Dini Torres

Origin

Estefan "Dini" Torres was the transsexual lover of Lieutenant Marisa Rahm of the Dakota Police Department. While top diva at the House of Luna, Dini would first meet James Gordon Stanley, also known as "Boots". One night, during an intimate moment on the pier, Boots attempted to rape Dini, and she kicked him in the groin, causing him to vomit. The scene caused Dini to laugh in hysterics. It would later be revealed via flashback that Dini allowed Boots to become her pimp.

Later, Boots began to rape, torture, and murder transsexual prostitutes, placing them in grotesque "reproductions" of classic works of art. One night while off-duty, Lieutenant Martin Rahm happened to come across Dini and an acquaintance being terrorized by Boots in Dakota's seedy Seaport District, but Boots fled before Rahm could apprehend him. The officer came face to face with the serial killer Deathwish, who told Martin he recognized him as one of the girls, before he disappeared. Dini told Rahm that her attacker's nickname is Boots, after the silver-tipped boots he was never seen without.

Four years later, Lieutenant Martin Rahm has undergone hormone treatments to become Marisa "Maddie" Rahm, and is now Dini's lover. When Internal Affairs suspects that Marisa Rahm is in a relationship with one of the witnesses in the Seaport murder case, her commander, Skip, expresses that he wants Rahm off of the case. He supplies her with a picture of Dini as evidence, but Rahm lies, denying that they are a couple. Later, Marisa visits Deathwish in prison, convinced that he has details in the Seaport murder case that will help her find the killer. Deathwish agrees to tell her what he knows, but only if the lieutenant is willing to share her reasons for choosing to become a woman.

Rahm reveals that she visited Dini several times following her attack by Boots, and that the visits were both therapeutic, and revelatory. Martin realized his body did not match the person living inside of it. This realization ended Marisa's marriage. He began his transition into Marisa, and began a new life with Dini. Dini and Marisa struggled with Rahm's obssession with the Seaport murder case, and the fact that Marisa cannot stop staring at the facial scar Boots gave Dini several years before. Dini does her best to encourage Marisa by buying her a computer to monitor the progress she has made on the case, and Dini entertains thoughts of moving to Paris with Marisa to start over, again. Marisa pays lip service to Dini's aspirations, but her obssession with the Seaport murder case overshadows everything they share together. Skip interrupts the couple's romantic dinner with a lead in the Seaport murder case, where three transsexual prostitutes have been murdered, and placed in an obscene tableaux of Boticelli's "Birth Of Venus". This leads to a nasty fight later between Dini and Marisa. Boots is shown menacingly stalking Dini.

Creation

Her first appearance was in Deathwish #1 in 1994

Major Story Arcs

Knocking Boots (Dakota Is Burning)

Later, Marisa has a horrible nightmare about Boots and Deathwish, and Dini attempts to console her beloved. She recommends moving to Paris, once again, which leads to another argument. On July 8th, Marisa and Dini's fourth anniversary, Rahm takes a private call from her lover at the precinct. One of Marisa's colleagues attempts to put his hand up her skirt, and she punches the man in the face. It is then that she makes the decision to quit the force, once and for all. Meanwhile, Boots commits another grisly work of art utilizing dead transsexual prostitutes, and a sketch of Dini Torres is seen in Boots's sketchbook. Boots kidnaps Dini as she is preparing to go clubbing with Marisa. Elsewhere, Rahm is picking out a dress with her friend Linda, and grows alarmed when Dini is late. A note written by hand with a bouquet of flowers indicates that Marisa was to meet Dini at the clothing boutique at 10:00 PM. Marisa and Linda walk back to Rahm's apartment, where Marisa finds an invitation to attend a a ball at the House Of Boots. Rahm is driven mad by Dini's abduction. She gives herself a buzz cut, removes her make-up, and dresses up in a black leather bodysuit, similar in design to that of Deathwish. Elsewhere, Deathwish is standing before Dini, handcuffed to a radiator in an unknown room. Deathwish says nothing to her, but clearly she is frightened.

Silence Of The Rahm

Elsewhere, Marisa and Linda await entrance to Neverland, the bar location provided inside the invitation. Realizing the bouncers dressed in Boots' psuedo Nazi military drag will attempt to stop her, Rahm loses Linda, and climbs to the rooftop. She faces off against two of Boots' goons, as Deathwish watches Marisa brutally pulverize the men through a pair of binoculars. While Deathwish is distracted, Dini uses a bobby pin to unlock the handcuffs, and makes a hasty escape, although Marisa does not realize this. Rahm finds a .357 Magnum from Deathwish with a note that reads "It's time, kiddo". Dini escapes to the street, and makes a run for it. A car approaches her, with Marisa's partner, Thorne, inside. He calls to Dini by her birth name, Estefan Torres, and tells her that Rahm sent him to look for her. Terrified, Dini enters the car. Marisa continues to search Neverland, and finds a woman seated at a vanity table. It is Boots, wearing a wig to make himself look like Dini. A brawl ensues, and Deathwish appears from nowhere. He helps Rahm get the upper hand, but Marisa gives Boots her revolver with the order to "blow your brains out, or mine." Boots shoots himself in the head. Deathwish is then apprehended by police, as another officer drives Rahm and Linda to the scene of another crime. They find Dini, dead, murdered by Kevin Thorne. Her murder shocks Marisa back into reality, and she travels to in honor of Dini's dream. Marisa is seen speaking with another transsexual woman at a cafe, who asks her if she will stay in. Rahm replies that she does not know.

Powers And Abilities

• Torres exhibited the ability to pick locks, as she was able to use a bobby pin to release the lock on a pair of handcuffs after being abducted by Boots.
• Dini was a non-mutant transsexual woman in her late twenties to early thirties in peak physical condition, with no outward physical maladies. She is fairly athletic, as exhibited during her escape from the serial killer, Deathwish.