Stella
and the Minx #20:
The
Stellar Viet Cong of Megapolis!
We
all know the girl of the stars is almost
invincible in a fight; no criminal can stand up to her. So
what will the
street gangs of Megapolis do when Stella comes for them?
Marcus
Lycus
October
2008
Legal
Horrors –
Stella, the Minx and other characters are copyright and trademark
Marcus
Lycus. All rights reserved.
If
you want to use any characters in another story you need my
permission.
It also means that you can’t repost this story without my
permission.
And
since this story is meant for people over the age of 18, please
don’t read it
if you are younger than that.
Any
resemblance between characters in this story and any actual persons
living or
dead is purely coincidental of course.
And
finally, please e-mail me with any comments, complaints or suggestions.
Remember feedback leads to more stories!
Issue
20 – The Stellar
Viet Cong of Megapolis
“Hey
baby, what’s your
sign? Yield? Slippery when wet?”
“Do
not enter.”
The
big Buick was
cruising at barely 5 mph, keeping pace with the high school girl
walking
home.
Marisol
was used to
this. The 18-year old had developed early and had put up with
cat-calls,
teasing and lame pick-up lines for five years. It was just
part of
growing up in Megapolis’
Fortunately
her teachers
singled her out as ‘gifted’ and she was sent to the
“Come
on baby, if I
told you have a hot body, would you hold it against me?”
“Boy,
I won’t be
holding anything against you!”
The
passengers
laughed, she could see the driver was getting frustrated.
There
were 4 boys in
the car. She didn’t recognize them from the
neighborhood but that was no
surprise. More and more families had been moving out to the
suburbs and
the people coming in… well they weren’t the kind
Marisol was eager to get to
know.
Just
three more blocks
to home.
“Aw
come on sister,
you’re breaking my heart!”
“Boy
if your sister’s
breaking your heart, you got bigger problems than I can help you
with.”
The
passengers laughed
again, the driver turned bright red. He reached down for
something.
Just
two more blocks
Marisol noted. She just needed to get two more blocks and
she’d be free
of these losers for another day.
“What
now, you gonna
give me flowers?” She quipped. The
passengers laughed again.
“Got
something better,
forget say it with flowers…” The
driver’s hand came up. “I’m
gonna
say with Smith and Wesson!” He had a nasty looking
revolver in his hand.
“Whoa,
hold on there
amigo-“
The
car stopped.
The driver opened the door. He was wearing a leather jacket
with a Wolf
Pack emblem on it. He took a step forward towards the school
girl.
“Not so funny are you bitch?”
The
other boys in the
car were quiet now, looking nervous.
“Hey
man, we was just
kidding around right? Why don’t I give you my
number and-“
WHAM!
The butt
of the gun came down on her head and Marisol crumpled to the dirty
pavement. The gang-member dragged her by the arms towards the
car.
“Man
what are you
doing? We’re in broad daylight yo! People
can see!”
“Nope,
ain’t no one
gonna see a thing. YOU PEOPLE HEAR ME! None of you
saw a
thing! You remember that or the Wolf Pack is coming for you
next!”
He
could see curtains
being drawn and windows being closed all around the block. He
smiled. He tossed the girl into the back seat.
“Come on, I know a
place in the warehouse district.
***
Day
turned to night
and at night more predators came out.
The
thief ran and the
Minx chased him. He was another young gang member, part of
the Flaming
Snakes and he had just snatched an old lady’s
purse. The Minx figured he
wasn’t even worth a tranq dart. He was young but
not all that fast,
probably a smoker. She’d chase him down and give
him a good scare; maybe
he’d wise up and go straight.
The
thief turned into
an alleyway, the Minx smiled. She knew it was a dead
end. She had
him now. She turned the corner.
And
it was pitch
black.
Not
as black as
night. Night after all is never really that dark there is
always
moonlight and starlight, not to mention the light of a thousand windows
and
neon signs in a city.
No,
it was as dark as
the bottom of coalmine, as dark as a sealed cavern, as black as a
coffin.
Even the Minx’s trained eyes couldn’t see a thing.
CRASH!
BAM!
BOOM!
The
darkness began to
lift. The would-be purse snatcher was unconscious on the
ground and
someone was standing over him.
She
was a girl, about
20 years old, dressed in a gymnast’s leotard that covered her
body and arms but
left her legs bare for maneuverability. Soft cloth boots
covered her feet
and a strap on her thigh held a small pouch. Her outfit was
indigo blue,
with white trim. Her hair was brown and unfashionably short,
an indigo
domino mask covered her face and while lenses covered her eyes.
The
Minx sighed.
“And who might you be?” She asked.
The
girl stood up
straight, parted her legs, put her hands on her hips and proclaimed
“They call
me… BLACKOUT!” Her tone was low, quiet
and dangerous.
“Never
heard of you.”
“No
one has. I
am mystery, I am darkness, I am the night!” The
girl rasped back.
“You
must be new at
this. First night?”
“Um…
third?” Her
voice broke into a more natural tone.
“Yeah,
I can
tell. You’re still posing like you’re in
a comic book.”
“I…
um…”
The
Minx moved,
jumping onto a dumpster, then swinging from a fire escape, landing
cat-like
behind Nightshade and sweeping her legs out from under her in one
graceful
move.
Blackout
landed
face-first in a puddle.
“And
your reflexes
aren’t trained. You’re not much better
than the punk you just took down.”
The
Minx looked the
girl over again. Her shoulders were strong; her small body
had the
distinctive V shape of a trained gymnast.
Blackout
rolled over
and a leg shot out in a fast kick. The Minx simply jumped and
landed a
few feet back. “And you telegraph your
moves. Anyone with a bit of
training can evade them.”
“Only
if they can
see!” Blackout rolled and jumped to her feet, she
palmed a small ball
from her thigh-pouch and threw it. The world went black
again. She
smiled, with her special lenses she could see the Minx as clear as day
while
the older crime-fighter was as blind as a bat. She took two
steps forward
and…
POW!
Blackout
landed on her
back holding her nose. “Ow”
“And
you make too much
noise when you breathe.”
They
waited a minute
for the darkness to dissipate.
“Still
those blackout
bombs are pretty neat. Make them yourself?”
“Um,
my dad did.”
“Well
then go on home
kid and tell him he did good work.”
“I
can’t. He’s
dead.”
“Oh.
Sorry.”
“And
now I have to
avenge him. Him and all other innocent victims of
crime!”
“That’s
a pretty tall
order.”
“Look
who’s talking.”
“That’s
different! I’m not some amateur roaming the
rooftops! I was trained
by Night Fox!”
“I
KNOW! I need
more training! I studied judo and gymnastics and criminology
but it’s not
like there’s a school for becoming a superhero!
That’s why I’m here in
Megapolis. I want you to train me!”
The
Minx froze, her
mind raced. “I-I’m not a
teacher.”
“But
Night Fox trained
you! And Ferret! Who’ll take over when
you’re gone?”
“I…
I’m not
interested. I already have a partner. Go
home.”
“But!”
The
Minx fired off a
wire and was in the rooftops before Blackout could finish her next
plea.
She ran a few blocks, changing direction just in case the young girl
tried to
follow but there was no sign of her. Finally she stopped and
caught her
breath.
“Great.
Now what
do I do?”
***
“At
this time the
police have no suspects but they think it was a local street gang
called the
Wolf Pack…” Principal Nottingham was
saying.
“L-last
night, one of
the girls, Marisol from the senior class, she was…
they…” The teacher’s
voice dropped even lower, too soft for most people to catch but no
problem for
someone with stellar senses.
“Stars
and
comets!”
***
“We
have to do
something!” Stella demanded.
“We
are doing
something Stella; every night when we go out on patrol we’re
doing something to
fight crime.” The Minx replied.
‘When you bother to go on patrol’
she added silently but then felt bad about it.
“Well
it’s not
enough! They kidnapped that poor girl in broad daylight and
everyone is
too afraid to say anything! Crime is out of
control!”
“You
think I don’t
know that?
“Well
we have to do
something about it. We have to really crack down on
them! Go out to
the
“And
then what?
“But…”
“
“But
I want to do
something now!”
“I
know
***
The
Minx was still
thinking when the phone rang. The secret phone. The
one she kept in
the Minx Pad. The one even the phone company didn’t
have the number
to. She picked it up.
“Hey
Foxy, (cough)
how’s tricks?”
“Wes!
Well this
is a surprise! I was just thinking of going to see you next
week.”
“That’s
sweet of you
(cough). Always happy to have you down here.”
“So
um, you’ve still
got that cold huh?”
“Yeah
(cough).”
“Can
your doctor do
anything about it?”
“Yeah,
um, about
that.” His voice became low and halting.
“The docs say it should be
over with pretty soon, a couple of weeks, maybe less.”
“A…
a couple of
weeks?”
“Yeah
(cough).
Thought you want to know.”
“Um,
Wes I’ll ask
“No!
(cough), no
Gloria. No uh… no need (cough). I mean,
you’ve got important work
to do up there right? I just uh… wanted you to
know I’m proud.
Really proud of you.”
“Wes…
please I want to
go down there-“
“No
Gloria, you just
keep making me (cough) proud. Okay? You do that
(cough).”
“I…
I will Wes, I
swear.”
“That’s
all I ask
(cough). All I ask.”
He
hung up.
The
Minx immediately
made another call.
“
“He
told you huh?”
“Not
in so many words
but yeah. He made it clear. A couple of
weeks?”
“That’s
what they
say. Cancer. The bad kind. They say
there’s nothing they can
do.”
“Cancer,
but
how? Wes hasn’t been sick a day in his
life!”
“Yeah
but he hasn’t
exactly led a healthy life either. I mean he smoked a pipe up
till the
60s, plus all those fights over vats of chemicals, not to mention that
nuclear
reactor he had in the Fox Den. It could be
anything. I’m worried
about myself now.”
“I’ll
tell
“No,
come on Gloria,
you know that’s not what he wants.”
“But
why?”
“Wes
is a proud man,
you know that. Right now, I mean, he… he lost his
hair a few weeks
ago. And he’s been in a wheel chair.
Can’t even go to the bathroom
by himself. He… he doesn’t want you to
see him like this. He
doesn’t even want me seeing him like this.”
“But…”
“Gloria,
I know how
you feel about him. But you have to respect this.
It’s what he
wants. I mean just calling you was so hard for him you
wouldn’t believe
it. Seeing you, you seeing him, it… it would kill
him. I really
think it would.”
“I…
I see.
If there’s anything I can do-“
“Can
you cure cancer?”
“I…”
The Minx
actually stopped and thought about that for a minute.
“No… no I can’t.”
“Then
say a prayer for
him. It’s all we can do.”
***
The
next morning
everyone in the
Stella
had something
to say.
“ATTENTION
STREET
GANGS! THIS IS STELLA! AS OF TODAY YOU’RE
ALL ON NOTICE! I’M
WATCHING! TRY AND SNATCH A PURSE, AND I’LL BE
THERE! MUG SOMEONE
AND I’LL BE ON TOP OF YOU! EVEN SPRAY PAINT A WALL
AND STELLA WILL BE
WAITING! YOUR REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER! THE GIRL OF
THE STARS IS
GOING TO CLEAN UP THIS TOWN!”
Some
cursed being woke
up by her stellar shouting. Others laughed at the
idea. Some were
scared, but some felt hope.
During
the next week
Stella was as good as her word.
Three
teenagers tried
to hold up a liquor store and were promptly disarmed and deposited at
the
police station. The store owner promised to testify against
them.
A
drug pusher found
his car doors welded shut and was flown to the DA’s
office. The drugs in
his car and the notebook in his pocket were more than enough to get a
conviction.
Even
the group of kids
throwing rocks at an abandoned tenement got a stern talking to from the
girl of
the stars.
For
the first week in
years, crime almost disappeared on the
Even
the Minx was
impressed.
***
“You’re
right Minx, this
is hard work. I mean with my stellar sight it’s
easy to see who has a
gun, or drugs or whatever, but I can’t use that in court, I
have to wait until
there’s a chance to catch them in the act.”
“Well
“But
I’m doing
it! I’m really doing it! And you know
something; Cousin Ken never
managed to clean up the
***
“This
sucks!”
One Wolf Packer yelled. “It’s like we
can’t even go outside without that
blond bitch grabbing us!”
“What
can we do?
The bitch is bullet proof!”
“It
ain’t fair!
Super girls like her shouldn’t be allowed to go after normal
folks!”
Only
one gang member
was quiet. He just sat in the back of abandoned warehouse
sipping his
beer and waiting.
Finally…
“Hey
Scarlet Wolf,
you’re real quiet tonight, ain’t you pissed off
about this Stella shit?”
“Hey
guys, I got a
plan. I tried to tell you last year but none of you would
listen.” (Issue
#7 – Ed)
“Yeah?
Seems to
me you’re just another punk like the rest of us.
What you got, a Saturday
night special? A switchblade? Brass
knuckles? You got
something to deal with a fucking cunt who’s bulletproof, can
rip through steel,
see through wall and fucking flies? You got a plan for
that?”
“Yup.”
The
room was quiet by
then, gangers gathered around to hear what the Scarlet Wolf had to say.
“You
guys forget I’m
not just some punk who’s never been out of the
“Yeah,
so?”
“So,
think about
it. Back in ‘
***
Days
passed and the
streets were quiet. Stella flew through the
Suddenly
there was an
explosion in the warehouse district! She saw one of the
abandoned
buildings catch fire and flew out to save it.
***
Heather
Heaton got out
of the cab and headed into her
Heather
had gotten the
job because she looked the part. Her long legs were skinny
but shapely
and looked great in a pair of red hotpants. Her long blond
hair was
natural and gorgeous. Her face was pleasant heart shape and
her pert lips
looked like they were made for kissing. Plus her breasts were
larger and
firmer than Stella’s, more the way most guys imagined they
should be. But
Heather knew looks would fade in time, she also had to show she had the
chops
for the role and for the roles that would hopefully follow.
Her big fear
was that she’d be typecast; she remembered what happened to
that girl who
played Night Fox Girl, on that campy Night Fox TV show. She
hadn’t worked
in years.
She
got in the
elevator and took a script out of her bag. Tomorrow was heavy
on
dialogue; she was supposed to give her big speech to Stellar Man where
she
promises to protect Earth while he’s in space. It
was a good speech, she
wondered if the real Stella said something this good.
Preoccupied,
she
didn’t pay much attention to the three guys who got in the
elevator with
her. She didn’t even look at them until she arrived
at her floor and they
got out with her.
She
started to walk
faster, the guys trailed behind her. She unlocked her door
and dashed
in. She started to slam it behind her but…
WHAM!
It
hit a guy’s foot
jammed into the doorway. The guy pushed hard and the door
opened
again. The three walked inside and closed the door behind
them.
“Um…
I… I don’t have
much money but you can have it…” Heather
backed up towards the phone.
“S’ok
Heather, we
don’t want money.” One of them popped a
switchblade.
“I…You…
How do you
know my name?”
“You’re
famous
Heather. You’re gonna be in that Stella
movie. We’re big fans.”
“I…
um… Do you want an
autograph?”
“Yeah,
why don’t we
start with that. Sit down.” He commanded
and pointed to the
couch. Heather complied. She saw one of the punks
walk up to the
phone and cut the cord with his switchblade. Another sat down
next to her
and put his arm around her shoulders. Heather was too scared
to
object. He licked her neck. She squirmed in
fear.
The
leader plopped
down on the couch and handed her a notebook and pen. “Write
to my best fan the
Scarlet Wolf, from Heather ‘Stella’
Heaton.” The starlet complied and
scribbled the note on the pad.
“Nice
place
Heather. I guess you’re doing OK huh, course after
you play Stella on the
teevee you’ll be a real star.”
“Um
yeah I will.
Hey um, my boyfriend’s coming by soon and he’s a
cop and he-“
“You
don’t have a
boyfriend Heather. No one’s coming by.”
“Um…”
The young
actress’ mind raced. What could she say?
What could she do?
She was in her own home and completely helpless!
“Hey
you know what
would be neat? Seeing you in your Stella suit! I
bet you’d love to
show it off for us fans huh?”
Heather
seized the
chance. “Um, yeah! I would but
y’know it’s back at the
studio. Maybe if you come back tomorrow I can sneak it
out-“ She
stopped. One of the punks was holding up her
costume.
“Lucky
thing one of
our buddies managed to snatch it huh?”
“Um
yeah… lucky.”
“Well?
Put it
on.” He tossed it to her and it landed on the
coffee table.
Heather
grabbed it and
stood up. Was this another chance? There was a
ledge outside the
bathroom window, it would be risky but if she could get to the
apartment next
door. She took a step towards the hallway.
“No,
put it on here.”
“Here?”
“You
heard me.
You don’t want to make your fans unhappy do you?”
Heather
gulped and
nodded. The last thing she wanted to do was make these three
unhappy. She was wearing a one-piece minidress with red and
black stripes
and a loose white belt. The belt went first. Then
she raised her
long shapely legs and unzipped her white boots.
FLASH!
A
sudden light blinded
her; one of the punks had a Polaroid camera and took an instant
photograph. The boys giggled at her fear and
discomfort. Heather
hardened her face. Damnit! She was not going to
give these punks
the satisfaction! She turned her back to them and reached
behind to unzip
the dress. It fell slowly exposing her shoulders and
back. The guys
noted she didn’t wear a bra. She wiggled a bit and
the dress flowed down
her body until all she had left were her panties.
She
reached behind her
and picked up the costume. With her back still turned she
pulled up the
red hotpants, they fit snuggly around her hips and even the crack of
her
butt. Then she pulled the loose blue blouse over her body and
finally
tied on the cape and pulled on the ballet slippers. Putting
on the
costume helped her confidence and took away a lot of her
fear. She turned
and faced her captors with her hands on her hips and her legs spread
apart.
“OK
boys, like what
you see?”
One
of them, the
leader she guessed, smiled and walked right up to her. He
took her chin
in his hand. “You know you do look just like
her. And there’s one
thing I always wanted to do.”
Heather
closed her
eyes, OK here it comes, the kiss. Maybe that’s all
these punks wanted, to
dress her up and make out. She could handle that.
One of the TV
executives had offered her a hundred bucks to make out in her costume.
WHAM!
The
Scarlet Wolf
landed a solid punch in her gut.
“AH!”
Then
a harsh slap
across her face.
Then
he kneed her
between the legs.
The
actress crumpled
to the floor.
The
three Wolf Pack
gang members started kicking and stomping until the pretty blonde was
crying
and screaming hysterically.
Then
they grabbed her
arms and pulled her to her feet. She was sobbing and crying,
barely able
to stand, completely unable to fight.
“Please! Stop! I’ll do
anything!”
The
Scarlet Wolf
smiled. “That’s what I like to hear
Stella.”
He
pulled down her red
hotpants and tossed her on the floor.
“Spread
‘em
Stella. I’ve been waiting a long time for
this…”
***
“Um
hi Detective
Mulligan, I was flying back from the warehouse district and I saw you
guys
here. What’s up?”
Detective
Mulligan
scowled at Stella.
“Funny
I was just
thinking of you.”
“Really?
Great!” Stella smiled; the police were finally
showing her the respect
she deserved!
Mulligan
led her to
crime scene, a dead body covered by a white sheet. He pulled
it off with
a flourish.
Stella
gagged.
It
was a woman in a
Stella costume, she obviously fallen from a building and looked like a
squished
tomato.
“Yeah,
I thought you’d
want to see this.”
Stella
threw up in the
gutter.
***
The
Minx drove out of
the abandoned subway tunnel into her Minx Pad. She parked the
motorbike
and yawned. Another quiet night of patrol.
Stella’s crackdown on
the
With
things quiet in
the city she finally had some time to catch up on her
reading. She
unbuttoned the heavy coat and hung it up. She threw a silk
robe over her
black bra and panties and settled into a comfortable chair.
Even with her
photographic memory she had a few hours of study ahead of
her. She opened
the latest book on electronics and transistors.
Then
a mug shot file
from the FBI.
The
blueprints to a
dozen new buildings.
Finally
some light
reading, science and sociology journals.
Which
is where she saw
it. An article on simulating stellar radiation by a German
physicist
named Dr.
Tiberius Corvidae. It even noted he was
working at
She
read it again.
She
smiled. She headed over to her Minx
Computer to find out more about this scientist.
***
Days
passed, Stella
could feel a change on the streets of the
It
felt like she was
always on patrol these days, watching for any sign of the crooks
who’d attacked
those poor girls. She scanned the neighborhood again with her
stellar sight
looking for anything suspicious. Whoever killed that actress
must have
been sending Stella a message to back off. Well whoever it
was she’d find
them and she’d get them. But in the meantime she
could hear the whispers.
“Yup
there she goes,
probably peeping into our houses again.”
“I
know, it’s like we
don’t got rights cause we live on the
“I
hear she shoots
x-rays out of her eyes. They give you cancer.”
“Hey
you know, my
baby’s been sick lately.”
“She
put my son in
jail last week. He’s a good boy, he just fell in
with the wrong crowd,
not that she cares.”
“She
smashed my car
fighting that giant robot. Didn’t even pay for
it.”
She
scowled, didn’t
these people get it? She was there to help them!
It’s like they
didn’t want to be saved! But then her keen ears
heard something more
interesting.
“You
got the stuff?”
“Yeah.
50 kilos
worth. Enough to make those kids really happy. You
got my money?”
“Yeah,
I got it, all
of it.”
That
was all she
needed!
BOOM!
She
smashed through the garage wall, smashed the buyer’s car and
wrapped them up in
cocoons of steel. She saw the sack of powder, puffed her
cheeks and blew
dispensing them to the four winds. Then she turned to her
captives and
smiled.
“That’s
one drug buy
you won’t be making!”
“Huh?
Drugs?”
“Don’t
try to play
dumb with me my stellar hearing heard everything!”
“But…
but… I was just
buying cement for the new community center we’re
building.”
“Community
center?”
“Yeah,
a hundred
pounds of cement for the basketball hoops.”
“But…”
“If
you just look at
the powder-“
Stella’s
blue eyes
turned pale as she looked at the dust in the air. He was
right! It
was cement! But it sounded just like a drug deal!
It wasn’t her
fault! It wasn’t!
She
flew out, smashing
another hole in the garage wall, leaving the two men wrapped in layers
of
steel.
Watching
from a few
blocks away the Scarlet Wolf tried not to laugh.
***
“OK,
let’s call this
meeting of the Mega University Stellar Girl Fan Club to
order! This is a
very important meeting since we have to decide who will play Stella on
our
homecoming parade float.” Liz the club president
explained.
The
dozen girls
stopped gossiping, poured themselves some coffee or tea, and took their
seats. The turnout was small; it had been dropping for the
last two years
ever since sweet innocent Stellar Girl became the sexy
Stella. Stella had
her own fans, mostly middle-aged men but on college campuses no one was
quite
sure what to make of her new look.
As
usual they wore
their home-made Stellar Girl and Stella costumes. Annabelle
looked over
the others, none of them came close. Most of them
we’re even blonde, heck
they’d even let a black girl join! And Annabelle
had gone out and gotten
her hair done just the way Stellar Girl used to look.
They’d have to pick
her. The only one who came close was Julie but she was
wearing a Stella
costume and had her hair long. Stupid girl, didn’t
she know this was the
Stellar GIRL fan club? They were founded to honor Stellar
Girl’s career
when she was a student at Mega U, not whatever nonsense she was up
since she
started hanging out with that radical feminist the Minx.
Everyone knew
that.
She
took a sip of her
coffee. Yup, Annabelle had it locked in.
Liz
was talking and
talking about the budget and the plans for the float and stuff but
Annabelle
didn’t feel like listening. And looking around the
room none of the other
girls were listening either. They seemed half asleep, dazed
and
confused. She looked over a Julie in her Stella costume; she
was leaning
on the black girl, practically kissing her neck. Actually it
was kind of
hot.
Liz
finally looked up
from her notes and saw her club wasn’t with her.
“Guys? Guys?
This is important guys!”
The
door opened, a
tall guy in a red leather jacket marched in, a group of punks trailing
behind
him. “Hey! Who the hell are-“
WHAM!
The
Scarlet Wolf
backhanded Liz and knocked her off her feet.
“What’s her problem?”
“Guess
she didn’t
drink the drugged coffee.”
“Easy
to fix.”
Two guys pulled Liz to her feet and pried her mouth open. The
Scarlet
Wolf picked up a coffee pot and poured it down her throat.
Liz choked on
it and most ended up on her Stellar Girl costume but enough went down
her
throat. They let her go and she fell senseless to the floor.
One
seized Annabelle
in her Stellar Girl outfit, another grabbed Julie they threw the two
girls
together. Deep in their drugged haze the two girls grabbed
each other for
support. Through the fog in their brains the girls began to
realize they
were in a lot of trouble.
“Mmm,
twin Stellas,
twice as nice.” The Scarlet Wolf grabbed one of the
fan girls, a brunette
in Stellar Girl’s old minidress costume. He popped
a switchblade and held
it to her throat. “OK Stella and Stellar Girl,
you’re gonna do what I say
if you know what’s smart.”
The
two girls nodded
hesitantly and listened to his commands.
The
taller blonde in
the Stella costume wrapped her arms around the shorter one in the
Stellar Girl
suit. She pulled up the blue minidress and slipped her
fingers under the
elastic of her blue panties. She pulled them and let them
slide down
Annabelle’s legs. The drugged girl moaned
softly. Julie cupped her
wet sex and squeezed. “Stella help us!
Stella where are you?”
Annabelle moaned.
***
Stella
landed
gracefully on the stage. The city councilman and hundreds of
people were
waiting. The city councilman made a speech thanking Stella
for everything
she had done to help fight crime in the
She
took the
podium. “My fellow
Megapolisians-“ She began.
“Boo!
Hiss! Get lost!” Cries came up from the
crowd. Stella
hesitated and looked to the councilman for help, he waved her to
continue.
“-C-crime
has long
threatened our city…”
“What
about
superheroine brutality! What about our rights!”
“…
and… and I have,
um…”
“Who
asked for you anyway?”
“…
um, tried to
protect the ordinary people of Megapolis…”
“What
about Heather
Heaton! Where were you?”
“…and
um safeguard…”
“What
about the
x-rays! The cancer! What about the community
center!”
“…everyone
um…”
“STELLA
GO HOME!
STELLA GO HOME! STELLA GO HOME!”
“…
please let me talk
I… OW!”
Someone
threw a tomato
at her. It didn’t hurt her of course but the
surprise made her cry out.
Eggs, cabbages and even trash followed, pelting the blonde heroine with
trash.
“Oh
STARS AND
COMETS! I don’t need this! I’m
trying to help you! OW!”
A
brick bounced off
her head. The city councilman and other VIPs were already
running for
their cars. Stella was alone and crying on stage.
She bent her legs
slightly and took off with a sonic boom that sent the crowd
running.
Before
anyone
recovered she was halfway to the moon and far, far out of hearing range.
The
Wolf Pack gangers
laughed. It had been easy to scare all the pro-Stella people
into staying
away, making sure only them and their supporters showed up for the
rally.
***
“Stella
please help
us!” Liz moaned again. The Stella fans
were nearly naked.
Some of them still had their capes or their boots though; the gang
members were
taking out all the frustration that had built up from being caught by
the
world’s most inaccessible woman.
Of
course not all
frustrations were sexual. Two of them were holding up Julie
while a third
used her as a punching bag. They’d left her Stella
costume on.
For
Annabelle they’d
just left her the boots and cape. They made her squat over a
Stellar Girl
poster and pee on it in front the laughing gang members.
But
for Liz, it was
just a straight-up fucking. The drugs made her two weak to
even think
about putting up a fight.
“Where
is she?
Where is Stella?” Liz moaned as the Scarlet Wolf
came between her legs.
CLICK!
FLASH!
One
of the gang
snapped polaroids and laughed.
***
Meanwhile
across the
campus students were exiting the physics lecture hall.
“Excuse
me, Dr. Corvidae?”
“Ja?
I am herr
Doktor Corvidae.”
“Good
afternoon my
name is Ms. Smith; I read your article on stellar radiation and would
like to
speak with you about a project I’m working
on…”
***
“Oh
Gloria, what am I
going to do?”
“Lynn
I always told
you it would hard.”
“But…
but they boo’ed
me and threw garbage. And those poor girls in my fan
club. The
school says they’re going to have close it down after those
pictures they
mailed. Maybe if I stopped picking on the gangs
they’d leave my fans
alone.”
“
“But
they hate me!”
“
“But…”
***
Outside
of town the
grounds were peaceful at Bedlam Asylum for the Criminally
Insane. Birds
sang, trees swayed in the wind and the patients (don’t call
them inmates!)
walked across the lawns or just enjoyed the autumn weather.
Inside
was just as
peaceful and orderly. Modern drugs kept the patients quiet
and
docile. Straightjackets and padded cells were a thing of the
past.
Trained medical professionals tended to the patients’ needs,
helping to prepare
them to return to society.
And
in one room Dr.
Jessup met with his most infamous patient.
“Oh
God! I can’t
stand it! It’s so unfair!”
“Now,
now Doc, tell me
all about it.”
“Oh
Jester, I mean
losing my wife to cancer was bad enough but now I hear my
nephew’s in a coma
from a drunk driving accident.”
“Oh
come now doctor,
you can’t let these things bother you, not with the economy
the way it is, plus
the war and crime rates going up. These little things hardly
matter. You just have to laugh.” The
Jester chuckled warmly and his
doctor followed along. Soon the two were howling hysterically
in each
other’s arms.
***
Stella
hovered over
the
She’d
argued with
Gloria for hours about going back. The Minx finally reminded
her that if
she didn’t show up the gangs would laugh at her.
That made Stella’s blood
boil. She was the girl of the stars damnit! No one
was going to
laugh at her!
Then
she heard it.
Yelling?
No. Cheering.
A
group of people were
marching down
A
local school teacher
climbed on to the bed of a pickup truck with a bullhorn.
“Those gangs
have been terrorizing us for long enough! We have to stand up
to them!”
“Right
on! Say
it loud! Hey there she is!”
Stella
gracefully landed next
to him and shook the man’s hand.
“Oh
thank you, thank you, just when I was losing hope you guys-“
BOOM!
The
explosion destroyed the pickup truck scattering wreckage up and down
the
street. When Stella’s vision cleared she was still
holding the man’s hand.
But the rest of his body was in pieces. She looked up.
“Come
on man, move!”
“Stop
worrying, we ditched the rocket launcher like the Scarlet Wolf told
us.
Even if she arrests us there’s no evidence.”
WHOOSH!
The
two gunmen exploded into clouds of red mist as Stella’s
invulnerable body
passed right through them. The girl of the stars soared into
skies above
the city and opened her ears. She tuned her stellar hearing
higher than
she ever had before. She could hear every word being said
across the
But
she heard it.
“Yeah,
they
should
have
gotten
them by now. I got them an army
surplus RPG. That’ll teach those idiots to support
Stella.”
BOOM!
The
wall exploded as Stella shot through. A dozen Wolf Packers
scattered
running for the exits. Stella’s blue eyes turned
red and the door handles
melted. There was a tornado and they were wrapped up in a
cocoon made
from the clubhouse’s filthy rug.
“THAT’S
IT! Your little guerilla war against me ends now!”
Some
struggled, some wept, some begged. But one, one laughed.
“Oh
yeah Stella? What are you gonna
arrest us for? There’s no evidence, and even if you
heard something it’s
just your word against ours!”
Stella’s
mouth opened
in shock, then closed in anger, then she smiled. She looked
at the
red-headed gang leader.
“You’re
the leader
then, the one they call the Scarlet Wolf.”
“Who
me?” He
smiled innocently. “My name’s Jack
Woods. I don’t know nothing
about any gangs. And all my buddies here will swear to that
in
count. Right guys?” The other prisoners
nodded and murmured in
agreement.
“Oh
you’re playing the
wrong game Wolf. You threw out the rule book a long time ago,
why do you
think I’m going to use it?”
“I…
You… But…
You can’t! They’ll know!
Everyone will know! No one will ever
trust you again!”
“Hmm?
Of course
they’ll trust me! I’m Stella, the girl of
the stars. And you’re
just…”
Her
eyes burned red
again.
The
rug cocoon caught
fire; the smell of burning meat filled the room.
“…barbeque.”
Stella finished.
***
Stella
stood on the
rooftop watching the club house burn. Those old tenements
were condemned
anyway, no one would think twice about it. And the best thing
was no one
even saw her.
“How
many were in
there?” A whisper from the shadows.
“AH!
Huh?
Minx, oh I um, I was just going to go in and check if anyone-“
“How
many did you
kill?”
“Um…
Fourteen. I
got the leader.”
“Now
what?”
“I…
I’m done
here. I mean I got them, fine, it’s
finished. From now on I stick
to giant robots and alien invasions. This street stuff,
it’s just beyond
me. Um, you’re not mad are you?”
“No
Stella. I’m
not mad.”
“I
really tried.”
“I
know.”
“I
um, I’ve got to get
going.”
“Good
night Stella.”
“Good
night.”
The
blonde disappeared
into the night sky.
The
Minx crouched on
that roof for a long time watching the fire burn. She knew
the old
heroes, the first generation from the Depression wouldn’t
think twice about
this. Someone like Night Shadow or Doc Hammer would call this
a good
day’s work. Even Night Fox might be willing to
accept this resolution to
their problem.
But
the Minx just
couldn’t. She knew there was a better
way. But her partner
obviously didn’t agree.
And
for now there was
nothing she could do.
For
now.
‘Ms.
Smith’ had an
appointment with Dr. Corvidae tomorrow.
***
Hundreds
of miles to
the south night settled over
Outside
of town a
single light burned in Wes Adam’s study. He was
pouring over property
deeds. He was sure the developer was using fraud to buy up
land outside
of town but just needed time to prove it. Time he might not
have.
It
was
frustrating. For more than 30 years he’d been a man
of action, fighting
criminals like the Jester, escaping from death traps like Night
Cat’s Maze of
Madness and even battling global threats with his friends in the
Avenging
League of Justice.
But
now he was just a
sick old man, forgotten by everyone but his ward Warren and his
protégé the
Minx, solving minor crimes from his study just to keep busy.
Suddenly
he doubled
over, another coughing fit. He reached for his
medication. His hand
shook. He couldn’t quite get a grip on the
bottle. He stumbled and the
bottle fell to the floor and shattered.
“N-no!”
Another
coughing fit gripped him; Wes Adams doubled over and fell from his
chair.
There was more medication in the bathroom down the hall but he felt so
weak. He crawled a few feet towards the door and
stopped. He
couldn’t make it.
The
door to the study
opened.
“W-Warren?
Is
that you? Back from
There
was no
answer. The door opened a bit further. Wes could
see a pair of purple
high-heeled boots.
“I’m
not
A
woman’s voice.
He tried to look up but his vision began to swim.
“G-Gloria?”
“Heh.
No, I’m
not your precious Gloria either.”
He
looked up and
squinted hard the face became clear.
“You!”
He
gasped.
“Recognized
me
huh? Even after all this time. Even with the
mask. She
thought you might. Your mind always was your greatest
weapon.
Especially now that your body is failing you.”
“You…
you poisoned
me…”
“Ooo
good one
Wes. Very good. Yup. I’ve been
slipping some high-powered
carcinogen gas into your bedroom at night over the last few
months. And
you never even noticed.”
“No…
(cough) but why…
I sent money, (cough) I always there (cough) if you needed
me…”
“Were
you? Or
were you too busy with little Gloria to bother with me?”
“You
know?”
“Well
my father was
the world’s greatest detective you know. And when
he’s gone I’m going to
take everything that should have been mine. And your little
skank will
never see me coming.”
“No…
(cough) please
(cough) she didn’t do anything (cough) this is about me
(cough) not Gloria.”
“I
know that
daddy. I know. You should never have loved her
daddy. Then I
wouldn’t need to take her down.”
“Please…
(cough)
no…” Wes Adams convulsed into a fetal
position, his feeble body wracked
with coughing fits. Finally, like a broken engine his wheezes
grew softer
and he fell silent.
Forever.
The
woman smiled and
walked out, careful no to leave a trace of her passing.
Afterword
Whew,
beside the story
itself there was a lot of set-up in this issue. It kicks off
a story arc
that will take us through to the landmark, double-sized, anniversary,
twenty-fifth issue!
If
you’re keeping
notes, the Scarlet Wolf showed up way back in issue #6 and our
mysterious woman
first showed issue #16.
Marcus
Lycus
Next issue: The heroes of Megapolis say farewell to one of their own and we peek into the history of the Minx. Stay tuned for “How Night Fox Girl became a woman” a landmark issue sure to be a collector’s item!
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