A Little R & R
It had been a week since Asher Avril had arrived at a tiny farmhouse in Chickpea Junction, Iowa. Despite being disconnected from the world at large, the young man had never felt more relaxed. In the small kitchenette of his accommodations, he worked at perfecting his omelet recipe after waking up at a modest 7 in the morning, after which he planned to spend some time outside, drawing a cartoon that he'd thought of.
"I should take Priya on an off-grid vacation when I come home," Asher thought to himself as he plated his egg creation and garnished it with a fried tomato. Walking out the front door, he took a seat on a rocking chair, facing the morning sun as it rose on the horizon.
"Hey buddy, you're up too?" Gold Boxer called from nearby, emerging from the tree line that encompassed the small clearing that held both farmhouses and the neighboring cornfield. There was several chunks of chopped wood resting on his muscular shoulders. "I was just out in the woods chopping more tinder for a bonfire tonight. You'll be there, right?"
"Hey Brad! Yeah, I got nothing better to do," Asher called back from his chair. "Does your house come stocked with domestic beer too or just mine?"
"The cheapest of the cheap," the superhero chuckled as tossed the wood down into the pile. "We should play cards later too, I brought a deck. Oh, and are you a medium rare or well done kind of guy? I might do a few of these steaks too."
In the week they'd been there, Asher and the hero assigned to protect him had grown quite close as friends, where the paramedic intended on keeping up contact with Gold Boxer when they eventually returned home. A real genuine, easygoing kind of guy, Asher enjoyed his company, and having some form of companionship made it easier to live without his beloved girlfriend. He was already healing from the recent traumas as well, where Asher now often forgot about his situation with Passion Princess. Of course, the thought always loomed over the back of his mind, where he wondered what she was doing. Was she looking for him?
Flipping open his sketchbook, Asher sipped some orange juice before tapping the paper with his pencil. Depicted was the rough draft of a comic page , showing a very muscular man in a white coat that bore a red medical cross. Fighting alongside him was a woman wearing a metal suit, flying in the air and blasting some kind of energy burst from her hand. Both heroes were fighting a villain that was floating above the city, her curvaceous body hanging there menacingly as her eyes were obscured by the death rays that she was shooting out of them.
"Medical Muscle & Steele Scorn vs The Hollow" was the title that Asher sketched above the image, finding it therapeutic to draw his inner thoughts out as a comic. Adding more details to the sketch, the young man got into a zone and continued to draw throughout the morning. After exhausting his coffee supply, he drank some water and went for a walk around the property, taking in the nature and reminding him of just how devoid Graveport was of such serene natural beauty.
"You feeling homesick already?" Gold Boxer asked as he handed Asher a paper plate of asparagus and a fat, juicy steam, his nearby grill still aflame as the two ate dinner together outside later. "I don't mind this little getaway. Disconnect and all that. I do miss being hit up on social media by babes, though."
"I've been meaning to ask, you don't have a girlfriend or anything like that?" Asher asked as he cracked open a beer.
"No, but maybe its better that way," Gold Boxer replied. "The average person doesn't know the toll that being a hero can take on someone. The PTSD that you get from the things you see, the long hours, the fact that your life could be on the line every day you go out there. Don't get me wrong, we know what we're signing up for, but the superhero gig certainly is not all the glitz and glamor."
"N-no, of course, I totally understand!" Asher nodded. "As a paramedic, I see some crazy stuff too. Things that would probably scar normal people. But its like, you do your job, because if not you, its going to be someone else."
"Exactly. I commend you for having a nice, normal relationship," the muscular hero agreed. "I'd like to meet this Priya one day, she sounds like a hell of a catch. Do you think Rand is handling whatever it is you're hiding here from?"
"I sure hope so," the young man sighed as he looked to the setting sun, wondering what things in Graveport might be like when he returned.
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Priya Patil washed her hands at the sink in the grungy bathroom of the dive bar that she was at, before looking up at herself in the cracked mirror. Dressed in her navy-blue blouse from work, her trousers matching, the young woman wiped some of her eye liner off her face as her tears were causing it run. Suddenly, the door opened behind her, and somebody walked in.
"Hey, Priya," a woman's voice said as someone incredibly tall loomed over her from behind. "It's been a while. Don't worry, I'm going to make this quick. Do you know who was threatening your ex-boyfriend? Who had it out for Asher?"
A chill running down her spine, Priya turned slowly and found herself face to face with a towering blonde woman that was dressed in a dark red t-shirt, and was stretching a pair of black leggings to the brink with her thick thighs and ample posterior. Her arms crossed, the woman looked down at Priya through cold, blue eyes as her tongue licked at her thick, plump lips.
"P-Passion Princes!?" Priya stammered as she took a nervous step backwards, colliding with the sink.
"Please, call me Jan when I'm not in costume," the disguised heroine smirked. "Now work with me here. Who was threatening your ex?"
"My ex…right," Priya gulped nervously. "I honestly have no idea. I haven't spoken to him since we ah—broke up."
"You shared a bed with him, but weren't aware that he was being threatened by someone?" Passion Princess replied with a disapproving shake of her head. "Damn. I guess you did make the right call leaving him. I'd deal with anyone who threatened someone that I loved like that. In fact, I'm being proactive right this second. I'm hunting the person that forced Asher into hiding so that he can come back to Graveport…and come back to me."
"R-right. Anyway, I'd best be going, so ah nice seeing you" Priya chuckled nervously as she attempted to squeeze past the towering woman. She as stopped when "Jan" put a hand to her chest and pushed her back.
"You know, a lot of the times when a long term couple breaks up, they sometimes meet up afterwards and maybe sleep together a few times before it's truly over," Passion Princess began as she looked Priya in the eyes. "Have you and Asher been fucking since then?"
"W-what!? N-no, no we haven't," Priya exclaimed in shock.
"No? Are you sure?" the crazed heroine asked as her hand drifted down towards the crotch of Priya's trousers, where she teasingly began to stroke her hand in between her thighs. "If I were to look in there, would I find Asher's cum?"
"T-there's something seriously wrong with you," the young woman hissed as she trembled in fear, before letting out an unintentional moan at feeling her womanhood being stroked. "Please let me go."
"Let's help each other out, Priya," Passion Princess continued as she used 2 fingers to poke at the smaller girl's crotch. "If you learn anything new about Asher's whereabouts or whoever he is involved with, then let me know. Just tell that detective since you seem to be in contact with him too. I'm sure he'll tell me."
"How will that help me?!" Priya cried.
"Because the sooner I find Asher, the sooner I won't have to start following you," Jan smiled innocently as she removed her hand. "If you want me out of your life for good, bring me your ex. Oh, and If I find out you guys are still seeing each other, I might split you in half. Food for thought."
"Fucking psycho," Priya whimpered as she slumped up against the bathroom wall.
"I'm sure you've had quite the week, so I'll pretend that I didn't hear that," Passion Princess said over her shoulder as she departed. "Farewell."
Crouching there in the disgusting bathroom, whimpering to herself for a moment, Priya eventually rose to her feet and sped out of the bathroom after the heroine had been gone for a few minutes.
"Everything okay?" Clive Rand asked from his bar stool as Priya rejoined him, her face red and teary.
"We have a problem," she replied, before wiping her eyes. "A big one."