Chapter Nine
October 27th, 7:56 PM
Unmasked! The word fluttered into Erin's mind, came to roost, and slowly took hold. Her mask had been on her face and now... It was not. Alright, it still was, technically: the guard was holding it above her brow. But that was so, so beside the point. The point which was was this: her face, her secret identity, had been exposed.
Unmasked! Done! The Blue Lynx was no more. There was only Erin Steele, the daughter of the mayor, in a silly blue spandex outfit. Erin Steele, helpless young woman, cruelly bound to a pole, waiting for Hammerson to show up and deliver the final blow.
Unmasked. Her identity was revealed. And her superheroine career was...
"So who is she?" a guard asked.
He stepped in closer to Erin to take a look at her face. They all did, one-by-one, squinting, scratching their heads. And they all stepped back with puzzled looks.
"I don't know."
Erin blinked. What? How could they not know who she was?
The guard who had unmasked her stroked his chin. "She looks a little familiar. But I can't come up with anything. Huh. Funny. I figured she wouldn't been like, a celebrity or something."
Did these goons not watch the local news? Had they never seen her at any of her dad's events?
Erin had something to work with. "Nope. Just a girl."
"But," one of the guards said. "You got so nervous when you were about to be unmasked."
"Yeah, well," Erin said, searching for a convincing story. "Umm, I figured we might have had a college class together, or something."
"We did not," said another of the guards. "I would've remembered that face. It is gorgeous."
"Thank you," Erin smiled.
"So what's your name, then?" a guard asked.
"It's, uh," Erin said. "Barbara. Barbara Garden."
"Shit," the same guard said. "That's familiar, too."
"Well then, Barbara," the unmasking guard said, returning Blue Lynx's mask to rest on the bridge of her nose. "I guess that's that."
Erin let out a long sigh. "Jesus," she thought. "I guess it's true. Nobody follows the news anymore." She couldn't believe her good luck.
"But we still wanna see your boobs," the guard laughed, wrapping both of his hands around Erin's neck, and plunging them down her back. Erin twisted her body within his reach as the man groped around the edge of her ruffled spandex for the clasp of her bra. She could feel his fingers locate the clasp, feel him unhooking her bra, felt her skin prickle as the eyes and hooks separated, and heard the delight of the other guards increase as the man worked his hand to the front of her body, preparing to pull her bra off and leave her bare breasts exposed, to ride high on the folded over, stretched out "V" of her costume, when suddenly a door slammed and a screeching voice ground the proceedings to a halt.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Sunny screamed, charging at the guards. She pushed through the three bystanders and pulled the final guard off of Erin. She looked at Blue Lynx, with her costume pushed down her arms, her bra unfastened but still loosely on her breasts, and her mask slightly askew, and then turned around to look at the four men.
"I leave for ten minutes. NOT EVEN THAT," she yelled, pointing a sharp fingernail toward the guards. "I say, don't touch her, don't fucking DO anything. And I come back here, after a call with our FUCKING BOSS, to see you fucking IDIOTS treating our guest like some kind of cheap WHORE!"
She stamped her foot, fuming. The guards seemed to hang their heads in unison. Erin, watching from her pillar, still working the ropes, couldn't help but smile.
"All of you, LEAVE. NOW. Go home. You're through for tonight. You'll be lucky if you still have a job next MORNING."
Sunny pulled out her gun and pointed it at the guards. "COME ON! Go! Do it!" she hissed.
"Sorry, ma'am," one of the guards mumbled, as the four picked up their guns and slowly walked away. They stepped into the darkness of the factory and, seconds later, Erin could hear the door open and shut as they left. She was still smiling.
"So much for the hired help," Erin laughed. Sunny stared at her, and then gave a small smile.
"It's men," Sunny said, "Fucking men."
She smoothed out Erin's bra and reclapsed it behind Erin's back, sliding the straps back onto Erin's shoulders. She then lifted the spandex from Erin's arms and set it back near Erin's neck. The "V" neck was now more of a hastily scrawled "U." Sunny sighed as she finished putting Blue Lynx's costume back together, and then placed her soft hand on Erin's cheek.
"How dare they," Sunny said. "I wanted the first crack at you."
The soft hand morphed into a solid palm that slapped Erin across the face. Erin grunted with the impact and turned her head to the side.
"How's the boss doing?" Erin said, bringing her gaze back to meet Sunny's.
"He's good," Sunny said. "He's actually coming here now to meet you. He says that you two have unfinished business."
"He's right," Erin said. She now had the ropes loose enough around her wrists so that she could probably pull free. But she still couldn't do much so long as her boots were tied. Maybe she could start kicking, pulling, making a little effort here and there...
"He wants to take off your mask," Sunny said.
"And what about you?" Erin said.
"Me? I don't care who you are," Sunny said. "Well, I do, so long as the boss cares. But personally? I think you're just fine with the mask on."
Suddenly, Sunny balled her hand into a fist and sunk it into Erin's stomach. The impact forced Erin's face forward, coughing. It was a pretty good punch. And, fortunately for Erin, it had allowed her to covertly kick her ankles against the ropes. She could already feel them starting to give.
"I think this is exciting," Sunny said. "I've been waiting for a girl like you for years."
Erin breathed in and out, trying to collect herself. "A girl like me?"
"Yes," Sunny said. "A superheroine. This town has plenty of villains. Tons. But a costumed vigilante to stand against them? That's always been in short supply."
"You're a villain, then?" Erin asked.
Sunny laughed. "I can't deny it. I won't deny it. I love being bad." She spun her pistol around her finger, then brought it back to her side. "What I want is a good girl to be my foil."
"So you're saying," Erin said. "That we're rivals?"
Sunny nodded, grinning an evil grin. "Like Batman and the Joker."
"Or Batgirl and Harley Quinn," said Erin.
Sunny pointed at Erin with the gun limp in her hand. "You get it," she said.
Erin waited her Sunny to drop the gun, and then said, "So you can fight?"
Sunny smiled. "Oh yeah," she said. "I can fight."
"We'll see about that!" Erin cried, tugging her body away from the pillar, ripping her ankles and wrists free from the ropes, and lunging at Sunny. She threw her fist up in the air and then down at Sunny's face, connecting with her rival's chin. The force pushed Sunny to the ground, flinging the pistol out of her fingers. The gun clattered against the floor somewhere in the shadows of the factory.
"You... bitch," Sunny said, pressing her hand to her face.
Erin pulled Sunny up by her arms and then kneed her in the stomach, putting her back to the ground. Sunny groaned and clutched her abdomen as Erin walked in a circle around her opponent.
"Where's your fight?" Erin asked, grabbing Sunny by her leather jacket and again bringing her to her feet. She ran, making Sunny run with her, and then threw Sunny's body against one of the larger pillars. Sunny hit the pillar with a loud THUD and fell to the floor. She sprawled on the ground, spreading her fingers out, a mean wince taking over her expression.
"Thanks for fixing my costume," Erin said, tugging at her stretched-out V-neck, and she kicked Sunny in the head. Sunny's eyelids fluttered, and then her eyes rolled back into her skull. She was unconscious.
Erin exhaled. She placed her hands on her hips, looked at Sunny, and then looked around. The factory was silent, mostly empty, dark. The guards had left, and Sunny was unconscious. What was left to do except take some pictures and wait around for Hammerson?
"Erin!" Margot cried. "Untie me!"
Erin turned around. Oh yeah. Margot. She walked over to her friend, her hips sashaying confidently as she looked around at the scattered drug paraphernalia.
"You escaped," Margot said. "I can't believe you escaped!"
"Hey, I'm a superheroine," Erin said, bending down to unravel the knot of ropes at Margot's boots.
"I thought we were done for," Margot said. "And when they took off your mask..."
"Got lucky there," Erin admitted.
"But they got away," Margot said. "Aren't you afraid that they'll say something?"
"They didn't take a picture," Erin said, looking up and winking at her friend. "What could they possibly say? She's pretty?"
The girls giggled. Erin finished untying Margot's legs and then moved around behind the pillar. She worked at the ropes calmly, almost with satisfaction. It was much easier to untie this way.
After a couple of silent minutes, Erin asked: "So what happened in the parking lot?"
"Oh Erin," Margot said, bowing her head. "I'm so sorry. I just let him... He came and I didn't see him... And then he had me."
"It's okay," Erin said. "But next time, we have to hide your car better."
Margot nodded. She felt the final ropes drop from her wrists. "I agree."
The girls stood in the factory, taking it its shadowy immensity. Erin watched Margot rub her reddened wrists. She was still shaking, still torn up about being captured, Erin supposed.
"Margot," Erin said, clapping her hands on her partner's shoulders. "How about you go get the car? I'll stay here and take the photos. And you can stay there until I come out with Hammerson. Sound good?"
Margot tried to smile. "Okay."
"Cheer up," Erin said. "We all make mistakes, right? And I guess we're even now."
Margot looked at Erin. "Even?"
"You saved me once, and then I saved you."
"Oh," Margot said. "Okay."
And with that, she walked into the shadows. Erin heard the telltale door open and shut. It wasn't as dramatic an exit as going through the roof, Erin thought, but then again, Margot wasn't the Blue Lynx.
Erin pulled her phone from one of her belt pockets and began taking pictures of crates, pills, syringes, the table in the center of the room covered with papers, more pills, more syringes. It was a gold mine of evidence, an even more damning photographic record than Hillbilly Manor...
That night came back to her. "Yes," she thought. "Margot did save me." She needed Margot, obviously. If not for Margot, she would still be strung up in that backwoods barn like a farm animal, watching helplessly as gross rednecks dragged their dirty fingers along her body.
At the same time, Margot could not get captured again like she had been tonight. If the baddies had Margot, then they also had the Blue Lynx. It was that simple. Erin wasn't about to negotiate for her friend's life. If Margot was being used as bait, then the choice was clear: Erin would surrender every time.
So Margot had to be more careful, that was that. Erin sighed.
She snapped another photo, then looked back at her work. There were forty pictures. That seemed good. Erin retrieved the phone number of the Tip Hotline for the local newspaper, then attached the photos to a text message. "DRUG FACTORY ON NORTHEAST SIDE," she typed out with gloved fingers. "LOVE, BLUE LYNX."
She clicked send. But the e-mail didn't send.
"That's right," Erin said aloud, shaking her head. "That connection that Sunny was going on about. Guess I'll go outside."
She placed her phone back in her utility belt pocket and began walking toward the door, when she heard it creak. First open. And then shut. And then she heard... Footsteps. The sounds of... A scuffle? And two voices. She heard two voices. A man's voice, deep and low, and a higher, feminine voice climbing above it.
Erin stopped. The man's voice was taking shape, forming words.
"Alright Blue Lynx," the voice intoned. "I have your partner here. Got a gun to her head. Step into the light where I can see you with your hands up."
No. Not again.
The voice laughed. "You really should be more careful."
Blue Lynx stepped into the light and could see, ten yards away, also stepping into the light, Margot, one arm around her neck, a gun pressed to her temple. Behind her, holding the gun, a shadow slightly cast on his sinister smirk, stood Brent Hammerson.
On to Chapter Ten
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