More Sleepy Adventures - Part 10
Sara
and into the Bolas!)
The security system registered the activation of "bubble trap 2"
while The Anaesthetist was busy with Dr Castle. The Gadgeteer was
surprised to find another heroine, trapped in blissful slumber though
she was. She really found the unpredictability of super powers quite
upsetting, how were you supposed to counter all the possibilities?
Brushing aside such thoughts for the moment, the villainess decided
that another "capture bot" should be adequate to escort their most
recent guest to a holding cell. Her hands flew over the controls, and
another robot left its recharging pod and scuttled towards the
"bubble chamber". It did not require further instruction now, and
The Gadgeteer was happy to watch her creation at work.
The spiderbot extended a larger, ceramic blade from between its
mandibles. With a single swipe, it sliced through the bubble. The
strange material collapsed, and Ampere fell to the floor, the remnants
of her prison withdrawing into the ceiling. In an instant the robot had
retracted the larger blade, and extruded its hypodermic "stinger".
Nimbly, it leapt towards its target ...
Ampere found herself dazed and confused. Clean air was now replacing
the numbing gas and consciousness was slowly returning. Instinctively,
the heroine reached out with her powers. Almost on top of her was a
significant power source, and as soon as she connected with it, she
reflexively began to siphon power, replenishing her own ...
Warning lights flashed and alarms sounded. None of it made any sense of
course, the spiderbot had been fully charged and an instant later its
battery was completely dead. The Gadgeteer cursed, seeing the heroine
pulling herself somewhat shakily to her feet. There was no way she
should have recovered that quickly. Without disengaging the alarms, the
villainess took off at a sprint, if she could get there quickly she
would be able to subdue the heroine before she recovered any more.
Ampere look at the disabled machine, something about this technology
seemed very familiar. She shook her head, trying to concentrate on the
here and now. She couldn't sense any other power sources close enough
to re-energise her. It wasn't likely that her recovery had gone
un-noticed, so her priorities were to get away from the immediate area
and then find somewhere to recharge.
She was just about to head towards the nearest power source, when
Ampere felt a small surge of power nearby. It took her fuzzy mind
several moments to realise that a door was opening. Desperately she
cast around for some sort of cover. As she ran behind a bank of piping,
she caught a glimpse of a slender form darting to the left.
Ampere knew that she was probably out matched in her current condition.
Retreat was the only viable option, and she had felt the door open, so
there was at least one exit. Keeping low, and feeling for tell-tale
bursts of power, the heroine crept around the chamber ...
The Gadgeteer knew that the heroine was still in the room. She guessed
that her powers must revolve around the manipulation of energy, and so
as a precaution had not activated any gadgets that might be turned
against her. Of course, that made it very difficult to track her quarry
down. The villainess reasoned that her target would either try to bring
the fight to her, in which case she had enough gadgets to pacify her
and a dozen other heroines, or she would try to flee. Given that there
was only one exit from the "bubble chamber", The Gadgeteer decided
to position herself where the door would be visible.
As Ampere approached the exit, she stepped directly into the
Gadgeteer's line of sight. The villainess, who had been sighting down
a small tube, wasted no time in firing the weapon. There was a soft
pop, and a miniature bolas shot out towards the heroine. Ampere span on
hearing the noise, just in time for the bolas to strike her. The cord
whipped about her chest, pinning her upper arms against her side. On
its second revolution, the two weights clashed together, shattering
into a fine powder which billowed about her.
Ampere dived to the ground, trying to see where the attack had come
from. She coughed and gasped as she breathed in some of the dust. The
heroine was desperate, the door was so close, her only chance was to
get away. She focussed, reached out towards the simple door controls
and effortless forced it to open.
The Gadgeteer waited patiently, she knew that she had struck the
heroine cleanly. Perhaps if she had aimed lower, the woman would not
have been able to get back under cover, but really the battle was
already over, the heroine just did not yet know it. The villainess
smiled as she saw the door open, seemingly of its own accord.
Ampere braced herself and tried to sprint through the door. Her muscles
felt like lead, she was so stiff. The heroine managed one shuffling
step before she pitched forwards onto the ground. The floor felt so
soft, her body was so warm. She briefly tried to force herself to rise,
but then that didn't seem very important either.
The Gadgeteer approached the fallen heroine. The fine powder had now
all but dissipated, but obviously she had absorbed enough to keep her
docile for some time. This one would provide an interesting challenge,
nothing with electronics could be allowed near her, and annoyingly,
that included the usual capture collars. The villainess carefully bent
over her opponent, placing a sleep mask over her slack mouth and nose.
In moments she had secured it in place, and the heroine let herself be
coaxed back to dreamland ...