Part 2

The Capture of the Scarlet Witch

By Skytower

In the old days they had used warehouses in dark parts of town. Now criminal organizations used abandoned or vacant industrial parks in the suburbs.

The criminal mind, Wanda thought as she looked at the building from the hill near the building, never rests. The building looked normal from the outside. Brick and sealed glass windows, a loading dock in the back with a dumpster beside it and a tall glass entranceway in the front. It was located perfectly, one mile from the highway and two miles from a commuter rail station. But no one had the money to use it. At least not legitimately.

Wanda raised her scanner and watched her display as the buildings walls became transparent and the inner rooms were momentarily revealed. Then they blurred.

“First clue,” Wanda whispered. “Shielded.”

But a clue wasn’t probable cause. Wanda drew her lips into a tight line. That building housed a Hydra operation, she was sure of it. The tip that the X-men had gotten from Minnie the Moll was solid. Hydra was snatching young mutants away from their families and either selling them or brainwashing them into being Hydra agents. But if the X-men went in with only a tip it would be breaking and entering and even if they got the kids safely away the Hydra agents would walk. It had happened many times before and they were tired of it. That was why they had asked for her help. Wanda’s Avenger status made her a law enforcement officer, once she got evidence they could grab the Hydra agents and turn them over the SHIELD, hopefully find clues to other missing mutants. They had come to Wanda and she had briefed the rest of the Avnegers. But she wanted to do this alone at first. She needed stealth and what ever else Hulk, Thor and Captain America were they were not stealthy. Ms. Marvel convinced her to take Hawkeye as back up. Now he watched from the highway side of the building.

But being able to use the law also meant having to follow it. The scanner alone was pushing things as far as the fourth amendment was concerned.

“Of course if I just walk up to the front door and knock…” Wanda smiled a strange smile. She was an Avenger they were Hydra. She’d be knocked out and tied up in minutes. Which of course would give the rest of the Avengers all the legal reasons in the world to tear that building apart stone by stone.

“Hawkeye respond,” Wanda spoke into her communicator. All that she got back was silence. “Respond.” Wanda tried again. Still there was no response.

Wanda was about to call Hawkeye again when the loading dock of the building seemed to explode with light. Raising her scanner Wanda saw a man or a woman rush through the suddenly-on security lights and crash through the doors.

“What the hell is he doing?” Wanda demanded snapping her communicator to the Avengers emergency channel. All she got was static and Wanda cursed. Hydra bases routinely sent out all wave jamming signals when they were attacked to make sure the enemy had no way to co-ordinate the attack.

Wanda got up and ran toward the building, her boots making almost no sound on the ground as she magically lightened her steps. What ever had triggered him, Hawkeye he was going to need back up.

Wanda stepped through the whole in the wall and into carnage. Ten men lay prone on the floor covered in blood. Wanda stepped carefully past one man who had a fist-sized dent in his skull. The other men had ribs sticking out from their green and yellow Hydra uniforms and one man was missing an arm. This wasn’t done by Hawkeye. Who ever had done this was vicious and powerful. She knelt down and examined some spent bullets. There was no sign of flesh or blood on them. Who ever it was could be either bullet proof or very fast.

Wanda followed the trail of blood down a corridor and into a large central room. There she saw the attacker. The woman was tall and slim but that was all that Wanda could tell. The woman was wearing a skintight black suit and mask that revealed nothing but the fact that she was a woman. Her hands and arms were covered with blood. Ten Hydra men had cornered her and were trying to bring her down. Four of them had grabbed her legs and four of them her arms while the two others hit her head repeatedly.

“Another one!” One of the men holding the woman’s legs shouted out as he saw Wanda.

The distraction was all that the woman needed. She jerked her arm free and slammed it down through the skull of one of the men who was holding her legs. Then she managed to free her other arm.

Wanda raised her hands to cast a hex-sphere. Who ever the woman was she was at least a murderess and Hydra agents or no Wanda could not let them die. But before she could cast the sphere a Hydra agent grabbed her from behind. Wanda flipped him over but he was up and at her again and it took a few minutes to knock him out with a blow to his stomach and neck.

Wanda looked to where the woman had been fighting and saw only a pile of dead men. She heard a crash from another corridor and followed it.

The room hummed with power. Wanda looked around the edge of the smashed door cautiously. Inside was a central column of gray metal that was badly cracked. Angry glowing red lines pulsed with power. In front of the column was a control panel. The woman had attached a USB tab to the panel and was taping away on the keyboard. A man in a lab coat lay on the floor groaning.

“Stop!” Wanda commanded as she stepped into the room. Her hands were glowing with power and a hex-sphere had already formed. The woman turned around and Wanda saw nothing on her face but a dark strip of polarized plastic covering her eyes. “I don’t know who you are but killing is not allowed. Surrender now.”

In one motion the woman pulled the USB tab out and then slammed her other fist through the console and tore part of it out, throwing it at Wanda. Wanda had no time to throw her sphere; she could only duck. She almost made it but the panel glanced off of the side of her head and Wanda fell back against the wall dazed. She watched through a dim mist of pain as the woman ran out of the room. For a moment Wanda knew blackness, then she pulled herself awake.

Very loud alarms were sounding. The Hydra scientist by the remains of the console pulled himself upright at the same time Wanda did.

“No!” He shouted. “You crazy bitch! The reactions overloading, we’ll all die!”

“I didn’t do it!” Wanda snapped staggering over to him. “Tell me what is happening.”

“That’s a gamma generator,” The scientist said as he started to work with the console. “We’re using two pieces of gamma charged ore to generate a controlled gamma eruption through a set of diamonds, but you’ve smashed the control, there’s nothing to stop the two ores from touching and when they do the gamma rays will take out everything for fifty miles!”

“Why did you need that for a mutant kidnapping operation?” Wanda demanded.

“This is weapons research!” The scientist shouted back. “Not mutant kidnapping!”

“Can you stop that?” Wanda demanded pointing to the column. The cracks were wider and the red glow more powerful now.

“No time!”

“I’ll give you the time!” Wanda shouted. She formed the spell in her mind and cast the hex-sphere in her hands. She couldn’t control time, but the air between the two ores was something that she could control. Wanda threw the sphere into the column and in her mind she focused her energy between the ores. The air between them was suddenly water and then ice as Wanda transmuted the atoms and then pulled all of the energy from them.

“You’ve got a few minutes,” Wanda gasped out the words as she kept her hex-sphere in place. The heat from the ores would vaporize her ice in moments unless she kept renewing the spell. Beside her the scientist worked feverishly on the panel. Wanda was ready to drop when he connected two last pieces of wire and then slammed his hand down on a red button. The red glow faded from the cracks and Wanda released her sphere, allowing it to dissolve.

“Done,” the scientist said.

“Good,” Wanda replied. “Now…”

Wanda never finished her sentence as the words were lost to her backward flip to avoid the steel pipe that the scientist had aimed at her head.

“Hail Hydra!” The man shouted rushing at her.

Wanda dodged the pipe and planted her knee into his stomach as he went by her. But before she could do anything else a Hydra guard tackled her to the ground. Wanda slammed her forearm against his throat and rolled him off of her but another guard was coming at her. This one got her foot into his crotch. Three more guards were coming through the ruined doorway. Wanda started to cast a hex-sphere but the scientist had recovered enough to grab her arm and before she could pull free the three guards were on her. Two of them fell on her legs while the third kicked her in the head.

Where were these idiots a few minutes ago, Wanda thought angrily before the heavy boot hit the side of her head and knocked her out.

There was nothing special looking about the mobile home. It was a silver Winnebago Journey pulled off by the side of the highway. The woman in black emerged from the woods next to the highway and walked over to the door. She was covered in blood from the battle and leaves and twigs that had stuck to her suit. The door opened just as she reached it and closed after she entered. A few seconds later the mobile home shimmered and vanished into the darkness without a trace.

It re-appeared in the corner of a large chamber and Tina stepped out. The lab was one of AIM’s control centers. Close enough to the HYDRA base for a teleport but too far to be discovered. She relaxed a bit as she surveyed the room. The chamber was easily one hundred feet long and the roof stood eighty feet above the floor. It was sectioned with cubicles at one end, a set of machine shops and tables filled with biological tools at the other and lining both of the last two walls were monitor screens both large and small. The monitors showed more information than could ever have been processed by any single human mind. At the center of the chamber was a set of consoles each with a worker. The workers all wore yellow jumpsuits with screened beekeeper like helmets. All of the consoles were arranged around a nightmare. The creature-for it had long since stopped being human-was called Modok. Modok’s head was nearly his entire body, a four-foot high, two-foot wide cylinder shape with tiny arms and legs attached. His face was human with the proper proportions between eyes, nose and mouth, but hideously huge and framed in metal. Modok floated on anti-grav thrusters and his arms manipulated two joysticks to steer himself about. When he saw the Winnebago appear a smile grew on his face and he floated over to it.

“Report,” Modok commanded in a voice that was half machine.

“Successful,” Tina said holding up the USB tab. “We have the data on Hydra’s gamma-gun. But it was close. Modok the unit is not ready for this.”

“She was successful,” Modok said. “What of Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch?”

“Unit 1 dealt with Hawkeye,” Tina said. “The Scarlet Witch was captured by Hydra.”

“Unit 1 should have captured the Scarlet Witch!” A voice filled with hate said.

Tina angrily turned to see a half woman/half spider walk over to them. Shadow Web had been her partner for over a year but there was no friendship between them. The woman’s spider body was black metal and powerful but her human half was skinny and pale skinned. Her black stringy hair was worn long and the effect was that of a corpse stuck on a spider’s back.

“Why?” Tina asked. “If the plan works the Scarlet Witch will be yours soon enough. She’ll be tortured by HYDRA at any rate.”

“Yes, it should.” Modok agreed. “Our agent will let us know where they take her and we will tip off the Avengers.”

“I think that we were fortunate Modok,” Tina said. “We shouldn’t be using the Unit this soon.”

“Even the best of plans need luck Nightshade,” Modok said. “Your objections are noted. What of the unit?”

“She has no obvious injuries,” Tina said gritting her teeth at the dismissal. “But I’ll examine her. Slave Girl 1 remove clothing.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience,” The woman said pulling off her mask to reveal herself as Ultra Woman. Anyone who knew Ultra Woman would notice something strange about the way she moved and talked. It was slow. Not somnambulant enough for hypnosis but with none of the life or energy she normally possessed. Her movements were practical and precisely mechanical. Her eyes were bright and focused but the mind behind them radiated none of the warmth or kindness that Ultra Woman was known for. There was a cold soulless logic to her gaze. Her voice was toneless.

After she took off the mask Ultra Woman pulled her shirt over her head revealing series of bruises and welts but no other wounds. As she took off her black sports bra more of them were revealed. Still more of the marks covered her legs as she took off her pants and panties. When that was done all that she was left to wear were her bracelets.

“Superficial wounds as I suspected,” Tina said running a scanner over Ultra Woman’s still body. “But the pain is a problem.”

“The Unit handled the pain,” Modok said.

“Yes but it still registered in the host mind,” Tina said. She turned to Modok. “She’ll interpret it as a nightmare but if she notices the bruises it’ll arouse her suspicions. I told you the Unit needs more time for infiltration.”

“Slave Girl 1 report infiltration of host mind,” Modok commanded.

“Slave Girl 1 confirms 2% infiltration,” Tania said.

“That is not enough,” Tina protested. “2% increases her strength, gives us her senses, powers and fighting instincts, not Ultra Woman’s memories and not any sort of ability to control her conscious mind.” Tina held her scanner next to Ultra Woman’s head. “Right now I’m reading increased brain activity, if Ultra Woman perceives any of this consciously…”

“We activated Slave Girl 1 when Tania Mazona was asleep.” Modok said. “That gamma gun was necessary for Operation She-Hulk. The risk was worth the reward.”

“We are still in the early stages of...”

“We will succeed Nightshade,” Shadow Web said. She walked around them and took Tania’s chin in her hand, pulling the captive heroine’s head up so that she could look her in the eye. Tina guessed that had Tania been awake she probably would have recoiled in disgust. Tina felt her own stomach lurch a bit as Shadow Web ran her hand down Tania’s body, cupping her breasts and pressing between her legs.

“That’s going to make the nightmares worse,” Tina warned. It was bad enough for Modok to dismiss her but Shadow Web should have known better.

Shadow Web smiled and released her hold on Tania’s chin. Then she walked away and Tina stepped up and looked closely at her slave.

Had there been any conscious part of Tania’s mind working she would have noticed the look in Tina’s eyes. Not concern for a human life or guilt for having stolen part of that life, but a certain cautious satisfaction. The scientist in Tina looked upon Tania as a project in the works. A mouse that had not yet learned to find it’s way through a maze.

“How long will it take for further infiltration at the current rate?” Modok asked at last.

“A week,” Tina said stepping back. “The Unit had to stop to go on this mission and now it will need to recharge.”

“Very well,” Modok replied. “We will allow it the time.”

Tina’s scanner started to beep and she passed it over Tania’s head and then looked at the results.

“What is it?” Modok asked.

“Nothing serious,” Tina said. “A spike in brainwave activity. Ultra Woman’s nudity is somehow being perceived by her conscious mind.”

“It should be repressed,” Modok said but there was no anger in his voice. “Even at only 2%.”

“That estimate was approximate,” Tina said. “I can use quick heal on the body but the mind can’t be controlled yet. We have to get her home and back to bed.”

“Proceed,” Modok said.

There was no flash of light as Tina and Tania appeared in Tania’s bedroom, merely a ripple in the air that could not be seen in the shadows. Tina was proud of that. The shadow tech had its limits but as a stealth system it was perfect. Tina checked the apartment and was relieved to find that there were no messages on the phone and that no one had tried to break in. Returning to the bedroom she looked at Tania Mazona.

“Kneel.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience,” Tania said kneeling on the floor.

Tina went over and put her hand on Tania’s head. Raising the head Tina looked into the blue eyes of her oblivious slave. The villainess closed her own eyes and her entire body shuddered.

“I defeated you without ever having struck you,” Tina purred opening her eyes. “We didn’t have a great battle with cars flying and buildings falling. I could make you go down on me right now…”

She looked around the apartment and saw a photo of Tania with a young woman. Though the young woman had red hair the resemblance was too close not to notice.

“A daughter?” Tina asked. She carried the photo over to Tania and waved the picture in front of Tania’s face.

“I bet she really is just like you,” Tina said and bitterness began to creep into her voice. “She grew up just like you, an on an island of women. No men to tell you that you couldn’t do this or that. No men grabbing your ass when you stopped being a little girl.”

Tina stood up and then looked at the photo.

“Someday Ultra Woman I’m going to unlock your memory. You’re going to remember this. You’re going to remember exact moment in time that I decided to make your little girl a slave! Not just a slave like you, she’ll be MY personal slave. Her, your people… all of them will be just like you are now.”

Tina walked over and replaced the picture then she walked back over to Tania, knelt down and ran her hand lightly over Tania’s hair.

“And the best part is that you’re the one who’s going to bring them to me.”

Tina almost cried out in pleasure but stopped herself at the last moment. A glanced at the window told her that dawn was coming. Tania Mazona would be waking up soon.

“Put your nightgown on,” Tina said. “Then get into bed and deactivate.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience,” Tania said reaching for the wispy Georgette nightgown and putting it on. She climbed into bed and Tina teleported out just as Tania’s body relaxed into a normal sleep. After that there was silence in the bedroom save for the regular rhythm of Tania’s breathing and the ticking of the clock on her night table.

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