Chapter 23 – Stepping into the Heels
Coming home to her apartment in the early morning hours did little to settle Laura’s nerves, even though she was exhausted from the crazy night at the museum. It still felt empty without Cat there, and even though she knew exactly where her friend was now, she was more worried than ever about their future. The legal quagmire they were going to have to wade through now was going to be a nightmare of an entirely different sort. Plus, Cat was even more worn down than Laura was, and there was no guarantee that she could maintain her transformed state throughout the mess with the courts. If she reverted from Pink Pussy to Cattherine Ramos, roommate of Laura Conway, there would be massive repercussions for both of them.
Her first thought was that Black Cat might know how to help in some way, but she had rushed off with Mecha Musume and Cyber Seer to go after Dollface and Kitsune. Laura knew who the mysterious witch heroine was, at least, what she looked like under the mask, but even though they’d gotten off on the wrong foot, the woman’s actions tonight had left a strong impression on Laura. Anyone willing to step in front of a strike from a buffed out Pink Pussy to save her couldn’t be that bad; misguided maybe, especially in matters of the law, but Laura hadn’t gotten the impression she was malevolent by any stretch of the imagination.
Laura was soon in her bedroom, and realized she had put her hands upon the roof of the cage she had purchased for Cat, leaning heavily upon the cool steel. She stared through the bars at the floor and wall. Pink Pussy was under wraps for now, but Captain Sullivan hadn’t wanted to make another move on any more super-powered villains without approval from higher up; they were stretched to their limit already, with no solid way to restrain such people. They were still relying on the heavy-duty shackles Mecha Musume had used on Cat in fact, though she was too tired to resist in any way. In fact, when they had gotten to the station, Laura had barely been able to rouse Cat to get her into the holding area, to say nothing of having an interrogation that night. Cat had been asleep again when the medic had shown up to examine her, waking only long enough to drink a few bottles of water and wolf down a few protein bars Laura had pulled from her locker before collapsing again; she probably wouldn’t even roll over on the crappy cot that night.
Heart aching for her friend, Laura had driven back to the apartment, and now found herself too frustrated to sleep. Something kept nagging at her about the surprise appearance of Kitsune and whoever Dollface was. She wanted to be there with the others; she’d been in that fight they’d had with the mind-controlled Pink Pussy, had watched them in action, and knew that none of them were properly trained for what was coming. They were newbies without a doubt; they had displayed little in the way of teamwork besides a general idea of what they wanted done, and just before Black Cat had appeared in front of Laura, it seemed that they’d only really had one plan to rely upon.
Feeling very much that the new heroines were getting in over their heads, Laura turned away from the cage and threw off her jacket and kicked off her shoes, sitting on the bed, then rested her head in her hands. “What are you gonna do about it, Laura?” she said to herself.
What could she do? It wasn’t like she could convince Sullivan to get the SWAT team up there when she’d already put her foot down for now. She knew the location of the warehouse, true, but she was only one detective, and she didn’t have any kind of special powers…
Right?
During her patrol of the museum, Laura had felt like she could sense the ritual dagger inside its storage case, and had a similar feeling with the staff. She had even sensed it when Pink Pussy, Cat, had been sneaking around the room and landed atop the display case. And there had been that quick exchange between Cyber Seer and Black Cat about how she wasn’t supposed to have been in the exhibit hall, something that she hadn’t explained while Laura had been there.
“Why? Why could I suddenly do that?” Laura asked, looking up, at herself in the mirror on her dresser. Walsh had only known something was going on when the cameras had gone out, and by then it had been too late, the main exhibit area had been sealed by Black Cat’s magic. “Magic…” Laura muttered, a memory fluttering to the surface.
What was it Black Cat had told her during that interrogation, just before she had made her escape from the station? All that talk about familiars and bonding with them, about being tuned in and just starting to dabble? Laura stood, walked to her dresser, put her hand out and touched the glass, staring at herself. She didn’t look any different, but she’d certainly felt different tonight. With all that adrenaline pumping through her during the fight, she hadn’t had time to think about it, but when Kitsune had made her appearance, Laura hadn’t seen the dagger she carried. Her and Black Cat had been behind the surprise visitor, and her multiple tails had blocked line of sight to it.
But she’d known it was there, without a doubt she’d known it was there.
Still staring at herself, looking for any clues that she had changed, Laura focused on her eyes. “Is there something else in there? Are you…a familiar? Am I just going crazy?”
Though nothing changed about her visibly, Laura felt an odd sensation go through her, a strange sense of calm, her nerves easing. She blinked, pulling her hand away from the mirror, sucking in her breath. She felt a rush of energy through her body, like all of her fatigue was suddenly gone. Eyes wide, she looked at herself again in the mirror, then at her hands, down at her body. She looked the same as always, just missing the dark circles around her eyes, the furrows of days and weeks spent working long hours. She felt refreshed, felt…amazing, for lack of a better word.
Then a rush of thoughts came to mind. They sounded like her own, but Laura was unsure if they had actually been her own inner voice or not. “You have to help them. They’re getting in over their heads. They need you. They need someone to watch over them. They need you.”
“But I-” she stammered, shaking her head. What was going on?!
“Time is running out. You know they’re walking into a trap. You’ve known since they rushed off like that. It’s been eating away at you, deep down, beneath all that worry for Cat. You can’t let them fail.”
Laura gulped, clenching her hands into fists. Had she really known that? Were those really her thoughts? Maybe…something about it being too easy to have found Dollface, something about how Kitsune came in to make the steal at the last minute, about calling Cat a tool. Planning. Kitsune had plans, and something in the way she’d thrown that taunt out at Cat, perhaps to goad the other heroines into making a move to chase her…she had a plan in mind. She had been the one to trap Pink Pussy that night. She was ready for the others; she had another trap ready to go.
Laura was suddenly very sure of that. Kitsune had intended to lure them after her. Black Cat, Cyber Seer, and Mecha Musume were walking into a trap!
“Shit!” she spat, shaking her head, hands going into her hair, tugging anxiously. What could she do? How could she help them? It had already been better than two hours since they’d vanished from the museum. Was it too late?
Laura’s eyes went to her walk-in closet. The doors were wide open; she tended not to close them for ease of access, and it wasn’t like she was home enough for it to really bother her, but there within the casual clothes she rarely wore…a costume from the Halloween party last year. And hidden behind all the hanging clothes, her gun safe, a darker shadow in the dimly lit back corner of the closet.
“I must be going crazy…what am I doing?” Laura muttered as she started unbuttoning her blouse.
“What’s right,” she thought, or at least, Laura thought it was her brain that made that statement. Either way, she couldn’t argue with it. She had to do something; Kitsune wouldn’t be expecting her.
What that something was, however, Laura was still trying to work out. Once she had stripped down to her panties, she pulled the costume from the rack, looking through the plastic dry-cleaning bag at the black bunny costume, with its white cuffs and puffy tail, the long-eared headband, and the domino mask draped over the hanger. Her gaze lingered for a few more seconds.
“Am I really seriously considering this?” she asked herself.
“Yes, I am,” she thought, answering her own question. “If you don’t get over there, those three are going to be in serious trouble! Kitsune’s too sly for them; they have no idea what they’re walking into!”
Laura tossed the costume onto her bed, crouched, and picked up the high heels that went with it, and immediately considered something more practical. But for some reason, she knew that wearing them wouldn’t be a problem. She couldn’t explain why she knew that, but she did. These joined the rest of the costume on the bed before she pushed the rest of the clothes hanging in the closet aside and stepped up to her gun safe.
Quickly working the combination lock, Laura pulled the heavy door open and looked over her collection. Running various scenarios through her brain, thinking of a standard warehouse layout, then wondering how Dollface may have changed things up. Cat had said she had called it her Dollhouse, did that mean that it was laid out like one? It was something to consider, at least. She would have to survey the scene once she was there regardless, and if she recalled the satellite image Cyber Seer had shown them correctly, could probably get a bit of a look through the skylights before she had to get in close.
Laura pulled a pair of pistols from the safe, having already decided against bringing her service weapon along. These were Beretta M9s, fairly basic but for customized rubber grips that gave her a bit more of a secure hold on them. Perhaps a bit weighty compared to modern polymer guns, but they were reliable, and they were the only pistols she’d ever practiced going akimbo with; she even had a hip holster rig for them, and plenty of magazines ready for use. Something told her more firepower here was definitely better.
With the pistols, magazines, and the holster rig on the bed, Laura went to her long guns next, considering something a little more powerful for up-close applications. A shotgun would be great in close-quarters, but ammo was definitely heavier and a lot bulkier. Instead, she picked up her customized BCM M4 style AR-15, gave it a quick once-over to check the optics and basic functions, then added it, several magazines, and a mag carrier to the growing pile on the bed.
Already running heavy with the two pistols, Laura paused, looking at the other gun she’d been considering. It could definitely have a use if she were spying from a distance, and if she needed to intervene in a more gruesome role. “Why take a chance? Better to have it and not need it…” she muttered, hauling her M24 rifle from the safe. She worked the bolt, checked the scope as she shouldered it. The rifle was customized in the same way as those on the SCPD SWAT sniper team, a little something Hansen had helped her buy a couple years back when he’d first tried to convince her to join up.
Grabbing a box of bullets, Laura stepped out of the closet, holding the rifle by her side as she looked over the costume and weapons on the bed. She chewed at her lower lip as she reconsidered exactly what it was she was about to do. “I’m crazy…this isn’t going to work.”
“But you won’t know unless you take a chance. All it takes is the right person in the right place at the right time,” Laura said to herself…or had she? It had sounded like something she would have said, but…was it something else? A…familiar inside her somehow? Could she…trust it?
“No, stop second-guessing yourself! Cat’s done this kind of thing for months, you can do it too!” she said aloud again, putting the rifle on her bed and dropping the bullets beside it. She picked up the costume, stared at it for several long seconds, hearing only the sound of her breathing.
“I will do it; I’m going to help those girls,” Laura said at last. Then she tore open the bag, taking out the bunny suit. “Time to gear up.”
What’s this? Another heroine stepping up to the plate (and in high heels, no less) to take a shot at dealing with the crime in Sentinel City?
I tried to avoid going too in depth on the firearms jargon, cause I know not everyone knows that kind of stuff like I do. And I didn’t want to stretch things out too much with Laura here, since the next chapter was looking to be long already. Once I’d actually gotten it written…it was longer than I’d expected. In fact, I’ll probably be breaking up the posts on it into three different ones (you can probably guess why, but if not…three heroines….three captures…many happy readers).
Anyway, hope you’re enjoying the story as it reaches a climax, perhaps in more ways than one!
Stay tuned next week for the assault on the Dollhouse! (And, slight spoiler: plenty of heroines in bondage!)
Would love to hear any feedback you might have! Hit me up here or over on DeviantArt, or on my Discord server!
