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

December 2004


 

Chapter 3 – Silent Night, Deadly Night

 

“So that’s the situation.”

The seven heroines looked at each other grimly.  

“Aussie Girl will be OK right?”  Shamrock finally asked.

“Yes Shamrock, I’m sure she’ll be fine.  Now I need all of you to split up and search the city for Red Jack.  Maps with your patrol routes are by the door.  Soon as you see him hit your panic button and we’ll finish this.  Any questions?  Good.  Let’s go.”

The heroines stood up and started to filter out.  Except for Star who sat back in her chair, put her feet up and asked “So boss, what exactly makes you think we can find this guy?  I mean the odds of one of us spotting him flying around the city is pretty fricking low y’know.  Course from what you were saying before your last big plan was to hang Aussie Gal out there as bait and then get him.  You wouldn’t be planning to use us that way would you now?”

The others stopped in their tracks and looked at their leader.  Maple Leaf had underestimated Star again.  While the bleach blonde came off as an idiot most of the time, Star definitely had talent when it came to avoiding work or danger.

“What?  Uh, no, of course not.  Using you guys as bait.  That would be pretty awful of me ay?”  The Canadian heroine tried to smile innocently.  “It’s not like I knew Red Jack could really hurt us ay?”

The others weren’t buying it.

“That’s good boss, cause if you did I think Aussie’s lawyers would be pretty interested.  But now that you do know… why exactly are you sending us after him alone?”

The room dissolved into shouting and screaming as questions, threats and insults were hurled at both Maple Leaf and Star.  

***

Tigress rolled her eyes and slipped out a side door.  ‘To hell with this’ she figured.  ‘There’s a villain out there, one of our sisters lies near death and the others are fighting like children.’  Tigress knew she could take care of Red Jack in the time it took the others to finish their squabbling.  Which is what she usually did anyway.

Her high heels clicked loudly on the marble floors of the Gaea building.  She noticed the lights seemed uncommonly dim and the headquarters unusually quiet.  

The hair on the back of her head stood up.  

Her nostrils flared and she caught the scent of blood in the air.  It could just be from Aussie Girl’s wounds but somehow Tigress knew this blood was much, much older.  She heard a giggle.

She smiled.

This was going to be easier than she thought.

She followed the trail out of the Gaea Building into the woods around it.  

All the better.

This way she could deal with this villain in privacy without those pesky surveillance cameras around.  She could slowly, carefully, take this monster apart bit by agonizing bit.  It was the least she could do for Aussie Girl.

She walked into the woods with a smile on her face.

***

Valkyrie noticed Tigress slipping out and relaxed.  Tigress was by far the most competent member of the team.  Odds were the Kenyan woman would finish this case before the rest of the group was even done arguing.  

The team seemed to have broken down into two camps.

Shamrock and Maple Leaf wanted them to go out immediately and search for the killer while Star, La Sola and Rising Sun wanted them to consider other options (although they had no specific suggestions about what those might be).  In the process old wounds about salary, royalties, kidnappings and boyfriends had been brought up with Maple Leaf practically accusing Rising Sun of betraying them and La Sola demanding a raise or she’d quit the team.  Both groups accused the other of not caring about Aussie Girl.

Valkyrie shook her head and wondered what to do.  She’d stayed quiet while they fought and could see both camps sneaking looks at their Ice Queen expecting her to come up with a brilliant idea that would save the day.  

But Val had no ideas.  

Except maybe to mind control everyone and make them forget this night ever happened.  

Not such a bad idea when she thought about it.

***

Tigress and Red Jack, two predators, faced each other 20’ apart in a clearing surrounded by thick fog.

She had no quips or threats for the deformed monster.  Just a glare that promised his destruction.

Red Jack just giggled and ran his knives together.  

After almost a minute, she charged.

Predictably the monster leapt out of the way but Tigress knew he’d try something like that.

Aussie Girl always liked to brag about her flying skills, Tigress let her live with her delusions of being the best flier on the team.  She had long ago resigned herself to the fact her teammates would never live up to their potential and it was essential to humor them.  

Tigress didn’t even break her stride she simply rose into the air and kicked the killer across the clearing.  When he hit the oak with a loud squishing sound Tigress was already accelerating towards him.  

He swung the knives; she shattered them easily with her forearms.  They were just steel.  Not nearly as tough as her.   

He tried for another jump; she caught his leg and slammed him into the ground.  His spine bent at an impossible angle.

He stopped giggling.

Tigress smiled.

This was going to be easy.

She picked him up again and tossed his broken body against another tree 50 feet away.  The Kenyan figured she had at least an hour alone with her prey before the others bothered to check on her.  She started wondering if she would leave enough of him to go to jail or not.  

She thought of Aussie Girl.

Not.

“It was terrible, his body just disintegrated when he fell unconscious.”  The cops would buy that one.  They had before.  

She strode towards him a cocky grin on her face.  Around her the fog was starting to lift.

“Little man, you will beg before you die.”

The broken killer just twitched on the ground.

“I just hope enough of your spine is intact for you to feel pain.”

The killer started to giggle but it became painful coughs.

Ten feet away Tigress stopped.  Something was wrong.  She didn’t know what but-

“AH!”

Tigress cried out and felt herself knocked back across the clearing into another tree.  Rising to her feet she felt something sticky on her chest.

She looked down.

Her costume had been torn open and thin cuts crossed her breasts.  Her wrist communicators were shattered, their ceramic/titanium casings cut open like tin cans.  She blinked a few times unable to believe what had happened.  

Tigress had faced mad gods and alien warlords without breaking a sweat.  A direct hit from Dr. Darkness’ Negaton ray had not even fazed her.  How…?

Red Jack had risen to his feet seemingly unharmed.  A red glow surrounded him growing thicker and brighter around his hands.  The red energy almost looked like knives.

He started to giggle.

***

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”  Valkyrie screamed.  “Are you going to argue all night or are you going to do something?”

The others fell silent looking vaguely ashamed.  

“I don’t know about the rest of you but I for one intend to find Red Jack grind him into hamburger.  After what he did to poor sweet Aussie Girl how can we do anything less?!”

Rising Sun and La Sola looked deeply sorry.  Maple Leaf stood there with an unbearable smirk on her face.

“AND YOU!  Maple Leaf how can you even think of sending them out as bait?”

“But-“

“Here’s what we’re going to do.  Since Red Jack drained Aussie’s powers, Rising Sun come with me, we’re going to modify one of our security scanners to track Aussie Girl’s psychokinetic signature.  La Sola, Maple Leaf and Star you will head into the city together and be ready for our call.  Shamrock go to the monitor room and see where Tigress is, she may have found something by now.  Got it?  Good.”

The Swede turned on her heel and stormed out.

After a minute Rising Sun reluctantly followed.

After several minutes of awkward muttering the others also left.

Val’s plan wasn’t bad and would have worked.

If she had thought of it ten minutes earlier.

***

Val didn’t even care if Rising Sun followed her or not.  She’d do the work herself if she had to, it seemed like she always ended up doing most of the work anyway while the others were off at parties or TV shows or whatever it was they did.

Valkyrie loved her teammates of course, all of them.  But sometimes they could be so frustrating…  

Her high heels clicked on the cement floors of the subbasement as she headed for the storage room.  She was so angry she didn’t even notice the wisps of fog sneaking into the corridor.  

She pulled down an extra scanner from the shelf and opened the box as she headed back towards her lab.  All she had to do was calibrate it to Aussie’s signature and then boost the range.  And then they’d pound this new villain into the dirt.  

But then what?

Maple Leaf’s high-handed leadership was starting to hurt the team.  She had known that Aussie Girl was in more danger than she’d said.  And whatever she said now she had been planning to use the rest of the team as bait.  

But the other’s growing cowardice was a problem too.  After years of celebrity status it was getting hard to convince some of these heroines to risk their pretty faces fighting crime.  

In most teams the only solution would be honest communication and working out their differences.  It could take months and it might not even work.  But for Valkyrie and the Global Protectors there was another easier option…

A few years back Val had obtained a mind control device from a defeated foe.  She’d used it sparingly at first to secretly massage her teammates’ memories and give them the strength to carry on even after a difficult or disastrous battle.  Over time it seemed she needed it more and more and now used it nearly every week.  But so far she had refrained from crossing the lines she had set for herself, refrained from using it for anything other than restoring her friends’ mental health.  But that didn’t mean she could not use it for other things…

The more she thought about it the more justified it seemed.  After all, wasn’t she just restoring the team to where it was two years ago?  Just bringing back the same spirit of cooperation they had lost?  That wasn’t bad was it?  And they’d never even know.  

She arrived at the lab and noticed with satisfaction that Aussie Girl was sleeping peacefully and with irritation that Rising Sun had yet to arrive.  Brainwashing them all seemed like a better idea all the time.

So far Tigress was the only one who had figured out her secret and the Kenyan reluctantly approved.  In her world there was only the strong and the weak and Tigress was willing to go along with anything that would strengthen the others.  For her part it seemed Tigress never needed help.  The Kenyan heroine was very private but she had shared with Valkyrie how she defeated over a dozen villains on her own, hunting them down seemingly out of boredom.  Val didn’t approve but she could hardly argue.  Tigress had a nearly perfect record against her prey.  

Val wondered if Tigress had found Red Jack yet.  

She put the scanner down on a bit of clear space on the workbench and started unscrewing the outer casing.

She froze.

Something was wrong.

She heard something outside.  

She opened the door but there was no one there, either to the right or to the left.  

Then she looked down.

There was a bloody scrap of spandex decorated with a shield and two African spears.

Tigress’ costume.

Val opened her mouth to scream.

Faster than she could react a hand came from behind her stuffing a sweet smelling rag in her open mouth.

Her vision went dim.

***

Upstairs Shamrock, La Sola and Star waited outside Maple Leaf’s office while she made an urgent call.  Maple Leaf was doing she had not done since she started the team.

She was calling for help.

“Hello!  Avenging League of Justice satellite headquarters, this is Blue Archer speaking.”

“Hello.  This is Maple Leaf… from the Global Protectors” (she added this in case Blue Archer lived in a cave in Afghanistan and didn’t know who she was) “we uh…”

“Oh right, the Global Protectors.  How are you guys doing?”

“Well, uh, we sort of need… help.”

She explained the situation leaving out as many embarrassing details as she could.  

“So… do you think Ultra Woman or Apollo can come down and uh… help us?”

“Well, I dunno.  They’re kind of busy with like, important things like that earthquake in Taiwan and the Skrill Invasion.  This guy’s just a serial killer right?”

“Uh, yeah, just a serial killer.”

“Doesn’t sound like the sort of thing we need to call the big guys for.  Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”

 “Uh… right.  What about say… Sea King?”

“You got a plan that involves swimming or talking to fish?”

“No.”  

“Then he won’t do you much good.”

“White Witch?”

“She kind of went crazy and tried to kill us all during the Disassembly Crisis, so she’ll be out of action for at least a few weeks.”

“Nightbat?  He’s a master detective.”

“Sorry he’s out in Berkley fighting some hippies.”

“Crazy drugged out hippy eco-terrorists?”

“No, just regular old ‘no blood for oil’ hippies.  He really hates those guys.”

“Right.  What about Colonel Liberty?  He’s your master strategist right?”

“Sorry, he’s at the airport fighting the Germans and Japanese.”

“Time-traveling World War II invaders?”

“Nope, tourists I think.  He kind of has these flashbacks y’know.  We just let him loose and pay for the damages later.”

“What about you then?”

“Oh, I don’t think you’d want my help.  What was that you said in Capes & Masks Magazine? Something about dumb ass archer heroes trying to pretend they’re useful? Guess you wouldn’t want someone useless like me right?”

“I, uh, it was out of context!”

“Sure it was.”

“So what you’re saying is…”

“Sorry lady.  Can’t help you.”  

Blue Archer broke the connection with a smile.  He’d been wanting to tell off those Glorified Prostitutes ever since Star humiliated him in front of the whole team.  He wasn’t too worried.  He was sure it would turn out fine.  Even those glory hogs could handle some lunatic with knives.

Maple Leaf crushed the receiver in anger.  That asshole!  Probably just jealous that no one bought his crappy action figures.  She thought about calling the Ex-Titans or someone but what was the point.  They’d all be the same.  Besides, she’d already crushed the receiver.

***

Groogy, Valkyrie awoke to find herself strapped to one of her own special examination tables.  Her hands were at her side at about a 45° angle out from her body.  Her feet were also spread apart.  Her wrists ankles and neck were all bound with titanium steel cuffs held in place on the table by powerful electromagnets.  She strained against them but they didn’t budge.  The magnets drew power from the Gaea Building’s fusion reactor and the bond could be as strong as it needed to be.  Val had designed the table to hold anyone this side of Bruticus; she had never imagined she would be bound on it herself.  She pulled anyway; perhaps her captor had not set it correctly?  No, no such luck.

The table had been tilted upright, Val was facing the lab.

“Wakey, wakey, hee-hee-hee”

And her captor.

Valkyrie stifled a scream.  

Red Jack’s filthy cloak and rags were now surrounded by a red nimbus of energy.  As he twitched his fingers the energy shaped itself into knives and claws.  Was this how he used his stolen psychokinetic energy?

She had not seen him before, and had only the brief descriptions from Aussie Girl and White Crane’s diaries to prepare her.  It wasn’t enough.

The smell alone was enough to make her gag, rotting meat mixed with coagulating blood and spent semen.  Valkyrie felt her stomach churn as the stench hit her. She bit her lip and willed herself to be calm.  She had taken on worse foes than this before.  Until she figured a way to get free she had to stay calm.  Stall.  Keep him talking.  Learn more.  Keep him from cutting.

“Not bad Red Jack.  Not bad at all.  Of course you’ve had a lot of experience at this haven’t you?  Fifty years?  More?”

“Long, long ago… cut ‘em up good.”

“Cut who up Red Jack?  Why?”

“Sniker-snak, pretty girls, pretty whores, all fall down.”

“Whores? Prostitutes?  Red Jack what did you-“

“Eight little whores with no hope of heaven… you may save one, now there are seven.” He looked at Aussie Girl unconscious in her bed and trailed off into giggles.  

That sounded familiar… where had Val heard it before?  “Eight?  Eight girls?  Do you mean the Global Protectors?”

“Seven little whores begging for a shilling… one goes to the woods, then there’s a killing.”

“Tigress?  Tigress!  Red Jack is she dead?”

“Six little whores, glad to be alive…”

The red energy became a blade, he slashed at Val’s chest and blood splattered.

“One slides up to Jack, and then there are five.”

***

Rising Sun rubbed her aching head as she walked into the lab.  She was embarrassed to admit it but somehow she’d gotten lost on the way.  She’d had a dizzy spell and wandered to the opposite side of the building.  And all the way back to lab a terrible headache and nauseous feeling had been growing.

“Hello?  Val-san sorry I’m late gomen nasai.  Val?  Val?”

The lab was empty except for the sleeping form of poor Aussie Girl.  The Japanese heroine noticed a psychokinetic sensor on the counter top but from the looks of things Val hadn’t even started working on it.

“Baka Val, first you yell at me for wasting time, then you disappear.”  Rising Sun’s stomach turned again, the headache got worse.  She paced a bit and almost slipped in a wet patch.  Strange, Val usually kept the lab spotless.  Rising Sun tried to look at what she’d stepped in but her eyes wouldn’t focus right.  The headache had become blinding.  She hit her communicator and signaled Val but got no reply.  She felt seriously sick so she grabbed a piece of paper, scribbled a quick note and headed upstairs to her office to lie down for a bit.  Val could buzz her when she was ready to go to work.

***

“NO!  Kisume!  NO!  Please no… please Rising Sun you have to hear me!”

Valkyrie struggled against the restraints with all her might and shouted until she was hoarse but nothing she did could get Rising Sun’s attention.  The Asian girl looked right at her more than once but each time her eyes rested on her Swedish comrade she would grimace with pain and hold her head.  

Red Jack crouched next to her, licking her blood from his fingers and giggling to himself.

Finally she left and Valkyrie’s hopes were crushed.  Shallow cuts already crisscrossed her body and she could tell Red Jack was just getting started.

The rags between his legs started to quiver as his tentacle-like member emerged.

Valkyrie screamed!

***

Maple Leaf stormed out of her office past Shamrock and La Sola.  

“Let’s go- hey where’s Star?”

“She, uh…”

“She kind of…”

“She ran didn’t she?”

“I think she said she was going to check on security downstairs.”

“Of course she is.  She’s probably hiding somewhere waiting for us to take of Red Jack.”

“I guess we should get going and look for-“

“No.  Enough is enough.  Fucking Star is coming with us if I have to drag her by her dark roots.  Come on.”

***

Star hummed her theme song ‘Star-Spangled Smasher’ as she locked the vault door.  It’s not that she didn’t care about Aussie Girl or that poor Chinese chick, she just figured she’d let Tigress or someone handle this one.  After all she handled that mission cleaning up hurricane damage in Barbados; someone else could take care of this one.  And she was going to be on celebrity Weakest Link tomorrow night, she couldn’t risk getting cut or something.  

The vault had a titanium door and its own air supply.  Once the door was locked nothing short of the Incredible Behemoth could get in.  After that Incubus guy and Blackchrome she’d realized that even the Gaea Building wasn’t safe so she’d scouted out the vault as a good hidey-hole.  She’d just wait here till she heard the ‘all-clear’ and then come out to celebrate with the team.  

Just in case she turned off her communicator bracelets and put them on the floor.  She also undid her choker (with the concealed GPS tracker) and turned that off too.  Then she pulled off her boots and lay back on a pile of flying carpets Tigress has captured from that Arab wizard last month.  

After a few minutes she started to wish she’d brought a copy of Vogue or a portable TV or something, she was so bored.  

Surely the others must have left by now?

Eliza usually had stuff to read; Star could just slip over to her office and get back to the vault in no time flat.  Yeah.

She opened the door and slipped out, leaving her boots and communicators behind.

She heard footsteps and ducked into Val’s lab.  She saw her teammates go by.  

***

Searching the Gaea Building Shamrock, La Sola and Maple Leaf came across Rising Sun asleep in her office with her head on the desk.  The Japanese heroine muttered something about a bad headache.  Maple Leaf just scowled and told her to get in formation.  

Irritated the Global Protectors’ leader tired again to reach Val, Tigress or Star on her communicator.  Nothing.

The four heroines headed downstairs to search the basement.

“Star’s not here.”

“Don’t be so sure.”  Maple Leaf picked up a red white and blue high heeled boot from the floor of the vault.  

“Why would she…”

“You don’t think…”

Maple Leaf’s expression turned deadly serious.

“He’s here.”

“No!”

“What?”

“Think about it.  Val, Tigress and Rising Sun aren’t answering their communicators and now Star disappears but leaves her boots and communicator behind?  He’s here.  And he’s picking us off one by one.”

Shamrock and La Sola froze in fear.

***

Red Jack pulled his thick tongue from the Scandivian’s mouth.  Val’s head slumped down and she finally passed out.  Her fabled strength was gone, there was nothing left.

Red Jack giggled and raised a glowing hand.  

“Going to pull out yer kidney and eat it up real nice.”

He heard footsteps outside.  Too many his stolen instincts told him.  

Then one of them entered alone.  She looked around but could not penetrate his psychic veil.  Then she left.  He giggled again and followed.

***

Eliza dropped her last cigarette as she came.  She was sitting on her desk while Greg sat in her chair eagerly attacking her pussy with his tongue.  Kristen knelt on the floor (where she belongs!) sucking his dick and fingering herself.  

Maple Leaf had called a while back telling them to stay in the office until she gave an all-clear so Eliza had decided to make the best of it.  

But now she was out of cigarettes.

She shoved Greg off of her and headed for the door.  She typed in Maple Leaf’s pass code (hey boss here’s a hint, never leave your pass code on a yellow sticky note labeled ‘pass code”) and opened the security door.

The coast was clear but if there was a problem she sure wasn’t going out there.

“Hey Greg go get me some smokes will you.  La Sola usually keeps a pack in her top drawer.”

“Uh… OK.”  The juvenile delinquents learned pretty fast that you did what Eliza told you or you ended up back in juvenile hall with some new charges.  

Eliza turned back towards Kristen, she felt like a rim job.

The seventeen year old boy walked three steps out the door and screamed.

Eliza spun around and found herself face to face with Red Jack.  

Greg was on his back with his throat cut, and standing over him was a nightmare from every slasher film Eliza had ever seen.  Red Jack turned his face of rotting meat to her and smiled exposing endless pointy teeth.  

“Little whore, little whore let me come in”

The killer giggled and slashed downwards cutting Eliza’s cruel face from forehead to chin.  She screamed and fell to the floor holding her face together with her with her hands.  He thrust downward cutting deeply into her stomach.  He raised his hand again for another blow when there was a scream behind him.

“OHMYGAWD!”

Red Jack giggled and turned to Star.

The American heroine turned and sprinted barefoot up the stairs.  

The cackling killer pursued her.  

 

INTERLUDE:

Kristen’s Story

 

Kristen emerged from the floor behind the desk just in time to see her friend Eliza fall to the ground in a shower of blood.

She froze.

Just three years before Kristen Watson had been a princess in her own world.  Her family was well-off; she was captain of the cheerleading squad (three-time national champions!) and had an incredibly hot boyfriend who was a cheerleader just like her.  She was popular and perky and had tons of friends and stuff.

Then one day it all started to fall apart.

It started with a trip to the mall just before graduation.  She and her squad had been working real hard to learn their new routine before the national championship in Daytona Beach Florida so they decided to head for the mall for a little retail therapy.  That’s when things got a little fuzzy.  

They all remembered going into the shoe store, meeting a hot guy, going to the back room to check out some new Italian shoes that had just gotten in.

And then… there was a guy with some kind of weird helmet, and some stairs and then some more guys, a lot more guys doing all kinds of stuff to them.  And then when the guys were tired, she sort of remembered doing stuff with the other girls.  Something about her and Eliza and chocolate pudding and a trampoline.  But she couldn’t remember the details; in fact it was all so hazy it might just have been a dream.  

Her next real memory was of waking up in a secret supervillain base under the mall.  The Global Protectors had saved her, before anything bad happened they claimed.  But of course if their memories really had been messed up… who knows what happened.  Kristen and the others went along with what the heroines said, after all why would the Global Protectors lie?  But still for weeks afterwards whenever Kristen looked at Eliza she tasted chocolate pudding in her mouth.  And then there was the video… The Global Protectors said it was all look-alike models and photo-shopped images but… it sure looked like them screwing all those VX guys.  

After that the cheerleaders went to Florida and did their best but still lost to this inner city high school.  No one said anything but Kristen knew the team blamed her for making them change their routine just a few weeks before finals.  Not to mention that disastrous trip to the mall.  So most of them sort of grew apart after graduation.  Kristen got into Megapolis University but didn’t get the cheerleading scholarship she’d been expecting.  

College was not that much fun.  First off her dad was transferred to California and took the whole family with him.  Kristen was left on her own in the big city.  Then, like most college freshmen, she suddenly found that she had gone from being princess of her high school to being a peasant at college.  There were cuter girls, smarter girls, and worst of all a lot of the guys in college just assumed that cheerleaders were brain-dead whores.  Suddenly no one took her seriously any more.  Plus there was the snickering and rumors about what really happened to her, apparently there was even some video of her floating around but no one would let her see it, they’d just laugh and say ‘bring it on’.

In her junior year things started to look up.  Most people had forgotten about those rumors and Kristen was starting to make some real friends.  And despite everything she still admired the Global Protectors; they’d saved her hadn’t they?  So when she saw that the GP were looking for interns she applied right away.  Surprisingly Eliza also applied, which was really weird since she was always badmouthing the GP.  

But even the chance to work with her idols had been a disappointment.  From the first day it seemed that none of the heroines really remembered Kristen or particularly cared about her.  They just sent her and Eliza down to the subbasement to answer fan mail all day.

Then things really got weird.  

Eliza was kidnapped or something and for some reason Maple Leaf made her the Global Protector’s office manager.  The very same day Kristen learned that her whole trust fund was gone and she was broke.  She tried to convince the bank it was a mistake but they had a signed wire transfer from her moving the money to some bank in the Cayman Islands.  She panicked, she was way too afraid to call her parents, they were already mad at her for not getting a scholarship and they’d never let her live this down.  Luckily Eliza immediately offered her a job as her secretary and even let her move in with her.  

Working for Eliza and the Global Protectors was tough, there seemed to be no end to the work, before she knew it Kristen was working 80 hours a week.  She started getting these strange headaches and always felt tired.  Within a month she couldn’t really think straight most of the time and just did what Eliza told her.  

Whatever Eliza told her.

It started innocently, one time Kristen was taking a shower and Eliza came in and joined her.  

Or the time Eliza took a picture of her while Kristen was on the toilet.

And of course the time they went out to a club and Eliza got Kristen to make out with those two fat, balding 30 somethings.  

Each time these things kind of creeped Kristen out but she didn’t say anything.  She just kind of went along with them, after all Eliza was her best friend and surely she wasn’t going to anything bad to her.

Then things got really intense…

It was last summer, about five weeks after she started working for the GP, about 3 weeks after moving in with Eliza.  Kristen was dressed the way she used to dress in khaki slacks and a pale green button down shirt.  And a bra and panties of course.  Sometimes she missed dressing like that…

It was Friday night but she was still at work.  She would have liked to go out but she had no money and Eliza told her she needed to stay late.  She’d already been working for more than 12 hours that day doing data entry and answering fan mail and as usual she had a bad headache and was having trouble thinking straight, like her brain was stuffed with cotton.  Plus she was feeling a bit horny; she’d been feeling horny a lot lately.  Ever since she moved in with Eliza in fact.  

Then Eliza came in with Hank, one of the juvenile delinquents who worked as a janitor.  She explained that Hank and Kristen had a lot in common and suggested that she be friendly with him and left the two alone.

They had an awkward conversation for a few minutes.  Kristen could tell she had nothing in common with this barely literate punk from the west side.  Still he was kind of cute… She was just telling him she had to go back to work and when he reached over, put his hands on her ass and started kissing her face.  Kristen did what came naturally and screamed.  

Eliza came running back in took one look, and smacked Kristen.  Hank threw her to the ground and Eliza kicked her roommate until the confused blonde started to cry.  Hank pulled her back to her feet and held her while Eliza berated, slapped and insulted the girl.

“After everything I’ve done for you!”

“Stuck up little cock tease!”

“Lazy spoiled princess!”

“Think your shit don’t stink!”

“Too good for my friends?”

“Give you something to cry about!”

Kirsten started to cry.  Eliza was her best friend, she’d always helped her.  Why was she doing this?

Then Eliza took the young cutie’s button down blouse in her hands and tore it open sending buttons flying everywhere.  Hank put his head on her shoulder and gawked at her breasts.  This was way too scary for Kristen; she started to scream again hoping one of the Global Protectors would hear her.

“Shut the fuck up.”

Kristen shut up.

“That’s better you dumb slut.”  Eliza tore off Kristen’s white strapless bra and stuffed in her mouth, effectively gagging the helpless blonde while exposing her perfectly round breasts to her two captors.  Eliza reached down and tore the fly of her slacks open exposing the top of her cute white panties with daisies printed on them.  

Eliza whispered in her friend’s ear “this is making you hot isn’t it?  Standing here all helpless with a hot guy waiting to ram his cock up your young pussy.”  Eliza started tweaking Kristen’s breasts.  The blonde gasped as her body started to respond.  Eliza shoved her hand between the cheerleader’s legs and squeezed.  Kristen yelped but felt something down there.  Her little clit was emerging from the lips of her labia; this really was turning her on!  Hank started kissing her neck and bare shoulders and she started to respond.  Through all of this Eliza whispered obscene suggestions in her ear “you want to suck his cock, lick his asshole, fuck him on the desk, fuck him in the woods, take him up your ass, fuck, fuck, fuck, all day long…”

Kristen couldn’t help herself!  She started to hyperventilate, she could feel her pussy opening right there in Eliza’s hand and leak juices through her panties.  Her hips began to sway and she began to moan through her bra-gag.

That’s when the door opened.

Eliza almost panicked and moved to intercept the new arrival.  Hank smoothly pulled the blonde aside, against the wall out of sight of the door.

“Hey, uh, Eliza, did you just yell or something?”

It was Shamrock.

Kristen squirmed in Hank’s grip but he wrapped a strong arm around her slender throat and squeezed until she fell silent.

“Hey Shamrock, uh, I was checking the news online and uh, when I saw the Nikkei average dropped 3.5% I kind of yelled, cause like, uh, I have money invested there.”

“Oh.  OK.  Hey uh, is Kristen here?  I wanted to see if she wants to go see that new movie this weekend.  It’s called ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ and I thought she might like it cause she’s a cheerleader…”  The Irish heroine started to come in but Eliza blocked her.  

“Kristen’s kind of busy now.  And don’t you have to get back to monitor duty?  Wouldn’t want Maple Leaf getting mad would you?”

“Oh, uh, guess not…”  The heroine reluctantly turned around and headed upstairs.  Eliza waited until Shamrock’s petite butt had disappeared before she closed the door and picked up a metal yardstick.  She swatted her hand a few times.  

“Now Kristen, you’ve been a little naughty.  Time to teach you a lesson.”

First Eliza took out a box cutter and held it in front of Kristen’s face; she popped out the razor blade.  Kristen squirmed harder but could not escape Hank’s iron grip.  Smiling Eliza lowered the blade and cut a 2” strip from the bottom of Kristen’s green silk blouse.  With Hank’s help she tied the blonde’s hands behind her back, tying them tight enough to cut off circulation.    

Hank threw Kristen over his knees and pulled down her wet panties.  Eliza handed him the yardstick.  Kristen screamed through her gag as the ruler came down but this time there was no heroine walking down the hallway to hear her. Eliza knelt down by her ear whispering to the helpless girl.

“TWAK!”

“Mmmmph!”

“You’re such a little slut Kristen”

 “TWAK!”

“Mmmmph!”

“This is turning you on, getting you wet”

“TWAK!”

“Mmmmph!”

“All hot and bothered”

“TWAK!”

“Mmmmph!”

“You love this, prancing around in your short skirt”

“TWAK!”

“Mmmmph!”

“Like some nympho exhibitionist, flashing your panties”

“TWAK!”

“Mmmmph!”

“Dancing in front of my brother in your underwear”

“TWAK!”

“Mmmm…”

“You want hot cocks in your cunt”

“TWAK!”

“Mmmm…”

“Boys cumming in your mouth, on your face”

“TWAK!”

“M-m-m-mmm…”

“Up your ass!”

“Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!”

Kristen had no way of knowing that for weeks her food had been drugged with mind control drugs and aphrodisiacs to prepare her for this night.  As far as she knew her arousal and orgasm from this spanking was caused by something inside her.  She realized then and there that Eliza was right, she was just a slutty little nympho exhibitionist who needed hot cocks in her all the time.  

So she let Eliza stand her up.  She was confused and disappointed when her friend pulled up her pants (the feeling of the panties hurt her aching ass) and tied her torn shirt under the girl’s breasts.  Huh?  Wasn’t Hank going to fuck her?  She needed to be fucked.  She needed a hot cock!  Instead Eliza and Hank lead her through the Gaea Building’s underground garage to Eliza’s new car, a Ford Explorer with heavily tinted windows.  On the way they were met by Joe, another ex-con who worked in the building.  Kristen had seen him before mowing the grass and cutting the hedges, walking around shirtless with his scars and gang tattoos showing.  She was pretty scared of him, not just because he was big and black (Kristen had grown up in a 99% white suburb where the only black man was a doctor) but from the way he always looked at her when she went by through half open eyes with a sneer on his face.  Now he was joining them.

Eliza pulled off Kristen’s pants and panties and tossed them in a dumpster.  Despite herself Kristen felt her spirits lift, were they going to fuck now?  But Joe just lifted her up and planted her bare butt in the middle of the back seat.  He sat down on one side of her, Hank on the other, Eliza in the driver’s seat.  Eliza rolled down the rear windows.

“Say Kristen, you’ve kept in shape right?”

Confused the blonde nodded yes.

“Doing splits and stuff right?”

Kristen nodded again.

“Think you could show these guys?  They’re not too sure they want to fuck you but I think if they see your stuff they might be interested.  So spread your legs.  Wider.  Wider.  Put your feet out the windows.  Good little cheerleader.”

Eliza hit a button and the windows rolled up pinning Kristen’s legs in a painful and humiliating position.       

“Mmmph!”  The girl cried out in pain under the gag as her tendons were stretched by the rising windows.  But then the two men started rubbing her legs, touching her clitoris and kissing her neck and shoulders.  Eliza reached back and pulled out the gag.  Kristen let a soft moan escape.

“See Kristen, if you behave it feels good, if you don’t…” she nodded to the two guys, Hank squeezed her pussy hard and Joe bit her nipple, Kristen screamed.

“If you don’t it feels not so good.  So you want to behave don’t you?”

“Y-yes?”

“Yes you do, because you’re a fucking slut, sitting in the backseat letting two strange guys finger you and getting all hot because of it.  You are getting hot aren’t you?”  Eliza looked down at Kristen’s gaping pussy.

She was.

“Well you know, Hank and Joe don’t like sluts.  So tell you what, if you can go the whole trip back without cumming then I’ll let you have sex tonight, but if you cum… well you’ll just have to settle for a cold shower and a copy of ‘Men’s Health’ to get you through the night.  Got it?”

Kristen nodded.  

Kristen didn’t make it.

Hank and Joe fucked her anyway; they were in and out of each of her holes taking her in her own bed for the whole weekend.

And Kristen learned to love it.

Over the next few weeks her life changed bit by bit.

One day Eliza threw out all her pairs of panties pointing out that they were just a hindrance for a slut like Kristen.

Her jeans and slacks were next.

Then most of her bras, except for the ones Kristen would wear without a shirt.

Eliza took her shopping, to those stores; the ones on the west side where only ghetto girls and wannabe hookers shop.  She stocked up on micro minis, hot pants, fishnet stockings and everything else she needed for her new life.

At work Eliza kept her dress fairly conservative, just mini skirts and tight blouses.  Unless you looked up her skirt you’d never know.  None of the Global Protectors had ever taken enough notice of her to spot the change.  Shamrock was the only one Kristen really talked to and after Eliza had Kristen call her a dumb drunken bimbo to her face Shamrock stopped talking to the blonde.  Of course the GP’s staff of janitors, gardeners and handymen (all recruited from prisons and juvenile hall as part of the GP’s ‘second chance’ program) had free access to the office slut except for her two hour daily workout which was required to keep her ‘fuckable’.  But they were allowed to watch and then join her in the shower afterwards.  No one noticed how much time those guys spent in Eliza and Kirsten’s office, though Tigress and La Sola complained the staff was easily tired these days.

After hours Eliza would take Kristen to clubs and bars and rent out her mouth, pussy and ass for $10, $20 or $30.  Ladies could use her for half price.

And when there was no one to fuck her Kristen would just compulsively play with herself.  When she visited her parents for Christmas they threw her out for touching herself under the dinner table.

Sometimes Kristen thought she could remember a time when she wasn’t like this.  But Eliza kept telling her stories, stories about blowing the opposing team during halftime, licking her captain’s pussy to make the team or being gangbanged by judges at cheerleading competitions.  Eliza loved talking about the time she slept over and had a 3 way with Eliza and her brother.  After a while Kristen started to remember these stories and invent new ones too.

As far as she knew Kristen had always been a slut.

***

Kristen looked down at Eliza bleeding on the floor.  

Her roommate.

Her teammate.

Her boss.

Her tormentor.

Her lover.

Her torturer.

Her only friend.

Bleeding to death.

The phone was right there.

The medical lab was just up the stairs.

There was even a first aid kit on the wall.

Kristen sat down on the desk and watched Eliza twitch.

After a few minutes she started to finger herself.

***

Star ran down the corridor and the red-stained killer followed.

She screamed and no one heard her.

She ran alone into the woods, too scared to fly.

Mocking laughter pursued her, ringing in her ears.

This could not be happening!  She hit her ‘panic button’ again, calling for help.  Nothing.

Her legs started to hurt, she looked behind her and saw no one.  She paused for a second looking back at the twin domes of the Gaea Building.  Everything seemed peaceful.  She caught her breath.  Maybe he’d lost interest?  Maybe she was safe?  

And then…

The left dome shattered as Red Jack flew through it!  He traveled in a long arc landing the woods fifty feet away.  Star screamed and turned again to run.  Pine needles and rocks cut her sensitive feet but she kept running.

Behind her Red Jack battered his way through the woods no longer bothering to fly or to leap.  His disgusting body began to shift under his ragged bloodstained clothes.  The power he had absorbed in the last few hours was swelling him like a tick.  Trees fell like mowed grass as he smashed his way after the screaming blonde.

“Gonna get cha, gonna get cha, gonna get cha!  Cut cha up and fry ya up and eat cha up good!”

Rocks and branches cut at Star’s sensitive feet destroying her pedicure.  She was too scared to care.  Too scared to wonder why her powers weren’t protecting her, too scared to have the presence of mind for her powers to work.  The Global Protector’s powers ultimately came from their minds, exhaustion, inattention or fear left them as weak as any other women.  And Star was never all that strong to begin with.

“Please God” Star muttered as she ran, “let me get through this and I’ll go to church ever Sunday and I’ll stop drinking and no more sex and I’ll call mom every week and …”

“Arrrg!”

Was just her or were the sounds of pursuit getting fainter?

Behind her Red Jack doubled over, crying in pain.  In a few hours he had absorbed more power than he had in his long lifetime, his body could no longer contain it.  

“and like I said God, I’ll really, really try to go to church and I’ll only drink on Saturday night and only sleep with guys I really, really like and…”

She couldn’t hear anything behind her.

Red Jack convulsed on the ground.  Under his rotted skin muscles and tendons shifted and reconfigured.  His ragged clothes burst as his body began to swell.

“Of course God, like I mean I’ll try to get to church, really, but if I’m with a guy or two or really hung over I might not make it but you understand right?”

Nothing but silence behind her.  Star stopped and leaned against a tree catching her breath.  “Thanks God, I know you’d help me out, we understand each other right?  You know I’m trying hard but you know I gotta have some fun y’know…”

She took a few steps forward into a clearing.  In the darkness she hit something and fell over.  She looked behind her; it was the wrong shape for a log, if only this damn fog would lift.  Then she heard it groan.  She turned around and felt it.  It was a body, Tigress.  Barely alive.

She screamed.

Red Jack’s tortured body stopped twitching.  He climbed slowly to his feet.  He watched her from hundreds of feet away and giggled.  The whores were always so funny when they thought they were getting away.  And even funnier when they learned they weren’t.  He leapt into the air flying far above his prey only to land like a meteor before her.  The impact knocked Star off her feet and showered her with dirt and gravel.  

Star screamed futilely, but surrounded by Red Jack psychic veil no one could hear.  The killer was swelled with power; his body had assumed monstrous inhuman proportions.  He nearly 10’ tall and almost as broad with arms that brushed the ground.  His tongue hung from his massive mouth like a tentacle and his swelled member twitched between his twisted legs thicker than a Star’s leg and forking like a snake’s tongue.  

“Hee-hee-hee, Jack’s back!”

His long arm swiped out knocking Star fifty feet back into a tree.  With one twitch his bent legs launched him to her.  He lifted the stunned girl with his hands holding her body over his threatening member.  The tips of his twin phalluses brushed her spandex clad pussy and ass.  His wet tongue caressed her face until her eyes slowly opened.  

“OMYGAWD NO!”

The two penises stabbed into her as the thick tongue jammed itself down her throat until she gagged.  He started pumping all of her holes at once drawing power and vitality from her until all awareness disappeared from the American girl’s eyes.  

Contented, Red Jack tossed the blond heroine’s limp and drained body to the ground and licked his lips with his tentacle-like tongue.

“Hee-hee-hee… NEXT!”

His misshapen head had been engulfed by his swelled shoulders until it almost disappeared into his torso.  He turned his body towards the Gaea Building

“Four little whores to break over Jack’s knee,

One screamed for mercy and then there were-“

The sun began to rise over the horizon, the first rays reflected off the office towers of Megapolis.  

Jack turned again, red energy cracking off of his body.  He seemed to think for a minute, weighing his options.  Finally he nodded and giggled again.

“Four million little whores sitting unaware,

Don’t worry girls, Jack will soon be there…”

Red energy crackled along his skin.  The monstrous killer rose slowly off the ground gaining speed as he ascended.  Like a crimson comet he roared towards the defenseless city.  

***

Shamrock hurried ahead to the lab, she was worried about Aussie Girl, what if Red Jack came back to finish her?  She was there alone!  She ran ahead of her teammates and ducked inside.

She saw Valkyrie.

She ran back out.

And threw up in the corridor.

The rest of team was at her side in a second.

Maple Leaf and Rising Sun treated the worst of Val’s wounds while La Sola comforted the hysterical Irish girl.  La Sola couldn’t admit it but she was frightened too.  Val was their strongest, smartest member, if Red Jack could do… that to her what hope did the rest of them have?  

Val had been left with horrible cuts across her body and with most of her power drained but she was still alive.  With first aid she would probably live.  Thankfully Red Jack had not finished off Aussie Girl when he had the chance.  

Once the Swedish heroine was stable Maple Leaf got the computers working and checked on Tigress and Star.  Their signals were both dead.  She was about to order the team back out to search when the first report came in from Megapolis.

Her face fell.

“Guys… come with me.”

“But…”

“Just come damn it.”  

She led them to the Gaea Building’s roof.  The four heroines noted the shattered dome with numb horror.  The Gaea building was built on high ground several miles outside of Megapolis with a breathtaking view of the great city in the distance.  Some days Maple Leaf just liked to duck out of her office and go up there to look at the city she protected.

It was a little after sunrise and the sunlight was just starting to illuminate the city.

So they could all see the fires and explosions.

They could practically hear the mocking laughter.

“Oh…”

“Maybe the Avenging League of Justice…”

“You can’t expect us to…”

The four heroines looked at each other.  Red Jack had beaten them, left their most powerful members half dead, they couldn’t possibly…

They just couldn’t…

There was another explosion downtown.

Shamrock turned towards the city.  “Guys…”

“Ah crap.”

“Kuso.”

“Mis amigas…”

The four heroines looked down.  Shamrock muttered a prayer.  La Sola produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from somewhere on her person and distributed the smokes.  Even Shamrock took one.  

“Guys, let’s finish this.”  Maple Leaf declared.

They finished their cigarettes (Shamrock choked on hers) and took to the air.  

They had to stop him.

That’s what heroines do.


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