Espea Ch 01 New Villains Emerge

Jess had enjoyed her new "side gig" as the superheroine Espea. It allowed her to take out the frustrations she had in her day job as a nurse, plus it kept her from bringing these problems home to her husband. She got to come home relaxed, and it was easy enough to believe that she was spending a lot of time at the gym since she stayed in good shape.

No one knew about her new powers, and she liked it that way. It was something that she could have that was all hers.

She also came to love her costume. The first time she transformed her scrubs had become what looked like a strappy swimsuit with green boots that came up to her thighs, and green gloves that covered her forearms. Once she caught her reflection, she saw that there was a chocker around her neck that held the gem that gave her powers, a domino mask on her face, and her blonde hair was now purple.

At least no one would recognize her.

After a while she noticed that her opponents tended to get distracted by her outfit. She didn't like this at first but eventually she became more confident in her abilities and used this distraction to her advantage.

Plus with her new enhanced abilities, strength, durability, a limited healing factor, as well as a few other tricks, she was able to defeat multiple opponents at once with ease.

Over her first year she began to make a name for herself, and even stepped up her vigilantism to taking on some of the gangs in her city.

Tonight was one of those nights where she was about to take on a new gang that had emerged in the city. She wasn't sure why but they seemed to be pretty effective at neutralizing other gangs, but she didn't want there to be another player in the city.

In the alleyway below her she saw three of them making a sale of some sort, although she couldn't tell what the merchandise was.

"I think you boys need to call it a night." She said as she dropped in behind them.

Two of them were startled, one taking off out of the alley, but the third stood his ground. "Umm...no. Can't you see we're doing business? So why don't you go play dress up somewhere else."

She smirked as she cracked her knuckles. "I think you need to close up shop. It's definitely past business hours."

He pulled out a switch blade and attacked her, but the fight was over before he knew it. He lay unconscious at her feet shortly after the fight began.

It was her turn to be startled as a voice came from the entrance to the alleyway. "I've heard about you but I didn't believe the rumors. You're more impressive than I thought, but now it's time to run home."

She turned to look at the speaker and saw a muscular man who easily stood a foot taller than her. He had a casual menace to his stance, and didn't seem too concerned about how quickly she had disposed of his accomplice. "Sorry, but I think your friend was operating a business without a license, and when I stopped to talk to him about it he appears to have fainted. Maybe you're the one that needs to run along, and take your friend with you."

He laughed. He was laughing at her! "I like you. You're tough and you're smart. How about you quit running around in a nightgown and come work for me? Clearly my organization could use your talents."

"Sorry, but I already have a job, and it's about time I got back to it." She said while dashing towards him.

"So be it." He calmly said as she leapt at him, with her fist pulled back, intending to knock him out with one punch.

The next thing she knew she was being spun face first into a brick wall. He moved faster than she thought he could, ducking out of the way of her punch and grabbing her ankle, and using her own speed and momentum to slam her into the wall.

She had never been hit so hard and her head was spinning.

He walked over to her form, leaning against the wall and grabbed her around the throat to lift her onto shaky legs.

"Sorry about that, but it seems you're a lot tougher than I gave you credit for, and seeing you up close you're a lot hotter too. The offer to join me still stands, but I can't have you getting in the way of my business. Alternatively, if you want to join me in my bed that offer is on the table too."

Looking at his defeated crew, "It seems our business is concluded for tonight. I'll make sure they get taken care of. I hope to see you again, and I hope it's under more pleasant circumstances."

With that he sat her back against the wall, her eyes were starting to get their focus back, and she glared at him.

He smirked at her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight." He said before leaving her to collect herself.

Later that night as she was returning home, she still couldn't get how that encounter went. Her opponent had been attracted to her, like she was used to, but he wasn't distracted by it. She absently rubbed her forehead where he kissed her. She'd been defeated easily, but had been allowed to leave afterwards. That's what confused her the most.

"Hey sweetie! How was your day?" Her husband greeted her as she returned home.

"Huh? Oh, good. Sorry just a little distracted. Had a weird...patient...today. I thought the gym would get it out of my head, but clearly it didn't." She wasn't worried about bruising or damage from the fight, her new powers made it hard to damage her, plus any damage didn't transfer with a transformation. "How was your day?"

"I'm sorry to hear that, hopefully you won't have to deal with him in the future. Mine was weird too. You know how we were all worried about the buy out? Well they replaced all the managers but it seems like they haven't decided which of the workers is going to get cut or not. So long story short I have a new boss, who is going to decide whether or not I get to keep my job?"

"Ouch! That's a lot of people out of work. But at least you have a chance to keep yours."

"Exactly, and that's what I wanted to talk about. Would you mind if we had over for dinner tomorrow?"

"Umm...sure, that should work. Anything special you think I should make?"

"Good idea. He seems like a steak and potatoes kind of guy."

"That's easy enough. I can pick that up on my way home tomorrow."