The Untold Origin of Spellbinder

by Vladi the Wizard 

Spellbinder is owned by Harmony Communications, and Vladi the Wizard by myself. Any similarities between people, places, things, or whatnot are purely coincidental and a figment of my own, and no one else's, twisted imagination.

Part Two - Opening Moves

Chapter Four - Spellbinder Saves the Day!

Vladi was on a thrill of a ride. He normally didn't go chasing after people on a flying carpet, and this was the first time that he was trying to keep up with a high powered motorcycle, being driven by one who was in a great hurry.

He was trying to keep above and behind the swerving and speeding red, white, and blue motorcycle as it raced through New Delta City, keeping one eye on the red cape that flowed in the wind below him, while another eye on the buildings in front and to the sides of him that he seemed to be just about to hit as he tried to follow Spellbinder turn for turn as she drove near 80 miles per hour through the city streets.

He wasn't too worried about being seen by her, as her attentions were locked on the street in front of her, and not in the air above and behind her. Not that she would of been able to see him through his spell of invisibility. Still, he wasn't that confident because he was still a long way from understanding all there was to know about her abilities, given to her by the costume from within that mystical box.

After learning that it was a box of spell binding, created by a pair of Chinese gods, he had learned that this strange artifact had a habit of disappearing and reappearing from time to time, to be found by a woman (always a woman) who would then become the champion of the goddess, Chuan-Yin. That the second god involved was a god of mischief and trickery, made the legend of The Box all the more mysterious. The two gods were not foes of each other, and the goddess had many times helped the Monkey god out of trouble that he had gotten himself into with the other gods, so it didn't make much sense on why he would sabotage the goddesses artifact. That the artifact still existed, and was able to create a costume of great power for a champion of justice, went a long way to show that whatever curse that Monkey put on The Box and it's contents, was not enough to keep the goddesses champion from performing her duties.

Vladi cursed himself for getting distracted as Spellbinder braked hard and then twisted her motorcycle into an alleyway, and he had to bring up the carpet into a hard hover before slamming into the corner of the building. He looked down the alley, as Spellbinder cut the engine of the motorcycle and rolled silently towards the backdoor that opened off the alley.

Jennifer looked at the door, and saw it was the one that she was looking for. Inside, would be the niece of the mayor, the daughter of an important philanthropist of New Delta City, who was kidnapped three days ago, and was being held for a million dollars in ransom. Using her contacts within the mayors office, and the police department, she had narrowed down the possibilities of who could possibly have the girl. Then, using her network of informants, she had narrowed down the list to three places. She had checked out two of them already with no success, so this old closed down dress shop was surely the place where she would be held. 

Leaning her motorcycle up on it's stand, Spellbinder strode towards the door. She wasn't worried about being seen, so the cape would be in it's protection mode instead of it's disguise mode. She thought for a moment of just kicking in the door and storming in, but declined that as she didn't know exactly how many were inside, and where Becky was. 

Putting her shoulder against the door, she took ahold of the handle and then slowly turned it. It was locked, but a quick and short shove with her shoulder popped the lock, and she quickly went into the dark, and found her in a store room. Obviously where deliveries were made from the alley into this room, which was full of old boxes and plastic dress covers. With her vision enhanced by the mask, it only took her a moment to determine that no one was in this room, and she stealthily moved towards the door that would lead further in. 

Jen paused a moment as she heard something behind her, and spun around, and saw that there was nothing other than the open door to the alley. 

Vladi froze as he stepped into the room, with the girl in front of him suddenly turning to face him. He held his breath as brown eyes dissected the space that he was in, before full red lips made a pretty pout, and she turned to move towards the door that lead from the store room further into the building. That was the first time that he had seen her up close, and was very impressed by her beauty. Superheroines always seemed to be the most physically attractive and remarkable of specimens, he had decided long ago when he had first come to this time/place plane where heroines were so common, and were, of course, the pinnacles of human perfection. Spellbinder was no exception he had seen. 

Opening the door, she saw that it lead to a hallway, and Jen could now hear some voices. Three males talking, and the sounds of a woman grunting. She quietly made her way towards the voices, her high heels not making a sound as she carefully placed one foot before the other, not wanting to make a sound until she could see the situation. 

Vladi followed behind, a bit surprised by how quiet the girl was in those thigh tall boots with the three inch heels. She was taller than average, and the heels made her quite imposing, though no where near as imposing of stature as Wonder Woman, who was a true Amazon. Still, she was larger than Supergirl physically, though size was not an indication of true power, he knew. 

Jen came to the open door that lead to the room where she heard the voices, and slowly moved her head around the edge to take in the room. Unlike the other rooms, there was light in here, as there was a portable camp style lantern on a box that was serving as a table. Three men were sitting around a card table, drinking beers, and behind them against the wall was a cot, on which a bound and gagged Betsy lay. Her blouse had been torn open, and her skirt was ripped and there were long runs in her hose, and Spellbinder could tell that the girl had been abused by one, if not all, of the men. 

Growling, Jennifer burst into the room in a tornado of red, white and blue. A long leg kicked up, and slammed the table up into the jaw of one of the men, knocking him out immediately, and causing him to topple over backwards. Betsy started screaming around the gag which was cleaved between her lips and teeth, as the other two men leapt up to face the superheroine. 

"Who the fuck are you?!?" one of the men demanded, as he started to pull a gun from his belt holster. 

"Just some slut in a cape! Get her!!" the other yelled as he went to swing a massive haymaker at the superheroine's head. Jen had never been a fighter, but once she put on the enchanted gloves, her martial skills were greatly enhanced, and she brought up her left arm to deflect the blow, and gave a short shot out with her right, into the man's cheek. She could feel the bones crack under her knuckles an instant before the man was knocked off his feet to land in a heap on the other side of the room. 

Vladi made it to the hall to look in through the doorway just as Spellbinder stepped to the man who was still pulling the gun out of his holster, seeing two men already down and unconscious on the floor. The gunman then squealed as a three inch heel spiked down into his instep. The sound was immediately cut off by a red encased fist that slammed up into his jaw, causing it to slam shut, and breaking several teeth within before he was knocked over backwards. 

"There there, honey! You're okay. You're safe now," Jennifer said in a soothing fashion as she moved towards the back of the room to the girl who was squirming on the cot. Betsy was thrashing around, obviously bound to the cot as well, and shaking her head violently. Spellbinder stopped and started to turn when she felt a hard jab into her side. 

"Ugghhh!" Vladi heard Spellbinder grunt as a fourth man rushed out of the back corner of the room, jabbing a knife into the back of the superheroine. The wizard watched as the heroine quickly spun around, her right elbow up and there was a sickening crack as she connected with the side of his head, causing him to collapse immediately to the ground. 

"Punk!" Jennifer then spat at the man, and rubbed her back a bit. The blow had hurt, but it was not as bad as it could of been, she knew, as the cape absorbed much of the kinetic energy of the blade, and actually prevented it from penetrating her flesh, as it caught the blade within itself as it cut through the mystical fabric. She actually wished the kidnapper had a gun instead of a knife, as the cape was able to stop bullets much easier than a slower traveling knife blade. 

Jen moved to Betsy, and pulled the gag from her mouth. 

"Betsy, you're safe now! I'm Spellbinder and I will get you out of here, okay? Just hold tight while I get these ropes off of you!" 

Betsy calmed down and started to sob with relief as the star spangled heroine in the very revealing and skimpy costume moved to remove the ropes that tied her feet together and her hands behind her back and to the cot. She didn't care what the heroine looked like, especially after seeing her kick the asses of her kidnappers in just a matter of moments, and she shifted herself so that her rescuer could better reach her bindings. 

It was then that Jennifer experienced something that she had never felt before. As soon as she touched the ropes that were securing Betsy's wrists to the cot, she felt a strange sensation go through her. In a way, it was similar to the sensation that she got when she had put on the mask for the first time, when her body had turned alive as never before to all sorts of sensations. This time, however, it felt as it something had just grabbed her and was trying to suck the life from her. She jerked her hand back and away from the rope and the sensation suddenly stopped. 

She had been totally calm up to this point, a little excited with the thrill of the chase and the taking down of the kidnappers (could not really call it a fight), but now her heart was racing. This had never happened to her before in the two years that she had been wearing the costume as Spellbinder. 

Jennifer gave Betsy a reassuring smile and reached forwards again, and took hold of the rope, and felt that strange sensation again. She could better gauge it now, and felt that it was not draining the life from her, as much as it was reducing her vitality. The rope was weakening her, she deduced, and quickly snapped the ropes so that she did not have to hold onto them any longer. 

Vladi saw the sudden change in Spellbinders stance as she went to free the girl. She reached to break the ropes and then suddenly moved away from the girl and stood there quivering for a moment, as if she had received a jolt or something. She only hesitated a moment, but it was long enough for him to see that something strange and unusual had just happened to her.

The wizard quietly moved into the room while Jennifer freed the kidnapped girl, assured that with all the sounds from the moaning kidnappers and the sobbing girl, that Spellbinder wouldn't be hearing his footfalls.

Spellbinder pulled out a small cellphone from a pocket within her cape and dialed 911, and told the dispatcher where she was to send in the police to pick up the girl and the kidnappers. She gave them a special code that told the dispatcher that it really was the superheroine that was making the call, and she was assured that police and a few ambulances were on the way.

Vladi watched as Spellbinder supported and half carried the weeping Betsy outside to the front of the building, leaving him alone with the four unconscious men. Obviously they were not going anywhere soon, so the mage moved to the cot and looked it over, to see what it was there that could of affected the superheroine so strangely.

The only thing left on the cot, was some strands of broken rope.

 

Chapter Five - The Needle in the Haystack

Jennifer was very happy when she finally got home. The parents of Becky were extremely grateful to her, and she was finding it hard to keep from sharing their tears of gratitude while under the glare of the television cameras. Rescuing the kidnapped debutante was probably the highest profile thing that she had ever done. Sure, she had helped the police on many an occasion, and had been responsible for hundreds of arrests and terms in prison, but she had never been turned into a regional celebrity as she was made into now. No longer was she just a heroine known to New Delta City, but now throughout the state. 

She was on cloud nine when she got home, and took off her uniform before putting it into The Box. Another thing that she was grateful for the magical box was that, not only did it repair the costume, like the tear that was made in her cape by the goons knife, but it would also come out clean and pressed as if brand new. 

Jen was grateful that it was a Sunday, so that she didn't have to hurry to work, so she had plenty of time to enjoy a nice hot shower. Before long, with the water pelting her, she started to relax, and let her mind replay the events of that evening, especially that strange occurrence when she touched the rope binding Betsy. 

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Vladi looked at the rope that lay on the work table before him. He had tested the strands in a number of ways, but the rope was normal. There was no signs of any drugs or magic that could make the rope more than what it was. Just looked like the type that was sold at any hardware store. 

The wizard sat back and thought about what he witnessed. The girl, while appearing distressed, had not seemed to have been affected by the rope other than it keeping her secured. Certainly the girl did not react the way that Spellbinder had reacted when she touched the rope. The heroine had reacted like one did when they saw a snake, or had received an electrical shock. Yes, it was subtle, but it was also unmistakeable. It seemed to have affected the dark haired superheroine the same way that rope that was infused with kryptonite energy affected Supergirl.

He reached ahead and took ahold of the rope, and brought it up to examine it. Was rope the weakness of Spellbinder?? Was that the curse of The Box that went along with the great powers that was given to the wearer of the costume from within? Vladi knew that he had to do more 

investigation into this question.

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It had taken an entire week before Vladi found who he was looking for. Spellbinder had been no place to be found in New Delta City. It was a big city of over two million persons, so finding one person, no matter how lovely or fantastically dressed, was not easy, even for a wizard. He had even tried using the rope that he had taken from when the heroine had rescued the kidnapped girl, but all his divination did was to center on Betsy, who was now being escorted every where she went by a pair of big burly bodyguards. Not one of which was Spellbinder.

Vladi had taken to flying over the district where Spellbinder seemed to have been seen the most, which was, of course, the area of the highest crime. But, it was quiet all over the city. The mage wondered if it was part of Spellbinder's abilities, to have the criminals cowed to submission. He shook his head in disbelief to that, knowing that crime never stops. It may slow, move to another place, or hide, but doesn't stop.

Occasionally, he would hear a high powered motorcycle, and would fly his carpet as fast as it would go to find the source, to see if it was Spellbinder, but every time he found the motorcycle, it's rider didn't have a long red cape billowing out behind them. It was a bit frustrating to him, but he was at least satisfied that he was getting more experience in flying a carpet at speed among the depths of the urban canyons between the many tall buildings and skyscrapers.

For the hundredth time, he thought about going to the place that he figured that she lived, the apartment where The Box was. But, he didn't want to anger or alarm her but suddenly showing up where she lived and confronted her about what he knew. Considering that she wore a mask, and all information from the news stated that her identity was not known, he believed that it would be extremely rude to just show up without invitation. It was tempting, but he wanted to meet her while she was in her costume, and thus under the influence of the goddess Chuan-Yin, before he asked her about what the Monkey, Sun-Wukong, meant to her and her powers.

After the first couple of days, Vladi stopped trying to hide himself while he few around New Delta City on his flying carpet. He thought that perhaps if he could not find her, that he would make it easier for her to find him. Of course, he hadn't been doing anything illegal (at least, not as far as he knew. But, that wouldn't be the first time he broke the law without actually knowing about it), but thought that a man flying around the city on a carpet would draw the curiosity of the city's guardian angel.

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Jennifer was ready for the weekend. Her boss had kept her insanely busy all week, and she had not gotten home earlier than 8 pm, and more often around 10 pm, and had been too tired to put on her costume and go out into the night.

Interestingly enough, it was all because of her, or more accurately her alter-ego as Spellbinder, that had made everyone's job load increase by a factor of ten (though, it seemed like closer to twenty times as much work). The mayor had made everyone put down what they were doing and try to find out as much as they could on the mysterious Spellbinder.

Jen had thought that was funny, but kept a straight face when she reminded the mayor that she had been around for two years, at least, now, and he had not been so interested in finding out about her. Why now?

She wasn't surprised when he answered that with the recent kidnapping case being solved by her, that her story was no longer just local news for New Delta City, but that other mayors, as well as the local congressmen, and the state senators were calling him to find out more information. Information that he didn't have, which was causing him no small amount of humiliation.

Jen had smiled and said that she would do her best to find out what she could for the mayor, and then left to collect stories from the archives of the three major papers that plied New Delta City, figuring that it would be the safest thing for her to do. She certainly didn't want to provide him with any actual real information based upon her actual real knowledge from being Spellbinder herself.

Until she had actually started to delve into the archives, she had no idea of how little there was really known about her. Of course, she had never been one to answer many questions of the officers that had arrived on the scene of the crimes that she had solved or stopped, other than the who and what and where of the incident. She wasn't in this for personal glory, and thus was more about making sure that the criminals faced serious jail time, and that the victims got their help, more than she got any credit. All too often, the officers on the scene were more than a little eager to make sure that they got the credit than she did. And, the criminals certainly were not eager to tell anyone that they just had their butts kicked by a girl in a patriotic star spangled costume.

That the mayor was getting more upset because Spellbinder seemed to have disappeared made Jennifer roll her eyes, before going back into the grind. She wanted to tell him that Spellbinder wasn't out fighting crime because she was too tired after humping her ass for him all day!

At the end of the week, he had taken what everyone had given him, from his own office and assistants, to information from the Prosecutors Office, to what was able to be gained from the NDCPD. It wasn't much. All it told him was that they needed to learn a lot more about their most famous daughter (who no one could admit was even truly a daughter of the city).

Jennifer stood on the balcony and looked out over the night of the city. She had gotten home fairly early and had put on her Spellbinder costume for the first time in almost a week. As she knew, the tear from the knife in the cape had been repaired, and the grime and dirt from before had disappeared so that she was wearing a costume as if brand new. 

Her hands slowly roamed down the material from just under her breasts to her hips, enjoying the way that it felt, and how it made her feel. The moment the mask came on, her Spellbinder identity surged in and through her and the tiredness of the day and the weariness of the week drained away from her. She felt her nipples harden and a tingle in her pussy as her senses kicked into high gear, so that the wind that blew across her as she stood two hundred feet up over the ground of the city brushed her like a lover's breath.

She closed her eyes and shivered at the sensation, before opening them up and saw a man sitting on a carpet flying in front of her. Actually, it was about a half mile away, but with her vision made much more acute by the powers of her costume blessed by the Goddess of Justice and Compassion, Chuan-Yin, she was able to see him easily.

She saw that he was a white male, seemingly in his thirties or forties, with long black hair which blew in the wind over ... pointed ears. She saw that he was handsome but with sharp features, and had a mustache and goatee. He was dressed all in black, and the carpet he was on was a fanciful blue and gold affair.

He was on a flying carpet, she repeated silently to herself.

Spellbinder shook her head in a bit of disbelief, before turning back to look at The Box in the living room by her couch. She turned back to look out over the city a moment before he disappeared behind a skyscraper. It had appeared to him that he was looking for something, as he was looking down and from side to side while he flew at a casual pace.

She envied him a bit for that ability. To fly. But, she knew that there were other ways to fly through the city, as she dove off the balcony, grasping her cape to sail around to the backside of the apartment building, and her waiting motorcycle.

Chapter Six - First Impressions Really Do Matter

Sound tended to bounce around in odd ways in the city, especially one as large as New Delta City and with the number of skyscrapers that it had. Still, when Vladi heard the motorcycle coming from behind him, he had a feeling that it was Spellbinder, as the pitch of the engine was similar to that which he had heard before of the motorcycle that she rode.

Still, it was hard for him to determine exactly where the motorcycle was, even with his elven enhanced hearing, and he slowed his carpet till it was floating over the entrance to one of the city's parks. He slowly lowered himself closer to the street, looking back towards where the sound was coming from as the trees below him started to absorb some of the sound of the city, so that the sounds were not bouncing around as they were earlier.

He saw a bright light coming around a building and while he couldn't tell much about the rider behind that light, he could see that the rider had a cape which was billowing behind. Only one person he knew had a cape and a motorcycle, so he lowered the carpet to the ground and rolled it up and put it away while he waiting for Spellbinder to reach him.

Jennifer had a hard time keeping her eye on the road as she saw the man slowly descend from the sky on his flying carpet to land before the park. Fortunately, there was not much traffic at this time of night, and what few cars there were on the streets, it seemed like the drivers were more concerned about getting home than about paying attention to a scantily clad superheroine or a strange man in black on a flying carpet.

Jen stopped her motorcycle in a parking space near the entrance and kicked down the stand as she shut off the motor, never taking her eyes off the man in black. She was better able to examine him as she got off her bike, and was immediately struck by two of his features. One was that his eyes were an amazingly light blue, almost white like a husky, while the wind that was so common of New Delta City, whipped his long straight black hair about and away from a pair of pointed ears. 

"Okay, Mister! Who are you, and what do you want?" Spellbinder asked as she started to walk towards the man, taking in his features much more closely and with growing interest. He was taller than she was, even in her heels, by a couple of inches and apparently very fit from the way that his dark clothing fit him. She could not deny that he was very handsome, though she wasn't sure if it was from his dark sharp features, or his remarkable eyes, or the absolute confidence that he held himself with as he looked her over with as much closeness as she was looking him over.

The wind shifted, and blew from the man to the superheroine, and Jen stopped. Taking in his scent with her enhanced senses, she realized that this was the man that had been in her apartment and had apparently discovered her secret goddess-given box.

"My name is Vladimire, my dear lady, and I am here to meet you," the man answered with a bow. Jen narrowed her eyes a bit, and wondered if the man was mocking her. No one bowed to anyone anymore, except in formal high class political meetings and ceremonies, and this certainly wasn't the time or place that one would consider formal. Still, she did not sense any mockery on his part as he straightened up. He was standing his ground, as if trying to keep her at ease.

Vladi could tell that the woman known as Jennifer Stewart, Assistant to the Mayor of New Delta City, and Spellbinder, Champion of Chuan-Yin, the Chinese goddess of justice, was not at ease as she stopped before him, and took on a peculiar look to her face. The mage remained where he was, and kept still, not wanting to alarm or frighten the superheroine, because he did not know her or how she would react if she thought him a threat.

"Why, Mister .. ahhh... Vladimire?" Jen asked, she put her fists to her hips, and stood with feet shoulder width apart, and with her chest thrust out. It was often referred to as a 'power pose', and she knew that it made her look quite impressive. She took a serious visage to show the man that she would not brook any nonsense.

However, she didn't know that Vladi was not just some common man, be it crook or citizen, who was intimidated by superheroines. After all, he knew Supergirl quite well, and was not intimidated by the strongest heroine in the world, if not the galaxy, and Spellbinder, while physically impressive, was not frightening to him. If anything, her stance which shouted "look at me", made him look at her in a new light, not just as an interesting source of answers to questions, but sexually as well.

"I am a wizard, Miss Stewart," he answered, using her surname intentionally to show her that he was aware of who she really was, and that she had nothing to fear from him, since he knew her secret identity and did not confront her in her civilian nature, but in her heroine guise. "I am a seeker of knowledge, and as such, I have a few questions about that ... special artifact which you have in your apartment." The next thing he knew, was a sharp concussion of pain followed by blackness.

Spellbinder stood over the prostrate form of the wizard in black, her chest heaving and her heart pounding. Her attack on Vladimire caught her in just as much surprise as it did him. She was afraid of what the man was saying, and that fear had boosted her speed and strength to knock him out before she even knew what she was doing.

"Oh my, why did I do that?" she quietly asked herself, as she looked up and down the street to see if anyone had seen what she had just did. She had just assaulted a man who was just peacefully standing there on a sidewalk in front of a park. It was something that she all too often would arrest goons and thugs for. For some reason, this strange man had brought out a side of her that she had never seen before.

She rolled him over onto his stomach and then kneeled beside him, pulling out a set of plastic zip-cuffs from an inner pocket of her cape, and cuffing his hands behind his back. She quickly gave him a frisking, to make sure that he didn't have any weapons, and felt a sickening lump in her stomach when she discovered that he didn't have ANYTHING on him, not even a wallet with ID.

Jen then pulled out the small smart phone from another cape pocket and dialed 911. She gave the dispatcher her special code, and told her to send a squad car to pick up a man in front of King's Park entrance. She was just going through the motions, as her mind was reeling with questions and their implications on what she had just done. She defended herself by telling herself that this man HAD broken into her apartment, and he had found her secret box as well as discovered her secret identity. But, none of those things, she could really use against him with law enforcement without risk to her secret identity, and thus her job as a special assistant to the mayor of New Delta City.

Her heart was still beating fast when she stood up, as she tried to ignore the form at her feet, and the way that he had felt under her hands when she frisked him. Why was he so much different from all the other men that she had clobbered and frisked? Her mouth was dry as she slowly stepped back from Vladimire and towards her motorcycle. Was it his eyes? His pointed ears? His ... scent? Or, was it that he actually KNEW who she was? And, flew a magic carpet??

"Where is it, anyway, Vladimire?" she asked more to herself than the unconscious man as she looked around. She moved to the entrance and looked around by the various decorative shrubbery and statuary, but could find nothing. She then saw the flashing blue and reds of a NDCPD car, which pulled up between the prostrate wizard and her motorcycle. Two officers got out and looked down at the man, one with a chuckle and shake of his head, as he had seen such things quite a few times before, coming in after Spellbinder had cleaned the clock of a criminal or five.

"What do we have here, Spellbinder?" the other officer asked as he rolled the man over onto his side, to get a good look at his face. The policeman didn't recognize the unconscious suspect, and looked back at the superheroine, who seemed to be a bit nervous and out of sorts.

"This man ... ahhh... has been stalking me, and accosted me here. He ... ahhh... threatened me and I was force to ... ummm... defend myself," Jen answered. She felt her face heat up as she realized that she had just lied to the police about Vladimire. Did she, though, she wondered. He did admit, in a way, that he had been looking for her. And, he had been in her apartment, like some stalker.

The officer saw how red in the face she got, and nodded his understanding. The man had obviously made some sort of sexual advancement on the heroine. That would explain her nervousness and her embarrassment, though considering her costume and how revealing it was, the officer couldn't understand why she wasn't used to such by now. Baddies were not known for their style and social graces, he knew as he nodded to his partner who came over to help him. They grabbed him by his upper arms and half carried and half dragged him to the patrol car and put him into the back seat.

"Okay, Spellbinder. We'll keep a hold of him until we get the paperwork from you to charge him. We can only hold him for 24 hours if we don't get anything formally from you, of course," the officer reminded the sexy superheroine, trying not to stare at her as he wind whipped her hair into a soft brown halo around her head, turning her into a patriotic angel in his eyes.

"Thank you, officers," Jen said as she got onto her motorcycle, and started the motor. She couldn't look the man in the eyes, as she turned the bike onto the roadway, and then sped off into the night, heading straight to her apartment. She didn't feel like doing anything further this evening, as she didn't feel very heroic. Tears started to burn her eyes, and she told herself it was from the wind of her high speed ride.

It was yet another lie, this time, told to herself.