Goddess no more

The beaten Queen Scorpion held her nemesis against the wall of the truck with just one leg planted between her generous bosom. She watched with rising interest as the oh-so-powerful amazon struggled in vain to free herself. She herself had always relied on speed moreso than on superhuman strength, but at the moment, she could easily outpower Emerald Goddes who should have been far stronger.

"You did run out of juice. Didn't you?" she teased the vigilante.

"S - Shut up!" stammered Emerald Goddess, ashamed of the fact that her weakness had resurfaced. "Get your... filthy boots... off me!" she panted, rapidly running out of stamina in her struggle against the ordinary strength of Queen Scorpion.

Queen Scorpion withdrew her foot to give Goddess a breather. "Stay put." she instructed her.

Emerald Goddess was rubbing her chest where her opponent's dirty boots had been a moment ago. But she stayed put, afraid to anger Scorpion and even more afraid to embarrass herself further with pointless struggle. At the moment, as hard it had been to acknowledge it, Scorpion was the stronger of the two.

Scorpion had a satisfied grin once she had seen that Goddess obeyed her command without a word. No one had ever obeyed her before. That was one of the reasons why she had decided to become a lone wolf and take whatever she needed. Yet now, Emerald Goddess, the nightmare of all criminals, was squirming under her stern gaze, unwilling to defy her. The very same heroine who stood bare ass naked in just her mask in front of police squadrons, news teams and passersby with her head held high. And the two of them were locked inside a police transport. Nobody was coming to 'bother' her for at least a while.

"Talk to me, Goddess." she broke the silence with a cruel sneer. "Can I call you 'Goddess'? Considering there's nothing emerald on you apart from that mask, I thought it would be satisfactory." she taunted her opponent. Her silence was emboldening her even more. "The fact that we are enemies doesn't mean this journey has to be awkward."

"I have nothing to say to the likes of you." said Emerald Goddess, her voice oozing contempt but her body still 'staying' on her own bench. She knew her superpowers were gone, but that didn't mean she had to give up on her principles. Whatever Scorpion did along the ride, nobody would believe her.

"I admire your courage, Goddess. I mean, when you had stripped me before, I thought you were doing it out of spite. I thought you had something to hide. I had sworn to expose it. Guess I was wrong. At least no one can call you a hypocrite." she scoffed, looking up the naked amazon with hatred in her eyes. "But that doesn't mean I have forgotten what you have done to me. Nor have I forgiven."

"Nor do I care." spat Emerald Goddess. She tried to sound brave, but her shaky voice gave her away. She didn't like the situation with the deck stacked against her.

"I like your defiance, even after you have lost your powers." she smiled wickedly, knowing she had the upper hand. "There is no shame in that, really. Every one of us has a weakness. Some have a weakness to certain elements. Some turn into drooling sissies against certain metals. Some run out of juice and become weak, like you." she giggled.

"I don't have to listen to this nonsense!" Emerald Goddess had finally had enough. "Shut the hell up or come at me and we can..."

Then, a huge flash of green light and smoke engulfed the back of the vehicle. And it was obvious it was coming from Emerald Goddess. I mean, it was green and wasn't coming from Scorpion. For a moment, Queen Scorpion had regretted all her taunting and teasing. She knew she had no chance against a powered-up Goddess with her cuffs, and the flash filled her with dread. But as the smoke settled, the sight surprised her. The woman sitting opposite of her could not have been the Emerald Goddess. It was a pale, short woman with scrawny limbs and a shocked expression. Nothing like the lean amazon Goddess was. But she still had the cuffs and green mask on. It... It was the Emerald Goddess.

Lauren froze mid-sentence. She had been familiar with the effects of the light and smoke. She had witnessed it numerous times. In fact, every time she had transformed into or back from the Emerald Goddess. She dared not look down, but she had a feeling what the effects must have been. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute as the realisation hit her.

She was Goddess no more.