Jesse, Hancock, Kara and Lena go looking for something to eat after the Parliament Funkadelic show and run across an intractable evil that plagues America in every universe.
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West 34th Street
New York, NY; Local time 1146
"Hey, would you look at that!"
James Earl, who'd been given the honor of driving the van that held the twelve men and two women of the Aryan Brotherhood strike force, looked out of the vehicle where Tom Jessup, the guy who'd ridden shotgun alongside him, had pointed. He watched as a very fancy limousine pulled up to the opposite curb and four people exited from it. The first person he saw leave the car was a tall black man. He was shortly followed by a pair of fairly tall, hot blondes, one who wore a pair of glasses. Both of the skinny women were garbed in fancy-looking, dark cocktail dresses.
The fourth person, though, was a drop-dead-gorgeous woman with an hourglass figure that reminded him of one of those sexy and sophisticated femme fetales, at least that's what his dad used to call them, in one of those old black and white hard-boiled detective movies he used to watch on TV. She was a brunette with porcelain skin wearing black-strapped high heels and a tight, absolutely devastating strapless red dress with the top of her garment ending somewhere above her biceps, revealing her pale shoulders, her swan-like neck as well as her impressive bosom that threatened to spill out of the top of her little frock. The anticipation of that glorious event captured James Earl's gaze for several beats of his heart until she turned, allowing him to admire her stocking-clad legs while the fabric of her dress clung to her glorious snake hips as she sashayed across the sidewalk away from their car. Moments later, she joined the other well-dressed members of her quartet and conversed with them while they strolled toward the all night diner located on the other side of the street.
Soon, the black guy held the door open for the three women before he followed them inside the establishment.
"Folks," Tom announced, "I think we've found the right targets for our plan!"
James Earl nodded quietly while the other people inside the van tittered with excitement. Although he'd thought he'd be just as happy they'd found some people who'd served as the proper example to tamp down the out-of-control mixing of the races, something about this whole thing bothered him. Maybe it was because one of the blondes looked a bit like Kelly to him. Then he sighed. Sure, he'd been upset with both Caleb and her when he'd heard they'd gone and gotten married but he still liked his friend and had feelings for Kelly. Despite everything, he could never harm a hair on either of their heads.
"We're not going to attack those folks, are we, Tom?"
The other man smiled at him and shook his head. "No, Jimmy, we ain't gonna hurt them. We're just going to chat 'em up and point out to those girls that they should join us at our table instead of eating with that spear-chucker. Most likely, we'll run 'em out of there but we'll get our message across to everybody in the place. And to make certain they can't accuse us of attacking 'em, we'll have Tammy record the whole thing on her video camera." Then Tom turned in his seat to address the others behind him. "Now y'all remember not to blow this thing. We'll get close and taunt the shit out of 'em for being race traitors and all. But none of you better hit any of 'em, got it? 'Cause I ain't gonna bail your sorry ass out of jail if any of you beats the crap out of one of 'em!"
After the other people murmured that they'd understood Tom's instructions, he added, "All right. Tonight, we are NOT the Brotherhood. We're members of the White Lives Matter movement. Be damned sure none of you say anything about the Brotherhood 'cause we're recording this. Now we're gonna sit here for a few more minutes and wait for 'em to get settled and order something. They'll be less likely to walk out if they got food coming."
While their group sat tight, James Earl's lower back pressed against the automatic pistol tucked into the back of his jeans. Although he did not intend to draw it tonight, it never hurt to have it just in case things went south.
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The Skylight Diner
402 West 34th Street
New York, NY; Local time 1146
"An all-night diner?! Jesse, YOU are my favorite!"
Lena smirked and shot a teasing look at her old boarding school roommate. "I wouldn't let Kara's praise go to your head, Jesse. She'd say that to anyone who led her to a place that served food that hardened the arteries."
Jesse chuckled in response. "I don't know, Lena. I'm kind of in the same boat as Kara regarding food choices. Considering how my metabolism works, the more calories the better. How about you, John?"
He smiled. "Well, I don't really need to eat but I've always enjoyed a good steak dinner."
"See, Lena!" Kara exclaimed. "You and your kale diet are the odd men out in this group!"
She grinned then gently kissed her lover's cheek. "Whatever am I going to do with you, my darling?"
Her blonde lover smirked. "Love me?"
Lena kissed Kara's cheek again. "Always."
She and Kara had enjoyed going to see Parliament Funkadelic at the nightclub with Jesse and John Hancock. Before the show, they'd enjoyed a wonderful meal and the elder man who'd appeared to look as young as Kara had been both a perfect gentleman and had appeared to enjoy their company. Then the show had started and both of the blondes' inner fangirls had come out to dance while the band had played. When Kara hadn't dragged her and Jesse hadn't dragged John out on the dance floor, the tall blondes were together, grooving to George Clinton's funk while, Lena had suspected, garnishing the attention of nearly every male and some of the women in the joint.
During their time at the club when she'd smiled to herself as she'd watched her soulmate and her good friend having the time of their lives, John and she had talked lowly to each other. He'd revealed he'd known both Kara's and her secrets due to his own super senses (his keen sense of smell had told him the perfume that Green Lantern and Supergirl had worn was the same as that worn by Lena and Kara, respectively). She'd been actually grateful for his insight and had made a mental note to tell Kara that they both had to stop wearing perfume or using any scented cleansers on an ongoing basis. Then she'd told him about the League and he'd expressed his interest in working with Jesse, Kara and her.
However, the most interesting thing she'd uncovered at the club was how the look on John's face when he'd watched Jesse dance with Kara matched what she'd imagined was the expression on her own whenever she'd gazed at her Supergirl.
Now the limousine pulled up to the curb in front of the Skylight Diner. Hancock exited the vehicle first and gallantly held out his hand to help each woman out of the car. While both of the blondes struggled to keep from using their super speed to race into the diner, John took several long strides to reach the entrance. Then he held the door open while the women thanked him for his courtesy.
Soon, the restaurant's hostess showed them to a table in the classier addition to the old fashioned diner while Lena hung back a little bit to ogle the sexy sway of her lover's tight ass as Kara walked in her high-heeled sandals. She admired how the Reem Acra leather sheath dress that Lena's clothing buyer had brought to their suite perfectly displayed the beauty and refined power of Kara's luscious legs. Then she shook herself from the fog of her lust for her soulmate and joined her companions at their table.
Both blondes told the hostess to immediately send their waitperson to their table. Moments later, a middle aged woman appeared with four menus. "Hello, folks," the woman said. "I've brought your menus for you."
"Thank you," Jesse said. "We're kind of hungry."
From her seat beside Kara, Lena watched her girlfriend nod fervently and smiled. She thought Kara looked as cute as a button whenever she couldn't wait to place an order for her food!
"Do you need some time to look over your menus?" the woman asked.
The blondes shook their heads. "I'll have one of everything!" Kara exclaimed.
"I'll have what she's having," Jesse said.
The woman gawked unabashedly at both women then blinked thrice. "You both want one of everything that's on the menu?"
"Well, no, we did have something earlier, so we're not THAT hungry," Kara explained. "What I meant to say is I'll have one of everything from your entrée column."
"That sounds good. That goes for me, too," Jesse said.
"Um…do you want me to serve your orders all at once?"
Jesse chuckled. "Nah. We don't want our friends to wait on us. Just bring separate orders out whenever they're ready. Oh, we'll both have two glasses of Dr. Pepper each, right, Kara?"
"Yes, please!"
Now the shaken woman turned to Lena while the CEO shook her head in amusement. Fortunately, her American Express Black Card™ had no limits, which came in handy whenever she had to pay for her best girls' meals.
"What would you like to order, ma'am?" the woman asked her.
"Just a cup of decaf coffee, please. Oh, do you have real cream here? I'd prefer that to those little plastic containers of half and half."
"Of course, ma'am. I'll also bring you some sugar, too. And you sir?"
"I'll have the sirloin dinner, medium rare."
"That comes with two sides you can pick from the list on the menu."
"All right then. I'll have the rice pilaf and broccoli."
"Anything to drink?"
"Do you serve Coke here?"
"Yes, we do, sir."
"Great, I'll have a glass of Coke."
"Very good, sir. Thank you and I'll be right back with your drinks!"
A minute or so after the waitperson had left to place their orders, a large group of people entered the diner. The crowd of people meandered their way toward several tables behind the table Lena shared with her friends and lover. Everyone in the group were dressed in black windbreakers and black jeans. Several of the men pushed three of the tables together and the members of the group seated themselves around the long table.
When the waitperson arrived with their drinks, Lena's thoughts turned away from the group and after she'd received her cup of coffee, she poured in some cream and added a teaspoon of sugar. After yesterday's battle in the park, maybe Bruce's and her idea about the League they wanted to form was exactly what the world needed at this point in time. Although John Hancock or Kara probably could have defeated the four villains alone, the casualties among the innocent would have probably been much higher if only a single super powered hero had tackled them. Besides, it felt good to know someone had your back while fighting, even though Lena winced inwardly from the guilt she'd felt from having Kara see Captain Nazi's metal friend almost knock her block off on live television. She then sighed heavily to herself. She shouldn't have allowed her anger at seeing him kill that poor woman affect her judgment like that. She couldn't save anyone if her carelessness allowed her opponents to destroy her, too.
Now her mind turned away from the lessons she'd learned during the battle. She mindlessly stirred her beverage while Hancock and she amiably listened to Kara's and Jesse's friendly argument over which Parliament song, (Not Just) Knee Deep or Aqua Boogie, was the best one. Then a man at the long table called out to them. "Hey, ladies!"
A wary Jesse glanced over her shoulder at the man. "Are you talking to us?" she asked.
He nodded right before an ugly smirk dawned on his face.
Jesse then turned back for a second to face Kara and her before she rolled her eyes in disgust. While Kara and Lena chuckled at the annoyed expression on their friend's face, Jesse turned around and shot a glimpse the man's way. "What do you want?"
"Do you know who we are?"
Jesse shook her head. "Nope. I don't have the slightest idea who you are, and, frankly, I don't care to know. Enjoy your evening," she drawled and turned away from him.
"We're with White Lives Matter," he announced.
Then one of the women in the group said, "That's right. Why don't you girls leave that chain dragger and eat with us. We'll make room for you."
Lena suddenly noticed the expression on her girlfriend's face harden as it had when they'd faced down the White Martian a few months ago. "Thanks but we're good right here," Kara said.
"What, you bitches think you're too good for us?" one of the men growled.
Now she narrowed her eyes at the man who'd slighted them. How dare he call Kara and Jesse that! She seriously entertained the idea of leaping out of her chair and confronting the idiot right then and there before she felt Kara's hand gently squeeze her thigh under their table.
"Lee, just ignore them. I don't think they'll start something while we're in the diner," Kara whispered.
She nodded slightly to let her girlfriend know she'd heard what Kara had said. Then she noticed that Jesse had basically done the same as Kara in regards to keeping John in his seat.
Soon, when a few items that Kara and Jesse had ordered began to arrive, the blondes' moods improved considerably. Meanwhile, another woman showed up at the group's table. Lena overheard the woman telling them they had to order something if they wanted to stay in the diner. The woman, who probably was the night manager, also told them if they continued to disturb any of the customers, she'd kick them out.
Moments later, several members of the group ordered cups of coffee while a few others ordered some light meals. Then Lena tried not to grin when several of the men and both women at the long table gawked openly as more food continued to arrive for the famished blondes at her table.
#
Most of the members of the strike team had been inside that damned diner, fuming for almost an hour while the three white women and the black guy at the other table had ignored them. In his case, though, he really hadn't been mad; he'd been amazed! He couldn't believe his eyes as he'd watched the pair of fashion-model-thin blondes pack away all of that food as if they'd been brown bears planning to hibernate to survive a long cold winter!
Moments later, the waitperson brought the check for the people at the other table to settle their account. In response, Tom had gathered the checks of everyone in their group and placed enough cash on the table to cover the bill.
Once the other people stood up to leave, James Earl's group followed them outside onto the sidewalk. Moments later, the members of the strike force rushed forward to place themselves between the limousine and their targets. However, he felt something about this whole business seemed off. It was then he realized the three women and the black man didn't appear to be either scared or worried.
They just seemed to be annoyed.
Now the blonde without the glasses glared at them. "What in the hell is wrong with you people? If you know what's good for you, you'll get the hell out of our way," she spat.
"Oh, yeah?" Rebecca snapped at the woman. "Who's gonna make us move? You stick-figure, race traitor bitches?"
"Look," the black guy said. "We don't want no trouble, all right? Nobody wants things to get out of hand and have the cops come around and start busting heads, you know what I'm saying?"
"Maybe you should have thought about that before your four-eyed bitch insulted Tammy by turning down her invitation to join us!" Tom yelled.
Although neither the black guy nor his girlfriends seemed to be afraid of James Earl's group, the girl wearing the glasses moved slightly forward to place the brunette behind her. However, the slightly shorter woman squeezed the blonde's hand and stepped forward to stand at the other woman's side.
"Hey!" one of the guys in his group shouted. "Look at four-eyes and the lady in red, holding hands and all! I think they're lezzies!"
Rebecca scowled at the two women. "That figures! If you're lezzies, I'm glad you didn't come to our table!"
"You don't say?" the brunette in the red dress snapped. "Well, I'm glad we didn't come to your table, either!"
"Oh yeah?" another guy from his group snapped at the brunette. "Well, fuck you, bitch!"
Suddenly, the girl with the glasses somehow had moved from where she had been standing faster than his eye could see to get in the face of the guy who'd cursed at the brunette while still keeping anyone from attempting to get around her to reach the woman in the red dress. "Back the hell off…right now! Let us pass," the angry woman gritted out through her teeth.
In the next moment when the guy attempted to strike the angry blonde, he hoped Tammy had turned off her video camera so there wouldn't be any recording of the assault.
He need not have worried about that possibility, though. Somehow, the tall blonde had stopped the blow and shoved the guy so hard he bowled over three other guys who'd been unfortunate enough to be standing behind the man.
That's when everything went to hell in a hand basket. Three other men launched themselves at the black guy. One guy punched the dark man squarely on his chin. Yet the only thing that happened was the guy who had thrown the punch fell down to his knees howling that he'd broken his hand. In the meantime, the black man smacked the heads of the other two guys together, knocking them out cold.
Meanwhile, Rebecca tried to slap the blonde who didn't wear glasses in the face. Somehow, she missed the other woman completely. Then the blonde slammed a fist into Rebecca's stomach causing the Brotherhood woman to crumple into a heap on the sidewalk.
"Dammit, you idiots, I told you no fighting!" Tom screamed before the blonde with the glasses sent another man flying. Then the airborne guy struck the group's nominal leader, knocking Tom down and out for the count.
Now James Earl turned to look at the pale skinned brunette. Two guys had managed to get around her blonde defender to attack the woman in red. However, when the first guy reached for her, she grasped that man's wrist, thrust her hip into the man's leg, and judo-tossed him to the hard sidewalk. Then she twisted out of the other man's grasp and fired a hard elbow under the man's chin, knocking him out.
Finally when the blonde without the glasses knocked Tammy down to the ground, James Earl realized he was the last man standing. Then when the big black guy took a step toward him with a crazed look in the man's eye, James Earl drew his handgun from where he'd kept it nestled against his back and aimed it at the man.
The black guy pulled up then but looked him square in the eyes. "Hey, man. Take it easy with that thing, all right? There are still some people in that diner. You don't want to kill anybody. You fire that gun and somebody gets hurt or dead, we're talking about a long stretch in prison."
"Put the gun down now!" a harsh voice said off to his right. He caught a glimpse of the blonde woman who'd been shielding the brunette out of the corner of his eye. She had taken off her glasses and both of her eyes were glowing as red as a pair of stop lights. She stood there and he was in awe. She looked like the Wrath of God and she'd come for him! He almost shit himself as he turned the gun on her.
"W-what…w-what in the hell are you?" he stammered. "Y-you're…some kind of alien!"
"She's my friend," the calm, steady voice of the brunette called out in the still of the night. Then the woman slowly stepped out from behind the blonde's back and gently stroked her left hand down along the other woman's right arm.
"Lee?" James Earl heard the question in the blonde's voice.
"Let me handle this, a rúnsearc," the brunette said. Then she gazed fearlessly at him and asked, "What's your name?"
"Why should I tell you that?" he shouted.
"I just wanted to know who I was talking to," the woman explained. "My name is Lee."
"Jimmy," he said.
"Jimmy…look, I think you know we didn't want to start any trouble. We just wanted to eat in peace and go home. Now I think some of the people who were at your table wanted to start something but I don't think you were one of them. When the others insulted my friends, I noticed you didn't join in with them."
"T-that's right."
She nodded. "Then when that guy tried to hit my friend, you didn't attack us."
"H-he shouldn't have tried to do that. Nobody was supposed to get hurt. We were only supposed to call out race traitors!"
"Race traitors? Are you saying we're in the wrong for dining with a friend of ours who happens to be black? Are you telling me you've never been friends with someone who's not the same race as yours, Jimmy?"
He blinked twice as memories of his friendship with Caleb flitted through his mind at her words.
"Jimmy, can you tell me what this is all about?"
"It's all those aliens, queers, and immigrants who are causing problems for everybody. They're trying to take everything from real Americans!"
"I don't think that's true, Jimmy. I've met a few aliens, some members of the LGBT community and people who've come to this nation from other countries. It's been my experience that most of them are just trying to fit in and get by. I suppose that's true about a lot of people."
He thought about his dad then and nodded. "I-I guess so."
"Look, I think you may be a little confused and need to think some things through. Like I've said before, my friends and I don't want any trouble. We don't want to have this situation get any worse than it is and involve the police. If I promise that my friends and I won't attack you, do you think you can put your gun away?"
"Y-you promise?" he asked.
She nodded.
He chanced a glance at the black guy. He hadn't moved a muscle during the time the woman in red had been talking to him. He'd stayed in front of the other blonde, apparently shielding her with his body. Then he shot a look at Lee's blonde. The woman's gaze no longer had that hellish glare to it. Now, without her glasses, he noticed the amazing crystal blue color of her eyes. She, too, had not moved an inch from her spot beside the brunette.
"O-okay," he said. Then he reengaged the gun's safety and slowly moved it back to its place at the small of his back.
Lee released a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Jimmy. We're going to leave now. I don't know if you want to stay and help these people or if you just want to run as fast and as far as you can away from them. I can tell you it would be a big mistake on your part if you continue to think they have your best interests at heart. They told you they weren't looking to physically harm anyone and they lied. People like them prey on your fears, Jimmy. They want you to believe that the scary 'other' is out to get you. However, it's been my experience when you think for yourself you realize people like my friends aren't your enemy."
"Lee," the blonde standing beside the lady in red swept aside her beautiful hair, cocked her right ear toward the diner and said, "The manager just called the police."
"Did she tell them about the gun?" Lee asked.
"I don't think so."
The brunette nodded then gazed at him. "Jimmy, you'd better get out of here before the police arrive. They don't react well when they find people at a crime scene who are armed."
When he turned to run away, the lady in red called out. "Oh, and Jimmy?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Don't let me find you with people like them," Lee indicated his fallen comrades with a sweep of her hand, "again. If I do, I won't be this nice the next time and I'll make you eat that gun. Do you understand me?"
When he saw the serious-as-a-fatal-heart-attack look in her angry green eyes he grew more frightened now than he'd been at the sight of her friend's blazing red orbs. Then he nodded once, muttered, "Yes, ma'am," and raced off into the night.
#
Once Jimmy was out of the range of normal hearing, Lena turned to Jesse and said, "Go after him. Make certain his gun is inoperable but let him keep it."
"Yes, ma'am," the speedster said before she slipped off her heels and sped off.
Ten seconds later, Jessie returned to the spot where she'd left her shoes. Then she reached out with one hand and placed it on John's shoulder while she used the other to slip her pumps back onto her feet. "I removed the firing pin and placed it in John's left coat pocket."
He laughed. "Wow! I barely was able to see you when you decelerated but I didn't even feel you slip your hand inside my pocket. You know, Jesse, you could moonlight as the best pickpocket in the world," Hancock said as he opened the door to the passenger compartment of the limousine, allowing the women to enter the vehicle.
Once he was inside the car the driver pulled away from the curb. Then Jesse said, "Well, it's always good to have another vocation on hand if the economy ever goes south again," she quipped. She now turned to Lena. "Oh, and 'Lee?'" she teased before she turned serious. "Nice job back there. You handled that situation without exposing our secret identities."
Lena then noticed that Kara appeared to be sulking. "Darling, what's wrong?"
"Jesse's right. You were fantastic back there. I was the one who almost blew our covers."
She shook her head and gently took her lover's hands into hers. "You did no such thing, Kara. All he suspects is that you're an alien. He doesn't know that you're Supergirl and he has no idea what your secret identity is. I'm just glad you didn't have to use any of your powers or that we hurt any of them so badly the police would have no choice but to ferret us out. I just hope none of the people who were still in the diner captured any video of us on their smart phones. If someone did, at least, the recordings won't show we used any super powers."
"Hmm," Kara hummed.
When Lena noticed Kara still looked a bit down in the dumps, she asked, "Kara, is there something else bothering you?"
The blonde nodded sullenly. "You didn't use your ring to protect yourself."
She blinked twice before she responded. "That's right."
"You could have been hurt or worse, baby."
She sighed. "If I'd activated my ring, we'd have definitely been outed. When the ring goes online, it always emits a green glow. I couldn't have hidden that."
Jesse glared at her. "You weren't shielded when you talked that guy down? Were you out of your freaking mind, Lena?"
She shook her head. "Kara, Jesse, Jimmy didn't really want to hurt anyone. He only drew the weapon when he thought John was going to beat the crap out of him."
Hancock winced. "Yeah, that was my bad. I just didn't want any of those people to hurt you ladies." Then when he saw their smirks, he chuckled. "I know, considering who you ladies are, I should have known you could take care of business yourselves."
"Actually, John," Jesse said, "you showed admirable restraint. Except for the guy who punched you in the jaw, nobody got hurt badly. I'd happily work with you any time."
"The same goes for me," Lena added while Kara nodded her agreement.
"Thank you, ladies. And Lena? I've met a lot of heroes during the past ninety years or so and let me tell you I've never met anyone braver than you."
She blushed. "Well, thank you, John, but that's actually not true. Last year, Kara had lost her powers for a day or so and she faced down and persuaded an armed robber to surrender his handgun to her without any of her powers."
Kara gasped. "How did you know about that?"
She smiled at her soulmate. "James told me. He showed me the picture he'd taken of you that day. Kara, darling, I don't know if I'd have the courage to do what you did."
"You just proved you do, Lee."
She shook her head. "Not really, darling. Keep in mind, I had John, Jesse, and you there. I knew you all had my back."
A moved Kara uttered something between a sigh and a sob as she grabbed up Lena, Jesse and John in a tender group hug. And as Lena basked in the glorious radiance of her one true love, she noticed that both Jesse, and surprisingly, John, appeared to be as moved as Kara, too.
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Thanks for reading this story! Reviews or comments are welcome!