Terror of the Souless One

Part 7

The Price of Salvation, Redemption and Survival

by Skytower

Diana woke in bed, clean and cool. But her body ached all over. The sound of sobbing woke her. Diana opened her eyes and saw Etta sitting in a chair next to the bed. Etta was wearing one of the long flannel nightgowns Miss Syn had supplied. She looked for a moment like a lost little girl.

"Etta?" Diana asked sitting up. Beneath the covers Diana realized she wasn't wearing anything.

"Hi." Etta said closing the journal she got up and sat on the bed. "I found you a few hours ago, crawling toward the house." She wiped away tears. "I got you up her and cleaned up and into bed. Then I started reading this," she held up the journal. "I didn't want you to wake up and wonder if it was lost or anything. Have you read this?"

Etta's tone was pleading and Diana could understand why.

"Some pages," she said.

"I read it all," Etta said handing the book to her. "I wish I hadn't."

There was a sound as the door opened and Diana quickly stuffed the book behind her and under the pillow.

"Good morning," Miss Syn said pleasantly. Miss Syn was wearing a green silk robe over a gold tunic and purple pants. Walking over to the bed she took hold of the sheets that Diana was covering her self with and jerked them off of her.

Diana blushed but didn't move.

"Why do you wear a nightgown and she doesn't?" Miss Syn asked Etta. "Are you two, how do you American's put it... Playing doctor?"

Etta gasped and stood up as if Miss Syn had pulled a gun on her.

"My skin was too sensitive," Diana said. "The wool was too scratchy."

"Silence!" Miss Syn snarled and she slapped Diana across the face. Diana rolled with the blow but it still stung. Miss Syn turned to Etta. "Go and start your day."

Etta quickly dressed and left. Miss Syn stared at her as she changed and Diana felt her stomach jump. She now knew there were no limits to Miss Syn's evil and Etta was a tempting target. After Etta left Miss Syn walked over to the dresser and pulled a black robe out of it. She tossed it to Diana.

"Put that on and come with me."

Grateful that the woman didn't notice the journal Diana put the robe on and followed her.

The room was a solarium. The tropical sunlight streamed in through glazed glass and was absorbed by the black and grey stone floor. Some of the glass was clear. Dead Plants hung grotesquely in great masses from hanging planters. The smell of death hung heavy in the place. Pale white ghost walked in the dust that was stirred up by Miss Syn's passing. Miss Syn walked into the center of the room and sat by a fountain. The fountain was dry and filled with dust and dead leaves and insects. A giant golden mermaid held a great funnel shaped shell that mockingly gave hope of water. The floor was stained with filth and grime and the statue was dull and tarnished.

Diana gasped with new pain and jerked her foot away as she started to follow Miss Syn into the room. The stone where sun hit it was hot enough to burn her

"Come here," Miss Syn ordered. "Now!" she said sternly after Diana hesitated.

Stealing herself Diana hurried over to her and sat next to her on the fountain. Miss Syn immediately pushed her to the floor. From behind the statue Miss Syn produced a bucket and a cloth.

"Clean the floors, then the statue, then the windows," Miss Syn ordered.

If Diana had thought her body had been pushed beyond endurance she was wrong. Her body still worked. But it worked with complaint. It fought back with pain and then more pain. Her muscles refused to move... her bones felt brittle... the very act of breathing was a struggle. At times the dust rose in clouds and slipped into her nose. Her eyes watered, her nose ran and she coughed until there was nothing to do but use the dirty water in the bucket to damp down her face. The stone floor was too hot to touch even through the robe, so Diana pulled off her robe and folded it up to use as a pad for her knees. Her feet she held off of the floor but fatigue caused her to lower them every now and then and for that she paid. Taking off the robe exposed her back to the burning sun. A couple of times Diana wrung the washing rag out over her back to cool it, not caring how dirty the water had become. A few times during the day Diana simply passed out from exhaustion but always the pain in her body brought her back to consciousness. Miss Syn did not return until near sundown and by then Diana had barely finished half of the floor.

The woman laughed as she looked down at the amazon. Diana hadn't even known Miss Syn was in the room until she laughed. She looked up from her hands and knees and Miss Syn kicked her in the side. Diana lay on the floor and waited for the next blow. It didn't come, instead Miss Syn pulled Diana up by her hair and dragged her from the room.

"A little pain and you fall like a toy," Miss Syn said. She sat down next to Diana and pulled her up so that they were face to face. "Are you tired of pain yet Wonder Woman?"

"Yes," Diana said. Even with the pain she was only half-awake.

"Then look in my eyes and feel your pain fade," Miss Syn said. "Look deep within them and let your pain fade, let your mind ease away, let your worries fall from you, surrender to my will and you will know peace..."

Her voice had taken on a softness that was pure silk. But there was steel wrapped in that silk. She was not entreating she was ordering Diana to submit. A part of Diana longed too. She had been raised on the principle of obedience to loving authority. But the loving part was absent from Miss Syn. Diana knew that the Asian had played this part with another girl. The words of Patricia MacGuire echoed in Diana's mind.

"She looked into my eyes and it was as if I were suddenly adrift on the ocean. Though I knew what a demoness she was, I could not resist her siren call, my own pain being so great Satan himself would have found in me a willing and ardent suitor. But as the demoness took my mind from me I felt that Satan would have granted me mercy more than she. Yet even so I let myself fall into her eyes and thus confirmed my damnation."

With those words in her heart Diana found the strength to lift her arm and hit Miss Syn's cheek. It was not a slap. The impact could barely have been felt. But it was an act of defiance. Miss Syn's eyes turned from inviting to furious. With a roar she stood up and let Diana fall. For a few moments the Asian stood there looking at the amazon. Miss Syn's body trembled for a bit and twice she drew back her foot to kick. But she stopped and after a while bent down. From the dress she was wearing she pulled a knife and held it in front of Diana's face.

"You did not finish your task," Miss Syn said pleasantly. Taking a fist full of Diana's hair she twisted it violently, jerking Diana's head to one side. Diana cried out in pain but did not move. Slowly Miss Syn cut the hair with the knife. Then she scattered the hair over Diana's prone body. "I will give you two more days to rest. Then if you do not finish the next task I will shave your body bald and let the boys watch while I do it." She stood up and replaced the knife. Then she gave Diana a vicious kick in the stomach. "For now crawl back to your room, I have important things to do."

After a while Diana got to her knees and put on her robe again. Her sunburned skin screamed as the harsh fabric rested against it. Diana crawled and staggered back to her room. Diana let the tears come to her eyes as her body once more fought any action with pain. She moaned and gasped and held nothing back. It was a good show because it was a not a show, and Diana knew that Miss Syn wasn't missing any of it. She was watching from the shadows, Diana could feel her. The same way she had once watched another woman suffer.


You died to help me Patricia, Diana thought. I won't let that death be in vain.

Diana remembered getting to the stairs and then nothing. When she woke again it was to a feeling of something cool being spread over her back. What ever it was dimmed the pain and Diana sighed.

"How are you feeling?" Etta asked.

Diana opened her eyes. She was in their room, on the bed once more. It struck the amazon that she was in this situation too many times. It was not proper for an amazon, let alone a princess, to be constantly beaten and rely on others for survival. But as the pain in her back eased Diana could only feel grateful that she had a friend willing to do it.

"I'm hurt, but I will live," Diana said.

"I'm amazed you have any skin left," Etta said as she continued to rub the salve into Diana's skin.

"That solarium was badly designed," Diana said. "There was no ventilation... no water..."

"I know," Etta said.

"You do?" Diana looked up and saw that Etta sported a black eye and a bruised jaw. She was wearing the same sort of black robe that Miss Syn had given Diana to wear. "What happened?"

"I took a swing at her," Etta said. "So did Steve and Helmut."

"What?"

"We watched you," Etta said. She poured more of the ointment into her hands and nervously rubbed them together as she spoke. "There is a balcony overlooking the solarium. One of the panes of glass isn't glazed. Miss Syn took us in there and made us watch you."

"Great Hera!" Diana said. She blushed as she remembered pulling off her robe to use as a pad for her knees. "You saw..."

"Everything," Etta said. "The boys couldn't take it, neither could I. We rushed her. I think Steve got in a good sock on her stomach, but after that..."

"Miss Syn knows how to fight," Diana said. "And we are but children."

Etta nodded.

"She beat us until we couldn't fight back, then she made us watch some more, then when we fought back again... It went on all day."

"I'm sorry." Diana said putting her head down into her pillow.

"It's not your fault."

"If I hadn't gotten into that pool..."

"There's more." Etta said.

"What?"

"She locked us in for a bit, alone. We were all so mad... we argued..."

Etta turned away from her. Diana sat up and put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Somehow I blurted out that Helmut raped you," Etta said.

"Oh," Diana said. With all her other torments she had not forgotten the rape, but had pushed it aside. Helmut had the body of a child now after all, and Diana could not have lived with him if the rape had been in her mind.

"He didn't believe it at first," Etta said. "But then he did and he and Steve fought, and I fought and... and then Miss Syn came into the room. We didn't tell her why we were fighting, but I don't think she was too interested anyway. She just stood there and laughed until we were too tired to fight. Then she told us to back to our rooms."

"Oh," Diana said again.

"I found you crawling up the stairs and got some lotion from Lady Cynthia."

"Thank you," Diana said.

"Wonder Woman what are we going to do? That journal, that poor girl... that's us! That's what we will be!"

"I have a plan," Wonder Woman said. "Go get Helmut and Steve."

"They aren't even talking to each other."

"They'll talk to me," Diana said. "Go."

"Wait!" Etta went over to the dresser and pulled out a nightgown. "You better be dressed."

"Of course," Diana said realizing again that she was nude.

Helmut Steiber could not look at Diana directly when he came into the room. He went over to the far wall and leaned against it. A minute later Steve and Etta came in.

"What's he doing here?" Steve snarled.

"He's here because we need him, Steve," Diana said. "We are in this together."

"After what he did to you?"

"I don't remember doing anything," Helmut said. "I keep telling you that."

"Steve," Diana said, holding up a hand when Steve started toward him. Steve stopped and Diana turned to Helmut. "But you believe it don't you, Helmut."

He looked up at her. The face that looked at Diana was a 12 year old boy. The eyes were far older.

"I do." he said.

"Why?" Diana asked. "Do you see yourself an evil man?"

"Does Miss Syn see herself as evil? Does evil ever recognize itself?" Helmut asked. "What did I say when I first met you and Etta?"

"That we were American's and women," Etta said. "And that you didn't trust either."

"Yes," Helmut sighed. "That sounds like me."

"I can understand not trusting Americans," Steve said. "But women?"

"Did you love your mother, Steve?" Helmut asked.

"Of course I did."

"Etta? Wonder Woman?"

Both women nodded and Helmut put his face in his hands for a moment. Then he looked at them.

"I loved my mother too, and she loved me very much. From the time I was..." he looked at himself, "well the age I am now... she showed me that love. Every Saturday night while my father was with his mistress, my mother came to my room..."

"My god," Steve whispered.

"How long..." Etta asked.

"Almost a year," Helmut said. "I was very confused, very angry. Then my father's mistress died on him, and he fulfilled a promise to take her daughter as his own."

"Your half sister," Diana said.

"Yes." Helmut looked down at the floor. "My mother had no choice but to take her in, my father was not the sort of man who would have allowed her to do anything else. He went out and found another mistress by the end of that summer. As for me, I had a sister, a nice girl, who seemed interested in my hobbies. A good friend. Much like you and Etta have been Wonder Woman. I was happy for that summer. But when my father found his new mistress I was afraid. But my mother did not come to my bed again. I could not understand why."

"She was with your sister." Steve said.

"Yes." Helmut nodded. "One night I saw her come out of my sisters room. I heard my sister crying and I went to comfort her. My mother found us, assumed the worst, raged against us. There was a struggle that pushed out into the corridor. My mother stumbled and started to fall down the stairs. She reached for me. I didn't reach back."

For a few moments they were all silent. Then Helmut went on.

"She did not die. Not quickly anyway. She was with us for another year, in a wheelchair, then bed ridden. I was very confused, very guilty, very angry." He closed his eyes. "Do you know how powerful guilt can be? For me it was my life. I know now that she hated me, but then... When she died... the guilt did not leave me. I joined the party, the Hitler youth. Inwardly I was miserable, but I knew how to act happy. I learned how to act the part of a man, a true Aryan man. I was taught that an Aryan has no guilt in him, for he can do no wrong. He is above all the other races of man, they were put here for his use. Then one night one of the counselors introduced me to the world of drinking and whoring. At first I couldn't... The whore I was with laughed at me. I couldn't stand the laughter. I hit her. After I had hit her a few times I found that I could do other things to her. I realized then that if you were powerful enough there was no guilt. The powerful do not feel guilt. My mother had never felt guilt, I would not feel guilt."

"You feel guilty now," Wonder Woman said.

Helmut gave out a short laugh.

"On my mothers grave I swore not to be her. I failed. I swore to forget her. I succeeded in that, almost. But the memories came back the night before last."

"What happened?" Etta asked.

"I woke up in the middle of the night," Helmut said. He started to cry and slowly he sank to the floor. "Miss Syn was in our room, kneeling over Steve."

"What?" Steve asked. "I don't remember her being there."

"Do you remember waking up with a sore arm?" Helmut asked. Steve nodded. "A shot to keep you asleep."

"My god no!" Etta whispered.

"Do you understand why I hated women?" Helmut asked looking at them. "Why when I had a woman at my mercy I..."

He sank down to the floor and none of them could say anything for a while. Then Diana walked over to him and knelt down.

"I am my mother," he said.

"No you're not," Diana said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No? What have I done that she did not? I was powerful, you were helpless, even if I can't remember what happened I know that it happened. The man who..."

"The man who did it is gone," Diana said. "The man who did it was a poor tortured boy trying to strike back at all women. Would you do it again?"

"No," Helmut said.

"Then you are not him," Diana said.

"Wonder Woman..." Steve started to say something then stopped.

"Steve what is the one thing I've always asked you about your world?"

"Why we hate so much," Steve said.

"Do you hate him Steve?"

Steve was silent for a time, looking from Wonder Woman to Helmut. Helmut looked back at him blankly, as if the emotion had been torn from him.

"I can't," Steve said. "Not after what I just heard. But what about justice? He raped you."

"Is there anyway he hasn't paid for that?" Diana asked.

"I..." Helmut started to speak but Wonder Woman stopped him.

"Helmut while you were raping me I hated you. Even you can't believe how much. Even if I knew then what you had gone through as a child I still would have hated you. Do you know why?" he shook his head. "Because that Helmut Stieber would have raped me again if he could have. He would have sent Etta and I to our deaths to serve his country and himself. He believed that the strong should have no guilt. Do you believe that any more Helmut."

"No," Helmut said.

"The man who does not believe that is my friend," Diana said. She stood up and offered him her hand.

Helmut swallowed and took her hand. Slowly he stood up and looked at Steve and Etta.

"I don't know," Steve said.

"I do," Etta said. She walked over and gave Helmut a slight hug. Then she stood back and they all looked at Steve. Diana walked over to him.

"Steve?"

"Wonder Woman I..."

She hugged him and after a moment he returned the hug. It was a while before he pulled away.

"You are... I love you..." Steve said.

"Then do what I did," Diana said. "Understand and forgive."

Steve took a deep breath and walked over to the German. They faced each other for a moment and then Steve held out his hand. Helmut shook it and Diana let out a breath she had been holding. It was not a firm handshake. Diana knew that Steve did not have the same wisdom she had, it was a fault that all men had, even Steve. Where she and Etta could forgive, his feelings of anger would linger for a time.

"There is more," Helmut said as the handshake ended. "Miss Syn has shown me films of what is going on in the territories my country has captured. She has been supplying Germany with experimental drugs. Drugs that..." He stopped for a moment and then went on. "The drugs cause mutations, horrible, horrible mutations. She is doing it to buy favor and time, to test on a mass scale what she can not test here."

"It makes sense," Diana said. "She has to keep playing the game she set into motion. Otherwise another U-boat might show up."

"My father used to say that all governments are run partly by devils," Helmut said. "In my country they have taken over completely."

"What are we going to do?" Steve asked. "We just can't stand by and let this happen."

"We tried this afternoon," Helmut pointed out. "And there is still the matter of our brains shrinking as we grow older."

"That problem is solved," Diana said. Walking over to the bed she pulled the journal from under the pillows. "This is the journal of Patricia MacGuire. She and her family lived here, built this mansion and in the end were destroyed by Miss Syn."

"Patricia records it all," Etta said.

"Where did you find it?" Steve asked.

Diana paled and sat down on the bed. "In the buildings that were on the map we found. They were burnt, but I found two bodies. More than two really. They were strapped down to tables. One of them was holding the journal. Etta, read the last entry please."

Etta swallowed but opened the journal and began to read.

"I know not what day this is, or what month. I only know that I am to die this day. I do not mourn it, for even if I am condemned to hell for eternity I am sure I shall find it a paradise compared to the life I have lead since we first came to this island. My poor mother knows what I am about to do and I feel she is grateful. I am almost glad she can not speak. It is bad enough that she saw what I had to do. I wish Miss Syn had taken my tongue as well, but then I would have had no ability to do the deed. My deliverance is the stone in my hand. I paid for that stone with the last dregs of pride from what remains of my soul. The apeman gained his pleasure of me, God please take the memory from me!"

"There is a bit of it scratched out," Etta said.

"We know what she had to do," Helmut said. They all nodded in agreement and Etta went on.

"...and I gained the stone. The stone is in my hand and I can see the chemical burning in its beaker on the table. Beside it is the notes that horrible creature has made of our agony and suffering. I would wait until she was near, but I fear she would put out the fire and save our lives. "

Etta's voice choked for a moment and closed her eyes tightly. After a minute she opened them and went on.

Miss Syn has been careless with her chemicals, they have spilt everywhere. I pray the fire takes us quickly. I have but one last wish; that this, my journal, survives. I shall hold it to my breasts no matter what pain I feel and spit upon it even as my body burns. I have written in this book all that has happened, I hope that it may help other poor souls who come here. If you are reading this it means that it survives. I prey you, if you be good folk, give my mother and myself a proper burial. I am going to close the book now and throw my stone. Though I will prey for heaven I will welcome any hell but this on

Etta closed the journal.

"I found the bodies," Diana said. "Patricia's mother had no arms or legs. Patricia had no legs. Miss Syn amputated them. In a cabinet I found ten or twenty corpses of babie monkey-men.

"I read most of the journal last night," Etta said. "Patricia's family came to this island after the civil war. Her father had made a fortune in the munitions business and had dreams about starting his own country. Miss Syn came with them as a housekeeper. The men in the family she experimented on, the women she used as breeders for the first generation of monkey-men."

"It is tragic," Helmut said. "But how does this help us?"

"Patricia wrote down everything Miss Syn experimented with," Diana said. "What Miss Syn is doing to us she did to Patricia's brothers. You remember how Miss Syn said that she was spared from the pools side effects by eating a bitter fruit?"

"Yes," Helmut said.

"It's a mushroom. They grow wild and I found many on the way back." Diana looked around and suddenly realized she had forgotten all about the mushrooms she had gathered.

"I hid them in the garden," Etta said at the look on Diana's face. "I didn't know what they were, but you wouldn't let go of them until I told you I would hide them."

"Patricia records seeing her father reduced to a baby, then grown back to an adult in one month," Diana said. "Eating the mushrooms is the key."

"Too slow," Helmut said. "She checks our progress every day."

"Then one of us has to get away from her for at least 2 weeks," Diana said. "It has to be me."

"There is another way," Helmut said. "We have the mushrooms now. I can not beat her in a physical fight, but I am very good with a knife. I am not so small as not to be able to reach her throat."

Diana sighed inwardly. Her mother was right; men just didn't have the capacity for learning women did. Helmut had just learned a valuable lesson but he still reverted to being a man. He was learning, but he still hadn't learned.

"No killing Helmut," Diana said.

"You can say that after what she has done to you? To us? To that wretched girl and her mother?"

"After what you did to me?" Diana asked pointedly.

"I..." Helmut started and then stopped.

"Helmut, being able to forgive is not easy," Diana said. "But beyond forgiveness is the simple fact that people can change for the better. Even Miss Syn can change. Think about it Helmut, how different was your childhood from hers?"

"Might as well give it up, Helmut," Steve said. "I've gone through this with her before."

"As long as a person is alive there is a chance they can change, realize they are on the wrong path. To kill them is to rob them of that chance. I can't do that, I won't let you do it."

"So what happens to her?" Etta asked. "After everything she's done... Wonder Woman we can't bring her to any country, even the United States."

"Etta's right," Steve said. "For the knowledge she has some in our government would trade anything. We've seen that already."

"When this is over I will take her to my people," Diana said. "To Punishment Island. She will learn her regret her mistakes."

"I still do not like it," Helmut said. "It seems too easy."

"Helmut..." Diana started and then stopped and took a deep breath. "Let me pose this question to you Helmut: Would you rather have Miss Syn dead, gone to what ever awaits all of us all in the end, or would you rather have her feeling as bad as you felt when you realized your crimes?"

"Very well," Helmut said after a bit of reflection. "But the problem remains, how do we defeat her?"

"One of us... I must be out of her sight for at least two weeks," Diana said. "It has to be me, even if the mushrooms do not work on me I can still find my costume. Even at this age I had powers that could defeat her."

"So how do you vanish?" Steve asked. "She's already shown special interest in you."

"There are two ways I can think of," Helmut said. "Either Wonder Woman must run away into the jungle, or Wonder Woman must appear to die."

"If I run she'll use the rest of you against me," Diana said. "But I can put myself into at trance, I can slow my heartbeat down so much it will appear that I am dead."

"She'll do an autopsy," Steve said. "She's the type who would love to take you apart."

"There is another way," Helmut said. "But the risk is high."

"It always is," Steve said.

"There exist in the waters around this island a large monstrous crab creature," Helmut said. "I once saw it attack and kill a boat full of women trying to flee the island."

"You told us," Diana said.

"If you swam out far enough the creature will put in an appearance. Miss Syn might think it ate you. Then you can swim back and hide in the jungle."

"So how does she get it not to eat her?" Etta asked.

"There is a plant I know of, I discovered it by accident. I can produce a paste from it, once smeared on your body it will repel the creature."

"How did you find out something like that?" Steve asked.

"I was using it to paint my boat," Helmut said. "But the day was hot and I fell asleep. The tide came in and took me and my boat out to sea. The creature rose from the sea, but when it came near my boat it stopped and then retreated. I was very lucky that night."

"You never told us about that," Etta said.

"I didn't want you to survive," Helmut said looking at the floor. "I knew that if you made it to shore alive Miss Syn would find out about my boat and my escape would be doomed. I'm sorry."

"You would have thrown their lives away?" Steve demanded angrily.

"Yes," Helmut said sadly. "I would have."

"But you wouldn't now," Diana said.

"No."

They were all silent again. Finally Etta spoke up.

"Won't Miss Syn see Diana's swimming as just an escape?"

"Not if it's a suicide attempt," Diana said. "She's going to keep pushing me Etta. When I feel the time is right I'll break away from her and run to the beach. If we hide the paste there I can smear it on me before I jump in."

"Lotta holes in that plan," Steve said.

"Do we have another plan to use?" Helmut asked?

"We could throw a net over her, tie her up," Steve said.

"But what about Abby and Sid?" Etta said. "If we tie her up and keep her here until we grow up the monkey-men might come to investigate. We wouldn't have a chance against them."

"It's the only way, Steve," Diana said. "My main worry is that once I am gone Miss Syn will look for a new toy to play with." She looked at them all. "Any one of you..."

"We will handle such things as they happen," Helmut said. "You can not let yourself worry about it."

It was said bravely but Diana could read the fear in his eyes and it was mirrored in Steve and Etta. Diana had been raised in a loving community, she had never been afraid of any of her older amazon sisters. But now she realized just how terrifying an adult could be to a child. You weren't just smaller or less quick than an adult; you were steps behind them on the evolutionary chain as well as a few steps ahead of them. Every parent knew that sooner or later his or her children would be at least as strong and perhaps smarter as well. For some parents that was too much to take, far easier to torment the children while they could. Helmut's mother was one of those parents. But Miss Syn went beyond her by a staggering degree of evil. She would go after Steve and Etta as well as Helmut Diana knew.

"We can handle ourselves, Wonder Woman," Steve said. "I used to be a terror as a kid, I can dredge up a few tricks I used to use."

"We can all face what we have to," Etta said. "You just make sure you survive to free us."

"I will," Diana said. Not for the first time she was awed by the bravery of her friends. Diana preyed that courage would see them through what was to come.

For the next two days Diana did very little. Her body protested at the slightest movement, and her skin peeled horribly from the sunburn. During the day she stayed in the room and took care of the babies, at night she simply slept. The two days passed slowly, yet far too quickly in a way. Diana desperately wanted her body to heal faster. She knew that Miss Syn would be ready with another task, another torture. If Miss Syn managed to break her before she could find an opportunity to run away everything was lost.

Diana's one true nightmare had always been that someone would use the golden lasso to make her reveal the way to Paradise Island. If Miss Syn managed to break her will then she would find out about Diana's home. Paradise Island was a peaceful place that had no defense against an invasion. The vision of Miss Syn swooping down on her sisters with an army of lust crazed monkey-men stirred despair in Diana, mirroring as it did the nightmares of nazi troops invading her home. The thought that she would be the cause of it was enough to reduce Diana to choking sobs.

Helmut and Steve collected the plant he needed and Etta found a box of small clay pots in a closet. Over the next day they placed four pots of paste at various places on or near the beach. Helmut and Steve seemed to be working together but Diana still sensed a reticence from Steve. They all read the journal and no one could read it without crying. Patricia MacGuire had been a brave and good young woman, totally unprepared to face the evil that destroyed her. Miss Syn toyed with her like some cat would toy with a bird that had a broken wing. Reading some of the tortures added to Wonder Woman's nightmares.


Miss Syn re-appeared after the two days. She entered the room in the afternoon, just as Diana was putting the children down for a nap.

"Amazing isn't it?" Miss Syn said walking over and inspecting the children. "It is really too bad that Sim is dead, he and Cynthia could have been the parents of a whole race."

"A race born of rape," Diana said. "A race of slaves for you."

"Of course," Miss Syn said. She looked at Diana. After two days Diana's skin had recovered enough for her to wear a shirt and pants again but the amazon was still weak.

"Come with me." Miss Syn ordered.

"What about the children?" Diana asked. Her response was a sharp kick to the stomach that drove the amazon to her knees. As she lay gasping for air Miss Syn bent down and grabbed a handful of Diana's hair.

"Do not question my orders," Miss Syn said. With a jerk on the hair she dragged Diana to her feet and shoved her into the hallway.

"Come with me." She ordered again, closing the door behind her.


The sun that greeted Diana as they stepped out of the house was the mid-day sun. A brutal wave of heat seemed to be directed at the amazon as she followed Miss Syn down to the swimming pond. What she found there shocked Diana, even though she expected to find something.

Etta, Steve and Helmut were wearing their bathing suits and suspended upside-down over the water. Their arms were tied behind them and they were gagged. The ropes that held them up led over to a platform with three levers on it. At the far end of the platform was a lawnchair. Miss Syn led Diana onto the platform. In front of each of the three levers were large plates of metal that measured four feet square.

"Do you see that pile of rocks over there?" Miss Syn asked pointing to a large pile of square grey stones twenty feet away.

"Yes."

"Those are ballast stones from the ships," Miss Syn said. "They weigh about twenty to fifty pounds apiece." She turned to the levers." Once I pull these levers the ropes will lower your friends into the water. To keep them from drowning you will have to sit on the counter-weight panels." She tapped the metal plates. "Or you will have to pile enough stones onto each panel to keep your friends above the water."

Diana swallowed as she calculated how long it would take her to get the stones and how many it would take to save her friends.

"Of course it would be far too easy to give you such a task," Miss Syn said. "You could simply sit on the panels and keep them out of the water. So to dissuade you from that I added something. Put your hand on the panel."

Diana carefully rested her over the metal. Waves of heat greeted her and she did not press down but for an instant.

"It is heated," Miss Syn said. "Hot enough to cook a meal on. Of course you could rely on your clothes to protect your skin," she laughed at the look on Diana's face, "do not fear Wonder Woman, I will not strip you naked in front of the boys."

Diana blushed as she realized that Miss Syn had already made Helmut and Steve look at her nude.

"I won't have too," Miss Syn said. "For even through your clothing that heat will cook you."

She turned her back and Diana had an urge to attack the Asian, but she held back. Miss Syn was no doubt hoping she would do just that. Reaching behind the metal Miss Syn produced a cannon ball attached to a short length of chain. From the way she handled it Diana could tell it was heavy. As if she was shoeing a horse Miss Syn lifted Diana's foot off of the ground and pulled off her sneaker. Then she locked the ball and chain to Diana's ankle. Standing up she then walked over to the levers.

"The problem is now yours, Wonder Woman. I doubt very much that you can save all three of them from drowning. One or two perhaps. We shall see."

She pulled the first lever and Helmut dropped into the water. Diana dived onto the plate to bring him up again. Miss Syn smiled and pulled the second lever. Etta vanished into the water. Ignoring the pain from the heat Diana used her legs to push the plate down. Etta rose and Miss Syn smiled one more time as she pulled the final lever. Steve plunged into the water and Diana stretched herself across all three plates to bring him back up.

"If you can keep them all alive until sundown I will let them live," Miss Syn said. She walked over and sat down. "If you fail and Etta survives I will use her to breed the next generation of my monkey-men."

Diana could feel the heat burning its way through her clothing. There was no way she could stay on the hot metal for very long.

"Hold your breath for as long as you can!" Diana shouted. "Watch me and when I get off the plates hold it!"

She got nods in response and tensed herself. Then jumped off of the plates, gathered he ball in her hands and limped toward the pile of stones. The chain was just short enough to make carrying the cannonball awkward. Diana stumbled but did not fall. She took one of the stones and carried it back to the plates. Stumbling at the last step she fell onto the plates, the metal burning her bare skin where it touched. Etta and the others were pulled out of the water gasping. Diana estimated it had taken nearly two minutes for her to get the stone. She levered it onto the farthest platform. It fell there with a satisfying clank.

The sun moved across the sky as it had for eons. Diana felt it's merciless, uncaring movements were more than matched by Miss Syn. Stone after stone was moved over to the plates. At first Diana did not pile them in an orderly way, she simply dumped them onto the plates. Then she heard a sound when she was heading back to the pile. Miss Syn had walked over and casually shoved a stone from Etta's plate onto the platform Diana shouted in protest but after that took a few precious minutes after each step to stack the stones more carefully. Small pyramids began to take shape. At some point she lost her remaining sneaker but Diana barely noticed it.

Through most of the task Miss Syn sat in her chair and watched. A smile on her face the evil woman seemed not to care at all about the outcome. Diana knew better. Miss Syn wanted to hurt her, to take the amazon down another peg. If any of her friends died this would do it. Diana knew she would feel guilty no matter what the circumstances. Miss Syn knew that as well.

The sun was low in the horizon when Miss Syn started a new game. From beneath the chair she produced a whip. The whip sang out every time Wonder Woman was in range, that range being only a foot away from the plates. Diana's top was soon shredded and her back became a mass of black welts. Her arms and legs felt like lead but Diana refused to stop or even rest. The pain in her back competed with the pounding in her head as the sun did it's best to roast her. Diana concentrated on movement, fearing that if she stopped, even for a moment, she would never move again. The only thing in her mind was the next stone she had to move.

She put the last stone onto the platform just as the bottom of the sun touched the horizon. Etta, Steve and Helmut dangled only one inch over the water. Many times in the afternoon they had been saved only at the last minute, pulled out of the water to cough and choke through their gags.

"Very well done," Miss Syn said walking over to the ropes. At a pull from her the three captives swung over to the shore. She cut the ropes and they dropped down onto the sand.

"But sad, sad Wonder Woman, you seem very tired and hurt." Miss Syn bent down and took Diana's face in her hands. Diana sat up, pulling the cannonball into her lap.

"Are you hurt enough yet to surrender your pain to me?" Miss Syn asked gazing into her eyes.

"Not yet," Diana said swallowing. She had hoped to be defiant but she sounded like a weak and beaten child.

"But it will happen," Miss Syn said. "We both know it, why fight it?"

Green eyes bored into Wonder Woman's and the amazon felt her will weaken. But she rallied and looked away. Miss Syn laughed and slapped Diana to the ground.

"You know I think I shall have Stone make love to your friend Etta tomorrow while you and the rest watch."

"No!" Diana gasped. "She's only a girl!"

"That won't matter to him," Miss Syn said.

"You only want me!" Diana protested.

"And they are an excellent way to get to you," Miss Syn said. "When I hurt them, I hurt you. That is the weakness of friendship."

"I'll die before I see Etta raped," Wonder Woman tried to snarl, but it came out as the weak protest of a wounded animal.

"I won't let you die," Miss Syn said. "I will keep you here for decades if I have too. Sooner or later you will bow to me."

"Not if I'm not here," Diana said struggling to her knees.

"There are only two ways off of this island Wonder Woman," Miss Syn said. "My boat or death, and I will not allow you to die. I am an excellent surgeon. Hang yourself I will bring you back, cut your wrist and I will bring you back, the pool can restore life to what many think of as a corpse."

"You can't put me into the pool if you can't find my body," Diana said suddenly quiet.

"Where could you go that I could not get you back?" Miss Syn laughed.

"The answer is all around us," Diana said.

With that she dropped the cannonball onto Miss Syn's toes.

Miss Syn's screams scared birds for miles and followed Diana as she ran down toward the water. It was a long run and the evening's semi-darkness made it harder. Soon she heard Miss Syn behind her, the Asian's curses promising pain to the ultimate degree. Diana had meant to smash the ball onto the Asian's toes, but had barely had enough strength to drop it. Even limping Miss Syn would catch up with her.

The sun was vanishing past the horizon when Diana burst onto the beach. Miss Syn was not far behind and terror gripped Diana as she searched for one of the pots that Helmut had hidden. She saw it stuck into a bit of driftwood. Diana ran to the driftwood, a jagged and rotten piece of a boat long since sunk, and tried to pull the pot out. It came halfway and stuck. Crying out in frustration Diana tugged harder only to have the clay pot shatter in her hands. The foul smelling paste seeped into the wood.

Desperately Diana grabbed the driftwood and started to pull it toward the water. The board was half her height but thick and heavy. Still Diana's strength was born of pure terror and she lugged it into the waves, ignoring the splinters that pierced deeply into her hands and arms.

Once into the water Diana put the cannon ball onto the wood and hopped onto it herself. Then she started to paddle. She was in luck that the tide was going out and it was taking her with it. She balanced the cannonball and herself onto the driftwood and kept paddling with her arms. Only a little remained of the paste and Diana smeared that on her skin.

When Diana at last looked up, Miss Syn was standing on the beach. The Asian held a torch but Diana could not see the expression on her face. Suddenly the sea around her boiled and churned. An orange claw thrust out of the water lifting her and the driftwood out of the sea. Diana fell from the wood into the water and the cannonball obeyed the laws of gravity. It pulled her under.

What happened after she went into the water Diana would only remember as a series of impressions. The crab creature churned up the water and the bottom of the sea looking for her. The cannonball saved her by keeping her still while it searched through all the sea creatures that swam desperately away. The water was shallow, only ten feet as far as Diana could guess. By planting her feet on the rocks on the bottom she was able to leap up enough to kick and struggle to the surface. It was only for a moment, but it was long enough to draw in some air. On the way back down from one of those leaps Diana landed on the back of the crab creature. It did not seem to feel her and continued its search for her, breaking the surface every so often. Diana held onto the slick armor that made up it's skin even as the ball and chain fell away from it and nearly dragged her over. She had no idea how long she held on, only that it was dark and the sea was calm when her grip failed. Once more Diana went into the water and the cannonball dragged her down. But it was only a few feet before it landed on a reef and Diana found that she was able to keep her head above the water. The crab creature moved off.

I'm not safe, Diana thought to herself. The island loomed as a darker than the sky shape, framed by the stars. Not too far to swim, if her leg was free. But a lone light moving along the shore kept Diana still and silent. Miss Syn was watching for her. If recaptured Diana knew that she would never gain her freedom again.

But her position was in no way safe. Through the night and into the next day Diana stayed on the reef. Sharks passed by her. Moray eels, stingrays and other creatures passed by. Diana was standing on coral and cone snails wandered by. Diana stayed in the water, not moving at all while she watched search parties made up of Miss Syn and monkey-men roam the shore. Luckily they did not use the boat to search for her. Tucked into the reef Diana's head wasn't noticeable even though she had to submerge a couple of times.

The next night brought no search parties and Diana knew she would have to make it to the shore by daybreak. If not food she needed to rest somehow and she dared not sleep where she was. A few hours into the darkness she felt something attach itself to her stomach and something else wrap around her leg. Pulling the cannonball up as far as she could Diana took long deep breaths to saturate her lungs. Then she stepped off of the reef and headed toward shore.

The reef was almost a hundred yards away from the beach. Diana walked along the bottom as much as she could. When her vision started to grey out she would plant herself and leap high enough off of the bottom to claw her way to the surface. She could only break the water for a few seconds, barely enough to get any air at all, but enough. The walk felt like it took hours, but Diana knew it was most likely only one hour. At length she didn't have to leap to break the surface, only stand. It was then that Diana stumbled forward and into disaster. A sharp pain sliced it's way up from her ankle and Diana looked down to see a scorpion fish swimming away.

Pain and fear drove her out of the water. She staggered trying to run and her leg gave out just past the waterline. The moonlight gave the scene an eerie quality. Diana could have been a ghost thrown up by the sea. The pain coursing through her body triggered a desperate madness. She looked down at her body. A large red and blue star-fish looking creature hugged her stomach just bellow her breasts. Growling Diana took hold of it and started to pull. The creature resisted and the amazon gritted her teeth as skin came away with it. At last she pulled it off of her stomach and threw it into the water. Dozens of small circular wounds marked where the creature had fed. Another, smaller one was wrapped around her leg, but not as securely because of her pants. Diana threw that into the water as well.

Then she was up and running, her one desire to get out of sight before sunrise. The ball and chain slowed one leg the other was on fire with pain. The convulsions caught Diana just as she reached the trees. Her muscles danced grotesquely to some invisible puppeteers tune and she fell to the ground. The convulsions continued and Diana felt her leg throb with the poison driven pain. Her other leg felt as if it was being pulled from her body as the muscles convulsed and pulled taunt the ball and chain.

Even so the amazon tried to crawl away from the beach. Her vision blurred from the pain Diana willed herself to move. She failed. Crying out in agony and frustration Diana whispered pleas to her gods, to her mother, to anyone who could help her. Images of Steve, Etta and Helmut flashed in front of her eyes. They would suffer horribly if she could not save them.

Diana's body convulsed more and more and at some point Diana realized that the poison was winning. She could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest, faster than it ever had or was ever meant too. When she felt like her heart was going to explode Diana blacked out.

A gentle rain woke the amazon princess. It dropped lightly onto her face and she opened her eyes, blinking at the sunlight. For the first time in what seemed like forever her body was not in pain. Diana sat up and looked at herself. Her shirt was long gone and her jeans were nothing but a tattered pair of shorts. But her wounds were gone too. Clinging to her stomach and legs were crowds of fairies. They were the same fairies that Helmut had used to light his cave. The fairies gave off a sound that was very much like a cat purring. Seeing Diana awake they lifted off of her. They flew around the dazed young woman's head, purring and singing in a voice and tone that washed over Diana like a cool breeze. Dust floated off of their wings and Diana realized it wasn't rain that had woken her.

The fairies formed a singing and purring circle around her head, then at some silent command they scattered, going in all directions into the jungle. Diana sat there breathless as she looked at her body. It was healed, even the ball and chain was gone, lying on the ground a few feet away from her. She stood up and eased out her pants, giving her body a complete inspection. It was clear. No welts nor wounds nor blisters marred her flesh.

"Thank... you..." Diana said, but looking up she realized she was alone.

"Thank you," Diana called. She called it in every direction until she realized that healed or not she was still on Miss Syn's island. Diana put her pants back on and then started to walk. She needed to know what part of the island she was on. She also needed to find the mushrooms.

Diana's respite from pain didn't last long. During the day she discovered plenty of mushrooms growing wild. She was on the south side of the island, not far from the burnt out shacks that held the horror of Patricia and her mother. Diana avoided them and found a stream that bubbled out of a cleft in the cliffs. The water was warm and Diana indulged herself in a long quiet bath. There was a hollow by the cleft and it was there that the amazon slept. Or tried too. The mushrooms aside from having a bitter taste were not easy to digest. The first night the cramps were mild. They got worse. But far worse than the cramps were the emotional moods that raged at her sanity. She could cry for hours without reason. Laugh at the moon as it rose, or the sun as it set. Anger and rage drove her to snarl and grunt and attack the very ground, digging for hours until her hands were sore and bleeding.

Diana was hungry all the time. She ate without reason or care for taste or nutritional value. Plants, bugs, fish were all the same to her.

Her first menstrual cycle shocked and horrified the amazon. She awoke to evidence of it and fled through the jungle crying until she cracked her skull against a low hanging branch. Then Diana lay where she fell for the rest of the day and sobbed. She wondered if she was still an amazon, if her sisters would welcome her or turn away in disgust. The images and emotions tore at her mind, of her mother slapping her and the other amazons driving her into the sea with whips. Only when she woke up did Diana realize that ants were crawling over her body and biting her. She ran to the stream and washed them away, then crawled back into the cleft and tried to sleep.

The mushrooms were working. That was the only thing that kept Diana sane through the days that followed. By the third day she had outgrown the jeans. Soon the cleft that she slept in turned from comfortable with room to tight and cramped. There was no repeat of the menstrual cycle and for that Diana was more grateful than she could say. Her nights were filled with pain and fire as her body grew faster than it should have. Her days were spent in an endless search for food. Never far from her mind and heart were the friends she had left behind at the mercy of Miss Syn.

Diana wasn't sure how many days had passed but one night she decided not to eat the mushrooms anymore. She could not tell how old her body had become, but some instinct told her that enough was enough. The image that had looked back at her from the stream was distorted but no longer a child. So she stopped eating the mushrooms. Within a few days the emotional storms stopped. The cravings for foods stopped and at last the pain stopped. With her senses freed from pain Diana began to see and hear clearly once more. She spent hours meditating, striving to heal her body and spirit.

One day as she started to meditate Diana heard a sound that had not been there before. Someone was moving through the jungle. Diana stood and heard a shout. Somehow the amazon knew she had been discovered even though she had made no sound. Diana turned and ran.

The chase was short. Stone caught up with her and tackled her at the edge of the clearing that held the burnt out shacks.

"I knew you were alive!" Stone shouted pinning her to the ground. The monkey-man wore only a multi-pocketed tunic and Diana could feel his erection.

"Let me go!" Diana shouted hitting at him ineffectually with her fist.

The monkey-man laughed at her and held her wrist together above her head. He leaned over Diana's face and she turned away from lust filled eyes and foul breath.

"Miss Syn thinks you are dead," Stone said. With one hand he pinned her wrist, with the other he grabbed her chin and forced Diana to look at him. "I knew you were not. I saw you in the ocean as we searched."

"What do you want?" Diana demanded squirming underneath him.

"I want what any creature would want," Stone said. "I want my race to live!" He fished into one of his pockets and pulled out a bag of blue powder. "But not as slaves. We are the stronger race, humans should be our slaves."

Diana choked as he poured the powder into her mouth and covered her face with it.

"This will make you fertile, it is what she gave to Lady Cynthia! She thought it lost when the German's attacked! But I hid it! I knew that she would bring other women! Now she thinks you dead! Now you shall bring forth my race! The Race of STONE!"

He roared at the last word, beating his chest. Diana moaned beneath him, fighting the effects of the powder with all her might.

"Humans will be our slaves!" Stone shouted. He bent and kissed her, working his hands over her body even as he began to clumsily thrust himself between her legs.

Still Diana was fighting back. She beat at his face and neck even as he was thrusting into her. Screaming her rage as he pounded into her body with the power of a savage animal. Diana clawed at the ground and her hand closed on something. Without thinking she brought her clenched hand up and slammed it into his neck.

Blood sprayed out of Stone's neck and he staggered up and off of her. His blood and semen stained the sand as the monkey-man clawed at his neck and the air. His death dance was slow and painful, but Diana didn't really notice. The drug was still driving her body to heights of passion. Diana got to her feet and tried to make it to the jungle, hoping to get to the stream. But she never made it. Instead she ran into a tree and hugged it. Wrapping her legs around the trunk Diana rubbed her body up and down. She screamed out passion as if the tree was a long lost lover and its rough bark stimulated her even more. Time and again she reached a climax, stopping only when exhaustion claimed her.

It was late afternoon when Diana woke up. Her skin was raw from the tree but not severely so. In her hand was still clutched a piece of broken glass. Diana stared at it. The glass must have come from the shack. A broken instrument or window tossed aside when not needed anymore. It had lain on the ground for at least sixty years, through all the seasons, all the rains and monsoons. It had lain undisturbed by everything until she took it and used it to kill. Diana sighed and dropped the glass. Then she stood up and walked over to Stone.

The expression on the monkey-man's face was pain, surprise and shock. There was no guilt. The child takes the cue from the adult, and Stone had Miss Syn as a parent. She taught him that some were better than others, that some would always be masters and others always slaves.

Diana knelt down and started to cry. If she could have gotten to him sooner, helped him realize what sort of nobility he could have achieved... Now whatever nobility he might have possessed would be entombed forever with the lust for power that led him to death. Tears of regret fell on the monkey-man's face but the corpse didn't feel them.


After a while Diana stopped crying and stood up. The sun was going down. Leaving Stone where he lay she walked back through the jungle to the stream. Diana took one last bath and then left. In front of her lay a long climb in the dark moonless night. She was naked. She had no powers. Her friends might be dead or worse. Miss Syn had all the weapons she could want and a small army of monkey-men.

It didn't matter.

"I will see you on Punishment Island, Myaukia MacGuire," Diana said calmly as she started to climb. "For you there is no escape."

...to be continued.