Chapter 2 - Looking Back, Looking Forward
The
Femforce HQ was crowded for a change as various members of the legendary group
of heroines waited for the arrival of the government liaison, General Gordon,
and the start of the meeting he had called. Judging by their actions,
some of the group were anxious to get the meeting over with as quickly as possible
so they could get on with their duties of protecting the world from super-villains.
It wasn't often that they had to wait on someone else.
A
silver haired buxom woman dressed in a tight fitting red spandex costume that
ended just above her knees with matching thigh high boots was bent over looking
over a newspaper and blowing bubble gum bubbles. Her eyes sparkled as
she read through the pages quickly before she looked over at the woman
sitting in the chair across from her. "Hey, Laura, that new band Blazing Skulls
is playing tonight here in town. Can we go see em, please..??" Synn asked her
fellow heroine.
Nightveil
sighed as she looked into the energetic face of Synn, "You've forgotten about
our touring the outskirts of the city trying to discover who's responsible for
the recent disappearance of some of the prominentmodels and celebrities in the
area. " said the purple and black cladsorceress " Tomorrow night, we'll
go see your group, ok?"
A
momentary look of disappointment crossed Synn's face before changing into a
look of joy. "Cool beans! We get to see them tomorrow!" she said as she slowly
levitated off the floor with a large portable radio appearing out of nowhere
next to her in the air. Her incredible ability to create whatever she
instantly thought of was tempered by the fact that she was prone to lapses in
concentration during inappropriate times during battle. Synn was also prone to
blackouts induced by her previous use of LSD as a youth so her reliability in
battle sometimes was very unpredictable.
At
the other side of the room, the crimson attired heroine known as She-Cat was
leaning out a window looking on with some amusement as the jungle fighter Tara,
a semi giantess in her own right, was trying on a new green and white spandex
outfit by the pool. Next to her laying by the pool was the full giantess
and sometimes associate to the group Garganta, dressed in a black and silver
bikini that stretched tightly over her body. At well over 50 feet tall
when fully grown, she was obviously a fearsome opponent in battle though her
demeanor was of a kinder, gentler, person.
"Gee,
where do those two go and shop for clothes...'Clothes for theGigantic Women'..
Ha!..." Jessica thought to herself as she gazed out at her buxom friends
and team mates. She turned away and walked over to a nearby computer terminal
where she accessed the daily news section, looking for a unique crime she could
sink her claws into.
The
erstwhile leader of Femforce, known to the general population as the powerful
heroine Ms. Victory and to her fellow heroines as Joan Wayne, was slowly pacing
around the meeting room waiting for the general's appearance while she mulled
over the recent encounter of she and her fellow heroines with the bizarre criminal
known as Stupid Guy. Dressed in a cartoony outfit and wielding a weapon
that appeared to be nothing more than a collection of wire and plastic, he had
transformed most of the Femforce into various erotically themed inanimate objects
for his amusement. In Ms. Victory's own case, her transformation into
a mindless blowup doll had been the most troublesome of all from her standpoint.
Even after the bizarre villain's defeat and her reverting to human form, she
was haunted by the experiences she had felt as an airfilled sex toy. It
seemed from that point on whenever she got into physical hand-to-hand combat
with any criminal and the adversary grabbed hold of her arms - or
any part of her body - she felt herself subconsciously aroused and had to fight
herself mentally from slipping into a passive love doll mentality.
"I've
fought with savage demons bent on world destruction and stood up to would-be
world conquerors without batting an eyelash yet some goofy guy with a Mickey
Mouse hat turns me into a damned plastic sex toy and I can't keep
those feelings or sensations of out of my mind!" thought the patriotically
clad heroine to herself as she silently crushed the paper cup in her right hand.
She
was about to call her psychologist and arrange for an appointment for herself
when General Gordon stormed in with a copy of the day's paper tightly grasped
in his right hand and a foul smelling cigar clenched tight in his mouth.
He moved quickly to the center of the meeting room and rapped his knuckles loudly
on the large round oak table.
"All
right, ladies, get your pretty butts over here. I've got some serious
stuff to debrief you about so take your seats here," he said brusquely to the
assembled heroines in the room.
After
the four women present in the room took their seats, the general moved to the
head of the table and glanced towards the pool area. "Are those two outsized
ladies there going to be joining this meeting sometime soon? I haven't got all
day here!" he said gruffly.
"No,
sir. Tara and Garganta asked that we give them the information afterwards. It
seems they find the ceiling in this room a little too.. restrictive," said Nightveil
quietly.
"Dumb
broads.." the general muttered to himself before he began to speak. "All
right, ladies, a few things I want to go over today. First off, your recent
encounter with that bizarre criminal calling himself Stupid Guy has resulted
in a number of problems. One is how such an innocent-looking weapon could give
him the power to transmute matter. If more of the sethings exist elsewhere,
we've got real problems on your hands."
"Ummmm..
General Gordon, we were told by Stupid Guy he got help from one of our arch
enemies and there are no other such weapons as far as he knew. I really
don't think there is a problem with tha, is there, huh...?" Synn spoke up in
a helpful manner.
The
general took off his hat for a moment and ran his right hand through his thinning
hair in a sign of frustration before putting his hat back on. "With all due
respect, Synn, I refuse to take the word of a whacko dressed in a goofy outfit
as the absolute truth. From now on, if any of you spot a weapon used by
a criminal you encounter with similar powers, you let me or one of my aides
know right away, is that understood?" he said firmly.
The
women nodded in unison while keeping private their thoughts of how remote a
chance of that occurrence was of ever happening. Nightveil had cast a
spell shortly after Stupid Guy's capture to sense if any similar type magic
was present in the world and found not a trace. However, the heroines
knew better than to argue with the general when his mind was made up; it was
an exercise in futility so they remained silent as the general continued on.
"The
next thing we need to discuss is how the press has been handled since that whole
affair broke. Numerous articles have appeared in those nosy rags where
interviews were conducted with some of that Stupid idiot's hirelings and business
associates. They've claimed that some of you ladies didn't try particularly
hard to avoid being transformed and that their boss was actually hired by you
ladies to make copies of your temporarily inanimate forms and sell them over
the internet for huge amounts of money. One of the local papers even reported
in their gossip column that there was a woman going online under the id 'victory
doll' doing role plays with other onliners where she would be transformed into
a Ms. Victory love doll - of all the preposterous things!" Gordon snapped as
he slammed down a copy of the day's paper.
The
general then held up his right hand to quiet down the heroines before they began
to chatter. "I know, there is no truth to any of this and most likely these
fantastic fabrications are just a way to boost circulation. Nevertheless,
let's try and be cautious when we talk to the local press after defeating the
latest costumed clown who shows his or her face around here," he said gruffly
jabbing a thick finger at the paper.
"Hmm..might
be time for me to stop playing out my fantasies online.. at least for now.."
thought Ms.Victory to herself as she looked at the general innocently, waiting
for his next item of discussion.
General
Gordon grunted as he pulled out a fairly thick folder from an aide's briefcase
and started to thumb through it before looking directly at the heroines. "The
reason I rehashed all this past stuff berforehand is that now we have a suspicion
that a woman who used to work for us may now be responsible for several disappearances
in the area. Her M.O. seems odd enough to warrant Femforce's scrutiny," he explained
while passing out several glossy photos to the sitting heroines.
"Her
name is Amanda -Mandy- Brooks and until a short while ago she was employed in
a high level R & D department at the Pentagon. She was working with
several others on some top secret projects dealing with making soldiers tougher
to injure while in combat. It was while she was working on one project
dealing with improving a soldier's resistance to cold and heat that there was
an ' incident'. Mandy was exposed to some of the chemical compounds she
had been working on which affected her both physically and mentally. She
managed to escape our attempts to help her and is now out in the general public
with an insane belief that only she can reverse her own deteriorating condition."
She-Cat
raised her hand, "Umm... excuse me... what exactly did these chemicals do to
this woman? Was she scarred or disfigured by this accident at all? Most
important of all, what the heck does this have to with us at all?" she queried
the general with a scowl on her face.
Gordon
silently glared at the feline heroine before resuming his debriefing. "The
woman, who calls herself Cosmetica now, has been spotted in several nearby states
since she first eluded us. If the reports from eyewitnesses are to be
believed, she seems to have gained the power to affect changes to living matter
at the molecular level. Several people reported seeing men and women changed
into inanimate objects of various types before being carted off by Cosmetica
and her few associates for unknown reasons. We have no idea where exactly
she'll strike next, though our analysts think by the pattern she's established
that it's quite possible for her to make an appearance in this area. Soon."
The
heroines looked at each other with knowing expressions as the General continued.
Another villain to deal with.
"I
want the Femforce to keep an eye out for this lunatic and capture her before
she causes any more trouble. However, no matter what, do not discuss the
nature of how she obtained her abilities with the press. I don't want
the public's faith in the military to be further damaged by any linking of this
Cosmetica to her past activities as a military scientist. If you ladies
do capture her, let me know immediately so I can arrange for her transfer to
a secure facility," the general said before picking up his papers and shoving
his files back into his briefcase.
"I
wish you ladies luck in capturing Cosmetica and her lackeys. Just try to
do it without causing any more embarrassing headlines in the papers if you don't
mind. Good day!" the general grumbled before gathering up his things and storming
out, followed closely by his aides.
Nightveil
shook her head slowly. "He has no idea what kind of evils we face on a day-to-day
basis. Nevertheless, we should be keeping a lookout for this Cosmetica
woman as she does sound dangerous. I'll brief Dragonfly and Ms. Masque after
She-Cat talks to Tara and Garganta. The first person to spot any signs
that point to Cosmetica being nearby should contact the rest of the team immediately.
In the meantime, it's business as usual. I'm heading out with Synn on
patrol right away. C'mon, Synn, let's get going!" she said smoothly.
Synn
popped the bubble gum bubble she was forming and jumped up. "Ok, Laura,maybe
we can pick up some stuff for the concert after we catch the bad guys tonight,
huh?" she bubbled enthusiastically. Nightveil, shaking her head slowly,
headed outside and took to the sky followed closely by her team mate.
Ms.
Victory watched her compatriots leave before turning to She-Cat. "Care to join
me on a tour of the north side tonight, Jessica? I'm sure we can
find this Cosmetica broad pretty easily if she's around or just take care of
the usual scum that terrorize the citizens in that area if she's not," she asked
confidently, planting a hand firmly on her slim waist.
The
feline heroine shook her head as she threw on a short sleeved jacket. "I'll
have to take a rain check on that tonight, Joan. I've got a tip that a
biker gang which has been operating a drug smuggling operation in the area has
plans to steal a major pharmaceutical shipment from a local warehouse. I have
plans to be there to teach them to get their medication over the counter like
everyone else. Ha!" Jessica said slamming her left hand which was balled into
a frist into her outstretched right palm.
Joan nodded
in understanding. "Ok. Well, let me know if you need a hand with anything or
come across Cosmetica. I'm going to see if I can track down Dragonfly
before heading out," she said before leaving the HQ with her thin patriotically
themed costume wavering in the breeze.
Later that night......
Kelly glanced at
her watch for the second time in five minutes as she stood behind the front
counter of the furniture store she worked at. As part of a sales promotion,
the store was open till midnight so there was still some customers and a few
salespeople like herself milling around the store. She had just rung through
a large sale and was frankly looking forward to hopefully a quiet last hour
of her shift but the time seemed to crawl.
A voice seemingly
out of nowhere interrupted Kelly's daydreaming. "Excuse me, miss, but I'm looking
for a specific item that's rather unusual? I don't see it for sale out
on the display floor anywhere and was wondering if you might have it in your
inventory in back."
Kelly turned to see a
young woman of average height and build standing near her with a warm smile
on her face. However, the woman was wearing a long raincoat and what looked
like heavy gloves and thigh boots, unusual clothing for a dry weather report.
She looked a bit odd in her outfit but Kelly had worked at the store for some
time and seen all kinds of strange people, not always customers, wander in.
Kelly called over a fellow
salesperson to watch the counter and then ushered the customer to the back of
the store where the storage area was located. "As you can see, we have
a wide variety of stock; chairs, tables, couches and other pieces of furniture
available. Is there something here you see here that fits what you're
looking for?" the clerk asked pleasantly.
The customer smiled broadly
after briefly gazing around. "Yes..yes I do. I was looking for one of
those inflatable plastic chairs or love seats that were all the rageback in
the 60's and I've already seen just what I want. " she said happily.
A puzzled look appeared on
Kelly's face. "I don't think we have anything like that anywhere in stock.
Perhaps you're mistaken.." the perplexed clerk said as she looked around the
storeroom with her back to the customer, unaware that the buyer had taken off
her raincoat and gloves.
"You misunderstand me, sweet thing.
I don't want any of the furniture you have here.. I want YOU!!!" Cosmetica
snarled as she spun the woman around and grabbed her firmly by the shoulders.
"NNNoooooo!!!!" screamed Kelly
as loudly as she could before she abruptly went silent when her very body
began to change both in shape and appearance. Her arms and legs seemed
to be slowly swelling in size till her skirt and blouse literally flew apart
at the seams. The swelling spread to her head and torso as her breasts
swelled to almost impossibly large dimensions, sending her bra flying off like
it was a tiny handkerchief. As Kelly's body swelled, her skin color changed
from normal flesh and blood tones to a translucent pink with a very audible
hissing sound now accompanying her rapid transformation. Her facial features
seemed to recede or melt into her face, becoming nothing more than marks of
paint where her eyes, ears, nose and mouth once were.
After another thirty seconds or so,
the hissing sound stopped and Cosemetica looked down with evil satisfaction
at the new inflatable chair that now sat before her. The only distinctions
that hinted that this object used to be a living woman were the bits of torn
and stretched clothing that still hung from it as well as the the twin mounds
of plastic that formed a headrest - which used to be Kelly's chest.
"Very nice... very nice indeed. It'll
be interesting to see how this shape responds to my attempts at finding a cure
to my condition. At the very least, she'll make a nice place to rest in
after a hard day fighting the local law enforcement idiots or any of those clowns
from where I used to work at," the deranged villainess said rubbing her
hand along the pink plastic chair that had been a living woman just a few minutes
ago.
"My, God! It's.. it's... Cosmetica
!!! Hold it right there!!" a man dressed in a security guard's
uniform yelled from the entrance to the storeroom
while trying to grab for his walkie talkie.
"You fool!... do you thinkyou or anybody
in authority can stop me? Why don't you hold onto this?" Cosmetica
snarled while simultaneously grabbing onto a nearby recliner and hurling it
with ease towards the shocked security officer.
"OOooffff!! " yelped the man as he was
sent hurtling backward into the store from the impact of the chair. Seconds
later, the whole store erupted in chaos as customers and staff stampeded towards
the exits in terror while furniture of all types and sizes were hurled
in their direction by the deranged woman.
"You're all cowards just like those morons
at the Pentagon. If you're smart, you'll leave me the opening I need to
depart before I make you another of my experimental subjects," Cosmetica yelled
indignantly at the dwindling crowd, which fled in all directions from the rage
of the mad woman.
About a minute or so later, the would-be
villainess found herself alone in the furniture store with only the buzzing
of the overhead fluorescent lights and the slight squeaking of her new ' chair'
as it rubbed up against her bare leg providing any kind of background noise.
Laughing out loud, Cosmetica reached over and pulled out the inflation plug
on her new chair, allowing the air to rush out with a quiet hissing noise.
After the inflatable completely deflated into a flat piece of shiny plastic,
she bent over and lifted it off the ground. After folding it in half,
she draped the item over her right forearm and then started to walk towards
the exit at the front of the store paying scant attention to the destruction
she had caused all around her.
Suddenly, accompanied by a great gust of
wind, the front doors flew open to reveal a familiar figure dressed in a skintight
purple and black costume with matching cape and hood. Cosmetica, having
never dealt with professional heroes before, stood still as the impressive woman
slowly walked towards her.
"Cosmetica! Mandy! My name is Nightveil,
a member of the group Femforce. I must ask you to stop your activities
right now and surrender to me. I am aware of your unique physical problems and
can assure you we only want you to get the help you need to stabilize your condition.
Please... come with me now and I'm sure the military can reverse your condition
quickly," Nightveil said quietly and sincerely, hoping to keep the deranged
woman calm.
However, the heroine's speech had
exactly the opposite effect as the first mention of the military she hated caused
Cosmetica to explode into a violent rage. Ripping off the glove on her
left hand, she picked up a sofa with her right one and hurled it with adroit
ease at the sorceress supreme. "Get out of here, you bitch! If you
think you're going to take me back to those same bastards who are responsible
for my condition, you've got another thing coming!" she hissed angrily.
Nightveil raised her right arm outward
and gestured towards the heavy sofa hurtling through the air. It seemed
to stop literally mid air before settling to the ground. The heroine shook
her head and continued to walk towards the woman across from her. "Give
up, Mandy! No one else needs to be hurt today. If you surrender now, I
promise you that everything possible will be done to reverse your condition,"
she called out.
The transmutation powered villainess
started to shout out a loud and boisterous rejection of Nightveil's offer when
she suddenly quieted down and raised up her right hand in front of her.
"All right, Nightveil, you win. I'll surrender to you if you promise me
that the military will actually try to reverse my present condition and not
study me like some kind of lab rat," Cosmetica conceded quietly.
Nightveil nodded sympathetically
as she walked past a row of sofas that had escaped the carnage earlier. "As
I said before, Mandy, the military wants only to help you with your current
situation. If you want, I can...UHHH!!" the sorceress started to
give assurances yet again before gasping mid sentence. Her eyes fluttered
rapidly before she slumped to the floor, unconscious. Standing secretly
behind her was Cosmetica's henchwoman, Lipgloss, with her right hand on her
hip and her left hand holding the blackjack she had just attacked the heroine
with.
"Sorry for disobeying ya, boss.
I was just looking to see if you needed a hand transferring any of your 'new
items' back to your house and saw this snooty bitch trying to intimidate you.
Are you all right?" the henchwoman inquired as she picked up the unconscious
Nightveil and flung her onto a nearby couch.
"I'm fine, Lipgloss. Keep your
eyes open for any of Nightveil's friends until we get away from here.
These leotard clad broads tend to hang out in bunches and... UURRKKK!!!"
Cosmetica started to state her plans before she was plucked off the ground by
a long pink trunk belonging to a giant elephant that had appeared seemingly
out of nowhere.
Seconds later, a second pink
elephant started out towards Cosmetica's henchwoman Lipgloss, who started to
back up in a hurry as she glanced hurriedly around for a nearby exit or to find
something to put between her and the advancing pachyderm. Behind the two
elephants floated the red leotard clad Synn, her arms stretched out at her sides
as she looked down at the villainess who was struggling against the elephant's
tightening grip.
"Sorry, Cosmetica, but you
won't be getting away quite so easy today. While my ' friends' keep you
and your hired thug busy, I'll go check to see if Nightveil is all right --
and you two better hope she is," Synn threatened as she set down on the
ground and walked over to where her fellow heroine was lying unconscious.
The silver haired heroine quickly
crossed the space that led to Nightveil, noting with a chuckle the pleas for
help from Lipgloss as she tried to evade the pink elephant that was relentlessly
following her. "Once I get Nightveil on her feet, I'll help her take these two
back to that general guy. Maybe I can then get everyone else on the team
to go to the concert with us once things have been wrapped up here," she
said softly as she bent down to check her friend's condition.
Suddenly, Synn felt herself
being picked up by a familiar elephant trunk that had wrapped around her slender
waist. She was held in the air for a second or two, which was long enough
for the heroine to see Cosmetica standing on the ground next to the elephant
which had a definite shiny look to it now. Cosmetica sneered in the direction
of the buxom Femforce member before gesturing towards a far end of the
store.
Before Synn could make any move to
extricate herself from the situation, she was hurled through the air by the
misdirected elephant and crashed into a pile of mattresses. She sagged
to the floor, partly covered by the collapsing pile, where she stirred
for a second or two before falling unconscious. As a result of the
heroine's passing out, the elephants she had materialized simply winked out
of existence leaving the store quiet once again.
Cosmetica nodded in satisfaction
as she looked around to see if there were any other of the costumed opposition
in the immediate vicinity. Seeing none, she walked over to the couch where
Nightveil was lying and gazed down at her with an evil look on her face.
The villainess grabbed hold of the heroine's left arm with one hand and pulled
her to her feet. Cosmetica then took her gloved left hand and slapped
Nightveil hard across the face, twice.
"What...huhh.. who...Synn.. uhhh..???.."
Nightveil muttered groggily as she swayed back and forth, unaware of what had
gone on while she was out cold. Before she could regain her senses and
react to the present situation, Cosmetica laid her bare right hand against the
sorceress' flushed cheeks while still wearing the evil grin she had before.
Almost immediately, a physical change
became apparent over Nightveil's body. Her skin swiftly changed from a
healthy pink color to a tan brown that looked artificial in nature. Blemishes
and scars from previous encounters with the evils of the world vanished as her
body became rigid and unresponsive to her thoughts. She tried to raise
her hands to cast a spell or look for the whereabouts of Synn but could do neither
as her eyes froze staring straight ahead. She was barely aware the hands
stripping her of her costume and cloak leaving her completely nude and now plastic
body standing in the room. Her breathing ceased altogether as her breasts
changed into mounds of plastic bereft of the nipples that marked her humanity.
Strangely enough, as the transformation neared it's conclusion, Nightveil found
her ability to think had not vanished but was changing much like her ability
to speak had been stilled.
Cosmetica, satisfied
that her foe had been vanquished, looked around for Lipgloss in the
nearly destroyed store and found her barricaded in a storage closet, hiding
from a rampaging elephant that no longer existed. Shaking her head, Cosmetica
helped her aide out of the closet before hurrying to the front door upon
hearing the approaching sirens of the police.
"Well, I think we've
overstayed our visit today. Let's get the heck out of here -- now!" Cosmetica
yelled out as she draped her new living inflatable chair over her right forearm.
She opened the front door and waited for Lipgloss to catch up with her.
"Yes, Mistress..."
called out a strangely controlled voice that sounded vaguely familiar to the
villainess. When she turned around, she was greeted by a sight that shocked
her.
The mannequinized
Nightveil was walking towards her in a very stiff yet steady walk. Her
arms were locked in placed at her sides and there was an audible grinding of
hard plastic rubbing on fiberglass as her legs moved forward. Lipgloss
was standing just behind the transformed heroine with her eyes wide in amazement
and her left hand in front of her mouth in an expression of amazement at the
sight she saw.
"Hmmm.. this
is the first time this has ever happened... I better get this stiffened bitch
back to the house and run some tests.." Cosmetica thought to herself as
she ushered the two into a nearby van. After making sure Nightveil was
securely tied in case she changed back, the villainess drove off with more than
a few questions to answer.
A
minute or two later, Synn pulled herself out from under the pile of mattresses
and stood upright, holding her left hand to her head. "Nightveil... Nightveil,
are you around?... Nightveil?" she called out as the police cars pulled up in
front of the store.
Unfortunately,
there would be no answer from her teammate... for quite some time, if ever,
again...
Next : The search intensifies....