Chapter 16 – Failsafe Failure
Kevin's stepfather, Patrick stared at Kevin in disbelief as they sat in the hospital's waiting room. “So, tell me again, where is Beth?”
“I told you she went to Nylondon, to the Doll Collector's mansion! Last I heard she was trying to rescue the dolls she imprisoned! Here, let me show you, I can tune into the signal with this device.” Kevin said as he fiddled with the dials of his shrink ray. His father watched with astonishment but was clearly losing patience. “Damn, I still can't get a signal! I think the battery's dying,” Kevin said in frustration, “it's all true though, Vanessa can back me up on it.”
“Yes it's true,” Vanessa said, “I'm usually not this short.”
“Well, obviously that part is true,” Patrick said, “what else could explain why your mother's in the hospital at 2 foot tall.”
“It's all true!” Kevin assured, “And I need to get a new lithium ion battery for this thing right away. Beth and her friends could be in real trouble and she might need me.”
“Well, if what you say is true, I think she might need more help than that,” Patrick said getting up to leave, “I'm calling some of my colleagues. This is matter of national security.”
“Where's he going?” Vanessa asked as she watched him leave the building.
“He's going to make some private calls,” Kevin answered, “Dad works for the government, he knows some people in high places.”
“Well it's about time some authorities got involved!”
“Yeah … I'm just hoping it doesn't backfire on us. You know how well connected the Doll Collector is,” Kevin said as he got up and approached the desk attendant.
“Now where are you going?”
“To see my mom. We are in the hospital to visit her after all.”
“How can I help you?” The desk attendant asked.
“I'm here to see Catharina Turam,” Kevin answered.
“Hmmm, the desk attendant said looking at her screen,” It looks like she's just been checked out.
“What?!”
“Yes, it looks as though she checked herself about a half hour ago.”
“But that's impossible! My father's been here the whole time!”
“Well, she was in room 234 but ...”
Kevin didn't even hear the rest of the woman's sentence. He was already running up the stairs towards room 234. Vanessa did her best to keep with him with her short legs, but was having difficulty keeping her loose sneakers on her slippery stocking feet. “Wait up!” she called after him.
Kevin came upon the room and saw, to his dismay, that it was empty, save for a petite asian nurse who was making the bed. “Where is she!” Kevin demanded as he approached the nurse.
“Where is who?” the nurse asked.
“The woman who was a patient here. The shrunken woman! Catharina Turam was her name. Where have they taken her!?” He demanded again as he stood imposingly over the small woman.
“You better leave before I call security,” she said fearfully falling back into the bed as he encroached upon her space. She tried to kick him away but Kevin caught her foot. It was then that he noticed she was wearing sheer black polyphylon under her scrubs and sneakers. “What is this?” He asked just as Vanessa came up behind him. “Are you working for her too?”
“Let go!” the nurse demanded weakly ask Kevin pulled up her pant-leg exposing more of her stocking. Vanessa grabbed her other sneaker and tugged on the heal threateningly.
“Oh! Please don't take my shoes off!” the girl begged as she felt her ticklish heel slip a bit out of the warm confines of the sneaker.
“Then tell us the truth!” Kevin demanded, “Where did they take my mother!”
“I don't know!”
“Wrong answer!” Vanessa said as Kevin and Vanessa pulled the shoes off her very ticklish feet. Her toes wiggled wildly through her very sheer stockings in a panic she felt the cold air hit them.
“It's the truth! They don't tell me anything about where they take them! I just cover up their tracks! Don't tickle me! Please!” The nurse begged.
“So she does work for the doll collector! We should tickle her anyway,” Vanessa said as she dragged her finger across her sole.
“Bwahahahahahaaa! Nohohohoh! Stahahhohop!”
“Wait,” Kevin said putting a hand on Vanessa's shoulder, “You say you cover up their tracks? So you've done this before, I take it. How big is this network of yours. Does the Doll Collector have people in every hospital to kidnap any shrunken girl who checks in?”
“Not ehehevery hospital, but almost all the major ones … I think. We can keep track of the ones wearing pantyhose in advance, but not the ones like your mom who wear the body stockings, but they're rare. It's my job to cover up all evidence that a shrunken girl has been here. It's our job to keep people from investigating and spreading information.”
“Well, you sure gave up all your information all up easily to us,” Vanessa laughed as she tickled her toes again.
“Gahahaha! You'll regret that! The Doll Collector is very thorough and she's been successful for years so far. I've given up information to torturers before, but none of lived long to tell anyone of importance. You'd be wise not to pursue your investigation further. Others have tried and all have disappeared. If you give me back my shoes and leave now I promise I won't report your activities and there may not be a bounty put on you.”
“Yeah, like we can trust you,” Vanessa said.
“Your whole operation is about to be blown wide open, I'm afraid,” Kevin said, “My father knows people who work in the Pentagon and he has all the evidence he needs to put the whole lot of you away. If you co-operate, you may get off easy, though.” The nurse looked up at them helplessly as they held her ticklish feet in their hands. “Do you need more convincing?” Kevin asked as he and Vanessa continued to tickle her.
“DAHAHAHAHAH! PLEASE! AHAAHAHAHAHA! OKAY OKAY! I'll Cohoho-operahahahate!”
Angelica eagerly slipped her feet back into her high heels after her underlings freed her shoes from the glue. They had been scrubbing away at the glue that had dried on the floor as the Doll Collector was being debriefed.
“126 escapees caught,” Angelica said after regaining her composure. She always felt more confident when standing in her authoritative high heel shoes.
“126 rebels, insurrectionists, terrorists, you mean,” The Doll Collector corrected, “We can't have this happen again, Sedgewick?”
“Yes Mistress?” Sedgewick said nervously.
“I think it's time to implement the failsafe mechanism. We can't sell a defective product.”
“But … mistress … we haven't tested the longterm effects,” Sedgewick stammered.
“I don't see what the problem is, you and Dr. Cole have reassured me that the polyphylon will preserve indefinitely long after their deaths.”
“Yes, in theory, but ...”
“But what? Does it go against your ethical code? After everything you've done 'in the name of science'? Don't make me laugh. You knew it was going to come to this eventually.”
Sedgewick reluctantly grabbed one of the girls from the net. It was the one dressed as Morrigan. “Hold her down, It will take a moment to lock onto her polyphylon signal,” he said handing her off to Angelica.
“What are you going to do to her?!” Penelope shouted. She was still glued to the floor.
“Penelope?” The Doll Collector said walking over to her, “how could we have missed you?”
“I counted her, but she's stuck to the floor though so I didn't bother putting her in the net,” Angelica said.
“So it was you who betrayed me,” The Doll Collector said bending down to pull Penelope free of her dress and the floor. Penelope was grabbed by her legs and literally torn free of her dress. She shivered as she was held before the evil Mistress, now clad in nothing but her sheer white body stocking. “I want you to do her next, Sedgewick. And make it really slow and painful.”
“As you wish, Mistress,” Sedgewick said unemotionally as he punched in some numbers on the shrinker before turning the dial. Morrigan began to scream and squirm helplessly as she was held down by Angelica's grip. “This will only take a second, my dear,” he said reassuringly before turning the dial all the way to the left. Morrigan's scream suddenly stopped and she stopped moving. “It is done,” he said with a hint of sadness.
“You killed her!” Penelope shouted.
“What?!” Chun Li gasped from the net.
“Yes, her life functions have ceased. She is dead,” Sedgewick confirmed looking at the readouts on his shrinker.
“Now you are sure she won't decompose or anything, Sedgewick. My customers won't be happy if they have a rotting corpse for a doll … unless they are buying zombie dolls or something,” The Doll Collector demanded.
“I am sure,” he reassured, “The polyphylon will preserve her flesh for hundreds of years at least. She's like a space age mummy.”
“Good. Penelope is next.”
“You know, I just realized something,” Beth said as she donned her second Poison Ivy costume in the knocked over dollhouse on the other side of the ventilation shaft.
“What?” Niesa asked as she studied the map Penelope had mentioned.
“When I first put the bodystocking on I was always afraid of how uncomfortable it was going to be if I ever had to go to the bathroom and couldn't take this damn thing off. But here I am, almost a full day later, and I haven't had the urge to go at all.”
“Hmm, that's funny, me neither,” Niesa said, “I haven't eaten much either, just some miso soup yesterday.”
“You don't need to eat much when you're wearing polyphylon,” Gwen said, “your metabolism slows down to a crawl, and nothing goes to waste, apparently the polyphylon somehow manages to absorb what you can't digest, so no you will never need to go to the bathroom while wearing it, thank god … but as soon as you take it off it will take a long time for your body to adjust.”
“Wait, you've had it off?” Christy asked as she tried on a new pair of shoes, loafers she had found that had fallen out of one of the closets.
“Not me, but I have talked to others who have. It's usually the higher ranking minions who get the privilege though. They told me they became very weak and tired after having it taken off and suffered from massive migraine headaches. It's like going through withdrawal. They couldn't wait to get it back on and feel superhuman again.”
“Great, so now we have that to look forward to,” Lisa sighed as she too replaced her single boot with a pair of flats she had found.
“If we ever do get get it off,” Niesa said hopelessly before slipping into a new pair of high heels.
Now once again fully dressed the girls proceeded towards the hole in the wall that led them to the network of doll sized ladders that Penelope's small group of rebels had installed to get around unseen in the mansion. Having studied map, Niesa knew exactly how to navigate back up to Jasmine's lab. It was a long, arduous, but ultimately uneventful climb.
Upon entering the lab through the mouse hall, the girls could see no sign of Dr. Cole. “Jasmine!” they all shouted. But there was no answer and no sign of her as they emerged from underneath the desk.
“This is what I was afraid of,” Niesa said.
“Do you suppose she was captured?” Gwen asked looking around.
“I can't think of any alternative.”
“Help!” a tiny voice called from above.
“Look!” Beth pointed to the top of one of the lab table. On top stood a jar with a tiny doll sized woman inside waving her arms trying to get their attention, “Is that Jasmine?”
“Yes! That's her!” Niesa exclaimed, “Oh god he shrunk her and put her in a jar! How are we going to get up there to free her?”
Beth suddenly produced a grappling hook from her belt, “This should do the trick.”
“I still don't think it's fair that you got to wear the Poison Ivy costume with the cool grappling hook accessory,” Christy said.
“Hey, she does have the matching green tights,” Gwen pointed out, “Now aren't you glad I didn't leave it behind?”
“Yes Gwen, I'm very grateful too you,” Beth said as she aimed her grappling hook at the faucet on the lab table, “had it not been for your cosplay fashion sense I guess we'd be out of luck right now.”
Beth fired, and the hook wrapped around the metal cylinder at the base of the faucet. “Nice! Okay … this seemed to work well for Tamara,” Beth said before cautiously pushing the button on the side of the toy grappling hook gun. It seemed like an instant had passed and she was zipped up to the top of the table. She slammed into the faucet with such force she felt dazed. But she was, not too surprisingly, unharmed.
“Are you okay Beth?” Niesa asked.
“Yes,” Beth answered getting her bearings. She walked toward the jar and saw Jasmine up close for the first time. She was naked, except for her blue pantyhose, but didn't look like she was injured or anything. The jar had tiny holes poked in the top to allow oxygen in so that Jasmine could breathe. It reminded Beth of the time she used to catch fireflies as a kid and keep them in a jar with holes poked in the top. “Whoever did this is a psychopath,” Beth thought to herself. Try as she might she couldn't open the jar. It was closed too tightly.
“Don't bother with that!” Jasmine said excitedly, “just help me knock this jar over and roll me off the edge! I need to get to my computer!”
“Are you sure?” Beth asked.
“Yes! Hurry!”
Beth did as she was told. By herself, Jasmine wasn't strong enough to knock the jar over, but working together they were able to build enough momentum to do the trick. With the jar now on its side Beth rolled it off the edge of the table. The glass shattered in all directions, some of it hitting the girls, but luckily their polyphylon protected them.
“Let me borrow your hookshot!” Jasmine yelled as she ran towards her desk nearly slipping on the broken glass in her stocking feet. She didn't even need time to recover from the fall.
“Umm, okay,” Beth said descending down after her using the grappling hook. After catching up with Jasmine she tossed the grappling hook gun towards her. Jasmine caught it and aimed it up towards her computer. She fired, and an in an instant was on her desk typing away on her keyboard with her feet and hands. Beth wanted to ask what she was doing, but didn't really want to interrupt her concentration. The other girls joined Beth as they watched Jasmine work away at her computer in awe of her speed. Suddenly they heard a machine start whirring up to their right. By the time Beth turned back to see what Jasmine was doing, Jasmine was standing right next to her.
“Okay, this one's small so hopefully it won't take long, here's your hookshot back,” Jasmine said handing her the toy grappling hook back after detaching it from the computer desk.
“So what happened to you?” Niesa finally asked.
“Sedgewick happened. He came in to check up on my progress with an alien shrink ray I've been studying and unfortunately found out I was communicating with you. He shrunk me and put me in that jar. He also took the only copy of the shrink ray I made. Fortunately I still have the plans on my computer so I'm making another copy. A smaller copy.”
“A doll sized shrink ray?” Christy asked excitedly “You should make one for all of us!”
“Patience! First I have to find out if this one works. So tell me, what happened to Penelope and the rest of them? Did anyone else manage to escape?”
Niesa looked too pained at the thought of answering the question so Lisa answered for her, “No, just us. We managed to free hundreds of girls but after Sedgewick found out, the Doll Collector and her goons came down and caught everyone, including Penelope.”
“I'm sorry, Jasmine,” Niesa said fighting back tears, “Your sister told me many times to leave while we had the chance and I refused her. I thought maybe we could fight them off. But once they brought out the nets it was over. Had I heeded her words she might be here with us. But now? I just hope she's okay.”
Jasmine looked forlorn as the room fell silent and the hum of the 3D printer suddenly stopped. “Well let's find out if she is,” Jasmine said with renewed energy. She grabbed the hookshot away from Beth before heading towards it. Pulling herself atop the printer, she grabbed the doll sized shrink ray out of the output tray. The girls watched with trepidation as she fiddled with the controls. Jasmine gasped, “Oh my god, she's dying! They're killing her! Sedgewick's killing her!” Jasmine quickly punched in more numbers, “I have to stop it! I have to detach her quickly!”
“Sedgewick what is happening?” The doll Collector asked as she watched Penelope writhe in pain … or stop writing in pain, rather. It seemed Sedgewick's “slow and painful execution” was no longer so “slow and painful”.
“I don't know, she's no longer responding to the slow turn of the dial,” Sedgewick said confused.
“Forget turning the dial slowly, just give it all you've got. Kill her!” The Doll Collector ordered.
“Very well,” Sedgewick said turning the dial up to its max, but Penelope just seemed to be catching her breath as if relieved that the torture had stopped.
“She's recovering, you fool!”
“I no longer have lock on her. She's … she's no longer locked into her polyphylon. She's been detached somehow.” Sure enough much to everyone's surprise, Penelope was pulling herself free from her body stocking that had held her prisoner for so long.
“What?! But only you have the ability to detach someone. Have you betrayed me?!”
“No, my mistress! I would never have! Besides I could not have even if I wanted to. She's wearing one of the original body stockings that we never figured out how to decode. The only one who may have known how to detach her is ...”
“Dr. Cole,” The Doll Collector said maliciously finishing his sentence, “I thought you had taken care of her, Sedgewick.”
“I thought so too, I trapped her in a jar. It's unlikely she could have escaped.”
“Unlikely, but not impossible. She's outlived her usefulness and should join her sister. Why don't you bring her down here, Sedgewick. And, Angelica, you go up and make sure he obeys. I know he has a soft spot for her.”
“Yes Mistress,” Angelica complied leaving with Sedgewick and her henchmen.
“Alone again at last,” The Doll Collector said turning to the now naked Penelope as she wiggled free of her body stocking and tried to escape, “And where do you think you're going, my pet?” She asked scooping Penelope up. Now not only are you my tiny doll, but you're naked and completely vulnerable. You don't have the body stocking to protect you anymore. Your sister thought she was saving you by freeing you, but she only doomed you to a messier death.”
“We have to do something to save her,” Sarah whispered to Joyce from inside one of the nets.
“Tamara's on it,” Joyce said pointing to Tamara who was busy cutting the net with one of the sharp and pointy hooks of her hookshot.
“That gives me an idea! How many more of those hooks do we have?” Sarah said.
“Not sure, but I'm pretty sure Luvia has one,” Joyce said pointing to Luvia who was also cutting the net.
“Good, go to her and give her these instructions ...” Sarah started to explain.
“So Penelope,” The Doll Collector said holding her up to her face, “How would you like to die? Shall I throw you against a wall? Eat you up? Or, my personal favorite, crush you under my boot? I'll give you the choice.”
“You're a sick and twisted woman,” was all Penelope said with every ounce of defiance she had.
“I guess I'll just have to crush you under my boot then. It's a pity, you were my first and favorite doll. But you betrayed me and now you must pay the price,” the doll collector said dropping Penelope at her feet. Penelope fell to the floor with a nasty crunch, her tiny bones breaking and her naked skin bruising upon harsh impact. She screamed in pain. “Hahahaha! I bet you wish you were still wearing your body stocking now!” The Doll Collector taunted. Penelope just groaned her body paralyzed and unable to move. The doll collector lifted up her foot and was about to bring it down hard on Penelope. Penelope braced herself for the crushing horrible death that was about to come down upon her …
But to her great relief, the boot stomped down right beside her! It missed her by only a centimeter. She looked up and saw the Doll Collector was laughing. “Hahaha, These boots are made for walking!” she sung maniacally as she lifted her other foot this time. She was taunting her! “And that's just what they'll do!” She continued to sing as her left booted foot landed right on the other side of her. Penelope couldn't take it. She started to cry and wished the cruel woman would just get it over with. “One of these days these boots are gonna walk over you!” she said lifting her right foot. Penelope knew this was the killing blow. She wouldn't miss this time.
But then something unexpected happened. Just as The Doll Collector was finishing her song and was about to bring her foot down, her boot laces were suddenly torn free of her boot by some strange grappling hook device. “What the hell?” she said looking at her boot confused just before her now very loose boot was pulled off her foot by another grappling hook that had anchored itself around the heel. “Aaah!” The doll collector screamed upon seeing her vulnerable and exposed stocking foot.
“Get her!” Sarah yelled as she untied Lucy from her binds. It seemed that while The Doll Collector was busy tormenting Penelope, several of the girls had managed to escape from the net. Luvia and Tamara fired their grappling hooks just as Sarah had instructed at the vulnerable points of The Doll Collector's boot and were not only able to de-lace her, but also deboot her just before she crushed poor Penelope. As Lucy freed Faye, The Doll Collector was already losing her balance and bringing her now shoeless ticklish stocking foot down on Amanda, Chun Li and Joyce, who were all ready to tickle her vulnerable sole clad in nothing but her very thin striped polyphylon.
“No! No!” The Doll Collector as she watched helplessly as her vulnerable foot descended on their tiny tickling fingers. It had all happened so fast. But now it was as if it was all happening in slow motion and there was nothing she could do to stop it. How had she lost her boot? She was so careful to keep them tied so tight. It was the worst possible situation. She was alone in her basement, she had lost a shoe and was about to be tickled mercilessly by her own dolls. As soon as she felt the soft tickling sensation against her ultra-sensitive arch, she lost it. She did the only thing she could think of doing. She screamed for help through her laughter. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHEHEHEHEELP!”
Lucy and Faye rushed towards her and pulled her other foot out from under her. She fell backwards onto her ass as they wrestled the remaining boot off her foot, tearing the laces. “Gaaahahahah! Lucy! Hahahave mehehehercy!” She screamed in terror through her laughter.
“Gritty Grundle, I had pity for you when you were a kid. But you've turned into a monster … something much worse than the bullies that mistreated you! It's time for you to pay!” Lucy said pulling her boot off at last revealing a devastatingly vulnerable and ticklish stocking foot. She tossed the boot aside and administered a wicked flourish across her smooth warm sole. Faye could actually see the Doll Collector shrink a few inches before her eyes as she laughed hysterically. As Lucy tickled her right foot, Luvia, Tamara, Amanda and Joyce tickled her left. And all the while a swarm of living dolls led by Sarah poured out of torn nets and overwhelmed her helpless squriming body, tearing at her beautiful victorian clothes and tickling every inch of her exposed flesh, whether it be polyphylon covered or not. Debooted, The Doll Collector seemed to also be utterly defeated.
Kevin's stepfather, Patrick stared at Kevin in disbelief as they sat in the hospital's waiting room. “So, tell me again, where is Beth?”
“I told you she went to Nylondon, to the Doll Collector's mansion! Last I heard she was trying to rescue the dolls she imprisoned! Here, let me show you, I can tune into the signal with this device.” Kevin said as he fiddled with the dials of his shrink ray. His father watched with astonishment but was clearly losing patience. “Damn, I still can't get a signal! I think the battery's dying,” Kevin said in frustration, “it's all true though, Vanessa can back me up on it.”
“Yes it's true,” Vanessa said, “I'm usually not this short.”
“Well, obviously that part is true,” Patrick said, “what else could explain why your mother's in the hospital at 2 foot tall.”
“It's all true!” Kevin assured, “And I need to get a new lithium ion battery for this thing right away. Beth and her friends could be in real trouble and she might need me.”
“Well, if what you say is true, I think she might need more help than that,” Patrick said getting up to leave, “I'm calling some of my colleagues. This is matter of national security.”
“Where's he going?” Vanessa asked as she watched him leave the building.
“He's going to make some private calls,” Kevin answered, “Dad works for the government, he knows some people in high places.”
“Well it's about time some authorities got involved!”
“Yeah … I'm just hoping it doesn't backfire on us. You know how well connected the Doll Collector is,” Kevin said as he got up and approached the desk attendant.
“Now where are you going?”
“To see my mom. We are in the hospital to visit her after all.”
“How can I help you?” The desk attendant asked.
“I'm here to see Catharina Turam,” Kevin answered.
“Hmmm, the desk attendant said looking at her screen,” It looks like she's just been checked out.
“What?!”
“Yes, it looks as though she checked herself about a half hour ago.”
“But that's impossible! My father's been here the whole time!”
“Well, she was in room 234 but ...”
Kevin didn't even hear the rest of the woman's sentence. He was already running up the stairs towards room 234. Vanessa did her best to keep with him with her short legs, but was having difficulty keeping her loose sneakers on her slippery stocking feet. “Wait up!” she called after him.
Kevin came upon the room and saw, to his dismay, that it was empty, save for a petite asian nurse who was making the bed. “Where is she!” Kevin demanded as he approached the nurse.
“Where is who?” the nurse asked.
“The woman who was a patient here. The shrunken woman! Catharina Turam was her name. Where have they taken her!?” He demanded again as he stood imposingly over the small woman.
“You better leave before I call security,” she said fearfully falling back into the bed as he encroached upon her space. She tried to kick him away but Kevin caught her foot. It was then that he noticed she was wearing sheer black polyphylon under her scrubs and sneakers. “What is this?” He asked just as Vanessa came up behind him. “Are you working for her too?”
“Let go!” the nurse demanded weakly ask Kevin pulled up her pant-leg exposing more of her stocking. Vanessa grabbed her other sneaker and tugged on the heal threateningly.
“Oh! Please don't take my shoes off!” the girl begged as she felt her ticklish heel slip a bit out of the warm confines of the sneaker.
“Then tell us the truth!” Kevin demanded, “Where did they take my mother!”
“I don't know!”
“Wrong answer!” Vanessa said as Kevin and Vanessa pulled the shoes off her very ticklish feet. Her toes wiggled wildly through her very sheer stockings in a panic she felt the cold air hit them.
“It's the truth! They don't tell me anything about where they take them! I just cover up their tracks! Don't tickle me! Please!” The nurse begged.
“So she does work for the doll collector! We should tickle her anyway,” Vanessa said as she dragged her finger across her sole.
“Bwahahahahahaaa! Nohohohoh! Stahahhohop!”
“Wait,” Kevin said putting a hand on Vanessa's shoulder, “You say you cover up their tracks? So you've done this before, I take it. How big is this network of yours. Does the Doll Collector have people in every hospital to kidnap any shrunken girl who checks in?”
“Not ehehevery hospital, but almost all the major ones … I think. We can keep track of the ones wearing pantyhose in advance, but not the ones like your mom who wear the body stockings, but they're rare. It's my job to cover up all evidence that a shrunken girl has been here. It's our job to keep people from investigating and spreading information.”
“Well, you sure gave up all your information all up easily to us,” Vanessa laughed as she tickled her toes again.
“Gahahaha! You'll regret that! The Doll Collector is very thorough and she's been successful for years so far. I've given up information to torturers before, but none of lived long to tell anyone of importance. You'd be wise not to pursue your investigation further. Others have tried and all have disappeared. If you give me back my shoes and leave now I promise I won't report your activities and there may not be a bounty put on you.”
“Yeah, like we can trust you,” Vanessa said.
“Your whole operation is about to be blown wide open, I'm afraid,” Kevin said, “My father knows people who work in the Pentagon and he has all the evidence he needs to put the whole lot of you away. If you co-operate, you may get off easy, though.” The nurse looked up at them helplessly as they held her ticklish feet in their hands. “Do you need more convincing?” Kevin asked as he and Vanessa continued to tickle her.
“DAHAHAHAHAH! PLEASE! AHAAHAHAHAHA! OKAY OKAY! I'll Cohoho-operahahahate!”
Angelica eagerly slipped her feet back into her high heels after her underlings freed her shoes from the glue. They had been scrubbing away at the glue that had dried on the floor as the Doll Collector was being debriefed.
“126 escapees caught,” Angelica said after regaining her composure. She always felt more confident when standing in her authoritative high heel shoes.
“126 rebels, insurrectionists, terrorists, you mean,” The Doll Collector corrected, “We can't have this happen again, Sedgewick?”
“Yes Mistress?” Sedgewick said nervously.
“I think it's time to implement the failsafe mechanism. We can't sell a defective product.”
“But … mistress … we haven't tested the longterm effects,” Sedgewick stammered.
“I don't see what the problem is, you and Dr. Cole have reassured me that the polyphylon will preserve indefinitely long after their deaths.”
“Yes, in theory, but ...”
“But what? Does it go against your ethical code? After everything you've done 'in the name of science'? Don't make me laugh. You knew it was going to come to this eventually.”
Sedgewick reluctantly grabbed one of the girls from the net. It was the one dressed as Morrigan. “Hold her down, It will take a moment to lock onto her polyphylon signal,” he said handing her off to Angelica.
“What are you going to do to her?!” Penelope shouted. She was still glued to the floor.
“Penelope?” The Doll Collector said walking over to her, “how could we have missed you?”
“I counted her, but she's stuck to the floor though so I didn't bother putting her in the net,” Angelica said.
“So it was you who betrayed me,” The Doll Collector said bending down to pull Penelope free of her dress and the floor. Penelope was grabbed by her legs and literally torn free of her dress. She shivered as she was held before the evil Mistress, now clad in nothing but her sheer white body stocking. “I want you to do her next, Sedgewick. And make it really slow and painful.”
“As you wish, Mistress,” Sedgewick said unemotionally as he punched in some numbers on the shrinker before turning the dial. Morrigan began to scream and squirm helplessly as she was held down by Angelica's grip. “This will only take a second, my dear,” he said reassuringly before turning the dial all the way to the left. Morrigan's scream suddenly stopped and she stopped moving. “It is done,” he said with a hint of sadness.
“You killed her!” Penelope shouted.
“What?!” Chun Li gasped from the net.
“Yes, her life functions have ceased. She is dead,” Sedgewick confirmed looking at the readouts on his shrinker.
“Now you are sure she won't decompose or anything, Sedgewick. My customers won't be happy if they have a rotting corpse for a doll … unless they are buying zombie dolls or something,” The Doll Collector demanded.
“I am sure,” he reassured, “The polyphylon will preserve her flesh for hundreds of years at least. She's like a space age mummy.”
“Good. Penelope is next.”
“You know, I just realized something,” Beth said as she donned her second Poison Ivy costume in the knocked over dollhouse on the other side of the ventilation shaft.
“What?” Niesa asked as she studied the map Penelope had mentioned.
“When I first put the bodystocking on I was always afraid of how uncomfortable it was going to be if I ever had to go to the bathroom and couldn't take this damn thing off. But here I am, almost a full day later, and I haven't had the urge to go at all.”
“Hmm, that's funny, me neither,” Niesa said, “I haven't eaten much either, just some miso soup yesterday.”
“You don't need to eat much when you're wearing polyphylon,” Gwen said, “your metabolism slows down to a crawl, and nothing goes to waste, apparently the polyphylon somehow manages to absorb what you can't digest, so no you will never need to go to the bathroom while wearing it, thank god … but as soon as you take it off it will take a long time for your body to adjust.”
“Wait, you've had it off?” Christy asked as she tried on a new pair of shoes, loafers she had found that had fallen out of one of the closets.
“Not me, but I have talked to others who have. It's usually the higher ranking minions who get the privilege though. They told me they became very weak and tired after having it taken off and suffered from massive migraine headaches. It's like going through withdrawal. They couldn't wait to get it back on and feel superhuman again.”
“Great, so now we have that to look forward to,” Lisa sighed as she too replaced her single boot with a pair of flats she had found.
“If we ever do get get it off,” Niesa said hopelessly before slipping into a new pair of high heels.
Now once again fully dressed the girls proceeded towards the hole in the wall that led them to the network of doll sized ladders that Penelope's small group of rebels had installed to get around unseen in the mansion. Having studied map, Niesa knew exactly how to navigate back up to Jasmine's lab. It was a long, arduous, but ultimately uneventful climb.
Upon entering the lab through the mouse hall, the girls could see no sign of Dr. Cole. “Jasmine!” they all shouted. But there was no answer and no sign of her as they emerged from underneath the desk.
“This is what I was afraid of,” Niesa said.
“Do you suppose she was captured?” Gwen asked looking around.
“I can't think of any alternative.”
“Help!” a tiny voice called from above.
“Look!” Beth pointed to the top of one of the lab table. On top stood a jar with a tiny doll sized woman inside waving her arms trying to get their attention, “Is that Jasmine?”
“Yes! That's her!” Niesa exclaimed, “Oh god he shrunk her and put her in a jar! How are we going to get up there to free her?”
Beth suddenly produced a grappling hook from her belt, “This should do the trick.”
“I still don't think it's fair that you got to wear the Poison Ivy costume with the cool grappling hook accessory,” Christy said.
“Hey, she does have the matching green tights,” Gwen pointed out, “Now aren't you glad I didn't leave it behind?”
“Yes Gwen, I'm very grateful too you,” Beth said as she aimed her grappling hook at the faucet on the lab table, “had it not been for your cosplay fashion sense I guess we'd be out of luck right now.”
Beth fired, and the hook wrapped around the metal cylinder at the base of the faucet. “Nice! Okay … this seemed to work well for Tamara,” Beth said before cautiously pushing the button on the side of the toy grappling hook gun. It seemed like an instant had passed and she was zipped up to the top of the table. She slammed into the faucet with such force she felt dazed. But she was, not too surprisingly, unharmed.
“Are you okay Beth?” Niesa asked.
“Yes,” Beth answered getting her bearings. She walked toward the jar and saw Jasmine up close for the first time. She was naked, except for her blue pantyhose, but didn't look like she was injured or anything. The jar had tiny holes poked in the top to allow oxygen in so that Jasmine could breathe. It reminded Beth of the time she used to catch fireflies as a kid and keep them in a jar with holes poked in the top. “Whoever did this is a psychopath,” Beth thought to herself. Try as she might she couldn't open the jar. It was closed too tightly.
“Don't bother with that!” Jasmine said excitedly, “just help me knock this jar over and roll me off the edge! I need to get to my computer!”
“Are you sure?” Beth asked.
“Yes! Hurry!”
Beth did as she was told. By herself, Jasmine wasn't strong enough to knock the jar over, but working together they were able to build enough momentum to do the trick. With the jar now on its side Beth rolled it off the edge of the table. The glass shattered in all directions, some of it hitting the girls, but luckily their polyphylon protected them.
“Let me borrow your hookshot!” Jasmine yelled as she ran towards her desk nearly slipping on the broken glass in her stocking feet. She didn't even need time to recover from the fall.
“Umm, okay,” Beth said descending down after her using the grappling hook. After catching up with Jasmine she tossed the grappling hook gun towards her. Jasmine caught it and aimed it up towards her computer. She fired, and an in an instant was on her desk typing away on her keyboard with her feet and hands. Beth wanted to ask what she was doing, but didn't really want to interrupt her concentration. The other girls joined Beth as they watched Jasmine work away at her computer in awe of her speed. Suddenly they heard a machine start whirring up to their right. By the time Beth turned back to see what Jasmine was doing, Jasmine was standing right next to her.
“Okay, this one's small so hopefully it won't take long, here's your hookshot back,” Jasmine said handing her the toy grappling hook back after detaching it from the computer desk.
“So what happened to you?” Niesa finally asked.
“Sedgewick happened. He came in to check up on my progress with an alien shrink ray I've been studying and unfortunately found out I was communicating with you. He shrunk me and put me in that jar. He also took the only copy of the shrink ray I made. Fortunately I still have the plans on my computer so I'm making another copy. A smaller copy.”
“A doll sized shrink ray?” Christy asked excitedly “You should make one for all of us!”
“Patience! First I have to find out if this one works. So tell me, what happened to Penelope and the rest of them? Did anyone else manage to escape?”
Niesa looked too pained at the thought of answering the question so Lisa answered for her, “No, just us. We managed to free hundreds of girls but after Sedgewick found out, the Doll Collector and her goons came down and caught everyone, including Penelope.”
“I'm sorry, Jasmine,” Niesa said fighting back tears, “Your sister told me many times to leave while we had the chance and I refused her. I thought maybe we could fight them off. But once they brought out the nets it was over. Had I heeded her words she might be here with us. But now? I just hope she's okay.”
Jasmine looked forlorn as the room fell silent and the hum of the 3D printer suddenly stopped. “Well let's find out if she is,” Jasmine said with renewed energy. She grabbed the hookshot away from Beth before heading towards it. Pulling herself atop the printer, she grabbed the doll sized shrink ray out of the output tray. The girls watched with trepidation as she fiddled with the controls. Jasmine gasped, “Oh my god, she's dying! They're killing her! Sedgewick's killing her!” Jasmine quickly punched in more numbers, “I have to stop it! I have to detach her quickly!”
“Sedgewick what is happening?” The doll Collector asked as she watched Penelope writhe in pain … or stop writing in pain, rather. It seemed Sedgewick's “slow and painful execution” was no longer so “slow and painful”.
“I don't know, she's no longer responding to the slow turn of the dial,” Sedgewick said confused.
“Forget turning the dial slowly, just give it all you've got. Kill her!” The Doll Collector ordered.
“Very well,” Sedgewick said turning the dial up to its max, but Penelope just seemed to be catching her breath as if relieved that the torture had stopped.
“She's recovering, you fool!”
“I no longer have lock on her. She's … she's no longer locked into her polyphylon. She's been detached somehow.” Sure enough much to everyone's surprise, Penelope was pulling herself free from her body stocking that had held her prisoner for so long.
“What?! But only you have the ability to detach someone. Have you betrayed me?!”
“No, my mistress! I would never have! Besides I could not have even if I wanted to. She's wearing one of the original body stockings that we never figured out how to decode. The only one who may have known how to detach her is ...”
“Dr. Cole,” The Doll Collector said maliciously finishing his sentence, “I thought you had taken care of her, Sedgewick.”
“I thought so too, I trapped her in a jar. It's unlikely she could have escaped.”
“Unlikely, but not impossible. She's outlived her usefulness and should join her sister. Why don't you bring her down here, Sedgewick. And, Angelica, you go up and make sure he obeys. I know he has a soft spot for her.”
“Yes Mistress,” Angelica complied leaving with Sedgewick and her henchmen.
“Alone again at last,” The Doll Collector said turning to the now naked Penelope as she wiggled free of her body stocking and tried to escape, “And where do you think you're going, my pet?” She asked scooping Penelope up. Now not only are you my tiny doll, but you're naked and completely vulnerable. You don't have the body stocking to protect you anymore. Your sister thought she was saving you by freeing you, but she only doomed you to a messier death.”
“We have to do something to save her,” Sarah whispered to Joyce from inside one of the nets.
“Tamara's on it,” Joyce said pointing to Tamara who was busy cutting the net with one of the sharp and pointy hooks of her hookshot.
“That gives me an idea! How many more of those hooks do we have?” Sarah said.
“Not sure, but I'm pretty sure Luvia has one,” Joyce said pointing to Luvia who was also cutting the net.
“Good, go to her and give her these instructions ...” Sarah started to explain.
“So Penelope,” The Doll Collector said holding her up to her face, “How would you like to die? Shall I throw you against a wall? Eat you up? Or, my personal favorite, crush you under my boot? I'll give you the choice.”
“You're a sick and twisted woman,” was all Penelope said with every ounce of defiance she had.
“I guess I'll just have to crush you under my boot then. It's a pity, you were my first and favorite doll. But you betrayed me and now you must pay the price,” the doll collector said dropping Penelope at her feet. Penelope fell to the floor with a nasty crunch, her tiny bones breaking and her naked skin bruising upon harsh impact. She screamed in pain. “Hahahaha! I bet you wish you were still wearing your body stocking now!” The Doll Collector taunted. Penelope just groaned her body paralyzed and unable to move. The doll collector lifted up her foot and was about to bring it down hard on Penelope. Penelope braced herself for the crushing horrible death that was about to come down upon her …
But to her great relief, the boot stomped down right beside her! It missed her by only a centimeter. She looked up and saw the Doll Collector was laughing. “Hahaha, These boots are made for walking!” she sung maniacally as she lifted her other foot this time. She was taunting her! “And that's just what they'll do!” She continued to sing as her left booted foot landed right on the other side of her. Penelope couldn't take it. She started to cry and wished the cruel woman would just get it over with. “One of these days these boots are gonna walk over you!” she said lifting her right foot. Penelope knew this was the killing blow. She wouldn't miss this time.
But then something unexpected happened. Just as The Doll Collector was finishing her song and was about to bring her foot down, her boot laces were suddenly torn free of her boot by some strange grappling hook device. “What the hell?” she said looking at her boot confused just before her now very loose boot was pulled off her foot by another grappling hook that had anchored itself around the heel. “Aaah!” The doll collector screamed upon seeing her vulnerable and exposed stocking foot.
“Get her!” Sarah yelled as she untied Lucy from her binds. It seemed that while The Doll Collector was busy tormenting Penelope, several of the girls had managed to escape from the net. Luvia and Tamara fired their grappling hooks just as Sarah had instructed at the vulnerable points of The Doll Collector's boot and were not only able to de-lace her, but also deboot her just before she crushed poor Penelope. As Lucy freed Faye, The Doll Collector was already losing her balance and bringing her now shoeless ticklish stocking foot down on Amanda, Chun Li and Joyce, who were all ready to tickle her vulnerable sole clad in nothing but her very thin striped polyphylon.
“No! No!” The Doll Collector as she watched helplessly as her vulnerable foot descended on their tiny tickling fingers. It had all happened so fast. But now it was as if it was all happening in slow motion and there was nothing she could do to stop it. How had she lost her boot? She was so careful to keep them tied so tight. It was the worst possible situation. She was alone in her basement, she had lost a shoe and was about to be tickled mercilessly by her own dolls. As soon as she felt the soft tickling sensation against her ultra-sensitive arch, she lost it. She did the only thing she could think of doing. She screamed for help through her laughter. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHEHEHEHEELP!”
Lucy and Faye rushed towards her and pulled her other foot out from under her. She fell backwards onto her ass as they wrestled the remaining boot off her foot, tearing the laces. “Gaaahahahah! Lucy! Hahahave mehehehercy!” She screamed in terror through her laughter.
“Gritty Grundle, I had pity for you when you were a kid. But you've turned into a monster … something much worse than the bullies that mistreated you! It's time for you to pay!” Lucy said pulling her boot off at last revealing a devastatingly vulnerable and ticklish stocking foot. She tossed the boot aside and administered a wicked flourish across her smooth warm sole. Faye could actually see the Doll Collector shrink a few inches before her eyes as she laughed hysterically. As Lucy tickled her right foot, Luvia, Tamara, Amanda and Joyce tickled her left. And all the while a swarm of living dolls led by Sarah poured out of torn nets and overwhelmed her helpless squriming body, tearing at her beautiful victorian clothes and tickling every inch of her exposed flesh, whether it be polyphylon covered or not. Debooted, The Doll Collector seemed to also be utterly defeated.
