Useless: Male Superhero in a Reverse World
Chapter 9

Nancy Everetta entered a spacious high rise apartment and twirled around with a smile on her face.  She leaned forward and smiled. “What do you think of your new home?”

Dan was amazed when he entered the building, but now that he could see the views of the city, he was gobsmacked. “Why are you letting me live here?”

Nancy beckoned him.  “Here, have a look out the window.”  She tugged him by the cuff of his shirt and held it for a moment before letting go.  “Well, we do this for all of our top talent.  Our customers are special, and we need to give our boys a certain amount of protection.”

“Protection?”  His phone buzzed again.  It was going like that all morning, but he had ignored it because of his business meeting with Ms. Everetta.

“You know how some girls get when they sow their wild oats.  Some of them think they’re in love and get a tad possessive.  This building’s security team has a few super-abled people to make sure the tenants don’t have to worry about such things.”

Dan thought of Silvi’s spontaneous visit and how natural it felt. “Does that mean I can’t invite supes here?”

She shrugged.  “That’s up to you. Just make sure you update the front desk.”  She took out a key from her purse and handed it to him. “This is yours.  Do you need help moving?”

“Actually, most of my stuff wouldn't really get used much here.  I can pack most of my clothes in a suitcase.  There’s already a gigantic TV in this apartment, and the whole flat seems like it’s furnished.  Is there a storage locker in the basement?”

“Yep, a lot of boys do that.  They move on after a year or two.  Though I hope you can stay on for a bit longer.”  She winked.

“I’ll do my best.”  His phone buzzed again.  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.  My apartment was a little cramped.”

“We hope that you’ll make Cloud Nine more than enough money to make up for it.  How many nights do you think you’ll be able to do service?”

“Would five days be ok for you for now?”

“That’s more than enough.  Once you get higher in the rankings, you may even want to bring that down to three.  The big whales are going to want personal dates with you outside of the club.  When that starts to happen,”  She pointed her thumb up. “That’s when we charge the big bucks.”

Dan had a worried look on his face.  “Won’t this put a financial burden on the supes?  Can they afford it?”

“The S-tier supes can.  And anyone below that shouldn’t really be with you.  We don’t want to burn you out.”  

Dan gave her a fist bump.  “That’s awesome.”  

Nancy turned away awkwardly. “So your basic schedule is going to be Thursday through Saturday, until your appointments are all complete.  Usually nine pm until two am.  I’ve sent you an invite to see your schedule and who your clients are.”

Dan went to the app. “Hey Nancy,  I think something’s wrong.  I don’t have any main party time, and most of my appointments are with Sally Comet and Red Berzerker.”

Nancy shrugged.  “Seems like you left a very good impression.  I think you’re going to be a top earner in no time.  Since you’re booked up, you don’t need to do any drinking at the club.”

“Well, I hope they don’t get bored of me.”

“I doubt that will happen any time soon hon. I have to head out.  See you tonight.”  Nancy walked with swinging hips to the apartment’s front door and looked back, her catlike eyes flashing. “Make sure you eat properly, you’re going to need your strength.”

He chuckled and waved her goodbye. “Don’t I know it.”

…

Dan opened the door to his old apartment and finally took the time to look at his messages.  He got a huge number of texts from a new number.

“Hi!  This is Sally!”...

“I got your number from Sister In Law, hope that’s ok.”...

“I had a really good time.”...

“I heard you’re becoming a host at Cloud Nine.  I booked up all the appointments I could!”...

“Hello?”...

“🙁You there?”...

There were a few more messages that got progressively more desperate.

“Fuck me…”  He muttered. “I’ve got to call her back.”

“No need.”  He heard a voice whisper.  Dan looked around to see someone curled up against the corner of the room, she was wearing jeans and a sweater looking like she was the girl next door.

Shit, I’m on the shit list of one of the strongest superheroes in the world.

Dan ran to her and got down on his knees to have a better look.  She had been crying, there was a waste paper basket full of used tissues, and her cute face was puffy and red.

“Sally!  What’s wrong!? If you’re upset about me not texting you back,  I was busy with the boss setting up my job and my new apartment.”

“Really?”  She sniffed.

“Yeah.  Sally, they’re letting me have a furnished apartment downtown,  it’s a big step up from this dump, and I didn’t want to disappoint my new boss.”

She started to cry again. “I thought you hated me.”

“No girl.  No.”  He wrapped his arms around her. “If I knew it was you I would have texted you back.  I didn’t know you had my number.”

He held her for a good long while until she stirred.  “That’s my number Dan,  you can call me whenever you want.  I’m sorry for getting upset, and breaking your balcony window.”  She pointed to a perfect circle cut out of the pane of glass. “I’ll pay for it to be replaced.”

“Don’t worry about it baby.”  He kissed her blond hair. “Let’s get your face washed.  Did you want to grab a bite to eat?  I don’t have to go to work until around eight.”

She calmed down and got up. “OK.”  Sally took a deep breath that hitched a little and walked to the bathroom and closed the door.  Dan’s phone buzzed again.  He looked down and saw that it was Silvi.

“Sister In Law told me that Sally asked for your number. Is she there with you?”...

…”Yes,  she’s pretty upset.  I didn’t get to my texts for a while, she broke into my apartment.”

There was a pause, then the start of a reply.

“Be careful with her, Dan.  She’s not had much experience with men.. like none.  She had a sheltered upbringing.  If you break her heart,  all the Blazer’s including me are going to have your ass.”

“Right, we’ll have to have a talk as well.  You’re my first appointment.”

“See you then.”

“Ready!?”  Dan felt two arms like coils of steel wrap around him from behind and squeeze him tightly.  He quickly shut off his phone.

“Yeah.  What did you have in mind?”  He tried to turn around, but her strength told him she just wanted to hug him.

She whispered in his ear. “I know of a good Korean restaurant in the area.  Have you tried bibimbap?”  

He laughed. “No.  But I’ll try anything twice.”

“Great!  My treat!”  She released him and he breathed in deeply.

The pair had asked to be tucked in the corner of the Korean restaurant.  Dan had ordered the bibimbap that Sally recommended, and she had braised short ribs.  

Sally looked down at his sizzling rock bowl of food.  “How do you like it?”

“It’s delicious!  I like how the rice gets crispy in the stone bowl.  How’s your ribs?”

“It’s my favorite.  Here, have a bite.”  She took a morsel with her chopsticks and offered it. 

He opened his mouth and took it. “That is good!  It’s a little like teriyaki.  You should have told me to get it.”

She giggled. “Then I couldn’t have fed it to you.”

There was a pause in the conversation as Sally tried to hide her longing for him.

Dan tried to break the tension.  “So Sally, I’m not from your world.  All I know about you is from your Wikipedia page.  Are you really that awesome?”

“Most of it is true.”  She blushed. “But it doesn’t tell the whole story.”

“Talk to me,  are you originally from Boston?”

“No, I come from a quiet town in eastern Connecticut,  you wouldn’t know it.”  She stirred her coke with her straw. “I was an only child and I spent a lot of time out in the woods.”

“Any friends?”

Sally shook her head. “Mom and Dad were afraid that I might hurt someone.  They knew I had superpowers since I was seven years old.  But I had plenty of friends at school!  I was class president every year I was in highschool.”

“So you didn’t have much time to let your hair down.”

Sally sighed and looked up.  “Well, what about you?  What was your life like?”

“I was a nerd.  I played lots of xbox and a lot of street hockey.  I had a girlfriend or two in highschool but we drifted apart in college.”

“What did you study?”  She sipped her coke.

“Computer science.  I ended up doing websites when I was out in the real world, and I did that until I came here.”

“Until you were murdered you mean?”

He chuckled hollowly “Attempted.  I fell through a rip in the fabric of reality.” 

“Can you tell me what really happened?”  Her hand reached out to touch him but hesitated.

“Not much to tell really.  I caught my version of Richard Hazel cheating on me with the girlfriend I had at the time.  Her double in this world was Cygnus.  I was upset.  It was that day I found out he was a manipulative sociopath.  He threw me right over the railing when he thought I would spill the beans on their relationship.”

“Cheating?”

“Ah, right.  Well you see back home we had the same number of men and women.  Our relationships were mostly monogamous, and partners were expected to remain faithful.”

“No, I get it.  Women who try to get more than one man are scorned.  The men usually drop her and she has a bad rep for the rest of her life.”

“What if the man seduces her?”

“Heh, I don’t really know.  I never read male romance novels.   Do you hate Cygnus and Richard?”

“They’re not the same people in this world as the last one.  At least I hope not.”  He gritted his teeth. “It’s just hard to see them and not go back to that moment, you know?  Well, enough about that.  I want to ask a favor.”

Her face perked up. “What?”

“I want you to teach me how to be a superhero one day.”  He wiped his mouth.  “I still haven’t really gotten to do it.”

She wiggled in her seat and smiled.  “I have so much fun doing it.  Having a team makes it so much easier.  Sister In Law does half the work, but I could still help you there.  Sure!  I could teach you. I still have my law enforcement textbooks.  It’s a lot of work to do the job right.  You have to worry about preserving evidence, collateral damage, the rights of the accused, how people can use the ones you love against you.”  She gulped. “That’s one of the reasons why I never dated.”

“You were afraid they would be hurt?”

“Yeah.  Deep down, that might be the reason why I fell so hard for you.  You can’t get hurt.”  She realized what she said and turned deep red. “I take that back!  Forget what I said!”

Dan put his hands on hers and squeezed gently. “Sally, don’t worry about me rejecting you.  We do have to have that conversation though.”

“What conversation?”  She smiled nervously.

“I want you to understand what you and I can’t become.”

Sally gulped and went pale.

“I work as a host in a club.  The boundaries of our relationship, if you wanted to pursue it, would be dictated by that.  Can you handle being in a relationship with someone as tainted as I am?”

“You’re not tainted!” Her eyes glowed with a dull red light.

Dan raised his hand, not wanting to test his invulnerability against her eye-beams. “I’m going to be servicing several women each week.  They may be women you don’t care for.  Can you tolerate that?”

“I don’t think I have a choice.”  She ran her fingers up and down his, as if to test if they were real.

“You do have a choice Sally.  I bet there are thousands of guys who’d love to be with such a sweet and pretty girl as yourself.  Good guys.  You could be happy.”

“You think a boy would want a girl who lost their virginity before they had their first kiss?” She started to tear up. “I was so afraid of boys I had to use a gloryhole in order to muster the courage to do it.”

He reached over the table and cupped the back of her head and brought her in for a kiss.  She kissed back, uncaring about the the brazenness of it.  Quite a few patrons looked at the public display of affection and grew agitated.

He sat back down and put his hands on the table. “I may not be the right one for you Sally, and maybe we’ve both done things that this world thinks we can’t undo.  But, I will be here for you.  When you find the right guy, and you’re ready to move on, nothing would make me happier.”

She started to tear up again. She thought to herself, no one is going to be Mr. Right compared to you.  What she said was, “can I see your new apartment?  I know you have work, but I really would like to cuddle for a little while until I can see you at the club tomorrow.”

He smiled and got up. “Sure thing Sally.”

…

Later that night, Silvi and Dan collapsed onto the silk sheets of the round bed of the “Imperial Suite” of Cloud Nine.  Their bodies were covered in sweat, and both sported contented smiles.  Dan snuggled the fiery redhead, knowing he had some time to just be with her.

Silvy grabbed his arm and ran her hand up and down his muscles.  “That was amazing, as always.”  She sighed. “How did things go with Sally?”

“As good as it could have gone, given the circumstances.”  He flopped on his back. “She’s so sweet, it’s a shame she can’t find a good man.”

“And what about me? Hmm?  Don’t I deserve a good little guy I can live happily ever after?”

“No.”  He pet her from the curves of her ass to her firm breasts. “You’ll have to settle for me.”  He kissed her.  “You, my friend, are the one that won’t be able to get away.”  He straddled her. “I’ll keep you in my web of seduction forever!”  

She felt something between her legs that told her he was ready.  “I don’t think you have enough time, Danny.  Also, I don’t have enough cash this month.”

He slumped.  “Are we still on for the weekend?  You need to teach me how to fight properly.”

Silvy scratched his back leaving long red welts down his ribcage. “I’m going to love teaching you a lesson.”