Anna thrashed against her restraints again until she was out of breath, panting through her nose, her bruised chest throbbing as her lungs heaved.  Ursula’s lackey eyed her warily for a moment, before returning to drawing runes and symbols in a circle around the bound girl, checking a diagram on ancient parchment periodically.

Anna had awakened while the woman was still tying her up, binding her naked body to a heavy wooden chair.  Partially bound, bruised, battered and already gagged, a tight knotted cleave gag jammed in her mouth, she had been helpless to prevent her captor from finishing securing her.

The door to the large, empty room creaked as it opened.  Her captor stood at attention, and Anna’s heartbeat quickened as Ursula strode into the room.

She was completely naked, her porcelain skin covered in runes drawn in thick, black ink.  Her hair had been cut short, almost as short as Anna’s own, and tied back in a tight ponytail.

“Is the circle prepared Jacquelyn?” Ursula asked the blonde woman.

“Almost, mistress.  I wanted to make sure it was perfect, so I did not rush,” Jacquelyn responded hastily.

“It’s alright, Jacquelyn.  I still have to prepare Ariel for the ritual.”

Anna shook her head, blubbering incoherently into her thick gag.

Ursula sauntered over to her, straddling her bare legs and sitting on Anna’s lap, her face just inches from Anna’s own.

Anna couldn’t maintain eye contact as the witch leaned in closer.  Looking to either side only highlighted the intricate pattern of symbols of the ritual no doubt meant to steal her voice, or worse.  Looking down she saw only Ursula’s firm breasts, her very erect nipples jutting out, inches from her own, and below that, her bald pussy, engorged, showing just how sexually excited the her captor was.

“This looks like it must hurt, so, very, much,” Ursula said, her fingernail drawing a slow, lazy spiral around Anna’s very bruised left breast.

Anna screamed anew as Ursula pinched her nipple, pain exploding through her from the sensitive bud.

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Ursula crooned, her left hand reaching up for Anna’s right breast.  While still sore, it was much less bruised, and in spite of herself, Ursula’s attention brought out another reaction besides pain.  

“Your days of being a super heroine are over,” the Sea Witch continued.  

“Mmmmmggg!” Anna cried, a wreck as fear, pain, confusion, pleasure, and outrage washed over her.

“I’m going to put that power of yours to far better use.”

“Pppmmmff, mmmmm!” Anna screamed.

Ursula held up her hand, and jet black ink began to pool in her cupped hand, flowing from her palm lines.  “Eight long years after Cromwell I waited for you to resurface.”  She dipped a finger into the ink, and began to draw runes across Anna’s naked body.

Anna shivered as the cold ink touched her flesh.  She shook and struggled, but Ursula’s hands were steady as she painted symbols across Anna’s skin.

“You just couldn’t resist going back.  Trying to prove your power could be used to stop bank robbers and petty criminals.  Such a shame.  A waste of true power.”  Ursula slid off of Anna’s thighs, scribbling more symbols over her legs.

“But all that’s over now,” she said, standing as she finished the last of the runes on the tops of Anna’s feet, her toes wiggling as a last futile show of resistance.

Ursula looked to Jacquelyn, who’d finished the circle.  Jacquelyn nodded.  “Everything is all set, mistress.”  She held up a small leather pouch.

“Excellent,” the Sea Witch replied, taking the pouch.  She opened it, pulling out two items.  The first was a small black ball, and Anna thought the object looked like a heart; it pulsed slightly every few seconds, but it had its own irregular, sporadic beat.  The second was long strip of crimson silk.

“It took a great deal of effort to find and procure these items,” Ursula said, advancing on Anna.

The bound heroine could only watch as Ursula draped the silk strip over her shoulder.  Anna’s skin crawled as she realized the thing was wet and wholly unnatural feeling against her bare skin.

Holding the beating sphere in front of her face with one hand, Ursula reached behind her head with the other, untying the knot of Anna’s gag.

Anna realized Ursula’s intent as the gag came loose and the cloth slipped off her shoulders.  She bit down hard on the knot in her mouth, preferring it to the alternative.

Ursula cupped Anna’s chin in her hand, raising her head to look up at her.  Anna glared up at her, silently fuming as she kept her jaw locked around the knot.

“Oh come now, don’t tell me you enjoy being gagged that much.”

Her resistance was starting to build again, born out of sheer desperation.  She threw her head to the side, opening her mouth and expelling the knot.  All she needed to do was get out one coherent command.  One single syllable.

Ursula’s hand latched onto her throat, squeezing tightly as Anna managed to spit out her gag.  She opened her mouth, trying to tell her to stop, but it only came out as a croak.

“As much as I like you with a little fight in you, it’s hopeless,” Ursula explained.  She held up the beating orb again.

Anna kept her jaws locked.  Ursula’s grip only tightened on her throat.  Her face turned red as her body screamed for oxygen.  She tried again to speak, to hiss something, anything, through bared teeth, but no sound came out.  Finally she submitted, opening her mouth slightly.  It was enough for Ursula to start pressing the ball into her mouth.  It was warm and slick as it touched her lips, and she involuntarily opened her mouth wider, desperate not to let it touch her lips as Ursula forced it into her mouth.  Her tongue flattened itself against the floor of her mouth, her body instinctively knowing it did not want to taste the object taking up residence in her mouth.

Anna whimpered softly as it was forced behind her teeth, fighting back the urge to vomit as the sides of it brushed against the insides of her cheeks, its throbbing beat reverberating through her skull.  It rolled onto the tip of her tongue, and she shuddered.  The thing was horrible, and utterly alien; she had nothing to compare the taste to, no adjective in her vocabulary to describe the taste and sensation currently assaulting her mouth.

Ursula pulled the strip of crimson cloth off of Anna’s shoulder.  She pressed the perpetually damp fabric over Anna’s mouth, trapping the ball inside.  It smelled coppery, a familiar metallic tang, and she shuddered anew as she realized it was soaked in blood.  A fresh wave of nausea washed over her, and this time she wished she would just vomit and drown in her own puke.  Then her hellish nightmare would be over.  

Her body failed her, and when she stopped dry heaving, her chest throbbing as she bucked against the restraints with each failed spasm, she looked up at Ursula.

The Sea Witch smiled down at the look of utter defeat in Anna’s eyes.  “This is the part where you scream,” she said, her sadistic grin growing wider.

And scream Anna did.  With nothing left, she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Ursula took a step back and began chanting.  Her hands wove spastically in arcane gestures, and the runes around the perimeter of the circle began to glow.

The thing in Anna’s mouth beat faster, pulsating and vibrating.  She couldn’t take her eyes off of Ursula, who was locked in the throes of a complex incantation.  The runes lit up all around Anna in her peripheral vision.

Jacquelyn took a step back, clutching her arms across her chest, shivering as a cold wind whipped through the enclosed space.

The ball swelled, seeming to draw strength from Anna’s helpless screams.  The runes at her feet lit up, completing the intricately drawn circle, and Ursula stepped onto the edge.  The runes on hers and Anna’s feet lit up at the same time.  She took slow methodical steps closer, the glowing runes moving up both of their bodies with each step.

The Sea Witch reached Anna and her hands clasped the terrified girl’s shoulders, digging in with unnatural strength, her nails digging into Anna’s back.  The Sea Witch leaned in, pressing her forehead against Anna’s, and the last rune lit up between them.  Ursula uttered one last guttural incantation.  All the light was sucked out of the room, and she was thrown violently away from Anna.

The overhead lights slowly came back on, and Jacquelyn rushed to Ursula’s side.  She was on her back, thrown clear of the circle.  Anna still sat in the center, her head hung low, silent.

“Mistress, are you alright?” Jacquelyn asked.  Ursula looked at her blankly for a second, and then she started to chuckle.  Jacquelyn took a cautious step back as the chuckle turned into maniacal laughter, and soon Ursula was cackling madly.

“Stop, Jacquelyn,” Ursula said, her laughter stopping abruptly.  Jacquelyn stopped immediately as she was backing away slowly.  “Slap yourself,” she commanded.  Jacquelyn obeyed without hesitation.  “Stop breathing.”

Jacquelyn held her breath.  Ursula watched with growing excitement as her minion obeyed.  She’d obey her anyways, almost to a fault, but as Jacquelyn dropped to her knees, her face red as she pawed at her throat, desperate for air, even her body wouldn’t disobey Ursula’s orders.

“It worked.  It worked!” she said as Jacquelyn flopped over onto her side, her mouth working desperately as her instincts fought with the overpowering compulsion.

“Breath,” Ursula snapped.  Jacquelyn gasped, panting as she sucked in air.  “Remove Ariel’s gag.  She doesn’t need it anymore.”

Jacqueline didn’t even ask for a moment to recover, dragging herself up and walking over to Anna.

Anna groaned as she felt the wet cloth removed from her mouth.  Jacquelyn had to pry the ball from between her teeth, dropping them both quickly back in the leather pouch.

“Please,” Anna spoke, her voice hoarse.  “Help me.”

Jacquelyn made no move to assist her, stepping back out of the circle.

“It doesn’t work, does it?” Ursula asked, giggling.  It wasn’t like the crazed laughter; it was a much more giddy, excited sound.  

“What have you done to me?” she asked.

“I took what you squandered, and I’m going to show you just how powerful you were too afraid to become,” Ursula said.  “Jacquelyn, pull out your gun.”  

The woman, still panting slightly, pulled her pistol from its harness under her arm.  Anna could only watch.  She had no armor on this time.  She was completely vulnerable.

“Jacquelyn, stop,” she tried, but the woman had no problem ignoring her.  She held the gun loosely at her side, waiting for her mistress’s orders.

“Put the barrel of your gun to your temple,” Ursula said.

Jacquelyn spun to look at her, a look of horror on her face as her body obeyed, and she felt the cold steel of the gun press against her right temple.  “Please, mistress.”

“What!”  Anna cried.  “No!”

“Shut up,” Ursula commanded, and Jacquelyn fell silent.

“Don’t do this!” Anna cried.

“So you’re unaffected, even now that the power is no longer yours,” Ursula mused.  “Interesting, but no matter.  There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”  She turned her cold gaze to Jacquelyn, who looked back at her, trying to plead with her eyes for mercy.  “Whereas you couldn’t even stop her with ear plugs after she’d been shot.  You’re a disgrace, but I no longer have need of your services.  I can replace you with anyone I want now.”

Jacquelyn shook her head, silently mouthing that she’d do better, that she wouldn’t fail her again.

“Don’t do this!” Anna screamed.

“Jacquelyn, pull the trigger.”

The woman complied immediately, spraying Anna with blood and brains as the bullet ripped through her temple and out the other side.  She crumpled to the floor, and Anna started screaming again.

“Callie!  No!” she screamed over and over as the last few seconds played over and over in her mind, but the woman with the gun was not Jacquelyn.  Her traumatized mind snapping as the violent image brought back horrible flashbacks.

“Anna, look away,” Callie said.  She knew what was coming, but Anna couldn’t look away, telling her over and over to stop as Callie drew her gun in trembling hands.

“Look away,” she said one last time before she put the gun in her mouth and squeezed the trigger.

Anna slumped in her bonds, finally blacking out.



Tyrese threw a banana in the blender, completing his smoothie, and slapped the lid on.  He turned it on, holding the base with both hands, feeling the jerky vibrations level out as the ingredients were ground up into a thick liquid.  He watched the news while he waited, absently reading the closed captions scrawling across the bottom of the screen.

Tyrese let go of the blender, his concentration suddenly fixed on the television.  The appliance vibrated across the countertop, finally reaching the edge and falling with a crash to the floor, broken glass and smoothie splattering everywhere.

Tyrese ignored it, transfixed on the breaking news story about local costumed heroine Siren breaking into a museum in Pell Harbor.  He watched the security footage of the woman with red hair and green armor walk up to the doors.  The security guard opened the door for her, handed her his keys, and then pointed his own taser at his chest, firing it.  The woman walked over his still twitching body into the museum.



“Just yesterday she stopped some bank robbers.  Was it all an act to win the public’s favor before she revealed her true colors?  Stay with Channel 12 News as we uncover this breaking story after the break,” the news anchor finished.

Israel stared at the TV screen, his fists slowly clenching and unclenching.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he shut the TV off.  That’d be Lady Sapphire.  This was not going to go well.

He pulled out his phone and sighed.  He’d have much preferred Stephanie calling a meeting.

“Hey Macy.  I just saw the news.”

Macy was barely coherent, crying into the phone.  “Izzy that’s not her!”

“When was the last time you saw her?” he asked, keeping his voice deliberately calm.

“Yesterday, she helped stop that bank robbery.  Then she went home.  Her apartment’s empty, her costume’s gone, she’s gone.  She’s gone, Izzy!”

He took a deep breath.  “Look, I’m gonna find out what’s going on.  We’ll get this sorted out.  What about her tracker?”

“I tried that!  It’s off.”

“Alright.  Can you see the last place it was on?”

“I, I, I don’t know.”

“Listen, try for me.  I’m gonna do some digging on my end.  We’ll find her and sort this out.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve got to go.  Just don’t panic.  I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Okay.”  She didn’t sound convinced at all, but she sounded at least a little calmer.

“I’ll keep you posted.”

“Okay,” she said again.

“Anna’s gonna be fine,” he said, hanging up.  “God fucking dammit,” he hissed, scrolling through his phone again.  He dialed, tapping his foot impatiently while it rang.

“What’s up?” a woman answered.

“I need you to come in.”

“Aw, really?”

“Yes.”

“That serious?”

“Shit’s about to hit the fan,” he said, hanging up.  Just as he did, the LC alert blinked across the screen.  “Fuck.”