Miss Manhattan

Miss Manhattan flew across the city, the night lights illuminating the streets as she searched for crime and criminals, but alas, tonight, all was quiet.

It wasn't often she ended her patrol early, but tonight looked to be one of those nights as she turned south and headed back downtown to her headquarters.

She gave a small smirk at that, she had obviously been spending too much time with the league, with their secret lairs and such. No, now she was just heading back to her small condo in one of the many towers that made up the city.

As she flew off, she didn't notice the lone man on a close by rooftop, a set of high tech binoculars held to his face as she disappeared from sight, her dark blue cape and muted red uniform making it hard to distinguish her from the night sky.

* * *

Dave spread the photo's out in front of him on the table, turning them so the client could get a good look.

"You know this won't be an easy job right?"

"Easy? Of course not and for what you charge I wouldn't expect it to be." the woman sitting across from him replied and slammed her hand against the table.

She hadn't told him her name and didn't know if she thought he hadn't recognized her or not, but he'd made it a habit to know all the heroes and villains in the city and there was no mistaking Lady Red as soon as she'd shown up.

"That do gooder has foiled my plans too many times and now something has to be done about it."

"You mean, now you can afford to do something about it." he said matter of factly.

"Yes, fine. Clearly you know more than your saying and that's good because otherwise you'd never be able to pull this thing off would you?" Lady Red said, a dangerous glare in her eyes.

He wasn't too worried about her though, sure she was dangerous, but not like some of the other super villains. No, she had no powers, she was dangerous because of her intellect. That last heist she'd pulled, stealing some of the museum's most prized artifacts while distracting the league with a lot of noise and fury on the other side of the city, had been pure genius.

He was quite sure the payday from it had been why she could all of a sudden afford his services.

His services were... unique. In a world filled with super powered heroes and villains as well as legions of mad scientists and creatures from myth and legend, there was no one else with his skill. He could see their weaknesses.

They all had them of course, Lady Red sitting across from him thought of herself as a having none, but he could see them clearly. Her need to stop Miss Manhattan bordered on obsession. Obsession was a weakness he could easily exploit if he wanted to.

And there were others, so many others. Some so deeply buried in her psyche that they would shatter her very idea of who she was.

He'd spent the last few days following Miss Manhattan around on her nightly patrols. The photos were from that work, but they were just a by product, he'd looked in to Miss Manhattan's very soul and found all her weaknesses. Or at least enough to do what Lady Red was requesting.

"I didn't just mean taking her down would not be easy you know; her friends could be a problem too. They tend to get a little miffed when one of their own goes missing."

"That's your problem, all I want is for her to be out of my hair for good. Can you deliver that?"

"I can, but my price is non-negotiable."

"Of course, just get it done soon. I have a big heist coming up in a few weeks and she has to be out of the way by then."

"Not a problem, you should see something in the papers in a few days."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll probably be dead, but I wouldn't worry about that, I already have things in motion."

* * *

Dave flipped through his research on Miss Manhattan once more, as a hero she was quite formidable and not to be taken lightly.

He reread the oldest parts of the research first, her arrival on earth, her ship crashing just off the coast of Manhattan Island just ten years ago. The newspaper headlines proclaiming the new visitor's arrival with full colour photos of the statuesque blonde emerging from the water.

A few days later the first paper nicknamed her "Miss Manhattan", both because of her obvious beauty and the fact her ship had just "missed" Manhattan Island.

It was a corny name, but it had stuck and when she'd donned her uniform and started fighting at the leagues side, the latest superhero had been born.

He set the folder down and looked at the chart on the table as the ship heaved in the water, "How are we coming Capitan?" he called out.

"Almost there Dave, just a few more kilometers to go."

He looked out over the water, the sunshine reflecting off the waves and then turned and looked back at the city, he longed for steady land once more but the trip was necessary.

When they arrived at the spot, he headed out on deck, three other sailors joined the Capitan and himself to help lower the equipment over the side of the ship. Once it was done, the remote-controlled vehicle descended deep in to the Atlantic Ocean until it reached the destination. There, still on the ocean floor was the debris from Miss Manhattan's space ship.

The government had of course gone over it with a fine-tooth comb and taken anything that looked like it might still be of use, but what he was looking for would have never caught their attention. After several hours of searching, he finally came across the small crystal, mounted on an alien stone for display. The arms of the rover reached out and placed it in the cargo tray and started to head back to the surface.

* * *

Dave watched Miss Manhattan land on the roof, just a few meters away from him. Normally she would have been on high alert with a strange man standing beside the doorway, but the cloaking device he'd borrowed from a previous client rendered him completely hidden from even her enhanced senses.

She walked over to the door and turned the knob, Dave measured himself up against her, his own regular 5'10" frame dwarfed by the 6'6" goddess that stood beside him. The door opened easily for her and she stepped inside, Dave followed along behind her, making sure to keep away far enough not to bump in to her, but stay close enough not to lose her through a door.

Finally, she entered her apartment and Dave moved quickly to the far corner and waited. He had no intention of making a move until she had gotten deep in to sleep and so he waited patiently for several hours until she shut off the lights and headed to her bedroom.

There Dave watched as she stripped down, her impressive figure, with large firm breasts, tight waist and long legs, causing more of a distraction than he liked. When she slipped between the sheets and eventually dozed off, he turned off the cloaking device and walked over to the side of the bed.

There he pulled out a small vial and unstoppered it just above her nose, the odorless, colourless gas drifted down over her nose and mouth until she inhaled just a small amount of it, then her body reacted involuntarily and gasped in the rest through her mouth.

She blinked several times and started to stir before the gas overcame her and she slumped back in to bed.

For all of her powers, she was still a biological life form, and every life form was susceptible to some kind of knockout gas. This one would normally have killed most other creatures, but in Miss Manhattan's case, it would give him a few hours at best.

He reached in to his pocket and pulled out a choker and wrapped it around her neck, it glowed for just an instant and then her body started to lift off from the bed, taking the sheets with it.

He pulled off all but the bedsheet and wrapped her in it, turning her over in the air several times until she was mummified in the sheet, leaving just her head and long blonde locks exposed.

Pushing her from her feet, he re-engaged the cloaking device and headed back up to the roof where his cloaked VTOL was waiting for him, courtesy of the same client as his personal cloaking device.

He pushed Miss Manhattan in to the craft and moments later lifted off from the rooftop, heading in to the dark night sky.

* * *

Alicia winced and firmly held her eyes closed, both because of the bright light shining in them and the pounding headache she had. She raised her hand to her forehead, or would have if it had not been securely held down at her side, and decided that she needed to see what was going on even with the pain.

Opening her eyes only caused her to wince at the bright light until her eyes adjusted to it and she finally was able to see the rest of the room. It was a white, sterile room with several devices encircling her on what looked like a hospital gurney, but was clearly far more.

She pulled at her restraints, they groaned under her strength, but did not break. She raised her head and could see both her ankles and wrists were wrapped in silver metal bands. A similar band encircled her waist, holding her firmly in place.

"Ah, awake at last Miss Manhattan? Or do you prefer Alicia?" a man asked from across the room, close to the doorway.

"Who are you? Let me go! Unbind me now and I'll go easy on you!" she said, her bravado clearly evident in her voice.

"Let you go? No, we're only getting started. I've taken a contract and I always fulfill my contracts."

"Contract, what kind of contract?"

"Ah, well, honestly you're not going to like it. It seems Lady Red has finally had enough of your medalling and has hired me to take care of you... permanently."

"And just who do you think you are? I've defeated the toughest villains around, I'll snap your spine with my little finger once I get out of here." she yelled at him, straining against her bonds.

"Me? Oh I'm no one you've heard of before. I keep it that way, I prefer my anonymity really. Those that need my services though, they always seem to find me none the less. Now then, tell me if you recognize this?" he asked, stepping up beside her and holding out the crystal on the stone base.

"How did you... find, know about that!" she squealed as the sudden revelation of just how much trouble she was in surprised her.

"I'll take that as a yes then. As to how, well, let's just say I have a talent for finding the weaknesses of others."

She renewed her struggle against the bonds holding her down but they would not budge.

"Would you like some more time to try and break those manacles? Given a week or so I think you could probably do it, but you don't have that much time, do you?"

"You won't get away with this. The league..."

"Oh yes the league. Well they'll have to find you and after this," he said lifting the crystal a bit higher for emphasis, "is done with you, they won't recognize you even if they did find you."

She sneered at him and fought against her bonds once more as he set the crystal down beside her.

With a smile, he touched the crystal to her arm and her whole body suddenly grew rigid. She felt the crystal pulling her powers from her, draining her of her strength, speed, agility and flight. But more than that, she felt herself shrinking, changing, becoming less than she was. Her body twitched as she grew weaker and weaker, until finally she felt there was no more to lose and just as suddenly as the crystal's power had touched her, it vanished.

She collapsed on to the gurney and tried to remain conscious, she flopped her head to the side, looking at the man holding the stone base of the crystal and extending his other hand to touch it.

The room was filled with multi coloured light as she watched her powers transfer in to him. His muscles growing, his stature increasing, she knew all that had been taken from her had now been transferred to him.

Finally, regaining some of her wits about her, she realized she was no longer held prisoner by the manacles. The change in her body had rendered them lose and she easily slipped out of them. She rolled off the gurney and came face to face with her captor. He stood easily a foot above her and had muscles everywhere. He looked down to her and smiled.

"Where do you think your going?" he asked and suddenly she found his hand around her throat, lifting her off her feet. She grabbed at his wrists as she kicked at him, but her feet simply bounced off his hard abs and she couldn't pry his hand away from her throat.

He reached over to a tray at the side of the gurney and picked up an injector of some kind.

"You know, before it was a real challenge to knock you out, but now without your powers..." he said and pushed the injector up to her arm and pulled the trigger, "well, now you're just like any other person, easily rendered unconscious with the most mundane of drugs."

She watched the room dim and she felt her arms fall to her side as darkness over took her.

* * *

She woke some time later in a small room, the bed she laid on was soft and comfortable and so she remained still for a little while until she managed to pull herself together.

She pulled herself upright and found no restraints held her in place this time. Though, really, why would there be? She was no longer a super hero, she was just an ordinary girl again.

She placed her head in her hands and sobbed, but only for a moment, there was no point feeling sorry for herself and so she stood up, determined to regain her powers. Looking around the room revealed little more than a dresser, a table and a doorway to a bathroom.

In the bathroom she looked at herself in the mirror, her brown hair was dishevled, her face was red and a mess. She looked down at her body, gone were her perfect breasts, tight waist and long legs. Instead, her old body had returned, short of stature, small of chest and pudgy around the middle and straight down the hips.

She never thought this day would come, how could he have known about her secret?

She thought back to that fateful day, fishing with her father in the Atlantic when the thunderclap of the descending ship broke the silence. It crashed so close to them that it capsized their boat and threw them both in to the water.

They'd been careless, not wearing life preservers and as she flailed in the water, she neither noticed the small life pod bubbling up to the surface or her father sinking below the waves.

When the alien had touched her on the shoulder she'd almost lost control of her bowels, but a sudden calmness came over her and a voice echoed in her mind. The alien was dying, she had little time left and needed to transfer her powers to someone who was worthy.

The alien had held the crystal in her hand and Alicia had watched the alien shrink and change right in front of her. With a single finger, the alien had pointed at the crystal with her last breath and Alica had reached out to take it.

She remembered the feeling of them transferring to her. Her body changing, growing stronger, until it was finally over and the alien seemed to evaporate all on its own. Alicia had been so startled that she had dropped the crystal and it fell in to the ocean and sank beneath the waves.

She'd looked for her father, and the crystal, but found neither. Then she swam to shore and started her new life, never looking back on the old one.

Alicia cleaned herself up as best she could and walked back in to the main room, sitting on the bed and waiting for him to come in. She didn't have to wait long.

He entered the room, filling the door way, a commanding presence like the one she used to present. In his hands was a tray of food, he held it out to her.

"I'm sure your hungry." he said.

She nodded and took the tray, quickly digging in to the food like she hadn't eaten in months.

He waited for her to finish before continuing, "So how much do you remember from our brief meeting before?"

"Everything." she admitted, "So now what? Are you going to kill me?"

"Kill you? Of course not."

"But you have a contract. To take care of me, permanently."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I have to kill you. I could let you go right now and I doubt you'd ever get in Lady Red's way again would you?"

"No." she admitted sheepishly, "Then why am I still here?"

"Well, I don't deal in probabilities, I deal in certainties and so I still have work to do."

"What kind of work?" she asked nervously.

"Oh, you'll see, now come with me." he said and walked from the room. She hesitated only for an instant, she knew he could snap her in two with just a finger, there was no point in trying anything at this point.

She walked out of the room and down a hallway to another room. She recognized it immediately as the same one she had been in before where he had taken her powers.

The gurney and machines were gone, in their place was a reclining chair with some kind of helmet on it, along with a new set of machines.

"Have a seat." he said and waved her over to the chair.

She tentatively sat down, noticing the straps. He secured her in the chair with them, unlike last time, they were just Velcro and not metal, but they held her just as firmly now.

"Now this can go two ways." he said as he finished, "The easy way and the hard way."

She winced at the second one, knowing it was coming.

"The easy way is this; I'm going to ask you a few questions, nothing too personal, and your going to answer them. The hard way, well, you know the hard way I'm sure." he said as he cinched the strap he was securing tightly with a little tug to emphasize his point, "Which is it to be?"

"The easy way." she conceded.

"Good, now, what's your name?"

"Alicia Thomas." she replied.

"And your human?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now I've deduced that you acquired your powers from the real alien that landed and I know how. But I'm not sure why you didn't tell the truth when you washed up on shore."

She furrowed her brow and looked downwards, "Look at me, I'm just ordinary, Miss Manhattan, she was an alien goddess that fought for good and justice... why would I want to be me?"

"Yes, that I can understand. Alright, all done."

"All done? What do you mean?"

"Well, that's all the questions I have for you. In a few minutes I'll place the helmet over your head and let it start to work."

"What's it going to do?"

"Actually, it's going to give you what you want most. To be special again."

"Special... how?"

"Well, let's make that a surprise, shall we?" he said and lowered the helmet over her head. It covered her eyes and ears and a moment later came to life. Fuzzy sounds filled her head, blurry images filled her eyes. She tried to block them out, whatever it was, but soon she lost and her body slumped in to the chair and relaxed.

* * *

Alicia woke up some time later, a headache pounding as she rolled over and almost fell out of bed. She steadied herself and stood up, walking to the bathroom she took care of some pressing business and then took a shower.

When she came back out, she went to the dresser and found several sets of clothes waiting for her, some outlandish, some very plain. She put on something simple and then spent the rest of the day wondering what he had meant before going to bed and drifting off to sleep.

The next day, started off pretty much the same, he visited her, fed her and then took her to the chair once more. She fought it again, but could tell it was winning, whatever that meant.

The cycle continued for several days, until finally she was looking at her dresser and instead of picking up the simple tee-shirt and jeans, she grabbed the sun dress instead. It wasn't' like she'd thought about putting it on, 'I should put on the sun dress.' had never crossed her mind, no instead it was just the right thing to do.

It was like that with the dreams as well, they'd started off simply enough; erotic, stimulating, dreams to masturbate to for sure but at some point they had started to change as well. Little things at first, instead of her being on top, she was on the bottom, then on her knees, then with her ass up in the air. Strong hands holding her became cuffs and ropes, then straps and leather.