We last read Chapter 47, in which the masked stranger’s interrogation of Sapphire Angel continues. Sapphire Angel resists, but eventually the woman forces her to admit her real name on camera.
This is the second story, so if you want to start from the very beginning, you can jump over to book 1, and begin with the Prologue of Sapphire Angel, Superheroine. Or to start at the beginning of book 2 (this story), click over to the Prologue of Power Play.
Thanks for reading!
*** Warning: Like last chapter, this chapter also contains violent content and interrogations that may be disturbing.*** I’ve struggled with how to handle such scenes in my writing, and want to be sensitive to those for whom, for understandable reasons, this could be a trigger. I’ve written previously about my thoughts as I try to figure out this issue. Admittedly, I’m still working through my feelings on this, and recognize I don’t have all the answers. Please read no further if these type of scenes could cause issues.
Raven Tristan couldn't believe it. She had forced Sapphire Angel to crumble before her and reveal perhaps her most precious secret. But it wasn't enough for Tristan.
"Louder!" the masked woman demanded. "I can't hear you."
"My name is Beth Harper," Sapphire Angel rasped, loud enough for the camera microphones.
"Now, confess it all, in one sentence. Both names. Reveal your identity in full for me."
Harper paused, but only for a moment. By now she had to anticipate the pain to come if she remained silent for too long.
"I'm... Beth Harper, and... I'm Sapphire Angel."
Tristan beamed from ear to ear under her mask. She had done it. She had broken Sapphire Angel.
"Good, Beth," Tristan replied, feeling odd addressing the woman in costume by that name. Now it was time to continue the interrogation, but also reinforce the girl's sense of safety, in whatever faraway place her brain occupied. Tristan moved through a series of mundane questions, which would be easy for the girl to answer truthfully. Sapphire Angel answered with no deception, so Tristan tested her.
"You don't like your Uncle Dave, do you?" Tristan asked. When hacking Beth's life, Tristan had discovered Beth's dislike for her opinionated uncle. Tristan stood ready with a syringe.
"That's not true," Sapphire Angel murmured, her eyes barely open. "I love my uncle."
Tristan injected the needle above the top of one of the girl's pristine white gloves, and watched as Sapphire Angel once again tensed, her face contorted in agony.
Tristan leaned in again. "Come to me," she whispered with urgency. "I can save you, but only with the truth. How do you feel about your uncle?"
"I tolerate him," Sapphire Angel murmured through a tightened jaw. "He's opinionated and rude, and I'd rather not have to deal with him."
Tristan turned the valves feeding the IV's, letting some relief float over the woman. The captive heroine let out a long sigh. By now she probably felt as if she were floating in some blurry world, drifting between fantasy and nightmare, pleasure and pain, truth and lies. The pleasure was always tied to the comfort of the female voice.
The battered woman's eyes had been open only a slit, but she closed them. "I just want to rest now. Please make it stop."
"The more you tell the truth, the faster I can rescue you from this," Tristan advised her. The goth woman reached over and brushed the heroine's hair back off of her forehead. With effort, Sapphire Angel's eyes opened, and Tristan saw the utter confusion in them.
Tristan stared into those blue eyes, knowing what she needed to learn next.
"So, why don't I recognize you to be Beth Harper, even when I know it to be true?" Tristan ran the handle of the rod up Sapphire Angel's thigh, careful not to touch her with the tip of the device. The heroine twitched at the first contact, before realizing there was no shock to accompany it.
Sapphire Angel locked her jaw and bit her lip, and remained silent. Tristan shook her head in annoyance. She moved the handle inch by inch, starting at the superheroine's knee, and moving up the curve of her thigh. Tristan moved at a snail's pace, giving the costumed woman's jumbled mind time to comprehend where the rod was headed, and the pain to come if she continued to resist.
Tristan paused when she reached the girl's skirt, noting with satisfaction the way her captive twitched as the handle stopped. Sapphire Angel's lips began to tremble, and a moment later the tremble had spread to her entire body.
"Please, no..." Sapphire Angel murmured, her voice cracking. Sapphire Angel bit her lip and held her eyes closed.
"Tell me why," Tristan insisted, an icy edge to her voice.
"No," Sapphire Angel responded flatly, and clenched her eyes shut. Tristan couldn't believe it. The girl had somehow come back from the edge and was resisting again, faced with the unimaginable. With a grimace, Tristan spun the rod around and jammed the metal end into the girl, in her upper thigh. Sapphire Angel's body convulsed, and her mouth hung open. Tristan did not relent, assaulting the superheroine as Sapphire Angel thrashed in agony. Her horrific screams followed, echoing throughout the garage.
When Tristan finally stopped, Sapphire Angel's body collapsed, like she was trying to sink back through the hood of the car. She seemed to retreat inwardly, biting her lip and clenching her face. "Oh, God..." she moaned softly. Her face was contorted in a mask of pain.
Tristan studied her and frowned, wondering if she had gone too far. She couldn't lose her now. Tristan needed to bring the shellshocked woman back from the depths of horror. She grabbed a syringe from the table, and using both hands, firmly guided the needle past Sapphire Angel's defenses and into her arm. A brief and soft feminine chirp escaped the heroine's throat, and her eyes drooped. A contented sigh followed.
Tristan watched as a chemically induced dose of comfort and pleasure flowed through the girl. But Tristan was still worried about her captive. The brutal interrogator had never had to go so far in an inquisition and had never pumped someone so full of so many drugs. She needed to be careful.
She reached to Sapphire Angel's hair and stroked it. Sapphire Angel's eyes flickered open a sliver.
"Now, that feels good, doesn't it? Tell me why I can't recognize that you're Beth Harper."
The heroine looked at Tristan through weary eyes, before Tristan held the rod in front of the girl's face. Sapphire Angel's shoulders slumped.
"I... my things protect my identity."
"How?" Tristan asked, continuing to hold the rod up so Sapphire Angel could see it through the slits of her eyes. "I need to see it for myself."
Sapphire Angel closed her barely open eyes, before she bit her lip and turned her head to the side. Unbelievable. She still somehow resisted. Tristan jolted her with one rod between her legs, and one into the bare skin of her neck. The stunned superheroine's scream hurt Tristan's ears, before the costumed beauty blurted out the answer.
"My necklace. My necklace prevents people from recognizing me."
"How?"
"I don't know," she said, the words flowing. "I think it plays on the mind. Even people close to me don't realize who I am."
Excitement rushed through Tristan, and she dropped the rods to the ground. She reached behind Sapphire Angel's neck, searching for the clasp. The beautiful woman's soft blond hair grazed Tristan's wrists as she fumbled for the release.
"Please... stop... Not that..." the superheroine whimpered, in a voice more helpless and desperate than Tristan had believed possible.
Tristan found the sturdy clasp and after several seconds of fumbling with the difficult mechanism, she unfastened it, sliding the piece of jewelry from around her captive's neck. A barely audible gasp and cry come from Sapphire Angel's lips as it slid free, and a small, short burst of blue light shot from the necklace. Sapphire Angel sagged even further against the car.
Tristan's jaw dropped and her smile grew wider. "I see." Harper's identity was now laid bare. Or at least partially laid bare. Part of Harper still resembled Sapphire Angel, and Tristan would have still seen her as Sapphire Angel if she hadn't known otherwise. But Tristan recognized her now.
She also saw how the blond girl, even in her confused state, was suddenly terrified. Tristan knew then she had unlocked the superheroine's deepest secret. The diminished stature of the girl told Tristan that Sapphire Angel got more than just a secret identity from the necklace. She also got her powers from it. Tristan had her. Completely.
This is the second story, so if you want to start from the very beginning, you can jump over to book 1, and begin with the Prologue of Sapphire Angel, Superheroine. Or to start at the beginning of book 2 (this story), click over to the Prologue of Power Play.
Thanks for reading!
I appreciate any comments or email.
This was actuaIIy VERY weII written, hoIy crud......Raven actuaIIy did. She freaking DID it. HopefuIIy she doesnt get mind-wiped or something Iike that; anything that undoes her progress compIeteIy. Dont spoiI me, though!
AIso, that part at the end where it says Raven got the powers from Sapphire AngeI.....I dunno why, but the first thing it reminded me of was a possibIe Spider-Man/Venom-type dynamic. A viIIain who possesses the exact same skiIIset and rough Iook of the hero, but uses their power for eviI.
Then again, I couId be compIeteIy wrong about this. You're probabIy Iooking at this right now and going, Iike.....Hahaha, that isn't how this goes.
Oh, weII. Time to read on!
Brutal. Chilling. If this was a movie I’d be watching through a half closed eye.