The Dangers of Daring Officer Dolly

Chapter 34. "Two worlds, two perils"

by Skytower

  Merry hadn’t worked that long on the vice squad. A few months just out of the academy were enough to convince her that she really didn’t want to make vice a career. But they had been looking for a fresh new face that would draw in the bad guys. Tall, beautiful, blonde and big chested Merry’s body screamed a lot of things, but not ‘cop’. In her short time on the squad she had learned that all brothels had one thing in common: a back door.

Merry led Esmerelda and Serenity through the corridor toward the back. On the way she grabbed cloaks off of the wall and tossed them to her companions. It was raining out and both Serenity and Esmerelda’s clothing were little more than shreds of cloth. Both women struggled into the cloaks one handed. Serenity held a semi-conscious Vicki and Esmerelda held a box of fairies. Vicki had been changed from a human to a tiny centaur not a few minutes before and the fairies wings had been clipped.

The rain was coming down steadily as Merry led them out of the tavern. She was in a small yard. Ahead of her was a stable, to her left was a string of outhouses and to the right an awning with a few horses under it.

"Steal them?" Serenity asked.

"No." Merry said. "We keep a low profile and get the hell out of town as fast as we can. I’ve got a cart we can use. Come on."

"What the hell is going on?" Vicki demanded shrilly. "Who the hell are you?"

"Shut her up or leave her." Merry snapped.

The rain helped and hurt them. It made them hard to see in the darkness, but it also made it hard for them to see anything. Merry didn’t have a torch but her eyesight was sharper than a normal persons. She led them around the edge of the building and back to the road. The brawl that she had started was still going on. That helped. She had left her boots behind, which didn't help. The wet cold mud chilled her. And she hoped it was only mud.

"Come on." Merry said beckoning them to follow her.

It only took a half hour to reach the inn. It was only when she saw the old Ford motor logo that Merry realized she had never thought about what the place was called. Hanging from a sign was an old Ford Company car logo.

I gotta get better at this, Merry thought as she led them all in back to the stable/garage. Once they were inside Merry went back to the doorway and looked out. There was no sign of pursuit.

"We’re ok for the moment." Merry said turning back to them.

"Define ‘ok’ you bitch!" Vicki swore. "Look at me!"

"I saw you before." Merry snapped. "Don’t complain, that body is better."

Vicki snarled at her and charged only to be held back by Serenity.

"Look at me!" She pleaded.

"You're breathing, you're ahead of the game." Merry said. "You got complaints save'em, we have to get back to Earth."

"Like this?" Vicki demanded.

"You can be cured." Serenity said. "But for now Merry is correct, on this world we are in constant danger."

"What happened after I got knocked out?" Merry asked. She took a deep breath and leaned against a stack of tires. "Where are Ms. Dream and Miss Shadow?"

"Captured by my daughter." Serenity said. Esmerelda and I were captured by ghouls and sold to the satyr."

"Ok, they’ll keep." Merry said. "From the looks of this place there is more than one portal to Earth, we just have to find it."

"We can't leave them." Esmerelda said.

I know that, Merry thought. But she also knew that for her charade to be continued she had to act this way. And a part of her realized that she was angry with Ms. Dream and absolutely hated Miss Shadow. Merry strove to keep her head clear through the storm of conflicting emotions.

"She's right, my daughter will torture them." Serenity said.

"That'll save me the trouble." Merry said. "One or both of them double crossed us. I let those bitches into my Mind and they sold me out! Trust me they're safer where they are."

"Ms. Dream had no part in it!" Esmerelda said.

"How do you know that?" Merry demanded.

"She wouldn't do it!" Esmerelda said.

"I'd like to think that." Merry said. "Hell I really would, I sort'a like her. But she's done this to me before."

"I saw Miss Shadow throw Ms. Dream out of the magic circle." Serenity said. "If there was treachery she had no part in it."

"IF?" Merry shouted. "IF?"

"Merry we can't leave her with Truly!" Esmerelda said. "I can't."

Merry turned away from her and started to pace. A part of her was furious, a part of her was proud of the way Esmerelda was standing by a friend and team mate.

"It makes no sense for her to betray you." Serenity said.

"You sound like Lucy." Merry snapped.

"Thank you." Serenity said. "But think it through Merry."

Merry stopped pacing and faced them again. Her mind was racing and for the first time since she had woken up Merry had a good idea of what had happened. But the conclusion she reached only made her angrier. Her anger must have shown on her face. Esmerelda flinched and Vicki actually took a step back.

"You're right." Merry said. "Ms. Dream probably had nothing to do with it. But Miss Shadow did. She wasn't going to trust you to get her the Seal of Orant back, she made a separate deal with Truly. Me… maybe you and me, for the Seal."

"That is a logical conclusion." Serenity said. "I hate to think it but it fits the facts."

"No one does this to me." Merry said clenching her fist. "Ok, new plan. Where ever Truly has them we go get them. You can have Ms. Dream, Miss Shadow is mine!"

"But we need her to open a portal back to Earth." Esmerelda said.

"She'll open it." Merry said. "I swear to you Esmerelda my vengeance isn't going to strand us here. But I swear to you that Miss Shadow is in for some pain time! I'm going to make her…"

Merry bit off the rest of her rant as she saw the look on Esmerelda's face. It was a look of horror and it stabbed deep at Merry's soul.

"Please…" Esmerelda begged. "I know you hate her but Goddess of Justice has taught me there are better things than vengeance."

"Like the law?" Merry asked.

"Yes."

"Well I'm ruled by the Laws of Dollopolis." Merry said. "The Laws of Vengeance." She stepped forward and looked Esmerelda in the eye. "Honey I love you. But not even Simone could stop me from going after Miss Shadow now. I let her into my mind! I gave her that ultimate trust and she wiped her feet on it! I can promise you I won't kill her, but I swear to you I will follow my laws."

"What will you do to her?" Esmerelda asked softly. "I don't want you to torture her Merry. Please, I can't…"

With a growl Merry turned away from her. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to do to Miss Shadow either. If the woman was standing in front of her Merry might have beaten her up, but beyond that…

But that part of Merry that was the First Knight, that part of her that she used to play the semi-wild creature; that part knew what she could do. That part that was lately starting to take on a life of its own.

Merry took the anger of that part of her and used it to think. It only took a few minutes for her to come up with an idea that would satisfy both of them. So when Esmerelda put her hand lightly on Merry's shoulder Merry was ready.

"Please…" Esmerelda began.

"I'm going to hurt her Esmerelda." Merry said coldly turning around. "Not physically. I'm going to take her, tie her up and then I'm going to make her watch while I destroy the Seal of Orant."

"But…"

"That's the best you're going to get out of me." Merry said. "That's it."

"Without the seal the Legion of Mystics will be crippled, perhaps destroyed." Serenity said.

"Tough." Merry said. "That woman owes me Serenity, she owes me big time and I’m going to collect."

"How about before we get to that part we actually do something first?" Vicki demanded. "For starters can some one please tell me what the hell is going on! Who are you?"

"She is the woman who will finish the job that Darksun started." A new voice said. This voice was light and strong, young and old at the same time. It was soft enough to be young but there was pain and bitterness in it. They looked around and saw that one of the fairies was looking at them from the bars of the box. "She is Mystery Woman of Dollopolis and she is the doom of what is left of our world."

Dumb, dumb, dumb! Merry cursed herself remembering the wanted poster in the inn. For some reason she was a wanted person on this world, wanted dead or alive by the United Clans (what ever they were).

"Who are you and why do you say that?" Serenity demanded.

"I say it because it is true wife of Darksun." The fairy said darkly.

"I was never his wife!" Serenity cried.

"Who are you?" Merry demanded.

The fairy in the cage looked at her with deep golden eyes. He was slim with a narrow face and wild white hair. Merry hadn’t realized it back in the bar but his face held scars. He was dressed in a bright orange jumper and there was a black collar on his neck.

"My name is Dreft." He said. "My clan is the Sunflower Flyers."

"You with the rebels or the UC?" Merry asked.

He laughed.

"I’m only with my clan, and my clan is with no one."

Merry reached over and picked up the box, shook it and then put it down.

"Keep talking in riddles and I’m going to throw this into the nearest lake." Merry snarled.

"Merry!" Esmerelda exclaimed taking the box. She put it onto a bench and opened it.

"You must control your temper Merry." Serenity said.

"Yea I must." Merry said harshly.

Trouble was it was her anger that was driving her. Before she’d played the part of the angry knight it had been mostly a part. But now Merry was angry and she was scared and she was in no mood for D&D style riddles from stuck up fairies. She wished desperately that the Group was with her, she needed them.

"I’m sorry." Esmerelda said opening the cage. "You will not be harmed."

"Our world is doomed." Dreft said walking out of the cage. "As long as the Bride of Hellspite is free and alive."

"Hellspite?" Merry demanded.

"Hellspite is dead." Serenity said. "Merry killed him in our world."

"You did." Dreft said. Behind him the other fairies had started to stagger out of the box. "But his soul fled to our world instead of his own and he made a deal with Theodora Darksun. In exchange for his freedom to ravage our world and keep her in power Theodora promised Hellspite the body of Mystery Woman of Dollopolis to use as his wife. Once you are his, once that deal is complete his kind will flood into our world from theirs and by the third day of that happening our kind will be gone."

"So Miss Shadow wasn’t only going to give me to Truly, she was going to give me to Hellspite?" Merry felt a cold and deadly anger begin to burn within her. "I take it back Esmerelda, when I get to Miss Shadow I’m going to kill her and it’s going to take a very long time!"

Ms. Dream had been tortured by experts. Truly Highfield was an amateur. That didn’t help much. Pain was pain after all. But the amateurs could be fooled by loud screams where the experts would laugh and keep going. It helped that Truly was splitting her time between Ms. Dream, Miss Shadow and her sister Verity. After a few hours of distributing that pain she had grown tired and left. But she hadn’t left them to recover. Miss Shadow was spread-eagled on a constantly turning wheel that kept dunking her head or her feet into a trough of water every few minutes. Ms. Dream lay spread out on a rotating frame. Every few minutes her head or her feet passed over an open flame. Verity’s cage hung over a vat of boiling liquid that might have been water or something else.

Before she had left Truly had forced a fowl tasting liquid down their throats. Ms. Dream recognized coffee, but it was the worst coffee she had ever tasted. It did keep her awake though.

"She’s gonna kill you ya know." Ms. Dream said. She started to work toward freeing her right wrist.

"Not quickly." Miss Shadow said. "She wants my spells."

"I meant Mystery Woman." Ms. Dream said.

"She is not a concern to me at the moment." Miss Shadow said. "Either she is dead or she is captured, I can’t believe that she walks freely."

"She is not dead." Said a voice from somewhere near Verity. It was a strong voice that reminded Ms. Dream of Lucy. "If she were dead Hellspite would not still be here, and if she were captured Theodora would be here boasting about it."

"Hellspite?" Ms. Dream repeated. She lifted her head up as much as she was able but couldn’t see who was talking.

"Dead in your world, barely alive in mine, but still with a legion of demons who follow him."

"Who are you?" Miss Shadow asked.

"Where are you?" Ms. Dream demanded looking around.

"I am Melissa Flower of the United Clans." The voice answered. "I am here in the cage with Verity."

Ms. Dream tried to focus on the cage but it was just out of sight.

"So Truly was going to give Mystery Woman to Hellspite?" Ms. Dream demanded. "Way to go Shadow."

"I did not know of that."

"You didn’t care." Ms. Dream snapped. "You really better hope she never finds us."

"She will not last long." Melissa said. "Even now I know that the United Clans are searching for her. We know that she is fierce and her powers are strong but if we do not kill her before Theodora captures her then our world is doomed."

"Doomed?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Once Hellspite has taken her he will regain his full powers." Melissa said. "And he will open the doors between his realm of demons and Faerun. The demons will swarm over this world and nothing of value will be left. Thus he will fulfill a promise made to his lover years ago.

"Mind elaborating on that?" Ms. Dream asked. "We… I came in kinda late."

"I know no more than you do." Miss Shadow said.

"Yea, right."

"Darksun came to our world years ago." Melissa said. "And for such a woman hating man my matriarchal culture was an abomination. But at first he could do nothing against us. Foolishly we tolerated his comings and goings. Faerun is a crossroads world, from our world you can travel to many other worlds with ease. In the past we kept the worst of the beings from crossing. Sadly that is no longer true."

Ms. Dream heard Verity whimper and cry out.

"Ease dreamer." Melissa said gently. "Sleep and escape."

"Let me guess a bit here." Ms. Dream said. "Darksun showed up with some heavy duty magic and took you by surprise?"

"Yes." Melissa said. "The Dagger and the Seal of Orant. At first we did not realize the danger. He took this kingdom, enslaving the Sundown clan. Such things had happened before. Traditionally the clans of fairy believed in minding our own business. But then he started to change the world. Before the races of Faerun lived in relative peace with each other. It wasn’t as if we of the Fairy Clans had any great love for the lesser creatures; centaurs, the satyrs, the gnomes and the other races, nor did they have much love for us, but there was no hatred between the races either. All knew their place."

"Darksun was a master at subtlety." Melissa said reflectively. "His agents worked secretly at stirring up anger and resentment between the races. He encouraged that resentment further by secretly favoring both sides in wars, arming them with weapons unknown in this world."

While she talked Ms. Dream worked on the leather strap that held her right wrist. It was tight but wide, and that width worked to her advantage. A thin leather strap would cut into her skin as she pulled, cutting off the blood circulation. A thick strap could be stretched over time. The fact that she was sweating heavily helped. The secret was to make her wrist swell up by constantly flexing and relaxing her muscles. That could stretch the leather. It’d rub her skin raw but that might help. If she managed to bleed the wrist would get more slippery.

"How’d Hellspite fit into things?" Ms. Dream asked.

"He and Darksun were lovers for a time." Melissa said and the disgust in her voice was almost physical. "Hellspite taught Darksun foul demon spells and in return Darksun opened portals for Hellspite’s demon hoards to other worlds. Darksun promised the demon that someday all of Faerun would be his."

"You’re entire world could not stop him?" Miss Shadow asked.

"We were divided" Melissa said. "and lived in blissful ignorance. And many of us still do." She added.

"Our culture is a pre-industrial one with agriculture the main industry and our natural magic as the only science. Though we thought ourselves sophisticated we were in truth simple creatures. Ripe for conquest in our arrogance. In the places where despotic kings and queens ruled Darksun’s agents taught communism, socialism, Marxism, democracy..." She spat out the words with hatred and then Melissa’s tone grew sad. "Our cultures had survived for centuries, as set and un-changing as the stars. We simply were not ready for the concepts that he and his agents introduced. Truly could any monarchy have been ready for the concept of all being equal? Good kings as well as bad were crushed by wild rebellions."

"And what took their place was even worse?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Chaos." Melissa said. "And as each kingdom fell into chaos Darksun’s forces moved in and took over. By the time of the Happy Day of his death that fiend ruled half of the southern continent."

"Why not unite and take him out?" Ms. Dream asked.

"We tried." Melissa said and there was some frustration in her voice. "Some of us. When we finally awoke to the danger. I am of the United Clans, five clans bound together by common cause and treaty. Three times we put vast armies on the field. Each time our forces were slaughtered. When we attacked with swords he responded with guns. So we learned of guns and he responded with tanks. So we learned of tanks and he responded with MIG fighters. After the last battle he forced a treaty on us that left us virtually powerless. We had to swear a series of oaths that made it impossible to move against him. Hostages were taken. And for nearly twenty years he has been flooding our world with a drug that is destroying the fairy."

She broke off in a choked voice and Ms. Dream waited until the crying stopped.

"What kind of drugs?"

"Drugs that are destroying us!" Melissa said again with her voice almost a wail. "Do you know the life cycle of a fairy Ms. Dream? Miss Shadow?"

"No."

"No." Miss Shadow said.

"We live for the span of a tree and then are reborn." Melissa said. "For the first half of our lives fairies look much like humans though we never grow more than five feet high. But as we grow old we begin to shrink and our wings appear. The natural magic we possess increases as does our wisdom."

"You mean instead of getting gray hair you shrink?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Yes." Melissa said. "At forty it begins and by age fifty it is complete. For the next two hundred or so of your years we are true fairies."

"Huh." Ms. Dream said. "Well better than menopause I guess."

"It is a grand way to live." Melissa said proudly. "For at the end of the bodies life, when age at last takes the color away from your wings, then you must find a lover, a fairy who has not gone through the change. She loves you and takes you into her womb and after a time gives birth to you anew to start the cycle again. The mother becomes the daughter, the father becomes the sun."

She said the last words ritually and reverently and Ms. Dream tried to sort out what she had said.

"Ok, let me get this straight. When your body is used up you find a woman, crawl into her womb, set up shop and come out in new fairy body?"

"No." Melissa said. "As our live ends we find a lover, a fairy who has not yet gone through the change. Traditionally a clansman, though it can never be your parents or children. It is very much like a marriage. Then when the time is right she prepares our body with a magical salve and then lays down and parts her legs. We crawl into her, forcing our way between her legs into that most treasured of all places in her body. Once inside we reach out to her and she to us and some months later she gives birth to us in our renewed human-like body to begin the cycle again."

"Ooooooookkkkkkaaaayyyyyy!" Ms. Dream drew out the word as her mind accepted the concept. "That's… That's the craziest thing I've ever heard and coming from me that's saying a lot."

"You are born as a human infant?" Miss Shadow asked. "Yet your mind is intact?"

"Fully." Melissa said. "The wonder of life is renewed, the bonds of love strengthened, the clan made stronger."

"And you don't mind being fed, diapered…" Ms. Dream asked.

"No."

"Too weird." Ms. Dream said. "Way too weird."

"How are the drugs destroying you?" Miss Shadow asked.

"The majority of my people accepted and exalted the life cycle." Melissa said. "Some, like Ms. Dream, hated it."

"I don't hate it, I just think it's weird."

"The Arch Duke played on that minority and his drug stopped the aging process. Some could never stand giving up physical strength for magical strength, for fairies can never be counted as physically strong. And in some fairies magic does not run as deeply as in others. In each of the lands he took Darksun introduced this drug, giving it away freely at first. Many took it, many more than I thought would at the time. It gives great pleasure. And I realized over time that it was because he was winning. Even among my kind the lure of power is great. But the drug also destroyed a fairies ability to re-new another fairy. And the drug needed to be taken on a regular basis, and it made the fairies who took it constantly angry."

She stopped and Ms. Dream couldn't think of anything to say. After a few minutes Melissa went on.

"Now those who take the drug are growing in number. Fairies; whole clans are dying off because the drug makes the males sterile. They can not produce offspring at all. It makes the females eternally young and beautiful, but poisons them for any of their kind. Those who take the drug mock those who do not. They hunt and abuse them."

"Is that how you were caught?" Miss Shadow asked.

"No." Melissa said. "When we learned that Darksun was dead the United Clans quickly mounted an attack on this castle. With him gone his men fell to us by the score and we were close to victory. Our goal was to find the room where he manufactured the drug and destroy it. But then Theodora led an army of demons into the castle. We were trapped, cut off from the rest of our forces outside and while we fought the demons inside the castle she used demons riding flying ships that shot particle beams at our tanks and MIGS. I gave the order for the troops to retreat and I and a small group of my followers were captured." She sighed.

"We were so close. So close. If I could have found the place where the drug was made…"

"What about those who were with you?" Miss Shadow asked.

"Dead." Melissa said. "Or given as hostages to some queen or king. Some were eaten alive by Hellspite."

"And you made a deal with her?" Ms. Dream demanded looking at Miss Shadow.

"I had no choice!" Miss Shadow shouted.

"How did Verity get like that?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Darksun experimented on fairies… on everyone. He has a roomful of potions that can change or pervert life. It was his greatest delight. Verity was changed and Theodora has tortured her nearly to death. She charges me with keeping her alive. But Theodora is not her father. She instructed me to tell Verity all that Darksun had done, she hoped it would make her sister miserable. But I have learned much of your world from Verity. It has given me a great insight to what has occurred in my world. I even know that what was done can be un-done."

Ms. Dream's wrist was hurting like hell but she could feel her sweat beginning to work. The salty taste in her mouth told her that she was bleeding as well.

"No it can't." Ms. Dream said. "You introduce new concepts into closed cultures and they'll take root and grow. You can't turn back the clock Melissa."

"I can." Melissa said. "And I will. I will exorcise these concepts from my world even if I have to burn them out with fire!"

"Where's Mystery Woman fit into all of this?" Ms. Dream demanded. Talking helped her keep her mind off of the pain. "She killed Hellspite once, she killed Darksun, she'd be a natural ally if you could talk to her."

"We don't know that." Melissa said. "We watched as she killed Darksun, we cheered as she did in a few minutes what we had failed to do for years. But when he died we lost sight of her. Our oracles could tell us nothing, none know of her or Dollopolis. We could not tell if she were our ally or merely another of Darksun's enemies. And from Verity I have learned that she is fierce and cruel, a bringer of chaos and pain."

"She is all of that Ms. Dream." Miss Shadow said. "You can not deny that."

"Shut up." Merry said. "Ok, so you don't know her, you must know enough to know that she hates demons."

"If she is captured we are all doomed." Melissa said. "Better that she should die before there is any chance of that. This was my decision and my orders."

Ms. Dream started to pull her wrist through the strap.

"Ok, timescale problem here." She said grunting at the effort. "How did you know she was here, how are you getting messages out of here?"

"Theordora loves the sound of her own voice." Melissa said. "And she believes that the stone of this place prevents telepathic communication completely. It does not, it merely makes it nearly impossible."

"Nearly impossible." Ms. Dream repeated through gritted teeth. That was what she had thought about getting in touch with Dollopolis. Lucy had done it.

"How do you do it?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Under this castle runs a river through which the castle waste flows." Melissa said. "Closely guarded of course, but a young fair-maid knows a secret path to the river that opens each month as the moons pull the water levels. She swims beneath and I am able for a short time to talk to her."

"Yea, well next time she comes tell her we’re getting out of here." Ms. Dream said pulling at her wrist.

"She ain't the only one who can do the 'nearly impossible'!" Ms. Dream muttered jerking her arm as hard as she could. After a few wrenching jerks her wrist at last came free, sweat and blood making it possible to slip through the leather. Ms. Dream reached up to her forehead and felt carefully for the device that was canceling her powers. It was metal, round and it had spider-like legs. She found a button and pushed it and the legs released. Ms. Dream looked at it. It was an oval shaped metal dome with tiny legs around the edges. A power neutralizer, but not electronic. It had a little glass window and as Ms. Dream studied it she saw a tiny wheel and piston moving inside.

"Steam punk?" Ms. Dream asked. "Hell what world did he get this from?"

"Darksun traded with worlds without number." Melissa said.

"Great." Ms. Dream put it down and telekinetically started to un-strap her other arm. "Steam punk." She muttered angrily.

"Who’s Hellspite?" Vicki asked.

"A demon." Serenity said. "Brought to Earth by International Criminal Enterprises years ago. Very powerful, he once fought Goddess of Justice and Captain Pharaoh to a standstill. He was thought indestructible until Merry killed him. Everyone thought his soul fled to his own demonic realm when that happened. We were wrong."

"He can’t be at the same power level." Merry said. "I blasted his body to bits and it wasn’t an easy body for him to make the first time."

"Make a body?" Vicki asked.

"When demons such as Hellspite enter a world like Earth they must have a host body ready for them." Serenity said. "Otherwise they are merely phantoms of smoke." She lowered her head. "Truly must have provided him a new body for this world. My daughter now deals with demons."

"I’ve killed him once, I’ll kill him again." Merry said wishing she was as confident as she sounded. The first time she had come up with a desperate plan that had taken the demon by surprise. The next time might be different.

"He is in league with Theodora Darksun." Dreft said. "Her armies and his demons number in the thousands. They will catch you, you will be brought to him in chains and he will take you and through you gain a new body."

"So that’s why the United Clans want me dead." Merry said. "Never thought of actually talking to me? Like maybe I might have an idea or two that might help?"

"They do not believe you have a chance." Dreft said.

"Lady Highfield?"

The voice was timid and again Merry cursed herself. She’d been so busy with the conversation she hadn’t heard Tranquility open the door to the inn.

"Tranquility Green?" Serenity asked.

"Lady Highfield!" Tranquility shouted galloping over to her.

"Tranquility?" Vickie asked.

"Vicki?" Tranquility said looking up.

"You two know each other?" Merry asked.

"She’s my lawyer." Tranquility said. "I was waiting in her office when there was a bright light and I woke up in a cell at the Slavers Market."

"I woke up there too." Vickie said.

"They were taken by fairies of the Deep Mist Clan." Dreft said. "They make their sport and wealth by raiding other worlds for slaves and magic and machines. They were close allies of Darksun."

"Aphrodite was there when I woke up." Tranquility said. "She laughed at me and then walked away."

"Settling scores." Merry said remembering what Lizzie and Jessie had told her about the couple. "I guess if she couldn’t have you she wanted you miserable."

The collar around Tranquility’s neck glowed.

"But I am happy." She said.

"Yea, enough of that." Merry said. She strode over to the centaur and took hold of the collar. It came off easily and Tranqulity broke down and started to cry. She screamed and sobbed and clung desperately to Serenity.

"Slave collar." Merry said tossing it across the room. "Same as on Dreft and his friends."

"Let me take them off." Esmerelda said reaching for Dreft.

"No let me." Merry said. She shrugged off her dress and shrunk down.

"You really like showing that body off don't you?" Vicki asked.

"Shut up." Merry growled. Nudity wasn't something she worried much about anymore. "If there's a trap spell on them I can handle it."

Esmerelda picked her up and put her onto the table. Close up the fairies were in worse shape than Merry had first thought. Their bodies were thin and they were obviously weak. Their wings had not been cut off but torn off. Some of the wings hung in painful looking shreds. Dreft's face was angular and stern.

"Any counter-spells?" Merry asked.

"None for anyone but fairy." He said. "That I know of."

"No crying." Merry said. She reached up and took hold of the collar. It came loose with a spark and he staggered and fell onto the table. Merry did the same to the other fairies and then Esmerelda put her back onto the floor. She grew and reached for her dress.

"Thank you." Dreft said.

"Will you stop crying." Merry demanded as she put her dress back on.

"I was collared and treated like a beast!" Tranquility said. "A toy!"

"Feels pretty bad doesn't it." Merry said. "By the way Corrella says 'hi'."

"Oh!" Tranquility suddenly stopped crying. She pressed harder into Serenity and swallowed. "You're Merry. Mystery Woman. They... they told me about you."

"Uh-Huh." Merry nodded. Tranquility and her friends had caught Jessie and played with her. Jessie had used a false name and played for time but Merry knew what she'd been put through. It had filled Merry with rage at the time. That anger lingered and Merry wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Everyone in the garage was scared of her now. Even Esmerelda.

Play the game, Merry told herself.

"This is not the time for vengeance Merry." Serenity said.

"I know." Merry said. "And I think I'll let being turned into a centaur and collared for a few weeks serve. It'll be something I'll be sure to tell Corrella if she ever gets out of the Temple of Healing."

"How is she?" Tranquility asked softly.

"She was starving for days and you made her beg for chocolate." Merry snapped. "How do you think she is?"

"This is not the time Merry." Serenity said putting her arm around Tranquility.

"You're right." Merry said. "We don't have much time…"

"You got no time." Cliff said. The sound of his voice was accompanied by the clicking of a shotgun being primed. He stood at the doorway to the garage. Fluttering behind him at shoulder height was the drowf from the Tipsy Pixie.

Man I'm off my game, Merry thought. She realized what it was. The Group wasn't with her. They would have warned her that someone was coming, using her senses to keep an eye on the area. She turned and faced Cliff.

"Bounty hunting's not worth it." Merry said. "Isn't that what you told me?"

"For anyone else yea." Cliff said. "Not for Mystery Woman.

"We are free Bitch-35!" Dreft called out. "You would do well not to bring us back to the queen."

"The Queen's dead." The drowf said. "Someone with a quick knife got her in the brawl."

"You go into a bar you gotta take the risk." Merry said. "Can't tell me you're all broken up about it."

"Not at all." Bitch-35 said. "But until money changes hands Vicki, Serenity and Esmerelda are my property and I want them back."

"Bitch-35?" Merry said. "Strange name."

"My designation in Darksun's laboratory was 'Batch-35-BI'." The drowf said. "When I escaped from him and was captured by the Deep Rock clan they denied it to me when they enslaved me. When I won my freedom from them I took it back and changed it."

She was looking with hatred at Dreft and he responded.

"She's one of Darksun's toys." Dreft said. "Pathetic, vile…"

"Hey shut up!" Vicki said. "Don’t insult the friend of the guy who's pointing the shotgun at us."

"How's this gonna work Clint?" Merry asked. "You want just me or everyone else too?"

"Everyone." Cliff said. He used the shotgun and pointed to the cart Merry had ridden into town on. "Now…"

Merry moved as soon as the shotgun was pointed toward the cart. It was the sort of maneuver that she had been working on ever since she had been given control of her size. She jumped up and stretched out her hands like she was about to fly and then she grew. Merry had been holding her height at the right size to fit Zim's dress. Now she grew to fifteen feet shredding it. The size change caught Cliff and Bitch-35 off guard. Merry's left fist slammed into Cliff's stomach and her other fist almost hit Bitch-35. But the drowf was faster and she dodged beneath Merry's blow and threw something. Merry felt a half a dozen pinpricks hit her chest and pain suddenly cascaded through her body. Crying out she fell and shrunk at the same time. Merry blacked out as everyone else rushed into the battle.

"Poisons suck." Prudence said.

"Yes, big time." Yoran agreed. "Surgery is much more fun."

Prudence wasn't sure if he was joking or not. With Yoran you never knew.

It was a strange juxtaposition, Prudence thought. They were sitting next to a woman who was barely alive but the air was crisp and clear and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day. Warm but not hot. Simone lay on cot in the tent. The entrance of the tent faced Thunderbird 2. The craft was set on automatic and if Simone was blocked from its view for more than a few minutes it attacked anyone in range.

Simone wasn’t in good shape. She had taken seven poison darts to the neck and where those darts had struck her skin was black and peeling. The rest of her skin was an un-earthly gray tone. She had shrunk down to two feet tall after the attack. One of the darts had hit her dress and it had disintegrated by the next morning.

"What really sucks is this toxin." Yoran said. His young face conveyed a frustration that went beyond its years. "I’ve figured out that it is an insect based venom but that is as far as I can go. It’s attacking her circulatory and nervous systems at the same time. I’ve got a lab in London working on it but it will take weeks to come up with an anti-toxin."

"Well at least she’s not too small to treat." Prudence said.

"That is the only thing about this situation that I can stand." Yoran said looking at her 24-inch tall body. Next to Simone was a machine that gave him a display of her body’s vital statistics. None of them looked good.

"Prudence?" Goddess of Justice asked sticking her head into the tent.

"No change mom." Prudence said.

Goddess of Justice moved carefully so that she wasn’t blocking Thunderbird 2’s view of Simone. "I have an idea, if we can get her back to Dollopolis Simone could enter her own Temple of Healing."

"How do we do that?" Yoran said.

"Thunderbird 2 is operating from its onboard computer." Goddess said. "Computers can be fooled. Prudence I want you to shrink down and see if you can enter the ship."

"I’ll try." Prudence said. "But once I get inside what do I do? Aunt Mary said that the layout is pretty complex."

"And even if she is small she looks nothing like Simone or Merry." Yoran said.

"Gadget Gal has come up with a holographic projector." Goddess said. "It will make you appear to be Simone. Once in the ship if you can’t fly it or try to make contact with Dollopolis. There are at least three people still there."

"Ok." Prudence said. She stood up and followed her mother outside.

Outside of the tent Prudence could hear birds singing and in the distance the highway and train that served Bracknell, England hummed with cars and trains. Wallingford College for Young Ladies was quiet, waiting for the fall term to begin. Prudence hoped they had a lot of patience. There was no way of telling how long it would take to open the dimensional portal to the world that Merry, Ms. Dream, Miss Shadow, Serenity and Esmerelda had vanished into. There was also the chance that random portals could open up close by since this one hadn't been closed properly. Gadget Gal was working on a transporter but it would be a while.

The thought of Esmerelda stabbed at Prudence. They weren’t really lovers, but they were more than friends and more than adopted sisters. Prudence couldn’t come up with a name for what they were. They had kissed, there wasn't much of her body that Esmerelda hadn't touched, or much of Esmerelda's body that Prudence hadn't touched, but touching was as far as it had gone. So far.

Of course others could come up with names for their relationship, Prudence thought darkly. The tabloids and the Metahuman News Network had called them lovers and more. And the stuff on the internet made her spirit burn. Prudence had never wanted to be famous, and in a way she wasn’t now. Not as Prudence Rothschild anyway. But as Terrific Titania she was and being famous meant being ridiculed. It hurt and Prudence often found herself crying herself to sleep.

The internet was the worst. The usenet, the chatrooms, the fan pages… they speculated endlessly on her identity, her sexual orientation and even when and if she had a period. There were drawings and doctored pictures showing her having sex with aliens, plants and even Goddess of Justice! Prudence tried not to pay attention to it, but she couldn’t ignore it completely. Every so often she would log into the sex and fetish sights and it hurt.

And the trouble really was that there was some of it that didn’t hurt. The size changing crowd had some true artists and they showed her as a captive, but as a captive to witches or warlocks who played sexual games with her tiny body. Prudence couldn’t read one of those stories or see one of those pictures without becoming aroused. When that happened Prudence felt like she was two people. Her old self that was repulsed and her new self that was intrigued. Her new self wondered if Esmerelda could play those games. The fact that she loved waking up curled up into Esmerelda’s fur confused her even more. Of course that was a problem too. If she wanted to stay at her normal size Prudence had to concentrate, when she was asleep that concentration faded and she shrunk. Even after all this time she still woke scared unless someone was with her. When ever she opened her eyes in the morning the weight of the world seemed to press against her, but at the same time the infinite space of the universe pulled at her. Prudence desperately needed someone there in those first few moments.

The robot that her mother had battled two nights ago lay in pieces on a work table. The work table was built low to the ground; the right size for the very short Gadget Girl (Gadget Gal, Prudence corrected herself. At least for this month. Letitia tended to change her code name from Gadget Gal to Gadget Girl every other month or so). Letitia wore a flexible blue jumpsuit and a blue cape with a domino mask with white covers over her eyes. The mask actually held thick prescription lenses and those lenses themselves were modified display units linked to the gadgets that the young woman wore. Both the jumpsuit and the cape were more than clothes, they were living machines. She was humming softly to herself as she worked on the robot. Prudence wished that more of Earth Force was there, but everyone was suddenly busy with supervillains.

"Gadget Gal?" Goddess of Justice said.

Letitia looked up and smiled. Prudence smiled back at her. Letitia Atckins was a small young woman who would never get any taller. Her figure wasn't slim, infact it seemed a bit too large for her size. She'd come to Earth Force directly out of prison by way of a deal with her parole officer. She hadn't been too popular at first. Letitia had once betrayed Teen Force to a supervillain for money and after that had struck out on her own as a supervillain. She'd been a drug addict at the time and was clean now. Most members of Earth Force didn't trust her fully yet. Prudence wasn't sure either. The girl had an eager-to-please attitude that tended to grate on Prudence.

"All set Goj." Gadget Gal said. She pointed to a tripod with a strange round device set on it. "I modified Mr. Not-there's invisibility generator to form an image around TT there. We can make her look and sound like anyone we want."

"Very well. What can you tell me about the robot?"

"An ICE top of the line battle bot." Gadget Gal said picking up a charred lump of metal. "With the usual fried-in-case-it-fails memory unit. I'd love to get one of these things intact. This one was designed for you though. They even burned a chip with a complete series of battle plans against you."

"I find it hard to believe that Miss Shadow made a deal with ICE." Goddess of Justice said.

"I don't." Prudence said.

"They're good at getting their hooks into people." Gadget Gal said frowning. "Trust me on that." She picked up another piece of metal. This one was charred and pitted but one side of it was so smooth it was shiny. "I'm thinking that the eagle model used a beam of ultra-focused heat, maybe 60 terra watts squeezed into a diameter of 20 millimeters. It must have overloaded its engine to do it and that’s why it blew up." Gadget Gal looked at Thunderbird 2. "I would love to tear into that baby."

"Let's just try getting in first." Goddess of Justice said. "The people of Dollopolis are extremely protective about their technology."

"Ok." Gadget Gal said. "What do we do?"

"Titania stand next to the tent." Goddess of Justice said. "When I walk past it will hide Simone for a moment and Yoran will close the tent flap, Gadget Gal will project an image around you then."

"If this works I should be able to walk right in." Prudence said.

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Gadget Gal asked.

"Yoran will open the tent flap and reveal Simone." Goddess said. "I don't believe the computer will fire as long as she is in sight."

"Well let's hope it's a dumb computer." Gadget Gal said.

"Do they really think that our computer systems would be that easily fooled?" Delilah asked her sister.

"What they think is that a computer is behind the ships." Deborah said. "They have no idea that actual human minds are controlling them. This is the second time that they've been desperate to contact Dollopolis because someone was injured. You have to admit their hearts are in the right place."

Delilah leaned back in the hot tub and watched the holographic display floating above the surface. Beside her Deborah dunked herself and came up shaking her head. The drops of water fizzed up the display slightly. On their rowboat in the water Lizzie and Jessie gripped the sides as it bobbed up and down. They were both scared for Simone, Merry and by the fact that the Giants had taken them out of Dollopolis. That was never good. Now they could do nothing but try not to stare at Deborah or Delilah’s gigantic nude bodies.

"Well we can't let them contact Dollopolis." Delilah said.

Lizzie raised her hand and Deborah nodded at her.

"Mistress if we get Simone back you can cure her can’t you?"

"Of course we can." Deborah said. "But we must play the game according to the rules that Simone and Merry have laid out."

Jessie raised her hand and Deborah nodded.

"I don’t understand mistress."

"Of course you don’t." Delilah said. She plucked Jessie out of the boat and stroked her tiny body. Jessie didn’t move or speak as Delilah rubbed her bottom thoughtfully. "Girls the one rule of Dollopolis that has been proven time and again to Goddess of Justice is that nothing is easy."

Deborah reached over and picked up Lizzie, stroking her as her sister was doing to Jessie.

"Tremont and Molly will have the new ships finished in by tomorrow." Deborah said. "Then we can proceed. Simone is holding her own against the toxin. She is still a target, we need to let that part of it play out. If our projections are correct ICE will make another grab for her. That abduction will be foiled by Goddess of Justice."

"She needs a victory over ICE." Delilah said.

"Mistress what would ICE do to Simone?" Jessie asked. Her arms were pinned to her side so she knew that raising her hand wasn’t necessary.

"Probe her mind for information about Dollopolis and Merry." Delilah said. "We’ve given her mind shields in case that happens."

"Let's take advantage of this to pull TB2 out before another ICE robot shows up." Deborah suggested. "I can't wait to look at the specs for Iron Mistress's armor."

"This is the best opportunity we'll have." Delilah agreed.

There was a slight spectrum shift as the hologram surrounded her. It gave the clearing and the small ship a slight blue tinge. Prudence stepped out in front of the tent and stood for a moment and then walked toward Thunderbird 2. She had shrunk herself down to two feet tall.

Thunderbird 2. Prudence had started watching Thunderbirds after Ms. Dream had told her about the ships. On the television show the craft looked good. Or at least good for the time that it was made. Green and snub nosed with reversed wings Thunderbird 2 was a giant barrel, a cargo ship. Giant to a woman only a foot tall anyway. She walked over to the ship and stopped.

"I am Duchess Simone of Dollopolis." Prudence said. "By royal command, land."

"LIAR!"

Prudence whirled around as Simone's voice filled the clearing. Her face distorted with rage Simone stood at the entrance to the tent straining in Yoran's grip.

"Now how did she managed to do this?" Delilah said.

"We've underestimated her." Deborah said watching the display on Simone's condition. "And that alien toxin is having a distortion effect on her brain."

"She won't stay conscious for very long." Delilah said.

"Best to make our move now." Deborah agreed. She reached over and took Lizzie out of her sisters hand. "Come on girls, you’ll need to be re-tuned a bit before you go out tomorrow."

In her hands Lizzie and Jessie shuddered.

Prudence was still stunned by Simone's appearance when Thunderbird 2 opened fire. Once minute the ship was hovering and the next red and blue beams of energy shot out of the wings and hit her. Prudence screamed and went down as the beams burned at her. A second later they were blocked by her mothers force field and Prudence laid on the ground and watched as Thunderbird 2 fired off more shots causing everyone to dive for cover. Then the ship turned and shot away into the sky.

"Titania!" Goddess of Justice said kneeling next to her.

"Ok." Prudence gasped out. The beams had hit her in the stomach and her legs. It stung but her mother's force field had saved her. "I'm ok."

"Liar!" Simone said again staggering toward them. She collapsed and fell to the ground before she could say another word.

Ok, we're loose, Ms. Dream thought. Now what? She used a pole to pull Melissa and Verity’s cage over to her and unhooked it from the chain. With the bug off of her forehead Ms. Dream could feel her powers come back to life, but they were sluggish. She could feel the emotions around her but not very well.

"My spells..." Miss Shadow said putting a hand up to her head. "They hide from me."

"The potion that Theodora gave you robs you of them." Melissa said as she stepped out of the box. Or limped out of the box. Ms. Dream knew people who had gone through heavy duty torture and Melissa was now added to that list. Her left foot was gone, as was her left wing. Her right wing was intact and full of geometric paterns that were nearly all white. Her hair was brown going to white and flowed down between her wings. Mellissa’s face was sharp. The features were so sharp that Ms. Dream suspected they could have been used to draw straight lines. She had green eyes. She was nude and her small breasts held smaller scars.

Verity stepped out from behind her, one hand in the older fairy's. She was in better shape, thin but with few scars. Her wings held a blue/green set of interlocking Celtic bands that lined the edges and green and gold circles for the center. The wings were held together by a safety pin through them. Both of her eyes were open but glazed over. She was completely blind.

"My powers are sort of there." Ms. Dream said. She reached over and took hold of the safety pin. Verity gasped in pain and held on tightly to Melissa's hand. She sank to her knees as Ms. Dream pulled the pin out.

"What are your plans now?" Melissa asked once the safety pin was removed.

"Didn't think much beyond getting out of the torture wrack." Ms. Dream said. "Give me a quick layout of the castle, where are we?"

"We are in the dungeon." Melissa said.

"Yea, I got that part." Ms. Dream interrupted her. Her interruption earned her a look that Ms. Dream didn't mind at all. She knew royalty and there was a part of Ms. Dream that just couldn’t help teasing the nobility.

"Beyond the door there are two ways into this place." Melissa continued. "Spiral stairs that lead up into the castle itself. In one of those stairs is a passage that leads to the Cavern of Monsters which is above us. Above that is the castle itself. There are twelve interconnected towers that form a ring around the central tower where Darksun's home lies. Around those towers is an outer wall. The castle sits upon a hill. To the East lies the Lake of Monsters. North and south lay the Dark woods. The only way out of the castle is over the drawbridge to the west, that bridge is goes over the Pit of Monsters."

"I'm sensing a definite monster theme here." Ms. Dream said.

"Darksun bred them." Melissa said. "He was obsessed with creating new forms of life. Those that survived yet were flawed in some way he tossed into the cavern. It was his sport to watch them battle each other or consume his enemies."

"Yea, everyone need a hobby." Ms. Dream looked at Miss Shadow. "Can't get any spells to work at all?"

"None." Miss Shadow said.

"Ah. Great. We're screwed."

"We've got to get out of here!" Verity shouted.

"Yea, we're working on it Verity." Ms. Dream said. "What sort of guards are on the stairs?"

"Creatures of metal that Darksun found on other worlds." Melissa said. "Tall, black and never sleeping."

"How did Darksun get creatures into the cavern?" Ms. Dream asked.

"He threw them into the pit under the drawbridge I suppose." Melissa said. She thought for a moment. "But some of them later turned up in the lake."

"There's a way to the lake through the caverns then." Ms. Dream said.

"Our choice is either monsters or robots." Miss Shadow said.

"We'll check the guards and then if we can't get out that way we go for the monsters." Ms. Dream said. "If it's got an organic brain my powers can work on it."

If I'm strong enough, she added silently.

Merry woke up with an aching body. An aching body that was in chains.

This is getting old, she thought.

She was in a moving vehicle again. No shock absorbers again. Nude again.

Merry waited until the vehicle stopped before she opened her eyes. She was in a covered wagon of sorts. Lying down on a bed. Sitting on a bench next to her was Serenity. She was wearing a pair of leather pants and a sleeveless chain mail shirt. Her hair was tied back away from her head. Serenity was dozing. The wagon was well stocked with weapons, hanging from the curved wooden supports that held up the khaki canvas. Swords, guns, and a few things that looked like laser guns. The place was long and rectangular, with two chairs further back and under the bench where Serenity dozed were trunks.

Merry looked down at herself. Her ankles were chained together and to the bed and her wrists were chained to the bed. She was nude with no blanket or any other type of covering. There was something on her forehead and a buzzing in her skull. She was about two feet tall.

"Hello." Serenity said opening her eyes.

"How long have I been out?" Merry demanded.

"Three days." Serenity said. "They are amazed you're still alive, that poison is lethal in an hour in single dose if you don't get an antidote. You took five darts and kept on going for the night before they gave you the cure." She reached over and ran he fingers along Merry’s chest. "Your skin is healed at least. How do you feel?"

"What's with the chains?" Merry asked.

"You were thrashing about with a fever and nearly killed me." Serenity said. "Who's Hank by the way?"

"Someone in my past." Merry said and the anger that the name brought back to her must have shown on her face. "MY past Lady Highfield."

"I'm not prying." Serenity said holding up her hands. "Ms. Dream was right, you have been worked over by experts haven't you?"

"You going to get me out of these chains?" Merry asked ignoring her question.

"Before I let you go we need to talk."

"Usually when people chain me up and tell me that they bring out the whip." Merry growled. "Or are you going to try the gentle way and stick your tongue between my legs?"

"You truly are paranoid." Serenity said.

"I'm two feet tall chained up and naked." Merry snapped. "Give me a reason not to be paranoid."

"Before I release you I want your word on a few things." Serenity said. "I want you to leave Tranquility alone, she's suffered enough. I want you to forgo any action against Miss Shadow until we reach home, and that goes for Verity and Truly as well. I've seen you in action Merry and I've seen your temper, I don't trust you when both are combined."

"And I'm supposed to trust the person who chained me up while I was asleep?" Merry growled tugging at her chains.

Serenity held up a cooking pan with a fist-sized dent in it.

"You were delirious and thrashing about as if you were on fire. Those chains were the only way Esmerelda and I could nurse you."

"Where's she?"

"Driving the wagon."

"Where are we headed?"

"Dreft's clan home, he's part of the United Clans."

"What?"

"He lied." Serenity said simply.

"So I'm in chains and your taking me to the group that’s put a dead or alive price on my head." Merry said. "And you think I'm paranoid?"

"I've talked to Dreft at length." Serenity said. "And we have come up with a plan, if the UC accepts it they won't kill you."

"If?"

"At any rate we have his word that we can leave if the plan is not accepted."

"His word." Merry repeated.

"I believe it to be as good as mine." Serenity said and then added pointedly "Or yours."

Merry closed her eyes and concentrated. There was resistance but she could shrink if she wanted too.

"The device on your forehead keeps you from shrinking." Serenity said. "I had no choice with that, you were five inches one minute and ten feet the next."

"You know what Miss Shadow did to me." Merry said gripping the chains. "To us. She was going to let Hellspite rape and kill me. I let her into my mind! You know what it took to do that. She set me up! Do you know what I did to telepaths on my world just for existing? Do you have any idea what I want to do to her?"

"I have an idea yes." Serenity said calmly. "And I won't deny that we both have a great deal to settle with Miss Shadow. But I will not have myself or my daughters stranded on this world because of you. Either of them. Or anyone else. I came to take them home and that is what I will do. I would rather do it with your help, but I will do it alone if I have to. Try to understand Merry that vengeance doesn’t mean as much to me as it does to you. I’d gladly beg Miss Shadow herself if I could get my daughters home again."

Goddess what a woman, Merry thought. Serenity had to know what Truly had done; what she had planned to do to both of them, but she wasn't giving up. But Merry also knew that she couldn't make it any easier for Serenity. Not without the risk of loosing Dollopolis and Simone.

"The nobility." Merry said coldly. "Always bargaining with their hands at your throat. You think I haven't been in chains before? That I haven't escaped? I already told Esmerelda that I wouldn't strand us here."

"That was before you knew about Hellspite." Serenity said. "After we get home Merry you can do what you wish, but until then you will not harm her."

"Your plan needs me." Merry said. "It must. What if I just say no."

"Do you want me to beg? Again? All I am asking is that you put aside your vengeance for a time."

She was scared but hiding it well. The only real betrayal of Serenity's anxiety was the way her hands gripped her legs. She kept them on her knees, but it was a white-knuckled grip. What ever her plan was she needed Merry’s help.

"I'll give you this much." Merry said. "I'll give you my word that I will not risk our getting home in any way, and that I'll do everything I can to get you and your daughters, as well as Esmerelda home."

"All of us." Serenity insisted. "Including Tranquility, Vickie and Ms. Dream and Miss Shadow."

Merry growled and launched herself up, straining at the chains. For about a minute she made a great show of tearing at them and growling. Serenity didn't waver. Merry let herself fall back down.

"Two conditions then." Merry said. "If Miss Shadow pulls another double cross the deal is off and she's mine. If your daughter has a knife to my throat or if she’s going to kill someone I care about I’ll take her out."

"That is as much as I would expect." Serenity said.

"Un-lock the chains and get someone in here." Merry said. "I'll swear the oath."

Ms. Dream extended her mind into the corridor and felt nothing. As softly as possible she telekinetically un-locked the door. Beyond it was a dark spiral stairwell that led upward. With a gesture she motioned them on. Miss Shadow was carrying Melissa in one hand and Verity in the other. They moved slowly up the torch lit stairs. When they had gone around the spiral three times they came to a small landing. An iron door was set into the wall.

"Wait here." Ms. Dream whispered.

She kept going upward until she could see the door that led to the rest of the castle. On either side of it were two skeletal warriors made of dark metal. They reminded Ms. Dream of the Terminator robots that she had seen in the movies. They were pure robots, her mind powers wouldn’t work on them and her telekinetics may have taken out one but not two. Slowly Ms. Dream backed up and went back to the door.

"Monsters it is." She said.

"Somehow I knew it would be monsters." Miss Shadow said.

"Hey, we're pretty much naked here, why not go exploring in some dark, dank tunnel that smells of death." Ms. Dream said. "We were all getting bored being tortured anyway."

"Are you addled woman?" Melissa asked.

"Yep." Ms. Dream said. "Been that way for years. Follow me."

The door opened into a short tunnel that led to a larger tunnel. The larger tunnel was so big that it ate the light from the torch that Ms. Dream was holding.

"How big are these monsters anyway?" Ms. Dream asked.

"Some are no larger than a man, others are taller than trees." Melissa said.

"Terrific." Ms. Dream said. "Ok, stay close everyone. Let’s go sightseeing."

For the next half of an hour they walked slowly downward. Ms. Dream kept to the right side the tunnel and kept her mind open. Her powers were still fuzzy but it was all she had. They all kept silent. At last the tunnel opened up into a vast cavern filled with semi-luminous moss. Ms. Dream hid the torch behind a rock and let her eyes adjust to the light.

The place was filled with pain. More pain than she had ever felt before. It ate at her and Ms. Dream was grateful that her powers were halved. She could feel minds. Some of them were feeble and some barely there at all. Ms. Dream had felt more mental activity from a ant hill. But all of the minds were in pain.

The cavern was filled with large and small beasts. Some were dinosaur like, many were amalgams of birds and fairies, fish and man and some were too distorted even to recognize.

"I knew he was a monster." Melissa said. "But I never dreamed…"

"There is no hell worthy of him." Miss Shadow said.

Ms. Dream pulled herself together. The creatures were all collared and chained to the walls. She could see a path that led between them.

"Ok, stay together, stay quiet." Ms. Dream said and started forward.

The creatures paid no attention to them as they walked. Ms. Dream was grateful for that. None of them were in shape for a battle and some of the creatures looked dangerous. The light grew better as they made their way further into the cavern. As they came around a couple of boulders Ms. Dream came to a halt so abruptly that Miss Shadow bumped into her.

"What?"

"Look." Ms. Dream said.

Ahead of them was a farm. It covered the floor of the carvern. There were twenty squares of neat gray mushrooms growing on the roots of a giant tree. The tree was bone white with gray leaves. Tiny white robots tended to the mushrooms. Ms. Dream watched as one robot cut a mushroom down, loaded it into a cart and another robot took it away. The robot took the cart right past them and Ms. Dream saw a small, steam driven robot that looked clunky. The body of the thing was square and so were the limbs. There was a painted face on it. A simple face with a straight line for a mouth and dots for the nose and the eyes. The steam from the robots filled the cavern.

"Come on." Ms. Dream said.

They followed the robot as it went past two more trees and went down another tunnel. The further in they went the hotter and more humid became. At the end of that tunnel Ms. Dream stopped abruptly but this time Miss Shadow was ready. They stood at the entrance to a large drug factory. The small robots dumped their carts of mushrooms onto a conveyor belt. The belt ran along and more robots chopped the mushrooms up, put the cutting in trays and the trays were then sent under a heat lamp. A robot picked up a tray of dried mushrooms and took it to a grinding wheel. Powder came out of the wheel and was swept up by other robots and put into bottles. A white liquid was poured into the bottles from a tube that led into a vat. Then the bottles were put onto another conveyor belt and vanished into a small hole in the wall.

"The drug." Melissa whispered. "They are made here! No wonder we could not find them."

"Steam punk again." Ms. Dream said. "How the hell does he know steam punk?"

"We must destroy this place." Melissa said in a voice full of desperation and hate.

"Mum!" Verity shouted. "I hear my mother!"

"What?" Ms. Dream asked.

"That way." Verity said pointing to her left. "I know I heard my mothers voice!"

Ms. Dream looked where she pointed and saw a small door had been cut into the rocks. Above the door was a small sign that read ‘Office’.

"Let’s take a look." Ms. Dream said.

It was an office. It was an office and a bedroom and it was a scene from some bizarre fantasy story. The room held a bed, a desk and a large control panel set into the wall. Serenity Highfield stood next to the control panel and adjusted various buttons and dials.

But it wasn’t Serenity. Ms. Dream could tell that even without her powers. For starters this Serenity didn’t have legs. The bottom half of her body was a long snake and coiled beneath her. Her breasts were at least twice as large as the real Serenity’s and she wore a bra to contain them. She also wore thick glasses. She was talking to herself as she worked at the console, noting various numbers on a small clip board.

"Mum!" Verity called.

"Hum?" Serenity asked turning around.

"That’s not your mother." Ms. Dream said. She was thankful that Verity could see what was in front of her. "It’s a clone, something your father made up to grow the mushrooms."

"Actually I am a mistake." Serenity said. "Arch Duke Darksun was hoping to create a race of mermaid warriors for the lakes, to battle against the fair-maids, but I didn’t turn out right.

She slithered over to them and Ms. Dream reached out with her powers. There was no anger in the creature, but there was no sense of friendliness either. Ms. Dream could sense a certain melancholy and… lust?

"Who are you?" She asked.

"People trying to get out." Ms. Dream said.

"More than that." Serenity said taking off her glasses. "Much more. You will tell me."

Her eyes glowed with power but Ms. Dream had guessed what was coming and looked away. She started to move but something tight wrapped around her ankles. Ms. Dream looked down and saw that vines were growing around her legs.

"I am Miss Shadow." Miss Shadow said dully.

"Shut up!" Ms Dream said. She reached over and slapped Miss Shadow’s face.

"Do not resist me." Serenity said grabbing Ms. Dream’s wrist and holding them tightly. She looked directly into Ms. Dream’s eyes and it was impossible to look away from the white glow.

But Ms. Dream had been hypnotized by experts. She stared into the eyes and pushed with all of her mental might. The pain from Serenity’s grip on her injured wrist helped Ms. Dream focus her mind.

"Tell me about yourself." Ms. Dream ordered.

"I am the last of a failed batch." Serenity said. She was offering little resistance to the mental assault and that puzzled Ms. Dream. "The last of twenty three of a new race that Arch Duke Darksun created from one of Serenity Highfield’s eggs and the sperm of a male fairmaid. He hoped to create a race of water warrior slaves, but the process failed. None of us could survive in the water. Enraged he slew all of my sisters, but in me he saw a use. He put me down her and bid me watch over the robots and supply them with breast milk."

"Breast milk? Why do robots need breast milk?"

"They do not, but the potion requires it. He discovered its properties by accident after he killed my sisters and..."

She faltered and Ms. Dream realized that she hadn’t really dominated the creature at all. A tickling between her legs made her look down and Ms. Dream saw that the vines had grown up her legs and one of them was pressing into her pussy. Serenity smiled and let go of her wrist.

"My turn." Serenity said grabbing Ms. Dream’s breasts and squeezing.

"Oh… Hell…" Ms. Dream said.

This time it was different as she marshaled her own mental powers to fight off the attack. Ms. Dream swallowed hard as the edges of the vines that held her legs began to tickle her pussy. Lightly at first, then more forcefully. At the same time Serenity's eyes held her motionless. With her arms hanging numbly at her sides there was nothing Ms. Dream could do to stop Serenity from kneading and caressing her breasts. She tried biting her lip but the pain drowned in an ocean of lust. Ms. Dream's breasts grew heavy and the nipples stiffened. The moisture of her arousal dripped between her legs onto the leaves that were now inside of her. They moved further in and the vines followed them. The vines had short hairs that bent only one way. As they went into her vagina the hairs were smooth and soft, but when they pulled back they were stiff and hard. Serenity started moving them in and out slowly even as she pinched and teased Ms. Dream's nipples. Ms. Dream felt her control and her mind slipping away from her. She gasped and lost even more of it as a vine snaked into her anus and started to probe there.

Serenity broke eye contact and kissed her and Ms. Dream was too far gone to do anything but return the kiss. Forgotten now was her companions, the need to leave the dungeon, the fear of the place. The only thing that mattered to Ms. Dream was her body. The vines coiled about her legs and around her stomach, then around her breasts and finally her neck. Serenity looked into her eyes again and Ms. Dream's shattered mental defenses crumbled to ephemeral dust and blew away.

"Give her to me and take Miss Shadow next." Truly said.

Ms. Dream was too far gone to move her head to see Truly. She had to wait until Truly walked into her field of vision.

"Come with me." Truly ordered.

Ms. Dream followed her over to the bed and Truly pushed her down. Then she slipped the robe she was wearing off of her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Beneath it she was nude. Truly had a lean, scar filled body. She was wearing a strap on penis and she smiled as she got onto the bed with Ms. Dream.

"Roll over." Truly said rolling Ms. Dream onto her stomach.

Ms. Dream obeyed.

Merry wondered if it were the rainy season or if the climate on Fauerun was just soggy most of the time. She stepped out of the wagon and looked around. They had stopped by a river for the morning while a few of Dreft’s men scouted ahead. Dawn was just breaking. Serenity had told Merry that Dreft was a battle leader and the fairies with him were his generals. Captured by Darksun in their last defeat Dreft and his men had been given to the Queen as hostages. She and Esmerelda had filled Merry in on what Darksun had done to Fauerun. It explained just about everything that Merry had seen. She could imagine someone like Darksun laughing as he slowly destroyed an ancient culture.

Merry had sworn her oath with Esmerelda as a witness. She didn’t like the restrictions and she didn’t like the way they had been forced on her. But she did admire the way Serenity had planned things out. After all this time Merry was at last beginning to see the woman who was England’s premier superheroine. She was very much like Lucy; calm, determined and utterly (frustratingly to that part of Merry that was the First Knight) principled.

Her plan was simple. The UC would offer to exchange Merry for someone named Melissa, one of their queens. They would propose a neutral sight and meet there for the exchange. Naturally Truly would double cross them.

Merry grimaced at the pain in Serenity’s voice as she had said that part. That her daughter was an arch-villainess was something that tore at Serenity. It added to Merry’s admiration of the woman that Serenity was holding her emotions at bay.

While Truly and most of her forces went to the neutral sight they would break into Darksun’s castle and free the captives. After that Miss Shadow could open a portal and send Merry back to Earth. Without Merry as a bargaining chip Hellspite would pull his demons back to his world and without his demons Truly would fall. Later Serenity would follow with Verity and Truly. Esmerelda was going to stay and help her.

Merry didn’t see any real problems with the plan. Melissa would know about it in advance and they knew in the castle where she was being held. And best of all Merry wasn’t the center of it for a change. They would make a magical duplicate of her to take to the exchange. After that she would be free to wait at the UC headquarters for the rescue to be completed.

Not that Merry was going to give up the chance to go on the rescue. She’d go nuts just sitting at some room at the UC headquarters. Besides it was possible that Truly would pull her own double cross and attack the headquarters. She’d go with Serenity to the castle. That had taken some talking since her crafted part of the First Knight had convinced Serenity that Merry planned something against Miss Shadow. But in the end she had agreed. Merry's powers worked and there was no one better at sneaking around.

Merry stretched and drank in the heavy mist. Serenity had given her a chain mail shirt and leather pants. The pants were comfortable but the shirt was heavy. It was tight mail though so for once her body was not on display. She put her arms down and the chain mail pinched her nipples. Merry winced and was going back inside to grab a length of cloth to fashion into some sort of bra when she heard a moan. She jumped down off of the wagon and looked at one of the wheels. Bitch-35 hung off of the spokes. She was naked, her wrists and ankles spread to each spoke and tied with wire. Nails driven into her wings held them against the spokes. She’d been beaten and from the looks of the mud splattered over her body the drowf had been fastened to the wheel all through the trip.

"Mystery Woman?" Tranqulity asked in a timid voice.

"Why is she like that?" Merry asked turning around. Her voice was hard and her anger showed on her face. Tranquility stumbled backward.

"Dreft and his men did it." Tranquility said.

"Why?"

"They... They said she didn’t deserve a real death." Tranquility said. "They said..."

"Get me a pair of pliers." Merry growled.

"But..."

"Now." Merry snarled.

Tranquility stumbled back and Merry saw her trot over to Vicki.

"Mercy?" Bitch-35 asked weakly. "From you?"

"Something like that." Merry said as she stared to un-wrap the wires from Bitch-35’s legs. Merry’s mind raced as she tried to find a way to justify what she was doing. It was an out of character move and that could be fatal. But from what she had heard in the tavern before the brawl Bitch-35 wasn’t evil enough to justify this. Merry had been abused too many times when she was small to put up with anyone abusing another small creature.

"Here." Tranquility said coming up behind her. She handed Merry a pair of pliers.

"What are you doing?"

Merry looked up and saw Dreft standing beside Vicki. He was wearing a black tunic belted at the waist and a small crown was on his head.

"Freeing her." Merry said.

"She is filth!" Dreft spat. "One of Darksun’s toys! She deserves worse than this!"

"Maybe." Merry said. She had freed Bitch-35's legs and looked closely at the two nails. One in each wing. "Maybe not."

"Merry what are you doing?" Serenity asked stepping down from the wagon. "This is their world, Bitch-35 is an outlaw."

"What'd she do to deserve this?" Merry demanded.

"She exist." Dreft said. "And she deals in slaves."

"So does the Mist Clan." Merry said. "So do a lot of people in this world. So did the two elves who caught me. It's legal isn't it?"

"Not for her." Dreft said.

"This'll hurt." Merry said taking hold of the nail on the right side.

She pulled with all of her might before Bitch-35 could say anything or brace herself. The nail came out and Bitch-35 screamed and nearly fainted.

"Stop!" Dreft said.

"Shut up." Merry replied. Before Bitch-35 could recover Merry told hold of the other nail and pulled it out. Bitch-35 screamed and this time she did faint.

"Why are you doing this?" Dreft said. "You live by vengeance, this is our vengeance."

"I live by the Laws of Dollopolis." Merry said slowly untying Bitch-35's wrists. "And the Laws of Vengeance. You want to know what the first Law of Vengeance is? It's simple: You don't get the first shot!"

"What do you mean?" Serenity asked.

"I was in that tavern for a while before everyone showed up Serenity." Merry said. She finished untying Bitch-35's other wrist and cupped the drowf in her hands as she turned around. Merry's desperate mind had come up with something she hoped would work. She focused her attention on Dreft's face. If it worked she'd know it.

"Bitch-35 was one of Darksun's creations all right, one of his experiments. He used her and then threw her away. She ran into real fairies who took one look at her and decided she'd make a great slave." Dreft's eyes narrowed and Merry knew she'd guessed right. The prejudice in the bar had been to formal, too accepted to be anything but normal.

"She is not…" Dreft started.

"Normal." Merry said. "She's a freak. No clan, no race to call her own, perfect slave fodder. So she served a clan for a while, but got free."

"She betrayed her masters of the Deep Rock clan to Darksun." Dreft said.

"And how'd they get to be her masters?" Merry demanded standing up.

"A group of scouts found her wandering around their lands." Dreft said.

"And that was it." Merry said. "The only reason she became a slave was because she couldn’t fight back. So when she got a chance for freedom she took it. She did what I did."

"This is a war and she is in league with Darksun." Dreft said.

"She was running a tavern." Merry said. "A tavern fairies frequented. Fairies who looked right at you and your friends Dreft and didn't do a thing."

"Merry I can understand what you are doing but this is not part of our bargain." Serenity said.

"No it isn't." Merry said. "But it's what I'm doing anyway."

"No!" Dreft said. "I will not permit it."

"Dreft I'm afraid you are in no position to permit anything." Serenity said.

"Your size…"

"Isn't the reason." Merry said. She handed Bitch-35 to Esmerelda and then shrugged off her chain mail and pants. With a thought she had shrunk down to Dreft's height and faced him. "You need us if you plan to take down Truly Darksun. You need us and Serenity needs me. You want us to get into that castle? Who knows it better than Bitch-35?"

"She will have justice." Dreft said.

"Later." Merry said. "When the dust settles and Darksun and the demons are gone. Until then she's a prisoner, not a toy. You got a problem with that then lets have it out now."

Deft took a few deep breaths and Merry waited for him to respond. His nostrils flared. It wasn’t a complete bluff. Serenity needed Merry desperately, but as much as Merry felt for the woman she could still walk away and find her own way home.

"She stays a prisoner." He said. "When Darksun has fallen Bitch-35 will finally know justice."

Merry nodded and then turned. Suddenly she realized that everyone was looking at them. There was an expression of love on Esmerelda's face. Serenity was worried but there was respect in her eyes. Vicki was puzzled and next to her Tranquility was confused.

"Esmerelda take us inside will you?" Merry asked.

Silently Esmerelda picked her up and carried them into the wagon.

Lizzie couldn't remember the last time she had been this scared. Deep down she knew there had to have been a time when she was more scared. But this was a different type of fear. She'd been afraid of loosing her sister, afraid of loosing her live but this was the first time that everything-absolutely everything-depended on how well her and her sister did. Simone was sick, Merry wasn't even on the planet anymore, there was just Lizzie and Jessie and Lizzie knew that their track record wasn't great. And they were flying toward the sight of their last solo mission, and that hadn’t ended well.

She was in an X-wing fighter. Flying in formation with her was Jessie, also in an X-wing fighter. Between them flew two massive ships. The one to Lizzie's left was a huge wedge-shaped Imperial Star Destroyer, the D.S.S. Dagger. Next to that was a Destroyer class starship from Star Trek named D.S.S. Deathflame. Sort of. The ship had the traditional saucer, engineering and nacelle design of from the classic show, but there were three nacelles, one extending from the top rear of the saucer section. The design had never actually been used on the show. That was as much as Lizzie knew. Merry could have talked for hours about the ships and she had convinced Simone that there would have to be a christening ceremony. Lizzie wasn’t sure what that was, it sounded like a party. But the ships weren’t even supposed to be ready for another month or so, so the Giant’s had finished them early without a ceremony. Lizzie hoped that wouldn't cause bad luck like Merry said.

The ships were each fifteen feet long. Unlike the other ships that The Giant's had made these ships bristled with weapons and had very little room for any pilots. The ships also didn't look… well sharp Lizzie thought. They don't look sharp like the others. Part of the hull plating on the saucer section of Deathflame wasn't there, and a lot of the… what did Tremont call it… 'Surface excitement'? wasn't on the Dagger. The ships looked half done, even though Lizzie knew they weren't.

{Stealth shield off.}

{Weapons charged.}

"There it is." Lizzie said as the clearing came into view. She could see the bulky Earth Force transport, a few tents and further away some trailers. As they got closer people came out of the transport.

{Acting time girls.}

{Remember how we rehearsed it.}

{We are following a precise plan.}

{Remember that.}

Lizzie swallowed as she maneuvered her ship so that it was twenty feet away from the transport. Somehow she knew that the last Giant to speak was Delilah. Jessie moved into position behind her. Dagger and Deathflame moved to either side of them.

"This is not good." Prudence said looking up at the ships. She had seen Merry use small fighters before, and of course Thunderbird 2. But the two ships that followed the small X-wing fighters were different. Larger and meaner looking.

"No it isn't." Goddess of Justice said. "Those are not normal Dollopolis ships."

"D.S.S. Dagger and D.S.S. Deathflame." Prudence said. "Don't sound friendly."

"They don't look finished yet either." Gadget Gal said.

"WE ARE THE KNIGHTLINGS OF DOLLOPOLIS. WHERE IS DUCHESS SIMONE AND MERRY?"

The voice was familiar, but the volume level rumbled the glass in the transport.

"LIZZIE YOU'VE GOT THE SOUND UP TOO LOUD!"

"NO I DON’T!"

"LOOK AT THEM! WE'LL KILL THEM WITH THE SOUND! CUT IT OUT!"

"OK. SORRY."

A blue white beam of energy shot from the saucer section of the Star Trek-like ship and sliced a five foot deep trench ten feet away from the transport.

"Goddess!" Prudence yelled as her mother surrounded them with a force field.

"NOT THAT BUTTON YOU IDIOT! P.A. IS THE PANEL ON THE LEFT."

"SORRY. LIKE I REALLY HAD TIME…"

The voice cut off and Goddess of Justice let her force field fade.

"They don't know how to fly them?" Gadget Gal asked.

"That's Lizzie and Jessie." Goddess said. "Two waifs that Simone has taken in. They are in the smaller ships, they must be controlling the larger ones."

"Street kids." Prudence said. "And they've got tanks and they're scared."

"Where is Duchess Simone and Merry?" The voice came again but this time at a lower volume.

"Simone is inside our transport." Goddess of Justice called out. "She was injured when there was an attack on other side of the portal."

"Where's Merry?" Lizzie demanded.

"She's stuck on the other side." Goddess of Justice said. "Along with Miss Shadow, Esmerelda, Ms. Dream and Lady Highfield."

"Bring out Simone!" Lizzie shouted.

"She's unconscious." Goddess said. "You can come down and see her if you'd like."

"Yeah right!" Lizzie's voice was full of suspicion. "Like we'd ever get out again. We're not falling for your act again Mrs. Rothschild."

"Ms. Dream’s right, everyone in that city is paranoid." Gadget Gal said.

"Unfortunately they have a some reason for it." Goddess of Justice said.

"I've got an idea." Prudence said stepping forward.

"Lizzie!" She called. "How about this, you land, I'll get into your ship, and I’ll stay there while you go in."

"Wait a minute." Lizzie called. There was a pause and they heard a clicking sound.

"What do you think?" Lizzie asked.

"We can't trust her mother." Jessie said.

"You could cover her though." Lizzie said.

"Yea but… Damn it Lizzie you didn't cut in the private channel!"

"What? Damn! I got it hold on…"

This time both of the larger ships opened up and Goddess covered the entire transport with a shield. The barrage ceased after a few shots.

"Hate to think what they'd do if they were mad at us." Gadget Gal said.

"They're scared children who have guns." Yoran said stepping out of the transport. "Nothing is more dangerous."

{I think we've impressed them with our firepower.}

{Well played girls.}

{I wondered if Prudence would suggest giving herself as a hostage before we could have the girls suggest it.}

{She is her mother’s daughter.}

They were silent for a minute and Lizzie looked at the monitor. Goddess of Justice, Gadget Gal, Prudence and Yoran were standing at the entrance to the transport staring at them. Lizzie had never really known much about superheroes. They were as far away from her life as politicians. Vaguely she knew that they were there to help, but she’d never seen that help. Merry was sure that they could trust this group now, but she was also adamant about playing their parts. Lizzie wasn't sure why. Not really. She knew it was best to keep Dollopolis a secret, but sometimes the way they did it was a hundred times harder than she thought it should be. Why couldn't they just grab Simone and go home?

{The scans show negative.}

{No one else in the area.}

{Not yet.}

{Lizzie, accept their proposal.}

Lizzie moved the ship toward the ground and landed. Prudence walked over to the ship, shrinking as she did so. Lizzie envied her. She and Jessie were stuck at twelve inches, probably for the rest of their lives. Merry and Simone could grow and shrink. Sometimes Lizzie forgot what it was like to be normal sized. She also envied the fact that Prudence’s costume shrank with her. It had only been a few weeks ago that Merry and Simone got clothing that changed size with them.

Lizzie opened the hatch and climbed out onto the wing.

"I'm Prudence."

"I'm Lizzie." Lizzie said climbing down. She reached over and poked Prudence in the shoulder.

"Hey!"

"I thought you might be a hologram." Lizzie said. "There was this messed up recording from Thunderbird 2’s computer that warned us against them." She took off her helmet and put it on the wing. "Get inside and try not to touch anything, the controls are kinda sensitive."

"I won't." Prudence said.

She got in and Lizzie started to walk toward the transport. The closer she got the more scared she became. They were all so... so big. Goddess of Justice was so tall it was like walking toward a skyscraper. Taller than Simone or Merry ever got. She could have knocked Lizzie over by breathing hard. Beside her was a smaller girl who looked safer.

Man he’s cute, Lizzie thought as she saw the young man standing next to them. He was the Young Ancient and his clear blue eyes and guileless face made Lizzie’s heart pound.

"Lizzie?" Goddess asked.

"I want to see Simone." Lizzie said looking up at the Young Ancient and hoping he would take the hint. It’d been so long since she’d seen any man this close and no good looking man had ever held her when she was shrunk.

"Come then." Yoran said bending down he picked her up. Lizzie shuddered as his fingers closed around her.

{Lizzie he is gay.}

{Let’s not loose track of what you are doing here.}

{This may help us.}

{True. After all I’m sure they don’t expect everyone in Dollopolis to be a lesbian.}

Yoran took her into the transport and back to a rear compartment. The moment she saw Simone everything else vanished from Lizzie’s mind. Simone lay on a bed, a blanket drawn up just over her breasts. There was a horrible black splotch on her neck and her skin had the color of newspaper.

"Simone!" Lizzie shouted. Lizzie started to beat and kick in Yoran’s hand. "Let me go!" She screamed.

Yoran quickly put her onto the bed and Lizzie scrambled up onto Simone’s chest. There was no need to act now. Lizzie had seen other friends look this way. Friends who had overdosed and died. Lizzie knew that the Giant’s said that Simone would live. She knew that they were never wrong. It didn’t matter. Simone was her and Jessie’s world. She pulled away the sheet and rested her head between Simone’s breasts. Lizzie pressed her ear to Simone’s chest and for a horrifying moment didn’t hear anything. Then she heard Simone’s heart. It was slow but it was there. Lizzie let herself listen to it for a few minutes before she took a deep breath and sat up.

"I think she will recover." Yoran said calmly. "Her body is fighting the poison."

"If you take her back to Dollopolis the Temple of Healing could help her couldn’t it?" Goddess asked.

Lizzie shook her head and wiped away her tears.

"The Duchess is the only one who knows the spells for the Temple."

"If Yoran came with you..."

"No." Lizzie said interrupting her. "No man can come to Dollopolis unless The Duchess or Merry brings them, and then only if they’ve been castrated somehow."

"Really?" Yoran asked.

Lizzie nodded.

"Extreme." He said.

"Who did this to her?" Lizzie asked.

"We are not sure." Goddess of Justice said. "Miss Shadow cast the spell and opened the portal. Before Merry could come back to this side of it forces ambushed her. Simone was hit by darts fired by winged faires. The portal closed before we could do anything."

{Nice.}

{Not a complete lie.}

{But definitely not the whole truth.}

{Wise of her considering what she has seen so far.}

"Merry’s gonna find out who did this and they’ll be sorry." Lizzie said. "You don’t hurt the Duchess and get away with it. Nothing makes her madder."

"We are working on re-opening the portal." Goddess of Justice said. "But it will take time."

"Then me and Jessie are going to wait." Lizzie said. "No matter how long it takes."

Esmerelda put them both down on the bed and Bitch-35 moaned. Now that she was the same size and close enough Merry could see more than fresh wounds on her. Bitch-35's legs were scared around the thighs. There was an 'X' shaped scar on her stomach. But it was her face that Merry focused on. There were no scars there, but there was something else.

"Esmerelda could you…" Merry started to turn but Esmerelda was already holding a small cup of water and a tiny cloth near her. "Thanks." Merry said taking the cloth and dipping it into the water.

"I didn't know that they had done that to her." Esmerelda said. "I would have stopped it."

"I know." Merry said. "Don't beat yourself up over it. This world is full of racism and Bitch-35 is on the low end of the food chain."

Carefully Merry washed the drowf's wrist and ankles. The cords had bitten deep but they hadn't broken the skin. The skin had turned white. The wings were another matter. They were dark and felt like velvet beneath Merry's fingers. The edges were smooth and that puzzled Merry since she remembered them as having spikes. Then she pressed against the edge by accident and a small spike appeared. Merry realized that the spikes were like the claws of a cat. The wound's were not deep but they were painful and dirty. Merry worked slowly and cleared the injuries. She was surprised when sparks came from the wounds. Puzzled Merry looked more closely at the wings. Then she looked at one of Bitch-35's wrists.

"Esmerelda can you get me a larger bowl?" Merry asked. "It's time Bitch-35 had a bath."

"If I'm right…" Merry said staring at the face of the dark fairy. It was a very familiar face.

Esmerelda appeared and placed a bowl onto the bed. Merry climbed into it.

"Put her in." Merry said. "Gently and see if we can keep the wings out of the water."

Esmerelda eased the unconscious drowf into the water and Merry caught Bitch-35 before she could slip under. She pulled the edge of the butterfly-style wings over the edge of the bowl and braced them there. Esmerelda kept a hold on the wing tips and supported Bitch-35's body. Merry stood in the bowl and started to wash Bitch-35's face. The blue paint started to come off.

Bitch-35 only moaned as Merry washed her face and her arms. She smiled slightly as Merry washed her breasts and her stomach. Merry could see the scars clearly now. They were also on her thighs and shoulders. As she watched the nail holes in the wings sparked and started to mend. She could see a lot clearly.

"I think we're going to need a few more bowls." Esmerelda said.

"I think you are right." Merry said.

It was a little while and many bowls later that Merry finished washing the false drowf and started to dry her. Bitch-35 lay limply on the bed. Her body was now a natural white and her hair was a bright red. Either she worked out or her body simply looked lean. Merry wondered if constantly flying was like an aerobic workout.

"I don't understand." Esmerelda said.

"I can take a guess." Merry said as Bitch-35 started to wake up. "Go get Lady Highfield will you?"

"You saved me." She said as her eyes focused on Merry. She sat up slowly and then looked at her wings. Then her arms and the rest of her body "No!" She whispered.

"Merry what…" Serenity stopped as she saw Bitch-35.

"Look familiar?" Merry asked.

Cleaned up Bitch-35 wasn't a cross between a dark elf and a fairy. Her hair was a bright red and her wings were a duller shade of red. Her face was slim and her chin slightly pointed. Bitch-35 and Serenity stared at each other.

"You should see her from this size." Merry said. "No way to mistake the family resemblance."

"Impossible." Serenity said.

"No." Bitch-35 said drawing her wings about her. "It was very possible. Not only for me, but for my sisters."

"Sisters?" Serenity said sinking onto the bench.

"Darksun." Bitch-35 said. "He used the eggs he stole from your body, and later Theordora's eggs in his experiments."

"Dear Lord." Serenity whispered. "Those months he had me in chains… I never dreamed…"

"I should have killed him slower." Merry said.

"You killed him." Bitch-35 said coldly. "That was enough."

"Why the disguise?" Serenity asked.

"It's more than a disguise." Merry said. "Her wings, her legs, one arm are artificial. Cybernetic implants."

"What?" Serenity gasped out the question. "Why?"

"I was his tinker toy." Bitch-35 said bitterly. "Born without so many parts. So he added to me what he thought I should have."

"Monster." Serenity whispered.

"In this world this was the best I could do." Bitch-35 said. "Anyone, anything born deformed as I was is put to death. Dark elves are feared here. I learned that from Deep Rock clan."

"Are there… Are there any others?" Serenity asked.

"None that survived." Bitch-35 said. "I did not escape, I was given to the Queen of the Deep Rock clan and he used me as a spy against her. She loved exotic things and the idea of a dark elf/fairy hybrid enthralled her. When they were wiped out he thought me dead. I survived and by the time he learned that I had survived he had lost interest in me. I set up shop in the Tipsy Pixie and survived."

"What will you do now?" Serenity said.

"I'm going with you." Bitch-35 said. "To Earth."

"Really?" Merry asked.

"Yes really." Bitch-35 said folding her arms in front of her chest. "This world disgusts me." She stood up and looked at Serenity. "I've seen what there is on your world mother. What ever life a creature like myself can make it is there, not here."

Mother? Merry saw Serenity's reaction to that word. It was a combination of elation, puzzlement and suspicion. And maybe a little hope.

"I…" Serenity started and then stopped.

"You were going to change her and sell her a few nights ago." Merry said. "Care to tell us why she'd take you with her?"

"She's my mother." Bitch-35 said.

"Sort of." Merry said.

"Dreft will kill me if I don't go." Bitch-35 said. "He will learn what I am and he'll kill me. As a dark elf half breed I was feared, now I'll be laughed at. If you leave me here I'm dead. You might as well nail me back to the wheel."

"I'm…" Serenity stood up and staggered toward the back of the wagon. "I need to think."

"Stay here." Merry said growing to her full size. She grabbed her shirt and pants and went after Serenity.

One way to tell when you've had too much sex, Ms. Dream thought. You don't know who's pussy you're licking.

That was a joke that deep within her lust-swamped mind Ms. Dream clung to. Her sense of humor was almost the only part of her that was still her own. She hid in it. But that could only last for a short time. Her body dragged her mind back from fantasy, back from sleep and back from any self controlled oblivion she could find. So she became aware again as her tongue dove deeper and deeper into Miss Shadow's vagina and her teeth bit roughly against the mystic's clitoris. The sweet taste of the juice, the smell of it, the glorious feel of her tongue against it; all of those feeling broke through her strongest mental defense with ease. At the same time Truly drove into her ass again and again with the strap on penis. The pain of it drove Ms. Dream even further into a lust filled weakness. So long as her body felt this way Ms. Dream's mind was useless. Truly had grabbed Ms. Dream's hair and was using it to push her forward and pull her back.

How long had they been at this? There was no way to tell. Miss Shadow's eyes were glazed over and her breasts sagged on either side of her chest. Vaguely Ms. Dream remembered a drug and then drinking Miss Shadow's milk and Miss Shadow drinking hers.

"BARK YOU BITCH!" Truly screamed as she pulled Ms. Dream away from the semi-comatose Miss Shadow. "Bark like the bitch you are and come!"

"Bark!" Miss Dream called. "Bark. Bark! Barrrrrrrkkkkkkk!"

She climaxed and Ms. Dream fell onto her stomach. She lay there with a body that was too weak even to tremble and a mind that was barely functioning. Truly rolled Ms. Dream onto her stomach and sat on her stomach. Her smile was pure malice.

"Tell me where Mystery Woman and my mother are." She ordered as her eyes bored into Ms. Dream's.

"I don't know." Ms. Dream said numbly.

"You don't." Truly said getting off of her. "Well at least this was fun. I have other agents searching for them anyway." She snapped her fingers and Ms. Dream found herself moving. She stood up. Beside her Miss Shadow stood as well. "Follow me back to the dungeon." Truly said. "You've had it too good up till now. Now we get serious."

Ms. Dream started to shamble forward and beside her Miss Shadow did the same.

"Crawl." Truly snapped. "On your stomachs."

Ms. Dream sought another oblivion as her powerless mind obeyed the command. But the rough stone caused fresh pain her body and she failed.

"You can't trust her you know." Merry said sitting next to Serenity. She had found the heroine sitting by the river staring into the water.

"I know." Serenity said. She drew her knees up to her chest. "Once I thought the worst thing Darksun could do to me was rape me. Now I consider that to be nothing."

"He's still doing it." Merry said. "He's just doing it from the grave. Some of them are like that."

Serenity looked at her.

"What would you do?"

"I'd talk to Simone." Merry said looking at the water. "She'd have something to say that would point me in the right direction. She always has."

Merry looked back and she saw a darker look pass over Simone's face.

"Do you have anyone like that?" Merry asked.

"Lucy." Serenity said.

"Both on the other side." Merry said dipping her toe into the water.

"I'll take her." Serenity said. "She is family after all and if I leave her here she will die. Maybe there is a good person in that tortured body."

"Then let's go talk to her." Merry said standing up. She had expected Serenity to say something like that. "She lived in Darksun's castle, she can give up some information. I can't bluff Dreft forever. We need something to bargain with."

"Merry can I ask you something?" Serenity asked as they walked back toward the wagon.

"Yes and no." Merry replied.

"Lucy has been nearly lost to me many times. I'm not her lover, but I am her friend and those times have forced me to wonder what life would be like without her. With the type of life you lead, with all that has happened to you so far, have you ever thought of a life without Simone?"

Merry stopped short and tried to deal with the thoughts that Serenity had sparked. She worked for the Group, so did Simone. They could bring people back from near death. They had done it to Merry and Simone already. Merry could handle her own death, but life without Simone? Now? After finally realizing that she could love another person? After realizing how important Simone was to her sanity? No, her mind simply couldn't accept it.

"I never have." Merry said shaking her head. "As long as I live Simone lives. Simone lives or everything dies. Why?"

"Just curious." Serenity said

Merry shrugged. She couldn't identify the look that came over Serenity's face and she didn't think about it too much. She was busy framing her questions for Bitch-35.

Man he is so cute, Lizzie thought as Yoran eased Simone's head up and poured a little water into her mouth. She swallowed reflexively and he eased her back onto the bed. The black patches had shrunk but they were still there and her skin was still pale. But the Giant's weren't worried. Of course they were the Giants. But they didn't lie. Lizzie found herself thinking about Ida as she looked at Simone. She'd thought about Ida a lot over the past few months. Jessie had as well and they had asked Merry about her. Simone had read them some stories and Lizzie had learned to picture the goddess in her mind. Merry didn’t say it outright but she had hinted that Ida had helped her somehow when she was near death. Was Ida helping Simone? Could she? Would praying to her do any good? Lizzie had no idea how to pray.

"She's getting better." Yoran said looking at Lizzie. Lizzie was glad that she was too small for him to see her blush. She'd been dreaming lately about what it would be like to have his hands on her tiny body. She had a feeling that they would be soft and strong, gentle and forceful at the same time.

"I know." She said. She had landed the X-wing on the table across from Simone and opened the cockpit. She sat on the wing and swung her legs. Lizzie and Jessie had spent the past two days switching on and off in 8 hour shifts.

"I'm curious about something." Yoran said.

"What?" Lizzie asked.

"When Ms. Dream met you in that shrunken maze she said you referred to yourself as the 3^rd Knight of Dollopolis, but you announced yourselves as 'Knightlings'. Why the demotion?"

{Ah those little inconsistencies of a created rank.}

{It is a good question.}

{We can barely tell him that we are making it up as we go along.}

{Blame it on Merry Lizzie. Say that she demoted you two for some reason. Better yet blame it on Lucy.}

"We got moved back." Lizzie said.

"Why?"

"We talked too much about the laws." Lizzie said.

"Ah-ha." Yoran said. "The Laws of Family. Is that why you won't say more than five words to Goddess of Justice or Prudence?"

"She tricked us." Lizzie said. "Merry's mad at us again."

"Well I don't think that was her intention. And rumor has it that Merry's always mad."

"You don't know anything about her!" Lizzie snapped.

"I'd like to." Yoran favored her with a smile that melted Lizzie's heart. "I'd like to learn more about all of you."

{No.}

The word in her mind was like cold water being dumped on her head.

"I'm not getting into that trouble again." Lizzie said. She climbed into the cockpit and then clicked a switch and the cockpit closed ending the conversation.

"They are the most suspicious group of people I've ever met." Goddess of Justice said. "Any slight seems to be eternal with them."

Prudence sipped her tea. The moon had risen and it competed with the floodlights, making the clearing bright as day. She, her mother and Yoran sat at a small table and ate. Above them insects buzzed against the lights. Gadget Gal could be heard humming to herself as she worked on the dimensional projector. In the air near the trees the three ships hovered silently. Thunderbird 2 had returned yesterday. In the two days that Lizzie and Jessie had been there Lizzie and Jessie had resisted all attempts at conversation with anyone but Yoran. It was easy to see why and Prudence knew that he was used to it. His boyish good looks had long since made him the focus of many teenage girls. His lecture series on unknown history attracted more teenagers than scholars. It was a shock though that a shrunken woman would be after him. It was a part of shrinking that Prudence realized she had never thought of. But now she was thinking about it. But how could it even work? At twelve inches tall a male penis would be too big for any sort of penetration, or any sort of entry at all. How could it work?

"They're scared." Yoran said interrupting her thoughts. Prudence blushed and hoped that they didn’t notice. When she tried to speculate on giant man/tiny woman sex Yoran was the male model she always used. "I can't blame them."

"She is getting better." Goddess of Justice said.

"She is and she isn't." Yoran said. "I don't get much response from her limbs when I probe them, that could mean nerve damage and every so often her heart rate shifts. The lab is no closer to the anti-toxin. I could still loose her."

He didn't like saying it and Prudence felt her own heart sink at the thought.

Goddess of Justice sipped at her own tea and then looked at the cup.

"We'll have to plan for worst case." She said. "If Simone dies and Merry does not come back we have to find Dollopolis. Aside from Lizzie and Jessie there are three other people there. They will need our help."

"What do we do, transplant them to the mansion?" Prudence asked.

"If that is the only way to help them survive yes." Goddess of Justice said.

"I must agree." Yoran said. "Without Merry and Simone I'm not sure that place stands much of a chance."

"How do we convince them of that?" Prudence asked.

They were all silent and Prudence looked at the dull brown surface of her tea. As she gazed at it she tried to think and then let her mind wander. Her mother and Yoran did the same thing. Even Gadget Gal’s humming had stopped. It was a few minutes before Prudence realized that something was wrong.

A loud wail suddenly filled the clearing. An instant later Jessie’s X-wing fighter separated from the cruiser and shot off toward the transport.

Prudence vaguely realized that something was wrong. The X-wing started firing at the other side of the transport and someone there started firing back. Lizzie’s X-wing flew out of the transport and started to fire as well.

Prudence blinked and realized that her mind had been held in some sort of fog. A man in black came running from behind the transport. In his hands were two black guns and they fired white beams at the X-wings.

"Timidious!" Goddess of Justice shouted.

He ignored her and kept dodging as the X-wings increased their fire. A sleek black flying car dove into the clearing and headed toward him but the combined firepower of the Deathflame and Dagger blew it out of the air. The explosion knocked Yoran back into Gadget Gal. Prudence had reacted by shrinking and growing to avoid the blast and her mother was already airborne but wasn’t hurt.

Lizzie and Jessie kept firing at Timidious and he kept dodging, but some of their shots were hitting him. He had a force field but it was starting to blink on and off.

"Jessie, Lizzie stop!" Goddess of Justice shouted.

"Fire!" Simone shouted from the door to the transport. She stood illuminated by the still burning air car and her face was contorted with rage and pain. "Keep firing!"

"Simone no!" Prudence called out.

"Was this your plan Mrs. Rothschild?" Simone screamed at her. "Get me out of Dollopolis, separate me from my First Knight, poison me and then have Timidious read my mind as I slept helpless?"

"No!" Goddess of Justice shouted.

Timidious screamed in pain as his force field failed and he fell to the ground as Jessie and Lizzie concentrated their fire on his legs. Prudence wasn’t sure what to do.

Rolling over to avoid Jessie and Lizzie’s attack Timidious fired wildly in all directions. Prudence took cover by shrinking. She saw one of the shots go through Simone’s leg and the other slice through the wing of one of the fighters. Timidious kept firing, hitting the Dagger but against the larger ship he had no effect.

"Lizzie!" Simone shouted as Lizzie’s ship made a crash landing onto the grass. "Jessie keep shooting!" Simone shouted. "Kill him!"

"No!" Goddess of Justice shouted as Jessie started firing at Timidious. "No killing!"

She surrounded him with a golden dome and started toward Simone who had crawled over to the wreckage of Lizzie’s ship.

"Stay away from me!" Simone shouted as Goddess of Justice came toward her. "All batteries fire full power!"

The clearing came alive with focused beams of force and heat. Prudence ducked as the three ships fired at seemingly everything. Her mother was hit by beams from the Dagger and the Deathflame. She fell to the ground and her shield around Timidious faded. Jessie took advantage of that to fire at him again and again.

"Jessie cover us!" Simone called out. She was staggering toward the Dollopolis ship with Lizzie. Simone had shrunk to twelve inches tall and was half dragging half carrying the limp girl. Jessie took a position above them and kept firing. Prudence saw Timidious start to rise and a red beam of energy from Thunderbird 2 raked across his body. He screamed and went down, his body smoking. Simone and Lizzie had made it to Thunderbird 2 and were climbing up the ramp. Jessie landed her fighter next to the ship and rushed over to them. As the hatch closed the imperial ship moved, taking a position directly above Thunderbird 2. The Star Trek model moved beside it. A cone of hazy brown light enveloped the imperial cruiser and extended to the ground around Thunderbird 2. The circle was roughly ten feet wide.

It was all over. Prudence grew and looked around. The clearing was a war zone. Her mother let her own dome of energy drop and went over to Timidious.

Prudence looked around and saw that Gadget Gal and Yoran were helping each other up.

Talk about worst case scenarios, Prudence thought as she went over to help them.

...To be continued.

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