The Global Protectors – Seven Days

By Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com

The Global Protectors, Ultra Woman and Dynamo are copyright Doctor Droid (www.superstories.net/droidzone), other characters and text are copyright Marcus Lycus.

Any resemblance between characters in this story and any actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

A lot of inspiration for this one came from the movie 'Slashers'. Yeah, I know, I know, but really, despite the ultra cheesy name it's a damn good horror flick.

Please e-mail me with any comments, complaints or suggestions. Remember feedback leads to more stories!

Part 7 – Rising Sun’s Friday

Technology wiz, entertainer, fund-raiser and heroine, is there anything Rising Sun can’t do? This modest beauty designed the Protectors’ communication and monitor system that allows them to respond to trouble anywhere in the world. Her anime "Risingu Sun & Her Amazingu Fliends" is a hit show in Japan. Plus she also finds time to raise money for good cause like the Red Cross. And she does it all with traditional Japanese humility and grace.

(From The Big Book of Superheroes and Heroines – 2004 Edition)

Kisume Hiro relaxed in her hotel room’s ofuro. The traditional Japanese hot tub felt great, it relaxed her aching muscles and rejuvenated her. It was just after midnight and this was the first time alone she had had all day. After the 14-hour flight to Japan and then a full day promoting her show at the anime convention she needed this.

"If I never see another horny otaku again it will be too soon…" She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the memory. "Don't Japanese boys bathe these days?"

So when her communicator started beeping she was very tempted to ignore it completely. It was probably another call from mom asked when she'd get married, or even worse, another attempt to fix her up with a middle-aged sariman. Kisume definitely did not need that now!

But she understood that with her great powers came a great responsibility. This could be some emergency that requires her help. Or, it might be her agent calling about her TV appearance tomorrow.

So she climbed out of the wonderful, warm bath wrapped a towel around herself and headed into the living room to find her communicator bracelet.

She'd left the TV on in there, the network was playing a Risingu Sun & Her Amazingu Fliends marathon. She glanced at it as she passed, once again Star had been captured by the tentacle demons. "Don't worry Star" said her animated counterpart (with huge-saucer like eyes) "even though you are a lazy and foolish foreigner I will still save you."

"Oh thank you great heroine of Japan! From now I will try to be like you!" the animated Star replied.

Once again, Kisume was very happy her show had never been shown in America. Some things really don't translate well.

***

She picked up the communicator, and noted with relief it was not her mother.

"Moshi moshi."

She listened with concern. Several schoolgirls had gone missing in an abandoned Isuzu factory a few hours outside of Tokyo. The local police suspected it was some kind of psycho or supervillain and had appealed to Japan’s greatest heroine for help.

How could she say no?

***

Rising Sun yawned as she descended towards the Isuzu plant. She headed for the only police car she could see there.

"Ah, Rising Sun-sama, thank you so much, I am Inspector Kuso. The cop presented her with a business card. Rising Sun graciously accepted it but then spent several seconds deciding what to do with it. Her costume had no pockets of course and she knew sticking it between her breasts would be bad etiquette. Finally she slipped it under her communicator bracelet.

"Arigato Mr. Kuso. Please tell me what you know."

"Several schoolgirls have disappeared in this area and the residents have seen suspicious activity around this factory. We are afraid if we send in too many police the kidnapper will see us and escape. I hope you can catch him without causing difficulty."

Rising Sun tried not to roll her eyes. What this really meant was the cops were too scared to go in and hoped she could quietly take care of the problem without causing too much embarrassment for the men on the force. She'd done this enough times to understand how it works.

'One of these days…' she promised herself, 'I'll show these idiots they can't count on women being submissive.'

But she didn't say that, instead she said, "Of course inspector, I will be happy to help you any way I can." Someday Rising Sun knew she would work to change Japanese society. Just not today.

After several more minutes of exchanging pleasantries and hints that she should not tell the press about this particular adventure, Rising Sun finally entered the plant.

***

Rising Sun's boot heels clicked loudly on the concrete as she walked down into the tunnels under the factory complex.

The inspector had been very insistent she enter this way instead of flying around or finding another way in. His excuse was they didn't want to risk the villain seeing her too soon. It made Rising Sun a bit annoyed (does he think I'm clueless?) but she went along with it anyway, it was easier than wasting a hour in an excruciatingly polite Japanese argument.

She sniffed the air and smelled something funny. It smelled pretty foul, like rotting fish but the smell soon went away leaving only a bit of a nauseous feeling and dizziness behind.

Some of the lights were still on, a sign that someone was using the place for something. She also spotted security cameras that seemed to be working. 'If I can find the security center' she thought 'I can search this whole place in minutes. I bet those stupid cops never thought of checking it. Typical.' Checking a map on the wall she set off for the old security desk.

But after a few minutes she was hopelessly lost. None of the passageways and corridors matched the map she'd seen, and even when she tried to backtrack she couldn't find her way back.

After several minutes of wandering lost Kisume began to feel a bit of paranoia. Small drops of sweat started to form on her back and her skin felt clammy, she felt like she wasn't getting enough air. There was no sign of danger but she suddenly felt like she was being watched from every shadow and every corner.

"How could I be so stupid" she muttered "I knew there might be a villain down here and I just marched in like there was nothing to worry about. What if I'm already in some trap, what if there's someone coming for me now!"

The usually composed heroine collapsed against a rough concrete wall and took several deep breaths. Still filled with inexplicable fear she continued to talk to herself in an effort to keep calm.

"Wh-what's wrong with me? Why am I so scared? I'll just call the team, let them know what's going on and… and…" As she spoke she reached for her communicator but found it was dead. No signal at all.

"Th-that's impossible, I designed this myself, how could it be dead?"

"YOU'LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH BITCH!"

"Ah!"

Despite herself the Japanese heroine cried out in fear. A huge man was charging down the hall towards her. He was wearing a hockey mask and carried a 3' machete! He was the perfect image of an American psycho killer.

'So what if he has a knife' the rational part of her brain said, 'with my powers even a bazooka wouldn't hurt me.'

'He has a HUGE KNIFE' a less rational part said. 'I have to run now!'

But Rising Sun had been a heroine for a while now and her training took over. Despite her fear she stepped into the middle of the corridor and assumed the Global Protector's trademark position with her legs spread, her hands on her hips and a serious look on her face. She was glad this pose made it hard to see how much her knees were trembling.

"S-Stop right there mister or, or there'll be trouble!"

"Oh there'll be trouble all right you gook bitch, trouble for you!"

With that the psycho killer slashed at her. Rising Sun stood her ground to show this maniac he couldn't hurt her. Except…

"AH! You cut me!" His machete had cut right through her thin spandex costume leaving a thin trail of blood across her stomach.

Suddenly even more scared Kisume took several steps back, wobbling on her weak knees, barely able to think straight.

"My powers, they're gone!"

The psycho raised his machete again…

***

Meanwhile back in Megapolis Maple Leaf and Shamrock were flying back Gaea building.

"Wow Maple Leaf that was so much fun, thanks so much for inviting me, it was so cool how after Mayor Greenwood gave you and Ultra Woman your metals he had you shake hands. Had you met Ultra Woman before? She's so nice and sweet, but do you know why she had that bandage on her nose? Did she get hurt in the fight? Maple Leaf? Are you OK? You're all red."

"Shamrock… just be quiet OK, I have a really, really bad headache."

"Um, OK Maple Leaf. I guess the ceremony was kind of noisy, especially with everyone cheering for Ultra Woman when she got on stage, by the way do you know why those people were booing you? I thought that was really rude."

"Shamrock…"

"Sorry, I'll be quiet now. But oh, I just remembered did you get that disk from the intern the other da-"

"Oh crap, the intern! Sorry Shannon I have to go or I'll be late for an appointment!"

"Uh, OK, good luck Maple Leaf." Shamrock watched her leader vanish ahead of her and made another mental note to work on her flying. She hated being the slowest flier in the group.

Maple Leaf accelerated; glad to have any excuse to leave Shamrock behind. She wondered what she had done to deserve an afternoon of being humiliated by Ultra Woman and putting up with Shamrock. But no one else had been interested in going to the ceremony. Valkyrie and Tigress said they were too busy and La Sola was taking a day off. With Rising Sun and Star out of town she had to take Shamrock or look like even more of a loser showing up alone to accept an award for the team. And now she had to talk to that stupid intern who went and got herself kidnapped.

Maple Leaf wondered for a half a second what the fuck Shamrock meant about getting a disk but forget about it by the time she arrived. She had more important things to worry about than Shamrock's ranting.

***

Back in Japan…

The machete came down but Rising Sun was able to block the heavy blade with her armored communicator bracelet. The impact shook her bones and knocked her a step back. The psycho continued to advance so Rising Sun did the only thing she could.

She turned and ran screaming deeper into the tunnels. She ran and ran until the high-heeled boots hurt her feet and she stumbled and fell to her knees skinning them badly.

She sat there on her knees for a few minutes trying to catch her breath. For the first time she really wished she had gone to some of Tigress' workout sessions instead of spending her time reading technical journals and working on the computer.

Distracted by her pounding heart and the blood roaring in her ears the slim Asian did not hear the secret passage open behind her or the psycho slip out of it. So the first warning Rising Sun had, was when she heard his blood-chilling laugh.

Still on her knees Rising Sun turned and faced the new threat. He was wearing a beat-up hat that hid most of his face but from what she could see he was hideously scarred. He wore a filthy sweater and on one hand he had a leather glove, each finger ended in a 5" long razor sharp knife.

"Hello little girl! Welcome to your nightmare!"

Rising Sun remained there on her knees transfixed by the sight, too afraid to move, hoping if she remained still it would turn out to be a terrible dream. The disfigured killer smiled down at her and his claw hand darted out, the razors kissing her cheek making thin cuts and drawing a few drops of blood.

"GYAA!" Rising Sun tried to jump away but just fell on her back in a heap. The stalker climbed on top of her, his legs straddling her trembling body.

His claw made some shallow cuts along her collarbone.

"Mmm-mmm good. I love Asian food."

The helpless heroine shuddered as he licked the blood from his finger blades. Then the maniac laughed again and dropped to his knees, positioning the crotch of filthy jeans over Rising Sun's vulnerable mound. She screamed and put her hands over her face.

Crying, the Asian heroine looked away. "No" she muttered, "please no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

He held out a single razor-tipped finger and slowly began cutting away the spandex covering her left breast.

"Sorry? You're sorry? What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry I ever got these powers, sorry I tried to be so brave, sorry I did those things, I wish I had just stayed home and become a housewife!"

Frightened, trapped, defeated, Rising Sun babbled on saying anything, not even knowing what was coming out of her mouth. She felt one breast pop free and saw him get to work on the other.

"Please don't… I'd do anything, please…"

"Anything?" Her tormentor laughed again.

"Please…"

"Well pretty thing I think you know what I want."

Rising Sun had been a heroine for a long time and had heard all the stories, the stories other heroines never put in their memoirs, the ones that never made it into their comic books. Yes, she knew what she had to do.

***

Eliza was sitting the lobby dressed in another drab pants suit. She checked her watch again, just a few more minutes. She couldn't wait to stick it to Maple Leaf.

Speaking of sticking things, she saw La Sola come out of the basement. She'd been seeing Valkyrie to talk about her problem and Eliza wanted to see how that was going.

Surprisingly the Argentine was cheerful and smiling as she walked up to the intern.

"Hola Eliza! I have to thank you for helping me home last night and to say I'm sorry for what you went through, getting kidnapped and everything. Let's just be happy nothing else happened."

"Uh, huh? What about what happened to you? What we were talking about last night?"

"Que? Oh, to tell the truth I can hardly remember any of it, it must have been the drugs they used to knock me out. But I'm sure I'd remember if anything bad happened."

"You don't remember anything?"

"Oh just that they asked me some questions but I didn't tell them anything. Anyway it's not important; things like that happen every week to us. So do you want to go out dancing tonight?"

Carmen seemed to have completely forgotten the last 24 hours! Suddenly Eliza understood what Valkyrie's 'treatments' must be. It was even better than she'd hoped.

***

Rising Sun steeled herself for what she had to do.

She reached up with her long delicate fingers and undid the button at his waist.

She pulled down his fly, almost gagging from the smell of his unwashed crotch.

She gulped and took out his sweaty penis, noticing it was not burned and disfigured like his face.

She stroked it gently, feeling it swell in her hands.

She tried to ignore the sharp pain as his razor finger slipped, cutting her right breast.

She watched his razor hand descend towards the white spandex that covered her crotch, twitching eagerly.

Then…

She sank her long nails into his dick making him roar in pain!

She raised her legs and gave him a vicious double kick in the stomach.

She scrambled to her feet and ran as best she could before he could follow.

***

Maple Leaf landed and saw Eliza talking to La Sola in the lobby. La Sola waved to her and took off but Eliza stood her ground with an unreadable expression on her face. Maple Leaf took a deep breath, put on a smile and greeted the intern.

"Elizabeth! So sorry I'm late, the ceremony ran a bit overtime."

"Eliza."

"Right, right, what was I thinking. So how are you? You've recovered from your ordeal?"

"Yeah, I guess but y'know I was talking to this lawyer I know…"

Uh-oh.

"…and he was saying that since I was, y'know, kidnapped cause of the Protectors, I might, y'know, sue you guys and get a lot of money for it."

"Uh, right. Let's go to my office and have a talk."

***

Things were looking worse for Rising Sun. That burst of insane courage had faded quickly leaving her afraid, alone and in pain trapped somewhere under the Isuzu plant. Why hadn't the cops come looking for her? Or her team? Now she really wished she had never gotten her powers, she could be in the kitchen now cooking for a husband, safe and happy and with no killers stalking her.

Then ahead of her she saw the most beautiful sight she had ever seen, a green and white emergency exit sign glowing at the end of the hall. Clutching her bare breasts she trotted towards the exit. She could see the door now in the dim light of the sign. Fifty feet, forty, thirty, when…

A huge man stepped out from a side corridor. He was almost 6' tell, dressed in a blood-splattered butcher's apron wearing some kind of bizarre leather mask over his face. It looked almost like a mask made out of other people's faces. Even more frightening in his hands he clutched a huge chainsaw.

She stood frozen for a second, then turned and tried to run. She only made it ten feet before a steel gate slammed down trapping her.

The chainsaw killer advanced slowly, pulling the starting cord on his weapon a few times until it finally caught.

The saw roared to life, the noise filling the concrete hall.

Kisume covered her ears with her hands and sank to her knees in tears.

"Please no… I'm sorry… Please don't hurt me…" she babbled again and again barely audible over the roar of the saw.

The leather-faced psycho stopped a foot in front of her. There was no escape. No way to fight him without impaling herself on the chainsaw.

He raised the saw over his head.

Rising Sun closed her eyes and screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

And…

After five minutes of screaming she realized nothing was happening. She let the scream die and opened one eye. The killer was standing several feet away. He'd taken off the leather mask, put down the saw and was smoking a cigarette.

"Hey, good job lady. I thought you'd never run out of air."

"Wh-what?"

"Want a cigarette?"

***

Eliza burst into the tiny mailroom bursting with joy.

"Kristen, guess what? You'll never guess! I just got hired as the Global Protector's office manager! 80k a year plus benefits! Hey, what's up? Something wrong?"

The cute blond was near tears, just staring down at her cell phone.

"T-that was the bank, there's, there's something wrong with my trust fund, all the money's gone!"

Eliza tried not to smile. Looks like Mr. G came through with that favor.

"How, how can I go back to college? I don't have any money for tuition, I don't even have money to live on… Mom and dad will think I spent it all!"

"Geeze Kristen, that's pretty tough huh. I don't know what to tell you except maybe…"

"What? What?!"

"Well, I have to hire an assistant for my job, but the pay is crap and there's no benefits either. But, y'know you're my friend and stuff…"

"Please Eliza, please, you have to give me that job!"

"OK Kristen, it's yours. This is gonna be great, just like when we were on the cheerleading team together, 'cept of course I'm the one in charge this time…"

Now Eliza really could smile. She was best buds with Mr. G, had all the secrets of the Global Protectors and free run of their headquarters, and now Kristen would be working for her for almost nothing. After all those years in blondie's shadow, Eliza would get some payback. 80-hour weeks would be a good start.

This was the best day of her life, and things were only looking better from here on out.

***

Mister Takeyama, her agent, came out soon after that, along with the camera crews, Inspector Kuso (the director) and the actor who had played the hockey mask killer (the razor glove killer was on his way to the emergency room). Takeyama gave the confused heroine a blanket to cover herself (after everyone got a good look at her breasts of course) and started to explain.

"A reality show?"

"Yes Rising Sun-sama, Japan's next mega-huge hit 'SLASHERS!' A game show where you must escape the killers before they kill you. It premiers this fall."

"And, and, you agreed to this?"

"You must understand Rising Sun-sama your female fans have been complaining they cannot relate to you. Doing all those heroic things in America, being friends with strange foreigners and so on. They wanted to see a more vulnerable side to you. To see you are just a shy Japanese girl like them. We were very lucky to get you on this show, they originally planned to use Usagi Tsugino."

"But my communicator… my powers… and they cut me!"

"Ah yes, very sorry. The 'business card' the inspector gave you had a miniature EMP generator of course, so your communicator was destroyed. And of course the show would not be challenging if you had your powers. Therefore the show bought a new sort of canceling gas on the black market from a group called VX. They say it will wear off in a few days. They also mixed in some drugs to make you a bit more afraid and paranoid. And cutting your clothes was just 'fan service' your male fans have been complaining too."

"But… you can't…"

"Actually Rising Sun-sama my contract allows me to book you for any show I think will improve your career. Of course you could sue the studio, but I think that will look very bad for your fans. And the network would be very upset; they will cancel your anime maybe. Your anime makes you a lot of money I think."

"But… I was humiliated, I was almost raped… how can be a heroine if people see this?"

"Don't worry the studio tells me they will only show this show in Japan. Foreigners would not understand it I think. Anyway here is the contract for you to sign."

Rising Sun rubbed her forehead, maybe it was the drugs, maybe she was still feeling powerless and afraid… but she just wanted this to be over. She took Takeyama's pen and signed it.

"Thank you Sun-sama. Kuso-sama will be very happy I think."

"There's nothing I can do is there? They'll show this, this, humiliation on TV?"

"No, there is nothing. Once you signed this Slasher Studios owns this episode and has complete control over it."

Rising Sun took a cab back to her hotel and got into her suite just as the sun rose. She was exhausted but could not sleep. She just spent the next few hours crying. Once that terrible show aired it would all be over, she could never be a heroine again.

Unless…

Epilogue

After a confusing adventure with an aboriginal shaman, a talking Koala bear and a lost civilization under Tasmania, Aussie Girl recovered her powers and rejoined the team.

While trying to save the world, James Stock was captured by the North Koreans. The Global Protectors considered a rescue mission but decided the filthy chauvinist pig wasn't worth it.

The Avenging League of Justice ended up readmitting Ultra Woman. She was promptly replaced by a black woman, killed, came back as a vampire, lost her powers and was returned to normal.

Mistah Impossible decided the Global Protectors were no fun and moved on to the next dimension. The Global Pillagers tore his head off and mounted it on a stake.

La Sola and Tigress angrily demanded that Roberto be rehired, insisting it was all a crazy mix-up.

Dynamo is still in prison. Tigress and Aussie Girl visit frequently.

Master Menace and Madam Manacle promptly escaped from prison. Nightbat Girl is eagerly pursuing them.

Dr. Bruce Flag sold the movie rights to his story to Ang Lee. He has since retired and moved to Tahiti where he never loses his temper.

The Dark Count was eventually slain by a cheerleader in Sunnydale California. Or was he?

The Global Pillagers were very upset when they discovered Valkyrie had somehow escaped from Aztec and destroyed the dimensional transference machine. After spending a few days torturing their Latino member they got to work pillaging the globe's laboratories in an effort to rebuild it.

The gun-toting vigilante known as the Penalizer blew up Maximillion Grande's limo with a bazooka. He'd been on Grande's tail for months and finally located him thanks to an anonymous tip from a woman with an Argentine accent.

Without Grande to fund him, Ratcliff had to put his mind control plans on hold.

Slasher Studios Inc. was purchased by the Global Protectors Foundation. All known copies of Rising Sun's episode were burned. Mr. Kuso and Mr. Takeyama were demoted to janitor.

Eliza is the Global Protector's office manager and Kristen is working as her secretary. Eliza is busily searching for a new partner to help with her own plans.

***

And the Global Protectors?

The Global Protectors continue their battle against evil, and will return in:

Global Protectors - All Fall Down.

Or maybe in Global Protectors - On A Barbarian World.

Or maybe even in Global Protectors - Dawn of the Millennium.

Whichever I get around to next.

As always…

Please e-mail me with any comments, complaints or suggestions. Feedback leads to more stories!

Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com