Part I
Gretel awoke to the steady sound of water dripping. It took her no time at all to realize that she was blindfolded and gagged, with her hands bound behind her back and her feet being held up against the legs of the chair in which she sat. She shook her head and the slight headache went away.
The last thing she remembered was leaving her apartment building to go to the grocery store. Someone called to her, "Hey, lady!" Then as she turned around she saw a blinding green light. And then, the next thing she knew, she was here, wherever "here" was.
She tugged at her restraints but found they were too tight and she decided not to waste any energy trying to break free of her bonds. She leaned forward in the chair in hopes of standing up, but her hands were too tightly bound and she quickly felt a sharp pain in her shoulders. She slid backwards.
She let out a deep sigh; which supervillain had captured her? Was it Ivan the Ignominious? Bert Badass? The Mauve Marauder? She figured she would find out soon enough, and then, depending on who it was, maybe she'd be able to negotiate her freedom. Not that she knew anything special about Admiral Anticrime, but she could probably bluff her way out of this situation if she was lucky.
The chair her captor had tied her to, was far more comfortable than she would have anticipated, considering everything else about her situation. She almost wanted to relax and fall asleep, but she fought against the soporific effects of the chair, and the boredom that came from waiting for her captor to show himself.
She heard a voice in the distance. "She should be waking up soon now, boss!"
"Excellent, Rufus! Excellent work indeed. The girl you found will do quite nicely!" As soon as she heard that voice, with a certain snakelike quality, with the long, drawn-out vowels and the hissing sound that punctuated the pronunciation of his assistant's name, she felt a chill down her spine.
She could hear footsteps coming down the staircase behind her and they slowly, steadily approached her. The voice spoke once more.
"Good evening, my pretty thing. I trust you are not uncomfortable in spite of your bindings."
She struggled at her restraints and let out some wordless vocalizations that barely registered a sound through the gag clenched within her teeth.
"There there, my dear! Please, try to calm yourself! If you can do that one little thing, I will take off your gag."
She could feel the tears streaming out of her eyes, soaking her blindfold. A thin finger ran its way down her cheek; she could feel a pointed fingernail scratch her cheekbone slightly.
"Do you think you can calm down, you sweet thing?"
It took all of her strength, but she slowly nodded her head. A pair of cold, clammy hands were working on the knot at the back of her head and, after what felt like an eternity, they removed her gag. She wanted to scream for help, but she decided not to expend too much energy on such a vain attempt at freedom. After all, her captor was —
"Do you know who I am, my dear?"
"Y-y-you're V-Victor V-Villanova!"
"That's correct, although I prefer just to be thought of as 'Victor Villain.' Don't need the 'ova' part of my last name. Maybe someday I'll change it, but right now I'm busy planning the greatest crime ever committed in Metroburgh. And you're going to help me!" His laugh echoed across the walls. Without thinking, Gretel cringed in response.
"Now, my darling, what did you say your name was?"
She pursed her lips tightly and arched her back in defiance.
Victor laughed heartily. "I admire your spunk, my dear. But don't worry. Soon, I'll be able to mold you to my will. You will be like putty to me."
Her captor removed her blindfold. Gretel bit the inside of her lip to prevent herself from showing the fear that she was feeling. She looked around, at herself and her surroundings. She had been stripped down to just her bra and panties, but she didn't see the rest of her clothes. She was in a windowless room that was designed to look like a dungeon of sorts. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling.
"Rufus! I think we're ready to test my latest wondrously evil concoction." Gretel had to turn her head as his gleeful laughter echoed off of the stone walls.
Rufus slowly scuffled his feet as he approached his boss; his head was bowed and covered with a hood. Gretel couldn't help but feel some degree of pity for this man as he knelt before the supervillain and raised a small flask high above his head, an unworthy soul offering up some great prize to an all-powerful god.
Victor snatched the flask out of Rufus's hand with a grandiose swing of his arm. At first, Gretel wasn't sure if Victor had taken the flask or hit his servant. Either way, she immediately thought of the image of cowed servant and heartless ruler.
Rufus slunk back into the shadows and Victor turned to face Gretel once again. His hot breath in her face nauseated her, and she put all of her energy into demonstrating that she wasn't afraid, staring squarely into his eyes, almost taunting him to turn away before she did.
"All right, my dear. I admire your will. It's almost a shame that I'm going to break you of it. Now, once more, what ... is ... your ... name?"
She answered him by spitting in his face.
"You shouldn't have done that." He ran his fingers down her arm and stopped on her hand. "Such perfect skin. Such a beautiful girl. Such a shame she was so uncooperative. But, my dear, you can be thankful that I don't always act on first impressions."
He pulled a small eyedropper out of his vest pocket and inserted it into the flask that his assistant had brought. He squeezed the bulb at the end of the dropper as it imbued two or three drops of the clear liquid. He put the flask back down on the floor and Rufus quickly moved in to remove the flask.
Victor stared for what felt like an eternity at her left leg. He seemed to be taking in every curve, every line, every contour. Finally, his shaking hand hung a few short inches above her leg and a single droplet of the liquid landed on her, just above the knee.
Gretel and Victor watched closely as her skin absorbed the drop. Rufus came in a bit closer, too, but he didn't get close enough to see. She didn't know what she should have expected, but it didn't burn, it didn't feel cold, and it didn't slide off of her leg. In fact, it didn't feel like much of anything.
Victor smiled.
Rufus looked up at his boss and asked, "Did it work? Do you think it worked?"
"I think it did." There was a malice to his chuckle that Gretel simply didn't understand.
How did he know it worked? A drop of water, or so It felt, got absorbed into her skin. This wicked, sinister, evil man didn't do anything other than get her leg wet. Well, that and, of course, the whole kidnapping thing, too.
"Now, my dear, my assistant, Doofus, I mean Rufus, will untie your feet. Please try not to kick him." He snapped his fingers and Rufus moved in to untie her feet.
She looked down and felt a wave of sympathy for this small man. Was he acting out of cowardice or respect? Or something else? If Victor himself were untying her, she probably would have kicked him, but Rufus... She couldn't bring herself to try and kick him away.
After a few minutes of Rufus fumbling and struggling with the rope joined her together at the ankles, he finally was able to remove the rope and he backed away. With her feet free, her first instinct was simply to stretch her legs and move her feet as far apart as she could.
"Now, be honest with me, my dear. Are you feeling ... aroused?"
She didn't want to admit it, but, yes, she was. She hadn't even thought about how far apart she had spread her legs apart with the rope gone. She looked down and noticed that her nipples were straining against the thin fabric that was her bra. With a slight stammer, she reluctantly whispered, "Y.. Yes."
"You have a growing need that needs to be satisfied, don't you? You've got a strong itch that needs scratching, yes?"
