Zero to Hero (Ch.3)

Yet another of Jane Broad's men returned to their hideout in the middle of the city. Another day attempting to mug or hold up average citizens, another day with little to show for their efforts.

"You bozos are wasting my time," said the aforementioned Broad, leader of this small band of organised vipers. "I might as well be back out there myself with what you guys have been bringing in the last few weeks."

"But it's those superpowered weirdos that are stopping us. Ever since they showed up, they've been harassing and stopping us from going about our business."

"'Weirdos'?!" said snapped back. "I thought there was just one of 'em?"

"No, there's a second now. A big, beefy guy alongside that original hot superwoman. Both of them dressed in the same orange and black outfit. Both seemingly unstoppable."

Broad walked away and placed a hand under her chin. She said nothing for a moment and stared out the lone loft window in the abandoned factory they now occupied.

"That girl was a regular Jane once. A regular 'Jane' like me. She worked for that toy store, became super strong, and then was the face of the company. She's obviously been fighting crime when it suits, too. But now you tell me there's another? If he's wearing the same costume, it might mean that he also worked for the place. The question is, how did they both become superhuman?"

"I don't know, but if we don't find a way to take them down, our crime spree is cooked!" another chimed in.

"That's just the thing," said Broad, turning to face them again. "Forget picking pockets and holding people up for cash. If we could somehow harness that power, there's be no stopping us, or at least we could exact some revenge on those two. And engaging in a little bit of ultra violence along the way would be fun!"

"Great," another of her henchmen said, "But how do we discover the root of their strength again?"

"By re-directing our energy. Boys, let's drop our usual debauchery for the foreseeable future. I've got another job for us!" announced Broad. "Put out feelers. Together, we'll surely track down the secret of the city's new power couple."

As this criminal gang of misfits began their fell investigation, the 'power couple' in question continued patrolling the city. Jessica Boom and her new partner, Darren, were already proving to be a useful pair fighting crime, especially as no crook would ever have the same abilities as they.

"Yeah, we're a little overpowered for this job," joked Darren as they flew effortlessly over the rooftops.

"Maybe," replied Jessica, "But you're also a bit underwhelming when it come to the name department. If you really are going to give this superhero business a go, then you'll need a better name than just...Darren."

He looked down at his chest then and focused on the explosion logo of the toy company they both worked. It was similar to the one on Jessica's supersuit.

"They actually look a lot like the sound effect bubbles from the old Batman series," he laughed. "So your name, "Boom", is quite fitting."

"Then why not choose something similar?" she responded.

"Well, my mother's maiden name is DePauw. I always liked it. We could just shorten it to Pauw. But instead of pronouncing it paw, let's try Pow!"

"Just like the sound you make if you're punching someone? I like it. Perfect!" declared Jessica, leading him then across the skyline before tearing away and teasing him to chase her. He smiled and pursued her as best he could, still struggling to fully get to grips with his extraordinary powers.

When he finally caught up with her, he noticed they were well outside the city in a rather remote part of the countryside. In fact, there was little vegetation or signs of life at all. When they both landed, she indicted they sit on the very edge of a cliff which led to a long, fatal drop that neither of them even remotely feared now in their present forms.

"Why did you bring us all the way out here?" asked Darren, looking upon the dry, lonely horizon.

"For a bit of privacy," she said calmly.

"But what if someone needs us back in the city?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine for a while," she informed him. "You should be more worried about my uncle Fred! When he hears you're super now, he'll want you as poster boy of the company as well."

"I can't wait," said Darren sarcastically.

As he smiled, Jessica reached over and touched his chin, slowly turning his face to meet hers. He smiled and leaned in as she made to kiss him, with each reaching over and taking hold of each other's muscular, bulging body. They were locked together like this for a time, and it would've gone further if not for an unexpected, untimely, and very unwelcome intervention.

"Ah, so here you two lovebirds are, or should I say retrobates?!" a voice cried out above the cliff face. Shocked, Jessica and Darren both looked up and couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"I told you I wasn't done with you," said yet another empowered woman, clad in her own supersuit and cape coloured in different shades of purple. It was the nosey, intrusive, judgemental woman from before. The one they had tried to avoid.

"Thought you could just fly away from me, eh?" she smiled. "Well, I decided to fly right after you."

"I don't know you became like us, but you don't know what you're doing," said Jessica, standing up on the cliff before floating off into the sky to meet her rival face-to-face. Darren stayed below, still trapped in a state of confusion. Indeed, how had
she transformed?

"I obviously found you in the next street when you tried to get away from me. I hid and listened to what you said. Then I saw your little boyfriend here enter the booth and become the hunk he is now. I mean, how could I resist the chance of becoming so big and strong myself? And sexy?"

"Sexy, eh?" said Jessica. "I thought that's what you were admonishing me for earlier?"

"It doesn't matter now," she replied, smiling. Her smile, however, suddenly warped into a look of disgust again as she vaulted downwards and punched Jessica across the jaw, sending the heroine to the ground and cracking the ground around her.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Darren declared, flying towards her. But as he approached, she swiftly moved aside, grabbed the back of his cape and swung him to Earth again, crashing Darren down beside Jessica.

"Haha, some heroes you are," she scoffed. "Getting your superbutts kicked by a mere librarian. But I'm not just that anymore am I?"

She looked at her arms then and felt her bicep grow under her light purple supersuit as she curled her arm upwards.

"I was just a mere librarian before but now I'm something else. Something dangerous. Something dominant. Who knows how far this will go?"

While she was busy admiring herself, Jessica and Darren got themselves off the ground. They both nodded silently at each other before thrusting themselves into the air and towards this wannabe supervillain.

Darren sped up behind her and wrapped his arms under her armpits and his hands around the back of her head. As he did so, Jessica prepared to punch her straight in the guts.

"I don't want to do this," she said. "Will you come quietly instead?

"Come quietly where? I haven't committed any real crimes -yet. And even so, there's no jail that can hold the likes of us now, so you're both stuck with me!" she laughed while still straining against Darren's vice-like grip.

Jessica tried softening her up then, and while it indeed hurt the woman, there was no permanent damage being done. She then delivered a blow to the face, causing her opponent to become a little groggy, but she was nowhere near unconcious.

Jessica realized then that they were so equal in power that it would take a lot of effort to actually seriously affect her; and vice versa.

"Give me a go!" said Darren, both taking advantage of the woman's confusion to quickly swap places, with Jessica now holding their enemy in place mid-air. Yet, despite all his strength and muscle mass, Darren's blows had no more lasting impact than his partner's.

"It's no good," he lamented. "We three are pretty much on the same level. It's going take a while to break her down."

As he spoke, their captive fully recovered and used all her considerable might to lift a distracted Jessica over her head, thus breaking free of the hold and sending Jessica crashing into Darren.

"You'll pay for all of that!" she exclaimed, dusting herself off before floating down to her recovering rivals.

"By the way, I never did introduce myself," she continued, "My name is Rachel-"

"I don't care," Jessica interrupted, tackling her again. For the next few minutes they both traded godly punches, with each sending the other straight up into the clouds before grappling to the ground again, causing a tremor-inducing crash that Darren felt beneath his feet.

He flew over then to join in, but, as he approached, he was confronted by a growing cloud of dust that had gathered around the battling pair of superwomen. However, soon within it, he could a figure rising forth. He hoped it was Jessica but was left disappointed.

"Ah, were you looking for me?" asked Rachel mockingly. "I get it, you were waiting for a real superwoman to arrive. Well, she's here."

She flew down then so he could get a closer look at her, but before she made it, Jessica reappeared from the disapating dust cloud and grabbed her from behind, shoving her face into the dirt. Turning her around, she grabbed the opening of Rachel's supersuit where the cape attached and began pulling it on both sides with her hands. The super strong fabric resisted yet still began to stretch as she threw her head back and bit her lip.

"You don't deserve this as you're no hero!"

Eventually it tore, leaving a long rip down the front, right over the emblem, thus revealing some of Rachel's cleavage. Jessica knew that removing the suit itself wouldn't strip her of her powers as she had taken her own off many times, but wondered if maybe damaging or destroying the clothing might take her superpowers away. Perhaps there was a connection there?

Alas, there was no change in the woman. Rachel was just as muscular as before, and when she awoke, was horrified by her torn outfit. She cursed them both then before making a hasty retreat into the heavens.

"That was quick thinking," said Darren, "But we better go after her immediately."

"She'll be fine. The apparent shame will distract her for a while," Jessica advised him. "Oh, we'll still have to deal with her at some stage again, although how exactly I'm not sure. I was really hoping that ripping her suit might return her to normal or something."

"Really?" Darren replied. "I thought you were just being a bit jealous and taking it out on her."

Jessica smiled then.

"You'd like that, right? Two strong babes furiously fighting over you? Afraid not. I was actually trying to find a way to turn her back to normal, I swear."

As she finished, she lifted off and headed back in the direction of the city, with both "Boom" and "Pow' catching the eye of excited onlookers who pointed their phones towards them and captured their flight around the tall buildings.

"This was all a big mistake, wasn't it?" she pondered aloud. "I shouldn't have gotten these powers, and I shouldn't have flaunted them so much, and I shouldn't have dragged you into this. By doing so, I've created a scenario where that crazy woman is strong now, too."

"You didn't mean to," Darren replied. "And I made my own choice. And it could be worse; at least there are only three of us! But why are we coming back to this same street again?"

They both touched down near where the mysterious phonebox resided; the one that had changed their bodies, and their lives. The one that had turned them seemingly from zeroes into heroes with a simple press of the 0 key. Yet they were now left shocked, as it was no longer there.

"Oh no no no!" cried Jessica. "What happened to it?!"

Where the booth had once stood there was now a small, tidy hole in the ground; as if it were gently ripped from the earth in a delicate manner. This was not the work of Rachel or some reckless superperson tearing it free from its foundations. No, this seemed like a more efficient process. Calculated. Measured. Someone had somehow put two and two together and had found the box, removing it for themselves.

"This just got a whole lot more serious," said Jessica coldly. "If I'm right, soon there may be a lot more than three of us..."

(To be continued.)