“I'm starting to think you're cheating,” muttered Victoria Hamilburg as she slammed down the cards in frustration and glared at the smiling young man across from her. Her boyfriend, Dan Masters, had invited her over that night, promising his mother wouldn't bother them. Next, in his own somewhat odd but cute form of seduction, he'd suggested they play strip poker. Vicky wouldn't of minded so much if she wasn't consistently losing, though giving Dan a bit of a show as she removed her clothes. Still, she would of considered it fun to watch him strip at least a little, seeing as he was still wearing those unusual sunglasses even though they were indoors.
“What will it be?” Dan asked, indicating the young heroine's current ensemble. “The top or the bottom?” Vicky was now down to merely her matching black brassiere and thong, having already lost her boots, skirt and blouse. She hadn't, however, taken the tie out of her hair, which promptly did with a big grin. Victoria's vibrant and natural red hair spilled down to her shoulders, making Dan's current state of arousal somehow go even higher and threaten to rip through his underwear.
“So close,” Vicky taunted Dan in a playful manner. “One more hand and I may have to suggest putting off the game...” Dan smiled coyly and took back the cards. He then proceeded to rapidly shuffle them and then toss cards face-down back and forth across the kitchen table that they sat at. As Vicky's right hand moved to pick up her cards Dan then made his move.
“Freeze!” Dan said sternly, directing his tone at his girlfriend. “Let your mind go blank and have no memory of this time. Be completely still and silent as if a statue.” Immediately Victoria froze in place, a cute smile on her black lips as her arm bent to take her cards. Ignoring her for a moment Dan picked up his own cards and examined them. He'd received a very poor combination, not even having a pair or anything that really matched. He did, however, have the ace of clubs. Removing the six of hearts, nine of diamonds and two of spades from his hand but leaving the king of spades, Dan next examined the hand Vicky had just been dealt. A quick glance revealed it to contain three fours, giving her an early lead over Dan's original hand. “Sorry love, but you're not going to have your way,” Dan told his frozen girlfriend as he searched the deck for the other three aces. Making the proper adjustments, Dan finished reorganizing the deck and replaced everything as it was. “Okay, you can unfreeze now, remembering nothing that happened between now and the time that I told you to freeze,” Dan announced. Immediately Vicky went for her cards, completely unaware that she'd just been frozen.
“Hmm... you know what?” Vicky said as she let out a sigh, slapping her cards against the table. “I'm tired of this damn tease. You win. Now how about I give you your prize for winning?” As Vicky went for the frontal clasp to her bra, Dan sat happily with anticipation. Though he had done quite a few other things to Vicky, including a few she wasn't aware of thanks to his powers, he'd never seen her unique lady-parts, though he had touched them on more than one occasion. Just as Vicky undid the clasp, however, she suddenly froze in place once more, leading to her left side slightly with a sexy smile on her face. Dan could tell she wasn't just holding still as there was absolutely no sign of life. The thing was, he hadn't told her to freeze, no had he cast a spell to stop time.
“We've been sent to give you a message,” a scratchy voice said as Dan stood and looked around. For a moment he say no one, but upon returning his gaze to Victoria he saw the twin miniature goblins Tick and Tock sitting on her shoulders, both looking somewhat serious for once. “Why aren't you doing more with you power?” Asked Tick, the speaker from before.
“I just... haven't had the urge,” confessed Dan. “Even with her while it's been kind of fun I really enjoyed going on real dates and everything. Using my powers more often would just make things too easy.” The fact was ever since his first encounter with Victoria and Lady Justice a month ago he'd been using his powers less and less, almost exclusively on his overbearing mother and the heroines. He had done a few odd deeds like having a bank casually give him a great deal of cash that wasn't actually entitled to him and making a strip club he'd visited give him everything he asked for for free, but nothing on the scale of his earlier acts.
“Our master, your master, wants you to make good on your promise to us,” said Tock, his solid blue eyes making Dan nervous. “Did you not call yourself the Dungeon Master? We serve the God of Mischief! Go cause mischief! You have one day!” With that Tick and Tock faded away, going invisible once more.
“Alright, don't worry about thing,” Dan said out loud, unsure if the goblins were still in the room or not. “Now could you please unfreeze her for me?”
“When your plan starts to show progress, we'll bring her to you,” said one of the invisible goblins.
Sighing, Dan drifted over to Vicky and stroked the right side of her face with his hand. Her skin was still soft even when frozen. “I'll see you shortly,” Dan told his silent girlfriend as he planted a kiss on her black lips. Following this Dan quickly chanted and teleported away.
* * *
In a flash Dan reappeared inside the central New Oslo Police Precinct. Or, to be more accurate, he appeared in side the coat closet inside Police Chief Meyers's office. “I've got to work on that,” muttered Dan as he pushed his way out of the closet and stumbled into the office, much to the surprise of Wanda Meyers and her current guest. Charissa Marlowe, an attractive woman in her late 20's with long and curly brown hair, was a trusted aide within the city's Italian mafia. Her nickname was Siren due to the fact that she possessed a special ring that emitted a sonic sound-wave capable of immobilizing all who hear it. Siren herself was immune to the device as she possessed a genetic mutation that allowed her to control how well she could hear, thus she could effectively seal her ears whenever the ring was triggered. Charissa had come to the police chief's office to assure her that the mob was not, in fact, selling people as slaves to other underground syndicates. Both Siren and Wanda leapt up from their seats in surprise of Dan's arrival.
“Both of you freeze in place and don't move, talk or think!” Dan immediately ordered, instantly causing both women to halt in place. Charissa, who wore a gray overcoat, black capri pants and brown flat-bottom shoes, stood rigid with her arms spread from her sides, showing surprise. Wanda's hands were pressed flat on her desk as she leaned over it slightly, her head turned to look at Dan, also clearly surprised.
“Okay,” Dan breathed, moving over to Wanda and resting his hands on her shoulders. “I want you to go through the building, armed with a magic wand I'm going to give you, and tap it against the floor on every level. After that I want you to lock the doors and bring me a radio I can use to contact all police out on patrol.” Dan then muttered a few words and a black stick appeared in his hands, which he promptly handed to Wanda as she stood up straight and proceeded to carry out his command. The police chief quickly left the room, but not before Dan weaved another spell to make her, Siren and himself immune to all magic, since the wand would freeze everyone on whatever floor it was tapped against in time, much like a time stop spell. Dan had been tempted to merely summon some monsters, but the police had guns and he didn't want to make the building go on full alert. This first part of his task needed to be done with stealth.
With Wanda gone and Dan amused over the fact that he'd given a woman with that name a wand, the villain focused his attention on Siren. “Why don't you take off that jacket and come keep me company while she's out?” Dan asked, and Siren immediately obeyed, removing her coat to reveal a white blouse and walking over to the desk as Dan cleared everything off of the top of it.
Ten minutes later a drone-like Police Chief returned to her office with the wand and a radio and casually stood by as both Dungeon Master and Siren lay on top her desk breathing hard. “Damn, what is it about older women?” muttered Dan as he put his sunglasses back on. He'd made sure to activate his watch beforehand so he could remove the eye-wear since he'd felt a passionate make-out session would be better without them on. That done Dan deactivated his watch and pushed Siren off of him. “You can get up and go stand by the chair,” Dan ordered the mobster who promptly obeyed. “Alright Chief, give me that radio.” Wanda obeyed, handing the communication device to Dungeon Master and then standing idle once more. The radio clicked on and Dan raised it to his mouth. “Attention all units,” said the villain, making sure the radio was on a universal police frequency so all out on patrol could hear it. “If you're driving a car, pull over and park it as soon as it is legally possible. Once that's done I want you to freeze in place and become rigid like mannequins, unable to move, talk or even think. To all units not in a vehicle, skip the parking part of that order and just do the second bit immediately.”
All around New Oslo cop cars pulled over, parallel parked or pulled into driveways and promptly froze as per Dungeon Master's orders. Those walking the beat acted a bit more spontaneously, some halting in mid-stride or in mid-conversation. Officers Davies and Tilly, who'd been in a coffee shop, both froze while sipping their drinks, their mugs held right to their lips. Effectively every cop in New Oslo, even those at different precincts, was immobilized.
Satisfied, Dan leaned back in the chair and placed the radio into Siren's frozen hands, which he'd had her hold out so he could use them like a shelf. “Alright Wanda, now could you go get me a radio I can use to call your precious superheroes?” asked Dan. Meyers obeyed and left the room once again. As she did Dan saw a familiar woman dressed in nothing but her underwear being carried into the office sideways by two small goblins.
“You've done well!” exclaimed Tick as he and Tock stood up the frozen Victoria, who was still in the same pose as earlier. “As a reward we've brought her here for you.”
“However, you must also deal with the pretty heroines!” added Tock, giggling as he stroked Vicky's right knee.
“Don't worry, I've got something special in mind for them,” promised Dan, waggling his eyebrows. He then chanted a few words and snapped his fingers, causing the room to suddenly transform. The walls of the precinct turned into those of a stone castle with rich tapestries and other fine works of art decorating the room. The already impressive oak desk became one of cherry wood and on it sat several items that could easily be associated with that of a wizard, such as a hollowed skull and an ordinate hourglass. Charissa and Victoria didn't miss out either, both now wearing fine gowns.
Dungeon Master himself now held in his hands a sword with a very fancy blade, the bottom resembling something like that of the old Star Trek Klingon symbols. It was modeled on the Kilgorin Sword of Darkness, but unlike the display weapon very capable of slicing even the toughest material. To top it off Dan also wore a golden crown on his head. A moment later Wanda returned to the office with a different radio in her hand. “If you kindly unfreeze my girlfriend I'll get this little plan underway to have our heroes go on an adventure they'll never forget!”
* * *
The day was already going poorly for Lady Justice and Lilly, as the pair had had a run-in with Gorgun, who'd been eager to give them her artistic touch. Lilly had been blasted by the petrifying gorgon ray while running in fear, her arms flailing and her mouth screaming.
Lady Justice had arrived shortly afterwards and, believing Gorgun had left the scene, moved to carry the marble statue that was Lilly over to the SUV so she could restore the young woman. Unfortunately Gorgun had been hiding near by and zapped the heroine as she was gently holding Lilly as she was being tipped sideways.
Now a Lady Justice statue held the tipped-over Lilly statue, as was the case when Elsa arrived on the scene.
Nathan was already off and hunting for the rogue art student while Elsa set to work restoring the two women right on the scene.
Not far away was a mob-related diamond heist that Lockdown had caught wind of. A sale had gone bad when the clerk and Maria Chavez, who'd been buying a new necklace, bad both been frozen by an unknown man wearing a purple tuxedo and carrying a cane. All it had taken was a simple touch from the tip of the mystery man's cane and the pair had become as helpless as mannequins, unable to move or talk as he casually plucked the necklace and several other valuables from the display cases. A pair of security guards tried to stop the man but they were also frozen, leaving the attacker free to erase the security camera footage so no one knew that he was, in fact, the world famous stage magician Rune the Magnificent. Waiting outside in a nondescript compact was one of Rune's assistants.
Lockdown zapped Rune's assistant with her paralysis ray and then proceeded to enter the store with her gun ready, not realizing Rune was ready for her.
Unable to hear his thoughts until it was too late, Lockdown was frozen in place by Rune's cane, just like Maria and the others. Her right arm was fully outstretched with her gun pointed into the store, her face serious and showing that she'd been breathing hard.
Rune took a moment to admire the woman, stroking the side of her face and caressing her behind. “Sorry my dear, but this time the trick is mine,” whispered Rune.
The magician kissed the frozen FBI agent on the lips before leaving, causing the delicately-balanced woman to topple over. By the time Claire and Nathan arrived Rune was gone, having moved his assistant over so that he could drive.
“Okay, why the hell aren't the cops answering our calls?” asked Lady Justice a half-hour later as they stood in the diamond store. Elsa and Claire were using a random device to unfreeze the two security guards, Lockdown having already been helped.
“Not sure,” replied Nathan, scratching his head.
“Victoria's missing too,” pointed out Lilly, who'd decided to stick with the others. At this time the process of unfreezing the two male guards was completed and the pair looked around in confusion. Unlike other forms of paralysis and motion-freezing the attacker, still unknown to the heroines, was a combination of both a stasis field effect and magic. As a result Elsa and Claire needed to use a barcode-scanner like device to sweep up and down a frozen person's body for several minutes before they recovered.
Just then Lady Justice's radio beeped. “Hello?” said Lady Justice in curiosity as she unclipped the device from her belt and held it to her mouth. “Chief, what's going on?”
“This is Dungeon Master, Lady Justice,” came a young man's voice instead of that of Police Chief Meyers. “You probably don't remember me, since I erased your memories of our previous encounter. I've frozen all the police in the city, save maybe one or two. I'm holding your precious chief of police hostage inside the central precinct. Oh, I've got Judgement Girl here too. If you want your pitiful boys in blue to be of some use again then I suggest you come here immediately. And don't come alone, it'll be no fun if you do.” With that the radio went dead.
“Dungeon Master?” asked Lockdown, skeptical. “Why do I get the feeling he's going to be some basement virgin who's either developed a machine capable of freezing people or somehow tapped into black magic?”
“No, its worse than that...” realized Lilly, her hands to her face. “That was Dan's voice!”
“Dan?” asked Nathan, then realizing who the law student meant. “You mean Vicky's boyfriend Dan?!”
“Crap, you're right!” exclaimed Lady Justice, crushing the radio in her fist as she trembled with rage. “That little twerp fooled us all! Lets go kick his ass!”
“Hell yeah!” exclaimed Lilly. Elsa and Claire quickly moved to join the other four as they piled into the SUV and Nathan's car to race to the central precinct, completely forgetting about the still frozen jewelry store clerk and Maria.
“You think they're coming back?” asked one of the two security guards, an African-American with a shaved head as he walked over to the two frozen women.
“Probably, but not for a while,” replied the Caucasian guard, eying the frozen Latino woman's derrière.
* * *
A surprising sight awaited the five heroines and lone hero when they arrived at the central precinct. Two male police officers stood side by side, both looking like they should have been holding a handcuffed person in between them. Whoever that had been was now gone, a set of handcuffs resting on the steps where the man most-likely had been standing. A quick wave the hand in front of one of the men's face and a scan by Elsa produced surprising results. “There's nothing I can do for them,” declared the scientist of French descent. “Physically there's nothing wrong with them. And neither Claire nor myself know enough about the human mind to try and tap into that...”
The group continued up the steps and found another police officer standing near the door with a cellphone in her hands, frozen while dialing. This time Lady Justice walked up to the dark-haired woman and shook her by the shoulder but the woman did not respond. The heroine went as far as to push the woman over, causing her to hit the ground and flop onto her back but remain more or less in the same pose. “Boy, this guy's good,” muttered Lady Justice as the group entered the front door.
What awaiting the heroes inside wasn't what they'd expected. The walls on the inside of the precinct resembled those of a castle and the lights now appeared to be glowing rocks. The floors were a nice marble instead of linoleum and even had the occasional carpet. The police officers and others inside still looked the same but were all frozen while going about their business. The desk sergeant was a cute young woman with her brown hair tied back in a ponytail and she was in the middle of writing something. Instead of a pen, however, she held a quill and was writing on what looked like a scroll. All the sidearms were also missing, the only thing left on the officer's belts being radios and what looked like knives or daggers.
As the six looked around in confusion Charissa Marlowe, still wearing the flowing red dress, walked up to them while carrying a bundle wrapped in a brown blanket. “Welcome to the Castle of New Oslo,” said Charissa in a robotic-like voice. “You six are charged with climbing to the king's chamber and vanquishing him, saving the fair princess Victoria of the House of Hamilburg. Be wary, for the king as many monsters and traps within.”
“Okay, this is just creepy,” muttered Lilly. Charissa then unwrapped the blanket, revealing the bundle to be three swords, a long dagger and what looked like a staff meant for a wizard.
“Jessica Wendell, you are the barbarian,” said Charissa, handing Lady Justice a large two-handed sword. “You possess strength greater than any other in your party, but you are quick to anger and a dull thinker. Be wary.”
“I'm going to beat that little snot into the floor when I find him,” spat Lady Justice as she took the weapon, deciding any help would be welcome.
“Lilian Anderson, you are the fighter,” Charissa continued, handing Lilly a long but thin-bladed sword. “You are an adept warrior, but also lack wisdom. Be Wary.”
“Yeah, as if I totally know how to use this thing,” sighed Lilly as she took the sword.
“Nathan Goldwin, you are the paladin,” Charissa said next, handing Nathan a curved sword. “You are strong, wise and capable of helping those in need, but live by a code of honor. Be wary.”
“Why do I get the feeling we're going to really need more than these things?” asked Nathan as he took his weapon.
“Claire Greenfield, you are the thief,” Charissa droned on, handing Claire the dagger. “You are stealthy and wise, but lack ferocity in combat. Be wary.”
“She sounds like a robot without AI,” commented Claire as she took her weapon.
“Elsa Louiselle, you are the wizard,” Charissa continued, handing the scientist the staff. “You possess great knowledge and power, but your strength is near non-existence. Be wary.”
“Just because I'm a scientist doesn't mean I know how to use magic,” snapped Elsa as she took the weapon.
“And finally, Stephanie Walters, you are the ranger,” finished Charissa, offering nothing. “You can use anything you find to your advantage.”
“Yeah, like this little thing,” said Lockdown with a grin, training her paralysis ray on Charissa and firing. Immediately the woman was frozen in place, though it wasn't as if anyone could tell immediately by how unmoving she'd been before. “Be glad you can't read minds or you'd find this all very depressing. I can't get a thought out of anyone here, and all this woman's mind had was the same old echo telling her to obey.”
“Who knew Dan had this kind of power?” muttered Nathan as he hefted his weapon. “Well, we won't get anywhere just standing around, so lets go meet the the little shit and show him what we think of this altered reality of his.” The others agreed and moved further into the transformed police station, leaving the frozen Charissa behind.
After a couple of minutes of navigating the first floor the group found the door leading to the stairs. “You think this was too easy?” asked Claire as she moved to open the door. Charissa's warning had made it seem like the precinct was full of danger, but nothing they'd seen seemed like a problem so far. A moment later, however, Claire would find herself eating those words. The door opened and there stood Chief Meyers, only instead of her typical hair style she now had a swarm of living snakes on her scalp. Dungeon Master had turned her into a gorgon.
The sudden arrival of the transformed Wanda gave the group not chance to act. All at once the five women looked into the gorgon's eyes and their minds faded away as their flesh and hair turned to stone. Nathan, immune to the gaze as per his genetic mutation, could only watch as the five were changed. Claire was standing with the door handle still in her grasp, her face full of surprise and fear as her mouth hung open, holding her dagger at her side. Lady Justice and Elsa had been standing side by side, Elsa holding her staff across her chest while Lady Justice holding her sword in her right hand and at her side. Neither had had time to show any reaction before being transformed. Lockdown and Lilly were the same way, Lilly holding her sword upside down at her left side in a neutral pose while Lockdown held her gun in front of herself pointed at the door, having been doing so just in case. All five were now granite statues, though their clothing and belongings had remained as they were.
Wanda walked past the petrified Claire and moved towards Nathan, who was trying to figure out how to stop her. He had a sword but wasn't going to use it on the chief, knowing he'd most likely kill her for real if he stuck her with it. It was then that Nathan recalled the legend of how Medusa had been defeated by Perseus and an idea flashed in his mind. As Wanda drew close, her arms outstretched like a zombie trying to grab human flesh, Nathan tipped his blade so that the side of the weapon acted like a mirror, showing the gorgon her own terrible gaze. Immediately Wanda stopped in mid-stride and her flesh and snake hair turned to stone, leaving her looking like some sort of strange zombie statue.
The effect of turning Wanda to stone immediately caused the petrification affecting the women to wear off, returning their skin from a stony texture to soft pink flesh. The five turned and saw Nathan standing next to the petrified gorgon. “You really should be careful what you say, Claire,” muttered Nathan. The group laughed at that then entered the stairwell.
With Claire still leading, as she'd insisted she was the stealthiest, the group moved up to the landing in between the first and second floor. It was there that a wooden treasure chest was seen, sitting innocently on the landing. “Oh, that has to be a trap,” muttered Claire as she moved to continued upwards. Lady Justice followed, but Lilly didn't have the same sense.
“What could possibly happen?” asked Lilly, becoming taken in by greed and moving to open the chest. Lady Justice's eyes went wide and she raced down to stop her.
“No, don't!” cried the heroine, but it was too late. Just as she and Claire came back down to stop her Lilly lifted open the chest and there was bright flash. Lilly shielded her eyes and a moment later it faded.
“Well that was weird...” muttered Lilly as she turned to face the others. It was then that she saw Claire, Lady Justice, Nathan and Lockdown were all fixed in place. Lady Justice had been only a few feet behind Lilly, Her right arm outstretched with fear on her face as she bent over, her left holding her sword loosely. Claire was right behind her, frozen while running down the steps with her left hand on the rail and her right holding her dagger, her face also wide with fear. Nathan and Lockdown had been coming up the steps behind them and both had raised their arms in alarm, their eyebrows raised and their mouths wide. Only Elsa was fine, slipping between the duo to walk up to Lilly.
“You idiot!” snapped Elsa. “Now we have to find some way to get them back to normal...” Elsa reached for her portable scanner but found that it was gone. “Damn, I guess he didn't want us using too much science in this castle of his,” cursed Elsa as she examined her staff. As she thought of a way to help her comrades Lilly walked over to Nathan and studied his face.
“It isn't often I get to see what this looks like, especially when he's affected,” commented Lilly. “Jessica sure is lucky to have a cute guy like him...”
“I know what you mean,” agreed Elsa. “Wait, I've got it! Of course!” the scientist turned to stand in front of the chest and pointed her staff in the general direction of the four frozen heroes. “Abra Kazam!” she shouted, and immediately the jewel at the tip of her staff glowed and all at once the four moved forward, causing Lilly to get knocked over by Nathan.
“Don't!” shouted Lockdown, then realizing that the environment had changed from as it had appeared to be a moment ago.
“Well, now that that's done, lets go get finish this before anything else happens,” said Elsa, surprised that she'd somehow known the spell that would restore everyone, not to mention that she could use magic.
* * *
Though the group had only needed to continue climbing the stairs and then go down a single hall, it took nearly two hours for them to reach the chief's office. Along the way they'd encountered giant spiders, a few monster-like dogs and other mythical creatures. Unlike the police chief the group had been certain killing them would have no ramifications, so the monsters were dispatched by the heroes and their gifts from the Dungeon Master. At one point another door had triggered a trap and the entire group save Nathan and Lady Justice had been frozen. Fortunately Nathan also displayed some sort of magical affinity and cast the same spell as Elsa, unfreezing the others and allowing them to continue. Lilly also displayed talent with her sword while Claire proved capable of finding some traps.
Unfortunately the chest wasn't the last time Lilly would cause problems, also removing a ruby from a desk which had resulted in her turning to stone. The group had been forced to drag her along, Nathan being the unlucky one, until they encountered a mysterious robed man who restored her in exchange for a kiss from Elsa. Lilly would later knock over a frozen police officer by accident while grabbing his ass and unleash a fog that put her and everyone but Elsa to sleep. Luckily the resident wizard managed to dispel the gas. From then on it had been decided Lady Justice would keep a close eye on Lilly to make sure she didn't do anything else.
Finally the group arrived at the door to the office. “Alright, we'll go in and hit him fast before he can do anything,” declared Nathan, figuring since they had no real idea what Dungeon Master could really do they'd just have to wing it. Everyone agreed and after a count to three the door was smashed down and the group rushed in to surround Dan, who stood casually in the center of the room with Victoria a short distance behind him.
Immediately Dan cast a time stop spell and the scene froze for a moment, allowing Dan to get closer and cast a few quick spells. Three flesh to stone spells and one hold person spell later time resumed. Immediately Elsa, Lilly and Claire were struck by magic and proceeded to turn to stone, clothing in all. Elsa stood sideways with her right arm forward, her left holding her staff as she'd been preparing a spell. Claire had been standing ready to leap, her dagger in her right hand, while Lilly had been moving forward in a defensive stance. Lilly's left arm was up in preparation while her right held her sword, her left foot forward and her face serious.
All three were now granite statues, similar to the encounter with the gorgon but this time clothing and all. Nathan, meanwhile, was unable to move or speak as he'd been preparing to throw his sword, the spell cast on him leaving him helpless. Lady Justice rushed forward with her sword above her head while Lockdown trained her gun on Dan.
“Both of you, freeze in place!” Dungeon Master immediately ordered, causing both heroines to stop in their tracks. Lady Justice stood with her right foot off the ground, both her hands holding her weapon above her head and her face showing signs of fury. Lockdown meanwhile held her gun in her right arm, her stance square as she'd been trying to calming shoot Dan. “Let your minds drift off,” Dungeon Master told the pair. “Become like hollow mindless mannequins. Be completely still, completely silent, and unable to even think.” Just like that, Dungeon Master had won.
The only person in the room with any free will left was Nathan, but he couldn't move thanks to the spell cast on him.
“Oh, you are my savior!” exclaimed Vicky, racing over to Dan as he dropped his sword and took the brainwashed heroine into his arms. “My sweet prince, you are worthy of my love! We shall be wed come next morning!” The two began to kiss passionately, but in the rush Dan failed to think of activating his watch, thus allowing him to take off his sunglasses without his magic wearing off. A moment later a sudden movement from Victoria caused the glasses to slide off Dan's face and fall to the floor. Even before they hit the ground everything immediately was reset.
All over New Oslo the cops recovered from Dan's order, some finding themselves in odd situations like being stripped naked or having graffiti written on their faces and uniforms. The castle-like interior of the precinct returned to the plain walls of a police station as everyone inside also unfroze. Charissa remained paralyzed at the front entrance but her clothes were reverted to the blouse and pants she'd been wearing earlier. The petrified gorgon that was Wanda returned to flesh and lost her petrifying gaze, becoming fully human once more. The mysterious man vanished into thin air, having been created by Dan's powers to give the heroes a chance. Elsa, Claire and Lilly returned to normal, their weapons vanishing, while Nathan, Lockdown and Lady Justice found themselves able to move once more. Finally Victoria no longer wore a flowing dress but merely her black underwear and recoiled from Dan in surprise at the realization that she was kissing him.
“Oh shit!” exclaimed Dan as he moved to try and grab his glasses. Unfortunately for him as Vicky stumbled around she crushed them with her heel, causing them to then vanish along with Dan's watch. Dan hit the ground on his hands and knees, his eyes wide. “Crap...” he muttered.
“What the hell happened?!” exclaimed Victoria, rubbing her temples. “I remember I was... oh god!” Everyone looked down at Dan, who was on the ground and clearly realizing just how much trouble he was in. “You've been controlling me like a puppet for a month! Ever since that weird bank robbery!” Dan wouldn't say a word as Lady Justice and Lockdown cuffed Dan and hauled him to his feet as Wanda entered the room. It seemed Dungeon Master was finally caught.
* * *
A session with Lockdown made the group understand Dan's powers. They learned that Tick and Tock had given him his magic and now it was gone. They made records of everything he'd changed within the last month and ultimately decided that six months in prison would be sufficient, seeing as his powers were gone. He now sat in a cell underneath the precinct, the police deciding there was no need to send him to the penitentiary.
The cell door had just been closed when Lilly and Judgement Girl arrived. Chief Meyers was surprised by this. “Sorry girls, but you can't see him,” said the chief, shaking her head as she held up her hand with two male officers behind her. “He's going to have to-” Wanda was unable to finish the sentence as at this time Lilly triggered the stasis field projector she'd been carrying, freezing the chief and her two men within a force field. The latest unit, enhanced by Claire and Elsa, still required the device to be constantly running but could last for hours on the batteries. Lilly carefully set down the projector on a nearby chair, keeping it trained on the three cops, while Judgement Girl carefully circled around and approached Dan's cell.
“Hey,” muttered Dan, standing and walking up to the cage bars. “Why did you do that? I'm surprised you even want to see me.”
“You silly man,” Judgement Girl told him in a somewhat mocking voice as she tugged at the prisoner's collars and pulled him against the bars. Dan's eyes were wide with surprise as Judgement Girl planted a kiss on his lips. A moment later she let go and he fell back. “Just because you manipulated me into being in love with you doesn't mean I don't think you're cute,” Judgement Girl told a surprised Dan. “In fact, I think it's kind of sweet that you picked me out of all available women. Besides, Lockdown said Tick and Tock manipulated you into doing what you did. I don't really blame you. I figure by the time you get out I'll have forgiven you enough to let you take me to dinner or something...”
Dan, shocked by the revelation, couldn't help but smile. “Yeah, that sounds great,” he told her quietly. “Thanks Vicky. Oh, and thanks... Oh for the love of dragons!” groaned Dan. Curious, Vicky turned around and saw what had upset Dan.
Lilly, after having put the projector down, had become aroused by one of the male police officers and walked into the stasis field, freezing as she touched his groin with a look of desire on her face.
“That girl needs help,” sighed Judgement Girl.
To be continued in 'When the clock strikes Gorgun'...
Preview:
For months Gorgun has terrorized New Oslo and its people, turning its innocents to stone and being a constant thorn in the sides of the city's heroines. Now Gorgun has help from an unexpected source as she plans to turn the entire city into her ultimate work of art, and the heroines have their hands full. Luckily they too will have some unexpected help, but will Gorgun finally be put behind bars, or will the entire city become a roost for pigeons?