened to sweep up the city.

That last one was pretty bad, but she had managed to stop it. When it went over people it tended to cause them to scream and cry. And it was expanding. Whether it would have truely expanded to cover a really gigantic city - and then the country...the world? Sarah didn't know. At the center of it was 65-year-old former actress who had taken the wrong medication, which - as these things tend to do - either turned her into a being of incredible psychic power, or maybe she always was. That was confusing. In any case, she had the mental juju to suck the life from everyone.

Okay, 'Mazing Girl had saved Los Angeles.

And becuse she was so awesome, she decided to buy herself an IPAD.

I mean, she deserved it. Did I mentioned the screaming people?

So she went into a Best Buy, and looked around. She didn't find the color she wanted. Okay...

Then she went to Frys Electronics, a cool local store that was an electronics store with an Hawaiian them. She liked it, but didn't find the stuff she wanted.

The search was turning into a crisis, as she wanted to spend 400 bucks on a foolish electronics gift for herself, and god dammit, she wanted it now!!! Pherg...

But then, on a whim, she went into a Walmart. And gosh-darn, they had it! Yeah!!! She wanted to jump around the store she was feeling so good. But she didn't, as that would have ruined the whole secret identity thing.

Instead, she took it home.

Well, she actually she opened the box in the car and turned it on to look around the interface for a few minutes.

But she got home.

Her cat was there to great her, as was his want. She smiled and picked him up in his slightly curious manner. Super Skittles was a curious cat when she let him. She lived in a fairly small condo, but Sarah  fantasised   about a world where people had a cat park - where cats could roam around. Like dog parks for cats.

That was kind of a cool idea, actually, but such places didn't actually exist.

She had a small balcony, and went outside to pet super skittles a bit, taking the ipad with her. She could see a little bit of LA out here - the city that asked her time and again to save it, but ignored her ideas for feline parks.

So she went on her actual twitter feed and tweeted about it.

The twitter had about 150 people on it. Most of them work friends, though some nerds. Sarah had a reputation in certain circles as a hot nerd-girl. Yet she never really capitalised on it, or became a real pressence like other people. Partially because she wanted to keep a low profile, and partially because a social media presence like this wasn't something super interesting.

She could follow the offical mazing girl twitter feed, which has 200,000 members.

Of course, there were two reasons she didn't:

1. She didn't actually write that one. Who did? Sarah wasn't quite sure. She knew her agent was involved, and had set it up through verified tweet methodology. She could write it, but didn't. It wasn't actually a good twitter feed either. Mainly kind of bland pleasentries and entreatments to follow your dreams - except the writer was no Shaquille O'Niel. But then, who was?

2. This irksome concern: She couldn't really share her idea about specialized cat parks to the world as'Mazing Girl.

Then a few more things occurred to her.

3. Her cat was very cute. She took a picture of it using her iPad. She couldn't show pictures of how cute the cat was...

and 4.

4. She had a new iPad. She couldn't tell the world how great it was either...not on that feed.

then 5

5. She couldn't express her irritation over how they wheren't stocked properly at Frys or Best buys

and, well, that was all fuckable...

6. She couldn't tweet the world how she wished she could tweet this list.

But no.

She looked at her feed. She, Sarah Jennings, followed 'Mazing Girl.Hah hah! You mysterious stranger...

"Woman at centre of Cerritos cloud in medical custudy. Glad thats over. Phew"

Okay. There was nothing in that tweet that was specifically untrue - but she was, at the same time, feeling actually pretty giddy about the entire thing, not depressed. Which was something 'Mazing Girl couldn't express when peoples lives were in danger, and they were screaming - but they were all better now.

Someone on her regular feed retweeted something from Taylor Swift - a picture of her shoe closet.

Fuck.

She couldn't do that.

Literally couldn't as she didn't have a shoe closet, but the principal was there.

Granted there was perhaps sense of 'wow you have this many shoes girl?" - but well...Taylor Swift was a celebrity, and rich, and not really a terrible song writer (that one song she did about breaking-up wasn't horrible, Sarah admitted. Ms Swift deserved to have nice things.

And Sarah deserved to have nice things.

And she deserved to tell the world what she felt and thought. The world needed to know what it was like - to sit outside in el Segundo, and maybe get a beer wearing just your bra and playing with your  new electronics device...that probabbly she didn't need and wouldn't use very much...and just be with the world.

And then she went and got a Tecate Mexican-style beer from the fridge - and then maybe, just maybe, she turned on the Mazing girl twitter feed.

"Cat Parks: parks where you can take your cats like dogs. And there's play equipment. And they can play with other cats. Thoughts?"

Except that was too long.10 too many characters.

Cat Parks: A park were you can you take your cats like dogs.& theres play stuff.&they play with other cats. Thoughts? @catpark"

Plenty to spare now!

Super Skittles pawed at her stomach

And the official 'Mazing Girl twitter account tweeted it.

For about 10 seconds.

Then Sarah deleted it.

She was a coward.

There was a concept in the world of fear - she didn't know all that much about it, of what really pushed you to the limit. It was something that she rarely, in an absolute, sense felt much of. Giant monsters, tanks - none of it really scared her. But this...


She sighed.

*******

Three days later she was patrolling the city. She was, specifically, looking around Cerritos, a small suburb. It was a mix of decent-ish homes and weirdly pricey business developments. She was looking to make sure there was no evil clouds. The woman with the drug thing? She was 99% sure it was all taken care of, but best always to check. However, Cerritos itself always looked pretty clean.

Except now.

Someone was driving very eratically down the street.

Then stopped in the middle of the road.

Sarah jumped down from the building to investigate.

It was one of the moments that was, well...that was her job. This could turn out to be nothing. Or it could be a drunk driver, which was pretty shitty but was one of those things. She tended to take someone's keys and give them to the police. Which made her feel pretty silly. And from a superhero's perspective, a drunk driver was also pretty close to nothing.

Or it may be something else entirely.

There were many things in the world - exciting and amazing and yes: superheroic. But...well the chances weren't great it would be anything like that.

She pulled up in front of the car and looked inside.

There was a man in the driver's seat.

Beside him, sitting with her hand on his forehead, was The Flame.

"Um," was all Sarah could think to say. She hoped she said it loud enough.

The man's forehead hit the wheel.

And the The Flame prompty walked out of the car with efficent movements.

"sorry 'bout that. he's wanted by the fbi for connections to some very high-level arms dealing. He's the kind of man who supplies rebel armies in africa. charming fellow. in any case I'm going to deposit him with them, but first I was in the process of finding out everything he knew. 'everything he ever cared about, or loved. then I'm going to destroy it."

"Huh" said 'Mazing Girl.

Normally when The Flame said something dark and twisted like that, the 'huh' was internal - just what she thought. But nope...it audible this time. Flame was being particularly creepy...

"Do you need any help?" Mazing Girl asked.

"he's not going to be conscious anytime soon," said Flame. "i think i can manage."

'Mazing Girl shook her head and turned. "Well..."

"cat park?" Flame inquired.

"What?" 'Mazing girl gasped. Again, uncharacteristically out loud. It took her a second to remember her stupid idea.

"i'm not reading your mind. I saw your tweet about it."

'Mazing Girl shook her head. "I deleted it."

"you can't delete anything on the internet, I'm afraid - once it's out there it's in the ether. but for me it was just computer programs. i hope you don't think it creepy that I follow you. Well, I don't...a bot I created does. and it's not you really, but one of your agent's friends, i suspect."


'Mazing Girl nodded.

"so...a cat park? how would it work?"

"Like a normal dog park where cats could play with each other and stuff. Maybe have ribbon days,  things like that."

Flame paused. "i am not sure that would work well - aren't cats rather territorial?"

"But cats like to play together."

"when they've known each other a real long time."

Sarah paused. Maybe she had a point. If she said it out loud, maybe it would sound dumb.

 "This is exactly the kind of stuff I can't do. I can't tweet. I can't tell people the crazy stupid stuff I want. I'm a person!! I want to tweet about cat parks!"

Flame paused. "i'm not on twitter." She turned her head.  "in any case, it seems foolish."

"But you can just let off what's on your mind. Except I can't.

The Flame shook her head. "i know what your saying."

Suddenly, there was a loud pop, and The Flame's body was suddenly covered in blood, the rich red fluid bursting out of her chest as she was shot, her body jerking violently.

'Mazing Girl turned. The gun runner, surprisingly enough, had a gun. And he was concious.

"Stupid shit" he declared, aiming the gun again.

And 'Mazing Girl raced to put her body between the Flame and her attacker...getting there just quick enough to feel something hit her shoulder.

Ouch.

That hurt.

It didn't break the skin or anything, but it did hurt.

Sarah turned.

She started.

"Stupid shit!" she shot back at him.

"Yeah," said the man,

He then did something that you never see in movies, but was a surprisingly effective tactic. He turned the gun towards his own head.

"Don't get any closer or I'll blow my own brains out."

As a hero who respected human life, it was one of those moments that Sarah had to deal with a fair amount. Not a real good situation. He didn't seem suicidal, but quick movements now could lead to more bloodshed. It was the kind of bluff you couldn't call

Sarah sighed. She had a friend behind her that she had to take care of. And Flame was her friend. And she couldn't even turn her head right now to see if was okay.

and then then she heard Flame's quiet voice.

"pull the trigger."

"This isn't one of your stupid intimidation games," Sarah warned.

"no...his bullets don't work any more. i burned out the ignition trigger. i usually do that with a bigger bang, but made it subtle this time."

'Mazing Girl walked forward slowly. The guy looked on in fear. But as she came to him, he just handed over the gun.

And she hit his head with it, watching as he fell over unconscious. As he did, the gun went off into the air. Huh?

She turned back to Flame, who somehow was still standing - despite the fact that she was clinging to her bleeding arm.

'Mazing Girl ran over, taking off her cape.

"don't put that on it, dear. the bacteria on it is worse the bullet at this point."

'Mazing Girl shook her head and looked. The bullet wound was over Flame's breast.

"I wouldn't classify that as my shoulder, but it hurts...but I'll live. Missed the heart by maybe four inches."

Then she collapsed on the ground.

Blood so much blood.

mazing girl screamed.

"Don't scream," said the Flame, using normal capitalization. "Please don't...it won't help anything."

"But...but..." said 'Mazing Girl, grabbing hold of her and putting her in her arms. "Please be okay."

"give me a second here." She closed her eyes. And the wound started to burn.

"don't touch it."

A small flame went off as there was now a large burn mark on her hsoulder.

And then she shakily stood up.

"okay. I'll live...bullets still in there, but i have a private clinic I go to for things like this. A doctor I saved."

"Things like this?"

"i've been shot before."

"Wha?"

"You've been shot. I just saw you. you think it doesn't happen to me? You just deal with these contingencies. i am calling it a night, and probably for a week or so...but i'll be okay."

"but..."

The flame looked at her. "we're in Cerritos. I parked my car in Artesia. Take this guy to the police...tell them to run his prints. i'll borrow his car to get to my own. i'll recounter with the bureau  tomorrow. tell them what you wish."

"But..."

"Your emotions aren't helping you. Your silly thoughts about cat parks aren't helping you. Just going with the plan and doing what needs to be done...that's helping you."

Sarah sighed. She had a point. She wasn't just Sarah Jennings: goofball nerd. She was 'Mazing Girl, and had a duty to the world to be serious in times like these.

"and thank you, for saving my life," said The Flame as she went to the car.

"Your welcome," said 'Mazing Girl. Then there was a pause.

"Do you want to cat-sit for my cat?"

"what?' asked the flame.

"While your recuperating. Maybe having a cat to play with will help.

And the Flame shook her head.

Then she paused for a second. Just a second...

And then she shook her head agian, before driving off into the night.

And 'Mazing Girl treasured that second...

It was the kind of second that twitter was meant for. But, well...real life would do.