The Adventures of the Jade Dragon

Episode 10

The Jade Dragon’s Defeat

Chapter 11 Retribution

Two days was not long enough for either Melissa or Suzi to recover from their ordeal, not even for Melissa’s enhanced powers of healing, but they were allowed to see Solange anyway. However, Wang made sure that the bruises and rope burns on their bodies were well covered. There was to be no hint that he had broken his promise to Solange and both women knew enough not to reveal just how much they were suffering.

Suzi particularly was in pain. The ropes binding her breasts had rubbed the skin raw while she had been raped, and she was only partly healed. However, she assumed her most stoic demeanor for the meeting. Melissa too, hid her discomfort. Like Suzi she had lost a good deal of skin during the ordeal and her wrists ankles and breasts still showed clear evidence of her painful bondage. Since Solange was to be allowed to approach no closer than the bars of their cells they would have little difficulty keeping their brutalization secret.

For her part, however, Melissa was far more interested in seeing Solange. She could not believe what the Master Assassin had said about her daughter, but he had created an element of doubt in her mind by allowing her to see Solange. If he was lying it would be more than obvious. Solange had never been able to hide anything from her and it would only take a glance to determine the truth.

Wang was not very precise abut the time. “Sometime today,” was all he said. It was no doubt intended to keep Melissa on edge all day, and it worked. By the time her daughter was escorted to the cell, Melissa’s stomach was hollow with anticipation.

Melissa knew something was wrong from the instant she laid eyes on her daughter. As before, Solange was elaborately made up to resemble an oriental courtesan, but there was something about the way she carried herself that told of something else. And then her daughter met her eyes.

“Oh my god, Solange,” Melissa thought. She knew at once that Wang had told the truth. With a supreme effort of will she forced herself to give away none of her inner thoughts. Wang, unfortunately, had other ideas.

He stepped out from behind Solange. Melissa saw that he was holding on to a light gold chain that was fastened to a jeweled collar about Solange’s neck. “Good evening Scorpion, Scarlet Falcon,” he gloated. “It is so good of you to wait up for us. I think you know Solange. But she is not the Solange you once knew. This one is well on her way to being the best concubine I have ever taken to my bed. As I mentioned, she learns quickly, and her athletic ability is unsurpassed.”

“That’s a dirty lie,” Suzi spat, but Melissa said nothing. One look into Solange’s haunted eyes had told her that everything Wang had boasted about was true.

“Is it, Scarlet Falcon?” Wang grinned. “If you truly believe that then why don’t you ask her yourself?”

“Oh Solange, my baby,” Melissa moaned to herself. “What have I gotten you into? I have destroyed my daughter.”

Suzi looked at Solange, but asked no question. She didn’t have to; the shame that showed on Solange’s face told her everything she needed to know. “You bastard,” she spat at Wang. “You have taken an innocent girl’s soul.”

“Oh I doubt she has been innocent for quite some time,” Wang jeered. “And I assure you she is far from innocent now.”

“Mummy…,” Solange began, plaintively.

What she might have said Melissa never knew. Wang silenced her immediately, giving her an angry jerk on the chain. “Silence. I gave you no leave to speak.” With a look that tore Melissa’s heart, Solange lowered her eyes and waited her master’s pleasure. “Enough,” Wang snapped. “I have proved my point. Your daughter is mine. She has paid the price of your stupidity.” Before either Melissa or Suzi could comment he turned and left, tugging Solange along behind him. The closing of the cell door blocked off any further sight of her.

It took all of Melissa’s self control not to break down in front of the guards, but they must have guessed how she felt. “How does it feel to learn that your daughter is little better than a whore?” one of them sneered. “A bit of a violation of heroine principles isn’t it?”

Melissa stared him down, although what she would have done if he and his fellow thugs had decided to open the door and come after her she didn’t know. In spite of her brave showing in front of her daughter, she could barely stand, and as soon as the guard turned away she returned to her cot and sat down. All the while, however, her mind was in turmoil. Never in her worst nightmares had she imagined the fate her daughter would face as a result of guiding her into a career in crimefighting. Guilt plagued her mind like some insidious disease that ate away at her from the inside. “I’ve got to escape,” she thought. “I’ve got to save Solange. Even if I die in the attempt.”

“Time for a little recreation,” the guard who had mocked her said. He was staring into Suzi’s cell and licking his lips.

“What about this one?” the second guard asked, nodding toward Melissa.

“The blonde first. We’ll have the other one for dessert.”

The second guard laughed and took out his keys. “I like the way you think. And I fancy a bit of blonde pussy anyway.”

Melissa couldn’t see Suzi through the solid wall of her cell, but she guessed that her companion was probably in no better shape than she was. Against two men she would have little choice but to be their unwilling victim.

The cell door clanged open and both men disappeared. There was a bit of a commotion from the other side; the sound of a struggle; then the sound of two hard slaps and a female gasp of pain. It didn’t take too much imagination to visualize what was happening. Then there was tearing sound; probably as Suzi’s shirt was torn open. That was confirmed a few seconds later by a comment from one of the men. “What a set of melons. I could suck on those all day.”

The comment was followed by more fumbling sounds and then a sharp intake of breath and another comment. “Oh yeah. She’s so tight.” This was followed by a grunt and then a cry of pain from Suzi.

Listening to her friend being raped was almost worse than being the victim herself. But it was the event that finally pushed Melissa over the edge. “I’ve got to do it,” she thought. “They have let me no choice.”

She would not get a better chance. The guards who were supposed to be watching her were now far too busy and would probably remain so for some time. But what she contemplated was so dangerous that she hesitated for a few seconds. However, it seemed she had run out of options. She and Suzi were in no condition to escape. They couldn’t even defend themselves against their captors. And Solange had been broken and was being used by the Master Assassin as his whore. Also there was no likelihood of rescue. After all, they had been on a rescue mission themselves. If Sun Lin and Huan Yue had been captured there was no chance of them coming to her aid and she knew that the mission that had taken Nova and the Blue avenger out of town was a lengthy one. There seemed only one thing left that she could do.

She took a deep breath. She had to do it. It was a skill that only she and Sun Lin had mastered, but it was fraught with danger. It left too many things to chance, and as a trained assassin, leaving things to chance was something completely alien to Melissa’s nature. She closed her eyes and composed herself and then opening them stood quietly listening to the sounds of Suzi being raped.

“Enough,” she muttered. “I’ll either escape or die trying.” Her fingers went to her shirt and undid the buttons. She stripped off the garment and tore it into strips. Quickly she knotted them into a crude rope which she carried to the bars. About seven feet up there was a convenient cross member. She knotted the rope to it leaving a loop, and then took a deep breath. Standing on her tiptoes she turned her back to the bars and reached as high as she could. Grasping the cross member she pulled herself up until her feet were clear of the floor. It took all of her remaining strength, and her arms were shaking as she slipped her head through the makeshift noose she had created. Then she let herself relax into the noose, feeling it tighten about her throat as it took all of her weight.

For a few minutes her neck muscles would keep her from strangling, but that was not part of Melissa’s desperate plan. Instead, as her breathing was slowly cut off, she slowed her breathing and heart rate until she was barely conscious. It was more difficult than she had hoped it would be, but she had only ever done this before when lying peacefully on a bed in the company of others who were masters of this technique. Putting herself into a death-like trance while hanging by her neck was infinitely more difficult.

Slowly, however, she mastered her body. When her neck muscles relaxed and her eyes bulged from her head, she was aware of nothing except the relaxed state of her body, and the continual slowing of her heart and lungs. And then she withdrew to a place so deep within her subconscious that all outside sensation was cut off. It was like being inside a cocoon, a cocoon so quiet and peaceful, that eternal sleep was overwhelmingly inviting, and overwhelmingly dangerous. It was up to her to trigger the impulse to return her body to life, but the tranquility of her trance was so all encompassing that she might decide to stay as she was. Such a lack of action would be fatal as the body slowly continued to shut down until the death-like state did indeed become death. It was a danger Melissa had decided to chance only when all other hope seemed lost, but there was another danger as well.

To anyone coming across her body she would seem dead, especially considering the way she had left her body. It was something she was counting on actually. It seemed her only way out of the prison. The problem was she could not control what others did with her “dead” body. If her captors simply threw her body into an alley as a warning to other heroines, she would be alright, but if they decided to hack it to pieces or dispose of it in some other destructive manner then she would truly be as dead as she seemed.

There was also one other problem. In her deep trance Melissa had no way to determine the passage of time. She would have to guess whether or not it was time to wake up, and if she awoke too early or too late then her plan would fail utterly. It was, however, now too late to turn back. Her body was now seemingly dead, and deep inside Melissa slept serenely unaware of anything that was happening on the outside.

Suzi had tried hard not to hold it all in, but she had given in at the end and whimpered in agony as the two guards finished with her. She was about at the end of her endurance and was not being given long enough to recover by her brutal captors. Her breasts were so badly bruised that the slightest touch was excruciating and her nipples were so raw from being sucked and bitten that they bled. When the men had taken her, the impact of their bodies slamming against her vulva felt like a sledgehammer and her ravaged love canal was so sore she felt as if she were being raped with sandpaper.

She could ignore their lewd comments as the men had their way with her; the men spoke Chinese and Suzi had only a slight understanding of the language, but she could not ignore the physical pain they caused her, nor the continued humiliation of being repeatedly raped. No matter how many times it happened, it was something that she never got used to. Perhaps that was the way it was with all women or it might be some sort of quirk peculiar to heroines, but whatever it was every violation of her virtue was a living nightmare. When the two men finished with her she sank to the cell floor, too weak to stand on her own.

The two guards laughed at her as she lay in a pool of her own sweat and blood, and then left the cell. No doubt they were heading for Melissa. That seemed to be their pattern, to take first her and then her companion or visa versa. She was not prepared for the sudden shouts of alarm that rose in the throats of the men who had just raped her.

Although too exhausted to stand, she could raise her head. Both guards were looking at Melissa’s cell with expressions of disbelief and horror. Then they both rushed to the door. Suzi lost sight of them, but she could hear them working the lock and then slamming the cell door open. All the time they shouted at one another, their voices tinged with fear.

Suzi managed to move into a sitting position. What had happened to Melissa? It was clear from the excited voices of the guards that they were close to panic. Inside the cell she could hear them fumbling with something, but what exactly she had no idea. There was not a sound from Melissa and Suzi began to fear that something horrible had happened. Finally, one of the guards rushed from the cell, ran up the cell block and disappeared. After that there was just the occasional comment from the other guard and a slapping sound as if Melissa was being worked over.

Slowly Suzi got to her feet. Hobbling over to her cot she found her clothes and put them on. Just as she finished several more of the assassins rushed into the cell block. One of them was the man Suzi knew as Li Chao. He looked into the cell, said something Suzi recognized as a curse, and then turned on his heel and left.

Burning with dread and curiosity, Suzi made her way to the bars and held on to them to hold herself up. By now she was convinced that something terrible had happened to Melissa, but she could not believe the worst and had no inclination to ask her captors what had happened even if they might have understood her.

A half hour passed and the cell block door opened again. By this time most of the other guards had left and there was no longer any noise from the cell next to hers, however several guards remained and so Suzi had returned to her cot to wait. Sooner or later she would find out what was going on.

Through the open cell door came the Master Assassin. He strode to Melissa’s cell and stood there for several minutes in silence, and then he cursed and turned to Suzi. “Not only was your companion a failure as an assassin, she was a failure as a heroine. I never expected that she would take her life.”

“No,” Suzi cried, her worst fears confirmed. “She would never do that.”

“When are you going to believe that I do not lie to you? Come and see for yourself.” He motioned to one of his men to unlock the door to Suzi’s cell and then sent him in to bring her out.

Suzi needed the help. She could barely walk and every step sent waves of pain through her loins. She hobbled to the cell corridor and looked into the cell. What she saw froze the blood in her veins.

Melissa was lying face up on her cot, but her repose was hardly peaceful. Her features were twisted, her mouth open and her tongue protruding from bluish lips. Her eyes bulged from her head. It was obvious that her death had not come easily. As to what had killed her; the knotted pieces of her shirt hanging from the cell bars told everything.

Suicide. There was no other explanation. Driven to the breaking point, Melissa had taken her own life. The shock came close to destroying Suzi. Breaking down, her shoulders shook with sobs. She didn’t even notice when the guards led her back to the cell and closed the door. Nor did she hear the Master assassin order the disposal of Melissa’s corpse.

Melissa soared over the green of the countryside. Below her she could see every field, every house, and every animal. There were people too; each going quietly about his or her business. There were shepherds, cowherds, farmers plowing fields, and the occasional teamster heading his wagon to or from the nearest village. Every now and then a wisp of cloud floated by on the gentle breeze while the sun warmed her skin. A smile played about her lips; she had never felt so serene or so secure.

She moved her arms slightly shifting her body in a different direction. In the distance she could see the blue of a small lake. Flowing into it was a tumbling brook fed by a sparkling waterfall that seemed to originate from an even smaller stream flowing from a forested area. A tiny clearing next to the falls was so attractive that she instinctively shifted toward it tilting her body to allow her to land lightly on her feet.

The grass was cool and soft on her bare feet. She was clad only in a diaphanous white gown, but the air and sun were so warm that was all she needed. She wriggled her feet in the grass and walked slowly toward the water. As she approached the idyllic stream a hawk swooped down and settled on a rock by the water’s edge. It tilted its head at her as she approached.

Melissa smiled, the bird seemed somehow familiar, but she couldn’t place it. The bird raised it wing and preened its feathers as she sat down beside the stream. Melissa trailed her hand in the water. Soon she would fly again, but for now she was content to sit peacefully for awhile and let the sun warm her.

“Why are you here?” the hawk asked.

Melissa stared at the bird, but not because it had spoken. It seemed perfectly natural that a bird should speak, but its accusatory tone bothered her. “Why shouldn’t I be here? She asked. “There is nowhere else I should be.”

“Have you forgotten me so soon?” the bird asked. “Do you not recall who I am?”

“But we have just met,” Melissa replied.

The bird tilted its head at an angle that somehow communicated a sense of being offended. “Your memory is so short. How could you possible forget me?”

Melissa shook her head. The bird was strangely familiar, but she could not quite place it. Somewhere in the back of her mind there was an annoying tug as if there was something very important that she must do, but it quickly faded as the bird hopped off the rock and with a flutter of its wings landed lightly on Melissa’s right arm.

Melissa winced as the bird’s talons dug into her skin. The pain reminded her of something. Something very important, but she couldn’t remember what it was. The falcon tightened its grip. “Are you sure you don’t remember me?”

“You’re hurting my arm,” Melissa complained, but she made no effort to try and remove the bird from her arm.

The bird relaxed its talons. “Look at me,” it said. “Surely you must remember me.”

“How can I know you? You’re just a bird.”

“I’m not just a bird, I am a falcon.”

Something clicked in Melissa’s brain. “A falcon?” Suddenly her surroundings wavered like smoke. The bird faded from view as did everything else and Melissa found herself in a black void. Then she remembered, the memories pouring back like the breaking of a dam. “Suzi,” she thought, “Hold on, I’m coming.”

But finding Suzi was not quite as easy as she hoped. Her dream world had disappeared to be replaced by an endless nothingness. There was no up, no down, and no light to guide her. She knew where she was, but finding her way out of the part of her brain where she had buried herself was turning out to be more difficult than she would have liked.

“How long had it been?” she wondered. Had she been ‘dead’ long enough for her to return safely? Or would she wake up in the hands of her captors? More to the point, what had been done with her body? What if it had been weighted and tossed into the harbour or perhaps taken into the basement of the warehouse and buried in the floor?

Whatever had been done with her that was not now her main concern. Finding her way back to consciousness was, but she was too disoriented to figure out which way to go. She concentrated, focusing on the problem, searching for some hint of direction.

Of all the dangers she had feared, this was the most serious. She was lost in the corridors of her subconscious mind. It was a danger she had been well aware of and had always had someone with her when she had practiced this most dangerous of mental techniques. The danger was very real. If she could not find her way back to reality then she would lie comatose until she died of dehydration.

Once before she had lost her way when she had sought her deep unconscious. On that occasion she had been guided back to reality by Sun Lin and Cai Hui, her master in the Mountain of Heaven. But now she had no one to act as her mentor; she would have to find her way back alone or else die without ever regaining consciousness.

She sent her awareness out in all directions, but each time she encountered only darkness. Farther and farther she searched. There was no sense of the passage of time. For all she knew she may have been searching for hours or just minutes. “Focus,” she thought. “Focus. Think of something that might guide you back.”

Her thoughts probed the blackness, searching for any link that might guide her back. Again, there was nothing and then there was the faintest of echoes sounding in the oblivion of her mind. She homed in on the faintest of traces, following it with all of her concentration. Gradually the sound increased until it became identifiable. It was the sound of someone sobbing; a sobbing that was disturbingly familiar.

“Solange,” she thought. “Solange I’m coming.”

“Your mother died like the worm she was. The place chosen for her body was fitting considering the cowardly manner of her death.”

“I wanted to see her,” Solange sobbed. “I had that right as her daughter.”

“You are my whore,” Wang retorted. “You have only the rights I give you.”

“You promised to treat her well. Instead you let her die.”

“She was treated well,” Wang lied. “It was your surrender that drove her to her death.”

“It is over between us,” Solange raged, her chest heaving. “You broke your word and I no longer need to keep mine.”

“You are forgetting that part of the bargain was that I would treat both your mother and her companion well as long as you cooperated. I am sure the Scarlet Falcon would not be pleased to learn that you have abandoned her.”

“You are filth. I trusted you to protect my mother and instead you paraded me before her and drove her to her death.”

“You will pay for that remark,” Wang snarled. “And the Scarlet Falcon will pay even more dearly if you do not remember your place. I will bring her in here and cut off her stupendous breasts if you ever dare to defy me again. Have I made myself clear?”

Solange fell to her knees, trembling in fear, not for herself, but for the Scarlet Falcon. “Forgive me, master,” she said as she bowed her head to the floor. “I was forgetting myself. I will always do as you say.”

Wang smiled in satisfaction. It was so easy to keep a heroine compliant, especially this heroine. He would punish her tonight as he had promised. He would make sure that it was especially painful, but he would be careful not to damage her. He would finish by parting her silken thighs and listening to her moans. He could not quite explain it, but fucking Scorpion’s daughter gave him a sadistic sense of satisfaction that was almost better than torturing an enemy to death. Almost.

Melissa struggled her way back to consciousness. Her first sensation was one of being cold. The second was an overwhelming stench. “I stink,” she thought. “I need a bath.”

She opened her eyes. Darkness. Was she dreaming again? Then a distant light slowly came into focus as her eyes adjusted. “I must be conscious," she thought. “This smells too bad for a dream.” Tentatively she tried to move her arms and legs. A number of squeaking shapes scurried away from her.

“Shit,” she muttered. “Where the hell am I?” She sat up, dislodging a number of objects that were piled around her.

She felt incredibly weak, and her movements were slow and uncoordinated, but she managed to prop herself up well enough to take a look around her. For some strange reason she was wearing her costume again. That puzzled her until she realized that Wang must have had his men put it back on her in order that her body would be recognized. But where had he dumped her?

The disgusting smell finally penetrated her brain. “Bastard,” she muttered. Wang had ordered her body to be thrown on a heap of garbage, probably as an indication of what he thought of her, or perhaps as some insult to crimefighting heroines.

Grimacing, she staggered to her feet, more rats scattering into the darkness as she slipped down the loose pile of rubbish. She swore again. Her costume might have been replaced, but not her boots. She waded barefoot through the garbage toward the dim light. She saw that she was in an alley, although exactly where in Metro City the alley was she had no idea.

Moving into the light she spotted a street number on the corner of a building and realized that her supposedly dead body had been dumped only a few blocks from the warehouse where she had been held prisoner. “Solange,” she muttered, “I’m coming for you.”

She permitted herself a grim smile. Although she had her costume, Wang had not bothered to include her utility belt or sword. She took a deep breath. Weaponless, exhausted and still suffering from the effects of her ordeal, she assessed her chances. No matter which way she looked at it they were not good. She was going up against a score of highly trained murderers and thugs with nothing but her bare hands. She didn’t even have any boots. But she couldn’t leave Solange and Suzi at the mercy of their captors any longer. She would rescue them or die. Coldly composing herself, she moved slowly in the direction of the Master Assassin’s lair.

It was a very dilapidated part of town; apparently very hard hit by the depression, and most of the shops were boarded up. Street lights were few and far between and Melissa knew that there was very little chance of being seen. Nevertheless, she kept to the shadows. It wouldn’t do if by some fluke one of the Master Assassin’s men happened to be abroad and caught sight of her. Normally she would have taken to the rooftops, but that hadn’t worked out very well the first time and she simply lacked the energy to move from, roof to roof. She would need all of her strength to face the Master Assassin and his men.

As she passed in front of one of the boarded up buildings she glimpsed its sign and recognized it as being a paint supply shop. A sudden inspiration caught her and she detoured to the back of the building. There she found what she was looking for. In tumbled disorder were dozens of empty one-gallon paint cans. But it was not the cans she was interested in, it was the lids. Quickly she gathered as many as she could hold and then looked around for something to put them in. Her eyes lighted on a discarded canvas satchel used to carry paint supplies and she stuffed the paint lids into it. She also detached a few wire handles from the paint cans. Almost as an afterthought she picked up a length of broken electrical cable that happened to be lying on the ground and wound it around her waist. Now better equipped, she continued her way toward the Master Assassin’s lair.

It was still very dark as she studied the building. Going in through the roof had been a dismal failure and she had no wish to find herself in the same trap she and her companions had blundered into. Unfortunately, there seemed no other way into the building except through the main door.

“Well, why not?” she muttered. It might just be stupid and daring enough to be successful and it didn’t appear that she had much choice. Adjusting her satchel for easy access she moved silently toward the door. Not surprisingly, it was locked, but the lock was nothing that would stop a trained assassin; and once, in what seemed like ages ago, Melissa had been the top student in the Assassins’ Guild. She took out one of the wire paint handles, twisted it into a reasonable facsimile of a lock pick and neatly unlocked the door.

Easing it open, she stepped into total darkness and quietly closed the door behind her. Masked by the darkness behind her, her entry was so unobtrusive that few guards would have noticed it. Then she simply stood and listened. To any normal person the room would have been completely silent, but Melissa was not normal. Her trained assassin’s hearing, enhanced by many years of additional training under the guidance of masters of the oriental martial arts, picked up a sound that few others would have detected; the slow breathing of two other people.

Silently, Melissa set down her satchel and took out two of the lids, and then she waited, scarcely breathing. It took her several minutes to determine the location of the two silent watchers in the room. She took the paint can lid between her fingers, testing its weight. It wasn’t as finely balanced as a throwing star, but it would do. Slowly she inhaled and then released her breath in an explosion of power. At the same time the first lid left her fingers, followed almost instantaneously by the second. Then she charged across the room, moving in the direction she had thrown the first lid.

She needn’t have bothered exerting the energy. The paint can lid was where she had hoped it would be, buried in the forehead of the silent guard. The other lid had struck true as well. Both men had died almost instantaneously and without a sound.

She stepped over the bodies and gently opened the door they had been standing in front of. This time, she entered a well lit, but empty room. Her knowledge of the building was limited, but she did know one thing. The dungeon and torture chamber where the prisoners were kept was in the basement. Scanning the room she spotted a likely door and opened it. Before her a set of stairs that allowed access to the lower floors. Closing it behind her, she began a slow, cautious descent.

She went as far down as the stairs would allow, guessing that the rooms she sought would be on the lowest level. She entered a long concrete corridor that was disturbingly familiar. A few feet into it she realized that she had indeed been there before and her eyes, already cold with determination, became as chill as a winter’s day.

She encountered the first cell guard down a short side passage. This time she did not used paint can lids, but instead set down the satchel and unwound the length of cord from her waist. The guard was bored, not an unusual characteristic in that line of work. Instead of remaining at his post he frequently walked the length of the corridor. Each time he did, Melissa quickly ducked out of sight, but the third time he rambled down the corridor Melissa followed him back.

He had not the slightest chance as Melissa’s makeshift garrote tightened around his throat. She showed not the slightest mercy. She had no way of knowing whether or not he was one of the men who had raped her or Solange, but she suspected it would have been unusual if he wasn’t. In any case, she was not the least bit inclined to be forgiving. She was on a mission to rescue Solange and Suzi and anyone who got it her way was expendable.

The guard disposed of, she crept toward the cell block door. It was made of heavy steel and she knew from experience that two guards were always stationed on the other side. She listened at the door, and her already frigid features hardened in anger.

“So you think she is worth fucking?” a voice from beyond the door said. “She can barely stand.”

There was a low laugh in answer and then a second voice spoke up. “She won’t be standing when we fuck her, and her cunt will be just as tight.”

The comment was followed by the sound of a cell door being thrown back. Melissa waited a few seconds and then opened the door. Inside she saw what she expected. An exhausted Suzi was being pinned to her cot by one of the guards while the other one pulled off her trousers. The blonde heroine was struggling, but it was obvious that she was so exhausted that her pathetic efforts hardly mattered to the two men intent on raping her.

This time Melissa made no effort to be quiet. Instead, she slammed the door behind her, causing the two men to turn in surprise. When they saw her standing there, superstitious shock registered on their faces.

“You…you are dead,” one of the men stammered. The other simply stared, his normal oriental features as white as chalk.

“Not as dead as you will be,” Melissa answered. She savoured the moment, her desire for vengeance overruling caution. But she knew that behind the thick steel door anything that happened in the room would not carry to the outside.

Her comment seemed to break the spell. Although neither of the guards was an assassin, they were both hulking brutes, each standing well over six feet. Faced with just a lone woman they recovered quickly and moved from the cell to take her.

She killed the first with a flick of her wrist, spinning the paint can lid into his throat. He died with a gurgling scream. The second was more personal. She let him come at her and neatly sidestepped his clumsy rush. She drove her hand into his throat as he passed, catching him between her thumb and forefinger and crushing his windpipe.

“That was gratifying,” Melissa muttered. She moved quickly across to the cell to where Suzi still lay, gasping. “Can you move?” she asked the blonde heroine.

“Yes,” Suzi answered her voice low with fatigue. “I think so.” She looked wonderingly at Melissa.

“Don’t worry,” Melissa said, giving her friend a wan smile. “I’m not dead. At least I don’t think I am.”

Suzi managed a small smile in return and then Melissa continued. “I’ll get you out of here and go back for Solange.”

“The hell you will,” Suzi answered. She swayed as she struggled to her feet. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“You can hardly stand,” Melissa objected.

“I doubt that you are much better. The last I saw of you Wang’s thugs were dragging you out of here by your heels.”

“That explains the headache,” Melissa said, rubbing the back of her head. “Well, stick around if you must. But try not to get hurt.” Secretly, Melissa was glad to have the tall blonde along. Although Suzi’s skills in the martial arts were not equal to hers she was a resourceful companion who had proven useful in many a scrape and had been a heroine long before Melissa had arrived on the scene. If nothing else Suzi’s brilliant mind seemed to find a solution to many problems.

“What’s your plan?” Suzi asked as they exited the cell block.

“Kill every thug I meet.”

“That works for me,” Suzi replied.

They moved down the hall toward the room where they had been raped and tortured. Melissa still had her satchel of crude weapons. Suzi had stopped to rifle the guard outside the cell block and picked up a heavy wooden truncheon. Melissa was surprised at her companion’s resilience. Just a few minutes ago she had barely been able to stand. Somehow the act of being rescued seemed to have reenergized her.

They entered the darkened torture chamber warily. The place was full of horrific memories for both heroines, but Suzi gave a muted cry of pleasure and moved ahead of Melissa, heading for a counter on the other side of the room. Triumphantly she held up her utility belt. “This might even things up a bit. I wonder if they stashed my costume in here as well.”

A search through the cupboards revealed not just Suzi’s costume, but Melissa’s utility belt and the Song blade she had received when she left the Mountain of Heaven. “I almost feel like my old self,” Melissa commented as she hefted the mystical sword. “Now let’s find Solange.”

In spite of their renewed confidence, the two heroines took no chances. They moved silently through the warehouse picking off the assembled assassins and thugs in ones and twos. Most of the men they took out didn’t even know they were there until it was too late. Only one group presented any problems and that was because they were not the same level of threat as the others.

Melissa and Suzi stared at the four members of Wang’s gang that they found in the comfortable sleeping quarters. They had expected to find sleeping assassins, not four surprised women.

The oldest of them was instantly awake and quickly tossed the covers aside and got to her feet. She was clad in a long sleeping robe and seemed more angry than surprised. “What are you doing in here?” she demanded. “How did you escape?” Then she stared at Melissa and her face went ashen. “You are dead,” she gasped. “I saw them take your body out.”

Knowing that Suzi could not follow the conversation, Melissa took the lead. “I have returned to avenge my death,” she said. “Tell me where my daughter is.”

By this time the other three women, were warbling is fear, their high-pitched voices threatening to wake the remaining assassins. Fortunately sound carried very poorly through the concrete walls of the room and Suzi had closed the door after she entered. “What are we going to do with them?” Suzi asked. “We can’t allow them to go free. They’ll alert the remaining assassins.”

“Let me deal with this if I can,” Melissa answered. She turned her attention to the four almost hysterical women. She assumed what she hoped was her most ghostly expression. “I gave you no permission to make that noise,” she said. “Silence, before I take you back to the grave with me.”

The threat induced considerable whimpering among the four women, but they quieted down. “Now,” she demanded, “tell me where the Master Assassin is holding my daughter.”

This time she got the answer she wanted. “His apartments are on the fourth floor,” the older women answered. She stared at Melissa, a mixture of fear and suspicion on her face. Apparently she was not entirely convinced that Melissa was as dead as she pretended to be.

“Tie them up and gag them,” she said to Suzi. “They will eventually get free, but by that time we should be finished here.”

Together she and Suzi bound and gagged the four women. Neither of them liked the idea of doing that to one of their own sex, but Melissa was certain that the four women were probably loyal to the Master Assassin and could take no chances with them.

“Now to the fourth floor,” Melissa said. “Let’s hope that Wang is where the woman said he was.”

They proceeded as before, taking care to leave no assassins behind them. By the time they reached the main floor by Melissa’s count almost twenty men had been eliminated. They spared no one in a bloody trail of vengeance. For Melissa such ruthless behaviour was not especially out of character, but for Suzi it was. The blonde heroine usually preferred to leave criminals she apprehended for the police to deal with, but in this case she made no objection as she and Melissa mercilessly hunted them down and eliminated them. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she had been brutally tortured and raped by every man in the building. That sort of thing tended to make a heroine a little less sympathetic.

Reaching the main floor they were confronted with a problem. “What happened to the staircase?” Suzi asked.

Melissa moved in beside her and stared up the place where the staircase had been. It had been completely demolished, leaving a four story void at one corner of the building. She looked toward the elevator and nodded her head. “My guess is that the Master Assassin wants the elevator as the only way to his retreat.”

“We can’t go that way,” Suzi said. “There would be no escape if he knew we were coming.”

“My daughter is up there,” Melissa said. “I’m going after her. But you are right. Taking the elevator is foolish. So you stay here and see if you can figure out another way while I go alone.”

“I’m not staying here while you expose yourself to danger,” Suzi protested.

Melissa placed her hand on Suzi’s shoulder. “Look,” she reasoned, “there is no sense in both of us getting killed or captured. I’ll take a chance on the elevator while you see if there is a safer way to the top floor. That way if I run into trouble you will be the backup.”

The look on Suzi’s face showed that she was far from convinced, but she knew that if Solange was in the hands of the Master Assassin she could be suffering horribly. It was important that Melissa get to her as soon as possible, even if it meant taking a risk. She would do as suggested and look for a safer way to the top floor. “I’ll check the fire escape,” she said.

Melissa smiled her thanks and headed toward the elevator. With any luck she would find her daughter and deal with Wang without Suzi’s help.

Entering the elevator she closed the door and set the lever for the fourth floor. Then she drew her sword and waited. The ride to the fourth floor was the longest elevator ride of her life. The ancient machine creaked and groaned as it passed each floor, finally coming to a shuddering halt at its destination.

As she had hoped, the two guards outside Wang’s retreat were not expecting a vengeful heroine. She cut down the first before he even had a chance to raise his weapon. The slight delay, however gave the second a chance to bring up a nasty pair of short blades, each of which was hooked at the end to enable the user to snare the blade of his opponent while the other finished him off. Melissa, however, had trained with dozens of weapons and the Song blade hummed as it wove a web of death in the confined space. She drove her opponent back to the door behind him, slipped the point past his guard, and neatly ripped out his throat. As the guard died in a spray of blood she stepped past him and kicked the door open.

After the noisy mayhem in the outer room, Melissa reckoned that further caution would be wasted and entering the next room she saw that she had reckoned correctly. Li Chao stood waiting for her, standing in front of a door marked with the scorpion sign of the Assassins’ Guild. Although his face was shrouded, in the folds of his hood, she identified him from the small red scorpion emblazoned just above his heart. “I see that we were somewhat premature in disposing of your body,” Wang’s lieutenant said. He seemed quite unsurprised to see Melissa alive. “It is unfortunate that you will not live to tell me how you did that.” He drew his own sword, a blade that in every feature was identical to Melissa’s.

Melissa did not wait for an invitation to attack. She was tiring. Not even close to recovering from her trials, she had been driven on by her desire for vengeance and the burning need to rescue Solange, but now she had spent most of that energy. She needed to finish the fight quickly, before Li Chao wore her down.

Unfortunately, Li Chao proved most uncooperative in this regard. He was a supremely skilled swordsman as befitted a man who had risen to second place in the Assassins’ Guild. He neatly deflected Melissa’s attack and replied with one of his own. The room they were in was not large, but it was big enough for the two combatants to range back and forth as each attacked and defended. Melissa realized early in the contest that her opponent was nearly her equal in terms of swordsmanship. Had she been in prime condition this slight advantage would have eventually given her a victory, but Li Chao had one powerful advantage. He was not suffering from the effects of several days of being brutalized or the long after-effect of Melissa’s near death experience. As the battle lengthened from seconds to minutes and then tens of minutes Melissa began to sag. Her movements slowed and Li Chao’s attacks came closer to finding their mark. Slowly he drove her back attacking again and again in an attempt to pierce her desperate defence.

“I have you, heroine,” the villain gloated. “You were a fool to think you could best me.”

Melissa saved her breath for the contest. She could now barely block Li Chao’s blinding attacks, and was completely on the defensive. Slowly he pushed her back across the room until she was pinned in a corner. Without room to maneuver it took all of her skill to block any of his blows and then came the attack that slipped past her guard. It should have sunk his blade deep into her chest, but at the last millisecond there was a loud scream and a crimson figure crashed into the assassin, knocking him off his feet and slamming him into the wall. Melissa gave him no chance to recover. It was not the most chivalrous action, but she was fighting for her life and that of her daughter. She drove her sword into her throat and turned to face Suzi.

“Th…Thank you,” she gasped, barely able to speak.

Suzi shrugged. “It was the only thing I could think of. It looked like he had you on the ropes.”

“He did,” Melissa gasped, her hands on her knees. Her entire body was shaking from exertion. Slowly she pulled herself erect. The Master Assassin still had her daughter and he was on the other side of the scorpion-marked door.

“We go together,” Suzi added unnecessarily.

Melissa nodded wearily. Raising her sword she moved to the door. This time she did not kick it open, but turned the door knob and opened it quietly. She found herself in an elaborate bedroom, furnished in oriental splendour. In the centre of the room was a large bed, and in the centre of the bed was Solange. The girl was dressed in her transparent oriental finery and looked completely defeated, her eyes filled with despair, however, they widened in shock at the sight of her mother. “Mummy,” she gasped, her voice filled with disbelief and strained emotion.

Melissa, however, had no time to chat with her daughter. At the foot of the bed stood the Master Assassin, dressed in his black robes embroidered in gold with the scorpion motif. “So,” he said. “You managed to defeat Li Chao. I expected better of him, but your life ends here. It will be most gratifying to kill you in front of your daughter.”

“Not if I have any say in the matter,” Suzi said, stepping forward. As she spoke she raised her hand and let fly with the tiny crossbow she had taken from her utility belt. As the bolt from the crossbow flew across the room a mesh blossomed from it like a flower unfolding until it was large enough to ensnare a man.

The entire process occurred in less than a split second. Any normal thug would have been enveloped in an unbreakable web, but one did not rise to the rank of Master Assassin without being a bit more than normal. Faster than the average eye could follow, Wang Shang yi darted across the room. He gave Suzi no more time to repeat her attack with any other of her gadgets. Before he had even stopped moving he released a half dozen deadly objects. They flashed through the air and skewered the scarlet-clad heroine before she had a chance to do more than raise her hand.

That slight movement saved Suzi’s life. The throwing star that would have embedded itself in her forehead struck her open palm instead, penetrating her glove and emerging from the back of her hand. Suzi screamed as she dropped to the floor, pierced also in both thighs, her shoulder and twice in her other arm. The wicked throwing stars embedded themselves in her body to almost their full depth inflicting debilitating and incredibly painful damage to the heroine. She collapsed to the floor writhing in agony, completely at the mercy of her assailant.

“Well, that was easy,” Wang sneered. “Now for the heroine who is able to rise from the dead.” He stepped into the middle of the room. Melissa saw that he was armed with two short curved blades; and then he launched himself at her.

Melissa barely survived the first attack. Wang’s skill was at lest on a level with that of Li Chao, and he had the advantage of fighting an exhausted opponent while he was still fresh. She had no time to even to glance at the moaning Suzi as he forced her effortlessly around the room. Fighting two blades with one was difficult at best. But Melissa had mastered the art and she had the advantage of a longer weapon. What held her back was the state of her exhausted body. Her fine blade felt as if it was a lump of iron and it took all of her strength to beat off the steady advance of the Master Assassin.

It was, however, only a matter of time until he broke through her defence. Tying up her blade with one of his own he used his other to nick her right arm just above the elbow. It was a minor wound, but it stung and signaled the beginning of the end. He cut her again, this time a nasty gash just below her left breast, and then again, slicing her forearm. Finally he got through with a cut that penetrated the long muscle of her right arm. As the strength drained out of her arm Melissa transferred her sword to her left hand. It was not such a disadvantage as it might have seemed, as she had trained to use both hands with all weapons, but it was still a factor as the Master Assassin pressed his attack. He nicked her several more times, leaving her bleeding from almost a dozen wounds. As her blood splattered the floor Melissa’s defence became weaker until it was obvious that she was almost defenseless before her opponent’s relentless attacks. And then he began to play with her.

“I’m enjoying this,” the Master Assassin said, as he effortlessly penetrated Melissa’s guard and inflicted another painful but superficial wound to her thigh. “I’m going to cut you until you can’t stand. Then when you’re too weak to resist I’m to take away your sword and use it to open up your guts and leave you to watch while I hamstring your blonde friend. Then you can both watch while I finish enjoying your daughter.”

Wang’s vicious threat galvanized Melissa into one more rally. Desperate, and barely able to continue the battle, she attacked with reckless abandon, exposing herself to a possible death blow, but Wang disdainfully avoided her attack, cut her two more times and forced her to her knees. With a contemptuous flick of one of his curved blades he caught her sword and sent it spinning out of her hand. Too weak to stand, Melissa could only watch helplessly as Wang unhurriedly retrieved her sword and returned to her. With a sneer he brought his foot up, toppling her onto her back and then stood over her.

“I don’t know how you managed to come back to life,” Wang said. “But I doubt that you will return after I’m finished with you. I’ve never seen anyone survive having her intestines pulled out and her breasts cut off.” He straddled her so that his feet were on either side of her hips and placed the razor edge of the Song blade against Melissa’s abdomen. “I think here would be a good place to start,” he sneered, and then he made the first incision.

Melissa lay helpless on the floor, her blood weeping from a score of wounds. She looked up at the Master Assassin as he loomed over her. She was too beaten and exhausted to do more than lie where she was and watch as Wang took her own sword and prepared to disembowel her. She had failed utterly in her attempt to rescue Solange, and Suzi, who might have escaped, now faced a gruesome ordeal as well. “At least I can show my daughter how to die,” she thought. She prayed that she would not end up shrieking and gibbering in pain as Wang gutted her. Outwardly calm, inside she trembled. The members of the Assassins’ Guild were renowned for being able to keep their victims alive while they inflicted excruciating tortures. She tried not to scream as Wang pushed the blade through the wall of her abdomen.

“Uunngh!” The cry of pain came not from her. Melissa looked up in amazement as Wang suddenly arched his back. Slowly his hand opened and Melissa’s sword dropped from his grasp, wrenching free of the small but painful would he had opened. Then continuing to arch back, he toppled to the floor without a sound. Standing over him was Solange, each of her hands holding a long steel pin. Slowly the girl’s hands opened, dropping the bloody pins to the floor. Then she was on her knees, kneeling beside Melissa.

“Mummy,” her daughter whispered. “Mummy. I’m so sorry.”

Melissa could not reply, but she managed to reach up with her left arm and touch her daughter’s face. Bursting into tears, Solange gathered her mother into her arms. They remained that way until a weak voice broke the spell.

“Could someone please stop me from bleeding to death?”

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