Chapter 13 by Zeebop

Can Selina Kyle pick the lock?

Lock Pick Skill Check: Success!

A slim roll of high-end picks emerged, though Lois wasn't quite sure where Selina had been hiding that in her suit. She began by squirting oil into the lock...and then she began working in a toolbar. There was rust on the lock face, and Lois imagined there was rust inside, too...and even if it wasn't rusted up tight, it was an older lock with heavy components, and that could take quite a while to undo.

Selina Kyle worked by touch and hearing, with a skill and grace that the reporter could only admire. Lois knew the basics of the locksmith's art, and could pick most standard locks given the right tools and a bit of time, but she could easily see that Selina was a master. There was almost a sensual grace with the way she slid the tools to manipulate the innards of the lock, and Lois couldn't help but imagine what those clever fingers might do with a lover.

There was a twitch of a smile as the lock grated, just a little, into a false set, and Selenia pumped in a little more oil, wiggled the pry bar back and forth a little...and then there were just a few more clicks and...

...the lock opened. There was a crack of paint or plaster. Like a professional with a care for her tools, Selina quickly cleaned and stowed away her lockpicks, then grabbed the door and pushed. The door stuck, and Lois came up beside her and threw her shoulder into it...and the door swung inward with a crash of broken plaster, and a puff of dust.

Lois held a hand up to her mouth and tried not to cough. She held the glowstick high...and gasped.

There were tables. Spreader bars. Racks that held leather whips, long dried out and cracked, and solid-looking paddles. Various clamps sat rusty on a shelf, and rotted lengths of rope had fallen from hooks on the ceiling to sit in untidy piles on the floor. An inch of dust covered the floor of the sex dungeon...and the worst thing was there was a mummified body that hung on the great X-shaped cross that lay at the center of the room. The corpse was naked, the face no more than a bare skull where the rats or bugs had gotten at the soft tissues.

Obviously, no one had been here for a long time...and then Lois heard something which caught her attention.