The
Misadventures of the
Black Leopard
Episode
1
The
Black Leopard’s Revenge
Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Chapter
13 Suzi’s Surprise; Kyla’s
Catastrophe
Kyla flowed stealthily behind the trench-coated men. She had puzzled over how to get into Retinoff’s heavily secured lair for a full day before making her move. Somewhere behind the walls of the madman’s fortress HQ was the young black girl who had saved them from Retinoff’s robot. What was being done to her was too horrific to think about and she had agonized over the delay, but getting caught herself would have been disastrous. And so she had waited until the men watching Retinoff’s HQ had decided to make contact with the scientist again.
There were more than two dozen of them, each one carrying a heavy satchel. In their trench coats they looked as out of place as ballerinas in a strip joint. “Looks like Retinoff asked for his payment in gold or maybe platinum,” Kyla thought. She slowed her pace, keeping in step with the men around her. She didn’t want to trigger any alarm by entering the building prematurely. Her mind reached out, clouding the vision of those about her. She was invisible and, she hoped, undetectable by any of Retinoff’s spy devices.
She held her breath, just a few more steps and she would be in. And then she passed through the doorway.
Inside she found herself at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Retinoff had prepared well. There was nowhere to go but into the elevator. “Damn,” she thought. “How am I going to avoid being discovered if I crowd into that tiny space?” Stepping to one side she allowed the heavily laden men to move past her while she searched for a possible opening.
She saw it just as the doors closed on the first ten men. She waited. If her reckoning was correct there would be only about four men in the last load. It might give her the opening she was looking for.
One load later she moved close to the doors. She would have only a few seconds to enter and she had to avoid bumping into any of the men carrying the satchels. It might be a bit of a tight squeeze. She allowed the first three men to precede her hoping that they would move to the back of the elevator; then, seeing her chance, she made her move.
Suzi crouched in the window of the abandoned building across the street from Retinoff’s fortress HQ. She had watched Kyla enter the building behind the men carrying the heavy satchels. It gave her an eerie, uncomfortable feeling to watch her companion march boldly among the trench-coated men. Even knowing that Kyla had deliberately left her mind unclouded did not relieve her of the fear that if she could see Kyla then everyone could. She stepped back a little. She doubted that Retinoff could see her, but she was not about to take any chances with Kyla’s life. Just a few more seconds and her friend would be….
“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?”
Suzi froze and then turned slowly. The voice had come from the shadows behind her, but it was not shouted, but in a controlled, calm voice. She relaxed her muscles as she had been taught by Master Zhou. She kept her hands at her sides and away from the twin sidearms at her waist. There was no point in inviting a bullet before she could even see her target.
Across from her there was a slight movement in the shadows and then a trench-coated figure moved into the light. “Jeez,” though Suzi. “These guys are everywhere.” What bothered her more than anything though was the fact that she had not heard the man come up behind her. She was trained to detect even the slightest sound, but the man had caught her completely unaware.
“I asked you a question,” the man said. “Who or what are you?”
The man stepped further into the light and Suzi caught her breath. He mind whirled. “My god - tall dark, and handsome.” Her heart did a little flip-flop.
The man holding a gun on her was well over six feet, and sported a strong five o’clock shadow. Dark eyes peered at her out of a face that strongly resembled one she had last seen on an artist’s representation of a Greek god. His slouch hat was worn at a rakish angle and his presence exuded calm confidence.
She understood his question. He was looking at a tall blonde wearing a scarlet, skin-tight outfit highlighted by knee-high black boots, and a gold utility belt. In addition, her face and hair were almost entirely hidden by a cowl that revealed only her eyes, lips, and chin, and a hint of her waist-length blonde hair. Suzi wore her hair in a long braid, but tucked it neatly into the top of her suit to avoid it swinging when she was involved in combat. She had found through experience that a two foot braid was an encumbrance that her opponents could catch hold of in battle.
“I’m only going to ask one more time,” the man said. “Who are you and what’s with the outfit. Christ it’s so tight I can see almost every hair on your… head.”
Beneath her cowl, Suzi felt herself blushing, and then became angry. Her costume was a bit revealing, however, it was not that tight. It was something the man did not know about, however. Suzi had constructed it out of the synthetic material Retinoff had created in order to trap the Jade Dragon and Scorpion. After their escape Suzi had analyzed the artificial spider silk and used it to create costumes for the Jade Dragon and all of her companions. Light and strong, it was virtually indestructible and completely bulletproof.
“I’m the Scarlet Falcon,” finally she answered. “And I’m certainly glad you are through asking moronic questions.”
“Moronic?” the man echoed. “Say, you’re not one of those women who call themselves superheroines are you? Or maybe you just wear that costume to get men h…”
“You seem to have problems completing your sentences,” Suzi returned icily. “Or maybe your brain just freezes every ten seconds. And who are you to talk about costumes. You’re dressed like a dime-store novel. That some sort of uniform or do you simply have no taste in clothing?”
“Enough of this chit-chat,” the man replied impatiently. “Raise your hands, turn around, and get on your knees.”
“That’s an awful lot of commands,” Suzi answered. “Do I carry them out in that order or am I allowed to mix them up?”
“Do as you’re told or you’ll have a hole between those big…” The man stopped again.
Suzi grinned. “You just can’t finish a sentence, can you? But I’m getting tired of that gun in my face.” As she finished speaking she moved; moved as Master Zhou and the Jade Dragon had taught her. A gun at close range, she had been taught was similar to a sword or other edged weapon. The main difference was that its business end was the tiny point at the end of the barrel.
Ducking low she moved under the barrel, knowing as she did so that the man would automatically try to follow her. Maintaining her speed, she rolled forward, all the time keeping her eyes fixed on her opponent. Rolling beneath his aim, she swung her leg in mid roll, catching the man’s wrist with the tip of her boot, and spinning the gun across the room. Then she rolled to her feet in one smooth move, coming up with her own twin firearms in her hands.
The man froze as he found himself looking down the barrels, a look of complete consternation on his face. Surprisingly, he showed no fear. Suzi wondered if he knew that she had no intention of shooting. Her sidearms were just her way of getting his attention and cooperation.
Slowly the man raised his hands. “How the hell did you do that?” he asked.
Suzi grinned, holstering her sidearms. “Lots of practice. Now tell me about yourself.”
The man looked at his gun lying just a few feet away and at the apparently defenceless woman standing within arm’s reach. He seemed to be sizing up the possibilities or going for the gun or punching her in the head. He did neither. “Alright,” he said. “I’m FBI.” He moved a hand slightly toward his chest. “May I?” he asked.
“Be my guest,” Suzi answered. She was watching him closely, and not entirely to make sure that he didn’t try anything funny. She had never seen so handsome a man.
The man pulled out a small leather wallet and flipped it open. Inside there was a badge and a card identifying him.
“James Branson, FBI,” Suzi murmured. “So how do I know that you’re for real?”
“You don’t,” Branson answered, “but how do I know that you are for real?”
“You’re here on business in
“Women in skin-tight costumes aren’t part of the curriculum,”
Branson replied. “I didn’t
hear anything about superheroines until I was assigned to
“What?” Suzi asked. “You think I’m some exhibitionist who just wanders around spying on the hideouts of known super villains for kicks?”
Branson shook his head. “I don’t know what to think. You sure took me out fast. I didn’t think anyone could move that quickly.”
“You ought to see the Jade Dragon,” thought Suzi. She thought fleetingly of her friend and mentor and then turned her attention back to Branson. “There is one thing I have to ask. How did you manage to sneak up on me? I never heard a thing until you spoke.”
“I didn’t sneak up on you,” Branson answered. “I was standing here when you came in. I was so surprised to see you that I watched you for a few minutes before speaking.”
“Careless,” Suzi thought. She had walked into a room without checking it properly and been caught unaware. If Branson had been one of Retinoff’s goons…. She didn’t need to finish the thought. She’d be lucky to be alive, provided her ambusher didn’t decide to …. do what usually happened to captured heroines.
“And you’re here spying on the men lugging the satchels?” Suzi said. “I thought they were on your side.”
“Damned if I know whose side they are on,” Branson answered. “I was ordered to watch Retinoff’s HQ. Anyway, why am I talking to you? I’m not even sure who you are.”
“I think it’s the same side you are on,” Suzi
answered. “Look, don’t
you know anything about
“We were told that superheroines don’t
exist.
“Far be it for me to criticize your boss, but what does he think people like Retinoff are? Or doesn’t her believe in supervillains either?”
“Well,” Branson answered. “Giant robots laying waste to the centre of a large city are hard to ignore.”
“And superheroine’s being …” Suzi stopped, embarrassed to continue.
“I saw the film,” Branson volunteered. “The uncensored version. It was pretty…” he stared at Suzi in astonishment. “Jesus, you were one of those women.”
Suzi turned as red as her costume, glad that it hid most of her face. “I’d rather not discuss it, if you don’t mind.”
“But I thought…” Branson began. “Err…Right. But I guess that’s proof you exist.”
“I’m standing right in front of you. That should be proof enough.” Suzi resisted the urge to add the word “idiot.”
“What happened to the other girl?” Branson asked.
“The other …? My god I forgot about…” Suzi rushed to the window. Across from her all was quiet. But somewhere in Retinoff’s HQ was her companion. Suzi cursed under her breath. She was supposed to be keeping watch not trading stories with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. If anything happened to Kyla…
Kyla timed her move perfectly. The elevator doors were just beginning to close. Slipping through the narrowing gap she entered the elevator and leaped toward the ceiling, her arms outstretched. Her fingers closed over the slats of the boards that formed the ceiling and using her acrobatic abilities she swung her feet up and suspended herself over the heads of the four men in the compartment. Then she waited as the elevator slowly descended. “Typical,” Kyla thought. Villains always seemed to prefer underground lairs.
The elevator slowed and then jerked to a halt. Smoothly, Kyla swung down behind the four men as they exited and fell in behind them. Outside the elevator the other men waited and with them was the diminutive figure of a man she knew very well.
“Welcome, gentlemen,” Retinoff said, peering at them through the telescope thick lenses of his spectacles. “I see you have brought what I asked. Come with me and I will ensure that nothing is missing.”
The long procession followed the diminutive scientist deep into his lair, passing though several heavy steel doors as they walked down a succession of concrete corridors until they finally reached a large room containing a long wooden table. “Place the satchels on here,” Retinoff ordered.
The men obeyed and as they did so several of Retinoff’s henchmen entered the room. They immediately began to unpack the contents of the satchels. As Kyla had surmised they contained bars of precious metals which were stacked neatly in rows. Retinoff appraised them as they were set out.
“It is as promised?” asked one of the trench-coated men, stepping forward.
“It appears to be,” Retinoff replied. “This will secure our bargain. But you have just a week to deliver the full amount.”
“Do not fear,” the man answered. “It will be here. It is being delivered by submarine and will arrive within the agreed time.”
Kyla detected the trace of an accent in the man’s voice, but could not at first place it and then Retinoff spoke again, in his heavily accented English. “Good, then you shall have what I promised.”
“Of course,” Kyla thought.
Although not as thick, the man who had spoken to Retinoff had the
same accent. It meant he was
probably Russian. And that meant
all of the trench-coated men were agents of the
Kyla didn’t know much about the
Just as important was the news that she had time to act against Retinoff. It might have been awkward had Retinoff handed over the robot on the spot. With any luck she might be able to locate the machine and destroy it today. Quietly she detached herself. Somewhere in the underground lair must be Retinoff’s machine shop. If she could find it and destroy it she would eliminate the threat to her country before it got any farther.
She thought of Suzi and hoped that her friend would not worry too much or do something foolish. She was to watch just in case Kyla did not return, but they had agreed on no precise time limit. However, Kyla knew Suzi would act if she took too long. “Hold on, Suzi,” she murmured as she moved through the corridors. “Hold on. I can deal with this myself.”
She moved deeper into the underground corridors, checking each door as she passed. She was past any of Retinoff’s alarms, she hoped. It would be very expensive and time-consuming to monitor every inch of his lair. She finally came to a door that opened to another level. Before her stretched a flight of stairs. Offered only the choice of going down, she took it and found herself in another warren of corridors. It was like walking through a maze, one formed out of concrete and steel.
She opened another door and was struck by an odor that seemed entirely out of place, but one that she knew quite well from a trip she had taken to the zoo. The room was full of cages and in the cages were animals – dozens of …animals.
“My god,” thought Kyla. “What has Retinoff been doing?”
Several heads turned her way. Most, seeing nothing, did not respond, but a number of others seemed to sense her presence in spite of her mind fogging powers and looked straight at her. Unable to stop herself, Kyla moved between the rows of cages. Many were quite large, more like jail cells and contained animals that were beyond anything she had ever imagined.
She stopped before one containing what appeared to be a giant cat, but saw that the body was that of a dog. The creature looked straight at her and mewed piteously. Kyla passed on, resisting the urge to mutter, “Nice kitty.”
The creature in the next cage, however, almost made her jump out of her skin. It was clearly an ape; the powerful, hairy body, and long arms were all characteristic of such an animal, but its face was hauntingly human, almost as if the head of a human had been grafted onto an ape’s body. Just as disturbing, however, was the fact that the creature had the breasts, not of an ape, but of a human woman.
The large, liquid, brown eyes turned toward her as she stopped and the animal opened its mouth. “Help me,” the creature muttered.
Kyla almost jumped out of her skin. She didn’t know if she was more surprised by the fact that the creature could talk or that it could see her in spite of her cloak of invisibility. Quickly she let her mind reach out. In an instant she discovered why. The creature’s brain was neither animal nor human, but something in between. Kyla used her powers and clouded the creature’s mind.
“Oh no,” the beast moaned. “Please come back, pretty lady.”
Kyla stood in amazement as huge tears rolled down the creature’s face. “Please,” the beast said again. “Please help me.”
On a sudden whim she dropped her shield of invisibility and stood directly in front of the cage. At her sudden appearance the bizarre creature stepped back apparently frightened. But then came forward again, its hands held in front of it as if begging. “Please, pretty lady,” it said again. “Please help me.”
“Wh…” Kyla began to say ‘what,’ but changed it. “Who are you?” she asked.
“Chimp,” answered the creature. “My name is Chimp. Please let me out before the doctor returns.”
“The doctor,” Kyla asked. “Retinoff?”
The creature appeared puzzled. “I don’t know his name. He is the master. He created me.”
“It must be Retinoff,” Kyla thought. The mad Russian’s genius never failed to amaze her. Now he was changing the laws of nature. She looked at the assortment of strange animals in the room. “There is no telling what monsters he might have hidden in another part of the building.”
“What will you do if I let you out?” Kyla asked Chimp.
“I’ll go with you, pretty lady. Please don’t leave me here. The master does strange things to us.”
Kyla shuddered. The animals in the room were already strange enough. Goodness knows what cruel experiments Retinoff might perform on them. At the same time, she had a mission to fulfill. She had to find Retinoff’s robot and destroy it, along with as much of his HQ as possible. But she didn’t want to kill the innocent creatures trapped in this room.
“Chimp,” she said finally. “I will let you out, but I have a job I have to do. It is a dangerous job and I don’t want you to get hurt. If I let you out will you let out the other animals and then stay here until I return?”
Chimp nodded. “Thank you, pretty lady.”
“Be careful,” cautioned Kyla. “Some of the other animals look dangerous.”
“They will not hurt me, pretty lady,” Chimp answered as Kyla open the door to her cell. The door was locked, but Kyla’s lock-picking tools made short work of it. The other cages would not be a problem as all of them were closed only by simple deadbolts. She was sure that Chimp could probably manage them.
“If you hear a big noise, don’t wait for me,” Kyla advised. “Just get out of the building and take the animals with you.”
Chimp nodded. Without another word Kyla resumed her mask of invisibility and left the room. Once again she moved from corridor to corridor checking each room as went. She found no more rooms full of animals although she came across a number with very strange equipment. Unfortunately, she had no time to explore these any further. She had to find Retinoff’s robot and machine shop and destroy it as quickly as possible. The longer she delayed the greater the chance of discovery.
She went down another level and began to work her way along the doors. “Bingo!” she murmured. She was standing on the landing that overlooked a huge room. At its centre was the monstrous machine that Retinoff had used to violate her and Suzi. Scattered about the room in various stages of assembly were several more of the huge machines. There were also several of Retinoff’s henchmen in the room. However, only a few seemed to be armed; the rest were working on the robots.
“Looks like the Ford Motor Company of robots,” Kyla thought. She swept her eyes over the room. Somewhere there should be something combustible that she could put to good use.
It didn’t take her long to spot what she needed. Stacked against one wall were dozens of cylinders of acetylene along with other cylinders containing oxygen. “Perfect,” Kyla thought. If she opened the cylinder valves and filled the room with gas it would go off like a huge bomb. However, she needed some way to deal with the men in the room.
She could, of course, simply kill them. From her vantage point and armed with the two high-powered sidearms Suzi had equipped her with she could pick them off with ease, but that would create a great deal of noise and probably attract a lot more of Retinoff’s men. It would make matters worse rather than better, and in any case, she wasn’t a murderer. It went against the superheroine code to simply kill criminals in cold blood. They had to be given a chance to surrender, or taken out in some way that left them alive.
“What I need,” thought Kyla, “is a way to empty this place.” It was too bad Suzi hadn’t come with her. Working as a team the two heroines could have arranged things much more quickly. However, Kyla knew that Suzi could never have penetrated so far into Retinoff’s stronghold without being caught. She would just have to deal with things by herself.
Her eyes swept over the room searching for something that might help her and settled on several large barrels stacked near the one of the doorways. Labeled “solvent,” they might be just the thing she was looking for. Taking out one of her sidearms she aimed carefully and pulled the trigger.
The result was what she had hoped for. The barrel exploded as the super-velocity bullet that Suzi had designed struck it, scattering volatile fluid in all directions. The highly combustible liquid ignited almost immediately, but Kyla was not quite finished. She fired again, her bullet striking one of the oxygen cylinders stacked across the room. As the highly explosive gas burst forth from the ruptured cylinder, the men in the room dashed for the door.
Kyla emulated them, sprinting back toward the room where Chimp waited. She had gone only a few strides before the first explosion shook the building. The impact almost threw her to her knees, but she retained her balance and made up way to the first staircase. At that point an enormous explosion sounded behind her, and a metal projectile ripped through the stairway ahead of her. She just had time to recognize it as part of one of the oxygen cylinders before it rebounded from the concrete stairwell and slammed full into her, spinning her back the way she had come. As her senses swam she had time for just one thought: “Oops.”
Suzi gasped as Retinoff’s HQ erupted, a pillar of fire rising from the roof. “Geez,” she thought. “I hope that Kyla’s not still in there.”
“What the hell is going on?” Branson asked. He pushed up beside her and leaned out the open window.
Suzi shook her head. She knew about as much as Branson did. As the sound of sirens filled the air she fought with herself. Should she go into the building or wait? Surely Kyla must have gotten out, but she couldn’t be sure. And then she saw something that was so unexpected she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
“What is that?’ Branson asked.
Suzi shook her head again. “I don’t know, but it’s coming this way.” She turned her head as she heard a ‘click’ beside her. Her hand shot out, catching Branson’s wrist. “Put that away,” she ordered. “Can’t you see she’s terrified?”
“She” clambered toward them, swinging hand over hand with amazing agility along a power line connecting Retinoff’s HQ with the building she was in. Branson stepped back as the apelike creature drooped agilely from the line to the window ledge and then into the room.
The “ape,” if that is what it was, stood facing them, its eyes wide with terror and its head turning from one to the other of them as if considering which one of them was more of a threat.
“It’s alright,” Suzi said soothingly. “We won’t hurt you.”
To her immense surprise the creature replied. “Thank you, pretty lady.” It reached out with one of its long arms and touched Suzi’s hand.
“What the hell is going on?” Branson exclaimed. “I must be going nuts. First a heroine and then this.”
Suzi ignored the astounded agent. Instead she led the creature away from the window. “You nice,” the creature said. “Like lady in blue.”
“You know of a lady in blue?” Suzi gasped.
“Yes,” the creature answered. “Let Chimp out of cage. Save Chimp from bad master.”
Further questioning revealed that Chimp knew nothing more. Suzi vacillated. Should she go after Kyla or should she wait? She was certain that Kyla was behind the explosion and fire and it was entirely likely that she had escaped. But something inside her filled her with apprehension. Gritting her teeth she resigned herself to wait. She would give Kyla another ten minutes and then go looking for her.
Branson seemed to sense her aggravation. “What’s the problem?” he asked, moving toward her. “You seemed to be worried about something.”
Suzi held her tongue. She knew nothing about the FBI agent and although she was not afraid of him, she was not about to take him into her confidence. Too often her activities and those of her companions had bordered on the illegal. For all she knew Branson might have been sent to check up on her.
“It’s nothing,” she answered. Moving to the window she watched as the fire trucks pulled up outside. Somewhere out there was her friend and companion. It was tough, but for the moment all she could do was twiddle her thumbs and hope that Kyla would show up. And so she waited, pacing back and forth in front of the window while the firemen rolled out hoses and began to deal with the fire. Ten minutes later she turned to Branson.
“Can you look after Chimp?” she asked. “There is something I have to do.”
“You want me to baby-sit a monkey?” Branson asked incredulously.
Suzi nodded. “Someone has to look after her. I’m sure she won’t be any bother. Please, it’s my friend. I have to go look for her.”
Understanding glimmered in Branson’s eyes. “You think she’s in that building. Don’t tell me you’re going to try and get into there? It’s a mass of flames.”
“I have to Suzi,” answered. “Please look after Chimp. I have to go.”
Branson threw up his hands. “Sure, why not?” he said resignedly. “It’s what I was trained for, looking after monkeys, taking orders from women in tight-fitting red outfits.”
“Thanks,” Suzi responded. Without another word she spun on her heel and darted out of the room.
Branson watched her retreating form, his eyes fixed on the tight muscles in her backside. “Good luck, babe,” he muttered under his breath.
Moreau waved his arms frantically. “The building is on fire! My animals! They’ll all be destroyed!”
Retinoff peered up at the distraught scientist, his weak eyes magnified by his coke-bottle lenses. “Relax, doctor,” he responded. “They are quite safe I assure you. I built my HQ in sections that can be sealed off from one another. The blast destroyed my machine shop and a few corridors around it. Most of the building is still intact. The problem now is to get rid of the Metro City Fire Department before it becomes a nuisance.”
Moreau calmed down. “What are you looking at?” he asked.
“Recordings made of the machine shop just before it exploded,” Retinoff answered, his eyes returning to a monitor in front of him. “It appears that the explosion may have been a work of sabotage.”
“Sabotage?” Moreau asked. “But who could it be? I thought this building was absolutely secure.”
“I’m not sure,” Retinoff replied, “but I have a very good idea.”
Retinoff turned toward the door as one of his henchmen entered. “Did you get rid of the fire department?” he asked.
“Not yet, boss,” the man answered, “but I think we have found something even better.”
“Found?” Retinoff queried.
The man gestured and through the door came two more men, dragging a struggling woman between them. In spite of the fact that the woman was tightly bound, they held her tightly, almost as if they were afraid that she might somehow break away.
Moreau stared at her and licked his lips. Despite her rather disheveled appearance the woman was undeniably beautiful. Tall and slender, her hair swirled about her as she fought to break free of the two men who held her. She was dressed in a blue costume that fit her like a surgical glove, showing off her incredible figure from her long, powerful legs to her small, pointed breasts to full advantage.
Retinoff jumped to his feet. “I might have guessed,” he said. He performed a mock bow toward Moreau. “My dear doctor,” he said, “may I present the Blue Avenger.”
“A superheroine?” Moreau asked. His eyes lit up.
Retinoff smiled at him. “Yes doctor. A superheroine, and I suspect the source of the explosion. And soon, I think, to be the centre of a scientific investigation.”
“Yes,” Moreau agreed. “Investigating her will be most interesting.”
Kyla stopped struggling. Her
wrists were bound tightly behind her back and her head hurt
abominably. Even worse she was
unmasked and in the presence of one of
Retinoff moved toward her, stopping just short of the range of her legs. “So,” he said. “We lose one superheroine and gain another.” He turned to Moreau. “The Blue Avenger is an old acquaintance. At one time we were very intimate.”
“Put her on her knees,” he ordered the men holding her.
Kyla was forced to the floor and Retinoff approached. Kyla’s heart thumped, pounding her ribcage like a drum. Memories of what Retinoff had done to her and her friends flooded into her mind. Forcing herself to remain calm she waited to see what Retinoff wanted.
The diminutive scientist stopped right in front of her. Even on her knees her head came to his chest. He reached out and fingered her costume. “Thought so,” he said. “My own invention is now being used by heroines. I should have patented it.”
He stepped back and looked into Kyla’s eyes. “As usual, you are a never-ending source of irritation. You destroyed several month’s work. There is a price to pay for that, and I intend that you pay that price over and over. First, however, there is something I want you to tell me. You never work alone, and that means the Scarlet Falcon is somewhere nearby.”
Kyla did not answer and Retinoff smiled. “You see, doctor,” he said to Moreau. “A typical heroine. She will submit to the most brutal torture before she reveals a thing about the whereabouts of her friend. It would be a shame not to test such courage.”
Moreau nodded. “Indeed, Ivan, it would be a shame. Let us begin. I suspect she will make an excellent subject. Shall we begin by having a better look at her?”
Retinoff laughed, his high pitched giggle sending a chill down Kyla’s spine. His hands moved to the fastening of her costume at the top of her spine. He giggled again. “Such pleasant work. It is almost worth the damage you cause.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Kyla blustered. She knew even as she spoke how foolish her words were, but she was a superheroine. She had to say something. At the same time, she fought back a shudder as Retinoff found the zipper at the back of her costume. Trapped deep within the fortress HQ of her enemies, she could only await her fate and hope that her superheroine courage would carry her through.
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