Sentinels of Rek:

Stepping Out into the World

Part 2

By

Gerund

Warehouse District-Night

 

        Kimber Vahn, the Sentinel known as Shade, serenely observed the warehouse she was about to raid. She had been there for three hours, using her power to cloak herself in shadow, to study the warehouse and its defenses. She counted seven guards, and some minor magic defenses. Her experience in the past week led her to believe that there was an ambush waiting for her somewhere, probably in the form of a mage.

        The criminal element of Lomar had finally started to take their mysterious new opponent seriously after two months of disastrous losses. The three Sentinels had run rampant on the various centers of criminal activity, grinding many illegal trades to a halt. Shade knew that it was a matter of time before the criminals worked through all the rumors and horror stories and prepared an organized response. So a week ago, Alexis, codenamed Lioness, ran into nasty resistance from the guards of an arms shipment. They stood their ground and manage to fight her off, signaling the end of the easy run the Sentinels had enjoyed.

        Now the city was crawling with bounty hunters and gangs offered rewards for the Sentinels dead or alive. The fact that the criminals now knew they were women had only served to increase the number of bounty hunters. The gangs and bounty hunters, however, were for the most part normal humans and posed little trouble for the super-powered Sentinels.

        Shade pushed all thoughts of the past two months out of her mind as she noticed the barest flicker of movement at the warehouse diagonally across from where she sat perched on the roof. Satisfied that her intuition paid off, she calmed herself and prepared mentally for what she was about to do. Emotionless, she pulled the shadows around her and leaped from the roof, making her way to her would-be ambusher.

 

Inside

 

“This is a waste of time,” John said for the tenth time. “These so-called “devil women” are not going to come here, and I am sick of spending my nights here when I could be doing something important!”

        Ned, the leader of the crew put in charge of the warehouse, regarded John coldly, ignoring the nods of agreement that the four other guards inside the warehouse gave to John’s statement. The only thing John considered important was getting drunk and blowing his money on drugs and Ned was getting tired of his constant whining, after this was over he was going to talk to Hamilton about having John replaced.

        “All right, John,” Ned said, starting to grin. “Go ahead and leave, I just tell Boss Hamilton that you had more important things to do than worry about the welfare of his business, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

        John opened his mouth, but closed it quickly after. He turned, grumbling, and went to sit at a table where two of the others were engaged in a card game. The three then pretended to act like the card game was the most interesting thing in the world, hoping Ned would forgive their minor dissension.

        Ned shook his head, running his hand through his thinning sandy hair. This job was more a pain that what it was worth. He heard stories from the crew that successfully defended the arms shipment a week ago, and he had come away with more questions than answers. The descriptions were pretty consistent; a woman, about 5’6, with a mass of golden, curly hair. She was wearing a golden bodysuit that fit like a second skin, with a gold eye mask that molded to a beautiful tan face. The suit was so tight you could see all her muscles work as she moved, and the slight jiggle of full, youthful breasts.

        But her beauty was not the most unusual thing about the woman; that would be the freakish strength she’d displayed in her attack. She appeared without warning, taking down three guards before they could get organized and fight her. She tossed men around like rag dolls, constantly in motion, always striking a different place. If not for the timely arrival of the transport team, who attacked and drove her away, the crew would have been completely destroyed and the shipment gone.

        Now everyone was under pressure from The Vulture to bring in a least one of the suspected three vigilantes for questioning. Each passing day brought an increasingly angrier Vulture, putting more pressure on the lieutenants to bring in the troublesome females.

        Boss Hamilton, Ned’s employer, was one of the few that managed to resist The Vulture’s offensive plan. He was losing money at an appalling clip, and no one had survived any attacks to even give a description of the assailant. So Hamilton decided that he would focus all his manpower on defense until he got more concrete information on what he was facing, which was why Ned was here.

        The Vulture had surprisingly agreed to his line of thinking, even loaning out a mage from the famed “Dirty Jobbers” crew. The mage was in the warehouse next door, waiting to spring some nasty magic attack on the vigilante female. Ned didn’t have much faith in the man, as he looked like he hadn’t eaten in days and stunk like a dead animal, but it wasn’t Ned’s place to question him.

        Vance, the outside guard, passed by the front of the warehouse, the multitude of windows allowed Ned to watch his progress. Each guard would take a two hour shift outside, always watched by the people inside. Ned watched Vance turn the corner, listening to the rowdy talk of the men sharing the warehouse with Ned. This was their third night in a row, and they were starting to lose focus.

        Ned took a deep breath, about to reprimand the men for slipping, when he noticed that Vance was not coming back around the building. Ned waited, thinking that he miscalculated the time, but Vance remained absent.

        “Hey, Vance is gone,” Ned said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice, all the stories he’d heard coming back sharply in his mind. The men looked at him like he was speaking some foreign language, then all seemed to start moving at once, grabbing guns and spreading out. Each man was wide-eyed with fear and anticipation as silence filled the large warehouse.

        The table used to play cards now sat off to the side, so it couldn't be used as cover by the attacker. The dusty floor was bare, the crates on each side of the group were too high for anyone to even crawl on their belly on; the only way to get to the merchandise was through them, and there was no cover for any would-be attacker.

        Ned and his crew waited, dozens of scenarios running through their minds. Not one man made a sound, but nothing suggested an attack. The men started to fidget, wanting something to happen now. John, standing beside Ned, started to open his mouth and say something, when the roof began to creak.

        Ned barely managed to signal “hold fire” before the men opened fire at the roof. The creak of the roof indicated that whoever was up there was coming towards them. The men listened until the creaking stopped just above their heads. The men backed up slowly, guns aimed at the ceiling.

        They were unprepared when both Vance and his mysterious attacker came through the roof not with a crash, but as mist-like apparitions. The frightened guards opened fire at the ghostly figures, all concern for Vance disappearing at the unnatural sight. The bullets passed through Vance, who shielded the attacker from view. Despite their appearance, both Vance and the attacker were falling at normal speed and all of the sudden they became solid and two shots rang out.

        Too many things happened at once for Ned to comprehend. He heard Vance hit the ground with a bone-crunching thud, and he saw two of his men EJ and Davis go down with their heads exploding from two perfectly placed shots. The maroon blur that rolled off of Vance came to a stop at the feet of  Patrick, the chubby kid who just joined Ned’s crew, and lash out at his knee. Ned heard the sickening crunch of bone and Patrick crumpled to the ground. The maroon-clad woman was behind him and caught him on his knees before he could fully collapse.

        After the initial shots, no one managed fire again. Things just happened too fast for the tired brains of the men to take in. Ned and the two remaining men now spread out to face the maroon-clad intruder and her hostage.

        Despite the report of the arms shipment crew, her appearance still surprised Ned. When he learned that the attackers were women, he always imagined mannish women with facial hair. He couldn’t have been more wrong; the woman before him was a slim, graceful young beauty. He guessed she was about 5’5 or so, and he could tell the suit she wore was skintight, as he could see the muscles in her slim arms flex as she maintained a stranglehold on Patrick.

        Her skin was a deep bronze, he could see curly jet-black hair peeking out of the maroon mask that covered the top half of her head, and she had hazel eyes that bore into him as she assessed the situation. Ned knew that he had to act know to have any chance of taking the woman down.

        “Now, sweetie, why don’t you lay down that gun so we don’t have to hurt you too bad, huh?” John said before Ned could formulate a plan.

        Ned shot John a murderous look to silence him and turned his attention back to the woman, who was now grinning coldly. Ned opened his mouth to speak, but the woman launched Patrick at him with one hand. Patrick hit Ned hard, driving all the wind out of him, and as he fell under the weight of Patrick, he heard two shots in rapid succession.

        Ned’s head bounced off the hard floor of the warehouse and his vision blurred, when he regained focus he saw John dead with a round hole in his forehead. He knew that the other man whose name he could no longer recall was also dead.

        Another shot rang out, and he felt the impact as it went through Patrick’s head. Patrick was now dead weight on top of him, and he no longer had the strength to move him. The woman now stood over him, silent and frightening. He never in his life had seen a woman like this. The maroon suit outlined every inch of her fit body. He saw the holsters at each hip, and the revolvers she had in each hand, each with a maroon grip. She looked down at him, no emotion in her eyes.

        He couldn’t decide whether to beg for his life or go out defiant; he even considered making up some story about a family that needed him. But every word that came to his lips died when he looked into the young woman’s eyes. She aimed the revolver in her left hand at his head, and Ned closed his eyes, expecting a great deal of pain, but to his surprise he didn’t feel a thing.

 

Warehouse District  Day

        Boss Hamilton rubbed his eyes as he look at the burned-out remains of his warehouse. His merchandise destroyed, seven of his best men gone, and one of the Vulture’s prized “Dirty Jobbers” dead with a broken neck. Things just kept getting worse, these vigilantes had destroyed his business in two months, and the Vulture was getting impatient.

        The outside of the warehouse was untouched, just as Hamilton remembered it from three days ago when he gave Ned his orders on guarding the place. It was still a nondescript, grey warehouse that could use a fresh coat of paint. But inside it looked like a war zone.

        The dusty warehouse had been stocked with crates filled with both his property and other more innocuous items, but not anymore. Everything was burned to less than ashes, with no trace of how such a thing was accomplished. The best mages the constables had were surveying the scene, trying to determine what kind of magic was in use by the vigilantes. Boss Hamilton hated the constables with good reason, but they disliked the idea of vigilantes patrolling their city almost as much as The Vulture did. The head investigator, Constable Powell walked up to Boss Hamilton, who was standing just inside the doorway of the ruined warehouse.

        “We can’t find any damn thing,” Powell said, shaking his head. “We can’t even determine whether magic was used or not, this is the third time is the last two months, and we don’t know anymore than when we started.”

        Boss Hamilton was about to say something when he noticed the ground was starting to shake. He turned around and saw a large, rock golem coming toward the warehouse, riding on its shoulder was a wild-looking young man in ragged, sewn-together clothes.

        Both Powell and Hamilton stepped out to greet the golem and its master. The golem rumbled up to them until it was almost on top of them, then it stopped. The young man leaped down from the shoulder with uncanny grace, landing in front of the men with a grunt. He smiled and looked both men over before introducing himself.

        “I’m Dash, of the Dirty Jobbers,” Dash said with a big, brown-toothed smile. “The Vulture sent me to assist you and take care of this embarrassing problem. Constable, I think its best if you go back inside and look for footprints or something.”

        Powell looked about to protest but then thought better of it. He nodded to Hamilton and turned to head back into the warehouse.

        “Lawmen,’’ Dash said with a shrug. “The Vulture said that you are to authorize a shipment of all your remaining goods through the emergency routes starting tonight, we will handle the rest.’’

        “Why?” Hamilton said.

        “The Vulture suspects that spies have infiltrated our operations, and the best way to find them is to catch one of these crazy bitches, so we set up a trap and catch one.” Dash said as if it would be the easiest thing in the world.

        “My men would tell you it’s not so easy to slow one of those “crazy bitches” down,” Hamilton said, growing angry over the young man’s casual tone.

        Dash raised his hands and smiled. “No need to be angry with me, we’ll get her back for all you lost, believe me,” he grinned wickedly. “Witch never faced the Dirty Jobbers before; she won’t know what hit her.”

        Hamilton search the wild young man’s face for a minute, then nodded wearily. Dash, grinning, turned and tapped his golem on the knee. It lowered and he hopped back on it shoulder.

        “Like I said, we’ll stick it to her good and the rest will fall like dominoes.” Dash said as the golem turned and headed back the way it came, scattering anyone who happened to be in its path.

        Hamilton watched the golem leave, and then turned to look at the warehouse. There wasn’t even anything to bury of his men, he thought, anger growing in his belly. He turned and walked towards his carriage, to head home and get things set up for tonight. He hoped the woman who did this suffered as much as his men had.

 

Bone’s Circle

 

        Bone’s Circle was one of the worst areas of Lowtown. It had started out as a tenement section for newly arrived immigrants, but overcrowding and rampant crime caused the place to become a death trap that unsuspecting immigrants could not escape. So instead of immigrants getting jobs and moving up, they became poorer, often addicted to drugs circulated by the powerful criminal factions that ran Bone’s Circle.

        Then the business men of Lomar decided to “help.” They said that they would “lift up” the immigrants to a place of moral integrity and make Bone’s Circle safe. Their idea of help led to mass evictions, often brutally carried out by the constables, and empty, rotting tenement buildings that were breeding grounds for disease and crime. The renovation of Bone’s Circle was to have been completed 2 years ago according to original plans, but only minor surveys had been attempted.

        Shade stood in a top floor apartment of one of the tenements. Rotting furniture and children’s toys littered the cramped apartment. The room stank of mildew and body fluids. Shade closed all this out, waiting for the emergency shipment to arrive.

        When the Rekan spy had come through with the info that Boss Hamilton, the leading drug producer in Lomar, was cutting his losses and just hoping to get what little drugs he had left out of the city while he still could, Shade had felt ecstatic. She couldn’t wait to get out tonight and deal the death blow to Hamilton’s hideous operation.

        Both Alexis and Mackenzie had cautioned her, saying that an ambush could be the motivation for the sudden evacuation of goods. Shade knew that, but she still felt that she had Hamilton on the ropes, and all she had to do was finish him off.

        So she waited, arriving four hours before the shipment was to be received and removed from the city. In that time she soaked up the atmosphere of the tenements, the overwhelming feeling of despair and tragedy. She wondered how anyone could allow a fellow human being to suffer like this, and used her outrage to fuel her focus. She was more than ready when the first wagons begin arriving. The wagons transporting the shipment arrived first from the south, while the ones receiving it for transfer out of the city arrived from the north. She watched as two men got out and greeted each other, loudly like old friends. The rest of the men start to unload and transfer their cargo.

        Shade decided it was time, she pulled the shadows around her and phased through the floor, until she reached the ground level. She quickly left the building, covered in shadows. She circled around the men, listening to them joking and boasting about what they will do if she attacks. She settled into some ruins directly behind them and waited for the talking to stop. It soon does, as the men fall into the rhythm of their work. They wish to be done and out of this place as fast as possible.

        When Shade was sure they were caught up in their work, she moved, running faster that any normal human could. She threw off her shadow cloak and her hands slipped to her revolvers. As soon as she reached the wagons, she sensed something wrong. She tried to pull up and survey the scene, but it was too late.

        The ground exploded right in front of her, sending her flying through the air, and landing hard on her back. Her first thought was dynamite, but when she looked up, the dust settled to reveal a massive, man-shaped rock, its hands formed into permanent fists.

        The men had stopped working and started to gather around. Some were cheering on the golem, others were placing bets. Crates were pulled up and men sat and stood on them. Shade noticed two new people among the crowd. One was the only other woman besides Shade, she was scarred and ugly with close-cropped blonde hair that she wore spiked. She had one blue eye and the other was filmy, the color of dirty water. Her companion was a man, he looked to be at least 60, but he stood straight and had the muscle definition of someone 40 years younger.

        Shade turned her attention back to the golem, which was now charging her. Shade rolled away before it brought its massive fist down, shaking the ground. Shade quickly got to her feet and back-flipped away from the golem, drawing her revolvers in a blur of motion. She fired rapidly, destroying the golem’s head in an explosion of rock. The golem teetered, but quickly renewed its advance towards her.

        Shade charged the golem, aiming for its knees. The bullets tore through the golem’s knees, bringing the golem down. Shade, who had run up on the golem, dodged the falling mass of rock. She came up behind the golem, firing into its torso. The bullets tore apart the golem, sending massive chunks of the golem flying.

        Satisfied that the golem was out of the fight, Shade turned to deal with the spectators. As she did this, she noticed a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. The next moment she was sailing through the air and crashing into the building she had originally hid in. She landed in the living room of a ground floor apartment, bouncing across the floor.

        The world turned yellow and she seemed to go deaf as the pain hit her all at once. Shade ignored it and focused on her breathing in an attempt to clear her head. She looked up and felt dismayed as she saw a second golem. This one was shorted and leaner than the first. It moved with a quickness that nearly matched Shade's own. It was on top of her before she could gather herself, grabbing her right ankle and throwing her out of the building. She went sailing across the open yard, before crashing into the cheap walls of another building.

        Shade blacked out for a moment. When she came to the golem had hold of her again. He threw her towards the wagons, sending the men scattering as she crashed into the side of the wagon, overturning it. The golem paused in its dominance of Shade. That pause allowed Shade to regain some of her composure. Her hands went to her guns, but she no longer had the gun on her left hip. She cursed as the golem charged with its unnatural speed.

        She was ready this time, though. She fired quickly at it knees. The shots did enough damage to send it careening wildly into some men who had been too close to the action. The weight of the golem crushed the men. Shade got up unsteadily. She trained her lone gun on the golem, her head still fuzzy.

        Before she fired, she heard a faint buzzing noise. She looked up to see a brilliant wave of orange energy coming towards her. The energy was so bright that it blinded Shade before it hit her. The blast sent her flying over the overturned wagon to land with a bone-jarring thud and skidding across the ground.

        When the world came back into focus, Shade noticed the woman walking towards her with the old man beside her. She no longer had her other revolver, but she still tried to get up and fight. Her body would not respond to her commands, however. All she could do was lay there and wait helplessly for the woman to reach her.

        When the woman got to her she stared down at Shade with a startlingly perfect smile across her ruined face. She didn’t say anything as pointed the palms of her hands at Shade. When Shade saw the orange glow around her hands, she frantically ordered her body to move, but to no avail. The energy hit her full in the face, causing Shade’s body to overload with pain; finally Shade could take no more and passed out. The woman maintained the attack for a few moments more; just to be sure Shade was unconscious.

        “That wasn’t so hard,” the old man said as he walked up to stand beside the woman.

        “She was good, though,” she replied, the old man shrugged.

        Two men stepped out of the ruins and joined them. One was Dash, a look of supreme triumph on his face. The other man had almost identical features, except his hair was stark white, his skin deathly pale.

        “Nice golem Flash,” Dash congratulated the white-haired man.

        “Yeah, I figured speed would be better suited for her from what I saw with your golem.” Flash said as he studied the fallen woman.

        Dash nodded and bent over to inspect Shade closer.

        “Nice,” he said, running his hand over her body, enjoy the softness of the fabric and the warmth of her skin. He took extra time to squeeze her breasts, clearly enjoying himself.

        “Enough,” the woman said as she took a folded sheet from the old man.

        “One of Norton’s things?” Dash asked as he stood up, nodding to the sheet.

        “Yes, he said it would hold her easily.”

        Dash grabbed Shade’s shoulders and Flash her ankles as the woman spread the sheet out on the ground. The two gently laid Shade on the sheet and stepped back. The woman said a word and the sheet quickly enveloped Shade, tightly binding her.

        “Good work, people,” Dash said. “Sef you carry her, lets get out of here.”

        The old man nodded and picked up Shade. The men had finished moving the shipment and were now getting ready to leave. Satisfied, Dash lead his crew back to their horses, eager to deliver his prize to The Vulture.  

 

Ruin

        The next few hours were a blur for Shade. She vaguely remembered waking only to be forced back into unconsciousness. This happened a few times, and she was never awake long enough to learn about her captors or surroundings.

        When she finally came awake fully, the first thing she noticed was her nudity. That should have been impossible, considering the magical protections on the suit. Second, she was chained up in a dungeon of some sort. Her wrists were linked together tightly and pulled over her head, forcing her to stand on her toes. A thick black pad that held a sponge-like ball, rendering her completely silent, covered her mouth.

        The last thing she noticed was she had company. Sitting in a chair that hid her partially in the shadows was a stern-looking old woman who studied her intently. Even sitting down, Shade could tell the woman was tall, with a long bent neck and a noticeable hump in her back.

        “Awake,” she said in a strong voice. “It took us a while to get you out of that amazing suit of yours. Eventually we fooled it, with your help of course.”

        Now all the instances she remembered of waking up made sense. She studied the woman and wandered who she was.

        The woman smiled as if she could read Shade’s mind. “I’m The Vulture,” she said simply.

        Shade continued to stare at the woman, hoping her shock didn’t register in her eyes.

        “Your little crusade against my people caused me great annoyance. You probably thought you helped people but in reality you hurt them and their families, taking away their sources of income. If you thought you were hurting me, then you really have no clue as to the strength of my organization. I will find out who you are, who you work for, and how you gained the abilities you have.”

        She got up, walking across the room to the door and knocked on it three times. The door opened and the woman that defeated Shade after her fight with the golems stepped in. When she came in she looked at Shade, that unnaturally white smile of hers growing as took in Shade’s nude and stretched out form.

        “You’ve met Tulip,” The Vulture said, grinning. “She’s going to help you relax before I turn you over to Mr. Norton.”

        The Vulture nodded to Tulip, who raised her hands and sent a wave of orange energy at Shade. She braced herself, but the pain was intense, jolting her nude body. She lost count after 5 waves, passing out.

        When she regained consciousness, she noticed that both The Vulture and Tulip were gone, replaced by a well-dressed, average-looking man. He was staring at Shade, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.

        His face brightened when he noticed Shade was awake. “You’re back,” he said like he was speaking to a friend. “I’m Mr. Norton, and you must be exhausted after hanging there for so long. I’m going to let you down, but resistance will be punished severely.”

        He waved his hand and the chains released Shade, and she collapsed bonelessly to the ground. Her whole body ached, and she noticed with growing alarm, she couldn’t access her powers.

        “We used some drugs that are commonly relied on to neutralize mages, we had to get creative but we think we found something to keep you nice and helpless.”

        He walked up to her and studied her with an intense look of concentration on his face. She wondered what he was doing when she started to feel a presence in her head. She tried to shut her mind to him, but he easily pushed past her defenses.

        “Those drugs also made you much more receptive to my charms,” he said as he burrowed deeper into her mind.

        As he further cemented control over Shade, two things happened. One was the urge to tell him everything, even her most intimate secrets. The other was an overwhelming sexual desire.

        Shade knew instantly that she couldn’t fight both urges. She chose to defend her secrets. The lust hit her with thought-crippling force. She instinctively fought, despite her choice. Norton was excited by the struggle on her face.

        “I’m a mentalist. I was top of my class at Lomar Academy, destined for a profitable career. But when it was found out I was experimenting with mixing sex and mind magic, I was expelled. Things looked bleak until The Vulture found me and offered me a job. Mostly I target wives of men who wish to cause The Vulture trouble, so you are a unique and welcome challenge.”

        Shade was losing control as Norton spoke. She now was slipping her hands between her legs, only to pull them away. This went on for several minutes, to Norton’s amusement. When her eyes fell to his crotch, he nodded and spoke to her.

        “Now you are ready, so let’s get out of here to somewhere more comfortable.” He said and used his control on her mind to force her into unconsciousness.

 

Ruin- Norton’s Bedroom

        Candle’s illuminated Norton’s room, as he stood at the foot of his bed, nude while Shade sucked his cock. The room was hot, which Norton liked when he was having sex. Both he and Shade were coated in sheens of sweat, Shade more so because of the work she was doing and the high state of arousal she was in.

        Her mouth worked the length of his penis slowly, almost lovingly. She slurped and choked on his cock with skillful rhythm, driving Norton wild. The fact that she still fought his control only added to the excitement.

        He sent a mental command for her to take as much of him as she could in her mouth. She did so, fighting the command the whole way. When she reached her limit, nearly his whole cock, he listened to the rapid, desperate attempts to breath through her nose, the way her hands fluttered uselessly, bound behind her back, he became so excited that he came with a yell in her mouth.

        He quickly sent a mental command for her to swallow all of it, which she did, even licking his penis clean. He pulled her away by her dark hair and looked into her eyes. She was lost in her lust, desperate for release. Her breath was rapid and her chest heaved, dark breasts glistening with sweat.

        “Your oral skills are truly excellent,” Norton congratulated Shade. “But I’m sure you want release.’

        Shade nodded reluctantly, still gasping for breath.

        “Just tell me something I want to know. Then you can have pleasure you wouldn’t believe.”

        “No,” Shade said softly, trying for the hundredth time to use her powers.

        Norton shook his head in mock disappointment. “Well since you won’t talk, we’ll have to find other work for that luscious mouth of yours.”

        Happy and hard, Norton pulled Shade by her hair back to his cock. She resisted initially, but as soon as her lips touched his member, she greedily took him in her mouth. Not believing he got paid for this, Norton began thrusting hard.

 

Department of Human Studies

        Princess Agnes Teres strode down the foreboding halls of the Department of Human Studies, her bodyguard Ulga trailing behind. Her true home, Agnes never noticed the sense of dread that filled the place. Here she could be herself, wearing worn jeans and men’s shirts. No elaborate and uncomfortable dresses that her name demanded she wear in public. Here she could be comfortable and do what she loved; study the mysteries of the human body.

        But those studies had to be put on hold, to Agnes’s endless frustration. The mysterious vigilante attacks had ground the trade of human flesh to a halt, leaving Agnes with a limited number of specimens. That simply would not do, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

        Using an experimental orb that could record and project images, she hoped to catch what the mysterious vigilante looked like. Despite Agnes’s dislike of magic, she trusted the orb out of desperation.

        Her trust was rewarded, the orb caught footage of the vigilante fighting in the whore’s section of Lowtown. The footage shocked Agnes and, she was a little ashamed to admit, aroused her as well.

        No one she employed could hope to match the power and skill the vigilante possessed. Well, her bodyguard Ulga and her chief of security Lurker could, but both were too valuable to use against such a dangerous foe. She had been about to erupt in full fury when a name popped into her mind, and she knew exactly what to do.

        So now she and Ulga were heading to the third of three subterranean floors, an area that did not exist as far as the public was concerned. Here the most dangerous enemies of the Empire were kept. Intellectuals, generals, and revolutionaries went here. Also, horrifying reminders of the Empress Cassia’s madness were locked away beneath the earth.

        When Cassia went mad and took over Archibald’s Rock, the floating prison in the bay of Lomar, Emperor Robert ordered a naval operation to retake the island. This turned out to be a complete and total disaster. As soon as the first men landed, they were hit by a massive transmutation wave, the first of five unleashed before Cassia passed out from exhaustion.

        Most men died of the horrible changes they suffered that day, but not all. One of the survivors was Karl Stavros, and he was going to help her catch the vigilante.

        “I do not like this, mistress,” Lurker said as he joined to guide them down the magically protected path to the subterranean floors. Only Lurker was allowed to know the way just in case something happened and Agnes was interrogated about them.

        Ulga looked down at him with disdain on her face. Ulga was mute, but always made her feelings known.

        Agnes smiled as Lurker flinched. “You saw the footage; he’ll do what I ask.”

        “I can do it, Mistress,” Lurker said, lust in his reptilian eyes.

        “I bet you can,’ Agnes said, repulsed. Ulga shot him another look that silenced him until he led them to the third subterranean floor.

        They were greeted by the moans and screams of the hopeless and insane. Agnes didn’t even notice the pleas for release or death, as she focused on the lone cell at the end of the hall.

        The cell was different from all the others, instead of bars, the inmate was held by an electrified, magically-fortified sheet of glass. Inside the cell was a man who looked like he coated his muscular frame in mud.

        “Karl, I have an offer for you,” Agnes said. Karl looked at her like she was some exotic animal. “If you do this job for me, I will release you and you can go wherever you please.”

        He focused on her now, interest growing in his strange yellow eyes. “What,” he croaked.

        As an answer she took the orb she had just viewed and placed it on the floor in front of the cell. She activated it and stood back, as an image rose from it.

        In the projection, a beautiful, slender, red-haired woman was fighting a group of men much larger than her. Armed with a Bo staff, she handled the men like they were children. Graceful and deadly, she beat six armed men in a matter of minutes. After the last man was down, she stood and surveyed her work. As he studied her, Agnes noted long-forgotten desires ignite in his eyes. Agnes didn’t know whether to be disgusted or excited, but at least all the years in prison hadn’t affected his taste.

        The red head was slender and sinewy, her frame a study in muscle tone. Her small breasts were high and pointed, outlined by the solid orange circle on her chest. The rest of her suit was pure white, with orange stripes running down the sides of the sleeves and legs. A small white eye mask molded itself to high cheekbones. Green-grey eyes studied the fallen men, full red lips pouted in concentration.

        “Yes,” Karl croaked again.

        “Excellent,” Agnes said. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on the little red-haired vixen.

 

End of Part 2