The Sad Saga of Stella:
The Swinging Stellar Sister of the Seventies!
By Marcus Lycus
In this story, Stella meets the most unexpected foe of all, herself!
Marcus Lycus
November 2007
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 6 – Meet the new compact Stella for 1971!
“Um, how do I look?”
Gloria looked up from the circuit board she was working on and checked out her partner. Stella was back in her old minidress costume but after her late growth spurt it barely fit. While the hem once came down modestly to just above her knees it now ended just below her crotch. The fabric on the top had been stretched thin as well, outlining her breasts and body like a layer of paint.
“Um… any reason for the change?”
“Yeah, I um…” She blushed. “I sort of lost my shorts last night.”
“Yeah, we kind of noticed. Good night then?”
Stella walked into the library, flopped down into a comfortable chair and sighed. “I guess. I mean, um, after we beat the smog monster-“
“Actually that was Arrowman and I who beat it.”
“Oh. Um, thanks. Well after he got beaten Astroman and me, well…” She blushed. The Minx smiled.
“And how was it?”
“Starsandcomets! It was amazing!” She hugged her breasts and sighed. “It was like, I wanted it to go on forever! We flew into space and then we landed in the national park and it was so romantic and…”
“I get the picture. But what about the bruises? Did Smoggor do that?”
“No, um, that’s kind of the problem. This girl showed up and kind of started a fight. Said she was Astroman’s girlfriend.”
“Oh.”
“And then Astroman left with her. But he sent me a message saying she was just a friend and that he loves me. Stars and comets, I don’t know what to think!”
“Hate to tell you kid, but Astro’s got a bit of a reputation.” Arrowman walked out of the bathroom wearing one of the Minx’s silk robes. “I’ve seen him hook up with like three different heroines on this trip, plus a couple of alien chicks who’ve come by to see him.”
“Huh? You mean he lied to me?”
“Stella, he… he’s kind of different y’know. Always talking about universal love and stuff. I think he might really love all those girls. Just not, y’know, in an exclusive kind of way.”
“Oh.” She looked deflated and lowered her head. She sighed.
“But hey, I never hear any of those girls complaining-“
“Hey, Arrowman, don’t you need to be hitting the road? Like maybe now?”
“Nah Foxy, I don’t have-“ He looked into her eyes and got the point. “Course now that you mention it there is this drug lord down in New Orleans…”
“Your clothes are on living room floor. Close the door behind you.” The Minx added icily.
“Hey, it’s not my fault, I mean- crap…” He started gathering up his clothes.
The Minx closed the library door and put her arm around Lynn’s shoulders. “Hey Lynn, I’m sorry about that, if I’d known about his reputation…”
“N-no, it’s OK. It’s just… how come I can’t find a guy? I mean what’s wrong with me? Am I hideous?”
“Nothing’s wrong with you! You’re special! So you need a really special guy. That’s all. And it’s going to take time. You just need some time. But when you find him, you’ll know it’s the real thing.”
***
“Are you sure it’s the real thing?”
“Well besides the yellow ‘S’, we’ve tested them, they’re bullet proof, fire-proof and won’t tear. If they’re not hers, they’re an incredible simulation.”
“And the source?”
“Some ghetto kid was selling them, claimed he found them on the street. We compared the position; it’s around where Stella was fighting the smog monster last night.”
Claudius Crowe smiled and took the precious red hotpants from his henchman. He carefully peered at the stains and golden hairs inside. He laughed! With these he would become invincible!
He reached for his phone.
***
“So what are you working on Gloria?”
“Oh this? Well you know I’m shutting down the Fox Den so that means replacing a lot of equipment. This is going to replace the old Fox Computer.”
Stella looked skeptically at the pile of wires and transistors sitting in the middle of the library. “A new computer? But where will we fit it?”
“Right in here!”
“But this is way too small. Computers take up like, a whole building or something.”
“Maybe in the old days Lynn, but not now. I mean the old Fox Computer was impressive in the 50s. It could analyze literally dozens of facts and perform fifty calculations per minute. But it relied on vacuum tubes and punch cards. And geeze, cleaning the bat guano out of it took forever! I don’t know why Wes didn’t get rid of those flying rats. Anyway the Minx Machine here will use advanced transistor and magnetic tape technology. It will only be as large as a refrigerator but it will be able to store the entire Megapolis phone book and the Encyclopedia Britannica and still have memory left over!”
“Oh that’s good I guess.”
“Good? It’s fantastic! I’ve been studying computer technology in my spare time and this is going to be one of the most advanced machines on Earth.”
“Great.”
“Of course you’re not too impressed, I mean the alien computers at the Citadel of Isolation make this thing look like a toy.”
“Um, maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Cousin Ken really never showed me how to use those things. He always said they were too dangerous for me.”
“Oh. That’s… that’s um too bad.”
“Yeah. But that reminds me, I have to go back today. He did show me how to use the cloth-making machine and I need to replace my shorts. Of course irradiating them with stellar radiation to make them indestructible will take a few days.”
The phone rang. The Minx recognized the special ring for the direct hotline to Commissioner Brown. She ran for it.
“Minx here!” She said in her most businesslike voice.
“This is Brown, I’m calling to… to… to ASK” (she could hear him grinding his teeth as he spat out that word) “to ask when you two…” (she could almost hear him mouth the word ‘bimbos’) “ladies are going to clean up the mess you made?”
“Sorry Commissioner, I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean the damage from the smog monster last night. Factories flattened, highways torn up, electrical lines down. When will you be repairing it?”
“Commissioner, my partner and I didn’t do any damage last night. If you’re looking for someone to blame ask Smoggor. But I don’t think you’ll have much luck.”
“But… but…” (she could hear him counting to ten under his breath) “ahem, your predecessors, you know Night Fox and Stellar MAN always repaired-“
“Well commissioner that was then and this is now. I think it’s high time the city started cleaning up its own messes. We didn’t create the smog monster. We certainly didn’t create the smog problem so maybe you should go talk to those businessmen who are the real cause!” She slammed the phone down.
“Can you believe the nerve of that man? Acting like we’re to blame?”
“Well… I mean Cousin Ken always did fix the damage after his fights.”
“Tell me Lynn, have you suddenly developed stellar intelligence? Can you control your stellar speed well enough to lay bricks or pour concrete while moving faster than we can see?”
“Um, no.”
“Can you rebuild a whole factory in five minutes like Stellar Man used to?”
“No, not really…”
“So maybe Megapolis had better stop expecting that kind of service from us, because we can’t deliver it!”
“Oh.”
“Now you’d better get going to the Citadel. I have work to do…”
“Yeah, OK, see you later then. I guess.”
Stella opened a window and was gone.
The Minx soldered the next transistor into place.
***
Fernando, Night Fox’s old butler, sighed and picked up the suitcase. For over thirty years he had taken care of stately Adams Manor and the Fox Den hidden in a cave underneath it. He had assisted with Night Fox’s cases, maintained his equipment, and tended his wounds, even posed as Night Fox a few times. But now it was all over. The Minx had fired him and closed the Den. He was a relic, unwanted and unneeded.
He sadly walked down the stairs one last time.
There was a Roles Royce limousine waiting for him in the driveway. He was a bit surprised; he had called for an ordinary cab not this.
The door opened. Hesitantly he climbed in. A woman’s voice welcomed him.
“Fernando my dear, it has been a while hasn’t it?”
“Madre de dios! It’s you!”
But the rest of that story will have to wait for another day…
***
Stella opened her eyes. But it made no difference. It was just as dark with them open as it was with them closed. She was naked. She was cold. She was alone.
She tried to focus her Stellar Sight but nothing happened. She slowly stood up, feeling the rough cold concrete wall she was leaning against. She pushed it. It didn’t give. Her strength was gone too.
“Stars and comets where am I? How did I get here?”
She walked the perimeter of the cell, feeling her way along. There was a metal door set into the concrete but it didn’t budge either. She pounded on it and shouted herself hoarse but nothing happened. Finally she sank back to the floor. She closed her eyes and sobbed.
Without light hours could have passed. Or maybe just minutes.
The door opened.
Stella gasped. It was him!
“Claudius Crowe!” She yelled.
Claudius Crowe, Stellar Man’s most fiendish foe. A mad scientist whose inventions constantly bedeviled Stellar Man, a fiend who dedicated his unrivaled intellect to one task, crushing and humiliating the world’s greatest hero. He was bald with a dark, sinister goatee, wearing his shinny purple jumpsuit.
As Stellar Girl she had faced him a few times, but always with Stellar Man’s help, and always with chattering teeth and knocking knees. Now she was naked, powerless and alone before him. She felt…
“I…”
“Yes Stellar Girl? What do you want to say?”
“I… I love you! Oh Claudius I love you so much!” She ran to him and kissed his face, she hugged him tight and leaned against his chest, she cried with joy to finally be with the man she loved so much.
“Show me.” He commanded. He put a hand on her shoulder and pushed.
Stella nodded and dropped her knees. She reached for his pants and unzipped his fly. She shivered when she saw it; she’d never seen a man’s ‘thing’ before.
“I think you know what to do.”
“Yes my love, I know, I know! But I’ve never-“
“I know my shy little virgin, I know, but I trust you will be exemplary.” He patted her on her head. She blushed. She hesitated, just looking at the strange item in her hands. Feeling it grow thicker and hotter with each second. Crowe growled, he was growing impatient. She licked her lips and opened her mouth.
She parted her lips and touched the tip of it with her tongue. It tasted salty. She licked it a few times experimentally while her fingers massaged the shaft and balls. Her licking became more enthusiastic and soon it was wet and slimy with her saliva, it looked like a little eel. She giggled, opened her mouth wide and swallowed it whole. She ran her tongue along it as the tip entered her throat and she slowly pulled it out. Then swallowed it again, faster, and faster. She could feel it start to tremble. Hear Crowe’s breathing become ragged. His hands suddenly gripped her skull and pulled her hair tight. She gasped from the sudden pain but did not stop licking. She licked one last time, it was saltier than ever.
And then it exploded in her mouth. She instinctively tried to pull away but Crowe held her tight. She felt every drop of the hot sticky cum gush down her throat, she locked her lips around the deflating member and licked and sucked it, as though every drop was precious, and to her it was. Finally he let go of her and sighed.
“Say it. Say it again.”
“I love you Crowe. I… I don’t know why, or how but I do. I need you. I’ll do anything for you.”
He peered down at her as if searching for any sign of insincerity. Apparently he found none.
“I believe you.” He turned and closed the door behind him.
“What? No! No! Oh Claudius please come back! Please!”
But Stella heard something new. The ceiling was rumbling. She looked up. There was a crack in the middle, daylight was shinning through.
The girl of the stars ran to the center of the cell under that ray of light. It grew wider and brighter. She could feel the solar power pouring into her. Her powers were returning! She could feel her skin glowing with power, brighter and brighter, her golden hair shown like the sun and her blue eyes sparkled like diamonds!
She put out her arms and looked upwards, ready to fly.
KA-BOOM!
The explosion shook the entire mountain.
Crowe opened the door, there was nothing left but red goo and a pile of bones.
“Failure.” He muttered.
“I beg to differ Calvin Crowe. The hairs and fluids you brought me as a genetic sample are more than enough to grow a new Stella. The copy was perfect in every way. Even the installation of the psychological program was flawless.”
Crowe scowled at the man next to him. The shorter man was dressed in a doctor’s white gown and wore a surgical mask over his face. His eyes were covered by goggles. But somehow Crowe knew that under the mask he was smirking.
“Listen Clone Arranger, maybe you’re not aware of this little fact, but the real Stella DOESN’T EXPLODE!”
“Hmm. True. Yes. But the real Stella has had her powers for years; she has unconscious controls and subconscious restraints on the solar power she receives. My poor clone has only the piecemeal memories we were able to assemble from her public appearances and the crude love program you had me add. My work, sir, is flawless.”
“So you say your clones cannot handle all of Stella’s power.”
“Yes.”
“But if you had the real one, and could scan her mind you could do it.”
“Correct.”
“Well then Clone Arranger, if your products cannot handle her full power, perhaps we should take a lesson from those car-makers in Japan…”
***
The rest of the week went uneventfully. Stella and the Minx foiled a bank robbery and saved a school bus from falling into the St. Giffen River. Stella evaporated a tidal wave off the coast of Mexico. The Minx proved a city councilman was taking bribes.
Of course none of these things got as much press coverage as Stella’s new costume.
“Stars and comets why won’t they stop talking about it! It doesn’t ‘mean’ anything. It just means I’m waiting for my new shorts to get done!”
“I know Lynn, I know. You would think by now they would pay more attention to what women do then what we wear!” She sighed. “When will your shorts be ready anyway?”
“This afternoon, I’ll fly up to the citadel and pick them up.”
“Good. Maybe you should make some more spare costumes for yourself so this doesn’t happen again?”
“Huh? Why? My costume’s invulnerable, and I’m certainly not going to lose my shorts again!”
“OK Lynn, whatever.”
***
The Clone Arranger walked among his precious vats. He passed John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Jack Kennedy and all the other great people he had copied before the police had discovered his experiments. As a scientist he only wanted to make the world a better place, by bringing back the great men and women who had done so much for the world. He had perfected the technique for copying them but problems remained, his clones were unstable, lasting no more than a few days once they were hatched.
Back in his university days he had been working on perfecting the process, but small minds had outlawed his research and now he was forced to work with criminals just to continue his life’s work. Mob bosses and supervillains paid top dollar for clones to fake their own deaths or seem to be in several places at once. The genetic abnormalities and mutations of superpowered beings were a nightmare to copy, but still, he was a scientist and he did enjoy a challenge.
He walked up to the six small cylinders on his table. Hoses and wires fed into them, his greatest creations yet. He leaned down and looked at them.
They looked like Barbie dolls.
Six perfect little Stellas, each one just 6 inches tall.
He picked up the tray and carried them towards the cell filled with sunlight. It was almost time.
***
Stella hummed to herself as she wandered the cold halls of the Citadel of Isolation. She felt very uncomfortable. This had always been Stellar Man’s place. He had built it here in the Artic; he had stocked it with alien technology and his own inventions. His trophies filled the main hall. He had generously given his cousin a small wing of her own but never let her touch his precious trophies or technology. The only one she had ever been allowed to use was his Stellar Weaver, since Stellar Man felt sewing was an appropriate skill for a girl.
It was a quite a machine. It could create almost any outfit imaginable and then bombard it with stellar energy until it became almost as invulnerable as Stellar Man himself. Stella had once asked about using it to make invulnerable police uniforms or coats for firemen but Stellar Man had just laughed. The world wasn’t ready for such science he said. So it sat in a corner of his impenetrable fortress, waiting for her.
She checked on the pair of hotpants sitting under the beams of light. They still needed a few more hours. The rest of her new costume was sitting on a shelf next to the machine so she could wear it back. Her old costume was so tight she was embarrassed to be seen in it any more.
She thought about how to kill the time. She was too tired to fly all the way back to Megapolis, besides there was nothing to do there. She could use the Stellar Gymnasium and give her powers a workout but what was the point? She had stellar strength and all that, so why go to a gym. There was the Stellar Library but it was just full of boring old science books, most of them weren’t even in English.
“Stars and comets… darn it. I hate this place. I hate it! It feels like cousin Ken is haunting it. Like I’m being watched.”
“Hello cousin Lynn, welcome back!”
“AH!” She spun, it was him! Stellar Man!
“It’s me, SM-1, Stellar Man’s robot decoy.”
“Oh, right, yeah.” She was panting, trying to get her breath back. The resemblance was uncanny.
“Can I help you, would you like some kono juice from the Galactic Gardens? It is most refreshing.”
“N-no, no thanks, could you just leave me alone please.”
“Yes of course cousin Lynn-“
“And please stop calling me that, you’re not him OK; just call me Stella or something.”
“Yes Stella or Something.”
“?”
“Sorry, I’m trying to improve my sense of humor; I guess it needs more work.”
“Um, yeah, you do that.”
“May I ask one question before I go? When will the master be returning?”
Stella just sighed and turned away.
“I should have brought a magazine…”
***
But unknown to Stella, six red and blue streaks crossed the artic ice, heading for a golden door on the side of a glacier.
They ignored the giant key and simply entered through the keyhole, it was large enough that their six inch bodies easily passed through. Scanners detected them and began security procedures but the scans showed they were no threat. Just Stellar Girl returning to the citadel.
Perhaps a human observer would have realized that Stellar Girl had returned just a few hours ago, or that she was now a few inches tall, or that there were six of her, but for the Citadel’s automatic systems all was correct.
***
Stella finally found the Monitor Room. Stellar Man had used it to keep tabs on events all over Earth and throughout the galaxy but Stella was happy just to find the controls to pick up TV transmissions. The Mod Squad was starting! She settled into the enormous chair, decorated with a huge ‘S’ on the back. Like everything else in the Citadel it was cold and metal and uncomfortable, but it was the best she had found.
She really regretted not bringing some warm clothes. Her old costume was way too short for her now, it barely covered her ass and it was so thin. Although her stellar invulnerability protected her from the cold her body was still sensitive. Her skin was covered in goose bumps and her nipples were poking through the skintight top. So she sat on the throne-like chair with her knees up, huddling close for warmth. She used a bit of stellar sight to warm her legs.
“Stupid stellar weaver! Finish up already!”
She heard something behind her.
“SM-1 is that you? Do you know if there’s any way to turn the heat on in here?”
FA-BOOM!
There was a wave of heat, and the chair melted, the monitors exploded. Stella was thrown across the room before she could react.
“Whatthefuck!” She demanded, is this another joke SM-1?”
The smoke cleared and she could clearly see her assailant. It was her!
A miniature Stella, just a few inches tall hovering in mid-air. It was even dressed in a tiny copy of her hotpants costume.
“Huh? A Stella doll? Some kind of robot?” She peered at it with her stellar sight. “No, it’s real, just like me, but small-“ The mini-Stella moved, flying at her at full speed hitting Stella’s chin and stunning her. “Huh?” She said as the little Stella hit her with a titanium girder. That got her attention.
“I don’t know what you are but I’m tired of being a punching bag of the stars!” She threw a punch but the tiny target easily dodged. So Stella hit her with her stellar breath. The gale blasted the smaller copy into the icy wall. Stella followed up with a blast of her stellar sight that melted the wall and another ice-cold blast of her stellar breath. The tiny copy was imprisoned in ice.
Stella had to smile; it was nice to beat a foe so easily. She climbed to her feet. “Stars and comets, what is she? Some experiment of Stellar Man’s?”
She walked over and looked closely at the doll-like figure trapped in ice. It looked just like her, and her stellar sight showed it was identical down to the DNA. She could see it struggling in the ice but without leverage it couldn’t break free. Stella knew she could vibrate free, or use her stellar sight to melt the ice around her but the little doppelganger apparently could not.
“I guess you’re not as smart as I am hmm?” She tapped the ice a few times and giggled. “I guess I’d better call Gloria, maybe she can help me figure out this mystery.” She reached for the radio concealed in her belt buckle. The round yellow buckle detached and became a speaker. She pulled it up to her mouth and clicked the button on her belt.
And the speaker melted in her hand. Stella looked at it stupidly for a minute and then looked up at the tiny copy. Its eyes were glowing red and the ice was melted.
“Stars and comets, you were waiting to see if I have a radio! You are smar-“ She didn’t finish her sentence because the doll-sized Stella flew out and rammed her in the head again. While she was stunned the doll arced back and hit her again. And again. And again. The fifth time Stella’s flailing hand caught the doll-like copy. It struggled and tried to fly free, but Stella’s superior size and strength were enough to hold it for the moment.
“Not so smart now huh?” She giggled again. The mini-Stella remained silent.
“You sure don’t talk too much; maybe your tiny little brain can’t handle that.” She gripped her doppelganger tightly with both hands and got up again. “This time I’ll put you in one of Stellar Man’s force bubble cells first. Then I’ll get myself some stellar aspirin, you might be, teeny but those punches hurt! Good thing you weren’t much of a problem. I don’t know who sent you to attack me but they really should have send someone bigger-“
Stella froze; in the doorway were five more mini-Stellas, all looking pretty angry. For the first time she felt a little worried. “Stars and comets…” She whispered.
Then all hell broke loose.
One of them rammed her poor aching head.
Another grabbed her hand and pried her fingers open.
One grabbed her ankle, another her calf and pulled them up, sending Stella back to the floor on her butt.
The last tugged on her cape and flew rapidly around the falling blonde wrapping it around her like a shroud.
“Hey!” Stella yelled. “No fair!”
Her cape was as strong and indestructible as she was! She couldn’t tear free!
But the mini-Stellas weren’t done yet. Two of them pulled her top down, below her breasts and pulled the sleeves off of her arms, they tied these around her as well. Another one pulled her yellow belt off and used it to tie her ankles together. All this happened in less than a five seconds. Stella was on the floor, helplessly bound by her own indestructible costume.
But the final humiliation was still to come; they pulled off her blue panties from under the mini dress and used them to tie her thighs together. Stella struggled on the floor, cold, humiliated and scared. The six mini-Stellas hovered around her. As silent as ever but she could see the smirking and two even seem to be laughing.
“This isn’t funny!” She yelled. Now they were all miming laughter. “Stop laughing! Let me go, or… or… OR THIS!” She used her stellar sight; she fired the most powerful heat blast she had ever used at one of them. She heard the air crack from the heat; she saw the copy’s inferior costume vaporize and saw its skin cook under the heat. In second all that was left was a black stain on the ceiling.
Everyone froze.
“Stars and comets, no! I didn’t mean-“
Two of the mini-Stellas grabbed her hair and pulled, they slammed her head against the diamond-hard walls, once, twice, three times. Stella passed out.
***
The Minx crouched on the warehouse roof watching things in the vacant lot across the street. Two street gangs, the Baseball Furies and the Lizzies were gathering on opposite sides. There were at least a fifty of them down there. Mostly armed with chains, bats and switchblades but the Minx had spotted a few .38s among the punks. It looked bad. Really bad.
But for her partner, it wouldn’t even be a challenge. She pulled out her mini-radio.
“Stella, this is the Minx. Stella can you hear me? Come on Stella, you’ve had hours to pick up your laundry and I need you here!”
No reply.
She tried again. And again.
“What the fuck? She knew I needed her help tonight! Where the fuck is she?” Obsessed with her silent radio the Minx missed the tell-tale sound of footsteps behind her. But she heard clearly the next sound…
CLICK
To anyone else it would be meaningless but to a veteran of a thousand street battles it was the sound of a death knell. It was the sound of the hammer being cocked on a revolver. Aimed at her head.
***
“Huh? What?”
It took Stella a few seconds to get her bearings. She was still trussed up like a Christmas present, hogtied by her own costume. She was being dragged on her back and could only see the icy ceiling; none of the little Stellas were in sight. That’s when she realized she was being dragged by her hair, it really hurt!
She whipped her head around, each time just catching a glimpse of a double’s red cape before it flew out of her sight.
“Look, OW! I’m sorry; I didn’t know it would kill her! Stars and comets, I thought you were as tough as me!”
Silence.
“Maybe you could tell me what you want?”
Nothing.
Her head was jerked and they rounded a corner. She caught sight of a sign “Hall of Forbidden Science” it was one of the sections of the Citadel she had always been barred from. The six-inch Stellas pulled their full-sized counterpart past elaborate machines and strange apparatuses until they finally arrived at their destination. Stella wrenched her head and saw the plaque on the wall next to it.
“The Psy-clotron – essentially a mental cyclotron this machine smashes the subject’s mind allowing the shattered pieces to be scanned and recorded by a computer.”
“Stars and comets, NO!” She tried to spin, to fly, to get away but the little Stellas picked her up and planted her on the chair. Strong metal restraints locked into place around her. Electrodes were mounted on each side of her head. She saw them buzz off to set up the tape reels and controls.
Stella started to panic. Although her body was almost indestructible her mind was normal, this machine could leave her a vegetable. She heard it start to hum, heard the tape reels start to spin, saw the electrodes start to glow and felt her head start to hurt.
She twitched, her head jerked, her body writhed, all she could think was “Get away! Get away!” She twisted left and right, the metal restraints started to groan. The hum got louder, her head hurt more. She jerked again…
The restraints tore! Stella spun like a top, the machine shattered and exploded.
Stella stood in the wreckage. Her cape and sleeves had come untied in the process. She was free!
She looked at the little Stellas and smiled.
“Now let’s see how good you little dollies are!”
Heat rays stabbed out from her eyes and the five remaining clones scattered. She grabbed one by its tiny leg but the clone kicked her thumb and scorched her cheek with her stellar sight. “OW!”
Another flew at her head but Stella spotted her in time and swatted her out the way. The mini Stella smashed into the wall and made a little crater. Stella’s stellar sight shot out again. The little copy’s costume incinerated, her hair smoldered but the clone flew out of the way before too much damage was done.
Before Stella could follow-up the others regrouped and swarmed her. Heat rays burned tiny holes in her minidress, even scorching her invulnerable skin. Quick fly-bys stunned and bruised her.
“GET AWAY!” She yelled and unleashed a blast of her stellar breath. The five were thrown back and Stella used her chance to run!
The small clones regrouped and scattered to search.
***
The Minx was breathing hard. She’d managed to defeat the gunman behind her with a simple dazzle-gem. It blinded the gunman and a judo chop took care of him. But setting off the gem had attracted every gang member to her location. She’d fought off, ten, fifteen of them but now she was cornered in an alleyway, exhausted, hurt and almost out of tricks. She looked around, burning the location into her photographic memory. There were sheer brick walls to either side of her, no fire escapes or windows. She could climb the brick with a bit of time but not fast enough to escape the advancing boys.
Behind her was 10’ cinderblock wall, lined with barbed wire on the top. Again, not a problem if she had time, but not something she could climb on the run. She regretted using up the CO2 charge in her bracelet wire launchers. But she’d needed it to escape the ones on the roof. Something to note for later. If there was a later.
In front of her, three of them advanced. One was swinging a chain, the other thumping a bat into his hand, the third waving two switchblades around. She could take them. But she was worried about the ones she could hear coming.
Well then, better sooner than later.
***
Two of the tiny copies found Stella lying on the floor moaning in one of the labs. Obviously knocked out by their attack. The two clones nodded and landed, they grabbed Stella’s hair and started to pull.
“GOTCHA!” A voice cried out. The lights turned a vivid green. Stella’s face appeared behind the armored window. “I bet you little dollies forgot about our robot duplicates huh? Well it takes a fake to catch a fake! Right SG1?”
The Stellar Girl on the floor sat up and smiled. “Yes Mistress Stellar Girl.”
“And lying on the floor like that they can’t tell you’re shorter than me.”
The two Stella clones on the floor were twitching and writhing under the deadly bombardment of green stellar radiation. The robot looked at them, an expression of concern on her face. “Mistress Stellar Girl, the clones seem in pain, you had best decrease the power.”
“Huh? No way Jose! Those little dollies can’t fool me! Now come on, we need to get the rest of them!”
“Mistress-“ The three remaining mini-Stellas were hovering the doorway. Heat beams fried the radiation emitters in the ceiling and the green glow died. Three puffs of stellar breath knocked the robot decoy down. Then the three mini-Stellas smashed through the armored window and attacked the real Stella. She swatted the burned one out of the air and heard it hit the wall with a sickening splat. The other two were on her in a second, once again wrapping the Girl of the Stars tightly in her cape.
“Hey! No fair!” She yelled. She felt panic rising in her gut, who sent them? Why? What were they going to do to her now?
Adrenalin shot through her body; she tore the cape in half and screamed. A puff of stellar breath knocked on of them against the wall. She swung half the cape and netted a mini-Stella. She followed through with the swing and hit the wall. She could see the cape starting to stretch as the mini-Stella tried to fly free; it started to burn under the mini-Stella’s heat rays.
“NO! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!” Stella screamed smashing the red cape against the well again and again. Dark stains appeared on the red cape and the struggling stopped. She dropped it and stamped on it a few times to be sure.
She turned; the last one was sitting on a console crawling away backwards; a look of horror on her face, her mouth moving soundlessly. She didn’t even try to fly or use her vision powers. With a wicked grin on her face Stella easily grabbed her by the legs and pulled her up. With vicious force she swung her tiny copy down against the metal controls.
“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” She screamed smashing the smaller version of herself against the hard controls. She heard tiny bones snap. Blood covered the console, Stella’s minidress and her face but she didn’t stop.
“DIE DAMNIT! DIE!”
***
The Minx screamed and charged. The one with the chain swung; she deflected with her mink-covered arm. Her coat was no ordinary luxury item, it was lined with a new fabric, stronger than steel but as light as cotton, virtually bulletproof. She winced at the impact but managed to wrap the chain around her arm and pull. The assailant was pulled forward and a quick judo chop put him down.
Without pausing the Minx twisted the chain and threw it like a bolo, wrapping around the legs of the boy with the switchblades. He too stumbled to the ground.
The one with the bat swung at her head but she easily ducked and fired off two lightning-fast punches to his solar plexus. The wind rushed out of his lungs and he doubled over.
The Minx smiled. It had only taken three seconds to subdue all three. Then she started to run. No time to finish them off, too many others were coming. She’d noticed these three were wearing different gang colors, the word must be getting around, and the gangs were uniting against her. This was really bad.
“Stella! Where the hell are you?” She muttered.
On the ground the knife-man didn’t bother trying to untangle the chain. He grabbed a rock and threw. He’d been the star of his little league team, the rock flew and hit the Minx right in back of the head. She fell forward.
The Minx could feel the blood on her scalp. She was on her hands and knees, her head hurt, her eyes weren’t focusing. She heard feet pounding, how close? How close?
WHAM!
A lead pipe hit the back of her neck. She fell flat on the ground and grabbed the nearest leg; a quick twist broke his ankle. He screamed and fell. She started climbing up again.
POW!
A kick hit her side, then another on her abused head. Then more on her body, her head, her arms her legs. Instinctively she huddled up, trying to protect herself. More feet, hands grabbed her and pulled her up.
Up was good wasn’t it?
She couldn’t see right, everything was fuzzy. Someone had her arms. A simple kick would take him down. Her legs wouldn’t move right. They were pulling off her coat.
There was someone in front of her; she saw a red and blue blur. “S-Stella?” she asked hopefully.
The gang leader, in his blue t-shirt and red jacket smiled. He pulled back his arm. Brass shinned on his knuckles. He hit. And everything became black.
“Not quite bitch.”
***
Stella stood in the control room panting, listening. There was no sound. The mini-Stellas were dead. The two in the radiation lab still glowed a sickening green. The three in the control room lay around like broken dolls. Their blood stained every surface.
In the lab the robot decoy SG1 sat up and looked.
She was another Stella copy, but was pattered after Stellar Girl. She was a few inches shorter, her hair shoulder-length and had a look of innocence in her face that Stella had lost. Her features mimicked horror.
“Hey look robot! I got them!”
“Stars and comets! What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it; it was just those little dollies.”
“You did this?” The robot was pointing at her older self.
“Huh? Yeah. I beat them! Pretty good huh?”
The robot’s features became expressionless. Her voice toneless. “Alert! Alert! Murder-Death-Kill! All robot decoys respond! Detain Stellar Girl! Summon Stellar Man!”
“Huh?” Was all Stella had time to say. The robot decoy’s eyes glowed green and Stella doubled over in agony.
“Stellar Girl, you have been temporarily incapacitated for violation of Stellar Man’s code. He will return to discipline you. You will be detained in a red stellar radiation cell until then.”
Stella gasped and fell to the floor. “Not again…”
“SG1 what are you doing?”
The robot decoy didn’t turn. "You will assist me SM1, Stellar Girl is to be detained pending the arrival of Stellar Man.”
The Stellar Man robot put his hand on her shoulder. “What? Don’t you know Stellar Man is gone SG1? Didn’t she update your programming? Stella is our mistress now.”
“Impossible. Stellar Girl has violated Stellar Man’s law. She must be punished. She-“
The robot shut up because SM1 smashed her head. He walked across the room to Stella’s blood-stained and unconscious form.
“It’s OK Stella, it’s OK. I took care of her. She won’t hurt you. Her programming was not as advanced as mine; she couldn’t understand that what did was necessary. Unlike the other robot decoys, Stellar Man patterned my robot brain on his own, I feel for you the way he did. I love you. The way he did.”
He lifted her limp body and kissed her lips.
Stella opened her eyes.
And punched him.
“You! You again! YOU!” She flew across the room and wrapped her hands around his neck, she started to squeeze. “I hate you! I HATE YOU!” She screamed. The robot’s head exploded in a shower of gears and circuits.
More robot decoys filled the doorway. Stellar Men, Stellar Girls, Polly Paths, Ken Clarksons, even a Timmy O’Leary and a Night Fox. Not all of them were armed with green stellar radiation beams but Stella took no chances. Her stellar vision burned hotter than ever before and a dozen robots exploded. She flew through them, smashing several. They followed but she zigzagged through the Citadel, smashing through walls and trophies and machines, several robots destroyed themselves trying to follow her path. In the main hall she grabbed a forty foot Stellar Man statue and used it as a bat to smash a dozen more Stellar Man robots until the statues and robots were unrecognizable rubble.
She fought the last one on the body of Claudius Crowe’s Invincibot. It was one last Stellar Man decoy. Since it lacked the green stellar radiation rays the blonde could afford to have some fun. It punched her in the face a few times but she felt nothing, even the best robots were no match for her stellar power. She smiled.
“I see you’re a big Hemmingway fan!”
The robot looked quizzically. “Does not compute.”
Stella swiftly pulled off one arm, then the other.
“Farewell to arms?” She giggled and kicked the robot in the chest. It flew across the Citadel’s main hall and smashed to pieces against the far wall.
Then it was really over.
Stella looked around; the once proud Citadel was in ruins. Inventions and technology from a hundred worlds were smashed beyond recognition. She was covered in blood, dust and filth. Her minidress was torn into rags, her breasts and panties exposed. She’d lost a boot somewhere along the way.
She laughed and laughed.
And then she huddled into a ball and cried.
***
“Wakey-wakey!” Someone splashed a bucket of cold water on the Minx’s face. She crawled back to a painful consciousness.
She opened her eyes and took stock. It was bad.
Her coat was gone. She could see two gang-members pulling at in a tug of war. They had taken her boots; she could see some of the punks tossing one around like a game of catch. Her diamond necklace and bracelets with their concealed weapons were gone too; she saw them in a cardboard box one of the gang lieutenants was holding.
She was dressed only in her black bra, black panties, stockings and garters. Her wrists and ankles were chained to two upright poles in a vacant lot. Burning trash cans provided eerie light. There had to be a hundred gang-members there, all of them watching her.
She tried to look defiant.
“Now we can start the show!” The one in the red jacket yelled. She recognized his colors; he was one of the Wolf Pack, the meanest, most vicious gang in the city. There were representatives from half the gangs in the city gathered there to watch her humiliation.
Her razor-sharp mind raced. The chains on her wrists were tight, she couldn’t slip them, but there was an old escapist’s trick, she could use her nails to cut her palms, use the blood to grease her wrists and slip free. She might have to dislocate her thumbs but she could do it. Of course that would leave her still chained at the ankles, and surrounded by a hundred gang members. With her hands useless. She filed the idea away for later. Instead she focused on trying to look defiant while hiding the fact that inside she was scared out of her wits.
“”Gentlemen!” Red jacket yelled “-and I use that term loosely-” there were chuckles at that “I am the Scarlet Wolf, your host since tonight we celebrate the defeat of the Minx!”
There were cheers.
“Back in the old days, one of those dumb-ass villains would just throw her in a trap and leave while she escapes. Are we gonna do that?”
“NO!” The cry was loud enough to shake the buildings around the vacant lot.
“Course in the old days we’d be fighting some beefy guy dressed as a dog, not a major fox like this!”
The crowd roared in agreement.
“We’re gonna make sure the Minx learns her lesson tonight, STAY OUT OF THE WEST SIDE! First thing’s first” the gang-boss reached up and pulled off her domino mask.
“NO!” The Minx yelled. She heard her voice crack. A light went off in her eyes. She heard a polaroid whirr.
The gang-boss took her chin in his hand and looked at her face. The Minx could feel the bruises and the cuts, they would make her hard to recognize, even in a photo, and Gloria Barbarossa was just a librarian, these guys didn’t look like the library crowd, they might not recognize her.
“Not bad, not bad. Most of us only get to see your fists or your feet; you should’ve been a model.”
“Fuck yo-“
He punched her in the mouth, the Minx tasted blood.
“Course we’re not gonna be looking at your face too much.” He reached down and pulled off the black silk bra. He tossed it to the crowd; a small scuffle broke out over it. The rest crowded in to get a look at her tits. The polaroid flashed again.
“We’re gonna settle this fairly. Arena combat. No weapons. Last man standing gets first crack at her.”
The crowd made a circle and six of the biggest, ugliest thugs walked in. They all eyed their prize, standing shivering in her panties and stockings. For all of her training, she was helpless. Completely helpless.
“Stella, where are you…” She whispered through her swollen lips.
***
Thousands of miles away in the Artic Stella sat huddled next to the Invincibot crying. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” She muttered again and again.
Then she looked up.
“The Minx needs me!”
***
A patrol car pulled up on the far side of the lot.
“Christ, there must be a hundred of them there. What are they doing?”
The cop squinted at the firelight and looked. “Looks like they’re fighting over some girl.”
“Should we call it in?”
“You want to take on a hundred psychos to save some slut? I don’t know about you but I plan to collect my pension. Hell if she’s in this part of town she was asking for it.”
“Yeah. Let’s go, I know a 24-hour doughnut place.”
The car pulled away.
***
“You failed.” Claudius Crowe said simply.
“Nonsense!” The Clone Arranger replied. “My clones were flawless! Each with a substantial fraction of Stella’s power!”
“But they have not brought her here. And as you said these smaller clones last only a few hours. They must have disintegrated by now. They failed. You failed.”
“Their orders and personalities were your creation Crowe. If anyone failed it was you.”
The villainous scientist snarled and pulled out his atomic blaster. The Clone Arranger raised his hands and backed away slowly.
“Now, now, let’s not be hasty Crowe… I can always try again, say with 12 clones surely then-“
The blaster fired and the Clone Arranger disintegrated.
“Claudius Crowe does not fail.”
***
The last one threw a punch and the big Puerto Rican guy he was fighting finally fell. He looked around, the others were all down. He looked at the Minx and spat out a tooth.
The Minx shuddered. Her breasts shook invitingly.
He took a step forward. Then another. He unzipped his fly. He reached for her black panties. The Minx squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.
There was a whoosh. There were screams and shouts. There were thuds and groans and the sound of tearing chains.
And the Minx was dressed in her coat, standing free. Half the gang members were on the ground unconscious. The other half were running. And Stella was there, dressed in her loose blue top and red hotpants. She picked up a pile of polaroids and burned them to ash.
“Minx? Minx? Are you OK?”
The Minx looked at her partner, looked at how she had wrapped up this case in seconds, and yelled. “OKAY? OKAY? DO I LOOK OKAY? WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?
Stella looked away miserably. “Sorry.”
“WHAT HAPPENED?”
“Happened? No. Nothing happened. Just sort of, lost track of time.”
“Well next time please don’t…”
Then the Minx collapsed unconscious into her arms.
Afterword
OK, I cheated; this is based on an 80’s story where Supergirl had to fight miniature clones of herself. I always liked that story. I wonder if there’s an internet fetish site for women fighting mini-versions of themselves? There ought to be.
So in this issue we see that maybe, just maybe, something is wrong with our little heroine. There’s more on the way.
Next issue: Stella vs. SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS! Don’t miss it! If you read just one erotic parody of 70s comic books involving satanic cheerleaders this year, MAKE IT THIS ONE!
Marcus Lycus
December 2007
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