Stella and the Minx #37:
Old Business
Stellar Man and
Night Fox were the greatest heroes of the 60s but in the 70s their female
counterparts Stella and Minx took over!
But now Stella is
powerless! Can even the newly-returned
Minx save her?
Marcus Lycus
April 2010
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are copyright and trademark Marcus Lycus.
All rights reserved.
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if you are younger than that.
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Remember feedback leads to more stories!
Issue 37 – Old
Business
The year was 1973. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree was on the radio. American Graffiti was launching the careers
of Harrison Ford and George Lucas.
Schoolhouse Rock was showing on Saturday morning TV. The Sydney Opera House opened. Homosexuality was removed from the list of
mental disorders. Watergate and the Arab
Oil Embargo were still months away.
And in a seedy bar in Thailand a certain heroine
was about to make her return…
***
"Place your bets! It's
Crusher Joe versus our arena champion!
Place those bets now!"
Crusher Joe stomped onto the dirt-floored Bangkok arena and flexed his
muscles. The wrestler weighed 300 pounds
and not an ounce of that was fat. He
picked up a 2x4 from the floor and cracked it over his knee. The crowd went wild. Thai Bhat, U.S. dollars and Japanese yen
changed hands by the fist-full. He circled a wooden post a few times, smiled,
and cracked it with a head butt. The building shook with the force of the
cheers. Sure the reigning champ was good,
but no way this guy could lose! And it
was well past time for a change.
"And now for our reigning champion, the Beastly Beauty, the Femme
Fatal, the Curvy Champion – The Night Huntress!"
Helena Adams drank a shot of vodka and proudly strode through the
doors. The lithe adventuress had put on
some muscle over the last year and her formerly pale skin had acquired a golden
tan under the Thai sun. After the
debacle with Night Vixen she'd found herself aimless and purposeless. She'd fallen into the underground fight scene
and from there it was all a blur of filthy arenas, cheap booze and broken
bloody bodies. They'd started with her
fighting women but after none of them lasted more than a minute they'd put her
in with men. So far none of them had
lasted more than five.
She still wore most of her old costume.
The cape had proven impractical and had been shredded in early fight
with a hook-handed Swede but she still wore the purple and indigo leotard, the
long gloves and high boots. She'd
replaced the mask with a simple sweatband, after all what did it matter if
someone saw her face, and of course her weapons were banned in the pit but it
didn't matter. She didn't need them.
She looked Crusher Joe over and frowned.
"Victory in two minutes."
She declared.
The crowd roared, more money changed hands.
In the shadows a woman smiled.
Finally someone rang a gong and the fight
started. Crusher Joe charged like a
bull. It was clear once he got his hands
on the athletic woman he'd mush her into paste.
This is, if he got his hands on her.
The woman dropped into a crouch and held her
ground. The crowd started to boo and
throw things. Was she just waiting there
to be beaten?
But at the last second the leapt, somersaulting
over Joe's head and landing behind him.
Joe started to spin but a quick kick to his rear send the off-balance
wrestler to the floor on his side.
Night Huntress' hand found a chunk of the 2x4
Joe had broken. She brought it down on
his head. He raised an arm to block her;
she broke it with a kick and brought the wood down on his skull again. And again.
And again. Blood poured from his
bleeding scalp to the dirty floor. The
crowd roared its approval. Joe tried to
rise one more time but a blow to his throat ended that. Night Huntress tossed the bloody chunk of
wood over her shoulder and turned to the crowd.
The arena shook with their cheers.
The whole fight lasted 1 minute and 49 seconds.
The Night Huntress smiled and took a bow. She lived for this moment. Everything she cared about was gone. Everyone she loved was gone. There was only this, the moment of triumph;
the moment she once again proved she was the best.
Slowly the applause died down.
Except for one set of hands.
CLAP-CLAP-CLAP
The Huntress turned to face the sound. Who was mocking her?
A woman walked through the crowd. Somehow the sailors, mercenaries and thugs in
the audience sensed they should give her a wide berth. She reached edge of arena and gracefully
leapt down to the dirty floor.
"Hello Helena. Long time no see."
"No… it can't be…"
***
Lynn Lewis looked at the note for the thousandth time. She wasn't a detective by any means but after
two years she could certainly recognize her partner's delicate and precise
handwriting.
Lynn, sorry
but I borrowed a vial for analysis. I
promise to return it when I see you again.
In the meantime this should help with your money problems. Just stay strong, I'll be in touch soon.
-M
The only problem was her partner had been dead for almost a year. Lynn had cremated the body herself.
It could be a forgery of course, but who would forge a dead woman's
handwriting?
"If I had my powers I could use my stellar sight and-" But she didn't have her powers. Now she needed a serum to get her powers back
and she only had two vials left.
"I need help, I should call…"
Who? The Ferret has disappeared
months ago, promising to find the Minx.
He'd never contacted her.
Princess Patriot refused to speak with her. The police wanted to arrest the Minx. And there just wasn't anyone else she could
talk to.
But the Minx couldn't be back, she couldn't! It had to be a trick!
***
"No Helena, no tricks. It's
me."
"It can't be, I saw you-"
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The audience screamed.
The Minx smiled at her foe.
"I've been waiting a long time for this."
"I don't know who you really are but I'll get the truth out of you
somehow." She dug in her heels and
charged across the dirt floor.
The woman in the mink coat smiled, put her hands in her pockets and
watched her foe close the distance.
Faster than Night Huntress could see she leapt into the air, landed
behind her and with a single kick to the butt sent Night Huntress face-first to
the floor.
The crowd roared. The champion
had never tasted dirt before. And certainly had never fallen for her own trick! Money changed hands at a furious rate.
Night Huntress rose gracefully and wiped the
dust from her face. She scowled at the
newcomer. "Not bad, but I've
trained my entire life. Tricks won't
save you, and once I get my hands on you I'll get the truth." She spat and advanced slowly, carefully, her
hands forward ready to block.
The woman in fur continued to smile and kept her
hands in her pockets.
"You're welcome to try."
The two faced each other for a full minute. Night Huntress remaining tense and ready, the
Minx disarmingly casual and open. The
mood of the crowd turned ugly. Bottles
and trash rained into the arena.
"Blood! Fight! Kill!"
Night Huntress shifted to avoid a beer bottle
aimed at her head and turned it into an attack.
The Minx easily side-stepped the blow and tripped the raven-haired woman
with a simple leg sweep. She backed up
and allowed Helena to find her feet again.
The crowd booed.
Night Huntress charged again, raining blows on
the brown-haired beauty but somehow none of them landed. Without taking her hands from her pockets or
losing her smile the Minx dodged them all.
Night Huntress backed away to catch her
breath.
"You're not the Minx!"
"No?"
"Even Gloria was never that fast!"
"Maybe I got better."
"Gloria couldn't have survived the
explosion. Even I barely got out
alive!"
"Maybe you underestimated me again."
"Tell me who you are now or – AH!"
The Minx became a blur jumping, landing in a
handspring and delivering a two-foot kick to Night Huntress' face. The raven-haired woman landed on her back
bleeding from her mouth and the Minx landed on her feet behind her.
"Y'know for all that training you brag
about, you really do talk too much."
Night Huntress rolled over and jumped pack to
her feet. For a half second her vision
swam as the effect of the kick hit her.
A half second was all the Minx needed.
WHAM!
WHAM!
WHAM!
Three blows landed neatly on her face, one on
the mouth, one on the cheek and one on the forehead that sent a slow trickle of
blood into her left eye. The dark-haired
champion staggered back half blind, her mind fuzzy and disoriented.
The crowd booed.
A beer bottle shattered on her head.
The Minx tucked her hands into her sleeves and
calmly waited for her to recover.
"ARG!"
Night Huntress roared and charged again.
The Minx easily side-stepped and raised a knee into Night Huntress
gut. Her opponent coughed, doubled over
and spat out blood. The Minx walked
behind her and casually delivered a kick to her rear. Night Huntress tumbled face-first into the
dirt.
The crowd laughed.
Night Huntress crawled to all fours.
WHACK!
The Minx kicked her across the face, Night
Huntress landed on her back.
WHAM!
The Minx delivered a savage stomp-kick to her
ribs, there was an audible CRACK.
Night Huntress gasped for breath.
The Minx stepped back, bowed to approving crowd
and waited for the dark-haired woman to rise again.
Night Huntress once again crawled to all
fours. The Minx took a step
forward. She flinched. The Minx chuckled and waited some more.
Night Huntress crawled to the wall of the arena
and pulled herself to her feet.
Someone in the audience dumped a bowl of noodles
on her head, she just scowled.
"What do you want damnit!" She demanded of the fur-clad woman.
The Minx just smiled. "Don't worry; I'm getting what I
want."
Night Huntress' face hardened. The earlier bewilderment and rage faded,
training took over. She advanced, slowly, cautiously this time.
The two women faced each other for a
minute. The crowd grew restless and
started to boo again. Missiles flew but
the two women paid them no heed.
Finally Night Huntress struck. The Minx parried. She kicked, the Minx blocked. The Minx struck, this time she was deflected. The blows became faster, stronger,
fiercer. The crowd grew silent. Even the odds-makers stopped taking bets and
just stared at the incredible skills on display. They'd never seen anything like this. Two fighters, just a meter apart exchanging
blows so fast they became blurs. Each
blow was a potential kill but none landed.
You could hear the sound of flesh meeting flesh, bone meeting bone. You could hear the rapid gasps of the two
women as they pulled in oxygen to fuel this battle. The two seemed evenly matched.
For about a minute.
Then the Minx's blows became faster, Night
Huntress' blows became less frequent, she spent more time blocking and
dodging. She took a step back, then
another. She started to pant; her
leotard was soaked through with sweat.
She took two more steps back, she wasn't even trying to hit the Minx any
more, everything had to go into defense.
She could feel the pain in her ribs, blood was still trickling into her
eyes, her arms felt heavier and weaker but even with all of that she could just
see, the Minx was better than her.
CRACK!
"AH!"
Night Huntress screamed. The Minx
had caught her arm and broken three fingers in a single swift motion. She fell to her knees gasping in pain.
The Minx smiled and backed away giving her a
minute to recover. Night Huntress' face
hardened; there was still one chance, her only chance. The Minx would never expect it. She climbed back to her feet. She balled her injured hand into a fist and
looked right into the Minx's eyes. She
lowered her body and tensed her legs.
She sprang…
To the side!
She leapt over the wall and into the stands heading for an exit.
The Minx took a second to grasp it but then
chuckled. She raised an arm and cable
shot out and wrapped around Night Huntress' ankle.
"NO!"
The dark-haired woman screamed as the powerful device recoiled pulling
her back into the arena. She slid face
down across the dirt ending up at the Minx's feet. Night Huntress rolled over.
The Minx looked down at her. Resolve was gone. Courage was gone. Fear filled her eyes.
"Gloria!
Please!"
She raised her fist and brought it down on Night
Huntress' face.
The world went black.
***
"You say it's just sitting
there?" Drake Warlock asked.
"Pretty much boss. I've been talking to some of the kids at the
university. Seems this Dr. Corvidae guy
vanished and left his whole lab behind.
No one's quite sure how his stuff works and no one's sure who has the
rights to it so they just put a padlock on the door and left it there."
"That's the doctor our young girl of the
stars was seeing… Interesting. Very interesting. Get some men together; I think we'll be
taking this lab equipment off their hands."
***
It was 1972…
Zola Zenith, aka Night Vixen was taking over the Megapolis Underworld with
her loyal enforcer Helena Adams, better known as Night Huntress and their
henchmen called the Night Wolves. At her
side was the criminal scientist Dr. Jest.
At their feet was the brainwashed and broken heroine the Minx, now just
known as Foxy.
They assembled
Night Vixen's throne room to hear the latest reports from Zola's men.
“Yup, those guys
will remember to pay their ‘insurance’ if they don’t want any more accidents.”
“You’ve done well
Tobias. I think you’ve earned a special
reward. Foxy come here!”
Foxy stepped out
from behind the throne and approached the henchman. But somewhere inside her she felt… she wasn’t
sure what she felt. But it didn’t feel
good. She stopped and hesitated. She looked back at Night Huntress. She… she wanted to fuck Night Huntress. Not this guy.
“Foxy… go on, fuck
him.”
The group of Night
Wolves grumbled. They wanted their
gangbang with Foxy.
“Foxy…”
The former heroine
stopped and looked back, Night Huntress’ face was as impassive as ever.
Night Vixen sighed
and reached for something inside her throne.
CRACK!
Foxy screamed as
the 10’ bullwhip hit her back.
“Bad Foxy! Bad!”
“Foxy sorry! Foxy sorry!”
The girl sank to her knees and cried.
“You’d better be
sorry you dumb slut. Fucking’s all you're good for anyway! That’s how you got to be Night Fox’s partner,
that’s how you got to be the Minx and that’s why you’re just Foxy! Now say ‘Foxy likes to fuck’ a thousand times.”
Foxy relaxed, that
was easy, she could understand that.
“One! FOXY LIKES TO FUCK!” She yelled out in a clear cheerful voice.
The henchmen
chuckled.
“Two! Foxy likes to fuck!” She repeated.
Tobias knelt down
and stuck a finger in her pussy. It was
already wet.
“Three! Foxy likes to fuck!”
Tobias bent the
girl over and unzipped his pants.
“Four! Foxy likes to Fuuuh…”
Tobias thrust into
her.
“..ck…” She finally managed.
“Fuh… Five…” Tobias was thrusting in and out of Foxy, she
was losing her train of thought, this felt good, this was so much better. She arched her back and let out a loud cry
“FOLIFUCK!”.
Two of the
henchmen came up and unzipped. Foxy got
the idea; she took their dicks in her hand and started to stroke them.
“Damn Foxy, you
are one fine fuck!” Tobias said.
“Six! Foxy likes to fuck!” She repeated cheerfully.
Night Vixen rolled
up her whip and settled back to her throne.
She relaxed, there was nothing to worry about, everything was going
according to plan.
TWANG!
THUD!
Tobias fell over
dead. A crossbow bolt protruded from his
left eye.
The room fell
silent.
“Seven! Foxy likes to…” Foxy let go of the two dicks and looked
around. Something was wrong. But she wasn’t sure what.
“Gloria come
here. We’re leaving.” Night Huntress said.
Foxy looked
confused.
“Foxy come here.”
Foxy nodded and
trotted over to the nice lady. She liked
to fuck her.
“Helena! What are you-“
Night Huntress
swung her crossbow towards Night Vixen.
“We’re leaving” she repeated.
“Helena don’t you
dare point that at m-“
TWANG!
THUD!
The crossbow bolt
embedded itself into the wall an inch from Night Vixen’s ear.
The Night Wolves
jumped to their feet. Two of them pulled
out pistols.
“Stop her!” Night Vixen shrieked. “Jest do some-“ She looked, Dr. Jest was
gone.
“I got a better
idea” one of them growled. “We’re tired
of taking orders from you bitches so how about all three of you cunts come here
and take off your clothes.”
“You wouldn’t
dare!”
BANG!
Night Vixen
clutched her leg and stumbled.
Things got
confusing. The lights went out. Night Vixen shouted but her cry was stifled
as someone grabbed her. Night Huntress’
crossbow fired twice more. Someone tried
to seize her but she stabbed him in the neck.
Gunshots illuminated the chamber for a split second. Foxy screamed.
Then things
started to explode.
People screamed.
Flames lit up the
room.
The ceiling had
fallen, the floor cracked in half exposing tunnels lower down. Several of the Night Wolves were dead, Night
Vixen was gone. Night Huntress stood on
one side of the room, Foxy knelt on the other.
“Gloria come here! Jump over to me!”
Foxy was hunched
in a ball, shivering, afraid, muttering to herself.
“Gloria!” The floor under Night Huntress cracked; she
jumped back a few feet before it tumbled into the abyss.
She saw cracks
forming in the walls, the ceiling groaned.
Night Huntress threw a rope to the other side.
“Gloria! Hurry!”
The girl made no move.
“Foxy! Come here now!”
Foxy looked up.
“Foxy grab that
rope, I’ll pull you over here! Please
Foxy, hurry.”
Foxy got shakily
to her feet. She took a few wobbly
steps. The floor shook again.
“Foxy no! The rope, grab the-“
There was another
explosion, the floor under Foxy collapsed and she vanished into the abyss.
“No!” Night Huntress screamed.
Then the ceiling
fell on her.
***
"Uhhhh…" Night Huntress began the long painful climb
back to awareness. During her years of
training, her brief career as Night Vixen's henchwoman and her year in the
arena she had always had the upper hand.
She'd never even tasted her own blood before today, much less fallen
into the pit of unconsciousness. She
didn't much care for the sensation.
"Wh-where?" She rasped.
She felt dehydrated, thirsty and dizzy.
Was the floor really vibrating or was it just her? Was that blood roaring in her ears or
something else? She opened her eyes and
slammed them shut again. Too
bright! She opened one a crack and
looked. She was lying on a metal floor,
the walls curved inwards and in the distance she could see a control panel
operated by a woman in a fur coat. The
front windows showed only clouds and sky.
An airplane then. The Flying Fox
if it really was the Minx who caught her.
But it couldn't be.
"Don't worry Helena, I hear you, just let
me set the autopilot. Don't go
anywhere!" She added with a
chuckle.
Night Huntress tried to move her arms but they
felt so heavy. No, it wasn't just her
arms; she could feel the cuffs and the chains.
There was also an iron collar around her neck and she could feel similar
weight on her ankles. 'Don't go
anywhere' very funny. She managed a dry
cough.
The chair swiveled and her captor rose. "Hurts doesn't it? Not just bruises I mean. There's also that feeling that your brain's
been unhooked from your body, that dislocation that you're not all there. Even thinking is hard, and moving is like
trying to send your body orders by smoke signal. It's hard for anyone to deal with but for
people like us, for people used to being so competent, so powerful, it can be a
living hell."
"Wha… du… yu… wann…"
"See?
'Wha do yu wann?' That's hardly
the level of eloquence I came to expect from you. Must be terrible to be so powerless, not even
able to speak right. But for me the
worst is always the fear, the uncertainty.
Being chained up, not knowing why, not knowing by who, not knowing what
they want or if you'd get a chance to escape.
I always hated that part."
"Pless… 'snot my fault…"
THWAP!
The Minx's kick caught Night Huntress across her
face splitting her lip and send shots of pain through her body.
"Tell me Helena, which is worse, the pain
from the kick or being powerless to stop me?"
"Gloria please you know I lo-"
CRACK!
"AH!"
Night Huntress curled into a ball from the pain. The Minx's kick broke her leg!
"Don't you dare say that. Don't you ever dare say that. You drugged me. You beat me.
You kidnapped me. You raped me. You brainwashed me until I was your mindless
little Foxy. And then you left me to
die. Those are the facts Helena."
"I didn't-"
The Minx raised her foot for another kick,
Helena fell silent.
"That's better. I guess you can learn."
"What are you going to do?"
"I've not decided yet. But right now I think I'm going to fly you
back to Megapolis, back to the Minx Pad.
There I will strap you to a table and run electric shocks through your
body while men rape you until you're a mindless drooling idiot."
"N-no!"
The Minx just smiled and returned to her
controls.
"We've caught a good jet stream. We should arrive in a few hours."
***
"Hey!
Where are you going with all that stuff?"
"Huh?
You mean this?" The workman
pointed at the mini-cyclotron being packed into a U-Haul.
"Yeah!" The campus rent-a-cop barked.
"Oh we're just moving it into storage, the
Physics Building's being turned into the new Department of African, Latino,
Asian, Gay and Women's Studies."
"I didn't hear anything about-"
"Yeah there was a big protest, the students
took over the President's office and there you go."
"Figures.
Damn hippy kids."
"Yeah, they said the Physics Department had
to go cause of like nuclear bombs and stuff."
"Filthy hippy scum, they should all go back
to Russia."
"I heard they're taking over the gym now,
trying to get the football team turned into a bongo drum club or
something."
"Well I'll show them!"
The rent-a-cop stormed off. Drake Warlock nodded to his people and
gestured for them to hurry. Dr.
Corvidae's old office was almost cleared out.
***
Helena could feel the plane descending, see the
Megapolis skyline ahead. There wasn't
much time now.
"I wanted it to be clean" Night
Huntress finally said. "I didn't
want them to torture you."
"No, you just wanted to drug me and kill me
in my own home. Much more
noble." The Minx replied without
looking up from the controls.
"You don't understand."
"Then I guess I'll remain ignorant. In a few hours you'll be on your way to
vegetable-dom. I haven't decided if I'll
commit you or just leave you in the gutter for the bums to use."
"My whole life my mother and then Zola, all
they did was tell me how Wes had betrayed them, how you'd stolen my rightful
role."
"So you killed him."
"You're not listening; you have to
understand my whole life was nothing but training, training and learning to
hate him, to hate you."
"Sounds like you're not good for much
then."
"I know what I did was wrong, I understand
that now. What I'm trying to say is I
was just as brainwashed as you were. I
had no idea what I was doing, not really.
And-and when I saw you, what I saw what they'd done to you, it changed
me inside. I loved you Gloria. I really did.
I-I defied Zola for you, really.
After I dug my way out of the wreckage I had nowhere to go, no purpose,
not with you gone. Gloria please, you
have to understand this!"
The plane continued on.
"Gloria?"
"I'm going to enjoy watching you
break."
Helena was silent as the plane entered the old
Fox Den.
***
Fernando Alfredo slowly climbed the ladder and
dusted the top of the book shelves. He
carefully checked that the titles were in order and that the mechanism to open
the Fox Den was in good working order.
Naturally they were. After all no one had used them in years.
He was back in Stately Adam's Manor, vacant
since young Mistress Gloria and Master Warren had gone missing. Since he'd betrayed them both. Another sin on his conscience.
He finished in the library, put yesterday's
clothes in the washing machine and carefully checked Night Fox's utility
belt.
His master was long-gone of course (another sin
that weighed on him) but Fernando would care for his home until he too made
that final journey. It was his form of
penance.
This was where he belonged, where he should have
stayed. And where he would remain for
the rest of his days.
Or so he assumed.
WHOOSH!
The tranquilizer dart hit him in the back; he
fell over without a word.
***
The Minx was strong!
The Minx was fearless!
Nothing could stop the Minx!
The Minx dances effortlessly through an army of
thugs! The Minx subdues each one with a
karate chop and a witty insult! The Minx
kicks Boss Bruno in the nuts and laughs!
The Minx is invincible!
The Minx is everything Pepper Dickinson is not!
The dream ended.
Pepper Dickinson opened her eyes.
She was hanging from a thick wooden beam. Both of her arms were tied to it and the beam
itself was chained to the ceiling swinging gently to and fro. Her feet were off the ground but tied
together and then the rope was tied to a metal staple driven into the concrete
floor. She was still wearing her
borrowed coat but the bodysuit she wore under it was gone. She was naked except for the Minx's
coat. The Minx's coat. Never hers.
Not really.
She took in all of this in a second and then
weakly raised her head.
"Hello there my little Minx."
It was Boss Bruno. Sunbeam was at his side handing off of his
arm.
"Gotta say you sure surprised me. I kind of thought you cared a bit more about
your family and your little sister. Oh
well."
"I did good right Boss Bruno, I did it
right?"
"Yes you did my little Sunbeam; yes you and
your sister did very good." He
looked at Pepper through narrow eyes.
"You learned your lessons well, unlike some gals I might
mention."
Pepper shuddered in her chains.
***
"Hello Fernando."
The elderly butler tried to lift his head, he
felt so weak, so sick.
"Oh did that little drug dart make you
ill? I know how terrible being drugged
can be."
The voice, the voice was familiar but it
couldn't be, she was dead. Another sin
weighing on his conscience. If he could
hear her then he too must be…
He opened his eyes. He was in the Fox Den! He was chained to the wall with his hands
over his head. His once immaculate suit
was stained with puke and piss. The
knock-out dart had made him quite ill.
But he hardly noticed this detail.
She was there. Somehow she was in front of him like a vengeful spirit!
The Minx.
"Madre de dios y todos los santos! Soy muerto?"
"No Fernando. Don't worry you're not dead. Though you might soon wish you were."
"Mistress Gloria? But you're dead! The tunnels, the warehouse, Zola said you
were gone…"
"I bet she said that about your other
friend too." The Minx pointed. Night Huntress was gagged and chained in the
corner; her once proud spirit was utterly defeated. She whimpered softly.
"Mistress Helena!?"
"Oh good, you've met."
"What?
Of course, it was I who saw to her well-being all those years, passing
along Master Adam's funds for her."
"What?
You mean you knew, he knew… and you never told her…" Rage crossed the Minx's face before she
regained control. "Anyway, let's
talk. Why did you do it Fernando? Why did you betray me? Why did you betray Wes? Was it money?
Was if jealousy? Why?"
"You fired me."
"Huh?"
"You, you damn bi- you darn hussy. You fired me, thirty years of faithful
service and you put me out on the street."
"But, but, no, I freed you, I made sure you
have enough money to do whatever you wanted…"
"What I wanted was to serve Night Fox, and
to serve his heir!"
"I, I never knew…"
"You left me without a purpose in life, and
when Mistress Zenith offered me a purpose… I took it. Damn me, I took it."
The two were silent for some time.
"Mistress Gloria?"
"Yes."
"It's Warren. He went to find you. He went to find you and… I betrayed him. Zola has him now. I can tell you where he is if you free
me."
The Minx turned on her heel and stormed up the
stairs.
"Mistress Gloria! Where are you going?"
"Puerto Rico. Zola has an estate there."
"Oh… you know already.
"Naturally."
"But, but what about me? What about Mistress Helena?"
"Oh just stay put, I'll be back for
you." Then she vanished up the
stairs.
Fernando pulled on his chains. "As if I had a choice."
***
"Yer probably wondering what I'm gonna do
with you huh Pepper?"
Pepper Dickinson shivered in her chains but did
not answer.
"Remember what I told ya about yer
sister?"
"No!
Please! She has nothing to do
with this!"
"She didn't. And if ya'd done like ya was told she
wouldn't. But ya had to go and play
dress-up in yer buddy's coat. So now she's
fair game."
"Please Bruno-"
SMACK!
"Boss Bruno."
Pepper sobbed a few times any trace of the
courage she'd had only hours ago was gone.
She wasn't the Minx anymore, just a frightened woman in the hands of her
worst enemy. "B-Boss Bruno, please
s-spare my sister. I'll do
anything."
"Seems to me ya promised that before
Pepper. And yer promises ain't exactly
worth much these days."
Pepper looked down in defeat. Her breasts shook with her quiet sobs.
Boss Bruno took her chin in his meaty hand and
raised her head to look in his eyes.
"Now, now, cheer up. I got a
pal here who's gonna make you feel a lot better. Dr. Jest…"
"Why hello there Minx, it's been a while
hasn't it?"
"I… I'm not the Minx, not really… I'm
just-" Dr. Jest had his hands on her breasts, feeling
them, pinching them. Then his hand
wandered down the rest of her body and came to rest between her legs. "Oh!
No, please don't…"
"Sssh Minx, don't worry, Dr. Jest will make
it all better."
***
The trap door opened, a bucket of kitchen slops
was dumped down it. Hundreds of feet
below Warren Herbert scrambled to get them before the rats did.
He wondered how long he'd been in there. Weeks?
Months? Longer? For a time he tried to keep track of how many
times scraps had been dropped on him but he'd lost count. It must have taken at least a week to wiggle
loose from his chains. After that, other
than his growing beard, there was no way to tell the passage of time. No light, no sound, just rats and kitchen
slops.
He knew every inch of this pit by touch. After Zola caught him she'd put him in here
and sealed up the only opening. He's
tested the new masonry with kicks, and punches but it was as solid as the rest
of the walls.
He wondered how much longer he could last before
he finally gave up and lay down to join Wes and Gloria.
Not much longer he hoped.
Then the pit shook. Just a little, but enough for him to realize
something was going on. Something new.
***
BOOM! The
explosion shook the hacienda blowing out windows and knocking Zola Zenith off
her feet. She cursed and climbed to her
feet. The injuries from the disaster in
Megapolis had never really healed. Even
on good days she walked with a limp.
"What the hell!"
Guards ran to their posts. Smoke filled the first floor of the
house. There were sounds of fighting and
screams. Zola ran to a balcony and
turned her one good eye upwards.
A dark plane roared overhead and another set of
stun grenades and smoke bombs. Zola
recognized it in an instant.
"The Flying Fox!" She hissed.
And if that was the Flying Fox then there could only be one pilot. "So Gloria, you survived after
all."
"Why yes, yes I did."
Zola spun, and saw the face of her foe.
"Why hello Foxy."
"Hello Zola."
"You used to call me mistress."
"Times change." The Minx pointed an arm at her foe; diamonds
glittered in the light of the explosions.
Her bracelet was a miracle of miniaturization. With a flick of her wrist she could fire a
traq dart, a TASER dart or even an explosive tipped one. Zola shuddered; she had no idea which the
Minx would choose. But she'd broken the
Minx once, surely even a woman as incredible as Gloria Barbarossa could not
have emerged from that untouched.
"What does Foxy like?"
"F-Foxy l-likes to f-f-f-" The Minx squeezed her eyes shut trying to
block out the conditioned response. It
was all the time Zola needed to dive for her nightstand and come up with a
fierce bullwhip.
CRACK!
The tip of the whip hit the Minx's hand
instantly producing a livid red welt.
CRACK!
It struck her cheek drawing blood. Zola raised it again.
BAM!
An explosive dart blew out a chunk of the wall
to her left.
"Give me a reason Zola, just one."
"So Foxy has some teeth after all."
BAM!
Another crater appeared to her right.
"Drop the whip Zola."
The whip fell from Zola Zenith's hand. But a remote appeared in her other hand.
"What's that Zola, another weapon?"
"You might say that. As soon as I put pushed that button I armed
explosives below this hacienda. If I let
go-or if the device shorts out-you, me and Warren Herbert all go sky high. Unless of course we can make a deal."
The Minx aimed her wrist at Zola. Memories of her weeks as Zola's captive made
her blood boil. Surely she could shoot
her and get out in time. Surely…
But Warren…
She had no idea where he was.
"Tell me where Warren is and I'll give you
a ten minute head start."
Zola smiled.
***
Plain old Lynn Lewis lay awake on the couch.
Her eyes wandered
to the wall safe. Two doses left. Each one would give her about an hour of
power. She looked at the setting sun. Maybe that was it. Maybe if she could just get close enough to
the sun it would restore her powers! She
could make it there in an hour.
Maybe. Probably. She'd never really timed it.
And if it didn't
work, well it's not like anyone would miss plain old Lynn Lewis. She'd just burn up and disappear into the
sun. No one would ever know what
happened to her.
She climbed out
of bed and opened the safe. It took her
four tries to get the combination right.
She took out the serum and looked at it.
It caught the light and glowed with its own power, it felt warm to the
touch. It was practically begging her to
drink it.
KNOCK-KNOCK
She almost
dropped it in shock. Who? Could it be-
She looked again at the note on the kitchen table. No. No
that was a cruel trick, a joke, maybe even a delusion. There's no way it could be the Minx. Could there?
She threw the
serum in the safe and locked it. She
threw on a bathrobe and opened the door.
"Gloria?"
"No my dear,
but I hope I'm not unwelcome."
Drake Warlock.
The pop artist
who turned Stella and Princess Patriot into his anarchist slaves. The man who'd started her down this road to
ruin.
She threw her
arms around him and sobbed.
"Oh Drake,
Drake, stars and comets you're really here."
"Yes my dearest, I've come for you. My Girl of the Stars."
"Heh"
Stella walked away from him.
"If you're looking for the Girl of the Stars you've come to the
wrong place Drake. Thanks to that
asshole Crowe my powers are gone.
Kaput. I'm just ordinary Lynn
Lewis now."
"Are you now?" Drake reached into his pocket and took out a
small vial of glowing pink liquid. He
sloshed it a few times.
"Is that really…"
Drake just smiled.
"Stars and comets…" She took it from his hands and held it
close. It felt warm. "I thought they were all gone."
"Well as it happens I have one."
"Just this one?"
"Just that one. For now."
Stella looked at it, pink stellar
radiation. Another of Crowe's
inventions, it took away her powers and replaced them with feelings, strong
feelings, pleasant feelings. For a while
there she'd been taking these every day.
For all she knew they were the reason she lost her powers. Would they even work on her now?
Drake put an arm around the slim blonde and
pulled her close. "But it would be
a shame to waste it huh?" He popped
the top and held it to her lips. Stella
opened them obligingly and drank down the pink liquid. The effects were immediate. Her eyes closed and she sighed deeply. Her skin grew warm. Her nipples grew firm. Between her legs she could feel juices
flowing. It made her feel good. It made
her feel like Stella again.
Drake pulled the string on her bikini bottom it
fell to the floor. Then Lynn was lying
on the carpet, right there in the living room as Drake fucked her.
"STARS AND COMETS!" She cried out… "Mmm… stars and comets…" she
murmured.
Finally Drake helped her up and put her bikini
back on. He led her out of the apartment
back to his car.
***
KRAKA-DOOM!
From a hill overlooking Zola Zenith's hacienda
the Minx watched it burn. The Minx wondered
if Zola had really managed to get out.
She'd seen the fleeing guards and servants but saw no sign of Zola. But somehow she suspected her foe had gotten
away. Somehow they always did.
In her arms she held Warren Herbert freed from
months of captivity beneath the house.
His head was covered in a towel lest the sudden light blind him, it
would take weeks to recover from his ordeal.
"Gloria?" He croaked.
"Yes Warren, it's me."
"Gloria how? You were dead, Lynn and I saw the body!"
"I know Warren, I know. Trust me I can explain it all."
BOOM!
Another explosion tore through the burning
house.
"Just not right now."
She touched a control on her bracelet signaling
the Flying Fox's auto pilot. She led
Warren down the hill to a clearing.
There was a still a lot of work to do in Megapolis.
Afterword
And so we enter
our 4th year of Stella and the Minx!
At this point
I'm aiming for 50 issues and then maybe a short series set in the 80s. Unless of course plans change. I have ideas that will take me up to the 40s
at least and I do have an ending in mind.
So if there's something you'd like to see let me know.
Meanwhile my
80s DC project Superman Enslaves the DC Universe is still going on. The idea there is shorter stories, more
action and less multi-year storylines.
As always please let me know what you think, feedback really is the only
reward I get.
Next Issue: A special spotlight on Princess Patriot! For months she's been tested and tempted; now
this may be the final blow!
Marcus Lycus
April
2010
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