Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Sapphire Angel looked over the crowd, noticing torn jeans, leather pants, muscle shirts, beer t-shirts, baseball caps and bandanas. But these thugs weren't here by happenstance, looking to get a notch in their belts by taking down the famous superheroine. The timing was too perfect. Detective Clark had set her up when he made the phone call in her presence at the police station.
She recognized several faces among the fifteen men in the crowd. Police officers. They had been smart enough to send men she wouldn't have seen as Sapphire Angel, but they had no way to know she had seen them as Beth Harper.
The men fanned out and stalked toward her. She stood her ground, assessing the situation. She was endowed with far superior strength and speed, but her opponents vastly outnumbered her, and possessed at least some training in hand-to-hand combat. And they were probably angry, having learned of the beating she had given their fellow officers who had been breaking into her car.
"Hey, bitch!" a large man toward the middle of the semicircle boomed in a deep voice. The leader, she guessed. He loomed bigger than the other men, and his sneer caused his shaved head to wrinkle. The brute looked like no police officer she had ever seen. He wore a torn muscle shirt, and put it to good use, flexing his rippling muscles. "This is our town, and we're gonna break you in half," he said.
Despite his words, she sensed uneasiness in the eyes of several of the other men, as if each was waiting for one of his comrades to make the first move. She wasn't going to wait for them to sort it out. With no forewarning, the costumed heroine leapt forward, like a rock shot from a slingshot. She swung down with all her might, at a man near the left end of the semicircle who wasn't ready for her blinding speed. He threw up his hands and leaned back to ward off the below, but not before her punch crashed into his jaw.
She didn't watch him go down, knowing he was out of the fight, but lashed back with a kick, sensing a man coming behind her. As her boot connected, she spun with a punch at a third attacker, connecting to the side of his face. As the three men fell almost simultaneously, Sapphire Angel spun away, her blond hair whirling and her white skirt twirling.
She paused behind the large group of men, whose organized semicircle stood in disarray. At least two of her first three targets were out of the fight for good. The third man was groaning and trying to climb to his feet.
"You're going to pay for that, bitch," the leader sneered. "We're going to hurt you."
"It's not looking that way so far," Sapphire Angel said, exuding confidence as she stood with her hands on her hips and a slight grin on her face.
"We'll see if you still have that smirk when we're done with you. We're gonna hurt you bad, and then have some fun with you," the large man said.
"Lots of fun," a wiry man to the right of the big man said, rubbing his hands together and moving his eyes up and down her body. "I bet she's a screamer."
"Only one way to find out," the other man said.
A surge of men rushed toward the heroine. There were too many of them for their own good, and they slowed as they bumped into one another. Sapphire Angel's instincts took over, and she darted at the man on the far right of the approaching circle. Her open palm hit the man in the chest, driving him back, before she spun to drive a knee into the stomach of the man to his left, who was lunging for her. As he doubled over with a grunt, she seized his arm and swung him into the midst of the remaining men, who were advancing behind him. He was like a bowling ball careening among pins, crashing into several of the men and sending several other jumping out of the way.
Any remaining semblance of organization among the attackers had evaporated. They stumbled about, either regaining their balance or too far away to reach her, giving Sapphire Angel precious room to maneuver. The stunning superheroine surged forward, driving the heel of her boot into the knee of a flat-footed man. As he howled in pain and dropped to the floor, she whirled toward the next closest man, spinning with an elbow and catching him square in the nose. She ended her rush with a crushing punch to the face of a third man, dropping him to the floor.
Sapphire Angel back flipped to spring out of range of the closest men, landing and surveying the remaining opponents. Six of the fifteen men were out of the fight, and at least one more seemed in bad shape.
"You boys have enough yet?" she asked in a teasing tone.
A few of them looked at one another uncertainly, but the leader barked, "You're still outnumbered, bitch! Nobody's bailing out of this fight."
He reached behind his back and pulled out a knife. The blade was three inches long, and he glared at her as he held it in front of him.
"Gonna cut you out of that costume, fuck you, then gut you."
Sapphire Angel sprang into action again. A metal post in the center of the room separated the men, with five men to the left and four to the right. She dove, hands first, toward the men on the right. They raised their fists, ready to meet her, while the men to the left of the pole rushed forward, ready to attack from behind.
When she sailed past the pole, though, she reached out with her left hand and grabbed it. She spun around the pole, swinging her legs in front of her and meeting the first of the surprised men charging from the left. Her boots crushed into his chest, breaking ribs and launching him into the man behind him. She rode him to the ground like a surfboard, launched off him, pummeled the falling man behind him, and swung a fist at a third man behind the two of them.
The first two men fell, but the third man pivoted and she met with nothing but air. Her swing put her off balance, and he brought his knee up into her unprotected stomach.
"Unggh!" she grunted as her own momentum amplified the blow. Before she could recover, the leader charged her from behind, slamming into her like a linebacker might tackle a small running back. He enveloped her, and they flew threw the air together, landing on a table near the wall.
The table splintered underneath them, and they fell to the floor together. He landed on top of her, driving the air from her lungs, and pinning her right arm under her body. He reared back, driving a fist toward her face. She raised her free arm, palm open, and caught his fist in her hand, inches from her face. His face froze in shock for a moment, before he howled in agony and disbelief as she bent his wrist backward, cracking bones.
Sapphire Angel released his wrist, placed her palm on his chest, and shoved, launching him like a shot-put. She rolled to her right, just as two men stomped booted feet where her head had been an instant earlier. The stunning super lady sprang to her feet and cartwheeled away, as the large man rested on his knees, whimpering in pain and holding his broken wrist.
Standing with her back to the bar, Sapphire Angel whipped her head about, surveying the carnage. Nine men were unconscious or no longer a threat. Six were left standing. She made a quick turn of her head, scanning behind the bar. The bartender was gone, likely having fled at the start of the brawl.
The six remaining men gasped for air, having darted to and fro, trying to catch up to her as she spun and twirled about the room. They had been unable to keep up with her pace, let alone lay a hand on her,. This fight would be over soon. She had thinned their number by more than half, and these six looked tired and dispirited.
Just as she readied herself for the next flurry of attacks, she noticed one attacker raise his eyes, ever so briefly, and look behind her. If she hadn't been looking right at him, she would have missed it.
She turned her head, but it was too late. The bartender had come up from hiding behind the bar, and swung down with a short baseball bat. Sapphire Angel was only halfway turned toward him when the bat struck home. It crashed down on the back of her head, thudding off her skull and snapping in half.
As pieces of wood showered around her, Sapphire Angel grunted, her knees buckled, and her vision momentarily went blank. She sagged toward the floor, reaching out with her hands, but never made it that far. The two closest men had surged forward just as the bat hit its mark, and each seized an arm. They had her.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Ah CJ I love your chapters being repeated on this forum especially this my favourite chapter of all time showing R angel at her best. Thank you
No, no, no, no, no! Everything was going so weII, too!
She was whirIng two and fro, taking out those baddies Iike nobody's business. Knocking them unconscious and giving them what they deserved, sending them to the Shadow ReaIm (okay, maybe she wouldn't go that far.....she's not a kiIIer, after aII)......
And then the bartender just HAS to come in clutch at that exact moment. If it weren't for him, she IikeIy would've finished the job entirely.
.....ActuaIIy.....they onIy seized her arms and briefIy winded her with the bat; they didn't knock her unconscious or severeIy injure her bIuntIy, at Ieast not yet. Maybe next chapter she can just kick them in the groin or something to get away. So far, they've neglected to restrain her Iegs.
This isn't getting us any cIoser to finding that Iaptop that Mantis stoIe! CIark and Lanigan, I swear, man......they're going to pay for this.....