Chapter 2  Nova

Metro City, USA, 1925

A bizarre figure crept from the mansion that was the home of heiress Natassia Green. It kept to the shadows as it moved away from the house, and then proceeded by way of back alleys toward the center of town.

It was a journey of several miles from Natassia’s home to the area of town frequented most heavily by criminals. Natassia was heading toward a particular part of town, Chinatown, the area where she had been abducted in what seemed like a lifetime ago. She had created her own crimefighter costume for the occasion. It was a stark white outfit decorated with black diamonds down the outside of her arms and legs.  The contrasting colors blended in well in the dimly lit streets of Metro City’s inner core.

This was her trial run. She hoped it would determine whether or not she had the courage and skills necessary to emulate the feats of the Jade Dragon. She had no special equipment other than the Dragon’s Eye, which she wore in a specially designed pendant around her neck. She had watched while the back- street jeweler had created the setting for the gem, not trusting the mystical stone out of her sight.

She could feel the power of the gem flowing through her system. During her escape from China she had learned a great deal about the mystical stone.  It amplified all of her natural abilities, making her stronger and faster, and endowing her with improved hearing and vision.  If she had known this when the bandits attacked she probably could have taken out the whole lot of them by herself, but by the time she was aware of her increased powers she was far away from the murderers who had attacked the monastery and determined to return home.  Had she known her parents were dead she might have acted differently, but that was something she was not aware of until she was in Hong Kong.

Reaching her destination did not take long.  She positively flew through the darkened streets, completing a journey that would normally have taken several hours on foot in only thirty minutes.  She was a striking figure. Her jet-black hair spilled out from under her cowl and hung halfway down her back. The skintight silk costume allowed every curve in her wondrous body to stand out. In the cool of the evening, her nipples stood out from her magnificent breasts.  It was an effect she had not anticipated, but she was not about to return home and put on something less revealing. 

As she moved through the darkened streets of Chinatown memories flooded through her head.  She remembered the childlike dare that had brought her into the area in the first place.  And the terror of being kidnapped and sold into the white slave trade.  As she recalled the horrifying events that had destroyed her family.  Indignation and rage swelled within her.  “What kind of person would victimize a child?” she wondered.  Somehow, she and her parents would be avenged. 

She had learned that with the death of Boss Crunch a new crimelord had stepped into his place.  His second in command, Brick Henson, had taken charge.  He was reputed to be less intelligent than his former boss, but every bit as brutal.  It was Brick that was running most of the illegal activities in Metro City, including the white slave trade.  It was this sort of activity that Natassia most wanted to end.  First, however, there was someone she especially wanted to find.  How she was to do that she was not sure.  But she knew that the solution must lie in this part of the city.

As she moved through the darkness she was disappointed in the lack of activity in Chinatown.  Surely there must be someone up to no good.  She needed to find someone like that.  How could she prove herself if she couldn’t find a crime to prevent?

“Still,” she thought,  “I mustn’t give up.  It is early in the evening.  Perhaps something will turn up.”

She continued her lonely patrol, moving up and down one alley after the other.  But luck seemed to be against her on this night.  Disappointed, she was just about to begin heading for home when she heard a faint cry.  Natassia turned toward the sound.  Her hearing amplified by the power of the Dragon’s Eye, she was able to determine the direction and distance almost instantly.  It coming from a street about one block from where she was. 

She covered the distance to the source of the cry in only a few seconds.  Rounding the corner of a building she came across what she supposed was a mugging.  Lying on the ground and in evident pain was a middle-aged man.  He was clutching his shattered kneecap.  Standing over him was a brutish looking thug in his early twenties.  He was holding a baseball bat in his hands and clearly threatening to use it on the victim again.  Behind him were four other hoodlums.  All were about the same age as the one holding the bat.   She stopped to assess the situation and in that short space of time she hesitated.  The muggers were talking to their victim. 

“Come on, Spanno,” said the man with the bat, “pay up or we’ll break your other leg.”

The man on the ground writhed in terror.  “I told you, Sid, I don’t have it.  The deal didn’t go as planned.  I’ll get you the money.  Just give me more time.”

“You already owe double the money, and now it doubles every week.  You ain’t gonna pay us back, so I guess we’ll just have to make an example out of you.”

Natassia realized that she was watching a loan shark’s hired goons going after a bad debt.  Probably the man had borrowed to money to finance some criminal undertaking that had been unsuccessful, and now he was paying the price.  Still, she didn’t see how she could stand idly by and watch five men deliberately pound another man to a pulp.  She stepped into the street.

None of the men saw her at first and then one of them caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye.  “What the Hell!” he exclaimed.

All of them turned toward her.  “Well, looky here,” said the man called Sid, hefting the baseball bat in his hands, “it’s another of those damned superheroines.  They must be churning them out at some factory.”

“Get a load of the tits on her, Sid,” chimed in one of the others.  “I could suck on one of those for a week.”

Natassia blushed.  She was glad of the darkness and the concealing costume that hid her embarrassment.  She was not used to anyone remarking on her splendid body.  She made a mental note to pad the front of her costume a little more heavily. 

As they spoke the men had circled around her.  Natassia’s hesitation had placed her in a more precarious situation.  But she was not too worried; her Shaolin training coupled with the power of the Dragon’s Eye should allow her to handle these street thugs.

“If you leave now you will save your skins,” said Natassia boldly.  “No one needs to get hurt.”

One of the thugs laughed.  “It’s your skin we want, baby, and we’re going to get it.”

Natassia was a bit disconcerted.  These common criminals seemed a little too confident.  Did they know something that she didn’t?

Sid came right at her, swinging the bat.  Natassia didn’t even bother to move.  With her enhanced reflexes the thug seemed to be moving in slow motion.  She simple reached up and caught the bat, and then wrenched it out of his hands.

All of the young toughs fell back a step.  They seemed completely disconcerted by the ease with which she had disarmed their leader. 

“What’s the matter, boys,” jibed Natassia, “did you lose your toy?”  The ease with which she had turned the tables on the hoodlums had given her confidence.  She could handle these criminals!

The thugs, however, were not about to give up.  One of them, a man who was much bigger than the others stepped forward.  “I don’t need no bat to handle a dame,” he boasted.

Moving suddenly toward her he threw a roundhouse punch at her head.  Again, to Natassia the attack seemed to develop incredibly slowly.  Without any effort she reached out and caught the man’s wrist with her right hand.  At the same time she struck his elbow with her left hand.  With a sickening crunch the man’s elbow hyperextended and then broke. 

“Aaaagggh!”  The man’s scream of agony echoed through the dark streets.  He staggered back clutching at his shattered arm.

The remainder of the thugs stepped farther away from her, but they did not run.  Under the circumstances Natassia found this a little strange.  Didn’t they know when they were beaten?

Natassia advanced on the cowed criminals.  “Time to go home boys, I think it’s past your bedtime.” 

She was almost up to the man called Spanno.  He still lay in the gutter clutching his injured leg.  The thugs continued to back slowly away from her, but they did not run.  “Well, she thought, “I can deal with them later.”  She knelt next to Spanno.  “Are you badly hurt?” she asked.

“My knee is busted,” he groaned “but I’m still alive, thanks to you.”  Suddenly his eyes widened.  He was looking over Natassia’s shoulder.

Too late Natassia realized that there was someone behind her; a sixth thug, probably posted as a watchman.  She had not heard him closing in on her from behind probably because of her own talking.

Thunk!  Something very heavy struck the back of her head.  The force of the blow should have crushed her skull but miraculously it did not.  The impact, however, stunned her, knocking her to her knees.  She tried to get up but was felled by a second blow.

“Christ, she’s got a head like iron!” exclaimed one of the thugs.  “Get her before she wakes up.”

“What da ya mean, get her?” responded another.

“Tie her up ya dope,” said Sid.  “We’re gonna have some fun.”

Not completely unconscious, but quite dazed, Natassia lay face down in the filthy street.  She felt her arms being pulled behind her and tied with a length of cord.  Then her ankles were similarly lashed together and pulled up and tied to her wrists so that she was completely hog-tied. 

“Now we got her,” gloated Sid.  “This honey ain’t as tough as the Chinese bitch.  Just another copycat.”

Sid rolled the dazed heroine over.  “Now let’s have a better look at her.”

Taking out a penknife Sid grabbed a handful of silken material just below Natassia’s swelling breasts and slit it open.  Then he used both hands to tear the material wide open allowing her breasts to spill out. 

“God!” he ejaculated.  “What a set of knockers!  They must be 35s at least!”

Natassia’s large, firm breasts were exposed for all to see.  For a few seconds all that the surrounding thugs could do was gawk at the impressive sight.  Then Sid reached down and took a handful of her soft flesh in each hand.  He began to squeeze and maul each of her breasts, cruelly bruising the tender flesh.  Then one of the young toughs noticed something else.

“Hey Sid, get a load of that jewel she’s wearing.  It must be worth a fortune!”

Sid glanced at Natassia’s throat.  Suspended on a golden pendant just above her breasts was the Dragon’s Eye.  Sid reached out and took the pendant in his hand.  His muscles tensed as he prepared to tear it from her neck.

All through this experience Natassia drifted in and out of a state of consciousness.  Everything that was happening to her seemed to be taking place in a dream.  She was dimly aware of being bound and turned over so that her captors could look her over.  She was even more aware that her costume had been ripped open and her breasts were being given a brutal massage.  But what really snapped her back to reality was when Sid’s hand closed over the Dragon’s Eye.  She was about to lose the source of her power and was threatened with rape into the bargain.  Suddenly she was completely alert.  Tensing her muscles she snapped the cords that bound her as if they had been bits of string. 

A savage cry burst from her lips as she struck with all her might at Sid’s face.  The force of the blow drove her hand right through his face, splattering blood and brains all over the street.  Natassia leaped to her feet.  Before any of the other thugs could move she was among them, striking right and left.  Each blow struck with deadly force.  Within seconds six corpses littered the street. 

Only when the last gangster died did the bloodlust leave her.  Natassia felt exhausted.  She leaned for support against the brick wall of the building, panting heavily.  Her eye caught the gaze of the man she had rescued.  He was staring at her with a mixture of fear, awe, and lust, if such a combination was possible.  Natassia’s awareness of her appearance returned.  Flushing bright red, her hands went to the torn front of her costume.  She pulled the shreds of cloth together and tied them so that they partially covered her magnificent bosom. 

“My Gawd!” exclaimed Spanno from his place in the street.  “Who are you?”

“You may call me Nova,” said Natassia.  And then she turned on her heel and left the area as quickly as she had arrived.

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