LOCATION UNKNOWN
Lucy Ferris waited in the dark listening for something beyond the dripping water. She sat on cold stone, her hands and legs chained. She used to break bicycle chains growing up, but these were thick, heavy manacles that would not even creak. She had struggled against them until she was exhausted, and now she waited.
Right after that giant robot in the SBA arena had manhandled her like a ragdoll, Lucy was offered a ride to a clinic to make sure she didn’t have any serious injuries. She declined out of embarrassment and flagged down a cab to take her to the Metrocity Railyard. The cab stopped on an abandoned street and six men in military gear wearing masks jumped out of a black van.
Lucy was confused at first as her cabbie fled from the vehicle. Then excited for a moment as she thought, “This is the real audition!” She jumped out and got into a ready stance. In moments she was on the ground being beaten by metal batons and jabbed with stun guns. She expected the assault to end once she was down, like the SparBot as it deactivated. But it continued for minutes as she curled into a ball trying to protect herself.
When she regained consciousness she was in what could only be described as a dungeon. She was weak, bruised, cold. Impatient.
A beam of light struck her eyes as a door was opened. A woman in a ridiculously tight red dress entered carrying a bowl of oatmeal. Lucy glared, “What do you want with me??”
The woman smiled demurely, “I don’t want you at all. My employer will be here in a few days to meet you.”
A few days? Lucy couldn’t stand the thought of being here for that long. “Please anything you want you can have. Just get me out of here!”
“What my employer wants is for your spirit to be broken. That’s why your meeting will have to wait a few days.” The woman placed the bowl on the ground, far enough from the wall she was chained to that Lucy would have to kneel and eat from it like a dog. “You should be proud. Some of the other girls caved in just for the promise of fame or wealth. But my employer is somewhat of an expert in the area of breaking wills. So you will have to spend two more days here before your meeting.”
“What happens then?”
“Then you become a slave.”
METROCITY
Commissioner X Office
“Hey, this is not fair!” Emerald pointed a finger into Charles’ chest. “It’s my turn to fight, I get to snap the little China doll in half.”
Ninjako looked cooly at the massive green woman. “I’m Japanese you sow.”
Charles Black held up his hands, “Look, Betty, you can fight next week. In fact, I’ll let you pick any opponent you like since we’re postponing your match. But ever since the open tryouts last week the public has been begging for us to give Dark Dominatrix a match in the arena. Even Sara Sloane is pushing for it, and she hates everyone!”
Ninjako, aka Emiko, looked bored. “You are not the only one this is pissing off, green cow-woman. I had a look at her entry stats. The new girl is at the bare minimum power level to be considered a light heavyweight. She’s weaker than me, slower than me. It’s a no-win situation for my PR numbers… like beating up a puppy.”
“If she doesn’t want to fight her, let me beat up the puppy. I want a fight!”
“There is no way,” Charles shook his head, “that we’re putting a new fighter into the ring with a Super Heavyweight. Everyone will think that we’re setting her up to fail.”
“But it’s okay to put her in the arena against me because I’m a petite, little Asian woman. It’s all about appearances isn’t it Charles?”
“Betty, you fight next week! Emiko, you fight the new girl this week! Now both of you shut up and get out of here!” There was a slight crackle of electricity at the end of his last sentence and both women knew not to press the issue.
“After I murder your shiny new girl in the ring, I expect a fight of my choice as well.” Ninjako strode out. Emerald looked like she was going to utter an angry retort then thought better of it. “Fine…”
Charles Black waited until his office door was shut then flipped open a screen at his desk. “Commissioner X to The Tower, channel Gamma-4.”
After a brief pause a man appeared on the vid stream. Captain Alpha in his red and gold helmet answered, “Tower here. Good to see you, Charles.”
“Hey, Sam. Any word on our ten missing women?”
“Sorry, nothing yet. Jade Detective is on the case and we have three Tower Guard members on standby for rescue detail the instant he calls. If they can be found, we will find them. How are things holding up for you down there?”
“I thought the press would be eating me alive. Ten women show up here for an audition and all ten are abducted. They should be blaming us for negligence or saying that we’re responsible. Instead, Sara Sloan showed at my office and asked me a bunch of questions about Dark Dominatrix.”
Captain Alpha shook his head. “Fame is fickle, but infamy is downright ugly. Look, the media may have already forgotten about those girls but we haven’t. After all, this is Jade Detective we’re talking about. Stay frosty, Charles.”
“Stay frosty, Sam.” The vid link closed and Commissioner X looked at a holo display of news feeds. Hundreds of media outlets discussing the Dark Dominatrix debut match flickered in and out. This seemed like less of a viral sensation and more of an orchestrated media feeding frenzy.