Tomboy: Turnabout (Chapter 10) (Patreon)

Tomboy: Turnabout

Chapter 10

Dallas, early August, Saturday night…

Jessica froze, cocked her head, and listened intently. Were those footsteps following her? Heavy male footsteps. She looked all around with big blue eyes, and the sound of footsteps stopped.

How do super heroines find any crimes in such darkness?

She stood on the sidewalk, just outside of an entertainment district.

Or do they just strut around all sexy and wait for bad guys to attack them?

That was Jessica’s tactic, so far.

Downtown Dallas towered over her to the west, just across the Interstate. They called that old warehouse district “Deep Ellum.” No one could tell her what that meant. No one could even tell her what “Ellum” meant, much less what it meant to be deep in the ellum.

She wore Kelly’s “Tomboy” costume: red baseball cap with TB, blue mask glued to her face, white sports bra under a red vest, and a pair of daisy dukes over black fishnet pantyhose. Kelly’s red and white, high-heeled sneaker boots fit her perfectly.

Jessica’s Tomboy even wore red batting gloves, carried a bright red aluminum baseball bat, and had numerous pouches on her FEM Belt that held baseballs. While Jessica had taken martial arts classes, and could play softball reasonably well, there was no way she’d ever throw a baseball like Kelly.

“This belt gives me super strength, so that better be enough,” she whispered as those footsteps started closing on her. Then she realized they were coming at her from front and back. “They have me boxed in.”

She fought the instinctual need to flee. She came out looking for bad guys. Anyone about to prey on a woman alone on the street qualified as “bad.” Just to be sure, she called out.

“Who’s there? I’m not looking for trouble. Please don’t hurt me.”

A deep, dark chuckle came from behind her. Jessica whirled around to face him as he emerged from the darkness. She took the bat in both hands, resting it on her shoulder. Not threatening, but ready if she needed it. He looked her up and down, smiled, and then glanced at the bat.

“Not looking for trouble, but carrying a weapon nonetheless.”

The man looked to be a little over six feet, with broad shoulders and longish light brown hair. She noticed scars on his face. His eyes were predatory and cold.

“I girl has to protect herself,” she said.

Someone grabbed the business end of the bat and yanked it straight up and out of her hands. Jessica yelped and jumped to the side, arms wide, and stared at the newcomer.

“Where the hell did you come from?”

“Dude, this chick is wearing a mask,” the newcomer said. “Bat. Cap. This is Tomboy.”

“Are you sure?” the first guy said. “Tomboy’s a blonde.”

“Girls change hair color all the time,” Jessica said. She held out her hand. “Give me the bat.”

“Oh, sorry,” he said, stepping forward. He acted like he’d give it to her, before taking it quickly in both hands and thrusting the end of it into her solar plexus. “There. I gave you what you deserve, masked bitch.”

Jessica doubled over, clutching her lower chest. All of her air burst out upon that insidious impact. So unexpected. So wrong.

I can’t be captured and vanish on my first night!

“Good one, Jeb.”

“Thanks, Carl,” Jeb said, and grabbed a fistful of long brown hair. He yanked Jessica’s head back while she gasped for air. Then he kissed her. “Caught my first super bitch.”

“Stop playing,” Carl said, moving on them quickly. “Get that power belt off her before she – ”

Jessica screamed in terror and rage, and stomped down on Jeb’s foot. She drove her stiletto heel into the arch, collapsing it. Then she punched him in the throat, before spinning to deliver a back-handed punch to Carl’s cheek. That strike held all the power of a FEM Fighter, so sent the bad guy stumbling away with a grunt of pain.

The wannabe heroine spun to drive her heel into the side of Jeb’s left knee, putting the man down. And then she snatched up her bat and went after Carl. He was on one knee, head lowered, as she raced up to him. But then Carl surged up at her, inside her guard, and delivered two quick punches to her belly.

Jessica’s breath exploded out again, bat flying out of her hand.

She never expected it would be so hard, and be so painful, being a super heroine. Panic was the only thing driving her forward. She sensed more than saw Carl looming over her, so she lashed out with a foot to his crotch. He fell back, cursing furiously.

The fake heroine held her breath, which wasn’t much, and rushed Carl. She lashed out with a foot blindly, but hit him more often than not. He scrambled away, and she panicked.

And then she remembered a FEM Fighter’s best weapon. Her Bracers.

Jessica pointed her right fist at him, and pressed the activation button. A thick beam of bright energy shot out to hit her foe in the side. But, boy, did she FEEL that. It left her gasping.

Carl rose up to one knee, looking weak and discombobulated. So she hit him again with another beam. That put him down for the count. Carl lay unconscious at her feet, while she felt spent. And that’s when two street bikes came rolling up from different directions.

Jessica stood straight, still gasping desperately for breath. Tears rolled down hot cheek, unstoppable in all her agony. But she looked a smoking hot redhead over, dressed in an in your face sexy orange and white corset, pants, and thigh boots costume. Her lovely face was masked. The other woman was Asian, dressed head to toe in cobalt blue spandex and thigh boots.

“Puritan and Vixen.”

Vixen gave her a nod of acknowledgment. Puritan spoke.

“Why are you wearing Tomboy’s costume?”

“Kelly, I mean, Tomboy, is dead,” she said. “I’m her best friend, Je – ”

“DON’T tell us your real name if you really want to be a super heroine. Never tell anyone your real name,” Vixen cried. “It’s a secret you have to take to your grave.”

Puritan dismounted her street bike, also painted white and orange. Her stilettos clattered in the still night as she went over to check the two unconscious men.

“Jeb Gilly and Carl Eddie,” Puritan said. “Nice work taking them down. Those boys are tough cookies.”

She rolled Jeb onto his belly, pulled his arms back, and zip tied his wrists together. It happened so fast that Jessica failed to see where the zip tie came from. Was she carrying it from the motorcycle? Jessica had a bunch of zip ties rolled up in a pouch on her FEM Belt.

“Ex-cons. Muggers. Petty thieves,” Vixen said. She dismounted and walked over to Carl. Jessica watched her pull a heavy-duty zip tie out of her left thigh boot like a sword from its scabbard, and she used it to bind the man’s wrists behind his back. “They are mostly into carjacking, so aren’t afraid to kill.”

Jessica covertly studied both FEM Fighters. They were acting so cool, calm, but she could feel their coiled up tension. They were ready to explode on her in an instant. But they were both shorter than her five foot eight. The redhead looked maybe an inch taller than the Asian girl. Say five foot six and five foot five. Like her, they both wore sky high stilettos, but Jessica understood they had a lot more experience in stilettos, especially fighting in heels. She had to be very careful how she handled them.

Vixen, then Puritan turned and started walking toward Jessica. She stepped back a step, then another.

“What do you want?”

Vixen stopped three steps away, hands on hips, chest out. Puritan mirrored her. The Asian cocked her head, looked her up and down, and frowned.

“What were you saying about Tomboy?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed as she pointedly looked at Jessica’s waist. “Is that her FEM Belt?”

“FEM Belts and Bracers are the property of the FEM Fighters. You’re not allowed to have them,” Puritan said.

“I kind of inherited them from Kel…um…Tomboy,” Jessica said. And then two more motorcycles came up behind her out of the dark, rolling in slowly and very quietly. “Oh. More. Gloriosa and Puma?”

“You know who we are?” Puritan asked. “Are you from Dallas? Your accent says otherwise.”

“Ohio. Like Tomboy. Bisbee,” she said. Gloriosa and Puma walked up behind her, leaving Jessica in the middle of those four heroines. “Hi.”

Puritan briefed the two newcomers on what they’d learned. Then Gloriosa took over the questioning. Jessica slowly turned to face the gorgeous Latina. Even behind a mask, Gloriosa radiated beauty. Her body was definitely the most powerful looking, the most spectacularly sculpted. But all four had amazingly shapely bodies.

“Give me the belt,” Gloriosa said right off, holding out her hand.

Jessica hesitated. Decided she didn’t have a chance against even one of them, and then unfastened the FEM Belt and pulled it off. She groaned as her super strength quickly bled away, a physical sensation.

Gloriosa took it, pulled a phone out of her right thigh boot, and then scanned the faint barcode on the inside.

“She’s right. This is Tomboy’s belt,” Gloriosa said. She glared at Jessica. “How did you get this? Where is Tomboy?”

“I think she’s dead, and I…”

“You thinkshe’s dead? You don’t know?”

Jessica paused to gather her wits. She could talk herself out of any situation. Those four super-powered bimbos weren’t any match for her. So she took a breath, and went into her carefully crafted story.

“It’s complicated. Let me start at the beginning,” Jessica said. “Tomboy’s real name was Kelly Kingsley, from Bisbee, Ohio. I’ve been told not to give my name. Yet. Suffice to say, I was Kelly’s BFF. While she came to Dallas on a scholarship, I went to another university.

“Now last summer, after high school, Kelly began haunting the night as Blonde Justice in our hometown. Actually, she hated that name, but the local media tagged her with it. Anyway, she pretty much wore the same outfit fighting crime back home. Then she came to Dallas and continued her nighttime activities. Now, her love for crimefighting scared me witless, but she was determined. What could I do?

“When she came home this summer, she took up her masked vigilante life as Blonde Justice at night, and we hung out during the day. Kelly really wanted me to join her here in Dallas and fight crime. I declined. It scared me to death. But then…”

Jessica bowed her head, willing the tears to flow. She’d always been able to cry on cue, and it served her well right then and there.

“Kelly didn’t return home one night. They found her street clothes next to the river, covered in…you now, man stuff. Anyway, the police think she was murdered and dumped in the river. They never recovered the body.”

“So you don’t know for a fact that she’s dead?” Gloriosa demanded.

“Well, no. But the police said so.”

The FEM Fighters huddled together too far away to overhear. They spoke animatedly, with lots of emotions and tears. They cast frequent glances back at Jessica.

“Tell us how you came to have her costume and FEM Belt,” Gloriosa demanded.

“And she wasn’t snatched because she was out as Blonde Avenger?” Puritan asked.

“Actually, it’s Blonde Justice,” Jessica said. “But you are correct. I was helping her father go through her stuff afterwards when I came across her costume. I might’ve stolen it. Honestly, it was just so her father didn’t learn of her nighttime activities. He wouldn’t have approved.

“But I couldn’t stop thinking how she wanted me to join her in crime fighting. And honestly, I changed my mind. I want to honor her by becoming a FEM Fighter. A super heroine. I want to keep her legacy alive by becoming the new Tomboy.”

Gloriosa bowed her head, tears flowing. The other three became emotional as well. Finally, after a few moments, the Latina FEM Fighter leveled stern eyes on Jessica.

“I will return the FEM Belt, but only if you promise to not go out at night on your own,” she said. “We will train you. Promise?”

“I promise, and thank you.”

Gloriosa handed the FEM Belt back to her. She fastened it back around her waist, and then Vixen and Puritan snapped the Bracers around her forearms. And then all four FEM Fighters pressed in to hug and hold Jessica as they all cried for their lost friend.

I did it! Fucking yes! Jessica thought. I’m going to rip these bimbos new assholes.