Terror of the Soulless One

Part 5.  Children in a Maze

by Skytower

The door opened and Diana knew a moment of pure terror. She no longer had any of her powers and she was no longer a woman. She was a child. A girl no more than 12 years old. Diana had been helpless before since coming to mans world, but never this way. Beside her Captain Helmut Steiber, himself no more than a child stood completely still. The door opened and Miss Syn walked into the bedroom.

Neither Diana nor Helmut could stop themselves from gasping out loud. Both of them had been tall, in Diana's case just under six feet and in Helmut's one inch over six feet. Myaukia MacGuire, Miss Syn, stood five feet four inches. But now she towered over them, not only by a good foot and a half, but with the omniscient presence all adults have over children.

"Good morning." she said smugly. "Breakfast is ready, I'll expect you dressed and downstairs within five minutes."

With that she left and it was only as the door was closing that Diana could get past her shock to even think, let alone move. For a few minutes Diana and Helmut stood in stunned immobility. Then finally he spoke.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes." Diana said both surprised that she was and that she could admit it.

"So am I." he said walking over to one of the bureaus.

The two of them dressed quickly and in Diana's case clumsily. Her fingers didn't want to do what she told them too, buttons and zippers were the wrong size and moved too slowly. The cloths were not to her liking either. There were no pants, only plaid skirts of various colors and stiff white blouses. Buckled shoes and short white sox were the right size, something she marveled at. When she finally got all of the clothes on the image that looked back at Diana from the mirror was not Wonder Woman, or even Diana Prince. It was a little girl from a cover of the Saturday Evening Post. All that was missing was freckles. Helmut came up behind her, dressed in a pair of jeans cuffed at the ankles and a button down the front white shirt. He did have freckles on his face. His reduction in age had taken away his strong jaw and his front teeth protruded slightly from his half open mouth. His ears seemed to have grown. There was awkwardness about him. An uncertainty that Diana felt matched her own.

He said nothing, merely walked over and opened the door for her. After another look in the mirror Diana followed him.

They walked through a mansion. It was south seas plantation house, ornately furnished but not well kept up. There were cracks on the walls, glass missing from windows and mold on some parts of the carpet. Insects roamed freely and the smell of damp wood and the jungle outside mixed to fill Diana's nose. The floors were stone and the place was lit by electric lights. The place was huge, gigantic and Diana felt a constant chill in the air despite the warmth of the tropics. She wasn't even sure they were still on the island until she saw the brilliant blue of the Pacific Ocean through a window. Diana could tell it was morning from the position of the sun, but what morning she had no idea.

They followed the corridor to a spiral staircase that descended into a large reception area. To the right was a dining room, to the left a library and in front of them a set of doors. Hearing Miss Syn talking in the dining room Diana and Helmut walked in.

"And here they are now." Miss Syn said. She was sitting at a large round table. On one side of the room was a gigantic painting of a pirate ship, on the other large glass doors and windows that looked out on a garden. The room looked clean and dry. Seated at the table were Miss Syn, to her right Etta Candy, now wearing a green silk robe with Japanese writing on it. Beside Etta were two children, a boy and a girl dressed identically to Diana and Helmut. Diana recognized the boy instantly.

"Steve?"

"Wonder Woman?" he said rising. They rushed over to each other, only to stop a few steps away. Steve had been regressed to the same age as Diana and Helmut. But he had none of the awkwardness that they had. Steve as a child was simply Steve as an adult, smaller but still handsome with dark hair and blue eyes. Diana suddenly felt self-conscious.

"You were a cute kid." Steve said trying to appear calm.

"Thank you." Diana replied.

"Captain Helmut Steiber." Helmut said holding out his hand.

"Major Steve Trevor." Steve said taking it. They shook hands for a moment and Diana sensed a tensing of both boys. It was less a handshake she realized than a test of strength. They looked each other in the eyes like the enemies they were, each trying to find a place of control in this most bizarre of situations.

It was Miss Syn's laughing that broke the handshake. It was a light mocking laugh that turned both boys' faces red and brought a flush to Diana's face as well.

"It is so fun to see children at play." Miss Syn said. "Major Steve Trevor and Captain Helmut Steiber." she laughed again. "And a little girl called Wonder Woman."

"Bitch!" the girl who hadn't gotten up shouted. She grabbed her glass and was going to throw it when Etta reached over and grabbed her arm.

"Abby no!" Etta shouted.

They had a slight struggle that Etta won. When it was done Abby sat and crossed her arms. She gave Miss Syn a stare that was both sullen and hate filled. Abby as a child was a boyish girl with dull brown hair and a face that had a strong chin and little else.

"It's a good thing you stopped her Etta." Miss Syn said with an edge of menace in her voice. "Little girls shouldn't throw things."

"I'm thirty four you bitch!" Abby swore.

"Prove it." Miss Syn said.

"Why did you do this to us?" Diana asked.

"Sit down, eat and I will tell you." Miss Syn said. "Growing bodies need nourishment after all."

Diana started to go toward a chair only to stop as both Steve and Helmut moved forward to hold it for her. Both of them stopped and there was an embarrassed pause. Then Diana moved around both of them and sat down.

"Thank you." she said.

Steve and Helmut nodded to each other and took the chairs on either side of her. Abby gave Diana a look of spite and started to eat.

The food on the table was bacon and eggs with toast, butter and jam. Large glasses of milk had been set out. Seeing nothing else to do Diana started to eat. After a pause Steve and Helmut ate as well. Across the table Abby picked at her food and Etta kept a careful eye on her sister. Miss Syn sat silently, watching them all. Diana sensed the woman was deliberately drawing out the silence, waiting for the questions.

"How old are we?" Diana asked finally.

"By my calculations Steve, Helmut and Abby are all 12 years old physically." Miss Syn said. "Your body defied my normal techniques of age analysis. Mentally you are, for the moment, all where you were."

"For the moment?" Steve asked as all three of them stopped eating.

"For the moment." Miss Syn said. "Let me tell you all a story as you dine. It will help you understand what I do here, and why I do it."

For a moment there was silence. Then everyone started to eat.

"I was born in the Christian Calendar year seventeen hundred and ninety-five."

Everyone stopped eating and looked at her.

"Impo..." Helmut started to say and then stopped.

"Not impossible." Miss Syn said. "I was born to a noble house. I grew up quickly in that noble house. I was content in that noble house. My grandfather was an old scholar and he it was taught me the glories of China's ancient past. It was he who first taught me to read and write and think."

"But not to care." Abby said.

"He taught me to care for my family and myself. For my country and my people." Miss Syn said ignoring the tone of hatred in Abby's voice. "Nothing else matters. But being a member of the nobility of any country means that you have enemies. I didn't know that. My grandfather did, as did my father. But knowing and defeating are two different things. When I was 13 my family's enemies struck. In less than a day I went from having a family and a house to having nothing at all. My future was to be denied, or at least any say that I was to have in it. I was noble no longer, but cattle. My father's enemy had designs on my body."

"You were 13." Steve protested.

"It didn't matter." Miss Syn said. "I was the only daughter of his most hated enemy. My degradation was his pleasure. But he forgot, as I never have, that even the smallest insect has a stinger. My knife was small, but large enough to cut his throat as he slept. But as my father had a daughter, his enemy had sons. I fled through the city as his sons' pursued me and found refuge in a brothel on the docks. There my body saved me once again."

"This sounds very much like what Lady Cynthia went through." Wonder Woman said.

"Believe me Wonder Woman I am not un-aware of the historical irony."

"Yet you made no move to help her." Wonder Woman accused.

"You get ahead in this world Wonder Woman by taking advantage of others miss-fortune." Miss Syn looked at Helmut. "Certainly you would agree Helmut?"

"To take advantage of an enemies miss-fortune is one thing." Helmut said. "To take advantage of an innocents miss-fortune is another. Lady Cynthia was not your enemy."

"I choose my own enemies." Miss Syn said. "When I was saved the Madame of the brothel named her price. And in the months that followed I paid it. Then I escaped, I was young enough to disguise myself as a boy and become a cabin boy on a ship bound for the South Seas. When pirates captured that ship and I was revealed as a girl I paid that price again. But this time there was a difference. The pirates were not Chinese, or even oriental. They were Spaniards."

"Why should that be a difference?" Steve asked.

"Because even as they were raping me, from the captain on down, they seemed to think they were doing me a favor. That because I was Chinese I was somehow beneath them. That because of my skin and slanted eyes I would always be less than human to them. In fact the ships cat was more regarded than I was."

Miss Syn's voice had been filling with enough venom to make even Abby wince. Miss Syn caught herself, took a sip from her drink and went on in a calmer tone. "Then a French privateer took the Spaniards, and Frenchmen, who thought of me as the Spaniards had, but also thought of the Spaniards as they had thought of me, used me. Then the French were taken by an English privateer, and I became aquatinted with truly one the most arrogant of all the white races. And again I saw that Frenchmen, who thought themselves perfect, were suddenly forced down to where I was."

"By the time I was fifteen had seen every truism I had taken for granted slashed away from me. The men who used my body counted in the hundreds."

"A harsh life is no excuse for treating others harshly." Diana said.

"Spoken as someone who has had a good childhood." Miss Syn replied. She took another sip and went on.

"Even as I was being stepped on and ground into the deck I knew that I was smarter than any of the people who had hurt me. I knew this, but dared not show it. It took me only a few months to learn any of their languages, written or spoken with just a small example. In one month I learned to navigate a ship and with one look at the sky at night could name all the constellations, in Chinese, Spanish, French and English. Yet each of them, simply because of what they were and what I was, thought themselves superior to me. Each thought themselves part of a great master race."

"There is no master race." Wonder Woman said. "There are only differences between races."

"Helmut would disagree with that." Miss Syn said nodding to the German.

"There is a master race." Helmut said. "It is my race. We will prove it."

"If you were really the master race you wouldn't need to prove it." Steve said. "Anyway war doesn't prove who the master race is."

"War will provide growing space for the German people." Helmut said. "And provide a barrier for the rest of the world against Bolshevism."

"Why do you need a war to get living space?" Wonder Woman said. "Surely there is enough room in Europe for everyone."

"Someone must be in charge." Helmut said. "That is the way the world works, that is the way the world will always work. The strong must rule."

"There!" Miss Syn shouted slapping her palm on the table. "That is only part of the truth, the only part one of your people could accept."

"So how do you measure strength?" Wonder Woman said. "By how many bombs you can drop? By how many men you can kill?"

"That is one way." Helmut said.

"There is another." Miss Syn said. "You can show that you are the stronger simply be reducing your enemies, as I have done with all of you. Reducing them, and then eliminating them when they have no power left to stop you. To dance on an enemies grave is the greatest victory."

"You can't lead entire armies into that pool of yours." Steve said.

"No. I can't." Miss Syn agreed. "But you haven't heard the rest of my story."

"Please go on then." Helmut asked.

"After a year or so the pirates formed a new group, a raiding group. The three captains realized that three ships could get three times as much loot. But before they could start that they were caught in a storm. It drove them to this island, and all three ships steered into the great cave for shelter. When the storm was over they found the ruins."

"The men were afraid of the place, but the captains realized what they had found. A perfect base. The cavern was hard to spot back then, now, with the door they added at the top, it is impossible. For the next five years they plundered ships and explored the island and the ruins. I was often left on the island with the wounded sailors to tend them and serve them. In that time I explored the ruins as well, and I studied the languages I found there. And then one day I found the pool."

For a moment there was silence as Miss Syn remembered. Then she went on.

"I took a bath and when I stepped out my clothes did not fit me anymore. I was confused. The men were even more confused. Even the dumbest of them could see that I was suddenly ten years old. I showed them the pool and they all went in, and came out children, some younger than I was. A week later they were all dead."

"A week?" Steve demanded.

"Yes. I didn't know why, until I examined one of the corpses and found, when I split open it's skull that the brain inside had shrunk. It was the brain of an infant, or younger."

No one was eating anymore.

"You were the only one who wasn't affected?" Helmut asked.

"Yes, the only one. It took me years to figure out why. There is a certain species of plant on this island, very bitter to the taste. I had taken to eating this plant. I found that when I did I felt less pain during the rough rapes I was often subjected too. Something in this plant kept my brain intact."

"What happened when the ships returned?" Diana asked.

"I told them that the men had come down with small pox and were on the other side of the island. No one was brave enough to check. Then, as was the custom, they all sat down for feast. I prepared the food and by the morning they were all dead. At high tied I maneuvered the ships as you see them today, tossed the bodies of the men into the sea, and that was that."

"You stayed on this island, alone?" Wonder Woman asked.

"What was there for me in the world?" Miss Syn asked. "All I could ask for was here. Knowledge, immortality, plenty of food and water."

"What did you do?" Diana asked.

"I studied the knowledge the ancients left, I found a library and deciphered the language, I played for a time with the plants in my garden, then I began to see what that knowledge could do in the world. I thought of the great glory of China's past, of the well ordered societies, the great poets and artist... and I thought how low we had come that the English could take so easily from us. And I thought about what had been done to me by the pirates, by the madame in the brothel, by my father's enemies. One day a crate washed up on shore. It had a newspaper and I read about the state of the world. I had been on the island for 80 years and nothing had changed. The world, I decided, needed changing. It needed one race, one people, one ruler. I decided that ruler would be me. The people would be my people. Everyone else would have to go."

"You are insane." Steve said. "To kill an entire race... no one could even be capable of that."

"Only a monster could conceive of it." Helmut agreed.

"I am capable." Miss Syn said. "Or at least I am close."

"How?" Steve demanded.

"I will offer mankind immortality." Miss Syn said. "I will produce a miraculous new drug that will reverse the aging process. Almost all of humanity will want it, and I will give it too them. And twenty years after they drink they will all be dead, just as the pirates are. The few who are left, mostly children I suppose, will not be a problem. I will either enslave them or kill them. Then my monkey-men will take care of the burial, and my race will be supreme, with myself in charge of course. The society I will build will be a perfect one, based on the ancient model. I have already selected a small isolated village in China that will be spared."

"Just one village to re-populate the entire world?" Helmut asked.

"They will be, like me, immortal. It will be a utopia, my monkey-men will do all the physical work, leaving the people I choose free to pursue what ever interest they wish."

"You can't produce enough out that pool to supply the entire planet." Wonder Woman said.

"I have enough for half now, secreted in various countries around the world. Also I am counting on this war to reduce the demand quite a bit."

"Even if you can do all you say." Steve said. "Why are we here? Why did you do this to us?"

"You are a final test." Miss Syn said. "Two of you have been given the drug that allows your brains to survive as you re-age. Aside from myself I have not been able to prevent degeneration without constant and regular exposure to the pool. If I am correct in my knowledge then I should be able to track the progressive degeneration of the other over the next five years. By then I will know if I am ready. If not, I will have to work on the drugs again."

"Which two have been given the drug?" Etta asked.

"If I were to tell you that it would ruin the experiment." Miss Syn said.

"What if we refuse to go along with this monstrosity?" Helmut asked. Taking his knife he put it against Wonder Woman's throat. "What if I kill her, myself, all of us?"

"You could do that." Miss Syn said. Steve kept himself under control but Diana felt he was going to lunge at Helmut in another few seconds. Diana felt the cold of the knife against her skin, but stayed still. She knew what Miss Syn's answer would be.

"But if you did I would just do the same experiment on someone else. I could request another two volunteers from Germany and I would get them."

"What?" Helmut put the knife down.

"Do you really think I could kidnap an SS officer and his sister out of Germany and not suffer repercussions?" Miss Syn laughed and took a paper out of her pocket. She got up and walked over to him. "I showed this experiment to Hitler and he was quite enthusiastic about it. He is getting on in years you know." She put the paper down on the table in front of him. "Of course as far as he knows this is just a break through in cellular regeneration that I am happy to sell to the highest bidder. He knows it works because he allowed me to test it on some prisoners in his concentration camps."

Helmut had gone white and Miss Syn took the paper and handed it to Diana.

"Please read it aloud." she requested.

"I authorize this experiment on the grounds that it is scientifically sound and will bring great benefit to the German people. Those who are sacrificed will be considered heroes to the fatherland." Diana read. "Signed Adolph Hitler."

"I have similar letters from the Governments of Russia, France, before the downfall of France at least, Italy, Spain..." Miss Syn trailed off as she took the paper from Diana's hand and returned to her seat.

"But not America." Steve said.

"Not directly no." Miss Syn said. "But there are people in your government who know what I am doing. That is why I am able to operate in America. The same in England."

"You planned this experiment for Abby and Sid." Etta said. "And for Helmut and his sister."

"I did." Miss Syn said nodding. "A Jew, an Englishwoman, a German and a German of slightly mixed blood. I have to know that this will work with all races."

"What do you mean slightly mixed blood?" Diana asked.

"My sister's," Helmut stopped, the corrected himself "my half sister's mother was Spanish."

"Unfortunately Helmut's sister is lost to me, and when I arranged for Abby to get the pictures of myself and Sid making love, pictures that should have lured her to my warehouse alone, Etta was there and came along. And then that stupid German spy ring tried to capture me."

"If the U-boat found you others will come." Helmut said.

"There is that danger." Miss Syn said. "But the U-boats will find going around the Pacific a bit harder since I leaked to the Allies the current code key for your underwater service and the location for your hidden re-supply bases."

"You seem to have thought of everything." Diana said.

"Not everything." Miss Syn replied. "I'm sure I have left a gap or two here and there, and I am sure that you will all now be searching for that gap. That will keep you from killing yourself while I run the tests I wish to run. The hope that you can somehow defeat me."

"We will defeat you." Helmut said. There was a certainty in his voice that Diana hoped he felt.

"We shall see." Miss Syn said. "In the meantime it is time for the tests to begin.

"And what are we to do after we finish these tests." Helmut said breaking a piece of toast in his hands. It was obvious that the toast was the least of the things he wanted to break.


"This house is over a hundred years old and in need of cleaning and repairs." Miss Syn said. Then she laughed. "And of course I have many toys for you to play with.

It was afternoon before the examinations were done. Diana had been helpless before many enemies, but she had never felt so frustrated as she was with Miss Syn. The physical examination had been deliberately humiliating. Diana had tried to fight back, but at one point Miss Syn had simply overpowered her, forcing the age-regressed amazon to sit down in a chair and tying Diana too it while she took a blood sample. Diana had strained with every muscle in her body and failed to free herself. For her trouble she was soundly spanked.

Besides the physical exam all of the former adults were given tests in mathematics and the history of their countries. Wonder Woman was excused from this as neither the US nor Germany was her country. Instead she was given a history text book of the United States and told to read it. After the exam they were taken to a small gym and made to run laps, do push ups, pull ups and lift weights. Miss Syn and Etta were there to record each test.

Diana found that she was in better overall shape than any of the others were. But to her disappointment she also found that she was weaker physically than both Steve and Helmut. She strained and lifted at the weights as much as she could, but each of them lifted ten pounds more than she did. The gym brought out her competitive nature and she pushed the boys to their limits.

Exhausted they returned to the dining room where Etta had prepared a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Diana found herself incredibly hungry and ate three of them. Helmut, Steve and Abby each ate two. Abby was sullen and depressed. Her right eye beginning to turn black black. She had fought harder than any of them and Miss Syn had beaten her for it. Diana was worried about Abby. She hated Miss Syn and Abby didn't seem like a person with a lot of self-control. Steve, Helmut, Etta and Diana would wait and plan, but Diana feared that Abby would kill Miss Syn the first chance she got.

"No fillings." Steve said as he ate. "That's the only good thing I can see out of all this, I have all my teeth back. This goes beyond anything..."

"We must stop her." Helmut said. "Even if it cost us our lives, we must stop her."

"You can't kill her." Etta said. She sat down and started to eat a sandwiched. "If she dies you may never get back to normal."

"We'll have to take that chance." Helmut said.

"I need to get my costume back." Wonder Woman said. "I can use my tiara to summon my plane and take us all to my home. My people are highly advanced, I am sure they could cure us."

"If she was telling the truth about the drug." Steve said.

"Some things we must believe her in." Helmut said. "We have no other choice. But there is something else, Miss Syn said that the eating of a certain plant saved her. We must find that plant."

"You're right." Steve said. "In the meantime we just play along and wait for our chance."

"You people are nuts." Abby said picking up a knife. Her voice cracked slightly. "You think she's telling us the truth? That any of us are going to get out of this alive?"

"Abby..." Etta started but her sister interrupted her.

"Shut up. Play your games if you want. Next time I see her I'm going to stick this into her and..."

The door to the dinning room flew open and Miss Syn swept in. There was a deadly rage in her eyes that all of them but Abby noticed.

"I will not have my experiment spoiled!" Miss Syn shouted.

"Bitch!" Abby shouted. She jumped up from the table and ran toward Miss Syn holding the knife in front of her.

Miss Syn let Abby get three paces then she calmly pulled a gun out of her pocket and fired.

"Abby!" Etta screamed and ran toward her sister. Only to be stopped by a bullet that hit the floor in front of her.

"Do not move any of you." Miss Syn said, her voice hard and cold enough to stop them all. On the floor Abby lay gasping in pain. The bullet had hit her in the leg and a pool of blood was forming. "If any of you move again I will shoot her in the head."

"Please..." Etta started.

"She ruined my experiment." Miss Syn said. "Her answers on the test were deliberately wrong, in the physical test she did not even try. After the examinations she contaminated all of the samples. She is worthless."

"But I'm not." Etta shouted tears running down her face. "You can shrink me, I won't ruin the test, I'll co-operate, just let me save her!"

"I only need four." Miss Syn said. "If you take her place I will not need her."

"But you need us." Wonder Woman said. "You need our co-operation. If Abby dies we won't co-operate and you'll have to start all over again. Do you really want that inconvenience?"

Miss Syn looked at them, then at Abby who was panting in pain and shock.

"If I allow you to save her it will only be her life. I will not reverse what I have done to her. I will still not say one way or the other if she has been given the drugs."

"She'll be alive." Etta said. "That's all that matters. She was in control of herself again, but barely.

"See to her." Miss Syn said putting the gun away.

All three of them ran to Abby's side, Etta getting there first. She cradled her sister's head in her hands as Wonder Woman examined the wound.

"The bullet went through cleanly." Wonder Woman said. "I need a bandage."

Steve tore a part of the table cloth and handed it to her.

"She is going into shock." Helmut said. He pulled off his own shirt and wrapped it around the girl.

"We need to get her to a doctor." Wonder Woman said looking up at Miss Syn.

"I will take her to Sydney." Miss Syn said smiling. "Wait here"

Turning she walked out of the room.

"I swear to God I'm going to kill her." Etta growled.

"Easy Etta." Steve said as Wonder Woman tied a tourniquet around Abby's leg. Abby's eyes had glazed over and her breathing was coming in ragged gasps of pain.

Before they could say anything else Miss Syn walked back into the room. In one hand was the gun.

"Wonder Woman, Steve, Helmut, sit down."

"But..." Etta started.

"Sit down." Miss Syn ordered pointing the gun at Abby.

Getting up, Steve, Diana and Helmut walked over to their chairs and sat down. Walking behind Helmut Miss Syn clamped a cloth over his face. Diana recognized the smell of chloroform, but stayed still as Helmut and Steve were put to sleep. She tried not to struggle when it was her turn, but instinct made her squirm against the darkness. As she blacked out Wonder Woman wondered how much worse things could get. What scared Diana was the fact that when she woke once more she would find out and there was nothing she could do about it. With a feeling of wretched helplessness that ate at her soul Diana blacked out.

...to be continued.