Disclaimer: I do not own "Iron Man: The Animated Series" or its characters. They are property of Marvel Comics and the Walt Disney Company.
Author's Note: Inspired from the episode "Beauty Knows No Pain."
"Stripped"
By TwilightSparkle3562
Julia Carpenter awoke with a loud shriek and gasping as she and Tony Stark slept in bed one night. It had been only a few days since Tony's former love, Whitney Frost, had kidnapped Julia and several Stark Employees in Egypt and held them hostage in order for Tony to restore her beauty.
"Julies!" cried Tony, awaken by his girlfriend's loud shriek. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, Tony," she whispered, throwing herself onto her boyfriend's chest. "I...I just had the worst nightmare."
"It's all right," Tony sighed, letting his girlfriend unleash her emotions into him. "It's all right. I'm right here. There, there."
Taking a few minutes, Julia let out a few ragged gasps and looked up at Tony with exhausted eyes.
"She…she humiliated me, Tony," gasped Julia, burying her face into her left hand. "Forced me to take off my clothes…"
"Who?"
"Your former flame, Madame what's-her-name. She made…made you watch me undress and…"
"What do you mean, she made you strip?" wondered Tony, trying to get to the bottom of the situation. "She didn't make you strip, Julia. All she did was try to electrocute you."
"I'm aware of that," Julia cried, getting out of bed. "But, it wasn't like that in my dream, Tony. It was completely different. I don't know why, but she wanted to humiliate me, almost as if she wanted to reveal my fears in front of you."
Tony let out a deep sigh, knowing how the events in Cairo had taken a toll on the woman he was in love with. Julia may have been his Chief Operating Officer of Stark Enterprises, but she was human, just like him.
"Just know that whatever you happened in your dream was just that, a dream. I love you, Julia. You're the most beautiful woman I have ever met in my life and that's the truth."
Tony knew that he needed to get to the bottom of what was happening. He knew that Julia was deeply traumatized by whatever this nightmare was and the only way she was going to get over it was that the nightmare needed to be revealed.
"She wanted to destroy my beauty, Tony. That's what she said in the dream. But, I think you need to know the whole nightmare. But, I think it's best to show you rather than tell you about it."
Tony was amazed to see his girlfriend display such courage. After all, this was the first time in their relationship that Julia was being open and honest.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I need to show you what the nightmare was like, Tony. Have HOMER access my mind tomorrow."
"But…"
"No buts, Tony. I've had this reoccurring nightmare since we got back from Cairo and the only way I can get it out of me is by expressing it to you."
Tony remained unsure if this was the right idea, but there would be no use in arguing with his girlfriend. Her mind was made up.
…
The next day down in the Iron Man Armory, Julia was laid down on a table with wires placed around her head.
"The monitors will process whatever is inside Miss Carpenter's mind onto the screen," explained HOMER to Tony and Jim, who were also in the room with Julia. "I'm activating the monitor's now."
With Julia fast asleep, the monitors began to take whatever was in her mind and displayed it up on the screen. A moment later, Tony saw himself being restrained by some of his ex-girlfriend's henchmen with Julia standing in front of him.
"What do you want with me?" Tony heard himself say.
"I want you to retrieve a priceless gem for me, Tony," Madame Masque explained. "But before you do, I will have your lovely girlfriend here forced to do something against her will and you will watch."
Julia let out a sharp gasp as Madame Masque looked intently at her like a college professor. She could see from Masque's eyes that she was eyeing Julia, looking her over. After a few moments, she gave her a very disturbing order.
"Strip," she said sternly
"What?" Julia cried, shocked at having been giving such an order.
"You heard me!" barked Madame Masque. "Take off your clothes!"
"Julia, don't…" Tony started to say, only to be hit in the stomach by one of the henchmen. Julia screamed loudly and trembled with fear.
As they watched on the screen, both Jim and Tony felt their hearts sink. Then, they heard Julia moan as she tossed and turned on the table.
"How could you?" Tony whispered, his fists clenching with anger as he continued to watch what was happening in front of him. "How could you, Whitney?"
They then watched as Madame Masque walked over to Julia and placed her hand on Julia's gold pearl necklace, the necklace Tony gave her as a gift when he made her Chief Operating Officer. With a sudden jerk, she pulled the necklace from Julia's neck as the sounds of the gold pearls clattered on the floor.
Next, she placed her hands on each of Julia's blue pearl earrings and pulled them off her ears roughly, causing Julia to loudly scream in pain. With blood flowing out of Julia's ears, Madame Masque stepped back and admired the frightened Julia.
"Now, Tony," she explained, as a henchman forced Tony up from the floor. "You've got a front row seat for the best show in town."
Then, she glared at Julia.
"And if you don't do what I say," she seethed, placing a knife at Tony's throat. "I will kill your boyfriend right in front of you right now!"
Tears continued to form in Julia's eyes as she silently began to weep. All of the dignity she had, all of the respect she had as Stark's Chief Operating Officer was gone.
"Start with the shoes," Madame Masque ordered and doing as she was told, Julia slid off her blue high heels, first the left, then the right, leaving her barefoot on the cold brick floor of Madame Masque's lair.
"Now the jacket."
Julia then slid off the blue suit jacket and causing it to drop on the floor next to her discarded high heels. As she did, Julia saw the knife starting to make Tony bleed.
"Now, the blouse."
"What a sick woman," Jim remarked in a hushed voice as Julia unbuttoned her long white sleeved blouse, revealing the top of the white slip she was wearing underneath. All of a sudden, the two men heard Julia starting to sob quietly. "Tony, we should stop this now."
"No, she wants us to see this."
With her blouse discarded, Julia was given her next direction.
"Now, the skirt."
Placing her hands on the back of her skirt, Julia slowly unzipped the back of it and the blue knee length skirt slid down to her ankles, leaving Julia in nothing but a white full slip. The blood from her ears was now starting to fall onto her shoulders.
"Drop the slip."
"Please, please…" Julia silently begged.
"Do it or say goodbye to your boyfriend!"
With very little choice, Julia pulled the straps of her slip down her shoulder and the white full slip fell to the ground, leaving Julia in nothing but a white bra and a pair of white panties.
…
Suddenly, before the dream could continue, Tony heard his girlfriend cry out in loud sobs and raced over to her.
"HOMER, shut it down!" Tony ordered as he ran over to Julia and pulled her into his arms. "Jesus Christ, Jules. I'm sorry."
But Julia said nothing and continued to sob as Jim and HOMER looked on in shock and disbelief.
"I can't believe this," sighed Jim as he sat down next to the sobbing Julia and worried Tony. "Chuckles, I'm so sorry for you. No one deserves to go through with this, no one."
"I love you, Julia," Tony whispered. "I love you."
And the two men, the most important men in Julia Carpenter's life, just stayed there with Julia as she continued to pour out the emotions of her nightmare at the hands of Madame Masque.
…
THE END