Ruleskirter

The Ogre roared and hit her in the stomach, knocking her into a wall. Frost-Fire, who was grinning, distracted by his pleasure at her proclamation, gasped and rushed at the brute, swinging his dustpan like a wildman. He screamed inarticulate oaths and hit hard, but the enemy did not crumple. The brute shoved him, knocking Frost-Fire to the ground. Lisa's Hero groaned, struggling to get up.

"Told you!" the Ogre cackled, advancing.

Lisa cringed and stood herself up once more, snapping her ankle into place again. Okay, she thought, I can still fight, but I can't fight alone. Not...

The club door slammed open again. Now a large blonde man was stepping through while Baxter held the door wide and propped it with a chair. The newcomer was almost the same size as the brute, tall and muscular. He had a green bandanna tied around his head, like all the Paradox bouncers. Boris! Lisa realized. This must be Boris! Good!

"I'm here, Frost-Fire!" Boris yelled, then charged at the Ogre and slapped him in the face. The two large men danced around each other, colossus and juggernaut, each tough and strong. The Ogre's drug-enhanced stamina was still holding out, while Lisa's new ally was uninjured and very determined. I'm determined too, she decided. And so is Frost-Fire, she amended, seeing her Hero standing up and swinging his shovel with a smirk.

"Triple-team!" Lisa shouted at her two allies. She was a Dungeon Master, an actress, a stagehand, a martial artist, and a cheerleader- she knew what needed to happen here. "Triple-team! Frost-Fire, low! Boris, high! I got middle! Change it up! Now!"

Nodding in understanding, her rescuers both swung fists and dustpan at the Ogre in accompaniment with her shield. Their blows hit hard in combination. The brute could not keep up with them all at once. Yet he was still lunging, still standing. And he shoved and pushed them away. Boris was knocked down first, then Frost-Fire. The Ogre then growled at Lisa and she shivered, her body in pain, sweat clouding her eyes. She could not hold out much longer!

A whistle shattered the moment, giving her mercy. Lisa and the Ogre both turned and saw a new more powerful rescuer had entered the situation. A darkhaired comely woman in the uniform of a Sheriff's Deputy. Her red skin and sharp features showcased Native American heritage. A whistle was at her lips and a yellow taser pistol was in her hand.

"Deputy Lakestrider, Travis County!" the lady cop shouted, spitting out her whistle and waving her taser. "You! Big man! On your knees now! Hands up! On your knees!"

The brute roared and charged at the Deputy. Taser wires hit him halfway, causing him to freeze and shake in pain. Frost-Fire and Boris both leapt up in the next instant, standing ready as the Ogre shook in place, but continued to stand. The other two men the brute had knocked out earlier were meanwhile also getting up, recovering. Good, Lisa judged, we have a chance. However, her attacker, their one powerful enemy, was still standing, and...

"He's on PCP!" Frost-Fire shouted at Deputy Lakestrider. "Angel dust! He..."

"Got it!" Lakestrider interrupted, glancing at Lisa and then at Baxter, who was still standing in the doorway. "I need help!" The Deputy dropped her taser, waving at the men around the Ogre as she grabbed handcuffs from her utility belt. "All of you! Help me!"

"Help!" Lisa chimed in, yelling and waving her hands at Baxter and the other four men around her. "Help her!" She pointed at the Deputy, then also rushed at the Ogre, into the fray.

Between the six of them- Lisa, Frost-Fire, Boris, the other two men, and Deputy Lakestrider- they were able to surround and keep the Ogre off balance. Blows were struck from multiple directions, not all could be absorbed, and soon the brute was on his knees as was required. Deputy Lakestrider moved in and grabbed each of the brute's wrist, locked on her cuffs. Another police officer, a tall mustached black man in an Austin Police Department uniform, meanwhile ran out of the club to join the battle, encouraged by Baxter. This cop slammed his baton hard into the brute's shoulders, aiding the immobilization. Lisa's attacker growled and slumped to the ground. The APD officer drew his taser and discharged it into the Ogre, keeping him down.

"You okay?" he then asked several times, looking around. "Is everyone okay?"

"Is this the only aggressor?" Lakestrider asked in chorus.

Boris took charge, coughing and nodding. "Yeah! He's the only one!" The bouncer pointed at the subdued Ogre, Lisa, and Frost-Fire. "He was attacking her in the alley, my buddy there saw it happening. My buddy told me what was up, then rushed out to help her. I called you, and these other guys rushed out to help while you were getting over here. Then I came out, soon as I could. Our back door alarm's not working, but that security camera is!" He pointed at a camera above the alley door. "It should have the whole fight on tape."

Phew, Lisa smiled, relieved. She had only now noticed the camera.

The same was true of Frost-Fire, who grinned and clapped his comrade on the shoulder. "Good thinking, Boris! You did something right!"

"Thanks, FF!" Boris laughed along.

Lisa looked at Baxter, who was telling the cops he was just a witness, nothing more. Okay, he's about what I thought, she shrugged. Not a fighter, not worthy of me long term even if he wasn't gay. Just as well he is gay. She then assured the concerned Deputy Lakestrider that she was not seriously injured.

"Paramedics are on the way, ma'am," Deputy Lakestrider told her. "Lots of trouble in this area tonight. Three other fights, a car accident... sorry we didn't get here sooner."

"It's okay," Lisa replied. "I had friends!" She grinned at Frost-Fire, the most prominent of her rescuers, who was telling the APD Officer he was fine.

"I'm okay, Jim!" he said, waving at the two more seriously injured men who had assisted in subduing the Ogre. "Check them!"

"Okay," the APD Officer said. "Sir, sir, I'm Officer Wright, APD. You okay?" Deputy Lakestrider was moving to assist Officer Wright, while Boris waved back curious onlookers from inside the club.

Lisa checked the Ogre- still tased and now unconscious. Good, she nodded, then walked over to her first rescuer- her Hero, she amended. "You really okay?" she asked. "And I know your name isn't really 'Frost-Fire'. Or 'Don Quxiote'."

Her Hero nodded, smiling. "You know what I'm talking about, though, right?"

Lisa nodded. "I acted in theater in middle school, stopped when I hit ninth grade. I was always the crew or understudy, never the lead. I was part of a stage play in eighth grade, a stagehand and understudy. It was 'Man of La Mancha'. I was just the understudy, not the main Dulcinea, but... it took me a bit of time to remember." She laughed. "I've played D&D too, I was a Dungeon Master my first two years of high school. I'm guessing that's what 'Frost-Fire' is from."

"Yeah, kinda," her rescuer answered. "Frost-Fire is my Hackmaster character. That's a game like D&D."

"I've heard of it." Lisa recognized the game name from a local comic shop she'd visited. "I've only played D&D, but I know the name Hackmaster. The games are similar, right?"

"Yeah. My main H-Hackmaster c-character, Frost-Fire, is a K-Knight." Her rescuer blinked and then resumed speaking with his British accent instead of plain talk. "Sorry, I..."

"It's ok," Lisa told him, emphasizing her syllables. "I have a stammer too. Notice my 'Southern Belle' voice? How I sound more Creole than Texan or Virginian sometimes? You think anybody really talks like this?" Her rescuer grinned back, and they both laughed. "Now let me ask again," Lisa then said. "What's your real name?"

"Um..." The Hero took a pair of glasses out of his pocket and put them on, smiling. "Doug. Doug Ramsay."

"Ramsay? Like the chef, Gordon Ramsay?"

He nodded. "Same Scottish Clan. My great-grandmother was a member. Ramsay's my middle name. I usually go by it because my dad's a jerk. I'll give you my last name later."

Lisa nodded in understanding- she'd known enough people who disliked their parents- and extended her hand. The addition of glasses to her Hero's face did not bother her. She used glasses for reading. He must need them for seeing at a distance, she realized. That would explain a lot. "I'm Lindsay Buckingham Coleman," she said. "My friends call me Lisa."

"Li... sa..." Doug started speaking, then blinked and repeated the last word she had spoken. "Lisa. Okay. Like in 'Weird Science'."

Smiling, Lisa nodded. "Right. You'll have to forgive me, it's been a long time since I saw that movie last. I guess you don't know the musician Lindsay Buckingham. My parents are big fans of him. They were expecting a boy, but the name still worked." She chuckled again. "Look, um, thank you. I... didn't expect you to fight like that."

"Ma'am?"

Lisa turned and saw Deputy Lakestrider looking at both of them with a notepad and pen poised. Two paramedics were on scene now, checking over the injured men while Officer Wright and another cop were talking to Boris and Baxter. The brute had vanished and no one else was nearby.

"Where...?" Lisa pointed at where the brute had laid crumpled. "Did... he...?"

"We put the suspect in my car," said Deputy Lakestrider. "He had multiple warrants for assault and drug dealing. His name was Leroy Brown. Not the baddest man in this town, but close." She shook her head.

"Oh?" Lisa laughed. "So that was his real name! I... I guess you need to know what happened."

"Yes," Lakestrider said. "Can you please tell me?"

"She was walking around the club talking to guys," Doug Ramsay answered the Deputy's prompting. "I was watching her, but she didn't come over to me."

"You were reading," Lisa said, crossing her arms and frowning. "Every time I looked at you, you weren't looking at me."

"Oh?" Doug blinked, staring at her. "You were looking at me? My bad! I..."

"Hey!" Lakestrider drew their attention. "Focus, both of you. Please tell me what happened. You want to know each other, I get the 'meet cute' here. But I need to know what happened, please. When did the suspect, Mr. Brown, enter the situation?"

"I talked to him at the bar," Lisa said as prompted. "He seemed okay. We were going to leave for a motel together after I went to the restroom." She was recalling details now, filling them in. "Then he grabbed me when I came out of the restroom and pushed me out here. He attacked me, I fought back, he wasn't going down... then Frost-Fire, Doug, came out here and challenged him. The brute said he was on angel dust, so..." She went on for a moment, describing events.

"I see," Deputy Lakestrider replied, nodding. She looked at Doug. "So you saw her attacked?"

"Yeah," Doug agreed. "I saw that Ogre pulling her into the alley. I ran to Boris, a bouncer I know here, filled him in. I then ran out here while Boris called 911. She called 911 also, while I kept that... Mr. Brown, the Ogre, distracted. Sorry if the term 'Ogre' sounds bad, I'm a role-playing nerd."

"That's okay," Deputy Lakestrider chuckled. "My family and I have played such games too."

"Oh? Good. If I may ask, um, what tribe are you?"

"Chippewa. Why does that matter? Focus on the situation, please."

"Sorry." Doug smirked.

"Focus!" Lisa snarled, snapping her fingers. This nerd must not talk to a lot of attractive women, she realized, or he considers himself such a womanizer he's capable of getting with a lot of them. The latter is possible, he is handsome, but... she decided to narrow his attention. "Hey, Doug! Sir Doug, Gallant Knight! You rescued me, remember? I'm your Lady! Not her. Me."

Doug looked at Lisa and grinned. "Then you'll...?"

Lisa guessed what he was about to ask. Love-starved nerd, she realized. The reason I got out of Dungeon Mastering after 10th grade and started cheerleading in 11th grade. Well, now a love-starved nerd is fine. And he can be crazy if he likes, to a degree. I am grateful to this man. Yeah, I was just in a bad situation, but I can appreciate what my Hero needs here.

"Yes," she told him, seeing he was waiting. "I'll give you my number, have a drink with you later, whatever! We just need to talk to this cop first! Okay?"

"Okay!" Doug gave her a raised thumb, then nodded at the Deputy. "Sorry. What do you need, Officer?"

"Deputy. Deputy Lakestrider." The cop corrected him, smirked, and looked at them both. "Let's start from when you called 911, Ms..."

"Lindsay... Lisa Coleman," Lisa introduced herself again. She then went on adding details to her recollection, filling in her statement as the situation demanded. Doug helped her, and she was grateful. Phew!

***

Chapter 2- Mutual Interests.

Two hours or so later, Lisa and Doug were walking together out of Paradox, headed down Colorado Avenue towards Sixth Street. A new song was in her head now, one by Rogers and Hammerstein called "Getting to Know You".

Lisa was still shaken up from her assault encounter, but she was fine spending time with her Hero. Deputy Lakestrider had taken their statements, then released them. Her attacker, Leroy Brown, had been hauled off to jail and would probably plead guilty. Officer Wright had assured her of that. He had her number too, just in case. Deputy Lakestrider had her number and Doug's number also, and a copy of the videotape from the alley camera. Officer Wright had a copy of the tape too. The two seriously injured men had been taken away by paramedics before Lisa could thank them- oh well. Both Lisa and Doug had thanked Boris and Baxter, though Doug had never introduced himself to Baxter. Lisa shrugged at her recognition of that detail. No matter, she thought. At least I have several new friends now. Doug, my Hero, might even be more than a friend, and the others will be good acquaintances at least.

Baxter turned out to be a local reporter for the Austin Chronicle. He had interviewed Lisa about her assault while Doug was in the restroom. Boris, who was also interviewed by Baxter and Lisa, shared that he was of Russian heritage but his family had emigrated to America before World War One. He seemed nice, but he didn't get off duty for several hours yet. Concentrate on Doug, Lisa reminded herself. He's the unattached Hero here.

Lisa had also called her girlfriend Elena and told her what happened, that she would hang out with Doug for a while and then come back to the home she shared with Elena and her other girlfriends. "I'll be fine," Lisa told Elena. "Don't y'all worry. See you soon."

"So you go to UT?" she was asking Doug now as they walked together. "Like me?"

"Yeah," Doug replied, speaking carefully with his accent. "I'm a history major, freshman. I live in Creekside Dorm."

"That's not far from my West Campus rental house. I'm a psych... psychology major." Lisa smiled. "Did you walk here?"

"Bus, then walking, yeah. You?"

"Motorcycle. I ride a Kawasaki Ninja." Lisa had on her leather jacket now, had retrieved it and her purse from inside the Paradox club. "It's parked in a garage near the Frost Bank Tower. I can give you a ride back home, if you like."

"Thanks."

Lisa smiled. She and Doug were thinking in near unison, she realized. Anticipating each other's responses and questions the way her mom and dad often did. She smiled at this, it was a rare thing with the men she dated. Rare among her girlfriends also. Yet it was very welcome.

"You live alone in the dorm?" she asked.

"One roommate. Keith's back at Creekside studying. He's got a paper due next week. I'm more caught up on my homework, so I came out to Paradox to relax. I wasn't looking to meet anybody tonight, but..."

"You're glad you did! I know!" Lisa giggled. Damn weakness for handsome nerds making me swoon, she chuckled to herself. "So where are you taking me again?"

"Roppolo's. It's a pizza place I know on Sixth near Trinity. They have good food there, stay open late. The owner's another friend of mine. I know a few interesting people in Austin. Boris, Jim Wright, Mr. Roppolo, Silvan... now you as well. Do you come out to 6th Street a lot?"

Lisa answered his questions patiently as they walked, also asked her own. She employed her usual tactics for interviewing guys she might date long-term, testing his interests and hitting him with various bombshells at appropriate moments.

"How do you read a book in a club?" she asked.

"It's not that hard. You just find the right place where there's light. I tone out the music. Boris knows I don't drink alcohol much, so he told the wait staff not to bother me. They know I'm a heavy tipper when I do order something. I drink wine on occasion but mostly soda or sparkling water." He took a breath, then grinned. "Guess I should have paid attention to the girls more tonight, seen you looking at me."

"Yeah. Or maybe I should have looked at you when you weren't looking at the book." They both laughed.

"You were pretty good during that fight," Doug then told her.

"You too. I've studied martial arts since I was five. Kung fu, krav maga, and tae kwon do. Eventually I went into Mixed Martial Arts. My parents wanted me to learn to protect myself. I got good real fast and stayed good. I watch martial arts movies too, James Bond and old Hong Kong stuff mostly. How'd you get good?"

"I grew up in Taipei. I got exposed to martial arts there. My parents didn't put me in classes at first, so I read about martial arts, saw them in movies. I didn't seriously take classes, though, till after I was twelve. I got attacked at a summer camp that year, fought off a bully by copying moves I'd seen in movies. The counselors realized I wasn't too great, but could get better. One of them had worked at a Chuck Norris Karate camp, he got me transferred. I kept studying, went into boxing and jujitsu later, also kung fu, jeet kune do, akido... I guess I'm MMA now, like you."

They exchanged smiles. Lisa was patient, waiting for his next question. That wasn't coming, so she asked two. "Where you from? Where were you born?"

"What year are you?" he asked in almost the same instant. They both grinned, realizing what they'd done, and then each asked their questions again.

"I was born in Houston," he answered first. "Mom's family was from Beaumont, Dad's from Oklahoma. They divorced when I was five. We moved to Santa Fe, then Taiwan after Mom married my stepfather. He's an Italian diplomat. I'm a freshman here, I already told you."

"Sorry. I have good memory retention, but my recall isn't always great. I'm from Houston, the Woodlands," she said. "I'm in my second year of college."

"Okay, that's fine. You go out a lot?"

"Yeah, I come out to this area every weekend I can." He doesn't seem bothered by older women, Lisa thought. Good. She dropped her next bomb. "I live in a rent house my ex-roommate's dad owns, with my three girlfriends. Shauna and Tara are my lovers. Elena is straight, but we don't hold that against her."

"Uh..." Doug blinked, caught off guard. Then he recovered. "You have... girlfriends. And not just friends who are girls."

"Right," Lisa chuckled. "My girlfriends to whom I am attracted have benefits. I'm bisexual. So are Shauna and Tara. You're okay with bisexuals, right?"

"Yes," Doug said after a pause. "You're not the first bisexual woman I've met. I dated two of them in Taipei. My stepbrother is gay. I'm straight but... open to alternative sexualities." He laughed. "Sorry. My stepbrother was a big womanizer in high school, or at least I always thought he was. Then he came out gay in college, and... I still have trouble accepting it sometimes."

Lisa laughed at his awkwardness. "I was the same way. Thought I was straight all through high school, then I came to UT. My roommate Nicole seduced me at Kinsolving Dorm first year. I'd heard about bisexual women by then, I was curious, but... no opportunities. The girls I knew growing up were always more scared of me than the boys. I was with Nicole for a while. She's in a sorority now, Areta. I pledged, but there wasn't enough room for me. So I moved in with three other former pledges, we got our own house with Nicole's help. Shauna and Tara are my girlfriends with benefits. Elena is my straight best friend. Nicole's just an occasional hookup now. I get guys on the weekends to balance myself out. No steady guy right now, though, unless..." She beamed at him, her question implied.