Wonder Woman versus the Dark Lady

Chapter 2

Pain and Gain

by Skytower 

Duchess Katarina Von Schwaben left Colleen's apartment with the air of someone whom had thoroughly enjoyed herself. She kept that air as the car drove through the nearly deserted streets of Washington. Kept it as she walked through the lobby of the Rizt Carlton, inquired from the desk clerk as to any messages, and road the elevator to her floor. She even tipped the elevator operator, an old black man who bowed and thanked her.

The aura of contentment vanished as she entered her room. It vanished like a torch going out and her face became a mask of barely contained contempt and fury. She marched across the room, shedding cloths as she walked. She tore them from her body ripping to shreds the expensive fabric. By the time she reached the bathroom she was naked. The water in the shower was already running. It was super hot, the room full of its steam. Katarina walked into the water and barely winced at the heat. She reached for the soap and rubbed it vigorously over her body, paying particular attention to her breast and the other places Diana and Colleen had touched. Even with the water on full force the German Noblewoman felt the salt of her tears as they ran down her face. She dropped the soap and picked up a brush. Suddenly sobs overtook her and she collapsed into the tub. She lay back and let the water hit her all the while rubbing furiously with the brush. The harder she cried the harder she rubbed. Before she knew it the brush was between her legs. The bristles bit into her skin and she welcomed the pain.

Later the Duchess lay on her bed, naked as Olga rubbed ointment into her wounds. It was not serious, but if she was to do her duty once more on Saturday night there could be no evidence of her work with the brush. She would be stiff the next morning, but that did not matter. When she was done the servant quietly left. Katarina didn't even notice she was gone. In her hand was a bottle of rum. It was her second bottle and she might go through one more before the night was done.

"Damn you to hell Grandfather." She said without much emotion. It was hard to keep hate going after three years. Especially since she had never met the man. She closed her eyes, remembering.

Katarina was 27 years old. She had come of age as Hitler had risen to power. Her father was a cripple from the last war, a bitter man with one arm and no legs. He had lost his wife, her mother to an allied spy who had taken her hostage. The man was a hero in his own land, with friends too powerful for her father to avenge. Deprived of his revenge Katarina's father had turned inward with self-hatred. Katarina had grown listening to his hatred and taking it as her own. He had given his country so much, only to be thrown away by the corrupt politicians. They would even deny him vengeance, speaking in their spineless way of the sad fortunes of war. She was 19 when she first heard Adolph Hitler speak. His words echoed her fathers, by then dead only a month. His anger at the condition of Germany was hers as well, for the family fortune had suffered much in the years of the great depression. Though still fabulously rich the Von Schwaben lands were half of what they once were. The damn bankers, the Jews, had taken much of them. Katarina had joined the Nazi party that very night, and for six months served it well. She hosted parties, using her social contacts to further their goals. She also used her own knowledge of scandalous behavior. No one dug up scandal better than she did. She was being groomed for greatness rumored even to catch the eye of Von Ribbontrop. But the higher she rose in the party the more intensely the party looked into her past.

Katarina choked and swallowed more of the rum as she fought back the tears. She had seen the report, checked out the facts. She had walked into party headquarters an up and coming star, and walked out disgraced. Her mothers grandfather on his mothers side was Jewish.

"That is why I am good at what I do, what I did this night." She said with self-hatred. "No Aryan, no pure German would feel pleasure, but that…"

Katarina broke off sobbing and sought even more solace from the rum. She knew, knew with a certainty that it was the Jewish blood, the flaw in her family line that allowed, no that forced her to enjoy her time with other women. She had never understood it before she saw the report. Never allowed herself to wonder why she felt shame after she and her governess first spent the night together. Marella had been a tall blonde Swede, well aquatinted with the pleasures of man and woman. She took it as part of her job to make sure Katarina knew those pleasures as well. Katarina, then fifteen, had lived a sheltered life. It never occurred to her that what they were doing was wrong, so she was never careful.

Her childhood ended the night her father found out. Katarina learned that night what true strength was. Marella had seemed strong to her, but watching as Marella was beaten to a bloody corpse by Katarina's father, seeing the proud beautiful woman who raised her beg time and time again for mercy or death, made Katarina feel ashamed. For the next two years she was to live in a convent run by a friend of her fathers. There she learned more of strength and pain as the shame was burned into her soul day and night.

But the shame had never explained why she had enjoyed Marella's company. How could something that gave her such pleasure be wrong? What was wrong with her? That was a mystery to Katarina. Until she read the report.

Katarina was close to suicide that night. But then a knock came to the door and Reich Fuerur Von Guston appeared at her door. He was quite sympathetic. He told her that there was a way to erase her families dishonor. There was a way for the report to vanish. He had an assignment, a very special dangerous assignment, one that she most likely would not survive. But even if she did not that report would never see the light of day.

Katarina jumped at the chance and soon descended into the world of the professional spy. She soon found that her mongrel blood was a boon in some respects, she could act sympathetic when she felt scorn, she could kiss when she wanted to spit. She could lay with a woman and laugh even as her soul, that part of her soul that was pure German, shriveled inside of her.

The Von Schwabben family would die with her. This Katarina had decided. She had killed with her own hands a distant cousin, strangling him, his wife and his child as they slept. She would never marry, never bear a child of her own. To the state she might be pure, the report might never have existed, but she knew. She knew. Only serving her country with all her mind and body until both died would the sin of her grandfather be erased. Only then would she be able to bear the shame of her mixed heritage. Upon her death the home she had grown up in would be demolished, her ancestor’s graveyard destroyed, her own body cremated and the ashes scattered. Katarina desperately wanted to do more but there was no more she could do.

Choking back another sob the Duchess reached for the third bottle of rum.

Diana had grown up with bondage. It was part of the Amazon way of life that loving bondage was the only way to true happiness. But being bound by a prostitute while she bathed with a spy, after the two women had made love to a bound and helpless Diana, that was different. Her mind whirled as she tried and failed to sort everything out. She lay on the bed, bound, gagged and blindfolded while the Countess and Colleen showered. Then the two women had come into the room and talked each smoking. They talked of fashion, of Europe and while doing so completely ignored her. After a time the Countess said good night and left. For a while after she was gone Diana heard nothing but Colleen washing the dishes. At last the other woman walked over and took off the blindfold.

"Don’t scream." She said pulling the ball gag out of Diana’s mouth.

"Untie me!" Diana demanded.

"Not until I get some answers." Colleen said.

Diana sighed and tried to relax. One thing a life time of training among the amazons had taught her was to cede her will to the one who bound her. Colleen wasn’t an amazon, but she wasn’t a true foe either.

"That woman was the Duchess Katarina Von Schwabben." Diana said.

"From the docks?" Colleen asked.

"Yes. I can’t believe she came here play acting like she was tonight just by co-incidence."

"Honey she wasn’t acting, she may not admit it, but she loved it."

"What?"

"Diana I’ve been doing this since I was 16, I know when someones faking. Both of you weren’t, but she was trying to tell herself she was."

"I’m confused."

"So’s she."

"Regardless, she didn’t come here just because she wanted sex."

"You may be right." Colleen said. "But I doubt she knows about you being the thief. She might just want to make you a source."

"What?"

"Think about it, your in the army but your cuddling around with me. To a spy that puts a target on your chest."

"That’s ridiculous." Diana snapped. "True this would be embarrassing if it came out but…" she stopped as Colleen laughed.

"Embarrassing?" Colleen laughed for a few seconds. "Oh kid you are too good for this world. Do you know what happens if the army decides your lesbo?"

"No." Diana admitted.

"One of my regulars used to be a army chaplain." Colleen said. "Real wrath O’God type. He found out about one of my other regulars, a nice sweet southern gal. She was a lot like you, young, good looking, smart…"

"What happened?"

"First the army gives you an automatic psychiatric exam, that’s 30 days in a loony bin with doctor’s asking you questions God himself doesn’t ask on judgement day. You can lie, you can say it ain’t so, but short of letting a guy have in while they watch your sunk. After the 30 days they shot her out of the service with a mark on her record so big no one would hire her to scrape gum off of their shoes."

"All this for simply choosing to be with a woman?" Diana asked. She had heard vague rumors about such things but had not believed them.

"You think Joey is the only guy thinks like he does?" Colleen asked.

"What became of her?" Diana asked.

"She grabbed an army payroll out of a train and skipped town. I think she ended up in South America."

"What of the man who found out about her? He was a customer of yours too."

"Dropped him a bit on the promotion list and sent him to Alaska." Colleen said. "A year so later he got his record cleared. Guys can do that. Point is Diana even if you stay in the army no way you get next to war department anymore. They’ll have you shuffling papers in the deepest hole they can find."

"By Aphrodite." Diana whispered. "I knew man’s world was not perfect, but to be so unfair…"

"Well it is." Colleen said. "So that’s what I think this Duchess is after."

"There must be more." Diana said. "I’m sure of it. Please Colleen, untie me. I must investigate."

"Ok." Colleen said. She leaned over and started to undo the straps that held Diana’s wrist. "You get dressed, we have to stop in at a friend of mine and then head over to your place."

"Why?"

"Well for starters I want to make sure she hasn’t copped to you being the Dark Lady, that money and the costume needs to be hid better. Mick can help with that."

"Who is Mick?" Diana asked putting her skirt on.

"Mr. Fix it." Colleen said.

The sign above the shop said; "Mick’s Fix-it" and the sign was as seedy looking as the rest of the place. It was an old brick building with apartments above and shops bellow. The sign swung as a train car went by. The neighborhood stood by a railroad yard and soot from the trains covered the buildings, sidewalks and hung in the air. Only a few of the streetlights worked and those that did fought a loosing battle against the gloom. Colleen had parked four blocks away in a dark alley and led Diana past the shop. They walked into the alley to a door. Both of them were wearing heavy overcoats with mens hats. Colleen knocked on the door with a specific pattern and after a moment it opened. Inside a red light gave illumination but no real light and Colleen quickly ushered them inside. Once inside the door closed.

Diana blinked quickly as a regular light came on. She was in a workshop, with woodworking, electronic and metal-smithing tools arranged neatly on separate tables.

"You never come during the day Colleen." Mick said with an unmistakable Irish accent. He stood five feet tall with dry red hair that formed a crown around a balding head. Mick’s body was slightly stooped, but Diana didn’t think it was from age. One of his feet was slightly bent inward and his hands showed wear beyond the rest of his body. This was a worker, Diana decided. He’d worked from the day he could first hold a tool and he would be holding a tool when he died.

"Honey I come any time I want." Colleen said and they both laughed.

"Tis true." He said. "Now, why did ye come here tonight?"

"I need a radio." Colleen said. "I need one of your special radios."

"Ah." He said taking a step back. "Well I do have a thing that might be doing what you want."

Turning he led them to a large radio. A cathedral model it stood almost as tall as he did and was made of dark mahogany wood. The wood was carved into a twisting and turning design to cover the speaker grill. The cloth under the grill was dull yellow with flicks of silver in the thread. There were four small dials and one large one for tuning under a large display. Casually he turned it around so they could see the inside. The speaker took up most of the bottom and on a shelf above it sat the radio itself. Diana was not really impressed by the tubes Amazon technology had never used tubes. They had started out with etched crystals and improved from there.

"It’s big." Colleen said. "Big enough really."

"Bigger than you think." Mick said turning the radio around once more. Taking hold of two of the smaller dials he pulled them out and turned them in separate directions. Diana heard a small click and the bottom of the radio opened revealing a small draw.

"Incredible." Diana said bending down to look at it more closely. Even with the draw out and the back off there was almost no way to tell where in the radio the draw drew back into. The false bottom was perfect.

"You’re an artist Mick." Colleen said.

"Artist starve." Mick pointed out. "Not me. I’ll be accepting no money from ye for this one Colleen."

"Did I offer any?" Colleen asked smiling.

Was there anything the woman did not use her body to get, Diana wondered?

"It won’t be your body that gets you this contraption love." Mick said. "At least not yours alone."

Diana stood up quickly.

"Two of us?" Colleen said letting the surprise into her voice. "I want a radio Mick, not a bomber."

"Yea flatter an old man." Mick said laughing. He turned and started toward a door set in the far wall. "Come, I’ll show ye what I mean."

The room was a movie studio. A crude one. It had a bed, a set of lights, some props and a number of painted backdrops.

"You make movies here?" Diana asked.

"Not really movies." Mick said rolling a camera out of her way. "I make the type of movies that goes on in between the real movies."

Colleen sighed as Diana’s puzzlement remained written on her face.

"Give us a minute here Mick." She said taking Diana and leading her to the bed.

"He wants to film us making love doesn’t he?" Diana asked.

"Home run." Colleen said. "Do you know what a stag film is?"

"A film about farm animals?"

"No honey, at least not for Mick and me. Look you’ve been to the movies sometimes right?" Diana nodded. "Well when the hero rescues the girl they hug and kiss and the camera fades out… the end… Mick films what happens after that."

"Oh." Diana said suddenly understanding. "But I can’t be photographed. You’ve already said what would happen to me if the army finds out about us, having photographic proof would be even worse."

"You gotta point." Colleen said. "Stay here."

Colleen got up and walked over to Mick. While they talked Diana considered her situation. There seemed to be no real way out of her thrall ship to Colleen, and it was paying off un-expected dividends. Diana knew far more about the black market now than she had before. Far more about a lot of things. But she had to set some limits somehow. If Diana Prince was discovered she could simply vanish. But Wonder Woman was a symbol and Diana was only beginning to realize how important that was.

"I won’t do this." Diana said as Colleen walked back over to her. "The risk of my being recognized is far to great."

"I know. Mick does a lot of business with the army." Colleen said. Bending down she reached under the bed and pulled out a box. Opening the box Colleen pulled out a large wolfs head mask. "But with this on nobody will know you from Eve."

Diana had been in plays before. The Amazon’s held plays often, using the gods, ancient legends and their own history as source material. So capering about in costume while someone watched wasn’t really new to her. What was new to her was doing it while only wearing a mask. Mick had run the camera while Colleen and Diana preformed a tale called "Taming of the she-wolf" and by the time it was over Diana was truly tamed. So was Colleen. It had been 8:30 when Diana first showed up at Colleen’s apartment and near 11:30 when the Duchess had left. By the time filming was over it was 3AM and both women were worn out. Mick had been ecstatic over the quality of their lovemaking and said so often. He kept saying so as Diana and Colleen loaded the radio into Colleen’s car. Diana had mixed feelings about the film part of it had been pure fun and had brought back memories of happy days on Paradise Island. But another part of her realized that lots of men (and probably a lot of women) were going to see it. Even if only Mick and Colleen knew whom she really was. What if Steve saw it? Did he watch movies like this?

"Change into Wonder Woman while I keep him busy." Colleen said quietly as they loaded the radio into the car. Mick had put it on a hand truck and followed the two of them through the gloom.

"What?"

"He’s gonna talk, I know Mick, two bottles of scotch and he’ll sing like a canary."

Diana quickly spun as Colleen kept Mick’s back to her and then wrapped her lasso around him.

"You get the film." She told Colleen.

"Are you nuts? He needs something to show for that radio."

"But…"

"Look just tell him that the person who made the film with me was a southern gal with blonde hair who was just passing through town and needed the radio for her next stop. Say her named was Darla or something. Make sure he doesn’t remember your face."

Somewhat puzzled Diana relayed the instructions. When she was done Colleen took the lasso from her and handed Diana her raincoat and hat.

"You might want to stay Wonder Woman." Colleen said. "You live on the fourth floor and that radio ain’t light."

Diana put the coat and hat on and quickly got into the passenger seat of the car. She watched as Colleen led Mick back to the alley door and gave him a long kiss as she slipped the lasso from him. They said goodbye and she got into the car with Diana.

"Did you plan to do this from the start?" Diana asked as she took the golden lasso back.

"Half-way through." Colleen said as they drove. "Mick’s a good egg, but you got a talent that could make him enough dough to retire on."

"I always knew I was beautiful." Diana said. "But I never realized I was such an object of desire. Can’t men appreciate beauty in all its forms?"

"Not the ones who got eyes." Colleen said. "My mom always used to say a gal was three things to a guy, wife, mother or me."

"Enemy, mate or prey." Diana said.

"Yep."

Diana sighed.

"What now?" she asked.

"We get you and the radio home, then I get back to my place and set up a few things. This caper gets more twisted by the minute. I gotta make sure we don’t get knotted up in all the twist."

It was at that point that Diana realized that Colleen, whether she wanted to or not, was not going to spend the rest of her life as a prostitute. There was too much potential in her. She just had to be taught that the world could be made a better place if enough people worked at it hard enough. Colleen had to be shown that one way or the other.

She is teaching me, Diana thought looking at her, I will teach her.

…To be continued

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