Bombshell - Toxic Riverside Pt. 03

Luna spun around in her chair, prepared to suggest, again to just let Vic handle it, or that they simply call the cops. The words died on her tongue.

Miranda stood there with her fists planted firmly against her hips, the electric blue Nandex hugging her hourglass figure. Her long smooth legs were set wide in an unquestionably confident posture. Her hair, only slightly amess, hung around her shoulders and framing that blue mask, behind which her eyes blazed with emerald determination. She looked like something out of a comic book...like a superheroine. Luna nodded resolutely. "Go get 'em."

Chapter Thirteen

Every light was on at the Synodyne building when Miranda returned.

It had taken longer than she'd hoped to make it home and back. The sun had already gone down by the time she soared over Riverside. She could only hope Vic was alright. However, when she arrived there were no red lights flashing, none of Riverside's finest arresting Dr. Kelvin and Tuck. Instead, she found the place lit up like a beacon in the night.

It's almost like they're expecting me. Her teeth clenched and her chest tightened. Fine then.

Miranda swooped down in front of the building. Her high heeled boots scraped across the sidewalk as she landed in front of the same door she had escaped through earlier. She straightened, scanning the front of the building.

This place is supposed to be abandoned... But the power is still on?

She reached for the doorknob but then thought better of it. A repulsor burst blasted the entire door off its hinges and she stepped through the settling dust, scanning the first floor.

Tuck was waiting for her. "The doc told me you'd be comin'... I almost didn't believe him."

"And yet, here I am," she said, stepping towards the wall of man. "Where's Vic?"

"Who?" the powerlifter pretended to think. "Oh, you mean the handsome-lookin' motherfucker thinks he's so damn good with his hands?"

"Didn't he whip your ass?"

"How'd you- no..." Tuck scowled. "Doesn't matter." He was still wearing that same orange hoody, and now he reached into the front pocket and took out a gleaming syringe.

Miranda's emerald eyes flashed, and her chest tightened remembering that stabbing pain in her ass, and the quick acting drugs they'd injected her with at the pharmacy.

"Try it," she snarled, powering up another repulsor burst. "Won't be so easy this ti-" she cut herself off, "-on me." He doesn't seem to know I'm the same girl from earlier, maybe we can keep it that way.

Tuck was admiring the syringe. "Oh, this ain't for you," he grinned and jabbed the needle in his own arm. "Doc hooked me up with some sci-fi 'roids, said it'll give me super strength." He groaned and his eyes rolled back as he thumbed down the hammer.

"Of course it will," she sighed, taking a reflexive step back.

Tuck tore off his orange hoody, revealing a thick, awkward musculature. Truly the physique "barrel-chested" was meant for. He wasn't sculpted like a body builder, he barely looked functional, just a wall of hard blocky muscle. His massive arms spread wide and he roared, seeming to flex every muscle on his body all at once. Then he threw down the syringe and charged.

A nervous flutter surged through Miranda's chest. How am I even supposed to hurt something like that! She wondered but held her ground.

As the musclebound dealer drew close, she thrust out both hands and hit him with a repulsor burst. The force stopped his momentum and knocked Tuck back on his heels. Before he could recover, Miranda lunged forward, throwing a reinforced punch, her Nandex glove accelerating the kinetic energy and multiplying the power of the blow.

She caught the dealer square in the jaw, snapping his head around viciously. He collapsed in a heap at the heroine's feet, already snoring.

"Oh," she said, unclenching her fists. "I guess that's how..."

"Obviously the effect ain't going to be instantaneous," said a raspy voice, coming from...behind? Above?

Miranda whirled around, no one was there. She glanced up, and all around.

"Where are you Dr. Kelvin?" she demanded.

"I told the dolt to take that dosage a half-hour ago," the voice went on, now clearly coming over some kind of intercom system. "He was sure he could hold his own long enough for the effect to take."

"Obviously not," she shouted, still looking around. "Now where is Vic?"

"We're upstairs waiting for you, toots. Third floor."

Miranda hurried to the stairwell, pulling open the door and kicking into flight. She flew straight up the two flights and burst through the door into what had once been the main laboratory.

There were tables and work areas, still with lab equipment on them. White boards rested on easels and clung to the walls, some still showing half scrawled formulas. Most of it was collecting a thick layer of dust, giving everything a cloudy look.

The center of this floor was dominated by a huge containment chamber with clear plastic walls. It had its own ventilation running up through the ceiling.

As she scanned the floor, Miranda caught sight of Vic in the chamber. He was slouching and tied down to an old wooden chair. Her heart squelched in her chest and she ran to him.

"Vic!" she gasped.

The door to the chamber was open, and she ran through it without a second thought. He looked up at her blearily. One eye was almost swollen shut, and there was dried blood on his chin from a busted lip. She noticed more than one burn mark on his bare chest. They were about the size and shape of the end of Dr. Kelvin's cane.

"Superchick?" Vic asked hoarsely. "You came..."

"Well, I owed ya one," she said, immediately going to undo his ropes.

The door to the chamber slammed shut behind them, and the heroine straightened and whirled around.

"Almost too easy," Dr. Kelvin chuckled, bolting the door.

"What have you done to him?" she demanded.

"Me? Nothing," the chemist replied innocently. "I gave him a sedative so he remains comfortable and...compliant. It was the behemoth downstairs who took out a measure of revenge on the poor guy. Violence truly is a vicious cycle, is it not."

He crossed to a control panel on the wall and threw a switch. A pure white cloud began billowing out of the ventilation system. Right away, the temperature seemed to drop dramatically.

"Dr. Kelvin open that door," Miranda demanded, trying to ignore the chill.

"Oh, I don't think so," he said, returning to the side of the chamber and leaning on his cane.

"At least let Vic go," Miranda took a step towards the clear plastic. "I'm the one you want."

"Are you?" he balked. "Seems I'm the one both of you want, so it would behoove me not to let either of you leave."

Miranda scowled, and a shiver rushed through her. She glanced back at the cloud. It was flowing down and spreading across the floor in a quickly growing layer of fog.

"What is this?" she demanded, trembling again as the cold crept tight around her spine.

Dr. Kelvin grinned. "Clever, no? I didn't have much time to improvise a trap, but luckily, I knew this place would likely have some liquid nitrogen on hand and with the ventilation system I could turn this quarantine room into a cryochamber." He nodded towards Vic. "And then it was just good luck the bait showed up before you did."

"So you th-think you can f-freeze me?" Miranda couldn't believe her teeth were already chattering, and she had to resist the urge to hug herself for warmth.

Kelvin smirked, watching intently. "I mean, not solid or anything."

"Screw this," Miranda lifted her arm and fired a repulsor burst at the door.

It lurched and shuddered, but the hinges and bolt held tight. Dr. Kelvin watched the door, expectant and hesitant, then grinned at her.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure that would hold," he said. "Synodyne did build everything top of the line though."

Miranda glared at him and fired another blast at the door. The hinges seemed looser, the door rattled more this time, but ultimately it held.

"See, they were running all kinds of questionably ethical experiments here," he went on, quite satisfied with himself. "Secure facilities were something of a priority."

"W-why am I n-not surprised," Miranda groaned.

The chill was cutting through her by then. Miranda began to shiver, her entire body was clutched by an icy ache. She couldn't help but wrap her arms around herself. It did little good.

Behind her, Vic let out a shuddery moan. She turned back to him, seeing he was shivering on the chair, somewhere between unconscious and high as a kite.

"Vic?"

He looked at her through one droopy eye. "H-hey, superch-chick... it's you..."

"C-come on, I'll get you f-free," she chattered. "Then I'll g-get us out of here."

Her fingers were already going numb, making the knots confounding. Miranda cupper her hands, breathed into them, rubbed them together, and tried again. Vic shuddered and groaned, the cold taking a toll on his battered body.

Growling in frustration, Miranda turned back to the door with a snarl. "Enough of this." She thrust both hands towards the barrier, this time the repulsor burst was considerably weaker, almost sluggish. It vibrated the door, basically harmless.

"What?" She glanced at her hands, then her power belt. I should have plenty of juice left still! The LED nodules on the belt were white still, but dim and fading.

"I thought so," Dr. Kelvin hooted. "See the cold wasn't for you, toots... are you familiar with the effects of low temperatures on lithium ion?"

Clever prick, Miranda had to admit. She was hugging herself, starting to shake uncontrollably.

"I couldn't be sure that was how your powers functioned," Kelvin went on. "But I was fairly certain they came from your costume, which meant you need a power source, and cold is never good for batteries, so it seemed worth a try."

Miranda looked around the frigid chamber, desperate for anything she could use to get her and Vic out of there. There was nothing, Dr. Kelvin had made sure of that.

The cold had permeated her to the point her heartbeat seemed to slow and her blood felt like it was turning to slush in her veins. Realizing she had no other choice, the heroine turned back to the chemist.

"Alright, Dr. Kelvin, you win," she said through chattering teeth. "I surrender. Just let us out."

"Your belt is the power source, right?"

Miranda nodded sulkily.

The doctor made no attempt to hide how pleased he was with himself. "Then remove it."

Miranda's fingers were shaking and numb, but she unlatched the buckle and removed her powerbelt. Dr. Kelvin opened the door, and the rush of warm air felt spikey and hot as it brushed over her chilled skin. He reached in, the one good eye glittering as she laid the belt in his hand.

Dr. Kelvin snickered wickedly. "And now the rest of your costume..."

Miranda was clutching herself, shivering. "P-p-please, it's f-freezing."

"Then you'd better hurry," Kelvin replied, shutting the door again sharply.

Vic let out another shuddering groan. Miranda glanced back, saw him shivering. She quickly reached behind, struggling to unzip with her shaky fingers. She peeled off the clingy blue leotard, revealing the plain white thong she wore beneath. As her boobs bounced into the frigid air, her nipples were already so hard, she thought she might have been able to cut their way out with them. She stripped off her gloves, then bent down to unfasten and remove her boots.

She faced the evil chemist now wearing nothing but her mask and panties, arms hugged tight around her naked breasts, mostly covering them but little defense against the cold. His grin widened, watching her tremble and shake. He cracked the door and tossed in a pair of handcuffs.

"Put them on."

Wasting no time now, certain she could feel the cold dragging down her core temperature, and probably doing worse to Vic, she squat down and fumbled the cuffs onto her wrists.

"R-Randi?" she heard Vic mumble as they racheted shut.

She glanced back, his bleary good eye was trying to focus on her low back, recognizing the wispy tattoo. She might have blushed if she hadn't been about to freeze to death.

"I told you..." he slurred. "...to run..."

The door opened again, a gust of hot air seared over her naked skin. A weathered hand reached in and grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the quarantine chamber and into the hot air. Even Dr. Kelvin's hand felt like it was burning her. The cold had sapped her strength, so she didn't even offer any resistance as he snugged the cuffs around her wrists.

"Can't have you pulling any funny business," the chemist explained.

"W-what about Vic," she glanced back at the bound bounty hunter.

"I reversed the ventilation," the chemist said dismissively. "He'll warm up quick enough."

She let him guide her to one of the stainless-steel tables. Dr. Kelvin had clearly been back at work already. The equipment on this workstation had been cleaned and some of the beakers even had chemicals in them.

He made Miranda kneel beside the table. She noticed another pair of handcuffs locked to one of the legs. Dr. Kelvin connected the free end of those cuffs around the chain of hers. She pulled at them tokenly, the clank of metal on metal secure and disheartening.

Stripped, shackled and now on her knees, Miranda looked up at her captor, unable to keep the dread from her green eyes or the tremor from her voice.

"What are you going to do with me?"

The older man grinned down at her, his good eye sharp and gleaming. "You interrupted my research before," he began. "It seems only fitting that I now use you as my final test subject."

To Be Continued...