. 04-06

Welcome to the second part of "A Pearl Before Swine". These intro sections will get a lot shorter soon. I will be sticking with the three main viewpoint characters for now, but I have some ideas for side stories. Maybe after chapter 12 or 15 or something like that.

Table Of Contents:

Part 1:

Prologue: Moonlit Jellies on a Restful Night

Chapter 1: A Ray of Sunshine

Chapter 2: It Stirs

Chapter 3: A Day of Confusion

Part 2: (You are here)

Chapter 4: Tracks Revealed on a Peaceful Evening

Chapter 5: It Beckons

Chapter 6: A Search for Meaning

Part 3: (Coming up next)

Chapter 7: Hypnotic Dances on a Hidden Stage

Chapter 8: A Descent to Despair

Chapter 9: It Searches

Chapter 4: Tracks Revealed on a Peaceful Evening

A mote of dust came to rest on the watchers nose, but the watcher was silent and still. Muted footsteps echoed beneath. A figure in grey and black garb walked up to another wearing a business suit. Both wore shrouded hats that made it impossible to identify them in the dark. Their conversation was quiet and brief. Business Suit walked into a nearby alleyway, and the Dark One took a hesitant look around before following suit. The watcher followed.

Inside the warehouse to the side of the alleyway, the watcher caught back up to them. The watcher noted two armed guards on patrol, two near the back room, and one near the entrance posing as a standard check in guard probably to tell any late night wanderers looking for a secluded room that the warehouse was closed.

There were boxes and pallets strewn about, but the spacious room was mostly empty. Business Suit and the Dark One stopped at the entrance to the back room and the watcher pounced. Two quick blows to the back of the head dropped the patrolling guards. Time was critical. 15 seconds until the guard would be missed. The entrance guard was dispatched with a swinging kick from the rafters which knocked over a pencil holder.

The remaining prey glanced at the desk but saw only the desk guard bent over to retrieve the scattered pencils. 3, 2, 1, pounce. The remaining two backroom guards were close enough together for the watcher to drop between them with a flying splits kick.

Pearl completed the maneuver by landing gracefully in a tripod pose in front of Business Suit and the Dark One. "Hello boys."

Business Suit took a step back as the Dark One lept forward to engage. A turtleneck and balaclava must have been suffocating to fight in, but his moves were clean and practiced. High kick, low sweep, roundhouse punch. Pearl countered his moves then unleashed a combo of her own. Tight and controlled, her moves resembled the Asian martial arts movies that she studied religiously. The Dark One was not massive, but he outweighed her by at least 50 pounds. However, it quickly became apparent that her strength much outstripped his own.

The quiet monotony of collisions and grunts was broken by a soft voice. "So you are the one who has been hunting our operations." Business Suit stood calm and composed. "Your vigilante activities are just as illegal as whatever you imagine we are doing. The Powered have been illegal for nearly two decades now. Ever since the last Power War, oh what was it, has it really been ten years? the government has really cracked down on your kind. We would be in the right for arresting you and turning you in for not being registered, and your stories of our imagined illegal activities would be disregarded on sight."

The Dark One was knocked to the floor with a kick to the belly. "And what makes you think I'm not registered?" Pearl replied. Her breathing was steady and calm as if she had just woken up and stretched in the morning.

Business Suit just silently chuckled to himself, and Pearl realized that this was a man who keeps tabs on exactly which of the Powered are registered. Just then the doors broke open and dozens of armed guards started rushing into the periphery of the warehouse. Business Suit displayed surprising agility for his attire and dashed into the back room. After a moments hesitation Pearl followed. The Dark One was scrambling away, but anyone who dressed in stereotypical dark crime clothes was not a man of great knowledge or importance.

Following the sounds of her prey through a series of hallways, she broke into a lavish dining room. It was full of furniture and sculptures and resided next to a large kitchen full of crates and vents. The sounds of armed guards in pursuit soon filled the air, and Pearl cursed to herself. She quickly threw a metallic pitcher of wine into the aquarium that lined the entire wall and dropped into the vent that opened up to secure the sea creatures in the event of a breakage. She had already secured an exit in the water systems for spying on the ongoings, but the low security had apparently also kept the dinner guests from discussing anything of note during the weeks she spied on them.

Back at home Pearl stripped off her shimmering costume, took a vacu-shower, and sat down on her secure offline vault of notes and evidence. She cursed with language that even Neptune would have disapproved of while banging her head against the desk.

She linked her costume to the terminal on her desk to upload the footage from the night. Business Suit's face was obscured the entire time, but she threw his image into the large network of connected faces anyways. Like a detectives workboard, everyone connected to the organization in some way. Three faces sat at the center of the diagram. Three faces she had studied every night. They were important to this in some way, but she didn't know how.

At the center sat pictures of the CEO of NeptuneTech, the governor of the city, and a low quality image of an unremarkable face shaking hands with them both. The final mysterious man was only ever seen with them once in a private meeting. He could not be found in any of the cities databases, classified or not. She had let her mostly anonymous secure channel of vigilante associates in on this image, but they assured her that many people in the world met with powerful men, although they agreed it was strange he was off all records.

The girl known as Pearl by night went to sleep restlessly, as she had every night in the ten years since it happened. Her apartment looked over a series of power plants used to keep the city's water systems operational. Outside her window, one of many small channels used to supply the city with beautiful creatures flowed peacefully. A small rainbow trout swam against the current with its right eye staring into the window. The girl known as Pearl by night sighed with a single question rebounding in her head.

Because he was nobody meant that he had to be somebody. Right?

Her water bed was kept slowly flowing, and she used a headset ventilation system to breath instead of a respiraskin. The feel of flowing water was peaceful, and it kept her active mind from preventing her from getting any sleep.

She forgot to close her bedroom window again, but there were no vantage points to see in. The full moon bathed her pale skin in an angelic white glow. She closed her eyes and floated. Her lithe and nimble form stood out against the darkness of the room. Her small and delicate curves were revealed on closer inspection, and even closer still, the details of the wiry but athletic muscles underneath the skin as smooth as a porcelain countertop.

Her small light pink nipples stood up from the subtle agitation of the current. The weightless nature of the water made her B-cups float and seem even smaller than they were. They framed her erect nipples perfectly. Although she was now 18, hair on her body had never developed, potentially due to her Powered condition. Her lower lips rippled slightly in the current barely revealing the treasure within.

"By Neptune's Trident" she whispered into the mask as a particularly cool jet of water parted her hallowed region. Unconsciously, her arm moved to her waist, and a long pale finger brushed hesitantly over the outer lips. A slow lustful exhale later, and she realized sleep would not yet come. "Neptune's Trident indeed" she smiled as a finger slipped in.

Like the peaceful current, her pace was slow. She alternated between brushing outside and pushing in with her finger along the slit without inserting deeply. For several minutes this continued until the heat in her loins was almost unbearable.

In went that finger, brushing the clit as it went. Her mouth opened in a soundless exclamation of extasy. She had never been with a man, but a somewhat curious trait of most Powered was the lack of a hymen. There were reports of exceptions of course, but most women understandably refused to relate their sexual experiences to any survey.

Inserting her longest finger (the middle one) its entire length, she stroked the lower side of her slit with her pointer finger. She held that position for a moment before activating a secret ability. Most people can vibrate muscles on a macro scale when clenched, but some aspect of her enhanced strength gave her the ability to vibrate on a much finer scale. She could feel her warm juices leaking out and being swept away by the cold current, and the gradient added another dimension to her pleasure.

The vibrations increased up to a fever pitch. She let out a quiet mewling moan into the mask. Her back began to arch, and her breasts were pushed out into their full glory, nipples like flagstaffs in the wind. Her torso underwent a couple involuntary pre-climax undulations and her eyes opened wide.

Where they met the unblinking gaze of the trout outside her window. Her wide eyes opened even wider in shock and embarrassment, and even irrationally, the icy hormones of shame and humiliation flooded her body. Her conscious mind had yet to even think about regaining control, and as she stared back at her voyeur, she felt something else. Heat? Building and building without any brakes. Her entire body contorted, paused, and shuddered once.

Then she came. Hard.

The ventilation mask fell off in the fallout, and water flooded her mouth. Luckily every muscle in her body was too busy clenching uncontrollably for her to breathe in. The sensors in the water chamber took note and dumped her onto the ground where she continued to convulse and buckle like a fish out of water. As she finally rest, she let out an imperceptible high pitched moan. "AaahhHhhHhhh..." The next morning she woke up splayed out on the ground sore all over in ways she never imagined. She lay there until noon, her spent naked body soaking in the sun.

Chapter 5: It Beckons

A man in a Business Suit walked to the podium on the center stage. That stage was the only space in the large circular room that was lit. Three quarters of the periphery contained four rows of ascending seats shrouded in darkness. The last quarter held the desks of the presiding officers, and behind it ... a throne. The throne was the darkest of all, and even a silhouette of the man sitting there was difficult to see.

"It is my great honor to speak to you tonight" began the suit still wearing his wide brimmed bowl hat that kept his face in darkness. "but I come bearing bad news." The room was still silent. Only half the seats were filled, but it was a momentous occasion indeed when enough were invited for standing room to be used.

"As we all know, the numbers of Powered are on the rise again." There was some snickering at that remark. Divisions of illicit companies attempting to replicate and reproduce the Powered or their powers were well represented here. "Some have caught the scent of something greater than petty crime, villains and do-gooders alike." The anxiety in the room went up slightly at that announcement.

"I have personally encountered one not three days ago, moonlighting under the pseudonum Pearl. I know several others who have further evidence as my colleague will discuss in a minute. They are not close, but the threat begins to grow." He paused for cinematic effect. "The time of vigilance is upon us."

At that proclamation several discussions broke out amongst the audience. Business Suit continued to speak, but Angler 3 was busy listening to a more local conversation. Angler Leader was berating, as she usually does, an associate who ran some small covert fake document business. Angler 3 half listened to the poor man fail to defend his security practices while simultaneously studying the room.

This was only his second time in the room, and the first had been a short lived visit while Angler Leader took credit for his team's success in locating and eliminating a spy within their ranks. He harbored no ill will over that, as he was given a promotion to sit in the room where it happened, at least while Angler 2 was busy undercover. Angler Leader sat near the one quarter section of desks to indicate her status, and if current trends held, she would soon be sitting up there. Angler 3 glanced back towards the throne and the silence sitting there. Patience won over, and he looked back towards the conversations of his more immediate threats. If only they knew what that spy truly divulged.

Another man took the stage. Angler 3 recognized him as did many in the room. There was a sharp intake of breath as he took off his hood to reveal a prominent member of the city council. A stern woman's voice cut through the rustling of apprehension. "Dr. Malcomb has been vetted." A great wave of relief hit the crowd, and Angler 3 noted the inherent trust with the members of the desk. Perhaps there is a crack to exploit there.

Dr. Malcomb began to speak, clearly nervous about his new environment. "I have conducted several experiments in coordination with one of your -- our ... underground ... facilities. The work is classified for now, but rest assured it will be put to good use." The crowd stared silently back at him giving no indication that they were, in fact, assured. The professor began to gather more steam as in his lectures.

"However, I have recently come across ... a complication. That complication's name is Viper." There were some low growls at that announcement. Angler 3 had no clue who this Viper was, but he knew better than to open his mouth under any circumstance at this meeting. "The Viper is apparently interested in our supply chain. Unlike this young Pearl my friend here spoke of, she seems to be invested in only herself. She breached security at one of our facilities, but luckily failed to navigate herself to the areas of interest. I even missed one of my lectures to contain the damage, and, if you were a student of mine, you would know how much of a faux pas that is." Quickly realizing he was not in a lecture hall, the half hearted joke died before it even began with the audience continuing to sit in dead silence.

After a short hesitation, he gathered himself again. "The point, which, as my colleague proposed earlier, is important, is that the Powered have begun to be a nuisance."

Out of place, the professor ended his speech there, and Business Suit added one more note. "They sense opportunity here, some for profit and some for 'righteousness'." The crowd sneered at that remark. "but the truth is, we need to set in motion a plan for dealing with them beyond the usual means." He ended there and retreated to a group of his collaborators. The crowd began its discussions again. As the discussions started to turn to arguments, a new voice cut through the crowd.

"And who better to lead these efforts than me?" A gangly man strode into the spotlight with several like dressed followers in tow. Angler 3 noted the ripple of disgust that spread around the audience, focused on the group where Business Suit retreated to. He filed this information away for future use.

The newcomer was average height with a large hooked nose. His unkempt hair was grey, but in a uniform metallic way instead of age related. His face was ugly by conventional standards and was permanently etched with a pretentious sneer. The left side of his lip curled due to the sneer, and it revealed a hint of yellow teeth. He was not skinny, but his bowed in chest, and slightly off kilter stride gave the appearance of someone not entirely at home in the appendages he was given. He and his followers wore working jeans covered in what could only be described as a dirty grey smock. Angler 3 thought he saw traces of blood in the weave.

"We all know there is only one among us who can, shall we say, 'wrangle' these Powered, don't we?" the grimy man chuckled. "It seems you have a choice my dear ... friends. Hand me the reigns or let the Powered take them and drive you back underground."

Several annoyed voices cried out their opposition. "You are unfit for this task", "you overestimate the Powered", "your methods will lead us to ruin", "remember the last time you had any real power", "it must be done but not by you". The final line was spoken by Business Suit, and the grimy man turned to glare at him.

The ugly sneer turned back into a mocking sneer as he help up a finger to quiet the room. "Of course I wouldn't expect a pack of blind fools as yourselves to see reason unless forced before you." He spun slowly in a circle attracting every gaze in the room before turning to the elevated dias of the throne with a more respectful bow.

"And I do mean forced before you"

At that moment he signaled into the darkness somewhere, and the doors burst open. A contingent of his men marched into the room carrying a modified stretcher. The room immediately erupted into chaos as audience members either shouted improprieties or attempted to leave the room.

On that stretcher was a body. A body in costume. "What are you afraid of?" cackled the presenter. "She can't escape. We've made sure of that. And your faces are safe anyways behind that curtain of darkness you like to hide behind." With that the full features of the heroine were revealed. A strong-blue one-piece costume covered most of her body. It was tattered in places, and even from the stands, Angler 3 could see her body was bloody and bruised.

"It is my GREAT honor to introduce to you tonight" the grimy man emphasized with a mocking tone. "THE DOLPHIN."

Angler 3 glanced at Angler Leader, and her satisfied sneer was eerily similar to the man on stage. From then on the meeting devolved into bitter debate until the woman who spoke for the desks finally assigned the grimy man, who was identified as Karl Killcreek (a name which Angler 3 thought to be decidedly made up) to break this heroine. He had no real power yet, but from the looks on the faces of Business Suit and his cronies, it didn't seem that far off.

Simon came home overloaded with information. He sat down at his desk and stared at the power plants outside his window.

"The world grows, yet its unknown extremities creep only closer" he said to himself deep in thought.

He thought back to the so called Dolphin on the stretcher. The conversations were terse, but when discussing her, they were nearly all in the same vein of thought.

One man cackled "why is she called the dolphin? Does she blow good?" Simon was not disgusted in the crude and vile manner in which the captive was treated. He had witnessed enough in his short but dirty career to become desensitized to people with crass and altogether unimportant personalities. He did not take part in the humiliation of the unconscious body before him though. He was studying.

Killcreek was showboating, and many were arguing for or against him, but there were several deeper conversations taking place beneath the chaos. Even those on the desks shifted uncomfortably as they debated how to resolve this new situation. The silent silhouette on the throne remained unmoving.

Simon also noted the body itself. She still wore her blue domino mask, and it was difficult to call her pretty since half her face was swollen and bruised. Her sleek brown hair was tied in a ponytail, and her boots were some sort of technological gel that he assumed had some sort of utility. She was rather short, and would certainly not be considered skinny, but she looked to be in decent shape.