With a mighty surge, Miss Incredible leaped off the ledge of the building and landed with an impact in the alley next to the warehouse. She grinned as she looked down and saw the asphalt cracked where her feet had planted firmly onto the ground. Not exactly subtle, but when you were a superheroine with superhuman strength, subtlety wasn’t really necessary.
She dashed to the end of the alley and peered around the corner to the warehouse’s front entrance. The windows were dark, except for a few toward the far side. Bingo, thought Miss Incredible.
The superheroine dashed again, this time across the warehouse’s front side and slid to a halt just beneath one of the lighted window. Carefully, she climbed up the story’s distance to the window, her enhanced strength making the climb simple, even on flat concrete. Grabbing the sill, she pulled her head up to scan the area.
The floor of the warehouse was empty, except for three large crates. A floodlight stood on a metal stand, illuminating the scene. A gas generator puttered not far away. Miss Incredible saw about a half-dozen figures moving around, apparently loading or unloading the crates.
The superheroine smiled to herself. Sinistra, you’re in for it this time!
Miss Incredible had been after Sinistra for over a year. The raven-haired crime boss/smuggler/underworld celebrity had narrowly evaded capture a few months back and had slipped Miss Incredible’s detection ever since. Miss Incredible had been monitoring the criminal gangs in the city, shaking them down occasionally for information. It had yielded no results, until last night. A pathetic drug pusher named Crasher had given up the info after Miss Incredible hurled his “product” into the river. Apparently, word on the street was that a major deal was going down between Sinistra and some of her contacts abroad, with many millions in drugs about to flood into the city. Miss Incredible had wrung a location out of Crasher: this old, abandoned warehouse on the waterfront.
Geez, Sinistra, thought the superheroine, could you be any more cliche?
Now, at last, Miss Incredible would catch Sinistra red-handed and bring her to justice. Sinistra was a slippery eel of a woman, using her charisma and stunning good looks to weasel her way out of jail, or simply paying off the right people. Not this time. Miss Incredible wasn’t giving her a chance.
The superheroine, clad in her costume of blue and white spandex/kevlar, dropped back to the ground. A quick check, and it’d be go time. She ran her hands over the gold and gunmetal belt around her waist. Her secret weapon. The belt was what made Miss Incredible so incredible. It absorbed solar energy and transferred it into a power field of kinetic energy around the wearer, giving her massively enhanced strength, speed, and durability. It was her own creation, her finest scientific achievement.
She reached up to touch her blue and silver mask. The mask was a spandex and rubber cowl that covered her entire face except for her lower jaw and eyes. A slit in the back of the mask let her auburn hair flow out and down over her shoulders. She tugged on the mask, making sure it was firmly in place; the tight, form-fitting material was not likely to ever slip, but she was never careless about that sort of thing. Having her face exposed, even momentarily, would spell disaster, not only for Miss Incredible the superheroine, but for Natalie Carter, the millionaire inventor and philanthropist.
Miss Incredible cracked her knuckles and stepped back about ten paces. “Time to crash the party,” she said, and took a running leap.
She smashed through the second-story window of the warehouse and landed on the floor in a roll, leaving a trail of broken glass behind her. She came up gracefully out of the roll and gained her feet. Several of Sinistra’s thugs started wide-eyed at her. Two of them held pillow-sized parcels of dense white powder, held together with duct tape.
“Evening boys,” she said cheerily. “Don’t suppose you all want to just take that straight to central processing at the PD?”
One of the thugs pulled out a revolver but Miss Incredible disarmed him with a lightning-fast kick to the wrist. The thug howled, cradling his broken wrist and fell back. The other thugs charged her, brandishing clubs and knives. Miss Incredible grinned.
In a matter of seconds, the thugs lay in a battered heap, groaning. Miss Incredible wasn’t a killer; the thugs would suffer a few broken bones and some serious bruises, but they’d be perfectly fit for prison in a few weeks. She turned, and saw her quarry: Sinistra stood behind a plastic folding table, a pile of packaged drugs and cash on spread out before her. The villainess locked eyes with Miss Incredible and went pale.
“Care to try your luck, Sinistra?” asked Miss Incredible, dropping into a fighting crouch.
Sinistra held her hands up, a terrified expression on her face. “Okay, Miss Incredible, you win. Just don’t hurt me or any more of my employees.”
“Keep your hands up and don’t try anything, and I won’t have to,” said Miss Incredible. She smirked. “After all this time trying to track you down, Sinistra, I never expected it to be so easy.”
“You’re too powerful for me,” said Sinistra, keeping her hands raised. “I know I can’t possibly escape. The jig’s up. I...I surrender.”
Miss Incredible was just about to say something snarky in response when a sudden, stinging pain erupted in her right butt cheek. She gasped and whipped around. Immediately she saw a shadowed figure on a catwalk some fifteen feet above the warehouse floor, reloading some kind of rifle. It wasn’t a bullet, thought Miss Incredible. She reached down to her butt and her hand brushed over something hard, cold, and...feathered sticking in her rump. With a snarl, she yanked it free. A dart of some kind. She turned back to Sinistra, glaring.
“I take it back, Sinistra. I am going to hurt you, whether your hands are up or not.”
Sinistra wore an expression of unbridled glee, now, as if her previously fearful face was as much as mask as the one Miss Incredible wore to protect her identity. “I doubt very much you’ll get the chance,” said the villainess.
Miss Incredible frowned down at the dart she held in her hand. “What is the meaning of this?” she said, gesturing with it.
“The meaning, you arrogant fool, is that you just got pumped full of enough sedative to knock out a bull.”
Miss Incredible’s eyes widened beneath her mask. Was it possible? Her belt gave her super strength, agility and toughness, but it wasn’t proof against bullets, or darts. She blinked. She felt strange. Like the world was starting to wobble in her peripheral vision. She shook her head to clear it, and surged forward to tackle Sinistra.
But the villainess dodged to the side, and Miss Incredible ran into the wall behind her. What? she thought in a daze. No one can dodge me!
Sinistra was still grinning at her. “It appears you’re a little groggy, Miss Incredible. Perhaps you should just lie down for a moment.”
“I don’t know what you think you’ve done, Sinistra, but you’re going to jail tonight, one way or another.”
Sinistra laughed. “What I’ve done, my obtuse little do-gooder, which you seem to be failing to grasp, is set you up. This entire operation was a trap, with a single goal: capture Miss Incredible alive. And you walked right into it.”
Miss Incredible paused. She had said that catching Sinistra this time had been easy. Too easy, maybe? It didn’t matter; her power belt would give her the strength to carry on. Or so she hoped. She had never considered powerful tranquilizers as a danger she might face fighting crime. She positioned herself for another spring at Sinistra. “You’re going to feel really bad when I still kick your butt,” she said, and leaped.
But as she moved into the jump, her limbs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. She couldn’t quite push with her legs enough to reach Sinistra. Instead, she stumbled forward and fell flat on her belly. The world around her was more wobbly now, and the sounds around her felt hollow and distant. She blinked again, but it was very hard to open her eyelids. She realized that one of the sounds coming down her ringing ears was Sinistra’s laughter.
“How very intimidating,” said the dominatrix villain, leaning casually against a crate a few paces from Miss Incredible’s prostrate form. “Care to try again?”
Miss Incredible snarled, “You’re going to regret this, Sinistra,” but her mouth felt like it was full of cotton and the words came out as mumbled gibberish. She pushed herself to her knees. The world around her spun. She could see Sinistra leering down at her, but her vision blurred. She felt like she was encased in jelly, all her movements slowed down to a fraction of normal.
My god, she thought. The sedative is working! I’m fading fast. She actually got me! What do I do?
Sinistra looked down at her, still smiling. “I think she’s finally starting to realize what’s happening here,” she said. “You see, Miss Incredible, you’ve pissed off a lot of people in the underworld and I finally decided to do something about it. All they wanted to do was shoot you full of holes. But where’s the satisfaction in that? I play a subtler, longer game. And I’m afraid you’ve just lost.”
Miss Incredible attempted to stand, wobbled, and fell back to her knees. No! she thought desperately. I can’t fall unconscious. Have to keep fighting. But her vision was growing dark around the edges and her arms felt like limp sacks of rice. It would be so easy to just relax and let go, to fall into the blackness. No! Must stay awake. Can’t be captured!
Sinistra sauntered up to the kneeling Miss Incredible and ran a hand over her head. Miss Incredible swung a wild punch, but the villainess ducked to the side. “Give in,” she whispered in the heroine’s ear. “It’s inevitable. You’re tired. Weak. Let go and sleep.”
Miss Incredible’s mind was fracturing. Part of her heard Sinistra’s words as wonderful advice and longed to obey. But another part of her knew the danger she was in now, teetering on the edge of consciousness. How could she have been so foolish to walk into such an obvious trap? I have to escape, she thought. If I can get out of here, I can pass out somewhere safely.
With a surge of strength, Miss Incredible rose to her feet. Sinistra stepped back in surprise. “This isn’t over,” mumbled the heroine. She took one step. Then another. Then a third. And then her strength simply gave out. Her limbs went numb and limp and she collapsed face down to the ground. Her vision narrowed to a dark tunnel. She felt herself being moved and suddenly her view flipped. She’s turning me over, she thought in a daze. She looked up, as if through a great distance, at Sinistra’s face peering down at her. The villainess stood over her, straddling her, with a look of sheer smug triumph on her face.
“Nighty-night, Miss Incredible,” she said. “Oh, do I have some fun things in store for you.”
No, said Miss Incredible, or perhaps she merely thought it. She couldn’t tell the difference between words and thoughts now. So weak. Must stay awake. Must resist. Can’t be taken captive. A thought struck her then. She might unmask me while I’m unconscious! Can’t give in!
“It’s over, Miss Incredible,” came Sinistra’s voice to her ears. “You’re done.”
No! thought the heroine, but she felt the last vestiges of her conscious mind collapsing into the dark, her will surrendering to the unstoppable power of the sedative in her veins. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets, and her eyelids clamped shut with finality. The last thing she felt was something sticky being placed over her mouth. Gagging me, she thought. I’m in deep troub…
But there was only blackness then, and no more words.
Like a fog bank dissipating under the sun, she returned to consciousness slowly, in patches of awareness. Vague memories of dreams danced in her mind, of being lifted and carried and manhandled. Her head throbbed. Hangover? came the fleeting thought. That didn’t seem right. She became aware of a tightness in her body, especially in her arms and legs. She felt stiff and uncomfortable. She heard a strange sound in the distance, muffled but unmistakable: a ship’s horn lowing mournfully. With an effort, she opened her eyes. She saw nothing but a dark blur before her, so she shut them again. The uncomfortable pressure on her arms and legs had grown more pronounced in her awareness. She wanted to move her arms, reposition them to a more comfortable posture. But when she tried, she found they were restrained. She flexed her arms several times but they were held fast. She tried the same with her legs and found a similar set of affairs.
What? her bleary mind wondered. What is going on? As her awareness expanded, she noticed a new sensation: she was hanging somehow, suspended by her arms and legs. That’s where the pressure in her joints was coming from. Something was holding her in a rigid position, her legs and arms spread-eagled, bent slightly backwards, her torso thrust forward at an angle.
She opened her eyes again. Though less blurry this time, she could still make out few details. Wherever she was, it was dark. She heard no voices, no ambient noise. The feeling of the air in the room or chamber felt open and hollow; she must be in some large, open space.
As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she found herself gazing downward at her torso. She wore a blue and white outfit of some kind. A thought flashed in her mind. Blue and white. Why is that familiar?
I’m Miss Incredible! she thought. And with the spark of that recognition, her conscious mind came flooding back in.
Sinistra! she thought, and the pit of her stomach dropped. She...she drugged me. Oh god. I must have been captured!
She strained to see her arms, but at the angle they were bent behind her, she couldn’t get a good look. She’s got me tied up somehow, thought Miss Incredible. But wait, that wasn’t a problem. She was a superheroine with super-strength! Unless…
She glanced down at her body again. Yes! The power belt was still around her waist, she could feel it, could sense the tingly feeling the power field emanated. She’d be out of this in no time.
Miss Incredible flexed her arms and felt the power field flow out and augment her muscles. Whatever ropes were holding her wouldn’t stand a chance against the power of her belt. She pulled with her shoulders, trying to bring her arms forward and down.
She didn’t budge.
Gritting her teeth, she tried again, applying more might. She still felt an immense resistance. She squeezed harder. Suddenly, a searing pain shot through her shoulders. She cried out in agony and had no choice but to relax her muscles again. God, she thought, I almost dislocated my shoulders! Or worse...with my strength, I might have shattered the bones.
She tried flailing her legs, but found they were bent backwards and outwards in a similar position to her arms. Applying her strength to them would only result in tearing her hip muscles, or worse.
She was completely restrained. How was it possible? She ought to be able to break whatever ropes or bonds held her, regardless of leverage, but she was held secure where she hung. She grunted and shifted her weight around, trying to find a position where she could use her strength to her advantage. But there was no such position to find. Whoever had done this to her had an intimate knowledge of how to restrain the human body to minimize the possibility of escape.
Sinistra, she thought again, recalling that the villainess had a background as a dominatrix and bondage fetishist. Oh fuck.
She thrashed in her bonds, hoping to dislodge herself through sheer force. She might as well have tried to push over a mountain. She didn’t budge, and her joints screamed in pain as she thrashed. After a moment she stopped, returning to the resting position of her suspended restraint.
She felt a panic bubbling up in her mind. What if Sinistra had left her for dead? No one would know she was here. God, in all her arrogance and self-confidence, she had never envisioned nor prepared for a situation like this. The power belt had always been enough to give her the upper hand. But it had its weaknesses, it seemed. Though she was ashamed to admit it to herself, she needed help.
“Help!” she cried, her voice hoarse and dry. “Somebody! Can anyone hear me? Help, please!”
There was no answer. Suddenly a new thought struck her. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. If Sinistra had indeed captured her, she might have…
My mask! she thought with a gasp. But no, she could feel it on her face, just like normal. It felt perfectly in place and undamaged. She sighed in relief, then gasped again as yet another thought struck her: what if Sinistra had had a peek while she was knocked out? Oh god, that would be very bad. If Sinistra learned that Miss Incredible was Natalie Carter, who had testified against her crime ring and had helped the police uncover her smuggling operation with her x-ray rangefinder technology...Miss Incredible struggled in her bonds again, frustration starting to give way to fear.
At that moment, a light turned on overhead with an electric buzz. Even a dim light would have been hard on Miss Incredible’s dark-adjusted eyes, but this one was closer to a floodlight, pointing down on her directly. She cried out and squeezed her eyes shut, seeing stars behind her lids for several seconds. She heard a metallic screech and then a clang, followed by footsteps on a metal surface. She squinted to try and see who was coming, but the bright light was still far too intense. All she could make out was a vaguely human shape silhouetted by the bright lights.
“Look who’s finally up!” said a familiar voice, that echoed slightly in the large room.
Sinistra! No! Miss Incredible squirmed in her bonds and opened her eyes again, wincing at the pain. She could just make out a feminine figure standing about ten feet in front of her.
“Well, Miss Incredible,” said Sinistra’s unmistakable voice, “how do you feel?”
Still wincing from the light, but growing more used to it every moment, Miss Incredible snarled, “Sinistra, you bitch! Where the hell am I?”
Sinistra tsked. “Watch the language, Miss Incredible. You’re a role model after all. As for where you are, all you need to know is that you’re sufficiently removed from any chance of rescue.”
“What is this?” said Miss Incredible, squirming in her bonds again. “Why am I tied up?”
“Chained up, Miss Incredible,” replied Sinistra. “Six inch thick titanium-cobalt manacles with titanium alloy links.”
Miss Incredible craned her neck to try and see her arms. She noticed a metallic sheen near her wrists, and felt the pressure there. “Release me at once!” she roared.
Sinistra laughed. Now that Miss Incredible’s eyes were nearly adjusted to the brightness, she could see Sinistra in more detail. The tall, raven-haired crime mistress wore skin-tight, red leather pants and a matching blazer. Her ample cleavage peeked through a sheer camisole under the jacket. Her hair was tied back in an elaborate braid that hung over one shoulder. She wore high-heeled sandals that looked direct from an Italian fashion designer’s workshop.
“Hmm,” said the villainess. “No, I think I won’t. As I said before your lights went out, I have some special plans for you.”
Miss Incredible felt terror in her gut but refused to show it. “You won’t get away with it, I can promise you that.”
“Why is it,” asked Sinistra, “that whenever anyone says that phrase, the person they say it to always already has?”
Miss Incredible snarled again and thrashed in her chains.
“Give it up, Miss Incredible,” said Sinistra, looking at her, amused. “You’ve got no leverage. Even with your power belt, you can’t break those chains, not without breaking yourself in the process.”
Miss Incredible gasped. How does she know about my belt?
As if hearing her thought, Sinistra said, “Yes, dear, I know about your secret weapon.”
“How?” asked Miss Incredible, stupefied.
“In our last encounter, three months ago, when I just barely escaped you and your ham-fists, I had a special electronic signal detector set up, just in case you barged in. I knew there was no way your powers were natural, and given your rather...buxom body shape, I knew you weren’t just a ‘roided up loon. No, it had to be something else, something in or on your body. The detector confirmed it. After I downloaded its results, I saw an unmistakable electromagnetic field surrounding you, seeming to originate in around your abdomen. I looked at a number of press photos of you, and noticed that your belt seemed rather ornate and unique looking to be just a mere fashion accessory.” Sinistra ran a hand over her hair. “I don’t pretend to know how it works. But perhaps I will soon.”
Miss Incredible didn’t like the sound of that. “What is the meaning of this, Sinistra?” she asked. “Are you going to torture me?”
“In a sense, yes,” replied Sinistra. “You are here for a very specific reason, Miss Incredible. You have been a pain in my backside, and most of the underworld’s, for a couple of years now. We all agree you need to be removed. But murdering you wouldn’t send the right message. It might even make you into a martyr. That wouldn’t do. No, I desire something deeper, more personal, that will serve as an example to everyone. I like a more...cerebral kind of pain. I was a dominatrix, after all.” She smiled up at the suspended superheroine.
Miss Incredible’s mind raced. This situation was spinning out of control rapidly. She was not used to feeling like this, not since she created the power belt. To wear it and still be so restrained and, well, helpless...It terrified her. Had she made a terrible mistake in donning the belt to fight crime? Surely she could get free somehow, but...what if she couldn’t? What if her enemy, this depraved bondage freak, actually had the upper hand? She swallowed a hard lump in her throat. Summoning her courage, she said, “This is all some sort of twisted sex game to you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, most definitely!” agreed Sinistra. “But who wouldn’t want to mix business and pleasure when the chance arises?”
“You can’t do this, Sinistra,” said Miss Incredible. “I’m this city’s heroine, its guardian. If you hurt me, they’ll all come after you.”
“It’s funny how fickle the public is, though, don’t you think?” said Sinistra. “For instance, if a celebrity or person in power is shown to be, well, just like us, they lose a lot of the mystique that made them famous in the first place.
“I’m not like you,” said Miss Incredible.
“No,” said Sinistra, “you’re a helpless captive and I’m entirely in control. We’re nothing alike. But after your choice, the city might see you in a different light entirely.”
“What choice?” asked the superheroine.
“So glad you asked,” answered Sinistra She turned and pointed around the room at three different video cameras mounted on the walls; Miss Incredible’s straining eyes only just now noticed them. “See those? Each of them is recording, all at different angles, and we’re streaming live to the Internet. Everything you say and do here is on the record. And tonight, my dear Miss Incredible, you face a choice; perhaps the hardest choice in your entire life: you will choose between your incredible powers, and your secret identity.”
Miss Incredible felt a spike of fear rise up through her gut and into her chest. No, she thought, anticipating what the villain would say next. Please, this can’t be happening.
“Choice one,” said Sinistra, gesturing widely with her right hand. “Allow yourself to be unbelted and let me claim your power belt. All on camera. Show the city that you are now powerless and weak. Show them that, when push came to shove, you sold them out to save your own skin. Show them that Miss Incredible is permanently de-powered and completely defeated. But,” she paused, and smiled. “Keep your precious mask. No one will ever know who you are, or were as the case may be. You’ll be free to go, to slink back to your home, powerless, with the knowledge that your career as a super-heroine is over forever. But at least your shame will stay a secret. And I,” said Sinistra, tugging at Miss Incredible’s power belt, “will have a brand new toy.”
No, no, no! thought Miss Incredible, her heart pounding. I can’t let her have my belt! She’d destroy half the city with its powers!
Sinistra paused again dramatically, watching Miss Incredible with a smirk. “Choice two,” she said at last, sweeping widely with her left hand. “Allow yourself to be unmasked, all on camera.” An involuntary gasp escaped Miss Incredible. Sinistra smirked, and continued. “Let the city see your true identity. Don’t worry, even if you’re not someone well-known under that mask, we’ll figure it out. Show the world your face, and then, you’re free to go. You’ll still have your power belt, after all. There’s nothing stopping you from continuing as Miss Incredible. Of course, every criminal in the city will be after you, from the lowest drug pusher to the highest mob boss. And maybe you can take them. But I doubt your friends and family can. Still, you’ll be alive and strong, and still able to help the downtrodden, and that’s what this super-heroine business is all about, right? Of course, the police might want to talk to you about vigilantism, and the government might be very interested to learn how you got your belt.”
Miss Incredible fought back tears. How could she possibly make such a choice? She was a super-heroine, for the love of god! She couldn’t lose! She strained at the titanium bonds that held her wrists and ankles. They didn’t budge. She let out an exasperated snarl that turned into a whimper. How could she have been so careless to let this happen to her? Drugged, captured, and trussed up like a pinata, all her strength useless. She had to get free. She wouldn’t make Sinistra’s impossible choice. She wouldn’t play her kinky little domination game.
Sinistra spoke again. “Refuse to choose and I will blow up a building somewhere in the city. Where, exactly, I don’t know. My employees selected a list of possible locations and have set up explosives in them. It could be a bridge, a hospital, an office building, who knows? All I have to do is make a single phone call, though, and something, somewhere in the city, goes boom.”
Miss Incredible’s eyes widened under her mask. “Even you wouldn’t do that,” she said, though she wasn’t sure she believed it.
“The question is, Miss Incredible, can you take the chance that I would?” said Sinistra.
“You’re bluffing,” said the heroine.
Sinistra raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I am. But it’s a hell of a way to be wrong.”
Miss Incredible squirmed in her chains. God dammit, the villainess was right. How could she take the risk? She saw the villainess’s plan for its twisted genius: without saying where the bomb was, no one could evacuate, and worse, they would be compelled to stay put in case the bomb target was someplace nearby or along their escape route. Would Sinistra really blow up a building full of innocents just to force Miss Incredible to choose? The woman wasn’t known for being a bloodthirsty murderer, but Miss Incredible could trace several murders to her door, or at least her organization's. But then again, she had gone to a lot of trouble to capture Miss Incredible. Would she really do all this for an empty threat? And if there really were bombs, and Miss Incredible called Sinistra’s bluff… They’d blame me, she thought. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she grappled with this conundrum.
Sinistra grinned up at her, unabashedly enjoying herself. “Poor Miss Incredible. Not every day that you find yourself up against a situation you can’t punch your way out of, is it? But then, you did decide to become a vigilante and take the law into your own hands. You had to know this kind of thing was a possibility.” She leaned in and got uncomfortably close to the superheroine’s face. “It’s time for you to choose your fate, Miss Incredible. Protect the city, or protect yourself. Powers, or identity. Mask, or belt.” She produced a small hourglass from inside her jacket. “Ten minutes to make your choice. When the sand is spent, I will return and hear your decision. If not…” Sinistra mimicked the sound of an explosion. “And we’ll start again, until your guilt gets the better of you. Believe me, I’ve got no other plans tonight.” She kissed Miss Incredible’s cheek and brushed a strand of hair out of the heroine’s face. “Don’t disappoint me.” She set the hourglass on a metal table next to Miss Incredible’s titanium truss, and the sand immediately began to hiss through the glass. Sinistra turned and strode out of the room, giving Miss Incredible one last, sultry look over her shoulder, before stepping through a steel hatchway. The door slammed behind her with a metallic boom.
Miss Incredible hung there, stunned. Could this really be happening? Was she dreaming? She looked at the hourglass. Already a pool of sand had trickled into the bottom half of the glass. She then glanced at the cameras. Each had a glowing red LED pointed straight at her. Whatever she did now would be seen by everyone. She forced herself to be calm, though her panic was nearly uncontrollable.
The choice. She had to refuse! But how could she possibly do so and still consider herself a heroine? Even if the bombs were a bluff, by refusing to choose she was telling the city that she was willing to roll the dice on their lives. All her credibility would be gone. She couldn’t risk that. But I can’t let my belt fall into Sinistra’s hands! she thought. She’d be a terror with it! But oh god, my mask! The humiliation! No one will ever take me seriously ever again. And mom, and Dr. Peterson, and so many others! All the criminals I’ve put behind bars would hurt them just to get revenge on me. I’ll never have a moment’s peace again!
She looked at the hourglass. Nearly a quarter of the sand has passed through already. Oh god, what do I do? Miss Incredible thought. She pulled against her bonds once again, with all her might. She strained and strained, but she simply couldn’t get leverage, not without hurting herself irreparably. Her struggles were useless.
She was out of ideas, out of strength. She hung there, helpless, her mind spinning. A sudden, enormous sob erupted from her lips. She couldn’t control it, it just burst out of her. She was dimly aware that this pathetic display was being caught on camera, but she was nearly past caring. “Sinistra!” she screamed. “Please! I beg of you, don’t do this! I’ll do whatever you want!” Long moments passed, but Sinistra didn’t return. Miss Incredible burst into tears. “Please, no!” she sobbed. “Please.”
For several minutes, Miss Incredible’s shuddering sobs were all that could be heard. At last, they tapered off and Miss Incredible looked up at the cameras. “I’m sorry,” she said to them, sniffling. “She’s beaten me.”
At that, the hatch door clanged open and Sinistra strode in again, smiling ear to ear. “That’s correct, Miss Incredible. I have.” Sinistra pointed at the hour glass. “Just a few seconds left. I presume you have made your choice?”
Miss Incredible whimpered, “I...I can’t! It’s an impossible choice Sinistra! Please, have mercy on me. I beg you!”
“Oh, Miss Incredible,” said Sinistra, sauntering over to stand inches from the heroine, “mercy is for the weak. Like you.” She poked Miss Incredible’s left breast, pressing in until the helpless heroine yelped in pain. Sinistra laughed, then raised a hand to caress Miss Incredible’s masked face. “It’s time, Miss Incredible. The sands of the hourglass, days of our lives, et cetera.”
Miss Incredible clenched her eyes shut. She couldn’t! She couldn’t make this choice. But she had to.
Sinistra eyed her critically. “Your choice, Miss Incredible,” she demanded, with steel in her voice. “Or the bomb goes off. Now: mask or belt?”
Miss Incredible screamed a wordless scream of despair.
“Very well then,” said Sinistra icily. She pulled out a cell phone from her jacket pocket and pressed a button. After a pause, she said, “Gillain, proceed with...”
“MY BELT!” shrieked Miss Incredible. “TAKE MY BELT!”
Sinistra paused, her eyebrows raised, then spoke into the phone. “Belay that order, Gillain. Miss Incredible has chosen.”
Miss Incredible sobbed. “No,” she moaned. “Please, no.”
Sinistra returned the phone to her pocket then ran a hand down Miss Incredible’s chest, to her abdomen, to the golden power belt. She turned to face the cameras. “There you have it,” she said. “Miss Incredible has chosen to give up her powers in exchange for her anonymity.” She smiled. “It’s the choice that benefits me most, but not the one I was hoping for.” She turned back to Miss Incredible. “Your power belt is mine,” said Sinistra. She ran her hands over Miss Incredible’s shapely hips, reaching around her back to find the clasp that held the precious belt on the heroine’s waist.
Miss Incredible looked into Sinistra’s eyes as the villainess leaned in. “I’m begging you,” she whispered.
Sinistra smiled. “You’re finished, Miss Incredible.” With one deft movement of her hands, she unclasped the fasteners of the belt, as if she had long practice with it. The belt slid limply off Miss Incredible’s hips, into Sinistra’s waiting hands. Miss Incredible felt the ever-present electric tingle of the belt’s power field drain away into nothing. She was just an ordinary woman now, and utterly at her enemy’s mercy. Not that she had any.
Sinistra turned to the cameras once more and held the golden belt up high, displaying her prize. “Your heroine is de-powered,” she said to the cameras. “Her defeat is total. Look at her now,” Sinistra said, gesturing to the heroine who hung limp in her truss, her head hung in despair. “This is what you get when you cross me. And you’d better hold onto your asses, because this baby,” she gestured with the belt, “is about to usher in a whole new era of crime. This is Sinistra, over and out.” Sinistra made a cutting motion with her hand, and the LEDs on the cameras went dark.
Miss Incredible hung in her truss, chin against her chest. A few tears still dripped down her mask but her sobs had receded. She was silent now, her mind lost in despair and humiliation. She had no willpower left, not even to hold her head up. It wasn’t fair. All the good she had done in her career as a super-heroine, taken away in a moment by her seductive foe. And the whole city had seen it, her helplessness, her useless struggles, her pitiful begging, her tears, and her ultimate de-powering and defeat. Sinistra was right: she was well and truly finished. Even if she had a dozen power belts, no one would ever respect her again. And why should they? She had shown she was vulnerable, easy to capture and subdue, and pathetic once the gun was to her head. Some heroine. She was a total failure. When the chips were down, she had buckled and collapsed into a helpless mess. No dignity, no pride. There had never been a more humiliating end to a career. The only positive was that Sinistra had not unmasked her. At least she could hide from her utter defeat in anonymity. She could go back to work, have a normal job, a normal life, and pretend this super-heroine situation had never happened. Who am I kidding? she thought. Nothing in my life will ever be normal again after this.
Sinistra was watching her in silence, a thoughtful expression on her face. “You look like you have a lot on your mind, Miss Incredible,” she said. Miss Incredible said nothing, and didn’t even raise her head. “My, but when you lose, you lose hard,” said the villainess, almost sympathetically.
Sinistra moved over to Miss Incredible’s titanium truss, running her hands over the chains and manacles that held the former super-heroine suspended in her helpless state. “I suppose it’s time for me to let you down from there,” said Sinistra, a look of mock-concern on her face.
“Please,” whispered Miss Incredible. “If you let me go, I’ll never bother you or anyone again.”
“I think that goes without saying, my dear,” said Sinistra. “Besides, in the state you’re in now, I wouldn’t favor you in a fight with a house cat. You will be released, but there is just one more thing I need from you.”
Miss Incredible stiffened, her stomach erupting into butterflies. She met Sinistra’s eyes, and saw in them a cruel sparkle.
“I’m pleased with the outcome of this evening’s proceedings,” said Sinistra, “but deep down, I was hoping your choice would go the other way. You see, Miss Incredible, I have been desperate to find out who you are under that famous blue mask since the first time I saw your picture in the paper. So erotic, so sexy...a woman who hides her face and fights for justice! And that figure!” Sinistra imitated a cat’s purr and ran a hand along Miss Incredible’s flank, from thigh to armpit. “I confess that removing you as a nuisance to the underworld was only part of the reason I did all this. I love dominating powerful women, that’s no secret. But you were a cut above, a prize beyond the everyday sleaze and backroom dealings of this city. You were...pure.” Sinistra smiled to herself. “I guess what I’m trying to say, Miss Incredible, is that nothing makes me hotter than the thought of peeling that mask off your face once and for all.”
“No!” cried Miss Incredible, panic surging through her and giving her newfound energy. “You...you promised!”
“I did no such thing,” Sinistra said curtly. “I gave you a choice. I never said I wouldn’t still take away the item you didn’t choose.”
“You bitch!” shrieked Miss Incredible through gritted teeth. “You can’t do this!”
Sinistra gave Miss Incredible a reproachful look. “I don’t think you’re in a position to be telling anyone what they can and can’t do, my helpless heroine. I’m afraid it’s not up to you.” She laughed. “Come now, you didn’t seriously think I’d go to the expense of setting up this whole show, the months of planning, securing this venue,” she gestured around them at the room that had become the site of the end of Miss Incredible’s career, “without the guarantee of getting your mask off at the end, did you?”
Miss Incredible snarled, struggling against her bonds again, only this time, without her power belt, she couldn’t so much as pull herself up to a more comfortable position before she collapsed again in exhaustion. I’m so weak! she thought helplessly.
Stifling a laugh, Sinistra laid a hand against the heroine’s head and shushed her. “Please, my dear, you’re as weak as a kitten and you know it. Don’t embarrass yourself any further.” Her hand slid down to the edge of Miss Incredible’s mask. “Now, let’s just take a peek, shall we?”
“No!” screamed Miss Incredible, shaking her head back and forth to loosen Sinistra’s hold on the mask. “Not my mask! No! No! No!”
Sinistra grinned. “Yes, your mask, Miss Incredible. It’s coming off. You’re powerless to stop it. Accept it. Submit to it.”
“You can’t!” screamed the heroine. “I’ll be destroyed! You’ve already unbelted me and humiliated me in front of the entire city! My mask, my precious secret identity, is all I have left! Please, I’m begging you, woman to woman, leave me that! I’ll do anything!”
Sinistra paused. “Anything?”
“Anything,” gasped Miss Incredible. “I’m begging you, Sinistra. Please.”
Sinistra looked thoughtful for a moment. “There’s so much I might want,” she said. “Would you give me lots of money?”
“Yes!” said Miss Incredible in a rush. “I’m rich, I swear. I could make you very wealthy.”
“I’m already very wealthy though,” said Sinistra, looking doubtful. “Would you...get on your knees and kiss my feet?”
“Yes,” said Miss Incredible, with remorse. “If it keeps my precious mask on, I’ll do it.”
“Hmm,” said Sinistra, and she circled around behind the super-heroine. Her hands reached up and cupped Miss Incredible’s full breasts and gave them a gentle squeeze. Miss Incredible gasped. Sinistra leaned and whispered into her ear, “Would you give your body to me?”
Miss Incredible’s heart raced. In spite of all she’d suffered today, something about Sinistra’s touch had sent a spark through her insides. She was ashamed to feel her privates tingling as the villainess massaged her boobs. How is it possible? she wondered. She’s my enemy, and she’s utterly humiliated and ruined me. How can this possibly feel...good?”
“I…,” said Miss Incredible, hesitating. “If...if you let me keep my mask on...yes, I’ll give myself to you.”
“But what if I like your body so much I never want to give you up?” asked Sinistra, her voice innocent.
“Sinistra, please,” begged Miss Incredible. “I don’t know what more you want from me.”
“What I want, my dear defeated heroine,” said Sinistra, her voice returning to its usual sardonic tone, “is to see you hanging from that truss, utterly defeated and helpless, with your mask in my hands and your beautiful face exposed, with a look in your eyes that says, ‘I am well and truly fucked.’”
Sinistra reached for the edge of Miss Incredible’s mask again. “No!” screamed the super-heroine. “Yes,” said the villainess, and began to peel the mask back, pulling it upward from where she stood behind Miss Incredible.
Miss Incredible wailed a wordless cry. “Oooh, I see cheeks,” said Sinistra in glee as she slowly pulled the blue elastic fabric up and up. “Oh, freckles!”
Miss Incredible thrashed in her chains, a desperate madness on her. Sinistra easily held her in place, though, as the heroine’s strength was all but nonexistent. I’m utterly helpless! she thought in a panic. I can’t stop her!
Sinistra peeled the mask up over Miss Incredible’s nose, revealing the tip, then the bridge. “Ooooh, getting close now,” she giggled. “What a cute little nose you have!”
“MY MASK!” shrieked Miss Incredible.
Sinistra paused, the mask nearly up over Miss Incredible’s eyes. “I’ve been lusting for this day for a long, long time,” she said. “Finally, at long last, I have you, utterly in my power, and your precious mask is coming off. Tonight, I reveal Miss Incredible’s true identity as…” and with a powerful jerk, yanked the mask all the way up and off the super-heroine’s face.
The first thing Miss Incredible felt was the coolness of the air on her face. She felt her hair spilling out behind her, tumbling down her neck and back. She felt the sweat that had accumulated on her brow and cheeks start to drip down her face. For a moment, the entire world froze. She was there, suspended in chains, in her blue and white costume, her face completely naked and exposed. Her ears rang. All she could hear was her own breathing.
“Natalie Carter?” Sinistra’s voice came echoing into Miss Incredible’s ears, invading the momentary silence. Suddenly the world resumed, slamming her back into humiliating reality.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!” wailed Miss Incredible. Desperately, she shook her head so that her auburn hair fell forward around her face, covering it, in an attempt to hide her shame.
Sinistra moved back around to face the heroine, holding the empty, limp mask in her hand. She leaned down and gazed at the super-heroine’s hair-obscured face. She reached out and brushed the auburn locks to the sides, tucking it behind the heroine’s ears, revealing the face of Natalie Carter once again. Their eyes met. Sinistra grinned. “It really is Natalie Carter,” she said in genuine wonder. “I never would have believed…”
Miss Incredible--Natalie--was out of words, out of breath. As she stared into Sinistra’s lovely face, she took on an expression of utter humiliation, shame, and defeat, all defiance stripped away.
“That’s it!” shouted Sinistra. “That’s the look! Ohh, god,” she said in lascivious ecstasy, her eyes rolling back. “Yes. God, yes.”
Natalie Carter hung there, unmasked, exposed, and beyond helpless, as her foe touched herself below the waist. I’m finished, she thought. Utterly, totally finished.
Sinistra looked up at her captive, while still massaging herself. “You look so hot right now, mmm. God, if only I could do this every day.”
Natalie surprised herself by saying, “It’s all caught on camera, so I guess you can.”
Sinistra paused from her gratification and said, “That is very, very true Miss Incred--I mean, Natalie. And believe you me, I’m going to wear the tape out.”
“So am I your prisoner now?” asked Natalie. “Your slave?”
Sinistra smiled. “Tempting, I don’t deny it. But for you, Natalie, the punishment of losing your powers and your alter ego ought to be more than enough. I’m not a monster, whatever you may think.”
Natalie was puzzled. “Then...then what are you going to do with me?”
Sinistra shrugged. “What I said I would: let you go.”
Now Natalie was even more confused. “But...you unmasked me, even after my de-powering. My face has been exposed to the city.”
“No,” said Sinistra. “I didn’t transmit our...denouement to the internet. It was for my enjoyment alone.”
Natalie felt a sudden surge of hope. “Oh my god, so there’s no recording of my unmasking?”
“I didn’t say that,” said Sinistra, looking at her disappointedly. “I recorded it. But it was transmitted to three different cloud drives, plus a physical hard drive that will be moved to a secure location. There was no live stream.”
Natalie’s face fell. “So you’re going to blackmail me.”
“Perhaps,” said Sinistra. “If it becomes necessary. But think of it more as an insurance policy. For all I know, you have more power belts hidden away, and the moment you leave here, you’ll suit up and come looking for my head. Can’t have that. This way, I have a little leverage over you. You behave yourself, stay out of my business, leave Miss Incredible behind you permanently, and there’s no reason the media need ever see the footage of your unmasking.”
“How can I trust you?” Natalie asked.
Sinistra laughed a deep, throaty laugh. “Oh my, Natalie, you absolutely can’t. You’re over a barrel here, and my foot is planted firmly up your shapely little backside. This isn’t a negotiation, my helpless ex-heroine, it’s the terms of your complete and utter surrender.”
Natalie blushed, but she knew Sinistra was right. No one had ever been more over a barrel than she was now. Sinistra had won; there was no point in denying it. She was lucky, in all honesty. Sinistra could have easily had her killed or even shanghaied into sex slavery. It was time to admit defeat; Miss Incredible was conquered.
“I surrender, Sinistra,” she said softly. “You’ve won. Miss Incredible is dead. You’ll never hear of her again, I swear.”
“That’s what I want to hear, my sweet,” said the villainess, flashing a genuinely warm smile. “So do you openly and unabashedly admit your utter defeat and humiliation?”
“Yes,” said Natalie, her voice tired. “I admit I have been completely defeated in every possible way. You have conquered me, and I am powerless in your hands. My punishment is my public humiliation and the knowledge that I was so utterly defeated by you.”
Sinistra looked lascivious again. “Are you a weak, helpless, and terrified little girl, who’s had her pride handed to her along with her ass?”
“Yes, Sinistra. I am pathetically weak and utterly powerless before you. I submit to your domination and conquest.”
“Mmm, conquest,” said the villainess. “I like that word. Very well then, Miss Incredible. I’m a woman of my word. It’s time to release you. But remember: any funny business, and your unmasking goes out worldwide.”
“No funny business, I promise,” said Natalie, her eyes lowered. “I have no fight left in me.”
Grinning, Sinistra produced a metal key from her belt, knelt, and fitted it into the manacle around Natalie’s left ankle. With a firm twist, she unlocked the titanium binding and Natalie felt her ankle swing loose in blessed freedom. Sinistra repeated the process for each manacle on her wrists and ankles, catching the defeated former super-heroine in her arms as the last wrist manacle came loose.
Natalie collapsed onto the dirty floor as soon as Sinistra let her go. The villainess looked down on her, a bit in disgust and a bit in humor. “What a pathetic sack you are now,” she said. “Who knew all it took to reduce you from lifting cars and jumping over buildings was a belt and a mask?”
Natalie pushed herself to her feet and wobbled, unsteady. “I can go?”
Sinistra pointed toward the hatchway door she had entered through earlier. “Yes, that way. Just follow the open doors, they’ll lead you out.”
“Where are we?” asked Natalie.
“The waterfront, on board a derelict freighter.”
Natalie’s eyes widened. The waterfront! I’m miles from safety! She let a moment of silence pass then said, “Sinistra, how am I to get home?”
Sinistra raised an eyebrow. “Walk, I suppose. Or were you so used to flying that you forgot how?”
“But…” Natalie began. “...I’m still in my costume.”
“And?”
“Sinistra…” the former heroine began, her voice meek. “I’m unmasked. And powerless. If I leave here like that, anyone who sees me will...be able to take advantage of me. Please, can I have my mask back? Just so I can get home without anyone seeing my face?”
Sinistra gave her a patient smile. “No, Natalie. I’m keeping the mask. A little souvenir, or a trophy if you will. I think I’m going to have it mounted over my fireplace.”
Natalie winced at the thought of her precious mask on display like some great prize. “Please, Sinistra, I won’t make it home like this.”
“Have you considered simply taking the costume off? No one will recognize you if you’re not wearing it.”
Natalie paused, stunned. She looked down at her shapely body. “I...I only have on a sports bra and panties under this,” she said.
“Quite a quandary, then,” said Sinistra. “Walk home as the unmasked and powerless Miss Incredible, and face the wrath of anyone you meet, or ditch the costume and walk home in your undies, showing off your assets to the public at large.” Sinistra checked her watch. “And it’s nearly dawn, almost time for rush hour!”
“Please, Sinistra, do...do you have any clothes?”
“None,” said the villain, smirking.
Natalie’s face fell as she realized Sinistra had intended this trap all along. It wasn’t enough for Sinistra to unbelt and de-power her. Not enough to peel her mask off and expose her true identity. Not enough to capture it all on camera. Not enough to see her utterly disgraced, ruined, and defeated. No, she also had to walk home nearly naked, or risk exposing herself even further.
“You’re a resourceful young woman, Natalie,” said Sinistra. “I’m sure you’ll find a solution. Now go. I’m ready to head home, settle down in a bubble bath with a glass of champagne and watch your mask come off until I pass out from ecstasy.”
Her head hung low, Natalie limped past Sinistra, through the hatch, and made her way along a series of winding corridors to the deck of the ship. It was freezing outside, this near to the shore. The city glowed with light ahead and around her. The waterfront was deserted.
Could she risk it? No, it was too far. Somebody would see her, and with the video Sinistra had streamed to the internet this evening, it wouldn't take long for them to call the cops, or worse, call the mob. And with her mask off too, she’d be putting her family in terrible danger too. No, she couldn’t risk it. What was one more humiliation on this night of catastrophic humiliations?
She stripped, peeling out of the spandex top of her costume and kicking off her high-heeled boots. Immediately her skin prickled with goosebumps as the wind blew over her. Her nipples popped up against the thin fabric of her sports bra. She slid out of her blue tights, revealing a pair of black, high-cut cotton panties. She wadded her costume, once a symbol of her power, uniqueness, and authority, into a ball and hurled it into the dark water by the dock. It struck the water with a soft splash and sank slowly into the gloom.
Shivering in her underwear, she limped along the docks, toward the street that ran above. She didn’t even any money; it had never before occurred to her that she might need to keep her wallet in her costume. She couldn’t so much as hail a cab.
A sudden rattling sound from up ahead made her freeze in her tracks. She ducked behind a pallet of cargo containers and listened. She heard the rattling again, a metallic sound, along with some indistinct mumbling. She edged around the containers and caught sight of a man standing next to an old, worn barrel, attempting to light a fire in it. He was unkempt, bearded, and talked to himself in a scratchy, half-crazed voice. And he wore a long wool coat. A coat filled with holes and mended sloppily with patches, but a coat nonetheless. A sudden idea occurred to Natalie, and she shuddered.
My god, she thought. When I woke up this morning, I put on my power belt expecting another night of crime-fighting and heroics. And here I stand, in my bra and panties, powerless and unmasked, contemplating beating up a homeless guy to steal his coat. There’s really no farther I could possibly fall.
With a rush, Natalie--the former Miss Incredible--rushed from her hiding place and struck the man in the back of the head with the heel of her hand. He collapsed without a sound, falling forward onto the wood of the docks. Natalie flipped him over and was assailed by the stench of alcohol and body odor. He was old, she saw, old enough to be her father. God, what am I doing? She wriggled him out of the coat, and saw that he had a ratty sweatshirt on underneath. Maybe he’ll be warm enough, she thought, but knew in her heart she was wrong. The man began to stir. Natalie threw the reeking coat around her shoulders; it was several sizes too big, but she wrapped it about her waist to form a sort of robe. “I’m so sorry,” she said to the man, then hobbled away as fast as her exhausted and emotionally brutalized body could carry her.
About four hours later, Natalie Carter stumbled into her apartment, her feet blistered, her lips chapped, and her nipples chafed to two knots of painful soreness. She threw off the bum’s disgusting coat, made it to the bathroom, and vomited violently into the toilet. After that, she crawled into the shower and sat beneath the water until she fell asleep.
She woke, sore, stiff and cold some time later. Teeth chattering, she toweled dry and wrapped herself in a fluffy robe. She came out of the bathroom and into her lovely apartment. I’ll have to leave, she thought, looking over her worldly possessions. I can’t risk staying in the city with Sinistra’s video of my unmasking. And besides, who would want to live here with Sinistra in possession of my power belt? She’d take all her finances and take a plane to Europe, or South America, or someplace. She’d retire, and live a quiet life. If only Sinistra would be as good as her word, and not reveal the damning video of her unmasking, she would, perhaps, be able to feel like a human being again some day.
I never imagined when I became Miss Incredible that it would end like this, she thought. How I let my pride get the best of me, i’ll never know. But never again. I’ll never be humiliated like this again. I’d rather die.
She began packing her suitcase, and switched on the television to distract her wounded mind. And she heard the words, and then she was falling.
“...have received further video in addition to last night’s shocking humiliation and defeat of the super-heroine known as Miss Incredible that shows her being unmasked. We are the first to report this exclusive: Miss Incredible’s true identity is Professor Natalie Carter, the millionaire inventor and physicist. Miss Carter has not returned our phone calls, but we have received word that police are on their way to arrest her at her residence at a flat in the upper east side neighborhood of…
Natalie Carter, Miss Incredible, fainted at the foot of her bed, just as a loud, pounding knock came at her door. Police, or someone worse? she had time to think as she lost consciousness. Whoever it is, I hope they put me out of my misery.
Unfortunately for Miss Incredible, her misery had only just begun.