Saturday, June 23, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

The war is over, and we lost. Alpha Man and his Battalion of Evil-whom the Olympians and I have been fighting for the last several months-didn't even take the field against us. They didn't stage slam-bang battles, or make threats to douse cities with nerve gas to secure their victory. It turns out that all those actions were just feints. They were meant to hide the real plan, which I have to admit was pretty clever.

All the time that my brother, Apollo, and I were fighting Bruiser, or Brash, or any of the Battalion, Alpha Man was off in some foreign locale making deals with world leaders. In return for money or promises or whatever, he got access to their crack troops, and started staging raids on nuclear arsenals all over the world. These were not sloppy super-villain attacks, but surgical strikes designed to liberate nuclear warheads from storage lockers or silos. Then he planted them in cities and large towns all around the world. In very little time, he was able to blackmail the world into complete surrender. Even I and my fellow Olympians had to give up. If we didn't, one push of a remote and a city would be vaporized. He proved it by nuking Kiev.

Alpha Man arranged for the world surrender at the U.N. in New York. I stood there with my fellow Olympians and watched in shock as the Secretary General delivered the global surrender. Alpha Man, whose real name turned out to be Dr. Erick Asura, PhD, turned to the TV cameras and smiled. "While it is tempting to shout, 'I'm king of the world!' I won't. From this day forward, there will be no more petty fights between gaudy men in costumes, and no more squandering of resources. The new Global Alliance will dedicate itself to establishing a stable world. We so-called Super Villains have had access to high technology for decades, but we have used it for stupid things like breaking into banks. From now on we dedicate all our might toward serving the world we have conquered, and building an empire which will encompass a thousand planets!

"But first, there must be peace. Peace of the gun if need be, but peace! Even now, Apollo and the Olympians are trying desperately to undo that peace. In the last five minutes, I have felt Athena trying to drive me mad with a psychic headache. No more! Soldiers," and a hundred rifles and artillery snapped up and all pointed in our direction. I and my fellow Olympians were bound with heavy chains. There was nothing we could do.

"Take aim!"

Suddenly, I threw myself on the ground and screamed for Asura to stop and listen to me. "If you spare my brother's life, and the lives of the Olympians, I will do whatever you say. I will dedicate myself and my power to your cause. No fighting, no questions, I will do whatever you want. Just let them live!"

The cameras were all focused on me, and I knew that I looked like a fool: a blonde in a blue, gold and white jumpsuit covered in chains, kneeling in front of the new Emperor. I'd fought Alpha Man a dozen times, and though I'd never figured out who he really was, I did know that he desired me. He'd told me so more than once.

Alpha Man's chief enforcer, a black-skinned giant who used the name Bruiser, was looking at me with contempt. Slinky, a cat burglar, was hanging on Alpha's left arm, and was whispering in his ear. He glanced once at her, and then looked back at me. His eyes narrowed, and very slowly, a smile crept up his lips.

"You'll do whatever I say?" he asked, and I nodded emphatically.

"Let the Olympians live," I repeated. "Some of them may even come around."

"Never," said Major Mars, a combat veteran with heightened combat reflexes and several weapons belts. "I'll never betray my C.O."

"Your commanding officer is now me," Alpha Man said.

"Kill 'em and be done with it," Bruiser snarled.

"You will obey me without question?" he repeated, and I nodded again.

"Soldiers, stand down," Alpha Man said, and the weapons lowered. "Take the Olympians away, and prepare them for transport to Australia. That will be their prison, for now. If they prove themselves trustworthy, perhaps we'll give them some limited authority Down Under. Until then, send them to the largest sheep ranch that can be found. If they try to start a rebellion, or make trouble, kill them.

"Slinky, take Artemis to our headquarters until I'm ready for her, and lock her up, just in case her word is no good. I'm going to be busy here for a while setting up the new government."

Slinky, still dressed in her black costume came around the speaker's podium and headed toward me, even as the Olympians were herded away. I'd hoped to be allowed to speak to Apollo, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen.

"Make use of my sacrifice," I shouted at him as Slinky had two soldiers pull me to my feet.

"My first directive to you," Alpha Man said, pointing his finger at me. "Don't speak unless you're spoken to."

I clamped my mouth shut. My master had spoken, and I had sworn to obey.

 

23 June 2012, Continued.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed," Slinky said to me as we rode in a limousine to the Battalion's headquarters. "I mean, sure, you're noble, but do you even realize what you're getting into?"

I said nothing. When I'd had the thought of sacrificing myself, I'd vowed not to regret my decision.

As we traveled, my thoughts regressed to the first day I had become a superhero.

I was eleven years old, and part of a choral group on a trip to Greece. After singing in Athens, Crete, and dozens of scattered locations, we had been given a free day. My brother, Steve, and I were on a small islet in the Greek islands. We had hiked into the hills and actually become lost. As night fell we still hadn't found our way out, but after taking a turn in a gully, we found a small temple with a spring bubbling nearby. As I drank the water there was a flood of light, and I found myself in the presence of the Goddess Artemis, or Diana, as she was known in Rome.

She told me that I was much like she had been: pure of heart, virginal, and of firm character. As such, she was willing to make me her representative on Earth. She warned me that she was a hard deity. She demanded that I follow her lead: I had to remain virginal, pure, and utterly without compromise. I could never kneel to a man's domination, never know romantic love, and I could not bear a child. I had agreed, though I had been only twelve at the time. For a young girl not even into puberty, those seemed like easy terms.

On her part, the Goddess granted me speed, strength, tracking abilities, enhanced ESP skills, the ability to fly, unfailing sense of direction, and the ability to learn new things quickly. I healed at a faster rate than normal, I could ignore pain, and I regenerated wounds or lost limbs. Truth to tell, I never learned all of the powers I had.

I bought a gymnastic costume, read a pile of law books, and started calling myself Artemis. The other superheroes in the world thought I was just a Fanboy-type, but after I defeated King Rex and his Dinosaur Commandos they knew I was for real.

My brother received a similar offer in that temple from Apollo, and he too became a hero alongside me, using the name of his patron. We organized the Olympians, a team of mega-powered people and became unstoppable. For nearly ten years we were the pre-eminent force for justice in the world. We knocked back hostile alien invasions, the mad plots of Dr. Palladium, and every single scheme of the Battalion of Evil, or so we thought.

Now it was over, but thanks to my sacrifice, my teammates would live. But what would be the price to me?

We finally stopped at a warehouse near Hell's Kitchen. As I got out, I realized the building was utterly nondescript. No signs or insignias to declare what it was used for. Slinky noticed my surprise, and she laughed. "You were expecting some mountaintop hideout with anti-aircraft guns, or a cave somewhere? That's just clichéd and stupid, sweetie. This is much more practical, and we're in the heart of a major city, with everything we need. We even order takeout, sometimes." She busied herself at a keypad, and the door buzzed open.

Inside were practice dummies, punching bags, one whole wall composed of every kind of weapon I'd ever heard about, and quite a few that I hadn't. I spotted Locksmith, a high-tech burglar, bent over a laptop, his fingers flying.

My hands were still bound behind my back, and Slinky pushed me into a hallway.

All along the hall I kept running into villains that I had fought with the Olympians, or by myself: Slush, Dante, Hellmother, Vulcana, and others. From their laughter or catcalls I knew that they had been watching the TV, and had seen me go on my knees in front of their boss.

"Inside, Slave!" she said, and pushed me through a reinforced door into a cell with no windows.

For the next three hours I sat, or paced, and waited. What was going on? Where was my brother? What was Dr. Asura (AKA Alpha Man) going to do to him, and most of all, had I made the right choice? Steve was my only living family, and I couldn't stand the idea of him being killed.

After the third hour ended, a more immediate problem arose: I had to pee! But with my hands locked behind my back, I had no way to undo my pants! I'd designed my costume myself, and this was not something I'd ever thought of. Sure, I'd been captured by villains before, but never had I been in this sort of situation before: locked up, a toilet in sight, but unable actually use it.

There were no doorknobs, no latches, nothing I could catch the elastic of my waistband on. I've got a pad in place in my panties, just in case my period starts, but there's no way it could absorb the full contents of my bladder.

I sat on the ground and tried friction, gymnastics, yoga, and just about everything possible, but nothing worked. It was ridiculous-a twenty-one year-old woman who couldn't pull down her own pants? Who would have thought?

Finally, when I thought I couldn't hold out any longer, I had a visitor: Slinky again. I'd put her away two or three times for burglary; jewels, mostly from penthouse apartments. She'd scale the walls, break in through the patio door, and loot the place.

She was still dressed in her usual black leotard with belt tools and a silken cord hanging from the small of her back. She was holding a black leather briefcase in one hand, and grinning at me with the cruelest smile you could imagine. "Dr. Asura told me to look in on you," she said, cocking her head. "Oh," her lips formed a perfect little moue. "Does the doctor's little girl need to go wee-wee?"

I nearly kicked her in the teeth, but she suddenly dropped in front of me and yanked my spandex pants down around my ankles. "Piss in the bowl, bitch! Then we've got some things to discuss."

As I urinated, she laid her briefcase on my bunk, and then swung it open. "Take a good look, honey. You're going to be getting really good with these."

The toilet flushed after I hit the button with my elbow. Craning my neck I looked past her and saw the contents of the case: gags, bits, canes, whips, and even a blindfold. My stomach twisted, and I shook my head. "No!"

"Oh yes," Slinky said, grinning again. She straightened up and walked toward me, and let out a cruel laugh. She threw me against the wall and leaned over, her face barely an inch from mine. I was conscious of the fact that my pants were still around my ankles. "Alpha Man has made me your keeper, little girl. You're going to learn the subtle art of pleasing people, because from now on, you're going to be his personal pet. But I get to train you, because I just happen to be very good at this."

My eyes widened, and she laughed. With a single motion she sat down on my bunk, threw me over her knee and paddled my bare butt with something hard. The first blow shocked me. With a laugh she spanked me harder, and harder, and then harder still.

"How's that, honey. You like it? You want some more?"