Tuesday, June 26, 2012
For three days I was in limbo, not knowing what Alpha Man and the Battalion of Evil were doing. Slinky or Locksmith appeared with my meals, pushed in through a slot at the bottom of my cell door. I got oatmeal for breakfast; stews for lunch and for supper, and nothing to drink but water, and always in a metal bowl, without utensils. I had to tip the bowl to eat from it, and then lick it clean. Failure to eat it all earned me another spanking, harder than the first time.
Finally, at the end of the third day, Slinky opened my cell door and ordered me to precede her to a shower room to clean myself up. When I said “Okay,” she slapped me. That was the first rule: she was mistress, and I was just a slave. Each time I spoke, I had to use the “proper” form of address. It galled me, but I had given my word, on pain of the death of millions.
Once at the shower room Slinky removed my manacles and then chased me into the shower stall, slapping my butt with a towel. Only when the water was running and the shower curtain pulled back did she leave me alone. I knew she was going to be a hard taskmaster.
Worse still, as I was showering, I made a horrible discovery: my powers were gone! One of my favorite bathing tricks was to levitate and turn about under the pelting water. But I couldn’t fly! I tried to bend the shower rod with my fist, but it wouldn’t budge. Why?
In answer, an image of my Goddess, Diana, appeared to me. “You broke your vow. You called a man Master and bowed to his domination.” I started to protest that I had done so to save a life, to save millions of lives, but her face was as unforgiving as her statues. She shook her eternal face and vanished. I was alone again, a normal woman.
Slinky gave me a three-minute warning, and I swallowed hard. I hadn’t been normal since the age of eleven. Now, Goddess Diana had turned her back on me when I needed her most. I shuddered, and lowered my head under the pelting water so I wouldn’t feel my tears.
“Hurry up, girl,” Alpha Man’s voice sounded from outside. “You have a duty to perform.”
“All right,” I said, and then the door splintered open. He was there, still wearing his forest green bodysuit with the capital ‘A’ on his chest, surrounded by red flames. Slinky stood to one side, grinning.
“Yes, what?” he asked, seizing me by my blonde hair and yanking me within an inch of his goggled face.
“Yes, Master,” I ground out from between clenched teeth.
“You’re learning,” he said, releasing my hair. He tore the towel from my body and ordered me to raise my arms. He prowled around me once, and then again, looking at every part of me. One hand massaged the side of my face. He had removed his heavy gloves, and for the first time I felt his hand on my face. It was surprisingly gentle.
“Your Goddess abandoned you, I assume?” I gasped, and he laughed. “It had to happen. The true Artemis was a lifelong virgin. She would never stand by and let her namesake submit to a man.” He ran a hand across my belly, and watched me cringe. “Slinky, from now on you’ll have to be careful not to mark her permanently. Discipline her when necessary, but within limits.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, throwing him a mock salute. Her black hair sloughed over her face, making her look very cruel.
Dr. Asura ran his fingers through my short blonde hair, and then snapped his fingers. Slinky handed over my uniform, cleaned and pressed. “Dress carefully, my dear, I want this to be perfect.” he said, and then held up a small square bottle with an atomizer attached. “Wear this perfume, or I’ll nuke Provincetown.”
“Yes, Master,” I sa
