Dazzler—Stage Fright

by Scarlet

WARNING: This story contains sexual situations and sexual violence (nc, FF, MF). It is to be read by adults only. If this sort of material is not to your liking, then read no further.
Credits: This story is based on a story idea suggested by The Sexecutor. Alison Blaire/Dazzler, Lila Cheney, Roman Nekoboh, the X-Men, and the country of Genosha (Marvel Enterprises) are Trademarked characters used in this not-for-profit fan-fiction; no Trademark infringement is intended. All characters are fictional; any similarities to real people are coincidental.
Note: Click on image to enlarge.

Chapter 1. Opportunity of a Lifetime

“Alison, baby!” the deep, sexy male voice rang out from the smart phone as Alison Blaire sat on her bed in her room at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester County, upstate New York; she was still dressed in her purplish-blue ‘Dazzler’ costume with the star symbol on its chest, having just finished a self-defense training session in the school’s ‘danger room’. “Tell me you’re not in the middle of some gig with an unbreakable contract!”

Alison grinned as she recognized the effusive voice at the other end of the call. It was Roman Nekoboh, the six-foot-tall singer/actor-cum-director/producer whose handsome, hard-bodied public persona made him the heartthrob of millions of female movie fans. Little did those fans know that the real Roman—without the suits with padded shoulders, girdle around his waist, shoe lifts, and toupee on his balding head—was more the typical late-middle-aged male well past his prime. Alison did know, however, much to her own chagrin, as Roman had been more than persistent in pursuing Alison romantically with, in the end, some success.

“Roman!” Alison spat into the phone with obvious surprise. “I haven’t heard from you for ages. I thought you were still peeved at me for that movie we were working on going bust when the public-at-large discovered I was a mutant.” Alison, a five-foot-eight-inch-tall, 115-pound, 23-year-old, blue-eyed blonde with shoulder-length hair was a Homo sapiens superior who could absorb sound and convert it into various forms of light energy. Alison’s greatest aspiration in life was to be a rock-and-roll music star, although she was better known to the world at large as the superheroine, Dazzler. She had frequent solo superheroine adventures, but Dazzler was also a member of the sometimes outlaw band of mutants known as the X-Men. Alison’s involvement in Roman’s failed action movie venture was just one of the lovely young woman’s attempts to trade the superheroine glamour for a successful music career.

“If you’ve finally forgiven me for the movie folding, I’m glad you called! I was just sitting on my bed trying to get motivated to prepare tomorrow’s English literature lesson…a far cry from strutting my stuff on the stage. Lila Cheney, who I was singing backup and playing keyboards for, went walkabout several months ago. I’m afraid my only gig at the moment is being instructor here at Xavier’s, a private school for special students.”

“If I’m peeved at you at all, baby, it’s BECAUSE that bed you’re on isn’t MY bed, and that we’re not….”

“ROMAN! Hush! What happened between us was really sweet…once it happened…but it shouldn’t have happened…wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been so darned persistent…. OHHHhhhh! Darn it, you know you’re too old for….”

“Don’t you dare label ME with THAT three letter word, Alison Blaire! It’s the kiss of death for an actor like….”

“Okay! Okay! I take it back! Let’s just say I’ve moved on.

“Try, WE’VE moved on to other relationships, although that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to stir the embers next time we meet in person….”

“TRY will be the operative word, you lecher!” Alison interjected as she giggled loudly. “Now did you call for some pleasant banter and friendly jousting, or did you have something else on your mind? You did mention gig and contract in the same sentence!”

“You’d better leave me with more hope than that, or you won’t find out just how much I’ve been watching out for your interests!”

“You wouldn’t want me to lead you on, would you?”

“Certainly! I’m sure the bedroom will be in the direction you’re leading sooner or later.”

“ROMAN! My interests don’t involve anyone’s bedroom at the moment…this one or yours!”

“Fine! I’ll give it a rest…for now. Baby, I’ve got you set up for the biggest break of your career. You’ll even stop regretting not getting your C-cups demolished when Arcade debreasted most of the rest of your superheroine friends. Boy did you miss out on the best free publicity ever by….”

“ROMAN! I’m glad I didn’t get myself milked dry and temporarily maimed on worldwide television on ‘dairy day’…and I’m tired of having to explain why to everyone, darn….”

“Alright! Alright! This could be an even bigger break, anyhow! The biggest world tour of the decade just lost its opening act, and I can get YOU the gig….”

“Who’s the headliner?”

“Saylor Twift herself! Want it?”

“God YES! Oops! Darn it…I’ll have to pass! It’s been months since I talked to the boys. When I was with Lila, I played with her band, not my own.”

“Hey, did I say I’ve been looking out for you or what? As soon as I cleared the offer with Saylor’s manager, I had your old manager, Harry Osgood, contact your original band members, Beefer, Hunch, and Marx. Harry’s going to have to stay stateside, but Beefer’s packing his drums now and the other two already have their guitars in the trunks of their cars. They’re ready to head for the airport as soon as they hear you’re taking the gig. Get this, they’ve kept in practice doing your songs and your favorite covers. You’ll be ready to perform for as long as Saylor’s manager wants you to from the very first venue on. Still, want to pass on the opportunity of a lifetime?”

“Roman, I’d hug you if you were here!”

“And a kiss?”

“Probably! Where do I need to be when?”

“Laquardia Airport, the day after tomorrow, at 2 p.m. local time, gate 107. It’s Saylor’s private plane. You’ll need a passport, day clothes, and personal necessities. Take your superheroine costume in case Saylor’s manager, Sylvia, wants to use it in promoting the concert. Sylvia will be contacting you for clothing sizes so she can have the stage outfits put together local for each concert while you’re commuting. Now don’t I deserve more than a kiss?”

“Lecher! Don’t push your luck! Wow things are moving pretty fast. I have a valid passport, but won’t I also need a visa for each country we go to? Where are we going, anyhow?”

“Saylor Twift is big time, baby! Sylvia has people handling all of the venues and any special visas that might be needed. I don’t think even Saylor knows which venue is when, but Sylvia did say the tour is starting out in the Middle East area before swinging west through Europe and finishing up in the Far East and finally the Americas. It’s going to be six months of one sold out show after another. All you’ve got to do is sing to us, baby!”

“Us? You’re going?”

“Not on Saylor’s plane, no. I can only make a show or two, unfortunately, so I won’t get much chance to stir the embers, baby. Look, Alison, I need to get back to Sylvia and seal the deal. Any burning questions before I go?”

“What if I’m not comfortable with using my crime busting costume as part of my singing career? I think I’d rather not!”

“That was my idea, not Sylvia’s, so you can have it your way if you want. I just figured you’d bring it anyhow…just in case some crimes needed busting during the next few months. Your X-Men pals around to okay it?”

“Darn! You just reminded me that I’ll be leaving the school in a lurch. Almost all of the X-Men are gone now investigating some mutant rights issue occurring somewhere overseas. Not that anyone needs to okay anything to do with me being Dazzler. Okay, I’ll bring my fighting duds, but let’s not advertise it to the tour honchos.”

“Great! Break a leg, Alison, baby! Bye-bye!”

Chapter 2. Snafus Happen

The next few days were a blur for Alison—a wonderful blur filled with excitement and contentment. Reuniting with her band members had been a blast—the boys, especially Beefer, were a laugh a minute, and Hunch had brought along his wife, Sally, and two daughters, 16-year-old Debbie and 12-year-old Cindy. The two girls were sweet kids who were enthralled with being included in the trip, and not just because they got to play hooky from school. They simply adored Saylor Twift, the headliner. Saylor, a blonde like Alison, but who was slightly older and taller and a bit less busty, had geared many of her early hit songs to the younger female audience, one reason she got along so well with the girls. Saylor’s band included a red-headed fiddler named Caitlin and a brunette backing vocalist named Liz. With the middle-aged manager, Sylvia—a dishwater blonde with more than a little gray who constantly wore a cameo-like choker around her neck regardless of her clothing outfit—the girls weren’t too badly outnumbered by the boys (the roadies always flew ahead on a separate chartered plane), so the testosterone wasn’t as thick as it usually was on a musician road trip.

Alison’s contentment was due in part to her and her band’s performances. Even the professionals in the audiences would have found it difficult to pick out the few musical errors made during the first two concerts, in Jerusalem and Dubai. And, frankly, Alison’s sultry voice had never sounded better. Saylor might have been singing her own platinum hit pop songs that the girls in the audience knew every word to, regardless of native language, but Alison was moving hearts and searing souls with her rock-and-roll renditions of both covers and her own less polished songs. Alison couldn’t wait to take the stage for a third time. Like Dubai, they had just arrived at the airport of the city where the concert would be held in the darkness of pre-dawn early morning. And, like Dubai, no one, save Sylvia, knew, for the moment, which city and country they were in. The entire flight had been made in the darkness of night.

“Alright everyone, let’s disembark as quickly as possible,” Sylvia barked out from the front of the plane once the plane’s steward had opened the boarding hatch at the airport terminal jetway. “Just leave everything you’re not going to need right away where it is. I’ll see to it that someone delivers your luggage to your hotel room within an hour or two. I’ve made special arrangements for a customs agent to meet us just inside the terminal gate to get us checked in and stamp our passports, and then escort us to the bus that will take us to the hotel. I’ll personally collect the special visas the local government has agreed to issue us at the American Embassy while you are all napping. We’ll board the bus from the hotel to the venue at 6 p.m. local time, so you’ll all have plenty of time to relax before the show. Open hits the stage at 8 p.m.; headline at 9:10. Come on, come on! I’d like to catch forty winks myself before I report to the embassy.”

Alison shook her head as she grabbed her hand bag loaded with her toiletry, passport, and other indispensable items. Everyone knew the drill! Sylvia had played the same bossy taskmaster yesterday and the day before yesterday, after all! Blaire shook her head again and shrugged. She needed to give the woman a break. For some reason Sylvia’s mannerisms grated on her—and seemed troublingly familiar, despite the fact Alison was sure she’d never worked with Sylvia Jensen before. As the passengers in the front of the plane moved into the jetway and the rest of them were able to move towards the boarding hatch, Alison had to admit the woman was efficient.

Check-in went smoothly and the customs agent was both efficient and affable, although he did seem to be rather brazen with his leering at the females in the group. His English was great, however, despite the fact he was obviously of Semitic ancestry, and he wore a warm and welcoming smile as he led, post check-in, the tour members through the airport to the ground transportation exit. As the tension went out of the group of performers, now that they could see the large green bus with “Hammer Bay Hilton” glowing from the lit signage above the windshield, the customs agent turned and flashed another winning smile at the group. “I’m must apologize,” he proclaimed in what seemed to be a most sincere tone. “I was so busy trying to be efficient in doing my job, I forgot the most important thing…welcoming you all to my country. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Genosha. I hope you all have an eventful visit. Good day.”

As the man walked away, the group failed to notice the obvious disconcertment on Alison’s face as they gathered around a sign posted on the inside of the airport exit. The sign read:

WARNING! GENOSHAN LAW REQUIRES THAT ALL POST-PUBESCENT FEMALES MUST BE CIRCUMCISED. THIS LAW APPLIES TO FOREIGNERS AS WELL AS GENOSHAN CITIZENS AND SLAVES. FOREIGNERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO CARRY A MEDICAL CERTIFICATION OF CIRCUMCISION ALONG WITH A VALID VISA AT ALL TIMES. MEDICAL CERTIFICATIONS AND VISAS MAY BE OBTAINED FROM YOUR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN’S EMBASSY. IF YOU ARE A CURRENTLY UNCIRCUMCISED FEMALE, A LIST OF NEARBY CIRCUMCISION SPECIALISTS, COMPLETE WITH MAP, IS AVAILABLE AT THE TOURISM KIOSK. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH GENOSHAN LAW MAY RESULT IN FORCED CIRCUMCISION FOLLOWED BY EITHER DEPORTATION OR ENSLAVEMENT!

“What the hell?” Liz spat as she finished reading the sign.

“Ignore it!” Caitlin urged with a giggle as she grinned at her easily excitable band mate. “They had the same sign at Dubai. Didn’t you see it?”

“Yes, I saw the sign, but it wasn’t at all the same,” Liz protested emphatically. “The Dubai sign said post…well…adult…girls were encouraged to embrace circumcision…and didn’t say a damn thing about forcing the custom on anyone…let alone slavery. Tell me I’m wrong!” The backing vocalist shot a questioning look at Saylor.

“Sylvia?” Saylor asked as she turned to her manager. “I’d say that this lands pretty squarely in your bailiwick.” Saylor looked a bit discomfited. Although Sylvia seemed to be doing her job as business and tour manager very professionally, Saylor didn’t know her well. She’d only been with Saylor for a few months, and the world tour was Sylvia’s idea in the first place.

“I expect the necessary waivers will be in the paperwork I pick up later today at the American Embassy,” Sylvia replied in a confident tone. “I talked to a Mr. Samuel Delany of the American Embassy when I planned this concert tour and he didn’t even bring up gender issues. His biggest concern was racial…or is that subspecies…issues…I never could keep that straight…and I assured him we all know how to stay out of politics. No one mentions the ‘M’ word and everything should go just like I planned it. Come on! The bus driver is waiting.”

“Are you okay, Alison?” Beefer asked with concern on his face as he noticed the pallor of his lead singer’s face.

“I wish I knew…but this isn’t something that can be discussed…here at least,” Alison replied as she shook her head. As Dazzler, Alison had been to the island of Genosha before—as part of a rescue group retrieving a pair of X-Men and a friend who had been kidnapped by a Genoshan ‘press gang’. It had been a quick mission in the middle of the night, so Dazzler’s role in the rescue was likely unknown to the island nation’s officials. Still, Alison was all too aware that the Islamic Fundamentalist aspects of Genoshan society were only one concern to be worried about. Color returned to the blonde’s face as she reached a decision. “Sylvia, until we can look over the visas and any waivers you get from the American Embassy, Sally, Debbie, Cindy, and I are going to go back and wait on the plane. Better safe than sorry! Worst case scenario, you’ll have to do the concert without the warm-up act.”

Alison blushed badly as she watched astonishment, anger, and contempt fill the faces around her, while Sylvia snorted, “Worst case scenario, my ass! You’re under contract to sing for warm up and, short of being hospitalized on the edge of your deathbed, you’re not going to break it. If you do, you’ll never work in the entertainment industry again. Neither will Nekoboh! Roman promised your hobby wouldn’t get in the way again, like it did with his movie. Besides, you’d never make it back to the plane. You can bet the plane’s hanger is guarded, and you’d never pass as a baggage handler!”

The young mutant frowned and nodded as she realized Sylvia was likely right about access to the plane being denied, and pondered the very serious threat of being blackballed from a career she was once again finding so fulfilling. There was nothing, she decided, that the Genoshan’s could do to her that would be worse than being banned from the stage before she really had a chance to become a star!

“Okay, I was being a bit stupid there,” Alison admitted with a sheepish look on her face. “The show goes on! I still think we need to be careful with the girls, though. Unless they’ve both been tested for the X-gene, Hunch, I think Sally should take them back home on the next commercial flight back to the States. The slaves referred to on that sign are mostly in that caste due to genetics, whether the gene is dormant or not. Sally and the girls can rejoin us later in the tour. I’ll even p….”

“No, I’ll cover the costs…for first class tickets home AND to rejoin us at our first gig in Europe,” Saylor interjected before kneeling and hugging the two befuddled girls. “It’s okay, ladies. This is just a sort of scary country for girls. Your dad’s going to be fine, and I promise you can sit back stage or in the front row…whatever you want…at the rest of my concerts for this whole tour when we’re somewhere less scary. Are you sufficiently below your credit card limit that you can get yourselves home, and I’ll replay you later, Sally, or….”

“We’re fine, Miss Twift,” Sally replied in a cracking voice as she put a hand on each of her girl’s shoulders. “We used our advance for the tour to pay off our balances. Hunch, should we….”

“Alison, can you….?” Hunch began as he looked pleadingly at his lead singer.

“I’ve nothing to say, except do as I’m suggesting and accept either Saylor’s or my offer for reimbursement. Once we get to the hotel, we can find a safe place to talk, and I’ll explain my concerns fully. For now, please just trust me!”

“Go, Sally!” Hunch proclaimed decisively before quickly hugging his wife and daughters. “I DO trust Alison. Get the first flight off of this rock and call me as soon as you’re in international airspace. We’ll be back together in a week or two, I’m sure. Let’s go, folks! We’re drawing attention to ourselves standing here debating in front of this blasted sign!”

Six hours later, freshly groomed and better rested, both bands gathered together in a grassy area behind the Hammer Bay Hilton, just past the swimming pool, where Alison thought surveillance equipment was unlikely to have been planted. Sylvia had already left for the American Embassy.

“Okay, Alison,” Hunch declared in an unhappy tone as everyone did their best to squeeze under the shade of a large tree, “why am I not banging my wife in one hell of a nice hotel room while my kids play in that pool and drive the rest of you crazy? I suggest you give us the nitty-gritty without trying to be tactful or cover up any political angles.”

“The nitty-gritty? This country’s primary motivation is to take care of the current government’s economic interests at any cost to either the people born here or people born elsewhere. I do mean at ANY cost. There isn’t any crime against humanity that they wouldn’t commit if there was something to be gained from it. No…make that…haven’t committed! The primary target of those crimes…for the moment…is mutants. However, I wasn’t entirely surprised to read that they are willing to violate non-mutant women’s rights, too!”

Saylor sighed softly before observing, “Maybe asking for just the punch-line isn’t going to cut it, Alison. Maybe you better present your case more fully. Give us the big picture and then zoom in to how the Saylor Twift world tour fits into everything. I can’t believe that Sylvia would bring us to a truly dangerous place. After all, she’s here in the middle of any danger herself, isn’t she?”

Alison shrugged her shoulders and nodded, before replying, “Okay, I’ll give it a try, although I wouldn’t be my own first choice to explain these things. First, where we are is a large island east of the African continent and north-northeast of Madagascar. I’m not sure of how many square miles the island is, but it’s large, though not nearly as large as Madagascar.”

“The island was governed by Egyptians during most of the Pharaonic dynasties, but has been largely self-governing since. Post-ancient Egypt, the island mostly relied on trade with and immigration from the Arabian peninsula, and, to a much lesser extent, trade with Madagascar and the East African coast. In the 16^th Century, the Portuguese discovered the island during voyages seeking a direct sea route to the spice-rich East Indies and established a naval base at Hammer Bay, which added European immigrants to the diverse population and westernized the island’s government and economic systems. While slavery had been a fact of life in Genosha, like most of Africa, since before the Egyptian dynasties, the Portuguese made slavery and human trafficking big business, which it remained for the next several hundred years. During the 19^th Century, trade with the British Empire became a primary source of revenue for the island, and English, already widely used among the population, was adopted as the national language about a decade ago.”

“Okay,” Alison sighed before smiling sheepishly, “I guess I’ve been getting better at tutoring than I thought. So we have this multi-ethnic culture on Genosha, population today roughly a half a million, with one basic practice holding them together…beyond the strong desire for economic prosperity I mentioned earlier…religion. Virtually the entire population is made up of Islamic Fundamentalists, and this has been the case for hundreds of years.”

“Given the Islamic Fundamentalist society with a penchant for capitalism and a long history of dabbling in the slave trade, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone as to how things changed on Genosha when a new element was added into the mix, mostly over the last decade. A new subspecies of humans, designated by some scientists as Homo sapiens superior and called simply ‘mutants’ by the layperson, began appearing on Earth. Mutant births are thought to be quite rare throughout most of the planet, but for unknown reasons, possibly minerals in the island’s rocks that aren’t nearly so common elsewhere, the incidence of mutant births has been spectacularly high, statistically, on Genosha.”

“Okay, I’m going to step away from Genosha for a minute to talk about mutants in general,” Alison warned with concern on her face. “The difference between a baseline human, Homo sapiens sapiens, and what some scientists label, Homo sapiens superior…and for God’s sake remember I’m not the one responsible for the ‘superior’ designation…is found in a single gene. This gene, called by some scientists the X-gene…which can be found in individuals of either gender but which is thought to be passed on to progeny only through females with the gene…CAN give the individual carrying the X-gene extra-human abilities.”

“For some reason, the nature of those abilities, which the X-gene can cause to be exhibited in SOME individuals, is incredibly varied despite only one gene being involved. Some individuals develop powers that seem ‘super’ to baseline humans. Sometimes the exhibited ability has no obvious benefit…like the ability to have salt taste sweet instead of salty. Some individual mutants are born with attributes that most of us would deem to be horrifying disfigurements. Sometimes the X-gene can be dormant, and result in no extra-human abilities or attributes being developed.”

“The point being, you might know you carry the X-gene because you can glow like I can, but you can’t know you don’t carry the gene unless you’ve had your DNA mapped or had a special scanner used on you. You might have the X-gene and not have an extra-human ability, OR your extra-human ability might be the ease at which you write lyrics or play a musical instrument. Finally, while most scientists think the X-gene can only be passed on to progeny by the female, others disagree and theorize that, at a minimum, the male plays a role in determining whether the offspring will develop a useful trait. Anyone carrying an X-gene might therefore be considered a ‘natural resource’ by someone interested in exploiting mutants.”

“Now, before I get back to Genosha,” Alison declared with obvious passion, “I want to step back from emphasizing the difference between someone carrying the X-gene, and someone who doesn’t. That difference between baseline humans and mutants is found in a single gene, representing less difference in genetic makeup than would be found in two different breeds of dogs…or horses…and so on. Mutants ARE humans! If mutants breed with non-mutants, our offspring are not sterile, like a mule bred from a horse and a donkey, and may or may not carry the X-gene. Regardless of what some scientist may label me, I’m human…just like you are…with human needs and desires.”

“I don’t think anyone here doubts that, Alison,” Saylor softly declared with a friendly smile on her face. “Not that at least some of us aren’t well aware that Dazzler’s extra ability has been used to save more than a few butts! You were talking about how the appearance of the X-gene in the Genoshan gene pool changed Genoshan society over the last decade?”

“Right, but it was important to level the playing field with respect to genetic knowledge first, Saylor,” Alison replied with a grin on her face. “Most of the Genoshan population has a very high standard of living due to an excellent economy and the lack of racial and political strife prevalent in most other countries in this region. It’s been that way for years, partly due to a willingness to build their economy on the backs of their less fortunate brothers and sisters. I mentioned the importance of the slave trade well into the 18^th Century…and perhaps beyond. When some of their brothers and sisters began developing extra-human abilities…and remember that development has been more common here than elsewhere on the planet…Genoshan government leaders, captains of industry, military generals, and scientists were quick to see the potential advancements this new group of powered people could provide their nation. These brothers and sisters with extra-human abilities were quickly nationalized and pressed into involuntary government service.”

“Genosha’s prosperity today is greater than ever and was built upon the enslavement of its mutant population,” Alison declared, anger growing in her voice. “Mutants, referred to as gene-jokes, are treated as natural resources and considered to be property of the state—their powers are put to use for both economic and military purposes. These slaves are used by their overlords, who are called, magistrates, as the government sees fit regardless of non-mutant training and abilities. I’ve met a medical doctor who was turned into a street cleaner when her mutant power finally manifested itself well past puberty…puberty being the normal period of X-gene manifestation. This disdain for the needs and desires of the individual mutant has worked well for the baseline humans, referred to as flat-scanners, of Genosha. The island has an economy rivaling many of the much larger European nations due to mutants being used in place of machines…and, due almost entirely to their enslaved mutant warriors, Genosha is considered to be one of the top ten nations in military might.”

“The story gets worse,” Alison continued in a quivering voice as disdain filled her face. “Power leads to greed which leads to leaders seeking more power! During the last year or two, the Genoshan government has taken to kidnapping mutants worldwide, using ‘press gangs’, and forcing them to live here. The Genoshans now have so many mutants that only the males are normally given permanent day-to-day workforce or military duties, and, with their value as breeders discounted because of the theories I addressed earlier, most male mutants are castrated at an early age or immediately following capture…although semen samples are normally collected and preserved for scientific breeding purposes.”

“Genoshan girls who are determined to be carrying the X-gene through extra-human ability manifestation or gene scanning…as well as newly captured female mutants from other countries…are typically sold as domestic slaves…although the government has laws letting them nationalize the female mutants in times of national emergency. Whether owned by an individual Genoshan citizen or the government itself, the female domestic slaves can expect to be used in breeding programs designed to continue to increase Genosha’s mutant resources. Based on the signage we saw at the airport, it appears that these mutant female slaves, like most every other female on the island, are forced to conform to Islamic Fundamentalist customs, including female circumcision.”

“Hopefully,” Alison sighed as she forced a sheepish grin on her face, “I’ve explained to everyone’s satisfaction why I seriously considered skipping the gig tonight. And, hopefully, everyone understands why we can’t use the ‘M’ word ever again on this island…and why NONE of us want to get scanned for the X-gene.”

“I get that, Alison,” Liz declared in a shivering voice, “but that still doesn’t address what the sign said. The sign said we all have to be circumcised. You mentioned female circumcision too, but you didn’t spell what that means. I mean, I’ve never heard about girls being circumcised before. That’s a guy thing, isn’t it?”

“Hey!” Alison declared as she held up her hands in mock surrender. “It’s not going to be up to me to lead THIS discussion. While I’ve got a clue, I’m not brazen enough to make a fool out of myself.”

After a few seconds of silence, Beefer chuckled, “If none of you girls can explain to Liz, I’ll give it a try. So long as no one takes offense and sues me for sexual harassment or whatnot! It’s not likely to be considered a politically correct discussion, after all!”

“Well, I don’t see anyone else volunteering, Beefer,” Saylor observed softly with a deer-in-headlights look on her face, “and while, like Alison, I may not be completely in the dark about these things, the fog is pretty darn thick. Just try to be sensitive to the fact that we girls have been made pretty antsy by that sign at the airport.”

“My explaining is bound to make you girls even antsier!” Beefer chortled with a smirk on his face. Then he suggested with a more subdued demeanor, “Look! Maybe we should just put that sign out of our minds until we find out what sort of waivers Sylvia has scored at the American Embassy.”

“No way!” Caitlin declared with a mischievous grin on her face. “I know I have a clue to the punch line for the joke we find ourselves up to our necks in, and I want to watch Liz squirm as she figures it out too. Let’s hear it, complete with the nasty details, drummer boy!”

“We’re just going to worry until we get the scoop from Sylvia, anyhow, Beefer,” Alison interjected with a thoughtful look on her face. “So you might as well enlighten us. First, though, what are the sources of your information? If you admit, after you’ve dealt out those nasty details Caitlin is begging for, that what you know comes from perusing porn sites, you’ll be on everyone’s shit list for the rest of the tour! Better to be open about the reliability of your sources at the get go.”

“Oh, Alison, you wound me so!” Beefer exclaimed while feigning disappointment. “And you also know me way too well. I could tell you a lot about what I learned from porn sites…especially adult superheroine websites like The Wizard’s Lair…heh, heh, heh…but I wasn’t going to get into such salacious details unless pressed. Some of what I know comes from textbooks and academic journals. However, I was going to mostly rely on the information gleaned from the websites of the body modification clinics that opened for business when national legislation was passed in the U.S. Congress last year; legislation making a variety of severe body modification services provided outside of a medical practice by trained and licensed clinicians to consenting adults, and the sale of the residuals from those modifications, legal. You’d be amazed at what you can learn by clicking a mouse if you’re a curious fellow….”

“Don’t you mean, porn hound?” Caitlin interjected with an ear-to-ear grin on her face.

“I object to resembling that remark!” Beefer spat back while striving to look rudely insulted. “Do you want what I know or not? Liz?”

“I think so,” Liz replied in a quivering voice. “If I hadn’t read the sign I’d say, hell no! But I did read the sign and my stomach feels like it’s tied in knots. Let’s hear it!”

“Okay, we’ll take it one baby step at a time,” Beefer replied in a soft calm voice despite the smirk on his face. “We’ll start with a nice clinical description of what we are talking about, and let your questions lead us down the rabbit hole. Will that work, Liz?”

“It will, Beefer,” Saylor jumped in before Liz could reply. “You’d best get on with it.”

Beefer nodded with a thoughtful look on his face, before stating tersely, “Female circumcision is a politically correct term that encompasses a variety of surgical alterations to the vulva, and is…no make that, was…considered to be the female equivalent to male circumcision. Each of the different surgical alterations to the vulva involved in the various categories of circumcision has a different technical or medical term that more accurately conveys exactly what the alteration is, but there is a less politically correct all encompassing term as well. Female circumcision is also known as FGC…which stands for female genital cutting…and for a handful of decades prior to the last year or so, FGC had been widely relabeled by international institutions like the United Nations and the World Health Organization as FGM…which stands for female genital mutilation. More on FGC versus FGM momentarily, but I’m sure you want me to clarify what I mean by surgical alteration to the vulva.”

“No, first you best explain why you think female circumcision and male circumcision are equivalent!” Caitlin barked with more than a little anger on her face. “The end results…which you’re about to enlighten sweet Liz about…are not at all correlative!”

“Damn! I knew better than to volunteer to open my mouth!” Beefer spat back before shrugging. “I said WAS considered equivalent, and I didn’t mean considered by me, Caitlin. I guess we are going to need a brief history lesson before I move on to increasing my female colleagues’ anxiety.”

Beefer took a deep breath before explaining, “While female circumcision is thought to have developed separately in multiple cultures around the world during a variety of different prehistoric and historical periods, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians agree that one of those cultures was the early ancient Egyptians, based on some female mummies recovered. These experts think they understand the reasons for the development of both female and male circumcision in ancient Egypt.”

“The ancient Egyptian gods,” Beefer continued, picking up confidence as he spoke, “were thought to have the sexual attributes of both males and females and dual souls…equal opportunity gods, I guess…heh, heh heh! Well the priests…and presumably the Pharaohs…thought that mortal men and women each had features reflecting these dual souls—the prepuce, commonly known as the penis foreskin, represented the female soul in men, and the clitoris, with its penisoid shape, represented the male soul in women. The priests developed coming of age rituals to detach the wrong-sex soul from members of each gender. For the men, the penis foreskin, which vaguely resembles the labial folds of the vulva, was trimmed away. For females, the clitoris, which strongly resembles the male penis, was excised.”

“Well, male circumcision spread to the Hebrew, Persian, and Semitic cultures, and then to the rest of the world with highly variable prevalence in modern societies,” Beefer explained before shrugging his shoulders. “To Caitlin’s point, you don’t hear many guys complaining about having been cut or about having an uncut penis. Some of us were circumcised at so young an age we don’t remember the pain that occurred during the process, and, circumcision usually isn’t thought to effect sexual function in adult males.”

“In ancient Egypt, as it became the socio-cultural norm, female circumcision became the utmost criteria for women’s marriage, inheritance of property, and acceptance in society,” Beefer continued softly. “In argument against Caitlin’s point…without dealing with the obvious issue of pain accompanying female circumcision…ancient Egypt is known to be a model of gender parity when it comes to ancient societies. Women had the same basic rights as men, and could even rule as Pharaohs. Neither circumcision ritual…male or female…was developed to harm or subjugate the opposite gender. Through time, however, additional vulva alteration practices were developed and sometimes forced upon women of the lowest castes, especially slaves. These additional circumcision practices, along with the original coming of age rituals, were passed onto the Semitic cultures and, after the rise of Islam, to West African and South Asian cultures.”

“To conclude our history lesson, I’d guess female circumcision practices and prevalence in Genosha likely reflects the island’s Pharaonic Egyptian roots as much or more than its culture’s Islamic Fundamentalist values. Like female circumcision in ancient Egypt, I don’t think the practice in Genosha…in general at least…is meant to either harm or subjugate the female gender. From what I’ve read, other than mutants, women have a relatively high level of social equity with men here despite the culture being patriarchal in nature. The Genoshans have probably had their fill of westerners proclaiming the female circumcision practice barbaric, however. The locals are probably pretty fed up with the imperialist attitude of western Europeans and Americans in general. I wouldn’t be publically critical of either male or female circumcision while on this island if you value your freedom and your skin.”

“Wait a minute!” Liz spat with obvious frustration as Beefer sagged back into the tree trunk behind him and looked to be satisfied with a job well done. “You still haven’t spelled out what you mean by ‘surgical alteration to the vulva’ and how it relates to what that sign at the airport said.”

“And you mentioned some FGC versus FGM controversy, big guy,” the ordinarily silent Marx added.

“That’s because both subjects are going to get me into trouble, and my momma didn’t raise any fools,” Beefer retorted with a frown on his face.

“Beefer, you can’t just leave her hanging!” Alison grumbled with obvious reluctance.

“Fine!” the heavyset drummer shot back. “The World Health Organization has four categories of what they labeled as FGM. Type 1 involves the removal of part or all of a girl’s clitoral glans, possibly including some of the clitoral shaft and some or all of the female prepuce, better known as the clitoral hood. The removal of the clitoral glans and the upper, accessible, portion of the clitoral shaft is what I described as becoming the cultural norm in ancient Egypt, and the surgical term for it is clitoridectomy. Removal of all or portions of the clitoral hood is referred by some scholars as circumcision, but as we’ve already used that term broadly for all vulva alterations, we’ll go with the other surgical term, clitoral hoodectomy. As an aside, hoodectomies are fairly commonly performed in American and western European medical practices to ENHANCE a woman’s ability to reach climax.”

“Type 2 FGM involves adding the removal of all or portions of the labia minora…that’s the inner pussy lips for any of you guys who are too dorky to ask…to the removal of the clitoris. The surgical term for the labia alteration is labioplasty.”

“Type 3 FGM involves infibulation…the narrowing of the vulva opening to create a partial seal…usually through stitching the outer margins of the vulva…and may or may not include removing the clitoris and/or labia minora. This was the additional procedure I said the lower castes later faced in ancient Egypt; it was designed to prevent penile penetration of the vagina…sometimes for population control as the growing Sahara Desert reduced arable lands, and sometimes to prevent slaves from being devalued by intermediary handlers getting them pregnant. Islamic slave traders passed this practice around the Arab world and Africa.”

“Type 4 includes any other ‘harmful’ procedure to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes.”

“The FGM versus FGC controversy has to do with connotation versus denotation and the imposition of elitist western cultural mores on the developing world,” Beefer lifted his hands in apparent frustration. “FGC, or Female Genital Cutting, correctly denotes that we are talking about surgical alterations to the female genitalia. FGM, or Female Genital Mutilation, connotes that these surgical alterations are against the female subject’s will AND meant to cause injury and disfigurement. Under the FGM label, international organizations, beginning in the later part of the 20^th Century, initiated campaigns to bring an end to female circumcision as practiced primarily in third-world countries.”

“Some leaders of countries in the developing world complained that international institutions like the United Nations and the World Health Organization were being unfair and were stigmatizing cultural practices embraced by their peoples. They pointed out that, like male circumcisions, most female circumcisions were being performed on consenting adults or on children at the request and under the supervision of the girls’ legal guardians. Additionally, these leaders pointed out that the international organizations were ignoring other coming of age genital altering practices such as subincision…the splitting of the forward part of a male penis with a knife up the urethra…still practiced in several parts of the world but best documented in the Australian aborigine culture. Interestingly, both the United Nations and the World Health Organization ended their campaigns against FGM a few weeks after severe body modification outside of medical practice was made legal in the U.S.”

“Okay, I suppose that now that I’ve revealed my secret identity as a card carrying cultural anthropologist specializing in body modification and ornamentation customs,” Beefer concluded with a wry grin on his face, “I’d better bring the discussion back to what the sign at the airport could mean to the brilliant musicians of the Saylor Twift world tour.”

“About time!” Caitlin proclaimed with a mischievous grin on her face. “Pay attention, Liz! Here comes the punch line.”

“I’ll get even with you for this, Caitlin,” Liz spat back despite her obvious anxiety.

“I sure as hell hope so,” the red-headed fiddler chortled back, “because that will mean the Genoshans didn’t fix either of us. Tell her, Beefer!”

“Why me?” Beefer asked with a nervous chuckle. “Look, Liz, the bottom line is that, if Sylvia does as she said she would and obtains the requisite waivers from the Genoshan government, everything will be fine, just like in Dubai. If we don’t get the waivers, we just have to hope they don’t gene scan us…and find out at least one of us carries the X-gene…and that no one asks to see our visas and certificates of circumcision. If they scan us…well Sylvia should have let Alison stay on the plane…because not only will anyone with an X-gene face the ultimate nightmare…they’re certain to check the rest of you girls’ papers while they make their arrest.”

“Damn, this isn’t as fun as Caitlin seems to be thinking it’s going to be for me, girls,” Beefer grumbled as he blushed. “If they check you girls’ visas and find you don’t have certificates of circumcision…even if they don’t gene scan us…I’m pretty sure you girls will find yourselves standing before one of those circumcision specialists the sign at the airport said you could get a map to. If the government officials decide that that we Americans, that’s us boys as well as you girls, were trying to hide your uncut statuses, which we are, we’ll be waiting to see if we’re all going to get deported or enslaved. Based on the background Alison and I laid out, I’m pretty confident that the circumcision they would force on you girls would be a straightforward modern clitoridectomy…removal of the clitoral glans and as much of the clitoral shaft as they can manage. The bad news is that severe body modification specialists, and presumable Genoshan circumcision specialists, never use anesthetics prior to the completion of their work. The good news is that it’s a modern country…so you’ll likely get a final climax!”

“FINAL CLIMAX!?!” Liz, the most pallid of the white-faced girls squealed.

“Yeah, dummy…no, I’m sorry…I’ll stop teasing now,” Caitlin said haltingly. “Liz, very few girls can manage a sexual climax once their clit has been clipped out. It’s going to hurt like hell if it comes to that, too! But listen…Sylvia is in the same boat we are, and I peg her as a girl that knows how to sidestep trouble. All we’re doing now is scaring ourselves with a horror story.”

“Maybe so,” Hunch observed softly as he broke the silence he and Saylor’s male band members had carefully maintained during the entire discussion, “but I’m sure as hell glad we left my wife and kids at the airport. Why and hell hasn’t Sally called yet?”

“She will, Hunch,” Alison said with all the assurance she could muster. “There probably aren’t that many flights, and I’m sure we would have heard from her if she’d had any problems. Shall we go back to our rooms until it’s time to board the bus to the arena, Saylor?”

“Yeah, good idea, Alison,” Saylor Twift replied with as much confidence on her face as she could manage. “Stop worrying and concentrate on getting geared up to put on our usual fantastic show. I’ll stop by each of you girl’s rooms if Sylvia gets back with good news.”

As it turned out, Sylvia didn’t get back from the embassy until 5:30 p.m., and the manager had been tied up with phone calls from the roadies, evidently dealing with some problem having to do with equipment setup, right up to departure time. The only communication Saylor had managed during the day dealt with Alison, and how to respond should authorities confront the Americans. Saylor had made sure everyone in her band, including Liz and Caitlin, understood that she believed, based on Alison and Beefer’s discussion of Genoshan culture, turning Alison into authorities as the mutant superheroine known as Dazzler in an attempt to avoid prosecution for the circumcision offense would only lead to more heartburn. Saylor believed the authorities would throw the book at the Americans, leading to all of the girls facing involuntary circumcisions AND everyone being punished as accomplices in an attempted cover up.

By 6:10 the bus to the Hammer Bay soccer arena, where the concert would be held, was pulling out of the hotel parking lot. Due to the venue being in an Islamic Fundamentalist country, everyone was dressed in semi-formal clothing—the women in dresses and the men in sport coats and slacks—rather than the normal pre-costuming shorts and tee shirts or gym clothes. As everyone settled into their seats and chitchat subsided, Saylor called out louder than necessary to the manager seated on the seat across from her, “How did it go at the American Embassy, Sylvia? Did you get the paperwork we need?”

“Oh, it went great, Saylor!” Sylvia replied with apparent confidence, also loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Mr. Delany, the official handling our case, was very affable and full of questions. Samuel said he would meet us at the venue with the appropriate paperwork safely in his briefcase. He said he would be with us the entire night watching our performances from a front row seat. I’m afraid I had to promise him your personal autograph, Saylor.”

“No problem, Sylvia,” Saylor assured the older woman. “I’m glad to help grease the wheels, so to say. And the roadies have everything set up without any hitches?”

“Well, they said they were ready,” Sylvia replied with irritation obvious in her voice. “However, I was going to let you know that the supervisor of that bunch was being weird. Getting responses from him was like wading in molasses, and he didn’t sound at all happy.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to John and find out what the issue was after the show,” Saylor replied while shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t like unpleasant conversations before taking the stage. Shouldn’t we be close to the venue? It’s the Hammer Bay soccer arena, right?”

“That’s right!” Sylvia acknowledged and then returned her attention to some paperwork she had been perusing.

“Wait a minute,” Saylor’s lead guitarist burst out from behind her. “I googled the arena back at the hotel. It’s near the center of the city. We seem to be headed towards the outskirts!”

“Driver!” Sylvia called forward with obvious concern. “Where are you taking us? You’re not lost are you?”

“No, Miss Jensen,” the driver called back without apparent concern. “We are almost there. I had assumed your minions setting up the concert had told you about the venue change. There was a problem with broken water pipes at the arena. The sound will be very good at the very large concert hall we will arrive at soon.”

“Sylvia!” Saylor barked over to her manager. “Why wasn’t I kept in the loop? Get John on the phone now!”

“You weren’t told because I wasn’t informed of the changes.” Sylvia called back, obviously flustered. “I told you the roadies were being weird on the phone. Let me call Mr. Delany and make sure he knows we’ll be at the concert hall instead of the arena. Then I’ll call John. Don’t worry, Miss Twift, snafus happen, but I’m sure I can get things to go smoothly once we arrive.”

“I think were there, Saylor,” the headliner’s lead guitarist called out. “We’re pulling into a fenced parking lot, but THAT sure doesn’t look like a concert hall to me. There are people standing outside of the main entrance. It looks like we’re going to get a police escort inside.”

“Those are magistrates, and it looks like they have some of their mutant lackeys with them as well!” Alison called forward from her place in the back of the bus with the rest of the warm-up band. She didn’t need to elaborate based on the reactions of the rest of the musicians on the bus.

“I’m talking to Delany now!” Sylvia called back with her ear to her smart phone. “He says to cooperate and do whatever the magistrates tell us. He’ll be with us in less than thirty minutes, and says he guarantees we’ll be left alone in a waiting room until he gets here.”

“Alison?” Saylor called back in a quivering voice as the bus came to a stop and the door opened.

“We’d best follow Delany’s recommendations, Saylor,” Dazzler replied with a frown on her face and defeat in her blue eyes. “There’s a lot more firepower out there than a couple of rock bands can handle. In addition to the magistrates and their mutant muscle, the half dozen armed women dressed in black are agents of Genosha’s Novarian sect, the mainstay of the Genoshan secret service, and infamous for their…interrogation…skills.”

“You are very well informed, Miss,” one of the magistrates—a senior officer based on the ribbons on the chest of his military looking suit coat—called out as he climbed into the bus. “However, you needn’t be concerned. I am Colonel Sekmet and have been asked to help facilitate an interview regarding your experiences here in Genosha that will be conducted by Mr. Walid Sabbah, Genosha’s Undersecretary of State for Women’s Affairs, once the representative from your American Embassy gets here. My men, much to their disappointments due to your being well known celebrities, will not be in attendance. If Undersecretary Sabbah is efficient and everything is in order, you will be taken to the arena well before your performances are to begin. Bring only your visas and absolutely necessary items and come with me to a small presentation room in the building behind me, where we will wait for the interviews to begin. Please follow me, ladies and gentlemen.”

Alison bit her lip as she watched the tour musicians begin to follow their manager, Sylvia, out of the bus. The sultry songstress had a bad feeling about the rapidly unfolding situation. It seemed likely that trouble was brewing—trouble likely well beyond the ability of the mutant lightingale Dazzler to handle.

Chapter 3. Who’s on Whose Side?

The colonel led the American musicians into the relatively old two-story building, down a long hall with portraits of Genoshan leaders on the walls, and into a fairly large room near the back of the building that appeared to be a small multi-purpose auditorium. The back of the room was filled with four rows of twelve padded theater-like seats with moveable arm rests. The middle of the room was filled with two tables, each with a simple chair behind it, and four folding chairs. One of the tables, centered immediately in front of the theater-like seating, had a chair behind it facing the seating, and a laptop and open briefcase on it. The second table was topped by a complex control panel with buttons and switches and three small monitor screens. This table was on the far side of the first, also centered in front of the auditorium seating, positioned in front of what appeared to be a low stage—the stage floor, which occupied the front third of the room was only about eight inches above the main floor and hidden from view by floor-to-ceiling curtains. The chair behind the second table faced the monitors on the table and the stage, and the folding chairs also all faced the curtained off low stage. Above the upper edge of the curtains, the Americans could see part of what was obviously a well-designed stage lighting array.

The magistrate officer had directed the five women to seat themselves on the far side of the front row, and the male musicians to take seats as they pleased in the second and third rows. The performers had complied without asking any questions, although concern filled nearly all of their faces. The colonel finally broke the silence by instructing, “Ladies and gentlemen, please remove your passports and visas and prepare them for inspection. The visas should include all relevant additional documentation. I’m sure the undersecretary will arrive here soon.”

“Colonel Sekmet,” Sylvia called back, seemingly not particularly spooked by the sudden turn of events, although the rest of the girls and most of the men wore extreme apprehension on their faces, “the American Embassy official, Mr. Samuel Delany, said that we would be taken to a waiting room until he arrived and that we were not to be…interviewed…until then. I think we should follow that advice, especially considering he has our…well some of our paperwork.”

“You are Miss Jensen, no?”

“Yes, Sylvia Jensen.”

“You are Miss Twift’s business manager and are also acting as manager for the concert tour, no?”

“Yes, I am Saylor’s personal manager, Colonel, but I don’t….”

“Then you are the one most responsible for seeing that everyone traveling with Miss Twift has the proper paperwork, no?”

“Yes…I mean…no…I mean…well, partly…. I mean, Mr. Delany….”

“I assure you, Miss Jensen, that Mr. Delany DOES NOT have your relevant paperwork…besides perhaps some unstamped visa applications. I instruct again, remove your passports and visas and prepare them for inspection.”

As the roomful of Americans gasped in unison, Colonel Sekmet flashed a reassuring smile at Saylor, before softly urging, “Please, do not be overly concerned. For me and my colleagues with the Genoshan Magistrate this is mostly routine procedure. Please do as instructed and try to relax until you are given additional instructions. Perhaps, if the undersecretary is a bit delayed and I have my interview forms in order, I will chat with you marvelous musical performers. My daughter is quite a fan of your music, Miss Twift.”

Saylor managed a weak smile and murmured, “Thank you! I’m glad she likes it.”

Another few minutes went by, as the colonel scrolled through computer screens on the laptop, before one of the black-clad Novarian sect agents strolled through the open door of the auditorium and bent and whispered into the magistrate officer’s ear. The room’s acoustics were so good that most of the musicians could discern that she was asking if she should have a portable scanning device brought in, followed by how many observers would be permitted to watch the (after a pause) interviews.

Seeing the deer-in-headlights looks on the Americans’ faces, Sekmet could tell the agent had been overheard. There was anger in his voice when he replied, “If I need a scanner I will ask for one! Pick twelve observers…from all ranks…and tell them they may not join us until the undersecretary has concluded his interviews. Now get out!” There was fear on the Novarian’s face as she rushed away, leading everyone to feel growing respect for the power the magistrate officer obviously wielded.

The colonel spent another few minutes scrolling through forms on the laptop, before sighing and standing. The Genoshan then pulled a pen and two CD cases from the bottom of his briefcase before stepping over to and kneeling before Saylor.

“I am very sorry for the inconvenience my duties require me to put upon you, Miss Twift,” Sekmet declared in a tone that seemed genuinely apologetic. “It cannot be avoided. I mentioned my daughter, Sanya, is much taken with your music. I have here two copies of your albums from her collection. I humbly ask you to autograph the booklets, but assure you that if you would prefer to decline, it will not adversely affect your interview. Similarly, your kindness in complying will be of no benefit to you should irregularities in your paperwork be discovered.”

“Of course I would be glad to autograph CDs for a fan, Colonel,” Saylor replied with a sheepish grin on her face, an indication that the diva was not yet jaded with success as she took the CDs. “I assure you none of us would even consider trying to bribe a government official. How old is Sanya, if I might ask?”

“My beautiful daughter is twelve years old, Miss Twift,” Sekmet replied while grinning with pride as Saylor pulled the first booklet out and then took the pen from the colonel and signed it. “This will be a memorable and perhaps trying year for her. The autographs will make her very boisterous with her friends.”

As Saylor signed the second booklet, she grinned and said, “Well if she’s that much of a fan, Colonel, you just have to bring her, and perhaps a few of her friends, to one of my concerts. You can all come back stage when the concert is over. Just let Sylvia know, and she’ll see to it that you get tickets relatively close to the stage. To avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, you can get tickets for a concert in one of the other countries on our world tour, if you want, and ask for them after our business today has been fully promulgated.”

“You are as wise as you are kind, Miss Twift,” Colonel Sekmet declared with a grin on his face as he took the pen and CDs back. “Sadly, I feel I will need to decline your offer. It would be unethical to even appear to be biased for or against someone who has come under my jurisdiction.”

The magistrate then nodded to Caitlin and Liz as he proclaimed, “My daughter told me that you ladies are fine musicians as well, and pointed you out on a concert video she owns. Be most proud of your profession.” Sekmet’s grin broadened as the two girls blushed. “And you men also,” he added to the boys in the next two rows.

“I’m afraid I cannot make kind comments about you and your band’s music, Miss Blaire,” the colonel added as he shrugged at Alison. “But only because I have not yet heard it. No doubt you are very good too, or you would not be trusted to open for the famous Saylor Twift.”

Alison did her best to manage an uncomfortable smile at the awkward remark. Despite the more-than-backhanded compliment, the lightingale had to admit that the colonel seemed to be both a likeable and ethical fellow.

The magistrate officer had returned to silently organizing forms on his computer for a handful of minutes, while the American musical artists nervously fidgeted with their passports in their hands. Finally, a stocky, swarthy man in Arabic clothing walked through the door, and Colonel Sekmet rose to his feet as he declared, “Ah, you’re here at last, Undersecretary Sabbah! I feared you had gotten impeded by traffic, which can be most terrible this time of the day near the government center. I trust this was not so?”

“No, I was delayed at the capitol building getting last minute instructions and making special arrangements,” the swarthy looking man declared as he pulled a handkerchief from a pocket and wiped his brow. “Which chair will be mine.”

“The choice is yours, Mr. Undersecretary, save the one behind the table of course,” Sekmet replied with a hint of irritation in his voice as he nodded to the line of folding chairs parallel to the table covered with controls and computer monitor screens. “For now, just pull it over to face our American visitors. When you are ready, I will introduce you.”

After the man had pulled away the folding chair nearest the door, and then nodded to the magistrate officer, Colonel Sekmet announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. Walid Sabbah, Genosha’s Undersecretary of State for Women’s Affairs. Walid, these Americans are musicians and their manager from America who are part of the Saylor Twift world tour. Their scheduled music concert is sold out and will bring much revenue to Genosha. I have already asked them to remove their passports and visas and prepare them for inspection. As they will soon present their paperwork to you, I will let them each introduce themselves to you at that time. Do you wish to make an opening remark, or will I have you start by interviewing their manager, who has admitted to being the one most responsible for seeing that everyone traveling with Miss Twift’s concert tour has the proper paperwork.”

“See here, Colonel Sekmet…,” Sylvia began as she jumped to her feet.

“Silence until you are spoken to, Miss Jensen,” Colonel Sekmet barked back. “And sit down until instructed otherwise.”

“Have you scanned for gene-jokes?” Sabbah asked as an obviously flustered manager sat down while gaping in disbelief.

“Do I look to be an imbecile, Undersecretary?” Sekmet spat back. “I must, for you are the second colleague to suggest I might not uncover some important mutant threat to the people of Genosha. You handle your area of responsibility, women’s affairs, and I’ll handle mine, mutant threats and resources.”

“Very well, Colonel Sekmet,” a very chastened bureaucrat replied, before addressing the American music performers. “Genosha is a proud nation! We take pride in our laws and customs and expect all to respect them, including foreign visitors. This includes laws regulating circumcision. We cannot have foreigners flouting our laws, OR aiding and abetting the flouting of our laws. Because of an extensive discussion before one of our signs at the airport, and a gathering behind the Hammer Bay Hilton, my office received five phone calls reporting suspicious behavior by most of you ladies and gentlemen. This, added to information provided by a more reliable source, is sufficient for me to see a need to inspect your paperwork…beyond the perusal it received at the special customs check-in provided to you. You will now step forward…ahh…who did you say…?”

“Miss Jensen,” cut in Colonel Sekmet in a firm no-nonsense voice, “please step forward and hand the undersecretary your passport, visa, and certification of circumcision!”

“But Colonel Sekmet, I told you….” Sylvia began with more than a little panic in her voice.

“Alison!” rang out from the doorway to the small auditorium. “What a pleasant surprise to find you here, baby!”

“Roman!” Alison gasped as the deer-in-headlights look on her face was replaced with total astonishment. As the young mutant stared at the room’s entryway she saw Roman Nekoboh, dressed in an expensive Italian suit and just pocketing designer sunglasses. The aging Hollywood heartthrob was standing behind a portly middle-aged brown-eyed balding man dressed in an obviously cheap and threadbare tweed jacket worn over cargo pants and a yellowed white dress shirt, who was carrying a scuffed up briefcase.

“Ali, baby,” Roman continued with good-natured enthusiasm, “I was just finishing negotiating a deal for me to produce and narrate a pay-for-view documentary with the Genoshan government and a third party when an opportunity to broaden the contract to two, and possibly three, projects came up. Because American citizens are likely to be involved, I was just running things by the American Embassy…this is Sam Delany a senior honcho with said embassy…when Sylvia’s call came in. The light bulb in the old noggin went off…and I realized you…and Saylor…good to see you too, baby…were in trouble. When I said it was a pleasant surprise for me to find you here, baby, I meant you’re going to be pleasantly surprised that I’m here to help facilitate putting this tea party you suddenly found yourself invited to behind you with the least unpleasantness possible.”

Roman had been speaking with such enthusiasm and confidence that Alison…and likely the rest of the girls…missed the significance of Nekoboh’s last phrase. Alison noted the other newcomer, Mr. Delany, nod and waive his battered briefcase at Sylvia, before she watched in amazement as Roman stepped over to shake Sabbah’s hand. The showbiz king continued to effusively spout off, with, “Hey there, Walid! I told you I’d get back to you after I got the American Embassy to grudgingly agree to stay silent on the original project. We’re not even going ask the State Department guys about the two new ones we mulled over. You heard the Prime Minister gave the go ahead? Everyone’s going to be happy…well most everyone…if everything goes like I expect it will.”

Then Roman turned to shake the magistrate officer’s hand as he declared, “You must be Colonel Sekmet! Roman Nekoboh! Hollywood legendary leading man, if I do say so myself, and producer/director extraordinaire, and I say so myself about that too. I’ve heard nothing but good things about you, Colonel! Did Walid explain that I’ll be putting together the pay-for-view if your guys in the field are successful? I’m afraid you’re going to have to let me play the role of facilitator for what’s going on here today, too. My friends represent big bucks, so we don’t want to fuck anything up, do we?”

As the Colonel shot a questioning look at a speechless undersecretary, Roman marched right along with, “First things first! Samuel, why don’t you begin passing out these people’s special visas?”

“But they haven’t been properly stamped…,” the pudgy man who had been leering at the feminine front row of seats began to reply.

“Doesn’t matter! We can find a damned stamp if we need one. It’s intent that matters.”

“But we haven’t seen the certificates…,” the American Embassy ‘public-servant’ began to protest.

“Right!” Roman cut Delany off with a chortle. “Hey you musicians…just the guys in the back rows…how many of you have been circumcised? Don’t anyone fib, because you’re likely to have your cocks out in the open where they can be readily inspected not too many minutes from now.”

About three fourths of the guys raised their hands, leaving just a few guys with their hands down looking bewildered as they sat behind a line of five terrified women. Roman turned to Undersecretary Sabbah and asked, “Do you even care that those three are uncut, Walid? Enough to raise a fuss?”

“Other than for political correctness, no,” the undersecretary admitted with confusion on his face. “However, for the women, I must see….”

“Not now, Walid!” Roman spat back looking very self-satisfied. “That’s a bunch of paperwork you don’t have to look at, so we’ve saved valuable time. Additionally, those three guys didn’t lie to a government official or attempt to conceal their uncut status…lying and attempting to conceal being just as serious…perhaps more serious…crimes than lack of circumcision here on Genosha. Probably no risk of deportation, let alone service in a house of pleasure or permanent enslavement in these boy’s futures. Or castration if the government gets downright nasty! To keep these boys from jumping right back into taking those ugly risks, you’re going to agree to not ask them about what they know about the girls, aren’t you, Walid?”

“WHAT!” the undersecretary exclaimed with an angry look on his face. “I can’t agree to that. I may need to use threats to the men as leverage….”

“Let’s do it my way for now, old friend,” Nekoboh urged softly. “If you don’t like the way things pan out, you can always break that agreement. Wouldn’t be the first time someone’s changed their mind on me. If you do change your mind, then whatever happens to the boys won’t be on MY conscious. I won’t have put my countrymen in jeopardy!”

“Very well,” Sabbah grudgingly agreed, “let’s deal with my main concern. Let the manager come….”

“Not now, Walid, my friend,” Roman cut the undersecretary off yet again. “Colonel Sekmet, I can save some more time, and get us done here in time to catch dinner…or possibly make it to a pop/rock concert…if you’ll give me five minutes at most alone with the girls. I need to make sure they heard my pitch against concealment or knowingly giving false information. This is especially relevant when there may be someone involved who has already disclosed the secret you wish to conceal. If all the males but me can leave the room….”

Alison’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as, while he spoke, she watched Roman stare intently at her, locking eyes with her and giving a barely perceptible nod, before staring at Sylvia and then at Samuel Delany. Sylvia saw the stares and, evidently, the nod, and immediately began to raise her hand while eyeing Colonel Sekmet.

Fortunately, the magistrate officer was too angry with Roman’s roughshod tactics to notice the older woman trying to flag his attention, as he hissed, “Enough of this nonsense, Mr. Nekoboh! I will not have these official proceedings interrupted, nor will I allow foreigners to strategize on how best to get away with breaking Genoshan laws. Mr. Delany, you, and Mr. Nekoboh, if you insist he has a role to play in this hearing, will now sit down on one of the folding chairs behind me. You may face them this way, but keep the chairs where they are! Undersecretary Sabbah, you will proceed with examining Miss Jensen’s paperwork now. I have my own responsibilities that await the completion of your duties. PROCEED!”

Alison fought to break through the fearful panic and grim foreboding flooding through her mind. Was Roman, with his stares and nod attempting to warn her that she was about to be betrayed and exposed to the Genoshans as a mutant by Sylvia and/or Delany, the American Embassy official? Based on the older woman’s reaction to Roman’s stares, it certainly seemed plausible that Twift’s manager was in the process of doing so, presumably to try to save herself from being forced to conform to Genosha’s laws governing the condition of female genitalia. Supporting the plausibility of this hypothesis was the fact that the woman hadn’t seemed nearly so fearful as the rest of the girls during the initial detainment of the musicians, but became agitated only when it looked like the processing of the girls was going to begin before the arrival of the embassy official, who would presumably be brokering any deal made to get Sylvia a waiver in exchange for fingering a mutant in their midst.

On the other hand, Roman, though Alison’s friend and confident, was a childishly self-serving bastard when it came to opportunities for financial gain or the promotion of his image as a Hollywood mover and shaker. Could he be trying to trick Alison into outing herself as a mutant so that he could benefit in some way? Could Dazzler’s capture and forced recruitment into Genosha’s mutant work or military force be the pay-for-view documentary which Roman claimed was the purpose for his presence? Alison didn’t doubt that the American Embassy, on behalf of the State Department, would agree to turn a blind eye to a mutant who hadn’t signed the Mutant Registration Act being kidnapped on foreign soil. The State Department would likely have concluded, as Alison had from the minute the bus had pulled into the fenced-off compound, that fight and flight wasn’t a prudent option, even with the training Dazzler had received from the X-Men.

Was the critical question, who’s on whose side? Or was the principle issue, how to mitigate the punishment that might be meted out when her possession of the X-gene was discovered? Additionally, there was the secondary issue for Alison, which also entangled the other girls, of how to inform the Genoshan government that there were uncircumcised women in their midst without being severely punished for the unintended offense? Alison thought it safe to conclude that Roman’s lecture about concealment and providing false information being a serious offense in the eyes of the Genoshan government was meant to cover both of the circumstances that endangered Alison and her colleagues.

Fortunately, Alison had managed to run the situation and her options through her mind while Delany was still arguing about getting one of the folding chairs next to the second table. Colonel Sekmet had been seething as he stared back with disbelief at the reprehensible comic act the two American men were putting on. The magistrate officer still hadn’t noticed the waves for attention Sylvia continued to make with one hand as she raised her other hand like a student waiting to be recognized by the school teacher. In the end, it didn’t matter which side either Sylvia or Roman was on. What mattered was damage control!

“Excuse me, Colonel Sekmet,” Alison called out as she slowly stood and raised both arms high over her head, hands open with palms forward, “I think Mr. Nekoboh’s suggestion that we Americans might want to avoid any appearance of trying to conceal or knowingly giving false information about matters of potential importance to the Genoshan government was good advice. May I disclose some pertinent information about myself…on the record…while assuring you that any infractions of Genosha’s laws are entirely unintentional given that none of us, save possibly our manager, knew we would be landing on Genosha this morning.”

The hairs on the back of Alison’s neck rose as the magistrate officer slowly turned, taking obvious care not to make any sudden moves that could be interpreted as being threatening. The man was behaving like he had a gun to his head!

As Sekmet finally faced her, he calmly replied, “I will bring your forms up on my computer, Miss Blaire, and then hit a key to begin recording audio. I can do this without your panicking and causing something unfortunate to happen, no?”

“Absolutely no one is in any danger of any kind from me, Colonel,” Alison assured the magistrate officer in a cracking voice as she struggled to remain absolutely motionless. “Go ahead and do what you need to do. Then I’ll make my statement.”

“Very well, Miss Blaire,” the colonel replied before calling out more loudly. “Everyone maintain your positions and your previous state of readiness. I will brook no accidents!” Sekmet then made a few key strokes on his computer, before hitting one final key and tersely stating, “You may give your statement now, Miss Blaire.”

“My name is Alison Blaire. I am an American citizen. I am a mutant that some call a superheroine. I do fight crime in America under the nom de guerre, Dazzler. My power is to emit light in various forms. I am an uncircumcised woman. I am currently working as a singer and keyboard player for the band that is the supporting act for the Saylor Twift world tour. We arrived in Genosha this morning and are scheduled to perform at the Hammer Bay soccer/football arena this evening. When our plane arrived this morning, I did not know we had landed on Genosha, nor did I know that Genosha was on our itinerary. With my unintended presence here as a mutant, I present no danger to the Genoshan government or any of its citizens. I mean no disrespect to Genoshan laws or customs through my presence here as an uncircumcised woman. I humbly apologize for any inconvenience my presence has caused the Genoshan government. At this point, I would normally petition to be allowed to finish my business in Genosha, with expectation that I would be allowed to leave immediately thereafter, but that should probably come from either the headliner or her manager. Perhaps another of the girls…?”

“Let the record show that Miss Alison Blaire has revealed herself to be both a mutant and an uncircumcised female,” Colonel Sekmet announced calmly and tersely. “Would anyone here be able to confirm that Miss Blaire carries the X-gene?”

As the magistrate officer appeared to be about to recognize Sylvia, who continued to wave her hand, Roman called out, “I can confirm Miss Blaire’s statement, Colonel Sekmet.”

Sekmet turned and glared at the middle-aged thespian before snarling, “You are not recognized, Mr. Nekoboh, as you are neither a potential accomplice nor an expert. Anyone el….”

“I can confirm that Miss Blaire is indeed the mutant superheroine known as Dazzler, Colonel Sekmet,” was proclaimed from the far side of the curtains behind the magistrate officer. The slit in the center of the curtains was briefly parted and then quickly pulled closed as a diminutive 35-year-old blonde with a lovely face, sparkling green eyes, and shoulder length hair stepped down to stand immediately in front of the second table. The blonde, whose B-cups looked large on her small body, was wearing a very sexy nurse’s outfit consisting of a skimpy white short-sleeve micro-skirted dress with a red collar and midriff; red brassiere, hot pants, and high heels; white knee-high stockings; and a red and white nurse’s cap. The cap and the dress’s midriff had medical cross symbols on them.

“For the record, my name is Dr. Carla Cummings, body modification technician for Sunni Circumcision Services,” the blonde announced and then smiled as the three female performers from the headliner band gasped in apprehension. “My job at SCS includes, but isn’t limited to, my performing involuntary body modifications on members of the superhero and superheroine community. Therefore, my job requires I know who’s who and the pertinent background information for this category of potential clients, even if I’ve not yet met the costumed vigilante, which is the case for Miss Blaire. I’m confident Dazzler isn’t going to start any trouble, Colonel Sekmet, now that she’s said she wants to cooperate, so please get your snipers the hell out of my supposedly sterile treatment booth.” Finished with her statement, the sexy clinician stepped back through the slit in the curtains and pulled the slit closed.

“This is outrageous!” Sekmet spat out angrily as the SCS technician disappeared. “Does everyone think their judgment better than mine? Never mind! Sniper detail, DISMISSED! You may sit, Miss Blaire, but keep your hands on your lap, palms down,” the magistrate officer directed as two uniformed officers carrying rifles, one from each outer edge of the curtains, stepped down from the platform edges and hurried out of the room. Obviously, Alison’s identity as Dazzler had been known the entire time.

As the lightingale sat, the discomposure she was feeling obvious on her face, Colonel Sekmet addressed the other girls with, “As Miss Blaire began to suggest, you other ladies may wish to follow her example and possibly avoid additional charges by making statements of guilt at this time. Normally I would continue to expect the lead artist’s manager, who is also acting as tour manager in this case, to step forward first, but perhaps you would wish to be the one setting an example for your supporting musicians, Miss Twift?”

Caitlin and Liz, noting that Sylvia seemed to be only a bit irritated and disappointed with the turn of events, while Saylor seemed to be composed but appropriately frightened, nodded vigorously at their lead singer. Saylor shrugged her shoulders while replying, “Very well, Colonel Sekmet.”

“Neither confirm nor deny who knew what about whom when, Saylor,” Roman interjected from his folding chair behind the magistrate officer. “You ladies want to avoid jeopardy related to secondary crimes. Those issues come under the Undersecretary’s purview.” Nekoboh merely grinned as the Colonel glared at him.

“Do you concur with Mr. Nekoboh’s advice, Mr. Delany?” Saylor asked softly in a shivering voice. “As a representative from the American Embassy, I can count on your advice to keep American citizens like me and my colleagues protected, right?”

As Saylor watched Roman cringe and shake his head, Delany, looking irritated and impatient, merely shrugged and said, “Just use your best judgment, Miss Twift. I’m sure Walid is going to do what is expected of him. Then you and I will get a chance to…talk…in a more suitable setting, and I’ll make my own…priorities…perfectly clear.”

Saylor bit her lip, frowned, and then slowly declared, “For the record, my name is Saylor Twift, singer, songwriter, and front person for the band informally named ‘The Agents’, which is currently on a worldwide concert tour. The people in the seats beside me and behind me are the performers on the Saylor Twift world tour, plus my business manager, Miss Sylvia Jensen, who is also acting as logistics manager for the Saylor Twift world tour. We are all American citizens. We all arrived in Genosha this morning in my private plane. When our plane arrived this morning, no one save Sylvia knew we had landed on Genosha. I may have seen Hammer Bay, Genosha, on our list of proposed concert venues, but did not know when we would do the concert here or that there were any special…considerations…to be aware of…at least not until I saw a sign at the airport.”

“Okay, here’s the twitchy part,” Taylor admitted as she struggled to maintain her composure. “I am an uncircumcised woman. That’s not something I’ve ever said out loud or discussed in any way with anyone before. I consider it to be a private matter. I just want to entertain, and intend no disrespect to Genosha or the Genoshan people because of my being an uncircumcised woman. If we can agree to a don’t ask, don’t tell approach, I’m hoping we can get on to performing at our sold-out concert to be held tonight in downtown Hammer Bay. Then we’ll fly out of Genosha immediately after the show with no harm done to anyone’s feelings. You go next, Caitlin, then Liz. Sylvia, you close and get us out of this mess or you’re fired!”

Caitlin and Liz, the latter stuttering badly, simply gave their name, nationality, and their role in the band, before each admitting they were uncircumcised. Each declared they didn’t know where they were when the airplane landed, or anything about Genosha and its customs until they saw the airport sign. Caitlin said she didn’t think the condition of her own vulva was anyone else's concern, and that she didn’t think it was her business to comment one way or another on the condition of anyone else's vulva. Liz just meekly said she was sorry, and meant no disrespect.

Sylvia’s statement was unusual, in terms of wording, as well as troubling, in terms of content. Twift’s business manager declared, “This vessel is Sylvia Jensen, a long-time personal assistant and business manager for successful music stars. A few months ago, I used this vessel’s history and reputation to become the representative of Saylor Twift, convinced her to agree to a new world tour to perform music from both new and old albums, and took the responsibility of scheduling venues for the tour. During tour planning, discussions with American Embassy official Samuel Delany led to my becoming aware that holding a concert in Genosha could be profitable due to an arrangement Delany already had with the Genoshan Bureau for Women’s Affairs. Through Mr. Delany, I also became aware of Genosha’s tactics for acquiring mutant resources. I fired the original opening act and arranged for Dazzler to be offered the supporting band position, using Roman Nekoboh, who knew this vessel before I acquired it and who was also known to be a mentor to Dazzler.”

“Keep calm, Miss Blaire,” Colonel Sekmet growled in a voice that carried obvious threat, “or I’ll need to have a meta-human power inhibitor collar brought in. The rest of you Americans will remain both quiet and still as well. Explain why you have done as you have, Miss Jensen. I find your demeanor most strange!”

“I told you,” Sylvia proclaimed with a chuckle, “I discovered Delany had an arrangement with the government muck-a-mucks here in Genosha that could be very profitable if I could trick someone as beautiful, adored, and famous as Saylor Twift into coming here. This vessel is uncircumcised, and, as I dislike pain, I hoped to keep it that way. I hate Dazzler and her friends the X-Men, so I was most pleased to lure her here as well, intending to turn her in to you as a mutant, and get a temporary circumcision waiver for this vessel. Surely you saw me trying to get your attention? In any event, Mr. Delany can verify my intentions.”

“Mr. Delany is a foreign observer and may not be used as a witness…at least at this time,” Sekmet declared tersely. “Please continue.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Nekoboh requested a list of venues for the world tour just as we were leaving for the first stop on the tour, and I forgot to delete Genosha from the list I emailed him,” Sylvia explained with a sigh. “I don’t for one moment believe Nekoboh is here on a pre-arranged meeting regarding some pay-for-view production. He’s here to rescue his favorite mutant songstress!”

“I can verify, as can the Prime Minister, that Mr. Nekoboh is here for a business meeting that was scheduled several days before you say you sent him your list of venues, Miss Jensen,” interjected Undersecretary Sabbah with a hearty chuckle. “I believe that Mr. Delany can also verify that he and Samuel made plans for some…nights on the town...several days before you sent him the concert itinerary. Colonel Sekmet, I can also verify that the Prime Minister expects us to listen to Mr. Nekoboh’s suggestions for resolving the matters before us with the greatest economic advantage to Genosha without creating a public and international relations disaster. Perhaps you can conclude….”

“Do you have anything more to say, Miss Jensen?” Colonel Sekmet tersely asked, obviously frustrated at having his proceedings interfered with.

“Just that I want it noted for the record that I was in the process of turning Dazzler in to you for being a mutant,” Sylvia replied with a chuckle as she flashed a mean grin at Alison. “AND that I expect Delany to keep his bargain and send me my share of the bounty we’ve earned for giving you Twift’s twat to work on.”

“Very well, Miss Jensen,” the magistrate officer said in a dismissive tone, before continuing slowly and clearly with. “This is Colonel Sekmet summarizing the findings of this hearing. As a result of the testimony recorded immediately prior to this summary, we have discovered five women guilty of the crimes of being uncircumcised…despite having been in Genosha for many hours after learning the requirement that all post-pubescent females in Genosha, including foreign visitors, must be circumcised…and despite learning from government signage that local medical facilities were available to help them meet the requirement. Undersecretary Sabbah will now decide what punishments, beyond immediate forced circumcision, will be meted out to the female criminals. One of the five women has also been discovered to be a mutant. When Undersecretary Sabbah is done overseeing the mutant’s punishments for her failure to have herself circumcised, I will decide on how best to use her mutant abilities for the benefit of Genosha. I have been informed that an American, Roman Nekoboh, has been given advisory privileges with the respect to these women, including the mutant. I will verify this with the Prime Minister immediately. Record closed.”

The latter part of the colonel’s statement had been recorded over the gasps of fear and disappointment coming from both the men and women of the Saylor Twift world tour. As the magistrate officer tapped his keyboard to change documents, and Roman Nekoboh tapped on his smart phone to call someone, Saylor jumped to her feet and shrilled, “You can’t do this, Colonel Sekmet! We didn’t know! Delany tell him the American government won’t stand for its citizens being treated this way! Roman, please do something!”

“Quiet, everyone!” Roman barked out over the sudden hubbub, including Delany laughing loudly on his chair. “I’ve got the Prime Minister on the phone! Yes, Prime Minister, it’s me! Sorry, we’re ahead of schedule. Things stand as I predicted they would, and I can work things out as we discussed if I get full cooperation. If I don’t get full cooperation, loss of tourist revenue alone will outweigh what little additional profit is made from…. Right! What I need you to do is tell Colonel Sekmet…. That’s right. No, I don’t think you need to talk to the undersecretary too. I think he…. Right!”

Roman pulled the phone from his ear and pushed it towards Colonel Sekmet, while announcing, “It’s for you, Colonel, so you won’t have to waste your time verifying what Walid told you. You might not get the full scoop in one try from the Prime Minister, so keep that in mind once you’ve given me my phone back.” Sekmet took the phone and walked to stand in the room’s doorway so that his conversation might not be overheard.

Then, Roman grinned at the shivering, wide-eyed, and pallid girls in the front row of the Americans, and declared, “As you can see, Saylor, I am doing something. I can’t promise to fix everything, but I think I can keep the worst from happening if you girls continue to cooperate. I gotta warn you, though! If you girls act up, the guys, probably including me, are going to end up being castrated while you watch as the Genoshans decide we’re all in on some kind of plot. And for God’s sake, Alison, don’t start making a light show! Undersecretary Sabbah, while Colonel Sekmet is getting the skinny from the big guy, you might as well start processing the girls.”

“Very well, Roman,” Undersecretary Walid Sabbah chortled back with a wicked grin on his face. “Ladies, as you have all admitted to being uncircumcised, your guilt has already been established. You will now all strip completely. When fully nude, you will bring me your passport, one at a time, so that I may pronounce sentences. You will, of course, all be circumcised…Dr. Cummings, you may open the curtains now and prepare for your first client. However, I must also decide which of you female criminals will merely serve a few weeks in one of Genosha’s famous houses of pleasure, and which of you must face permanent enslavement. You, Miss Blaire, must additionally await Colonel Sekmet’s decision regarding mutant issues. Quickly, ladies, strip! You are wasting time!”

“Chop, chop, girls!” Roman urged with concern apparent on his face as the women in the room seemed hesitant to begin disrobing. “I’ll do what I can about the penalties Undersecretary Sabbah must consider as appropriate punishment, but I can’t spare your modesty. As the colonel was going to have you go first anyhow, Sylvia…and because you have some mitigating factors in your favor…you can bring your passport up first. How long before you’re going to be ready for your first customer, Carla, baby?”

Chapter 4. The Sinners Sentenced

“If and when Undersecretary Sabbah decides to put me to work, Mr. Nekoboh,” the diminutive blonde in the sexy nurse’s outfit proclaimed in a calm professional tone as she pushed one side of the curtains towards the side wall nearest the door to the small auditorium open, “I’ll happily treat whomever I’m told to work on. The paperwork just came through extending SCS’s contract to cover today’s hearing, with stipulations for potential additional work on either clients not present at this time or as part of delayed penalties associated with today’s hearing. In other words, I’m good to go!”

“That is most excellent, Dr. Cummings,” the Genoshan undersecretary answered in Roman’s stead as he watched the severe body modification technician begin to push the other half of the curtains towards the other side wall. “Then we will resume the penalty phase of this hearing now that the American lawbreakers have disrobed. We will begin with Miss Jensen, but I expect all of you women to follow the same instructions I give Miss Jensen exactly as I instruct.”

“Miss Jensen, you will leave your clothing, including your shoes, on your seat and step forward with only your passport in hand,” the Genoshan responsible for women’s affairs in his country stated tersely. “You will stand directly before me with your feet spread well apart and your hands behind the small of your back, so that I may verify your claim to be uncircumcised. Errors in interpreting your testimony must be avoided. While I am doing this inspection, you will not protest or I will make the punishment I sentence you to more severe. When I have finished my inspection, I will discuss your possible punishments, before stating my intended ruling. You, with advice from Mr. Nekoboh, may then explain any mitigating factors in your favor before I announce my ruling. There will then be no delay in the beginning of your punishment once I have ruled.”

While the undersecretary gave his instructions, the five American women had gone from blushing and shivering while they stood naked before their seats and in front of the men in the room, including their male fellow performers, to gasping and covering their faces as tears streamed down Liz’s face and welled in Caitlin and Saylor’s eyes. Terror filled most of the girls’ faces, and even Alison looked seriously shaken. Sabbah turned to note the reason for the American women’s discomposure on the now unveiled stage.

Centered on the right side of the low stage, as viewed from the theater-like seats, was a restraint table, which looked very much like a gynecological examination chair, facing the theater-like seating. The table consisted of a central, rectangular module with a leather-covered seat/buttocks pad atop it. Two pair of three-boned ‘limbs’ extended horizontally outward from the outer ends of the rectangular module —one pair toward the back of the platform and one pair toward the front—and each pair was already spread to form V’s so that the chair’s occupant would be in a spread-eagled position. Each bone consisted of overlapping constructions, so that they could be lengthened or shortened, and the joints between each of the bones could be rotated outward or inward or upward or downward. The ends of each ‘limb’ contained circular control modules with a push-button control pad on the rear upper surface, and U-bolts meant to be secured to the cuffs the table’s occupant would be wearing on the forward upper surface. The table itself was supported by a two boned post rising from a circular stand. Joints between these stand bones allowed the table to be rotated or tilted as needed.

Just door-ward of the door-ward rear table ‘limb’ stood a waist-high instrument tray stand, which was tilted about fifteen degrees towards the front of the room. The table had numerous wicked looking implements on it, including scalpels, surgical scissors, syringes, a bottle of liquid, various types of tweezers and clamps, suture needles already threaded with short lengths of surgical thread, several varieties of small vibrators, a tube-like device with a transparent barrel, and a strange oval object. On the floor below the stand were wrist and ankle cuffs with brackets designed to fit the restraint table’s U-bolts. To the left of the stand, centered on the left side of the stage, was a rectangular plastic tarpaulin covering the stage floor; the sheet of plastic was probably large enough to wrap around a human body centered atop it.

Along with the stage lights, most of which were spotlighting the restraint table seat, there were three cameras above the edge of the low stage; the cameras, hanging from metal rods/conduits that ended in motorized gyro-gimbals to control camera rotation and attitude, presently all pointed towards the restraint table seat pad. The treatment booth was an operating theater! The looks on the fidgeting American girls’ faces made it obvious that they knew it.

“Miss Jensen, step forward and stand before me as instructed immediately, or your sentence will be harsh!”

“One moment, Undersecretary Sabbah,” Colonel Sekmet interrupted from the doorway to the room, where he had been whispering on Roman’s phone, presumably still with the Prime Minister. “Firstly, I have been informed by the Prime Minister that the Saylor Twift world tour concert at the stadium has been canceled, so our time here is not constrained. The public has been told that there were aircraft engine problems. Secondly, I have personnel who are to be allowed to watch the proceedings from this point. Send them in, Major!”

As Sekmet stepped toward the center of the room, and ten male magistrate soldiers and one of the two Novarian sect women began filling the back rows of the theater-seat like chairs, the colonel added, “As you Americans can see, these soldiers are armed. They will enforce Undersecretary Sabbah’s instructions with lethal force if necessary. Miss Blaire, as you might have noticed, the Novarian sect agent who just took the seat immediately behind you is carrying a neural meta-human power inhibitor collar. Do you wish to wear it…to avoid any temptation you might have to use your mutant abilities to avoid the discomfort you now have reason to believe you might soon face?”

“I’d rather not…but I’ll wear it…if you wish me to…Colonel,” Alison haltingly replied as she stared again at the contents of the low stage. “I admit…that I am very…concerned. However…I can take my…medicine…just as well as the next girl. I’m not going to cause any trouble…that could get my friends…killed.”

“I’m going to butt in and suggest you take Miss Blaire at her word, Colonel,” Roman Nekoboh interjected as he sat on one of the folding chairs next to the second table, now revealed to be the control station for the stage lighting and cameras. “Miss Blaire’s showing restraint in not using her mutant powers to interfere with these lawful proceedings is going to be part of my argument for mitigating the punishments she might receive for her crimes against Genosha. I trust you understand that my success in making my argument on Miss Blaire’s behalf will, I believe, be critical to achieving the Prime Minister’s goals as he explained them to you, Colonel?”

“Yes, perhaps,” Sekmet acknowledged with a frown on his face as he returned Nekoboh’s smart phone. As he sat back down at his place at the first table, he grumbled, “I suppose I shouldn’t expect to have routine procedure followed, as I am merely the commander of this installation. But I will follow my orders, even if I am not confident they will bring the intended results. Men, none of these Americans, including the mutant, are to be harmed unless there is a lethal threat to me or Ambassador Sabbah…or unless I personally command otherwise. The mutant will be allowed to pay for her crimes, at least the initial penalties, un-collared. Step forward, as you’ve been instructed, Miss Jensen!”

Sylvia, now dressed in her birthday suit, save for the cameo-like choker around her neck, stepped quickly forward from where she had been standing in front of the chair with her clothing on it. The middle-aged, graying, dishwater blonde’s fancy updo bounced as she nodded to Sabbah with a crooked grin on her face and laughter in her green eyes. The manager quickly placed her hands behind her back and spread her feet shoulder-length apart, as she snapped, “Sylvia Jensen is presented so that I can arrange to receive the reward due me for placing Twift’s twat on the castratrix’s treatment table, and for tricking the mutant superheroine Dazzler into becoming a Genoshan asset, Mr. Undersecretary!”

“Now is not the time to discuss mitigating factors with respect to your crimes, Miss Jensen,” Walid Sabbah replied tersely as he sat on his folding chair and watched the bony woman’s strange behavior. As Sabbah glanced from the manager’s face—no doubt a ‘cute’ face in her youth if not pretty—down her body, which looked like it had been kept trim and in good condition until perhaps the last few months, he shook his head. The woman’s swooping B-cup breasts sagged slightly, and her dark brown pubic hair was thick and untrimmed.

The undersecretary shrugged as he growled, “You were ordered to strip, Miss Jensen. That order included any accessories you girls were wearing. Take the choker off and toss it onto your clothing pile, immediately!” The government official nodded at the dull white cameo Sylvia wore at the front of her neck that looked like an abstract representation of a face.

“If I do that, Mr. Undersecretary,” the middle-aged manager replied almost jovially, “someone else will end up wearing this cameo while you’re stuck with explaining to Sylvia where she is and what you’re considering doing to her. My being left with difficulties in getting myself back to the States might almost be worth watching Jensen freak out. She enjoys diddling herself even more than I do! Don’t you think it would be better if we avoid THAT drama? Just thank me for my services to Genosha and grant me a pass on getting this vessel’s pussy clipped by your castratrix. Then, so long as Delany sends me my share of the bounty for Twift’s fleshy pearl, Genosha will never see me again!”

“For the record, Miss Jensen,” Sabbah barked back, losing patience with the strange woman before him, “no post-pubescent female on Genosha has ever been granted a circumcision waiver. You’ll not be the first! Keep the choker if you must, put know that you’ll pay for your disobedience. Now shut up while I make my inspections!”

Sylvia grinned like a mad woman as the swarthy Semetic undersecretary stood and lifted her breasts, one at a time, in the palms of his hands. Then the government department administrator knelt and pressed the manager’s vulva open with the fingers of his left hand. Although he could see the swollen clitoral glans at the forward apex of the vulva, Sabbah made a point of inserting his right hand’s index and middle fingers into the woman’s vagina, earning a low groan from Jensen. Walid grinned up into Sylvia’s green eyes, before withdrawing the offending fingers and gently circling the rim of Sylvia’s swollen clitoris with the tip of his right middle finger as he continued to hold her vulva open. Most of the men in the room chuckled as the middle-aged manager issued a long low moan that told of her humiliation, trepidation, and, amazingly, sexual need.

“You are indeed an uncircumcised woman, Miss Jensen,” Sabbah declared as he continued to stimulate the womanhood before him with his gently circling finger. “That careless oversight on your part will now be rectified!” As the undersecretary pulled his hand back and retook his seat on the folding chair behind him, he declared, “I am now prepared to list the possible punishments Miss Jensen faces for her crime of coming to Genosha as an uncircumcised woman and making no effort to rectify her illegal condition, even after reading of the availability of circumcision specialists on signage at the Airport exit, in her hotel lobby, and at the American Embassy. Secondary crimes will not be listed separately, but will help determine the number of or severity of punishments. Can you record the salient details, Colonel Sekmet?”

“Yes, of course, Mr. Undersecretary,” the magistrate officer replied in a calm professional voice as he began pressing keys on his laptop. Then he tersely stated, “This is Colonel Sekmet. What follows is a recording of the penalty phase of this hearing with Undersecretary of State for Women’s Affairs, Walid Sabbah, presiding.”

“If I might be so bold as to suggest a procedural change to help move this hearing along, gentlemen?” Roman Nekoboh interjected with a chuckle. “As the penalties these women face for being uncircumcised and not doing anything to rectify that…illegal condition…are likely identical, I suggest Undersecretary Sabbah list all the potential penalties now. Dr. Cummings and I will pipe up as necessary to make sure all opportunities for Genosha to benefit from this unfortunate set of circumstances are considered as each girl is inspected. Then I’ll help each girl make her case for mitigating circumstances in an effort to minimize each girl’s punishments. Colonel Sekmet, we’ll have Miss Blaire go last and deal with mutant issues then. What do you think, Walid?”

“Hmmm…perhaps your suggestion has merit, Roman. Very well! Ladies, come forward and line up behind Miss Jensen. Quickly now! Colonel Sekmet’s time is most valuable.”

“It’s all right girls!” Nekoboh called out as panic filled the faces of the four girls standing before their clothing covered seats. “Stalling is just going to prolong a stressful situation without avoiding any of the discomfort you girls might be facing. Liz, you step in behind Sylvia so we can get your case settled before you have a heart attack. Then you Caitlin! If it wasn’t for the X-gene issue, I’d have you go next Alison, but you’ll have to be last. That makes you after Caitlin, Saylor, and I’ve got to warn you, arguing for mitigating circumstances in your case is likely to be pretty touch-and-go, given your added culpability as the front person and decision maker for the Saylor Twift world tour. Don’t worry TOO much though, baby! I’ve got a plan to keep you out of slave chains!”

Allison quickly grabbed Saylor by her shoulders as the idol of millions went ghostly white and her knees began to buckle. “Easy, Saylor,” the mutant lightingale softly urged, “you need to buck up. Everyone’s counting on you to set an example of how we should all act. If it helps, I think they’re mostly bluffing…except about the circumcisions. There would be too much outrage worldwide if you’re no longer allowed to record or perform.”

“It would indeed be helpful if you could maintain your composure and decorum, Miss Twift,” Colonel Sekmet interjected as Alison steered Saylor to her designated position behind Caitlin. “I again give my personal regrets for the situation we find ourselves in. However, this situation is no longer avoidable. Genosha’s punishments of lawbreakers like you girls are swift, but fair, so there will be no consideration of outrage. I suggest you cooperate to the fullest extent possible so that you can get back to your lives as soon as possible. Please address the list of potential punishments, Undersecretary Sabbah.”

“Yes, of course, Colonel Sekmet,” Walid Sabbah replied from his seat before the lineup of nude women. “The first order of business will be to see to it that all of these girls are properly circumcised. This is, of course, not a punishment, but the correction of an oversight these girls or their parents are responsible for.”

“Now, Walid, you can’t rule that these girls committed a crime JUST by not being circumcised,” Roman interjected with a calculating look on his face. “These are Americans, and there is no requirement for girls to be circumcised in the U.S….at least not yet. However, despite the girls’ claims that they didn’t know they were coming to Genosha, I think all five of them will admit that they read the sign at the airport and from that point knew that they were breaking Genosha’s laws against being uncircumcised. Therefore, we concur that the first order of business is to get these five girls circumcised and in compliance with Genoshan law….

“Hang on a minute, Mr. Nekoboh,” Caitlin interjected stridently. “I’m not about to surrender a crucial body part without an argument. I suggest that…if Genosha doesn’t want to hear our music the way we are…that you just deport us and be done with….”

“I’m afraid that can’t be an option, Caitlin,” Roman cut back in as he waved his right hand, palm open, downward in a ‘calm down’ signal. “You have to see things from the Genoshan government’s point of view. If they start giving even temporary waivers to foreigners, influential locals might begin demanding circumcision waivers for their daughters. Or people breaking other laws might want government officials to overlook their crimes. Either way, that would lead to anarchy. No, you girls broke the law here in Genosha and made no attempt to correct the situation by either visiting a local circumcision specialist…or by leaving the country in your own PRIVATE airplane. Undersecretary Sabbah is correct! The first order of business is bringing you all into compliance with Genoshan law before suffering any punishments for breaking that law. Before we consider those potential punishments, perhaps you’d like to explain about your consent forms, Dr. Cummings?”

“Yes of course, Roman,” Carla Cummings replied softly from her position next to the treatment station on the low stage. She quickly picked up a clipboard and made her way off the stage to stand behind Undersecretary Sabbah, before continuing with, “As soon as the Undersecretary and Mr. Nekoboh have finished discussing which additional penalties each of you will face, beyond immediate circumcision, I’ll be asked to perform the requisite body modifications on you. Before I do that you will be asked to sign three consent forms. The first consent form gives permission for the alterations to your vulva…in this case a clitoridectomy, also known as declitting and female castration. The declitting method and duration of the procedure will be totally up to me.”

As the five girls either gasped in disbelief or issued low moans of disappointment, Carla added, “Your signatures on the consent forms aren’t needed. What I’ll be doing is proscribed under Genoshan law, so my treatment is legal under international law and, therefore, I have no liability under U.S. law. Having the forms signed just provides a little additional cover for my parent corporation when today’s events become public knowledge.”

“Signing the forms has some benefits to you too, ladies,” Nekoboh interjected with a chuckle. “First, putting your signatures on paper will be seen as an act of contrition by the Genoshan government, and help us make the case that additional punishments are not warranted. Additionally, it will help you girls argue…if you want to…that you weren’t criminals in Genosha because you complied with the circumcision requirements voluntarily at the earliest possible opportunity. While the last part is stretching the truth, you can still make the claim and hold your heads high as law abiders.”

“The second form gives my parent company, Van Dyne Industries,” Carla continued, “permission to use any organ or appendage we remove during any part of your treatment here as the company sees fit…including for profit and with your name associated with it. If you’re wondering, your severed clitorises will be imbedded in glass or hard transparent plastic to preserve them and turned into necklace pendants. This type of jewelry is in high demand due to its relative rarity, and is therefore quite expensive. The second form also gives Van Dyne Industries permission to use the audio/video recordings being made today as the corporation chooses. Normally, the audio-video of the organ’s harvesting is included with the jewelry made from the severed clitoris.”

“Actually, girls, as you undergo treatment,” Roman jumped back in as he chuckled softly, “you should keep in mind a couple of things. First, the audio-video recording of your treatment today is guaranteed to be widely viewed, because I’m here today to turn it into a pay-per-view masterpiece. When I’m done with post-production, I’m hoping I can turn this into a positive event bringing lots of publicity that will help benefit your performing careers. If you embrace your circumcisions and make it obvious that you’re submitting to the treatment voluntarily, you’ll come out of all of this smelling pretty sweet. In that regard, it might help to note something Carla hasn’t yet pointed out. If you girls got the treatment being offered to you today in the states…say from the Scarlet Witch at her ‘Wicked Wanda’s Body Modification Clinic’…you’d have to pay three thousand dollars for it. On the other hand, if you choose to be stinkers about the whole thing, I’ll not be able to make you look good on film. No one likes self-centered poor losers! How you look on film will be your choice. The third form, Carla, baby?”

“This third form,” Carla Cummings replied with a smirk on her face, “gives me permission to remove your breasts in any manner I choose. Via the second form, my parent corporation would use the breast skins collected via the double mastectomy, after being gently tanned, to make clothing accessories…from what I see before me that would be make-up bags or coin purses. Like the clitoris-cored jewelry, the bags or purses would be sold through the ‘Secretly Scarlet’ line of lingerie, clothing accessories, and sex toys on the Van Dyne Industries’ website. Profits from the jewelry and clothing accessories will be split between Van Dyne Industries and the Genoshan Government, except in Miss Twift’s case. You all heard Sylvia testify that she and Mr. Delany will get a cut from the sale of Miss Twift’s residuals.”

“I don’t understand!” Saylor spat back, the color beginning to return to her face. “Why would we need to sign consent forms for mastectomies. Girls aren’t prohibited from having breasts in Genosha, are they? I thought we were in trouble for not being circumcised.”

“You are precisely correct, Miss Twift,” Undersecretary Sabbah replied in Nekoboh’s stead. “However, as you have been found guilty, your very life is in the government’s hands until the crime of not being circumcised has been paid for in full. Depending on mitigating factors and how you cooperate with your hearing officer…in this case, me…the penalties required of you women may vary from girl to girl. Those penalties range from death to deportation, and debreasting is one of the possible intermediate penalties. You are being asked to sign the third form in case I wish to impose the debreasting penalty.”

“Let’s get to the penalties you are considering for these girls, Undersecretary Sabbah,” Roman Nekoboh interjected. “And don’t list execution, as I assure you the U.S. government won’t hear of it…for any of these girls! Sam?”

“Roman’s right, Walid,” Samuel Delany replied without pausing in his leering at the naked girls. “I can’t let you hang any of these girls. If you get really pissed at them, just sentence them to longer periods of servitude in one of your houses of pleasure. I won’t squeak if you make them all serve 20 years without pregnancy protection!” Delany chuckled as all of the girls save Sylvia appeared about to faint.

“Very well, my American friends,” Sabbah replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “The death sentence is not to be considered unless one of the girls causes trouble. The possible penalties include being sold into slavery, which is a lifetime sentence, with Genosha the recipient of the sales price. Incarceration in prison is not being considered, as that would cost the government money. Up to forty years service in the Genoshan houses of pleasure is a potential punishment under consideration. Much revenue, especially from tourists, is brought to Genosha from these facilities. Then there is the possible debreastings, which we have already mentioned….”

“Right, Walid, and could those debreastings take place after being sentenced to one of the Genoshan hucow dairies…not necessarily today?” Roman interjected with a chuckle.

“Yes of course!” Sabbah replied looking very pleased with the suggestion. “I forget how much revenue Genosha gets from the sale of so-called ‘blue’ milk. We can always collect the breast skins when the women run dry of milk too often to make them economically productive cows.”

“Those dairy workers would ruin the skins and you know it, Undersecretary Sabbah!” Dr. Cummings interjected. “And most of these girls don’t have the breasts to be hucows for long. You’d best let me collect any breasts you declare forfeited today!”

“Very well, Dr. Cummings,” Walid replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “I agree that, except possibly the gene-joke, none of the girls are suitable for dairy work. We can discuss the value of harvesting each girl’s breast skins as I sentence them. The final possible sentences are short-term sexual servitude immediately following circumcision, and, lastly, deportation. We will now begin the sentencing. Do you wish to make any suggestions regarding Miss Jensen, Dr. Cummings?”

“Her saggy breasts are a bit past prime, and I don’t think she’s famous enough for clothing accessories made from her breast skins to be valuable based on original owner’s name recognition,” Carla declared before shrugging. “If you want her milk bags forfeited purely for punishment’s sake, I think I’ll use a breast ripper on her and be done with it. Her clitoris, on the other hand, is definitely worth the glass or plastic it will be imbedded in. We can’t keep clitoris-cored necklace pendants in stock. I’ve got her consent forms ready to sign!”

“I’m not signing anything!” Sylvia spat back with obvious rancor. “While I’m not going to be missing any of this vessel’s body parts for long, I told you I don’t like pain. Like I said earlier, just let me go. You wouldn’t have any clits available to clip if I hadn’t have tricked Twift into bringing her and her band mate’s twats to Genosha. I’ve also arranged for Colonel Sekmet to collect the Dazzler’s ass for his corps of mutant warriors. I deserve a pass!”

“I told you before, circumcision waivers are granted to no one on Genosha, Miss Jensen!” Sabbah barked back, obviously a bit peeved at Twift’s personal manager. “Are you foolish enough to argue for mitigating factors in her favor, Roman, or will you be silent while I make her pay harshly for her crimes, given her unfathomable behavior?”

“Now, Walid, while I admit the lady makes less sense than baboon in a monkey cage, we can’t go around throwing the book at people for being just plain stupid,” Nekoboh chortled back at the riled up undersecretary. “If you try to sell her into slavery, you’re going to have to pay someone to take her, and they’re going to feel cheated in the end anyhow. You can tell, just by looking at her, she hasn’t done a day of domestic work in her life. Additionally, not many men are going to pay the pleasure houses to let them fuck her. We’ve already dealt with her breasts, and I’m against making a mess of a girl’s chest just to be spiteful. Finally, from Genosha’s viewpoint, she did arrange for the government to get its hands on more valuable female assets…Saylor Twift and the mutant superheroine, Dazzler. That cooperation must warrant the lightest sentence possible, don’t you agree, Walid?”

“NO!” Sabbah spat back angrily. “The woman has been obstinate. She wouldn’t even remove that cameo choker!”

“Look, Walid,” Roman declared with a shrug of his shoulders, “the woman isn’t worth the time we’re spending on her. I see you’re pissed at her, so let’s use the mistake she’s already made to teach her a lesson for her stubborn refusal to listen to reason. We can also use that lesson to educate the other girls regarding the only choice left for them to make…signing the consent forms that will make Carla’s corporate bosses happy. Dr. Cummings, what’s the most horrid circumcision in your arsenal?”

“You already know the answer to that question, Roman,” Dr. Carla Cummings replied with a wicked grin on her face. “When it comes to getting your sex life exterminated, which is the way western women facing involuntary circumcisions see things, the worst possible declitting comes via the quickest cut that can be accomplished…accomplished without the benefit of a final climax. You’re not left with fond memories of your last moments as an uncut woman…it’s just ouch I’ve been neutered.”

“There you have it, Walid,” Nekoboh announced with a shit-eating grin on his face, “Jensen’s refusing to sign her consent papers, which is what we’ll blame this on rather than her peculiar behavior, so she gets declitted the same way your ancestors’ women did. With a sharp blade and no final orgasm! You can do that can’t you, Carla, baby?”

“As stipulated in SCS’s contract, Roman,” Carla responded with a smirk on her face and a shrug of her shoulders, “I’ll do my work using whatever procedure the undersecretary recommends, even if the proposed procedure can be done by any quack already working in Genosha. Are you going to have me implement this for any other girl not signing my consent forms, Undersecretary Sabbah?”

“Hmmm, I suppose it would be prudent to be consistent,” Sabbah replied with an introspective look on his face. “However, I suggest you women remember Dr. Cummings’ warning about refusing her offer of a final climax. You are responsible for ensuring that your memories of this day are as pleasant as possible, not Genosha! Circumcise Jensen immediately, Dr. Cummings, and then she may wait to discover if any of her colleagues will depart for the airport with her as part of her only other penalty…deportation.”

“This way, Miss Jensen!” Carla commanded after nodding to the undersecretary. “Do everything I tell you to do without hesitation, and you’ll be putting your clothes back on in less than five minutes. If you even hesitate, I’ll have a couple of the soldiers come up and help me secure you. In that event, all sorts of unpleasantness just might happen to you.”

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Doctor!” Sylvia spat back with grim resolve on her face. “I said I didn’t like pain. I didn’t say I couldn’t withstand it. Whatever you have planned for me is better than being pawed by a couple of grunts.”

“Now there’s an opportunity for payback that can’t be overlooked,” Roman Nekoboh proclaimed with an ear-to-ear grin in his face, “wouldn’t you say, Walid? Let’s sentence all of the girls before we have Carla go to work on them! While you’re doing the sentencing, we can let the men inspect Miss Jensen’s privates. Some of these men have probably never seen a clitoris between an adult woman’s legs!”

“An excellent suggestion, Ro…,” Sabbah began before being cut off.

“Who and the hell’s side are you on, Nekoboh?” Sylvia Jensen roared, obviously both angry and flustered.

“Mine, mostly, Miss Jensen,” Roman chortled back. “Let’s just say I’m not happy to find out you used me to get to Alison. However, this also gives me a chance to get the lights, cameras, and microphones set up to record what I’ll need for the pay-per-view we convinced the Prime Minister of Genosha to fund. You there,” Nekoboh added nodding to the second Novarian sect agent sitting in the theater-like seats, “I understand you’re my technician. Come up and take the seat behind the monitors and get things set up for when Carla here finally gets put to work. Colonel…?

“Sergeant Kalmani,” Colonel Sekmet barked out to one of the male soldiers in the audience, “collect the crazy woman and allow the men to inspect her assets at the side of the room near the doorway. You male musicians may participate as you wish. You may force the woman to touch you as well, but, unless Undersecretary Sabbah specifies otherwise, do not fill any of the woman’s orifices. Also, do not allow her to climax. Can the men expect to have the other women to play with as well, Undersecretary?”

“Ummm…it would probably be prudent to be consistent, Colonel,” Walid replied as a grinning sergeant rushed forward to pull Sylvia, mouth agape, toward the back of the room. “Very well, while your manager is enjoying being molested as she waits for Dr. Cummings to treat her step forward…urrrrr…

“Step forward and hand the undersecretary your passport, Liz,” Roman interjected as he tried to make the smile on his face a reassuring one while he nodded at the brunette backing vocalist. Meanwhile, Sylvia began squealing and cussing in the background as more than a dozen men began poking and prodding her in sensitive places. As the undersecretary read the short, dark-brown-eyed girl’s full name, Nekoboh noted that the foxy girl in her late twenties to mid thirties was quivering with trepidation as she stood before the Genoshan official.

“I will now make my inspection to verify that you are indeed uncircumcised,” Sabbah announced and then stood from his chair. The Genoshan official then lifted a slightly drooping B-cup in the palm of each hand while rotating his thumbs around nipples that were already turreted with sexual arousal. Liz moaned softly as the undersecretary kneeled, spread her labia, below a neatly trimmed triangle of dark-brown pubic hair open, and began probing into her vagina. “You are very moist!” Sabbah exclaimed with satisfaction in his voice before pinching the pea-sized button at the forward apex of Liz’s vulva. “And your clitoris is very swollen with excitement…perhaps craving the treatment Dr. Cummings will soon be providing you.”

“NO! No…I don’t want it!” Liz protested in a quivering voice. “We didn’t mean any harm! It’s not fair to punish us for being born the way we are.”

“He is being fair, Liz,” Roman interjected still trying to exude reassurance. “Walid didn’t make the laws. So it is what it is. I’ll do my best to help limit the damage to just the forced circumcision, if you’ll try to remain calm and cooperate. If you’ll sign Dr. Cummings’ consent forms, we can begin to put this all behind you by having the undersecretary get on with your sentencing.”

“NO! No…I’m not going to give permission for my…my…. I’m not!”

“That is a decision you will come to regret, young woman!” Sabbah spat out with obvious frustration. “You will not be sold into slavery, but, barring mitigating circumstances, I am prepared to sentence you to one year’s service without pregnancy protection in a Genoshan house of pleasure beginning immediately after your circumcision. Additionally, I propose to have Dr. Cummings debreast you, assuming she agrees that your breast skins would bring a monetary gain to Genosha. Carla, you may make your assessment, and then I expect Roman will concur that my proposed sentence is fair.”

“Jewelry made with Liz’s clitoris imbedded in it will sell for a lot more money than I’m being paid to work on all of these girls together, Walid,” Carla Cummings chirped back with a sheepish smile on her face. “It’s not my job to worry about the likely political fallout you’re going to get for debresting her, so I’ll just say that her breast skins will likely bring in plenty of revenue given her association with Saylor and the publicity that’s going to be generated when what’s happening today becomes known to the rest of the world.”

“Walid, my friend, it may not be Carla’s responsibility to keep Genosha from becoming embroiled in a shit storm, but it is mine,” Roman declared while chuckling softly as he glanced back from supervising the Novarian sect agent. “You can’t debreast the girl simply for the profit you’re going to make from the purses, or whatever, made from her tits without considering the fallout. You’d be maiming an entertainer whose career depends on looking sexy. You’d be reducing the customers she’s going to attract in the houses of pleasure as well. That said, we accept your sentence so long as two conditions are added….”

“WHAT?” Liz squealed in astonishment and terror. “MR. Nekoboh, I’d rather die than….”

“Nonsense!” Roman spat as he cut off the backing singer’s protest. “What Walid is proposing to require from you isn’t worth committing suicide over, Liz. Now hush up! I’m still doing my best to reduce the penalties for your crimes to the extent possible. Walid, my friend, here are the two conditions I’d like added to your sentence, which, as I said, we accept. First, Liz will be allowed to change her mind and sign the consent forms up to the point where Carla secures her to the restraint chair. The girl’s making a big mistake not taking advantage of the offered final climax she’ll get by signing the forms. The second condition is, both Liz’s debreasting penalty and the whorehouse duties will be waived if Saylor Twift signs all three of the consent forms for Dr. Cummings’ work on HER. Twift’s the one with the lawyers we’d prefer to negotiate with, post-circumcision, from a position of strength.”

“ROMAN NEKOBOH!” Saylor roared in anger. “I AM NOT SIGHNING….”

“HUSH!” Nekoboh commanded loudly. “Trust me, Saylor, baby! You will sign those consent forms. Additionally, it may take a few months, but eventually you are going to see what I’m doing here today as an act of heroism rather than betrayal. Now wait your turn to speak, please.”

“For what it’s worth, Saylor,” Alison whispered from behind the trembling pop diva, “I think Roman is actually trying to help. If Undersecretary Sabbah accepts Roman’s conditions, Liz will get out of this with just the unavoidable circumcision and, apparently, some good natured groping from the soldiers. Do quietly mull it over while Liz and Caitlin get processed.”

“She’ll sign in the end, Walid,” Roman declared as he watched Saylor close her mouth and begin contemplating the situation as Dazzler had suggested, “if only to get the final climax being offered. My conditions are accepted?”

“Yes, although I am not sure I am doing the right thing for Genosha,” Sabbah replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “I expected to only concede the debreasting. New blood in the houses of pleasure is always appreciated, as you and Mr. Delany know better than I. Very well, girl, join your tour manager in entertaining our soldiers while you await your circumcision.”

The undersecretary chuckled as the brunette was dragged by one of the soldiers back into the middle of the gang of soldiers and musicians, most of whom had their pants around their ankles as they pinched and caressed Sylvia while forcing her hands to stroke one male member after another. Soon, a despondent looking Liz was getting her share of the hazing.

“Step forward, redhead, and hand me your passport,” Walid commanded jovially. After reading Caitlin’s full name for the record, Sabbah added the passport to the growing pile on Sekmet’s desk, before instructing, “Part your feet wider. Take care not to complain as I verify your uncircumcised condition, or my sentence will be even harsher than your colleague’s was, and I will not accept conditions to reduce the penalties.”

“Me complain?” Caitlin hissed back as the Genoshan undersecretary mauled the swooping C-cups sported by the slim fiddler in her late twenties, his fingers occasionally pinching the turgid nipples tipping her brownish-pink areolas. “Never! I’ve been pawed before. Didn’t like it then! Don’t like it now!”

“Hush, Caitlin,” Roman interjected as he watched Sabbah frown as he thoughtfully weighed one of the thin, athletic fiddler’s breasts in each hand. “This isn’t a joke! Walid wouldn’t be disappointed if you gave him an excuse to harvest those pretty tits of yours. Just take what’s being dished out and hope for the best.”

“The best!” Caitlin snarled back as the swarthy Semitic government official knelt before her and began probing his fingers into the opening of her sex below the heart-shaped patch of red hair covering her pubic mound. “I like sex, and this pervert plans on making it impossible for me to enjoy it anymore.”

“You are the one responsible for your punishments, young lady,” Walid barked back sounding offended as he moved his fingers to the redhead’s clitoris and began gently circling the blood-engorged pleasure button. “You came to my country and ignored our laws. That you will only climax one final time…or never climax again if you refuse to sign Dr. Cummings’ employer’s consent forms…is your responsibility, not mine. You are sopping wet down here! I see I must end my examination lest I accidentally fulfill your wanton needs. I am ready to pass sentence without further input from either Dr. Cummings or Mr. Nekoboh!”

“NO!” Caitlin protested as the undersecretary abruptly rose to his feet and then sat back down on his chair. “I didn’t mean for you to stop! I’m actually pretty close to….”

“One final climax, and only if you sign the consent forms, slut!” Sabbah hissed as he grinned up at the flustered redhead.

“I’m not signing those forms!” Caitlin declared as she stamped her right foot into the floor. “My dad peruses the available necklaces on the “Secretly Scarlet’ web pages all the time. He’s going to give my mom a clitoris-cored pendant for their anniversary. I don’t want him to find out I’ve been declitted! I don’t want him to find out that my sex life is available to become a family heirloom!”

“What you want no longer matters, now that you have been caught violating Genosha’s laws, Miss,” Sabbah replied with a smirk on his face. “Now, no doubt, your father will pay even more for that anniversary gift, and you will perhaps inherit your own clitoris-cored pendant when your mother passes…and I do mean, your own! Your sentence will be….”

“The same as her friend, Liz, got, Walid, my friend,” Roman Nekoboh interjected in a calm, steady voice. “She gets off with a forced clitoridectomy and deportation…as long as Miss Twift accepts the sentence she receives and signs Dr. Cummings’ consent forms. If Saylor cooperates, the forced debreasting and year of service in a Genoshan house of pleasure will be waived.”

“Five years in a Genoshan house of pleasure…without pregnancy protection!” Sabbah declared defiantly. “And neither the servitude in the brothels nor the debreasting will be waived!”

“Fine, five years, if Saylor doesn’t cooperate, Mr. Undersecretary, and the harvesting of the girl’s breast skins,” Roman replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “However, the penalties beyond forced circumcision and deportation will be waived if the girl’s employer…the culpable entity for all of the violations under discussion…cooperates. Do I need to get the Prime Minister involved…before we’ve even dealt with Twift and Dazzler?”

“That will not be necessary, Roman,” Sabbah grunted in obvious irritation, “for I have a caveat of my own. All of the sentences issued at this time are subject to a satisfactory outcome with respect to all of the subjects of this hearing…I’ll even revisit the men’s cases. If I am not happy…or if your negotiations regarding Dazzler go badly with Colonel Sekmet…I reserve the right to punish all of these Americans to the fullest extent the law allows. For now, I order the redhead to undergo immediate circumcision followed by deportation. She is also sentenced to immediate debreasting and five years servitude in a Genoshan house of pleasure without the benefit of pregnancy protection…with the latter two penalties waived when Miss Twift signs all three consent forms. Sergeant, give the redhead to your men to toy with. Make sure she is kept on the brink of climax, but don’t let her orgasm. She will rue the day she refused to sign the consent forms for the rest of eternity!”

“He’s right about that, Caitlin!” Roman warned as the redheaded fiddler was pulled towards the scrum of men manhandling her colleagues. “Like Liz, you can change your mind and sign the forms right up to the point where you’re secured to the treatment chair. Not signing the forms isn’t going to stop Van Dyne Industries from selling the pendant you’re about to fill with your name inscribed in gold inlay on it.”

“Step forward, Miss Twift,” Colonel Sekmet ordered while Sabbah continued to glare at Nekoboh. “I’m sure we both grow tired of the endless negotiations these proceedings seem to have become. Would you like me to inspect Miss Twift’s assets, Undersecretary Sabbah, or will you do so yourself…immediately?”

“Now just a darn minute….” Saylor began as Alison firmly pushed her forward to stand directly before the undersecretary.

“Be quiet, Saylor!” Roman ordered brusquely. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a hairsbreadth away from losing what little influence I have. If that happens, all of you girls are going to get debreasted…in addition to the unavoidable declittings…and you’re all going to be spending years in a Genoshan whorehouse giving birth to bastards you’ll never be allowed to raise. Additionally, I’m pretty sure they’ll have Carla castrate all of the male musicians as accessories to your crimes. Do you want that to happen?”

“NO! Of course not….”

“Good! Will you consider my efforts on your behalf successful if I get everyone but Alison on your plane and in international airspace tomorrow with your moneymakers still in pristine condition and no requirements to return to Genosha to perform whorehouse duty?”

“Yes, I suppose….”

“Even if you get thoroughly groped and degraded in the process?”

“Well, if I’m not raped….”

“I think I can keep these men’s cocks out of your pussy and ass, baby, but….”

“My MOUTH?”

“Accidents happen, but I think I can rule out forced fellatio, too.”

“Then, yes, Roman, I would consider your efforts on my behalf to have been very successful,” Saylor acknowledged with a thoughtful look on her face. “Why do I think I’m about to learn the price for those efforts.”

“Because you are one damned smart girl, baby. Saylor, I’m risking my contract to do THREE pay-per-view shows to help you girls. If I get you out of here tomorrow with more than ninety-nine percent of your skin intact, you are going to enthusiastically reward me for those efforts the first time we’re in the same city together.”

“Reward you with what, Roman?”

“Your ass!”

“WHA…? Anal sex!

“Anal sex followed by fellatio followed by more anal sex, baby!”

“FUCK ME!”

“Yep!”

“No cameras.”

“None…and no spectators.”

After a long pause, Saylor replied, with disgust on her face and defeat in her eyes, “I’ll do it.”

“You’re going to be angry with me…with the world…in a few minutes, baby,” Nekoboh declared with a triumphant grin on his face as he eyed the angelic-faced, blue-eyed, blonde, “so work hard to remember that promise. My good Genoshan friends here are going to be really peeved at me too in a few minutes, so I’m going to have to toss them a bone here and there…with you being the bone. Make your inspection, Walid, old friend. Then let Sam check out the pop diva’s assets. You too Colonel if you have a mind. Then as I have us set up, with the Lieutenants help, to begin filming and recording, I think I’ll put hands on the assets I’ve been negotiating over myself while you make your proposed ruling, Walid.”

“You sly dog, Roman,” Undersecretary Sabbah declared as he stood and stepped forward to cup Saylor’s lovely perfect-shaped A-cups. As he tweaked the nipples on the tips of the five-foot-nine-inch-tall, one-hundred-thirty-nine-pound, smoking hot pop diva’s chest he admitted, “I’m going to almost feel sorry for you when I rob you of your cleverly negotiated prize. You’ll never be able to keep your side of your bargain with this criminal girl.”

Saylor issued a low moan that told of the fear and humiliation she felt as Sabbah knelt before her and began exploring the moist vulva below her blond landing strip with his fingers. As she issued a second moan, it was colored with a strange mixture of hopelessness and the beginnings of sexual need. The pop diva knew that the Genoshan official was prophesying the confiscation of her tender breasts and promising years of service in a government-run brothel, if not a lifetime of slavery. As Sabbah began to finger the fleshy pearl that was her sexual center—the clitoris that had brought her sexual satisfaction since the girl’s teens—sexual desire and the need for the culmination of that desire threatened to become her dominant priority.

“We’ll see, Walid,” Nekoboh replied as he stepped behind Sabbah’s chair and waved at Samuel Delany, the American Embassy official. “Give Sam a few seconds with the world renowned Saylor Twift. Don’t you dare make her cum, Samuel! Carla get’s that privilege! Go ahead and take a seat while Sam’s working Saylor over, Walid, and lay out what you’re thinking.”

Saylor groaned as the portly middle-aged balding man in the cheap suit stepped behind her and kissed the side of her neck as he caressed and kneaded her A-cups. The pop star had to fight against gagging as the smell of stale sweat filled her nostrils as the man declared, “Well, at least I’m getting to know the feel of these knockers before they’re history. Knowing Roman, I don’t have long to enjoy you, sweetheart, so I’d best get to checking out the pussy I’ll be filling later at the house of pleasure…checking it out while that pleasure button you girls place such value on is still between those fantastic legs of yours!”

“I’m thinking we should harvest her breasts along with her clitoris and sentence her to slavery,” Sabbah announced with a shrug of his shoulders as he watched Delany kneel, lick the fingers of his right hand, and stick the middle finger between the pop diva’s labial lips and into her vagina. As Delany stirred in Saylor’s love canal, and the Grammy Award winning singer moaned in a mixture of humiliation and desire for sexual culmination, Walid added, “Whoever buys her can decide whether there is still a way to profit from her singing.”

“The difference between Alison there and Saylor, Walid,” Nekoboh replied as he watched Delany turn his attention to the moaning pop star’s clitoris, and begin pinching the sexual center before gently rubbing it, “is that Saylor is at the top of her career and enjoying her well-earned success while our mutant songbird is still struggling to get her share of the limelight. If you try to cage Saylor, the creative juices will stop flowing and her fans will abandon her. If I thought otherwise, I would have suggested government ownership with her career placed under my management. That’s enough, Sam! You’re about to make her cum! Play with Alison if you want. I don’t care if you make HER climax.”

Delany roared with laughter as he looked up to see Dazzler’s face grow beet red with embarrassment as she heard her supposed friend’s crass announcement. “I’ll hold you to that, Roman,” the government ‘public-servant’ declared with a wicked grin on his face as he stood, turned, and reached for Alison’s perfect-shaped C-cups.

“That will be enough, Mr. Delany,” Colonel Sekmet tersely stated as he stood with a frown on his face. “The mutant’s welfare is my concern. Retake your seat or I’ll have you escorted from the room.” The magistrate officer glared at the angry American embassy official as Delany glanced back to the soldiers poking and prodding the privates of the three other American women.

“I was just trying to share in the fun I helped make possible, Colonel,” Delany lamely explained.

“I know, sit down!” Sekmet spat back as he stepped over to stand before Saylor. As the magistrate officer gently inspected the flawless skin of the pop diva’s A-cups, eliciting more moans from the songstress, he asked, “How much revenue will these breast skins bring Genosha, Dr. Cummings? While they would be most pleasant for bedroom purposes, they are not spectacularly large.”

“No, not large at all. After being gently tanned, those pretty A-cups would most likely be turned into a pair of coin purses, Colonel Sekmet,” Carla chirped back, tired of being a mere spectator. “However, the market value of Real Breast purses, bags, and wineskins isn’t determined by what the item is or, for the most part, the quality of the skins used to make them. It’s the idea of owning something that used to be part of someone else, and who that someone else was can be the most significant factor in determining sales price. Miss Twift is one of the most famous people in the world, and she has lots of adoring fans. Together, coin purses made from those A-cups would sell in the high six figures to the low seven figures. If you can get Miss Twift to autograph the finished product, they would be guaranteed to sell for several million dollars or more within hours of being put up for sale.”

“And how will you harvest the breasts, Dr. Cummings?” Sekmet asked as he watched the sexual arousal on the pop diva’s face morph into a deer-in-headlights look of trepidation.

“I have some razor wire in my kit,” Carla replied matter-of-factly. “I’ve been trained to loop the wire around each breast until they ball, trapping the wire in the breast bases, and then sever them from the client’s chest with a firm steady tug. You’d be surprised at how little resistance the breasts present. It’s just like a hot knife going through butter. They’ll be hollowed out by our manufacturing division, and then sent to the tanners.”

Colonel Sekmet quickly kneeled before Saylor and stared at her vulva, noting that it was moist and swollen with arousal and capped by a very engorged clitoris, before asking, “And how much will the clitoris bring Genosha, Dr. Cummings?” The moan Saylor issued as Sekmet fingered her swollen pleasure button again spoke of the desire for sexual gratification the girl was feeling—desire tinged with dreadful trepidation.

“The necklace pendant filled with Saylor Twift’s severed clitoris will bring in millions the first hour it’s put on sale, Colonel,” Carla declared matter-of-factly. “If you can get her to autograph the back of the pendant in gold inlay, it might sell for as much as several hundred million dollars. Either way, my share of the proceeds would be more than you likely make in ten years, Colonel.”

“I see,” Sekmet replied as he stood and stared into the myriad of emotions that filled Saylor Twift’s face. “In that case the proceeds Genosha gains from selling Miss Twift into slavery is of minor consideration…unless, of course, the slave owner could force her to provide the desired autographs. Is that correct, Dr. Cummings?”

“Probably,” Carla replied as she looked uncomfortable, “regarding the first part of your supposition, Colonel. As for the autograph, normally we would prefer to have an autograph party in New York with the client autographing the jewelry made from her residuals while the news people film and photograph the event. Bringing Saylor Twift to such an autograph party in chains and sporting a slave brand isn’t likely to be considered good marketing.”

“Is it my turn, Colonel?” Roman interjected to try to regain control of a situation that he felt was spiraling out of control. As the Colonel nodded and stepped back to his seat, Nekobah stepped forward to stand behind Saylor, absent mindedly palming the smoking-hot blonde’s A-cups as he organized his thoughts as well as he could manage.

“Here’s the way I see things, guys,” Roman began in a soft clear voice. “If you enslave this girl, no one is going to make any more money from her music. You lose the muse when you’re not working for your own goals. Believe me I know! I began my entertainment career as a singer. Additionally, if we enslave her, Saylor’s fans are going to notice right away and the American government is going to be forced to raise a stink. There will be economic sanctions and they’ll probably try to discourage tourists and businessmen from coming to Genosha. Enslaving Saylor is out, and I’m confident that the Prime Minister will back me on this.”

“Similarly, long-term servitude in the Genoshan houses of pleasure isn’t going to work either. The fans and then the American government will see that as just another form of slavery. A sentence requiring periodic short-term tours-of-duty in the houses of pleasure would be more palatable to the fans and American government, and would bring in tons of revenue and result in a periodic increase in tourism. However, should Saylor decide to skip out on the scheduled stints as a pleasure girl, we’d be forced to sue the U.S. for extradition and get a lot of bad press. I believe the profit to be earned isn’t worth the risk, especially if we can actually get Saylor to see things our way with respect to other matters. I recommend not trying to turn a singer into a whore, unless she won’t play ball with respect to the penalties she is asked to pay.”

“Hang on there, Nekoboh!” Delany exclaimed from his seat in front of the stage. “I thought Twift was going to be sent to the downtown house of pleasure and that we’d be taking turns filling her ruined pussy tonight…and if not tonight, tomorrow. What the fuck are you up to?”

“We’ll find someone else to bang, Sam,” Roman replied as he winced. “Can’t you tell when a guy is just fantasizing about what could be? Now shut up while I try to save Genosha a ton of trouble while making all the money that can be made out of the mess Sylvia has made out of things. Where was I?”

“As for these cute little knockers that Saylor is sporting…for the next few minutes if I argue poorly,” Nekobah continued as he fiddled with the blonde singer’s breasts, “well it’s the same argument I made for the other two music babes. Saylor needs her tits to keep the boys in the seats when she does her concerts, and for selling her albums. Ruining what curves this cutie has for a million bucks or so would be just plain wasteful, given that you’ll never get her to an autograph party. I’m against debreasting her and will be willing to make my case to the Prime Minister if I have to.”

“What are you saying, Roman?” Undersecretary Sabbah asked as he threw his arms up in frustration. “Are you saying that the woman you yourself said was culpable for this situation should get no more punishment than her backing singer and fiddler? Where is the difference you let us all expect to be offered?”

“There will be two differences, Walid,” Roman declared as he took one knee and began circling the tip of his right middle finger around the pop diva’s engorged clitoris. As Saylor’s confused, apprehension-filled face morphed back into embarrassed introspection, Nekobah continued with, “First, we’ll be in complete control of how THIS is disposed of. I’ll get Saylor to sign all three consent forms, and edit the film and sound for the pay-per-view we’re about to make to depict a Saylor Twift voluntarily embracing female circumcision and mostly enjoying the process. And I’ll be able to favorably contrast Saylor’s experience with Sylvia’s…and the experience of any of the other girls who refuse to sign the consent forms. Once we have the consent forms, Saylor’s lawyers will do due diligence to make sure Saylor profits from her donated clitoris to the fullest extent they can manage. That means they’ll sue for possession, but settle out of court for a nice cut of the profits. Once we agree to give them a cut, they’ll see to it that Saylor does the autograph party while acting thrilled to have donated this tender little pleasure button to the cause. When that happens, our cut of the sales price will be larger than we were going to get by selling it all by ourselves without the autograph, with no bad publicity heading Genosha’s way.”

“What makes you think the girl won’t, once out of Genoshan airspace, decide to be a poor sport and forgo her share of the profits from the sale of the jewelry cored with her clitoris?” Colonel Sekmet asked, apparently suddenly aware that the legendary American movie star was actually making sense. “Even if your editing of the clitoridectomy Dr. Cummings performs on Miss Twift is brilliant, if the girl begins complaining that her treatment was involuntary she’ll have plenty of believers. Then Genosha gets the bad publicity without the added revenue we might have collected.”

“Good question, Colonel,” Roman replied as he grinned up at Saylor’s face as the songstress began moaning again with sexual need as he continued to finger her clitoris. “I’m not too worried about Saylor changing her tune. She’s a smart lady and has already agreed that I’ve done her standup service if she’s able to leave tomorrow minus only the tiniest fraction of flesh. However, I’m not leaving anything to chance. Saylor will have signed Carla’s corporate owner’s third form, which gives permission for Carla or her corporate affiliates to harvest Saylor’s breasts…even when she’s residing in the good old U.S.A. We’re going to keep that copy, and give it to Van Dyne Industries the minute Saylor tries any funny stuff. That would result in a court order for Saylor to show up at the Wicked Wanda Body Modification Clinic to turn over her pretty A-cups to their legal owner…with the change of possession probably shown on live television. The courts are sure to see things Genosha’s way, unless a reputable witness who wasn’t a defendant at this hearing testified she was coerced into signing the forms. The existence of that reputable witness prevents Genosha from getting greedy and trying to confiscate the boobs after the fact without just cause. We all get what we want via a Mexican standoff!”

“You seem to have very thoroughly thought this out, Roman,” Undersecretary Sabbah acknowledged with a look of grudging appreciation on his face. “You said there would be two differences in Miss Twift’s punishment versus her subordinates’?”

“Yeah, I did,” Nekobah replied while grinning from ear-to-ear, “didn’t I? While the other girls, except Alison, escape with just the low-level teasing they are presently getting from the boys in the room,” Roman nodded to the gasping and moaning three girls still being groped and poked near the doorway, “Saylor’s going to be filmed being degraded and humiliated by those men who are getting hornier by the minute. Saylor’s going to kneel on that plastic sheet on the stage floor with her face tipped upwards and her mouth open and let the men ejaculate into her mouth or onto her face and tits. Our Grammy Award winning songbird is going to play bukkake girl! The film of that happening won’t be released as part of the pay-per-view of the circumcisions, so Saylor can show her uninhibited enjoyment of the debasement. But we’ll have the film for future use if she does something to piss us off! To be clear, there will be no penetration, including oral penetration, during the punishment, but Miss Twift has been warned that occasional contact with cock and inner mouth us bound to occur.”

“Very well, Roman,” Undersecretary Sabbah declared as he struggled not to break into laughter. “I’ll agree to your recommended sentence of punishment provided Miss Twift states for the record that she is fully aware of the leniency of her punishment and agrees to fully cooperate when asked to pay those penalties. What do you have to say, Miss Twift?”

“That, while I might have been more than a bit distracted with you men’s hands, I heard every word of Roman Nekoboh’s boldly manipulative proposal,” Saylor replied with remarkable coherence despite her quivering voice. “By God you’re the clever bastard you always claimed to be, Roman. However, I think you’ve overestimated my willingness to dishonorably degrade myself. I’m not going to sign Dr. Cummings’ forms and make it appear that I willingly agreed to have my crotch altered, and I’m certainly not going to sign the third form that, evidently, passes ownership of my moneymakers to some corporation. Nor am I going to try to pretend for the camera that I’m enjoying getting my clitoris cut out of me. And I am positively not going to kneel on that stage and let all those guy’s shower me with semen! Now get your hands out of my privates before I DO climax!”

“Now, Saylor, baby, I need you to calm down and be reasonable,” Roman Nekoboh urged softly as he stood before the lovely singer/songwriter. He absentmindedly palmed the girl’s lovely A-cups as he continued with, “You need to consider this situation that YOU got yourself into…admittedly with a lot of manipulation from Sylvia…logically. We’ll deal with the primary penalty, which can’t possibly be avoided now that you’re standing where you are, last. If you don’t sign the consent forms and cooperate fully with your punishment, you’ll face immediate debreasting…not just possible debreasting in the future. If you don’t cooperate and let the men soil that tight little body of yours when Carla’s done with you, you’ll be turned into a harlot at the local house of pleasure and you’ll be getting all your orifices filled, not just drenched with spunk…and you’ll be birthing babies every ten months or so. In each case, you have to admit the outcome of not cooperating is worse than what you get by cooperating, don’t you?”

As Saylor smacked his hands from her chest and prepared to issue an angry reply, Roman silenced her with, “As for the clitoris you ARE about to forfeit, you could have re-boarded your plane when you saw the signage at the airport, but you didn’t, so now you need to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, don’t you? I’m sure you’re thinking, how could I possibly do that? You see the situation for what it is and own it, baby. Since the passage of the laws legalizing severe body modification outside of medical practice, many hundreds of girls have gotten their clitorises clipped out of their vulvas in the U.S. alone…with each girl having a reason for undergoing the clitoridectomy that made sense to her. The popularity of the procedure is growing at an astounding rate, and the trend only seems to be growing stronger.”

“Ask yourself, Saylor,” Nekoboh added passionately, “do you want to be a trend setter or a trend bucker. The former comes with good publicity…so be seen as embracing the trend rather than being seen as merely a foolish girl submitting to a foreign country’s criminal punishment. When you sign the consent forms, note next to your signature that you are doing so with the expectation that your lawyers will be negotiating for your fair share of the profits from the sale of the necklace pendant cored with your clitoris. Publically own the value of what you’ve CHOSEN to surrender, to demonstrate your commitment to that trend you’re helping set. Maybe it will be hard to smile when the jewelry you’ve filled becomes the property of some wealthy speculator, but the tens of million bucks you earn, after your lawyers get their share, should make it a hell of a lot easier to do so. What do you say, Saylor, baby?”

“I have a question for Dr. Cummings first, Roman,” Saylor replied softly, struggling to keep her thoughts together due to her much muddled state of mind. “As I understand it, you severe body modification technicians never numb the organs before they are removed…and that the severing of the clitoris is very painful.”

“Extremely painful, as I can testify from my own personal experience, Miss Twift,” Carla replied in a calm professional voice with a friendly smile on her face. “I had myself fixed so that I can work in countries like Genosha. The clitoris is the most nerve-rich organ in the human body. You are correct! Technicians like me never numb the organ prior to surgery. We believe a girl should be well aware of the serious ramifications of sacrificing a body part…whether the sacrifice is voluntary or forced in punishment.”

“And how do you feel about suppressing the pain after the fact, Dr. Cummings?” Twift spat back with disappointment on her face.

“When I’m working on superheroines, I usually expect them to grin and bear it,” Carla quipped as she flashed a smirk at Dazzler. “However, even with more normal girls, pain suppression isn’t something clinicians in my line of work dwell on. I usually prescribe oral pain suppressants and recommend a lidocaine injection at the local instant care facility if the pain becomes unbearable.”

“Could you give lidocaine shots to us girls, today, after we’ve been…treated…Dr. Cummings? All of the girls but Sylvia?”

“I could, but I don’t see why I would, to be honest. It would be extra work any quack can handle!”

“I don’t want to be in agony while I’m being…hosed…after you alter me, Dr. Cummings. If you’ll agree to numb us immediately after circumcision, I’ll stop resisting the request to sign the consent forms…which will add to your profits for this day’s work, right?”

“Very well,” Carla replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “You, Liz, and Caitlin will receive lidocaine injections upon completion of your clitoridectomies. Dazzler is a superheroine! Tradition demands she be allowed to fully appreciate her declitting experience…until Colonel Sekmet tells me otherwise. Answer Roman’s question now.”

“Like I said, you are a clever and manipulative bastard, Roman Nekoboh, and right now I think I despise you almost as much as I hate Sylvia for what’s she’s done to us girls!” Saylor Twift growled as she turned to face the aging Hollywood heartthrob and struggled for composure. The smoking hot singer took in a deep breath before admitting, “However, what you’re proposing WOULD be getting me out of here in the condition you promised I’d be in, not counting the potential for future blackmail I might be facing, so I’m in. You can count of me paying up with the sex at the time of your choosing, Mr. Nekoboh!”

“Very well, Miss Twift,” Sabbah cut in with a chuckle after listening to Delany whisper in his ear. “I will allow Dr. Cummings to numb the pain of ALL of you non-gene joke girls, so long as each girl has cooperated with the good doctor’s treatment procedures, but not until ALL of you non-mutants have been circumcised. This must include Miss Jensen, as my good friend Samuel has just reminded me that it would be immoral to treat her worse the rest of you, given the service she has provided to Genosha…the very service you despise her for. If you will kindly sign Dr. Cummings’ consent forms at this time I will formalize your sentence.”

“You formalize, and then I’ll sign, Mr. Undersecretary,” Saylor replied, obviously disappointed in her failure to make Sylvia pay for betraying the other girls, as she took the clipboard being held out towards her by the body modification technician dressed in a sexy nurse’s outfit. “Since it’s my moneymakers at risk, I think that’s only fair.”

“Very well, Miss Twift,” Sabbah agreed with a curt nod at the naked blond beauty, “I sentence you to the mandatory forced female circumcision and deportation. Because of your additional culpability I sentence you to suffer up to two hours of sexual degradation by the men in this room after your forced circumcision as additional punishment. I also sentence you to debreasting. Additionally you are sentenced to one month of service in a Genoshan house of pleasure without the benefit of pregnancy protection each year for the next twenty years. These last two punishments will be waived so long as you sign the consent forms you now hold, and so long as you do not contest the legal justness of the penalties you will have suffered for breaking a law you were fully aware you were breaking. You will also acknowledge I have been lenient with you. Sign, Miss Twift!”

“Got me with that last one, didn’t you Mr. Undersecretary!” Saylor growled as she quickly scribbled her signature on all three consent forms and noted on the second form she expected to share in the profits from any residuals. “It’s not like I was going to bitch anyhow. Once we saw the sign at the airport, I did know we were breaking the law and what the penalty for being caught…the main penalty at least…would be. The other penalties came as a surprise, but I guess as they were waived contingent on good behavior on my part, you were more lenient with me than you had to be. Thank God for that!”

“Excellent, Miss Twift,” Undersecretary Sabbah declared as he watched Saylor pass the clipboard and pen back to Dr. Cummings. “You may join your colleagues in entertaining the men.”

“I think we better keep Saylor right here, Walid, my friend,” Roman interjected as he turned Saylor, pulled her back into his chest, and resumed palming her A-cups. “We can’t afford her accidentally climaxing. I want the one Carla gives her to be a real whopper, seeing as we want to show Miss Twift thoroughly enjoying her final climax ever.”

“Play with Alison if you want, while Carla gets HER consent forms in order,” Nekoboh added as he grinned at the mutant lightingale he had spent more than a little intimate time with. He watched the lovely X-Girl blush badly in response, before adding, “Then let’s hear you’re proposed sentence…which should be fairly straightforward as Dazzler is about to become the Office of the Magistrate’s responsibility. Then I’ll negotiate with Colonel Sekmet over what Alison’s servitude as a mutant will entail…once she’s been brought into compliance with the female circumcision laws!”

“Please, Roman, have them put an end to this nonsense and let us all go,” Alison pleaded in a quivering voice, feeling helpless because the presence of the other Americans precluded her from fighting for her freedom due to of the likelihood an innocent might get killed in the crossfire. “Even if they mean to keep me in Genosha…and if they try, they’ll gain less benefit from me than they might be hoping…there’s no call for them to hurt us girls out of spite. This female circumcision business simply doesn’t make sense!”

“I assure you, Miss Blaire,” Colonel Sekmet replied from his chair in Nekoboh’s stead with a frown of disapproval on his face, “our practice of female circumcision is a most sensible custom. Our females have an extremely low incidence of having children out of wedlock, our divorce rates are negligible, those women working in the intellectual fields are among the most successful in their fields of expertise in the world due to the lack of sexual distraction, and our female citizens rate their satisfaction with life higher than women in virtually any other country. Additionally, studies have determined that those women who work in the more menial jobs…and slaves serving the needs of the state…are more tractable once they have been circumcised. If I did not believe what I have just said to be true, I would not be getting my own daughter circumcised in a few short weeks, despite the fact I know there will be pain involved. I will not allow foreigners to put the idea that female circumcision is an unneeded custom in our women’s heads. As for your threat to be uncooperative….”

“Alison didn’t mean what she said, Colonel!” Roman interjected emphatically. “We haven’t told her what we’re offering her yet. We’ll be giving her exactly what she wants…well beyond the circumcision and a few other minor details. She’ll be all in with us when we lay things out.”

“Perhaps, Mr. Nekoboh,” Sekmet grudgingly admitted as he shrugged his shoulders. “Either way, Dazzler will serve the Genoshan Magistrate. Inspect the woman and finish discharging your duty Mr. Undersecretary, so that we may circumcise the other women and send them home with their tails between their legs. Then it will be Dazzler’s turn…whether or not she accepts the deal her American friend has brokered with the Prime Minister.”

Alison Blaire groaned as the swarthy Semitic undersecretary immediately began groping and pinching her perfect-shaped C-cups, while she watched a giggling Carla Cummings exchange Saylor’s forms with forms already filled out with Alison’s information. Clearly, Dazzler’s presence in Genosha had been anticipated for more than a few hours, if not days. Alison moaned as Sabbah began fingering her clean-shaven vulva, tugging at her labial lips and brushing his fingers across her swollen love button. Dazzler blushed badly as she realized she was living up to the superheroine stereotype. Her sex was sopping wet as she enjoyed the digital ministrations and contemplated the final climax she would receive as she was declitted!

Alison gasped with relief when the upper-tier bureaucrat finally stepped back to sit in his chair, and chuckled, “I guess I may now discharge my final duty. Alison Blaire, the government of Genosha requires that all post-pubescent females be circumcised. You neglected to take care of this matter on your own, so I sentence you to immediate circumcision. I would sentence you to several further punishments as well, but you have been determined to be a member of the race homo sapiens superior. All gene jokes are conscripted in Genosha, so your additional punishments are out of my hands. You are immediately inducted in the Magistrate mutant corps under the command of Colonel Sekmet. Sign Dr. Cummings’ consent forms so that we may get onto our business forthwith!”

Alison crossed her left arm over her breasts and covered her privates with her right hand as she stood and shivered before the Genoshan official who had just ordered her sexual neutering and had just declared her a slave. She bit her lower lip as the blonde in the sexy nurse’s outfit pushed the clipboard with three permission forms on it towards her. Dazzler shook her head forlornly as she declared, “I’m sorry, I can’t sign those. I just can’t!”

“Why not, you foolish girl?” Carla Cummings asked softly as she stared at the naked superheroine. “Don’t you want a final climax? Don’t you realize that mixing the ecstasy of climax with the agony of amputation is your best hope of getting through this with your dignity intact? I’ll have no lidocaine injection for you!”

“I know!” Alison spat back with disdain on her face. “It’s tradition! It doesn’t change the fact that I can’t sign. The Avengers have a tissue regenerator that could reverse the damage you are about to do to me, Dr. Cummings, if I can escape Genosha relatively soon after you’ve clipped me. Iron Man, via his boss, Tony Stark, has ruled the device can’t be used to reverse any voluntary procedure…to prevent resources being wasted on people changing their minds about the new severe body modification services. If I sign your permission forms, I’m giving up one of the few safety nets a superheroine has available to her these days.”

“You will never escape Genoshan servitude, Miss Blaire,” Colonel Sekmet declared firmly. “You can count on that! So you are being foolish, as Dr. Cummings suggests. I am also being foolish, listening to you, Mr. Nekoboh. The pilot program you seek to use Dazzler in would be risky to implement even if she wasn’t a superheroine. As Miss Blaire is a self-acknowledged costumed vigilante, to proceed as you propose is begging for failure. If she won’t sign the consent forms, I will be the one talking to the Prime Minister next. I will be the one putting an end to this foolish dream you have sold the Prime Minister, Mr. Nekoboh.”

“Now hold your horses, Colonel!” Roman urged softly as he glanced from the colonel’s set jaw to Dazzler’s stubborn continence. “We haven’t even told the girl what we’re offering yet. However, I do agree Alison is going to have to sign the forms once she’s heard the pitch, just to prove she’s all in. She has to give up any idea of escaping so that she can have Carla’s hard work undone. If she sign’s the forms and swears she’s buying into the pilot program, we’re still a go, right?”

“Yes, I suppose it would be foolish to take my concerns to the Prime Minister if the mutant is seen to be cooperating, Mr. Nekoboh,” Sekmet admitted as he shook his head in disbelief of what he was saying. “Tell her what you have proposed to the Prime Minister!”

“Alison, the mutant population on Genosha is growing every day,” Roman Nekoboh declared as he shrugged at the blonde lightingale. “More importantly, the population of mutants is growing much faster than the population of baseline humans. The prime minister has been made aware of the danger that a majority mutant population presents to a minority baseline human overlord caste, and to the Genoshan Government, if the mutants continue to be used as chattel-without-rights who are dissatisfied with their lot in life. At the same time, Genosha will never be in a position where the mutant population won’t be needed as conscripts forced into national service. The solution is to make the mutants happy with their lot in life. One way of doing that is to give them a hero…a mutant hero…who is also looked up to by the baseline human population…who gives the mutant population hope of a better life for their progeny. That mutant hero could be a rock-and-roll singer who’s based in Genosha, but performing concerts and selling records around the world. That mutant hero of Genosha could be you, Alison Blaire. All you have to do is decide which you want to be…rock star or superheroine!”

“You know damned well that I never wanted to be a costumed vigilante in the first place, Roman,” Alison spat back with obvious bitterness. “Criminals repeatedly forced me to defend myself and the people around me until the superheroine label stuck of its own accord. I’d pick singer over heroine any day. I’d even be happy to operate out of Genosha, if the government would just guarantee my complete freedom…and let us all go without altering our bodies.”

“Sorry, Alison, baby,” Nekoboh declared as he held his hands out in a gesture of helplessness. “but what you’re asking for is not on the table. There are no exceptions to the female circumcision policy, and the hero in our story is going to need to be a conscript…a conscript that is allowed to use her God given talents the way she dreamed they would be used…most of the time. When you aren’t singing…you’ll be serving Genosha in other ways under the control of the Office of the Magistrate.”

“What other ways?” Dazzler asked softly as she stared in disbelief at the sickening smirk that had formed on her former bedfellow’s face.

“You wouldn’t be forced to use your mutant abilities for industrial purposes, nor would you be sold to a private citizen for use as a domestic slave, so long as you are seen to be cooperating, Miss Blaire,” Colonel Sekmet interjected with a thoughtful look on his face. “However, in times of national emergency, you might be required to become part of our defense forces. Additionally, when your music career doesn’t require your time, it would be my responsibility to see that you are benefiting the economy of Genosha in any manner available to me…including through service in our houses of pleasure, or stints in our hucow dairies. Additionally, as a mutant, you would be involved in our breeding programs.”

“You’re going to milk me, whore me, and make me birth babies in between concert tours?” Alison exclaimed in disbelief as she glared first at Colonel Sekmet and then at Roman Nekoboh. “After you’ve altered my vulva against my wishes? I won’t cooperate! I won’t sign the damned consent forms. I won’t!”

“You will cooperate, gene joke!” Undersecretary Sabbah interjected tersely as he glared at Alison. “You have no choice. You see, the reason I was delayed at the capitol building, forcing Colonel Sekmet to wait to begin this hearing, was government business at the Hammer Bay International Airport. I was made aware that three females from Miss Twift’s entourage remained at the airport. I have had Mrs. Philbin and her two daughters detained, although I have had my underlings refrain from asking for the three American female’s visas, which I suspect would require me to conduct three additional hearings.”

“What have you done with my wife and daughters, ass hat?” Hunch hollered from the middle of the scrum of men busy poking the sexy bits of three very harassed feeling women awaiting the tender attentions of a severe body modification technician. “My girls weren’t causing any trouble!”

“The women are within Genoshan territory and subject to Geshoshan laws, the same as these other five women, Sir,” Sabbah spat back tersely. “At this point, not having checked your women’s paperwork, I cannot say anything is amiss. If the gene joke doesn’t cooperate, your women will be brought here and their paperwork will be checked.”

“Or, Sally and the girls could be escorted onto Saylor’s plane, where they will remain until they fly back to the States with Saylor and her band,” Roman cut in as he signaled Hunch to calm down. “All Alison has to do to make that happen is see things my way with respect to signing the paperwork. I’m going to be asking you, Beefer, and Marx to remain behind for at least a month or two as well, Hunch, but I do mean ask. I want you to stay on as Alison’s band! I promise you won’t be detained against your will, and can visit your family off Genosha any time you want. Genosha will even spring for airfare. Don’t make any hasty decisions about passing on the music gig, boys. Genosha will pay you big bucks per performance if you stay on with Alison.”

“You’re going to blackmail me into signing permission forms for you to destroy my sexuality, Roman Nekoboh?” Alison Blaire hissed in a voice filled with disgust as she reached for the clipboard Carla was still holding out towards her. “I don’t believe it! Well, fine! It looks like I have no choice, as I won’t see Sally and the girls harmed. Heaven help you if they are detained once you have my signatures. You’re a fool if you think I’m going to sing for you after this though.”

“You don’t understand, Alison, baby,” the aging screen actor protested with obvious frustration. “Keep in mind that you ARE in Genosha, ARE about to be forced to conform to their standards governing female genitalia, and WILL serve under the Office of the Magistrate regardless of whether you agree to participate in my scheme to make Genosha rich while improving mutant/non-mutant relations. Then compare what your life will be like if you remain uncooperative compared to what it will be like if you work with us.”

“Alison, I’m proposing to put all of the resources of an entire country behind making you a singing sensation,” Roman continued in a voice that almost sounded pleading. “Within months, your name will be recognized throughout the world as belonging to a first-class rock diva. While Genosha will be getting rich in your stead, I promise you’ll have plenty of spending money and lots of opportunities to enjoy it. Sure you’ll have mandatory extracurricular activities added to your schedule on a fairly regular basis, but if you won’t have to live in one of the mutant barracks installations like you’ll have to if you refuse to cooperate. Instead, you’ll have your own private apartment complex, complete with a private bathroom. Sure, you’ll be guarded, but when you are off duty at your apartment, I’ve got the Prime Minister to agree that your guards will do their work from outside the building. You’ll have a measure of privacy no other mutant on Genosha presently enjoys. Your example could lead to Genosha granting similar rights to all mutants.”

“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you, Roman Nekoboh?” Alison declared with the frustration and dejection she was feeling obvious on her face, the pen poised over the signature line of the top consent form on the clipboard. “Well, as I’m not a stupid girl, I’ll have to let you have your way. As I’ve already said, I’ll sign the forms…dooming me to a life bereft of sexual pleasure…to vouchsafe Sally and the girls. I’ll also give the singing career under Genoshan management a try. You’re right! I don’t want to live in slave barracks. Hopefully, I can mostly pretend I’m living a normal life.”

“I think, once your new life has become routine, you’ll be pretty happy with the setup I’ve negotiated for you, Alison, baby,” Roman declared with a chuckle. “Of course, it may take a few months for that routine to become established. Beefer, Hunch, and Marx, Alison could really use you at her side during at least the next couple of months. Is there anything I can do to get you to commit to sticking on?”

“If my wife and kids get safely off this rock…and if Genosha will pay airfare for me to visit my family anytime I want, I’m in,” Hunch announced in a soft quivering voice.

“I guess I’m up to give it…,” Marx began.

“Actually,” Beefer cut in with a grin on his face, “I think all three of us will join Alison in agreeing to accept a government of Genosha appointed business manager for our band. That can be you if you wish, Colonel Sekmet. While we’ll be glad to listen to your ideas, Mr. Nekoboh, creative management for our music will remain with Alison. To formalize this agreement, and to stipulate the distribution of royalties from concert tickets and record sales, we’re going to need the government of Genosha to sign a contract they are going to negotiate with a lawyer I’m going to hire to represent the band’s interests.”

“Excellent, Beefer,” Nekoboh chuckled effusively as he grinned at the heavyset drummer. “I’d hoped one of you boys could think on your feet. Be warned that the Genoshan cut of revenue generated by the ‘Dazzler band’ will be substantial, given that the government is putting up all of the front money. Also, be warned that we will be putting on a live pay-per-view rock concert in three weeks, and I’m going to be in charge of everything except the music. Because of a special ‘hook’ I’m going to employ, the concert is going to have a really huge, live, international audience…I guarantee it. Anything else you need to get you to commit, boys?”

“Yeah,” Marx replied as he and Beefer grinned at each other, “all three of us want a V.I.P. pass that will get us through the doors of all of your houses of pleasure, and get any tabs we run up, booze and girls, paid for.”

“That’s right!” Beefer agreed as the two musicians’ grins broadened. “And we also want one more thing…from you Colonel Sekmet, or whoever you put in charge of Alison. We want to receive prior notification whenever Alison gets assigned to a house of pleasure to help bring in revenue to Genosha. Sorry, Alison, but the boys and I have been wanting to bang you for like forever! Finally getting that fantasy fulfilled is going to be a bigger bonus than money could possibly buy!”

“Damn!” Hunch declared with a thoughtful look on his face. “It looks like I’m going to have to talk to Sally about what’s considered cheating on her, and what’s merely considered keeping the plumbing from fouling with disuse! I’m pretty sure frolicking with the boss will come under the second category if I provide a big enough bribe to Sally.”

“MEN!” Alison Blaire growled as she shook her head in disbelief. “One track minds, every single one of you. Still, if I’m forced to whore, who cares who the customers are? So, I’m going to overlook this bit of nastiness and thank you boys for standing beside me. Get Sally and Hunch’s daughters aboard Saylor’s plane now, Undersecretary Sabbah, and have your men leave them on their own, and I’ll sign the consent forms.”

“Go ahead and sign, Alison, baby,” Roman interjected with triumph filling his face as he continued to play with Saylor Twift’s assets. “You can count on good old Walid keeping his end of the bargain. Let’s get the show on the road so that Saylor and her band can get on with their business and we can arrange for the next phase of your singing career.”

Alison shrugged as she watched the swarthy undersecretary pull a smart phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear. “Fine!” Dazzler spat as she signed each of the three forms as the government administrator tapped out a phone number on the device. “The truth of the old adage, ‘you can’t fight city hall’ is proven once again. What now?”

“Place them on their plane and leave them to their own devices,” Walid Sabbah tersely instructed into the phone. “Tell Mrs.Philbin that Miss Twift and her entourage will rejoin her in a few hours, and that her husband will call her within that time frame as well. You may fill out your reports tomorrow.” As the undersecretary put his phone back into his pocket, he finally replied to Alison’s question with, “Now, Miss Blaire, we put Dr. Cummings to work at long last. Colonel?”

“Retake your seats at once, men!” Colonel Sekmet commanded, resulting in groans of disappointment from a group of men with their pants around their ankles, and gasps of relief from three naked American women. “Resist the temptation to masturbate while you watch the women getting themselves circumcised, as we have a treat for you at the end of this evening’s entertainment. You American women, reform the line before Undersecretary Sabbah in the same order you were before, and follow Dr. Cummings’ instructions to the letter. If you cooperate, you will be brought into compliance with Genoshan law as quickly and with as little disruption to your lives as possible. Dr. Cummings?”

“You’re first, Miss Jensen!” Carla barked all business like, and then giggled as she watched a grinning Nekoboh finally remove his hands from Twift’s A-cups and push the pop star wearing a strange mixture of relief and apprehension on her face into the queue of girls waiting to be circumcised. Then she pulled her attention back to the front of the line and declared with as much encouragement as she could muster, “I’ll get this behind you in a jiff, Sylvia, if you’ll just follow me up onto the stage.” Without looking to see if the older woman was following, Dr. Carla Cummings stepped quickly up onto her treatment platform.