Note: First scene written by @Holly-Hoyle and edited by me
Angel regained consciousness in a dark room that smelled heavily of soot. Within seconds of scoping out her situation, she realized she was bound and gagged, still wearing her blue, cutoff tank top, tight black leggings, running shoes and green, camouflage jacket.
Her bondage was fairly strict, wrists and legs tied, and rope was wrapped around her upper body, just below her breasts. The worst part was two lengths of rope ran between the rope around her thighs and the rope around her upper body, forcing her to be almost curled up in a ball.
Her gag on the other hand was... almost disappointing. It was a simple cloth cleave gag holding in what tasted like wool.
Probably someone's wool socks she thought, sighing in frustration.
Thinking about her situation it occurred to her she should be more afraid, but the familiar feeling of ropes was oddly comforting after the waking nightmare of a chase she had been through. She set about testing her bonds and quickly discovered they were rather well done.
Whoever tied this knows me she thought. But then... I already knew that.
As if on queue, a light came on and there she stood. Red hair brushing her shoulders, shimmering grey eyes with a touch of restrained madness behind them. Her features clashed with her otherwise ordinary tank top and denim shorts, minus footwear for whatever reason.
"Dmmfff!" Angel mumbled through her gag
"Hello, lover," the woman said eyeing her captive up and down. She walked slow as she approached, confidence in her step, and gently removed Angel's gag.
"Didi," Angel said, wrath in her voice.
"Angel," Didi said, a wry smirk in her voice and her curling lips.
"I should have known it was you as soon as I saw one of those red-haired freaks," Angel spat, straining against her ropes."So, tell me.... what does the high priestess of Mother Hydra want with this ‘Flame Beast?’”
Didi smiled wide. "Nothing. This cult is a means to an end for me. Nothing more."
"A means? For what end!? Why would you start a cult of lookalikes to summon something you don't care about!?" Angel all but shouted as she struggled with her bonds.
"Oh, this isn't my cult," Didi said, playing with her hair. "It was convenient that I fit in so well.
It made infiltration much easier. As for my goal..." She leaned down until her face was inches from Angel's. "You, of course."
She took Angel's face in her hands and kissed her. Angel tried to break away but Didi held her fast, holding on with naught but passion and lust, lacking in love and tenderness. The longer it went on, the less Angel liked it, growling and squirming as the kiss continued.
Finally, Didi broke it off. "Ah... thrilling," she said, licking her lips.
"Rot in hell you sick bmmff!"
Didi stuffed the socks back in Angel's mouth before she could finish and securely retied the cleave gag.
"Ta ta for now dear!" she said. "I’d love to stay but cult business calls. Something about someone asking too many questions. Something Diver... or was it Driver? How about you ask her when she gets here?" She blew Angel a kiss. "Miss me, lover!" She left the room and Angel alone again, shrouded in darkness.
...
Earlier...
This kind of dim lighting always seemed to give Allison a headache. These sorts of clubs just didn’t suit her. She’d rather be at home, working on one of her cars, or her bike, or just sitting down and enjoying the quiet of her lonely little house. But Allison Driver had another job.
Besides being a professional race car driver, there was the one people didn’t know about. The one that required sometimes gathering information in places like these, brushing off drunk men who didn’t know the meaning of the words ‘no’ or ‘piss off’ listening to music turned up far too loud, and the general chattering noise of a crowded bar.
At least, in Allison’s opinion, the band on stage wasn’t too bad to look at or listen to. And it was, in fact, the lead singer herself that Allison needed information from. So she tolerated the drunkards and the loudness, closing her eyes and breathing deep. What she wouldn’t give to hear the roar of an engine right now...
“Next song goes out to a special lady,” the lead singer said. Allison opened her eyes and looked to the stage. The singer subtly looked Allison’s way and winked. “It’s a cover we’ve been working on appropriately called... Woman.”
The band immediately launched into a thunderous rock song, with the singer continually turning toward Allison and practically singing the song at her. Allison, for her part, remained stone-faced throughout. Were it not for such deeply buried emotions, she might have felt flattered, or even blushed, when the attractive singer looked her way, a powerful snarl to her voice as she belted out the lyrics and beat the hell out of the strings on her bass guitar.
But Allison Driver kept herself still, silent, and waited for the band to finish. All while the singer kept looking her way. In particular during the chorus where she would sing “She’s a woman, you know what I mean.”
Before the song had finished, Allison vacated her spot, leaning against the wall by herself, and walked to the back of the club, out of sight, behind the crowds, and watching the exits on instinct. The singer’s eyes still followed her, however, and she kept singing the song straight to Allison. The race car driver didn’t flinch. She simply folded her arms and scoped out the scene in front of her.
Someone here is connected to that cult she thought, scanning the raucous crowd. And by extension... best not get ahead of myself. Focus. I got the singer’s attention. Work from there.
The song finished with a flourish and a cheer, and the singer smiled wide, looking to the back of the crowd. “Thank you!” she said, waiting.
Allison subtly waved her over and the singer gently nodded. “Looks like even we need a good break,” the singer said. “Take this chance to get some more drinks and we’ll be back before you know it!”
The crowd cheered as the band left the stage. The lead singer didn’t follow her band. She headed off stage and milled her way through the crowd, making a bee line for Allison. Once she made it through the throng of people, Allison couldn’t stop the wry smirk curling her lips.
“So...” the singer began. She was still glistening a bit, from the sweat on her body, the heat of the lights and the exertion of her performance. “The lovely Allison Driver. I thought that was you. I’m a big fan, you know. You kick ass in that Corvette,” she said.
“Thanks,” Allison said. “You got someplace quieter we can talk?”
The singer smiled. Her teeth were perfect, to Allison’s eye. Her eyes were dark, shining, and matched perfectly with her dark skin. Her hair was thick, but cut short, and dyed bright pink. She wore a tight, cropped leather shirt, sleeveless, with spiked bracelets on her toned biceps.
The black attire matched her shorts, tight, made of leather, and cut very short up her long legs. Long, lace-up boots that reached her knees with large, chunky heels completed the rocker’s outfit. In the past, Allison might have been taken in with her attractive appearance.
Allison, for her part, felt dressed rather plainly in her snug, black jeans, red running shoes, tank top and short leather jacket, contrasting her caramel skin, pale eyes, and neck length, black hair.
“I’m so glad you asked... the name’s Alexis, by the way. Friends call me Lexie.”
Allison nodded. “Would you believe me if I said I already knew that?” she asked.
Though her tone remained devoid of emotion, Alexis still found this intriguing. No, Lexie, Allison thought to herself. Might be more open to talk if I can drop her guard...
“Come on with me. We can find a nice quiet spot...” Lexie said with a smile.
Allison followed the singer toward the back of the club, where Lexie flashed a badge and nodded toward Allison with a wry smirk. The security guard there seemed to know her and raised his eyebrows, trying not to crack a smile. Lexie just nodded in return.
“Nice going,” the guard said, clapping Lexie on the shoulder, and he stepped aside to allow the two women through. Lexie led Allison through a dark hallway that got gradually lighter as they moved from the floor, opening a door with a keycard and holding it open. Allison joined the rocker in her dressing room, Lexie shutting the door behind her.
“All right, it’s quiet in here... so, why don’t we make ourselves comfortable?” She sat down on a couch, sitting casually, and motioned toward a chair nearby.
“Prefer to stand...” Allison said.
Lexie furrowed her brow. “Okay...”
“Listen, Lexie... I’m here to ask about something.”
Lexie chuckled. “Since when did you take after that Damsel PI?” she asked. “You looking at starting a new side hustle?”
“I just have questions, is all.” She pulled an ID badge from her jeans pocket and set it down on the arm of the couch beside Lexie. “You recognize that name?”
Lexie looked down at it and furrowed her brow. “No, but I know about Starr Security... you didn’t steal this from one of our security people, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. Someone gave me that. Someone who went missing. Again...”
“Again?”
“A reporter. Goes by the name Intrepid?”
“Oh her! Good looking girl, camo jacket?”
“You’ve met her?” Allison asked.
“Yeah, she came in asking all about my old life and whether I knew about any ‘Deep Ones’, whatever that means. Asked about Elder Gods and stuff... strange girl. But I liked her. She’s missing?”
“An acquaintance of mine says she hasn’t heard from her. And that ID badge is related.”
“How’s that?” Lexie asked.
“There’s a cult...”
Lexie stood up immediately. “Okay, hold up... I’m done with that stuff, you hear me?”
“What stuff?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know!” Lexie said. “About me and the cult....”
“You were involved with them?”
“Other way around... coerced me into ‘recruitment drives’ they called them. Unpaid gigs with the band, luring in unsuspecting young women with red hair, specifically. Don’t know how many they nabbed at those shows...”
“And you heard nothing about that name on the badge there?”
Lexie peered at it again and handed it back to her. “No, don’t remember that one. Though there was one lady they talked about, different from the rest. Never mentioned her by name they just called her... the Clockwork... something, I forget. I’ve buried a lot of those memories...”
Allison nodded and reached for the card in her pocket. “Is this it here?”
Lexie looked at the card. “Yeah! Clockwork Angel, that’s it! Talked about her almost mechanical way of moving, and they used to sing these weird songs in their group that she wrote for them. They’d spread their arms out like they were preaching...”
Allison took the card and the badge back. Sounds like her. Well, like who she became... Allison thought to herself.
“And why are you interested in all this, anyway? Don’t you have a big race coming up? You’re not secretly a cop or something... are you?” Lexie asked.
“I just... I knew her,” Allison said, pointing to the ID badge with the name ‘Angela Rush’ written on it.
“You knew the one running the Cult of Flame?” Lexie asked. “What... what happened?”
“That’s not important...” Allison said. “What is important is finding her.”
“Why do you need to find her? Shouldn’t you go to the cops with this stuff?”
“This is way beyond them,” Allison said. “I just need to see...” She stopped herself. “Never mind.”
Lexie sighed. “Is this why you wanted to meet with me? You don’t really...” she trailed off.
“Sorry...” Allison said. “Just trying to find someone and I thought you might be able to help...”
“I could. There’s an old military bunker on the edge of town. Long abandoned, nobody uses it anymore. But the cult used to call that ‘hallowed ground’ where the ‘Flame Beast shall rise anew.’ Told outsiders like me that if we ever went there the consequences would be dire. You might be able to find your girl there. Maybe even that good looking reporter.”
“We’ll see,” Allison said. “Thanks for your help.”
“Maybe you can pay me back by... getting a drink with me sometime?” Lexie smiled.
Allison let out a short breath. I really shouldn’t. Not after... she didn’t finish her thought.
“Sure, I do owe you one.”
“Here’s my number,” Lexie said, handing a card to Allison. “Make sure you do call, though.”
“I will. Thanks.” Allison turned to leave but stopped. “One more thing...” she said. “This ‘Clockwork Angel’, did they ever mention what she looked like?”
“I heard a rumour they styled her hair after their founder and I assumed that was this Clockwork chick so... I’d guess a lot like them. Can’t know that for sure though.”
Allison nodded. She was about to thank Lexie again when some kind of gas erupted from the vents above them.
“What!?” Lexie rushed for the door but found she couldn’t open it. “What is this!?”
Allison tried to shoulder the door open but it was rock solid. Her instincts took over and she kicked at the door but the exertion made her breathe in the gas faster. Lexie was already beginning to pass out beside her, collapsing to her knees on the floor.
“What... what’s happ....” Lexie passed out before she could finish her sentence.
Allison tried holding her breath but the gas just seemed to find it’s way through. She covered her nose, but that didn’t seem to do anything. And the more she shouldered the door, the less energy she had. Finally, she couldn’t hold on anymore and began to feel dizzy. She fell to the floor beside Lexie and took in a desperate breath after holding on for so long. It was enough to lay her low and, eventually, Allison completely blacked out.
...
Something brought Allison back and her eyes shot open. The dizziness was gone, and so was Lexie’s dressing room. She wanted to stand up, take a look around, but found herself unable to do so. She tugged at her wrists... and found them stuck behind her back. Something was wrapped tightly around both of them, keeping them stuck together.
“Mmnnpph...” Allison grunted, noticing her muffled voice. She took a moment to look down at herself. Rope wrapped around her arms, by the shoulders, and her biceps, pinning them tight to her sides. Her legs were also bound, tied at the ankles, calves, and thighs. She tugged at them, testing their tightness.
Tighter than I thought she thought to herself. But not a problem, given time.
Allison flexed her jaw, and felt a sturdy tape wrapped over it and under her hair, rather thoughtfully. A soft cloth filled her mouth and further muffled her voice. She felt around her back pocket and felt the secret phone she kept there had not been taken.
Seems they didn’t search me. Their mistake.
Having taken stock of her situation, Allison took in the room. It was dark, though not impossibly so, and everything smelled of soot. She found herself sitting on a cold, stone floor. Feeling around behind her, she noted the walls were much the same. Her eyes moved to the ceiling, where she noticed droplets of water were seeping through some cracks. Behind her, a small hole in the wall produced a slight draft and, leaning close, she noticed it smelled of soil.
Underground she thought. A basement? A bunker? There’s a hallway dug out nearby...
Allison squirmed in her ropes, shuffling back and sitting up against the wall. It was then she noticed she wasn’t alone in the room.
“Mmmmpphh!” Lexie squealed, from across the room, meeting Allison’s eyes. She was tied the same way as Allison, with a similar gag of tape. And bound a little tighter... was the reporter, Angel Intrepid.
Angel just nodded to her and continued struggling hard against her bindings, though she stopped when she noticed Allison staring at her. There was almost... recognition in the woman’s eyes. Angel wondered if this woman knew her from somewhere...
Before Allison could take in any more of their situation, they heard a door open somewhere and footfalls echoed around the empty room. Someone came stopped in the middle of the room. Angel snarled behind her gag and thrashed in her bonds. “Dmmfff!”
“Nice to see you too, my lovely,” the strange redhead said. Her casual, shoeless outfit remained the same as it had before. Didi stopped and looked from side to side, eyeing the captives.
“Looks like everyone’s here. What did I tell you, Angel my dear? Here she is! And a bonus!” She motioned toward Lexie.
“Mmmmrrpphh!!” Lexie growled, struggling hard.
She turned to Allison next. “They never told me you were so famous... Ms. Driver. A star athlete! I imagine they’ll think you the perfect sacrifice to bring back their piddly little Flame Beast...” Didi chuckled. “Ah, this Cult of Flame is so amusing...”
“Mmmnnpphh,” Allison grunted, trying and failing to pick at the knots on her body. She could get out... but not while their captor remained in the room.
Didi looked back to Angel once again. “This has been fun and you look adorable in rope, as always, lover.”
Angel growled behind her gag, glaring.
“Such a shame to leave you to be sacrificed... but I will be back before then. I have a parting gift for you,” Didi said, puckering her lips and flashing her a smile. “But I must attend to further business for these fools... seems they require me for my ritualistic knowledge. I’ll be back!” Didi blew Angel a kiss and left the room, closing the heavy door behind her.
The three captives resumed their struggling, though Allison’s movements were subtle, more calculated than desperate, and deliberate. Her hands reached to the secret phone, in her pocket, and she managed to press a button on the side of it. A light on the phone blinked blue and Allison let it drop to the floor while she thrashed hard in her ropes, waiting.
Angel and Lexie remained distracted by their own struggles but Allison was the one finding progress. Flexing her muscles, she felt the ropes dig in, but her theory was correct. The knots had not been reinforced so the ropes budged outward, though her flexing helped tighten the knots as the ropes slackened slightly. They didn’t move much, but it was enough.
With the tightened knot slightly more difficult to untie, Allison did make it easier to reach with some slack in her wrist ropes, slowly picking away at it. Breathing slow, calm breaths, she continued picking away at the knot until it started to slip. It didn’t take her long to untie it and free her hands. From there, the rest was academic. The ropes on her arms came next, followed by her legs. She winced as she unwound the tape around her mouth, pulling the cloth out and standing up.
“Hmmpphh!” Lexie grunted, excited, as she saw Allison free.
“Quiet now...there’s still work to be done.”
Allison picked up her secret phone, turning her back to the other captives, and taking a look at the screen. Five seconds... she thought. She looked to the wall, where the small hole was, and kept her eyes fixed there as something rumbled behind it. Then, a loud, almost whining noise echoed around the room.
The other captives looked to each other, puzzled by the strange noise. Then they noticed the hole in the wall had started to grow larger before, finally, something broke through.... only for a cloud of smoke to envelop Allison. The two watched in horror, wondering what on Earth could be happening. It took a moment for the smoke to clear and when it did... Allison was gone, and a large hole remained in the wall.
Their only guess was that she had been taken somewhere... but where? And who would break in here just to kidnap her from another kidnapping?
Angel’s eyes went wide when a dark figure emerged from the clearing smoke, through the opening in the wall. She recognized her right away.
The armoured, tight black suit, cape, tall boots with a sort of grey letter ‘t’ shaped into them, grey armour plating on her thighs and at her wrists, fingerless black gloves, much like Angel’s own, and a dark cowl with a red visor and bright, pale purple hair reaching the woman’s shoulders. A grey belt full of who knows what wrapped her waist and the mysterious woman reached behind her back and plucked out a small stick, which beeped as she pressed a button and extended outward in both directions to five times its original length, and electrical energy arcing at both ends.
“Mmmfff ymmm!!” Angel exclaimed into her gag. She never forgot that distorted voice, changed by something attached to the neck of her black suit.
Dark Falcon. Behind her tinted, red visor, she simply nodded once to Angel before slinking away into the shadows, the darkest corner of the room. Even though she saw where Dark Falcon had gone, Angel couldn’t even see her anymore. It was like she had disappeared.
She couldn’t think any further on it as the heavy, steel door opened again and in stepped Didi, their captor. Angel tried not to smile around her cleave gag, knowing what was coming.
“Well, the ritual is almost ready,” she said, casually. “How is everyone do-”
She stopped in her tracks and immediately stared at the gaping hole in the wall and the pile of discarded rope and tape on the floor. “How... where did she-urk!”
Someone grabbed her from behind. Angel hadn’t bothered to warn her and now was smiling around her gag. Dark Falcon had one strong arm wrapped around Didi’s throat and pulled her back toward the wall. She picked up the redhead and pressed her against the wall, holding her there by the scruff of the neck, with one hand. Didi, for the first time, betrayed fear in her expression. But she held her voice in check.
“Who...”
“Quiet,” Dark Falcon ordered, in her distorted, almost robotic, feminine voice. “Tell me what you know about the cult.”
“I... I know nothing of these fools,” Didi said. “I only blended in with them so I could-urk!!”
Dark Falcon wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed. “You’re lying. Tell me.”
She relaxed her grip and let Didi breathe. “I only know they wish to summon some Flame Beast. To what end, I don’t know, but that’s all I -ack!”
Dark Falcon squeezed her hand again. “I know all that. Their leader. Someone calling herself the Clockwork Angel... you have to know about her. Tell me where she is.”
She relaxed her grip again and Didi gasped. “There’s another bunker, like this one. Bigger.
Their ‘hallowed ground.’ That’s where she lives.”
“What is she planning?” Dark Falcon asked.
“I don’t know! She doesn’t tell anyone anything! But I can tell she doesn’t believe in their cause.”
“How?”
“She’s like me... she’s using them for another purpose... much bigger than my own. I can hear it in her voice. The indifference...”
“You’ve met her?”
“Yes,” Didi said. “She comes here to make sure they’re performing their ‘rituals’ as planned. But I can tell she doesn’t care about the Flame Beast.”
“But she started the cult...” Dark Falcon said.
Didi laughed. “So you know her too then, do you?”
Dark Falcon squeezed her throat again. “You don’t need them...” Dark Falcon pointed at the squirming captives with her staff. “You let them go and I’ll consider the same for you.”
“Funny thing...” Didi said. “We actually had three... you wouldn’t happen to have seen another woman roaming around? Maybe tell me if you saw her and I’ll see my way to -ugh!”
Dark Falcon’s hand tightened again. “Let them go and you can walk away from this... and hope I never see you again.”
Didi laughed when Dark Falcon loosened her grip again. They both heard several footfalls climbing the steps by the door. “Not really up to me now... is it?” she said.
Dark Falcon’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing and jammed the staff into Didi’s side, squeezing it once and letting electric shocks course through the redhead’s body, grunting until she passed out unconscious.
The woman clad in black let Didi slump to the floor as the steps got louder. The first of the cultists reached the doorway... only for Dark Falcon’s staff to slam into her forehead and take her to the floor in a heap.
“It’s Dark Falcon! We can’t let her stop the ritual!”
Cultists, all women with red hair, streamed into the room and rushed the dark figure in the centre of it. Sacrificial daggers drawn, they lashed out at her, but Dark Falcon was untouchable.
One cultist slashed at her body... but Dark Falcon stepped back and spun the staff to meet the woman’s chin, laying her flat on her back. Another leapt on her back and moved to strike downward with the dagger, aiming for Dark Falcon’s heart. But the woman in black grabbed the cultist and flipped her overhead and slammed her down hard into the floor, while another tried attacking her from behind. In the same motion, Dark Falcon spun on a heel and kicked outward, her foot landing square on the cultist’s stomach, taking her down too.
While this happened, another had managed to get up close and sliced at Dark Falcon’s armoured suit with the sharp edge of her dagger, but found it did nothing but leave a score in the black armour. She, too, was laid flat by the electrified staff in seconds.
The fight lasted for a while, based on the sheer numbers, but Dark Falcon remained untouched, aside from the small gash in her armour. She bounded between opponents, never sitting still, never letting them surround her, and none of them could keep up. She kept them all in front of her and hit them one at a time, with quick strikes, in and out. She continuously circled them, striking out, dodging away, frustrating each of her attackers into making mistakes.
Finally, only one was left standing. She tried to simply bum rush Dark Falcon and tackle her to the floor but the fighter stepped aside, shaving the cultist in the back to send her sprawling. One final strike of the electrified staff took care of her as well.
With the fight over, Dark Falcon stooped low to free the two tied up captives. Finally, after many hours, Angel was free, followed by Lexie. She pulled them both to their feet, Lexie staring at her in awe.
“Holy crap... that was awesome!”
Dark Falcon said nothing and looked to Angel. “You should leave town. They’ve put a target on your back.”
“That much was obvious... thanks for the rescue. Again,” she said.
“It’s nothing.”
Dark Falcon turned to leave but Lexie called out. “Wait! What happened to Allison?”
Their saviour turned to face them. “She got out when I broke through the wall.”
“We saw her disappear,” Angel said. “And then you showed up...”
“How did you even know we were here? Does Allison know you or something? Does she have some kind of secret line direct to you like some kind of comic book??” Lexie asked, practically giggling.
“No... I tracked her here,” Dark Falcon said, nodding toward Angel. “I had no idea they were holding anyone else.”
“So Allison and I just... lucked out I guess?” Lexie said.
“Something like that...” Dark Falcon replied.
“So she just took off soon as she saw then, eh?” Lexie asked.
“Headed for the surface. Told me quickly to say she’d see you later,” Dark Falcon said.
Lexie blushed. “Oh, cool... that’s nice to hear.”
“She also had this on her...” Dark Falcon said, approaching Angel and handing her the Clockwork Angel’s card.
“She’s being targeted too?” Angel asked.
“She is,” Dark Falcon answered. “Which means you both should lay low. Or get out of town.”
Angel sighed. “This cult isn’t what I’m looking for anyway. I was brought here by... her,” Angel said, glaring at the unconscious Didi on the floor. “Thanks for dealing with her...”
“Just get out of here,” Dark Falcon said. “There’s a way out through the hole in the wall. Disused hallway. It leads to a cave that’ll take you to the surface. We’re not that far out of the city.”
Allison blinked one eye to shut off the radar of her visor, subtly. “Go.”
Angel and Lexie left together, the singer still buzzing about what they had just seen. When they were gone, Allison let out a long sigh, reaching to her belt and pulling out the Starr Security ID badge.
“Angela...” she said.
Replacing the badge, Dark Falcon left through the hole in the wall, a call already anonymously put out to Danielle Tripp and the police about the remaining group of cultists within the secret bunker.
Her mind remained on the name. Angela... With a heavy heart, Allison spoke softly, to herself, more out of comfort than anything. “I don’t know if I’m ready to face her again... but I’ve got no choice.”