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 52
The driving habits of other people normally didn’t bother Beth, but as Stanley’s headlights fought the driving snow, she clutched the passenger seat of his van with both hands. She was clad in Sapphire Angel's blue and white costume, with her gloves wedged next to her on the seat.
Stanley maintained a similar death grip on the steering wheel as the van churned forward through several inches of snow on the main road across town. Like many March storms, the snow was wet and heavy, and this time it was accumulating much faster than the plows could clear it. Stanley and Beth's drive had been slow and deliberate, and they had passed only a handful of cars, all stuck along the roadway with their tires spinning. The streets were otherwise empty as midnight drew closer.
Stanley kept the radio tuned to a local news stations, which focused its coverage on the epic storm. The nor'easter was approaching blizzard status, with whiteout conditions for the next few hours.
When they reached the uptown part of the city, Stanley made two turns before navigating down a side street near Italian Lake, and pulling to a stop where they guessed the curb to be. The blowing snow was piling up, covering the street, curb, and sidewalks in waves of white.
“Alright, let’s take a look,” he said.
Stanley kept the engine running and climbed between the seats to the rear of the van, with Beth close behind him. He flicked a switch, and a bank of eight monitors lit up the interior. He had mounted them on the inside walls of the van, four to a side. Cables hung from them, running to a computer wedged under a bench. A keyboard and mouse sat on top of the bench. Four large battery packs powered the gear.
Beth squinted at the screens, seeing only saw a blur of black and gray, and a slight greenish tint.
“Um, what exactly am I looking for?” she asked.
Stanley frowned. “Just a minute,” he said, and pecked at the keyboard. "The cameras are set on night vision, which won't work well in the storm, especially if these goons have allowed themselves to be covered in snow, which I'm guessing they will have done. I'll switch over to thermal imaging."
The images on the monitors flickered for a moment, before a quadrant on a monitor to her left zoomed in and started panning. Stanley and Beth leaned in closer.
“There!” she said, pointing at the screen when she noticed a human form, its heat output illuminated in green, yellow, and red.
Stanley nodded. “Do you see how you can make out his surroundings, even with the thermal imaging? During my earlier visit up here, I used a handy device to plot all the terrain — hills, bushes and everything — in 3D, so I could superimpose it on top of these images. So what we see here on the screen is closer to what you’d see with your naked eye in daylight.”
She made out the human-shaped form — or, more accurately, the heat signature of the human-shaped form — crouching in some bushes, holding an object over his shoulder. Although she couldn't discern what the man held, the bushes and terrain around him were clear as day, thanks to Stanley's trick.
“You amaze me,” Beth murmured as she stared at the screen.
"Yes, it's a pretty handy technology. Unfortunately, goggles won't work that way, but they still might help, if you've changed your mind."
Beth had considered wearing night-vision goggles, but had decided any added gear would just get in her way when the fighting started. She might lose them in the snow after the first fight, anyway. Seeing Stanley's cameras in action reinforced her decision. They would be enough.
"No, I'm sticking to the plan," she said.
Stanley turned to another bench, opposite the bench with the keyboard. He hunched over a large glass screen, which looked like a gigantic computer tablet mounted flat on the bench. It was lit up and displayed terrain and symbols on what appeared to be a map. He tapped a spot in the upper left quadrant.
“He’s in view of this camera, here,” Stanley said, pointing to a blue circle on the screen. “I mounted that camera on a light post at the edge of the lake grounds. If you take the closest path from the van, you’ll probably run into that guy first. My guess is they have a few men spread out, covering all the ways you might approach. They’re counting on spotting you first, since they can hide in the snow and you have to move. Once they see you, they'll call on everyone to converge."
"They didn't count on your cameras."
"Apparently not," Stanley replied. "And it doesn't look like he has any night-vision equipment. They're clearly counting on the fact that you have to move while they can hide. If they're all like him, you might be able to get the drop on them.”
"Thanks to you," she said. "Let’s find the rest. If they’re spread out, they might make this easier for me without realizing it.”
Stanley repeated the process with the other cameras, finding another man laying in a dip between two hills, just below a camera in a tree. The camera was close to the man, and the hills shielded both the man and the camera from the blowing snow, so Stanley toggled modes on the camera to see if it picked out more detail. The gangster had submerged himself in the snow but his head stuck out, and they both noticed one of his features, prominent even with the greenish tint on the screen — a scar peaking out from under his mask. This was the leader who had challenged Sapphire Angel on television. He also didn't wear any night-vision equipment.
After switching back to thermal imaging mode, Stanley located another man nestled in the branches of a tree, with a view of the entire lake. Or it would have given him a view of the entire lake, had the visibility been better. He wore no night-vision gear, either.
As Stanley switched to another camera, he let out a soft whistle, and his hands worked on the keyboard to toggle camera modes again.
“Well, that's not good,” he said.
Beth leaned in as he pointed to the screen, which depicted an area lit by nearby light posts, unlike the other images. Megan Lawlor, the newswoman, stood on the bridge over the narrow part of the lake, with her wrists bound and tied to one of the bridge’s handrails. She still wore the same outfit she had worn on the air, but the snow had saturated her clothing, leaving her with no protection from the cold and the wind. Even with the poor visibility, they could see she was haggard and shivering, squinting against the driving snow as her hair fluttered in the wind. Aside from the shaking of her body from the cold, though, she stood straight and proud, as if defying her captors by sheer force of will.
But she wasn’t the cause of Stanley’s reaction. Near her, stretching out down the bridge in both directions, stood eight gang members, wearing black outfits and body armor, and with masks concealing the upper parts of their faces.
Stanley glanced at Beth, worry in his eyes. She was worried, too. In the ambush by the parking garage, half that number had defeated and nearly captured her. Could she take down eight of them in one fight?
“They’re not messing around,” Stanley said. “It looks like they're ready to move out as a group when one of the other guys locates you. Maybe we should reconsider this.”
“What did you expect?” she replied. “And Lawlor won’t last long in this weather. I’ll take out the spotters before they can alert anyone, and then I’ll hit the main force at the bridge. Instead of them surprising me, I'll surprise them. It’s time for me to get moving.”
Stanley watched her with his mouth twisted in a grimace, but said nothing.
Beth reached into the front seat and grabbed her gloves, pulling them up her arms, one at a time. She moved to the rear of the van and pushed one door open. Blowing snow and biting cold air swept into the vehicle. Ignoring the frigid blast, she jumped from the back of the vehicle, landed shin-deep in the snow, and slogged out into the storm.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (this book - Book 4)
.....THIS IS OUT OF CONTROL!
I can’t imagine having to pull off this kind of complex operation in such cold conditions. And I’m a “cold weather” person, so that’s SAYING something. Someone who’s always been entranced by the sights of ice and snow, likely ‘cause I’ve lived in mostly-warm states for more or less my entire life. Maybe Coldsnap’s having a bit of trouble controlling her powers or something and she’s inadvertently making Sapphire’s job that much harder. I want a vehicle like Stanley’s, man.....it’d feel like my life was ripped straight from a super spy movie!
I guess on one hand, the Savage Gang would’ve been smarter to bring night-vision equipment with them, or at least something else to improve their chances to see through the snow. But at the same time, it fits the Gang; they’ve never been dealt a particularly strong defeat, so they’re not used to preparing for significant danger. Kind of like how Wakanda had never been significantly invaded up until Namor and the Talokanil attacked it in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, so they were completely caught off-guard when the Talokanil curb-stomped them and they lost their ruler in the process. The Savage Gang may have the numbers advantage, but Sapphire knows where they are (thanks to Stanley......what a guy, I swear) and can rely on Stanley to help track their movements. Let’s just hope the Gang doesn’t discover the car......
Seems like Rocco Lynch himself is part of the crew.....or at least that’s what I assume from the wording, which mentions that the person who challenged Sapphire on television was there. At most, I can only see him and his associates dying in this skirmish; I don’t see any kind of major character deaths incoming like I (incorrectly) did during T.L. “Tip” Grim’s gun shop attack. Still interested to see how his influence persists past his death; maybe the Gang can rebuild his shop and make it their new headquarters once Savage arrives? Or maybe his weaponry could influence another member of the Gang to take up his craft?
Big snowstorm, numerous Savage Gang members (including Rocco Lynch, I assume), Megan Lawlor on the bridge, Stanley keeping tabs, and only Sapphire there to help. Let’s do this! Maybe more people will jump in later!