When Pasts Collide Bethany Hunter walked towards the door of Hunter Investigations after shaking down some goons for information about a new gang in town while in her heroic guise of Nocturne. She needed to grab a couple of case files before heading to her apartment. She noticed that the door was slightly open, her muscles tensed as her mind went into a combat mode in preparation for whatever may be in her office. Bethany slowly opened the door to slip in, but as she got halfway through the door, the lamp on her desk flashes to life, showing a long-legged woman with short, raven-colored hair sitting behind her desk. The woman was wearing a white blouse, black leather miniskirt that hugged the woman's hips, and her thigh high stocking-clad legs adorned with black high heels with gold snakes across the back of her shoes as decoration. Ruby red lips part and stretch into a playful, yet genuinely pleasant smile as the woman finally speaks, "Hello, Bethany... long time no see." Not a hint of recognition showed in Bethany's eyes as she asked the woman in an annoyed tone, "Who the hell are you, and why did you break into my office?" Bethany glanced around her office to notice that everything was in its proper place, so it wasn't like the woman was here to trash the office or her files. Her eyes then fixed back on the woman at her desk with a cold glare. The raven-haired woman slid her feet off of the desk, which had given Bethany a brief glance at the red lace panties underneath the black leather skirt before she finally stood up, a look of actual disappointment on her face, tucking a stray lock of that dark hair behind her right ear, telling her, "I know the hair's different, but surely you remember me. You're the great detective in this town... figure it out." Bethany stood there, studying the woman, and when the hair was tucked behind the ear, the woman's little tell gave her the memory she had been seeking in the recesses of her mind, blurting out in surprise, "Allie? The one T.A. (teaching assistant) for my Criminal Profiling class at Princeworth?" Realizing that Allie was not a threat, she relaxed her combat stance and moved over to Allie, giving her a warm, friendly hug while she asked, "How have you been? It's been, what... seven years? What brings you to Fortune City?" Allie returned the hug, perhaps a bit longer than she had planned, a very soft, almost erotic sigh passing her lips before she broke the hug and her features shifted to a serious expression, "I've been... up and down, but unfortunately, I am here on business." She reached into a black satchel purse sitting on the edge of Bethany's desk, pulled out a business card holder, retrieved a card within and handed it to Bethany, the card reading Dark Rose Detective Agency - Alexis Fairchild - CEO/Lead Investigator with the address located in Queen City. She then asks, "Have you ever heard of Marcone Spandexa Express Entertainment?" Her bright blue eyes gave Bethany a studying glance and answered her own question, "Probably not... you don't seem the superheroine bondage fantasy porn type." Bethany sat down in her office chair as Allie continued, "When they started the business, it was pretty legitimate. Hired girls and guys to dress in cheap costumes and do their thing, but lately, they've taken it a step further... by kidnapping REAL superheroines and filming them, then selling them off in the black market. Whole thing's run by a scumbag named Vito Marcone. I've known about how bad this guy is for years... anyway, last week, a girl named Jessica Markham was kidnapped in Queen City as she was walking home from a superheroine appreciation convention. I was hired to find her, and tracked Vito and his boys to here because of not only their operation, but what the girl was wearing." Bethany watched Allie stride in her pacing, a slightly warming of her skin coming across her as she watched the woman move; this was a huge change from the shy, unassuming long haired blonde teaching assistant who spoke in a nervous stammer at times seven years ago, and this strong confidence intruiged her. The last part of Allie's statement made her blink a few times and queried, "What she was wearing?" Allie moves back to her purse to pull out a picture taken at the convention, the image showing an almost dead perfect cosplay outfit of the Mistress of the Night... Nocturne. Bethany let out a gasp, both for the near perfect copy of her superheroic alter-ego, and the realization of where Allie's story was leading, adding in the rest of the story, "They're planning to use Jessica as bait to capture Nocturne." Allie touched the tip of her nose with the tip of her right index finger, then pointed it at Bethany afterwards, "And that is why you did so well in class. I'm here to get the girl out and back home safely. I'm sure that Nocturne can take care of herself, but I need to move quick or else they may kill the girl." Allie moved over to the edge of the desk, and sat down, the top of her thigh high stockings and a small hint of bare skin between the stocking and leather miniskirt was visible to Bethany, "One thing that I have learned that if you want to find out information about a city, you find a private eye... they know more than the cops." She leaned her torso closer to Bethany, the edge of her red lace bra peeking out from the opening in her white blouse and asked, "So... out of professional courtesy, from one private eye to another... have you heard anything about a new group coming into town in the past week?", bright blue eyes gazing into Bethany's light blue eyes with a questioning look, along with hope that Bethany had the information that she sought. After a small pause, Bethany blurted out, "I heard about some recent activity at an old warehouse near the west side of the docks... that may be a good place to check out", her skin warming more at the proximity of the woman. Allie smiled warmly as she received the information from Bethany, rose from the desk, grabbed her satchel purse and made her way out of the office, saying as she did all of those actions, "Thanks, Bethany... after I'm done, we should get some drinks, catch up properly", and before she exited the office, she looked back at Bethany and warns her, "If you have a way to get a hold of Nocturne, tell her to stay out of this... I don't want her walking into a trap." With her warning, she gives Bethany a playful wink and says, "See you around", then closed the door of the office behind her as she left. After Allie left the office, the warm sensation on Bethany's skin started to fade, a small smirk came across her lips, and she said at a level just above a whisper, "Oh, Nocturne's not going to just sit back on this, Allie." 40 Minutes Later Nocturne quietly landed on the roof of the warehouse, stealthily making her way to the skylight, thinking about how trite that trope is;how the heroine drops in from the skylight above the bad guys, but in reality, it tended to be a tactical advantage. She scanned the scene below, noticing the young woman in the Nocturne cosplay, the outfit unzipped to show a good portion of her body bared to the world, her eyes closed but breathing steadily, as she figured that the girl was now drugged into unconsciousness, then heard some commotion from within the building, which ended after a few seconds. Nocturne shifted positions to get a better look at what was happening, then saw Allie being dragged across the open area, her body slack as one of the goons dragging her said, "Hey boss! Caught this one trying to cause trouble. Little spitfire here took out five guys before we got her pinned down and got her chloroformed. Could almost swear that she was getting into being put out... she stopped struggling even before she went out." The goons propped Allie into a seated position on a chair, and handcuffed her hands behind the chair, Allie's head lolling forward so her chin rested on her upper chest. Nocturne muttered to herself in concern, "Oh no, Allie...", then made the decision to make her entrance right then, popping open the skylight to let her toned body slip through and down to the floor after tossing down a few smoke pellets to cover her entrance. The goons and Vito Looked around in confusion as the smoke billowed through a large portion of the warehouse floor, hiding many of the goons from Vito's view, and after several minutes and loud thuds, the black leotard-clad, shapely form of the Mistress of the Night, Nocturne, walked out of the smoke, demanding from Vito as she positioned herself into a combat stance, "Let the women go and surrender now... make it easy on yourself!" Vito Marcone began a slow clap, "And the guest of honor has arrived... welcome, Nocturne. Time for you to be a star... Mikey! NOW!" During the battle, Allie woke up with a soft groan passing her lips, the sedative still working its way out of her system, getting enough of her mental faculties to return when she saw Nocturne's combat stance, a small, almost knowing smile creeping on her lips, and then heard Vito speak, starting to see a large shadow move towards Nocturne, but before she could warn the heroine, a large green hand slamming into the heroine's back with a massive force, sending Nocturne to the ground at Vito's feet, stunned from the massive impact. Allie let out a soft sigh and whispered in a monotone, "Watch out for the Supatroll, Nocturne." Nocturne started to push herself up, trying to recover from the very painful strike, but suddenly felt a sharp piercing of the skin of her left leg, feeling all of her strength slip away, her body dropping back to the ground, her skin started to feel flushed. She couldn't get her extremities to move through force of will and asked, "What... did you... do toooo meeeeee", her mind starting to cloud with erotic thoughts and feelings in her body. Vito explained as he put away the dart gun that he just fired to hit Nocturne, "I guess that you've never been hit with 'Eroti-Doll', have you, Nocturne? It's a nice little mixture of a powerful muscle relaxer and an aphrodesiac... you can't move a muscle and you're getting more and more turned on as it goes through your system... ready to be used." Vito then grabbed some rope, tying Nocturne's ankles, positioned Nocturne onto her knees, then tied her arms so that her forearms were pressed together, using a smaller piece of rope to connect her arms and ankles to keep her in a position which resembled a triangle. Once she was in position, Vito unzipped the front of Nocturne's bodysuit, her black lace bra and panties now visible to the perverted gangster. Vito pushed his hand underneath her bra, asking in a cruel tone as he teased and pinched her pink nipple, already stiff from the drug making her more and more aroused, "Ready for your audition, Nocturne?", and she could only moan in pleasure in response. His other hand slid down her body to slip underneath her panties, fingers beginning to tease and rub Nocturne's womanhood. Nocturne wanted to get the man away from her but the drug kept her not only immobile, but filled with desire quickly as those fingers probed her nether region and her nipple being pinched, moaning out, "UHMMMM AHHHHHMMMMMMM", trying to fight off the intensity of her arousal from the drug and losing. While Vito was preoccupied with Nocturne, Allie slowly reached into the waist of her skirt, pulling out a handcuff key, hidden in a secret pocket on the inside of her skirt. She began to quietly unlock her cuffs as Vito continued with Nocturne. Vito's fingers kept up their teasing of Nocturne's womanhood, sending the woman closer and closer to climax, asking in a lascivious tone, "Tell me, Nocturne... do you want to be filmed being used like this, and then sold to be used more by the highest bidder?" Nocturne couldn't fight the effects of the intense, drug-fueled arousal anymore, screaming out, "AHHH AHHH YESSSSSSSSSS!!!", her climax washing over her, her body spasming from aftershocks, her breathing heavy, and her cheeks growing warm from the humiliation she had just suffered, especially in front of a college acquaintance in Allie. Allie growled out towards Vito after nocturne's cries of climax silenced, "Highest bidder, huh? Like Deamon?", her bright blue eyes narrowed into half-lidded slits, keeping her voice groggy sounding. The name Allie mentioned piqued Vito's curiosity, so he walked over to Allie as he stated, "Deamon? I haven't heard that name in years... they only bought one heroine from...", then recognition hit him, letting out a maniacal chuckle, "Well, well... if it isn't little miss Commander-ette, all grown up. Liked you better with the long blonde hair, though, but things change." Allie kept up her groggy charade and said, "Yeah, they... they do... and I'm not... Comander-ette anymore... I'm more dangerous now. But let's... let's talk deal. My job is for the.. the girl, not the heroine. Let me walk out... with the girl, you can do what... you want with Nocturne", her hands slowly moving the now unattached handcuffs so the fingers of her right hand wrapped around the loop of the handcuffs While Vito was paying attention to Allie, Nocturne could feel the strength returning to her muscles, her fingers twitching and able to be bent by Nocturne's will as the drug loses more and more effect upon her body. "And why should I even trust you?" "Open my blouse, and you'll get your answer, Vito." Vito couldn't pass up an opportunity like what Allie had just offered, so he gripped the edges of the open portion of her blouse, and pulled hard, ripping the buttons as her torso was now laid bare for Vito to see; the red lace bra covering her breasts, the firm abdominals... and then the head of the black mamba tattoo around Allie's waist. Vito's eye grew wide, and asked in shock and disbelief, "You're... you're part of Black Mamba?!?", the name of a brutal and efficient gang based in Michigan, but also known to honor their deals when made. Allie saw that look on Vito's face, and used that momentary distraction to swing her right fist towards the man, using the handcuffs like a makeshift pair of brass knuckles, and slammed the squared portion of the cuffs squarely on Vito's jaw, knocking him out immediately. She stood up, grateful that they didn't also bind her legs, dropped the handcuffs to the ground with a loud clunk, and stated to the out cold Vito, "Was... not any more." When Allie saw the damage to her blouse, she let out an exasperated sigh and stated in an irritated tone, "This was a hundred dollar blouse... bastard." Mikey the Supatroll, who went off to wander around the building while Vito was having his fun with Nocturne, returned, and upon seeing Vito out on the ground, let out an almost deafening, "ARRRRGGGHHH!!!". Mikey began to charge Allie, and Allie caught sight of Vito's dart gun tucked in his pants. Allie grabbed the dart gun and fired three shots at Mikey's center mass, each dart hit such a large target, which resulted in Mikey falling onto his back, unable to control his movements. Allie then saw the rather large bulge appearing at Mikey's groin, and commented, "I reaaaaalllly don't want to be around when that thing goes off." Allie quickly moved to the bound Nocturne, reaching underneath the left sleeve of her blouse to pull a dagger with a snake shaped handle, cutting Nocturne loose, the heroine's strength having returned to her now that the drug had worn off. Nocturne looked up towards Allie as she started to stand and stated, "I suppose I should thank you for the help, miss", not acknowledging that she knew Allie whatsoever. Allie retorted, "Save it for later... big green over there probably alerted the rest of the guards. Suit up, I'll get the girl out, and you handle the rest of the gang. Meet me in the penthouse suite of the Lady Fortune Hotel in two hours. We need to talk", her voice carrying a domineering tone. Allie then picked up the unconscious, kidnapped Nocturne cosplayer Jessica Markham, carrying her out in a fireman's carry just as guards started to pile into the area. Nocturne zipped up the front of her costume and then reached into her utility belt for several smoke pellets, sending them towards the gang members, using the distraction and camoflague to take out the remaining guards one by one. She reached for her comm device and stated into it, "May, have the police come down to the old Anderson Manufacturing warehouse to pick up a bunch of criminals." After a pause, she added, "I have someplace to go after this, and I'll talk to you later." Before May could respond, Nocturne ended the audio feed. Once all of the gang members were properly tied up for the police to collect, Nocturne made her way out of the warehouse and the Mistress of the Night once again melded into the shadows of Fortune City. Two Hours Later Nocturne quietly landed on the balcony of the penthouse, moving towards the patio door leading into the penthouse, and as she grabbed the handle to check if it was locked, she found it unlocked. She slid her lithe form into the penthouse to look around, noticing Allie sitting in a short, red silk robe. Allie flashed a smile to Nocturne as she moved inside, stating, "If anything, you were always punctual... Bethany." Nocturne paused and stated in a calm tone, "I don't know what you're talking about, miss", trying to keep up appearances that she did not know Allie. "Your left foot in your combat stance is always pointed two degrees too far to the left for a perfect stance", Allie explained, "My father owns a dojo and he trained me. I noticed the stance flaw in your office, then again when you faced Vito. Remember what Professor Michaels said in class? The smallest, inconsequential detail..." Nocturne instinctively finished the statement, ".. can be the biggest tell", internally cursing herself for the slip-up by finishing the comment. Allie smiled warmly, telling her as she stood up to walk over to Nocturne, her silk robe untied, showing that she was wearing red lace bra and red thong panties, "I'm not going to say anything... besides, you know who I used to be now, too." Nocturne moved her hands to her mask, removing it to show Allie that she was indeed Bethany Hunter, and confessed to Allie, "You used to be Commander-ette. I always looked up to Comander-ette as an inspiration to become a crimefighter... what happened?" The brightness in Allie's eyes dulled as a pained expression crossed her features, her right hand performing that nervous hair tuck that Bethany saw in her office earlier, and stated, "It's... a long story that I would rather not get into right now, but someday I will tell you. There is one thing I've wanted to say to you for years." Allie stopped short of Bethany, but still deep into her personal space, their bodies almost touching as she reached up to gently place her open right palm on Bethany's left cheek, the brightness coming back into her eyes as she said, "I had a crush on you when we were in college, but with me working for Professor Michaels, and then I heard about you being attacked... I couldn't bring myself to approach you about possibly going out with you after that happened." Bethany started to respond, "Allie.. I mmph?", cut off as Allie softly pressed her lips against Bethany's for a slow, sensual kiss, Allie's arms wrapping around the back of Bethany's neck. Caught by surprise at first, Bethany eventually relaxed into Allie's kiss. Allie broke the kiss reluctantly, looking into Bethany's eyes as she said in a soft, hopeful tone, "Be with me, Bethany... even if it is only for tonight." Bethany had felt a warmth through her body during the kiss, which continued as Allie spoke. After a few moments of looking deep into Allie's eyes, Bethany's reply to the request was simple and straightforward: she wrapped her arms around Allie's waist and initiated a kiss of her own upon Allie's lips, a slow, long kiss which seemed to go an eternity for both of them. The Next Morning Bethany slowly opened her eyes, a content smile on her face as she thought back on her time making love to Allie and Allie making love to her. It took a few seconds for her to be a bit more coherent, letting out a soft sigh as she stretched her arm towards where Allie was when they fell asleep to notice that the woman was no longer there, but her fingertips felt a piece of paper next to her. Bethany picked up the piece of paper, a handwritten note addressed to her which read the following: Bethany, Sorry that I couldn't be there to see you wake up, or have you in my arms, but I had to get the girl back to her family in Queen City. You are a wonderful, amazing woman, and I will always treasure what he had last night. If you're ever in the area, look me up, since you do have my card. We'll have some drinks, talk... maybe other things. As for your "side work"... just be very careful. I'd hate to lose you because of "the job". I will miss you, but maybe our paths will cross again, one can hope. Your personal Commander-ette, -A- Bethany folded up the note, smiling after reading it. Once she realized what time it was, she slipped out of bed to once again don her Nocturne outfit, slipped out of the suite by way of the balcony, and tried to get home as quickly as possible so she could get to her office at her father's business in time for work, as a knowing smile carried her through the day.