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 34
Ethan was almost to his car, which he had parked at the curb down the street from Beth’s townhome, when a voice came from behind him.
“Hey, Ethan,” a man’s voice called out.
Ethan turned to see Conner stepping away from his own vehicle, parked two spots in front of Ethan’s car. Ethan gave a nod but said nothing.
“How can we stop her?” Conner asked as he approached.
Ethan took a long breath before speaking.
“We can’t stop her, Conner. That’s who she is. She won’t give up on this, if there’s any chance she can help.”
Conner sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “But why?” he asked. “Why does she feel the need to help everyone? Why can’t she take care of herself for once?”
“Get in and let’s talk,” Ethan said, walking around the front of his car and moving to the driver’s door, before opening it and climbing into the driver’s seat. He waited for Conner to step to the passenger door and get into the vehicle. Once Conner was seated, Ethan continued.
“Conner, I’ve thought about this a lot. I’ve known Beth for a few years, going back to when she first met John, so maybe I have some insight on things.”
“Please shed some light on it.”
Ethan bit his lip, gathering his thoughts. He needed to decide how much to reveal to Conner. It might get weird if Conner realized how much Ethan thought about Beth.
“This might be an oversimplification,” he began. “Because that’s how I like to break things down. But I think a combination of three things has made Beth who she is today, and has made her Sapphire Angel. And I’m not talking about any powers or a necklace. I’m talking about why she is… heroic. Why she goes out and helps people. Not only helps, but takes it to the extreme.”
Ethan paused, reached down to the cup holder in his car for a bottle of water, and took a few gulps.
“Beth has more empathy than anyone I’ve ever known,” he continued. “And whoever is in second place is not even close. You already know that. She just feels. I don’t know how else to say it. That’s part of the reason she can be a little emotional. She feels what those around her feel.”
“Like sympathy,” Conner said.
“No,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “Sympathy differs from empathy. I’ve thought about that, too, as I’ve tried to figure her out. One problem in today’s world is that many people feel sympathy for others — they feel sorry for them. But they don’t feel empathy. They see a suffering person as someone else. Someone whose shoes they’d never be in, because that person must have done something wrong to be in that situation. Like thinking a poor person is lazy. So they can’t imagine having that happen to themselves. But Beth feels the pain of others, almost like she’s living it, too. If everyone could put themselves in other people’s shoes, like she does, maybe the world would be a better place.”
“Hmm,” Conner murmured. “You have thought about this a bit, haven’t you?”
Ethan nodded, but said nothing. He had analyzed Beth, trying to sort out his own feelings for her. Feelings he had decided he needed to repress.
Conner furrowed his face in thought, and after a few moments, he spoke.
“It makes sense. I’ve seen the look of pain on her face watching the evening news, and seeing stories about homeless people, or migrants in other countries leaving their homes to flee war or famine. Stuff like that. You’d think Beth was right there with them.”
“Exactly.”
“Keep going. You said there were three things that made her who she is.” Conner said. “What are the other two?”
“An obvious one is John’s death," Ethan replied. "While she doesn’t blame herself like she did in the beginning, there’s still an element inside her somewhere, where she thinks if she had embraced her powers sooner, he might still be here today.”
“I’ve sensed that, too.”
“Yeah. But I think she’s mostly forgiven herself, so that’s the least of the three factors. The final one is just her position in life. She’s always been the beautiful girl with the sweet personality, whom everyone falls in love with the moment they meet her. She doesn’t have a conceited bone in her body, but she knows how people view her, and I’m sure she senses the effect she has on people. Not just with her looks, but with that sweet personality, and with how she approaches life with an almost childlike wonder. As you know, everyone — men and women — adores her within minutes of meeting her.”
“I’m not sure I follow what that has to do with why she’s Sapphire Angel,” Conner said.
“She told me once she feels like some people put her on a pedestal. Wouldn’t you feel that way, if you sensed how everyone viewed you? But think of the pressure that must carry with it. She opened up to me once and admitted she realizes how people view her, and she said she doesn’t deserve the adulation. I think it’s been a curse for her. She feels like she has something to live up to. What if being Sapphire Angel is her chance to live up to how everyone already views her?”
“I take back what I said. You haven’t thought about this just a little, have you? You’ve thought of this a lot.”
More than you’ll ever know, Ethan thought. “Uh, a bit, yeah,” he said instead. “The bottom line is that this — helping others — is now so interwoven into who she is, nothing we say is going to stop her. We can only support her.”
“I don’t know if I can stand by while she does this, Ethan. She may seem all-powerful, but she’s going to get herself hurt. Or worse.”
“I get it, Conner. I really do. Just think about what I said, okay? She’s a special girl, and you two are good together. And you make her happy.” It almost hurt Ethan to say the words, but his goal was Beth's wellbeing.
Conner sat in the passenger seat, chewing on his lip, as Ethan watched him.
“Okay, I’ll think about it.”
“Good,” Ethan replied. “And this may be sound hokey, and not like macho guy stuff, but if you ever want to talk, I’m here.”
“Thanks,” Conner murmured, shifting in his seat.
“Now get the hell out of my car,” Ethan said. “You’ll want to get to Philly before the morning traffic. And who the hell knows what the day is going to bring.”
Fate had dealt Rocco Lynch an unfair hand. The gang had experienced more botched operations in Harrisburg than in any other city, though no fault of his own. Other cities didn’t have Sapphire Angel. She remained a threat, even though they had beaten her senseless a few hours earlier.
He couldn’t use her as an excuse with Maximus Savage. Savage had picked Lynch for the job precisely because of the superheroine, and because Lynch was the one who suggested Harrisburg as the gang’s next expansion target. Lynch regretted that recommendation.
He had a chance to clean up his mistakes, though, including the carelessness about the markings on the guns. That was why he wasn’t asleep in bed in the predawn hours, but sat huddled amongst shrubbery in a hilly field across the road from the T.L. Grim Gun Shop.
This should be a simple job. The gun shop wasn’t constructed of stone or brick, but of flimsy-looking wood paneling. Perhaps the owners felt it gave the shop a rustic charm, but the paneling only made the place look cheap.
A massive propane tank, about the size of a large car, sat next to the structure. Lynch had smiled when he saw it, thinking back to when he had used a propane tank to level a much sturdier brick building several years earlier. On that occasion, he had surrounded the tank with smaller canisters of gasoline and rigged up a detonator. The explosion had been huge enough for people to feel it miles away. The conflagration and subsequent fire had destroyed any evidence of his handiwork, leaving the authorities to rule it an accidental explosion.
This job would be even easier. Someone from the shop had left a few gas cans sitting along the outside wall of the gun shop, near the propane tank. Lynch would add to them, and nobody would notice. After that, all he needed to do was to rig up the detonator and wait for Lockheed, Michaels, and Harper to show. And then “boom.”
He still had a few hours until daybreak, and it only would take him another hour or two to steal the supplies he needed and set things up. The FBI agents and Harper would never know they were walking into a deathtrap.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
I almost didn’t make it through the first half of this chapter because of how deep it got. Things just got freaking REAL all of a sudden.
To say I wasn’t expecting that impactful of a conversation to take place between Conner and Ethan would be an understatement. I feel really bad for Ethan, though; it’s blatantly clear that he has feelings for Beth but has to just repress them since she’s already associated with Conner.....at least roughly, following their severe disagreement on her superheroics. The feeling of having a crush on someone but not being able to pursue it due to them already being taken is something that I’ve recently suffered as well, so I empathize on that front.
Speaking of empathy, that was a great segue into the whole “sympathy vs. empathy” discussion with Conner and Ethan. This is honestly so conflicting because both of them have amazing points. Ethan points out how Beth feels the need to jump in and save the day because she sees peoples’ suffering as her own, while Conner talks about how he wishes Beth would take care of herself for once. And.....I get it. I get it, you know? Because it is possible to get so caught up with helping others that you forget to look after your own health as well. But I feel like it also indirectly highlighted what I consider to be one of the best things about superheroes: they’re selfless. They never back down from danger. And they never run away at the sight of trouble. They rush towards the chaos, rather than away from it. They use their gifts for good (if they’re given any). I audibly (as in, “out loud”.....that’s what that means) said “Yes!” at my screen when Ethan brought up how, if people treated each other with empathy more---and put themselves in each other’s shoes---then the world would be a better place.
And believe it or not, I think that counts for Savage and his gang as well. He thinks he’s “striking back” at the country for its perceived “betrayal” of him and his crew, but everyone else just views him as this sadistic, brutal man who just causes destruction for the heck of it. And the people who follow him (Rocco Lynch, Larry Oberkfell, Benjamin Drummond, Mike Mitchell, etc.) also have their reasons for doing so......but I don’t think a lot of people on the outside are going to learn OF those reasons before they all get taken down, which is kind of sad.
Speaking of getting “taken down”, Lynch sure looks like he’s in a good position to take down Lockheed, Michaels, Beth, and Grim’s Gun Shop as a whole. But......I don’t know. Maybe Conner and Ethan will get wind of it and save them before everything gets blown up. Or just Ethan, since Conner’s about to be en route to Philly.
.....There’s no way T.L. “Tip” Grim is going to get killed in the same chapter he’s introduced in, is he? Or just a few chapters after that? He was one of the characters who was given a bio at the start (alongside Augustus Bell), so......not sure what to think there.
Bet we’ll be seeing some real fireworks soon!