Ultra Woman owned by

Cover art by Trekkie Gal

MODOK, Nightshade and AIM owned by Marvel Comics

https://www.marvel.com

Crimson Valkyrie owned by

https://www.deviantart.com/crimsonvlkyrie

Seriously Evil

Chapter 1.

To an experienced heroine like Tania the familiar was safe, the unfamiliar a warning sign that things might not be safe. Tania had learned to extend this philosophy to nearly every part of her life. A new doorman at her building, a new clerk at the supermarket, a new cop on the beat… in the past not noticing that sort of detail had often led to her being taken by surprise and captured. So Tania was instantly alert when she settled into the dentist chair and her normal hygienist Peggy Sandusky didn’t walk into the room. Instead a tall black woman who looked to be somewhere in her 20’s came in and smiled at her. Tania covered her suspicion instantly, something else that she had learned to do in her career as a heroine. But while she smiled Tania also casually took her arms off of the armrest of the chair and folded them on her lap. It would take only an instant for Tania to tap her bracelets together and have access to Ultra Woman’s full powers.

“Hi, I’m Tina Jackson,” The woman said. “Peggy’s dealing with a five year old who has trouble keeping his mouth open for more than five seconds.”

Tania relaxed a little bit. An un-explained illness or a suddenly lottery win would be too much but a kid nervous at the dentist? That she could accept. Still she looked more closely at Tina. The woman worked out, Tania could see the smooth skin and tight muscles in her arms. She wore a standard dentist uniform of blue slacks, button up the front blue blouse and a white lab coat. Her dark hair was straight and long but tied up into a pony tail.

“Been doing this long?” Tania asked.

“Six months,” Tina said. “Was doing in the navy for three years though.” She smiled. “It won’t hurt.”

“Don’t worry,” Tania said relaxing some more. “I can take it.”

Tina put on a bib on her to protect Tania’s blouse and Tania looked at her own small reflection in the woman’s glasses. There were no tentacles reaching for her head from behind the chair. Over Tina’s shoulder was a clock and Tania watched it carefully as Tina started to work. After a few minutes Tania relaxed a little more. Tina worked smoothly and patiently and Tania heard no other movement in the room. That meant that there was no goon ready to charge in and hold her down while Tina slammed a chloroform pad over her face. Tania could see the second hand of the clock moving so there was no chance of hypnosis so long as she kept track of the time.

So I can have just a normal dental visit, Tania thought. Which was good, her teeth were strong and healed after battles-otherwise she wouldn’t have that many left, not with all of the hits to the jaw that she had taken-but plaque build up was plaque build up.

The tune ‘Does anyone know what time it is,’ came from Tina’s pocket and she pulled out a small black cell phone.

“Sorry,” She said pressing a button on it.

Tania was about to say that it was all right when suddenly her world stopped. A tone came from the chair she was sitting in and she froze as the stasis field snapped into place. At the same instant the clock on the wall stopped and the door locked. Paralyzed in one moment of time Tania never saw Tina open her cell phone and take out a small pencil thin drill. Tina moved with well practiced but urgent haste, her hands almost a blur. A magnified hologram of Tania’s mouth appeared on her glasses. The drill bit into Tania’s upper back molar, quickly going through the enamel, dentin and stopping just as the nerve was exposed. It was a tiny whole, no bigger than a pencil point. Tina put the drill down and then took a thin rod out of the cellphone. She eased it into the whole in Tania’s tooth and there was a slight clicking sound as the injection was made. On the hologram a blue spot appeared inside the nerve. Tania never moved. Tina took out a third thin tube and held it over Tania’s tooth. A blue beam shot from the tube and in seconds the dentin and enamel layers grew back.

Tina put the three tubes back into the cell phone and closed it. Then she pressed the button on her cellphone again. The tone stopped and Tania blinked her eyes.

“I busy,” Tina said into the phone. “Tony… I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sorry,” Tina said as she put the cell phone away.

Tania shrugged in understanding and lay on the chair patiently as Tina went back to cleaning her teeth.

One half of an hour later Tina watched as Tania left the office. Then she took out her cell phone again and called.

“Report,” Commanded a guttural voice.

“Nightshade here,” Tina said. “Slave Girl 1 is in the womb. No sign of any suspicion.”

“Good,” the voice said. “We will schedule her first mission for one month from now.”

“Too soon,” Tina said.

“That is the optimum time.”

“Damnit it’s too soon,” Tina said struggling to keep her voice under control. “That stuff needs time to grow.”

“One month,” The voice said and the connection was broken.

Tina held the phone for a moment, wishing she could smash it against something but controlled herself. Her hands shook as she pocketed it and an overwhelming desire for a cigarette filled it. It was a habit that she had picked up in prison and most times it helped. But she couldn’t indulge now any more than she could smash the phone. Her next patient was waiting, and the masquerade had to be kept up or something could go wrong. She’d be doing this for another week at least. Superheroines were a paranoid lot and someone who was here today and gone tomorrow aroused suspicions. Ultra Woman had no idea of the three minutes and thirty three seconds that she had just lost. No idea that the three minutes and thirty-three seconds were vital to A.I.M. No idea that in those three minutes and thirty-three seconds of mental stasis Ultra Woman had suffered a great defeat and had lost and would loose more than she could ever dream of getting back.

“If it works,” Tina whispered to herself. “If it works.”

In the old days they had used warehouses in dark parts of town. Now criminal organizations used abandoned or vacant industrial parks in the suburbs.

The criminal mind, Wanda thought as she looked at the building from the hill overlooking the highway, never rests. The building looked normal from the outside. Brick and sealed glass windows, a loading dock in the back with a dumpster beside it and a tall glass entranceway in the front. It was located perfectly, one mile from the highway and two miles from a commuter rail station. But no one had the money to use it. At least not legitimately.

Wanda raised her scanner and watched her display as the building’s walls became transparent and the inner rooms were momentarily revealed. Then they blurred.

“First clue,” Wanda whispered. “Shielded.”

But a clue wasn’t probable cause. Wanda drew her lips into a tight line. That building housed a Hydra operation, she was sure of it. The tip that she’d gotten from Minnie the Moll was solid. Hydra was snatching young mutants away from their families and either selling them or brainwashing them into being Hydra agents. The plan was for two Avengers to keep an eye on the place, follow what ever went in and out of the place and find a legal excuse to go in. They couldn’t go in guns blazing, not without some sort of probable cause.

“Quiet,” Hawkeye said from the speaker in her head dress.

“Of course it is,” Wanda replied.

“I hate stake outs.”

Wanda smiled. Standing in the brush on a cool evening with nothing to do but watch wasn’t the glamorous part of being a superhero.

“Of course if I just walk up to the front door and knock…” Wanda said.

“You’d be killed, captured and they’d be gone by the time I got anyone else here,” Hawkeye said.

It was nice to know that he had matured. The Hawkeye that Wanda had first met when they both joined the Avengers would have waited about five minutes before charging in and damn the consequences.

Wanda was about to call Hawkeye again when the loading dock of the building seemed to explode with light. Raising her scanner Wanda saw a man or a woman rush through the suddenly-on security lights and crash through the doors.

“What the hell is he doing?” Wanda demanded snapping her communicator to the Avengers emergency channel. All she got was static and Wanda cursed. Hydra bases routinely sent out all wave jamming signals when they were attacked to make sure the enemy had no way to co-ordinate the attack.

Wanda got up and ran toward the building, her boots making almost no sound on the ground as she magically lightened her steps. What ever had triggered him, Hawkeye he was going to need back up.

Wanda stepped through the whole in the wall and into carnage. Ten men lay prone on the floor covered in blood. Wanda stepped carefully past one man who had a fist-sized dent in his skull. The other men had ribs sticking out from their green and yellow Hydra uniforms and one man was missing an arm. This wasn’t done by Hawkeye. Whoever had done this was vicious and powerful. She knelt down and examined some spent bullets. There was no sign of flesh or blood on them. Whoever it was could be either bullet proof or very fast.

Wanda followed the trail of blood down a corridor and into a large central room. There she saw the attacker. The woman was tall and slim but that was all that Wanda could tell. The woman was wearing a skintight black suit and mask that revealed nothing but the fact that she was a woman. Even her eyes were covered in black lenses. Her hands and arms were covered with blood. Ten Hydra men had cornered her and were trying to bring her down. Four of them had grabbed her legs and four of them her arms while the two others hit her head repeatedly.

“Another one!” One of the men holding the woman’s legs shouted out as he saw Wanda.

The distraction was all that the woman needed. She jerked her arm free and slammed it down through the skull of one of the men who was holding her legs. Then she managed to free her other arm. Someone started to shoot but the woman’s arms were a blur and the bullets ricocheted off of her wrists.

Wanda raised her hands to cast a hex-sphere. Whoever the woman was she was at least a murderess and Hydra agents or no Wanda could not let them die. But before she could cast the sphere a Hydra agent grabbed her from behind. Wanda flipped him over, but he was up and at her again and it took a few minutes to knock him out with a blow to his stomach and neck.

Wanda looked to where the woman had been fighting and saw only a pile of dead men. She heard a crash from another corridor and followed it.

The room hummed with power. Wanda looked around the edge of the smashed door cautiously. Inside was a central column of gray metal that was badly cracked. Angry glowing red lines pulsed with power. In front of the column was a control panel. The woman had attached something to the panel and was taping away on the keyboard. A man in a lab coat lay on the floor groaning.

“Stop!” Wanda commanded as she stepped into the room. Her hands were glowing with power and a hex-sphere had already formed. The woman turned around and Wanda saw nothing on her face but a dark strip of polarized plastic covering her eyes. “I don’t know who you are but killing is not allowed. Surrender now.”

In one motion the woman pulled something off of the console. Then slammed her other fist through the console and tore part of it out, throwing it at Wanda. Wanda had no time to throw her sphere; she could only duck. She almost made it but the panel glanced off of the side of her head and Wanda fell back against the wall dazed. She watched through a dim mist of pain as the woman ran out of the room. For a moment Wanda knew blackness, then she pulled herself awake.

Very loud alarms were sounding. The Hydra scientist by the remains of the console pulled himself upright at the same time Wanda did.

“No!” He shouted. “You crazy bitch! The reactions overloading, we’ll all die!”

“I didn’t do it!” Wanda snapped staggering over to him. “Tell me what is happening.”

“That’s a gamma generator,” The scientist said as he started to work with the console. “We’re using two pieces of gamma charged ore to generate a controlled gamma eruption through a set of diamonds, but you’re partner smashed the control, there’s nothing to stop the two ores from touching and when they do the gamma rays will take out everything for fifty miles!”

“Why did you need that for a mutant kidnapping operation?” Wanda demanded.

“This is weapons research!” The scientist shouted back. “Not mutant kidnapping!”

“Can you stop that?” Wanda demanded pointing to the column. The cracks were wider and the red glow more powerful now.

“No time!”

“I’ll give you the time!” Wanda shouted. She formed the spell in her mind and cast the hex-sphere in her hands. She couldn’t control time, but the air between the two ores was something that she could control. Wanda threw the sphere into the column and in her mind she focused her energy between the ores. The air between them was suddenly water and then ice as Wanda transmuted the atoms and then pulled all of the energy from them.

“You’ve got a few minutes,” Wanda gasped out the words as she kept her hex-sphere in place. The heat from the ores would vaporize her ice in moments unless she kept renewing the spell. Beside her the scientist worked feverishly on the panel. Wanda was ready to drop when he connected two last pieces of wire and then slammed his hand down on a red button. The red glow faded from the cracks and Wanda released her sphere, allowing it to dissolve.

“Done,” the scientist said.

“Good,” Wanda replied. “Now…”

Wanda never finished her sentence as the words were lost to her backward flip to avoid the steel pipe that the scientist had aimed at her head.

“Hail Hydra!” The man shouted rushing at her.

Wanda dodged the pipe and planted her knee into his stomach as he went by her. But before she could do anything else a Hydra guard tackled her to the ground. Wanda slammed her forearm against his throat and rolled him off of her but another guard was coming at her. This one got her foot into his crotch. Three more guards were coming through the ruined doorway. Wanda started to cast a hex-sphere but the scientist had recovered enough to grab her arm and before she could pull free the three guards were on her. Two of them fell on her legs while the third kicked her in the head.

Where were these idiots a few minutes ago, Wanda thought angrily before the heavy boot hit the side of her head and knocked her out.

There was nothing special looking about the mobile home. It was a silver Winnebago Journey pulled off by the side of the highway. The woman in black emerged from the woods next to the highway and walked over to the door. She was covered in blood from the battle and leaves and twigs that had stuck to her suit. The door opened just as she reached it and closed after she entered. A few seconds later the mobile home started, moved ten feet and vanished into the darkness without a trace.

It re-appeared in the corner of a large chamber and Tina stepped out. The HYDRA base had not been using the only abandoned industrial park in the area. The place was temporary but for now it was sectioned with cubicles at one end, a set of machine shops and tables filled with biological tools at the other and lining both of the last two walls were monitor screens both large and small. The monitors showed more information than could ever have been processed by any single human mind. At the center of the chamber was a set of consoles each with a worker. The workers all wore yellow jumpsuits with screened beekeeper like helmets. All of the consoles were arranged around a nightmare. The creature-for it had long since stopped being human-was called Modok. Modok’s head was nearly his entire body, a four-foot high, two-foot wide cylinder shape with tiny arms and legs attached. His face was human with the proper proportions between eyes, nose and mouth, but hideously huge and framed in metal. Modok floated on anti-grav thrusters and his arms manipulated two joysticks to steer himself about. When he saw the Winnebago appear a smile grew on his face and he floated over to it.

“Report,” Modok commanded in a voice that was half machine.

“Successful,” Tina said holding up the data pack. “We have the data on Hydra’s gamma-gun. But it was close. Modok the unit is not ready for this.”

“She was successful,” Modok said. “What of Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch?”

“Unit 1 dealt with Hawkeye,” Tina said. “The Scarlet Witch was captured by Hydra.”

“As planned,” A voice filled with hate said.

Tina angrily turned to see a half woman/half spider walk over to them. She had known and worked with Shadow Web for nearly three years but there was no friendship between them. The alien hated her, even though it had been Tina who had saved her life and repaired the robot part of her body. The woman’s spider body was black metal and powerful, but her human half was skinny and pale skinned. Her black stringy hair was worn long, and the effect was that of a corpse stuck on a spider’s back.

“Too soon,” Tina said. “This is all happening too soon!”

“Not soon enough for me!”

“This plan was too risky, it relied on too much luck.”

“Even the best of plans need luck Nightshade,” Modok said. “Your objections are noted. What of the unit?”

“She has no obvious injuries,” Tina said gritting her teeth at the dismissal. “But I’ll examine her. Slave Girl 1 remove clothing.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience,” The woman said pulling off her mask to reveal herself as Ultra Woman. Anyone who knew Ultra Woman would notice something strange about the way she moved and talked. It was slow. Not somnambulant enough for hypnosis but with none of the life or energy she normally possessed. Her movements were practical and precisely mechanical. Her eyes were bright and focused but the mind behind them radiated none of the warmth or kindness that Ultra Woman was known for. There was a cold soulless logic to her gaze. Her voice was toneless.

After she took off the mask Ultra Woman pulled her shirt over her head revealing series of bruises and welts but no other wounds. As she took off her black sports bra more of them were revealed. Still more of the marks covered her legs as she took off her pants and panties. When that was done all that she was left to wear were her bracelets.

“Superficial wounds as I suspected,” Tina said running a scanner over Ultra Woman’s still body. “But the pain is a problem.”

“The Unit handled the pain,” Modok said.

“Yes, but it still registered in the host mind,” Tina said. She turned to Modok. “She’ll interpret it as a nightmare but if she notices the bruises it’ll arouse her suspicions. I told you the Unit needs more time for infiltration.”

“Slave Girl 1 report infiltration of host mind,” Modok commanded.

“Slave Girl 1 confirms 2% infiltration,” Tania said.

“That is not enough,” Tina protested. “2% gives us her senses, powers and fighting instincts, not Ultra Woman’s memories and not any sort of ability to control her conscious mind. The nano-web is a baby and you’re sending it into combat.” Tina held her scanner next to Ultra Woman’s head. “Right now I’m reading increased brain activity, if Ultra Woman perceives any of this consciously…”

“We activated Slave Girl 1 when Tania Mazona was asleep.” Modok said. “The information from the gama reactor is necessary for Operation She-Hulk. The risk was worth the reward.”

“We are still in the early stages of...”

“We will succeed Nightshade,” Shadow Web said. She walked around them and took Tania’s chin in her hand, pulling the captive heroine’s head up so that she could look her in the eye. Tina guessed that had Tania been awake she probably would have recoiled in disgust. “And the Scarlet Witch will suffer.”

“Your vengeance could have waited,” Tina said. It was bad enough for Modok to dismiss her, but Shadow Web should have known better.

Shadow Web smiled and released her hold on Tania’s chin. Then she walked away and Tina stepped up and looked closely at her slave.

Had there been any conscious part of Tania’s mind working she would have noticed the look in Tina’s eyes. Not concern for a human life or guilt for having stolen part of that life, but a certain cautious satisfaction. The scientist in Tina looked upon Tania as a project in the works. A mouse that had not yet learned to find its way through a maze.

“How long will it take for further infiltration at the current rate?” Modok asked at last.

“A week,” Tina said stepping back. “The Unit had to stop to go on this mission. Until is it fully matured every mission will delay full implementation. It needs more fuel.”

“Very well,” Modok replied. “We will allow it the time so long as we do not need it.”

Tina’s scanner started to beep, and she passed it over Tania’s head and then looked at the results.

“What is it?” Modok asked.

“I told you,” Tina said. “The unit needs more fuel. There’s a spike in brainwave activity. Ultra Woman’s nudity is somehow being perceived by her conscious mind.”

“It should be repressed,” Modok said but there was no anger in his voice. “Even at only 2%.”

“That estimate was approximate,” Tina said. She went over to a table and picked up a six pack of Coca-Cola. It was the old fashioned glass bottle type. She used a bottle opener to pull off the cap and then handed it to Tania.

“Drink.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience.”

“The body should heal overnight,” Tina said as Tania drank. We have to get her home and back to bed.”

“Proceed,” Modok said.

There was no flash of light as Tina and Tania appeared in Tania’s bedroom, merely a ripple in the air that could not be seen in the shadows. Tina was proud of that. Originally the system had been nothing but a way to cloak a ship, she’d seen the potential in the system. Tina checked the apartment and was relieved to find that there were no messages on the cell phone and that no one had tried to break in. Returning to the bedroom she looked at Tania Mazona and then handed her another bottle of coke.

“Drink.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience,” Tania said taking the bottle and drinking it.

“So long as we do not need it,” Tina said, clenching her hands into fists. “That sawed off…”

She broke off, pacing back and forth, her body trembling with a rage that Tina knew she could never let Modok or Shadow Web see. Then she knelt down and slammed her fists into the bed for a few minutes, silently working out her rage. After that she took the now-empty bottle from Tania and handed her another one. Then Tina sat next to her on the bed.

“Nearly three years I’ve been working on my plan.”

Tania said nothing and Tina sighed.

“I’m tired,” She said. “It’s my plan, but it’s not anymore. My plan would have drawn you in and…”

Tina sighed again and stood up, looking around the apartment. It was a nice place. Clean, tastefully yet comfortably furnished.

“What is it, 3K a month for this?” She walked over to the dresser where a picture of Tania and a smaller version of Tania smiled at the camera. “Daughter? I bet she loves you. Bet you tucked her in at night and…” Tina walked back and sat on the bed. “People like you, you have it so easy. Money, friends… Parents…”

Tina took the empty bottle and stood up.

“Slave Girl 1, put on a nightgown, go to bed and release control back to host. Await in background for further orders, self-preservationprotocols activate.”

“Slave Girl 1 confirms obedience.”

Tina put the rest of the coke in the fridge. Tania would need it in the morning. In fact she’d need a lot more sugar for a while. The nano-tech web in her brain would draw heavily upon her body as it grew. In a normal person it would knock them out for a few days, but for a powerhouse like Ultra Woman she’d barely notice it. Tina took a deep breath and walked through the portal again. She was ready to face Modok and Shadow Web.

Behind her Tania’s body relaxed into a normal sleep. After that there was silence in the bedroom save for the regular rhythm of Tania’s breathing and the ticking of the clock on her night table.

To be continued…

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