Meteor Woman, Issue #7 (Man to Hot Superheroine TG) (Patreon)

By FoxFaceStories

Burt may live in a world of superheroes and supervillains, but he’s just a regular burglar trying to support his sickly mother and teenage sister with ill-gotten gains. But when he is hired to help break into a superhero vault facility, Burt accidentally triggers an artefact that gives him the power to turn into Meteor Woman, the superstrong and incredibly busty heroine. Now juggling two lives, Burt tries to stay under the radar even as his super person becomes an increasingly huge sensation.

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Issue 7: Card Activated

Alexis couldn’t stop talking about Meteor Woman’s visit. Ma didn’t believe her until the footage was posted online and shared by her peers at school. Overnight, Alexis’ bullies had practically fallen silent, and Alexis was the one everyone wanted to talk to. Burt smiled from a distance, trying to act nonchalant and uninquisitive, though not so much as to not be suspicious either. A prideful part of him loved lapping up the attention through the proxy of his male self, and that included hearing his little sister gush all about Meteor Woman.

“Bro, you should have seen her! She was incredible.”

“I bet she was, with those huge cans.”

She stuck out her tongue at him. “I’m serious! Mom, make him stop!”

Sally was feeling better that day, and was nestled up on the sofa, softly chuckling at the interplay between her children.

“Can’t, Alexis! Never could! Burt, you should have more respect for women.”

Still, from her amused smile, he knew she had that same thought: seriously, why is the costume that . . . showy? Certainly, it was something he was still getting used to, though at least he could be hella empowered even while giving everyone a show.

“Apologies, ma,” he said. “I’ll retract my comment about the two most obvious things about Meteor Woman. Still, I can’t believe you got to meet her, kiddo. And to fly with her!”

“Well, it was thanks to you, big bro,” she beamed, flashing her braces. “She owed you a favour! I can’t believe you never told me you met her!”

Burt pulled at his collar, immediately remembering the made-up ‘meeting’ he’d told Alexis. Got to keep all the lies from crashing together, moron. Should I write this down? No, that’s stupid as hell. Why not flash a sign to Blue Trident while I’m at it? Ugh, I guess I’m already nearly ‘flashing’ him whenever we interact anyway.

“Well, I mean, I only saw her for a bit. It was just some woman that I helped after a security scuffle. I mean, it was pretty hairy, and the man was a drugged up loon with a knife, but I only saw her briefly. Told her that you were her biggest fan and gave me an anonymous number to ring. I didn’t expect her to actually turn up. You know those flaky superhero types.”

Alexis rolled her eyes. “Meteor Woman is anything but flaky. She’s fucking awesome, Burt.”

“Language,” he and Sally said at the same time, but then Sally erupted into a fit of coughing, and both son and daughter ran to her side.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she wheezed. “Just need rest. Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m always worrying about you, Mom,” Burt said, whose heart was racing a thousand pulses a minute. It took a moment for him to calm down, and for his blood to unfreeze. “C’mon, let’s get you back to bed.”

He helped his mother back to her room and got Alexis to stay to clean up their lunch. When Sally was back in her bed and her monitor hooked up, he grimaced at her heartbeat. Her vitals were still taking a beating, but it was a slow, monotonous decline.

And I’d thought this was a good day, he thought. I’ve got superpowers and I can’t do a fucking thing.

He wiped his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to face her. “I’ll make a call to the free service line,” he said, “and we’ll book another appointment too. If things get bad we’ll organise a ward visit. I’ve saved up some money and we’ll just eat lighter for a spell. We’ll get you the treatment, Ma. The drug price went down a little yesterday. It might be a trend.”

But Sally just shook her head.

“We can’t afford it,” she said bluntly. “Besides, I want Alexis on the Hero Dome trip. She couldn’t go last time. I paid for it yesterday.”

What.

“You - what? You paid for it?”

She closed her eyes, and once again Burt could see just how tired his mother was. Just how over it she clearly was. She opened them again and nodded.

“I don’t think I have long, Burt. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you the life you deserved. I’m sorry things didn’t work out. I don’t want you to think I’ve given up, or that I’m favouring Alexis, but I think I just don’t have as much fight in me anymore. But she’s got a future, and so do you. I know it. And if I can spend some of my last few weeks giving her something that she’ll be able to look back on and remember fondly, and know that her mother was able to provide it for her . . .”

Burt was trembling. The world was falling out from under his feet. He knew Ma had savings put aside, meagre as they were, but the intention was that they’d be put to her medical expenses when the time for proper treatment came. Her cellular disease was rare and expensive to treat, so why do this?

“Mom, you’re being stupid. You can’t do this. I told you I’ve been saving.”

“I know, honey,” she said, patting his hand. “I know. But we can’t all be Meteor Woman.”

His heart stopped. For just a moment, he thought that she suspected the truth. Except she just chuckled. “Or any other hero for that matter. I’m only human. I have to do what’s right by my daughter, and my son. I’ve put aside money to go to you as well, don’t worry. You use it to build yourself a better life, and when the time comes, take care of Alexis, okay?”

It was impossible to stop the trembling. He was shaking. Tears boiled in his eyes, and his intestines twisted like a snake inside his stomach. He was struggling to breathe.

“Mom, this is just the sickness speaking.”

“It isn’t, honey. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be the mother you deserve.”

“That’s bullshit, Mom. I’ll get the money back and -”

“Don’t you dare. Alexis is going on that trip. It’ll be a big surprise. I know she’s been down about it. I don’t want to drain you anymore.”

“You never did,” he said, swallowing his emotions down. “You never did.”

“Thank you, honey. My precious son. Just . . . let me sleep a while. We can argue later. Please.”

He nodded and left her, barely able to contain his emotions. He had to put a brave face on when Alexis caught up with him.

“Is Ma alright?” she asked. “I was going to show her some more of the videos, but if she’s bad-”

“She’s just sleeping,” Burt said. “Everything’s okay, kiddo.”

“Really? No offence, you look like shit. Please Burt, tell me what’s going on?”

“Just life getting to me. I need to go up for air, Alexis. You stay here. Just want to spend some time in the clouds.”

That he did. Literally.

***

The wannabe villain calling himself The Red Rocket fell to the ground of the empty stadium he’d landed in, unconscious. He’d been a surprisingly difficult capture after he raided the Second Bank of Star City. His power set came from a technological suit that used a number of boosters to propel him about on all fours, and his lasers had actually worked to counter her own more than once. It had been the first time in a few days she’d managed to feel pain as Meteor Woman, and something about that invigorated her after the conversation with Sally three days prior. She was ripping off segments of his suit so he couldn’t escape again when she noticed a familiar symbol imprinted on one of his pauldrons: the grilled mask of Hyperion.

“What the - hey, wake up, bozo. Did you steal this shit from Hyperion? You know he’s an A-lister villain, right?”

The lanky man in the suit laughed as she tore off his helmet. “Stole it from him? He gave it to me! Haven’t you heard? He’s got storage facilities all over the city, and he wants you brought down, Meteor Woman! There’s a big prize in it for whoever gets your cape to him.”

Fuck. FUUUUUUUUCK. Fuck fuck fuck. I do not want that psycho up against me. He’s the one that put me in this situation in the first place. Thank God he didn’t know my real name even when he hired me.

“Really?” she said, trying to play it cool. “And you really thought you could take down me? How does Hyperion plan to get my cape when he’s deep in a max security prison?”

She loomed over the fallen would-be villain, letting him take in her tall and muscular form, the one that had just beaten his ass. Sure, he was also getting a look at her two most noticeable features, but the intimidation factor seemed to work.

“All I know is that he’s got guys, okay? He just wants your cape!”

“Is that why you tried to tear it off me?”

He grinned. “Well, I bet you’d sure look even hotter naked, right?”

She punched the earth next to his face, leaving a deep fissure. He quickly lost the smirk. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Haven’t you seen all the memes?”

“The memes?”

“About your costume? On the internet?”

“Dude, I am about to throw you into the sky again, this time without your rocket attached to you.”

“Yes, fine, yes! I wanted to take your costume, but obviously it turns out I have to kill you to get it. Which I am obviously not doing.”

“No, you are obviously not,” came a female voice. “In fact, rocket man, I’d say you’re going to tell the Hero Society a lot more about Hyperion’s prison wager, once you’re in custody.”

It was Flame Dancer, her red hair flickering like living fire on her head as she surfed a wave of flame down to the stadium ground. She was accompanied by Ice Shard, who had her arms crossed, and was looking a little dour. One might even say ‘frosty.’

Good, I’ve got their attention, at least.

“Hey Flame Dancer,” she tried to say casually. “Caught this one for you.”

“Appreciated,” she said. “Though please don’t punch the home ground of my favourite team. It’s bad luck.”

“You’re a Bulls fan? Huh, I thought you would have better taste.”

Ice Shard rolled her eyes as she encased the defeated villain in ice, then lifted the shard psychically into the air.

“Can we just get this over with, already? Some of us have places to be, and standards to uphold.” Her eyes flickered up and down Meteor Woman’s costume, lingering on her bare thighs, bare arms, and finally on her nearly-bare chest through her boob window.

Oh, so she’s one of those women. The judgy kind. Or jealous? She’s kinda flat as a pancake, but then her suit is pretty covering, I guess, so who knows what she’s smuggling there. Fuck, I’m actuall smug about this, aren’t I? Quick, better think of a clever retort.

“Well, to be fair, it doesn’t look like you have a lot to ‘uphold,’” she said, thrusting out her own larger chest for emphasis.

Flame Dancer’s eyes went wide. Ice Shard just froze, appropriately.

“And what might you mean by that?” she said.

Meteor Woman pointed at the floating villain encased in ice. “He’s a small figure, right? You don’t seem to be exactly struggling with him. Why, what did you think I meant?”

The woman went red-faced, and Flame Dancer disguised her laugh with a well-planned cough. “Well, let’s avoid a cliche hero v hero battle, shall we?” she said sweetly. “We just came to help, but it seems you’re on top of it, property damage aside.”

Meteor Woman grimaced. “Uh, yeah. Sorry. We were pingponging through the city a bit.”

“We noticed,” Ice shard said, icily.

“It happens,” her partner replied. “Do you mind if we take this one off your hands? No offence, but we work with local law enforcement. I’m not sure you have such a deal, being so new.”

“Yeah, I kind of am making this up as I go along-”

Ice Shard sighed.

“-but it’s good that you’re here, actually. I’ve decided to accept Blue Trident’s invitation. I’d like to see the Hero Dome, maybe even join the Hero Society.”

Flame Dancer folded her arms. She had always been nice to Meteor Woman from the very beginning, but the busty blonde hadn’t forgotten that the fiery redhead had also secretly told Blue Trident that she thought the former male was ‘hiding something.’

“Is that so? Good to hear. I’m sure Trident will be very . . . pleased to hear that.”

Ice Shard groaned. “That’s one way of putting it.”

Meaning the gorgeous watery hunk really likes the look of me. God knows he’ll break his neck struggling not to look down at my cleavage if I’m there all the time. God, why couldn’t the Meteor have made me a male hero!?

“Look, barrier for entry is pretty high,” Flame Dancer said, dimming her flames for a moment so that her red hair fell down. Like a lot of superheroes, she was hot as hell, and not just literally, but Meteor Woman was surprised to see that there was a weariness to her as well. A human fragility up close that as Burt she’d never thought could be there. “Still, Trident is impressed with you, and you did great work at the tower saving the hostages. And the media loves you. Particularly that Ralph Riley fellow.”

She gave a meaningful glance, and now Meteor Woman was the one that was blushing.

“He’s just a nice guy.”

“Mm-hm. Very nice. And very glowing in his reporting of you. Look, cards on the table, Meteor Woman, I don’t really know you. None of us do, and while Ice Shard here is more obviously sceptical, all we’ve got to go on is the legend of the Meteor and the fact that there were other Meteor Women operating in the past, and that was before photography existed. So we’ll take this slow, okay? You can access the Hero Dome and get access to some of our perks, but we always slow walk membership, okay? And at some point, the mask comes off - figuratively speaking, since you don’t have one for some reason - and we need to learn your real identity for security purposes.”

“Makes sense to me,” she replied happily, given that she had no intention at all of giving a real identity. I could have one of my contacts make one, though.

“Good,” she said. “I want to trust you, and I’ve got a good feeling about you for the most part, but you sort of showed up on the scene. Us heroes can be a little . . . catty.”

Her eyes wandered to Ice Shard, who sighed wearily. “Whatever. Let’s just take the bimbo and go.”

“Not a bimbo,” Meteor Woman said. “I can’t help that my tits are this big, or the boob window, okay? The aesthetic chose me, alright? Not the other way around! I can’t help but show it off.”

“But you do show it off,” she relied. “I’ve seen the pictures.”

“Look at me? What pose can I make to make these jugs look smaller? Look, just because you’re jealous doesn’t mean-”

“Jealous!? Of that ridiculous body! At least I can see my toes!”

Flame Dancer just slapped her forehead. “Let’s just get to the Hero Dome now, okay?”

“Now?”

“Right now, before you and Ice Shard kill each other or worse, start becoming a pair of rival mean girls. So put away the mud and don’t even think of wrestling, because I promise you the media - and the internet - will have an absolute field day with it, okay?”

The two of them awkwardly gave their okays to the senior heroine.

“Good,” she said sweetly. “Let’s get you to the Hero Dome. Good thing we can all fly, right? You still got your card, blondie?”

Meteor Woman flashed the one that Trident had given her.

“Great,” Flame Dancer said. “I bet big blue will be real happy to know you kept that in your cleavage.” And then with a smirk from her and a grunt from Ice Shard, the pair took to the sky.

Oh. Yeah. Whoops.

“It’s not like this costume has pockets!” Meteor Woman cried, before following after them.