Chapter 13

The two lovers spent some time enjoying each other's bodies, but Ann was anxious to try out her Black Cat persona. Billy switched to his Lizard Men persona, but he changed the uniform to all-black to match what his sister was wearing. They told their parents that they were going out to hunt bad guys, and would be back in time to go to school. Neither parent was upset by this announcement because they knew that Genie would take good care of them.

They went out through the garage via the back door of that building. They did not want to advertise to the neighborhood that they were on the prowl. They decided to head downtown, as they felt that was the place most likely to have evildoers wandering around at this time of night.

Genie added the capability of levitation to them, and they were able to fly to their destination. They both told Genie that they wanted to keep this ability, as it was too convenient and valuable to give up. They both were fans of the Batman cartoons, so they flew to the top of the tallest building that was nearby. The problem was, they were now 15 stories above the street, and they had no way of knowing what was going on down on the ground.

Ann asked Genie to increase the sensitivity of their hearing and their ability to see details at a distance, no matter what the ambient light level happened to be. This gave them a couple of Batman's abilities without having to worry with his "toys." They had to do a little adjusting of both abilities to get the most from them, but they were soon able to see and hear what was going on in the alleys and on the side streets 15 stories below them.

One of the first things they heard, was a grunt of pain just barely preceded by the thud of a blunt instrument impacting a person's head. Ah, that was what they were looking for. They jumped from the roof of the building they were standing on and adjusted the levitation characteristics so that they fell very fast, but slowed almost to a stop as they contacted the ground. Hey, that was fun! They would have to do that again when they did not have more important things to worry about.

They saw about 20 feet away, a man lying on the ground with blood running from his head. Two men were going through his pockets and didn't even notice that they now had company.

Genie, provide me with a cell phone so that I can call 911! A phone popped into Billy's hand and he called 911 for police and medical help. At first, the dispatcher did not believe that Billy was making a legitimate call; however, with Genie's help he was able to put enough intensity into his voice to convince the dispatcher to get help to his location.

Meanwhile, Black Cat had jumped to attack the two muggers. They literally did not know what had hit them. She did not pull her punches, and the two muggers very nearly died for their sins. Between the broken bones, the cuts, and the bruises, the two muggers were in worse shape than the man they had attacked.

Black Cat and Lizard Man levitated about 100 feet into the air where they would not be easily noticed, yet could keep an eye on the situation until the authorities showed up. The EMS (Emergency Medical Service) showed up before the cops, so the two heroes were glad that they had stayed around just in case more evildoers happened on the scene. Once the cops arrived, the two heroes returned to their place 15 stories in the air.

They surveyed much of the neighborhood, but they did not find anything else that needed their attention, so they moved to a different rooftop. This was in a low income neighborhood, and they noticed several people who appeared to be returning from working a late shift.

They noticed a woman of around 25 years old who was being followed by four late teen boys. This definitely did not look good, so they moved in to be closer to the potential trouble. They followed for about two blocks until the woman neared an alley. At that point, one of the boy shouted, "GET HER!"

The boys rushed the woman and dragged her into the alley. They pulled her deep into the alley, and one of the boys shoved a ball gag into her mouth. They started to strip the woman, but they had hardly started when Black Cat and Lizard Man showed up. This was a repeat of the attack on the two muggers. The four teens had so many broken bones that they could not have escaped if they had tried.

Both of the heroes had a special dislike for rapists. They cut away the boys' pants and squeezed their balls hard enough to crush them. The woman had fainted, so they needed EMS help for five people. Lizard Man called 911 and happened to get the same dispatcher this time as before. He made sure that there was enough authority in his voice that she did not question him this time.

They repeated their levitation trick and waited for the appearance of the medical and police help. Once that showed up, they decided that it was getting late so they had better return home.

They flew home and changed back into their normal human form; however, Ann did pause for a few seconds in her original Black Cat uniform just to tease Billy: it worked! It was a couple of hours before they had to get up to get ready for school, so they spent the time enjoying sex with each other. When their parents got up, they went downstairs to eat breakfast with them.

The rest of the school year was routine for Billy and Ann. Billy continued to play football, and Central HS went on to win the Regional Championship. When the time came, Billy played baseball for Central. There was no way a short stop could carry a whole team through a full season, so they did not make the tournament this year, but that was usual for Central HS. Everybody was happy that they just had their first winning season in 13 years. Meanwhile, Ann "suffered" through her last year in Middle School. Her consolation was that she would be joining Billy at Central HS for the following year.

Every chance they had, they went out to fight crime in their persona of Black Cat and Crusher. Billy had made so many changes in Lizard Man that he decided to adopt the new name which he thought was hilarious. They normally went out after they had finished their homework, as that only took them an hour or less now that they both had the aid of Genie.

Because of Genie, neither one of them ever needed to sleep unless they simply wanted to. They were both so high on the emotional stimulation of being superhero crime fighters, that they never wanted to waste time sleeping. Between crime fighting, sex, and school activities, they had almost no time for anything else. They did make some time available for family activities, but their parents could already see their children slipping away to become independent adults.

The usual routine for Crusher and Black Cat was to patrol after dark in the high-crime areas of the city. Occasionally, they did report fires or accidents and helped out when it was necessary, but their main activity was directed toward catching criminals. They usually split their time between flying slowly about looking for trouble and standing watch from a tall building. The flying was so much fun that they usually did that, but they did realize that there was an advantage to quietly watching for trouble from a fixed location.

With Genie's help, they had established a secure telephone, but it had some odd properties. Its number was 222, which was also the letters CBC. This was not a physical telephone, but a virtual one maintained by Genie. The number received many calls a day, and they were all screened by Genie. He was unfailingly polite, even to the crank calls, and nobody ever received a busy signal.

The number was publicized heavily, and it was not long before everyone in the city knew of the "magic number for superhero help." They even paid the telephone company the standard commercial rate for the telephone connection, even though the telephone company had nothing to do with the physical/metaphysical connection. Genie handled that too, and the telephone company accountants were completely mystified by how the payment appeared on their books every month. Nevertheless, they got their money, so there was nothing for them to complain about.

All of the security services in the city were also tapped by the 222 calls, so the two crime fighters often knew about trouble before the regular authorities even heard of the call. Normally, Crusher and Black Cat did not respond to the calls that the regular police could handle alone, but they did show up if there were guns, knives, or explosives involved.

Mostly, they found themselves responding to armed robberies if the call came through police channels. They had discovered that Genie could teleport them to a crime scene almost instantaneously, and the situation was often well in hand by the time the cops arrived.