Dirty Little Secret - Part 8 (Patreon)

Part 8:

The change collar had just been sitting there on the table as Ilya had brainstormed his plan. It had been deeply distracting as Ethan found his attention drawn to it while he fought so hard to ignore it.

Why was he even still curious, after proving his masculinity earlier…

He’d never felt this much interest in them before. Then again, he’d never seen one just sitting there before either.

-

Ethan was seriously eating through his sick days by phoning in today, but, well, Dr. Xiang knew he wasn’t doing great. So she’d probably believe it?

-

It was barely more than an hour later that they were checking the next nearest known base of the group Ilya said was responsible. The first one they’d checked had seemed a bust, just a house with no one currently present. This time, though…

Ethan paled slightly as he saw the men outside the warehouse they were watching now. He recognised the outfits. One of the worst gangs in the city. The White Fist gang. Ilya hadn’t mentioned what the group had been, just that he’d recognised them…

“They’re the ones?” he whispered to Ilya, who had changed back to being ‘Julie’.

“Mhm. I just hope they’re using one of the bases we’ve been keeping an eye on,” ‘she’ replied.

“Should we call the rest of the supers?” he asked, keeping low as he followed ‘her’.

“I… I’d have to explain what I’ve been doing, and I’m not sure—obviously they’re fine with my sexuality, but a collar girl club specifically…” ‘she’ whispered back.

Ethan gave a nod. Those sorts of clubs weren’t viewed very well, and certainly weren’t what you’d expect Captain Wrecking Ball to be up to.

“Besides, we’re just doing recon right now,” ‘she’ added. “Once I find the ‘girls’ we’ll call for backup.”

Ethan gave a nod, not letting himself ask the question he was sure was on both their minds. Optimism felt comforting right now.

Instead he followed quietly, the pair slipping along the back of the warehouse, trying to find a way in. They found a small basement window, which would be a bit of a tight squeeze, but looked to be enough for ‘Julie’ ‘s frame.

“I knew sneaking would be easier like this,” ‘she’ said, before grabbing the frame of the window.

Ethan was about to ask how they were going to open it when ‘she’ pinched the metal, causing it to creak, before a swift tug broke the lock and opened the window.

Unfortunately the breaking lock and bending metal apparently made enough noise to draw the attention of the guards, a few shouts about checking it out audible around the corner.

Ethan froze, realising there was a fence behind them, with no immediate hiding places. Which meant…

He slipped through the window himself, to Ilya’s surprise. He gestured for ‘her’ to close the window, which ‘she’ did, the pair of them then pressing flat against the wall to either side of it, hoping the guards didn’t notice.

And that they hadn’t tripped any sort of alarm.

“Must’ve been a squirrel or something,” a guard said.

“A squirrel? It sounded like metal…” another guard replied, sounding a bit more distant.

“I don’t know, but I don’t see anything,”  the first grumbled. “Let’s just get back to the front door before we get yelled at.

Ilya and Ethan stayed frozen for a few more moments, until Ilya leaned over to see that there was indeed no one in the window. Ethan looked around the room they were in, though he wasn’t sure what was in the various boxes in here.

“Sorry,” Ilya said. “I thought that would be quieter, then you’d watch from nearby…”

“Mhm. Well, it looks like I’m all in now. I’m not sure I could get out quietly enough, with them already suspicious,” Ethan replied. “I guess it means I get to see you work, at least?”

Ilya blushed a little and gave a nod, before heading to the door. Opening it revealed an empty hallway. Surprisingly, however, they saw a stairwell at the end which went both up and down.

They both headed downstairs, where Ilya’s strength made short work of a locked door the next floor down. Peeking in, the pair saw an intersection of long hallways, which did not look like they would fit under the warehouse above them.

“How do villains get these lairs built?” Ethan whispered. “We try to lay new cables at work and run into five power lines, two natural gas pipes, and a sewer…”

Ilya gave an adorable shrug.

Ethan gave a nod and followed ‘her’ down the left hallway. He did wonder about the lack of cameras as they went, but supposed the White Fist gang didn’t think anyone was dumb enough to pick a fight with them. If he hadn’t had Captain Wrecking Ball here with him, Ethan certainly wouldn’t have ever done it.

After a few metres they came to a stretch of hallway with a large glass window into the room alongside it. The room looked like a hospital room, four beds inside each having what looked to be unconscious women inside. Their vitals were being monitored by various machines. The next room had nearly a dozen men in the beds instead, looking similarly comatose. A third room had a single figure in it, wearing a change collar but otherwise as unconscious as the others.

“Oh… Chris…” Ilya whispered.

Before Ethan could ask, Ilya had moved a few paces further along, which had resulted in someone banging against the next window from the inside.

Catching up, Ethan saw two ‘girls’ from the club inside. One he didn’t know (though vaguely recognised), but the other one…

“Mia?” he whispered to himself.

Ilya had already hurried to the door, cracking it open with a well placed shove.

“Greg. Mikey. Are you two ok?” ‘she’ asked.

“How did you just…” the familiar blonde asked.

“Uhh… we’ll talk about that later,” Ilya replied, blushing a bit. “But what about you two?”

“We’re… well, we’re doing better than Chris, but I’m not sure we’re doing great,” the taller one replied.

“They’ve got this mad scientist woman, and she’s… I don’t know what she’s trying to do, but…” ‘Mia’ said, shivering a little.

“What I’m trying to do is build a better world,” a female voice said from behind where Ethan was standing.

Spinning around, he felt a wall of fear wash over him. That was… that was…

“Doctor Fairbanks,” Ilya muttered, moving in front of Ethan.

His mother. His mother was here. Ethan tried not to hyperventilate as he stared at the cold uncaring face of his mother. She had been supposed to be in prison for life, wasn’t she? After getting caught in her ‘gendercidal’ plans, and everything she’d done to Ethan over the years, all while having faked being a superhero still for those same years… they didn’t just throw away the key when they locked her up. They’d melted it down, so no one could find it.

Yet here she was. In front of him. The last woman he’d ever wanted to see.

He thanked the plastic surgeon the government had given him for leaving him with a face she didn’t recognise. At least it meant any evil she no doubt had ready for him wasn’t going to be personalized.

“I didn’t think you and the White Fist would work together,” Ilya was saying, a surprising amount of hate in ‘her’ voice.

“It’s mutually beneficial,” a male voice said from the other direction of the hallway. “That’s why we got her out.”

Ethan glanced over, seeing a man in a white mask and military uniform, the goons alongside him dressed similarly, though clearly lower ranking.

“Her little gas is designed to get through normal gas masks, wiping out any men standing in our way,” the leader of the White Fist explained. “Since men are the real threat in the upcoming clash of civilizations, we don’t care about it leaving women untouched.”

“It’s only just started doing that,” ‘Mia’ muttered.

“Mhm, it’s still not quite ready for deployment. Creating a fast acting agent that only affects those with Y chromosomes with limited resources has taken a bit more work than expected,” Ethan’s mother replied, turning to look at the first room of apparently comatose patients. “As much as those types had let themselves be tainted by men, I felt bad running the tests on actual women… thankfully your ilk make good enough substitutes.”

Ilya shifted into a fighting stance, looking back and forth between the two groups. “Well, maybe that’s how things have gone, but you’ll find I’m going to be a wrench in your plans.”

“Oh, no. We thought about the risk of supers,” Dr. Fairbanks replied, as a door beside her slowly slid open.

A truly hulking form emerged from the room, the mountainous wall of muscle stretching as he walked out. Up this close, Ethan could make out the way the man’s skin and bones had hardened, giving him an appearance almost akin to an armoured dinosaur (an ankylosaur, if Ethan’s memory served). If you could really say he was a man anymore.

“Unstoppable… I never thought you’d work with the White Fist,” Ilya muttered.

“I don’t really care about the politics here,” the human behemoth replied. “I just knew Doctor Former Hero here and the White Fist Gang together meant I’d get some good fights sooner or later. Waiting to get revenge against the Cap and his pals, but you’ll be a good warm up.”

“I’m more than a warm up,” Ilya replied, hands going to ‘her’ change collar. “Ethan, get back.”

Ilya unclasped the collar a moment later, resulting in a brief flash of light. The loose clothing ‘she’ had been wearing was tight now, as Ilya stood his full height in front of them.

“C-Captain Wrecking Ball?” one of the White Fist goons muttered.

Ethan found the change collar pushed into his hands before Ilya launched himself at full flight speed into Unstoppable’s gut. Ethan only vaguely processed it as an expensive object he should hold, though. He was still too caught up in his mother’s presence.

Everyone else scrambled back as the pair slammed through the concrete wall behind the monstrous man. Ethan, meanwhile, stared blankly.

‘Mia’ rushed forward, grabbing Ethan by the hand and dragging him past his mother. She was looking thrown by the sudden appearance of Captain Wrecking Ball, which Ethan was able to take a little joy from. He’d never wanted to see her again in his life, having helped himself get to sleep many times with the knowledge she was supposed to still be in prison, but, hey, he got to see her looking mildly scared and that was nice.

“I think we just need to go this wa—” ‘Mia’ had started saying, when a blast door slammed shut in front of them. “They have those?”

“Is there—is there another exit?” Ethan asked, barely keeping from having a panic attack right now.

“I don’t know!” ‘Mia’ yelped, panic in those eyes.

“Unstoppable wouldn’t fit through that door,” the other ‘girl’ said. “There’s got to be another one somewhere…”

Ethan nodded. “Alright, w-we’ll go find it while Cap is keeping them busy.”

Not that he was thinking the clearest. His flight instincts were overriding any other thoughts in his head. While he’d spent years working through the fear of all things feminine that his mother had left him (he hadn’t even been able to touch the colour pink when his therapy had first started), dealing specifically with his fear of his mother hadn’t seemed like as high a priority. She’d never been supposed to be in the same room as him ever again.

Heck, she wasn’t supposed to be in the same city as him.

So, his fear of her hadn’t really changed much over the years.

It had weakened a little with time, sure. But seeing her right now? He wasn’t prepared for that in the least.

At least his body’s flight response had meant he was good at following the other two on autopilot. Though they were both struggling for breath more than he expected. Some small part of his brain that was still working offered that it might have been a side effect of the gas his mother had been testing. Though he barely noticed it between his panic, the flashing lines, and the alarms overwhelming the majority of his brain.

“Freeze!”

The trio stumbled to a halt, faced with several White Fist goons, their stun batons pointed forward.

“Thought you could escape while we were focused on capturing Captain Wrecking Ball, did you?” the head goon said. “While, it’s time to think… something else because you’re not—”

He paused as his radio crackled. Picking it up to ask for whoever was on the other side to repeat their last message just led to more static. Before he could ask again, the wall exploded open, the massive form of Unstoppable flying through, and slamming into the small cluster of goons.

Ethan had to blink, wondering at his luck as the monstrous supervillain got to his feet and charged back to wherever he had come from, leaving a small collection of unconscious goons in the hallway.

“Maybe that means we’re getting closer to the exit?” ‘Mia’ said, offering a somewhat hollow smile.

“I hope so,” Ethan said, staring at the hole in the wall Unstoppable had run back through.

The ‘girls’ both grabbed stun batons, pushing one into Ethan’s hand before they started running again.

He was honestly starting to calm down a bit, as it seemed like he might actually get out of this. His nerves were calming, and his brain was actually starting to think more clearly and then…

The trio rounded a corner and ran into leader from earlier, a dozen goons, and Ethan’s mother, very effectively blocking the hallway.

So much for his luck.