Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
VIOLENCE WARNING: The two stories in the Savage Gang saga, and especially the second story, involve a gang practicing extreme violence toward everyone — women, the elderly, the protagonist, etc. The stories contain mature sexual content and violence as well. I am placing this warning on all chapters, including those without such violence, so you can choose whether to continue.
Here on Substack, I tell the tales of Beth Harper, who is secretly the famous superheroine, Sapphire Angel, thanks to powers granted by a mysterious necklace. For reasons unknown to her, the necklace only works for her.
The next story in the Sapphire Angel saga, Savage Vengeance, launches on Monday, January 8, 2024. This story is part two of a two-part story arc, and two months have passed since I posted the end of the first part, Savage Dawn. So, with that in mind, here’s a brief overview of what has happened so far.
In Savage Dawn, we met the Savage Gang, a notorious and brutal nationwide gang arriving in Sapphire Angel’s city. Maximus Savage, the leader of the gang, tabbed his second-in-command, Rocco Lynch, to lead the gang’s efforts in the city. Like Maximus Savage, Lynch is a musclebound freak. Lynch’s first course of action in the city was to obtain weapons from a local weapons dealer, Tip Grim.
The gang’s first operation in the city was the attempted theft of a rare Stradivarius violin, which a famous violinist was playing at a concert in the city. Sapphire Angel thwarted the gang, apprehending some of the gang members.
Another major character in Savage Dawn was Olivia Lockheed, an FBI agent who was part of the FBI’s National Violent Gang Task Force. We previously met Lockheed in a past story, Power Play. In Savage Dawn, Lockheed had moved on from her job with state agency to take a position with the FBI, heading up the bureau’s efforts against the Savage Gang in Sapphire Angel’s home city. Lockheed crossed paths with Beth Harper several times in Savage Dawn, and also crossed paths with Sapphire Angel, not knowing Beth Harper and the hero were the same person.
Lockheed’s boss, Howard Vincent, was the one who sent the relatively new agent to the city to deal with the gang, figuring the city was of lesser importance than bigger cities where the FBI had focused its resources. But Vincent was secretly on the Savage Gang’s payroll, and was playing on Lockheed’s ambition.
Sapphire Angel thwarted the gang several times during the story, although Beth Harper, in her normal guise, suffered a severe concussion in an explosion set off by Rocco Lynch. At the time, Beth was helping Olivia Lockheed in a meeting with Tip Grim, the gun shop owner. Lockheed believed Grim might have information on the gang, and Lockheed enlisted Beth’s help to loosen his lips. Grim previously had taken a liking to Beth when she had written a story about the gun lobby, in her role as a writer for Radiance Online.
While still recovering from the severe concussion, Beth made the mistake of sneaking into Lockheed’s hotel room as Sapphire Angel. She did so in the hopes of persuading Lockheed to work together, knowing Lockheed possessed information that might help her track down the gang. Lockheed, a bisexual woman with a predatory streak, and someone who was resentful of the hero’s successes against the gang, sprang a trap on Sapphire Angel. The FBI agent temporarily captured the heroine, taking her necklace and almost removing her costume. Sapphire Angel escaped in the nick of time, recovering her necklace.
Beth’s determination to destroy the gang affected her relationship with her boyfriend, Conner Bennett, throughout the story. He couldn’t accept the danger she faced, and believed she should let the police and FBI handle the gang. Their relationship was falling apart by the end of the story.
Savage Dawn ended in climactic fashion, with Sapphire Angel defeating Rocco Lynch and the gang in a blizzard, with assistance from her mentor, Stanley Devor. During the process, she saved a kidnapped television news reporter, Megan Lawlor. But the gang was not done in the city. Maximus Savage was furious upon learning of the defeat of his men, and the story ended with Savage and a small army of gang members on the way to the city to eliminate the hero.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Oh, how long it’s been since I’ve looked on here! You probably didn’t miss me, but thankfully, I still remember every major event listed on here! Every bad guy (minus Grim) is still standing, though, so that’s a bit of an issue we’re likely going to fix entering this next novel.
Speaking of which, the last novel had a gun shop explosion with at least one casualty, a very risqué sequence between Lockheed and Sapphire Angel, and a brief touchy interaction scene with Conner and Sapphire in the latter’s costume-changing closet. If it was like that before, I wonder how you’re planning on taking it up a notch in this one.
(gasp) You could have.....someone (maybe Stanley ‘cause he’s good with technology) lure Olivia Lockheed’s forces to the Savage Gang’s hideout, and then blow everyone up with a huge explosive to kill two “birds” with one stone! Or you could have Howard Vincent subject to the same desires as Olivia Lockheed, like Sapphire previously suffered! Or you could have both!
Between this novel starting on the 8th and all 5 episodes of the MCU’s “Echo” streaming on the 10th, it’s a great day for me to be a superhero fan!