Chapter Four
April 18th, 9:23 PM
"Fuck her," Margot thought, clenching her fists.
"I do my best. I work hard and train every day. But it's never good enough. Whenever it's time to leap into battle, it's 'not yet, Margot.' But I've fought before! I've saved her life, like, twenty times! Ungrateful bitch."
She stopped herself. She didn't want to think these things. She was mad, yes, but she still had a responsibility to Erin. She needed to keep a clear head. Needed to watch the tracker, make sure things were okay, sit in the car like a good little girl...
"Ugh," she said. "Fuck this."
She reached into the backseat and grabbed her backpack.
"I'm at least getting in costume," she thought, unzipping the bag and pulling out her black and purple spandex. "Hopefully Erin's okay with that."
Car costume changes were awkward. It was tough to shimmy out of her shorts sitting down, and even tougher to step into her skintight costume. She banged her elbows against the car door, kicked at the brake and gas pedals, almost hit her glasses off her face in frustration.
"So maybe I'm not ready to be a superheroine," Margot thought, stuffing her bra into her spandex v-neck. "Not until I can do this in less than an hour."
Margot was so occupied with her transformation that she didn't see a white van pull up nearby. She was clipping on her utility belt when three figures leaped out of the car, and adjusting her mask as they crept over to her side of the parking lot, silent and silhouetted in the dark. She was putting the finishing touches on the Black Bobcat, tracing her lips with bright red lipstick, for sheerly artistic reasons, when she heard a knock on her window.
Shocked by the sudden intrusion, she flicked her head up. And just inches from her face, separated only by a couple millimeters of car window, she saw the wide, threatening grin of Brent Hammerson.
"Come on out, girly," he said, beckoning with his hand. "There's no use in fighting."
Shit! What was he doing out here? And talking to her? He was supposed to be inside dealing with Erin!
Margot's mind raced. They had ambushed her. This was a trap. She should call Erin, right now.
"No," she told herself. "You can do this on your own. To prove yourself to Erin."
Hammerson kept rapping on the window. "Alright kid," he said. "Open up right now or I'm coming in."
Margot took a deep breath, unlocked the car door, and put everything she had into a kick against the side panel. The door flung out and banged into Hammerson, knocking him off of his feet and onto the pavement.
"What's the matter, Brent?" she said, keeping her eye on his writhing, grounded figure, and stepping out of the car. "I thought you wanted me to open the door."
Suddenly, she felt herself being taken off the ground, lifted up by some sort of black cloud. She kicked her legs around, tensed her arms, tried flinging her head about, but found that she was securely in someone arms. Thick, black-clad arms with an ultra-tight grip.
"Oh shit!" Margot thought. "It's that... Ninja! But he's dead!"
Realizing who held her made Margot fight even harder, but all of her efforts were immediately thwarted by the ninja's immense, overpowering strength. She watched from his arms as Hammerson clambered to his feet, straightening his hair.
"Goddamn you," Hammerson said, dusting off his suit. "You're just as bad as your partner."
Margot needed to come up with a retort. Something devastatingly clever, something to make her current predicament a little more palatable. But all she could think of was, "Oh, I'm... worse."
There was sudden laughter from another direction. Margot looked up and saw Sunny, all bleached blonde hair and black leather, more fit and vigorous than you'd expect given that a whole house had fallen on top of her.
"You are worse than the Blue Lynx," Sunny laughed, stepping up to Margot, placing her hand on Margot's chin. "You're just the stupid sidekick. And tonight, you're bait."
"Bait?" Margot said, her eyes widening.
Sunny nodded. "Which means you won't be needing this." She reached around Margot's back and unfastened the Black Bobcat's utility belt. Sunny let it drop into her fingers and then slung it over her shoulder.
"My belt!" Margot cried. "Give it back!"
"Ah ah ah," Sunny said, patting Margot's cheek. "What would the Blue Lynx say if she saw you begging?"
Margot gulped. Shoot! Why had she been so careless? How could she allowed them to get the drop on her? She squirmed in the ninja's grip.
"Now quit moving so I can tie you up," Sunny said, pulling ropes from her pocket.
Margot kept moving, but it didn't matter. Minutes later, Sunny had bound her wrists behind her and her ankles together. The ninja placed her on the pavement, and Margot wiggled around, desperately looking for a sharp surface to cut the ropes. Hammerson and Sunny laughed as they watched her, apparently unconvinced she was going anywhere.
"You fiends," Margot said. "You won't get away with this. The Blue Lynx is right inside. She knows where I am. She'll find you all and destroy you. You can't stop her."
"I've heard enough from the best friend," Hammerson said. He snapped his fingers and Sunny bent down. She stuffed a piece of cloth into Margot's mouth and locked it in with a long strip of duct tape.
"MMPH!" Margot said. "MMPH!"
"From now on, you talk when we say," Sunny said. "Be a good little girl."
"I think you were right, Sunny," Hammerson said. "She really is the perfect bait. The Blue Lynx would never give up on her sidekick."
He nodded at the ninja, and the massive black-clad man picked Margot up with one elegant scoop, tossing her over his shoulder like a particularly light sack of potatoes.
"Now let's go capture a real superheroine," Hammerson laughed.
Margot strained against the ninja's shoulder, trying to roll off, but he had her locked in, had her thighs in his arms and was not giving an inch. So she simply watched, with sad, angry, worried eyes, as they carried her away from her car, across the parking lot, and toward their white van.
On to Chapter Five
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