Her Superhero Lover: A BWWM BBW Billionaire Superhero Romance (14 page)

He came in, his body dried of sweat, but still naked. Despite the
utter boneless feeling in her body, she looked at him with desire
again, but a tamped one. Her lust and need could wait. After all,
he'd be here, maybe for the rest of their lives. "What were you
doing?"

"Ah, sweeping up," he said sheepishly, glancing towards
the kitchen. "That last time, you screamed so high and so loud
that you shattered most of the crystal in the cabinets."

Renee sat up, shocked, before falling back over, laughing. Grady
joined in, and soon the two of them were giggling like teenagers at
the ridiculousness of it all. "So have the neighbors called?"

"Nah, you so quickly went ultrasonic that they couldn't have
possibly guessed what that was, although a few of them might think we
were being pretty energetic," he said as he calmed down, wiping
tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. "I think the
neighborhood dogs might be pissed off at you though."

That sent them into fresh howls of amusement, and they both laughed
until their sides hurt. Grady sat down on the carpet next to the
sofa, composing himself while the laughter died down. When Renee
calmed down, she reached out to stroke her hands through his now
normal light brown hair. "Is it always going to be like this?"

Grady shook his head and smiled. "I don't think the house could
take it. We're going to have to replace some carpet too, by the way.
More importantly, I don't think we could take it. I'm so hungry right
now you could bring an entire cow inside here, let me lop off the
horns and skin, and I'll be happy gnawing it like a Rottweiler. Throw
in about two pounds of spaghetti, and I might have a full stomach I
think."

Renee nodded as her own stomach grumbled at the mention of food. "I
was thinking chocolate cake. You know, there's a Marie Calender's off
the I-5 about fifteen minutes away."

"That's just one more thing I love about you," he grinned
leaning over and kissing her. "I'm rich, but you just want to go
to Marie Calender's. Next thing you know you'll say you want to go to
Hometown Buffet for dinner tomorrow."

Renee grinned and shook her head. "Hell no. I've got a gig
tomorrow. However, I wouldn't mind finding a Hometown or a Chinese
buffet after you and I go over to the Del Mar lab and get a good
workout in. If I'm going to be a superhero, I need to depend on more
than a punch and a kick."

Grady chuckled and got to his feet. He held out his hand and pulled
her up, kissing her when he had her in his arms. "Don't forget a
spear tackle that would make any linebacker in the NFL jealous,"
he said when their kiss broke. "While we're driving, I'll fill
you in on the rest of your damage."

"Such as?"

"Such as turning a metal ruler into a throwing star and then
giving the pimp slap from hell and knocking a guy out. The teacher of
the class you saved gave you major props for that one."

"Really? Well, I guess I'll have to make it part of my normal
repertoire. After all, every superhero has their signature moves."
She headed off towards the back, where she thought she had left some
of her regular clothes from another time she had stayed over at
Grady's house. Before she left the living room, she turned and looked
back at him. "By the way, I'm going to have to redesign my
costume. I can go with Dark Justice, but I am not flashing my panties
any more to anyone. And we're going to have to come up with a better
solution to my change in height than just funky padded shoes. What do
you say to taking a month's vacation somewhere, where I can
supposedly undergo a lot of plastic surgery? The society pages will
chatter, but they'll do that anyway."

Maria Mendoza sat in the studio, keeping her professional smile on
as she controlled the excitement inside. If tonight's show went as
good as she hoped, she'd be getting the call from CNN any day now.
She'd even been approached by the BBC to cover their American desk,
if it went well enough.

"Happy New Year and
Feliz
año nuevo,
San
Deigo. I'm Maria Mendoza, with an Action Five special. While the
Chinese calendar says that the next Year of the Horse doesn't happen
for another few years, for San Diego and now most of Southern
California and even Tijuana, this past year has been the year of The
Horseman.

"I personally first heard the underground urban legend about
The Horseman back in March, of a red and pale suited vigilante who
was breaking up drug deals and cleaning up some of the worst
neighborhoods in San Diego. I, like most others who heard the story,
dismissed the idea as being a bit too comic bookish to be taken
seriously. After all, we live in the real world. But the stories
wouldn't go away, with each of them becoming more and more fantastic
than the last. The police officers I spoke to said they thought it
was a combination of tall tales and the psychosis inducing effects of
the latest drug craze on the streets, DCX.

"All
that changed this summer, when The Horseman was caught on video
breaking up a drug den." The screen cut away from Maria,
replaying the now world famous video of The Horseman's first taped
encounter. The sound and video had been enhanced to compensate for
the poor cell phone quality, and was one of the most viewed Youtube
videos of all time, even more popular than
Gangam
Style
.
By last estimation, over three quarters of planet Earth had viewed
the video either on the Internet or through replays on terrestrial
TV.

"After the first video, The Horseman continued his one man
assault on crime, along the way being caught on video other times as
well. Criminals were beginning to tape their activities for possible
protection from The Horseman, hoping that the reclusive and silent
hero would avoid anywhere he could be filmed. However, it didn't
work, and for the rest of the long, hot summer of this past year, we
in San Diego were treated to another half dozen confirmed videos of
The Horseman in action."

A quick montage of the highlights of each of the videos was shown,
the most spectacular being The Horseman shouldering a car to a
complete stop and then walking away. The camera cut back to Maria,
whose face became even more animated. "The biggest change in the
year of The Horseman came just a few months ago, as just before
Halloween, The Horseman enlisted the aid of another superpowered
being, a woman who this reporter was proud to have gotten the chance
to name Dark Justice. The superteam, which some criminals in the city
have come to call Armageddon, while many regular citizens are calling
the Fallen Angels, rescued forty eight preschool children and their
teachers from a team of seven gunmen. The rescue culminated in the
last gunman being on the receiving end of a tackle so viscous, she
was nominated for both an ESPY for Best Moment, and a Slammy Award by
WWE in the OMG Extreme Hit of the Year Category. Take a look at it
now."

The screen shot changed again, watching as an internal security shot
from inside the preschool played. The gunman had his pistol aimed at
The Horseman's head, when suddenly a dark streak blasted across the
screen, carrying both of them across the room and through the window.
Another video took over, where the Action 5 news team had a perfect
shot of the gunman being driven through the window (and carving a one
inch divot in the stucco of the windowsill underneath) and ten feet
out into the grass.

Maria appeared on camera again. "Since the dramatic preschool
rescue, The Horseman and Dark Justice have been even more active,
expanding their work from Tijuana all the way to Los Angeles. This
whole time, the vigilante duo have never spoken to the police.
However, due to some assistance that this reporter provided them
during the first appearance of Dark Justice, I have been granted a
very unique opportunity. From an undisclosed location, via a
scrambled satellite uplink, Action 5 News is proud to bring to you,
on New Year's Eve, the first interview with The Horseman and Dark
Justice."

The shot changed, as Maria took up the left one third of the screen.
Meanwhile, on the right two thirds, The Horseman and Dark Justice
appeared. They were sitting in regular folding chairs, with a white
room in the background. Grady had gone to great lengths to scramble
the signal, to the point he doubted even the Pentagon could hack it.
In addition to a fifty character time coded password that he used in
his initial satellite uplink, he had bounced the signal off of
eighteen different ground stations and satellites, using Chinese,
British, Russian and Japanese relays along the way before sending the
signal down less than twenty miles from where it had originated.

He hadn't wanted to do it, but Renee had talked him into it. After
all, she'd told Maria they'd think about her request, and not only
had Maria delivered on the information that one time, but in multiple
times since. She'd also helped steer public opinion towards The
Fallen Angels, even as overzealous members of the District Attorney's
office kept releasing press statements saying that they were swearing
out new warrants for their arrests.

"Thank you for having us here Maria," Grady said. He'd
tweaked the microphones on their end, so that their voices sounded
normal but unrecognizable. "And Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year Horseman. Or do you go by The Horseman?"

Grady chuckled and shook his head. "I think whatever is easier
for you. After all, I didn't pick the name to begin with."

"Fair enough. And Dark Justice?"

Renee smiled, her teeth flashing white and friendly behind the mask
she had adopted. Her new costume was significantly different than her
old one, and incorporated a partial hood like Grady used as The
Horseman, except that her eyes were covered by one way lenses that
were ruby red. She had kept the black and red design, although her
skirt was supplemented with shorts that went down to her mid thigh at
the same time. "How about Justice? You keep calling me Dark, and
you'll have Al Sharpton on the line before the end of the night."

The joke caused Maria to snort in amusement, and she nodded. "Okay.
Well, first question I guess is for you, Horseman. Why're you doing
this?"

"It's pretty simple really, Maria. I grew up in this area, and
I've watched as San Diego and Los Angeles have struggled for years
with crime. Now, our brave police officers out there are trying their
best, but they are limited in who they can go after, and what they
can do. The real bad guys out there, they've been operating with
relative impunity for too long, their only real threat coming from
within their own ranks. I have these abilities, and I couldn't sit
back and let the situation continue."

Maria nodded. "What about your critics who have said that your
actions have led to criminals escalating their actions as well?"

Renee tilted her head. "What do you mean, Maria?"

"Assistant District Attorney Kyle in her most recent press
conference accused you of forcing the criminals in San Diego to bring
more and more dangerous weapons onto the streets in order to protect
themselves from you."

It was a question Maria had told them in a secret e-mail she would
ask them, in order to appear to be objective, so Grady was prepared.
"I'd challenge ADA Kyle to take a look at the crime stats,
Maria. In the past year, drug crimes are down sixty percent. Gang
violence is down thirty percent, and the trend continues among other
areas. In fact, wasn't it Action Five itself that had the report a
few days ago that for the first time since the Eisenhower years,
there wasn't a single murder in Southern California south of Los
Angeles for an entire day?"

"Are
you taking credit for this?" Maria asked, smiling. She was
setting them up for their big moment, and she knew it. But what a
moment it was going to be.
Pulitzer,
here I come
.

Grady shook his head. "I can't take credit, Maria. Dark Justice
and The Horsemen are just two people, regardless of our abilities. I
can't be over all of Southern California at once in a single day. The
best I can say is that I've tried my best to stand up, to be someone
that tells the world that you don't have to be afraid any more. We've
let the criminals and the degenerates among us have free rein for too
long, ruling through fear and intimidation."

"No longer," Renee took over, her voice intense. "Because
now people see you don't have to be afraid any longer. That armed
robbery was stopped because the customer clocked the stickup man with
a can of Coke in the back of the head. The community that kicked out
the gang by not allowing them to intimidate them any longer, those
are the heroes. I'm just a woman in a costume."

"We do admit that there are some more dramatic criminals coming
on the scene," Grady continued. "But for every one of them,
ten other criminals are dropping out of the life, and trying to walk
the right path. The challenge now for us as a community is to give
these people an opportunity, a chance to actually successfully walk
that path. That's social justice, and something I can do nothing
about. That's for the small business owners, and the corporate
offices who need to do what they can."

Maria nodded. "On that note, I've had quite a few corporations
and community groups approach Action Five about trying to enlist your
aid as spokespeople for various causes. Yet, until today you've never
spoken to anyone. Why the silent act?"

"I didn't speak because I'm a person who believes that actions
are more important than words. The world is filled with millions who
talk, millions who preach. There are armies of so-called slacktevists
whose idea of getting involved is doing a Facebook post or starting
an online petition. While that works sometimes, a lot of the time
nothing changes until real, concrete action is taken. The drug dealer
on the corner isn't going to stop because of your Facebook post, and
doesn't care about your Twitter account. So instead of talking, I'm
taking action. No offense to you Maria, I'm having fun, but don't
expect this sort of interview to be a normal thing."