Learning the Ropes, Literally

It had been a few days since the incident where Artemis & Miss Martian had found themselves bound & gagged in a warehouse while trying to stop Killer Frost. Artemis had told the story of their escape to their fellow teammate Zatanna.

“Wow, it was lucky you managed to get out of there,” the young magician said “I remember when we were held captive by Harm, and I only managed to escape because of that ghost girl.”

“Exactly, this job puts us in a lot of dangerous situations, and, at times, our enemies are going to restrain us,” Artemis told her “I know a few tricks for getting loose, but there’s no telling what could happen the next time.”

“So, what do you plan to do?”

“If you want, I can teach you a few ways to free yourself, if you ever end up tied up again.”

Zatanna nodded happily “I’d like that,” she said “because all our enemies need to do is bind & gag me to render me helpless.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to M’gann and see if she’s interested,” Artemis replied.

-----
“I don’t know, with my powers, I can pretty much escape from any type of restraint,” Miss Martian told her friends.

“Yeah, except that Frost had that collar that disabled your powers, which was why I had to help you,” Artemis reminded her “and there’s no telling what devices the villains might have to render you helpless.”

“If they use high-tech devices to secure me, than how are your escape tricks going to be any good?” Miss Martian asked.

“Someone once told me that, when you’re a captive, you use whatever resources you can to get free,” Artemis told her “I’m going to teach you how to do that.”

“All right, I guess I can try it,” Miss Martian replied “I sure don’t want to end up like that again.”

------

So later that day, both girls reported to their room for Artemis’s training.

“Let’s try just a basic tie for right now,” Artemis said. She took some rope and tied Zatanna’s hands behind her back, then wrapped rope around her chest and arms to hold them in place. She pushed the magical girl down to the floor and tied her ankles and knees, then tied a handkerchief around her mouth.

“Okay try and get out of that,” Artemis told her.
Zatanna nodded and struggled with her ropes, squirming and twisting them as much as she could. Eventually, she managed to work her hands loose and soon had herself freed.

“That was way too easy,” she commented.

“That’s because I went easy on you this time,” Artemis told her “if you’re captured by our enemies, they won’t hesitate to do so.”

“Good point,” Zatanna noted “maybe you should tie me up like they would, so I can practice escaping from that.”

“Okay then.”

“Um, are we going to spend the whole session on Zatanna, or what?” Miss Martian asked “this training was supposed to be for both of us.”

“Oh don’t worry M’gann, we weren’t going to leave you out,” Artemis said with a sly grin, before nodding to her magic friend “Zatanna?”

“Sepor eruces!” Zatanna said, and the ropes that previously tied her zoomed over to Miss Martain and wrapped themselves around her.

“Hey, what’s going on here?!”

“Well, you were right that you can escape from most conventional bonds,” Artemis told her “so Z and I figured we give you a real challenge by tying you up with magically enhanced ropes.”

Zatanna nodded “they’ve been specially enchanted to prevent you from using your strength to break them. Unless someone unties you or you wriggle free on your own, you’re not getting out of those.”

”Oh come on, how likely is it that our enemies would have magic ropes?” Miss Martian asked incredulously.

“Very little, but you don’t know what they might have, so you have to learn to escape from anything,” Artemis told her.

“Okay you two, this has gone far enough!” Miss Martian said “I don’t want to do this anymore so you untie me right…mmph!” was all she could manage before a cloth, also enchanted by the raven haired girl, floated over and was tied around her mouth. The green Martian girl screamed as loud as she could, but her protests were sufficiently muffled.

“Relax M’gann, you can get out of that; just try to relax your limbs and pull cautiously against the knots,” Artemis told her.  

“MMM hhttt yy ttww” Miss Martian mumbled from behind her gag.

“Now be nice, or we won’t let you out,” Zatanna mockingly.

“Okay, while M’gann is working on her escape, let’s continue to practice yours,” Artemis said.

The blonde produced more rope and tied Zatanna as she had before, but this time put the black haired beauty in a hogtie.

“This was how I was tied before,” Artemis told her “I managed to stretch out the rope between my limbs until it broke, then broke open the door to cut myself loose. Of course, that may not work for you.”

“True.”

“It also works if you’re tied to a chair,” Artemis explained “you can try to shatter the chair to free yourself.”

“Naturally.”

“Now if it’s a metal chair, that could be a problem,” Artemis continued “your best bet then is to try and stretch the ropes tying you the chair. They have some slack you can take advantage of. Of course, getting free for you would be pretty easy, as you only need your mouth free to cast spells.”

“Yeah that’s a good point,” Zatanna said “so I guess they’d have…mmph” she said, before Artemis crammed a wad of cloth in her mouth.

“So I’m just going have to make sure you can’t do that” she said.

Reaching into a bag she brought, she produced a roll of duct tape; tearing several strips off, she placed them over Zatanna’s mouth to hold the cloth in.

“Okay, can you form any words?”

“Mmmmph.”

“Good,” said Artemis “if you find yourself in this situation, the best thing you can do is try using your surroundings to help you. If you can find anything sharp to cut your bonds, a piece of glass, some broken wood, a nail, then take advantage of it.”

“Mmmph” Zatanna nodded and looked around for anything she could find. There wasn’t much, but she noticed that the blonde archer had left her quiver, full of arrows out.

“Good work,” Artemis congratulated her “now, see if you can get over there.”

Zatanna began the painstaking process of moving over, which was hard with her hands tied to her legs. She finally got on her side and began to sidle over to the quiver, but it was slow going. Finally she made it and reached for one of the arrows with her fingers. She then used its’ sharp head to sever the rope holding her in a hogtie.

Taking a few moments to stretch her aching limbs, Zatanna then turned her attention to her wrist bonds, sawing them with the arrowhead. Eventually, they parted way, and the girl was able to saw through the ropes around her arms. Soon she was fully untied and got the tape off her mouth.

“That was good, although it’s unlikely your captors would have any items easily on hand to help you escape,” Artemis told her “your best bet it to carry some kind of easily concealable blade on you.”

“I’ll definitely to that,” Zatanna told her, after spitting out the cloth “I don’t want to go through that again.”

“Come on let’s see if M’gann has made any progress.’

The two walked over to where the green girl was still attempting to free herself from the magically controlled bonds.

“You still haven’t gotten loose?” Artemis asked her “looks like you need this more than Zatanna does.”

“Nnnttt mmmm!”

“No, we’re not going to untie you, you need to learn to get loose on your own,” Artemis told her “it’s not hard if you remember what I said; try and use your surroundings to help get free”

She then turned to Zatanna “ready for another test?”

“Sure, give me the best you’ve got.”

-----

Me and my big mouth.

Zatanna was now currently lying on the floor of a room in Mount Justice, her hands tied together with duct tape, and also tied to her ankles, essentially bending her like a bow. Her “big mouth” was stuffed with cloth with several strips of the tape over it.

“Now, duct tape is more difficult to loosen than rope,” Artemis told her “but if you stretch hard enough, you can wear out the adhesive. Give it a try.”

Zatanna did, despite the cramped position of her limbs, but nothing budged. The raven haired girl looked at her teammate from her position on the floor.

“This is why a concealed blade would be helpful,” Artemis told her “all right, hold on,” she said, and producing a small blade cut through the tape surrounding the girl.

“Oh man, I’m going to be sore for a week at least!” Zatanna groaned, after she removed the tape and spit out the rag “why’d you tie me like that, anyway?”

“To make it harder for you to get loose,” Artemis explained “our enemies aren’t going to grant us any courtesy, so we need to prepare for any situation.”

“Well do you think we can take a break now?” Zatanna asked.

“All right,” Artemis told her.

------

“I have to say, that was a very enlightening experience,” Zatanna said, as the two girls hung out later in the lounge “how do you know all that stuff about escaping anyway?”

“I’ve read up on it,” Artemis lied.

“Okay,” Zatanna replied “hey, should we check on M’gann? It’s weird that she hasn’t escaped by now.”

“I’ll check on her,” Artemis said, leaving the room.

As Zatanna got herself more comfortable on the couch, someone grabbed her from behind, clamping a hand over her mouth. The young magician tried to escape her assailant, or at least free her mouth so she could utter a spell, but she felt something strange, as if someone was messing with her mind, and then drifted off into unconsciousness.

-----

Artemis, meanwhile, wandered over to the room where they had left the green Martian girl.

“Sorry to have left you tied up for so long M’gann” she said “I hope you’ve learned from…”

The blonde archer paused upon seeing the ropes and cloth that once held the Martian girl lying on the floor.

“Guess she did manage to get loose after all,” Artemis said “but if she did, how come she didn’t come back and…”

That was the last thing she could manage before something hit her in the back of the head, knocking her out.

-----

Artemis regained her senses slowly, becoming aware that something was weighing her down, and that she was cold.

As her sight returned, she looked down to find that she was securely bound. Ropes tied her hands behind her back, and her legs at the knees & ankles; more rope was wrapped around her chest, anchoring something heavy to her back. And, to her absolute embarrassment, she had been stripped of her superhero outfit and left in only her undergarments.

“MMMMMMPPH!” she raged, thrashing back and forth in her bonds. As she did, she could hear some light murmuring. She craned her head as far back as she could and found what it was she was tied to; or rather, who.

“Zzttnn?” she said, trying her best to speak over the gag.

Yes, the young magician was tied behind her in the same way, and also wearing only her underthings. A gag was tied around her mouth and Artemis assumed her captor had made it good and hard to get off.

Who did capture us anyway? Artemis thought could some villain have found our base and gotten through our defenses? Whoever it was worked so fast, I barely saw them. Who has that kind of power?

“Hey girls, I hope you’re comfortable.”

Of course.

“Did you really think you two could just get away with tying me up like that?” M’gann asked

“MMMPH” Artemis replied

“Okay, I admit your techniques about relaxing my limbs did work after all,” Miss Martian said “thanks to that I was able to slip off my bonds. In fact, thanks so much for all the tips; it made it easy for me to ensure you can’t use any of them to escape.”  

“Mmmggnn tttsss sssnntt ffnnnyy!”  

“Actually, I think it’s quite humorous,” Miss Martian told her “but don’t worry, you’re so good at escaping that you should be able to free yourself. Of course, it might take a few hours, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want the boys to see you here in just your underwear, including Wally.”

“Mmmgggnn nnnttt mmmm rrrhhhtt nnnnww!” Artemis yelled through her gag.

“What’s that? I can’t quite hear you,” Miss Martian replied mockingly “oh don’t be so mad; you taught me how to escape if I was tied up, I’m just repaying the favor, so to speak.”

At that moment, Zatanna began to regain her senses. It took the magician girl only a few moments to realize she was bound & gagged and wearing only a bra & panties. Naturally, she began struggling for all she was worth.

“Oh don’t be like that Z,” Miss Martian told her “now then, I’m going to come back in an hour. If you haven’t freed yourselves by then… well then, keep trying,” the green skinned girl added, before she shut the door, locking the two bound captives in.

After she left, Artemis began pulling at the ropes, hoping to find some slack, but it was no good, Miss Martian knew what she was doing. Artemis was sure she could work herself free, but it would probably take a while.

I guess she picked up my lessons a little too well the girl thought, as she began the long process of trying to get free.