Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
Sapphire Angel opened the door to find a room shrouded in darkness. She extended one of her graceful legs into the room, taking a tentative step as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the blackness. The room was as silent as it was dark, but she could perceive she wasn't alone. Perhaps it was vibrations in the air or floor, or perhaps just a sixth sense, but she knew there was someone else nearby.
She was ready when light flooded the room. As she tensed for an attack, she squinted and raised an arm to shield her eyes. No attack came. Instead, four men came into focus as her vision adjusted, and she discerned a square room, forty feet across, with no windows. Another door stood on the wall to her left. The room was empty, except for a square device, similar to a portable generator but with several hoses running about its surface, sitting on the floor behind the men.
Sapphire Angel recognized the men immediately. The first man was Mark Devlin, the CEO of WarTech, with his brown loafers, khaki pants, plain blue Oxford, and his buzz cut. He stared at her, a slight grin on his mouth, and a twinkle of anticipation in his eyes.
The second man was the scientist, Valik, who had been in charge during her captivity. He stood to the left of Devlin, wearing a strange device over his wild mop of hair. The device looked like a helmet, but an antenna stuck up from each ear, and a tube ran from the rear of it to the generator-like device behind him. He held a small box in one hand, adjusting dials on it without looking down. He, too, wore a slight grin on his face, but his grin suggested curiosity and impatience.
The third man was Socrates Chappelle, the gregarious United States Senator, with his large face and grey-streaked hair. He watched with his head tilted, his face lined with worry.
At the end of the line, to the far left, stood Gregor, the massive brute who had been eager to interrogate her during her captivity. He watched her with a hunger in his eyes, and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He squinted as he gazed at her, distorting the triangular tattoo around one eye, and his smile caused the silver caps on his incisors to glint in the light. The enormous man wore tight pants but no shirt, revealing hairless skin bulging with muscles. He wore straps over his shoulders and around his chest, forming what almost looked like a baby sling. At the top of the contraption, held in place by the straps below his neck by, sat a clear box with three antenna sticking out of it. Inside the box rested a brick-sized black rock.
Sapphire Angel frowned, put her hands on her hips, and stood with her supermodel legs spread, glaring at the men.
"End of the road, fellas," she said.
Devlin shrugged. "Perhaps," he said. He glanced over his shoulder at the scientist. "That's what we're interested in finding out."
Sapphire Angel shook her head.
"You know how this works," she said. "You can either surrender, or I'll make you surrender."
"We're not going down that easy, Sapphire Angel," Devlin replied. "I got word moments ago that our prized purchaser just left the campus, and I have no way to contact him. Do you know what that means? It means he might be gone for good, and you may have destroyed a deal very important to this company. So it means I need something equally valuable, to launch our next project."
Sapphire Angel frowned, folding her arms across her chest and giving Devlin a disappointed shake of the head.
"You won't be launching any projects," she said.
"Oh, but I will," Devlin replied. "Or at least we will, if this first test works. And it involves you."
Devlin turned to Valik and shouted, "Now!"
Valik cranked a knob on the box in his hands, and the generator-like device coughed to life behind him, settling into a soft hum. A moment later, a glass window on the front of the large contraption emitted a bright blue glow, casting shadows about the room.
As the device lit up, so did a dark glow on the black rock strapped below Gregor's neck. And so did Sapphire Angel's necklace.
The heroine's jaw dropped in surprise. A golden light was building inside of her necklace, from the center of the stone. She looked down in shock, and then looked over at the men, her mouth hanging open in confusion. Her necklace had emitted light only once before, except for briefly during her transformations. That had been during her first days as Sapphire Angel, when an enemy had forced a transformation, stripping her of her costume and her powers. Could it be happening again?
The men in the room didn't seem to notice the necklace, instead furrowing their brows as they watched her face. She didn't understand why they didn't focus on the stone, whose glow filled the room. And then she understood. Somehow, innately, she knew they couldn't see the light from the necklace. The glow was visible only to her.
And then it happened. With a deafening clap, like thunder striking in the room, a burst of golden light shot from her necklace, and coursed through the air, directly to the black brick below Gregor's neck.
A pain cut through the superheroine as she and Roy Valik both screamed at the same time. It seemed like an invisible force had grabbed her internal organs, and was ripping them from her, through the front of her necklace. She thought again — could these men be forcing her to transform?
No. This felt the same, but different somehow. The last time, the transformation had hurt, but seemed filled with purity and an innate power. This one seemed corrupt, like it was working through brute force. And that time, almost a year ago, she had seen a tunnel of light, and sensed something at the end of the tunnel summoning her costume and necklace, taking them from her. She saw no such tunnel now, feeling only the horrible pain, as if her soul were being ripped from her.
Sapphire Angel staggered as she put a hand to her necklace, before she dropped to one knee. She clenched her eyes, trying to fight it, but it was no use. The ripping sensation continued, and the golden light rushed from her necklace toward the black rock, like a torrent of water shooting from a firehose.
She collapsed to her hands and knees with a moan, and tried to raise her head to look at the men. Her blond hair cascaded around her face, and a cry escaped her lips as her expression contorted in pain and confusion. The beam continued, shooting past her face to the rock below Gregor's neck. Near him, Valik watched, his eyes wide, but pain flashed across his visage as his body shook.
Gregor stalked toward her, a gleam in his eyes. She tried to block out the pain and she rose to her knees, hoping somehow she could stand to meet him. The room was spinning, though, and she realized what was happening. She didn't know how, but she knew that these men weren't forcing her to transform. No. Somehow these men were draining the power from her. From her necklace.
All she could think about was getting away. She was disoriented, and in no condition to fight. If she had her faculties, she might have been able to get the black rock from the man, or damage the generator, and hope it might stop the process. But she didn't have the strength.
The doorway was only two steps behind her, but it might as well have been a hundred. She stumbled to her feet and groped behind her for the door, but Gregor's black rock felt like a magnet, sucking her power from her and pulling her to him. He stepped toward her, and the force grew stronger.
Fear crossed her face at the sight of this savage approaching, a hunger for pain shining in his eyes. Valik stood behind him, his convulsions growing stronger and his eyes open wide, as if he were sharing her agony. Devlin's head darted back and forth between the superheroine and the scientist, confusion on his face. He continued to focus on her, seemingly oblivious to the light shooting from her necklace.
And then Gregor was on her. He let out a roar of domination as he flung his arms around the costumed woman's thin waist, hauling her into the air in a bear hug. The smooth fabric of her costume slid across his bare chest, and her necklace pressed against the clear case below his neck. The pain intensified, and she cried out, bending backward at the waist to get away from the rock, and from the power it held over her. Her hair dangled downward as she arched her back, and her attempts only energized her opponent. He jerked harder, causing her torso to flop forward and back, and her short skirt to dance about her waist.
"Ugnh!" she gurgled as her head lolled to one side. He repeated the jerking, over and over, manhandling the superheroine like a rag doll in his arms. A dull glow of light surrounded the immense man and the smaller woman.
Through fading vision, she caught site of Devlin, mouth open wide, his stunned gaze alternating between her and Valik, whose convulsions intensified. The scientist's helmet crackled and popped like a pack of fireworks, but he remained on his feet, his eyes wide. A trickle of blood formed below his nostrils.
The light around Sapphire Angel intensified, and a crackling noise came from her necklace. Sparks of light filled the air, and a pain tore through her, as if someone were tearing out her very essence. She tensed her entire body, as if she might hold her power inside, preventing it from escaping.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" she cried, with her head tilted back. Her body tensed further, highlighting the thin, taut muscles of her arms and legs, and the way the thin fabric of her costume clung to her subtle curves. She needed to fight it. To hold it in.
And then it stopped. With a bang, like the sound of a gunshot, the light disappeared from her necklace. At the same time, Sapphire Angel gave one final, prolonged moan, in tune with the final release. As her body trembled and went limp, she felt a void, like all of her power had deserted her. Gregor's rock flashed momentarily, and then it too went dark. He still held her, but now with just one arm. His grip, though, was more firm than before, as she sagged in his grasp. He lowered her to eye level, and used his free hand to pull her head close to his, so their foreheads touched.
"You're done, superheroine," he hissed before releasing her. She slid down his body to the floor, crumbling into a heap at his feet. She lay with one arm above her and one to the side, and one leg curled under her and one extended. Her blond mane covered her features as she moaned.
Through the haze in her mind, she knew he was right. Just as she had known something extraordinary had happened the day that she had gotten her powers, she knew those powers were gone. She still wore her necklace, but she was no longer a superheroine. She was just a costumed woman, powerless in the hands of her enemy.
Through her haze, she heard Devlin's voice.
"You couldn't leave it alone, could you?" Devlin screamed at her, his voice shaking in anger. "You destroyed the sale! And you killed him! You've ruined us!"
Sapphire Angel's eyes flickered open, and she looked up at the CEO, whose rage consumed his features. Valik lay behind him, his torso propped up against the generator-like device. His eyes were open but unseeing, and blood ran from his nose and eyes. Wisps of smoke drifted from the strange device on his head.
"You will pay!" Devlin screamed. He paced about as the occupants of the room remained silent. He hovered over Valik's body before whirling back toward her, his voice quieter but filled with venom.
"Gregor is going to hurt you. Bad. He's been waiting for this chance since your last escape. You will suffer for all you've done."
She was vaguely aware of the far door opening and footsteps getting closer. She raised her head and saw four guards approaching, looking like dark shadows coming from the Abyss. Her gaze turned to Gregor, who looked like Satan himself, starting at her with a malevolent grin, his eyes gleaming and the metal on his teeth glinting. He rubbed his hands together and licked his lips.
"She's all yours, Gregor," Devlin said, his voice trembling. "I'll be in the office, seeing if I can track down Nassar to salvage something. Enjoy your time with her. Make sure you hurt her, but don't break her, on the outside chance Nassar hasn't gotten too far away. See if she's really as tough as all the stories say."
"Bring her," Gregor said to the guards, his deep voice rumbling. The men stepped forward, seizing her arms by the wrists and hauling her to her feet. Hands roughly grabbed her arms and legs, lifting her so she dangled between the four guards, horizontal with her face down. They carried her toward the door, feet first.
She let out an unwanted whimper, before looking back at Devlin through the hair hanging in her face. Their eyes met, and she looked at him with pleading eyes. “No!” she called out, her voice trembling.
“Have fun… superheroine,” he said, mocking her with the last word before he gave a taunting wave.
The men carried her through the door, slamming it shut behind them.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
I’m just going to be hysterically crying whenever a major character dies, even the villains, no matter how bad they were. I’m THAT much of an empath. :P
.............I........how.........what........what in the name of Long John Silver’s fish sticks.......
How is it that, after almost three novels’ worth of Sapphire Angel’s adventures, I’m STILL not prepared for the major character death scenes?! I had a feeling that something was going to happen here, given how dangerous this whole “experiment” was stated to be, but.....well, crap. Calvin? Calvin! Calvin, where are you? Calvin, you’re now an orphan, my guy! Hope you enjoy living life on the streets! xD
Sure, this guy captured Sapphire with Mantis’s help, greatly humiliated her and experimented on her to no end without her consent, and put her through immeasurable pain AND helped strip Sapphire of her powers in his last moments, but like.....Roy Valik had a son. Wonder how he’s going to react when/if he gets word of Roy Valik’s death.....and that WarTech and Sapphire were all involved in it. It was darkly awesome how Sapphire survived the process and yet Valik didn’t; then again, at the start of the transfer, she was enhanced, whereas he was just a regular human. And......does GREGOR have Sapphire’s powers now? He did have the black rock around his neck and the essence was shown flowing from Sapphire’s necklace and into his..... “necklace”.
Crud. Mantis is tied up, Valik’s dead, Gregor MAY have Sapphire’s powers (not clear on that, though), Nassar’s who knows where, and Devlin’s about to contact him. Was Senator Socrates Chappelle just standing incredibly still during the whole thing? Like Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy? One bad guy’s down, but we paid a REALLY freaking heavy price for it, holy jalapeños.....
.......Maybe we’ll find out that Sapphire’s the only one who can wield the powers safely? Maybe Gregor won’t be able to handle it or something......guess we’ll see on that. If anyone can handle it, though......then it’s not looking good for her.
Again with Sapphire not even having to do anything extreme to the villains and them ending up taking themselves out.
Do Gregor next! Do Gregor next! 😄