The Vision lay there on the cold cement floor, in a state of complete shock, the\npain in her shoulder from the high velocity bullet having stunned her into\ncomplete immobility. She drifted in and out of a kind of waking unconsciousness,\nbarely capable of remembering what had happened, feeling her bodily functions\ngoing into an idle mode while her body itself struggled to come to grips with\nthe pain, the impact, and the continuing loss of blood caused by her being shot\nin the left shoulder at close range in a desperate attempt to protect the life\nof her friend and partner, DangerGirl. She wondered if she could have survived\nthe shock of this is she was not wearing the semi-bulletproof catsuit that\nCarnivore had provided her with those months ago. As she wavered in and out of\nany kind of coherency and comprehension, the Vision suddenly realized that she\ncould hear the woman that shot her speaking, talking to her bound and now,\napparently gagged, cohort. She tried to move, to help her captive friend, but\nstill could not, almost completely paralyzed from the effects of the shooting,\nstill tightly bound hand and foot as well. In a moment of clarity as she lay\nthere, her mind at least starting to come back to her, she remembered the bomb\nattached to the large tank just above her head, then groaned inwardly as she\nsaw, through unmoving and unblinking eyes, Lady Kongou hefting DangerGirl onto\nher shoulder and preparing to take her away. \"Ohh god,\" she prayed silently,\n\"Somebody help us...\"
\nAs the Lady turned to hurry out with her captive, she inadvertently kicked the\nVision in the foot as she and her paralyzed load moved past. Like someone\ntapping a skipping tone arm, she felt her body suddenly pushed into the next\n\"groove\", and begin to come back to life. The pain in her shoulder suddenly\ndoubled, but the wounded heroine suddenly realized she could move again, even\nbound as she was. Turning her head to see Lady Kongou almost running out of the\nroom, with DangerGirl bouncing hard on her shoulder, the Vision then looked up\nto check the bomb, seeing its timer ticking down, 58...57...56... Knowing she\nhad almost no time left at all, that even if she made it outside she probably\nwouldn't get far enough away from the blast to save herself, the Vision knew she\nmust still try, for Jill as much as for herself. So she called on her gifted\nbody once again, demanding everything it had, to get her legs under her and\nraise up, to try and get away. Counting aloud now, knowing that she until the\ncount of about 50 before her time ran out, she struggled and surged, not\nignoring the awful pain in her shoulder, but using it to help drive her efforts,\nlike a strong dose of smelling salts. She had to help her friend!
\nWith a grunt and a yell, her count up to 13, she got her bound feet under her,\nher toes on the floor. She thrust her body upward hard, tying to ignore the wave\nof dizziness that engulfed her from that move, knowing she had no time to be\ncareful, even though if she passed out or fell again, that she would be dead.\nBut she did not pass out, she did not fall, her superb athleticism and strength\nof mind and body kicking in, and began hopping as fast as she could through the\nnarrow doorway of the room and towards the outside door, her count heading to 30\nnow. Panting and gasping at the pain and exertion of it all, she reached the\nfloodlit outside at 40, frantically looking for someplace to hide, knowing she\ncould never outrun the blast now.
\nSpotting a large, green, slant-top trash container just slightly to her left and\nup against an eight-foot tall, log-braced retaining wall across the narrow\nparking area, she hopped madly toward it. She knew the bomb would go off any\nsecond, and headed for the back of the container, seeing that it was about a\nfoot away from the dark, musty wall. Cursing her large breasts, she let herself\nrun chest first into the damp, dirty logs, moaning in pain, then simply threw\nherself to her left, trying to get her whole body behind the green, rusting\nreceptacle. She gasped as her chest and thighs scraped and bumped down along the\nwall as she fell sideways, the backs of her arms suffering the same fate as they\nscraped and rubbed down the back of the container. She turned her head to the\nright as far as she could, trying to protect her face and eyes, her left ear\nbanging painfully against the wall on her way down. As her injured shoulder\ncrashed down underneath her against the hard asphalt of the driveway, she\nscreamed, a scream of animal fear and pain, but a scream that she could not\nhear, as the bomb suddenly went off, instantaneously detonating the large tank\nfilled with gasoline that it was attached to.
\nFor a split second, the very air around her seemed to compress, the incredible\nsound of the explosion almost puncturing her eardrums, saved from that only by\nthe fact that her mouth was open from her own scream. Then, with a huge \"WHUMP\",\nthe blast front arrived. As the almost full garbage container was driven into\nher, the Vision's scream was cut off in mid-decibel as it suddenly felt as\nthough she was being punched in the back by God, every cubic inch of air pushed\nout of her body by the force of it. As the waves of force from the explosion\nebbed and flowed around her and her sanctuary, the nearly unconscious heroine\ncould feel the protective dumpster sucked away from her slightly, only to be\ndriven into her again and again, all this taking place in the course of just a\nfew seconds. She couldn't breathe at all, her world turning completely black as\nthe air around her filled with dust and debris and the awful roaring of the\nblast. The motion of the container finally stopping, pressing her tightly into\nthe wet logs of the wall, she could feel and hear pieces of the building\ncrashing down onto her \"shield\", banging and dinging and crashing around her in\nan almost orchestrated cacophony of sound and fury.
\nHer eyes closed, as it was pitch dark now anyway, the Vision struggled\ndesperately to breathe while all this was happening. Even though it had just\nbeen a few seconds since the huge explosion, she felt as if she was already\nsuffocating. And perhaps she was, held so tightly in her hiding place, the dust\nso thick around her, her ribs certainly bruised if not broken, her arms the\nsame, saved only by the short length of the blast's maximum pressure, by the\nfact that the force of the blows were distributed over her entire body at the\nsame instantaneous moments. Then, suddenly, there was a huge crash just feet\nabove her head, as if the entire wall of the warehouse had fallen on her, the\nvery air around her compressing again, stunning her. The dumpster began to move,\ntilting some away from the wall and pushing away from her a bit. As she greedily\nbegan to gasp in as much air as she could, she felt more debris begin noisily\ndropping around her. But something else was \"falling\" down on her now as well.\nIn the total darkness, something huge and heavy began to press down on her right\nshoulder, turning and driving her onto her stomach, with barely enough room now\nto twist in, the inexorable weight pushing hard into her back now, pinning her\nto the hard, unforgiving driveway. \"I've been shot...and so this is what it\nfeels like to be crushed too...\" was the Vision's last thought as she finally,\nmercifully, passed out.
\nLady Kongou watched the dust and debris of the explosion push up into the sky\nbehind them, the blast having almost knocked her van off the road back there,\nwith her barely managing to hang onto it. Now she drove along more carefully,\nwatching her speed, alternately glancing into her rearview mirror at the carnage\nbehind her and the road ahead of her. Occasionally she would check her inside\nrearview mirror to gaze at her captive, seeing her still laying there on the\nfloor, bound and gagged, paralyzed from the curare she had injected the young\nheroine with, unable to resist calling back to her.
\n\"I'm sure your partner did not feel a thing, DangerGirl. I'm sure she died\ninstantly,\" smiling in satisfaction at what sounded like a sob coming through\nthe tight ballgag that she had strapped into the other's mouth. And in her\nsadism, Lady Kongou could not resist adding, \"And to think she died trying to\nsave YOU...that she is dead now because of YOU, that it is YOU who is alive. You\nshould have watched her back better, DangerGirl, you were not a very good\npartner for her.\"
\nLicking her lips with the tip of her tongue as she heard the sobbing sound\nincrease in intensity, the lovely, skilled, athletic...psychopathic Asian\nassassin turned off onto Main St., heading across town a ways to \"The Bell Bar\",\nwhere she could interrogate her paralyzed prisoner in peace and privacy, and\nforce her to relinquish the name of the two heroines' informant hiding inside of\nthe Trenchent drug organization. Listening to the soft sobs emanating from the\nfloor in the back of her van, the Lady smiled again, thinking...\"This is going\nto be easy,\" her smile suddenly widening, \"Not quick, not painless...but easy!\"
\nFive minutes after the explosion and her apparent entrapment, the Vision slowly\nregained consciousness. She herself had no idea how long she had been out,\nbarely able to remember what had happened to her at all for the moment. She\ncould have been like this for a minute, an hour, a day...she had no way of\ntelling, her current world completely dark and silent. But then she realized\nthat it could not have been too long, as she was finding it almost impossible to\nbreathe like this, with whatever it was pressing into her back, crushing her\ninto the ground. If it had been a long time she would have already been dead,\nknowing even now she didn't have much time left, feeling faint and dizzy from\nher lack of oxygen, from the loss of blood from her wounded shoulder. She lay\nthere for a few minutes, trying to relax, trying to get enough air into her body\nfor one or two efforts to get free, to call for help. Finally, she was as ready\nas she was ever going to be.
\nShe began to writhe and twist as best she could then, but stopped almost\ninstantly. If she had had any spare oxygen just then, she would have begun to\nlaugh. Who was she kidding?? She could move her legs a tiny bit as they were\nonly covered with a bit of building debris, but she was still bound hand and\nfoot, the weight pressing down between her bound elbows on her back could weigh\nten tons for all she knew, and she was rapidly bleeding and suffocating to\ndeath. She wasn't going anywhere on her own. But finally, refusing to give up,\nshe began to yell as best she could, thinking that someone must be above her by\nnow, investigating the explosion and its aftermath. She yelled a few times, her\nlast cries sounding more like the whimpers of a wounded animal, her voice\ngetting weaker and weaker as she ran out of air. Jo struggled not to pass out\nagain, desperate to try and get free to save Jill, her friend and lover, wanting\nto fight the good fight right up until the very end. She lay there gasping for\nbreath, wanting to make one, last, final effort, when things above her seem to\nshift, pieces of debris started to move, the terrible pressure on her back\nlessening slightly. Something was happening!!
\nThe Vision closed her eyes quickly as small pieces of building material began to\nrain down on her body as the huge weight above her shifted again, seemed to rise\nhigher, its horrible weight almost completely off her back now. She breathed in\ngreat droughts of dusty, dirty air, coughing hard, the force of them making her\nbruised or broken ribs and her wounded shoulder scream out in pain. But she\ncould breathe now!! Somebody had found her, someone had gotten a crane and was\nlifting the weight and was going to save her. The thought of rescue, the thought\nof being able to help Jill now, filled the wounded heroine with new strength and\ndetermination, allowing her to keep fighting, to call on all her remaining\nreserves, to try and bring her bound legs under her once again as the weight\nabove her lifted higher and higher. Risking opening her eyes, she could see\nsmall shafts of halogen light shining into her sanctuary now, finally getting\nher feet under her again, wondering just how much more she had to give, calling\nout \"I'm here!! I'm here!!\" to try and encourage her rescuers onward.
\nAs the huge chunk of building wall finally was raised just above the top of\ndumpster, her rusty green savior itself crumpled and crushed and leaning away\nfrom the log retaining wall now, the Vision pushed wearily to her feet, more and\nmore light shining on her, seeing the way in front of her just past the\ncontainer still blocked, turning back around to see the way she had entered her\nhiding place mainly free of debris, hoping that someone would soon reach inside\nfrom that direction and help her out, because she was not certain she could hop\nout on her own without falling, without passing out. But no one was coming, and\nwhen the large block stopped rising, only a few inches above her head, she\nbecame more and more concerned. Didn't they know she was in here, didn't they\nknow she could barely move??
\n\"Help me...Somebody out there help me, please!!\"
\nBut she heard nothing, no one called out to her. The battered heroine suddenly\nrealized she could hear nothing at all...no sounds of voices, no sounds of\nmachinery, just the rushing of the wind through the piles of rubble that must\nlie all around her haven. She took a small hop toward the opening, almost\ntripping on some small pieces of debris at her feet. God...why weren't they\nhelping her?? But then, standing there, leaning against the wall for support,\nexhausted and breathing hard from just this latest small effort, she thought she\nDID hear something, someone. Quieting her breathing as best she could and\nleaning slightly forward to get her ears close to the actual opening, she could\nfinally just make it out. It was a voice, a soft, strained voice, occasionally\nrepeating the same sound, but she was not quite able to make out the word.\nHolding her breath now, she finally heard the word, what the voice was trying to\ntell her...
\n\"Hurry..\"
\nOh god, someone wanted her to hurry, and she was so utterly exhausted and beaten\nthat she could barely move. But when she glanced up one last time at the deadly\nweight above her, and saw it start to waver slightly in the air, she DID hurry,\nknowing that she had no other option, no other choice. The Vision hopped again,\ntrying to avoid the pile of stones and masonry at her feet, trying not to fall\nor twist a bound ankle. Hopped again, nearing the opening, fighting off a wave\nof nausea and dizziness that threatened to bring her to her knees. Hopped again,\npanting like a racehorse now, finally in enough light to see the large\nbloodstain covering the front left of her outfit, to see that somewhere during\nher trial she had lost her utility belt. Hopped for what she hoped was the last\ntime, getting past the end of the dumpster, a higher pile of debris surrounding\nher, knowing that it would be impossible for her in her condition to hop\nanymore, looking up to see a few feet of the awful suspended wall still \"waving\"\nover her head, knowing that somehow, someway, she had to move a bit farther\nforward to finally get clear of it. Just then she heard the strained, plaintive\nword again, weaker this time, but clearer, as she was out from behind the\ncontainer at last.
\n\"Hurry!!\"
\nThe desperate heroine turned her head slightly to the right, towards the source\nof the sound, recognizing the voice now at the same time as she recognized the\nbody. Standing there with his arms outstretched above him, legs spread, his\ngreatcoat swirling around him in the wind, the very air around him seeming to\nshimmer and hum, stood Mr.Morpheus, using his telekinetic ability, his Morphine\nfield, and his force of will to hold the multi-ton wall fragment in the air. The\nVision could see his handsome face now, strained and distorted with effort, his\neyes closed, as he struggled to hold up the great weight. There was nowhere to\nset it, nowhere to move it, so he simply held it there, against the gods of\ngravity, waiting for her to get out, if she possibly could. But she could also\nsee that his strong arms were starting to drop a bit, his broad shoulders\nbeginning to sag, his muscular legs shaking as if he was holding up the weight\nby hand, realizing that he was way over the limits of his strength here, but\nsomehow succeeding anyway, giving her this one last chance for freedom. With\nthat, the totally exhausted heroine simply threw herself face forward on the\npile of debris, crying out in anguish at the terrible pain jolting through her\nfrom every part of her body. She began crawling up the face of the small rubble\npile like some kind of worm, finally reaching the top of it and half-screaming\n\"CLEAR!!\" with her last conscious breath, as she rolled down the other side of\nthe pile to land unconscious and near dead at his feet.
\nMr.Morpheus heard her cry, felt her roll up against his foot, releasing his TK\nfield with a nearly mind-blowing wrench of concentration and effort, then\nroaring in pain and triumph as he saw the inanimate, useless object of his\nstruggle crash to the ground with a its own thunderous roar, five feet beyond\nwhere the object of his affection lay unmoving at his feet. He stared down at\nher as the dust from the falling wall section settled around them, trying to\nbring his mind back from the place where it had gone during his torturous\nattempt to lift and hold the great weight. He felt dizzier than he could ever\nremember after such an act, but realized that he had never moved or held so much\nbefore with his mind, and doubted that he ever could again, only the knowledge\nof who he was trying to save allowing him the drive and strength to do it in the\nfirst place. With that, the picture of the Vision at his feet, her back covered\nwith blood, her catsuit ripped and torn and filthy, her head and body covered\nwith dust and grime, still tied hand and foot, finally snapped into full focus\nfor him. He knelt down quickly, checking for a pulse in her neck, finding it\nfinally, thready and weak, but still there.
\n\"Oh lord, Jo, what have you gotten yourself into...who did this to you??\"
\nHe said this aloud as he examined the exit wound cause by the high-velocity\nbullet that had ripped through her. He expected no answer, and got none,\nreaching down to scoop his unconscious lover into his arms, his mind too drained\nto use his TK field to more gently carry her. He knew that she was injured\nbadly, from the gunshot certainly, but possibly internally as well, and needed\nimmediate medical attention. So, holding her tightly in his arms, he headed over\nthe debris field toward his car as quickly as he possibly could. As he cleared\nthe last of the major debris, Mr.Morpheus began to jog, his silver Bentley just\na short way down what was left of the road. He could hear the sounds of many\nsirens, many vehicles heading their way...fire trucks, ambulances perhaps, cops\nfor sure. Not fearing so much capture as he did delay, he lowered the barely\nbreathing Vision gently onto the back seat of his limo, still bound (no time for\nniceties now), and restricted her movements even more by using the back\nseatbelts to buckle her there. He leaped into the front seat of the still\nrunning automobile, slammed it into gear and hopped on the gas, the engine\nrevving with a muted roar as he began to race down the street through warehouse\nrow and against time, to get his girlfriend the medical help she needed before\nit was too late.
\nLady Kongou slowly pulled the van into the handicapped parking spot closest to\nthe entrance door in the back of \"The Bell Bar\", took it out of gear and shut it\noff, the sudden quiet broken only by the sounds her captive was making in the\nback. She got out and went to unlock and open the door to the workout facility\nand then went around to the hatch, opening it and looking inside. DangerGirl lay\nthere staring at her, her face stained with tears, a bit of drool running down\nher chin from the tight ballgag onto the thin top of her outfit just above her\nbreast. But she was not crying anymore, a look of pure hatred and defiance in\nher eyes now. The Lady smiled to see this, hoping that the young heroine would\nshow some spirit, would fight her as she set about the task of breaking her, of\ngetting the information that was worth $100,000 dollars to her. Reaching in and\npulling DangerGirl to her, the demented assassin put her arms under the bound\ngirl and, lifting her up in her arms like a baby, turned and walked into the\nclub, kicking the door shut behind her with her heel.
\nShe carried the small heroine through a bunch of tables just off the bar and\ndown a short flight of stairs to the workout area below, heading for a large\nmassage table placed in the center of it. It had been covered with a large,\nwhite sheet and was brightly lit by four small floodlights that shone down from\nthe low ceiling, above. Laying DangerGirl on top of it none to gently, she then\nwent back upstairs to lock the door, then returned and moved to a large video\ncamera that had been set up facing the table. Lady Kongou turned it on and\npeered into the eyepiece, making sure her captive and the table were fully in\nframe and focused, then walked around it and moved leisurely towards the table.\nShe reached it and stared down where the helpless woman lay unmoving, her bound\narms underneath her. Then slowly, deliberately, with a smile on her face, she\nleaned down and began to lick the drool off of DangerGirl's chin, the salty\nremains of her tears off her cheeks. Not only did the villainess enjoy the\nkinkiness of this, but it was also a part of her plan to degrade and humiliate\nthe heroine, to show her how truly helpless she was.
\nDangerGirl, for her part, WAS humiliated, and disgusted with what the other was\ndoing to her now. For the hundredth time she tried to move her head, to jerk it\naway from Lady Kongou's insidious tongue, but the effects of the dilute curare\nwere still to much for her to overcome. She knew those effects were wearing off,\nas she was finding it much easier to breathe now, but she still had no control\nover her voluntary muscles groups, and knew she would be this way for some\nlength of time yet. But still she tried to move, hating what was happening to\nher, hating her helplessness, desperate to put up some kind of resistance to her\nopponent's ministrations. God, how she hated her.
\nLady Kongou finally stopped licking DangerGirl's face and raised up with a\nsmile. \"Time to make you more comfortable, child!\" With that, she rolled the\nother over onto her stomach and untied her arms and wrists, putting her numb\narms down along her sides and rolling her over again. Pushing DangerGirl's arms\nup over her head on the table, the lovely Asian began to work the startled\nheroine's top off, loosening it, then pulling that and her sports bra up and\nover her head and arms and off. She then took the discarded rope and tied the\nother's wrists tightly again, letting the end of the rope drop over the top of\nthe table, and knelt to tie it underneath to a table support, pulling it tightly\nto stretch the heroine's arms out to there fullest. Lady Kongou stood up then\nand moved to the bottom of the table, doing the same things to DangerGirl's legs\nand feet and torso...untying them, stripping off her boots and bottoms and\npanties, then tying her ankles, each to a lower corner of the table, leaving the\ngroaning young woman slightly spread and completely restrained. She moved back\nup to the other's face, reaching behind her head to undo and remove the tight\nballgag.
\n\"Feel free to yell and scream all you want, DangerGirl, this room is almost\ncompletely soundproof and there is no one anywhere nearby to hear you.\"
\nDangerGirl groaned and licked her lips, swallowing hard for the first time in\nwhat seemed like hours, completely horrified that this beastess, this evil bitch\nthat had killed her best friend, was in control of her like this, could look\ndown and see her naked body like this. Horrified, yes, but also as angry as she\nhad ever been in her life, staring up at her gloating captor.
\n\"Before this...\" she croaked, stopping to swallow and lick her lips again.\n\"Before this is done, Lady Fuckface, I WILL kill you. Make book on that...\"
\nLady Kongou stared back at her, openly laughing now. \"Oh dear, I had best run\naway now, before it is too late, then, hadn't I?\" she replied mockingly. \"No,\nlittle one. I think I shall stay. I think I shall stay and use and abuse you to\nmy heart's content. I will use and abuse you until you beg to tell me whom your\ninformant is in Mr. Trenchent's organization. Then I will use and abuse you some\nmore, until you finally beg me to die. THAT is what I shall do, DangerGirl!\"
\nDangerGirl's eyes went wide at the other's words, swallowing again, a thrill of\nfear sweeping through her at the certainty and the psychosis in Lady Kongou's\nvoice, knowing she was in for it now, speaking softly aloud to tell her captor\nthe reason why she knew this to be true.
\n\"Well, we're both really screwed then, aren't we, Lady Nutcase, because I have\nNO idea who the informant is,\" pausing a moment to let that sink in. \"Our\ninformant was the Vision's source, and she protects her sources completely, and\nwouldn't even tell ME who it is. She simply told me that she had notified them\nthat if anything happened to her, if she should die...\" pausing again to swallow\nas a wave of pain washed through her mind, continuing more quietly, \"...if she\nshould...die...then the informant was to contact me, to become MY source. But I\nhave no idea who it is now.\"
\nLady Kongou stared down at her young captive, her own mouth open, noting\nabsently that the other was moving her fingers and feet now, the effects of the\ncurare finally wearing off. A good judge of character, either DangerGirl was the\nbest liar she had ever heard, or the bound, naked beauty was simply telling the\ntruth, and that she WAS screwed, and would never find out who the informant was\nnow. $100,000 down the tubes, just like that. Damn that heroic Vision anyway!!
\nHer smile turning somewhat grim, she leaned against the table, moving closer to\nher captive's face. \"You know I don't believe you, don't you...you know I CAN'T\nbelieve you!\" watching DangerGirl's slight nod, apparently her neck working now\nas well. \"I have absolutely nothing to gain by believing you, my young friend,\nso I don't think I will. You'd best tell me the truth. If you do, I promise to\nkill you quickly, and relatively painlessly. But if you do not...,\" leaving her\nthreat hanging in the air, no reason to speak it as both of them knew what it\nwas anyway...it was pain, pure and simple...exquisite pain.
\n\"Ok...you want the truth, you get the truth,\" responded DangerGirl, trying to\nput on a braver face than she was feeling. \"You're an ugly, cowardly bitch that\ndoesn't have the guts to figh...UHHHHHHHHHHH!!\", the words driven out of her as\nLady Kongou raised her own arm then drove a sharp elbow down into the helpless\nheroine's unprotected stomach.
\n\"My, my...such a mouth on you. Well, I hope you can continue this level of\nbravery as we go along, DangerGirl, I really do. Because if you are telling the\ntruth, and you DON'T know who the informant is, the only fun I'm going to have\nis in breaking you, in watching you crack, in listening to you moan and beg for\nmercy.\" She paused, reaching up suddenly, the fingers of each hand delicately\nswirling all over DangerGirl's naked breasts, leaning even closer to almost\nwhisper to the stunned heroine, \"...and rest assured, you WILL moan and beg for\nmercy...for a very long, long time.\"
\n\"Let us begin!\"
\nMr.Morpheus sat in the waiting room, waiting, waiting for what seemed like an\ninterminably long time. He found himself leafing through a magazine, not even\naware what he was looking at, just turning the pages, thinking. He glanced up at\nthe large analog clock on the wall occasionally, waiting for a doctor or nurse\nto come to him and tell him it was alright to go and see the wounded Vision. On\none such glance he noticed an older woman smiling at him nervously, realizing he\nmust make a rather imposing, incongruous figure, his broad 6'2\" frame and long,\ndark greatcoat dwarfing the small hospital chair he was sitting in. He smiled\nback at her grimly, then finally actually noticed the magazine he had in his\nhands...\"The Ladies Home Journal\".
\n\"Wonderful,\" he thought with a grimace, flipping it back on the table. He\nstretched out his long legs and leaned back in the chair as best he could then,\nand closed his eyes to think. It had been just a bit less than and hour and a\nhalf ago when he had flown up the emergency room entrance in his Bentley, with\nthe injured and still bound Vision belted in his back seat. He had called ahead\nto Mercy Hospital on his cell phone, informing them he was bringing in a wounded\n\"crime fighter\", and, knowing that she had been treated there before, told them\nof her situation and instructed them to pull her hospital records to have access\nto her medical history, blood type and the like, telling them that he would be\nat their door in six minutes.
\nAs his big car screeched to a stop at the Emergency Room entrance, he had been\ngratified to see two orderlies waiting there with a gurney, and as he leaped out\nof the car, they were already opening the back door to pull the unconscious\nheroine out. He heard one of them issue a sharp expletive, suddenly remembering\nthat she was still bound, and as he approached the opened door, produced a large\njackknife from one of the pockets of his coat. He had then basically \"commanded\"\nthe two of them to place his injured lover on her side, and proceeded to gently,\nbut quickly, cut through her bindings and free her tied limbs from the ropes\nthat had constrained them for so long. Muttering \"C'mon...c'mon...\" to the\norderlies, he had led them into the controlled chaos of the emergency room at\nalmost a run. He was again gratified to see a nurse and a rather large male\ndoctor, waiting for the Vision to arrive. Apparently, Mercy Hospital took great\npride in their treatment and handling of any of the city's heroes or heroines in\nneed of medical assistance. The doctor rushed up to the three of them as they\nbrought the gurney to a halt just inside the room.
\n\"Are you Morpheus??\"
\n\"Yes...this is the Vision...she's been shot once in the shoulder, close range it\nappears, been bounced around pretty good, and was almost crushed by a large\npiece of masonry about 15 minutes ago. I'm not sure how long ago she was shot,\nbut...but she's lost an awful lot of blood. Did you get my message about her\nrecords?\"
\n\"Yeah, got that, looked at 'em myself and have blood for her in...room twelve,\nguys,\" he said, raising his voice to instruct the orderlies. The whole time he\nwas talking he was examining the angry wound on the Vision's left shoulder,\nfront and back, tearing away the surrounding catsuit with his latex gloved\nfingers. As the doctor and the two men quickly wheeled her toward the awaiting\nroom, Mr.Morpheus tried to follow them. The doctor stopped, turned and put out\nhis two bloodied hands to stop him.
\n\"Look, Mr.Morpheus, you can't come in here, I can't and won't let you. There's\nnothing you can do in there. If you want to help her at all, head over there to\nAdministration, get her checked in and see about her paperwork. Either that or\nhead out to the waiting room.\" Glaring at each other, the two stood there for a\nmoment, Mr.Morpheus not liking to be denied, the doctor knowing that he was the\ncaptain of this \"ship\". Dropping his voice a bit, he continued.
\n\"It would really be a good thing for her if you would just deal with her\npaperwork and insurance and all that legalistic crud. It frees me to help her,\nand it MUST be done...you know that. I promise that I'll bring you word as soon\nas I have anything definitive to tell you. C'mon, Mr.Morpheus, she doesn't need\nthis.\"
\nFinally nodding, the mysterious \"villain\", turned and headed for the\nAdministration office, stopping to turn once and yell at the back of the now\nhustling doctor, \"You let me know if she needs anything!! You hear me??\nANYTHING!!\" The doctor did not stop, but waved a hand above his shoulder to\nindicate that he had heard. With a deep sigh, Mr.Morpheus had continued into the\noffice to do what he had been instructed.
\nThere was really very little for him to do there except sign a few papers,\nanswer a few questions. He was surprised to find out that, even though she was\nnot technically a police officer, she did appear to hold a transitional title in\nthe \"Public Safety Department\", and as such, she was covered by the city's own\nmedical plan, even though apparently she was paying the premiums out of her own\npocket. He was also surprised and a bit saddened to note the names that the\nVision had listed on her last visit to the hospital as \"next of\nkin\"...DangerGirl and himself. He swallowed at the sudden lump in his throat,\nnot liking to think about that subject, suddenly realizing that he didn't know\nif his injured lover even had any family, in the city or elsewhere. As the\noffice worker indicated that they were finished for now, he had asked where the\nwaiting room was and shuffled off in that direction, to begin the waiting. They\nhad come out to him once, to tell him that she should survive, that she was\nincredibly resilient, but that they were taking her to the operating room to sew\nup the damage to her shoulder.
\nAs he leaned back in the chair now, waiting, he thanked god that he had had the\nforesight and, well, the sneakiness to sew that micro-thin radio tracker and\nbio-telemetry wafer into the inside lining of her right boot last month. He had\nfelt a bit guilty about that, but had done it for just such a situation as this.\nWhen an alarm had gone off in his Bentley, indicating that the Vision's vital\nsigns had suddenly gone haywire, he had turned on the tracker, and raced off\ntrying to get to her, to help her if he could, not sure what had happened to\nher, but knowing from his monitor that something was wrong with her physically.\nBut that is how he had ended up at the warehouse so quickly, just in time to\nhelp her from the rubble of the exploded building. He opened his eyes suddenly\nas he sensed someone approaching...it was the doctor.
\n\"I can't stay,\" he said hurriedly, \"Have another emergency. But she's fine,\nrecovering unbelievably well...well enough so that we felt we could skip\nintensive care and take her straight to one of our monitored private rooms on\nthe second floor.\" Putting up his hand to stop Mr.Morpheus from speaking, he\nhurried on. \"You can see her when she wakes up, that should be in about an\nhour...BUT NOT BEFORE, please. I've instructed the floor nurse to contact you\nhere the second she wakes up. I'm sorry, those are hospital rules, and I will\nenforce them!\" he finished determinedly.
\n\"Ok, Ok...I've waited this long, I can wait another hour, I guess...but god,\ncan't you get some decent mags in here!? A guy could go stir crazy.\"
\nThe doctor smiled at him, extending his hand, \"Thank you for your patience,\nMr.Morpheus,\" the two of them shaking hands. \"I know you care a great deal for\nthe Vision, but waiting is really in her best interests now. I'll see what I can\ndo about the magazine situation, too, but I really have to run...duty calls and\nall that...Goodbye for now.\"
\n\"Goodbye doctor, and thank you for taking care of my...my...of the Vision for\nme. Appreciate it.\"
\nBut the doctor was already almost running off, and Mr.Morpheus thunked back down\ninto the chair with a tired groan, to do the waiting thing again, in the small,\nboring room that was built just for that purpose.
\nThe Vision knew she was coming to. She knew it because she felt the same every\ntime she recovered consciousness, feeling as though she was at the bottom of a\ndeep, dark well and slowly climbing up its insides, seeing the open air above\nher getting lighter as she approached the top, as she approached waking up. She\nslowly opened her eyes, glad that the lights in her...room(?) were set on dim,\nsuddenly aware of a thousand pains all over her body, each of them demanding her\nattention. The pains were the worst in her shoulder, obviously, but also in the\nmiddle of her back. She noticed that her feet were tingling too, not too happy\nwith the implications of that, but not too concerned about it at the moment.\nFrom her lack of concern, and the somewhat muted feeling of all her pains, the\nawakening heroine realized that she must be a bit drugged, turning her head to\nnote the IV tube in her arm, the IV bottle dripping happily into it above her.
\nShe put her head back down on the pillow, feeling very weary, but also feeling\nher amazing body already starting to come around, gaining in strength even as\nshe lay there. She started thinking back about what had just happened to her,\ngetting shot, hopping madly to escape, the terrible explosion, noise, and dirt\nflying around her, the crushing weight on her back, the terrible fear. She\nremembered hopping clear as well from the great weight, seeing her savior,\nMr.Morpheus, as he struggled to hold it up with his powers, and that was the\nlast she remembered. But something else was banging around in her brain,\nsomething important. She shook her head, as if to shake the drugs out of it, to\nthink clearer. \"Godd..what was it?!\" She sat up suddenly, as if shot again, a\nwave of dizziness washing through her...\"Oh godd...JILL!!!\"
\nHer partner, best friend, and lover, taken away helplessly by that awful woman,\nto do god knows what to her, to try and get DangerGirl to tell her the name of\ntheir informant. The Vision's eyes went wide then as the realization stuck her.
\n\"Oh dear god...Jill doesn't even KNOW!!!\"
\nLike the other two before her, she realized the implications of Jill's lack of\nknowledge, that it would not save her anything, it would only prolong whatever\nagonies Lady Kongou was forcing on her. Jo tried to hang her hat on two things,\nscared and hurting at what might be happening to Jill this very second...that\nshe had somehow managed to break free and escape, maybe been given help somehow,\nknowing from the ache in her own heart that this had almost no chance of being\ntrue. The other...that \"prolong\" was the operative word here, that the evil\nassassin could never be quite sure whether Jill was telling the truth, that she\nknew nothing, that even though her friend would be suffering horribly, no doubt,\nthat the other would keep her alive, MUST keep her alive, until she could be\nsure.
\n\"Hang on, hang on, Jill!\" she thought wildly, reaching up to turn on more\nlights, then reaching over to slide the IV needle slowly out of her arm, wincing\nat the slight pain of it. Her fear for her partner and her determination to save\nher if she could were washing the drugs out of her mind, strengthening her body\nand spirit, as she turned and dangled her feet over the bed, her legs sticking\nout from her cotton hospital gown. She looked around for her clothes, noting\nonly her boots on the chair on the other side of the room. Damn!! She'd have to\ndo something about that, and about how to get out of here and back to her hidden\ncycle on warehouse row. She reached back across the bed, grabbed the buzzer, and\nrang for the night nurse. She let herself down onto the cold floor, fighting the\ndizziness that standing caused, looking up at the clock as she made her way to\nthe hinged part of the door to her room. Almost two hours...almost two hours\nDangerGirl had been in the other's evil, sick clutches!! Lord, she had to\nhurry...
\nAs the door opened and the nurse entered, the Vision wrapped her right arm\nrather gently around her neck, her left hand grabbing the nurse's left wrist and\nforcing it into the small of her back, using it to push the startled woman into\nthe room, the door swinging shut behind them.
\n\"Relax...relax...Nurse...ahhh...whatever your name is...Just relax...no way I\nwant to hurt you...!!\"
\nThe whole time she was whispering in the young nurse's ear, the other was\nstruggling, harder and harder, apparently scared and rather stronger than the\nbarefoot, hospital-gowned heroine had hoped. But she was strong herself,\ndesperate, and had no time or inclination for an extended struggle with a\n\"civilian\". She finally pushed the other over to the bed, then tightened her\ngrip around the other's throat and forced the still struggling woman face first\nonto it, their feet still on the cold floor.
\n\"C'mon.....C'MON!!....I need your help, dammit....I'm\nthe...arrrghhh...Vision....st....stop struggling....ohhh....SETTLE DOWN!!!\" she\nyelled, yanking the other's head hard, finally dazing and frightening the other\ninto at least a non-writhing submission. \"My girlfriend is going to die if I\ndon't help her quickly...so just settle down...please!\" Gratified to finally\nfeel her young captive relaxing underneath her, she took advantage of it to tell\nher practically everything...about the drugs, their capture, the shooting, the\nbomb, and her escape. Whispering quickly but earnestly in the wide-eyed nurses\near, she begged her for her help. She needed her uniform and her car keys, she\nneeded them desperately, and would simply take them if she had to, but it would\nbe so much easier...\"please...my friend is counting on me...please, nurse...\"
\n\"Karen....my...my name is Karen...I'll help you, Vision. Let me up and let me\nhelp you. I promise...no tricks...I want to help you.\"
\nThe Vision took a chance and said a short prayer and let Karen go, standing\nslowly and stepping back, blinking away another small bout of dizziness and\nfatigue, her wounded shoulder on fire from the short struggle. The young nurse\nstraightened as well, turning slowly to face her \"attacker\", but her right hand\nalready fishing in the pocket of her uniform and coming out with what looked\nlike a set of car keys.
\n\"I'm a big fan of yours, Vision...would be honored to be of any assistance I\ncould,\" she said with a shy smile, reaching out to hand the startled heroine her\nkeys. \"A blue Saturn, license plate AYR341, by lightpole M3....But god, you're\nbleeding!! Let me get that for you,\" she said, indicating the small flow of\nblood going down the heroine's arm from where the IV needle had come out.
\n\"No time, Karen,\" she said, grabbing the keys. \"But thanks...I, errr, need your\nuniform now, you know.\"
\nKaren smiled at her again, less shyly now, already reaching for the buttons to\nher outfit.
\n\"I know...you said...and is my honor again, though will probably get in trouble\nfor this. But you are wrong, Vision. You have the time to fix that, it will take\nme ten seconds to fix, and I can do most of that while you're putting on my\nuniform. Good thing we're almost the same size, huh?\" Finished with the buttons,\nshe was shrugging out of her nurses whites and stepping out of them, clad now in\njust a nice white bra, panty, garter and stocking set, tossing the outfit onto\nthe bed. \"Let me help you with that gown,\" she said, quickly stepping around the\ninjured young woman, who, although still in a bit of a daze, took about a half\nsecond to notice how attractive her \"fan\" was as she passed by and worked the\nknots holding the heroine's gown closed. The Vision shook her head at the same\ntime she shook off her gown...she was going to have to start thinking a lot\nfaster than this if she was going to save DangerGirl, \"...if she is even still\nalive,\" she thought, her heart catching in her throat.
\nAs the shaken heroine moved quickly now, moving to pick up and put on the nurses\noutfit, Karen, all business for the moment, hustled over to the bedside table,\nopening a drawer and extracting a cotton ball, a large band-aid, a large roll of\nwhite adhesive tape, and a small scissors, practically running back to the\nhalf-dressed heroine in her haste to be of help. The Vision had stepped into the\ndress and was just raising it up past her waist to slide her right arm into the\nshort sleeve when the nurse stopped her.
\n\"Give me fifteen seconds here, Vision, please!!\"
\nAs the Vision stopped, then nodded, Karen quickly tore off an eight inch piece\nof the tape and put if atop the small gauze dressing that covered the bullet\nhole on the front of the heroines left shoulder, doing her professional best not\nto stop and stare at the wounded heroine's rather magnificent bare breasts.\nSucceeding, she then tore a second strip and did it again, quickly moving behind\nher to work on the much larger bandage on the back of her shoulder.
\n\"You're still seeping from your wound some, Vision. Please try not to pull out\nyour stitches...you could easily still bleed to death if you do. There!!...the\nextra tape might help you out, hold the bandages on if you have to...have\nto...well, fight or anything.\"
\nThe Vision murmured her thanks and slid the outfit somewhat painfully over both\nshoulders and arms, freezing when the young nurse grabbed her right arm, smiling\ngrimly as she watched her slap a cotton ball and band-aid onto the IV puncture\nwound that was still oozing out blood along her arm. As she began to button the\ndress, she watched in amazement as Karen raced over to a wooden side chair,\nthunked down in it, and began winding adhesive tape around her ankles.
\n\"What are you doing, Karen?\"
\n\"I'm sorry, but if you could take just a few seconds to help me out. If it looks\nlike I tried to stop you and that you left me like this, I can cover the fact\nthat I actually helped you, and couldn't get out to the nurses station to call\nsecurity to find you, so then shouldn't lose my job here at Mercy. My job means\nan awful lot to me.\"
\nAs the Vision nodded her assent, as it was the least she could do to help one\nwho had helped her, the excited nurse was already taping her knees together,\nsporting a large grin. \"Boy...wait till I tell the girls in the Vision fan club\nabout this!! They'll just cream themselves with envy...\" She looked up just in\ntime to see the heroine moving toward her, rolling her eyes, muttering \"Vision\nfan club..my god!\" almost under her breath. Handing her the tape, the nurse\nfollowed the wounded woman with her head and eyes for a moment as she walked\nbehind her, then turned to face forward, putting her wrists together behind the\nback of the chair.
\n\"It's just that we all respect so much what you've done for the city, Vision,\nthe exciting, dangerous, and valuable life you lead. We admire you, and most of\nus wish we were more like you.\"
\n\"Look! Being a heroine is not all it's made out to be in the brochures you\nknow!!\" She crossed Karen's wrists and began a figure-eight taping of them.\n\"There's all the training, the long, disjointed hours, lack of sleep, lack of\nfree time, no private life to speak of. Then there's all the despair, the PAIN,\nthe uncertainty of whether you'll even be alive tomorrow.\" She finished taping\nthe underwear-clad woman's wrists and moved back around to kneel down facing\nher. \"Even as we sit here, at worst DangerGirl may have been already killed, or\nat best is probably undergoing god knows what type of torture or abuse. Lot's of\ntimes this job just plain sucks!!\"
\nAs she tore off two strips for the gag, the heroine looked up at the young,\npretty nurse. \"If you should happen to run into Mr.Morpheus, please tell him I'm\nsorry. He would have tried to stop me, and I don't want him any more involved\nwith this then he already is.\"
\n\"Mr.Morpheus??...Would that be the mysterious hunk wearing that wild coat in the\nwaiting room?\"
\nThe Vision smiled, holding the first strip up the bound nurse's lips,\n\"Yess...that would be him. Ready?\"
\n\"Thank you for this, Vision, and good luck in finding and saving your friend.\"
\n\"Noo...thank YOU, Karen. I will not forget you, and will thank you personally\nlater if everything works out ok.\"
\n\"You'd better not forget me,\" Karen said, her voice husky with emotion, her eyes\nglazed with the excitement of it all. She put her lips together, and the\nkneeling heroine pressed first one, then the second strip of tape over her\nlovely mouth and smoothed them down gently. As she raised up then, she leaned\nforward to plant a small kiss on the gagged lips of the surprised young nurse.\nThen she stood up quickly and headed for the window, stopping to grab her boots\nand slide them on, and checking to make sure the car keys were in the uniform\npocket.
\nWith a last quick wave to her tied up helper, she open the window and eased her\nway outside, lowering her body along the wall as she hung from the sash. Her\nfeet were still eight feet from the ground, but she had no choice but to let\nherself drop as she pushed away from the wall. The landing was jolting and\npainful, especially to her injured shoulder, but she recovered quickly and\nheaded out toward the employees parking lot on the trot, to take Karen's car and\ndrive to her Visioncycle, to try and figure out where DangerGirl was being held,\nand to try and save her if she possibly could.
\nOn the cement step to the back entrance of \"The Bell Bar\" a wino sat, sipping\nhis Thunderbird 50-50 from a paper bag, staring drunkenly off into the night,\nnot realizing for a moment that he was proving Lady Kongou correct. He had been\nsitting there for almost an hour, and he had not heard a single one of\nDangerGirl's screams. There had been many of them...wild, piercing,\nheart-stopping screams, but their sound had not made it out of the soundproofed\nworkout area at all.
\nDangerGirl's interrogation had not started out immediately like that, as the\nfirst thing the evil villainess had done to her naked and bound captive was to\nsimply rub her...rub her all over her twisting, writhing body with her\nfingertips and palms. \"Exciting the nerve endings,\" she had called it. The\nAsian's fingers had been everywhere, caressing and teasing DangerGirl's\nalabaster skin. The struggling heroine had tried to ignore what the other was\ndoing to her, to act disdainful and unconcerned. But her captor was relentless,\nand had openly laughed at her when the small crime fighter's nipples jumped to\nattention as the other drew small languid circles around them with her\nfingertips. Then Lady Kongou, taking every opportunity to embarrass and abase\nher subject, to try and break her will, had ridiculed her humiliated captive as\nthe gasping young heroine's body betrayed her again, her pussy becoming slick\nand damp as the smiling assassin had gently stroked her labia and clit.
\n\"What a complete slut you must be, DangerGirl. Your partner dead because of you,\nyour own body helpless and at the complete command of the woman that killed her.\nYet still you become aroused so quickly, longing for my touch, my\ncaresses...what a wanton slut you must truly be!\"
\nDangerGirl had only moaned then in complete despair, struggling hard but\nfutilely to get loose and attack her mocking tormentor. She had give up\ninsulting the other as the body rub had continued, as each insult she had\nuttered had been answered with a ringing, painful slap or a vicious elbow to her\nundefended body, the invective and resistance it showed no longer worth the pain\nof the response. So she lay there quietly, struggling when she could no longer\ncontrol herself, desperately praying for some opening she could take advantage\nof, to stop this terrible thing that was happening to her.
\nThere was no screaming either, when the Lady stopped her \"massage\" and began to\nattach some electrodes with their trailing wires to DangerGirl's excited skin,\nfirst to her upper arms and thighs, and then, much to the startled heroine's\ndismay, alligator type clips to her swollen nipples and clit. These three clips\ntrailed insulated wires as well, and the young captive had had to bite her lower\nlip to almost bleeding to keep from granting the grinning villainess the\nsatisfaction of her cries. Lady Kongou had then connected all seven wires to a\nsmall electric generator sporting a slightly larger wheel crank at the opposite\nend.
\n\"Doesn't look like much, does it, DangerGirl? But I had it specially designed\nand made by experts in Japan, with just the right amount of voltage and amperage\nto provide the most amount of pain over the largest area while causing the least\namount of actual physical damage. The faster I crank it, the more pain you\nfeel...isn't that wonderful. It is most ingenious, actually. Let's test it out,\nshall we?\"
\nFor the first three cranks, each a bit faster and longer than the one before,\nDangerGirl had resisted screaming, even though the pain was overwhelming, even\nthough her entire body had arched and gone rigid in a painful, straining rictus.\nBut on the fourth crank, the longest and fastest yet, she had screamed, loud and\nlong, the awful pain too much for her to bear.
\n\"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!\"
\n\"Tell me the name, DangerGirl...the name of the informant, and this will all\nstop.\"
\nWhen the gasping, sweating heroine had not replied, the crank was spun again,\nand then again, and the screaming had continued. After the seventh crank,\nDangerGirl began to moan...
\n\"I don't know...I don't know...\"
\n\"WRONG ANSWER!!\" Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttttttt......she spun the wheel quickly\nand for an even longer time.
\n\"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!\"
\n\"AGAIN!!!\"
\n\"Don't...don't know...you know I don't\nknow.....AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!\"
\n\"Once more, DangerGirl...tell me the name!\"
\n\"Ok...ok...tell you...no more...will tell you...Kiefer...Kiefer Sutherland...\n....AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!\"
\n\"I watch many American movies, you stupid girl...AGAIN!\"
\n\"Don...Donald Pleasence......OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!\"
\n\"I rooted for Michael Myers the whole movie...ONCE AGAIN!!\"
\n\"Bernie...Bernie Koppell.....ugghh\"
\nLady Kongou turned the wheel once and stopped.
\n\"WHO ?!?\"
\n\"I...I doubt you'd understand...the\nconcept...AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!\"
\nAnd it went on like this for some time, DangerGirl wildly just making up names\nnow, hoping to hit one that was on the organization list of Trenchent's\n\"employees\" that Lady Kongou had, then more cranking and screaming and finally\njust the continuing sobs of \"I don't know...I don't know...I don't know\" from\nthe beaten crime fighter. DangerGirl knew that if the other ever believed she\nwas speaking the truth, then she would very shortly be dead. But The Vision was\ndead, and she herself would rather be dead than to go through this any longer.\nHer body was on fire, every nerve and muscle screaming at her, dripping with\nsweat, her wrists and ankles almost bleeding from her frantic and helpless\nstruggles against the ropes that held them. Yes, better to die quickly then to\ngo through this.
\nShe didn't know it, but Lady Kongou by now DID actually believe that DangerGirl\ndid not have the information she sought, knowing that none of her previous\nsubjects had ever been able to resist blurting out what she wanted to know this\nlong. But she was mad now, out $100,000, and still not 100% convinced that the\nnear unconscious heroine did not actually know the name. So, with nothing to\nlose, and only her demented enjoyment and possible 100 grand to gain, she\ndecided that she wouldn't even ask the question anymore for now, that she would\njust torture the other to within an inch of her life, then to ask her the\nquestion one final time, taking whatever answer DangerGirl could still give her,\nand assume that it must be the truth.
\nSo then the whipping had begun. Not the weak, backhanded, grabbing and snapping,\nlight flogging with a ribbony cat-o-nine tails that one would see in a cheap\nBDSM movie. This was a vicious, thick leather strap, stinging,\nnear-permanent-mark-leaving whipping, up and down the front of the screaming,\nnearly insane heroine's body, blow after blow on her legs, crotch, stomach, and\nbreasts.
\n\"This will soften her up for my needles,\" thought Lady Kongou, giving her\nhelpless captive a few more snapping blows for good measure, even her own\nincredible dementia growing tired of DangerGirl's harsh, ragged screams.
\nOutside the bar, the wino slowly staggered off, never having heard a thing.
\nThe Vision raced through the streets in Karen's Saturn, going as fast as she\npossibly could, heading back to the Visioncycle and her Visioncomputer, feeling\nthat every second counted now. She had no idea where Lady Kongou may have taken\nher friend, but she had at least one clue, one thing that the evil assassin had\nsaid that seem incongruous, out of line with normal conversation. It was\nsomething she had heard the Lady say to Jill just after she had been shot. \" But\nI guess it's up to you now to give it to me, to be the belle of my bar tonight.\"\nThe wording had been so strange that maybe it was a clue to where DangerGirl had\nbeen taken.
\n\"Dear god, let it be a clue,\" she prayed as the roared recklessly down a side\nstreet near warehouse row, only a minute from her hidden bike now. She was lucky\nshe had parked it so far away from the site of their capture and the huge\nexplosion, because up ahead she could see the flickering colored lights of what\nmust be countless police cars and fire trucks at the bombed warehouse. Farther\ndown the road she could see the street cordoned off, the same as probably all\nthe streets leading up to the site. But she didn't have to go that far luckily,\nthe alley where she had stowed the Visioncycle just up ahead. She slammed on the\nbrakes, shut off the car and jumped out, racing into the alley.
\nShe found the cycle where she had left it, behind some large crates and old\ntrash bags, and hopped on the seat, keying the ignition to \"Accessory\" and\nturning on her computer. It was slaved via microwave relay to the large computer\nat her residence, giving her access to her rather detailed \"Trenchent database\",\na file of Trenchent's employees, businesses, and holdings. She worked it into\nsearch mode, typed in \"belle\" and \"bar\" and hoped for the best. Reaching inside\na large satchel on the back of the cycle, the horribly impatient heroine pulled\nout her spare utility belt, and snapped it on around the nurse's uniform,\nfearing that there was no time to put on a spare catsuit, then straightened out\nher spare baton along her hip as she waited for the search to complete. When she\nsaw just the one entry for the \"Alberta Belle\", a riverboat gambling casino that\nplied the river between the harbor and the cities upstream, her heart leapt. But\nwhen she accessed the ship's manifest on the river traffic database to see where\nit was now, her heart sank back. Right now it would be at the farthest point on\nits cruise for this week, over 250 miles away upriver. Realizing that it almost\ncertainly couldn't be her target, she went back into search mode and just keyed\nin \"belle\" this time, silently urging her computer to hurry.
\nThis search brought her back the \"Alberta Belle\" and two more entries. She\nscanned them quickly, hoping against hope. But her hopes were dashed as they\nturned out to be a florist shop at a mall, and a 24-hour supermarket on Cramden\nAvenue. The odds of Jill being taken for interrogation to either of these two\nplaces was almost zero. The Vision almost began to cry in frustration...she had\nno place to go and was rapidly running out of time, if it was not already too\nlate. She pounded her fists on the handlebars, trying to think of something to\ndo, something that would help her find her captured partner. \"Belle of my\nbar...belle of my bar...What could she possibly mean by that!? Belle of my bar,\nbelle of my bar, belle...\" She stopped her mumbled litany, striking out angrily\nat a moth that landed on her comp screen, her own ending words echoing in her\nmind. \"Bar, belle...Bar, belle...BARBELL!!\"
\nShe almost screamed then, quickly keying \"bar\", \"bell\", and \"barbell\" into her\nsearch engine. Could this be it...god, let this be it. She waited impatiently as\nfive eternal seconds passed, then a single entry appeared on the small\nscreen...\"The Bell Bar\", a gymnasium/bar combo on Lexington. God, she knew that\nplace, remembered even being in it once, checking it out. She hadn't known it\nwas a Trenchent business though. She passed by it often, just the other day, in\nfact, and she remembered...she remembered...
\n\"It's closed for renovations!!\" she screamed aloud, her cry echoing down the\nalley.
\nKeying her bike from \"Accessory\" to \"Run\", she healed the kickstand, backed it\nout of the alley, and roared off into the night.
\nMr.Morpheus had stopped sitting ten minutes ago, and was now pacing like a caged\nlion, back and forth across the waiting room, the rest of those waiting\nstrategically moving out of his way, not wanting to mess with the large man with\nthe dark eyes and the flapping greatcoat.
\n\"This is ridiculous!\" he stopped and said aloud to no one in particular. \"I\nshould've been able to go see her a half hour ago! They said they'd send a nurse\nor someone out to tell me. This is just ridiculous!!\" He began to pace again,\neven faster this time, becoming more and more agitated as he strode around the\nsmall room. After about another five minutes of stewing, he had finally had\nenough, walking to a hospital phone and calling Admissions.
\n\"Mercy Hospital...Admissions,\" came the soft voice on the other end of the line.
\n\"Room number for The Vision, please.\"
\n\"First name of the patient, please?\"
\n\"Try 'the'...how should I know?!...she was admitted to the emergency room almost\nthree hours ago under the name, 'The Vision'!!\"
\n\"There is no one under the name 'Vision, The' in our hospital records, sir.\"
\n\"WELL TRY LOOKING UNDER THE 'T's THEN, FOR GOD'S SAKES!!\"
\n\"Yes sir, no reason to shout, sir, I'm doing the best that I can for you\nhere...just a moment.\"
\nMr.Morpheus stood there, gripping the handset like death itself, tapping his\nfoot at about 100 beats per minute, waiting...again.
\n\"Yes sir, here it is. It was misfiled. The Vision is in private room 212. I can\nring through to her if you like?\"
\nHe slammed down the phone and set off, finding a stairwell and bounding up the\nsteps three at a time, grumbling and cursing. Almost knocking over an orderly as\nhe opened the stairwell door he snapped at him, \"Room 212..which way!!\" The\norderly pointed down the hallway to his right, then backed out of the way as his\naccoster brushed past him and stalked down to the room marked 212. Stopping for\na second to settle his breathing and straighten his short, but unruly hair, he\nfinally pushed open the door, trying to put a smile on his face in case she was\nawake.
\nHe spotted the bed, but the bed was...empty? He looked to his right a bit and\ngasped. There sat a lovely woman...nurse?...tape bound and gagged, dressed only\nin her underwear, struggling slightly in a wooden chair. He rushed to her and\nripped off her gag, almost yelling, \"Where's the Vision!?\"
\n\"OWWWWWW...you didn't have to rip it off like that...sheesh...She's gone. She\noverpowered me and bound me and took my nurses uniform!\"
\nMr.Morpheus squatted down, grabbing the still bound nurse by the shoulders. \"How\nlong ago did she leave!?\"
\n\"About...about twenty, twenty-five minutes ago, I guess. Going to try and save\nher girlfriend from the woman that shot her, I think. You're Mr.Morpheus, aren't\nyou?\"
\nHe would have none of that. \"Jill...I mean, DangerGirl was abducted?! By the\nwoman that shot the Vision!?\" Lord!! He hadn't even known about Jill...all this\ntime...WASTED!!
\n\"Yess...that's what she said. Heyyyy!!! She wanted me to TELL YOU SHE WAS\nSORRRRY...!\" Karen yelled after him, struggling with her bindings.
\nBut he was no longer there to hear her, as with a loud expletive he had already\nbolted from the room, and was now tearing through the hospital, almost forcing\npeople to dive out of his way as he raced headlong to his car.
\nDangerGirl was almost too completely exhausted and drained and beaten to even\nscream anymore. She had been shocked and whipped and \"this\" for hours. She was\nstarting to have difficulty breathing now, strung up as she was between two\nlarge support pillars on the floor of the workout gym. After tiring of whipping\nher and listening to her scream, Lady Kongou had ball-gagged her again, untied\nher twitching and whip-marked body from the table, carted her over between the\ntwo Romanesque columns that stood about ten feet apart close to the back wall of\nthe facility, and tied ropes tightly around each unresisting wrist, each\nunresisting ankle. She then pretty much literally hauled her into the air, using\nthe ropes to painfully lift and spread her suspended between them, her arms in a\nposition halfway between hanging straight down and an outright\nperpendicular-to-the-floor crucifixion. Her legs were so spread that they\nactually DID take some of the weight off her arms and shoulders and chest\nmuscles, and was probably the only thing that had saved her from already\nsuffering Jesus' fate on the cross. But her body felt like it was pulling itself\napart, her shoulders almost dislocated, her own hanging weight and the thick\nballgag making it harder and harder to draw a full breath. And then the\nneedles...
\nLady Kongou stood in front of her, holding one of her two long, super-thin,\nstainless steel needles, the other currently protruding from just underneath the\nnearly unconscious heroine's ribcage. This had been a \"good\" needle...one that\nhad soothed some of the unbearable internal pain caused by the much more\nnumerous \"bad\" needle insertions, relaxed some of incredible rigidity in the\ntortured crime fighter's muscles that existed from the constant, straining abuse\nshe had been going through. Growing impatient and fatigued herself, the Lady had\nused a \"good\" needle placement to bring the other back to some form of\nconsciousness, then had reached across, grabbing DangerGirl by the short hair on\nthe back of her head and lifted it, staring into her face. Tapping the other\nneedle against her own cheek, she stared straight ahead into the blinking,\ntear-filled eyes of her captive, noting a bit of life there yet, but no longer a\nsingle trace of fight or resistance. That had completely disappeared after the\nsecond \"bad\" needle had been inserted at a small angle behind the screaming,\njerking heroine's navel. There had been many other \"bad\" needles after that.
\n\"DangerGirl...DangerGirl,\" she said, speaking quietly, letting the other's head\ngo and watching it drop back on her chest, the other too weak to hold it up,\neven though she was conscious now. \"This is your last chance to tell me the\nabsolute truth, DangerGirl. You have only two choices now. Either you tell me\nwhat I want to know, in which case I will put these needles together and plunge\nthem into your heart and end your suffering for good, or you don't tell me, in\nwhich case I will separate them, push them into your chest, and scrape the walls\nof your heart until it stops. You will be dead in either case, but the second is\nso much more lengthy than the first, and I have done the second before, and\nbelieve me, it is incredibly, incredibly painful. So it is your choice, my dear,\nthe last choice you will ever make. So chooses wisely, but choose quickly...my\npatience with you is at an end.\"
\nDangerGirl slowly raised her head, and looked at her tormentor with dazed,\ndefeated eyes. It is to her everlasting credit that she tried not to look past\nher, to the spot where the Vision was approaching her, extended baton in both\nhands, held over her head like an ax, looking almost like some demented angel to\nJill in her hospital whites and utility belt and her wild, unruly hair. She\ntried not to look, knowing she shouldn't look, but the surge of joy and relief\nand hope that surged through her body at the sight forced her to glance, if only\nfor millisecond, back to where her friend, lover, and partner approached their\nterrible foe.
\nLady Kongou saw that glance, maybe subliminally heard the sound of a soft breath\nor footfall, instantly ducking her head and trying to bend over and move to her\nright, groaning in pain as the hard blow from behind her crashed down between\nher shoulder blades, sending her twisting and sprawling to the floor, the\nneedles flying out of her hands across the room. She rolled desperately onto her\nback, hoping to defend herself with her legs and arms from the attack she knew\nwould be swiftly coming.
\nAnd the Vision was attacking with her baton, groaning inwardly that her first\nblow had failed, had not been enough to end this, knowing that her opponent was\ntough and highly skilled, knowing that her own endurance and abilities would be\nlimited by her previous loss of blood and the painful damage to her shoulder and\nribs. She moved after the rolling assassin, raining down blow after blow,\nlooking for any good opening to get in a finishing strike.
\nBut Lady Kongou WAS skilled, and fresher, and desperate as well, painfully\nblocking blows with her legs and forearms, finally catching the Vision in one\nmisdirected swing, and kicking out hard at her opponent's gripping hands,\nknocking the baton free and sending it flying and bouncing across the floor to a\nplace just below DangerGirl's bound left leg. But her successful kick had left\nher open for a counterattack, and the Vision pounced on it, literally...diving\non the Lady, triggering off a twisting, rolling, close quarters wrestling battle\nacross the floor. Lady Kongou was quick and agile, but the Vision was stronger,\nmore desperate, putting everything she had into ending this quickly, knowing\nthat if it went on too long she would lose, already screaming in pain as she\nfelt her stitches being torn loose, her blood starting to flow again from the\nopening wounds. Finally, as they raised up, kneeling face to face, both women\ntired and gasping, the Vision used her greater strength to twist the other's\nbody, to move slightly behind her, and to put her opponent in a sleeper hold,\nhanging onto it for dear life, putting as much pressure into it as her battered\nbody would allow.
\nLady Kongou went crazy then, struggling and twisting, trying to elbow her\nattacker in the ribs, but not able to get a good angle or good enough leverage\nto deliver a punishing blow. She tried digging at the Vision's hands, but the\nother, though she cried out, refused to give in to the pain of that, or relax\nher relentless grip. The struggling villainess was starting to get scared now,\nher vision starting to tunnel and blur. As her brain began to shut down, she\nthought desperately of how to break free, looking for any weakness in the\nother's hold. A thought suddenly came to her, and she quickly slid her right\nhand along the Vision's right forearm, reaching over her own shoulder to\nsuddenly plunge two fingers into the uniform and bandage covering the bullet\nhole on the heroine's left shoulder, causing the other to cry out in pain and\ntry to pull back slightly from the grinding fingers. But this weakened the\nVision's hold, giving Lady Kongou more room to turn, to drive her fingers in\nfarther, harder, weakening the grip even more. The villainess, with a bit of\nroom to move, a bit more air and blood getting to her brain, attacked, driving a\nstiff elbow now into the almost broken short ribs of the weakening crime\nfighter.
\nThe Vision moaned in pain, releasing the grip on her hold even more, allowing\nher opponent to slide an arm in between her neck and the gasping heroine's left\narm, yanking it down and breaking the hold completely. Knowing she was in\ntrouble now, the Vision tried to stand, to make a break for her lost baton, but\nLady Kongou would have none of that, grabbing her left wrist and driving a hard\nright hand into the inside of the Vision's right leg, just above the knee,\nparalyzing her leg completely. Crippled, she fell to one knee, the smiling\nvillainess using a simple judo pull on her arm to throw her completely down and\nonto the floor on her stomach. With a roar of triumph, Lady Kongou leapt onto\nthe small of the gasping heroine's back, pressing her ass down on it hard as she\nsquatted there, pulling the Vision's arms back and up past her knees onto her\nthighs, trapping them there with her elbows, grabbing her around the chin with\nboth hands and heaving, trying to break her neck or back.
\nDangerGirl, seeing the fight going against her friend, was struggling wildly,\nbut uselessly, screaming into her ballgag as she fought to free herself, to help\nher friend, her wrists and one ankle literally dripping blood now from the force\nof her struggles against the ropes. The Vision, for her part, was trying to\nscream, her neck too stretched, pulled up and back too hard for her to do more\nthan groan as an incredible pain shot through her spine from the force of Lady\nKongou's hold. In desperation she did the only thing she could. Her right leg\nalready dead, she managed to raise her numbing left leg, using her natural\nflexibility to drive it up and behind her, to smash her attacker between the\nshoulder blades again, this time with her heel. But it wasn't enough to dislodge\nher, only to drive the Lady forward, to relax her back-breaking grip for a\nmoment. And it wasn't enough for her to get free, to completely break the\nother's awful hold. But it was enough for the Vision to pull her right arm off\nof the assassin's thigh, and to bring it to the floor.
\nFeeling the other trying to pull her arm back up, the struggling heroine grabbed\nher utility belt and hung on tightly, refusing to let her have it. Lady Kongou\ngave up after a moment, not really caring all that much, pinning the other's arm\nto her own side with her foot and calf, trapping it there, then readjusting her\nposition a bit to reef hard on the Vision's chin again, to press down on her\nback, to break her in half. Gasping at the pain and the horrible strain on her\nbody, her wounded left arm completely useless, trapped on the other's left\nthigh, her legs completely numb now, the Vision struggled not to give up. Using\nthe only weapon at her disposal, her utility belt, she began to rummage in the\nthree pockets of it she could reach. As this was her backup belt, she was not\nabsolutely certain what it contained, checking each pocket in turn, as she felt\nherself getting weaker and weaker, her blood pouring out again, her neck and\nback nearly snapped in two.
\nFumbling through the first pocket she found only medical supplies, tape and\nbandages. The second pocket held nothing of use either, only tracking devices\nand electronic bugs. Her vision starting to blur, her entire body getting numb\nand giving out, she tried the third, her hands and fingers barely obeying the\ncommands of her fading mind. Finally, unsnapping the third pocket and reaching\ninside, she felt her Vision penknife, thinking that maybe she could do something\nwith that, but feeling something else as well, not even sure for a time what it\nwas. Suddenly she knew. It was a spare clip for her tranquilizer gun!! But was\nit empty?? Noo...there was one dart left in it!! Losing consciousness fast, she\nthumbed the dart out of the clip and worked it around in her hand, praying to\ngod that she didn't drop it now. With her last bit of effort and control, she\nworked her hand up around and above the small of her back, and jammed the tip of\nit into Lady Kongou's ass.
\nBut the Lady was smart, too, recognizing instantly what had happened, feeling\nthe warmth of the drug spreading through her system, raising her ass to pull off\nthe dart so quickly that the Vision's weakened fingers had not even had a chance\nto let it go, keeping herself from getting the full drug load. At he same\ninstant she let go of the Vision's chin and raised her own arms above her head,\nrealizing if she could incapacitate the heroine it would still give her a\nchance, as it would then only be a race to see who recovered first, and to the\nvictor would go the spoils. With her last conscious effort then, she brought\nboth fists down in a vicious axe handle blow to the back of her the Vision's\nneck, driving the other's chin into the floor and knocking the heroine out cold,\nthen collapsing herself to lay unconscious on the floor next to her.
\nDangerGirl was going crazy, seeing what had happened, both friend and foe lying\nstill and unconscious on the floor. \"Oh god, help me!\" she thought, twisting and\nstruggling to get free, but knowing it was useless. \"C'mon, Jo...c'mon!!\" she\nthought as she writhed, knowing that their only hope was for her friend to come\nto first, to release her and let her deal with her horrible captor.
\nAnd her prayer was answered in a way, the incredible recovery aspect of the\nVision's nature coming to the fore one last time, dragging her back from the\ndepths of unconsciousness first. The Vision looked over at the still \"sleeping\"\nLady, trying to get up, to go to her friend and free her. But her legs wouldn't\nwork for her, numb and useless. So she raised up on her arms, using them to\nbegin dragging herself over to her bound partner. Collapsing onto her face as\nshe reached DangerGirl, she rummaged in the third pocket for her penknife,\nflicking it open like a stiletto, then reaching up to slice through the rope\nholding her partner's left leg. The knife was razor sharp and cut through\neasily, but of what help was it if she couldn't manage to free DangerGirl's\narms? She desperately tried to stand, but she could still not feel her legs, and\nthe attempt was useless. Groaning at her weakness, at the pain shooting through\nher body, she crawled over to cut through the rope holding Jill's other leg. But\nwhat now...how could she free her friend?
\nBarely able to see, the Vision rolled onto her back and tried to throw the knife\nup to DangerGirl's waiting hand, but she could not even see that far now, her\nloss of blood clouding her mind and sight. She saw the knife coming back down\nand grabbed for it, the ultra-sharp blade cutting into her hand. With a moan of\npain, she held it, trying to think. She could hear her friend screaming to her\nthrough her tight ballgag, but couldn't make out what she was saying, laying\nthere on her back in a daze of pain. Her arms fell outstretched at her sides,\ntoo weak to hold them up anymore, her hand bleeding now as well. Something was\nunder her right arm, she could feel it, wondering briefly what it was. Her\nbaton, that's what it was. HER BATON! As a plan came to her, she pulled it to\nherself and began rummaging through her utility pockets again. Pulling out the\nadhesive tape there and placing her knife between her heaving breasts, she\npulled out a length of tape and tore it off with her mouth, then moved the\npenknife up to the end of her baton. She started to tape the handle to it there,\nthen, remembering how she had cut her hand, stopped and taped the BLADE of the\nknife to the flat end of the baton instead, her fingers weak and trembling. As\nshe started to pass out again, she slid her hand to the other end of the baton\nand raised it as high as she could in the general direction of DangerGirl's\nhand. She held it there, moving it around slowly, finally feeling some\nresistance and a small jerk. She passed out then, saying a silent prayer that\nshe had succeeded, her arm dropping, her baton falling to the floor with a thud.
\nDangerGirl cried out into her gag, now holding the knife in her own numb hand,\nsucceeding in shucking off the tape against the rope, now trying desperately to\ncut through it and get free. She glanced up, terrified to see Lady Kongou\nlifting her head, looking around blankly. She redoubled her efforts, trying to\npush the knife through the rope holding her left hand. But she could barely feel\nthe thing, her fingers practically useless, scared to death she would drop it\nand ruin their last chance. She risked a glance down again, seeing her dazed\ntormentor rising up onto her hands and knees, beginning a slow crawl towards\nher. \"Hurry, hurry, oh god hurry!\" she thought, seeing the other fingering her\nring again, getting closer and closer to her hanging legs, knowing what that\nmeant...the curare.
\nAs Lady Kongou got closer, DangerGirl took the risk of dropping it, and began\nsawing with the blade, barely able to put any pressure on the rope at all. But\njust as the crawling fiend reached out to grab her leg, the rope parted, the\nremaining rope acting like a Tarzan vine to swing her to the far pillar and away\nfrom Lady Kongou's clutching hand, at least for the moment. The hand with the\nknife now free, DangerGirl slashed wildly at her remaining restraint, the sharp\nknife cutting through it like butter, setting her loose, but dropping her down\non her ass onto the floor with a crash, her own legs failing her, the knife\nflying out of her hand, free but dazed. Jill looked up to see her crazed-eye\nopponent reaching for her again with her ringed hand, acting instinctively now\nand spinning herself on her rear end, her left foot knocking the other's hand to\nthe side, her right foot crashing into the other's temple. Knowing there was\nnothing else to do, DangerGirl crawled forward crab-like, and attacked. Using\nthe bottom of her right foot she smashed it into the back of Lady Kongou's head,\nspinning it around. She did it again, screaming into her gag, the heel of her\nfoot driving into her now unconscious foe's face, not even hearing the crack as\nshe splattered the other's nose across it.
\nDangerGirl then heel-kicked her again to the temple, her mind a fog of fear,\nhate, and revenge. She struggled slowly to her feet and kicked the defeated\nAsian again, standing there shakily but defiant. Then again, and again. Unable\nto see, unable to think, DangerGirl knew only one thing...to kick, to kick her\ntormentor, her torturer, until she couldn't kick anymore. So she kicked, and\nkicked again, kicked her in the head over and over, crying and screaming into\nher gag, until she was lifted up in the air and spun around by a strong pair of\narms around her waist. Determined not to be stopped now, the shell-shocked\nheroine began raining weak blows down around the head and shoulders of the\nperson who held her, finally hearing something, finally hearing words that cut\nthrough the brutal fog of hate and fear that held her mind so tightly, that\npushed through the roar of blood in her ears.
\n\"Jill...Jill...stop...it's done...it's over...you've killed her...it's over,\nJill...STOP!!\"
\nJill finally managed to focus her eyes again, stopping her flailing arms,\nlooking down into the worried face of Mr.Morpheus, moaning out into her awful\ngag and collapsing, knowing it was finally over, her head dropping back, arms\noutstretched, hanging like some rag doll backwards over his arms, mercifully\nunconscious at last.
\nMr.Morpheus looked down at her hanging there, his eyes filling with tears as he\nsaw her bleeding wrists, the oozing of blood through the many puncture wounds\nall over her body, the bloody red welts crossing her stomach, breasts, and neck.\nHe lowered her quickly onto her back on the floor, glancing over at the Vision,\nseeing her unconscious as well, a small pool of blood spreading on the floor\nunder her left shoulder. He quickly began to remove the rope remnants from\nJill's wrists and ankles, the ballgag from her mouth, thinking for the hundredth\ntime...\"Why do they do this?? What is it about them that makes them risk their\nlives, to risk all the pain and humiliation, to risk THIS!! Why do they do\nit!?...Nobody cares, the drugs and the crime never stop, they receive nothing\nfor it, just the occasional thanks from a victim or the city. Why do they do\nit?!\" He really had no clue as to why, but realized that was perhaps why he\nloved them so. His favorite play had always been \"The Man of La Mancha\", so\nmaybe that was it...their purity of purpose, the way they tilted at the\nwindmills of an ungrateful world, the way they gave of themselves for the\ngreater good, as useless as it might be in the end. But they had courage and\ndetermination and a desire to help, no matter what the cost, and he truly did\nmarvel at that, and in a way, envied it as well.
\nPicking up Jill in his arms like a little child, he engaged his TK field and\nlifted the Vision off the ground with it, pulling her along behind him as if on\na cloud, stopping only once at the video camera to hit the \"stop\" button, then\nhitting the release and removing the tape, managing to slide it into a pocket of\nhis coat. Then he hustled along and up the stairs, working to get back to his\ncar with the two of them, to make the trip back to Mercy Hospital once again.
\n\"Ok...paper, rock, scissors...loser goes to pick up the food.\"
\n\"No, no...I always lose at that!!...I know somehow you're cheating...I just know\nit.\" Jo replied defensively. \"Pick something else.\"
\n\"Ohhh, you're no fun anymore. Ok, I got it!! We'll cut cards, then YOU can go\nget the Chinese...loser!\"
\nJo look down at her diminutive, laughing friend, so happy that things had\nfinally gotten back to normal between them, that they could now goof and joke\naround again, that they could be loving and kinkily intimate again when and if\nthey so desired. But it hadn't been like that right after the \"incident\", not\neven close.
\n\"BWAHAHAHAHA...you've fallen for my trap, oh mighty mite. I NEVER lose at card\ncutting. These dexterous fingers know all the tricks.\"
\nJill smiled up at beatifically, then let her face slide into a rather naughty\ngrin, \"Why yes...they most certainly do, don't they?\"
\nJo didn't blush then, because for some reason she almost never blushed. She just\ncontinued to smile, but could not resist the urge to keep the innuendo going by\nlicking her fingers, ostensibly to help her in cutting the cards that she had\njust pulled out of a side drawer for their game of chance. It was so nice to see\nJill smiling, afraid for a time it would never happen again.
\nAfter Mr.Morpheus had taken them to the hospital, they had been treated for\ntheir traumas in the emergency room, then put in a semi-private room for further\ntreatment and recovery. DangerGirl had spent two nights there under observation,\nby both the hospital staff and by the Vision, who was desperately worried about\nher friend, unable to drag her into conversations, unable to get her to laugh,\nwaking up once in the middle of the second night to hear the other's muffled\nsobs into a pillow. She had left the next morning with a quick peck on the\nVision's cheek and a \"Will see you soon, Jo, just get some more rest tonight and\nI'll call you.\" She herself had stayed one more night, recovering quickly, but\nbowing to the doctor's wishes for one more night of enforced bed rest and\nobservation. Mr.Morpheus was there, as he had been the last two nights for the\nboth of them, holding her hand and talking a bit about anything that came to\ntheir minds. And about Jill. Jo had listened while her enigmatic lover told her\nof the doctors' concerns that their small friend and lover was repressing too\nmuch about the awful things that had happened to her, refusing to speak to a\nstaff psychologist or anyone else about it. Jo knew that to be true as well,\nJill always deflecting the conversation whenever the subject of that night had\ncome up. Both of them agreed that Jill needed to be watched carefully.
\nThe next day she had gone as the Vision to the police station, and it was there\nthat she saw the coroner's photos of the deceased Lady Kongou. She was stunned,\nhorrified at the way the evil assassin's head had been pushed in and pummeled,\nthe way it was soaked in blood. Had DangerGirl done all this!? Had she brutally\nsmashed in the face and skull of this other woman?? Albeit she was a horrible\nexample of a human being, she still WAS a human being, and the Vision could not\nbelieve that her sweet, jovial, happy-go-lucky partner could ever, WOULD ever,\ndo such a horrible thing, even to the worst of her enemies. DangerGirl had done\nan almost inhumane thing, and also broken two of the unwritten credos of heroine\n\"law\"...\"thou shalt not kick an opponent when they are down and out of the\nfight\", and \"Unless there is absolutely no other way, thou shalt not kill.\"
\nJill had called as promised later that day, and Jo had perfunctorily invited her\nover for dinner. Both of them had been very quiet all throughout the meal, both\nof them uncomfortable, both of their minds on other things. They watched a\nrented movie and ate their popcorn a little while later, still neither of them\nsaying much, certainly nothing important, nothing that mattered. When the movie\nhad ended, Jill stood up and made indications of leaving, the usual point in the\nevening when Jo would ask (or sometimes beg) her to stay. But she could just not\nget the image out of her mind of her wonderful, sweet friend kicking and\nstomping and crushing the life out of another human being long enough to form\nthe words, to ask her almost plaintively staring lover to stay, to share her bed\nand her strong arms tonight. Jill had finally dropped her head, turned with a\nshrug and a goodbye, and left. She didn't call Jo the next day.
\nTwo nights later, Jo had gone to Mr.Morpheus's large house to spend some time\nwith him, to maybe share HIS bed if they both felt the longing. Any thoughts or\nhopes of that were dashed, however, when they began to share notes about Jill.\nShe hadn't talked or called him since the second night in the hospital, nor\nreturned any of his calls, and he was plainly worried about how she taking all\nthis mentally. Jo described their \"date\", the meal, the movie, the goodbye, a\nbit shaken when Mr.Morpheus's expression became almost angry, said anger being\napparently directed at her!
\n\"It sounds like she was reaching out to you there, Jo, like she needed someone\nreal bad just then...And you sent her away!?!\"
\nJo dropped her head to her chest in despair and shame. \"I couldn't help it. I\njust kept picturing what was left of Lady Kongou's face, and the fact that Jill,\nmy Jill, had done that too her. I wanted to ask her to stay, but I couldn't do\nit. And it scares me, Morph. I don't know it I can ever make myself feel about\nher the way I used to again...\"
\nMr.Morpheus had just glared at her for a moment, then simply said:
\n\"Ok...alright...but before you leave tonight I have something to show you,\nsomething you have to see.\"
\nAnd with that he had made Jo sit down on the couch, while he went to his video\ncabinet, grabbed a tape, and slid it into the machine. He moved back to sit\nbeside her, picked up the remote and hit the play button.
\nWhen Jo saw what the tape was about, saw DangerGirl bound to the table, she\nturned to her grim-faced lover and demanded that he turn it off, that there was\nno way she ever wanted to watch this. He met her alarmed gaze with his own,\ndetermined that this was the right thing to do.
\n\"If you really love Jill, you will turn around, be quiet, and watch every minute\nof this. Watch...feel...learn, Jo...\"
\nShe stared at him for a minute, then turned to watch as the video played on. And\nit is to HER everlasting credit that Jo, the Vision, watched every minute of\nthat tape, smiling at Jill's early defiance, getting angrier and angrier as the\nLady mocked her friend during the \"massage\", sobbing openly as the electric\nshocks were being administered, Jill arching and writhing and screaming in her\nrestraints. She had had to run to the bathroom to throw up as Lady Kongou\ngleefully brought down her whip again and again on Jill's defenseless body.\nMr.Morpheus had simply paused the tape while Jo was gone, wiping the sweat off\nhis brow, his heart pounding, his hands shaking, never so uselessly angry in his\nentire life. This was the first time HE had viewed the tape, and it was\nimmeasurably worse than he had ever thought. When Jo returned, sweating and\nashen-faced, he started the tape again, and they clung to each other to watch\nthe rest...the awful suspension, the horrible needles, the desperate fighting\nand attempts to escape. Jo sat there, reliving in her mind and body the last bit\nof the tape, her body quivering in sympathetic motion to the actions on the\nscreen. Mr.Morpheus was even worse, pushing and pulling at her as if he was\nactually doing the fighting himself. And at the end, when Jill had finally cut\nherself loose and gone on the attack, it was he who stood up, shaking his fist\nat the screen, yelling, \"YEAH!! Kick the shit out of her Jill, make her\npay...Yeah...kick her ass...that's it...yeah!!\" As he, himself, appeared on the\nscreen then to stop her, lifting and turning Jill to almost face the camera, Jo\ncould see the look of absolute insanity in her friend's eyes, realizing now that\nif that had been her in Morph's arms, she would have had the same look, no\nlonger remotely questioning the how or why of Jill's actions.
\nMr.Morpheus sat down next to her again with a thud, panting as if he'd just run\na race. Her own heart almost beating through her chest, Jill took his hand and\npulled him to look at her.
\n\"I'm sorry...I have to go. I have to go to her right now, this instant...I have\nto go!\"
\nHe nodded to her as they both stood, then gave her a quick, sharp kiss and a\ntight hug, breaking loose to go to the player and remove the tape. As he walked\nover to her to intercept her at the door, he held out the tape, gesturing for Jo\nto take it.
\n\"If she went through...through THIS, then you have to get her to talk about it,\nyou have to draw her out, to draw it out of her, or it will eat her up alive.\nUse the tape if you have to...it belongs to her anyway...but get her to talk\nabout it...what she felt, what she thought, what she feels now. You may be the\nonly one that can help her through this, Jo. Don't let her down again...please.\"
\nShe almost jumped up to wrap an arm around his neck, kissing his cheek, and\nhalf-whispering in his ear, \"I won't Morph, I won't,\" then turned and raced out\nthe door, heading for Jill's apartment. By the time she got there it was nearly\n2 AM, but she didn't care, first ringing the doorbell, then banging on the door\nuntil it was opened by a rather harrowed-looking Jill, who blearily, but\nquickly, stepped aside to let a taping-waving Jo enter with a rush. She closed\nand locked the door then, the two of them turning to face each other.
\n\"Jill...Jill...I watched the tape. I watched it with Morph. I saw...I saw what\nthat bitch did to you. I saw it all...\" She moved closer to her stunned friend,\nalmost whispering now. \"I know what she wanted from you. I know what you went\nthrough. I thought I \"knew\", but I had no idea...I had no idea at all!\"
\nTears rolling down her face, Jo dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around\nher great friend, and pressed her cheek into her stomach, almost wailing now.\n\"Ohh god...I'm sooo sorry, Jill. I'm soo sorry....I didn't know...I shoulda told\nyou the name...I shoulda been there for you sooner...I'm soo sorry...,\"\nrepeating the same refrains over and over till Jill broke her grip, lifted her\nup, and held her tightly in her arms, whispering up in her ear.
\n\"It's ok, silly...shhhh...It's ok...If you had told me the name I would be dead\nnow, and so would your informant...shhhh...relax hun, it's ok. You saved me, you\nidiot...c'mon...you took a bullet for me, climbed out of a hospital room and\nsaved my life. Stop it...stop crying, it's alright.\"
\nJill led her over to the sofa and forced them both to sit down, still holding Jo\ntightly while her heaving sobs abated slowly. There followed the normal\nembarrassing sniffles, from both of them, Jill suddenly realizing she had been\ncrying a little too, both of them laughing slightly at that. Then Jo remember\nwhy she was really here...not to beg forgiveness, but to try and help her\nfriend, to show her how much she still loved her. She showed the tape to her.
\n\"You need to watch this if you can. We need to talk about this, just you and I.\"
\n\"I can't watch that! Are you crazy?! I spend all my time trying NOT to think\nabout that anymore, to not relive what I went through, to not remember...what I\ndid...\" the end of her sentence trailing off into an almost inaudible whisper.
\n\"Jill...c'mon sweetness, it's me!! You have to talk about this with someone. I\nwas the cause of all this, you have to talk to me about it. I need to hear this.\nI have fears and guilts, too. C'mon Jill...it hurt so bad to watch you go\nthrough that, it hurt so much to see you whipped and stuck. C'mon Jill,\nplease..let it go...\" She was almost begging now, feeling her friend so small in\nher arms, feeling her begin to shudder, slowly at first, then faster and harder\nas if she was priming up to explode. And finally, she did.
\n\"Oh god, Jo...I was just soo scared!!\"
\nAnd with that, it began to all pour out of her, her grief at the Vision's\napparent death, her fear and humiliation on the table, the knowledge that she\nhad no safe word, that she didn't know the name to stop her torment, the shame\nthat she would have told Lady Kongou anything she wanted to hear if she had only\nknown what to say, the endless, wracking, intolerable pain, the incredible hate\nshe felt for her captor, then finally, the awful guilt she felt at what she had\ndone to her in the end. All this poured out of Jill as she held onto her friend\nlike a lifeline, sometimes eerily calm, then crying like a child, the occasional\nnear-hysterical giggle, and the violent shaking, whenever she described the fear\nor her pain.
\nJo held onto her tightly throughout, prompting her occasionally to go on,\nrocking her in her arms, always letting her know she was there. And when it was\nover, when Jill was completely spent of all energy and emotion, she picked her\nup and carried the small one to her bed, climbing in under the covers with her,\nand held the sleeping woman all throughout the rest of the night.
\nFrom there things had gotten much better, slowly but surely, and now seemed to\nbe almost completely normal, most of the physical and emotional scars healing\nand fading, their relationship maybe even stronger than it had been before. They\nhad gone through the shadow of the valley of death together, and had come out\nalive, to live and love and fight another day.
\n\"So you gonna cut those cards or just fondle them?\" Jill inquired impishly,\nbreaking her friend out of her reverie.
\n\"I'm gonna cut them, you doofus, but you forgot one thing first.\"
\n\"I did?? And just what, pray tell, is that?\"
\nJo looked down at her brave and beautiful friend, dropping her hand with the\ncards in it to her side, then stepped up close to her, smiling broadly.
\n\"How about a kiss for luck??\"
","frontmatter":{"text":"The Vision and DangerGirl vs. Lady Kongou - Part 2","tags":["The Vision","Danger Girl","Torture","n/c","humiliation","Domination","Bondage","f/f","degradation","Exhibitionism","Pain","bound","degradation humiliation"],"date":"11/15/2024","part":"2"},"excerpt":"The Vision lay there on the cold cement floor, in a state of complete shock, the\npain in her shoulder from the high velocity bullet having…","timeToRead":67,"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thevision_thevisionanddangergirlvsladykongou/part2/"},"author":{"authorName":"The Vision","authorEmail":"fli_binite@hotmail.com","authorSite":null},"series":{"seriesName":"The Vision and DangerGirl vs. Lady Kongou","parts":[{"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thevision_thevisionanddangergirlvsladykongou/part1/"},"frontmatter":{"part":"1"}},{"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thevision_thevisionanddangergirlvsladykongou/part2/"},"frontmatter":{"part":"2"}}]},"storyStats":{"visits":551},"summary":"The Vision, once strong and empowered, is gradually weakened and made vulnerable by Lady Kongou's relentless torture and domination. Bound and in intense physical pain, The Vision struggles to save DangerGirl from overwhelming danger and humiliation, while DangerGirl endures excruciating abuse at Lady Kongou’s hands, culminating in a desperate fight for survival amidst sexual tension and dominance.","similarStories":[{"author":{"authorName":"The Vision","url":"/authors/the-vision/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"The Vision and DangerGirl vs. Lady Kongou - Part 1"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thevision_thevisionanddangergirlvsladykongou/part1/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"The Cliffhanger","url":"/authors/the-cliffhanger/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Nightvision - Death in the Spotlight"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thecliffhanger_nightvisiondeathinthespotlight/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Lady Tania","url":"/authors/lady-tania/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Ultra Girl and S.P.A.Y. - Part 2"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/ladytania_ultragirlandspay/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Katra","url":"/authors/katra/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Part 3: Pulverizing Vision"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/katra_atlantisattacksthescarletwitch/part3/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Dangerguy","url":"/authors/dangerguy/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Wonder Woman versus Dr. Z and the Collars of Obedience: Part 2"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/dangerguy_wonderwomanversusdrzandthecollarsofobedience/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"The Good Doctor","url":"/authors/the-good-doctor/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Chapter 3 - Black and Blue and Red All Over"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thegooddoctor_superheroinesofsinnercity/part3/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"The Good Doctor","url":"/authors/the-good-doctor/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Chapter 2 - Finally, The Good (?) Stuff"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/thegooddoctor_superheroinesofsinnercity/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Star Girl","url":"/authors/star-girl/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"The Shadow Tales - Chapter One"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/stargirl_theshadowtales/part1/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"B4i4q","url":"/authors/b4i4q/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"The Defeat of Scarlet Lass - Scarlet Lass gets taken"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/b4i4q_thedefeatofscarletlass/part1/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Lady Tania","url":"/authors/lady-tania/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Parallel Worlds - Part 2"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/ladyliberty_parallelworlds/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"UW and friend","url":"/authors/uw-and-friend/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"The Conquest of Amber and Ultra Woman, Part Two"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/uwandfriend_theconquestofamberandultrawoman/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Damselbinder","url":"/authors/damselbinder/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Enhancegirl 2-1: Spectra's Sleepy Trap"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/damselbinder_enhancegirl2/part1/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Steven Bell","url":"/authors/steven-bell/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Episode 2 -- Ms. Marvelous vs. The Boss Woman"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/stevenbell_defenderofmegapolis/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Violator","url":"/authors/violator/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Superheroines under Sushi"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/violator_superheroinesundersushi/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"JR","url":"/authors/jr/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Part Three: Torture"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/jr_teentitansthetruce/part3/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Marat","url":"/authors/marat/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Wonder Woman: The Return of Kane 2"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/maratww_returnofkane/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Star Girl","url":"/authors/star-girl/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"The Shadow Tales - Unexpected Consequences"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/stargirl_theshadowtales/part3/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Hakken","url":"/authors/hakken/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Supergirl vs. Mortis Part 2"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/hakken_supergirlvsmortis/part2/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"K from Japan","url":"/authors/k-from-japan/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Wonder Woman and the Robot Master"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/k-japan_robot-master/"}},{"author":{"authorName":"Lady Tania","url":"/authors/lady-tania/"},"frontmatter":{"text":"Ultra Woman: A Night on the Town - Part 5"},"fields":{"slug":"/stories/ladyliberty_ultrawomananightonthetown/part5/"}}]}},"pageContext":{"slug":"/stories/thevision_thevisionanddangergirlvsladykongou/part2/","templatePath":"./src/templates/stories-post.js"}},"staticQueryHashes":["4139622702","641652024","942210989"],"slicesMap":{}}