Black and White...and Black

Purity swerved towards downtown, increasing speed as she bled off some altitude to get a better view.  Violent crime around River Heights had dropped to nothing lately, but there was still the occasional burglary and the like.  She credited herself for some of the reduction in the crime rate, and her efforts and the work of other local heroines surely hadn't hurt, but the reality was that the Blue Vixen deserved most of the accolades.  Blue'd spent most of the last year or so riddling the dumber and more dangerous thugs with bullets.  The smarter ones had moved far away.  So peace and quiet reigned in the city, but lately there had been one noteworthy and recurring disturbance: the local museum had been robbed three times in the last two weeks. 

The thieves had gone in at night and taken only minor pieces from the museum's storage, and they'd been as stealthy as ghosts in doing so.  The police had no leads, and the crooks had left nary a trace of evidence save for a dark shadow or two flitting across a security camera feed.  Theories abounded as to why the robbers had purposely limited their haul, but Purity hewed to the idea that they were working for a private collector who somehow had access to the museum's catalogue and was picking and choosing the pieces he or she wanted to take, an opinion she'd shared with the insurance company detective who had been assigned the case.  So, while this was hardly a priority mission, Purity had decided to give the museum a little more scrutiny during her patrols.  If the burglars kept this up, it was only a matter of time before the police nabbed them, and the insurance company shamus, a lithe, dark-eyed brunette woman named Valeria Rodriguez, seemed particularly meticulous.  Besides all that, Heather Moulton, the museum's director and chief curator, didn't seem too concerned about the thefts.  Still, Purity thought it would be nice if she could wrap this up quickly and peacefully before Blue Vixen returned from her most recent jaunt to heaven-only-knows-where.  Blue was as likely to shoot the perpetrators as look at them, even if they were unarmed.  "Purity," she would say, "burglary is like a gateway drug.  Sure, they seem non-violent now, but before you know it they're gassing an Army base and trying to roll an atomic bomb into Fort Knox."  That speech was usually followed by an obligatory protest on Purity's part and a series of loud bangs as Blue Vixen shot the criminals.

Purity shook her head and sighed, wiping the scene from her mind and focusing on the task at hand.  She did a couple of circuits around the museum and then dipped her left wing, making a slow, lazy turn before circling around it from the other direction.  She was enjoying the cool night air after what had been a blistering hot day, and she was still getting used to flying.  It was both terrifying and thrilling at the same time, and even more fun than she could ever have imagined.  Still, it was getting late, and she was about to turn for home when she saw it: a black clad figure crawling through a vent onto the museum roof.  Purity turned in and began to dive, but the dark apparition threw a bag over its shoulder and was quickly over the side of the roof.  A couple of moments later a big, black Dodge emerged from from the little park across the street from the museum.  The burglar must have hidden it in the trees.  There was no garish peel-out replete with burning rubber like in a movie, though.  The vehicle rolled out slowly, lights off, and was well away from the museum before it began to pick up speed and the lights came on.  Purity climbed back up to a higher altitude and followed.  After a few minutes it was clear that the crook was heading towards the industrial district, and, indeed, a few minutes later the shadowy car backed up a ramp and into a small warehouse, the roll-top door opening just long enough for the vehicle to squeeze through.

Purity did a couple of circuits of the building looking for a quick and quiet way in, and to her surprise and gratification she saw a mostly busted skylight on one side of the roof.  She flew around, lined herself up, and dropped through it feet first, her blazing wings disappearing as she neared the entrance.  She still hadn't figured the wings out yet.  She didn't seem to have any direct control over them, they just did their own thing.  When she wanted to fly they would extend, blinding white and angelic, from her back.  But they weren't corporeal.  Or, at least, she couldn't feel them.  You could wave your hand through them as if they were smoke.  When she landed, they were gone.  They seemed to have a mind of their own and would disappear if it seemed their light would give her away, and she seemed to be able to fly just fine when they were 'off'.  They never manifested themselves when she was on the ground, except for this one time when a thug got the drop on her they suddenly appeared, blinding him and giving her the time to spin, disarm him, and punch him out.  She had tried making them appear again on command, but without any result.  So she just took it on faith that they were an important part of her powers somehow, and that she'd understand them better in due time.

She landed without a sound atop a stack of big, wooden crates.  She hopped the ten or twelve feet down to the ground, again alighting silently, and crept across the concrete floor as quiet as a mouse.  The Dodge was sitting across the room.  She was halfway to it when the driver's side door opened.  A black-clad figure emerged and walked around to the trunk, the shape very feminine.  She popped the trunk and removed her ski mask, shaking her head several times, causing her long, brown locks to spray to and fro.  Even in the darkness Purity could make out her face.  It was Valeria Rodriguez, the insurance company detective! 

The tec threw the ski mask in the trunk.  Purity was about to spring into action when Valeria looked right at her while at the same time a light flickered on above her head, casting dim illumination around her.  The lonely. naked bulb seemed very bright in the stark blackness of the room, causing Purity to look up and blink.  When she looked back down an instant later, Valeria Rodriguez was striding towards her.  Slowly.  Calmly.  Confidently.  Hips swaying and arms swinging as if she hadn't a care in the world.  "It was nice of you to join us, Purity.  We've been expecting you," she said, a little smirk on her face.

"You won't think it's so nice if you don't stop and put your hands out where I can see them, Ms. Rodriguez," Purity replied, hands on her hips, the idea that Valeria's "we" might be an actual "we" and not just the royal "we" having not yet matriculated through her brain.

Valeria held her hands out but didn't stop.  "Going to flash me with that Holy Light of yours?" the burglar scoffed.  "I'm sure it will hurt tremendously, but it will change nothing.  It certainly won't help you any."

"I wouldn't be so sure about tha..." Purity began to say, but before she could finish getting it out an arm wrapped around her waist, and simultaneously a damp rag was clamped over her nose and mouth.  She gasped in surprise, her eyes going wide as she recognized the scent: chloroform!  The heroine's eyes began to glow but her attacker wrenched Purity's head back against her shoulder.  There was a burst of light that illuminated the room like a lighting bolt, but the laser-like beam of Holy Light passed harmlessly over Valeria Rodriguez's head.  The insurance company flatfoot didn't break stride.  Indeed, she barely even flinched, a grin spreading across her face as she watched Purity struggle in the arms of her partner. 

"Oh, I'm quite sure, my dear," she replied smarmily.

Purity was stronger than her attacker, but she was yanked back off balance and she'd already taken a few deep breathes of the drug in her panicked initial reaction.  She'd been held as a prisoner in the past for a prolonged period of time, and her captors had experimented on her, and one of those experiments had included testing the effectiveness of various types of drugs on her.  She'd become addicted to chloroform, actually craving the way it dulled her senses and took away the pain from the other tortures they'd inflicted upon her.  She was over that addiction for the most part, but she still got a little euphoric high when she first breathed it in that she couldn't shake, and that put a serious crimp in her ability to react to being attacked with it.  And she knew if she didn't break free she'd begin to get another as she neared unconsciousness, a feeling of warmth almost approaching arousal.  She fought harder, trying to shake her assailant, but then Valeria arrived and grabbed her arm and helped restrain her.

"Quite sure," Valeria repeated, now smiling wickedly.

Purity moaned as she took in another breath.  The honeysuckle-sweet scent had turned medicinal and cloying, and her head was starting to spin.  She looked into Valeria's eyes, the detective's grin starting to undulate like a wave as the room began to rock gently and her vision started to blur.

"The thefts were for your benefit, Purity," Valeria said.  "We wanted to get your attention.  With no Blue Vixen around to save you, we knew you'd be an easy mark.  And Ms. Moulton here has quite a crush on you," she added with a smirk.

"It's not a crush, exactly!" the woman holding the rag over Purity's nose and mouth replied with a grunt as she tried to keep Purity under control.  The heroine's struggles were beginning to slowly taper off, her eyelids growing noticeably heavy.  "I mean, okay, maybe a little."

Moulton's response caused Valeria to chuckle, then Moulton continued, "But now, with you out of the way, Purity, I can really loot the museum.  The security system is down, and I've got a crew over there right now taking most of the truly valuable pieces.  I've already lined up overseas buyers for most of the collection.  And then there's the most valuable piece, Purity: YOU.  My plan is falling into place perfectly!"

"You were right about the thieves picking and choosing their pieces, Purity.  You just had no idea you were to be the crown jewel of the collection," Valeria interjected.  "I think you'll easily fetch eight figures if we market you properly.  You know, really show you off and demonstrate what you can do.  Ms. Moulton is very eager to put you through your paces."

"B..but, you said I could keep her!" Heather squawked--despite Moulton's "my plan" bluster, it was quickly apparent that the gorgeous gumshoe was the one truly in charge--"You said I could decide!" she huffed, removing the cloth from Purity's face for a moment.  The heroine sighed heavily, her eyelids flickering open slightly.  After a moment, her almost pro forma struggling began to intensify again.

Valeria rolled her eyes, "And you can, Heather.  But when you get tired of tying her up and fucking her and playing dolly with her we're going to come up with a more productive use for her.  Besides, we can't keep her too long.  Her gun-toting psycho super-girlfriend will find her eventually, and we don't want to even be on the same continent when she does.  Now stop playing with your food and knock her ass out.  She's starting to make too much noise."

Purity was quickly becoming more lucid, each breath of untainted air bringing her closer to full consciousness, her amazing powers of recovery kicking in, the distraction caused by her attackers' snit giving her a window of opportunity.  She managed to wrest her arm away from Valeria and push her back, and almost twisted away from Heather, managing to shake her head away from the rag as the blonde tried to reapply it.  She just needed a few more breaths, another few seconds, and then the tables were going to turn in a big way.  But it was all for naught.  Purity was just too far gone, and Valeria was quickly back on her, and then Heather managed to get the chloroform-soaked cloth back over her face and hold it there.  Another breath, two, three, and the room began to grow dark, Purity's desperate, gagged squeals now soft, almost erotic moans as she began to feel that wave of euphoria overtake her.

"She's almost gone," Heather said as Purity's eyelids began to flutter again.

Valeria nodded, "When she's out let's get her in the trunk, get her bound, then you saturate that scarf with some more anesthetic and we'll tie it over her face.  We've got a pretty good drive ahead of us."

Half a minute passed, and Purity let out one more heavy, sighing moan, one more spasm of useless struggling, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she succumbed to darkness.

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This one is dedicated to who wanted to see Purity chloroformed as part of 's chloroform challenge.  Sorry it took me so long to get to it!

And thanks to for doing the post work for me!