Ms Patriot: Monster Mayhem (Chapter 1) (Patreon)

Ms Patriot: Monster Mayhem

Chapter 1

“I’m starting to hate Friday nights.”

Gunfire echoed through the dark urban canyons of Grimme City. Men shouted and cursed. Someone screamed in agony, maybe for the last time.

A dark figure raced across the rooftops accompanied by the clatter of fine feminine footwear. A dull flash of red and white vertical stripes shown in the moonlight as Ms Patriot came out of the night shadows and leapt across the alley. The building next door was two floors lower. She hit the other rooftop running. Halfway across, she stopped to cock her head. Nothing. Then…

More gunfire. It got intense real fast, too.

The red, white, and blue costumed super heroine took off running to look over into the street below. There they were, two groups of men hiding behind cars and taking shots at each other. It was too dark to discern if they were gangbangers or organized crime goons. Both the street gang and mob wars got fierce in Grimme City.

The raven-maned heroine tugged up on her bright red, patent thigh boots, while steeling herself for the fight to come. There looked to be around twenty combatants, twelve against eight. After getting the lay of that urban battlefield, Ms Patriot took off running toward the next alley. Beyond it was a two story structure. The larger of the two groups were huddled behind cars in front of that building.

Ms Patriot raced over and leapt, sailing through the air for a moment in the light of a full moon.

“Mask!” someone shouted.

“Crap,” she muttered after a three-point landing. “Just lost the element of surprise.”

She rushed up to the edge to look over upon the street below. Both sides continued to shoot at each other. A lot.

How much ammo do they carry? she wondered. Were they planning for a gunfight?

Someone across the street took a shot at her. Ms Patriot frowned. The criminal element should know that super heroines were bulletproof. Red opera-gloved hands touched the wide gold belt around her narrow waist. It wasn’t a fashion accessory to cover the gap between her corset and bikini bottoms. That was her Object of Power, her power belt, that connected her to the Otherworld to give her super powers. One of those powers was an impressive shield against missile weapons, like bullets and arrows.

Ms Patriot sucked in a deep breath, and then vaulted over the side. She dropped fast, straight to the sidewalk behind the gunmen. Her stilettos sounded like rifles when they struck the concrete. Men jumped and cried out, and then all twelve whirled around on her.

“Surprise!” she said, and then struck an arrogant super heroine pose: chin high, chest thrust out, and hands on her well-rounded hips. “Cease fire, miscreants. You are all under arrest.”

The dozen men arrayed before her were a mixed bag of white, black, and Hispanic. So not a street gang. She scanned their faces, but none of them were familiar. Mob goons in Grimme City tended to wear suits, but those men were in jeans and t-shirts.

Unsurprisingly, they answered with gunfire directed at her. Twelve pistols opened up on her. Plus, some of the men across the street took shots at her. All of the bullets were deflected by her arcane shield, but she felt the strain on her personal energy level, too. Sustained gunfire against her shield could wear her out. So Ms Patriot snarled and attacked.

Even amid gunfire, two men charged her. A roundhouse to the head of the first sent him reeling into the second miscreant. Then she charged the remaining men, kicking left and right. Using her feet, knees, fists, and elbows, the stars and stripes clad heroine kicked their butts. They relied too much on their useless pistols, giving her even more of an advantage in that toe-to-toe fight.

And then the other group of men charged across the street, guns blazing.

Fearing they’d murder their foes while they were down, Ms Patriot leapt over a car and met them in the middle of the street. She recognized four of the men.

Wicked Wanda’s minions!

The big African-American, Darius, was their leader. Second only to the evil witch, he was an ex-Marine. Teddy was another ex-Marine, while Bobby was a former Army Ranger, and Hector Army infantry. All were war vets, and had killed many times before. And at six foot four, Teddy was the smallest of the four.

The busty heroine leapt high, slamming a foot to the side of Darius’ head. The big vet flipped over, while she spun in midair and landed behind the charging men. Then all turned back to her, swinging their pistols around to threaten her.

“You boys are dumber than you look,” she said.

She immediately took out two of the unknown minions. Then Hector slammed into her back, both arms encircling her. He held her arms down at her sides as he lifted her up. She lost her leverage when he lifted her off the ground. Teddy charged in, large knife in hand and an evil grin on his face.

“I’m going to gut you, mask!”

Ms Patriot’s eyes widened, and she kicked straight out at his face. A tall stiletto heel slammed into that spot between his eyebrows. Teddy’s feet came out from under him, and the already unconscious man’s momentum pushed him through Hector’s legs. Ms Patriot wiggled free when the evil Latino hit the ground with a pained grunt.

Rolling to her feet, she paused at the sound of running feet. The first group of men were hightailing it out of there. She scowled at them. There was no way to trace them, so they’d gotten away free and clear. But there were still Wicked Wanda’s men to subdue and arrest. So she tore into them.

Bobby and two of the unknown minions charged her. At the same time, she noticed Darius and Hector rising slowly to their feet. So annoying how bad guys kept getting back up after she knocked them down. Her super powers might give her the strength of ten men, but actually fighting and defeating ten guys was a lot harder than it sounded.

“Yield to the law!” she shouted. “Or else.”

“Or else we’ll kick your fat ass,” Bobby snarled, before throwing a right cross at her face.

Ms Patriot blocked his punch with a forearm, and snapped her red-booted foot straight up into his chin. That super-powered blow sent Bobby into la la land, while she kicked the bloody snot out of the other two men. Then she attacked Hector, punching him in the face, before seizing an arm, spinning around, and hurling him into Darius.

She body-checked Teddy back to the ground. Then she started kicking them in the face until one and all lay still at her feet. She finally stopped to catch her breath, grinning around at all she wrought.

“When will the bad guys of this city learn they can’t stand toe-to-toe with…”

Her voice trailed off as a whirlpool of moonlight appeared before her. Out of that glowing vortex of moonlight strode a raven-maned beauty in an asymmetric cut mini-dress and thigh boots. All black. Her only splashes of color were glossy red lips and glowing green eyes.

“Hello, Ms Wiltshire,” Ms Patriot said. “I was hoping you’d join the party.”

Wanda Wiltshire, AKA Wicked Wanda, stood just a little taller than the heroine as they struck poses and glared at each other. While Wicked Wanda was ten years Ms Patriot’s senior, at most she looked one or two years older. Women of Valkyrie descent like Ms Patriot aged very slowly, as did Amazons like the witch. Of course, many believed Amazons were descendants of the Valkyrie as well. Amazons disputed it.

The witch looked around at all of her unconscious men and shook her head.

“Good help is so hard to find.”

“Maybe if you didn’t sleep with your employees they’d perform better,” Ms Patriot taunted. “And they might respect you more, as well as respect other women.”

“You’re a funny girl,” Wicked Wanda said. She fluffed her waist length curly black hair. “I’m wicked. Promiscuity is kinda my thing.”

“Well at least you own it,” the heroine said, shaking her head woefully. “I’ll need you to surrender to the law and submit.”

“I’ll need you to suck my butt.”

Ms Patriot’s body tensed, getting ready to launch her attack. Wicked Wanda was as strong as a super heroine, just as fast, and had magic. In her seven years as a heroine, Ms Patriot hadn’t captured the witch yet. No other heroine had managed that trick either, though three had been defeated by Wicked Wanda and sold to human traffickers.

That alone would put the witch in prison for life. If Ms Patriot could capture her.

Purple flames engulfed the witch’s hands, and that maelstrom of moonlight behind her turned blood red and purple. The heroine juked left, and darted right. The crack of lightning filled the air, followed by the thunderous explosion when it hit a nearby car.

“Dammit, missed her,” Wicked Wanda snapped.

Ms Patriot lunged at the witch, managing to pound a fist into Wicked Wanda’s cheek. The raven-haired witch spun away with the blow, set her feet, and pointed at the heroine. Another red-purple bolt shot out of her finger.

“Aaiiee! Goddess damn you,” Ms Patriot screamed, shaking her left arm.

“Grazed you,” Wicked Wanda said, smirking. “Imagine what it’ll feel like when I finally get a solid hit, mask.”

“First of all, my name is Ms Patriot. Not ‘mask,’” she snarled, baby blues narrowing. “Secondly, speaking of solid hits…”

Ms Patriot reached down, seized Bobby, and lifted his limp body off the ground with both hands. She spun around twice, before launching the witch’s minion at her. Wicked Wanda tried to dart to the side, but the big man slammed into her. Took her down to the ground.

Ms Patriot charged the downed witch. “Got you!”

“No!” Wicked Wanda cried, and shouted some indecipherable words. Lighting arched between the witch and her maelstrom. “I command you, monsters! Kill that woman!”

“No! Don’t do it!” Ms Patriot screamed. “Don’t bring more monsters into this world!”