We last read Chapter 72, in which Conner sees the rocket blast Sapphire Angel from the sky, sending her careening into the lake. He dives into the water and pulls her to the shore. He gets ready to resuscitate her, wondering if she is dead, when she coughs up water and opens her eyes. Meanwhile, Wheldon announces that the laser has almost breached the nuclear containment building.
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!
Sapphire Angel stared up at Conner Bennett, perplexed. How was he here? And what was she doing laying on the forest floor? Her eyes flew wide as memories rushed back to her.
"The tower!" she exclaimed and started to sit up. She only made it part way before she groaned and grabbed at her chest. She flopped onto her back. "Oh, my..." she murmured.
"Not so fast," Conner said. "I don't even know how you're still alive. The laws of physics say you should be in about a hundred different pieces right now. You're not, and your outfit isn't even damaged!"
Sapphire Angel grimaced. "I definitely felt that one. But I'll be okay."
"Are you sure?"
"I... I just need some time."
"Sit tight. I'll do what I can." Conner leapt to his feet.
"Wait!" Sapphire Angel called out, but Conner was already sprinting out of the woods toward the tower.
With a groan, the battered heroine climbed to her knees, supporting herself with her hands. She winced as pain shot outward from her chest through her shoulders and arms. This was worse than she thought. She crawled forward, each motion sending stabbing pain through her chest and arms. Sapphire Angel refused to stop, inching to the edge of the forest. She pushed her wet hair aside to see Conner use the stun gun to take down a guard at the base of the stairs. He started climbing the winding steps.
She had to go after him, but could she? Sapphire Angel was a shell of her normal self after a week from hell. She had been zapped by stun sticks. Tortured by Tristan. Electrocuted by the metal plate in Tristan's apartment. Crashed down stairs. Tumbled into a ravine. And now the explosion, and her near drowning. Perhaps any of those events alone wouldn't still be affecting her, but the cumulative effect was almost too much.
Even in her current state, though, she stood a better chance than Conner. She forced herself to her feet, leaning against a tree for support. She reached a hand up to the middle of her chest, wincing as she touched where the missile had struck her. The pain was still horrific, but already improving. Her arms ached but were usable.
The heroine forced herself forward, hurting and soaking wet, but gaining more confidence and stability as the tower grew closer. Sapphire Angel reached the stairs and paused, balling her fists at her side. She could do this. She had to. Conner was up there, putting his life in danger, with no superpowers to assist him, and Wheldon's laser was boring into the containment building at the nuclear plant. She blocked the pain from her mind and started the climb.
Each step up the stairs sent a clenching pain across her chest. She tried not to swing her arms, which caused her shoulders to throb. It wasn't as bad as when she had first awoken, but it would take some time for it to even be bearable. If it hadn't been for the healing power of her necklace, she wouldn't even be walking.
The stairs seemed to wind endlessly around the tower. If she had been in top form, she could have taken them four or five at a time. Now, though, with each step it felt as if someone was stabbing icepicks into her chest and arms. She plodded on, going around and around the structure, her face a mask of determination.
She lost count of the number of rotations, but when she looked up, she was one loop below the doorway. As she took another step, she heard a gunshot. Conner. The icy grip of dread rose in her heart.
Sapphire Angel forgot the pain and jogged up the stairwell. As she rounded a curve, the doorway was ahead of her, with a landing before it. Loud voices came from within the tower.
She leapt over the final steps, landing just outside the doorway. The impact made her grimace, but she pushed the pain aside and quickly scanned the interior of the tower.
Sapphire Angel saw the laser first. It was a huge device, dominating the room, and affixed to a metal platform. A cylinder extended from its center to the narrow opening near the doorway. The ceiling extended upward beyond its normal height, on some sort of hydraulic lift. Conner stood to her left, a quarter of the way around the circular room. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw him. He leaned against the wall, clutching his left shoulder, and his shirt was soaked in blood. His gun lay on the floor.
To her right, a quarter of the way around the room, lurked Wheldon and his bodyguard, Rockford. Mark Bishop stood beyond them, with his back partially turned to them. He had a gun pointed to the head of a man seated in front of a computer. The man's hands were raised above his head. The computer rested on a folding table, and a telephone hung on the wall above the table. She recognized the man at the computer instantly, even from behind. Bud Tanner. A wiry man with unkempt hair sat next to Tanner, his eyes darting between Tanner and Bishop.
Rockford whirled toward her first, followed by Wheldon. Bishop turned enough to see her, but kept the gun trained on Tanner.
"How the hell are you still alive?" Wheldon asked, his eyes traveling over her body, and the soaked costume which clung to her curves.
She ignored his question and pointed at the laser. "Turn that thing off. It's over."
Wheldon laughed. "It will be over soon, Sapphire Angel, but not how you want it to end. You're too late."
"There's an abort button on the screen to stop it!" Tanner yelled. Bishop smashed the butt of the gun into the back of Tanner's head, toppling him to the floor. He lay still. The man next to Tanner slid the empty chair away as his mouth hung open in shock.
"You bastard!" Sapphire Angel exclaimed, before wincing and grabbing at her chest.
A look of recognition came over Wheldon's face, followed by a large grin. "So you're not indestructible, are you?" He looked over at his bodyguard. "Rockford, it seems our little superheroine isn't at the top of her game today. I think it's time for you to take her out of the game, once and for all."
Rockford glowered at her and tensed his rippling muscles as he stepped forward. He started in a slow walk, before sprinting at her. She waited, ready to spring. As he got close, he reared back and swung his fist. She sidestepped, just as he pulled the punch and lashed up with his other fist.
Her injuries slowed her reactions, but she twisted away as the fist whistled past her jaw. She seized his shoulder, flinging him toward the door. Rockford shot through the air, slamming into the doorframe. She was on him a moment later, lashing up with a knee to his midsection, and a punch to his jaw. Rockford grunted, but Sapphire Angel winced with the effort, as pain stabbed her in the chest and arms.
At full strength, her blows would have sent the man to the floor, and ended the fight. As it was, the punch sent him stumbling to the side. She pressed the advantage, coming in with two more blows to the head, keeping him off balance. Those blows should have had him down for the count, but he stayed on his feet, raising his fists as he stumbled back.
As Sapphire Angel tensed to spring at him, someone crashed into her from behind. Wheldon. He hit her and careened off, but it was enough to send her stumbling toward Rockford, who slammed a roundhouse into her face, sending her spinning back toward Wheldon with a yelp. He swung with a backhand, smacking her face.
She whirled sideways into another punch. This one was from Bishop, who had rushed forward to join the fray.
Wheldon's punch sent her careening like a pinball back toward Rockford, who drilled another punch into her cheek, driving her to the floor as she cried out. She hit the floor and tumbled away, catching sight of Conner out of the corner of her eye. He had slid to the floor, his face twisted in agony. Anger flared in her, and as Rockford rushed toward her, she pushed herself from the floor, using her arms as a springboard and launching toward him, feet first. She nearly howled in pain from the effort, but the bodyguard wasn't expecting her quick recovery, and her heels drilled into his chest, sending him crashing into the housing of the laser.
The battered heroine landed on one knee and saw Wheldon and Bishop coming from opposite sides. She rose, pivoted, and grabbed the outstretched arm of Wheldon, who got there first. She whirled him around her, launching him like she was throwing a shotput. He slammed into Bishop and both men crashed to the floor. As they landed, she kicked out, catching Rockford in the gut as he charged her.
He wheezed, and she continued her attack, spinning with another kick, before sending two jabs into his face. He fell back, stumbling to the ground. She should have pressed the attack, but her battered body refused. She paused, sucking in air and wincing.
Her blows were doing damage to the large man, but she was paying a price with each punch and kick she delivered. Pain coursed through her body, sapping her strength. Wheldon and Bishop lay on the floor, slow to rise, but Rockford still loomed as a threat.
She had to press on. With a cry, she leapt forward, pulling her arm back in a punch. Pain gripped the muscles across her chest and forearms, slowing the motion. Before she could bring the punch forward, Rockford seized his chance, lashing forward with a swinging right fist, smashing into the side of her jaw. The loud smack of the blow filled the tower, followed almost instantly by her yelp. The blow plucked her out of the air like the rocket had, sending her spinning backward like a top. After hitting the ground, she continued to spin until she came to a stop in a half-sitting position, with her backside on the ground, arms out supporting her from behind, and her knees bent in front of her.
Her mouth was open, but no sound came out, as her brain fought a battle with the pain wracking her body. She looked blankly ahead and tried to process what was happening to her. As she raised her eyes to Rockford, his boot connected with her face, slamming her onto her back and bouncing her head off the metal floor.
"Unnnh..." she groaned, as she pawed at the floor and stared up at the ceiling.
Rockford pressed the attack, stomping his foot down onto her unprotected stomach.
"Oooomph!" she cried as his foot crushed home, sending her shoulders and legs flexing upward. He repeated the crushing blow twice more, and each time she flopped up and back down.
On his third attempt, her arms shot up, fueled by superhuman determination, and seized his foot, stopping it in place like a bug hitting a wall. She gave a violent twist and sent Rockford tumbling to the ground, howling in pain. As he fell, she rolled toward him, each roll shooting pain through her chest and arms. On the third roll she reached him, and smashed a fist into his jaw.
The blow dazed Rockford and bought her enough time to wobble to her feet. Rockford was trying to rise, too, but she beat him to it. She lashed out with a kick at his midsection, doubling him over, and followed through with an uppercut to his jaw. At full strength, the blow would have sent him clear across the room. In her weakened condition, though, it only drove the huge man back a few feet. Worse, the effort sent pain exploding across her chest.
As the pain hit, dizziness washed over her, and she stumbled. While she wobbled, Rockford charged, his shoulder lowered. She crouched to spring away, but was too slow, and the brute crashed into her, enveloping her and driving her back into the wall.
"Ggggnnnh!" she gurgled as air shot from her lungs. As she hung sandwiched between Rockford's body and the wall, Rockford came up with a knee, driving it into her stomach. She couldn't cry out, instead wheezing to catch her breath. He followed with three more knees into her stomach, each blow sapping her strength and wiping out her ability to resist. By the fourth blow, she hung against the wall, her eyes blank and her arms limp, sickly rasps coming from her throat. He stepped back and allowed her to slide down the wall to the floor, where she sat with her back against the wall, her skirt bunched up around her.
With her arms slack at her sides, she looked up in utter disbelief, her eyes glassy. She could take him with ease under normal circumstances. But these weren't normal circumstances, and he was beating her. When she looked up at him through her cloudy eyes, she saw the stare of a predator. Rockford remained silent, but his eyes shone with malice and anticipation. He was ready to finish her and she couldn't stop him.
He reared back and swung a finishing blow toward the center of her face. It should have been the end, but Sapphire Angel willed herself to move, ducking her head to the side just before the punch hit home. Rockford's fist slammed into the wall behind her. When he recoiled in pain she lunged forward, slamming into his knees and driving him to the ground.
She ended up on top of the larger man, swinging down with one punch and then another, connecting with his face. They stunned him, but as she reared back for a third punch, he rolled over, flipping her onto her back. He straddled her, glaring down at her as she lay under him, her hair fanned about her head. Now it was his turn, and he unleashed a flurry of punches at the heroine, smashing them into her face. By the fourth one, she lay dazed and unmoving.
He grunted as he rose to a crouch, before bending down with both hands, grabbing her costume in front of the shoulders, and hoisting her off her feet. He whipped her back, slamming her into the wall of the tower. She cried out as her senses short-circuited.
He released his hold, and Sapphire Angel dropped to her feet. Her knees buckled, but he grabbed a fistful of her costume below her neck, holding her steady. With his other hand, he drove a fist into her face, whipping her head back into the wall. He sent five more jabs in rapid succession, before seizing a handful of her blond hair. Her eyes glazed over.
"Finish her!" she heard Wheldon snarl. It was a distant voice, like she was on the outside looking in. "It's time to end Sapphire Angel!"
Rockford's hold on her hair was the only thing keeping Sapphire Angel upright. The muscled man drilled her in the face one more time before changing his hold, wrapping both hands around her throat. He lifted her off her feet, pushed her back against the wall, and squeezed. His superior height left her pinned against the wall, her legs dangling several inches off the ground. Those legs kicked slowly to and fro, as if she were taking a casual swim in a pool. She grabbed at his arms, trying to pull them away. In her normal condition, she could have done so with a fraction of her strength. But now she failed to break his hold. Her eyes bulged out, and she wheezed as she tried to purchase even a single breath.
She became frantic, clawing at his arms and his face, her eyes wide as she fought for air. Her legs continued to thrash, banging against the wall and kicking into Rockford, but they were frail, slow kicks. Her arms grabbed his wrists, fell away, and grabbed again. She was just too weak. She couldn't break his hold, and he continued to choke the life from her. Her arms dropped to her side one final time, her legs slowed, and her eyes started to go dark.
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.
Dang.....this Iegit feIt Iike I was watching a MarveI movie or something. She had the upper hand there for quite a whiIe, but I guess the bad guys came back. Rockford sure got his revenge for Iast time, that's for sure. And someone's gotta attend to Conner soon, or eIse he couId.....
This might be THE darkest hour yet, even beating out the grenade Iauncher scene.
2 (or 3) chapters Ieft! That Iaser's gonna breach the buiIding if we spend any more time on these men!
Is the joke gonna be that the Iaser is on the verge of causing the Ieak, and then it suddenIy stops, with Raven casuaIIy waIking into the controI room and saying she just hacked it?
We're in the home stretch! LET'S GO!