White Elephant: Chapter Two

Chapter Two

December 20th, 3:55 PM

Though they were both beautiful girls dressed in skin-tight costumes and masks, Erin and Margot experienced little resistance as they ran through the thick crowds and arrived back in the concourse.  Five days before Christmas, and the city seemed to have no time for superheroes.  Which was fine by the Blue Lynx and the Black Bobcat, who has a general rule avoided such densely populated areas.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Margot had asked as she stuffed herself into her spandex.  "It's probably nothing."

"With Sunny, it's always something," Erin had replied.  "And besides, don't you want to put on a little holiday spectacle for the kids?"

The kids-- seemingly hundreds of them-- were lined up in front of Santa now, eager to get their turn with the uncharacteristically thin man.  The elves-- mostly squat men with mustaches and beards-- flanked the sides of the stage.  Sunny did a little dance to herself before walking up to the microphone again.

"Hey, does anyone want to, like, sing a Christmas carol or something?  I'd do it but, you know, there's kids here."

There was a smattering of laughter through the room.  Sunny looked around for a volunteer, her smile big and white until she locked eyes with the Blue Lynx, now standing just a couple of yards away from the stage.

"I'll hum a few bars," Erin announced, vaulting up onto the stage.  She turned to the side, faced Sunny, and placed her hands on her hips.  It was her best superheroine pose, and standing there in her blue spandex, mask, and white boots, she inspired more than a few whistles of appreciation.

For a split second, Sunny's face seemed to crack, but she rapidly re-gained her composure as she stepped back up to the mic.

"Well look at this, everybody," Sunny said, waving her arms at the superheroine who now shared her stage.  "It's the Blue Lynx!  What are you doing here, Blue?  Come to wish us a... Blue Christmas?"

Erin shook her head.  "No, Mrs. Claus.  I just came to make sure there's no naughty people in the crowd today."

"Oh yeah?," Sunny said, with a slightest bit of a sneer.  "So you've made a list and checked it twice?  Don't you know that's Santa's job?"

"Well, sometimes Santa needs help," Erin stated, her voice clear and confident over the crowd.  "And some people deserve coal, this year."

Sunny gasped with phony outrage.  "Wow!  Do you hear that, everyone?  The Blue Lynx is trying to take Santa's job!"  She looked around the stage at the elves.  "What do you think of that, boys?"

Erin heard a few snickers of laughter behind her.  She quickly scanned the stage.  She estimated there were fifteen elves.  They were just men in silly costumes... But she'd need help if they attacked.

"Black Bobcat!" Erin said.  "Get up here!"

Margot sprang from the crowd up to the stage.  She stood back to back with Erin, facing the other direction.  There were more cheers from the audience.  Were they rooting for the girls?  Or for a big fight?

"Lookee here," Sunny said into the mic.  "It's the Blue Lynx's sidekick!  They're trying to steal our show!  They'd better watch out!"  She waved her hands at the elves, and pointed at Santa.  "Elves!  Nick!  Show these young ladies what happens to children when they don't play by the rules."

Santa set the child in his lap on the stage.  "You all go now," he said, pushing a few of the children in line.  "Go on, get."  He stood up from his seat looking skinnier than ever.  He was probably the most miserable Santa Claus Erin had ever seen.  Could Hammerson seriously not find a fat man for the task?

"Come on!" Sunny said, pointing at the Blue Lynx and Black Bobcat.  "Get them!"

The elves moved with cautious steps across the stage, forming a tight circle around the two superheroines.  Some wielded candy canes, others carried spools of ribbon and wrapping paper.  No of them looked particularly threatening.

"Don't hurt them too bad, Margot," Erin whispered.  They still stood back-to-back, their fists now in front of them.  They rotated around, taking stock of their situation.  "They're probably just people.  And we don't want to turn the stage into a bloody mess."

Margot nodded.  "Right.  It's Christmas, after all."

The concourse was mostly silent as it watched the band of elves descend upon the pair of costumed crimefighters.  Was this real, or all an act?  No one seemed to know.  And no one seemed ready to leave until they found out the answer.

When the elves got got within a few yards, Erin made her move.  She ran up to her first elf-- who was at least a foot shorter than the Blue Lynx-- placed her hands on his shoulders, and gave him a hard shove to ground.

"Stay down!" she yelled.  Her voice was met with audience applause.  Good.

She spun around.  There were two elves lunging at her.  She raised both hands and stiff-armed them, catching them in their chests with open palms.  They too hit the floor, and once again, there were cheers.

Suddenly, the audience gasped.  Erin looked up.  Across the stage, Santa had ensnared Margot in a headlock.  The Black Bobcat kicked and squirmed, her gloved hands frantically clutching at Santa's jacket, but couldn't break free.  A few elves had come over to wrap themselves around Margot's thighs, weighing her legs down, eventually rendering her motionless in the grip of the tall, skinny man.

"Black Bobcat!" Erin shouted.  But no sooner had she done this than a heavy blow cracked across the back of her skull.  Erin cried out and fell to her knees.  Through her blurred vision, she saw shards of candy cane, and knew that somehow one of the elves had gotten the drop on her.  From her grounded position, she turned around, and was met with a small fist to her cheek.  Erin toppled over to the floor, the exclamations of the crowd following her to the stage.

"Quick," Sunny hissed.  She had stepped away from the microphone and was barking orders to the elves.  "Tie up the little bitch!"

The sound of Sunny's voice provoked a strong reflex, and Erin immediately got back to her feet.  But before she could find her bearings, an elf tossed a spool of red ribbon at her legs.  The ribbon twisted around Erin's thighs like a bolo-bolo.  "Hey!"  Erin cried, digging her fingers into the fabric.  It was tight, and tough-- much tougher than traditional ribbon.  Erin tried to pry herself free, but before she could make any progress, she felt a jerk, and was suddenly lifted off her feet.  She again tumbled to the ground, catching most of the impact with her butt.  A cry of surprise rang out from the concourse, as a nearly motionless Blue Lynx now lay on the stage, seemingly defeated by Christmas elves.

Dazed from the fall, Erin could only watch as a group of them gathered around her, each with their own spool of ribbon.  With the speed and efficiency of experienced pros, they trussed her up: one of them wrapping her boots together, another her thighs, another binding her arms around her upper body.  Working together, the elves flipped the helpless superheroine over, pulled her forearms behind her, and knotted up her wrists.  Satisfied with their work, the elves slapped their hands together and stepped away from their captive, leaving her face down on the stage, her slightly wriggling ass the only thing in motion.

If she hadn't been so embarrassed, Erin could've broken out into laughter.  This was so ridiculous, all of it.  But it was also incredibly serious: Erin felt the ribbons digging into her bare skin and could sense-- without having the strength to try, yet-- that these bonds were going to be difficult to break.

"Alright, flip her over," Sunny commanded.  With zero hesitation, the team of elves grabbed Erin by her arms and legs and forced her to face the ceiling.  A fleeting moment of peace looking up into the mall's impressive central cupola was interrupted by Sunny's grinning face.

"See what happens when you try to interrupt my show, Blue Lynx?"

Erin furrowed her brow.  "I don't know what you're up to, Sunny.  But whatever it is, it's going to fail."

Sunny giggled.  "That's pretty smart talk coming from someone who was just beaten by elves and ribbons."

Erin didn't have a response to this one.  Indeed, she felt terribly humiliated by it all, and her face couldn't help but flush red.  Sunny laughed.

"Well done, boys," Sunny said.  "But we're missing one crucial thing."

Sunny removed a roll of labels from her pocket, peeled a large rectangle from the paper, scribbled a few words with a marker, and placed the sticker with brash fingers onto Erin's lips, smothering the Blue Lynx's cry of "No!" into a moan of "MMMPH!"

"There," Sunny said, examining her work.  "What a perfect little package."

Erin gave Sunny her meanest, most threatening glare, but that too only provoked a chuckle from her adversary.  "Haul her up, boys," she said.  "Bring her to the microphone."

The audience had fallen into almost total silence as they watched the elves pull the bound-and-gagged Blue Lynx to her feet and drag her-- like a life-sized doll-- to the center of the stage.

"Keep her still," Sunny said, and a few of the elves dropped around Erin's legs, pinning her thighs in place with small but surprisingly strong hands.

Erin looked out onto the crowd for the first time since she'd arrived on the stage.  There were still hundreds of people there, all of them watching the "show" intently.  Were any of them even thinking about calling the police?  Or were they all convinced that this was just part of the day's entertainment?

"I suppose I could look really worried," Erin thought.  "And then maybe a few of them will get the idea."  But "really worried" wasn't a great look for a superheroine.  So she'd wait, helplessly, and see what Sunny planned to do, and hope someone would help her.

Someone... Margot!  What had happened to Margot?  Erin craned her neck as far as it could go.  At the far right side of the stage, she saw Santa and a few elves.  Behind them, tied to a large white crucifix with strings of Christmas lights, was the Black Bobcat, her head hanging down, most likely unconscious.

Erin gulped.  This wasn't going very well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," Sunny said, once again speaking into the microphone, "As you can see, the Scrooge has been captured."  She looked at Erin with an evil gleam in her eyes.  "She tried to ruin our Christmas fun.  We showed her, didn't we?"

Scattered hoots and hollers rose from the crowd.

"She's a very, very naughty girl, this Blue Lynx," Sunny continued.  Her hand had crept behind Erin's back.  "Always... sticking her butt in places in doesn't belong."  Her fingers clamped down hard on Erin's ass cheek.  She pinched until Erin let out a label-muffled whinny.

Sunny chuckled, and two adversaries again locked eyes.  Beads of sweat had formed on Erin's brow.  She knew what was coming next.

"I say we put an end to her little superheroine career," Sunny said, her voice rising to a cackle.  "I say we take off her mask."

The phrase alone caused Erin's body to spasm, but the elves' hands and the red ribbons kept her securely in place.  "Mmph!" she cried, staring at Sunny, and then at the crowd, and then back at Sunny.  "Mmph!"

Sunny's hand slid around to Erin's front and slowly crawled up.  "What do you say, mallgoers?" Sunny said.  She placed her hand against Erin's cheek, flicking her index finger at the corner of Erin's mask, wholly delighted by the look of sheer terror in the Blue Lynx's eyes.  "Should we do it?"

On to Chapter Three