The Global Protectors – Tangents

 

By Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com

 

The lesson of this story is never throw anything away.  In another story I needed a quick one-liner about some bimbo heroines and the name Bikini Force just jumped into my mind.  Well that got me thinking why would a group of women call themselves Bikini Force?  What would their powers be?  Their origin?  Why are they wearing bikinis?  So Bikini Force moved from the dustbin to a one-page outline to a full on story.  Not bad for a random thought.

  

Legal Horrors: Bikini Force, other characters and text are copyright and trademark Marcus Lycus.  Please do not redistribute this story without permission, and please do not read this if you are underage for your country or state.

 

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

 

Tangent 5 – The Secret Origin of Bikini Force

 

"And today on Cape TV's Behind the Masks Jerry Gerard has a blast from the past, a bit of history from the wacky 90’s; please welcome Sandra Birchwood, better known as Bikini Force's Sand!"

The monitors started showing pictures.  The famous 1996 cover of Capes & Masks Illustrated showing four gorgeous girls hugging each other.  There was a blue-eyed blonde in a red bikini, a slim Asian girl in her white bikini, a tan dark haired girl in a blue one and a tall brown haired girl in a yellow bikini.  It looked like any of a hundred other swimsuit shots except that the four girls were all wearing domino masks and hovering 100s of feet above San Diego.

"That image was the top-selling superheroine poster until La Sola's famous 'flying buttress' poster came out in 2002."

It was followed by other shots of the slim, fit, brown haired 19-year old in her trademark yellow bikini.  She was posing in front of a mountain of sand with several black-masked terrorists buried in it.  Looking over the beach perched provocatively on a 100' column of sand.  The crowd hooted and hollered appropriately.

"For almost five years Bikini Force fought crime on the beaches of California, Hawaii and even Australia, defeating terrorists, smugglers, pirates, poachers and litter bugs again and again.  Sandra has been in seclusion ever since she retired from super heroics in 1999 but has agreed to come here today and tell her story.  Sandy come on out!"

A rather large woman waddled out on stage smiling as the audience fell dead silent.  A few applauded politely.  She took her seat on the couch, it groaned under her weight.

"So Sandy I see some of our audience members are a bit surprised at how you look today, would you care to explain the, uh, difference in your appearance today?  Too many Oreos?"

"Actually Jerry I think it's better to start at the beginning…"

***

The year was 1996.  People were just starting to get excited by this newfangled thing called e-mail, Seinfeld ruled the airwaves and the Spice Girls and Scatman were actually popular singers and not just obscure trivia questions. 

And in Southern California the world's newest heroine team was about to be born...

"Come ON Sandy, let's go!"

"Chill out Suzy, like check it out, total superhero fight up there."

"Like WHATEVER.  As long as they don't trash the beach.”

Sandy drove the white Mercedes convertible out of the driveway and onto the streets of San Diego.  Summer break was coming to an end and the four friends wanted to get in one more beach trip before starting their sophomore years at college.  Superhero battles were OK and stuff but not worth interrupting the trip for.

But a half-hour later the four girls found themselves stuck in traffic watching the tail end of the super battle.

"So like, which ones are the villains again?"

"That Arab guy's the bad guy (of course) and the rest of them are the heroes."

"But they like have guns and are shooting people and stuff.  Superheroes don't do that."

"Geeze you sound like my mom.  This is like the 90's, boy scouts with capes are out, it's all about extreme action!  Those are the Blood Corps, like the most extremest heroes ever."

"Extremest?  Is that even a word?"

***

"Get him!"  Gun Guy yelled grimly through gritted teeth his 50mm gatling grenade launcher kicking in his bionic arm.

"That guy sure has some guts.  Hey Claw Guy, let's spill 'em!"  Ninja Chick quipped grimly.

"Grrrr!"  Claw Guy growled grimly as he fell into a berserker rage.

"Eat hot gamma rays @$$hole!"  Nuclear Guy screamed grimly unleashing a stream of deadly radiation.

Hovering above them on his flying carpet Ahriman just laughed.  Holding a glowing vial in his hand he barked a word of command.  Gun Guy's explosive shells were harmlessly defected by a gale wind.  Ninja Chick was engulfed in a block of stone.  Claw Guy burst into flame, not even his healing factor could keep him in the fight.  A huge wave engulfed Nuclear Guy cooling his atomic pile.  The purple garbed magi laughed again.  "Fools of fools, so long as I command the elemental essences of the four genie, the Djinn, the Efreeti, the Jann and the Marid I am invincible!"

***

"Sandra, did he actually say that or did you just add it in so the plot would make more sense?"

"No Jerry he really talk like that.  Villains back then were coming out of the woodwork, no one really had time for proper origins, they'd show up level a city or two, explain themselves with some throw away dialogue and then get shot up or whatever.  Like remember that guy who killed Ultraman, what was his name Deathdoom or something?"

"The one with the spiky bits?  Yeah Sandra I know who you mean."

"Right, well he crawled out of a hole, walked to Megapolis, killed Ultraman and died.  What the heck?  No origin, no motivation, no backstory, just pointless violence.  That was pretty much the 90's for you."

"Whew, good thing we're past all that."

"Don't be so sure, didn't you hear the Blood Corps is reuniting under their original creators?"

***

Back at the battle…

"So you're invincible so long as you got your shinny thing huh?  Nice of you point that out!"  Cyber Chick grimly aimed her laser-sighted smart gun at Ahriman's leather glove and fired one depleted uranium armor-piercing round.  The bullet caught Ahriman in the wrist, severing his left hand in a fountain of blood!

"Noooooooo!"  Ahriman yelled as the vial fell to the earth below.

"One shot… one kill…"  Cyber Girl pronounced grimly.

Suddenly free, Ninja Chick leapt upward and grimly impaled the Zoroastrian magi on her psi-katana. 

"He got the point."  Ninja Chick chuckled grimly as she wiped the blood from her grim face.

"You have not seen the last of me Blood Corps!"  Ahriman yelled as he teleported away leaving only a pool of blood. 

"Should we go after him?"  Cyber Girl asked grimly.

"Why bother!  We got some cold brews waiting back the Blood Bunker!"  Gun Guy laughed grimly. 

The Blood Corps grimly picked up Claw Guy's burnt body and Nuclear Guy's damaged containment suit and left in their armored hovertank the Blood Panzer.

***

"What'd'ya think that was about?"

"Who the hell knows, it was sure cool though, did you see the way Ninja Chick was all like HAI-YA?  Awesome!  Extreme!"

"Whatever.  Now let's get to the beach."

None of the four girls even noticed the glass vial landing in their beach bag or the strange lights as the vial cracked open.

***

"Guys, like, my bikini feels all funny."

Suzy was standing in the changing room in her red bikini with an uncomfortable look on her face.

Jenny Tien felt the same way about her white bikini but said nothing, just enjoying the sight of her friend's discomfort.  She decided to tease her.  "Gee Suzy maybe your tits got even bigger."

"Very funny Jenny" the blonde replied shaking her D-cups at her under-endowed Chinese friend. 

"Come on!  The sun, the sand, the surf and the sky are waiting!"  She grabbed her towel and ran out to join Sandy and Christy on the beach.

Suzy hesitated for a few seconds, she really felt weird, like all hot and stuff but, hey it was labor day weekend, the last hurrah of summer and she wasn't going to miss it for some flu or something.

Obsessed with the beach, she never even noticed the purple robed figure lurking near the women's locker room.

"Strange, my mystic senses have led me here but why?  Can that ignorant girl have some knowledge of where has my elemental vial has gone-"

"Hey you!  You in the purple robes!  Stop lurking around the woman's locker room you pervert!"

"Curses…"  Ahriman muttered skulking away from the security guard.

***

"So Jerry we were having a good time, playing volleyball and stuff, which was cool cause like Suzy's boyfriend Gary had broken up with her and Jenny was seeing him behind her back and me and Christy knew about it but didn't want to say anything to Suzy cause then she'd go all postal and stuff-"

"Uh Sandy, sorry to cut you off like that but I can't imagine anyone cares.  Can we get back to the action please?"

"Uh right, sorry."

***

Jenny jumped again spiking the ball and making Suzy eat dirt, her large breasts grinding into the coarse sand.  Jenny loved it, last time they played volleyball she made her friend's top rip off; she'd had to run back to the car with her tits bouncing all the way.  But this suit seemed to be made of stronger stuff.  Jenny decided to try harder.  It's not that she hated Suzy or anything, she just liked to, y'know bring her down a few notches every now and then.

Sandy and Christy knew better than to get between the two and just played for fun.  Sandy actually felt a bit sorry for Suzy, the blond was such a sweet girl she'd never guess how much Jenny enjoyed humiliating her in sports, school and in love.

Sandy set the ball for another of Jenny's spikes.  It hung in the air without moving.  The Chinese girl leapt up…

And kept going!

Her three friends watched dumbfounded as the Chinese girl soared gracefully through the air her volleyball hovering a few feet above her. 

Finally Jenny hit the ball sending it screaming towards the Earth like a meteor.  Sandy and Christy ran for cover but Suzy stood her ground, jumped into the air, rose twenty feet and hit the ball back.  The leather ball burst into flames and shot past Jenny falling once more towards the hot dog stand.  The customers and cook jumped out just at the ball turned the wood stand into an inferno. 

Christy screamed as it exploded and pointed at the stand.  Behind her a huge wave formed, stood motionless for ten seconds and crashed down extinguishing the fire.

Jenny was diving towards Suzy by then.  Gale force winds were kicking up around the blonde but Suzy just screamed at her, "You did that on purpose you meany!"  She didn't seem to notice that flames were forming by her fingers. 

But before the two girls could trade blows, tons of sand rose burying them both up to their necks.

"Hey you two!  Calm down!"  Sandy yelled.  She waved her hand and the sand pile dispersed.

The girls gathered around and looked at the beach and then at each other.

"How did you…"

"Did you see…"

"I can't believe…"

"Like wow…"

***

"So that's how it all started huh?"

"Pretty much.  So like after the shock was over we talked about how we could use our powers to better humanity and, y'know get rich and stuff.  So we went back to Suzy's house cause her parents were in New York for the weekend and…"

***

Suzy, Sandy and Christy were sitting around the living room eating chips and drinking diet soda.  They'd peeled off their bikinis and were just wearing tee shirts and panties.  After a bit Jenny came out of the shower wrapped in a towel and whining as usual.

"Geeze Sandy, do you have any clue how much sand I had in my hair.  Little warning next time!"

"Like sorry.  Next time I'll just let you and Jenny kill each other with your super powers."

"Like, that was really weird.  Where'd we get these powers and stuff?  Are we like mutants?  Are we gonna have to fight Giant Purple Robots and our time-traveling kids from a nightmarish future?  Cause if we do then count me out, I'll get a mutantectomy or something."
"Well, y'know I took Superheroes 101 last semester and I had an idea about how like, our powers are based on the 4 Elements-"

"Paul, John, George and Ringo?"

"Meat, Dairy, Fruits and Grains?"

"Chocolate, Alcohol, Grease and Caffeine?"

"No silly I mean Fire, Water, Earth and Air.  That Arab guy mentioned it when he was fighting the Blood Corps and I figure maybe his little magic bottle thing fell into our beach bag and like, magic stuff leaked into our suits giving them magic powers."

"So like we only have powers when we wear our bikinis?"

"That would suck, why'd it have to be the white one, my pink suit is so much cuter."

"Let's try it!"  Suzy pointed at the fireplace but as hard as she tried she couldn't shoot any fire.  Jenny jumped up and down till her towel fell off (much to the amusement of the others) but couldn't fly.

Christy whipped off her tee shirt and put her suit back on.  She summoned a floating cloud of water out of the kitchen sink and refilled everyone's cups.

"Huh.  Guess it is the suits.  Without them we're just plain old Sandy, Suzy, Christy and Jenny but with them we're like… what are we gonna call ourselves anyway?"

"Well Sandy you have it easy, Sand."

"Sand?  You mean like Dirt?  That's a dumb name; look out guys Sand is coming!"

"No, no, no it can be like a theme!  You'll be Sand, and Suzy will be Sun and I'll be Surf-"

"And I'll be Sky!  We’ll be like a bikini beach party!"

"Right!  Together we'll be Bikini Force!"

They all giggled.

***

"So Sandra what exactly were your powers?"

"Well it was like Christy said, we each controlled an element, in my case it was earth.  I could make dirt and rocks and sand move.  Surf, her real name was Christina Rivera, could do the same for water.  Sun, that's Susan Lighte, had these light and fire powers and Sky, Jennifer Tien, controlled air."

"That's pretty powerful stuff.  You could have been real heavy hitters."

"Looking back I see that now, but we were kind of y'know young and not too serious.  I mean when I think about our first real superhero battle…"

***

"Like you crack dealers are so gross!  Messing up our beaches with your little vials and all those yucky crack 'hos.  You guys suck!"

Sun shook her finger at the crack dealers, buried up to their necks in sand.  Surf was washing their crap out from under the boardwalk while Sand and Sky were posing for the newspapers.

"Bikini Force Cleans up Long Beach!" 

The word was already getting around that a new group of heroines was protecting the beaches of America.  The fact that they were four gorgeous girls in skimpy bikinis had nothing to do with all the coverage they were getting from CTV and Capes & Masks.  Nothing at all.  Honest.

Feminists hated them but everyone knows that guys make up 95% of the superhero audience and, hey, hot chicks and bikinis sell.  After just two months, without a single major super battle to their credit, Bikini Force was already the most popular super team in America.

They'd added color coordinated domino masks and 'BF' lockets to their bikinis but other that that the girls were just wearing their magic swimsuits and tan taunt flesh.  Sandy had experimented with wearing something over her suit but found it drastically weakened her powers.  From the looks of things Bikini Force would have to stay around warm weather to be effective.  No crime fighting in Minneapolis for them.  Luckily San Diego and Hawaii had both offered to build them a headquarters.

Sweeping out the crack dealers from Long Beach was just the sort of thing they specialized in.

***

But across the street…

"Abdul, I have brought your Brothers of the Blade here for one reason, to reclaim the Genies' essences from those foolish girls!  My mystic senses tell me the four Genies' power has somehow been imprisoned in their scandalous outfits.  Bring me them and their bikinis and once more I shall command the power of a god!"  Ahriman gestured upwards with his gold hook and laughed evilly. 

“So, uh, you want them dead right?”  Abdul carefully balanced a throwing knife on the tip of his finger and with a casual gesture flipped it onto a Bikini Force magazine cover so that it landed right in Sand’s forehead.

“NO!  No, no a thousand times NO!  You must not kill them!  For the elemental essences have passed in part to them and I need their living bodies to reclaim the power in full!”

Abdul looked out the window at Sky and Sand posing for photographers.  Sky was flying over the crowd showing off her slim shapely body while Sand had created a tower for herself to stand on and display her own curvy athletic form.

Abdul nodded to himself.  Taking them alive was so much better.  This job would beat the hell out of assassinating some oil sheik. 

"In that case, Ahriman, I'm your man."

***

With a wild cry the Brothers of the Blade attacked!

Each wore red robes with a white headscarf covering the face and wielded curved daggers and throwing knives.  The spun like dervishes emitting wild yells scaring off the civilians, leaving the heroines to face them alone.

Actually Sky ran too but halfway down the block the Chinese girl remembered she was supposed to fight those guys.

With a wave of her hand Sand managed to trap one of them in three tons of dirt but another tagged her with a blowgun dart knocking her out.

Sun spun around from admonishing the crack dealers and shot a bolt of light at Mohammed blinding him, but Khan jumped down from the boardwalk and slammed the hilt of his curved dagger into her skull.  She went down like a shapely, curvy, bag of potatoes. 

It was now two on two.  Surf ran for the water and perched on top of a wave under her control while Sky hovered nearby.  One of the assassins grabbed Sand's body while the other held a knife to Sun's throat.

A stand off.

"Hey guys, like, let them go OK?"  Christy whined infectively.

"Give us the bikinis or we kill them!"  Abdul barked back.

Abdul stuck his dagger under the thin strings holding Sun's tight bikini top on and started to cut.

And tried harder.

And tried harder.

Cursing in Persian he tossed her face down in the sand and pulled at the loose knot holding her red suit on but it would not budge.

Sky and Surf realized what was going on and went into action.  A gale force wind tossed Abdul into the ring toss booth scattering stuffed animals.  A tidal wave of water washed Khan off of Sand and cast him out to sea. 

"Brothers of the Blade!  Retreat!"

As the assassins fled the girls laughed at them.

"Teach you to mess with Bikini Force!"

"Yeah we're the heroes of the beach dudes and don't you forget it!"

***

"So Sandra, you just let them go?  You must have realized they could have killed you."

"Well actually I was still unconscious at the time, it was Sky and Surf who let them go but yeah, I probably would have done the same thing.  I mean it just felt like a game y'know.  So that's how we learned that our suits would not come off unless we wanted them to, which was kind of neat. Y'know Jerry we didn't wear much clothing but at least we kept what we had on, unlike some heroines these days.  At least most of the time…”

“Most of the time?”

“Well there was that time at Mardi Gras of course, you’ve probably seen the video.  And then there was the next time we met Ahriman.  He managed to ambush us and uh… trick us into taking our bikinis off.  That was a close call."

“Tricked you into taking your bikinis off?  How did he do that?”

“Uh…”

***

"The Capes & Masks Hot 100?"

"The cover?"

"Just us 4?"

"Like wow!"

Bikini Force were at their La Jolla beach house headquarters when the invites arrived.  Capes & Masks Illustrated had chosen them for the cover of the annual list of the 100 hottest heroines even beating out the Wicca Womyn, that trio of hot lesbian witches. 

The next weekend they were at a hotel in Cancun meeting the photo director. 

"Greeting you nubile young fools, you may call me Arnie Mahn and I shall use this opportunity to dominate you!"

"Hee-hee, you're funny Arnie."

"Funny?  Yes quite so, funny, joke, nothing suspicious at all."

"Hey Arnie why do you keep your hand in your jacket like that?"

"Nothing!  No reason!  Do not even give it another thought!  Proceed now to your individual photo shoots so that we may victimize you!"

"Victimize?"

"Perhaps I misspoke, I meant… immortalize!  Yes.  Now go! Go!"

***

Down on the beach Suzy smiled sweetly and giggled for her cameraman, Moe.  She wiggled back and forth for him jiggling her prominent breasts in front of the man’s face.  She wasn’t trying to excite him or anything, she just did it naturally. 

Mohammed muttered to himself in Persian and tried to repress the urge to stab the busy blonde infidel to death with his knife.  Or stab her with something else entirely.

***

Jenny tried not to scowl as she lay down in the hotel bed.  Looking out the window she could see that slut Suzy flirting and waving her breasts around.  She faked a smile for Harry her cameraman and spread her legs as far as she could, letting a few strands of pubic hair show at the edges of her bikini bottom.  She’d show that blonde how to get an audience!

Hussein tried not to look and was grateful he’d never put film in his camera. 

***

Standing on a rock by the sea Christy decided to be bold.  She knew that it was time to outgrow this whole ‘Bikini Force’ thing while there was still time.  She was a communications major and was well aware the team was a fad, it would burn brightly for a while and then vanish into the night and they’d end up where ever groups like Menudo, Gen13, the New Warriors and New Kids on the Block went to die.   Leading the C&M Hot 100 pretty much would be their peak, they might manage to stay on top for a few months after that, maybe a year but then…  The only way any of them was going to get out with a career was to break out of the pack and go solo.  And this was as good a time as any.  She didn’t feel guilty at all, she was sure the others were trying their best to do the same thing.

So Christy turned her back to Abe and undid her blue bikini top and let it fall to the ground at his feet.  She hugged her breasts (covering just enough to keep the shoot ‘decent’) and turned to him puckering her lips.  She blew him a kiss.

Abdul snapped away very grateful he’d put film in his camera.

***

Sandy honestly wasn’t sure what to do.  Being in another magazine was cool and stuff but she wasn’t like wetting her panties over the idea like the Christy was.  But she dutifully followed her cameraman Conner to the pool and posed mechanically.  A free trip to Cancun was nice though. 

Khan took some standard pictures of the girl by the pool wondering if the others had the same sinful thoughts he did. 

***

Mohammed trotted up and down the beach following the busty blonde, shooting her from every angle.  Sun obliged him by flying overhead, hovering upside down and causing her skin to glow like gold with her solar powers. 

Winded he finally returned to his blanket to sit down for a second.  Suzy landed smoothly next to him.  She looked at the small dark man.  She admired his lean muscles under the tight sweaty tee shirt and his coffee-colored skin.  She wondered if he was Mexican, she’d heard things about Mexicans. 

“Like Moe, you must be so hot in those jeans and that vest dude.”

“I…”  He couldn’t think with those breasts so close.

She noticed and giggled.  “Come on!”  She pulled his vest apart and it fell to the sand.  Suzy didn’t notice the throwing knives, chloroform bottle and nylon rope falling out of it.  “Let’s go for a dip!”  She wrapped her arms around Moe, pulled him up to her breasts and rose into the air.  They soared higher and higher above the city, Sun’s solar powers keeping them warm as the air grew thin.  Mohammed turned from his amazing view of Suzy’s cleavage to an almost as impressive view of Cancun and the Gulf spread out below him.  He started to hyperventilate. 

Realizing the problem Suzy flew lower and lower until they were hovering only a few feet above the warm water.  She gave Moe a big kiss and dropped him in.  Then, giggling she dove in after him and pulled him up.  She felt him slipping off his wet jeans allowing them to sink in the water, she felt his silk boxers against the warm fabric of her magic bikini bottom.  She felt his hands reach for the strings behind her back, they kissed again.  She nodded yes and this time the strings came undone.  Mohammed took the top in his hand and pulled at the stings on the bottom.

This was so much nicer than drugging and stripping her like he’d planned.

***

From the hotel room Jenny caught a glimpse of Suzy carrying on like a giggling little whore.  She scowled again hoping her photographer Harry wouldn’t notice.  He did.

“Oh senora Sky what is wrong, you seem so sad.”

“I, uh… say…”  She sat up in the bed and spread her legs again, showing more pubic hair and a distinct outline of her lower lips.  She put her hands behind her back sticking out her chest as best it could.  “Say, what would it take to, like, get me on the cover without those other 3?”

Hussein cleared his throat, if he wasn’t a trained assassin and infiltrator… “Well senora Sky, I suppose if one member proves to be sexier and more interesting than the others…”

“And you’d have a say in that right?”

“Well of course, I am a real photographer for Capes & Masks after all, not some imposter here to capture you-“

His words were interrupted when a powerful gale hit him from behind and carried him into Sky’s arms.  She hugged him, kissed him and then flew with him out the balcony door (opened by another convenient gale) and carried him down to the sea not too far from Suzy and Moe.  There Harry’s nimble fingers soon divested Sky of her bikini as well. 

Bobbing up and down on the waves (and something bit firmer) Jenny smirked at Suzy.

***

Christy practiced the fine art of being nude but not naked for the camera.  Her magic bikini was sitting on a rock next to her as the photographer shot her in nothing but her mask and ‘BF’ choker.  Yet somehow no matter fast he moved around her one of her hands was always there to cover the vital spots. 

With her suit off Abe had had a dozen chances to drug the girl and drag her back to Ahriman but… why hurry?

He reloaded his camera and started shooting again.  Smiling to himself he wondered if any of the others were getting a show like this.

***

Sandy wondered if any of the others were this bored.  Conner was a nice polite guy but didn’t seem to have much in the way of ideas, like he wasn’t a real swimsuit photographer or something.  So they just took some pictures of Sand lounging by the pool, drinking a fruity drink and splashing in the water.  Nothing worth writing home about.  He didn’t even have her demonstrate her powers.  What a loser.

Finally they took a break.  Her buddies hadn’t come back; at least they were having a good time she figured.  So they headed for the hotel bar where Conner got her another fruity drink.  Then another.  And another.  They were really sweet but surprisingly strong.  She had another.

That’s about when she noticed that Conner (funny he didn’t look Irish) was just drinking spring water.  She’d been to frat parties; she knew what was going on.

“Are you just trying to get me drunk?!” she demanded (of course it came out as “Ar’ joo shryin tah git me dunk?!” but Khan understood).

“No, no of course not my dear.”

“’Cause, just cause I’m drunk doesn’t mean I’m going to sleep with you y’know.”

“No of course not.”

“S’not that kind of girl y’know.”

“I never said you were Ms. Sand.”

“I can hold my liquor y’know.”  The inebriated 19 year old bent over to stick a finger in his face but the movement upset her balance.  She puked in Khan’s lap and then passed out with her head between his legs.  Khan smiled, and not just for the obvious reason. 

He gave her bikini string a tug and nothing happened, it didn’t budge.  Apparently even when these whores were unconscious the suit cling to them, they can only be removed voluntarily.  Fortunately Khan had a plan for this.  He slipped the bartender $20 and took the unconscious girl into the back room.

There his skillful tongue soon brought her around and in minutes the panting girl was begging him to remove her suit and he was happy to oblige.  Once he had her naked he was supposed to take her right to Ahriman but hey, he had a drunk heroine lying naked on a pile of towels in front of him. 

He smiled.  This was so much better than assassinating some oil sheik.

***

“So Sandra, how exactly did he ‘trick’ you four into taking your bikinis off?”

“Uh… he uh… tricked us and stuff.”

“Right.  So what happened next?”

“Well we like woke up and we were his prisoners and stuff.”

“He’d, ahem, ‘tricked’ you out of your bikinis right?

“Uh… yeah.”

“So you were naked and tied up then?”

“Well I guess…”

“Kind of kinky.”

“Geeze man!  We were like just teenagers, that was pretty scary y’know!  Sometimes I’m glad we wrapped up when we did, before some of those really sick guys like Mr. X, L’espion or the Wizard came along.  How do the heroines these days put up with that?”

“Sorry, please continue.”

***

Sandy woke up feeling like hell.

“Never gonna drink again…” she muttered as she tired to get up.  And couldn’t.  She was tied to a stone slab tilted at a 45° angle in a cave.  The stone cave was lit be torches and candles that flickered in the light breeze which also disturbed the shallow puddles of water in the corners.

Pay attention!  This is foreshadowing!

Her three teammates were similarly bound.  All of them were nude of course except for their ‘BF’ chokers and masks.  Sandy did a double take.  She hadn’t realized how much Jenny padded her top.

In the center of the room was Arnie Mahn, the four photographers and their bikinis.  Except for some reason Arnie was dressed up in these purple robes and a turban and had a gold hook for a hand and the other guys were all in these red dresses with towels on their heads.  It looked a bit familiar to Sandy but she just couldn’t figure it out.

“Like, is this part of the shoot…” she finally muttered.

“Sandy you jerk!  You let yourself get captured!  This is like Ahriman and those guys who tried to kill us and stuff!”  Jenny yelled.

Yelling made Sandy’s head hurt. 

Christy rose to her defense.  “Hey Jenny if you’re so smart how come you didn’t figure it out?  Or were you too busy screwing that assassin guy!”

The others hissed at that.

“Oh yeah, like I’m not the only one, I could hear Jenny all the way in the hotel!”

“What?  We weren’t y’know… we were like just making out OK.  He never got past second base… well maybe third base, but that’s it.  I’m not some slut like… like SOME PEOPLE!”  That was about the harshest thing the kind-hearted Suzy had ever said about her friend.

“Geeze you guys are like so immature.”

“Shut up Christy, don’t try and act like you’re so smart, you’re tied to a rock just like the rest of us!”

Bikini Force lost all cohesion and started bickering like little kids until finally…

“THAT’S ENOUGH!  How old are you anyway?  You sound like kids.  Now quiet down right now or I won’t explain my evil plan!”

“Sorry Mr. Ahriman…”

“Now as you know the elemental essences I summoned ended up trapped in the bikinis of you sluts.”

“Not a slut… he just got me drunk and stuff…”

“So now I must release them from the absorbent fabric of your bikinis, rebind them in the Flask of Elemental Control and break your control over the elemental spirits.”

“Break our control?  How does that work?  Do we like have to sign them over to you or something?”

“No it’s really quite simple.  Mohammed, Abdul, Hussein and Khan will sacrifice you to the dark gods on my command.”

Bikini Force degenerated into wailing, crying and begging for mercy. 

“Now, now, now, I don’t like it any more than the rest of you do.”  Ahriman groped Suzy’s prominent breast while running his cold gold hook along her inner thigh.  The blonde trembled in fear.  “Do you think I want to deny the world four underdressed whores-“

“Not a whore… he just got me drunk and stuff…”

The Brothers of the Blade chuckled at that.

“-but certain, ahem, ‘sacrifices’ must be made if I am to achieve dominance over the world!  Bwa-ha-ha-ha!”

***

“Sandra sorry for interrupting again, but did he actually say ‘bwa-ha-ha-ha’?”

“Well maybe there was an extra ‘ha’ or two but basically yeah.”

***

The girls continued to shriek and moan and offer quite imaginative favors until Ahriman finally had them gagged so he could concentrate.

Reciting ancient words in Persian the Zoroastrian villain compelled the elemental spirits to arise from the bikinis.  He had to compel them quite a few times before they finally appeared. 

But they finally did.

First from Sandy’s yellow bikini arose a cloud of dust.  It began to spin faster and faster picking up dirt and stones from the floor, growing larger and larger pelting the nine people in the room until finally it dispersed leaving behind a 9’ tall heavily muscled orange-skinned man.  His bellow shook the cavern.

Ahriman bowed lightly to him and said “Welcome Jann, genie of earth.”

Sandy’s eyes went wide, all this time she’d had THAT between her legs?

From Christy’s blue bikini small tickles of water emerged flowing to the puddles, merging with them, the puddles flowed together and formed a waterspout that grew and grew soaking the people in the cave until with a crash like a tidal wave the water disbursed revealing another titanic man, this time blue skinned with a green beard that seemed to be made of seaweed. 

Ahriman bowed again, “Welcome Marid, genie of water.”

Christy couldn’t help but stare at the bulge under his loin cloth, his organ must be in proportion to his height she realized.  More than in proportion.

He turned next to Suzy’s red bikini.  The torches burned brighter and tongues of flame leapt from them to the bikini.  The stone shelf it was on turned red hot.  The cave grew warm, then uncomfortably hot.  Even the naked girls were sweating, the assassins and the sorcerer almost passed out in their robes until finally a column of fire erupted from the bikini and shot to the ceiling.  When it vanished there was a powerful red-skinned man, his hair and beard were composed entirely of flame. 

Ahriman greeted the elemental creature “Welcome Efreeti, genie of fire.”

Suzy looked on in terror but could not help but wonder if ALL his hair was on fire.  That could really hurt a girl.

Finally Ahriman cast his spell on Jenny’s white bikini.  The special effects that time were pretty anticlimactic, just some wind blowing around. 

But Ahriman still bowed and addressed the final elemental “Welcome Djinn, genie of air.”

Jenny was a bit disappointed; she kind of figured they were saving the best for last.  And the guy wasn’t even that cute, her guy was thinner than that others and has this pale blue-white skin and some clouds blowing around where his hair and beard should be.  She scowled.  It’s not fair!  How come the other girls got cuter guys?

From his robes Ahriman drew a small vial and held it aloft.  Speaking again in Persian he commanded the genies. 

“Well then, you’ve had your fun, back in the bottle, time to rule the world.”

“Back in the bottle?”

“Get’s awfully crowded in there, always having Efreeti’s elbow in my stomach.”

“You should talk!  Ever think about taking a shower Jann?”

“Kind of liked being trapped in a bikini, got to see the world…”

“Yes, yes, yes that’s just the girl’s residual influence on you.  You’ll feel better once they’ve been sacrificed to the dark gods.  Now… back in the bottle!”

“You’re gonna kill Miss Suzy?  But she’s so nice.”

“Mmm, and that feeling I get rubbing against Christy’s breasts or lying between Christy’s legs, not gonna get that in some stinky bottle.”

“Say about once a month does your girl like…”

“Oh yeah.  Weird huh, something that bleeds for three days and doesn’t die.”

“Gross is more like it.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I’m sure it was quite nice but you’re still going back in the bottle and they’re still getting sacrificed.  You can have all the women you want after we conquer the world.”

“But I don’t want other girls, I want Suzy…”

“I’m telling you for the last time, GET IN THE FRIGGING BOTTLE!”

The four genies looked at one another.  They didn’t need to say anything, after spending a thousand years trapped in a bottle together they kind of knew each other pretty well.

Efreet smiled.

“You’re right Ahriman, that is the last time you’ll tell us to get in the bottle.  In fact it’s the last time you’ll tell us anything at all.”

***

Ten minutes later…

“And did you guys see when Jann ripped him into four bits and then the bits caught fire and then the flaming bits were extinguished with water and then this wind came and blew the ashes away?  That was like so extreme!  It was maximum extreme!”

“How about the way Khan was on his knees begging for mommy before Jann squished him?  What a little pussy.  I can’t believe you slept with him Sandy.”

“HEY!  I was drunk and stuff.  S’not my fault.”

“What about the way Marid sucked all the water out of Mohammed’s body till he was just dust?  Was that cool or what?  I wonder if I can do something like that.”

“Actually I thought it was kind of gross…”

“Want to talk about gross, we all have like some kind of magic guy in our bikinis, touching us in all kinds of places…”

“No, no that’s cool, it’s like we have these secret lovers that no one knows about.  Did you hear how he called me Mistress Suzy when we was untying me? It was like so sweet.  I wonder how far down that flaming hair goes though.”

“WHATever.  I’m just glad we have our bikinis back.”

“Jenny you’re just bitter cause you got the skinny pale guy.” 

 “Am not!  My guy’s cute, he’s like artistic and sensitive and stuff.  Not like your genie always shouting and making the earth shake and stuff, not my kind of guy at all…”  Jenny turned away to hide her jealous tears.

***

“So Sandra, are you saying that your team killed Ahriman and the Brothers of the Blade back in ’96?”

“Not exactly us but basically yeah, he was ripped into quarters, burned, drowned and blown to the four winds.  That’s what you call dead.”

“So how did Ahriman fight the Explorers of the Infinite back in April?  And didn’t Colonel Liberty fight the Brothers of the Blade over in Iraq?”

“Well I’m not really into the superhero thing these days…” she waved a flabby arm.  “But from what I hear the Ahriman we fought wasn’t the real Ahriman, he was just his magical doppelganger created when he captured the Gemini Gem during the Secret Crisis.”

“Secret Crisis?  I never heard of that.”

“That’s because it’s a secret.  And I think the Brothers of the Blade were resurrected by Microsoft during the Apple Wars.  Either that or the just have a really big family.”

“Sounds pretty unrealistic.”

“Well that was the 90’s for you.  Everyone was trying to prove how extreme they were and a lot of good villains and heroes ended up dead.  Since 2000 people have been scrambling to bring them back.  And let me tell you something, if you think that’s unrealistic you should ask the Amazing Arachnid about his aunt some time, talk about unrealistic stories…”

“So how did it finally end?”

“Well Christy, I mean Surf was right about one thing we pretty much were just a fad group.  I mean the beach party, scantly-clad women thing is good to get noticed but how many times can you fight the Surf Nazis or the Land Sharks before people get bored?  Turns out the answer is 3 years.”

“Really?  I always thought you were doing pretty well until that battle with Commander Calorie and Captain Cellulite?”

“You’re forgetting about Sky’s alcoholism, how Surf quit the team to join the Avenging League of Justice (that was a disaster! she was back in Bikini Force 3 months later) and of course Sun’s sex scandal.  Our ratings were slipping, Capes & Masks wasn’t returning our calls, and we’d already relaunched the team twice.  Remember that awful Bikini Force Extreme thing with the bandoliers and shoulder pads?  What were we thinking?  Then that final battle came along.”

“What can you tell us about that?”

“Not much to say.  Captain Cellulite and Commander Calorie wanted to get revenge on society for unrealistic ideas of beauty.  So they built their InFATuation Ray and picked us as their first targets.  We were at MTV’s Spring Break at Daytona Beach when they attacked.  One shot from that thing and we just grew right out of our suits leaving us naked and fat in front of 1000 screaming frat boys.  I heard some of them turned gay after that.”

“And is there a cure?”

“If there is I haven’t found it.  I tried the South Park Diet, Dr. Jenkins, you name it, nothing works.  Maybe the villains would know how to reverse it but when Gun Guy saw what they’d done to us he hunted them down and killed them as dead as you can kill anyone.  I keep hoping they’ll get resurrected but so far no luck.”

“So where is your team now?”

“Well I made out OK.  I invested most of the money I got from Coppertone and Speedo and now I market plus-size fashions.  Poor Jenny just crawled into a bottle and never came out; I hear she’s in rehab now.  Suzy doesn’t like to appear in public really but we talk on the phone sometimes.  No one’s seen Christy in years though, I hope she’s OK.”

“And your magic bikinis?”

“Well as you know Suzy’s is hanging in the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Superhero.  Jenny says she lost hers but personally I think she sold it on eBay for booze money.  I don’t know what Christy did with hers but me… I keep mine with me, y’know, as a reminder.”

“Does it still work?”

“No.  Believe me we tried and tried to get them to work by holding them or tying them to our arms but… no dice.  I even tried letting my sister wear it, just to see… and nothing.  Just the way the magic works I guess…”

“Do you miss it, the powers, the celebrity?”

“Do I miss it?  Do I miss being on three magazine covers at once, having the power to level cities by creating earthquakes, feeling the warm touch of a magic bikini against my perfect body… uh… no, no, not at all.  Superheroes are for kids and sooner or later you have to grow up.  I’m an entrepreneur now, I have my own business www.sandras-plus-size-fashions.biz and I’m partner in a new DVD called Bikini Force’s Greatest Hits available from www.Heroines-Gone-Wild.com which includes that Mardi Gras footage I mentioned.  So I’m happy, healthy and well-adjusted.”

The audience applauded politely, several of the guys scribbled down that website.

“Thank you Sandra!  Please join us next week when we ask the question ‘Whatever happened to Nightbat Girl?’ here on Behind the Masks!  This is Jerry Gerard wishing all of you good night!”

***

The lights dimmed and Sandra waddled backstage heading for her Lincoln Navigator.  The TV appearance had gone OK and would definitely help the DVD sales.  Talking about the old days had made her a bit sad though.  She reached into her purse and took out the old yellow bikini, held it for a minute, feeling the warmth and energy within.  If only she could use it again, just for a day, to have that power back.  She thought of how she had wasted it making giant sand castles for magazines or catwalks to pose on…  She fought back a sob.

Crying alone in the dark corridor she never noticed the stalker.  A blackjack landed on her neck and Sandra Birchwood, Bikini Force’s Sand, fell to the ground with a thud. 

The stalker picked up the yellow bikini, faded and threadbare after all these years.

“Well that wasn’t too hard.  I hope the Smithsonian is this easy.”

The intruder added the yellow bikini to the white and blue ones in her bag.  She laughed as she walked out the door into the night.


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