9 Seeking Help

"Hey there, I'm looking for Detective Clive Rand. I was told that this was his precinct?" Asher asked the cop at the front desk of the Graveport Police Department's 14th precinct. 

"Yeah, you've come to the right place," the officer replied as he set down his maple-glazed donut and looked at his watch. "It's almost 2, so Rand is probably either chain-smoking by his car, or walking down 6th street to grab a hoagie from McAlister's Deli."

"Um…thanks, I appreciate it."

Trying the parking lot first, Asher spotted an old, beaten-up red sedan with a middle-aged man leaning against. It. Fiddling with the drawstrings on his black hoodie, the young man walked over and recognized the grey-haired man as the detective at the crime scene on the beach from several weeks ago.

"H-hello? Detective Rand?" he asked.

"Yeah. What can I do for ya?" Rand replied as he took a long drag from the cheap cigar that he was smoking.

"I'm not sure if you remember me, but I met you at the beach by Port-World earlier this month," Asher explained as he walked over. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh yeah, that plucky young paramedic," the detective nodded. "So what's up?"

"It's…it's about Passion Princess," the young man sighed.

Rapidly going from leisurely to alert, Rand suddenly stood up and flicked the ash from his cigar.

"What about her?"

"Well, since you seem to know a lot about her, have you ever heard of her acting strange towards men? Like has she ever uh…stalked, anyone?" Asher inquired, going straight to the point.

"Hmmm, I cannot deny or confirm anything, but I have a theory, kid," Rand began. "Her superpowers seem to amplify almost everything about her supposedly human body. Her strength, her senses. I think this goes for emotions too. If she gets feelings for someone, maybe she feels them stronger than a normal person? I don't know. Maybe she just falls in love fast, I don't know her personally."

"Yeah, but does this ever cause her to do…illegal things?" Asher continued to ask. "Like, break into somebody's home just to go through their stuff? Or maybe kiss them without consent or whatever?"

"Again, I cannot confirm or deny anything," the detective hissed discreetly as he reached out and pulled the young man in so close that he could smell the liquor on his breath. "But be careful, be very careful from now on. Remember, Passion Princess isn't just an asset to this city, but to the entire world. If she were to do something illegal, then there's a good bet that it would easily be swept under the rug."

"Am I—am I in danger?" Asher asked in an almost whimper.

"Probably not," the cop shrugged. "Because if what you just told me is correct, hypothetically of course, then she loves you. Full on swooned. The people around you, however, I'd be worried about."

"Priya…" the paramedic whispered. "So I can't do anything even if she's full on stalking me? Like look, look what she left on my computer last night!"

Showing the detective some of the photos that Passion Princess had put onto his computer, the older man coughed in shocked before clutching his heart.

"Holy heavens, what a babe," he chuckled. "Gotta warn me before you show me something like that, son. That looks like her body type alright, but because her face isn't visible, we can't prove that it's her. It's always going to be your word vs the entire world's. Trust me, trying to incriminate these heroes for anything is an uphill battle that takes years." 

"What if I could capture footage of her stalking me and brought it to you guys?" Asher asked desperately. "Or maybe went to the papers about my experience. She did ask that I didn't go to the tabloids once."

"Ehhhh that probably won't do much good, not even the tabloids will risk disparaging the good name of Earth's savior," Rand sighed. "The only way you have a shot at incriminating her is if you have witnesses."

"Then help me! Please," Asher begged. "I keep thinking about how being stalked by such a hot woman should be a dream come true, but its not! I just want to live peacefully with my girlfriend, I don't want to have to worry about my apartment being broken into. I mean who knows what else she did in there."

"I'd love to help, but I don't know, kid," the detective replied hesitatingly as he fiddled with a lighter. "Like I said, since she seems to love you, you're probably safe. It's whoever she perceives as standing in her way that might be at risk."

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"Dammit! Just leave us alone, bitch!" the drug dealer yelled as he pointed a 9mm pistol towards the towering woman that was slowly gliding towards him and his partner.

"You started it, you and your Dream Syndicate are flooding the streets with hallucinogenic mushrooms," Passion Princess replied casually as she touched down a short distance away from the two men, one wielding a pistol and the other a 12-guage shotgun.

The heroine had sniffed out a drug den in a foreclosed house somewhere on the outskirts of town, where she'd raided the storehouse and discovered tons of illicit mushrooms piled up to the ceiling. Naturally, the criminals guarding it did not take kindly to her intrusion.

"Fuck it, I'm going to be the one that takes out Passion Princess!" the shotgun-wielding man yelled as he fired a buckshot at the hero.

Sighing as the pellets harmlessly ricocheted off her bulletproof skin, Passion Princess launched herself at the man and body-checked him so hard that he flew backwards and smashed through the house's outside wall.

"AHHHHHHH!! Die you monster!!" the other dealer yelled as he unloaded his entire clip on the heroine at point-blank range. 

"How rude! Didn't your mama ever tell you not to put down a woman's appearance?" the heroine chided him as the bullets were all pulverized upon hitting her solid chest. "Since she didn't, allow me to give you a spanking then…"

Delivering a super-powered slap to his face, Passion Princess watched the criminal's knocked-out body fly many feet away, before she grabbed hold of both unconscious men and flew off to deliver them to the nearest police station.

Flying high above the city, a perp slung over each of her shoulders, she was just about to head towards the 31st precinct when her super-hearing detected a familiar voice.

"Asher!!" she exclaimed as she changed course and barreled out of the air in that direction.

"…well, thanks for at least listening to me," Asher sighed as he finished his with conversation with Detective Rand.

"I have your number now, I'll text you if I hear of anything or have any help to offer," the older man nodded. "For now, just try to keep your head down, and—

"Mister Avril! Fancy running into you here!" Passion Princess exclaimed as she landed in the parking lot, before letting both the men on her shoulders drop to the ground. "I just apprehended these crooks, their drug den is at the end of 98th street out by the outskirts."

Asher nearly shit himself upon seeing the woman that he was just talking about touch down a short distance away. His face also pale, Rand trembled as he leaned against his car.

"P-Passion Princess," the young paramedic stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"Like I said, I was just dropping these perps off," she replied with a friendly smile. "I'm not stalking you or anything, relax. But what are you doing here at the police station?"

"Ah w-well, I was catching up with Detective Rand here," Asher replied nervously. "Do you remember? He was there with us at the crime scene on the beach a few weeks ago."

"Oh yes, that unfortunate homicide," the heroine nodded. "Well it's good to see you again, Detective. Asher, honey, could you check the vitals of these two here since you're a paramedic and all? I might have hit them a little too hard."

"Y-yes ma'am," Asher nodded as hobbled over to the two criminals, before Passion Princess suddenly caught his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear.

"Did you enjoy the photos?" she whispered in a sultry voice. "Be honest. Did you get hard looking at them?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," the young man whimpered as he slipped past her, only to feel her hand grip his left buttcheek.

"This will all be mine one day," she whispered, a little more harshly this time before returning to her normal, friendly voice. "Anyway, nice bumping into you again, Mister Avril! Keep up the good work, the both of you!" 

With that, the towering woman rocketed into the air, disappearing high above the clouds. Dropping to his knees, Asher trembled as the veteran cop came over to him.

"You alright, son? Did she say something to you?" he asked.

"What the hell am I going to do?" the young man muttered to himself as he checked the first criminal's pulse. "And this poor bastard is barely breathing, we should get him inside.