June 24th, 11:20 PM
"Come on, doll," HeroineHunter said. "Pucker up."
The bastard was on top of her, his thighs straddling her stomach, his back bent, his hands grasping her wrists, his lips reaching out for a kiss. Erin did what she had been doing for the past ten minutes: shook her arms and legs-- banging the handcuff chains against the bedposts-- and flung her head back-and-forth, desperately trying to delay this punk's perverted desires.
It was all futile, though. After a brief struggle, he had closed in again, was pressing his chapped lips to hers, was plunging her tongue toward her teeth. He held her there for eight, nine, ten long seconds, and then pulled back, grinning at her as she turned her head to the side and attempted to cough out his embrace.
"I'm disappointed in you, Erin Steele," he said. "I figured a sorority girl like you would know how to kiss."
"I wasn't in a damn sorority!" Erin spat. "And I usually don't kiss goblins."
HeroineHunter laughed. "We'll see if we can adjust your attitude next round."
There was a small knock at the door.
"Shit," Heroinehunter mumbled. "That's it for me."
He climbed off of Erin's body and back onto his feet. He bent down to look at the unmasked, disheveled superbabe with which he had just spent what was probably the best ten minutes of his miserable life.
"It's been fun," he said, sliding Erin's mask from her forehead back to her nose. He pressed it down with firm finger-strokes. Erin only glowered in response.
"Alright, you can come in!" HeroineHunter said. "She's ready for you."
The door cracked open, and a skinny man in dark clothes entered. He took a long look at Erin, who stuck out her tongue at him, and then looked at HeroineHunter.
"The gag's all tied and everything," HeroineHunter said, pointing at the cloth around Erin's throat. "Feel free to use it."
"Okay," the man said.
"You alright, Badman?"
"Yeah," "Badman" replied. "I'm great."
HeroineHunter nodded. "Cool, man." He walked past his partner, opened the door, and turned back into the room.
"Adios, Blue Lynx," he laughed, slamming the door on his way out.
Erin sighed, watching Badman check the door and then move toward the bed.
"Badman, huh?" she asked.
"Did he unmask you?" Badman said, tersely.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
"Listen, I know who you are. You're Erin Steele."
Erin gasped. But... how?
"I knew before tonight. I was one of the subscribers to that Donator page. Regina Sunflower? My name is Larry Rogers."
Erin blinked. Larry Rogers. Yes. That name was on Margot's list, for sure.
"We've got to get you out of here," Badman said, producing a small key from the pocket of his black jeans.
"What?" Erin said, almost breathless as she watched the strange man uncuffing her ankles. "What's going on, here?"
"I want to help you, Blue Lynx. Honestly, I do." He unclicked the second leg cuff and then scooted down the mattress toward the superheroine's wrists. "When Zilch sent out that message... I knew bad shit was going down tonight. I knew they'd try to hurt you. And I don't want that."
Erin stared at Badman and shook her head. "No. This doesn't check out. So you were ready to pay to learn my secret identity, and then come along tonight... to stop the others from learning?"
Badman nodded. "Yes. That's right." He let the cuff on her right wrist clang against the bedpost. "I'm trying to help you."
Erin scoffed. "Well, you're doing a hell of a job. You let them net and chloroform me!"
"What was I gonna do? I can't fight. You know that, having beaten the shit out of me."
Badman undid the final cuff, and Erin sat up on the bed, rubbing her wrists. She looked over at Badman, whose face was an unreadable blank. These men, these men who were obsessed with her... there was something both comical and sad about them. At least when they're weren't being creepy villains.
"Those guys up there? Zilch? Venom? They're into dark, dark stuff. They're torturing your friend. I just..."
"Torturing her?" Erin said, jumping to her feet. "We've got to move!"
She dashed to the corner of her room where her gear has been so carelessly deposited. She slid into her boots, plunged her hands into her gloves, and fastened her utility belt around her waist.
"But, Blue Lynx!" Badman cried. "You can't do this! There's five of them! And..."
"Back me up if you're worried about me," Erin said, opening the door. "But I know all their tricks now. Those clowns don't stand a chance."
Erin scanned the room quickly. "Where is she?" she called back to Badman.
"Loft! Upstairs!"
Erin felt adrenaline shooting through her limbs. She saw a familiar hallway, sprinted toward it, and then saw a familiar staircase. She sprang up its length, taking four or five steps at a time, until she was back in the loft, looking out once more at five men in dark clothes and masks. They were gathered around the air-hockey table now. Stretched out on the air-hockey table, bound hand-and-foot, with the back of her costume torn to shreds, was Margot.
"Hold it right there, you bastards!" Erin shouted, her voice rippling with anger.
The men turned around and, just as they had when she'd escaped from the net, erupted into sound and confusion.
"What? No!"
"But... She was just there... I swear... When I left!" said HeroineHunter.
"Shit!"
One of the men stepped forward and laughed. He held a pocket-knife in one hand and a tattered red article of clothing in another. Erin narrowed her eyes: it was Margot's bra, sliced into pieces.
"Look who's back," he said. "You want to lose your undies, too, Blue Lynx?"
Furiously, Erin tore a smoke bomb from her belt pocket and dashed it against the floor. The loft became instantly unnavigable to all but her, and in seconds, she had covered the ground between her and the man in the knife, ramming him in the solar plexus and forcing him to drop the knife. She put him to the ground with a swift kick, and then darted around the table, dispatching each of the men standing there with devastating combinations. She took a head and slammed it against the air-hockey table; she tossed one of the others into a nearby bookcase. By the time the smoke had cleared, only one of the goons remained standing: Zilch, once again well outside of the action, looking on in sheer horror.
"I... I... I don't understand..." Zilch said. "Those handcuffs..."
"You had a mole," Erin said, resting her hands on her hips. "Badman. Turns out he's on the good guys' team."
"Badman?" Zilch said, lowering his gaze to his feet. "Dammit."
"Now it's time for you to pay, Zilch..."
Erin had just begun her march across the room when she felt something grab her ankle. She looked down, and then felt her feet fly out from underneath her! Her knees slammed against the floor. Erin's cry of pain was smothered when a bony hand seized her throat, hauling her back to her feet. She was suddenly looking into piercing blue eyes.
"Hello there," the man whispered, his eyes glowing with the sight of the helpless superheroine. "Don't think we've met yet. I'm Venom."
Venom clenched down on Erin's throat and pushed her across the floor, backing her up against a long couch and then bending her spine over its cushion. She was shocked at how strong he was-- or was she just that weak after so much abuse?
She tried punching away his arm, but she couldn't generate any power. Her fists glanced off his bicep without incident. She could feel her consciousness begin to fade away when she saw him once more brandishing the pocket-knife.
"Don't fall asleep yet, Blue Lynx," Venom growled. "Or you'll miss the magic trick."
Erin made a small, terrified sound as Venom placed the blade of the knife between her breasts. She felt its cold, hard edge slither down her bare skin, and then heard it catch the fabric of her costume's V-neck.
"This shit is tough," Venom said. "But that didn't save your friend, and it won't save you either."
Erin was squealing now, helpless in the thug's grip as he sawed away at her costume, cutting a long line down to her navel. Erin could sense the spandex splitting open, revealing her perfectly toned but currently useless body, and could practically feel Venom's gaze cutting through her under layers.
"Your friend wore red," Venom chuckled, mirthlessly. "And I see you favor the flesh-colored ensemble."
The blade of the knife was resting on the top edge of her panties, dancing on the elegant, lacy band. He was toying with her, this punk, this... nobody... Bent over the couch backward and thoroughly humiliated, Erin suddenly felt lightheaded... Black dots appeared in and out of her field of vision... She couldn't believe she was going down like... this...
Venom ran the knife along the front of Erin's underwear, tracing a winding path over her pelvis before edging the blade underneath place where the tan cloth met her tan thigh.
He howled with excitement. "Let's see what you're made of, Blue Lynx!"
He brought up the knife, and then, it jumped out of his hand. He emitted a loud squall of pain and toppled to the side, hitting the couch and unleashing Erin from his grasp. Erin leapt to her feet to see a woman with an outfit even more tattered than her own: Margot, unmasked and untidy, without gloves or boots or her belt, but standing tall, with fists locked and loaded.
"That one was for me..." she grunted, staring menacingly at Venom's injured body. "And this one..."
She tore her fist across Venom's face, creating a loud SNAP and dropping him to the floorboards.
"That one's for the Blue Lynx."
"Mar... Black Bobcat!" Erin cried. She stepped over to her partner and wrapped her in a massive hug. "How did you escape?"
Margot giggled. "These goofballs don't know how to tie knots."
"I guess not!" Erin said, jubilantly. "I thought I was a goner!"
"That Venom guy is dangerous," Margot said, kicking the fiend's prone body for good measure. "But I don't think he'll be messing with us anymore."
"No, you kicked his ass," Erin said. She looked around at the bodies strewn about the floor. Everyone was either unconscious or semi-conscious or rolling on the ground in pain-- there would be no more surprise attacks, now.
"How did you escape?" Margot asked.
"It's a long story," Erin said. "We've got one more piece of business to take care of, first."
The girls turned, completely unconcerned with the ravaged state of their costumes, and looked at Zilch, who was still standing just as he was before. Same awkward frozen posture, same awkward frozen expression.
"Now, ladies..." he said, holding his hands up. "Perhaps we can..."
The superheroines spent the next ten minutes passing him back and forth, trading off punches and kicks, enmeshing him in a comprehensive beating the likes of which he had never experienced. When it got to the point where he couldn't stand, the girls picked him up and forced him to endure even more. When he finally blacked out, the Blue Lynx wiped her gloves clean, as if trying to remove some malodorous, sticky liquid.
"Pervert," she said.
"Bastard," Margot added.
"Weasel."
"Loser."
The girls were continuing to direct insults at their unconscious enemy when Badman came up the stairs. Margot heard the steps creak and turned around.
"Ah!" she yipped. "There's one more!"
"No, BB, don't worry about him," Erin said. "That's Badman. He's on our side."
Badman observed the girls, their remarkably curved bodies even more visible than usual through the jagged tears of their mutilated spandex outfits, and let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm sorry, Blue Lynx," he said. "I thought I would help, but..."
"It's okay, Badman," Erin replied. "I had the Black Bobcat."
Badman scanned the room and saw their were no men left standing. "Wow," he said. "You guys destroyed them."
The superheroines laughed together. "Indeed we did," Margot said.
"So..." Badman said. "What happens now? HeroineHunter knows your identity. And so does Zilch. And so..." He gulped. "So do I."
"And they all saw my face," Margot said. She found her mask a couple yards away from her and pressed it back on the bridge of her nose. "What do you think we should do, Blue Lynx?"
Erin unbuttoned one of the flaps on her belt and took out a small vial. Sunny's amnesia drug. She could erase the memories of everybody here with the contents of this tiny container. But doing that would exhaust her supply-- and their were three more people on Margot's list, all of whom could be as intractable and insane as Zilch.
She looked up at Margot. "Did they get your picture?"
"When they unmasked me? No."
"Okay," Erin said. "So we'll do Zilch and HeroineHunter because they know my identity. And we'll do Venom because we don't like him. And we'll trust Badman here and the rest to keep quiet."
Margot stared into Erin's eyes with confusion. "I don't know about that, Blue."
Erin sighed. "Listen, I don't know either. It's a risk. But they didn't recognize you, Mar-- Black Bobcat. They definitely recognized me."
It was an impossible decision. The goons they let free might remember Margot if they saw her on the street. And Erin had no idea if Badman was being truthful about his motivations. But they also had no idea about their adventures to come. Knowing their luck, they'd have to use Sunny's formula again-- they simply couldn't blow it all now on one night gone wrong.
"Okay, okay," Margot said. "I get it."
"What are you going to do?" Badman asked, nervously.
"Good question," Erin said. She walked over to where Zilch laid, removed a small syringe from her utility belt, and plunged it into the bottle of formula. "And I don't know exactly."
She crouched down toward her nemesis's unconscious body, lifted his shirt up, and found a good spot.
"But I'm definitely going to enjoy this."
Erin stuck the needle deep into Zilch's skin. Badman took a deep breath. And Margot, strapping her belt around what remained of her black spandex outfit, simply laughed.
"Keep on writing, Zilch," she chuckled.
THE END
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