The Dangers of Daring Officer Dolly

Chapter 36. "Consequences"

by Skytower

The moment that the Earth Force transport exploded Prudence tried to shrink. But she couldn’t. Jessie had glued her arms and legs to the chair. When Prudence tried to shrink the back of her legs hit the chair and her arms were pinched by her suit. Prudence’s suit could shrink with her, but not when it was glued down tight.

Not being able to shrink Prudence watched the short fight. She recognized the combatants. Knife's Edge. International Criminal Enterprise’s frontline supervillain group. Led by the husband and wife team of Knife and Dagger. They wore armored suits that could throw an un-limited number of knives at their opponents. With them was Blue Marble, a woman who had merged herself with a demoness to become a crystal warrior. The last of the group was the young woman in the silver suit who grabbed Simone. She called herself the Teleport-Her and it was rumored that she was the daughter of Knife and Dagger.

I’m screwed, Prudence thought.

The rest of the supervillains gathered into a tight defensive block. A few seconds later Teleport-Her reappeared, taken hold of the other supervillains and vanished.

Prudence wished she could say something. But even if she had not been gagged she wasn’t sure of what she could say. Jessie’s quiet gasp of terror scared Prudence more than any shout ever could. Jessie reached for the battle scythe and brought the curved edge of the blade up to Prudence’s throat. Outside beyond the force field Prudence could see her mother shouting but no sound reached them.

"The Duchess was right." Jessie said.

She put the scythe down and pressed a control on the console. A video screen above them came to life showing Simone.

"Greetings Prudence." Simone’s image said. "If you are watching this it means that my suspicions are correct. I have been taken, perhaps killed and whether it was a trap set by your mother, Captain Pharaoh, ICE or some other group is moot. I trusted you and your mother to protect me and you failed."

Simone paused for a moment and then went on.

"When Merry was struck down by Miss Shadow and the gate closed I knew I had to face the worst of facts; that she was dead. That being the case I had to decide what to do. In Dollopolis your mother declared that she would protect our city as Merry does, because Merry was her daughter. With Merry gone I had to put that to the test. I had to know if Lucy could do the same job that Merry had done, that I could trust her to protect me as Merry had done. Since you are watching this she has failed."

"I’m sure there are a thousand excuses you would like to make at this point, I’m sure that Jessie gagged you as well. The excuses do not matter Prudence. I’m gone and I doubt very much if I will be found quickly. That is if your mother even intends to try. You may be relieved to know that you are not going to die right now. Not that I’m sure Jessie wouldn’t like to kill you, but I saw sincerity in your eyes when we last talked. If this was some scheme of your mothers you were not involved."

"But now we come to the end of it. I saw my world destroyed, my people scattered. I’ve strove to bring it all back in some form and in trusting your mother I’ve failed. So be it. Nothing is eternal and everyone makes mistakes. Without Merry I'm not sure I can go on anyway. I have been tortured before Prudence; I can last a few days. Perhaps even a week. On my world how to torture and how to resist torture were lessons learned young. My mental defenses are far more advanced than Merry’s are. I will die before I break. If that happens then Jessie will know the instant I am dead. That is a little gift I shared with her and Lizzie. Jessie knows what to do then."

Prudence glanced outside and saw that her mother was kneeling in front of the force field. She kept shifting from her true body to the body of Goddess of Justice. As Goddess of Justice Prudence was pretty sure her mother could break through the field, but that sort of power might destroy the ships as well. It was one of the few times Prudence had seen her mother indecisive.

"There is a chance that I can be found." Simone said. "There is a secret way that might work, I have told Jessie about it and she will try. If it works I have told her to decide on her own, or with Lizzie, whom to trust."

The screen went blank and Jessie took a knife and cut through the arm on Prudence's costume.

"You can trust me!" Prudence nearly shouted when her arm was free and she was able to tear the gag out of her mouth.

Jessie gave her a look that spoke volumes about the lack of trust she had. But she cut through the rest of Prudence's costume and then stood back.

"Look… I mean…"

"Get out of here." Jessie said. She pushed a button on the console. "The doors open. When you reach the force field it'll stop for a few seconds."

Prudence stood up but didn't make any move to go. She felt vulnerable being half of Jessie's size and the fact that she only had on a bra and a pair of panties didn't help. But she couldn't leave without at least trying.

"Get out of here." Jessie said again. Her voice was numb with shock.

"What happens if Simone dies?" Prudence asked.

"She told me to wait till Lizzie's better, then we fly back to Dollopolis and blow it up." Jessie said. "After that we're on our own."

"What about Corrella and Roxanna?"

"They're in the temple." Jessie said. "The temple needs Simone to make it work. She dies, they die." Jessie shrugged. "Maybe we all die."

"But… You don't have to." Prudence said. "Look if it comes to that we have room in the mansion… Plenty of room!"

"Pets in a cage." Jessie said almost mumbled. "Been there, done that."

"No!"

"Get out!" Jessie shouted suddenly.

Without waiting for Prudence to respond Jessie grabbed the smaller woman and carried her down the corridor. She pinned Prudence's arms to her side and pressed her hand over Prudence's mouth. She ran down the stairs and out of the hatch carrying a semi-struggling Prudence. When she reached the edge of the hatch Jessie heaved Prudence out of the ship. Prudence landed and rolled but by the time she looked back the hatch was closing.

"Prudence!" Her mother shouted.

Prudence ran toward the force field and it vanished for a moment as she went through it. Then she willed herself to full size and was enveloped in a tight hug by her mother.

"Thank Athena I was so worried." Her mother whispered.

"Why didn't they kill you?" Moon Girl asked.

"They never meant to." Prudence said. "Simone guessed that this would happen. She left a message. This was a test. She wanted to see if we could protect her as well as Merry."

"We failed." Yoran said.

"Simone's pretty sure Merry isn't coming back." Prudence said. "And now she's pretty sure she isn't coming back either. If she dies or if we can't find her in two days or so she's told Jessie to fly back to Dollopolis and blow it up."

"What about the others?" Lucy asked.

"They go up with it." Prudence said. "At least the ones in the temple. I told Jessie that she and the rest could come live with us but I don't think she's really gonna take us up on that. Mom I think that when Dollopolis goes up Lizzie and Jessie will go up with it."

"No." Lucy said and she transformed into Goddess of Justice. "I am not going to see a civilization vanish like this!"

"Found it." Gadget Gal said rushing over to them. In a gloved hand she held a smoking piece of the transport. "It was a bomb alright, radio controlled. I'd guess it was in the room where we had Simone."

"Grim and Green Dream." Moon Girl said. "It had to have been them.

Goddess of Justice took a deep breath and clenched her fists.

"Moon Girl start a search, Teleport-Her doesn't have a wide range. There might be a trace we can follow. I'm going to talk to Captain Pharoah, the time of being polite about his paranoia is over!"

In a flash of light and a heavy wind she took off into the sky.

"This is about as good as it is going to get." Merry said. She pointed behind them and swung her arm toward the Chinook. "Once they get here there’s no cover, I’m betting that Hellspite won’t come alone. He’s not used to being vulnerable, he’ll bring pawns he can use as a shield in case of an ambush."

"You are very good at this." Serenity said.

They stood about one hundred feet from the Chinook. Serenity had landed the helicopter three miles from Castle Darksun. On the map it the place was only called 'Battlefield' and looking out at it Serenity could guess why. The soil was black and filled with shell holes and laser scars. There were no dead bodies, but the skeletal remains of tanks and aircraft lay rusting in the mid-afternoon sun. The helicopter rested near some young pine trees.

"If they come straight from the castle I should be there with the tank gun." Merry said pointing at a right angle to a pair of burnt out tanks that had crashed into each other. "Too bad we don't have any mines, this plan only works if they do what we want."

"What do you think our chances are?"

"For you better than half. For me less than half."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're going in secretly, I'm going to be inviting them to me." Merry said. She started to walk back to the Chinook. "I wish we were better armed."

She stopped suddenly and faced Serenity.

"Lady Highfield if I don't make it tell Simone what happened. You don't have to tell her I didn't go quietly, she'll know that. But tell her I love her. I've never said that to her and she deserves to hear it."

"I'll tell her." Serenity said fighting down the reaction that rushed to the forefront of her mind. She had seen Simone struck just before the portal had closed. Simone had been hit with multiple poison darts. Merry had been hit with just one of them and barely survived until they had given her the antidote. There was no antidote back on Earth. Serenity was not going to tell Merry that. The First Knight of Dollopolis was barely stable, that news might push her over the edge and doom them all.

But it hurt having to lie to her.

The moment of vulnerability gone Merry headed back to the Chinook.

"If Truly shows up with Hellspite I'll stay hidden." Merry said. "But they might rush back to the castle."

"Bitch-35 says that the trip through the tunnels will take three hours." Serenity said. "If you make the call in two and a half hours we should be alright."

"Yep." Merry agreed. "I can see why the ghouls have so many tunnels around here. Must have been a couple of feasts after the last few battles."

"So many brave souls." Serenity mused.

Merry started to reply as they entered the helicopter but broke off and her face grew hard.

"I told you not to let her loose." Merry growled.

Serenity looked over and saw that the handcuffs had been taken off of Aphrodite's ankles. Merry had used three sets of the handcuffs to hog-tie the young villainess.

"She was moaning." Vicki protested. "Those cuffs were cutting of her circulation."

"So cut off her feet." Merry said striding toward Aphrodite. Vicki stepped in front of her.

"You don't miss-treat people this way." She said.

Merry picked her up and tossed the tiny centaur to Serenity. Then she started toward Aphrodite. The black haired girl tried to meet her with a high kick but Merry dodged it and slammed her fist into Aphrodite's stomach.

"Get her out of here!" Merry growled to Serenity.

"You can't…"

"Vicki not now." Serenity said backing out of the cargo bay. Vicki continued to struggle until they were outside.

"Are you going to let that crazy bitch do what ever she wants?" Vicki demanded.

"Vicki we aren't on Earth anymore." Serenity said. "I know what you're saying but Merry's plan is the only way home for us."

"So we just let her abuse people?" Vicki said.

"By her standards Merry is being gentle." Esmerelda said. She had emerged from the forest with Tranquility and Bitch-35. Tranquility was carrying a pile of sticks and Bitch-35 was riding on her back. "And Aphrodite is dangerous Vicki."

"I've heard those arguments before and they don't work." Vicki said. "You don't miss-treat prisoners."

"You don't, I do." Merry said emerging from the chopper. "Was there any trouble Bitch-35?"

"None." Bitch-35 said. She fluttered her wings slightly. "The tunnel is still there but the ghouls haven't been there for a while. It won't be a pleasant trip, ghouls aren’t clean creatures."

"We can handle getting dirty." Serenity said.

"I still think I should stay with you." Esmerelda said to Merry.

"No, they need you to track Ms. Dream and the rest." Merry said. "The only person who needs to stay here is me."

"What if both groups fail?" Tranquility asked nervously adjusting her thick glasses. She paled when Merry looked at her.

"Then you and Vicki are on your own." Merry said.

"Neither of us is going to fail." Serenity said stepping between them. She put her hand on Tranquility's shoulder. "I have been through this sort of thing many times Tranquility. We will succeed and when we are back on Earth we will change you and Vicki back."

"I miss two legs." Tranquility said nervously.

Merry growled and stomped back into the helicopter.

"She'll never forgive me will she?" Tranquility asked sadly.

"She will." Serenity asked looking to Esmerelda for support.

"It will just take time." Esmerelda agreed.

Keep up the lies, Serenity thought, and hope they come true. Tranquility had been a pampered rich girl on Earth. Here on Faerun she’d been transformed into a tiny centaur. At best a pet at worst a disposable toy. But Merry still held it against her that Tranquility had tormented a woman from Dollopolis. Serenity had met people like Merry before. They held on to their anger and could carry a grudge across centuries.

"She won't even let me talk to her." Tranquility said.

"You hurt her." Esmerelda said. "Corrella and Roxana are the only two people that Merry knows survived her worlds destruction besides Simone. Merry is fiercely protective of her people."

"But look at me!" Tranquility pleaded. "What else could I do to pay?"

"Don't ask that." Vicki said. "Not while she's around. I've seen cops like her, real hard cases. You don't want to know what she wants to do to you."

"You don't know her." Esmerelda said coming to Merry’s defense.

"She scares me." Tranquility said. "I don't want to be alone with her. Please can't I come with you?"

"You could never make through the tunnels." Bitch-35 said.

Merry sat next to the crate full of machine guns and listened to them. Aphrodite was un-conscious and once again hog-tied. Merry’s back was against the crate and she was hugging her legs to her chest. Tears were stinging her eyes but she fought them off. When Merry had become a police officer she had realized that at times she'd be hated and feared. 'Nobody likes the ref', was the way she had been told it was. She'd accepted it and lived with it. Embraced it really. But it never hurt her as much as it did now. Tranquility had been put through enough to pay for what she had done. More than enough really.

But I can't tell her that, Merry thought. I chose the lie, I have to live the lie. And I've lived it so well that a young girl wants to creep through ghoul tunnels and attack a castle full of monsters rather than stay with me! After this is over I'll figure out something, goddess I need Simone!

The thought of Simone made Merry stand up. Enough of guilt, enough of pain, she had a fight with a demon coming up. She headed out of the cargo bay.

"But once you're not here…" Tranquility was saying.

She stopped and they all looked at Merry and then quickly looked away.

"I gave Lady Highfield my oath." Merry said walking down the ramp. "My oath as First Knight. Under the Laws of Responsibility if I break that oath I face a five year death." I have got to stop reading Clive Barker, Merry thought as she saw the looks on their faces. Gathering herself she went on. "That means every day for five years I'm slowly put to death. Does that satisfy you that I'd keep my word?"

"Five years?" Vicki asked. "That's ridiculous, no one can last five years."

"You want to know the details?" Merry challenged her.

"No." Serenity said. "None of us do."

"Right." Merry said. "Let's get ready then."

"Wait." Tranquility said. She walked over to Merry and looked up at her. She was terrified but somehow she had dug down deep enough to see it through. "What about afterward?"

"Afterward?" Merry asked.

"How can I clear this? How can I make it straight? How can I get you to stop looking at me like I’m some..."

"Barbarian trash?" Merry supplied when she faltered.

"Yes!" Tranquility said.

"You go to Simone." Merry said bending down to look her in the eye. "You go to Simone and plead you case. She's the only one who can clear you."

"Duchess Simone?" Tranquility asked. "I just have to ask?"

"I said beg." Merry said standing up. She smiled as the loophole came to her. "The Law of Dollopolis… Hell I shouldn’t even tell you this."

"Please." Esmerelda said.

Good girl, Merry thought even as a stab of pain went through her.

"Corrella is a Noble of Dollopolis." Merry said. "She has the right of vengeance. But Simone can overrule her if she determines you've suffered equally or greater than Corrella. She might too, your pitiful enough right now. Simone's not like me. She's better than me really, she sees things I don't. I'd put a bridle on you and let Corrella use you as a mount. But Simone’s got a big heart so if you catch her on the right day and lay out what Aphrodite did to you… yea you got a good chance. What?" Merry added seeing a glance pass between Serenity and Esmerelda.

"Nothing." Serenity said. "Duchess Simone is a wise woman Tranquility, I'm sure she'll listen to you."

"Let's get this set up." Merry said turning to go back into the helicopter. "I want to get home."

Before I have to make up any more laws, she added to herself.

Simone woke up slowly. Sound came to her first. The quiet steady hum of fluorescent lights.

{As we suspected Simone you have been taken.}

{It has been two hours.}

{Jessie is safe.}

{ICE used their best team to capture you.}

Flattering, Simone thought sourly.

{There is no one in the room with you.}

{No doubt you are being watched.}

{Proceed with caution.}

{We know where you are.}

That would be a lot more comforting if Merry were on Earth.

Simone opened her eyes and saw a standard white tiled ceiling. She was still dressed, though her crown was missing. She sat up and looked around. She was in a hospital room of some sort. Simone would never forget that sterile smell. Simone was sitting on a stainless steel examining table set four feet off of the floor. There was a desk with an Imac computer terminal to the right of a door. On the other side of the room were a flat couch and two chairs. Between the chairs was a water cooler. There were no papers on the desk or diploma's or posters on the walls. She could have been anywhere in the world.

They could have let me keep the cane, Simone thought as she tried to stand. The pain wasn’t too bad as long as she didn’t put any weight on the leg. Giving it up she sat back down and crossed her legs, settling into a yoga position. It her captors wanted to play a waiting game she could play.

After a few minutes the door opened and an extremely tall woman walked into the room. Simone was twelve inches tall but even at her normal five feet six inches the woman would have towered over her. She would have even towered over Merry. The woman was dressed in black and her black hair was drawn back into a bun making her severe angular face even more severe and angular. One eye was blue and looked normal, the other was black with white and red spots. Above her right breast was a diamond shaped patch with the drawn sword, the symbol of ICE security. Simone guessed her age at about fifty judging by the gray creeping into her hair.

"Good evening." Simone said calmly. "That is if it is still evening."

"My name is Barbara." The woman said. "Do you know who I work for?"

"International Criminal Enterprises." Simone said. She was astounded at her own calm attitude. A part of her couldn’t believe that this was real. A part of her felt like it was some of the role playing that she had done with the girls. "The patch on your uniform gives that away. I must say that as abductions go mine was handled very well. A far cry from the last time I encountered your organization."

"You expected to be taken?" Barbara asked.

"Yes, after my first Knight was removed from the board. That along with the attack by Timidious made the next move fairly obvious. I could have avoided it by retreating to my city but I wanted answers."

"You wanted answers?" Barbara asked. Simone guessed that her attitude was un-expected. She hoped to play on that.

"Answers that Goddess of Justice seemed un-willing or un-able to give me." Simone said. "My first question is why? Why are my city and my people so important to your world that ICE would team up with Goddess of Justice to lay this trap? Why are we so important to you?"

"Do you really think that Goddess of Justice is working with us?" Barbara asked and Simone could tell that the accusation had caught her off guard.

"How else could you have arranged all of this?" Simone asked.

"We have ways." Barbara said. "And you aren’t here to ask questions, you are here to answer them."

"Ask away." Simone said. "I do not guarantee answers."

"I do." Barbara said harshly. Her black eye glowed red and Simone felt the telepathic attack begin. "There's a reason I'm ICE security."

At first it felt as if someone was touching her hair. The it felt as if someone were braiding it. Merry had told her that everyone felt a telepathic attack differently. Simone made a mental note to ask Merry if hair styling was a part of her experience. Then the mental shields started to work and her mind dissolved into random chaos. That was how the shields worked. Barbara was searching for a thread of thought, a stream of images that she could follow into Simone’s mind. She needed to impress her own mental energy into the neural pathways of Simone’s brain. Once there she could direct Simone’s mind by proxy, fooling Simone's brain into believing that the mental impulses came from its natural owner. But first she had to get there and the mental shields made it impossible for Simone to hold any thought in her head for more than a moment.

It wasn’t an enjoyable experience. Simone felt like she was in a movie theatre where the movie constantly kept changing and Barbara was shouting in her ear. Barbara kept up the pressure and Simone sat calmly and simply kept breathing.

Serenity had been through many tunnels in her superheroine career. There was a difference though between crawling through a tunnel in her super powered armor and crawling through one wearing nothing but a mail shirt a pair of leather pants and boots. The ghouls built the tunnels like ants, using waxy secretions from their bodies to form the bracing for the walls. The stuff smelled horrible and felt worse. The smell combined with the heat to make breathing almost impossible. For nearly three hours they had been crawling through it. The heavy pack of guns and explosives didn’t help either.

"How much further?" Serenity asked.

"Almost there." Bitch-35 said. She was flying slowly along the tunnel, using light from her butterfly-shaped wings to guide them. Serenity was captivated more than once by the light from Bitch-35's wings. It went from white to orange to blue and back again and would have been hypnotic under other circumstances.

"Let’s stop and rest." Serenity said. The sweat was dripping off of her. "I swear I must have dropped two stone with this workout."

"How do they breathe?" Esmerelda asked collapsing next to her. She had started the trip in her wolf form but had been forced to switch back to human. The light shift she wore was plastered to the young girls body with sweat.

"This air helps them." Bitch-35 said. "Their lungs draw in moisture from the air so that they can go for days without water."

Without asking she fluttered over to Serenity and settled onto her lap. Serenity saw that Bitch-35 was sweating heavily as well. The glow from her wings faded.

"Sorry about the light." Bitch-35 said. "But I’d better recharge."

"What powers you limbs?" Esmerelda asked.

"Sunlight through my wings if I get enough of it." Bitch-35 said. "But it has to be strong and constant." She felt her stomach, bellow her belly button. "If I don’t get that my motor is here, fed by sugar." She pressed against her stomach. "You can feel the machine if you press hard enough."

"My stolen technology." Serenity swore. "But I abandoned sugar as an energy source years ago."

"Why?" Asked Esmerelda.

"The by products." Serenity said. "For every milligram of sugar I used I produced five milligrams of waste sludge. The heat build up was also too intense and I could never get more than a 40% conversion rate."

"But for my size it works perfectly." Bitch-35 said with a trace of bitterness. "My system works on .2 milligrams per day and the sludge produced is less than .1 milligrams per week. The heat isn’t really that much and my conversion rate is 80%."

"Scaled down it works." Serenity said. "That never occurred to me."

"It works." Bitch-35 said and there was no mistaking the anger and bitterness in her voice. "It powers my arms and legs and wings. I can walk and fly and all it cost me was any children I would ever have."

"Children?" Esmerelda asked.

"The motor had to go somewhere." Serenity said. "Did he take any of the other organs?"

"A few." Bitch-35 said. "Their functions were taken over by the motor."

"What happens if you are damaged?" Esmerelda asked.

"Self repair." Bitch-35 said. "Or the motor can be… removed if I spread my legs wide enough. I can't move while it out, no power. I'm on the fifth version of it. Darksun was never really satisfied… he loved to tinker… spent hours... adjusting it."

"Oh dear Lord." Serenity moaned as the weight of the young fairies plight hit her.

"Don’t pity me." Bitch-35 exclaimed.

"She does not." Esmerelda said. "She echoes you pain as do I. I was raised by someone very much like Darksun."

"I searched for nearly twenty years." Serenity said. "How I wish I could have been the one to kill him."

"You just wanted to kill him Lady Highfield?" Bitch-5 asked.

"Call me Serenity."

"Serenity." Bitch-35 said.

They were all silent for a few minutes and then Bitch-35’s wings started to glow.

"What are these markings on the wall?" Esmerelda asked as the light revealed a set of lines and circles above them.

"Poems and prayers from the ghouls to their gods." Bitch-35 said. "Songs celebrating life."

"They celebrate life?" Esmerelda asked.

"I know." Bitch-35 said smiling at the tone of her voice. "Strange isn’t it?"

"Let’s get moving." Serenity said. "By now Merry has started her own part of the plan."

Bitch-35 took flight and Serenity followed her.

I'm almost to my daughters, Serenity thought to herself. Oh Lord please let them be alive.

That was the prayer that Serenity had most often thought for a very long time. Ever since the day Verity had been kidnapped. She'd gone through so much since then but Serenity knew how things worked. There was no guaranty that it would all work out. At the end of the tunnel could be death or worse. It didn't matter. Verity was at the end of that tunnel. So was Truly. She wasn't going to leave either of them behind. Serenity had no doubt that Truly hated her. That might always be the case, but deep within she harbored hope that Darksun's lies could be washed away somehow. But to do that Serenity knew that she had to first beat Truly. And beyond that once on Earth Truly would be tried for the murder of two men.

I'm not leaving her here, Serenity thought. I won't let my daughter be a tyrant.

"Wait." Bitch-35 whispered. They all froze and waited while she dimmed the light from her wings. In the darkness Serenity heard a deep slithering, as if two rocks were being rubbed together. After a few minutes it stopped and Bitch-35 motioned them all forward again.

And I'm not leaving you either, Serenity thought. But Oh Lord I wish I knew you better. You were a slave dealer, you were going to sell me! And you knew who I was. Can I really let you loose on Earth? The horrible things he did to you, have they warped you beyond repair?

"Here we are." Bitch-35 said stopping at a large rock.

Serenity tried to push her questions away as she put her hands against the rock and pushed it aside.

Barbara’s frustration was growing. Simone could tell that by the way the woman’s nostrils flared. It was impossible to tell how long she had been trying to read Simone’s mind. Simone could feel her battering away but the mental shields held.

At last Barbara broke contact and looked away. Simone let her body slump onto the table. Barbara went over to the water cooler and drank four cups.

"You’re stubborn." She said.

"Thank you." Simone said. In truth she hadn’t done anything at all. The mental shields worked whether she wanted them to or not. The trial was to endure the constant confusion in her mind.

"Want some?" Barbara asked holding up the cup.

"No thank you. I’m having enough trouble dealing with the poisons already in my body."

"The report I read is true, you are paranoid."

"Name me a ruler who isn’t." Simone said sitting up.

Barbara walked back over and pushed Simone onto her back. Then she reached down and pulled Simone’s skirt up.

"That looks ugly." Barbara said inspecting the would that Timidious’s laser had made. "Bet it hurts too."

"It does." Simone said trying to ignore the fact that her dress was dangerously high. At least she had found soft enough fabric for Jessie and Lizzie to make her underwear. It was silly to think that way; panties would not slow Barbara down a bit if she wanted to do anything, but it felt better to have them.

"Pain is a great way to focus the mind." Barbara said. She focused her eye on Simone and took hold of the injured leg. "So lets try again."

She twisted the leg and Simone cried out in pain and blacked out.

Merry looked at the machine gun. Small black and lethal the uzi could fire 600 bullets in one minute. Merry had three of them and a crate full of magazines. Each magazine held 25 bullets. The weapon was effective at about a football fields length. Beside the machine guns was a pair of World War 2 bazookas. Merry had never fired either weapon.

The myth of course was that you didn't need to be too accurate. The reality was that if this didn't work Merry was going to need every bullet she had and then some. And she had a feeling that it wasn't going to work. Merry had learned from both life and movies that plan A's never work.

It was getting close to night, another hour or so and the sun would be down. Aphrodite had made the call nearly two hours ago. The voice on the other end was harsh and guttural. It told her to stay put and that payment would be coming soon. And it told her that Theodora would never know. Merry had sent Tranquility, Vicki and Aphrodite. Aphrodite was as well secured as Merry could make her. Merry had tied her arms behind her back and then her arms to her body. She'd spent an hour showing Tranquility and Vicki how to hold and fire the uzi's. Merry didn't think that they had much a of a chance on their own but it was the best that she could do. Once they were away Merry spent an hour preparing for the battle.

"Think of it as an action movie." Merry had told herself as she had dug holes in the ground and filled them with wood broken from the packing crates. Then she had doused them all with fuel siphoned from the Chinooks tanks and linked them with parachutes that she had torn up and dowsed with fuel. "Things never go easy in those. Think of that tank movie with Humphrey Bogart, the one that Belushi remade a few years back. They held off a German army corps in the desert. You just gotta give Lady Highfield time."

She talked to herself as she worked. It helped a little but Merry longed for the telepathic messages that the Group would have been sending her.

The fire pits wouldn't explode, but at least the fire might slow some of her attackers down. Merry had a flare gun to set it off.

"They're planning a double cross, I wonder if they know that we're planning one too? If everyone is crooked is the game straight?"

A sound caught her attention. Merry couldn't identify it at first; then she realized it was the sound of horses. Not only horses but cars as well.

Stay hidden, Merry thought and ducked down, peering out of the crack between the two burnt out tanks. The first thing that came into view was a squad of centaurs. Four of them fanned out and scanned the ground and the surroundings. They weren't like the other centaurs Merry had seen. These centaurs wore no armor but their bodies were covered with tattoos. Chinese style masks obscured their faces. Behind them came a small squad of demon soldiers. They were dressed in black armor and carried both swords and riffles. They followed fifty feet behind the centaurs and ten feet behind them came Hellspite and Truly mounted on horses. They were surrounded by demons on motorcycles.

She would have to come, Merry thought. I was right plan A is useless.

There was no way she could fire the bazooka into that crowd and not kill Truly Highfield. Merry wasn't going to face Serenity if that happened. Taking a pair of binoculars that she had found in the helicopter she looked through them. She watched as Truly and Hellspite with their men approached the Chinook. Truly was dressed in full metal plate armor and the effect was almost comical. Not only was it too big for her but it was also a pale imitation of her mother's armor. That was good and bad. If Truly had her mother’s armor Merry could have fired the bazooka and not worried about her being hurt. But there was also no way they could have beaten Truly later.

Hellspite caught Merry's attention. This was not the demon she had fought before. He'd been taller then. His skin was darker and he road stiffly. He was hurt, Merry would have bet anything on it. From the looks of things Hellspite and Truly were arguing.

The centaurs searched the helicopter and at Truly's command started to fan out into the woods. Merry hoped that Vicki and Tranquility had gotten far enough away. She put down the binoculars and picked up one of the uzis. The range was too far really, but she just wanted to get their attention. She could have run at that point. Serenity had agreed that running and hiding would be better than a suicidal showdown. Getting Hellspite and Truly away from the castle would have been good enough for her.

But Merry really didn't think that Serenity was going to be able to sneak into Darksun castle and blow up the drug lab. She hoped that it would happen, but Merry couldn't count on it. Not with a world at stake. Even if the races were divided and racist to the core there were too many innocents that would suffer if Truly stayed in power. One way or another Hellspite had to die again, or Merry had to go with her plan C. And Plan C held a lot more risk than Plan B.

Crouching down Merry started to fire off rounds from the uzi. Quick short burst that struck some of the demon soldiers. It only took a few minute for them to identify the source. Hellspite gestured toward her and the demons attacked.

"They really don't know how to fight." Merry said to herself as the demon soldiers charged. They came straight at her position as if they expected an army to come out of the trees and meet them. Behind the soldiers came Hellspite. Merry had to admit that they came at her in a formation, five deep and ten wide. It would have been a good plan if she were a squad of men willing to come out and fight.

Merry started to fire when they got in range. She sprayed her bullets close to the ground, aiming for the legs. The demons were wearing heavy chest and face armor, but she hoped the armor on their legs wasn't as thick. Trouble was her bullets sparked and vanished the second they encountered a barrier of some sort.

"Ok they do know how to fight. Where's the cleric?" Merry asked. There had to be a sorcerer casting that shield. Hellspite looked too weak and Truly hadn't moved. That meant that the cleric had to be in with the soldiers. At the back? Merry looked with the binoculars and spotted a dwarf lagging behind the demons. Not a cleric then, a magic user. His robes were too rich for a cleric.

Merry kept up sporadic fire as the demon soldiers kept coming. When they were halfway past the line of fuel soaked wood she fired a flare into the parachute fabric. The result was spectacular as flames erupted in the middle of the demons. Panic set in quickly and they ran about in confusion. Merry started to fire with the uzi again and this time her bullets got through. Either the magic user was on fire or he was too busy to keep the spell up.

Merry aimed low and the demons fell. The fallen ones crawled on the ground and clutched at their legs or each other or the still walking comrades. The chaos was complete and deadly. Now was where the uzi was the most deadly. Those few that did get close enough to rush her were mowed down. Hellspite rode up to the edge of the fire and started shouting orders.

"Just hold that pose." Merry said grabbing one of the bazooka's. She stood up and fired feeling the heat of the shell as it left the tube. The shot landed close enough to the fireline to blow many of the wounded demons into pieces. For a few minutes smoke obscured her view. Then it cleared and she saw Hellspite struggling to his feet. There was no way to tell how badly she had hurt him but Merry wasn't taking any chances. She grabbed the other bazooka and was about to fire when a new force appeared on the field. Men dressed in black uniforms flooded out from behind Truly and started to charge. At first Merry was puzzled as to where they had come from, then she realized that Truly was holding the Dagger of Orant. A glowing portal was behind her. Probably one that lead her castle.

"That's cheating." Merry said. But it worked out anyway. The fewer guards in the castle the fewer Serenity would have to deal with. She fired the bazooka anyway but didn't bother to see if she had hit anything or not. Grabbing the other two uzis Merry started to run into the forest behind her only to stop as she saw lights in the trees. She was surrounded.

"Better and better." Merry said. Truly wasn’t the idiot Merry had thought that she was. Merry backed up against the shell of the burnt out tank and started to fire as they came into view. It was time for Plan C. The uzi grew hot in her hand and her arm started to ache from the recoil. But they weren't firing back and Merry knew that they wouldn’t. That ambition would keep her alive until they got to the castle. In the meantime Merry kept firing. At least with this many troops after her Serenity had a better chance.

Simone woke up reluctantly. Her leg was throbbing and her head hurt. Simone opened her eyes. She was still in the examining room.

"You awake?" Asked a gravelly voice.

Simone looked up and saw that the girl in the silver suit who had taken her was sitting at the terminal. On the screen a game of World of Warcraft was going on. A bottle of Budweiser sat beside the terminal.

{Teleport-her.}

{You and Merry are not the only ones who take in strays.}

{Careful, she's been killing people since she was ten.}

{She was the youngest person ever employed by ICE Violent Crime Division.}

"Yes I am." Simone said. "Who are you?"

"Teleport-her." The girl said standing up. Her gravely voice was completely at odds with her fresh-faced appearance. Simone spotted the ugly scar on the girl's neck as she moved. She was slim and her face was round, but with a pointed chin and flat nose. Brown hair cut short and streaked with red hung past her shoulders. Her eyes were brown. She was wearing a pair of silver pants and shirt but no gloves. Her fingernails were painted with a high-gloss silver. "I'm the one who snatched you."

"Well do not expect a thank you." Simone said sitting up. "Can you tell me how long I have been un-conscious?"

"Nope." Teleport-her said. She walked over to Simone and looked down at her. "You are really weird looking."

"I'm not at my best." Simone said smoothing her dress.

Teleport-her reached over and picked Simone up.

"I used to play with dolls." Teleport-her said turning Simone upside down and opening her legs. "I used to line them up and throw knives at them, melt'em with a magnifying glass, put them under cars…"

"Must have cost you a lot of money." Simone said struggling to keep calm. Her arms were pinned to her sides.

"Nothing I couldn't steal." Teleport-her said. She pinched Simone's panties with her thumb and forefinger and pulled them up Simone's legs. "Cute little bush you got." She turned Simone around. "Nice ass too."

Simone struggled as Teleport-her rubbed her butte with a fingernail. She cried out when Teleport-her flicked it with a finger.

Teleport-her giggled and pulled Simone's panties the rest of the way off. Then she placed Simone onto her back on the table. With one finger on Simone's stomach Teleport-her held her down. With the index finger of her other hand she rubbed her fingernail against Simone's pussy. Simone squirmed helplessly.

"I hear everyone in your place is a muff mower." Teleport-her said. "Guess your getting off on this?"

{Try a threat.}

{It is obvious that this is a set up and you are being observed.}

{Barbara is not getting anywhere.}

{They are planning something.}

"I'm trying very hard to feel sorry for you right now." Simone said gasping a little as her body responded.

"What?" Teleport-her asked, stopping her abuse.

"I am the Duchess of Dollopolis." Simone said. "For what you are doing right now the penalty is an agonizing death."

Teleport-her let go of Simone and laughed. The laugh sounded like rocks rubbing together.

"Oh yea, the little dollies are going to get me." Teleport-her said.

"One of them will." Simone said sitting up. "If she lives."

"Yea, right." Teleport-her laughed again. "Well she's dead."

"I assume that as well." Simone said. "But how do you know for sure?"

"We got…" Teleport-her stopped and her eyes grew cold. "Nice try."

"Pray that she is dead." Simone said sensing weakness. "If my First Knight is alive and she finds out what you have been doing to me then your death will be very long and very painful. She was legendary on my world for her methods of torture."

Teleport-her laughed again but this time there was a bit of fear in the laugh.

"Let's see how cute you can be." She said suddenly leaning into Simone. "Strip down, I wanna see those tiny boobies."

"No." Simone said.

Teleport-her grabbed her injured leg and twisted. Simone cried out in pain but didn't pass out this time.

"You strip or I'll tear this off." Teleport-her said.

"And face ICE security when I die?" Simone gasped out the words through her pain. "I don't think so. They want answers from me."

"You don't get it do you." Teleport-her said. She held Simone upside down and banged her head against the table a few times. "This ain't the dollhouse lady. You're just a tiny, tiny Barbie doll here." Teleport-her took hold of Simone's hair. "Now you strip or I'll start pulling out your hair one little strand at a time." She laughed and tugged out a strand of Simone's hair. Then another one. Simone cried out and struggled but it was useless and she knew it. After a few more strands were pulled out Teleport-her dropped Simone onto the table and folded her arms.

"Very well." Simone said breathlessly. She reached behind her back and started to untie the bow-knots that held the back of her dress together. "And when you see me nude do think that will make a difference?"

"It will to me honey." Teleport-her laughed. "It will to me. Cause then I get to have some real fun. Maybe I'll get a hot needle and pierce those tiny tits of yours."

Serenity dodged the downward slice of the creatures claw and jumped back to avoid the spiked tail. She almost made it and the spikes sliced through her chainmail shirt as if it were wet paper. Still she moved in closer as Esmerelda tore into the back of the creatures neck. So far this was the third one they had encountered. Human/demon hybrids with tortured eyes and angry dispositions. Fifteen feet tall they were shaped like the creature from Alien.

Her distraction worked and the creature didn't realize that Esmerelda was killing it until it was already dead. It collapsed in a heap and Esmerelda climbed off of it, shifting back to her human form as she did. Esmerelda's body was covered in blood and she spit more of it out of her mouth. Picking up her shift she put it on. It didn't help much, the shift was torn and blood soaked, but at least she wasn't naked.

"35?" Serenity called out.

In response a weak glow came from a crack in the cave wall. Bitch-35 poked her head out and then flew over to them.

"How many of these creatures are there?" Esmerelda demanded.

"There was only one when I left." Bitch-35 said. "They must be breeding."

"Ugh." Serenity said making a face. "That's a repulsive thought."

Three times they had been attacked and three times Bitch-35 had hidden out until it was over. Of course there wasn't much a two-foot tall fairy could do to a fifteen foot monster, but a distraction would have been nice. But Serenity couldn’t tell if the fairy was being realistic or cowardly.

"There can't be that many more." Bitch-35 said. "They'd never survive against the real monsters.

Serenity picked up the uzi and looked at it. The gun barrel had been twisted off of it.

"Well if there are more we're out of guns." She said shouldering the pack full of explosives. "We'll have to be more careful. Esmerelda can you stay in wolf form?"

"I can." Esmerelda said pulling off her shift and changing to her wolf form. Serenity picked up the blood shift.

"35 you lead." Serenity said. "Esmerelda keep an eye out for those things."

Bitch-35 took off and started down the cave again. She moved slowly and the light from her wings vanished into the darkness. The stone in the walls was dark gray clay that was soft in most places. The engineer in Serenity wondered how the castle managed to stand on such a foundation.

"Here." Bitch-35 said stopping and landing.

A passageway led upward at a steep angle. At the end of it a dim light could be seen.

"Up there is the Cavern of Monsters." Bitch-35 said. "Once in it we can head toward the dungeon or the drug factory."

"We can get out the same way then." Serenity said. "Come on."

As they climbed up the tunnel the air became sweeter and more dense. Serenity felt the hair on her arms stand up. At the top of the tunnel she looked out and discovered why. Before them was a vast cavern filled with chained creatures. A nightmare menagerie. Through it stretched mushrooms and moving along the mushrooms were small figures. Spaced along the cavern were irregular columns of black rock.

That's how it stands, Serenity thought. They must have mined the clay for some reason but left the columns. But why?

"What's this clay?" Serenity asked Bitch-35 pressing her fingers against it.

"It's called mirnrock." Bitch-35 said. "A natural magical inhibitor. It's only found here."

"A good defense in a land filled with magical creatures." Esmerelda said.

"The factory is close this way." Bitch-35 said.

"Ms. Dream was somewhere close by." Esmerelda said sniffing the air. "And Miss Shadow."

"Verity?" Serenity asked hopefully.

"Faint, but yes." Esmerelda said taking a deep breath. "But I can't tell how long ago."

"Let's set the charges and then find her. We’ll put them on the columns and burry this entire cavern."

"I thought you were only going to destroy the drug lab." Bitch-35 said.

"And let someone rebuild it?" Serenity shook her head. "The castle is the last bit of Darksun left on Faerun. I want it in pieces."

Almost twenty years of rage and frustration boiled in her voice. Esmerelda and Bitch-35 nodded. They knew that sort of hatred.

Simone stood with her hands at her side. She was completely nude now and for the last few minutes Teleport-her had just stood and stared at her. Sometimes the young villainess licked her lips. Simone could tell that the young woman was turned on but there was a cruel edge to the lust in Teleport-her's eyes.

"I heard you shaved your bush." Teleport-her said.

"You heard wrong." Simone said. "For ceremonial rituals I sometimes bath in a sacred pool and the hair is washed away."

Teleport-her reached over and ran the tip of her finger against Simone's nipple. Simone did her best not to react.

"Feels like real skin."

Teleport-her picked up Simone's dress and examined it. Then she sniffed it and did the same to Simone's panties.

"Your body works the same way mine does? You fart?"

"That is not something I will discus." Simone said.

"Still think you've got some power here?" Teleport-her snapped picking Simone up. She held Simone by her wrists with one hand while she used her finger to start poking at Simone's body.

"Huh? You still think you got a chance in hell of getting out of here?"

"Probably not." Simone said. "But I know you've got less of a chance than that getting me to talk this way."

Teleport-her slammed Simone down onto the table and Simone cried out as her arm twisted beneath her.

"Awe…" Teleport-her said. "Looks like I broke an arm." She lifted Simone up by her injured arm and held her above the table, then moved her past the edge of the table. "Wanna see if the legs'll break or shatter?"

Simone didn’t say anything, she was in too much pain from her arm to get the words out.

"Or maybe I'll just bounce you off of the walls." Teleport-her said throwing Simone at the far wall.

The rule of three squared was a rule that Merry's instructor at the Police Academy had come up with.

"You can fight one guy, three guys, nine guys and that's it." He said. "After that it's not a fight it's a tackle and you’re the dummy if you don't run, I don't care what the movies say."

He'd been talking about bar brawls and street gangs. Merry had learned about the dangers of street gangs early on. It had been a harsh lesson to learn. Without super powers there was no really effective way to fight more than nine people at once. Not out in the open anyway. The sheer weight of numbers could bring you down.

Just like it had brought her down. With her back against the burned out tank Merry had fired shot after shot until they simply charged into her. Multiple hands grabbed her arms and legs and multiple fist slammed into her face. Merry was hauled to the ground in a tackle and chains were wrapped tightly around her body. A power canceling device was slapped onto her forehead. It wouldn't work but Merry wasn't going to tell anyone that.

When the fight was done and Merry was chained from ankle to neck she was dragged across the battlefield to be thrown at the foot of Truly Highfield. Merry rolled over onto her back and managed to sit up.

"Mystery Woman." Truly said smiling.

"Mystery Woman." Hellspite said snarled. His voice was full of pain and hate. Merry had managed to wound him severely. His arms and legs and stomach were bandaged and he walked by leaning on two of the other demons. His current body was grotesque. Hellspite was tall and gaunt, with the head of an alligator on the body of a man/insect hybrid. He wore the remains of a plate mail shirt and a chain mail loincloth hung between his legs. Merry wasn't sure what his penis would look like and she really didn’t want to find out.

"You're as hard to kill as you are ugly." Merry said.

Hellspite hissed his hatred at her.

"You live up to your reputation." Truly said. "I almost wish I didn’t have to give you to him."

"Hell of a way to say thanks for killing your father." Merry said.

"Where is my mother?" Truly demanded.

"No idea." Merry said. "I got here, got sold by Ghouls, escaped from elves, got captured by the UC and escaped from Aphrodite before she could sell me to Hellspite. I think I saw your mother in the UC compound but that went to hell when the rebels attacked."

"Liar." Truly said smiling. "Bring them." She called out.

"Aphrodite, Vicki and Tranquility were led over to Merry. Aphrodite was naked and wrapped in chains. Tranquility and Vicki had their arms tied behind their backs.

Weak spot in Plan A, Merry thought. I knew it.

"Nice to see you again slave." Truly said.

"Bitch!" Aphrodite swore at her.

"Where is my mother." Truly demanded.

"We don't know." Tranquility said.

"Bring her too me." Truly ordered.

Two demons carried a struggling Tranquility over to Truly.

"Do you know what happens to horses when they get their legs broken?" Truly asked taking hold of Tranquility's front left leg.

"She's at the castle!" Tranquility screamed in panic.

"The castle?" Truly said with some surprise in her voice.

"Yea." Merry said before Tranquility said anything else. "I wanted to kill Hellspite, but Serenity wants her daughter back."

Truly shoved Tranquility back and pulled the Dagger of Orant out of her armor. With a gesture and a word she opened a portal.

"Back to Castle Darksun!" She shouted. "Bring them!"

Serenity swallowed hard as she saw her self with a snake body. Of all the things that had been done to her as a heroine; all the beatings, the mind controlling, the rapes, none of them had caused her to hate like this. Darksun had stolen parts of her body and soul and twisted them. This creature, Bitch-35 and who knew how many others had been grown from her eggs. The most beautiful process in creation, the best part of her stolen and corrupted. Serenity growled. She wanted to drag his corpse out of the ground and hit it again and again. There would never be a hell deep enough for him.

"The other charges are placed." Esmerelda said.

They crouched down behind a rock and watched as the snake-Serenity performed her duties and the tiny robots worked.

"Why didn't you tell me about her?" Serenity demanded as Bitch-35 landed.

"You didn't need to know." Bitch-35 said. Serenity stared daggers at the fairy and she looked away and then looked back.

"Alright, I was afraid to tell you." Bitch-35 said. "I was afraid someone else might find out that and realize that your breast milk can make the same drug as hers can. If the fairies found out about that they'd either kill you or capture you and my way to Earth would be lost."

"Damn him." Serenity swore silently.

"I have Ms. Dream's scent." Esmerelda said. "Verity is with her."

"Let's go." Serenity said standing up. "We have an hour before the charges go off."

Simone screamed as she flew through the air. The wall looked solid and at the very least she was going to have some broken bones from the impact. If she survived at all. But at the last moment Teleport-her appeared in her flight path and caught her.

"I’m not called Teleport-her for nothing." She said and threw Simone again.

For the next few minutes she tossed Simone again and again, always appearing at the last instant to catch her. By the time the evil girl had tired of the game Simone was dizzy and her body ached. When Teleport-her slammed her down onto the table it knocked the wind out of Simone and she lay there gasping for air.

"Enough Sweetness." Barbara said walking into the room.

"It’s Teleport-her!" Teleport-her snapped angrily. "Don’t ever call me that!"

"Leave." Barbara ordered.

Teleport-her grunted and vanished.

"That was a demonstration." Barbara said. "Of what can happen if you don’t co-operate."

"And what will happen if I do co-operate?" Simone said slowly getting her breath back. She put aside her pain and sat up. "My technology corrupted, those who are left of my people enslaved? You act as if there is any hope for me Barbara and we both know that there is none."

"There is hope for your First Knight." Barbara said. "We can get her back."

"So this is all a game." Simone said. "It’s been so all along. Miss Shadow, Goddess of Justice… You. All play acting to get me here."

"And take advantage of your love for the First Knight." Barbara said. She smiled. "Right now she is lost on Faerun. We can get her back or leave her there."

"What would your price be?" Simone demanded.

"The process you use to shrink." Barbara said.

"No." Simone said. "That is the most closely guarded secret of Dollopolis, even Merry does not know how it is done. Only I know and that is why I will not tell you. I know the other ways that process can be used. If I give it too you I know what you will do with it."

"You’ll give it to me." Barbara said fixing her eye upon Simone. "I have rested Simone, you have not. Let us now see how much stubbornness is left."

Simone felt her body sink to the table as the telepathic assault was renewed.

Ms. Dream struggled not to sleep, but not to stay completely awake either. Her powers were dimmed by the device on her forehead, but they were still there. She was strapped to a wrack, her arms and legs pulled painfully tight. Ms. Dream knew that she looked horrible. Truly had given her a pretty good beating and followed it up with hours of torture. The Young Ancient would have a lot of scars to heal once she got back to Earth.

"Why the hell am I such an optimist?" Ms. Dream said allowed. Across from her Miss Shadow moaned. "Shut up. I’m not speaking to you."

"Why don’t you understand that she merely did what she had to do?" Melissa asked.

"What? Are you happy about her trying to deliver Merry to Hellspite?"

"No. But a person in power rarely follows the dictates of her own heart. Miss Shadow needed to get her orders artifacts back. She swore oaths to serve a higher cause than her own conscience."

"She lied to all of us." Ms. Dream shook her head. "You want to give her a pass on that go right ahead. Not me."

"You do not understand the ways of power." Melissa said.

"Yea, poor me I’m just not sophisticated enough." Ms. Dream said.

Suddenly she heard something. Shouts, screams... a battle?

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

Ms. Dream lifted up her head as much as she was able to and tried to reach out with her powers. For a moment she was hopeful but then the sounds faded away.

"A trick perhaps." Melissa said as Verity started to cry.

"I guess." Ms. Dream said and tried to ease her mind into oblivion again.

It was night as Serenity, Esmerelda and Bitch-35 were hauled into the courtyard. Serenity strained against the ropes that held her arms behind her back. She had been close enough to hear Ms. Dream talking. She had heard Verity’s voice! But then soldiers and demons attacked and there were too many of them. Serenity guessed how they knew and when she saw the scene in the courtyard she knew that she had guessed correctly. Vicki and Tranquility were chained by their necks to iron stakes in the ground. Aphrodite was tied to a spit, slowly turning over an open fire. Merry hung between two posts. She had been through a battle, the bruises and wounds on her face, arms and legs told that. But she was still captured for all that, still helpless. And she had been Serenity’s last hope.

"Hello mother." Truly said. She and Hellspite were sitting on raised thrones not far from Merry. Men and demons lined the walls and torches lit the scenes. "So nice to see you again."

"Hello Truly." Serenity said.

"My name is Theodora."

"Never from my lips." Serenity said.

The young girl shrugged. She was wearing a scaled down version of Serenity’s armor but there was no mystic aura around it. Beside her Hellspite labored to keep breathing. From the looks of it Serenity’s plan had almost worked.

"After tonight, when I have power to rival a god you shall call me what I wish." Truly said. "Once Hellspite has devoured Merry body and soul he shall share that power with me. We are going to rule this world mother, and then Earth and then as many worlds as we wish."

"Yea, but are you going to enjoy it?" Merry called out. "And it’s taking you a while to get to me demon, what’s the matter, did I hurt something important?"

Hellspite hissed and rose to his feet.

"Hey he can walk." Merry jeered. "I bet that’s all he can do."

"I have waited long enough." Hellspite said stepping down from his throne.

"My mother had to be here." Truly said. "She had to see her last hope crushed."

"Oh don’t give me lines like that." Merry said. "It makes mocking you too easy."

"I will eat your body and your soul!" Hellspite shouted.

"The last time you tried to eat me you got indigestion." Merry laughed. "Come on, try again I dare you."

The woman was planning something. But what? An oval power canceling device was attached to her forehead and the ropes looked solid. Her legs were free but no kick could kill Hellspite even now. Yet Serenity knew Merry well enough to know that she was up to something.

Oh please Dear Lord above let her be up to something, Serenity thought.

Hellspite staggered over to her and fell to one knee. The demons and men around the compound had fallen silent. Everyone was looking at him.

"Come on, get it up or move aside." Merry taunted.

With a growl he stood up and Merry let go of the ropes, dropped to the ground and pulled a knife out of her boot. Before he could do anything she had shoved it into his throat. Hellspite fell back gasping as blood poured from the wound. Merry never saw him fall. After she had stabbed him Merry had dashed the ten feet that separated her and Truly and grabbed another knife from under her chain mail shirt. She held it against Truly's throat.

"No one move unless I say so!" Merry shouted. She moved slowly until she was kneeling beside Truly. Truly swallowed hard and looked scared.

"Try anything you die." Truly said.

"And if I don't try anything you'll let me walk out of here?" Merry sneered tearing the oval off of her forehead. She moved the knife against Truly's ear. "Tell your men to un-tie everyone or you'll loose this ear."

"How did you get free?" Truly demanded turning white at the threat.

"You got lousy men working for you." Merry said. "They didn't even search me."

"Attack!" Someone shouted.

Everyone looked in vain for the shouter and Serenity saw a man on the castle wall.

"The United Clans are attacking!" He called out.

The castle shook and they all heard the sound of exploding shells hitting the wall. Truly leapt up and shoved Merry down. But instead of shouting out orders she ran to the central tower. Chaos erupted as the demons and men started to organize a defense and got in each other’s way. Serenity got knocked down but Merry was on her quickly.

"Did you set the charges?" Merry asked.

"Yes. How did you get free?"

"Trade secret." Merry said freeing Esmerelda. Esmerelda freed Bitch-35 and then lifted Aphrodite off of her fire.

"I've got to go after her." Serenity said looking at the central tower. She glanced back toward the dungeon entrance. "But Verity and Ms. Dream are in the dungeon."

"I'll get them, you get her." Merry said.

"I'll see to everyone here." Esmerelda said.

Serenity ran toward the tower.

"Right where is the dungeon?" Merry asked Esmerelda.

"Through there and down." Esmerelda said. "We don't have much time, the charges will level this place."

"There's never a lot of time." Merry said heading toward the doorway. A scream made her look back and she saw a man attacking Vicki and Tranquility. Cursing Merry charged into him. She gripped his arm, twisted it hard and heard the snap. He cried out in pain and she slammed her knee into his face breaking his nose. He staggered away blood flowing freely. Two more men came at her. A look told her that Esmerelda was busy with three of them.

"Never easy." Merry said bracing herself. The first man she side stepped, the second she chopped in the throat and then ducked as the first man made a grab for her back and missed. She kicked the back of his head and he went down stunned.

Then the far castle wall erupted in flame and all thoughts of the former prisoners were abandoned as the guards rushed to the walls.

"Right, that's handy." Merry said. "Hell I wish just once plan C would work!"

"Plan C?" Tranquility asked.

"Esmerelda can you take care of them while I get the rest?" Merry demanded as Esmerelda ran up to her. Esmerelda was half into her wolf form and Bitch-35 was riding on her shoulder.

"Yes, we'll wait for you near the center tower." Esmerelda said.

"See ya." Merry said and ran.

Of all the dumb times for them to attack, Merry swore. Things hadn't been going great but they had been getting there. She'd hoped that by only using guns when Truly's men caught that they wouldn't search her, and she'd been right. They'd been too busy tying her up to search her. The knife she had stuffed into her boot was Aphrodite's as were the ones she had strapped on her stomach just under her breasts. She'd been half-afraid of a strip search, but gambled that Hellspite wanted to do everything to her himself. The ropes had been tight but Merry had managed to shrink out of them and fake that she was still tied up.

And then the UC had to attack! Merry cursed the luck as she ran down the stairs. The dungeon was easy to find; a door set into the wall with a set of iron bars on a window. There was no one on guard and the door was un-locked.

Inside Merry saw that Ms. Dream was stretched out on a rack. A power-canceling oval was on her forehead. Merry went over to her and lifted it off.

"You?" Ms. Dream asked blinking her eyes as she woke up.

"Me." Merry said cutting the ropes that held her wrist.

"Who's there?" Verity called. "Mum?"

"She's outside." Merry said turning around to find Verity. She gasped when she saw the small fairy. Small and blind Merry realized.

"Mystery Woman!" The old fairy next to her said, gasping out the name in shock and surprise. "Here?"

"Here." Merry said freeing Ms. Dream's other wrist and handed her a knife. She pulled another one out from under her chainmail shirt. "Come on, everyone out!"

Ms. Dream sat up slowly. She'd been beaten badly. Merry looked around and saw Miss Shadow. Rage filled her and it didn't matter that Miss Shadow had been beaten almost as badly.

"YOU!" Merry shouted. "We gotta talk…" Merry started forward as she talked but before she could get out the word 'later.' Merry felt a tremendous weight hit her head. She staggered as pain filled her mind.

"Merry no!" Ms. Dream shouted. "I can't let you kill her!"

"Get out of my head!" Merry roared.

Serenity dashed up the stairs but kept her eyes and ears open. Too many times in her life she'd been ambushed in a villains stronghold. The stairwell led upward and once or twice she caught sight of Truly but the girl moved fast. But the one good thing about chasing someone up a tower was that they had to run out of places to run sooner or later.

Serenity stopped at a doorway near the top and looked into a large room filled with science and sorcery equipment. Truly stood by a table and was tapping numbers into a computer.

Serenity didn't bother to call her daughter. She ran and grabbed her, pulling Truly away from the computer.

"Robot drones." Serenity said as the display screen showed robotic fighters firing laser beams into the UC forces. She turned and faced her daughter. "It won't do you any good Truly. Hellspite is dead and his demons won't stay with out him. Your forces won't follow your orders forever."

"Power and fear will keep them in line." Truly said. She pulled a gun out of her armor and leveled it at her mother. "Power and fear are the keys to everything."

Serenity swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to try and keep the tears from flowing. That was her daughter and her daughter was a monster.

"Tears mother." Truly laughed.

"Tears." Serenity said. "For both of us."

"Save them for yourself." Truly said.

She started to pull the trigger but lost her balance as the tower started to shake.

The explosives, Serenity realized. She grabbed the table for balance as the room began to tilt to one side. Like some gigantic ship at sea the room started to tilt more and more. Truly lost her balance and fell. Serenity tried holding onto the table but it started to move too. A cabinet tipped over and fell to the floor. A small chest that was on top of it broke open and a pair of bracelets and a necklace fell out.

"My armor!" Serenity shouted diving for it.

Ms. Dream was barely holding herself awake as Merry's anger battered away at the mental hold. She'd never felt this much rage from anyone and it paralyzed them both. But Miss Shadow was helpless and the look on Merry's face had told it all. She couldn't let Merry kill, not even Miss Shadow.

"Mystery Woman!"

Ms. Dream broke contact as she heard Hellspite's voice. He staggered into the dungeon with a knife in his hand and blood pouring down his chest. He charged her with a roar of hate and Merry met him with one of her own. But she was off balance from the mental attack and fell back. They rolled across the floor wrestling until they came to the far wall. Ms. Dream staggered off of the rack and stumbled over to Miss Shadow. Miss Shadow was awake but barely. Ms. Dream started to cut the ropes on her wrist.

Then the entire dungeon exploded. The blast destroyed parts of the walls, opening fissures and tunnels. Ms. Dream saw Hellspite and Merry fall into one of those fissures before another explosion blew her back to her own rack.

…To be continued.

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