The Adventures of the Jade
Dragon
Episode 4
by L'ESPION
Chapter 1 The Black Leopard’s
Surprise
Metro City,
1923
“Aaahhhh!”
Eighteen-year-old Violet Chambers screamed as one of
her ruthless captors twisted her left
nipple.
“That’s enough,
my Pussies,” said the Black Leopard, “we don’t want her
damaged. She’s worth a lot
of money if we keep her in one piece.”
“Oh Blackie,” protested one of the black-clad women, “we’re
just having fun.”
“Do as you are told, and don’t call me
Blackie.”
The Black Leopard’s underlings moved away from the weeping
girl. They knew better than to
push their boss too far. And
the Black Leopard was right. The
girl was the daughter of one of
The Black Leopard lifted Violet’s
chin. “Stop your sobbing
girl. I’m not going to let
anything happed to you. I don’t
even really want you for the money.
I have a more important goal in
mind.”
The Black Leopard rebuttoned Violet’s torn
blouse. “You know, you are
rather attractive. I could enjoy
having a little fun with you, if I was inclined that
way. But you’re safe from
me – I prefer men.”
The redheaded girl trembled. Only
one day ago she had been safe at home, lying on her bed while she studied
for next day’s history exam.
Now she was trussed up against a wall, and subject to the taunts and
brutality of her kidnappers. Her
wrists were shackled and her arms were stretched over her head and fastened
to a ring embedded in the concrete wall.
The ring was only four feet off the floor so she was forced into a
kneeling position. Twice a day
her arms were released from their shackles so that she could attend to bodily
functions and have some food and drink, but she was always accompanied by
one of the Black Leopard’s
“Pussies.” She had
supposed that she had been kidnapped for ransom, but the Black Leopard’s
comments alluded to a more sinister motive than mere
money.
The Black Leopard moved away from the helpless
girl. Opening a door at the side
of the small room she exited and moved into a much larger
chamber. The room was filled
with all sorts of exotic machinery and strange
apparatus. In the center of the
room, bent over a cluttered workbench was a wizened little man dressed in
a white lab coat.
“Well Mad Ivan,” the Black Leopard said, “how is the project
coming? “Will we be ready
for them?
“I prefer Dr. Retinoff,” replied the little man, adjusting his
coke bottle thick glasses.
“Have it your way, Doc. Now
will you answer my question?”
Retinoff grimaced. He did not
like “Doc” much better than “Mad
Ivan.” He had met the Black
Leopard quite by chance when the Jade Dragon and her companions had destroyed
Brick Henson’s gang
(See The Jade Dragon’s
Subjugation). He had
been part of that gang and his fiendish inventions had almost been the end
of
Retinoff turned to look at the magnificent black costumed figure that stood
in front of him. “So much
evil,” he thought, “in such a tiny
package.” He liked
that. The Black Leopard was quite
petite, standing only five-foot-three and weighing just over 100 pounds.
She was the same height as he was.
Sometimes he had thoughts about
her. He jerked himself back to
reality. The Black Leopard was
looking intently at him, and tapping her clawed fingers on his
workbench.
“Yes, I will be ready,” Retinoff said
finally. “I am just making
a few final adjustments.”
“Good, because one of those costumed showoffs could show up at any
time.”
Retinoff smiled. The Black Leopard
was the biggest costumed show off that he
knew. “Do not worry, my
lovely, they will get more than they bargained for when they show up
here.”
“You better be right,” she
snarled. “And don’t
call me ‘your lovely’.”
The Black Leopard turned and left the room.
“Blackie,” shouted one of the Black Leopard’s Pussies as the
Asian criminal re-entered the room, “she’s
here! Take a
look.” The Pussy gestured
toward one of Retinoff’s ingenious
inventions. He called it distance
vision or DV for short. It was
a glowing screen that somehow transmitted images from cameras placed outside
to the interior of the building.
The Black Leopard did not pretend
to understand these sorts of things.
That was Retinoff’s
department. He did the inventing;
she supplied the money and gave the orders.
“Don’t call me…” The Black Leopard began, and then the
message sank in. “Who’s
here?”
“The Jade Dragon. Look,
you can see her on the rooftop across the way.”
The Black Leopard looked. Sure
enough across the street a green and black figure swept across the
roof. She was just a blur, but
the Black Leopard’s keen eyes took in every detail of that svelte
body. It
was the Jade Dragon.
That green and black costume was unmistakable, as was the way she
suddenly bounded from the rooftop of the neighboring building to the building
the Black Leopard was in. That
leap had been truly tremendous,
covering over sixty feet; and the oriental superheroine seemed hardly
to have strained herself.
“Impressive,”
thought the Black Leopard.
“One of these days I’m going to have to learn how to do
that. “Retinoff’s little
scheme had better work.” She
hurried to inform the little scientist what was
transpiring. With any luck the
Jade Dragon was going to get a shock she would never forget.
Sun Lin, the Jade Dragon, vaulted easily to the rooftop of the building where
she suspected the kidnapped girl was being
held. She was tall for an Asian,
standing about five-foot-nine and was exquisitely
developed. Her smooth-muscled
body seemed to flow across the rooftop.
She was dressed primarily in jade green, highlighted with black along
her arms and shoulders. Tall
black boots came up over her knees which were similarly covered in green
and black. About her waist was
a weapons belt containing a variety of apparatus to help her in her crimefighting
career. Her face was shielded
from discovery by a black mask and cowl and a reversible cloak black on one
side and green on the other draped her
shoulders. The only hint of vivid
colour on her costume was one half of a gold and black yin-yan symbol just
over her prominent breasts.
Sun Lin had followed a trail of clues to the building she supposed was the
Black Leopard’s lair. But
she was wary of a trap. The clues
had been too obvious, almost as if they were being provided for
her. She strongly suspected that
she was being set up. As a result,
she had brought along her companions, the Blue Avenger and Nova, to back
her up. There was no sense in
taking chances. She had been
trapped by villains on several occasions before and had paid a painful price
for her carelessness. She had
no wish to repeat the experience.
Her friends had given her half an hour to check out the
building. Then they would come
in after her. Still a third
companion, the Scarlet Falcon, was waiting at home, ready to call the police
if she did not hear from any of them in an
hour.
She knew very little about the Black
Leopard. The mysterious oriental
villainess was a recent arrival in
She moved stealthily across the rooftop.
She trod lightly, anticipating some sort of
trap. Many attempts had been
made on her life and caution was second nature to her
now. That is why she usually
chose to move about at night. On
this mission, however, she was out in
daylight. That was always more
risky, because it increased her chances of being
seen. As a vigilante, she was
none too popular with the police and private citizens might mistake her for
a criminal. However, the nature
of the criminal she was tracking had forced her out into
daylight. A young girl had been
kidnapped. Given the tendency
of many kidnappers to kill their victims she could not afford to wait until
darkness. She had managed to
track the kidnappers to the Black Leopard’s lair and had acted on it
immediately.
She approached the rooftop skylight.
That was a possible way in, but it was almost too
obvious. It was an open invitation
to walk into a trap. She looked
about for something better. Perhaps
it would be more prudent if she swung over the side of the building and entered
through a window. That might
not be expected. Of course, there
was always the danger of being seen from the street, but it was unusual for
most people to look up, so she should be fairly
safe.
She hooked a grapple into the edge of the roof and dropped into
space. She caught herself a few
feet down and swung slowly back and forth in front of the top floor
windows. She decided against
the dramatic but noisy idea of just smashing through the window by swinging
into it. She wanted to be quiet,
and so she took a glasscutter from her utility belt and removed part of the
pane she was next to. After that
it was a simple matter to reach in and unlock the
window. Raising the window, she
swung in and found herself in a small deserted
room. She crossed to the
door. There was no sound from
the hall outside and so she slowly opened the door and stepped into the
corridor. She moved even more
cautiously now. A corridor was
a perfect place for a trap. She
and her companions had been trapped on several occasions by sliding doors
that sealed off escape while in corridors similar to this
one. Her entrance into the lair
of the kidnappers had been too easy.
It was, of course, possible that she was up against criminals who
were less than competent. She
had come across many lawbreakers like
that. However, she did not expect
that the Black Leopard would be one of
them. She checked her back ensuring
that the door the room she had come through remained
open. In an emergency there would
be a way out. She proceeded down
the corridor.
The corridor made a sharp turn to the
right. The Jade Dragon followed
it around. Now she was in a long
narrow hallway without doors except at the far
end. She could just make out
a glimmer of light shining under the bottom of the
door. This looked more promising,
but it was also more dangerous.
However, she would not be much of a crimefighter if she shied away
from danger. She headed for the
door. She had hardly taken more
than a dozen steps before there was a sharp click and a section of the ceiling
descended behind her. She whirled
about only to hear the sound of a second panel sealing off the section of
the hallway that she had been heading
toward. She was now
trapped!
There was no panic. She had been
expecting something of this sort.
She approached the panel that had closed behind
her. A quick examination showed
that it was constructed of ceiling panels backed by
steel. It was much too strong
for her to break through; however, she was prepared for just such an
eventuality. Reaching into her
utility belt she removed a small torch and two tiny gas
cylinders. One of the cylinders
contained acetylene, the other oxygen.
In a few seconds she had assembled a miniature acetylene
torch. Quickly, she ignited the
torch and adjusted the flame. She
had no time to waste. It was
unlikely that whomever had set off the trap would leave her alone for very
long.
The flame burned easily through the
metal. It was only about a quarter
of an inch thick. It was strong
enough to hold her, however, unless she got through it in a
hurry. Suddenly, however, she
was aware of a strange hissing sound.
Gas! She held her breath,
trying to finish the cutting job before the gas overcame
her.
The Jade Dragon had excellent control over her
breathing. Holding her breath
for the duration of the job would not be a problem, except for one
thing. She had heard the sound
of the gas too late. She had
already been breathing it for a number of
seconds. As a result she was
already woozy. She was unable
to hold her breath for more than a few seconds before giving
in. She needed to
breathe. Her bosom heaving, she
struggled to keep going.
“Just a few more seconds,” she
thought. But then a thought permeated
the fog that was enveloping her brain.
Any gas that could put her to sleep was likely also
explosive. If the acetylene set
it off… Fumbling with the
controls she shut down the torch.
She was just in time. Her
vision was blurring and she could hold out no
longer. Gasping she released
her breath and took in a great gulp of
air. The anesthetic gas filled
her lungs. She stumbled forward,
falling to her knees. Her eyes
closed and she slumped to the floor.
The gas had beaten her.
Almost immediately, the sliding panel that had descended behind her slid
back up into the ceiling. Behind
it were two shapely young women dressed in skintight black costumes, and
a tiny gnome-like man in a white lab
coat. “You see,” the
little man said, “I told you my trap would
work. These superheroines
aren’t too smart. “They
fall for the same trick every
time.”
The two young women stepped forward.
“We better take her to the Black Leopard,” one of them
said. “She will have something
special planned for this one.”
Placing one arm under each of the Jade Dragon’s arms the two
female cronies dragged her the length of the hall and through the door at
the end. They entered a large
well-lit room, the very room where poor Violet Chambers was chained to the
wall. In the middle of the room
was the petite, but somehow imperious form of the Black
Leopard. Her costume was identical
to that of her followers with the exception that it was trimmed in yellow
and emblazoned with a small golden leopard over her left
breast. Her head was, of course,
covered by a cowl with two tiny points on it that symbolized the ears of
the member of the cat family from which she derived her
name. She smiled a slow, cruel
smile as the Jade Dragon was dragged into the room.
“Ah,” she exclaimed, “I finally get to meet the famous Jade
Dragon. She doesn’t look
nearly as terrifying as I thought she
might. When I’m through
with her she’ll wish she had never met me.”
She stepped over to the prostrate from of the sleeping heroine and lifted
her head. “Maybe I should
unmask her now,” she said.
“No, that’s no fun.
I want to torture her a bit first.
Alright Pussies, chain her to the wall.”
There were four of the Black Leopard’s hirelings in the
room. They all came forward at
once, carrying lengths of chain and
handcuffs. They intended to do
a good job of immobilizing the Jade Dragon.
Two of the Pussies grabbed hold of the Jade Dragon’s arms and began
to pull them behind her back, and then the supposedly unconscious heroine
seemed to explode. Her powerful
legs kicked out, catching the two Pussies who were holding her square in
their midsections. So great was
the impact that the two women were hurled completely across the
room. Then the Jade Dragon leaped
to her feet and with a series of devastatingly quick kicks and punches hammered
the two remaining Pussies into
insensibility. In less than twenty
seconds the Jade Dragon had eliminated almost all of her
opponents. There remained just
two: the diminutive mad scientist, and the Black Leopard
herself.
The Jade Dragon faced her Asian opponent.
The Black Leopard’s eyes widened in
amazement. What she had just
witnessed was as impressive a display of martial arts as she had ever seen,
still she did not panic. She
was equally confident of her own skills in the martial
arts. She was, however, astonished
at the swift recovery of her supposedly senseless prisoner.
“How did you…?” began the Black Leopard.
“How did I wake up so fast?” interrupted the Jade Dragon, speaking
Chinese. “I was never
asleep. My cowl incorporates
tiny filters that protect me from gas.
I let you think that I was overcome in order to get in here more
easily. Your attack was hardly
a surprise.”
The Black Leopard was angry. She
did not like that fact that her trap had been so easily
avoided. It made her look
amateurish. “I’ll teach
that green harlequin a lesson she won’t forget,” she
thought. “No one makes a
fool of me.”
The black clad villain stood confidently in the center of the
room. She had never met anyone
that she could not beat in one-on-one
combat. But she had never encountered
anyone like the Jade Dragon. The
green and black clad heroine was more than just a martial arts
expert. She had reached a point
in her training where her physical skills were fully amplified by mental
powers that gave her almost superhuman
qualities. Unaware of how badly
she was overmatched, the Black Leopard launched her
attack.
She struck with lighting speed, intending to land a
combination of kicks and punches that would quickly put her goody-two-shoes
opponent away. But not a single
blow found its mark. It was almost
as if the Jade Dragon was simply not
there. Her beautiful combinations
struck only empty air. And then
the Jade Dragon struck back. She
was in no mood to dally with the arch villain who only a few short months
ago had humiliated and beaten her friend and companion the Scarlet Falcon,
and who had chained a helpless young girl to the
wall. The Black Leopard saw the
strike coming. It was delivered
in the form of a kick toward her head from an antagonist that seemed to be
floating seven feet off the floor.
The blow came with blinding speed.
Even the Black Leopard’s quick reflexes could not save her from
it. She was able to move her
head just enough to avoid the full force of the blow, but even so the impact
knocked her ten feet across the room and into the
wall. Stunned, the Black Leopard
felt her legs turn to rubber. She
sank to her knees and then pitched forward onto her
face. In a instant her opponent
was upon her, handcuffing her hands behind her back, and then bending her
knees and locking another set of cuffs onto each ankle so that her ankles
were tightly linked to her wrists.
Then the Jade Dragon went to the trembling girl still chained to the wall
of the room. It took but a few
seconds to use her lock pick to release the girl from her
manacles. Noticing her look of
fear, the Jade Dragon spoke reassuringly.
“Don’t worry. You
are safe now. Soon the police
will be here and you will be on your way home.”
She led the girl to a chair and helped her to sit
down. Then she picked up a phone
that was sitting on a side table and spoke into
it. “Operator, give me the
police, this is an emergency.”
In a few minutes she had filled in the police on the
details. Then she spoke to the
girl again. “I’ll leave
you here. I have to find that
little scientist, and the police and I don’t exactly get
along. You won’t have to
wait long; I can hear their sirens
already.” And indeed the
sound of police cars racing toward the building could be clearly
heard. The Jade Dragon then gathered
up the fallen bodies of the Black Leopard’s Pussies and handcuffed them
together by shackling the wrist of each of the unconscious women to the one
lying next to her so that they were linked in a complete
circle. Then without further
ado the Jade Dragon exited the room and disappeared in the direction she
had seen Retinoff take. He had
a bit of a head start, but she might still catch him.
The Black Leopard shook her head.
What the hell had happened to her?
Then she remembered.
Suddenly alarmed, she tried to get up, but found her wrists and ankles
were manacled. She swore aloud
in Chinese. She should never
have depended on Retinoff. The
little bastard’s trap had not worked and had lulled her into a false
sense of confidence. The Jade
Dragon was a much more formidable opponent than she had reckoned
on. The sound of sirens blared
in her ears. They were coming
closer and closer. “Damn
these handcuffs,” she thought.
She was caught like a rat in a
trap. “I’ve got to
find a way out of this. I can’t
let them lock me up!”
She tried to twist around, but with her ankles shackled to her wrists she
could hardly move. She was still
struggling when the door crashed open and several police officers charged
into the room. “Well, what
have we here,” said a beefy redheaded
cop. “Looks like a cat
house.”
“It’s that Black Leopard bitch, Bull,” chimed in one of the
other cops. The one who has been
doing all the burglaries.”
“Looks like she decided to move up to kidnapping,” said
Bull.
Violet Chambers ran toward the police
officers. “Thank goodness
you’re here,” she said.
“You the one that made the phone call?” asked
Bull. “How’d you manage
to get away?”
“It wasn’t me. It was
that masked heroine – you know, the Jade
Dragon. She broke in here and
captured the whole bunch. Then
she took off.”
“Oh yeah – her,” replied Bull,
frowning. There was no love lost
between the police and the costumed vigilantes of
He moved over to the Black Leopard, who was still struggling
to get loose. “Looks like
you met your match, darlin’.
Bit off a little more than you could
chew.” He raised her head
and pulled off her cowl.
The Black Leopard’s silken black hair spilled loose cascading over her
shoulders. She was now revealed
as Li Mei, born in
What Bull Riley saw, however, was an astonishingly beautiful
face. Li Mei’s dark almond eyes looked up at him with wide-eyed
helplessness. It was a look she
had cultivated. It had often
helped get her out of difficult
situations. Bull, however, was
not deceived. Although impressed
by the helpless woman’s incredible beauty he also knew that she had
on occasion beaten up several police officers who had made the mistake of
tangling with her. And she did
not pay bribes, and that was a very serious mistake.
She was, however, very easy to look at.
He ran his eyes over her body.
Her skintight costume revealed every curve in her luscious
body. His gaze came to rest on
her gently heaving breasts. The
outline of her nipples could be clearly seen through the sheer material that
covered them. He licked his
lips. He was beginning to get
an idea. Prison could
wait. It was time to get some
personal satisfaction out of this bitch.
He looked over his shoulder. The
remaining cops were helping the other women prisoners to
stand. He exchanged a glance
with his long time partner “Fish”
Malone. He looked back to the
Black Leopard and then back to Fish
again. He
winked. Fish
nodded. They needed no further
communication. They had played
this game before. The last time
had been when he and Fish had raided a
brothel. The Black Leopard’s
hideout wasn’t a brothel, but it would do.
Bull stood up. “The rest
of you check out the remainder of the building,” he said, addressing
the other cops. Start with the
floor below this one and work your way down to the
basement. Don’t miss anything,
I want as much evidence as you can find.
Fish and me will look after this bunch.”
The other cops looked a little
disappointed. The Black
Leopard’s Pussies were a comely
bunch. They had been looking
forward to patting then down and escorting them down to the paddy
wagon. But they
went. No one in the department
argued with Bull Riley, not even senior
officers.
Bull waited until his fellow officers were out of
sight. The errand he had sent
them on would keep them busy for hours.
He turned his attention back to Li
Mei. He pulled her upright by
grabbing the front of her costume.
Then putting a good deal of force into it he struck her hard on the
jaw. The blow caught Li Mei
completely by surprise. She had
thought she was getting through to the big
cop. The punch was unexpected
and it knocked her out cold.
Bull picked up the unconscious villainess and carried her into the next
room. He had noticed through
the open door when he had entered the Black Leopard’s lair that there
seemed to be a suite of rooms there.
Probably the Black Leopard’s living quarters, and where there
was a living quarters there was probably a bed.
He was not disappointed. He entered
a luxurious apartment. The Black
Leopard obviously enjoyed a rich
lifestyle. Through another doorway
was her bedroom and in the center of the room was a deluxe bed large enough
for four people to make love in at once.
Bull dumped the body of the Black Leopard onto the
bed. Then, checking first to
make sure she was still unconscious, he removed the handcuffs from her
ankles. Very conveniently the
Jade Dragon had left the keys prominently displayed by the door of the
lair. That made things so much
easier. He took one of the sheets
from the bed and ripped it into two long
strips. Removing the Black
Leopard’s boots he tied one ankle with one strip of cloth and then tied
it to the leg of the bed. He
repeated the process with the other leg. Li Mei was now nicely
spread. It was time to enjoy
her.
The Black clad villainess stirred.
She was regaining consciousness. Li Mei opened her
eyes. To her consternation she
found that she was spread-eagled on her own bed, her hands still handcuffed
behind her. Standing at the foot
of the bed was the impressive figure of Bull
Riley. He was slowly removing
his clothing. As he dropped his
pants and drawers she suppressed a little
gasp. He was not called
“Bull” simply because of his personality.
“Looking forward to this darlin’?” said Bull and he stroked
his thick, heavy male organ.
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