THE IN-BETWEEN LANDS 
Jade Detective held Tamara Jones’ hand as they descended a rock face. At the bottom was nothing but grey earth, twisted trees and a crag with no apparent paths or openings. Jade Detective stopped and looked around, his jade demon mask scanning through all the quasi-real visual spectrums but he saw nothing. No magical or ethereal residue, no taint, no planar disjunctions. He finally said, “Are you sure this is the right crag?”
“Is your mask on sideways? Right there!” Tamara pointed at the rough cliff face. Jade Detective stared.
“I don’t see anything.”
“It’s a freaking ten foot tall archway! Made of worms! Spiraling into a pink mist! How can you not see that?”
He stared again, then realization set in “Because it’s covered by a veil. Something so ancient and powerful that even my mask doesn’t recognize it. Magic that predates the Earth. One of the dark, elder gods. That’s why I wasn’t able to locate you or the other women.”
“If it’s that well hidden, then why can I see it?” Tamara asked.
“Because you were invited by the owner. And when they cast you out into the in-between lands, they didn’t bother to rescind the invitation. Because… well, because you should have been dead before you took a hundred steps in any direction.”
Tamara shuddered at the matter-of-fact tonality of his voice. “So, what’s our play?”
“If the rest of the women are beyond that gate, then they are beyond my reach. Our journey forward is done for now. We need to return to our world for reinforcements.”
“Right. Wait, we’re not on Earth?”
MOUNT OLYMPUS
Nike looked down at the clouds below her. Olympus was empty, the gods and goddesses faded away to memories. Only she remained. She felt the need to separate herself from the world of mortals on occasion, but her home now seemed like a prison.
Why was she the last of the pantheon to survive? She was never one of the greatest of the gods, yet somehow the mortals had kept faith in her.
She should return to the mortal world. Walk, live and love among them
. Yes, she was a goddess. There were millions of people that worshiped her, spoke her name, printed it on massive billboards and broadcast it out in all these magical new ways of communicating to the ends of the earth. But she did not feel… “above” them. Especially the super-powered women she had come across.
Lightning and thunder interrupted her thoughts. “Winged Victory! To battle!” Nike snapped to attention at the voice of Zeus. She had not heard it for over a millennium. She immediately sought to obey, but no words followed. Battle? Against who?
She looked down on the world. Inhaled. Looked again with the eyes of a goddess. Everything looked normal at first. But after a short while a shadow began crawling across the landscape. Something vile and immensely evil was gaining a foothold in the mortal world.
“Yes!” She cried aloud. “To battle!”
METROCITY
Lucky Star left the Commissioner’s office and headed towards the parking garage. Charles was worried. First the missing women, then the technical malfunctions with the SparBots, now some kind of power struggle for control of the arena. All these problems hitting all at once, was wearing down his will.
He was finally able to arrange the tag team match for her and Chickfighter, but he ended up agreeing to all sorts of concessions to the board and to the Domme herself. But, it was settled. Next fight she and Chicky would take on Dark Dominatrix and Blackmare.
“Pinky is going to be excited,” Siobhan thought as she looked headed toward her BMW motorcycle.
“Why so eager to fight me?” purred a low voice with a Haitian accent. The Dark Dominatrix approached Lucky Star. Siobhan shifted her weight slightly into a defensive stance and narrowed her eyes at the woman. As she walked, her body seemed to hum with energy. Her muscles were taut and rippling, obviously much stronger than when she first arrived here. If she were on steroids it must be some crazy, super-powered juice.
“I’m Irish. We fight. Try not to take it personal.”
Val stopped in front of her. “Yes, the Irish are a… passionate people aren’t they, Siobhan?” Lucky felt slightly light-headed. Something in the air smelled different and she felt drawn towards the woman’s words. “Fire. Passion. Heat. Tell me… do you feel lucky?”
As Valerie leaned close to her, Siobhan snapped out of the mind haze. She cocked back a fist but instantly her arms were seized from the sides. Ursa Mega held her right arm, Emerald held her left.
“Damnaigh é!” If she was just fighting one of these bruisers she might be able to take her down, but three?
The Dominatrix grabbed Siobhan and kissed her hard. Siobhan was repulsed as she felt something rough pry its way into her mouth. Then a sickening disgust as she realized that
it wasn’t the other woman’s tongue. A viscous tendril forced her mouth open and pressed against her throat. Her face and her thoughts turned instantly numb. The tendril dissipated into an ooze that filled her lungs, her stomach, her mind. Her head rolled up towards the ceiling and her eyes turned black for a moment before returning to green. From that point on, all her defiance turned to devotion towards her mistress.
Valerie DeVille smiled, “Now, how to harness all that fight you have in you, my pet…?”