Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Beth crashed through the stairwell door and rushed down the stairs. As she passed a landing and darted down another flight, she heard the door slam open above her. She didn't dare glance back. Damn. He was fast.
She muttered to herself, wishing she didn't have to keep her alter ego a secret. But for that small detail, she could have transformed in front of the man, and confronted him. She didn't have that option, though, if she ever wanted to live her life in peace and safety. She needed to move. Fast.
Beth hurtled down the steps, reaching a landing with a door. The fourth floor. The sound of his feet grew closer.
Her heart pounding, the athletic woman continued her breakneck descent. She wondered if she should exit the stairwell, or continue. Continue, she decided. If she ended up on a deserted floor, she would be in trouble. Her best bet lay in either reaching the ground floor, where there had to be other people, or in creating enough distance to transform and become Sapphire Angel.
Her feet slammed down onto the third floor landing. He was even closer. She would not make it to the ground floor. He was too fast. She grabbed the handle to the nearby door and flung it open, revealing the third floor hallway beyond. Just inside the door, to the left, was a vending machine area. A tall pile of empty boxes lay scattered in the hallway outside of it. She tossed the laptop bag into the midst of the pile.
As the stairwell door closed behind her, she turned toward the door, held her fist up to her neck, and made her transformation. Just as the flash of light subsided, the stairwell door reopened, and Sapphire Angel stood face to face with the man in black, in all her radiant glory. A look of surprise crossed his face.
The man recovered from his shock almost instantly, lashing up with his arm. He was fast, but Sapphire Angel was faster. The heroine swatted aside his blow with one arm, and drove her other arm forward, slamming her fist into his chest. She didn't use all of her force, which might have crushed his ribs. She wanted to subdue the man so she could question him.
Her blow was still enough to propel him backward, flinging him into the door behind him. As he slammed into the door, confusion and pain filled his visage, but again only for a moment. He attacked again, feinting with one arm and swinging a punch with the other.
Sapphire Angel again batted his attacks aside. She remained on the defensive out of choice, not necessity. As skilled as he seemed, she could drop him with a quick flurry. But it might injure him, too. He needed to realize he stood no chance against her, so he would surrender. She couldn't risk the outcome of many of her fights — dazed and unconscious opponents.
He continued with the cascade of attacks, which she deflected and dodged, occasionally connecting with a restrained attack of her own, just to let him know she could take him down when she wanted. The ease with which she avoided his blows belied her opinion of him as a combatant. She had not faced someone of his speed and skill in some time, but Sapphire Angel was in a class of her own.
As his attacks continued with no sign of relenting, she muttered. Enough was enough. This fight needed to end. She avoided one of his blows and launched a legitimate attack. He had been quick, but she moved with blinding speed as she brought a flurry of her own blows down upon the man. She still didn't use her full strength.
Even her lessened blows rocked and staggered the man, and the look of confusion on his face only grew as blow after blow caused him to wince in pain. He staggered back against the door, his face clenched in pain. One hand clutched at his side where one of her blows had landed. He held up his other arm, palm out, signaling for her to stop.
Finally. She reached for him, to spin him around and push him up against the door. But she realized too late he was not done. He went from surrender to attack in a flash. His fastest blow yet launched from within him. Her arms were up, reaching for him and leaving her chest vulnerable, as his arm shot forward. He struck with an open palm, and the butt of his hand crushed into her upper chest, slightly below her neck. She grunted as the massive blow sent her flying, a twisting blur of blond, blue, and white, flipping her into the nearby pile of boxes.
As she crashed into the boxes, they came down around her like an avalanche of cardboard. She coughed and fought to regain her breath as she kicked her arms and legs about among the undulating boxes, trying to get to her feet. She was aware of the sound of the stairwell door opening, and of feet receding into the distance.
It took her a few moments for her to regain her footing. Once she was upright, she darted to the door, wincing at the pain in her chest. By the time she opened it, she heard a door open below her. She raced down the stairs.
When she reached the ground floor and exited the stairwell, she looked out a front window, and saw the man disappear into a small crowd near an intersection. There were too many people, and three possible escape routes for the man. She would never find him now.
As she watched out the window, Sapphire Angel reached a gloved hand up to her chest, touching herself gingerly through her costume, as a handful of hotel patrons murmured and pointed at her. She moved her shoulders in a circle and winced. He had actually hurt her.
She shook her head in disbelief and darted back toward the stairwell. Whatever was on the laptop had better be worth the trouble.
Impossible. Mantis shook his head in disbelief as he raced away from the scene of his encounter with Sapphire Angel. A woman had bested him in a fight. He chided himself for his failure, and for the way he had discounted all the tales of the heroine's exploits. She definitely lived up to the stories. Perhaps if he hadn't underestimated her...
He stopped himself from even entertaining the thought. She had defeated him with ease. Even if he had accorded her the utmost respect, she still would have wiped the floor with him. And to make matters worse, she had been holding back. He possessed extensive training and knew when an opponent was pulling punches. He had done it himself in the past, so he knew Sapphire Angel had not landed a single blow with her full strength behind it. Not even close.
He shook his head. There were no witnesses to the fight, but he would have to live with the shame of knowing that this woman had defeated him. But how? She was not a huge, muscular she-woman. Not by any stretch of the imagination. To the contrary, she was a petite, feminine thing. Somehow, though, she carried amazing strength and power.
Because of her, Harper had escaped with the laptop. Mantis swallowed hard. He would need to explain his failure to his employer. He took a deep breath and dialed the number on his phone. There was no sense in prolonging what he needed to do.
Devlin's voice came on the line before the first ring finished. "Did you get the laptop?"
Mantis gritted his teeth. "No, I did not."
"Did Harper find it?" Devlin replied, his voice was tight with stress.
"Yes, she did."
"What?" the WarTech CEO exclaimed. "I told you to get it from her!"
"Sapphire Angel interfered," Mantis replied.
Mantis waited in silence as his employer digested this information.
"Explain," Devlin said, his voice terse.
"I was about to get it from Harper, and the superheroine appeared. Harper slipped away while I tussled with Sapphire Angel."
"You said you were the best," Devlin said, his voice calm but with a hint of anger. And the stress was still there, too. Every time Mantis spoke with Devlin, a tension hung in the air, as if Devlin saw fate pulling him under water, and this laptop was his lifeboat. But why? A thought came to Mantis, unbidden — perhaps WarTech wasn't the shining star of success all seemed to think.
"Sapphire Angel is... unique in her abilities," Mantis said. "And she possessed the element of surprise."
"Yet here you are, talking to me?" Devlin asked. "Does that mean you held your own enough to get away from her? Or does it mean you've already told her everything you know, so she let you go?"
"I told her nothing," Mantis snapped, losing his cool for the first time in years. Even if she had defeated and apprehended him, she would not have been able to make him talk. Devlin insulted him by suggesting he was so weak-minded.
"So you went toe to toe with Sapphire Angel, and held your own," Devlin asked in a pondering tone. "That is very interesting, and could prove useful should she continue to interfere. Next time, we will be ready for her."
Mantis nodded. He had seen the superheroine's abilities firsthand and doubted anyone could best her in combat. But ability in combat was only one way to defeat an opponent. With his experience against the superheroine, he could better prepare for a future encounter. And nobody prepared better than Mantis.
"For now, though," Devlin said, "the laptop is your priority. Find out where Harper is staying. Then get it from her."
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Woo-hoo! Sure, she may have gotten injured, but Sapphire went toe-to-toe with Mantis and actually came out on top. Then again, she rarely DOESN’T win. Except for Raven Tristan and the whole garage thing. And Wheldon with the rocket launcher. Even then, Sapphire paid Raven back for that first one.
I can only imagine Mantis’s reaction when he thinks he’s about to get Beth, only to run right into Sapphire. It did say he was surprised....if it weren’t for the costume’s “doubt aura”, I would’ve gotten very suspicious about encountering Sapphire so soon after chasing Beth. Bet this shakes up his worldview and opinions on women, doesn’t it? Shows him that ANYONE is capable of kicking butts, no matter where they come from or who they are, as long as they have sufficient training, superpowers, or both.
For now.....thank goodness we got away. Definitely doesn’t seem like Devlin or Mantis are done yet, though. The future antagonists aren’t going to also be CEO-like characters, right? ‘Cause Devlin’s the third one here, after Dominick and Wheldon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely loving the mystery and action elements, but it feels like we’re going up against the same general type of villain every time (although I will admit that they did all have different plans). Just a suggestion, though! It feels really good seeing all of these powerful, egotistic, big-headed men get brought to justice, honestly. Very humbling.
Let’s see what’s on that laptop! ......On Thursday! .......Hopefully!