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Denise had walked this route home from work for years.  It was only a few blocks, but this neighborhood always made her nervous.  Her route brought her right to the edge of one of the worst areas in town, and she always kept her guard up here.  She kept one hand on her purse and the other on her apartment keys, prepared to use them to gouge a criminal’s face if need be.



Denise got past the bad stretch and relaxed slightly.  Soon she was within a block of home.   She’d be safe again for another night.



Then the scraggly man stepped from the shadows.  He was gaunt, unbathed and unshaven, and looked to have a bad case of meth mouth going.  He held a large knife in his hand.



Denise turned to run, and found a large man with a baseball bat when she ran into him.  Denise was tiny, and she’d relaxed enough that she’d et the keys go back into her purse.  Terrified, and with  no weapons on hand, she screamed for help.



The big man spun Denise around, leaving the scraggly man approaching her with the knife.  “The purse, baby,” he said.  “Shut up, and give us the --”



Then the scraggly man looked behind Denise and up.  Terror filled his face.  “Shorty!  Run!”  he screeched, pivoting and running away so fast he got clumsy, dropping the knife.



Before “Shorty” could turn or run, he felt himself hoisted into the air by his hoodie.  Then he was placed on an enormous gloved hand, and realized his intended victim was on another, the mate to the one holding him.



A colossal masked face gazed at Denise.  “Are you all right, ma’am?” the giantess asked.



Denise was catching her breath.  “Yes, Elevator Girl,” the woman said, “No thanks to ‘Shorty’ and his friend.”



“Yeah, “ said Elevator Girl.  “Speaking of his friend, let me put you down and pick him up.”



“Shorty” was terrified.  On the one hand, he’d had fantasies about being held by a leather-clad giantess, and Elasti-Girl in her current outfit definitely fit the part.  But this wasn’t going to end in anything pleasant for him, he knew.



Elevator Girl; had taken exactly two steps, one forward and one to the right, to reach the scraggly man.  She picked him up from the street, where he had fallen down in terror.  He was struggling, but she was gentle to him.  She could afford to be; he wasn’t going anywhere.



“Shorty” tried striking the hand that held him, the left, with his bat.  As Elevator Girl put his scraggly partner into her grip with “Shorty,” she said, “Sorry, Short Stuff.  The leather glove’s armor means you aren’t doing anything but wearing yourself out.”



With a firm grip on the men, Elevator Girl turned back to their intended victim.  “Ma’am, I’ll need to drop these two off at the police station, and for you to file a report there.  Can I give you a lift?”  She lowered her right hand, flat open, in front of Denise.



Denise smiled.  “It’ll be the safest trip I have tonight,” she said and climbed on.



Elevator Girl was glad Denise had agreed to come.  It was hard for her to file any report that would hold up in court because she was a masked vigilante in the eyes of the law.  To really shut these bad guys down, she needed someone to file the report.



At the station, Elevator Girl let Denise go in first and tell them who was outside while the giantess held onto the two perps.  Once officer came out, she turned the would-be crooks over to them, then waved, hit the elevator control to grow even larger and strode away into the night.



“Thank you!” Denise yelled after Elevator Girl.  She turned to one of the officers.  “Well, I’ll have a story to tell them at work tomorrow night, won’t I?”



Elevator Girl glanced at the tower clock and realized her patrol time was about over.  She headed back toward the residential neighborhood where she lived, dialing down her size to be less distracting if anyone saw her striding along.  Soon she was near her home and dropped down into the brush behind her house, dropping through the old coal chute to get into the house.



Coming up the stairs, Elevator Girl was met by her mother, Gemma Ross.  “Hi, Honey,” Gemma said.  “How was patrol?”



“Good,” said Elevator Girl. Taking off her mask to reveal the face of Kellie Ross, she added, “I caught two muggers in the act.  “They’re in custody, and the victim’s unhurt and filing charges.”



“Good job,” said Gemma.  “Well, it’s almost time for me to leave for the nursing home.”



Kellie nodded.  She knew her mom worked the night shift at the nursing home as a certified nursing aide and would sleep during the day while she was at school after watching the morning news.



“Remember, Kellie, you’ve got you martial arts class tomorrow,” Gemma said.



Kellie winced.  “Mom, about that,” she said, “I was thinking of dropping the class.”



“What?” Gemma said.  “But you’ve always loved the bujinkan.”



:I do, and Sensei’s great,” Kellie said.  “But it’s an expense when money’s tight, like it is now, and my heroing is adding a little to that expense.”



“Kellie, you’ve wanted your black belt as long as I can remember,” Gemma said.  “and Sensei says you’re one of his best students.”



“Mom, I have superpowers now,” Kellie said.  “I took out those two muggers without breaking a sweat.  The classes are an unnecessary expense.”



“Not the first time Kellie needs them instead of Elevator Girl, at a time when someone who knows you but doesn’t know your secret is with you,” Gemma countered.  “Besides, you said yourself your training helped you defeat your first supervillain, Betty the Brick.



Kellie sighed.  “You’re right,” she said.



“And you never know when you’ll need a Plan B, like using martial arts skills,” Gemma said.



“OK, Mom, I’ll stay with the classes,” Kellie said.  “I was just trying to help out with the finances, you know.”



Gemma hugged her daughter, flinching slightly at the feel of the leather costume.  “I appreciate it, Honey,” she said.



“Oh!” said Kellie.  “Speaking of back-up plans, there’s something I need to give you.”  She headed into her bedroom, where she kept the instructions for care of the elevator bracelet her late grandpa had given her.  From the back of the book she took out a slip of paper.  “Put this somewhere safe, she said, handing it to her mother, who had followed her into the room.



“What’s this?” Gemma asked, looking at the paper.



“It’s instructions from Grandpa for a way to call for more super help in the event I need it,” Kellie said.  “I figure that, if I need the help that badly, I probably can’t get it myself, and you’re the only one who knows my secret.  For those situations, you’re my Plan B.”



Reading the instructions, Gemma looked doubtfully to her daughter.  “This will bring help?” she said.



Kellie shrugged.  “I don’t get it either, but Grandpa kn ew what he was doing on the rest of this, so it’s worth a try.”



Gemma nodded.  She took the paper to the desk in the den and put it in the top center drawer.  “Now we both know where it is if we need it,” she said.



“Good,” Kellie yawned.  “I really need to get to sleep.”



“And I need to get to work.  G’night, Kellie,” Gemma said, kissing her daughter on the cheek and hugging her.  “Love you.”



“Love you, too, Mom,” Kellie said.  “G’night.”

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