The Dangers of Daring Officer Dolly

Chapter 41. The Quest Begins

by Skytower

Vicki wasn’t sure how much time had passed since Merry had gone to argue the law with Simone. If she could have laughed she would have. Whether or not she’d be tortured, whether or not she’d have any life at all after today was going to be decided by two people arguing the laws of a place that was barely bigger than a football field. Dollopolis. The name had inspired the curiosity of many intelligence agencies; including her own CIA.

And here I am in the place, Vicki thought. She strained to find a comfortable spot but the chains held her. They forced her to keep standing with manacles around her wrists and ankles and between her legs at the knees was a bar that forced her legs apart. A metal frame helmet kept her jaw closed and was attached to a collar around her neck. It had been uncomfortable at first, now it was painful. In another few hours Vicki knew that it would be excruciating. She’d been trained for this. Vicki had gone through the Simulated Imprisonment Course given by the CIA. The trainees had all called it the ‘Betty Page School’. For a week she’d been a prisoner. She’d taken it, not quitting when a few of the others had. But as bad as that was it didn’t prepare her for this. It was different when you were just a safe word away from freedom and the only consequence of that word was hurt pride and fewer points on your score sheet.

Vicki tugged at the chains again. They felt like iron. If she were at her normal size the chains wouldn’t have even bothered here. But Vicki was no more than six inches tall. Half of the size of Merry.

Merry. The First Knight. Vicki shuddered as she thought of what the woman had wanted to do to her. Across from her the wall of the dungeon was filled with the instruments of torture. Vicki wasn’t even sure what many of them did. She knew that she didn’t want to find out. The air was hot and stuffy and sweat dripped off of her nude body. The sweat made the skin encased by the metal itch. The oily smell of the metal was hard to ignore. She was safe from the torture no matter what, but if Merry had her way Vicki would be a slave for the rest of her life. Would she be wearing a collar for the rest of her life?

Vicki’s great, great grandfather had been ancient. Old enough to tell her tails of when he had worked on the U.S. Railroad, building the rails. He also told her his grandfather’s tails of Feudal Japan. As a child Vicki had been scared of the man and his tales, only when she was a teenager did she realize how lucky she was to have him. But the fear those tails had inspired in a six year old girl were still with her. Would she spend the rest of her life in this place, doing work like that or worse? Vicki thought of the anger in Merry's ice-blue eyes and a chill ran through her despite the heat. The woman wanted to break her; hurt her. Vicki didn't know how much she could stand. She'd seen other agents who had been tortured past the breaking point. They had recovered but not completely. Vicki remembered on agent with empty, hopeless eyes. Would her eyes look like that?

A sound made her look up and Vicki saw that Merry was at the doorway to the dungeon. She was wearing a sheer black robe that displayed perfectly her beautiful body. She was a also wearing a red domino mask. Behind her were two other women. They were wearing darker black robes and hoods. Merry stood aside and they walked into the dungeon. Both of them carried long metal rods. The look on Merry’s face was impossible to read. Her strong jaw was set and her eyes were cold. The women attached the rods to Vicki’s neck and then stood back. Merry came over and unlocked her ankles, then took the bar away from her legs and unlocked her wrists.

"Come with us." Merry said.

The command was emphasized when the two women tugged at her neck. Stumbling a bit Vicki followed them. Vicki wished that she could tell them that the poles really weren’t necessary. She was six inches tall, they were all twelve inches tall. Even with her martial arts training there wasn’t a lot that she could do against them. But the metal gag on her mouth silenced her. The rods were twice as long as her arms so that even while she wasn’t bound she was still helpless. But at least she was leaving the dungeon. The father she got from the torture tools the better Vicki felt.

She was taken with many tugs and stumbles up a spiral staircase and into a large throne room. Vicki had guessed that she had been under the castle, after all where else would you put a dungeon? The throne room was empty and she was taken outside, across the drawbridge and up a grassy slope. After the heat of the dungeon the open air was chilly. It was hard walking and Vicki stumbled more than a few times. Each time she was allowed only a few seconds to get her balance back before the rods were tugged again. The metal collar dug into her neck and Vicki tried to grab at it with her hands but that just resulted in harder tugs. Taking the hint Vicki concentrated on keeping her balance.

At the top of a rise was a large wooden platform. Beside it was a statue of death holding a digital clock in one hand. As they got closer Vicki realized that it wasn’t a statue of death, it was an action figure of Skeletor from the old He-Man cartoon show. In one hand he held a digital watch, in the other an hourglass. The skull face on the toy seemed to leer at her. It brought home again to Vicki how small she was since the thing was taller than her by at least two feet (or inches, she corrected herself). Behind the action figure was a black barrel. Beside it was a small fire and in the fire were irons. Vicki’s heart stopped as she saw the irons. But Simone was standing next to the fire. She had a bucket of water and poured it on the flames. She was wearing a black robe and a red domino mask as well.

"Simone!" Merry’s voice was full of outrage.

"The branding is optional Merry." Simone said sternly. "And I will not have Mrs. Rothschild even more upset than she is."

"Her!" Merry shouted. "What the hell has she got to do with this?"

"She successfully argued on Ms. Huang’s behalf." Simone said.

"She’s..."

"A friend to us." Simone said. "I believe this despite our many problems."

"She uses us!" Merry snapped. "She’s not our friend."

"She is your mother and you will respect her and follow the Law of Family." Simone ordered.

Merry growled but her anger didn’t seem to move Simone at all.

"Prepare her." Simone ordered the two women that were holding her.

Vicki was taken up to the platform and her mind raced as she tried to figure it all out. She’d been saved. Somehow Lucy Rothshild had gotten her out of this. But they weren’t going to send her away clean. They weren’t going to brand her but what were they going to do?

At the top of the platform was a set of stocks. The polls were detached from her collar and Vicki was forced into them. She was on her knees now, her neck and wrists forced into depressions on wooden bar. Padding on the bar kept the wood from digging into her skin. Her stomach rested on a ‘T’ stand that was also padded. Her legs were slightly apart and strapped down to the platform. Vicki swallowed in fear as she realized how helpless and open she was.

"Know this Vicki Huang of the Central Intelligence Agency." Simone said walking over to the platform. Simone was twice as tall as Merry and her hazel eyes were as cold and hard as her voice. Where Vicki and the others had walked up the platform Simone merely stood next to it and looked down on her. "You were brought here to Dollopolis in great peril. Hurt, mutilated and in great danger of your life. We saved you, we healed you and allowed you to enjoy our hospitality. In return you spat on our generosity. You would have betrayed us to our enemies, enslaved us to your CIA. Were it not for Mrs. Rothschild you would even now be facing the full consequences of those actions. She however has successfully defended you. She argued for your safety under the Law of Family. You will be sent from Dollopolis, never to return. But while the Law of Family saved you from the wrath of my First Knight it left you vulnerable to this Ceremony of Expulsion. This ceremony will forever bar you from Dollopolis, if you return it will be a violation of one of the Prime Laws and the penalty will be severe and unavoidable. Do you understand this?"

Vicki nodded. So far so good, but the young agent knew that she wasn’t clear yet.

Simone pointed to the clock.

"From now until sundown that clock will strike randomly. Each time it strikes one of us will be allowed to beat you in any way that does not cause permanent damage until the hour glass has run out. That time limit is pre-set by tradition to be twenty and one half of your minutes."

Vicki paled. She wasn’t sure about the others but in twenty minutes Merry could rip her apart. The action figure still seemed to leer at her. Vicki had enjoyed the show as a child, never had she thought that she’d actually be scared of Skeletor though.

"I miss the old clock." Merry said.

"Someday we might find it." Simone said. She walked over to the action figure and pushed the button on the side of the watch. Vicki looked at it more closely and realized that it was an old one, probably picked up out of the trash. It read out the time in minutes and seconds and a date. March 5, 1991. It struck her as wrong for a moment and then Vicki could have laughed at herself again. The date wasn’t what was going to concern her.

"We will follow tradition." Simone said. "By that tradition the one of us who was most hurt by your actions shall go first." She pointed to the large black barrel next to the action figure. Then I shall choose a name at random from this barrel."

"Your lucky." Merry said. "There aren’t that many of us left. By rights there should be at least 60 women lining up to take a crack at you." She smiled. "Don’t worry though, I’ll take up the slack."

That statement and the way she said it made Vicki realize that she hadn’t reached her fear limit yet.

"Monica." Simone said. She turned over the hour glass. "You will now fulfill your duties under the law."

Monica had been standing there all along but Vicki hadn’t realized it. Now as the dark woman walked up to her, looked at her silently for a moment and then walked up the stairs that led to the platform Vicki felt a sharp pang of guilt. She’d lied and she’d tried to seduce the other woman.

My country first, Vicki thought as Monica climbed the stairs. My country and the rules, I can’t break the rules. It’s nothing personal, it was just my job! Sometimes you have to do hard things.

Monica was wearing a sheer black robe like Merry’s and a domino mask. She moved silently behind Vicki and for a few minutes Vicki just waited, watching the sand in the hourglass run out.

"You were trying to get into my pants from day one." Monica said. Her voice was full of contempt. She placed her hand on Vicki’s butte. "But I got a good sense about people, I had a feeling you weren’t on the level."

So much for my great acting skills, Vicki thought bitterly. She stiffened as Monica’s hand squeezed her cheeks, her fingers pressing between them. Was she going to take her that way? Vicki couldn’t stop the whine that escaped her when she thought of Monica’s strong large fingers pushing inside of her body.

Whapp!

The spank caught her completely by surprise and Vicki leapt against her bonds. The palm of Monica’s hand was large enough to cover her whole butte and the impact had gone through her entire body.

The second spank hit her just as hard and so did the third one. And then they kept on coming. Was this Monica’s vengeance? Vicki couldn’t believe it at first. A spanking? Had she gotten to the woman after all? Vicki looked at the hourglass. She could take a spanking, she was sure of that.

Whapp!

But as the sands seemed to slow down as they went from the top of the glass to the bottom Vicki realized that it wouldn’t be that easy. The large dark hands that worked on a farm, that played the piano and the harp for hours on end; they were strong hands. And after only a few minutes Vicki was feeling each spank more than the last. Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her face. Monica’ pace was efficient and steady and quick. The rest of her body faded from Vicki’s consciousness as the spanking continued. Her world narrowed onto her ass and the pain that was coming from it. Monica’s rhythm never faltered or altered. It was like the Chinese water torture. Vicki could actually count the grains of sand between spanks and each count was the same; twenty grains between each spank.

When the last grain at last went through the tiny hole between the upper and lower parts of the hourglass Vicki could barely see it. Tears she could not blink away were blurring her eyes.

"Enough Monica." Simone said. "Your time of vengeance is done."

"Yes my lady." Monica said.

"We will now depart and await the next time." Simone said. She reached into the barrel.

Please don’t let it be her, Vicki prayed. Please don’t let it be...

"Merry will have the next turn." Simone said reading the piece of paper that she pulled from the barrel.

"Yes!" Merry’s shout was full of malice and joy.

"We shall leave you now to contemplate your crimes against us." Simone said resetting the watch. "Should this watch not strike between now and sundown then you will escape further punishment."

They all turned and walked away and Vicki was left to stare at the watch in Skeletor’s hand.

"And that’s where we stand." Mary said. She sat back and sipped her coffee. Around the table she could feel a mix of reactions. "Questions, comments?"

These were the ones who had stayed. Mary felt a special fondness for all of them. From its first days over a year and a half before, Earth Force had been a rickety construct. It had been put together by Lucy in one of the darkest periods of her life. She’d gone through hell to form a supergroup and the group she had ended up with hadn’t really set the world on fire. It had nearly split up many times during those early days and even after that. And the first three supervillains they had fought they had lost to. The mansion itself had been attacked a few times. But it was during the time that Lucy had decided to shield an injured Merry from Captain Pharaoh that the troubles had really started. Lucy had thrown the doors open to everyone and everyone had shown up. Just about everyone in the country with a power and a costume crowded into the mansion. For two months after Merry had left the mansion was complete chaos. Then the great exodus had begun. The independents had gone first, most of them without a word. They were the ones who would never really join anything. Then the sub-groups like the Mermaid Attack Squad. It had taken a few weeks but after that Mary knew that the ones who stayed were going to stay period. Of course forming them into an effective fighting force hadn’t been easy. The mansion had been attacked a few more times and part of it had to be rebuilt. The round conference table had been destroyed. Lucy was still nearly broke. But the core had formed. These were the ones who stayed. And they had a say in who joined. Force Group J had been run like a military operation, Earth Force was more of a republic. Mary wasn’t worried about the outcome of the conversation. Everyone at the table was at least curious about Merry.

Moon Girl’s golden skin and un-readable alien eyes looked at Mary. She was dressed in a tight T-shirt and jeans that hi-lighted her exotic beauty. Mary had been surprised when she had decided to stay. Moon Girl was royalty and her sister had conspired to exile her to Earth. Moon Girl had crashed on Earth and had been captured and tortured by ICE. Lucy had rescued her but her ship was un-fixable. Or so they thought. In reality Moon Girl’s sister had made a deal with the Earth Intelligence Agency and ICE. Keep Moon Girl on Earth and her empire would keep Earth safe from the Uroni, another space empire. It had taken a lot of work to finally know the truth. Lucy hadn’t known about the deal, she’d simply been used. That was why Moon Girl didn’t hate her the way she hated the intelligence community. Moon Girl could have gone back to her world and staged a revolution for the throne. But she didn’t. She chose to stay and help protect the planet that had conspired to keep her in exile. It was one of the noblest acts Mary had ever seen.

"I have longed to meet her." Moon Girl said. "But is this an honorable way to do so?"

"It'll work, that's what matters." Savage said. His handsome face was set with a ready grin. As usual he was wearing a pair of tight jeans and a T-shirt that looked like it was sprayed on. Savage was handsome and knew it. Mary wondered if he really intended to ask Merry to help himself and the Young Ancient have kids. Savage was strong and fierce in battle but he wanted a family. Since Yoran and he were both male that presented a fundamental problem. She wanted to be there if he did ask just to see the look on her face.

"We need more than a bribed Merry." Yoran said. "We need one who's willing to throw herself into battle with us."

God I wish this kid would age a little, Mary thought. Yoran had looked 18 years old when they had met ten years before and he would always look 18. He had thick brown hair and eyes and was as handsome in his own way as his husband. He wore a simple brown robe.

"Her oath would be enough." Esmerelda said. "Once that is given Merry's whole being is consumed by it."

She wasn't the same frightened slave that Mary had met three years ago. Esmerelda was going to start law school soon, her soft face and deep eyes were clear of pain and un-certainty. She'd also started wearing something besides peasant dresses. She was wearing a light blue skirt and sweater. It had taken a long time for them to convince her that she was pretty and that she had the right to look pretty. On the table in front of her Prudence spoke up.

"Yea, but it'd be nice to be able to talk to her too." Prudence hadn’t been full size in two days. It was really beginning to worry Mary. She was wearing a simple blue tunic tied at the waist with a string. Prudence had fashionable shrunken clothes but she was beginning to really favor the lost shrunken woman look. Her relationship with Esmerelda was growing and it had caused a jealous Granite Girl to leave the team. If they weren’t lovers it was only because neither of them was really sure of their sexual identity yet.

"Growling can be fun." Savage said with a smile.

"Not the way she does it." Esmerelda said. "Merry feels things completely. Anger, love… If she feels it then it fills her."

"I didn't talk to her much when she knocked me out that time." Gadget Gal said. "But I won't hold that against her. And maybe she'd let me look at their tech."

"I doubt that'll happen." Mary said. Gadget Gal was the shortest person in the room next to Prudence and she was wearing her usual orange jumpsuit. That suit had more circuitry running through it than a building of computers. She lived for technology. She also lived for acceptance. Mary sort of trusted her but she knew that some of them didn't. Gadget Gal had been part of Teen Force and had betrayed them. She was a supervillain's daughter by way of a heroine that he had mind controlled. The girl had gone through one of the worst childhoods imaginable. Mary knew that and she felt for her, but that didn’t mean she trusted her completely. Gadget Gal was furtive a lot of the time and Mary was certain that she was hiding something.

"What can she do for us?" Alpha asked.

"I think she's proved that." Beta said.

Twin book ends. Mary knew why they stayed. Alpha and Beta had been solo heroines until Count Intellect had captured them. His torture had broken them, killed one of them and they had only survived by the power of their magic rings. But the memories were still there. Even now Mary sometimes felt their fear when they went into battle. They needed a team to feel safe. And with good reason. When Timidious had been revealed to be an ICE agent, a sleeper agent who for years had worked from within Force Group J to keep it as in-effective as possible; it had been the end for Force Group J. Captain Pharaoh had been devastated and had taken his pyramid to Mars to live in seclusion. Without Force Group J supervillain groups had been springing up all over the world. In the year since the pyramid had left fifteen heroes and twenty heroines had been killed or had simply vanished. It was getting dangerous out there and there were rumors of a superbeing slavery outfit. Mary hoped that the rumors were false but in her heart she knew that they were true.

Alpha favored Savage with a look and Mary wondered if she and her sister were mulling over his entreaty toward children. She didn't want to think about what the right wingers would do if that ever happened. Yoran and Savage were lovers and married lovers at that. Lucy had moved their case through to the US Supreme court and won. There were a lot of people who weren't happy about that and they could generate bad press. Mary wasn't sure why they bothered, in a world of demons, demi-gods, cyborgs and aliens who cared if some same sex marriages were sanctioned by the government? Hell gay marriage was the least of the strange relationships she had seen. Mary read the internet chatter, she knew that there was already speculation. Alpha and Beta were twins. Tall, stacked and raven haired they had financed their careers as superheroines by being models. They were bi-sexual and very left wing and not shy about saying so. Sometimes she gritted her teeth through their rants. When they and Lucy started to argue Mary usually left the room. Lucy was more right wing than most people thought and they could go on four hours. Politics made Mary's teeth hurt.

"I meant as part of a team." Alpha said. "We know what she can do on her own."

"That we can work out if we actually get her here." Mary said. "Ezzy and I have seen her in battle, she can help."

"She goes too far." Alpha said.

"It's another female." Yoran said. "That won't do much good for the image of Earth Force as a FEM Force knockoff."

"We haven't gotten to the point where we're worrying about that have we?" Beta asked.

"I haven't." Mary said. "Lucy certainly hasn't. Saturday Night Live can take as many potshots at us as they want, nobody watches them anymore anyway."

"And her temper won't be an issue." Esmerelda said. "Part of the oath of Earth Force is not to kill. I have seen Merry take an oath and hold it no matter what her feelings are."

"Bottom line." Mary said. She was getting tired and wanted this over with. "Does anyone here have any real problems with her joining us if Lucy manages to pull this off?"

Everyone shook their heads 'no'.

"Ok then." Mary said. "Let's get some sleep. She'll be dropping the spook off tomorrow night but she won't be staying, so we got some time to work things through. We can have a full combat practice tomorrow and see if we can come up with ideas on how and where she can help."

"Yoran it is a full moon tonight." Esmerelda said.

"I have the drug ready." Yoran said. "I'll meet you in your room."

"We'll be there." Prudence said.

They filtered out and Mary watched them go.

How the hell did I get to be chairman of the board she wondered as they all left the room? I used to be the fun girl. Damn when was that?

Yoran was the last one out and he closed the door softly. Mary stood up and pressed the intercom button.

"Security you can lock us down for the night, I'm going to get some sleep."

"Yes ma'am." Walter said.

'Ma'am'? Mary sighed and headed toward her own room. "Ma'am." She repeated ruefully.

A little while later Mary stepped out of her bathtub and looked at herself in the large mirror on the other side of her room. She could do that now that Timidious mental garbage had been cleaned out of her head. For over eight years Timidious had been a member of Force Group J and Mary had thought that he was a friend. But he wasn’t. He was an agent of ICE. But she had trusted him and he had wormed his way deeply into her mind. He found out all of her secrets and used them against her, shredding her self confidence and turning her into an emotional basket case. Mary had covered the mirror with a curtain all those years. She’d been afraid of looking at her body. She’d hated it and felt guilty at any sort of sexual thought. It’d been a hell that had been slowly destroying her. Merry had found the key to her mind and Simone had given her that key to escape that. That after she’d nearly gotten Merry killed.

"So yea, do what you have to do Lucy." Mary said. "We owe them."

Mary’s body was a good one. She was beautiful, or handsome really. Her round face with its big ears would have been a problem if not for her long white hair. She wasn't as slim as she had been; physical workouts had beefed her up a bit. Mary had put a photo of Timidious on a sparing drone and gone crazy for months. It had paid off. Another help was that the tattoos that she supposedly couldn't live without were gone. But the other scars from her long career as a heroine were still there. And Mary was starting to see them more and more. Mary was 35 years old. More or less. She'd been hit with a youth ray once and been reduced to 3 months old. When the ray was reversed they were never sure if she had gained or lost a few years out of the deal. But while the rest of Earth Force was older and younger than she was none of them showed the wear and tear she did. Yoran and Savage were from another time and they had no idea how old they were. Thanks to their shared life force their bodies aged slowly. Alpha and Beta's magic rings slowed their aging. Lucy would never see a gray hair. Prudence, Esmerelda and Gadget Gal were too young to even think of age.

"But I'm not." Mary said looking at her reflection. Wrinkles were starting appear on her face. Her breasts were starting to sag no matter how much she exercised. Her original breasts wouldn’t have been a problem, but a supervillain had re-sculptured her body and given her different breasts. They were larger and her nipples had gone from soft beige to bright red. Sometimes that still shocked her. Mary refused to have surgery to correct it. She didn't like knives and she didn't like them being used on her while she was asleep. An encounter with Knife's Edge had instilled that fear into her. Mary gazed for a moment at the stripe of brown hair between her legs. Once the hair on her head had been chestnut brown too. Once her eyes…

Stop it, Mary scolded herself. You aren’t allowed to have self-pity on a Friday night. She reached for a towel and dried herself off. Once dry she put on a robe and went into her room. One of the good points about living in the mansion was a private bathroom. And security. Mary had lost three apartments to supervillain attacks. Three apartments and the buildings that they had been in. After the third one she'd given up and moved into a house. And then a supervillain had blown up her block.

"Will you stop depressing yourself." Mary told herself in a frustrated tone. But it was hard. Mary had met Lucy when she was twenty one years old. Back then it was all fun and games and it kept being that way for a while. Supervillain after supervillain, battle after battle; Mary had never thought about getting older. But in the past year she'd started to think about it. She was starting to think back on her life and Mary wasn't sure she liked it. Once Timidious mind games had been washed away Mary felt like she had woken up from a long sleep. Suddenly everything seemed different and yet everything was the same. And not a lot of it was pleasant. Mary knew that she'd accomplished a lot in her time in the costume. She'd saved people. She had saved a lot of people. Mary had five scrap books full of thank you cards. But in the end she usually ended her nights just as she was doing now. Alone watching tv.

Mary walked over to the bed and switched on the TV. Another perk of living in the mansion was a 60 inch super plasma-modified by Gadget Gal to be almost holographic. Mary propped herself up against the headboard of her bed and started to search through the channels.

"Oh hell." Mary said and let the tv settle onto the Cartoon Network. Bleach was playing and it was simple enough to distract her a little. Mary settled back into the pillows. Taking a deep breath she started to let her mind drift outward. Mary had to do this every night. If not her telepathic senses were left on and she found herself moving through peoples dreams. When she had first gotten her powers Mary had loved moving through people's dreams. But that hadn't lasted long. If being a telepath allowed her to break into people's minds being a dream walker let her break into their souls. People dreamed about things they would never have dared to think about. It gave Mary an insight into her friends that had ruined friendships. Later she learned some mystical skills and was able to control it, Mary found that she could stand in an ocean of dreams and find one person, but she was always careful only to look from the outside, never enter.

Mary let her mind drift out and as it swept through the mansion she identified everyone and tuned them out. Prudence and Esmerelda were asleep. The day shift security staff was as well. From Lucy she could feel the steady hum of a superb mind working. Mary let herself linger on that, reveling in the slight touch she was able to get away with. She moved on past the sleeping Gadget Gal and was feeling more and more peaceful until she ran into the next set of minds. Alpha and Beta weren't asleep they were making love to Savage and Yoran. At the same time in the same bed. Taken completely off guard Mary had to fight to keep her mind steady and it was hard to tune them out. She was barely steady enough to move on and the second she did so Mary realized that she should have waited. Daisy and Brent Obrien were making love too.

Mary's eyes shot open. It was very rare for so many people in the mansion to be making love at once. And with her senses Mary might just have well have been standing at the foot of their beds munching popcorn. She was hot, her robe was undone and her fingers were toying with her very stiff nipples.

"Hell." Mary swore as she strove to put up the mental barriers again. There would be no sleep for her this night, not for a while. She settled back and tried to watch the tv. But she'd hit buttons on the remote without realizing it and a Cinemax skin flick was running.

Mary didn't admit defeat at first. She tried another channel and then another, but it was no use. Her fingers still played across very sensitive nipples and her pussy was wet.

"I'm not going to do this tonight." Mary said to the empty room. "It's wrong, it's…"

Mary sighed as she realized that she'd been rubbing the remote control up and down a very wet pussy. She tossed it aside and telekinetically opened the top draw of her dresser. The dildo was large, pink and already on before it was halfway across the room. While she played with her breasts Mary used her mind to direct it between her legs. She let the rest of her mind drift again. She was careful not to listen for thoughts or look for dreams. The only thing she wanted was the love and lust that emanated from the couples. But that wasn't completely true.

As Brent kissed Daisy's breasts Mary let her self tune into Lucy's concentration and it was Lucy who was kissing her breasts. As the Savage and Yoran moved between Alpha and Beta's legs Lucy moved between Mary's legs. In her fantasy it was Lucy who was stroking her sex with her tongue, Lucy who was laughing and giggling as they shifted from one position to another, Lucy who was…

Daisy and Brent climaxed and part of the energy was lost. Before Mary could regain her balance Alpha climaxed. Mary strove with all her might to rush her body but it was too late. Beta climaxed and the lustful love filled energy faded completely a few moments later when Yoran and Savage climaxed. Mary's world reformed into her room. Her fingers on her breasts, her hand on the vibrator between her legs. No one else's. The only bit that she still had of Lucy was the steady hum of her concentration.

Mary tried but failed. The energy deserted her and the vibrator wasn't enough. She tossed it away and tried to bring to mind a fantasy that would keep her body going. Standing up she walked into the bathroom again. Turning the shower on hot she adjusted the stream so that it would be pulsed and hard and aimed it so that it would hit between her legs when she lay down. Then she lay down in the tub. The hot water hit her pussy and sent shudders through her body. Mary played with her breasts and tried to grab at a fantasy that would work. After a few minutes she brought to her mind a memory, not a fantasy. She and Lucy had been mind controlled and forced to make love to each other. Mary lost herself in the memory and her body responded until she climaxed. It wasn't a very good climax, but it was better than nothing.

"I'll hate myself in the morning." Mary said. "Hell I hate myself now."

Mary put the plug in the tub and then telekinetically moved the shower stream so that it missed her body completely. She threw in some bath salts and with her mind turned off the tv and switched on her Ipod. As Sergeant Pepper started to play over the speakers Mary let her mind go and managed to stay awake long enough to shut off the water when the tub was full. In her dreams Mary fought off Blue Meanies.

Vicki was quickly learning that dread was an emotion that could not be sustained. Not that she wanted to keep being scared. But there wasn't much else to do. The frame stopped her from moving; the pain from her butte wouldn't let her sleep. The only thing she could do was try not to stare at the watch in Skeletor's hand. And that was damn hard. And she wasn't the only one who was watching that watch. Every so often Merry came close enough to look at it. She didn’t come very close, just close enough for Vicki to see how tense the woman was. The sun going down and Vicki pinned her hopes on that.

Merry topped the rise beyond the watch, cocked her head and when she was rewarded with silence she growled and stomped away.

"You won't be liked, you'll be hated." Vicki remembered the words of Nancy Myers in one of their recruitment meetings. "Good people are going to want to tear your head off and you'll deserve it a lot of the time. Take a look at everyone walking around right now. They walk around just like you do because people like me have done some really rotten things. Things that’ll probably damn us to hell. Can you handle doing something like that? What it comes down to Vicki is how much you can stand. Which is more important, your feelings or your country?"

Vicki had thought that she knew the answer to that. And despite it all she was still certain. These may have been good people but her country came first. She knew that no matter what Merry and Simone thought the CIA wasn't going to invade and enslave them. But they weren't going to let them operate freely either. Dollopolis had to be contained, their tech and their potential to be an enemy were too much to take chances with.

Not that I've done a lot of good so far, Vicki thought.

A sound caught her attention and she stained her head to look around. It was useless, the bonds were too well designed. For a moment her heart stopped. Had Merry decided to ignore the time? Vicki felt something hot move across her butte. She swallowed. It had felt like a warm breeze. Then something like sandpaper was moved across it. She screamed through the gag.

Her scream died as Sparky walked from behind her and into her line of sight. Vicki stared at the cat. Even if she had been able to say anything nothing would have come out. She realized what had happened. The cat had licked her ass. Literally.

Sparky sat down and gazed at her. There was more than just a cat in that gaze. Vicki would have bet anything on that. Her eyes were held for a moment by the cat's eyes and Vicki felt as if her entire life were being judged.

The beeping of the watch startled her from the gaze. Sparky looked at the watch and then at Merry as she hurried toward them. With a casual movement the cat walked over and knocked the watch out of Skeletor's hand. Then Sparky walked over and put himself between Merry and Vicki.

By this time Vicki wasn't even sure what normal was anymore, but she knew this wasn't it.

"Hold Merry." Simone said walking behind her.

"It beeped." Merry said.

"My lady!" Monica called running over to her. They held a whispered conversation. As rattled as she was it took Vicki a few moments to realize what was going on. For some reason the cat was protecting her.

"Bast doesn’t have anything to do with this!" Merry insisted.

"Merry we will not challenge a goddess because your pride is hurt." Simone said sternly. "Now you will go and help Lizzie and Jessie bring the coffin."

"…offin!?" Vicki demanded through her gag.

"But…" Merry started.

"Now First Knight!" Simone said. She hadn't raised her voice but the commanding tone was there. Merry growled and stomped away. Simone turned back to Sparky.

"She will not be harmed but the rest of the ceremony will be carried out."

Sparky yawned and trotted off. Vicki was left to look at Simone and Monica. Simone walked up to her.

"What ever else you are Miss Huang you have been favored by Bast." Simone touched Vicki's newly pointed ears. "Perhaps she was the one who influenced the temple." Simone ran her fingers along them and then stepped back. "For what ever reason the rest of the law will be followed. In Dollopolis when someone dies with honor they are buried as they were born and their bodies as well as their spirits join the endless cycle of life. But if they die with dis-honor they are bound, placed in coffins and buried, forever trapped in body and spirit. You will not be buried." Simone said seeing her reaction. "You will be bound, placed in a coffin and delivered to Mrs. Rothschild's mansion. But to us you will be dead. We will never speak of you or with your ever again. If you ever see any of us again we will either ignore you or attack you."

She turned before Vicki could even react and in the distance Vicki could see Merry, Lizzie and Jessie carrying a wooden coffin toward her.

Just a bit on bondage to go, Vicki thought. Thank you Bast.

There was no reply to her thanks and Vicki wasn't even sure she'd have been able to recognize one if there had been.

Merry, Lizzie and Jessie carried a black coffin up to the foot of the platform and then walked up the stairs. It was a relief to be free of the stocks but Vicki wasn't given any chance to recover. Merry took her arms and Lizzie and Jessie each took a leg and carried her down the stairs. Once on the ground Merry held her arms out at her side while Lizzie and Jessie took strips of cloth out of the coffin and began to wrap her up. They worked silently in the fading light. Merry was tall enough to hold Vicki's arms straight above her and hold her off of the ground. Lizzie and Jessie wrapped her legs together tightly. Merry placed her on the ground and the folded Vicki's arms across her chest. Lizzie and Jessie continued and despite the fact that she knew freedom was close Vicki was still scared. She was a tiny creature and they were gigantic. She'd escaped their full wrath mostly by luck.

They placed her in the coffin and Vicki knew she'd have nightmares. Her legs were bound together, her arms crossed in front of her chest and just as tightly bound and the bandages went completely around her head except for her eyes and nose. It was as close to being buried alive as Vicki ever wanted to come. And they were all so large. It was a fact that she couldn't get out of her head. At the end Simone came over and without another word pressed a cloth over her face. Vicki recognized chloroform even as she blacked out.

"There they are." Prudence said pointing.

"The big guns." Mary said gazing at the two larger ships that had appeared in the late afternoon/early evening sun. They'd already seen them, a modified ship from Star Trek and a star destroyer from Star Wars. Between them was the familiar Thunderbird 2. The other ships hovered while the small green ship landed.

"How powerful are they?" Ms. Myers asked.

"That's what they used to take out Knife's Edge." Colonel Davis said.

"Man I'd love to go into that tech." Gadget Gal said.

Even though Simone had told them Merry wasn't staying the entire group was out on the back lawn. All except Lucy who was still in her office.

Thunderbird 2 separated from the cargo barrel and the front of it opened. Lizzie, Jessie, Merry and Monica walked down the ramp carrying a coffin between them. They wore black with black masks covering most of their faces. Mary felt a surge of fear from Ms. Myers and grabbed the woman before she could run forward.

"That's a damn coffin!" Ms. Myers hissed.

"Stay still or we'll need more of them." Mary said digging her grip into the woman's arm. "I can feel her, she's alive."

Ms. Myers settled down but that wasn't the end of the tension on the lawn. Mary watched as the tiny women put the coffin down and then marched back into Thunderbird 2. She felt an ache from Esmerelda.

Stay cool, Mary thought. If this works out you'll have plenty of time with her. Not sure if that's going to be a good thing or not.

Thunderbird 2 joined up with the cargo barrel again and lifted off. The three ships each turned toward different directions and then shimmered into invisibility.

"Man I gotta get that tech." Gadget Gal said again.

Mary was the only one who heard her. The rest of them were running toward the coffin. Esmerelda reached it first and Prudence was right behind her. She shrunk and tore off the cover. Inside was a woman even smaller than Prudence. She was wrapped up in some gray gauze but her eyes were open and she was awake.

"Wonderful, she's gift wrapped." Mary said.

"Riddle me this." Mary said. She was enjoying herself and she couldn't help it. The CIA didn’t mix well with superheroes and she’d had more than her fair share of trouble with them. Mary had once spent a week in a dictators dungeon thanks to a CIA agent. It felt good to get a little payback now that the real danger was past. "What's more frustrating then not being able to get your spy back? Getting her back and not being able to talk to her."

Ms. Myer's favored her with a caustic look. On the table Prudence was trying to get the metal frame off of Vicki's head. Gadget Gal was handing her the smallest tools she had but they were still almost too large to pick the lock. Vicki had kept enough of the wrappings to protect her modesty. It was another strange sight to add to Mary's collection. At a foot tall Prudence was normally the smallest person on the table. But Vicki was half of her size. Watching Prudence work on the lock was like watching a Barbie Doll go after a third rate knockoff.

"Why didn’t they send the key?" Alpha asked.

"I'm betting they sort of forgot it on purpose." Mary said.

"Got it." Prudence said.

There was a metallic click and the frame opened up. Vicki opened her mouth and coughed a little.

"Here." Prudence said handing her a tiny cup.

"Thanks." Vicki said drinking.

"How are you feeling?" Yoran asked.

"Look at me." Vicki said angrily. "You have to ask? Look what they did to me?"

"What happened?" Beta asked. "Did they really change your body?"

"Yea, what’s with the ears?" Mary asked.

"You'll have to wait to get those answers." Ms. Myers said grabbing Vicki. She stood up and put the tiny agent into her front pocket and stood up. In her pocket Vicki struggled and they heard muffled protests. "I'm sorry but none of you are cleared to be in the room while we debrief her."

"Thank you for helping us." Colonel Davis said standing up.

"What?" Prudence looked up.

"You're just going to take her and leave?" Beta demanded.

"They are but they will be back." Lucy said appearing in the doorway. "For the moment they don't want any of us to learn what Vicki has learned of Dollopolis."

"Geez paranoid much?" Gadget Gal asked.

"We are grateful Lucy." Colonel Davis said. "But the procedure…"

"I understand." Lucy said calmly. "So would Simone." She walked past them and over to the table. Lucy looked pleased with herself. In fact she looked a little too pleased. Sometimes Lucy got so happy just to solve a puzzle she forgot that it would probably lead to more troubles. Mary could almost see the storm clouds forming around them. "But you will be back Dave."

"Maybe." Ms. Myers said. "Goodbye and thank you."

"You just going to let them walk out of here?" Savage demanded.

"Of course I am." Lucy said. She took a deep breath and sat down. "Why keep them? They have their agent, she can only tell them the same things about Dollopolis that are in our official reports. If she could tell them more than that Simone wouldn’t have let her leave the city. Once they realize that and once they realize that the only hope of returning her to a normal size is through us they will be back."

"Oh yea." Mary said. "I'm so used to Pru changing size that I forgot about that."

"If Ms. Huang could have grown to full size she would have done so as soon as Prudence got the gag off of her." Lucy said.

"Doesn't the CIA have it's own growing potion?" Alpha asked.

"Probably." Yoran said. "But her body wasn't just shrunk, it was hit by radiation and subjected to the healing power of the Temple of Healing in Dollopolis. Just giving her a potion to grow back to full size might not do much."

"So if they want her back to normal they'll need our help." Mary said.

"No, they'll need Simone's help." Lucy said.

"Fat chance of that happening." Mary said.

"We'll see." Lucy said. She started to place folders in front of everyone. "For now we have work to do."

Mary sighed and picked up her folder.

Simone had spent an hour with Monica after Thunderbird 2 returned. She’d been a bit worried about the girl. Monica hadn’t been out of Dollopolis since she had entered the duchy more than a year before. She was a farmer; outside missions weren’t something she did. But the coffin needed four people to make the scene work and the Group wanted Simone to stay behind, just in case the CIA was going to try something.

But she needn’t have worried. Monica wasn’t interested in the outside world beyond farming or music. She played Simone a bit of her new opera and that was it. Simone enjoyed the music and then went to find Merry.

Merry was on the practice field. She used one of the scythes that Snowbelle had made to hack away at a pole. Simone had seen Merry do this before. When Merry was really tense she worked out. The tension was almost visibly radiating off of her lover.

"How is she?" Merry asked stopping and leaning on the pole. She was nude and dripping with sweat. Merry always spent half of her practice time in the nude. She had explained to Simone that she lost her clothes so many times on her missions that it was better just to go with the flow and get used to it.

"She’s fine." Simone said.

"But I’m not." Merry said and that showed Simone just how bad it was. Merry didn’t admit that sort of thing easily. "She’s taking over more and more Simone."

Simone didn’t have to ask who ‘she’ was.

"I wasn’t acting for the most part." Merry said. "When I heard Vicki trying to talk to the CIA, when I was in the dungeon with her, when Sparky blocked me... I wasn’t acting. Hell I wasn’t even thinking. I wanted her Simone. I wanted her screaming, I wanted her begging... It was like on Faerun when my head got busted. I couldn’t think like me, I could only think like her."
Merry planed the spike end of the scythe into the ground. Then she held onto it and sank to her knees, almost as if she were sliding down a pole.

"I’ve never had a short temper Simone, but She does. And when I get mad now She’s ready to take over. I can almost feel her inside me pulling the strings. And it comes out more and more when we deal with Lucy and her crowd. I can’t be me around them, I have to be her. I have to be the First Knight. And the more I have to be her the more I become her."

Simone came over and sat beside her, putting her arm around her lover. She was at twenty-four inches tall and Merry was a twelve inches tall. Over time Simone had found out that the height difference was the best way to comfort Merry. Merry liked being small to Simone’s tall form.

They didn’t say anything for a while. Simone finally knew how Merry felt. She’d felt the same way after talking with Lucy and having words other than what she meant to say come out of her mouth. For just a little bit of time she had been the Duchess. It had been scary, but at the same time intoxicating.

"I think." Simone said at last. "I think Merry that there is something going on that we really don’t know about. I think that its been going on for a long time and we’re just coming to a new part of it."

"I don’t understand." Merry said.

"I’m not sure I do either." Simone said. "But think of it. All of this started after you saved the world from the giants."

"I didn’t save the world." Merry said. "Sandy was going to betray them without me. I just saved Lucy and her friends."

"Regardless that is when you met Ida." Simone gathered her in more tightly. "You saved her at least. But that is when you stopped being Mystery Woman and started being Mystery Woman of Dollopolis. That's when I showed up with the name. That was when Lucy Rothchild broke her word and dragged you into the outside world. From that point on Merry things spiraled far out of our control and even out of the Group’s control."

{She’s right.}

{After that Ida knew about us.}

{I wonder if Athena knew about us then or later?}

{She set Lucy the task of finding Dollopolis, or at least Merry.}

"I think that she did know." Simone said. "And I think that ever since she and Ida have been prodding us along, pushing us closer to Lucy’s group."

"But it’s killing me!" Merry nearly wailed. "I have to lie to Lucy and Esmerelda... I have to make them think I’m this crazy psycho bitch! Lucy’s... She’s... Goddess Simone look what I do to her!"

"You don’t do anything to her." Simone said. "Merry Lucy Rothschild may be a paragon of virtue but I’ll match your soul against hers any day of the week."

"How can you say that?" Merry asked drawing back from her. "Look at what I’ve done in my life and look at what she’s done in hers."

"Look at it yourself." Simone said. "Goddess Merry look at yourself for a moment. You could live here in a palace, or you could have your own room upstairs in my mansion. But you live as a cripple in that tiny house of yours and hobble to the community center four days out of seven. You could have more money than I do but aside from a few luxury items that we force you to take you still live off your disability pay. Look at Lizzie and Jessie. They raped you when you first met, nearly killed you and you treat them like sisters now!"

Simone’s voice had risen and she couldn’t stop it. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She was getting to her. Simone could tell by the way Merry was frowning.

"Lucy may be one of the pillars of the world." Simone said. "But you dear girl are just as important. She may get the headlines and the glory but how many times have you saved her now? Could she have brought down ICE without you? Could Lady Highfield have gotten her daughters back from Faerun without you? And after all Merry Dollopolis started because Lucy broke her word."

"I never thought of it that way." Merry said.

"Of course you didn’t. You are too much like her." Simone drew Merry back to her. "Merry my family tree has more than it’s share of supervillains. At our supper table my brother and I learned about the dark side of superheroes. They are human dear, and they make just as many dubious moral choices as you do. Lucy Rothschild thinks of herself almost exactly like you do."

"But I still lie to her." Merry said. "You can’t spin that away Simone. Not only that, but what I've done for the Group. Sure it's going to make the world a better place, I tell myself that over and over and over again. But inside… way down deep… the guilt is always there. I live with it, I try to forget it, but it's always there. I lie to her, to them, to everyone. That hurts me. It hurts me so much... it eats at me. And now what? I join them? Day after day living a lie? How do I do that?"

"I don’t know." Simone said. "But as I said Merry there is a lot more going on here than any of us know about. I don’t think we’ll know what’s really going on until it’s over and we might not know then."

"So what do we do?"

"Play the game dear." Simone said hugging her tightly. "And have faith in who’s dealing the cards."

Merry sighed.

"How much of it is gods?" She wondered. "Do you think Bast influenced Tremont to re-shape Vicki?"

{I believe that she did.}

{At least as far as the ears and they eyes went.}

{But if Bast seeks to use her like Athena uses Lucy she might be in for a surprise.}

{Vicki is a dedicated agent.}

"Yea, but Bast is a goddess." Merry said. "They think long term. Maybe it’s Vicki’s children that Bast is interested in."

{Perhaps.}

{For now let us concern ourselves with this scythe.}

{Lucy will find it.}

{But what then?}

"It’ll come to me and I’ll use it." Merry said. "I'll take the guilt, I'll take the pain and I'll use it. I can't believe that what ever they want me to do isn't for the greater good. So I'll use it no matter what happens to me. For what ever they want me to do."

Which ‘they’? Simone wondered marveling at the nobility in Merry's words even as she marveled at the fact that Merry didn't think herself noble. Which 'they'? The Group or the Gods? Any conflict between them would kill Merry.

"I think that we should keep and eye on this quest of Lucy’s." Simone said.

{We agree.}

"I could follow them." Merry said.

{No.}

{According to the mythology laid down letting you near the scythe is to be avoided at first.}

{But it is in Simone’s character to try and get the scythe before Lucy.}

{We will send Lizzie and Jessie in the new fighters.}

"But what about me?" Merry asked.

{Go home and rest.}

{Tonight is game night at the rec center.}

{You need to reacquaint yourself with normal life.}

{If riding herd over a group of hormonal teenagers with attitudes can be considered normal.}

"They’re right dear." Simone said.

"I guess." Merry said pulling away from her and standing up.

She was calmer now. But only outwardly. Simone saw the slight shake to Merry’s hands. The Group was right, a few days at home in the real world would do her some good.

Of course now I have to worry about Lizzie and Jessie, Simone thought as she stood up herself. When this is all over I’m going to arrange some sort of vacation for all of us.

… To be continued.

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