Betsy Visits River City.
CHAPTER 12
Once the area was clear Vicky carefully crawled out and scouted around. Pearl, as agreed, stayed in hiding. Vicky quickly returned with the all clear.
“We’ll get back down that tunnel they have to have and take the initiative for once,” said Vicky.
“OK. But we’ll have to ensure Betsy is safe.”
“She’s safe enough where she is,” answered an impatient Vicky.
“Not if we can make her safer,” answered Pearl. Vicky didn’t like the tone she used. It was a no nonsense and fuck you tone she hadn’t heard Pearl use before. It also surprised Pearl. She wasn’t used to hearing herself this insistent either.
“OK then,” agreed Vicky quickly. She still wanted a fuck-buddy Pearl to be around for the next few months. On reflection, Vicky realised she had it bad this time. She didn’t go further with that scary thought. “I’ll find that tunnel and how to get in. You get Betsy settled.”
Pearl was happy with this arrangement and took care to quickly ensure Betsy was as safe as it was possible to make her. She eventually crawled out backwards after having arranged the still naked Betsy in a coffin-shaped enclosure composed of tightly wound thorns and brambles intertwined with each other in their own world of inter-species sexual perversions. Betsy’s cache was left close by. Pearl also tried to leave a note to inform Betsy where they were and what they were doing but the wind kept blowing it away and Pearl was worried it may blow away and be found by the nasty people. Vicky quickly solved her problem after telling her to hurry the fuck up.
“Fold the note and put it in her letter box,” suggested Vicky. “After all, nobody, not even the wind, can get in there.”
Pearl was appalled at this suggestion but she also could see the sense. Rationalising this was a continuation of the banter between them, she complied. She folded the note down to an appropriate size and inserted it into Betsy’s letterbox.
Vicky was anxiously waiting for her when she eventually emerged from the thicket. Grabbing her arm she quickly took her into a partially disguised bunch of flowers where she had already opened a door to the underworld.
After all, Pearl was a super-hero and consequently had an overblown conception of the dramatic.
They carefully entered the tunnel and crept along the whole length without tripping any alarms or encountering anyone. Emerging inside the castle they carefully scouted out their immediate environs. It was empty. Vicky did a quick scan and determined there was no-one nearby, so they proceeded to explore more quickly.
It took them a while before they found the trophy room. Vicky entered first and stopped dead when she found the light switch and illuminated the room. It was enormous. They knew they were underground, probably at the first floor underground, but even so, this room easily took up the whole castle footprint. There were various pillars scattered around, presumably to take the weight of the castle above. Vicky immediately realised if she could down only a few of these, the whole castle would collapse. She wanted to do that remotely but she didn’t have the explosives necessary. So she put that idea at the back of her mind for future action.
Pearl whistled quietly when she saw the room. Whistling is a lost art nowadays, but Pearl was from a bygone era where it was common.
They both wondered at the giant globes that seemed to fill the floor space. There were a lot and they all seemed to be full of some sort of element that blocked out the light through them, making them opaque at best. As they watched the whiteness inside these globes seemed to thin out after ten minutes or so and they could see the insides better. They had split up during this time to explore the room more quickly and they both came to the conclusion that there was nothing more in here. Just the globes.
Once they could see inside they saw a person in each globe. Each person was seemed resigned to her fate and was dressed in some sort of costume. They were all shackled to the globes’ surfaces somehow and they were spreadeagled. As soon as the white stuff inside the globes had all dropped and the vision was clear, each globe was violently shaken, giving the people inside a violent shaking as well. This shaking also acted to distribute the white stuff throughout the globes, which became opaque again. The white stuff then precipitated in small lumps, which looked much like snow. It was Pearl who realised what was happening.
“They’re giant snowglobes,” she said in wonder. “I don’t recognise the people inside. Do You?”
“No,” answered Vicky, moving closer to the nearest one. Inside she saw a man in a brightly coloured costume.
“Pearl, check this out. Do you recognise that costume?”
Pearl approached that particular globe. “No,” she answered after staring at it and the person trapped inside for a while. She went to another globe and saw the same thing but with a different costume. “Hey, I know that costume,” she said excitedly. It was worn by Shifter before she disappeared.”
“Shifter?”
“She was a hero who worked River City a few years ago. She just disappeared one day and no-one knew what had happened to her.”
“Well, we know now. If Shifter here has been here for years, that would explain her lack of reaction to us perhaps.”
They went around various globes within easy walking distance and verified the general theme. It looked as if this was some sort of trophy room, where various heroes were kept on display. They looked for some sort of control used to keep them locked in there but couldn’t find any. It was frustrating.
“Come on,” said Vicky. “We can’t do anything now, but we can come back when we can free them. They’ve been here for years so another hour or two won’t hurt.”
Pearl didn’t say much at this revelation. She just shuddered and nodded. She also became intensely angry, but bottled it back. They left and explored further.
The floor below was more relevant. They found the control room. Or, a control room anyway. The first thing they noticed was the images of various parts of the castle on screens around the walls. Vicky quickly had the covers off the control panels and peered inside.
“It’s done by fibre optic cable piping the images straight here,” she eventually said. “That’s why Betsy couldn’t detect them. There’s no electro-magnetic signature to detect.”
Pearl nodded. “I’m not up on modern technology yet,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to catch up, but I can press the buttons and make things work. That was good enough for me. But I’m thinking I should have extended myself further.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about that,” said Vicky quickly. She didn’t want Pearl to sink into some type of depression over this. After all, she was here now and needed to be on top of her form, especially as her powers weren’t back yet. “How are your powers now?” she asked, once that thought passed through her brain.
“They’ve gone again,” she answered. “They went when we entered the castle.”
“Then there’s something here that does that,” said Vicky. “That should be what we’re looking for right now.
It took them over an hour—there were a lot of controls there—but they found it. At least they found what they assumed it must be, assuming the power sapping equipment was controlled from this room. Vicky remover the covers and inspected the interior. It took her a while before she emerged. “It probably is. I want to play with this as it’s our best bet. Do you have any tools handy? I don’t.”
“No, but there are some in that desk” She pointed to a large bench in the corner. Vicky headed over and checked it out. She smiled. “Just what the doctor ordered,” she said as she returned with a bag containing tools she had chosen. She crawled in and got to work. Eventually she said, “Can you feel anything different?”
Pearl stopped worrying and returned from her guard position. She settled herself and eventually answered, “Yes I can.” She sounded happy. “But it’s a small thing. I can feel something’s happening with my body. It does feel as if I have more energy, but it’s marginal. I have to concentrate to feel it.”
“That fits with your experience when we went to your apartment, doesn’t it. Your powers don’t return in a rush. They gradually build up. But it also appears that your powers disappear immediately once to come inside the castle. Now, let me finish this.”
Pearl resumed sentry duty until Vicky eventually emerged smiling.
“I’ve totally disabled whatever it is that’s taken your powers,” she said. “If anyone investigates the control lights will show the system is working. If they investigate further they’ll discover I’ve rigged the system and they’ll fix it. They will verify the system is working but it won’t be. They’ll have to dig even deeper to see what else I’ve done, but that will take time and they’ll think they’ve already seen the problem. If that happens, you may have the opportunity to play possum for a while. Remember that.” She said as she replaced the covers.
Pearl smiled. “Good. I’m feeling like the apprentice right now. You’ve done most of the work and I’m along for the ride. It’ll be good to get back to knocking heads together.”
Vicky grinned. “I can’t see what else we can do here. Have you worked out if any of these controls,” she indicated the whole room, “operate those snow-globes?”
“No, but, as I said, I’m not sure what I’m looking at here.”
“It seems that the good Dr. Orlof doesn’t believe in labelling his equipment which makes it a tad difficult working out what each one is for. We can just switch everything off and see what happens but I’m certain that will bring down whatever forces he has down here immediately. We might not even have time to get away. Do you want to do that? We’ll have to barricade this place and defend it and I’m certain the good doctor will have more than one way in here. I would.”
“Lets explore more then. We can always come back later.”
Vicky smiled. Pearl liked that. “Exactly. How’re you feeling now? Have your powers returned or do we have to wait?”
“We have to wait. Remember, they’ll return slowly, just like when we were at my place.”
“OK then. We’ll stay as quiet and as unobtrusive as we can for as long as we can while we explore.”
They left the snow-globes and explored further.