Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
VIOLENCE WARNING: The two stories in the Savage Gang saga, and especially the second story, involve a gang practicing extreme violence toward everyone — women, the elderly, the protagonist, etc. The stories contain mature sexual content and violence as well. I am placing this warning on all chapters, including those without such violence, so you can choose whether to continue.
CHAPTER 20
A wide expanse of brown grass stretched before Sapphire Angel as she perched on a branch among a thicket of trees at Chase Bentley’s mansion. The actor’s home was a majestic two-story brick structure of almost 7000 square feet, rectangular and covered with large windows. From her position forty yards from the side of the building, she had a view of a large flagstone patio in the rear, and four massive pillars on the expansive front porch. Elaborate landscaping, including evergreen shrubs and trees, started at the edge of the open grass area and gave the place an open but secluded feeling, without obstructing her view.
The wall to the actor’s compound loomed behind her. She had scaled it without difficulty, after locating the perimeter’s security sensors with one of Stanley’s gadgets. The ease with which she had penetrated the perimeter was both good and bad. Good, because it allowed her to approach the mansion undetected. Bad, because the Savage Gang could do the same.
Despite the size of the place, there were only three entrances to the mansion — a front door, a set of double doors off of the large rear patio, and a garage in the rear, at the bottom of a paved slope leading to the basement. Sapphire Angel didn’t care about the windows, as sneaking in through a window wasn’t the gang’s style. They would barge in through one of the three entrances, using shock and awe to seize the element of surprise.
Stanley’s tiny cameras monitored each entrance, pointing both toward and away from the home. After placing the cameras, she had crept to her current nest on a thick branch, sitting with her back to the trunk of the tree. Finding a suitable position in the trees hadn’t been easy, as a snow and ice storm a few weeks earlier had decimated the growth, snapping off tree limbs and thinning the vegetation.
Two hours had crawled by as she surveilled the home, staring at the screen in her hand. A cool breeze came off the river, gently tossing her blond hair about her shoulders and causing the evergreen branches to sway above her. The light from the moon was bright, twinkling off the smooth fabric of her costume. The trees, though, would hide her from all but the most discerning eyes.
She was getting bored, twirling the end of her hair with a gloved hand as she focused on the screen. Perhaps the gang wouldn’t come tonight, but her instincts told her otherwise. The gang’s typical method of operation was to start its activities in a city with a flurry of high-profile crimes. This served to intimidate not just the public, but the local police.
From her perch in the tree, she looked to her right, to the glow of the downtown a few miles away. Conner might be there right now, as he had pleaded with her to join him for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants. Another argument ensued when she told him of her plans for the night.
Sapphire Angel glanced down at the monitor in her hand and muttered under her breath at her lack of focus. The screen depicted four men trudging across the lawn, approaching the rear patio. They wore the typical garb of the Savage Gang — rubber masks starting at their noses and extending over the top of their heads, making them almost look like gargoyles. They also wore black pants and shirts, with body armor strapped on in various places.
Two of the men carried a large log, while the other two gangsters trailed behind them. The log, or perhaps it was a massive tree limb, must have fallen from one of the large trees on the property during the recent storm. The chunk of timber was huge, longer than a four-door sedan and almost twice as thick as a fire hydrant. Sapphire Angel frowned as she leapt down from her perch, landing in the grass below. She took a step forward, but spun when she heard a rustle behind her.
Two rabbits darted from the vegetation and disappeared under some bushes. She exhaled before turning and sprinting toward the rear of the building. She set her jaw in determination as she covered the ground with the speed of a world-champion sprinter. If these thugs thought they could have their way in her city, they were wrong.
As Sapphire Angel approached the rear of the mansion, she heard voices, so she slowed and crept up behind a row of shrubs. The heroine peeked around the last bush, holding her hair back with a gloved hand as she tilted her head.
There they were. Two goons stood about ten yards away, their backs to her as they held the massive piece of wood between them and approached the house. The men, huge and muscular, hefted it like a makeshift battering ram and eyed the patio door. The other two men crouched before the door, peering through the glass. One man by the door was bigger even than his enormous gang mates.
Sapphire Angel scanned the area, committing it to memory, before flexing her legs and leaping, flying over the shrubbery in a powerful bound. Her boots clicked down on the patio, behind the men holding the log. The two men whirled, repositioning their hold on their makeshift ram so they could face her without dropping it. Behind them, the men at the door jumped to a standing position.
"Shit! Sapphire Angel!" exclaimed the closest man, his eyes wide. The man behind him, at the other end of the log, stood frozen with his jaw agape. The men by the door stared at her, their eyes wide with awe.
"It all ends here, boys," Sapphire Angel said as she stood before them, hands on her hips and her legs spread. She considered going on the offensive, but the men’s delayed reaction gave her pause. Perhaps they wouldn’t all join the fight, making this encounter easier.
The superheroine was aware of the men's eyes traveling up her lithe body. They said nothing, eyes wide as if dazed by her beauty, or by the way the breeze teased her hair against her shoulders, or how the light glimmered off her costume, gloves, and blond mane. She was the vision of an angel, come to earth, and she dazzled even these hardened members of the famed Savage Gang.
After several moments, the closest man came out of his revelry. “Bug out Sapphire Angel, before we crush you,” he said with a lust-filled leer.
"Yea," the man at the other end of the log said. “This ain’t your business.”
Sapphire Angel gave a girlish laugh. “I'm afraid I can't do that. You made this my business. It’s time for you to join your friends in lockup. Drop the log and get down on the ground.”
The closest man glanced behind him at the man holding the far end of the log.
"If you say so," he said, turning back to face Sapphire Angel.
The two men crouched to lower the massive chunk of wood to the ground, but an instant later sprang from their squats and heaved the log forward, hurling it toward the petite woman like a massive, blunt spear. They followed it, charging behind the projectile toward the heroine.
As the log approached, Sapphire Angel extended both arms, grimacing as she caught the end of the massive limb. She stumbled back a step, but stopped its forward momentum before it reached her chest. A moment later, and without allowing it to dip toward the ground, she reversed its direction, rocking forward and heaving the heavy log toward the two charging men. The huge piece of wood obliterated the first gangster, plowing through him, before smashing into the trailing man like a car hitting a pedestrian. Both men tumbled to the ground, flattened and knocked out by the massive log, which thudded to the ground, and came to a stop a few feet away.
Another gangster, the biggest of them all, approached from his spot near the patio door, speeding toward her. She leapt and whirled toward him, lashing out with a kick and striking his chest with a resounding crack as his body armor split. The armor still gave him some protection, though, and a blow which would have disabled any normal opponent only sent him staggering back several feet.
Sapphire Angel caught movement out of the corner of her eye, turning as the fourth criminal leapt at her from a perch atop the patio table. She sidestepped his attack, grabbing his outstretched arm and pivoting, using all her strength to propel him like a missile into the brick patio wall ten feet away. The resulting impact might have killed a lesser opponent, and was enough to send him to the ground, unmoving.
The big man had recovered, though, and she was too late to parry as he landed a crushing uppercut to the bottom of her rib cage, lifting the small superheroine a few inches off of the ground. She gasped in pain and disbelief, feeling the blow even through her necklace’s protection. It was one of the hardest punches she had ever received.
As she teetered back, he was on her, snapping a second devastating punch to the side of her face, spinning her in a complete circle as her short skirt flittered about her hips. Before she could recover, the brute landed a haymaker to her chin, sending her stumbling back as she pawed at the air for balance. He lunged at her, aiming for a tackle, but even with her world swaying around her, she sidestepped him. As he stumbled past, trying to regain his balance, she twirled with an elbow, catching him on the body armor covering his stomach, below the portion she had cracked earlier.
He grunted, and she followed with a flurry of kicks and punches, not letting him go on the offensive. With each blow she grew steadier, increasing her speed to a pace he couldn't match. But still he didn't go down. What was this monster made of? Finally he stumbled after taking a jab to the jaw, and she hopped on one leg, snapping her opposite foot into his face. As his arms fell to his side, she landed a crushing uppercut under his jaw, flipping him to the ground. He groaned but didn’t move.
Sapphire Angel sucked in air and looked from one man to another, tallying four fallen gang members. She stood with one hand on a cocked hip, and forcing herself to ignore the ache in her ribs and the throb in the side of her face.
"Your criminal careers are over, I'm afraid," she said.
"No, your superhero career is over, Sapphire Angel!" a voice from behind exclaimed. Sapphire Angel spun to see two new gang members standing just off the patio, with strange rifle-like weapons in their hands. Black tubes connected the weapons to backpacks each man wore.
The two gangsters squeezed the triggers on their weapons, and massive plumes of flame roared toward the heroine, scorching the air with intense heat. Sapphire Angel flipped backward in a reverse handspring, just before blistering tongues of fire reached her face. She didn't know if her powers would protect her from the flames, but she didn't want to find out.
She landed in a crouch next to one of the fallen gang members and took two fistfuls of his shirt, flinging him forward. The unconscious man cartwheeled through the air and crashed into the ankles of the attacker on the right, upending him. Sapphire Angel dipped her shoulder and tumbled to her left, avoiding another burst of flames from the other attacker. As she came out of her tumble, she swept her hand past her right boot, and in one motion grabbed a small cylinder and flicked her wrist toward the man. A thin cable shot from the cylinder, lashing around his wrist. A flash of light and a sizzling zap filled the air before the man cried out and dropped the weapon. It fell from his hands, dangling from the tube attached to his backpack.
As he fell to his knees and her cable snapped back into her cylinder, Sapphire Angel leapt at him. She drilled him in the jaw, and at the same time lashed back with a kick to the face of the other attacker, who had climbed to his feet and was trying to recover his fire-breathing weapon. The attacks flipped each man onto his back, a few feet from the other. The man on her right didn’t move, but the other gangster tried to crawl away, scrambling backward with his arms and legs underneath him. Sapphire Angel jumped and landed astride him, straddling his body before she took a handful of his shirt and punched him three times in the exposed part of his face. His eyes went blank, and the costumed beauty lowered him to the ground.
Sapphire Angel gasped for air again, surveying the fallen men. She had done it. They were down. But she realized she had been fortunate in this battle. The enormous log had turned out to be a blessing in disguise, helping her take out two of the formidable foes in one stroke. And the flamethrowers, while dangerous, had kept two of the men out of the fight until the end, as they couldn't use the weapons around their comrades. The brick wall and the electrical charge from her cylinder had also sent two other men down quickly.
Would they have been as tough as the biggest gangster if they had stayed in the fight longer? Or would they have been closer in ability to the men with the flamethrowers? At least she had learned all the gang members weren't of equal strength and fighting ability. And she had learned she couldn’t squander the element of surprise. Her delay had almost cost her.
As the superheroine surveyed the fallen men, police sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer. She darted from man to man, binding them with thick flex cuffs and searching them for clues. They carried no supplies or other items, but something caught her eye as she searched the last man — a small puddle of water at his feet. It was faint, and she almost missed it.
Sapphire Angel tugged on the fingers of one glove and slid it from her hand. Reaching down, she touched her bare fingers to the leather of the man’s black boots, just below a label touting the boots’ waterproof properties. The leather on the lower third of the boot wasn’t saturated, but wasn’t dry, either. It felt barely damp, like a waterproof fabric still carrying a film of moisture. The top two-thirds of the boot was bone dry, as were his pant legs. His other boot was identical to the first.
She pursed her lips, curious, and darted to another man. His boots were also damp in the same area, and his pants were dry. A quick check of the other men revealed the same condition.
Sapphire Angel stood, tapping her lips in thought. It wasn’t much, but it was a clue. For now, though, the sirens were getting closer, so it was time to leave. With one last look at the fallen men, she pulled on her glove, before turning and darting toward the cover of the trees.
Forward to Chapter 21 (link works after Chapter 21 goes live)
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
That was a really good chapter. I thought the Savage Gang was going to be ready this time, and Sapphire Angel was going to be in trouble. True, they got in some good shots, but she is really coming into her own now. Much more of a force now than at the beginning. I like that she is increasing her weapons, that was a nice touch. She will need what she can get, as I think Maximus will have had about enough once he hears about this. He is down 10 men. and possibly 11 when he deals with Lynch.
I am still intrigued by Olivia and her storyline, but really looking forward to the coming action when Sapphire Angel will face a furious Savage Gang that really cannot afford any more loses. It seems she may have to worry about the police as well, I am not sure how they would react if she was still on scene when she defeated part of the gang.
This story has so much many ways it can go, looking forward to the next chapter!!
Wonderful, wonderful! Yet another win under our belts, AND another clue as to how the Savage Gang operates! Let’s get the positives out of the way first. Starting off, I can literally never get enough of the action sequences. Just like other superhero stories and movies nowadays, you always seem to strike a good balance between normal character interaction and intense combat scenes. Secondly, once again, Sapphire comes out on top.....though I will admit that it was a somewhat closer fight than last time; I definitely didn’t see those last two grunts with the flamethrowers coming. Guess that was the “surprise” Lynch mentioned before. Thank goodness they were at least somewhat careful, otherwise they could’ve set the whole mansion on fire. ......I don’t know whether that would’ve made the sequence better or worse, actually. A scramble to save Bentley from the fire would’ve been utterly nail-biting..... Thirdly, we saved Chase Bentley---at least for the moment---but the man himself didn’t actually show up. I’ll be honest, after the reveal that Howard Vincent was with the Savage Gang, I fully expected Chase Bentley to be on their side too, and that this entire hit was staged. I feel like I can’t trust anyone who isn’t Beth/Sapphire, Conner, Ethan, or Stanley. And Mrs. Devor, I guess, but I can’t imagine her as a major character in a lot of ways.
I’m worried about how this will go long-term, though.....for one thing, there’s Maximus Savage’s reaction. He’s going to completely blow up at either Lynch, Sapphire, or both, unless Benjamin and Larry can hop him up on more substances to get him to calm down. I’m also concerned about how Sapphire blowing off Conner once more---specifically for that dinner---will affect their relationship. A lot of people have patience, but everyone’s got a limit, too. Olivia Lockheed could also get wind of this and take it as yet another instance where Sapphire upstaged her, thus giving Olivia more motivation to one-up her and potentially promoting her to a secondary threat, as if Olivia weren’t one already.
The puddle of water was interesting.....I would say that it has some relevance to the butt drug Savage has, but it doesn’t seem to be quite the same thing. Then again, they were wielding flamethrowers.....maybe I’m actually overthinking it and they just had an emergency water supply somewhere on their person just in case they accidentally set anything ELSE on fire besides Sapphire.
Sapphire Angel = Victorious. Chase Bentley’s hit = Failed. Maximus Savage = Likely To Explode. Olivia Lockheed = ......Also Likely To Explode (not as much, though). Rocco Lynch = Probably Dead.
I swear, Sapphire Angel could just focus on stopping the Savage Gang’s hits as they come without even bothering to deal with their leadership. Knowing Maximus Savage’s temperament, he’d likely end up killing every single one of his minions for their failures himself without Sapphire even needing to DO anything. And then he’d kill himself ‘cause then he’d be completely harmless and with no one to do the dirty work for him.
I bet that segment with the huge tree limb/branch would’ve looked hilarious in an animated format......I just imagined the Wilhelm Scream playing while the grunts got knocked back. xD