Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Chapter 37 -- Rally

As she felt her necklace, Sapphire Angel noticed something else — her pain had diminished. Just moments earlier, tears had flowed down her face. Now the throbbing pain was still present, but it no longer overwhelmed her.

The yellow glow continued to intensify, growing brighter until it felt like daylight in the cylinder. With each passing moment, Sapphire Angel's pain ebbed ever so slightly. She didn't have time to wait for it to disappear completely. Surely Dominick and his men were watching, and would come for her.

With a scream of fury, the costumed woman took a long stride toward the glass door of the cylinder, leapt into the air, and launched at it with both feet. Her feet struck the glass, and the door shattered outward as if someone had shot it with a cannon.

She launched through the opening, landing on the floor outside the cylinder just as Dominick's guards rushed into the room. The heroine ignored them and turned to the cylinder. She leapt to the area of the base where the scientists had adjusted switches minutes earlier. The lights glowed yellow now.

Sapphire Angel reared back her leg and swung the hard toe of her boot forward. It connected with a panel, smashing lights and disconnecting hoses. The crackle of electricity filled the air, as sparks shot off from the panel.

"No!" Dominick's enraged voice screamed from behind her. Beth ignored his cry as she drove her boot into the second panel. It suffered the same fate as the first, with the sparks from the two panels shooting off like a miniature fireworks display.

Sensing footsteps closing behind her, Sapphire Angel leapt up and away from the cylinder in a backward somersault. She sailed over the heads of Dominick and his men, coming down behind them. As the guards spun to face her with raised weapons, she was already launching herself toward them.

She tore into the end of the line of guards with a flurry of punches and kicks, as bullets rained down on her. The first two attackers, including the stocky man, went down before realizing she was among them, their weapons clattering to the floor as her powerful blows slammed them to the ground. The third and fourth men reacted, opening their eyes wide in shock. A kick to the face and an elbow to the throat sent them to the floor.

The three remaining guards charged at the heroine, led by the large man who had carried her into the room. As they tossed their useless guns at her, Sapphire Angel feinted a leap away from them, avoiding the weapons. When the men lunged forward, though, she reversed direction, using their momentum against them. She landed a kick to the knee of the man to her far right, and he crumpled with a scream of agony.

The man to her left aimed a fist at her head, but the athletic woman caught it with a palm, halting it in mid swing, and landed a devastating blow to his face with her other fist. As he fell, the large man in the middle was on her, flying into her with a football tackle. They flew to the ground as one, with his full weight landing on her. She grunted as air shot from her lungs.

"Help him!" she heard Dominick bellow. As she jerked her head to the side to avoid her attacker's punch, she saw Dominick's three scientists coming toward her with slow, tentative steps.

The large man cocked his arm and swung down with another punch. Instead of moving her head, Sapphire Angel raised her hand, intercepting the punch inches from her face. The man's eyes flew open in shock.

With one hand on his fist and the other grabbing his shoulder, she pushed him off of her. His body flew backwards, twisting sideways in the air and clotheslining the three scientists, sending all four men to the ground. The superheroine was on them as they tried to gather themselves, delivering punches and kicks to their faces and heads. Within seconds they were out of the fight.

Only Dominick remained, holding one of the discarded handguns at his side. Sapphire Angel turned her gaze to the man, her glare radiating anger. He returned a look of pure hatred, his face twisted in fury. She stood, her hands on her hips, holding his gaze.

"Do you know what you've done?" he asked with a snarl.

"I've stopped you from killing more innocent people," Sapphire Angel replied.

"You've sentenced my daughter to death. This was her last hope."

"Hope?" the heroine replied in disbelief, her voice rising. "Do you really think she wanted this?"

Dominick studied Beth, his jaw set. As they held each other's glare, his look softened, transforming from anger to sadness. His shoulders sagged.

"This is over," she said.

He shook his head, before raising the gun and putting it in his mouth.

"No!" she screamed and lunged forward. But it was too late. He pulled the trigger.

A dull click sounded. Dominick swore just as Sapphire Angel slammed into him. The empty weapon clattered along the floor, and Dominick rolled away from the superheroine.

He rose to his knees as Sapphire Angel leapt to her feet. The sadness in his eyes was gone, replaced with emptiness. He shook his head, a broken man.

"You couldn't even allow me that mercy?" he murmured.

Beth hesitated, remembering Ashley Dominick's words. Make this easy on my father. But allow him to kill himself? No, she couldn't do that.

So lost in her moral dilemma was she that Sapphire Angel didn't hear the pounding feet coming from the hall until it was too late. A guard, returned from hauling Ethan away, burst into the room, lowering his shoulder into Sapphire Angel chest just as she turned. He had a full head of steam, and shot the petite woman through the air.

She crashed into the ground and rolled into a tumble. As she stopped in a crouch, the new attacker's foot flashed from her side, catching her under the chin and flipping her onto her back. The dazed woman saw the shadow of the man looming over her, diving at her. She rolled to the side, barely avoiding him as he smacked into the ground.

He struggled to rise, but Sapphire Angel was quicker, springing to her feet. As the man lumbered to an upright position, she was already leaping forward, swinging with a roundhouse punch. Her first crashed into his face, spinning him. Her opposite fist caught him, spinning him in the opposite direction. One more punch sent him spinning to the floor, where he lay unmoving.

Whirling, Beth turned back to Dominick. Her head whipped about the room, but she didn't see him. The Fizzure CEO had slipped away.

After taking a deep breath to gather herself, Sapphire Angel turned to the men on the ground. She couldn't let them escape while she searched for Ethan. She rushed to the base of the cylinder and ripped wires and cables free. Once she had a handful, she came back to the men and used the material to bind their feet and ankles. It would have to do.

Sapphire Angel eyed the hall leading from the room. It was time to find Ethan and the other remaining prisoners. It was also time to find Demarco Dominick, and put an end to this once and for all.

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What would you do with Dominick, if you were in Sapphire Angel's shoes, and had been asked by his dying daughter to go easy on him?

Like everyone else, I love feedback and it is a big motivator, so please fill In that small, empty star in the upper corner if you see fit, and I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments.

~CJ