Chapter Six
June 19th, 9:12 AM
They told Erin to get dressed, so she did. They told her to put on makeup, and she had. They told her to stay still, and she obeyed them, and they clamped cuffs around her wrists and a collar around her neck. They pulled her by a chain attached to the collar, and she followed. They dragged her into a room, flicked on the lights, and Erin saw a boxing ring. They forced her into the ring, still holding her by the chain, and she waited.
She looked around. Like every other room in Sunny's complex, this one was spare, white-walled, and almost completely silent. The boxing ring was its the only interesting feature, and a big clue as to what these goons wanted Erin to do next.
"So be it," Erin thought. She was tired of being shackled up, force-fed, spanked, whipped, and otherwise defenseless. She knew the fight wouldn't be fair, that Sunny would find some way to tip the scales in favor of the Blue Lynx's foe. She didn't care. The opportunity to hit something, someone, anything, would be a satisfaction that Erin hadn't known for days. They'd allowed her to wear her complete Blue Lynx costume for the bout-- well, aside from her belt, of course (Erin knew there was no way they'd let her have that back)-- and just looking down at herself gave her a surge of superheroine confidence. She was going to make them pay. They were making a huge mistake.
"We placing bets?" one of the henchmen asked the other.
"On what?"
"How quickly the Blue Lynx goes down."
Erin turned her head around and scowled at the men, who both laughed.
"Yeah," the second henchman said. "I'm thinking she's done in... two minutes."
"Wow. Two minutes? Jesus. I was thinking more like thirty seconds. She just hasn't seemed so tough without her little secret identity."
Erin shook her head. "How about you guys unchain me now and take me on yourselves? If you're feeling so manly."
The thug pulled the chain, yanking Erin off of her feet. She collided with the thug's chest and bounced back, barely keeping upright. The thug placed his fingers under Erin's chin and hoisted it up, forcing her to look into his dark eyes.
"There is honestly nothing I'd like more," the henchman said. "I'd throw you all over this ring, Blue Lynx. And then I'd pull off that stupid little mask and crumple it up before your eyes. I would have you beg me for mercy. And just as you surrender, I'd tear off your clothes, and then the real match would begin."
Erin pulled her head away from the henchman's fingers. "Ugh," she said. "So do it, you coward."
"Maybe I will..."
Just as the thug was bending down, the door slammed open. Sunny came in, her expression as vibrant as her namesake. She looked at the trio standing in the ring, smiled, and raised her open palms into the air.
"Alright!" she said. "Let's do this!"
She snapped her fingers. Two more thugs marched into the room, one of them also holding a chain. The chain was connected to a collar that was fastened around a prisoner's neck. The prisoner was a tall man in a golden spandex outfit.
"Oh God," Erin thought.
"Recognize your first opponent, Blue Lynx?" Sunny said. She snapped her fingers again, and the thugs led the Spaniel up and into the boxing ring. "He's gone through a few changes since you last saw him."
Erin tried to meet his gaze, but the Spaniel refused to look at her. He didn't seem to be looking at anything at all, in fact-- just staring ahead, intensely, like a guard dog, his posture upright, his jaw rigid. Though there wasn't any major change in his appearance, something about him felt... Different. "A few changes?" What was Sunny talking about?
"What have you done to him?" Erin asked.
"Oh, nothing much," Sunny grinned. "A couple of injections here and there, a bit of brainwashing. You know. The usual stuff."
"Hey! Spaniel!" Erin cried. "Snap out of it!"
Sunny laughed. "He doesn't go by that name anymore, Blue Lynx. He's been re-christened. His name is Fido now. Right, Fido?"
The Spaniel craned his neck at Sunny. He stared at her in silence, and then gave her a small nod.
"Besides," Sunny continued. "He has no idea who you are. His memories of the Blue Lynx have effectively been wiped clean."
Erin blinked. "What?" She looked at the Spaniel, who was finally returning her gaze. He looked at her blankly, like he was examining a photograph of a missing girl. There was nothing there.
Erin's mind raced in two opposite directions. On one hand, this was an incredibly disturbing thing to see: in a matter of days, Sunny had turned a superhero into a zombie. Was he on drugs? Had he been hypnotized? Erin couldn't determine the cause, but the effect seemed real, and dangerous. Yet, on the other hand, a Spaniel without memories was a Spaniel who no longer knew the Blue Lynx's secret identity. In a flash, one of Erin's problems had been swept off the table. Or so she hoped.
"It's time to create some content!" Sunny announced. "Boys, unchain our two warriors and get out of the ring. I need several of you filming this."
The thugs uncuffed Erin. "Good luck," one of them sneered under his breath as he removed the collar from her neck.
Erin caressed her wrists. "Thanks," she said. "Though I think you're the one who's gonna need it."
The four thugs climbed through the ropes and settled onto the floor, leaving the Blue Lynx and the Spaniel alone in the ring. She looked at him pensively, anxiously; he looked at her with seemingly no emotion at all. Would they really be fighting each other, again?
"Ladies and gentlemen," Sunny said, looking into one of henchmen's phones. "You see before you the city's two greatest superheroes. One of them you might know as 'The Spaniel,' though he goes by 'Fido' now. They other, of course, is the mysterious and alluring Blue Lynx."
Erin took a deep breath. She hadn't quite figured out what Sunny was trying to do with all of this "content." But the fact that she was speaking "to" an audience was unnerving. Were people actually paying to watch the Blue Lynx imperiled, again and again?
"For months, these two vigilantes have had a rivalry going. Which one of them is the city's strongest, most agile, and overall most capable superhero? Today, we're going to find out. We're going to pit them against each other in hand-to-hand combat. May the best hero win."
Once again, Erin tried to get a read on the Spaniel. If they had "trained" him to respond to a new name-- if they'd "wiped clean" his previous life-- was he entirely under their control?
"I want everyone watching this to know that the Spaniel is not my enemy," Erin shouted. "Sunny is forcing him to fight me. She's the real danger to the city, and--"
"Enough talk!" Sunny yelled. "Fido! Get her!"
Erin had barely enough time to get her fists up before the Spaniel charged. He flung a heavy punch at her head, which Erin ducked. She tried to move around him but was blocked by a knee, which Erin pushed away from her stomach at the last moment. Now she attacked, bringing her hand up across the side of the Spaniel's head, knocking his body to the side. Erin rushed at him, striking him in the abdomen with three rapid jabs. He stumbled forward, and Erin spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to his chin, which sent him off of his feet and to the mat.
Erin took deep breaths as she watched the Spaniel struggle back to his feet. She was beating him. She could beat him. She just had to keep this up.
"Come on, Fido!" Sunny screamed. "Get the kitty cat! Get her!"
Once again, the Spaniel ran at her. He feigned a kick, forcing Erin off balance, and then brought his thick arms down on her, ensnaring her in a bearhug. Erin yelped as the Spaniel lifted her off her feet, continuing to tighten his hold on her lower back. She beat her wrists against his chest, but her arms were too squished against him to do much damage. Panicking, Erin thrust her head forward, connecting with the Spaniel's face. He cried out, dropped Erin, fell back. Erin zipped toward him and sunk her elbow into his stomach. He doubled over, and again, Erin wound up a roundhouse kick, which again proved effective. Twice in two minutes, she had taken the Spaniel down.
"I don't want to do this, Spaniel," Erin said, bending down toward her struggling foe. "But you leave me no choice."
"Fido!" Sunny screamed. She snapped her fingers twice. "The next level! Now!"
Suddenly, the Spaniel's hand shot out and snatched Erin by the boot. He wrenched it back and Erin flew off her feet, banging her back against the floor. Stunned, wincing, she tried to roll over, but the Spaniel wouldn't let her go. He was now standing, holding her by the ankle and dragging her across the mat.
"Dammit, Brian!" Erin said. "Let me go!"
The Spaniel's eyes flashed, but before he or Erin could make something out of a possibly rediscovered memory, she was in the air, her arms and legs flailing wildly. He had picked her up by the boot and was was dangling her in front of him. He giggled quietly as Erin bounced around.
Sunny clapped from the sidelines. "That's it!" she cried. "That's what our subscribers want to see!"
Erin flung her fists at the Spaniel's legs, but her awkward situation made it impossible to generate any force. So she drove her fist into the Spaniel's groin. Instantly, he released her, and both of them fell to the floor in respective, painful heaps. Jeers came from outside the ring as Erin clambered to her knees. "Oh, shut up," she muttered, watching the Spaniel digging into his crotch. She wasn't exactly proud of her tactics, either, but she also wasn't exactly in the middle of a fair fight. Which was why she had no second thoughts about running up to the Spaniel and striking him in his perfectly defenseless cheek.
The Spaniel toppled over, hands frantically moving from his face to his lower body. Now Erin was really winning, and she decided to keep piling on. She kicked him in the chest and stomach, savoring each blow, remembering all of the times when the Spaniel had gladly, mercilessly humiliated her.
"Come on!" she shouted, still thumping him with her hard toes. "Get up, Brian! Show me what you got!"
The Spaniel turned his head, gave Erin a broad smile, and winked.
"What the...?"
In a second, he was up, and on her. He was first deflecting her attacks and then quickly creating his own, countering her punches and kicks with even harder blows, gradually beating her back. Erin held up her wrists against the onslaught but the Spaniel was rapidly breaking down her defenses, sneaking jabs into her abdomen, whacking her against her sides, even getting a cheap shot in on her boob. Pain was starting to get to her, and soon her efforts were put toward gripping parts of her body, allowing the Spaniel to get even more hits in. She cried out and dropped to one knee, and the Spaniel immediately took the bait, knocking her across the chin with an uppercut. Erin soared backward, smashing against the floor with her upper back.
She could feel numbness overtaking her. Her muscles felt slack, and she was in no hurry to get up. She was flat on her back, her arms and legs spreadeagled, her eyes closed, her breathing unsteady.
"What... happened?" she thought.
She had been doing so well... And then... Like a bolt of lightning...
She felt thick fingers slipping down into her cleavage. The hand twisted the fabric of her spandex V-neck and pulled, taking Erin with her. She could feel her body hanging in the air, swinging in the clutches of her own superheroine outfit, as the Spaniel gripped her.
"Oh, that's good!" Sunny yelled. "Boys, you getting this?"
Erin opened her eyes. The Spaniel was staring at her with more curiosity than anger or perverse satisfaction. At the moment, he was beating her, badly, but he didn't seem to care. He was just a tool for Sunny's vile purposes, now.
"Brian..." Erin whispered, through pained gasps. "You... must... fight... this..."
"Fido!" Sunny called out. "Unmask her! For the camera!"
Erin instinctively tried to squirm away, but it was no use: with a flick of his wrist, the Spaniel brought her up and into his grasp. He held one arm tightly around her upper body, bracing his legs against hers, and let his other hand float freely in front of her face. Erin put every last ounce of her energy into breaking free, but she was much too exhausted to even budge the Spaniel's wrist. She felt small and pitiful in his clutches, and she looked that way, too, through the henchmen's cameras.
"Brian..." Erin moaned. "Please... don't... We're on the same side... Don't take off... my mask..."
"Now!" Sunny barked.
The Spaniel dropped his hand onto Erin's face and, with little interest in prolonging the effect, dug his fingers into the eyeholes of the Blue Lynx's mask. He gave it a single, assertive tug, and suddenly, Erin's face was bare.
"Augh!" Erin said, still unable to register her protest with any kind of physical force. "No!"
"Perfect!" Sunny said. The henchmen were both giving her the thumbs-up. "That will be a nice gift for our more dedicated customers!"
Looking out at Sunny and the thugs, all three of the gloating, and utterly helpless in the Spaniel's muscular grip, Erin felt a surge of despair. She dropped her head so that no one would see the tears she was desperately trying to fight back. They were making a mockery of her. She had lost all of her strength, but even worse, she had lost her power. They weren't scared of the Blue Lynx, anymore, or threatened by her any way. She existed only for their amusement.
"Fido!" Sunny yelled. "Put her out of her misery!"
Without hesitation, the Spaniel squeezed his arm around Erin's neck, crushing the air out of her windpipe. Erin put up her hands to fight back, but for the last time this fight, it was futile. She felt her grip on reality slowly slipping away, and then she watched as the floor came at her, nearer and nearer, until she fell unconscious.
On to Chapter Seven
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