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Our Story So Far: A new drug is at the heart of a bloody gang war between the Torellos and 14K, but the mysterious assassin La Femme is the one behind it. Superia and Iron Crane have learned where La Femme is hiding out. What will they find when they get there?

Superia #2: Blissed Out pt. 3

by Sigma

VII

Hao Meng, notorious 14K muscle, stepped out of his car sipping an extra large soda as he approached a sizable gang of 14K soldiers gathered in a parking lot somewhere in the city. They had cars, vans, and SUVs all running, and the men stood around talking and joking until Hao Meng arrived. Once he finished his drink, he tossed the cup aside and pushed his sunglasses up his nose.

"Boys, I have some good news and bad. The bad news is that the men we sent to kill that Torello mad dog Bloodsport failed. He took them all out. He's probably telling boss Torello right now. The good news is we know where boss Torello is holed up tonight. It ain't at his manor, so he'll be easy to touch."

Hao Meng then took out his phone and fired off a mass text. One by one, the 14K hitters looked at their phones as they buzzed.

"That's the address. Mao Lin gave the green light. Let's go!"

The men cheered and got into their cars and drove off, honking their horns as they sped away. Hao Meng smirked and walked back to his car once they were all gone. He then opened the trunk to a dead body. The body of Hao Meng.

The man's form shifted from Hao Meng to La Femme and a smirk crossed her face as she closed the trunk on her victim, got in the driver's seat, and then drove off to follow the convoy.

***

Elsewhere, Antonio Torello, the 70 year old boss of the Torello crime family, stood on the balcony of a penthouse suite, his robe open and cool summer night air on his skin. He drank from a highball glass while a pair of slender hands crept over his shoulders and a young woman easily half his age rested her chin on his shoulder and moved her hand down his chest.

"Whoa, whoa...come on now, baby. I'm an old man. I need some recovery time."

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, and he turned and kissed her back. They stayed lip-locked, their naked skin pressing against each other when the door to the balcony slid open.

"Boss," Victor Mason interrupted with a phone in his hand.

"This better be good, Vic," boss Torello said, growling.

"We got a big problem. 14K made a move on Bloodsport. He took 'em all out, but they found his place so they may know you're here. He's on his way now."

Antonio sighed and looked at his woman of the night. "Sorry, baby. Work calls. Vic, get me a suit and get as many boys here as you can."

"You got it, boss," Victor said before going back inside.

Antonio finished his drink, put his glass down and stepped inside after giving his woman a firm slap on the ass.

***

"This is it," Iron Crane said as Superia pulled her motorcycle up to a rundown apartment building. Both women climbed off and eyed the building wearily before heading inside. They reached apartment 7G without incident and paused outside the door.

"Should we surprise the bitch?" Superia asked.

Iron Crane nodded, a hard look in her eyes.

Superia then spun around and kicked the door in, and the two women were greeted with dark and silence. It was a dingy studio apartment with an air mattress in one corner, a mini-fridge, discarded Chinese food containers everywhere, and a desk with a laptop on it.

While Crane searched the apartment Superia went to the computer and woke it up. She found a tab on the web browser that had a replay of her stream with Alexis, but she didn't find anything else of substance. Any messages had been deleted and there didn't appear to be any important files as far as she could find. She went back to the web browser and the video of her and Alexis.

"Christ...Lex's ass is amazing." Superia said, turning around when she felt someone looming over her.

Iron Crane watched over Superia's shoulder. "...Is that the safe house?"  

"I'll use the living room next time," Superia told her.

"You are unbelievable," Iron Crane told her. "Anyway, this place has trip sensors. Someone knows we're here and they might be coming. Let's take that and Delphi can try to find something useful."

Superia nodded, closed the laptop and unplugged it before the two women left the apartment.

They made it back down to the street before long. "Hopefully Delphi finds something useful and we'll begin to have a better picture of who our enemy is. Good work today." Iron Crane said.

Superia had just opened one of her bike's saddle bags to store the laptop when she paused and smiled.

"What?" Crane blinked.

"A...are we having a moment?"

"Just get on the bike."

"Admit it. We had fun today."

"You have a strange grasp of the word. I had a very...trying...day."

"Yeah, your nice kimono got jizzed on, my fighter got knocked out. It was kind of a wash, huh?"

"Do not mention that to anyone," Crane said through clenched teeth.

Superia laughed and closed the bag before hopping on and starting the engine. "Hop on. If you feel me up while you're back there, I'll know you care," she told her.

She burst into hysterics when Iron Crane looked away, blushing under her mask before she moved to climb on. Before Crane could mount the bike, however, a blur smashed into her and sent her flying several dozen feet. Superia sat on her idling motorcycle in stunned silence, wondering what just happened. She then turned to see a large man standing where Crane had been. He was easily six and a half feet tall, with a bald head and naked torso of solid muscle. He turned his dark gaze on Superia, who cut the engine and got off her bike.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Superia asked, cracking her knuckles.

"I am not your opponent this day," the muscular man said plainly. He looked down the street to see Crane recovering from the hit, and he calmly began walking toward her.

"Don't you turn your back on me!" Superia started after him, only to have a piece of metal slam into the back of her head with enough force to stagger her.  

"Agh! Fuck!" she groaned, holding the sore spot on her head. She turned around and caught a second hit to the face that sent her to the ground. When she looked up, she saw a tall woman standing in street light's glow with a baseball bat over her shoulder.

"You have got to be fucking kidding…" Superia groaned.

Riot grinned and rested her weapon on her shoulder. "Wassup Super-cunt? Didn't think you'd see me again so soon, did ya?" she asked before swinging the bat at Superia's face."

***

Back at Boss Torello's penthouse, two of his men stood guard at the door with submachine guns in hand when they spied a woman walking down the hall. She was frumpy, unassuming woman of about 40 years a sweater and long skirt.

She shuffled past the Torello men and their grips tightened on their guns as they watched her. When she reached them, she struck, downing one with a powerful roundhouse kick and then knocking into other to the side with a series of quick punches followed by a hip toss. Both men lay out cold and the woman fished a phone from her sweater and spoke into it.

"It took out the guards. Come on," Hao Meng's voice came out before she put the phone away and La Femme shifted into the burly 14K thug. She then heard a door behind her click and grabbed one of the guns, only to have it kicked from her hand before a powerful punch sent her reeling into the wall behind her.

Bloodsport stood over her, cracking his gloved knuckles and Mantis was at his side, her arm propped on his broad shoulder.

"A shapeshifter..." Mantis said. "It seems so obvious now."

La Femme growled and shifted into her normal form. She got up to face off against the two when the elevators at both ends of the hall dinged. 14K goons stormed out, guns in hand, and ran in their direction.

"Fuck!" Bloodsport shouted.

La Femme used the distraction to sweep Bloodsport's legs from under him before kicking Mantis hard in her stomach and sending her stumbling into the apartment behind her. La Femme then dove in after her as gunfire started filling the hall.

Bloodsport cursed and jumped up, 9mm rounds pinging off his body armor and helmet. He pulled his own twin pistols from their holsters and fired in both directions, downing a handful of 14K. He then rammed the door to Boss Torello's penthouse with his shoulder and forced his way in.

"Boys! Showtime!!" he yelled.

La Femme closed the door to the other apartment behind her to drown out the sound of gunshots and voices shouting in Mandarin.

"So who the hell are you?" Mantis' voice came from the shadows of the apartment.

La Femme looked around, trying to pinpoint the source in the darkness. "You're playing a dangerous game with people who never lose, Ms. Chambers."

"Is that right? You can tell me all about it when I'm beating the answer out of you."

The lights then came on and La Femme stepped back.

"Behind you," Mantis said.

La Femme turned around, swung, and hit air. When she turned back around, a fist in a green glove connected squarely against her jaw and sent her into the wall. Before she could recover, Mantis pressured her with more punches, tagging her face, chest, and stomach with a relentless barrage of blows.

La Femme gasped from the beating, slumping over and tasting the copper sting of blood in her mouth, but Mantis grabbed her neck and slammed her back into the wall.

"I'm just getting warmed up, honey," Mantis said. "Who are you working for?"

La Femme clenched her teeth.

"Talk!" Mantis shouted, slamming her head into the wall.

La Femme's vision swam, her ribs and chest ached, she felt a ringing in her ears that was made worse when Mantis hit her in the face again, drawing blood from her nose.

"Do you know why street-level criminals didn't worry about Star Woman but were afraid of me? Do you have any idea how many assholes I've crippled? Unless you want to spend the rest of you life eating through a tube, you'll give something up." 

La Femme looked to her side at a table next to the door, where a potted plant sat. She reached out and gripped the pot and swung it, shattering it against Mantis' head. The heroine groaned from the blow and stumbled to her knees. She got up, shaking her head to the sound of a window shattering. When she ran to the broken window, La Femme was nowhere to be seen.

Mantis took a deep breath, rubbing the side of her head before leaving the apartment. Out in the hall, the 14K hitters were dragging their wounded away, trails of blood and bullet holes behind them. Inside Boss Torello's penthouse, Bloodsport stood over a bloody pulp of a 14K man. Torello and 14K men alike lay dead on the floor, but Victor Mason and Boss Antonio Torello stood with smoking guns in their hands as they surveyed the mess.

"All this over a fuckin' drug," Boss Torello said, handing his gun to one of his men. "Vic, get the boys organized and out of here. The cops'll be here any minute.

Victor put a round in the man laying in front of Bloodsport. "You got it boss," he said before putting his gun away. "You heard the chief. Let's go, boys!"

"D'you get her?" Bloodsport asked Mantis.

"She got away to go lick her wounds," Mantis growled, punching the wall.

"Ms. Mantis," Boss Torello said, walking up to her. "Thank you for your help with this. If you and Andrei hadn't shown up..."

"It's fine, Antonio. What are you going to do now?"

"Those 14K fucks are going to pay. This means war!" He said angrily. "Come on, Andrei. You're about to earn some overtime," he said before leaving.

"No rest for the wicked," Bloodsport said. "I'll call ya later, babe." He gave Mantis a quick kiss and a squeeze on her plump ass before following Boss Torello. 

Mantis watched them go and then walked out onto the balcony. Police sirens sounded in the distance. She looked back at the carnage in the penthouse. "Dammit..." she said before leaping off the balcony and deploying her grappling hook to swing away.

***

The bald giant of a man was quick for his size, but Iron Crane managed to land several well placed strikes, causing her opponent to stagger and wince. She dodged his strikes, blows that she noticed were the hallmark of a skilled martial artist.

"You're as good as your file says, Ms. Miyazawa," he said, holding his ribs, which stung from a recent kick. "I look forward to our future meetings." 

Crane said nothing. She simply aimed a strike at a spot on his neck that she knew would temporarily disable him. But, much to her surprise, her hand turned aside when it struck stone.

Her opponent stood before her, his skin solid rock now. Crane hit him a few more times, but the blows did nothing. When she put more power into the next blow, the man grabbed her wrist, pulled her in, and slammed his fist hard into stomach, knocking the air out of her and causing her to slump over. Before she hit the ground, he grabbed her by a fistful of hair and held her up while turning in Riot's direction.

Superia lay on the sidewalk, her body and face badly bruised as Riot smashed up her bike with her bat.

"Ugh...shit...." Superia groaned. "...Hey..."

Riot paused and looked over.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, you tattooed cum dumpster. I'm gonna make you swallow your teeth for touching my bike."

"Ooooh, Naomi. Don't ever let that fire die. Not before I snuff it out myself," Riot said, straddling her hated enemy and putting the tip of her bat under her jaw.

Superia growled at her and spit.

Riot reeled back and rubbed her eyes, and then looked at her hands and saw they were stained with Superia's blood. "You fucking asshole!" Riot screamed before raising the bat overhead. Before it came down, a giant hand grabbed the weapon and stopped it.

"They've had enough. We're not to kill them, remember."

Riot looked up at her partner as he dropped Crane on the ground, next to Superia and pulled the laptop from the bike's saddlebag.

"Come, Riot," the big man said before walking away.

Riot watched him walk away and then turned to Superia, kicking her hard in the ribs. "Next time, bitch. Next fucking time. Your head is mine."

Superia lay in silence for several seconds and then looked over at her motorcycle. Dents covered its body and the headlight was shattered on the ground. "Mama's gonna get that whore, baby. I promise. Crane, you still alive?" she coughed.

"I am," Iron Crane groaned. Her ribs felt pulverized from that single blow and she drew short, shallow breaths. She crawled across the sidewalk, struggling to breath, and took Superia's hand. "We're going to get them."

"Attagirl...." Superia smiled weakly, trying and failing to sit up.

VIII

The sun was just starting to rise over Delta City, and at the safehouse, Mantis leaned against the wall with arms folded and watched the scene in front of her.

"Hold still," Alexis warned while putting rubbing alcohol on a cloth.

Naomi grunted when she put the cloth to a nasty scrape on her forehead.

Asa sat on the couch next to her, holding her tender ribs and breathing slowly.

"This is a mess..." Mantis said. "We've got a gang war that's only going to get worse, and a group of players who we can't even identify."

"Anisa is working on it," Crane grunted, holding her side as she stood up. "They won't be able to hide from us for long."

"I'm just glad you're all right, relatively speaking," Delphi said, entering the room. "I promise you all I'm going to get to the bottom of this and find out who Riot and La Femme and this Stone Man are working for."

"It's gotta be the same bitch that got Riot from the club," Naomi said, getting up with Alexis' help. "That's kinda fucked..."

"What is?" Delphi asked.

"For all we know, Riot and La Femme and that stone guy are being led by an evil version of you," she said to Delphi.

"That's...a very unsettling thought..." Asa said.

Delphi glanced at the floor in thought. "Let me worry about that. Whoever this woman is, she's mistaken if she thinks she and her henchmen are free to run around our city like this."

"All right, do your thing. I'm going back to my place," Naomi said. "That bitch Riot had the chance to kill me and Stoney said they weren't supposed to. I'm gonna go soak in my tub."

"Yes. A nice bath sounds wonderful," Asa agreed before getting up to leave. "Let us know what you find," she told Delphi.

After they were all gone, Delphi looked at Mantis. "This is bad."

"No shit," Mantis replied.

"We need to ID these mystery players and fast. They know who you and Asa are outside of costume. I'm also worried that Riot and this man of stone had Naomi and Asa at their mercy and simply walked away. They're planning something..."

"I need to go see Antonio and Mao Lin. Even if I tell them about La Femme, they'll still want retribution for the deaths on both sides."

"I couldn't reach you with what I found earlier about La Femme. I hope Bloodsport at least gave you an orgasm."

Mantis narrowed her eyes at Delphi.

"Don't give me that look, Veronica," Delphi stepped up to her. "We're supposed to be a team. V'lirra may have tolerated your bullshit but I'm not her. Next time you want to go off-mission for a dick appointment, I'm done with you."

"You watch how you talk to me, Anisa," Mantis threatened.

"Or what? This isn't the first time you've gotten one of the girls hurt because you were off doing your own thing. You may not like it, but Naomi, Asa, Lea, all the others, they're our responsibility. I want them all to be as safe as possible, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna get any of their blood on my hands because of you." 

"Tell you what," Mantis said coolly. "Show you're useful outside of sitting behind a computer and doing your little telepathy thing," she said, poking Delphi in the forehead. "And maybe then you can lecture me about how I run my missions."

Delphi started to say something, but took a deep breath and pushed Mantis' finger away from her head. "You might intimidate those idiots on the street, but you don't scare me, Veronica. You're just some bored rich woman wasting her gifts."

"Glass houses, Anisa. We run in many of the same circles."

"True, but I built everything I have. I've seen the value of lifting people up, not stepping on them to get what I want." Delphi stepped back. "I have a mystery mastermind to find. I don't need you for now, so you and your murderer boyfriend can go break some furniture. Try to answer your comms if I do reach out, though." 

Mantis stared at Delphi for several long seconds before muttering something and walking out.

Delphi sighed, took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't let them down. I can't...Time to get to work." She then walked to the safe house's meeting room and approached the computer terminal. She planted herself in the seat and brought up the board of known threats.

Riot and La Femme were grouped together, along with a silhouette that simply read 'Stone Man'. Above all of them was a big question mark that Delphi fixated on. "So...who the hell are you...?" she asked, tapping her chin and leaning back.

***

Elsewhere in the city, La Femme limped into a spacious office just receiving the day's first light. When she walked in, the Stone Man stood with his arms folded and acknowledged her with a faint nod.

Riot sat in a chair with her feet up on a coffee table and looked back at La Femme and laughed. "That's what you get for calling me biker trash. Slate and I got your computer. You almost let those fucking idiots take it."

La Femme narrowed her eyes at Riot but said nothing. Her eyes fell to the other side of the room, where Sloan Adams watched her from behind steepled fingers.

"Take that disguise off, Umbra..." Sloan ordered. "La Femme needs to go away."

La Femme's formed shifted again, this time to a thin, pale woman with gray eyes and short, dark hair.

"You got reckless, like Riot said," Sloan chastised. "Fortunately, Slate was here to clean up your mess."

Umbra remained quiet.

"The good news is it wasn't a total loss. You saw that 14K and the Torellos lost plenty, and other gangs will smell blood in the water. Not to mention our Bliss has officially hit the streets, so that's just one more thing our enemies will be dealing with while we continue to move forward. Crime will continue trending upward, but I may have to send word to ramp up production to cement it all..."

"When can we strike the killing blow?" Riot asked.

"I told you, in time." Sloan answered. "I still need to move Meta Woman and the others into place. Whoever leads those bimbos knows what they're doing and we cannot risk being outmaneuvered this early into the plan."

Riot huffed and rolled her eyes. "Shoulda let me bring Superia here and beat the answer out of her."

"I've got psychological workups done on all of them, Riot, just as I do with all of you. Trust me when I say that Naomi Grant is no snitch. None of them would be easy to break mentally. I suspect that's one of the key reasons they're recruited..."

"Let me go after that friend of Naomi's then, the bitch who lives across the hall from her."

"No," Sloan said. "If they suspect you of it, they may bring Sentinel in to try and help find her and that is not the kind of attention we need right now."

"Exercise patience, Riot," Slate said.

"I don't need anymore of your ancient kung fu wisdom or whatever," Riot told him.

"Meditation might do some good. Slate and I practice it every day at 3. Join us," Sloan told her.

"I'm good," Riot said.

"Very well. You all are dismissed. I have nothing more for you for now," Sloan told them. When they left, she turned to the computer screen on her desk and brought up a chart that showed the heroines. Mantis, Iron Crane, and Superia all had their images with their heroine names alongside their real names. Above that was a shadowy image with a question mark. "Now...who is it that guides you ladies, I wonder. Who do you look to now that Star Woman is gone? That is the head I need to chop off..." she said to herself while taking a sip of her coffee.

She then went to her computer's home screen and clicked on a folder labeled "Project Panopticon".

***

Asa grunted, fighting through the pain in her body as she struck her training dummy well into the morning hours. Fists, elbows, and knees all landed on their marks as she pictured the object as the man she fought mere hours ago.

"Ah, once again you have suffered defeat," the raspy voice in her head mocked. She turned toward the sheathed sword.

"Yes, little bird, I see this Man of Stone in your mind. My bite can end his life. Stone skin or not. You know this to be true. We have slain far more dangerous game together, after all. Do not deny my power."

Asa ignored the voice and continued her training until she heard her phone buzzing. She used a towel to wipe the sweat from her aching body and picked it up to see a message.

***

Naomi lay on her bed, in pitch black thanks to her thick curtains, staring up at her ceiling fan while smoking a quickly dwindling joint. It hurt to move, so she just stayed still, only shifting to pick up the phone laying on her naked tits when it buzzed.

N: We should train together so that we'll be ready next time for Riot and her buddy. -7:04am

IC: Okay. -7:05am

N: Cool. I'll hit you up sometime and we'll talk details. -7:05am

IC: Go to sleep. You're hurt and you've been up all day. -7:08am

N: Wanna join me? -7:08am

The reply took a few minutes.

IC: I don't understand. I already said I would train with you. -7:11am

N: I mean in bed, you prude :P You seem like a top to me. I'm fine with being bottom. idc. You can come here. My bed's bigger than the ones at the safehouse. I'll make us pancakes after. You like blueberry? -7:11am

Message read at 7:14am.

Naomi sighed and put her phone on her nightstand. She then stubbed her joint out in the ashtray and rolled over, pulling her covers over her. "I gotta get that bitch laid...Fuck. Now I want pancakes..."

The End.