Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (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.
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1
Market Square in Harrisburg felt like Times Square on New Year’s Eve, except the Pennsylvania city’s celebration occurred under a bright March sun. People of all ages hugged, talked, and danced, spilling off the sidewalks and into the intersection of two of the city’s busiest streets. A strange energy filled the air — a mix of relief, excitement, and hope. Many of the revelers held signs over their heads, while banners hung from nearby buildings.
WE LOVE YOU SAPPHIRE ANGEL! read one sign, written in large block letters.
Sapphire Angel - 1, Savage Gang - 0. Game Over! read another.
Several other banners expressed similar sentiments, paying tribute to the city’s costumed heroine. The Savage Gang still ravaged other cities across the country, but not Harrisburg. Sapphire Angel had crushed the gang’s local presence five days earlier, in an epic showdown during a snowstorm. The city was safe, thanks to her.
The mayor had announced the celebration hours after her victory, scheduling the gala for the weekend to minimize gridlock. Despite these plans, traffic snarled many of the surrounding area, as drivers navigated around the closed streets of the downtown. The jammed traffic was devoid of honking horns or angry drivers, though, as a happy glow had settled over everyone.
A stage spanned Market Street, starting twenty yards past the side of the Hilton, the city’s largest hotel. The platform, covered with red, white, and blue bunting, looked down the wide expanse of Market Street toward the intersection with Second Street, where the largest part of the crowd gathered, and beyond that, toward the Susquehanna River a block away. A black curtain, ten feet square, hung from support poles in the center of the stage.
Piles of plowed snow rose on the sidewalks, the remnants of the storm five days earlier. Neither the cold nor the icy conditions dampened the spirt of the people, though. Sapphire Angel had liberated the city from the Savage Gang’s reign of terror.
Even the police officers in the crowd smiled. The superheroine’s victory had emboldened them to operate in the open, after weeks of hiding in fear. Sapphire Angel had shown everyone around the country that the gang wasn’t invincible. As a result, she had risen from fame to something more than that. She was legendary, or, because people knew so little about her, even mystical.
A few members of a high school band stood on the stage, packing up their instruments. They had finished their set a few minutes earlier, and now city officials and other dignitaries prepared to speak to the crowd. But the greatest dignitary of all — Sapphire Angel — was not here.
Or so everyone thought. She was present, even if the people in the crowd didn’t realize it. Beth Harper, her slender figure wrapped in a long, black overcoat, and much of her long blond hair tucked under a winter hat, mingled among the people. She stood on the sidewalk, cater-corner to the stage and near the Hilton, at the intersection of Market and Second streets. Beth could hardly believe the size or exuberance of the crowd. Most of all, as her dazzling blue eyes took it all in, she couldn’t believe that these people were cheering for her, even if they didn’t know the superheroine was in their midst. For Beth Harper was Sapphire Angel.
“Crazy, huh?” a man said, and pulled her close in a one-armed hug.
Beth turned and nestled into Conner Bennett, her boyfriend.
“Humbling,” she said in a soft voice. “And surprising. What a difference a week makes.”
“Surprising? Every network and media outlet across the country has been covering the story nonstop. Covering you. Why should it be different here?”
“Shhh, not so loud," she said, cringing until she realized the crowd’s attention was focused elsewhere. “I guess it’s just bizarre, seeing it in person instead of on television.”
“Please, just bask in this for a while,” Conner pleaded. “You deserve some downtime. And I deserve some of your undivided attention. Okay?”
“Okay, no more of my… other self… for a couple weeks,” Beth replied, before standing on her tiptoes and giving Conner a peck on his cheek. “I promise.”
“Umm, about that,” a voice said from behind her.
Beth turned to face Ethan Moore, her closest friend. Ethan’s build was like Conner’s — lean and athletic, but not muscular — although the similarities ended there. Ethan wore a ski cap over his dark hair, while Conner’s head was bare, revealing his black hair, teased up with mousse. And Ethan’s thin face was clean-shaven, whereas a perpetual five o’clock shadow covered Conner’s rugged features.
“Yes?” Beth asked.
“I forgot. I was supposed to let you know Stanley wanted to see you, Beth, when you get a chance.”
Stanley was Stanley Devor, the father of Beth’s deceased fiancé. Stanley also was Sapphire Angel’s biggest benefactor, providing moral and technological support to the famous superheroine.
“Did he say what it was about?”
“Just that it was about…” Ethan hesitated, looking at the surrounding people. “About your… other self, as you called it.”
“Oh,” Beth murmured, casting a sideways glance at Conner, who frowned. “Thanks, Ethan,” she said, before giving his arm a squeeze. She turned to Conner, reaching out and touching his arm.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said. “Things are going to get back to normal now. I promise.”
Beth hoped she was right. There would always be new challenges for Sapphire Angel, but none should monopolize her time as the Savage Gang had, nor should they be as dangerous. Her relationship with Conner almost hadn’t survived the gang’s arrival in the city, as Conner’s worry over his girlfriend had morphed into anger when she hadn’t stepped aside and let law enforcement deal with the issue. Law enforcement had been running scared, though, so Sapphire Angel had been the one to fill the breech. That was in the past now, and it was time to enjoy her bond with Conner. For once.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice came over speakers mounted atop temporary metal poles throughout the square. “Mayor Thorpe will now address the crowd.”
A smattering of applause rippled through the throng of people. On any other day, the reaction would be split equally between cheers and jeers for the mayor, but today, even the most partisan citizens had put aside their rancor.
“Let’s hear what the mayor has to say about Sapphire Angel,” Conner said as he, Beth, and Ethan turned to face the stage.
From Beth’s vantage point on the sidewalk, she could see the back of the stage. As the mayor climbed the steps on the back of the platform, she furrowed her brow. Something was wrong. Exactly what, she wasn’t sure. But she felt it. A presence.
Beth shook her head. She was still coming down from the constant stress of the previous weeks, caused by her conflicts with the gang. It would take some time for her to relax again. This was nothing.
Ten feet back in a darkened room, Maximus Savage looked out a solitary window, watching the cheering crowd. It was finally time. Savage, the leader of the Savage Gang, had arrived in Harrisburg five days earlier, just after Sapphire Angel had dismantled his team in the city.
His rage had simmered ever since. His gut reaction had been to make a quick strike on a high-profile target, to let people know the Savage Gang wasn’t finished here. But he had waited, biding his time. When he had learned of the weekend rally, he had decided it would be the perfect occasion to make his presence known. The crowd would be large and the event would televised. It would be the perfect platform for the gang’s reemergence in this city.
And perfect it was. The gathering was larger than he had expected, and television cameras were everywhere. Today would be a day the people of this city would never forget.
Maximus Savage was eager to get to work. His excitement was ready to burst from this body, the same way the muscles of his massive physique threatened to explode from his clothes. He wore tight black pants and an even tighter black shirt, and he had affixed body armor in strategic locations. His mismatched eyes — one pale blue with an orange discoloration at the iris, and the other brown — burned with hatred and anger as he studied the crowd.
He turned to face his men. Four gangsters stood behind him, clad in the telltale black body armor of the gang, and wearing masks that covered their heads and most of their faces, leaving only their jaws and mouths visible. The black and grey masks were made of a rubber-like material, and made the men look like hornless gargoyles.
Savage had placed additional men in strategic buildings surrounding Market Square. They would emerge at the right time, inflicting maximum punishment. Chaos and terror would reign.
“Everybody is ready,” a man to Savage’s right said. He was Crusher Barnes, a monster of a man, standing a few inches short of seven feet tall, and with a body rippling with muscle. “We’ve scoped out the police in the square, and we have men who will take them down at the same time you and the others storm the stage.”
“Any sign of Sapphire Angel?” Savage asked with a growl.
More than anything, he wanted to face the superheroine. To show her his power. To make her pay for her interference. To hurt her.
“No. She doesn’t make her presence known in advance, though. Not her style.”
Savage gave a nod. “If we’re lucky, she’ll come.”
The gang leader’s senses tingled. He could feel her, almost as if they were connected. She would come. And he would crush her.
“I thought the point of this was to let everyone know we’re back?" Barnes said. "She’s not part of the plan.”
Savage turned to face Barnes.
“She took down your brother in this city,” Savage snarled, in a deep voice with a smoker's hard edge. “You should hope she comes, too.”
“I do,” Barnes said. “I just want to make sure we stick to the plan.”
“Hurting her will always be a part of the plan,” Savage said, as he strapped his own helmet into place. “Let’s go.”
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Ohhhh, how I’ve MISSED this! Missed it! Missed it, I tell you! Can’t wait to read with you on the “Endgame” to Savage Dawn’s “Infinity War”! .....Even though it’s not quite the same thing! The descriptors in the first few paragraphs were honestly so thorough; I could picture the scene itself in my head as I was reading it! I’ve realized that I’ve transitioned more from accurately describing the environment and the characters in favor of pursuing more in-depth character-to-character interactions (you’ll notice as you continue reading “The Paragons”), but this chapter overall was a great refresher of where we are right now in the series, who all the characters are, and where their stances and allegiances currently lie.
Everyone from Beth to Conner to Ethan to Stanley.....it’s like a long-awaited reunion! And maybe we’ll see Olivia Lockheed, Howard Vincent, and the others as well! But.....of course Maximus Savage has to come in, ‘cause of course he has to. Maybe if his lackey Larry Oberkfell could invent some kind of crazy machines that could allow himself and Benjamin Drummond to also join the Gang on their missions---so they’d be more than just Savage’s assistants---then they’d be more successful. Maybe Oberkfell could be like Armor from Marvel (I don’t know if you know who she is), putting on this very durable exoskeleton, and Drummond could be like.....Leech or something. Also, I’ll be looking out for Augustus Bell and any further status updates on T.L. “Tip” Grim, if there even are any.
Sapphire Angel’s taken down a lot of Savage Gang members, so I don’t exactly know who Savage is referring to when he alludes to Crusher Barnes’ “brother”. The word “Crush” within the name suggests “Smash”---brings up memories of him---but maybe he could be referring to Rocco Lynch as well. You know Sapphire’s been successful if all of THAT has happened. And if this big party is happening as well. She should’ve shown up to it as Sapphire.....or maybe she’s about to do so in a few chapters, with the Gang about to strike.
Is the update schedule still Mondays and Thursdays? If so, great! I’ll tune in again then!