Mom the Superheroine 06

This was it -- do or die, in this deadly duel. Grim resolve filled Barbara's heart. She would not submit to Valerie, no matter what. She would resist with every fiber of her being, until the very end. No word that escaped her lips would be responsible for the capture and enslavement of her daughter. Never that.

And if she were to go down fighting... then her brave, heroic daughter would have to find a way to fend for herself, somehow. But for her own part, she would put her life on the line to keep that from happening.

She had to go on the offensive, or there was no chance at all of winning. Since there was no way she could use her legs at all -- her whole core had been put out of commission, so she couldn't lift her legs -- there was only one thing left to do, in her position.

Her right hand went straight for Valerie's throat.

Valerie grunted with surprise and tilted her head back, but to maintain her own chokehold on Barbara she had to stay within reach. She tightened her own neck muscles to resist Barbara's grip. She grasped Barbara's right hand with her left, just as Barbara was holding on to hers.

The unequal contest of strength and endurance began. Each tried to pull the other's choking arm away with her left arm, while simultaneously maintaining her own death grip. Valerie, perched on top, had the clear advantage, and moreover she was relatively fresh, still, in stark contrast to Barbara who was wracked by pain and nearly exhausted.

Just by leaning forward, Valerie could put pressure on Barbara's throat, while all Barbara could use was the strength of her arm muscles. And that strength was being taxed to the limit, since Valerie was pulling as hard as she could.

Cindy realized her lip was bleeding -- she was biting it, unknowingly. With her powers suppressed, her healing rate was normalized. But she paid it no mind -- all she could think of at the moment, all she could see, was her suffering mother.

"Take my strength, Mom," she whispered, even though she knew her mom couldn't hear her and couldn't receive her strength. She looked at Barbara's trembling right arm, so thick and strong, and willed her strength into it. And her mother's left arm too, trying to budge that incredibly muscled arm of Valerie's; Cindy willed her strength into it too.

For as long as she could remember, those strong arms of Barbara's had protected ordinary citizens, lifted heavy objects and freed trapped disaster victims, bent the muzzles of guns and rifles, punched out alien invaders and interdimensional interlopers, smashed Clockwork drones into pieces before they could harm innocent people... and cradled Cindy herself in Barbara's warm, safe embrace.

Now, it was Battler Babe's hour of greatest need, and those strong arms, and her mighty heart, were all she had left.

Minutes went past. Barbara's face slowly grew redder, and her mouth opened. She had once held up half a collapsing building, while civilians ran out in panic. That had been her single greatest and most prolonged exertion -- until now.

Soon, their shoulders and arms were covered in networks of bulging blue-green veins, which served to accentuate the lines of their muscles. Valerie's teeth were bared in a grimace of fury. Her face was starting to redden as well. But compared to Barbara, she was only feeling mild discomfort -- Barbara's face was beginning to turn a deeper shade of crimson, verging on purple.

The superheroine's tongue began to loll out of her mouth, to the side. Her bloodshot eyes were bugging out once again, as she strained unsuccessfully to draw breath. She could breathe no more -- whatever reserves of oxygen she had in her aching lungs were all she had left to use. Valerie's arms were just too strong. She was on the brink of losing her grip on Valerie's throat, too -- she could feel that relentless force Valerie was exerting, pulling Barbara's right arm away from her throat.

Her temples pounded. There was a rushing in her ears. She redoubled her efforts, fighting back the veil of darkness that threatened to descend over her vision. But so did Valerie, matching her strength -- overpowering it, overcoming it.

Dimly, she became aware that Valerie had just peeled her right hand away from Valerie's neck. Just a hair's breadth, but the gap was growing wider, as Valerie greedily sucked in the sweet air into her lungs. The sweat on her breasts gleamed as her muscled chest heaved, taking in more oxygen to fuel her muscles, making them stronger by the moment.

Somewhere, a girl was screaming -- Cindy, crying out in despair.

Her right hand was being pulled further and further away from Valerie's neck. Valerie's grinning face loomed over her, filling up her clouding vision... and suddenly, it was replaced by a vision of Cindy's face. Smiling, trusting, loving. Her beloved daughter. Even as her body went into overdrive, the steady pounding of her heartbeat filled her ears... like her heart and Cindy's beating as one.

And suddenly, the choking pressure was gone.

Someone was screaming.

It almost hurt, to be breathing again, but she sucked in the air greedily, filling her tortured lungs, as her vision cleared. She was still clutching Valerie's right forearm -- but Valerie was screaming, she had let go of Barbara's right arm and was clutching her own, there was something wrong about it, the angle...

She had broken Valerie's wrist.

The shock of the pain was too much even for a hardened villainess like Valerie, especially since Barbara maintained a death grip on the fracture. Even though her head was swimming, Barbara knew she had only moments to act. She grabbed Valerie's neck again with her right arm, and with a scream of effort she flexed her entire torso, pushing Valerie down to the side and flipping herself on top of her.

Still clutching Valerie's limp left arm, she grabbed Valerie's flailing right arm and tucked it securely under her right knee, pinning it down. Then she slumped, her body shaking and trembling, as she caught her breath. She looked down at her enemy's terrified expression, on that hateful face trapped between her thighs.

"No... please..." Valerie began sobbing. "Let me go. I... I submit. You win. You win! I submit!"

As if in a daze, Barbara reached for Valerie's throat and closed her fingers around it.

"No... no please..." Valerie's pleas were cut off, and she began choking.

Then Cindy, darling beautiful Cindy, was at her side. "Mom... Mom, it's over, you've won. Mom! It's ok... look at me, Mom! You've won!"

And Elena, too, was kneeling in front of her. She was sobbing. "Please... let her go... we'll go quietly... we won't bother you both anymore, you're stronger and better... please... she's my mom..."

Barbara let go of Valerie's throat and arm. She sat back, and blinked tiredly. "Cindy? H-Honey?"

"I'm here, Mom," Cindy said, and threw her arms over Barbara's head to embrace her, showering kisses on her cheek.

The cobwebs were gone from Barbara's vision, as was the red haze that had briefly descended. "Dearest..." she whispered, turning to receive her daughter's kisses on her lips.

Elena was still whimpering. "Please, Battler Babe... you're a heroine... please don't kill her..."

"I won't, Elena," Barbara told her, wearily. She was ashamed of her lapse, even though it was momentary. She was glad that her daughter had been there, to shake her out of it.

Also, what Heroine would ever kill a Villainess in front of their children? She was no Vigilante. She was a Heroine.

Heroines would always fight fair, even if their opponents broke every rule of engagement in the book. Heroines would always fight to subdue, never to kill or maim. Heroines would fight against the odds even when they seemed insurmountable. All this and more was what Heroines did, even if it meant they had to suffer as a result.

"But you two need to answer for your crimes," she told Elena sternly. "There's evidence implicating you in the wrongful deaths of your foster parents. There's other crimes to answer for. And... and for what you both did to us," she finished.

Sobbing, Elena nodded, and fell silent.

It was the work of a moment for Barbara to detach the cuffs from her daughter. Cindy smiled to feel her powers returning, and she rubbed her wrists. Those cuffs had not felt good at all -- the Malta organization was not one to lightly tangle with, with such anti-meta tech at their disposal!

Then Barbara looked down at her longtime foe. For long moments, they said nothing.

"Must I say it again?" Valerie finally whispered.

"Say it for both of them to hear," Barbara answered just as softly, her voice shaky with emotion.

Valerie turned to the side and closed her eyes. "Fine," she said. "Barbara Beck... Battler Babe... you've won. You're the stronger, better woman."

With tears of love and pride in her eyes, Cindy took hold of Barbara's right arm and slowly, ceremoniously, raised it high.

***

Weeks later, the reporters and camera crew were all gathered outside City Hall.

"In these dark times, Tom, when hope seems lost," one of them was saying into her microphone, "the inauguration of a new superheroine gives hope to many. As we await the return of the Freedom Phalanx and the Vindicators from whatever danger they have encountered, the citizens of Paragon City can be glad that at least..."

"... the passing of the mantle, from mother to daughter," another newsman was saying, "as plagued by scandalous rumours they may be, I think, Tom, that in times like these the people of Paragon City need any shred of hope they..."

"Tom, I'm standing here at City Hall, right in the heart of Atlas Park, where today the citizens of Paragon City get ready to welcome yet another fine addition to..."

"Well, Tom, I think the residents of King's Row are expecting her to continue the tradition of heroes who've been born and bred in their neighborhood, and focus on their turf, so to speak..."

Meanwhile, in the offices of the Federal Bureau for Super-powered Affairs, away from the improbable number of anchormen named Tom, an argument was brewing.

"She very clearly belongs with S.E.R.A.P.H, like her mother! I don't know what technicalities you're hung up on, and frankly I don't care, but all products of scientific experimentation fall under our jurisdiction!"

"The very idea is preposterous! She's clearly the product of a mutagen-influenced gestation and maturation process, and as such, she has clearly been given a powerful... G.I.F.T... pun completely intended. She's with us!"

"That is completely unproven -- we have no concrete proof of any origin for her powers other than nature itself, and her truly impressive training regimen. I'm claiming her for E.L.I.T.E right now, and that's seriously the only reasonable option here!"

In the midst of all this, Cindy glowed. She stood quietly, but confidently, in the classic superheroine pose -- fists planted firmly above her hips, shoulders thrown back, chest thrust out proudly, chin tilted up, legs shoulder-width apart. Her costume was a trimmed-down version of her mother's -- it bared more skin, but tastefully, showcasing Cindy's superb physique. She had adopted the same color scheme as well: blue predominant, with white trimmings.

Standing to one side, Barbara stood and watched, suffused with maternal pride. Cindy's power set at the moment was still rather limited, but she was showing such promise, especially with her role in apprehending the villainesses even before she was properly registered, that the various departments were fighting over her membership. Of course, M.A.G.I could stake no claim on her, since no magic was involved, and neither could D.A.T.A since they couldn't claim anything technological about her powers.

There was a shadow over the proceedings, of course. Many Heroes and Vigilantes had lost their lives or gone missing of late. New up and coming ones were at a premium.

But they were all agreed that she shown tremendous potential. Already they could measure her super strength and super toughness levels, and her cellular regeneration rates. She was improving in all these areas at an amazingly rapid pace. There was no telling what else she could become capable of, given time and training!

Eventually, G.I.F.T, the Genetic Investigation and Facilitation Team, won out -- the mutagen flowing in her veins, conferred upon her by her beloved mother, was a "mutation". Antonio Nash and Prince Kiros Nandelu welcomed her with broad smiles and open arms. Documents were signed, chopped, and stamped -- and that was it.

Her daughter, Cindy Beck, was a Superheroine -- Battleborn!

There she stood, on the steps of City Hall, beaming waving at the crowd of cheering citizens and journalists.

Finally, their ordeal was over -- they had come out on top over their nemeses, who were now safely locked away in the Zig. Their love had prevailed.

And from now on, Barbara thought, Paragon City would benefit from yet another sexy, strong woman walking its streets, keeping its people safe from all kinds of threats -- street hoodlums, Clockwork automatons, the occasional demon, and more besides. For Cindy Beck, Battleborn, the adventure was just beginning!