Nighttime washed over the city. Karen slowly regained consciousness on the cold floor in a silver prison cell. However, screams of torment quickly jolted her to her feet. And she dashed to the bars, looking for the source.

  Karen placed a hand over her mouth. "My god."

  As Karen surveyed her surroundings, she witnessed more prison cells filled with people. The cells lined both sides of a dungeon-like chamber that was over ten feet long. But as the screams echoed again, her attention was drawn to the far left side of the room where some prisoners were in a desperate battle. They struggled, clinging to the bars of their cell as the guards dragged them toward the doors at the end of the room, releasing a final bloodcurdling wail as they went through.

  "What is this horrid place?" Karen asked.

  Two people, a man and a woman, came to Karen's cell, looking at her through the bars. The woman, Natalie, was a Caucasian of thirty with short, curly red hair. And as Karen looked closer at her she realized Natalie was the one who hit her in the face.

  "Well, Doctor?" Natalie asked.

  "Young, muscular, and quite healthy-looking. She's perfect for our new experiments."

  "Aces. We should have enough guinea pigs now to meet the big man's quota."

  "The big man. Of course," Karen thought.

  The man looked at Karen's arms and legs. "Where's her cuffs?"

  "Oh, we were in a hurry. So we threw her in without them."

  "Are you mad? Get them on now."

  Natalie quickly snapped her fingers, sending two guards to Karen's cell. They opened it, approaching Karen with the cuffs. Still, as one touched her shoulder, she headbutted him, and as he grasped his aching face, she followed up with a kick to his stomach. The other guard hurried to beat her into submission with his baton, but she grabbed his arm, tossing him at the metal bars, and making him hit the floor limp. Karen raced to the exit, but Natalie intercepted her path and punched her in the stomach, knocking her down. One of the guards recovered and placed the cuffs on Karen's wrist. Using a remote from his pocket, he pushed a button, and Karen flew to the cell wall, her wrists sticking to it like glue.

  "This isn't the first time I've been a prisoner of war," Karen shouted.

  "You ain't seen nothing yet, new friend," Natalie said.

  “Go to hell, you vile death saleswoman.”

  "The boss has rules against damaging valuable merchandise, but you need to learn a lesson.” Natalie walked to Karen, punching her in the face. “No food or water for you, Miss Soldier, for the next three hours."

  ***

  Three hours later, Karen was still confined in her cell, sticking to its wall, unable to break free of its powerful attraction. But a guard soon entered with a plate of food, throwing it at Karen's feet. She gazed at it, repulsed, seeing the moldy bread and chicken.

  "And how am I supposed to eat this garbage, restrained?" Karen asked.

  "Not my problem." The guard turned his back to Karen, preparing to leave.

  "Then I suppose you'll have to feed me."

  The guard stopped, looking at Karen as his eyes stretched out.

  "Don't be afraid, little man,” Karen smirked. “I won't bite."

  The guard angrily marched to the plate, drawing a knife. And he stabbed the chicken with it, putting it near Karen's face.

  "I fear nothing, woman. Eat."

  Karen opened her mouth, going for a bite of the chicken. However, she quickly changed targets, viciously biting the guard's hand instead. As he screamed in pain, he dropped his knife, and Karen caught it in her mouth.

  The guard rushed to attack Karen, but she captured him between her legs, painfully squeezing his spine tightly in her muscular thighs. Karen gave him a headbutt rendering him unconscious. With him down, Karen positioned the knife into her cuff's keyhole, using the edge as a lock pick, freeing her first hand. She took the key from the guard, unlocking the remaining cuff, and ran out of the cell.

  Karen quickly met more guards as she exited her cell. One attempted to draw his gun, but Karen threw her knife at his arm, stopping him as it sank into his shoulder. And as the others charged at her, she swiftly beat them into submission. She punched out one as she delivered an elbow to the neck of another. Still, more combatants came. Karen's attacks continued even as the number of guards steadily increased. But as she punched one guard in particular, her fist bled badly from the impact. And the guard revealed why, igniting his superpowers, transforming his flesh to steel. But as he readied to strike Karen, the knight came lifting him, tossing him at a wall.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Valiant knight, I knew you would come," Karen said.

  "Fight now. Talk later."

  The couple hastily went to work as even more guards flooded the room. Daniel and Karen subdued dozens together as they came. But as the numbers increased, bringing a duo of super-criminals in the form of monstrous bats, the pair quickly retreated to the exit. However, not without Daniel hindering the pursuit, collapsing it with a kick to a support beam.

  Daniel and Karen run through the corridors of the enemy building.

  "Karen, are you hurt badly? I mean, are you bleeding anywhere?"

  "No, aside from my hand, I'm doing fine."

  "Great. Now tell me, what are you doing here, woman?"

  "I-I don't understand. Weren't you searching for me?"

  "No, I thought you were at home. I've been shadowing some crooks for the past three hours. So they would lead me here."

  "Well, I was nabbed near the Lang cafe.” Karen gestured at the corridor. “But where is here?"

  Daniel stopped running, and Karen followed, stopping beside him.

  "Where in a storage building owned by Hygieia Pharmaceuticals."

  "They're in league with the big man?"

  "Yeah. They've been extorting their customers in a nearby neighborhood."

  "And using their front as a legitimate business for their horrid super soldier experiments."

  Daniel snapped his fingers. "Right on the money, Angel."

  Karen slapped her forehead. “What a day this has been.”

  “Did something else happen?”

  “Yes.” Karen sighed. “Sharon and I got into a fight, a bad one.”

  “What about?”

  Karen groaned. “You.”

  Daniel screamed as he heard Karen.

  “I knew this would happen.” Daniel punched the wall, leaving a fist imprint. “Karen, I don’t want you to lose your friends because of me.”

  “I won’t.”

  “But—“

  “Please, love, just let me handle Sharon.”

  Daniel took a deep breath. “If you say so.”

  “Besides, we have much bigger fish to fry. Bringing down this hellish place takes priority.”

  Daniel started running again, grabbing Karen's hand and pulling her forward. But soon, the two left the corridors, entering a big room in fiery ruins. And they witnessed vast numbers of freed prisoners running out of the building in panicked, crying, and screaming droves.

  "Someone's been a busy boy," Karen said, shooting a smile in the corner of her face at Daniel.

  "Well, I—"

  The wall behind them exploded. From the dust and debris, the duo of monstrous bat super-criminals emerged. As Daniel charged, one blew him into a wall with a banshee-like scream. The criminals quickly pounced on Daniel as one captured him in his claws, crushing him in his deadly grip, and the other unleashed another scream at point-blank range. Still, as they bombarded Daniel, he activated his intangibility, spreading it to the one restraining him, dragging him through the floor, and leaving him trapped as he phased out.

  The remaining criminal fired another scream at Daniel in his ghostly form, but it passed through him. However, he quickly changed targets to the escaping prisoners, unleashing another. As Daniel flew to their aid, spreading his intangibility with a vast energy field, he dropped, exhausted, returning to a solid state. Still, as the criminal prepared another attack, he stopped as Karen threw a rock at his head."Attack me, monster." Enraged, he aimed at Karen instead. The criminal readied his scream to kill her. But calling upon the last of his strength, Daniel leapt to him in a white blur. He shoved a big rock in his mouth as he was about to scream. And as it went off, the rock exploded into numerous fragments, damaging the inside of his mouth and subduing the criminal.

  “I did it.” Daniel sighed.

  “Look out,” Karen shouted, pointing behind Daniel.

  As Daniel looked where Karen was pointing, he saw that the criminal he had trapped in the floor had escaped. The criminal was readying another scream as he sneaked behind Daniel. However, Daniel gave him an uppercut to his chin. The blow bent his head upward, sending the sound waves to the ceiling as he opened his mouth. The resulting impact sent several tons of rubble crashing down, burying the assailant, and ending the threat.

  "Superb work, Valiant knight," Karen said.

  Daniel wobbled to Karen, collapsing into her arms and hugging her."I want to kiss you right now, but there are too many witnesses. And there's a lot of mess left to clean up."

  Suddenly, an army of police burst into the building, led by Norio.

  "Never mind, we can book."

  "You're not going to stay and help the authorities?"

  "Chief can handle it from here. Besides, if I help them with so many witnesses around, the arrests won't hold in court."

  Karen threw Daniel’s arm over her shoulder, hurriedly pulling her away from the battle, using the chaos as a cover to the nearest door.

  ***

  The next day, Daniel and Karen welcomed new guests into their apartment. The Diaz couple and Miyamoto were happily reunited with Daniel. But as the men noticed Karen wrapped around Daniel's arm, they gazed in amazement at her great beauty.

  Daniel gestured at Karen and then his three guests. "Karen, this is Miyamoto Aoki, Michael Diaz, and his wife Gabriella. Guys, this is my girl, Karen Karter."

  "The pleasure is mine," Karen said.

  "You're even prettier than the picture," Miyamoto said.

  "You took the words out of my mouth," Michael said.

  Michael swiftly noticed Gabriella pouting, directing a scowl at him.

  "I swear, you're the only woman for me. But you'd have to be blind to say she isn't beautiful," Michael said.

  "Fine, you’re off the hook.” Gabriella poked Michael in the shoulder. “For now."

  "Anyhow, thank you for this invitation. I hope we aren't an inconvenience," Miyamoto said.

  "Of course not. I was happy to cook. But admittedly, I am a bit worried you won't like my British recipes."

  "Well, Angel, let's put those worries to bed. Guys, follow me to the table."

  “Please set the table without me, Love. I have to give Sharon a call.”

  “Sure. Good luck.” Daniel kissed Karen on the cheek.

  Daniel led the others to the dining table. But as Karen went to the phone it rang. And she swiftly answered it.

  "Hello."

  "Karen, it's me," Sharon said over the phone.

  "Oh, Sharon. I was just about to call you. Something hasn't happened, has it?"

  "You could say that. My words echoed through my head all night, and I couldn't sleep. Karen, I don't want our friendship to end."

  “That’s such a relief to hear.” Karen swallowed. "But to be quite clear, I'm not leaving Daniel."

  "I know, and I won't ask again. As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid, I'll be quiet and respectful of your choice."

  Karen shed tears. "Thank you."

  "Can we set up another time to meet next week with Carol?"

  "I'll do you one better. Come here right now. We're enjoying a meal with love's new friends from work."

  "I don't think I'm ready for that just yet.” Sharon giggled. “But thanks anyway."

  "I understand." Karen tittered.