Anna tapped on the mat for all she was worth, unable to draw breath.  Tyrese released her from the hold he had her in, and she rolled over, gasping for air.

Two months, and she still couldn’t escape that hold.  Tyrese had told her not to be discouraged, she’d made great strides, but he still managed to kick her ass every time they sparred.  Granted, he had over a hundred pounds and almost a foot and a half on her, but still she should have figured a way to counter one of his moves he’d been using since they’d first started training together.

“Good round,” Tyrese signed to her as she sat in the corning of the ring, panting.  

Anna used the ropes to climb to her feet before signing back.  “I’m gonna actually get out of that one day.”  

Tyrese cracked his signature tight-lipped smile, the gym teacher self conscious about his missing tongue.  “Good luck with that,” he signed back before climbing under the rope, out of the boxing ring.  Anna followed, stopping at the edge of the ring, her attention caught by the TV in the corner of the gym.

“Local lawyers are still looking for victims of the vigilante known as Siren to come forward.  The vigilante’s actions resulted in the arrest of crime boss Joey Digeogrio two months ago, but some say the vigilante’s ability to control minds is unethical.  More tonight.

In other news, strange happenings on the bay.  Are you safe?” the news anchor continued.

Tyrese waved at Anna, finally snapping his fingers, drawing her attention.

“Sorry.” she signed.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she grabbed her water bottle and towel, taking a long drink and wiping the sweat from her face.  “I’ve just got something to take care of.  I’m not sure when I’ll be ready to train again.”

Tyrese raised an eyebrow, but he let her go without further question.  “Take care of yourself,” he signed to her as she headed for the door.

“Thanks again,” she reiterated, throwing her towel over her shoulder as she left.



“Forty five dollars just to park!” she cried at the parking attendant, behind his glass booth.  

“Welcome to Arlington ma’am.  You’re welcome to drive around, but you won’t find anything much cheaper in the city,” the old attendant said, giving her an annoyed look.  The car behind her honked its horn.

“Hold on a second!” she yelled the window of her beat up little gray Toyota.  She sized up the booth the man was in, wondering just how soundproof it was.  She couldn’t make him let her park without paying through the microphone on the front of the booth, but maybe if she yelled loud enough…

Another honk interrupted her train of thought.  “Jesus,” she muttered.  To be fair, she had only told the impatient driver to hold on a second.

“Ma’am, you’re holding up traffic,” the attendant stated.

“I am aware.”  She winced as the car behind her honked again, just laying into the horn this time.  “Hold on a minute then!” she screamed at the car behind her and the horn immediately stopped.  “Here,” she said, pulling out her credit card and inserting it in the slot below the glass cage.

“Thank you, and have a wonderful day,” the attendant said dryly as the machine spit her card back out and the arm in front of the garage lifted, allowing her entry.

“Highly unlikely,” she said under her breath, her tires screeching as she sped into the garage.

It had been six long years since she’d come to Arlington.  The first time she’d come she’d been awestruck with the massive city, her naivety granting her rose-colored glasses towards the city that sat directly under the watchful eye of the Legendary Consortium.

Her first thought as she stepped out of the parking garage was that it was too loud.  Granted, she worked with the deaf, and spent a large majority of her day in near silence, but the overwhelming roar of noise pollution that assaulted her when she stepped out onto the street was almost enough to make her go back to her car and leave.

Anna pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes and set off down the crowded street, shuffled along by the throngs of pedestrians coming and going, absorbed in their own little worlds.

She found herself in front of the tallest building in the city.  It had at its creation been the tallest in the world, a giant phallic symbol that the LC was the biggest, baddest assembly of heroes on the planet. The building, and heroes it housed, was no longer the perfect pinnacle of might it once was, but in the city of Arlington, it was still an impressive sight.

Anna took a deep breath and pushed open the big glass doors, stepping into the immaculate black granite marble lobby.  They’d really updated the public entrance since she’d last been there.  It was vast and imposing, with giant columns harkening back to Roman architecture.

A single man in a suit stood behind a wide desk in front of the elevators.  It looked like one could simply walk past this one individual and gain access to the building, but Anna knew that this man was a gatekeeper, and without his express permission, a host of traps would likely spring up around the whole lobby and throw the entire building on lockdown.

“Hello, how may I help you today,” the man asked.  His small, black engraved nametag said his name was Steven.

“I need to speak with the LC.”

“Do you have an appointment, Miss?” he trailed off, fishing for a name.

“Siren,” she said flatly, pulling her token licensing her as a Super Heroine out and slamming it down on the counter between them.

Steven looked at the token, and then paused, listening to his earpiece.  “Ah yes, Miss Carillon.  Please hold on one second.”

Anna sighed.  “You work for super heroes, just call me Siren when I tell you my name is Siren,” she said.  

“Yes, Siren, I meant no disrespect.”

“Tell me honestly, did you mean disrespect.”

“I did Siren.”

Anna rolled her eyes.  This stupid receptionist who probably had no powers of his own, looking down on her because she was just a licensed super heroine, not affiliated with the LC.  Unbelievable.

“Ah, here we are,” he said, and a second later, a whole in the ceiling dilated open, and a small glass tube lowered from the ceiling.  There was a whooshing sound, and a small container fired down through the tube, coming to a stop at the bottom of the tube, just above the counter top.

Anna raised her eyebrows.  “It’s for you,” Steven said.  She opened the container.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”  Inside the container was a black leather panel gag.

“You are to put it on before going any further, Siren,” Steven told her.  His face was unapologetic.

She pulled it out, looking it over.  The inside of the thick front panel had a large protrusion design to go in her mouth, keeping her from forming coherent words, while the thick leather pad would muffle her attempts at speech.  The clasp on the straps appeared to have some sort of locking mechanism on it, and she would likely not be able to take it off herself, and would be kept locked in it until she left.  It was, humiliating.

“I’m not wearing this thing,” she said, slamming it down on the counter.

“Then you’re not going any further, Siren, and if you continue to give me commands, the alarm system will be activated.  Either put on the gag, and you can go upstairs, or leave.”

She looked around for the camera she knew was watching her, but she couldn’t find it.  Steven waited impatiently, drumming his fingers along the black surface of the counter.

“Fine,” she said finally, picking up the gag again.  It seemed unnecessarily large and uncomfortable.  She could almost understand not wanting to let her use her powers in a room full of some of the most powerful beings on earth, but this was just too much.  She opened her mouth as she pulled the black stopper between her lips.  It depressed her tongue and forced her to keep her mouth open, as the thick leather pad pressed over her lips, and she pulled the straps behind her head, locking it in place with a faint click.

“I’m to check the lock, turn around please,” Steven said, a hint of a smile touching the corners of his mouth.  She glared at him, her cheeks blushing furiously over her gag, but she complied.  She could feel him checking the gag, and he undid it before pulling it even tighter.  “You’re good,” he said.  “The elevator will take you where you need to go.”  Right on cue, there was a soft ding and the golden elevator doors opened.

Anna picked up her token and walked around the counter and got on the elevator.  “Enjoy your stay,” Steven called after her as the doors shut.

The inside of the elevator was solid gold like the outside.  No buttons or icons adorned the inside, leaving her completely at the mercy of whoever was running it.  Probably all automated, controlled by machines at this point, she thought, trying to get used to the gag stuffed in her mouth.

She had no idea how far up she’d gone, when the elevator came to a stop, and with a ding, the gold doors opened again.

“Siren, is that really you!  It’s been so long!”  A blue haired, pale skinned girl practically tackled Anna as soon as the doors opened, locking her in a cold embrace.  Even through the girl’s gloves and shiny silver outfit, Anna could feel the extreme cold radiating from her flesh.

“Mmmg mmm,” Anna responded, annoyed but not surprised at how well the gag distorted her attempts to greet Lini.  

“Yeah, we gotta make you wear the gag.  I have to wear these gloves when I’m in the building so I don't accidentally freeze something important.  Just one of those things,” the woman said with a shrug.

Anna eyed her, staring at the gloves.  Having to wear gloves was very different from having to be gagged.  Anna also noticed that Lini’s gloves did not appear to be locked on.

“Well come on,” Lini said, leading the way.  “There aren’t too many people here today, but I think you’ll get to talk to the head haunchos.  Well, not talk, but you know."

The head haunchos had to mean Lady Sapphire and Aegis.  “Mommy and Daddy,” of the LC, as they were commonly referred as, the brains and the brawn, beauty and the beast.  The idea of meeting them here, like this, was too much.

“Mmmm mmmm,” she said, shaking her head, pointing back at the elevator.

“Oh come on,” Lini said, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward.  The girl’s icy grip was surprisingly strong, and Lini pulled her onward.  

Anna finally managed to pull her hand free when they came to a set of massive black double doors.  She rubbed her hands together, trying to warm the one, and even held it up to her mouth to breath on before she remembered that that was impossible in her current situation.  She jammed her hand under her arm.  She was grateful she was at least not being dragged in front of them by her hand like some child.

Lini opened the big doors, revealing a large circular room, the far wall covered in a single pain of curved glass overlooking the city.  They had to be pretty high up on the tower.  Sixteen chairs sat around the outside of the room, all in various styles unique to the member of the LC that sat in them.  She’d once had a chair like those, not nearly as lavish and the meeting room not quite as nice at the time, but the two chairs on the far side of the room, those were very familiar.  A crystalline throne made of sparking blue sapphires on the left where the Sorceress of Sapphires reigned supreme, and next to it, a bronzed pedestal surrounded by broken spears, where Aegis stood over the rest of the council.  It was one of the details that the public never noticed or knew, but the immortal guardian never sat.  Ever.

Lini approach a basin of water.  She removed one of her gloves, confirming Anna’s suspicion that unlike her gag, they were of course not locked on, and pointed her outstretched fingers as the water.  The water began to simultaneously freeze and shift, rising from the basin to form a chair made out of ice, which Lini turned and plopped down on.

Anna looked around the room, seeing almost all of the other chairs were unoccupied.  In the last one, by the door, in a dusty old leather sofa, Izzy lay lengthwise, his boots propped up on the armrest and his cowboy hat pulled over his eyes.

“Barrage, wake up,” Lini hissed.  

He groaned, waving his hand dismissively at her but her pulled his hat off his face, glancing over at Anna.  “Oh, hey Siren.  What are you doing here?”

She pointed at her gag.  Surely they had to have a better plan for her than trying to pantomime why she was here.  She highly doubted any of them knew sign language.

“What are you doing here, Miss Carillon.”  Lady Sapphire spoke, her voice calm and belying the true power she wielded.  She sat forward in her throne, making a gesture with her hands, and another vacuum tube dropped from the ceiling.  Anna opened the container that appeared before her, pulling out a small tablet.  It had a keyboard displayed on its touch screen.

“You may communicate with that while you are here.”

Anna immediately began typing, the tablet speaking the words in a soothing, female voice as she wrote them.  “Please, can I just talk?  I won’t compel anyone to do anything, I’m just looking for some advice.”

“Sorry, but that’s simply not possible.  Powers that alter free will need to be handled delicately.  You’re lucky your power is voice activated only and easily managed.  That, and your decision to work amongst the deaf community who are immune to your powers, is one of the main reasons you’re been allowed to continue to operate freely.  But that gesture of good will and intent isn’t enough to allow people as powerful as ourselves to be exposed to such a potential threat.”  Lady Sapphire explained.  The black haired beauty’s tone was unapologetic, simply stating the facts as they were, unarguable and logical.

Anna thought about offering a plethora less humiliating but equally effective solutions.  She should have just called, she thought, but it was too late for that now.  

“Fine.  First of all, thank you for granting me my license to once again fight crime,” she typed, trying to sound professional and courteous.

“Provisional license,” Barrage said.

“Yes, provisional,” Lady Sapphire said.  "The public still does not trust powers like yours or anything that could be considered mind control.  For the general population to continue to trust the LC to do its job and protect the world, it’s important that we act in good faith, and not be seen dealing with or supporting people like you.”

“That’s actually why I’m here.  There are some lawyers trying to get a class action law suit going against me, or Siren,” Anna typed, the computer thankfully not giving voice to how flustered she was feeling.

“We are aware of that lawsuit.”

“I don’t know what to do.  They don’t know my real identity, so they haven’t been able to subpoena me, but they’re starting to get a decent sized group of people together, a few who I’ve actually used my powers on, but they are criminals and are guilty of the crimes they committed.  There are a lot of people who jumped on board to use me as an excuse for things they’ve done.  It’s starting to get to the point where they might actually get this case off the ground, and I wanted to come to you first before they asked the LC to step in.”

Lady Sapphire leaned back in her throne, thinking.  “It was good you came here now.  As we said, we were aware of the class action lawsuit, but as of yet, no one has come forward and asked the LC to bring you in.  As heroes, we have to be accountable to the people who we protect, and answer for the crimes we commit same as them.  It is because we have done that that we are granted special privileges for dealing with threats.  You of course, have a unique situation.”

“I’m using my powers as a last resort only.  I’ve stopped forcing confessions.  But currently in my city, ‘Siren made me do it,’ is becoming a very popular excuse,” Siren furiously typed, desperately defending herself.

“And you don’t have the reputation to discredit that,” Barrage said, sitting up on his couch.  “And if you want it, you’re going to have to find a way to get past these things.”

“You have a few options at your disposal,” Lady Sapphire said.  “Obviously, the LC can’t be involved in this.  It needs to be resolved quickly and quietly.”

“And you can’t compel them to drop the case,” Lini added.

“Exactly,” Lady Sapphire continued.  “Doing so just leaves a trail behind that proves you abuse your powers.  You could turn yourself in, they’d have to find a way try you, there’s no way you could be allowed to speak in a courtroom, your identity would come out, and even if you could find a way to convince a jury you’re innocent, your career as a super heroine would be over.  That’s option one.”

Anna paused.  She had considered this.  Not to the extent that Lady Sapphire had thought out, but she was right.  Facing her accusers would inevitably end in a kangaroo trial with her sitting gagged on the stand, and everything she’d ever done called into question while she couldn’t defend herself.  She’d also considered just telling the lawyers to drop the case, but she had come to the same conclusions about that idea’s outcome.

“Option 2?” she typed.

“You go back into retirement.” Aegis spoke for the first time, his deep voice making her jump a little.  She had almost forgotten he was there, just a statue standing beside Lady Sapphire while she passed down judgment.

“Yes.  You got the mob boss you wanted out of your city.  You were doing good work as a teacher.  The world needs teachers.  Go back to doing that full time, and leave the world of crime fighting, for good this time.”

Anna was suddenly very glad she was gagged.  If she weren’t, she’d tell them all to go fuck themselves.  Lady Sapphire and Aegis stared at her, dispassionate.  Lini looked apologetic at least.  And Barrage, well, she couldn’t read him.  She stood, her hand poised over the tablet, but none of the explanations for why she wanted to be a heroine seemed appropriate.  Being a hero wasn’t even something she wanted.  It was something she was.

“Thank you,” she finally typed.  “You’ve given me a lot to think about.  I’ll see myself out.”  She dropped the tablet on the floor when she finished, breaking it.  She turned, heading for the door.

“Take care, Siren.  Steven will unlock your gag on the way out,” Lady Sapphire said as she was leaving.