Tomboy: Dark Dominion (Chapter 1) (Patreon)

Tomboy: Dark Dominion

Chapter 1

Low, angry voices filled the night air. Tomboy paused, cocking her head to zero in on those men. The two heroines were behind a small strip mall just south of the Taurus University campus, on what the students called the Strip. A protection racket run by a mysterious man just called the Kingpin had recently moved into the campus area to terrorize the poor shop owners.

Her patrol partner, Puma, dropped to a knee beside her. The beautiful African-American blended into the night shadows in her all black leather costume: bodysuit, thigh boots, and driving gloves. The bodysuit was low-cut to show off her deep cleavage, with high-cut legs exposing well-rounded hips and long sleeves. Her cowl hid all of her hair, with rounded puma ears.

In contrast, blonde Tomboy stood out in her red, white, and blue costume: red and white baseball cap, white sports bra under a red vest, blue short-shorts, fishnet pantyhose, and red and white high-heeled “sneakers” ankle boots. Tomboy hid her identity behind a blue mask, and hid her fingerprints with red batting gloves.

“I think the Kingpin’s goons are inside that open door,” Tomboy whispered.

Two dark, late model SUVs were parked outside the open door. She could hear their idling engines, though no one sat behind the wheels.

Puma nodded and pulled out her phone. She quickly sent a message to the other FEM Fighters. Gloriosa, Vixen, and Puritan waited out front. Tomboy felt the adrenaline flow as her partner let the others know exactly which shop the thugs were inside. It was about time to crush them between the heroines.

The strip mall had a driveway behind the shops, bordered on the other side by a ten foot concrete wall. Single-family homes sat on the other side of the wall. Nothing back there but a few shop owner cars, trash dumpsters, and those idling SUVs. All of the security lights were off, or smashed, leaving the scene dark. The only light came from the open door.

“Gloriosa is ready,” Puma whispered, her soft voice almost drowned out by an angry outburst inside the door. “Let’s take them down.”

Tomboy’s hands tightened around her baseball bat. The Kingpin’s thugs had a well-deserved reputation for violence, and liked to break the legs of troublemakers. The youngest member of the Dallas FEM Fighters smiled with the thought of knee-capping a few of them.

Tomboy took off running straight at the door. Puma came fast on her heels. The sounds of a struggle grew as they reached the door, and rushed inside. Tomboy scanned the storage area in a flash, counting five men in suits kicking an older man curled up on the floor.

Standard issue mob goons, she thought.

She swung her bat at the closest thug’s leg, striking him just above the knee. The surprised man cried out, alerting his cohorts in crime to the threat. That’s when Puma streaked past Tomboy in a flying kick that waylaid another goon.

One of the men rushed Tomboy, trying to take her out with a haymaker. She ducked under that wild right cross, taking the bat in both hands. Then she stepped inside his guard and pounded the business end of the bat into his chest. He gasped, clutching his chest. The blonde FEM Fighter then delivered a brutal uppercut with the bat, snapping his head back. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

“Three down,” Tomboy cried. “Two to – ”

Tomboy was cut off when the last two standing pulled pistols and started shooting. The heroines reacted instantly, activating their left Power Bracers. Bright white energy shields appeared. The round shields glowed in the dim lighting, and hovered six inches out from the bracers. The hail of bullets bounced off the shields, but pierced the surrounding walls.

“Cease fire, you idiots!” Puma screamed. “You are just endangering innocent bystanders!”

One of the thugs turned to start firing straight into the walls. Tomboy’s heart skipped a beat. He was trying to kill innocent people! Just to spite them?

With a cry of rage, the eighteen year old heroine launched herself at him. She swung her energy shield at him, while he tried to escape. The edge of Tomboy’s shield struck his left arm, which he flung out to block.

The thug screamed in agony, and that arm went limp. His partner spun around to threaten Tomboy, even as he turned his pistol on the busty blonde. Her shield couldn’t protect her from both directions.

“Not tonight, moron,” Puma snarled, shooting the thug with her stun beam.

He wailed, dropped to his knees, and toppled over unconscious. That left Tomboy free to charge the last Kingpin goon behind her energy shield. But more big, angry men came charging in from upfront.

“What the hell?” Puma cried.

The men looked battered and bruised, clothes torn and in disarray. And then Gloriosa shouted something in Spanish. Yeah, she tended to revert to Spanish when excited. Their fellow FEM Fighters were chasing more thugs back out of the front of the shop. It became a battle royale.

One of the newcomers delivered a brutal punch to Tomboy’s back. Her shield collapsed, so she dropped and rolled away as the first thug fired. He wounded the man that had just hit Tomboy instead. That moment of surprised allowed the blonde heroine to roll to her feet, and charge the gunman.

She brought her bat down across his wrist. He lost the pistol as he clutched his broken arm to his chest and ran out the door. That’s when she noticed the first man she put down was gone.

“They’re escaping!” Tomboy cried.

Tomboy scanned the room. Total chaos. Pure melee fighting. There were no battle lines. Mob thugs and heroines were mixed all together, fighting each other in all directions at once. It looked liked the thugs outnumbered them two-to-one. Then she saw a thug get an arm around Puritan’s neck. The redhead struggled for just a few seconds, and then went limp.

“He took Puritan down with a sleeper hold!” Tomboy cried, and shot him with the right bracer’s stun beam.

Vixen slammed into another thug who pointed his pistol at Puritan’s head. The Asian FEM Fighter knocked him halfway across the room. To Tomboy’s surprise, the thug turned and ran out into the alley. And then they all started toward the door.

The FEM Fighters found themselves behind the thugs. Tomboy led the attack, bat in both hands. But the trailing men turned to back out, firing their pistols at the heroines. That forced all of the FEM Fighters to activate their shields.

Gloriosa positioned herself to protect Puritan as well.

The thugs piled into the two SUVs and raced away. Tomboy, Puma, and Vixen ran after them a short ways.

“Come back, you cowards!” Vixen cried.

Gloriosa and Puritan came out into the alley a moment later. The redhead looked a little unsteady, and very embarrassed. The FEM Fighters stood there panting and shaking their heads.

“I hate it when they get away,” Tomboy said. “It makes me so mad.”

“You did take a picture of their vehicles’ and license plates, right?” Gloriosa asked. “Right?”

Tomboy looked at Puma, whose eyes were as big as her own. They both cringed, and Gloriosa threw up her hands and rolled her eyes.