Maid in America It was a day like any other in River Heights, which was to say that things were pretty much going to hell in a hand basket! After the extended absence of not only Madame America, but all of the flag girls in River Heights, many of the criminal elements that would have been so easily thwarted on their own have banded together to form syndicates within the city. Waging war on the police, the criminals act with impunity in what they assume is now a lawless world without heroines. Even many of the heroines that hadn't been captured haven't been heard from since the criminal uprising, and many of them are believed to be prisoners of the various crime lords that now rule several of the neighborhoods in the city. This is the mess that Madame America finds laid before her when she returns to River Heights, freed along with the rest of the flag girls from the clutches of the mysterious organization that had taken them all hostage. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, and as an explosion rocks the ground under the heroine's advanced boots, a plume of smoke rises a couple of blocks over. The sound of screams can be heard carrying over the distance, signalling the distress of the citizens of River Heights! The blond science heroine shook her head in a moment of despair and then brushed her unruly forelock out of her eyes. She had the idea that some of what had been edited from her memory during her period of captivity would help her to understand what had happened to the strange little town of River Heights in her absence. Everything she had tried so far to help her recall all that might have been done to her before she was mysteriously returned to River Heights had proven futile. The sound of terrified screams interrupted her troubled reverie followed closely by an explosion that sent a tremor up her legs. She scanned for a sign of where the explosion occurred and seeing a column of dense smoke rising she nodded grimly. Nodding she murmured, "I suppose it's 'go time'! Enough with the pity party." The powerful servomotors in her boots whined in protest as she began running at a speed no human without her technological enhancements could hope to match. Although her team had many vehicles available, she preferred to patrol the little town in a more intimate manner than possible from a hovering aircraft or armored ground vehicle. She rounded a corner and entered the intersection adjacent to the still expanding column of smoke. She paused and quickly tried to make sense of all that was happening before her eyes... Rounding the corner, Madame America is greeted by a scene of total pandemonium as civilians run past her in a blind panic, chased in all directions by what looks like a french maid wielding a very large cannon. Turning the cannon on one of the civilian women that had fallen to the ground in her haste to escape, the strange woman pulls the trigger on the weapon and sends a large black blob arching through the air to splatter in all directions around the scrambling woman. Thrashing and crying out for help on the ground, the woman seems to be struggling against the goo that has splattered all over her body and begun melting away her clothing! Looking to Madame America with panic in her eyes, she reaches out her hand to the science heroine as the black goo quickly spreads up her arm. "Madame America! Please! Help mmmmph!" she cries out, the black goo engulfing her head quickly and rendering her completely featureless under the cover a thick latex hood. Falling to the ground weakly, she seems to be losing the battle against the thick goo, her struggles becoming weaker with every passing moment. Looking up from her last target to the woman that she had called out to for help, the strange french maid looks over at Madame America and chambers another round, ejecting the massive shell from the previous shot out of the gun and sending it clattering across the street. "Madame America hm? Well when I'm done with you...you're going to be American Maid." she calls out confidently, turning the gun toward Madame America and waiting for her to make a move. The science heroine eyes the maid with the canon and quickly assesses the situation. "OK. A science villain with some sort of latexium-based weapon; I've seen the like before. In some ways it's not unlike my armor. First things first!" Keeping her eye on the maid, she strides confidently toward the woman engulfed in the contents of one of the strange French Maid's shots. Reaching the struggling woman, Madame America tries to work her fingers into the goo to free the victim. As she struggles with the enveloping material she keeps an eye on the maid and her huge weapon. "Any particular reason you're doing this? Or are you just another crazy come into posession of some advanced and dangerous technology?" The woman eyes Madame America evenly, grinning ever so slightly at the confident way that she strides to the struggling girl even when staring down the barrel of the cannon. Following the blond heroine with the barrel of the gun, she doesn't open fire just yet, allowing Madame America to rip open the cocoon of gooey latex that surrounds the downed girl. "I'm doing this because my Mistress commanded me to, there is no better reason than I need than that. I was sent here to gather new recruits...and from the look of you, you will do nicely!" she says, waiting until Madame America finally frees the girl inside of the latex sack. The moment that she does, there is a rush of movement from within the latex sack and Madame America is tackled hard by the girl that emerges from it...wearing a full body latex catsuit designed to look like a french maid's uniform! Attempting to wrap her arms around Madame America, the girl seems intent on holding the science heroine in place while the french maid opens fire on her with the massive latex cannon! As the woman she has freed embraces her firmly Madame America exclaims, "So much for helping the helpless!" The science heroine keeps her eyes on the barrel of the impressive looking weapon as she lightly leaps, her technological strength augmented by her exoskeleton boots. Her power should carry the mass of two normal humans many yards into the air. Her intent becomes obvious because as she and her captor are propelled upward, she lifts her legs attempting to plant both feet against the abdomen of the woman. Looking up in shock as Madame America fires off into the air like a fourth of July rocket, the french maid tilts her body backward and aims the cannon into the air, firing two shots into the air after the airborne woman...though her aiming is likely way off. Clinging to Madame America tightly, the woman in the latex maid outfit struggles to maintain her grip as the two of them fire off into the air, her grip suddenly weakening at the apex of the jump right as Madame America places her feet against her stomach. Pushing with her powerful boots only hard enough to finish breaking the grasp of the woman embracing her, the agile science heroine grabs for her wrist. She watches to two shots miss, the second closer than the first, but neither sufficiently leading the target to hit it. As they drop earthward, Madame America pulls hard on the wrist of the woman she pulled into the air with her, meaning to heave her over her shoulder. She plummets back to the pavement and lands with a solid thud, the exoskeleton boots serving her well as shock absorbers. Arm wrapped around the backside of her assailant, firmly holding her against her shoulder she turns to face the maid with the enormous latex canon keeping the derriere and kicking legs or her erstwhile attacker between herself and the weapon. "Why not lay the weapon down now? This won't end well for you if you continue to threaten the town. I'm not about to 'serve' your mistress so you may as well just get that idea out of your head and start thinking about how to occupy yourself in jail!" Grinning slowly wider, the french maid loads another shot into the cannon and regards Madame America evenly. "Hmm...you're stronger than the average heroine, I'll give you at least that much, but you are going to serve my mistress...make no mistake about it..." she says, slowly tightening her finger around the trigger as the sound of high heeled footsteps approaches from all directions. All around Madame America, dozens of latex maids start coming out of the woodwork, sashaying sexily toward the science heroine from all directions at once. "Did you really think that the girl in your arms was the first of my victims today? I'm sure that you'll be surprised to see how many there were before you even noticed. And I wouldn't be too rough on them if I were you...they ARE still helpless victims after all..." she says with a wicked chuckle. "This is getting WAY complicated!" the science heroine mutters. The blonde bombshell hoists the woman off her shoulder with one hand in the woman's crotch and the other on her neck. The woman frantically kicks and shakes her head "no" in the manner of a professional wrestler held for an airplane spin. Madame America tosses her at some of the attackers calling, "Sorry! It'll be survivable, probably a minor injury! Sorry!" She looks back at the well-armed maid who seems to be orchestrating things. "I'm guessing it's YOU I have to bring down. I promise this will only hurt as much as you want it to!" Even as she speaks, the science heroine leaps into the air easily clearing the maids approaching her. Her leap was angled to the side of the canon-wielding woman and in a head first manner that makes it clear she intends to hit the ground in a forward roll and come up beside or slightly behind the villainous woman. She hurtles through the air! Madame America might have caught the maid off guard the first time when she launched herself effortlessly into the air, but she was ready for it this time. As the latexed woman bowls into the oncoming reinforcements, the french maid plants her feet and takes aim, the gun in her hands humming suddenly louder as she pulls the trigger and sends a huge mass of latex directly at Madame America! Expanding suddenly in midair, the huge glob stretches itself out into a wide net that would prove nigh impossible to dodge! "Why yes...I would be the one that you would need to take out, but I welcome you to just try it! I am the Head Maid of Mistress Mayhem, and I will not go down easily!" she says, pumping the cannon once more, regardless of whether the latex net hits, intent on firing it at Madame America once more! As she tucks to somersault, she feels something impact her ankles and loses balance, sprawling awkwardly and skidding to a halt on her stomach. "Dammit!" She looks down to see that she failed to completely evade the shot fired as she leaped. "Damn! Damn! Damn!" She tries to get her fingers under the goo enveloping her ankles and looks at the stringy mass trailing off on the ground behind her and sees that it is edging toward her like a giant living amoeba. She scissors her her legs frantically, engaging the full output of the exoskeleton boots as she picks at the enveloping latex with her powerful fingers. "This is not improving my opinion of you, 'Head Maid'!" She frantically thought: "Mistress Mayhem? Who the devil is that? So much about this little town that surprises me... and this stuff is TENACIOUS!" She continues to frantically kick and pick at the goo as it tries to envelop her legs like a living thing. The goo is powerful, but the strength of the exoskeleton boots is greater. Each flail of her powerful legs stretches and rips the latex goo until she manages to pull herself loose from the creeping mass, flinging globs of it loose from her boots in all directions. Looking on in surprise as Madame America manages to pull herself loose from the goo, she narrows her eyes and tosses the gun off to the side. "I see...so there is more to that tight latex suit than meets the eye. It's a nanolatex suit isn't it?" she says, cracking her knuckles and gazing over at Madame America with a grin. "Looks like we are going to have to do this the hard way..." As the goo comes off, Madame America rolls backward, head over heels, pushes hard on the ground and comes to her feet facing Mistress Mayhem's Head Maid. "The boots and nano-latexium are only the surface, but I'm happy to show you just how deep the science runs. If it's to be the hard way, don't say I didn't warn you!" She feels the nannites infesting her body roaring through the microtubules that augment her human muscles as her strength and reflexes reach a superhuman peak. She bounces lightly on the balls of her feet, the motors of the exoskeleton boots purring with each graceful step. Her eyes flick from the approaching woman to the confused gaggle of women meeting at the empty space where she had been just standing and back to the Head Maid. She meets the woman's eyes with the steady gaze of a very experience martial artist. "One last chance! I don't enjoy violence but I confess I'm rather good at it!" The moment that Madame America looks back from glancing over at the group of confused maids, the Head Maid is standing literally right in front of her, the air around her swirling powerfully as the woman had just closed the distance in the matter of a second. Lifting her leg suddenly and whipping it out toward Madame America, the Head Maid launches a vicious kick that packs all of the power of a speeding semi truck, and the precision of a surgeon! Aimed directly at the middle of Madame America's stomach, the attack seems intended to knock her onto her back, as the Head Maid leaps into the air immediately whether the attack finds its mark or not! "That's a shame for you Madame America...because I LOVE violence. And I've spent my whole life practicing its application!" With reflexes born of many, many sessions in the gym with her friend and personal trainer Okami, Madame America swivels her hip and lifts her leg while simultaneously bringing her bent arm down to guard her belly with arm and thigh. She can only block and not avoid the kick which sends her sprawling. She attempts to grab the Head Maid's ankle with her other arm as she goes down, hoping to unbalance her opponent. "You're enhanced..." She grunts. The Head Maid feels her ankle caught by the grip of the science heroine, her grin only widening as her leap into the air is brought up suddenly short. Lifting her free leg into the air until she is almost in the splits, she brings her leg down with crushing power, aiming an axe kick directly at the shoulder of the lovely heroine! "Oh...I'm more than enhanced Madame America. You could say that I'm...perfected." she says with a wicked grin, her eyes glowing bright red and showing that the surface of her iris is covered in complex circuitry. Pulling her leg back away from the grip of Madame America, she whips her leg out again to attempt the science heroine's grip loose! Again, the reflexes of the martial artist respond to the axe kick! Madame America rolls her shoulder out of the way of a movement she could never have avoided if the Head Maid had been aiming only for a blow and not a killing blow! The sound of the Head Maid's heel striking pavement is impressive. "Perfected? No! Never... an engineering impossibility! Never reach 100%! Always strive..." The science heroine is muttering through gritted teeth as she rolls and comes upright to face the surprisingly adept foe. She glances down at the Head Maid's heel and the cratered concrete around it. She flicks a glance toward the milling minions. Then she meets the Head Maid's eyes with a fixed gaze. "I'm truly impressed. Truly." She rocks gently from the ball of one foot to the ball of the other. She watches only Head Maid's eyes, waiting for the tiniest movement that will signal attack. She slowly raises her right hand, palm inward, and signals the move from countless martial arts movies: her fingers gesture toward herself saying, "Come on! IF YOU DARE." Her expression is fixed and her eyes do not waver! The crooked smile slowly spreads further across the Head Maid's slender features as she watches you ready for battle. Rather than calling the other maids to join the battle, she snaps her fingers and gestures to the side, causing the newly minted maids to form a circle around the two of them, standing with their hands crossed in their laps patiently. Cracking her neck to either side, she chuckles and takes a fighting pose herself, grinding the ball of her foot that is standing in the crater further into the ground. "Always strive huh? Well...let's see you strive for victory here...and see how far it gets you!" she says, the slight narrowing of her eyes indicating her intent to attack. Blurring suddenly, the Head Maid appears at Madame America's side and lashes out with a blindingly fast series of rapid fire kicks, the metal heel of her shoes flashing dramatically in the light as her flurry of blows rains down all around Madame America! The science heroine's consciousness is lost in a haze of reflexive movements. Proprioceptive feedback from her limbs and visual feedback blend into data that is not interpreted but simply responded to. Arms blurring in movements equal to the speed of the Head Maid she parries the kicks. It is only because arms mass less than legs that she can keep up with the impossibly fast flurry of motion. Each kick is met with a slap or brush of a hand or arm, but the blocks cannot equal the power of the kicks only the speed. As a result, Madame America feels the jar of each contact and for the first time wonders if her enhancements are superior to those of the Head Maid. In the very back of her mind, she wonders if they are even the equal of this unexpected adversary. Slowly, despite the rapid repair and enhancement by the nannites she was infected with long ago, she sense the first signs of fatigue. She cannot continue to respond and parry forever but she cannot stop responding and parrying to initiate a new fighting strategy. With each blow the nagging doubt nibbles further into her usually unshakeable confidence and optimism. She involuntarily bites her lower lip in consternation. The Head Maid's malicious smile only widens with sinister intent as she sees the first signs of fatigue wash over the intense expression of Madame America's face, her own expression showing not the slightest sign of fatigue at all. In fact, she doesn't seem to be sweating at all...despite the insane pace that she is pressing the attack. "What's the matter Madame America? Starting to feel the limitations of your science? It's no wonder you're always striving...it's because you have not even approached perfection until you met ME!" she says, lashing out with an incredibly powerful side kick that explodes with power, sending Madame America skidding on the balls of her feet across the street. Holding her leg out with perfect balance, she lifts her leg up until she is once again in the standing splits and crosses her arms over her chest. "You don't stand a chance against me girl...why don't you surrender and make this easier for you?" The science heroine brushes her errant forelock out of her eyes and maintains a steady gaze. "I've just started and I'll have to be a lot more tired for you to take me!" She continues to bounce lightly, the servomotors in her boots whirring with each movement, her arms held at ready. "The only way you take me is by winning this little sparring match, and it just isn't going to happen." She focuses inwardly on the nanotech control center behind her heart emphasizing the need for cardiac output and oxygen to all her muscles and brain. She is dismayed to feel the return message from the center that all her body systems and nanotechnology are at maximum output and that they can add no more to her strength and ability. She senses that her exoskeleton boots have also reached maximum output and that they may begin to over heat soon. She refocuses outward to see the arrogant posture of the Head Maid and without consciously deciding to do it, she launches an attack. She moves with blinding speed stepping toward the Head Maid and abruptly turning away pivoting on her leading leg bringing the trailing leg up in a circle with vicious speed in a wheeling kick with her heel headed toward the center of her opponent's chest. The Head Maid was expecting the attack, her cybernetically enhanced brain and fighting prowess allowing her to plan her attack thousands of steps in advance! The arrogant stance was intended specifically to outrage the science heroine, each one of her barbed words carefully selected to drive her frustration further and further until her emotions finally took over! If there was one thing that she knew didn't mix well with a fight, it was emotion, as evidenced by the passionate...and wholly inaccurate attack launched by Madame America. Vaulting into the air over Madame America's leg, she lashes out with a roundhouse kick of her own that hooks around the back of Madame America's neck and forces her to bend over at the waist! Like a prisoner on the chopping block, Madame America is forced to look down at her own feet helplessly as the Head Maid's leg shoots upward to the sky and suddenly comes crashing down like a meteor toward the back of Madame America's head! "This is it! THE END!" she cries out, assured of her victory! For one moment the science heroine realizes she has been goaded into an attack and left herself open. In that instant she sees the concrete beneath her and then there is a blinding burst of stars followed by a curtain of blackness as the heel of the Head Maid strikes the base of her skull with a near lethal impact! She feels nothing as her face hits the concrete and her body bounces bonelessly once before before settling in limp silence, sprawled face down. She is motionless except for a very faint movement of her breathing. Although there is little external evidence of it in the silent body of the mighty maiden of science, her microscopic nannite army works desperately at repairs to reverse the effects of the powerful blow and to restore her consciousness and vitality. For the moment, though, she is out cold. Even the whirring motors of her exoskeleton boots go silent. As the concrete spiderwebs under the impact of Madame America hitting the pavement, the Head Maid grins with malicious intent, pressing her heel down in the middle of the fallen heroine's back and twisting it to make sure that the beautiful woman isn't just faking it. Nodding her head with approval, she steps over Madame America and looks around to the other latex maids, who are standing patiently with their hands crossed in their laps even through the sound of muffled struggling can be heard under the latex hoods. Snapping her fingers, she watches as the maids suddenly spring into action, walking over to Madame America and lifting the fallen heroine face up onto their shoulders. Lifting her into the air, they carry the science heroines inert form through the streets and over to a flying vehicle that comes into view over the top of the buildings. Walking casually over to her discarded cannon, the Head Maid rearms herself and looks down the street at the teaming masses of people that had stopped to watch the fight. "Get her to the mansion immediately...I will be along shortly." she says, loading another round into the gun and marching down the street. As though in a dream, Madame America feels the heel of the Head Maid grind into her back but she is powerless to respond. It seems to her that this is all happening to someone else. In the enveloping blackness of her decreased level of consciousness she feels as though floating as her body is lifted and carried toward the flying vehicle that is descending onto the scene of recent violence. She wonders if she is supposed to concerned about status messages from her nanotech controller that are flashing across her limited consciousness. >>From the perspective of the Head Maid and her minion/captives the powerful science heroine has been reduced to a helpless, softly limp woman. She makes not the slightest response, not even a groan as she is lifted and carried off! As Madame America is carried into the back of the transport, she is greeted by what appears to be the Head Maid, or at least it would be if the Head Maid wasn't down the street opening fire on the group of civilians to increase the number of latex maids. "I see that M-01 has managed to subdue the heroine, excellent. Take her to the hold and secure her into the transportation chamber, we'll be leaving as soon as M-01 is done with her little rampage." the maid says calmly standing at the entrance of the ship and watching the Head Maid go to work as Madame America is carried further into the ship. Unable to resist their actions, the maids carry Madame America into the hold of the ship where a line of standing coffins filled with what looks like gooey latex. Setting her back down onto her feet, the maids load her carefully into the goo and it reaches up eagerly to swallow around her, pinning her arms to her sides and holding her in place as the lid of the coffin shuts around her to seal her into a void of silence and darkness. By the time she manages to finally wake up. Madame America finds herself still bound in the coffin, the sensation of movement jarring her awake as the lid of the coffin opens to reveal that she is no longer in the ship...but instead in the middle of a giant laboratory facility. Standing in front of the coffin is the Head Maid, who wastes no time in lifting her heeled foot and pressing it against Madame America's throat through the layer of unyielding latex. "Wake up little girl...it's time for your training." The Head Maid's foot pressing down on the restraining latex-like goo causes Madame America to cough and sputter. Her eyes blink open and she moves as much as the restraining material will allow, trying to take in her surroundings. She eyes the Head Maid angrily as she begins to reintegrate with her surroundings. "Good shot, I was a fool to let you take me down like that. Any time you want a rematch, you just need to turn me loose of this stuff. I doubt any training that you have in mind will be useful to me and I'm not interested in becoming part of whatever you are doing." She struggles mightily and allows the exoskeleton motors in her boots to go from full power to overload, testing the durability of her containment. Veins stand out in her throat and at her temples as she clenches her teeth and puts every molecule of her body into the effort backed by her exoskeleton technology. The Head Maid presses tighter against Madame America's throat until the arch of her shoes are literally choking off her air supply! Looking into the eyes of the struggling heroine with a malicious grin, the Head Maid holds her foot there until it looks like Madame America may very well pass out all over again from the lack of oxygen, pulling her foot away at the last moment to allow her to regain her senses. Despite all of her struggles with the maximum power that she can muster, the gooey latex sheath holds tightly all around Madame America, growing tighter and tighter the more that she struggles...almost as if it were using the force that Madame America was exerting to strengthen itself. Stepping back away from her captive, The Head Maid steps to the side and smiles, nodding over to someone that Madame America can't see because of the angle that she is looking. "As you can see...even the great heroine Madame America cannot escape from the grip of our bondage science. Compared to her...what choice do all of you have?" she says, pulling a switch that turns the coffin that Madame America is held in around to face what looks like an audience of hundreds...maybe even thousands of men and women bound in similar coffins as her! The science heroine meets the Head Maid's gaze as the woman's foot compresses her throat making breathing impossible. Her field of vision becomes cloudy and narrows down to the eyes of the Head Maid as her consciousness begins to fade again. She is unaware that a tear rolls down her cheek as she continues to stare into the eyes of her captor. Just as consciousness is about to flicker and fade to black, the Head Maid lifts her foot and allows the blond science heroine to breathe again. Madame America swallows, sputters and coughs as she manages to regain her breath. She assesses the results of her efforts to break free from the restraining goo and determines that it is a futile effort for the moment. She allows the whining, overheating motors of her exoskeleton boots to power down and programs her nanotech controller to idle, continuing to repair her damaged body but no longer pushing an escape attempt. As she takes in what the Head Maid has said to her and the sight of so many imprisoned individuals she blinks in surprise. "What on earth can you accomplish by imprisoning so many normal humans? I can understand much about the criminal mind but this is... MAD." The captive ponders her next words carefully. "Do you, perhaps, want me to consider them as hostages? Is there something you want me or other heroines from River Heights to do in exchange for the freedom of these... prisoners? Hostages?" She begins to shake her head in confusion but finds it mired in the restraining goo and she sighs in frustration. "It seems to me unbelievable that you are no more than a vandal and a pointless jailer of innocent citizens. If my defeat was all you wanted, you don't need these and you need not have spared my life. So..." Here she pauses and considers. Finally she finishes her thought: "So what do you want?" The Head Maid shakes her head and grins wider, stopping the coffin so that it faces directly into the masses that look up at Madame America with despair in their eyes. "Oh they aren't hostages my dear...they are your brothers and sisters. You see, while I am going to be keeping you to present to my Mistress as a present, the rest of them are going to be programmed and sold off to the highest bidder. You would be amazed how high the demand is for both male and female worker slaves...especially ones that are designed to appeal to sexual fetishes." she explains, stepping over to the controls of the machine and taking over from the latex maid that was working the controls before. "As for why we needed you...you are a crucial component to this process. You see, the mental controllers that we utilize are limited in power, due to the extraordinary cost of producing full powered collars. However, we have found that the human mind is more susceptible to control...when it is in a state of hopelessness. And that's where you come in..." she says working the controls of the machine and reaching down four very strong looking robotic arms. "I am going to break you right in front of everyone...and show them just how hopeless their situation really is! Because if the powerful Madame America can't escape...then sure they have no chance!" she says, suddenly stabbing the robotic hands into the goo, grabbing Madame America's wrists and ankles and ripping her out of the goo as if it were nothing, dangling her in a tight spread eagle before the crowd! The blonde bombshell of science listens closely to the Head Maid and her mind works furiously. "You know that I can never co-operate with you no matter what you do to me. The stakes you describe are far too high!" As the robotic arms seize and spread eagle her she elects to not struggle, reasoning that the arms must have at least the strength of the restraining material from which she has been plucked. Instead she begins to program the nanotech controller behind her heart to call on the swarm of nannites in her body to form an antenna the length of her spine. She knows that her proteges and possibly others monitor for messages from the controller and the digital code is such that only her proteges can discern specific messages. The content of the message is to be: "Am captured. Use extreme caution. Many hostages." The message will continuously repeat allowing any recipient to use it to triangulate for her position. She sighs and attempts to address the multitude of captives. "Never lose hope. Even if I am destroyed I am far, far from your last hope!" She glares at the Head Maid. "The technology you are using against me obviously rivals my own. A mind capable of such tech should be able to acquire enormous wealth without such sleazy methods as what you propose. I accept your intentions are as stated but you need to accept that I'm not ever giving in." She raises her voice again: "Never lose hope. Never!" The Head Maid slowly claps when Madame America's speech is finishing, stepping out from behind the controls of the machine after lowering Madame America down until she was mere inches off of the raised platform in front of the crowd. Pull a glowing blue stick out of her apron, the Head Maid taps the stick to the clinging remains of the restraint goo and it instantly liquifies, running down Madame America's latexium suit until she is completely free of the stick remnants. "That was a very inspiring speech Madame America...very moving. Just look down below, some of them seem to even be buying into what you are saying. That is perfect of course, as it will make it all the more crushing to them to see you when I am through with you..." the Head Madi purrs, holding her hand out of the side as one of the latex maids walks up quickly with a metal case held in her hands. Turning the case sideways, the latex maid holds the case level as the Head Maid unlocks it to reveal an innocent looking silver collar. Slipping her fingers around the collar, she lifts it out of the case and twirls it around her finger, stepping around in front of Madame America to show her what is coming. "I mentioned that the collars that these innocents would be wearing were lowered in power...because it cost so much to build a true control collar. You however...are worth the price..." she says, twirling the collar around in her hands with a wicked grin, stopping it in her grip suddenly and snapping it open to reveal that the interior is lined with glowing circuitry. "1 million dollars worth of technology...a small price to pay for a priceless heroine." she says, stepping closer and slowly slipping the collar around Madame America's neck...locking it tightly into place! Madame America watches the Head Maid dangle the collar in front of her, trying to make sense of the circuitry in it. She feels her own nanotechnology begin to broadcast and hopes that her controller receives some sort of response. No matter what, she intends that the signal continue and mentally instructs the controller to keep the nannites at it even if her own body is further damaged and needs repair. She reasons that her only hope and really the only hope of the other captives is that she attract the attention of her proteges and other forces for good in River Heights. "So, you intend to collar me. Highly symbolic in some circles but I'm not your slave, collar or no. What's the circuitry for? Pain? Pleasure? It doesn't matter. I am my own woman and you'll not bend me with mere somatic stimulus." The mighty science heroine cannot help but involuntarily gulp as the collar is locked in place.