Chapter Nine
February 22nd, 2:08 AM
This was supposed to have been an easy night.
A simple interview with a stupid reporter. A way to get back into the game.
And then, suddenly, she had found herself unmasked. And then, fighting for dear life for the sake of her secret identity.
And then, once she got her mask back, who should show up but Steve and Lora. The very two goons who had humiliated her so thoroughly just months ago. Armed with gas.
And now, she was trapped, bound to a wooden slab by freaking tree branches, all spreadeagled and ready-to-go in some kind of a creepy basement forest.
"So... Why do I do this superheroine stuff, again?" Erin thought.
She looked out at her foes. Sunny stood near her, grinning, clad in her signature black leather outfit, practically a picture of an irritating, indefatigable nemesis. Behind her, standing silent and stock still, were the ninja and the old woman, as mysterious as ever, the green glow of the room making their presence even more eerie and inscrutable.
What the hell was this place? And why, of all the places in the city, did they bring her here?
She figured she'd ask.
"So whose sick fantasy nightmare do I find myself in, now?" she said.
Sunny laughed. "This is Lora's house. Have you met Lora?" She pointed to the old woman.
Erin Steele had, in fact, met Lora. Lora had got to know her quite well, actually, pulling down Erin's panties and insisting that she go to the bathroom. But until tonight, the Blue Lynx hadn't had a run-in with the strange old woman.
"I don't believe we've been formally introduced."
"Welcome to the garden, Blue Lynx," Lora whispered. "I hope you like it. I don't anticipate you leaving for a long, long time."
Hearing this, Erin instinctively pulled at her bonds, but the branches held tight, even seeming to curl around her wrists slightly more.
"There's no escape, I'm afraid," Lora continued. "And the more you fight my plants, the more they fight back."
Erin grimaced, eliciting a chuckle from Sunny.
"I knew you were on the team for a reason, Lora," Sunny said.
Erin blinked. "Team? What team?" But she knew a second later what was coming next.
"The Fearsome Five, my dear pussy," Sunny said, stretching her arms out. "A supervillain team dedicated to one thing: your ruin."
"That's great, or whatever," Erin said. "But it looks like there are just three of you."
Sunny paused. "You're right," she said. She tapped her toe. "What the hell happened to the others, again..."
"And this is Hammerson's plan, I assume?" Erin said.
"Todorov!" Sunny yelped. "Todorov makes four!"
Erin rolled her eyes.
"Alright, so if that dumb doctor is involved, then Brent Hammerson definitely is, too."
Sunny glared at her. "We don't have to tell you anything, Blue Lynx. But yes, the boss has put a reward on your head. Bonus money if we can get you to him alive."
It was coming together in Erin's head. "So that's why you kidnapped that girl a couple months ago? To try and capture me?"
Sunny smiled. "Bingo."
"And that's why you were working with that reporter, tonight? To set up another trap?"
Sunny nodded. "Clever girl. Yes, Mrs. Wright was more than happy to join forces with us. She apparently did great work, too."
Julia Wright. That bitch. How could she work with these maniacs? Erin was glad she had broken her nose. Though she did wonder what they ended up doing with her. There's no way she would've voluntarily skipped on the chance to see the Blue Lynx tied up this this.
"So what now?" Erin asked. "I take it you're going to get Hammerson out here."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Blue Lynx?" Sunny said. "No, we're not going to get the boss. Not yet. It seems like every time we invite him somewhere, the plan goes haywire. And we're not giving you any time tonight. We're getting straight to the point."
Erin's eyes widened. She had not been expecting this.
"And... what's the point?"
"It's simple," Sunny said, with an evil grin. "We're taking off your mask."
Erin winced, once more pulling against the branches on her wrists and ankles, and once more feeling them tighten.
"There'll be no fuss this time, either," Sunny said. "No waiting around for the boss to show up. No games."
"But you can't do that," Erin objected. "Hammerson won't like that at all. He wants to unmask me himself."
Sunny placed her hands on her hips. She hadn't stopped smiling. "Well, at this point, Blue Lynx," she said, "He doesn't really care who does it, so long as someone does. You've been a thorn in everyone's side for far, far too long. Once we know your face, it'll be all over for you."
Erin gulped. Sunny was right, of course. And it didn't look like the Blue Lynx could do anything to stall her.
Suddenly, the old woman spoke. "She's right, you know."
Sunny turned around to face her. "What? Who? What are you talking about?"
Lora cleared her throat. "The boss would want to do the job himself."
"Are you arguing with the plan, Lora?" Sunny asked. "Didn't we talk about this already?"
"We did," Lora said. "And as I recall, you said you'd let me experiment on her before we unmasked her."
Sunny waved at the Blue Lynx, tightly wrapped in woody vines. "Right," she said. "And that's what this thing is, right? Your experiment?"
"It's part of it," Lora replied.
"Part of it, whatever," Sunny said. "You can have your fun after we take her mask off."
She turned back around to face Erin.
"I say we do it right now," she sneered, stepping toward the Blue Lynx and placing her hands on either side of Erin's waist.
"You should listen to Lora," Erin said. "Hammerson won't pay you if you take his prize from him."
"Brent doesn't have to know about it," Sunny said, clamping her hands on Erin's hips, jiggling the superheroine's utility belt. Erin grimaced, and Sunny laughed.
"Brent doesn't have to know about any of this."
She slid her fingers up Erin's sides, running them along the seams of her spandex outfit, up to Erin's wet armpits and then up her arms.
"We'll take it off, get a picture, and put it right back on again," Sunny continued. "You'll be ruined, and Brent will have no idea."
Sunny's hands were now caressing Erin's throat, her fingers pushing through dark locks of hair.
"I am going to miss this, though," Sunny said. "Seeing you tied up. Our banter. It's a real turn-on, I gotta say."
Erin couldn't think of a response. Her thoughts were entirely focused on a way to escape, but none of those thoughts were forming around anything resembling a plan. Every time she moved, the branches strengthened their grip. She was stuck. So she had to find a way to delay Sunny, whose fingers were now on her cheek, poking at the places where her mask met her face.
"Maybe we can turn you into a slave, or something," Sunny said. "So that the fun will never end."
She turned her head around. "Lora! You have any idea how to brainwash someone?"
Lora sighed. "That was my goal, actually."
"Oh boy," Sunny said, once more facing the Blue Lynx. "You hear that, cat? We can keep having fun together. Maybe we can even re-enact this scene, over and over again. The scene of your superheroine career's end."
Erin was trying not to listen. It was all too horrible, and there was no way out.
"But enough talk, let's do this," Sunny said.
She leaned into Erin, pressing their lower bodies together, and pinched the bottom edge of the blue mask.
"Ready, Blue Lynx?" Sunny giggled, her face just inches from the Blue Lynx's, her lips almost smacking against Erin's.
"Sunny! Don't!" Erin shouted.
"Stop!" Lora yelled. "There's someone here!"
Sunny immediately stepped back, and Erin's body went slack with long sigh of relief.
"Who? What?" Sunny yelled. "What's going on?"
Erin looked up. Sunny was still close to her, but facing away, and looking around frantically. Lora turned around in a slow circle, while Steve watched with his typical silent menace.
"I can feel... a presence," Lora whispered. "A fifth person in this room."
Erin scanned the boxed-in forest from side-to-side. It was difficult to see much beyond the three villains: the eerie green glow and the dark shadows combined to obscure most of the room's secrets.
And then, there was smoke. From an explosion. Plumes of grey smoke covering everything in sight. Erin coughed, and heard more coughing: a high hacking from Sunny, a breathy wheeze from Lora, and the low kind of pounding sound from Steve. There was muttering, and movement, and a loud "What... the... fuck" pushed out between coughs by Sunny.
Erin squinted through the smoke, felt tears forming in her eyes. She could vaguely see three forms stumbling around. And then, suddenly, one of them fell, hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Soon after that, a second body collapsed, this once emitting a breathy cry on the way down. And then, finally, the figure closer to Erin hit the floor.
The smoke began to clear, and Erin could see them: Steve, Lora, and Sunny, all lying around amidst logs and branches and moss, all apparently knocked out. She saw too a small figure standing upright in a skintight black and purple costume, a girl with glasses and reddish-brown hair.
On to Chapter Ten
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