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Chapter 5
by
micdan282
What's next?
A Good Man
The night air was thick with tension and the acrid scent of burning rubber. Somewhere below the abandoned overpass, tires screeched as a black SUV tried to peel away from the chaos. Nightingale moved like smoke in the dark—fast, precise, and unrelenting. Her boots landed hard against the cracked concrete as she launched off the ledge.
The criminals had been trying to hijack a weapons shipment—Supplier tech, judging by the crate tags—and they were better armed than most street thugs. But she was two steps ahead of them tonight. She ducked a hail of gunfire, flipped over a rusted-out car, and slammed her boot into one man’s chest, sending him sprawling. Another lunged at her with a stun baton, but she caught his wrist mid-swing and drove her elbow into his jaw.
One by one, they dropped.
She was in the zone.
Then her communicator buzzed.
bzzzt. bzzzt.
A message from Finn.
Finn: Hey, are you okay? You said this one might be dangerous. Just checking in. Love you.
Nightingale groaned softly, half laughing under her breath. She ducked behind a metal column as a stun grenade went off nearby. She quickly sent a reply back.
Her fingers flew over the reply interface on her forearm.
Rikki: I’m fine, promise. Mid-fight. Can’t talk. Will message when safe. Love you.
Another thug charged but was no match. She caught him in the ribs with a roundhouse, sending him crashing. The communicator buzzed again.
Finn: I know, I know, sorry. Just had a weird feeling. You’re incredible. Be safe.
She paused, ducking into the shadows to catch her breath. A warmth bloomed in her chest despite the chaos. For years she’d carried this secret alone—fighting in the dark, bleeding in silence, lying to everyone who cared about her. But not anymore. Telling Finn had been terrifying. But also the best decision she’d made in a long time.
He was good. He was kind. And most days, when the noise of everything else tried to drag her under, he was the only thing that kept her grounded.
Even if he worried too much.
bzzzt.
Finn: Okay, okay, stopping now. Just hurry home. I miss you.
She smiled despite herself. The kind of smile that didn’t belong in a moment like this.
From the alley ahead, the last two goons regrouped and pulled out heavier weapons. Nightingale rolled her shoulders, exhaled, and dove back into the fray—faster, sharper, more focused than ever. Because this wasn’t just about being a hero anymore.
It was about making it home to the person who believed in her, who saw all of her—even the darkest parts—and stayed.
What's next?
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Perils of a Novice Superheroine
A generic superheroing setting drenched with sex and scandal
Acropolis City, the center of super-human and caped crusader activity in this particular world - with its own dizzying highs and lows, high-tech skylines and slums standing in stark, four-color contrast, it provided everything that a costumed megalomaniac or masked vigilante could ask for. In fact, as is usually the case where colorful masked characters are the norm, it has become something of an institution by this point. But although the mere existence of costumed heroes and villains no longer shocks people, these people - who, by their very nature, thrive on attention - keep finding new ways to stand out from the crowd and attract the eye. This last goal tends to get a lot of emphasis in the most simple, sexualized way possible. For reasons that the world's most brilliant scientists have yet to explain, latent super-abilities seem to manifest more often in women than men by a ratio of 3 to 1 or more. This is true even when the superpower isn't "natural"; paranormal artifacts fall into their hands, esoteric martial arts schools never seem to have a male heir, the technological prototypes they test always seem to be the ones that are most easily used or abused for good and evil. Unfortunately, the glory days of the past where citizens were happy to see any old masked do-gooder show up are over - in recent years, Acropolis City has established a ranking system of heroes where those who get high marks from the citizens and resolve incidents are rewarded with corporate sponsorships and (most coveted of all) seats at the prestigious League of Propriety. Those who intimidate the populace, cause excessive collateral damage, or simply don't excite anyone, garnering low rankings, get 'asked' to move to less prestigious cities. Few superheroes want to get stuck battling clans of villainous hillbillies and corrupt small-town sheriffs for the rest of their careers, so they're always eager to please the influential citizens of Acropolis City (judges, eminent scientists, first responders, and of course the all-important reporters). On the other side of the law, a similar dynamic predominates; only the most glamorous and charismatic costumed ne'er-do-wells can make it in this town. And so, the novice superheroines just learning the ways of battling for justice and order, without any team to back them up, always end up patrolling the skeeviest, most undesirable slums of the city and taking on the most thankless rescues. As if that weren't bad enough, most of them feel obliged to dress in ways that get more outlandish and revealing with every passing year while they fight the good fight and/or feed their craving for attention, depending on how you see the 'cape life'. As if that weren't troublesome enough, the superhuman mutations that make so many of these heroes' careers possible also result in greatly increased sexual sensitivity, particularly in females. The adventures and misadventures that these spandex-clad lady crusaders get into are often too hot to print for the kind of comics that their young admirers would read. Messy mistakes will be made, but you don't want to disappoint your readers, do you? So let the League know what kind of superheroine you are, your chosen name, powers, and appearance, and they'll send you out on your first patrols. Good luck.
Updated on Dec 27, 2025
by micdan282
Created on Nov 30, 2016
by fyreant
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