The three Henchmen were sat around a wooden table playing cards when justice came calling for them.
They wore rough masks (little more than balaclavas with eye-holes torn in them); workmen's boots; and plain overalls adorned with a symbol of a long shadow trailing behind a man's outline. Three handguns and a bottle of whisky lay alongside the pile of money that they played for.
Knock knock.
Two solid knocks came from the door that led out onto an alleyway; a dingy backstreet in downtown Metro City.
All three men snatched up their fire-arms and leveled them at the door. The largest of the three, a hulking brute of a man, advanced cautiously towards the door.
'Who's there?' he called out.
'Just his.....' replied a voice.
'What?' he shouted, confused. 'Just his? What does that mean?'
'What does justice mean?' the voice asked. 'Let me show you....'
The door exploded inwards, propelled by an almighty impact -- it struck the Big Henchmen, knocking him off his feet. The other two opened fire, shooting frantically at the sheened figure who was striding confidently into the room. As the dull light from the room's single bare bulb revealed her identity, they lowered their guns, realizing the futility of firing on her.
Hyper Girl, prime super-heroine of Metro City, stood in front of them, hands on hips.
She wore a tight shiny silver leotard, cut high on the hips and low enough at the front to show her cleavage. Her long legs disappeared into sheened black high-heeled boots; she wore gloves of the same fabric. A simple black mask concealed her identity and her white-blonde hair was drawn back in a pony-tail.
A short cloak of the same glossy black material as her gloves and boots hung behind her.
Her ice blue eyes narrowed and her gloss-sheened lips pouted.
'So,' she said. 'You boys want to come quietly or not.....?'
The Big Henchmen groaned and struggled to rise; in a flash, Hyper Girl stamped down hard on the door, slamming him back to the floor. The move incited the other two to rash action. One of them snatched up a chair and swung at her; the other smashed the whisky bottle and started to dart around the table in her direction.
She dodged the first one's clumsy lunge easily and threw a powerful Kung Fu kick into his midriff, dropping him gasping to the ground; the second one was met by an equally powerful back-hand strike to the jaw. Spitting blood, he fell back, stunned, onto the table.
Hyper Girl pulled the Big Henchmen up by his overall lapels.
'Where's your Boss?' she shouted at him. 'Where's Mr. Shadow?'
Still stunned, the brute could only point limply at the metal door set into the wall behind him.
Hyper Girl let him fall back to the floor. She quickly took stock of the three Henchmen; they all looked sufficiently stunned that she judged she could come back for them later. In any case, Mr. Shadow was the real prize here; he'd earned the nickname as a result of his skill at remaining beyond the reaches of the superhero community.
Until now.
Hyper Girl felt a strange excitement about finally taking him down; it wasn't like he was a major super-criminal, though he had a range of contacts and connections within Metro City's Underworld. If she was honest, it was more about him -- he really annoyed her. In their previous encounters, he'd always managed to belittle her somehow -- calling her, 'super-bimbo', referring to how skimpy her costume was, making lecherous comments about her breasts and ass.
She fumed as she recalled the insults -- how DARE he not respect Metro City's most powerful super-heroine?!?!?!
The metal door collapsed inwards under her kick as easily as the wooden front door had; she was in no mood for subtlety.
Hyper Girl strode fearlessly into the room and struck her usual pose, hands cockily on her hips.
The room was entirely dark apart from an illuminated dais some fifty feet away, covered with instrumentation and view-screens. A cloaked figure rose slowly from the swivel chair set before them, and turned to face Hyper Girl.
Mr. Shadow stood six feet tall, a black cape draped across his broad shoulders. His entire body was covered in light black armour which disappeared into molded black gloves and boots. The only splash of colour in his appearance was his face; painted (or tattooed?) with an ominous unsettling pattern that seemed to shift with his expressions.
He grinned broadly as if pleased to see Hyper Girl.
She huffed to herself, irritated by his defiance.
'Its pretty dark in here,' she said, glancing around casually. 'Can't you afford the lighting bill?'
Mr. Shadow chuckled at that.
'What's the matter, Hyper Girl -- not enough light to show off your Barbie-doll body....?
Hyper Girl gasped despite herself. Godammit, he was bad-mouthing her again!
'Are you going to come quietly?' she asked, secretly hoping he wouldn't give in without a fight.
No,' Mr. Shadow replied. 'I think I will come noisily. In you!'
Hyper Girl gasped again.
'That's it!' she snapped, hoping he hadn't noticed her blushing. 'I'm taking you in!'
As she strode forward into the darkness, she saw Mr. Shadow gesture with a gloved hand. The light on the dais went out and seconds later a spotlight from above illuminated her in a tight pool of light.
Hyper Girl paused, wary of sudden attack.
Without warning, a gloved hand thrust between her legs, gave a quick squeeze, then withdrew.
Hyper Girl yelped in indignation, too surprised to retaliate.
Ducking out of the pool of light, she found herself spotlighted again moments later. Furiously, she realized that Mr. Shadow intended to use his darkness-manipulation powers to molest her!
As if in confirmation, a hand darted out towards her ass and groped her almost bare right buttock.
Squeaking in surprise, Hyper Girl wheeled and threw a punch, but it hit only darkness.
Behind her, the lights of the dais came back on.
As she spun to look, a gloved hand emerged from the darkness and cupped her left breast, brushing the nipple as it did so. Then it snaked swiftly back. This time though, her booted foot flew after it, connecting with Mr. Shadow's chest with a satisfying thud.
'Third time unlucky, scum-bag!' Hyper Girl said, as her powerful kick sent him flying back onto the dais.
Mr Shadow fought to regain his breath, struggling to his feet.
'No more tricks, Mr Shadow!' Hyper Girl warned. 'Unless you want me to use my heat vision on you!'
Hyper Girl flew up from the floor onto the raised dais, landing right in front of her foe. Feeling much more confident of victory, she returned to her hands-on-hips pose and waited for him to admit defeat.
'No more tricks, Hyper Girl,' Mr. Shadow repeated, as he fell back onto the swivel chair. 'Just a decision for you. A test, if you like, of what lengths you are prepared to go to, to protect the innocent.'
'What do you mean?' Hyper Girl asked, irritably.
