The memories came, clicking seamlessly into place. She had been dragged from her hotel room by Doctor Fang’s goon squad. They had blindfolded her and brought her down to this underground complex, somewhere in the city, where she had been forcibly dressed in this... thing... and then stuck in here.

Something else... what was it? She tried to look up at the top of her own head. Her hair. That was it. They had set her hair in a new arrangement, with a single long sharp pin (?pin? thats nota pin!? itsa-) holding it all in place. She stoked the glistening oily metal with the very tips of her fingers, then slowly withdrew her hand. It was actually rather fetching from what she could see, and she’d leave it the way it was, until...

Until whenever. Now the only important thing was to escape from this cell, and find her way up and out of here. Or at least find her way to the communication center; she knew from long experience that there always was a communication center in these sort of places. She had to get in touch with Jimmy immediately, so he and Commander Amazing could raid this place, wherever it was, and drag that twisted bastard Fang off to his own small padded room. They could even skip the pads if they wanted to.

She uncurled her legs, rose and stalked to the door, her bare feet silent on the puffs of the floor, which was as soft as the walls. At any rate, she was pretty sure it was the door she was examining; it looked just like the rest of the room with no sign of window or handle, but thin cracks marking the top and sides were visible.

She poked and prodded, looking for any weak points. It did not occur to her to think that the pin might be useful in this task. In fact, she did not think again about the pin at all.

Someone would come to see her sooner or later. If she was really lucky, it would be Fang himself, and she’d finally get a chance to rip out his heart, or fluid pump, or whatever the hell the monster had installed down there in the corroded blackness. Rip it out with her bare hands. If it was just that Jinn or one of his other idiotic flunkies, she’d figure something out. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d talked and finagled her way out of a situation like this, not by a long shot. She scowled and paced just a little faster.

It seemed like days, but it probably hadn’t been even half an hour when abruptly the door slid open on silent runners. Hildy spun and stared, every muscle tense. If it was Fang...

It wasn’t. It was a slender delicate Asian woman (Japanese, at a quick guess...) with a spill of long healthy black hair. The newcomer was dressed in the same manner as Hildy, with the addition that she carried a matching metal tray. The prisoner’s eyes darted to the tray, fully expecting to see neat metallic rows of well-polished torture implements or something equally unpleasant. Instead, all that was visible was a shallow ceramic bowl filled with a mixture of rice and vegetables, all sitting alongside a relentlessly non-threatening plastic spoon and a cup. The cup was made of clear plastic and it stood half-full of water. Hildy’s eyes rose back to the woman’s face. The individual in the doorway smiled placidly and spoke. Her dark eyes had little hollow bits at their center, and she spoke excellent English with just the trace of an accent. Definitely Japanese.

“Good evening, Miss Johanson. My name is Lily. It was thought that you might be hungry.”

“You don’t actually think that I’m going to eat that, do you?” Hildy’s voice was sour.

The woman’s slightly vacant smile did not waver for an instant.

“If you do not want it, I will of course take it away. Are you quite sure?”

Stall An internal voice spoke to Hildy, the one she trusted most of all. You can get the jump on this ditz with one hand tied behind your back. We’re halfway out the door right now. She smiled her soothing get-the-foot-in-the-door smile, keeping the version with the shark-teeth well hidden.

“Well, on second thought, maybe I am a little peckish. Maybe you could bring it in?”

“Of course. But Miss Johanson, please do not try anything foolish.”

“Foolish?” Hildy looked the very picture of wide-eyed innocence. Along with the smile, it was an expression she had practiced in front of the mirror in her apartment. It made the inevitable moment when the shark was let out all the more precious.

“If you make any move towards me while I am here, I believe you will regret it.”

“Oh?”

The tray-holder took a half-step to the side. Behind her in the corridor was another woman, tall, stunningly beautiful. Scandinavian perhaps, sporting a shiny helmet of pure platinum-blonde hair and carrying a large ugly-looking pistol. Hildy raised an eyebrow.

“You’ll shoot me? After taking all the trouble to bring me here?”

“Oh no.” An expression of mild surprise floated serenely across the Japanese woman’s face for a moment, like a delicate water flower twirling on the surface of a calm pool. “If you cause even the slightest disturbance, Yvette will shoot herself in the head.”

The blonde woman placed the gun’s barrel to her temple. Like her shorter Japanese sister, her smile never wavered. Hildy stared for several long moments, then found her voice, speaking with embarrassingly belated realization.

“You... you’ve been hypnotized by Fang.”

“Hypnotized?” For the first time the Japanese woman... Lilly... frowned, ever so slightly, just for a second. Her forehead crinkled, a single line of perplexity. Then it was gone and she was smiling that smile again, under the holes in her eyes. “Perhaps we have. My current functions do not require me to retain such knowledge.”

“Listen to me.” Hildy pitched her voice low and urgent. “Both of you. You have to fight it. You have to break free of that bastard’s influence. You can do it.”

The woman’s smile grew a little sad. Just a little, and only for a moment, even less than the first time.

“I am truly sorry that you are so blind as to the true nature of reality, Miss Johanson, but you will understand soon enough. We will be leaving within the hour, traveling back together to the Doctor’s true home, the celestial palace which stands forever at the very gates of heaven. All of us. And once you are there, you will learn. Doctor Fang will send you to study for a time under Madame Li, as he did with Yvette and I, and the Madame will cure you forever of your delusions. She will fully expose you to the truth about Doctor Fang. He is our lord and master, and he must be protected and obeyed at all times, at all costs.” The woman got slightly (or rather even more) glassy-eyed as she recited these last words, then came back into relative focus. “I will bring the food in now. If you do anything silly, Yvette dies.”

She walked into the room, a graceful dancer’s movements. As she did so, a small legless table smoothly slid out of one of the walls, mimicking the bunk’s arrangement. The woman put down the tray. Hildy rallied gamely, if only a verbal sense.

“‘Protect’ him? How can you protect him?”

The woman turned, and tipped her head very slightly to one side. The air suddenly seemed to stand still.

What happened next was never entirely clear to Hildy; one moment the woman was standing there, and the next she was right in front of Hildy, a vicious-looking dagger in her hand, its razor-sharp point held to Hildy’s throat. Hildy stood very still, being careful not to swallow. The woman spoke in the same empty placid voice.

“Perhaps Doctor Fang will assign me to teach you some of the skills which I possess. Once you understand the truth. And perhaps you will be able to teach us things as well? How to be a good observer? How to smile like you do? Or how to play the piano? The Doctor requires only clever and knowledgeable slaves.”

For one of the very few times in her life, Hildegard Johanson couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

The woman stepped back and the dagger vanished back into its place of concealment, wherever that was. She was a harmless-looking serving girl again, and she gave a precise little bow. “Enjoy your meal, my sister-to-be. As I said, we shall all depart soon.”

The two women disappeared, the door sliding shut behind them.

Hildy flopped back down on the bunk and stared at the bowl opposite her in self-disgust. Faint whisps of steam rose from the rice, curled in the air. It actually smelled quite good but that steam... Something about the motion was familiar...

Hildy’s stomach gave a squirm and she deliberately turned away, crossing her arms and scowling at the endless seams of the pads.

About five minutes later, she heard the first of the explosions.

Then the door to the cell popped open, again without warning, but jerkily this time, shuddering to a halt and leaving only a crack. Beyond, red lights were flashing, and an acrid plume of smoke came trailing in. A set of metal-coated fingers squeezed into the gap of the doorway and pushed, sliding the door the rest of the way open with an angry squeal.

A squat bulky figure came trundling into the room, his functional steel body armor as always a bit stained and battered. Hildy’s smile widened.

“Hello there, Jimmy.”

“Miss Johanson?” Jimmy’s voice was filled with the usual chunks of gravel. (When out in public, so to speak, they tried not to draw any more attention to their actual relationship than absolutely necessary.) “Are you all right?”

“Well, my pride’s a little hurt, but otherwise, I’m fine. Where’s the Commander?”

“Chasing Fang. He slipped away as we were setting off the charges to blow the door, but we might still be able to catch him.”

“Good. Let’s get down to the control room, or whatever. When the Commander catches Fang, I want to be there, and get some...”

Jimmy abruptly held up a gloved hand, motioning her to silence. He listened to something inside his helmet.

“Right, Commander. Got it.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Jimmy picked her up, effortlessly, slung her with easy familiarity over one shoulder. She gave a small squawk as he loped from the room on mechanically-enhanced legs.

“We gotta go. This whole place is wired to explode, and the Commander doesn’t think we can bypass the computer security to abort the self-destruct in time.”

“But the Commander; I need to see him! I have a story to write!”

“Later.”

He went tearing off up the corridor, his metal soles pounding against the floor. Around them, alarms continued to sound and the lights flashed.

“Move it!”

“But the Commander...”

“Still chasing Fang. The bastard had some kind of underground escape tube. Go!”

They sprinted from the building, followed closely by the guards who were all starting to revive. Somehow sensing the change in fortunes or feeling further explosions from somewhere down below, however, the guards just kept going, disappearing into the shadows of the night when Jimmy and Hildy stopped on the far side of the street. Overhead, fireworks exploded, welcoming in the glitch-free New Year. Jimmy had stopped to grab one last guard, and he had the man’s limp body slung over one shoulder. Hildy faced him.

“You’re sure that he’s-”

The explosion was enormous, blowing out most of the boards covering the opera house’s windows, gouts of flames blasting out of every available orifice. Jimmy shielded Hildy and the guard as they retreated out of range, the chill concrete of the street stinging at Hildy’s bare feet. The second blast was even larger, lifting up a goodly portion of the structure’s elaborately arched roof. balancing it all on a column of flame for a moment before crashing it back down into ruin, and shooting flaming debris in every conceivable direction. They ducked into an alleyway for a degree of shelter. Bits of rubble came pattering down around them.

“The Commander! He can’t be-”

Again Hildy’s cry was cut off, this time by Jimmy’s wordless pointing. On the roof of one of the neighboring buildings a tall figure loomed up, his cloak stretched across his wide shoulders and billowing against the hot breeze generated by the inferno, his armor glowing burnished gold. He was there for only a moment, coolly studying the conflagration, then dipping back out of sight. Jimmy listened, spoke, as he dropped the guard to the pavement with a thud.

“Fang got away. But the Commander’s fine.”

“Of course. He’s fine.” Hildy tore her gaze away from the vacant roof with an enormous effort and suddenly realized how cold it was, even with the fire. Her teeth started chattering, and she rubbed herself. “But I’m not going to be, if I don’t-”

For a third time she was cut off. There was a squeal of tires, and a familiar battered gray van rolled to a sloppy stop besides them, filling most of the remaining space in the alley. The vehicle’s door popped open, and Lindy appeared, his trusty black cameras and his chewed-looking press pass swinging as always from his neck. (Hildy privately suspected the man bathed and slept with them.) The photographer yelled over the burning flames, absently tossing her his well-worn overcoat with one hand, already shooting pictures with the other.

“Hildy! Got my ass over here as soon as I got your page! I already called Black, and he’s holding the presses for us! Damn it, woman, how do you always manage to be right on top of these things!? We’ll get the front page again for this one!”

“My page?” Hildy pulled on the overcoat, and turned to face Jimmy. “You’re behind this, I su-”

Jimmy was gone, leaving nothing there but the body of the guard and a few last leftover leaves swirling on the pavement. Hildy rolled her eyes, and hopped into the van, scrabbling for Lindy’s cellphone which as always rode in a cradle beside the driver’s seat. There were the frantic, wonderful, adrenaline-pumping sounds of sirens rapidly approaching from all directions. An swarm of gawkers also started to gather, again pouring in from everywhere, materializing suddenly out of the darkness like crowds always do in these situations. In the sky overhead, the fireworks continued to go off, adding to the surreal glow which lit the scene. Hildy punched the speed-dial on the phone, calling the newspaper office. Someone snatched up the receiver on the first ring.

“That better be you, Hildy. Black’s about to keel over.”

“It’s me, Freddie. Sorry to ruin your New Years, but start typing.” She took a deep, centering breath. “An incredible story unfolded tonight here in the city theater district on this historic New Year’s Eve, with the lives of-”

“Hildy?Is that you?”

The nasally voice didn’t come from the phone, but from the alley. She groaned and beat her head against the cigarette-burned dashboard for a moment. If somebody didn’t let her finish just one sentence, perform the duty she so desperately needed to do... She spoke into the phone.

“Hold on.” She curled her palm around the device’s mouthpiece and swivelled in the seat to look out of the van. “What? Oh. Hello, Melvin. Arriving just after all the action is over, I see. As usual.”

“Wow!” The short spindly man looked down at the crumpled form at his feet, then stared at the leaping flames from behind his dirty coke-bottle glasses. “Was it arson or something?”

“Yes. Or something.” She started to tell the little pest to scram, but a thought occurred and she flashed yet another smile, the wide and dazzling one this time. “Say, Melvin?”

“Yes, Hildy?” He tore his gaze from the flames, and flushed a little at seeing her expression.

“Looks like I’m gonna be pulling another all-nighter on this one, by the time I’m done. How about getting me some donuts? Oh, and coffee. Black. Lots of it.”

“Donuts? On New Year’s Eve? Where am I supposed to-” He withered under her glare. “Right. Donuts. Coffee. Coming up.” He slouched off out of sight as the first of the police cars and fire trucks came screaming up, uniformed men and women starting to scramble everywhere, pushing the crowd back and unreeling hoses. Lindy's shadow could be seen sprinting back and forth in front of the flames, pausing here and there for a shot. For the moment, no one noticed the van in the alley. Hildy slammed the doors shut, locked them, took another breath, started again... “OK, Freddie. Sorry about that. Let’s take it from the top.”

“Hit it.”

“In a dramatic confrontation tonight in the city’s theater district, once again Commander Amazing rode to the city’s rescue, boldly facing down one of the most diabolical threats confronting this country, and indeed the world...”

She smiled as spoke. Yes, she’d get the story in on time just like she always did. And then, even before getting a few hours of sleep, she’d track down Jimmy, and somehow finagle a way into seeing the Commander. Alone and in private. She had to.

She had to.

And she would not rest until she had done so.

To be continued..