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Dreamer was on a rooftop in National City. Kara and J’onn were needed in Central City with the rest of the Justice League, while Brainy, Alex, Kelly, and Lena were with the Legends. That left Nia Nal, staring into peaceful night while stood on a building like some kind of dark knight, the sole protector of National City for a whole week.
“Help!” She heard a scream. Dreamer looked around, trying to locate the troubled individual calling for help, and a dream struck her. She saw a woman on the floor in an alley, while a group of 5-6 people surrounded her. Nia turned around and saw a Big Belly Burger, and a street sign.
“I know where that is.” She exclaimed, raising her hand in a victorious motion, as her dream ended. She took a breath, braced herself, and jumped from the rooftop. She ran through the quiet streets, turning left and right, until she saw the burger store.
Nia saw the crowd towering over the poor woman. One of them kicked her in the stomach while the others laughed. “You losers really think that you can call yourselves women” She said, kicking her again. “But you’ll never be anything but a bunch of blackface actors” She kicked, “stupid fetishizing,” She kicked her again, “Men.”
“Please! Stop!” The woman begged.
“You had it coming when you walked into that bathroom!” The attacker said as she pulled out a gun, cheered on by the four person crowd. She pointed it at the woman, and as she was about to pull the trigger, a rope of pure dream energy pulled the gun away. Dreamer caught the gun and threw it behind her.
“Hey bitch!” Nia approached them, she put her hands on her hips. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” She told the crowd. “Please, choose the latter.” She would’ve muttered, but said it loudly, with a smile on her face. The group stepped away from the cowering victim and stepped closer to Dreamer.
The woman’s attacker stepped forward. “Girls look, it’s the tranny cross dresser. He’s here defending this man, but whose going to protect us from all the creeps? Who’ll champion women’s sex-based rights?”
"God, you TERFs disgust me.” She punched the front in the face. Another one rushed towards her, and Nia kicked her, and she fell back. One of the them sprinted off towards where Dreamer had thrown the gun. She conjured a rope with dream energy, pulling the back, and hit them as they were brought to her. One of the TERFs kicked Dreamer in the back, knocking her to the ground, and she cheered.
The other one kicked at her as she was on the floor. The one she punched and the one she kicked got up, and soon they were all kicking Dreamer. One of them produced a baseball bat, and moved to strike Dreamer with it. She hit Nia in the head.
Nia’s teeth gritted as she swore under her breath. She summoned her strength and made a force field around herself, pushing her attackers back. She pushed herself up and pulled herself together. She spit the blood out and tightened her mask. She looked around, seeing her attackers coming from all around her.
Dreamer kicked one in the stomach. She punched another in the face, while hitting another with the back of her hand. She forged a rope, dragging one of them towards her, pushed her to her knees, and hit her with her knee. Dreamer shook her wrists, pulling one up off the floor, and sacking her in the face. She kicked another one, and they were all unconscious, except for their leader.
Dreamer found an actual piece of rope lying around at a nearby construction site, and dragged the attackers together, tying them up. Nia stood in front of the leader, towering over her. “One time, I crashed a Joanne Rowling book signing and called her a bitch for practicing gender-critical feminism.” She said the last word mockingly.
As she heard the sirens, Nia left the TERFs, and walked towards the woman, still cowering in fear, in the corner of the alley. She kneeled by her side, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?” Nia asked her.
“Ye-yeah, I’ll be fine — I think.” She responded, sobbing. Nia reached to her face, and wiped her tear away.
“I’ll help you up.” She smiled at her, and crouched up, offering the woman her hand, who took it. Nia helped her up. Shivering, the woman wrapped Dreamer in a tight embrace. “Thank you.”
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“Violent losers beat up and arrested, that woman is safe, and so is this city. And I only have a couple cuts and bruises.” Nia proudly announced to herself as she put a bandage on her face. She was in The Tower now, her legs on the table in front of her as she lounged in a chair. She groaned as she straightened out the bandage. Nia took a sip of coffee and leaned forward to put the cup on the table, grabbing a book as she crashed back into the seat.
All of a sudden, she was hit with a vision. She leaned forward, taking her legs off the table, as she saw a teenage boy shot in a coffee shop. Nia gasped, still in the dream, and swerved her head to the shooter. They were masked. She couldn’t see the logo of the coffee shop. Nia rushed towards the menu. “Autumn Love! There’s only one coffee shop in National City that sells that!” She exclaimed. Her dream ended.
Nia pushed herself off the chair. She looked to the alert signals on the wall for calling her friends, but turned away and grabbed her mask. She slipped her mask on, and rushed out of the building.
Thankfully, the coffee shop wasn’t far. Nia rushed into the coffee shop, and found the boy, sitting at a table alone, sipping away at his cappuccino. She walked towards him. His head tilted up, his eyes went wide, and an ear to ear grin formed on his face. “Dreamer! You’re my hero.”
“Thank you!” Nia responded, shocked, but instantly responded “You need to get out of here. Someone’s after you.” Dreamer pulled him up by his arm and they walked to the door. Someone in a black mask kicked the glass doors open holding a shotgun in her hands. She pushed the boy back into the shop, and jumped onto the shooter, pushing her out of the building.
She pushed Dreamer off herself, and reached for the gun. Nia struggled to get up, but pushed herself off the ground. She didn’t shoot her, but hit Dreamer in the back of the head. Nia collapsed to the ground, clutching the back of her head. She groaned as she hit the floor of the street.
She pulled herself up, and kicked her attacker in the stomach, and she fell to the floor. Nia picked up the gun, aimed it the would-be shooter. She saw the fear form in her eyes through the badly cut eye holes in her mask. “Don’t worry.” Nia said. “I hate guns.” She used her dream powers to form tendrils from her hands and broke the gun. Dreamer picked up the masked individual by her collar. “And I hate murderers.” She pulled off their mask, revealing a teenage girl. “So, tell me why you were going to kill him.”
“Because I thought she was a boy, but that trap lied about their gender.” She exclaimed, pointing at the boy standing by the entrance, who stared at her blankly, not processing anything around them.
“Not another transphobic loser.” Nia muttered under her breath, rubbing the back of her head. “You have issues.” She told her. Dreamer heard the sirens, and walked towards the police cars, and tossed the girl at their feet. “Take her away.”
Nia turned back, and walked towards the boy. She held his shoulders. “Hey, you’ll be okay, snap out of it.” He shook his head, still hurt by the girl’s comments.
“Dreamer! Thank you!” He smiled at her.
“You’re welcome.”
“Are you sure that you’re okay? I heard something hit something else.” He told Nia.
“I think I’ll be fine,” Nia shrugged, cradling the back of her head.
“Dreamer, can I tell you something really important?” He asked.
Nia was confused and slightly concerned. “Yeah sure,” She replied.
He smiled at her. “You actually gave me the confidence to come out as trans. So, thank you” He told her.
Nia was overflown with happiness. “Thank you, you really don’t know how much that means to me.”
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Nia was back in The Tower now. She sat at one of the chairs in front of the television. She held an ice pack, and groaned in pain as she the back of her head. Nia reached for her coffee cup, but it was too warm, so she put it down. Nia sighed, still holding the ice back to her head, and switched on the television.
For some reason, a reporter from The Daily Planet was talking about the situation in Central City. “The Justice League have been fighting this threat for the last six days with no end in sight. While our world’s heroes are combating a threat, people are still fighting their petty squabbles, as an anti-transgender protest rages on in National City.”
Nia felt herself beginning to cry. She got up, and walked over to the messengers on the wall. Her fingers brushed against the buttons, and she slammed her head against the wall. She stayed there for a handful of seconds. She spun around, walked across the room, grabbed her coffee, and downed the whole thing in one gulp.
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Nia stood atop a building, staring down at the protest. Violent extremists in masks filled the streets. They held signs saying everything from “Sex is real” to “Kill the trannies.”. They also held guns, and didn’t look they were afraid to use them. A car door opened, and a young girl was shoved out of it. She wasn’t a protestor, dressed in a blue hoodie and pink skirt. She was young.
“This is a boy!” One of them pointed to the girl. “This is how they brainwash the children and if we don’t stop them, this is what your sons will look like. There’s only one way to stop the transsexual contagion.” They held a gun to the girl’s head.
“Help!” She called out.
“No one’s coming to save you, you disgusting tranny.”
Dreamer jumped off the rooftop. As she came down, she kicked one who held the gun in the face, sending them to the floor. She brought the girl closer to her. The crowd opened fire on them. Nia used dream energy to produce a force field to protect them. She turned to the girl, “You’ll be safe. I promise.”. She only nodded in response.
Dreamer made the force field smaller, only protecting the girl now. With one hand, she made sure that the girl was safe, with the other, she socked a transphobe. They ran at her, and she hit and kicked them. A woman approached her, aiming to hit her with a “FUCK THE TRANS” sign, Dreamer caught the sign, took it from the woman’s hand, snapped in half with one hand, and hit her with the broken sign.
Dreamer used her powers to form a long chain. She dragged the protestors down. Broke their signs and their guns. Not only did Nia hate what them, but she hated what they stood for: Conformity & Fear. The fear of the different. Nia had always been different. She was part alien. She was trans, for basically her entire life. They feared and hated her for being herself. So, fuck them.
Dreamer was struck in the head. She fell. They kicked and hit her. If she would die here, she would die fighting for the right thing. She almost found comfort in that. Almost. But Nia Nal couldn’t die here. She had a promise she made just moments ago, that she had to keep. Her hand never faltered, and the force field never fell. Nia made sure that the girl was safe.
Nia used her powers to clear the transphobes and pulled herself up, and tightened her mask. She made her way to the girl, and took the force field down. She pulled the girl closer to her, “Stay close, okay.” Nia told her. The girl nodded.
They were circled by the protestors, who aimed their guns at the pair. They opened fire, and Dreamer made a wall around them. The bullets weakened it, but she held the force field. They ran out of bullets. As they refilled, Dreamer brought the wall down. She made a chain, spun around, catching their guns, and brought them to herself. She broke each gun. They rushed towards her. Nia tore a sign from one of their hands and hit them with it. She kicked one in the face, sending others knocking back. Dreamer made a chain, collected three protestors in it, picked them up, and launched them at others.
A protestor came up at Nia, and tried to punch her. She caught her fist and twisted it. She screamed in agony as Dreamer kicked her back. Nia clutched the girl closer to her, holding her in one arm, as she punched a transphobe with the other. He launched at Nia, running towards her. Nia spun, kicking him as she turned, sending him flying. A pair came at Nia, rushing with their signs. She jumped, kicking both of them, grabbed their signs, flipped them, and slapped the both of them away, tearing the signs after.
There was only one protestor left. Dreamer patted the girl on the shoulder,and moved to stand in front of her. The protestor zoomed towards her. She formed a chain with her dream energy, but didn’t move. She came closer, and Dreamer jumped over her, tying the chain around her neck, and pulling her to the ground. Nia walked to her, and kneeled, slamming her head into the ground.
Dreamer got up and walked back to the girl, who didn’t say anything to her, but hugged her. Nia patted her back. Once the girl broke the hug, Nia put her arm around her. “Let’s get you out of here.”
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Once again, Nia found herself in The Tower, alone. She had changed out of her scratched and damaged Dreamer suit, and was now in much more casual clothing. She was lying down on the couch, reading a book. She put the book on the table beside her.
“I should get some sleep.” Nia told herself. Instead, Nia got up, tucked her phone into her pocket, and walked out the door. She walked through the peaceful night, and made her way to a trans charity and shelter. She looked up at the sign. "Open 24/7.” It read. She saw a “Volunteers Needed” poster on the door. She walked into the building, and towards the receptionist.
“Hi! I’m here to volunteer!”
“Thank you! What’s your name?”
"Nia Nal.”