As Daphne ran through the smoke, she felt pangs of despair. They had been betrayed, and it seemed likely that the blond pretender who had deployed the smoke bomb was somehow involved. She dared to hope that Flying Fox might somehow have escaped from the Queen of Hearts, but her friend had been so powerless that she knew that was unlikely. Obviously, the Queen of Diamonds had arranged it so the heroines would each meet the villainess they were least prepared to face. That would mean overcoming Spellina's magic with the brute force of the Queen of Clubs. And the Queen of Diamonds? Of course! With Daphne's lasso in her possession, she would have the one weapon certain to defeat Power Blonde! If Daphne could regain her belt and tiara, though, Magna-Maid might yet come to her friends' aid.
By now, Daphne had cleared the smoke screen. She paused to catch her breath, and noticed that the Queen of Hearts' spell had lost most of its hold on her. As she reached to re-button her blouse, a mocking voice called, "Showing too much cleavage, are we? Maybe I can find something to wrap you up in!" Standing at the end of the alleyway was the blonde in the modified Flying Fox costume. Daphne studied the deranged fan. She was older than the princess had originally supposed, in her early 20's probably, and what she had taken for baby fat looked now to be well-developed muscle. A fight with this one would delay her, perhaps even give Power Blonde time to go blundering into the Queen of Diamonds' trap. The mocking figure gave her no choice, though. Stripped as she was of most of her Amazon powers, Princess Daphne would have to fight.
Seeing no use in delay, Daphne ran straight at the woman. An obsessed fan in a costume was unlikely to be able to match an Amazon's fighting skills. Princess Daphne prepared to deliver a punch that would devastate most mortals. Instead, the blonde sidestepped with surprising speed, and gave Daphne a clout across the back of the head which sent the Princess flying.
"Best you have to offer, Your Highness?" Daphne scrambled to her feet, startled to realize that her secret identity was now known to her enemies. That made it more imperative than ever to deal with this woman and find some way to recover her magical artifacts. Daphne took a step toward the blonde, then seemed to stumble. The woman cackled gleefully, and drew from her utility belt a thin climbing wire, which she formed into a lasso. Daphne had to grudgingly admire the way this psychotic pretender had copied Flying Fox's arsenal. What she lacked, though, was the real Flying Fox's respect for a dangerous opponent. Having "recovered" from her pretended fall, Daphne dashed quickly past the loop that was to have surrounded her body, and instead seized it in both hands. With all her strength, Daphne pulled, and unbalanced the blonde.
"What the---" the pretender fell, sprawling, on her face. With panther-like speed, Daphne was on her back. She took hold of the woman's right arm, and pulled it up behind her back. Swiftly, Daphne shifted positions to kneel heavily on the right arm as she scrambled desperately to take hold of the left. The blonde tried hard to buck her captor off, pushing up with her legs and buttocks, and nearly toppling the princess. Daphne gritted her teeth, and held on tightly. The cord lay on the ground beside her, and Daphne grabbed the end, still looped as a lasso, and encircled the blonde's flailing left arm. Yanking it tight, she pulled the cord tightly, imprisoning the left arm. Daphne shifted position, to re-capture the blonde's right arm, but her opponent still had fight left in her. Pulling back against the princess' hold on her arm, she rolled over, spilling Daphne to the ground, the princess' costume eyeglasses flying off her head and shattering. With her free hand, the blonde seized the cord which lay under her, and wrapped it around Daphne's right wrist. The princess tried to yank her hand away, but without the rubberized costume of her opponent, the cord bit into the princess' exposed skin, and she felt herself pulled face to face to her enemy.
"Now, we'll see who deserves to be a member of the League of Heroines," panted the blonde as she made a grab for the princess' hair. Daphne snapped her head back, and her long ponytail flew just out of the woman's reach. The blonde pulled hard on the rope binding her to the princess. Despite the pain in her arm, though, Daphne was far stronger than her opponent. Biting her teeth against the pain, Daphne threw herself sideways, rolling the blonde underneath her again. Her right arm was trapped by the cord under the blonde's body, so the princess, gathering all her strength, seized her opponent by the back collar of her costume, and yanked upward. It lifted the blonde enough to free Daphne's other arm, and the princess lost no time in exchanging the loop bound about her wrist for her opponent's. Now, the princess sat heavily on the blonde's back, binding the young woman's wrists with the thin cord. She felt her captive squirming under her, to try and throw her off again. Daphne kept tying, though, and when the wrists were tightly tied, Daphne tied the cord off to the back of the blonde's utility belt. Panting heavily, Daphne collapsed atop her captive.
"Look, there's no need for this. Let me help-"
"Let go of me, you witch!" screamed the blonde. "We'll get you for this."
Daphne realized that the young woman might well be right. There was no telling how close the Queen of Hearts might still be. Daphne could not allow her to find them. Still astride the bound blonde, Daphne looked around for something to gag her with. Seeing nothing, and with no time to spare, the princess kicked off both her shoes. As the blonde continued to curse and rage, Daphne removed her nylons. She then pulled off the blue scrunchy which held her ponytail. A curtain of dark hair swept forward as she bent down over her captive. She stuffed the hairtie down into the center of one of the nylons. The blonde had spotted her movements out of the corner of her eye, and for a moment stopped her screaming, keeping her mouth closed.
"C'mon, open up," growled the princess. "If you won't co-operate, I have no choice." The blonde kept her lips together, and shook her head. Exasperated, Daphne seized a fistful of the silky blond hair, and yanked the girl's head back. Wary of her captive's teeth, Daphne jabbed the center of the nylon into the girl's mouth and quickly withdrew her fingers, pulling hard on the nylon, working it as far back in her captive's mouth as possible. The girl shook her head back and forth, blond hair flying, but Daphne held on as though holding a horse by the reins, and knotted the nylon tightly against the blond head. She pulled out the second nylon, jammed it on top of the first one in the girl's mouth, and knotted it over the first one.
With her captive now firmly gagged, Daphne collapsed in exhaustion. She lay, sweating, on the girl's back, her dark hair falling over her prisoner's face. The blonde, too, lay panting, as though gathering her strength for another attempt at escape. Finally, Daphne slid off the girl's back. Before any escape attempt could be made, though, Daphne had taken the extra length of thin cord and pulled her captive's legs up over her back. Daphne's strong fingers knotted the cord about the woman's ankles. With her captive now helplessly hogtied, the princess sat back and spoke to her.
"Look, no one wants to hurt you." The eyes glaring at her over the nylon gag made it clear that the feeling was far from mutual. "Come back with me to the League headquarters, and help me find a way to undo the damage you've done, and defeat the Queens' plan. We'll get you the help you need." When the response was only more muffled curses, Daphne sighed wearily, closed her eyes, and lay back against the side of a building. She just needed a few moments of rest before deciding what to do next to help her friends. Lying quietly, the princess felt a familiar warmth begin to creep over her. It felt good. Then came another sensation; opening her eyes, she could see that the blonde had stopped thrashing and trying to scream through her gag. Instead, Daphne could feel the girl's gagged face nuzzling against her leg. With a tremendous heave, the bound captive lurched herself upwards, and landed with her face in the princess' lap. Daphne looked down. Though it was obviously painful, the woman had managed to turn herself over, and was staring up at Daphne, her green eyes warm and inviting. The princess gazed into the moist eyes; though the blonde's hair was confined close to her head by the gag, Daphne began to stroke the smooth tresses atop the girl's head. How lovely she looked, gagged and helpless, thought the princess. How easy it would be to--
Daphne started up, feeling as though she had been doused with ice water. The Queen of Hearts must be close by! Though she had lost Daphne in the smokescreen, she was casting her spell in hope of drawing the princess from hiding. A few more seconds and it would work! Her mouth dry with a mixture of passion and fear, Daphne bounded to her feet. Feeling dizzy from the spell of sensuality, she took a second to steady herself, then reached down to her prisoner. Using all her remaining Amazon strength, she hoisted the girl to her shoulder, holding her legs in front, the girl's head hanging down the princess' back. Daphne began to run, her blond burden slowing her down. Daphne could feel the woman's pelvis as she squirmed, rubbing herself on the princess' shoulder. Gasping, the princess put everything she had into running, her legs aching with the effort. Down one block, turn, down an alley, and Daphne collapsed, unable to run any more. She looked behind her in despair, waiting to see the Queen of Hearts overtake her from behind. All was quiet behind her, though. Daphne noticed that she was beginning to feel cold, her perspiration drying in the chill evening air. The warmth, though, was gone. The Queen of Hearts hadn't found her! The villainess must have given up the search. By now, though, Daphne knew that the Queen must, indeed, have taken Flying Fox captive. Until she could resume her Magna-Maid identity, Princess Daphne knew she could never help her friends as they faced the Queen of Clubs, with her tremendous strength; and even as Magna-Maid, Princess Daphne would be vulnerable to the power of the magic lasso which the Queen of Diamonds had stolen. No, just rushing to the rescue would not help her friends. Daphne needed a plan. She gathered up her blond captive again, now lying very quietly, and slowly made her way toward the headquarters of the League of Heroines. She had no idea if any of the others had returned yet, but even on her own, it seemed the safest place for her to recover from her ordeal. Still in ignorance of the secret camera placed there by the girl she now held captive, Daphne set off.