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. I am placing this warning on all chapters, including those without such violence, so you can choose whether to continue.
CHAPTER 5
"He did good," Rocco Lynch said, nodding in satisfaction as he aimed a flashlight into a wooden crate. The crate, made of thick wood slats, was as tall as Lynch, with one side pried apart, revealing various smaller boxes and crates. One of those smaller crates sat open, revealing the glint of several AR-15 rifles.
Lynch pulled his eyes from the crate's contents to take in his surroundings. He stood in the middle of a large room, with dim fluorescent lights flickering in the ceiling overhead, and the glow of old kerosene heaters rising from each corner. Rats scattered at the base of damp plaster walls, and cobwebs and dust coated almost every surface. Small rectangular windows, high on the walls, gave the only hint he wasn't far underground. Men stood on ladders, covering those windows with black fabric.
Occasional scrapes and bangs filled the air as his men moved crates, furniture and other gear into place. They were in the final stages of equipping the basement of an abandoned schoolhouse, transforming it into their headquarters in Harrisburg, the home city of Sapphire Angel.
Another man stood near Lynch, and he also shined a flashlight into the crate. A growl low in his throat signified his approval with the contents.
"Yea, the guy had some good shit," the man, known only as Smash, said in a rumbling voice that seemed to come from deep within his chest. Smash was a brute of a fellow with a massive scar on the side of his bald head, and with most of his teeth missing. Smash wasn't known for his intellect, but he was loyal to Lynch, having served under him in Lynch's previous gang. Many people were stunned to learn he was actually the baby of the family, with an older — and bigger — brother often seen at Maximus Savage's side during field operations.
"And you're sure nobody saw him bringing it here?" Lynch asked.
"Vick is sure," Smash replied, referring to another of Lynch's men. "He said they had eyes on Grim the whole way."
Grim was Tip Grim, the owner of a prominent gun shop south of the city. He was also a black market weapons dealer who was supplying the Savage Gang with its firepower in Harrisburg. He had met Savage years ago, earning the gang leader's trust. Now, with Sapphire Angel having taken down the area's other prominent black market dealer, he had earned the Savage Gang's business, too. Some day in the future, the gang might take over the region's illicit weapons trade, but for now it was Grim's business.
Lynch nodded. "I would have preferred for him not to know about this place, but Savage says we can trust him."
"I'm just glad we didn't have to haul all this stuff from somewhere else," Smash said. "He said to let him know if we need more."
"And this stuff is untraceable?"
"He said it's all sanitized. We checked some of 'em and couldn't find serial numbers."
"Savage was right about Grim," Lynch said. "He does good work. And the dude put this together on short notice. We'll be ready to make our grand debut in the city by the weekend, just as Savage wanted."
Lynch gave a satisfied nod as he looked about the room, pausing to take in the television sitting on the floor in the corner. A news story about Sapphire Angel played on the screen. He noted with irony that the news anchor discussed the heroine's breakup of a weapons deal in the city — probably someone trying to encroach on Grim's turf. If the news story was accurate, Sapphire Angel had put an end to those plans. The woman was a star across the country, but the people of this region spoke of her as if she were a goddess. He frowned before continuing to examine their new home.
"It wouldn't be my late grandmom's first choice," Lynch said as a rat ran near his feet. "But I guess that's the point. This place will work well."
Savage would be pleased. This place was hidden, and had space to accommodate a growing group. Lynch was starting with a group of twenty-five men, operating as an advance team, but the number could double if he were successful. And he would be successful. Besides establishing this base of operations, Lynch and his men had spent the last week planning and scouting jobs. This city had much to offer for a group such as the Savage Gang.
Savage would also appreciate the place's ambiance; he preferred an atmosphere of foreboding and menace to put his men in the right frame of mind. This place fit the bill. The city had condemned the school building years ago, but lacked the funds to demolish the structure. City officials had cordoned off the abandoned building and grounds on all sides, leaving it to decay. The building sat on a hill overlooking uptown Harrisburg, and the only known approach was across a short, crumbling bridge, and up a curving roadway. Even local troublemakers stayed away from the place.
The gang members would not use the road across the failing bridge, though, after discovering two other options. They had broken through the walls in the basement, accessing old tunnels. The tunnels led to old rainwater culverts a safe distance from the building. The first tunnel was wide and led to a culvert at a dead-end street, while the second was narrow and came out in a ravine near a lake in uptown Harrisburg, with its exit hidden by a manhole cover.
An overgrowth of weeds hid both entrances, but the gang had gone even further, adding debris to make the areas around the entrances unstable. Even an adventurous teen would find it nearly impossible to reach the openings without knowing the solitary safe path. To be sure, though, the gang would install monitoring equipment near both entrances to detect any visitors before they could access the openings.
Besides the room in which Lynch stood, the basement included several surrounding chambers they would convert into living quarters and training areas. The rooms were dark and foreboding, with eerie sounds echoing off the walls. They chose the basement, instead of the upper floors, so they could light the areas without calling attention to their presence. It was just the sort of place Savage would like.
The only drawback had been the air quality. They had solved the problem when his men had located a few old ventilation shafts, and replaced rusted, non-functioning fans with expensive filtering equipment. This area was now very livable, save for the absence of sunlight.
"Hey Mike," Lynch called to a tall, nondescript man across the room. Mike Mitchell had sharp features and intelligent eyes, but possessed the same hulking build of his fellow gang members. Mitchell walked over and gave Lynch a nod.
"How are we coming with getting ready for the fights?" Lynch asked him.
"It might take a bit longer, but we're getting there," Mitchell replied. "We've been finding bleachers, and I snagged two rings from a boxing club that went belly up a few months ago. But we need more of that sort of stuff if we want to run multiple locations. Savage doesn't want us having fights in the same place twice, so we can keep the cops guessing. I'm trying to make sure we have extra equipment before we launch."
Lynch nodded. Their anything-goes fighting matches, often using local celebrities snatched off the streets, had provided a nice source of income in other cities. The gang kept the live audiences small, to lower the risk of a raid by authorities, but made a handsome profit from the live streams. It seemed people in all cities liked to see local figures battle it out, whether or not those combatants participated willingly.
"Put that on the front burner, but only after we announce our arrival in town this weekend," Lynch said. "We're gonna make one hell of a splash."
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
Hmmm. I am wondering if Sapphire Angel will be an unwilling participant in one of these fights. Would be interesting if the underground groups that attend these events actually cheered against her.
Great! Just great. The Savage Gang are now officially in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and with a fully-functioning (kind of, but they’re getting there) headquarters to boot. Awesome job describing everything about the base, from its interior to its entrances/exits; I was able to mentally paint a full picture of the location with your help! First mention of Tip Grim, though I have no doubt we’ll actually be seeing him in person later on down the road. I’m 99% sure his craft---guns, that is---will be near-worthless when it comes to actually dealing with Sapphire Angel, but I don’t know......maybe the Savage Gang could try to target innocents in order to threaten her into backing down. Rocco Lynch, “Smash”, Grim (mentioned), and Mike Mitchell are apparently present, with Mike Mitchell being in charge of some kind of fighting system. They are called the “Savage Gang”, after all, so I had a feeling they’d also conduct something like this, but to take people off the streets and force them to fight just so they can line THEIR pockets is honestly very questionable and heartbreaking. Then again, they’d need finances in order to keep their operations afloat, and brutalizing people all the time---and doing it too regularly---may certainly be a very risky way of going about it. If she wasn’t known as a clear-cut superheroine and just a non-aligned mercenary of some kind, I’m genuinely wondering how Sapphire Angel would perform in the Savage Gang’s fighting activities. She’s already got sufficient combat skills, so I’m willing to bet that she’d be able to climb through their ranks quickly.
(gasp) Maybe THAT’S how she can subtly infiltrate their ranks! Disguise herself as someone else and compete in the challenges, ingratiate herself with the Gang, then take them apart from the inside! She’d just have to watch out for Mike Mitchell, or anyone else who may get suspicious. Well.....now that I think about it, it’s possible she wouldn’t need to disguise herself. It was already stated that they took celebrities off the streets and forced them to participate, and to say that Sapphire Angel is a celebrity would be a gross understatement. Maybe the Savage Gang could capture her and force her into a rigged “match” where she just gets beaten up by everyone in the gang in front of an audience; no firearms, just brute force. That would certainly make for a “darkest hour” for sure. Additionally, the interesting concept of the common, lax folk simply seeking entertainment and pleasure (i.e., fighting celebrities) without having ANY regard for the people actually IN the position (i.e., the celebrities fighting against their will) is a topic that I also explore in “Spark of the Rebellion”.
It could go that way, or maybe they’ll need to resort to using tricks and traps like Raven, Mantis, and Valik before them. Guess we’ll find out sooner or later! At any rate, they have GOT to find a way to sufficiently deal with her, though, or their little stint in Harrisburg isn’t going to get far. The moment Sapphire hears of their first attack, she’ll be sure to start investigating.
(snaps fingers) Perhaps they could attack or kill Conner in order to force her to take action! That would probably make her break her “no-kill” code; it already seems like these guys are too aggressive even for that.
Are we getting to any notable “physical violence” yet? The attack in Columbus, Ohio was only televised, Sapphire Angel wasn’t involved yet during the brutalizing of Chief Rando by Maximus and the rest of the Gang, and we have been introduced to a lot of “muscleheads” (Savage, “Smash”, etc.), but with little action besides the Ohio assault.
And the update schedule is the same as the last one, right? Mondays and Thursdays?