Wendy opened her eyes.  She knew she was Wendy now, and it seemed somehow surprising that she should know this. 

 

Where am I?

 

She was staring up at a plain white ceiling, a single spotlight on a movable arm was aimed at her.  She felt something heavy and cold around her body.  Without thinking, she sat up to look around. 

 

Snap!  Twang!

 

Looking for the source of the sounds, she was surprised again to see that her legs and waist were tied down to the table with three thick metal chains.  Two more chains had apparently held down her upper body, but those now lay hanging from the sides of the table.  Had she just done that?  She took the next chain in her hand and pulled.  It offered her almost no resistance, as the solid steel links simply came apart from one another with another twang sound. 

 

Hmm.  They should have used better chains, she thought.  Then, who?

 

Looking at her naked waist without really seeing it, she slowly recalled what she had been doing last. 

 

There was a house, a burning house.  There was something in it that she had to get.  Something very important.  What was it?  A briefcase, yes.  With some type of plans in it… missile plans, that’s what they were.  Dangerous.  She had to get them back home.   Home from where?  Russia.  Chechnya.  They were the plans for a new terrorist missile.  Her mission was to get the plans so we could learn how to defend against it.  We?  Yes, the CIA.  She was a CIA agent.  She had to get those plans.  She went into the burning building and found the briefcase. 

 

But she didn’t remember coming out. 

 

Hot.  It was hot in there.  The flames were licking up at her from the wooden beams nearby.  The floor collapsed under her. 

 

She remembered falling, trying to grab onto something with one hand, while holding the briefcase tight in the other.  Then, she was on the floor, bones broken.  She remembered looking at page after page of drawings and text, in the firelight.  Trying to memorize everything.  Sudden sharp pain, then… nothing.

 

Wendy shook her head and swung her legs off the table, snapping the remaining two chains in the process.

 

“Wendy.”  She looked up at the sound of her name.  There was nobody in the room.

 

“Wendy, don’t move for a minute.  I need to talk to you.”  The sound was coming from hidden speakers, somewhere above her. 

 

“I’m waiting,” was all she said.  Her training kept her from revealing anything about herself until she knew more about who she was talking to.

 

“Wendy,” the voice said again, “my name is Dr. Franklyn Stein.”  She stifled a chuckle at the name.  “I’m your doctor.  They brought you to me to help heal your wounds, to put you back together after your accident.”

 

Accident?  If this man was even on her side, he apparently did not have the need to know anything about her mission.

 

“I am happy to say that you have fully recovered.  But before you do anything, I need to explain some things to you.”

 

“Such as why you’re hiding?”

 

“Well, yes, that’s part of it.  I used an experimental procedure on you without your consent.  You have a right to condemn my integrity because of that, but before you do, I want you to consider what it has brought you.”  He paused, and Wendy waited.

 

“You now have extreme physical strength.  You are stronger than any person on Earth, in fact many thousands of times stronger.  I don’t know how to measure how strong you are.”

 

Wendy made a face.  She wasn’t really getting this.

 

“Wendy, you know that chain that tied you down to the table?”

 

She looked over at the dangling pieces.

 

“That was a real chain.  It’s not made of plastic or something.  That chain was used to lift many tons of equipment into this building.”  He waited for that to sink in.

 

The light was beginning to dawn.  Wendy picked up a piece of the chain and squeezed it between two fingers.  It squirted like butter out both sides of her hand.  No, she thought, this must be some kind of trap.  She stood up from the table and looked for something else to test.  Well, there was the table itself.  It was mounted to the floor by two thick steel poles.  She put her hand under one end of the table and lifted.  One of the poles came right out of the floor, bringing a piece of concrete slab with it.  Wendy’s jaw dropped.

 

“I have to tell you something, though, Wendy.  You’re very dangerous right now.  You have already killed two people, without even knowing you were doing it.”

 

“I killed two people?” she asked, not believing. 

 

“Yes, you did.  Two technicians who work with me.  You weren’t fully conscious when you did it.   I didn’t know whether you’d be in control of yourself when you woke up this time.”

 

Well, that explained the chains, and the hidden voice.  They were trying to protect themselves.  Against her.  She had killed two people, without even being aware she was doing so!  She could kill by accident, just by not being careful!

 

“Dr. Stein, do you know what you’ve done?  You’ve made a monster out of me.  You’ve lived up to your namesake, haven’t you?”

 

“Yes,” the voice responded, “I’m afraid I have.  But I want you to think about what you’ve received.  You’re a superwoman now.  No person or machine on Earth can stop you.  You can now do your job, or indeed anything you want to do, and nobody can stop you.  Only your own conscience can keep you honest.  But you’ll have to be careful not to hurt people unintentionally.”

 

Wendy thought about her newfound strength.  What would she do with it now?  She could make a great agent.  But maybe there were other things she should do with her life now.  For another test, she bent down to the floor.  There she stuck the fingers of one hand straight into the cement surface, and scooped out a chunk.  It was so easy!  It was like scooping chocolate pudding!

 

She saw nothing else in the room to experiment with, so she walked over to the nearest wall.  She ran her hands over it for a minute, then crooked her right arm back and formed a fist.  She didn’t know if it would hurt her fingers, so she gave it a light punch. 

 

She needn’t have worried.  Her arm went straight through the cinder-block wall as if it were made of paper.  She then pulled several newly exposed blocks out of the wall, and found it easy to do.

 

This was great!  It was exciting!  She began to feel that she was going to like her new powers.

 

“Is this permanent?  I mean, is this strength going to fade away or something?”

 

“As far as I know, it’s permanent.  Maybe more than permanent.  I suspect that the process has made you invulnerable as well.  That means nothing can hurt you.  But don’t try anything foolish yet.  When you’re ready, start with something that isn’t dangerous, and build up gradually.  If what I suspect is true, then knives, bullets, and even bombs will not hurt you.”

 

Wendy was thinking about the Supergirl comics she used to read.  She was just like that, at least in some ways.  Unexpectedly, she started to think about sex.  She had always loved sex, and she was beautiful enough to attract pretty much any man she wanted.  But somehow, the thought of being physically strong made her horny.  There was some connection there.  Wendy began to get really turned on as she thought about just how much sex a supergirl could have if she wanted to. 

 

“That’s amazing.  Hey look, I’m obviously not out of control now, am I?  Where are you?  Why don’t you come and talk to me in person now?”

 

“Well, there’s another power you have that I need to tell you about.”

 

“Don’t tell me: X-ray vision?”  She chuckled.

 

“Umm, yes, as a matter of fact.  Listen, there’s a wall to your right.  I’m in the next room, just beyond that wall.  See if you can see me.”

 

Wendy looked to her right.  The concrete cinder block wall she saw there had a large ragged opening in it, which had been covered up on the far side by a piece of plywood.  She stared at the plywood, and saw… a piece of plywood.  She tried squinting, she tried opening her eyes wide, but she still saw only the plywood.  Then she tried pretending the wood wasn’t there, and tried to look at an imaginary object beyond it.

 

Bingo!  The whole wall suddenly disappeared.  Well, it didn’t exactly disappear; she could still see its position and shape, but it was virtually transparent.  And there, on the other side, was a man in a white lab coat.  She could see quite clearly that he was looking at the one working television monitor among a pile of broken and shattered equipment, and holding a desk microphone in his hand, cord dangling into the mess.  He was alone, having sent his assistants home for the night.  He was smiling at the monitor.  She smiled too, and began to walk toward him.

 

“Hey, hey, wait a minute!”

 

She was really beginning to get turned on now.  She ignored Stein’s calls and kept on walking toward him.  He looked handsome.  She found herself using her new vision now to look through his clothes, to see him naked, and she liked what she saw.

 

“Stop, you’re going to break something!”

 

Wendy didn’t care.  She once again hit the wall – in a different place this time – and crashed right through it.

 

But this time she had enough self-awareness to realize what she had done.  She stopped short and looked around at the mess she had made.  Since she was now looking directly at the wall, it became opaque again.  She put her hand up to her mouth and said, “Oops!”

 

Dr. Stein smiled.  “That’s what I mean about being dangerous.  You’re going to have to be very careful what you do for a while, until you get used to your incredible strength.”

 

Wendy nodded, but she was still feeling very horny.  She looked back at Dr. Stein and said, “So you’re kind of a genius, aren’t you?”

 

Stein shrugged.  “I don’t know, just doing what I do best.”

 

Wendy smiled sexily and said, “Well, genius, you don’t need X-ray vision to see beneath my clothes, do you?”

 

Stein coughed and turned red.  Wendy was still completely naked, and he found he couldn’t take his eyes off her big, full breasts.

 

Wendy stepped closer.  She took both his hands and laid them on her breasts.  “Do you like what you feel?”  Stein nodded.  “You know, I’m very horny right now, and I’ve picked you to make love to me.  I’m going to rape you now, and you can’t stop me, can you?”  Stein shook his head.  She took another step closer and wrapped her arms around him.  He did one better: he wrapped his arms and his legs around her.  They kissed each other hungrily.

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