The Global Protectors –Stalked by Red Jack
By Marcus Lycus
(Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com)
Legal Horrors – The Global Protectors are copyright, trademark etc. of Doctor Droid (www.superstories.net/droidzone) and are used with his permission. Other characters and text are copyright Marcus Lycus.
Marcus Lycus
Chapter 2 – Enter the
Femme Avenger
“Come on Greedy! We ain’t got all night! I wanna go home and watch the Food Channel!”
“Shaddup Gluttony, this ‘ere
moolah is what we’re ‘ere for!”
“How come you got more than
me?”
“Let’s kill the hostages!
Kill! Kill! Kill!”
“No rape ‘em! Rape! Rape! Rape!”
“Like, chill out Angry,
Lusty… you guys gotta lighten up yo.”
“Now, now boys, let’s keep to
the plan, a brilliant plan if I do say so myself.”
A shadow fell over the
criminals.
“Excuse me Little People, but
I don’t think that money belongs to you!
It’s for the Women’s Holistic International Niceness Enterprise! Now put it back before I bust your balls!”
“Lucifer’s beard! It’s the Femme Avenger!”
***
The Seven Deadly Dwarves had
used their small stature to infiltrate the HVAC ducts at WHINE’s annual
fundraising dinner and help themselves to the donations as well as the guests’
wallets and jewels.
Their leader Pride had
planned it perfectly, the 7 gun-toting midgets burst in from all sides just as
the guests were bloated from a 6 course dinner and numbed by hours of WHINE
speeches about how terrible the world is.
Once Angry and Lusty scared them a bit Greedy and Envy started
looting. Gluttony got distracted by the
buffet table of course and Lazy was as useless as ever standing in the corner
smoking a joint but all in all things were going pretty good.
Till she burst in.
Dressed in a tight purple
bathing suit unzipped to her navel and barely holding in her D cup breasts the
Femme Avenger wasn’t the most fearsome looking heroine in the world. Even the blue and purple cape and pointed
mask didn’t do much to make her look serious.
With her cross and circle female symbols (with a fist in the circle) she
looked more like a parody of a feminist heroine than a real one. But still since she’d shown up a month ago
she’d gotten a reputation for targeting male criminals for some particularly
painful vigilante justice. They said
Mister Twister still couldn’t walk right.
But still, she was just one
girl right?
“Lusty, Angry, git her!”
The two dwarves fired their
mini UZIs at the heroine but she was already in motion dodging their
bullets. From her yellow utility belt
she drew a pair of brass bolos and tossed them at the Angry the enraged
dwarf. The brass balls hit with
surprising force and tossed the dwarf across the ballroom. He hit an ice sculpture of Hillary Clinton
and fell unconscious.
The Femme Avenger stopped to
pose for the hostages, planting her legs apart, her hands on her hips and
flouncing her long black hair.
“Never fear liberated womyn
of Megapolis! The Femme Avenger is here
to protect your personhood from those who would use sexism, racism, lookism,
ageism and disestablishmentarianism to mmph!”
Her long confusing speech was
cut off when Lusty swung from a chandelier and launched himself onto her
face. The fatso Gluttony did his part
by tackling her knees.
Top heavy and overbalanced
the Femme Avenger stumbled back a few steps through the swinging doors to the
kitchen where she landed on her ass.
The other dwarfs ran in after her giggling.
Lusty started mauling her
D-cup breasts with his sweaty palms; Gluttony jammed his face between her legs
and started to lick. Greedy grabbed her
right hand and started prying off the glove in case she had an expensive watch
under it. Envy pinned her right hand
while staring jealously at Lusty. “How
come I never got to maul a heroine’s tits” he muttered. Pride smiled at their victory while Lazy
strolled in late puffing on his enormous joint.
The Femme Avenger struggled
helplessly, vulnerable to lewd leering of these evil dwarfs.
“Not so full of yourself now
are you Femme Avenger? Well you know,
Pride goes before the fall!”
The Femme Avenger looked to
the left and the right, she saw no one other than the dwarfs, the kitchen staff
must have fled.
“Oh fuck this…” she muttered,
a trace of an Australian accent creeping into her shrill voice. She flexed her arms tossing Envy and Greedy
across the room; they hit a rack of pots and were buried. She pulled Lusty off of her just as he
managed to get his sweaty paws under her suit.
She just held him out with one hand like a sack of rotting garbage. She kicked Gluttony into Pride and Lazy; all
three flew back into the main ballroom smashing three more ice sculptures.
She snarled at Lusty, he was
still trying to reach her tits.
“You want them? HAVE THEM!”
With all her strength she hugged Lusty, mashing his face into her chest
and squeezing him hard. She heard ribs
crack, she heard the dwarf gasp for breath and finally fall silent. She let him go and kicked him under the pots
along with his buddies.
“Strewth! How do heroines do this without
superpowers…” she grumbled as she headed back out.
“(As I was saying…) Fear not
my sisters! For I, the Femme Avenger,
have taken back the night from phalocentric male villains! No need to thank me, the Femme Avenger just
does what any strong self-actualized female should do.” She took the crossbow pistol from her belt
and loaded a rope arrow.
“B-but who’ll pay for all the
damage you did?” The manager gestured
to the ruined buffet tables and kitchen.
“Send the bill to male
chauvinists everywhere!” She fired the
arrow through a floor to ceiling window and then jumped into the night.
After a messing around with a
few more rope arrows the Femme Avenger finally said fuck it and flew home.
***
Once she was back in her
apartment near
She stood in front of the
mirror for a few minutes checking her dark hair for light roots, “I’ll have to
get it retouched soon” she thought.
“Don’t want anyone finding out my secret identity, maybe even take care
of myself downstairs, never know who’ll see it.”
With that Robyn Barton
remembered how three weeks ago she went from being the Global Protector’s Aussie
Girl to the shrill and annoying Femme Avenger…
INTERLUDE:
Robyn’s Story
“Protectors, a heroine had
been murdered!”
Aussie Girl popped her
gum. La Sola crossed herself. Shamrock saw her do it and copied her. Tigress’ normally grim expression became
grimmer. Rising Sun stopped text
messaging her friends in
Maple Leaf suppressed a
smile. Despite the grim circumstances
she always liked it when she got their attention. She turned on the projector and started that day’s powerpoint
presentation.
“For the last year or so a
heroine named White Crane has been seen in Hyung’s town, a Korean-American
neighborhood.”
The projector showed a few
blurry news shots of the oriental girl and a clear shot of her from when she
teamed up with La Diabola Rosa to bust up a sweatshop.
“La Sola and me met her a
month or two ago, seemed like an all right girl.”
Maple Leaf clicked to the
next slide.
“Three nights ago her body
was found on a rooftop. At least most
of it was…”
La Sola squinted at the
picture, it seemed like roof top covered in red paint with bits of meat from a
butcher’s shop scattered around.
Maple Leaf clicked to the
next slide. It was a close up of the
torso.
La Sola turned green.
Shamrock ran for the bathroom.
Aussie Girl swallowed her gum.
Maple Leaf showed a few more
close ups, the room remained silent except for hushed gasps and mumbled
prayers. She nodded to Valkyrie; only
the icily calm Swede seemed unaffected by the pictures.
“White Crane was attacked by
a sadistic villain and mutilated. Based
on forensic evidence it seems there was just one attacker but he was
extraordinarily fast and strong based on analysis of some of the cuts. He may also have some sort of invisibility
power since this attack occurred in a crowded inner city neighborhood and no
one saw anything. And one other
thing…” Val pointed to the picture on
the screen showing the girl’s flayed skin, “the coroner believes she was still
alive for most of it.”
Everyone winced at that news.
Maple Leaf took out a file.
“The Paranormal Crimes Unit
referred the case to us, and fortunately White Crane’s sister was able to give
us her diaries. We hope they will
provide some information about her attacker but unfortunately they’re written
in Korean.”
She slid an envelope to
Rising Sun. “Kisume do you think you
could translate-“
“Uh, Maple Leaf, these are in
Korean, I’m Japanese.”
“But surely the languages
must be related enough that you can-“
Rising Sun scowled. “Maple Leaf they are two totally different
languages with nothing in common, even the scripts are different.”
“Maybe you could study? You’re so smart-“
“Maple Leaf I’m not some
comic book super genius who knows whatever language the plot requires. Korean would take years to learn! Why not hire an outside translator?”
Now it was Maple Leaf’s turn
to scowl. “You know exactly why
not. For the same reason this murder is
not in the papers or on TV. If people
knew about the horrible things that happen to heroes and heroines they would
lose all faith in us.”
The others nodded. Every heroine had a few cases she never
talked about.
Still Maple Leaf and Rising
Sun glared at each other.
Finally Valkyrie reached over
and picked up the envelope.
“I’ll see what I can
do.” She flipped through the
diary. Korean meant learning a whole
new grammar, vocabulary and writing system totally unrelated to anything
Valkyrie had studied before. She
frowned. This could take a whole week.
The tension broken, Maple
Leaf proceeded with her plan.
“Since we don’t know anything
about this villain other than the fact he’s a misogynist sadistic creep, Val
and I have worked out a plan to lure him into the open. And we’re going to need your help.”
She looked directly at Aussie
Girl.
***
“Strewth. I look like a bleeding bimbo!” Whined the Australian girl.
“But Robyn, that’s the
point. We want you to pretend to be
another big-tits, small costume, wanna-be heroine to lure out the killer. Besides, this suit actually has a bit more
cloth than our usual costumes ay?”
Aussie Girl looked down at
the blue and purple swimsuit, the gloves, boots and long bat-like cape and had
to agree. If she wrapped the cape
around herself she’d almost be fully dressed.
“But why can’t I just be
Aussie Girl, I mean if he wants to fight a heroine…”
“Didn’t you read the profile
Val wrote? This killer is obviously one
of those men who feels inadequate and needs to hurt women to make himself feel
good. You know the kind.”
Aussie Girl nodded as she
thought about her last 3 boyfriends.
Men. They really are scum.
“But he won’t go after a
truly strong woman. White Crane was a
brave girl but still she was just a martial artist, the fact that this killer
targeted a low-level heroines like her and the others-“
“OTHERS?”
“-the, uh, other heroines he
might go after, shows that he’s not likely to go after someone like us. I mean we’re invulnerable, we can fly, we
have super strength… no way some lunatic with a butcher knife would go after
you if he knew who you are. But if
you’re running around with your big tits hanging out beating up muggers, well
that’s something more in his league.”
“Hey, how do you know so much
about this guy when he’s only killed one heroine? We don’t even have a name for him yet.”
”Oh, uh, I got all of that from a psych profile Val wrote, she’s the genius
ay? No point asking how she knows, she
just does!”
Maple Leaf nodded and smiled
enthusiastically at Aussie Girl until the Australian let the point drop.
“OK, so I start running
around pretending to be another vigilante, how do we know this guy will go for
me instead of Nightbat Girl, or Night Huntress or Night Cat or any of the other
vigilante babes running around?”
“Well we have a little something
extra for your role that’s sure to get this chauvinist’s attention…”
***
So Robyn Barton a.k.a. Aussie
Girl dyed her hair black and became Susan B. Feminaz. Susan was a strong and liberated Womyn’s Studies major at
Being the Femme Avenger was
fun too. It seemed like the Global
Protectors were always taking on world-threatening opponents and getting their
well-toned butts kicked. But as the
Femme Avenger Robyn never took on anything scarier than evil midgets so she
could really enjoy herself.
It also opened her eyes about
what it really means to be a heroine on your own. Aussie Girl had really lucked out, she’d gotten incredible powers
and a whole team to back her up right from the start. But most new heroes were just kids with some superpowers and a
dream. They didn’t have a medical plan
or a headquarters or a VTOL jet, most new heroes and heroines had to struggle
for everything they got. If you broke
your arm swinging from a rope arrow or broke your leg jumping through a
skylight, too bad. So they’d debut,
kick around for a while and then most of them would disappear.
Robyn thought about some of
the heroines she remembered from high school, Shi, Fairchild, Zealot, Lady
Death, Glory, Angela, whatever happened to those guys? Did anyone even care about them anymore? Were they dead or just in limbo? It really made you think how for every
success like the Global Protectors there were tons of failures. When she got back to the team Robyn decided
she’d have to try and start some kind of support network for young heroes and
heroines. She really felt obliged to
share the wealth.
But for now it was fun
slumming it as a martial artist heroine.
She was really looking forward to the time the heroine-killer showed
up. She’d kind of liked White Crane and
wanted to get her some justice. So the
night before she started this undercover work she and La Sola got kind of drunk
and started thinking up what they would do to the killer when she caught him.
Damn. Carmen always acted so sweet but once she
got going La Sola could be really vicious.
***
After finishing her
flashbacks and exposition Robyn put the Femme Avenger costume back in its
secret compartment and got some well-deserved sleep.
***
Back at the Global
Protector’s lab Valkyrie was still working.
She’d made some headway translating White Crane’s journals, enough to
learn the name of her stalker and something of his methods. It was the same man all right.
She and Maple Leaf had not
been completely honest with their youngest member. They’d considered telling Robyn but the girl was already a bit
reluctant and if she knew the whole story…
Well who would blame her if
she quit?
And given the serious
situation Maple Leaf and Val had to make sure she stayed on the case.
At least that’s the excuse
they came up with over a few bottles of wine at Maple Leaf’s place…
As soon as they had heard
about White Crane’s killing Val and Maple Leaf knew what was going on. The Korean girl was not the first heroine
found murdered this way. There were at
least a half dozen murders stretching back over fifty years with similar
victims and a similar MO throughout.
Various police departments and governments had done their best to keep
these killings under wraps, they were always afraid of what would happen if
people knew too much about how fragile the life of a superheroine is. Still word had leaked into the heroine
community and for two smart well-connected heroines it was possible to assemble
the whole story.
The first known Red Jack
killing was in 1944. Captain Courage:
the Spy Smasher had a partner named Spunky: the Girl Without Fear. They ran around the
La Voiler was next. She was French heroine with the power to
veil her foes, psychically preventing anyone from seeing them or helping
them. Sort of a reverse invisibility
power. Reports said the effect was
terrifying, many of her targets broke down and confessed just to be free of her
powers and able to rejoin the world. A
few had nervous breakdowns. She hunted
Nazi war criminals and collaborators after the war until her lacerated body was
found floating down La Seine.
Things were quiet after that,
or so it seemed. After the Berlin Wall
fell the authorities learned that three Soviet heroines had all been found
killed the same way in the 50’s and 60’s.
They’d all been part of the endless parade of party-sponsored gymnast
heroines using the name Red Star. They
were usually partners with the endless parade of Soviet wrestler heroes who used
the name The People’s Hero. Most people
had just assumed the girls had retired or been purged by the KGB, but they’d in
fact been brutally and sadistically killed.
All the resources of the world’s most feared police state had been
unable to find the killer.
Red Jack apparently made it
to the
In the 80’s he went after his
most powerful foe yet, a super-speedster by the name of Sprinter. As the name implied she could move at
superhuman speeds for short distances but needed a few minutes of rest between
bursts. She was part of the All-Stars,
that sports-themed superhero team out of LA.
Their first sign that something was wrong came when Gridiron found
Sprinter’s running shorts on the steps of their headquarters. Suspecting he’d caught the long-legged
blonde in a romantic moment the 400 pound strong man tried to sneak in to get a
peek. He found her open torso in the
middle of the meeting room, other body parts scattered along the walls. The football hero screamed like a little
girl and ran out, almost trampling Slugger and Batboy. The All-Stars broke up soon after that.
And now he had killed a
martial artist in Megapolis. Or was
there more to it? Val wished she could
read Korean.
To be honest Val suspected
there might be more killings but could not prove it. Superheroines disappeared all the time, some retired, some
changed their names and costumes, others were trapped in alternate
dimensions. Who could know if this
psycho had carved up a few more?
The victims had a few things
in common. They were all superheroines,
all between the ages of 18 and 25, all attractive, and none of them were too
powerful. Hence the deception. Aussie Girl was really the only one who
could do it. Shamrock and Star were the
right ages but Val had serious doubts about their ability to do… much of
anything frankly. While Robyn had a
bold streak bordering on recklessness and the fighting skills to match.
Of course she probably
wouldn’t even need them. Val estimated
that none of the known victims rated more than a 3 on the Wayne-Kent
Human/Superhuman axis. Since Aussie
Girl rated at least a 7 she should be more than capable of dealing with Red
Jack. Even if he proved more formidable
than they thought she had a GPS locator and a panic button on her at all times. One touch of the button and the whole team
would rush to her aid.
Still Val worried. Something about the pattern of Red Jack’s
crimes bothered her but she just couldn’t figure it out.
Finally she sighed and closed
the files, too much time looking at those pictures made her feel ill. Maybe a session with her Thrustmaster
vibrators and video collection would clear her mind…
***
Robyn really enjoyed the next
night. She busted up the offices of a
sleazy underground website called the Sorcerer’s Lair where perverts posted
photoshopped pictures of naked heroines.
They weren’t actually doing anything illegal but she still enjoyed
smashing their computers and breaking the webmaster’s fingers. That was the nice thing about being a
vigilante heroine, you could do stuff that would get Aussie Girl thrown in
jail. Next she planned to hit the
office of the Shadow Archive, another sleazy website specializing in stories
about heroines being raped.
She’d just swung to the next
rooftop when she heard it. A
high-pitched giggling on the wind. She
felt it next, an icy stab of fear up her spine. She looked right and left, her raven locks whipping around, but
saw nothing. Just some fog rolling
in. She shrugged her shoulders and
loaded another rope arrow.
The giggling started
again. She thought she heard a name in
it…
“Red Jack! RED
Jack! Red JACK! Hee-hee-hee.”
She froze.
Was this it?
She backed up against an
air-conditioning vent and panned her crossbow left and right. With her free hand she reached for her
choker. Hanging from it was a charm,
the female symbol with a fist. All she
had to do was push down on the fist and it would tell the Global Protectors to
come running.
There was a blur, a rush of
wind and suddenly her crossbow was cut in half and the charm was on the
ground. In front of her was the killer.
Robyn froze for a second, it
felt like he’d come out of nowhere. His
carrion stench hit her like a blow to the face. He wore a long leather coat and floppy hat that almost covered
his face; both were coated in layers of dried blood. Below the hat she could make out a smiling white plaster mask
that hid whatever he really looked like.
He giggled again and jumped
into the air. He gracefully
somersaulted behind her landing atop the duct and slashed again, cutting a few
strands of her hair.
Robyn regained her senses and
spun to face him letting loose a full-strength punch at the killer. Somehow he dodged at the last second,
flipping over her again and giggling.
She spun and punched.
He dodged and jumped.
This continued.
Bit by bit Robyn’s reactions
got faster, she’d managed this trick a few times, actually changing her
perceptions so that her mind and body moved at super speed. It was an incredible feeling but hard to
sustain for very long. Her fists became
blurs as she cut loose but as fast she moved, Red Jack moved faster.
Robyn started to get worried
and just a little afraid.
Once,
just once she saw an opening and struck hard and fast at his face smashing the
plaster mask and exposing the horror below.
His true face looked like a mass of rotting meat with glowing yellow
eyes staring back at her. She froze in
horror.
He jumped over her.
Too late she started to spin.
But this time her arms were
suddenly pinned and a rank odor filled her nostrils. His arms were around her, his head on her shoulder, the curved
knives locked together across her chest, their tips under her breasts, inside
her psychokinetic force field.
She froze. She was strong enough to break out (she
hoped) but any move would slice her tits off.
She snarled at the grotesque
monster, he giggled and moved his lips closer, closer…
“Fuck y-“ Robyn started.
The tongue shot out like a
bullet and lodged itself in her throat.
She heard a great sucking sound roaring in her ears, he vision went dim,
her body went limp.
Red Jack let go of her, his
foot-long tongue retracting into his bloody lips. He giggled again looking down at the vanquished heroine.
Then, without further ado he
leapt into the air, rising twenty feet from the ground, flipped over and gracefully
disappeared into the mist.
Robyn lay there for several
minutes until her strength returned.
“Fuck you too…” Robyn muttered from her aching throat and
retrieved her panic button medallion.
***
“He attacked you? That’s wonderful!”
“It didn’t feel too wonderful
when he was cutting me. This guy is
really scary, he’s not just some psycho either, if you saw him you’d know he’s
not human.”
“But you almost beat him you
said.”
“No. I said he almost beat me, I mean he was just
as fast as I am and the way he was jumping around I’m not sure if I could have
beaten him except by flying. Plus
somehow he knew to cut off my panic button and he even cut me on his way
out. Maple Leaf I’m really not sure-“
“Hey I understand Robyn. You’re scared and don’t want to face him
again. Perfectly understandable
really. Why don’t you just stay here
and rest, I mean you tried you best.
Maybe Val and I can come up with a new plan before he kills again.”
Maple Leaf turned to go.
“No! Wait, that’s, that’s not it at all. I just-“
Maple Leaf willed herself to
stop smiling and turned around.
“Are you sure? Really?
No one would blame you if-“
“Of course I’m sure! That bloody dingo can’t scare me that
easily. But I want some more
communicators if I’m going to do this; this one got cut off too easily.”
***
The next night the Femme
Avenger was on the prowl again, this time with additional trackers and panic
buttons hidden in her high heels and a radio hidden in each glove. Rising Sun swore the serial killer would
practically have to strip her naked before he got rid of all the different ways
she could call for help.
The Japanese heroine actually
laughed when she said that. Robyn
didn’t see the humor.
She hit some porn shops that
degrade womyn (she didn’t think they were doing anything illegal but hey,
better safe than sorry) and spent some time posing dramatically on top of
gargoyles but nothing interesting happened.
A couple of frat boys whistled at her but ran off when she started
shooting her crossbow.
After a few hours she was
getting pretty bored with the whole operation.
With her undercover, Aussie
Girl’s career was taking a hit. The
tabloids were already speculating that she had lost her powers or gotten
pregnant or was getting married. Stupid
serial killer, why didn’t he just come out and let her finishes this? She pulled out a cigarette and smoked it.
“Strewth. Got stood up by a serial killer, gotta be a
new low.”
***
A week went by. It was now mid-December.
Robyn barely spent more than
hour on her Femme Avenger patrols anymore.
No point if Mr. Psycho wasn’t going to show up. She’d told Maple Leaf that this was it. Aussie Girl had a new extreme sports video
coming out and she had to be
Aussie Girl really did want
to catch this freak but she just couldn’t just put her life on hold forever for
it.
So on her last night as the
Femme Avenger Robyn jumped from rooftop to rooftop stopping every so often to
pose dramatically.
“Come on Red Jack, hot young
overconfident heroine with huge tits right here… Come get some!”
Nothing.
“Bugger this.” She started heading for home. She took the direct route rather than all
the fancy twists and turns she’d used before.
It was December and way too cold to be running around in a lycra swim
suit. She couldn’t afford to catch a
cold; she had to be in top form for the video launch next week.
Robyn slipped through the
skylight and pulled off the heavy cape and cocker collar. There’d been a light drizzle that night and
the damn thing was wet and cold and probably would give her the flu. The buccaneer style boots followed, she
peeled them off and tossed them in a corner.
In order to fit in the tracking beacons and panic button Rising Sun had
had to add an extra inch to the heels.
They were murder just to walk in them much less jump around the
city. She wondered how Night Huntress
and the other vigilante heroines put up with it. Dressed only in the purple lycra swim suit (slit to her navel), gloves
and mask, Robyn headed to the bathroom for a long hot shower.
She didn’t notice the thick
fog gathering outside her windows.
Or the foot steps behind her.
She did stop at the bathroom
door though. She thought she’d heard
something in the living room, some sort of crack, like plastic snapping.
No.
It was probably nothing.
She pulled off the gloves and
dropped them on the floor.
She heard it again.
And a third time.
What the heck?
In her bare feet she slipped
down the hall towards the living room.
Her heart began to pound.
No, it couldn’t be.
She peeked into the living
room. Her boots where in the middle of
the floor, the hidden communicators crushed, little electronic bits scattered
uselessly on the floor.
Robyn gasped and spun around.
Her gloves!
She heard a snapping sound
from the bathroom.
The phone!
She grabbed it. No dial tone, it was dead.
She heard giggling behind her…
***
Maple Leaf threw up her arms
and stretched luxuriously.
She looked at her
spreadsheets and smiled. With the end
of the year coming up she’d put in a lot of late hours checking the
budget. Even after losing the British
funding and despite the unexpected expenses refurnishing the meeting room and
upgrading the computer system the Global Protectors had finished the year with
a pretty tidy profit. Of course since
the Global Protector Foundation was a non-profit organization that meant the
profit had to go away somehow.
Like bonuses to the
foundation’s chief executive officer maybe.
Maple Leaf wondered if she
should get an Olympic-sized pool for her house or buy herself a ranch in
She got up and headed for her
soundproofed ‘mediation room’ with its ‘comfortable chair’ when there was a
knock at the door.
“Come in! Oh hey Eliza working late too?”
“Yeah boss, I finally
finished checking the expense reports so now I’m just stopping by with the
mail.”
“Right, thanks Eliza. Say did the invite to-“
“The mayor’s Christmas
party? Sorry boss haven’t seen it.”
Eliza had enjoyed shredding it
two weeks ago. It was a bit of risk,
Maple Leaf and the mayor talked sometimes and they might compare notes but
Eliza enjoyed watching her boss squirm thinking she hadn’t been invited.
“Oh by the way, I was doing
payroll and I was wondering what I’m supposed to put down for Aussie Girl, she
hasn’t been to a meeting or on a mission in like month. Where’s she at? Should I dock her pay?”
“What? No, no… she’s um, on a job. In fact give her a bonus, say 50% of this
month’s salary.”
“Hmm? Did you just say bonus?” Eliza couldn’t remember Maple Leaf giving
her employees more money once in the eight months she’d been their office
manager. When Shamrock missed a week of
work while she was held captive by the Larceny League, Maple Leaf docked her
pay. Whatever Aussie Girl was working
on it had to be big.
“That’s what I said.” Maple Leaf flipped through the mail and
looked up. “Are you still here?”
“Right. Sorry boss, back to work.” Eliza slipped out the door.
As soon as the door closed
she started swearing under her breath.
Ever since Blackchrome hacked their computers and almost defeated the
whole team the GP had really tightened up security. Just a few months ago Eliza could look at almost any files in the
network. She’d found out all about ‘those’
cases, the ones superheroines never talked about, with pictures and video files
to go with the reports. She’d made some
nice money selling them to perverted underground websites. But now she found her access limited to
boring business stuff and was going crazy.
Lucky there was always more
ways to get info than computers. She
headed for the monitor room.
“Hey Shamrock!”
“What? Oh hi Eliza.” The Irish girl quickly minimized the advice website she’d been
reading (Eliza caught the headline, “10 Ways to Find a Nice Guy Who’ll Love
You”) and pretended she’d been looking at the monitor program. Eliza gave it a glance, Val, Maple Leaf and
Shamrock were at headquarters but the rest of the team was off enjoying themselves. Aussie Girl’s signal was missing like it had
been for the last month.
“Say Shannon I have some mail
for Aussie Girl, do you know when she’d due back at the
“Oh, I really don’t know,
she’d supposed to be undercover and stuff.”
“Right, right, the uh…
(mumble, mumble) case.”
“Yeah, isn’t it terrible?”
“Oh yeah. Awful.
And y’know what I think the worst thing is?”
“You mean how Maple Leaf sent
her out alone as bait? I’m so worried
about her but I’m not even allowed to call her cause Maple Leaf thinks that serial
killer might notice if she gets a call from one of us. Even her tracking beacons won’t activate
until she turns them on.”
“Right, right” Eliza lied
smoothly. “And that serial killer,
scary stuff huh?”
“Oh Eliza, if you had seen
those pictures, that poor girl just cut to pieces. I know our powers should protect us but I just keep thinking
about it. Y’know she was a heroine just
like us, Aussie and La Sola even met her.”
“Yeah, scary stuff. Say did they ever get a name for that serial
killer guy?”
“I’m not sure but I think I
heard Maple Leaf and Val calling him Red Jack or something.”
“Right, Red Jack, now I
remember. Well I’m sure she’ll be fine
right? She’s a superheroine, nothing
bad ever happens to you guys!” She
slapped Shamrock on the shoulder.
The Irish girl just looked
away. “I… guess…” She tried not to think about her week with
the Larceny League.
***
Robyn spun around and saw her
attacker at the end of the hall. His
misshapen face was fixed in a hideous grin and he was giggling
uncontrollably. Sharp shiny knives
rested comfortably in his meaty paws.
He was 30 feet away.
Robyn was the fastest and
most maneuverable flier in the Global Protectors. Before becoming a heroine she had been a gymnast and a
swimmer. Soaring through the air was
second nature to her, unlike some of the others like Star who flew with all the
grace of a drowning kitten. She could
hover in place, stop or turn on a dime and break the sound barrier in fifteen
seconds. She was more than a little
proud of these facts. Sure Tigress was
stronger and Valkyrie was smarter but Aussie Girl could fly rings around
them. Robyn should have been able to
levitate off the floor and fly out her window before Red Jack even moved.
But she didn’t.
She was rooted to the ground
with fear.
Red Jack advanced slowly,
giggling as he walked, running the two knives against each other to make a
hideous screech.
And Robyn still could not
move.
The knives became silver
blurs, her taut stomach burned as they drew thin red lines across her tight
abdominal muscles.
Robyn screamed and threw a
punch; it missed her attacker and dented the wall. Suddenly he was behind her, one blade cut the top of her buttocks
while its twin drew blood from her shoulder.
Robyn spun and threw another
punch but her eyes were already filled with tears. How was this asshole cutting her? What was wrong with her powers?
A knife cut her cheek, a few
seconds later his snake-like tongue licked the blood.
More slashes hit her body,
passing through her psychokinetic field like it was tissue paper. None were deep, but all drew blood, and the
freak’s tongue would whip out and lick at them.
She grabbed the glass coffee
table and swung it like a cricket bat, Red Jack bent over backwards to dodge
and the glass top hit the wall and shattered.
Robyn felt the glass shards
hitting her through her field.
She was getting too
weak. Her costume was reduced to purple
ribbons of lycra and spandex. Her tan
skin was covered in blood, sweat and tears.
And she hadn’t even landed a punch.
She needed room, this asshole
was fast but he couldn’t fly, then she could find a phone, or head for the Gaea
building… get the whole team and turn this dick into hamburger!
She spun and headed for the
window. Her bare feet landed on some
glass, she stumbled to her knees.
Red Jack jumped on her back
pinning her on her stomach. His strong
hands gripped her wrists pulling them over her head and she felt his legs
pushing hers apart.
“N-no…”
The tongue whipped out
jamming itself between her teeth. She
bit down but the tentacle-like appendage was tougher than leather.
Then she felt something
probing the crotch of her costume.
Something thick and wet. It
pushed against the thin lycra covering her sex. She could feel the fabric start to tear.
Her eyes went wide.
She buckled and struggled and
tried to scream. She cried and moaned
and tried to beg. She lost feeling in
her fingers and toes. She felt like
twin vacuums were sucking the life from her.
She could also feel traces of
something from her attacker. Maybe she
imagined it but she felt she could hear pleas and cries from other women in her
head.
Then things went dim.
***
It was after ten o’clock when
Eliza finally got back to her office in the subbasement. Once she had an idea where Robyn was she’d
found all sorts of unexplained purchase orders and vouchers that lead right
back to her. A lycra swimsuit and
matching cape from Cockrum’s Custom Costumes, rent on an apartment near Mega U,
one semester’s tuition… Maple Leaf was spending a fortune on this job. What was her angle? Maple Leaf never spent a dime unless it
would lead to a dollar down the road.
Maybe she really wanted to
get this Red Jack guy? Nah. Probably just wanted the publicity for
catching him or something.
She opened the door to her
office and was greeted by the musty scent of sweat, semen and vaginal
juices. The usual. The Global Protectors almost never came in
there but La Sola had noticed the pervasive smell when she stopped by a few
weeks back to check on her royalties.
Eliza had thrown her off the scent (so to speak) telling her it was a
water leak and mildew.
Heh.
Hard to believe that La Sola
doesn’t know what sex smells like.
The night janitor Greg, one
of the juvenile delinquents hired as part of the Global Protectors’ Second
Chance Program (for just a bit less than minimum wage as it happened) was
sitting on the desk as Kristen, Eliza’s old high school buddy and current
secretary lovingly sucked his cock and fingered herself.
Eliza patted the blond on her
empty little head and she moaned softly.
“Hey keep up the good work
cumslut. How’s she doing there Greg?”
“Not bad, not bad at
all.” The 16 year old drug dealer
replied with a wicked grin.
“Really?” Eliza smiled. She lifted her hand and smacked her secretary upside the head and
knocking her to the floor. Kristen
started to cry, Greg jumped up his hands balling to fists. Eliza gestured to him to stop and kicked
Kristen in the gut.
“Useless cunt! ‘Not bad’ my ass! Now get back on your knees and give this nice man the best damn
blowjob of his life. Or would you
rather we play ‘ant farm’ again? I’ve
got some honey in my office.”
“N-no Eliza, I’ll be good,
I’ll try harder, I-I promise!” The
blond nodded her head several times to emphasize the point. The terrified girl really did not want to
play ant farm ever again!
Eliza scowled at her for a
few seconds but then waved for her to get back to work. She was really proud of what she’d
accomplished with her old cheerleading captain. Months of drugs, psychological manipulation and good old
fashioned gang-banging had turned the perky, eager cheerleading champ into a
terrorized, submissive sex slave. As
far as Eliza was concerned that was about what Kristen deserved after that
whole ‘strip mall’ thing back when they were in high school. Not only did she let them get kidnapped and
raped by villains but she helped the Global Protectors cover it up. At least Eliza thought she did, her memory
was a bit fuzzy. But Kristen definitely
did something and the GP were in on it.
She still hadn’t decided what her final revenge on the GP would be, but
she was working on it.
She sat down at her computer
and started thinking.
What to do? What to do?
With Aussie Girl out there on
her own there were so many options. She
could just sell the teen heroine’s location to one of her enemies and let them
do it. Or she could take a direct hand,
maybe drug her and sell the bitch herself; Eliza had some experience with that.
Of course there was also this serial
killer guy, what was his name Freddy Mack?
Maybe he’d like a partner.
Eliza sat back and put her
feet up. She called for Greg to come
in. It was going to be a long pleasant
night she figured.
***
When Aussie Girl painfully
returned to consciousness Red Jack was off of her, standing on the other side
of the living room staring at her Barbara Kruger ‘Your Body is a Battleground’
poster and prints of some of Georgia O’Keeffe’s more yonic flowers. He seemed to be glowing with a faint red
aura. Suddenly he waved his arm in a
dramatic slash, the posters were cut in half and the wall itself was dented.
Robyn didn’t take any more
time to watch. She knew this might be
her last chance. She crawled towards
the window and struggled to her feet.
Red Jack didn’t even move to
stop her but stood giggling.
She jumped through the glass
into the void.
She jumped and she fell.
The Australian girl screamed
as she fell. She squeezed her eyes
shut; reached deep inside and just five feet from the hard asphalt finally
managed a shaky recovery. Her flight
was uneven and was tiring her quickly but she still managed to climb above the
buildings into the night sky. She
looked behind her. No one. Red Jack was scary but at least he couldn’t
fly.
She turned towards the
***
Below her Red Jack watched
and giggled. He knew what was
coming. He couldn’t wait.
Effortlessly he rose into the
air and flew after her.
***
It was a beautiful autumn
night, crisp and cool but not yet too cold.
The sky was clear and the stars shined down on the
The shining glass and steel
building was just over two years old and was already a landmark for the people
of Megapolis. Situated on in fifty
wooded acres an hours drive (or 15 minute flight) from downtown on the banks of
the St. Giffen River this complex houses the Global Protectors’ high-tech labs,
supersonic jets, global monitor, trophies and meeting room. It is protected by a sophisticated security
system and several non-lethal weapons.
Visitors come through the
main entrance located between two long thin wings of the building that meet
there at a V. The hourglass shaped body
of the building continues from there until it reaches the round firm twin domes
that are the building’s trademark.
Mr. Larson, the architect,
claimed the two domes represent the two hemispheres of the globe that these
gorgeous heroines protect but for some reason a lot of men suspected something
different. Maybe it was the way he kept
giggling when he said it.
In any case the
It is the place they feel
safe.
For now.
***
With the budget finally done
Maple Leaf strolled outside enjoying the weather, she loved this time of year
in Megapolis, it reminded her of her native
The base was quiet. The gardeners and other staff had all gone
home leaving just the night janitor and maybe Eliza and Kristen. Those two never seemed to go home! Maple Leaf figured they were just heroine
fans eager to help out. And since they
were on salary and didn’t get overtime all the better.
Most of the team was
out. Shamrock was in the monitor room
pulling the graveyard shift (as usual), Valkyrie was locked in her lab doing
something mysterious (as usual) but the rest of the team was out and about,
attending Christmas parties or just spending some quiet time at home.
Maple Leaf looked forward to
joining them and rose into the night air humming ‘It’s beginning to look a lot
like Christmas’.
***
Aussie Girl felt her strength
starting to wane again, but she reached deep inside and sped up.
Soon, ahead of her she saw
someone, (Maple Leaf!), flying over the headquarters. She was safe at last!
She accelerated.
***
“What the fu-“ Maple Leaf
yelled as a half naked, bleeding heroine tackled her in mid air. They fell together almost hitting the ground
before Maple Leaf recovered and turned a crash into a landing. Her young teammate slumped to the ground
panting.
“H-he found me… Red Jack… he…”
She passed out in Maple
Leaf’s arms.
“Damn it.” The Canadian heroine muttered. So much for a quiet night at home.
***
“Multiple lacerations,
fatigue, psychokinetic field at 12%, evidence of, um, sexual assault... it
looks like she made it here just in time.”
“Oh no! Val will she be OK? Tell me she’ll be OK!”
“Well Shamrock her enhanced
healing has already kicked in, that’s one of the reasons she passed out, her
body needs all of its energy to repair itself.”
“But she’ll be OK right? I mean you can help her right?”
“Yes Shamrock, I can help
her, she should recover physically in a few hours.”
Shamrock breathed a sigh of
relief. She was sitting the med lab
holding her injured friend’s hand and stroking her forehead.
“Hear that Robyn? You’ll be fine, just relax and rest and
you’ll be OK.” Shamrock didn’t know if
her friend could hear her but tried to sound cheerful just in case.
The door opened and Maple
Leaf walked in moving quickly. “OK I’ve
summoned the rest of the team here they should be here in fifteen to twenty
minutes (even Star). I also put the
Gaea building on red alert and told Greg, Kristen and Eliza to stay in the
basement. No one but Global Protectors
can get in or out now.”
Shamrock breathed a sigh of
relief and relayed the information to her friend.
“Hear that Robyn? You’ll be fine, no one’s going to hurt you
and we’re all going to get that creep OK?”
Val motioned for Maple Leaf
to join her in the back room, they closed the soundproof door.
“How bad is it? Can she talk?”
“I can give her a stimulant
but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.
Besides the obvious something is very wrong with her. Even after a beating like that her
psychokinetic abilities should recover much faster. This is almost like the time Draino got a hold of her…”
“I hear you but we have to
face facts. We were sure this guy was
just some psycho, a 2 maybe a 3 on Wayne-Kent.
But if he could do this to Aussie… We have to know how he did it before
I send the whole team after him.”
“I can try.”
“Do your best.”
Outside Shamrock continued to
whisper comforting words to her friend.
“Don’t even worry, I’m sure Tigress will find the guy and twist him up
like a pretzel! Or maybe La Sola and I
will find him and pull him in half like a wishbone! We have the whole team coming in Robyn-“
“Say uh, Shamrock, could you
uh, check the monitors for me. Make
sure everyone is on their way?”
“But Maple Leaf, Aussie needs
me-“
“Actually Shamrock Aussie
Girl needs rest and I must ask that you stop disturbing her.”
“Oh…sorry Val!” Shamrock dropped Aussie Girl’s hand like a
hot potato and stumbled to her feet.
“Sorry Aussie Girl, you just rest OK?
Get some sleep and you’ll feel better!”
She gently kissed her friend on the forehead and gingerly crept out the
room. Maple Leaf rolled her eyes behind
the Irish girl’s back.
As soon as she was out the
door, “OK, do it.”
Val nodded and injected the
injured girl with 30ccs of adrenaline.
Aussie Girl screamed and sat
up. Val hugged her shoulders before she
could fall back down. Maple Leaf leaned
close and looked right in her eyes.
“Talk to me Robyn. What did that monster do?”
“H-he… he’s not just a
killer… he… y’know… and I felt weaker and weaker… I think somehow he was
draining me and I could feel something from him too… he’s old… really old… and
he’s killed girls before… a lot of them… and I think he took their power… and…I
could hear them inside… crying…”
Aussie Girl’s head slumped
forward. Maple Leaf looked at Valkyrie;
the Swede shook her head and lowered the Australian to the bed.
“I was starting to suspect
that was the case. I’ve made some
headway in White Crane’s diary and she says something similar. What’s more I think there was more to her
than just a martial artist. Some of the
things she writes imply she had precognitive powers, in fact some of the
entries almost seem like they were written for people who would come after her.”
“Shame she didn’t think to
write in English, we might have known this weeks ago.” Maple Leaf’s frown deepened. “OK so odds are he has some of Aussie’s
power and could drain any of us as well.
That’s bad but we’ve fought guys who drain powers before, Draino, the
Dark Count and all that. We just have
to work together and stay out of his hands.”
Valkyrie nodded. “You’ll brief the team?”
“Yeah. We’ll have to split up to search the city
and draw him out but I want you and Tigress back here to come help whoever
finds him.”
“You don’t think he’ll come
back here to finish the job?”
“Val, that would be the best
thing ever. He’d never get through our
security system and all we’d have to do is pick up the pieces. No, I’m more afraid that now that he knows
who he’s up against he’ll just go to ground in the city and look for easier
prey. That’s why we have to move now
and hope we find him.”
***
Outside the team was
beginning to arrive.
Rising Sun was first, she’d
had to excuse herself from a party with some Japanese investors who supported
the team.
Tigress was next; she had
just finished ‘disciplining’ some gangers in the old warehouse district.
La Sola took a bit longer;
she’d been at a dance club and could barely hear the panic button signal over
the music.
Star was last. She’d actually been at home watching a video
of herself but didn’t want anyone to think she was unimportant and could just
drop everything because Maple Leaf pushed a button.
None of them were too worried
about being in the Gaea building. Like
Maple Leaf said the electro-cannons, sonic disruptors and gooey guns would keep
out anyone who wasn’t a Global Protector.
The security system was
foolproof. Rising Sun had designed it
herself. Anyone trying to enter was
scanned, only people who matched the psychokinetic fields of the members were
let in, and then only if they had a Global Protector communicator on them. So no one but the team could get in.
Right?
***
>Gaea Building Status – Red Alert
>Intruder detected sector 5
>Electro-cannons 4-6 armed
>Scanning for Psychokinetic Field
>Positive Identification – Member #006 Codename: Aussie Girl
>Scanning for communicator
>Positive Identification – Member #006 Codename: Aussie
Girl/Undercover Alias Femme Avenger
>Electro-cannons 4-6 disarmed
>Access granted.
***
Giggling Red Jack landed
gracefully in the woods outside the headquarters the Femme Avenger’s
communicator charm handing from a rag on his body. He ran his knives against each other making a hideous screech.
A thick fog began to surround
the building.
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