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 50
The club sped toward Beth’s knee, but in her eyes it moved in slow motion. She watched it without emotion, accepting her fate. The blow was lined up for a bullseye — there was no way it could miss. After the pain Savage had put her through, though, this was just one more agony to endure.
As time crawled, she thought back to the origins of her life as a superheroine, hiding in the platform beneath a strange glass cylinder, which had hummed to life above her with a mysterious buzzing sound. She had not just heard the sound, but felt it, deep in her core. When the rumbling started, almost like an earthquake, a tingling sensation had spread across her body, setting her nerves on fire, while a golden glow had surrounded her. The sound and light had ended with a loud crack, like a bolt of lightning.
Beth had known, even then, that something was different. Her life would never be the same. She had resisted the pull of her powers at first, not wanting to take the mantle — not wanting to become a hero. But she couldn’t resist the calling. She cared too much, even about strangers, to put her powers on the shelf. And after embracing her destiny, she had never looked back.
But now it was over. Savage had humbled her in combat, and stripped her powers by taking her necklace and costume. And now these men would finish the job, crippling her with an injury from which she might never recover.
The club came down toward its inevitable conclusion, right on target as it approached her knee. She could make out the splinters of wood on the weapon, and the wrinkles on the knuckles of the hand gripping it. She could feel the disturbance it caused in the air as it descended.
Just before it touched her knee, though, the trajectory of the club changed. Just in time, it jerked to the side, and the attacker’s hand flew open, releasing the weapon. The club still found her leg, but only with a grazing blow. Painful, but fleeting. Beth raised her gaze, wincing as the weapon clattered to the floor, its wielder collapsing to his knees.
A scream of agony erupting from her attacker’s mouth. A new man stood behind him, armed with an even larger club. He was a muscular man of average height with a bald head, and he wore a tattered prison jumpsuit. One word came to Beth’s mind at the sight of him — solid. This man was solid, and it would take a dump truck to knock him over.
The muscular man didn’t pause or even look at the woman on the cot, pivoting and swinging the club at another gangster — the older man with wavy, dark hair — driving it into his knee before the older man even realized someone was behind him. He went down.
The third man spun to face the unknown visitor, in time for the butt of the club to slam into the gangster’s jaw. His legs turned to jelly, and he collapsed to the floor.
“Fuck, Joe, why did you do that?” the older gangster asked, twitching on the floor and holding his knee.
“You know damn well why I did that, Hector,” the muscular prisoner said. “Now get these other two scumbags out of here and get back up to your cell, or I’ll make sure you can’t ever walk on that leg again.”
“Okay, okay, take it easy,” the older gangster, Hector, said, holding up a hand.
He climbed to his feet with a grimace as one of his mates — the one who had been about to destroy Beth’s knee — rose next to him. The two men limped to the third man, taking him under the shoulders, and pulled him between them toward the cell door. The man with the club watched them go, shutting the cell door after they disappeared down the hall.
He turned back toward Sapphire Angel, who shrunk away from him, rubbing her knee. What was he doing here? He might have come to take her for himself, and needed to get the other men out of his way.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She looked up at him and focused on his eyes. Kind eyes. Beneath his muscular appearance, this man exuded an unusual degree of empathy.
“I… yes,” she stammered. “At least as much as someone can be okay in here. Thank you for saving me. Who… who are you?”
As he spoke, she forced herself up to a sitting position on the cot, grimacing as pain shot through her ribs, shoulder, and knee.
“Someone who crossed the Savage Gang, just like you, and ended up in here, just like you. I’m Chief Joseph Rando.”
Just like you. So this man realized who she was. It was a strange sensation, being without her costume and necklace, and having people still see her as Sapphire Angel. But why wouldn’t they? They had seen her dragged in here and stripped. This place was probably in short supply of slender blue-eyed blond women. The idea of this man seeing her as Sapphire Angel, and knowing of her resounding defeat, added to her humiliation. But she put the embarrassment aside.
“Chief?” she asked. “Like a police chief?”
Rando’s face turned red and he looked down.
“Well, I guess I was Chief Joseph Rando. Police chief in Roanoke, Virginia. Now I’m just Joseph Rando, prisoner.”
Sapphire Angel gave a slow nod. She knew what such shame felt like.
“Where are we?” she asked.
Rando shrugged. “I don’t know, for sure. From scraps I’ve heard from the warden and others, I think we’re in a western U.S. state. Which one, I don’t know.”
The heroine thought of the plane ride. She had been barely conscious, but it was possible the flight had taken long enough to reach a state closer to the Pacific.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
Rando shrugged and frowned. “Time doesn’t mean much in here, so it’s hard to say. But I think a little over two weeks.”
Beth nodded.
“I’m sorry for all the questions,” she said, “but why did you help me? You could have gotten hurt.”
“That’s kind of what I do. And it’s what you do, too. You’re famous for doing things exactly like what I did, so you should understand, right?”
Beth nodded and chewed the inside of her cheek. She did understand. She helped people all the time, for no apparent reason. But she couldn’t do that here, without her powers. If the roles had been reversed, she would have been unable to help Joseph Rando. She needed her necklace to help people. Once again, accusatory words thrust themselves into her mind. Words that described her. A fraud! Unworthy!
“But now you’ve put yourself in danger,” she said. “Who were they? Won’t they come for you?”
“They're members of the Cobras, a gang that operates in a few western states, and has several guys locked up down here. They might come after me, but it’s unlikely. For one thing, they know better than to send more than a few of them out of their cells at a time, or the guards might lock things down. And a few I can handle.”
“What do you mean the guards might lock things down?” she asked.
“How do you think I was able to come to your cell?” Rando replied. “There are some of us who are respected down here, and who the guards don’t bother, as long as we don’t overdo it. So I have the means to get out of my cell when I want, within reason. And some Cobras did, too, but they went too far — acting not within reason. The warden had them searched and took their keys. They must have gotten another one, though. Probably from a guard.”
“You’re respected down here? And you’ve only been here a few weeks?”
Rando shrugged. “Respect can be earned quickly. But it’s not just because I can take care of myself. I’ve also made some alliances in here already. I didn’t get to be a police chief by not knowing how to play politics. And the world is politics. Even down here.”
Beth stared ahead, looking right through Rando as she considered his words. Here was a person worthy of respect, who didn’t rely on powers, but upon his own strength, ability, and guile. He wasn’t a fraud. Someone like him would have been worthy of the necklace, if it didn't only work for her.
“I have so many questions,” she murmured.
“Right now, I think you need some rest,” he replied. “No offense, but it looks like Savage and his men put you through the wringer.”
Sapphire Angel bit her lip and looked down, blushing, but said nothing.
“You can tell me about that later, after you’ve rested,” he said.
He must have noticed the heroine’s frown, as he continued in a lecturing tone.
“One thing I’ve learned,” he said, “is that you can’t hide from the truth. You’ve got to face it, study it, and own it. That’s the only way you can overcome it. It looks to me like the vaunted Sapphire Angel got her ass handed to her for the first time ever, and she doesn’t know how to cope with it. I think you have it in you, though, to get past it. You wouldn’t have done what you’ve done, helping everybody, if you didn’t. So you need to work on it. But not right now. Get some rest.”
Before she could ask another question, Rando stepped away, moving to the cell door and opening it. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him, leaving Beth to ponder all he had said. A moment later, he was gone.
She watched the dark hallway outside, pondering his visit and sudden disappearance. He had been here only a few weeks, and yet seemed right at home, and had carved out his own niche to stay alive. Beth could never do that. She wasn’t a survivor like Joseph Rando. She was doomed. The despondent heroine closed her eyes, fought back tears, and sank down into the thin mattress on the cot.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (Book 3)
Savage Dawn (Book 4)
Savage Vengeance (Book 5 - this story)
Oh, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Okay, I had a feeling that Rando and Beth might eventually end up at the same place after noting that the mysterious old woman visited both of them on different occasions, but dang…..I wasn’t expecting them to meet up right now! The fact that he’s still able to make it down here despite being a former police chief who’s fallen from grace kind of brings up something that I’m thinking of covering in my own selections: like, if someone doesn’t have any official credentials to their name (or had those credentials in the past but were stripped of them), but still know the tricks of their trade, should they still be considered “qualified”? Like, for instance, if someone knows a lot about human anatomy and physiology and is able to help a doctor, but does not have an official Ph.D., are they qualified to help in an emergency? Things like that.
The whole concept of respect, hierarchies, politics, etc. going on in the Dungeon makes it stand out even more from a lot of typical average prisons, IMO. Could you imagine if real-world prisons worked like that? Like, if you were just that charismatic, the guards would literally just allow you free rein of the institution as long as you weren’t too aggressive? I’d imagine it’d be easier to get out earlier on good behavior if that were the case, but I guess it’d also make it easier for the more shady types to take advantage of.
It kind of sucks that Rando’s ending words of motivation haven’t quite touched Beth yet, but dude. If she can work her way up to the position that Rando’s at—and prove to the other prisoners that she’s worthy of their respect and stuff—that’d be SICK. Unfortunately, her costume and her necklace are in various other places right now that are not her cell, so that might(?) be a bit difficult without them…..? Maybe just…..being a good person or standing her ground repeatedly will be enough to get her there….? I don’t know, I guess I could hope.
LET’S GO!