Victory: The Invincible (Chapter 2)

“Ugh…” I huff as I drop to the floor of my apartment, frustrated. Another super villain got away. Why did my weakness have to be tickling? It's so embarrassing and… and… I just can't handle it.

I pick myself up and meander over to my kitchen, heating up a bowl of ramen noodles for dinner. Unfortunately, being Victory is more like a passion project than a job, so money was hard to come by. Working at the coffee shop was enough to take care of myself, but it didn't provide anything glamorous here.

As I set the microwave to cook my noodles, I start to zone out, still thinking about the ticklish torture I endured at the many hands of the Tarantula. As my mind drifts, I relive the first day one of my nemeses discovered my weakness…

It was a few weeks in to my Victory patrols. I cleaned up the city quickly since no one could figure out how to take me on. Invincibility, super strength, and flight all gave me a massive advantage over the petty criminals. And even the super powered ones couldn't stand a chance against me with my invulnerability to pain.

As I flew around the city that night, a strange pink glow caught my eye. It wasn’t unusual to see parties with wild lights on rooftops, but I couldn't hear any music so I didn't think it was a party. I figured I might as well check it out just in case.

I landed gracefully on the roof of the short apartment building and took a look around. The rooftop was bathed in a pink light. The city was pretty quiet tonight. No doubt the result of my heroic endeavors. So, I had the time to investigate the slightest of oddities.

I wandered the rooftop, searching for the source of the strange glow when I finally found a small glowing pawprint-shaped light on the ground. I had no idea how the glow emanated so strongly from such a small device. As I stooped to pick it up, I jumped as I heard a voice behind me.

“So, you're the Invincible Victory I've heard so much about?”

I wheeled around quickly, raising my hands up in a boxing stance I copied from TV as I faced the source of the admittedly adorable voice.

“Who are you?” I bark, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Before me stood a young woman. She was slender with blonde hair and blue eyes. She stood confidently, seductively posed with her feet close together and her hands on her thigh and hip. Her smile was warm, but her eyes were fiery. She wore a costume like many of the supers I fought did: a pink skintight suit with a hood pulled over her head. Her suit was sleeveless, but she wore long gloves with what looked like claws at the end of each finger. Large pink cat ears perched on her hood and she had a long panther-like tail attached to her suit that moved similar to a cat's. She must have worked hard to get such a complex suit to work so flawlessly.

“I'm your biggest fan,” the young woman replied, flashing a big smile with a wink.

“OK then…” I trailed off, dropping my guard. “Why don't you tell me your name?”

“I'll gladly stick to alter egos,” she shrugged. “So, you can call me The Pink Prowler. Or ‘Pink’ or ‘Prowler’ for short.”

“OK, Pink,” I responded calmly, still a bit on edge, but maybe a bit too trusting under the circumstances. “Is this yours?”

I held up the pawprint shaped device, reaching it out to her.

“Oh, that's where I left it! Silly me!” Pink clapped her palm against her forehead and let out a giggle. “I'm always misplacing my stuff. Thank you for finding it!”

As The Pink Prowler approached me, I held my right hand out a bit farther and stepped forward slightly, still a bit wary, but also invited by her warm and delightful tone. She reached out and placed her hand on the device, the long claws attached to her suit's gloves lightly tickling the skin on my wrist. Suddenly, she clasps her fingers around my wrist, causing me to squeeze the device and break it.

“What did you do??” she screeches in a seemingly played-up rage. I'm distracted as I stare in surprise at the broken device and having been grabbed by such an innocent appearing girl. She tugs me close to her by my wrist and twirls me around. I hit her perky breasts with my back and she wraps her other arm around my midsection and began lightly running her claws across my bare abdomen, making me squeak in surprise before a stream of giggles begins leaking from my lips.

“Whahahahahat are yoohoohou dohoohooing?” I manage through my giggling. I was always ticklish as a kid and even as an adult. A few of my exes would pin me down and tickle me and so did my aunts and uncles. It was a common occurrence for me. But this girl who seemed to be a villain was fighting me through… tickling? Really? Should be an easy fight I guess.

“Aww, is the infamous Victory secretly ticklish??” Pink teased in my ear, whispering so close that even her words tickled me. “That’s just way too cute!”

I swing my free left fist back towards the girl’s hip, but she caught my wrist with the hand that was tickling me. She had lightning fast reflexes. But that’s not the part that shocked me. She caught my wrist and easily held it in place even with my super strength.

“Wha-!” I cried as she moved swiftly to clasping my wrists together in one hand and continuing to tickle my bare tummy with her free hand, dancing her sharp claws delicately across my tummy, causing more giggles to pour from my body.

“Whyhihihihi are yohoohou dohoohooing thihihis?” I asked in between ticklish giggles.

“Oh, call it instinct,” she whispers in my ticklish ear, causing me to scrunch my neck away and try to move my ear away from her tickled breath. She moves her face to the other ear and begins whispering again, “Tickle, tickle, tickle, my little Victory. I think we've found your weakneeeeesssssss!”

The last sentence out of her mouth was a sing-song whisper and she held the “s” sound which tickled like mad against my neck and ear. Goosebumps fly down my neck and my ears tingle and tickle so much as her claws still dance away on my defenseless, exposed belly, barely tickling all around my belly button. The tickly claws are sharp enough to pinpoint the accuracy of each ticklish stroke, but blunt enough that Pink’s slight slip-ups pose no danger to my body. Even though I'd learn a few weeks later that nothing could ever pierce my skin anyway. And Pink would adapt her tactics to that knowledge as well.

I hadn't been tickled like this since I acquired my new powers, but something told me they enhanced my ticklishness as Pink’s claws shouldn't be completely incapacitating me this way. They only barely flicked and scratched and fluttered around my navel, tickling the sensitive skin around the deep hole. Normally, it would tickle me, sure, but this felt so intense and left me feeling so… powerless.

I laughed and laughed and tried my best to struggle against her one hand holding both of my wrists. It was no use. Somehow, she had completely removed all of my strength. My powers were completely gone except my invulnerability.

And I only learned my invulnerability wasn't gone because she plunged a claw into my belly button and swirled her finger around and around against the bottom of the ticklish pit.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!” I howled, ticklish anguish overwhelming every other impulse my brain had. It only wanted to escape the tickling. “PLEHEHEHEASE STOP! AHHHHAHAHAHA!”

“Oh, dear…” she whispered seductively in my ear, sending more of those chills down my spine and tingles in my neck. “Someone’s simply way too ticklish to let go. It's so much fun just tickle, tickle, tickling you!”

As she finished her sentence, I felt her finger withdraw from my navel. Quick as lightning, she pulled a belt or rope or whip or something from her costume and wrapped it around my wrists, tying them together. She pulled me close to her and wrapped her arms around my bare tummy, placing her claws on each of my sides, and began tickling again.

Wrapped up in this small woman's bear hug with my hands tied up behind my back and being tickled silly on my bare sides had to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. It was absolutely the most embarrassing of my hero career so far. To be invincible, super strong, and able to fly, but completely at the mercy of a woman 5 inches shorter than me wearing a pink cat-themed jumpsuit was utterly humiliating.

I rock back and forth in her grip, squirming to try and escape however I can, but my bound wrists and weakened state allowed me pretty much zero options for breaking free. And so, I was tickled silly. My laughter boomed over the rooftops. I'm not sure why nobody came to help me as I squealed and howled and cackled, or even why nobody even bothered to yell at me that they were trying to sleep. Maybe they thought someone was getting adventurous in the bedroom. Maybe they assumed someone else would say something. Either way, no one interrupted. And the Pink Prowler just tickled and tickled and tickled.

My sides were so incredibly ticklish. And Pink was incredibly talented at the torturous ticklish technique she employed. In later encounters, I would discover she knew way more about tickling than I even knew was possible. But in that moment, I simply worried that my weakness might have been discovered. My strength was gone. My flight was gone. My invulnerability remained, but it simply meant the ticklish torture never ended since my nerves never needed to desensitize. Instead, every stroke tickled just as much as the last if not more!

“PLEHEHEHEHEASE! WHYHYHYHY!?” I begged again, hoping for any answers from the little imp still working away at my hyper sensitive sides.

She chuckled lightly in my ear and spoke ever so softly, “I just want to watch you squirm. And I've never seen you so much as crack a smile on the news. Being so serious all the time must be exhausting.”

Serious? I thought. She's gotta be kidding.

“IHIHI'LL LIGHTEN UHUHUHUP! IHIHI PROMIHIHIHISE!” I howled through my ticklish laughter. I'm not sure what that even meant, but I promised it anyway.

“Oh, sweetie,” she cooed. “This is about so much more than simply smiling more. It's also about getting my wittle cwaws on this adorably fit tummy of yours!”

With that, she moved her hands from my sides and placed her left hand to the left side of my belly and her right hand to the right side. Her claws never ceased tickling, wiggling and tickling all the way from my sides across my abs, around my navel, and to their current positions where they still tickle and tickle, stroking across the bare skin like quills along a sheet of paper. My tummy twitches and twists beneath the tickling claws and each ticklish guffaw is followed up by an even more intense one. My soft skin is juxtaposed by my visible abs, made even more visible by my tensing and twisting to escape the ticklish torment. I squeal and howl and beg and laugh heartily as Pink continues her ticklish designs, ceaselessly clawing at my completely defenseless belly.

She pulls me in tight, ceasing her tickling, and whispers quietly in my ear, “I think that's more than enough, my little Victory. I know you're disappointed it's over. But don't worry. It's only just beginning.”

She really emphasized her last sentence and I felt my strength returning, taking a swing at her as she released me and launched herself backwards, laughing as she did. She dropped down the side of the building and I dashed over to look for her, but no one was there. The wind blew along the top of the roof, providing a cool breeze for my heated face which was red from so much laughter. I felt warm and tingly in my stomach, still feeling remnants of tickles on my bare midriff.

“Just beginning?” I wondered aloud. I had a feeling I knew what she meant. But there were so many questions I had after that encounter. Most of them, I still don't really have answers for. But maybe someday, I will.

I assume the Pink Prowler spread the word about my weakness because within a few days there were super villains coming out of the woodwork that were themed around tickling. Feathers, fingers, tentacles, restraints, slime, and all kinds of other “weapons” were being developed in the underground and used against me by a select few people who wanted to take me down for one reason or another. Thankfully, I never lost my invulnerability, so no matter how much I got tickled, I could always wiggle my way out. I'm not sure what will happen on the day I can't escape. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.