WARNING!!! The following story contains bondage, domination, and extremely adult sexual situations. If this isn't the kind of thing you're interested in, for heavens sake DON'T READ IT!!! You should be OVER 21 YEARS OF AGE to read this, as it is intended for adults only. Set in the world created by 'The Cliffhanger' in the stories 'Arc of the Gold Bug' and 'The Tournament of Death', it involves a dark and somber future where Batgirl fights crime with other vigilantes without the aid of Batman, who is (at least temporarily) gone from the scene.
This story is written as fiction for entertainment purposes only, and is not intended nor will it gather monetary recompense in ANY WAY, SHAPE, or FORM....it is freely offered for interested readers only.
The original creation of Batgirl is copyrighted by DC Comics...without whom we wouldn't have this wonderful superheroine. (So go buy a few to show your support...and encourage them to write more Batgirl stories...)
Barbara entered her apartment and threw the digivid crystal across the room in disgust. The latest news it reflected was distressing at best. Arox Kemp had just escaped from Arkham. The Mariner was once again on the prowl.
Batgirl and the Mariner had crossed swords before, and each had victories and defeats counted in their tally. Kemp was a wily criminal who would go to any lengths to achieve his goals. Barbara had managed to thwart him in the past, but he had escaped several encounters before the final run-in where she had cornered him. Even then, it had been luck coupled with skill that had been his undoing. Batgirl didn't mind using luck, but she didn't like to depend on it too heavily.
Barbara had scanned the other articles on the crystal, and was unsurprised to discover several thefts listed. In a city the size of Gotham, thefts were an everyday occurrence no matter how diligent the nighttime vigilantes were. But two of the articles were of more than a passing interest...
A chemical company had stated that a midnight prowler had made off with several drums of various chemicals. The listing would have been meaningless to anyone but a chemist...or a well educated crimefighter. Individually, none of the chemicals were of any great concern. It was the possible combination that poised a threat.
Barbara knew that possible mixtures led to explosives, nerve gasses, and poisons. It certainly seemed like the kind of thing a vengeful escapee would be interested in.
The other article listed a burglary at an electronics firm. Again, the components seemed to be innocuous enough; it was the possible combination that led to detonators, actuators, or other servo type devices.
If it was the work of the Mariner, Barbara would have to think like him to analyze his next target...
Several hours later, a shadowed figure exited at high speed from a hidden alleyway on a Black Ninja 5000. The flash of night raised a storm of dust behind it, but little else. Atop the bike, Batgirl shifted her weight smoothly to negotiate curves that she knew all too well. The Ninja had been hideously expensive, but supported some of the most advanced electronics of this age. She could jam signals, paralyze an opponent, and redirect traffic all from the control panel in front of her. In stealth mode, as it was currently, the only sound emanating from her passage was the tires against the pavement. The engine was totally silent, attracting virtually no attention unless viewed directly by pedestrians. That feature alone had cleared her of more than a few sticky situations, as the bike rocketed into the midst of her enemies before they knew she was approaching.
Barbara had spent several hours mixing and matching possible combinations of chemicals. She suspected that the Mariner would try to gain revenge in the grandest way possible. But no matter how she arranged the chemicals, nothing on a wide-scale use came to mind. If her hunch was correct, then Kemp was still missing critical components, components that weren't available at the site of the first robbery.
If it was a grandstand play that the Mariner was after, he would almost surely hit the other large supplier of chemicals in Gotham, Oxo Corp. It was worth a stakeout if it meant putting him back in Arkham quickly.
The bike whispered to a halt in one of the alleyways adjoining the fenced property of Oxo Corp. Batgirl dismounted, and made her way to the fence. A quick tetherclaw fired at one of the protruding struts, and she had made her way to the roof. The dark angel approached each corner of the building and tossed a microsensor to the ground below. The sensors would transmit any movement near the storage facility from about 10 yards out. Though Barbara intended to keep a close watch on the darkened end of the building, it never hurt to have an edge. She settled herself in for a long wait...
It was well past midnight when a darkened figure approached the rear side of the building that Batgirl was covering. The silhouette approached the doorway, and seemed to examine it closely. Then it slipped inside.
The dark angel watched the door for a few minutes. If it was Kemp, there would be others involved. Batgirl caught the sound of the truck immediately. It rumbled quietly, crawling into position alongside the fence that surrounding the area. Once in position, another dark figure exited from the back and slipped through the hole in the fence that had been silently cut. A driver was still visible in the van, prepared for a hasty getaway if needed. Whether it was Kemp or not, a crime was being committed. Atop her current perch, it was difficult to make out the faces below. No-one else had entered the building, so it was likely that the two perps were extricating what they needed as the driver stood by. After several more minutes of waiting to ensure no reinforcements were coming, Batgirl decided that the time for action was upon her. She removed the grate that covered a ventilation duct, and secured a claw to a rooftop fixture. Then she wriggled backward into the opening, sliding silently down the tether until she touched lightly on the floor below.
Batgirl listened intently for several seconds. The slight scraping of metal on concrete echoed back to her. She moved liked a shadow across the main floor, using the cartons and drums as cover whenever possible. Within seconds she had made her way to the opposite side of the building. The two burglars had already assembled a stash of several items, which rose in a heap next to the door.
One of the assailants was busy in a crate at the base of a stack, while the other had his back to the first on the opposite side. The distance and position were ideal. Batgirl checked the motion sensors outside one last time. Still no movement. That was a good sign. Batgirl carefully ascended the back side of the wall of crates; once she was in position, she leaped downward, a tensed foot crashing into the back of the first assailant's neck. The carefully executed maneuver banged the thief's head against the crate, knocking him unconscious instantly.
A diving roll and extended arm brought her crashing into assailant 2, who was pounded forward into the wall of crates on the opposite side. Stunned, he would need a moment to recover. Batgirl never gave him that moment. A flurry of spinning kicks and jabs crashed onto her opponent, and he fell to the ground seconds later.
Batgirl removed their hooded masks, and was disappointed to discover that neither was Kemp. Still, if they worked for him, the evidence of what they were gathering could supply the clues she needed to pinpoint his location.
Barbara examined the first small box of neurotoxins, but it was actually rather harmless. It was the next box that was deadly, in more ways than one. As the curious Batgirl lifted the lid, a spray of liquid doused her across the face and eyes. A trap! Stupid...careless...
The dazed heroine stumbled backward, and watched the room begin to spin rapidly as the chemical seeped into her bloodstream... She had just enough time to see Arox Kemp appear from behind the second wall before she fell to the floor. As the spinning increased, and blackness faded in on the distressed crimefighter, she had time for one final thought....He had arrived before her, and been waiting motionless the whole time....
When Batgirl awoke, Kemp and his two cronies were positioned directly before her. Barbara shifted her weight, and discovered immediately that she was bound into immobility. The Mariner had gone a little crazy with the straps, it seemed. She was unable to get a full view of what had been done because a canvas strap ran directly across her forehead. The strap was cinched tightly enough to hold her head completely immobile. A rubber ball filled her mouth, prying apart her jaws in the process. Another strap held the ball in place, pressing tightly against her lips and silencing her very effectively.
Peering downward as well as she was able, Batgirl discovered some other distressing news. The slitex costume had been stripped from her upper torso, and was now bundled about her slim waist. Her proud breasts thrust outward with no protection, exposed to the sight of her captors. She was secured to an aluminum frame with many additional straps; at the throat; at the shoulders; both above and below her breasts; across her midriff; at her hips; across her thighs in two locations; above and below her knees; at her ankles; and across her feet. Several levels of secondary strapping secured her arms to her waist, and her wrists to her thighs. Kemp had definitely gone overboard on the straps; it was obvious that he didn't want her moving around.
Batgirl twisted furiously for a few seconds. With the multitude of straps pulled tightly against her, the only motion that the exertions produced was a slight trembling of her nipples. There was just no room for give in the unrelenting straps. Batgirl stared into the intense eyes of her nemesis.
"It's good to see you again, Batgirl. It's been a while, hasn't it? Three years, four months and six days for those of us who kept count."
Batgirl stared back. It was obvious that the Mariner was nursing a grudge. Now she was going to find out just how deeply...
"Since you seem intent on thwarting my plans, it looks as if I'll have to take steps. I'm in something of a rush, so you'll have to excuse the crudity of the design..."
Kemp nodded to one of the two thugs that had regained consciousness after being pummeled by Batgirl. The thief withdrew a small device from his pocket, and pointed it at the pipes that crossed the warehouse above the bound heroine. A sharp red beam stabbed out, and burned its way into the pipe for several seconds. Then the beam shut off. The thug repeated the process at another point on the pipe, about 8 inches from the first location. Another nod from Kemp, and the two felons exited the area to regain their stolen property.
The purpose of the beam wasn't immediately apparent to the secured Batgirl. It was almost thirty seconds later when the first drop of hydrocoolant dripped downward, its flight stopped dramatically by her extended left nipple. The coolant was chill, producing an instant effect. Batgirl's nipple stiffened immediately, tightening until it was fully erect. After another thirty seconds, a crashing droplet struck the right nipple, and the stiffening was repeated.
Kemp walked calmly to the tightly bound detective, and lifted a hand to caress the right protrusion. He rolled the nipple between thumb and forefinger, then flexed it a few times. He was fascinated as it repeatedly sprang back into position, despite the angle or extent of bending that he applied.
Batgirl was not inactive during this time. Though not actually painful, this was intimate contact that she would have preferred to stop. She struggled mightily against the confinement. Her struggles were ignored by the lewdly exploring adversary.
To be sure, the Mariner had done things in the past that made this academic. Her most vivid, distasteful memory was the labia and nipple piercing that he had overseen. Under duress, the captive doctor had been as gentle as possible, but the process still hurt. Kemp had been overjoyed at his newfound ability to secure Batgirl in a way that was previously unattainable. He had devised and applied several scenarios that used the new attachments. It was an incident that Barbara preferred to forget. Though the episode had eventually ended in Kemp's capture, Batgirl had been permanently marked in a way that was unerasable.
Even now Kemp studied the erect nipple to ensure that the piercing was still available. Barbara struggled all the more. The Mariner knew his business, however, and her attempts to break free produced not the slightest motion in the aluminum frame, or the perfectly formed dancer's body.
"Exquisite, Batgirl. You truly are incredible. It's a shame to kill you, but I can't have you traipsing around, trying to thwart my plans. So I'm going to let Oxo eliminate you.
"We've started the supercoolant refrigerators that feed the pipes above you. The coolant running through the pipes will get progressively colder as each hour passes. Within an hour, the liquid will be at -256 degrees, instantly solidifying into crystal anything it touches.
"And I'm sure you're aware of what's being touched..."
Batgirl stared downward as another drop struck her left nipple. The liquid was definitely colder this time, and the nipple hardened further.
"I'd love to douse you outright, but the drop in pressure would set off all kinds of nasty alarms...and we certainly don't want the security guards to know you're here, do we?" Kemp asked with a feral smile.
Batgirl stared angrily at her captor. If she couldn't find a way to break free of the straps, she'd be a frozen popsicle by morning. The alignment ensured that she would have an erotic demise, which had always been the Mariner's style.
"I'll leave you to your subzero Sword of Damacles, my dear. Try to keep a stiff upper lip...or a stiff something, at least..."
Barbara watched as Kemp turned and left. Another drop struck her right nipple, accompanied by not only the requisite hardening but also a slight pain. The coolant had begun to chill further.
Batgirl thought furiously. Her thrashings against the straps hadn't succeeded in moving her an inch. She suspected that the frame was probably bolted into position on the floor below her. Avoidance wasn't a viable solution.
A release in pressure would trigger alarms. That held some possibility. Several problems though. She couldn't reach her utility belt with her wrists strapped down. Even if she could, an explosion or larger hole on the pipe would soak her in supercoolant. If she could do that now, the idea was promising...but each passing minute the coolant was more dangerous to release. A sudden dowsing in cryogenic liquid would be a very bad idea...
Was there some other way to attract the security guards? Nothing came to mind since she was totally immobilized.
Batgirl decided that her best chance lay with the implant.
Barbara remembered the history of the grafting. After several harrowing adventures, Batgirl had decided that she needed a hidden edge. New technology had allowed the harmony of flesh and inanimate material...up to a point. The dark angel had struggled with the decision of how much was too much..and finally decided on the thumbnail implant.
Beneath her right thumbnail was a very tiny compartment that could house one of several devices. She typically accessed it by pressing hard on the nail, which would release a hidden catch. She was able to carry any individual small, easily concealed object as long as it fit in the housing below the nail. Her normal repertoire included a choice from a small lockpick, a razor, a dart projectile, and an activation transmitter. Standard operating procedure was to carry the razor, since it could be used as a surprise weapon or as an object to secure her freedom from bindings.
Batgirl pressed hard on the thumbnail, and the razor snapped outward into position, slicing through the thin fabric of her costume. Now the difficult part began. The angle from her thumb to the wrist-straps was all wrong. Though she could reach the strap by bending, she had to hold her hand at an unnatural angle to press the razor against the strap.
Another drop struck her left nipple. An instant of intense pain, followed by regular pain, followed by a deeply frigid cold. This wasn't looking good. The air allowed the nipples to re-warm somewhat...but the warming/freezing/re-warming combination was actually more painful. The defrosting/refreezing effect was something that Kemp had probably planned on, knowing that it would bring her the greatest displeasure.
Batgirl started to saw at the straps, working the thin blade against the material with as much pressure as she could...
Damn!!
The Mariner had prepared well. The straps had thin kevlar strands running through them. The razor still cut these...with effort...but it significantly slowed the process. An effort that should have freed her wrist in sixty seconds had accomplished only a quarter inch of progress in the same time. This was looking worse and worse.
Another droplet. Right this time. Barbara was shivering, her torso covered with goosebumps as the coolant chilled her upper body. She directed her eyes upward to see the pipe above her. The exterior was forming a frost as two more drops readied themselves. Her furiously working right hand had worked through a half inch of strap, but two and a half inches remained...
Left. Liquid fire seethed into the nipple, but Batgirl knew that the pain was from cold, not heat. The nipple felt as hard as a diamond, and stood stiffly at attention. Barbara tried to shift her position again, but to no effect. Three quarters of an inch had been sawed...
Right. Her breasts shuddered as the extreme cold settled into them, her body quaking with reaction as the shivering muscles tried to regenerate enough heat to ward off the icy chill. Batgirl started to gasp through her nose as she tried to supply enough oxygen to both sets of muscles, chest and hand.
Left. Only with a difference. There was no pain this time. And that was a bad thing... The freeze had settled into the protrusion enough that she no longer felt the pain of the drops. That was a precursor to frostbite. She had to break free soon....
Right. Again, no feeling. She had sawed through an inch of strap, but she could see that the time invested was too much. At her current rate of slicing through the material, the supercoolant would win the race, freezing her lungs before she could escape. Her upper body was shivering so hard with reaction that it was getting difficult to concentrate....but she still kept fighting...
Left. The glazing of ice wasn't melting as quickly this time, and each breath of air hurt as Barbara filled her lungs. A deep ache stretched across her ribcage as she willed the muscles to continue their progress, to fill the lungs with much needed air. It was as if a hundred pound weight crushed downward, squeezing the air from her. Barbara resigned herself to the fact that the Mariner was going to win, and that a Batgirl ice-statue was all that would remain in the morning. Her right hand still worked feebly at cutting the kevlar infused straps...
It was then that the glare of a spotlight flashed across her eyes; Batgirl was confused at first as to its origin. After several seconds, as the beam jostled toward her, she realized that a security guard had found his way to the scene.
Right. The guard stopped momentarily as he watched the coolant splash across the nipple, and as the shapely midriff began to shudder more intensely from the biting cold. Then he rushed to the shivering superheroine, and began removing the straps as quickly as he could.
The unfortunate Batgirl couldn't utter a sound, as the breath froze in her lungs from the frigid air around her. Though she couldn't fault him in his haste, her savior made at least two bad decisions. His first error was that he worked from the ground up to free her, so that her gag was one of the last items to be removed. She was unable to say anything that would help him with her plight.
His second error was that he had failed to cover her exposed breasts with any protection, so that two more drops struck home before he had reached the forehead strap. Once he snicked opened the pressure rollers, and the last strap eased up, Batgirl reacted.
The dark angel staggered forward a step to remove herself from the line of icy fire, then she promptly fell to her knees. Her quaking chest muscles were still trying to eliminate the effects of the cold. She grasped the hardened nipples, one in each hand, to return what warmth she could to them. The guard watched for several minutes as her shivering finally subsided. , and she was able to move again.
Batgirl finally stood, hands still clasped to breasts. She turned her back to the security guard, and examined the nipples. Though still hard as a rock, they seemed to be unharmed. She redonned her costume with shaking fingers and turned to face the guard once more.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Yes. A little chilly, though. Thank you for the help."
"Who did this to you?" Batgirl knew immediately by this reponse that the Mariner had gotten away unscathed.
"Thieves intent on robbing your supplies. I caught them with several neurotoxins and poisons. Did you see any remaining canisters by your side door entrance?"
"No. I was on a routine patrol when I discovered the cut in the fence. I found the stock area disrupted, and immediately checked the rest of the building. You're lucky I did...that coolant would eventually have frozen you solid. As far as the burglary, it looks like all the relatively harmless stuff is still there; but the high security chemicals are all gone."
Batgirl thought for a moment. Some of the chemicals would require special conditions, even to open the canisters. When she looked up from her reverie, the distracted guard was focused...but not on his job. His eyes were locked on the two hard nubs below the stretching slitex costume.
"I suggest that you concentrate on an area that would help with the situation...like the scene of the crime perhaps?" Batgirl remonstrated.
The embarrassed guard recovered quickly. "Of course...sorry.. If you need any more help, let me know. I need to call this in anyway..."
Barbara watched him go. She couldn't really blame him too much...her nipples were making very obvious protrusions below the thin fabric. And she was still shivering slightly, which definitely wasn't helping matters...
Batgirl fired her tetherclaw and exited the warehouse the way she had entered. This round had gone to the Mariner, but the fight was far from over. And there was still the micro-transmitter that she had attached to the first canister, unseen by her adversaries... The dark angel would be tracing the canister right back to its owner, the maniacal Arox Kemp. With a little luck, the Mariner would be back in custody by daybreak....
The Ninja whipped around the edge of the building and decelerated rapidly to a halt. Batgirl climbed off quickly, rechecking the sensors. The bugged canister was about 100 yards ahead and to the left. In the alleyway, Barbara retrieved an electronic map of the building ahead of her. The console of the bike lit up with the details.
The blueprints showed several street level entrances, and at least one rooftop access point. The skylight was ideal for her purposes since it allowed an overview of the ground floor. After her last encounter, she wanted to make sure that Arox Kemp was within her field of vision before she moved in on the crime scene.
A dark shadow flitted across the adjoining rooftops, melding with the shadows as if a part of them. No guards appeared on the roof that Batgirl had designated, but she tossed an 'Ear' just to be sure. The 'Ear', or Electronics Array Receiver, would feed back a signal if any electronic device was being used to monitor the rooftop. The Ear showed nothing, though.
A quick leap, and the dark detective had crossed to the needed roof. She peered carefully over the edge of the skylight, to view the ground floor activity below. It seemed that Kemp had hired mercenaries for the job. As Barbara watched, the Mariner paid two of the three assistants. A small passbook was handed to each, and the two promptly exited the building.
Batgirl let them go. Time enough to hunt them down later, once Kemp was in custody. The third henchman was unloading the truck, and was positioned directly below the skylight. A nasty looking auto-pistol was slung in a holster to his thigh. The low-recoil format would fire 500 rounds a minute with perfect accuracy and no sound whatsoever. Barbara examined Kemp again. He was making his way to the office, and didn't seem to be carrying any weapons.
The choice was easy. Batgirl affixed her tether to an extended pipe, then freed a concussor grenade. She leapt upwards, crashing bootfirst through the thin glass of the skylight. As the shards rained downward and she zipped to the floor below, she flung the concussor directly at the feet of the third mercenary. The shockwave toppled him instantly, sending out a pulse that felled him like a tree. Luckily, the utility belt on Batgirl's waist contained a mini-generator that dampened the effect for her, but the proximity of the shock was still enough to rattle her momentarily.
It only took a second to regain her bearings, but in that time the Mariner had turned and fled to the office. He was frantically trying to unlock a desk drawer that probably housed a weapon. Batgirl flung herself forward, charging up the stairs in an instant, and barreled through the open doorway.
Which was exactly what Kemp had been hoping for...
As soon as her ankles blocked the threshold beam for an instant, four steel grapplers fired from the adjoining wall of the office. The titanium bands snapped around Batgirl in an instant, and she walloped to the floor in a flamboyant display of unfortunate ensnarement. The bands tightened automatically, squeezing her in a crushing grip of passion. Her elbows were locked to her waist by a loop that circled her midriff, while her wrists were similarly secured to her thighs by another clasping loop. What had caused her to come crashing down were the remaining two bands, that clutched her about the thighs and locked across her calfs.
Batgirl had skidded to a halt across the office floor, and now occupied the center of attention directly in front of the Mariner's desk. The wind had been knocked out of her by the thunderous crash, and it took her a moment to relocate Kemp.
Bastard! He wasn't in the slightest rush. In fact, he was now leaning back in his chair, watching the struggling Batgirl. The frenzied display with the desk key had been to bait her into the room in a headlong rush. It had worked. She squirmed against the bands, trying to loosen a wrist or ankle to provide leverage.
Arox stood slowly, and sauntered over to the battling superheroine. He revelled in the show as the shapely silhouette thrashed against the bonds. The titanium was just too stron though. Batgirl was no match for the constriction being applied.
"Hmmmmm....you don't look like you're frozen...isn't that how I left you? How did you escape?"
Batgirl glared upward, silencing her contention against the bonds as she realized the hopelessness of breaking them. "Trade secret. If you'd like, I can secure you in the same way, then give you some pointers as the supercoolant drips down. I'm sure you'll find it informative..."
"Ha-ha! Quite amusing. I see you've still got your sense of humor. That's what I like about you, Batgirl. You never give up."
"Gee, thanks.. Since I don't, perhaps you will?..." she asked.
"I don't think I'm ready to give up quite yet, thank you very much. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you're the one who's in trouble here..."
Batgirl simply listened intently. Her left wrist continued to work at the bonds, but she knew that unless the catch failed, the titanium wasn't going to yield.
Arox continued. "The problem, as I see it, is that killing you outright is not very satisfying. Having a frozen batsicle isn't really very conducive to repaying you for my incarceration. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that something more intriguing was in order...."
Barbara listened with half an ear as she continued to try to work the catch. She didn't like where this was heading.
"So, maybe you should lock me in a prison cell for a few months so that I can empathize with your jail term?" she asked, knowing that the jibe was useless. Still, she might be able to reach the lockpick on the utility belt if she could wriggle in the bands enough.
"No, my little lovepile, I was thinking of something a bit more intense...". Kemp casually raised a booted foot, and nestled it directly between her clamped legs, so that the toe pushed hard into her crotch.
"I can see that your muscles are as taut as ever...I think a good workout is in order, don't you?"
Batgirl continued to squirm...if the Mariner was appeased with her submissive writhing, he might miss the fact that she had just released the lockpick behind her...
"But, since it's obvious that you're hiding something in your hand, I guess we'll have to remove pretty much everything you have on...
Damn!! Batgirl worked furiously in the hopes of picking at least one lock on the bands to free a wrist. With a hand free, her utility belt could finish her adversary in an instant...
"Nighty-night, my dear..." Kemp removed a remote from his pocket and pushed downward on a button. Batgirl felt a sharp sting in her lower back as a needle jabbed into her. The lockpick fell from numbed fingers, and blackness closed in....
The dimly lit surroundings began to filter through to the slowly recovering Batgirl. She concentrated on regaining her senses, knowing that every minute she was inactive was a minute closer to whatever the Mariner had in mind.
Barbara found herself chained to an examining table, ending in leather cuffs attached to her wrists and ankles. A cool breeze wafted across her loins. She noticed this immediately, due to the fact that her costume no longer covered her body. She was quite naked, except for her mask. Her arms and legs were suggestively if not painfully spread, allowing easy access to wherever the Mariner might take an interest. The room was dimly lit, with few details to indicate where she might be. The few things she could see, however, made Batgirl very concerned. Next to the table was a tray with several ominous looking utensils on it, none of which looked particularly amusing to the prone superheroine. A large dildo was the focal point that drew her attention immediately, the smooth rubber surface gleaming dully in the reflected light. Alongside the dildo was a pump gag attached to a half-mask, the numerous straps and buckles providing a testament to its permanence once attached. Then there were the four plexiglass tubes, with a strange valve arrangement inside each. The function of the valves remained a mystery, and Batgirl was hard pressed to identify exactly how they would operate. Several thin chains were also in evidence, coiled together in a way that made them difficult to identify from one another.
Whatever the Mariner had planned, it didn't look to be pleasant. Batgirl began tensing in the chains, stretching the cuffs to take advantage of any weakness that might be found. After several long minutes of straining, she had to come to the unfortunate conclusion that the bindings were too secure to overcome by simple force. She had placed a sleeping gas capsule in her thumb compartment, in the hopes that it would have been very effective in the close confines of the warehouse she had been captured in. Useless in her current situation. She did the only sensible thing she could think of at this point; she rested, awaiting a more opportune moment to try and break free.
It was several hours later when the creaking of the door indicated that the Mariner had returned. The thin shaft of light was blinding after her prolonged stay in darkness; and by no coincidence it fell directly between her wide-forked legs. He flipped a switch on the wall, and several flourescent lights now filled the room with moderate lighting.
"Ah, my dear, awake at last I see. Good. I wanted to be sure you were fully rested for your newest ordeal."
Batgirl tensed her muscles but gave no other outward sign of her displeasure. Behind the mask, green eyes smoldered with suppressed anger. "Well, Mariner, back from whatever slimy rock you crawled under..."
"Indeed. I trust you've had time to examine your newest gifts on the table beside you? They were hand selected to ensure that you'll remember this session for a long time to come. Do you like them?"
"Not particularly...the only thing I'd like is to see your face back behind the bars at Arkham, where it belongs."
"Tsk, Tsk, Batgirl" Arox remonstrated, "I'd hoped you would be a good sport about this. You lost fair and square. Now you have to accept the consequences."
"It's obvious that you don't know the meaning of 'fair'. And when I get free of this, I'm going to show you exactly what 'consequences' are..."
"Bold words from a naked female, chained spreadeagled and helpless....most amusing, really..." Kemp remarked. "It's unfortunate that your parents never taught you the 'silence is golden' lesson...let me show you exactly what I mean...."
Batgirl watched as her captor walked slowly to the table and retrieved the gag, examining it as if he hadn't seen one before. He turned it this way and that in the light, seemingly pleased at the way the buckles clinked against each other.
"Now, my little minnow, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Barbara had been through this before with the fiend. She recalled vivid memories of both options; she definitely didn't want to do this the hard way. She grudgingly opened her mouth to accept the bladder, wincing at the vile rubbery taste as it squeezed between her teeth. The Mariner methodically buckled the straps into place, eagerly pulling the notched cutouts one position beyond what was comfortable. The leather mask hugged her jaw, while the forehead strap ensured that no slippage was going to occur for the unfortunate wearer. Two straps on either side of her nose connected upward to the forehead strap, sealing her inside the hideous thing with no possibility of parole. The gag wasn't going to come off without help.
"I think we can start at three-quarter pressure, since we're only just beginning..." Arox gently, lovingly held the pump bulb in his hand, almost caressing it as he gave it the first squeeze. The vile rubber bladder increased only slightly. A few more squeezes, and Batgirl could definitely observe its presence in her mostly packed mouth. After a few more pumps, the pressure on her cheeks and lips was beginning to border on painful, but wasn't quite there yet.
"Now I want to make sure that I'm as supportive as possible to your situation, if you'll pardon the pun..." Kemp removed some kind of cushion from beneath the table; lifting Batgirl at the small of the back, he slid the cushion beneath her. Her rump was now almost 6 inches from the surface of the table.
Arox now gingerly grasped the first chain; Batgirl watched as he threaded it through a pulley directly above her left breast. Three more chains were then threaded, one above the right breast, and two onto pulleys just above her crotch. Barbara was beginning to get a sinking feeling about this, especially based on the placement of the pulleys directly over sensitive erogenous zones.
"Mmmmph!!!" she retorted, the gag completely masking whatever words she had actually spoken. The Mariner paused, smiling down at the helpless Batgirl.
"I'm sorry my dear....did you have something you wanted to say?"
Daggers shot from the captive eyes, but Batgirl didn't reply; she didn't want to give Kemp the satisfaction of knowing how effectively gagged she was.
"I didn't think so....". The setup continued.
The four strange plexiglass tubes were now moved into position directly below each pulley. The Mariner attached the chains onto the tubes in two locations, one on either side, so that the opening of each tube was still free and clear. The tubes rested upright on four small stands that surrounded the examination table. Kemp reached beneath the table again, revealing a jewelry case to the gagged prisoner.
"I decided to get you something special for our date...." The case snapped open, and Barbara hesitantly peered inside. Nestled on a black velvet background, four gold rings glittered seductively at her. If the rings had been a token of affection, their value and beauty would have made her the envy of every other woman who saw them. They were exquisitely detailed, a series of filigrees enhancing their brilliance. Sharp reflections shone off their highly polished surface, immediately making them the center of anyone's attention. They were undoubtedly worth a small fortune.
"I'm so glad you like them!!... Let's put them on, shall we?" Arox asked pleasantly, as he removed the first ring from the case.
"MMMPH!" Batgirl shouted, writhing frantically to escape the coming assault. Because these weren't ordinary rings. Because these were punishment rings. And because the Mariner was now angling the first ring toward her previously pierced left nipple.
"MMMMMMMPPPHH!" Ring one was firmly attached. Ring two was now removed from the case.
"MMMM---MMMPPPHH!" Batgirl winced as the second ring was threaded home in the right nipple.
"Very nice, Batgirl... I do believe that you know where the last two are going, don't you?" her captor asked in a slightly amused tone.
Despite her best attempts to cover her emotions, an edge of fear was reflected in the shining green eyes. The third and fourth rings were removed from the case, and the Mariner moved to his left, positioning himself downward on Batgirl's straining body.
"MMM-MM-MMMPHH! NNNN-MMMPHH!"
The pussy rings were now threaded into place on her delicate labia, with Batgirl trembling slightly from the aftereffects of the process. The pierced locations hadn't been used for quite some time, since Batgirl had obviously tried to avoid situations like this. Unfortunately, this time she was unsuccessful.
"It would be a shame to waste all the slack in the chains, eh?" Arox laughed. Each chain was now led from its associated pulley to one of the four rings, and attached so that no slack was visible. When the arrangement was finished, each of the four rings was attached to a plexi tube, by route of the pulleys. It was an intricate, if not encouraging, arrangement. The only item left on the table was the massive dildo; the Mariner picked it up.
"Open wide and say 'Aaaahhh...'" Kemp chortled as he began working the dildo into place.
"MMPH! Mmmph! Mn-MMph!"
It was several frustrating, glorious minutes later when the base of the dildo finally nestled home against her chained lips.
"Comfy, my dear?". Batgirl's angry, glaring eyes bored into her captor. It was the only retaliation possible under the circumstances. She watched as the Mariner walked to the wall behind her, and turned a valve. He then returned to the table, smiling down at the beautiful, restrained heroine. Lifting her at the small of the back, he removed the cushion supporting her.
"I think you'll find this interesting..."
Batgirl had immediately supported herself using her leg and arm muscles, but she knew that this was a temporary measure at best. Within a minute the tingling started in her arms and legs, indicating the beginning of muscle fatigue. Barbara suspected this was to be no simple punishment, but she had no choice other than to relax her pose. She gingerly relaxed her hips downward onto the examining table, wincing slightly as each of the four chains tensioned and pulled the lightweight clear cylinders upward.
The Mariner reached into his pocket and withdrew a final, very short chain. He quickly attached this to the dildo inside the recuperating Batgirl, before she had a chance to recover. She looked at him quizzically, not really understanding the action. Not until a few seconds later, at least.
Kemp removed a tiny remote transmitter from his pocket, and gently depressed a button on it. Four tiny spigots mounted in the ceiling began to dispense a thin stream of water into each of the four plexi tubes. Batgirl stared in horror, realizing immediately what the end result would be. As each tube slowly filled, the weight began to increase, pulling with more and more pressure at her captive nipples, stretching her already sensitive labia. Another 60 seconds passed while the tubes slowly filled, and still the water descended. The pressure was unbearable. Her lips stretched outward, reaching to the torturous pulleys as if to meet them. Her nipples were yanked upward with far too much weight pulling on them, and still the flow continued.
"MMMMPHPH!!" Batgirl arched her back once more to relieve what pressure she could.
When her tightly strained nates were once again six inches off the table, the plexi-tubes settled back onto their respective stands. The function of the valve inside each tube was now apparent. Although the water still flowed from the spigots above, the valve inside each tube now opened a hole that allowed the pent-up water to escape. The release was not instantaneous, however. Batgirl watched the slow stream of water as it trickled from the tubes. It was going to take about 2 minutes, during which time she had to remain exactly arched in this position; otherwise the valves would close again.
Batgirl swore profusely behind the gag, the stream of invectives coming out as muffled groans due to the inflated gag. It was diabolical. The process of filling the tubes had been precisely timed with the process of emptying the tubes, and the two were of the exact same duration. If she rested for 1 minute, she had to stay arched for 1 minute. If she arched for 2 minutes, it was because she had been resting for 2 minutes. The punishment was devious, painful, and foolproof. She had no choice but to keep offsetting one side of the equation. Too much rest, and her sensitive erogenous zones suffered for her inactivity; too much arching, and her fatigued muscles would fail. Batgirl pulled wildly at the restraints as the realization sunk in that her ordeal had barely begun. "MMMMPPPPPPHHHH! MMMM-MMNNNNPH!" echoed behind the gag as Batgirl screamed her outrage.
The Mariner laughed as he watched the angry gyrations of the straining superheroine, knowing that the full realization of her punishment had just sunken in. "Now, my dear Batgirl, I'll leave you to your fate. Since it looks to be rather painful, I wanted to make sure that at least one thing was pleasant for you...". Arox pressed another button on the tiny remote, watching for the captive heroine's reactions.
The dildo that had been squeezed into Batgirl's tight interior now roared into life, buzzing madly in its tight velvet confines.
"MMMMMMPPPHHHHH!!!" echoed even more loudly from beneath the gag as Barbara railed against this newest assault. The warm tingling in her loins signaled the start of sexual excitation as the rubber penis worked to achieve its objective. Sweat broke out on her brow as the combination of effects took their toll.
"Enjoy your stay, little minnow. I'll stop back in a few hours to see how you're doing." A few hours!, Batgirl thought anxiously. Only five minutes had passed, and already the punishment was horrible. Barbara could only imagine what kind of shape she'd be in a few hours from now.
Arox stopped briefly on his way out, reaching over the straining arms to give the gag a few additional pumps for good measure; the pressure from the gag had now increased into the 'painful' level, and Batgirl squirmed in response. Then the Mariner was gone, locking the door behind him.
Batgirl continued to swear profusely, the muffled "mmph"s echoing in the now empty room. Her trembling thighs needed to rest, and the cylinders were now empty of water. She relaxed her arching back downward, coming to rest once again on the punishment table. As soon as the vibrator chain relaxed, the dildo stopped its incessant drilling. One small favor. But the cylinders were filling again, and within two minutes she was again readying herself for the bowed position. As her seductively curved ass left the table, the dildo chain tightened, reactivating the eager beast inside her. The rekindling of her love fires was faster this time, and at the end of the two minute draining interval, she was close to orgasm. With the activation/deactivation of the intruder, it was harder to ignore and (unfortunately) more exciting, since the barrage wasn't constant. Another rest as the rings pulled outward, and she was up again to reverse the buildup.
Batgirl was arched for almost a full minute, trembling on the precipice of her first orgasm. She knew what the loss of control would probably cost her. The result was inevitable, however. The fulsome love lips were fully stimulated now, and the vibrations from the dildo tunneled into her deepest core, too powerful to be ignored. Her entire body tensed as the waves reached their peak... then the erotic storm crashed through her. The wildly bucking body pulled madly at the restraints, her chest heaving and straining in a desperate attempt to capture enough oxygen. The rings were inadvertently yanked by the motion of her trembling body, the sudden movement delivering several pangs of lightning through the captive parts. Beads of sweat had broken out all over her body as her energies were expended in several directions at once. The trembling muscles from the orgasm coupled with the tensed muscles to hold her in position combined to conspire against her. When she finally relaxed back onto the table, she was shuddering in response.
Then the process began again....
It was three hours more before the click of a lock signaled the Mariner's return. The sight that greeted him as he entered the room was really quite amazing.
Batgirl was still doing her dance of ecstasy, fighting against her fate. The stretching of her erogenous zones was quite pronounced now, as the cylinders were nearly 3/4 full with water. The nipples stretched up in a long line marred only by the thin gold ring at the tip, while the engorged, extended labia were literally vibrating against the restraints that pulled them. Batgirl's entire body was covered with beads of sweat, as was the surface of the punishment table. Even at rest, the muscles trembled uncontrollably with fatigue and exhaustion. And still she fought, unaware even that her captor had returned.
A weak, inexorably slow motion began as the ass raised itself into the air, activating the vibrator for who knew how many times. Beneath the dildo and its descending chain, a pool of syrupy love juices had gathered onto the table.
Batgirl had been a busy little heroine.
The Mariner stared in fascination as the fatigued muscles exerted themselves as best they could. Trembling violently now, it was obvious that they would not support the unfortunate captive for more than a few seconds at best. He watched closely as the captive labia, punished though they were, continued to respond to the buzzing phallus.
She was going to orgasm again! Arox focused on the quivering love lips, watching as they tightened in preparation. A quaking, squeezing set of labia was the most animated thing on Batgirl as the orgasm shook her exhausted body. Her legs immediately gave out under the duress, the cylinders having released barely any water at all. Ah, but the tensing of her love canal was still in evidence! More juices flowed into the collection beneath her, but Barbara barely registered the action. Her world had become a dazed cycle of relax / tense / relax , and she was not cognizant of anything else.
The Mariner turned off the valve that supplied the water to the cylinders, but Batgirl hadn't even noticed. Though the valve was off, she arched her back yet again, so conditioned had she become to the punishment process. Arox leaned over her straining body, and slid two fingers across her pussy lips, one on either side of the dildo. No reaction, other than to slicken his fingers with her juices.
Disappointed, he then slid them into her love tube, feeling the tightly strained muscles expand for his digital insertion. That got a response! The muscles tightened in waves, undulating across his fingers as still another orgasm rippled through Batgirl's body. She was breathing heavily, breaths coming in gasps and shudders as the erotic waves crashed yet again through an already storm tossed erogenous zone. Kemp smiled in surprise as the contractions continued against his fingers for almost thirty seconds. The dildo had really performed beyond all expectations!
"Mmmm, my dear Batgirl, you really are beyond compare."
Hate filled eyes glared up at her captor for subjugating her to the terrible combination of pain and pleasure. The fingers slowly withdrew from inside her, probing and sliding across every point possible during the entire extraction process. Arox was getting what pleasure he could from her helpless position, and she was far too depleted to raise an objection.
"Very nice, my beauty..." her captor remarked. "Smooth, good muscle tone, and excellent response time. I could make a fortune with you as a call girl, if you were a bit more willing. For now, though, I think you've earned a bit of a rest before we move you to my hideout."
Batgirl let out a whistling sigh; she was stung by the comments, but was also both relieved and mortified. Relieved since she would be able to recuperate from the grueling bondage; mortified because Kemp obviously wasn't finished with her yet.
The Mariner unclamped each of the cylinders one at a time. The cessation of stretching to her already assaulted exterior caused a rush of pleasure to flow through her. She had been under duress for so long that she had forgotten how nice it was to be free. Her aching body would recover its strength in time.
The rings were removed next, with Batgirl wincing slightly as the threading was reversed. Arox returned them to their case as Barbara watched in consternation. He was saving them...for some future processing? Barbara didn't envy the recipient...and she certainly didn't intend to let it be Batgirl again.
"We'll need to move you to your cell, so that you can rest for awhile."
Batgirl stared gratefully. But Arox continued to gaze at his captive.
"But we can't let you get too comfortable, otherwise you might recover enough strength to become a problem."
Uh-oh, here it comes, Barbara thought. Nothing was ever simple with this fiend.
"So I've decided to make sure you receive a 'seat-belt', of a sort..." The Mariner reached beneath the table, his outstretched hand returning with a wide leather chastity belt. Attached to the center of the backstrap was a slightly narrower leather strap, which hung down to reveal a padlock at its terminus.
"Mmmmm...." was all Batgirl could muster, knowing that the belt would be attached with or without her approval.
"Look at the bright side, my dear... I'm letting you keep the dildo!" Arox laughed loudly. Barbara's eyes widened slightly, but she made no sound in response. There wasn't any point. The Mariner secured the wide belt across her captive midriff, rolling the buckles till they were snug. He then proceeded two notches beyond snug, so that Batgirl's waist was squeezed inward tightly.
He then lifted her slightly by a latch on the front of the belt, reaching beneath her to recover the center strap. Kemp pulled upward with some force, the rough leather pressing deeply between the two halves of Batgirl's smoothly rounded derriere, and pressing hard against the ever- present dildo. Once the leather strap sank deeply into the soft skin beneath it, Arox used a padlock to secure the center strap to the waist belt. Batgirl's friend was home to stay for a while. "Mmmm-nnnn......" Batgirl moaned as the leather chafed against her. The Mariner smiled as removed the chains from one cuffed leg, and quickly attached it to the other ankle with a much shorter chain. He repeated the process with her wrists, carefully maneuvering her so that she never had a chance to swing wildly at her captor. Only when Batgirl's wrists were behind her back, and 8 inches of chain attached her ankles, did he release the final padlocks that secured her cuffs to the table.
"Now, Batgirl, we're going to go for a short walk to the back of the lab. I suggest that you take short steps, since it's all the chains will allow anyway."
The Mariner helped his captive to stand, and Barbara swayed slightly as the blood rushed from her head after being prone for so long. Then the walk to her cage began as she took mincing steps in an effort not to fall. Kemp walked proudly behind, watching the seductive sway of the shapely hips, the flow of the churning buttocks as Batgirl shuffled forward. This was just too much fun. His previous encounters with Batgirl had been either an apex of victory, or a crashing defeat. This was definitely shaping up to be the former. And he had some even more interesting times planned ahead for the superheroine who was trying to thwart him.
Barbara had reached the cell door and waited dutifully as the Mariner unlocked it. A hundred escape plans churned through her mind as Arox stood at her side, but none seemed workable in her present condition. A roundhouse kick wasn't possible; neither was a leg sweep. A punch to the jaw seemed unlikely with her hands behind her back. And though a shoulder charge might knock her captor to the ground, did he even have the key to her lock mechanisms on him? The split second that she debated the shoulder charge was too long, and Arox was behind her again. Batgirl stepped meekly into the cell, turning to watch the door slam shut behind her.
"I still have some preparations for our next adventure, so you should get a few hours rest now.....you're going to need it...." Arox pocketed the key, and turned to leave. "Oh, I almost forgot.....". The Mariner removed the tiny remote, and pressed a button. The dildo began to buzz rapidly beneath the tight leather belt.
Batgirl heard the footsteps echoing from around the corner, along with the laughter, then a door slammed shut again.
Barbara knew she couldn't endure another session like the last one. It had pushed her beyond all known limits, and even now standing upright was difficult. Yet this might be her only chance for escape.
Batgirl began examining the bars to her prison. The hardened steel would be almost impossible to cut through, even if she had the tools. The lock to the cell door looked a bit more promising; though the deadbolt was solid, it was a simple tumbler affair that would be picked easily, if she could find a substitute key. She scanned the floor of the cell for any refuse that might give her an edge to insert into the lock. There was none. Then, behind the pump gag, Batgirl smiled. It was the first smile in many, many hours.
The bed. The bed was a simple mattress, with a steel frame. What was exciting about it was the springs beneath the mattress. A sharp metal edge, bendable with work, that would fit the cuffs that bound her and the cell door. But did she have the time?
Barbara sat quickly on the bed, working her hands below her buttocks and across her thighs. In seconds, her locked wrists were in front of her. She twisted the valve on her pump gag, reveling in the release of pressure from the deflating bladder. She pulled tightly at the buckles, rolling and removing the balance of the leather face mask, and tossing it in disgust to the floor.
"Son of a BITCH!" she screamed aloud, mostly as a retort to her long-gone captor. Then she resumed her covert actions. She was building slowly to the peak of another orgasm, and couldn't spare the time to lament her condition. She moved to the edge of the bed, and painstakingly removed a spring from the frame. It was almost ten minutes later, and after a good deal of bending and manipulating, that anything resembling a lockpick could be seen. The first orgasm struck, her body shuddering in response. But now she was focused, and shook off the effects as she worked to break free. Another ten passed before the locks on the cuffs gave way, and she could work on the door. As vile and distracting as it was, she had made the conscious decision to leave the chastity belt on, at least for the moment. Though the orgasms were a distraction to her efforts, the belt didn't prevent her from being able to fight if needed. It wasn't like the cuffs or the door to the cell; those absolutely HAD to be opened first. If the Mariner returned while she was still working on escape, at least she would have her priorities set correctly.
Almost twenty minutes passed before the dark angel was rewarded by the click of the lock giving way. Another two orgasms had briefly interrupted her progress, the sensations robbing her of her concentration as she worked. She quickly swung the door outward and scanned the corridor. No-one yet. Since a dead end appeared to her left, she returned to the examining room on her right. There, beneath the table, was a sight that warmed her heart immensely. Her costume and utility belt. She retrieved the utility belt first, exhaling a long sigh as she removed a modified concussor grenade from one of the pouches. It was the perfect weapon for the close confines of the room, especially since this one was designed to be directional in its output. If the Mariner returned, a simple toss of the grenade would send the shockwave toward him and away from her. She enjoyed the thought of that prospect immensely.
Now Batgirl began working on the chastity belt, removing it within a few minutes. She paused briefly; then, very gingerly, she grasped her 'friend' and slid it carefully out. Despite everything she had been through, a final, last ditch orgasm ran through her as the dildo reached the end of her love canal, buzzing madly as it crossed the opening. Batgirl almost swooned from the rush and draining of energy that accompanied the final barrage, then she steadied. She dropped it to the floor with a disgusted snort, then kicked it angrily across the tiled floor of the room. Quickly redressing into her costume, the dark angel smoothed the material into place, until the form fitting black slitex hugged her perfectly. She moved to the entryway, and positioned herself to the left of the doorway. Now her vigil began.
After almost six hours, Batgirl began to despair. Something had tipped the Mariner off. She retraced her steps, and found the culprit within minutes. In her haste to recover her freedom, she had tripped a laser grid that had been set in the narrow hallway. Arox must have prepared for any eventuality, and planted the device to be almost invisible as it lay recessed in the brick wall. He wasn't going to be returning to a fully armed and expectant crimefighter. She curbed her feelings of rage and frustration for another time. She removed the electric eye, hoping it might provide some clue to the whereabouts of her nemesis. Barbara realized that the lack of the Mariner's reappearance wasn't necessarily the worst thing that could have happened; she still needed a fair amount of time for rest and recovery. In her weakened condition she might have failed to subdue her enemy, and would have ended as his prisoner once again. Better to save her revenge for a time when she was fully recuperated.
Batgirl moved to the front door, methodically examining it for any signs of a trap. After finding none, she opened it. She found herself on the docks. Of course. The Mariner was never far from his beloved water. Her Black Ninja cycle was only a few blocks away, stowed in one of the less used alleys. A long walk wasn't her first choice for an illustrious escape, especially after what she had just been through, but sometimes you had to take what you could get. Batgirl started off to recover her bike, taking short and carefully planted steps....
Once Barbara had returned to her apartment, she stripped off the slitex costume and mask, reveling in the feel of warm comfortable cotton against her skin. The cushy bathrobe was one of her favorite items after a hard day, whether or not Batgirl had been on the prowl. Today certainly qualified. After a long, hot bath she lay down, and immediately passed out.
It was six hours later, with the dying embers of the sunset filtering into the room, when Barbara finally awoke. She hadn't meant to sleep that long; but it had certainly helped to clear her head and refresh her body.
Re-examining the lists of prior chemicals with the new agents that the Mariner had stolen, Barbara now had a theory. The Mariner seemed to be working on a plan to infect the water supply. Most of the stolen chemicals had fluidic bonding agents which would allow them to disperse easily and invisibly in water. Though invisible, the chemicals would be bound to the water molecules in a way that made them inseparable. It was the perfect tool for distributing his revenge. Unless Barbara could determine when or how, no-one in the city was safe. She retrieved the case with what little hard evidence she had gathered, and examined the electric eye.
Nothing unremarkable appeared to her. The device was not particularly advanced, so 'special components' wasn't an aspect that would help. Still, this was a security item, and an antiquated one by today's standards. Maybe the inverse line of thinking would help.
"Computer, connect to Oracle mainframe, voiceprint ID BG-Alpha 1. Password, 'Wraith'." Barbara waited while the connection was made, traveling through some very sophisticated hacker's code that she had written to slip through the security on the mainframe in Gotham Central Records. As computer processing had advanced, semi-intelligent computers had filled the marketplace. Now with voice recognition and verbal interlinks, very few people knew or even cared how to write electronic code. But for the few who did, and could get past the impressive security, the possibilities were endless. The Oracle supercomputer was at the heart of every connection in the city, and all data in one form or another passed through it. Even cash transactions were tallied on computers, so there was very little that couldn't be uncovered by an expert hacker. And Batgirl was definitely expert. " << CONNECTION COMPLETE...INFORMATION REQUESTED? >> "
Barbara bit her lip as she pondered how to answer the question. What was the best criteria to narrow the search? It was an Alos device, a 3472. She supposed that the Mariner would have purchased the device since his escape from Arkham, which was recently. And the internal power supply seemed to be a separate item, so would have to be purchased separately.
"Oracle, give me all purchases within sixty days of Alos Manufacuring device 3472, purchased within the past 60 days, accompanied by Alos device 3475. Display to console."
" << RETRIEVAL COMPLETED >> " The wall touchpad now lit with 14 separate names and addresses. In some cases, the transaction was identified as 'Cash'. The Mariner was intelligent....she couldn't afford to rule out a dummy name and/or address.
"Oracle, eliminate purchases made with Ident cards."
Ident cards were the standard way to purchase items; the user simply swiped the card, and the money was exchanged electronically from an account. But the identification cards were validated by DNA matching, so only the true owner of the card could use it successfully. A stolen card simply wouldn't 'open'. Making it more secure was the fact that the same DNA was used to match the birth record DNA. It had almost made other forms of payment obsolete....almost. The Mariner couldn't use a card as an escaped convict, and it was unlikely that he could have coerced a carduser without flagging the authorities.
A small chime sounded, indicating the return of data to the console. Four entries remained, three of which were 'Cash'. Barbara peered intently at the results.
"Match serial number of 3472. E1023764."
The chime sounded. No items were displayed.
"Return previous. Eliminate items where serial number was recorded, and was not E1023764."
The chime sounded once again, and now only one entry was displayed.
"Display all available data, this transaction."
The console flashed every scrap of data that had been stored for this transaction. There wasn't much. It had been sold by "Technophobes", a rather seedy shop on the eastern side of the city. Though not officially illegal, it was generally frowned upon not to record a serial number. This was definitely looking like the probable target.
"Delete query data, and execute BG-Erasure subroutine 1."
" << COMPLYING >> " All traces of Barbara's questions to Oracle were now being erased, as well as the history of the connection. It would appear to any systems programmer that the data and the connection had simply never existed. Three more programs were available, which were increasingly more aggressive in their erasure routines; she hoped she never had to use the level 4 routine...
Barbara reloaded the items on her utility belt. She also clipped a new module into one of the compartments. Though still experimental, she suspected that this new device could come in handy, based on the typical modus-operandi of her quarry. Then she quickly donned the costume, stretching into the form fitting black slitex once again. It was time to pay a visit to Technophobes.
The Black Ninja glided to a halt at the back door of Technophobes. In stealth mode, the 900 CC engine had been absolutely silent in the darkened alley. Batgirl strode to the door, and examined the security. It took her almost 17 seconds to wire a bypass to the outdated magnetic sensor on the door. For an enterprise that sold security gadgets, this place was truly pathetic.
Batgirl removed the Nightseeker lenses from her utility belt, briefly touching them to her mask. Now adhered, the lenses displayed the room in fair detail. She found the terminal to the computer, but knew that Oracle had already displayed any information available. She was searching for something a bit more archaic...a filing cabinet.
In the managerial offices, she found a locked desk. Her picks made short work of the locks on the drawers. It was the third drawer that held her interest. A small metal box, with a flip lid, contained notes regarding special instructions. For invoice A-295, there was a note regarding delivery. An address of 427 Aqueous Way.
Batgirl smiled as she returned the room to its previously undisturbed state. 427 Aqueous way; the name of the location was just too coincidental to be ignored; and the address directly bordered the river in the warehouse district. She was about to pay an unscheduled visit to the location...
Atop 426 Aqueous way, the building next door, Batgirl used her binoculars to search the surroundings. From the slightly higher vantage point, Barbara was able to view into several of the windows to determine what lay within. She had managed to pinpoint at least two guards on a patrol route, but had not found evidence of the Mariner yet.
What was worrisome was the steel drum from Oxo Chemicals. It hadn't officially been identified as a stolen component from the recent breakins, since the use was primarily medical. Hemostrychnine. In small doses, it could keep someone from bleeding to death in an accident. In larger doses, it would constrict the arteries so much that the patient would die.
It looked like the Mariner was making some kind of 'incapacitation' cocktail. The stolen fluidic bonding agents, when mixed with Hemo, would dilute into a large body of water quite easily. As the victim drank more and more water, the blood vessels would gradually constrict. Even normal bathing was detrimental, since hemo could be absorbed directly through the skin. Eventually, the victims would faint from lack of proper bloodflow. Worse still, the Hemo was normally an easy drug to countermand. But with the bonding agents, it would settle directly into the lining of the blood vessels and would not be easily dislodged without an antidote.
The citizens of Gotham would drop like flies, until no-one was left standing to help them. And only a lunatic would have the antidote.
Batgirl realized that she had to act fast to prevent this menace. The hideout didn't border the river by accident. The waters of the river were purified in a processing plant just downstream from here, and were the major source of water for Gotham inhabitants. Arox probably had all the chemicals he needed at this point; now he just had to mix them into the correct proportions, and deliver them into the river.
Batgirl retraced her steps to a side entry that looked to be the best bet for an undiscovered entry. The alarms were more sophisticated on this door, consisting of magnetic catches, motion detectors, and an old fashioned mechanical switch. Clever, really...since a hi-tech burglar would probably miss the meaning of something that looked like a hinge. Batgirl disarmed the devices and was inside within minutes.
She removed a small projectile from her belt, awaiting the exact moment to strike. As the first armed guard clacked past her in steel toed boots, she stepped silently from the alcove and aimed.
"Hello..."
The musclebound guard turned cat-quick as the projectile fired. It wasn't quick enough though. A small 'ffft' sound was heard, and the imposing guard, dressed in flack jacket and armor leggings, collapsed in a heap as the tiny dart stuck in his exposed neck. The drug would keep him unconscious for about two hours. Batgirl knew that the battle would have been won or lost at that point, so it was plenty of time. She carefully dragged the sleeping body behind some crates to minimize discovery.
The second guard was injected just as he climbed the stairs. Barbara, dressed in her black, blended like a chameleon into the darkness of the stairwell. The dart penetrated the sock on the left ankle of the luckless guard. It was a shame that the guard's armor leggings didn't extend further...wasn't it?
Two down. How many more?
The stairs led to another floor of the complex. The dark angel glided through the maze of crates and drums on the current floor, until she felt confident that no other sentries were left unattended to. Then she cautiously climbed the stairs, listening at the door. Nothing. There were no alarms, but it was locked. A few seconds later she eased into the room.
More crates and drums greeted her. And another sentry at the far end of the room, slowly approaching her. Batgirl quickly ducked behind a crate and prepared another sedative, ensuring that the dartgun was once again fully loaded.
The third guard went down the same way the second had. Firing between two crates at floor level provided the perfect cover to target her adversaries. Barbara dragged the third sentry behind some crates. She was cautious not to get too confident; the Mariner had shown on more than one occasion that he was an enemy who planned ahead.
The delivery system for the deadly cocktail was now apparent. A drainpipe led outside, feeding directly to the river. Welded directly to the pipe was a connection leading to a vat on the far side of the room. A digital timer displayed a meter for flow rates and elapsed time. Lucky, Batgirl thought. The timer read 0, and the lid to the vat was open. It looked like she was still in time.
Batgirl carefully continued her examination of the room, until she verified once again that no-one else was in it. At the far left corner, two large glass panes displayed what she had been searching for. Arox Kemp was in the room, busily mixing chemicals. And better still, his back was toward the door.
Barbara carefully analyzed what she could discern on the surrounding tables. It appeared that the Mariner had no immediately dangerous elements with which to retaliate. No guns or other weapons appeared in evidence.
Batgirl crept to the door, picking the lock swiftly. Her only concern was the remaining door of the lab; if Kemp had additional guards, that would be where they would enter. She slid into the room undiscovered, removing her pneumatic dart once more. In the other hand she held a concussor grenade, just in case.
"Well Doctor Jekyll, it looks like you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar" Batgirl said aloud.
Kemp started, twisting to see his nemesis framed in the doorway. "Batgirl. How good to see you again. I liked how I saw you the last time better, though."
"A memory you should hold, Kemp...because you won't be seeing it again where you're going" Batgirl retorted.
"Still, you have to admit, it did get a rise out of you..."
Batgirl fumed as she remembered briefly their prior encounter. "I think that's just about enough of the comments, Kemp." Batgirl suppressed a smile as she continued. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way..."
The Mariner laughed. "Touche, Batgirl. Hoist by my own petard, as the expression goes. Don't you want to know 'why'?"
"Not particularly. Why does a lunatic do anything? To aggrandize his position...for money...who cares? What's important is that it ends now."
"Just so. Well, Batgirl, I suppose I'm ready then." Arox held out his hands, wrists together, for the handcuffs to be attached.
Something's wrong, Barbara thought. This is too easy. Kemp wouldn't have given up without any kind of a fight. She cautiously strode forward to take control of the prisoner.
Only...her feet wouldn't move. Her boots seemed to be mired in quicksand. Batgirl stole a quick glance downward. Nothing was there. She knew something was wrong. She raised the gun to fire, only her arm didn't seem to obey the command. Her hand began inching forward of its current position, in what seemed to be slow motion. It took nearly three seconds to raise the dart into position. Batgirl, deeply concerned now, yanked the trigger.
She watched as Arox Kemp deftly stepped aside, a full second before the sleepy finger of her right hand responded to the command to fire the weapon. The dart whizzed past the target, missing it by a wide berth.
"You seem a little slow today, Batgirl. Maybe I just better take the other weapon so you don't hurt yourself."
The Mariner was striding directly for Barbara's left hand. She willed her muscles into action, to rapidly fling the concussor at Arox' feet. She hadn't even stretched her hand outward before Kemp pried the fingers apart and harmlessly removed the grenade.
"Neuron Gas, my dear. A recent invention of mine. It slows all voluntary muscle commands to 1/10th of their normal speed. Quite ingenious, don't you think?" Arox asked. "What I find particularly amusing is the fact that if you hadn't been so 'chatty', you would have captured me, since it takes a few seconds to settle in. But you do like to talk, don't you?" Batgirl seethed beneath the mask. He was right. If she had fired when she had entered the room, he'd be unconscious by now. Then she would have had two hours to eliminate the effects of the gas. For all intents and purposes, she was moving in slow motion. "H------h------o---o---w- -..." "How, you ask. Well, it's actually been in the room the whole time. We've both been breathing it. But, as you've probably figured out, I have the antidote.
"Now, let's see if you're fully minimized yet..." The Mariner slowly removed a long straightpin from his jacket, holding it up for Batgirl to see clearly.
"Remember, only voluntary muscles are affected..." Saying this, Arox jabbed the pin directly into Batgirl's shapely derriere.
Batgirl jumped forward, escaping the pain by an involuntary muscle reaction.
"Hmmm...seems about right...." Kemp now removed a clamp from one of the tables beside him. "Now let's check the voluntary muscles, shall we?..."
The Mariner fondled Batgirl's left breast, rolling and kneading it between expert fingers until he had located the telltale trace of the nipple. Barbara watched with concern as Arox held up the clamp for her inspection. Then he attached the device, twisting the knob until the slitex, and the nipple beneath it, were squeezed by incredible pressure.
The pain hadn't involved a 'reflex' action, so the neurons lazily carried the message to her brain that something was wrong. Meanwhile, the gas hadn't affected her mental abilities at all. The keen edge of Batgirl's intellect told her exactly what was going to happen and when. It took nearly a full second for the pain to reach home. Even before Kemp had finished the tightening of the thumbscrew, she had sent the command to her hand to flash out and release the clamp as quickly as possible.
Arox revelled in Batgirl's slow motion adventure as she sent the multiple commands to her muscles. First, to reach the clamp; next to untwist the screw. And finally, to repeat the process, since each untwist required a separate thought as thumb and forefinger were repositioned. During the entire process, the pain would be undiminished, a continuous stream until she released the device.
Batgirl quailed as her fingers slowly obeyed the commands. It HURT! Finally, the clamp dropped to the floor. The Mariner smiled as he help up the stopwatch. Twenty seconds had elapsed. About ten times longer than an ungassed state.
"Though the possibilities for your current predicament are endless, I've got some other plans for you. I daresay it may be my most amusing invention yet..." The Mariner held up a syringe with a colorless liquid, stepping behind Batgirl to administer it. Barbara knew that she couldn't escape the injection, but she tried anyway. The jab came a second later, and the world around her faded to black a few seconds later...
The first sight that greeted Batgirl upon returning to conciousness was the smiling face of Arox Kemp. It was somewhat distorted however, as was the sound returning to her ears. As the dizziness faded, Barbara began to discover what had been done to her.
Batgirl had become the newest inhabitant in one of Arox's aqua- tanks. She was sealed into a black rubber wetsuit that stretched tautly over her young, athletic body. It was stretched VERY tautly. So tautly, in fact, that the only difference between being naked and wearing the suit was the color being displayed. The thin, translucent fabric left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Every line of her desirable form was seductively displayed in the gleaming black material, including the most intimate parts.
Her ankles had been secured together by black zip strips, which threaded through the galvanized steel links of a chain that padlocked her to the bottom of the tank. She could float anywhere within the tank, as long as she didn't exceed the 24 inch tether that restrained her.
Her wrists and elbows seemed to be secured in the same way; it was hard to tell, since they were fastened behind her. The zip-strip had been pulled until her elbows touched; the somewhat painful position was an aspect of her bondage that surely wasn't accidental. Her proud breasts jutted boldly forward, straining hard against the thin neoprene to create an exciting display for her captors.
The lead weight belt hugged her hips in the exact location that her utility belt should be. No surprise there. Batgirl stared through the glass diver's mask at the scuba regulator that had been thoughtfully strapped onto her mouth; the wide rubber band seemed to actually be a part of the mouthpiece, so that even an unconscious occupant would not accidentally dislodge it. That didn't necessarily bode well for the hapless heroine.
The gurgling sound of bubbles rising to the surface occurred every few seconds as Batgirl exhaled. Otherwise, all sound was blocked by the water in the tank.
Barbara examined her prison closely, gathering what information she could. The four walls seemed to be high-tensile glass, which allowed her to look outward in any direction. It also allowed her captors to gaze in, which they seemed to be doing with some relish. A thin polymer layer had been fused between the layers of the glass for added strength. A simple kick wasn't going to crack the material, that was certain. The space between the walls was about four feet across, both side to side and front to back. Not a lot of room to maneuver in. The ceiling, some two feet above her head even when she straightened, looked to be made of anodized steel. The floor was the same. A steady stream of bubbles supplied oxygen to the water in the tank, though Batgirl didn't understand why. The scuba tanks on her back were supplying her with more than enough air. The bubbles from the aeration occasionally collided with the dark angel, rolling upward on her rubberized exterior until they lost cohesion with the suit. It was a subliminally erotic display that didn't go unnoticed by her audience. She finally turned her attention forward, staring through the mask at the smirking Kemp.
She watched as he toggled a switch beside him; then, suddenly, she was able to hear the sounds in the room outside.
"Hello, Batgirl. I have to say you look absolutely stunning in your new outfit."
Barbara blushed slightly, but said nothing. Obviously.
"Oh, that's right...you can't really talk can you? A shame really.... I'd love to hear your thoughts on what's about to happen.
"First, let me mention that your scuba suit is non-removable. I coated the interior of the suit with a special fluidic bonding agent from my collection. For the next 24 hours, the rubber is actually fused to the outer layer of your skin. You can't remove the suit without removing the dermal layer also."
Batgirl started at this news. No wonder the suit molded to her figure so tightly!! It was actually a part of her skin!! "But a bonding agent isn't the only chemical that was added to the suit. I think this part is easier to understand if we demonstrate."
Batgirl watched as the Mariner pushed another switch on the control board. A narrow panel opened in the ceiling of her enclosure, and something entered the tank. Barbara watched as it wafted downward past her diving mask, scuttling crazily to keep its balance. It was a fiddler crab. A tiny fiddler crab. The entire creature was only about two inches wide and an inch deep. Barbara eyes followed the diminutive crustacean as it finally came to rest on the floor of the tank. It wasn't inactive long, however. The little thing scrambled almost immediately to the chain that secured her ankles, and began climbing the links one at a time. Thirty seconds later it had reached her rubber coated feet, and transferred its tiny body to them. Then it scuttled down to her left toe, and stopped.
Batgirl stared at Kemp. He was waiting. He didn't wait long, however. A few seconds later, Batgirl let out a sharp yowl as minuscule claws clamped down hard on the exposed toe. Barbara twisted violently several times, and eventually dislodged her tiny tormentor. At this point, the lilliputian soldier simply wafted to the bottom; after several seconds of disorientation, it had begun a return trip to the chain that bound her ankles.
"If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, Batgirl... When the fiddler reaches the red circle that surrounds the chain, you should twist violently again...."
Batgirl watched as the crab neared the circle, then she twisted once again. The motion produced a lifting of the entire circle that she hadn't noticed previously. A volume of water swept downward into a drain that was located below the plate, carrying the fiddler with it.
"Now you see how the process works. That was a genetically altered Dwarf Red Fiddler. He was deprived of one critical chemical that he needs to survive. And that chemical has been seeped into the rubber of your suit directly at your left toe. I'm afraid he would have kept clawing there all day until he got what he needed....
"A pull upward on the ankle chain opens the drain below you momentarily. Anything caught near the red line will be swept away. Unfortunately, that requires you to do quite a few calisthenics, doesn't it?
Barbara glared at her captor through the thick glass.
"I didn't want you to be lonely, my dear. So I should mention that there are over 300 crabs waiting to meet you in the tank above. And, by sheer coincidence, there are 300 chemical patches seeped into your rubber skin at various 'interesting' locations...."
Batgirl stared in horror at the Mariner, aghast at what she was hearing. One crab was a minor annoyance. Ten or twelve would be painful. But three hundred? The rubber figure shuddered involuntarily inside the aqua-tank.
"I don't want to spoil the surprise..but I think you'll find that some of the locations are more sensitive than others..."
Batgirl's green eyes began to reflect fear as she considered the tautness the suit, and the availability of her suspended body. What part of her couldn't a two inch creature get at, if it meant life or death for it?
The Mariner was staring intently now, reveling in her distress. "Don't forget...you can stem the tide by judicious use of the drain. If you can dislodge the fiddlers by shaking violently enough, and if you can pull upward at the right moment, you can flush them down the drain."
A small reprieve, Batgirl knew. It was hard enough to dislodge the one...but 300? Each shake would probably detach a few, but as the pain got more intense, she would lose focus on when to pull upward on the drain plug.
"Ooooo... This is going to be so much fun!!!" Arox chortled as he pushed a lever.
A tiny warrior dropped to the floor, making its way to the chain. Batgirl, distracted momentarily by Arox's comments, missed the window of opportunity on the drain. It was already headed upward on the chain.
It was with surprise, shock, and another small yowl that Batgirl vented her frustrations when the fiddler again attached itself to her left toe. She twisted violently, but the little critter held on longer this time before becoming dislodged. A quick swoop as he neared the red line, and he was gone.
Batgirl stared venomously at the laughing Kemp. "I didn't say they were gone forever, my dear!!! Just recycled!!"
It was obvious now that even if she flushed one of the creatures, it would eventually return. Arox had deliberately re-released the first one she had encountered to drive the point home.
Three more crustaceans floated past her as she dwelled on this. She yanked sharply on the ankle chain, eliminating one of them, but as she reset her position the other two crossed the red line.
As the two started to ascend the chain, two more wafted down past her diving mask. Batgirl watched in dismay. This was going to be a long, drawn out affair, and she knew that eventually the fiddlers would win the war. With over three hundred combatants, Batgirl could time everything perfectly but would still be overrun by sheer numbers.
Barbara focused on the room beyond, ignoring the two crabs on their way up her leg. She scanned the room looking for a particular item that she needed. A sharp stab behind her right calf caused her to squirm abruptly as the first crab found its 'home'. The second crab was still ascending when she discovered what she had been searching for. Across the room, neatly folded, was her slitex costume and her utility belt. Both items rested on a table about twenty feet away.
Batgirl spent the next sixty seconds enduring the depredations of two intent marauders as they clamped onto their favorite spots. She tried to ignore the pinching as she focused on activating the new device that she had recently installed in her utility belt. Though it was a prototype, the sonic transmitter was a powerful addition to her electronic arsenal. Powered by a duranium battery, the transmitter could generate a sustained wall of sound or a short intense pulse. The latter was more in line with Batgirl's current thinking. A powerful blast might be enough to shatter her prison. The key words were 'might be'. There were several obstacles, however. The first was activation. The device had been tested via her thumbnail transmitter with the intent of being two or three feet from the receiver on her belt. It had never been tested at twenty feet. Add to that the fact that she was underwater, and the chances of activating the device seemed slim. Still, a slim hope was better than none.
Bending her fingers carefully, the dark angel pressed hard on her right thumb, until she felt a small click. That signaled the activation of the transmitter in pulse mode. Now she carefully pushed hard at the hidden dial beneath the nail, working the control through the slippery rubber. When it felt as if the dial wouldn't turn any further, she stopped. It was set to full power.
Meanwhile, two crabs were latched on, and two more were on their way. The pain behind her calf was growing as Fiddler 1 continued to pick. Fiddler 2 had stationed itself on her left shoulder blade, and had just given its first nip.
As Fiddler 3 and 4 climbed, Batgirl shook furiously in an attempt to dislodge the intruders. Fiddlers 1 and 4 broke loose, but the other two remained. Six warriors were poised at the bottom of the tank, as the concerned Batgirl watched more paratroopers fall with each passing second. A sharp tug flushed two of the six, but three more had crossed the threshhold. The storm was building below her...
The second item of concern for the gently wafting heroine was the distance. Even if the transmitter was active, the testing for its ability to shatter glass had been at a distance of six feet in the trial runs. Twenty feet could well be beyond its ability. Further compounding the issue was the polymer base to her prison walls; would the reinforced glass be too strong to shatter sonically?
Her assailants had latched onto the chain again, and begun the slow climb to their tasty morsel. Batgirl pushed hard on the thumbnail again. The device, if it had received the signal, would be charging.
Which brought Barbara to the final problem. When to activate. One more push on the thumbnail, and the device would deliver whatever the capacitors had charged up to that point. Her testing had shown that the transmitter needed to charge about five minutes to shatter a one inch thick glass plate at a distance of six feet. Her current prison was about that thickness, but she was twenty feet away, and the walls were polymer strengthened. Should she wait ten minutes? Twelve? Batgirl knew that she'd only get one chance at this. If she triggered too soon, the walls wouldn't break and her captors would discover the device. If she waited too long, the device would overload...frying itself in a shower of sparks.
As Batgirl pondered the questions, a half dozen bites occurred simultaneously. The coordinated effort broke her concentration, as Barbara cried out underwater. She flailed sharply back and forth to break the tormentors away. A few drifted off, but most remained. This wasn't going well.
A sharp tug on the ankle chain flushed a few, but the floor was darkened with dozens more of the little creatures. And still more rained down from above....
Batgirl began a concentrated effort to minimize her torment. She shook violently every few seconds, especially when one of the warriors passed a vertical surface on her rubber coated exterior. That seemed to be the most successful tact, but while she loosened several on her right side, her left side was exposed as an easily climbed surface. Whichever side she concentrated on allowed the opposite side to be used for ascent. This wasn't going well at all...
Batgirl cried out as two dozen locations were assailed individually. Fifteen more were still traveling upwards. Barbara began to lose count. Her projected ten minute wait meant that most of the three hundred would be in the tank attacking her.
Batgirl glanced outward briefly. Kemp was grinning ear to ear. He touched a button on the panel, and a digivid levitated upward from the table. It was focused on the straining, hapless occupant of the tank, recording every twist and jerk of her furiously pumping hips.
The bastard!! He was filming her debasement for his own personal amusement. Batgirl had to get her hands on that disk, before the Mariner could make copies....
As Batgirl fumed, Fiddler 57 had arrived home. As the dark angel pondered ways to prevent the filming, 57 began to snack. The claw vised downward onto her right nipple, as the tiny creature tried to pull it away.
A huge stream of bubbles exploded from the regulator, and the smooth delectable orbs began gyrating madly in an effort to break her tormentor loose. Inside the mask, Batgirl was yowling from the intensely localized pain, as she struggled vehemently to break 57 loose.
It took nearly eight seconds, but they were an eternity to the suffering Batgirl. She watched in relief as the fiddler wafted to the bottom. She focused intently, trying not to lose him in the crowd. When he neared the red line, she jerked upward and flushed him into the drain.
Her relief was profound...at least for the moment. Until she heard the headphones click on again...
"Nicely done, Batgirl....but I wonder where his twin is?"
Barbara glanced quickly at her unadorned left nipple. Somewhere out there, jockeying for position, was the brother of 57. She definitely didn't want him to arrive 'home'...
Seven minutes? Eight? It was hard to tell, since her perception of time was jaded by the events around her. It felt like hours had passed. Over one hundred fiddler crabs were currently climbing or attached to her, and the pain was becoming intense. It was a long stream of individual spikes from various locations, and Batgirl was shuddering partly to break the legion free, and partly in reaction. She was losing focus on the world around her as the pain flashed across her nerve endings. Dozens of tiny lightning bolts struck, followed by dozens more. Her breasts were covered with the creatures, as were her thighs and calfs. Her shapely rear had become a refuge for dozens more, all intent on biting through the rubber. And still the storm was growing...
When Fiddler 142 lanced into her, Batgirl lost any semblance of control that she might have retained. Fiddler 142 had made the arduous climb over his mates, and arrived home directly at the joining of the dancer's legs. The chemical it sought was located in the rubber that was midway between those curvaceous legs. In fact, the chemical it wanted was fused in the rubber that sheathed the left labia. And 142 was focused.
Batgirl's prior gyrations were as gentle breezes compared to her current reaction. The head snapped back, the wide hips thrusting violently to and fro. The breasts bobbed up and down as the chest wildly exerted a dance of agony from the intense pain. The legs straightened and shot out, then repeatedly duplicated the motion in rapid succession. A white hot bolt of pain stabbed into Batgirl, and she had no escape.
The savage dance continued for long seconds, as the digivid faithfully recorded the crazily thrashing limbs of the suffering superheroine. Batgirl almost succumbed to activating the transmitter at this point. Through sheer force of will she blinded herself to the pain and shook herself as wildly as she could. Her convulsing hips eventually dislodged her nemesis, and almost half of the currently attached pack along with him. Bubbles exploded outward from the regulator as Barbara tried to regain her breathe after the long exertion. Her pubis throbbed from the assault, still sending shivers of pain as a reminder that 142 would be back.
Batgirl could see the Mariner through the glass, laughing and gesticulating at the recovering crimefighter. She watched as the two guards removed money from their pockets and handed it over to the gleeful Kemp. They were betting on her!! And Kemp had apparently won this round....
Suffused with anger, Barbara pulled upward on the chain with carefully timed strokes; dozens of the little warriors were flushed as each foray succeeded in diminishing the army significantly. But with 300 enemies, even the careful battles were only partially successful. Stinging welts continued to grow from the fiddlers that hadn't lost their grip, and each of her resets of the plate allowed some stragglers to advance on the chain.
And Barbara was tiring. The thrashing, the pull upward on the ankle chains, and the simple act of breathing in six feet of water worked to drain the energy of the struggling heroine. As her reactions slowed, more of the assailants reached the chain...
Within two minutes, Batgirl was revisiting her previous condition. >From the exterior of the tank, eighty percent of her body was covered with the brutes. And each thrashing was becoming more feeble, allowing more of her tormentors to remain attached.
It was when Bonni and Clyde reached home that Batgirl finally succumbed. In a stroke of severe bad luck, the twins of BOTH 142 and 57 reached their spots at the same time. Barbara had been fearing the return of the originals, or the arrival of their partners in crime...but she was totally unprepared for both to reach their positions at once.
Bonnie's pincer closed on her left nipple, while simultaneously Clyde's claw viced itself onto her right labia. The detonation of pain was thermonuclear. In the first second, the pain was so intense that the rubber suited Batgirl stiffened into immobility. Her screaming nerves simply refused to carry the command to move the inactive muscles. After the second had elapsed, the most violent shaking yet occurred within the tank. A wildly thrusting rubber body twisted vehemently in every direction...up and down...side to side...front to back. The waters churned with flying crabs as dozens of her assailants flew outward from the violent display. After six seconds of incredible gyration, Clyde was flung off...but Bonnie still maintained a staunch grip on her nipple. Thousands of bubbles burst outward as the sheathed breasts pumped inward and outward to regain much needed oxygen. A wave of blackness edged in as Barbara momentarily felt like she would black out...then it passed.
The wave of pain from all of the other regions when coupled with this newest assault convinced Batgirl that she could wait no longer. Based on her current reactions, the next explosion could knock her unconscious, eliminating her one slim hope altogether. And she wasn't sure she could focus her muscles well enough during the next attack to push the switch...
Another bolt of agony erupted from her left nipple as Bonnie worked it side to side in an attempt to dislodge it. The dark angel mashed down hard on the hidden switch beneath her thumbnail. A wave of fear ignited in Batgirl's heart.... nothing had happened....
Wait...there was something... Barbara had expected an instantaneous shattering of the glass, and had focused her attention on the walls around her. Though less than a second had passed, she now looked outward to her true enemies in the room beyond. Kemp and the two guards were gritting their teeth in pain, with hands pressed hard to their ears. Batgirl watched as each of the three dropped to the floor, unconscious from the high frequency assault.
Then the captive vigilante examined the glass before her again. Through the haze of pain, she focused on the myriad cracks in the glass. The glass had shattered!!! Now only the polymer held it in position. One good surge of water might be enough to break the dam...
Batgirl thrust herself forward violently, and was rewarded with a crash as the polymer finally failed. Thousands of gallons of seawater flooded instantly outward, carrying the crabs, the broken glass, and Barbara's rubber sheathed body with it.
Only the chain prevented her from being washed across the room like her tiny assailants. Still bound at the ankles, the chain and padlocked grate stopped her immediately as the water tried to carry her away. Within seconds, the broken remnants of glass and hundreds of scuttling crabs were all that remained of her prison.
Still forced to breathe through the regulator, and still bound at the ankles and wrists, Batgirl knew she had to work fast. Though Kemp and two of the guards would be unconscious for hours, the third guard was still unaccounted for.
The dark angel wriggled sideways, lining her back to one of the anodized edges of tank. The sharp edges of some of the broken glass remained in the liner, and Barbara started to saw her bindings against this. In just a few seconds, her wrists were free.
Her first action was to pluck Bonnie off her left nipple, where she had remained during the entire flood. Dozens of others were also still attached, but this one was causing her the most difficulty... She tossed the diminutive female warrior across the room, then used the glass edge to saw her ankles free. Once the zip-tie had been cut, the chains through which it had been threaded fell away. Batgirl climbed to her feet, and bee-lined across the room for her utility belt. She was within 6 feet of it when the door to the lab crashed open.
The third guard staggered into the room. One hand was cupped to an ear, while the other held a machine pistol. Batgirl had the advantage of quicker reaction time, since the circuitry in her thumbnail dampened the soundwave, in addition to the fact that the water had shielded her. She dove to the floor, somersaulting behind the table that contained the utility belt.
The startled guard was a second too slow to catch the diving Batgirl in his sights, so he did the next best thing. The machine pistol opened fire, spraying bullets into the utility belt and the glassware on the lab table. A shower of broken glass fell onto the crouching heroine, as the cascade of bullets continued.
Then the utility belt fell to the floor in front of her. The gunfire had riddled several compartments, but had also succeeded in pushing it off the table. Batgirl quickly strapped it on, hoping that some of the devices might still be serviceable.
The guard wasn't inactive during this time, though. The pistol had shut off. Barbara heard the soft swish of the fabric against body armor. He was moving forward, advancing carefully on her position.
Batgirl opened a compartment, extracting an explosive mini- batarang. Poised and in position, she flung the device with an outstretched hand as the muzzle of the pistol appeared around the edge of the table.
As the guard centered his sights on the crouching superheroine, the batarang caught the tip of the barrel. The explosion blew the gun from his hands, bending the barrel enough to make the gun useless. The stunned guard tried to recover as Batgirl launched herself across the room.
Barbara performed a flying leap on her assailant, an extended foot burying itself deep into his solar plexus. She ricocheted off, however, realizing instantly that the body armor was going to be a significant advantage to her opponent.
The guard was flung backward by the force of the blow, but lost no composure as he righted himself. He drew a hunting knife from his belt, brandishing it low and evenly at his enemy. The two circled each other, maneuvering for position and a subsequent opening.
Pug-ugly tried a feint with the knife, ready to quickly reverse the direction and slice his opponent in half. But Batgirl dodged evenly, then backpedaled to avoid a reprisal. The next feint was to the right. Unimaginative, Barbara thought. A rubber coated foot flew out, cracking into the wrist below the knife.
Numbed fingers dropped the weapon as the hand withdrew. Batgirl pounced to follow up on her advantage, sweeping the leg in a direct line with her attacker's head. But Ugly was expecting a follow-up, and caught the ankle in midflight.
The dark angel was now at a disadvantage, as one foot remained on the floor and one was gripped in the powerful hand of her opponent. Ugly pulled rapidly inward, causing her to hop forward to maintain her balance. In mid-hop, he shoved outward again.
Batgirl, already in flight, was unable to reverse her momentum. The move threw her backward too quickly to correct, and she crashed to the floor. Ugly didn't release the leg, though. He used his booted foot to clamp down on her opposite ankle, pinning it to the floor. Then he tried to snap her in half, in a calculated effort to dislocate her hipbone. He pushed upward, forcing the two legs painfully apart, until she was performing a vertical split. The pain lanced into Batgirl's hips as Ugly continued to extend the angle. He smiled down at her, watching her reaction as he focused on the readily available sex displayed between the wide-forked legs.
Batgirl was in no mood to play, however. She'd had enough abuse for today. As Ugly focused on her nether region, she grasped the fallen knife and plunged it into his ankle. The guard let out a piercing scream, and stumbled backward as he immediately released his grip. Barbara stretched her legs back together to ensure that they would support her weight, and bolted upright once again.
Ugly had just extracted the knife, and was a bit too preoccupied to see the tensioned hand as it crashed downward onto his neck. The expertly delivered judo chop felled the guard instantly; he sunk to the floor as his strings were cut. Batgirl knew that he'd be out for at least ten minutes or so. But she was taking no chances. She retrieved an uninjured dart from her belt, and jabbed it manually into his neck. NOW she felt better.
Her testing on the transmitter had shown that pulse mode would knock bystanders unconscious, as the intense level of sound battered the unprotected senses. It had worked even better than anticipated. The unmoving bodies of the Mariner and his cohorts were sprawled before her. Based on the level of charge, Barbara estimated that they would be out for at least an hour. Batgirl examined the control panel that Kemp had used. It took her a minute to decipher the legend; then she shut down the activation sequence for the hemostrychnine delivery system. Gotham was safe for now.
Batgirl stepped over broken glass and scuttling crustaceans to secure cuffs on each of the three remaining adversaries. She clamped the ones on Kemp especially tight. Then she retrieved the digivid, which she DEFINITELY had not forgotten. The pulse had smashed the lenses and memory crystal into powder. In fact, as Barbara looked around, every window she could see had been shattered. Ooops. Well, when you're in a glass tank, being eaten alive by crabs, with a crazed lunatic filming you and taking bets, you don't really stop to consider the consequences, do you?
And outside, several dozen dogs were barking furiously. Another unexpected bonus, since it would surely attract the police eventually.
Batgirl retrieved her costume, donning it prior to calling the police. In most cases she would stay to greet the detectives, helping them to take the criminals into custody. But in this case, she was going to make an exception.
It would be difficult to explain the black rubber that was coating her body from the bottom of her toes to the top of her jaw. Though her costume covered a fair amount of the adhered rubber, the places that the fusion showed through were quite obvious. Batgirl had no intention of explaining the disconcerting incident to curious detectives. Let the Mariner tell whatever story he wished; in 22 hours she could refute whatever version was still being discussed.
Batgirl waited until the doors to the lab burst open, and the burly police officers stormed into the room to take possession of the captives. Arox Kemp would be returning to Arkham, as she had promised. The dark angel let a fleeting smile cross her lips as she slipped through the back door unnoticed.
The smile on Batgirl's face would have disappeared if she had discovered what was hidden within the remnants of the digivid. Though the memory crystal had been smashed into dust, a micro-transmitter still gripped the circuit board below the plastic housing. Even though Arox Kemp was being led away, a slight smile crossed his lips. The magna- watch on his wrist contained more than the current time. And the Mariner ALWAYS liked to plan ahead, especially after having seen the wonderful gyrations that the lithe and sensuous Batgirl was capable of... The black ninja accelerated away from the warehouse, the threat to the city vanquished for today. Batgirl intended to get some well earned rest, sleeping off most of her imprisonment in rubber. She knew that the Mariner would probably cross paths with her again.. ..but when that day came, the Dark Angel of Gotham would be ready to defend her home, as she always was....