Not a Chance.

By now, Lilly was in a true state. Her body was glistening with sweat. Desire roared through her at the slightest touch. it was terrifying just how intense it was. Even the potential of stimulation made her mind fog with need and want. She forced herself to breath slowly, trying to control her body but it was a doomed fight. Her clit was throbbing. Pulsing with aching want that had been inspired by a series of denials and then ruined orgasms. She felt like she had been pinned down to the table and systematically stripped of any dignity. Her nipples were hard, and her womanhood was soaking. She could feel how it wet her inner thighs. Her own arousal marked her out as a whore and a failure. Someone whose body had broken them. Who had never been a hero at all, but merely a pretender.

Or at least, that was the intent behind everything. Lille could feel the shame and humiliation, and it threatened to subsume her. She didn't allow it to, she rode it. She made sure to keep her mind together even as her nerves screamed for more stimulation. Phantom pleasure traced her body, promising so much more if she only gave in. The siren call of her own body now reflected back at it. Back at her. Lilly could hear the roar of her bloody in her ears. The rapid beating of her heart. The bitter frustration that came with being denied pounded through her lower body. Her pussy ached with a gnawing emptiness that was harder and harder to resist while the fragile promise of the pleasure and ecstasy that she could feel if only she surrendered to it haunted her mind.

Pleasure. Lust. Ecstasy. Basic, natural experiences dialled up by the situation and by Dogma's deliberate actions until they roared inside of her like beasts that threatened to unseat her core. He was trying to twist her. Trying to make her react like he wanted her to so that he could continue to mould her into the perfect little slave. Lilly saw it all, and knew as well that he would not succeed.

Dogma was an idiot. He was convinced of his own superiority and intelligence. And while he was extremely intelligent one thing had always fouled up his plans before. He didn't give others credit. He saw himself as superior and everyone else as inferior, as panting animals that reacted only to stimulation. He was trying to train her with pleasure and denial as if she were a beast. But Lilly was more than a beast and even as her body screamed at her, she held herself together. Pleasure swamped her mind, frustration battered her resolve. Both emerged unbroken.

She was Redwing. She was Lilly, and she wouldn't allow that to be changed by something like this. Did Dogma not understand? Had he watched too much bad porn? Or maybe it was the fact that he didn't really see anyone else as truly human. He was treating her like something to be trained, but training only really worked when you either accepted it or didn't know it was happening.

Lilly wasn't going to bow to it, no matter what he did to her. That was the thing that Dogma had failed to understand. He thought he could break her, shatter her willpower. But she was stronger than that. She was a hero, and that meant she was already planning. Thinking. Trying to figure out a way out of this. She didn't see one yet but she would in time. So long as she kept her head in the game and didn't allow herself to be brought low by his games.

She _would _find Frostfire and then get them both out of this. She just had to figure out how.

Meanwhile, in another world, Dusklord was not having a much better day. His girlfriend had been kidnapped by his mother, who had gotten considerably stronger since he had last met her. His throat still hurt but he was more worried about Lilly. Considering that he knew that his mother was now working with Dogma it made logical sense to conclude that she had taken Redwing back to there. To that monster. It made him grit his teeth with rage. A fury that he had rarely known had swept over him, but the anger hid a deeper fear. He hoped that she was all right. More than anything else, he hoped that she was going to be fine.

He knew, logically, that Redwing was a hero of considerable power and means. It was hardly the first time she had been captured. She'd break out as she always did. She'd done it a dozen times already. Each time some fool thought that technology or magic could keep her penned. She always proved them wrong and fast. ha! Yes, too fast in her own opinion! But still, Dogma was on a different level. The last time he'd been lose he'd nearly brought an end to New Ember City. A team of full heroes had gone in to take him down and several of them had died doing it. Dogma was an ego-manic but he was dangerous and highly intelligent.

And he had not a single shred of empathy.

Whatever he wanted Redwing for, Dusklord doubted that it was in any way good. He also knew that if she served her purpose and was unable to escape, Dogma would probably kill her on the spot. He was not a nice person. To him, the balance of hero and villain was not a game or a sport. It was simply a way for him to get what he wanted and anyone who threatened that was an enemy to be removed. Permanently if possible.

The only one who would have been worse would be Gorehound. But then again, Gorehound would never have bothered to take prisoners in the first place.

"I know where she is," he said. "With Dogma. Dogma is in New Ember City. There's no reason I shouldn't go back there now and-"

"And what?" Said a voice behind him. Dogma turned. Alister had entered the room while he was mentally debating himself. His younger brother looked different now. His face was still pale, but it was an unhealthy shade of paleness. There were dark rings around his eyes and he moved slowly. He had a walking stick (Which ended in a skull because Dusklord's family had a certain theme to maintain) and his breathing was laboured and ragged.

This was a massive improvement from the state he'd been in hours ago when he had been essentially dead. His ribs had been crushed and his internal organs had been ruptured. Lungs and heart both had taken severe damage. A normal person would have died. A normal hero or villain would have died. But Alister and Alexi both were descended from a vampire and a goddess. Two sources of immortality even if they didn't have the whole of either. So Alister lived. He lived in pain and suffering as his body slowly reconstructed itself. It would be days before he felt like himself again, months before he was truly healed.

"If you go now, you will die." Alister said. "This is not possibility, it is certainty. She was stronger than she ever has been before, and even the two of us together didn't manage to beat her. She is still working with this ''Dogma'' fellow. If you went on your own, your heroic rescue would last for exactly as long as it took her to smash you down again."

Dusklord frowned, turning to face his brother.

"I know that," he said. "It's obvious as the sun in the sky. But even knowing it I cannot leave Lilly in Dogma's hands. A doomed rescue is still a rescue!"

"It is one that will not end well for either party," Alister said mildly. "You know better than that. What would you achieve rushing in now? Simply your own capture as well? At best? Otherwise, your demise. We die hard, brother. But we still die."

Dusklord said nothing. In truth, this was something that he already knew. It was what had held him back from rushing in already. He'd turned the plan this way and that in his mind looking for any way he could reasonably expect to win. Invasion, infiltration, extraction? All ran into the same problem. His mother. The Shadow Lady. He could hide his presence from Dogma but not from her. She would know as soon as he arrived. There was no chance of sneaking in and out. It would have to be a fight, and any fight involving himself and her would surely end in her victory according to their last struggle.

He'd toyed with the idea of finding Lilly and then turning to face her. Fleeing her would buy him a little time but not much before she caught him. If he didn't find Lilly in that time then his attempt would be doomed. Worse, he didn't know how strong Lilly was against his mother. He had only seen the scene of the battle after it was over. The destruction was impressive but he didn't know how the two compared. It was possible that even with Dusklord and Redwing together, they would be beaten.

His next idea was to go back to earth and contact some of his allies. He was no fool. He'd always known there was the chance that something would come up which he couldn't handle on his own. There were villains - and even some anti-heroes - who owed him a lot. Who would respond to his call. If he could assemble a team then maybe...

But that would take days. Maybe even weeks if they were out of the city or he had trouble contacting them. Not to mention most of them would probably not want to help a hero. He could spin it as taking out Dogma being the main purpose, which was work for most of them but it was a complication that he could not easily afford at the moment.

"She was more than just a slave, wasn't she?" Alister said. He had come to rest beside Alexi now. The two were standing on a balcony overlooking the town nestled between the hills. Duskord could feel the breeze against his skin, carrying old scents that he remembered form his childhood. "I mean, it's rather obvious considering the sheer power she had. What was she, a student?"

"An old enemy," Dusklord said. "That much is true. She was an old foe of mine who agreed to help me here. Her purpose was..." He trailed off. "Well, it doesn't much matter now."

"Her purpose was to help you deal with me if I decided to be ornery," Alister said. "It seems that even now you outplay me, brother. I still think that I could perhaps have defeated you. But she would have done me in. So there is no way I would be able to win a confrontation between us. Very clever. I am undone again."

Dusklord turned. Alister looked old and it wasn't just the result of his injuries. His face looked lined, his eyes were heavy, and he seemed as if his body had been carved from stone so still was he in that moment.

"I have always been the lesser," He admitted. "In the eyes of our parents and in my own. I thought perhaps now I could finally equal you... but you have won again. When you left it was not a victory. Did you know that? We both knew that if you had fought for the throne you would have got it. I was always less adept in my constructs, my power flows less eagerly. I can make hard, solid things. Armour. A blade. But ask me to flow from one to the other? Failure! I learned magic to make up for the fact that my talents were not even equal to half of yours. In the end, it didn't matter. No matter how I tried, or what I did, you were always ahead of me. That was why I hated you. That was why I felt this kingdom was simply a bone thrown to a dog. It was your leavings. You could have had it all but you didn't. Was it because you felt sorry for me? Because you didn't care about it? It didn't matter to you? Either way, it was never mine. Not really."

Alister peered out over the balcony. For the longest moment there was nothing. Simple silence filled the air.

"I hated this world," Alister said. "You thought you were giving me what I wanted when you left, but it was a trap. I had everything and nothing. Everywhere I looked, the shadow of father. Reminders of you. Always beating into me the fact that I was the lowest of us all. I who ruled was not worthy of the crown."

He shrugged.

"It was a harsh lesson and it hurt. For a long time, I truly did hate you. Then you came back into my life again as if nothing had changed. You brought that woman in chains, but even then I knew there was more to this whole thing. What is she to you, Alexi? Really."

Dusklord's lips seemed to have become suddenly dry. "I think I may love her. She was my enemy, that is true. But as we spent time together we became closer. Even before this week. She was always so daring and bold. Smart too. She bested my plans several times. Do you know how rarely it is that I have been challenged? Honestly forced to try? For giving me that alone, I would ride to her rescue now! But there is more than that. I want to protect her. I want to hold her close. I admit I've never felt this way about anyone else, Alister. And if she heard me say it like that, she'd probably punch me."

He smiled wryly. But it was a short lived smile.

"That is why I cannot leave her. I can delay for a while. She is smart and strong, and won't break. But every moment she is in that bastard's hands is one more moment of danger and torment. If I can find a way to get her out, I will. But if after everything all I can conceive boils down to making a charge with all the forces at my disposal? Well, I'll do that as well. I have those who owe me. Resources and powerful allies. I can bring them together. Even mother will not resist them all combined. This I swear to do even if it costs me everything."

Alister said nothing for a long moment. The brothers stood in silence.

"We shall see what we can do, then." The King said. Dusklord turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you think you were the only one who had resources, brother? Foolish. I may not have access to a city such as yours, rich with technology and flush with money. But I do have relics of my own. Give me a few days to heal and I will walk alongside you in this. I may not have mortal soldiers - at least, not those who would be able to stand up against mother. But I do have things left over from times long ago. Precious relics. Weapons. Things that have lingered long after their era has passed."

"You would spend those?" Dusklord asked, honestly surprised. "Things that you could never get back?"

"Of course I would. If mother is free then she is a threat to us both. I am sure she will return at some point to cause trouble for me. Besides, I have never seen you like this before. It would be a shame if something happened to her."