a superheroine story by Dangerguy
WARNING: This story is strictly fictional and is not intended to portray any real persons, living or dead, nor is it at all intended to encourage the type of activity portrayed here. It is not to be resold for profit. It is strictly a fantasy/parody, intended for the personal enjoyment of those who appreciate the superheroine in bondage/peril/sexual situations genre. The story depicts graphic sexual situations, including bondage, violence, and non-consensual sex, among a number of other nasty things. It is NOT intended, nor is it at all suitable, for minors. If you are under the age of 18, or if this type of thing offends you, you shouldn’t be reading it. Otherwise, carry on, and enjoy.
Candy Roberts waited at the small table in Michelino's, a casual Italian bistro near the High Plains University campus, dressed in a pale pink blouse and blue jeans. She had to keep reminding herself not to fidget nervously. Even so, every few seconds, she glanced around the restaurant expectantly, as if she was waiting for someone, or as if she were checking where the nearest exit was located, or both.
"Hey, beautiful," a female voice said from behind her.
Candy stood up quickly and turned around, just in time for her friend, Helen Whipple, to sensually wrap her arms around her neck. Helen's petite, slender frame was clothed in a navy-blue blouse and a knee-length black skirt, and wore wire-framed glasses--the demure dress so typical both of Candy's shy friend and of a serious HPU grad student. She had undone the top three buttons of the blouse, however, exposing a hint of her perky, creamy breasts, undoubtedly for Candy's supposed enjoyment.
Helen leaned forward, her thin lips pursed, intending to kiss Candy on the lips. The auburn-haired girl, her muscles and facial expression both filled with tension, turned her head so Helen kissed her on the cheek instead.
"Helen, hey, hi," Candy said, easing herself out of Helen's overly-familiar embrace.
Helen leaned back, a puzzled and mildly disappointed expression on her pale but pretty face. She nervously lifted her right hand to brush several strands of her long, wavy black hair back behind her ear.
The two young women sat down at their table. A waitress came by and they both ordered soft drinks. Once left alone, Candy struggled to find the courage speak the words she knew could only hurt her friend, and might end their friendship.
"So, um...how've you been?" Candy asked, knowing she was only putting off the inevitable.
"Okay," Helen said with a slight shrug. "Busy. Three weeks to 'D-Day'," she added, referring to the day she would have to deliver her defense of her dissertation in front of a group of professors in her field of study. "I miss you," she added in an husky undertone, reaching across the table to caress Candy's hand with her fingertips.
Candy pulled her hand back and sighed. "Yeah, look, about that..." she said reluctantly, wishing she could tell Helen the truth, but knowing she'd never believe it. She sighed heavily again and stared at the red-and-white checkered table cloth as she spoke. "There's no easy way to tell you this, so I'm just going to tell you. You see, Billy and I were, um, going through this rough patch...and we've...worked things out. I'm not saying what happened didn't mean anything, but...I'm afraid...it has to be over."
Candy looked up into Helen's eyes anxiously. She wasn't sure what to expect. This was, in point of fact, the first time she had seen her high school friend in several months; Helen was busy with her studies, Candy with work and crime-fighting as Duster. But Duster's Clone had seduced Helen to obtain information about her alter ego, and now it fell to Candy to clean up the mess.
"Oh," Helen said, her slender face expressing her disappointment. The petite brunette sighed heavily, then pressed her lips together and nodded sadly. "Yeah. I thought it was something like that. And, it's funny, y'know--this is exactly how I thought you'd end it."
"I'm sorry, Helen," Candy said. "Look, for what it's worth, it was...wonderful, and, um, being with you helped me through a very rough time." It was a lie, of course, but Candy was willing to do almost anything to salve her friend's hurt feelings and preserve their friendship.
Helen nodded, her blue eyes staring at the tablecloth. "Thanks...that is worth something, I guess. And actually..."
She paused, and Candy had to prompt her. "What?"
Helen smiled ruefully and looked Candy in the eye. "Well...I think, in a way, I owe you one." Candy's eyes widened and her slender, arched brows rose in complete surprise. "You see...I've been trying to figure out the whole gay-or-straight thing, and I think you pretty much ended my internal debate on that topic."
"Oh," Candy said. "Well. Good. So," she asked anxiously, "you think...we can...still be friends?"
Helen took a deep breath and blinked her eyes several times, as if staving off tears. "I think...it's going to be kinda rough for awhile, but...yeah. You're my oldest and best friend, Candy. I don't want...temporary insanity to ruin that."
Candy let out a breath and felt her shoulders relax as most of the tension in her body faded away. She smiled at Helen. "Thanks, Helen. I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that."
Helen nodded and patted Candy's hand. She then picked up the menu laying on the table in front of her. "Well. Now that we've finished our appetizer of hard-boiled angst, what do you say we have something that'll go down easier for the main course?"
Candy laughed softly and opened her menu. "Sounds good to me," she said.
A few minutes later, the waitress returned, and the two girls put in their order. They sat in silence for a moment, still awkward in one another's presence.
"So," Helen said, "do you have any idea where lesbians hang out in this town? You know, to meet each other and stuff?"
Candy regarded her friend with mild amusement, but also sympathy. "Jesus, you're not going to go cruising dyke bars, are you?"
Helen grimaced. "I'd rather not. But lesbians and bis are, what--ten percent of the population, if that? I know my orientation now, but I have no idea how to go about meeting someone who shares it!"
"Well," Candy said, her lips curling into a sly smile, "one way is to have a friend introduce you." Helen looked at her, hope appearing on her slender but attractive face. "I have someone I'd like you to meet," Candy went on. "Her name's Angela..."
Candy was sitting at the kitchen table in the MacIntyre household later that day, her body leaning over the table, her elbows upon it, her fingers intertwined and held up in front of her face. Her muscles were tense, her facial expression uncertain as she carefully studied the face and body language of her companion on the other side of the table.
Across the table from her sat Danny MacIntyre, Billy's younger brother. He was leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, which was clad in a long, loose black t-shirt. His legs, clothed in baggy blue jeans, were splayed out beneath the table, one knee bent, the other straight. His eyes stared emptily at the wooden tabletop. He took a deep breath, raised one hand, and rubbed his face. Then he glanced uncertainly at his older brother's girlfriend.
"Evil twin, huh?" he said.
Candy sighed, pulled her hands apart and spread them apologetically. "I know how it sounds..." she said.
"Yeah, like something out of a comic book," Danny said, frowning.
Candy stared at him intently for a moment. "I'm a...superhero, Danny."
Danny looked at her for a moment in silence. Then his thick eyebrows rose and he nodded in acknowledgement. He had to concede that she had a point. The other members of his household specialized in the unreal. Candy could create and control a hurricane or a tornado just by thinking about it. His big brother could walk through walls. Their best friend, Angela, could read minds. Getting kidnapped and replaced by an evil clone was probably just part of an average week for them.
"And...your evil twin...is dead now?" he asked.
"Yeah," Candy said. "She died...in order to save me. Seems she changed her mind near the end."
"Huh," Danny said. "That's...kinda sad."
"It is," Candy agreed, and stared at the tabletop sorrowfully. Even after everything the Clone had put her through, the young superheroine was saddened by her duplicate's heroic demise. In a way, the Clone had paid her the highest compliment: that after walking a mile in Candy's shoes, she felt inspired to leave her chosen path of evil for one of heroism and self-sacrifice.
"Woulda made for an interesting double-date," Danny commented, a slight smirk appearing on his face. Candy raised her eyes to glare at him in surprise and annoyance. "Or not," he muttered, chagrined and lowering his eyes.
"So..." Candy said hesitantly.
"So..." Danny said, frowning and reflecting on how bizarre his first sexual experience had turned out to be. "Whaddya say...we never mention any of this. Ever. Again. To each other. Or anyone."
"Especially Billy," Candy insisted.
"Especially Billy!" Danny agreed, raising his hands and spreading his fingers in an expression of agreement and supplication. Even though his first sexual partner had apparently been a genetic duplicate with malicious intent, Danny had been convinced, at the time, that he had done the deed with his brother's girlfriend. He wasn't sure how his big brother would react to the incident, but he was sure it wouldn't be pretty, and he never wanted to experience it.
Danny pushed back his chair and rose to go. He stopped when Candy stood up, reached across the table, and took hold of his hand.
"Danny, listen," she said, her voice filled with sympathy as she walked around the table to stand beside him.
The youth looked away from her, down at the floor. "Look, if this is where you start giving me the line about how there's someone special out there for me, yadda yadda yadda, save it, okay? No offense, but I think I've had my recommended daily allowance of vitamin cliché today."
Candy smiled sadly and shook her head of long, tousled auburn hair. She reached out with her right hand and tenderly brushed aside a lock of Danny's lanky brown hair that had fallen in front of his face.
"No, that's not what I was going to say," she told him. "I just don't want you to leave your own home because of what happened."
"That's not why I'm moving out," Danny told her, turning to look at her. His dark brown eyes were intense, but sad as well. "I'm in love with you," he told her, and Candy gasped softly. "But you're not mine, and you never will be." He gently pulled his hand out of hers and took a step away from her. "So I think...I need...to get away. Like Angie's doing. It doesn't mean I'm ending anything. I'm just changing it."
Danny paused for a moment as he and Candy gazed into one another's eyes. He then leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips. He straightened, took and let out a deep breath, then turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Candy standing there, staring at where he had been only a moment before, a shocked and saddened expression on her face.
"I need you to make love to me," Candy told Billy a short time later. Her arms were around his neck, her body pressed against his. Her voice was heavy with passion and need, but with a hint of vulnerability as well.
He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her hungrily, which they had been doing for several minutes. Her request came as no surprise to him, and her phrasing not only conveyed what she wanted to do, but how she wanted to do it. The couple had been together for well over three years now, and shared a secret language typical of two lovers who had shared intimacy for so long.
"Anytime, anywhere, baby," he responded, his voice rough with passion as he broke the kiss.
"Now. Here," she said, her voice's tone reflecting his, her breathing heavy and excited.
They kissed again, their lips sliding over each other ardently. Candy clutched the short, curly black hairs on the back of Billy's head with her right hand, while her left dropped to fondle his ass. Both of Billy's hands were in that very location on Candy's body, squeezing her ripe, luscious bottom through her jeans.
The lovers were standing in the middle of their own bedroom. Angela was still out of town and Danny had gone out for the evening to visit a friend, so they had the house to themselves and clearly intended to take full advantage of it.
Candy broke the kiss. She took a step back, then reached down and pushed Billy's dark green polo shirt out of his jeans and up over his torso. Billy grabbed the shirt, pulled it over his head, and tossed it aside. His girlfriend ran the flats of her hands over his muscular chest and the soft, short black hairs that decorated it. Then she bent forward and clamped her lips around his left nipple, teasing it with her tongue. Billy, more used to causing that sensation than receiving it, inhaled sharply through clenched teeth.
A moment later, unable to endure the intense sensation any longer, he growled, grabbed Candy's shoulders, and pushed her away from his chest. He placed his fingers upon Candy's pale pink blouse, just above the curve of her large breasts, and began to swiftly undo the buttons. The auburn-haired beauty's chest was rising and falling with each labored breath she took. She watched Billy's face intently as he opened her shirt and pulled it out of her jeans. Beneath it, she wore a lacy tan bra that pushed her breasts together and created an enticing valley of cleavage.
"Pretty," Billy said as he pulled her shirt open and glimpsed her bra and the treasures it contained.
"The lingerie or what's in it?" she asked teasingly, her lips curling into a smile.
"Both," he replied, then dropped to one knee.
Candy gasped softly when Billy's fingers brushed against her naked, sensitive tummy as he popped open the button and unzipped the fly of her pants. Once open, he pulled the blue jeans down over her curvaceous hips, supple thighs, and shapely calves. Candy stepped out of her discarded pants, clad only in her open shirt and underwear.
Billy placed his hands upon Candy's pink blouse and pushed it down over her slender shoulders and arms. The soft pink garment fluttered to the floor behind her. Her lover reached around her with both his arms, pressing her against his body in the process. He deftly unhooked her bra's clasp, then pushed her away from his chest. Candy stared up into his eyes through her thick lashes as he slowly pushed the bra straps over her shoulders. She crossed her arms over her breasts to cover them as the bra cups peeled away from her breasts. The bra hung from her crooked elbows as Billy smiled with mild amusement.
"Why so shy?" he asked her.
Candy shrugged and gave her head a shake. "I don't know. Sometimes I just am," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her gaze dropped from his eyes to a spot on the floor behind him. She swallowed hard and continued. "When I'm naked before you...it's like...you can see right through me, to my heart. I'm stripped bare, not just physically. I've never been this close...to anyone..." Her voice started to quaver.
Billy gently placed his fingers beneath her chin, and raised her head until she was looking him in the eye. "Me neither, angel. I love you."
"I love you too," Candy said, then pulled her arms away from her naked breasts, letting her bra drop to the floor, and then threw her arms around his shoulders. She pressed herself against him, her breasts crushed softly against his hard chest. They kissed, long and deep, their mouths warm and welcoming to one another. "Take me," Candy breathed when they broke the kiss. "Make me yours. Prove you're mine."
"I am, babe," he said. "Now and forever..."
They kissed again, and this time their tongues intertwined and swirled around one another. Billy reached down, grabbed the waistband of Candy's tan lace panties, and pushed them down over her hips and legs. As they broke their kiss and she stepped out of her discarded underwear, he quickly undid the fly of his jeans, pushed them and his underwear down, and stood naked before her, just as she stood before him. His cock was hard and erect. Candy gingerly cupped the underside of his shaft with her palm and curled her fingers around it. He took a deep breath as she fondled his member.
"Need to feel you inside me..." she breathed, stroking his cock.
Billy needed little more invitation than that. He stepped forward and reached around and behind her, placing his hands beneath her buttocks. Candy released his cock as he moved closer, and gasped as he lifted her. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her. Behind her was a dresser; Billy pushed the decorative items there aside with a clatter and sat her atop it. He pulled her loins forward, to the edge of the dresser's flat top. His hands pressed against the soft, supple insides of her thighs, spreading her legs apart.
An anticipatory shiver ran through Candy's naked body, making her breast jiggle on her chest. She reached down and helped him guide the tip of his cock to the entrance of her vagina. She gasped softly when she felt the hot tip of his prick touch her swollen, sensitive labia. Their eyes were locked, their breathing heavy. With a sudden thrust, Billy entered her and drove deep inside her.
"AAAHHHH!!" Candy exclaimed, her eyes closing and her fingers curling so her nails scratched his back.
Billy pulled his hips back, then drove them forward, and repeated the action over and over. Candy began to rock her hips in time with his thrusts, intensifying the pleasure for both of them. Billy pressed his left hand against Candy's bottom, while his right was braced against the wall behind her. Candy lowered her right hand to claw and squeeze his ripe ass. While the raw, wet sound of skin slapping against skin filled the bedroom, the two lovers leaned forward and kissed, opening their mouths to one another just as they had opened their bodies and their hearts. They kissed deeply and passionately, their tongues dancing together, as their bodies, interlocked, moved as though they were one being.
They broke the kiss. Candy arched her back, pressing her breasts forward as her head fell backward. Her long, tousled auburn locks brushed against her naked back and the top of her ass. Billy kept thrusting his cock into her pussy, but also leaned forward to kiss her left breast. He locked his lips around the large globe's pale pink peak, then swirled his tongue around her nipple until the sensitive bud became fully erect.
"HHHRRRRMMM!!" Candy groaned through tightly pressed lips. "MM!! MM!! MM!! MM!!" She shook her head in response to the intensity of the sensations in her body, and her long reddish-brown hair swayed and danced over her arched, naked back.
Both lovers were sweating now, their bodies slick and glistening in the soft light of the bedroom. Candy raised her legs and wrapped them around Billy's rocking ass, locking them at the ankles and holding him there as if she never wanted him to leave, or to stop. Their ecstatic cries filled the bedroom, and the back of the dresser began to thump against the wall while the contents of its drawers rattled.
Billy raised his head from her breast. He pulled his arm from where it was braced against the wall and wrapped it around her back. She raised her head and pressed her breasts against his chest and enveloped his torso with her arms. Her mouth fell against his shoulder; she opened it and sucked on his skin, savoring the salty taste, then playfully bit him. He responded with a grunt, then reciprocated by suckling on her neck, ensuring she'd be wearing the sign of his love bite the next day, like some primitive mark of possession.
"AH! AH! AH! AH! AH!" Candy panted as Billy's big, hard cock stroked the inside of her vagina and her clit. "OH GOD!! I'm...close..." She could feel her imminent response, could feel the orgasm building in her loins. She ached for release, yet savored every sweet step it took to reach it.
"UH! UH! UH! UH! UH!" Billy grunted with every thrust of his hips. "JESUS, me too baby me too you feel so GOOD..."
"Harder..." she begged him. "FASTER!! YES!!"
"OH!! OH!! OH!! OH!! OH!!" he shouted repeatedly, his face tightening, sweat dripping from his brow. He could feel her large, soft breasts crushed against his chest, could feel her pussy gushing warm, sticky lubricant over his cock, could feel the rising warmth of her body as it was pressed tight against his.
"BILLY!! OOOOOOO!!" she cried ecstatically. "I'M...GONNA...CUM!! OHHHHHH..."
"UNH!! UNH!! UNH!! ME TOO BABY oh GOD..."
"OH!! YES!! YES!! YES!! Oh my love..." Her body became completely still for just a moment, while he kept thrusting passionately into her. Her eyes closed, her mouth dropped open, and every muscle in her body tensed. "OHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" she screamed as she came, then nearly began to hyperventilate as another orgasm built within her loins. "HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH..." Again, her body froze, her muscles rigid as the second, even more powerful climax claimed her. "UUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! OHHHH!! OHHHH!! OH GOD!! OH GOD!! BILLY!!"
The sound and the feel of his lover's body climaxing so powerfully forced Billy's climax as well. He tossed his head back and roared as he came inside her.
"HHHRRRAAAAHHHH!!" Billy shouted. "OHHH!! OHH!! CANDY...I....HHHRRRMMM!!" His muscular frame bucked, making his hips slam powerfully against Candy's loins. She didn't seem to mind in the least. She continued to moan and gasp as Billy thrust into her one last time.
Their climaxes died down, and the two lovers, exhausted and sated, leaned against one another. The sweat of their bodies mingled as they panted and gulped air into their overworked lungs. Their heavy-lidded eyes met; they smiled woozily, then pressed their lips together and kissed languidly.
"GOD I love you..." Candy breathed when the kiss ended.
"Likewise, babe," Billy murmured. She smiled and kissed him again.
Billy gingerly pulled his cock from Candy's pussy, a soft, erotic slurping noise accompanying his egress. Candy's legs were still wrapped around his ass. He reached down, cupped her bottom with his hands, and lifted her off of the dresser. She giggled, her arms wrapped around his neck, as he turned and carried her towards the bed.
He lowered her to the mattress, but he was awkward from sexual exhaustion, and Candy's voluptuous body tumbled from his grip to bounce on the bed indecorously. She giggled some more, then cooed happily as he climbed onto the bed and snuggled up to her. The two lovers lay on the bed, their bodies pressed together tiredly but lovingly.
After a few minutes, Candy nudged her elbow into Billy's ribs. "Hey," she said, "you awake?"
"Hmmm? Oh, uh, yeah," Billy responded, though the response would have been a lie before she'd elbowed him.
"You haven't told me," she said.
"Huh? Told you what?" Billy mumbled, still half-asleep.
"How you figured it out," Candy said. "That she wasn't me."
"Oh," Billy said. He shook his head, attempting to clear his mind. He wanted to phrase this very carefully.
"Well?" she prompted him.
"You, um, have these...marks. On your back," he said gently. He felt her shift a little in his arms. "They're not normally visible, but in a hot shower...the rest of your skin turns pink, and they stay white."
"Oh. I see." Candy responded quietly.
Billy's words, no matter how carefully phrased, evoked a most unpleasant memory. Several months before, Duster and Night Angel had been captured and repeatedly gang-raped by the local chapter of the Hells Angels. As a perverse gesture of good faith to the local Mafia, the bikers had turned the heroines over to mob boss Pete Scarlatti to torture and kill before a gathered and eager crowd of criminals. The Black Phantom had shown up to save the two superheroines from a grisly death, but not before the Mafioso had whipped Duster's naked back several times with his thick leather belt. Candy had not realized that Scarlatti's torture had left scars on her body, until now.
"Hm," she murmured, "talk about a blessing in disguise. So that was what did it?"
Billy caressed her auburn hair and shrugged. "Pretty much. But I had to be sure. So I kind of tested her."
"How?"
"Remember our first date?" he asked her.
Candy smiled, then turned over to face her lover, relieved to be reminded of a happier memory. "The picnic up on the ridge? How could I forget?" She pressed her head forward and tenderly brushed her lips against his. "It was our first kiss, too, as I recall."
"Top of the class, Ms. Roberts," Billy said, his lips curled into his usual half-grin. "She didn't know any of that."
"There's a lot she didn't know," Candy said sadly. "Not until it was too late."
Billy studied her expression for a moment, then frowned. "You actually feel sorry for her," he said, somewhat surprised, though not completely. Duster's empathy for others had been part of what prompted her to become a superheroine.
"Yeah, I guess I do," Candy replied. "She was...she was me. Oh, only genetically, at first. But at the very end...she was so much like me, it was...spooky."
Candy shuddered, and was glad to feel Billy's strong arms around her, giving her a loving, reassuring squeeze. She pressed her naked body against his and sighed happily.
"I think you inspired her, in a way," Billy said, his voice soft and full of admiration for his beloved. "She wanted to be exactly like you, a superheroine."
"You inspired her too, my love," Candy responded. "She...I think she really loved you. Part of the reason she did what she did was for you."
"Maybe," Billy murmured. "Maybe..."
The two lovers lay in the bed, their naked bodies intertwined, their minds going over the events of the last two days. Eventually, Candy stirred, pressing herself up from the comfort of the bed.
"Okay," she said, "I know we'd both like to lay here and bask in the afterglow, but..."
"...but we really should head out and patrol," Billy said, completing her sentence for her. It was something the two of them--friends, lovers, and partners for several years now--often did for one another.
They both smiled and sighed, and pushed themselves off of the bed and onto their feet. They walked to their closet, and Billy pushed several clothes on hangers out of the way, then he reached in and slid a secret panel aside. Behind it were the crime-fighting togs and equipment of Duster and the Black Phantom. The two superheroes grabbed their uniforms and began to don them. A few minutes later, Candy's shapely body was clad in the green-and-gold spandex singlet, golden gloves, and green knee-high boots of Duster, while Billy was dressed in the all-black boots, pants, and turtleneck top of the Black Phantom.
Candy pulled her long, dark leather coat from a hanger and put it on. She began to check each of the pockets, as she always did before a patrol, for the crime-fighting gear she carried with her. When she reached into the right front hip pocket, she felt something strange within it. She frowned, felt around, and pulled the item out. When she saw what it was, she gasped softly.
"What is it, babe?" Billy asked her, then followed her gaze to the tiny object that was laying in her palm. "Oh my God," he whispered in amazement when he saw and recognized it.
In the golden glove Candy wore on her hand was a small golden ring, topped by a small diamond that was accompanied by two smaller rubies on either side. It was, of course, the engagement ring that Billy had offered to Duster's Clone before he realized she was an imposter. Apparently the Clone had removed the ring and placed it in the pocket of the coat, which she had given back to Duster just before the bomb in the basement of the abandoned building had gone off.
The duo stared at the pretty little ring for a moment. Neither of them said a word. Then Billy put his arm around Candy's shoulders and gently guided her back to the bed, where she sat down. Billy took the ring from Candy's hand. He then pulled her glove from her left hand and set it beside her on the bed. As Candy watched him, wide-eyed, he lowered himself to one knee and took hold of her naked hand.
"Candy Roberts," he said solemnly, "I love and adore you. You're my partner, my best friend, my lover, and my soul-mate. We've been through a lot, you and I. Things that would destroy other relationships. Yet here we are, still together, and I think I speak for both of us when I say that we're more in love now than we've ever been. I want to marry you, Candy. I want to be your husband. I want to commit myself to you forever. Please...Candy Roberts...say you'll marry me?"
Candy sat on the bed, her lower lip trembling, her dark brown eyes brimming with tears. She had dreamed of this moment for so long, before she'd even met Billy, as most women did. And Billy had spoken the truth: she, too, was more in love with him now than she had ever been, and their love promised to grow as time went by. She opened her mouth and looked at Billy, and saw his eyes, so filled with love as they looked at her.
Then she looked down and saw the dark uniform of the Black Phantom. She frowned slightly, and glanced at her own crime-fighting costume. She took a deep, tremulous breath.
"I, um," she said, her voice shaking and barely more than a whisper. "I can't tell you what it means to hear you say that, Billy. I love you so much," she said, shaking her head, her eyes shining with tears. Then she bit her bottom lip and lowered her gaze to the floor. "I always thought...if I got married...that I would give up being a superhero. I just think it would be...unfair, and irresponsible, to keep putting my life in danger when I have a husband and...," she smiled and shrugged, "...and children...do you...want children?" she asked him, looking into his eyes.
"Yes," Billy said, smiling and nodding, "if you do, yes."
"Yeah, I do," Candy said. "I couldn't keep risking my life if I had a family relying on me."
Billy nodded. "I understand. Remember what I said when we first got together: you ever want to quit, I'll accept it and still respect you."
"I know, and I appreciate that," Candy said. She drew a deep breath, then looked him in the eye. Her gaze was steady and determined, if a bit sad. "But...I'm not ready to give up this life. I'm not ready to abandon the people of my city to the parasites that prey on them. I have...a duty," she said, shaking her head sadly. "So...I'm afraid...my answer is no."
Billy remained frozen in place, still lowered to one knee before her. He stared at her, not blinking, in complete disbelief. He had never imagined that she would refuse him, not out of arrogance, but because he had such complete and utter faith in their love. And now, with one word, she had shattered that faith. He could barely believe it, let alone respond to it.
"No?" he whispered, his shock and disappointment written all over his face. "I...but...don't you...?"
"Please understand," she pleaded, cupping his face with her hands. "I do love you, more than my own life. But I can't marry you. Not now."
Billy shook his head in disbelief. "Look, if it's about having kids, we can wait..."
"It isn't just about that, Billy!" she said, then regretted the impatient tone in her voice. She sighed, then kissed him tenderly on the lips. "It's...the principle of the thing. Please say you understand?"
Billy stared into her eyes, long and hard, for what seemed like an eternity. He then pressed his lips together, lowered his gaze to the floor, and closed his fist around the ring he had offered to her, along with his heart and his undying love. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then nodded.
"Yeah," he said, so softly she barely heard him. "Yeah, I understand," he said, then forced his lips to curl into their usual half-grin as he looked up at her. "Maybe someday, huh?"
"Yeah," she said, smiling sadly and kissing his cheek. "Someday. Thank you, Billy. Thank you for loving me, and more importantly, for understanding me."
She pushed herself up from the bed, leaving Billy still kneeling on the floor beside it. She grabbed her glove from where Billy had lain it upon the bed and pulled it back on as she walked back to the closet. As she pulled out her emerald-colored visor and donned it, Billy slowly rose to his feet.
"So, partner," Duster said with forced cheerfulness in her voice, "ready to go make the world a better place?" She smiled at the corniness of the line, though he knew she honestly believed it.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "You go ahead. I'll be right with you."
Duster nodded back to him, turned, and walked out of the bedroom, her long leather coat billowing behind her. Billy stared after her, then stood, stock still, staring at the empty doorway of the bedroom for some time after she left. He opened his fist and glanced down at the ring. He remembered how overjoyed he'd felt buying it. Unlike most men, Billy MacIntyre had felt no qualms or doubts when he'd purchased an engagement ring for his girlfriend. He'd felt sure he'd found his soul-mate, and his heart had been light.
Now Billy stared dejectedly at the ring. It felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. He held his hand over the top of the dresser, where he and his beloved had made passionate love less than an hour before, and let the ring drop to its wooden surface, where it bounced with a tiny metallic clatter. The Black Phantom then pulled his black mask over his face, turned his back on the ring, and walked out the door.
Of Duster: Doppelganger
but Duster and her friends will return in...
Duster: Domina Redux
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