Lantern's Light (Patreon)

Written by HikerAngel

Part of a trade from MonkeyFreed

“You heard about this Dark Lantern chick? She’s totally breaking records left and right!” William asked his friend after a long, silent sip from his red solo cup. “Not to mention, she looks damn fine in that black spandex! Haha! Leaves little to the imagination, if you follow me!”

“Yeah, and it just doesn’t make any damn sense either,” Pete added, making sure that his party chalice was also thoroughly drained before continuing the conversation. “She’s like, tiny as hell. How is she going up against the heavyweight champions of the world?”

“Maybe it’s one of those weight-redistribution thingies?” William theorized. “Like, she’s turning their weights against them and that’s how she’s winning. There’s no way she’s that strong. I’m sure a good sweep of her feet would take her out. Oh well, it’s all scripted for TV anyways.”

Pete shrugged, unconvinced. He then turned his attention left and downward to the woman who had been sipping her drink with the meekness and intensity of a hummingbird. “What do you make of all this, Jackie? She’s gotta be like, your idol or something, right? I certainly can’t think of another woman who’s in the four foot range and in the heavyweight championship. Not to mention an undefeated one.”

Jackie froze like a thief in a spotlight, her plastic cup trembling as the collective four eyes of the two tall men felt like a million.

“Wh-what, me? Y-you think I’d know something about Dark Lantern? Th-the mysterious undefeated woman?” Her nervous ramble continued, only getting quieter and less comprehensive until it faded into a murmur and she looked away in embarrassment.

William raised an eyebrow at Jackie before pulling Pete aside and lowering his voice to a whisper. “Dude, why did you invite her? I know she’s your dorm roommate or whatever, but she’s totally killing the vibe of this party.”

Pete sighed, then returned the tone. “Look, I know she’s weird and awkward or whatever, but I invited her because she spends all her time cooped up in her little pillow fort reading books. I thought this would be a good experience for her to have.”

William just shook his head as if he were the ultimate authority on the matter. “Pete, that’s a surefire way to scare all the hoes away from here. You don’t invite a bookworm to a party full of big-breasted birds, they’ll eat her alive!”

“Okay, so she’s a little… demure…” Pete added, his shoulders shrugging with indifference. “And… maybe her choice of clothing is a little unfitting for a party of this caliber, but she just hasn’t had a lot of experience with college parties. That’s just an unfortunate consequence of her situation.”

Pete looked back to address Jackie, only she was nowhere to be found. His eyes scanned the packed party for any sign of the puny woman, but she must’ve blended in with the taller masses like a rabbit in wild grass or just left from the party entirely. “Great, look what you did, dumbass! She probably heard you talking shit and ran away.”

William’s smile refused to leave his face. “Yeah, whatever man. Maybe she took my advice to heart and got the hell outta here. This wasn’t her scene anyways. It didn’t seem like she was having any fun here.”

Pete wanted to continue the search elsewhere beyond just a lazy gaze across the party… but he ultimately decided against it, deliberately choosing to limit himself to the same range as a security camera.

Meanwhile, Jackie sobbed in a nearby alleyway, trying not to faint as she became choked up with tears. She had heard what William and Pete were saying about her, but she also believed them wholeheartedly. The party was overwhelming, she was ignored and the thick haze of smoke from the cavalcade of lit cigarettes wasn’t doing her asthma any favors.

She needed safety, she needed security. She needed to go to her happy place.

Reaching into a secret compartment in her bulky backpack, Jackie retrieved an all-black wad of bunched-up clothing. She untangled it, disrobing from her existing clothes after much hesitation. What if someone sees me!? What if someone takes a photo of my ugly, unimpressive body and posts it on social media!? Both questions were but a mere snapshot of the thoughts dancing around in her head.

Yet she persisted, stripping down from her grandma-pattern clothes to just a bra and panties as she worked a skin-tight leotard onto her form. While her baggy clothing had hidden her more presentable feminine features, her new outfit only amplified them. The black one-piece garment hugged her form like a latex glove, showcasing the godlike curves of her lengthy thighs and calves. Her spine straightened out, the rounded perfection of her breasts now proudly on display for all to witness.

Finally, she slipped the sharp black mask over her freckled face, tying her shoulder length auburn-brown bangs into a bun behind her head. Pulling out her phone and staring into the front-facing camera’s display, she felt a wave of confidence fill her up from top to bottom.

At that moment, Jackie had taken a backseat to let Dark Lantern drive for a while. She started with a dorky giggle, but it was almost imperceptible as a smug, confident laugh quickly overtook it. She didn’t just think she was one of the strongest women in the world, she was the strongest woman in the world, by a wide margin. And that didn’t mean that men had it easy against her either, no. If anything, they had it worse, and she would be happy to show them why.

William and Pete left the party well into the night, sauntering down the lamp lit streets swaying like boats in a storm as they laughed and joked. With William as his wingman, Pete was able to de-stress and enjoy the party without needing to be a babysitter for his roommate. However, the vibe would come to a screeching halt as the two men saw a silhouetted figure standing in the streetlamp before them. Instantly, they recognized Dark Lantern, but their brains couldn’t process it—or didn’t want to. How could they not recognize her? Even the mere outline of her bombshell body was seared into the minds of every man, and the women just didn’t want to admit it.

“Dark Lantern…” the two men uttered in unison.

“So, a little birdy told me you two were talking shit about me at that party back there,” Dark Lantern spoke, her voice brimming with confidence so foreign to the Jackie the two men knew that they didn’t even suspect it could be her under that mask and leotard. “So, what’s it gonna be? You could offer the apologies up front or I can make you apologize later down the line.”

Technically, she was telling the full truth. They had been less than kind to both Jackie and Dark Lantern in their less than quiet conversation. Of course, they’d never suspect that it was both parties she was looking to avenge.

“An apology? For talking shit at a party? I’m guessing you’ve never heard of locker room talk little lady,” William said dismissively, trilling his lips as he handwaved in her direction. If she had been a little taller, maybe he would’ve approached her with a different tune. But since he and Pete were both well over six feet of height and were no slouches in the muscle department as avid bodybuilders themselves, they didn’t exactly feel threatened by a four foot tall girl who looked like a strong breeze would carry her away in the wind, famous or not.

“Latter choice it is then. When your mommies see you two come home in caskets, I’ll tell them I gave you two a choice before bareback fucking both of them atop said caskets.”

Such foul imagery only enraged William further. He wasn’t above punching a tiny girl, especially a shit-talker like this one. He pivoted forward, adopting an excellent boxing stance as he swung a deadly right hook, only for her to effortlessly dodge out of the way and trip up his foot, sending him toppling to the concrete. He attempted to kick her, only for Dark Lantern to grab his foot and swing him around like a ragdoll at mach speed.

Pete immediately hopped in to help his friend, only to be bludgeoned by said friend. When Pete shook off the blunt force trauma he had been inflicted with, he wondered if he was still suffering side effects as he witnessed a borderline surreal sight of a tiny girl swinging around an absolute unit of a man like William over her head like a helicopter blade.

“Ready to apologize? Or maybe you like this brutal beatdown from a girl my size? I know I sure as hell am enjoying it!”

And she sure as hell was. With the Dark Lantern persona, it allowed meek lil’ Jackie to indulge in her greatest sins. Though if God had a problem with her doing this, he could come down and teach her a lesson himself. No, she knew he was far too chickenshit to confront the legendary Dark Lantern. Any man with half a brain was!

“I bet you’re a little sicko who gets off at tiny little women absolutely demolishing you, huh?” Dark Lantern then slammed William on the ground and stepped on his face to pin him as she proposed the deep and highly philosophical question.

Pete would once again attempt to save his friend, only to immediately befall the same fate before he could even realize he was face-down on the concrete. Dark Lantern wasn’t just fast, she was precise and aware. With just a few facial cues from Pete prior, she could tell exactly how he’d operate in a fight and when would be the best time to strike.

Now with a foot dedicated to each man, they only seemed to feel her force even more. Somehow, her double-digit weight felt like a cave collapsing on their faces. The two meatheads were begging for mercy within seconds.

“Please don’t hurt us anymore! Please!” William begged through smushed lips as her boot compressed the air from his cheeks. He never thought he was capable of uttering such words, yet here he was. There was a first time for everything, but Dark Lantern wasn’t satisfied with mere begging.

“I believe I’m waiting for a certain S-word, one far too rare in your vocabulary, I’m sure.”

“Sorry! We’re sorry! Is that what you want to hear!?” Pete cried out in desperation. It is what she wanted to hear, and it seemed genuine enough, but she loved the moment of terror. It was everything to her. Many things made her happy—cute puppies, ice cream, a well-executed combo of attacks—but nothing could quite reach the highs of so-called ultra strong men screaming out in agony as she brutalized them. She could even compartmentalize the fact that one of said men was her roommate, she just loved doing it so much!

“Mmmm, not good enough. Say it again and reeeeally mean it this time!” she demanded, a snide smile forming across her cheeks as she did so. The two men weren’t stupid, they could tell when they were being juiced for humiliation, especially as she dug each of her boots deeper into their faces.

“You bitch! Let us go!” William demanded, barely audible. 

He was right. She was a bitch. A super confident mega bitch, to use more posh terminology.

Her savvy ears knew exactly what he was demanding, but she didn’t have to give him an inch if she didn’t want to.

“Hmm? What’s that? I can’t hear you with how much of my boot is smushing your puny little face, big boy!” She cackled like a maniac, relishing in her complete and utter domination over these fools.

“Stop this instant, Dark Lantern,” came a deep, powerful and commanding voice. Dark Lantern leaped up slightly before stomping on William and Pete’s heads, knocking them out cold before turning her attention to the man that leapt from the shadows behind her. To say his form was bulky was the understatement of the century.

He easily surpassed the seven foot threshold in height, standing tall and proud. He didn’t even need to puff his chest out, he was simply so muscular that his pecs were permanently puffed out like a rooster looking to establish dominance. She could say the same thing for his friend, who thought he was being sneaky by waiting for her attention to be drawn away before hopping into view behind her.

Their workout routines might as well have been twins with how the second guy was a carbon copy of the first. Even their outfits of all-black riot gear matched perfectly. Whoever they were, they didn’t look like they were ready to be friends.

“Well, well, well! Isn’t this interesting!” Dark Lantern remarked, not frightened in the slightest by the sight of the two monoliths of men standing on either side of her. “This must be the first time we’re meeting each other, your faces look remarkably un-bruised.”

That’s because I meticulously picked the perfect time to strike, Dark Lantern. I’ve been observing you carefully over the past few years, watching you terrorize hapless men in your free time. It’s sickening to me. You must be stopped.”

“Oh yeah? And just who the hell are you? Most importantly, why do you think you’ll be any different than the myriad of suckers before you?”

“The name’s Hunter. My friend over there who’s not as sneaky as he thinks is named Johnson. We’ve been hired to exterminate you.”

Johnson rolled his eyes.

“Oooh, exterminate me, how cute! Lemme guess, one of my opponents at our scheduled fight tomorrow is afraid of getting his pretty little face punched to a pulp, right? Well, tell him ‘thank you’ for giving me even more big buff guys to beat senseless!”

“Not exactly,” Hunter responded, still as serious as a heart attack. “We’re from a special assassin’s guild, one made up of only the most elite men in the world. We see you as a fundamental threat to the wellbeing of societies everywhere.”

“Sounds to me like you two are just jealous of my strength… and probably with my people skills too. Sheesh, lighten up a bit. We’re not in the post apocalypse!”

Now it was Johnson’s turn to speak up. “Jealous of your strength? Oh, little lady, I assure you that jealousy is no part of our intentions here. We are no average assassins, we are supersoldiers. Our whole purpose is to be better than the layman, to keep order where disorder has struck.”

“Aww, but disorder is so fuuun!” Dark Lantern replied playfully. “In fact, I can’t wait to sow it within your little guild until it collapses under the weight of my awesomeness.”

Even with all the confidence and power in the world, her dorky side did slip through sometimes.

Recognizing that his target was dangerous, he opted to end the conflict in a fashionably quick manner and drew a gun from his person. Before his finger could even reach the trigger, Dark Lantern had destroyed the barrel with a swift swinging kick, leaving his hand containing what remained of a handle and some useless bullets within.

“Tsk, tsk. That’s cheating, Hunty!” Dark Lantern said, waggling her finger back and forth in his face. He tried to grab her disapproving digit, but not even his enhanced muscles could keep up with her speed. Even with punches that were nearly igniting the atmosphere around them with their prowess and pace, her lithe-yet-busty form was simply too slippery to pin down. Johnson just stood there like an idiot, unsure of where his approach should even begin. He feared that if he tried to strike now, he might hit Hunter by accident.

She quickly grew bored of this dance and struck back, shattering his large, pointy nose with her tiny arm until the cartilage scrunched like an accordion. Blood trickled down his face as he staggered backwards. His usually stoic face was now awash with sheer disbelief, not even his fellow supersoldiers had ever hit him that hard, even in death matches where the sole goal was to prove who was worthy to join the highest ranks of the guild and who was worthy to die.

“He’s discombobulated! Dark Lantern goes for her signature pumpkin punisher!” she exclaimed like a commentator at one of her many wrestling matches. To her, this was no different. She was even holding back!

She dashed forward and grappled Hunter, lifting the massive man over her head with just a single arm. The stick-like limb looked as if it could barely hold a ten pound weight, much less a 500 pound man composed of pure muscle. Dark Lantern cocked her arm back, aiming for a nearby telephone pole. Hunter, desperate for any sort of leverage, gripped at whatever he could find—which just so happened to be her mask.

The black mask was torn off her face as Hunter went flying away, instantly sending a surge of fear through Jackie’s body as the confidence of Dark Lantern faded from her soul.

Hunter slammed into the tough wood with enough force to break a weaker man’s spine.

“O-oh no. Oh no, no, no! G-gimme that mask back! P-please?” she asked, as if politeness had any bearing on the outcome of the current conflict. Her posture was far meeker now, hunched and shivering like a lost puppy.

Hunter slowly recovered, coughing up blood as his shaking limbs struggled to stabilize him. He looked at the mask in his hand as if inspecting it for some sort of mind control device, wondering how a simple change of headwear could so radically alter his opponent’s entire personality.

But he wouldn’t have to ask any questions, as Johnson wordlessly exchanged a nod with Hunter. The second assassin was already sneakily running up behind Jackie, ready to stab her in the back.

Despite her blubbering and nervousness, Jackie still effortlessly caught the blade of the knife between her index and middle fingers. He tried to pull the blade from her two dainty digits but like a sword of Authurian legend, it refused to budge even an inch for the unworthy. She then looked Johnson in the eyes with a quivering lip before striking him with a kick so brutal it dislocated his jaw.

The mask may have given her confidence, but it didn’t give her any less strength.

Hunter, still fully believing he had some sort of advantage, charged at Jackie. She tensed up in fear, but still effortlessly dodged every single one of his attacks with rapid precision, her face still twisted with meekness and uncertainty. It was as if her body and face were being piloted by two different people. She then ripped the mask out of his hand with enough force to break three out of five fingers, before judo throwing him so hard over her shoulder that it shattered the concrete beneath him.

“And after a brief wardrobe malfunction, Dark Lantern is back in the fight!” she exclaimed with renewed confidence and vigor, flexing her tiny muscles like it was some sort of cruel joke to the men fighting her. “But what will she do next? How will she top the epicness she’s previously shown to these good people?” she gestured at a couple of raccoons digging through the trash that were spellbound by her impressive moves.

Johnson, managing to recover from his prior injuries by painfully locking his jaw back into place, didn’t last much longer as he attempted to attack Dark Lantern again. Still holding his knife between her two fingers, she then twisted it up into a little metal ball, the steel offering no resistance to her as she morphed it to her whims.

As if the compressed metal was no different than a paper football, she laid it flat on her palm before flicking it with her other finger. It zipped forward like a bullet, striking Johnson right in Nature’s snooze button, sending him toppling backwards like a man-shaped skyscraper and knocking him out cold. She could’ve easily killed him—after all, the assassins had made their intentions more than clear about what her fate would be—but that would be unsportsmanlike!

“Requesting backup! I need backup! This is not going well!” Hunter shouted into his radio. Immediately, the full force of his institution sprung into action. If he of all people was in distress, this was truly a force to be reckoned with.

Dark Lantern simply watched with a smile on her face as he radioed for reinforcements. “Finally, maybe you losers can offer me a real challenge! Heh, but probably not. Let me guess, more no-so-supersoldier asses for me to whoop?”

“Not exactly,” replied a mechanized voice from the sky. She looked up with excitement as a towering mech suit flew in from the sky, landing right in the middle of the empty street. “This little baby is usually reserved for entire militias, looks like you’ve really pissed off the Guild.”

“Heh, I tend to have that effect on people,” Dark Lantern replied with a nonchalant shrug, as if the massive metal body before her was just another unruly opponent for her to talk smack to then pummel. “Alright, the final bout of the night! Dark Lantern versus Mighty Mecha! May the best killing machine win!” she declared, holding out her hand as if this were just another friendly spar.

The titanic machine replied by firing a shoulder missile at her.

“Hey! Rude!” Dark Lantern chided, effortlessly catching the missile in her hand before blowing out the flames from its exhaust with a huff one might use to extinguish a birthday candle. It fell uselessly to the ground afterwards, but not before putting a sizable lump on Hunter’s head. “You don’t see me swinging chairs or golf clubs at people like this is some sort of underground ring. I have standards for my fights!”

“Shut up,” the man in the mech replied, unleashing a barrage of gatling gun bullets from his right wrist. A series of perfectly-choreographed flips from Dark Lantern effortlessly dodged the hailstorm of lead, leading her right to the back of the mech where a blindspot was present in his sightline.

“Ugh, stand still you little shit,” he commanded uselessly.

“Nope! Not until you fight fair!” she added, ripping off his weaponry one by one as he attempted and failed to retaliate. She was like a swarm of mosquitoes, an exercise in futility to defeat as a lumbering giant. Once all the excess weapons had been removed from his persons like a trip through the TSA checkpoint, Dark Lantern saw fit to finally engage properly. Of course, the man in the mech was still furiously attempting to catch her on his person, not knowing she had long since departed.

“And she’s coming from the top rope! Watch out!” Dark Lantern shouted to the heavens as she leapt from the nearby fence, elbowing the mighty mech with enough force to tear a hole straight through its stomach.

Warning klaxons blared from all sides as the mech’s systems began to fail. The supersoldier exited the cramped cockpit to avoid its inevitable explosion, only to find a far more cramped spot as Dark Lantern’s thighs wrapped around his beefy neck. He fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering as she choked the consciousness out of him. His limbs flailed wildly for a moment, but soon he fell limp like all the rest.

“Ding, ding, ding! Looks like that’s all, folks!” Dark Lantern exclaimed, rocketing off of the mech pilot’s neck and jumping up and down for joy. “Tonight’s champion is Dark Lantern! Her perfect record remains untarnished, even after some unsavory behavior from her opponents!”

She took off her mask intentionally this time, wiping a single bead of sweat from her brow. “Golly, th-thank goodness I smacked all of these guys so hard they lost all memory of m-my face. Being an anonymous wrestler is half of my appeal! A-all those cute boys just love the mystery!” 

Jackie knew that when the assassins woke up from their little naps, they’d know better than to mess with her.

She put the mask back on, then flashed a threatening look at the nearby security camera that had captured the entire incident. The inanimate machine was so frightened it instantly deleted its entire roll of footage out of fear. She chuckled, each rising laugh brimming with smugness.

If this were any other day and she was never exposed, she would’ve loved the additional attention. Hell, she would’ve probably ran up and mugged for the grainy camera, striking several mocking poses. She lived for the heel life, carnally desiring more opposition to throw themselves at her like the fodder they were.

But for now, she accepted her low profile civilian identity. She didn’t need thousands of fans mobbing her every time she left her dorm room. Besides… The attention freaked her out a bit. At least the mask gave her the confidence to operate from day to day.

She needed the mask, and the mask needed her. After all, could the mask alone enter strength contests with men as wide as she was tall and still effortlessly come out on top? She thought not!

Dark Lantern scooped up the fainted Pete, carefully carrying his bruised body so that it would incur no further damages. When he’d awake tomorrow, she’d tell him about the crazy binge drinking afterparty that he and William engaged in, while helping him nurse his wounds back to health. He’d thank her for being there for him, and he’d then apologize for taking her to a party she didn’t belong in, that it was smart for her to leave when she did, as his hazy memory seems to recall some sort of big fight occurring.

Jackie would agree, then all would be right in the world again.