June 24th, 5:26 PM
Erin stormed into the writer's house, Margot alongside, and slammed the front door.
She looked at the lone man standing awkwardly near a kitchen table, just a few yards away.
"You're Zilch?"
The man made a strange gesture that was somewhere between a nod and a shrug.
"Figures," Erin said. A flabby, awkward, bespectacled white guy. In an over-sized white t-shirt and sweatpants. Exactly the kind of creep she'd expecting-- exactly the sort of nerd who'd get off on her going through the worst ordeal of her life.
"That the computer where you write your little stories?" Margot asked, pointing at the laptop.
Zilch looked at the machine with an almost puzzled expression, and then back at the Black Bobcat. He made the same gesture that he had for Erin.
Without warning, Erin marched across the room, shoved Zilch to the ground, and grabbed the computer, yanking its cord from the wall. She held the machine up above her head so that it almost grazed the kitchen ceiling.
"You wouldn't like it if we destroyed it, would you?" Erin snarled, staring at the young man sprawled across the floor. "Bet you have all kinds of files on it."
"Don't!" Zilch said, mechanically. "Just... be careful!"
"Sure thing," Erin said. She brought the laptop down and then hurled it frisbee-style across the room. It hit the far wall next to the TV and exploded into pieces.
"Ahhhh!" Zilch cried. "My laptop!"
Margot bent down and grabbed Zilch by the front of his shirt, hauling him easily to his feet. "It's no fun when people take special things away from you, is it?" she said, menacingly.
"No fun when people start poking around your private life, IS IT?" Erin added.
Zilch looked frantically back-and-forth and the two women, Erin could see the sweat pouring down his face, could practically hear the guy's heart pounding. She almost felt sorry for him in that moment. Almost.
"What... what do you want?" Zilch cried.
He was as pathetic as she had expected. His Blue Lynx stories were lewd and stupid, and not even very well written. He probably had never had a girlfriend; he had probably had never had sex. He was a loser, this "Zilch," real name Patrick Kuntsler. She wondered how he was even able to afford his house, which was small, but near the city center-- just ten minutes away from Erin's own apartment (which was why the women had decided to deal with him first).
Erin stepped up to where Margot held the writer, pushing her breasts inches away from his shivering expression. It was merciless, how they could taunt him. He deserved nothing better.
"I want you to stop writing stories," Erin commanded. "Immediately."
Zilch gulped. "Sure, sure thing."
"And I want you to delete from whatever files you have all knowledge of my secret identity. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. I got it."
Margot released his shirt, and Erin, inspired by just how miserable he seemed, socked him hard in the stomach. Zilch bent over and coughed, dropping to one knee.
"Now you know how it feels to be punched by a superheroine," Erin said.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Margot said, grinning, happy to see her friend get some revenge.
Zilch nodded wordlessly. He was still coughing, still clearly in pain from the assault.
"I can do a whole lot worse," Erin said, grabbing the writer by the hair and pulling him up, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "And I will, if I ever get any kind of indication that you're even THINKING about spilling the beans."
Margot unsnapped a button on her belt and pulled out a small syringe. "You see this, Zilch?"
Still frozen in place by Erin's grip, Zilch could only move his eyes to see what the Black Bobcat held. "Yes, yes," he muttered.
"This is a drug that we uncovered from a villain's lair," Margot said. "An amnesia drug."
Erin nodded in agreement. What Margot said was true. What she held was a small sample of the very concoction that Sunny had almost jabbed into the Blue Lynx's ass at the end of her last excursion. Margot had taken it from Sunny's lab thinking it might come in handy, and though she hadn't been able to discern the formula's ingredients, the vial she possessed had enough fluid in it for maybe four or five injections. The perfect insurance policy for the Blue Lynx.
"I stick this in your arm," Margot continued. "And boom, your memories are gone. Everything you know about the Blue Lynx will disappear. Along with everything else you've ever thought."
Erin was not looking forward to actually using the drug-- even for a slimeball like Zilch, it seemed severe-- and was hoping the threat of it would be enough to enforce silence. Looking into Zilch's eyes, it seemed like the strategy might work.
"Jesus, okay, okay!" Zilch cried. "I won't say anything, okay? I promise!"
Erin released Zilch's hair and once again tossed him to the ground. The writer rolled onto his stomach, breathing heavily and making strange sounds. He was a defeated man.
"Good," Erin said. "Don't make us come back here, little boy."
She nodded at Margot and the two superheroines spun around, confidently walking out of the house and politely closing the front door behind them, leaving the writer wincing on the floor, alone once more.
"Do you think we were too hard on him?" Margot asked, as the girls jogged to her car.
"No way," Erin said. "He was asking for it."
She laughed out loud. "Maybe he can write a stupid story about it to make himself feel better."
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