Given her body's unique structure, it was honestly almost suicide to have chased her here. Although, despite that, Rhonda Mord wasn’t that daunted. She had set out to catch her man, or woman in this case, and she was going to catch her no matter what.

So, here she was, chasing Mara through the bowels of Christie’s Rubber Works. The factory was one of Julie Christie’s many; this one focused on rubber-based production. Whatever could be made out of rubber was made here: tires, gloves, hoses, boots, etc.

With all the machines in the factory, Rhonda really had to be careful. One wrong move and she’d be caught by whatever bit of metal jutted out in the walkway. Not only would it stop her in her tracks, but it might even temporarily incapacitate her.

Rhonda Mord, the police officer, was better now by another name and job occupation, that being Rubber Maid, the heroine. The malleable hero had the powers to shape, stretch, flatten, and melt her body. Though more accurately, her body could be inflicted with anything, and she’d be unscathed. 

As such, running through the Rubber Works was more than a little risky for the pliable police officer. She didn’t have time to think about that now. Instead, her mind was focused entirely on one thing, that being capturing Mara.

After months of tailing her, she was finally close to nailing her. Now, she just had to catch up with her. She was soon to be hers. All of the villainess's deeds had gotten quite familiar for Rhonda, given how many times she’d gone through her case file.

Mara Drozdov was one of the most notorious robbers in all of Plazt City. Barely a week would pass before her crew or herself would hit one of the city’s banks. Despite the pattern, the city’s police could never catch them.

By the time they would arrive at one of the banks, they’d already be gone. Due to this, she had attracted the rubber heroine’s eye. Though that didn’t mean she could ever catch her. She would get close, but Mara would inevitably escape.

It was honestly a shock to her that she was this close to getting her, but here she was. It was almost too good to be true; it was almost too easy to have caught her this time. Pushing that thought to the back of her mind, Rhonda refocused on apprehending her.

Stretching her arm out, she was so close to literally grasping her. In the blink of an eye, Mara ducked into a nearby corner as she kept running. Quickly doubling back, she caught sight of her in the narrow walkway. 

In that moment, she stopped for a brief second. As she did, one of Mara’s lackeys came up behind her and…

A few minutes later, Rubber Maid found herself stuck inside a glass container. Her body was pressed tight into it, to the point she couldn’t shatter it. Looking around her clear prison, she noticed she was still in the factory, and that she was being held by someone. 

With a smile on her face, Mara was the one holding the bottled-up heroine. Seeing her again made her rage a little bit, though she could do nothing about it. As it turned out, she was the one captured, not her doing the capturing.

“Well, Ms. Maid, I’m quite glad to see you again. I’ve always wanted to bottle up my greatest nemesis, and now I have. I now just got to pick a spot on my treasure shelf for you, hehe, just kidding. I won’t tell you what I plan on doing to you yet, I’ll just let you figure it out.”

“For our second step, we’ve got to increase the heat a little bit,” Mara finished taunting her, then handed her off to one of her crew. Said crewmember took the bottle the heroine was in and put it on top of a nearby stove. Rhonda suddenly felt an intense, though not entirely painful, burning sensation.

Having set the stove to the highest setting, it took only a few minutes for the rubbery hero to become runny, her body starting to melt. Seeing her adversary so helpless made Mara feel really good, especially as she saw her features start to disappear.

Soon enough, Rhonda’s form became less cohesive. She felt as more and more of her body got mixed together, soon enough her face went as well. Despite that, she could still see and taste. In only a few more minutes, she had fully become a liquid.

Inside the bottle was a bubbling, purple mass. If Mara hadn’t watched the whole process, she wouldn’t have assumed that the ‘great’ Rubber Maid was what it was. Given how hot the bottle was, she had one of her lackeys grab it for the next step.

As she was slooshed around, it was hard for Rhonda to figure out where exactly she was being taken. All around her was constantly moving machinery, machinery which she had a feeling she would soon get to see close up. Unlike her time being melted, this next step took only a minute or so.

“Open it up,” Mara directed, with her lackey taking the top off the bottle. “Well, Ms. Maid, it’s time for our third and final step. Y’know, I’m quite glad you followed me here, then again, you just fell for the bait. You think it would be this easy to catch me, well, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but you’ll soon won’t have to catch me. Actually, you will be, in a way, encasing me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this front row experience of one of the Rubber Works’ machines. Alright, go ahead.”

With that, the bottle was turned upside down, with Rhonda being funneled into the machine. More precisely, she was funneled into two parts of the machine. In her liquid form, she couldn’t fight what was happening to her, so she just tried to figure out what was.

She felt as some heat was applied to the two parts of the machine. Subsequently, she felt as her two halves began to slightly boil before they started to become congealed. After a steady stream of heat, more and more of her got somewhat hardened.

At this point, she felt as the two parts got chilled, her forms freezing up. A couple of minutes later, the two parts opened up, with her body landing on a conveyor. Despite no longer having eyes, she could see what happened to her.

What was once the malleable heroine known as Rubber Maid had become a pair of purple rubber boots. The conveyor belt continued on, her body following suit, not like she had a choice. She was now inanimate footwear, after all.

She was submerged in darkness again, this time as her bodies were dunked into a mix of paint and a strengthening agent. Emerging yet again, the formerly purple boots were now a uniform black, identical to the other boots on the conveyor belt.

After a little bit of a ride, she was put into a pile of other rubber boots, albeit with her two halves tied together. As she hit the pile, she saw Mara looking above it. 

“Where the fuck is she? She should be done already!” She angrily asked, more than ready to put the hero literally underneath her feet. “Well, uhmm… The machines put a sort of paint over every boot, making them look identical...”

“Are you fucking serious?! I can’t believe this, I’ve been waiting for this for so long! I’d ask you to grab the latest boots, but as you see, they’re piled up on each other! God damn it! Well, at least someone will put Ms. Maid in her place.”

“Still, I can’t believe this!” With that, Mara Drozdov walked away, her lackeys following behind her. Rhonda Mord was left to sit in the ever-increasing pile of rubber footwear, just a pair of boots among others. She just hoped somebody would find her soon.

A FEW WEEKS LATER

Given her active role in the police force, it was no surprise to Phoebe Warren that sooner or later she’d have to pick up new footwear. More often than not, the officer found herself on the ground, chasing whatever suspect got in her way.

It was pure luck that when the time came to replace her footwear, she got quite possibly the comfiest pair ever. They looked rather plain, a basic black color. From the looks of them, they were just cheap, mass-produced boots, which they were.

However, when Phoebe wore them, she enjoyed their comfort. In a way, it felt like she was walking on clouds. The hard rubber’s interior felt really good under her soles, especially when out on patrol. In a way, they felt specially tailored for her, though they weren’t.

This particular pair of boots had been made for Mara Drozdov, after all. Lo and behold, Rhonda Mord had managed to end up under the feet of one of her fellow officers of the law. It was all luck that it happened. At any moment, a random person could’ve bought her.

Thankfully, she ended up under someone she knew, though that didn’t help much. The two officers had yet to really get to know each other, so, in a way, she was a random person. That and she had yet to find out who her boots were.

After a few weeks of this, she had grown tired of it. For one, it was just humiliating being under one of her fellow officers' feet, especially one who wasn’t as high a rank as Rhonda was. That, and one who was also always on the front lines.

If she had ended up with someone higher up, she wouldn’t be so dirty, but she was. Thankfully, though, it was just her outsides that really got dirty. That didn’t mean her interior wasn’t constantly clean. It didn’t take long for her to realize how much effort Phoebe put in.

Whenever she was worn, she was treated to a steady stream of the officer’s foot sweat. The salty liquid would rain upon her, with all of it being sucked up by her insoles. All of which she could taste. Whether it was fate or just ‘luck’, her taste buds managed to find themselves on her insoles. 

It was quite gross, especially whenever she’d be worn barefoot. On those days, she’d be forced to taste Phoebe’s bare soles and whatever dirt and debris had accumulated on them. The taste and smell of which disgusted her to no end.

Even when she wasn’t being worn, she could still taste and smell her feet. Sure, neither was as bad as when she was worn; however, they weren’t great either. The worst thing, though, was that she started to get molded by her feet.

After a few days of wear, Rhonda’s insoles started to develop imprints from Officer Warren’s feet. It got to a point that even when she wasn’t being worn, she could still feel her feet inside. The feeling of which was rather disorienting, especially when she would be put in the darkness of her shoe closet. 

Whenever she was there, it would be the most boring hours of her life. She could do nothing but think within the closet, with most of her thoughts dedicated to getting out of this. With her powers, she should’ve been able to get out of this, but, well, she hadn’t yet.

Rhonda figured that whatever was in the paint and strengthening agent that her body was coated in blocked her powers. Efficently, they turned the once mighty hero into just another pair of boots. Although she still tried to reform.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reform her body. Then again, that wasn’t a shock. Given that she was currently in two halves, it would take a lot to become herself again, regardless of her body’s coating. At the current moment, she’d just have to get used to being a pair of boots, however long that would be.