The
Misadventures of the
Black Leopard
Episode
1
The
Black Leopard’s Revenge
Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Chapter
2
Adjustments
“How long do I have to keep this up?” Li Mei complained.
“Keep up what, Blackie, I mean Black Leopard?” Cheetah asked, her liquid brown eyes as vacate of thought as a cow’s.
Li Mei’s dark eyes narrowed so much that they almost disappeared. “The next time you call me Blackie, I’m going to… “
“Oww!” she yelped, changing the direction of her anger to the infant suckling at her breast. “The little bitch bit me!”
“But she doesn’t have any teeth, Bl…Black Leopard,” Tiger said.
“Then she’s got damned powerful gums,” Li Mei growled. “As I was saying before all the unnecessary interruptions, how long to I have to put up with this little lioness sucking at my teat?”
“Mothers in some cultures breastfeed for up to five years,” Wildcat stated, brightly.
Li Mei glared at her balefully. “Of course,” the chestnut-haired Pussy, continued hastily. “That might be a little excessive.”
“Why are you all in here anyway?” Li Mei asked. “Aren’t there any old ladies nearby who have available purses?”
All of the Pussies and there were four of them looked blankly at one another. Without the Black Leopard to tell them what to do, they were as incapable of independent thought as a bag of prunes.
“Why don’t you visit Jahlen?” Li Mei asked tiredly. “I’m not the only one with a baby.”
“Jahlen scares us.” Ocelot said. “We’d rather be here.”
“She scares me too,” thought Li Mei. She and Jahlen had a rather peculiar relationship, having spent a good deal of their time torturing one another shortly after they had first met. Strangely the frightening pain and humiliation they had subjected one another to seemed to have brought them together in a bond that if not exactly love was about as close as either woman could come to that emotion.
“All of you get out of here except
Wildcat.” She glanced at
the Pussy she had just named.
“Qing Yuan stinks,”
she said, detaching the infant from her
nipple. “You have the privilege
of changing her diaper.”
Wildcat brightened, pleased at being chosen over the other
Pussies. Li Mei sighed and buttoned
her blouse. She was going to
see Jahlen and Elenah. She had
to do something other than be a good mother before she went stir
crazy.
She found the tall villainess in her room, tenderly rocking her child
in her arms. Jahlen’s
golden-green eyes seemed to glow as Li Mei entered the
room. A smile caressed her ruby
lips.
Li Mei returned the smile. “Darling,” she said. “Don’t you think it’s time we started thinking about how to deal with Zhuang? We’ve been playing mother for a month now and he has been busy rebuilding his organization.”
“I haven’t been playing mother,” Jahlen replied softly. “I am a mother. I know you are anxious to get back at Zhuang for what he did to us, but my child comes first. Vengeance comes second. Besides, neither of us is in the peak of condition. We need a couple of months at least to recover our fitness levels before we go after Zhuang. Why not let Elenah handle it? She has greatly increased her territory since the heroines took out Zhuang.”
Li Mei had been afraid of this. Although strongly attached to her own daughter, she wasn’t one to let her child get in the way of more important things, like revenge. More importantly, she knew Jahlen was right. Both she and Jahlen had suffered brutally at the hands of the Chinese archvillain and although they had recovered physically, the overly rapid growth of their children had drained energy from them. Li Mei was down to a slender 90 pounds and the hollows in Jahlen’s cheeks showed that she too had lost weight.
“You’re right,” Li Mei said finally. “We can’t go up against Zhuang like this. I’m going to resume training today. She placed her hand on Jahlen’s. Care to join me?”
Jahlen smiled broadly. “I’d be delighted. But I’m not going to churn my milk into butter. Let’s keep it light.”
Li Mei returned the smile. It lit up her dazzlingly beautiful face. Jahlen was the only woman who had ever seen that particular smile. It was a look that not even the Pussies had been allowed to share. “Yes,” she said, touching Jahlen’s face lightly. “We’ll keep it light.”
Elenah Firenza pursed her lips as she watched Li Mei and Jahlen go through
their exercise routine. She
didn’t know whether to be pleased or
annoyed. The two female villains
had finally decided to go after Zhuang, although from the way they were moving
it would be a few months before they were fit enough to take any real
action. Since the shattering
of Zhuang’s criminal empire by the Jade Dragon and her companions Elenah
had emerged as the dominant crimelord in
However, that would mean that the Black Leopard and that pack of morons she
called her “Pussies” would once again be a part of the
Jahlen was an unknown quantity. Elenah knew very little about the woman other than the fact that Li Mei seemed very friendly with her and like Li Mei she had been raped and impregnated by Zhuang. She certainly was menacing in appearance, especially with that almost hypnotic stare. Elenah had looked into those yellow-green orbs once and had never done it again. She shuddered. The sooner the Black Leopard and her strange friend were back in shape and out of her home the better.
In the meantime, things weren’t too
bad. Since the destruction of
Zhuang’s empire profits in Elenah’s organization were up
200%. The only area that was
down was prostitution. Elenah
didn’t approve of prostitution and had shut down all of Zhuang’s
bawdy houses. That didn’t
mean there were a lot of unemployed whores in
Elenah’s attitude toward prostitution was one that she came by honesty. Her introduction to sex had been a brutal rape at the hands of a rival crime boss. Ever since that time she had been dead against forcing women to have sex. She was practical enough to realize, however, that she probably couldn’t stop women from getting into the profession of selling their bodies if that is what they chose to do.
With a sigh Elenah turned away from Li Mei’s practice session. Too bad their relationship hadn’t worked out. However, Ocelot had been giving her long glances lately. Perhaps… She smiled. She would go have a friendly chat with the girl.
Zhuang Zhijian smacked his bloated lips as he swallowed his sixtieth
oyster. This was a particularly
fine catch and quite fresh. He
hated oysters that were more than a couple of hours
old. There was no telling what
chemical processes might have altered
them. Fortunately, he was located
right on the waterfront. It was
one of the few compensating factors in his choice of a
headquarters. Other than that,
the dilapidated warehouse he now called home was quite a decline in his living
standards. One day, however,
he would regain his place as
Suzi Kendall, also known as the Scarlet Falcon struggled to loosen the ropes that bound her wrists. She had really blundered this time. Without thinking she had walked right into the simplest of traps; one that even the most inexperienced rookie would have avoided. There really was no excuse for what had happened. Although only twenty-three years of age, she had almost six years of crime-fighting experience, and yet she had chased the young thief into an alley without even stopping to think that he might have an accomplice. Thinking the boy trapped she had been completely unaware that anyone else was even around until someone had hit her over the back of the head. That someone was now leading her deeper and deeper into the dark recesses of an abandoned warehouse. When he got her where he wanted her there was little doubt about what he might do.
“Why don’t we just fuck her here?” said the young thief. He couldn’t have been much more than eighteen years old, but his sexual appetite seemed quite well developed.
The man leading Suzi stopped, slacking off the length of rope that was wound around her neck. “You’ll learn son, that good things are well worth waiting for. Don’t worry, we’ll have a lot of fun with this one. The chance to screw a superheroine only comes along once in a very long while. You have to do it properly and slowly. We’ll fuck her, but we want to get maximum pleasure out of it. Where I’m taking her we won’t be disturbed and we can let her scream a little. Also, I don’t think it is proper for us to keep her all to ourselves.”
Suzi shuddered, and tensed her muscles, straining every inch of her powerful five-foot-ten inch frame as she sought to snap the ropes. It was a futile exercise. Supple and strong as her body was, she had only normal human strength and the older man had done a good job of tying her. She couldn’t even scream for help. A crude gag had been stuffed into her mouth and tied in place with a length of coarse rope. She stumbled over the uneven flooring in the darkness. Here and there a few floorboards had become loose and her legs had been hobbled with a short length of rope.
“Where are they taking me?” she wondered. If they wanted they could have ra… had their way with her long before now. Why had they not done it? Both of her abductors had certainly talked about it enough.
“Here we are,” said the older man, interrupting her ruminations. He pulled open and door and light spilled from an inner room.
“That you Vince?” asked a voice on the other side of the doorway.
“Sure is, Grogan. Got Rob with me and a little gift.” Vince dragged on the rope, pulling Suzi into the light.
“A little gift!” exclaimed a voice from within the room. “You got me a fucking superheroine.”
Vince pulled Suzi through the doorway. Inside was a well lit room with several hulking thugs in it. The largest of these, a man standing at least six-foot-six, stood in the centre of the room. Vince dragged Suzi toward him. “This should take care of the money I owe you and then some,” Vince said.
Grogan nodded. “Consider the debt paid. Welcome back to the gang. Now let’s have a good look at what you brought me.”
Suzi understood now. Vince had not captured her just for himself. She was about to be gang raped by at least a dozen men. Her body went cold with fear.
Kyla Smith strode boldly through the least savory area of
“Where the hell is Suzi?” she said aloud, attracting the bemused gaze of a frowsy prostitute who heard a voice that seemed to come out of thin air. The prostitute shrugged and continued chewing her gum.
Kyla was beginning to become a little worried. She and Suzi had an agreement that they would meet at a prearranged spot every three hours while on night patrol. Kyla had kept that rendezvous. Suzi had not. Even more worrying was the fact that Kyla had come across Suzi’s crimson and gold motorcycle. The engine was barely warm. Suzi had obviously parked an hour or so ago and had not been back since.
The bike, however, was a starting point. If Suzi was in trouble she might be close by. If so Kyla would be able to detect her presence. However, it was no easy thing to detect one mind among many and it would take her awhile to single out Suzi’s distinct thought patterns.
Fighting crime as one of the two remaining heroines in
She turned into an alley, watching the ground for signs of a struggle. Unfortunately, it was too dark in the alley to see anything and that meant she would have to reveal herself. Her eyes glanced front and back. There did not seem to be anyone around, and she could not detect the presence of anyone within fifty feet of her. Reaching into her utility belt she took out a small flashlight and swept it over the filthy pavement. Yes – there it was - footprints with Suzi’s distinct boot prints.
Kyla followed them down the alley, noting that they were widely spaced as if Suzi had been running. Then they stopped. There was a confusion of footprints here, but not Suzi’s. A couple of men had moved about here for several minutes and then moved off toward the warehouse district.
Kyla’s heartbeat quickened. It was pretty obvious that Suzi had been ambushed and taken prisoner. And from bitter experience, Kyla knew what happened to heroines who were taken prisoner. She quickened her space. She had to find Suzi as quickly as possible.
Grogan ran his eyes over the
superheroine. The Scarlet Falcon,
known and feared by the denizens of
He started with the gag. It didn’t matter how much noise she made. No one would hear her where she was. The heroine gasped and then spoke. “Release me or it will be the worst for you. I am expected by my friends. If they don’t hear from me in a few minutes they’ll come looking for me.”
Grogan sneered. It was the usual heroine drivel. “Can’t you come up with anything better than that? You’re about to be stripped in front of a dozen sex-hungry men and all you can think of is the threaten us with non-existent friends. Either get a more original line or shut up.” As he finished speaking he seized her cowl and pulled it off her head. A golden cascade unfolded as the heroine’s hair fell to her waist. Grogan almost gasped. He had never seen so beautiful a face.
“It wasn’t an idle threat,” Suzi replied. “Do you think I am so stupid as to go out without any backup?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” Grogan answered. He unsnapped the heroine’s utility belt, noting the brief look of fear that flashed across her face.
“Getting worried, blondie?” Grogan asked. He had intended to call her “bitch,” but the term hardly seemed to fit someone so breathtakingly beautiful.
He took out a clasp knife. “Let’s see what’s under that tight-fitting outfit.” Reaching out he seized a handful of the thin material covering the heroine’s breasts and jabbed the point of the knife into it.
“Hunnh!” Grogan grunted. The material of the costume resisted his effort to cut it, despite his every effort to force the knife through it. “Son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “Bend her over.”
“I’m warning you, don’t do this,” Suzi cried, attempting to suppress the note of fear in her voice as she was bent forward by Vince and two other men.
“There must be a way to get this god-damned thing off,” Grogan cursed.
Suzi struggled, but even fit as she was, she was no match for the strength of the three thugs who bent her over a table in the centre of the room. Her costume was performing well. It was constructed from a new fabric that she learned about when the mad scientist Ivan Retinoff had used a sticky net made of the stuff to capture the Jade Dragon and Scorpion. Suzi had managed to copy the process and had used it to make costumes for herself and her fellow heroines. It was almost impervious to anything except a high powered bullet and even that would not penetrate multiple layers.
Unfortunately, it could be removed by quite ordinary means. Grogan found the zipper at the back of her neck and pulled it down, opening the back of her costume to her coccyx. Grogan took a deep breath as he peeled back the costume, baring most of Suzi’s anatomy to the waist. Her shapely back and flawless white skin left him speechless.
“Hold her arms,” Grogan ordered. “Pin them to the table when I untie her.” Two men took each of the heroine’s arms and waited while Grogan untied the ropes holding the heroine’s wrists. As the ropes parted, she immediately strained her muscles in a futile attempt to escape, but the men were ready for her. With one man on each arm she could not hope to break free.
Grogan worked the costume down first the right arm and then the left, freeing the top of the costume. Now the only thing affording the heroine any privacy above the waist was a thin pink brassiere. Grogan’s knife cut the straps and he pulled it free. “Turn her over. Let’s have a better look at those huge tits.”
Suzi lashed out at the men who held her. Kicking and twisting she battled to break their hold on her, but her struggles simply attracted more men. Six of the thugs seized her body and tumbled her onto her back.
“Christ what a set!” exclaimed Grogan, gazing with wonder at the soft pink nipples atop Suzi’s large and exquisitely beautiful twin hillocks. Reaching out he took a breast in each hand wondering at their soft resilience.
Suzi glared at the thug. “You filthy brute; you’ll pay for everything you’ve done to me.”
“More idle threats,” Grogan sneered. “Let’s take a look at the rest of that body.”
Suzi gritted her teeth and thrashed her body in desperation as Grogan pulled off her boots and then started on the lower part of her costume. Despite her best efforts, Suzi succeeded only in exhausting herself as inch by inch the rest of her body was revealed until she wore nothing but her filmy pink panties. An instant later she did not even have those as Grogan ripped them from her loins.
Grogan stood back to admire the panting heroine. Her body was almost unbelievable. Her breasts rose from her chest like firm, ripe melons, emphasizing a flat midriff and strong shapely hips and thighs. Her long legs were exquisitely muscled and the portion of her anatomy between her thighs was the most alluring that Grogan had ever seen.
A fleecy golden triangle partially covered her vulva, the lips of which were slightly parted to reveal the enticing pink interior. Grogan took a deep breath. Fucking her was going to be a dream come true. Quickly he fumbled with his belt buckle.
From her prone position Suzi could not see Grogan, but she could certainly hear the clink of metal as Grogan released his belt. The brutal reality of rape loomed once again. “Please let me be strong,” she thought. Almost as bad as the rape was the terrible fear that gripped her when she was taken. It had often led to her breaking and screaming for mercy, a situation that was especially degrading for a heroine.
“No,” Suzi whispered softly as her legs were pulled apart. Grogan slid between her thighs, but she avoided looking at him. “Kyla,” she thought. “Where are you?”
Kyla entered the warehouse. She could sense Suzi now. She was very close, and the mental vibration she received told her that her friend was terrified. But her mental powers also told her that there were over a dozen other minds close by as well. It was the worst case scenario for an invisible heroine. Darkness offered her no special protection against criminals, instead it worked against her. In well lit conditions her ability to cloud minds was a powerful advantage, but dark places worked against her, as those she was attempting to avoid knew that they could not see well and relied on other means to detect intruders.
“Like squeaky floorboards,” she thought, wincing as one of the boards beneath her feet groaned as she put her weight on it. She stood absolutely still hoping that no one had heard her. Something moved just a few feet away.
A dark shape moved out of the darker shadows. Kyla had almost walked right into him. A few feet away there was the sound of movement and a man’s voice. “You hear something, Drake?”
“I thought I did,” said the shape just inches from Kyla. A bright light flared as the man switched on a flashlight. Kyla breathed a sigh of relief. It might make the room easier to see, but it helped her hide.
Don’t see anything,” Drake said. “Probably just the building. I think it’s about time Grogan found us a better hideout.”
The other man stepped into the light. Kyla tensed. There seemed to be just two of them. Should she chance taking them out? Suzi was very close and almost certainly in trouble, but if she didn’t execute her moves perfectly and made too much noise, Suzi’s captors would almost certainly be alerted.
She made her mind up quickly. If Suzi was in danger there was no time to waste. She had to take the chance. She struck at the man closest to her first.
Trained as a gymnast, Kyla had a rather unorthodox method of attacking. She leaped forward onto her hands and then did a hand spring into Drake’s chest. The impact of her booted feet hurled the thug across the room. She landed like a cat and immediately leaped toward the other thug. The man just stood there, his mouth open in surprise. All he had seen was his partner executing an unexplained cartwheel across the room. The unseen heroine was still completely invisible.
Kyla dove forward, repeating her first maneuver. It was her signature technique allowing her to strike with all of her slender 120 pounds, but this time something unexpected occurred. As her hands touched the floor and momentarily took her weight, the rotten floorboards gave way. With a surprised cry of alarm Kyla went right through and plummeted into a dark hole.
She had no chance to change the position of her body before slamming into the floor of the subbasement. And that floor did not give way. Kyla slammed right into it, knocking the wind out of her and striking her head on the concrete floor. Gasping for breath she doubled over her head swimming. “Don’t faint,” she thought. “Don’t faint.” Spots danced before her eyes and a strange buzzing sound assaulted her ears. A wave of nausea swept over her and then everything went black.
“”Nnnggghh!”Suzi grunted as Grogan thrust into her. He was taking her dry and the penetration was painful and difficult. He was also in no hurry.
The chance to fuck a heroine didn’t come along every day. Grogan knew that he was among the fortunate few to share in the delights of a female crimefighter’s gorgeous body and he intended to draw out the pleasure for as long as possible. Therefore, he took her slowly, easing his impressively large male member into her. Her body was incredible and every aspect of it pleased him from the tightness of her cunt to the beautiful way her tits bounced as he forced himself into her.
He also enjoyed the look of utter shame that swept over the heroine’s
face as he disgraced her. Her
humiliation was almost as enjoyable as her tight twat and the pillowy softness
of her tits as he squeezed them harshly between his
fingers. She was breathing hard,
her body damp with sweat but she was not yet begging for
mercy. But that would
come. Sooner or later he would
have her sobbing like a baby.
Voices worked their way into the fog surrounding what was Kyla’s brain. “A fucking superheroine. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“I think the bitch broke a rib. I’m going to teach her a lesson she’ll never forget.”
“Shouldn’t we take her to the boss?”
“Why? He’ll just fuck her first. I want her now. She owes me.”
Kyla opened her eyes just a slit. She lay very still, assessing the situation. The first thing she realized was that she was bound hand and foot. The second was that she was not in the subbasement any more. She had been moved somewhere else in the warehouse. The third was that she was gagged, The forth was that her striking dark blue costume had been stripped from the upper part of her body leaving her naked to the waist. All these realizations hit her one after the other like hammer blows. Kyla was suddenly very cold and very afraid.
“I think the bitch is awake,” Drake’s voice said. “Her eyelid just twitched.”
Kyla felt a hand grip her long dark hair and pull her to a sitting position. Drake’s hand went to her left breast squeezing and twisting it brutally. Kyla’s opened her deep brown eyes, her gaze blazing with rage.
“Yes the little bitch is awake. How does it feel, cunt now that you’re helpless? We’re going to fuck you till you bleed.”
Kyla tried to arch herself away from Drake’s cruel grip. The thug took in his helpless prize. She was a tall raven-haired woman of slender build and small high breasts. She was certainly one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on with a strong athletic body that seemed to beg to be fucked. In her early twenties she had a virginal appearance that gave Drake an almost instant erection. It was time to have a look at the rest of her.
“Help me with her boots,” Drake said. His ribs hurt a great deal where she had kicked him and he was having a bit of a problem breathing, but he was determined to teach the heroine a lesson even if it killed him.
Kyla kicked out as Drake’s companion grabbed her ankles, but having seen the effect of her feet on Drake, the thug was not caught off guard. Her kick was not particularly well-directed anyway as her ankles were still bound. The hoodlum caught the rope that bound her ankles and lifted her legs. It was then that Kyla realized something else. The pain that shot through her body told her that she had wrenched her back and shoulders quite badly during her fall. A gasp of pain escaped her lips.
“Oh, you in pain, baby?” Drake said. “That’s too bad. You’re going to hurt a lot more before I’m through with you.” He moved forward and helped his sidekick pull off her boots.
As her were removed, the second man moved to make sure Kyla did not get to her feet. Placing his hand between her breasts he held her down, a smug smile plastered on his face. His other hand stroked her left nipple. “I’m going to enjoy chewing on these.” He cupped her breast, fitting the firm flesh into his palm.
“After me Oberg,” Drake said. “After me. Pull her costume off.”
Both men placed grabbed a handful of the brilliant blue material and began to ease it down Kyla’s thighs. Her light blue panties went, revealing the dark triangle between her legs. In just a few seconds her costume was stripped from her body.
Kyla struggled. Her ankles were now free, but both men pushed her to the floor. As she squirmed under their touch they spread her legs and Drake began to unbuckle his belt.
“Mmmppphh!” Kyla cried. Desperate, she hoped that someone might help her, although who that might be was a good question. Suzi had almost certainly been taken prisoner and the mentor she had come to rely on, the Jade Dragon was gone. If she was to escape she was going to have to do it on her own. But she now faced a brutal ordeal and she had to fight hard to keep her terror from overwhelming her self-control.
“It’s just my body,” she told herself. “Stay calm, sooner or later they’ll make a mistake. They can only take my body, not my mind. Stay calm. It’s just my…” Kyla grunted, shame intruding on her thoughts as Drake entered her.
Suzi lay in a puddle of her own sweat. Grogan had finished with her, but her ordeal was just beginning. She winced as Vince squeezed hard on her breasts. Then he sank his shaft into her already throbbing honey pot. “God,” the thug thought. She was still tight. Grogan had hardly loosened her at all.
“What say we take her from both ends?” another of the thugs suggested.
“Why not?” Grogan agreed. “Just make sure she doesn’t bite off your pecker.”
Suzi grimaced as her head was yanked over the edge of the table. An erect male member swayed just in front of her eyes. The thug holding her pulled down on her hair and then pushed his swollen lance between her lips. The urge to bite it off was almost irresistible, but Suzi knew that such an action would result in her being beaten brutally. She had to find a way to escape and that meant enduring what was being done to her until an opportunity presented itself. Suppressing her pride she let the thug rape her mouth.
Olberg was almost through with her. Drake had taken only a few minutes to enjoy her before releasing into her, but somehow Kyla didn’t think her ordeal was quite over. Neither man had much in the way of sexual stamina, a fact Kyla was grateful for, but Drake loomed over her, his face twisted in vengeance. In his hand he was holding a three foot length of electrical wire. Kyla did not have to use much imagination to think of a use the thug might have for it.
Oberg grunted as he spewed his seed into her. “Roll her over and hold her,” Drake said. “I’m gonna whip her ass until she bleeds.”
“Grogan won’t like it if we beat her up. He’ll want to have a go at her.”
“Don’t worry,” Drake Said. “I’m just going to give her a little pain. She’ll still be a decent fuck. Now roll her over.” Oberg grabbed Kyla’s hair and forced her onto her stomach. Drake raised the wire and then brought it down over her shapely backside.
It was fortunate that Drake was injured and was unable to put his full weight behind the blow. If he had been healthy the pain would have been almost beyond belief. As it was, Kyla writhed under the crude lash as Drake systematically lacerated her derriere. Before long she was whimpering in pain, her cries muffled by the gag.
Drake flogged her for about ten minutes before throwing down the wire. The writhing heroine had him fully aroused again. “One more time, “ he panted, “and then Grogan can have her. Hold her for me.”
Oberg grabbed Kyla’s arms and pulled her into a sitting position. The fight seemed to have gone out of the heroine. She no longer struggled as Drake spread her legs and prepared to rape her a third time. She was a delight to hold. Even covered in blood and sweat the smoothness of her skin and the flow of her muscles were incredibly erotic. As Drake lifted her in order to penetrate her again Oberg’s hands moved to her breasts and clamped down on the orange sized hemispheres.
Kyla let her body go limp and then suddenly snapped her head back, striking the unprepared Oberg in the nose. The crunch of cartilage and Oberg’s scream of pain told her that her timing had been perfect.
“What the fuck!” Drake exclaimed as the supposedly helpless heroine twisted her legs beneath her, and then struck out at him.
Kyla’s heels caught Drake right in his injured ribs. There was a very satisfying snapping sound as at least one of Drake’s injured ribs broke under the impact. Crying out in agony the thug lurched away from her and staggered against the wall of the room. She was free!
Oberg held his bleeding nose. In front of him the supposedly helpless heroine drove Drake across the room. And then she disappeared. Blind panic seized him. He was trapped in a tiny room with an invisible heroine. Reaching into his waistband he jerked out his snub nosed revolver and pulled the trigger.
He was firing at nothing, but hoping that in the confines of the room somehow his shots would find their mark. Across from him Drake shouted in fear. “Stop you idiot! Stop! You’ll hit me!”
But Oberg was not listening. He fired wildly around the room. Drake screamed as a bullet ripped into his groin and still Oberg kept firing until finally the hammer clicked on an empty chamber.
“Where is she? Where is she?” Oberg shouted; and then stared in horror as a piece of two-by-four rose into the air, described an arc and struck him in the head. Oberg staggered. The board rose and came down again and then again, beating him to the floor.
Kyla tossed the bloody piece of wood into the corner, and then removed her gag. She maintained her veil of invisibility and picked up her costume. Quickly she dressed, ignoring the moaning, crying Drake who was lying on the floor clutching his gut. She couldn’t afford to hang around. It was almost certain that someone would have heard the shots. Pulling on her boots she headed out the door as fast as her battered body would allow.
“What the hell was that?” Grogan exclaimed.
“Shots, boss,” Vince explained.
“I know it’s shots, asshole. Find out what the hell is going on. Take these jerks with you.” Grogan gestured toward several men huddled about Suzi. “Get off her you morons. Tie her up; make sure she doesn’t get away.”
Suzi gasped in relief as her ordeal was halted. Several men grabbed her and forced her hands behind her back. Quickly they bound her wrists and then they tied her ankles before dumping her back on the table. “Kyla,” she thought. “It had to be Kyla. But what did the shots mean? Had she somehow been seen?” She waited anxiously, hoping desperately that her rescue might be at hand.
Grogan was pacing anxiously, occasionally glancing at the door. Suzi was as well, wondering who was going to appear or not appear, in the case of the Blue Avenger. Then there was the sound of shouting followed by several shots, and then nothing.
“What the hell is going on out there?” Grogan sounded. He looked at his remaining men. “One of you check. I need to find out what is happening.”
Not a man moved. Grogan’s face turned crimson. “I said get out there you assholes.” At that moment the door opened. Grogan turned to face it and the first bullet caught him in the chest. A look of stunned surprise swept over the thug’s face and he slumped to the floor. The other goons in the room reacted in equal astonishment; the bullet had come out of thin air. Three more shots followed, each one striking one of the bewildered and terrified thugs.
From her position on the table Suzi tried to sit up. Suddenly she felt gentle hands lifting her and a quiet voice in her ear. “It’s OK Suzi. I’ll get you out of here. You’re safe now.”
“Kyla,” Suzi replied in relief. Her friend had come at last, but in a most unexpected manner. Kyla rarely used deadly force, preferring to disable her opponents rather than kill them. However, Suzi was not about to quarrel with her methods. Grogan’s knife cut through her bonds, freeing her hands and a few seconds later released her feet. She slid shakily onto the floor and looked around for her costume. It seemed to rise magically into the air as Kyla picked it up and handed it to her.
Suzi dressed without speaking. She simply wanted to get away from the place where she had been so brutally humiliated. “I’ll go first,” Kyla’s voice said. “I think the way is clear, but I’ll make sure.” Suzi nodded. Calmly she waited for Kyla to call her.
It took the two heroines another couple of hours to make it back to Suzi’s secret hideout. In the absence of the Jade Dragon they had decided to make it their headquarters rather than impose on the Jade Dragon’s mentor, Master Zhou. “I’m tired of always fighting back in nonlethal ways,” Kyla said. “It seems we always get caught and molested and then the bad guys just get a few bruises and are sent to jail for a short time.”
Suzi nodded. She understood. She and her companions had been caught and brutally molested physically, mentally, and above all sexually. Seldom had they used lethal force against their oppressors. At least not right away. It was not that Suzi had never killed, but it had always been something she had done as a last resort, never as a first thought. “Alright,” she said finally. “I guess I better get us some guns.”
Ivan Retinoff, tossed the note he held into the garbage. So, Zhuang wanted his help again. He took off his coke-bottle thick glasses and rubbed then with a clean handkerchief. He thought back over his last partnership with Zhuang. That had not worked out particularly well even though he had been well rewarded. And he had been avenged on both the Jade Dragon and her companions as well as the Black Leopard. But in the end, the Chinese heroine had won out, destroying Zhuang’s empire. Retinoff had been lucky to escape that debacle. Perhaps it was time he struck out on his own. After all, he did not need Zhuang. And his new project appeared most promising. Almost lovingly he stroked the smooth metal surface of his latest creation. It was a beautiful piece of work. His best yet. With this he did not need Zhuang. He did not need anyone. He laughed, his high pitched squeal echoing in the empty room.
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