The Dangers Of Daring Officer Dolly

 

Chapter 46. “Old and New, Enemies and Friends”

by Skytower

 

 

            The light wind stirred Merry’s long blonde hair but she didn’t notice.  She didn’t notice anything really but the solid piece of stone that lay at her feet.  Her stone.  Her tomb stone.  A solid granite stone barely 2 feet high with deeply carved letters in a solid roman style.  It was real.  As real as the ground she stood on.  Merry knew she should have felt something.  But she didn’t.  It amazed Merry that she didn’t.  She was standing at her own grave at sunset.  The light autumn wind had a chill to it.  Dead leaves floated down from a nearby tree.  It was a scene at the end of a movie. She should have felt something.  But looking at the stone and the name on it did not move her at all.

            “Saying goodbye?” Simone asked.

            Merry glanced at her.  She’d been so involved that she hadn’t heard Simone come up behind her.  The sunlight caught Simone’s red hair and heart shaped face perfectly.  She was wearing a deep green skirt, light green blouse and a knee-length brown sweater coat.  Seeing her Merry realized again how much she loved her.  But even that couldn’t really break through to her right now.

            “To what?” Merry asked.  She looked around at the graveyard.  At least they were alone.  Not that many people would visit a graveyard close to sunset.  Not a week after the funeral.  “A life unlived?  This is wrong you know.  This should be more dramatic.  There should be rain and lightning and I should be standing here in a trench coat.  The wind should be whipping it around like a cape.”

            “Too much drama.” Simone said smiling in that gentle way that made Merry’s heart melt.  “I don’t like being out in the rain.  And I like what you’re wearing.”

            “I never really lived in this town Simone.” Merry said, sitting down next to the grave.  The cold ground made itself felt.  She was wearing jeans and a black jacket over a light shirt.  “I came here after L.A. and I bought a house and I joined the force… But that was all.  I never tried to make friends, took all the holiday shifts, spent vacations and days off walking through the park…  I was just… Dead.  But I kept moving like I was alive.  I never realized it though.  Just kept watching tv and working out.  Even after The Group took me I just didn’t…  I mean it used to worry them.  They’d push me into social situations but I’d, just sort of drift through them.  I never really lived here until last year.  In one year I’ve…”

            “You’ve lived.” Simone said.  “You’ve had friends.  But you can’t live here anymore Merry.”

            “I know.” Merry said.  She swallowed.  “Merry McCormick can’t live anywhere anymore can she?”

            “Neither can Simone Stronghollow really.” Simone said.  “But I have the luxury of fading away.  That is something that the rich in this town can do.  We grow up, get bored with the small town and move away.  The people are used to that.”

            Merry felt Simone take her hand and squeezed it.  She slacked off when she heard Simone gasp. 

            “Sorry.” Merry said standing up.

            “It’s alright.” Simone said.  “Merry if it makes you feel any better the reason this town is still here is because of Mystery Woman.  Because of you.”

            “That’s incredible.” Merry said.  “That’s the hardest part of this.  It’s the part they never covered in my comic books.  They never tell you how…  How empty it feels sometimes.  How unreal.  I’m part of Earth Force, I’ve battled along side them but right now-right here-it seems so far away.  I mean I do all of that and I still do the laundry, still take out the garbage, still watch tv…  Clip coupons.  I do all that, but Mystery Woman the First Knight of Dollopolis is the one who saves the world.”

            “And you’re her.” Simone said. 

            “And because I’m her I can’t be her.” Merry said pointing at the headstone.”

            “No, you just can’t be her here.” Simone said.  She squeezed Merry’s hand and then brought it up and placed it over Merry’s heart.  “You can be her in here.”  Simone took the hand and placed it on her chest over her own heart.  “And you’ll always be her in here.”

            Merry kissed her and then hugged her tightly.  Simone’s perfume filled her lungs and her closeness filled Merry’s spirit.  Now she realized that she had felt something all along.  She just hadn’t realized it.  She had felt grief. 

            “Merry…” Simone gasped out and Merry let her go.  Simone stepped back and steadied herself.

            “Someday you’re going to break me doing that.” She smiled.

            “I’m sorry.” Merry said.  She looked back at the tombstone.  “I guess it’s time to go?”

            “Yes.” Simone said.

            “Wait.” Merry said.  She pulled off her jacket and let it fall to the ground then started to unbutton her shirt.  “I came into this town as Merry McCormick.”  Merry pulled off her shirt and let it fall to the ground.  “I want you to carry me out as your First Knight.”

 

 

 

            Simone watched as Merry stood on one foot and pulled off her sneaker. 

            “Drama again?” Simone asked as Merry dropped her sneaker on the ground.

            “Yea.” Merry agreed.  “But Simone this is one of those times.”  She pulled off her other shoe and then un-buckled her pants.  “If I can’t have the thunder and lightning…  I meant it when I said I never really lived here.”  Merry pulled down her pants and stepped out of them.  “I never told you about L.A.  Not everything.  I never want to tell you.  I want to leave it behind.  I want to leave here as Merry the First Knight.  I mean I… Hell!”

            She was stumbling through the words as she scrambled out of her clothes and Simone realized that Merry was showing her how she felt.  Merry had never been good at talking about her feelings but she had always found a way to show them.  As she pulled off her bra and dropped it to the ground Simone knew that Merry wasn’t just showing off her tall and magnificently muscled body.  She was trying to tell Simone that there were no regrets.  She had them of course and the move was killing her.  Merry had been resisting it for months.  She’d been trying to live not a double life as Merry McCormick and the superheroine Mystery Woman but a triple one as Merry McCormick, Mystery Woman and an agent of The Group.  It had worn her down.  But she had made a few friends in Pine Hill in the past year.  And for Merry friends were a rare thing.  Merry was trying to convince herself that with one big dramatic moment she could leave Pine Hill without feeling like she was being torn out of it.  It was so sincere and so false at the same time and it fit Merry perfectly.  The truth was that Merry felt things more intently than anyone Simone had ever known.  So intently that Merry had only two ways of dealing with her feelings; throw herself into them or deny that they existed.

            Merry pulled down her panties and stepped out of them.  For a moment she stood nude and Simone wanted a picture of that moment.  Merry’s body was large and perfectly proportioned and muscled.  Her breast were large and the areoles extra large and the nipples wide.  The body thrilled Simone beyond passion.  But not just at full size.  Merry shrunk.  A shimmering effect surrounded her body and Simone watched as Merry shrank down until she was only about a foot tall.  Merry stood for a moment and then seemed to loose her balance and fall to her knees.  Simone knelt down.  She could have shrunk as well, but Simone knew that Merry didn’t want her small just then.  She gathered the tiny woman in her hands and stood up. 

            “Simone… Simone I started living again when I started loving you.” Merry said as she wiped away her tears.  “I love you.”

            Merry fell into her chest crying and for a moment Simone simply held her.  Merry’s tiny body felt light and yet at the same time warm and heavy in her hands.  The warmth was from the love.  The love that Simone fully felt for her as well.  But the weight was from the responsibility of that love.  Simone knew that despite her fierceness as a fighter Merry was very fragile.  She needed something larger than herself to cling to.  Someone or something.  Some greater ideal that could give her life meaning.  With the Group she had found an ideal.  They had taken her, shrunk her and enslaved her.  Somewhere between that time and the time Simone had come onto the scene Merry had found a way to love them.  To believe in them and their way to a better world even though that way involved doing things that Merry hated.  She obeyed them even to the point of agreeing to fake her own death.  From now on she could be Mystery Woman full time without the distractions of being Merry McCormick.  Simone knew that to fill the void of a normal live with friends Merry would turn to her.  And as she walked through the cemetery with the doll-sized sobbing woman clutched to her chest Simone vowed that she wouldn’t fail.  She’d find someway to fill that void.  For all that Merry had gone through and would go through Simone vowed that Merry would have moments of happiness.

            No matter what.

 

 

 

            No one raised a question as Simone carried Merry onto the plane.  Either they guessed why Merry had suddenly vanished for five hours or they had been told not to ask.  The private jet belonged to Simone, a gift on her fifteenth birthday.  Simone had rigged it out as a mobile home with a full living room and bedroom set.  She’d painted it black and blue-going through a Goth phase at the time-and had first had used it to jet around Europe.  Then she had gotten bored and had left it gathering dust in a hanger for years.  She’d almost forgotten it when The Group asked her about it.  They’d taken it and modified it.  It still looked the same, it still had all the same things inside, but Simone knew that it was no ordinary plane anymore.

Jessie and Lizzie sat on their own little couch on the coffee table in the main cabin.  They looked like dolls sitting at a doll table.  Like Merry they were a foot tall.  Waifs that had come into the picture before Simone.  They were twins and had black hair and slim faces and figures.  They were wearing deep blue dresses that were partially undone and cradled in their arms were babies.  The babies were actually clones of Lizzie and Jessie.  A necessary lie to preserve the illusion of Dollopolis.  Simone had been worried about that.  She couldn’t imagine how she would feel if someone handed her a clone of herself and told her to raise it.  The philosophical and religious questions were staggering.  But the looks on Lizzie and Jessie’s faces when they had first held the babies had been of joy and amazement.  They’d never ask those questions aloud and Simone wondered if they even asked them silently.  The girls weren’t dumb, but they didn’t really think too deeply on matters either.  Simone guessed that the reason they did not really question too much was because of the life they had led before her, desperate street kids with an abusive father.  Babies probably weren’t on their radar, or even in their dreams.  They might have come anyway, but Simone didn’t want to think of her girls as un-wed mothers.  She was beginning to see now how many there were in the world and how they suffered.  The thought of Lizzie and Jessie at the mercy of the street-with children no less-was the stuff of nightmares.  Now they were mothers and they loved being mothers, but they had homes and support.  Simone suspected that they both knew how lucky they were.

On the couch looking on as they nursed the babies were the cats of Dollopolis.  Five of them with eyes that were just as enigmatic but far more intelligent than a normal cats were.  How that came to be was still a bit of a mystery to Simone.  And she was content with that mystery.  Some things, Simone thought, just should not be examined too closely.

            “All set to go?” Tremont asked from the cockpit door.  His dark eyes scanned the cabin.

            “Yes.” Simone said putting Merry down on the table.  During the car ride to the plane Simone had given Merry an African Safari outfit to wear.  The khaki pants stuffed into boots and the loose blouse suited the trip.  Merry had put them on with a sigh.  She preferred jeans and a shirt and that was about all she preferred.  But Simone had a love of fashion and costumes and Merry had learned to live with it. 

            I am the Duchess after all, Simone thought with a smile. 

            Of course the main reason-that she would never admit to any of them-was that Simone loved putting the clothes on and taking them off her small charges.  Not only Merry but Lizzie, Jessie and Monica and Snowbelle.  She loved having the tiny squirming bodies in her hands and was looking forward to the two new additions to Dollopolis when their bodies were done being modified.  Two more waifs, both of them leading short desperate lives until now.  Simone was looking forward to teaching them that life could be fun.

            Simone watched out the window as the plane started to move. 

            “How are the kids?” Merry asked walking over to the  girls.

            “Hungry.” Jessie said with a slight whine in her voice.  “My boobs hurt.”

            “Mine too.” Lizzie said.

            “You’re the ones who chose the breast feeding option.” Simone said moving some of the cats so that she could sit down.

            “And I’m not doing it.” Merry said.

            “Monica offered.” Jessie said.  “But she can’t, can she Milady?”

            “Not really.” Simone said.  Monica was the third person brought into Dollopolis.  She didn’t know the truth of the place.  Where The Group could take Lizzie and Jessie and modify their bodies to stimulate lactation they could not do it with Monica.  Not without her finding out that they existed and Simone had no intention of that ever happening.  Monica was happy in Dollopolis, she was happy with the lie and Simone was content to let that stand.  Even now she rode in a stasis tube in the planes cargo hold.  Monica had gone to sleep in Dollopolis and when she woke up she would be in Dollopolis.  There was no need for her to know that this would be a new Dollopolis.  Everything of hers had been moved.

            “At least our boobs are bigger now.” Lizzie said.  “But that milking thing… man that’s weird.”

            “I never thought of it before, but yea it is.” Jessie agreed.  “It sounded cool though.”

            “Some things are like that.” Merry said.

            The door to the cockpit opened and Deborah and Delilah walked into the cabin.  Everyone but Simone and the cats stiffened a little bit.  The twins were tall, slim and blonde.  Before Simone Delilah had been the person who had punished the girls and Merry when they had disobeyed orders.  Her punishments were things that Merry, Lizzie and Jessie only whispered about.  She hadn’t punished them harshly since Simone had been made Duchess but the fear would always be there.  As was their habit the twins wore identical floral print dresses.

            “I’m afraid a quiet trip is out of the question Dolly.” Deborah said.  “You have an emergency call from Earth Force.”

            “Again.” Delilah said with a trace of annoyance in her voice.  Her blue eyes flashed and again Simone felt the fear that radiated from everyone on the table.

            “I’m sorry.” Merry said.

            “It’s not your fault dear.” Simone said. 

            But it was the main reason that they were moving Dollopolis from the west coast to the east coast.  That was part of what was bothering her.  Merry could not zip across the continent every time Earth Force needed her.  Not without leaving a trail that could be followed.  Even in stealth mode the ships they used could be tracked if enough effort was given.  Teleport left an energy trail.  No one had thought it would be a problem at first.  But with the lack of superhero groups to oppose them supervillains were getting more and more aggressive.  Earth Force was the only supergroup on the east coast.  At least twice a month a call for help came.  It amazed Simone that a group with so much power had so much need of Merry.  But they did and it turned out they needed her greatly.  Merry’s power to shrink and grow wasn’t spectacular but she was a brilliant battlefield strategist.  Lucy Rothschild, Goddess of Justice wanted Merry to live a week or so per month in her mansion, the headquarters of Earth Force but Merry was dead set against that.  Living the lie was hard enough part time, living it full time would crush her.  Despite her service to them Merry felt great guilt about the lie she had to lead.  After some discussion The Group had decided to build a new Dollopolis on the east coast and move everyone there.

            “None of us realized how needy that group would become.” Deborah said.  “Apparently there is a robot army attacking New York.”

            “Again.” Delilah said. 

            Lizzie raised her hand and Deborah nodded.

            “Why are the robots attacking Mistress?”

            “We don’t know.” Deborah said.  “But there are a lot of them with more being teleported in every five minutes.”

            “Someone is going for the swarm technique of combat.” Delilah said. 

            “Like army ants.” Deborah said.  She reached over and picked Merry up.  “At least you’ll get a chance to test out the new fighter.”

            “You’ll like this one.” Delilah said.  “We used the Defiant from Star Trek.”

            “I’m ready.” Merry said.

            Even if you weren’t you wouldn’t admit it, Simone thought as they took her out of the room.  As was their custom neither woman said goodbye.  It was a way to be sure that that would see each other again.

 

 

 

            “I hate fighting robots!” Ms. Dream shouted as she blasted another one from the rooftop she and Gadget Gal had taken refuge on. 

            Ms. Dream was a telepathic/telekinetic physic.  Her powers were not really effective against an armor plated machines.  They’d see through her disguise-a beautiful woman dressed in rainbows-without a problem.  Ms. Dream picked off another one with her blaster while with another part of her mind she alerted Moon Girl to the fact that a group of robots had circled around Savage.  That was Ms. Dream’s role in a fight like this, linking each member of Earth Force to each other.  Her mind ‘saw’ through their eyes and allowed them to act almost as a single being.  The strain was harsh and Ms. Dream couldn’t keep it up long.  That wasn’t usually a problem, fights like this tended to end quickly. 

            Not this time.  They’d been fighting for a good hour and so far the robots just kept coming.  Not especially powerful but tough enough to give them a problem.  Plus there were still the odd groups of civilians who hadn’t gotten out.  Luckily the Columbus Day holiday had reduced the crowds a bit but not all the way.  They either huddled in hiding or tried to attack the robots.  Either action could get them killed.  But the attack had been sudden and not everyone had been lucky enough or smart enough to run.  Squads of the robots had appeared near the White Hall terminal and started marching toward Wall street.  Half an hour later another set had showed up at Hanover Square and also headed toward Wall street.  Then it seemed like they were everywhere.  By the time it took Earth Force to fly down from Maine the robots were blasting away at most of the financial district.  No robbery, just blasting away at just about everything.  They’d guessed that the robots were teleporting in from some place but there were so many of them it was hard to tell where.  Ms. Dream and Gadget Gal were on a roof away from the main battle.  Ms. Dream was covering her while Gadget Gal searched for the teleport point or where the robots were coming from.  So far she’d had no luck.  Ms. Dream’s head was starting to get fuzzy and that wasn’t good.  Individually each member of Earth Force would be overrun without her co-ordination.  Plus it was an unusually hot holiday for fall.  The hot tar of the roof was almost burning through her boots and the smell of burning robots and cars filled the air.  Ms. Dream was sweating heavily and so was the coverall wearing Gadget Gal.

            Ms. Dream ducked as an angry red beam of light cut through the air where her head had been.  The beams carried a massive electrical charge.  She raised her own gun and fired at the robot who had shot at her.  He exploded and Ms. Dream looked for another target.  It didn’t take her long to find one.  She and Gadget Gal were on a rooftop three blocks away from the main group but smaller groups were roaming around.  Goddess of Justice, the Power Twins, Moon Girl, Esmerelda and Savage were in the center of a pile of destroyed robots.  But more of them kept appearing from somewhere.  New York Girl had shown up and was helping but she wasn’t part of the team, Mary had no way into her mind.  Still she was pounding away and any help was welcome.

            A robot turned the corner and started to walk toward their building.  Eight feet tall, black and deadly.  They each carried a gun that fired a red beam and those guns seemed to have an un-ending supply of energy.  The robots faces sported fierce demonic masks.  This one seemed to pause and that gave Tiny Titania a chance to grow an extra ten feet and her gold boot stomped him flat.  Once the robot was crushed under her foot Tiny Titania shrank down a bit again.  That was her job at the moment; to give Gadget Gal and Ms. Dream cover.  A year ago that would have bothered Titania but she had learned that sometimes you just couldn’t be at the front lines.  She was sweating too and the fabric of her one piece gold leotard was becoming more and more transparent as it stuck to her skin.  Ms. Dream guessed that it would embarrass her later when the young woman saw herself on tv.  Or maybe not. 

            “Anything?” Ms. Dream demanded.

            “No.” Gadget Gal said grimly.  Her young face was drawn into a mask of frustration and worry.  “I can’t find a beam, not with any sort of energy I know about.  The robots don’t have any remote control, they don’t rely on broadcast power… Damn!” She swore and hit the scanner in her hand.  “I can’t do it with only one scanner, I need to set up a grid!”

            “Not an option.” Ms. Dream said.

            “It is if you link to my ship.” The cold voice announced.

            The voice came from behind them and Ms. Dream didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.  But she did anyway and saw the small ship shimmer into view.  In that ship was Merry.

            “Mystery Woman!” Gadget Gal called.  “You’re right!  Give me an access frequency!”

            Her scanner beeped and Gadget Gal started to enter information onto it.

            “Got here kinda early didn’t you?” Ms. Dream said covering her own relief with her usual sarcasm.  “We only called four hours ago.”

            “I was busy.” Merry said and Ms. Dream did not need to see her blue eyes to know that there was an angry glare in them.

            “Got it.” Gadget Gal said.  “We’re linked.”

            “I’ll fly a pattern.” Merry said and the ship moved.

            “Stay away from any trekkies!” Ms. Dream shouted. 

            Another damn Star Trek ship, Ms. Dream thought and knew that it was silly to think about such things in the middle of a fight.  But a part of her couldn’t help it.  Ships from Dollopolis were copies of ships from science fiction movies and tv shows.  Merry had shown up in a copy of the U.S.S. Defiant from Star Trek Deep Space 9.  Superhero battles could get pretty surreal but adding a toy ship to the mix drove Ms. Dream crazy.  It was another reminder of how weird her life was and she didn’t need that reminder.  Not to mention the fact that some of the studios didn’t like the fact that Merry did it.  Sooner or later someone was going to sue.

            A feeling of relief came back to Ms. Dream as she telepathically let everyone know about the new arrival.  Despite her annoyance at the ship Ms. Dream felt relief too.  Merry brought something to the team and they had yet to loose a battle if she were involved.

            “More’s coming!” Titania called.

            Ms. Dream looked and saw a full squad of robots come down the street.  A square of ten robots across and twenty deep was marching toward the building.

            “If I move I have to reset the scan.” Gadget Gal said.  “That’ll take time.”

            “I got em!” Titania shouted.  She stepped out from behind the buildings and started to stomp on the robots.  They fired at her but at her size the beams would only sting.

            At first, Ms. Dream thought as she started to fire and pick off single robots.  Enough of those beams could scramble even Titania’s extra large nervous system.

 

 

 

            {This is a very well planned attack.}

            {But for no reason.}

            {Could we be dealing with a supervillain who just wants to cause chaos?}

            {If so he or she succeeded.}

            Merry studied a display of the robots.  They had been designed to look mean but it was also obvious that they came off of an assembly line.  Each face was painted exactly the same way; in an Asian style fright mask with large red eyes and white teeth.  But why?  Merry let The Group fly the ship as she looked at the display and then at the map that slowly built up.  Between them her ships scanners and Gadget Gal’s scanners should have been able to spot where the robots were coming from.  But so far there was nothing.  Robots just appeared.

            “Where are they coming from?” Merry whispered.

            {They can’t be teleporting in.}

            {Our systems would have found the entry point by now.}

            {They are appearing at a rate of four robots every five minutes.}

            {But they are appearing at random spots in the city.}

            “Let me see?” Merry asked.

            The minute the map lit up Merry had her answer.

            “They’re using the subway.” Merry said.  “Look at the map, each group is showing up near a subway line.”

            “Gadget Gal scan the underground.” Merry said keying the com unit.  “I think they are using the subway.”

            “Adjusting scanners.” Gadget Gal said.

            {We will adjust as well.}

            {Start flying Dolly, we need to work.}

            Merry took hold of the controls and felt the ship move under her command.  She would have loved to start firing but the ship only had ten minutes of effective combat power.  There were too many robots for her to make any difference.  After a few minutes a red flashing square appeared on the map. 

            {Not a teleport trace.}

            {Or a portal.}

            {But definitely an energy spike.}

            {And it is moving.}

            “It’s moving along the Red Line under Greenwitch street.” Merry said.  “I’ll fly into the subway and check it out.”

            {Go ahead.}

            “Gadget Gal I think I’ve found it.” Merry said keying in the com system again.  She tapped out a few more commands.  “It’s in the subway line under Greenwitch street, I’m linking in my cameras so you can see what I see.”

            “Right.” Gadget Gal said.  “I’ve got the view.”

            Merry twisted the ship into a dive and flew into the Rector street subway station.  The sign told her that she was going toward the Uptown and Queens section, but once she was past the stairway things changed.  Instead of the tile and turnstiles that she had expected Merry flew through a vast cave with orange glazed walls.  The place was large enough to be a subway station and Merry saw railroad tracks on the floor.  But there was no other sign of human construction or life.  It was as if she had flown into a glass tube.

            “This is not the subway I’ve heard so much about.” Merry said.

            {Shut off your outside lights.}

            {The energy spike is up ahead.}

            {Still no sign of a teleport trace.}

            {Somebody is being very clever.} 

            Merry moved along the tunnel slowly until a light up ahead caught her eye.  Merry slowed even more and allowed her scanners to tell her what was ahead of her. 

            “Now that’s impressive.” Merry said as the machine was revealed.

            “Yea.” Gadget Gal’s voice was a mixture of lust and wonder as it came over the com system.

            In front of Merry was an enormous machine shaped vaguely like a locomotive engine.  It rested on the subway tracks and at the front were ten large arms with claws and spinning blades.  They tore into the walls, ceiling and floor.  Other arms caught the wreckage and drew it into the machine.  Still more arms aimed red beams at the ruined walls.  Where the beams touched the walls fused into an orange glaze.  Ahead of the machine were the walls and equipment of the New York Subway system, behind it was nothing but the tracks. 

            “Raw material to battle robots.” Merry observed. 

            The Defiant suddenly dove and Merry was jerked hard against her safety straps.  The ship jerked sideways and Merry got a look at why.  Behind the ship a large lumbering figure had appeared.  The Group had spotted him and taken control of the ship.  Seven feet tall with four arms and the face of a pig the creature was a thug; a warrior mutant race created years ago by a deranged supervillain.  The thug wore thick plate armor and carried a gun that was firing thick red beams. 

            {The tunnel is too small to dodge him and he’s blocking the exit.}

            {The weapon is firing charged micro particles of anti-matter and matter that explode when the beam hits something.  The shields can’t handle that type of firepower more than once.}

            {Merry we’ll eject you.}

            {Avoid those beams.}

            “Where did he come from?” Merry wondered as the ship lurched again.

            “He teleported in.” Gadget Gal said and Merry realized that she had left the com unit on.  “Not sure from where.”

            “Try to stay away from him.” Ms. Dream said.  “Savage is on the way.”

            Merry felt the seat under her shift slightly and braced herself as the bottom of her ship opened and tossed her out.

            The hot air hit Merry as soon as she was out of the ship.  She was not wearing a gray skin suit, instead she was wearing one of Simone’s creations.  A short green halter-top, a loose short green skirt and green panties with knee high black boots and long black gloves.  Her face was covered by a black half mask that kept her long blonde hair in place.  The mask had black lenses that protected and hid her eyes.  Merry thought that she looked a bit too 1990’s but she had acquiesced as she always did when Simone showed her a new costume.  It was at least good to have a suit that shrank and grew with her.  The material in the suit also made taking a clear picture of her impossible.  Merry had no idea how that worked. 

            The sound also hit her.  In the enclosed space the machine seemed to be making five times as much noise as Merry could stand.  A hundred jackhammers wouldn’t have made as much noise.  But she ignored that as the thug destroyed the Defiant and then started firing at her.  Merry grew to full size and dodged the beam.  The way he was firing she could never have dodged it staying at twelve inches tall.

            Say something pig, Merry demanded silently.  Rant and rave a bit and give me some time.

            The creature didn’t say a word as he kept firing and neither did Merry.  Still the fact that he didn’t speak gave her a few clues.  Even as she twisted and dodged and changed size to avoid the thugs beams Merry was planning out how to attack him.  The fact that help was coming and that she didn’t need to attack him only briefly crossed her mind.  This was a battle: there was her opponent. 

            For the next few minutes the creature fired constantly, never giving Merry a chance to do anything but move.  Merry dodged behind the robots and the machine but the thug kept coming.  Merry managed to draw her battle scythe out of its scabbard on her wrist and grow it to full size.  The scythe was hers, as much a part of her as an arm or a leg.  Merry didn’t know who had made it or why but she knew that the scythe was alive.  It spoke to her.  Right now it spoke with advice and Merry charged under the next beam and sliced upward.  The blade of her scythe sliced through the thugs leg but not deeply enough.  Merry was barely able to jump back as his arms reached for her.  Red blood spurted down his leg but he didn’t seem to notice.  She’d hurt him but his type could take a lot more than that.  Merry braced herself and reversed the scythe.  This was something that she was still getting used too.  From deep within her Merry gathered her anger and focused it.  It grew with in her, a feeling of rage that brought to Merry’s mind every time in her life something had made her angry.  That anger traveled along the shaft of the scythe and erupted in a jet of flame that engulfed the thug.  He staggered back screaming as the flames started to consume him.  His gun caught on fire and he dropped it.  But the flames stopped as a robot grabbed Merry from behind.  Another grabbed her arm and another grabbed her legs.  Merry felt a stab of pain and looked down to see that one of the robots was using a knife to stab at her thigh.  The rest of them seemed to have knives as well.  Merry felt stab wounds in her stomach and back.  One of the robots was starting to saw at her leg.  Suddenly Merry was in the center of a crowd of robots and they held and stabbed at her, keeping her busy as the thug charged into her.  His fists hit Merry in the stomach and chest and threw her and the robots back against the far wall.  Merry felt her ribs crack from the blows and felt her shoulder snap as it hit the wall.  She managed too keep hold of her scythe and instinctively shrank.  Merry healed faster when she was small.  But she didn’t think that she would have that sort of time.  The thug was coming toward her.  Before he could reach her Savage charged him.

            Nice to have team mates, Merry thought as Savage battled the thug.  Savage was far better at hand to hand than she was.  Merry had spared with him and realized that early on.  He was also used to fighting things with more arms.  Merry watched as he parried and struck back.  He might have won in a fair fight but not now.  As they had done to Merry the robots were starting to crowd around Savage.

            {Merry we have analyzed the situation.}

            {It will be some minutes before anyone else from Earth Force will be able to reach you.}

            {The machine that is creating and directing the robots is drawing power from the third rail of the subway system.}

            {Destroy the track and the machine should stop.}

            Merry looked at the subway tracks.  They were at the other side of the chamber, ten feet away.  The third rail was set above the regular tracks.  Five inches thick of solid iron.  With her scythe she could burn through it, Merry had discovered that the flame from her weapon could be strong enough to melt metal but only if she was free and had time to concentrate.  The robots were ignoring her but the moment she started at the rail they would most likely attack.  And if she stayed small she’d never be able to cut through.

            “Can I slice through it and survive?” Merry whispered looking at the rail.

            {Probably.}

            {We’d advise shorting it out but the robots are non-conducting.  You must break the connection and the only way to do that is to cut the metal.}

            {But if you do slice through it you will receive a very large shock.}

            {It will put you out for a while.}

            If I can reach it, Merry thought moving her leg.  The leg moved but not without sending a wave of agony through her.  Merry tested her hurt arm.  There was a little less pain and it was barely useable.  But it could be used.  But she was loosing blood fast.  Shock was setting in; she was cold and starting to get dizzy.  The scythe was a mystical weapon, if she put enough of herself into it…

            Two of the robots had grabbed Savage from behind and Merry realized that she didn’t have any more time to think about it.  She rose and grew to full size.  Staggering across by using her scythe as a crutch Merry encountered no robots.  Only a shout from the thug at the last moment told Merry that someone had noticed her.  And it told her that the thug was smarter than she had thought.  Merry hoped it was a notice that came too late.  Holding her scythe with her good arm Merry dodged a robot and swung the weapon from the ground.  The scythes curved blade traveled upward and hit the metal.  As soon as it did the pain from Merry’s wounds became laughable as an electrical shock tore through her body.  Her muscles were frozen but she didn’t need them.  Momentum carried her blow forward and the blade of the scythe cut through the metal easily.  The light from the machine dimmed and Merry’s mind blacked out. 

 

 

 

            Merry woke up in pain and with her thoughts scrambled.  She was laying down, her arm hurt, her leg hurt… After a moment Merry realized that it was easier just to list what didn’t hurt.  Ms. Dream was talking. 

            As soon as she realized that Ms. Dream was near her Merry reacted.  Her thoughts were too scrambled to aid her much but some instinct made her move.  She opened her eyes and saw Ms. Dream kneeling over her.  Memory of another time came to Merry; a time when Ms. Dream had tried read her sleeping mind.  Rage tore through her and she ignored the pain.  Launching herself up Merry growled as she took hold of Ms. Dream’s throat.

            “Telepath!” Merry hissed.  Her right arm was barely working and just moving it caused her pain but Merry didn’t care. 

            “Merry no!” Alpha shouted taking hold of her arm.

            “Let her go!” Beta shouted pulling her back.

            Merry wasn’t sure who they were but she didn’t care.  She was surrounded!  Instinct again took over where thought failed and she lashed out in all directions.  She fell off of something and onto Ms. Dream.

            “Mystery Woman of Dollopolis stand down!”

            Lucy’s voice cut through Merry’s mind and she blinked.  Suddenly her thoughts started to make themselves heard again and Merry released her hold on Ms. Dream’s throat and rolled off of her.  Merry lay on her stomach and again was forced to listen to the pain in her body.  She tried to stand and failed.

            “Let me help.” Alpha said bending down next to her.

            “NO!” Merry shouted.  Still confused, still unsure of what part to play she fell back into her mind and let the First Knight play the scene.  She managed to get to her knees before she fell back into the dirt.  “I’m the First Knight of Dollopolis!  I stand…” Again Merry tried to stand up and again she only managed to get to her knees.  “I stand…” Merry fell back down and realized that she wouldn’t be able to stand up on her own.  With a massive effort she rolled over onto her back.  Alpha was standing over her while Beta was helping Ms. Dream sit up.

            “No!” Merry gasped out.  She tried to sit up.  “I can’t…  I’m not weak, I can’t be…  I can’t be seen…  Weak… I…”

            Her body gave out completely and Merry fell back again.

            “It’s not weak to accept help.” Alpha said gently as she lifted Merry up and onto the stretcher.

            “Where am I?” Merry asked.  “Where…”

            The rest of her question was lost as both parts of her mind retreated into darkness.

 

 

 

            Being asleep was good, being unconscious after a fight was not.  Merry knew that and dragged herself awake.  On one level it was easy because of the pain from her wounds.  But on another it wasn’t.  As Merry woke up a part of her wondered who was going to open her eyes; Merry or the First Knight?  The other person was always there, always waiting.  Ever since she had started her double life the First Knight had been there, growing as a person within a person.  When Merry was hurt it was sometimes the First Knight who woke up first.  Especially if there were superheroes around.  Even if they were her…  team mates.  Merry had to think of them that way, she couldn’t think of them as friends.  Friends were open with each other.

Guilt ate at Merry as she remembered the attack on Ms. Dream.  It would help her image but the woman was a good woman and it hurt Merry that she couldn’t really be Mary’s friend.

            Merry opened her eyes.  She was on a cot in an open area.  A parking lot.  It was night and the streetlights flickered against the dark sky.  It was a chilly night and the blanket covering her was barely keeping that chill away. She looked around and saw that Esmerelda was sitting on a cot next to her.  Esmerelda was wearing a pair of jeans and a black jacket.  On the other side of her Prudence lay asleep on another cot.  There were at least twenty cots set up in the parking lot.  Prudence’s arm that was above the blanket was bandaged.  Merry realized that her own arms and legs and stomach were bandaged.  An Earth Force transport sat beside them.

            Why didn’t I shrink? Merry wondered.  Before when had been seriously hurt The Group had always shrunk her because she healed better when small.  Where were they?  Usually they were the first mental voices that she heard.

            The shock to my body must have broken something, Merry realized.  They had told her but in the heat of the battle Merry hadn’t fully realized it.  Now the knowledge hit home.  The awareness left her scared and feeling very alone.

            “How are you?” Esmerelda asked bending over her with concern in her voice and her brown eyes.

            “My head hurts.” Merry managed to croak the words out.  Her hands trembled and her body was covered in a cold sweat.  A harsh metallic taste filled her mouth.  She tried to sit up and Esmerelda helped her.  Merry’s entire body was trembling.  “The last thing I remember is cutting through the third rail.”

            “Your idea worked.” Esmerelda said.  “The machine and the robots lost power and Savage beat the thug.”

            “And I lost another ship.” Merry sighed.  She tired to swing her legs off of the cot and failed.  The pain and fatigue were too great.

            “Don’t try to move.” Esmerelda ordered.  “We’ve got another few hours before the others can join us and we can go home.”

            “Rescue?” Merry asked and Esmerelda nodded.  “They need you, your sense of smell…”
            “Someone had to stay and guard you and Prudence.”  Esmerelda said.  “Baggers live for these opportunities.  They almost got New York Girl.”

            Merry nodded.  Baggers were professional hero abductors.  They specialized in kidnapping heroes after battles.  Once taken a hero could be killed, sold into slavery or worse.

            “Thanks.” Merry said.  “That shock scrambled me, I can’t shrink.”
            “We guessed that.” Esmerelda said.  “Yoran was grateful to be able to help you for once.  Usually you’re far too small for him.”

            A shout got their attention and Merry saw a small group of people coming toward them.  Some of them were helping the others.

            “Survivors.” Esmerelda said.  “I’ll be right back.”

            She stood up and started to go toward them, talking into her com unit as she did so.  Merry felt a bit of pride watching her.  Esmerelda was respected and knew her own worth.  That hadn’t been true the first time that they had met.

            Something was wrong though.  Merry sensed it from the way Esmerelda slowed as she got near the group of people.

            Merry heard the noise even as the thought that she was under attack appeared in her head.  She whirled and a flash of light blinded her.  Then another and another.  Merry fell back feeling the pain as the bandages were strained.  Anger pushed through her pain and her rage made her body work.  She came up ready to fight and saw a woman standing a few feet away.  The woman was tall and had dark hair and fair skin.

            “Finally got a shot of ya.” The Woman said smiling as she came out from behind the transport.  She raised the camera again.  “Think you can answer a few questions Mystery Woman?”

            Merry snarled and attacked her.

 

 

 

            “You broke her jaw, her nose and fractured her arm.” Lucy said smoothing her blue business suit as she sat down.  The suit was perfectly tailored for her and Mary felt a bit shabbily dressed in her old shorts and blue beach blouse.  “And smashed her camera.”

            “I didn’t kill her.” Merry replied from her bed.

            Mary and Lucy exchanged glances and Mary sighed.  This wasn’t going to be easy.

            They were sitting by Merry’s bed in the infirmary of Rothschild mansion.  It was a cool fall day and outside a blue sky showed the beauty of the calm sea.  Mary guessed that the sea was one of the few things in the world that was calm.  Two days had passed since the attack on New York.  As with any attack most of their time had been spent cleaning up afterwards.  The robots had to be collected before scavengers got hold of them.  Then they had to be examined and stored.  Alpha and Beta were seeing to that.  Savage, Gadget Gal and Moon Girl were tracking down who was behind it all.  Prudence and Esmerelda were still searching ruins for survivors.  Esmerelda’s sense of smell could lead her to them and Prudence could crawl into places no one else could.  Yoran was in nearly every hospital in New York as well as popping into the infirmary every few hours.  He couldn’t teleport like that for long though.

            That left Lucy and Mary to deal with the legal side of things.  Long (Loooooonnngggggggg, Mary thought) reports had to be filled out and damage claims had to be dealt with.  Some business owners had found blaming the battle for damage they themselves did later was very profitable.  The mayor of New York was shouting that Earth Force hadn’t gotten there in time.  Various government agencies were fighting over the robot making machine and the robots.  Kooks were coming forward to claim responsibility for the attack.  All that was normal.  Merry tearing into a reporter was not.  Actually Merry having contact with a reporter was not usual.  She avoided them like the plague.

            Lucy had wanted to talk to Merry sooner but Yoran wouldn’t allow it.  Despite her own injuries the reporter who had tried to talk to Merry had gotten in some good blows of her own and Merry hadn’t been in good shape to begin with.  Merry had been weak and drifting in and out of consciousness; in no real condition to talk.  It was rare to see her like this, usually Merry’s bounce back time was pretty short.  But Yoran guessed that the shock from the 3^rd rail had broken something in her.  She couldn’t seem to shrink.  Now that she was fully awake Merry was aware of that as well.  Mary suspected that was making her feel vulnerable and Merry was dealing with it the way she usually dealt with everything: she was angry.  But she still didn’t look good.  Burns on her arms and legs, stab wounds all over her body and just to top it off a badly swollen eye from her battle with the reporter.

            “You had no reason to attack her.” Lucy said. 

            “Esmerelda told me Baggers were around.” Merry said.  “Then she was lured away and someone snuck up on me and started flashing lights in my face.”

            “You knew who it was.” Mary said.  “You’ve met Cyndi Scott before and your suit made clear pictures impossible.”

            “I didn’t recognize her.” Merry said coldly.  She was lying of course.  Mary didn’t need her Ms. Dream powers to know that.  Neither did Lucy.  Cyndi Scott was the ex-wife of Mr. California.  They’d been married for five years and that had allowed her to travel in various superhero circles.  She’d built a career from those times, developing sources that gave her the edge on other reporters.  Being the ex-wife of a superhero had given Cyndi a status in the newsmedia and a reputation for being able to get to superheroes.  She was a Metahumaan News Network specialist, an Emmy winning reporter who had even managed to interview the mad King Dread and make it off Dreadstar Island alive.  It was her pride and her rep that she could get to anyone.  Mystery Woman and Dollopolis were the exception and she wasn’t taking that well.  So far she and Merry had gone through two encounters that had come close to a cat fight.  The third time had been the charm.  It didn’t help that she had somehow gotten the story of what had happened to Hellspite and what had happened on Faerun.  To Dollopolis that was a breach of security.  Merry and Simone had been furious that someone was telling their secrets and it had taken all of Lucy’s influence to keep them from retaliating.

            “She’s pressing charges and she might sue.” Lucy said.

            “Let her.” Merry snapped.  Under the blanket her arms were starting to tremble.  She half rose out of the bed and was only stopped when her body gave out and she had to fall back into the pillows.  After a few seconds of hard breathing she was able to talk again.  Lucy quietly pulled the blanket back up to cover her.  Once Yoran had gotten Merry’s costume off of her to treat her the costume had crumbled to dust.  “She snuck past a police barricade, I was still hurt and confused.  I’ll claim diminished capacity.”

            “That might work.” Lucy said.  “But it would not be necessary if you simply talked to someone in the press.  Merry a picture, an interview with you is becoming more and more sought after.”

            “I’m used to being a target.” Merry growled.  Again she tried to rise.  “Let them come!  I’ll…”

            She broke off coughing and fell back. 

            “Take it easy.” Mary said as pain and rage competed in Merry’s blue eyes.  “You get excited Yoran might throw us out of here.”

            “Lucy…” Merry stopped and took a deep breath.

            “Merry calmly.” Lucy said firmly.

            Merry nodded and took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  It had taken months for Lucy to be able to do that: to calm her down even a little.  Outside of Simone she was about the only one who could do it.

            “Lady Rothschild I’ve been in too many fights that were lost because someone dropped their guard too soon.” Merry said holding her voice steady.  “I was hurt, I couldn’t shrink and I could barely move.  I was vulnerable and that bitch came charging out from behind the transport flashing a light at me.  I didn’t know if she was alone, if she was a distraction… I didn’t know anything but that someone was attacking.  I didn’t kill her.  Goddess isn’t that enough?”

            “Not really.” Mary said.  Giving Lucy a title had come early to Merry and she had explained that it was a sign of respect and an acknowledgement that Lucy was her superior.  Mary knew that it embarrassed Lucy but had advised her not to rock the boat.  Merry needed that sort of structure.  “For someone who could barely move you did a lot of damage.”

            “I didn’t kill her.” Merry repeated again stubbornly. 

            “Try to understand Merry on this world the public has a right to know certain things.  Reporters help keep out society safe by insuring that the public knows what is going on.”

            “So tell’em I helped stop the robots.” Merry said.  “End of story.”

            She had a point, Mary thought.  But what she failed to realize was that the news wasn’t always event driven.  A lot of the time it was personality driven.  And Mystery Woman of Dollopolis was a personality that had gotten some interest.  A lot of interest.  Mysterious, blonde, beautiful, lesbian… there were very few hot buttons that Merry didn’t push. 

            “Merry it’s like this,” Mary tried “reporters are like kids, the more they don’t get something the more they want it.  Until they get something from you they’ll keep wanting it.”

            “So if I give the thief what he wants he’ll go away?” Merry demanded angrily.  “Give me just a little time alone with this bitch and I’ll cure her curiosity!”

            “O.K. your turn.” Mary said to Lucy.

            Before Lucy could say anything there was a tapping sound at the door.  Mary telekinetically opened it and a Star Wars fighter drifted into the room.  It was Prudence’s fighter and Mary suspected that Simone was going to use it.  It landed at the foot of Merry’s bed and a small hologram of Simone appeared.

            “Simone!” Merry shouted.

            Simone didn’t look good.  She was wearing a pair of gray overalls and there was a bandage on her head.  Her hair had streaks of white in it, a sign that she had been pushing herself too hard.  The hologram itself was fuzzy and kept skipping in and out.

            “Do not worry Merry.” Simone said.  Her voice was out of tune as well.  “I am fine.”

            “What happened?” Merry demanded.

            “The creature came looking for its mate.” Simone said.  “We’ve killed it but I’ve used the Blue Shield.”

            “I told you I shouldn’t have gone!” Merry growled.

            “You have dual responsibilities Merry.” Simone said calmly.  “We must accept that.  You know that we can handle such things without you.”

            “Do we really need to be here?” Mary asked Lucy.  Then she turned to the hologram.  “Simone what the hell happened?”

            “Hasn’t Merry told you?” Simone asked.

            Mary bit back the sarcastic response that she wanted to make. 

            “Merry was injured.” Lucy said.  “She’s only now regained consciousness.”

            “I suspected as much.” Simone said.  “Shortly before you called for her Merry and I were scanning the dimensional void looking for a trace of survivors.  Unfortunately a monster left over from the wars traced that scan back to us and attacked.  We dealt with it and I sent Merry away when you called.  I didn’t think that any more monsters could or would follow.  But I was wrong.  We’ve dealt with the second one but I saw a third one coming and decided not to take any more chances.”
            “I should have been there.” Merry said.  “Simone the blue shield...  You said it was too dangerous to use again!”

            “It was my decision First Knight.” Simone said in the commanding tone that only she could use with Merry.

            “And the Blue Shield?” Lucy asked.

            “A very powerful force shield.” Simone said.  “One that partially removes Dollopolis from this world and in fact from all the worlds.  And this will be the last time I’m able to use it, after the field was stable the generator melted to slag.”

“Good riddance.” Merry swore.  “But now…  Simone…”

“What?” Mary asked feeling as if she needed an interpreter.

  Sadly a side effect is that the dimension scanners are useless.”  Simone sighed.  “Still I supposed they were useless before.  There are no survivors between the worlds.  I’ll have to accept that.”

            “That’s not the only effect.” Merry said struggling to rise again.

            “Yes, another effect is that once I activate it can not be shut off, only allowed to decay.”

            “That’ll take a month at least.” Merry said.  “Simone I won’t be able to get to you for a month!”

            She shouted the last sentence and Lucy had to push her back against the pillows.

            “I know dear.” Simone said gently.  “But we’ll be safe.  No creature can get through this shield, as you well know.  It’s taking a vast amount of power just to send this message.  You’ll just have to stay with Earth Force.”

            “Stay here for a month?” Merry demanded.  Her voice took on a desperate tone.  “Simone what…  How… Away from you for a month!”

            “Hey it’s not like you’re in prison here.” Mary said.

            “They will keep you as safe as they can Merry.” Simone said.  She looked at Lucy and even though the hologram was fuzzy there was no mistaking the challenge in that look.  “I’m sure of that.”

            “Merry is welcome here of course.” Lucy said.  “And she’ll be safe while she heals.”

            “But I won’t be with you!” Merry cursed. 

            “Merry don’t worry.” Simone said.  The hologram started to flicker and fade out.  “I am safe.  Now I must go before the power systems break down again.  As soon as I am able I will send for you.”

            The hologram vanished and Mary found herself mentally reeling from the spike of fear and despair that erupted from Merry.

            “Simone!” Merry shouted.

 

 

 

            For a moment Merry stared in shock as the hologram faded.  She’d spent two days drifting in and out of consciousness and only as the fighter had flown into the room had The Group told her that they wanted her to stay with Earth Force.

            {We have laid our plans Dolly.}

            {All the elements are in place.}

            {Earth Force will need you in the next month.}

            {As will others.}

            “Simone!” Merry shouted as the hologram faded.  How could she stay with Earth Force for a full month?  How could she play the role of the First Knight?  How could she be away from Simone?  It was only a few days after she had left her old life behind, she was looking forward to helping set up the new Dollopolis… Of picking out furniture with Simone.  Suddenly her sheets felt like ropes and the wide open room with the great ocean view felt like a prison cell.

            {We will talk to you when we need to Dolly.}

            {Our plans demand our attention.}

            {And we also have to make sure that the new Dollopolis is settled.}

            {This will be easier than having you return only to go out again.  You are well enough to shrink now so you will heal.}

            They stopped talking and Merry felt herself sink into the pillows.  After all this time Merry knew when they had decided that the conversation was over.  She’d known something was up when they didn’t talk to her when she woke up.  Knew it as soon as the fighter floated into the room.  But how could she stay with Earth Force for a month?  For the past few months she had been with them for a few days, a week at most.  Training and on missions.  Letting the First Knight take over for a few hours at a time.  But now… Now there would be no distractions to hide behind.  And her enhanced mind shields would confuse Mary, making the lie easier and Merry knew that she’d feel more guilt because of that.  Lying to Mary…  Lying to everyone…

            “Merry.” Lucy’s forceful tone of voice penetrated Merry’s foggy mind and she struggled to listen to her. 

            “Merry I’m sure Simone and Dollopolis will be fine.” Lucy said.  “You need to rest and heal.”

            Merry didn’t say anything but the look on her face must have worried them.

            “It won’t be so bad.” Mary said.  “The food’s good here.”

            “I’m tired.” Merry said closing her eyes.  She turned away from them and hugged her pillow.  Lucy and Mary said a few more sentences but Merry didn’t really hear them.  There was only one voice she really wanted to hear.  She squeezed her eyes shut to block the tears.  Then she shrank pulling back from both of them and the world.

            “Simone.” Was all that she was able to say.

 

 

 

            “Well?” Lucy said.

            Mary’s hand trembled as she drank her coffee.  Once they were sure that she wasn’t going to shrink of out sight they’d left Merry to sleep.  Mary had needed all her strength just to get out of the infirmary.  Now they were in Lucy’s room and the coffee was steadying her.  In their cribs Lucy’s twins slept.  Mary welcomed their presence.  Children’s minds tended to radiate peace when they were sleeping. 

            “It’s incredible Lucy.” Mary said.  “I’ve known for a long time that Merry loved her a bit too much, but this is borderline dangerous.  Hell it is dangerous.  The idea that she wouldn’t be able to get back to her for a month… It was like a giant vacuum sucking all the life out of her and it nearly took me with it.”

            “Will it last?” Lucy asked.

            “I hope not.” Mary said.  “If it does we might actually see her die from misery.”  Mary drank her coffee and took a deep breath. 

            “I’ve known their love was deep, but that deep…  I’m not sure if I envy them or not.” Lucy said.  Her eyes moved to the pictures on her dresser.  Mary winced at the pain.  Lucy’s husband had gone insane with hatred and jealousy.  His betrayal had nearly broken her.  But she refused to divorce him and made regular visits to the prison asylum he had been sentenced too.  She also refused to do away with their wedding pictures.  They stood on the dresser, a mute testimony to her own pain framed in antique silver.

            “It’s an addiction on Merry’s part.” Mary said.  “Man I tell you Lucy that woman needs an army of psychiatrist, what ever life she had before Simone it shredded her.  And it’s gotten worse.  I have to be careful around her or she’ll swamp me.  I can’t read her that well because there’s too much to read.  It’s like being a room with a person who shouts at you.  What I felt in that room was borderline suicidal.”

            “We’ll have to help her through it then.” Lucy said.

            “Carefully.” Mary warned. “We can’t rush at her with kindness, she’ll take that as pity and pull back even more.  We’ve got to treat it like she’s just here, just like always.  If I’m right the next time she wakes up she’ll wake up angry.”

            “When she’s better some training simulations will help.” Lucy mused.

            “Yea, she likes to smash.” Mary said. 

            “Where to put her…” Lucy mused.    

            “Put her next to my room for now.” Mary suggested.

            “Yours?” Lucy asked arching her eyebrow in a question mark. 

            “Yea, and if you think I’m looking forward to it you’re crazy.  Prudence and Esmerelda might smother her.” Mary sighed.  “And there’s another reason.  Merry suffers nightmares.  I told you about them.  I’ll be able to talk her down if she has one.”

            “Very well then.” Lucy said.  The phone rang and she picked it up.

            There was another reason and Mary hoped that Lucy didn’t realize what it was.  Simone had told her that after the nightmares Merry would be desperate for sex.  Prudence and Esmerelda were still working through their own sexual identities; mix that in with Merry and it could be disastrous.  Mary could talk her down without sex.  Hopefully.  Maybe hopefully.  Deep down Mary wasn’t sure what her real motivations were.  She’d been dreaming of shrunken women on and off for a while now.  Erotic dreams.  It shamed her that she’d think of that now but the thought popped into her head anyway.  What were her real motivations?  She couldn’t deny that as much as she wanted to help Merry she could also not look at the other woman without feeling an erotic twinge.

            Damn it get a hold of yourself, Mary thought.  First Lucy now Merry?  Can’t you find someone who’s not attached?  The woman’s in pain and your thinking about taking advantage of her? 

            “It’s the governor of California.” Lucy said covering the mouthpiece of the phone.

            “Ok, I’m outta here.” Mary said as she did whenever Lucy talked to the government.  Lucy nodded and Mary was relieved.  Sometimes Lucy needed her to stay.  It wasn’t that Mary didn’t like politicians; she just didn’t like politicians.

            Mary headed toward the kitchen lost in thought.  In battle Merry was focused and absolutely fearless.  She approached social situations the same way.  Everything was a fight to her.  It was hard to take in small doses, keeping her in the mansion for a month would strain it more.  Earth Force was more delicately balanced than Lucy realized.  No one would leave because of Merry, but they would operate better if they felt more comfortable with her.  Somehow a bridge had to be made.  And Mary felt that it was up to her to build that bridge.  But how and where to start?  As she saw Daisy and Brent Obrien in the kitchen Mary realized that the first step was right in front of her. 

            “Hey guys.” Mary said walking over to them.  They were seated at a desk near the back door.  Between them lay a stack of bills.  Daisy ran the kitchen, Brent the estate.  It’d been a rocky start at first but they had settled in.  “Got some news.”

            “What?” Brent asked.  Brent was handsome and dressed in a pair of jeans and a work shirt.  He was intelligent and a little too conservative for Mary’s taste.  He never said or did anything overt but Mary got the feeling that Brent was uncomfortable with the relationships in Earth Force.  The four way marriage (there really couldn’t be any other word for it no matter that legally it was only between Yoran and Savage.  The Power Twins slept with them a lot of nights out of the month and they were hoping for kids) between Savage, Yoran, Alpha and Beta bothered him, Esmerelda and Prudence bothered him.  But he never once let it show to them.  Mary liked him for that.  Daisy wore a brown skirt and blouse.  She was a bit more easy going about things but she had a blind spot.  And it was named Merry.

            “Merry is going to be staying with us for a while, at least a month.” Mary said.  “Dollopolis was attacked and Simone closed it off.  She’s ok.” She said quickly seeing the look on Daisy’s face.  However she might feel about Merry Simone had saved her and her child’s life and Daisy would never forget that.

            “She’s been here before.” Brent said.  “What’s the problem?”

            “The problem is you two.” Mary said.  Telekinetically she pulled up a chair and sat down.  “And the amount of time she’s going to be here.  At least a month straight on.  And she’s not in good shape physically or emotionally.  Right now in the infirmary we’ve got a woman who’s barely-and I mean barely-holding it together.  When she found out she couldn’t get back to Dollopolis for about a month Merry started to shrink and for a minute there I didn’t think she’d stop.  Daisy you tend to treat her like she’s gonna go postal any second.”

            “We worry.” Brent said after a look at his wife.  “We know what she did.  It’s hard even knowing what she did for us.”

            “Yea well we all know what she did before.” Mary said.  “She killed, she tortured… but right now she’s been hurt and cut off from Simone.  I’m gonna put her in the room next to mine and we’ll see what happens.  But try not to act like she’s a leper ok?”

            “We never act that way.” Daisy said.  Mary looked a question at her and Daisy sighed.  “Ok, when I found her in the nursery, but you know what she is Mary, I’m just not comfortable with her around my child.”

            “Yea, I got that and she got that.” Mary said remembering Merry’s pain.  “So she’s probably not going near the kids.  But if she does happen to run into them in the hallway or something don’t go crazy ok?”

            “We won’t.” Daisy said.

            “Ok then.” Mary stood up.

            “We will be having more guests.” Lucy announced coming into the kitchen.

            “Oh joy.” Mary said.  “Who?”

            “Margery Page Cimarron.” Lucy said.  “And her three children.  We’ll need four bedrooms Daisy, and I think it would be best if Margery and her daughter June’s bedroom connected.  And unfortunately this will be a guarded situation.”

            “Who’s after them?” Mary asked.

            “Jack Dark.” Lucy said.  “And perhaps others.  I’m preparing a brief now, we’ll have a full meeting tomorrow morning.  They’ll be arriving tomorrow afternoon.”

            “Ok, I’m gonna need more coffee.” Mary said going toward the pot.

 

 

 

            When Mary knocked on the door next morning there was no response.  Cautiously Mary probed beyond the door.  She’d kept her mind closed for most of the night but the idea that Merry was in the next room still got to her.  Mary wondered if part of it was the fact that she hadn’t had a lover-a true lover-in years.  A lot of years.  She loved Lucy but that love would forever be a chaste one.  There were many times she envied what Merry and Simone had.  Or at least she used to.  Now it scared her.  But the idea that she could even think of taking advantage of Merry… it shamed her.  She’d taken a cold shower to cool off and put on a pair of Khaki slacks and a black sweater.  But underneath those she wore a pair of Victoria’s Secret panties and bra.  And she wondered if Simone wore that sort of thing.

Mary let her mind scan the room.  Merry was there, not asleep.  Sighing Mary pushed the door open.  Even if she wasn’t going to eat Merry needed to be at the briefing.  Early morning sunlight was flooding the room, the kind of bright sunlight that made up for the chilly Maine fall.  The room next to Mary’s had been decorated in a soft blue with princess furniture.  A child’s room really for a child long gone.  Cecile Rothschild had vanished at the end of the first world war.  Over against the far wall was a princess canopy bed.  Mary could see a small lump under the light blue sheets.  The blue motive of the room was one that Mary had always found calming.  She’d hoped that it would help Merry.  A chandelier hung from the ceiling.  Opposite the bed was a bureau and a doorway that led to the bathroom.

            “Over here.” Merry said as Mary walked toward the bed.  Mary looked over and saw that the top draw of the bureau had been pulled open a little bit and that Merry was lying in it. 

            “Ok, we’ll skip the paranoia this signifies.” Mary said gazing at her.  Merry was lying half covered by a pair of red panties and had rolled up a black sock for a pillow.  “You could barely move last night, how’d you get over here?”

            “I needed to.” Merry said simply.  She was still pale and her face was drawn with pain.  Stiffly she tried to sit up and failed.  “I felt too exposed on the bed.”

            “Yea well you are naked.” Mary said. “Anyway we got breakfast and a briefing to get to.  You wanna grow?”

            “Yea.” Merry said throwing off the makeshift sheet.  “Put me on the bed.”

            Mary’s hands cupped under Merry and lifted her up and the same electric shock that she had felt the night before again shot through Mary’s body.  It didn’t help that Merry was beautiful and naked.  Or that she tensed up as Mary picked her up.  The only mar to her beauty now was the giant black bruise on her thigh and the fact that her face drew even tighter as Mary moved her.  Her face and her whole body. 

            Sure I’m curious, Mary thought as she put Merry onto the bed.  But she’s hurt damn it!  Why can’t I stop this?  Hell I’m curious, I’ll shout it from the roof!  But I’ll be damn if I’m going to be curious about her, I’m curious about Lizzie and Jessie damn it!  Being curious about her is like being curious about a firecracker.

            Merry lay on the bed and closed her eyes.  After a moment her body trembled but then she gasped in pain and opened them again.

            “What is it?” Mary asked. 

            “I can’t grow.” Merry said.  She shook her head and then pulled her good leg up to her chest and hugged it.  “I’m not strong enough yet.”

            “Oh.” Mary said. 

            “Goddess!” Merry swore and there was almost panic from her.  “I’m…  I’m in trouble.”

            “No you aren’t.”

            “I can’t grow and I can barely move my leg!” Merry shouted.  “I’m vulnerable!”

            “Yea, and you’re safe.” Mary said.  “No one in this place is going to come after you and there is some impressive power here to protect you.”

            “Protect me!” Merry snapped with outrage.  “Protect me?”

            Mary sat down on the bed as gently as she could.

            “Yea.” She said.  “Probably a new concept for you, but it’s not a bad one.  It’s not a tragedy either.”

            “Strength is the only safety.” Merry said harshly.  She was breathing heavily and her eyes were darting about the room. “Either you stand on your own or you don’t stand at all.”

            “Good for a tombstone, bad for a lifestyle.” Mary said with forced casualness.  She leaned back against the bedframe.  “When was the last time you were this vulnerable?”

            Merry glared at her.

            “I’m your friend remember?” Mary said.  “You’ve said as much.”  

            “When you and Miss Shadow were in my mind.” Merry said.  “When I woke up I was chained.”  Merry growled and gripped the sheets in her two tiny fists.  “I don’t like waking up in chains!” 

            “Well that was the two of us.” Mary said.  Figures, she would hit me with that, she thought.  “And we both got the knife in the back that time.  I woke up in chains too you know.”

            “My enemies…” Merry began.

            “Will have to go through us first.” Mary interrupted her.  “You’re a part of Earth Force.”

            Merry swallowed. 

            “In my life…  Goddess Mary in my life before Simone there were always two reasons I got caught.  I was asleep or I was hurt too bad to fight back.  I…  I can’t fight back now!”

            “No.” Mary said.  “But you don’t have to.  I will.  So will everyone else here.”

            Merry looked at her and slowly her breathing returned to normal.

            “To be captured was to be tortured, played with…” Merry said.  “My head shaved, my teeth pulled out, hot metal…”

            “Merry.” Mary said firmly before she could go on.  Merry had started to breathe in short pants and Mary was almost afraid she’d pass out.  She reached over and carefully stroked Merry’s hair.  “You’re here, you’re safe.”

            Merry batted at her fingers and Mary drew them back. 

            “So…” Merry started and then took a deep breath.  She tried to stand but her leg gave out and she fell to the mattress.  She tried twice more before giving up and laying back.  She lay prone with her legs spread and Mary had to fight down her desire.  The blonde pubic hair looked so soft…  Merry’s body was open to her but her mind radiated fear.  Mary so desperately wanted to pick her up, hold her, comfort her…  Not even as a lover but just as a friend.  But she didn’t.  The tiny woman would never accept that from anyone but Simone.  So Mary let her lay there and felt the fear slowly be replaced by anger.  Merry closed her legs and sat up.  “So…  I am in your hands.” 

            “Yes.” Mary said.  She cupped her hands and placed them on the bed.  “So hop on and I’ll carry you around.  You don’t have to be afraid.”

            For a moment Mary thought that Merry would refuse.  But Merry nodded and rolled over onto her hands.

            “We should really get you something to wear.” Mary said swallowing down her arousal.  Merry’s ass was very warm in the palm of her hand.

            My god what’s wrong with me, Mary thought angrily.  She’s in pain and vulnerable and I’m thinking of sex!  I gotta get it under control!

 

 

 

            Everyone was already there when Mary carried her into the conference room.  Merry tried to hide her fear but she was sure that some of it showed.  Merry was used to being carried, but by Simone or The Group, not by anyone else.  Mary’s hands felt strange to her.  Merry had wrapped a blue lace handkerchief around her body.  The handkerchief was wide enough to go twice around her but Merry knew that the material was so thin it was practically translucent.  Her nipples and pubic hair could easily been seen.  But it was what the First Knight would have chosen.  It made her look un-intentionally exotic.  Merry knew that the other members of Earth Force would be looking at her body and be slightly embarrassed.  Mary was already a little freaked out by her desire.  It was a tactic that she had used before with them.  She hated taking advantage of their good natures but Merry realized that she had too, now more than ever.  Just as she’d had to play her part, convincing Mary of the terrible life that she had led.  It was too easy for Merry to use the self hate and guilt she felt and let Mary mistake it for fear.  Far too easy.

            “Good morning.” Lucy said.  She was wearing a business suit and her blue coat was draped casually over the seat behind her.  In front of her was a plate of eggs, bacon, toast and hash fries along with milk and orange juice.  It was a full American breakfast from the 1950’s and somehow it suited her.

            They were all eating their own food, Merry realized as she looked at the round the table.  The original round table had been smashed but Lucy had replaced it with a wide mahogany table with white stone squares.  In the center of the table were bowls of strawberries, blueberries along with salt and pepper shakers.  Merry watched as Prudence speared one of the strawberries with her fork.  She sat beside her mother and was eating from a bowl of Wheaties.  Esmerelda was eating a steak.  She was tearing into it with two knives.  Beside her Yoran ate a bowl of brown rice.  Next to him Savage was eating a chicken wing.  Moon Girl was eating blue paste out of a bowl.  Alpha and Beta were both eating bowls of Count Chocula.  Gadget Gal was eating oatmeal.  Beside her was an empty place and beside that a doll sized kitchen table with a chair and a plate.  

            It was strange to see them all like this.  No costumes, no tension; just people eating breakfast. Yoran and Savage were only wearing pajama’s.  Alpha and Beta wore oversized T-shirts with Harvard logos on them.  Prudence was in a bathrobe as was Gadget Gal.  Esmerelda wore a loose robe.  Moon Girl wore a shirt that was nearly as transparent as Merry’s make shift outfit.  Mary put her onto the table next to the doll-sized breakfast table.  Merry staggered over to the chair and sat down.  Her leg was only good for a few minutes before it started to throb.

            “Feeling better?” Lucy asked as Merry sat down.  Mary took her own seat and started to dig into her own eggs. 

            “I can’t grow and my legs only good for about 20 seconds of walking.” Merry said defensively.  In front of her was a miniature version of Lucy’s own meal.  “I’m useless for combat.”

            “Honorable wounds.” Moon Girl said.  “They are nothing to hide.” 

            “You’re doing better than I thought then.” Yoran said.  “Those knives almost completely severed the muscles in your leg and they did cut through an artery.  You lost a lot of blood.”

            “Don’t tell me that while I’m eating.” Alpha demanded in a strained voice.

            Merry looked at the food.  Should she just dig in?  Should she do something strange, just to throw them off a bit more?   She’d never eaten with them like this, when she had stayed with them Merry had eaten on her ships.

            “Yes, let’s not talk about that right now.” Lucy said. 

            Merry started to eat.  The hell with it, she couldn’t be that strange.  And she was hungry.

            “That was good work with the machine.” Savage said.

            “Thanks.” Merry said with her mouth full of food.  “Any idea what was behind it?”

            “A group of thieves.” Lucy said.  “We don’t know exactly who, they don’t even have a name.  While we were fighting robots in New York they were looting banks in New Jersey.”

            “Good plan.” Merry said.  “But they must have had to steal a lot to make up for the machine.”

            “They got twenty million.” Lucy said.  “But some factories were broken into as well and valuable equipment was stolen.”

            “So you might have a scientist with a group of thugs.” Merry guessed as she wolfed the food down.  She was hungry and the eggs were great.  She drank half of the milk before going on.  It spilled down her face and onto her makeshift outfit, but Merry intended it too.  The First Knight had to be a little wild after all.  Only after she had the thought did Merry realize that they knew that she was a member of a noble house.  It was an inconsistency and she trembled at the thought of what could come of it.  An idea to correct it came to her quickly.  “A partnership, he gets the equipment, they get the money.”

            “An interesting theory.” Lucy said.  “The FBI is investigating.”

            “You trust’em?” Merry asked finishing her milk.

            “Yes.” Lucy said.

            Merry finished off the egg and looked at Mary’s plate.

            “More?” Mary asked.

            “Yep.” Merry said.

            Mary cut a bit from her plate and put it on Merry’s.  Merry dug into it with the same gusto as before.

            “We weren’t certain how hungry you’d be.” Lucy said. 

            “Very.” Merry said stuffing the egg into her mouth and letting some of it spill out.  “And it’s easier to eat here.”

            “What do you mean it’s easier to eat here?” Alpha asked.

            “Fewer rules.” Merry said whipping her mouth with the back of her hand.  “In Dollopolis there are a lot of rules when you eat formally.  I got over them when I was on the run but Simone keeps pushing me to go back to them.”

            “This isn’t formal.” Lucy said.

            “I know.” Merry said smothering her relieve that the lie hadn’t been detected.  “What about the Thug?”

            “Paid help.” Mary said.  “He’s not talking and his lawyer is making sure of it.”

            Merry felt a flash of anger at the news.  She’d dealt with lawyers and hated most of them.

            “Torture’em both.” Merry suggested.

            “We can’t.” Lucy said.

            “I know.” Merry said.  “But I can tell you Lucy that this whole presumed innocent thing…  I was there, he’s guilty.”

            “Practically we know that.” Lucy said.  “Legally we do not.”

            Merry shrugged and finished her egg.  Then she stood up and started to hobble over to the bowl of strawberries.  The doll table they had given her was a 1950’s three-legged model and Merry knew what would happen if she leaned on it the wrong way.

            “So how long can…” Alpha started to asked but Merry’s accident cut off her question.  Merry had only taken on step, bracing herself on the table when it fell out from beneath her and Merry fell.  The table landed on her leg and she growled in pain.

            “Damnit!” Merry shouted slamming her fist against the table.  She looked up and saw that Lucy had half stood up and was reaching for her.  “Don’t touch me!” Merry snarled desperately pulling away from her.

            Lucy froze and Merry looked around at them.  There was concern on all of their faces, but not just for her wound.

            I’ve done it, Merry thought with a stab of self hatred.  They think I’m dangerous, unstable, half wild.  Now they’re worried, a little embarrassed…  Goddess I’m scum.

            {Don’t take it too far love.}

            Merry swallowed.  That had been Simone, not any of The Group.  And she was right, taking it too far would be worse than not taking it far enough.

            I’m wild but I’m tamed, Merry told herself.

            Everyone was staring at her and Merry fought down her self hate and shame.

            “I’m…  I’m sorry, my lady.” Merry said.  She crawled over and climbed back onto the chair, deliberately loosing her handkerchief in the process.  She took a deep breath.  “I’m sorry.  I’m not used to… to being in this sort of situation.”

            “That’s alright.” Lucy said as Mary quietly set the table upright again.

            “No it’s not.” Merry said drawing herself up.  “You’re my host, my team mate, my leader…  The Law of Hospitality…  I gave my oath.”  Merry swallowed as she stumbled through the sentences.  The First Knight was tugging at her but Merry forced her back.  She had to finish it quick, give them an out.  “Name my punishment and I’ll accept it.”

            “You’re not gonna get punished.” Prudence said.

            “No, you’re not.” Lucy said. 

            “But I could spank you for fun if you wanted.” Savage said.

            Everyone laughed at the joke and Merry found herself joining in a little. 

            “When I’m better maybe.” Merry said forcing herself to smile.  “But my offense…”

            “You don’t have to take everything to fighting level.” Alpha said. 

            Merry shrugged and buried her face into the strawberry.  The juice dripped onto her naked chest and she noticed that Alpha and Beta were staring at her.  So was Savage.  Just about everyone was. Goddess am I turning everyone on in here? Merry wondered noting the looks that Alpha, Beta, Savage and Yoran were giving her.  Everyone?

            “There’s nothing I’ve found in life that ain't a fight.” Merry said.

            “You dropped this.” Mary said handing her the handkerchief.

            “Thanks.” Merry said putting the strawberry down and wrapping the cloth around her again.  If Mary had intended to reduce the erotic look she failed.  The strawberry juice was wet enough to make the fabric of the handkerchief transparent and sticky enough to hold it too her skin.  Merry noticed that Mary’s hands shook a bit.

            “Nothing?” Moon Girl asked.

            “Well…” Merry trailed off.  “Can’t think of anything at the moment.”

            “What about fun?” Beta asked.  “What do you girls do for fun in Dollopolis?”

            “Simone likes formal dances.” Merry said.  “And she likes stuffing me into silly gowns.  She smiled.  “She holds you down and you just can’t squirm away as she puts it on you.  We don’t have too many of them now, not enough of us left.  That bugs her, Simone loved those balls.  In the old days we’d have mock battles with long clubs and fist-clubs.  One team blindfolded, the other with their ankles hobbled.  Loosing team had to be the slaves to the winning team for a month.  And every so often I’d chose one girl to hide from the rest of us for a day or so.  Who ever found her owned her if they could find and tie her up.  If she tied them up she owned them.  Extra points for knocking someone out.”

            “Those are games?” Gadget Gal asked.

            “Well I liked them.” Merry said thankful for the summer she had spent working at a Camp for inner city kids.  All she had to do was twist the games the kids had played, though not that much.    “They taught you how to stay alive.  Knocked some of the attitude out of the higher borns too.  That was always fun.”  Merry smiled.  “Nothing as humbling as a cracked head or a collar around the neck.”

            “The dances sound nice.” Esmerelda said as the others blanched at Merry’s smile. 

            “Yea, Simone liked dances.  And once we found the classical stuff from your world…  I couldn’t get her to stop playing it.  And the dances…  She kept telling me that we needed to get away from the rough stuff.  She was always trying to move us away from the traditional games.  Calm us down she kept saying.  She was the one who came up with spanking instead of using fire whips for punishments.  And then after we started watching your world she really started to crack down.  She really likes volleyball so that replaced the mock battles.”

            Merry started to rise, then stopped.  She looked at Mary.

            “Mind?” She asked gesturing to the strawberries.”

            “No problem.” Mary said handing her one.

            Merry dug into it and let the handkerchief slip down her chest. 

            “I wanted football or rugby but Simone said volleyball would keep everyone fit and we’d have fewer broken bones.  She was always trying to change things, kept telling me that we needed to evolve.”  Merry stopped eating.  “And the dances…  Goddess…  She can dance.”

            There was no need to play act her missing Simone.  But as she guessed Lucy quickly moved into the conversation. 

            “We will be having other guest besides Merry.” Lucy said breaking the tension at the table.  She picked up  small remote control and a screen on the wall came to life and the curtains closed.  On the screen was a picture of a woman with dark brown hair.  She’d been beautiful once.  Her face held the high cheek bones and strong jaw favored by models.  Age had taken a lot of that beauty away though, but more than age.  Deep lines around the eyes and the mouth showed worry and pain.  Her eyes matched the color of her hair but they were nearly buried behind thick glasses.

            “This is Marjory Page Cimarron.” Lucy said.  “She was married to Hank Cimarron, the Night Thrasher.”

            “He’s dead isn’t he?” Gadget Gal asked.

            “Yes.” Lucy said.  “One of the casualties of the Nephilim affair.  The E.I.A. supplied Jack Dark with the Night Thrasher’s true name.”

 

 

 

            The pain that came from Lucy for a moment outpaced anything coming from anyone else at the table.  Mary knew why.  Lucy had been close to Sandy Sommerset, the woman who had been behind the information leak.  Sandy had given supervillains all over the world the exact knowledge needed to bring down superheroes.  That was one of the reasons that there were more supervillains than heroes now.

            “Armed with that knowledge Jack Dark slipped into Hank Cimarron’s home and attacked his family.”

Lucy pushed a button and the screen showed three more people beside Marjory.  The girl next to her was a younger version of her mother.  But her beauty was marred by a white patch over one eye.  There were lines in her young face, lines of pain and worry that should not have been there.  The young man next to her had a deep jagged scar on the right side of his jaw.  But it was the young woman standing next to him that truly struck at Mary.  She was prettier than her mother or sister.  Indeed she was beautiful by Hollywood standards.  But her eyes had a wide, frightened look and she was looking off camera.  Mary had seen that sort of look before.  She wasn’t looking at anything, she was making sure not to look at everything.

            “Jack captured Hank and tortured his family while Hank was forced to watch.  Marjory is confined to a wheelchair now.”  A blue circle appeared around the girl with the eye patch.  “Whitney is blind in one eye and her left leg is artificial.”  The circle moved on to the young man.  “Owen’s jaw and his right hand are artificial.”  The circle moved on to the pretty girl.  “June was only sixteen and the attack traumatized her mind.  She can’t function mentally beyond the age of ten.”

            “And the one who did this was allowed to live?” Merry demanded?  “Goddess Lucy even in your world…”

            “California does not have a death penalty.” Lucy said.  “Hank died in a final battle with Jack and Jack was sentenced to fifteen life terms.  Last week his sister Jane Dark broke him out of prison.  Jack has been regularly threatening to destroy what is left of the Cimarron family.  His last message, written in a guard’s blood on the wall of his cell was “I’m coming for June.”

            “Why’s he hate them so much?” Alpha asked.

            “I don’t know.” Lucy said.  “But the family barely survived his last attack and with the Republics disbanded Marjory has no where else to go.  She called the Governor in a panic and he called me.”

            “That state is in trouble.” Beta said.

            “Shows what happens when you betray someone.” Merry said. 

            “They didn’t have a choice.” Beta said.  “Timidious had the satellites.”

            “Betrayal is betrayal.” Merry said coldly.

            There was a part of Mary that agreed with her.  When Timidious had taken over the world defense satellites and declared himself master of the world his first orders had been to capture and hold specific superheroes.  His targets had mostly been anyone he was afraid who could strike at him.  Feeling that they had no choice national, state and local police had obeyed.  The threat of a city being wiped out by a particle beam from orbit had scared them.  Many of the superheroes had understood and given up quietly.  More hadn’t and the Republics-operating out of L.A. had a very good reason not to understand.  They had not even been given a chance to make up their minds.  The LA police had long had an undercover agent in their headquarters and he had shut down their defenses allowing an assault team in. 

            That maybe could have been handled.  But while in their specially designed holding cells the Republics had been attacked by the Terror Squad.  Helpless in power negators they had been easy prey.  Their leader Mr. Steel had been killed and the Terror Squad had gotten away clean away.  Then Timidious had been defeated and it had gotten ugly.  Once they were released the remaining Republics had completely trashed a police station, torn open a gold depository, looted it and then dispersed and vanished.  The last one to leave had been Solid Man and he had paused in front of a news crew to tell the people of LA exactly what he thought of them.

            Since then the state of California had become a central point for many supervillains.  The Terror Squad virtually ruled the region.  A few of the independent heroes had walked out of the prison cells and simply vanished.  Some had stayed and tried to carry on the battle.  L.A. Girl had been taken by Baggers and she had been the most powerful one left.  She was still missing.  After that superheroes vanished from the state.  It was no wonder that Marjory was frantically calling for help.

            “Marjory Cimarron never betrayed anyone.” Beta said.

            “Sometimes you pay for others mistakes.” Merry replied. 

“Jack Dark is a shape shifter right?” Esmerelda asked.

            “Yes.” Lucy said.  She pressed a button and his picture appeared.  He was actually handsome, strikingly so with blonde hair, gray eyes and a well chiseled body.  “His shape changing power is limited to his appearance, he can be anyone.

            “He gives of radiation though.” Gadget Gal said.  “I can rig something up that’ll catch him if he comes around here.”

            “Do so.” Lucy said.

            “What about Jane Dark?” Prudence asked.  “I’ve never heard of her.”

            “She’s new.” Lucy said.  She pressed the button and a new picture appeared.  Jane was the counter part to her brother.  She had blonde hair, silver eyes and a face that could have appeared on Vogue.  Though they only had head shots Mary guessed that her body matched the face.  “We don’t know if she is Jack’s sister, daughter or just someone with the same name.  Jane’s empathic, able to control a person’s emotions if she can make eye contact with them.”

            “Time for sunglasses I guess.” Mary said.

            “Yoran I’d like you and Letitia to go and investigate in Los Angeles.” Lucy said.  “Moon Girl I’d like you to go too.  The faster we catch Jack Dark the faster these people can get back to their lives.”

            “What about the Terror Squad?” Prudence asked.

            “They will not be a problem.” Moon Girl said.  “They have no powers besides their guns and explosives.”

            Mary hoped that was true.  But she’d been in too many battles where non-powered foes had won over powered ones.  Still she realized that Lucy could not send too much of their firepower away.  Earth Force was not invulnerable and…  Mary suddenly realized that Merry had gotten very silent.  Usually she was the first one to suggest a strategy-often a lethal one.  But she sat and Mary could feel… not fear or anger from her, but hesitation.  It was as if she were wrestling with a decision.

            “Lady Rothschild…” Merry began and then stopped.  She took a breath and started to talk again.  “Lucy… I’m a liability in this case.”

            “Because you’re wounded?” Lucy asked.  “Don’t worry about it Merry.”

            “It’s not that.” Merry said looking down at the table.  “I can fight off most forms of telepathic attack, or I can try too, but not empathic ones.  I fold under that.”  Merry looked up and her face was hard.  “I’m like a puppet on a string when someone takes hold of my emotions.  I have a hard time holding things in, you know that.  You might want to send me away, lock me up in a cage…  Just do something.”

            She was scared Mary realized.  And she realized why.

            “It’s happened to you before?” Mary asked.

            “Yea.” Merry nodded. 

            “We will not send you away or lock you up.” Lucy said.  “We will remember this though and be wary.”

            Merry sighed. 

            “Are you sure?” She asked.  “Look I’m used to being a in cage, Simone kept me in one for years.” 

            “What happened the last time it happened to you?” Gadget Gal asked.  Mary cursed silently.  That was a question she had hoped to avoid.

            “I… I beat up Simone.” Merry said.  “And… And I killed… I killed a city.”  She kept looking down at the table as she talked.  “It was an underwater city on my world, peaceful, one of our few allies.  I rammed a sub into the dome, implosion nearly killed me, it did kill everyone else including the sorcerer who was controlling me.  He got me mad.  He thought that he could control me when I got mad, but I snapped and we were fighting when the sub hit the dome.”

            Mary reached over and started to stroke her hair but stopped, her fingers a few inches from Merry’s head.  She was sensing anger again, it had been submerged but now it was rising.  Sympathy was the last thing Merry wanted.  Or it was the last thing she would accept.

            “It was not your fault.” Lucy said.  “But as I said we will be wary.  Gadget Gal before you leave make sure that the security computer keeps track of Merry’s movements and who ever goes near her.”

            “That’s the second weakness I have that you guys know about.” Merry said lifting her head.  Tears had run down her face.  “Electricity and emotions.”  She shook her head.  “I work so hard to keep these things secret…”

            “You don’t have to with us.” Esmerelda said.

            “I know.” Merry said.  She took the handkerchief and wiped the tears away.  “But it’s a hard thing to break a lifetime of…  Well it’s just hard.”

            “You get used to it.” Moon Girl said.

            Merry tossed the handkerchief away and leaned on the table. 

            “Can I have a blueberry?” She asked glancing back at Mary.

            “Sure.” Mary said handing her one. 

            “We really have to get you something to wear.” Beta said.

            “Why?” Merry asked.  “I’m wounded and healing, no combat for me on the horizon.” Merry shook her head and pointed to the handkerchief.  “A rag like that’ll do, resources like outfits are for the healthy.”

            “It won’t be a waste.” Lucy said.  “We have sufficient resources Merry.”

            Merry shrugged and bit into the blueberry.  Juice ran down her chin and onto her chest. 

            Man, she really doesn’t know what that sort of thing does to us, Mary thought.

            “What do you know about Jane Dark?” Merry asked.

            “These are images from the prison security system.” Lucy said.  “Only a few minutes survived.  Jane ordered the rest destroyed.”

            The image showed a platinum blonde woman with a super thin body walking down a corridor lined with barred doors.  Mary was surprised, Jane had a great looking face but the body looked it was made out of skin only.  It wasn’t a case of her not being fat, it was a case of her being thin enough to nearly not be there.  Jane was wearing a simply black dress cut square at the shoulders and belted at the waist with a wide gray strap with a silver buckle.  She looked each of them, said something and moved one.  As she moved on blood appeared on some of the bars.

            “We got audio with this?” Alpha asked.

            “Yes.” Lucy said turning up the sound.

            “Eat your own sock.” Jane said looking into a cell.  Choking sounds emerged as she passed.

            “How many did she kill?” Mary asked as the images stopped.

            “Fifteen guards, five prisoners.” Lucy said. 

            Jane looked up at the camera and a half smile appeared on her face.

            “She visited the prison control center first.” Lucy said.  “Three dead.”

            “How’d they die?” Merry asked.

            “Two of them killed each other, the other shot himself.” Lucy answered.  “They were lucky in a way, the rest of the guards were killed by enslaved prisoners.  Torn apart.”

            “What about the prisoners?” Merry asked.

            “Random.” Lucy said.  “Some she killed in gruesome ways, others she barely looked at.”

            “She’s been in prison before.” Merry said.

            “The profilers agree with you.” Lucy said.

            “And she was paid to kill some of the prisoners.” Merry said.

            “Why do you say that?” Lucy asked.

            “Because she didn’t kill them all.  And look at her Lucy, she’s too cocky.  How long before anyone noticed what was going on?”

            “Thirty minutes from the time she walked in.” Lucy said.  “It was a Sunday morning after all.”

            “She’s got more powers then she’s letting on.” Merry said. 

            “That’s a guess.” Savage said.

            “Yep.” Merry admitted.  “But look, she’s unknown before this and her powers are good, but they don’t make her indestructible.  Gouge her eyes out, blind her and she’s helpless.  She’s not worried about that happening in a place where men haven’t seen a woman for years, decades.  To me that says she’s got more than emotional control.”

            “Perhaps.” Lucy said.

            “I think we should put small knives and salt in every room.” Merry said.  “Take out her eyes and at least she won’t be able to control anyone.”

            “Knives?” Gadget Gal asked.

            “I’m a good throw.” Merry said.  “It won’t kill her but it will take her out of the fight.”

            “Salt will do.” Lucy said.  “Maiming is not something we do either.”

            For a moment Mary thought that there might be protest, but Merry stayed silent.

            “This makes no sense.” Alpha said.  “She lets them take pictures, but then takes out most of the footage?”

            “That is what I hope you will find out.” Lucy said to Yoran. 

            “We’ll leave after breakfast.” Yoran said. 

            “Well I’m full.” Merry said.  She leaned back in her chair and stretched.

            “Come on.” Prudence said standing up.  “I’ll find something for you.”

            “Our sizes are different.” Merry insisted.

            “We’ll find something.” Esmerelda said standing as well.

            “Ok.” Merry said. 

            They left and Mary felt a mental sigh of relief go through the room.

            “Did she really think we’d stick her in a cage?” Gadget Gal asked.

            “Yep.” Mary said.  “Like she said Simone used to do it.”

            “Lucy are we sure about her?” Beta asked.  “If your hand had gotten too close just now she would have bitten it.  In a fight she’s great but…  She nearly strangled Mary in New York.  If she’s as vulnerable as she says she is to Jane’s powers…”

            “We’ll take precautions.” Lucy said.

            “She’s dangerous.” Beta said.  “The past few months with her on the team…  It’s like one snap of somebody’s fingers will set her off.  Hell I get nervous around her.  The reporters, the secrecy…  It’s like she’s being forced to stay with us all the time.  She’s snappish, unfriendly…”

            “She’s scared.” Alpha said.  “I saw that in New York.”

            “Either she’s one of us or she’s not.” Beta said.  “Either she trusts us or she doesn’t.”

            “I believe she is learning.” Lucy said.  “The more I learn of her and her culture the more impressed I become.  Simone has worked miracles with her.”

            “But Simone’s not here.” Beta said.  “She was scared when you reached for her.  Lucy it was like she was expecting you to grab her and…  Hell I don’t know but she was scared.  She doesn’t trust you.”

            “Not yet.” Lucy said.  “Not completely.”

            “That would have been the same for anyone of us except Pru or Esmerelda.” Mary said.  “Merry is scared Beta, in her mind she’s helpless and we’re all giants.  She’s gonna want to lash out too keep us at a distance.  I talked to her before I brought her down.  In her old life, before Simone Merry was on the run and she was caught.  She was caught a lot and tortured a lot.”

            “We don’t know how long that lasted.” Lucy said.  “But we do know that both Merry and Simone are long lived.”

            “We aren’t her enemies.” Beta said. 

            “We gotta get that through to her somehow.” Alpha agreed.

            “We’re working on it.” Mary said.  “Simone did it, we can do it.”

            “I wasn’t any different when Yoran and I first met.” Savage said.  “The world she comes from offered few opportunities for friendship.”

            “You didn’t have her kill count.” Beta said.  “She’s killed two cities now that we know of and we know about her torture room.  We’ve all been in those places; she runs one.  And she’s happy when she tortures if what we’ve heard is true.”

            “It is the life she’s led.” Moon Girl said.  “I agree with Lucy that she is learning.  Her admission of weakness just now was a tremendous step for her.”

            “So’s wearing clothes.” Gadget Gal said.  “I think that’s another problem Lucy, she’s turning everyone on.”

            “What?” Mary asked and tried to keep the anger out of her voice.  Letitia had finally found a home after years of being an outcast.  But part of that was she suddenly felt free to say just about anything that came into her mind.

            “Where’d you get that?” Alpha said just as quickly and with the same sort of controlled anger.

            “Come on, she’s got the biggest smallest boobs I’ve ever seen! I’m straight and I couldn’t stop staring!”  Letitia looked at them.  “And I wasn’t the only one.  You were the only one who wasn’t Lucy.”

            “I think you’re exaggerating Letitia.” Lucy said. 

            “Yea.” Mary said.

            “Definitely.” Alpha said.

            “Definitely.” Beta repeated. 

            “I’m sure that a sexual liaison is the last thing on anyone’s mind right now.” Yoran said.

            Let’s just say it’s not on the top ten list, Mary thought.

            “I know that Merry can be difficult.” Lucy said.  “But I believe we are making progress.  Think of her as a wild animal, one that has been abused over and over again.  But she is here now, and will be for a while.  I think that we will see a softening of her attitudes as the weeks go by.”

            “I hope so.” Beta said.  “I just don’t know how to get through to her.”

            “Simone did it with sex and spanking.” Gadget Gal suggested.

            “There was far more to it than that Letitia.” Lucy said and there was no mistaking the stern tone in her voice.  “And the more I learn of her the more I admire Simone.”

            “Yea, we don’t see much of her.” Mary said. 

            “You saw a lot of her last time she was here.” Letitia said nearly giggling.

            “Let us discuss the investigation.” Lucy said sternly changing the subject.

 

 

 

            Prudence and Esmerelda shared a room at the far corner of the mansion, just down the hall from Lucy’s room.  As she was carried in Merry studied the place.  The room had a high ceiling and a fan light.  The walls were covered with a deep blue Victorian wall paper.  There were two beds in the room, a wooden canopy bed and a more modern brass one.  The brass one was messed up and had a teddy bear, a stuffed Godzilla and a stuffed Snoopy on it.  The canopy bed was made and had a stuffed dragon on it.  Two desks in the room were set up with a window between them.  Merry guessed that the organized one with the law books was Esmerelda’s while the disorganized one was Prudence’s.   There were iMacs on both of them but one of them had a T-shirt thrown over the screen.  There were two dressers and on one of them was a doll-sized bed.  Against a far wall was a large screen tv.  Next to it was a sewing machine table and various scraps of cloth were strewn around it.  Near the sewing machine was a rack with a half finished multi-colored quilt on it.  On the dresser with the small bed on it were silver framed photo’s of Prudence with her mother, but none of Prudence with her father.  On the other dresser were silver framed pictures of Esmerelda with Lucy and Prudence and other members of Earth Force. 

            “Nice quilt.” Merry said as Prudence carried her over to the brass bed and put her down.  Stiffly Merry stumbled over to Godzilla and slumped down against its tale.

            “Thank you.” Esmerelda said.  “I’ve found it a way to think things through when I need too.  The law can be very confusing.”

            “Yea.” Merry said.  “Especially this worlds law.  At least my world’s laws held some teeth to them.”

            “Too much teeth.” Esmerelda said.

            “That’s what Simone says.” Merry said looking at the Godzilla. 

            “That’s Fluffy.” Prudence said. 

            “Fluffy?” Merry asked.

            “Aunt Mary got him for me after everything went to hell.” Prudence said sitting down on the bed.  “Before we realized what my powers were.  First time I woke up next to him I was freaked.”

            “You still shrink when you fall asleep?” Merry asked.

            “Yep.” Prudence said.  “You don’t?”

            “Nope.” Merry said.  She looked at the stuffed animals.  “They look kinda cozy to sleep next to.  We got cats in Dollopolis who’ll curl up and let you sleep with them.”

            “That sounds weird.” Prudence said holding the Snoopy.

            “No stranger then when you wake up next to me.” Esmerelda said.

            “You two sleep together?” Merry asked.

            “Yea.” Prudence snapped getting off of the bed and walking over to the sewing machine.  “Just sleep.”

            Merry saw the look of pain that crossed Esmerelda’s face and she was sure that Prudence knew it was there, even if she didn’t see it.  Prudence turned around and it swallowed hard. 

            “Merry can I ask you some… about some stuff?”

            “Yes.” Merry said.  “But your powers are a mystery to me.”

            “It’s not that.” Prudence said starting to pace again.   “Did you make me gay?”

            “What?” Merry acted surprised but she wasn’t.  Prudence had been trying to get her alone ever since Merry had joined Earth Force.  Merry had avoided it because she wasn’t sure what to tell the young woman.

            “Before you… and me and Ida I never looked at girls.” Prudence said.  “I wasn’t much into guys either.  I liked my books.  But then… Goddess dad went nuts and Aunt Sandy took over my mind and… and had guys rape me and then you and Ida and I drank your breast milk…  Now…  Now I don’t know if I’m still me!”

            She was nearly panting from anxiety and Merry could tell that Esmerelda wanted to go over and hug her, but wouldn’t.  Out of fear?  Fear of rejection?

            Was I like that with Simone, Merry wondered.  Did I scare her that much.  Did she scare me that much?

            “You aren’t you.” Merry said.  “You aren’t who you were, you’re who you are.”

            “But am I still me?” Prudence demanded.

            “Or are her feelings for me the part of you that is still in her.” Esmerelda added.  “And will that part, will the part that… cares for me, go away someday?”

            “I had a really bad temper for a long time.” Prudence said.  “Just like you.  I was angry all the time, just like you.  But its gone now.”

            “Why wouldn’t you be mad?” Merry answered.

            “What?” Prudence asked.

            “You find out that an alien machine rebuilt your body and your mother didn’t tell you.  Your father went insane, your mother betrayed me and your aunt took over your mind and had you raped.  There’s enough there to get anyone angry.”

            Prudence didn’t say anything and Merry went on. 

            “Plus your mother is pregnant, she might die and she’s in a lot of pain so you can’t be mad at her, but you are anyway.  That makes you mad at yourself and it goes on from there.  I don’t think you got anything from me but your powers.”

            “But… What about…”

            “Us.” Esmerelda asked.  “Prudence was kind to me when I first came here.  But Granite Girl was the one who I spent time with.  I thought I loved her.  But after the Nephilim affair the more I helped Prudence the more I felt for her.”  Esmerelda walked over to her desk and sat down.  “I hurt Granite Girl and I didn’t mean too, but I couldn’t help it.”

            “You can’t help love.” Merry said.

            “We ended up in a hell of a cat fight.” Prudence said.  “But she was my friend too and the worst part is…  Is that I’m not sure.”  She looked at Merry.  “When were you sure?  With Simone?”

            “We’re not really a good example.” Merry dodged.  She wanted to help them but how far could she go without tripping on her own lies?  Merry wasn’t sure herself how much of her sexual orientation had changed because of what The Group had done to her.

            “You began by hating her.” Esmerelda said.

            Oh goddess I wish I could tell them the truth, Merry thought.  The first time she had met Simone they had both been in an ambulance.  And for months after that she had avoided the woman.  How to tell them about those months?  How could she tell them…

            “I didn’t hate her personally.” Merry said.  “I hated the nobility.  Simone was just another high born.”

            “But…”

            “No I hated what she was Pru.” Merry said interrupting her.  “I was born a noble, I knew what she was because she was what I had been.  And it didn’t matter that she was a woman, the only thought I had when we met was how to kill her.”

            “You never thought of a woman as a lover until you were altered?” Esmerelda asked.

            “I didn’t think of lovers at all.” Merry said.  In her mind she cast back.  Growing up in a normal LA family Merry had gone on dates, but only with guys, and not that often.  She only had vague memories of thinking of women.  Glances and thoughts in the school shower.  But she’d been a tomboy, a sci-fi nerd until she hit puberty and after that...  The more her body had matured the more Merry’s friendships suffered.  She became very careful of her reputation and the last thing she wanted was to be known as a lesbian.  High school had been hard enough.  No one would talk in front of her, Merry could fight and wasn’t shy about fighting.  But the whispers, the jokes and looks...  Merry had decided that a life of almost no sexuality was the safest way to go.  Few boys and fewer girl friends.  Simone called that repression; Merry wasn’t so sure.  She was a little scared to examine it too closely.  “Even after I was altered.  Well not at first, but they sent me on some spying missions and I watched couples making love.  There were times when it was two women and it did turn me on, but I never made a connection.  Besides they were mostly nobles.”

            “But Simone…” Prudence asked.

            “Simone wasn’t different at first.” Merry said interrupting her again.  “Prudence you have to realize what I was, what I am.  Bloody Merry.  I didn’t sleep with nobles I killed them.  I thought I was supposed to kill her.  That was one of the perks of my enslavement.  I got to kill nobles.  But then they gave me to her as a pet.” Merry shook her head and let herself feel anger at The Group.  It would show and she needed it to show.  “A pet.  I made her pay for that at first.”

            “We heard.” Prudence said.

            Merry closed her eyes.

            “But when did you know?” Prudence demanded.  “When did the… the sex…  I mean was it when you had sex or did you just realize it one day?  Did you ever fight it?  Wonder about it?”

            “Oh goddess.” Merry whispered as Prudence ran out of breath.  She remembered that night.  That night that she had listened to her body and remembered the words of Ida.  That night when she finally admitted that she needed Simone.  Not just sexually but just to be near her, to be near someone.  No, not just someone.  It had to be Simone.  Later on when she realized that Simone had come to love her long before that night Merry had marveled her patience.  But it had taken months for her to feel comfortable with their relationship.  Comfortable with her feelings for another woman.  How to convince Prudence about her own feelings when Merry wasn’t sure she even had the wisdom to advise anyone about their sexuality?  Prudence needed to talk to Simone.

            Merry opened her eyes.  Prudence was sitting on Esmerelda’s bed hugging the dragon.  Esmerelda was sitting at her desk nervously holding a pencil.

            Help them, Merry told herself.  Somehow…

            “Ok.” Merry said.  “This never leaves the room ok?” They nodded.

            “Simone kept me in a cage.” Merry said.  “But I knew if I could get free I could kill her.  All I needed, all I wanted was to get my teeth into her flesh.  Or her guards flesh.  I wanted, I needed to kill.  She avoided me for the first year or so.  But after that, after I started winning battles for her things changed.  She kept me close.  I thought she was trying to make me a slave.   But she still kept me in a cage.  Chained and naked.  The only thing I could do was curse her.  She tried gagging me at first but I chewed through anything.  I lost teeth chewing through stuff.  Once I could talk I cursed her and she spanked me.  A lot.  But every time she spanked me I looked for an opening.  And one night she was trying to spank me but she was tired and I got close enough sink my teeth into her finger.   She screamed and tried to spank me but I was on my back, my chains tangled up in her other fingers.  My hands were chained behind my back and my legs were wide open.  Suddenly she pushed her little finger against my pussy.  Then she started to massage me.”

            Prudence swallowed again and Merry saw Esmerelda react the same way.  Prudence blushed.

            “I didn’t like it.” Merry said.  “It was rape and I’d been raped before.  But it felt good too and it made me stop biting her.  Much as I hated it she could make my body react.  So after that it was either spankings or pussy massages, depending on her mood.  Then tickling.  Just about anything to tire me out and stop cursing her.  It didn’t work.  If I could breath I could curse.  Then she started letting me argue court cases.  She listened to me.  I won arguments.  And the massages started to be rewards instead of punishments.”

            Merry sighed and took a breath.

            “She began to wear down my hate.  She never let show any sign that she was a typical noble.  She was kind, wise, patient…  Goddess it confused the hell out of me.  I never realized that I was falling in love with her.  It never crossed my mind no matter how many times she toyed with my body.  I came to accept the pleasure.” 

            “That wasn’t it though.” Esmerelda said.

            “No.” Merry said.  “One night I got back from a battle and she wasn’t there.  Someone had taken her from me.  And even then I didn’t really know it.  I tracked them down and killed them.  And then I went for Simone.  She was tied up, she couldn’t shrink me.  She was helpless.  The Great Powers were hibernating.  All I had to was kill her and I was free.”

            Merry was trembling and she hoped that they would think it was because of the memory.  In reality it was guilt.  But she forged on, it was all she could do.

            “But she asked me to set her free.” Merry said.  “She asked.  She didn’t command.  And I knew.”

            “Right then?”

            “Right then Pru.” Merry said.  “And that night I stayed full sized, she stayed full sized and we had red wine and sex.”

            Merry paused and took a deep breath.  Then she went on.

            “And I realized it.  It wasn’t the sex, not even close.  It was her.  I loved her.  That’s the key Prudence.  Sex can be great, with man, woman or any combination.  But love is what you need.  Without it you might as well be using a vibrator.  I don’t know to this day if the…  They deliberately changed me so that I’d love a woman.  I don’t care.  It feels good and I don’t care where that feeling comes from.”

            “And if it turns out to be false someday?” Prudence asked.

            “Then I deal with it then.” Merry said.  “The first time Simone and I made love without ropes, without chains…  I don’t care if it was true or not, I’ll spend eternity in hell if I have to pay for that night.  That was my choice years ago and I haven’t looked back.  Don’t borrow trouble, enjoy what you got.”

            “I don’t know if that’ll work for me.” Prudence said.

            “You’re the only one who can answer the question.” Merry said.  “That’s why Ida hasn’t answered you.  Somethings you gotta figure out on your own.”

            “Thanks.” Prudence said.  She sighed and put the dragon down.  “I knew that I guess, but I thought that you...”

            “Might give you a get out of jail free card?” Merry asked.  Prudence nodded.  “Sorry, you gotta figure it out on your own.  Either you love Esmerelda the way I do Simone or you love her the way Mary loves Lucy.  There’s no middle ground.”

            “I guess.  I’ll…  I’ll just have to work on it.”

            “In the meantime we must clothe you at least.” Esmerelda said.  There was a slight smile on her face and Merry wondered if Esmerelda expected Prudence to choose soon.

            “Yea, it’ll be a good start.” Merry said.  They all needed a distraction and Pru needed time.  She looked at the tv.  “Anything on?”

 

 

 

            It had been nearly two hours since Esmerelda and Prudence had taken Merry.  Yoran, Letitia and Moon Girl had left for L.A., Savage and the Power Sisters were running through some battle simulations in the training room.  Lucy had gotten a phone call that Cimarrons were only twenty minutes away.  She wanted to greet them at the door.

            Which leaves me to get these three there, Mary thought.  She paused at the door.  Prudence had been itching to get Merry alone to answer questions and it had finally happened.  The last thing Mary wanted to walk into was some sort of question and answer session.  So she opened up a bit and let her powers scan the room.  What she found stunned her.  Laughter?  Mary pressed her ear to the door and listened. 

            Singing.  She heard singing.

            Mary knocked on the door and then went in.  Prudence and Merry were sitting on the brass bed, both shrunk.  Esmerelda was sitting on the bed as well, leaning back against the pillows.  Prudence and Merry were each leaning against her ankles.  On the tv a cartoon was playing.  Merry was laughing and smiling.  Not the semi-sadistic smile Mary had always seen on her face, this was a relaxed smile full of joy and for one of the few times since she had known her Mary felt no anger from Merry.  

            “Ah…” Mary said and they all looked at her.  Merry’s joy quickly shut down and her anger returned.  “The Cimarrons are nearly here.” Mary said.  “Lucy wants us all to meet them.”

            “Good idea.” Merry said. She was wearing a green wrap around tunic that went down to her knees and was tied with a golden bow around her waist.  Esmerelda shut off the tv.

            They all got off the bed and Mary quickly retreated into the hallway.

            So she’s not angry all the time, Mary thought.  Is this what Simone sees?  Man just for a moment… 

            “What were you watching?” Mary asked.

            “The Marx Brothers in their circus picture.” Prudence said. 

            “Merry chose it.” Esmerelda said.

            “You like the Marx Brothers?” Mary asked and there was no way she could keep the astonishment out of her voice.

            “Of course.” Merry said. 

            “Of course.” Mary repeated as Esmerelda carried Merry past her.  “Of course.” She muttered as they walked down the corridor. 

            She should come with an owners manual, Mary thought.

 

 

            The main hallway of Rothschild Mansion had been built to impress.  It was wide and round with a stair case going both to the right and left, circling up to a landing on the second floor.  They’d had to rebuild it a few times since Lucy had made the mansion Earth Force Headquarters but it still retained the charm of the colonial era.  Lucy was talking to Marjory when Mary led the others into the entranceway.  There was not much difference between the pictures and the people who stood in front of her.  Mary had seen people who had gone through hell.  True hell.  There was a look that they never lost.  Marjory and her children had that look.  She sat in her wheelchair and to her right was her daughter Whitney.  Owen stood her left.  Standing behind her was June.  They looked up as Mary walked in and for a moment there was a reaction of fear as strangers were encountered.  But then they recognized that there was no threat and Marjory and her children relaxed.  All save June.

            “Dolly.” June said smiling.  She held out her hands.

            “Hey!” Merry cried out as she was lifted out of Esmerelda’s hands and flew across the room.  Before anyone could do anything June was holding Merry in her arms and playfully poking her in the stomach.

            “Dolly!” June said joyfully.

 

 

…To be continued.

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