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 4
Stanley Devor took short steps, waddling like a penguin, as he ambled toward the mailbox at the end of his driveway. Although his eyes focused on the patches of ice in his path, his mind was elsewhere. An hour earlier, the Savage Gang had returned, launching a brazen attack during a rally downtown, injuring several police officers and citizens. The gang’s return would have grave implications for the city, and for someone close to him. For Beth Harper.
Stanley stepped across the patches of snow and ice left behind by the storm five days earlier, pausing every few seconds to keep his balance. As he opened the front of the mailbox, one foot slipped, and his other leg shot out from underneath him. With his wiry hair bouncing atop his head, he flapped his arms and shuffled his legs, catching himself before he went down.
He muttered and stood erect, looked around to see if anyone in his suburban community had seen his acrobatics. Stanley was healthy and in his mid-sixties, and didn't want his neighbors thinking he couldn't even check his own mail. Satisfied nobody was watching, he opened the mailbox door and pulled out a magazine and three envelopes.
He closed the mailbox door and retraced his steps, creeping up his driveway and into the open garage door. He pressed the button to lower the door behind him and shut out the brisk March air, and entered his home through a door off the garage. He flipped through the mail as he strolled through the laundry room and into the kitchen.
Stanley glanced down at the magazine, City Life. Stanley lived a digital existence, but he enjoyed the tactile feel of traditional publications. City Life was a monthly magazine typical of many mid-sized American cities, covering local events and culture. The issue’s arrival surprised him, as it normally showed up later in the month. The publisher must have rushed to capitalize on the news dominating the nation — Sapphire Angel’s initial defeat of the Savage Gang five days earlier, in a snowstorm.
Stanley flipped through the publication, which was filled with stories about Sapphire Angel, and about her takedown of the Savage Gang at Italian Lake. He breezed through each article, spotting each piece of incorrect information. He knew exactly what had happened, as he had received a firsthand account from Sapphire Angel herself.
Stanley was a father figure to Beth Harper, the young woman who lived a secret life as the famous superheroine. And to Sapphire Angel, he was more than a father figure. He advised her, and also supplied her with technology to make her heroic life easier.
He had been there from the start, when Beth had been on the verge of an engagement to Stanley’s son, John. The impending purchase of a ring had been a mere formality, but John had died before it happened, killed by the same illicit experiment which gave Beth her powers. Beth had assumed her superheroine persona, using her new powers to unravel a sinister plot.
Stanley frowned as he closed the magazine. The publication’s celebratory tone had been premature. The Savage Gang was not dead. They were back in the city. Footage of the attacks at the rally had filled the airways, showing gang members snapping limbs like they were twigs, and crushing faces like they were made of chalk.
The footage, although incomplete because of the chaos, also showed fragments of Sapphire Angel driving off the gangsters, and going toe to toe with Maximus Savage. Newscasters now lavished even more praise on the superheroine, touting her as unbeatable.
A pit of angst roiled in Stanley’s stomach, and not just because of the gang’s return. He worried about an impending discussion with Beth. Stanley had finally mustered the courage — and sufficient knowledge — to have a long overdue talk with her about some of the mysteries surrounding her alter ego. But now, as always, trouble was rearing its head and getting in the way. With a sigh, Stanley tossed the magazine and envelopes onto the kitchen table, and plodded the few steps into his adjacent office.
Stanley stared down at the papers scattered across his long wooden desk. His own illegible chicken scratch covered the documents. He had accumulated the notes over many years, but the bulk of the writing was newer, completed during a recent trip. He had made the trip under the guise of traveling to help a dying friend. His friend had needed care, but Stanley’s wife had handled most of the efforts. She had tended to the friend, while Stanley had used unique local resources to further his research — research into the origins of Sapphire Angel’s powers.
“Are you still going to do it?” a soft voice asked from behind him.
Stanley turned back toward the kitchen to face his wife, Betsy Devor. Whereas Stanley was disheveled and scattered, with unkempt hair, food-stained clothes, and wrinkled eyes, his wife was the image of neatness and regality. She stood with a perfect posture and possessed a gentle face, with grey-streaked brown hair tied in a tight bun on her head.
“It’s overdue, Betsy,” Stanley replied with a sigh, before rubbing his eyes. “Long overdue. But you saw the news report. Can I distract her now, with the gang back in town? It could get her killed. But I feel like a fraud for keeping this from her.”
“You need to stop judging yourself, Stanley Wilbur Devor. There's never been a good time. She always has too much on her plate to worry about this.”
“If I recall, you were the one who had encouraged me to tell her what I know.”
“I’ve come around to your way of thinking,” Betsy Devor replied. “Incomplete information wouldn’t have helped anyone, especially her. You didn’t know enough. And the whole thing is so farfetched, she might not have believed it, anyway.”
Stanley groaned, sitting back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes again before speaking.
“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” he asked. “But she’s seen enough now, compared to at the beginning. It might not seem so implausible to her. She’ll be able to process it better."
Stanley's wife stared at him as he worked through his thoughts aloud. She said nothing.
"On the other hand," he said, "I don’t have much more to tell her than I did a few months ago."
“Exactly. There’s no reason to tell her now. Nothing significant has changed.”
“I still feel like a fraud. Like I’m letting her down. Someday, when she finds out, she'll be upset. Upset with me for not telling her what I knew. For not telling her what I was up to on my trip. At the whole situation.”
“I don’t think Beth has it in her to be angry or upset with you, Stanley. She gets emotional, yes, but I’ve never seen her get cross with you. She loves you almost as much as her own father.”
Betsy Devor gave her husband a thin smile, and her eyes filled with empathy. Stanley exhaled, running a hand through his tangled hair. He creased his brow in thought, and spoke.
“I guess I can kick this can down the road a bit further,” he said. “Now is definitely not the time for me to bring it up. It will be hard enough trying to try to talk her out of going after the gang."
"You know that is a pointless exercise. She won't be deterred. She's going after the gang, no matter what any of us says. So you'll have two alternatives. You can help her, and make things safer for her. Or you can refuse to help, out of principle, and she'll go it alone."
"I know," Stanley grumbled. "And there’s one other problem. I asked Ethan to tell her I needed to speak with her. I need to have something to tell her.”
“Then tell her you don’t need to see her yet. Tell her you're busy trying to learn something helpful about the gang, now that they’re back in town.”
“She’s going to want to jump right on the gang issue,” Stanley said.
“Of course she will. That’s Beth. So tell her the truth — tell her you've come up empty on the gang, but you’re working on it. There's no sense her coming over until you have something useful. She’ll just be twiddling her thumbs here. I think she'll understand that you won't want her taking action against the gang until you have something that can help.”
“I can’t put it off forever — she might get the wrong idea,” he said, and paused as if hearing his own words. “Or the right idea. That I’m keeping something from her.”
“Just put it off for a day or two. Maybe by then you’ll have something.”
Stanley sighed. “I hope so, Betsy. I hope so.”
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
Whoa, okay! So of course we know Beth got her powers after being subjected to some experiment with the Fizzure Tech machine, in the same incident that took out John.....but besides Roy Valik's unsuccessful endeavor in Book #3, we haven't had too deep of a dive into what exactly caused it or why it gave her everything that it did. Don't get me wrong; it's amazing getting to see her do all of these things that no normal person should reasonably have the ability to do.....but I'd also like to get to the bottom of this as well. And to do it the right way, hopefully, unlike Valik. I gathered that Stanley might try to further his research into Sapphire's powers so that he can have enough information to talk to her about it and potentially distract her from going after the Gang.....? For what he sees as "keeping her safe"? But, like, at the same time, we can't leave them running around, either.
(gasp) Maybe Wayne Steele and his forces can just focus on the Savage Gang while Sapphire Angel assists Stanley Devor in getting to the root of her abilities instead! Steele seemed awfully set on trying to eliminate the Gang, almost as much as Sapphire and Lockheed before him. And then, when Sapphire and Stanley find answers, the former can rush back to the city and help Steele just when Maximus and the rest of the Gang have him and his team on the ropes! Wonder if Cal Valik from the third story will make an appearance, potentially lending his father's research to either Stanley or some associated third party to help him with his task; it seems unlikely, though, because Stanley's already the type to dabble extensively in technology and to not need excessive help from too many other people.
I'm kind of let down because I really thought Stanley would've been one of the people who would have Sapphire's back 100%, but now he seems to be jumping off the Conner-y slope, if you get what I mean. Too much emphasis on personal safety and not enough emphasis on the safety of others. Until I see some kind of incredibly devastating loss (the encounter with Lockheed in the hotel room last time doesn't count since the Gang wasn't involved), I'm still going to side with Sapphire going after her foes.
I'll be keeping it here for sure!