“It is not like Kyla to leave without
telling us where she is going, “ Sun Lin said,
voicing her concern to Suzi.
“I fear she has fallen into some
trap.”
“Yes,” agreed Suzi, “I think we have reason to fear the
worst.”
“If she has been captured by Brick Henson,” said Sun Lin, “you
can be sure that she is undergoing some terrible
ordeal. I do not think we can
afford to wait until we are certain.
We must make some effort now, regardless of the
risk.”
Suzi nodded. Going up against
Brick’s headquarters at with some preparation would have been dangerous
in the extreme. Attmpting to
break into it with only a cursory reconnaissance was almost tantamount to
suicide. “I will tell Master
Zhou. At least one person will
know where we are if we get into trouble.”
Half an hour later the two heroines left Master Zhou’s palatial
residence. They carried their
costumes with them.
During the day dressing as the Jade Dragon and Scarlet
Falcon would attract far too much
attention. They would
travel by car to Brick’s headquarters and then change into their alter
egos when they were ready to go into
action.
The trip across town was uneventful, just as it should have
been. They were simply two young,
albeit very attractive women, traveling by
car. They stopped a block from
Brick’s headquarters and parked their vehicle in an
alley. Then they stripped down
and donned their heroine gear. The
car they were driving was one of the largest available, and equipped with
window shades. It gave them enough
room and privacy to carry out their
transformation.
Both Suzi and Sun Lin knew the general layout of Brick’s
headquarters. It would not be
easy to crack. Brick had made
a perfect choice in choosing his hideout.
Not only was the building easy to defend, but it stood well back from
the surrounding buildings. It
would not be possible for the Jade Dragon to gain access to its roof from
that of another building. In
addition, the windows of the building were all
barred. The only way in and out
was by the front or rear entrances.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” said Sun
Lin. “We will have to wait
until dark. If we attack now,
we will simply be placing ourselves at Brick’s
mercy.”
Suzi agreed. It was simply too
risky to try and enter the building in broad
daylight. The only choice left
to them was to try to invade the building using the cover of
darkness. And so they waited,
each one anxiously wondering what was happening to
Kyla. Would they be in time to
save her? For all they knew she
was already dead. Or perhaps
even worse, Brick and his henchmen might have worked her over the way he
had she and the Jade Dragon. The
tall blonde heroine shuddered as she recalled what that had been
like. “Poor Kyla,”
she murmured. “We have to
try and save her.”
Eventually darkness came and Sun Lin and Suzi sprang into
action. Keeping to the shadows
they moved to the edge of the open space surrounding Brick’s
HQ. They would have to cross
about 100 feet of pavement out in the
open. Fortunately, the city had
chosen to plant numerous trees and decorative shrubs near the building and
these would provide some cover.
After a short discussion Sun Lin and Suzi made their move, dashing
from tree to tree and bush to bush as they worked their way toward the
building.
Unfortunately, all of their stealth was in
vain. They had already been spotted,
thanks to the work of the ingenious Dr. Ivan
Retinoff. At Brick’s request,
Mad Ivan had found a way to warn of the presence of intruders long before
they reached the building. Using
his creative genius the doctor had installed dozens of electronic eyes all
around the building. When activated,
anyone who stepped across their invisible beams alerted the henchmen who
were monitoring the security system.
Such science was, of course, far in advance of its time, and it was
an irony of history that the mad doctor did not appreciate the real commercial
value of his genius.
In any case, it was the triggering of the security system by her friends
that ended Kyla’s gang rape.
Brick’s men went scurrying to their posts in preparation for
the attack of the Jade Dragon and Scarlet
Falcon.
Outside, Sun Lin and Suzi had reached the base of the
building. They had decided that
the best approach was to try and find a way in through the
roof. It would be risky, but
not nearly as dangerous as going through one of the more conventional
entrances. Using her crossbow,
Sun Lin launched a line to the roof of the
building. It carried with it
a small grappling hook that trailed a line behind
it. She got it right the first
time. The hook lodged on the
edge of the roof. Within seconds,
she was climbing upwards.
Suzi was not nearly as adept as The Jade Dragon in her climbing
skills. She waited at the bottom
of the building until Sun Lin had reached the
top. Then she took hold of the
line and with Sun Lin pulling while she climbed, she soon reached the top
and joined her partner.
The rooftop was strangely deserted.
It seemed odd that Brick had not bothered to place a single guard
in such an obvious spot and both Sun Lin and Suzi smelled a
trap. The rooftop stairway seemed
the obvious way to get into the building, but it was also the easiest to
guard and, therefore, the most likely place to conceal a trap and so they
looked for an alternative access route.
“How about the skylight?” suggested
Suzi.
“I was considering that,” replied Sun
Lin. “It is worth
investigating.”
The rooftop skylight was huge, measuring about twenty feet
across. More important was the
fact that the room below it seemed empty.
It was, however, heavily barred, but Suzi made short work of
that. The tall blonde carried
a variety of tools in her utility belt.
She was really the heroine equivalent of Mad
Ivan. She sprinkled the bars
with a powerful acid that severely weakened the metal and then taking a
saw-toothed wire she cut through the bars with
ease. After that it was but the
work of a couple of minutes with a glasscutter to create an opening large
enough for Sun Lin and her to climb through.
Sun Lin went first. Her martial
arts ability was far superior to Suzi’s and if the room below turned
out to be a trap she was better equipped to handle the
emergency. As it turned out the
room seemed entirely deserted. It
was even devoid of furniture. Sun
Lin thought this a little strange, and before signaling to Suzi she opened
the only door in the room. It
opened into an equally deserted hallway.
Satisfied that she was safe for the moment she signaled for Suzi to
come down.
Both women moved into the hallway.
“Which way?” asked Suzi.
Sun Lin did not answer.
Instead she indicated the direction they were to move by stealthily
sliding down the hallway. Suzi
followed.
Sun Lin had expected the hallway to lead to a staircase or perhaps a larger
intersecting hallway, but it only continued for about fifty feet before it
ended in a locked door. Since
the other end of the hall seemed to end in a blank wall she motioned to Suzi
to take care of the lock. As
the Chinese heroine stood aside, Suzi took out her lock picking
tools. It was at that moment
that a grinding sound behind them gave both heroines a
start.
As one the two young women whirled about.
Both saw with some alarm that the hallway behind them was now
blocked. A hinged roof panel
had dropped into the passageway effectively preventing them from returning
the way that they had come.
Immediately both superheroines realized why entering via the roof
had been so easy. It was obvious
that Brick had wanted them to come that way in order to spring his
trap. Dashing back the way they
had come, they attempted to force the panel out of the way, but it was
constructed of very heavy wood.
“Stand back,” ordered Sun Lin.
Suzi’s utility belt would have provided a way of dealing with
the panel, but Sun Lin was in a hurry.
Gathering her strength, she hurled her 125 pounds at the panel, striking
it feet first with enormous force.
The panel did not give, but a splintering sound indicated that Sun
Lin had severely weakened it. One
more blow should see them through.
Sun Lin readied herself for another strike, but as she began to move
forward, a wave of nausea passed through
her. She suddenly felt incredibly
weak.
“Wha…what’s happening?” she
quavered.
Suzi staggered against the wall, affected in the same
way.
“It’s gas!” she
gasped. “Hold your
breath!”
Both women inhaled, but it was too late.
The gas must have been released the instant the roof panel had fallen
into place. Unable to detect
it, the two heroines had already been breathing it in for about thirty
seconds. Slowly, they
collapsed. First Suzi and then
Sun Lin dropped to her knees. Then
they fell forward onto their hands and finally dropped into
unconsciousness. Brick’s
Henson’s welcome was complete!
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