Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
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 2
Mayor Del Thorpe strode across the stage, the sun glistening off his shaved head as he smiled and waved to the crowd. He held a torch aloft in his left hand — a small flame burning from the end of a short metal post. A smattering of cheers continued as he approached the podium, fading away when leaned over the microphone.
“It’s great to see everyone!” he exclaimed with his trademark enthusiasm, pumping the torch above his head for emphasis.
Thorpe exuded the energy of an infomercial salesperson and the charisma of a movie star. In his mid-forties, his foray into politics had started with the mayor’s seat, but higher office lurked over the horizon.
The crowd cheered, and Thorpe leaned back, smiling. He allowed the applause to die off before bending over the microphone again.
“Those Savage Gang goons learned something, didn’t they?” he asked. “They learned to stay out of Harrisburg, because we have someone who can kick them out! Sapphire Angel!”
As the crowd roared, Beth squirmed. She was aware of her status as the country’s biggest star, but she rarely experienced such adulation firsthand.
“But we aren’t forgetting our fellow Americans, who still suffer under the scourge of the Savage Gang,” the mayor continued. “Today I light this flame of hope, which will remain lit until the gang is driven out of every city in the nation, like Sapphire Angel drove the gang out of our city. She showed the entire country that it can be done!”
The crowd cheered again as the mayor stepped to his right and held the torch to a large ceramic urn sitting atop a pedestal. Flames burst from the urn, dancing like water in a fountain. The mayor pumped the torch in the air again, before bending to drop it into a metal bucket next to the pedestal. He moved back behind the microphone, waiting for the crowd to quiet.
“We will place this brazier on the northwest corner of Market Square,” the mayor continued. “It will stay there until the Savage Gang is extinct. And that's not all. I have one more thing to show you.”
As the crowd waited, the mayor stepped toward the curtain stretched a few feet behind the podium. He raised a hand, grasping the edge of the fabric. He paused, as if to tease the crowd. The crowd thrummed with anticipation, and he waited a few extra beats.
“We also have something to look over the flames,” he said. “This!”
He tugged on the curtain and it fell away, revealing a larger-than-life painting of a statue. The subject of the painting was clear despite the gray color of the sculpture it depicted. It was a statue of Sapphire Angel. The heroine stood proudly, hands on her hips, looking off into the distance, her hair blowing behind her.
The crowd’s roar reached new heights, causing Beth to a put a hand to one ear. The mayor looked out upon the throng of people, his face beaming. He returned to the microphone, but had to wait almost a minute for the sound to lessen.
“We have commissioned a sculptor to make a statue of our beloved heroine," he said. "This painting is an artist’s rendition of what it will look like, once it is done. The fire will symbolize our solidarity with the cities still struggling against the Savage Gang, and the statue will forever show our appreciation of Sapphire Angel.”
Beth grimaced as she studied the image. The painting wasn’t the problem — the artist had done a reasonable job of capturing her appearance, or so it appeared from where she stood. But the idea of a statue went too far and smelled of idolatry.
Conner leaned in toward her, about to speak, but stiffened. Beth followed his gaze and also froze. From her position on the sidewalk, Beth could view the metal steps at the rear of the stage. What she saw sent a jolt down her spine, like a gong announcing a demon’s entrance.
Two police officers stood at the base of the steps, fumbling to unholster their service pistols. Five large men rushed toward the officers. The invaders wore the signature black and white masks of the Savage Gang.
The officers fell without firing a single shot, as fists from the two lead men smashed into their faces, spraying blood. One officer collapsed to the ground, while the other fell into another gangster. The gangster took the officer’s arm and gave a violent twist. Even from the distance, Beth could see the man’s limb snap.
Beth’s eyes darted about, searching for an escape route. The crowd was unaware of the impending chaos, as most people stood on the street, facing the front of the stage, and the remainder focused on the mayor.
Conner had noticed, though. When Beth’s eyes met his, he gave a brief, pleading shake of the head, as if to say, “Please don’t.”
“I have to,” Beth mouthed, and eased her way backward through the crowd.
Their eyes locked for a few seconds as she retreated, her gaze exuding sadness and regret. She took short steps backward, covering only a few feet before bumping into someone. She cast an apology to Conner with her sad eyes, before breaking eye contact and spinning away from him. She tried darting toward a side door of Hilton, but the mass of bodies, all focused on the stage, made progress difficult. She weaved in and out of the crowd, twisting her body to slither between onlookers.
“Hey!” a man cried as she thudded into him, but she ignored him and continued her advance to the hotel.
She reached the side door of the Hilton’s two-story bar and café. Although the main entrance to the Hilton faced Second Street, the café and its balcony overlooked Market Street.
As she flung the door open, despair washed over her. Despite all her efforts five days earlier, she hadn’t ended the Savage Gang's reign of terror in her city. The gang was back.
Beth slipped into the café and her eyes scanned the room, which stretched to her left. Twelve round tables sat near windows overlooking Market and Second streets, but patrons only occupied two of them. The servers and remaining customers stood at a bank of windows, looking out at the crowd. From their position near the end of the wall of glass, they couldn't see the rear of the stage.
Beth swiveled her head and spied a door to her right, which she remembered. On the other side of the door, a stairwell climbed to the café’s second floor, and to an outdoor balcony. She hurried to the doorway, rushing through it and stopping as the door closed behind her. The flight of stairs rose in front of her, before stopping at a landing and doubling back on itself.
Beth waited, listing for anyone coming down the stairs, or for the sound of the door opening above her. She heard only silence. She scanned her surroundings for any surveillance cameras, spotting none. This would have to do.
The lithe woman stood with her back to the closed door and held one hand to the base of her neck, causing her long jacket to open, revealing her jeans and black sweater. A moment later, a brilliant flash of light engulfed those clothes — and engulfed Beth Harper herself. When the light faded, Beth Harper was gone. The famous superheroine, Sapphire Angel, stood in her place.
By any logical analysis, Beth Harper and Sapphire Angel shared identical features. They had the same prominent cheekbones, the same wide mouth, and the same brilliant blue eyes. Their hair was the same radiant blond, although Beth’s hair had been stuffed under a hat, while Sapphire Angel’s golden tresses hung straight, dangling past her shoulders. Even their bodies were the same — slender and athletic, with slim waists and long legs worthy of a supermodel.
But nobody would realize the two women were the same person. Sapphire Angel wore a necklace which, with help from her costume, affected the minds of those who saw her, working a mysterious deception and hiding her true identity. The necklace also gave her other fantastic abilities.
Beth Harper was beautiful, but Sapphire Angel was impossibly stunning — so radiant she made hearts across the globe ache with longing. Her blond hair framed an angelic face, and a shimmering minidress clung to her sleek frame. The upper part of the one-piece costume was sapphire blue, and contrasted with the pure white of a tantalizingly short skirt. A short collar opened at the front of her neck, with two white decorative buttons on either side of the opening. Her diamond necklace peaked through the gap. The costume left her toned arms bare, except for white elbow-length gloves sheathing her forearms. On her fantastic legs, she wore translucent tights and white ankle boots.
The superheroine was more than the sum of her parts, however. She exuded an invisible radiance, as if a supernatural aura surrounded her. She was like a goddess come to earth.
Sapphire Angel took a breath, reaching up to make sure her necklace was tucked into her collar. She gave a brief tug on each glove, making sure they reached her elbows. With a satisfied nod, she bound up the steps, bursting through another door and entering the second level of the café. This level was half the size of the lower level and had a set of glass double doors opening onto a balcony.
A few patrons stood on the balcony, their backs to her as they looked across Market Street and toward the stage. As Sapphire Angel moved toward the glass doors, chaos erupted on the balcony. Two men and three women turned and ran back toward the double doors, their faces twisted in terror, while three other patrons covered their mouths and stood frozen in horror.
Sapphire Angel didn’t have to guess what was happening. She sprinted to the doors, pushing them open and racing outside. As she passed the approaching patrons, their eyes opened wide at the sight of the costumed woman. They froze in their tracks, awestruck. She ignored them as she ran toward the railing and cast her eyes out and down, looking upon the stage as it came into view. Her brain processed the scene like a supercomputer, identifying all relevant data in a millisecond.
The emcee for the event lay in the middle of the stage, while the mayor lay crumpled next to the podium, a pool of blood around his body. Four gangsters lurked over them. One gangster was more of a giant than a man, standing almost a foot taller than the others. He reminded her of a brute she had defeated in the snowstorm at Italian Lake. The large man blocked her view of the fifth gangster, who approached the podium.
As the crowd on the street surged away from the danger, some spectators pushed in the opposite direction, through the panicked throng toward the stage. Sapphire Angel gritted her teeth. Somehow, these people believed they could fight the deadly gang. She had given people reason for hope, but the belief had morphed into foolish confidence for some of them. It might kill them.
As she sprinted forward, Sapphire Angel finally got a good look at the gangster near the podium. His mask differed from the masks of the other men, with eyeholes tinted a dull red. The sight felt like a thunderclap crashing down around her, foretelling destruction and turmoil. For she knew who it was. *Maximus Savage.* He was here.
The dreaded revelation only slowed her for a moment. She continued her sprint, crouched, and sprang as she reached the railing, using one hand to vault over its side. The maneuver sent her out and down toward the stage — toward Maximus Savage and the Savage Gang.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
Okay......I get that Harrisburg wants to applaud Sapphire Angel and all, and maybe a statue would've been nice, too.....but I honestly followed Beth in thinking it was a little much. That whole bit with the big statue gave me dark flashbacks to Aaron and his followers dancing around a golden calf while Moses conversed with God about receiving the Ten Commandments, if you've ever heard that bit. At any rate, I guess the Savage Gang's back, and Sapphire Angel's got no choice but to reinforce their beliefs. Either that, or live with guilt for the rest of her life, and I doubt she'd want to take that route.
And......dang. I knew this novel was going to be even rockier than the previous one, but I still wasn't expecting you to kill off the freaking Mayor of the town in the second chapter, of all chapters. At least.....I think he's dead. It said that there was a pool of blood around his body and that the emcee was nearby as well, so I'm just going to assume that he is.
Again, I have to love how descriptive you've been with the heroine's appearance whenever she arrives onscreen. Words are so important in pictureless media like this, and it's often all we have to go on regarding the person's looks and actions. And yet.....you pull it off so well.
If Conner doesn't start getting adjusted to Sapphire Angel's antics soon---like Ethan already has---I have a feeling this all isn't going to go well for him by the time we reach the end. Granted, I'd feel miffed, too, but for a completely different reason; if I were in Conner's shoes, Sapphire's activities as a superhero would mean they'd get to spend less and less time together, and I'd be more ticked over that than her potentially putting herself in danger countless times.
And let me just say.....it was SO admirable how she immediately just jumped in even though the leader of the Gang himself was around. She doesn't mess around; if she wants to protect her community, nothing will stand in her way.
Why'd you have to leave the fight for the next chapter? Guess I'm waiting until after the weekend! .....And studying more about blood, formed elements, and hemolysis in the meantime.....