Part One--Peril of the Purloined Pendant!
Adventure Girl swooped through the skies, her golden tresses flowing out behind her as her brilliant blue eyes scanned the air with her venture-vision for some sign of the menace known only as Doctor Damian Darke. She knew his floating island had to be close by; after all, it was his robots that had stolen the Pendant of Persephone from the Pyramid City Museum. That meant that there must be something to the sinister legends that surrounded it--Doctor Darke had no interest in mere material gain. No, whatever he was up to, it spelled out something more serious--not just for Adventure Girl and Pyramid City's other defenders, but perhaps even for the world!
It was then that she spotted it; not Doctor Darke's floating island, but rather the absence of anything at all. One cloud among the many Adventure Girl scanned was opaque, rather than transparent to her venture-vision; given that she could scan through any substance other than lead, that meant that one cloud among the others contained a suspension of microscopic particles of lead. Which meant that rather than concealing his floating island, Doctor Darke had inadvertently led her right to it. Adventure Girl changed course on a dime and headed for the mysterious cloud.
Without hesitation, she plunged right in. It was undoubtedly a trap; Doctor Darke had no super-powers of his own, but the fiend's calculating brain had come up with so many diabolical death-traps in the past, Adventure Girl had nearly lost count. Between his death-traps, his robot armies, and his unparalleled knowledge of the lost magicks of the ancient world, Doctor Darke was a match for a hero like Adventure Girl even without super-powers. Not that he was any 98-pound weakling, either. He'd soaked his body in a solution of rare herbs to bring himself to the peak of physical fitness. That didn't mean much to Adventure Girl, whose venture-hard body could withstand tank shells, but he'd fought Captain Patriot to a stand-still more than once.
Sure enough, she came through the layer of cloud cover to find Darke's floating island within its concealing shroud. Darke had even placed an artificial sun within the cocoon of cloud cover, providing enough heat and light to turn the small island into a tropical paradise. "And every paradise has its serpent," she muttered to herself as she saw Doctor Darke standing next to an artificial lagoon, his sinister black-and-red outfit standing out against the yellow sand in a way that she needed no venture-vision to detect. And sure enough, he held in one hand the Pendant of Persephone!
She landed in front of him, and put on her best heroic pose. "You're getting sloppy, Doctor Darke," she said in ringing tones. "Every cloud might have a silver lining, but one lined with lead? That stands out a little."
"Oh, not just lead," Doctor Darke said, his voice oily with smug triumph. "The artificial cloud surrounding my island also contained a suspension of inert chemicals, my dear Adventure Girl. Chemicals, you'll be interested to note, that coated your body as you passed through the cloud to confront me, like the oh-so-noble, oh-so-foolish girl that you are. And even as we speak, they're interacting with the radiations of my artificial sun to catalyze into a poison that will affect even you!"
Adventure Girl looked down at her hands, already turning bright green as the poison catalzyed on her skin. "Going to have to do...better than that..." she said, swaying slightly as she tried to keep to her feet. "It's weakening me, but..." She slipped to one knee. "...but it won't take long for my powers to...purge the poison..."
"Long enough, my dear!" Darke stepped over to her, and slipped the Pendant of Persephone around her throat. "Long enough for me to do that!"
Adventure Girl shook her head to clear it. "Good," she said, already feeling the effects of the poison clearing her system. "That'll save me the trouble of forcing you to give it back to me." She stood back up. "Now, I think that there's a warrant out for your arrest back home in Pyramid City, so if you'll just come along quietly--" She put a hand on his shoulder, but instead of grasping the material in her fist with her venture-strength, she instead found herself running her fingers gently along the fabric. She looked at her hand, willing it to grab the sinister villain, but all she seemed to be able to do was caress his shoulder. "What the--?!"
"Mmm, that feels nice," Doctor Darke said. "Could you do my other shoulder as well?" Adventure Girl wanted to punch him right in his smug, masked face, but instead, her strong right arm merely reached up and began rubbing Darke's other shoulder.
"I don't understand--what did you do to me?" Adventure Girl pulled her hands away, and in that, at least, they obeyed her will.
"Simple, my dear Adventure Girl," Doctor Darke said, rubbing his hands together. "I placed the Pendant of Persephone around your neck. You really should have studied the Scrolls of Atlantis--they would have told you that the Pendant of Persephone is a powerful magical artifact, created by the dark god Hades to bind his bride in thrall. Already, it works its decadent magics upon you, my dear. You can no longer use your venture-powers to attack me. Soon, the magic will sap away your will, your intellect, your vaunted strength of character, leaving you an empty-headed slave to the glory of Doctor Darke!" He laughed, the high, sinister chuckle that was his trademark.
"And if I simply remove this little trinket?" She reached up and grabbed the pendant, but when she tried to lift it over her head, it seemed to weigh more than even her mighty venture-strength could handle. She tried to snap the silver chain in half, but instead, her fingers simply ran along the length of it in a flirtatious fashion. She even twirled it around her finger for a moment, exactly the same gesture that she affected when posing as bubble-headed society girl Samantha Steele.
"Having trouble, my dear?" Doctor Darke asked in a tone of toxic mock-concern. "There's no need to worry. I think that soon, you'll begin to enjoy my company."
"I don't think so, Darke," she said, continuing to try to remove the pendant. "I might not be able to fight you directly, but I can still return to Pyramid City and find someone who can help." She tensed her muscles, preparing to take to the skies again, when she saw the downcast set of Doctor Darke's shoulders.
"But if you leave so soon," he said, "I'll be deprived of the pleasure of your company. And you wouldn't want to deprive me of anything, would you?"
"I..." Darke made a good point. "You really..." She smiled sheepishly. "You really like having me around?"
"Of course, my dear. Your beauty is a welcome compliment to my island lair. I've been looking forward to this visit ever since I first discovered the properties of the pendant you now wear." There was a tone of amusement to Doctor Darke's voice, and something about it made Adventure Girl want to join in the joke.
"You're so sweet!" she said, continuing to play with the pendant. "To be honest, I always figured that, you know, what with the times I put you in jail, you might not like me very much." She let out a tiny giggle. "And, y'know, the times you tried to kill me..."
"Only as a last resort, Adventure Girl. I would much rather have you as you are now, a very pretty living girl, instead of forcing you to become a grisly corpse." Doctor Darke leaned in towards her and placed his hand on her arm, and even through his black leather glove and her white spandex outfit, Adventure Girl felt a spark of...charisma, perhaps? Something about him affected her, no question.
"You think I'm pretty?" she asked, twirling a ringlet of blonde hair through her fingers. She blushed, just a little.
