Chapter 7: Power Trio
Here's the seventh chapter of Switched, bringing the second story arc to its conclusion. This is highly episodic, so go back and read the earlier stuff if you like stories that make sense.
The story contains some gender-switching elements, so be warned if you're turned off by that type of thing. And haven't read any previous chapters. Or the previous paragraph.
Everyone in the story is made up and not based on real characters, and if they're involved in sex they are 18 Earth-years or older.
Special thanks to icedragonmo3 for excellent beta-reading and proofing. Any mistakes are mine and definitely popped up after his edit.
Algorithms
Tawney
Another night sitting in the rental. It was a Corvette, but I didn't even get to enjoy driving it around. It was a sweet car but by now I didn't give a damn. Two weeks of sitting in it with Bryan, waiting for a supervillain to show up, had taken its toll. Between the boredom and the fear, I was ready to crack.
I reminded myself again that we were doing this for Jessica, our suddenly secretive and distant girlfriend. Hopefully she'd appreciate the grand gesture, but after all this time, ain't no way I was backing out. We'd catch this bastard for her or die trying!
"You're clenching your jaw again," noted Bryan, who could see the muscles on the side of my face bunch up whenever I did it. I had to reconcile my irritation at the reminder with the fact that I'd asked for him to remind me in the first place. And there was his little smirk. He knew what I was thinking.
I was gonna beat his ass if he kept that up. Not really, but yeah. I was a frustrated woman because Mister White Knight had been limiting our sexual contact. He was all worried about what Jessie would think.
She would think, like I thought, that he was being stingy with his pecker!
That was maybe the hundredth time I'd followed that particular train of thought. I was going to go insane, tonight.
Bryan stopped with the facial expressions, thankfully. If he knew what I was thinking, maybe he'd know I was gonna beat his ass if he kept that shit up.
We sat.
We watched.
We sat some more.
"You've been tapping the steering wheel for thirteen minutes, fifteen seconds," Bryan said testily.
Oh, he wanted to go there? "Yeah? Well you have the same pattern. Side mirror, vanity mirror, windshield left to right, then you sigh like this," I made the most annoying sigh I could, so he'd understand. "And then you dig your greasy little fingers around in that paper bag, don't you, Bryan?
Don't you?
But guess what? Just like you discovered the last
thirty
times...
There ain't no frickin' fries left in the bag!"
I flung open the door. "I'm taking a walk."
This would be the moment,
I thought.
I'd walk to the end of the block, there, and turn on my heel and then I'd see the armored car parked there, and that maniac flinging those sawblades everywhere.
I turned on my heel...
There was nothing. The armored car hadn't even shown up yet.
I stomped around some more while Bryan whined at me from the car to get back in. Eventually I did, just in time for the armored car to arrive.
No robbery this time, either.
This was our fifteenthβno, sixteenth night. Seventh? Oh, gawd, I was losing it. I white-knuckled the steering wheel and pressed my forehead against my thumbs.
There was no use fighting it. It was inevitable. Without looking around I said, "Okay. I didn't want to do this, but," I sighed, "Show me your computer stuff."
"Really?"
"Stop. Okay? Just stop being excited about this."
He showed me his 'algorithms', which were just sets of rules, but they sure were a bitch to wrap my head around. I was just not used to thinking that way! But I kept at it until I could get an idea of the whole thing. Sawblade. Shadow Hawk. Armored cars. Us.
It was awful, just awful. Total nerd heaven. But it was just a little less awful than listening to Bryan's greasy little booger hooks rooting around in that little bag. He still did it, of course, but I had other things to think about.
It took forever, but every time it got too boring, and that was often, I looked out the windshield at even more mind-numbing tedium, and I kept on. I'd said I would do this, so there was no choice. I'd do it.
Dammit.
I snatched the paper bag away and threw it over my shoulder. Then I couldn't help but laugh at the hurt look he threw me, so I patted his arm and kissed his cheek. Poor baby.
*
No Prize
Jessica
In the babble that followed my suggestion, Erin found her voice. "You're suggesting we go after a supervillain named Sawblade. And his power is...?"
I turned to address the suit of armor in the recliner rather than look at the girls. "He shoots sawblades out of his hands... and can move them with his mind."
There was more babble, after that.
"Okay, okay," Robbie made a patting-down-the-air gesture, "This sounds insanely dangerous."
Lisa broke in, "I can dodge a frickin' sawblade." Robbie threw a paper plate at her.
Margot folded her arms and said, "If this is such a good plan, then what the hell do we need you for?"
I shrugged, "You don't. I'd be a big help, though. Not only do I have a bona fide super power, but you know what's even better? I can drive."
"Wait," said Erin, who thought furiously for a moment before saying, "Yeah. She's right. We can't ride around town on our skates. We'll be harassed by the cops. We'll have to travel in a vehicle, and that means..." she pointed to me helplessly.
I stuck around for the fruitless argument that followed, then told the rollergirls, "You're not going to solve anything now, but you're on your way. When you've calmed down and thought it through, contact me with your decision."
I took my leave of them. All those people in a little space, it was a bit much for someone not used to it. I had a weird feeling I'd be looking forward to seeing them again.
According to my phone, I could get a ride from here but it would take awhile. I decided to make it harder on anyone trying to track the girls down and relocate before I ordered a car.
There's something about a nighttime road, just you and the sounds of the environment and the moon, pacing you. I didn't mind the walk. Bryan and I used to do it all the time, back in the EZ.
I heard her before she got to me, the sound of her skates on the road. Ordinary ones, this time. She passed by and circled me, killing off speed, before taking up a spot alongside.
"Hi Robbie. Did I forget something or did they send you out here to murder me?"
"Neither," she replied. "This is me. Look, we don't blame you. If anything, we're glad you didn't take us all in."
"I turned in Erin's sister. Margot's girlfriend. They blame me."
"No! Erin doesn't blame you, at least. I know Margot does, but she just... She needs time."
"She's in a bad way, Robbie. That cop she iced, it's tearing her up."
"I don't know what to do. But we've been talking about it for days, the girls and me. See, I wanted to, uh... I want to talk about something else."
Realization dawned. "You want to know if you can be a woman. A real one."
She nodded in the affirmative, almost guiltily.
I went on, "Frankly I'm surprised there isn't someone doing that already. I can't be the only person with this particular power? I mean, there's like a whole nation of people who can breathe underwater, right? And all those psychos with the gun-fingers. Why is there only one of me?"
"There are some capes who do sex changes. You hear stories, but nothing reliable," she said. "The only real lead I've ever had was you."
"I'll help you," I offered. "All you have to do is find a woman who wants to be a man. Once you two decide you can live in each other's bodies and, I don't know, tell your families or something. Yes, tell your families. You don't want to lose your family, Robbie."
She shook her head. "Oh, they're no prize, believe me."