(The characters portrayed in this story are fictitious, and are modeled after the characters as played on the ShiP channel, and are not to be confused with any "real" comic book characters of the same name. It is an attempt to "detail" the events leading up to and surrounding a particular night in the life of a heroine, of what might actually happen to her and two of her friends. If you are looking for a story with lots of sexual activity, I would skip this, as I would not want to disappoint anyone. I would like to dedicate this work to three people. First, to Xena_WP, without whose enthusiasm and encouragement (and butt-kicking) I might never have completed this. And next, to the two other main characters portrayed here, both of whom I met about a year ago on SHiP and have loved ever since. To Mr.Morpheus, a brave heart and an incredible friend, and to DangerGirl, who left the channel and IRC a few months ago for still unknown reasons. I tried my best to write her part as how I remember her and our times together, and hopefully, if I did it right, you will get some idea of why I miss her so very, very much)
The Vision and DangerGirl vs. Lady Kongou - by The Vision Jo Benson stood in front of her full-length mirror, adjusting her hot-pink catsuit with her hands, pulling here and smoothing there, feeling a narcissistic thrill as she noted how her recent heavy workouts and martial arts practice sessions had firmed up her appearance and tightened her already strong body, especially in the stomach and in the hips. She was happy that her recent efforts at self improvement were having an effect, because it was tedious, hot work to stay in her first floor gymnasium night after night and put in that extra half hour of weight work, stretching, and weapons practice. But now she felt more confident about her abilities, strength, and stamina than she ever had in her young crime fighting life. Jo, a.k.a. The Vision, had begun her new regime a little over a month ago, when she had been overpowered and almost defeated while busting up one of the local drug czar Damon Trenchent's major drug deliveries aboard a Japanese freighter in the harbor. The memory of how close she came to death still haunted her in the back of her mind, as she knew that except for the sudden arrival of her new friend and cohort, DangerGirl, things would have gone badly for her, and she probably would've been killed. So, as her raids and attacks on Trenchent's drug laboratories and distribution centers had become tougher, so, she figured, should she.
With one last glance at herself in the mirror, a rather preening side view of her tight stomach, strong legs, and large, full breasts, the Vision turned to grab her bike keys off the wall rack and head off to put the smack down on a another large heroin buy down at the harbor again. She had gotten word from her A-number-one source yesterday that one would be coming in tonight. She called this source Trenchent Prime, or TP for short, never knowing why he first came to her, but truly thankful that he had. His information had allowed her to rack up an extremely impressive set of arrests and convictions and put a rather sizeable dent in the local area drug traffic and all of Trenchent's "import" business. She knew little of TP's true nature, only the position he held within Trenchent's organization. She had questioned at first why someone so highly placed would give away the store, so to speak, turn stoolie and leak out so much useful information to her. But after his information proved timely and accurate again and again, she had stopped questioning his motives, and now simply used his information to kick ass and take names. TP had warned her that she was really starting to get under Trenchent's skin and to be more careful, but so far, with the exception of her near-failure on the freighter, she had escaped unscathed and victorious. One day she hoped to have enough proof to go toe-to-toe with the drug leader himself, to arrest and convict him, to throw him in jail for his crimes, but that day was not yet, so she had to content herself with driving him crazy and costing him huge bucks in lost product, hired help, and legal fees. One day she would get him, she knew she would. But as she grabbed her keys and headed for the stairs down to the garage where her high-tech cycle awaited, the shrill bleating of her "private" Vision phone line stopped her in her tracks.
Jo debated for a couple of rings whether to take the time to answer it, but only six people currently knew this number...TP, of course, two other informants, her source at the police department, Jill Meredith(a.k.a. DangerGirl), and "Morph", Mr. Morpheus, her quixotic friend and lover. They had met a few months ago at the local heroine watering hole (at about the same time and place that she had met Jill), and even though he was villainous enough to try and force the big nasty on her the first time they had met, they had connected on a deeper level somehow, and quickly became simply lovers, not heroine and villain, or merc, or renegade, or whatever he actually was. They never talked "shop", lest he give away something about himself that she must consider illegal or otherwise so nefarious that she would be forced to leave him, or god forbid, have to try and arrest him. So far ignorance had truly been bliss, and the two of them had done their damnedest to try and keep it that way, despite a very dark area that she knew existed in his soul, that lingered just beyond the fun and passion that they shared. Jo knew it was wrong to be with him, and in the end, even potentially dangerous. But that was some of his allure as well, and in the words of Woody Allen, the heart wants what the heart wants, and there was little she could or cared to do about it right now in her life. Jo listened to the phone ring for the fourth time, feeling that if it was any of those six she should answer it, talk to them, be it just for information or, in the case of the last two possible callers, just to hear their voices again. Jo was constantly aware, especially on nights like these, and especially since that night on the freighter, that there was a very good chance that she might not live to see the light of another day, and the thought of being "taken out" without ever having a chance to talk to either of them again was one of the aspects of her profession that sometimes left her with a heavy heart and made it difficult for her to sleep some nights. So she went to the phone, picked it up, placed it to her ear and said, "Hello..."
"Hi, Josephine...what's happening?"
"Ohh, hi Jill. Was just on my way down to the docks again...another shipment to stop."
There was moment's pause on the other end, then Jo heard her friend say in a bit quieter tone, "And you didn't tell me about it?"
"No, I didn't think it was necessary. I think I can handle it just fine by myself this time."
Another pause. "Well, I'm sure you can, Jo, but sheesh, I thought we were going to start partnering up, share the load so to speak?"
"We can do that, and I want to, but think I can handle this one on my own." Jo did not want Jill to come with her, not this time. She had something to prove to herself after the last fiasco, she needed to find out if she could still swing it by herself. But Jill, being Jill, persisted.
"Oh c'mon...I called you because I was bored and wanted to see if you wanted to go out dancing or something. But I would much rather my spins and high kicks land on some bad guy's chin than on a hardwood floor. C'mon Jo, you know what they say, pride goeth before a fall, the best laid plans, safety in numbers...Awww, c'mon, let me go with you!"
Jo grinned into the phone...good old frenetic, crazy, impulsive Jill. Jo knew that she had already been defeated. Since the little whirling dervish had blasted head first into her life a few months ago, she had never been able to deny her anything. And her friend's comment about pride HAD struck a chord within her. She knew it was a weakness of hers and of many of her fellow heroines...excessive pride and confidence in their own abilities. It had been the downfall of some, and she had made a promise to herself when she started in this business that she would not be one of them.
"Ok, ok, alright...A girl can only stand so much gibberish!! You can come with me, you can watch my back, but this is my show, my tip, and you have to do what I say. Alright!?"
"Sure thing, Josiah, your wish is my command. Your tip, huh? Was it TP, again?"
"Yes it was, and I know I just said you could come. But have you gotten your electric cycle fixed yet?? You can't come if you're going to show up on that fire-breathing hog of yours, cappuccino?"
It was Jill's turn to smile into the phone. She was sure that Jo, queen of the malaprop, had meant to say "capisce", but didn't have the heart to correct her again. Besides, she was just glad that her friend had relented and decided to let her come along. She worried about the Vision, she had heard rumors from her own sources that Damon Dogshit was getting his nose all bent out of shape from her attacks on his organization and supplies, and was looking for revenge.
"No, the garage is still waiting on a part. Will have it next week. But I am closer to the port than you are. I'll just call a cab and meet you there...ok?"
Jill smiled at the thought, then frowned in consternation. It wasn't fair!! While she was fairly well off, holding a job at a small bookstore, collecting the occasional reward, and receiving a healthy monthly stipend from the estate of her dead guardians, she had no idea what Jill did for money. She knew her friend had a part-time job and had collected a couple of rewards of her own. But it galled her that while she was trying to take down a heroin shipment worth four million dollars uncut (four or five times that amount on the street), her friend and fellow crime fighter could not afford the special order and shipment that she herself would've put in had it been her bike that was broken.
"Alright, Jill. You call your cab and meet me in our usual spot at the port in half an hour. I'll wait another few minutes if you can't make it on time for some reason, but after that I'm going in on my own...OK?"
Jill had already dialed the local cab company on her cell phone and was finishing her request there, then came back to the Vision line and said, "Cab's on the way, will be there with bells on...see ya....bye!"
The phone clicked dead and the Vision put the handset back in its cradle with a wry smile, always stunned a bit at how abrupt her impulsive friend could be. DangerGirl did nothing at half-speed....ever. Jo was beginning to think of Jill as her "ir" girl...irreverent, irritating, and irresponsible...but also iridescent, irrepressible, and simply irresistible. Shaking her head again at the picture of her all jacked up and raring to go in the back seat of some poor guy's taxicab, the Vision left her apartment, headed down to her Visioncycle, made one last check to see that she had everything, that her utility belt was all set for action, and hopped on her ride. Keying the bike, she opened the garage door and whizzed out into the cool night, heading for the docks.
When she finally arrived at their meeting place, she could see a cab pulling away and DangerGirl standing there, one hand holding her reinforced aluminum battlestaff and one hand on her hip, ready for action. The Vision coasted her nearly silent electric bike up between a couple of short shrubs just off the driveway and climbed off, adjusting her catsuit and belt, straightening out her long, windblown hair with her fingers, advancing towards her friend, then past her with barely a look, gazing into the port and looking for the warehouse that would be their target for tonight. She was all business now, a small part of her mind remembering how she had just impulsively rushed into her last near-fatal encounter with Trenchent's legion of henchmen. "Well, no more, " she thought, determined to take a more "mature" approach to her crime fighting activities now. DangerGirl, of course, would have none of that.
"Are you ready to rumbllllle!" she intoned, walking up to stand beside the Vision, entwining her left arm in Jo's right and following her gaze out towards the large buildings beyond.
The Vision looked down at her diminutive friend, trying to look stern. "Get serious, Jill. It's getting harder and harder to sneak up on these guys, they're using more and more troops against us all the time. To pull this off where going to need a good plan, teamwork, timing, patience, and stealth. If you're going to work with me we have to do this right, otherwise all we'll do is get in each other's way, maybe cost the other their life. Soo, can you get with the program and take this seriously, or are you going to be a loose cannon, and force me to leave you behind?"
DangerGirl looked up into her partner's beautiful hazel eyes, her own face and posture suddenly very solemn and serious. "Look...I may goof around a bit, try to have some fun with this, and I do really enjoy beating the crap out of some baddies for a good cause. But when it comes time for this, when someone rings the bell, I don't mess around, I am all about taking care of business. And I assume my business is helping you to get into this place, then watching your back while you kick some badguy butt. Am I right so far??" The Vision nodded, staring at her.
"OK, then...you lay out your plan, I will follow it to the letter. I haven't let you down yet, have I?? We've fought together a couple of times now and I think we make a fantastic team. I don't know about you, but I feel like I know what you're going to do before you do it. That's what "I" look for in a partner."
The Vision looked at "her" partner, seeing her nostrils flaring slightly, the aggressive nature of her stance, realizing that her own opening comments had been slightly offensive, realizing that they had been presumptuous and overly sharp. Why was she so nervous about this assignment?? DangerGirl wasn't a dolt, she knew what was needed here.
"You're right, and I'm sorry, Jill. I won't lecture you anymore about stuff you already know. You've been a great partner so far and I still owe you for last time. So forget what I said and lets see if we can come up with a good plan to get inside that warehouse waaay down there." She waved her hand, indicating a three story darkened warehouse at the far end of a pier halfway across the port, it seemed.
DangerGirl relaxed some then, but sensed that the Vision was holding something back, or was upset about something other than her goofy one-liners. She held her tongue though, and hunkered down with her new partner in the dark shadow of a large semi just inside the port's fence, and quickly thrashed out a reasonable plan for getting them inside the warehouse in one piece, without being spotted. They would go a ways together, then split up, each attacking or sneaking their way through the forces opposing them to meet at this one window on the east side of the building. Once inside, they would have to make new plans, based on the layout and the forces arrayed against them. The plan agreed upon, the two of them raised up and scooted off into the darkness.
They made good time, sneaking from shadow to shadow until they were much closer to the warehouse where the buy was going down, just to the point where they would have to split up so that they could start their "attack" from different directions, making sure they left no one to sneak up on them from behind. Barely breathing hard, they leaned against the back of a different warehouse, just a couple of buildings away from their target. DangerGirl could still sense an edginess on her friend's part, a distraction, wondering if it was maybe that the other was actually scared this time. Her own heart was beating faster and her mind was running at 10,000 mph, but she wasn't scared herself, just excited, and ready to bust some heads. She turned away from the wall to face the Vision, speaking to her in a terse, semi-whisper.
"Josie?? Pussycat?? Are you ok...are you ready to go...are you ready to FIGHT??"
The Vision dropped her head down to look at her friend, snapped out of some vague reverie by the other's questions, noting the tense, almost wild-eyed look in her fellow crime fighter's eyes, finally letting go of some of her own uncertainty and picking up some of DangerGirl's intensity. She was actually gratified now to feel a sudden surge of bloodlust race through her, preparing her now for what they had to do. She almost smiled then, and affected her best John Wayne accent to reply.
"Little missy...I was BORN ready!! Let's go..." But as the Vision turned from the wall to make off in her own direction, DangerGirl grabbed her forearm and pulled her taller friend back to face her, gazing up at the startled heroine with her wild, wonderful eyes.
"Jo...a kiss for luck...ok??"
The Vision stared down at her beautiful partner for a moment, then leaned her head in, deciding she really could "use some luck", but slowly putting her own hands behind her back and sliding them inside her belt, lest she be unable to resist getting carried away as per usual, and ruin their assault with her grabbing and groping. She noted DangerGirl doing much the same just before their slightly opened mouths came together. It was a chaste kiss, but it lingered, both woman with their eyes closed, for the moment feeling only the warmth and softness of each other's lips. Finally, reluctantly, they both leaned back and opened their eyes, blinking at each other.
"Luck, DG..."
"Luck, Viz..."
With that they both scooted off again in opposite directions, readying their weapons as they went.
The Vision's trip to their next checkpoint was rather uneventful in her own mind. The fact that she had to dispatch two of Trenchent's thugs along the way barely registering with her. The first she had knocked out with her Vision kevlar baton stick, extended out to its full 42" length, before he had even seen her. The second took a bit longer. He had seen her just before she attacked him with her baton. She had used it to knock his radio out of his hand, just before he could raise an alarm. Then one side kick to the inside of his right knee, using the same foot to backheel the inside of his left, then right up to his chin to send him sprawling. A quick flick of her baton to his forehead and he was out like a light. She rounded the corner of the warehouse, heading for the window that was to be their rendezvous, barely breathing hard. She smiled when she saw DangerGirl already standing there, staff in one hand, the other on her hip again, the same as she had been when the Vision had spotted her minutes before at the gate to the port. The Vision clicked a button on her baton, felt it retract to its 14" carrying size, and hooked it onto her utility belt. Then she scootched up to her friend and leaned against her shoulder.
"Show off...how many?"
DangerGirl laughed. "Just the one, and he wanted to dance, but he suddenly decided to go to sleep instead. So what now, boss?"
The Vision thought for a moment. This part had been easy, inside would be a different story. She did not know the layout of the warehouse, nor how may of Trenchent's men would be inside. She reached up finally and tested the window, satisfied that this was way to go when it slid open under the pressure of her hand. Her heart started beating faster now as she realized her showdown was only minutes away.
"We go through here, do a quick reconnoiter, then play it by ear, I guess. You ready, DG?"
"I was born ready, Viz," DangerGirl said in her own version of John Wayne's voice. "But you know, we've been...lucky...so far." She pressed close to Vision now, her head tilted up expectantly. "Maybe this kiss thing actually works."
The Vision could feel her heart pounding within her, staring down at her valiant partner. Unable to resist, she swept her shorter companion up and her arms and kissed her passionately, knowing it was stupid, knowing it had nothing to do with the success or failure of their mission, but more afraid inside than she cared to admit, needing to show her friend how she felt about her now in case one or the other did not make it out of this raid in one piece.
DangerGirl good feel the force and passion of the Vision's kiss, could taste the excitement and fear on her lips, and wrapped her arms around the other's neck, kissing her back just as hard, clinging to her desperately, saying a silent prayer that things would go ok, that they would survive this and live to love and fight another day. She had no illusions about her chosen profession, that it was dangerous at best, deadly at worst, but she was enjoying her life right now, her relationship with Jo, and did not want it to end as quickly as it had begun. So she clung to her friend and lover tightly, trying to forget for the moment what they were here to do, what could possibly happen to them.
They held each other and their kiss for a few moments more, then slowly disentangled, both of them slightly embarrassed by the force of their passion, but relieved and recharged somehow by it, standing there staring into each others eyes. Then the Vision finally turned back to the open window and hoisted herself inside, DangerGirl following closely behind. They stood there for a moment, letting their eyes become adjusted to the greater darkness of the warehouse, the halogen rays of the outside floodlights of the port barely penetrating through the window, then made their way silently toward the inside rooms there. Staying to the shadows, they finally reached what they thought was their destination, seeing two bulky men with rifles standing outside a large door to one of the interior rooms. They were out in the open, which was good, but it would also mean that they would be very hard to sneak up on. The Vision extracted a small gun from a compartment on her utility belt, along with her baton, extending it to full length again . At DangerGirl's questioning glance at the gun she whispered...
"Four shot tranquilizer gun, accurate up to 30 feet. Will knock a big man out for 15 minutes."
"Only four shots?"
"Yes, hardly ever time for more than that. Got a spare clip with me, but am not looking to turn this into some kind of shootout. Look...you sneak over to the other side of the door. When I shoot the goon on my side, you take out the other. If we're lucky it will give us a few minutes to set up. If they give us away we'll just have to charge the room...ok?"
She saw her friend nod, hefting her staff, and move out to the right, disappearing from sight. The Vision moved well to her left and crossed the warehouse out of sight of either of the guards, then made her way slowly along the wall that led to the room they wanted to enter, hoping to get close enough to use her trank gun before the guard could send out the alarm. And luck did seem to be with her, as she got to within 20 feet of the guard before he made a move to turn and look in her direction. By then it was already too late, as she aimed and fired her tiny gun at him, hitting him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart and watching him slowly crumple to the floor. She could see his partner on the other side turning to look, then the sudden emergence of DangerGirl behind him, wrapping a cord around his throat and pulling him off into the darkness without a sound. The Vision slowly moved toward the edge of the open door, gratified a few moments later to see her friend take up the same position on the other side of the opening. Smiling at each other, they rounded their respective corners at the same time and entered the brightly lit room beyond.
As they marched into the large room looking around for traps, they could see four men in front of them, two whites and two Asians, talking and gesturing at the plastic wrapped piles of heroin and what was obviously the payoff money bag on the large metal table between them. As the men finally realized they had company and turned to face them, the Vision announced...
"Give it up, boys, the party's over!"
The four men stared dumbfounded for a moment at the two women, seeing the one brandishing a small gun and short baton, the other twirling a rather nasty looking pole in her hands. Finally one of Trenchent's men spoke.
"Well if it isn't The Sight for Sore Eyes herself, and her baby sister! No, no...Welcome to our party, it has only just begun!"
The Vision glanced over at DangerGirl, seeing her friend's jaw getting very tight at the "baby" comment, hearing her softly call out "Assholesayswhat?" to the man who had so sneeringly addressed them.
"What?" he yelled back at her.
"Assholesayswhat?"
As the man said "what?" again, he suddenly realized what she had said and growled in anger. But just then the Vision saw six ropes seeming to drop down from the ceiling, three on each side of the room. Without even looking up she screamed...
"It's a trap, DG...MOVE!!"
Such was the skill and training and automatic teamwork of the two heroines that they both immediately leaped toward their respective wall and the falling ropes, attacking the black-clad ninja types sliding down them before they even reached the floor. The Vision clubbed the person coming down the first rope three feet above the floor, rendering them unconscious, watching them fall the rest of the way in a heap at her feet, while at the same time firing her trank pistol at the four men in the middle of the room, hitting two of them and knocking them out of the fight as well. She glanced over quickly and saw that DangerGirl had dispatched the first rappeler as well and was moving to engage the other two on her side, screaming invectives at them. The Vision returned to her own business quickly, just managing to raise her baton in time to block a wicked nunchuk blow from the second ninja who had lowered himself from the balcony above. She executed a lightening fast leg sweep, taking her attacker down and fired her last dart into them, raising quickly to engage the last black-clad warrior on her side.
DangerGirl, for her part, was having a ball. Having overcome the first ninja she was engaging the other two with her battlestaff. The two of them were fast, but she was faster, blocking blows from their nunchuks and delivering her own, dropping first one, then the other. As they regrouped and attacked again, she used her stick as a vaulting pole and launched a driving two-footed kick into the chest of one, sending them crashing back into the wall and out of the fight. Taking a moment to use her pole to trip one of the Asians that was trying to escape, she left an opening for the last ninja on her side to attack her, barely raising an arm in time to block a wild swing by her enraged opponent, moaning briefly at the pain of it, but whipping the end of her shaft in and upward and catching her attacker hard right under the chin, watching him somersault backward to land in a heap in the corner of the room. Spinning quickly towards the middle of the room, she was just in time to see the last standing henchman pointing a handgun at her. Acting almost faster than thought, she dove forward, twirling as she dropped, hearing the gun go off and the bullet apparently whizzing just above her head and between her twisting legs. She landed hard on her back near the shooter's feet, but her pole was above her now and she used it to whack the pistol out of his hand, then bring it back down toward her chest and drive the end of it into his groin. DangerGirl heard him grunt and rolled sideways quickly as he dropped to his knees and fell forward on his face where she had just been laying. But while she was watching this, the Asian she had tripped dived on top of her, straddling her torso with his legs, wrapping his hands around her throat and squeezing as hard as he could, his thumbs across her windpipe. She grabbed at his hands with one of her own, trying unsuccessfully to bend back one of his thumbs, her other hand firing jabs at his stomach and chest. But she couldn't get enough leverage to hit him very hard, and in his fear and desperation he was ignoring the pain of her blows. She could feel the blood roaring in her ears as her vision started to blur, thinking, "This is not good..."
Suddenly she felt an almost electric shock go through her body, feeling her muscles go rigid, her attacker's eyes going wide and head snapping back above her, then watching as he was pulled up and off of her and thrown to the ground, seeing the Vision standing over her grinning, holding her Visiontaser in her hand. Then she reached down, hand open, DangerGirl reaching up to grab her partner's wrist, feeling the Vision grab hers as well and hauling her to her feet. DangerGirl stood there swaying for a minute, coughing weakly, almost embarrassed to have been caught like that, but otherwise unhurt. She bent down briefly to pick up her battlestaff, holding it across her body with both hands, shoulder height between herself and her friend, smiling.
"We kicked some serious ass, didn't we, Viz..."
The Vision smiled back at her, then suddenly grabbed DangerGirl's staff just outside the other's hands and snapped it up and over the smaller woman's head, almost lifting her stunned companion off the ground in the process. DangerGirl felt a sudden jarring sensation in her hands as something struck the pole a hard blow right between them, assuming instantly that the Vision had used it to block another nunchuk blow coming from behind her. Without a moment's hesitation, she lifted herself off the ground, using the pole like a chinning bar, trusting her friend's strength, drove both her legs backwards in a vicious mule kick, and grinned in satisfaction as both feet drove squarely into whomever was attacking her, sending him sprawling backwards to land with a huge crash against the wall. As she swung back and down towards the Vision, she could feel her friend military pressing the "bar" higher over her own head, DangerGirl slamming softly into the other's body, her feet dangling off the floor, their faces only inches apart.
"Getting in some weight work now I see," DangerGirl said with a huge grin. "Am I too heavy for you?"
"L...Light as a feather, Jill. I could hold you like this all...day, " the Vision said through slightly gritted teeth.
Grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat, DangerGirl slowly raised her legs, spread them and wrapped them tightly around the outside of her crime fighting cohort's hips, squeezing them tightly and pulling their bodies tighter together.
"Let me take some of the load off your arms, dear."
The Vision felt the weight lessen almost completely off the bar, but didn't lower it, neither of them letting go of it, ignoring all the bodies sprawled around them for the moment, as they stared into each other's eyes, both of them leaning forward at the same instance to kiss each other, fervently and passionately, congratulating each other for a job well done, congratulating each other for still being alive, using it to show the other just how much she cared for her, and finally, simply because neither of them could resist doing it. After a few breathless moments, the Vision slowly lowered the bar, taking it down behind DangerGirl's back, the other letting go of it and wrapping her arms around her friend's neck, holding her tightly with all four limbs, and completing the lovely, spontaneous kiss. Finally releasing her grip and lowering herself to the floor, the small heroine sighed, trying rub the pain out of her forearm where she had blocked her opponent's blow, watching as the Vision whipped out a cell phone and called in the troops. Clicking her phone shut and shoving it back into her utility belt, she grinned down at partner.
"Let's pull these guys together and stack them into a couple of piles, like kindling wood. We'll put the ninjas on the bottom, and the slower, heavier guys on the top. That should hold them until the paddy wagons arrive."
"Good idea, Viz, but after that I sure know what we could use."
"What's that, a big drink?"
The almost demented grin back, DangerGirl wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve, shook her head and said, "Noo...a shower."
Jo groaned as she stood there naked, pulling weakly on her cuffed wrists, not so much to try and free them, but from the fact she was having trouble now controlling her voluntary muscle groups. Her wrists were held tightly in padded cuffs and secured via a short chain to a large eyebolt in the ceiling above her head, her arms not stretched too tightly but still secured and immobile up past the sides of her head. She bit her lower lip then, to try to keep from crying out, from yelling "stop" or "please god" or "no fair", because Jill had threatened to ball-gag her if she said a single, understandable word. Jo knew from personal experience that wearing a ballgag in the shower was a real bear...it made breathing difficult and for some reason caused her to drool even more than when she was forced to wear it on the bed or up against the round, steel pillar on the far side of the fireplace. But though she was not allowed to speak, she was allowed to make noise, and did, moaning from deep down in her throat as Jill stood there naked in the shower/bath in front of her, massaging warm, soapy lather deep into the soft skin of Jo's now rather horribly engorged breasts for the second time that evening.
Jill smiled her elfish little smile, fairly deeply aroused herself, her small hands working her friend's large breasts rather roughly, squeezing and massaging them hard, lifting and letting them fall, occasionally slapping them firmly from side to side or placing her fingers underneath them, hefting them and letting her thumbs go back and forth like little windshield wipers over Jo's rock hard nipples, the soapy water allowing her to put just the perfect friction on them to drive her friend insane. And Jill knew she WAS making her insane, she could see all the signs...the head snapping back and forth, the glazed eyes opening and closing for no apparent reason, the deep guttural moans that turned even her on so badly, and, ahhh, there they were...the piece-de-resistance, the violent pelvic thrusts, whether there was anything to thrust against or not. It had taken her all of five minutes during their first sexual encounter to realize just how badly this kind of breast manipulation turned Jo on, but she tried not to overdue it, saving this total assault for special occasions such as this, such as tonight's survival and easy triumph (well, not THAT easy...she had the marks around her neck and the large bruise on her forearm as proof of that). It always gave her such pleasure to drive her taller, stronger friend to this level of arousal, and even though she knew the shoe would be on the other foot very shortly, she didn't care, continuing to direct the strong pulsed spray of the long-hosed shower massage which she held between her knees up into Jo's unprotected pussy, unprotected because her ankles were also securely cuffed to two of the gasketed eyebolts that lined the inside of the rather wide shower/bath combo that Jo had had installed a few months ago..
Jo, moaning and writhing helplessly now, opened her eyes and glanced down at her lover/tormentor, at her friend/partner, knowing what was coming and knowing she would be unable to stop it whether she even remotely wanted to or not, seeing the angry bruises on the other's neck and arm, the fleeting thought crossing her mind that she would have to be careful with them when she enacted her "revenge" in a little while in the bedroom. But this was her last coherent thought for a long time, as Jill continued to push her higher, her moans interspersed now with whimpered begs for release, the squirming and thrusting becoming almost dangerously violent, until finally Jill did the thing that Jo expected, feared, loved...seeing her friend almost completely gone, Jill let the shower massage drop, wrapped her left leg around the back of Jo's right thigh and knee, and almost literally climbed up onto her, driving her right thigh between the other's restrained legs and pressing and rubbing it hard against her dripping sex, her hip grinding against Jo's pelvis, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend's quivering body and mashing their swollen breasts together, raising her face towards Jo's ear and groaning, "Cum for me, you fucking slut!"
Jo went rigid, the incredible feel of Jill's warm body pressing against her everywhere, her own overwhelming arousal, the other's voiced command too much for her. She screamed as her second massive orgasm of the night began to crash through her. Her rational mind heading for parts unknown, her primal brain overloading, she began to shudder and writhe and shake violently in her restraints, Jill hanging on for dear life, but still working her hard with her thigh and her mouth and her body, trying to drive Jo to the limit of arousal. She had her own small, beautiful orgasm as her lover's thrashing body pushed and rubbed against her own aching pussy, but though she knew the upcoming "payback" would be a bitch, she left thoughts of that for later, as she completed her wonderful Vision Ride and reveled in her friend's awesome arousal and mind-blowing release.
Roger Prentice lay there on his back, wondering for a brief moment why the stars had come out during the middle of the day...in the middle of his office?!? Shaking his head, and trying to raise up on his elbows, to get the back of his head off the thickly carpeted floor, he finally, slowly, painfully opened his eyes. His ears had already figured out what was going on, being bombarded with accusations and invectives for the past three minutes straight, even while he lay half unconscious on the floor. Now Roger's eyes finally got to rejoin the party, looking up to see his boss's glowering, animated visage hovering about six feet above his still-rattling head. Roger knew that the bossman was going to be upset when he was given the word about the latest fiasco down at the port. But upset maybe wasn't the right word. Damon Trenchent was angry, Damon Trenchent was agitated, Damon Trenchent was beside himself when he stormed into Prentice's office, demanding to know from his third in command and Chief of Security what had happen to their latest shipment. But when he stood to face his boss, and before he could even open his mouth to get a word in edgewise, Trenchent had simply leveled him with a huge right hand punch to the jaw, knocking him to the floor on his back and standing over him railing at him non-stop. Let's face it...Damon Trenchent was really, really pissed. Reaching down finally to give his Security Chief a hand up, Trenchent continued to heap abuse on him.
"Get up you wuss, you geek...Is this how good your security is?? Letting me walk in and cold-cock you like this without even a fight?! Take some self-defense lessons, learn to fight, OR GET OUT...you piece of jelly, you dinkspine!!"
Roger stood just in front of his rampaging boss, rubbing and working his jaw slowly, actually rather embarrassed to be caught like that, to be flattened just like the high school nerds he always despised when he was younger, but also knowing that if he had blocked Trenchent's blow, countered, and landed the first punch himself, there would have been hell to pay later. He probably would have been "fired", possibly even gotten a visit from Damon's personal bodyguard, the frozen-blooded Felipe. He could easily outfight Trenchent, he knew, being almost as big, in better shape, having learned more than a few combat fighting skills during his six years in the military. But dammit, he didn't WANT to fight his boss, and it should never, ever have come to this. His east coast connections had guaranteed those ninjas, they had never failed, and those two dinky heroines had gone through them like tissue paper.
"I leave it up to you to handle security!! It is your job!! If you can't handle it, TELL ME...and I'll get someone who can!!"
"Ok, ok, Damon, I can handle it...I can. I just took our New York boys' word that these guys we just rented were the best." He rubbed his jaw again. "But apparently they weren't..."
"Then, you idiot, don't go east, go west! Contact our Japanese office and tell them we want there best men on this, money is no object..." Roger's head snapped up at that comment, having never heard Damon ever say that about money. Damon glared back at him sourly.
"Damn you, Prentice!! These two lousy bitches are costing me MILLIONS!! All the legal fees and bail money I have to cough up for the 12 or so men that got thrown in jail today will be over a half million dollars!! So just shut up, pick up that phone, and get me the BEST this time...the best money can buy!"
"Yes, sir. I'll see to it personally, starting right now."
Trenchent snorted at him, his eyes still raging, and turned and started to leave the room. Suddenly he stopped and whipped around, seeming to have forgotten to say something.
"And how, may I ask, are you coming with finding the spy in our midst...the turncoat that is feeding this Batgirl wannabe and her friend all the information they need to destroy MY ENTIRE OPERATION!!" Trenchent's voice had started softly, then continued to rise in pitch and volume until he was almost screaming at the end.
Prentice stared at him, slightly taken aback, but not flinching too hard at the other's outburst. "Dammit boss, we're getting real close, I know we are. He isn't in security, I'll stake my life on that (wishing immediately that he hadn't used exactly those words). We've narrowed it down to administration and distribution, and we'll nail his ass soon, I promise."
Trenchent started to speak low and slow, his anger and volume again building as he spoke, however. "Look...no more excuses, Prentice. I am completely out of patience with your failures. I want you to order us some help, find this fink, whoever and wherever he is, and then...and then, " his voice rising, "I want the rat bastard dead!! I want DangerGirl...DEAD!! I WANT THE VISION....DEAD!!! YOU GOT ME?!?...DEAD!!"
Prentice just stared dumbly at his now red-faced boss for a moment...he had never seen him as agitated before as he was right now. He almost laughed then as he tried to figure out it Trenchent's last speech had sounded more like John Belushi in "Animal House" or Robert DeNiro in "The Untouchables". But he knew much better than to laugh, as his boss finally turned and stormed out the door, quickly turning back to his desk to look up the number for the Japanese head of security of their joint "import" business.
DangerGirl, meanwhile, was in trouble. Try as she might, she could not lower or close her knees, the ropes holding them up and open too tight for her. And try as she might, twisting and struggling, she could not loosen the ropes that held her right wrist to her right ankle and her left wrist to her left ankle. She wanted to scream, and tried to, to get the attention of her "attacker", to get them to let her free, but the large green ballgag in her mouth smothered her cries, and resisted all her attempts to force it out of her mouth. She stared down her body between her heavily swollen breasts, moaning at her helplessness, seeing Jo raise her head and smile at her for a moment. Then her friend lowered her head again, and Jill could feel herself about ready to explode as her aching, needy pussy was tormented again, Jo's lips and tongue knowing exactly where to go, what to lick, how hard to suck, when to stop...exactly what to do to make her writhing, diminutive friend insane with unreleased lust and arousal. Finally, Jo stopped and raised her head again, Jill looking down at her over the thick gag with desperately pleading eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm going to let you cum any minute now, Jill," she breathed with a smile, her face glistening with her aroused lover's juices. "And I think I'll choose the minute that comes...hmmm...fifteen minutes from now..."
As her tormentor dropped her head and buried her face between her now twitching thighs again, and before she could even scream into her gag, Jill felt her friend's soft lips surround her rock hard nub of a clit and suck it into her warm, wet mouth. She did scream then, loud and long into her ballgag, then moaned and writhed as she felt her clit suddenly released from its velvety soft prison just before she was about to go over the edge. She lay there panting hard through her nose, then shuddered as she felt her rigid clit now being blown on by someone's warm, wonderful breath. Godd...payback WAS a bitch!!
"Look Roger, we've got a make-up shipment of heroin coming in in three days. It's been almost three weeks, where is this super assassin you keep talking about?"
"He's supposed to be here either tomorrow or the day after."
"Well, don't you think the day after is cutting it pretty damn close?? Maybe you'd better find out what's going on...Don't you think?"
"Yeah, I guess so..." Roger agreed, moving forward in his seat to reach for the phone on Damon's desk. It was 9:00 PM and the two of them were sitting in the near dark of Trenchent's office having a couple of drinks, trying to relax, the only light in the room coming from a small tensor lamp shining down brightly on the beautiful mahogany of his antique desk. The security chief was very careful not to put his drink down on that mahogany as he reached into the circle of circle of light created by the tensor and grabbed the handset of the phone. But before he could pick it up, something zipped through the light and pinned his hand down against it, some kind of pole or stick. "What the fuck...?!"
A soft, mellifluous voice cut through the darkness of the rest of the room. "There is no need to call...I am here."
Roger used his free left hand so tilt the tensor light up to shine on the room's new occupant. Both men were shocked to see a black-clad ninja standing there, obviously a woman, the slightly loose ninja suit not enough to cover the swell of their intruder's breasts, the curve of her hips. She was about 5' 6", athletic and lithe, holding the one end of her bou, her bamboo fighting pole, the other end of it holding Roger's hand down on the phone. As she reached up and pulled off the hood of her suit and shook out her jet black, medium length straight hair, she removed the pressure and freed his hand, letting her bou hang at her side now. Both men continued to stare, finding her strikingly exotic and beautiful, Roger still holding the light, so that it shown on her like a spotlight.
Trenchent turned his chair towards the new arrival, leaning back and putting his fingertips together in front of him. "Very impressive, Ms...?"
"Kongou...Lady Kongou."
"Kongou.....hmm. That means diamond in Japanese, doesn't it?"
"Or thunderbolt," she returned with a slight nod of her head to him. Her face remained impassive though, her body never moved at all from its slightly poised position.
With a glance at Prentice, Trenchent remarked, "Well, you certainly seemed to have no problem getting past the security in THIS building." Roger turned his head to glare at his boss, and was about to retort when Lady Kongou spoke up again, her voice soft, almost unmodulated, but still crystal clear in the large room.
"The security in this building is actually quite good, Mr. Trenchent, far better than most. It took me almost 20 minutes to make it into this room." She said this with no trace of irony or braggadocio in her voice. Roger frowned and hung his head. Damon smiled and continued to gaze at his rental killer, very impressed and finding himself slightly aroused, as she was a beautiful, athletic woman. He found himself particularly attracted to he strikingly green eyes. But he had not gotten to his current position by wasting time or thinking with his dick, at least all the time.
"Are you prepared to do what you were hired to do, Lady?? Kill two rather annoying women and find out from either of them who is the traitor in our midst?" At her small nod, he continued. "I will not tell you your business, but I expect that our traitor has already given them the information about our most recent shipment that will be coming through on Monday. I would think that would be a good place for you to come to grips with them."
"Thank you, Mr. Trenchent, I agree. But I will need to visit this site first, in order to set up security arrangements and determine the proper course of action."
"YOU set up security?" said Roger, starting to become rather angry at being dissed all the time now. Lady Kongou did not reply, but simply turned back to Trenchent, staring at him. He caught her look, and with a sigh turned back to his security chief, who, despite all the recent problems and accusations was still his friend.
"Roger, relax...this one is her show...I'm sure she wants to keep security to a minimum so that we don't scare them off, so our men don't get in her way."
"Noo...," she broke in quickly. "Just the opposite. I want a very strong security presence. They will expect that after their recent successes, and anything less might very well spook them, or make them overly cautious. I do not want that, I want them to feel that they are just breaking through your brute forces. And I will set up these forces, leaving a weakness here, an opening there. When they show up, they will spot these, use them, but in the end they will be in exactly the position that I want at exactly the time I want them. Then I will take care of them." All this said without the slightest trace of emotion, of concern or excitement.
"Very good then," said Trenchent, smiling at her, then turning his head, smiling now at how dazed Roger seemed to be looking. "Make sure she has everything she needs, no questions." Then turning back to the Asian assassin. "I hope you are happy with the financial arrangements, Lady. How much is this costing us, Roger...I do not care, but I am just curious."
"$500,000...200 for each woman, 100 for getting the name of our informant."
Trenchent arched his eyebrows. "Only $100,000 for that, Lady Kongou? I would think that would be the hardest part. Much easier to kill someone than to get them to talk."
That slight nod in his direction again. "You are correct again...far easier. However, extracting information is the part I most enjoy about my profession, and I have no wish to price myself out of that market." She said this with no change in expression, no show of emotion still.
Roger just stared at her, not fully able to comprehend such a blasé attitude toward killing and torture. Trenchent, for his part, was now having second thoughts about his plan to try and bed this wench when her assignment was completed. She was certainly attractive enough, but he had always prided himself on his ability to read people, using it to his advantage time and again. Dealing with this witch was like talking to an unpainted wall, and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. He found his developing hard-on begin to wane as she continued.
"But I will need a site for my interrogation, a place where screams will not be heard by civilians."
Trenchent shook his head, looking over to his friend. "Roger..?"
Roger just sat there staring at her for a few moments more. Not "any screams", not "if there are screams"...simply "screams". He was beginning to feel almost sorry for the two unsuspecting heroines. Then he snapped out of that train of thought and replied, all ready with an answer, as he had already been looking into an interrogation site.
"She can use the old gymnasium portion of "The Bell Bar", that weight training and bar combo thing we have over on Lexington. It's perfect. That part of town is pretty deserted at night, the place is going to be renovated starting the end of next week, so no one is there at all. And the basement...well...the basement where the gym is, is soundproof...," glancing at the woman again, then shaking his head and looking down at the back of his hands. "...so the weightlifters can play their music as loud as they want."
"Excellent, Mr. Prentice. That does sound perfect. You will take me to the capture site tomorrow then?"
"Sure, yeah, right...first thing in the morning. Meet me here at 10." A small nod from her, then she turned and made for the door, not asking for permission to leave, not caring if they had anything else to say to her, apparently. As she opened it to leave, she turned back to them, gave them a slight bow, then left, still carrying her bou, closing the door behind her without a sound.
After she had left, Roger turned back to his boss, his eyes wide. "Shit, Damon...what the hell is...is that..?"
Damon Trenchent simply raised his eyebrows, then his glass. "Goodbye, Vision...good riddance, DangerGirl..." Then he took a sip of his drink, smiling.
The Vision and DangerGirl, both panting a bit this time, knelt outside the barely opened doors to the main storage room at the center of the a large warehouse where TP had informed them Trenchent was making a huge drug buy...huge to make up for all the lost product that the two of them had cost him recently. It had not been so easy to get this close to the actual exchange this time, both of them having to take out at least four of Trenchent's goons and hired hitters. But except for a couple of bruises and scratches, and one near miss when DangerGirl just dodged a knife blow from a man she hadn't seen, the two heroines were in good shape, with energy to spare they hoped, the drug buy taking place just through the narrow doorway to their left. They stood outside the door, regrouping a bit, the Vision reaching to her belt for something she could use to possibly check for any traps that had been laid inside the room.
She pulled out a strange, telescoping metal and glass contraption, DangerGirl looking on with interest, whispering, "I need to get a utility belt like yours...I just love all your gadgets and toys."
"You should have told me that before we came in...I have a spare belt on my bike, complete except no second taser or trank pistol. Taser is broke and I lost the second pistol in a fight last month. Got all the same knives and picks and gas pellets and medical stuff on it as this one does. Even has a spare baton. I only have the one of these though," indicating the device in her hand.
"What's this thing...a periscope??"
"Yeah, exactly," the Vision replied with a whisper. "Can see around single and double corners with it." To prove that point, she folded it in half, using just the one very slightly convex mirror on the antenna-like telescoping rod and barely pushing it into the door opening an inch or two, to get a decent view of most of the room beyond. She scanned it for a moment, tilting the little thing this way and that, to look towards the ceiling as well as the floor, not wanting to have men drop down on them again like last time. Finally satisfied, she gave her little tool to her cohort, whispering for her to look too, wanting her to SEE the layout of the room before they charged or snuck in. DangerGirl scanned the room to, saw the same things that the Vision had: A central steel table, half obscured by a foot-wide I-beam support pole about twenty feet just inside the door, about eight men standing around the table, apparently arguing at the moment, again the beam blocking her view of all of the men, a towmotor, many spools of cable, numerous boxes and crates along the left side of the room and against the back wall, and a large liquid storage tank covering most of the right side of the room. About the only part of the room she could not see was the area just inside the door, against the two near walls, realizing that there might be ten men there with submachine guns for all she knew. She noticed that only about half the men she COULD see were armed. Well, they had already taken out nine armed men outside, and maybe even Trenchent couldn't conjure up a whole army to stop them.
DangerGirl handed the apparatus back to the Vision, then watched intently as she fiddled with it, turning it on its hinge so that it formed an "L", with the one angled mirror still at the joint, and a same-size swiveling mirror at the far end of it, about ten inches now from the first one. The young heroine could see how it worked now. The Vision looked up at her.
"There's a small chance someone may see this, unless there are men hiding just inside the door...then they will certainly see it," she whispered again. "So get ready to run or attack depending what and if I yell, ok?" She smiled as her friend nodded her understanding, then slowly moved the first mirror to a point only an inch inside the door frame, then turned the whole thing 180 degrees so that the second mirror was now ten inches farther into the room and angled so that she could see the right side of it, the part just on the other side of the door and wall where they now stood. She was happy to note that there was only two small crates lying on the floor, about three feet long and a foot or so high. They were about six feet apart and the one was opened. She thought she saw a rifle magazine inside of it, so assumed they were just rifle boxes used to arm the men they had just dispatched. Obviously no army behind those two small boxes. Slowly turning her tool so that she could reangle the end mirror, she turned it back into the room and scanned the left side of the near wall now, sighing in relief as all she could see were only five or six empty pallets laying on the floor there. She slowly and carefully turned her periscope back to the outside, then broke it down quickly and put it back into her utility belt, giving her instructions to DangerGirl at the same time.
"Ok, here's the deal...we go through the door here single file, as fast and as quietly as we can and try to stay behind that I-beam in the middle. With any luck at all, we can get behind it and be twenty feet closer to those guys then we are now. Then I'll attack to the left, you attack to the right. We'll give them no warning and no quarter, ok?"
"Gotcha, Viz," her friend almost mouthed back to her before smiling broadly.
It was just then, inside the room, and behind the unopened gun case, that Lady Kongou began to move. She pulled the earpiece out of her left ear, having listened to the two heroine's entire conversation of the last few minutes, two small concealed mikes set on each side of the doorway, a tiny receiver on the floor beside her body. Everything is going exactly to plan, she thought. They are even on the side of the door that I wanted, having tried to set up the security phalanx so that the two crime fighters would find it to their "advantage" to come up to the room from the right side. And now they were going to come through the narrow door opening single file and make for the I-beam in the center of the room, exactly as she had planned as well. The whole time she was thinking this, she was straightening out, having been folded completely in half at the waist for the last half hour, so limber that she could place her body between her straight legs, the highest portion of her back no more than eight inches off the floor. She stood silently and stretched slightly, still fairly loose, and moved like a shadow to a small water pipe in the exact corner of the room, retrieving her bou that she had hidden there. She then slunk along the dimly lit wall to within seven feet of the open doorway, pressing her back against the wall, and almost literally disappearing, her ninja suit the exact same color as the wall on which she leaned.
But in pulling out her earpiece when she did, having heard everything she needed to hear, at least in her own mind, Lady Kongou missed the end of the two heroine's conversation, a conversation that if she had heard, might have changed the events to follow. For good or bad for her or the Vision or DangerGirl can never be known. But miss something she did, something that might have told her more about the nature of the two combatants she was now attempting to defeat. She missed DangerGirl taking the Vision loosely by the shoulders, looking at her with a grin, and whispering...
"This kiss for luck thing is working really well, don't ya think? Let's stay with the hot hand, ok?"
The Vision smiled down at her then, and leaned forward to press her lips softly into her friend's, simply holding them there for a few seconds, both of them letting their eyes close for just a moment, to drink in the feel of the other. Then with a mutual sigh, and a "luck, DG", "luck, Viz", they both turned and snuck into the room to meet whatever fate had in store for them, the Vision in the lead with her extended baton and trank pistol, DangerGirl two steps behind with her battlestaff. The smaller of the two heroines had only taken two quick steps inside the door, when fate decided to strike.
Neither of the two of them ever even saw the ghostly blur that was Lady Kongou, as she glided off the wall, her bou in front of her crosswise at shoulder height. With a lightning snap of her left arm, one end of the bou struck DangerGirl directly behind the right ear, knocking her sideways and to the floor, the unexpectedness of the blow doubling its effectiveness. Even before her first victim had started to fall however, Lady Kongou had duplicated the snap, this time with her right arm, the other end of the bou crashing into the Vision's right temple. Stunned and nearly unconscious, she was driven to the floor as well. SNAP, SNAP...and just like that there were two completely dazed heroines on their faces on the floor.
But the Lady was not through, stepping forward quickly and leaning down...SNAP, SNAP...delivering two more stiff blows to the back of their necks. Then SNAP, SNAP...two more hard blows to the base of their skulls, and both young crime fighters were rendered completely unconscious, neither having any idea at all what had hit them. She almost smiled down at them...this had been way too easy for her tastes. She would have loved to challenge either of them to a straight-out contest of fighting skills, or even fought both of them at the same time, so confident of her own abilities was she. But she was also the ultimate pragmatist. Why accept even the slightest risk of failure when by subterfuge and careful planning such a risk could be eliminated? Some of the men were rushing up now to see what had happened, all of them stunned by the ease with which their vaunted nemeses had been defeated, and staring at the beautiful Asian who had defeated them. She had removed her ninja hood now, as it would no longer be needed. In her dispassionate, but forceful voice, she started issuing commands, the others knowing she had been put in charge of the whole operation by Trenchent, himself.
"You men have fifteen minutes to complete your deal, pack up your money and your merchandise and clear out of the area. Who's responsible for arming the bomb?"
A stocky young man with a buzz cut pushed his way through the rest to stand in front of her. "That would be me, Lady Kongou," he said with a grin, his eyes scanning her up and down, openly admiring her full 5'6" athletic frame. She noticed, but did not even remotely care.
"Then place it against the tank and set the timer for 30 minutes. Then carry one of those large wooden chairs over near the tank for me as well. Do it now and do it right...please." She said this without malice nor even the hint of a smile, but the young man got the point and snapped to, going off to get the small bomb and a wooden chair. After that he would set the timer, and tape it to the side of the large liquid storage tank that occupied most of the right side of the room. It was currently filled with the organization's emergency gasoline supply, but was being sacrificed at Lady Kongou's directive, to cover the scene of their crimes. Standing on the chair he had brought over for the moment, so that he could place the bomb higher up along the side of the tank, he set to work arming it. The young man did so very carefully, thinking that he didn't want to be within a block of this place when this baby went up.
Meanwhile, the Lady had gone around behind the open "gun case" and grabbed her canvas duffle bag, putting it back down on the floor between the two unconscious heroines. She unzipped it and reached inside to pull out some lengths of thin nylon rope, two rather large blue ballgags, and a Tech-9 in its large shoulder harness, which she shrugged into and tightened around her, wanting to be prepared if someone should unexpectedly show up after the others had left. Looking up to see the man arming the bomb reposition the chair she had asked for, give her the thumbs up, and move back towards the group of men finishing their business at the table, she knew she was now "on the clock", and she would not have time for a long fight if someone should show up. But again, she WAS a pragmatist, and sometimes it was just easier to simply shoot someone in the head, then it was to club them into the ground with her bou. Still, she regretted not being able to engage either of these two beautiful women in mortal combat. She would have to be content with simply torturing and killing them, she thought, for the first time the barest trace of a smile crossing her lips. But first things first, she had to tie them up.
The Lady started first with DangerGirl. As both woman were already on their stomachs, she simply pulled the small, unconscious heroine's wrists behind her back and, after placing her hands palm to palm, wrapped a few tight turns of rope around them and cinched that off. Then she wrapped the excess rope between the limp woman's arms and around the loops, pulling it very tight, not worried about comfort at all, very effectively handcuffing DangerGirl's wrists with rope. Grabbing another short length of rope, she folded it in half to get a double strand, then slid it under the heroine's arms, the loop in the rope just outside and above her left elbow. The Lady then pushed the two rope ends through the loop, tugged them back to the right, and began to pull the whole thing tight, sliding and adjusting the rope against the skin of DangerGirl's arms as she did so, drawing her elbows closer and closer together. Finally satisfied that it was tight enough never to slide down past her elbows, the impassive assassin wrapped the rest of the double stranded rope around them, keeping the tension, then split the two ends and passed them in different directions around her right elbow, knotting them together tightly there. She knew that when DangerGirl awoke, her arms and shoulders would be aching, but that was of no concern to her, either. Glancing around the room, she noted that all the others had left now, leaving her alone with the two helpless women. "Good...," she thought, almost smiling for the second time.
Moving lower, she did the same folding, threading, pulling, and tying procedure above and below the small woman's knees, and the same handcuffing style tie at her ankles. Grabbing one of the longer pieces of rope, Lady Kongou draped it over her own shoulders. Then, using her considerable strength, she lifted the bound, still-unconscious crime fighter into her arms and carried her over to sit in the chair, leaving her bound arms pressed between her back and the back of the chair. Taking the long rope, she quickly wrapped it around DangerGirl's body, just under her breasts, now pushed hard into her outfit by the tightness of her arm bindings, then around the back of the chair, then looping it around twice more, tying it off as tightly as she could, and leaving two long lengths of excess rope past the knot. Taking the longer length one, Lady knelt down and threaded it down and under the seat, sliding it inside DangerGirl's ankle bindings and pulling back, to lift her feet off the floor, then knotting it off so that they remained suspended there. Standing, she grabbed the shorter length and wrapped it loosely around the unconscious woman's neck and tied it off. Just as she completed the last knot, finally satisfied (knowing it was a sloppy chair tie, but it would only have to hold for a few minutes), she was startled to hear a soft moan behind her. Whipping around she could see that it had come from the Vision, as she moaned again and seemed to be trying to move her arms. Lady Kongou was stunned as she hustled back to the larger of the two heroines. She knew she had hit the woman harder than that...she should've been out for another ten minutes at the very least. "She must have a skull like a bowling ball," she thought.
But Lady Kongou was wrong. It was not the Vision's skull that was strong, it was her constitution. While not a superheroine, as she had no real superpowers, the young heroine did seem to possess one special gift...she could recover much faster than any normal human being from any kind of abuse, be it chemical or physical or sexual. The Vision had only become aware of this "talent" a short time before, herself. She had wondered if it was a genetic trait or some strange mutation, wishing for the thousandth time that she knew who her parents were, or what had happened to them. They had disappeared when she was only ten weeks old, never to return, leaving her to be raised by her guardians, Gary and Joanne Benson. And until their death in a car crash three years ago, she had loved them as much as any child loves a parent. But they were never able to tell her anything much about her real parents, and had certainly never mentioned the physical quirk that was bringing her back around so quickly, and forcing Lady Kongou to hurry to get her tied before she fully awoke.
And this is exactly what the Lady was doing, still shocked by how quickly she had recovered, but basically unconcerned by the Vision's growing awareness and movement. And before the still incapacitated crime fighter could fully recover, she found her wrists and ankles securely bound in the same manner as her partner's, and her assailant working on her elbows. She twisted and struggled as best she could for the moment, groaning in pain, trying to stop whoever was doing this from tightening the ropes. But it was too late, and she could feel her elbows being pulled closer and closer together, her shoulders drawn painfully back, her large breasts forced hard into her catsuit and the cold cement floor.
"Ohhhh....stop....stop this!" she moaned softly, feeling the other tying off the knot around her one elbow now, not replying to her at all. Turning her head and spotting her still unconscious friend bound tightly to a chair across the room, she was stunned, and suddenly quite afraid. "Who...are...you?? Why...why are you doing this to us?" As her she felt her captor begin to loop a rope tightly around her knees, she suddenly tried to roll away from her, to maybe bring her bound legs into play for a front kick, but the other was too quick for her, simply reaching out and grabbing the twisting heroine's right buttock with her hand, digging her sharp nails into the Vision's catsuit and the firm flesh beneath and pulling her back onto her belly, causing the young heroine to cry out in pain and frustration. Not knowing what to do now, her tight bindings pulling at her and controlling her movements, her head and body aching, the Vision lay there, feeling her legs being bound above and below the knees, wishing the person tying her would say something, anything. She craned her neck around to see who it was, but was not quite able to make the person out. This problem was soon solved for her, though, as Lady Kongou, finished with her binding, grabbed her by the thighs and rolled her over on her back, forcing her to lay painfully on her arms as she stared up to see who had done this to them.
The Vision was shocked at the sight of her captor, a beautiful Asian woman, slightly smaller than herself, dressed in a pale tan ninja suit, the hood pulled down and back, a large pistol strapped under her arm, who squatted at her feet, staring back at her impassively, her green eyes almost glowing. Not liking the idea of laying at the other woman's feet, so to speak, she slowly sat up, groaning slightly as a small wave of nausea swept through her, from laying there for so long and from the blows she had taken. But now her face was only a foot away from the Asian's and the Vision stared at her, still struck by how beautiful she was, and almost whispered, "What are you going to do to us??"
"I am going to find out from one of you who your informant in Mr. Trenchent's organization is, then kill you both."
The Vision just stared at her, stunned by the total lack of emotion her opponent showed at what was a rather horrid announcement for her and her friend. She was going to attempt that front kick again, knowing it would be useless, but having to do something, when the oriental woman rose, grabbing her by the hair and stating, "Stand...". The pain in her head horrible, she had no choice but to comply, struggling desperately to get her bound legs beneath her, her feet under her, so that she could raise herself, finally succeeding, and riding the strength of her captor's pulling hand to stand, gasping from the pain and exertion of it.
Lady Kongou actually smiled then, some of her impassive calm beginning to slip, no need to hide her true nature from them, as they would both be dead shortly. "Now hop over to you friend, Vision."
Suddenly the Vision felt anger. "Bite me, bitch!" If she was going to die, she'd be damned if she would go out like some milquetoast.
The Lady smiled again, reaching up and slowly extracted her gun. "Hop over to your partner or I will shoot her right now. It makes little difference to me when you both die."
The Vision groaned in anger and despair, but did as she was told, knowing instinctively that the other would do exactly what she said without a second thought. She hopped and bounced her way over toward DangerGirl, seeing her friend beginning to move, finally coming around from the blows she had taken. Lady Kongou noted it as well, happy in a way that these two defeated heroines were tougher than they looked. She so hated weak and useless opponents. The Vision finally reached her injured partner, leaning over to lay her head against her friend's.
"Back away from her a bit, Vision...now!"
The Vision did, straightening up and hopping a couple of feet away. She glanced over at DangerGirl, seeing her friend shaking her head and coming around even more, staring back at her, feeling her own restraints, and realizing too, that they were in big trouble. While the Vision just stood there, trying to keep her balance, her diminutive friend was getting her back up, as per usual, and glaring out at their captor. Jo closed her eyes in almost despair as Jill began to speak.
"So who the fuck are you, bitch, and why have you tied us up like this?"
The Vision opened her eyes just in time to see the attractive Asian smile, turning her attention to her DangerGirl now. "I see no reason not to tell you, as you shall both soon be dead. I am Lady Kongou."
Jo glanced over at her impetuous partner, hoping she'd be cool, but not really sure what that would accomplish, either...barring a miracle, it appeared they were both doomed anyway.
"Well, Lady Kon-Vict," said DangerGirl, "you are a gutless coward and a pig, sneaking up on us, hitting us from behind. You don't have the guts to meet us in a fair fight, do you?" The Vision looked up at the Lady, surprised to see that Jill had actually scored a point there, their opponent frowning and waving her gun slightly at the chair-bound young woman.
"Shut up, slut...I could destroy you in a heartbeat."
But DangerGirl would not be denied, even though she was still not totally recovered, still trying to clear her head, still straining against the ropes holding her to the chair. "Let me loose, and I'll kick your Asian ass, you bitch!"
The Vision glanced up at Lady Kongou, trying to see how she would react, hoping she would make some kind of mistake. But their opponent only laughed quietly, then appeared to be mentally withdrawing for a moment, as if trying to come to some kind of decision. The two trapped heroines watched her in silence for a moment, until the other finally began to speak.
"Let me see...I only need one of you to interrogate, to find out about your mole inside of Mr. Trenchent's organization, and I see no need to deal with both of you. So I will take one of you and leave the other to be blown up by the bomb in a few moments." As she said that she looked up to her right, along the side of the large tank to which the bomb was affixed. Both of the heroines followed her gaze, both of them saw the bomb, both of them knew what it meant. They turned back then to their lithe captor, noting that she was moving her gun back and forth between the two of them now, both of them dismayed about the bomb and about their ultimate fate, but both of them willing to die for their cause if need be. But neither of them wanted to see their friend and lover die first. Finally, DangerGirl spoke again, the Vision hating and loving her for opening her mouth.
"What's you're problem, you cowardly bitch...can't you make up your mind which helpless person to shoot in the head?? I've seen more honor out of a piece of lint than I see in you..."
The Vision groaned as she saw the Lady swing her gun back towards her friend, but then it moved back to cover her, then back to DangerGirl, back and forth, over and over, as if their captor was finishing doing an eenie-meanie-minee-mo. She was startled when the Lady suddenly began to speak again, her voice almost one of merriment rather than concern.
"Let me see...the Vision is the more attractive to me of the two of you, but the little bitch is beginning to piss me off...Let me see...whom to shoot and whom to torture...hmm?" Suddenly, as if coming to a decision, she stopped, her gun pointed at DangerGirl's head. "I would very much like to ply my wares on you, little one, but I know from my conversations with Mr. Prentice that Mr. Trenchent would most like to see a videotape of me torturing the Vision. So I guess that it is time for you to die my big-mouthed friend. I know I could leave you for the bomb to kill, but I am not stupid. I will not even give you the five minutes after we leave to try and escape...what's the point in that. Goodbye, DangerGirl..."
Both of the heroines stared open-mouthed at Lady Kongou, watched as she pulled the trigger on her Tech-9. But the Lady had pulled out her earpiece too soon, had forgotten just whom she was dealing with. Both of her opponents were heroines of the first class, and the Vision did what she had to do, something she would have considered for an enemy, something she would have definitely done for a stranger or an innocent, something that she did now for a friend and a lover and a fellow heroine without the slightest thought, without a microsecond of hesitation. As the gun went off, she threw herself to her left, into the flight of the oncoming bullet...
The Vision heard DangerGirl scream and Lady Kongou gasp as the bullet entered her body with the force of a sledgehammer, just below her left collarbone. She screamed as well, the pain of it unreal, her body twisting in midair from the incredible force of the bullet. She crashed to the ground on her right side, unable to control her fall at all, and lay there unmoving, thinking to herself, "So this is what getting shot feels like." But she had accomplished her mission, her body deflecting the bullet some, causing it to whiz just past DangerGirl's left ear, actually cutting off a few hairs on its way past her into the far wall. She lay there fighting a losing battle against the dizziness and pain, her eyes wide and unblinking as if she was dead, blood oozing out of the small hole above her breast, pulsing out of the more gaping wound behind her shoulder. She lay there, unable to move or think or see.
DangerGirl, saw her friend fall, taking the bullet that was meant for her, writhing and jerking against the ropes that held her to the chair, screaming out a "NOOOOOOOOO" at the top of her lungs. "Oh, Jo, nooooo..." She suddenly froze for a moment, looked down into the Vision's unseeing eyes, saw the blood coming out of the hole in front of her shoulder, watched their horrid assailant reach down to the Vision's neck, searching for a pulse, saw her stand and say "She's still alive, but barely...", then struggling anew, to try and break free of her restraints and get at the demoness who had shot her friend.
Lady Kongou looked up at the struggling heroine, a bit stunned herself by the events of the last few seconds, hating to be wrong, to have made a mistake, but realizing her goal was still attainable. She would just have to break DangerGirl for the information she needed and leave the Vision to die for certain in the explosion that was only...she glanced at the timer...MY GOD!!...that was only four minutes away. With that, she stepped behind the writhing, swearing heroine, reached down to her belt for one of the large blue ballgags and worked it into DangerGirl's mouth, listening to her expletives and cries crushed down to just unintelligible moanings. Damn it...this wasn't the way she wanted it to work out.
DangerGirl struggled and pulled at her bindings, trying to get to her fallen partner, trying to get her hands on the miserable assassin who had shot her friend, her screams of "You bitch, you miserable gutless bitch" finally smothered as the thick ballgag was forced into her mouth. Unable to stop the other from buckling the gag tightly behind her head, she looked down at the Vision again, not sure if her friend was conscious or not, only the slight rise and fall of her chest indicating that she was even still alive, and thought, "Ohh, Viz...why!?" She never noticed when Lady Kongou thumbed the small ring on the index finger of her right hand, never saw the small needle suddenly protrude out of its base, barely felt it when her captor placed her hand on the side of her neck and forced the needle into the carotid artery there. But she finally did feel it as her limbs began to go numb, did hear it as the horrible Asian warrior began speaking to her.
"Relax my dear...I have just injected a dilute curare solution into your bloodstream. You will be able to breathe, to think, but that is about it. I would much rather have shot you and carried the Vision off to break for the information I seek. But I guess it's up to you now to give it to me, to be the belle of my bar tonight. But we must hurry, or be blown to bits with your friend. Believe me, she will be much better off in a minute or so than you will be. I will have a lot of fun breaking you, showing you just who the gutless bitch is." All the time she was speaking, the Lady was untying the knots that held the now paralyzed heroine to the heavy wooden chair. DangerGirl could no longer even hold her head up, feeling her chin drop down onto her chest, forcing her to look one last time at the bleeding, unmoving, deathlike body of her friend.
Finally finished, Lady Kongou walked around to the front of DangerGirl, leaned forward to bury her right shoulder in the unmoving heroine's stomach. Then, raising up, she bodily hoisted her up and over it, heading for the entrance to the warehouse and her van, anxious to put as much distance as she could between herself, her captive, and the bomb before it went off. She jogged outside quickly, her captive bouncing and grunting on her shoulder, knowing they had less than a minute left, and opened the back door of her vehicle and unceremoniously dumped the bound heroine onto the floor on her back. She then leapt into the driver's seat, grabbed her keys from the visor, cranked the ignition, and started off, flooring the gas pedal to try and get away in time.
DangerGirl, for her part, lay helplessly in the back, unable to move a muscle, her head resting on a rolled up piece of carpet that lay in the back of the van with her. Try as she might, she could not move, could not scream, could not fight this thing that was happening to her, that had already happened to Jo, her best friend in the whole world. She could feel silent tears rolling down her cheeks as the van sped off, only to feel it suddenly jerk, as if hit by a giant fist, hearing a roar of thunder enveloping them from outside, her own voice screaming inside, as she knew what that jolt and the sound of that blast meant.
She tried to turn her head, but could not, willed her eyes to close, but they would not, her upraised head and open eyes seeing the cloud of smoke and dust issuing from the place they had just left, through the back window of her captor's van. "Oh dear god...Joooooo!!!"
But no one could hear her, no one could answer her unvoiced scream of despair and pain and longing. She lay there bound and gagged and paralyzed as they tore away from the site of her lover's, her partner's death, lay there helpless as the van roared off into the night, carrying her to a most uncertain fate.