The story behind the story of "Paragon vs. Plastica" is a long and frankly twisted one. About a year ago I became obsessed by the idea of writing a superheroine bondage story. This isn't unusual for me. Whenever I read a new kind of netfic I want to try it out. Transformation porn? I've got ideas. Gatchaman slash fanfic? Can't wait. Erotic sword and sorcery? Yum! So it started.
I'd done bondage fiction before, but the advantage of having superheroes as protags means the perils could be made more fantastic and life-threatening than normal, with lots of nail-biting angst and drama. I began with what is now Chapter 6 of Paragon vs. Plastica featuring the as-yet unnamed superheroine being encubed by trailer-trash villainess Swan. A little while later I worked out the plot: the heroine, Scirocco (real life name Cinnabar Steele) is up against a trio of female assassins called The Birds of Paradise who have been hired by her arch-enemy, the ancient sorceress-queen Kaylashat the Damned; as an archaeology student Cinnabar had accidently released the evil witch from her tomb and has been trying to seal her back into it ever since. Each "Bird" (Phoenix, Nightbird and Swan Song) were to have a novel way of doing Cinnabar in, with Swan's being the cube and vacuum chamber. But this idea stalled out.
In the meantime I'd been writing some ASFR statue-related fiction. I had an idea for a story called "Ten Transformations," a series of vignettes each dealing with a different sort of entrapment or transformation--to gold, a mannequin, a stained glass window, etc. Chapter 1, "Xenon Trapped" was to be the first of these vignettes. But along the way I got the idea of combining the Scirocco and Xenon arcs into one story, and throwing in a team of superheroines as well, ala CMQ's Fem-Fantastique series, the idea being they would experience these life-threatening entrapments on a regular basis. Then I threw in Plastica and Sexateria, and some memories of LA from a recent vacation, and the story began.
To keep things from getting confusing I've included a rundown on the gals and their powers.
Members of Team Paragon:
Arctica (Real name: Lori Olson)
Power: To freeze things, create icestorms, fly. The team's newest and
youngest member. Her mundane identity is a grad student.
Xenon (Real name: Shana Pangborn)
Power: Like Batgirl, she has a utility belt, and is the team's chemical
and electronics expert. She founded the team along with Scirocco. She is
also the oldest (in age.) Her mundane identity runs a streetside latte
stand.
White Rose (Real name: Allison Cope)
Power: Telepathy, force fields. She has a magic ivory pendant that
can turn into a full-sized winged lion that she rides. Her mundane identity
drives a cab.
Chrystar (Real name: Gina Lubinski)
Power: Strength and hardness, invisibility. She can alter her molecular
structure into a diamond-like substance that is practically transparent.
Her mundane identity is a makeup artist for the movies.
Blue Cymbidium (Noelani Walker)
Power: Control over plants. Can take on flower petal form to escape
from tight places. Half-Hawaiian, half-black. Her mundane identity is a
social worker.
Scirocco (Real name: Cinnabar Steele)
Power: The desert storm. She can also call up a powerful sword, Sabreglass,
that is bonded to her. The leader of the team, she is the second oldest,
a slim, athletic build, and long curly auburn hair. In mundane life she's
an archaelogical researcher.
Cosmic Girl (Darlene Wilson)
A member of the Fem-Fantastique superheroine team who has been called
in to help with a special project. Power: Superhuman strength and endurance,
the ability to throw off bolts of cosmic force. Very resistent to injury
and can survive in situations most normal people could not.
NOTE: The Adventures of Fem-Fantastique, Inc. can be read about in the The Hall of Statuary and The Medusa Realm. Special thanks to CMQ for loaning Cosmic Girl out to me.
The Villains:
Plastica (Dr. Polly Mehr) A resins and plastics expert, MIT graduate. She has two alternate identities: Polly Jean Estes, VP of Merchandising for the Sexateria chain of stores, and Vi (Vivian) Nyll, who runs a modeling agency called Plastic Fantastic.
Iza, Phanxine, and Tiger, her criminal assistants.