--A little petrified piece of Americana--

    Julie spent a few hours gambling and looking around the casino. She was starting to really loosen up after all the hectic things of the past week and just beginning to unwind all that pent-up stress she had accumulated. She walked up the Strip a little to check out a few more casinos. The loud slot machines and flashing lights were everywhere. It was hard to believe as many casinos as Las Vegas had could stay in business. Of course it wasn’t called Sin City for nothing.

    Julie noticed more than a few risqué advertisements for showgirls, exotic escorts and more made up a bulk of what was being plugged to passers-by. She wandered into a bar to get a drink and, promptly turning down an offer from a more than drunk admirer, sat down at the end of the bar. The cocktail waitresses that came in to restock their trays caught her eye. The girls were outfitted in sexy little toga skirts, very Romanesque or Grecian in style. Julie smiled at the thought of petrifying one of them and making her into a decorative element of the casino. Petra's impetuosness was starting to rub off on her.

    It was just then that a show started behind the bar. And not your average run-of-the-mill show. Projected silhouettes of dancers, most obviously nude to some degree, appeared on large screens to the far left and right as curtains parted. Sensual and striking, the dancers wiggled, shimmied and shaked their curvy bodies, posing themselves at times to strike an attitude before continuing their routine. Julie was captivated by the contrasting outrageous sexuality of the act with the classiness of not really showing anything at all other than provocative curves and a protruding nipple contour. She watched for a few moments and, seizing the moment, decided to try an experiment. She took a quick look and saw that most everybody was watching the show on the left as that dancer seemed to be much more blatantly sexual in her routine (she had bigger boobs too). Julie dialed the green ring to petrify flesh only and beamed it at the screen separating herself and the nude dancer beyond. If the ring can petrify through clothing, she thought, it should be able to affect the woman behind that thin canvas… and she was right.

    The silhoutette of the dancer froze, something not a lot of onlookers in the audience noticed at first, or at all, as the shadow women tended to strike vogue poses now and again. But Julie knew better. She could tell the woman behind the screen was much stiffer and held her pose much longer than possible without a little wavering. Julie imagined the probably nude dancer as a marble sculpture. All smooth and solidified. She smiled, being the only one in on the petrifying joke. She released the dancer with the red ring when she thought it was safe, and the limber figure continued her slithering routine unaware of what had happened to her.

    Amusing herself with immobilizing the dancer a couple more times, she petrified the dancer leaning up against the screen, legs spread wide and boobs pressed up against the canvas and again when the dancer was turned around in profile like some petrified pin-up poster girl. Giddy with the power she held over her petrified puppet, Julie nonetheless began to feel a little nervous and quickly left a tip at the bar and departed before anyone might notice something was wrong.

    “Too much excitement for me,” Julie strode through the casino and then stopped abruptly as if she herself was caught in her own petrifying beam. She knew exactly what was on her mind. A guilty conscience. The petrified highway patrolman she had left in the middle of the desert was still there. She knew it was overstepping her morals by leaving him out there like that. It wasn’t like she was like Petra, all into the thrill and not thinking of the consequences. She had let her anger get the better of her and that was something she had to rectify.

    Climbing into her car back at the hotel parking lot, Julie took off for the outskirts of the city. She was travelling in the opposite direction now and kept an eye out on her left for the marble monument in the darkened desert. Her headlights flashed on a whitened figure and she turned the car around in a U-turn when it was safe. Slowing as she approached the position where the petrified patrolman was still standing, she activated her red ring at full beam and bathed the bike and cop in its restorative glow.

    The patrolman couldn’t believe his eyes. It was now night, pitch black, and the car he had pulled over was gone! As the startled cop, whirled around in confusion, Julie peeled away and disappeared with the rest of the nighttime traffic.

--Spring Break-Statue Style!--

    Dawn broke over the desert. Samuel stopped hosing down the hotel's pool area to look at the glow beaming through the clouds. He never got tired of seeing the beauty of the daily sunrise. This time, however, his upward gaze had settled on a striking female silhouette, framed by the rays of the rising sun. He blinked as he stared at the curves and contours but the figure did not move. It was too early for any of the hotel guests to be using the pool, who could it be? Curious, he made his way up the rocks of the pool's waterfall and saw the most magnificent marble statue he had ever beheld.

    It was sitting on the rocks that formed the mouth of the falls. Sitting like a statuesque swimsuit model, arched back and tits pointing out to the sky. It…She was beautifully sculpted. The detail in her hair alone would have taken a master sculptor days to replicate. He touched her bare shoulder, glowing orange in the newly risen sun's light, and peered over her shoulder and down her torso. The feminine curves were sculpted so right. Her legs, so long and lean, just demanded to be touched and he ran his fingers down the inside of her thigh as her legs tapered and converged to a film of manicured marble pubic hair. Samuel had never seen something this fine, even in a hotel full of fine accoutrements. He crooked his neck to get a better angle at the statue's crotch to see just how accurately sculpted this wonderful statue was when he was interrupted.

    "Sam! Hey dude?" Joe called up from the pool below. "What're you doing up there?"

    Samuel removed his hand from Petra's thigh and stood up. "Hey, you…know where this came from?" He pointed at petrified Petra.

    Joe squinted and looked up to where Samuel was standing. "What is that?"

    "It's a statue, stupid!" Samuel motioned to Petra. "Where'd it come from? When did they install this?"

    "I don't know but if we don't get this pool ready for the guests when they get down here, management's gonna have our heads!" Joe returned to laying out towels and setting up lounge chairs. "You know how they think, trying to make the hotel more special for the guests. They're always making changes! Let's go man! We gotta lotta work to finish up!"

    "Yeah, I'm coming…" Samuel took one last look at the sexy statue and got back to work.

* * *

    Julie Covington stretched out in her bed. The covers had slipped off her figure and she lay on the sheets in merely a pair of panties and a baby tee. She rolled over, completely relaxed from a good night's sleep and looked at the untouched bed across from her. I guess I'll have to check in on Petra some time today. But I am on vacation, and I would love to relax. She picked up the house phone and made a reservation in the hotel spa. "If I'm going to relax, then I'm really going to relax," she decided.

    On the way down to the spa, Julie checked in on the motionless figure adorning the pool. Petra was still there, and still in one piece, and just plain still! Julie, reassured, smiled and took herself to the spa post haste. She couldn't wait to be pampered.

    "Hello, Miss Covington," the receptionist greeted Julie and led her into the private changing room. Julie undressed and wrapped her naked body in a plush terry robe. She kept the red and green rings on her fingers, not willing to trust them to the hotel security just yet. She had to make sure nothing could happen to Petra, after all. As she was led to the airy, perfumy massage table she prepared to be treated to the best oil massage she had ever experienced. Julie slipped her robe off and wrapped a towel around her body as she waited for her massage. The room had a soft classical music score wafting through the open curtains. Pink flowers decorated the room and matched the drapery and upholstery.

    The female masseuse arrived and Julie lowered herself onto the table. She provided a soft pillow for Julie to rest her head upon and parted Julie's towel so that she lay on the massage table with her backside bare to the world. The masseuse dribbled oil across Julie's back and rubbed her tightened muscles in all the right ways. "Oohhh, lower… lower," Julie could feel all her troubles and inhibitions slipping away with each stroke.

    After the exhilarating massage, Julie wanted to treat herself to a mudbath. She declined turning over her rings when the spa girl asked to hold them for safekeeping. Julie decided to play the flighty, spoiled, pampered eccentric and said she never took them off as they were a special family heirloom, blah blah blah.

    The spa girl had heard enough and let her get into the tiled mud tub without much protest. If this stuck-up woman wanted to ruin her expensive jewelry, then it was her prerogative. I'm not getting paid enough to worry about stuff like this.

    Julie walked barefoot on the tile and stared at the rectangle sunk into the room. It was about two meters long and a meter wide. Almost like a door of mud lying on the floor. Julie slipped off her towel and slid her naked body into the warm, gooey stuff. It was creamy, with a consistency of thick batter and it accepted her naked thighs as she gradually let her body settle in the muck. Her crotch disappeared as the mud lapped and covered her sex up in its sticky grasp. Julie supported her body with arms on either side of the tub as she let her shoulders rest against the edge of the tile. Her bare breasts were just barely over the mud line as she settled in.

    The spa girl had a folded towel for Julie to rest her head upon and kneeled as she spread the dark gray goo over the parts of Julie's naked body that protruded from the mud. She cupped handful of mud and slathered it over Julie's breasts in even, almost sensual strokes.

    Julie was floating in the dense, coagulated stuff, so high in the mud that the contours of her body formed a protruding relief as if sculpted out of substance itself.  Her arms lay on the sides of the tiled rim, covered with the clay all the way down to her wrists thanks to a generous coating from the girl. Only Julie's head, from about the chin up, and her sandy blonde hair, tied up in a neat bun, were the other uncovered portions of her body. The spa girl wiped her hands off and asked Julie if she needed anything more. Upon Julie's decline, the girl departed and closed the door to allow Julie some privacy.

    Julie lay in the gooey stuff and basked in the dreamy heat. The mud was really good for her skin and it squished between her thighs as she rolled from side to side. It also got everywhere, in every crack and crevice and Julie delighted in the feeling of having her entire body covered with the muck. After a few moments of relaxation, she got a crazy idea (a Petra idea, go figure!) and aimed the green ring at the muck. On the inorganic setting, the mud solidified and resembled hardened concrete! Julie giggled at the sight of the contours of her body, still somewhat visible under the solid mud/marble coating yet imbedded in the hardened slab like an amber-trapped fly.

    She looked like some sort of roughly sculpted relief sculpture! Intrigued with the textures and tactile sensation, she examined the curves of her breasts, covered with misshapen folds of marbled mud, but still recognizable due to her raised nipples. The crevice between her legs where her crotch vanished beneath the marble sheath was impenetrable and Julie could feel the pull where her pubic hairs had been imbedded in the solidified marble. Ouch, this part of the experiment wasn't exactly comfortable!

    She restored the mud to its normal state and re-petrified it a couple of times as she shifted her body into different positions. Very artistic, I know I didn't take art history classes in school for nothing! She even got out of the mud bath at one point and turned her mud-coated body into an encased marble monument. The puddle of mud that had rolled off her legs fused into a marble base, a tree trunk-like blob that rose up to form, even under the mud coating, shapely legs. The gap between her upper thighs, below her crotch, shone through as the flow of falling mud was frozen around her crotch and buttocks. Julie had petrified the mud all the way up to her shoulders, only her wet, muddy arms, still dripping, were free from the hardened coating. She looked like an unfinished marble sculpture, with only the barest of feminine details and contours visible under her marble prison.

    "Wow…" Julie caressed herself, encased in her marbled mud shell. So form fitting, and utterly restrictive as far as movement. This is kind of…cool! Motionless, she fondled herself before restoring her immobilizing shell to softened clay and escaping from her marble prison. As she sunk back into the warm mud, her thoughts turned to Petra. "I wonder how she's doing?"

* * *

    "Hey dude! Check out the titties on this statue!" Roger was already quite blitzed and his buddies were amused at his pasted nature. "No kidding dudes! She's so hot!" He leaned over so that his face was practically in Petra's crotch. "Whoa man, she's got a pussy like you'd never believe!" He practically reached Petra's cunt with his tongue before Roger's spring break buddies pulled him away.

    "Dude, there are some fine chicks here! You don't need to be hitting on a statue!" Brad had waded over and pulled away Roger from his romantic encounter. "See man," he pointed at some bikini-clad girls who were giggling amongst themselves at Roger's drunken romancing of the Petra statue. "We're not in Sin City to score with the statuary!" He slipped another glass of alcohol into Roger's hand and pointed at the brunette in the thong. "She thinks you're hot!" he whispered.

    "Boooyeah!" Roger chest-thumped Brad and almost went completely under from the ricochet. He did succeed in spilling half his drink in the pool before moving off to liquor- and link-up with the women.

    Oblivious to the attention she was getting in her frozen, motionless form. Petra sat in radiant repose, as immortal and immobile as ever.

--Preserving the Memories--

    It was about 9 p.m. and Julie was all done up in her sparkly red mini-dress. Her skin was positively radiant from the mud and sauna treatment from earlier that morning and her hair professionally coifed. She had been completely made up with the aid of a professional makeup expert as part of her spa treatment and looked like a million bucks. Julie held a small boutique bag and her purse as she waited for the right moment to rescue Petra from her petrified penance. It was dark now, and the pool deserted as far as the general public, but the occasional hotel worker was still going about their business and cleaning up even at this late hour.  Julie was concerned that she might not get to Petra in time for the show that she had bought tickets for. Not that going sans Petra would be all that bad, but it would be much more fun with the 'mad petrifier'.

    Julie took a peek out at the pool about 9:30 p.m., and it looked pretty quiet now. She slipped through the doors and out into the nighttime air. It was much more temperate than before. Positively chilly, in fact as she was dressed minimally in her thin outfit. She made her way to the upper level where the statued Petra sat.  She wondered how many people had been mystified over this sudden appearance of sculpture over the past day. And how many would be equally baffled by its abrupt disappearance. A mystery for the ages, no doubt, Julie thought as she tiptoed over the rocks. Her high heels didn't make it easy and after an abortive attempt at making it to Petra, Julie slipped off her shoes and went across the rocks barefoot.

    She took a look at marbled Petra and, realizing she had nothing to remember this moment by, took out her mini-camera and snapped a couple of pics as best she could given the precarious footing. Finally, she adjusted the red ring on her left hand and bathed the motionless marble maiden in its crimson embrace.

    "Awaken, miss marble…"

    The alabaster-hued girl flinched as warm flesh tones returned to her face. The brittle marble strands that had fused into a veritable helmet dissolved into soft brunette hair. Her smooth white body became tanned skin as she stretched her now fully nude body like a just-awakened cat. "Mmmm," Petra shook her head and let her hair fall across her shoulders. "That was relaxing!" She pulled her arms across her bent knees and looked up at the dressed-to-play Julie.

    "Here," Julie handed Petra the boutique bag as they both made their way across the rocks to the relative safety of the pool grounds. Inside the bag were a cocktail dress, undies and heels. Petra slipped the super-short dress on as Julie kept an eye out for possible interlopers. She wondered what she might have to say to explain a naked girl getting dressed in such a public place.

    "Got plans for tonight?" Petra asked as she slid the shoestring straps over her bare shoulders. The flimsy fabric clung to her unsupported, yet perky breasts.  Petra's nipples still looked like they were petrified, as they stuck out like stiffened pegs.

    "Yes, I thought you'd like to take a break from being a decoration and see a show with me," Julie led Petra to the hotel theatre. "That is, if you're not too busy being a sculpture?"

    "What are we going to see?" Petra asked as she attached some earrings Julie had given to her.

    "Something called 'Oooh Lah Lah'," Julie handed Petra a ticket. It was decorated with the image of a glamorously bejeweled showgirl. They left their hotel and made their way down the street to an elaborate theme resort/casino that had all sorts of faux Greco / Roman decorations.

    "Ooh! Give me the ring!" Petra begged Julie.

    "Which one?" Julie replied, deadpan as the two entered the casino floor.

    "The good one! Gimme the green!" Petra would have pulled it off of Julie's finger had she delayed any longer. "Get a load of this!" She pointed at one of the cocktail waitresses making her rounds of the casino floor.

    "Petra, what are you doing?" Julie knew she was asking a redundant question as Petra silently tailed the woman carrying a tray of drinks.

    She was tall, with long legs, and her abbreviated outfit consisted of a micro miniskirt and v-back panty that showed off a lot of butt cheek. Her strapless bustier held her breasts tightly together, lifting the bustline into a display of cleavage. She had a few decorative bands around her wrists and neck that tied into the casino theme. She barely wobbled at all in her high heels as she strode confidently around the poker and roulette tables.

    Petra waited till she cleared a bank of slot machines and zapped her with the green ray. At full strength the cocktail girl became an instant statue, whitewashed from head to toe. Her revealing outfit, her tray of drinks, everything turned to stone in a flash of green! Petra looked around, saw no one looking and rushed over to inspect her latest work of art. "Pretty neat, huh?" She looked at the various drinks, also petrified, as were the dollar bill tips on the girl's tray. "Look, cold hard cash!"

    "Petra, we're going to be late for the show," Julie looked at her watch. It was almost 10:00 p.m.

    "One picture, for the memories?" Petra put her hand around the statue's shoulders, like she was hugging a close friend. Julie got out her camera and snapped a pic. It was just then that someone came around the corner of the slot machines and stopped short when she saw the realistic marble cocktail girl.

    "Oh, my goodness!" the little old lady was taken aback. "What is this?"

    "Ah, you know, part of the decoration of the casino," Petra replied with a smile. "Would you like a picture?"

    "Oh, yes. I would like to show this to all my knitting club friends back home," the old lady smiled as she dug out a camera from her purse. "You know this casino has the loveliest decorations," she rambled as she posed next to the petrified waitress. "That display out front with the statues is really quite amazing."

    "Say cheese," Petra held up the camera and bathed the woman in her green ring's light. The woman turned to stone on the spot as well.

    "Petra!" Julie was taken aback.

    "Relax, I'm giving her something to really talk about back home!" Petra took a snapshot of the marbled women and then motioned for Julie to restore the older of the two. The camera flash went off again as the woman was restored. Petra returned the camera and sent her off to gamble. When she was out of sight, Petra and Julie took cover behind some slot machines and Julie restored the waitress to life. She continued about, unaware of what had happened to her.

    "Okay, enough fun, let's get going!" Julie started walking briskly.

    "The fun is just starting," Petra said softly.

--It’s ShowTime!--

    Julie and Petra arrived at the theatre just in the nick of time. They were seated in a booth up front (thanks to a generous amount of money Julie put down for the tickets) and the house lights were dimmed just as they got their complimentary drinks. The colored lights directed attention to the center stage and the curtains parted for the statuesque showgirls to begin their parade. They were all topless, dressed in g-strings decorated with beads and sparkles and flimsy wisps of cloth attached to their bejeweled wristbands that tied in to the pearled neckbands and tall feathery headdresses. Petra knew she would have to petrify one or all of them at that very instant, but she had to wait for the right moment. She could see in her mind’s eye a line of identical statues, like they were being mass-produced from some weird sort of statue-making machine, extending into forever as the musical played on in front of her.

    The music and lightshow continued as the sensuous showgirls continued across the stage, gliding by in choreographed routines that showed off their long, thin figures. They were all tall, with similar slender body-types, rather moderate bosoms and virtually indistinguishable from each other from a distance. Julie and Petra were fairly close to the stage, though, and the dancers were mere yards away from their booth. The showgirls changed outfits with each number, getting more and more undressed as the routines got racier and more provocative.

    When they changed to a more static number, done with chairs and glowing, fancy spotlights, Petra made her move. The women were now barely dressed in jeweled head coverings, fishnet stockings, heels and the barest of thongs. They danced around the chairs like they were romancing lovers, stroking the wooden furniture with long caresses as each took their turn in the spotlight. Petra beamed the green ray at the closest performer, straddling the chair with her long legs

    The showgirl turned to stone, frozen at that very instant and dropping out of the routine that the others continued. Her chalk-colored body was not especially evident due to the elaborate lighting but the fact that her skimpy thong outfit had also been changed to solid marble was not lost on Petra’s boothmate.

    Julie, surprised at what Petra had just done, beamed the red ring and restored the showgirl to normal. She shot a look at Petra, who looked around innocently.  Julie frowned at first, then softened her features with a smile.

    The showgirl, out of step due to her frozen time-out, whirled around as the tempo changed on her and struggled to get back in step. Julie and Petra giggled as the confused dancer made her way off-stage a full three steps after the others.

    “What’s wrong with you honey?” the stage manager asked the shaken showgirl as she came off stage. “You looked like you just froze out there!

    “I don’t know, it was as if I blanked out and fell behind!” the blonde fluttered her long eyelashes as she tried to slip out of her costume and into the next one.

    “Well keep on your toes, we’ve got a certain level of professionalism to maintain!” the manager shooed the showgirl away as he turned his attention to something else.

    Twice more during the show Petra managed to petrify one of the dancers and twice more Julie changed the dancer back. It became a friendly competition with Julie as to how fast she could restore the showgirl to normal. There was one segment where the showgirl was practically nude, draped over a rotating couch shaped like a pair of oversized red lips and Petra zapped her into an immobile sculpture. It wasn’t until she had completed several revolutions that Julie was able to restore the flesh. Julie slapped Petra on the knee playfully. She had more than a few sips of her drink and that might have cut down on her response time to Petra’s activities.

    Petra had gotten a little tipsy as well and by the time the show ended, as all the showgirls had the dramatic final pose, she had managed to petrify almost half of the lineup when they struck their finishing poses. Julie was just able to turn them all back to normal as the curtain fell and one almost smacked into her petrified castmate as she tried to depart stage left.

    No doubt there would be all sorts of weird stories circulating backstage this night, but the audience let out and Julie and Petra blended in with the mass of humanity. The two women, somewhat blitzed, were laughing and giggling at pretty much everything on their way out of the casino. It was well after midnight now, and the streets were somewhat empty, or as deserted as the Las Vegas Strip got anyway. Petra spied a frieze of life-sized females, sculpted in relief as they walked on the street beside the casino and clattered over in her high heels. She struck a statue-like pose next to one, her hands resting squarely on the bare rounded rump of the closest nymph. “Oooh, wait…” She slipped off the green ring and handed it to Julie. “Do me!” she went back and repeated her pose, using all her body-english to create a curvy display.

    “Wait… wait…” Julie had her camera out and Petra waved her hands at her. Her arms wavered she was experiencing an earthquake. It was going to be quite a chore to just take the picture in her semi-sloshed state.

    “No…the ring!” Petra giggled as she tried to hold her pose. She wasn’t quite operating at peak performance and she kept giggling every few seconds as Julie aimed the ring at her.

    Julie turned Petra into a fully marble statue, but forgot to adjust the setting and left her subject’s clothing unaffected. Petra’s marble skin was a virtual match for the frieze but she looked most incongruous in her black mini. Julie snapped a couple of pics as some people passed by on the street and pointed at the frieze and the strangely dressed statue on the end.

    “No, wait…I gotta take her home,” Julie pleaded as tourists posed and took pictures with the instant landmark that Petra had become. “Come on, people,” Julie’s alcohol buzz was starting to really go into overdrive now.

    The tourists kept coming down the street and one thing led to another and it was a full fifteen minutes later before Julie could turn Petra back to normal when the crowds thinned out. “You’re quite the tourist trap,” Julie poked the hard-as-stone Petra in the arm as she got around to restoring the girl to normal.

--New Motives--

    Julie and Petra were practically falling over themselves as they got back to the hotel. Petra had managed to get the green ring back and turned a hapless cocktail waitress into a statue on their way in, and Julie had just the presence of mind to change the girl back as they got to the elevator. Once in their suite, Julie plopped down on the bed and Petra, positively giddy over their mischief making, stood over her fellow statue-maker.

    “Look, I’m a statue!” she struck a pose that mimicked one of the showgirls, slightly exaggerated for effect. A quick scan down her torso with the green ring and she was just that. Her almost strapless cocktail dress did not change, as Petra chose only to petrify her body beneath. Her long whitened legs protruded from beneath the short hem of the skirt and Petra’s arm, the unpetrified one, rolled the slinky outfit up over her marbled hips until a peek of panty showed. As she stood in statuesque repose, her eyes bugged out and her lips pursed up in a pucker. She held that pose as best she could in her non-petrified parts, trying to stifle her giggling.

    Julie sat up to look, rolled over on the soft mattress and buried her face in the pillow as she laughed at the ridiculous expression Petra was wearing. “I have to admit, it is sort of fun, taking people unawares and petrifying them temporarily.” Julie confessed as she wiped tears away from her face. “It’s almost like an adrenaline rush and then you’re addicted and you have to do it again, and again and again…” She raised her hand, de-petrified Petra’s body with the red ring with an alcohol-assisted laugh, and started to undress for bed.

    “See!” Petra broke out of her frozen pose and bounced onto the bed across from Julie’s. “I knew you’re not the fuddy-duddy you always pretend to be!” She kicked off her heels and fell back onto the pillows of her bed, still fully wired from the night’s events. “There’s that challenge…the feeling you’re getting away with something that no one else can. And no one gets hurt…”

    “True…” Julie admitted. “And I do have this urge to do it again…” She picked up a tourist magazine on the nightstand and it opened on the centerspread. “To test our skills, to see how far we can get…” her voice trailed off into a whisper as her eyes focused on the article within. Whether it was the alcoholic drinks that had given her some hidden courage, false bravado, an underswelling desire to finally cut loose, or just a plain old stupid decision, who can say? At that moment Julie decided to do something she would never have considered before in a million, zillion years.

    Petra, her curiosity piqued, glanced up at the magazine Julie was reading. She saw the cover photo and her eyes lit up like beacons.   Julie lowered the magazine and raised her eyebrow in a ‘Are-you-thinking-what-I’m-thinking?’ fashion. A trace of a smile began to crease her mouth as she turned the magazine’s centerspread feature so that it faced Petra.

    Petra’s face broke out in a full-blown grin as she snatched the periodical out of Julie’s hand. “I’ll call for Grandpa’s private jet to pick us up!” She pounced on the phone and started dialing as the magazine fluttered to the ground. Julie, dressed in her bra and panties, had already nodded off by the time Petra had finished with the arrangements.

    On the floor, the magazine lay like a crumpled tent. Its cover photo had five colorfully costumed femmes posing proudly. The headline read “Fem Fantastique Inc, Sexiest Heroines Ever!”

--Taking the City by Stone--

    "Hurry up Julie!" Petra squirmed on the hotel room bed as Julie showered. The two women had arrived in town the night before and settled in at one of the ritzier hotels in town. After a good night's sleep the two petrifying gals had a lot on the schedule.

    Julie poked her head out of the bathroom. "Take it easy, we're not going to be late. It's not like they run on a schedule or anything."

    "I know, but I just want to get down there…" Petra had a denim jacket on over her middle-baring pink top. A pair of white shorts and well-worn sneakers completed her outfit. Her brunette hair was tied back in a ponytail, per usual, with the tail pulled through the baseball-style cap on her head.

    Julie stepped out of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around her body. She began drying her blonde hair with the courtesy dryer. "I'm not even sure we'll even see them…" Julie's voice was barely heard over the whirring din. "There's no guarantee…"

    "Come on Julie!" Petra pouted as she got up to walk right behind Julie. She spied the petrifying ring and restoration ring sitting on the sink counter and made a snatch for them.

    "Uh uh!" Julie snapped up one of the rings while Petra came up with another. "No time for fun, remember? You were the one in a hurry!"

    "I got the fun one anyway!" Petra bragged as she held up the green petrifying ring on her finger. "Hurry up and get dressed or I'll stone you and leave you here for the maid to ponder over!"

    "Okay," Julie took off her towel and began getting dressed. "I know better than to take you up on one of your threats!"

    Petra stared at Julie's toned naked body and almost regretted they had bigger targets on tap. She lifted her shirt to stare at her younger, slightly smaller breasts.  She teased her nipples with her fingers, pinching, stroking, stimulating the responsive teats until they stiffened into fully erect points, then using the green ring she carefully aimed and petrified her aureoles solid. Twin whitened stone nipples capped her breasts now like snowy mountaintops. Petra smiled and poked at her newly inert nipples. They remained gloriously pointy as her supple tits wobbled, and remained prominently taut even after she hastily pulled her shirt down after Julie came out of the dresser. "Tit-It's about time you were ready!" Petra admonished.

    "Where's the green ring?" Julie slipped the red restoration ring onto her left ring finger but couldn't find the petrifying green one. She had dressed in hip-hugging yellow pants with a Capri style cut. A thin windbreaker jacket covered up her white camisole top.

    "I've got it, let's go!" Petra urged.

    "Gimme," Julie held out her hand.

    "Oh no, if we're going to be petrifying superheroines, I'm the one who's gonna do it!" Petra smiled widely. "You owe it to me!"

    Julie sighed. "Okay, let's go." She gave in. Better to give up this fight than to stand here arguing for the next hour with her stubborn niece.

--Targets acquired--

    One hour later, Petra and Julie were walking the street across from FF INC Plaza. Above their heads rose the FF INC HQ tower, some fifty stories tall, though only the top few floors were actually in use by the heroines. Office workers moved back and forth doing their daily business. If not for some tourists snapping pictures of the fountain in the plaza, a gloriously sculpted set of bronze statues representing the team, one might never know that a premier team of superheroines operated out of this building.

    "Ooh look Julie!" Petra shrieked with excitement.

    Julie turned in alarm. "Do you see one of them?" She asked, only to see Petra ogling some lingerie-clad mannequin in the boutique window behind them.

    "That rose-colored teddy looks so cute!" Petra giggled as Julie rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'd look pretty neat as a petrified mannequin in that window!"

    "Mind on business, Petra," Julie admonished as she dragged Petra away from window-shopping and the two girls crossed the street. They stood next to the fountain in the plaza and watched the people go in and out of the building. Petra videotaped some of the surroundings to try and blend in with the other tourists while Julie went into the building. The security guard at the front desk asked her what her business was and Julie came up with some nonsense story about finding a law firm. The fact that she was dressed casually in tight-fitting jeans and a form-fitting top didn't lend any credence to her story. She left the building and met up with Petra.

    "Well, any luck?" Petra blew a bubble from the gum she was chewing.

    "No, what do you think I did?" Julie snapped. "'Hi, can I meet with the FF INC heroines? Just to snap a few pics for the family back home?'" Julie said in a condescending tone before she cooled off a little. "I did take a look around the lobby, and it doesn't look like they would use it much anyway. Too busy. It would probably attract too much attention."

    Petra looked at Julie. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

    "Back door entry and exits to avoid attracting attention?" Julie responded with knowing eyes.

    "Let's go!" Petra slung the videocamera onto her shoulder and the two girls made their way down a quiet alley to the loading dock in the back of the building. It was strangely quiet there, with only one big truck parked to unload. There weren't any people around unloading supplies or anything.

    Petra and Julie checked at the rear entry door and found that it was locked. Figuring they would probably have to wait for a long time, they got comfortable and sat in front of a large corrugated metal door. It was nicely concealed from the rear entry by a large dumpster. "How long do you think we'll have to wait?" Petra asked.

    "I don't know!" Julie raised her voice but quickly lowered it. "It could be hours… they might not even bother to use this entrance! For all we know they just beam in and out of the building!"

    "Geez, I just asked a simple question…" Petra blew another bubble and quickly popped it. Gathering in the pink bubblegum into her mouth, Petra looked around.  No one. Not a soul. She was quickly getting bored, despite the fact that they had been there for only a few minutes. She wondered how long she would have to wait to get a glimpse of one of the heroines. Petra thought about how they would look as marbelized statuary, perfect bodies in statuesque repose… She started to get lustful feelings again. The feel of the marbled bodies in her hand… I wonder what Transparency Girl looks like naked… Are Shadow Lady's boobs real or not? How beautiful is the Crimson Sorceress in person? Is Flamestar really as hot as she looks? How short is Cosmic Girl's skirt anyway?

    Petra couldn't stand the wait. Patience was never a virtue, for her anyway. She looked down at her breasts. Her stone nipples were threatening to poke right through her stretchy top. She callously flicked them back and forth, watching how her soft breasts swayed. A noise caught her attention. It was a door, being unlocked and opening! "Julie!" Petra said urgently.

    Julie looked up from the tour book she had brought along and looked out from behind the dumpster. A figure was coming out onto the loading dock. A sensuous, female figure… the way her hips swayed back and forth as she walked confidently, despite the lack of clothing on her body, trimmed in miniscule green and yellow trappings that were just this side of being legal. A short cape fluttered in the breeze that came off the dock as the femme shook her mane of dark hair. It was Shadow Lady! In the flesh! Julie scrambled to her feet.

    Petra was right behind her as she got off her butt and came up right behind Julie.

    "Excuse us, Shadow Lady?!" Julie said aloud.

    Shadow Lady, stopped at the edge of the dock. "Yes? Who are you?" She sounded surprised, and automatically tensed her muscles at the unusualness of this meeting, but these two women didn't look threatening at all and she let down her guard. It would prove to be her undoing.

    "We'd love it if we could have a picture taken of you!" Julie gushed, trying not to sound too eager. "It will take just a second, please?"

    "Pretty please?!" Petra held up the camera in her hand.

    Dee sighed, being a heroine was more like being a celebrity sometimes. "Okay, quick snapshot," she smiled. She was used to dealing with the public at appearances, but people mostly didn't hound her or any other heroines at the HQ.

    Julie stepped in close and held her arm around Dee's shoulder. "I'm sooo glad we met you!" Julie and Shadow Lady smiled as Petra aimed the camera and the green petrification ring.

    A green luminous beam emanated from Petra's ring and enveloped Dee's body. Julie took a quick step to the left as Shadow Lady's soft warm body stiffened and became rigid. Her soft flesh became solid white marble. She became hard as a rock and became a statue! Julie touched the marble shoulder of the heroic statue.  It was solid. A tingle went up Julie's spine. We just petrified Shadow Lady! Julie slid the yellow halter-top off of one of Shadow Lady's breasts. A pristine marble breast with erect nipple lay beneath.

    Petra lowered the camera down and stared at her newest sculpture. The contrasting yellow and green costume with the white marble flesh and hair of the newly statued heroine was breathtaking. "Whoa…" Petra gasped.

    " 'Whoa' indeed," said another voice belonging to neither Petra nor Julie!

--Gorgonized--

    Petra turned to see a shapely woman dressed in form-fitting spandex. White with green designs of serpents decorated her costume. A helmet of some sort on her head was emanating a beam of… Petra felt her body stiffening. What the?... Were her last thoughts as her skin, her hair, her body, her clothing, everything on her person turned to solid granite. Even the green petrifying ring! She instantly turned to rock hard stone, her lovely body slightly twisted at her slim waist, her pretty face a picture of surprise. She was solid granite, head to toe.

    "Petra!" Julie screamed as she saw this woman turn Petra to stone!

    "Quiet on the set, please!" Madame Medusa turned her helmeted head and gazed upon Julie Covington.

    "Oooh! No!" Julie gasped, stiffening as she realized she too was turning to stone! Her own body hardened into position next to Shadow Lady's already stiffened physique.  Julie's tight-fitting colorful clothing turned to stone along with the rest of her body. Her thin nylon windbreaker became paper-thin granite. Her body: gray, rocky stone.  Hard as a rock… and stiff as stone, Julie had become a statue as well!

    "Well, what do we have here?" Madame Medusa had slipped off her coveralls disguise in the truck, and had been surprised that these two women had somehow managed to intercept one of the FF INC heroines before she did! She stood in her full snake-motif costume and activated a remote control on her truck, which was now opening its rear trailer bed to feature a small, concealed aircraft inside. She attached a zero-g disc to Shadow Lady's shoulder-baring halter-top, allowing her to float the statued heroine. Strange, her costume is still cloth, but her skin is stone! Medusa observed. She loaded the statue of Shadow Lady onto the open bed of the hovercraft and decided there was always room for more. Besides, this new petrification effect was interesting to say the least, and she wanted to get to the bottom of this. Slapping the zero-g disc to Petra's behind, Medusa turned her bonus petrified prize horizontal and was moving her to the hovercraft when she was startled by a voice.

    "Hey Shadow Lady, do you need any help with-- Madame Medusa! Stop right there!" Cosmic Girl had come down to help Dee unload what they thought was a shipment of electronic machinery and parts. What she didn't expect was to see arch villainess Madame Medusa loading some petrified victims onto an awaiting hover vehicle!

    "No, you hold it right there!" Medusa snarled as she turned her petrification beam on Cosmic Girl.

    Darlene leapt back into the open doorway to escape the stoney fate that befell the loading dock floor and wall. Wood and cement turned to granite. Crates and cardboard boxes became solid stone. Darlene peeked out and energized her cosmic power blast. She shot off a blast or two of cosmic bolts from her fists but Medusa had cornered her into taking cover and her aim was off. "Sue, Wanda, Angie!" Darlene called out into her femmcomm. "We've got problems down here!

    Medusa loaded Petra onto the hovercraft. There wasn't time to go back for the third statue now that reinforcements were on the way. "Hasta la vista, Cosmic Girl, here's something to remember me by!" She got into the pilot seat and took a small baseball sized metal ball out of her aircraft. "I call it a Gorgon Grenade!" She lobbed it out as the hovercraft lifted off.

    Darlene rushed out to try and bring the craft down at the instant the grenade hit the ground. In a bright flash of light the weapon exploded, leaving a circle, twenty feet in diameter within which everything was turned to stone, the pavement, the trash, the truck, as well as the totally surprised Cosmic Girl!

    Silence; a stoney silence other than the whir of the hover jet fell on the petrified ears of the heroine statue, monumentalized in stone and the equally stony figure of Julie. Madame Medusa's craft rose alongside the skyscrapers, just as Flamestar came jetting out from the upper levels fully ablaze. She turned just as the hovercraft shot across the sky behind the building she had just exited.

    "That thing is fast, I don't think I can catch it," Flamestar said as she continued pursuit. She ignited a flaming contrail behind her as she followed the villainess across the sky, but the aircraft was too quick and extending its lead. Then it cut in its jet afterburners and disappeared into the horizon.

    Sue came out of the elevator mere seconds after Darlene had alerted them. She was shocked to see most of the loading dock turned to stone! A solitary statue of a woman was on the dock, and another of Cosmic Girl standing in the middle of a circle of petrificated stone. "Artie, get down here!" Sue yelled into her femmcomm. "We've got people down here, code gray!"

    Artie, Stacey and Tiffany came down with hover pads. Tiffany made an audible gasp when she saw Darlene, pale, hard, and motionless. Sue reassured her that Darlene was fine and the two heroines, living statue and trusty robot got to work moving the latest living sculptures. Carefully tilting the stony duo onto the hover pads, the two statues were transported deep inside FF INC HQ. There, in the med bay, Artie began preparing previously captured Medusa technology to restore the petrified Darlene and Julie to life.

...What could possibly be Next...?