The Game
10. Protecting the Innocent
As I entered the great room behind Sarah, Jessica, and Lacey, I was surprised to find both Caroline and Lianne there. The two lay side-by-side on a large, low coffee table, Caroline still dressed in her black bikini, Lianne wearing a matching one. Their arms lay at their sides, just touching each other, their legs together. Their heads lay back over the edge of the table, their long hair falling onto the floor. Each wore a black headband with small, flashing lights at their temples. Lianne's lights were green; Caroline's were red. Their eyes were closed, their mouths open.
Sarah and Jessica carried Lacey on her pole over to the couch, then lowered her down onto it. They undid the ties at her feet and hands. Jessica put the ties inside a metal cash box sitting on top of the TV. Sarah lay the pole on the ground next to the couch and patted the unconscious Lacey's face.
"SuperLacey! SuperLacey! You can now awaken!" Sarah said with her English lilt.
Jessica walked over. "Get up, you bitch!" she said. "You're not fooling anyone."
Lacey's eyes snapped open and she jumped to her feet, wrapping an arm around Sarah's neck. "OK," she said with ferocity, "tell me why I shouldn't squeeze until The Giggler here passes out, and then knock you into next week!"
Jessica did not even flinch. "Because you don't want innocent blood on your hands," she said. With a toss of her head, she indicated Caroline and Lianne.
Lacey loosened her grip on Sarah, who broke free gasping and stumbled to Jessica's side. Lacey's eyes were wide as she whispered, "Those aren't..."
"X20 Mind Destruction Devices? Why, yes they are," said Jessica. She walked to Caroline's side and tapped the light at her temple. "Oh, dear," she said with mock concern. "It appears you are too late for this one."
Jessica pulled the headband off Caroline's head, past her long hair. Caroline lay still. Jessica and Sarah each took hold of the headband, and it stopped flashing. "This one's already dead," said Jessica, and she pulled Caroline's inside arm, rolling her off the table and onto the floor.
"But there's one more you can save," said Sarah brightly.
At that moment, Lianne's lights turned from green to yellow. Lianne moaned softly and squirmed a bit, then lay as still as before.
"You haven't much time, though," said Sarah brightly.
"You know how the X20 works, don't you?" Jessica said to Lacey, who was looking with a shocked expression at Caroline, who lay crumpled on the floor. "The disarm mechanism is keyed into both Sarah and my brain patterns. Injure either one of us, and the girl dies. Try to remove the X20 yourself, and the girl dies."
"You monsters!" Lacey said, still looking at Caroline.
"Calling us names won't help you," said Jessica.
"Or her," said Sarah with a glance toward Lianne.
"What do you want?" said Lacey.
"We want you," said Jessica.
"Your life for hers," said Sarah brightly. You'd think she was Glenda the Good Witch.
"No deal," said Lacey.
"Well, then, the girl dies," said Sarah with sugar in her voice. "Come on, Jessica, let's go."
"No, wait," said Lacey. "You know I can't let the innocent suffer."
"Can't you?" asked Jessica. "Oh, that's right. You can't. You'd lose your powers. Then you'd be ours anyway."
"How do I know you won't just kill us both?" said Lacey.
"Now, she's interested," said Jessica.
"Oh, let me explain!" bubbled Sarah.
"By all means," Jessica demurred.
"You don't!" giggled Sarah. "But either way, this will be your last act as Super Lacey. You let us kill you, and maybe the girl lives. You don't let us kill you, and the girl dies, and then we kill you."
Jessica chimed in: "Will your last act be one of heroism or cowardice?"
There was a long silence. Finally, Lacey said, almost in a whisper, "Heroism."
Sarah produced a jewelry box from beneath the table on which Lianne rested. "This," she cooed, "contains a pendant which gives off Kryptonic radiation when activated. It will destroy you, but not right away."
"Quickly enough, though," said Jessica.
Lacey took the box from Sarah, and opened it. She removed the pendant inside, hesitated a moment, and then placed it around her neck. It's tear-shaped clear stone settled on Lacey's chest. She dropped her head. Her arms fell to her side.
"Good move, Lacey," said Jessica. "And now, to show we're not all bad..."
Sarah and Jessica together bent over Lianne turned the yellow light on the headband off, and removed it. Lianne lay where she was. Lacey raised her face and looked into Jessica's eyes.
"Oh, don't thank us," said Jessica. "Now we'll have an independent witness to your destruction."
"We'd stick around ourselves," said Sarah, almost singing, " but we have a world to conquer!"
"Goodbye forever," said Jessica, and she and Sarah left, Sarah skipping.
Lacey fell to her knees by the table on which Lianne lay. Lacey's breathing was hard, her movements slow and determined. She pulled at the pendant, but could not remove it. The struggle showed on her face. She willed herself back to her feet, but just as she gained her feet, she swayed on weakening legs.
Lianne opened her eyes. When she saw Lacey standing beside her, her eyes widened. "SuperLacey! You've come to save me!" she said.
Lacey only swayed by her, tugging at the pendant.
"SuperLacey!" said Lianne. "What's wrong?" She sat up, looking at Lacey with concern.
Lacey's muscles twitched and tensed as she tried to fight off the pendant's powers. After a moment, she fell again to her knees, and then dropped forward across Lianne's legs, her arms stretched across the table, her head down, tangled hair all around. Her fingers spread and arms reached as she tried her last. Then, they fell limp and still.
Lianne got to her feet, pushing Lacey off her legs. Lacey fell back onto the floor, her feet folded beneath her. Lacey's eyes were softly closed, her lips softly parted, her arms at crazy angles on the floor.
"What's this?" Lianne said, and she pulled the pendant from Lacey's throat, breaking the chain. Lacey lay motionless as before.
Lianne walked around the table, bent near the still motionless Caroline, and felt her pulse.
"Excellent," Lianne said, and she walked smartly out of the room. On the table where she lay was an index card.
​
Lacey (tank top) in great room
​
I took a moment to admire Lacey. Sweat formed in droplets on her forehead and neck, but her breathing was so slight, you might imagine that she wasn't breathing at all. Of course, that was the point. Her legs were bent under her and her arms were twisted in what must have been a very uncomfortable position, but she lay very still and her face was tranquil.
​
I gripped her tank top at each of her hips, and slowly worked it up to just below her breasts. I ran my hands forward along the hem and lifted the shirt over her chest. She wore a bra the same blue as her panties. I slid my hands back down along the top until they were at her side again, and then continued to pull the tank up over her head. Her hair and arms followed the line of my hands until her body formed a long line, toe to fingertip.
​
What impressed me more was her chest. Written in red Sharpie at her cleavage were the words "Spray Me, Tommy."
How could I refuse?
​
The Sleep Spray was still in the kitchen, so, with a last look at Super Lacey and Caroline, I left the room, retrieved the spray and returned.
​
Lacey was precisely where I left her, but Caroline was gone. Pity.
I moistened Lacey's face with the spray. Aside from a very thin sigh, you wouldn't have known anything was changed.
​
I wanted to carry her in my arms to the Morgue, but my legs were getting weaker after all that had happened, and I found it impossible to lift her from the floor.
​
I tried. I worked my arms under her legs and chest while squatting beside her, but my tired legs could not lift Lacey's dead weight more than a few inches, at which point she began to slide through my hands like wet sand.
​
I am nothing if not determined. I slid her next to the table on which Caroline and Lianne had lain. I sat her up and managed to get her head and shoulders and arms resting on the table. I then lifted her under the rump and pushed her up so that she lay on top, on her stomach in a rather awkward position.
​
Rolling her again onto her back, I found it much easier to lift her in my arms from the height of the table, a hand under her back and high under her thighs. She bowed back a bit, her hair nearly reaching the floor even after I stood, her neck fully arched, her mouth wide. Still, it was not difficult to carry her into the Morgue.
I posed Lacey on her right side next to the others, her hair in her face, her left arm across the back of Melanie, her hand on Tammy's stomach.
After admiring my work, I recorded Lacey's score back in the kitchen.
Tammy and Lacey were tied. I don't think they'd ever had a tie.
​
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Copyright 2007-2019 DPsleepy.
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