Seriously Evil

Chapter 2.

Wanda woke with her shoulders and head aching. The reason for the headache was fresh in her memory. The reason for her shoulders aching was the way she had been bound. Her cape had been taken and her red gloves replaced by a red leather single glove that pulled her shoulders back and encased her arms. Wanda looked around. She was in a large stone walled room. The stone was dark gray, and the ceiling was vaulted brick while the floor was hard packed dirt. A cave? The place was freezing and it smelled dank enough. But light came from fluorescent work lights that were embedded in the ceiling.

Wanda climbed to her knees and looked around some more. The cold floor was gritty and cut into her feet. Her boots were gone. The rest of her costume was intact but that didn’t make her feel much better. Had they gotten Hawkeye as well?

One of the walls seemed to split open and a man walked in. He was wearing a skin tight black suit with a gray slash around the waist and matching gray gloves and boots. A knee length cape was black on the inside and gray on the outside, making it hard to guess his build. A mask/hood covered the top half of his face and hid the color of his hair. His boots crunched the stone as he walked loudly across the stone.

“Whiplash,” Wanda said.

“In the flesh honey,” Whiplash said. From beneath his cape he pulled out a silver whip. Wanda tensed. The whip was made of a high level alloy, it had in the past gone through Iron Man’s armor.

“What do you want?” Wanda demanded climbing to her feet.

He moved his arm and Wanda felt a whispering hand move across her shoulder. She jumped back and saw a lock of her brown hair fall to the floor.

“Hydra wants to know who your friend was,” Whiplash said. “How you knew where the base was, how you got past security, why it was only you two…” He trailed off and smiled at her. “Me I only wanna know one thing.”

“What’s that?” Wanda asked.

“How good you are at dancing.”

The whip flashed out before Wanda could speak or react and snapped against the top of her right foot. It was a hard stinging pain and Wanda jumped back. But his next blow hit her other foot and she had to jump again. For a while Whiplash chased her around the room, snapping the whip at her feet again and again. Sometimes Wanda managed to dodge it, most times she didn’t and the lash marks were dull brown against her skin. Wanda soon found it hard to dodge and her feet were getting stiff. She stumbled and Whiplash quickly moved and his whip lashed out hitting the bottom of her foot on the instep.

Wanda screamed and fell hard trying desperately to roll away from him. Whiplash stood still while the panting heroine managed to back up against the wall. Slowly Wanda pulled herself upright.

The whip shot out again and Wanda heard it instead of felt it. Then she looked down and realized that the villain had sliced the front of her top open. His control was perfect. Whiplash had cut through her top and her bra and not left any mark at all on her skin. Even while she was realizing this Wanda heard the whip sing out four more times and part of the top of her costume and bra fell away nearly baring her breasts.

“Bastard!” Wanda swore as one of her breasts fell out of her torn costume and one of her large nipples and pink areoles were revealed. With her arms in the single glove Wanda couldn’t even cover herself.

“Who was your friend?” Whiplash demanded.

“I didn’t know her,” Wanda snapped and a second later screamed as the whip snapped at the exposed nipple. The pain was like someone pinching it.

“Try again,” Whiplash ordered.

“I was scouting the place out when she attacked it,” Wanda said. “Looking for a mutant kidnapping operation, I don’t know who she is.”

Again the whip struck out, this time twice and Wanda screamed as welts appeared on the top of her breast. Not giving her a chance to recover Whiplash struck out again and Wanda could do nothing but scream.

He paused and Wanda fell to her knees gasping for breath, her breast on fire from the pain.

“Your friend stole the specs for a generator,” Whiplash said. The whip slammed against Wanda’s thigh and she rolled away from it only to be met with it coming from the other direction. Wanda got to her feet and fell back against the wall. “Why are Avengers stealing Hydra tech?”

The whip became a blur of motion and Wanda felt the stalkings on her legs tear.

“Why?” Whiplash demanded again.

“I didn’t know her!”

Wanda screamed as the whip sailed through the air and traced a stinging line up along her leg. Before she could fall Whiplash struck again at her breasts and then her stomach. He whipped her with such speed and precision that Wanda felt every blow nearly at once.

When he stopped she fell to the floor gasping in pain.

“Well so far I’m having fun,” he said. “But still no answers.”

“Bastard…” Wanda managed to gasp the words out through her pain. She looked up tosee that he had walked out of the room.

This was bad Wanda knew. With her arms bound she had no way to cast a spell and there was no way to even know where she was. Worse they wanted information that she didn’t even have! It wasn’t a question of holding out for as long as she could, it was a question of when they might believe her.

The door opened and Whiplash walked in carrying a set of wooden boxes.

“I really don’t know who she was,” Wanda said as he walked over to her. He took hold of her hair and pulled Wanda over to the boxes. “She knocked me out!”

“Get on them,” He ordered. “One knee on each.”

“Think about it,” Wanda said as she obeyed him. The boxes were spaced about two feet apart and she nearly lost her balance, but he steadied her by pulling her hair. “Avengers don’t leave each other, she left me.”

“Not the way I heard it,” He agreed. Whiplash snapped his fingers and a chain with a wide collar descended from the ceiling. He fitted the collar around her neck and Wanda realized that it was a brank; a wide leather collar designed to make sure that she couldn’t move her neck. Whiplash snapped his fingers again. The rope pulled back until Wanda felt the brank start to choke her.

“Security says that they beat her off and got you before you could get away.

“They’re lying!”

“Maybe, by the time we’re done I’ll know for sure.”

“They are!” Wanda protested as he pulled her leg up until her foot was touching her thigh and then used a leather strap to hold it in place. She guessed that the HYDRA goons were lying to save themselves.

“I believe them before I believe you,” Whiplash said as he did the same to the other leg.

Wanda was now balanced on her knees, her legs bent double and only the collar around her throat stopped her from falling over.

“No I…” Wanda’s next words were never spoken as Whiplash drove his fist into her stomach again and again until she could only gasp for air.

She was too stunned to do anything as he freed her arms from the single glove and fitted leather cuffs around each wrist. He snapped his fingers again and two more chains descended from the ceiling. He attached each chain to her wrist and snapped his fingers again. The chains were pulled up and back and Wanda was forced forward as her arms were pulled into the strappado position. Wanda’s body was bent forward and the pressure on her neck lessened as the pressure on her shoulders increased.

“I really don’t know,” Wanda said and craned her head to the right and to the left. If she could only see her hands…

She couldn’t and in another moment it didn’t matter as Whiplash tied a blindfold around her eyes.

“I don’t believe you,” He mocked as the whip slashed across her bare ass.

Wanda screamed as the whip hit the instep on both of her feet.

“Tell me what you know,” Whiplash commanded.

“I don’t know anything!”

For a moment nothing happened. Then another moment passed. Just when Wanda was about to relax the whip slashed along her spine. Wanda screamed and then waited. Again just as she was sure that nothing was going to happen the whip hit her shins and Wanda screamed again.

Now she realized the reason for the blindfold. It wasn’t just to prevent her from using her powers. She listened intently, trying to track his movements and judge where and when the next blow would come. But where before Whiplash had moved loudly now he barely made a sound. There was only a whisper in the air just before the whip struck and that gave her no time to brace herself.

Wanda screamed as the whip lashed her back and ass and then her arms.

“Who was your friend?”

“I don’t…”

SNAP!

Wanda screamed.

“Who?”

SNAP!

“Who?”

SNAP!

“I don’t…”

SNAP!

“WHO?”

Wanda soon lost track of the questions and the number of times that the whip hit her. Her world collapsed into a combination of pain and denial. More than once she felt herself slipping away from the pain and into darkness only to be brought back by a particularly sharp blow. After an hour -two?- her mind started to wander through a delirium of pain induced nightmares. But she could not escape into them because Whiplash would not let her. His questions kept coming, sometimes whispered into her ear, sometimes screamed in her ear.

When the villain at last paused for a break the only thing Wanda could do was hang in her bonds and try to keep breathing. The blindfold was removed and Whiplash jerked Wanda up by her hair until they were eye to eye.

“No passing out,” He said letting her head drop.

“I… I…” Wanda tried to talk but it was hard to keep the breath in her lungs long enough to form words. In the next instant she screamed again as ice-cold water was poured over her body.

“I don’t know who she was!”

“Not good enough yet,” Whiplash said. He took a length of rope and started to wrap it around her chest. Then he wrapped it around the base of each of her breasts and started to tighten it. Wanda winced as her breasts were bound. He continued until her breasts were distended balls hanging from her chest. When he wasdone he held a long vibrator in front of her face and smiled as he pushed it between her legs. Wanda winced again as he turned it on.

“I hear these get real sensitive when their bound like this,” Whiplash said fondling Wanda’s breast. He attached a pair of clothespins to her nipples and Wanda cringed as they stung deeply. He walked out of her line of sight for a moment and when he came back he was holding a portable air conditioner. He set it on the ground in front of her and turned it on. Wanda felt her nipples stiffen from the cold wind it generated. He put the blindfold back on her plunging Wanda into darkness, but not the soothing darkness of oblivion.

“I’ll just go get something to eat and come back when the boobies are ready,” Whiplash said. “The toy should keep you awake.”

“I don’t…” Wanda started to say but stopped when a ball gag was stuffed into her mouth. After that Wanda could only whimper in pain.

“Don’t want you to get too cold either,” Whiplash said from behind her. There was a small clicking sound and Wanda felt a steady stream of hot air on her back.

“Uh on’t o ything!” Wanda screamed through the gag.

There was no response to her protest save for the quiet hum of the heater, the air conditioner and the vibrator between her legs.

Tania pursed her lips in frustration as she stared at the computer screen. She had been out of the shower for an hour and her hair was long dry. Normally she only cruised the thug message boards for an hour or so before going to bed. Not now. Now she leaned on her couch wrapped up in a towel and glared at the computer screen. A week. The Scarlet Witch had been missing for a week and there was no chatter on the criminal message boards. Tania had been visited by no less than Captain America. The Avenger was polite and made it clear that he wasn’t accusing her of anything, but the description they had of the fight between the mysterious woman in black and the hydra men as well as with Hawkeye fitted amazon fighting style perfectly, right down to the way she had diverted bullets and arrows with her wrists. Tania had checked but there were no amazons on the mainland right now and none un-accounted for. But Wanda’s plight had pulled her in, and she had joined the search, asking other friends for help.

She minimized the browser and brought up her email.

Tania had discovered the boards years ago. Most of the superhero set thought that it was all cosplay, rollplaying and fantasy, but Tania had found one of her own miss-adventures detailed perfectly. Thugs used the message boards on some superhero web sights to stay in touch. Since then she’d followed them as closely as she could under the screen name of ‘Nega Woman’. Tania could roll play with the best of them and so far no one knew who she really was.

“A week,” Tania whispered, and she shuddered. A person’s sanity could be destroyed in a week. Tania had been held captive for that long and still had nightmares about it.

A message popped up on her screen.

“Have a possible lead, will check in by 3 am or come running to rescue me.” Tania read.

“Be careful Athena. You’ve never battled hydra before.”

“Wait, are you telling me there is a hydra base in Queen City?”

Le Joueur nodded and for once the look on her face was serious. They were in her apartment, the penthouse above her casino. Athena had come in through the front door, her relationship with Le Joueur was known and gossiped about in Queen City. It didn’t help her position as curator of the museum. On the other hand, it did cover the fact that Le Joueur was one of White Owl’s prime sources of information on the underworld.

“I am,” Le Joueur said. “And no one is really happy about it.”

“No one?” Athena asked.

“My dear,” Le Joueur said in the adult-talking-to-naïve-child tone that often irritated Athena “you and a few supervillains aside this is a quiet city. Hydra is loud and messy and they attract all the wrong people. Any organization that wants to conquer the world is by definition insane. From what I understand they’ve had a secret base her for nearly a year now.”

“How do you know this?” Athena asked. Normally it wasn’t something she’d ask. It was better not to know. But this time was different.

“About a year ago, once a month a couple of new guys started coming in. Everytime I had a superheroine themed night they’d show up. Five men, four of whom always got drunk and one, I guess we could call him the ‘designated driver’ who stayed sober and got them out when they started getting too loud. The other night they showed up without him during the Avengers Night. Through all the usual trash talk I picked up on the name ‘Scarlet Witch’ and ‘our base’. Add to that they had about three toast with ‘Hail Hydra’.”

“Sketchy,” Athena said.

“I didn’t come to you first,” Le Joueur said. “I checked some other sources and they checked other sources and so on. We’ve managed to confirm that there is a secret hydra base somewhere in the city. Probably the waterfront.”

“We’ve?” Athena said. “Do I have to bet here or will you tell me?”

Le Joueur seemed to think for a moment and then spoke.

“I went directly to Frederick Fiorelli.”

“You talked to him?” Athena asked.Frederick Fiorelli was a 95 year old mobster, king of the underworld in Queen City and with his extended family was one of the top ten mafia bosses in the country. He was old, he was tough, and he was smart. She’d help bust a few of his people now and then, but never really clashed with him.

“Frederick Fiorrelli knows that I’m one of your sources,” Le Joueur said. “He doesn’t mind that much, mostly because he’s old school and knows how the game is played. There’s also the fact that I shuttle about 80% percent of my profits his way. That keeps him happy and he also knows that I’d never betray a major operation of his, but I will betray a major operation by his competitors. He doesn’t really like having hydra in town. Neither do I. International world dominating outfits tend to bring trouble. Queen City doesn’t really need the Avengers or SHIELD stomping around the city. Bad for business all around. So if helping you takes hydra out, he’s willing to let that happen.”

“It also avoids open war between him and his family and hydra,” Athena said.

“That too. Something I think we should both be in favor of. Can you imagine what a war between the Fiorelli family and hydra would do to this city? And there is the fact that while he is corrupt and evil as they come Frederick has never wanted anything but a criminal empire, hydra is far worse.”

“Ok, Athena said. “So what do you have in mind?”

“Tonight I’m having another heroine themed night,” Le Joueur said. “Come on, I’ll show you the layout.”

Athena looked at the kitchen. It was too early for any of the staff to be in and Le Joueur had led her down from her penthouse through a private elevator. There were six rolling serving tables laid out, but they weren’t normal serving tables. Each was fitted with restraints. Le Joueur walked over to one of the tables and ran her fingers over one of the wrist restraints.

“Tonight is evil feasts night,” Le Joueur said. “On these tables will be heroine doubles, Wasp, Invisible Woman, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk… I’ll have a few men too, Captain America, Thor… All human Trays. Each model will be nude except for masks and some body paint for She-Hulk. Now if I add White Owl to the list no one will question it, you aren’t an Avenger but you are local. They’ll think you’re just another model. When they hydra men come in I’ll make sure their designated driver is taken out. The drinks will flow, the tongues will loosen…”

“And people will be picking food off of my naked body!” Athena said.

Le Joueur smiled and nodded.

“Well you will have your mask on.”

Athena swallowed hard. She’d done some crazy things since becoming White Owl, and even more of them since she first met the fanatical gambler. But this…

“I’ll be tied up, gagged and helpless,” She said and didn’t miss the lust igniting in the other woman’s eyes. “What if something goes wrong?”

“What can go wrong? That mask gives your identity protection, my bouncers will make sure no one molest you,” she smiled and laughed “at least not that severely. I know for sure that the base exists, this might be the only way you’ll find out anymore than that.”

“What if they don’t talk about it?”

“Well aside from the tables I’ll have my usual girls come in, they’ll be dressed as Scarlet Witch, Wasp, She-Hulk,” she smiled “White Owl… I’ll put you next to the Scarlet Witch. I feel confident that the conversation will go in the right direction.”

“You’re taking a risk,” Athena said.

“Life is a gamble,” Le Joueur said. “Besides Fiorelli himself said he’d protect me.”

“Ok,” Athena said. “I’ll do it.”

“I thought you might,” Le Joueur said. “Come on, first we’ll have to take a nice cleansing bath.” She smiled. “I’ll do the washing.”

“Of course you will,” Athena said.

“This is intolerable,” Modok said. “How could they have found out where she is?”

“It’s only been a week,” Shadow Web shouted, “she hasn’t suffered near enough!”

Tina took a drag on her cigarette and tried not to show her anger as she snuffed it out.

“When you kidnap a superheroine it gets noticed,” She said. “When you kidnap an Avenger it’s even worse. She is an AVENGER! Of course everyone and their cousin is going to be on the lookout for her. Someone in hydra talked.”

“This will upset our plans,” Modok said.

Now that it’s in danger they’re your plans, Tina thought disgustedly. She was the one who had visited Tania to get an update on the infiltration and found out about the rescue.

“What do we know of this White Owl?” Shadow Web asked.

“A minor heroine in a minor city,” Tina said. “Chosen of Athena, enhanced strength, collection of gadgets and superior fighting ability. Since AIM never had a branch in Queen City we’ve never had to deal with her. Hydra barely knows that she exists, but she was connected to Ultra Woman somehow. From what we can gather they’ve found the Scarlet Witch and a secret hydra base and are going to mount a rescue. It will be White Owl, another heroine named Crimson Valkyrie and Ultra Woman.”

“Why not all of the Avengers?” Modok asked.

“The Avengers are being watched and they know it,” Tina said. “They make a move out of New York and hydra will be gone before they get to Queen City. I say we let them rescue her.”

“No!” Shadow Web shouted.

“This will get Ultra Woman into the Avengers,” Tina said. “That’s been the plan all along. Get her in there, let the shadow tech in her brain grow and we’ll have the perfect mole. Who cares if Scarlet isn’t suffering anymore.”

“I do!” Shadow Web screamed.

“This will not get Ultra Woman into the Avengers,” Modok said.

“It will get her going in that direction,” Tina said. “In time she’ll join them.”

“How long?”

“I can’t see the future and neither can you, but it will happen.”

“The deal I agreed to was that Shadow Web causes as much suffering to the Scarlet Witch as she wishes,” Modok said.

The deal you made with her, Tina thought. Not with me. But she could see that he was pushing, trying to drive one of them into outright rebellion so that he could claim the technology. He’d be disappointed. Shadow Web barely knew how the tech worked, it had been Tina who had figured it all out and her files were encrypted. But once he found that out AIM had many ways of getting that information out of her. None of them were pleasant.

“Ok,” Tina said lighting another cigarette. “How about this. We know when they’ll be mounting the rescue operation, we know that each of them will be alone. Crimson Valkyrie’s powers are nanite-based, we can’t touch her, but we can get White Owl. When she’s alone Shadow Web and I will use the portal, slip in, I’ll insert the nano-web into her brain, that way we’ll have a back up heroine to slip into the Avengers if something happens to Ultra Woman.”

“Or she can be useful in other ways,” Modok said. “Very well, proceed. The Scarlet Witch can be rescued for now.”

“For now,” Shadow Web said.

“I can’t believe what you did,” Tiffany said over the radio link.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Athena said, squirming at the memory.

“But…”

“Look it worked ok? And I didn’t suffer anything other than embarrassment.”

And being groped all night, Athena thought silently. Despite what Le Joueur had said the guest at the party had been free to feel up any part of her that they wanted too. And all of them wanted to. But as Le Joueur had also said, once the drinks flowed the guest started to talk. Slipped into all the posturing was the location of the hydra base and its origin. One man had slurred the words out while he was trying to milk her breasts. From there getting the rest had been relatively easy. But also in the chatter was the fact that they were selling her to Arnim Zola that night. That gave them less than a day to plan.

“It was a noble sacrifice,” Tania said.

“Let’s just get on with this,” Athena said. She couldn’t tell if Tania were mocking her or not.

“It makes sense,” Tania said looking through her scanner at the Angel Falls Landfill. “Nobody would look for a Hydra base there.”

“Nobody looks for anything there,” Athena agreed grateful that the wind was carrying the smell in the other direction. The landfill sat at the far southern tip of the Queen City bay and garbage scows moved in and out of it regularly. “It’s perfect, everyone keeps away from it, it has access to the water, and no one questions the sound of heavy machinery. No wonder no one knew where the drug lab was.”

“I’ve sighted it,” Tiffany said. “They have sold Scarlet, or at least they are loaning her out to Zola. Looks like a barge but there are ten men on it and Zola himself and they don’t look like real men if you get what I mean. But they’re moving real slow.”

“They are suspecting a trap,” Tania said. “Don’t try to stop them directly. Zola’s men are like Doc Droids robots, ten of them could take me out and he might have more of them hidden. This is a 20 million dollar buy and he won’t trust Hydra. Slow them down as much as you can but be careful. Be very careful, you don’t want Arnim Zola to get his hands on you.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Crimson said. “Out.”

“This gets worse and worse,” Athena said. “Zola’s guys really that bad?”

“Yes,” Tania said. “The three of us could take them but none of us could take them alone. The Fantastic Four are on their way, but they won’t be hear before dawn.”

“Let’s move then,” Athena said handing Tania a pair of contact lenses. “They’re good for five hours. You’ll get a text alert from me if anything goes wrong and they’ll give you and underwater edge.”

“Let’s go,” Tania said.

Wanda’s world had collapsed into a routine of pain and painful sleep. They fed her gruel and let her use the toilet but her arms were never free. The gruel suppressed her mutant powers but it was all the food she was going to get. She learned early the consequences of begging for water. All that got her was a five minute bath of ice cold water from a fire hose. Whiplash tortured her until she blacked out and couldn’t be revived, and then let her rest until she was strong enough to be tortured again. The specifics were a blur in her memory but the pain was not. Her mind was closing down from the pain, blotting out the memories. At the end of each torture session Wanda forced the specific events deeper and deeper into her memory, hiding them. But that couldn’t erase the pain and fear.

Her cell was a coffin. At the end of each torture session Wanda was mummified in clear plastic, gagged and blindfolded and put into a box that smelled of Earth and death. She could feel things walking over the plastic. Small, gross things that may or may not have been alive. Things that bit her.

They don’t realize how close they are, Wanda thought as they dragged her to the torture chamber again. In that part of her mind that still worked Wanda felt a bit of shame and pride. Pride that she hadn’t broken yet and shame that the only reason she believed that she hadn’t broken yet was because they weren’t asking the right questions. To stop the next blow from landing, to get him to turn off that heater or that air conditioner, to get a few hours of honest to goodness sleep Wanda would answer their damn questions! She knew it! Avenger or no, daughter of Magneto or no; she just couldn’t take it anymore! Wanda was sure that she’d talk.

But they weren’t interested in Avengers security protocols, they weren’t interested in secret identities; they were only interested in information that Wanda didn’t have!

“Ready for another day of fun?” Whiplash asked as her guards dragged her into the chamber. He snapped his whip and Wanda started to cry. She felt shame at the tears but pride that she still struggled as they put her onto the whipping stand.

“This’ll be the last though,” Whiplash said fondling her breasts. You’ve finally convinced the Supreme Hydra that you’re not going to talk. So this morning you were sold.”

“Sold?” Wanda whispered. A whisper was all that her voice was still capable of after all of the screaming. But she still managed to put some outrage into the question.

“Arnim Zola paid 20 mill for ya,” Whiplash said. “So we only got the rest of the day for me to get you to talk.” He raised the whip. “I love a challenge.”

The ocean research ship Maria Stark had been one of Tony Stark’s pet projects. A sub packed with beyond state of the art research instruments it boasted a depth capacity nearly that of an Atlantean craft. On her maiden voyage the ship had been lost in a storm. Days later the crew washed ashore, dead. For a long time everyone believed that it was Atlantis that stole the ship. But it was Hydra and now the research craft was at the bottom of the Angel Falls Landfill. Hydra had dredged up a pit big enough for her and brought her in at night during another storm. Then they’d buried her under tones of dirt and garbage. The front of the ship was still open to the water though barely visible under old cars. The open sea pool that had been meant to serve as a dual recreation/docking space was now only an underwater docking harbor. Tons of drugs moved in and out of Angel Falls through the Maria Stark. Garbage barges would drop anchor in the harbor and divers would bring supplies up and down. At night, that close to the garbage piles no one paid any attention. The ship also served as a research station, making better-in other words more addictive-drugs.

Clad in the diver’s suit version of her costume Tania swam down in smooth even strokes. White Owl’s lenses gave her near perfect vision up to fifty feet and that let her see and avoid the underwater sensors before they saw her. The diver’s version of her Ultra Suit let her breath the water.

Coming under the ship Tania looked up and saw that no one was in the dock yet. She settled down behind the rusted shell of a Ford pick up truck and waited. Now it was up to Athena.

Athena crept along the side of the corridor, her hand resting on the stun gun in her belt. Hydra wasn’t wasting manpower on guards. They didn’t need to with a place like this. But what they hadn’t realized was that while security cameras couldn’t be fooled, they could be avoided if you knew where they were. The ship hadn’t been designed for combat and that helped a lot. The added security cameras that Hydra had put in stuck out like flares in the night.

Athena pressed herself against the wall as Hydra men passed close by. She hoped that they wouldn’t smell her. Ultra Woman had gone under water, but White Owl had crawled through three piles of garbage until she came to the old refrigerator that hid one of the emergency escape tunnels. It had taken fifteen minutes to nullify the scanner and the alarm. It had taken yet another hour to worm her way through the former research ship toward the security room. Wanda was due to be sold in twenty-five minutes. Athena hoped that Crimson could slow Zola down and that they wouldn’t have to rescue Crimson herself later.

Athena stopped at a ladder and looked up. The hatch was opening. Thinking quickly Athena grabbed a handful of the knock out gas bombs from her belt and threw them through the opening. There were a few muffled thuds as the bombs exploded and more thuds as the men fell. Putting a mask on her face Athena slowly climbed up the ladder. As soon as she poked her head through enough to see Athena relaxed. Ten men lay slumped over control consoles or sprawled on the floor. She stepped over them and moved to the communications station. A few commands into the computer cut the comlines in and out. Then she moved over to the security system. There was no sign of Tania but the feed from the corridor leading to the dock was up. There were feeds from other cells but she didn’t recognize any of the other prisoners and there wasn’t time to organize a full break out. Whiplash was leading the Scarlet Witch along on a leash. Athena cringed at the state Wanda was in. She was nude, bound with a single glove and a ball gag. The welts on her skin and the frail beaten way she stumbled told the tale of the torture that she had been through. Two guards helped her walk.

We’ll settle with Whiplash later, Athena thought savagely as she started to seal the doors in the ship. Hopefully she could whittle down the opposition by trapping the men. Once they had Wanda out Tania was going to alert SHEILD and they would free the other prisoners.

Athena was alert and her senses were at their very apex due to the danger that she was in. No human could have snuck up on her. But even as alert as she was Athena never heard the spider crawl out of a shadow on the far side of the room. Never heard the small black creature walk along the ceiling until it was directly over her head. No ears could have heard the spider descend on a strand of black webbing. It landed on Athena’s head and Athena froze.

“How long can you hold her Shadow Web?” Tina asked stepping out of the shadow.

“Her mind is caught in my web,” the alien drider said. “I’m fooling her now into thinking that only an instant has passed but her mind is too strong to fool for very long. Five minutes.”

“Long enough,” Tina said as lowered White Owl to the floor. A quick look at the monitor showed that Whiplash was nearly to the dock. Tina hissed and pulled the oblivious heroines mouth open. Then she took out her tools and drilled into White Owl’s upper molar. Her movements were perfect thanks to long practice but sweat gathered on the villainesses forehead. If a Hydra agent came into the room Shadow Web wouldn’t be able to help her, it took too much strength to hold White Owl helpless. If Tina were discovered then Hydra would know that AIM was behind everything. That would prove catastrophic. She had just finished when one of the monitors lit up with a red warning light. A figure lay in what looked like a glass coffin. Tina’s breath caught in her throat as a light came on and she recognized the figure. Then she pulled herself back and got on with the job. As she had done with Tania Tina stopped drilling at the root and then placed the seed into the tooth. She sealed the tooth quickly and lifted White Owl back into her original position. Then she retreated back into the shadow. Shadow Web followed her and with a quick jerk of her hand snapped her spider back like a yo-yo. Then they were gone.

Athena blinked and whirled around ready to defend herself. But no one was there.

“Don’t panic,” Athena said to herself. “Everything’s going fine so far.”

She waited until Whiplash and his group was inside the dock then she sealed the door and cut the lights.

“What are you doing?” Shadow Web demanded as Tina ran over to the control console.

“Re-setting the co-ordinates,” Tina said working frantically to reset the controls as her mind raced through the location calculations. “There’s someone in there we have to get out!” She hit a communicator button. “I need a med team to the teleport room now!”

Tania’s charged forward at top speed as soon as the lights went out. The time for stealth was gone. She launched out of the water like a dolphin and bore down on the two guards dragging Wanda before they even realized that they were in danger. A double clothesline slammed them both into the wall and out of the fight. Before Tania could turn a sharp blow seared the center of her back. She whirled and saw that Whiplash was watching her.

“Think you’re the only one with fancy glasses bitch?” He demanded, his own lenses glowing red.

The whip snapped at her and Tania took the blow on her bracelet. She felt the impact, but the metal held as she knew that it would.

“You got two wrists lady,” Whiplash said and struck out again. Tania dodged but the whip sliced along her leg leaving an angry red welt. “But there’s a lot more parts to you!”

Tania moved to the side, grabbed a scuba tank and threw it at him. Whiplash ducked and Tania flew at him only to have his whip nearly slice her head in half. She pulled up at the last moment and it sliced the front of her costume open instead. Tania was still off balance and he struck again. The whip scorched across her stomach leaving a trail of blood.

This was no good Tania knew and she fell back. There wasn’t enough room in the dock to avoid his blows completely.

She circled around him and the villain followed her. Then he lashed out and Tania dodged but his first move had been a fakeout and the whip slashed at her twice more before Tania could back up. The top of her costume was now open and there was a stinging welt between her breasts.

I don’t have time for this, Tania thought and taking a deep breath turned to dive back into the water.

“Not so fast!” Whiplash shouted and the whip wrapped around her throat.

Just as Tania had planned. Even as the whip cut off her breathing Tania moved grabbing it and turning around. With one massive jerk she pulled Whiplash off of his feet and he came at her. Tania’s fist met his jaw and the villain collapsed.

Tania nearly went into blackness with him. Her lungs were screaming for air and her arms were getting numb. She clawed at the whip but the coils were wrapped tightly. Tania fell to her knees clawing at the thing. Just as she was about to black out she felt it loosening. Then it was pulled off and Tania fell into White Owl’s arms.

“Easy,” White Owl said.

After a few moments Tania was able to move again.

“We gotta go,” Athena said. “Zola’s nearly here.”

“Come on,” Tania said.

She stumbled over to the prone form of the Scarlet Witch and White Owl fitted an oxygen mask over Scarlet’s face. She moaned but was too far gone to do anything else. Tania felt a near berserker rage fill her as she saw what had been done to her friend.

“Hold it bitches,” Whiplash said getting to his feet. He swung his whip and snapped it. “That’s Hydra property.”

He probably meant goad them and it worked. Letting White Owl catch the falling Wanda Tania leapt into the air and flew at him. She covered the space in three seconds, not nearly enough time for him to attack. It was two seconds into her attack that Whiplash saw the look on Tania’s face and he had an instant to comprehend the danger he was in before her fist slammed into his stomach. He went down and Tania followed. Grabbing the hand that held the whip Tania pressed it against the floor. Then she curled her other hand into a fist and slammed it into his wrist. She was mad enough that the blow might have shattered steel. The bones in the villains wrist were crushed into a powder.

Leaving him to scream Tania rushed back over to White Owl. Then they both took hold of Wanda and jumped into the water.

A few minutes later they broke the surface of the water and kept going, flying upward.

“Here,” Crimson called from a hover car. The car looked like it had been pounded nearly to scrap and Crimson didn’t look much better.

“Stop them!” Tania heard the mechanical voice of Zola call.

“Get us out of here!” White Owl shouted.

Crimson hit the throttle and they zoomed away into the sky.

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