The Adventures of the Jade
Dragon
Episode 7
Chapter 27
Misdirection
“Ready?” asked
Suzi. Natassia and Kyla
nodded. “Then let’s
go.” She broke cover and
headed for Zhuang’s impressive HQ, the other two heroines following
at staggered intervals.
“Three heroines, boss,” Chen said, “coming through the
park. Right out in the
open.”
“Really?” asked Zhuang.
“Strange that they should be so easily
detected. They must either think
we are too weak to resist or they must really be
desperate.”
“What should I do?” asked Chen.
“Do? Why capture them of
course. But this time, if there
is any doubt, kill them.”
“Where did you last see them?” asked Chen.
“There,” replied the guard watching the
park. They are in that grove
of trees. They seem to be waiting
for something.”
Chen and the thug he was speaking to were just outside one of the side entrances
to Zhuang’s HQ. Behind him
was a full squad of heavily armed men, totaling about forty in
all. He moved his arms in a circle
indicating that the men who were with him should sweep around to either side
of the heroines’ hiding place.
They would catch them in the middle and take them from two directions
at once. In order to make up
for the proven fighting abilities of the heroines, all of the men were armed
with the latest version of Retinoff’s lightning
staffs.
Chen was baffled by the boldness of the
heroines. Even though it was
night they surely couldn’t expect that none of Zhuang’s alarms
would detect them. Slowly the
circle of men closed in on the small grove of trees where the heroines had
gone to ground. Then at a signal
from Chen they swept in screaming and hollering at the tops of their
lungs.
The mob of men swept over the three heroines before they even had a chance
to move. Not that they could
have in any case, since they were not exactly
alive.
“What the hell?” exclaimed
Chen. Lying on the ground in
front of him was what was left of three department store
dummies. They still wore the
fragments of superheroine costumes that had deceived Zhuang’s
lookouts. “God dammit,”
swore Chen. He and the rest of
Zhuang’s guards had been completely taken
in. The heroines were not
there. But that could only
mean…! Chen broke into a
limping run, moving as fast as his mangled genitals would allow him
to. He ignored the
pain. If the heroines weren’t
here, then he had a good idea where they
were. And if he was right and
arrived too late, Zhuang would make sure that he lost a lot more than his
balls.
“Nice work, Kyla,” said
Natassia. “I think you confused
the whole bunch of them with those three
mannequins.”
“Good thing they don’t weigh much,” replied
Kyla. “It was a job getting
them through the trees. The costumes
kept on catching on the branches.”
As they entered the secret passage they had used to escape Zhuang’s
HQ the three heroines could clearly hear the sound of Zhuang’s men engaged
in their heroic attack on the three
mannequins. They had to move
fast, and trust to the fact that Zhuang’s hidey hole would not be
guarded. If they were right the
crimelord would want to keep his special escape route secret, even from his
own men. They would probably
have about five minutes to penetrate the defences of HQ and then the men
they had distracted would be back.
There was more to their plan than just breaking in, of
course. They hoped to find Zhuang
and Nova’s belt before Zhuang had a chance to make off with
it. And then they had to find
a way out of the HQ. To facilitate
the last part of their plan the three women carried enough high explosive
in packs on their backs to blow the building
apart. They hoped they wouldn’t
have to use it, but if they did there was going to be one hell of a fireworks
display.
They were well within the building now, heading back to the secret panel
behind Zhuang’s divan. They
moved on through the maze of passageways, never deviating from their course,
guided by their memories of their previous journey through the
labyrinth. Fortunately, their
collective recall proved accurate, and within a short time they were inside
the secret compartment leading to Zhuang’s audience and torture
chamber. It was Suzi who spotted
the lever.
“I wonder what this does,” she
whispered. Instinctively, she
sensed what it was. Something
had put them all to sleep when Zhuang had
escaped. And there seemed to
be no real use for the lever, as the secret panel that opened into the audience
chamber was operated by a different
mechanism.
“I think we know,” answered Kyla.
“Pull it and see,” suggested
Nova.
Suzi nodded and grasped the lever.
At the same time, Nova peered into the room through a small hole in
the wall. Inside she could see
the audience chamber and several of Zhuang’s
men. There was no sign of the
crimelord himself, however. Suzi
pulled the lever. They waited
a minute and then taking a deep breath they open the secret panel and stepped
into the room.
Kyla went first, her power of invisibility making her the obvious choice,
but it really didn’t matter much who led the way; the room was strewn
with the bodies of unconscious
men. By this time Suzi
had returned the lever to its original
position. Closing the panel behind
her she joined Kyla and Nova in the audience
chamber. They didn’t linger
long, however, crossing the room to one of the main exits and heading for
what they hoped would be Zhuang’s private
rooms. As they went, they unloaded
their backpacks and Suzi placed explosive charges as they moved
on. She connected each one to
a small radio transmitter. When
the time came she would be able to detonate each one by remote
control.
As hoped, they encountered almost no opposition at first, but then came the
sound of men’s voices as Zhuang’s thugs returned from the decoys
Kyla had planted. The heroines
hurried on, taking whatever corridor looked most likely, and moving deeper
and deeper into the building.
“I smell food,” said Natassia.
“We must be close to the
kitchens.”
“Let’s go there,” said
Kyla. “I’ve got an
idea.” The two women fell
in behind the invisible heroine, the sound of her voice the only indication
that she was there.
“What’s the idea?” asked Suzi
impatiently. “Don’t
tell me you want a snack!”
“Later,” Kyla smiled.
“I have to watch my weight.
Anyway, have you ever seen Zhuang without something in his mouth?
If anyone knows where he is, one of the cooks or servants
will.”
The other two heroines grinned.
Their clever companion had hit the nail on the
head. Together they
headed toward the odor of food.
Kyla went in first. Using
her power of invisibility she gave the head cook the shock of his life when
she pulled his apron over his head and wrestled him to the
floor. There were three cooks
in the kitchens and a number of helpers.
They fled shouting in fear.
Suzi and Natassia let them go; all except
one. Just in case the cook was
not cooperative they wanted one more source of
information.
“Where is Zhuang?” Natassia demanded, speaking
Cantonese. The terrified cook
was on his knees in front of her, still shaking from his
experience. He still did not
know who had seized hold of him.
Nearby stood Suzi, her hand on the collar of the cook’s helper
she had snagged.
Trembling so badly he could hardly talk the cook stuttered out an
answer. They were able to determine
that Zhuang was waiting in a more secure part of his HQ, although it was
hard to imagine that anything could be more secure than his audience chamber
with its six inch steel doors.
Leaving the kitchens they headed as quickly as possible toward the
location given.
By now, however, the sounds of Zhuang’s returning henchmen could be
heard. They were running out
of time. Suzi stopped and adjusted
the knobs on her remote detonator.
“I guess I better slow them down,” she
said. She pushed a button and
the building shook as a massive explosion sounded from where they had planted
the first explosive charge.
“That will leave very little of Zhuang’s audience
chamber. Now we should get
going.” Without a word the
three heroines headed up the nearest
staircase. Zhuang’s sanctuary
was a heavily guarded room on the top
floor. Halfway up, Suzi planted
one more explosive charge. If
the first explosion had not scared off Zhuang’s men, then this would
give them an unpleasant surprise.
Li Mei and Jahlen felt the compression of the air as the first explosion
shook Zhuang’s HQ. Zhuang
had left them to the tender mercies of his henchmen after being assured by
Retinoff that they were indeed with
child. Just to make sure he had
tested their blood and noted the presence of hormones that indicated that
they were well and truly impregnated.
They had been untied from the rack and heavy leather collars placed
about their necks. A chain had
been run from one collar to the other, joining them in
captivity. Then a leather belt
had been placed about each of their waists and their wrists had been padlocked
behind their backs by locking them to a large metal ring in the back of the
belt. A tether had been
placed between their ankles to prevent them from
kicking. Then they had been led
from the room. Li Mei had thought
that they were being taken to the cells in the bottom of the building, but
they did not get that far. Instead
the men escorting them took them to a small side
room. Li Mei and Jahlen knew
at once why they had been taken there.
In the center of the room was a small
table. Struggling, the two women
were forced towards it by the four thugs who held
them. “What’s the matter
bitches?” asked one.
“We’re not good enough for
you? After all the dick you’ve
received the last few days you’d think you’d no longer be
fussy.” The others laughed
at the crude joke. There were
four men in all and it took them only a few seconds to force both Li Mei
and Jahlen onto their backs on top of the
table. Hampered by the chain
connecting them and the chains that held their arms behind their backs, the
two struggling villainesses were no match for the four
thugs. Within seconds their ankle
tethers were removed and one of the men was between Li Mei’s legs and
another spread Jahlen.
Spitting and fighting like a cat, Li Mei tried to prevent the man between
her legs from entering her.
Clamping her legs against his thighs she tried to hold him
back. She knew that her cause
was hopeless, but she could not simply submit to another
rape. “Real spitfire ain’t
she?” said the man between her
thighs. Li Mei spat in his face,
the blob of spittle catching him right in the
eye. “Goddamned bitch!”
the man swore, raising his hand to strike the helpless
woman.
“No, Sid, you asshole!” exclaimed the man holding the Black Leopard
down. Zhuang said they were not
to be harmed. We can fuck ‘em,
but we can’t hit ‘em.”
Sid lowered his fist and wiped the spittle from his
face. “I’m gonna fuck
you hard for that,” he said to Li
Mei. “I’m gonna ream
that tight pussy like an auger.”
Pushing open her thighs, he unbuckled his pants, and dropping them to the
floor grabbed the back of her backside and thrust forward.
Only a few inches away, Jahlen winced as she heard Li Mei cry out in pain
as Sid split her vulva. Then
she was to busy concentrating on her own ordeal to pay much more attention
to what was happening to her lover.
Bigger and stronger than Li Mei, she had managed to hold off the man
attacking her by kicking her long powerful
legs. But eventually, the thug
caught hold of both her ankles and spread her thighs, revealing her sexual
treasure. She lunged as he gripped
her knees and stepped between her thighs.
The thug laughed at her efforts.
He had her and he knew it.
Fight as she might, she could not stop him from having his way with
her.
Part of her told Jahlen that it made no sense to
resist. She had been raped countless
times in the last few days. What
would one more matter? But her
short time with the Black Leopard had restored much of her
pride. Her companion was fighting
hard and she could do no less. But
it was a one sided battle. Slowly
the thug spread her, stopping briefly to drop his pants, and then dropped
his weight onto her, pressing her into the table forcing her legs
wide. She grunted as he bit down
on the erect nipple of her right breast, rolling the tender bud between his
teeth. He did not bite too hard,
remembering Zhuang’s caution, but his teeth drew blood and Jahlen had
to bite back a whimper. Then
he thrust into her.
He was not as big as Zhuang, but her vagina was still raw from her session
with the crimelord. During the
interval between Zhuang’s violation of her and the present rape, the
soft tissues of her love canal had swollen and as a result penetration was
painful and difficult. Without
knowing what she was doing, Jahlen arched her back, and gasped in
pain. “Ah, I think she likes
that,” said her assailant.
“Look at her she’s doing every thing she can to get it in
deeper.”
“Like hell, Joe” the man holding her down
replied. “She’s fighting
like a tigress. You take those
chains of her and she’d rip your balls off.”
“Piss off, Kurt,” answered Joe.
“I say she likes it and wants
more. Look at the way she’s
moving those hips.”
Jahlen battled furiously as Joe ravaged
her. But her struggles only made
matters worse. Each movement
of her body helped his shaft sink deeper.
It was as Joe had said, she almost appeared to be enjoying
it.
Li Mei screamed in rage and frustration as Sid ripped into
her. Like Jahlen, her well of
passion, was swollen and sore. In
addition, she was a smaller women and much narrower through the
hips. She felt as if she was
being raped by a horse. Soon
her cries of fury changed to screams of pain as Sid kept his promise to
“ream her like an auger.”
“What the hell was that?” asked Sid, pausing in his rape of the
Black Leopard. The sound of the
explosion followed close on the blast wave that had interrupted his
pleasure.
“Christ, we’re being bombed!” exclaimed the man holding Li
Mei. Letting go of her shoulders,
he dashed to the door and was met by wall of smoke and
dust.
Li Mei took advantage of the slight opportunity afford
her. Surging forward with the
last of her strength, she smashed her forehead into Sid’s
nose. The delightful crunch of
breaking cartilage was music to her ears.
Sid screamed and staggered back, blood streaming from between the
fingers he had clamped to his face.
Exhausted, and bleeding, Li Mei rolled of the
table. Somehow, she found the
strength to stand. Her arms were
pinioned behind her back, but her legs were
free. She took two steps and
drove her foot into Joe’s knee, hyperextending the
joint. With a scream of agony,
Joe fell to the floor clutching his injured knee with both
hands.
Jahlen reacted immediately. With
her legs free, she rocked back toward the thug who was pinning her to the
table and brought her knees up sharply.
She caught her captor squarely in the face, knocking him off his feet
and slamming him against the back wall of the
room. Jahlen did not stop rolling,
curving her body off the table and landing on her feet with her back to the
man she had just attacked. She
spun in place, and before her dazed opponent could recover, she slammed her
right foot into his face, smashing his head into the
wall. Then she joined Li
Mei. Only one man remained now,
and he took to his heels, making no attempt to help his fellow thugs.
It took Li Mei and Jahlen only a few moments to finish off the injured
men. But their hands were still
secured behind their backs.
“We’ve got to get these belts off,” Li Mei
said. “Can you reach the
buckle on mine?”
“I’ll try,” Jahlen
answered. She knew they had only
minutes or perhaps only seconds to
escape. It would not take long
for the thug who had run away to spread the word of their
escape. She turned her back and
fumbled with the buckle of the belt around Li Mei’s
waist. It was no easy matter
to unbuckle the belt with her own wrists chained behind her back, but after
a minute she managed to pull the belt loose, allowing Li Mei to pull her
arms under her and bring them to the
front. Her wrists were still
locked to the belt, but at least her arms were now in front of
her. Within seconds she was able
to unbuckle Jahlen’s belt allowing her to bring her arms in front as
well.
“I don’t suppose any of these idiots would have the key to the
padlock on them,” Li Mei said, looking at the three men who littered
the room.
“Only one way to find out,” answered
Jahlen. She bent and began to
go through the pockets of the three
corpses. Li Mei followed her
example. She found nothing on
the body she was searching, but a cry of success from Jahlen sent a thrill
through her. She looked up and
saw her lover dangling a set of keys from her
hand. “I’ve got them,
Kitten,” she said triumphantly.
Li Mei smiled. It was strange
how quickly the name Jahlen had used as an insult had become a term of
endearment. She held out her
wrists and let her companion unlock the
padlock. Then she did the same
for Jahlen. “OK, now we’ve
got to get out of here,” said
Jahlen.
“Not yet,” said Li Mei.
“We don’t have any clothes, and I want to make sure of something
first.” Stealthily she moved
out of the room, her companion following.
Hughie approached the caged heroines.
Sun Lin and Melissa watched the giant move closer with some
apprehension. There had been
no sign of the Black Leopard that day, but Ocelot and Wildcat had shown up
and taunted them with threats of having Hughie rape them
again. And so it was with trepidation
that they watched the hulking brute come toward
them.
Hughie peered intently at each of the heroines through the
bars. “Which baby mine?”
he asked slowly. His large blue
eyes expressed a confused innocence.
Melissa held her baby even more tightly to her breast, but Sun Lin did something
very strange. “This one,”
she said quietly, holding up her child so that Hughie could see it
better.
“Mine?” Hughie asked, moving his face to within inches of the
bars.
“Yes,” said Sun Lin, she held her child
closer. Hughie’s eyes widened
as he gazed on the tiny infant.
Melissa held her breath. What
was Sun Lin doing? Hughie was
a monster. A huge man of only
limited intelligence that the Black Leopard used to do her dirty
work. He had tortured and raped
Sun Lin’s companions on several
occasions. He had quite willingly
helped Shark Stevens rape both her and Sun Lin, and was almost certainly
the father of Sun Lin’s child.
Surely she didn’t actually want him to see the results of the
vile deed he had performed. And
yet, Sun Lin was holding up her child as if she was pleased to acknowledge
Hughie as the father. She even
had a slight smile on her face.
“Mine.” Hughie said again, his voice filed with
wonder.
“Yes,” Sun Lin said.
“Yours. And mine
too. Would you like to see her
up close?”
Hughie nodded dumbly. He fumbled
with the small door in the bars of the cell, opening it so that the Jade
Dragon could pass the baby through to
him. Sun Lin stepped
back. “No,” she said
softly. “She is your daughter,
not a bundle of dirty laundry. If
you want to hold her, you will have to open the door of the
cell.”
“No,” said Hughie, shaking his
head. “Can’t do
that. Black Leopard punish
me.”
“Then you can’t see your daughter,” said Sun Lin, returning
her baby to her breast.
“Give baby,” Hughie demanded pushing one huge hand through the
opening in the bars.
“No,” replied Sun Lin, stepping to the back of the
cell. “You are not a good
father. You don’t want to
hold your daughter properly.”
Hughie stepped back. “Give
baby,” he said. “Hughie
good father.”
“A good father wouldn’t leave his baby in a cage,” said Sun
Lin. “This is no place
for your
baby. I can’t look after
her properly. She needs a proper
home.”
“Black Leopard punish me if I open cage,” he repeated.
He seemed quite
distressed.
Sun Lin sat down, and helped her baby suckle at her left
nipple. “Then you will just
have to leave your baby in a cage,” she said
resignedly.
“No,” said Hughie loudly.
“I want to see baby. I
get the key.” He turned
and left the room.
“What are you doing?” Melissa
asked. “You’re not
really going to let that monster hold your child?”
Sun Lin, nodded. “I don’t
think Hughie is evil, just feeble-minded.
He does what others tell him to
do. He’s been around villains
so long he doesn’t know what is right or wrong
anymore. In any case we
have no choice. You heard what
the Black Leopard said she was going to do to our
children. God knows what she
has planned for us. We can’t
let that happen.”
Melissa nodded. Sun Lin was
right. They had to get out of
the Black Leopard’s lair. If
using Hughie was the only way then they would just have to do
it. “After all,” she
thought, her jaw tightening, “we can always kill
him. He wouldn’t have a
chance against either of us once we are out of this
cage.”
At that moment Hughie reappeared.
He was brandishing a large brass key in front of him as if it were
some sort of trophy. “Got
it!” he exclaimed. “Will
soon have baby out of the cage.”
Sun Lin said nothing, but smiled sweetly at
him. It was a look that would
have melted the hearts of most men, Hughie included, had he not been so intent
on unlocking the door to the cell.
“Now,” he said, swinging the door open, “give
baby.” Tensing, Melissa
readied herself to attack.
“Let me show you how to hold her,” said Sun Lin, gently disengaging
her child from her nipple.
“You hold her like this,” she demonstrated, forming her
arms into a cradle. Hughie copied
the action and to Melissa’s surprise the Jade Dragon deposited her child
in the giant’s arms.
A look of absolute wonder spread over the huge man’s face as he held
his daughter. Bending his head,
he regarded her with fascination.
“You can hold her for a little while,” Sun Lin
said. “But she will need
her mother again soon so that she can feed.”
Hughie nodded dumbly. He was
cradling the baby as if he was holding a carton of
eggs. “Yes,” he
replied. “Baby needs
milk.” His eyes strayed
briefly to the Jade Dragon’s breasts.
“Now Hughie,” the Jade Dragon continued, “you have to look
after your baby properly. You
wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to her would
you?”
“No,” said Hughie, his eyes still fixed on the tiny
infant. “My
baby. Take care of my
baby.”
“You have to help me get her away from here
then. The Pussies and the Black
Leopard want to hurt her.”
Hughie’s eyes widened in fear.
“Can’t go against Black
Leopard. She would hurt
me. Punish me if I help
you.”
“Please, Hughie,” Sun Lin
pleaded. “You must help
us. You must be a good father
to your baby.”
Melissa was running out of patience.
Why didn’t the Jade Dragon just kick Hughie’s balls
in? That would solve the problem
She edged closer, ready
to attack.
“Hughie,” Sun Lin said at last, “you can come with
us. Then the Black Leopard
won’t be able to hurt you.”
Hughie’s face split in a huge grin.
“Hughie like that. Then
he can be with his baby all the time.”
“Good,” said Sun Lin with a sigh of
relief. “Give me back the
baby. You have to help
us. We need
clothes. And you must make sure
that the Pussies don’t find out what you are
doing.”
Hughie nodded dumbly. “I
get some clothes,” he said as he turned and moved toward the
door. Melissa frowned, she had
grave doubts about the ability of the giant to remember such complex
instructions. Nevertheless, she
held her peace. If worst came
to worst she could always fight her way out of the Black Leopard’s
lair.
“Why didn’t you just kill him?” asked Melissa as the door
closed behind Hughie. “How
do you know he can be trusted?”
“Sometimes your assassin’s training takes over, doesn’t it?”
Sun Lin replied. “I just
couldn’t do it. Hughie
isn’t really evil. He is
just easily dominated. He just
does what the Black Leopard tells him to
do. Anyway, he is the father
of my child. How could I tell
my daughter that I killed her father?”
Melissa nodded. She didn’t
really understand, but knew that the Jade Dragon’s logic was all mixed
up in the superheroine code of honour, a concept she didn’t really
comprehend or entirely agree with.
At that moment the door opened
again. Hughie tiptoed into the
room.
“I was quiet,” he said, proudly, “No one saw
me.” He was carrying a bundle
of dark clothing in his arms.
The heroines sorted through the clothing.
Hughie seemed to have raided the Pussies’ costume closet, as
most of the clothing items consisted of cat
suits. It wasn’t the ideal
apparel for two superheroines, but they would have to swallow their pride
and make use of what was available.
Melissa held Sun Lin’s child while she
dressed. Both infants were hungry
and the feeling of both her nipples being suckled simultaneously was most
remarkable; almost erotic. Then
she traded off with her mentor while she pulled on the outfit she had
chosen. A sudden thought occurred
to her. Dressed the way they
were, she and Sun Lin looked liked the
Pussies. If they were spotted
it might make their escape from the Black Leopard’s lair that much
easier.
“Hughie,” asked Sun Lin as Melissa finished dressing, “do
you know of a way out of the Black Leopard’s
lair? A way that we won’t
be spotted. I wouldn’t want
anyone shooting at us while we have the babies.”
Hughie frowned in concentration.
After a few moments he brightened.
“Black Leopard has a special way
out. One she uses when no one
is looking.”
Both women exchanged a glance. They
were both thinking the same thing.
How would Hughie know of a secret way out when none of the Pussies
had any idea it existed?
“Show us,” Sun Lin said, finally.
Hughie led the way out of the room.
He was carrying the reels of film that had been made when the heroines
had given birth. The two mothers followed silently, holding their children
close, and hoping that their babies’ tiny stomachs were full enough
that they would remain quiet. Their
little procession took several twists and turns before ending up in a well
furnished room. It was obvious
that they were in the Black Leopard’s private
quarters. Hughie went directly
to the back of the bed. After
fumbling for a few seconds he found a hidden button and pushed
it. A section of the wall slid
silently back, revealing a dark cavity.
“Hughie help Black Leopard carry loot through here,” the huge brute
announced proudly. Sun Lin and
Melissa nodded in sudden understanding.
So that was it. The Black
Leopard had used the secret passage to store treasures that she did not want
the rest of her brood to know about.
She probably regarded Hughie as being too stupid to be any sort of
threat and too frightened of her to dare reveal its
existence.
“Lead the way,” Sun Lin said to
Hughie. The giant moved into
the opening, stooping as he did so, although both Sun Lin and Melissa were
able to follow without ducking their
heads. Hughie found a light switch
and the two heroines found themselves in a narrow stairway leading down through
the building. They began a slow
cautious descent, the two heroines not believing that escape from the Black
Leopard’s lair could be so easy.
The stairway seemed to go on forever.
Melissa estimated that they must have been well below the street level
when the stairs finally ended, leveling off in a long dark
tunnel. Here there was no electric
light or light of any sort. Since
Hughie had not thought to bring a flashlight, they made their way in total
darkness, feeling their way along the walls of the
tunnel. As far as they could
tell the tunnel ran straight, although if it had curved, in the pitch black
tunnel there would have been no way of
telling. Sun Lin knew she had
come to the end of the tunnel when she felt a change in the air
flow. The air in the tunnel had
been quite close, but now she sensed that the air was less
dense. She imagined that she
was entering a large room.
Hughie broke the silence.
“Black Leopard’s treasure room,” he
said. The two women could hear
him blundering about in the dark, apparently searching for
something.
“What is it, Hughie?” the Jade Dragon
asked.
“Looking for cord.” Hughie
answered. “Cord for
light.” There was a loud
crashing sound as he stumbled over something and knocked it
flat. “Oops,” he said
apologetically, “Black Leopard not like
that.” There followed another
few minutes of stumbling while the two women waited with growing
impatience.
“Ahh! Got
it.” Suddenly the darkness
was flooded with light.
In actual fact, the single naked bulb that illuminated the Black Leopard’s
treasure trove did not provide much illumination, but after the stygian blackness
it seemed almost blinding. Sun
Lin and Melissa blinked as their eyes adjusted to the
light. They looked about them
in wonder. “Gracious!”
exclaimed Sun Lin. “There
must be millions of dollars in loot here.”
Melissa nodded dumbly. It seemed
impossible that a single individual could have accumulated so much
booty. Scattered about the large
room, seemingly at random were hundreds of stolen
items. A few of them Sun Lin
and Melissa recognized as valuables that had been reported stolen by their
owners, but many more they had no recollection
of. There were all sorts of rare
antiquities, from oriental paintings, and Central American statuary to Egyptian
sarcophagi and African fetish carvings.
Hughie stood near a large Greek statue that lay in fragments on the
floor, apparently the item he had blundered into in the
dark.
“Well, this will solve a lot of crimes,” said
Melissa. “But we have to
get out of here. The Black Leopard
and her hirelings could return at any
moment.”
“This way,” said Hughie.
He began to thread his way through the maze of stolen
artifacts.
“I must admit she has good taste,” commented Sun
Lin. “Some of this stuff
is remarkable.” She turned
and gave the room full of valuables one more look before following Hughie
and Melissa.
They were in another tunnel. This
one was just as dark as the first, and they made their way very uncertainly,
keeping one of their hands on the wall for
guidance. Sun Lin wasn’t
sure how long they walked in the complete darkness, but it was probably about
half an hour. She became aware
of the sound of running water and a strong unpleasant
odor. “We must be getting
close to the sewers,” she whispered.
Melissa made a slight sound of the
affirmative. Probably she had
nodded her head, but in the darkness it was impossible to
tell.
The sound of running water and the stench of sewage grew and with
it came a glimmer of light. By
now they had stopped touching the wall, as it was slippery with
slime. The smell became almost
overwhelming and the sound of water quite loud when Hughie
stopped. They could see by now,
light filtering in from above. In
front of them was one of the city’s main sewer
lines. The small ledges along
each side of the running water were swarming with rats and encrusted with
filth. The stench was almost
overwhelming.
“This place very stinky,” said
Hughie.
“Right,” answered Melissa, “but at least we have some idea
where we are. If we follow the
sewer we should come to some sort of access ladder and a
manhole.”
“Yes,” said Sun Lin. She
stepped into the knee deep water.
“Let’s get this over
with.”
Rats scampered out of their way as they waded in the direction of the
flow. Going against it would
have been almost impossible, especially holding the two
infants. They plodded on for
quite some time, the only light coming in from the storm drains high
above. But eventually they spotted
what Melissa had predicted, iron rungs set into the stonework and leading
to a round cover over their heads.
They let Hughie go first, as he was relatively unburdened, the two reels
of film slung in a sack over his
shoulder. Sun Lin and Melissa
cradled their babies and climbed with one
hand. Hughie reached the top,
and with seemingly little effort pushed the heavy iron cover
aside. The two heroines scrambled
out after him, and took their first deep breath in a long
time. “Where are we?”
Melissa asked, looking around her.
Sun Lin, more familiar with the city due to the number of years she had been
patrolling its rooftops answered.
“We’re in the southwest, near the city
docks. With a little luck we
can be home in about a half hour.”
Melissa breathed a sigh of relief.
Their long ordeal seemed to be coming to an end at
last.
Nova drove her fist into the midriff of the last of Zhuang’s
guards. Even without her belt
she was a formidable martial artist.
She, Kyla, and Suzi had made short work of the men protecting the
entrance to Zhuang’s sanctuary.
As the last of the thugs went down the three heroines assembled in
front of the door.
“Massive,” said Natassia, “solid
steel. Even with my belt, I doubt
I could break through that.”
“Stand clear,” said Suzi.
“I’ve still got a few pounds of explosive
left. Kyla you keep
watch. We don’t want to
be trapped here.”
Expertly, Suzi placed the explosive charges around the
door. She was almost ready when
Kyla came dashing up the stairs.
“We’ve got company.
Can you stall them?”
“I can not only stall them, I can blow them away,” answered the
Scarlet Falcon. “Where are
they exactly?”
“Halfway up, and coming fast.”
“This should do it.” Suzi
set the dial on her transmitter and pushed the
button.
A series of heavy explosions thundered through the
building. Plaster crashed down
from the ceiling and suddenly the landing was plunged into
darkness. From below came the
screams of terrified and injured men.
“Geez, hope I didn’t overdo it,” Suzi
said.
“Never mind,” said Natassia.
“Blow the door.”
“Right. But let’s back
off a bit first.” The three
women scampered back the way they had come and then placed their hands over
their ears while Suzi got ready to set off the
charges. In a few seconds the
way would be clear to Zhuang Zhijian.
Zhuang’s complexion paled as his headquarters shook from the heavy
detonations. Most of the room
was plunged into darkness. Who
was attacking him anyway, the army?
It couldn’t be just a few
superheroines. He only had a
few personal bodyguards left and from the nervous looks they were exchanging,
it was obvious they could not be depended
on. It was time to get
out.
“Chen,” he ordered.
“Watch the door. I
am going to check the escape route.
Follow me in five minutes.”
Chen nodded. Loyal to
the end, he did not realize that his leader was about to abandon
him.
As fast as his bulk would allow, Zhuang hurried to the back of the
room. There was a small partition
there that would hide what he was doing.
Quickly he found the lever that released the hidden
panel. With a final backward
glance he slipped into the hidden escape
route. Once inside he reached
for the lever that would close it off, leaving Chen to fend for
himself. At that moment an enormous
blast tore through the outside room.
Zhuang was thrown off his feet
as a wall of hot air and debris swept into his hidey
hole.
Coughing, his eyes burning form the acrid fumes that filled the air, Zhuang
managed to haul himself to his feet.
He no longer had to worry about Chen and the
others. Nothing in the room could
have survived that explosion. It
was time to leave. Taking two
steps forward in the dark, he found the slide that would take him to the
labyrinth in the lower part of the
building. Setting his feet into
the slide he pushed off and plunged into the darkness.
“Guess I need more practice,” said Suzi
apologetically. The explosion
had been far greater than she had
anticipated. She had hoped to
capture the occupants of the room alive, but there wasn’t much left
of them. She counted five
bodies. One she
recognized.
Chen. She saw Nova give
the man’s corpse a look of utter
distaste. Her companion hadn’t
said much about her experience when she was captured, but that look said
it all. Suzi thought of her own
ordeal and shuddered. Whatever
had happened to Chen, he had deserved it.
Natassia stepped through the wrecked room that had been Zhuang’s final
place of refuge. The explosion
had blown a hole in the roof, so there was plenty of light to see
by. The sight of Chen’s
corpse brought back bitter memories, but she put them out of her
mind. Where was
Zhuang? The bloated crime boss
should be easy to find. She kicked
a piece of broken furniture out of her
way. And then she saw
it. A dark hole in the
wall.
Six strides took her over to it.
Another escape hole. The
Chinese villain was worse than a prairie
dog. How many tunnels did he
have in the building? Without
thinking, she stepped into it, then she
stopped. She better tell Kyla
and Suzi where she was going. As
she pivoted a piece of rubble rolled under her feet, she caught herself,
stepping quickly to regain her footing and stepped into a
hole.
It took her a few seconds to realize that she was not falling, but
sliding. Zhuang had installed
an escape slide to take him away from his final sanctuary as fast as
possible. Twisting her body,
she was able to get her feet pointed down before she hit
bottom. The slide slipped upwards
just before it ended. It was
a good thing that it did, because if it hadn’t, she would probably have
slammed into the floor in the darkness.
Instead, she was deposited gently on the
floor.
Quickly, she got to her feet.
Somewhere, only a short distance away was
Zhuang. He had her belt and the
Dragon’s
Eye. She had to get it
back. If he escaped, she might
never see it again. She stood
listening. At any moment, she
expected to hear Kyla and Suzi coming down the
slide. But if they didn’t
she would go on without them. She
couldn’t take a chance of Zhuang
escaping.
A sound to her right alerted her.
There was someone there.
Zhuang? She would find
out. Silently she moved in the
direction of the sound she had heard, listening
intently. Suddenly a light gleamed
in the darkness. It had to be
Zhuang. She quickened her pace,
seeking to catch him before he got too far ahead.
She came upon Zhuang quite unexpectedly, actually moving right past him in
the dim light of the underground
passages. He was just as surprised
as she was. He was in the process
of unlocking a door in one of the side
passages. Natassia had no idea
where it went, but she had no intention of letting him go any
farther.
Zhuang spun as he heard the approach of the
heroine. He almost wet
himself. He had supposed that
he was alone in the tunnels, and was just in the process of opening the door
to his secret strong room when the heroine came up behind
him. For a second he just stared
at her. And then he realized
who it was.
Nova. And he had her
belt. Without it she was not
really much of a superheroine. If
only she were alone.
“A little brave aren’t you, my dear,” he said, testing
her. “Coming after me by
yourself?”
“I don’t need any help to take you in Zhuang,” the heroine
replied. “I’m here
for my belt, and for you.”
Zhuang laughed.
The woman in front of him couldn’t have amounted to more than a third
of his weight. He moved toward
her.
Her foot caught him between the legs.
Any other man would have been incapacitated, but the great folds of
flesh that hung down from his abdomen shrouded his genitalia in a protective
layer. The blow hurt, but did
not finish him. With a roar of
rage he heaved himself toward her.
Natassia retreated in shock from Zhuang’s
advance. The kick she had delivered
should have finished him but he was coming at her like a freight
train. Backing away, she struck
at him with a flurry of kicks and
punches.
Each of the blows staggered the huge crimelord, but it was like hitting a
giant cushion. Zhuang’s
fat seemed to absorb the blows without
effect. Slowly he closed on her,
using the narrow confines of the passageway to take away her ability to avoid
his clumsy attack. Again and
again she struck at him, and again and again he came
on. She sensed the wall at her
back, and then he was on her, flattening her against the stonework as if
he were a bulldozer.
Natassia rained blows into Zhuang’s
face. He roared in pain as her
right fist smashed into his nose, and her left split open his lower
lip. He took two steps back and
then advanced again. Natassia
knew he was tiring. His hoarse
breathing told her that he was on the verge of
collapse. If she could just keep
hitting him long enough he would go down.
She slammed her right foot into his gut again and then launched a
left right combination toward his face.
It was then that a burning pain shot through her
forearm. With a scream Natassia
staggered back, shaking her right arm as if it was on
fire. But the pain did not go
away, instead it spread through her body like a raging inferno creating the
most intense agony she had ever known.
“You stupid bitch,” Zhuang
laughed. “Did you really
think you could defeat me?” He
seized the traumatized woman before she could break
away. Natassia opened her mouth
to scream, but Zhuang clamped his hand over her mouth and wrestled her to
the floor. He landed on top of
her, his weight crushing her into the cold
concrete. Natassia fought to
breathe as his four hundred pounds of mass pinned her to the
floor. She moaned in pain as
the hideous drug that coursed through her veins continued to burn
agonizingly.
Zhuang removed his hand from her mouth and thrust his handkerchief into
it. Using one of the ties from
his robe, he secured it in place while Natassia tried to free her arms from
Zhuang’s crushing weight. Then
he shifted his weight and using another tie, bound her
wrists.
Natassia was helpless and wracked by the frightening pain of the brutal drug
he had used on her. Sweating
from pain, fear and exertion she struggled to free herself, but a feeling
of despair crept over her even as the agony of the drug
subsided. She could feel Zhuang
shifting his weight as he undid his robe.
She knew that meant only one thing, he was preparing to rape
her. Spurred on by sheer terror,
she thrashed wildly in a desperate effort to free herself from the hulking
crimelord.
Zhuang chuckled at her efforts. “So strong, but so helpless. You are
pinned like a fly. And soon I will take you the way I took you before. But
this time there will be a difference. This time I will impregnate you the
way I impregnated the Black Leopard and Jahlen. The drug I injected you with
was the same one used on the Jade Dragon and Scorpion. It heightens your
sensitivity to sex, while at the same time preparing your body to receive
my seed.”
Natassia knew Zhuang’s words to be
true. Already, in spite of her
perilous situation, she felt a strange
longing. Horrible as the thought
was, a part of her wanted a man within
her. The fact that it might be
Zhuang was disgusting in the extreme, but she could barely contain the
emotion. However, the thought
of meeting the same fate as Sun Lin and Melissa cancelled any sexual urges
the drug gave her. The vile notion
of being forced to carry Zhuang’s child sent a wave of panic through
her. She convulsed, twisting
and turning her body so violently that the huge man weighing her down was
almost dislodged.
“A true superheroine,” Zhuang
sneered. “You never give
up, no matter how hopeless the situation, but you are doomed my
lovely. In a few minutes you
will receive my seed and you will know complete
defeat.” He shifted his
weigh so that he could remove her
clothing. He first removed her
utility belt, and then unzipped the back of her
costume. From there, using his
powerful hands, he ripped the thin silk from her waist to her
crotch. It took him only a few
seconds more to remove most of the remainder of her outfit, finishing by
removing her boots. Then he took
a few strips of the shredded material and bound her legs at ankle and
thigh. Only then did he lift
his weight from her body, allowing Natassia to breathe once
more.
Picking her up effortlessly, the obese giant carried her into the strong
room and closed the door behind him.
“I expect that should give us a little privacy,” Zhuang
said. “Since this is the
last time we are likely to meet, I want to take my time with
you.”
There was only one piece of furniture in the room. A small wooden table,
but Zhuang made the best use of it.
Placing her on top of it, he adjusted her bonds so that her body was
sprawled face up across the width of the table, her arms pulled down and
under the tabletop, so that they were almost forced out of their
sockets. Her legs were bent down
on the other side, and tied to her
wrists. The effort left her with
her shoulders, hanging over one side of the table and her backside hanging
over the other. Her exposed vulva
was level with the edge of the table and her back was arched across its
top. She could not have presented
a more delectable sexual target.
Zhuang took time out to survey his victim once
more. He never tired of looking
at captured and helpless superheroines, especially one as lovely as
Nova. The evident fear she sought
so desperately to hide made her all the more
desirable. She was indeed a
prize. Long legs; a narrow waist;
flaring hips; high, round breasts; and a sweet little pussy, slightly parted
and begging for his organ. He
could hardly contain himself. But
first he wanted her mouth. He
removed the gag. No one would
hear her in the strong room. Her
full succulent lips were slightly parted as she panted from the exertion
of attempting to escape. He watched
the agitated rise and fall of her
chest.
He unfastened the last of the ties holding his robe closed and moved to her
head. The fascinating gray eyes
of the heroine followed him. They
were defiant and angry, but held the proper amount of fear as
well.
“Well my dear,” he said.
“Let’s get started.
I think a little lubrication is asked for first, and you will provide
it.” Seizing Nova’s
raven locks he jerked her head down until it was upside down, her open mouth
only a few inches from his tumescent
penis. He stepped forward, and
forced it between her lips.
Natassia gagged as Zhuang filled her mouth with his
member. It was so large that
it almost dislocated hr jaw. She
tried to bite down, but her mouth was forced open so wide that she could
apply no pressure. All she got
was a moan of pleasure from Zhuang.
“Aah, that’s it my heroine, bite
me. Bite me, I find it most
stimulating.” He pushed
deeper into her, driving his rod into her
throat.
Natassia’s body thrashed as she was forced into the sword swallowing
act. She could hardly breathe
and the unnatural position of her body was agonizing
painful. Zhuang clamped his hands
over her quivering breasts, massaging the soft flesh and amusing himself
by pinching each nipple and pulling her breasts into
points.
Zhuang’s breathing quickened as Nova’s warm mouth stimulated
him. That wouldn’t
do. He didn’t want to waste
any of his precious sperm.
Reluctantly he pulled his now dripping phallus from his victim’s
mouth. It was time to put it
where it belonged.
“Please don’t,” Nova
begged. The voice did not seem
to belong to her. But she knew
it was. She was betraying herself,
begging the crimelord to show mercy even though she knew that he was not
capable of such compassion. But
her fear of sharing the fate that had befallen the Jade Dragon and Scorpion
terrified her beyond description.
She could think of no worse fate for a heroine than being forced to
bear the child of an arch villain, especially one as vile and depraved as
Zhuang.
Zhuang smiled as the heroine broke.
He decided to play with her.
“Don’t?” he asked.
“What would you give me if I showed
mercy? Your last promise certainly
proved worthless.”
“I can give you nothing,” Nova
gasped. Her body was already
slick with sweat, and the drug induced fires of desire flickered in her
eyes. “I can only ask for
your mercy.”
“You are lying to me,” Zhuang said, moving close to
her. His enorged organ pointed
like a torpedo toward the tight slit between Nova’s
legs. “I can sense your
desire. You want
this. All of
it. You are just like any woman
ever made, filled with the desire to have your garden of earthly delights
ploughed until you scream.”
“No,” Nova pleaded.
“I want so such thing.”
He heart thumped within her chest like a hammer beating on a
drum. She licked her lips, tasting
some of Zhuang’s spilled semen.
“Please let me go.
There is one thing I can promise
you. I will not try to follow
you until you have had ample time to escape.”
“How noble,” Zhuang sneered.
“I am to be allowed to escape from my helpless
prisoner. Hardly a tempting
offer.”
“Please,” Nova begged.
“I can offer nothing more.”
Zhuang looked into Nova’s deep gray
wells. “You want me to let
you go. Alright, I will, but
on one condition.”
Nova’s heart leaped. Could
it be that Zhuang would actually release
her? It hardly seemed
possible.
“There is just one thing I want,” Zhuang said, “and it is
easily given.”
Nova held her breath. What would
Zhuang demand?
“I want a superheroine promise.
But a simple one. You
only have to tell me the truth.”
“The truth?” Nova repeated.
“It depends what you ask.
I cannot betray my friends.”
Zhuang ran his hand down Nova’s body, starting as her breasts and caressing
her flat belly and continuing to the slight swell of her abdomen before finishing
between her legs. She could not
hide the trembling in her limbs as he
finished. The fertility drug
he had injected into her filled her with an irrational
desire. “I want the truth
about what you are feeling now,” Zhuang
said. “Tell me truthfully
that you feel no passion. That
you do not want your body taken; your breasts caressed; your pleasure palace
visited by my eager staff.”
Natassia felt a flush sweep across her
body. “That is not fair,”
she protested. You have injected
with an insidious drug that gives me false
desires. You knew before you
asked how I would have to answer.”
Zhuang’s jowls creased in a triumphant
grin. “You have answered
truly. I am a man of my
word. I will release
you.”
Nova could hardly believe her ears.
For an instant her hopes soared, but Zhuang’s next words sent
them crashing down again.
“But first I will give you what you really
want.”
“No,” Nova begged again.
“No, you cannot do
this.” Her voice rose in
pitch as Zhuang moved closer to her, leveling his phallus at her throbbing
vulva. “No!
No!
Nooo!” The last
was a scream as he thrust into her.
Zhuang raped her in a most leisurely fashion, driving rhythmically in and
out of Natassia’s tight vagina.
After the first shock of entry,
she endured it with superheroine fortitude, gritting her teeth against the
pain and fighting back the urge to scream for
mercy. She had humbled herself
enough, but it was a long drawn out ordeal, and before the brutal crimelord
was through, she was weeping softly, her spirit
broken. At the end, Zhuang grunted
in carnal satisfaction as he released into her, his sperm driving for her
womb and the refuge of the egg his drug had forced her body to
release.
“As promised,” Zhuang said smugly as he refastened his
robe. “I will leave you
now. Doubtless you will be able
to free yourself eventually. I
hope that you think of me when you bear your
child. Perhaps you might even
name it after me.” He paused
as if just thinking of something.
“Oh,” he said.
“I just remembered. The
drug you were injected with is not exactly like the one that was used on
your friends. This is a special
formula created by Dr. Retinoff just for
me. It is guaranteed to produce
children that are freaks of nature.
I hope you remember that as my child swells within
you.” He laughed, his jowls
quivering with mirth. Then stuffing
several thick wads of cash into the inner pockets of his robe, he opened
the door and left, leaving the sobbing heroine
alone.
Zhuang hurried toward the exit from the labyrinth.
This time he would not lose his
way. Despite the setbacks created
by the heroines, he was not dismayed.
Far from it. He felt better
than he had for quite some time.
Fucking Nova into submission had been a delightful
experience. Too bad he couldn’t
take her with him. She had been
taught a lesson she would never forget.
He wondered what sort of monster she would give birth
to. Retinoff had promised that
the children born to the women he had impregnated would be quite
unusual. That took his mind to
the Black Leopard and Jahlen. They
would remember him too, especially when engaged in the agonies of giving
birth to his children. He
couldn’t think of a more fitting
punishment.
An earth-shaking explosion above him reminded him that he had better
hurry. Those damned superheroines
had completely destroyed his HQ.
But they had not finished him.
His crime empire was not based on a single
building. His network of contacts
was still intact. He would have
to lay low for awhile, but he would
recover. And perhaps the impregnation
of five of his most dangerous enemies would take the pressure off
him. Finally, he still had
Nova’s belt… His hand
went to the pocket where he had stowed
it.
He stopped and groped his other pockets.
The belt! Where was
it? The fight with
Nova! It must have fallen
out.
Damn! He would have to
go back for it. Cursing under
his breath he turned his elephantine bulk and headed back the way he had
come.
“She must have come down here,” said
Suzi. “There was no other
way for her to go.”
“Over here,” shouted Kyla.
She was crouching, checking the dust covered floor of the
labyrinth.
“Footprints.”
These are Nova’s, I recognize the boot
heels. And there was someone
else. I think these might be
Zhuang’s, he usually wears slippers.”
“But where is she?” asked Suzi.
“I don’t like this.
It looks like she may have run into
trouble.”
“Look,” said Kyla, stooping.
She stood up. In her hand
was a belt. There was no mistaking
the gleaming gem that ornamented it.
“Her belt. She must have
wrestled it away from Zhuang. But
where is she?”
“It’s pretty dusty. Down here,” Kyla
answered. “Zhuang’s
footprints head away from the fight area.
I don’t see Nova’s.”
In the shadows, jut a few feet away, Zhuang tried to make himself
smaller. The dammed heroines
had found the belt. But there
was no way he was going to tackle two of them, especially since one of them
could make herself invisible. He
let them pass as they headed for the strong
room. So, they would find
Nova. It wouldn’t so them
any good. He would be long
gone. As the voices of the women
faded, he moved back toward the exit.
“It’s solid steel,” said Kyla, as she stood in front of the
strongroom door. “I don’t
suppose we can blast our way in?”
“No, I’ve used up all of my
explosive. But maybe I can jimmy
the lock.”
“It’s a combination,” replied
Kyla. “There’s nothing
to jimmy.”
“Stand back,” said Suzi.
She opened one of the pouches in her utility belt and took out a compact
stethoscope that was attached to small electronic
box. She put on the stethoscope,
flicked a switch on the box, and began to turn the dial on the
door.
It didn’t take her long.
“Pretty simple lock,” she
said. “I didn’t really
need all this gear.” She
gave the dial one more turn and then threw the handle on the
door. With a clunk the locking
mechanism slid back and she pulled the door
open.
Kyla was the first one in.
“Natassia!” she
exclaimed. Without thought that
the room might be booby trapped she darted through the
door. Suzi stopped in the doorway,
just in case.
Natassia was still bound to the table where Zhuang had left
her. The ordeal with the oriental
crimelord had left her too exhausted and dispirited to try to
escape. In addition, the painful
manner in which she was bound made it very difficult for her to
move. Her shoulders joints were
almost dislocated and the circulation to her limbs was cut off, leaving them
numb and useless. But she was
still conscious, and she turned her head as Kyla bounded in.
“Kyla,” she moaned. She
had to fight back the urge to cry.
She was a heroine and it wouldn’t do to burst into
tears.
“Natassia,” Kyla repeated.
“What did that bastard do
to you?” She wasn’t
expecting an answer. It was obvious
that her friend and companion had been brutally
raped. Quickly she crossed to
her friend. She could have tried
to untie her, but this would be easier and
faster. She snapped Nova’s
belt around the heroine’s waist and waited for the
transformation.
As many times as she had seen it happen, the power of the
Dragon’s
Eye never ceased to amaze her.
Kyla and Suzi stood back as unbelievable strength surged through
Nova’s body. Powerful muscles
rippled beneath her smooth skin and her pale flesh changed colour, glowing
with health and vitality. The
superheroine flexed her muscles, snapping the strands of cord and fabric
that bound her like so much wet
spaghetti.
Nova leaped up from the table, her gray eyes blazing with
fury. “Where is he?”
she demanded. “Where is
Zhuang?”
“He is gone, Natassia,” Kyla said, surprised at her friend’s
clearly agitated state. “He
was not around when we found your belt.”
“I must find him,” the naked heroine said, her chest heaving with
unsuppressed emotion. “He
raped me Kyla, he raped me.”
As she finished, her voice broke and she had to fight back
tears.
Suzi and Kyla closed about her, taking the trembling heroine in their
arms. They were
mystified. They had never seen
the stalwart heroine like this.
Nova had been raped before, as they all had, and had always shown
the greatest fortitude. “What
is it Natassia?” asked Suzi softly, wiping a tear from her companion’s
cheek. “What did he do to
you?”
“I’m pregnant,” sobbed the dark-haired
heroine. “He injected me
with some sort of drug the way Sun Lin and Scorpion were
injected. I’m carrying that
monster’s child.”
Kyla and Suzi were struck dumb.
What could they say to console the weeping
heroine? “And there’s
more,” Nova added. “I
was injected with a special drug that will produce a
monster. My life has been
ruined. I must find Zhuang and
destroy him.” As she finished
speaking she shook off her friends and started toward the
door.
“Natassia,” called Suzi.
“Wait. You can’t
go out like that. You have to
put on some clothes.”
Natassia stopped and stood in the
doorway. In spite of the restorative
powers of the Dragons’ eye, she looked totally
defeated. Suzi placed a hand
on her shoulder. “Come
on,” the blonde heroine said.
“We’ll get you some
clothes. And we’ll get
Zhuang. But meanwhile, Sun Lin
and Melissa are still prisoners. We
have to go after them.”
“Yes,” said Natassia quietly.
“I had forgotten.
I’m not much of a superheroine am I, forgetting my
friends?” She seemed to
revive a little. She now had
a more concrete purpose, that of saving her
companions.
“Come,” said Suzi, taking her
arm. We’ll find you something
to wear, and then we’ll go after the Black Leopard.”
The Black Leopard cursed. The
hallway in front of her was a wall of
flame. Zhuang’s HQ was a
blazing inferno. She had hoped
to get back to the room where she had hidden the reels of film she had taken
of the humiliation of the Jade Dragon and
Scorpion. And there was also
the film Zhuang had taken of her and Jahlen’s personal degradation at
the hands of the crimelord. She
desperately wanted to make sure such shameful footage was not released to
the paying public. But there
was no way she could get through to conflagration
safely. Reluctantly, she turned
back. “Come,” she said
to Jahlen. “Let’s get
out of here before it is too late.”
Taking her lover’s hand she headed toward what she hoped was
a way out of Zhuang’s blazing HQ.
“They got away,” said Tiger.
She was on her knees in front of Nova, clearly frightened out of her
wits by the barely controlled rage that was evident in the heroine’s
steely gray eyes.
“Got away?” Natassia repeated
dumbly. She had not expected
that two women who had just given birth and encumbered by the newborn children
would be capable of escaping on their
own. She allowed herself a small
inner glow of satisfaction. She
should have learned never to underestimate the capabilities of Sun Lin and
Melissa. It gave her a sense
of pride that she had such intrepid and resourceful
friends.
“Yes, got away, you bitch.”
Nova glared at the speaker.
It was Wildcat. She was
less easily intimidated than the other Pussies and the only one of the Black
Leopard’s sidekicks who had put up much of a
fight. She had bruises to show
for it and was currently pinned to the floor by Suzi, who was sitting on
top of her.
Nova did not reply. It would
have given her pleasure to teach the insolent Pussy a lesson in manners,
but she doubted that it would do any good, and it would be an abuse of her
superheroine powers.
“If they have escaped,” said Kyla, “then they are probably
safely back home by now. We are
wasting our time here.”
Nova nodded. There was no reason
to doubt the Pussies. There was
no trace of Sun Lin or Melissa anywhere in the Black Leopard’s lair,
and the four villainesses had seemed quite surprised that none of the heroines
seemed to know anything about the whereabouts of the heroines they were supposed
to be guarding. She suspected
that whenever the Black Leopard returned she would have some choice words
for her cohorts. She turned to
Suzi. “I think we should
blow this place,” she said.
Suzi smiled agreement. It was
good to see Nova’s sense of humor returning, at least a
little. “You have ten minutes
to leave the building,” Suzi said to the
Pussies. After that, it will
become a rather dangerous place to be.”
“Bitch,” said Wildcat, as Suzi released her, but she wasted no
time in scampering after the other three Pussies who were well on their way
out of the building.
“OK,” said Suzi.
“It’s done. She
set her remote triggering device on the
floor. “I’ve set it
for ten minutes. After
that…”
She didn’t have to finish. As
the three heroines had infiltrated the Black Leopard’s lair, they had
placed explosives in the same way they had in Zhuang’s
HQ. There would be very little
left of the building when the timer went
off. Quickly all three heroines
went to the closest window, and using their climbing lines, slid to
safety. Then they put as much
distance between themselves and the building as
possible. Fortunately, there
was no sign of Stiletto’s men.
They had dealt with them before breaking into the
building. It had taken a few
broken bones for the crime mistress’s thugs to get the message, but
most of them had broken and fled soon after Nova lit into
them. Very few were interested
in facing up to a heroine bent on vengeance.
“Now what?” asked Kyla as they took shelter behind the corner of
another building.
“We go home,” said Nova.
“If the Pussies are telling the truth, Sun Lin and Melissa will
be waiting for us there.” The
other two heroines nodded. The
last few weeks had been fraught with worry, danger, and
pain. It would be good to go
home and relax, even if it was only for a short
time. Behind them a heavy explosion
shook the surrounding buildings.
They would have liked to have captured the Black Leopard and Zhuang,
especially after what they had done to
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