by
marat
Chapter
Six
Lynn walked as quickly as her
clothing allowed along the dark street, away from the brilliant lights along
the McLeod-Slaughter driveway. The wet street shone in the lights and the
cool air eased her exertions. When she got to the blue van that now sat alone
along the curb, she quickly slid into the drivers seat. The van started
as soon as she turned the key and she pulled out heading for the new Mitropoulos
City Centre and City Hall. Flicking on the lights, she fought the confusion
that seized her mind. Right now, she had to beat Crimson Flare to Police
Headquarters. She would eventually have to do something about Maria
Blakeman.
Red streaks had begun colouring
the sky in the east as she drove downtown. Red sky at night, sailors
delight; red sky at dawning, sailor take warning, she thought. After
last nights terrific storm, what did the new day have in
store?
She drove rapidly down the Theodore
Franklin Parkway, gazing at the site where she had first encountered Crimson
Flare, tied to the roadway barrier after her encounter with Ape and Nancy.
Once that site was behind her, she determinedly punched the
accelerator.
She had to get to the City Hall
before Crimson.
Exiting a little too fast for
her vans good, she crushed the break, screeching the tires, fishtailing
the rear of her vehicle. When she got it again under control, she turned
from New Street onto Wall Street toward the City Centre.
The four-storey building that
was the Mitropoulos City Hall was well lit and fairly glowed in the damp
pre-dawn. Everyone knew the details of the layout of the building. The Police
Department was on the top two floors, with the most secured areas on the
top floor. She parked the van on the street less than twenty meters from
the entrance. Pushing the door open, she slammed it shut behind her and rushed
toward the marble façade.
Oh, shit, she thought,
as two police officers came around the corner and into view. She slowed to
a walk.
As they approached one another,
she saw the eyes of one of Mitropoulos finest widen and
almost seem to glow as he took in the spandex-clad body of the blonde athlete.
But it was the other who challenged her.
What are you doing here,
miss? he asked roughly.
Ive
come to
lodge a complaint, she said. Do I see the desk
sergeant?
If youve been rousted
by the police, it wont do any good. You know the mayor is trying to
clean up downtown, the ogling officer remarked.
No, actually its
about someone else whos in trouble.
See Sergeant Anderson.
Take the elevator to the third floor and then straight ahead, the first
officer said.
Thank
you.
As she walked away from the
policemen, she heard a gruff mumbled conversation behind her, followed by
suppressed laughter between the two officers. She felt a chill run down her
spine and she was intensely conscious of her dress clinging to her hips as
she turned toward the entrance to the lobby.
Once in the elevator, she punched
the button marked Roof and settled back in the corner directly
beneath the surveillance camera. It was only a matter of seconds, though
it seemed interminable, before the doors opened onto the roof of City
Hall.
As she stepped out into the night
air, Lynn said to herself, Shell be coming
soon.
*****
Crimson Flare had routinely used
her great strength and speed to make her way toward the Mitropoulos City
Hall. She had strength that allowed her to race high-powered automobiles
and to leap from rooftop to rooftop across the city; but this time the effects
of the drugs on her system gave her less control over her body than she normally
enjoyed. As she moved rapidly from the mansion toward downtown, a moment
of pain caused her to wilt under its intensity and delay, just a moment,
in her progress. In the downtown area, as she leapt across the roofs toward
her goal, her judgment might be affected, and her leaps might be just short
enough to require her to grab at a ledge and pull herself
up.
Eventually, however, she saw
the well-lit City Centre a few blocks in front of her. She knew that when
she had secured the bags her master required, he would relieve her pain.
He would remove the torments that gripped and overpowered her.
At that moment her body was convulsed
by a violent spasm that seemed to twist her internal organs. Standing only
two rooftops away from City Hall, she moaned and dropped to her knees. Oh,
god, she thought, as she leaned forward, doubling over. Just
a few moments more.
This wish was not granted
immediately, as her insides seemed to be ripped asunder. She moaned again,
louder this time.
Then it was gone. Only the residue
of the pain remained with her.
She stood and leapt the final
couple of streets and landed safely on the City Hall
roof.
She walked purposefully toward
the stairwell. She had traversed this stretch of concrete many times previously.
She had often visited Police Headquarters to provide information or to coordinate
and cooperate with the authorities on any number of cases. As she did so
now, she did not remember what she had recently learned about the attitude
of the Department itself. All she knew was that her master required her to
remove some materials from the high security areas on the top floor. If she
did so, he would reward her.
Karen.
She stopped.
Lynn stepped out from the shadows.
She saw before her her closest friend. In the crisp early morning air, Crimson
Flare looked like the heroine that so many knew her to be. Behind her long
red streaks of dawn cut across a blue sky, giving an atmospheric appearance
whose colours could be likened to the stripes on the flag that the heroine
so often invoked in her public statements. The high-intensity lights surrounding
the City Centre reflected off the sequins of her costume, so that as she
moved the glittering effect emphasised the exquisite curves of her feminine
form. Her feminine form was clearly outlined by the brilliantly lit background,
a singularity of line this time not broken by her black belt, which usually
so clearly defined her round hips. That belt had been left behind at the
mansion. The highly polished leather of her boots, mask, and cowl glimmered
in that light, and it was not possible to see the ripped portions of that
cowl through which her matted dark brown hair protruded.
Crimson Flare turned to face
Lynn. Who are you and what do you want?
Dont you know who
I am? Lynn asked as she stepped slowly toward the Champion of
Mitropoulos.
Dont you know who
I am? Crimson retorted, and adopted a defensive
posture.
Lynn continued to walk slowly,
determinedly, toward the masked figure. Yes, youre Karen Perry.
Youre my friend.
Im Crimson Flare,
and Im on a mission to fulfill the orders of my master. No one may
question me or challenge my right
. Her words were cut off when
she felt another violent twisting of her insides.
She cried out softly, pitifully,
and dropped to her knees before she rolled onto her hip. She sat on the roof
quietly sobbing.
Lynn raced to her side. Her own
voice cracked as she reached her. Karen, oh, Karen, what do you want
me to do?
As Lynn placed her arms around
the helpless avenger, she caressed her face and embraced her around her
shoulders, drawing the girl to her.
Lynn? There was pain
in her voice.
Yes, its me,
Karen. Lynn felt tears welling up in her eyes.
Help me, please
help
me. There was a soft expulsion of air, as a crushing force
seemed to grip Crimson Flares body. She briefly sobbed out something
that sounded like Lynns name, and then the pain disappeared from her
face as she slipped into peaceful unconsciousness.
I have to get you
home.
Lynn feared taking the senseless
heroine down in the elevator, where the police or even the custodian might
be encountered. She knew the stairwell ended at a fire exit, but she also
knew that she had, luckily, parked her van only a short distance from that
door. Slipping off her heels, the athletic blonde hefted the unconscious
Champion of Women onto her shoulders in a firemans carry and entered
the stairwell.
Five flights! she thought as
she look into the chasm.
Well, nobody said this would
be easy.
All went well until she reached
the last landing before the ground level exit. As she stood, nearly totally
exhausted, looking down the final flight of stairs, above her she heard the
heavy door crash open and someone raced into the shaft. Lynn held her breath
for a moment, until she realised that the intruder was going up the stairs,
from the third to the fourth floor. When she heard a door slam a second time
above her, she again made her way down the final flight of stairs. Standing
on the cement floor, she gently placed her burden on the steps, resting
Crimsons weight against the wall.
She tried to picture what it
looked like outside: the location of the door on the wall, whether it was
on Wall Street itself or an alleyway that led to the street, how great the
distance to be covered to her van. Would there be any pedestrians? Once she
opened the door, the fire alarm would sound and she would have to move quickly.
The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that her van was to the right
once she exited the building.
She breathed deeply, trying to
get her complaining lungs to accept one more exertion. She felt her heart
hammering inside her chest. Only now did she realise how profusely she was
sweating and how painful her breathing had become. As she stood, her legs
seemed to give out under her, and Lynn had to grab to handrail to steady
herself. Multicoloured spots appeared before her eyes and her head
spun.
Come on, girl! Its barely
twenty yards! Youve already done five flights of
stairs!
But her body resisted any
more.
By an act of sheer will, Lynn
took up her friend one last time in that same firemans carry and leaned
against the door.
Fuck it! Ive got to do
this.
She took three deep draughts
of air, holding the last one before easing it out, and crushed the bar opening
the door.
Immediately behind her she heard
the raucous alarm. And as soon as she stepped into the street, she saw her
van, barely twenty yards away.
Fear energized her, and she ran
as fast as she could. Pulling open the sliding rear door, she unceremoniously
dumped her costumed friend onto the tattered flooring. Slamming the door
behind her, she then stepped to the drivers door and climbed into the
vehicle.
Her van started as she turned
the key. She pulled away from the curb as the first denizens of City Hall
wandered groggily onto the street. No one seemed to notice the Ford as it
sped past the plaza in front of City Hall.
Later, they would find her discarded
shoes on the rooftop, but no one would connect them with the false
alarm.
*****
The van pulled up next to the
apartment building that housed the operations centre for Karen and Lynn.
It was still too early for much foot traffic in a residential neighbourhood,
so Lynn climbed into the rear of the van and looked down at the still-unconscious
avenger. She would have to carry her inside.
Fortunately, the elevator would
get them upstairs.
She didnt care whether
the two prisoners saw Crimson Flare carried into the apartment. They would
be dealt with. They were in part responsible for Crimsons
condition.
*****
In a short while, Crimson Flare
had been deposited on the bed in her room, the van had been moved from the
illegal parking spot to the nearby parking lot, and Lynn had collapsed into
the cushioned chair in front of her computer.
She fingered the heroines
baton as she considered the fates of her prisoners, one of whom had stared
with undisguised fury at her as she carried the inert form on the Champion
of Women through the living room.
They would have to wait. Karen
had to be tended to first.
*****
Lynn stretched Crimson Flares
form out on the bed, and then gently turned her onto her stomach. Undoing
the zipper from the back of her neck, she slowly opened her glittering skintight
uniform exposing her flawless flesh and petite form. A reason for Crimson
Flares first successes was her small stature: she took on criminals
who were easily many times her size and dealt with them with ease, in no
small part because they often underestimated the tiny heroine. Ape had been
her first opponent whose strength nearly matched the Champions, and
Nancys intelligence had provided a warning for the brute about the
heroines strength.
The girls skin glistened
with perspiration as the easily identifiable uniform was pulled from her.
When Lynn released Karens arms from her costume and then rolled her
onto her back, the lithe blonde athlete noticed how clammy Crimsons
flesh was under the form-fitting bodysuit. Pulling the costume down, revealing
her small but magnificent feminine figure, Lynn again noticed how her soaked
skin shone in the light of the bedroom. She gingerly spread the unconscious
Maid of Mitropoulos legs slightly, allowing her to remove the famed
sequined attire. Once again, Lynn noticed Crimsons most commented-upon
attribute: Her legs, now shining bare, were glorious to behold. The thighs
were perfectly round with hard muscle beneath the utterly flawless skin.
The calves, covered by the brilliant leather of her black boots, still showed
their musculature any time she moved, for the trademark footwear looked to
be veritably painted on. The straight line up the front of each leg from
ankle to hip bespoke her physical fitness and provided the focus of many
a criminals admiration. Around her waist, the band of her tights still
cinched tightly. The tattered synthetic material left nothing to the imagination
and the now faint bruising at her sex told the story of what had happened
in the ballroom.
Lynn took the elastic in her
hands and ripped the colourless material away with seeming ease. The perfect
isosceles of her dark brown pubic hair indicated what had emerged as one
of the heroines vulnerabilities. In addition to the bruising, Lynn
noticed the pale grey crust that lay at her entrance. The course of what
had been a rivulet was still visible on the inside of her left
thigh.
Having noted the stains and fading
purple contusions around her vagina, Lynn next looked at Crimson Flares
face and, as she expected, she saw similar encrustations around her mouth
and mask. She rose from the bed and in a matter of a few steps she reached
the bathroom. A moment later, she returned carrying a bowl of warm water
and some washcloths and towels. Patiently, gently, she removed the detritus
from the Champion of Women.
She returned the basin and cloths
to the bathroom. When she stepped back into the bedchamber, she stopped and
stared, struck by the naked figure that rested on the bed. Crimson Flares
physical form had long been praised by friend and foe alike. Those who admired
her gloried in her attributes: the strength hidden by her small and delicate
frame, the mystery of her mask and the implied virtue created by the costume
that Karen and Stacy had contrived, her grand and glorious physicality, and,
certainly not least, her success in bringing down Mitropoulos gang
leaders. Those who sought to impugn the vigilante condemned her overt sexuality
and put a great deal of stock in unconfirmed reports from some surviving
gang members about the sexual attacks which the heroine had undergone and,
apparently, both survived and relished.
Crimson Flares tanned body
lay supine and unmoving on the bright yellow sheets. Her mask, cowl, gloves
and boots were still in place; her crimson-sequined costume lay, casually
tossed, next to her.
Lynn sat herself next to the
masked Maidens head, and then reached down and pulled off her mask.
Dropping it on a pillow at the head of the bed, the lissome blonde stretched
out next to her friend. Lynn gently caressed Karens cheek and jaw with
her left hand, moving her hand along the outline of Karens lovely face,
barely touching the surface of the flesh.
What do you want me to
do?
Lynn embraced her friend, wrapping
both her arms around the naked shoulders of the unconscious avenger, pressing
her own chest against her friends torso. The spandex dress that Lynn
still wore allowed for a high sensitivity, as Lynns own petite breasts
embraced the perfect hemisphere of Karens right
breast.
The blonde girl felt her nipples
tingle as the contact continued. She pressed her face to that of her friend,
finally giving her a small kiss on the cheekbone. Sweat still gleamed on
the unmoving form of the Maid of Mitropoulos, and Lynn noticed a small rivulet
seeking escape from under the tattered cowl. She reached up and gently pulled
off the formfitting leather helmet. Karens short locks were matted
crosswise with occasional spikes darting this way and that over the perspiring
landscape. The action revived the Champion, who, still disoriented, seemed
to seek protection from her friend, her green eyes
fearful.
Lynn pulled Karens head
to her chest and cooed soothing sounds, trying to relax her friend. She ran
her hands up and down the bare back of her friend, her fingernails lightly
touching the smooth, sweat-soaked flesh.
Karens breathing was rapid
and irregular. But something in her told her that she was, at least for the
moment, safe from the terrors that had stalked her earlier this night. It
took much of her remaining strength as she turned her face toward her friend.
Her dry tongue swept across dry lips, providing no relief to the poor
girl.
Lynn reached to the nightstand
next to the bed and plucked up the bottle of water that usually sat there.
With one hand she undid the light blue cap, and then tilted the container,
splashing some of the refreshing liquid into and around Karen parched mouth.
The brunette turned toward the source and found the revitalising fluid, allowing
it to pour into her.
Finally, her thirst assuaged,
Karen turned to her friend. Her green eyes opened and she seemed to try to
smile. Wh- where
are we? The fear in her eyes was presently
diminished.
Were safe, Karen.
Were home.
Just then another spasm seized
the hapless girl. She drew her knees up to her torso and twisted her body
to try to relieve the pain that seemed to spring from deep inside her. When
it had passed, those green eyes opened again, pain this time evident in their
stare. Make it
stop, please
Lynn.
Where is it coming
from?
There, she whispered,
indicating her belly. Lynn could see that her abdominal muscles had tightened
across her stomach. Through gentle coaxing, the petite blonde athlete convinced
Karen to lower her legs. With one hand she gently stroked the smooth skin
of the heroines lower torso.
What does it feel like?
Lynn asked.
Like
Karen
sighed. Like
something empty
what was there has been torn
out. It
it burns. Tears welled up in Karens
eyes.
After all of the effort to end
Karens dependence to drugs and vulnerability to Chans concoction,
after all that Professor Brayfield had tried to do, Crimson Flare had been
battered back into this weakness again. Lynn thought, what do we have to
do to free her? Confused and angry, she pushed herself up and stared down
at her friend.
What do you need, Karen?
she asked.
I need
someone
to
fuck me.
Stunned, Lynn looked at her friend.
How could she say that? What does it mean? Does she mean that sex could replace
her bodys need for drugs? What if she were wrong? It had always been
the assumption that the problem was the drugs, that the desire for sex could
be a substitute for that craving. But what if Chans goal had been to
eliminate Crimson Flare as a threat to gang activity not by making her dependent
on drugs, but on sex. Didnt he move in with her right after her initial
rapes? Didnt he try to force sex on her, even after Stacys funeral?
Maybe he was more motivated by personal desire than by gang;and
concerns.
The silence from her partner
caused Karen to open her eyes. Sweat rolled down her forehead and she weakly
tossed her head to try to keep it out of her eyes. Lynn reached out her hand
and tenderly brushed the droplets aside. She was showing signs of withdrawal.
When Karen convulsed again, Lynn leapt to the floor and began pacing. She
looked at the dresser, where they kept some of their toys. But
Karens physical reaction continued to escalate, sweat pouring from
her body, the muscles clearly quivering, her extremities shaking.
Lynn turned toward the living
room.
*****
The athletic blonde girl walked
slowly through the door from the bedroom, glaring at the two prisoners who
were still tied there. One mans face was a mass of blood. He appeared
to still be unconscious. The other, who had watched with something approaching
fury as Lynn had carried the unmoving form of Crimson Flare to the bedroom,
now watched her closely, fear mixed with the anger just behind his
eyes.
From behind her back she pulled
Crimson Flares baton and jabbed at the young man. He shouted in surprise
and pain. The anger in his eyes was gone; the fear remained. Then she untied
the prisoner. She used the baton as a prod to direct the man toward the
bedroom.
And if thou gaze into an
abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee, she said softly to
herself.
End of Chapter
Six
Comments, questions, suggestions welcome:
contact the author at
marat1793@comcast.net
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