Sun Lin jumped as she heard the bolt on the
door being quietly drawn back. The time had
come. She prepared herself for
the final humiliation, the one in which she would beg Crunch not to harm
her.
The door swung slowly open. Sun
Lin cringed as a bright light shone into her
eyes. “My God! “exclaimed
a hushed female voice, “What have they done to
you?”
Sun Lin almost wept with relief when she realized that it was not Crunch
who had opened the door. She
did not know who it was, but was so dreading another of Crunch’s
“interrogations” that
if the Devil himself had entered the doorway, she would have welcomed
him.
Whoever it was cradled Sun Lin in her
arms. “Just relax,”
she said soothingly, “I’ll get you out of
this.”
Sun Lin was now able to discern that the woman who had entered the room was
most strangely dressed. She was
wearing some sort of crimson and black costume, complete with a long flowing
cloak. A tight-fitting cowl covered
her head and masked her face. On
her ample bosom was the image of a red hawk or
eagle. “Who would dress
in such a ridiculous outfit?” Sun Lin wondered, until she suddenly realized
that she had been dressed in a similar fashion prior to being stripped naked
by Crunch.
“Hold still,” the mysterious woman said, “I think that this
might hurt a bit.”
Sun Lin began to whimper as the scarlet clad woman unclasped the nipple ring
in her right breast and slowly worked it
free. Her areola had not yet
healed around the wound, and removing the ring caused tremendous
pain. But she bore up without
screaming or bursting into tears.
Finally the ring was pulled from her
flesh. Immediately, her nipple
began to bleed profusely.
“Oh!” gasped the woman.
She reached into a pouch attached to her belt and pulled out a strip
of gauze and some sticky tape.
Pressing it against Sun Lin’s bleeding teat, she stanched the
flow of blood and then taped the gauze in
place.
“There is just one left,” the woman said, obviously trying to encourage
her. She took the nipple ring
in her left breast and repeated the
procedure. The pain was just
as bad, but this time Sun Lin bore it without
complaint. The thought of escaping
from her plight gave her renewed courage.
Once again, there was the spurt of blood from the damaged
nipple. Again the scarlet woman
dressed the wound with gauze and tape from her belt
pouch.
With the nipple rings removed, the chains that linked the various parts of
Sun Lin’s body were easy to remove.
Only the metal bands on her wrists remained, but they did not hamper
her from moving her arms.
“Now we have to get out of here,” said the
woman. “I wish we had some
clothes for you, but if I can get you to my cycle I have a spare cloak you
can have.”
“Cycle?” Sun Lin wondered.
But she did not question the
woman. As long as she was escaping
she was happy to cooperate with her
rescuer.
Cautiously, the crimson clad woman looked out into the
hallway. “All clear,”
she whispered. Taking Sun Lin’s
hand, she helped the battered heroine to her
feet. Agonizing pain shot through
Sun Lin’s body as her injuries, especially those of her nether region
protested any movement. Breathing
heavily in an effort to control the pain, she let her rescuer lead her out
of the cell and into the corridor.
Down the hall a door
opened. Both women
froze. Brick came through the
door. Right behind him was Crunch
and several of his men. There
was no place to hide.
“Nuts!” exclaimed the woman.
In the stronger light of the hallway Sun Lin could see that the woman
was probably younger than she had
thought. The cowl concealed most
of her face, but the woman’s mouth and jaw were
visible. She had the body of
a mature woman, but there was something about the lower part of her face
that made her seem younger.
However, there was no time to speculate on the age of her
rescuer. Brick had spotted
them.
“Hey!” he yelled.
“The Chinese bitch has gotten
out!” Immediately he broke
into a run, reaching inside his jacket for his gun as he did
so.
The crimson costumed female reached down and grabbed one of a number of small
cylindrical objects attached to her belt.
The cylinder resembled a
D-battery. The woman pressed
a button in the center of the cylinder and then tossed it toward the advancing
thugs.
BWAAM!!
There was a deafening
explosion and a huge cloud of smoke.
Brick and the others reeled back from the
blast.
“Quick!” urged the woman, “Run for
it!”
Somehow Sun Lin found the energy to trot down the
hall. It was the best she could
do. She was so sore both externally
and internally that she could hardly
move. As she and her rescuer
moved away from the temporarily stunned goons, there was a second
explosion. And then a
third. The scarlet rescuer was
covering their flight with a steady barrage of explosive
devices.
Sun Lin staggered out the door. The
brief exertion had depleted her slender reserves of
energy. Weak, frightened, and
still naked, she could not go much
farther.
“Over here!” Her rescuer
took her arm and hustled her over to a bright red
motorcycle. “Hold on to
me,” the crimson woman ordered as she jumped into the bike’s saddle,
with Sun Lin climbing on right behind.
The bike’s engine roared to life and within a few seconds they were
hurtling away from the warehouse where Sun Lin had been trapped and
tortured. Her rescuer drove on
for about ten minutes, winding her way down back alleys and side
streets. They encountered very
few people, and finally came to a nondescript two story warehouse located
on a deserted street. Sun Lin’s
rescuer directed the bike toward the door, which opened seemingly by itself
as they approached. In few seconds
they were inside the building with the door closing behind
them.
The woman in red turned off the bike’s engine and
dismounted. “I’m sorry
we were in such a rush that I did not have time to get that cloak,”
she said, as she helped Sun Lin from the
cycle.
Sun Lin almost collapsed into her arms.
“Oh, you poor dear,” the woman said as she helped Sun Lin
up a flight of stairs to the second floor of the
building.
Sun Lin just barely made it. A
few steps more and she would have collapsed, but she willed herself to climb
the last few steps.
There was a heavy steel door at the top of the
stairs. The red clad woman pushed
a few buttons and the door slid back into the
wall. Entering the room she flicked
a light switch and then helped Sun Lin into what was a very comfortable looking
living area. It was beautifully
furnished in the post modern style of the 1920s, with lots of futuristic
furniture built of chrome, leather, and
glass. Sun Lin was led to a
comfortable looking leather couch.
Exhausted she collapsed onto it.
“You just wait here,” the woman said, “I’ll be right
back.” She scampered off,
returning a minute later carrying a pillow, a blanket, and a pair of blue
silk pajamas. Sitting on the
couch beside her, she helped Sun Lin
dress. Then she placed the blanket
behind her head and drew the blanket over
her. Completely debilitated,
Sun Lin slept.
Sun Lin awoke in semi-darkness. For
a few seconds she was quite disoriented, and then she remembered her
rescue. Sitting on a chair next
to her was a beautiful blonde woman, or rather
girl. Sun Lin estimated her to
be no older than about sixteen or
seventeen. The girl smiled as
Sun Lin stirred and then something flashed in Sun Lin’s
mind. She knew this young
woman! It was Suzi Kendall, the
girl she had rescued from kidnappers several months
ago.
The girl smiled again as Sun Lin’s eyes lit up with
recognition. “I see that
you remember me,” she said.
“You did me a good turn when you rescued me from those toughs;
you changed my life around. I
was nothing but a rebellious fifteen-year-old, but you showed me that there
was more to life than just looking out for my own selfish
interests. Ever since that night
I have been keeping track of you.”
Sun Lin’s eyes widened in surprise.
Was she that easy to find?”
The redhead explained further.
“I tracked you from a
distance. I worked out that you
were probably following some sort of predetermined
route. Since you found me when
I was tricked by those kidnappers I figured out that the street where I met
them must be close to your route.
After that I just staked out the area until I spotted you
again. I kept hidden on one of
the rooftops so that you did not see me.
I have been sneaking out several times a week to watch you in
action. This week when you
disappeared I knew that something must have happened to
you. So I started to ask
around. I can make myself look
a lot older than I am by using a little
makeup. I had to be careful,
of course, as I was sometimes associating with a pretty tough
crowd. But eventually I overheard
some toughs bragging about a Chinese broad that they had captured and I knew
it must be you. So I just followed
them to their hideout and waited for a good time to sneak
in. The rest you
know.”
Sun Lin felt strong enough to sit up.
She noticed that her breasts were bound with a clean white
bandage. “But what about
that fantastic costume you were wearing, and the
bombs?”
Suzi leaned forward. She spoke
enthusiastically. “I made
that myself. I decided that modeling
wasn’t nearly as interesting as
crime-fighting. So I tried to
copy you. I call myself the
Scarlet Falcon. I
made the costume myself.
Fortunately, the boarding school I was forced to attend thought that
all girls should learn to make their own
clothes. I didn’t appreciate
the lessons at the time, but now I do.
As for the bombs, I’m not like
you. I never learned to fight,
so I made myself a few weapons. I
got top marks in chemistry. It
was a simple matter for me to put together some small contact
bombs. They really don’t
do much damage, but they make a lot of noise and scare the heck out of anyone
who is close to them.”
“Amazing,” thought Sun Lin.
“I’ve got a fan.”
The girl was still speaking.
“I have pretty wealthy parents, but they have never shown a lot
of interest in me. I was always
sent off to boarding schools. But
I guess they have always felt a little guilty about neglecting me, so when
they are off traveling around the world, they leave me with quite a bit of
spending money. I used to spend
it on clothes and jewelry, but now I use it to outfit my little
hideaway. I arranged to rent
this place and furnish it by phone.
It is amazing what you can get away with as long as you pay your
bills. I got the bike in the
same way.”
The two women continued their chat.
Now that she was out of Boss Crunch’s clutches, Sun Lin recovered
rapidly, aided by her incredible
conditioning. She spent several
days in Suzi’s hideaway and had soon fully recovered
physically. She would always
have a pair of matching tiny scars on either side of her nipples, but they
did not detract from the overall appearance of her magnificent
breasts. It was the psychological
scars that would take the longest to
heal. She had been completely
defeated by Boss Crunch and her confidence in her abilities had been utterly
shattered. There was only one
way she could recover from her ordeal at his hands and that was to seek him
out and defeat him as soon as possible.
The longer she delayed the greater her fear of failure would
become. She had been defeated
once and fear of a second defeat would haunt her until she had avenged
herself.
While she was recuperating Sun Lin sent word to Master Zhou informing him
of her whereabouts and to get a change of clothing and a few of her personal
items. She also sent for her
Jade Dragon costume. She had
several, so the loss of one to Boss Crunch was not a permanent
setback.
A more important problem was what to do about Suzi
Kendall. The young woman was
fascinated by Sun Lin’s adventurous lifestyle and it was apparent that
she wanted very much to emulate her.
However, in Sun Lin’s judgement, the young woman had neither
the athletic skills nor the maturity to embark on such a dangerous course
of action. It was obvious, however,
that she was completely infatuated with the concept of the Jade
Dragon and was determined to imitate
Sun Lin in every way possible. It
was time for a heart to heart talk.
She had managed to get Suzi to drink Chinese green tea rather than coffee,
something the girl readily took to when she learned that it was the preferred
beverage of the heroine she worshipped.
This obsessive adulation was something she now sought to talk the
girl out of. “Suzi,”
she said quietly as the girl poured tea, “there is something we need
to discuss.”
Suzi looked at her expectantly. She
was a magnificently beautiful young woman, having blossomed into full female
maturity in the few months since the Jade Dragon had saved
her. Sun Lin looked into the
tall blonde’s clear blue eyes.
“First,” she said quietly, dropping her eyes toward her
cup, “I want to thank you for saving my
life. I don’t think you
know how close I was to being completely
destroyed. I was absolutely defeated
and you saved me at the last minute.
I could not have lasted another day in Crunch’s
hands.”
“You saved me, I saved you,” Suzi replied
matter-of-factly. It was as if
she were discussing the weather.
Sun Lin shook her head. “No,
it was not like that. I don’t
think you appreciate the horror of what happened to me,” Her voice broke
and she fought to control her emotions as the memories of ordeal flooded
backed. Talking about her capture
and defilement was the most difficult thing she had ever done in her
life.
“Suzi leaned forward, placing her hand on Sun
Lin’s. “Jade,”
she said, “you don’t have to talk about
this.”
Sun Lin raised her head, the glint of tears shone in her brilliant green
eyes. “Yes,” she said,
“I must. What I wish to
speak about concerns you.”
Suzi gave her head a slight toss, flipping her waist length hair over her
left shoulder. She had been expecting
this. During the time the Jade
Dragon had spent with her the heroine had constantly changed the subject
every time she had mentioned to her own plans to become a
crimefighter. She sat back in
her chair and waited.
Sun Lin collected herself.
“Suzi,” she began, “I know what you want, but it cannot
be.” Suzi opened her mouth
to protest, but Sun Lin spoke before she could
interrupt. “No,” she
said, “please let me finish.
This is very hard for me.”
Suzi closed her mouth and waited.
Sun Lin took a deep breath and
continued. “The life of
a crimefighter is difficult, more difficult that even I
imagined. And you are very
young. Too young to embark on
so dangerous a career.”
“Yes,” said Suzi, “you are so much older than I
am.” She said it without
inflection, but there was no mistaking that Suzi was alluding to the fact
that Sun Lin was only two years older than she
was.
“Our age differences do not reflect the differences in our training,”
Sun Lin replied. “I have spent years preparing for my role as a
crimefighter. And yet, I was
captured and reduced to the state in which you found
me. I would not wish the same
fate on anyone, much less the brave young woman who saved my
life.”
“Now you are trying to flatter me,” Suzi said, smiling slightly,
“but I am not convinced. You
see, it is the danger that I find
attractive. And the more the
danger, the greater the
attraction.”
“And,” she continued, “before Sun Lin could interrupt, “as
for my lack of skills, then you will just have to just have to teach me how
to defend myself.”
“I am not qualified to teach anyone,” protested Sun
Lin. “Was it not obvious
that I could not even defend
myself?” She leaned forward,
placing both hands on the tall girl’s
shoulders. “Suzi, I was
raped and tortured. Do you not
understand? I was held down and
brutalized by thugs. Can you
imagine what that was like? When
you found me I had given up. I
would have done anything they asked me to do, even have given away the secret
of my origins to stop them from raping me
again.” Here, Sun Lin’s
voice broke, and she wept.
Suzi held the sobbing heroine until her weeping
subsided. Then stroking Sun
Lin’s shining black mane she spoke, grim determination in her
voice. “And that is why
we must be avenged. The brutes
who savaged you must not be allowed to boast of their
triumph. They must be destroyed,
just as they tried to destroy you.”
Sun Lin raised her tear drenched face.
“W...We?” she stammered.
“It has been ‘we’ ever since the night you rescued me,”
said Suzi. “And it is still
we, whether you like it or not. I
will be your pupil, and you will teach me what I need to
survive. Then we will deal with
the bastards who defiled you.”
Suzi spoke with such determination and passion that Sun Lin could only look
at her. There was a long
silence. “Alright,”
said Sun Lin. “I will ask
my Master if he will teach you. I
am not skilled enough to show you the
way. But I can see that you will
accept no other answer.”
Suzi stood. She had the grace
not to smile in triumph. She
had been accepted by her idol as a
crimefighter. Together she and
the Jade Dragon would patrol
Sun Lin smiled, as Suzi left the room.
She shook her head. It
appeared that she had gained a companion.
She would have to begin Suzi’s training at once, while at the
same time preparing herself for a renewal of her confrontation with Boss
Crunch. Only time would tell
whether she would be able to recover enough to deal with
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