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Regular readers of my work will know of my SG&The Broker series. You may have noticed I have also done a non SG story too called "HockeyGirl: Spydra, once bitten" - which was an origin story for a spider like character. Now, here is a short crossover story bringing the universes together which I hope you will like. As ever please leave a message !
If you have doubts over the best reading order you can find it here in the SG&The Broker section.
CHAPTER 1
Supergirl effortlessly drifted downwards, her red skirt dancing playfully around her waist as she descended before coming to rest on the ground. She had landed in the middle of a small forest clearing of a federal park which was supposedly closed though evidently for one man that wasn't an issue.
"Hey, there you are !" McGee said from a picnic table underneath a large oak tree.
"Hey .." Supergirl replied with a happy smile. She had last seen McGee during their little reunion at the diner, probably the happiest time she had had in a long time. It seemed that her encounter with Kimberly had helped pull Selena's little circle closer together somehow. Of course there were still some friction left but everyone was closer than ever before.
"No problems finding me then....." McGee said as he beckoned to Supergirl to sit with him.
"You'll have to try harder if you want to hide from me ... so .. what's going on ?" Supergirl asked as she walked over to McGee, her blond hair dancing over her shoulders as she walked.
"This ....." McGee said tapping a closed brown folder that was on the picnic table in front of him.
"Oh?" Supergirl said, cocking her head as she elegantly took her place on the bench opposite her friend.
"After the incident with Kimberly and Bobby you said we would have to be aware of others like them, others who might have been affected by the green dust ......"
"You think you have found someone else ?" Supergirl said, her eyes widening, her hand rising ready to reach out for the file.
McGee's hands fell defensively on the folder... “Kara ...if we could try and keep Selena away from this I would be grateful...”
"You know it has been hard admitting to myself that I can't handle these problems alone any more .... you, the others, you are all that I have got ..... if I cannot share with Selena then ..." Supergirl struggled to explain.
"I know and it hurts me to say it but ... I trust YOU ... I am asking YOU ....the person in this folder doesn't need the sort of treatment Selena specialises in ...”
Supergirl read McGee's face, she knew that this was a heartfelt appeal, and if she knew anything about him at all it was that his intentions were always honourable. From the gifts of memories past that had brought peace between her and Selena to the personal sacrifices he made to make previous missions succeed, he was always trying to do the right thing.
"OK .... I will try to keep her out .. but no promises..." Supergirl relented.
McGee's fingers tap danced on the folder thoughtfully before finally committing and slid it across the picnic table. Supergirl picked up the folder and flipped it open and began speed reading through the few sheets of paper, devouring the words on the page with her eyes like a hungry lion tore through the carcass of a gazelle.
"Wait, this is the police report about that girl ... the one in the news ...."
"Uh huh ....from the HockeyGirl case..."
Supergirl found some photos with the report, one capturing the injuries on the young red head's face and the welts across her torso. Supergirl winced as she looked at the injuries then finished reading the report.
"She ... she seems a lucky kid, getting out of that nightmare ...but ...... there is nothing here to suggest that she is anything like Kimberly or Bobby ... besides, she was born long after the rock fell to the Earth...." Supergirl said, sliding the report back to McGee.
"Yes ..she hadn't even been born when that little green rock arrived .... but look, what you don't know is I was there when the police interviewed her .. it was a mixed case involving the FBI"
"You saw inside of her head? " Supergirl asked with a frown.
"Uh huh ..... some of it .... the police were driving the questions so they didn't drag out the best memories but I am sure of one thing, she has some sort of powers of her own.”
“Powers? Really?” Supergirl replied in surprise.
The green dust had somehow given Bobby and Kimberly some specific traits. Bobby had been gifted the analytical mind of the Kryptonian called Vel, his skill at pattern recognition and prediction had been legendary. Kimberly on the other hand was physically enhanced by the psychotic split personality that had resided inside Vel's sick mind. Neither really had specific powers that anyone knew of unless of course they just hadn't discovered they had them.
“Yes, really, powers .... I don't know what they all are, but for one thing...I could sense this … this incredible feeling of ...freedom from her...sometimes I feel it from you ...” McGee said shyly, hands caught in the cookie jar that were other peoples emotions and memories.
Supergirl glanced at McGee and smiled warmly, he was a welcome accidental guest in her head. He didn't mean to pry just as Supergirl didn't mean to accidentally overhear conversations with her hearing or see what was private with her special vision.
“OK– so ….. what's the catch ?” Supergirl said, noting McGee's admiration for this HockeyGirl.
“Something happened down there in that hole, right towards the end. She was a hero, helped free them all, Kara, but the aura off her was terrifying, the cops couldn't see it but the mental wall she put up was so strong I couldn't penetrate it ...” McGee said.
“And you let her go!?” Kara exclaimed.
“Kara! Keep her based on what? What I claim to see in her head? Besides, she's not going anywhere … she's studying hard, and more importantly, she's in love …. you have time to check her out ...” McGee explained.
“OK … I will give her a look over ….” Supergirl said, rising from the picnic bench.
“Oh and Kara .. be careful with this one, she floats like a butterfly but I suspect she might … well you know what I mean….” McGee finished saying as the superheroine prepared to take flight.
“OK, I will ...” Supergirl answered before lifting off.
CHAPTER 2
4 DAYS LATER
Lucy glanced at her watch.
Supergirl, Kara, her friend had asked for her help and she had said yes without hesitation, even before she had known what it would involve. Now she found herself helping the heroine stakeout the apartment of Laura and her friend Neyra. She didn't know what she was looking for, but Kara had confided in her the concern that the target could be another green dust infected person . That was four days ago and she had got on point within a day, today being day three of her surveillance.
Lucy glanced at her watch and discovered it was only one minute later than the last time she checked. She hated stakeouts, it meant hours and hours of doing nothing while someone else got on with their lives. If she could get back all the time on stakeouts she would probably have half a year's worth of holiday time coming to her.
“Are you there, Kay ?” asked Lucy into her mic on her discreet little headset.
“Yes, I'm here ... you okay?” Kara answered brightly.
“Going nuts .... if this girl really is some menace I really wish Kimberly had been reading from the same playbook.... things would have been way more easy.” Lucy griped.
“Well McGee is pretty certain that he saw something in her head that should make us worry ...” Kara replied.
Lucy noticed some movement inside the lobby of the apartment block through the glass double doors and out stepped Laura in a black leather jacket and tight blue jeans, a small backpack over her shoulder.
“Oh , shes on the move .... she's on foot heading east .....” Lucy said into her mic as she undid her seatbelt.
“I will get into position ... let me know if she changes direction ...” Kara said into Lucy's earbud.
“OK, I am proceeding on foot” Lucy said quietly, hopping from the blackened out Range Rover, locking it behind her.
“Roger...”
Lucy proceeded to walk on the opposite side of the road from Laura, holding her mobile phone out in front of her like she was reading off it, a fake smile on her face as if she was taking in every line. All she had do was keep her head down and glance up. Any moment Laura glanced at her she wouldn't even been looking at her.
Laura proceeded on her way, she was going to the local grocery shop for some food basics and some cleaning products to take back to Neyra's apartment. Neyra was finally moving out, ready to take on her new job across town with her fathers business and this ritual of moving out and cleaning up before handing the rented apartment back was the last act of her old life.
Laura reached the corner of the block, looked at the signals and saw it was safe to cross and proceeded over the intersection and kept heading east.
“She's gone one over, you can go ahead to the next block” Lucy said as she continued to play with her phone which was actually on standby, her thumb merely acting out the task of texting.
“OK...” Kara replied.
Lucy had set Kara's position one block to the North, the more likely direction Lucy would take if she were to go walking. There were more shops and more things to do in that direction so it was a percentage shot in Lucy's mind. Now the pair were walking in parrallel ready to keep tabs on their target if she was lost by the other.
Laura passed along the front of the next set of apartment blocks, a happy skip in her step, her red hair bobbing on her shoulders as she walked. Lucy just kept doing her thing, walking head down, eyeing her phone while glancing periodically at the target. If Laura had looked back her then fine, Lucy hadn't made eye contact with her, and normally the first thing to spook a target was that, seeing someone look you in the eye.
Laura began to make it to the next corner and turned northwards, towards Kara. Perfect.
“She's turned North towards you, I'm going on to the next block, I'll be east of you ...” Lucy announced. This criss crossing pattern might have to be repeated on and off but by cycling their time behind the target at least they could avoid being repeatedly spotted. That never looks good if you get seen over and over and over again, looking at the target or not.
Lucy made a point of walking on faster once Laura turned out of sight, she needed to make up ground if she was going to get parrallel to Laura again.
BZZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ
BZZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ
BZZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ
In Lucy's earbud she could hear Kara's phone ring annoyingly on vibrate.
“Lu ...sorry its Selena .... I should take it ...” Kara said into Lucy's earbud.
“Sure ...” Lucy replied quietly.
“Hey ....” Kara began, Lucy hearing everything as Kara conversed with Selena on the phone.
“Kara, where the hell are you ?!” Lucy heard, it was Selena and she sounded stressed.
“I was taking some downtime ....is everything okay ?” Kara said, concern in her voice.
“I am just seeing some breaking news .... it's ...... it's not good ......get to Malaysia, you're needed ......” Selena urged.
“What is happ...” Kara began.
“JUST GO ..... IT'S SERIOUS” Selena barked.
BEEP – Selena hung up.
“Crap ... did you hear that ... I .... I've got to bug out ....” Kara said apologetically.
“No, you should go..it sounds serious ...” Lucy said, her heart racing a little harder on hearing there was some bad news. Supergirl was the heroine the planet needed, she was far too valuable to be tied down doing some mundane stakeout duty.
Lucy spun around, she could probably still catch Laura, she just needed to be quick. She hadn't gone far from the last corner and was releived to see her target albeit much further ahead than Lucy would like. Lucy began to make an effort to close the gap, her gaze falling on her target more frequently, the chances of losing Laura having been elevated.
Laura strode on blissfully unaware as the shopping list ran through her head, and that assignment she was working on for her course, should she put that third section of her assignment where the second one currently was instead? And then her thoughts drifted off again as she dreamt of Neyra doing simple sweet naughty things to her once she got back.
Lucy began to make ground, her happy 'I'm just on my phone' smile now gone, she looked more like a predator stalking her prey as she closed to a better distance. That's when Laura sensed it, a weak feeling of, not danger, not a threat, but, something, but something not good. Laura took a glance around, there was light traffic, few people, so doing a half spin around, Laura walked backwards a few steps , casually checking behind while still heading towards her destination.
EYE CONTACT
“Look through her ... “ thought Lucy, and she did, that brave moment of looking through the target so confidently it seemed you were looking right at something else.
Laura cocked her head and resumed going forwards. There were a few people about but she couldn't see any danger, perhaps it was nothing ... but hmmmm. Lucy was in a quandry, she might have been spotted or not, show up too many times in those little checks astern and Laura might get suspicious, but running solo meant Lucy couldn't hand off her surveillance to anyone.
Lucy decided what to do, Laura was an untrained, unaware target, the balance of probability was in Lucy's favour, she could get away with a little more exposure and still leave some reasonable doubt in Laura's head. Besides right now they were both heading in the same direction, everyone knows you need to do a few turns to check if you have someone foll ...... dammit.
Laura got to the next junction and for some reason made a turn back to the west.
Lucy had the distinct impression she had been made. With the direction she was taking now, Laura could have easily got there going directly from her apartment. It didn't make much sense, unless she was just taking a lap around the block, to clear her head maybe? Lucy decided to carry on over the junction until she passed out of sight, wait a little then resume following the target.
Lucy stayed out of sight around the corner but used the shop glass across the street to see Laura's reflection as she continued on only to pause at a shop window.
“What are you doing .....” Lucy wondered, glancing at her watch then the reflection.
Then Laura went back on the move again and Lucy came around the corner trying to understand Laura's route. Then Laura made another left to head South into a smaller street or alley way. In Lucy's mind this appeared to be the destination and began to close in to see what might be there. Closer and closer she got, but from the other side of the road until she was level with what appeared to be an alley.
With a frown Lucy noted the area was empty. Was there a shop or a backdoor in there? She would have to check and so, with a quick look left and right crossed the road and followed in behind Laura, except ..
“What the?” Lucy thought.
The alley was empty and devoid of doorways. A dumpster stood watch over the entrance but a side bump with Lucy's fist revealed it to be empty, a quick glance inside giving confirmation. Not giving up, Lucy checked for manhole covers although why Laura would resort to that she didn't know. There was one manhole cover in place but the lichen and moss trapped between the tarmac and the heavy metal cover showed it hadn't been moved for some time.
Lucy was puzzled, she was a trained pro, Laura seemed like just an everyday young woman, how did she ... ewww.!!
“What is THAT?”
Lucy saw on the back wall this white line of sticky goo that ran from the ground to the roof line way up above her. Laura wiped a gloved finger in the sticky mess and played with it between thumb and first finger a shudder running through her as her imagination ran riot about the source. The stuff was incredibly sticky though it seemed to be slowly decaying before her eyes.
“Perhaps it was spillt off the roof or something, maybe it's some sort of construction product?” Lucy thought.
Lucy shook her head dissmissively, whatever it was wasn't important but now she had a problem. Her target seemed to have taken flight, the only reason being that she detected Lucy. How that happened Lucy wasn't sure, and how Laura had then escaped vexed her. Perhaps ....
Lucy strode back to the dumpster, the only real way Laura could have been concealed. Lucy studied it more carefully, front back and sides but it yielded no more clues.
“Dammit ..I'm sorry Kara, I fucked up...” Lucy thought to herself then spun away deciding to return to her vehicle.
Up on the roof, peering over the edge, a frightened Laura watched her follower retreat away. Was she in league with the people that had held her and the other women at the facility or was she with the police? Had someone discovered she had killed Albino Man?
CHAPTER 3
A FEW DAYS LATER....
Neyra stopped her car at the end of the dark box alley. The full dumpsters sat like guardians at the mouth of the sinister looking space between buildings which ran to the back of a restaurant.
“This is it .....” Neyra said.
“What ..... oh ..... right ....” Laura said sounding very distracted.
“Hey, you ok?” Neyra checked, her face revealing her concern.
“Yeah ... I'm OK . I was just thinking ......” Laura said as she seemed to return to the moment.
“I know you didn't want to do it like this .. if it's too soon we can ....” Neyra said, Laura seemed to have many things on her mind of late, perhaps she was still haunted by her stay in the facility.
“Oh .. no ... this is something I want to do .....” Laura jumped in, her enthusiasm returning.
“Ok .....” Neyra said with a smile, more reassured her friend was ready to face the world in her new guise.
Neyra put on her bluetooth headset and the thin boom mic, the tiny foam head resting near the corner of her mouth. Laura began to unzip her tracksuit top and then pulled her jogging bottoms down her legs, shuffling in the car to remove the outer clothing.
“Testing ....1, 2, 3” Neyra said quietly.
“Yep, Testing 1,2,3” Laura said in reply in her own mouthpiece.
“Good ...... remember the range might change depending on the buildings around you ...” Neyra cautioned.
“Yes, I'll remember ” nodded Laura, visibly nervous at what she was about to attempt.
Neyra took in the sight of Laura in her Spydra suit, she looked hot, though romantic concerns seemed well down on Neyra's list of priorities right now.
“OK, so, keep yourself to the North and West ....there are a lot of good high buildings and they are close together, use them. If you stray off too far things begin to open up a bit ....you're a wall crawler remember ....... don't get caught down on the ground”
Laura nodded in time with Neyra's words “North and West, on the buildings, no ground ... “
“Try and keep me up to date where you are but you know where I am going to be every half hour, don't you?”
Laura nodded, they had planned a rolling set of rendezvous points for every half hour. If Laura needed to stop early she just needed to get to the current stop on Neyra's schedule.
“OK.....hopefully I won't see you until .. 2am at the last rendezvous .... OK ?” Neyra asked.
An outing had been Laura's idea but Neyra was the one who tried to make it a properly planned reality. Just going out, untested and untried 'for a couple of hours' as Laura first wanted just screamed alarm bells in Neyra's ears. Laura could see the sense in doing it Neyra's way, but she felt more pressure now that it had turned into something more formal, more controlled. The idea of just free-roaming unplanned as Spydra seemed to be a lot less stressful.
“OK ... I think I am good to go .....” Laura said glancing up into the dark alley, her start point.
“OK ... let's get you going .....” Neyra said as she hopped from the car, pulling out a bag and walking to the other side and towards the alley.
Laura glanced about herself and then hopped out the car, feeling nervous, even shy being in public in her somewhat sexy outfit. Although it wasn't revealing it certainly didn't hide anything either, her breasts, her behind, everything was on show save for it being behind the flattering skintight multilayer suit.
The pair entered the darkness, their eyes starting to become accustomed to the lack of light and they made their way to the back wall of the alley.
“OK .... “ Neyra said as she pulled out a metallic segmented belt from her bag, it was in a dark gunmetal grey and somehow seemed to complement the dark lines that framed the deep reds and blues of the Spydra costume. Clipped onto the belt were several small flasks which contained a sugary water mix, this was going to be Laura's emergency back-up fuel if she started to feel a bit flat.
The belt had been made to fit, and Neyra proudly put it on around Laura's waist who, arms raised enjoyed the symbolic almost bondage-esque nature of being clipped into this new bit of kit. The belt just made Laura look even sexier and Neyra had to restrain her own hands from stripping the young woman naked before she even set off.
“It's midnight ..... dead on time ....... I will see you at 2am with luck ....” Laura said as she glanced up the wall to the roof of the building right by her before looking to her mentor, Neyra.
The pair locked eyes and then moved in for a brief kiss before parting. Laura was about to turn away when her eyes went wide, Neyra was about ....
“AHEM!” Neyra said with a wicked grin, her index finger doing a circling motion at her own face.
“Oh crap .... my mask ! Where is .......oh” Laura's words tailed off, her senses sounding the alarm.
“Uh huh .....” Neyra grinned.
“You.... you haven't .. !” Laura protested, the catsuit she was in convulsing into her body, a tell tale sign of her sexual excitement.
Neyra parted her legs in her long knee boots and her hand snaked up her short length dress and tugged carefully. Bit by bit Laura's hood like mask appeared, turned inside out Neyra had kept the inside of the hood, especially the area that would cover her face against her pussy.
“I won't be with you but ..... in a way, I will !”
Laura's eyes burned with those shy yet yearning eyes and took her hood, placing it over her head.
“See you soon .... I love you ...” Laura said meekly as the last portion of the hood finally past down her mouth and enclosed around her neck. Every breath bathed Laura's senses in Neyra's virtual presence and probably guaranteed she would need a thorough workout with the Enchantress to come down from where head was going to be.
“Love you too” Neyra answered, patting Laura on her behind before the young, brave new heroine lept to a wall and began to scamper upwards and out of sight.
“Be safe ..” whispered Neyra to herself. She was excited and she was scared but she knew that this was the inevitable conclusion to where Laura's powers were taking her. If Laura was supposed to be a half finished super soldier then perhaps she could be a fully finished super-cop instead .... or a super ... hmmm, maybe not.
Laura found herself on the roof of the first building and looked out across the city skyline, the first time she had set eyes on the big wide world as Spydra. Taking a breath, the exterior image of the heroine would have appeared confident but beneath the young woman was trying to bury her troubles, memories of Albino Man, the police and the Asian woman who had followed her.
CHAPTER 4
Laura skidded to a halt on a roof top having used a slingshot type turn off the corner of a building to get there. The roof seemed to have a bed of fine gravel on top and she had left a short set of parallel skid marks with her feet with her effort to stop. By now Neyra would have moved on to another checkpoint and Laura had to plan her next move to keep up with her.
Laura paused and listened as she thought, the sounds of fans and air-con units hummed in the background, the occasional car horn in the distance or police siren far off filled the night sky. Laura took a breath before exhaling a vaporous lungful of air through her mask, revealing the night time air was cold.
So far this little exploration had been event free, just how she wanted it to be. She had enjoyed the free roam across the city, albeit to Neyra's schedule but her mentor was right, her fledgling status required she get experience and nurture her skills little by little.
"..ow is ...goi....up ..ere..?" crackled Neyra's voice in Laura's ear.
Laura guessed Neyra was at the edge of her range but figured out the question, how was it going up there?
"Good so far, just taking a moment before moving on." Laura replied not sure how much Neyra would get.
"Un..stood....I'm ....ting at ....ext....eeting point."
Laura, finger to her ear understood, Neyra was at the next planned meeting point waiting in case Laura needed to end her excursion early. Laura surveyed her way ahead, a variety of towers dotted her route and and her mind plotted how a web there, swinging from over there, a slingshot to that......
Beneath Laura's mask there was a smile, it was almost like her senses were painting the way for her she could see it clearly.
"I'm Faith from Mirror's Edge!" Laura thought to herself.
That's when she heard it, the echoey indistinct voices of young men in the alley to one side of the building. Laura peered cautiously over the edge to get a look at the people below who were early twenty-somethings at a guess, five or six of them. Some glanced at their phones, the lit screens sometimes illuminating the men, others smoking as they talked about cars, or sports or women.
Then the peer pressure begun, a man feeling the heat of his friends. The laughing and the gentle pushing began, the goading, the chicken impressions, the shouts of "your turn" and so on driving the unlucky man into the street.
Laura cocked her head as she absorbed the rite of passage playing out before her eyes, the young man had been cut loose from the pack to do some deed, but what?
The others watched their cub as he walked nervously towards the convenience store, and although Laura's senses did not apply, she was in no danger, her common sense said that mischief was coming.
The young man entered the store, the hushed whispers of his waiting comrades with their suppressed giggles somehow taking the edge off what otherwise would be a tense moment. Laura held her breath, was something happening or not?
What seemed an age passed by and then it suddenly happened, the young man almost stumbling from the shop doorway with an arm full of ill gotten gains chased by an angry woman with a Chinese accent who was wielding a broom.
The young man ran, fuelled by adrenalin no doubt, dropping some items as he fled. His 'innocent' compatriots turned out the alley way as he ran through them and they walked towards the shop, shielding their escaping friend from view.
Laura gasped, as she realised that this was it, this was Spydra's moment!
Laura shot a web and swung off the roof in pursuit of her target who made a turn at the corner, his pace slowing. Glancing around Laura realised that she and her fleeing target would be alone and so with a deft landing against a wall and a leap, landed crouched in front of him.
The young man froze in his tracks taking in the sight of the female form that had appeared from nowhere.
"Whoa ..... what the fuck!" exclaimed the young man as he recoiled from Laura.
"Come on, give them up...." Laura said through her mask, her hand beckoning the man to hand over his prize.
The young man glanced at his armful of loot, a large cardboard box of several hundred cigarettes and tightened his grip. The box represented his badge of courage and he wasn't in a hurry to give it up, besides if he gave them up to her he would be a laughing stock.
He quickly did the math, she was what, a hundred and thirty-forty pounds and .... she was a girl and he was a hundred and ninety pounds and ... surely no cont...
FWUTOOOOSH
Laura fired a line of web at the box and yanked it away from the man's grip taking him by surprise, obviously he was still caught in two minds as to the next course of action when she struck and now his prize was in her hands.
"Hey ...what the..." exclaimed the young man.
Laura was surprised at her success, the web was strong and she had snatched the box from a more substantial looking, albeit unarmed opponent. Now it was Laura that was caught in two minds, not having thought she would be in this position so quickly.
WATCHOUT!
Laura's senses warned her as the man sought to retrieve the box, closing the distance to his goal. With a lunging arm the young man snatched for the box and Laura instinctively deflected his arm away. Wide eyed he repeated the move again with his other arm, and Laura deflected him again with another arm movement.
Frustrated, the thief resorted to the one thing that was, in his small world of the 'wanna be' thug, the ultimate weapon. Reaching behind his back the man put his hand on the small handle of his pocket knife, his other arm beckoning at the .... whatever it was in front of him.
"Please..." began the young man. His body language was universal, one hand appealing to her common sense, the other displaying his intent, he was prepared to draw a weapon.
"Walk away, this isn't yours...." Laura said.
"Or yours...." The man said defensively.
"I'm going to give it back...." Laura retorted.
"If I don't get it back I'm...please don't make me do this..." the man began.
"If this about your friends.....then .. sorry but you need NEW friends...." Laura said, sensing the man's conflict. He needed this little symbol of rebellion to impress his friends, to help him be accepted and she had taken it from him. Now the young man had to decide, was he going to escalate the situation with his knife?
"I...I have a knife...." the man said, trying to put on some pressure without actually drawing his weapon.
"I know!" Laura said, trying to gently extricate herself from the situation. A glance about her revealed a host of escape options all easily within her capabilities to execute.
GO!
Desperate, the young man broke, pulling his knife just in time to see Laura reach out with her free hand and unleash another line. With a twitch of the wrist Laura began to haul herself up, ascend.....
SWISHHHHH
The young man seeing the line instinctively slashed at it with his knife to prevent the strangely dressed woman's escape but missed.
"Aaaarghhhhh" Laura shrieked as she tumbled to the ground, the knife having slashed across her bicep, an involuntary reflex in her wrist then cutting her own web loose.
The box of cigarettes fell to the floor as did the knife which the young thug dropped in horror at what he had done.
Laura, her hand covering the wound on her arm gathered herself up from the floor, enraged. Suddenly she seemed to have grown in stature and the man began to back up in fear at what he had done.
"I...I'm sorry....I ....I didn't mean to...I'm sorry...." he stuttered as he edged away, stumbling to the floor onto his backside.
Step by step Laura closed the gap to the young man in silence, stooping down to pick up the fallen knife before standing over the prone thug.
"What ... what are you going to do?" he asked, terrified of her, terrified of what he had done and terrified of would she would do in retaliation.
Laura was for a moment under her own spell, she was no longer just some young student in a costume, she was a powerful force that this man was afraid of, Spydra was real! This realisation caused Laura to blink, the spell broken just as ….
DANGER!
"Hey..... Whatcha doin' Wickes? Who dafuq is that?" called a voice.
Laura looked up to see one of the young man's friends approaching, his confident walk telling her that he was more sure of himself than his younger, unproven friend at her feet, the one apparently called Wickes.
"Oh....You... You're in trouble now..... Cruz is gonna fuck you up...." Wickes said nervously.
Laura looked up and plotted her escape again, firing a web and lifting off into the air as she retracted the web, climbing the last few feet to the roof.
"WICKES, do yo have it?" Cruz demanded angrily as he approached his friend on the floor.
Laura realised she had left the box of cigarettes on the ground but she had Wickes' knife. She had gloves on so had no qualms tossing the thug's weapon in the next dumpster she found, fingerprint free.
"Yeah...I ....." Began Wickes in a sort of daze as he got up, picking up his prize.
"Who was that?" Cruz demanded, in the dark street he had failed to see how Laura had fled.
"Just some kid.......nobody man..." Wickes said thrusting his prize at Cruz.
"Yeah right....come on, let's go...." Cruz ordered, glancing about suspiciously.
Laura retired from the edge of the roof and checked her injury to find that while her suit had been slashed her arm looked fine, barely a mark on it. Perhaps once she got some proper light she would be able to see what had happened.
“Well that was a fail ….” Laura said to herself. Her first attempt at crime fighting and she lost out to just about the lowest grade opponent that was out there, a wanna-be with the tiniest knife ever. Laura looked over the side of the building and dropped the knife into the open dumpster far down below.
BEING WATCHED!
Laura glanced about her and saw no one but she was uneasy, her senses were normally quite reliable. Supergirl watched the catsuited young woman below her with interest trying to figure out what she was. Was that a budding crime fighter in the making or had she seen some prey escaping a grizzly end at the last moment?
Supergirl had observed Laura's confrontation with the man like a nervous parent watching their child on their bike without stabilisers for the first time. Instinctively reaching out, first to protect the young man from Laura and then Laura from the man. What would have happened if the one called Cruz hadn't arrived?
Supergirl decided it was time to confront the local celebrity they called HockeyGirl and find out the truth about her. Below Laura felt spooked, there was a presence yet she could not see it, only the seismic arrival of Supergirl on the roof gave her watcher away.
Mere meters separated the pair and Laura gasped when she realised who had confronted her.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god" Laura's mind raced, it was Supergirl and she was so close Laura could almost touch her. This was something that happened to other people, not her, Supergirl was the tiny figure that appeared on her TV or on the front page of newspapers but now she was RIGHT THERE!
Supergirl could hear Laura's heart race, the strangely clad young woman frozen to her spot, a common reaction as the fight or flight response fought to choose an option. Supergirl scanned her target quickly, if Laura had any green dust on her Supergirl had to know, she didn't need another Kimberly moment.
"Laura, right?" Supergirl said, her tone difficult for Laura to gauge. Not friendly, not hostile, it was almost a neutral toned question.
Laura froze, her mind on the defensive. "Who?" Laura managed, superhero 101 telling her to protect her identity.
Supergirl cocked her head, was Laura forgetting she could see right through that mask? With a subtle shake of her head Supergirl dismissed Laura's feeble defence.
"I'm sorry …..but ...I have to do this Laura.." Supergirl began to say as she began to move towards Spydra.
SHIELD!
Laura's senses screamed their warning, the iconic heroine stood in front of her was going to ..wait .. do what??!
Supergirl's world through her own eyes slowed to a crawl as she began accelerating at great speed, with little effort she was going to close the gap to her target and envelop Laura with her arms. Slowly Laura's eyes widened and she sensed what was about to happen, reacting surprisingly quick for a human.
FWUT-
It wasn't a gun shot, more like a crossbow, and it took Supergirl by surprise, her initial scan having not revealed any weapons.
-OOOOSHHHHH
Laura's senses had driven her to do something she had never done before and to her surprise a hexagonal shaped web, like an oversized shield splayed out from her wrist in front of her.
Supergirl had closed half of the gap between them both when the wall of white gunk appeared between her and her target.
“What the?!” Supergirl managed to think as she powered into the white mass.
Laura recoiled as the shield like web which she had deployed instantly seemed to implode into a Supergirl shaped mass, the other heroine having ploughed into the web wall seemingly at light-speed.
"Oh fuck..." Laura thought, terrified of Supergirl's impending wrath, what had she done?!
FLEE!
Supergirl stumbled through the sticky wall, it was so dense that even on her scale of strength she could feel the resistance of the fibrous goo. Had she been weakened somehow or was this material capable of testing her? Supergirl remembered being de-powered by Kimberly's green dust and held by incredibly strong chains, the unpleasant memories causing adrenaline to course through her.
Supergirl needed to know fast, was this girl under the influence of green dust or not? The heroine felt vulnerable for just a moment in her restrictive white coating and felt compelled to act, was she under attack? Igniting like a welding torch, Supergirl's eyes pooled with a red glow which shone pink through the white web covering her face.
Laura gasped in horror, Supergirl, was about to unleash her iconic heat ray, and directly at her, a nobody!
FLEEEEEE!
Supergirl focused on minimising the strength of her beam. On Kimberly and Bobby a tiny amount of energy was able to reveal the presence of Vel's mind in their bodies. However, that response acted like an energy sponge, protecting the human hosts, if Laura wasn't being enhanced it could be a very painful experience, minimal power or not.
Laura's head filled with Supergirl's voice as a rapid vision played out.
"WHAT ARE YOU HIDING, WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LABORATORY, HOW DID YOU GET THESE POWERS,IT WAS THE GREEN DUST, WHERE IS THE GREEN DUST, GIVE IT UP, ARE YOU AN ALIEN, DO YOU KNOW VEL, OR IF NOT VEL, WHO... HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS, TELL ME, TELL ME, TELL ME..."
Laura was terrified, the most powerful entity on the planet was after her, and she was just a mere student on nothing more than a field trip. The powerful vision over with Laura gasped as she returned to the moment.
Supergirl's eyes flared with a red glow as she began to burn through the web covering her face. In panic Laura let loose a web and ran to the edge of the roof, swinging away. Supergirl's head tracked the escaping catsuited figure with her low intensity beam, hoping to strike her target just enough to let her know ... green dust influence or not?
Laura swung through the glowing red beam, the side of her torso receiving a curved horizontal slicing cut causing Laura to yelp. Laura bravely stayed on her course, swinging to safety while Supergirl cursed herself, not a hint of green came off the fleeing young woman.
Supergirl was surprised at the result, she had almost been sure that Laura was going to be another green dust victim, so, what on earth was she?
"How does she do that!" Supergirl thought almost in admiration. She had been warned that HockeyGirl had powers of her own but what had been put on display so far went beyond what she had imagined. At least Lucy could now walk head held high, she hadn't been out foxed by just any regular person, this one could move and her reflexes were incredible.
While Supergirl was lost in thought Laura was fleeing and had already fired off another web to another building, swinging with great pace while alternating with one arm to the next.
"Neyra!" Laura managed over her microphone.
"Where are you?! I was worried ... Is everyth....."
"Get the engine running....."
"What? Why? Is everything ...."
"GET THE ENGINE RUNNING"
Supergirl followed for barely a few seconds and stopped in her tracks having overheard everything. She knew of Neyra, and Neyra seemed to know of Laura's extracurricular activities. Chasing now would end up involving Neyra, involving traffic and all sorts of other complications. No, it could wait, besides it didn't seem that Laura was the imminent green dust powered threat she could have been.
Laura swung down to the ground right by Neyra's car and hopped in, buckling up and ripping off her mask in one fast movement.
"Go .... Please, go...." sobbed Laura, drawing her knees into her chest, resting her heels on the seat.
"Oh my god, baby are you okay?" Neyra asked as she carefully pulled away onto the streets from the rendezvous point, a quiet alley.
Laura wiped her eyes, she was visibly upset by something and Neyra had to take several glances at her before she saw why.
"Oh god, there's a slice through your suit ..are you bleeding?" Neyra asked in a panic.
Laura checked her flank, she seemed fine now, but had hurt like hell when Supergirl....oh god, SUPERGIRL!
"Su..." Laura tried with a gulp, quaking in fear.
"What?" Neyra asked nervously.
"Su..Supergirl .....she...shot me.....with her eyes!" Laura exclaimed, visibly shaken from her ordeal.
"SUPERGIRL DID WHAT?" Neyra's face revealed that this was a seriously big deal.
Laura snapped off a bottle of her sugar water from her belt and gulped at it. The webbed shield she had put up had been dense and her body began to feel the depletion, especially after her hurried escape.
"Oh my god ! Wha..... what did you DO?" Neyra demanded, her face aghast.
"Nothing, I swear … she just showed up and ...she knew my name..my REAL name...oh jeez this is messed up..before I knew it she came at me with the laser eyes!" Laura said in surprise.
"How...how did you get away?" Neyra asked, her imagination running wild with the bizarre encounter.
"I shot a web in her face then fled... I slowed her down a bit and while she was getting free I ....oh fuck, I shot Supergirl.... in the face! And she knows who I am!" Laura's face was a mix of fear and incredulity.
"OK ... just, keep your head down and we can let this die down, it's her word against yours, right? Right? You've not done anything wrong, have you?" Neyra nervously asserted.
Laura's mind replayed the event recalling how her senses had told her Supergirl was full of questions, questions about what happened in the laboratory when she had escaped! Did Supergirl know everything?
“Oh my god... what if she knows!” thought Laura.
Neyra read Laura's face like a book, there was something weighing heavily on her young lover's mind.
“Laura …? Laura?!” Neyra persisted, she was suddenly confident that Laura knew the motive of Supergirl's attack.
"Can we just get home, please ......" Laura buried her face into the palms of her gloved hands, the evening had been an ordeal for her, now she had yet another worry on her mind as well as the police and the mysterious Asian follower.
Neyra relented, between going toe to toe with Supergirl and Neyra's peer pressure to talk Laura wasn't in a great place. Neyra wanted to pull Laura closer not drive her away, finding out what Supergirl's motive was would have to wait for now.
CHAPTER 5
Laura was stood in front of the mirror and turned her body this way and that assessing the damage to her suit. The thug had left a slash across her arm but her flesh was unharmed,only the suit was torn. Then across her side her pale flesh was visible through the narrow slit left by Supergirl's heat vision.
In the mirror a naked Neyra appeared from behind, her soulful compassionate eyes looking back at Laura. Neyra wrapped her arms around Laura's neck, crossing above Laura's breasts, her palms setting on Laura's upper arms.
"It'll be OK..." whispered Neyra into Laura's ear.
Neyra broke her embrace and unzipped the catsuit, parting the fabric and revealing Laura's spine to the base of her back, carefully pushing the taught spandex over the young heroine's shoulders. The freckle dappled shoulders greeted Neyra's eyes as she continued to drag the suit down Laura's subtly muscled arms until she was naked from the waist up.
Kissing down Laura's back Neyra gently tugged the catsuit down over the heroine's hips to the floor and Laura stepped out, now totally naked.
"The bath is ready...." whispered Neyra, turning away.
===========
Neyra reclined in the steaming hot bath, Laura laying back into her arms while the huge volume of bubbles on the water obscured them. While Neyra looked serene on the surface her mind whirled with questions. Laura was about the sweetest kid she knew, why Supergirl had been brought to bear against her Neyra didn't know.
Laura should have been hurting, she should have been cut and bruised and perhaps even burnt but physically she was fine, only mentally she was a wreck. Supergirl had turned on her, laser eyes and super-speed used, she had even been spying on Laura from above.
Laura's mind was a whirl of paranoia, she knew why Supergirl had come, the police had told Supergirl they didn't believe her story, they had found a bucket of goo that was formerly Albino Man, or CCTV footage of her murdering him. The police were frightened of her, the spider-freak girl and had sent Supergirl after her.
Neyra struggled to find the right opening words for Laura's ears. On the one hand she knew Supergirl wouldn't attack someone for no reason but that would mean Laura was at fault somehow and Neyra knew the young woman wrapped in her arms wouldn't harm a fly...hmmm, perhaps a poor choice of words. Neyra's mind was conflicted by logic and loyalty and while she knew loyalty should win her intelligence pointed her towards logic.
"She must know she made a mistake or she would have come after you... You aren't what she thought you were going to be....." Neyra said warmly.
"I guess but... I sensed she had so many questions, she ...she knows......" Laura said without realising she was acknowledging out loud that indeed Supergirl had a genuine motive.
"Knows what?” Neyra asked.
Laura's mind replayed the scene as Albino Man was about to violate Jen. Then she remembered the horrific mind fuck that he used against her, his vicious member ripping up her insides during the false vision he put into her head. Thanks to Jen she managed to escape that nightmare but only in time for the monster to transform then rip her clothes off her for real as she fought for the key to her escape.
Laura lunged forward from Neyra's grasp and out of the bath, reaching for a towel.
"Laura!?" Neyra asked, her heart sinking having driven Laura away.
"I'm sorry, I.....I'm going to sleep....I just need some space …........" Laura said as she wrapped herself in the towel and stepped away, upset.
Supergirl had been hovering above the apartment block had seen and heard everything, her inescapable gaze and powerful hearing taking in the scene that had played out below. The heroine could tell Laura was hiding something beyond just her powers, Neyra already knew about those, there was something else. What wasn't hidden though was Supergirl had driven a wedge between the two women below, something she regretted.
=======
LATER
Supergirl walked despondently into Selena's hideout, the nerve centre of The Broker's operation aglow with computer screens and humming with the sound of computers and servers.
"Oh hello..." Selena said, surprised at Kara's arrival.
The pair had an odd relationship, Selena accepted there were periods where planet earth needed some quality time with the heroine and periods where she would drop in and be with Selena exclusively. Right now Supergirl had been devoting time to Earth so her appearance was unexpected.
Selena glanced at the heroine and sensed something was wrong.
"Kara.... is everything OK?" Selena asked, concern overwhelming the smile that had been across her face when the heroine first appeared.
"What... what was it like... for you I mean....the day I brought you in?" Kara asked, almost sadly.
“Hmmm come on ...I can see someone needs to talk ….” Selena said warmly. Selena had been accustomed to being the queen bitch of her little empire but as her relationship to the heroine had evolved over time she had learned that at times she had to back off. Now was one of those times.
========
The pair had moved to a more comfortable spot within Selena's lair and the pair sat facing each other, relaxed.
"So … you want to know … what was it like? For me, I felt utter helplessness, total and utter helplessness, and you can't even imagine the sense of injustice I felt as you ignored my pleas and dragged me off to face justice when I was the victim....." Selena said.
"I... I've made a mistake, Selena and I don't know what to do to fix it..." Supergirl said, pausing thoughtfully.
"What is this about, Kara?" Selena asked looking vexed.
"There is this girl, a student, McGee thinks...." Supergirl began.
"McGee?....." Selena said with surprise, one eyebrow raised.
"Please don't be mad with him....." Supergirl answered, seeking to quell Selena's apparent annoyance.
"I'm not.....YET" Selena said with narrowing eyes.
"He thought she might be.... you know, another green dust victim" Supergirl explained.
"So you went to confront her? Alone? After your previous experience I would have thought you would have been a bit more careful.” Selena said in a chastising tone.
"She....she IS different but.... but she isn't under the influence of the dust..."
"So, let me guess....you confronted her assuming she was dangerous and now you have yet another innocent who feels persecuted by the mighty Supergirl?" Selena said, sounding a little disgruntled. It was after all a similar mistake that had crashed Supergirl and Selena together before she took her revenge.
"Just for a moment.... I was scared.... she...she did something and....I tried to be decisive... I needed to know if she carried another mind with her..." Supergirl said defensively.
"You tested her, didn't you, like Bobby and his sister …..!?" The tone of Selena's voice was accusatory.
Supergirl, hands laced in front of her looked downwards like a chastised schoolgirl.
“I overreacted, she's not like Kimberly or Bobby at all” Supergirl said apologetically.
"So...can I ask why you didn't think you could come to me about this person?" Selena asked, sounding a little disappointed.
"Now that I've seen her, I think I know exactly why McGee wants to keep you away from her..." Supergirl said, eyes averted.
"Do you both really think I would do to HER what I did to YOU?" Selena said with an annoyed tone.
"You know what, I think you WOULD want to get your claws into her just as you have all the rest... Lucy, Lisa....McGee....." Kara replied, she could easily imagine Selena doing that.
"Kara, do you seriously think that it is ME and my claws that holds us all together? Oh sure, I make deals, trade information, I weave my webs and make use of Lucy, Lisa and McGee.... but I can assure you that without YOU.... one by one they would all slip away..." Selena explained.
"No Selena, you're wrong... I haven't said anyth.."
"Kara! I saw it, I sensed it, Lucy would drop me without hesitation if you wanted it, detective Kozny is a good cop, YOU legitimise me in her eyes, without you, no Kozny, and McGee.... oh my dear sweet McGee....I've never owned McGee . I would still get a favour from him, and vice versa when he needed me but if you were gone it wouldn't be the same....so tell me...what is so special about this one that EVIL SELENA mustn't be allowed near"
"God McGee is going to kill me....." Supergirl said shaking her head.
"Don't worry about HIM.... I think he knows that I have a certain ...hold over you..." Selena said, her tone implying exactly what she meant.
"Selena.... I'm being serious...." Supergirl snapped back. Sure, she was Selena's, but this wasn't a time for jokes.
"We will figure it out.....but in the meantime....SPILL" Selena said sounding very serious. If she said something could be figured out, it could be figured out.
"Where to begin....well....McGee had been caught up in that big prison kidnapping thing and was there when that HockeyGirl kid got interviewed...saw into her head. McGee saw something that made him think of the green dust, he felt she was hiding something."
"I'm not hearing anything that should make him want to keep this girl away from me...." Selena said, head tilting, her tone still annoyed.
"If you saw her...she's...so....modest but pretty, brave but scared, naive yet wise, bold yet so vulnerable, and her abilities...unique....But she .... she's hiding something...McGee is right.... when she saw my red and blue..I've seen that look before...the guilt"
"Kara, you've no idea, do you? If Supergirl descends down on you and you aren't in a burning building or fighting the rising waters, if you aren't in a bank being robbed or a plane that is crashing then why is she there...it's because you are GUILTY of something" Selena said, rolling her eyes.
"But...."
"Trust me, you could make a saint look guilty....anyway...you know now..she's not a green dust victim .... so what do you want to do next? What are you and McGee hoping to get from this?"
"I want her on our team....she...could be awesome for us ....." Supergirl said with a rising tone. She was excited about the idea of having someone like Laura to help her except ….
"You want to know what she is hiding first..." Selena answered knowingly. So far 'the team' had been well researched and Selena felt comfortable with all of them. Bringing in someone from the outside might be dangerous for everyone involved.
"Yes...I'm not going to risk you all to an unknown, we need to know what she is, what she is about, what she is hiding..." Supergirl said.
“This sounds like it could get dirty ….. I don't think you should play this game Kara..” Selena said
“What are you suggesting?” Supergirl asked.
“If she's holding back then it will have to be forced out of her, whatever it is, and YOU can't be seen to do that. If you appeal to her first and she refuses to talk then it's over! What are you going to do? Rough her up? No, I don't think so ...and if you send in the goon squad instead ... SHE WILL KNOW …..Supergirl fucked her over. NO ….. if you want to do this, do it dirty from the beginning then you can become the one she will run TO and NOT from when it is all over.”
Supergirl looked down, her face revealing she understood the grim reality, this super powered mystery woman would have to be made to talk if they were to ever trust her and Supergirl couldn't be seen to be involved, not at first.
CHAPTER 6
Neyra loaded the groceries carefully into her car from the shopping cart and hadn't noticed the white van that had parked alongside her. Her only hint she was in trouble was the woosh of the sliding panel door of the van behind her and the sudden pinprick of pain in her neck before she started to black out.
Later Neyra found herself in cuffs at a table in a concrete room when the hood she was kept in was finally pulled off of her head. Neyra's eyes burned with anger at the Asian woman sat opposite her, she didn't know her motives but they probably weren't good.
"I apologise for the manner of your detention..." began the Asian woman.
Neyra glared in silence while beneath her steeled exterior her mind whirled. Was it the same group who had kidnapped her and all the rest from before or was this to do with the Supergirl incident?
"I work with a group which has been tasked with dealing with extraterrestrial threats.." the Asian continued.
Neyra glared, listened, absorbed and processed what was going on around her. She didn't consider either herself or Laura as extraterrestrial threats, this woman was telling her nothing of use.
"We thought your friend, Laura, was under the influence of such a threat..."
Neyra refused to rise to the bait and saw no gain from talking yet. Laura, could be under the influence of the devil himself and she wouldn't give her up, they were in love and nothing the Asian captor in front of her could say was going to change that.
"We know now she isn't what we thought, but she has skills and abilities that could be useful to us.."
Neyra shook her head in denial although it was certainly true, Laura seemed to be quite a capable young woman, she had even somehow evaded the mighty Supergirl.
"Neyra....we don't know if she got these abilities during her stay in that facility or if she had them already but we do know that something happened in there, something she is hiding."
"LAWYER” … Neyra finally said firmly.
"Neyra, we know you were there to collect her after her excursion through the rooftops of the city.... you WERE there, you KNOW what she can do." the Asian woman insisted.
"LAWYER" Neyra repeated in a firm tone.
"You think you are helping her but you are not. We will not permit her to roam unchecked, she could be dangerous, especially if she were to become subverted in some way."
"You're idiots if you think she's a terrorist, now listen …. LAWYER..." Neyra said confidently and directly.
"We can train her, nurture her, make her part of a team that will look out for her...." the Asian continued, ignoring Neyra's demands.
"You keep saying 'we' and 'us' and 'team' ...but who are you?" Neyra relented, perhaps she could learn more about her captor seeing as though the woman across the table seemed to be giving information out freely.
"Me, I am a mercenary, my handler is a NYPD detective, one colleague works for the FBI, and another is an ex special forces operative"
"So .. is this a government sanctioned team or what?" Neyra asked puzzled as she considered the odd mix of team members.
"No …. this is a hobby, we are off the books..why do you think we don't care about lawyers?" the Asian said calmly.
Neyra was confused by the unashamed honesty of the woman opposite her. She could have lied to Nerya just to confuse things but no. Without any due process Neyra was resigned to being held indefinitely by the group who now had her, a fate that she seemed to face with alarming regularity ever since she met Laura.
“Why am I here? I am not under arrest and so far I am not seeing a car battery and jump leads so ..” Neyra said sarcastically.
“We were really hoping you could tell us what Laura is hiding about her escape from the facility?” The Asian continued.
Neyra frowned “Are you working for them, from the facility?”
“No, and I can't prove a negative so don't ask! So …..what is she hiding?” the Asian asked sternly.
Neyra looked through the Asian. That was a question she really wanted the answer to as well. Something had been troubling Laura ever since they escaped from that place. At first it had only permeated as far as Laura's sleep with the occasional troubled dream but slowly it ate at her to the point it seemed to have divided them both. The worst moment had been after the incident with Supergirl when Neyra really felt she was losing her friend to whatever haunted her.
“Neyra?” the Asian pressed noticing that the beautiful woman opposite her was momentarily lost in thought.
“Sorry but I'm done talking...” Neyra said, turning her head slightly, looking away.
“You do realise if you can't help us then we will have to bring her in and find out ...”
“You will never catch her ...” Neyra said defensively, at the first hint of trouble Laura's senses would protect her.
“Oh …. and why is that?” the Asian said, sensing a vulnerability in Neyra.
Neyra glared back knowing she had almost given Laura away.
“Would it be because she can climb walls, and spin webs and react to things incredibly quickly?” the Asian probed. Supergirl had reported back on all she had learnt of Laura from their encounter and the revelation seemed to have stabbed at Neyra who reacted angrily.
“Who the fuck are you, who told you that?” Neyra glared at the cold calculating Asian woman sat opposite her.
“Neyra, please …. if you don't know then fine, we aren't going to beat it from you but you should know, one way or another she is going to sit in that chair and tell us what she is hiding from you and the police. Now you can either be a part of that process and HELP her through this or you can let us do it the really hard way ….”
“You must be insane if you think I would betray her to help you, besides it would END us ..” Neyra spat back at the Asian stranger.
“Neyra ….. her secret is ALREADY ending you ….” the Asian said coldly. Supergirl had told Lucy of the wedge driving the pair of women apart, it was a persuasive incentive that the heroine suggested Lucy should try if the need arose. Lucy had been close to losing the battle of wills in the interview room but now she was close to getting Neyra onside. This cold reality that the lovers were falling apart over Laura's secret could be the deal clincher.
Neyra oozed assertiveness on the outside but inside was turmoil, doubt and fear. Something was eating at Laura from the inside but would Neyra be saving her by betraying her? And anyway, who was she betraying her to? A cop, an FBI agent, a mercenary and an ex-special forces operative, what was Neyra missing from this picture?
“Look me in the eye ….. tell me you're good people …. tell me it will be OK ….” Neyra said with determination. She was testing the Asian woman opposite her, she wasn't caving yet.
“Neyra, I am a mercenary, during my career I have assassinated, I have stolen, and I have deceived. I have served good and bad people equally well and all to put money in my pocket …. I WON'T lie to you and tell you I am good person. What I CAN tell you is that was THEN and this is NOW. Now I am in a team of a few good people facing potential enemies whose abilities can overwhelm us ALL, we NEED people like Laura to help us … but we have to be able to trust her first. Now will you help us or NOT?”
Neyra looked the Asian in the eye and the Asian looked back. Neyra knew people, she could read people, and the woman in front of her was speaking from the heart. Even though Neyra guessed that her captor had probably been trained to lie and mislead she also had learned to trust in herself and not second guess. The mercenary in front of her had indeed been a gun for hire but now she was on a better path, Neyra could feel it.
“Oh god, I really hope I'm not getting this wrong.....” Neyra said, finally relenting.
“Neyra ….it's going to hurt her and you, no matter what we do …. but this way it'll be over quicker .. I promise” the Asian woman said, her mood lightening.
“What …. what do we do now?” Neyra asked still in disbelief she was going to betray Laura to these people.
“Neyra, now you are on board with us you're going to get to talk to my ….. boss ...you are going to talk about how we can get Laura to open up to us …..”
“Your boss?” Neyra said in surprise. She had just got into trusting the woman in front of her and now she was being replaced by someone else.
“Uh huh, you'll feel better about it too…. I promise….” the Asian said, rising from her chair.
“Which one is that, the cop , or the operative, or the FBI agent?” Neyra asked, cocking her head.
“No, not one of them …..” The Asian said with a grin rising from her seat.
=====
MOMENTS LATER
Neyra stared at the doorway waiting for “the boss”, apparently she would feel better about her choice now that she had committed to helping the mercenary and her friends but she wasn't so sure. Then she heard the footsteps approaching and then the door swung open.
"Oh Jesus .... REALLY …?!?!" Neyra exclaimed as Supergirl walked into the room. She sounded surprised and annoyed and relieved all at once.
"Neyra...I am so sorry it has ended up being like this …." Supergirl said, wincing as she apologised.
"This is seriously causing me to reassess my view on the world, YOU, Supergirl, do KIDNAPPING?!” Neyra said, yanking at her restraints, highlighting the reality of her situation.
“Well, that's the point, I DON'T …. I am here to 'Rescue You' ….” Supergirl said, doing the little hand gesture either side of her head as she said 'Rescue You' before producing a key that was tucked into a tight sleeve of her one piece.
“Oh I get it, can't be seen to be doing the rough stuff yourself huh? I suppose those were only 'Laser Eyes' you used to shoot poor Laura with too!” Neyra answered, mimicking and mocking Supergirl's actions albeit within the confines of her cuffs.
“I can explain that ..” Supergirl began to say as she undid the restraints holding Neyra.
“Why couldn't you have just come to me instead of sending your ninja assassin first? - Thank you” Neyra said angrily while somehow making her last two words sound sincere.
“I can explain that too if you just ...” Supergirl said trying to remain patient.
“I guess I am only being 'Rescued' because I signed up to this plot …. do you have thirty pieces of silver too?” Neyra pushed.
Supergirl snapped.
“Neyra, I know you are angry and upset …. BUT …. if you really think I can do everything I do in this world alone you are VERY WRONG. I need people like my ninja assassin as you call her who will go where I will not go, and do the things that I will not do. Be glad that those people help me and fear the day that comes when I decide I DO NOT need them any more!” Supergirl said sternly.
Neyra felt the weight of the heroine's presence upon her and the explanation was clear.
If Supergirl really wanted Neyra to betray Laura she didn't need the cloak and dagger of her Asian mercenary. Supergirl could have held Neyra over the mouth of a volcano and made her say anything. And Laura? Laura could be beaten and broken into slavery by an unrestrained Supergirl..... but, being the heroine she was trapped, kept in unbreakable chains, restrained from unleashing her power against the powerless. If she ever faltered the heroine would be killed, murdered by the despotic goddess she would have become.
“I …. I'm sorry, I .. I understand now ......” Neyra apologised while in awe.
“Neyra, I am sorry we have to do this to Laura, but I am in a team I trust. I am not going to risk them by bringing Laura in until we know what she is hiding.”
“What is this threat that you all seem so worried about …..the one you thought Laura was ...” Neyra wondered aloud.
“That little financial crisis we just had ….” began the heroine.
“Little ?!” Neyra exclaimed. She remembered her father almost hitting the panic button on his business as the credit market evaporated leaving his firm trapped between unfulfilled orders, unpaid raw material invoices and a horde of workers with a frozen payroll account.
“All that was engineered by one such alien threat ….while another held me dangling like a piñata....” Supergirl explained. It was hard for her to confess her frailties to a stranger but Neyra had to know what was really going on if she was going to understand Supergirl's concerns.
“Wait ..your team … they had to save you, didn't they!” Neyra exclaimed, she was naturally perceptive and began to understand the relationship between this hitherto unseen group and the heroine. Supergirl had needed the help of others, she wasn't totally infallible after all.
“Yes .. without them ..if they hadn't come for me ...the world would be different place now and I would still be a prisoner, unable to do anything to help. These alien minds, they can be anything from subtle to overwhelmingly controlling of their hosts. There is a way to test people to see if they are infected by these minds... they glow green when I ...”
“When you …...?!” Neyra said with realisation, her index finger circling her eyes. Now she understood why Supergirl had 'shot' her vision at Laura.
“Yes, if I keep the power down …. it's bearable for the victims but if there is no alien mind there it can be painful – by using just enough force I can expel an alien mind from the host once I know it is there..” Supergirl explained.
“Well …. if it is any consolation … Laura seems to heal fast, really fast …..she told me it hurt when you got her but you hadn't left a mark by the time I saw her” Neyra said, slowly becoming more relaxed with the reality she was now in.
“Neyra, I am sorry I have to ask you this but….what is it going to take to bring her down safely?” Supergirl asked.
“I was dreading you asking me that ….” Neyra replied.
CHAPTER 7
Spydra looked out from her perch, a flagpole pointing out from the side of a tall building. Across the road was the open spaced parking lot of the supermarket which had closed for the night. In the center of the lot Neyra's car was sitting there like bait and Spydra's senses screamed their warning. Nothing good could come of going to the car.
And so Laura weighed up her dilemma, go to the car or not, knowing Neyra wasn't coming home if she did nothing. What drew Laura to this spot was the simple note found on a kitchen counter top and written in Neyra's hand explaining where she had gone. Hours had passed by before the note's discovery and daytime had turned to night.
“You're a wall crawler, don't get caught on the ground” Neyra had said to Laura and yet there was a lot of open ground between her and the car, if this was a trap then someone knew what they were doing.
Laura scanned around trying to plot the minimum amount of ground work she would need to employ to reach the car then acted.
FWUTOOOOSH...
Firing away a web Laura swung from her viewpoint to a lamp post at the roadside then to the entrance of the parking lot. Between her and the car was a few hundred yards of open parking lot and Laura sprinted at full speed to her goal.
“Clues, clues, clues ….” Laura thought to herself over the top of her senses that screamed at her.
Laura cocked her head as she studied the interior of Neyra's car but couldn't see anything to help her, the only thing that she knew now was that her senses of a trap were screaming louder than ever.
SCREEEEEEECH …. the tyres of a white van wailed. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr-Grun-Grrrrrrrrrrrrr growled the van's engine as it closed on Laura's position.
Laura froze a moment, these people obviously had something to do with Neyra's disappearance, Laura had to confront them if she was going to get her back. The white van came to a screeching halt by Neyra's car, the side door sliding open quickly allowing the occupants in the back to spill out. Dressed in all black combat gear, their faces obscured, the female forms stormed out ready for the confrontation.
FWUT ! - went the first web.
The first assailant with a red armband was reaching to her weapon but Spydra had bound her hand to the holster preventing her from drawing it. Meanwhile, a second assailant with a green armband had drawn her weapon and took aim. A yellow armband wearing assailant, the last to begin to emerge was rudely trapped in the van doorway as Spydra spun another web covering over the exit.
FUT ! - went Green's tazer gun, the brief flash revealing the moment the pronged darts flew at their target.
Laura didn't know how but her reflexes had already drove her to drop down to the floor ducking under the prongs and the trailing fine wires, rolling away before they fell onto her. These people were playing for keeps, not to kill it seemed and Spydra sensed this as a weakness.
Red had reached into a sheath and drew her knife and slashed at the web pinning her other hand to her holster. Green in the meantime was reloading her weapon as Spydra sprung back to her feet and Yellow was slashing at the web trapping her in the open van doorway.
FWUT! - another web flew.
Green had just snapped the reload on the muzzle of her tazer pistol. The new web trapped Green's left hand over the muzzle end of her weapon meaning she couldn't fire. Momentarily taken out of the game, Green was no longer on Spydra's mind, now Red was becoming a problem. Raising her weapon and freed from Spydra's first web, Red could finally take aim and.....
WHAM!
Spydra was at close range and managed to slam Red's forearm away, trapping the black clad assailant's hand against the side of the van. Red now had a problem, knife in her other hand and evidently restrained from doing harm she had no way to fight back. Spydra's senses fell silent for a brief moment, she was clear to strike back!
WHUMP!
Spydra had one free hand with which to strike, her other hand pinning down Red's gun hand to the van. Winding up a punch Spydra struck Red in the stomach, the black clad assailant resisting the urge to defend herself with her knife hand which was free.
“Ngggg” Red groaned, dropping the knife as she felt the blow.
“No!” Green growled, trying to shake the tazer pistol free from her hand which was still glued over the muzzle.
“WHERE IS SHE?” Spydra demanded from Red, lining up a second punch.
Spydra wildly swung her free arm at Red again only to have her blow deflected by a skilled swipe by Red's free and now empty hand. Spydra gasped as she realised, this one was skilled, more skilled than she could know and now Green was escaping from her own predicament too. Green's glove, bound to the tazer pistol now lay discarded on the floor and the female assailant was free to attack.
FWOOOOSH!
Spydra fired a stream of webbing at Red pinning her torso the van just in time to have Green come lunging at her in a rugby style tackle. Spydra tumbled backwards and instinctively drew her knees into her body pushing Green off her and onto her back, the pair ending prone alongside each other
Spydra sprung to her feet just as Yellow finished slicing away the web that had trapped her in the opening of the van and worked to free Red who had been lining up a shot with her tazer. Spydra and Green had been in a tussle and Red didn't have a clean shot until the moment Spydra had kicked Green off.
FUT!
Red's tazer was let loose and Spydra managed to side step the darts, her senses guiding her to safety. Without looking, Spydra fired another web down at Green who was winded and trying to return to her feet.
“Fuck!” Green said as she realised a bed of webbing had been plastered over her torso, binding her to the ground. With a grunt Green tried to rise from the floor and failed, the webbing stretching with her effort.
Yellow drew her tazer gun and presented the weapon grip first to Red who took it in her left hand and aimed while Yellow continued to free Red from the web holding her to the van. Spydra sensed Red wasn't going to fire for some reason, perhaps conserving her shot until Yellow had finished freeing her.
Green was down and for the moment out of the fight and her tazer was stuck to her discarded glove on the floor yards away. Spydra approached menacingly towards Yellow who had her back to Spydra while working to free Red who kept vigil with the loaned tazer.
“Look out” urged Red to Yellow. One more big web and the pair could be trapped stomach to stomach against the side of the van.
DANGER!
Spydra sensed something was wrong and was drawn to look back only to see a new assailant with a blue armband stood over Green helping her escape. Now it was four versus one, the confrontation seemingly escalating by the second. Perhaps if ….
FUT!
Overwhelmed by a variety of warnings Spydra's senses let her down for just a short moment, Red seeing Spydra had been distracted by Blue had fired her loaned pistol over Yellow's shoulder hitting Spydra in the side.
CLICKITY-CLICKITY-CLICKITY
Spydra yelped as she dropped to one knee, the muscles of her body clamping up from the shock of the tazer pistol. With a shriek she grabbed the two pronged lines and ripped them from her body, supporting her paralysed body with the palm of one hand on the ground.
Yellow freed Red from the bonds holding her to the van and received back her loaned pistol, the spent cartridge wires trailing to the blood tipped barbs lying useless at Spydra's feet.
“Reload” Red urged Yellow while following her own advice, reaching for a reload module.
Spydra looked back, Blue had freed Green who had been bound to the floor, Yellow had freed Red who had been pinned to the Van, now the two pairs of assailants were closing in on two sides. These people meant business, it was time they knew Spydra meant business too.
Blue stood motionless and offered Green her tazer which was promptly aimed at Spydra's back. Spydra was moving menacingly back towards the van and the two black clad female assailants stood by it.
“Spread out ...” urged Red, sending Yellow to sidestep away increasing the space between the two women.
Green squeezed the trigger and fired.
FUT !
Spydra sensed the moment was coming and sidestepped calmly, the prongs whistling by and striking Red in the chest.
CLICKITY-CLICKITY-CLICKITY
“Blu'nnnBluee” Red managed, tensing up as she dropped to her knees.
“Oh shit!” Green exclaimed releasing the shock trigger.
Yellow then realised that Spydra was coming for her! Green and Blue were a little too far to help, Red was recovering from the tazer shot to her chest and that left Yellow all on her own. Yellow went to aim with her freshly reloaded tazer at the last moment but ...
FWUT! Spydra fired a web glueing Yellow to the spot and closed the distance crashing into the trapped woman. Pinned at the feet Yellow slumped backwards folding at the knee before landing on her backside, her tazer clattering on to the floor.
Spydra with a leap straddled Yellow and pinned her down to the tarmac grasping her throat with one hand as her closed fist hovered above, drawn back ready to be unleashed.
“WHERE IS SHE?!” Spydra demanded.
Yellow wriggled and writhed beneath Spydra trying to force the catsuited woman off of her.
WHACK! Spydra delivered a blow the side of Yellow's face.
“WHERE !?”
“Hey !” Red growled, rising from her knees having recovered from the shock.
Spydra unwound her second blow, sending it towards the assailants face only to have it somehow blocked. Blue caught Spydra's arm mid swing and dragged her from off of Yellow shoving Spydra down at Red's feet.
Green had snapped off the module from the tazer that Blue had loaned her and clipped on a reload taking aim at the prone Spydra who couldn't react. Red gave an approving nod to Yellow who began to rise to her feet, shaken from the attack but unharmed.
FUT !
Green fired the tazer into Spydra's body and let loose a volley of electricity as the other assailants closed in, forming a semi-circle around the young heroine. Spydra's senses stopped screaming, despite the pain, despite the syringe that Red was preparing above her they told her to let go.
Green unleashed one last volley, incapacitating Spydra one last time and then Red delivered the coup de grace, the syringe full of drugs, sending the young heroine to sleep.
= = = = = = = =
Moments later the white van was on the move, heading to the exit of the parking lot.
“HOLY FUCK! Did you see THAT?!” Red said before ripping off her mask, it was Lucy Wuan, formerly known as Miss Asia.
Green pulled her mask off revealing Selena, The Broker, former special forces operative. “Okay, lets NOT do THAT again!” Selena had been more than just surprised by the young powerhouse now bound up in the back of the van.
Yellow who was driving wrenched off her mask before taking the van onto the road. “Yeah, it would be great if we didn't have to do that again, IF this comes out in a bruise I am going to have the uniform guys threatening to beat the crap out of whoever did it” said Detective Lisa Kozny rubbing her jaw after Spydra's punch.
“Lisa, I'm sorry I did not get in the way of the first punch for you ...” said Blue pulling off her mask. Supergirl or Kara as she was known to her friends.
“I thought you said she had no martial arts training …..” Lucy said as she replayed events in her mind.
“She doesn't but … that's not what you would think, is it?” Selena said ruefully.
“With a little training on top of what she has already ….. we could have been in serious trouble back there!” Lucy replied as she flexed her right hand. Spydra had slammed her wrist into the van during the confrontation and now it was catching up with the Asian mercenary.
“Neyra told us that Laura had only begun to realise she had powers when they first met, and that wasn't that long ago ...” Selena continued.
“I did warn you, didn't I … just imagine if she had been there to help us with Kimberly!” Kara exclaimed.
“Can someone remind me why I had to get punched in the face though?” Lisa said grumpily as she drove.
“Because we need to know what this girl is hiding and she isn't going to tell us, so we need to get it out of her. And if we are going to do that we can't just have Kara lift her off the street, we need her to think WE did it... not with Supergirl's help” Selena explained.
“Lisa, we are in uncharted territory, if people are going to have confidence in Supergirl she can't be part of this ….” Lucy said, following on from Selena's words.
“If any of you looked to be in danger I would have done something, I was just there to keep the take down safe …AND it was just as well I was there, if I hadn't dug Selena out I think she would have trapped you all” Kara said with a grin.
“Yes, thanks for that, who would have tazered me if you hadn't dug Selena out for us?” Lucy quipped, casting a bemused glance at Selena.
“Blueeerghhnblurrrghhh” joked Lisa from behind the wheel, mocking Lucy's cry of 'Blue on Blue!” when Selena accidentally tazered her.
“Shut up, Lisa” Lucy scowled.
“Yes, shut up, Lisa” Selena seconded.
The van drove onwards in the darkness to the sound of restrained laughter and the retelling of each persons viewpoints of the battle while Spydra slept peacefully and unaware in the back, heading towards her new destiny.
====================
CHAPTER 8
Laura breathed with difficulty, the Hessian sack cloth hood over the top of her mask keeping the air she breathed hot. Laura had been placed on the metal frame of a chair, her wrists bound to the arm rests while her spread thighs were anchored firmly apart.
Dressed in tight black turtle neck sweaters, black combats pants and military jack boots Selena,Lucy, and Lisa made for intimidating figures. Their role now was to introduce poor Laura to the perils of being a superheroine and none of them were truly relishing their role.
“She is still in stage one, denial, and right now she will probably think she can negotiate something with us” Selena said confidently.
“Agreed ... look, she's just a kid .... do you really want me to do this to her .....” Lucy asked.
“At least you only have to do the unmasking .....I've got the next step ....now get in there and do it.” Selena said grumpily.
“Fine ....” Lucy said steeling herself for preparing Laura for her rude awakening, others had become used to seeing her as loyal and caring, now she had to return to her more formal mindset, that of the cold, remorseless mercenary.
Lucy slid open the large heavy metal door and strode across the concrete floor towards the bound young woman restrained in the chair. Laura was terrified hearing the door woosh open and every click of Lucy's boots heightened her fear every step of the way.
In a separate room Supergirl and Neyra stood together and watched as Lucy began the deconstruction of Spydra.
“How was it?” asked Neyra nervously. She could see the one she loved about to be thrown to the wolves.
“She fought clean, she fought well and it was NOT easy to take her down, the only words she spoke were to ask for you” Supergirl answered.
“She is a good person, Supergirl, don't ruin her … whatever it is she is hiding … don't destroy her for it..” Neyra pleaded.
“I understand, we will get to the truth, but you know we have to soften her up first ….” Supergirl answered her head nodding towards the screen causing Neyra to resume watching.
Lucy's mission in step one was to destroy Laura's preconceptions of how being treated as a superheroine worked. No monologues, no respect, no negotiations, she was about to learn that villains can do what they want, when they want.
With a firm tug Lucy whipped off the sack hood allowing Laura to see her captor for the first time.
Laura merely panted taking in the cooler air then spoke, “Th....thank ...oh..it's...YOU ......” Laura managed recognising the woman, her clandestine follower from a few days ago.
Lucy was crushed inside as the sweet innocent redhead looked hopefully to her for any form of compassion. This was rubbing against the grain but Lucy was a mercenary, she had to be whatever she was needed to be. Today she was the teacher of a painful lesson and Laura was the unknowing student.
Lucy, watched carefully by her prisoner proceeded with the next phase of the plan, to unmask Spydra.
“Please ... don't” Laura managed before Lucy tugged off her mask revealing her innocent freckled face, framed by her red hair.
Laura turned her head away in shame, her face and the Spydra costume now inextricably linked in the eyes of those who held her. She had been made semi famous by the HockeyGirl case and she had little hope of not being recognised.
Lucy reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a large smart phone and with a few presses at the touch screen activated the built in camera.
“Please .... tell me .... where is Neyra … is she OK ... ?” Laura ventured.
In the small room Neyra watched the painful scene play out. Her heart yearning to let Laura know she was right there and as safe as she could ever be. Supergirl sensed the unseen and unheard link between the two women and placed her hand on Neyra's shoulder, trying to give her courage.
Lucy grabbed Laura's red hair with one hand and put her camera in Laura's face firing off several shots, the symbolic sound effect of the shutter firing causing Laura's heart to leap.
Lucy made a point of reviewing her efforts, putting the best shot on screen before flashing it in front of Laura's face. Laura caught sight of herself on the screen, her distinctive costume in view, Laura, HockeyGirl and Spydra now undeniably linked.
Lucy, mobile in hand walked triumphantly away towards the exit leaving Laura to reflect on how easily her unmasking had been. It had taken mere seconds, the Asian woman had entered the room with the guarded, masked heroine and left with the hidden secret identity exposed on the phone, instantly shareable across a huge variety of social media options. Spydra was now exposed. It was over.
Laura could only watch powerlessly as the confident Asian walked purposefully away to the the exit, not even willing to talk to her prisoner. On the other side of the door were two rooms and Lucy briefly opened one and tossed the phone to Neyra then closed the door behind herself and entered the other room to return to Selena and Lisa.
Lucy slammed the sliding door behind herself and found Selena waiting for her, arms folded.
“Villain much?!” Selena said with sarcasm. It had been a cold clinical display yet without any of the pain inflicting extras Selena would have thrown in if this had been all real.
“She's just a kid ..... I don't need to stab her with words”Lucy said bitterly.
Lisa watched the pair uncomfortably in silence.
“If she is going to be .....” Selena began to say, grunting a moment between words as she slung the black rucksack over her shoulder ..... “fighting crime she needs to know how bad it could be!”
Lucy looked on knowing exactly what Selena was about to do, and recalled the vision from McGee's head of her revenge against Supergirl . It was revenge driven by disillusionment and betrayal and fuelled by pain and suffering that Selena had to wrongly endure when she was a similar age to the poor creature now sat in ......
Lucy's thought process froze. She didn't know what it meant for sure but this echo of the past signified something. Perhaps Selena thought that by putting Laura through this mini-nightmare now, in a safe, controlled environment of her own making she could prepare Laura better than she had been herself.
“I just hope we are doing the right thing ....” Lucy said, head down.
Neyra had just witnessed Lucy unmask and photograph Spydra and now those photos sat in the palm of her hand. The photos could destroy Laura and Spydra with just a few button presses, it was a sobering new reality that she and Laura now lived in.
“If you want I will destroy it for you, you know that's why they gave you that, right ?” Supergirl said.
Neyra began to feel the nature of the family that she had become part of, these were professionals and she felt included in their mission. Being given the phone represented their good faith, they didn't care about the photos, that was just for show. They knew Laura trusted Neyra and she was entrusted with the damming evidence.
“Do it, please” Neyra said as she gave Supergirl the phone who then, in her powerful hands crushed it to pieces and stomped on any large fragments that remained, grinding the circuitry into dust.
Meanwhile Selena grabbed at the middle of the tall upright drip bag stand and wheeled it up to the doorway which Lucy slid back open. In the pool of light in the middle distance Laura sat struggling in her restraints her sweat matted hair lying over her shoulders.
Selena wheeled the stand towards Laura, her body twitching and convulsing, trying to react to the danger her senses were screaming at her.
“Neyra...please....tell me that she is OK .. let me see her....” Laura pleaded.
Selena placed the wheeled stand next to Laura the put down her black rucksack, the pronounced sound of the heavy duty zip filling the air for a moment, startling the young prisoner.
Out came a clear bag of fluid with its tubing coiled neatly and Selena hooked it onto the stand.
“Please ... say something ... anything .....” Laura asked again.
Selena pulled out some black tape and some clear plastic bags and and began working on Laura's wrists, being careful to stand up-range of her web ability. Carefully removing the two thick rubber bands that covered over the source points for her webs, Selena sealed the mouths of the two large plastic bags in their place. Any excretions from those would be collected for Laura to see.
“What are you doing .....? What are you doing to me ...?” Laura asked once more.
Selena glanced at the pleading red head, wanting to tell her it would be OK, but, for now it wouldn't be OK, it would be frightening, and cold and on the scale of what Laura understood the world to be like, horrific.
Laura's senses were sending confusing messages, there was danger, then there wasn't , things were desperate and yet they weren't, the woman was dangerous, and yet she seemed ....
“Please.. just tell me Neyra is OK.. just ..... say something .. anything .. you ..... you're making a mistake .. I ...” Laura tried again.
Selena reached into her bag and pulled out the gag, it wasn't big, it wasn't sexy and it served one purpose only, to deliver the liquid contents of the bag into Laura's mouth and onwards into her belly.
Selena strode behind the restrained Laura and with one hand pinched her nose while the other quickly forced the gag to Laura's mouth. Gripping on, Selena kept Laura's nose firmly shut and despite Laura's best efforts Selena began to break through. The leather shield protected Selena's digits while the metal tubing protruding into Laura's mouth guaranteed delivery of the liquid payload she had prepared.
Selena buckled up the gag firmly and walked confidently in front of the silenced Laura who's eyes pleaded. Selena unravelled the tubing from the bag and plugged it onto the external tube of the gag and then carefully began to dial up the drip feed to a safe, comfortable yet unstoppable rate.
“Now Laura, I am not going to waste precious time here so I will be quite blunt. YOU – ARE – MINE. Yes you may be the all popular girl next door, HockeyGirl, the lovely freckly kid that is currently one of the biggest searched for images on the internet, the current darling of Deviant Art creators AND .... you may have BEEN .. slave to the ENCHANTRESS .... but now YOU. ARE. MINE!”
Neyra watched with shock from the room she shared with Supergirl.
“Where did you find that MONSTER !?” Neyra asked agog. To Neyra the woman she was watching on the screen was a nightmare, every word slicing through each and every miniscule hope and fear her poor Laura could possibly have in her head.
“ Neyra, yes, she is a monster, and you will never want for a better friend....she has already helped save the world twice but she doesn't appear on the news or get medals...she knows what she is doing..trust me.”
Neyra studied Supergirl's eyes and her face, reading in her sincerity while her mind was in conflict with what she could see on screen.
Laura snorted as she listened to the woman, the cold trickle of whatever that liquid was, finding its way down her throat.
“Now I will tell you I have seen, fought, captured and defeated others JUST LIKE YOU ... oh yes .. there ARE others .... each one special ...... like you ...... but ...... I have to be blunt .....amongst the others ...one very special one ....... she took a million dollars in equipment, the finest engineers, two top material physicists, and a LOT of research. It was WORTH it, but, it was a lot of effort .....
So, what do you think it took to take YOU down? What do you think it will take me to break YOU ?
That liquid that you are drinking as we speak contains a lovely anti-electrolytic. The water was free from the tap, provided by our local state supplier, and the powder I mixed with it was from the local drug store and cost seven dollars and ninety nine cents. The lovely lady behind the counter was so helpful, sure she wasn't on the level of my two material physicists but I am sure the advice and the product she gave me will be just as effective, it took ten minutes to buy.
I KNOW you rely on all those lovely blood sugars and your body energy to coalesce all those wonderful webs you make and as for the energy you need to stick to walls, oh ..... well ..... you won't be doing that for a while ..... or ever .......”
Selena reached into her bag and pulled out the bullet vibe, it dangled on a wire and at the other end was the small battery box with the control switch. The bound Laura, eyes wide recognised the object, horrified that this was going to be a sexual attack. Selena walked up to Laura, and stooped down in front of her prisoner and using small pieces of tape stuck the bullet into place right over Laura's clit. Selena hadn't gone hands on with Laura, it was done about as clinically as possible but still the idea was that Laura would know, this was going to be a stimulating attack on her senses.
To Laura there was a sense of a sort of betrayal. Of course this woman in black in front of her wasn't an ally, there was no betrayal, but she was a woman, they shared the same physiology, they should be sharing the same fears. Being sexually assaulted should have been something they wouldn't wish on anyone and yet she had been touched, down there by her and now she intended to ....
Selena read Laura's face, now she understood what could happen, now she saw other dangers than just being hurt, or tortured or de-powered ...... she was at risk sexually too. Selena coldly fired up the bullet and let it do its work a moment.
Laura flinched as the assault on her senses began, her limbs flexing hard in their restraints, her eyes rolling back. Laura's trigger for her abilities had been Neyra, that moment of discovering her powers coming the second Neyra appeared in her life. Thoughts of Neyra triggered her wall clinging ability, then her web. Later it was her sensitivity to Neyra's kinky mind that awoke her power of foresight. This linking of her abilities and sex were now set and so this sexual attack fired off her abilities in an uncontrollable way.
Laura was forced to gulp more liquid as she sensed her costume contract onto her body, her cling ability driven into overdrive as Laura's mind lost control.
“Laura, as you can tell, no new energy will be coming from the diet I have planned for you .... and soon all the energy you have left in the bank will be gone .... and I am afraid once that happens none of your impressive skills can help you ......”
Selena reached into her bag once more and pulled out her coup de grace.
“I almost forgot, for whatever reason your previous captors thought this was necessary, I cannot think why but .... as you might be prone to accidents .....”
Laura barely saw what Selena had as she writhed, the first orgasm approaching on the horizon quickly but then she saw it, the diaper. Split open at the sides Selena presented the padded inside to Laura's catsuited crotch then drew the two halves of the waistband together, using the pre-positioned tapes to seal it closed.
This was humiliation, ever since she had worn that diaper for Neyra in her bedroom she had been made to pay for it. Her captors in the facility had thought she needed to wear one, and now it seemed this new enemy thought she needed it too .... well, at least she knew now these people were capable of getting hold of police reports.
“There are four litres of my magic little formula there and ...... oh my .....” Selena began before pausing.
Collected into the bags bound at Laura's wrists were webs which she had started to sporadically fire involuntarily, the plastic twitching and dancing as each weak shot was fired. Laura's head flopped forward weakly, her screaming senses telling her all about the danger she was in while her body could only continue to let her down, out of control with no discipline to help her.
Selena stooped by Laura's side and grabbed her matted hair twisting Laura's head to face her.
“Laura, as you can see, I am milking your body of all that could have helped you and replacing it with something that will only keep you suppressed and powerless ...... when you are done ....when nothing but water is left oozing from your web ducts, when this suit no longer twitches, when the full diaper tells me we have flushed your system out ..... then we will talk about your future ....” Selena said calmly then rose from Laura's side and walked back towards the sliding door.
“Oh come on …. is THAT necessary?” protested Neyra gesturing to the monitor.
“Neyra, YOU told US this could flatten her batteries more quickly …..if you left us to guess do you think it would have been any better?” Supergirl replied back.
“Oh sure, it's easy to say that while we are safe in HERE, how would you like it if YOU were in her place?” Neyra retorted.
“We warned you this would be difficult but this is the only way … she has to be defeated before she will talk …..” Supergirl replied, trying to reason with Neyra.
“And what would you know of defeat?” Neyra said angrily before looking back up at the screen. In her mind she thought she knew the answer, it must surely be 'never'?
Supergirl looked between Neyra and the screen a few times, her heart wanting her to tell the truth, her mind telling her that now was too soon. Selena had truly destroyed Supergirl because she wanted to, and she had enjoyed every moment, but destroying Laura was a job and it was a job she was probably not enjoying at all.
Laura's head rolled weakly, the reflexes that controlled her webs twitching involuntarily as the vibe bullet drove her towards her next orgasm, the constant need to drink down the woman's de-powering liquid holding her attention.
The woman, whoever she was was right, her webs were becoming less and less coherent, her cling ability weakening with every twitch, and now, her full bladder warned her of imminent disgrace, she was going to end up peeing her catsuit but at least the diaper would hide her shame for a while.
Selena entered the room holding Supergirl and Neyra, it was a tense moment.
“Hello ….” Selena said awkwardly. She knew that Neyra and Laura were lovers and so to have interfered with Neyra's partner in such a way knowing she was watching was difficult.
Neyra glared back, she felt doing anything less would be treason to the infinite degree towards Laura.
“Neyra, I am sorry, OK? If it is consolation I would have figured out most of those little weaknesses on my own, between what I saw her do and what she was carrying on her belt. She won't need to know you gave us a head start, I will take the heat for all of it, I bathe in hate .....” Selena said as she gave a quick glance at Supergirl, the one she had also destroyed.
“How do you think she is going to come back from THAT?” Neyra said angrily.
“Neyra, true heroines ALWAYS rise after the fall” Selena replied coldly.
“If she is going be the heroine we think she can be, she WILL come back. And if she doesn't … well...maybe she isn't ready yet …. but at least she will stay out of trouble in the meantime. But either way, better to find out this way than by one of the many alternatives.” Supergirl cut in.
Selena glanced up at the screen and observed Laura a moment as she struggled in her bondage, the drip bag slowly emptying its contents into her mouth.
“We will give her an hour or so then she will be ready for McGee ….” Selena said.
“McGee, who is that?” Neyra asked.
“He is the FBI guy ….... and he is VERY good with questions …” Selena said, eyes transfixed on the screen.
“You convinced him?” Supergirl said sounding sceptical.
“Of course I did ….. he will get us to the truth …....” Selena said confidently.
“What did you tell him, what did he say …?” Supergirl asked. After telling McGee she would try and keep Selena's claws out of Laura it must have been a total disappointment to have Selena then reveal to him that his confidence had been broken.
“I didn't have to say anything, I just let him in and then he understood ...” Selena said warmly as she turned away to leave Supergirl and Neyra alone.
“What …. what did she mean?” Neyra asked, her eyes watching Selena leave then falling on Supergirl a moment before resuming her vigil over Laura on the screen.
“Neyra, one step at a time, but as we get to know you, you will get to know us, I promise” Supergirl said as she too watched the screen.
In the other room Selena was reunited with Lucy and Lisa who had watched proceedings. For Lisa it had been with difficulty, she was a cop, what she had seen been watching was torture. Her BDSM mind yearned for her to accept what she was watching but it hadn't been consensual and her morality crushed her dark half. In the past Lisa had pushed the envelope of consent with Lucy and had succeeded only because she knew Lucy so well, Laura would never have consented to this.
For Lucy on the other hand this breaking of Laura was part of a job, finding the buttons that would wear down a subject for interrogation was normal in her world. Lucy could tell that the imagery was not working well for Lisa and was happy to see it, she needed the cop to keep her moral compass, to keep being who she was.
“Lisa …. perhaps you should sit in with Kara and Neyra while Selena and I get set up for the interrogation? We have things we need to plan ….” Lucy let the point hang. Selena and Lucy combined with McGee were going to carve through Laura's defences, something Lisa really wouldn't be comfortable with.
Lisa nodded reluctantly, there was a dividing line between the team and she had to be kept on the side which Supergirl and McGee occupied. Lucy and Selena were the ones who were able to get their hands dirty, Detective Kozny had to remain clean, Laura mustn't see her in these circumstances.
Lisa left the room and joined Supergirl and Neyra in their quiet observation room.
“Hi, Neyra ….. I am Lisa …..” Lisa introduced herself humbly, offering her hand.
Neyra looked over the woman who entered and noted the bruise forming on her cheek. Lisa's hand waited patiently for Neyra to accept it but she ignored the gesture in silence.
“Neyra, this is the detective you have been told about ….” Supergirl said, trying to encourage Neyra to engage more with the team.
“No, it's OK Supergirl , I deserve that …....” Lisa said as she retracted her arm.
“Did Laura do that ?” Neyra said flatly, glancing at the bruise on Lisa's face.
“Yes …. while she was asking where you were ...” Lisa said, trying to put a human element to the story, reminding Neyra that Laura's only thoughts were to save her lover.
“Good ...” Neyra said calmly before returning her gaze to the screen.
Supergirl's annoyed expression triggered a calming hand from Lisa which held the heroine back. Neyra was getting some slack but she had to learn eventually this was a two way street. Just as Neyra had been pushed out of the comfort zone there were others who were being put in difficult spots, all to be able to make Laura the heroine she had the potential to be.
CHAPTER 9
Laura sat scared alone in the semi-darkness, her wrists bound to the simple chair that was in front of a desk, the vacant seat opposite her telling her she was due company.
Laura was shivering, after the humiliation of soaking herself in her diaper they had stripped it from her body and hosed her down in cold water. Laura's catsuit clung to her body and felt cold, wet and very uncomfortable. Now, energy spent and in need of some quick accessible sugary energy the young heroine was unable to sling a web or grip a wall. Only her more basic sense of foresight remained and that was extremely dulled and uncertain.
Outside the room footsteps approached, getting closer and closer every moment until the door swung open. The Asian and the sinister red headed woman appeared still all dressed in black. Laura sensed that the pair of them were involved in her capture at Neyra's car and of course they had been the ones that had exposed her identity before cruelly breaking her down.
“P .. Please ...... just tell me Neyra is OK ….” Laura pleaded, her hair dripping, wet, the occasional see through patch hinting at her skin through the soaked catsuit.
The two interrogators sat down opposite Laura, a manilla folder opened out in front of them as they reviewed some documents. To Laura they appeared to be a copy of the statement she had signed for the police after her escape from the facility.
In an observation room close by McGee closed his eyes as he reached out with his mind to Laura ready to delve into her head. Her mind had been an impenetrable wall during her police interview but now it was more like a Venetian blind, the slats obscuring some things, revealing others. McGee would have to twist Laura this way and that before finally being able to see the whole picture but at least she was softened up enough to see anything at all.
“OK .. bad cop ….let's begin with ….....” McGee said quietly, his words relayed to the earbuds in the interrogators ears.
“Tell us about .....” began Selena
Laura almost clenched up to the point of implosion waiting to hear what it was they wanted to know.
“the man ... in the laboratory” Selena finished, her eyes delving into Laura's soul.
Laura froze, this was the secret that only she and her childhood friend, Jen knew. Jen would carry that secret to hell and spit in the eye of the devil rather than tell it. Even Neyra had not been told of what transpired in that laboratory of horrors, the lair of The Albino Man. He had been going to ….STOP! Laura willed herself to stop, the revulsion of the memory was too great to even think about it.
“Is ... is that what this is all about ?” Laura asked nervously.
“Yes, Laura, that is what this is all about .....” the Lucy replied warmly.
“LAURA … what happened?” pressed Selena.
“I got Jen out and we ran away ......” Laura said, clinging onto the fragments of truth in the big secret protected by a lie.
Supergirl, Neyra and Lisa watched on. It was apparent to all of them that from the way Laura reacted it was a lie although Neyra would never admit she thought so.
“Well that touched a nerve..” Lisa said quietly not realising it was a truth Neyra wanted to have go away and never be repeated.
From his lonely room McGee's mind smelled the smoke of the fire burning inside Laura's brain. “Good cop....a little coaxing please ...”
“Laura .. we know … we believe you, it's just ….” Lucy began calmly.
“Something happened Laura, something happened in there , WHAT WAS IT?” Snapped Selena.
“I . I had to get her out of the chair, she was strapped down ….. I had to undo the straps..” Laura said, trying to give something more without giving anything.
“I don't think she is getting it, I think she needs some more shock therapy or.....” Selena said with a malice laden tone.
“No, this is good …. Laura, why do you think she was strapped down?” Lucy said calmly.
“I … I don't know … more experiments maybe” Laura bluffed, an image of Albino Man momentarily appearing in her head.
“This is nothing new at all ….” Neyra said angrily, all the psychology war games Laura had endured and for what?
“Neyra …..it's a journey, I know it's a crude good cop, bad cop routine but you will be surprised how well it does work.” Lisa said, trying to reassure Neyra.
McGee was repulsed a moment, the image of the Albino Man was giving off seriously unsettling feelings. Perhaps this was part of the dark secret that was hiding in Laura's head, something that was to do with him.
“What happened to the Albino Man?” Selena asked.
“Like I said, he walked out of the room and I began to ….” Laura said, unsettled at having to retell the lie.
“LIAR ...” Selena snapped, cutting her off.
McGee's mind listened and looked into Laura's, it was a bubbling sea in turmoil. “Bad Cop, push it ..”
Laura focused on the lie, replaying over and over her fantasy of Albino Man leaving the naked Jen alone just long enough to be freed.
“Oh!” McGee thought. NOW Jen is naked in the chair, that wasn't what she said before.
“Umm... good cop … ask her if ….” McGee began.
“Laura......was he planning on hurting Jen.... had he …. touched her, or taken some of her clo...” Lucy tried to ask when ...
“NO!” Laura stamped down on Lucy's words.
“Oh …. so he did …..” Selena said wickedly. She sounded victorious in finding this titbit out but in reality she was dying inside. Being bad cop sucked.
McGee's invading mind got slammed with a baseball bat's worth of force as Laura tried to suppress the memories of her encounter with Albino Man.
McGee tried to decide what to have his proxies say next. There was progress but he needed to be careful now, Laura's mind was weak, exhausted from Selena's dissection of her but she could easily repress everything if she snapped.
“Good cop … reset her if you can ..” McGee said quietly.
“Laura, it's OK, you can talk to us..... did he ….. did he do something bad, to you or to Jen?” Lucy said warmly.
“No ...” Laura lied, her eyes watering.
“You are HIDING something LAURA, if he didn't do something then perhaps YOU did something to HIM?” Selena said angrily.
Laura looked coldly into Selena's, no answer coming from her mouth but the tell tale subtle nod was visible. This involuntary yet telling gesture was missed by many but Selena and Lucy saw it plain as day.
“Oh no ..” McGee said sadly. In his mind he could see it, from Laura's own eyes he could see as Albino Man, dying somehow, fell from her view. McGee opened his eyes and pressed a button on the desk.
Lisa, Supergirl and Neyra stood transfixed as the interview paused a moment only to hear the intercom crackle to life.
“Kozny, it's McGee …. do us all a favour … take a hike ….” CLICK!
Lisa felt Supergirl's and Neyra's eyes fall on her. She understood what the message meant and it was bad, REALLY bad.
“I'll .. I'll be outside …. if …... if you need me ...” Lisa said trying not to reveal her own concerns as she left the room to stand in the corridor, out of earshot.
“Why … why does he want her to leave?” Neyra asked Supergirl.
“Just wait …..” Supergirl said slightly anxiously.
“Supergirl? WHY?”Neyra pushed.
“Just WAIT ..” Supergirl said as she looked desperately back up at the screen.
Lucy and Selena had heard McGee's request too and although their perfect poker faces revealed nothing inside their heads their imaginations were whirling. What had Laura done that the cop mustn't hear ?
“Good cop …. I want you to ask if ...” began McGee.
“Did you fight?” Lucy asked gently.
Laura's mind was like it was trapped in a maze with two exits, neither exit being a pleasant option. Her mind darted between the exits and feeling shoved chose the path of least resistance.
“I …. I …. I killed him ….....” Laura said quietly.
“Oh baby no, no, no …..Supergirl, you …. you can't ….... don't do this ….please ….it's not fair, IT'S NOT FAIR..” Neyra begged Supergirl. Her Laura had just confessed to murder!
“No, it isn't ...” Supergirl said sadly.
“What happened Laura ….you're almost there now ….” Lucy said calmly.
“I …. didn't know I could do it ...it … it was an accident …..he …..had me pinned and.... I bit him....my bite..it killed him !” Laura explained, tears running slowly, one by one from her face.
McGee let Laura's words and her thoughts wash over him, they were in harmony with one another, it was all true.... and yet.... it was too easy.
“What are you going to do, Supergirl? What NOW? Are you satisfied? We got out of that nightmare, WE HAD a chance at a new start, a NEW LIFE.....and NOW you've made her into a murderer …... so WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?” Neyra said angrily.
“Neyra …. if it happened that way then it wasn't murder at all ….” Supergirl said calmly triggering an expression of hope in Neyra's eyes.
McGee could see Laura throw up her new line of defence, the image of her killing Albino Man over and over and over again. It was a powerful wall, one he could barely see behind but he knew there was a secret that was being protected just beyond.
“It was self defence.. I can see it but … this isn't over ….. that wasn't the secret she was really hiding …..” McGee said, realising there was more to the story.
“Laura ….” smiled Lucy “you were only protecting yourself …..what did he do?”
“NOTHING.... we fought and I KILLED HIM ….” Laura said, desperately holding onto the lie.
Neyra watched on, lost in the moment, something must have been bad for Laura to protect her secret with a truth as serious as killing someone.
“Oh god ….. this is so confusing, some of it is more like the memory of …... of a dream …or ..WAIT ...Good cop ….ask her if …..” McGee said, confused at what he was reading.
“Laura … we have seen you do some incredible things …. can you … can you also see the future sometimes?” Lucy said , barely believing the question that had come out of her own mouth. Did McGee really want her to ask that?
Laura closed her eyes and looked down.
“I will take that as a yes …..” Said McGee as Laura betrayed herself with her thoughts, the truth blaring out into his mind.
“Albino Man ….. he tricked you, didn't he ….he made you think he was …..attacking you..” Lucy said calmly following McGee's secret script.
Laura nodded, her eyes still closed, her head still down. She didn't know how but the women across the table knew exactly what to ask, it was like they knew the answers already.
“And ...” Lucy paused as she listened to McGee … “when he failed …. he tried for real ?”
= = = = =
McGee could see a scene play out, one he wasn't expecting …..
Laura and her father knelt at her mother's grave and put down the flowers, the pair making the arrangement tidy before rising and stepping back respectfully. It was one of Laura's birthdays and regrettably the anniversary of her mothers death.
“See …. you were right, she has the best of us both! Your eyes..…and your freckles..and...your smile...well OK, so all the good stuff is yours..but... I helped where I could...” Laura's father said proudly with a smile down to the grave, Laura hugging his side.
“And don't worry Mom ….Dad is doing a great job ...” Laura added, nodding to the silent headstone.
“I'm doing my best to look after her honey.... I promise, I won't let you down and I wont let Laura down,I swear...” Laura's father finished.
= = = = = =
Laura was left sobbing as she confessed that the monster, Albino Man, had attacked her and that he had her naked and at his mercy. In the end though, it wasn't what the monster had done to her that hurt the most, it was that she had somehow helped let her father's promise to her mother become horribly broken. This was the secret that had been destroying her on the inside since the women had escaped from the facility.
“Fuck …. that's what it was ...she's protecting her father, he promised on her mother's grave he would take care of her...that nothing bad would happen .....” McGee said dejectedly.
And so it was done, the woman with some special powers wasn't a green dust victim and her dark secret, it was nothing more than intense loyalty to her father and how she felt she had let him down. No one was going to have objections to working with someone with those sort of qualities.
“OK … come back … and we can all talk ….” McGee said as he rocked back in his seat. He was exhausted, mentally and emotionally.
“Can .. can I see Neyra now ..please?” Laura asked, tired and broken, head bowed down.
“Yes …soon” Selena said as she rose from the table with Lucy. It was the kindest thing she had been allowed to say all day.
= = = = = = = =
CHAPTER 10
Supergirl was stood in front of Laura glancing about the cavernous space they found themselves in, the gentle vibrations under their feet reminding Supergirl of the time she was last there.
“This is where it all happened, this is what this was all about ?” Laura asked as she looked about her.
“Yes …. all the others worked together to figure out where I was and why and how it had all happened. Their power doesn't come from being able to fly or to spin a web, it comes from being smart, being brave, being a TEAM ...sure, some helped more than others, but that was just ONE time. Next time each persons contribution might be different, and I am sure there WILL be a next time …” Supergirl explained.
“And this is why you had to … shoot me ...? This is why you did all those other things to me?” Laura asked.
“When you have come this close to thinking it was all over, that there was no hope, only to discover there were people willing to risk EVERYTHING to get you back you would do almost anything to protect them. With you on the streets, regardless of if you wanted to join us, I wanted to be sure everyone was safe.” Supergirl explained calmly.
“I understand, but, what is going to happen to me now … what do you want me to do?” Laura asked.
“What do I want? Why should I decide for you ?….. No …... you tell ME … what would Laura the HockeyGirl like to do? Does she want to be Spydra again, or not? And if so would Spydra go it alone or would she want to be part of something bigger? ”
“Well …. I have Nerya ….. and …... I have to finish my education, ….” Laura said thoughtfully, trying to think what the right choices should be.
“Yes ….of course ...” Supergirl smiled, glad to see that Laura was still thinking about a realistic future for herself and not some fanciful heroic lifestyle.
“But ….. perhaps …. when I have free time …..during the breaks, perhaps someone could teach me to... be better …..” Laura said hopefully.
“Yes, we would all like that a lot ….” Supergirl grinned.
“We?” Laura cocked her head.
“WE – The team, Laura …... Lisa, she wants to teach you about the law from a police point of view, procedures, techniques. Lucy, she has her sights of teaching you some martial arts amongst MANY things and Selena, she has MANY field skills for you to learn, …. and as for me … well … I am sure there will be something left over for me to teach you too….” Supergirl said coyly.
“ I see you have all thought about this a lot!” Laura said, surprised.
“You made a good impression on everyone, I know it isn't mutual yet, but, give them time ….. I think Neyra needs some time too ….. perhaps once everyone has cooled down it will be easier ….” Supergirl said.
“I guess … but it will take time to forget, you know ? Lucy .. she …. she seems kind of cool when she isn't tailing me, or tazering me, and Lisa has been kind, even though I punched her in the face, but … the other one …. Selena …. I don't think I will ever forget what she did to me ….” Laura said, her face a rainbow of moods as she recalled each person in turn.
“I know, but, remember she decided it was better to let one person do the worst stuff …. if it wasn't her then it would have been someone else …..” Supergirl explained.
“OK ….. I'm not writing her off, just, it will … you know ...take time ...” Laura said awkwardly.
“It's OK, she knew it would be like that ….” Supergirl said as she paced around the deck, the sounds and smells reminding her of little moments from before.
“Can I ask you something ….?” Laura mustered nervously.
“Sure ….” Supergirl replied, her head tilting.
“When Selena was ..wearing me down … she told me how all it took was something stupid like ten dollars of supplies to weaken me….. but she said there was someone that cost millions or something ….. are there really more like me?” Laura asked hopefully.
Supergirl's mind raced a moment, Selena had been referring to her for certain. This was a secret Supergirl wanted to hold on to for a while longer though she felt that possibly it was slipping away from her, Lucy already had an idea of what Selena did to break her, McGee too. For now though the line had to be drawn, Laura was new to them all, it was to soon to hand over a secret as profound as that.
“I am sorry, but Selena was just working her mind games on you ….. right now, as far as I know, there is just you and me ….” Supergirl said convincingly though the white lie stung her a little. McGee was also special and that too was a secret they wanted to keep hidden for now at least.
“I am sorry no one knows what you had to go through here ….. it sucks ...” Laura said as she glanced about the deck, giving of a shudder as the cool northern air made itself known through the deck.
“Perhaps, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that two victims were freed of the minds that held them prisoner and that they didn't destroy the world financial system ….. money isn't a great system but it works, mostly ….what was happening would have been a disaster …..” Supergirl said as she moved towards a guard rail and looked towards the sun as it moved lower in the West.
“Perhaps we should go now …...” Laura said noting the lengthening shadows.
“Yes, you are right, would you like to see if the Aurora is visible as we go home?” Supergirl offered.
“Yes that would be great!” Laura grinned.
“Come on then wall crawler ….” Supergirl said as she offered out her hand and embraced her new friend ready to fly her away from the burned out oil platform and towards home.
With one last glance back over her shoulder Supergirl couldn't help but notice how things had changed. The last time a new member was added to the team it had been Lucy and Supergirl had shown her the dark place that Selena had kept the heroine, the place where she had died.
Now a new member was with Supergirl but the place she had shown Laura wasn't the dark hell hole it appeared, it represented how Selena and her team had risen together and brought the heroine back to the light. Standing united they had triumphed.
What places would tomorrow bring?
THE END
SG&The Broker: Spydra, Twice Shy
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Abductorenmadrid
- Millenium Member
- Posts: 1376
- Joined: 11 years ago
- Contact:
Last edited by Abductorenmadrid 7 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
My avatar courtesy of https://www.deviantart.com/sleepy-comics
My current story is Supergirl V Bane
This is all the stuff I've done here but don't tell anyone about this!
My current story is Supergirl V Bane
This is all the stuff I've done here but don't tell anyone about this!
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DrDominator9
- Emissary
- Posts: 2460
- Joined: 13 years ago
- Location: On the Border of the Neutral Zone
Sorry it took so long for me to congratulate you on this story. It's a great tale of a novice superheroine learning that the world can be very harsh but that the rewards can be wonderfully worthwhile.
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Abductorenmadrid
- Millenium Member
- Posts: 1376
- Joined: 11 years ago
- Contact:
Thanks DrD, it was interesting to create a scenario where the two would collide, keep their abilities relative (SG essentially being in a class of her own) but without an instant defeat for the fledgling Spydra. Hopefully I have achieved that and still given peril fans some kicks once Spydra was captured.
My avatar courtesy of https://www.deviantart.com/sleepy-comics
My current story is Supergirl V Bane
This is all the stuff I've done here but don't tell anyone about this!
My current story is Supergirl V Bane
This is all the stuff I've done here but don't tell anyone about this!