The Adventures of the Jade Dragon

Episode 6.  The Jade Dragon Meets the Scorpion

Chapter 10  The Scorpion’s Sting

Melissa kept to the shadows.  A few feet away her new friend Kyla walked with her.  Since their meeting at Master Zhou’s several weeks before the two young women had been close companions.  Kyla too attempted to disguise her presence by remaining in the gloom.  Her power of invisibility protected her against casual observers, but Kyla had to be able to detect their presence in order to apply it.  Her power had a limited range.  Too often she had blundered into traps set by criminals who had spotted her before she was aware that they were in her vicinity.  

Melissa was still not certain of herself, in spite of her triumph over Chandos.  She focused on the negative side of the encounter rather than the positive.  To her being captured and raped by Chandros completely cancelled any positive aspects of the episode.  She overlooked the fact that she had managed to escape from an almost completely hopeless situation and overcome a brutal crimelord and his henchman, not to mention the fact that she had rescued several innocent young women from a fate worse than death.  

Kyla had tried to convince her of the fact that her ability to extricate herself from such dire straits showed that she was deserving of heroine status, but Melissa could not be persuaded.  It was only with some reluctance that she agreed to accompany Kyla on her nightly patrols, not because she was afraid, but because she did not feel that she belonged in the Blue Avenger’s company.  Kyla, however, had insisted that Melissa assist her and gradually the novice crimefighter had gained back some of her confidence.  

During the two weeks she had been patrolling with the Blue Avenger there had been numerous encounters between the two women and common street thugs.  They had broken up a number of muggings and had surprised a number of burglars.  These low order criminals had been no match for the two highly proficient young heroines.  Melissa found to her amazement that the Blue Avenger was not as skilled a martial artist as she was.  Instead the blue clad heroine relied upon her talent of invisibility and her skills as a gymnast to defeat her opponents.  This discovery gave her renewed confidence and the determination to carry on.  

Tonight, however, they were going to try something tougher.  They were in Trashtown, the heart of Metro City’s poorest district.  It was an area of crowded tenements and filthy streets, and was almost completely without law enforcement.  The police seldom entered the area unless they went in force and tended to avoid Trashtown entirely after dark.  But there were many honest citizens in the crowded slum.  Struggling individuals trying to make a better life for themselves.  They were often easy prey for the ghetto’s less desirable types.  This night, Kyla and Melissa had chosen as their target a notorious house of prostitution.  

What distinguished it from other establishments in Metro City was that the brothel served as a recruiting center for prostitutes, especially those that were underage.  Both Melissa and Kyla had a strong feeling of identity with the young girls that were forced into such a trade and they were determined to stamp out such evil wherever they found it.

The four resident superheroines of Metro City had targeted the brothel frequently, but it always seemed to come back under new management.  Each time the scum who ran the establishment had increased the security, until now it was a veritable fortress.  It required someone like the Blue Avenger with her superhuman talent to even consider tackling such a stronghold.  

The building was certainly not much to look at.  Like many of the structures in Trashtown it was dilapidated in appearance.  It was a three-story building with a peeked tile roof.  Peeling paint, loose roof tiles, and hanging guttering helped it blend in the rest of the shoddy structures around it.  But the intelligence network created by the Scarlet Falcon and the Jade Dragon had revealed that the building hid formidable defenses.  The current owners of the brothel had reinforced its walls with concrete, added steel doors, and constructed a number of ingenious traps designed to kill or capture anyone who was not authorized to enter the building.  In addition, numerous armed guards were posted near all of the entrances.  

The two heroines clustered across the street from the brothel for a quick conference.  “I believe the new girls are kept on the third floor,” said Kyla.  “We will have to penetrate the building’s defenses at least that far to free them.  The problem is, many of them may be drugged and so we can expect very little cooperation from any of them.  A number of them may have become addicted to drugs and may resist rescue.  But our first goal will be to get to them in the first place.”

Melissa nodded.  “You are well suited to penetrating their defenses.  But you will have to find a way to avoid the traps.  How do you suggest we approach this?”  

“I will go in first,” said Kyla.  “Give me fifteen minutes and then if I do not give you some sort of sign, contact the Jade Dragon and then you follow.”  

Melissa nodded agreement.  Kyla suddenly faded from sight and moved across the street.  

Gaining entrance to the building was simple.  Kyla’s mind reached out and blinded those near the entrance to her presence.  What she could not do, however, was cloud the minds of those who were farther away from her.  If the entrance was being watched at a distance she would still be seen, but she did not have the ability that the Jade Dragon had in scaling walls so going through the front door was her best chance.

There were several guards near the door, but none of them so much as blinked as she walked right past them.  She tried to step carefully, aware that some of her enemies planted pressure-sensitive sensors in the floors.  These would sound an alarm somewhere in the building announcing her presence even if she could not be seen.  She had learned that such devices were usually planted in the center of the floor so she tried to hug the walls as she moved deeper into the building.  

She was not the only one visiting the brothel that night.  Several other individuals, all of them men, also came to the door.  The guards gave them a quick identity check and then let them in.  It was obvious that they were well known customers.  Kyla took advantage of this traffic by falling in behind the clientele as they were allowed into the building.  By this method she easily gained access to the second floor.  But that was as far as the customers went.  One the second floor they were met by an older woman who greeted each of the men by name.  Kyla was surprised to hear one of the men addressed as “judge,” and another as “councilor.”  More customers entered behind her.  She turned and watched them as they came up the stairs.  To her disgust she recognized several of them.  They were well known figures in politics and business.  

“No wonder we can’t stamp out this dens of snakes,” she thought, “if senior members of the law and government participate in the sex trade.”  But she could not do much about that now.  Once she had succeeded in her mission perhaps she would pay a private visit to the gentlemen who helped create the problem they were supposed to prevent.   

She now had to find a way to the third floor.  This proved much more difficult as she found that the stairways leading to the upper floors were locked off with heavy steel grates.  In order to get past them she would have to saw through the bars with the tools in her utility belt.  This, she proceeded to do.  There was an elevator, but she had once been trapped in and captured in an elevator.  As a result she had been forced to endure several hours of brutal sexual torture.  The very thought of taking such a chance again sent shivers down her spine.  She would take the stairs.

Cutting through the bars did not prove to be too difficult.  Most of the tools in her utility belt had been designed by Suzi Kendall, the Scarlet Falcon, who was a bit of a mechanical genius.  She first weakened the bars by coating them with an acidic cream that ate into the metal.  Then she used a diamond impregnated flexible saw to sever the bars.  It was time-consuming, but it was the safest way.  Fortunately, there were no guards near the stairwells.  It seemed that there was enough faith in the bars that no guards were deemed necessary.  

She did not cut all of the way through the bars, she did not have time.  Her fifteen minutes were almost up.  She would have to return to the street and let Melissa know that she was all right.  But she got a good start.  She cut through four of the bars completely and then left the second cut for later.  Packing up her tools she turned to leave.  

Even as she turned she sensed that something was not right.  She did not know how she had been detected, but some instinct told her that someone knew she was in the building.  She looked warily around her.  The hallway was still deserted, and that was a little disturbing, since it there should have been a steady stream of customers moving to and from the rooms on the floor.  She reached out with her mind as far as she could.  She detected the presence of many people in the building, but there was no trace of alarm among them.  Still she felt uneasy.  She glanced back at the barred stairway.  Had she triggered some sort of an alarm?  It was a possibility.  She decided to exit the building as quickly as possible.

She reacted as soon as she heard the sound.  It was a faint hissing, so faint that no normal person would have taken any note of it.  But it sent a clear signal to Kyla.  Gas!  She did not try to take a deep breath.  She knew it was too late for that.  Instead she simply stopped breathing for a few seconds.  It that short time she activated the special filters in her cowl that would protect her from any poisonous fumes.  However, she soon became aware that this was a different sort of gas.  It was one that was clearly visible.  She wondered at this for a second, then she understood.  While she had been preoccupied with protecting herself from the gas several men had flooded into the corridor.  They were looking directly at her, and that should have been impossible.  She was still clouding the minds of those around her and should still have been invisible.  For  a second, while the  men closed in, she was mystified and then she noticed that the thick vapors seemed to cling to her as she moved.  She was still invisible, but her body was clearly outlined by the dense mist.

As realization of her predicament swept over her, Kyla moved to protect herself.  Using her skills as a gymnast, she vaulted forward onto her hands and cartwheeled away from the enveloping fog, but she had almost left it too late.  Already the men were upon her.  However, although the mist revealed her, it also concealed.  She was not that easy to see.  Kyla’s bootheels caught the closest man full in the chest, knocking him completely across the corridor.  But the impact stopped her forward momentum, and she was still shrouded by the cloud of gas.  She dropped to the floor, landing expertly on her feet.  She spun in place, lashing out with her hands and feet at the men now ringing her on every side.  She was almost free of the mist.  But now a dozen fists struck out at her.  Her assailants were striking blindly, but there were so many of them that a lucky hit was almost inevitable.

One of the punches grazed her shoulder, knocking her off balance.  It was a slight blow, but it told her assailant where she was.  Immediately he followed up his first punch by lunging in the direction of the contact.  He encountered something solid and wrapped his arms about it.  

Kyla felt her assailant’s arms enfold her.  He was a big man and he lifted her right off her feet.  “I’ve got someone!” he shouted.  “Help me!”

Several other men surged toward her.  They still could not see her, but their hands now made contact.  For the men attacking her, it was like fighting in the dark, but they could now tell where she was.  Hands grabbed at her, seizing her arms, legs, and parts of her costume.  

Kyla continued to fight, but she was lifted right off the ground.  She felt hands on her everywhere; on her arms, her neck, her legs, around her waist, and on her breasts.  

“Christ, it’s a woman,” screamed one of the men.  “I just got me some tit.”  

Frantic now, the heroine redoubled her efforts.  She tried to keep calm and fight scientifically.  If she panicked she knew that she would be lost, but with the grasping hands everywhere on her, including her most intimate places, it was hard to keep her composure.  

By now all of the men struggling to hold her knew that they held a woman.  And there was only one woman who had the power to make herself invisible, the Blue Avenger.  They were determined not to let her get away, and in order to quiet her, they rained punches on her writhing body.  

Kyla kicked and stuck, hammering her opponents with all of her might.  But she did not have the martial arts power of the Jade Dragon.  Her blows hurt, but they did not disable.  And she was now taking severe punishment.  Eventually one of her attackers found her head.  The blow stunned her, and she momentarily lost her concentration.  As she did so she lost her power of invisibility.  Immediately the punches of her opponents found their mark with accuracy.  The last thing Kyla saw was a ham fist driving toward her face, and then everything went black.  


Kyla moaned.  Her body ached.  She had been conscious for only a few minutes, but that was enough to determine that she was in serious trouble.  Her body was covered with bruises and abrasions from the beating she had received.  Any attempt to move sent waves of pain though her battered body, but that was the least of her worries.  More worrisome than any beating was the fact that she had been stripped naked and was spread-eagled on some sort of horizontal bondage rack.  

It was a simple affair, consisting of a large rectangular wooden frame.     Large eyebolts were screwed into each corner of the frame and her wrists and ankles were lashed to each of the eyebolts, leaving her open to any sort of assault.  Across the middle of her back was a padded wooden crossbrace that arched her back.

She had already tested her bonds.  She was tied tight.  It would take her some time to work her way out of the ropes.  And she was not likely to get that chance.  Standing around her were over a dozen men.  They seemed very interested in her situation.  

“Well, Blue Avenger,” said one of the men.  “I’m glad that you are not hurt too badly.  It would be a shame to damage such beauty.  I must apologize for the rough treatment given you by my men, but you did come uninvited.”

Kyla turned her eyes toward the person who was speaking.  He was a dapper, well-dressed man of about thirty-five.  He was ordinary in appearance, except for one thing.  He wore a patch over his right eye.  Kyla realized with a twinge of fear that she was in the presence of Bradley Adams one of the most notorious of Metro City’s new criminals.  

Adams was a man who had not been long in town, having arrived only after the destruction of Boss Crunch’s and Brick Henson’s criminal organizations.  It was one of the ironies of crimefighting that the elimination of one criminal often resulted in another simply taking his place.  This was so with Adams.  

Kyla knew a little bit about the man.  Prior to being a crimelord he had worked as a hitman.  The loss of his eye during a botched killing had forced him to use his brains instead of his gun and he had proven to be very good at it.  He had started small and gradually built up an effective criminal organization.  In the last year or so he had managed to eliminate many of his closest rivals with ruthless efficiency, and he had done so with so little fanfare that only recently had the superheroines started to target his operations.  Despite that fact, Kyla knew she could expect very little mercy from him.

Adams was transfixed by the beautiful woman spread helplessly before him.  Her muscle tone was perfect.  Her spread-eagled position emphasized her long-muscled limbs and her hard, flat belly.  Beautifully rounded thighs and flaring hips set off the dark triangle framing her vulva.  His eyes moved to her breasts.  They were small, but perfectly formed and crowned with erect, pink nipples.  Her lips were swollen from the beating, and one of her eyes was closed.  But even battered as they were, her face was remarkably attractive.  It was perhaps the most beautiful face he had ever seen.

Adams spoke again.  “Even with the beating you have suffered your beauty is amazing.  I don’t think I have ever seen a more attractive woman.”  He began to run his hands over Kyla’s perfect body.  

Kyla winced as Adam’s hands squeezed an especially large bruise.  But she tensed even more when his hands closed over her breasts and began to gently massage the firm flesh.  

Adams took his time.  It was not every day that he had a superheroine to entertain, and he had developed a plan for her.  Kyla tried to ignore what Adams was doing to her.  But it was an almost impossible task.  He touched every part of her, saving the genital region for last, and when he inserted two fingers into her vagina, she almost cried out.  She bit her lip to keep from giving herself away.  

But she did not fool Adams.  He noted her distress.  “You like that do you, honey?  I’m certainly glad of that.  I’ve got wonderful plans for you.  As you might have determined, I have some very high priced clientele visiting this place.  They pay me good money for sex.  Some of them are willing to pay even more for something extra special.  How much do you think they would pay to fuck a superheroine?”

Mentally, Kyla shuddered at the thought.  She had been raped before, but always by members of the criminal element.  The thought of being auctioned off to members of the paying public was something that concerned her greatly.  What if she was recognized?  She had identified several prominent citizens of Metro City who were known to her when she had broken into the brothel.  Almost certainly if she became part of the brothel’s attractions it would be only a matter of time until someone she knew identified her and then her secret identity would be uncovered.

She wondered how long she had been a prisoner.  Somewhere outside Melissa was supposed to be watching out for her.  The fifteen minutes would have been up a long time ago.  That should mean that her companions would be on the way to rescue her.  She could only hope that was the case.  But what if something had gone wrong?  What if Melissa had not done as she was instructed?  What if Melissa had somehow been spotted and taken prisoner as well?  

Her mind wrenched back to Adams.  “I see the thought of being a star prostitute has got you thinking, honey,” he said.  “But don’t worry, it won’t be today.  I have to break you in first.  I break in all my girls.”  As Adams spoke he was unbuckling his belt.  Kyla knew what was coming and tensed her muscles, trying to slip out of her bonds, but her efforts were futile.  

Adams dropped his pants and ducked under the frame, positioning himself between Kyla’s legs.  He was fully erect, and while not a large man, his organ was impressive.  Slowly he leaned into the heroine, the glans of his penis pushing against her vulva.  Kyla broke out into a cold sweat.  No matter how many times she was raped, she never got used to the helpless fear that griped her every time it happened.  She was trembling when he pushed forward and entered her.  

“A fucking virgin,” swore Adams.  “If I’d known that I might have arranged something really special.  But I guess I should have known.  You superheroines don’t really fuck do you?”

Kyla lay mute and helpless, her back arched across the back rest.  She knew about the healing power of the Dragon’s Eye and its power to restore her virginity.  That did not make it any easier to be raped, however.  The violation of her body was always a frightening and painful experience.  

This one was no exception.  As Adams thrust into her she gritted her teeth against the pain as her maidenhood was destroyed once more.  It was not a terribly painful rape, despite the fact that she was unlubricated.  She had experienced worse, much worse, but Adams made it last a long time, forcing her vaginal juices to finally start flowing.  And it was completely humiliating.  She was surrounded by gawking members of Adam’s gang; all of whom took great delight in commenting on her degradation.  And then when it was over, each of them lined up to have a turn.  

Another hour went by, although to Kyla it seemed like an eternity.  In that short time another six men took her.  Her body was covered in sweat and she stank of sperm.  Her honey pot dribbled the thick cream of more than a dozen male orgasms and her bruised body ached from the constant battering she was receiving.  So far she had endured the ordeal, but she was almost completely exhausted.  She doubted that she could last much longer.  She was on the verge of complete collapse.

At that moment there came a shout from the door into the room.  “Boss, we got trouble!”

Adams, who had been enjoying Kyla’s defilement looked up in annoyance.  “What the hell is it this time?  Can’t you see I’m busy?”

The man entered the room.  The thug standing between her legs halted in his rape.  Exhausted as she was, Kyla was still alert enough to look in the direction of the man who had called out to Adams.  He appeared quite shaken.  

He approached the crimelord.  In a low voice, but one which Kyla could clearly hear, he whispered to Adams.  “Boss, three of the boys are out cold.   They seen to be in some sort of trance.  We can’t wake them up.”

Adams signaled to the man raping Kyla to get away from her.  “Where did this happen and when?”

“In the last hour.  Two on the roof, and one on the third floor.”

“How the hell could that happen?  Didn’t anyone see it anything?”

“That’s the scary part, boss.  No one saw or heard a damned thing.”

“For Christ’s sake,” Adams swore.  He pointed to two of the men.  “You two keep your eyes on superbabe, here.  And don’t fuck her.  I want her watched.  The rest of you come with me.”


The first two men had been fools.  Bored, they were watching the street instead of looking for intruders.  She had taken each one of them with dart from her tiny blowgun.  It was no larger that a peashooter, but it delivered a tiny dart tipped with a powerful sleeping drug.  She had been taught the formula as part of her assassin’s training and had reproduced it in Suzi’s lab.  She had taken the guards before they even knew she was there.  The third had been more difficult.  She had been forced to spend precious minutes waiting until his attention was distracted.  She had finally solved the problem by turning off one of the light bulbs in the stairwell.  When the guard had come to investigate the unusual darkness she had struck, using the same weapon she had used to disable the first two guards.  

But now the alarm was up.  She had not taken the precaution of hiding the bodies – an obvious oversight, but one that showed her inexperience.  Another guard had come up on the roof and discovered the sleeping bodies.  Now he had alerted everyone in the building.  She was in danger, and worse, her chances of finding Kyla were greatly reduced.

When Kyla had not returned she had done as instructed.  She had phoned the Jade Dragon, leaving a coded message and giving her location.  Unfortunately, all of the other superheroines were doing exactly what Melissa and Kyla were doing, fighting crime.  There was no one to come to her aid and so she decided to go after Kyla herself.

Unlike Kyla, she had not gone through the front door.  Instead she had shinnied up one of the downspouts at the back of the building.  Once on the roof she had taken out the two guards that were there and the one in the stairwell.  She was now on the third floor.  She had swung herself up to the ceiling and was hiding in the narrow space where the electrical wiring for the building was strung.  Below her men were dashing to and fro, obviously looking for the intruder who had taken out three of their number.  She noted with satisfaction that many of the men were on the verge of panic.  

She wondered how long it would be before one of them figured out her hiding place.  None of them looked too bright, but there must be someone in the organization with a brain.  Suddenly, she had a notion.  Would it be possible to disable the power on the entire floor by cutting the wires that ran next to her body?  It was worth a try.  

She took a pair of insulated pliers from her waist pouch.  She had a few tools in there, supplied by Suzi.  They were a bit small for the job, but might just do.  She clamped the wire and exerted as much pressure as she could.  With a gratifying “snip” and a small shower of sparks the wire parted.  Immediately the hallway below her went black.  She waited a few seconds and then, sure that the lights were not coming back on, swung into the darkened hallway.

Now she was in her element.  She had trained for years in the skills required to move in a darkened environment.  Despite the absolute blackness, she moved with calm deliberation through the darkened corridor.  Around her she could hear the confused shouts of men and women blundering about in the dark.  Apparently the girls in the rooms had panicked and come out into the hallway.  Through the open doors of the rooms the faint light shining through the windows of the outside rooms provided dim illumination.  

The light was too limited to be of much use to the average person, but to Melissa’s trained eyes it served as a welcome beacon.  Now she could see her adversaries, but they could not see her.  One after the other she crept up on each one, her tiny blowgun at the ready.  They dropped without a sound.   The active ingredient in the poison paralyzed the nervous system.  She had kept the dose low to avoid killing, but it was powerful enough to disable a man in seconds.  In just a few minutes she dropped another three men.  

Suddenly a light flared ahead of her.  Apparently someone had found a flashlight.  Instantly Melissa stepped into one of the open doorways.  There were several girls in the room, but they did not see her.  The light was advancing down the hallway, and from the sounds of footsteps there were at least a dozen men moving along behind it.

“God-damn, here’s another one!  That’s four!”  The men strode by the open door.  There were even more curses and exclamations when they found the other two bodies.  

From out of the hubbub rose a calm clear voice.  “Enough!  I want silence.  Whoever took out these fools is probably on this floor.  Search each room.  And do it carefully so he doesn’t get away.”

Melissa smiled.  So like a man to assume that she was male.  She was not overly worried about the search.  She was out of the room and down the darkened hall before the search even began.  

With the searchers behind her, the way was open to the second floor, but she was not sure that she would find Kyla there.  She needed information.  Also, as she reached the stairwell she could see from the light coming from below that there was still power going to the floor below her.  It would be better to check before going too much farther.  

She peered cautiously into the stairwell.  As she had anticipated, the search party had left two men to guard the staircase while they searched the third floor.  That was fine.  Two men she could handle.

She launched herself at the guards before they even realized she was there.  This time she did not use her blowgun.  She wanted one of the men conscious.  Instead, she took out a pair of perfectly balanced bolas.  In trained hands these simple weapons could be deadly.  And Melissa’s hands were highly trained.  

The first bola whipped around the throat of one of the guards.  The heavy steel balls on the end of each strand of rope whirled with blinding speed, smashing into the side of his face with considerable force.  Dazed, he slumped to his knees, out of the fight.  The second man she caught just above his nose.  The bola wrapped itself around his head and snapped his head back.  Melissa was on him before he could recover, driving the heel of her palm into his chin and knocking him off his feet.

The man opened his mouth to scream, but never got the chance.  Melissa piled into him, striking at his throat with her fist.  She could have crushed his larynx, but held up just enough.  Instead of a scream the man gave a strangled gurgle.  With cold deliberation, Melissa took out her knife and held its needle-sharp point a millimeter from his eyeball.  Kneeling on his chest, Melissa clamped her hand over his mouth.  Dazed, and terrified, the man nevertheless had the presence of mind to lie absolutely still.  Something in the smoldering brown eyes that glared at him from Melissa’s masked face told him that if he moved, he would die.

“You have just one chance to live,” whispered Melissa.  “Do anything to displease me and this knife will pierce your eyeball and destroy your brain.”

Frightened almost out of his wits, the man lay absolutely still, his face white with fright.  “Now,” she said.  “I am going to remove my hand and you are going to tell me where the Blue Avenger is.  You will only have one chance, so please do not disappoint me.”  She removed her hand.

For a few seconds the man seemed almost too terrified and bewildered to talk, and then he told her what she wanted.  “She’s in the large room at the end of the hall.”

“How many guards?”  

“Just two,” the man gasped, sweating.  “Please don’t kill me.”

Melissa nodded.  She decided to believe him.  Placing her fingers on his throat, she squeezed down on the carotid artery.  Within a few seconds the man closed his eyes and passed out as the flow of blood to his brain was cut off. She got to her feet and moved off toward the room he had indicated.


Kyla suppressed a cry of torment.  The men guarding her had followed Adam’s orders, sort of.  They had refrained from sexually assaulting her, but they had interpreted his command to watch her as meaning that they were free to fondle her.

“God, I’d like to fuck her,” said one of the men, as he inserted his finger into her cleft.  “I didn’t get my turn.  Do you suppose Adams would give a damn if I didn’t wait for him to come back?”

“I wouldn’t chance it, Rogan.  Adams wants her watched, not screwed.”

“Don’t stop?  That’s what I like to hear,” Rogan quipped, deliberately misinterpreting her cries.  He partially withdrew and then rammed himself in as far as he could.  By this time, the other man had decided to participate as well.  He lowered his mouth onto her trembling breasts and closed his teeth over her nipples, biting each one in turn.  The pain drove her over the edge.

“Oooooohhhhh! Aaaaahhhaa!” Kyla screamed.  She felt as if Rogan was driving a hot iron into her tight anal cavity.  “Help me!  Won’t someone help me!”  Almost delirious from the pain and degradation of the anal rape, Kyla cried out in desperation.  She knew that there was no one who could hear her.

And then suddenly, the terrible pain ended.  Hardly able to believe that her ordeal was temporarily over, she simply lay quietly, with her eyes closed.  

“Blue.  Blue can you hear me?”

In wonder Kyla opened her eyes.  Melissa’s knife was slicing through the ropes that bound her.  On the floor beside the rack, were the unconscious bodies of the two men who had been torturing her.  Then Melissa was helping her off the rack.

Kyla almost collapsed.  She could hardly stand.  “Come on,” said Melissa, helping her to put her costume back on.  “We don’t have much time.  Those thugs will be coming back.”

Melissa had intended to continue with the mission, but realized that it was more important to get Kyla out of the brothel.  The Blue Avenger was clearly in no shape to fight.  Even with her power of invisibility she would not be much of an asset.  The best thing was to get her back to the Jade Dragon’s lair as quickly as possible.  

Placing her arm around Kyla’s waist, Melissa helped her to the window of the room.  Fortunately, the room where Kyla had been imprisoned was at the corner of the building.  Just a few feet away was a convenient downspout.  

Kyla sat down.  “I’m sorry, Scorpion.  I can’t make it.  I’m too weak to escape through the window.”  

“Don’t worry,” Melissa replied.  She had brought a few strands of the rope that had been used to bind Kyla with her.  Quickly, she lashed the weakened heroine’s wrists to her ankles.  

“What are you doing?” exclaimed Kyla in alarm.  

“I you can’t get out by yourself, then I will carry you.”  Without waiting for a reply, she hefted Kyla over her shoulder.  The ropes binding her wrists and ankles helped keep the astonished heroine in place.  To Kyla’s complete amazement, the black-clad young girl carried her easily.  

Melissa swung out through the window.  Even burdened by Kyla’s weight she had no trouble reaching the downspout.  The only thing she was worried about was whether the rusty piece of tubing could hold both of their weights.  

It held.  Within a minute Melissa had reached the street.  Untying Kyla, she helped the still disbelieving heroine to her feet.  Kyla shook her head.  The young girl had carried her down the side of the building as if she had weighed almost nothing.  “Let’s go,” said Melissa.  Still woozy from her ordeal, Kyla allowed her companion to escort her to the shadows on the other side of the street.  

The two women stopped to look back toward the building.  “We’ll be back,” Melissa said.  We’re not finished with that scum.”  

Kyla nodded weakly.  Their mission had been far from successful.  But Melissa had shown her something.  The girl was a true superheroine.  Tonight they had failed, but tomorrow they would return.  And this time she was confident that with Melissa’s help, they would succeed.

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