Title: The Adventures of Rage: Gay Crusader
Volume 1 Issue 1
By: Bridget McKennitt
Disclaimer: Queer as Folk and company are owned by Cowlip and other companies. They are used here without permission, and for entertainment purposes only. No challenge or infringement upon the copyright is intended, nor should any be inferred.
Summary: Never fear, for in the city of Pittsburgh, the gay crusaders Rage and Zephyr are here to the rescue!
Author's Notes: This is a cross between AU and Queer as Folk US canon.
Brian Kinney leaned back in his chair and stared out his window at the beautiful city of Pittsburgh. During the day, he was a top-notch ad executive (considered by most to be cold-hearted), but at night, he patrolled the streets as Rage, the gay crusader – protector of gays everywhere and stopper of hate crimes and homophobes. With his sidekick Zephyr nothing could stop him.
He smiled fondly, mentally not forgetting JT. The blond boy that he and Zephyr rescued from a gang of homophobes had been badly beaten and only his sexual powers and his Restorative Bed had saved his life. Usually, twinks he rescued went on their merry gay way, but not JT. The boy, though truly a young man at the age of twenty, would not go away. Michael, Zephyr's real name, bluntly said that the little twink was stalking him and it was a good thing he didn't know their secret identities. Be that as it may, JT was an incredible fuck, one that Brian would not mind doing again.
A knock on the door made him turn his chair and he saw his secretary Cynthia pop her head in. "Mr. Kinney, your one o'clock is here to see you."
"Let him in." Brian stood up and smoothed his jacket. Cynthia motioned for the man to come inside and Brian got his first glimpse at Terry Gilman. Terry was six foot two with slicked black hair, dark brown eyes, and a slight muscular build. His suit was Armani and very well tailored to his body. Unfortunately, Brian could tell that Terry was hopelessly straight.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Gilman. Please, sit down."
Terry nodded and sat, Cynthia closing the door behind them. "Mr. Kinney. I hope Vanguard can work its advertising magic on our new product." He pulled out some papers from his briefcase and handed them to Brian.
"Of course," Brian said smoothly.
* * *
Brian rubbed his forehead and reached for the bottle of Jim Beam. He was the best at what he did, in anything he did, but trying to come up with an advertising campaign for baby food was pushing it. He needed to distract himself.
He got up and walked across the spacious floor to Michael's wing of their headquarters located above the city.
"Mikey?" He called out as he began to take off his shirt. "I'm feeling caged. Let's go patrolling."
Michael looked up from the comic book he was reading. "Just let me finish up the page, okay?"
Brian chuckled and turned to leave the room. "I'll never understand your need to read about superheroes when you're already one in real life."
"Ah, but that's the difference between you and me. You love being the superhero, hell, you are the superhero. But with comic books, I get to pretend to be the lead instead of just the sidekick."
"Just the sidekick?" Brian snorted. "Mikey, you are more than 'just a sidekick.' In fact, you're worth four times as much as whatever superhero you're reading about. Now get into your fucking costume and let's go flying."
Moments later, Rage and Zephyr took to flight above Pittsburgh. Rage chuckled to himself and Zephyr glanced at him from out the corner of his mask. "What's so funny?"
"The fact that I'm willing to go out fighting homophobes instead of going to Babylon and getting my cock sucked."
"I'm sure we'll have time for that soon enough. Hey, look!" Zephyr pointed down to the streets below where a couple of burly men with bats were trashing a sex shop that catered to gay men.
The gay crusaders landed and Rage shouted. "Step away the shop, assholes, or else you'll have to face my rage!"
One of men laughed and waved his bat at them. "Suck on this, faggot."
They rushed at the superheroes, but they were ready for them. Zephyr punched the nearest homophobe in the face while Rage kicked another in the stomach. Rage, using his mind distortion ray, stopped the men in their tracks, fear written on their faces with some even shedding tears as they grabbed for their asses.
"Brutal sodomy," Rage said as he chuckled. "Tie them up, Zephyr."
Zephyr materialized rope out of thin air and banded the men together. "That should teach them. How long will your distortions last?"
"Until the morning. Let's take these bastards to jail. I'm in a mood for some real action."
As the gay crusaders picked up the still whimpering men and flew away, someone in the shadows watched them go. Taking a long drag of his cigarette, he dropped it on the ground and crushed the butt under his heel.
* * *
Brian entered Babylon without Michael at his side. His best friend had decided to take a rain check to read some more of his comics. He snorted. Sometimes he wondered about Michael.
Heading towards the bar, he ordered a beer and looked out into the dancing crowd. Glancing to his right, he saw his sometime acquaintance Ted Schmidt standing next to him and grunted a hello. Ted was a complete downer, but steady as a rock. "What's the verdict? See anyone worth my time?"
Ted pointed out into the throng at a bunch of men dancing around another. Brian couldn't tell what the middle guy looked like. He only saw a flash of blond hair. "Whoever you pick, I say watch out for that twink. Word on the streets is that anyone who fucks him ends up fucked up a couple of days later."
"Is the twink the one who’s handing out the beatings?" Brian took a swing of his beer.
"Don't think so. It's probably somebody else, some say a jealous lover."
"Sounds like a challenge." He left his beer on the bar counter and made his way to the twink's little group. Pushing aside a couple of guys, he found himself standing in front of the twink, looking into his blue eyes. His very familiar blue eyes.
Brian swore. The twink was none other than JT.
