Once I was there, I came out of ghost form, returning to normal. With hands shaking from adrenaline and fear, I fumbled trying to call Madden on her work phone. The phone rang and rang without her picking up. Please pick up, please! I need you!

Just when I thought it would go to voicemail, Madden picked up annoyed and out of breath, "Who is this! It better be something important! I almost died getting distracted by all the ringing!"

I was shrill with panic, my hands shaking with adrenaline, flashbacks of Undertaker raping me and beating me to a pulp flashing through my mind. I've always considered myself a strong person, but everyone has a limit. I never had to deal with these situations before since I lived with my hero team inside the headquarters. I always had friends and superiors who would take care after me and clean up my messes. I never had to deal with being raped and sexually abused, or betrayed by those I trust, or being looked at as a piece of meat by women…it was all too much.

 My voice cracked as I spoke, "Mads please come back! Some invisible villain attacked me! Pl-"

"What?!” she roared, “Baby are you okay?! Are you hurt?!" She asked, fervently.

"N-no, but I'm worried she'll come back!"

"Okay, okay," she said, desperate. "Listen to me babyboy, there are guns on the closet. Go get one and make sure to flick off the safety—that's the switch on the side." She spoke in a soothing voice, as if to a child, trying to calm me through the phone. “I’ll be there soon, okay? Just wait for me, okay?”

“Hurry up, Maddy!” I cried out, hating myself for how pathetic my voice sounded, for how unmanly I was acting. “Please! I’m s- I need you here!” 

I could hear her teleporting using her fire powers through the phone, the whoosh of flames cluing me. “I’m going as fast as I can, I’ll be on the phone with you the whole time, okay babyboy?”

“Okay, Maddy.” I sniffed, wiping my eyes.

I proceed to walk into her bedroom and, following her instructions, enter the password to the safe hidden in her closet. Inside I found five weapons. Maddy told me to pick up the smallest gun, worried that I’d get hurt by the recoil. But I picked up the shotgun instead.

I loaded up the shotgun, all the while nervously keeping an eye out for the ghost woman. Once I was done, I settled down on one of the corners of the room, my back to it. I knew that she could still get me from behind since she could pass through the walls behind me, but it still made me feel better, more secure.

Like that I remained, keeping a fearful vigil, ready to blast her if she reappeared. The only thing that kept me sane throughout was Maddy’s voice, constantly talking to me and reassuring me. It made me feel profound gratitude and even some love towards her. All of my hesitation to date her and my misgivings about the way she bullied Taylore were forgotten in the moment if not forever.

Madden was making good time, using her fire teleportation to cross the city fast, making her way ever closer to me. 

In the end, I only had to wait thirteen minutes for her to arrive. The villain didn’t show itself in this time to my relief.

When I heard the sound of fire flaring in the living room, I ran towards her, leaving the shotgun behind.

She was surprised when I ran at her full throttle and gave her a crushing hug, clutching at her as if she were my lifeline, “Woah there, baby! With that strength now I know why that dick-ass villain ran away with her tail tucked between her legs.” She joked, reciprocating the hug.

“Don’t leave me again,” I begged. “You love me, right? Don’t leave me. Promise you won’t. Please, I don’t want to die, please.” I hated myself for begging and I was disgusted with myself for using Madden in this way—exploiting her after I used my power on her—but I was scared out of my mind. Too many women wanted to hurt me and my life expectancy was measured in weeks. I wanted to live even if it meant compromising my moral code a little—I said I was a hero, not that I was perfect! This meant nothing! I was still a good person…right?

She cupped my cheek with one palm, and brushed my hair with her other hand, tucking some stray strands behind one of my ears. She looked at me with a determined and serious gaze. “I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again, Erin. I promise to always be there when you need me and to do everything in my power to help.”

A burst of gratitude and relief overcame me and I impulsively raised myself on my toes (she was taller than me, like most women here) in order to reach her lips and gave her a quick peck in the lips.

She was momentarily shocked for a split second, but when she recovered she hugged me and kissed the top of my head.

“Listen, baby,” she broke the moment. “As much as I’m liking the mood here, I think it would be best for us to go to my team’s headquarters. It’s one of the safest places in the city, if not the world. I think it best we both stay there till we find this fatherfucker.”

I packed up some clothes and necessities while Madden changed into civilian clothes.

Once we were both ready, we made our way to her car.

---

As it turned out the headquarters was a fancy mansion just outside of the city.

Madden parked her car on a parking circle that had a bunch of other luxurious cars and a fountain in the middle of it.

“Fancy.” I said, impressed by the opulence.

“Wait till you see the inside.” answered Madden, turning off the car and getting out.

I could see her walking around to my door, probably trying to be chivalrous and open it for me, but by now I’d mostly recovered from my rape ptsd panic attack and I’d be damned if I let her—a man had to have some pride as my old man used to say. I opened it before she could reach me and got out.

We both made our way towards the door of the mansion.

The moment we stepped on the porch the entry hall next to the door, blue lights came to life, scanning us up and down, sideways. It went on for some time until the scans finished and a robotic voice gave an “all clear”.

The doors then opened on their own.

Just like Madden said the inside was even more impressive than the outside. Statues, animal pelt rugs, paintings, gold, glass chandeliers, delicate china, you name it.

A drone hovered on the other side, projecting the image of a robotic woman. “Greetings Madden and co,” she said in a bored robotic voice. “Dolphinia, Mordred, Danny, and myself are in the sitting room. You are welcome to join us.”

“Sure thing, Machina.” Madden replied.

The drone started escorting us and we followed after it.

After some time (the place was pretty big) we reached the sitting room. We opened the rich, supple wooden doors, and what greeted us were three women (two if you didn’t count the robot) and possibly the only guy in this god forsaken world with short hair, crew cut style.

One of the girls, the one with short, neck length, messy black hair and metalhead clothes grinned and called out to Madden, “What’s up, captain?” she looked at me and her grin grew wider “Did you finally get yourself a boyfriend?”

Maddy sighed, “Mordred, how many times do I have to remind you about using civilian names? It’s fine now because Erin figured out who I was without me telling him, but you never know. And yes,” she pulled me closer to her and kissed me, “he is my boyfriend.” She sounded very possessive when she said that, but I let it pass.

Mordred rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, cap.”

The prim and proper, short haired guy immediately jumped in. “That’s no way to answer, Mordred! Apologize properly for your mistake! You know that this risks the integrity of the whole group and-”

Mordred groaned loudly, “Alright, alright, just stop,” she took a deep breath, then said “My bad, I’m sorry. There. Are you happy now?”

The guy looked even more angry and looked about to start on another rant when another woman cut in. “Come on friends, leave the fighting for the villains. It’s the ass crack of dawn and we are all tired and irritable after the fight with Dollmaker, but let's not argue and bicker. Madden mentioned her boyfriend was attacked by a villain with invisibility and intangibility.” she said. Her teeth were sharp as a shark’s and I caught peeks of them as she spoke. Her hair was dark blue like the ocean and had seashells imbedded on it.

“Dolphinia is right. This is unproductive. As for the villain, I believe that it is probable we are dealing with one we have encountered before: Skull Spectre” spoke Machina.