The Perils of Enhancegirl 11: A Real Villain!

[Damselbinder]

"I'm not nervous." A young woman, not quite twenty-one, said, with a surety that would have convinced almost anyone. She was not the sort of person it was easy to doubt. Aside from the fact that she was achingly beautiful, and moved with a leonine grace, she had a poise and confidence that was impossible to deny. As she walked, her long legs carried her in what was almost a strut: the practised walk of a professional model. Confident. Gorgeous. Indubitable.

Yet the woman with her was more than able to see through all that. A twitch of her flawlessly plucked eyebrow. A tiny alteration of tone in her voice. That was all it took for Sophie Scott to realise that her beloved Mariko - model, superheroine, beauty - was full of shit.
"Koko, you're nervous. If I were in your shoes I'd be jelly." She scoffed - but there was a touch of kindness in her tone. "Especially with everything you've told me about your folks." This maiden was not quite as graceful as the young woman with whom she walked hand in hand, but she was just as lovely in her own way. Red haired, with eyes that sparkled a jewel-like green, and with a supple, svelte body, she was a match - in both appearance and wit - for her girlfriend.

"My girlfriend..." It didn't seem quite enough to describe the relationship Sophie had with Mariko; yet at the same time it was more than she'd dared to say just a few months before. As she looked at Mariko's face, she couldn't help smiling. That iron-clad expression, that pride which pushed away everything and everyone else, it let Sophie in. It couldn't help but doing so.

Sophie and Mariko were lovers. It had not been all that long since their passionate, rain-soaked confession to each other, but in that time, their adoration for each other had only grown. The two young heroines - for heroines they were - received constant looks and glances from the people of Ferndale. It was not that a gay couple was all that unusual - this was California, after all - it was merely that both members of the pair were very, very fetching to look at.

"I can hardly believe you grew up here," Mariko said. "This place is minuscule. It's like walking through a film set."
"Oh, I'm just a small-town girl at heart," Sophie said, squeezing Mariko's hand and affecting a truly ghastly Southern accent. "Why, Miss Asakura, I do declare that you seduced me with your city slicker ways!"
"Hurrah for me," Mariko replied. She looked around at the charmingly preserved Victorian storefronts, the charming, well-dressed people, and the charmingly antiquated cars that buzzed lazily along the charmingly narrow roads. She squinted, peering round at their environs with laser-like analysis. "There's something odd about this whole place. What's that programme you like with the mother and the daughter?"
"Narrow it down a little."
"Oh, you know. Small town. Very kitsch. Everyone talks like it's The West Wing but nothing important ever happens."
"You mean Gilmore Girls?"
"That's it. It's as if we've walked into an episode of that."

The tiny little town, with a population of not even two thousand, was quite the contrast from the city in which they both lived. Seacouver wasn't exactly New York, but it was a vast, teeming metropolis compared with this place. Mariko looked at Sophie out of the corner of her eye. There was clearly pleasure in her expression at seeing all these familiar places, but just a touch of something else as well. Impatience, perhaps?

She dismissed the thought, telling herself that she didn't need to be so analytical about everything, as Sophie had told her many a time. "Just try to enjoy yourself," she said in her head, not for the first time in that hour. Yet this was not easy. She had lied: she absolutely was nervous.

As for Sophie, she was excited. For whatever reason, in the past her parents had always insisted on travelling out to visit her rather than the other way around. This was, therefore, the first time that Enhancegirl had ever been to her hometown. It had been more than a year since she'd gained her incredible super-senses, and she was not the same girl who had left Ferndale.

"Superpowers and a sexy girlfriend," Sophie thought. "I'm really fucking luckier than I deserve to be." She rested her head on the shoulder of her taller companion, and smiled as Mariko held her hand tighter - though her smile flickered briefly. She knew how she'd got Mariko; but she still didn't know how she'd got her powers.

Once Sophie had realised that she lacked this knowledge, the two had spent quite some time trying to piece together how it might have happened. They had even consulted a mutual acquaintance, the telepath Insyte, to see if the information was buried somewhere in Sophie's psyche, yet answer came there none. Sophie had been fairly frightened at first: she had not even been aware that she didn't know her power's origin. Yet over time, her panic had eased. In the absence of any explanation, there were just as many benign possibilities as bad ones. Mariko had been the one to suggest that it was possible that she had willingly lost her memory of whatever event had granted her her powers, possibly as a way of protecting the identity of the one who had given them to her.

Still, it was not a mystery that let itself lie. Sophie had been trying to track down a supervillain named Royal Rumble, who was - as far as she could remember - the first person against whom she had ever used her powers. But after weeks of searching she could find neither hide nor hair of him. She doubted he would have her answer, but it seemed the logical place to start.

Mariko noticed her tension.
"Sweetheart?" Sophie turned her head to see two sharp, jade-coloured eyes peering intently into her. From the tiny, rapid movements of Mariko's eyes, she could tell that her girlfriend was trying to analyse her expression. Instinctive understanding of complex emotion was not easy for her, and Sophie had learned to be a little blunter than she normally would be. Hence the reply:
"Being here, seeing, like, a picture-postcard of pre-EG life," she said. "Can't help thinking about The Problem."
"Ah." Mariko stopped her. "I'm sorry to say, my love, but I don't think you're likely to find any answers here."
"I know," Sophie said. "Uggh, I just hate having this hanging over my head!" She lifted herself onto her tiptoes, and kissed Mariko firmly on the lips. "I'm being dumb. Today isn't about me. It's about us." She grinned, broadly. "You're gonna be a hit, trust me."


"Holy shit!" Sophie's mother exclaimed, as she opened her door to greet her two guests. "Uh, I mean, hi!"
"Hi, Mom," Sophie said, flatly, as her mother gaped at the tall, Asian beauty with whom Sophie had arrived. "Well, at least we've set the tone early..."
"Hello, Pamela," Mariko said, extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you in person." Pamela did not look like what Mariko was expecting. She had imagined a sort of aged-up version of Sophie, but Pamela hardly looked anything like her daughter. She had jet-black hair, small features, and wore a not-quite-stylish jeans-and-jacket ensemble, something that the younger Scott would never have touched.

Pamela, for her part, ignored the handshake completely, and gave Mariko a firm hug. Sophie had to stifle a laugh when she saw the look on her girlfriend's face.
"This is, like, so long overdue!" Pamela chirped. "We've been dying to meet you!"
"Er, yes, it's a pleasure for me as well," Mariko replied.
"We've heard sooo much about you! And ohmygosh you are even prettier than Sophie said!"
"Er -"
"Seriously, though, if Jerome starts gawking at you, I give you permission to kick him in the nuts." She said this with a beaming smile on her face.
"Good grief, she's like Sophie after half a kilo of sugar..."

As enthusiastic as Pamela's greeting had been, she quickly redirected herself to Sophie.
"Aww, baby, I can't believe you missed Christmas with us!" Pamela said as she embraced her daughter, kissing her on the top of the head. She was almost as tall as Mariko, so this wasn't difficult. "That's such fucking bullcrap I don't even know how to describe it."
"Ugh, I know, right?" Sophie said. "By the way, uh, thanks for not letting me introduce my girlfriend properly."
"Uh, thanks for having a stick up your butt about dumb formalities."
"Uh, thanks for being a total failure as a parent."
"Damned right, and don't you fucking forget it." They laughed, and hugged again. Mariko raised an eyebrow.
"This is a very strange relationship..."

The three women entered a house that had appeared suburban from the outside, but was anything but when they got in. There were books everywhere, shelves of them, piles of them on the floor. There was an order to it, in a way, but order that had settled for function and discarded the aesthetics of neatness.

"Excuse the mess. If you can believe it, I tidied up before you got here." Pamela waded through the book-stuffed hallway, guiding her guests into the not-so-book-stuffed lounge. "Sit down, sit down!" She insisted, herding them to a salmon-coloured couch. They did so, Pamela hurling herself into a nearby chair with giddy enthusiasm.

Feeling just a little awkward, Mariko crossed her long legs. She was wearing a tight-ish, grey sweater-dress and white stockings - and in Sophie's colourful home she felt a little monochrome. Especially since Sophie herself was in a loose, yellow dress, her supple legs bare, and her feet clad in bright red flats. One of those feet tapped Mariko's calf. She looked up at Sophie, who winked at her. She seemed to think it was going well.

That is, in fact, what she did think. There was one proviso, though: she could tell that her mother was even more nervous than Mariko.
"I really should have done this sooner," she thought. A weight of expectation had built up for all of them on this meeting, given how long it had been put off.

"Okay, so I have, like, a million questions," Pamela said, clapping her hands together in excitement. "First, how did you guys meet? Little Red's been weirdly cagey about telling me." Mariko smiled slowly. She made a mental note to tease Sophie about her nickname relentlessly when they were next alone.
"It's a mundane story, I'm afraid," Mariko replied. She eased back a bit, tenting her fingers. "We met on Tinder. You know, the dating app." This was by far the simplest lie. There wasn't any other convincing explanation for their paths crossing the way that they had.

"Oh come on, gimme a little more than that, hun," Pamela replied. "Where did you go on your first date? Was it romantic? Oh! Which one of you did the seducing? I bet it was Sophie, she's such a little ingenue!" Mariko blinked a few times.
"Well, I..." she looked at Sophie. Their first date as girlfriends had been to a performance of Die Fledermaus, but that didn't quite seem like the right answer. "A jazz bar on -"
"-Howitzer and Eighth." She and Sophie had answered simultaneously.
"Ooooh, moody!" Pamela laughed. "Was it a dark, smoke-filled room? Did the slow, refined music make you stare soulfully into each other's eyes as you -"
"Uh, no," Sophie snorted with derision at her mother's fantasy. "We had an argument about literature. Oh and Mariko hates jazz."

"Who the hell just had the temerity to say they hate jazz in my house?" In a flash of red and brown, a man in a waistcoat, about Sophie's height, thrust himself into the room.
"Papa!" Sophie leapt up to hug her father, embracing him around his ribs.
"Hello, darling!" He enthusiastically hugged her back, grinning broadly.

"Oh, I see," Mariko muttered under her breath. Sophie didn't look much like her mother, but the pale man with a shock of messy, red hair and short beard bore his daughter an uncanny resemblance. He didn't quite have her eye colour, but the shape of his eyes was the same, stretched oval. He even had a somewhat more masculine version of Sophie's delicate hands. This made sense: Mariko knew that he was a faintly accomplished pianist.

"So," Jerome said, letting go of Sophie, "you must be - holy shit!" He caught himself, trying not to gawk at the tall, fine-featured, elegant young lady that his daughter was dating. "Uh...ahem!" He extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you at last, Mariko." Mariko got up and took his hand.
"A pleasure, Jerome," she said. The three sat down, Jerome perching on the arm of his partner's chair.

"You enjoying our pleasant little town?" he said. Mariko couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic.
"It's charming," she said quickly.
"But?" Jerome pressed, lifting his eyebrow.
"But I can't imagine Sophie being able to breathe in this... hamlet," Mariko thought. "Well," she said, "I've only ever lived in large cities. It's an...interesting contrast."
"Which cities?" Pamela asked.
"I was born in Kyoto, but we moved to America when I was about four. I spent most of my childhood in San Francisco, and I moved to Seacouver when I was sixteen." Pamela and Jerome didn't notice, but Sophie did: the instant she started talking about her past, Mariko tensed up noticeably.

Pamela had noticed, however that Mariko had said 'we moved to America' but that 'I moved to Seacouver'. She was too curious not to press:
"You say 'you' moved? Like, by yourself?"
"Yes," Mariko said. She started tapping against her thigh with her index finger. "I have a somewhat...distant relationship with my family." She said this as if it were perfectly normal. "I've lived alone since I started university." She saw Sophie looking at her. This was perfectly natural, of course: Mariko was the one talking. Yet she wasn't just listening - she was supporting her.

"Oh yeah!" Pamela laughed. "You're not at college anymore - you're a model, right?" Jerome snorted.
"Gee, I wonder?" he thought. With her looks, it seemed that Mariko could hardly have been anything else.
"I am, yes. It's not exactly a burning passion, but it pays the bills," Mariko replied.
"Do you have any burning passions?" Pamela asked. Before Mariko could answer, she went on: "Mine's coffee. And my little girl, of course!" She added, batting her eyelashes at Sophie. It was not easy to be mocking and sincere at the same time, but somehow she managed it. She looked back at Mariko, apparently still expecting an answer.

Mariko had been about to say 'your daughter', but stopped herself.
"You can't say that, they'll assume you're just trying to impress them. Wait, what if that's the point? They're checking to see how much you care for Sophie. No - it was an honest question, she's curious about you. Unless she's trying to see if you're conceited enough to start blathering on about yourself..." She was spinning her analytical wheels. She could feel their eyes on her. Pamela's impatient. Jerome's sceptical. Sophie's anxious. At the last possible moment, she blurted out the word "Marx."

Eyebrows were raised accross the room. Mariko felt her stomach tighten like a vice.
"Marx? What the hell is wrong with me?!" Pamela was about to say something, but Sophie jumped in first.
"You know I'd never seen Duck Soup before I met her?" She smiled winningly. "Or A Night at the Opera. Now I can't get enough of that shit."
"Oh wow," Jerome said. "I never showed you A Night at the Opera? I really am a terrible father." Sophie had covered for Mariko perfectly.

As the conversation moved onto other things, Sophie observed her girlfriend with affectionate sympathy. She remembered all the times she'd seen her fighting, or holding court after a victory. How many enemies she'd intimidated into submission with a glance, or a carefully worded threat. Yet this simple social gathering was stretching her almost to her limit. She wanted her parents to see the Mariko she knew, or that she'd come to know. Fierce and proud, certainly - but also loving, considerate and thoughtful. In many ways she thought that if she'd had stuffier parents, and a worse relationship with them, it would have been easier for Mariko. But their cajoling, open friendliness was disarming, and she was withdrawing into a shell.

"You and your wife have a lovely home," Mariko remarked at a lull in the conversation, perhaps aware of Sophie's concern. Jerome let out a full belly laugh.
"Thank you! Though, uh, Pamela isn't my wife. Didn't Sophie tell you?" Sophie mouthed an apology for letting Mariko be wrong-footed.
"No," Mariko said. "She didn't."
"Yeah, my parents are total hippies," Sophie chimed in. "Apparently marriage is a tool of the patriarchy to oppress women."
"It is!" both her parents replied. "Biggest mistake the gay movement ever made was trying to get homosexual marriage," Jerome continued. "They should have pushed to have it banned for everyone!" Mariko stiffened slightly. She wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to be lectured by a straight man on what 'the gay movement' should or should not have done.

"Hey, Pop," Sophie said, not un-irked herself, "I seem to remember something about religion and politics in polite conversation."
"That's alright, Sophie," Mariko said. She fixed her jade eyes on Jerome. "I agree with you in certain respects. There was perhaps a missed opportunity for a more general movement towards a wider tolerance for different kinds of familial setups." She uncrossed and recrossed her long, thinly covered legs. "However, don't you think that the acceptance of marriage by homosexual couples weakens it as a patriarchal force?"
"In what way?" Jerome replied. He looked at Mariko from beneath his eyebrows.
"Imagine that Sophie and I were to marry. The fact that we're both women suggests a symmetry in power relations. I don't suppose the effect would be necessarily all that strong, but doesn't that at least give some force to the notion that marriage relations are inherently symmetrical?"
"Go on."
"Well if marriage between two women, or two men, is one and the same thing as marriage between a man and a woman, and it doesn't imply power discrepancies between homosexual couples, then it doesn't imply them for heterosexual couples either." Mariko leaned back, taking on a cool confidence in her posture and expression. "Leaving marriage as what it always should have been: a method for the expression of devotion to one's partner." There were glasses of water set out in front of them. Mariko took one, and sipped oh-so-casually from it. "You don't disapprove of that, I take it?"

"Oh, shit," Sophie thought. Mariko had got a little carried away and Sophie had almost sensed outright hostility in her tone. She could just picture her father shaking his head with a weary sigh of disappointment. "She really doesn't make herself easy to get along with sometimes!" But she'd underestimated him: Jerome was grinning. He remembered how hard it had been meeting Pamela's parents for the first time. Trying not to seem like a wishy-washy aesthete, he'd been overly familiar and almost insulting. He had his daughter's eye for character, and he got it immediately: Mariko was a model. She'd been trying to prove that she had an intellect worthy of Sophie's, that she was not just a pretty face.
"I like your girlfriend, Sophie."
"Thanks, pop," Sophie replied, looking at Mariko, relieved that the little sparring session had ended so civilly. "I like her too."

"Personally," Pamela said, "I'm more interested in the part where you said you wanted to marry Sophie." Mariko, still drinking, made a sound not easily rendered in written form. Sophie crimsoned.
"Mom! Like, what the fuck?" she exclaimed.
"What?" Pamela smiled sweetly.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ferndale had recently acquired a second bank. This was, for a town with only two thousand inhabitants, not an insignificant event. Bigwigs in the county office had heard whispering that there was a major property development on the way. That more and more amenities were appearing only seemed to confirm this. Not everyone was happy about this, but it seemed almost inevitable. One can only resist the winds of change for so long. In order to furnish the new bank with its requisite cash, an armoured truck was approaching the sleepy little town.

It had about sixty-thousand dollars inside it, and an armed guard sitting with the cash. That being said, neither she nor the driver were feeling particularly nervous. The idea of someone attempting a robbery in these sleepy glades seemed almost unconscionable.
"Hey, Lucia," the driver said, speaking through a radio. "It's a shame you're all tucked in back there. This place is gorgeous."
"Screw you, Joe, I hate the outdoors," she replied. She sounded dreadfully bored. "I can feel the trees even from in here! Brr!" Joe laughed.
"Don't worry," he said, "we'll keep you safe from the eeeevil trees!"
"We?"
"Yeah, me and Bertha." He tapped the steering wheel affectionately.

It was Lucia's turn to laugh. "Are you kidding, man? You named the truck?" She crossed her legs. The ladylike posture was an amusing contrast to her helmet, thick, tough uniform and flak jacket. But away from her inevitably macho colleagues, Lucia was more comfortable being at least a little feminine. Her arms and legs were strong, but not muscular, and she liked to think that off-work, she looked pretty good in a dress.
"Yeah yeah. Gotta name the truck. It's like a ship. It's lucky." His right hand involuntarily twitched in its glove as he said this.
"We're just going straight back to base right?" There was a pause. "Joe?"

He didn't reply.
"Hey, Joe, I - urrghh!" Lucia was thrown forward, her seatbelt pulling painfully against her stomach. They'd come to a sudden stop. Lucia drew her pistol, aiming it at the door. "Joe, what's going on?" At twenty-seven, Lucia was a little less experienced than some of her colleagues in the business, but she was a fine shot. With one hand, her pistol was aimed steadily at the door, despite her rapid breathing as she undid her seat belt. "Joe? Did we hit something?"

She wondered how long she should wait. Obviously she had to radio for help, but what if Joe had just crashed? What if he was hurt, and her acting now could make a difference? Or, what if this was a trap, and the perpetrators couldn't break into the truck? What if they were waiting for Lucia to lose her nerve and open the hold for them?
"Gotta stay calm," she said to herself, brushing a strand of dirty-blonde hair out of her eyes. Her hand remained steady, even more so when she gripped her pistol properly, with both hands. She blinked her grey eyes, and gulped.

She heard a knocking, a banging against the door of the hold. There was no doubt about it now: someone was holding them up. Without taking her eye off the hold, she once again went for her radio, and adjusted the frequency.
"This is a distress call," she said. "This is van #287 and -"

Lucia's call for aid was cut off there. Or, rather, she lost the presence of mind to keep talking. This was forgivable: the thick, steel floor had unexpectedly given way underneath her.
"What the hell?!" she cried out, shock making her voice a little squeakier than she'd have liked. It wasn't far to the ground - indeed, sitting up straight, she would still have been looking into the torn-up chassis of the van. But she was not sitting up straight for long: Lucia received yet another shock as she was grabbed by several pairs of hands.

"Ungh!" she cried out, as someone pulled her back by her helmet. It was ripped off as she hit the ground, sending her long hair flying out. "Get off me!" she cried out, as another set of hands grabbed her slim arms by her wrists, swiftly plucking the pistol from her hand and tossing it away.

*TRRP!*
Lucia heard a sound that she didn't recognise, but something instinctive made the hairs on the back of her neck stick up.
"GMPH!" the young guard cried out, as a thick strip of silver duct tape was pressed down over her lips. "Mgghmph!" Gagged! She tried to lift her hands to pull the tape off but with dismay saw the roll of tape being thrown to the man who now held both her wrists with one hand.

*TRRP! TRRP! TRRRRRRPP!*
"Mmh! Nmhh! NNNHHHPH!" Lucia moaned through her gag as she felt her wrists being securely restrained. In a couple of seconds, they were wrapped in six layers, her thick black jacket no defence against her bindings. Her legs had been kicking blindly the entire time, but once her arms were bound, these were attended to as well.

"Agh!" This cry was not from Lucia. As her assailant grabbed Lucia's calves, she managed one good kick that caught him(?) in the ribs. But it wasn't any good in the end. Lucia was a marksman if she was anything, not a brawler, and despite her struggles, she found her ankles bound in layers of tape as well.

She looked up, ostensibly to try and get a good look at her captors. It occurred to her that she might be blindfolded, and she needed to get as clear an impression of them as possible. But when she actually did raise her head, she didn't even try to look at them. She just saw her own, bound wrists, and she couldn't look away. She stared at them in disbelief. "I'm...I'm tied up!" She gave a muffled moan, and her cheeks grew hot. Lucia suddenly felt a different kind of nervousness watch over her: she was no great beauty, perhaps, but she was young, and she was pretty, and she was helpless. She couldn't help but feel feminine in a very different way now, a way she was not by any means comfortable with.

"Mghmphh!" Whoever had gagged her took Lucia by the shoulders, and began dragging her out from under the van. He seemed strong enough for the job, but moved awkwardly under the low roof that 'Bertha' had been giving them. "Mmph!" Evidently her captor had emerged, because Lucia was suddenly yanked much faster out from underneath, and hauled up to her feet. "Whgmph?"

Finally, she came face to face with one of her captors. He was...not what Lucia was expecting. They had stopped the van and captured her with frightening efficiency, so she had been expecting some kind of masked gunman in a paramilitary style outfit. She did not expect to see a man in a bright, crimson - well, could one call it a uniform? It was a mauve coat, with golden epaulettes and white stripes, apparently of rank. Lucia didn't know much about the military, but it vaguely suggested a Revolutionary War-era British uniform.

The wearer was in a mask, but not the sort Lucia had imagined. He was wearing a gold, venetian mask, and in a bizarre way he actually looked quite dashing. There was a sabre at his side, and an Aristocratic smile on his face.
"Fear not, fair maiden," he said. "You are now a captive of..." He thrust his arm out with a flourish. "Captain Currrrrr!" The gagged guard stared at him, blinking.
"...what?"

As the other man who'd bound her crawled out from beneath the van, Lucia saw that he too was dressed elaborately, though without perhaps the same degree of flourish. His coat was cyan, and his mask seemed a bit more ill-fitting. He carried a gun - two, including the one he'd taken from Lucia - and he kept flexing his left hand.
"Colonel Cad!" Captain Cur said, gesticulating with assured grandiloquence. He pronounced it 'col-on-el', like a Frenchman. "Your assistance was invaluable! You are truly a fine specimen of a villain." He hissed like a snake on every 's' sound. Lucia was transfixed. He was just so...odd.

"Uh, yeah, uh, thanks Captain," Colonel Cad replied, in a manner which suggested that he was not wholly enthusiastic about the way he was being addressed. He kept looking at and then glancing away from Lucia.
"Augh!" Lucia turned in the direction of what had evidently been a cry of pain.
"Joe!" The driver had obviously put up a fight, and obviously not done very well. He knelt on the tarmac, clutching his stomach. There was a woman standing behind him, dressed much the same as the other two. She too wore a mask, with a long, pointed nose. She had a deep, burgundy coat, with bright, gold buttons, tight, white pantaloons, and knee-high black riding boots. One of those boots was on Joe's back.

"Colonel Cad," Captain Cur announced, "retrieve the booty!" With a nod, Cad went back to the van. "Make haste, comrade! Lovely though this verdant patch may be, still the cold hand of the law will reach it in the end!" If his pace quickened, Lucia didn't notice. "My dear girl," he said, turning Lucia to face him. The spectacle had almost made her forget her current state, but being so easily manhandled and spun around reminded her just how powerless she was. She whimpered a little. Despite herself, she was frightened. She looked again at her bound hands, and to her shame felt tears in her eyes.

"Allow me to explain why we, the newest incarnation of the Five Fiends, have seized your gallantly guarded goods!" Cur exposited, punctuating every syllable with a vaudevillian hand gesture.
"Mmph!" Lucia squeaked as she was turned to face down the road, towards Ferndale. She wanted to look at Joe, check on him, but she didn't dare turn her head.
"Most people see a sleepy little American town in Northern California. They'd never pay it the slightest mind!" Cur noticed that he didn't have her full attention. For Lucia saw the fourth of them, who'd been hanging back, apparently not involved with the hold-up itself. He wasn't styled like the others, wearing a long, black mantle, and a black, tri-corner hat with a feather in its cap. With a black domino mask as well, he looked like a highwayman from an eighteenth century poem. A bad eighteenth century poem.

"Pay no attention to the Chronicler," he said, firmly, but not angrily. "Consider Ferndale. Where others see an insignificant township, I see the beating heart of America itself!"
"Whmph?" Lucia found being unable to speak an added humiliation. Feeling herself unable even to part her lips while this madman lectured her - it was embarrassing and enraging all at once.
"You see, by denying Ferndale funds for its new bank, I will slightly disturb the economy of the town, as well as enriching myself in the process. When I disrupt it even further by robbing its old bank as well, I will cause concern and hubbub at their next town meeting!" He grinned at her, as if she should already be gasping in admiration at his genius.

"Now," he continued, "I have it on good authority that Francis Mayhew, an eminent journalist from the Boston Herald will be on vacation in Ferndale with his wife and children the same week as the next town meeting! Given his interest in local politics, he will certainly attend this meeting, or at least interview its attendants. This in turn will definitely cause his normally sprightly, energetically satirical writing to be infused with an undertone of ennui for some time, due to the town's concern at its financial and criminal situation undercutting the quaint local charm of the town itself! It's brilliant!"

To say that 'to say that 'Lucia looked confused' was an understatement' was, itself, an understatement.
"Gah! Must I spell everything out for you, woman?" He went on in the tone of someone who thought himself patient. "Maury Hauffman, the president of GloboDex, one of the five largest technology concerns in the Western Hemisphere, is known to be an avid reader of Mayhew's work. The ennui present in his output will certainly cause Hauffman to be slightly derelict in his duties, and raise his voice when one of his subordinates criticises him. According to my calculations, if this happens at the precise moment that ExxonMobil releases its quarterly turnover, then the entire world economy will come crashing down! I, Captain Cur, will be known as the greatest villain of all time!"
"...what?"

"Captain." A voice from behind did failed to pull Lucia from the ocean of bewilderment in which she was drowning, but it did make Cur turn around.
"Yes, my good man?" he said, with sincere courtesy.
"It's not as much as we thought. Only sixty-three thousand." He did not sound happy. He had tossed the sacks of cash onto the ground, with apparent contempt.
"Alas!" Cur replied. "But fear not. Our next sojourn into the depths of dastardliness will surely be more lucrative!"
"How do you spell that?" The 'Chronicler' had spoken for the first time. Cur blinked at him. "'Sojourn'. How do you spell that? I never heard that word before." The man's small, nasally voice belied his dashing outfit. Cur gave him the spelling. "Thank you, Captain!" he said, bowing slightly, before he started scribbling away again.

Lucia heard the sound of a motor. A car drove round from behind 'Bertha', a tough looking Jeep.
"Come on, comrades!" A woman with bright green hair popped her head out of the driver's side window. "Even in Boondocks-ville, U.S.A. the cops won't take that long to respond."
"Quite so, my dear, quite so!" Cur acquiesced. "Let me return you, my dear, to your companion."
"Wh-mmph!" Lucia gave a frightened little gasp as Cur scooped her up into her arms. Even with all her gear, he did not seem to be having much trouble doing this. Lucia felt ever more delicate as her taped-up body was hauled over to the side of the road.

Joe watched as his friend was carried towards him. He saw the shock on her face, the tears in her eyes. The way her small hands tugged uselessly against her bonds, the way her legs dangled from Cur's arms. She turned her head towards him, and looked him in the eye.
"Why aren't you saving me?" he could almost hear her say. Joe tried to move, but he felt the boot on his back, and he growled. He clenched his fist.
"Oh, that's adorable," Caitiff said, noticing his anger. "You wanna be a big man? Rescue the pretty girl? Sorry, bub, but you're only human."

Yet, that was not quite true. The fist he was clenching, the gloved fist, wasn't really his own. Joe Dawson was, in fact, a cyborg. He wasn't anywhere near as extensive a one as Cybelle, but his real left hand had been crushed in an accident, and he'd opted for a full replacement.
"Don't go thinking you're a superhero now," his doctor had warned him. "That hand is a lot stronger than a human hand, sure, but it's also more delicate. It gets damaged at all, it won't heal. I can teach you how to do basic maintenance yourself, but if you try to punch someone's lights out with it, you'll need to get it fixed by a professional, and that's expensive."

He looked at Lucia again, so helpless and afraid in her captor's arms. He wanted to help her, to stop her from having to feel so humiliated. He wanted to rescue her. And if she happened to see him bravely and nobly defending her, and if she happened to wrap her slender arms around him when he untied her, and if she happened to nestle against his chest in relief and gratitude...well then, that wouldn't be so bad, would it?

"Now, my dear," Cur said to the bound woman in his arms, "you must forgive me for being so brazen. It gives me no pleasure to put you in such debilitating straits. However, a commitment to true villainy necessitates such -" He saw a brief scuffle. Joe, bruised though he was, hurled himself forward from under Caitiff's boot.

"Put her down!" Joe yelled, barrelling towards Captain Cur. But the villain didn't have the chance. Joe was on him in a second, and swung his cybernetic fist with all his strength - straight through Captain Cur's head.
"Wh-what?!" the driver stammered. He had not killed Cur. Nor, apparently, had he hurt him significantly at all. As he'd hit him, what he expected to feel quite solid had altered in its consistency. His hand had travelled through what felt like pudding, and come straight out the other side.

"My stars!" Cur exclaimed, apparently only mildly perturbed at having a hand sticking into his head. He stepped to the side, and with a sickening squelch his head rearranged itself away from Joe's fist. "What valour! What courage!" As the driver gaped, Cur shoved him in the chest. He was sent flying back, much further than he should have been.

"NNMMPHHH!!" Lucia wailed as Joe went skidding across the tarmac. He landed right by Cad.
"Come here, you little shit!" he spat, hauling Joe to his feet. He kneed him in the stomach, and when the driver was doubled over, gasping, he twisted his arm with the artificial hand behind his back. "Well, look what we've got here?" Cad said, pulling off the glove. "If it ain't a cyborg?" He inspected the metal hand, humming appreciatively. "Not a bad job. Must have been expensive."
"Go to hell - AARGH!" Cad twisted his arm even further. Joe felt like it was going to break.
"Y'know, I've got a special hand too," Cad said, grinning cruelly. "It's what I used to cut the bottom of your truck from under your pretty friend. It's what I used to burn through the strongbox inside to take all your cash. And I think it could burn away that hand of yours in about three seconds or so."
"D-don't!" Joe gasped. "Please, I'd never be able to afford a replacement!"
"Shoulda thought of that first," Cad laughed. "Say goodbye to the -"

As Colonel Cad had been taunting his victim, he had been approached without his noticing. Captain Cur had gently set Lucia down on her knees, safely out of the road. He walked slowly over to Cad, and put his hand on his underling's shoulder.
"Huh? AAGH!" Cad saw in horror as Cur's arm twisted and melted, wrapping around his own like a python - and squeezing with crushing force. "AAUGHH! C-Cur, what the fuck are you - nyyaaagghh!" Cad howled with pain as he felt his shoulder neatly dislocated.
"Release him," Cur said, very calmly. Cad did so immediately, and Joe slumped forward but he was by no means mollified.
"What's...wrong with - AAAGHH!" He screamed even louder than before as his shoulder was relocated just as easily. Cur's arm snaked away, re-solidifying.
"We are villains, Colonel Cad! We are not...not...monsters!" His voice shook with emotion. As theatrical as he was, this didn't appear to be forced. "We do not torture valiant opponents! We do not inflict pointless suffering on those we have defeated!"

Released, Joe was able to turn around to look at the two men's faces. Both were masked above their mouths, but he could see a pained expression on Cur's face, and one of seething anger on Cad's...but only for an instant.
"Er...yes, Captain Cur, of course," he said. "How could I have been so base?" He turned to Joe. "Forgive me, um...noble driver-guy!" It was spectacularly unconvincing - but it seemed to be enough for Cur. He clapped Cad on the back, and laughed heartily.

"My dear fellow, you must understand that to be villains," he said, pronouncing the last word as if it were spelt 'villaince', "we must also be magnanimous. Corporal Chupacabra!" This was the woman in the jeep. "Prepare our escape!" She nodded, and pulled the Jeep over to Caitiff, who'd picked up the loot. She chucked it into the jeep's boot, before hopping in herself. "Come, Chronicler! We will have need yet of your mighty pen!" Gathering himself up without much in the way of grace, the man in black hopped in as well.

As he and Cad entered as well, Cur turned one last time to Lucia.
"Farewell, my gallant girl," he said. She looked down at the ground, not feeling that he had any reason to call her 'gallant'. "Remember always the day when you, even though 'twere brief, lay in the arms of a real villain!" With that, he and the others sped away, Captain Cur laughing hysterically as they faded off into the distance.

As soon as he was sure they were gone, Joe hauled his battered body to his bound friend, and hurriedly tore her bonds away. Even though he hadn't saved her, she did indeed embrace him, though Joe had no problem with discarding his fantasy and holding her just as tightly. He needed comfort just as much as she did.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Don't think people are gonna be too mad at us when they realise we got jumped by four superhumans."
"Totally," she laughed, sounded a little hysterical herself. She sneezed. "Ah, fucking allergies..." Joe laughed slightly, but craned his neck to look up. The bizarre troupe wasn't turning away. They were going straight to Ferndale...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So, what do you think?" Pamela asked, sotto voce. It was a moment of pause in their introduction - Sophie was showing Mariko the rest of the house, and her parents were using the time to take stock. "I mean, I like her," Pamela added. "I mean, how can I not? D'you see the way Sophie looks at her? It's so fucking sweet!"

Jerome seemed less sure.
"She's clever, she's cultured - yeah, I think she's a pretty awesome young lady. If I was interviewing her for a job I'd snap her up in a god-damned heartbeat. But I know how Sophie looked at her. Did you ever see her look at Sophie?" Pamela had to think.
"Not that I remember. I guess I wasn't thinking about it."
"I'm worried, Pam," Jerome said. "It's not much to go on, but I'm worried after what I heard about her family."
"Oh, don't tell me you're holding that against her!"
"I'm not 'holding it against her'. But...I can imagine someone like that being really starved for affection. And I can imagine our daughter deciding that she's the one who should give it to her, whether she gets any back or not."
"Sophie's not a fucking martyr. She wouldn't sacrifice herself if she got nothing back."
"I guess. But is she getting enough? I just don't want to see her getting hurt. The way she talks...she's really jumped in deep with this girl. She's so grown up now, but she's still so young. Hearts break easy at that age."

Pamela considered for a moment.
"I don't know, Jerome. I don't know this girl at all. But I know our girl. She's not always the best judge of character, but she's not bad. And she tells me she's in love with this girl. She's never said that about anyone before, even that Juliette chick. Fuck me, Jerome, I think that's gotta count for something. Besides, I know she's a better judge of character than you."
"How's that?"
"'Cause you shacked up with me, dipshit."


"So, what do you think?" Sophie said, as she beckoned Mariko inside.
"You certainly made this place your own, didn't you?" the model remarked. The walls were covered almost totally with posters, or with cut outs from magazines. Women's fashion, music posters, some rather amusing caricatures of politicians from when Sophie had been fifteen, and even the lineup of the '99 Yankees women's team. Sophie sat down on her bed, kicking off her shoes. "Not many books," Mariko said, looking around. Those that there were didn't exactly impress Mariko, either. Instead, her shelves were stacked with CDs. "I see you came into your tastes a little late?"

"Yeah, I..." Sophie scratched the back of her head. "It's kinda funny. I wasn't into novels all that much until pretty recently. I think it was after I got my powers. I mean, I think it was," Sophie added, again reminded of her perturbing lack of knowledge. "But around then, anyway, I just started reading, and reading, and reading...like I'd been making up for lost time, or some shit like that." She laughed. "I spend my whole childhood wanting to grow up and move to the big city...and when I finally do, I start burying my head in fucking books!"
"That, and beating people up in a mini-dress."
"That too."

Mariko sat down as well. She looked around, absorbing every detail, filing it away for future reference. Every scrap of information made Sophie richer and richer a person in her eyes, more and more layers adding to her character, and each one beautiful to Mariko, each one precious.
"What do you think of my folks?" Sophie asked. The word 'folks' was intended to sound casual, as if she wasn't that worried, but the sentence rushed out of her mouth at such speed that the illusion was a thin one.

"They're very...lively," Mariko replied. She took in a long breath, and let it out slowly. "Sorry, that sounded like a euphemism, I didn't mean to -"
"They're weirdos. They're total weirdos. You're allowed to say that," Sophie said, taking Mariko's hand.
"Well, so are you," Mariko replied, allowing herself to smile, "so it seems that's not something I have a problem with." Sophie stuck out her tongue. "In all seriousness, Sophie, I do like them. They're warm, charmingly eccentric people." She brushed Sophie's cheek with one finger. "They're alike and unlike you at the same time. Your mother is...rather energetic, but she has your humour." Mariko thought again of the hyper, profoundly silly woman, and found it hard indeed to believe that she was a solicitor by trade.
"What about my dad?" Sophie got closer still. For as much as Mariko had been worried that Sophie's parents wouldn't approve of her, the redhead had been quite concerned that the boot would be on the other foot.

"Yes, definitely. It's hard to put my finger on it precisely but if I had to..." Her jade eyes darted around Sophie's face. Her lightly freckled cheeks, her pink lips, her warm, green eyes. "It's your countenance. He's a more severe than you, but when he looks at Pamela his face softens. Then he reminds me of you: essentially affectionate." Sophie smiled broadly. This was one of her favourite things about her girlfriend: she wasn't good at reading people's emotions but, when she put her mind to it, she was good at reading people's characters.
"I'm surprised at how relieved I am," Sophie said. "Like, even if you'd fucking despised them, I know you wouldn't have broken up with me or anything but...they're a part of me. It would have sucked if you hadn't liked them."

Mariko turned herself fully towards her lover, their legs brushing against each other as she did so.
"They love you. And from what I can work out, they did a fine job raising you." She ran her fingers through Sophie's hair. "This is a happy home. And you were happy in it. Weren't you?" Sophie nodded. "Then even if I'd 'fucking despised them' I'd still adore them. They gave me you, didn't they?" She leaned in and kissed Sophie's cheek. "They crafted the most wonderful thing in all the world..."
"Mariko..." Sophie half-whispered, half-gasped. She felt her heart flutter. "Ugh, you shouldn't stay stuff like that..."
"Why?" Mariko replied.
"'Cause I fucking melt, you jackass..."

She took Mariko by the shoulders and pulled her close. Giggling slightly, Sophie shut her eyes and pressed her lips against her girlfriend's. Mariko responded in kind, feeling Sophie's soft mouth open slightly, inviting her to kiss her more deeply. She took this opportunity instantly, holding Sophie by the shoulders as she caressed her lover's tongue with her own.

As they pulled away, Sophie seemed almost to swoon, falling back onto the bed with a feminine sigh. In this position, her dress wasn't covering a great deal of her lower body, and Mariko began stroking her long, pale legs.
"Mmh..." Sophie shivered at Mariko's touch, rubbing her thighs together. "This is why I always wear skirts when I'm around you..."
"It's much appreciated," Mariko said. "You really do have beautiful legs, my love."

She leaned down, and started kissing Sophie's calves, smooth and firm, curved so delicately up towards her knees. She moved higher, pressing her lips again and again over her girlfriend's tender skin. She reached Sophie's warm, silky thighs, felt her skin become softer, more impressionable - and more sensitive. She lifted her head, and began massaging Sophie's thighs, rubbing her inner thighs with her thumbs, while working her fingers around the outsides. She ran her hands quickly up and down, going right past her knees and around her calves again, before running them back up almost to Sophie's hips. She felt how slender and supple Sophie's limbs were. As she pressed, she could feel their coiled, cat-like strength, but like a ballet dancer's they were still faultlessly feminine in their gentle curves, their smooth, youthful softness.
"Ooohhh..." Sophie sighed, stretching her arms above her head. She bit her bottom lip and giggled. This was tame compared to some of the stuff she and Mariko got up to, but considering her parents were in the house it felt...well, naughty.

"Oooh, if you do that, you'd better take responsibility for it..."
"I'm not - sullying - your maidenly - small-town virtue - am I?" Mariko said, each pause punctuated with another kiss.
"Oh, like I've got any of that left after you - ooh!" Sophie gasped, as Mariko gave a long kiss to her inner thigh. She could feel Sophie's legs were ever-so-slightly moist, and smelled ever so slightly sweet as she kissed them again and again. She felt them shudder, felt Sophie's toes flex. "Okay, wow, you've gotta stop or I'm not gonna be able to fucking control myself!" She sat up. Mariko did so too, now kneeling on Sophie's bed. The svelte redhead clasped her hands around her lover's and kissed her again, more gently this time.

"I love you," she said quietly. "I love you, and I love that you're here. I love that you're seeing all this. Just..."
"What?"
"Just relax when we go downstairs again, okay?" she said with a loving, but patient smile. "You're wound up so tight. Believe me, they already see how cool and smart you are. So just...relax, okay?"
"Very well," Mariko replied, stiffening slightly. "I am trying, you know."
"I know. I know, Mariko," Sophie replied. "It's just, you can be so open and so sweet to me...but then, like, anyone else you're all: 'Look upon the mighty Spectra, peasant! Grovel before my rapier wit!'"
"Stop making me sound British! You incorrigible little -"

There was a knock at the door. Rather hurriedly, the two untangled themselves from each other.
"Come in!" Sophie called out.
"If you're making out you can tell me to fuck off, y'know."
"Ew, mom!" Laughing to herself, Pamela entered.
"Enjoying Sophie's little teen-cave, Mariko?" she asked.

Mariko took a breath.
"It's enlightening. I didn't really see Sophie as the baseball type, I must confess."
"She's not. But when she was ten she had the cutest fucking girl-crush on the Yankees' star pitcher." Mariko looked at Sophie, and laughed. Sophie had turned bright red, and Mariko instinctively entwined her hand with Sophie's in response.
"I suppose that does explain it." She looked back at Pamela, who was staring straight at her. "Pamela?"
"Oh, sorry, hun! Lost my train of thought. Come downstairs; Jerome found the sherry!" She quickly turned on her heel, and the girls followed. They didn't see, but she was smiling: it had only been something small. Just a laugh and then a quick touch on her hand, but in that glimmer, Pamela had seen incontrovertible evidence of Mariko's affection for her daughter. "I fucking knew it..."

When they got back to the sitting room, the television was on.
"If you've turned on the fucking baseball, I swear to -" But she was angrily shushed. Startled, she looked to see what could have prompted such a reaction.
"Um...I didn't really get a good look at him," a young, quite pretty woman was saying to a news crew. "But he was definitely a superhuman. His arm...it twisted up...I don't really know how to describe it properly."
"What's going on, papa?" Sophie asked, sitting down next to him.
"Guy texted me," he explained. "Told me to turn on the local news. Apparently an armoured car delivering money to the new bank got knocked over."

"The sleepy town of Ferndale has, apparently, got a bizarre new criminal problem," an anchor explained, cutting away from the witness. "A villain - apparently superhuman - adopting the moniker 'Captain Cur' stole money on its way to a new bank - and according to witnesses, he claims that he's going to strike again," he said, using that special style of emphasis which seems to exist exclusively in news anchors. "During what was described as a 'crazed rant', Captain Cur explained to one of his victims that he intended to strike Ferndale's other bank. Police are on the lookout, and security is tight - but will that be enough to stop this new threat?"

"Well about fuckin' time," Pamela said. "We've finally got our own supervillain!"
"And it figures we get one who sounds like a reject from a Republic serial...now all we need is a superhero and we're set," Jerome sighed. Sophie got up, and stood closer to Mariko.
"Captain Cur," she said, very, very quietly. "Have you ever heard of him?"
"No," Mariko said. "This looks like something new." A smile began to creep across her face. "I think, perhaps, our arrival here had a touch of serendipity to it."
"This jackass isn't gonna know what him," Sophie clenched her fist. "No-one fucks with my town on my watch."
"Oh you do have a way with words, don't you?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Quite some way away, in a large - nay, cavernous - building in Sacramento, a very odd looking man was about to report to his boss. He was extremely thin, clean-shaven, with neatly cropped brown hair. He wasn't very tall, but he walked with a brusque pomposity that gave him a strange sense of grandeur. He was dressed very strangely, though again he was able to carry it off fairly well: he wore a tight, silver bodysuit, padded out with kevlar around the stomach. Shining silver armour adorned his calves, and one of his arms, and there was a long sword at his side. He met no-one on his way to his superior, entering the man's office without incident.

"I have a report," he said as he came in, talking extremely quickly in a tight-lipped English accent. "Local news in Humboldt County reports an armoured car was knocked over."
"How much was taken, Panhellius?" The man Panhellius was addressing didn't turn to him. He was facing out of a window, observing his city being pelted with rain. A long green cloak, and slicked-back blonde hair was all the armoured man could see.
"Chump change," he replied. "The culprit was a man named 'Captain Cur'. He seems ridiculous, but reports indicate he and his companions - all superhumans, by the way - are actually quite capable. I speculate that they deliberately pose as comical figures so that they're underestimated."
"Cur, huh?" The man in green put his hands behind his back. "They catch him yet?"
"No, sir. I don't imagine this will require our attention, but I could send Nova to reconnoitre."
"Sure. Wait, no." He immediately corrected himself. "Where in Humboldt County?" Panhellius had to check his notes.
"A town called...Ferndale."

There was a long pause.
"Call Nova. And Hydrocita."
"Hydrocita?" He sounded alarmed. "Is that really necessary, sir?"
"I don't know," he replied. "But I'm going to meet them there myself. Let's see how this 'Captain Cur' manages against the Pauldron."

[Damselbinder]

"Congratulations are in order, my estimable servitors!" So proclaimed Captain Cur, as he shared out the fruits of his criminal labours with those under his command. He did not take a share for himself.
"Yo, why does Shit-speare get a cut? He didn't do anything!" So whinged Corporal Chupacabra as she counted out her share. It was twelve-thousand and seven dollars for little over an hour's work, but she considered this slim pickings.
"I do what the Captain tells me to do!" So huffed the Chronicler in response. "If he'd told me to help, I would have helped. In fact, I'll have you know that I was once an elite bodyguard for one of the most notorious criminals in Seacouver!" Caitiff snorted.

"Is that supposed to be impressive? Seacouver? That trashy little port town? Ugh..." The purple-haired woman put her hand on Chupacabra's shoulder. "You want me to ice him for you, Leanne?" The green haired girl looked a little younger than Caitiff, and there was a vague sense of South East Asia in her appearance. She took off her mask, revealing a pair of icy blue eyes, fluttering her eyelashes at Caitiff.
"Oh, you're such a sweetheart," she said. "Maybe later, honey." The Chronicler made a small squeak of fear, badly hidden. He looked to Cur for protection, but he was distracted, leafing through the contents of the Chronicler's outpourings of the day.
"Such rich prose!" he exclaimed. "Such stunning characterisation!" He removed his mask as well, revealing a not ugly face, but certainly not a handsome one either. He had too long a nose, too thin lips, and too high a forehead. His teeth were very large, and glittered whenever he smiled. There were tears in his eyes.

"How base is bitter reality! How can it compare, my dear man, to what you have crafted here?" He lifted his hands skyward. "I say, if there be a god ruling our meagre lives, then in your own name, take my Chronicler as your architect." He shook, a strange, spasmodic movement. "I...must recuperate," he said. "I leave you to your own devices. Please do not take my unforgivable melancholy as a sign that you should not celebrate! Be merry, I pray you!" Bowing, he moved off to one side. He had to weave his way through lines of industrial machinery: he and his comrades had taken refuge in a closed-down milk-bottling plant.

Cad watched the Captain depart, until he was sure the man was out of earshot.
"That fucking loon..." Cad hissed. "That - that idiot!" He gripped his shoulder, still aching from where Cur had dislocated and relocated it. "I'll get him for this...I'll get him!"
"Oh, come on Colonel C -" Caitiff started, but Cad silenced her with a look.
"Don't call me that! My name is Greyhand!" he growled.
"Alright, Greyhand," Caitiff replied. "You were the one who suggested we take up this kook's offer. And yeah, I guess we're not making as much as we could be, but fuck it, the pay's better than before! You really want to go back to working for Ha -" She stopped herself, unwilling even to say the word. "You want to go back to him? Not fucking likely."
"We could," Leanne added. "He doesn't punish people for working independently of him. He punishes them for going straight."
"Oh don't you worry about me going straight, sweetness," Caitiff said, winking. Chupacabra giggled. "The point is, as long as we're with him, I don't care who comes after us. Nobody can touch him. Which means nobody can touch us."

Colonel Cad slumped back into his chair in his gaudy uniform. He heard the Chronicler sniggering at him. "What's your problem, little man?!" he barked.
"You thought you could control him, right?" the man in black laughed. "That you'd be, what, the power behind the throne? I bet there's a tonne of guys who could have done that, but not you. You're small fry." With a sound like a barking rottweiler, Cad sprang up from his chair, raising his hand towards the writer.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he squealed. "Don't...erase me!"
"Now listen here, you little shit," Cad said, "if I'm small fry, then you're a bacterium in my digestive tract."
"Wait, I thought you could only melt through metal?" Leanne said. Greyhand shot her a murderous glance. "Oh, whoops, was I not supposed to say that?"

He turned back slowly to the Chronicler, whose quivering terror had translated into mere nervousness.
"Just because I can't erase you," he said, barely speaking above a whisper, "that doesn't mean you can get comfortable. I could still snap your neck if I had half a mind to."
"F-fine, geez!" he said, stumbling out of his chair. "Be an asshole, why don't you?" He stumbled off in the direction of his Captain.

"What a waste of space," Caitiff said, sitting down and crossing her legs.
"Tcheh, I know right?" Cad assented, smirking.
"I wasn't talking about him. At least he's funny. We need you, I'll admit that. But we all wish we didn't." Colonel Cad folded his arms, and smiled nastily at the two women.
"Well you do. The Captain on the other hand? I'm getting less and less sure..."

As Cad sulked and schemed, the Chronicler went over to his boss. He wanted his opinion on his writing, and getting it was never unpleasant. On the brief occasions when Cur did criticise him, he did it with such magnanimity and good grace that it still felt like a compliment.
"Hey, Captain?" he said. He couldn't see him in the gloom of this corner of the plant, but he was fairly sure that he was around there somewhere.

And then he heard a sound. For a moment he thought that the machinery had been switched on, for there was a kind of gargling noise. That gargling rose in pitch, until he realised it was being made by a human throat. It rose further, becoming more like something between a wail and a scream. Then there was a crash of broken glass.

"What the hell?" The Chronicler rushed over to where he'd heard the crash. He found a rather distressing sight.
"I...I used to...I used to give her...I..." Captain Cur was mumbling, on his hands and knees. The broken glass was smashed milk bottles, their contents long since soured. Cur's coat-tails trailed in the foul smelling liquid, staining it, his knees and gloves getting wet as well. "I... she would always...such a good...such a good...so nice..."
"Captain?" The writer came closer to him. "Captain, what's going on?" But he didn't respond. He was just mumbling the word 'messy' over and over again under his breath. "Hey, Captain," the villain's underling said, putting his hand gently on Cur's shoulder. "It's Denzel. Are you okay?"

Slowly, Cur's mumbling came to a stop. He blinked a few times, and stood up in a flash.
"Where's...?!" he said, sounding panicked. But then he happened to catch sight of his Chronicler. "My friend! My dear...dear friend..."
"You alright?" Denzel asked, more concerned for his own safety than for Cur's, but not entirely self-absorbed, either.
"My good man!" He straightened himself up, and smiled his toothy grin. "What makes you ask such a question?"
"You were, like...on the floor."
"Yes...yes I was wasn't I..." He chuckled to himself, like this was all according to some fiendish plan. "Come, my Chronicler! There is much to do, much to prepare!" He patted Denzel on the back, and beckoned him further on. He himself walked a little ahead, with almost a skip in his step. Yet even as his confidence reasserted itself, Denzel saw something in his eyes. Sophie Scott would have been able to identify it very quickly. Even Mariko Asakura could probably have deduced something was seriously wrong. Yet while Denzel Bindon was not the least kind man in the world, he was hardly in the top ten either. He shrugged his shoulders, and elected to forget about it.
"Now listen closely..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mariko, thank you for finally bringing some sense into this house. Twenty years I've had to put up with Pamela raving about him, then Sophie falls into the cult as well!"
"Well, London Fields had its charm, in a sort of Agatha-Christie-after-postmodernism sort of way," Mariko opined, "but good heavens, that man is hard to read. Every sentence (stretched out and parenthetic) has to show what (and in what way) a manly genius he is."
"Uh, fuck you guys," Pamela said, swishing wine around her glass. "At least he's actually trying to do something unique with his structure. Besides, this from the guy who cries whenever he reads The Old Man and the Sea." Mariko snorted with derisive amusement.
"It's moving!" Jerome retorted, shifting into a defensive posture.
"Oh yes, so moving!" Sophie gasped. "The old man, he weeps for his fish...he tried to bring home his fish...but the sharks! They ate the fish!" She put her hand to her forehead. "The old man, you see - he catches a really big fish! But the sharks eat the fish! Never has there been such depth, passion and emotion! It's is just...oh, so moving...a man tries to catch a fish and then sharks eat it...for, like a hundred fucking pages...of an old man going fishing..." She turned to Mariko with a quivering lip. "Por qué, Mariko? Por qué la fish?"

Perhaps it was the convivial atmosphere. Perhaps it was catharsis after having been forced to read Hemingway at school. Perhaps it was the excitement she felt at her upcoming battle with this new criminal. But, for the first time since Sophie had known her, she laughed uproariously, not a refined chuckle, but a full laugh. She clutched her flat stomach with one hand, her eyes closed as she hooted with mirth.
"S-Sophie...you're...you're ridiculous!" she managed to sputter out between her laughs.
"Whoa, you okay there, sweetie?" Sophie asked, not able to help laughing as well in response. She put her hand on her girlfriend's.
"Yes, yes," Mariko replied, regaining her composure. She patted Sophie's hand, and smiled at her with soft eyes. The redhead's parents saw this, and Pamela mouthed:
"What did I fucking tell you?"

"Oh, man, it's late..." Jerome sighed, glancing at his watch. "I forgot to ask: you two sleeping here tonight?"
"No," Sophie replied. "I wanted to show Mariko the Gilgamesh Inn; but we're gonna be back bright and early tomorrow."
"You'd better be," her father replied. "You promised us your french toast, remember?" Pamela was laughing. "What's tickled your funnybone?"
"Nothing." She giggled again. "Just, uh. You know. They're staying at an inn. Cultural tourism. That's definitely the reason." She winked exaggeratedly at Mariko, who crimsoned.
"Eww, mom! Don't be gross!" Sophie threw a napkin at her. "Right, come on, Mariko. We're leaving."

After exchanging affectionate pleasantries, Sophie bade her mother farewell with a long hug. As she did, Jerome came over to Mariko.
"It was a pleasure meeting you and Pamela," Mariko said.
"Likewise, Mariko," he said. "I hope we didn't scare you off or anything."
"Certainly not," she replied. "Goodnight, Jerome." Aware that that had sounded a bit brusque, she calculated that it might be meet to venture a joke. "Perhaps I'll let you try to convince me to like jazz next time."
"Count on it," he chuckled.

As the two young women left, Jerome slipped his arm around his partner's waist.
"Say it," Pamela said.
"Say what?"
"That I was totally fuckin' right and you were totally wrong."
"Fine," he replied. "I'm happy to admit it. I'm pretty sure she's found herself a keeper."

As the young lovers walked through the dark Ferndale streets, hand-in-hand, Sophie expressed her relief that Mariko had managed to relax, and the tall beauty likewise reaffirmed her liking for Sophie's parents. But their minds didn't stay on such matters for long. What had started out as a mere weekend break had taken on a rather more...adventurous aspect.
"So," Sophie said, "how are we gonna take these fuckers down?"
"D'you know," Mariko replied, "I rather have an idea about that."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We don't have any more security guards!" A rather dumpy, short bank manager huffed into his cellphone. "Look, I don't give a rat's tuckus if the Supremacist himself just threatened to rob us! This isn't exactly a big town: I've put on all the guys we have, plus a couple more I've been able to whip up. It's 11:30, and I'm going home, gosh darn it!" Hanging up, he sighed heavily. "Ooh, in all my years..."

As he finally shut up shop, in a bank that normally closed a little after five, he was more than a little perturbed. "You think the world's alright, and then something like this happens..." He pinched the bridge of his nose, shutting his eyes. Since his bank had heard about Captain Cur's threat, he and his few staff had been panicked. The police had been there all day in anticipation of another robbery, but Ferndale didn't have many local cops. Some county men had reinforced, but most of those had gone by now. Despite the fact that this was probably Ferndale's biggest shopping street, there wasn't anyone else in sight.

All that was left of the watchful sentinel of the state was one cop car, with two not-wholly formidable policemen left in it. Even the bank's own security were getting listless.
"Oh boy," Jeff the manager huffed, not exactly brimming with confidence at their chances if these super-criminals did show up.

"Excuse me." Jeff heard a rather clipped, female voice from behind him. "Are you the manager here?" Jeff turned around, and gaped. He was looking at a tall, very lovely young woman, obviously Japanese in ancestry, though her accent was American. She had short, fashionably messy, inky-black hair, a svelte, highly slender figure, and was dressed rather strangely. She wore a shoulder-baring, silver leotard, with a kind of half-skirt at the bottom. A short cape trailed down her back, and her feet were clad in knee-high, silver boots.

Beneath a silver domino mask, he could see sparkling, jade-coloured eyes.
"Y-you're -"
"Yes, yes," pronounced Spectra, the Mistress of Light. "There's no need to -"
"You're Valora!"
"I -" Spectra reminded herself that this was not her home city, and repressed the urge to slap the man on the back of his balding head.

"Not...not quite. I am Spectra, of Seacouver. I am recognised by the state of California as bearing the right of anti-criminal belligerence, and I am offering my assistance." Jeff didn't wholly understand.
"So...you are a superhero, right?" He had, in fact, heard of Spectra.
"That's correct. I propose the following. Your institution is to be targeted by a band of superhuman criminals, as far as I understand it. Your security will stand no chance against them, as you - and they - know. Therefore, I will guard this bank in their stead."
"Hey, look Miss, if you want to hang around, be my guest."
"That is not what I am suggesting. You are going to need to allow me access to your main vault."
"I - wait, what?!" Jeff wagged his finger in Spectra's face. "No way, Miss! No gosh-darn way am I letting you in there! For all I know you're one of the bandits!"
"They're not bandits you -"

As what Spectra had expected to be a simple matter descended into bickering, a certain smooth-limbed, gold-clad redhead was approaching the two parked policemen. She was smiling to herself as she walked, seeing her hometown as she never had before with her vastly magnified senses.
"You know what? This place isn't half bad when you get a closer look at it..."

But there were other matters which needed attending to. She tapped on the window of the car, and one of them rolled it down with a touch of suspicion.
"Can I help...you?" The man found his eyes meeting the lithe, shapely figure of a nineteen year old girl in a tight, strapless, gold dress, with a hemline high enough almost to bare her long, supple legs entirely. She wore opera style gloves, ankle-high, silver boots, and a red domino mask, a little more angular than Spectra's.
"Hey fellas," Sophie said, batting her eyelashes. "The name's Enhancegirl. You might not have heard of me, but, I was wondering if I could ask you guys a favour..."

"Listen to me. If I wanted to break in, I could have done so without the slightest difficulty," Mariko explained, a hiss of frustration entering her voice.
"Aha, so you do want to break in!"
"I was speaking hypothetically, you self-important little troll!" So far her bright idea had not been going according to plan.
"Trying insults now, huh? Well I for one won't fall for it." He crossed his arms and huffed. "If she thinks she can talk down to me, then she's got another thing coming!" Some of the guards were watching the amusing spectacle, and giggling.

"Hey, Jeff!" The manager, and Spectra, turned their heads in the direction of the two policemen. One of them had stuck himself halfway out of his window. "They're capes, you stubborn bastard! Let 'em help!" Jeff opened his mouth to reply, but he was deflated. "Seriously, what the hell are the rest of us gonna do if these assholes actually show up?" The manager looked again at Spectra. The beauty shrugged.
"Fine," he said, sulking. "Come in, I guess."


"Well, that was needlessly embarrassing," Spectra muttered, as the two heroines were led in.
"Hey, your plan worked, didn't it?"
"Yes, but it would be nice if my reputation went a little further than Seacouver's borders," Spectra sighed slightly. "I know it's vain, but I would appreciate just a touch more recognition after all this time." Given that it had once been the only bank serving twenty thousand customers, it was actually larger than most banks they'd seen before. There were two floors, a wide service area and a section upstairs reserved for a small business which helped customers with financial planning. The decor had once been modern, around about the time when disco died.

The heroines were led into the vault, which was quite far behind the tellers' windows. They came to a large steel door
"Here ya are, I guess. Now you know a vault can't be opened from the inside, right? If I shut you in here, you won't be able to get out, and I'm not sticking around."
"I -" Mariko began, about to correct him haughtily about his assumption, but Sophie cut her off.
"It's okay Mr Charleston," she said. "We understand: you need to go home. You've been so helpful already, sir. We'll do whatever we can to stop these thieves."
"Well, uh, thanks, little Miss," Jeff said, blushing a little. "You just be careful if they do come."
"We will. Thank you, Mr Charleston!"The heavy, steel door shut with a loud *ch-thunk*, leaving the two in the fluorescent light of the vault. There was a pause.

"You were flirting with him," Mariko said.
"I was not!" Sophie exclaimed. "Uh, you might remember, but I'm not into guys. Especially old balding dudes."
"I know we have different styles, my love," Mariko said, "but there's no need to subordinate yourself to others for their approval. Our power and our accomplishments should be enough."
"Just being friendly," she said. "You know you're allowed to be nice to other people besides me, right?" If Sophie hadn't had her powers active, she wouldn't have noticed Mariko stiffen slightly as she said this. She still found it odd how prideful she could be.

"You know we could be here for a while," Enhancegirl said, trying to make Mariko ease up. "They might not show up tonight at all," Sophie said, after another long pause.
"Oh, yes?" Spectra replied. She was trying to work out the limits of her power in that level of light.
"Don't get me wrong," the redhead replied. "I want to kick these guys' asses pretty fucking badly. But while we're waiting..." She moved in front of her girlfriend, smiling sweetly, her hands behind her back in an innocently coquettish fashion. "Even though you can be, like, totally antisocial, I'd still really like to -"

She stopped talking. Her teasing smile vanished, replaced with a swift alertness. She stepped back, dropping into a combat stance. Yes, she was humorous, yes she was playful - but she knew when not to be.
"Get ready," she said, sharply. Even her voice had dropped slightly, though perceptibly, in pitch. "They're here."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Zounds!" Captain Cur exclaimed, as he and his four underlings emerged into the bank. "Colonel Cad, your powers are truly magnificent."
"Yeah, thanks," Cad replied. Using his powers, he'd been able to burrow through the very foundations of the building, with a little brute force from his Captain whenever they met concrete. They climbed out of the hole they'd burrowed, having completely evaded the bank's security.

"No-one in here," Colonel Cad said, "this is perfect. These small-town bumpkins won't know what hit 'em!"
"Now now, good fellow," Cur replied, clapping him on the back, "I myself grew up in a town such as this, a quiet hamlet in lovely Scotland. If even I, the great Captain Cur: Master Villain, can be nurtured in such climes, how can we disparage them?"
"Whatever," Cad huffed, now scarcely bothering to hide his impatience.
"He doesn't sound Scottish..." Caitiff thought, strutting inside, her tall boots tapping audibly against the tiles.

"Vault's gotta be this way," Cad said. This was by no means his first bank robbery, and he led them in the right direction.
"Why are all the lights on?" This wasn't Chupacabra's first either, and she had an uneasy feeling. "This is long after hours. And why isn't there any security inside? I thought they knew we were coming."
"Stop chattering," Cad replied. "Let's just grab what we came for and get the hell out of here."
"Yes, yes..." Cur assented quietly, as if he hadn't really been listening.

The four superhumans, with the Chronicler hurrying along behind them, found their way to the main vault without too much trouble. There was an iron gate in front of it, barring access - but this was no problem for Greyhand. He touched the lock, and it vanished with a soft, grinding sound.

"Enter, comrades!" Surprisingly, it was not Cur who said this, but Chupacabra. Prior to her criminal career, she'd been quite a talented actress at school. She'd had the looks, and the talent, but not the luck. Unlike other young women who come to California in search of the life of celebrity, she had not languished as a waitress while going from failed audition to failed audition - the discovery of her powers, and a chance encounter with a man - if one could call him that - called Hades had put her on her current path.

Caitiff kept turning backwards and forwards, standing behind the rest of the group, guarding for any possible attack against them. She was not as dismissive as Cad had been about the lack of security. She began rubbing the fingers of each hand together, preparing for possible trouble. She hadn't had to use her powers in the attack on the armoured car, and she was itching for an opportunity so to do.

The criminals strode confidently past a row of safety-deposit lockers, all save the Chronicler, who strode much less confidently.
"You think this might be it?" Chupacabra giggled, as they stepped before the heavy steel door of the main vault.
"Gee, I wonder," Cad muttered, stepping forward. He placed his hand over the lock, and there was again a shrieking sound as he tore the metal away like he was scooping out ice cream. He went to the side of the door, and began carving away the bolts holding it in place.

"Astounding, Colonel!" Cur laughed, in merriment, rather than mockery. "Your skills are once again invaluable."
"Yeah," Cad replied, shooting a glance at Caitiff, "they are, aren't they?" She stuck out her tongue at him. "Dumb broad..." He pushed the vault door open, still smirking at Caitiff.

"Good evening." Cad was a little surprised at hearing this, for the greeting came from within the vault, the door of which he'd just opened. He turned around to see two very, very good looking young women standing before him. One was clad in gold, slightly crouched. The other, taller and of Asian origin, had her hand outstretched towards him, with her thumb, forefinger and middle finger pointing at his chest.

"Wh -" was all Cad was able to say, before a lance of light thrust itself out from the taller woman's hand. "AUGH!" he cried out, hurled back, feeling like he'd been pierced through with a dagger of heat. He slammed against some of the safety deposit boxes with such force that one was wholly dislodged, and clattered to the ground. "Unngh..." he groaned. He tried to move, but he couldn't get up.

The two women stepped forward.
"Hey, Spectra," the shorter one - red haired - said, "do you think these are the kinds of dudes who come quietly, or are we going to have to kick their asses?"
"I do so hope its the latter, Enhancegirl," Spectra replied. "But I suppose it's only fair if we give them a chance to surrender." She turned her eyes to the tallest of their four remaining enemies. "I take it you are Captain Cur?" The others hastily stepped aside. They all recognised Spectra, and only Caitiff didn't recognise Enhancegirl.
"Oh, man, I knew something was up!" Caitiff thought, cursing herself for not having been more persuasive to the others.

"My fair maidens," Captain Cur announced, bowing low, "I see you have it in mind to oppose my aims." He was beaming at them, an almost childishly happy smile on his face. He rubbed his hands together with glee.
"Uh, yeah, I'd say so," the redhead replied. "We're superheroes, you're robbing a bank... and I'm guessing you're not going to donate your winnings to the local orphanage." She looked at his face, scanning under his mask. She couldn't place it, but he looked oddly familiar.
"Superheroes! Yes, yes of course you are! Oh, it could hardly be better! You guess rightly, young hero," Cur replied. "Allow me to introduce my companions: my loyal right hand, Colonel Cad!" He gestured at the stocky man to his left. "The fiendish Commander Caitiff!" he pointed at the taller woman, with mauve hair. "The sly and stealthy Corporal Chupacabra!" The woman in green, with hair to match, winked at the two heroines. "And lastly, my trusted adviser, the incomparable genius: the Chronicler." The man in black didn't look up from his notebook.

"I must warn you, your gender is no barrier to my taking up arms 'gainst you. A true villain must brush aside all who stand against him, no matter how lovely."
"Well and good," Spectra replied. "We have no compunction with defeating misguided fools."
"A fool? Pah!" Cur turned his masked face away from them. "Would that you understood the depths of my genius! You do not realise, but even now, the coils of the Fiendish Five are already tightening around this world. For you see, when I disturb the economy of this small town..."

He began to go on in this fashion for quite a while, explaining the same bizarre goal that he had given to the guard he and the others had captured. As he went on, Spectra and Enhancegirl found themselves each arching an eyebrow.
"It's like I'm watching a poorly written cartoon..." Spectra thought.
"He totally believes it, too!" Enhancegirl almost laughed. However, a thought came to her which made Cur's strangeness a little less amusing. "What if he's not just a kook? What if he's actually, like, insane?"

As Cur exposited, Caitiff and Chupacabra were slowly moving further apart. Spectra noticed this, and a blade of light shot out, arresting Caitiff's path and causing her to leap back with a squeal. As to why neither heroine interrupted Cur's speech, that was because neither of them had any idea what his power actually was. He'd been reported twisting up his arm, using it as a powerful tendril, but was that all he could do? By what method had he done it? How strong was he? This and more was Enhancegirl, with her powerful senses, trying to determine.

Her senses, however, did not tell her a great deal. She could not see what his power was, though there were two pieces of information which did stand out. The first was merely what he looked like under his mask, which Sophie could see through easily. The second was that his body had an odd kind of...uniformity to it. He was about thirty-five, perhaps a little younger, but she couldn't see any scars. He'd never broken a bone, it seemed, or had anything happen to him that had left any lasting damage at all. It was most curious.

Spectra glanced at Enhancegirl, who shook her head slightly. There was nothing to tell that would assist them.
"We improvise then?" It took a little restraint for Mariko to stop herself from adding 'my love' to the end of her sentence.
"When do we ever do anything else?" And then they struck.

Caitiff had thought that, of the two, she should rightly have been more worried about Spectra. Indeed, Spectra certainly had much more destructive power at her disposal than Enhancegirl did - but Spectra didn't have Sophie's speed. Caitiff could see the redhead coming: that wasn't the problem. She was already prepared, and now made use of her power, expelling from her hands at high speed a thick, viscous pink liquid. But even as she fired it, Enhancegirl had already moved herself so that the globule would miss her by a fraction of a centimetre. Caitiff fired again, with the same result. She would have fired a third time - but at that point, the heroine was on her.

For just an instant, Caitiff saw bright, sparkling emerald eyes looking into hers, narrow, focused - like those of a cat leaping onto a mouse. She raised her hands to defend herself, but she might as well not have done. One of Enhancegirl's calves slammed hard into the side of Caitiff's knee, buckling her. The villain tried to punch her, but Enhancegirl danced around the blow, delivering one of her own to the back of Caitiff's neck with literally stunning force.
"Unnghhh..." the lavender-haired woman groaned, as she sank down to the ground. She was not quite unconscious, but she might as well have been. "Wh-what is she...?"

"Oh, crap!" This was the first time that the only normal human of Cur's crew had got a decent look at his red-haired enemy. He'd been hanging back, scribbling away, but now he saw Enhancegirl - and she saw him.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Sophie asked. "The..." She couldn't think of an appropriate joke. Here was a man, part of a team who were robbing a bank, dressed like a highwayman, scribbling something with a quill pen into a notebook. "Okay, I've seen some crazy shit in my time, but you guys are inex-fucking-plicable." The Chronicler responded by yelping, dropping his notebook, and running away. For while neither Enhancegirl, nor Spectra, had recognised this man, he certainly recognised them.

While this was happening, Spectra had engaged Chupacabra, and Captain Cur himself. Unsure of what her opponents could do, she attacked with two different sorts of energies simultaneously. Against Chupacabra, she projected an impact-wave of ultraviolet light. It didn't need to be ultraviolet, but the intensity of her lightbursts in visual ranges could affect Enhancegirl's extremely sensitive vision. Sophie could see somewhat into the ultraviolet range, but it was still safer.

At the same time, she shifted down the electromagnetic range, and struck at Chupacabra with a wave of infrared light - of heat. It was very much to Spectra's surprise that Cur was affected more. He was pushed back, and his body appeared to contort painfully, though his expression did not change. Chupacabra, however, raised one of her hands - and was entirely unaffected.

"What?" Spectra was confused, but she didn't have much time to ponder the mystery of Chupacabra's immunity. Something in the back of her mind told her that the name was a clue, but it didn't give her the answer. Mariko might have been an intellectual and aesthete, but she was not an expert on Puerto Rican urban legends.

"En garde, fair hero!" Cur bellowed, as he leapt forward, with incredible speed, as though his legs were springs. Mariko fired again, focusing her full attention on Cur. She knocked him out of the air, but didn't halt his attack completely. As he hit the ground, his arm shot out towards her. It was like his arm, clothes and all, had become liquid - yet as Mariko discovered, his hand was quite solid.

"Urrgh!" Mariko had raised a barrier - a thin one. It absorbed most of the force of the attack, but there was more than enough left over to knock Spectra flat on her back, pushing her back into the vault. The lithe maiden swiftly righted herself, but there was another blow, and another. Better prepared for these, she was able to deflect them, but the assault was relentless.
"Do you see now, my dear opponent, the power of a true villain?"

Deciding to take the initiative, she threw out an omnidirectional sphere of light energy to give herself some space knocking both his arms. She dialled up the intensity of her next strike, seeing that Cur could obviously take more than a normal person, and made a blade of light. She projected it forward - and sliced Captain Cur into four not-quite-even pieces.

The worst part, probably, was that as the two halves of his body slipped with a truly disgusting squelching sound onto the floor, Captain Cur's grin didn't alter in the slightest.
"I - I -" Mariko stammered. "I didn't...I didn't mean to..." She found herself shaking. She had never killed anyone before, and she had not intended to kill Cur, either. "How did that happen?! That shouldn't have even been enough to kill a normal person!" She stepped back, covering her hands with her mouth. Cur wasn't even bleeding: his wounds were leaking a kind of black ichor. And the smell, that horrible, sulphuric smell. "What have I done?"

Mariko didn't even notice as Chupacabra vaulted towards her, leaping over the pieces of her leader's body. The distraught heroine just kept staring at those sickening chunks. At the last moment, she regained her composure, and as Chupacabra's outstretched hands reached for her, one of her long, flawless legs snapped out, catching Chupacabra in the chin. She was not by any stretch of the imagination as good a physical fighter as Enhancegirl, but her girlfriend had been teaching her a few new tricks.
"Oogh!" the villain groaned, sprawled on the ground. As she fell, Spectra saw Colonel Cad was looking right at her, somewhat recovered. His mask had half slipped off, and his face was twisted in rage.

"Take this, you sucker-punching -" He didn't get to finish the sentence. From beyond where Mariko could see, Enhancegirl had thrown one of the dislodged safety-deposit boxes, the heavy, steel container smacking hard into the side of Cad's head. But it had been an instant too late: Cad had already made his attack.

Leanne had not been quite right when she'd said that erasing metal was all Greyhand could do. He didn't just erase metal. He stored it. And he could release it, too, at a moment of his choosing. So it was that Spectra found a long chain, weighted at both ends, spinning towards her. She would have stopped it, in all likelihood, had she not been so shaken by what she had done. But she hesitated, and that was what doomed her.

"Uhh!" Mariko cried out, as the chain struck her in the midriff. It span in both directions, coiling up and trapping her slim arms at her sides, and running down, binding her long, supple legs, slamming them against each other, trapping her thighs, calves and ankles with loop after loop of thin, strong chain. "No!" she cried out, looking down to see her gorgeous, slender body tightly chained. "Unnhh!" she groaned, wriggling and shaking, but the chains were much too strong for her. She could feel her soft thighs pressed together, her hands flapping uselessly against her hips. She was caught.

Yet she was not helpless. As Enhancegirl caught up with Cad, and began pummelling him to take him solidly out of the fight, Spectra prepared to cut herself free. Again, she would have, but for the interference of yet another opponent. Chupacabra was up, and she swiftly kicked at Mariko's legs.
"Aah!" Spectra cried out as - with her legs so tightly bound - she could not balance. She fell, and Chupacabra caught her chained-up body, falling with her deliberately so that she landed on her back, and Spectra landed, facing upwards, on top of her.

"Get off me you - MMPHH!" Mariko moaned, as a strong hand clamped down over her pretty lips, sealing her voice. That was not the worst of it - for Chupacabra's other hand went over Mariko's eyes. "NMMPHH!! MRRRGGHHMMPHH!" Spectra protested, shaking her head back and forth in Chupacabra's grip. With the villainess' hand over her eyes, Spectra was powerless, for she needed to absorb light through her eyes to give energy to her abilities. She felt the woman's legs wrapping around her, holding her wriggling body tight. Mariko's cheeks flushed red, ashamed that she'd allowed herself to be captured like this. She could feel that Chupacabra was much physically stronger than she was - and with the chains as well, there was nothing she could do to free herself.

"That's the problem with being famous, honey," Chupacabra giggled. "Word starts to get around about how your powers work: I knew I needed to blindfold you. But the five of us? Not too many people know what we can do. So much harder to strategise when you've got no clue what you're up against."
"Mmmphh...MMPHH!!" Spectra complained, writhing uselessly in her captor's grip, feeling truly pathetic. Within her humiliation, there was a question. "Why doesn't she care that I killed her leader?"

"Just stay down, jackass!" Enhancegirl barked, as Cad slid down a wall, groaning. She turned, saw Cur lying in four pieces on the floor. "Oh god!" she cried out, stepping back. "Did Mariko do that?" She couldn't believe that Mariko would do such a thing. It was, perhaps a testament to her faith in her lover that she assumed Cur must not have given her any other choice.

It was then, however, that she saw Mariko captured, wriggling and whimpering in Chupacabra's grip.
"Spectra!" Cur's fate side, her first business was freeing her lover from her captor. She looked around, and saw that one of the deposit boxes had been broken open as it fell. There was a metal ornament inside, shaped like a sleeping cat. As Sophie picked it up, she realised it was made of solid silver. She felt a little bad about using what was probably a precious heirloom as a projectile, but decided that needs must - and hurled it straight at Chupacabra.

There was no way that the villainess could possibly have avoided it, and she didn't - because it never reached her.
"My!" Captain Cur exclaimed, as he caught the ornament in mid-flight. "That was a rather bracing experience!"
"Wh-what the fuck?" Sophie gasped. Cur's upper body - his severed upper body - had sat up. "He...he's chopped in half! How is he talking?"
"I see that I alarmed you," the villain said. He reached out, and pulled his lower body against his top half. With a disgusting squelch, the two fused together, and Cur deftly hopped up onto his feet. "A foolish miscalculation on my part - I did not mean to make myself quite that pliable!"

Watching as he cemented the fusion between his once-severed upper and lower halves, Sophie finally realised exactly what she was up against.
"I get it...he's changing the chemical composition of his own body!" Sophie clicked her tongue. "How the hell do we fight someone who can turn himself into anything he wants?" He could clearly use it to heal, to make himself stronger, to avoid damage - seemingly as much as he could think of.

Mariko did not see Cur rise, but she heard his voice. It was a strange sensation, being acutely embarrassed, frustrated - and relieved at one and the same time.
"Well at least I'm not a killer," she thought. She hoped that Sophie wasn't foolish enough to take Cur on by herself. "If she can just get this woman to take her hands off my eyes for a second I can...I can..." She felt odd. She hadn't stopped thrashing, albeit uselessly, in her tight chains since she'd been caught in them. But now she felt herself slowing, weakening. "What's...happening?" She felt tired, as though she hadn't slept in days. Her whole body seemed to resist the very idea of moving. As she wondered why this was taking place, she remembered what had happened when she'd tried to attack her with her powers. "Oh, hell..."

"Get the idea yet, honey?" Chupacabra laughed. "I'm sucking the energy right out of your body, just like I sucked it out of your attack before. You must be feeling so embarrassed..." She squeezed Spectra's smooth legs with her own. "Getting taken down by some no-name little thug like me..."
"Mmph!" Spectra protested. "Mmhh...mmhhhnnnhhh..." She felt herself easing into her captor's grasp, whether she wanted to or not. Her pert chest heaved against the chains, rising and falling slowly as she felt her muscles relaxing. "Can't...fight it..."

Enhancegirl couldn't see that Mariko was being drained, but she was still urgently trying to free her. Captain Cur was not, however, making this easy.
"En garde encore en fois!" he laughed, shooting out his fist like a cannonball. Enhancegirl saw it alter mid-flight: his arm was, again, like liquid, but with her enhanced senses she could see that his fist had turned to solid metal. She ducked it, and another, but even for her it wasn't all that easy.
"There's gotta be some part of him that he can't change..." The most obvious answer was the head, for he still had to think, to send signals to the rest of his body somehow. But she wasn't sure how to take advantage of that.

A piece of stone had been dislodged from the wall from Cur's last attack. Seeing it, Sophie balletically arched her back over Cur's extended arm when he struck again, flipping onto her hands. As she hopped back onto her feet, she picked up the stone, and threw it at the centre of Cur's head. She didn't even need to think about it. Her enhanced nervous system took care of everything other than the initial plan, her responsive consciousness diffused through her whole body. Cur hadn't seen the blow coming, and it smacked hard into his forehead. However, it seemed to glance off harmlessly. The parts of his body that he didn't need to make flexible, Sophie realised, he instead made as hard as he could.

"A touch, a touch, I do confess't!" Cur laughed. "Your cunning blow did -"
"Would you please stop talking?" Sophie shot back. Frustratingly, she had thought of a strategy, but she couldn't make use of it herself. If she could get Cur to turn his head into metal, which he seemed to do fairly regularly, one of Mariko's heat based attacks might be conducted quickly into his brain, hurting him or even knocking him out. But with Mariko caught...

She looked over at her chained girlfriend again. Chupacabra was sitting up now, cradling Mariko in her arms. The tall, Asian beauty was limp in her grip, her head lolling against her captor's chest as her neck and smooth, bare shoulders were stroked.
"Mmph...mphh..." she mewed softly into her captor's hand, now so weak that Chupacabra had been able to take her hands off her eyes, and Mariko still couldn't use her powers. She saw Sophie looking at her, and gave a little muffled cry of shame.

"Don't worry!" Sophie called out, realising that the green-haired woman holding her was the one keeping her so weak. "I'll get to you!" From anyone else, the idea of being a helpless damsel who needed to wait for rescue would have been terribly humiliating to the proud young maiden who lay wrapped in chains. But she didn't mind so much if Sophie was the one rescuing her.
"After all," Mariko thought, somewhat hazily, "she's already saved me..."

It was as Sophie was considering somehow getting Chupacabra to accidentally use her abilities against Cur, that the Captain noticed something. He'd never actually dropped the small ornament that Sophie had thrown at him. He opened his fist, and saw that he'd broken it, a testament to his impressive strength.
"I -" He stared at it, blinking his large, somewhat bulbous eyes at the little silver cat. "What's happened here?" He tapped it, and the head of the thing snapped off. Cur gave a little cry as he saw this. He looked at Sophie, and she saw despair in his eyes.

Denzel hadn't run far. He was cowering just by the gate Cad had broken. As it was, he was more than able to hear the scream when it came.
"What the hell?" He stuck his head through the bars of the gate. He saw Caitiff still sprawled on the ground, still trying to get herself up. He saw Greyhand, battered and bruised. He saw Enhancegirl, whom before that day he'd only ever seen unconscious, being carried around by Madam Black's attendants. She wasn't the one screaming. He couldn't see into the vault from where he was, but he could hear that the voice was coming from inside it. A man's voice. "C-Captain?"

Sophie watched with a mixture of bewilderment and fear, as Captain Cur fell to the ground, screaming and crying - not bawling like a child, but howling in a terribly real kind of pain, clutching the ornament against his chest.
"NO! NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" he screamed again and again. "AAUUUGGHHHHH!!" He took off his mask, and hurled it to the ground.
"Wh-what the fuck?" Sophie gasped, walking back a few steps. "What's going on?" She didn't know how to respond. Was it a trick? No - what would be the point? This was real, and she felt, for a moment, an instinct to try to comfort him, though she reminded herself that he was still her enemy.

"AUGGH!" he screamed again, as his entire body seemed to bubble and contort. "Wh-why...why...hasn't somebody...?" He looked straight into Sophie's eyes, and she felt herself shudder. "Why haven't you done it yet?!"
"I -" Sophie was terribly confused. "Aah!" In her shock, she'd dropped her guard. Cur had thrown out both his arms at once, stretching them out. He seized Sophie, holding her arms tight against her sides. "Unh!" Caught, the slender redhead was pulled forward into Cur's grip.

He stood up as he reeled her in, and he held the slender, 5'7" young damsel in his grasp, she realised how large he really was. She wriggled, her creamy shoulders pressed in by Cur's powerful grip, but couldn't release herself. She gritted her teeth: a madman had her in his power, and she was trying not to show that she was afraid.
"I...I..." he sputtered, still trembling, tears streaming down his face. Then, slowly, he began to calm. His breathing slowed, his eyes became less wild. "Alas!" he said, his voice still trembling, "despite your noble efforts, you and your formidable ally could not overcome a true villain! But we shall meet again. I've not finished with this fine town!"
"What are you t-talking about?" Sophie replied, still thrashing, her lovely red hair swishing from side to side as she wriggled.

"You see, fair hero," Cur exposited, now almost back to his usual self, "at precisely noon tomorrow, I shall steal a ceremonial key to the city, customarily presented by the town's mayor to Ferndale's more famous citizens. I suspect that these keys, allegedly made of gold, are in fact fakes, which contain no precious metals whatever! This will definitely cause previous citizens who have been awarded such prizes to be enraged at having been hoodwinked! One such person is an aeronautical engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and in their frustration at the deception of their country, I will certainly be able to convince them to grant me access to spaceflight technology. From there, it will be a simple step to conquer the Moon itself!" He laughed merrily. "I shall be the true 'Prince of Tides', eh? Hahahahaha!" Sophie blinked.

Cur seemed to concentrate for a moment, closing his eyes. He appeared to be doing something quite difficult. Sophie took the opportunity to curl her legs up, and kick him square in the chest. His grip loosened, but quickly retightened.
"Let me go, you crazy bastard!" Sophie yelled. She was not keen to find out what he'd do to her if he took her captive. A moment later, though, he opened his eyes, and his mouth - and breathed out a thick, white smoke.
"What the -?"

It took Sophie less than a fraction of a second to realise what Cur had synthesised within his own body. She felt a familiar tingling in her fingers and toes, felt herself begin to slacken and soften in Cur's grasp.
"N...no..." she mewed, as her emerald eyes began fluttering. Her legs, which had been writhing and kicking, became almost still, her bare thighs shifting a little against each other. She couldn't quite tell if it was exactly the same, but it might as well have been. "Chloroform..."

The hated chemical was Enhancegirl's greatest weakness. Along with a greater understanding of her powers that she'd gained recently, she had acquired a greater understanding of her weakness. Her nerves were vastly more sensitive to information and stimulus than those of an ordinary person. Mercifully, as Sophie lacked an increase to her sense of hearing, so too did she lack an increase to her sense of pain, but the rest of her nervous system was so sensitive, that any chemical which affected them was magnified in its results.

It was for this reason that, within only a couple of seconds, Sophie had become so drowzy that she was almost paralysed.
"Nhhh...hhhhhhhh..." she sighed, exposing her slender, white neck as her head fell back. Her legs curled slightly, so only her toes were still touching the ground. She was helpless, even more so than her bound, drained lover, as her very consciousness was fading away. Her creamy skin was very much exposed by her outfit: her neck, her chest, her shoulders, her svelte legs - so much of her was so very vulnerable. "Mariko," she thought, as she fell into drugged slumber. "They...I was too weak...I-I'm sorry..."

"Nmmphh..." Spectra whimpered, quietly, as she saw Sophie pass out in Captain Cur's grasp. He held her just by her shoulders now, her arms dangling, her head falling back so that her wavy, red hair trailed down like a fiery waterfall. Her mouth was slightly open. She looked - and was - truly defeated.

Cur released her, and she sank down to her knees, before falling, with a kind of airy lightness onto her front. The fallen damsel lay very passively, her arms by her sides, her legs straight out as neatly as if she'd been posed like that. Mariko, weakened and groggy as she was, couldn't help but find something strangely beautiful in the way her lover had swooned.

"Ugh..." Caitiff had finally recovered, and stumbled towards her captain, with a nervous Chronicler scuttling along behind her. "Man, she really did a number on me," she muttered. "Guess you paid her back for me, huh?"
"Mm?" Cur replied, not really registering what she'd said. Greyhand, too, was struggling to his feet. He clutched his stomach, and growled as he saw Sophie's defeated, helpless body. He looked her up and down, hardly able to believe that such a svelte, pretty young girl had beaten him so badly.

He came closer, and stood over her. Denzel saw him fingering the gun in his belt.
"Hadn't we better tie her up, Captain?" he said, quickly.
"What was that, Chronicler?" Cur replied, brought fully now out of his madness by the sound of the man's voice.
"We'd better tie her up so she doesn't come after us, right?" He shot Greyhand a look.
"Yes, indeed!" Cur replied. "Commander Caitiff, if you would be so kind?"
"You got it, boss," she said. Cad moved away, surly. He knew what Denzel had done. He'd been considering just rubbing the two heroines out, but the Chronicler had made sure that Cur wouldn't allow this.

As Cur and the others began taking the money out of the vault, the mauve-haired woman knelt down by the redhead who'd beaten her so easily only a few minutes before.
"Funny how things end up, isn't it?" she laughed. She placed Sophie's arms behind her back, folding them parallel with one another. She then wound cord around her forearms and wrists, binding the redhead's arms together. Not satisfied, Caitiff wound ropes around Sophie's upper arms as well, drawing her limbs even more tightly inwards, pulling back her shoulders in a way that Caitiff found quite pleasing.

She then took Sophie's legs, already so neatly side-by-side. She twisted ropes around her ankles first, criss-crossing them in a mesh up towards her knees, each loop round binding Sophie's calves even more tightly together, until they were pressed so tightly against each other that, from a certain angle of observation, it was hard to tell the point at which one stopped and the other began.

As she tied the fallen heroine up, Caitiff could feel the sumptuous softness of her skin, the yielding suppleness of her long, creamy limbs. She felt a shiver going up her spine as she realised that this gorgeous young redhead was entirely in her power. She turned her over onto her back, and her head fell to one side, her red hair spread out like a halo around her.
"Uhhh..." Sophie mewed quietly as she was turned over. "Mh..." The second mew was prompted by the feeling of a thick, white cloth being pulled between her lips, a knot in the middle keeping her mouth slightly open.

Gagged, Sophie was slowly lifted up to her feet, before Caitiff knelt down, pushing her shoulder into the redhead's waist. She flopped over her captor's shoulder, her naked, creamy legs draped down the Commander's front. Her short dress did a poor job of defending her modesty in that position, and Caitiff saw much more than the redhead would have liked of her round, taut behind.

"L...let her...uhh..." Mariko couldn't even finish the sentence as she saw her girlfriend thrown over Caitiff's shoulder. As she walked over, the lithe damsel apparently a small burden for her, Caitiff winked at the chained, helplessly weak Mistress of Light. Chupacabra had just left her on the vault's floor as she assisted Cur and the others in stuffing as much cash as they could into the bags they'd brought. Cur, with his great strength, carried slung under one arm five hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars. Between them, Greyhand, Chupacabra and Denzel carried another two-hundred thousand.

"That's more fuckin' like it," Cad laughed, his greed sated - for the moment.
"Hey, Caitiff," Denzel said, "put her down and get some more cash, huh?"
"No," Cad interjected. "Captain, we should take these, er, noble adversaries back to our lair! That way you can let them know...uh, the true extent of your villainy!"
"Most wise, Colonel!" Cur replied. "Hand me the loot, my good man!" He did just that, Cur more than able to bear his burden as well. Cad winked at Denzel. If they were kidnapping the two damsels, then Cad would have all kinds of opportunities to kill them. In their battle of wits - if one could even call it that - Cad had prevailed.

The Colonel walked over to where Spectra lay, still moaning quietly, her chains clinking as she writhed slowly, sinuously in her bonds.
"I admit," he said, "we ganged up on you. I admit, you probably only got caught 'cos you thought you'd killed our, er, esteemed leader." He knelt down by the scintillatingly attractive young woman. "But knowing that I was the one who wrapped up that sweet-ass body of yours..." He grinned wickedly. "That's almost giving me more pleasure than all this money you couldn't stop us taking."
"By all means..." Spectra summoned up the strength to say. "Keep...talking... . You won't be...happy...with the...re...sults..."
"I'll talk as much as I like," he replied. "More than I can say for you." He roughly pulled Mariko forward, and tore the short cape from her back. He let her fall back down, before rolling it up, and thrusting it between her lips, tying it tightly behind her hair.

"Mm..ghhmphh..." Mariko whimpered, and Cad saw a hint of a blush as Mariko felt the sting of having her own outfit used as part of her bindings. She, now was hoisted to her feet. Cad grabbed her thighs, and threw her roughly over his shoulder like a sack, grasping her willowy legs tightly as she, too, flopped over her captor. Unlike Sophie, she was able to writhe, just a little, but there was nothing she could do. She was bound too tightly, and they had made her too weak.

The seven of them, the villains and their two bound captives, made their way through the tunnel Cur and Cad had dug. It extended a good thirty feet from the bank, and they came out in a small side street between two old shops. Caitiff found the experience of carrying the sleeping Enhancegirl to be more than a little pleasurable. She was so soft, her legs so silky...she couldn't resist stroking them as she carried the girl, and imagined - or perhaps not - little sighs and moans as Enhancegirl felt herself caressed.

As for Cad, he was not quite so lascivious. He took pleasure from the feeling of Mariko's legs, yes, noticed when her small, but pert breasts bounced against his back, and was amused when the tall damsel's weak struggles were so easily resisted by him - but he didn't want to start getting attached. The money was the loot. The girls, pretty as they were, were just loose ends. Mariko, for her part, was resisting both rage and humiliation by imagining in intimate detail what she would do to these insane fools once she was back to full strength.
"Let them fight me in the open, in daylight," she thought. "Then I really will slice them apart!"

Cur hurled the bags into the back of their trusty getaway vehicle, and Chupacabra hopped into the front. As Cur turned away, Mariko, for the first time, saw his face clearly, illuminated by an electric lamp. She was looking at it upside down, and through Cad's legs.
"Whhmph?" She had to be wrong. It couldn't be him. He was dead, everyone knew that.

"MMPH!" Mariko's cry had not been prompted by her confusion, but by a gloved hand delivering a sharp smack against her behind.
"You know, the whole point of a gag is that you're meant to keep quiet," Cad laughed. "But if you want to give me another reason to do that, then by all means, go ahead."
"Grrhhmmphh..." Mariko growled, chastened and acutely embarrassed. She turned her head away, and saw that it was getting light.

"Wait, that's impossible," Mariko thought. They'd entered the bank at a little past midnight. It couldn't have been more than an hour and a half since then. How could the sun be coming up? And what was more, the light didn't seem normal. It was a sort of deep, whitish-blue. Slung over Cad's shoulder, Mariko couldn't look up properly. But Caitiff could.
"Oh shit!!" she cried out, about a second before the blast hit.

"Auuughh!" Cur cried out, as what looked like a flaming blue-white spear hit him in the chest, blasting him into the ground so hard, it left a shallow crater. The others were knocked down as well, Caitiff and Cad both dropping their captives.
"What the fuck?!" Cad looked up, and gaped.

There was a woman, floating about forty feet above them. She was clad in white, in a figure hugging halter-necked dress, with gold and emerald adornments about her wrists, neck and ankles. The dress left her legs bare, save for short boots a little like Enhancegirl's but there were two trails, in the front and behind, running between her legs, giving her a little more modesty.

She came closer, hovering in mid-air, blue-white flame about her in a swirling aura, like the colour of a star. Her medium-length hair was a shock of pink, her figure gorgeous; sylphlike.
"Th-that's -" Chupacabra stammered, leaning out of the car's window. "That's Nova!"
"What?!" Denzel cried out. "That...that means the Pauldron are here! The fucking Pauldron are after us!!"

It was Cad who stepped into action first.
"Get Cur in the truck!" he bellowed at Caitiff. "I'll cover us!" He put his hand on a lamppost, instantly erasing the metal of it, the glass crashing down, and the plastic wires falling in a tangle. Concentrating, Cad let it back out again as a stream of bullets.
"Hmph." Nova put her hand out flat, and a flat square of blue fire formed. The bullets went straight into it, bouncing off her shield.
"Fuck!" Cad growled. He focused harder, summoning up the parts of the vault door he'd erased. "Take this!" He didn't break these up, sending them as massive chunks, at high speed.

Nova altered her posture slightly, and a small globe of energy emerged from her palm. It collided with the first of the metal chunks, and exploded, destroying all of them, and despite the fact that this explosion took place twenty feet above him, slamming Cad against the ground.

By this time, however, Cur had been helped into the Jeep. Caitiff jumped in as well - and just for a moment she considered simply abandoning Greyhand. The only thing that stopped her was the knowledge that, if she did and he was caught, he would definitely rat them all out.
"Get over here!" she shouted, and Cur took the message, leaping inside as the car had already started moving.

Nova fired another shot, which impacted just behind the car. She hadn't missed, however. If she'd hit the Jeep she'd have destroyed it, and her aim was only to upturn it. She did - or rather, she would have. Cur had been stunned by her attack, but not even knocked unconscious. As the Jeep began to turn over, Cur's arms stretched out of windows either side of him, grabbed the back of the Jeep, and forced it back down. He stuck his head out of the car, and spat out a black globule at the beautiful flier above him. She retaliated, blasting it, but the moment she did, it exploded violently, pushing Nova back some way, and spreading out a thick, black smoke over a huge range.

The heroine was about to fire into it, but she restrained herself. Her powers were too destructive for her to fire blindly. She wouldn't have felt awful if she'd killed one of them, but she wouldn't accept even the chance of killing a civilian. By the time the smoke cleared, the Fiendish Five were gone.

Nova floated down, her dress fluttering about her as she did. Her boots were slightly heeled, and she landed with a light 'tap' upon the pavement. She scanned the horizon, but couldn't see her quarry. She snapped her fingers by her waist, a somewhat esoteric gesture of frustration. But she had every confidence that she'd find them again. She was about to take to the air again, when she happened to see - out of the corner of her eye - two young women. Both were bound, one in chains, and one in ropes. Instantly, she rushed over to them, going to the one with red hair first.

This was just as well, for Nova came to her just as Sophie was awakening. As her eyes fluttered open, she saw a face. It was not the face of her beloved Mariko, but it was perhaps as lovely. Her intelligent eyes were rich, chestnut brown ovals, framed by long eyelashes. Her hair was a light, soft pink, reminding Sophie of candy-floss. Her pretty cheeks were lightly dusted with glitter, or what looked like it, her lips a slightly darker shade of pink than her hair. With her beauty, the sparkle about her, and her hair, she had a sort of playful ethereal quality to her.
"She...she's like a pixie..." Sophie thought, sleepily.

"Shit," Nova said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "'Couvie heroes. Why are you people always showing up at the worst possible times?"
"...okay, maybe not quite like a pixie..."
"Like this wasn't enough of a mess already..." She tapped one of the adornments on her wrists, which turned out not to be an adornment at all. "Panhellius," she said into it, "they got away. Oh, and it looks like we're not the only guests."

The powerful, beautiful young woman stood tall over the two defeated heroines at her feet. Spectra turned towards her, seeing her for the first time. Her eyes went wide - she recognised her as well.
"I'm Nova, if you didn't already know that," she said, with a sort of resigned curtness. "I suppose I'd better let you introduce yourselves when you're not bound and gagged."

[Damselbinder]

"Ugh!" Enhancegirl spat out the gag that had been thrust between her lips, as soon as her newly-freed hands could undo it. She flexed her fingers, kicked her legs out a couple of times. It was unfortunate that she'd found herself tied up with such frequency that she had a sort of exercise routine that she went through when unbound, but one had to adjust to one's circumstances, after all.

Spectra was not quite so stoic about her ordeal. As the chains entangling her willowy legs and slender arms were unwound, she felt an additional sting of embarrassment. She'd been tricked, captured, and drained of her strength, and while she'd recovered somewhat, she was still feeling uncomfortably weak.

It did not help matters that she was being untied by the heroine known as Nova, the starlit maiden who had rescued her and her girlfriend from being abducted. Spectra had never encountered a member of the Pauldron, California's premier team of heroes, before - and for that first meeting to be under such circumstances as these was galling, to say the least.

"You need a hand?" Nova asked, seeing the unchained young woman struggling to her feet. Mariko looked up at her. If it had been a few months earlier, before she and Sophie had fallen in love, she knew exactly how she would have replied: 'Certainly not. I appreciate your assistance, but I'm not a weakling.' But, instead, she took a breath, forced a smile and replied:
"No, but thank you, Nova. I believe I've recovered sufficiently." She stood up, long legs still trembling slightly. "Perhaps that was presumptuous. You are Nova, are you not?"

There was a pause. Standing at full height, Mariko was surprised at how much shorter Nova was than her. She was shorter than Sophie, about 5'5".
"That's right," the woman in white replied, at last. "And you're Spectra, I take it?"
"Indeed." Mariko was about to extend her hand, but Nova turned away, walking over to Enhancegirl. Mariko tensed a little. She told herself that this was not a snub, but it certainly felt like one.
"If she's Spectra," she said, addressing the redhead, "I'm guessing you're..." She screwed up her face. "No, sorry, it's slipped my mind."

Sophie laughed slightly.
"It's Enhancegirl. Don't worry, I know I'm not a big celebrity like you two." Nova chuckled a little in response. "Nice to meet you. How come the Pauldron's way out here in Ferndale?"
"We go where the biggest threats are," Nova replied, flicking her pink hair out of her face. "The real question is: what are you doing here? Is Seacouver exporting capes now?" There was a touch of suspicion in her eyes.
"Our presence here is coincidental," Mariko interjected. "We happened upon Captain Cur and his men somewhat by chance."
"Captain...?" Nova blinked a few times. "You two got beat by someone called 'Captain Cur'?" She shook her head. Mariko was about to speak, but Sophie went first.
"Stupid names don't mean someone isn't dangerous. Just look at Thaddeus Murderball."
"True," Nova admitted.

There was a tension in the air. Sophie saw that Mariko was standing with a very deliberate poise, raising her chin just a little, one hand at her hip. She also saw Nova's apparently casual posture, her arms folded, one leg slightly bent, and her head to one side. Except, with her enhanced senses, Sophie could see just how still Nova was, how tense her muscles. Her posture was deliberate as well.
"Oh shit," she thought. "Two of them..." They were like peacocks displaying their feathers to each other, both woman beautiful, powerful and with egos somewhat larger than average.

Sophie heard something in the air above her. Lacking enhanced hearing, she didn't hear it any earlier than the others, but she did see it first. It was a helicopter - large, with twin rotors like a Chinook. It didn't look like any military helicopter Sophie had ever seen, though. The design was odd, shaped like a kind of curved wedge, with a hooked front like a raptor's beak. It swept round in a circle, not making a lot of noise for a helicopter.
"Finally!" Nova looked up, smiling broadly. "He's here."

It was not a 'he', who emerged first, however. The hatch of the helicopter opened, and a tall, strong looking woman stepped out, clad in thick, blue leather, her slightly muscular arms left bare. She leapt out, but didn't fall far before a jet of water burst up from the ground, allowing her to fall slowly to the ground.
"Whoo!" she laughed, springing deftly from the water jet onto the floor, walking confidently to the three heroines with a spring in her step. "I always love doin' that." She spotted Nova and the others. "Yo!"

She began strutting over to them, running her hands through her short, light-brown hair to scratch her head. Getting a better look at her, Sophie and Mariko saw she was white, but tanned like someone who'd spent a month in the Bahamas. This made her eyes, unnaturally blue, stand out all the more.
"Hydrocita," Nova said, "I'm surprised Derek was able to drag you out of bed."
"Oh, hell, you know I can't say no to that studly little stick-insect." She clapped Nova on the shoulder, both women laughing. "I heard you let the crazies get away."
"I gave them a good scare," Nova replied. "I don't think they're gonna be too problematic. Not for us." She glanced over her shoulder as she said this. In the presence of the two world-famous, powerful heroines, Sophie - and even Mariko - suddenly felt just a little smaller.

More than a little miffed by Nova's attitude towards her and her girlfriend, Sophie crossed her arms, and clicked her tongue in frustration. She saw Mariko, who was practically seething.
"You okay?" she mouthed at her girlfriend. Mariko made dismissive gesture, and smiled slightly. In that moment, Sophie wanted to reach over and kiss her. She knew that Mariko's pride was bruised, but she was trying as hard as she could not to let the prideful aspect of her personality control her. It was for her own sake - but it was for Sophie's sake as well, and the redhead knew it. "You're fucking awesome," she mouthed. Mariko smiled a little more warmly.
It was then that Enhancegirl saw the helicopter, which was still a hundred feet in the air, had one more passenger to discharge. A figure appeared in the hatch that Hydrocita had come out of - and simply leapt out.

He fell, and fell and fell, until he hit the ground with a great thud, like something many times a man's weight had hit the old, hard road. The impact would have reduced a normal man to jelly, but he was totally unharmed. Dust was thrown up, obscuring him in a cloud. But he didn't wait for it to clear. He strode out - and the four women beheld one of the most powerful human beings in the world.

He wasn't that tall, more or less exactly the same height as Mariko. Yet there was something about him that just...made the whole world seem to shrink in his presence. He was handsome, damned handsome, his hair blonde in a short ponytail, a rough, short beard lining his chin. He had green eyes, a very different shade from either Mariko's or Sophie's. He was nearing forty, but he barely looked thirty, a kind of boyish charm in his demeanour, a small smile on his face that seemed almost involuntary, like he was trying not to be so damned charming, but he couldn't help it.

He wore an impressively ostentatious outfit. A long, trailing green cape, thick green armour made of some kind of tough, space-age plastic, highlighted in emerald and gold. There was a thick, heavy belt at his waist, perhaps the only practical part of his outfit, containing all the things his pocket-less gear wouldn't let him carry otherwise. Sophie noted that the adornments on Nova's clothes appeared to be a deliberate imitation of this man's colours.

Only later would Sophie realise why she - and only she, with her increased senses - noticed something strange about the way he was walking. It was so deliberate. At the time, she thought that it was a strut, somewhat undercutting the easy bearing that he had. But thinking on her meeting with him later, she realised that he was simply being careful.
"Isn't this place great?" he called out, his rakishly lop-sided smile curling higher towards his left cheek. "Feels like I just walked into an episode of Gilmore Girls or something!"

"Imperion..." Mariko said under her breath, in an awestruck whisper. Imperion - the invincible, the magnanimous. An Arthurian knight of the modern age. When a young man, particularly if they were American, particularly if they were from California, discovered that he had superpowers, Imperion, otherwise known as Jackson Morrow, was the man he dreamt one day of becoming.

Imperion, the twice-blessed. Born, like Natalya Nazarov, with a powerful electrodirective ability, he had also been in an accident in his youth which had imbued him with almost godlike strength and durability.
"Nova," he said, "thank you for getting here so quickly."
"Don't thank me," she said, quickly. She dropped the rehearsed pose as soon as he spoke her name. "You said it was important, and you know how fast I can fly now."
"Hell yeah, I do." It was then that, looking over Nova's shoulder, Imperion noticed the tall, long-legged maiden in silver, with jade eyes and whose body was breathtakingly lovely in its slenderness and poise.

"Holy shit," he said, sotto voce. Then aloud: "Hey, Christ, Nova, why didn't you mention this?" He stepped towards the silver-clad heroine, hand extended in greeting.
"I didn't think it mattered all that much," Nova muttered under her breath.

The tall mistress of light was very near completely starstruck. If Imperion had approached Sophie first, she would have been. But she quickly summoned up her composure.
"It is an honour, Imperion. I am -"
"You're Spectra - believe me, I know!" He shook her hand. She was momentarily concerned for its safety, but Imperion seemed to have full control of his strength. "You defeated the entire Catastrophe Gang singlehandedly. You sent the Alquimia cartel packing when the god-damned Feds couldn't do it - my Foundation will never forget that. Hell, you saved your mayor from Damus - twice, was it?"
"Three times," Sophie interjected.
"Yeah, that's it!" Imperion said. "I -" He noticed the redhead, and blinked.

"Hey, Nova?"
"Mmm?"
"Don't let me forget: we need to update your official profile. Change the weaknesses section from 'none known' to 'is terrible at telling people stuff.'" Hydrocita tittered. Nova did not. "I won't pretend," Imperion said, as he shook Sophie's rather gingerly proffered hand as well, "that I'm as familiar with your exploits, Enhancegirl, but at the very least we're all grateful for your part in stopping the Supremacist. Thank you."
"Uh, I, um..." Sophie stammered. To be spoken to directly by a living legend was one thing. For the first words out of his mouth to be effusive thanks was quite another. Sophie may have been gay, but star power knows no gender. "Well, I mean, it's not like I was the only one who did that, right?"
"Oh, sure!" Imperion said, smiling even more winningly than before. "Believe me, I'd be saying the same thing to Valora or -" His smile flickered slightly. "Or Nucleon." Behind him, Sophie saw Nova cross her arms tightly over her chest.

"Hey, boss," Hydrocita said. "Can you drool over these two later, please? I'd like to round up these assholes, go home, and sleep for twelve hours. At least." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Oh man, the week I have had..."
"Right, yeah, of course." He turned to his two comrades. "I don't think we need to get too complicated. Let's find them, subdue them, hand them off to Phil." He was talking about Phillip Hayward, the warden of the Penitentiary Supreme, the most secure and advanced superhuman prison in the world.

"There's something I need to share," Mariko said suddenly. She was speaking more loudly than normal, projecting her voice almost theatrically. "I believe I know Cur's true identity." This got the Pauldron's attention. All their eyes fixed on her, even Mariko felt a twinge of nerves.
"You know him?" Sophie replied, surprised.
"No, not personally." On speaking directly to Sophie her voice became softer and more natural, but changed again when she addressed the others. "But I saw his face, and I recognised it. He...he's Doctor Arrhenius." Sophie blinked.
"Who?"

Nova snorted derisively. Imperion raised an eyebrow.
"Don't be ridiculous," Nova regarded Spectra with something approaching scorn. "He's dead, you know that."
"Alright, then perhaps it's his secret twin brother," Mariko almost hissed. "However, I am certain of the face I saw."

"Sorry, guys, I have no fu - uh, I have no idea who you're talking about," Sophie said. "Is this a superhero thing? Have I not been in the business long enough? Or am I just, like, uncultured?"
"I guess he wasn't all that famous," Hydrocita said. "I only heard of him when he died."
"Doctor Arrhenius wasn't his real name. He was a superhero, So- er, Enhancegirl," Mariko went on. "Not very powerful. As far as I know all he could do was make water vapour explode, and not at great range. Certainly useful, but it didn't help him in the end."
"What happened to him?"
"The Fifty Fractals," Nova said. "He tried to fight one of them, and..." She let the sentence hang. No more needed to be said.

Some months earlier, just before Sophie met Aerogirl for the first time, a group of...beings had suddenly attacked San Francisco, Chicago and New York. It was later discovered that they had been human, but what one could call them after their transformation, no-one knew. No-one knew how it had happened, or what they had wanted, but they'd used their bizarre powers over light and gravity to wreak havoc. They likely would have killed thousands, had it not been for the Indigo Titan and his archnemesis du jour, the man named Lord Delirious. Uniting, they had defeated the Fractals, but many were left dead. Arrhenius had not been the only casualty - if he'd been a casualty at all.

Imperion broke the grave silence.
"Thank you, Spectra. I have to say, I'm sceptical, but it's possible. No-one really found a body, exactly. Just a...puddle. Is there anything else you can tell me about him? Or the others?" She, and Sophie, explained what they'd seen of the abilities of the Fiendish Five.
"Not that that's, like, a complete explanation," Sophie said. "This one chick with purple hair shot some kinda...goop at me, but I dodged it and beat her before she could really do anything with it. It might be acidic, or explode, or -"
"We get it," Nova said. "Look, knowledge is power and everything, but you don't need to be all that worried. You know who we are. You're overestimating the 'Fiendish Five' because they got the better of you."
"Now hang on one -"

Imperion had raised his hand.
"Nova, let me run out a scenario for you. We show up half-cocked, no idea what these guys can do. You use your powers on - what was it, Chupacabra? - anyway, you use her powers on her. She absorbed one of Spectra's attacks, quite possible she could do it to one of yours too, right? While you're wondering what the hell just happened, one of the others cracks you over the back of the head, or just shoots you." He pointed at Hydrocita. "Say she tries to fight Captain Cur, and he turns into Greek Fire or something, blows up in her face. Or I fight him, and he turns into water, shoves himself down my throat, then turns into TNT."

Mariko was astonished. She'd imagined Imperion as being an aloof, unapproachable superman. Yet this...disarmingly friendly, almost humble demeanour had taken her totally by surprise. He was not what she'd expected for one of the greatest champions of their 'kind'.
"I suppose," she thought, "one can't be invincible by never considering the possibility of defeat..."

"Nova, circle the town, see if you can find that Jeep. Hydrocita, stand by for now. I don't want you fighting in the town: Morrow Inc. is gonna go bankrupt if we keep letting you wreck places."
"Hey, you didn't have to bring me, you know," Hydrocita said, pouting slightly. "But yeah, cool. I'll 'stand by'. What are you gonna do?"
"What, are you kidding me?" Imperion smiled. "I'm gonna go sightseeing. I love this town, man."
"It's the middle of the night."
"Ah, technicalities."

He turned back to Spectra, handed her something.
"My card. If you find them, please call me. My guys can be a little bit...cagey about working with people they don't know," the bearded man said, glancing at Nova, "but after everything I've heard about you - both of you - it'd be an honour having you fight with us."
"Er, I -" Spectra didn't quite stammer, but - well, how could one not be starstruck?
"Please do call us," Imperion said. "I don't doubt you two can handle yourselves, but these guys seem pretty unpredictable."
"Yes," Mariko said quickly. "Of course." She stopped herself from adding 'sir'. Imperion nodded, and bowed slightly, before crouching - and leaping nearly one hundred feet into the air.

"Whoa!" Sophie gasped. He had caught the landing skid of the helicopter, and swung himself easily inside. She and Mariko were surprised that he was so agile. Nova wasn't looking at her leader, however. She was looking at Mariko. She was looking at the card that Imperion had just handed her.
"Typical..." she muttered, before igniting a white-blue aura, and firing off into the sky, a blazing, starlit beacon.
"Right. If no-one needs me, I'm finding a bar," Hydrocita said. "Either of you two know if there's a bar around here?"
"Uh, there's a sports bar a couple of blocks that way," Sophie said, pointing East. "They should be open for the next couple of hours." Hydrocita grinned.
"So you are a local girl? Might want to be careful who else you let find that out. Not too many pretty young redheads in the world, sad to say. I don't think it'd be too hard for someone to figure out who you are if they knew you were from here." Sophie blanched. This woman was smarter than she'd let on. "Ciao!" she said, merrily, before sauntering off.

This left Sophie and Mariko alone. There was a long, absorptive silence.
"Sophie?"
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"This has been...an eventful day."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What do we do? Jesus-fucking-lord, what do we do?" Denzel practically shrieked, pacing back and forth. The five had managed to return to their hideout, though the mood was somewhat more...volatile, than it had been, despite the success of their heist.
"Would you calm the fuck down?" Caitiff barked, shutting him up. "That being said...what do we do?"

Cur didn't answer. He was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. A kind of...ripple kept fluttering through him. The others had been worried that he was coming apart or something, having taken one of Nova's blasts dead-on. But the effect had been getting less and less pronounced, so he seemed to be recovering.

"We get the hell out of here," Cad said. "We just leave."
"Won't they just, like, find us?" Chupacabra asked.
"No." Cad said, firmly. "No, they won't. Everybody in our trade is scared shitless of the Pauldron, but you know what? They're not detectives. They don't know who we are. We split up, we get rid of these costumes, we never talk to each other again. They'll never find us. They never saw our faces right?"
"They saw Captain Cur's," Caitiff replied.
"Well, he can take his chances, then. We stay calm, split the loot - we'll be fine."
"No, we won't," Denzel had one hand over his mouth. He was almost shaking. "We're not gonna be fine."
"And why's that?" The question, asked by Cad, was reasonable. The tone, less so.

"Those two heroes we fought, in the bank?"
"You mean the ones whose asses we kicked?" Cad laughed, forgetting just how easily he himself had been defeated.
"Remember the one in gold? Enhancegirl?" Denzel's voice was quavering audibly. "She...she has super senses. She can see through walls and stuff."
"Yeah, so?"
"So you think these masks were any problem for her?!" For the first time since the group had assembled, Denzel had the floor. "She's seen our faces! All of our faces!"

"Well," Caitiff said. "That's...great." She turned to their Captain, who seemed not to have been listening at all. "Captain, do you have anything to suggest?" She didn't sound as though she expected him to.
"Ahahaha! Why of course, my loyal fiends!" His gesticulations had gone from vaudevillian to downright deranged. "Why, the plan is simple: we continue on our present course."
"That...actually makes sense," Caitiff replied. "Yeah, not like we were gonna stick around this dump anyway! Let's make like trees and get the fuck outta Dodge. It's not like Enhancegirl took pictures of us or anything."
"Why, Commander Caitiff," Cur said. If she hadn't known any better, she would have sworn he seemed angered. "You appear to have forgotten the final step in our plan. We must divest this town's mayor of the key to the city, whereby to begin our first step towards our conquest of the Moon!"

Caitiff sighed.
"Okay, I'm done," she said. "This isn't funny anymore. I'm leaving." She began turning away, but felt a hand on her shoulder. Cur's hand. She froze.
"Commander Caitiff! I am shocked - shocked! - that you would abandon your comrades at such a time. We face our greatest challenge yet - to pull off the Crime of the Century, under the noses of the Pauldron themselves!"
"Are you -?" Caitiff was about to ask if he was insane. But, then, that was hardly a question that really needed answering.
"Captain Cur is absolutely right!"

The villains' heads now turned to Cad. Eyebrows were raised.
"He's right! The purpose of the Fiendish Five is to, uh, become the greatest villains in the world. So we need to, to get the key and conquer...y'know the Moon." The words were not coming easily from his mouth, and his left eye was twitching.
"Well said, Colonel! This is why you are my second-in-command!" Captain Cur sat down, his hands resting on his knees. There was a relieved smile upon his face.
"Uh, yeah, so Commander Caitiff and I are gonna scout the enemy. We'll report back when we have, uh, intelligence. For you. Sir."
"A sound stratagem! Go ye to it, Colonel!" Cad bowed, and took Caitiff by the arm, pulling her along with him. Chupacabra stood up like she wanted to follow, but then sat down again. She had no intention of risking her neck while the Pauldron were afield.

"Ow, what's your problem?" Caitiff complained, as Cad pulled them out of sight of the other. "You're such a - unh!" Cad grabbed her by both her wrists, holding them above her head, before shoving her against a damp, concrete wall. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Shut up and listen," Cad growled. It didn't take Caitiff long to realise that Cad was much stronger than her, and she settled down - though with a scowl on her face. "Alright, good girl," he sneered, when he saw her relent. "I didn't think this stupid bastard would attract the kind of attention he has. We need to go our separate ways, Catherine, you were right there. But..."
"But what?"

He looked to the side, then back into her yellow-brown eyes.
"Enhancegirl. We need to deal with her. I need someone's help to do it, and you're the only one I trust not to fuck it up."
"W-what do you mean 'deal with'?" Caitiff squirmed a little. Cad was uncomfortably close, and she could smell his breath, his insufficient deodorant.
"What do you think I mean?" He leaned in even closer, their noses almost touching.
"I'm not a killer!"
"Alright, Catherine. If you insist." He grinned. "Hey, you know in fact, this works out pretty great! We can give 'em to Hades. A donation like that will keep that crazy fuck off our backs for life - and you get to keep all that money we just made." Caitiff opened her mouth, but then closed it again. He could see she was considering it. "Or are you gonna be another problem I have to deal with?" She looked down at his feet. "Well?"
"Fine, you fucking asshole. I'll help you." He relaxed his grip, and she ripped her hands free, before shoving him in the chest. "But I am never working with you again."
"That's the idea, isn't it? Now c'mon. We've got ourselves a redhead to snatch."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Jesus H. Fuck..." Sophie groaned, as she allowed herself to fall heavily onto her bed at the Gilgamesh Inn. "'Let's go up to Ferndale to have dinner with my parents. It'll be totally relaxing'. Ugh, I'm never gonna believe anything I say ever again..."
"I'll admit," Mariko said, "if I'd known I was going to be meeting Imperion as well as your parents, I might have...oh, I don't know what I'd have done. Probably taken up smoking or something." Despite neither heroine wanting simply to leave things to the Pauldron, both were exhausted. Sophie being drugged and Mariko being drained of her energy hadn't helped. If they fought the Fiendish Five without at least a few hours sleep, they realised, it would go even worse.

Mariko was sitting on the end of the bed, peeling off her stockings, revealing her smooth, light-tan skin. She looked at her left hand, found that it was quivering. She was, she realised, more tired than she'd thought she was. She kept thinking about her encounter with the Pauldron, and with Imperion in particular.
"Was he just being nice?" she thought, remembering how complimentary he'd been. "Or...does he actually have some admiration for me?"

"Let me guess," Sophie said, coming forward to sit on her knees. "You're thinking about Hunky McHandsomeson."
"Certainly not," Mariko replied, somewhat sharply. "Well, I mean, I was...but not like that."
"Don't think I've forgotten that you like guys as well!" Sophie put her arms round her girlfriend's shoulders. "I bet you want to wrap those big strong arms around you. 'Oh Spectra, you're so amazing. Oh Spectra, you're so famous and cool... Oh, won't you join my team, Spectra? You can be my...special adjutant...' . Ow!" Mariko had flicked her nose.
"I promise not to run off with Imperion if you promise not to run off with Nova. Don't think I didn't see you staring."
"She's definitely cute. Like, 'wow' cute," Sophie said. She leaned closer and flicked Mariko's earlobe with her tongue. "But she's got nothing on you..."
"If you say so," Mariko, now bare-legged, leaned her head back. Sophie took the cue, and kissed her, their tongues slowly stroking each other, their lips pressed together as they sighed softly into each other's mouths.

When Mariko's eyes opened, they were soft, relaxed. She was surprised to find that Sophie's were more troubled.
"What is it, my love?" She turned around, sat on the bed with her. She reached out and put her hand on one of Sophie's soft cheeks. The redhead leaned a little into Mariko's hand, like a relaxed tabby.
"It's that Captain Cur guy. Or, Doctor Arrhenius, or whatever his real name is."
"What about him?"
"There's just...there's some things that don't add up. Remember when he was explaining that weird-ass scheme to us?" She started slipping off her dress. Mariko felt her heart thump a little stronger when she saw Sophie's creamy-white, slinky body in nothing but her underwear, but she kept listening. "When he caught me, he told me a totally different plan. I mean, it was even more batshit than the first one, but he sure sounded like he believed it. Hey, c'mon, you can't just stare at me! Get undressed, jackass."

Mariko rolled her eyes, but did what Sophie'd asked, revealing her small, pert bosom, her delicately curved hips, the whole length of her sumptuously long, slender limbs.
"I know what you're thinking," Mariko said, drawing herself closer. "Yet, we can be fairly certain that there is something...wrong with this man. We may not find anything approaching a real explanation." Sophie shook her head, her soft waterfall of red hair caressing her shoulders.
"That's too easy. If he's mad that doesn't mean what he does is totally random. It was like..." She thought for a moment. Mariko lay back against the bed's pillows, and Sophie put her head on her girlfriend's midriff. "He'd beaten us. He could have just knocked me out, grabbed the money and been home free for all he knew. But he didn't...I'm pretty sure he came up with that 'conquer the Moon' stuff right then and there." Mariko narrowed her eyes in thought, running her hands absentmindedly through Sophie's hair.

"I wonder," the Japanese beauty began. "Is he trying to be defeated?"
"Hm?"
"You say he came up with that plan as he was standing on the precipice of victory. I wonder if he wasn't giving you - well, us - another chance."
"Yeah...yeah!" Sophie sat up again. "When he had that freakout, he said something. D'you remember? He fucking screamed it at me."
"No I don't. I'm sorry, my love, but my memory after that bloody woman got her hands on me is a little hazy."
"Remind me to kick her in the face next time we meet." Sophie slipped under the covers, beckoning Mariko to join her.
"Noted. What did he say?" Mariko glided beneath the sheets, finding one of Sophie's bare legs with one of her own.
"'Why haven't you stopped it?'." Sophie lay down on her side. "I think you're right. He wants someone to beat him. Like, not consciously...but I bet if we fought him and lost again, he'd come up with some new plan that means he has to stay in Ferndale."
"Well, he's likely to get his wish with the Pauldron abroad," Mariko said. She lay down as well, and the two lovers drew themselves against each other.

"Mariko...I'm not sure we can let that happen." Sophie was speaking very quietly, intimately, almost.
"Why, my sweet?" Mariko moved a curl of hair out of Sophie's face.
"Because you heard what they said. They're just gonna haul him off to jail. He...he needs help." Mariko was startled. She knew Sophie was compassionate, but it always surprised her just how deeply that capacity ran.
"It's not so simple as you make it out to be," she said. "Don't mistake my meaning. If you're suggesting that we try to be the ones to bring him in, then I agree with you. But if Imperion does get to him first, there'll still be a trial. He'll be psychologically evaluated, won't he?" Sophie looked at her, sternly.
"He needs to offer himself for treatment."
"What?" Mariko almost laughed. "Sophie, that's never going to happen."
"If Imperion brings him in, he'll be in jail in a week. You know how much weight his word carries. I mean, didn't he, like, fund the Penitentiary Supreme himself?"
"That doesn't mean he gets to decide the inmates."
"There's another possibility," Sophie said. "If he goes nuts like he did against me, they might...I mean, just, like, defending themselves they might -"
"They might kill him."

There was a long silence. Sophie shook her head. Mariko thought she saw the glint of a tear in one of her eyes.
"I don't know why I care so much, I just...something hurt him. Something hurt him really, really badly. The Fifty Fractals might not have killed him, but fuck knows what they did do. The rest of the Frightful Four -"
"Fiendish Five."
"Whatever. Anyway, those guys are just crooks, they can go straight to fuckin' jail. But Cur...he's a victim. I can feel it." Mariko looked at her. Into her. She just stared. "W-what?"
"Four hours."
"What?"
"Four hours, that's the minimum sleep I can get without dangerously affecting my capacity for concentration. Then we go looking for him again, alright?"
"Alright," Sophie put her hand on Mariko's chest. "Thank you, Mariko."
"It matters to you," she said, "so it matters to me." She kissed Sophie's forehead. "Now let's sleep, if we're going to be able to do anything about it."

Sophie, smiling with relief, nestled against her lover, feeling the warmth of her skin, the beating of a strong heart.
"I love you," Sophie said.
"And I you, my sweet," Mariko replied. "Though, sometimes, I still can't quite believe you feel as I do."
"Well, do. You're wonderful."
"Oh, now it just seems like I was fishing for compliments. Hush. Any more affection from you, and I'll be too happy to fall asleep."
"Oh yeah? Well, maybe I can express my affection in a way that'll relax you, then." Sophie kissed Mariko between her breasts, then just below them, travelling slowly downwards, feeling with her mouth the delicacy of Mariko's skin.

"Sophie, I mean it, we need to sleep..." Mariko felt her silky thighs rubbing together, almost involuntarily.
"And you will. Really, really well..." She travelled further downward, and kissed Mariko again.
"Oh!" Mariko gasped. "A-alright, if you're - unhh - going to...do that I won't s-top you...I'll just -" She grabbed the sheets, clenching them tightly with both hands. "I'll just - lie here - maintaining the m-moral high ground..."

As the two gorgeous, thoroughly infatuated lovers took their pleasure of each other - or rather as one gave it very much to the other - neither noticed a small, old-ish car pulling up on the opposite side of the street.
"Now if I were an out-of-town superhero," the driver said. "I might just book myself in here..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sophie was dreaming. It was a strange dream, in that it was just snippets of memory being replayed - there was nothing new in it at all. Here she saw herself fighting against Cybelle, meeting Stellar for the first time. There she saw herself breaking up with her first and only boyfriend when she was fourteen. There again she saw herself at eight years old just after the death of her maternal grandfather, trying to comfort her mother with a badly baked cake. Lastly, she saw herself with Mariko about three weeks earlier, having an argument about Sophie's decision to keep living with her friends during her sophomore year.

Sophie felt a strange disconnect as she was viewing these memories. It wasn't like a film, where every memory inexplicably takes place from a third person perspective. No: she was looking through her own eyes. Or was she? Everything played out before as though...

Someone was banging on something. It wasn't in the memory. Mariko had raised her voice a little during their argument, but she hadn't started hitting things. Sophie looked around, but couldn't see anything that she didn't actually remember seeing. Was there a voice? A voice other than Mariko's and her own? The banging became louder. Knocking? No. It wasn't someone trying to get in.
"Help me," Sophie said, except she hadn't said it. "Let me out," she pleaded, except it hadn't come from her mouth. "This isn't my-"

Sophie awoke. She didn't catapult forward as from some hideous nightmare, but she woke up with a great sense of disquiet about her.
"Mmhh..." She heard Mariko shifting a little in her sleep, and embraced her. Even unconscious, she still returned her girlfriend's affections, brushing her nose - a nose that Sophie found rather cute - against her neck. Sophie shivered from the aftereffects of the dream, but Mariko warmed her. She was about to go back to sleep, when she saw the clock.

"Hey, Mariko," she said, softly. "We've overslept a little. C'mon." As she started to awaken, Sophie felt Mariko stretching, pointing her toes as her tall body quivered. She opened her eyes, saw Sophie's, and annoyance at being woken was tinged with pleasure at what she'd awoken to.
"Oh, yes..." she muttered, remembering. She pulled herself up. Even with her hair dishevelled, she still looked sublime. "Let's go save your madman, shall we?"


About twenty minutes later, the two were outside. It was barely 5.a.m., and the streets were completely empty. Sophie had on the same loose, yellow dress as the day before, low-cut and with ruffles on the shoulders and about the hem, which was about three inches above Sophie's rather pretty knees.

Mariko, predictably enough, had changed. She wore a tight, grey, turtlenecked sweater-dress, that left both her arms and her light-tan legs bare. A pair of black kitten-heels tacked along the pavement. It was not the most practical outfit but, then, she wouldn't be fighting in that outfit.

"Do we know where to start?" Mariko asked. "You know this place much better than I do, after all."
"I know where to start, yeah. I'd go to the milk bottling plants. There's a couple that aren't getting used at the moment: they're the easiest places to break into, with the least chance of anybody noticing you."
"None of them, as far as we know, are Seacouver natives. Would they know to go there?"
"Fair point. I could just track them bloodhound-style as Enhancegirl, but I didn't want to be running around in costume - thought it'd be a bit conspicuous." Mariko clicked her tongue, a habit she'd picked up from Sophie.
"Also a fair point."

As the two were having this back-and-forth, Sophie saw something. Or rather, she saw someone. This was surprising enough given that it was five in the morning, on a Sunday, in a small town with a slow pace of life. It was a woman, a young woman, about fifty metres away. She looked roughly - perhaps even exactly - the same age as Sophie. She was the same height and build as well. In fact, nothing that Sophie could see of this girl in the low light would have differentiated the stranger from herself - but for the fact that she had very straight, black hair.

Sophie looked at her, curiously. She certainly wasn't one of the Fiendish Five, she could tell that even without her super-senses. The girl didn't seem to notice Sophie at first, but after a few seconds she did. She looked up, and even from far away, Sophie could see that their eyes were the same colour as well. She looked at Sophie, opened her mouth, and screamed.

She didn't scream like a fifties housewife at a mouse. She didn't scream like someone who'd been thrown from a building. She screamed, Sophie imagined, like someone watching their family being violently dismembered in front of them. The scream tore through Sophie, and seemed to tear through everything around her. It was so loud that either the girl had supernatural abilities, or she was doing terrible damage to her vocal chords. Sophie clutched her heart, enveloped by that awful, inhuman sound. Her legs shook. She felt as if she was going to faint.

"Sophie?" A hand seized her shoulder, tightly. "Sophie!"
"Huh?" She turned to the right, brought out of her daze. Mariko was frowning deeply at her.
"What's wrong?"
"What do you mean 'what's wrong?' Didn't you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That girl, she was screaming at the top of her -" She turned, but the girl was gone. "Oh, no, no, no," Sophie clenched a fist. "We are not doing this!"
"What are you talking about, Sophie?" Mariko was perplexed. Sophie had been fine one second and then she'd started yammering in this inexplicable fashion.
"She can't have got far..." Sophie muttered. "Follow me! Something...something's wrong about this. We need to find that girl!"

Like a springbok, Sophie leapt into a run, with Mariko following almost as swiftly after her. At last count, Sophie could run fifty metres in a little under ten seconds: she got to where that woman had been standing in just under nine.
"Wh...where is she?" Sophie panted. To her left, a small alley. "It's the only place she could be hiding!" She ran in...and saw nothing.
"Sophie! For god's sake, what's going on?"
"She's not here..." Sophie muttered. "How can she not be here...?"
"Sophie!" Mariko barked. This got the redhead's attention. "You're alarming me. What's the matter with you?"
"That girl, she couldn't have got away! It doesn't make sense." She began tapping the walls with her hands, looking for some kind of secret passageway or something.
"Who is she?"
"I have no idea," Sophie said. She wasn't lying. She didn't think so, anyway.
"Then why are you so sure that she matters? So, she saw you, she screamed - she escaped. What of it?"
"I...I just know it's important!" Sophie caught herself. She realised that she was yelling, and she didn't know why. She slapped her own cheeks to snap herself out of it, and turned to Mariko.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I don't know why I..." She splayed out both her palms, a gesture of resigned confusion.
"We can look into it later, if you like," Mariko said, not entirely with patience. It was very early, and she couldn't get by with as little sleep as Sophie could. "But for now, let's get back on track. Perhaps you should just try the bloodhound method."
"Yeah, maybe," Sophie said. "Just gimme a sec. I don't like shifting when I'm feeling...weird."
"Sure."

The two walked out onto the main road again, Mariko slightly behind Sophie. She regarded her with a mixture of frustration, confusion, and not a little concern. Sophie was not, perhaps, the most rational and level-headed person in the world, but she wasn't an hysteric either.
"She said that the woman was screaming at the top of her lungs..." Yet Mariko had heard absolutely nothing. Had she imagined it? "No. People don't just 'imagine' things like that. There's something going on here..."

As Mariko was pontificating, and Sophie was trying to wonder why exactly that scream had harrowed her to the extent that it had, a car pulled up right in front of them. Neither was paying full attention, but they did see it. The driver's side window rolled down, and a woman extended both hands towards them.
"Morning, girls," quoth Commander Caitiff.

Before either Mariko or Sophie could react, two orbs of pink liquid shot out of Caitiff's hands, striking each girl in the chest.
"Unh!" Sophie groaned, knocked back a couple of steps. "What the fuck?!" The liquid didn't just have force. As soon as it struck, it took on a more solid, gelatinous form, and burst around Sophie's torso in thick, pink bands, encircling her from her waist to her shoulders. She felt her arms slammed against her sides, her chest squeezed by the tightly restraining gel.

"No!" Mariko cried out, as the same thing happened to her. She pulled as hard as she could, trying to get her arms loose, but though the gel was somewhat stretchy, it barely let Mariko move her hands off her hips, much less get them free. It was like she and Sophie had been bound in incredibly sticky duct tape, their upper bodies totally bound, in less than a second each.

"Enha-mmmphhh!"
"Spectrum is Gr-MMMPHH!" Simultaneously the two heroines tried to speak their changewords, and simultaneously both were silenced by another glob of pink liquid smacking against their sweet lips, covering them with a thick, sticky not-quite rectangle.
"Mmgghmmph!" Sophie moaned. "Wh-what?! How did they find us? I can't - get free!" She turned her head in desperation to Mariko, finding her in wide-eyed shock, straining and writhing, trying again and again to transform but unable to form the necessary words. Their eyes met, wet and more than alarmed.

But not even expressions could be communicated for long. The passenger seat was thrown open, and Colonel Cad leapt out. He grabbed Mariko by the waist, and hauled her roughly into the car, shoving the tall damsel into the seat furthest from him.
"Mhhrhhkhhh!" Sophie screamed through her gag, running up to the door, her legs still free. This, however, was a mistake. She was no slouch in hand to hand combat even without her powers, and she might well have done Cad some damage with just her legs. But when she got close, it was all too easy for him to hook his arms around her bare thighs, and haul her inside as well. "NNMMPHH!!" Sophie screamed, as Cad's strength allowed him to thrust the redhead down next to her lover.

"MMMPHH! NNMMGGHHMPPHHH!!" the two lovely young women screamed through their sticky gags, embarrassed to feel that not only could they not speak, they couldn't open their lips at all. Their legs still being free, however, they assailed Cad with a flurry of kicks.
"Ah, shit!" Mariko, being further away, got a better wind up for a kick, and struck Cad hard in the chest. He fell back, tumbling out of the car. But, before either maiden could make good on Mariko's attack, he hauled himself up and slammed the door shut.

Quickly, he ran round to the other side, and leapt into the passenger's seat next to Caitiff, who was trying to stop Sophie from wrapping her legs around her throat.
"Greyhand - agghh! - hurry the fuck - grhh! - up!"
"What do you think I'm doing?!" he growled. "Aah!" Another kick from Mariko, this time in the head. "Grrhh!" He already had, however, the weapon he'd prepared against them. Two thick, white cloths - both soaked in a rather potent chemical.

Sophie smelled it first.
"Nrrmphh!" She growled defiantly. "Nhhd thhvv thhhhmm!" When Mariko smelled it too - and by now the chemical was almost as familiar to her as it was to Sophie - her reaction was rather more furious than desperate.
"Nhh!" she insisted. "How dare they? How dare they think that such two-bit fools could capture us? I'll show them what it is to trifle with Spectra!"

Cad whipped around, pushed himself between the gap between the two front seats, and tried to get the rags over their mouths. But the resistance was too fierce. They kicked viciously at his hands and face - not wildly: they were too accurate for that.
"God damn it!" He pulled back. "Pop the trunk."
"What?"
"Pop the trunk!" Bemused, Caitiff obeyed. Cad leapt out of the car again, and ran round, this time to the back. As it happened, the trunk of the car Caitiff had boosted for them was not a completely closed off section: it opened onto the back seats, which could be retracted into the trunk for more legroom. This was the basis for Cad's plan.

He opened the trunk, threw himself inside. Sophie was trying to attack Caitiff again, and didn't notice. Mariko was blinded with embarrassment and rage, so she didn't notice either. Cad was behind them, and without a great deal of resistance this time, he reached around, and clamped the wet cloths over each damsel's mouth and nose.

"NNNMMPHHH!!" Sophie screamed, as her mouth was doubly covered, and as she felt the over-sweet swell begin to flood her nostrils.
"MM-NNMMPHH! NNNMMPHHHH!!" Mariko shook her head fiercely from side to side, and tried to twist away. Sophie saw what she was doing, and tried to twist in the opposite direction, but he was too strong, and held them in place. "No! No, he has us!"
"Drive!" Cad roared, and Caitiff obeyed.

As the car got faster, Sophie and Mariko began to feel themselves becoming slower.
"Hhmmmphh! Hmmphh..." Sophie sighed, breathing too quickly to stop herself from taking in the fumes of the chloroform. "Have to...get...free..." she thought, but could conceive of no way of so doing. Her shoulders were slackening, lowering, her eyes already beginning to flutter. Her soft breasts heaved against the sticky bands of gel which bound her arms. She felt as though she were being wrapped in a warm blanket - too warm, making her drowzy, soft. "Captured...again...wh-what do I...what do I do?"

Things were no better for Mariko. She felt something throbbing in her as a wave of sleepiness beat against the cliffs of her strength in a rhythm, wearing away her resistance. She felt a horribly tempting urge simply to let her head fall onto her beloved's shoulder, to let herself just drift off. She was so tired anyway. How could anyone blame her for just falling...slowly...softly...
"Nnnhhh..." Mariko protested weakly, shaking her head. "No...I can't...I mustn't..."

"That's it ladies," Cad said. "That's it...get niiice and comfy with each other, nice and relaxed? It's real fuckin' early, so why don't you just go back to sleep?!" He pulled the cloths more tightly, enjoying as the maiden's heads fell back with no resistance, the two young heroines almost wholly limp. "Oh this is too good..." he thought. "Just surrender, darlings...just surrender to it..."

The two damsels had by no means surrendered, but each had far less with which to fight than they'd had at the start. They still kicked, but they might not have bothered. In fact, all they were really doing now was rubbing their long, shapely legs together, tangling and then slowly untangling them again and again.
"Mmm...she's...so smooth..." Mariko thought, feeling Sophie's supple calves against hers, an inadvertent caress from her warm, vulnerable, creamy thigh. "No...have to...concen...trate...oohh..." Mariko's world darkened. She felt her head falling to the right, landing on Sophie's shoulder whether she liked it or not.

"M...Mariko..." Sophie looked down at her, and their eyes met. Both of them were blushing, their bare skin so delectably caressable to each other, even in their distress. But even their inadvertent pleasure wasn't enough to dispel their humiliation. "They...they just snatched us off the street...we were completely helpless..." Sophie mewed a little beneath the cloth, and the gag.
"I can't..." Mariko thought, as her eyes started to spend longer shut than open. "Sophie, I can't...save us...oh...oh, I'm...unhhh...so sleepy..." She managed to open her eyes long enough to hold Sophie's somnolent gaze for a couple of seconds. As they looked into each other's eyes, they shared the same bitter realisation: "We're defeated..."

It was with that thought that Sophie lost her battle. Though she'd seemed a little more alert than Mariko, it seemed to hit her all at once.
"Mmh!" she gasped, feeling something knocked out from under her. "Mhhhhh..." the emerald-eyed redhead sighed, as she seemed almost to float into unconsciousness. Her smooth legs, now moist from her exertions, slid down, one straight to the ground, the other coming to lie on top of Mariko's thighs. "Hhhllp mhh..." she whimpered, as her eyes fluttered shut, and she was finally knocked out, her head falling back against the seat, exposing her slender, milky white neck.

"Nnnhh..." Mariko moaned, seeing Sophie pass out, her final cry impossible not to interpret as pleading for Mariko somehow to rescue her. But she was just as powerless. Unable even to think, she felt her head sink ever more deeply against Sophie's shoulder, her dress almost as soft as her skin, making her 'pillow' temptingly comforting. It was, indeed, a temptation that she couldn't resist. She closed her eyes, nuzzling against Sophie's neck. "Mmmhhh..." she sighed, quietly, as she too was claimed.

Cad kept the cloths over their mouths for a while, before finally taking them off.
"Jeeeeeeeesus, that was a fucking pain!" He laughed. His heart was thumping in his chest. He'd never been so...hands on in the process of capturing a woman before, and these two gorgeous young things made the process even more thrilling. He looked at them again, so limp and helpless...their dresses riding up from their struggles, completely revealing their sexy, naked legs, all tangled up with each other, so supple and smooth...enough to make a man want to -

"Greyhand, stop being a perv," Caitiff barked. "Just make sure they don't wake up."
"Don't worry," he said. "Hades doesn't like his tributes getting spoiled." He saw the direction Caitiff was going. "No, don't leave town!"
"What? Why?"
"The Pauldron are still looking for us. That Nova chick is probably circling around. Plus even the cops here aren't amateur enough not to do road checks."
"Fine, point taken," Caitiff replied, reluctantly. "What then?"
"We find somewhere to stash 'em for a while." He looked down at them. "And if my hands should happen to wander a bit...well, I'm sure Hades won't mind..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Forgivable though Sophie and Mariko's delay had been - inevitable, even - it had been too long a one. The Fiendish Five had been reduced to a Thrilling Three, and even the Chronicler had been posted to guard duty. He fingered his pistol awkwardly, a semi-automatic slung over his back. He knew well how to use these weapons, but he didn't particularly enjoy doing so.

"Where the hell are they?" he griped. "We can't stick around here much longer!" He looked over his shoulder, saw Chupacabra hugging her knees. "Hey, don't sit there moping!"
"They're gonna get us," she whimpered. "They're gonna get us, and I'm gonna go to jail."
"You're not the only one!"
"I don't mind, really," she went on, ignoring him. "I really wouldn't mind so much, except I know they're not gonna put me with Catherine. They'll know I'd want that, and they won't let me stay with her, just out of spite..."

It was Denzel who heard the footsteps first.
"Oh, thank Christ," he said. From the brisk, staccato tapping, it sounded like Caitiff. "If Cad's dead," he shouted over his shoulder, "none of us are gonna hold it against you."
"How pleasing," came an unfamiliar voice, "to know that you hold your comrades in such esteem." The voice was clipped, English, and male. Cad and Caitiff didn't fit that description, not even collectively. Denzel turned around, slowly.
"Eep!" he squeaked, without a trace of irony or self-awareness.

The man standing before him, in his tight fitting, silver bodysuit, and trappings of knightly armour, was definitely the least famous member of the Pauldron, and thus did he like to keep it. But he was still known, and Denzel just about recognised him.
"Pan...Pan...Panhedron!"
"Panhellius, you little twerp," the brunet muttered. He strode forward, his right hand resting on a long, silver rapier. "Give up now," he said, "and I will merely arrest the two of you. Resist, and I will cause you exactly enough pain to incapacitate you. For me," he pronounced, "this will not be difficult."

There was a loud bang. Denzel had fired his pistol. He hadn't meant to, but he had. He wasn't the worst aim in the world, and he was fairly sure he'd been pointing right at Panhellius' chest. But there was no impact. The bullet didn't appear to have hit anything.
"Ah. The painful path, then." He began walking slowly forward.
"S-stay back!" He might not have meant to fire the first time, but now Panhellius thought he had deadly intent anyway. He took another shot. The same effect. Nothing happened. He aimed very, very carefully this time, squeezing the trigger slowly. But once again, nothing.

"W-what the hell?" He aimed to the right, and fired into a wall. A chunk was blasted out of the concrete. "I'm not shooting blanks...then how is he doing that?" He fired once more. Again, there was no effect...but this time...had he seen Panhellius move? His arm...had it been quite in that position before the shot? Denzel, stumbling back, aimed deliberately high this time. He fired...and yes! There was a flicker, barely enough for him to see, but he'd moved. "Y-you're not invincible!" he laughed, giddily. "You've got s-some k-kind of super speed!"
"Oh, look," Panhellius murmured to himself. "It's trying to think. How quaint."

Denzel holstered his pistol, and brought out the automatic rifle. He didn't know the make, but he did know that it fired a lot of bullets very, very quickly.
"Let's see how fast you really are, huh?!"
"Yes," Panhellius said, raising his left hand. "Let's." He hadn't stopped walking forward.
"Y-you're gonna die man!"
"If so, then so," the hero replied. "Hurry up."
"Fine! You asked for it!" Denzel shut his eyes - and squeezed the trigger.

"Holy...shit!" It was Chupacabra who spoke. She watched the stream of bullets hit Panhellius, or rather not hit him. There was a kind of buzzing in front of him, sparks flying in all directions. She gaped, open mouthed, thinking that this man was swatting the bullets away with his left hand...but this was not quite right. He was not merely swatting the bullets away - he was individually catching them between his thumb and forefinger, then throwing them to the side.

Right when Denzel's cartridge ran out, and he fumbled clumsily to reload, Panhellius lost his patience. He flicked one of the bullets he had caught, propelling it with sufficient force to put a hole through Denzel's gun, and send it clattering, essentially destroyed, to the ground.
"Wh-what the...?"
"Keep still," Panhellius said, as he turned to Chupacabra. He took a pair of handcuffs from his belt, and tossed them over. "You're actually a superhuman, aren't you? Put them on, and save me the trouble." Leanne stared at them, thought again of what they signified for her.
"I...just wanted..." she said, almost sobbing, her long, green hair covering much of her face, "I...just wanted to be an actress!" She leapt forward, with savage fury, not thinking about what Panhellius' absurd speed would likely do to her fairly petite, thin body. Yet she didn't get far. She felt something around her arm, holding her back. "What the hell?" She turned around and, upon seeing what restrained her, let out a long, quavering whimper.

It was a man in ornate, green armour, with a rough, blonde beard, and slicked back blonde hair. He wore a lop-sided frown, not grave at all.
"C'mon, sweetie," he said. "Don't get yourself hurt for no good reason."
"Im...Imp...Imper..." She stammered. She felt a heat wash over her as she looked into the eyes of one of the most powerful beings on the planet. "I...I...I'll get you!" She slapped her hand over Imperion's chest, and triggered her power, beginning to drink, and drink, and drink of the energy within him. She could feel herself filling with power, and laughed, giddily. "Y-yes! I'm doing it! I'm going to defeat Imperion!"

Yet Imperion did not seem perturbed. His frown didn't so much as increase in severity. If anything, it began to fade into a kind of smile.
"You absorb energy, right?" he said. "That's what Enhancegirl told us. It makes sense, I guess, what you're trying to do. But the thing is..." Now he was definitely smiling. "If I'm feeling what you're doing right, you'll have drained me enough to make me collapse in about..." He glanced at a sturdy looking, custom-designed watch. "Maybe two weeks?"
"Wh-what?" Chupacabra felt her legs trembling, her body quivering. "Uhhhhnnnhhh..." she sighed, before dropping to her knees, and collapsing at Imperion's feet. She had fainted.
"Well that was easy, at least," he said. "Hey, you," he said to Denzel. The man actually screamed when Imperion looked at him. "Geez...where's your Captain?"
"I-I-I don't know!" Denzel shrieked. "H-he should be outside!"
"Did you see him?" Imperion asked his second.
"No," Panhellius replied. "Not even from the helicopter." He was the group's pilot, having set down their chopper in a nearby meadow.
"Great," Imperion growled. "Where the hell is he?"


Cur had seen them coming. His abilities gave him a certain set of...sensitivities. Nothing compared to Enhancegirl's, but still something. He had prepared to fight them, laughing merrily at the thought of doing fierce battle with strongest of opponents. But something in him had quavered. He couldn't summon up his courage. He couldn't lead his men. He couldn't stop thinking about that little silver cat he'd broken in the bank.

And so he'd turned and fled. But not just fled. No: Captain Cur had a new plan, a new method by which villainy would ultimately triumph. Finding a secluded spot, he concentrated, shifting the electromagnetic arrangement of his body, packing as many protons and neutrons into as few nuclei as he could. He forced his atomic weight up, and up, and up, going down and down the periodic table...until he was fairly sure that he'd just altered himself into a certain element with an atomic number of 94, isotope 239, to be precise. He laughed slightly. He'd never turned into plutonium before. It tickled.

[DrDominator9]

Excellent chapters here, damselbinder. So many new characters with so many interesting abilities...and of course Sophie and Mariko, sleepily reduced to ineffective heroines yet again. They'd better be careful or they'll get a reputation for being easy.

[Damselbinder]

"Mmmhhh..." a nubile, smooth-limbed maiden mewed, as she fell to the side, cushioned only by her wavy, red hair. Rough hands which had made the drugged damsel fall now grabbed her shoulders, pulling her out of the car in which she'd been abducted, her arms restrained with a binding gel, her senses dulled and her mind subdued with chloroform. Entirely limp, her pretty head fell forward, but her captor pushed it back up again, letting it fall onto one of her shoulders instead. He wanted to see her face. This woman had, only a few hours before, beaten him senseless with great ease. He wanted to see the fierce heroine looking meek and passive, her eyes closed, her face an expression of angelic peace and serenity. He could even see her lips through her gelatine gag, neatly shut. He wanted really to see how he had tamed Enhancegirl.

Grinning, Colonel Cad - Greyhand to his old criminal buddies, Raymond to his ex-wife and estranged sons - moved his hands down Sophie's body, tracing the contours of her slinky, lithely curvy form, until he reached her somewhat rounded hips. He gave them a squeeze, eliciting another soft moan from the defeated maiden, before grabbing her by her bare thighs, and slowly lifting the light, lovely young lady over his shoulder. He wrapped one arm around Sophie's long, creamy legs, pressing them together. He used his free hand to grip hungrily her heart-shaped behind, not quite exposed by her short-ish dress.

Caitiff, once called Gel-Belle and before that simply Catherine, was not quite so...obtuse with her captive, but nor was she unaware of her charms. She found herself just staring at Mariko for a little while. The way her long, faultless legs were splayed haphazardly out in front of her, the way her head rested on her shoulder, her immaculately plucked eyebrows crinkled slightly, as if still seeking the comfort of her lover's proximity. The way her shoulders were pinched in against her torso by the tight, gel bonds, making her look even more dainty and helpless...
"Keep it professional, Cat," she murmured to herself, taking Mariko by her ankles. She pulled her out, very much noticing the way she flopped down onto the car seat when she was pulled away from its head rest, so pathetically, beautifully limp...

She couldn't resist. Spectra was helpless and unconscious in her grasp: opportunities like that did not oft present themselves. She lifted one of Mariko's tan, satin-smooth legs, feeling it, caressing her thigh. She began massaging Mariko's thigh with both hands, letting her calf droop down. Even this had a charm. She ran her hands right up to the hem of Mariko's short sweater-dress, feeling the grooves of her fingertips encounter scarcely the slightest interruption of her legs' smoothness - but dared go no further. She slowly crossed Mariko's right leg over her left, amused by how ladylike she looked even while drugged and helpless, yet at the same time, there was something sensual about her pose, as though she were caressing one leg with the other, even the lady herself bewitched by her own loveliness. "And Christ," she thought, "if I had those legs I'd be rubbing them against each other a lot too..."

She reached further in, and took Mariko by the back of her neck. She had a pristine coolness to her appearance, but her skin was so warm. Caitiff lifted Mariko up into a sitting position. She looked around. Cad wasn't looking. She placed her hand on Mariko's mouth, and when it came away, she was ungagged, the gel reabsorbed into Catherine's body. Her lips freed, Mariko's mouth opened just a little, letting out a small sound. Caitiff let Mariko's head fall limply against one of her hands, while with the other she stroked Mariko's lips.

She ran a finger over Mariko's beautiful face, one fingertip gently tracing the lines of her high, elegant cheekbones, while another ran over the delicate skin just under her eye. During all of this, there wasn't a sound from Catherine's captive. She squeezed her cheeks, causing Mariko to purse her lips a little - almost invitingly.

She couldn't stop now. She reabsorbed Mariko's bonds as well, letting her arms flop loosely from where they'd been trapped. She lifted one by the wrist, and let it fall, her palm coming to rest on one of her smooth knees.
"Holy shit..." Caitiff whispered, feeling herself shivering. To do this to anyone, to have this level of complete control over another woman's body had always been a fantasy. For that person to be the tall, willowy, Asian beauty that she had before her...was quite literally beyond what she'd ever dreamt. Breathing heavily, she began fondling Spectra's breasts, feeling how pliable they were, yet how springy and firm at the same time, a perfect complement to her sylphlike figure. She was so helpless. So limp, and weak, and vulnerable and smooth...

"God damn it!" Catherine gasped, pulling her hands away. She was beyond 'getting carried away': she'd left that line behind as soon as she'd started feeling up Spectra's legs. But she could still pull herself back. Quickly, she bound Mariko with her gel once again, letting it cascade over her torso, once again squeezing her slim arms against her sides. After stroking the damsel's dulcet lips with her fingers, she coated them once more in gel, sealing Mariko's voice.

She pulled Mariko out of the car, and hooked one arm under the damsel's back, just below her shoulder-blades. Her head tilted back with a small 'nnhhh...' sound, and Catherine did not resent the sight - or the sound. She then slipped her other arm under Mariko's tender thighs, and lifted her legs, bringing the defeated damsel into a bridal carry. Caitiff felt her heart thump again against her ribcage when she saw Mariko's dress slide back in her vulnerable position, her gorgeous, willowy legs dangling from her arms. She began carrying her inside, fully understanding now the thrill of reducing a superheroine to a damsel in distress.

Carrying Mariko, she entered the small cabin the two had found. A padlock had been no match for Greyhand, and they'd taken it for themselves.
"What the hell took you so long?" Greyhand snapped. Fortunately for her, Caitiff had prepared a lie in advance.
"You fucked up, Raymond," she said, walking in as confidently as she could. Cad, ultimately, was a coward. If he didn't smell weakness, he didn't attack. "She woke up. I had to fucking chloroform her again."
"Whatever." He pointed at a dingy, torn up double mattress he'd laid on the floor. "Put her there. On her stomach." Sophie was already laid out as Greyhand had ordered. Caitiff put her down beside her lover; both Catherine and her partner in crime admired how lovely the two were, and how deliciously helpless they looked just lying there, bound and gagged, silent and passive.

"What do we do now?"
"How long does that gel of yours last? Couple of hours, right?" Cad asked. He was scratching his nose, very quickly. He was excited about something.
"Roughly, yeah. Depends how thick I make it."
"Then reabsorb it," Cad ordered. Caitiff did so, turning their heads to remove their gags as well. "Now we tie them up properly."
"Oh," Caitiff said. "Right." There was absolutely no excitement in her voice. Nearly none, anyway.

Rope being cumbersome, Cad had brought with them several rolls of duct tape. He took Mariko, not yet having had much of a chance to 'get to grips' with the willowy damsel. He crossed her wrists behind her back, and twisted tape around them, binding them strictly together, the tape sticking easily to her fine skin. He lifted Mariko up at an angle, her legs trailing on the floor, and rolled tape around her midsection, entrapping her upper arms at the same time, and binding them in place. That wasn't good enough for Greyhand, however. He spun Mariko around like a spider wrapping a fly, winding layer after layer below, above, and even squeezing in Mariko's breasts, rendering her arms completely immovable. Her head flopped back and forth as she was spun, until her torso was fully secured.

Letting the limp maiden fall back onto the mattress, Greyhand knelt down and seized Mariko's ankles, pressing her bare legs as tightly together as he could, before wrapping tape, tearing it rapidly from the roll - two, three, four layers - around her ankles. Sliding his hand up her supple calves, he reached her knees, and did the same thing just above those, cinching her thighs together with layer after layer of strong, silver tape. Finally, he let Mariko lie on her back, and knelt over her, straddling her chest. He gagged her, first by shoving a small wad of sponge into her mouth, then sealing it in place with a single strip of smooth tape, silencing the beautiful captive, covering her lips and face from cheek to cheek. He let her back down, satisfied with his handiwork.

Catherine was a little more thorough. She folded Sophie's arms behind her back in a reverse-prayer position, then bound them together from her wrists to her elbows. Then, she completely covered Sophie's torso in tape, wrapping layer, after layer, after layer, spinning her over, squeezing her bosom against her chest, pressing her shoulders in towards her body, wrapping right up to Sophie's neck - and further, too. She covered the slender damsel's soft throat - here she was careful not to wrap too tightly - before winding tape over Sophie's chin, jaw - and finally her rosy lips, tightly sealing the maiden's voice, the gag wound right around the back of her head, forming a constant seal from her waist to her mouth.

Caitiff now attended, not altogether unpleasantly, to her mind, to the task of binding Sophie's soft, creamy legs. She felt them in her hands first, feeling how they differed from Mariko's, the thighs a little more feminine, and yielding, her calves perhaps a little firmer. She let her hands travel back up, and lifted Sophie's legs up against her chest, hooking one arm round them to hold them in place.

She began once again the task of binding Sophie, first covering the hem of her dress, her hips, and her taut behind. Slowly, she wound tape down: down Sophie's moist thighs, over her knees, compressing her thighs against each other. Now inadvertently pigeon-toed with her knees being forced together, she had a rather fetchingly shy look about her. But her calves didn't stay unbound for long. Caitiff drew them together, every circuit pressing them more and more tightly against each other. Having bound the helpless maiden's ankles, Caitiff even slipped off Sophie's flats, and wrapped up her feet as well.

Cocooned in duct tape, the drugged redhead was laid back down on the grubby mattress next to her lover.
"Mmhh...mmhh..." she mewed. Slowly, she was starting to awaken. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, and she saw Mariko lying next to her. "Oh...we overslept..." she thought, still groggy and confused, her vision swimming. She shifted a little, found that she could barely move at all. She could hardly even lift her head. "Unhhh...man, I'm...so sleepy..." She turned her eyes up. She saw two figures standing over them. "Wait...no...no! They...captured us! We have to...have to...unhh..." Already her vision was getting darker. The two figures were just silhouettes now. Mewing softly, the threads of consciousness Sophie had reclaimed slipping through her fingers, Sophie's emerald eyes fluttered, her bosom heaving against the tight silver tape mummifying her slinky body. "Mmmhhh..." she sighed, and fainted. Just for a moment, though, before she'd passed out, she could have sworn that she saw three silhouettes...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What am I supposed to do with...this?" Panhellius looked down at the young woman who'd fainted at Imperion's feet. Her hair, like her jacket, was bright green. As he looked closer, he saw that her eyes, slightly slanted, had a light, yellow shadow on her eyelids. She lay in a mess, her long hair splayed out widely behind her, her mouth slightly open, her legs accidentally crossed. Panhellius would have thought she was actually quite pretty, if he'd cared enough to consider the matter.

"Take her outside," his leader replied. "The cops'll be here soon. They'll deal with her."
"Very well," Panhellius replied. He leaned down, and in a flash, Corporal Chupacabra's unconscious body was on her feet, leaning back in Panhellius' left arm, her head falling back and her long, green hair trailing down almost to the floor. Her eyebrows were crinkled, as though she were a little frightened, and her mouth opened slightly. "Uh...hhhnn..." she sighed, her breasts rising a little in her tight jacket. Panhellius observed these details, disinterestedly, before - in another flash to quick even to call a blur - Leanne was tossed over his shoulder, her small, tight rump pointing prominently upward as he gripped her legs.

He began striding out. Denzel, handcuffed, was still standing in the same spot he'd been in when Panhellius had deflected his bullets. He hadn't moved. He couldn't.
"Hey," Imperion was addressing him. He jerked backwards. His voice was cacophonous, a side-effect of his great strength. "You think you might wanna walk out yourself? I mean, I could carry you, I guess, but..."
"I'll walk, I'll walk!" Denzel yipped, doing so.

As the two criminals were led away, one voluntarily, the other helplessly slung over Panhellius' shoulder, Imperion activated his communicator...which was a fancy way of saying 'a smartphone that he'd had welded into his armour'.
"Nova, d'you read?"
"Yes!" she answered, instantly. "What is it?"
"We've taken two of them: the energy absorber and the normal human. The other three, including the big cheese, are in the wind. Any luck on your end?"

Nova had been circling the town for some time. As the trails of her white dress fluttered in the wind, the petite, pink-haired heroine soared through the night sky, a white blue trail of energy in her wake.
"No, not since finding their hideout," Nova replied. "But I'll track them down. You can count on me, Jackson." There was a note of urgency in her voice.
"I know I can," he replied, gently. "But maybe you need to rest. It's almost day, so Derek's gonna be up in the chopper again in a few. Why don't you take a break?"
"I'm alright, I -"
"You've been flying non-stop for hours. Take a few minutes, okay Sara?" There was a moment of silence before she responded.
"Alright..."

Nova swooped down. Her movements would have looked rather staccato to a pilot, but Nova flew with sheer thrust, not with lift. She looped up in a steep arc, now upright, before floating slowly to the top of a building below her. She ran her hands through her candy-floss hair, and sat down on the edge of a low wall. She had to admit, she was tired. She looked up, comforted as she saw the stars glittering above her. She'd always felt an odd kind of kinship with that light. A destiny, even, in a more pretentious moment.

She was, therefore, slightly disappointed when she felt the Sun's first rays illuminating her lovely form. Thoughts turned in a negative direction, her mind came onto the two 'Couvie' heroines she'd had to rescue. Her mind lingered particularly on Spectra, or rather on the very complimentary manner that Imperion had taken with her. When, after her valiant stand against Apollyon the Sun-Man made Nova a celebrity, Imperion had offered her a position in the Pauldron, she could not remember if even then he'd been so generous with his praise.

"He was probably just trying to make her feel better," she muttered to herself. Below her, she saw a police car rolling by, sirens wailing. It seemed to be heading towards the factory where Leanne and Denzel had been apprehended, so she didn't pay it much attention. When another one, going even faster went past, she pricked an eyebrow. They were headed North, but not quite towards where Imperion and Panhellius were. As she followed them with her eyes, she wondered just where Hydrocita had been all this time...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"En garde, madame!" Captain Cur cackled to himself, flinging his hands about him with manic energy. His jacket was torn, his composed features wild, his smile no longer quite so convincing. He was also soaking wet.
"Just stay down, freak," Hydrocita growled. She was more than aware of the irony that she had been the one to happen to find Cur. She had tried to draw him out of the town, so that she could use her hydrokinetic powers to their fullest extent, but he hadn't been very pliable.

Cur shot himself forward, his legs becoming elastic enough to propel him at Hydrocita with great force.
"Not happening, bub," she growled. Quickly forming two thick walls of water, she clapped her hands, slamming the two walls together, with Cur in between. She flattened him - but, unfortunately, Cur's powers allowed him to unflatten himself with even less difficulty. He shot out again, but Hydrocita raised herself onto a platform of water, easily evading him.
"You might evade my power for now, worthy foe," Cur laughed, "but the might of Captain Cur shall prevail! A true villain cannot fail!"
"True...?" Hydrocita laughed. "You keep dreaming, buddy..." She summoned a spear of water, and hurled it down. It pierced him, cracking the pavement beneath him and he cried out, but he was not permanently injured. He was about to rearrange himself around it, but Hydrocita snapped her fingers, and the water burst into an explosion of steam.

"Hyaarghh!" Cur cried out, as his body was blown into dozens of pieces, each leaking the same putrid ichor as before. Hydrocita lowered herself to his level, and stood, hands on her hips, grinning, throwing her damp, blonde hair out of her face.
"You're gonna heal, right?" This was not the first time she'd dismembered Cur. First she'd laterally bisected him with a buzzsaw of water; then she'd longitudinally bisected him; before finishing it up by blasting his head from his shoulders with raw steam pressure. Each time he'd healed...but it had taken a little longer at every stage.

This battle had not gone unnoticed. They had fought, despite Hydrocita's efforts, on a residential street. Early as it was, people were still poking their heads out of their windows, some even coming into their front gardens. The police couldn't cordon them off - there were too few of them and the battle moved too quickly.

"Yhh...you...cannot stop me, hero!" Cur announced, just enough of his throat attached to his head for him to speak. His shoulders were merging with his severed arms as he spoke. "My plan is already underway!"
"Oh, yeah?" She rubbed her nose. "Enlighten me."
"You see," Captain Cur exposited, his voice richer as his throat connected with his chest, "no longer do I intend to steal the key of the city. I was not sufficiently ambitious, you see!" There was panic in his voice as he painfully pulled himself back together. "You see, my intention now is not to use Ferndale - but to remove it! For you see, upon the vanishing of this town, a certain Venezuelan parliamentarian will certainly - "

It was at this point that Nova arrived. She landed next to her teammate, the trails of her dress billowing up in her aura as she landed, completely exposing her lovely, supple legs.
"Oh, Jesus, what's that smell?" Nova almost gagged. She saw Cur healing, saw the foul black substance leaking from what remained of his wounds.
"Don't drop your guard," Hydrocita said. Nova moved back, extending a hand to put Cur down if he tried to attack her. "He's down, but he always gets back up. Dude's crazy..."
"You will rue the day," Cur groaned, pulling himself to his feet, "that you mocked the great Captain Cur, madame!" Hydrocita laughed even harder than before.
"What a dumbass, right?" The blonde jabbed her thumb at him. "He's got a new plan, though! Apparently he can make Brazil declare war on America by destroying this town."
"Destroying this town?" Nova came closer, keeping Cur in her peripheral vision, but focusing most of her attention on Hydrocita. "What d'you mean? Does he have that kind of power?"
"Well apparently not, 'cause I keep kicking his ass. In fact, watch, I'm about to do it again!" She raised her hand, drawing together from nearby vapour a sphere of water, then increasing the pressure on it to a vast extent.

Nova moved out of the way, turning both eyes on Cur again. There was something...off about him, and not just because of his ridiculous appearance. He was...yes, it was almost imperceptible, but he was glowing slightly.
"He can change the chemical constitution of his body..." Nova mumbled, remembering what Enhancegirl had explained. "Hydrocita, back off."
"What?"
"Back off!" Raising both her hands, she swept them apart, raising a blue-white barrier of rippling, fiery energy between the two heroes and their enemy. "He can turn his body into different chemicals," Nova said, clenching a fist. "There's a lot of chemicals in the periodic table, Farah," she hissed. "And some of them make very large explosions under the right circumstances."
"You mean...?" Hydrocita stepped back. "You mean, like...an atom bomb? Like the one we almost used on Japan?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean!" Nova looked through her barrier. Cur was peering at them, his head tilted to the side like a curious dog. He looked frustrated, even disappointed. "We retreat for now. If we fight him at full strength, we could -" Nova thought of her brief skirmish with Cur earlier, and felt her stomach tighten. If she'd set him off.... "Damn!" She squeezed her fist tightly shut. If her nails had been any longer, she would have made herself bleed. "All this power...and I can't use it!"

"What the hell do we do, then?" Hydrocita asked. She sounded sarcastic. She had been a member of this team much longer than it's beautiful, bright new star, and though she didn't mind Nova, she didn't much like taking orders from her.
"Jackson..." Nova said quietly, almost too quietly to hear. "I mean - Imperion. He'll know what to do. We regroup, and we work out a way to defeat him safely."
"Fine," Farah huffed. "But do we agree that you get the blame if it all goes tits up?" Nova blinked. "What? Panhellius says that all the time!"
"You need a serious attitude adjustment..." She was about to suggest that one of them stay, keeping a safe distance from Cur, just watching him, but she hadn't been paying enough attention. Separated from her by her barrier, the good Captain had slipped away into the shadows of the dawn.

As he ran, he shook. He quivered and howled.
"It...still isn't...right...!"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was a strange feeling that Mariko experienced as she awoke. She knew, straightaway, that she was a captive, her memory quite clear despite her drugged slumber. As her jade eyes forced themselves open, she could already feel she was bound. Her arms, her long legs - even her mouth - covered in strong, powerfully adhesive tape.
"C...captured..." she thought, woozily. She tried to move, wiggling her slim shoulders, but she was thoroughly caught. "Shhphh..." she mewed, calling out for her girlfriend. Whether she turned her head, or it simply fell to the side, she couldn't quite tell. At any rate, she found herself looking at the lovely, lightly freckled face of Sophie Scott, though she didn't return the gaze. She was looking straight up, her eyes half-open, whimpering quietly.

"Sophie...!" Stirred into greater wakefulness by the sight of her lover, Mariko's eyes widened as she beheld her. She too was bound, but more than that: she was completely mummified in silver tape, from her small-ish feet to her oft-kissed mouth. She mewed occasionally, Mariko seeing feeble, useless twitches as she fought with the small amount of strength she had. Mariko tried to reach out to her, but though she wasn't bound quite as utterly as Sophie, she was still helpless even to touch her lover.

Sophie's emerald eyes looked to her left, and she saw Mariko's jades looking right back into her.
"Mmmmphhh..." Sophie found herself moaning, and she was not quite sure why at first. Of course, there was the dismay at her and Mariko's captivity, but...it was more than that. She felt the extent of her own bondage, the strict, unforgiving cocoon which held her slinky, svelte body so helplessly captive, and in being so acutely aware of her own helplessness, she couldn't help but feel it right that, if she couldn't save herself, that Mariko - that Spectra - should save her; that a knight should come for her princess.

Yet this noble, powerful knight had been captured herself, and was in need of rescue just as much as her flame-haired princess. The only advantage she had over Sophie was that she could writhe her long, silky-smooth legs back and forth against the mattress on which they lay. The Japanese beauty shook her head, trying to clear her mind from the fog of the chloroform which had, finally, subdued the gorgeous pair.
"Mmhhh...mmmphh!" Mariko moaned, pulling with all her strength against her bondage, feeling how tightly her slim shoulders were pulled back by her restraints, how securely her legs were trapped against each other. Yet the slender damsel was no match for the strength of the tape that bound her. All the more true was this for Sophie, who could barely even twitch her soft limbs.

"Morning, darlings." The two captives looked up - and saw Colonel Cad standing over them, his coat unbuttoned but his mask firmly on. "I know you can't have got much sleep last night, so you'd better be really grateful that we gave you a couple more hours." He grinned. "You'll find I can actually be a pretty nice guy...as long as you act like good little girls, and do everything I say." He leaned down, peering at them. Sophie shrank from his gaze, in revulsion rather than fear, but he interpreted it as intimidation at his manly prowess and power. "Don't worry, Ginger," he chuckled. "All you need to do right now is wiggle that cute little body of yours a bunch more."
"Fhgh yhh!" Sophie shot back, her eyes as fierce as they could be, given how weak she still was. But he only laughed harder.
"Those sexy-ass whimpers'll do nicely too!" He licked his lips, and Sophie felt herself shrinking back.

"So let me explain," Greyhand said, enjoying having a captive audience for once, "how this is gonna work. You two got involved where you really shouldn't have, and now you're gonna pay the price."
"Mmh?" Mariko was suddenly very aware of their situation: two beautiful young women, bound and helpless in the clutches of a man with very few - if any - scruples. They saw his eyes running up and down Mariko's mostly uncovered legs. Running over Sophie's lithe figure, her curves more than apparent in her strict, all-encompassing bondage. "He won't touch her...I won't allow it! I don't care if I've been captured, I won't allow it!" Mariko thought.
"Oh, don't worry, gals, I won't be exacting payment myself...in fact, you are the payment."

Before the two damsels could consider this...ominous statement, Commander Caitiff walked in. She'd been sleeping in another room, since both she and Greyhand had been up for the whole night, searching for the two heroines. Sophie, fighting through her dizziness, noticed him tense, then make a clear show of relaxing.
"He's...nervous of her..." This was probably useful information, but Sophie didn't quite know what to do with it. Of the two of them, Cad seemed like he was the more powerful, but they both had such odd powers that it was hard to say for sure. "Two guys in a room: one has a pistol, the other has a shotgun - guess it only really matters who fires first," Sophie thought. She was also aware that neither she nor Mariko had 'guns' at all.

"Sleep well, 'Commander'?" Greyhand asked.
"Like a baby," Caitiff replied. She put on an air of friendliness with him. Whether she liked him or not, she was as much a part of what was happening as he was, and she didn't want to show division in front of their enemies.
"I was just telling our guests here what's gonna happen to 'em. See, as lucrative as that little job was," Cad said, squeezing his fist open and shut as he talked, "that's nothing compared to what you two can bring us. I don't suppose you've ever heard of a man named... Hades?"

"Nh...nnhhh...!" Sophie mewed. She'd heard the stories. A phantom crime-lord who had tendrils everywhere. Most said he had superpowers, though no-one was entirely certain. He was into everything: drugs; weapons; bribery - rumour was he'd even had moles in the CIA in his heyday. What was known - or what was said - was that he accepted...tribute from his underlings, or from potential enemies who didn't want to be more than potential enemies.
"Yeah, you know, don't you, sweetie?" Greyhand saw the fear in her eyes. "Ain't nothing our boy likes more than a young, cute little thing like you. Heh, I'm gonna be his favourite guy in the world after I hand you two over!" He looked at Mariko, but he didn't see fear there. She knew a little more than Sophie, as it happened.
"That's his plan? To scare us with this - this Bogeyman?" She almost laughed. She saw Sophie's fright, and wanted to comfort her, to tell her that this man wasn't real. Besides, she'd heard three or four different stories about how he'd died - if he had ever been real, surely one of them was true.

"I see we've got a sceptic," Caitiff said, seeing Mariko's expression. "That's cool. Don't believe everything you hear, and all. You can wait to believe us until he's got you mounted on his wall like a hunting trophy. And hey, I hear he's got a thing for Asian chicks." Mariko kept her face calm, but Caitiff saw her breathing get faster.
"You watch them," Cad said. His eyelids were drooping. "Make sure they don't wriggle away." He left the room, but not before turning around to wink at the two heroines... forgetting that with his mask on, they couldn't see his eyes.

This left the three women alone together.
"Mmhhh...MMPPHH!!" Sophie groaned, straining her body as hard as she could, but finding herself just as powerless as before.
"Wow, you do look cute, don'tcha?" Caitiff giggled. Cad's odious manner had put a bit of a sour taste in her mouth, but ultimately she derived just as much pleasure from the sight of her two lovely captives as he did, if not more. "All wrapped up like a Christmas present..."

She walked over, crouching near where Sophie lay.
"You know, I still remember how you kicked my ass back at the bank," she said. "Funny...I was absolutely no match for you. Like, at all. But I still ended up tying you up...twice! Ain't life funny?"
"Mph!" Sophie complained, writhing fiercely, but uselessly. She hated how it felt, being so all-encompassingly restrained, like there were a dozen hands grabbing her, holding her smooth limbs against her, squeezing her whole body. She still couldn't think of a way out, not with Caitiff hovering over her like that.

"And you..." Caitiff turned her attention to Spectra now. She already felt her heart racing as she remembered what she'd done to her before. Feeling every inch of her, feeling how limp and supple she was in her hands...
"Why is she looking at me like that?" Mariko could see the fire in her eyes, and recoiled slightly.
"I can never get away with this shit while the Captain's around," Caitiff said. "Eh. What he don't know won't kill him..."
"Mph!" Mariko gasped, as Caitiff suddenly grabbed her ankles, and pulled her closer. Before she could think of trying to kick her captor, Caitiff sat down, pinning Mariko's legs. "Mmghhmphh! NMMPH!" Mariko protested, as she felt her light-tan thighs being stroked and squeezed.
"Man, I wish I had your legs," Caitiff said, exhaling sharply. "Well - I guess I do, in a way, don't I?" She stroked the inside of Mariko's thighs, eliciting an unwilling blush.
"Damn her!" Mariko wriggled her shoulders, thrusting out her chest and shaking her head from side to side, but she was too tightly bound for it to make a difference. "I'm not some...plaything for her to toy with!"

As much as Caitiff was enjoying her captive's wriggles, and the muffled protests from her red-haired friend, there was something not quite to her heart's content about the situation.
"Oh, I know..." Caitiff grinned, standing to her feet. "Ow!" As soon as she'd moved off them, Mariko's legs had kicked her hard in the knee, almost making her buckle over. "Temper temper," Caitiff growled.

Commander Caitiff - or rather, Catherine Fuchs - did not think that she was a good person. She subdued, therefore, the shred of guilt that she felt at being so hands on with her captives. She had to admit, she'd rather liked the sensation of feeling Mariko writhing in her hands, but she still couldn't put out of her mind how it had felt to have her weak and pliable in that car. Therefore, she took out a handkerchief from the pocket of her dashingly soldierly, purple coat, and undid a small glass vial that Leanne had given her.

Emptying its contents onto the handkerchief, she saw that Mariko was already squirming away, her anger having given way to desperation and distress.
"No! For god's sake, don't drug me again, I'm already..." She flushed. "I'm already helpless..." She looked to the side, away from Caitiff - and from Sophie - her eyes half closed with despondence. She wondered if Nova would have allowed herself to be snatched off the street, kidnapped and reduced to nothing more than a wriggling damsel-in-distress.

Taking her by the shoulders, Caitiff pulled Mariko up to her feet, her bound ankles and thighs making it difficult for her to struggle meaningfully.
"Mmhhph!" Mariko continued to complain, squirming in Caitiff's grip, but unable to free herself.

"Mrrhkhh!" Sophie moaned from the floor where she still lay, so tightly bound that her struggles could hardly even be described as such: just faint wiggles of her supple body, giving hints of the beauty that lay within her sticky, plastic cocoon. She looked up, and saw Mariko being held against her captor. The willowy maiden was much taller than Caitiff, but with her lissom body bound, her height made her look all the weaker, as she was seized, fondled and dominated by this shorter woman, who seemed to have total control over the defeated heroine. With her hands bound behind her back, her naked legs pressed neatly and tightly against each other, she seemed terribly passive, even obedient. Her tallness made her look...precarious, somehow; fragile, like she might collapse at any moment.

"Don't worry, Spectra," Caitiff said, bringing the cloth to bear. "I'm not gonna knock you out. I'm just gonna make you a little...softer."
"NNMPHH!" Mariko cried out, as the drugged handkerchief was thrust over her mouth and nose. "MGHHMPHH!" She thrashed, and bucked in Caitiff's grip, but she couldn't get her head away. "HMMPHH! Mhh...mhhphh..." Her eyes were already fluttering: she wasn't fully recovered from her last drugging. She felt her legs quivering, her head already swaying a little. "Mhhhhh...nnnhhh..."

Mariko felt her strength slipping away, a cloud descending on her, clogging her intellect, stopping up her mind, enfeebling her graceful limbs. She was sagging, heavy somnolence forcing her into a state of weary lightness.
"Mmhh...mhh..." she sighed quietly. She looked into Caitiff's eyes, obscured by her mask. The villain saw Mariko's forlorn expression, her bright, jade eyes glistening, slightly moist. She blinked slowly, finding it hard to keep her eyes open. She no longer wriggled, her body entirely subdued. She was subdued.

Caitiff took the cloth away, Mariko already more than weak enough. The heroine's head wobbled as she tried to keep it upright, but she kept looking into Caitiff's eyes. Catherine didn't know Mariko, had no conception of her personality. She therefore imagined that Mariko's gaze, which was indeed distressed and forlorn, was more than it actually was.
"Please..." she imagined Mariko thinking. "Please let me go...I beg you...please have mercy..." It was a rather appealing fantasy, but once again it made Caitiff feel just a little guilty. Shaking her head, she slipped one of her strong, athletic arms behind Mariko's naked legs, and behind the small of her back, before lifting her into her arms like a stolen princess.

"Mmhh..." Mariko sighed, sleepily flopping into Caitiff's arms, her head falling back, exposing her neck. She happened to catch sight of Sophie, still thrashing vigorously, the muzzled maiden calling out Mariko's name through her gag again and again, bucking wildly, throwing her red-hair from side to side. Thinking of how Caitiff had taken such liberties with her, Mariko felt ashamed that she'd let another woman feel her in that way, a way she wanted to reserve only for her beloved Sophie. "I'm sorry..." she thought, too drowzy to be wholly rational.

Caitiff sat down in a ragged wooden chair, drawing Mariko against her, cradling the maiden in her lap.
"Mmhh..." Mariko mewed, as her head flopped against Caitiff's shoulder. "Nhh..." She let out a weak protest as she felt Caitiff's hands stroking her shapely legs once again, her fingertips spreading out in a wavy pattern, massaging Mariko's firm, tender flesh. She traced the groove between Mariko's thighs, which were still clamped firmly against each other by her bonds. "Whghmph...!" Mariko gasped, finding herself very sensitive where she was being stroked. "I'll get...get her for this...!" She looked at Sophie. Sophie looked back.

Caitiff saw beads of sweat appearing on Mariko's naked legs and her cheeks, saw her sleepily shifting, felt her inadvertently rub her willowy body against her captor. She found herself breathing very, very quickly.
"God, you're sexy..." she almost moaned. "Oh, fuck..." Hungrily, she pulled Mariko close, and began roughly kissing her quivering neck, and her thin jawline. She felt Mariko's weak struggles, so weak, felt her wiggle her shoulders. Rubbing against Caitiff's chest, they felt rather soft. She wanted to know just how soft.

Hurling caution to the wind, she tore Mariko's dress, exposing her shoulders and the upper parts of her breasts.
"Mhhh...mmhhphh!" Mariko moaned. She looked down at herself, saw her moist, exposed skin, and looked back up at her captor. Despite her somnolence, her eyes went wide, in a heady mixture of shame, disbelief, and helpless pleasure. "Nhhh...sthhp..." she ordered, though it sounded more like meek begging. She wiggled her chest, and her torn dress became a little more dishevelled. She looked down, part of her lacy black bra now visible. She looked back up at her captor, and gave a small, frightened whimper.

That was all Caitiff could take. She pushed Mariko's head back, and squeezed the damsel against her by her thighs and her back, kissing her bare shoulders and her traps, feeling how warm and smooth they were. Completely losing control of herself, she thrust her hand under Mariko's dress, seizing her smooth, firm rear, grabbing at it, and at the same time kissing, licking, even biting Mariko's neck and her shoulders. The damsel moaned, louder and louder, sighing, gasping with helpless pleasure, writhing sinuously in Caitiff's grip, utterly dominated and controlled.
"Oh god, she likes it...she can't help herself!" Caitiff thought, laughing internally.

Yet even as she had her way with the drugged, bound beauty, Caitiff sensed that something was wrong. Wrong with herself, definitely, but she just couldn't resist. No, there was something else. She didn't know that Spectra and Enhancegirl were romantically involved, but they were obviously allies, and she just assumed they were friends. Yet, since she'd sat Mariko upon her lap, she hadn't heard a peep from her - their - other captive. She looked up, tearing her eyes away from Spectra - and saw that Sophie was gone.
"What?!" she gasped. Momentarily stunned, she turned toward Mariko. The heroine arched her eyebrow, and shrugged her lovely shoulders. If she hadn't been gagged, Caitiff would have seen a slight, sardonic smile. "Those moans...that was deliberate! She was distracting me!!" Shoving Spectra off her, she bounded for the door, hurling herself through it. "Damn you!"

Sophie heard the bark behind her, but didn't stop. Later, she would have to thank Mariko for enduring such humiliation to Sophie's advantage, but now was the time for action. She hadn't been able to free herself, but she if she could either find something to cut herself loose, then the next best option was to try simply to escape.

For this reason, she hopped one difficult step at a time, as fast as her strictly bound legs would carry her.
"Mmph!" Her thrashes had not been wholly in vain, for they had stretched the tape binding her, just a little, just to give her a tiny bit more wiggle room - literally. She hopped as fast as she could, the fact that her shoes had been removed actually helping her to balance.

She was almost at the front door. Even in Ferndale, there was a decent chance that somebody would hear her, or see her. She hopped forward, each step sending a judder through her body. Even squeezed by the restricting duct-tape, her breasts still bounced visibly with every short leap. Sophie didn't care though. She just wanted to get free, and not just for her own sake. Not even just for Mariko's. There was someone who needed to be saved, and Sophie...well, Sophie was a hero.

She reached the door. This was the tricky part: mummified as she was, she had nothing to grip the handle.
"Mmph!" She hopped over to the doorframe, turning her back to the doorknob. Her hands, trapped in a reverse-prayer position, were pointed upwards, and useless to her. Her elbows, however, were still a little prominent, even through her bonds. She pushed one of them against the doorknob, but it slipped off. "Shit!" If she slipped and fell, she wouldn't be able to right herself. It had taken a lot of concentration to get onto her feet in the first place: she did not want to have to do it again. "C'mon, c'mon...yes!" The doorknob slipped, and the latch opened, the door now slightly ajar. Steadying herself, Sophie turned around with a few short hops, then nudged the door further open with her nose.

Cool, dawn air burst in, caressing her face, blowing away the last of the drowziness inflicted on her by the chloroform. Looking out, Sophie saw she was on a street she knew, near an old skee ball arcade which had shut down a year before Sophie had started college. As she looked closer, hopping out another step, she saw someone, about twenty metres away. She recognised this person: she knew him as Mister Winters, a kindly old gentleman who'd taught French part-time at Sophie's elementary school.
"Mhhphhthhr Whhnntthhffhh!" Sophie called out. He didn't hear her. "Mhhphhthhr Whnnnt - MMPHH!!" Before she could finish this muffled version of his name a second time, a hand clamped over her mouth. "NMMPHHH!"
"Got you, you tricky little cape! Now get your ass back in here!" Caitiff growled in Sophie's ear.
"Nnmmphh! NNMPPHH!!" Sophie screamed, as she was dragged back inside, her supple, taped-up body no match for Caitiff's strength. Winters continued on his way without so much as a glance in her direction. He had, alas, gone completely deaf since Sophie had last met him.

"Mpph! NMMPHH!" Sophie gasped, writhing in Caitiff's grip, fighting as hard as she possibly could. "No! I was so close! God damn it!"
"You know what?" Catherine said. "Fuck this." She crouched down, grabbed Sophie's legs, and hurled her over her shoulder.
"NMMPHHH! PHHD MHH DHHHHNN!!" Sophie bucked and wriggled, her red hair flying to and fro as she shook, the cocooned damsel fighting with all she had - but it wasn't enough. Caitiff kept a painfully tight grip on her thighs and her ass, and while she kicked her calves back and forth, with her un-shod feet she couldn't do any damage to her captor.

Mariko heard the screams and sounds of struggle, so she knew, to her dismay, that Sophie had been recaptured, and that their plan hadn't worked. Yet when she actually saw Sophie carried in - her eyes wet with tears of frustration, the lovely maiden thrashing in the agony of defeat, the shame of recapture - it made it so much worse.
"Mmhh..." Mariko whimpered, still lying, weakened and humiliated, on the floor. "We failed..."

"Quiet!" Catherine yelled at the redhead slung over her body, too panicked and ashamed of herself to derive any enjoyment from it. "Just shut up!" More angrily than lustfully, she smacked her hand against her captive's tight, heart-shaped rump.
"MPH!" Sophie squeaked, shocked into pausing her struggles.
"Oh, I see," Catherine laughed, her voice shaking a little. "So the cute little redhead can't take a spanking huh? Fine!"

She marched over to the chair she'd been fondling Mariko on, at the foot of which Mariko still lay. Caitiff rolled Mariko away with her foot, the heroine still too weak and groggy to put up a fight. She sat down, at the same time manoeuvring Sophie off her shoulder, and bending her over her lap, holding her in place by her neck.

"You know what happens to naughty redheads, Enhancegirl? I'll give you three guesses. One."
"MMPHH!" Sophie felt Caitiff's hand smack solidly into her round behind, sending reverberations through her whole body. She tried to wriggle free, but she couldn't: Caitiff held her too tightly.
"Two."
"MMMPHHH!!" Even harder this time, Sophie felt a shock of embarrassment. as well as the sting of Caitiff's hand. She was being spanked like a disobedient slave-girl - and her girlfriend had to watch.
"Three."
"MMMMMMPHHH!!! Mmhhh..." Sophie screamed, then mewed, feeling the crack against her taut, fine flesh. Caitiff felt Sophie slacken, her struggles abating.
"You like that, huh? I bet that sweet little tuckus of yours is redder than your hair right now!" Caitiff almost screamed, smacking her hand hard, again, and again, and again, against Sophie's behind, her victim's jolts fading with each spanking into twitches, and finally just shudders. "What do I do?" Sophie thought, distraught. "God damn it, why do I have to be so...fragile...?"

Gone were the times when Sophie doubted that she deserved her status as a superhero. Gone were the days when every defeat seemed like it might be the final nail in the coffin of her career as Enhancegirl: she felt in her heart that she'd earned some pride. Yet that made this worse. Yes she was more powerful now, her skills sharper than ever, her reputation almost entirely positive. But she could still be defeated. She could still be bound and subdued. She could still be humiliated.

"Mmh...mhh..." she whimpered, very quietly. Mariko saw her face, and her heart sank.
"Oh, Sophie...oh, my Sophie, please don't..."
"What the hell?" Caitiff asked. She lifted Sophie's head, turning the redhead towards her - and suddenly felt like the scum of the Earth.

Sophie was crying. Her eyes were not merely wet with tears of frustration as before: her cheeks were stained with trails of tears, and she was sobbing quietly. Caitiff recoiled, pushing Sophie off her.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" she thought. "She doesn't deserve this...and neither did Spectra...fuck, all they were doing was trying to stop us from robbing a bank!" She felt ill. She'd always had these, predilections, these impulses. They would not - nor should they - have caused her shame, were it not for how they'd been used. First Stonemaster, then Hades had tried to breed in her a sadism, to indulge her as much as possible in order to torment their captives. One of the reasons she'd run away with Leanne and, to her chagrin, Raymond, was because she'd felt she wasn't just a criminal anymore. She was becoming evil. "It's too deep..." she thought. "They ruined me..."

"Plmhfm..." Sophie whimpered. "Plmhfm lmt mm fhn ghhdbnm th hmr..."
"Wh-what? I don't understand." Without thinking, she reached forward, and peeled off Sophie's gag, leaving a faint red mark around her mouth and cheeks.
"Please..." the redhead sobbed through her tears. "Y-you're giving us to Hades...but - I - he might separate us..."
"What do you mean?"
"Please...please let me say goodbye to her while I still can...I'm begging you..." She was quivering, shaking as she restrained a full flood of tears.
"Oh god...oh, fuck, kid..." Caitiff didn't know what to say. "You guys aren't just friends, are you?" Sophie didn't say anything, but her quivering lip told Caitiff all she needed to know.
"...Fine."

She dragged Sophie's bound form over to where Mariko lay.
"Well?" Caitiff said, her heart pumping guilt through every pore. "Go on then!"
"I..." Sophie wriggled a little closer, until her face was close enough to Mariko's to touch. "I...I don't know what to say, I just..."
"Sophie, don't despair," Mariko heart ached in sympathy, but she was very surprised that Sophie had given up hope like this. "There's a way out...there's always a way out! I can't believe you of all people can't see that..." Her eyes narrowed slightly. Indeed. She couldn't believe it.

Sophie got a little closer. She pursed her lips, and almost shut her eyes, moving her mouth towards Mariko's sealed lips.
"Oh god..." Caitiff couldn't watch. It was heartbreaking - and she was making it happen. She turned way, covering her eyes with a hand. It was exactly at this point that Mariko saw Sophie's expression change from pathetically defeated, to a sly, sharp sneer. She lunged forward, and Mariko felt not Sophie's lips, but her teeth. If this had been the other way round, it wouldn't have worked. Sophie had been gagged, when she'd been gagged, too thoroughly. But Mariko had only been gagged with one strip of tape. And when Sophie had been hopping away, she'd been working to loosen it.

"You stupid fuck!" At the very moment that this had happened, Greyhand - awoken by the noise of Sophie's escape attempt and recapture - had walked in. He'd seen Caitiff looking away from her captives. He'd seen Sophie and Mariko. He'd seen Sophie pulling off Mariko's gag with her teeth.

Greyhand was not a hesitant man. Even as he was speaking he drew his pistol. But, quick as he was, he wasn't fast enough. He certainly wasn't as fast as light.
"AUGHH!" he screamed, as a lance of light seared his hand, making him drop the pistol. The gun actually went off, but the bullet lodged harmlessly in a wall.

"Let me show you," Spectra said, slicing away her bonds, and standing, cloaking herself in radiance, "what happens to those who trifle with us!" From her position on the ground, Sophie no longer thought Mariko's height made her look fragile: it made her look like...well, it made her look like Spectra.

Cad and Caitiff both attacked at once. Caitiff struck out with two large globules of her binding gel, while Greyhand shot out a nail he'd absorbed earlier. He hadn't much left in his stores.
"Not enough!" Spectra created a wall of light, at an angle, on which the nail was easily deflected away. Not quite sure of its properties, Spectra fired at the gel a blast powerful enough to puncture reinforced steel, and evaporated it. Pressing the attack, she let out a dazzling burst of yellow light, temporarily blinding both her enemies. In this moment of vantage, she concentrated sufficiently to cut Sophie out of her bonds, not wanting to risk hurting her by doing it offhandedly.

"Enhance!" In a flash, Sophie's yellow dress was replaced by the gold of Enhancegirl, and she sprang to her feet with all the lithe agility that had served the hero so well. She leapt into battle, hooking Caitiff's chair with her foot, and using one of her much-admired legs to hurl it straight at Cad without even looking at him. He raised his hand, and indeed, the metal legs and base of the chair dissolved as soon as they touched his palm - but the seat of the chair was thick, hard wood, and it hit him straight in the face. This not only knocked him flat on his back, it cracked one of his incisors.

After her initial assault failed, Caitiff put up only a token resistance. Spectra swatted aside her attacks, before assailing her with an invisible wave of heat that made Caitiff think she was about to catch fire. It would have been more painful if she hadn't felt like she deserved it. She dropped to her knees, steaming, thoroughly defeated.

"Ackk!" Cad cried out, as he felt the heels of Enhancegirl's short boots clamping down on his wrists.
"Don't move, asshole. Don't even fucking think about moving."
"Alright, alright!" he practically shrieked. "You win, okay? You kicked our asses! Again! You happy, huh? Big tough - aaghh!" Enhancegirl kicked him in the jaw.
"Dude, stop talking. I am looking for any fucking excuse right now!" Wisely, he closed his mouth.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cur ran. He ran and he ran and he ran, feeling his body grow hotter, that tickling sensation now a scratching. Something inside him screamed, while another part laughed. He couldn't think, he couldn't focus, he couldn't plan. He had one driving motivation, and one only: to be what the world deserved.

"I will be...a real villain," he said. The face of Colonel Cad flashed into his mind. "I will be...a real villain!" Blood. "No!" A smell. "NO!" A laugh, a laugh which thrust daggers into him. "NO! NO NO NO NO! I WILL BE THE RIGHT ONE! I WILL BE THE REAL VILLAIN!" He ran, and kept running, screaming all the way.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mariko breathed hard, relishing in her victory, and the restoration of her pride. She looked at Sophie. God, she was beautiful: her strength and her cunning only making Mariko adore her all the more. Sophie looked back at her, saw her waiflike, willowy lover cloaked in radiance, and she could have sworn she felt a little of Spectra's power within her, a burning light within.

"Hey," Caitiff said, breathing hard. "Look, when you...uh... bring Captain Cur in, don't be too harsh. The dude's whacked out." It was over. She felt like it had to be over for the others as well.
"Growing a conscience, are we?" Mariko hissed. "I didn't notice a trace of that when you were rubbing those filthy hands all over me!"
"Look, I'm sorry..." Caitiff said, almost too quietly for Spectra to hear. She let out an angry bark of a laugh.
"She repents! How sweet. Hope that the judge at your sentencing is a Christian." She shook her head. "It wasn't enough that you be a criminal. No, you had to drag in a madman to do your grunt work, deepen his delusions by taking on your ridiculous names, and putting on those absurd clothes."
"Hey, shut up!" Enhancegirl had said this, but not to Spectra. Cad was laughing.

"Ehehehe," he giggled. "Sorry, it's just...ehehehehehe!"
"You think this is funny?" Sophie stepped harder on his wrist. "You know what happened to him, right? That guy used to be a superhero! A good guy!" She shook her head at the tragedy of it. "The Fifty Fractals, they - they did something to him. Gave him new powers, or changed the ones he had or whatever, and drove him insane."
"Oh, please, Arrhenius was always nuts," Raymond said. Enhancegirl froze.

"...what?" Spectra turned around, slowly. "You knew?"
"Sure I did," Raymond said. "I guess he got lionised after he 'died', 'cos when he was alive everyone wished he'd fucking quit. He was paranoid, schizoid, one of the two. Both, maybe. 'Emotionally disturbed', you might say. He got arrested once for killing a cop, you know that?" There was a silence. "Yeah, didn't think so. He got off, apparently the cop was crooked, or something, but nobody trusted him after that. Dying was the best PR move he ever could have made."
"Then...what did happen to him?" Caitiff had asked this question. This was news to her as well.

She'd never been quite clear on exactly how Greyhand and Captain Cur had met. All she knew was that, after abandoning Hades with her and Leanne, he'd abandoned the two of them as well - and then returned with that bizarre man a couple of months later, Cur having apparently brought Denzel into his service somewhere along the way.

Once again, it seemed, Caitiff had allowed her life to be ruled by bad decisions. She had a strange feeling that she would not want to hear Cur's story...but she had to know now.
"What the hell did you do?"

"You were half-right." Greyhand had an audience. He couldn't resist an audience. "He got his new powers after the Fractals fucked with him, but uh...that's not what drove him over the edge." He looked up at Enhancegirl. From her expression, he knew it would upset her. He knew it would make her suffer. He would still have won, in one way or another.

"So it's the day the Fractals were fucking up Chicago, right? Everyone's screaming and shit, but I'm passin' through my old neighbourhood, and I think 'hey, great opportunity for a guy without too many scruples.' So I start busting into places, and the cops aren't gonna do shit about it, not that day.

I go to this one house and - ehehe! - I'm looking around. I figure the place is empty, but I'm wrong, kinda. There's someone trying to disturb my business hours; and Gel-Belle will tell you I don't like having my business hours disturbed. So when that little sack of shit got in my face, I twisted her little head off, just about." He was smiling. He was enjoying the memory.
"What the hell?" Sophie thought. "He just confessed to murder!" She was incredulous, but she didn't want to stop him.

"I start filling up with as much loot as I can, and I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. Then I turn around and I see him. I didn't know it was a 'him' at first...just a big, kinda-human-shaped pile of black goo. I freak. I shoot it - 'him', as it turned out - five, six times, and nothing. Then the goo starts forming, and I see a face I recognise. Arrhenius. I'm thinking I'm a dead man. He doesn't look happy, I can tell you that. And then he sees." He laughed again, so hard that spittle was flying out of his mouth. "Ahahahahha! Aahehehehehehe! 'Marianne!' he screams. 'Marianne'! And I mean screams! He falls on his knees, and he starts blubbing like a baby! Literally! He's bawling, banging his fists and his feet on the ground, tearing his hair out, even though it keeps growing back. You know, I think he actually tried to strangle himself with his own hands! Ahahahaha! That was when Captain Cur was born, ladies. I guess he just couldn't take reality anymore, 'cause he sprang right up - and he recruited me!" He smiled, smugly. He'd hurt them, and he wished he had an even worse story to tell to twist the knife even deeper.

"Y-you..." Spectra stammered. "You...whom did you murder? Who was Marianne? His wife? His daughter?" He laughed again, even harder, so much so that he physically couldn't answer.
"Oh god..." Sophie remembered. She remembered when Cur had lost control, what had made him do it. When he'd seen that broken ornament in his hand. "Spectra," she said, "Marianne...Marianne was his cat."

Spectra went pale. She gulped, feeling her hands shaking. Cad was hooting, now, cackling like a maniac.
"What? Y-you think I'd - ahahaha! - you think I'd confess to murder, you dumb fucks? I mean, c'mon, I know I'm a jackass, but it was just an animal!" He saw Spectra walking over to him, quite calmly. He didn't expect either of the things she did next. The first was to shove Enhancegirl off him. The second was to haul him up, push him against the wall, and press her hand against his stomach.

"Hey, what are you - AUGHH!" He felt the heat, but not actually against his skin. "Aaahhh! What the - auggh! - what the fuck are you doing."
"The main component of stomach acid," Spectra said, very calmly. "Is hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid has a boiling point of one-hundred and ten degrees centigrade, if I remember correctly. Now, I'm sure that because stomach acid isn't purely hydrochloric, I'm off somewhat. But I imagine I'm close enough."
"Heh - aaahh - AHHH!" Greyhand writhed and contorted, as he felt himself grow hotter, and hotter.
"Some people aren't quite right," Spectra said, a little less calmly this time. "Some of us aren't...attuned to other people in the right way. We find it hard to connect, to understand, to intuit others' feelings and wishes. But we all need feeling. Every person - sorry, every good person finds it difficult to live without something to love."
"Wh-what the f-fuck are you -?"
"Some such people," Spectra continued, no longer sounding very calm at all, "find those fickle, odd, little animals to be a good match for them, a safe target for their love. Something real but - simplified. With the variables removed. Arrhenius, it seems, is such a person. He had something he loved. You destroyed it, and you laughed at his tears. And then - just because you weren't quite the most disgusting person in the world - you essentially enslaved him for his power. What is your real name?"
"R-Raymond!" he screamed.
"Raymond, you are...subhuman - and you deserve to die."

Just as he feared that he would catch fire, Raymond felt a wave of incredible relief, as Spectra took her hand away, not only ceasing to add heat, but actively drawing some away, to the extent that she could, in order to cool his organs. She then punched him in the stomach.
"AAUUGHHH! AAUUUGGHHH!" Raymond howled, falling to his knees, clutching himself, feeling as though a bomb had gone off in his stomach cavity.
"You will live," Spectra said. "But one day, Raymond; one day, sub-human, I may decide that you won't. And unlike you, I can kill very...very neatly."

As she walked away from him, Caitiff watched her with terror. For a second or two, Sophie was frightened as well. But with her senses, she could see the quivers in what would have looked to another like total control. She was holding emotion in, and she was holding in a great tide. Forgetting Caitiff, she ran to embrace Mariko, as much to comfort herself as to comfort Spectra, but her girlfriend held up her hand, stopping her. Sophie felt her stomach tighten at this rebuttal, but she saw a hint of gentleness in Spectra's eyes.
"In a moment, my love," she said. "In a moment."

[Damselbinder]

"How do we stop him?" Nova asked her leader. The starlit maiden looked at him with expectant eyes, but he didn't meet her gaze.
"There's a couple of ways I can think of," Imperion said. "But none of them end...as I'd prefer."
"Don't beat around the bush, boss," Hydrocita said. "He ends up dead in all of them, right?"
"Obviously," Panhellius interjected. "We believe that Imperion's electrical powers would be enough to prevent him from regenerating, but that has the potential to be...explosive." He turned to the woman in blue leather. "We will need to depend on you, Farah." He looked very, very hard into her. "Can we?"
"What do you mean, Derek?" Hydrocita replied.
"Nothing," he replied. "Nothing at all." Imperion narrowed his eyes.
"The quickest, safest way to beat him," the blonde man said, "will be to drown him, to stop him breathing. His cells still need energy. Without oxygen, they won't have any. His powers won't work, and he'll..." He didn't want to say it.
"He'll die," Panhellius continued.
"Yeah..." Imperion stood up. He took a step, and the ground shook slightly. "Sorry," he said quietly. "If anyone thinks of anything else on the way, then, for God's sake don't keep it to yourself." Nova saw the pain on his face, and felt a quickly-suppressed instinct to comfort him.
"Don't be girlish," she said to herself. "We do what we must. That's what you wanted, remember?" Yet something didn't feel quite right.
"Find him, Nova," Imperion said. "Quickly."
"Of course," Sara replied, and in a burst of blue-white light, she took off.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, Officer McCarty!" Sophie said cheerily, as one of the two police cars that had answered their call contained the two police that had been guarding the bank earlier.
"Enhancegirl!" he replied. He waved, then awkwardly corrected himself when his partner looked sideways at him. "You got these two, then?"
"Yeah, me and Spectra," she explained. "Sorry for not stopping the robbery. They were, uh, a little tougher than we expected."
"Hey, no worries," McCarty replied. "You and the Pauldron got all the money back, right?"
"Wait, what?"

As McCarty explained how things stood, Mariko supervised the arrest of Catherine and Raymond. Catherine was too guilty and shocked to resist, Raymond in too much pain. She watched them pulled into the squad car, her arms tightly folded.
"When I get home," she thought. "Arthur is going to be the most spoiled cat in the Western Hemisphere."

"Spectra!" The shaken heroine turned her head, saw Sophie waving her over. The redhead brought Mariko up to speed. "We're running out of time. Cur - I mean, Arrhenius - is the only one left. The Pauldron are looking for him." She wanted to hold Mariko's hand, but restrained herself.
"I quite agree that we need to hurry, but I still don't wholly share your concern. They're probably just trying to take him in. He'll be no match even for just one, let alone three members of the Pauldron," Mariko said, not knowing that Panhellius was in Ferndale as well.
"You'd probably be right," Sophie said. "Except apparently he's threatened to destroy the whole town."
"His powers couldn't do that," Mariko said. "Could they?"
"I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, besides the fact that I don't think he'd actually do that, even if he turned himself into, like, uranium - you need more than that for an atom bomb, don't you?"
"I wouldn't know. I doubt the Pauldron do either," Mariko replied, frowning. "Not many people know how that sort of thing works. To protect the town from an atomic explosion..." She stroked her chin. "I'm convinced, Sophie. They might try to kill him."
"That cannot happen," Sophie said, very deliberately. "That cannot happen. Not after all this shit."
"Truly," Mariko said.

"Hey, Officer McCarty," Enhancegirl called out. "Do you know where he is?"
"What, Captain Cur?" the policeman replied. "Not precisely."
"I don't need precise," Sophie said. She tapped her nose. "Just point me in the right direction."
"Well, we think he's somewhere in the woods out East."
"The one's that the cemetery backs onto?" Sophie replied.
"Yeah, that's the one." He smiled. "You know this town, huh?"
"Shit!" Sophie exclaimed, turning back to Spectra. "We're, like, forty minutes from there on foot!"
"That might be enough," she replied. "Come on." Just before they sped off, McCarty stepped in front of them.
"Uh, girls - sorry, ladies - sorry, um -"
"Out with it," Spectra hissed.
"Well, uh...who says you have to go on foot?" he said sheepishly. Mariko blinked.
"Enhancegirl," she said, "I think I quite like this town."


As the two heroines were driven by the officer - who in no way was being prompted to be so helpful by his being smitten with Enhancegirl's friendly, easy charm and stunning, yet approachable beauty - they both took a breath. This was a moment of rest that they did not have to feel guilty for taking. Sophie looked out the window, seeing the still dull morning light illuminating the familiar buildings and trees. She sighed. It was comforting just to know that it was all there.

"Officer McCarty," Spectra said quietly. The policeman, in the front seat, didn't react. That was what Mariko had wanted, as she didn't want him to hear what she said next. "Sophie?"
"Yeah?" The two looked into each other's eyes, finding relief from the awful tale they'd both been told.
"May I ask you something?"
"Anything," the redhead replied, turning her body a little more towards her.
"Your deception was astounding." Mariko smiled slightly. "How did you do it? The best actors in the world can't all summon those sorts of tears on command."
"I have a secret weapon, I guess," she said. Her smile flickered. "Remember when Ivan saved your life? Turned himself into a mini-sun?"
"As it happens, I do recall that, yes," Mariko replied, raising her eyebrow.
"Well," Sophie said, "I thought about what it would have been like if it hadn't worked." She swallowed, and Mariko saw her eyes glittering. She took Sophie's hands in her own, McCarty be damned, and squeezed them.
"Well," she said, "if it would have made you cry like that, then I'm very glad it did work." She stroked Sophie's palms with her thumbs.
"Don't go."
"Hmm? Go...?"
"Don't leave, okay? One way or another, don't leave. If I lost -" Cad's story had got to her as well. Thinking back on her life, she'd not had much experience with losing the things she really cared about. The thought of losing what she cared about the most, as Arrhenius had...she didn't know if she'd react any better than he had. Mariko didn't say anything in reply. She just stroked Sophie's cheek with her index finger, and promised herself that she'd hold her lover as tightly as she could, as soon as she could.

By the time they arrived at the cemetery, Sophie had already picked up the scent.
"Thank you so much!" she said to McCarty, as she and Spectra hopped out. "I won't forget this."
"Be sure that you don't," he said, doffing his hat to her. He hadn't noticed them holding hands, you see.

The two moved quickly into the woods, Sophie leading the way. She could smell the stink of the ichor that leaked from his wounds, so she was making a straight line to him. She hoped that the ease of her locating him was not because he was grievously wounded. It took them about twenty-five minutes, darting in and out of tall, splendid trees, crossing bubbling streams, and altogether sampling the delights of the Humboldt County countryside. But they weren't tourists.

"I see him," Enhancegirl said. He was about two hundred metres away, pacing back and forth in the same spot. He had, indeed, altered the composition of his body, but Sophie couldn't tell into what he had turned. Moving forward with some care, she scanned around for anything which might make her job more complicated. Unfortunately, that was exactly what she saw, approaching from the North. "Oh, fuck."

They were coming. It looked almost comical, seeing three of the most respected superheroes in the country on a nature-hike, but the oddness of the sight didn't alter its significance. Sophie noticed that the gender ratio had switched: two men and one woman this time. Where was Nova?
"I'll get Cur to turn himself in," Sophie said. "You need to stall them."
"Stall them? I'll just explain the situation."
"Sure, just...keep them away from him." She started to move forward, but Mariko's hand on her shoulder arrested her progress.
"Be careful, Sophie," Mariko said. "He needs help, on that I agree with you. However, he may not accept it from you. Do not risk your life to save his sanity. It's not a fair trade."
"It doesn't work like that, Mariko," Sophie said. "Don't worry. I can take care of myself." Not allowing further conversation, she began moving towards Cur.
"Right," Mariko muttered. "Let's hope these people are amenable to reason."



"Going on the record," Hydrocita said. "I hate the countryside. I hate the bugs. I hate the dirt. It sucks, and I refuse to pretend that it doesn't."
"I agree," Panhellius added. He looked down at his shoes: his very expensive shoes. "These are going to be difficult to clean..."
"I get it," Jackson said. "You two are dyed-in-the-wool town mice. I appreciate your positions." He smiled. "For me this is home. Not here specifically, but...y'know, the outdoors."
"You grew up on your dad's ranch," Hydrocita said, "not in the fucking mountains."
"Eh," Imperion shrugged. "Anywhere with that amount of animal dung counts as the outdoors. Alright, enough chatter. Let's keep our eyes -"

He saw something coming over a ridge - someone. He tensed at first, but saw that it was not Cur. It was a tall, beautiful young woman, with short, jet-black hair and graceful limbs.
"Good lord," Panhellius tittered. "Spectra."

It was she. She approached the trio, with poise, but not necessarily with total assurance.
"Spectra!" Imperion called out. "What are you doing here?"
"Captain Cur," Mariko said, "or rather, Doctor Arrhenius, is just over that ridge."
"What?!" Hydrocita exclaimed. "What the hell are we doing here, then? Let's kick his ass!" She started walking, but Mariko moved into her path. Hydrocita narrowed her eyes at her. "What are you doing?"
"Enhancegirl is attempting to persuade him to turn himself in for psychiatric treatment. We must give her a chance to do this."
"Oh we 'must', must we?" Imperion said, stepping forward. This was not a man who was used to being given orders.

"I was right. Cur is Doctor Arrhenius: one of his own men confirmed it. He's lost his mind, but he can be helped."
"So it was the Fractals, then?" Panhellius said. "They drove him mad?"
"More or less," Mariko said. The other details were, at this point, extraneous. "I...urge you to let her at least make the attempt."
"Spectra," Imperion said. "I respect you, and I respect your accomplishments. But at the very least, we're working with different information here. From what I understand, he's about to turn himself into an atom bomb."
"He can't do that. Even if he can turn himself into radioactive metal, he can't become an atom bomb."
"How do you know that?" Panhellius said. "How do you know for sure?" Mariko tensed.
"Enhancegirl's senses allowed her to scan him extensively. He seems to be able to alter the chemical composition of his body, but nothing remotely approaching the complexity required for an atomic explosion."
"Not good enough. It's still possible," Panhellius replied, tapping the hilt of his sword with his fingers. "We don't understand fully the true nature of his power."
"Your logic is poor. You have as little understanding of my power as you do of his. Must you then take steps to ensure I do not become an atomic bomb?"
"You fail to take into account," Panhellius replied, "that Cur outright threatened to destroy Ferndale. This shows that he himself seems to be considering the possibility, at least, that he is capable of this."
"Irrelevant. The question is whether or not he can make good on his threat."
"Redundant. My suggestion is that this information goes towards your query."
"Likewise redundant. I know that's what you're trying to establish: I'm saying you've failed to establish it."
"I -"

"Enough!" Imperion barked, his voice booming. "Spectra, you make a good case, but I can't risk the lives of this town's people."
"My whole point," Mariko said, "is that you aren't risking them!" She realised that she'd just raised her voice at one of the strongest beings in the world. "I will step aside right now, if you say that you have some plan simply to incapacitate him." None of them spoke. "In that case," Mariko continued, "I cannot...I cannot allow you to proceed." Imperion opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. He looked at Panhellius. The Englishman shrugged.

"Screw this," Hydrocita gathered her strength, and raised herself up on a jet of water. "I've got work to do and - aahhh!" She felt herself tumbling, and just about managed to steady herself with another jet. She looked down, and saw Spectra, a blade of light extending from her arm.
"Are you...are you fucking insane?!" Hydrocita looked hard at her. "Are you insane?!"
"I'm doing what we're meant to do. I'm saving a life, not destroying it. All I'm asking is that you wait a few minutes, if she fails, then -"
"I'm not debating ethics with some jumped-up little Couvie-hero! Get out of my way!"
"No."

Hydrocita breathed in, slowly, and out even more slowly.
"Alright...okay then," she said. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
"Very well," Spectra said. She looked straight into the sun, ignited her powers, and leapt into battle.


"Doctor Arrhenius?" Cur heard the voice, and his head snapped round. He saw Enhancegirl, standing there. She didn't seem as if she was ready for battle.
"Young hero!" he called out, bowing. "Do you come to exchange blows with Captain Cur, Villain Among Villains? I must warn you, valiant maiden, many have crossed swords with Captain Cur this day, and none yet have brought him low."
"I'm not here to fight you, Doctor Arrhenius." She said his name a little louder this time, making sure he heard.
"You keep using that name. It isn't known to me, I'm afraid. Ye gods!" He slapped himself on the head. "Can you have forgotten me so soon? I did not know I produced so anaemic an impression! This time, I will carve myself into your memory, forever!"
"What are you trying to get, Doctor?" Sophie said. She moved a little closer. "What do you want?"

Cur arched an eyebrow.
"News has not spread. I will destroy Ferndale, you see, thereby precipitating war between Brazil and the Republic of the United States of America! You see, there is a certain hairdresser in Brazilia who -"
"What do you actually want? Like, why are you doing that?"
"Why, I - ?" He blinked. "Ah, I see! My ultimate aim is what you seek. You are wise, young hero, to wish to know your enemy so. I seek to become the greatest villain of all time!"
"Okay, awesome," Sophie said. She sat down on a nearby log, crossing her legs. She was trying to look at ease, though in reality she was greatly aware of the wide variety of things he could do to her. "Why do you want that?"
"Why? For glory! For posterity, my dear! To serve as an example to other villains!"
"What's wrong with other villains?"

Cur paused. His haughty expression faltered.
"Most...most other villains are...a cruel, cowardly lot! They sneak around, doing as much harm as they can to as many as they can. They, they, they...make others suffer for no reason! Just to sate their own sadistic appetites, or, or, or...lusts! I will teach them how to be real villains!"
"Which is what?" Sophie asked. This time Cur had a prepared response, and he answered immediately.
"A real villain is dastardly, but never cruel. Ambitious, but never maniacal. He fights fairly, he is respectful to his foes, and if he is defeated, he accepts that defeat with grace and aplomb! He is...a rakish nobleman of crime!"
"So let me get this straight," Sophie said, trying to keep him away from his favourite speeches. "You want to make villains less cruel."
"Yes."
"Less sadistic."
"Aye."
"More honourable, and noble, and gracious?"
"Three statements, my dear, all correct!"
"Sounds like you'd be making the world a better place."
"Why, yes, indeed!" he said, proudly. He stood to attention.
"Funny, that sounds more like something a hero would try to do, Doctor Arrhenius."
"I..." He paused again. He had no answer at all for that.



"Hyaagghh!" Hydrocita roared, as great buzzsaws of water sliced through the trees, gunning for the Mistress of Light. Mariko shot back, but water was very absorptive of energy. Her spears were dulled, her blasts dissipated. She managed to burst one, but the other kept coming for her. She pushed it to the side, a wall of light against the saw's flat, and managed to squash it against the ground.

Rushing out of cover, Mariko stood firm, making sure that the sun was directly behind Hydrocita. Already she took a cue from the way she'd seen her opponent fight. Instead of large, flashy, powerful beam of light, she focused one narrow, high-energy, high-pressure beam instead. She fired it from between her fingertips, and it pierced Hydrocita's shield of water in which she'd wrapped herself. However, it didn't pierce it all the way through.
"Not bad, Spectra. Not great, either."

"Imperion?" Panhellius ventured.
"What's up?"
"I know why I'm not helping Farah: my powers put me at a significant disadvantage against ranged attackers like Spectra." He tapped his foot. "What I don't know is why you aren't helping her."
"You don't think Hydrocita can do it?"
"I know she should be able to, but that's not the problem. Why are you letting this happen?"
"I don't know," Imperion said. "Somehow this feels...important."

Hydrocita summoned a great column now, drawing on the nearby streams, plunging it down towards Spectra.
"Unnh!" she groaned, hurled back by the force of the impact against the ground. She barely managed to right herself, trying not to think about how she'd challenged a licensed, full-time, official state superhero to single combat, to save the sanity of a man she didn't know. She tried instead just to think about the fight.

"I'm playing it her way," she thought. Hydrocita seemed to need to draw water to herself in order to use it. Spectra had no such requirement. She stepped out from behind her cover, deliberately allowing Hydrocita to see her. Having done so, she then vanished entirely from sight.
"Whoa, what?" Hydrocita raised herself higher. "She just...vanished! I didn't know Spectra could cloak herself..."

From behind her, a lance of light. Farah turned and fired a pressurised water blast at the direction it had come from. It pierced the earth, travelling for a hundred feet straight down before it lost power. But there was another shot, from directly above this time. Lance after lance after lance, all from different directions. Every time, Hydrocita fired a pressure-blast in response, but Spectra just wasn't there.

In fact, she had only moved ten feet while she'd been cloaked. She couldn't cloak herself and use her powers at the same time - and she was blind while invisible. But it had been enough to make her seem a phantom, and from her vantage point, she assailed Farah from any angle she chose. Then, just as Hydrocita was getting used to absorbing the lances in her shield, Spectra hit her with the blunt force of a light-hammer.

"Urgh!" the heroine groaned, as she was shaken, her shield contorting around her. It exposed her back, just for an instant, before reforming. Yet that instant was more than enough time for another lance to fly at her, and strike her hard in the exposed spot. Hydrocita was thrown down from her perch, landing hard on the ground below.
"Whoa." Imperion whistled. "Didn't think she was that good..."


Sophie felt the shocks of the battle. A quick glance told her all she needed to know.
"What the hell? They're...fighting?" A pang of fear. Had her request just destroyed Mariko's career?
"A...hero..." Cur repeated to himself.
"What? Uh, yeah, that's right." She tried to remember the thread she'd been on. "You sound like you want to do things a hero would want to do? Making all the bad guys naughty instead of evil. Good sports; selfish, maybe, but not narcissistic or destructive. I mean...wouldn't the good guys always win? Isn't that what you want?"
"You make an error, young lady!" Cur wagged his finger. "I am not beaten! The 'good guys', as you call them have yet to fell me!"
"Doctor, you're surrounded," Sophie said, softly. This was a crucial moment. If he panicked at this revelation, all was lost. "I'm here. Spectra's here. Most of the Pauldron - Imperion's here! You know who he is, right?"
"I...I do..." Cur said. "I'm...surrounded, you say?"
"It's over."

And perhaps it would have been, had a pink-haired woman in a revealing white dress not seen the signs of battle from Mariko and Farah's contest of strength. She'd been searching elsewhere in the woods elsewhere, but came as soon as she was aware of the disturbance. As she flew, she saw Cur beneath her, and lowered herself down to where they were.

Enhancegirl saw her coming, of course, and tried to make signals indicating that she was making progress, but Nova ignored them or failed to understand them, and brought herself into Cur's sight.
"I am Nova, of the Pauldron!" she announced, her voice ringing out clearly. Awash with blue light, the snake-hipped young hero faced down Captain Cur for a second time, her eyes locked like beacons onto him.
"Hey, Nova, wait a second!" Enhancegirl shouted up at her.
"Stand aside, Enhancegirl!" she yelled back. "He's dangerous!"
"You don't understand, I'm trying to -"

Cur stepped forward. The almost trance-like state into which he had been falling was shaken away.
"Ahahaha!" He cackled. "Another worthy foe steps into the arena 'gainst Captain Cur!" Sophie pulled at her hair.
"Great..." she sighed.

"Urrghhh..." Over the other side of the ridge, Hydrocita groaned, pushing herself back onto her feet. "That sneaky little bastard..." She sniffed, rubbing her slightly red nostrils. Spectra stepped out from her hiding place.
"I have no wish to hurt you. My only aim is to delay you, to give Enhancegirl a chance. Do you hear the sounds of battle from them? I believe she may be succeeding. Just -" She was not interrupted exactly. She just stopped talking when she saw Hydrocita's face.
"You are gonna pay for that!" she yelled, quaking with rage. "No more games! No more hiding! No more restraint!" She lifted herself up into the air, and summoned as much water as she could to herself, forming a great tendril. She swept it at Mariko, who nimbly dodged. But the tendril itself burst into many tendrils, which Mariko barely shielded herself against.

"Do not - aahh!" Mariko was hurled back. She raised another shield, as powerful a one as she could form, but Hydrocita effortlessly shattered it. In the past, Mariko's shields had stood up to blasts from Nucleon, even if they weren't his strongest, yet this woman batted it aside like it was nothing. "This isn't a duel," Mariko realised. "She's trying to kill me!"

"Avast!" Cur sprang at Nova, altering himself into a slightly gaseous form, so that he sprang up much faster than Nova expected. She moved out of the way, and was about to attack, but she hesitated, deciding to raise a barrier instead. She didn't want to set him off.
"Fuck!" Sophie shouted, at no-one in particular. What could she do now? Cur had attacked first, and she could hardly expect Nova not to defend herself. She didn't know quite how powerful the starlit heroine was, but she guessed that she had enough strength to kill him if she had to.

That was when she noticed what was happening in the other battle.
"What the - oh my god!" She saw Spectra hurled back, tossed over the edge of the ridge by a tentacle of water.
"Unghh!" Mariko cried out, landing hard on her back. She'd cushioned the blow, and the landing, with her powers, but she was hurt. Sophie rushed over to her, helping her up to her feet, finding her soaking wet.
"Jesus, Mariko, are you okay?" A quick scan revealed no broken bones.
"Uhh...I think so. She's stronger than I realised."
"What?"
"Hydrocita. She's in a higher class of power than I'd thought...she's more powerful than me. Much more."
"Why are you fucking fighting her?! What happened?"
"She got impatient."

The two heroines saw Hydrocita raising herself over the ridge, a swirling aquatic vortex surrounding her. She looked half-mad with rage. At the same time, Nova took the risk and forced Cur down with her powers, sending him slamming into the ground, sprawled out.
"I'll stop Hydrocita," Mariko said. "You, get to Arrhenius!"
"But -"
"Do it, or all this has been pointless!"

Sophie saw Arrhenius. She saw Nova bearing down on him from one side, Hydrocita from the other, even as Spectra shot dazzling photonic bursts at the water wielding heroine to slow her down. She saw Arrhenius slowly getting up, his smile manic. How could she convince him? How could she -
"Oh..."

"Urrghh..." Arrhenius groaned, hauling himself up. He'd absorbed the blow to some extent, but too much of his body was plutonium now. He didn't have the elasticity that he would have done if he'd been able to convert completely.
"Ahahahaha!" The mad cackle had not come from him. He turned his head, and saw Enhancegirl standing before him, gesticulating grandly. "Captain Cur, you fool!" She put on a deep, theatrical voice.
"What? Who calls the great Cur a fool?"
"I! For you see, Cur, you are already beaten! Your villainy, grand and - uh - noble as it might have been, was no match for the machinations of a true hero! Your schemes have collapsed in upon themselves, and you are undone!"
"You give me only incredulity!" Cur shot back. "I demand an explanation."

Nova had been about to attack again, but when she saw this spectacle, she stopped. "What the hell is she doing?"
"For you see, Cur," Sophie said. She paused, and took in a deep breath. "For you see, in causing distress to this town, you have inadvertently caused a world peace that will last for at least one-and-a-half-centuries!"
"God's wounds!" Cur cried out, slapping his hand to his forehead. "How?" Sophie drew in breath again.

"You see, in attacking this town, you've drawn attention to the idyllic countryside lifestyle, since national and international news outlets will definitely follow the exploits of the great Captain Cur. For this reason, the next NATO military conference will be held in rural Scotland, as its representatives are reminded by your actions of the charms of country living. This will certainly cause the next meeting to be infused with a sense of agrarian peacefulness, causing the development of a less aggressive military stance. This will undercut the sabre-rattling of the Russian Confederation, causing such policies to lose favour among the citizenry. This in turn...um... will definitely result in Gregor Vas...um...ilyevitch to be elected president! His expertise in resolving international tensions will allow him to stabilise relations between countries in the middle-east, causing a lasting peace, and cementing alliances with the West!" Triumphant, she pointed at Arrhenius. "You, Captain Cur, are inadvertently responsible for achieving the greatest peace the world will have ever known!"

There was a long silence from Cur. There was not silence all round, however. Mariko was swept aside in a torrent. Hyrdrocita bore down now on Captain Cur - but something stopped her.
"Don't!" Nova said, getting between the hero and the villain. "What she's doing - it's insane, but I think she may be onto something. For god's sake, if we can end this peacefully, why the hell shouldn't we?"
"What is wrong with everyone today?!" Hydrocita spat, trying to push past, but Nova wouldn't let her.
"We've never fought before, Farah," she said, staring her straight in the eye. "Do you want to?" Hydrocita growled...but didn't press the matter.

"Zounds! Blast! Curses and damnation!" Cur screamed skywards. "Undone! My villainy turned against itself! My greatness, collapsing like a swollen star into a dark vortex! Egad!"
"Ahahaha! You've done the world a great service, Cur, whether you like it or not!" Enhancegirl continued. Despite her continuing performance, she was breathing very hard. She saw Mariko lying, defeated, on the ground. Saw Nova barely holding her ally back. "In a world of peace, there will be no more villainy to do!"
"A thousand curses!"
"In fact, Captain Cur, you might say that you're not the world's greatest villain at all - but its greatest hero!"
"Its greatest..." Cur mumbled. Something seemed to come over him. Whether he smiled, or shuddered, it wasn't easy to tell. What Sophie could tell was that he transmuted the plutonium in his body back into his equivalent of 'normal' flesh. His expression softened. "What is there left for me, then?" he said, softly.
"Admit defeat," Sophie said. "Surrender."
"I..." He knelt down, and breathed a sigh of pain and relief all at once. "I...I surrender..."

It was at that moment that Imperion and Panhellius passed over the ridge as well.
"Oh, shit," Sophie was too exhausted by this point to shout it, just groaning to herself.
"Jackson!" Hydrocita barked. "Order your floozy out of my way so I can ice this maniac!"
"Stand down," Panhellius said. "He's surrendered."
"But -"
"Stand down!" The whole forest shook with Imperion's bellow. Hydrocita, shaken, lowered herself to the ground.
"You and I need to talk," Panhellius said to her, sharply. "Now." He led her aside.

Imperion strode into the centre of the glade, towards Captain Cur.
"You've surrendered, I take it?"
"Yes, yes, yes," Cur muttered.
"And you're not going to destroy the town?" Cur looked up at him in confusion.
"Certainly not! Your lovely ally has proven to me that my villainy can do no ill now!"
"Has she indeed?" Imperion looked at Sophie. "Well, how about that?" Even Sophie wasn't sure if he was smiling.

That, more or less, was that. Panhellius and Hydrocita's conversation must have been brief, for he emerged soon afterwards to slap handcuffs on Cur, and lead him away, the villain babbling merrily about how impressed he was with the man's haircut.
"Mariko, I'm sorry." Sophie helped the fallen maiden up to her feet.
"Unnhh...why?" She moved a red curl out of Sophie's face.
"Because - because you got hurt, because I made you fight the fucking Pauldron!" Sophie winced. "If - if this gets you bad press, if this hurts your career, I'm so...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean for it to happen like this!"
"I know, my love," Mariko said. "But that's not important. He'll get help now. You saved him."
"We saved him," Sophie replied. "I couldn't have done it without you. God, Koko, you kick so much fucking ass!" Mariko smiled, a little wearily.
"I like to think so, yes."

As Panhellius led Cur away in handcuffs, Hydrocita trailing behind him, Imperion was still standing in the centre of the glade, looking west. He seemed to be thinking very hard about something. He saw Spectra and Enhancegirl coming towards him.
"You two make quite a pair, don't you?" he said. They didn't respond. It was hard to know how he'd react to their actions, and both kept silent, waiting. "Spectra!"
"Y-yes?"
"I'll be in touch. We have a lot to talk about." On that ominous note, he turned away, following his companions. Nova turned back to them. She shot Mariko a glance, and then rose into the air, flying out ahead of her teammates, leaving the lovers alone in the woods.

"Jesus Christ..." Sophie sighed, under-slept and physically spent. "He likes playing up the whole enigmatic thing, doesn't he?"
"I wonder what he meant," Mariko said, half to herself. "If he'd wanted to arrest me or something, he'd have done it then and there. What does he want, then?" A thought came to her, a very tempting thought - but she quickly dismissed it.
"Hey, Mariko?" Sophie moved so that she was facing her girlfriend.
"Yes?" She took one of Sophie's hands.
"It's nearly seven. We don't have to get back to my folks' house until, like, nine." Mariko had put out of her mind the original purpose of their visit.
"Oh, yes, we're having breakfast with them, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but I figure we've got, like, an hour before we have to get there..." She put her head on Mariko's shoulder.
"Oh...you want to - here?" Sophie looked up, shaking her head.
"No, just...lie with me for a little while..." She lay down on the forest floor, and pulled Mariko down with her. The carpet of grass was soft, and warm in the morning sun, more than comfortable enough for the two exhausted women. Mariko lay back, arching one of her long legs. She was soaked from her battle with Hydrocita, and enjoyed the feeling of the sun warming her. Sophie lay against her, holding her hand, resting her head on her chest. She felt her lover's fingers running through her wavy, red hair, and she breathed a long, slow sigh of relief.

Mariko looked at her, saw the relief in her face, but also the troubled aspect in it as well. The tragedy of Doctor Arrhenius had got very deeply into Sophie. Trying to comfort her, she leaned in, and tried to recall some of her childhood lessons.
"Furu ike ya..." Mariko whispered into Sophie's ear, slowly, tripping lightly over each syllable. "Kawazu tobikomu... Mizu no oto..."
"Oohhh..." Sophie mewed, and yawned. "Shit, Mariko...don't do that...you know how relaxing...I find it..."
"That's the idea, Sophie. Today has been...draining in more ways than one. So for now...just relax, my sweet."
"Mmhh...okay..." Sophie stretched her long legs, and nestled closer against her lover.
"Toshi kurenu..." Mariko continued, running Sophie's hair between her fingers like water. "Kasa kite waraji... Hakinagara..."

Sophie allowed herself to be lulled by the rhythm of the poetry Mariko was reciting, by the feeling of her hair being stroked, and by the sound of the nearby streams. Her green eyes fluttered, but this spell of sleep was not one she tried to resist. She allowed her lover to draw her deeper into somnolence, feeling her whole lithe body relaxing, her tired muscles un-tensing as she fell asleep.
"Watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu," Mariko whispered, and Sophie smiled as a light blanket of sleep dropped over her: she knew what that had meant.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey there, Leanne," Catherine said, as she was led into the cell where her green-haired companion was sitting, both women's hands cuffed behind her back to stop them from using her powers.
"Catherine! Oh shit, Imperion got you too?" Her voice quavered.
"Imperion? No, girlie, I got done by Enhancegirl and Spectra." She sat next to her, slumping backwards.
"I fainted...I actually fainted..." Leanne said. "God, I feel so pathetic!"
"Don't," Catherine said. "Plenty of people faint when that bastard comes calling. I mean, what were you gonna do?"
"I guess..." Leanne turned her slightly slanted eyes towards her partner. "You know what the worst part of this is? Cur's getting hauled off to the psycho-ward. He'll probably be out before the rest of us."
"I sure hope so," Catherine muttered.
"Hm?"
"Ah, nothing." She leant back, uselessly flexing her wrists. "Think they'll take us to the Pen-Supreme? I hear it's getting kinda full."
"Probably," the green haired villainess replied. "They just added, like, two new wings. Plenty of room for the two of us." She shuffled a little closer. "I don't even give a shit about that. I'm not afraid of going to jail."
"What are you afraid of, then?"
"Being taken away from you." She leaned over, resting her head on Catherine's shoulder.
"Oh, you stupid girl," Catherine said, not without affection. "You really deserve better friends..."

In the cell next to them, two men sat across from each other. They stared, eyes dark with mutual loathing.
"She should have killed you," Denzel spat. Spectra and Enhancegirl had told the police what Greyhand had done. The police had mentioned it in front of Denzel.
"Oh don't tell me you're getting sentimental about the fucking cat as well, you little shit."
"I hate cats," Denzel said. "You're still a fucking asshole."
"I want you to know that I'm going to kill you at the earliest available opportunity. Just to make myself feel like there was a point to any of this."
"Try it Raymond. I'm going to jail same as you, but I'm a normal, remember? They're just gonna stick me in County. You? You're fucked. You're fucked." Raymond didn't reply. He just stared at Denzel, until the 'writer' lost his nerve, and looked away.
"Pussy," he spat. "Hey wait? Pussy! Ahaha! Get it? Ahahaha! AHAHAHA!" He laughed, and laughed, hated and alone in his wretched vileness.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Four hours later, Sophie was saying her goodbyes to her parents, all three of them embracing tightly as they saw her off.
"Oh my literal gawd, it was the fucking best having you guys over!" Pamela chirped, squeezing more tightly than the other two. "You have to come over again soon. Well, not that soon. Live your own lives, and stuff. In fact - never come here again!"
"You got it, mom," Sophie laughed, kissing her mother on the cheek. "Oh, and if you rent out my room to German tourists again, I want a cut!"
"Hey, Sophie," Jerome said, "in all seriousness, we'd love to have the two of you for a little longer next time."
"Sure thing, Papa," Sophie replied. "I forgot how much I like this place."
"Remember, kid," he said, tousling her hair, "we're always proud of you. Okay?"
"Okay." Sophie was acutely aware, in that moment, of just how lucky she was.

As the redhead rejoined Mariko, she was about to start walking off, but Mariko turned around, asking Sophie to wait a moment.
"Pamela, Jerome," she said, stopping them from turning away as well.
"What's up, sweetheart?" Pamela said. As far as she was concerned, Mariko was part of the family now.
"I..." She hesitated. "I wished to, uh, to thank you."
"Not at all," Jerome said. "We mean it, you're welcome any time."
"Oh, well yes, that as well," Mariko said. "But I wasn't thanking you for that."
"Hm?"
"I..." She looked back at her girlfriend. Her loving, compassionate, hero of a girlfriend. "I'm thanking you for her." Both of Sophie's parents were a little taken aback - though not unpleasantly. Mariko smiled briefly, a little embarrassed at what she said, before going back to Sophie.

Pamela watched the two walking off, talking animatedly to each other. She saw Sophie's face, even more sprightly and alight with charm and intelligence when speaking to Mariko than it normally was. "Fuck politics," she said. "Next time I see Sophie, I'm taking her shopping for a god-damned engagement ring."

The two heroines returned to the Gilgamesh Inn for their bags. Entering, Sophie saw a very pretty young woman sitting at a table drinking a cup of coffee. Her hair, too, was coffee coloured, in a bobcut. She wore a knee-length dress, and black, quite transparent tights, but with her legs crossed her very shapely limbs were shown off to quite an extent. Sophie found her eye very much drawn, but she was not ogling her. She looked familiar, damned familiar, but she couldn't quite place her.

As Mariko walked up to the counter to settle their bill - unwillingly letting the much poorer Sophie pay for half - she saw a man, about her height, standing in front of her. He had his back to her, but she could tell just from his frame that he was quite handsome. He had a white t-shirt on, and brown chinos. His hair was blonde, short and slicked back.
"Excuse me," he said to the lady at the counter, in a soft, charming voice. "I'm looking for someone staying here. A woman. About my height, Asian?" The hotelier first batted her eyelashes at the handsome fellow, then noticed Mariko behind him.
"Um..." She didn't have to say anything, and he turned around.

"Ah," the man said, as he saw Mariko. "You know, as much as I like this place, it's not the most ethnically diverse. I ask around for a 'tall, young, Asian woman', and I got here in about twenty minutes." He leaned in. "You know, if you're gonna keep a secret identity, you need to be a little more careful, Spectra."
"I -" Mariko didn't stammer, but she stopped herself from speaking. She composed herself, stood tall, and remembered that she'd fought the Pauldron for a worthy cause. "How may I be of assistance, Imperion?" she said.
"You know," he replied, "that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

Sophie was about to approach the attractive brunette, thinking that she might be some forgotten schoolmate or something. But this illusion was dispelled when she saw Mariko coming towards her with a man that Sophie did not have any trouble recognising, even in his civvies. Her stomach flipped.
"Imperion!" She fit it together. The woman behind her was not a schoolmate: she was Nova. Her powers had altered her appearance enough to make her hard to recognise.

Nova looked up, beckoning Imperion over. She saw Sophie standing to the side and, rolling her eyes, beckoning her to sit as well. They did: the Gilgamesh Inn was now hosting a superhero conference.
"First off," Jackson said, "Arrhenius is gonna be be transferred to the Methos Institute in Seacouver. It's the closest mental hospital with a dedicated superhuman wing -"
"Thanks to you," Nova thought.
"- and besides, I'm leaving it to you to keep a direct eye on him." He was talking to Sophie. "Now," he said, turning to Mariko, "we need to talk about the incident with you and Hydrocita." Mariko rapped her fingers on the table.

"Not too many villains want to get in our way," the blonde said, scratching his beard. "Even fewer heroes." He looked straight at Mariko. "You directly stopped one of my crew from getting to a dangerous villain. You attacked her. When you hit her in the back with that blast, if you'd dialled up the intensity you could have killed her. She could have killed you."
"She did it to save an innocent man," Sophie said. "An insane, broken man who was being manipulated by someone way worse."
"Don't," Mariko said, shooting her a glance.
"You know we're not just a gang, right?" Nova said, putting aside her coffee. "We're official representatives of the state of California. Technically, we're under the auspices of the State Police. That comes with certain responsibilities and privileges that you don't have to worry about. It also means that you, Spectra, did the equivalent of assaulting a police officer." She looked hard at Mariko, who looked icily back.

"You were gonna kill him!" Sophie hissed. "I mean - hell, you stopped Hydrocita from attacking me when I was talking him down!"
"Only because I could see that it was working," Nova replied. "Before that, our plan seemed the best with the limited information we had."
"You don't fucking kill someone based on 'limited information'!" She turned to Imperion. "She was trying to do what was right. To save someone."
"I know."
"That's why we're in this game, isn't it? To save people? Not just to...beat up bad guys and pose for the cameras afterwards!"
"I know," he replied. "Which is why I'm inviting Spectra to become the newest member of the Pauldron."

Three women's eyes snapped onto him as he said this.
"You're inviting her to what?" Nova exclaimed, incredulous.
"You're doing what to the Pauldron?!" Sophie stammered.
"I -" Mariko stammered. "I don't...I don't understand. Why? Why would you do this after my actions?"

"I'll be honest. I've heard good things about you, but also bad. I heard that you're vain, too focused on your reputation and standing. But if that was ever true, it isn't now. You did something just now which could have killed your standing in the cape community, as far as you knew. And you didn't do it out of arrogance. At least, it didn't seem like it. You did it, like your friend said, to help someone. That's what being a hero is. That's why I want you, Spectra. I don't just need the most powerful heroes. I need the best." He smiled, with winning charm. "If you'll have us, of course. You'll be going full time into the business, so if you have a day job you'll need to quit, but...well, we'll probably be paying you more than you were earning before."

"I...uh..." Mariko stammered. She heard a ringing in her ears. Her heart was thumping hard in her chest, and her hands were shaking. "Excuse me for one moment." She got up, walking to the women's bathroom. Sophie rapidly followed her. The redhead found her leaned against a wall, breathing hard.
"Mariko," she said softly. The Japanese beauty lifted her head. "Say yes."
"But -"
"This is what you've worked for. This is what you fucking deserve. Sweetie, you were always destined for great things. You knew that. Daisuke knew it when he gave you your powers. This is where it starts, Koko. Or, like, this is where it kicks up another notch." Sophie grinned. "You've mother-fucking earned this."

Mariko looked up at her. Slowly, her expression of shock morphed into a thin, sharp smile.
"I have earned it, haven't I? I have absolutely mother-fucking earned it!" She threw her arms around Sophie, and made a sound that was at once a whoop of glee and a roar of triumph. Sophie joined her in it, laughing loudly. Mariko pulled her lover against her body and kissed her, resoundingly, strongly, clutching Sophie's shoulders as she pressed her lips against her girlfriend's.
"Mmmhhhh...!" Sophie mewed, letting herself be like the manifestation of Mariko's prize, feeling Mariko's hand grip her warm thighs, taking hold of her: a conquering hero tasting the sweetness of victory...

Mariko and Sophie emerged, slightly dishevelled, a minute or two later. They sat down, Sophie adjusting one of the straps of her dress, which had slipped off her shoulder.
"Imperion," Mariko said, very calmly, "I accept your offer."

"Well hot damn!" Imperion said. He stood up, extended his hand. Mariko did the same, shaking it. "Spectra...believe you me, this is gonna be the start of something awesome. We're lucky to have you, I'm sure."
"You'd better fucking believe it," Sophie thought. She squeezed Mariko's hand under the table. "Spectra of the Pauldron..." she thought. "That does have a nice ring to it..."
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Seismictus had renamed himself, recently. A week ago he'd been called 'System Shock', yet another not-so vague reference to his powers to create earthquakes. He had a large amount of money in a briefcase, though only a small percentage was destined for his own pocket.

He'd been rustling up protection money, though his employer ran a very specialised service: they collected the money only from other criminals. You paid up, or you'd find yourself on the wrong end of a gun - or even exposed to the police. No-one else could have got away with that. You didn't rat out other criminals to the police - unless you were Seismictus' employer.

He walked through a rather unattractive part of Seacouver, towards an old garage that had not been a garage for a while. It had been used as a hidden research lab by Ricardo Hosenfluss - indeed, it's cavernous interior still bore the scars of the battle that had raged there. Officially it had been filled with concrete: and that's what a casual observer would have seen if they'd started looking. Yet Seismictus knew the hidden way, the one that had been constructed when his employer had surreptitiously acquired the complex. Hell, he'd used his powers to help build it.

He opened the way, and travelled down a long, winding staircase, to an underground complex of a great many uses. Storage, laboratories, even a top-of-the-line medical facility. It was like a criminal's shopping mall. As he strode confidently inside, Seismictus heard a faint banging sound, but ignored it. There was always something going on.

He knew he was supposed to meet his employer in this complex, but he wasn't sure exactly where. He didn't like the thought of keeping him waiting: the man didn't have an office or anything. He'd just sort of...appear, do what he needed to, and then vanish again. He hoped that he would simply be found.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around.
"Hi there," the newcomer said, before punching him with such force that he flew right across the room.
"AAUUGHHH!" Seismictus replied, hurled across the room where, once, Spectra had been held captive. He hit the ground, and rolled over, already covered in bruises. "Urrgghh..."

"Nice to meet you, System Shock." He looked up, and saw a woman standing over him. She was quite tall, with long, blonde hair, a stunningly voluptuous figure. She wore a blue, zipped leotard, with knee high red boots. Her legs were covered in translucent, flesh-tone tights and a long, red cape trailed down her back. A red domino mask to top it off. She had gorgeous proportions, and features, like a cross between a fifties pin-up girl and a twenty-first century model.
"V...Valora!!" the villain screeched.
"That's the one, pond-scum," she said, hands on her hips. "Thanks for leading me here."

He didn't respond - not with words anyway. Summoning his strength, given to him in an accident with a pile bunker and a lightning bolt, he smacked his hands on the ground, sending a ripple of stone towards Valora, the earth sundered, apparently at his total command. Valora simply leapt over it, her powerful, sumptuously curvy legs easily carrying her over the wave of stone. He slammed again, sending an even higher wave. This time Valora didn't leap over it. She punched through it, sending the stone flying back against Seismictus, who was hurled back, sprawled from how hard he'd been hit.

Others heard the noise. A man ran in, launching a mighty burst of plasma at her from his hands. She ducked under it, leapt over another, but he continued his attack. Behind him, concrete melted - evaporated - from the power he produced. Valora didn't so much as flinch, though. She grabbed some of the stone used against her, and crushed it to powder in her powerful grip. She then hurled it out, obscuring herself in a cloud of thick dust.
"What the hell?" the plasma-wielder grunted, losing his target. But his target hadn't lost him. She burst out from the cloud at great speed, the ground cracking with every bound. Before he could adjust his aim, Valora had closed on him, and knocked him unconscious with a single blow that broke his jawbone in two places.
"If you don't mind," she said, "I was trying to have a conversation with your...colleague."

She returned to where Seismictus lay, still groaning woozily.
"I've been looking for you for a while, System Shock," the powerful heroine said, tossing her blonde hair back.
"My name is...Seismictus..." he growled.
"Actually," Valora said, "I'm more interested in what you used to call yourself - Royal Rumble."

He looked up at her, eyes narrowed.
"How do you know that name?"
"Oh yeah, that's right. I put it together. Change your name all you want, you're still the same slime you always were."
"Hggakh!" He'd been hauled up by his collar.

"An acquaintance of mine asked me to keep an eye out for you. You probably remember: a certain lady named Enhancegirl." He stared dumbly at her. "Ring any bells?"
"Uh...well, sure I've heard of her," he said, not stupid enough to put up too much resistance at this stage. "Super-senses, right?"
"Ah, so there is a brain in there somewhere. But about a year and a half ago, you fought her, remember?" He thought for a minute.
"No. I never saw her before. Ack!" Valora gripped him more tightly.
"Try again," she said.
"Christ, lady, I'm not lying! Why would I? I'll tell ya about anyone I did fight, but I am positive I have never met your girl!" Valora peered at him. He felt her grip relax slightly.
"You're absolutely sure about that?" She was confused. She didn't know wholly why Enhancegirl had asked most of the heroes of Seacouver to let her know if they found Royal Rumble, but his apparently genuine ignorance made it even more mysterious.
"Yeah, I'm sure," he said. "Girl pretty as that, you don't forget."
"Oh, I don't know," Valora said. "A concussion might do it." With that, she tapped him on the head, knocking him unconscious.

She was about to start dragging him outside by his ankle when she saw a third man enter. He was tall, extremely tall, more than seven and a half feet. He was clad in black armour: a strange sight indeed, for though the base of the armour was plastic, it was inlaid with what looked like obsidian, except at the joints. He wore a mask over his face, a solid, shining oval of silver. He stepped over his plasma-wielding ally with one foot - and almost crushed his chest with the second. A cold seemed to glide in with him, almost as if it were darkening the room.

"I'd have thought you guys would have figured it out by now," Valora said. She began striding over to the giant. "Do you know who I am?"
"You are Valora," the voice said. It was muffled, electronically altered. It could have been any accent, any age, male or female. She realised that his armour disguised his body shape too, and wondered if she was thinking with the right pronoun after all.

"That's right," she said, putting the question aside for the moment. "You know what I can do."
"I believe so," s/he replied. "You are strong. Very strong. Let us see how strong. Let us see what destruction lies within your limbs."
"You got it, you slime," Valora said. She launched herself forward, picking up a piece of stone as she did so. She hurled it at them, and though they dodged, Valora had hardly intended to finish them off at range. She closed the gap between the two of them with one mighty bound, stretching back her arm to shatter their armour.

Yet he, or she, or it, had also done something during her leap. A small aperture had opened in their mask, and from it...from it flowed the very chill of hell.
"Unnhhh!" Valora cried out, as the cold engulfed her. She raised her arms to block the brunt of it, but ice formed over her arms, shackling them together. She tried to break it, but the ice only got thicker, and thicker. It spread past her arms, freezing over her chest, her legs. "Ahh!" Valora clattered to the floor, bound in a thick coffin of ice. "Rgghh!" she strained, her strength suppressed by the chill wind, the bitter cold that ran through her.
"You have tasted the breath of Cocytus," s/he said. "Is it bitter, Valora?"

"Not...bitter...enough!!" Valora roared, straining every muscle in her curvaceous body. "AUGHH!" She thrust her arms out, and her legs, and shattered the crystalline prison in which she'd been sealed. Her prodigious strength had a side-effect: she produced a great deal more body heat when she used her muscles to their fullest, and as such had a certain resistance to high and low temperatures beyond her innate durability. She sprang out, and punched the villain hard in the face. S/he was knocked back a step or two, but not as far as Valora would have liked, so she hit him in the stomach. Again he dropped back two steps. "You're done, Cocytus!" She launched a punch with her right arm, hard enough to smash apart the foundations of a skyscraper.

Her enemy caught this punch in one hand. Their arm didn't even twitch as s/he did.
"My name is not Cocytus. That was merely a moment's theatricality." He reached over with frightening speed, grabbed Valora's left shoulder, and pulled her, spinning her around, and twisting her right arm behind her back. Valora was being overpowered - physically overpowered. She strained and struggled, but their grip was like - like death! "My name, pretty blonde with the lovely bosoms, is Hades."

Valora's blood froze in her veins. She'd heard the stories. They all had. Now she - a young, beautiful blonde superheroine, in a tight, revealing outfit - had wandered into the lair of Hades.
"No!" she exclaimed, not in dismay, but in defiance. "I'm not going to let myself get...cowed by a story! Maybe it's Hades and maybe it's not - who gives a shit?" She drove an elbow hard into Hades' midsection. She heard their armour crack, felt it buckle - and then her elbow slammed into the unyielding wall of Hades' abdomen. "What? Unhh!" Hades had grabbed her other arm now, holding both behind her back. Hades leaned in, pulling the voluptuous damsel's supple body against their body. The aperture opened once again, and Valora felt a long tongue licking her quivering neck.
"You're sweet. You're like a melted bar of chocolate. No substance or hardness...but still just as tempting to devour..."

Hades spun the stunned heroine around, grabbed her by the waist and - to her aghast shock - threw her over their shoulder, and began lugging her away.
"Wh - what the...wha -?" Valora gasped, feeling her curvaceous body hurled over her enemy, felt their hands gripping her thighs, her firm behind. For a moment she was still. She wasn't bound. She wasn't drugged. Yet she'd been thrown over Hades' shoulder and carried off like a village maiden in a Viking raid, just stolen away like a prize.

Her shock continued, but her inaction didn't. Her strength was not gone, and she pounded against Hades' back with both hands, crushing their armour - but doing nothing to the villain's body.
"Put - me - down!" Valora demanded, pounding again, and again, and again. She flailed her calves, kicking into their midsection and crotch, but having just as little effect.
"Very nice thighs," Hades said. "Very soft, smooth. And feminine hips too...I'd say everything about you is feminine. Womanly." Hades squeezed Valora's ass, and smacked it.
"Aahh!" she gasped. "AAHH!" She cried out in pain and humiliation as she felt Hades spank her twice more, like he was disciplining a disobedient schoolgirl. "You - you bastard! How dare you?!"
"I take it back," Hades said. "Not everything about you is womanly. Your manner: girlish. You complain and wriggle. Petulant nonsense! You're my captive now. Just shut up. If you're going to be girlish, be a good girl."
"You filth! You scum! I'll - ah!" She felt a sting in her rear - but she hadn't been spanked. It was a sharp prick, the needle piercing her tights, and just about piercing her skin. "What was that? I...I..."

Valora felt a shaking, quivering sensation in her limbs. And then, as though Hades had injected concrete into her blood, those limbs became heavy. Growing heavier, and heavier, they shook, quivered, and finally dropped down. She tried to lift them, but she couldn't. She tried to kick Hades again, but she couldn't. Her body refused to obey. She had gone totally limp.
"What's...what's happening to me?" Valora moaned. "I can't...my body...I -"
"You're paralysed," Hades said. "You are weaker now even than you were. I would laugh, were it not so bathetic." The villain patted Valora lightly on her thighs. "Ah well. At least now you're behaving." Valora felt her cheeks burning hot, her skin scarlet with shame.

Hades carried her over to what looked like a gurney, and put her down on her back.
"Unhh...nnhhh!" Valora groaned, trying with all her might simply to lift one of her fingers. But she couldn't. It was like she'd been glued to the gurney, not just placed on it. Hades, however, lifted one of her arms, and let it drop on her stomach.
"I hope you are humiliated," Hades said, flatly. "You deserve to be, pretty blonde with the blue eyes." The villain stroked their captive's face, feeling the lines of her pretty cheeks.
"Don't touch me!" Valora shouted.
"I'll do what I like to you," Hades replied, in a disconcertingly disinterested tone. "You're paralysed. My weakest thug could do this to you right now." He whipped off her mask.
"NO!" Valora cried out.
"Don't whinge," Hades said. "I don't care who you really are. I've merely begun the process of stripping you." Valora tried to be stoic, but she couldn't help moaning.

Hades reached down, and slowly unzipped Valora's leotard. They pulled it off her shoulders first, revealing her light skin. They gradually peeled it off her chest, revealing a simple, strapless white bra - and of course, Valora's volutpuous, soft breasts. Her leotard was pulled all the way down her body, her torso exposed, before Hades tore it away. Next, the villain lifted one of her long, lovely legs, and pulled off her boot. Their fingertips traced her pretty feet, her legs, squeezing them, spreading out their fingers in a wide pattern that made Valora blush.

As he did the same to her other leg, Valora stared, distraught and unbelieving, at her own body.
"Hades...overpowered me like I was nothing...nothing! What...what can I do? How can I fight?!" As if to say 'you can't', Hades tore the tights off her body as well, completely baring her smooth legs, her acres of soft, caressable skin. She lay, now, in nothing but her underwear, almost naked, and utterly vulnerable, the mighty heroine reduced to a helpless object: immobilised, fondled, and stripped of power and dignity.

"You have come into my lair," Hades said, "of your own volition. Proserpine was stolen into the underworld, and even she needs must spend winters in the kingdom of my namesake." The villain took Valora by the back of the neck, lifted her up into a sitting position, keeping hold on her neck to keep it up straight. "You, however, came here deliberately." Hades placed their thumb and forefinger of their free hand at the base of Valora's neck, feeling a particular groove where the muscles of her neck met her trapezoid muscles. "It stands to reason that you must stay...the whole year round!" Hades squeezed.

"Aaaahhhh!" Valora cried out, feeling an aching, numbing pain in her neck. It spread throughout her, making even her paralysed body quiver. "I - I -" she gasped. "Aaahh...unnnnnhhh-aaaauuhhh..." She felt as though there were static in her brain. She couldn't think, couldn't move, only feel weakness seizing hold of her. She began to feel light, as though along with her strength, Hades were taking her weight as well. Suddenly, Valora felt afraid. She knew what was happening. "No..." she just about managed to vocalise internally. "While I'm...unconscious...can do...anything...to me..." She thought of her own beauty. Her voluptuous, dazzlingly lovely body. She let out a long, distraught moan, as she realised that Hades could subject her to any cruel desire they wished. With that thought, she let out a mewing whimper, and dropped out of the waking world.

Hades held their grip for a little longer, making sure Valora slept. Letting her fall back down, the villain laid their hands on her breasts, and began roughly massaging them, feeling how yielding and soft they were to the touch, squeezing, kneading her voluminous mounds.
"Not bad at all," Hades said. Slipping gloved hands under Valora's body, Hades lifted her up into his arms, cradling her like a delicate, sleeping princess. Her bare legs dangled in her captor's arms, long and deliciously curved. Her arms dangled towards the ground, far from it due to the great height of the one who carried her. Her soft throat was exposed as her neck fell back, her sweet-smelling blonde hair trailing down in the same direction as her arms, her plump, rosy lips slightly parted in her forced slumber. She was a laughably small burden to her captor.

"Unnhhh..." Seismictus, or System Shock, or Royal Rumble, or whatever he was calling himself that day, got up, his head woozy.
"Catch," he heard from his boss, and responded just in time to receive the gorgeous, half-naked body of the woman who had defeated him so easily.
"You beat her!" he laughed.
"Don't be silly," Hades replied. "Of course I did. Put her in a stasis tank with the others. I don't want her waking up and wrecking the place trying to get to you again."
"Yes, sir," he said quickly. "Um, sir?" he ventured.
"What is it?" Hades snapped. This rather put the fear of God into Seismictus, who clammed up. "Speak, peon."
"Well, er, Valora was asking about another heroine. Enhancegirl. She said Enhancegirl was the reason why she was trying to track me down."
"Was she indeed?" Hades said. "Enhancegirl...yes, I think I know that name! That's very interesting..." Hades walked off - and started whistling. Seismictus looked down at the defeated damsel in his arms.
"Sorry darlin'," he said. "Looks like your stay's gonna be a long one."