WARNING:
This story is fictional and is not intended to portray any real persons,
living or dead, nor is it at all intended to encourage the type of activity
portrayed here. It is strictly a fantasy/parody, intended for the personal
enjoyment of those who appreciate female costumed characters in fear for
their life or the violation of their body. The story describes and/or hints
at graphic sexual situations, including bondage, violence, non-consensual
sex, and other elements unacceptable in certain communities. It is NOT intended,
nor is it at all suitable, for minors. If you are under the age of 18, or
if this type of thing offends you, you shouldnt be reading it. If you
are a person who does find interesting the material described above, then
I invite you to enjoy this story.
The story
contains characters of my own creation, but also characters who are the property
of various established comic book companies. Those characters are used without
any permission by the owners of those characters and are included only to
offer a fan's expression of those characters in a situation that would not
be seen in mainstream comics. This story is strictly done for non-profit
enjoyment by other fans interested in this adult genre. This story may not
be moved to, or included in any website that requires payment for
content.
Glory
Girl
Episode Nine: Becky Hooper --
Murderess
by Alias
the Rat
Part
One
Rebecca Hooper
still checked every other day with the Granite City Police Media Center for
messages meant for Glory Girl. Anyone who wanted to send a note or make a
request was allowed to do so, and Becky went through the stuff at least once
a week. There were lots of messages from the media for interviews, requests
from stores and malls for public appearances, notes begging for photos and
autographs, and the occasional marraige proposal. Then there was this letter...
It said "...if Glory Girl was interested in getting evidence to put Kagen
Noll away for a long time, call the number listed below at noon on Wednesday
the 14th." She wondered about that for awhile, then when the day arrived,
decided her curiosity would not allow her to avoid this. When she phoned
the number, she used a pay phone at the bus depot. She wasn't taking any
chances with the number being traced in an attempt to find out her secret
identity. When she called, it rang twice and a woman's voice answered. "Hello,
who is it?" she said. When Becky identified herself as Glory Girl, the woman
on the line paused, then rattled off some information. "Kagen Noll is planning
a deal with a group of men in town from the west coast. They are bringing
up a shipment of drugs and Noll has smuggled weapons from overseas to exchange
for them. They will meet tomorrow night in a garage behind 2531 South Grafton
Street. If you can catch him with this stuff, you can get him off the streets."
Becky asked. "Why are you after Noll? And why are you telling me instead
of the cops?" The voice replied. "I work for Noll. My sister also worked
for him. She ended up dead and I'm sure he was responsible. I can't prove
anything, and the cops wouldn't try very hard to find out why a hooker got
killed. Noll has a few connections on the force. If I go to them, I'm afraid
he would find out I did. Then my life won't be worth spit." Rebeccca wanted
to ask more questions, but the woman hung up. It sounded interesting. Becky
had been looking into Noll secretly since the trouble she and Wonder Woman
had with the gang boss not too long ago. But she thought she'd been careful
enough that people wouldn't know she was after him. If the word was out,
and Noll knew, he might set up a trap. So she would check this out, but be
extra careful to keep from being suckered into something.
In an apartment
on the east side of town, the woman hung up the phone. She sat in a room
with three men. One, a a tall bearded man with
slight arabic features, spoke. "So, we are ready for our plan to go into
effect tomorrow. Wahid, you will be working the counter when Rafiq enters.
He will threaten you and you will hand the money over to him. Then you will
bear witness to what follows. Here is the partial advance payment we agreed
to." Wahid, a stoop-shouldered grey-haired man, took the fat envelope and
glanced inside. He smiled and left. The bearded man, who seemed to show
indications he was in charge here, turned to Rafiq. "He is greedy and would
turn on us and reveal what really happened if offered enough money. Wahid
will bear no witness against our story if he is dead. Your payment is tripled
and then as soon as you are released on bail, you will be leaving the country.
Everything must go as planned." Rafiq, a tall thin man with deepset dark
eyes which made most people nervous, nodded his head and said, "I will gladly
do this for our cause." Then Rafiq also left. The leader sat at the desk,
smiling. The woman who had made the phone call came to his side and asked,
"Can we be sure they are that gullible? What if either suspects?" The bearded
man continued to smile. "The are both too trusting. In the money, or in me,
to see what is going to happen. That is why I chose them. Only one person
needs to know how things will really turn out tomorrow night. And that is
you, Shadiyah." He stood up and took the blonde-haired woman in his arms
and they grew passionate as they went into the bedroom, stripped and got
into bed. He laid on her and sucked at her nipple whle a hand massaged her
pussy. She moaned and gyrated under him. After her cunt was wet with juices,
he took his cock and rammed it into her. He pumped back and forth and she
moved in a rhythym to match him. His seed spurted into her and she twitched
and moaned as she orgasmed under him. But the man's thoughts were not totally
on the woman he was fucking. In the back of his mind he thought, "So soon,
I will have my revenge!"
Part
Two
The next
day, Becky discretely checked out that address. She had Arnie run backround
info on his computer. The place was owned by a fellow who had worked for
Kagen Noll. No one was living there, and a for sale sign was posted. It was
a rather beat-up place, but there was a big two-car garage that faced the
alley in back. Rebecca didn't go in the place. The lead might be just a lure.
They might be waiting for anyone
to show up after dangling the bait in Glory Girl's face. If she went in there,
they might be ready for any tall blonde woman to show up. Becky figured she
was going to be extra careful. She found a spot a few houses down the street
where she could keep a close eye on the garage and kept watch as soon as
it got dark. With her night vision goggles, she could see when they had the
meet, and what the security was before she acted. But her night was very
long. She watched it until 3AM and nobody ever showed up.
She wondered
why the lady on the phone had given her a bum lead. Had they discovered she'd
been tipped off? Or was it all phony? She worked her way back to where her
bike was parked and roared off on her way home. She arrived and as she went
in, she was surprised to see the lights were on and her folks were up. When
she went in, her mom came over and said, "Oh, Becky! You made it! How's your
arm?" Her arm? what about her arm? Becky asked, "I'm fine, Mom. What are
you guys all excited about? I never ran into anything tonight." Her parents
looked at each other with puzzled expressions, and her dad picked up the
remote for the TV. "Punkin, you have to see this..." He pushed the button,
the TV went on, then he pushed play...
The screen
showed the woman who anchored the evening news. They must have taped something
on last night's newscast for her... "and we are going to repeat the footage
we showed you earlier in our newscast. This material was provided to us by
a anonymous source and shows the tragic happenings at a gas station-convienence
store on 30th and Grafton just hours ago, as captured by the surveillance
cameras. We warn you it is quite violent, and you may not want young children
to see it." Becky sat down to watch the report. She realised she'd been pretty
close to that location last night. The TV image became a split screen showing
the counter and the entrance of the store they mentioned. As it started,
a tall, thin man with dark hair and ruddy features came in the store and
walked up to the counter. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at the the
stoop-shouldered older man who was working there. "Give me all your cash!"
the tall man shouted. The cashier complied, and stuffed bills in a paper
bag that he gave the robber. After the armed man glanced inside, he growled.
"That's it? You gotta have more! Hold out on me, will ya!" He fired twice
into the chest of the cashier, who collapsed in a heap on the floor. Then
the half of the screen that was aimed at the entrance showed the door opening
and someone entered. It was a tall blonde woman in a mask and... Becky stiffened
in her chair -- it was her! But she'd never been there! What the
hell.... The Glory Girl on the
screen slammed the door shut and yelled, "Drop the gun, you killer. I've
got you!" The robber spun and spat out, "No you don't!" He fired, and blood
spurted from Glory Girl's left arm up near the shoulder. "Damn you!" she
yelled, and her right hand went to the small of her back, where it pulled
out a small revolver. She snapped off two shots and the robber's gun flew
from his hand. He'd been hit in the right hand and in the right shoulder
and blood was spurting out. He looked down at this and then back at the costumed
woman. "Hey... you shot me! What the hell!" She walked closer, holding the
gun out still aimed at him. His other arm went up and he cried out, "I give
up! Call the cops and get me to a hospital!" But Glory Girl, with a furious
look on her face, walked right up to the crook. "You don't deserve that.
The cops will take you to be patched up and then some god-damned lawyer will
put you right back on the street. I'm not going to let that happen this time."
The gun that the masked blonde had pointing at the crooks chest came up,
and she placed it against his temple. His deepset dark eyes grew wide with
terror and then she pulled the trigger. The blast sent blood and brains spurting,
and the the man crumpled to the floor. She looked down and snarled. "That's
the kind of justice people like you deserve!" She spat at the corpse and
turned and walked out the door. The screen switched back to the anchorwoman,
who looked into the camera. "Police have issued a statement that a warrant
has been issued for the arrest of the individual known as Glory Girl. People
are asked to forward any information possible to the authorities that might
lead to the discovery and arrest of the vigilante
crimefighter."
Becky stared
at the TV for a while, then her Mom came over and put her arms around her.
Becky snapped out of her haze and spoke. "Mom - Dad - I didn't do that -
it wasn't me." "We know that," her father said, "...but you are in a big
hole. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to frame you. Every cop in the
city will be looking for Glory Girl." Rebecca put her head in her hands and
sobbed. "What am I gonna do about this!" Her dad's hand came to rest on her
shoulder. "The first thing you need is to get some sleep. In the morning
we'll try to figure a way out of this."
Part
Three
But she didn't
get much sleep. She lay in bed for a long time seeing that footage flash
in front of her eyes. Seeing Glory Girl brutally execute a man. Her career
as a heroine, the thing she'd wanted all her life, was crashing down around
her. If she set foot out of the house with her costume on, she would be arrested.
Instead of respecting her, people would run from her in fear. After a long
time she finally did get to sleep. The next morning, at breakfast, Wonder
Woman and J'onn J'onzz burst in the door and shouted "Don't move Glory Girl,
we're here to take you into custody." She had forgotten they both knew her
secret identity and sitting at home as Rebecca Hooper was no way to get away
from what she'd done. Wonder Woman looked at Pat and Donna and told them
that they were not to try to stop the Justice League from taking the murderous
ex-heroine away. Pat's chin slumped to his chest and he sighed. "You're right.
she has to pay for what she did." Donna was in Pat's arms crying as Becky
was pulled out of the house where a crowd of reporters lined the front walk.
She had to listen to their comments as she was walked to the patrol car waiting
at the curb. "Have you confessed?" "Is this the only time you have taken
a life?" "Did you really stop those terrorists or just take the credit for
it when somebody else did the real job?" "How could you do this to me?" This
last question stunned her. The voice sounded familiar. She looked up and
saw it was Arnie! He had a look of disgust in his face as he turned away
from her. She realized she'd never see him again.
In the jail,
she got the treatment she deserved. Other prisoners spat on her. The guards
pushed her around and if she didn't move fast enough she got a billy club
against her back or in the gut. One night a guard walked in with Becky's
friend, Leona, who had been picked up for soliciting. He opened Becky's cell,
and Leona looked in and spoke to the guard. "You gotta find me another cell.
No'way I'm gonna share space with that god-damn killer bitch." At the trial
every single bit of evidence shouted that she was guilty. The DA just kept
playing that damned footage over and over. The jury had already seen it so
many times on the news, that they only took five minutes to decide. She was
found guilty of first-degree murder. The judge said he regretted that the
state did not have the death penalty, because this was a case where the person
convicted really deserved it. Instead, he sentenced her to life at hard labor
with no possibility of parole.
She was taken
away and transported to a prison facility. When she got there she was stripped
and the guards felt her breasts and put their fingers into her pussy over
and over. They laughed at her discomfort. "High security risk like you, bitch,
we'll have to do a full body cavity search at least once a day to be sure
you ain't hiding anything." The guard behind her stuck his finger in her
asshole, and she screamed. "Hey Rob, I done found somethin' in her butthole
-- Why it's my dick!" And the guard savagely rammed his cock into her tight
ass. His hands were gripped to her waist and he roughly pumped his shaft
back and forth in her tight ass. The other guard dropped his pants, and his
erect cock was quickly shoved into her pussy. "Shit, no way I'm gonna let
you be the only one to have fun." The two pricks sandwiched her in the middle,
and pumped her mercilessly. Finally one, then the other came and blew their
seed into her, and she twitched with an orgasm from the rough attack on her.
The guard behind her smacked her at the back of her knees and she dropped
to kneel on the cement floor. Then the guard who had fucked her pussy shoved
his dripping cock in her mouth and ordered her to clean it off. When she
finished, the other guard was waiting for the same. She licked it clean,
but by then he was getting another hard-on. As she continued to work on it,
the guard felt himself about to come again, so he pulled his cock back and
sprayed the semen on her face and tits. Then the two guards threw her in
the shower room and sprayed her with cold water from a fire hose. The water
pressure knocked her over and threw her heavily against the wall. In a short
time, she was covered with bruises and she thought she had cracked a couple
of ribs. They gave her a course rough cloth for a towel and a skimpy theadbare
tattered grey outfit to wear. They told her she would sleep on the hard,
wet cement floor that night. That was all the likes of a murderous bitch
like her deserved. And the next day she would pleasure the warden, followed
by every guard in the place. That was what they did with bitches in this
prison. And Becky tried to get to sleep. She knew she deserved every horrible
thing that did to her. She was a convicted murderess. Her eyes
closed...
And she woke
up the next morning in her own bed, at home. The trial and prison had been
a nightmare. But the footage that showed her killing a man had not been a
dream but grim reality. What could she do? And the Justice League members
did know her secret identity. Would they... would Wonder Woman come to arrest
her? Oh, god... if Wonder Woman did that, Becky would just break down and
cry,
Part
Four
Far above
the surface of the world spun a massive structure in the vacuum of space.
The Justice League Watchtower served as a headquarters for the group of heroes
and heroines dedicated to battling injustice and disasters all over the globe.
The seven members who made up the governing council of the organization were
meeting in a special closed session to discuss what had happened in Granite
City. A black man in a skin tight green outfit spoke first. "She's got to
be captured and put away! She's turned into the kind of over-the-top vigilante
who is worse than the villains we fight. If we don't stop her everybody out
there will think we condone her actions. We'll be thought of as bad as her..."
The Amazon Princess broke in. "Lantern, I know this young woman and never
would have thought her capable of what we saw. There must be some sort of
explanation." A woman from another planet who had wings growing from her
shoulder blades then spoke. "In certain situations, anyone is capable of
anything. If she has gone this far, she has to accept the consequences. We
threw Huntress out of the League for actions that were not nearly as bad.
We can't ignore this." The red-clad speedster broke in. "Hawkgirl may be
right. This Glory Girl has gone too far and we're the ones people expect
to bring her to justice, Hey, that's what we gotta do!" The Martian Manhunter
commented. "She did seem to be a fine young woman when I met here, and I
sensed a noble quality about her that very much impressed me. I was shocked
when I saw that footage. Perhaps events she became involved in have changed
her and forced her into a new, dangerous way of thinking. But it does seem
we must act." Superman, at the head of the table stood. "Alright, I also
was impressed by her in my recent meetings with her, I would not have thought
her capable of what we saw, but all of us are aware that people can be forced
into actions that they previously would not have considered. In this case,
it would seem she has gone to far. No matter what made her do it, she has
to pay for her actions and it would seem we are the
ones..."
Batman broke
in. "Yes, she appears guilty of murder. In the media, where everyone can
see it. Those of you who had prior contact with her have all phrased it the
same way. You never would have thought she would do this. Now suddenly, she
is shown to be a blood-thirsty killer. The case is cut and dry. This whole
case stinks. She never hurt a fly and suddenly she kills in front
of a million witnesses? It's way over the edge. I've only had a short time
to examine this, but..." Batman held up a remote control and a large monitor
screen began to show the footage of the crime. He fast forwarded through
the material until the thief shot the man behind the counter. "He opened
the bag and barely glanced in it. He probably didn't even know how much cash
was there, yet he got mad enough to kill the cashier. The robber had glanced
to the door several times so far. That makes sense, as he would not want
to be surprised by someone coming in. But right here..." Batman played the
sequence where the door opened and Glory Girl entered... "...if you listen
carefully even in this you can hear the door click as it opens. The thief
had to hear it, but he doesn't even glance over. In his overall body language,
right there he relaxes. That means he was expecting someone. And not an enemy.
But the most interesting thing is right here. When Glory Girl enters, she
stops at the door. The thief moves a little to his left, and they turn and
face one another. Why did he move to the left? It didn't improve his view
or make it a better shot at the person who came in. The only reason he would
have done it was that it put him right in the middle of where the surveillance
camera was pointed. He wanted to be seen. He doesn't act surprised when he
sees Glory Girl. The first shock on his face was when she shot him. Before
we convict her of murder, I want this looked at. I have to get back to Gotham
on another matter, but I have sent a message to the Question. If anybody
can ferret out what really happened instead of what we are supposed to see,
he can."
Superman
spoke. "Alright, if you feel there is something amiss in the way everything
looks, we'll go slow. I want officially to have the Justice League looking
into the matter and making an effort to pursue this woman who has been charged
with a crime. But the public is not aware we know that Glory Girl is actually
Rebecca Hooper. We will not take her in and hopefully she can stay out of
sight long enough for us to find something that may clear
her."
On the north
side of Granite City, in a seedy motel, the blonde haired woman who had pretended
to be Glory Girl waited. The job had gone perfectly. The two men were dead
and the footage was being shown on all the local channels. Even the national
news programs were showing it. This Glory Girl that her man hated so would
soon be arrested and spend the remainder of her days in prison. He would
have his revenge on her and that would make him very, very horny.
Shadiyah liked the thought of that. Soon he would
be very passionate with her and she had proven her loyalty to him with this
task she had done. There was a tap on her door, and the bearded man entered.
Until she recognized him, she held a pistol aimed at the door. He looked
at her and smiled. "My love. Always cautious. I am happy to see you." He
began to undress, and his lover did the same after she put the pistol on
the nightstand. They got into bed and at once started to have hot, steamy
sex. She smiled. She had hoped the success of this task would build his passion,
and it seemed to be so. In the hours they were there he shot his seed into
her several times and she shuddered through orgasms brought on by the energetic,
prolonged work of the bearded man. During a respite while they revived their
energies, she whispered in his ear. "It is perfect, my love. Rafiq and Wahid
are dead. You and I are the only ones who know what really happened." As
soon as she said it, she saw the truth in his eyes... He had reached over
to the hightstand and the pistol went against her head and spat a bullet
once through her brain. Her very last thought was about what she knew he
was thinking. No loose ends except one -- you, Shadiyah. He got up and got
dressed. From a back pocket he pulled a plastic garbage bag. Into it went
all of Shadiyah's clothes, identification, purse and property. The police
would find nothing to identify the dead woman. Her fingerprints had never
been put on file anywhere. The bearded man walked out of the motel room,
got in his car and drove several miles north to Gotham City. At the airport,
he threw the garbage bag in a dumpster and took his suitcase out of the trunk.
He went in, used fake credentials to pass through security, boarded a plane
and flew to Amsterdam.
Part Five
Rebecca
spent that morning in the house, afraid to go out. She sat there, depressed.
Finally Donna insisted they get out, and said she was taking her daughter
down to Denny's for lunch. As they drove off, Becky was totally un-nerved.
She stared around, terrified someone would see her. She kept looking back
and wondering if any cars were following them. At the restaurant, she picked
at her food. Ever her favorite meal, belgian waffles, did not cheer her up.
She could not stand anybody looking at her, and she was acting so nervous,
she had everyone glancing in her direction. Donna had thought about taking
Becky shopping to get her out of her funk, but she could see that the troubles
had the girl so overwrought that it probably wouldn't help. They ended up
going back home instead. They were not there very long when the door bell
chimed. Becky, was startled, and she got up from the couch and went to the
door. Teough the eyehole, she saw a man in a dark blue topcoat and hat facing
away from the door, waiting for the door to open. She felt her heart in her
throat as she wondered if the visitor was a police detective looking for
her.
She
opened the door and gulped out a greeting. The person waiting turned and
she saw a blank face that had no eyes or mouth. She'd seen him once before,
and recognized the Question, investigator-hero who worked with the Justice
League. She welcomed him in. "Hello, Question. Why are you here?" He came
in the house and removed his hat and coat. "Batman feels your problem needs
to be looked into. He asked me to do that. In order to do so, I need to learn
everything I can about you and what you have been up to in the recent past.
You may have information that will lead us to the person behind all this
trouble." Becky described the events of that day. She told him about the
note, the phone call, the fruitless stakeout. He considered all of this.
"A very complicated plan was set up to frame you. You have an enemy who would
go through all this trouble to get you in this predicament. The answers to
this are further back in your past. Go back to when you first started as
Glory Girl. Tell me everything. Any litle fact that you think isn't important
many be just what I need to know." So Rebecca went back over her life, telling
the Question about everything that she'd been through since she first started
out as Glory Girl. She told him how she had started out and been captured
by Arnie. How she had become close to the son of her father's worst enemy.
Her frustrating months trying to make a name for herself when the world ignored
Glory Girl.
Hector
Castovel and her ordeal at the auto yard. The time when she stumbled across
the Brotherhood of Allah and stopped their nuclear warhead from wiping out
Granite City. Her night out with Batgirl and Huntress when the trio were
captured by Catwoman. How her mother had disappeared one day when they were
shopping and how she ahd contacted the JLA for help. How she spent a while
travelling through the dimensions searching for her mother. She told him
about the time Wonder Woman got together with her to look for missing weapons
and fought Kagen Noll. She described the events that occured when her father's
worst enemy had escaped from prison and how her family had all been captured
and threatened by Professor Cargill, the Shady Lady's old enemy. She related
her horrid ordeal when the Roumanian dream master had captured and tortured
her. She spoke about the discovery of the Goddess Dasiana when she and her
mother found out the connection their family had to the diety. She told him
about the Aztec warrior who tried to murder her only to be foiled by the
first appearance of Dasiana in Becky's life. She went over the day when the
strange alien probe had given her a weird power of sexual attraction that
had been meant for Supergirl. And she told him about the rite of homage for
the Goddess that she and her mother had performed several weeks ago.
The Question
joined the Hoopers for dinner, and they saw him use the aerosol to remove
the covering on his face. He questioned Donna about Professor Cargill, and
talked to Patrick about the enemies he had during his career as Mister Patriot.
He spent a lot of time thinking over things as he ate, and finally he told
them what he had decided. "This frame is very complicated, and was planned
out well in advance. It means it was the product of someone who really is
out to get Becky. There are several possible suspects. Catwoman has long
wanted to get her hands on Batgirl, and Glory Girl thwarted her that time
they encountered each other. But this is not the kind of thing Selena Kyle
would do, so I think we can put her out of the picture. Professor Cargill
and Kagen Noll come to mind, but both of them were forced to forget memories
by Wonder Woman's lasso. Cargill is still in custody, and Kagen Noll's name
was used to put you on that useless stakeout that night. I doubt he would
have used his own name to do that. So those two seem to be unsuitable as
suspects. Hector Castovel had a vendetta against you for jailing his brother,
but was more interested in the direct approach and probably would not have
gone to this much trouble. That leaves Arakim Daraba,
the guy from the Brotherhood of Allah who has a very deep wish to do you
harm. You stopped his big scheme with the warhead, and then you got away
when he sent the Roumanian after you. I will concentrate on Daraba, trying
to find out where he is and what he has done recently. But that won't be
easy. After what you've done to him, he will be going to great lengths to
cover up anything that can lead to him. I wil also go over the evidence the
police and the media have against you. We can only hope that I can find something
that can unravel the frame." Vic Sage re-attached his mask of skin over his
face, and shook the hands of the Hoopers. "I'm sorry I can't sound more positive,
but the conspiracy to frame you has been planned out for weeks, maybe months.
If I can destroy it, I will." As the Question left, Becky's taste of relief
faded. The investigator had not sounded very encouraging. She wondered if
he would be able to help. Or would the authorities find her and arrest her
before the truth could be brought out?
The
next few days were living hell for Rebecca. When she was home, she felt trapped
and horridly depressed. But when she did get out of the house, it was
nerve-wracking enough to drive her crazy. Every minute she felt someone was
going to recognize her. Every bit of her body was tense. She could not help
but constantly glance around, wondering who was there. At night she slept
fitfully, dreaming of shame and imprisonment. She prayed that something would
get her out of this mess.
Part
Six
A couple
of days later, Batman entered the ramshackle hotel on the south side of Granite
City and walked past the desk clerk. The guy behind the counter was startled
by the crimefighter's presence. But the Gothan Knight didn't pause to ask
what the desk clerk was so nervous about. He had someone to meet upstairs.
Climbing the stairs, he tapped on the door of room 404 and entered. The man
at the desk turned to look at who had entered, and he had a blank face with
no mouth or eyes. Judging by his reaction, he was expecting the Dark Knight.
"Hello Batman. Here to see what I've been able to ferret out?" Batman replied,
"With your abilities, I would think you have been able to find out a lot
by now, Question." The mysterious investigator, who usually exhibited enthusiam
bordering on paranoia in his work, turned back to his equipment. A massive
assortment of computer gear was set up on a few folding tables squeezed into
a corner of the delapidated room. Batman asked, "This is a lot of equipment.
Why move it all the way here to Granite City? You could have done the stuff
at your place in Hub City and saved a lot of trouble." Question kept staring
at the monitor, which flashed from web-site to web-site, picture to picture
as he clicked his mouse. "Even today, there are a few things that can't be
found with a computer. I had to go out and check out some items in person.
The trap is there. Glory Girl was caught in a spider-web that was carefully
spun to get her. And I needed to look very close to see the tiniest strands.
You want to know what I found?" Batman nodded. The Question clicked his mouse
and the crime footage of the incident started on his screen. "That gas station
was one of a chain that were recently bought up by a company based in Houston.
The ownership -- which was rather hard to trace -- went back to Ghiyath
Khaldoona, a Dubai muslim who is suspected of helping to finance the Brotherhood
of Allah. After the chain was purchased, there was a little money spent on
improving this place. The bathrooms are still out of order, the air pump
and two of the six gas pumps still don't work, but a new surveiliance system
was installed. They replaced the old stuff, which worked fine, but had the
old, grainy black-and-white type of recording, with this state of the art
digital color technology. And the equipment has a little added module hooked
in. A modem, that allowed the footage to be transferred to an outside contact
as soon as it happened." Batman commented. "So, they wanted the footage to
be as clear as possible -- to show what Glory Girl did. And they had a way
to quickly download the files and send out copies to the
media."
The Question
brought the scene up on the monitor where Glory Girl is shot in the arm.
"I enhanced this footage even more. Watch right here. The thief fires one
shot at her..." The picture showed blood suddenly spurt from her left arm.
But it also showed a bag of chips in a rack next to her suddenly jerk. "I
went to the crime scene and took a closer look. That bag of chips had a bullet
go through it. He never hit her.
Hollywood special effects -- a squib and a blood pack under the woman's
sleeve. Poof! A wound. The little exploding pellet would have pushed the
blood out and made it look like a gunshot wound. The lady would have had
a nasty bruise on her arm there, but that's better than a bullet hole. The
woman's blood at the crime scene has been DNA typed by the police to cross-check
it with Glory Girl's DNA when they catch her. I spoke with Rebecca Hooper.
When Glory Girl made an appearance at Santa Maria Children's Hospital a couple
of months ago, to help promote an event, she participated in the blood drive.
I checked with the hospital workers yesterday. They got a lot of publicity
at that event and quite a few people came in to give blood. Several temp
workers came in to help handle the extra work and in the confusion, the packet
of Becky's blood -- disappeared." Batman said, "Sounds like a conspiracy."
Question chuckled. "Yes, thanks for giving me this job. It's been
fun."
"In a cheap
motel on the other side of town, a young woman was found dead from a gunshot
to the temple. All her possessions and clothes were gone. The police report
mentioned she was a tall woman with dark hair that had been dyed blonde.
She wasn't identified. The investigator saw that it wasn't suicide, so he
put in his report she was probably a hooker who got killed by a john and
robbed. He could not find any witnesses and threw the case into the unsolved
file and went to the next murder in his district. This guy should be put
on traffic detail, he's a crappy homicide dick." Batman looked at the screen,
which had a photo, obviously taken in the morgue, of the face of dead young
woman with a nasty hole in her temple. "So you have a woman whose blonde
hair came out of a bottle? How does she tie in?" "On her left arm," the Question
continued, "...she has a small circular bruise right where that 'Glory Girl'
was shot. And I took this photo and cracked into the Homeland Security web
files..." Batman interrupted. "I didn't hear you say that. We don't sneak
in there. You could have sent a request through the JLA and we..." Question
snorted, "...and we'd get an answer in a week or two. The picture matched
one of Shadiyah Kamilak, an Egyptian national who
arrived at Gotham City Airport on a flight from Frankfurt and went through
the security checkpoints a couple of weeks ago. And I tracked back and found
she was on a flight that took her from Beirut to Frankfurt the day before
that. She has in the past been linked to..." The screen of the computer suddenly
switched to show the young woman in a candid photo. She was embracing a bearded
man. Batman recognized him. "Arakim Daraba! So he is behind this. He sent
that Romanian dream-manipulator after Glory Girl not too long ago. He really
wants to get her. Good work, Q, we have a lot that shows this case against
our friend is shakey. But we need something that can totally prove..." Again,
the monitor flickered and it began to show the events in convienence
store. It ran until the point when the fake Glory Girl turned to leave. Question
pointed to the screen at the instant the woman spat on the dead thief. "She
got too theatrical right there. The DNA in the blood spattered all over the
floor will match that of Rebecca Hooper. But the little batch of phlegm on
the thug's shirt was also tested, thanks to a little urging on my part. That
DNA didn't match the blood. But it did match that of
Shadiyah Kamilak." Batman clapped the Question
on his shoulder. "Nice job. I am sure Glory Girl will be very grateful. Pack
up copies of what you have and I will personally deliver them to the DA and
the Granite City Chief of Police. You want to leak all this to the media?
Make sure it gets to each of the ones that were calling for her head." The
Question turned from his computer. "It will be a pleasure. You know, Bats,
you weren't here in Granite City for that Superhero Symposium to discuss
anti-terrorist planning earlier this year, but I was. If Glory Girl had not
stopped Daraba's plan to nuke the city, I would have been nothing but glowing
ash that day. This doesn't come even close to paying her back, but I'm glad
I could do her this little favor."
Part
Seven
Rebecca was
in front of the TV in her living room, flipping from channel to channel,
as the stations broke in with the news of the conspiracy. A giddy wave of
relief washed over her as she realized she was cleared of the frame. The
doorbell rang, and now Becky was happy she didn't have to fear what that
meant. She opened the door to see Diana Prince and Barbara Gordon. She welcomed
them in. "Why are you here? Did you see the news? My god, I am so relieved..."
Diana broke in. "Becky, we need you to come with us." Rebecca was puzzled,
and it came to her that those exact words would have terrified her just hours
ago. "Where?" she asked. Diana put her arms out, spun in place and with a
golden glow became Wonder Woman. At the same time, Barbara removed her outer
garments and flipped up her cowl to stand as Batgirl. During this, Becky's
parents came in the room. Barbara turned to them and spoke. "I think it would
be nice if Mister Patriot and the Shady Lady accompanied us." Turning back
to Becky, she added, "...well girl, get your duds on!" As soon as all five
figures stood in the living room in costume, Diana tapped one of her earrings
and spoke. "Ready, J'onn." There was a shimmering in the air around the figures,
and they suddenly faded to re-appear on the transport pad up in the JLA
Watchtower.
There were
dozens of heroes assembled in a hall in the station. Becky was reminded of
the day after she stopped the terrorists' nuclear threat in Granite City.
That day she had been surrounded by the famous heroes who had wanted to
congratulate her on a job well done. This time, they wanted to celebrate
how she had escaped a horrid plot to destroy her. She relished their handshakes
and heard details of how she had been exonerated. When the Question came
up to shake her hand, she threw her arms around him and said, "Oh man, if
you hadn't done what you did, I would have been ruined as a crime-fighter
and probably ended up in jail. Thank you.. thank you very, very much!." She
hugged him again. She stopped as the Huntress tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey, stop being so grateful to my boyfriend, blondie! The next time we get
intimate, I don't want him moaning, 'Oh, Becky!' " Glory Girl blushed and
let him go. But she thought of something she'd forgotten to ask when he had
visited her house. "Question..." she asked, "...at the symposium, you said
you thought it was an interesting way I disabled the bomb. But I didn't want
anybody to know the real way I stopped the timer on that bomb. How did you
figure it out?" The Question chuckled. "You aren't a physicist or trained
at bomb disposal. I didn't know but I guessed that you must have done something
very unusual to stop that bomb. When I congratulated you, I phrased it that
way to make you think I knew more then I really did. That's a trick I use
to find out things from people. Folks reveal so much when they think you
already know a lot."
She continued
around the room, taking well wishes from the members and finally looked for
one person she didn't see. She asked and was told he was on monitor duty.
She snuck out and went down the corridors to the monitor room and saw the
Dark Knight sitting there, watching the view screens. She walked up to him.
"I really need to thank you. From what I've been told, you were the one who
believed in me when the others wondered if they had to turn me in. You..."
Batman turned and looked her in the eye. "People sometimes forget the phrase
'Innocent until proven guilty.' You were proven guilty in the eyes of the
media, but that's not how it works. You have to look at the evidence --
all the evidence before you decide a case. I merely reminded everyone
of that and pointed out there were things that were on your side in the evidence.
I'm glad to see you were innocent and I hope you will remember this any time
in the future when you see half the evidence proves a suspect is guilty.
Always be thorough when lives... or even one accused man's life... depends
on it." She told him she would keep that advice in mind in the future and
went back to the party.
And in a
small apartment in Beruit, an arabic man sat in a easy chair, seething. What
would it take for him to bring her down? This plan had been perfect! How
many times would this Glory Girl foil his plans? What could he do to make
her suffer?...
Alias the
Rat 3/08
Any comments?
Contact me at
therat4040@yahoo.com
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