The Adventures of the Jade
Dragon
Episode
6
Chapter
7 A Warm Welcome for the Black
Leopard
Li Mei skipped up the stairs
into her lair. She was in a good
mood. She had just finished a
busy day in
Something was wrong. The hair
on the back of her head rose, and her skin
prickled. Where were the
Pussies? Why was
the door not properly locked?
She started as several men stepped into view from hiding places about the
room. “What the Hell is
going on?” she snarled.
“What have you done with the Pussies?”
“Same thing we’re gonna do to you, doll,” replied one of the
thugs as he stepped into view in front of her.
“The Hell you are.
You’ll need more than a half dozen men to take
me.”
“Have it your way babe.”
The man gestured. Behind
her a dozen more men flooded into the room.
“Son of a bitch,” thought Li Mei, “this doesn’t look
good.” She looked around
her for a way out, but every exit was
blocked. There was no escape
from the room except through force.
Li Mei did not look particularly
dangerous. Without the black
costume she wore as the Black Leopard she appeared a simple Chinese woman,
albeit an amazingly beautiful one.
She stood barely five-foot-three, but it was an incredibly dangerous
five-foot-three. In unarmed combat
she was more than a match for any several of Retinoff’s
thugs. She flexed her sharp clawed
fingers and licked her lips. Twenty
men. This would be a real
challenge.
The ring around her was closing.
Retinoff’s thugs moved cautiously toward
her. All of them were armed,
but the Mad Doctor had stipulated that she be taken
alive. There was to be no use
of firearms.
Li Mei did not wait for the encircling hoodlums to make their
move. She struck with astounding
speed. The man nearest her hardly
realized that she had moved before her talons ripped open his
face. With a scream he staggered
away from the raging villainess, but she did not stop with one
victim. Without slowing even
slightly she ripped into the stunned mobsters, ripping, slashing, kicking,
punching.
Men were hurled away from her in all
directions.
The way was clear for her to escape, but the archvillainess was no longer
interested in escaping the trap Retinoff had set for
her. She was filled with a bloodlust
that drove her to the heights of madness.
She turned and charged into the bewildered
goons. Screams rent the air as
panic-stricken men ran in all direction.
All except one.
One of the newest members of the mad Russian’s team, a man called Brax,
watched as Li Mei tore through what was left of Retinoff’s
ambush. But unlike the rest of
Retinoff’s hirelings, he did not give way to
hysteria. Icy cold, he waited
for his chance.
Brax had realized from the moment that Li Mei began her attack that none
of Retinoff’s men was a match for her, either singly or
collectively. He had immediately
looked for an equalizer. He found
it in a most unexpected location.
Retreating into the kitchen area of the Black Leopard’s lair
he spied what he needed on the kitchen
table.
He returned to the fray just in time.
Of the original twenty men who had lain in wait for the Black Leopard,
a half dozen were hors de combat, several more had taken to their heels,
and the rest were on the point of being
routed.
Li Mei spotted Brax out of the corner of her
eye. Here was something unusual,
a thug who did not run away. Like
a cobra uncoiling she struck at him.
He stepped back, avoiding her attack and as he did so his hand moved
in a graceful arc. Suddenly,
she was blinded. Her eyes burned
like fire and her nasal passages stung.
For a second she thought he had thrown acid into her face, then she
realized what it was.
Pepper.
Her eyes streaming with tears, Li Mei staggered blindly, striking out wildly
at enemies she could not longer see.
Quick to take advantage of her distress Brax stepped into her, blocked
her flailing attack, and delivered a blow to her solar
plexus.
Unable to see the blow coming, Li Mei was doubled up by the force of the
blow. Retching, she fell to her
knees, hardly able to breathe. It
was all the opportunity the remaining toughs
needed. They swarmed over the
now helpless villainess, forcing her to the floor.
Li Mei screamed in helpless rage as she felt her arms pulled behind her and
several pairs of strong arms encircling her kicking
legs. Ropes that Retinoff’s
men had for just such a purpose were looped about her wrists and ankles and
drawn tight. She screamed again,
an animal sound, but one now tinged with
fear. The Black Leopard was caught,
and she well knew what her fate would be.
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