The four monsters approached the building as stealthily as they could, sticking to the dark areas of the parking lot where no lights shown down. The building had several entrances, the most well lit being the main entrance. They obviously decided against that one. Instead, they found themselves looking at a side entrance, a single door. A lone light illuminated that door, it's glow extending only a few feet from it.
"Now we don't know the layout inside," Alice cautioned. "So to do this as quickly as possible we'll unfortunately have to split up. Tamamo, you'll be with me. Erubetie and Granberia will be assault team B."
"There's a very good chance one team will end up having to rescue the other," Tamamo added. "Needless to say, this is not ideal."
"Assuming that building doesn't have soundproofing, we should be able to call to each other vocally," Erubetie noted.
"That's what I'm hoping," Alice replied. "As soon as either team finds Alma Elma, call to the other team and let them know, so that we can all make our way back to the vehicle."
"Sounds simple enough," Granberia said. "Let's begin the assault. Shall I?"
"You're the muscle of this team," Alice agreed. "See if you can get that door open."
Granberia, her sword in her sheath, broke into the lighted area and yanked on the door handle. It wouldn't budge. The others soon joined her.
"I don't see a keyhole," Tamamo said. "I could have tried to unlock it using the tip of my tail."
"The space between the door and the frame is too narrow for me to slip through," Erubetie said.
"Um…. I think we've been seen," Alice said, pointing to a tiny security cam over the door. "That looks like Tom's webcam."
"That is definitely a camera," Tamamo agreed.
"Do we abort?" Erubetie asked.
"No!" Granberia shouted. "I will break this door down if I have to!"
Granberia began to pound the door with her fists.
"If only we could use the elements here, I'd pry this door off its hinges," Tamamo sighed.
{separation}
"What the fuck….?"
Patrick stared at the security cam feed. He rubbed his eyes. The strange women were still there. Oddly enough, rubbing his eyes had not transformed them from monster girls to humans.
"Steve, bro! Wake up!" Patrick exclaimed, shoving his snoozing coworker. "You see this shit?"
"Whoa….. Is this for real?"
"I'd better inform Dr. Polk," Patrick said, picking up a phone receiver.
"You do that, I'll call the cops," Steve said.
Patrick picked up the phone and dialed Dr. Polk's extension.
"Yes?" a very sleepy Dr. Polk answered from his office.
"Sir, I think we got monster girls outside trying to bust in," Patrick reported.
"Monster girls? What are monster girls?" Dr. Polk asked.
"Monster girls, yo! Like that succubus we're holding. There's this book I got that has a whole list of 'em and they look like those chicks in that book."
"More succubi?"
"Bro, let me just send you the feed," Patrick said. He double clicked on the specific camera feed for the west entrance and emailed the still to Dr. Polk.
"Cops are on the way," Steve mouthed.
There was a pause as Dr. Polk viewed the picture.
"Buzz them in," he ordered.
"Did you just say buzz them in?" Patrick asked, not sure he'd heard the doctor.
"That's exactly what I said! Those 'monster girls' or whatever you call them are the most significant scientific discovery in human history! Now last I checked, I am a scientist, so when scientific discoveries knock on my door, I let them in!"
"You're the boss, chief," Patrick said reluctantly, unlocking the western entrance.
"And don't call the cops!" Dr. Polk ordered.
"Um…. Sorry sir, that's protocol whenever there's an attempted break-in," Steve cut in. "They're already on their way."
"Fine, fine… I'll take care of the police. And those 'monster girls'. You two just monitor their movement while I mobilize security."
(separation)
The girls heard a buzzing sound, and the door seemed to shift. The four looked at each other, confused. Alice tentatively tried the door handle. It moved easily, opening the door.
"Did they just… invite us in?" Tamamo wondered.
"It certainly appears that way," Alice agreed. "Well, they know we're here, and probably think they'll capture us easily. I guess we just have to hope we can make things difficult for them."
"What's that sound?" Granberia asked. "Sirens, and they are getting closer!"
"Everyone inside, now!" Alice ordered. "They must have called the local constables!"
Granberia's ear twitched. The sirens were getting closer all too quickly.
"The rest of you go inside and find her!" Granberia urged. "We can't have security inside hunting us while the constables block our exit! I will insure that we have an escape route!"
"Granberia," Tamamo cautioned. "They will have firearms."
"And I have a sword and armor," Granberia grunted. "Even in this world, that will suffice."
Alice nodded and beckoned Tamamo and Erubetie to go inside. She looked one last time at Granberia.
"Please don't be an idiot and get yourself killed," Alice urged.
"Go!" Granberia responded. "Don't worry about me! I've been longing for a good fight for some time!"
Reluctantly, Alice entered the building. Granberia marched towards the sound of the sirens, sword drawn.
(Separation)
Officers Givins and Sharpe arrived first in their squad car, pulling into the parking lot, lights flashing and siren blaring.
"Not seeing anything at the front entrance," Givins noted. "Pull around to the west side."
Sharpe turned left and then hit the brakes. The car's headlights illuminated a lone figure standing in the parking lot. It was a woman, although it didn't look like any woman either of them had ever seen.
"That bitch got a tail!" Sharpe yelled in surprise.
"I'm more worried about that sword!" Givins exclaimed, throwing open the car door, drawing his sidearm, and crouching behind the door.
"Ma'am, drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head!" Givins ordered, pointing his police revolver at the strange woman.
The woman's response was to raise the pommel of the sword to her face in a salute, followed by a battle stance. Sharpe sheltered behind the driver side door and pointed his weapon as well.
"Ma'am, we will use deadly force!" Sharpe yelled. "Place the sword on the ground, get on your knees, and place your hands behind your head!"
The woman began to whip the sword in every direction at impossible speed. With a battle cry, she charged forward, the sword moving so quickly it almost looked like fan blades in front of her.
The officers opened fire. To their shock, most of the rounds deflected off the great sword's blade. Others impacted the woman's armor and sparked. Still more hit her where she had no armor, and yet she showed no sign of having been injured. Finally, a round penetrated her neck. The woman staggered.
Taking careful aim, Givins shot the woman between the eyes. That staggered her. Her sword fell out of her hands. Blood dripped onto the ground. The woman fell to her knees, then pitched forward. She wasn't moving.
Sharpe reached for his radio. "We have a suspect down at 1560 North 46th St! Repeat, suspect down! We need an ambulance!"
"10-4," dispatch responded. "Units are on the way to your location."
Sharpe nodded to Givins. The two officers, guns still drawn, cautiously approached the fallen swordswoman.
(Seperation)
Alma Elma stewed in her cell. She'd tried taking sexy poses in the bed in the hopes of drawing one of her guards into her cell. She'd undressed more than one time. They didn't care. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and Alma Elma had never had any issues swallowing anything before. She was in a world where men could say no to her. She wanted to get back to reality desperately. To a place where the world made sense, and where all men, straight, gay, old, young, lusted after her.
She hated those two, and yet admired them. Well disciplined humans were rare on her world. Then again, so were nice guys. Perhaps this world was just different. Dr. Polk, now that was a human she could understand. He wanted something and would do anything to get it. These other humans were far more difficult to deal with.
"So when do the cruel experiments start?" Alma Elma asked conversationally.
"You watch too many movies," one of them answered.
"So no rape, no torture, just endless questions and mildly uncomfortable medical tests?" Alma Elma asked. "So he intends to be especially cruel to me. He's trying to bore me to death."
"Ma'am…." One of the guards started to say.
"You were about to say something?" she asked.
"Mmphh!" both guards said in unison, as Alma Elma heard something liquid outside her cell.
The cell door opened and there stood Erubetie.
"Hey, Eru, how you been?" Alma Elma asked flippantly, although inside she was feeling quite emotional at the thought that someone had come for her. "Where's Granberry?"
"She is attempting to secure our escape!" Erubetie said hurriedly. "Come! I evaded security by moving through the air vents! But our exit will have to be more conventional."
"Yeah, I don't think I can get my boobs into those vents," Alma Elma agreed, stepping outside the cell to look down at the two unconscious guards.
"What are you looking at? We must flee!" Erubetie urged.
"I really want to rape those two," Alma Elma sighed wistfully.
"Of course you do. That's why I rendered them unconscious. You are easily distracted. Now, let's go! Alice! Tamamo! I have her!"
Erubetie and Alma Elma moved quickly down the corridor. They arrived at a fork. Erubetie directed her to the right. They ran smack into four guards with batons.
Erubetie was annoyed at how much less control she had over her body in this world. The further she tried to extend her slime, the less control she had. On her world, dispatching four, or even forty, humans, would have been as simple as a thought. Forty spears of slime, forty dead humans. But she had enough control to make large fists that knocked out two of the guards. Alma Elma took care of the other two, although not in a fashion Erubetie would have expected. Alma Elma flipped the first guard over her shoulder and twisted his arm viciously, making him drop the baton. A swift kick to the groin of the second guard, followed by a clenched first to his jaw put him down for the count.
"Alma Elma?" Erubetie asked.
"Hey, I needed something to fall back on in case pleasure attacks didn't work," the succubus said evasively. "One doesn't become a Heavenly Knight unless they can adjust to any circumstance, right?"
"Uh huh…." Erubetie said skeptically.
(separation)
"You heard that?" Alice asked.
"Of course I did!" Tamamo replied. "My hearing's just as good as yours!"
Alice simply nodded. It never hurt to make sure. Alice was also listening for sounds of security guards bearing down on them and wasn't liking what she was hearing. The monsters may have had superior senses, but the humans had cameras. And they were converging on Alice and Tamamo.
"How much security do they employ here?!" Tamamo wondered, annoyed. "What kind of research do they do that they need to have a small army?"
"Undoubtedly the kind of research that they don't want anyone finding out about," Alice answered. "I think there's about a dozen coming from that direction and another dozen between us and the entrance we came in. We can evade them for a time if we go down that hallway, but there's no exit in that direction."
"I suggest brute force then," Tamamo advised. "A dozen men between us and the exit? We can handle that, right?"
"I have no idea," Alice admitted.
With no better ideas, the two ran, or in Alice's case, slithered, down the hallway. A simple left turn would take them to the same door they'd entered through. Alma Elma and Erubetie were probably taking a different route out of the building.
As expected, numerous guards came charging around the corner, armed with batons and some, with sidearms.
Tamamo lashed out with her nine tails, stopping their charge. Her tails moved incredibly fast, striking every man multiple times as hard as she could, knowing that without her earthpower, the blows would not be fatal. The men halted, cowering before the slapping, swishing tails.
"Ahhhh!" one guard screamed. "Her tails! They're so….. annoying!"
"But so fluffy!" another guard observed.
"Drat!" Tamamo cursed. "Without my earthpower I don't have the strength to do any real damage with my best weapons!"
The guards began to advance through the flurry of fluff.
"Give it up, cutie-pie!" one of them yelled. "You can't hurt us with such soft tails!"
"Try mine!" Alice yelled, striking the guards and scattering them like bowling pins.
Alas, more guards ran forward, blocking the exits. Behind Alice and Tamamo, even more guards came running down the hall. They were surrounded.
"Ugh, I hate causing pain," Tamamo sighed. "I'd hoped never to have to use my hand to hand skills."
"They brought it on themselves, Tamamo," Alice said, clutching her fist in her palm.
The guards closed in. Tamamo flipped into the air, both feet striking a guard in the chest, knocking him flat. She tripped two more with her tails. A fist strike to another guard's kneecap knocked him down with a cry of pain.
"Sorry!" Tamamo exclaimed. "If we were on my world I would have taken you out in more enjoyable way!"
Alice had her back, decking guard after guard with jackhammer fists and her lethal tail. Although there were an implausible number of guards for a research facility, their numbers were quite finite. And the narrow corridor was easy to defend.
"We're winning!" Tamamo cried with joy.
Alice began to jerk uncontrollably, before going down.
"Ah, fudge," Tamamo sighed.
The last thing Tamamo saw before she lost consciousness was the horror of her tail fur standing up straight due to the 100,000 volts of electricity coursing through her little body.
(separation)
Tamamo awakened to find herself handcuffed to a chair in a drab office. She focused her eyes enough to see Alice next to her. There were several guards in the room. Sitting across from Alice and Tamamo was Dr. Polk.
"My my," Dr. Polk chuckled. "The succubus was holding out on me. A snake girl and a fox girl? And who knows what else is roaming around my building right now?"
Good, Tamamo thought. That means Alma Elma and Erubetie were probably still free. The facility's supply of burly men was limited, and Alice and Tamamo had disabled quite a few of them. Tamamo listened for the other Knights. She could distinctly hear Alma Elma and Erubetie making their way through the building, trying to locate their friends. She was proud of her fellow Knights. They could have escaped easily, but instead they were coming for their Monster Lord and their fluffy companion. They would need that kind of unity if they wanted to survive in this alien world. But Tamamo could hear no signs of Granberia. That couldn't be good. They'd all heard the gunshots.
"I'm sure you'll get to see them soon enough," Alice hissed. "You have no idea who I am."
"I'm sure you'll tell me," Dr. Polk prompted.
"I am the Monster Lord!" Alice said as threateningly as possible. "Do you have any idea what it means to kidnap the Monster Lord?"
"I think it's obvious that I wouldn't have the foggiest notion of what that means, considering that until you mentioned it, I had no idea there was such a thing as a Monster Lord."
"Well now that you know," Alice said. "I'd strongly recommend that you consider your next steps very carefully."
Dr. Polk sighed and laughed wearily. "I actually have a whole host of problems to deal with at the moment," he said. "I have in my possession the most important scientific discoveries in human history. I also have my building surrounded by Cedar Rapids' finest, and given the havoc your lizard girl caused, they don't actually seem to believe me when I say that everything is fine and under control here."
"Granberia!" Tamamo exclaimed. "Where is she?!"
"Your companion has been taken to the nearest medical facility. She's been shot, several times. So guess what, congratulations! Your existence is now common knowledge, or at least it will be soon enough! So let's talk about what I can do for you."
"I'm sure it will involve us doing something for you as well," Alice said bitterly.
"Of course! Look, there are only two ways this can go," Dr. Polk said. "Either you let me keep you in my custody, where you'll be treated humanely. Alma Elma can attest that we haven't abused her in the slightest."
"So basically, we'd be your prisoners," Tamamo said. "Forever."
"Forever?! No! I meant what I said when I promised your succubus friend that we would work to find a way to send her, and by extension, you, home. I just want to learn as much as I can about you all while you're stuck here, and in exchange I keep you safe, well fed, and comfortable until then. This is a relatively small facility. I can take you to our main building in Williston and we can create a home for you there! A much better home than you had at Mr. Wilson's house."
"Where we'd be prisoners," Alice spat. "A gilded cage is still a cage."
"Oh come now, Monster Lord, you were prisoners at Mr. Wilson's house as surely as you would be with me. Be rational. Tom Wilson can't protect you. I can."
"And what about Granberia?" Tamamo asked.
"Look, I'm not the government," Dr. Polk said, shrugging helplessly. "She's already under arrest and under guard at the hospital. What happens to her when and if she's well enough to be discharged…. I can't say. She'll probably end up in a government facility where they'll be far less invested in her comfort. She's lost to us now. The rest of you need to think about your own lives now. Say the word and I can hide you in this building in any number of secret, inaccessible areas. I'll let the cops in, they can search to their heart's content and never find you. Then when the coast is clear, I'll have you on a bus to Williston tomorrow. We can learn so much from one another! How about it, ladies?"
Alice looked over at Tamamo. Tamamo's expression said it all. She didn't trust this man any more than Alice did. But whether or not he could be trusted wasn't even relevant given the circumstances.
"The only way we have a deal," Alice said. "Is if it includes all of us. We're not leaving Granberia to the tender mercies of your government."
"I'm afraid that's non-negotiable," Dr. Polk said coldly. "You can either join her where she's going and probably be treated like lab rats, or you can stay here and be honored guests. And let me be clear, I'm not actually going to let you choose the first option. For your own good, and especially for mine. The only options you have is to cooperate with me or be held prisoner. And trust me, you want to make me happy. I have the power to make your stay at Pacific Group pleasant or unpleasant, and I especially have a say on how much priority we place on helping you get home."
Tamamo listened for Erubetie and Alma Elma. They were wandering aimlessly, nowhere near finding their location yet. Meanwhile, small bands of guards were preparing to link up and surround them as Tamamo and Alice had been surrounded. Erubetie would probably be impossible to capture no matter how many guards they had, but Alma Elma? Erubetie would end up being their last hope.
(separation)
The Bentley drove slowly by the building, appearing to be simple rubberneckers. The Pacific Group research center was surrounded by what looked to be most of the Cedar Rapids police department.
"Is this the place?" Eden asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know how we get in with all those cops," Tom said. "Well, I imagine you can get in anyway, but we can't kill people, okay?"
"Why not? I can smell the sin on most of them from here."
"No killing!" Tom ordered.
"It's not as if you can stop me," Eden replied.
"Maybe not now. But that necklace doesn't last long. And cops get pretty mad when someone murders their colleagues. You don't want to be vulnerable when they catch up to you, believe me."
Tom was bluffing. He didn't actually know how long the necklace would last, or even if it was finite at all. If it contained the physical laws from Eden's world, it could possibly last forever, although he was willing to bet that breaking the crystal would put an end to that. Still, Eden wasn't very smart, so perhaps she'd buy it.
"Very well," Eden sighed. "May Ilias forgive me for refraining from punishing these sinners, and worse, for rescuing monsters. Find a place for us to get out where we won't be seen."
That wasn't very difficult. Downtown Cedar Rapids was not exactly a the city that didn't sleep. In fact, it slept more than it was awake. Tom found a dark, deserted parking lot and pulled in. Eden and Tom exited the car, still able to see the flashing police car lights in the distance.
"Are you afraid of flying?" Eden asked.
"You mean like, in a plane?" Tom asked.
Eden removed her jersey, allowing her wings to spread to their full length.
"Oh…. OHHHHH!"
Without further warning, Eden easily hoisted Tom up and took to the air, being sure to stay away from any lights that would make them visible to anyone below. Eden had dimmed her own holy glow so that only her halo shown in the dim moonlight.
No police spotlights focused on them, so Tom assumed they must have escaped detection. Eden landed on the roof of the Pacific Group building.
"Okay, great!" Tom exclaimed nervously. "Now we just have to get innnnnnnn!"
Eden simply continued to hold onto Tom as they became immaterial and sank through the floor.
(Seperation)
"I'm going to need a decision, ladies," Dr. Polk prompted, growing impatient. "Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way. If you agree to cooperate, I can remove those handcuffs right now."
"Either all of us get saved, or none of us," Alice said with determination. "I will not abandon one of my cute little subordinates to be experimented on and imprisoned! So let us go and let us retrieve my Knight, and I'll overlook your grave crime of kidnapping the Monster Lord!"
"Why can't science ever be easy?!" Dr. Polk exclaimed. "Okay, fine! We'll do it your way! Oh, what the fuck is it now?!"
Dr. Polk responded to his chirping desk phone by pressing the speaker button.
"Sir, two more subjects have entered the facility," the voice reported.
"Two more? Monster girls?" Dr. Polk asked.
"I'm…. not sure. One seems to be male, and the other is….. she looks like an angel!"
"An angel…. Are you being literal here? Like… halo, and wings?"
"Eden?" Tamamo asked.
"And Tom," Alice said. "Eden would only do this if Tom talked her into it. Damn him! This wasn't his problem! He's ruining his life for us!"
"This might be more than we can handle," Dr. Polk sighed. "I'm going to cut our losses. Inform the police that they can enter, that we have four suspects roaming the building. I'm going to hide these two. At least I'll still have two of them."
"10-4, sir," the voice responded. Dr. Polk ended the call.
"See, ladies?" Dr. Polk said, sighing. "This could have gone so much better, but you had to go and beat up half of my meager security staff. Now your succubus friend and… whatever that other thing is, are going to be in government custody soon. As well as that angel and Mr. Wilson. You've left me no choice but to let Cedar Rapids' finest do what they do."
"If you hadn't kidnapped Alma Elma, none of this would have happened," Alice said darkly, her eyes turning a demonic red. "I hold you responsible for whatever happens to my subordinates."
"I imagine that would be scary if you weren't where you are right now. But don't worry, girls. You'll learn how to be nicer where you're going, one way or another."
(separation)
Tom wasn't sure how far his limited Tae Kwon Do training would get him against guards armed with stun guns and batons, but he was willing to find out if it would help his friends. Fortunately, Eden had other plans.
"Oh, you are just adorable, Thomas!" Eden said condescendingly. "A true hero, worthy of serving the goddess in heart if not yet in strength. But we'll never find out if you never get to meet her, now will we?"
Eden gently moved Tom behind her as several guards rushed forward. There were no warnings, no instructions to get on the ground as police would have given. Instead, they went straight to the tasers.
The electrodes didn't even penetrate Eden's skin, falling harmlessly at her feet. The guards drew batons, ready to beat her into submission.
"I'm still weak here," Eden mumbled irritably. "No man on my world would even be able to lift a finger against me."
The first guard swung his baton at her head. She grabbed his arm easily. His face slackened.
"Ah…. Feels so good…." He said as he fell to the ground, a wet spot forming on the crotch of his pants.
Eden didn't even have to do anything lewd to the rest of her attackers. One touch of her heavenly skin against theirs was all it took to bring them to orgasm and render them completely helpless.
"My aura would have been enough on my world," Eden said, assessing the fallen guards to determine if there was any further threat. "To think that I must actually touch dirty human bodies. Still, I must admit it can be fun sometimes…"
One determined fellow was trying to sit up, his baton still in hand. Eden gently kicked him back down onto his back. She placed her foot on his crotch and twisted back and forth gently.
"Ah…ah! Fwa!" he cried as a far more intense orgasm than the first wracked his body. He fell unconscious.
"Twice," Eden observed. "I feel like a lowly angel, having to make a man ejaculate twice."
"Where do you think the others are?" Tom asked. "Can you…. Like… detect them or something? With your magic?"
"Such a pitiful use of power doesn't even require conscious effort on my part," Eden replied. "The Monster Lord and the Ancestor are in a small office with that doctor. Alma Elma and Erubetie are rapidly approaching our position."
Eden and Tom linked up with Alma Elma and Erubetie mere minutes later.
"We know where Alice and Tamamo are but this place is a fucking maze!" Alma Elma exclaimed.
"I can see the entire building," Eden assured her. "I will lead us to them. But we must hurry. The authorities of this world are entering the building as we speak."
"I can hear, you know," Alma Elma muttered. "And how the hell did the angel suddenly get strong?!"
(Seperation)
Alice smirked over at Tamamo. The aimless wandering of Alma Elma and Erubetie was more purposeful now. They had apparently gotten a fix on them somehow and were on their way.
Dr. Polk, on the other hand, was nearly apoplectic. He'd expected that he could at least get cooperation from Alice and Tamamo to move them to a hiding place, but they'd refused to budge, preferring capture to abandonment of their friends. He'd been prepared to order them rendered unconscious but that would require someone to retrieve enough tranquilizer from the pharmacy, and they were out of time.
"You bitches are ruining everything!" he raged. "We could have helped each other! Ask your succubus friend, I didn't harm a hair on her body! Now you're fucked! More importantly, I'm fucked!"
"If you were on my world," Alice said with an evil grin. "You'd find no meanings of that word."
"Well now it's you who will learn all those new meanings!" Dr. Polk shot back lamely. "My God, do you realize what they'll do to you?! If you'll just let me hide you, I can save you from that! There's still just enough time!"
"The answer is still no," Tamamo answered. "You'll have to force us if you want to move us, and you don't have time for that."
"You stupid cunts!" Dr. Polk raged. "You know what? Fine! I wash my hands of all this! I'm just going to salvage what I can here!"
Dr. Polk reached into his drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors. He reached for Alice's hair. Alice simply moved it out of the way.
"You can move your hair, too!?" Dr. Polk said in disbelief.
He attempted to cut some fur from one of Tamamo's tails. She of course moved those out of his way as well.
"No touching the special tail!" Tamamo yelled.
Quickly he managed to grab a lock of Alice's hair, much to her annoyance. The human should not have been fast enough to do that. Alice retaliated by wrapping her hair around him, holding him fast.
"Let me go!" Dr. Polk raged.
"Let me go first!" Alice shouted back.
The door burst off its hinges, incapacitating two of the guards in the office. The other two were quickly rendered insensate as Eden lightly brushed their necks with her fingers.
Alma Elma entered the room, her angry eyes fixated on the doctor tangled in Alice's hair. Alice quickly released him. With little effort, Eden snapped their handcuffs with her fingers. Alice rose from the chair and advanced threateningly on the doctor.
"The police will be here any second!" the doctor said nervously, backing up to the wall. "I'd suggest you run!"
"They have no need to run," Eden said. "And the police won't be arriving until I let them. This hallway is hidden from their eyes. They will not find it until I decide it is time for them to do so."
"Good," Alice hissed. "That means we have plenty of time for payback."
"Monster Lord, I request that I have the privilege of dealing with this man," Alma Elma said, stepping forward. "He led me here under the false pretense of helping us, then took me prisoner. It's my revenge to take."
"As you wish, Alma Elma," Alice said. "Do what you will with this human. Eden has given you all the time you need."
Dr. Polk recovered his composure and sneered at the succubus.
"What are you going to do to me?" Dr. Polk said defiantly. "You're on Earth now! Are you gonna try to screw me to death?! Maybe use your magic on me?"
Dr. Polk said the last while pantomiming magical hand motions, mocking the succubus.
"Well…" Alma Elma answered, her smile returning for the first time since she'd entered the building. "Ir we were on my world, that's precisely what I'd do. I'd make you scream in an agony of pleasure, and despite how hellish it was you'd beg me never to stop, even as your life slipped away. Oh, I'd use my magic too. I know all kinds of spells that can make my playing with you even more intense and agonizing. Sadly, we're on your boring world instead, so I have to handle things differently. Oh well, as they say here, when in Rome…."
Alma Elma's fist impacted Dr. Polk's jaw with the force of a heavyweight boxer, knocking him cold instantly.
"Well, that was different," Eden said approvingly. "Now if you've had your fun, it's time to go home."
"Wait, we can go home?" Alice asked. "And you got your powers back? What did I miss in the last hour?!"