Part 3

The Scarlet Witch in Peril

By Skytower

Wanda woke with her shoulders and head aching. The reason for the headache was fresh in her memory. The reason for her shoulders aching was the way she had been bound. Her cape had been taken and her red gloves replaced by a red leather single glove that pulled her shoulders back and encased her arms. Wanda looked around. She was in a large stone walled room. The stone was dark gray and the ceiling was vaulted brick while the floor was hard packed dirt. A cave? The place was freezing and it smelled dank enough. But light came from fluorescent work lights that were embedded in the ceiling.

Wanda climbed to her knees and looked around some more. The cold floor was gritty and cut into her feet. Her boots were gone. The rest of her costume was intact but that didn’t make her feel much better. Had they gotten Hawkeye as well?

One of the walls seemed to split open and a man walked in. He was wearing a skin tight black suit with a gray slash around the waist and matching gray gloves and boots. A knee length cape was black on the inside and gray on the outside, making it hard to guess his build. A mask/hood covered the top half of his face and hid the color of his hair. His boots crunched the stone as he walked loudly across the stone.

“Whiplash,” Wanda said.

“In the flesh honey,” Whiplash said. From beneath his cape he pulled out a silver whip. Wanda tensed. The whip was made of a high level alloy, it had in the past gone through Iron Man’s armor.

“What do you want?” Wanda demanded climbing to her feet.

He moved his arm and Wanda felt a whispering hand move across her shoulder. She jumped back and saw a lock of her brown hair fall to the floor.

“Hydra wants to know who your friend was,” Whiplash said. “How you knew where the base was, how you got past security, why it was only you two…” He trailed off and smiled at her. “Me I only wanna know one thing.”

“What’s that?” Wanda asked.

“How good you are at dancing.”

The whip flashed out before Wanda could speak or react and snapped against the top of her right foot. It was a hard stinging pain and Wanda jumped back. But his next blow hit her other foot and she had to jump again. For a while Whiplash chased her around the room, snapping the whip at her feet again and again. Sometimes Wanda managed to dodge it, most times she didn’t and the lash marks were dull brown against her skin. Wanda soon found it hard to dodge and her feet were getting stiff. She stumbled and Whiplash quickly moved and his whip lashed out hitting the bottom of her foot on the instep.

Wanda screamed and fell hard trying desperately to roll away from him. Whiplash stood still while the panting heroine managed to back up against the wall. Slowly Wanda pulled herself upright.

The whip shot out again and Wanda heard it instead of felt it. Then she looked down and realized that the villain had sliced the front of her top open. His control was perfect. Whiplash had cut through her top and her bra and not left any mark at all on her skin. Even while she was realizing this Wanda heard the whip sing out four more times and the top of her costume and bra fell away revealing her bare breasts.

“Bastard!” Wanda swore as her large nipples and pink areoles were revealed. With her arms in the single glove Wanda couldn’t even cover herself.

“Who was your friend?” Whiplash demanded.

“I didn’t know her,” Wanda snapped and a second later screamed as the whip snapped at her right nipple. The pain was like someone pinching it.

“Try again,” Whiplash ordered.

“I was scouting the place out when she attacked it,” Wanda said. “Looking for a mutant kidnapping operation, I don’t know who she is.”

Again the whip struck out, this time twice and Wanda screamed as welts appeared on the tops of her breasts. Not giving her a chance to recover Whiplash struck out again and Wanda could do nothing but scream as her breasts were lashed.

He paused and Wanda fell to her knees gasping for breath, her breasts on fire from the pain.

“Your friend stole the specs for a gamma gun,” Whiplash said. The whip slammed against Wanda’s thigh and she rolled away from it only to be met with it coming from the other direction. Wanda got to her feet and fell back against the wall. “Why are Avengers stealing Hydra tech?”

The whip became a blur of motion and Wanda felt the bottom of her costume shred revealing her bare vagina.

“Why?” Whiplash demanded again.

“I didn’t know her!”

Wanda screamed as the whip sailed through the air and stung the lips of her nether region. Before she could fall Whiplash struck again at her breasts and then her stomach. He whipped her with such speed and precision that Wanda felt every blow nearly at once.

When he stopped she fell to the floor gasping in pain.

“Well so far I’m having fun,” he said. “But still no answers.”

“Bastard…” Wanda managed to gasp the words out through her pain. She looked up to see that he had walked out of the room.

This was bad Wanda knew. With her arms bound she had no way to cast a spell and there was no way to even know where she was. Worse they wanted information that she didn’t even have! It wasn’t a question of holding out for as long as she could, it was a question of when they might believe her.

The door opened and Whiplash walked in carrying a set of wooden boxes.

“I really don’t know who she was,” Wanda said as he walked over to her. He took hold of her hair and pulled Wanda over to the boxes.

“Get on them,” He ordered. “One knee on each.”

“Think about it,” Wanda said as she obeyed him. The boxes were spaced about two feet apart and she nearly lost her balance but he steadied her by pulling her hair. “Avengers don’t leave each other, she left me.”

“Yea she did,” He agreed. Whiplash snapped his fingers and a chain with a wide collar descended from the ceiling. He fitted the collar around her neck and Wanda realized that it was a brank; a wide leather collar designed to make sure that she couldn’t move her neck. Whiplash snapped his fingers again. The rope pulled back until Wanda felt the brank start to choke her.

“I want to know why,” He said taking hold of her left ankle.

“I don’t know,” Wanda protested as he pulled her leg up until her foot was touching her thigh and then used a leather strap to hold it in place.

“Yea you do,” Whiplash said as he did the same to the other leg.

Wanda was now balanced on her knees, her legs bent double and only the collar around her throat stopped her from falling over.

“No I…” Wanda’s next words were never spoken as Whiplash drove his fist into her stomach again and again until she could only gasp for air.

She was too stunned to do anything as he freed her arms from the single glove and fitted leather cuffs around each wrist. He snapped his fingers again and two more chains descended from the ceiling. He attached each chain to her wrist and snapped his fingers again. The chains were pulled up and back and Wanda was forced forward as her arms were pulled into the strappado position. Wanda’s body was bent forward and the pressure on her neck lessened as the pressure on her shoulders increased.

“I really don’t know,” Wanda said and craned her head to the right and to the left. If she could only see her hands…

She couldn’t and in another moment it didn’t matter as Whiplash tied a blindfold around her eyes.

“I don’t believe you,” He mocked as the whip slashed across her bare ass. “Giant Man and the Wasp broke into one of our labs last month. Two months before that Captain America himself killed one of our techs and got away with a prototype neutralizer. What are you Avengers up to?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wanda said as her mind tried to sort out what it all meant. What were Hank and Jan up to? Cap kill someone? That was impossible!

“We’ll see about that,” Whiplash said.

Wanda screamed as the whip hit the instep on both of her feet.

“Tell me what you know,” Whiplash commanded.

“I don’t know anything!”

For a moment nothing happened. Then another moment passed. Just when Wanda was about to relax the whip slashed along her spine. Wanda screamed and then waited. Again just as she was sure that nothing was going to happen the whip hit her shins and Wanda screamed again.

Now she realized the reason for the blindfold. It wasn’t just to prevent her from using her powers. She listened intently, trying to track his movements and judge where and when the next blow would come. But where before Whiplash had moved loudly now he barely made a sound. There was only a whisper in the air just before the whip struck and that gave her no time to brace herself.

Wanda screamed as the whip lashed her back and ass and then her arms.

“Who was you’re friend?”

“I don’t…”

SNAP!

Wanda screamed.

“Who?”

SNAP!

“Who?”

SNAP!

“I don’t…”

SNAP!

“WHO?”

Wanda soon lost track of the questions and the number of times that the whip hit her. Her world collapsed into a combination of pain and denial. More than once she felt herself slipping away from the pain and into darkness only to be brought back by a particularly sharp blow. After an hour -two?- her mind started to wander through a delirium of pain induced nightmares. But she could not escape into them because Whiplash would not let her. His questions kept coming, sometimes whispered into her ear, sometimes screamed in her ear. Wanda had been prepared for questions about security protocols and secret identities, not questions about rogue Avenger activities.

When the villain at last paused for a break the only thing Wanda could do was hang in her bonds and try to keep breathing. The blindfold was removed and Whiplash jerked Wanda up by her hair until they were eye to eye.

“No passing out,” He said letting her head drop.

“I… I…” Wanda tried to talk but it was hard to keep the breath in her lungs long enough to form words. In the next instant she screamed again as ice-cold water was poured over her body.

“I don’t know who she was!”

“Not good enough yet,” Whiplash said. He took a length of rope and started to wrap it around her chest. Then he wrapped it around the base of each of her breasts and started to tighten it. Wanda winced as her breasts were bound. He continued until her breasts were distended balls hanging from her chest. When they were done he held a long vibrator in front of her face and smiled as he pushed it between her legs. Wanda winced again as he turned it on.

“I hear these get real sensitive when their bound like this,” Whiplash said fondling Wanda’s breast. He attached a pair of clothespins to her nipples and Wanda cringed as they stung deeply. He walked out of her line of sight for a moment and when he came back he was holding a portable air conditioner. He set it on the ground in front of her and turned it on. Wanda felt her nipples stiffen from the cold wind it generated. He put the blindfold back on her plunging Wanda into darkness, but not the soothing darkness of oblivion.

“I’ll just go get something to eat and come back when the boobies are ready,” Whiplash said. “The toy should keep you awake.”

“I don’t…” Wanda started to say but stopped when a ball gag was stuffed into her mouth. After that Wanda could only whimper in pain.

“Don’t want you to get too cold either,” Whiplash said from behind her. There was a small clicking sound and Wanda felt a steady stream of hot air on her back.

“Uh on’t o ything!” Wanda screamed through the gag.

There was no response to her protest save for the quiet hum of the heater, the air conditioner and the vibrator between her legs.

Part 4

Ultra Woman and White Owl’s search

Tania pursed her lips in frustration as she stared at the computer screen. She had been out of the shower for an hour and her hair was long dry. Normally she only cruised the thug message boards for an hour or so before going to bed. Not now. Now she leaned on her couch wrapped up in a towel and glared at the computer screen. A week. The Scarlet Witch had been missing for a week and there was no chatter on the criminal message boards. Tania had discovered the boards years ago. Most of the superhero set thought that it was all cosplay, rollplaying and fantasy, but Tania had found one of her own miss-adventures detailed perfectly. Thugs used the message boards on some superhero web sights to stay in touch. Since then she’d followed them as closely as she could under the screen name of “Nega Woman’. Tania could roll play with the best of them and so far no one knew who she really was.

Usually when some thugs took down a heroine they couldn’t wait to boast about it, but not now. Wanda had been asked to look into a mutant kidnapping operation but it looked like she had fallen victim to it. The Avengers and the X-men were looking for her and they were asking everyone else to look too. There was a growing tension between the two supergroups over Wanda that Tania didn’t like. She also didn’t like Hawkeye’s description of his battle with the woman in black. Hawkeye swore that the woman deflected one of his arrows with her wrist. That sort of combat was native to Amazons. But she was truly worried about Wanda.

“A week,” Tania whispered and she shuddered. A person’s sanity could be destroyed in a week. Tania had been held captive for that long and still had nightmares about it.

There was a tapping sound on her window and Tania looked up to see White Owl standing on her balcony. Athena was wearing her usual white swimsuit costume, boots and cape. The sun was framing her perfectly and Tania suppressed a smile. Athena probably hadn’t planned that but wouldn’t mind it either. Tania motioned her inside.

“I’ve got a lead,” Athena said. “Le Joueur gave me a call and invited me over to her place.”

“I don’t know her,” Tania said.

“She’s low profile,” Athena said “and really low on the trust scale. But she’s the only clue I’ve scrounged up so far.”

Tania nodded and tapped her bracelets together to bring forth her costume and full powers.

“Watch out for gas attacks,” Athena said as they headed toward the door. “She likes those. And don’t let her light up a cigarette.”

Twenty minutes later they landed on the polished marble floor of a very expensive penthouse apartment. The sun had set and the only light came from the under water lights in the swimming pool. A slim Asian woman floated on her back in the pool. She was nude and the green dragon tattoo between her breasts looked iridescent in the dim light.

“I did say to come alone,” Le Joueur said floating over to where they stood.

“First time I came to your place alone it didn’t end well,” White Owl said.

“You got away from the people I sold you to,” Le Joueur said and then added “eventually.”

“What do you know about the Scarlet Witch?” Tania asked bending down.

Le Joueur stopped floating and started to tread water.

“No introductions?” She asked smiling. “I was hoping for a swim with the both of you… White Owl’s body is fine of course but I… Ahhh!”

Her words were cut off as Tania grabbed the woman’s long black hair and used it to pull her half out of the water. The idea of Wanda being tortured while this low rent Dragon Lady smiled was infuriating.

“I’m not in the mood for games,” Tania growled standing up and pulling Le Joueur out fully out of the water. Le Joueur held onto Tania’s wrist to keep her hair from being pulled out of her scalp and kicked futilely with her feet. For a moment Tania held her there and then she let the woman go. Le Joueur slipped under the water. She came up a few moments later and Tania was surprised to see her smile.

“Your friend is very rude White Owl,” She said rubbing her head. “Normally I would end the conversation here and now, perhaps call the police and charge her with assault.”

“We’re in a hurry,” White Owl said. “You called me Chance.”

Le Joueur looked at her sharply.

“Chance DeWinter is dead,” She said coldly and then added “Athena.” She swam away from them and walked up the steps out of the pool. “How you found that name I shall discover later. For now you are right, you are in a hurry. You have less than three hours to save the Scarlet Witch.”

She plucked a translucent green robe off of a pool chair and put it on. They followed her as she walked over to a glass table and picked up an envelope.

“Normally I would make you play for this,” she swept her hand over the table and Tania saw a map and a set of miniatures. A box labeled ‘Hackmaster’ lay on one of the chairs.

“Dungeons and Dragons?” White Owl asked.

“A variation, with my own rules.” Le Joueur said. “You have no idea how fun it can be when play for real gold, silver and other items.” She handed the envelope to White Owl. “The Scarlet Witch was captured by Hydra one week ago and Whiplash has been questioning her ever since. She’s being held in a base in Angel Falls.”

“What are they questioning her for?” Tania demanded.

“I’m not sure,” Le Joueur said. “But I’ve heard rumors about rogue Avenger teams stealing Hydra equipment.”

“That’s impossible,” White Owl said.

“Hydra believes it,” Le Joueur said. “But they’ve gotten all they can get out of her. This morning she was bought by Arnim Zola. They’re transporting her to him tonight at midnight.”

Tania drew in her breath at the name. Arnim Zola was a former nazi scientist, a monster with a twisted body and a sharp medical mind.

“That envelope has the details of the base and a suggestion about the best way in.”

“Two questions:” Tania demanded coldly. “How? Why?”

“Hydra agents gamble and they do not gamble well.” Le Joueur said sitting down. She reached for a cigarette but White Owl cleared her throat and Le Joueur pulled her hand back. “One careless word of course means nothing, but ten, twenty… it adds up over time.”

“You’ll get into trouble with Hydra if they find out about this,” White Owl said.

“They won’t bother with me,” Le Joueur said. “I have my own protection against them. I purchased that protection after an encounter with Whiplash.” A look of hate crossed her face. “What do you know about me White Owl, what is the one thing I can not stand?”

“A welcher,” White Owl said.

“Arnim Zola lost a bet to me once and laughed when I demanded payment,” Le Joueur said and her face grew fierce and dark. “He sent Whiplash to show me the error of daring to ask for payment. Whiplash captured me, whipped me bloody, beat me and raped me. He brought me to Zola bound and gagged. Afterward I was very nearly Zola’s lab project. This is their payment. If you can deny him someone he has paid 20 million dollars for then I will be satisfied. If you hurt him I will be happy. If you kill him or Whiplash then I will owe you a favor.”

“We don’t kill,” Tania said.

“Have you met that atrocity?” Le Joueur demanded. “He’s not alive to kill. And Whiplash I’m sure has raped the Scarlet Witch by now. At the very least put him in jail.”

“Let’s go,” Tania said to White Owl.

“This doesn’t pan out we’ll be back,” White Owl promised.

“You’ll probably be back sooner or later anyway,” Le Joueur said. “We have more games yet to play.” She turned and walked back into the pool. “But if your friend comes again tell her I usually don’t give things away. If she wants information next time then she will play.”

“Can we trust this?” Tania asked as they flew away.

“I’ll check on her story,” Athena said. “She wasn’t kidding about hating welchers.”

“We’re going to need some help,” Tania said. “A Hydra base isn’t easy to crack.”

“They will check on my story,” Le Joueur said as the heroines flew out of sight.

“As we knew that they would,” Tina said walking out of the penthouse. She wore a black bikini and carried a tray with two drinks on it. “That’s why we chose you.”

“It helps that I do have a grudge against Zola and Whiplash,” Le Joueur said as Tina stepped into the pool. “And I have a lot of Hydra agents who come to my casino. None of them are foolish enough to talk of course, but it sounds right.”

“You’re perfect,” Tina said handing her the drink. “In fact AIM has been watching you for a while.”

“I have riches,” Le Joueur said taking the drink, “I have my own casino, the respect of the underworld… What more could I want that AIM could offer me?”

“Games with bigger stakes among other things,” Tina said. She put the tray and her drink down on the edge of the pool and un-did her bikini top.

“Other things may be intriguing,” Le Joueur said smiling and reaching out with a finger to trace Tina’s dark nipple.

“That’s what I’ve been told,” Tina said stepping out of the water. She reached down and slid her bikini bottoms off of her long legs. Then she slowly turned around, showing off her body. “Think about it, you have my number.”

“Ah you tease,” Le Joueur laughed as Tina started to walk back into the house.

“I’d stay but I don’t have time,” Tina said turning back to her. “They’re going to go after the Hydra base. If our projections of their attack plan are correct then I have to be there to collect another slave girl.”

“Do let me know how it works out,” Le Joueur called after her. “And if I can be of any more assistance.”

“Bet on it,” Tina said.

Part 5

The Rescue of the Scarlet Witch and the Enslavement of White Owl

“It makes sense,” Tania said looking through her scanner at the Angel Falls Landfill. “Nobody would look for a Hydra base there.”

“Nobody looks for anything there,” Athena agreed grateful that the wind was carrying the smell in the other direction. “It’s perfect, everyone keeps away from it, it has access to the water and no one questions the sound of heavy machinery.”

“They’re going to move her in a half hour,” Tania said.

“If this is right,” Athena said looking at the contents of the envelope that Le Joueur had given them. “How crazy are we Tania? We’re about to assault a Hydra base with 100 thugs using info we got from other drunk thugs.”

“Well her grudge against Zola checked out,” Tania said. “You know her better than I do, is this legit?”

Athena thought for a moment. She’d had three run ins with Le Joueur in the past year, a loss, a tie and a win. The win had been hard on Le Joueur, humiliating really and White Owl was the last person in the world that she should turn to with a tip. The woman was callous, easy to underestimate and ruthless when she was going after something, but she did hate people who didn’t pay off. In Le Joueur’s mind if you didn’t pay off on a bet you were damned. Athena had always paid.

“I think it is,” Athena said.

“Right,” Tania said. “Then…”

Athena’s communicator beeped interrupting her.

“Go,” Athena said into it.

“I’ve sighted it,” Crimson Valkyrie said. “Looks like a barge but there are ten men on it and Zola himself and they don’t look like real men if you get what I mean.”

“Don’t try to stop them directly,” Tania said. “Zola’s men are like Doc Droids robots, ten of them could take me out and he might have more of them hidden. This is a 20 million dollar buy and he won’t trust Hydra. Slow them down as much as you can but be careful. Be very careful, you don’t want Arnim Zola to get his hands on you.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Crimson said. “Out.”

“This gets worse and worse,” Athena said. “Zola’s guys really that bad?”

“Yes,” Tania said. “The three of us could take them but none of us could take them alone.”

“Ok, we get in, get Scarlet and get the hell out,” Athena said. It sounded easy but Athena wished that they had been able to get more help than just Crimson. But superheroes led busy lives and they weren’t always on call. It was the worst of luck for both the X-men and the Avengers to be out of range.

But of course there was no real choice for them. Wanda was a friend and a fellow heroine. After a week of torture there might not be a lot of her left to save, but if Zola got hold of her there wouldn’t be anything. White Owl had never met him but Ultra Woman had.

“Here you go,” Athena said handing Tania a pair of contact lenses. “There good for five hours. You’ll get a text alert from me if anything goes wrong and they’ll give you and underwater edge.”

“Let’s go,” Tania said.

Wanda’s world had collapsed into a routine of pain and painful sleep. They fed her gruel and let her use the toilet but her arms were never free. The gruel suppressed her mutant powers but it was all the food she was going to get. She learned early the consequences of begging for water. All that got her was a five minute bath of ice cold water from a fire hose. Whiplash tortured her until she blacked out and couldn’t be revived, and then let her rest until she was strong enough to be tortured again. The specifics were a blur in her memory but the pain was not. Her mind was closing down from the pain, blotting out the memories. At the end of each torture session Wanda forced the specific events deeper and deeper into her memory, hiding them. But that couldn’t erase the pain and fear.

Her cell was a coffin. At the end of each torture session Wanda was mummified in clear plastic, gagged and blindfolded and put into a box that smelled of Earth and death. She could feel things walking over the plastic. Small, gross things that may or may not have been alive.

They don’t realize how close they are, Wanda thought as they dragged her to the torture chamber again. In that part of her mind that still worked Wanda felt a bit of shame and pride. Pride that she hadn’t broken yet and shame that the only reason she believed that she hadn’t broken yet was because they weren’t asking the right questions. To stop the next blow from landing, to get him to turn off that heater or that air conditioner, to get a few hours of honest to goodness sleep Wanda would answer their damn questions! She knew it! Avenger or no, daughter of Magneto or no; she just couldn’t take it anymore! Wanda was sure that she’d talk.

But they weren’t interested in Avengers security protocols, they weren’t interested in secret identities; they were only interested in information that Wanda didn’t have!

“Ready for another day of fun?” Whiplash asked as her guards dragged her into the chamber. He snapped his whip and Wanda started to cry. She felt shame at the tears but pride that she still struggled as they put her onto the whipping stand.

“This’ll be the last though,” Whiplash said fondling her breasts. You’ve finally convinced the Supreme Hydra that you’re not going to talk. So this morning you were sold.”

“Sold?” Wanda whispered. A whisper was all that her voice was still capable of after all of the screaming. But she still managed to put some outrage into the question.

“Arnim Zola paid 20 mill for ya,” Whiplash said. “So we only got the rest of the day for me to get you to talk.” He raised the whip. “I love a challenge.”

The ocean research ship Maria Stark had been one of Tony Stark’s pet projects. A sub packed with beyond state of the art research instruments it boasted a depth capacity nearly that of an Atlantean craft. On her maiden voyage the ship had been lost in a storm. Days later the crew washed ashore, dead. For a long time everyone believed that it was Atlantis that stole the ship. But it was Hydra and now the research craft was at the bottom of the Angel Falls Landfill. Hydra had dredged up a pit big enough for her and brought her in at night during another storm. Then they’d buried her under tones of dirt and garbage. The front of the ship was still open to the water though barely visible under old cars. The open sea pool that had been meant to serve as a dual recreation/docking space was now only an underwater docking harbor. Tones of drugs moved in and out of Angel Falls through the Maria Stark. Garbage barges would drop anchor in the harbor and divers would bring supplies up and down. At night, that close to the garbage piles no one paid any attention. The ship also served as a research station, making better-in other words more addictive-drugs.

Clad in the diver’s suit version of her costume Tania swam down in smooth even strokes. White Owl’s lenses gave her near perfect vision up to fifty feet and that let her see and avoid the underwater sensors before they saw her. The diver’s version of her Ultra Suit let her breath the water.

Coming under the ship Tania looked up and saw that no one was in the dock yet. She settled down behind the rusted shell of a Ford pick up truck and waited. Now it was up to Athena.

Athena crept along the side of the corridor, her hand resting on the stun gun in her belt. Hydra wasn’t wasting manpower on guards. They didn’t need to with a place like this. But what they hadn’t realized was that while security cameras couldn’t be fooled they could be avoided if you knew where they were. Tony Stark hadn’t been in but Ultra Woman was well known to the Avengers and the plans for the Maria Stark were emailed instantly. The ship hadn’t been designed for combat and that helped a lot. The added security cameras that Hydra had put in stuck out like flares in the night.

Athena pressed herself against the wall as Hydra men passed close by. She hoped that they wouldn’t smell her. Ultra Woman had gone under water but White Owl had crawled through three piles of garbage until she came to the old refrigerator that hid one of the emergency escape tunnels. It had taken a half of an hour to nullify the scanner and the alarm. It had taken yet another hour to worm her way through the former research ship toward the bridge. Wanda was due to be sold in twenty five minutes. Athena hoped that Crimson could slow Zola down and that they wouldn’t have to rescue Crimson herself later.

Athena stopped at a ladder and looked up. The hatch was opening. Thinking quickly Athena grabbed a handful of the knock out gas bombs from her belt and threw them through the opening. There were a few muffled thuds as the bombs exploded and more thuds as the men fell. Putting a mask on her face Athena slowly climbed up the ladder. As soon as she poked her head through enough to see Athena relaxed. Ten men lay slumped over control consoles or sprawled on the floor. She stepped over them and moved to the communications station. A few commands into the computer cut the comlines in and out. Then she moved over to the security system. There was no sign of Tania but the feed from the corridor leading to the dock was up. Whiplash was leading the Scarlet Witch along on a leash. Athena cringed at the state Wanda was in. She was nude, bound with a single glove and a ball gag. The welts on her skin and the frail beaten way she stumbled told the tale of the torture that she had been through. Two guards helped her walk.

We’ll settle with Whiplash later, Athena thought savagely as she started to seal the doors in the ship. Hopefully she could whittle down the opposition by trapping the men.

Athena was alert and her senses were at their very apex due to the danger that she was in. No human could have snuck up on her. But even as alert as she was Athena never heard the spider crawl out of a shadow on the far side of the room. Never heard the small black creature walk along the ceiling until it was directly over her head. No ears could have heard the spider descend on a strand of black webbing. It landed on Athena’s head and Athena froze.

“How long can you hold her Shadow Web?” Tina asked steping out of the shadow.

“Her mind is caught in my web,” the drider said. “I’m fooling her now into thinking that only an instant has passed but her mind is too strong to fool for very long. Five minutes.”

“Long enough,” Tina said as lowered White Owl to the floor. A quick look at the monitor showed that Whiplash was nearly to the dock. Tina hissed and pulled the oblivious heroines mouth open. This rescue had to work but this chance would not come again. White Owl would make a perfect slave girl and Tina didn’t even bother to object when Modok came up with the idea. She was beginning to realize just how little her opinion meant to him. It hadn’t started out that way, but the more AIM learned about the shadow tech the less power Tina had. She could see it happening but there didn’t seem to be much that she could do about it.

Tina took out her tools and drilled into White Owl’s upper molar. Again her movements were perfect thanks to long practice but sweat gathered on the villainesses forehead. If a Hydra agent came into the room Shadow Web wouldn’t be able to help her, it took too much strength to hold White Owl helpless. If Tina were discovered then Hydra would know that AIM was behind everything. That would prove catastrophic.

As she had done with Tania Tina stopped at the root and then placed the seed into the tooth. She sealed the tooth quickly and lifted White Owl back into her original position. Then she retreated back into the shadow. Shadow Web followed her and with a quick jerk of her hand snapped her spider back like a yo-yo. Then they were gone.

Athena blinked and whirled around ready to defend herself. But no one was there.

“Don’t panic,” Athena said to herself. “Everything’s going fine so far.”

She waited until Whiplash and his group was inside the dock then she sealed the door and cut the lights.

Tania’s charged forward at top speed as soon as the lights went out. The time for stealth was gone. She launched out of the water like a dolphin and bore down on the two guards dragging Wanda before they even realized that they were in danger. A double clothesline slammed them both into the wall and out of the fight. Before Tania could turn a sharp blow seared the center of her back. She whirled and saw that Whiplash was watching her.

“Think you’re the only one with fancy glasses bitch?” He demanded, his own lenses glowing red.

Tania tensed. His whip could cut through steal.

The whip snapped at her and Tania took the blow on her bracelet. She felt the impact but the metal held as she knew that it would.

“You got two wrists lady,” Whiplash said and struck out again. Tania dodged but the whip sliced along her leg leaving an angry red welt. “But there’s a lot more parts to you!”

Tania moved to the side, grabbed a scuba tank and threw it at him. Whiplash ducked and Tania flew at him only to have his whip nearly slice her head in half. She pulled up at the last moment and it sliced the front of her costume open instead. Tania was still off balance and he struck again. The whip scorched across her stomach leaving a trail of blood.

This was no good Tania knew and she fell back. There wasn’t enough room in the dock to avoid his blows completely.

She circled around him and the villain followed her. Then he lashed out and Tania dodged but his first move had been a fakeout and the whip slashed at her twice more before Tania could back up. The top of her costume was now open and there was a stinging welt between her breasts.

I don’t have time for this, Tania thought and taking a deep breath turned to dive back into the water.

“Not so fast!” Whiplash shouted and the whip wrapped around her throat.

Just as Tania had planned. Even as the whip cut off her breathing Tania moved grabbing it and turning around. With one massive jerk she pulled Whiplash off of his feet and he came at her. Tania’s fist met his jaw and the villain collapsed.

Tania nearly went into blackness with him. Her lungs were screaming for air and her arms were getting numb. She clawed at the whip but the coils were wrapped tightly. Tania fell to her knees clawing at the thing. Just as she was about to black out she felt it loosening. Then it was pulled off and Tania fell into White Owl’s arms.

“Easy,” White Owl said.

After a few moments Tania was able to move again.

“We gotta go,” Athena said. “Zola’s nearly here.”

“Come on,” Tania said.

She stumbled over to the prone form of the Scarlet Witch and White Owl fitted an oxygen mask over Scarlet’s face. She moaned but was too far gone to do anything else. Tania felt a near berserker rage fill her as she saw what had been done to her friend.

“Hold it bitches,” Whiplash said getting to his feet. He swung his whip and snapped it. “That’s Hydra property.”

He probably meant goad them and it worked. Letting White Owl catch the falling Wanda Tania leapt into the air and flew at him. She covered the space in three seconds, not nearly enough time for him to attack. It was two seconds into her attack that Whiplash saw the look on Tania’s face and he had an instant to comprehend the danger he was in before her fist slammed into his stomach. He went down and Tania followed. Grabbing the hand that held the whip Tania pressed it against the floor. Then she curled her other hand into a fist and slammed it into his wrist. She was mad enough that the blow might have shattered steel. The bones in the villains wrist were crushed into a powder.

Leaving him to scream Tania rushed back over to White Owl. Then they both took hold of Wanda and jumped into the water.

A few minutes later they broke the surface of the water and kept going, flying upward.

“Here,” Crimson called from a hover car. The car looked like it had been pounded nearly to scrap and Crimson didn’t look much better.

“Stop them!” Tania heard the mechanical voice of Zola call.

“Get us out of here!” White Owl shouted.

Crimson hit the throttle and they zoomed away into the sky.

Modok, Tina and Shadow Web watched as the hover car flew away from the Hydra base.

“Slave Girl 2 is planted,” Tina said.

“But our information on Crimson Dynamo is out of date,” Modok said. “She put up a good fight against Zola’s N-men.”

“Maybe we should get her too,” Shadow Web suggested. “I think I would like her in my webs.”

“Her powers are partly based on nanites,” Tina said. “She’d detect the unit. In fact I’m worried about her being too close to units 1 and 2. If her new powers are able to detect them…”

“Everything we’ve worked toward will be lost,” Modok finished the sentence.

“We could kill her,” Shadow Web suggested. “Or capture her and dissect her.”

“No,” Modok said. “We will wait and keep and eye on her. It is too early for such a death. If she does detect the slave units then we will take action. I will order our weapons unit to being research on a way to trap and contain her.”

“My webs can do that,” Shadow Web said showing her fangs as she smiled. “I like the looks of her Modok.”

“We shall study her first,” Modok said. “Then if possible you may have her.”

“By the end of the month Slave Unit 1 will be ready for data retrieval.” Tina said. “We’ll have access to Ultra Woman’s short term memory, that should tell us more about Crimson Valkyrie.”

“For now let them all think that they have won,” Modok said. “In good time the fools will learn that the true victory this night was won by Advanced Idea Mechanics!”

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