In the end, I agreed to come with her. In my original reality I knew some of the avengers and they were pretty cool people. It'd be nice seeing them again and its not like I had anything really urgent to do, so I could afford to mess around with Taylor a little.

  Besides I felt bad for her. Even now, I could tell that she had been isoted and lonely for a long time. I might actually be the first person other than her dad to treat her kindly in a long, long time. Her eyes lit up as she kept nerding out about the avengers. She was really into superheroes and vilins and we started talking about their powers, who was strongest, or who could beat who.

  More and more Taylor started to break out of her shell…that was until some trashy asshole woman approached us. She was wearing a soccer shirt and cargo shorts, porized sungsses.

  "Hey babe," she drawled, giving me a sleazy grin I'm sure she thought was seductive. I hated the word babe, no man should ever be called babe. "You can do better than your dike of a girlfriend here." she pointed at Taylor with her thumb, not even looking at her. "How about I show you what a real woman is like?"

  "No thanks." I said, rejecting her outright. Guys had to have standards: no crazy bitches and no ogres.

  But the woman persisted, "Oh, come on, darling"--I cringed at the nickname--"My pussy is so tight that it blow your mind. I bet that loose pussy of your girlfriend can't satisfy you and-"

  Taylor, in a rare dispy of courage, got in front of me. She was shaking with nerves, "H-he, ah, he said no!"

  Being blueballed like this, predictably enraged the middle aged woman and she shoved Taylor harshly. Despite having a beer belly, she packed some muscle and Taylor was scrawny, so it ended with Taylor falling to the ground pathetically. "Get out of the way, you cunt sucking dog!"

  Looks like it was up to me to diffuse the situation. "Look, first of all, I'm a minor. And, you are great and all, but I love my girlfriend." I said, walking up to a blushing Taylor and giving her a hand up. "If you don't stop we'll call the police. You don't want that kind of trouble."

  This made the woman reconsider. She hesitated for a couple of seconds before spitting "Fucking whore!" and walking away.

  Taylor was still trembling even after she left (perhaps due to all the bullying and trauma she had suffered, standing up for herself or someone else was harder than it seemed for her), so I hugged her and said, "Thanks for protecting me Taylor. I really appreciate it."

  She muttered something unintelligible over and over, sounded like "I'm sorry…sorry I'm like this…"

  After she calmed down we kept making our way to Luthor Tower, where the Avengers meet and greet would take pce. Thankfully there were no more unpleasant events on the way there.

  Luthor tower was a giant skyscraper. On of the tallest buildings in Gothic city, save perhaps Bayne tower. Both of the buildings were built as monuments to the great companies they represented, competing against each other in height much the same way both companies and families competed in reality.

  It was full of people and the line was extremely long. We had to wait in line for an age. The worst part was that only Taylor had a ticket for this event. I didn't and both of us were hoping that there would still be some in sale even for a marked up price.

  When we finally got to the doorwoman, he scanned Taylor's ticket with some high tech machine and then when I told her I was hoping to purchase a ticket, she ftly denied me, saying there weren't any left.

  But just when I was about to give up, a blond goddess--that was the only way to describe her--wearing a blue, white, and red supersuit, intervened.

  She rested a gloved hand on the doorwoman's shoulder and smiled with effortless charm. A smile like the summer sun…but her eyes, something about them seemed icy like the winter moon. "Jess, please," Captain Star said, either knowing the name of every employee, or having read the nametag, "Let this lovely gentleman in. I'll gift him one of my tickets."

  The doorwoman stuttered, "O-of course, Captain!"

  I couldn't believe Captain Star was a woman in this reality. He used to be a buff guy previously. The drastic change made me stupefied for a few seconds, which the Captain took as me being stunned by her beauty or presence, giving me a rueful smirk.

  As soon as I gathered my wits, I managed to say, "Thank you! Please let me know ter how much I owe you!"

  She waved her hand and answered, "Oh come on you, fans mean everything to me. You are the only reason that I still manage to keep going." Her eyes had a sad glint to them, despite her smile. I couldn't help but feel that something was troubling her.

  Now, to expin why I impulsively grabbed her is hard. As many things in life its a mix of reasons: Captain Star used to be my favorite Avenger. He saved my life in my previous life. And even though this woman was someone completely different and the male captain star might not have even been born here, she felt very simir to him.

  So when she turned to go inside, I grabbed her on impulse. "W-wait," I said, not very eloquently, "Um, you seem like you are, uh, struggling. If you need help, please let me know. Here's my number." I extended my phone to her.

  Some bodyguards or secret agents started making their way to break us up, but the Captain waved them off.

  She regarded me for a second or two, her icy eyes thawing a little. "Haha, I'm…I'll be fine," she said, grinning, "I'm Captain Star: you can knock me down, but I always get back up. Besides, associating with me is dangerous."

  "I'm serious." I insisted. "Take my number. It's the least I can do after you…." I was of course referring to her alter ego saving me but she of course wouldn't know nothing about that. "Well for being such a great person."

  She scratched the back of her head, embarrassed, "Well, haha, I'm ashamed but I don't have a phone." her eyes got darker for a second. "All of this modern things are not for me…but I memorized your number. I'll ask a friend to give you a call and we'll be in touch perhaps."