Chapter Five
June 16th, 11:50 PM
There were voices in the darkness.
"Well, who is she?"
"She's... familiar."
"I know. I've seen her before, somewhere."
"Right. She wasn't carrying any ID."
"She wasn't carrying much of anything. I mean... shit. Look at her."
"Yeah. God. Damn."
"I don't think she's wearing anything underneath, either."
"Ha. So you've looked, too?"
"Maybe once or twice."
"Ha. Ha. Hoo wee. She is... mmm... hot."
"What's a girl like this doing with her hand in Hammerson's files?"
"Ha. That's what the boss wants to find out."
"Oh, shit. Here she is."
Steps. A throat clearing. She felt the tap of a fingernail on her cheek. And a new voice.
"Wake up, sweetie. Wake up. Wake the fuck up."
Erin blinked her eyes. Staring her in the face was a woman with bleached blonde hair, red lipstick, and glasses. Regina Sunflower, a.k.a. Sunny, i.e. not the sort of person Erin typically enjoyed waking up to.
"Hi there," Sunny said, with an exaggerated wave. "Remember me? We've met before, you know."
Erin shook her head. Had they met? She had fought Sunny many times, but always as the Blue Lynx. Had Sunny figured out her identity? Erin began to panic. "Oh shit," she thought. "She knows too! How?"
Wait. No. Months ago, when Sunny had kidnapped Erin to use her as Blue Lynx bait... That's what she was talking about. Of course.
"Yeah," Erin mumbled, blearily. "I know you."
Her consciousness was returning to her in ebbs. She was in a dimly lit room, concrete floors and walls, spare and unadorned. Probably a basement. She sat in an uncomfortable chair. Sunny stood in front of her, her hands on the hips of her tight black dress, flanked by two guards, both packing heat, both admiring the tableau of these two beautiful women in skimpy clothing. Reflexively trying to adjust her skirt, Erin found that her hands were tied, behind her. She looked down and saw that her ankles had each been lashed to a chair leg, pulling her legs apart, pushing her dress dangerously close to her panty-less parts. She was as helpless and as exposed as she'd been the last time Sunny had had Erin Steele in her clutches, and Erin felt a powerful sense of deja vu.
Her head throbbed. What had happened? She had been at Hammerson's party, in his office, the guards had come in, surrounded her. Something hit her head. And now she was here.
"Crap," Erin thought. So much for the "mission."
"When the boys told me we had an intruder, I gotta say, you were the last person I expected, Erin Steele." Sunny paced around her with slow steps, her stiletto heels clicking on the concrete floor. "We've had break-ins before. But usually it's just dumb kids, amateur criminals, hoods. It's not every night we get the pleasure of the mayor's daughter's company."
She squatted down in front of Erin, placing her chest between her captive's spread knees.
"But this begs the question," Sunny said, her expression wilting. "Of what the fuck you're doing here."
Erin stared at Sunny. She didn't know what to say. She hadn't even considered the possibility that she might be captured, that Sunny would even be here. It was one thing to say "political civility" when she was having a cocktail, and another to say it after being caught snooping around Hammerson's office.
"Don't wanna talk?" Sunny said, standing up straight. "That's fine for now."
She gestured to one of the guards, who handed her a small black box with four wires coming from one side. Sunny held the box so that Erin could see it, her face once more a self-satisfied, hideous grin.
"But once we put these little guys on you," Sunny said, wiggling the four wires. "I think you might feel different."
She bent back down, cradling the box in one arm, and brought her fingers to the place where Erin's skirt ended, placing the end of one of the wires on the inside of Erin's thigh with a sticky pat.
"What are you doing?" Erin said, her eyes widening. She had begun to wiggle her arms and legs as much as the tight ropes would let her. It wasn't much, and Erin could only watch as Sunny placed a second wire opposite the first, seeming to relish the softness of Erin's skin just inches away from her privates.
"Oh, nothing," Sunny laughed. She got up, still holding the box, looking for a place to stick the third wire. Erin saw her gazing intently at her breasts, and shut her eyes when Sunny's hand dove into her dress, plunged beneath her bra, and stuck the end of a wire directly onto Erin's nipple.
"Augh!" Erin cried. "You're perverted! You're..." She searched for the right word while Sunny's hand groped her other breast, taking its time finding a place for the final wire. "Sick!" Erin yelled, as Sunny poked the fourth sticky pad onto the tip of Erin's jiggling breast.
The guards had broken out into laughter, and Sunny turned around to silence them. "Shut up," she said, calmly, and then turned back to face Erin, who was now connected in four sensitive places to the small black box.
"When my dad finds out what you're doing," Erin said, finding she didn't need to fake her words, "You're going to pay. You can't do this to people."
"Funny you should mention your dad," Sunny said, ignoring the rest of Erin's complaint. "That's my first question. Did your daddy send you here?"
Erin glared at her captor. Once again, she'd didn't know how to respond. If she told the truth, that her dad had nothing to do with this, then Sunny's mind would start wandering, and might even come across the idea that Erin was a vigilante. On the other hand, if she lied and said yes, then she could get her father in big trouble, and...
"You're not answering fast enough," Sunny said. "Maybe this will jog your memory."
She flicked a switch, and a bolt blasted through Erin's body, enclosing her chest and legs in a giant, painful pinch. She shook and screamed, girding herself for a few excruciating seconds before Sunny turned off the electricity. Erin closed her eyes and dropped her head, breathing heavily, her body suddenly loose and powerless.
"Let me ask you again, now," Sunny said with a sickening grin. "Did the mayor tell you to come here?"
"No," Erin coughed, weakly. Her nipples tingled and her legs felt like jelly. She couldn't think of an alibi, or of anything but the pain gripping her.
"Interesting," Sunny said. "So then. Did you come here on your own?"
"Yes," Erin said.
"And what was your purpose, this evening, hmm?"
Pain still surrounded Erin's ability to think. "I, uh," she whispered. "I wanted to know, for, umm, the election, about..."
"You're lying to me," Sunny said, flipping the switch again. Erin knew what was coming, but nothing could prepare her for it. The electricity ripped through her muscles, making her convulse in her seat, shocking her hair upright. Sunny watched her spasm for a few seconds and then turned off the heat. She giggled as Erin tried to get a hold of herself.
"Don't lie to me again," Sunny said. "Long exposure to this machine... It could kill you."
Erin didn't doubt it. She looked up at Sunny, attempting a menacing scowl. "How dare you. Imprisoning a young woman. Torturing her. This is a crime."
"Trespassing is a crime, babe," Sunny said. "I have a right to self-defense, don't I? If someone tries to break into Mr. Hammerson's house, what am I supposed to do? Just let the bitch go?"
Erin shook her head. "I could end you. I know who you are. You... Kidnapped me. Twice. You belong in jail."
"You know, you're pretty sassy," Sunny said. "Pretty fucking arrogant. I think we need to shock some of that arrogance out of you."
Erin brought her head back into an ear-piercing shriek as the electricity resumed its travels through her body. She shook so hard the straps of her dress and bra fell off her shoulders. Sunny patted her mouth in a mock yawn as she observed the scene, and then finally flipped the switch.
"Here's my theory," Sunny said, continuing her slow walk around her captive. "You think you're pretty hot shit, and you want to do your daddy proud. You're convinced that Mr. Hammerson's got something going on, some sort of horrible secret you could use against him. So you figured you'd just waltz in here and charm your way into Mr. Hammerson's office. But you're no secret agent, are you, Erin Steele? You're just a helpless little girl."
Erin hung her head. She didn't mind Sunny coming up with her own theory-- it took that burden off of Erin's electricity-addled brain. But being called a "helpless little girl"... That stung. It reminded her of the Spaniel, of how easily he had defeated her, of how all of her recent exploits had ended much like this current one: with her captured and tortured and completely at the mercy of a gloating evildoer.
"What I don't understand," Sunny went on, "Is how you successfully guessed Mr. Hammerson's password. How did you know..."
A clattering sound rang through the basement. Erin looked up. Sunny spun around. Behind her, the two guards were waving their guns into room's dark corners. "Who's there?" one of them shouted. "Show yourself!"
There was a cry of pain. One of the guards crumpled to his knee, and then fell over backward. The second guard pointed his gun only to have it kicked out of his hands. He too fell over, revealing a small, dark silhouette, the shape of a young woman. As the figure stepped into the light, her red hair shone brilliantly, popping with color atop her black and purple spandex outfit.
"You!" Sunny shouted. "I know you! You're the Black... Black... Bitch?"
"Bobcat," Margot said, shaking her head. "I'm the Black Bobcat."
On to Chapter Six
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