Chapter
6 Enter the Blue
Avenger
The Blue Avenger
walked stealthily
around the perimeter of Crunch’s HQ.
She was sure that somewhere inside were the two missing
heroines. It had taken her a
few days to track them down, but it was almost certain that the evil crimelord,
Boss Crunch had taken them prisoner.
She kept primarily to the shadows, only emerging into the glare of
the streetlights when there was no other
option. To anyone watching her
she would have presented a striking
figure. Tall, with raven tresses
that were only partly hidden by the cowl and mask that covered her head;
her exquisite body was dressed in a skintight blue costume accented with
purple highlights. It hid very
little of her long-limbed figure, from her small, firm breasts, to her sweetly
rounded derriere. Her movements
were fluid, with an athletic grace that hinted at great physical strength
and a high degree of athleticism.
Her real name was not, of course
the
Blue
Avenger. Her parents had named
her Kyla Smith, giving her an exotic first name to make up for her nondescript
surname. She had chosen her
crimefighting name because to her it symbolized the vengeance that was due
a society preyed upon by
criminals. She had been
a victim of sorts herself, having lost her favorite aunt to a murderer in
a bungled burglary. It had not
satisfied her that the culprit had been apprehended, as a clever lawyer had
managed to confuse the jury and get the felon off without so much as a slap
on the wrist. The advent of her
idols, the Jade
Dragon
and the Scarlet
Falcon, had shown her another form of justice that seemed much more certain.
She had been following the adventures of the two mysterious heroines ever
since the debut of the Jade Dragon some months
before. She had become even more
interested when the Scarlet Falcon
had
suddenly shown
up. The oriental heroine had
obviously decided to take a partner.
And if she could have one associate, then why not
two? After months of patiently
tracking the exploits of her idols she had finally gotten up the nerve to
approach them. She had used her
talent to observe the two heroines in
action. Neither woman had been
aware that as they prowled the streets and rooftops that she had been there
with them. She lacked the ability
to follow them far, of course. No
ordinary mortal could leap from building to building the way the Jade Dragon
could. She was, however, able
to place herself along the route the oriental heroine usually took and watch
her for a short while. Thus it
was that she was the first to notice when the objects of her heroine worship
had disappeared. It seemed too
much of a coincidence. She could
not imagine that the two crimefighters had simply decided to change their
routine. Something sinister must
have happened to them. And so
she used her talent to investigate.
Kyla actually possessed two talents.
One was purely physical. She
was an expert gymnast. Her rather
unimaginative parents had encouraged her in this unusual activity and she
had taken it to the limit that any female could in the era of the
1920s. Her mother and father
had hoped that her amazing ability as a gymnast might lead to a career in
film or as a circus performer. But
these goals did not appeal to the young
girl. As a result, she had left
home at age fifteen and had managed to find a job as a servant with a wealthy
family. The work hours were long,
but she was given a room of her own in a turret near the top of her
employer’s home. She was
expected to remain there while in the service of her employer.
However, her second
talent enabled her to leave whenever
she chose.
She had discovered her mystic ability quite by accident while still a
child. Like any child she sometimes
found it convenient to keep out of her parents’
sight. She had found that hiding
from her parents was remarkably easy; too
easy. And the same experience
was repeated when she played games of hide and seek with her
playmates. Kyla slowly realized
that no one could find her when she did not want to be
found. It eventually dawned on
the young girl that there was something special about her, that she had some
sort of special ability to prevent people from finding her or even seeing
her under normal circumstances. As
she grew older she realized that her seemingly magical gift was triggered
by her own mind. She had the
ability to obscure people’s minds so that they simply did not see
her. She could do it by a simple
effort of will.
She also found that there was a limitation to her
powers. When she was very young
she could only hide from one person at a
time. As she matured she was
able to increase the number of people she could
control. She was now up to six,
but it took considerable concentration to deal with that
many. As a result, she preferred
to use natural cover as much as possible, just as she was doing
now.
It had taken her a little while to track down the missing
heroines. At first, she thought
that they might just have changed their
routine. But their absence also
coincided with a complete disappearance of their exploits from the pages
of the
And so she found herself
outside Crunch’s HQ, looking for an easy way
in. There wasn’t
one. Crunch had his headquarters
heavily guarded. Kyla took a
deep breath. This would be the
first real test of her abilities. Focusing her mind, Kyla clouded the minds
of the guards at the doorway and entered Crunch’s
lair.
The Jade Dragon struggled helplessly in her bonds as Crunch’s henchman
thrust into her. She wasn’t
fighting as hard now. She and
the Scarlet Falcon were near exhaustion and close to
breaking. It was the fifth hour
of their current ordeal. Around
her and Suzi were most of the members of Boss Crunch’s criminal
organization. The two heroines
were the centre of attention, and the assembled mobsters were having the
time of their lives.
Sun Lin was sprawled on her back on one end of a long
table. At the other end Suzi
was spread out in a similar
position. Each woman’s
wrists were handcuffed to those of the other woman so that their arms were
stretched toward each other. They
were situated so that their backsides hung over the edge of the table allowing
easy access to their nether regions.
Each ankle was secured to eyebolts set in the floor so that their
legs were pulled apart, making them extremely vulnerable to
rape. The cruel rings that pierced
their nipples were linked to light chains that were attached to the ceiling,
providing tension on their breasts, and forcing them to arch their backs
to relieve the pain. It
also made any sudden movement absolutely agonizing, and potentially
damaging.
Suzi was being dealt with in a similar manner with another of Crunch’s
thugs plunging in and out of her.
The ordeal of the two women had begun several hours earlier when they
had been led from their cell and brought to the room where they had been
raped the previous day. Crunch
and Brick had traded victims, with Crunch renewing his acquaintance with
Sun Lin and Brick being given the honor of being the first of Crunch’s
men to take Suzi. As usual both
men had taken their time, raping each of the hapless heroines thoroughly
before giving way to their henchmen.
After that a procession of Crunch’s men had taken their turns
with the two women, raping them again and
again.
Incredibly, the brute raping Sun Lin had managed to find a new way to hurt
her. She had thought she was
beyond pain after the fist dozen or so rapes, but this assailant was more
inventive than the others. He
had placed a pair of rings of the sort used to delay ejaculation around his
penis, but he had made a slight modification in each
one. He had filed the rings so
that the outer rim of each was serrated, like a
gear. As he pounded into the
helpless heroine, the toothed edges cut into her vaginal canal, ripping the
soft tissue and causing incredible pain.
Initially, she had screamed in agony as the vicious thug entered her,
but now she was too exhausted to protest other than to whimper in pain as
her gored her. At the other end
of the table, Suzi was not much better.
The presence of the Jade Dragon as a fellow prisoner had somewhat
revived her. She had been sure
that Sun Lin would be able to find a way to escape, but those hopes were
cruelly dashed when both she and her mentor had been brutally ravaged by
Crunch and his hirelings. Now
she too was simply hanging on, hoping that sooner or later the men ravishing
them would tire of their game and allow them a moment’s
peace.
The two women were very near that collapse
now. Each of them was covered
in sweat and sperm, and the continued thrusting into their bodies of one
man after another had jerked painfully on the nipple
rings. Small rivulets of blood
dripped from each of their torn areolas.
The only answer was for them to remain perfectly still, but such a
solution was not really possible with the painful and continual intrusion
of Crunch’s men into their sex
organs.
They had managed one small act of
defiance. The heroines had managed
to clasp hands. It was not much,
but it was a way of maintaining contact as their ordeal
continued. Whenever one of the
women’s heavy breathing or forced groans indicated she was experiencing
pain that was more severe than usual the other would give her what she hoped
was a comforting squeeze. Something
to let her know that she was not alone.
Sadly, it also had the opposite effect; that of letting each woman
know that her companion was suffering horribly as
well. Each blamed herself for
getting the other into such a horrible predicament.
Suzi gave a little gasp. Sun
Lin felt the blonde heroine’s grip on her hand
relax. Mercifully the demoralized
young girl had finally fainted. Her
rape, however, did not cease. The
thug hammering into her did not even seem to notice that she was no longer
conscious. He was fucking a heroine
and that was all he cared about.
Sun Lin, being a little stronger than her companion, and having not
suffered so lengthy an ordeal, held on.
But the horrific pain as her love canal was ravaged had her close
to blacking out as well. She
did not know how long she could hold out, but it could not too much
longer.
The
Blue Avenger crept through the halls of Crunch’s
HQ. Strangely, there were very
few people about. She wondered
about this as she moved deeper and deeper into the lair of the
crimelord. As she neared the
center of the building she detected a low
murmur. It sounded like many
people talking or chanting. She
walked toward the sound and found that it was coming from behind a door almost
in the middle of Crunch’s hideout.
There was considerably more activity here, with many men coming and
going. Kyla had to exercise her
power almost continually to avoid being
spotted.
“This is getting
dangerous,” Kyla thought.
“There are too many men here for me to
deceive. Still, I need to find
out what is in that room. There
must be a reason for such heavy activity.”
Kyla backed down a side hallway.
The light was poorer there, making it easier for her to
hide. “What I need is a
diversion,” she thought.
Instinctively she knew that the heavily frequented room was where
she should go, but she needed to find a way to lure most of Crunch’s
men away from it. She remembered
the garage doors on the outside of the
building. “There must be
an indoor garage somewhere in the
building. That may be an answer
to my problem.”
Kyla moved away from the center of the building looking for access to the
garage. She encountered a long
dark hallway that seemed to lead toward the
outside. It was lit only by a
few dim bulbs. She moved
cautiously. She didn’t like
the dark. Not because of any
fear of dark places, but because darkness negated her
gift. Broad daylight was her
strongest ally. In the dark her
ability to make herself invisible was
wasted. If someone came down
the hallway while she was in it, there was a real danger of being discovered
purely by accident.
She was halfway down the hall when the door at the other end
opened. Instinctively, she cloaked
herself, knowing that it made very little difference in the darkened hallway.
Several men came through the
door and headed toward her.
“Hey, Al,” yelled one of them “is it our turn
yet? You and the boss have had
those heroines all to yourself.”
The man was looking right at Kyla as she spoke, but she realized that
he was talking to someone behind her.
She turned her head.
Standing at the other end of the hall was another of Crunch’s
goons. He too was looking straight
past her.
The goon laughed. “Not
yet. The boy’s are taking
their time with that pair. They
are a real delight to fuck. I
screwed the blonde one twice.
Tightest pussy I ever had.
Course, it’s not so tight
now.” He laughed again,
this time with the other men joining in.
Kyla was horrified by what the man had said, but she could not dwell on what
was being done to the two heroines.
She was in grave danger. She
was trapped between the thug at the end of the hall and the men advancing
through the door. The narrow
confines of the corridor offered no place where she could retreat or
hide. Holding her breath, she
flattened herself against the wall.
The men were halfway past her when one of them
stopped. He was no more than
a foot away. He seemed
puzzled. Looking around, he sniffed
the air. “What’s up,
Boz?” asked one of the other thugs.
“Someone let one go?”
He giggled stupidly.
“Not unless one of you assholes swallowed a bottle of perfume,”
Boz answered. He stood still,
his nose twitching as she tried to detect the
source. Kyla had some very unladylike
thoughts about her own stupidity.
Why had she been so idiotic as to anoint herself with fragrance that
morning? The rest of the men
had now stopped moving as well and were milling about in the
hall. As luck would have it,
one of them stepped backward, his large foot coming down on Kyla’s
instep.
“Aahh!”
Her cry of pain alerted every man to her presence, but
even worse, the sudden shock broke her
concentration.
“What the
hell!” exclaimed one of the men as Kyla suddenly appeared in front of
him. “Where did she come
from?” He grabbed for her,
catching hold of her cloak. Kyla
whirled, striking at the man who had grabbed her, but he caught her
wrist. With a cry she arched
her back in pain as he twisted her arm behind
her.
“Christ, another heroine!” he
swore. “Where are they all
coming from?” Too late Kyla
realized that she should have released her cloak instead of trying to attack
the thug. Her self-defence skills
were minimal. And why had she
outfitted herself with a cloak anyway?
She didn’t even need a heroine
costume. She was just wearing
one because the Jade Dragon and the Scarlet Falcon
did. But it was too late for
that. She was caught, and the
other men in the hall had grabbed hold of
her.
“Who cares where she came from,” said
Boz. “I’ve been looking
forward to fucking a heroine all day and now we got
one. What say we have a little
fun with her and then turn her over to the
boss?”
One of the men disagreed.
“Crunch said to bring the heroines to
him.”
“No he didn’t,” said Al.
“He said to bring the Jade Dragon and Scarlet Falcon to
him. He’s got
them. This one’s
different. We can do anything
we want with her.”
Terrified at the thought of being raped, Kyla struggled in the grip of the
thugs who held her. Already their
hands were roving over her body, fondling her crotch and
breasts. She thought of using
her gift, but was afraid that if she failed to escape she would lose the
element of surprise. She was
being held by three men. She
needed to have a bit more space before she could use the only trick she
had.
“Take her to the garage,” said
Al. “We’ll have some
privacy there.” One man
grabbed each of her arms and legs and lifted her bodily from the
floor. Convulsing wildly, Kyla
fought to break free, but was helpless in the grip of the fur
thugs. Pushing open the large
metal door at the end of the hall, they entered the
garage.
Kyla suddenly realized that she was wasting her
strength. Far from breaking free,
her struggles encouraged the thugs to hold her even more tightly, lessening
her chance of escape. She went
limp. Somehow she had to get
her captors to relax their guard.
“That’s more like it, sweet cheeks,” said
Boz. “Now let’s see
what you look like.” His
hand went to her mask and with a quick motion he tore it off her
head. Kyla’s dark mane spilled
free.
“Geez, we got a real looker,” exclaimed one of the other thugs
as he caught sight of Kyla’s gorgeous
features. Deep brown eyes, high
cheekbones, a pert slightly upturned nose, and full kissable lips combined
to create a vision of extraordinary
beauty. A bonus as far as the
assembled goons were concerned, was the obvious fear and consternation on
her
face.
“Stretch her out,” ordered
Boz. “Let’s see what
the rest of her looks like.”
Kyla had to use all of her self control to keep from
struggling. Her heart was thumping
in her chest so loudly that she was sure every one of her captors could hear
it. “Fight seems to have
gone out of this one,” said Boz.
“But keep hold of her anyway.
I expect she’ll make quite a fuss when we start to strip
her.”
Kyla forced herself to keep still, but it took every bit of willpower she
had, especially when the men who held her, began to run their hands over
her supple body, and tug at her costume in an effort to remove
it. Panting in fear, she almost
screamed when Boz straddled her body, pinning her legs while two of the men
held her arms. The fourth stood
by watching Boz fondle her.
A moan of fear escaped her lips as Boz moved his hands over her small pointed
breasts. The thin fabric of her
costume was slight protection against his groping fingers, and she could
barely contain herself when he found her nipples and pitched the erect buds
through her costume.
“That’s it, baby, moan,” said
Boz. “I’ll be giving
you lots of reason to moan pretty soon.”
It took every once of self-control Kyla possessed not to scream in
fear. If she had she would have
broken down completely and ended up struggling futilely in the hands of her
captors. Her body was slick with
the sweat of fear, and her breath came in harsh gasps as her costume was
removed. Boz had stripped her
to the waist now, and his hands played over her breasts, teasing the nipples
and kneading the firm, soft flesh.
Her arms were still held by the other two thugs, but they had relaxed
their grip somewhat so that they could join Boz in fondling whatever part
of her body they could reach. The
fourth man was kneeling beside her.
He thrust his hand inside her
costume. Kyla blanched as he
moved it over her abdomen and cupped her tender mound of
Venus.
If the touch of the thug’s hand on her vulva frightened her, what happened
next was sheer terror. Boz sifted
his weight off her legs, and pulled off the boots while the man stroking
her held her down. Then he pulled
the remainder of her costume from her body and spread her
legs. Kyla squeezed her thighs
together, but Boz used his knee to force them apart and moved between her
legs. Breathing heavily, the
thug fumbled with his pants, as he unbuttoned his
fly.
Naked and helpless, Kyla readied herself for one last
effort. She could hardly believe
what was happening to her. It
had not entered her head that attempting to rescue the Jade Dragon and Scarlet
Falcon would lead to her capture and rape at the hands of the vilest and
most depraved of thugs. She
tensed her muscles as Boz tore his pants open readying himself for the violation
of his victim. At that
moment Al interrupted the proceedings.
“Wait a minute,” he
said. “Who said you could
fuck her first? We all helped
capture her.” He let go
of Kyla’s right arm, apparently believing that she was too cowed to
try to escape.
Boz stood up, anger clouding his face.
“Because I rank higher than you,” he
answered. “Crunch put me
in charge of the loading dock.”
“The hell he did,” said Al taking a step toward
Boz. He was a big man, apparently
well-muscled and powerfully built.
Boz took a step backward, but the scowl never left his face and he
clenched both his fists. Only
one man held Kyla now, the thug holding her left arm, and he was distracted
by the confrontation. She knew
she would get no better chance.
With a quick twist of her body she tore loose from the man’s
grip and at the same time clouded the minds of the thugs around
her.
“Jeez, she disappeared!” exclaimed the thug who held
her. “She’s just
gone!”
The other goons, who had not been watching Kyla, whipped
around. Their muttered oaths
of incredulity echoed those of the first
thug. “What do you mean
she disappeared?” asked Boz.
“Where the hell did she go?”
At that moment he screamed in pain, as heavy metal bar slammed into his
knee. Kyla struck him again,
this time smashing the bar into his head.
The weapon she was wielding was a metal pry bar used to open
crates. She had rolled onto it
when she had escaped the grasp of the thug that held
her. It was an excellent equalizer
against the strength of the men around
her. That and the fact that none
of the men could see her or the weapon she
held.
It took the other three men a few seconds to realize what was
happening. It finally dawned
on them when Kyla smashed the pry bar over Al’s head, sending him to
the floor alongside Boz. At that
point the remaining two men began swinging wildly at nothing attempting to
strike her by sheer good fortune.
Kyla easily avoided their awkward attacks and got in a few licks of
her own. Ducking beneath a
particularly wild swing, she hammered the steel bar into the legs of her
assailant. There was a crunch
of breaking bone and the thug went down, screaming in
pain. The last man did not wait
to be the next victim. Turning
he ran from the garage, leaving Kyla
alone.
Kyla sank to her knees. The emotional
release of her escape left her drained.
Only a few seconds before, she had been about to be
raped. By good fortune and due
to her strength of character, she had managed to save herself, but the close
call left her emotionally drained.
It was not until she began to shiver that she roused
herself. She was naked and the
thug that had escaped would no doubt alert every goon in the
building. She would have to act
fast.
She got to her feet. Fortunately
her costume was still intact. The
thugs had removed it carefully, rather than tearing it from her
body. Quickly she pulled it
on. It was surprising how much
more confident she felt dressed than
nude. Stepping into her boots,
she checked out the garage. There
were several cars and a number of trucks parked in the large interior
space. In addition, there were
hundreds of wooden crates stacked all over the
floor. This was obviously the
loading area for Crunch’s bootlegging
operation. Most of the crates
probably contained alcohol of some sort from Crunch's illegal
distillery. The garage was
deserted. Kyla had no doubt taken
out the men who usually worked there.
She moved through the garage. The
sight of the vehicles had given her an
idea. Kyla’s eye soon fell
on a metal gasoline can. This
was what she wanted. Within a
few seconds she had removed the cap and had splashed gasoline over the loading
dock. Then reaching into her
utility belt she took out a small container of sulfur
matches. She struck a match and
then moved quickly away from the blaze.
At that moment the man who had fled
returned. He had several more
men with him and they were armed.
They immediately noticed the
flames. Then one of them shouted
the alarm and they charged over.
Kyla acted quickly. Sticking
out her foot, she tripped up the first man to reach the
fire. The man went down
hard. He had, of course, seen
no obstacle in his path. Kyla
played the same trick on the second man.
The third pulled up, thinking that the floor must be
slippery. Kyla moved behind him
and kicked him hard between the legs.
With a scream the man keeled over, clutching at his
genitals.
By now the other two men were back on their feet.
Fear was written on their
faces. They knew they had been
attacked but did not know by whom or what.
“It’s the invisible
broad,” yelled the thug that Kyla had chased from the
garage. “I told you she
couldn’t be seen.” Guns
drawn, the remaining men milled about, looking desperately for an
enemy. It
took only one more push to chase them
off. Kyla stepped up to one of
the wavering thugs and slapped him hard across the
face. With a yell he turned tail
and fled. His companions hesitated
only a second before taking off after
him. The man on the ground scrambled
to his feet, still clutching at his gonads, and limped off after
them.
Kyla laughed as the so-called “toughs” ran like frightened
children. The fire was burning
strongly. Dashing back to the
door to the rest of the building she exited the garage, pulling the door
closed behind her. In a short
while the fire should attract the large number of men occupying the room
in the center of the building and they would probably head toward
it.
Kyla had only proceeded a short distance from the garage when a series
of explosions sounded behind her.
“Oops!” she thought, “Forgot about the
booze.” It must be pretty
close to pure alcohol. The fire
was going to burn hotter than she had
intended. But it was too late
to do anything about it. She
continued moving back toward the center of the
building. Coming toward her were
dozens of men. Quickly she ducked
into a side room. She was sure
that she had not been seen; she had been able to neutralize the first few
men she had encountered.
She waited until the rush outside died down and then returned to the
hall. This time she met very
few of Crunch’s henchmen. The
door to the room at the center of the building was open and she headed straight
for
it.
“Ugh!”
Sun Lin
grunted. Her current rapist was
especially well endowed and he had thrust into her especially
hard. She tried to lie perfectly
still so as not to tear her nipples, but it took every ounce of self-control
that she had. Suddenly in the
middle of a particularly vigorous thrust, her rapist
stopped. From beyond the room
came a low rumble. Crunch and
Brick, who had been standing by enjoying the breaking of the two heroines,
both jumped up.
“What the hell was that?” demanded
Crunch. “Brick, find out
what is going on.” At that
moment several men entered the room.
The garage is on fire!” one of them
shouted.
“Come with me,” Brick ordered, looking at the assembled onlookers
in the room. Led by Crunch’s
huge henchman, Crunch’s thugs filed
out.
“Get off them,” Crunch said to the two men who were still pumping
away at Sun Lin and Suzi.
“Pull up your pants and go with the
rest.”
Reluctantly the two rapists pulled away from the two
heroines. In a minute they too
were gone. Crunch strode over
to the two women. He unhooked
the chains connecting their nipples and untied their spread
legs. This left their wrists
handcuffed together, otherwise they were
free. Crunch intended to manacle
their ankles and then handcuff their arms behind their backs
again.
To make sure that the two heroines did not interfere with his plans Crunch
first tied their heads down by looping a length of rope completely over the
table taking it across each of their necks as he did
so. This left Suzi and Sun Lin
effectively helpless while he transferred the
shackles.
From the garage area a series of explosions shook the
building. “What the hell
is going on?” muttered Crunch.
Hastily he began to finish his rearranging of his victims’
bonds. He unlocked the cuffs
connecting their wrists to one another and then recuffed their hands behind
their backs. He then manacled
their ankles together with a length of chain long enough for them to walk
but not long enough for them to be able to run or
kick.
All through this Sun Lin and Suzi lay quietly, the latter because she was
too debilitated from the ordeal of being repeatedly raped, and Sun Lin because
the rope across her throat prevented her from making any sudden
movements. Crunch finished shackling
the two heroines' ankles. He
then untied the ropes that held them pinned to the
table.
“Let’s go, bitch,” said Crunch as he roughly grabbed Suzi
and began to stand her up. At
that instance Sun Lin struck. For
a brief second Crunch strayed near her shackled
ankles. She swung her legs up
and with a quick twist of her legs, looped the chain connecting her ankles
around Crunch’s bull neck.
Sun Lin strained with every muscle in her calves and thighs, yanking Crunch
off his feet. Without thinking,
Crunch tried desperately to unwind the chain from his neck, but so fiercely
had Sun Lin tightened the chain that he could not get his fingers under
it. By now Sun Lin had pulled
the powerful crime lord into a sitting position at the side of the
table. The back of his head was
tight against the edge of the tabletop.
Sun Lin shifted backward so that most of her body hung off the opposite
side of the table, using her body weight to increase the tension in the chain
that was cutting deeply into Crunch’s
windpipe.
Crunch tried to scream for help, but all that came out was a strangled
squeak. Frantically he thrashed
his body in a desperate attempt to
escape. Using his immense strength
he managed to lurch to his feet, dragging Sun Lin across the
table. Unable to loosen the chain,
and slowly choking, he began to swing Sun Lin about the room, banging her
off the walls and furniture. Sun
Lin tried to hold on, but the battering she was taking threatened to knock
her senseless. Her tightly flexed
legs began to relax as her head smacked into the edge of the heavy table
on which she and Suzi had been
raped.
Crunch continued his frenzied attempts to shake Sun Lin off, swinging
her body in a wide arc and smashing it hard into the table again. Stunned,
Sun Lin began to lose her hold. Her
legs relaxed. Crunch managed
to take in a great shuddering gasp of
air.
Crunch now had his hands under the chain.
Flexing his muscles powerfully, he managed to uncoil the metal noose
from about his neck. He now had
Sun Lin at his mercy once again, holding her manacled feet high in the
air.
“You God-damned bitch,” he
gasped. I’ll kill you for
that!” He drew back his
foot to deliver a kick to Sun Lin’s defenseless
kidneys.
The kick was never delivered. Suzi
had snapped out of her state of collapse.
Drawing on her last reserves of energy, she managed to hobble across
the room and jumping with both legs hurled herself into the
crimelord. She caught Crunch
with one foot in the air and the impact of her 135-pound body knocked him
to the floor. The unexpected
attack knocked the wind out of him and for a few seconds, he lay there, once
again gasping for breath.
This was all the time Sun Lin needed to renew her
attack.
The
Jade Dragon
picked herself up off the floor and hopped as high in the air as she could,
coming down with her toes pointed into Crunch’s solar
plexus. There was a grisly cracking
sound as Crunch’s rib cage caved in under the tremendous force of the
blow.
His ribs broken and his lungs crushed, Crunch writhed on the floor, spitting
up blood. He tried to scream
for help once again, but could only manage a choked blood-filled
whimper. Sun Lin struck again,
this time with Suzi’s help, as both vengeful females hammered their
feet into him like pile drivers, smashing a few more ribs and leaving the
crimelord drowning in his own bodily fluids as his punctured lungs filled
up with
blood.
The
Blue Avenger came upon an incredible scene when she entered
the central room of Crunch’s
headquarters. On the floor was
the shattered body of Boss Crunch.
He was still alive, but coughing blood and crawling weakly toward
the door. Standing over the dying
man were two naked women, one a statuesque blonde and the other an exotic
oriental. Both of the women had
their hands and feet manacled, but clearly they had found a way to batter
Boss Crunch into submission. It
was also obvious that they had been subjected to a brutal
ordeal. They appeared just barely
able to stand, and their bodies were covered with numerous cuts and
bruises. Kyla could not suppress
a shudder as she realized what he two women must have been put
through.
Both of the chained young
women stared at her in amazement.
The
Blue Avenger realized that they were staring at her blue and purple
costume.
“Who are you?”
asked the oriental woman, weakly.
She swayed a little as she spoke, clearly barely able to
stand. “How did you get
in here? Why are you
here?”
“One question at a time,” replied
Kyla. “I’m the Blue
Avenger and I am here to rescue you.
I set a fire to lure Crunch’s thugs away from this
room.”
The Scarlet Falcon sank to her knees.
“Blue Avenger,” she gasped, “please get the keys.”
“They are in Crunch’s
pocket.”
“Of course.” Kyla bent
and searched through the dying crimelord’s
pockets. She found a set of keys
in his back
pocket.
“Quickly,” Sun Lin
urged. She clutched the edge
of the table for support. A series
of explosions shook the building.
There was a distinct smell of smoke in the
air. “Exactly what sort
of fire did you start?”
“Just a little fire, but I think I started it too close to the illegal
alcohol. It must have spread
to the rotgut.” By this
time Kyla had unlocked the fetters that held the Jade
Dragon
and Scarlet Falcon.
WHOOMP!
A massive blast thundered through
the building. A long tongue of
flame shot down the hall.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” said
Suzi.
“You need clothes first,” said
Kyla. “You can’t go
outside like that.”
By now the air was thick with smoke and all three women were
coughing. “We don’t
have time for clothes,” said Sun
Lin. “Just get us out of
here.”
Kyla thought quickly. She had
grave doubts about whether either of the two heroines would be capable of
getting out of Crunch’s burning HQ without help, but it would be almost
impossible for her to carry both of them.
“Can you walk?” she asked
finally.
Sun Lin pushed herself away from the
table. She
nodded. She was on the verge
of collapse. The battle with
Crunch had used up her last reserves of
strength. Only her iron will
kept her on her feet. She had
to survive. Giving in now would
be fatal. Bur Suzi was another
matter. The tall blonde was barely
conscious and had not moved from the kneeling position she had assumed when
Kyla had entered the room.
Kyla moved to the Scarlet Falcon’s
side. “Come,” she
said. “I am going to help
you. Lean on
me.” She took her under
the arms and lifted her. With
a moan, Suzi staggered to her feet.
Lifting her, Kyla was glad of the hundreds of hours she had spent
as a gymnast. The Scarlet Falcon
was certainly not a mere slip of a girl.
It took most of Kyla’s strength to lift
her. As the heroine stood up,
the Jade Dragon moved under her right arm and helped support her
protégé. Together,
Kyla and Sun Lin helped Suzi from the
room.
Completely debilitated, Suzi forced herself to place one leg in front of
the other. Every step sent waves
of pain through her, but she bit back her moans and clung to the woman on
either side of her. By slow step
after slow step, the three women managed to make their way toward the outside
of the building. On the way,
they passed a room where several coats had been hung
up. Kyla stopped and allowed
Suzi to sit down while she fetched two of the
garments. “These are not
ideal,” she said, “But they should serve to cover
you. Then we can get out of the
building.”
Kyla put one of the jackets on to disguise her costume, and helped Suzi into
another. Then she opened the
outer door. Outside there was
pandemonium. Sirens sounded as
the police and fire department responded to the burning
building. It was almost
as bright of day as huge flames leaped high in the
air. However, the fire cast long
shadows that the three women were able to merge
into. Using the confusion of
the fire and the cover of darkness they were able to move away from the area
of danger.
Sun Lin found her strength failing.
She had been running on adrenaline and the farther she got from
Crunch’s HQ the more the shock of her ordeal began to set
in. She could barely support
herself, much less Suzi as well.
Seeing her falter, Kyla took complete
charge. She lifted the blonde
heroine over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry and moved her away from
the building. She did not go
far, just to the entrance to an alley between two nearby
buildings. Once there she set
the barely conscious Scarlet Falcon down.
The Jade Dragon sat down beside
her. “We need to get home
fast,” said Sun Lin to Kyla.
“I don’t think either one of us can last much
longer.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” said
Kyla. “I have an
idea. Wait
here. If I am not back in ten
minutes try to make it home on your
own.” She removed her watch
and handed it to Sun Lin.
“Remember, I said ten
minutes.”
Before Sun Lin could answer Kyla was
gone. Sun Lin wondered what the
young woman had in mind. Suzi
was not thinking anything. She
had sunk into a state of semi-consciousness as soon as she had been allowed
to sit down. Sun Lin checked
the watch. A minute had already
passed.
Kyla moved quickly back toward Crunch’s blazing
HQ. As she had expected a large
number of Crunch’s henchmen were milling about in the
street. There were, however,
several driving their cars away from the burning
building. It was one of these
that Kyla targeted.
The gangsters only drove the car far enough that it was not threatened by
the blaze. Using her talent Kyla
was able to sneak up on the men standing by the parked vehicle and launch
her attack.
Although she possessed few martial skills, Kyla did have a deadly weapon
at her disposal, her gymnastic talent.
Taking a running leap, she hurtled into a handspring that propelled
her feet like a battering ram straight into the chest of the car’s driver,
who was standing on the running board.
Because she was cloaked to his gaze the man was caught completely
unaware. The impact broke several
of his ribs and hammered him into the side of the
car. He was out of the fight
before he even knew that he had an
opponent.
Startled by the sudden collapse of their comrade two other thugs ran to his
side. Kyla repeated her attack,
this time smashing her feet into the head of the man who was crouching over
the fallen thug. The force of
the blow broke his nose and knocked out most of his
teeth.
Bewildered by attacks that were being launched by an invisible enemy the
third goon ran off, heading toward a group of thugs who were ogling the
fire.
Kyla worked quickly. She took
the keys from the pocket of her first victim and jumped into the
car. Within a few seconds she
had it running. Although not
a skilled driver, she knew enough about cars to put it into gear and drive
it off. To the amazed criminals
the car seemed to be driving
itself. Stunned, they watched
as the care drove off, too dumbfounded to attempt any
pursuit. Within a minute Kyla
was pulling up by the alley where she had left Sun Lin and
Suzi. Quickly, she jumped out
of the car, leaving the motor running.
The Jade Dragon and Scarlet Falcon were where she had left
them. Once more picking up the
blonde heroine, she lifted her to the car and deposited her in the back
seat. The Jade Dragon clambered
into the front seat, and once more getting behind the wheel, Kyla put the
car in gear. “Where to?”
she asked.
Sun Lin could think of no other place to go than her own
home. Following Sun Lin’s
directions, Kyla drove the automobile to Master Zhou’s
home. This was the place where
the aged
Wushu master was teaching Sun Lin
and Suzi their martial arts skills.
She pulled up in front of the house, mindful of the fact that the
car might be a means of tracing the
heroines. She decided it was
worth the risk. The Jade Dragon
and Suzi were simply not capable of traveling any distance on their
own. Leaving The Scarlet Falcon
in the car, Kyla helped the Jade Dragon to the door of the
house. She wondered a little
about the place she had taken the
heroines. It was deep in the
heart of
Kyla was taken aback. The last
thing she had expected was for the heroine she idolized to humbly bow before
her. Tongue tied and embarrassed,
she simply stood and stared at the oriental
heroine. The Jade Dragon seemed
to sense her confusion. Lightly
touching her arm she gestured toward one of the
maidservants. “I must rest
now. The household will attend
to the Scarlet Falcon. You are welcome to stay with
us. We can talk later when we
are all rested. Fang will show
you to your room and see that you are properly attended
to.”
Kyla nodded, a little overwhelmed by the honour awarded
her. She had hardly expected
that the Jade Dragon would invite her into her
home. Fang led her through the
house. In spite of its nondescript
external appearance, the house was luxurious beyond anything Kyla had ever
seen. Marble floors, polished
wood, and exquisite furnishings all in high oriental style spoke of great
wealth. Kyla was goggle-eyed
as she took it all in. Fang took
her upstairs and showed her to a comfortable
room. It was more splendid than
anything she had ever seen. It
occurred to her that it was now approaching
morning. Her employers would
miss her when she did not show up for work, but she was not concerned about
that. She was much more interested
in staying close to the Jade Dragon
and Scarlet
Falcon. Now that she had found
and rescued her two idols she only wanted to be near
them. She also found that she
was quite tired. Her day had
also been very eventful and traumatic.
Now that she was safe, reaction set
in. She shivered as she thought
of what might have happened to her.
Left alone in the room she fell onto the bed without
undressing. Within a minute she
was asleep.
What was left of the great Boss Crunch crawled painfully down the smoke-filled
hallway of his headquarters. Only
a man of his considerable strength could have made it as far as he
had. But he was fast running
out of time. The hallway was
thick with smoke, making it almost impossible to
breathe. Already he could feel
the intense heat of the approaching fire.
Where were all of his men?
Why had he been left to die alone in his blazing
HQ? From behind him came an enormous
blast of heat as the fire broke into the
hallway. His clothes burst
into flame. With a strangled
squeal the most feared crimelord in
When Kyla awoke she found that someone had come into the room during the
night and tucked her in. She
was till wearing her heroine costume, but she noticed that an exotic oriental
robe in her size was hung by her bed.
She stifled a groan as she at up.
She had not realized it, but she had suffered quite a bruising when
she was captured by Crunch’s goons.
Now she was so stiff and sore every movement
hurt. With a grimace she hauled
herself out of bed and visited the
bathroom. It was every bit as
well-appointed as the rest of the house.
She availed herself of the room’s facilities and had just finished
when there was a light tap at the door.
Fang entered, and coming into the bathroom immediately drew a bath
for her. Although reluctant at
first, Kyla allowed Fang to help her undress and then escort her to the
bath. The actions of the Chinese
girl indicated that she saw nothing unusual in her treatment of Kyla and
gradually the young heroine relaxed, allowing herself to luxuriate in the
hot bath and have a good soak. Fang
helped dry her and dress her in the robe; and then sat her down in front
of the full-length mirror that hung on one wall, and combed out her lustrous
black hair. She then produced
a tray of jewelry from the table drawer.
Kyla chose only a conservative pair of jade earrings set in
gold. The maidservant, who spoke
only limited English, motioned to Kyla indicating that she should follow
her.
Obediently Kyla followed the Chinese girl out of the
room. She wondered how long she
had slept. It occurred to her
that it was much later in the day than she probably thought it
was. As she followed the girl
they passed by a few windows. From
the level of light coming through
them she guessed that it was probably late
afternoon. She was taken to a
dining room. There one of the
menservants she had seen the precious day was waiting for
her. He bowed to her as she
entered. “Good afternoon,
Missy,” he said. “Master
has commanded that you be cared for as one of
us. Jade Dragon and Mistress
Scarlet are resting now. They
send their apologies and say they will meet with you
tomorrow.”
The smell of food had Kyla’s mouth
watering. Attended by the manservant,
she ate ravenously. After that
there was nothing to do but wait.
She spent part of the day exploring the
house. At least that portion
of it where she was allowed to go.
She thought of using her gift.
It would have been easy for her to render herself invisible and go
wherever she wished. But somehow
she felt that would be a betrayal of the Jade Dragon’s trust and
hospitality. And so she confined
herself to those areas of the house where she was permitted to
go. Even at that she found that
the house was enormous; large enough to hold several houses the size of the
one she worked in. Or used to
work in. She was sure that if
she tried to return she would find that she had lost her
job. Somehow that no longer worried
her. She would not change the
experience she had been through for
anything. She had saved the Jade
Dragon and Scarlet Falcon. Surely
the loss of her job was worth
that.
And so she whiled away the day, finally finishing up in the library,
where she found a surprisingly large number of books written in
English. She spent the rest of
the day there and retired to bed early, after being served another exquisite
meal. The next morning, Fang
awake her early. The morning
ritual of the bath and grooming proceeded as on the previous
day. Then she was dressed in
an elaborate silk robe that appeared to have been embroidered with threads
of pure gold. “This way,”
said Fang, opening the door to the hall.
“Master awaits.”
Her heart fluttering in anticipation, Kyla followed the serving
girl. To her surprise she was
escorted upstairs instead of down.
Waiting for her in the centre of a luxuriant rooftop conservatory
she found the Jade Dragon and Scarlet
Falcon. The two heroines appeared
to have recovered from the terrible ordeal they had been through, although
the Scarlet Falcon still showed some signs of
strain. Her brilliant blue eyes
reflected a level of mental pain that would take some time to
eliminate. Both heroines were
wearing elaborate Chinese robes similar to hers and were seated across from
an elderly Chinese man. Kyla
looked at him closely. She saw
that despite his great age, there was a certain aura about
him.
The Jade Dragon arose.
“Welcome, Blue Avenger” she bowed toward the elderly
oriental. “This is Master
Zhou my most honorable teacher. He
is a master of the ancient art of
Wushu.”
Kyla noted the respectful manner
the Jade Dragon
took toward Master
Zhou and bowed low, imitating what she had seen the Jade Dragon
do. The ancient master smiled
and
swept his hand toward
a chair, indicating that she should sit
down. “We will eat,”
said Master Zhou quietly.
“And while we do, you will tell us your
story.”
Kyla told them about her past and how she had come to be on hand to rescue
the Jade
Dragon
and the Scarlet
Falcon from the devices of Boss Crunch.
After she had finished Master Zhou
spoke. “It appears
that we owe you a debt of gratitude.
And it also appears that we can repay that debt by giving you what
you wish. If it is your desire,
I would like you to live in my humble home and train with the Jade Dragon
and the Scarlet Falcon. What
is your wish?”
Kyla smiled. Her impossible dream
had come true. It took her less
than a second to answer.
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