Kevin decided on his way home that it could have been worse.

He liked driving his taxi. Driving was fun; weaving in and out of traffic, getting to the potential customer before anyone else. He was honest to a fault; he never overcharged his customers, and he always took the fastest route.

But Kevin, like any other red-blooded male, was a sucker for a chick in a miniskirt.

He was taking his time, driving down a side street in a nice neighborhood, when he saw the miniskirt, tightly stretched over the very impressive rear of the woman bent over, looking under the hood of her car. He smiled and let his gaze travel from the miniskirt down the long legs to the large spike heels. He hadn't seen a woman with feet that large before, but he shrugged it off. The miniskirt well made up for the feet. He stepped out to the curb.

“Hi, miss. Can I help you out?” He took a couple steps forward as the woman straightened and turned. “My name is Kevin...” he trailed off as he noticed several things at once. The chick was tall - even without the heels, she had to stand at least six feet, she had an amazing chest, she needed a shave, and there was a rather noticable bulge under the miniskirt. Kevin took a couple steps back, clutching his stomach ('You liked his butt, man!' he thought angrily), but stood his ground.

“Oh yes! Thank you so much!” the queen ran forward and grabbed his hand. Her ('his!' he reminded himself) voice was deep and scratchy, and he smiled weakly as the queen engulfed his hand with enormous, strong fingers. “The engine won't even turn over, but I have jumper cables, and I would just love you forever if you could help me!” She squeezed his hand and turned, amazingly agile in the spike heels. She disappeared behind the car and reappeared with a set of old, weatherbeaten jumper cables. Kevin nodded and popped the hood on the taxi, grateful, at least, that he didn't have to make conversation, and looked in dismay at the ends of the cables she tossed him. No colors. No red. No black. He searched for a marking and found what he thought was a plus symbol etched into the rubber grip of one end. He sighed and sneaked a peek at queenie. She was attaching the cables like a pro, and the last thing Kevin wanted was for a damn drag queen to act more manly than he. Kevin turned back, counted to three, and attached the cables. Before he blacked out the world turned blue-white, and he swore he smelled bacon.

“Is he all right?”
“Oh my God! He's dead!”
“No, he isn't. He's just unconsicous.”
“Look what the shock did to his hair!”
“Calli, it already looked like that. I think he's coming round.”

The voices had been disjointed, floating, but as the last voice finished speaking reality slammed back into place, and Kevin opened his eyes. He opened his eyes to find women, large, hairy, masculine women, staring back. He did what any man in his situation would do. He screamed.
“Aahhh!”
“Aahhh!” Several of the drag queens, startled, screamed back and jumped. The one who had been stranded quickly came forward and spoke. “Oh, thank God you're okay! I'm so sorry.” She wrung her hands nervously, and did, indeed, look sorry. “You connected the jumper cables before I could tell you which one was which. You weren't burned too badly, though, but your clothes, well...” Kevin winced in pain as he sat up. His arms were burned, but the marks weren't bad, and someone had treated and bandaged them. He looked down, expecting to see holes burned through his t-shirt and jeans, but what he found made his heart skip a beat. He jumped up, scattering the drag queens.

“What am I wearing?” He roared the last bit of the question as he inspected himself in the full-length mirror. His t-shirt and jeans were gone. Instead, he found a white sequined tank top, a lavender belt, and pink...shorts?

“HOT PANTS?” he roared. “One of you freaks took off my clothes, and put me in hot pants?” His hands went automatically to the belt to strip it off, but, seeing the glances, thought better of it and left it on.

“Ursula, tell him!” one of the queens pleaded. Ursula nodded and took a deep breath. “My car started running after your, um, accident,” she stammered. “But the battery acid from your battery was eating away at your clothes, so I had to do something. I put you in my car and got the clothes off, and ran you here.” She waved her arm wildly in the air, and Kevin noticed he was in a dressing room of some kind. “...the girls helped me get you cleaned up, and we had to dress you, but this was all we had... and that's it.” she finished lamely.

Kevin closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten. He opened his eyes, breathed deeply, and managed to gain a modicum of control.. He noticed all the queens were worried, upset, and non-threatening. “Okay. I'm sorry. I was just surprised, that's all. I really appreciate what you've done. But why didn't you just take me to the hospital?”

Ursula's brow furrowed briefly, and she glanced at the others. “Well, um, I never thought of that,” she whispered, and looked down at her hands. Kevin snorted. He glanced around at the others, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The snort turned into a laugh.

Two hours later, driving home with a brand-new battery courtesy of Ursula, Kevin smiled wryly and looked over at the photo in the passenger seat. The slightly bewildered look in his eyes combined with the smiles of all the drag queens made him chuckle.

It could have been worse.

I stood at my window, smiling down to Michael as he waved goodbye from the street below. “See you tomorrow!“ he shouted. I forced a big smile and turned around, hoping he hadn’t sensed my anxiety. I had become an expert at hiding it, since joining The Defenders of Worth, but I knew this night was going to be a dangerous challenge, and it had been heavy on my mind all day.

Our wise leader, known only as 'Anni', had raised our alert levels to red, and sent out a notice to each of us Defenders earlier in the week, with instructions to watch for the signal. She had received information that the evil Bort’s Angels were planning a heist at the National Bank of Worth, and there was even talk of a possible kidnapping. We had minor problems with these thugs before, but nothing as large-scale as Anni described.

I slipped into my skin-tight pink costume and logged on to my computer, all the while keeping an eye on the darkening skies. As I sat down at my desk, I immediately noticed a bright yellow beam of light pass by my window. The massive W reflecting off a low cloud was unmistakable. My heart started pounding. It was time! I grabbed my cape and headed straight for the fire escape.

From the ledge of my 17th-story window, I could see almost the entire city of Worth. I looked to the east, toward the bank, and I could already see something was not right. The old building had been under repairs for the past year, and was only being used as a repository. Rarely were there more than two or three people there at once during the day, and at night, the bank was only attended to by a lone security guard. Tonight, however, I could see commotion on the street below.

I took a deep breath and leapt off the escape. The cool night wind filled my cape and lifted me high into the air. I spread my arms and let the breeze carry me over the city. As I glided closer to the bank, I could see my cohorts congregating nearby. They weren’t hard to spot from above.

NMB’s massive frame almost filled the alley they were standing in; his muscles pulling every inch of his pink costume tight. Next to him stood the smaller, agile, cat-like Meowza, with his massive, deadly claws. I could see him crouching low to the ground, watching for movement on the street. I flew in closer and landed a building away, making sure no one noticed my arrival.

I stepped to the edge of the building and looked down again into the alley. My spider-like colleague, Ank, was scaling one of the old stone walls of the bank. I opened my cape and glided down to the alley to meet them. “There you are!” NMB grumbled, pulling me over into a huddle. Ank glided back down the wall to join us as we stood in a circle to be briefed by Meowza.

Anni had assigned him to stake out the bank all day. He told us he had seen the vicious, demented leader of the Angels arrive at the site early that morning. “Bortman,” as he was called, disguised himself as a maintenance worker and had been scoping out the bank all day while perched outside on the scaffolding. His “angels,” Meg, Ava, and Robayer, had made brief appearances throughout the day, also. We figured all four of them would be involved in tonight’s heist, so we needed a plan of attack.

“I’ll take on Robayer,” NMB said in his deep, booming voice. “That smug laugh of hers has always grated on my nerves. Let me at her.”

“Meowza and I will cover Ava and Meg,” Ank said, smoothing his pink costume over his powerful arms. “We’ll teach them a lesson…again.”

“That leaves Bort for you, Losty,” Meowza said hesitantly. “Can you handle him?”

“Of course I can!” I yelped, trying my best to sound brave. “I’m not afraid of that balloon-toting old man!”

Inside, my heart was pounding in my throat. I had always been a back-up on these kind of missions, and suddenly I was being thrust to the front. Bortman’s reputation as a depraved, maniacal villain was frightening, but there was no way I could let my teammates know how intimidated I was. They were counting on me.

Before I could say another word, Ank and Meowza dashed around the corner. NMB gave me an encouraging smack on the back, then stomped off into the darkness of the alley. I stood quietly for a moment, gathering my thoughts. I never imagined I would have to fight Bort. I slowly stepped to the end of the alley. While standing in the shadow of a streetlamp, I peered around the corner to the entrance of the bank.

The street was so quiet, I could hear my heart beating in my ears. There was no sign of anyone. Something wasn’t right. Then a movement from above caught my eye. I looked up towards the roofline of the bank. Rising slowly over the old stone clock was Bort, tethered to a bright yellow balloon. I looked closer and couldn’t believe my eyes. Dangling lifelessly below Bart’s bloated belly, trapped by his thick arms, was Anni!

I knew I should make my move, but my head was spinning. I wanted to yell out into the darkness for help, but there was no time. I knew Anni was in grave danger. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, and without even thinking, I shot into the air. Bort’s maniacal laugh echoed around me and sent shivers down my spine, but there was no turning back now. This time I wasn’t going to be the back-up. I wasn’t going to be the “new girl.” This time I would be a true Defender of Worth.