The Villain

The man waved his hand as if her accusations were nothing. Through his pacing, he'd already cut the distance between them in half. It wouldn't take much longer before he was in range for what she planned.

"You skip ahead in the tale. Granted, so did I. You see, originally, I wanted to be a part of the PRA. I actually proposed a facility such as this as a testing ground for new agents. Even more experienced ones would be able to work through problems they might encounter in the field.

"Except, of course, I was denied. I never did find out what grounds on which they refused me. Maybe I wasn't pretty enough. All of the handlers I've ever encountered are damned presentable in front of a camera, after all."

"Did you think, perhaps, they realized you were unstable?" Once more, her own voice got the better of her.

The man's laughter actually reached his eyes. "Actually, they didn't even allow me the courtesy of reaching the psych eval stage. Interestingly enough, however, less than a year later the main training facility just outside of Washington opened up. And I'm sure you know after that."

She did know. The facility had been an experiment. When it proved mildly successful they built one on each continent in order to allow agents access. Some of the tougher criminals had been brought down because an agent used one to train extensively against his or her specific abilities and tactics.

"So, I came out here and set this place up. The truth is, the facilities they built are merely a shadow of what they could be. They grasped the basic concept, certainly enough, but they failed to get the subtler nuances and staff them with the right people."

"People like you, I suppose?"

He nodded. "Actually, yes. I think my record speaks for itself in that regard. Even with the facilities, they have consistently failed to craft an agent that can match me. Not very humble to say so, but it's the truth."

There! He was finally close enough. Just out of arm's reach and in front of her. It was time to call upon her final ability. "Just like any other villain. You talk too much!"

The resonance frequency of molecules could be used for more than their destruction. If she could determine the frequencies of an object, she could vibrate her own body. The effect would be that the two could pass harmlessly through each other. It wasn't very effective for more than defense, most of the time, but it also ensured that little traps like these couldn't hold her.

Even more importantly, the effect wasn't sonic in nature! As the man talked and circled around her, Resonance carefully calmed herself and began to test the strange bulk that held her hands. She managed to find the frequency easily enough and even curl one of her cramped fingers.

Now, her whole hand passed effortlessly through the strange glove. Resonance leaned her body forward and lunged for the man. Three limbs remained within the stuff, but all she needed was to grab him in order to threaten her disruptive attack.

For a moment, Resonance thought she'd made a rookie mistake and forgotten to bring her hand back into phase. Her fingers curled on air rather than the simple clothing. The hologram flickered for a moment and then faded, no longer a potent distraction.

Committed to the attempt, her body doubled over diagonally, secured by her left arm and right foot. After a moment to take a deep breath, she quickly focused on her entire body and began to vibrate to shift out of all of her bonds.

Nothing happened.

Still doubled over, Resonance's head whipped up to glare accusingly at the arm that failed to win free. After another moment of incomprehension, she scrambled to pull herself up and began to tug at the material with her free hand. The strange binding felt like a strange mixture of rubber and rock, now that she had time to truly focus on it.

Resonance continued to tug and pry at it but found herself weakening quickly. Her posture was incredibly awkward and she had no leverage. All it managed to do was sap her strength. Conscious of the need to think clearly, she stopped and dropped into a meditation. Unfortunately, none of her abilities seemed willing to come to her aid.

This time, when she slumped over, it was in genuine defeat and no little fear. She didn't even flinch when another blob shot from the floor to encase the hand that hung limp by her side. Moments later her arms were spread wide once more.

"Very good," said the man's voice from nowhere and everywhere at once. "You'd be surprised how few of you lot actually think to hold something in reserve like that. Unfortunately, I now know that you have nothing left."

"How?" Resonance whispered, her head hung mournfully before her.

"How did I counter it, or how do I know you have nothing left?"

"Either. Both?" She could hear the defeat in her own voice. That might have been answer enough to the latter question, but she knew that people could fake even that. He knew she had nothing left, not just suspected. Of that she was certain.

"Very good once more!" The very same panel that opened previously, allowed the man to enter. Of course, it could simply have been another hologram. She couldn't be sure of anything in that place anymore.

"You know, you're the first person to actually ask how I defeated them? Your brother and sister agents frequently feign confidence and arrogance when they're truly defeated. Occasionally they begin to beg. None of them, however, have been curious about the how, merely what would come next.

"To answer your question, sonic resonance works just as well on you as it does on everything else. When you vibrate your body to pass through the bonds, it is a simple matter to use sound to counteract the effect. Destructive harmonic resonance rather than constructive."

She actually understood what he was talking about. Matching the frequency of a vibration, or wave form, allowed her to set up the destructive attacks. Ironically, it was called constructive resonance because the two frequencies added together to create a bigger vibration. Destructive resonance meant that he had found the frequency that exactly nullified her own. Knowing her frequencies, he could easily negate any attempt she could make to escape.

"As for the other question, the common one, I know you're not an Oscar quality actress because your body tells me so."

The man stepped up in front of her. With her head down, she could see that it was either the same exact hologram, or he'd simply modeled it live as he operated it. The same gray slacks and simple button-up shirt stood only feet away.

Except that it wasn't a hologram. Resonance saw his hand lift and watched as it caught a stray lock of dirty blond hair that had escaped her ponytail and gently tucked it behind her ear. The light touch sent a jolt of terror through her that elicited a whimper she couldn't hold back.

"Dear gods, you really are young, aren't you?" There was surprise in his voice. She thought she even heard genuine compassion but she couldn't bring herself to even hope she wasn't delusional. "This is your first mission out, isn't it?"

Resonance nodded meekly. She felt the slight sting of moisture begin to pool at the corners of her eyes and refused to look up. She wouldn't give him that much satisfaction. He could do what he wanted with her, she couldn't stop him, but she wouldn't let him see her defeat.

"You weren't even sanctioned, were you. They passed you through but failed to give you a mission so you thought to make your own. You wanted to make a name for yourself as the one who finally defeated me." Although phrased as questions, his tone was far more musing. She still thought she heard that damned compassion though.

He began to circle her once more. She couldn't watch. She didn't want to see anymore. She didn't want to be there. She'd thought, just because she was something different, even among the Para-ridden PRA, she stood a chance against someone that even the experienced agents couldn't handle and she was wrong!

"Interesting costume."

Resonance flinched at the light quip. His voice couldn't have come from more than a couple of inches behind her. Her entire body was tense. She knew what was going to happen and couldn't do the slightest thing about it. Now that she knew how close he was, her entire back seized up in fright.

"I would guess seventh gen polymer-fiber-titanium? It has never surprised me that they put so much effort into research for things like that. They don't particularly care to study the phenomenon they represent, but are more than willing to find ways for norms to resist it."

As he clucked his disapproval, he circled back in front of her. She was surprised by how far he actually was from her. She could have sworn he had spoken from only an inch or two away from her ear but he was a good couple of feet away. Even in the corner of her eye, as he crossed around, he'd been that distant.

"I have to say, though, I didn't realize they could do such intriguing things with the color though. I probably should, they can make it practically invisible, after all. What's a little liquid shimmer compared to that? I like the purple-tinged gray, especially."

Strangely, the comment broke through her tension slightly. Purple-tinged gray? She'd seen the outfit in quite a variety of lighting and it never looked even remotely purple to her. A little blue, possibly, but never purple!

"The thing is, their lack of research is a bit of a blind spot. They have ensured you're protected from all of the standard attacks you might face, but they neglect unconventional ones. For example, Amberlight's ray can be negated by a particular charged photon. There are other, industrial, applications for the beam itself. Which I happened to have patented."

Resonance's head flew up with a gasp and tossed around so she could look over her shoulder. A strange looking device had rolled up behind her while he spoke. The beam that it emitted was barely visible, almost like a laser, yet she could not doubt its existence. She could feel where it struck, at the top of her back, nearly at the nape of her neck and between her shoulder blades.

The only thing she could equate the sensation to was a small amount of electricity. Her skin seemed to tingle with a slight numbness. The fact that it could pierce the suit, however, was the most disturbing thing. All at once, she suspected the answer to how he could manage to strip down all of those women without fear of retaliation.

"Yes." The man seemed to answer her thoughts. "It destabilizes the bonds that form the material. It only works on a very localized area, almost molecular, so it couldn't be utilized in the field to render the armor useless and there's no way to widen the beam.

"What it does, however, is effectively dissolve a miniscule amount of the material. That makes it fairly effective for cutting. With this, they wouldn't have to form each piece of an agent's outfit as a single unit. They could actually cut it like the fabric it should be.

"While it also works on some other materials, for which it has been brought into industrial purposes, it has a very special property for which most of my clients pay handsomely. It will not cut through living matter. I won't go into specifics, since then you might actually convince your organization to do a little research and find a way to counteract it, but the energy bleeds harmlessly away through the nerves."

Resonance gasped again. She tried to shut her eyes in order to block out the sensation but it didn't do any good. It wasn't painful. If anything, she realized, it felt good. Too good! Her back arched forward and back, slightly, as her body tried at once to escape and seek out the sensation.

With her eyes closed, she could still hear his footsteps as he circled around behind her once more. Suddenly, the sensation dulled slightly but only because it began to move. If left in the same place it would spread outward as her body tried to process it.

Her breaths came in ragged pants as she tried to bring herself back under control. The beam tracked left along her shoulder blade. Her muscles leapt and tensed beneath it as if it were a feather torturously dragged across her bare flesh.

Her blood began to pump. An unaccountable pressure began to form deep within her, well away from the touch of the beam. Desperate for some answer, she blamed it on the manner in which she'd come to be inspired to seek him out. Surely she wouldn't find this erotic if not for a little subconscious connection!

Relief couldn't have come soon enough. Finally, the beam reached her imprisoned hand and shut down. Presumably, it could have continued to cut and accidentally freed her. Instead, she felt the material of her costume sag slightly along the incision he'd made from the center of her back to her wrist.

"Intriguing device, isn't it? Of course, it couldn't have been used on Amberlight if it would harm her. I'm meticulous about that, you see. Despite the lies they spout to cover their shame, even the men leave here unharmed."

"Unharmed?" Resonance managed between gasps as she tried to get her breathing back under control. "What about all the women? How can you say you haven't harmed them? That you won't harm me!"

The beam reactivated, once more at the center of her back. A mewl of what she denied to be pleasure escaped her as it hit the area already made tender by the energy's soft caress. Even knowing that the beam would drift almost lazily up her right arm, there was no way of steeling herself for it.

"Have I harmed you? Bound certainly, stunned and nullified your abilities, but are you in pain? Even so much as a cramp from the position. If so, please let me know and I will immediately stop everything in order to alleviate the problem."

Resonance hated the sincerity that she heard in his voice. It was the type of answer that should be just another one of his traps. As if he were a genie to twist her words and destroy her with her own wish. Except she knew that no one had ever died facing this man.

The beam reached her other wrist and the material now sagged more heavily across the space of her back. The sleeves hung limp and empty at her shoulders. Although she couldn't see, her outfit probably resembled a very high-cut, backless, dress.

The cool air felt like a balm to her overwrought nerves. The longer the beam remained on her, the hotter her blood seemed to flow. She wondered if it was possible that there would be an unanticipated side effect of exposure that would cause her blood to boil away. That would certainly be the end to his supposed streak of uninjured captives.

He didn't allow her body time to calm before the beam switched back on, at almost exactly the same point it had begun both of the previous times. She moaned, finally unable to deny the intensely sensual touch of the energy. The sound extended and drifted onward as the beam began to glide down her body; an electric knuckle gently rubbed down her spine.

It didn't matter that the back of her costume peeled open like a zipper drawn down the back. The soft, cool, air only enflamed the areas that had been caressed by the beam. Her nipples hardened, still safely beneath the specious protection of her costume. The pressure between her legs had begun to grow to unbearable levels and leaked free too slowly.

The beam reached the end of her spine. Her body arched and thrust her chest forward. Her moan transformed into a scream of frustrated pleasure. She knew, instinctively, what would happen when it reached the soft, nerve-filled, flesh only inches away. The sensations built to a point where her body demanded it, yet he slowed the progress to an infuriating crawl.

Or, at least, that's what it seemed. A small, belligerent, part of her mind insisted that it wasn't his speed that altered but her own perception of it. The more of her body the beam crossed, the closer she got. The greater the need, the less patient she became.

Finally, blessedly, white light shattered across her closed eyes. Resonance screamed in delight. Her body alternately bucked and sagged against the restraints. Her own traitor mind was glad for them. The power of the explosion within her was great enough that she could easily have hurt herself in her writhing.

Too soon and an eternity later, the beam shut off. She slumped within the restraints, unable to even hold herself upright. Her breath came in ragged gasps. Her muscles continued to twitch and her nerves fluttered beneath her skin.

It hadn't been enough. Much of the pressure within had spent itself in the explosion but not enough. If anything, she felt even more frustrated now. It was the kind of climax that could spend itself over and over and never truly leave her satisfied.

And the beam had only brushed between the soft globes of her butt. She trembled in a mixture of terror and anticipation what he could do if he brought the machine fully between her legs.

"Let me guess," Resonance growled in a show of false bravado, "you're going to try to claim you never touch any of them until they beg you for it? I have news for you, using that beam accounts as a form of assault."

"Actually, it doesn't." He countered simply as he circled around her once more.

The machine rolled silently along with him. At the sight of it, her body tensed. She knew what he intended and damned herself because her body, at least, was desperate for more. Her mind fought valiantly in an effort to deny it but she knew her eyes lit up as he positioned it only inches away.

"You see, my lawyer very subtly arranged for a lawsuit, when a factory worker decided to use one of these as part of a prank on a fellow worker. In the end, I think the judge acknowledged the damaged clothing as vandalism or destruction of private property but only as a misdemeanor. In the end it went to small claims court to settle the damages."

"What're you going to do now?" She hated the hint of anticipation that crept into her voice. She wanted to sound resolute and defiant but part of her had discovered it reveled in her helplessness.

"Do you really want to know?" He sounded sincere, damn him! "If you do I will answer. But if not, and dreading the outcome will cause mental anguish, I won't. I told you. If there's anything that brings you pain, just let me know."

"Tell me." It slipped out before she could even consider them. She knew that it confirmed to him how she felt and hated the words. Still, there was too much thrill in knowing.

"I am going to cut away the rest of your costume. Eventually, you will be let go to wander home, naked of course." He said evenly and watched for her response. Her body flinched but when she didn't quail, he continued.

"I have to start here." His finger pointed just beneath her armpit, at the draped fabric of her sleeve. Although only his finger, and at least an inch away from her flesh, she could almost feel the beam already and shivered in delight.

"From there, I will cut a line up to your neck. And then on the other side." He slowly motioned around and above the curve of her breast. She imagined the ponderous progress of the beam in the slow indication of his finger.

Her breasts began to ache in lament. He had completely avoided the soft swells as he drew his imaginary lines. It was almost as if they felt neglected. Her modesty was more than glad, however, that the durable material of her costume failed to resemble spandex when her nipples hardened fully and weren't revealed through the seemingly thin fabric.

"What? You're not going to cut straight across to see my tits?"

Resonance was horrified as the words spilled out of her mouth. For a moment, he seemed shocked by her audacity but it quickly faded. Beneath, she saw he understood the root of her frustration. Her entire body flushed as her blood turned to lava and her breath stopped at the glint in his eyes.