Justice Girl: Trophy Hunter (Chapter 8) (Patreon)

Chapter 8

A cup of coffee sat to her right, a half-eaten croissant to the left of the keyboard. Nicole saw neither as she typed. Her latest work in progress was finally flowing. Just gushing out of her. She couldn’t get the words out fast enough. Damn her slow fingers!

“Lord Byron pulls the defiant beauty into his arms, his lips so close she could kiss them,” Nicole whispered excitedly as she typed. “Lady Kate Honeywood turned her face, lips trembling with desire, but… Her reputation. If she succumbed to the wicked lord’s desires…”

And the chapter ended.

Nicole quickly hit save, collapsed back into her chair, and smiled at the laptop. Noticing the coffee, she picked it up and took a sip.

“Cold,” she said, recoiling. “Not again.”

She started to get up for a fresh cup, but her eyes stopped on that last paragraph and frowned. Setting the cup down, she immediately corrected the problem. If she doesn’t give his full name, she had to drop “Honeywood.”

Nicole hurried out of her office. The story was flowing so well. She had to get her coffee and get back as quickly as possible. It was so easy to get knocked out of the flow. And so hard to get back into it.

And her phone rang back in the office.

“That’s my heroine ringtone.”

The blonde beauty rushed back into her office. Snatching up the phone, she tapped answer.

“Hello, this is Justice Girl,” she said in her deeper, more commanding heroine voice. “This is the Heroine Hotline. Are you reporting a crime?”

“What? Oh, yes, I am,” a hesitant male voice said. “Um, are you really Justice Girl?”

“I am, citizen. And I thank you for helping in the never ending fight against crime and injustice in our city,” she said. “How can I help you, sir?”

“Yes. Right,” he said, sounding more uncertain. “Okay. Okay. Saturday night I was down on the docks. Outside of Wicked Girls.”

“Wicked Girls?” she asked, one brow arched. “Is that a strip club?”

“Yeah. You see, I was at my buddies bachelor party Saturday night. I personally don’t frequent such places, but he’s a really good friend, so…” he said. “Anyway, as I was leaving two women flew up. I thought they were heroines, until one of them hovered in light and I saw she was a blonde in all red and pink.”

“The evil villainess called Randy Girl,” she said, nodding. Getting more excited. “What did Randy Girl do?”

“Well, she led another Amazon… I mean Alpha Meta woman through an open window on the top floor of the brothel.”

“Brothel? I thought you said Wicked Girls is a strip club?”

“It is, but there is a brothel above,” he said. “Nevermind.”

He hung up. Didn’t matter. Nicole knew where Randy Girl was holed up. The other flying woman had to be Victory Girl, since those two seemed to be joined at the hip lately. So she sent a group DM to the other heroines, none of which were suited up and on patrol on a Tuesday morning. Indeed, she suspected they were all at their day jobs, like her.

“We’ll take care of Randy Girl, and maybe Victory Girl, tonight,” she said, smiling. “Finally.”

She looked at her laptop. The story called to her. She had to get back in before she lost her…

Her phone dinged. Zephyr responded on the group chat with: i am free now

me too, Platinum Angel responded.

Count me in, Lady replied. Now is the perfect time, since RG will surely still be in bed

Nicole’s jaw dropped. Now? She looked at her laptop. Her book called to her. It was flowing so well. She could get so much written today if only…

She sighed. Meting justice was more important than any romance novel. But, why did those calls always come in at the most inopportune times?

Suiting up now, Nicole sent. Meet me in forty-five at corner of Commerce and Shoreline

Nicole closed her laptop. With much regret. Then she hurried to her bedroom, and pulled out her super heroine costume. Then she stripped, and started suiting up. First, she pulled on her one-piece, faux leather bodysuit. It was white, strapless, and clung to her curves, zipping up the back. Next came her red thigh boots, followed by her choker with the Sisterhood ankh dangling off it. The ankh was gold, indicating she was honored for heroism above and beyond. The three diamonds showed she was honored three more times.

“Ah, my least favorite piece, but the most useful,” she said, picking up the red high-tech mask.

She pressed it to her face, then pushed a series of buttons hidden under the faux leather covering. She felt the mask seal to her skin. Now it couldn’t be removed until she took it off using the code only she knew.

“Now I am Justice Girl.”

And after pulling on a full leather racing suit - black with gold piping — she grabbed her red opera gloves and headed for the garage. Her Ninja waited, already pointed toward the bay door. She straddled that high-powered Kawasaki, before pulling on the helmet with the reflective wind-shield to hide her masked face. She pushed the OPEN button, and started the motorcycle as the door rose up. Once it was fully up, she pressed the button again to close the garage door, toed the bike into first, and gave it the gas. Justice Girl zipped out of that garage and hit the road at forty miles per hour.

Justice Girl sped through the mid-morning streets to a dark alley halfway to the agreed upon rendezvous spot. She stripped off the racing suit, stuffed it into the helmet, and took off running. Halfway to the street, she leapt up and pulled in electricity from all around to form her lightning bubble. And then she shot straight up to about two hundred feet. Leveling off, she pulled in more electricity, turning the bubble of lightning into a bright powerful vehicle to fly through the sky like a bullet.

She was the first to arrive at the corner of Shoreline and Commerce. There were a lot more men loitering around than expected. Easily two dozen. Most looked to be homeless.

The heroine idly wondered if there was anything super heroines could do to help them. Then her eyes stopped on the Wicked Girls sign hanging above the main door into a nearby building.

Their target was three blocks away. She studied the six story former warehouse turned strip club and brothel. She reached up to her mask, pressed two buttons at once, and a cross-hairs appeared. She centered that on the brothel and pressed four buttons in sequence, and a holographic “page” appeared before her with all the available info on the structure.

As she thought, it was originally a warehouse. Built in 1891. Six stories, with two levels underground. The basement surprised her, since it was so close to the docks and shoreline. Indeed, it was considered part of the docks, though one street back. It was taller than the buildings around it, so had a pretty good view of the ocean. She was surprised some developer hadn’t grabbed it up and turned it into high-end loft condos.

“Well, Wicked Girls got their liquor license just eight months back, so they haven’t been in business for long,” she muttered, reading more and more. A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her full red lips. “About to go out of business.”

“What a beautiful day to wind surf,” Zephyr called from above, flying in on her “surfboard” of wind. She flashed some hand signs that Justice Girl assumed had meaning in the California surfer community. She landed before her and they hugged. “I thought for sure I’d be the first here.”

“Oh, girl, you know no one’s faster than Justice Girl.”

The perky brunette smiled up at her. At five foot three, Zephyr was the shorted super heroine in the city. Maybe one of the shortest in the country. Even at five foot eight Justice Girl felt a little short among other Alpha Meta women.

“What do you get? Four days off a week?” she asked the bouncy brunette.

“Yes. Don’t hate me for being lucky.”

Justice Girl giggled. “More like jealous. What do you do with all that free time?”

“Shop for clothes and spend all my money.”

The blonde looked the dark-haired heroine over. Her costume was a Tiffany blue minidress, double slit, with long sleeves and a dramatically plunging neckline. She accessorized with white gloves and white lace-up knee boots. Designer boots at that.

“Clothes?”

“Okay, mostly sexy shoes,” she said, looking down at her shiny white boots. “Don’t hate me because I have a shoe fetish.”

“Oh my lord, you are so…”

“California girl sexy?”

“Yes, that’s what I was going to say.”

“I’d say California girl crazy,” Platinum Angel said, dropping down beside them amid a clatter of stilettos. They all hugged it out. “But cute as a baby kitten.”

“Get a room,” Lady called, striding out of a nearby alley. “It’s embarrassing.”

“Great, we’re all here,” Justice Girl said before anyone could continue the banter. She pointed at the strip club and brothel. “That is Wicked Girls. I have a tip it is Randy Girl’s latest operation. We all know how she loves to own strip clubs and brothels. My tipster said he witnessed Randy Girl and Victory Girl enter the top floor late Saturday night.”

“After we chased them off?” Zephyr asked.

“I assume so,” she said. “Right now, at this early hour, I am hoping that at least Randy Girl is inside.”

“I’ll attack through the front door if someone will take the back door,” Lady said. “That’ll leave two of us above the building to catch Randy Girl when that little craven tries to escape.”

“Perfect,” Justice Girl said. She looked at Zephyr. “Can you take the back door?”

“Sure. I got it.”

Justice Girl looked at Platinum Angel. They shared a smile. They were the two most veteran fliers. Lady was the longest serving heroine, but a ground pounder.

“Let’s do this,” Justice Girl said, and leapt into the air.

Platinum Angel followed her up, staying far enough away to not get zapped out of the sky. Lady took off running straight a the front entry, while Zephyr rode her windboard around to the back. Then a shout, followed by many throats shouting pulled her eyes back to the street below.

All of those “homeless” men were converging on, even chasing after, Lady. The Fire Power had to be careful how she defended herself, since it was so easy to seriously burn if not kill. The men were all young, and much faster runners. She only made it one block before someone tackled her.

“Lady is in trouble!” she cried, and shot back down.

Platinum Angel and Zephyr came to help as well. Justice Girl noticed Lady throw a fireball, and it didn’t catch on the man’s clothing. Were they wearing fire repellent clothing.

“Those are not homeless men!” And one of them pulled out a MAAD banner and started waving it around. “MAAD men!”

Justice Girl threw small bolts at the men struggling with Lady. Three dropped, stunned unconscious. Others were dazed, allowing the other heroine to punch and kick them away. Lady quickly broke free, but held her ground and fought with flashing fists and feet. Zephyr swooped down turned sideways and used her hardened windboard to smash a dozen men to the ground. Platinum Angel began picking up anything loose in the area and sending those hard items smashing into the MAAD men.

A mail box was torn off it’s mounting and flew straight into Zephyr, knocking the nineteen year old heroine out of the air. Knocked her unconscious. MAAD men rushed toward her, but Justice Girl zapped half of them down, and Platinum Angel pounded the others into the ground. Then Randy Girl smashed into Platinum Angel’s back.

The two blondes, heroine and villainess, swirled around each other in a flurry of fists and feet. Both Telekinetic Powers, so items swirling around them. Every so often one item flew into the midst of the fight. Zephyr struggled to her feet and lifted up half a second before three MAAD men grabbed hold of her. Justice Girl could see she was still dazed, struggling to use her Power. So she attacked the remaining MAAD men, allowing Zephyr to break free and rise above the fray.

“No!” Lady screamed, half a second before a MAAD man smashed a baseball bat into the side of her head.

“That’s Chad Hatfield!”

A thunderbolt cracked the air. Zephyr cried out in agony. Justice Girl looked over to see her falling from the sky, out cold. And then Victory Girl zipped in within her lightning ball. She vanquished the lightning ball for a second, just long enough to catch Zephyr, and then the golden bubble returned around them.

Justice Girl started to call for Platinum Angel to go after Zephyr, but Randy Girl got a lucky shot, and kicked the platinum blonde in the chin. The heroine cried out, and dropped to the ground where a dozen MAAD men swarmed her. She was just ten feet from Lady, who was already half stripped as men ripped away scraps of her costume as trophies.

Justice Girl made a command decision. Better to save two heroines than one. So she dropped to the ground between the two captured heroines. Her lightning ball zapped seven men unconscious before it fully dissipated. Then she dropped into a fighting stance.

“Oofff!” she cried, a bat slamming into the back of her head.

Black and white flashed behind her eyes as she dropped to her knees. And then Chad hit her again.

Blackness dragged her down.