"THIRTY DAYS for public indecency!" the stern judge roars, slamming her gavel down with utter finality.  "Sentence to be carried out in the new Ultra Security Unit at Lorton Penitentiary in Woodbridge, Virginia."

Two women . . . two SUPER heroines, stand before District of Columbia Judge Thomasina Penderfield Jefferson.  Both are in costume, both are eye stunning beauties from the rear-view perspective of the scores of visitors to this most unusual courtroom drama.  From the front, Judge Jefferson observes that both women are looking downward, in shame and humiliation, meekly accepting their punishments.

Two days earlier, HyperLass and Warrior Princess engaged in a titanic battle on the Mall of Washington, D.C.  Each BELIEVED that the other had become a super villain who HAD to be crushed and defeated utterly, in the name of justice.  They held these beliefs because a pair of imps from another dimension had used magic to cloud their minds.  The final outcome was not expected by the two women or the imps . . . Warrior Princess had issued a command with her magic lasso, compelling HyperLass to "submit" to the Amazon.  HyperLass's ensorceled mind made her succumb to the Amazon and act like a love slave - outside the Lincoln Memorial!  The Amazon, her mind clouded by alien magicks, in turn relished her domination of the Maiden of Muscles and became powerfully aroused.  Bottom line: the two women began to sexually assault each other, brazenly, strenuously, nakedly, before a crowd of tourists.

Only elected officials can get away with that in the District of Columbia.

HyperLass and Warrior Princess then flew back to the Capitol to meet with Nightbird (who had tried to intervene in the magically-induced battle and failed).  She tried to help them determine why they had behaved so oddly when suddenly a squad of D.C.'s finest broke upon the trio, weapons drawn and leveled.

"HyperLass, Warrior Princess!" the lieutenant said, drawing a nearly-dry tongue across his lips, his voice shaking slightly at the sight of three stunningly-lovely women, "you-you're under arrest for public indecency!  Please, uh, please put up your hands and come . . . come along quietly."  The two heroines looked at each other, then at the cops.  Suddenly, Nightbird put a gloved hand on each heroine's shoulder.

"He . . . he's right, HyperLass, Warrior Princess," she said pensively, "you guys broke D.C. law.  I'm obliged to help them, should you resist.  Please don't resist!  We'll explain it to the courts, justice will prevail, and you'll be released in no time, honest!"

******************

"Bailiff, take these women away!" Judge Jefferson commands, snapping the minds of all in the courtroom back to the present situation.  "I know you two can break out of our jails in a heartbeat, but if you do I'll issue a bench warrant for your arrest for fleeing jail and WHEN we bring you to justice, I'll throw the book at you.  So you two just go along quietly, serve your time, and KEEP YO' DAMNED CLOTHES ON IN D.C.!  Y'hear?"

Warrior Princess looks up at the famous jurist and meekly says "Yes, your honor, I'll serve out the sentence."  HyperLass nods her head in agreement, her eyes blank, her skin flushed with the shame she feels for this latest public goof.  Both women extend their hands forward as the bailiff affixes handcuffs to their wrists, handcuffs that either might have bent into paper clips without breaking a sweat.   Their humiliation deepens when the wrist cuffs are connected to a length of chain and a second set of cuffs are put on their ankles.  The chain links their wrist and ankle cuffs together, hobbling them, making them walk with small hop-steps as they are led toward the exit door.

"Your honor," Warrior Princess asks the judge as she's led away, "may we please keep our costumes while we serve our sentence?"

"No, you may not!" Judge Penderfield replies, rising, shocked at the woman's attitude.  "A few days ago you two couldn't get OUT of your costumes fast enough! Well, you are prisoners of the D.C. Department of Corrections and you will abide by their regulations, and if they say strip and wear an orange jump suit, you'll just have to strip and comply!  And when they delouse you, you just stand there and act like the responsible citizen I HOPE you can become!  Now stop wasting this court's time!"

The bailiff leads the two women out a side door of the courtroom.  Congresswoman Betsy Cameron, in one of the visitors' seats, looks fondly and sadly upon her two friends as they are lead away, their humiliation obvious by the way their powerful shoulders have slumped and the way they are bent forward slightly at the waist.  Cameron hops to her feet and rushes out of the courtroom.  While she dislikes the current President as a flaky womanizer, she HAS to get him to pardon these two women.  They CAN'T be kept confined, unavailable to fight REAL crime!

******************

Six hours later, a blond and a brunette in orange jumpsuits made from environmentally-friendly recycled paper stand before the director of the Ultra Security Unit, one of several mini-prisons within the Lorton complex.  The unit was designed to hold super criminals.  Well, technically, the two women ARE super criminals.   Containing super powered beings was far beyond the capability of the D.C. government and it's prison system, so Mayor Mary Bary hired a commercial contractor to create and manage this unit.

"Well, I see you've been processed according to procedures," Director Becker says, looking at the records in his hands, grinning at the thought of the delousing the two women had to go through - the female matron was short, skinny, bony, and had a bad case of acne but if he had videos of the two heroines without their costumes, he could sell the videos and retire!  Both had meekly put up with the indignities of finger printing, mug shots, full cavity searches, the whole magilla.  "I understand that your crimes are, shall we say, a bit minor in scope, but we are required by the city to use all our resources to keep you confined for the term of your sentence.  Maybe the city wants to see whether the unit can actually hold super criminals.

"Now, Warrior Princess, we've removed your handcuffs," Director Becker says, "but we'll put them back on if you cause us ANY trouble.  We know that when you're wrists are manacled by a man, you lose your powers.   Your Golden Lasso, tiara, belt and costume have been put into storage.  You can get them back when you're released.   We've let you keep your feminum bracelets since you say that when they're removed, you say you go berserk.  We'll take your word for this.  So, we've tried to accommodate you for the short time you'll be with us and I expect your full cooperation in return for our kind considerations. "

"Yes, Director Becker," Warrior Princess says meekly, looking down at the floor.  "I shall follow your orders."

"As for you, HyperLass," Becker says, looking at the shorter blonde, "given your awesome powers, we thought about putting some Kelvanite near you . . ."

"NO!" HyperLass gasps, appalled at the thought of being exposed to the one substance in the universe that can kill her and HyperMan.

". . . BUT, I was going to say, before your rude interruption, we . . . well, the city, that is, said that would constitute 'cruel and unusual punishment' given your crime.  So we'll just put you into our strongest cell and hope that you won't violate your word to the judge to not break out."

"I won't," HyperLass says dejectedly, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"Excellent!" Director Becker says, beaming, "I'm sure if you ladies will follow the orders you are given by your guards, and be on your best behavior, the next thirty days will pass in no time at all.  Guard, please take these women to their cells."

A guard leads the two women away and soon each is in her cell.  Each hopes that friends on the outside can do something . . .  ANYthing, to get them out of this hellish place.

Each is unaware that powerful enemies on the outside have other agendas which have just begun to unfold.

******************

Five days pass uneventfully.  Except for short periods when they're allowed out for 'exercise/fitness', Becker keeps the two heroines 'locked down' and does not let them mingle with the general population of Lorton or even with each other.  Only these two women are confined in the Ultra Security Unit.  They eat their meals in their cells, alone.  Then on the sixth day, the routine changes.  Early in the morning, HyperLass is roused from sleep and told to get dressed and ready for work.  In a few moments, the Maiden of Muscles is garbed in her orange jumpsuit and paper shoes and led away from her cell and down to a large room in another part of the unit.

"I'm Director Kendall," a tall, thin man says as the Girl of Tomorrow enters the room.  "Director Becker was transferred to another unit.

"We don't like our prisoners to just sit in their cells.  While you're with us, we have some work we want you to do for us.  There's a pile of I-beams over there - we can bring more in when there's room.  We require you to cut them in half and, well, work the ends.  Mr. Askew, here, will direct you while you work, HyperLass."

"What about Warrior Princess?" HyperLass asks, looking warily at the new director.  "What kind of stuff is this?  I never heard of normal criminals  . . ."   There is a bit of an edge to her voice as if she's going to resist this order.

"First," Director Kendall says sharply, "you're not a normal criminal, and second, how we manage our charges is not something we normally discuss with other inmates, HyperLass.  Now, if you're not going to cooperate with us as you carry out your sentence . . ."

"No, no!" HyperLass says, raising her hand, palm outward in surrender, "I was just wondering!  I'm sorry, Director."

The director walks away and soon the Maiden of Muscles is cutting and trimming and stacking iron I-beams.  In a few hours, she's finished with over a hundred of the long beams and is allowed to clean up before returning to her cell.

"Hey," she asks at the entrance to her cell, "what's with the lighting?"  A dim red light fills the cell.

"I don't know, HyperLass," her escort replies, "maybe that's the last bulb that was available?  D.C. don't have enough money for reg'lar supplies."

The heroine walks into her cell and lies on her bed.  The bulb IS red, but then she notices that the walls are now covered with some new kind of wallpaper - something which she soon discovers she can't see through because it is lead-lined.  Then she notices that the floor, the ceiling, even the door to the cell is covered with this stuff.  And there are more lights - the room has more red lights, newly-installed around the edge of the ceiling.  Suddenly, the voice of Director Kendall comes over the public address unit in the ceiling of her cell.

"We know that you've been a model prisoner, so I'm sure you'll continue being one, HyperLass, as we try a new behavioral modification technique on you.  Of course," he continues, "we know it won't harm YOU, but we believe that the normal human super criminal might be less aggressive, less offensive, under the calming influence of the red light.  We just want to get your reactions to this lighting scheme.  It can't harm you of course  - you're HyperLass!"

"Yes," HyperLass replies, assuming that Kendall can hear her reply, "I understand, and I'll let you know how I feel about the lighting."

******************

"Follow the orders of this guard, Warrior Princess," Director Kendall says to the tall Amazon standing before him.  She's wearing the orange jumpsuit and paper slippers of a Lorton inmate, but she also has been ordered to put on calf-high black rubber boots and elbow length black rubber gloves.  The guard wraps a beefy paw around the Princess' bicep and leads her out of the Director's office, across an open sward, and into a cell block which holds 'normal' criminals.

"The inmates are out in the yard, exercising," the guard informs the Amazon, a gap-toothed smile filling his face.  "While they're away, take this bucket and mop and clean the floors down here and on the catwalks."

"WHAT!?!" a shocked Diana cries, snapping her head around to look at the guard, "what kind of work is that for ME?  I'm . . . I'm . . ."

"A prisoner here under my orders, 'Princess'" the guard snaps back at the heroine.  He roughly shoves the mop into her hands and a big smile fills his face.  "Now, you either get to work and finish before those inmates return, or I'll leave you in here and wait outside while they - 'assist' you in cleaning up in here.  Understand?"

Warrior Princess glares bravely at the guard, chin and breasts thrust out toward the man, but when his impassive face shows no pity, she abruptly turns, picks up the bucket of water and climbs the steps to the second tier of cells.  For the next hour, the Amazon Princess works energetically and with speed greater than normal humans (though far below her 'normal' capabilities), using her finely-honed Amazon muscles to rush through this task and get away from this place that stinks of men and evil.  She's just finished with the bottom floor and has dumped the last bucket of dirty water into the toilet in one of the cells when the cell suddenly goes dark.  Warrior Princess rises and turns to see a huge Black man standing in the doorway.  Ten or twenty other men are behind him, crowding against the bars of the cell, gawking at the woman and chuckling or making obscene remarks.  Warrior Princess's exertions have left her sweaty and dirty, strands of wet black hair hang limply across her forehead and on her shoulders and her jumpsuit has sweat stains in both armpits, her crotch, above her breasts and across her broad back.

Outside this prison, Warrior Princess would have walked through this crowd of men with the satisfaction that she could toss them around like used tissue paper.  Without her Girdle of Power, she doesn't have that satisfaction.  With some reluctance, the Amazon begins heading toward the cell door, hoping she can bluff her way past these men and out of this cell block.  She reaches the cell door but the prisoner in her way, Leroy, remains in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest.

"Mmnn, would you please excuse me," Warrior Princess says brightly, smiling at the prisoner, "I finished here and need to get back to my unit."

The Black man looks at the Amazon for a moment, sees her mop and bucket, then launches a huge gob of spit past the woman to land on the floor behind her.  He smiles and says, "Looks like you missed some, missy!"

Warrior Princess SEETHES with rage, but knows now that she's been 'set up'.  Without her girdle, all she has is somewhat greater than normal strength and her skills as an Amazon warrior.  She resigns herself to the fact that she will have to fight this mob; now she needs to calm herself and ready herself for the coming battle.  She steps backward and bends at the knees, squatting and taking some nearby toilet paper to wipe up the man's spittle.  She keeps her eyes focused on the men outside the cell.

"LICK IT UP, BITCH!" Leroy roars, stepping into the cell and moving toward the woman.  Several others crowd forward to block the door behind the big man.  "Don't you be usin' none o' my paper and drop thet mop.  I wants yo' to lick it off'n the floor!"

Warrior Princess rises and drops the bucket.  She puts the working end of the mop on the floor and expertly drops one foot onto the wooden shaft just above the swab, snapping the wooden mop handle.  In a second, she raises the wooden shaft and twirls it lick a master of the quarterstaff, which she is.  Leroy pauses in his advance as he watches the woman spin the stick.  Suddenly the Amazon Princess lunges forward and drives the jagged end of the stick forward, into the man's face, right above his eyes.  The pole hammers Leroy's forehead and he staggers backward, screaming in pain as blood streams from his wound into his eyes.  In her follow-through, Warrior Princess brings the stick around in a powerful sweep to hit his left temple, knocking Leroy to the side and out of the fight.

Screaming like a banshee with cramps, Warrior Princess charges the cons in the doorway, her stick swinging savagely at their faces and groins.  One man drops clutching his nuts, two others turn away with blood streaming from their faces.  In seconds, half a dozen cons are on the floor and the others have backed away from the hellion.  Deana pauses outside the cell door and her eyes sweep the twenty or so convicts arrayed around her in a semi-circle, trying to determine which is the greatest threat.

Suddenly the silence is broken with the easily-recognizable sound of a round being chambered in a shotgun.  "What in the BLOODY HELL are you doing, woman!" a voice to one side says.  Warrior Princess slowly turns her head and sees her guard and four others standing there, weapons aimed at her and hate in their eyes.

"Defending myself, guard," the Amazon replies defiantly, placing one end of the staff on the ground, holding the other end in one hand.  Her free hand goes to her hips and she adopts a kind of super power pose that just doesn't come off when the heroine's hair hangs in wet strings, sweat stains her face, armpits and other areas of a baggy orange jump suit, and her hands are in oversized black rubber gloves and her feet are in equally-too-large black rubber boots.

"AGAINST WHO?" the guard shouts.  He moves toward the Amazon, holding the twelve-gauge aimed at her ample bosom.  The other guards fan out, maintaining a clear line of fire at the woman.  After a quick look into the cell, the guard turns back toward Warrior Princess.  He approaches the heroine and lowers the shotgun.  He begins poking one finger against the Amazon's chest above her breasts and snarls, "YOU were in HIS cell, Warrior Princess.  You had NO RIGHT to be in there!  I'm sure he just wanted you to leave.  Instead, I saw you ATTACK these men.

"Are you trying to prove something?  Is this some kind of vendetta or rough justice, Amazon?" the guard sneers at the heroine.  "Why, most of these men you beat are Black.  Are you some kind of racist?  You know, you might be allowed to be a vigilante on the outside, but we have very definite rules about prisoners who abuse other prisoners, Warrior Princess, and you've just broken most of them.  Destroying prison property, assaulting half a dozen of your 'fellow' inmates, maybe race crimes.  I think you'd better drop your club and come along with me.  And you better pray that the Director doesn't get your sentence extended for this violent behavior!"

Dumbfounded at this unexpected turn of events, Warrior Princess lets the staff fall and her arms drop limply to her sides.  Dully, she walks past the guard toward the exit from the cell block.  Even when the guard shoves her by thumping her spine with the muzzle of the twelve-guage, causing her to bend suddenly and thrust her stomach forward, the Amazon Princess continues to walk like a zombie toward the exit.  In her mind, panic is starting to form as she wonders whether she misinterpreted what had happened.  Was she truly in error?  What would this mean to her sentence?  Behind her, the prisoners (the conscious ones) shout insults, whistle, and make smooching sounds, adding to her shame.

******************

For the next few days, HyperLass spent most of her time in her cell, under the red lights, and was only allowed out of the cell for short walks in the exercise yard late each night after she 'processed' another hundred of the I-beams.  Just as well, she muses now, because she hasn't felt very well.  For the past day or so, in fact,  she has felt tired, weak even.  She was actually sweating last night after working with the I-beams.

Randomly, during each of the last few days, loud music blasted over the ceiling speakers.  At other random times, loud buzzes and clicks and low humming noises came from the speakers.  Why, the noise even kept her awake most of the last night, for some phenomenal reason!   After sundown on the fourth day of being under red lights, she's taken back to the large workroom where she confronts another pile of iron I-beams.

"We've got another load of I-beams for you to work on, HyperLass," Mr. Askew says as the heroine shuffles into the room.  He observes that her shoulders seem to be slumped and he can almost make out bags under her eyes.  Her arms swing listlessly at her sides and she seems to be dragging her feet.  Maybe  . . .

The Maiden of Muscles walks slowly over to the pile of beams and bends over to raise the first one.  As she starts to lift it with one hand, the beam doesn't move and she has to use her second hand to lift it.  She is suddenly shocked to feel how HEAVY the beam is!  And what was that sudden twinge she felt in the small of her back?  She drops the beam and steps backward, shaking her hands as if they are on fire.  She looks at her palms, unsure of what has happened.  Her biceps tingle from her attempt to lift the beam and her back aches.

"Come on, HyperLass," Askew says, tapping his foot on the concrete floor, "we don't have all day here.  Just get to work on those beams!"

HyperLass looks at Askew, then turns back to the I-beams.  Squatting beside the pile of beams, she puts her hands on one and again tries to lift it, this time using her thigh muscles to raise her body and the beam.  She lifts the massive beam up to the level of her waist and is aghast that the thing STILL seems to weigh so much.  Or has she suddenly, impossibly, become weaker?  Again she drops the massive iron bar and steps back as it clangs loudly against the other beams.  The Maiden of Muscles is panting lightly from her exertions and doesn't understand what's happened.  Before Askew can bug her, she tries to use her super vision to cut the beam in half.  Maybe HALF a beam would be easier to work.  She focuses her eyes on the beam and  . . .  NOTHING!  No heat vision slicing through the iron!  Just a dull red line on the dark steel is evidence of her heat vision.

Before the Girl of Tomorrow can react to this revelation, she feels a firm grip around her bicep.  She's spun around roughly to face Askew.  "If you ain't gonna work, you're goin' back to your cell!" he says, pulling her toward the exit.

"No," HyperLass protests, "wait, there's something wrong here!  I . . . my powers . . . I need to  . . ."

"The director told me," Askew says, dragging the heroine back to her cell, her paper slippers scuffing the tile floor, her free arm waving uselessly at her side as she tries and fails to resist Askew, "'If HyperLass doesn't do her job, she goes back to her cell and loses her privileges!'  So back to your cell you go!"

HyperLass's mind races as she senses that her bicep is getting sore from this man's powerful grip.  She IS losing her powers, somehow.  She needs to find out what's happened to her powers, she needs freedom to find an answer, and going back to the cell won't yield any answers.  But the bewildered heroine realizes as she's pulled along the hallway toward her cell, if she resists, she'll just get into deeper trouble.  HyperLass tries to keep up with the guard as he pulls her closer to her cell.  In minutes, she's back under the dull red lights and she jumps slightly when the solid steel door slams tightly behind her, locking her into the cell for . . .  how long?

Although she can't hear it now, a subsonic tone begins pouring from speakers in her cell.   Half an hour later, HyperLass is edgy, irritated, and doesn't understand why she's suddenly upset.  Sitting on the edge of her hard prison bed, the Maiden of Muscles drops her head, propping it up with one hand.  A tear comes to her eye.

******************

"Why don't we just kill the bitches and get the Hell out of here?" Frank Askew asks Pete Kendall as they lounge in the Office of the Director, Ultra Security Unit.

"Nah, ah, ah," Kendall says, lighting one of Becker's cigars, "InterGang HQ in New York City gave me specific orders about these two.  They paid big money to Judge Jefferson and Mayor Bary to capitalize on this opportunity.  If we blow the mission, we won't be safe anywhere on the planet!"

"So what are we supposed to do with 'em?"

"Well, we did the first part," Kendall replies. "From what you say, HyperLass has been under those lights long enough, and kept away from normal sunlight so that her powers are nearly gone.  That tip we got from the  nerd-boy at Star Labs was right, those Kelvanians NEED yellow sunlight.  Deprive them of it, make them use up their energy, hit 'em with light waves like those of a red sun, and they lose most of their powers."

"That's fer sure.  I had to bite my lip to avoid laughing at the silly blond cow last night.  Bitch was grunting and straining like she was bein' butt-fucked, trying to lift even one beam and couldn't get it up.  When I dragged her off to her cell, she had this blank stare on her face like 'What the FUCK?'  But I don't think she's completely powerless.  At least, I won't bet MY life on it."

"Yeah, you're right.  Harrigan said pretty much the same thing after Warrior Princess was given the 'news' about Leroy.  Took it real hard, she did, to learn that Leroy was still in a coma from her beating and two others were still in the hospital.  Harrigan must have some Jew in him, the way he made her feel guilty about pounding on that big bitch.  He really nagged her ass about a 'white heroine bashing a poor Black man just going back to his cell'."

"I saw Leroy in the yard today.  He's ACHING to get his hands on that big-boobed cunt."

"So here's what we do next," Kendall says, leaning toward Askew to whisper conspiratorially.

"Oh," Kendall says as Askew starts to leave a few minutes later,  "and we need to finish phase two in the next week or so.  That cunt Cameron has been here three times this week, trying to get in to see 'our girls'.   I've been able to put her off - I told her that they had been troublesome and were denied all privileges, including visitation rights.

"Cameron said something about getting Jefferson to rescind her order.  Couldn't find Mayor Bary - she's on a trip to the Bahamas with 20 or 30 of her staff.  Probably using all that coke we gave her to look the other way.  Haw, haw, haw.  By the time Congresswoman Cameron can get anyone in D.C. to take responsibility to act on this, we'll be finished and back in New York City!"

"Well, I better get started on phase two, chief," Askew said as he walked out of the director's office.

******************

Warrior Princess has spent the two days after her fight with Leroy just sitting in her cell agonizing about her actions in that cell block.  The only word she got about his condition wasn't good.   "Athena, grant me wisdom," the Princess sighs and thinks, "I attacked that man and he was entirely justified in not wanting me in his cell.  Now  . . .  who knows what will happen to the poor man.  I . . . I feel so helpless here, unable to do anything for him, or for me."

Suddenly she hears a vague hissing sound.  She quickly rises to her feet and looks around the cell but sees nothing.  The Amazon rushes the door of the cell and begins pounding on it and shouting for the guards.   The massive steel door absorbs her blows and shows only very small dents where her fists have hit the metal.  Without her Girdle of Power, she cannot break out of this reinforced cell.  After a few moments of trying to attract a guard, the Amazon's vision gets blurry and she sways slightly on her feet.  Slowly, ever so slowly, she backs away from the door, swaying and trying to keep her eyes focused on the door.  One hand goes to her forehead, the other rips off a piece of her jumpsuit to cover her mouth (too late!).

Princess Diana shudders as she backs into the  wall at the back of her cell.  "Gas!  Here?  Wh-what is this new madness?" she gasps through the orange fabric.  "C-can't see straight . . . getting . . .  sleepy!"  She still sees nothing in the cell but also knows that there is some kind of gas in there with her.  Slowly the warrior woman slides down the wall, her hair and jump suit dragging and slowing her descent.  She drops to her knees, then her legs buckle under her.  As her buttocks settle upon her legs, her eyes close and her chin settles upon her chest.

******************

At the same time, HyperLass is angry and frustrated.  Since the shocking results of trying to work with the I-beams, she has tried to use her super powers, to test them, without seeming to be trying to break out of the cell.  While she has some super strength and flying ability, her strength is not enough to break down the door of the cell.  She had to sweat and strain to bend the steel frame of her bed and even then it was only slightly bent.  As for her other powers, none seemed to work.  In fact, while testing her strength with the bed frame, she even cut her hand slightly on a jagged edge of the metal.  Blood!  HER blood!  WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HER!?

As she ponders the loss of her powers, she is distantly aware that a hissing can be heard somewhere - there, in the roof of the cell.  She rises and climbs on the bed to look for the sound of the leak and after getting near the ceiling vent, she suddenly inhales a large volume of a foul-tasting gas.  Coughing, retching, HyperLass falls off the bed and lands on her side, banging her elbow and the side of her head against the hard concrete floor.  Slightly dazed and confused from the gas and the fall, the Girl of Tomorrow rises shakily to her feet only to fall backward against the cell door.  This time the back of her head hits soundly against the metal door and she crumbles down onto her butt.  As she tries to rise, she's shocked when her limbs refuse her commands.  She looks dully down on her legs and arms and her eyes slowly begin to close.  Soon her chin sags downward to land on her chest.

******************

"Well, NightLord," Nightbird says to her cohort in Geheim city via a secure phone line, "I tried everything I could think of to get in to see HyperLass and Warrior Princess, but they keep giving me excuses.  And no one will see me or give them pardons.  Mayor Bary and the Big Bubba are both out of D.C. on holidays, higher courts won't reverse Judge Jefferson's ruling . . ."

"I'll see what I can find out here, and talk to HyperMan, and some other people," the Batman replies.  "Just don't do anything rash, ok?  I'm sure we'll find a way to deal with this, Nightbird."

"Yeah, sure, right, whatever," a disgusted Nightbird says just before she slams the phone down.  "And the longer they're in there, the longer . . .  the longer who knows WHAT can happen to them!  I've just got to see what's going on inside that Ultra Security Unit.  And if they won't let a Congresswoman in, what chance does another crime-fighter have?  I think I'd better let myself into the place."

Minutes later a sleek black motorcycle roars out of a Georgetown garage, across the Francis Scott Key bridge and onto the George Washington Parkway.  At two a.m., there are few people on the streets of Georgetown or on the Key bridge.  Those that ARE out are amazed to see the famous Nightbird prowling the streets of D.C.  Less than an hour later the BatBike is lying in the weeds beside one fence of the Lorton complex.   Using all her skills and training, the lithe figure of the Nightbird expertly dodges sensors and cameras and guards as she penetrates D.C.'s maximum security prison.

Nightbird needs to get in and out before sunrise at six-thirty a.m.!

******************

An hour after the gas flooded into their cells, the two super heroines were still unconscious and helpless.  During that time, guards entered their cells and stripped the two women before tying them to their beds.  Manacles on Warrior Princess's wrists completely drained her powers and made her totally vulnerable to the evil InterGang plans.  Long exposure to artificial red sunlight, long deprivation of yellow sunlight had so weakened HyperLass that she too was weak and malleable to the criminals.  The guards laughed loudly as they manhandled the limp, unconscious  women, stripping them, binding them, and frequently copping feels or sucking on parts of their bodies.

When the guards had finished, Askew took his turn and a particularly cruel pleasure in his tasks.  First visiting the Girl of Tomorrow's cell, then the Amazon's cell, he accomplished his assigned tasks with evil efficiency.  After the women were tied to their beds, legs and arms spread to the four corners, Askew removed several items from his duffel bag.  He applied copious amounts of K-Y jelly to the ends of a large, a VERY large sex tool with probes for both vaginal and anal cavities.  As he slowly inserted the obscenely large tool into HyperLass, the comatose heroine moaned and tried to turn her hips as if she relished having the tool violate her nether regions.   The unconscious Amazon cried in pain and grimaced as Askew struggled to insert the tool into her honey sac.

Then he turned on the "Bitch Tamer" vibrators.  They began a slow and insistent thrumming inside each woman and Askew could see immediately that, even unconscious, the women were reacting to the tools.  He next put vacuum pumps on each woman's breasts, pumps that were large enough to encompass even the Amazon's ample bosom inside a hemispherical Plexiglas device.  Neoprene around the edge of the shells allowed the tools to create a firm seal during suction.  A small feathered wheel inside the core of the shell would spin when the sucking began and would brush lightly against blood-engorged nipples, driving the women crazy with sexual arousal.

Finally, each woman was given a powerful hallucinogenic and erotic compound.  Their minds would be assaulted on multiple fronts - warping reality and powerfully arousing them sexually.  The goal was to completely destroy their wills to resist, then 're-program' the women to perform certain . . . 'tasks' for InterGang.  But first their wills HAD to be crushed ruthlessly and TOTALLY.  Kendall and Askew had time and drugs and the right tools.  And lots of K-Y jelly.

Askew finishes injecting the mix into Warrior Princess's powerful bicep, then clicks the breast-sucking device into the "on" mode.  He stands in the doorway for a few moments, watching the once-invincible Amazon Princess writhe on her dirty, sweat-soaked sheets, her pelvis rising and falling, rising and falling and twisting and turning as the BitchTamer grinds remorselessly into her cunt and ass.  Her eyes are still closed and she's probably still unconscious (SHOULD be!).   The super heroine moans and shudders as the breast-sucking machine tries to swallow her huge mamms then insidiously stops its sucking action.  Her jiggly breast flesh strains as it's pulled into the hemisphere during the "in" phase, then sags and flows slightly out of the shells when the suction stops during the "out" phase.  During the in-phase, the small feathered wheel begins spinning and Askew can SEE the tiny brushes tickle the ends of the Amazon's nipples.  The Amazon's chest rises off the bed during the "in" phase as her body unconsciously responds to the powerful sucking and teasing action, trying to move closer to the soft ticklers, and always unable to get closer.

His last task is to set a boom box on the floor by each woman's head.  A CD on continuous play begins running, with Kendall's voice slowly repeating the same refrain over and over, repetition being the best way to bore through the drugs and unconsciousness and insinuate thoughts into the woman's subconscious.

"A few hours of this and her mind will be mush, just like the Hyper Whore's!" Askew says smugly as he closes the door behind him.

******************

HyperLass is lost in a sexual reverie she's never experienced before.  As her naked body tosses fitfully on the filthy sheets on her bunk, her mind is elsewhere, seeing and experiencing things conjured in her mind by the hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac drugs Askew gave her (he broke several needles trying to inject the stuff into her veins - he finally had to just squirt the stuff down her open throat when he saw that the needles could only barely break her epidermal layer).

"Nnnghh . . . nnnnOOOOO . . . snakes  . . . no, weir-beasts of Argo City . . . how, where . . ." she moans in her half-awake, half-asleep druggy state.  In her mind, she sees a creature from her dead home, a beast shaped like an inverted jellyfish, with long tentacles and a firm bulbous body.  Rena sees tentacles crossing her body, pinning her arms to her sides.  They drag slowly across her skin, her BARE skin, leaving ripples of goose bumps in their wake, tickling her, causing her to giggle like a schoolgirl.  Then large pulsing tubular strands weave in the air and slowly advance on Rena.  Others wrap around her arms and legs and spread her legs wide, SOOO very very wide.  The pain soon follows, the great pain of having her legs stretched soooo wide!  In her mind, her legs are pulled up and up and up until she 'sees' her ankles are beside the wrists of her outstretched arms and form a painful V shape and bare her pussy and asshole to the invading tentacles.  She screams as the ropy tentacles bore into her exposed cunt and thrust and throb, causing her to explode in orgasm after orgasm after THANK YOU RAO mind-blowing orgasm.

She looks down to watch the weir beast violate her womanhood and suddenly Swift Bear appears.  One of his hands is placed on her stomach to slowly caress her taut flesh.  Then the shaman leans forward, opens his mouth and swallows one of her breasts, then the other.  Kara screams and moans and gasps as she feels Swift Bear suck her breasts into his mouth and down his throat.  She senses his tongue lashing her nipples, an impossibility since they MUST have stretched and elongated and been swallowed into his stomach by now!  HyperLass tries to twist away from Swift Bear, tries to shake her head and get rid of the loggy feeling in her mind.

Suddenly Swift Bear's features change slowly, his skin lightens, and the shaman from New Mexico is replaced by . . . HyperMan!  His powerful hands are running all over her body and he's floating above her and suddenly his costume vanishes and his huge super penis is hanging over her mouth, dripping pre-cum into her lips, teasing her with its proximity - so near yet unreachable.  "H-help me . . . Ron!" she pleads piteously.

HyperLass dimly hears a voice speaking insistently to her: "HyperMan is raping you, WANTS to take your body!  You are a sex toy to him.  He has no respect for you.  You are the only way he can find sexual release.  You are HIS sex toy, HyperLass.  You must KILL HyperMan before he makes you his sex slave.  You must kill HyperMan before he makes you his prisoner, his PREGNANT breeder.  Kill HyperMan, kill HyperMan, KIILLLL HYPERMAN!"

On and on and on the litany repeats.  The Man of Tomorrow continues to hang over the Maiden of Muscles.  Now his dick is in her mouth AND in her cunt AND HER ASS!  He's smiling and his four hands run across her shoulders, down along her ribs, causing her to shudder with pleasure.  Other hands stroke the insides of her thighs.  Both of her breasts are in his mouth, but he's also probing her anus with his tongue.  Like some Escher print, HyperMan's body morphs to accomplish all these tasks in HyperLass's drugged mind.

"Kill HyperMan.  Stop the abuse!  Stop the PAIN!  KILL HYPERMAN!"

Again and again the Girl of Tomorrow shudders and moans as powerful orgasms, orgasms caused . . . BY HYPERMAN . . . ravish her body, drain her strength, make her weak.  THAT'S why she can't lift the iron beams a voice says!  HyperMan is STEALING YOUR POWERS TO RESIST.  Then she's suddenly a witch, sister to Britannia, unable to deal with iron.  And . . .  and the constant orgasms caused by HyperMan are draining her strength.  "Why won't he stoooppp?" HyperLass cries in her mind,  "He's my cousin and I rescued him in Dallas and sex with him was SOOOOOOOO good and his dick was thick and long and HARD and touched me where nothing had touched my soul like the kiss I got from Warrior Princess wonder where she went and is she still in her boots and will she let me suck them and suck her lovely tits and HyperMan is back IN MEEEEE!

"NNNNOOOOOOO!" she cries out in her mind, "pl-please, Ron-el, please . . . uunnhh . . . mmmnnhhh . . . you c-can't do this to me, I'm . . . mmmNNNHHHHHAAAHHH . . . I'm OHGODOHGODOHGOD YEESSSSS!!"

An hour later, the Maiden of Muscles collapses and slips deeply into sleep as the drugs wear off.  The powerful sexual stimulations no longer affect her, she's too deeply asleep.  Her body and the sheets under her are drenched with her sweat and urine and other body juices.  Her hair is a sodden golden mess with strands scattered all around her head.  She's pumped out most of the liquids in her body and is barely breathing, her pert chest barely moving even as the BitchTamer drones on and on and on . . .

******************

Warrior Princess dimly realizes that she's surrounded by several of her warrior sisters back on their home, Themyscira.  As the Princess lies in soft grass, four other stunningly beautiful women lying or kneeling beside her stroke her powerful body with their long, delicate fingers, tickling her body at times, raising goosebumps at other times, depending on the reaction of nerves just below her skin.   Repeatedly, the warrior woman moans and runs a tongue across her too-dry lips, feeling her body surge toward an orgasm.

As Clymidia, one of the Amazon who makes the island's beer slips between the Princess' legs, a long beer tap, designed to be put in the end of a barrel of beer suddenly appears.  Warrior Princess tries to rise up on her elbows but her other sisters pin her alabaster shoulders to the grass.  The Amazon's eyes widen with shock as Clymidia takes the beer tap and shoves one end into the heroine's pussy, painfully parting her nether lips.  Warrior Princess screams like an animal as the thick wooden tool seems to stretch the opening to plunge into her body.  As Deana watches in horror, Clymidia turns the end of the tap and golden juices seem to flow out of the Princess' body.  First Clymidia, then the other Amazons slip between the Princess' legs and put their mouths around the beer tap, drinking deeply of the Amazon's precious bodily fluids.

"Nnngh . . . nnnNNOOOO!!" Warrior Princess screams in horror, feeling her strength, her power, her very lifeforce being drained.  "MMnnnh . . . s-stop . . . puh-pleaseee stopppp!!" she pants.  Her body shudders suddenly as a small orgasm rips through her frame.  "NNhhh!" she grunts, as a second, then a third orgasm, each larger than its predecessor, plows through her magnificient body.

Warrior Princess dimly notices that Clymidia is trying to pull the tap from her vagina, then tries to drive it in deeper, then  . . . then  . . . Clymidia and the tap disappear and Deana Duke's friend, Geheim's premier super hero, NightLord, appears between her legs.  NightLord is dressed in a costume somewhat like a cross between his normal one, except this one is black with gold highlights and instead of a shirt with his symbol on it, he wears an open vest, exposing his bare chest.  Leather?  Spandex/Leather?  Warrior Princess' fogged mind lingers on the inane debate about the man's costume even as he leers at her and drops his shorts? kilt? and trombones his dick.  Suddenly Warrior Princess' attention is jerked back to NightLord when he RAMS an impossibly huge dong into her open vagina, apparently driving the tip so deeply into her that it's rubbing the bottom of her heart!  As the man hammers her body with his tool, he suddenly extends his four arms several feet so he can hold the top of her head with one hand, pinning her in place.  Fists at the end of two arms then begin to pound her body, especially her face and belly.  As she screams and tries to grab the punishing arms, his fourth arm and his mouth begin to squeeze and crush her humongous breasts, making the mighty heroine whimper like a kitten.

"MMNNNHH!  N-Night . . . NightLord, s-stop!" Princess Warrior moans as the man drives deeper and faster into her soft nether regions.  The hammer blows against her body have stopped, but he's still sucking and squeezing her tits viciously.  She's suddenly aware that his dick has split into two tools, the second now plunging into her anus with equal vigor.  As a new orgasm spreads through her body from her crotch, a voice in her mind cuts through her fog:  "NightLord has long been JEALOUS of your power, Warrior Princess.  He will rape you and abuse you until you submit to him.  Submit to him, Warrior Princess, or kill him!  KILL NightLord.  KILL NIGHTLORD!  KIIILLL  NIGHTLORRRD!!!"

******************

The night staff of the Ultra Security Unit, all of whom are members of InterGang, are crowded either in the Security Room or Kendall's office, watching the monitors which feed views from the cameras in the heroines' cells.   A dark-clad figure slips easily over the fences around the USU and approaches the Admin Building without triggering any alarms or reactions - all the guards are too engrossed in their 'TV shows'.  Nightbird approaches the windows of Kendall's office and slips a suction cup onto the window.  The suction cup leads to a digital video camera's input jack; a set of earphones allow her to hear and tape whatever happens inside.  A fiber optic cable feeds images from the room to the digital video camera.  As she watches Kendall's office in the camera's LCD, her jaw drops as she discovers the enormity of the situation.

"WhhoooooEEEE!" Askew says (only he and Kendall are in the Director's office), "lookit them bitches!  They're havin' a GOOOD time!  Haw, haw, haw!"

"InterGang will make MILLIONS on videotapes of these women!" Director Kendall gloats.

"Hey, Frank, we gotta begin the next phase!" Kendall says, turning his chair away from the monitors.

"WHAT!  Stop this?  Yer kiddin'!  Aww, what's next, Pete?" Askew asks his boss, reluctant to end the shows.

"OK, first, we keep up the subsonics and drugs.  I want them drugged and punchy all the time.  Not so's they're unconscious,  just enough to keep 'em unable to focus on anything, yah know?  Give 'em a shot of sedatives and watch 'em.  If they have too much energy and attitude, increase the dose.  I want 'em to have to work to keep their eyes open.  Keep pumping subsonics into their cells.  Don't let 'em sleep more than an hour in a twenty-four hour period.  Keep giving 'em work to do.

"Two more 'guards' will get here later this morning - Mary Wiggins and Karl Stuhl.   For the next few days, every time the Amazon is let out of her cell, have her work with Wiggins.   Having that Amazon bitch work for a Black woman cleaning floors, doing laundry, cleaning toilets should humble her.  Also, Wiggins is going to lay as much guilt on the Amazon as she can - 'Whitey always beating us Black folks, Black men cain't get no justice, yadda yadda yadda'.  Warrior Princess is being programmed to kill the NightLord . . ."

"Oohhh, look at that screen!" Askew interrupts Kendall.  "Man, that breast pump just sucked HyperLass's entire titty inside it and . . ."

"You can watch the tape later, Frank!" a stern Kendall replies, "Now, as for the Girl of Tomorrow, Stuhl used to be a weight lifting champ for the East Coast.  He's built like HyperMan - tall, massive muscles, and he's dyed his hair black.   Here's the deal - when HyperLass is barely conscious, let Karl go into her cell.  Karl has a copy of HyperMan's costume.  To our drugged heroine, I hope he'll look like HyperMan.  Karl will go into the cell  and beat the crap outta HyperLass.  Later, we'll have have him  put on a 'NightLord' costume to do the same to Warrior Princess.

"In a few days, both women will be itching to kill HyperMan and NightLord.  Then we introduce them to their new friends from InterGang, friends who will help them escape and get revenge on Big Blue and Big Black."

"Cool!" Frank says, "I like it!  I'll go 'unplug' the bitches now, and give 'em their 'medication'.  I'll let 'em sleep until those two new guards from InterGang get here.  Oh, and I thought of something else - NO LIQUIDS!  Let's let 'em get dehydrated.  It'll weaken them more!"

"Great!" Kendall replies, beaming, "sounds like a plan!"

Outside Kendall's window, Nightbird recoils in horror.  She had planned to break into the prison to see the women but she has enough information now.  She HAS to get this back to NightLord!  As the sun starts to rise in the east, the slim figure of Nightbird slides from shadow to shadow toward a way out of the prison complex.

******************

SMASH!  SMASH!  Two powerful blows crash against HyperLass's cheeks, tossing her head first one way, then another.  The confused woman opens her eyes and can make out  . . . HyperMan?  Looks like HyperMan.  But . . . SMASH!  SMASH!  More blows hit her face, stunning her and filling her eyes with tears.  'HyperMan' clasps his hands together and hits HyperLass in the face with a powerful two-handed hammer blow.

"R-Ron . . . uunhh . . . NOOO!" HyperLass cries, rising her hands to protect her face.  "Puh-please . . . don't hurt me any more!"

"Shaddup, yah twinkie!" the fake HyperMan snarls.   A powerful fist hammers into HyperLass's stomach, causing the girl to lurch up, gasping for air.  Powerful hands grab her breasts and squeeze them so hard that more tears fill the heroine's eyes.

"Ohh, Rao!  P-please  . . .  AAAAHHHH  . . . <sob> WHHHYYY?!?" the dazed woman cries out.  She can't react fast enough as powerful blows rain down upon her face and chest and stomach.  Suddenly there is a tremendous blow to her crotch, causing HyperLass to slide up the bed and crash her head against the cell wall.  As she screams from the pain, the Girl of Tomorrow curls into a fetal position facing away from 'HyperMan', hoping to protect her body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE" she screams when 'HyperMan' kicks her savagely in the kidneys once, twice, three times.  As she rises to her knees and hands, coughing and dry-retching, 'HyperMan' again lands a powerful two-fisted blow against her, this time at the base of her neck.  The girl completely collapses onto the bed in blessed unconsciousness, exhaling breath softly and wetly, as 'HyperMan' turns and leaves the cell.

A trickle of blood flows from HyperLass's lip onto the pillow.

******************

Just before noon, as Warrior Princess finishes cleaning the last of six toilets, her 'boss', a small Black woman named Mary finishes her third long tirade about the 'evil White power structure oppressing the poor Black folk'.  In her drugged state, Warrior Princess Woman has heard the woman but understood little.  What she did understand, when something penetrated the fog in her brain, the heroine agreed dully with Mary but said nothing.

"Ain't you heard a thing ah said?" Mary asks, acting her part to perfection.  She sighs and stretches, pulling her arms over her head and backward.  "The Man jest don' care 'bout us!"

"Nn . . . Y-yesss . . . I, uh, I guess so," the Amazon manages to reply as she too rises to her feet.  As she pulls off the long black rubber gloves, she too starts to stretch the kinks out of her arms.  "Hera help me," she thinks to herself, "I . . . I just don't know why I'm so sore, or . . . or so unsure of myself."

Suddenly the door to the restroom crashes open and NightLord storms into the room.  "Ain't you bitches done in here yet?" he roars.  Mary turns to him and starts to protest when Askew lashes out at her with a baton, clipping the woman on the side of her head.  The woman cries out and drops to her knees, dropping her bucket.

"Nn-noo!" a confused Warrior Princess says, turning toward 'NightLord', "d-don't hit her.  We're . . . we're done."

"Shaddup, Princess!" the fake crimefighter says, thumping the Amazon's belly with the end of the baton.  She bends a bit at the waist - the blow was not much, even in her weakened state.  "Kendall says I can't discipline you, you being a heroine and all, but this Black bitch don't get no special treatment, so jest shut up and leave us!  NOW, Warrior Princess!  If you know what's good for you, get outta here!"

"B-but, NNNOOO!" Warrior Princess cries, moving toward NightLord.  She's still having trouble focusing her eyes and thinking, but she believes she has to help this other woman who's being unjustly treated.  "In Hera's name, stop hurting this woman!" the Amazon declares.  She sways slightly as she stands facing the dark crimefighter.

Askew grabs Warrior Princess by her shoulders and spins her around to face the other way.  He roughly shoves the woman forward through the restroom doors into the corridor.  As the door swings shut behind her, Warrior Princess continues toward the wall on the far side of the hallway under the momentum of the man's shove.  She slams into the wall and falls backward onto her butt, more dazed after hitting her chin against the wall.  As she sits on the floor, looking at the wall, trying to focus her thoughts and vision, she hears Mary screaming.

"Gotta . . .  gotta do something," the Amazon says to no one.

******************

At noon, a dozen federal government cars enter the Lorton Prison complex and race toward the Ultra Security Unit.  NightLord, Congresswoman Betsy Cameron, the Attorney General, and scores of federal marshals get out of the cars and rush the USU Admin Building.  Before those inside can react, the door is breached and the feds swarm through the building.   As Director Kendall races out the back door, he skids to a halt when the Man of Tomorrow lands in front of him.

"Understand you've been nasty toward my cousin," HyperMan says in a soft voice, glaring at Kendall.  "I'm NOT very happy about that.  Please - PLEASE, try to escape or resist me!"

Kendall drops the .44 magnum handgun in his hand and gives the New York City guardian a weak smile.  "Hey, I'm GLAD to cooperate with authorities, HyperMan."

A marshal leaves the building behind Kendall and joins HyperMan and the now-ex-Director.

"Watch him," HyperMan says, flying through the closing door to find his cousin.

******************

NightLord opens the door to Warrior Princess's cell but finds that it's empty.  From the Director's Office, the A.G. says over the P.A. system "HyperLass is still in her cell in Block I, Warrior Princess is in Block II on the first floor."  NightLord races out of the Block I building toward Block II.  As he runs down the hall in Block II, he sees a sad figure sitting on the floor, crying.  There is another person lying with half of his/her torso on the other's lap.

"Warrior Princess . . . Deana?" the Cowled Crimefighter asks as he reaches the pair, "are you ok?"  He reaches down and begins to lift Mary off Warrior Princess's lap.

The InterGang woman had acted like she was badly beaten and nearly unconscious, seeking safety from  'NightLord' while complaining bitterly about being abandoned by the Amazon and left to take an unjustified beating while the 'white Princess' waits in the hallway.  Warrior Princess was sobbing and caressing Mary when the real NightLord reached them.  Suddenly, in her foggy mind, she sees NightLord reach down and grab Mary's shoulders.

"No . . . NOOO!" Mary cries out as NightLord lifts her off Deana's lap.  "Warrior Princess  . . . th' Man . . . he gonna take me away!  Help me!"

With half-focused eyes, the dazed heroine looks into NightLord's face and sees him smile at her.  "Bastard ENJOYS what he's doing!" Warrior Princess thinks.  "THIS SHALL STOP HERE!" an indignant heroine cries.  She lashes upward with one fist and hits NightLord's cheek with a blow more powerful than most men could muster.  NightLord drops Mary (who cries out 'in pain') and staggers backward.  The Amazon struggles to get off her buttocks and has to use the wall to help her rise to her feet.  She sways unsteadily as NightLord approaches her again, one gloved hand on his cheek, the other stretched out toward the Amazon.

"Warrior Princess . . .  Deana, you've been  . . ." he manages to say before Deana steps forward and grabs his outstretched hand.  She pulls him forward and at the same time falls backward, slipping one foot up and into his belly.  She executes a perfect judo toss, throwing NightLord several feet down the hall, to bounce off the ceiling land on his back.  She can't get to her feet quickly enough, though, and as she rises, she suddenly feels powerful arms wrap around her body, pinning her arms to her sides.

"Deana," NightLord hisses, "STOP THIS!  You don't understand!"

Before either can say anything else, Mary slips a shiv, a home-made prison knife, out of her prison uniform and steps up behind NightLord, who's engrossed in trying to restrain Warrior Princess.  As the Amazon thrashes in NightLord's grip, Mary sinks the shiv into his back.  The Cowled Crimefighter cries out in pain and releases Warrior Princess.  Both fall to the ground with NightLord lying on the dazed princess.  Mary drops the shiv beside Warrior Princess, close to one of her hands.

"Finish him, girlfriend," Mary says, "for me and for all the Black and poor people he done wrong!"

Leaden eyes half-open, Warrior Princess looks at Mary, then at the shiv, then at the hero lying atop her.  All she can see is his massive shoulder looming over her face, his head is turned back toward Mary and one arm is trying to prevent the woman from getting closer.   All Warrior Princess sees, she THINKS is NightLord is trying to hold her down AND grab Mary!

Warrior Princess scratches the floor, trying to recover the shiv.  "Hera help me, she's right," the confused heroine says, "you ARE an oppressor, just like ALL MALES!"  She wraps her fingers around the shiv handle and raises it over NightLord's exposed back.

A powerful hand grabs the Amazon's wrist and twists it, causing Deana to drop the shiv.

"Warrior Princess, STOP!" Congresswoman Cameron shouts, putting one hand on the Amazon's chin and turning her head so they see eye to eye.  "This woman is with InterGang!  They've drugged you!  You don't know what you're doing!"

"NNoo!!" Diana screams, trying to free her hand, "I  . . . I saw . . .  I . . . oh, Gods of Olympus, what's WRONG with me?"

As NightLord staggers to his feet, Mary flees down the hall.  Cameron helps the Amazon princess to her feet and then helps her and NightLord stagger down the hall toward the Admin Building.

Deana leans on the smaller woman's shoulder and sobs uncontrollably as she tries to sort, in her mind, what has happened and what has become of her.

******************

CRASH!  The door to HyperLass's cell smashes open and the Man of Tomorrow stands in the door.  "Rena!  Are you in here!"  Suddenly a smaller figure plunges out of the red gloom to crash into the Man of Tomorrow's stomach.  HyperLass, far too weak to beat her cousin, bounces off his stomach and crashes to the floor.

"B-bastard!"  HyperLass sobs from the floor, "you-you've raped me for the . . .  for the last time!"

HyperMan stands over the Girl of Tomorrow as she lies on the floor crying.  He gently lifts her to her feet, then as he holds her with one hand a bicep, he lifts her chin up with his other hand.  "Rena, rest easy," he says soothingly, "you've had a hard time.  InterGang has been . . ."

"No!" HyperLass says, and punches HyperMan's jaw with her free arm.  It has no effect and HyperLass begins sobbing harder at her weakness.  "No more!" she pleads.

HyperMan sighs, then lifts his cousin and cradles her in his arms.  Together they head back toward the Admin Building.

******************

A week later, Warrior Princess and HyperLass are released from Walter Reed Army Community Hospital, their systems cleared of the chemicals of InterGang and their powers restored.  Judge Jefferson has fled the country, most of the InterGang crew at the USU are in custody, and the sentences of the two heroines are replaced with 'time served', freeing the two women.  As they walk out of WRACH in their newly-cleaned costumes, NightLord, Nightbird and HyperMan await them.

After a brief group hug, Nightbird explains what she overheard, what plans InterGang had for the two heroines.  Once again, HyperLass's face reddens with shame - AGAIN she has been used and abused and has made a fool of herself.  Before the others can say anything else, the Maiden of Muscles leaps into the air and flees Washington, D.C. toward her home in Leesburg, Virginia.