by bravenail
| Part One | Part Two | Part Three |
Becca Chambers shuddered in her sleep. April in Dallas was a warm month so she was not cold...not in the usual way. She tossed fitfully, thrashing about until she wakened enough to realize what was wrong.
" The Touch!! Oh my God, he came to me again!"
The frightened woman jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, splashing her face at the sink bowl to mask the tears flowing from her eyes and down her cheeks. Even though the trauma of her dreams was already mercifully fading as she returned to the bedroom, one word, spoken by a raspy, sub-human voice drifted through her mind's darkest corridors more like smoke than an echo
"...Basilisk!!!"
" This is crazy! When I"m the Defender, I'm not afraid of anything! But here, in my own home, in my own bed, I'm having nightmares like a frightened child! And I'm talking to myself..." her voice trailed off as she stared out the bedroom window; the moon was in it's crescent phase, brighter than the stars.
Basilisk. She had read about the mythological beast in school! It killed with ease at a glance or with the touch of it's breath! Scary reading of course, but even as a schoolgirl, Becca had known it to be nothing more than the creation of a fertile if off-center imagination.
Abruptly shaking her head and turning from the window, she reached for the phone. When a deep male voice responded to her call she said, " Justice! I want to patrol with you tonight! My head's full of cobwebs and I need to some action to clear them out! "
Receiving the answer she wanted, she hung up and immediately slipped out of her sheer, black nightgown. She paused for a moment in front of the room's full-length mirror. The streaming moonlight gave the sinewy, sensual curves of her naked body an appealing luminescence which she enjoyed briefly before donning the red-white and blue garments that told the world she was, the Defender!
One half hour later, a familiar old blue Buick Regal purred through the alley behind Becca's house. Reaching her yard, it slowed down just long enough to let her vault cleanly over the back fence and in through the open passenger-window!
Even in the pervasive moonlight, the driver seemed shrouded in shadow! " What's up baby? Thought you meant to stay in and rest for a couple of days! "
Her gaze lingered for a few seconds on the man that she and the world knew only as Vigilante Justice. " That's what I intended to do but now I need this more! " Leaning into his dark aura, Becca kissed his mouth, "....right now all I want is some adventure...and some Justice! " She smiled slyly and knew, though she could not see it, that he smiled as well.
In minutes the dark blue auto burst forth up an access ramp and shot south on I-35E. Becca settled back in the dark leather upholstery and breathed deeply of the warm spring air, her blood racing with the promise of adventure. She felt better already!
Becca's deep auburn hair framed her pretty face in wildly cascading waves. The Texas winds, always brisk in April, were intensified as the Regal's highway speed forced them in the car's open window!
She glanced at the man driving. Although she knew less about him than she did about many of the felons she battled, Becca placed her trust in Vigilante Justice. He was an enigma wrapped in a mystery, always cast in shadows and no database on earth held his true name! But many months ago, he had pulled her from a raging river then helped her apprehend the six thugs who had bound her and thrown her in! Since that stormy Texas night, they had exchanged the same sort of favor at least a half dozen times each!
..............................................
The sleek old Regal roared westward, on Interstate 30,eventually exiting in the older section of downtown Fort Worth. They made their way to a darkened block on Cherry street where Justice eased the car just past an ancient, two-story building that had been a gas station until recently.
Killing the ignition, the dark figure turned to his brightly contrasting companion and said, " Showtime Baby! "
Defender slowly scanned the block in disbelief. Except for the ever-deepening shadows, the entire street presented a static and lifeless portrait.
" Justice, are you kidding me? We can't fight anything but shadow figures here! "
" Close Princess! We're here after Greylight! He's hard to see, I know but he's here, trust me! He and I have ... a lot in common! "
Exiting the vehicle without another word, Vigilante Justice strode smoothly into the Shadows surrounding the old building and seemed at once to blend with them! Suddenly, Defender could see nothing of him!
" Justice! " she hissed, " don't leave me here...I'm a sitting duck! " She didn't know this Greylight, but if he had anything like the shadowy abilities of the vigilante, she would be helpless against him in this scenario!
Becca edged closer to the spot where she had seen her comrade merge with the shadows. The moonless night seemed to darken even more and the black shadows swelled until she could barely see ten inches in front of her!! Suddenly, her prophecy threatened to become self-fulfilling as a pair of rough arms concealed in the gloom grabbed her from behind!
" Not that easy, punk! " Becca snarled as the serpentine eye of her crocodile amulet flared at her throat! As in all times of battle or danger, the talisman she had been gifted with so long ago, flooded her with the Defender's power! She grasped one of the silent assailant's arms with both hands! Bending forward and twisting it , she felt more than heard a distinct pop as bone and cartilage separated, then definitely heard a the scream of a huge man in her right ear!
Becca broke free then and whirled, poised to fight, but was quickly grabbed again as more arms emerged from the shadows! She began to struggle but was stunned by three rapid blows to her jaw which seemed to be delivered by the business end of a sledge hammer! To complete their evil chore, one pair of hands clamped a moist, sweet-scented rag over the mouth and nose of the embattled heroine! As countless hands restrained her arms and legs, the brave woman, already near unconsciousness, could offer only feeble resistance and soon sagged limply into the arms of her enemies!
Within seconds, Becca too merged with the dark shadows as her formless attackers carried the defenseless Defender toward the looming building. In an instant all was silent and still and, it seemed, even darker than before!
0" ...Basilisssssk!!!" The sibilant word filled Becca's ears giving an unpleasant tickle to her dawning consciousness! She looked around slowly and found herself in what seemed to be a huge cavern whose structure was composed of a milky pink marble-like substance.
She lay on the cavern floor, face down with arms and legs immobilized somehow! By straining and bending her neck at an uncomfortable angle, she perceived her bindings to be either ropes or vines, greenish in color. Straining to free herself was of no use! The strength of the Defender was no longer hers!
Becca didn't give up...remaining true to the fighting spirit that had made her a super hero in the first place, she continued her struggles! The tough restraints would not be moved! Like things alive, they responded to the heroine's every effort by tightening more and more until both arms and legs were nearly paralyzed from the diminished circulation!
Maddened by frustration, Becca opened her mouth to cry out to her unseen captor, but the sound that emerged was garbled and pitched impossibly low for her vocal range. Her subsequent screams came forth in the same baritone timber as though played from a tape at half-speed!
Worse yet, each sound she made echoed through the chamber, gaining volume and further permutation until the cacophony threatened to shred her eardrums! She tried to dampen the din by quieting her voice but even her muffled sobs were eventually amplified beyond the level of a passing freight train! The sounds continued to build, filling her ears and her mind, causing pain and pressure within her skull! Blinded by her own tears, her senses swirling out of control, the terrified woman finally blacked out again!
All was silent now ... until "...Basilissssssk!" The hissed word wafted through gently through the air, teasing Becca's senses until once again, she began to stir...
............................
The Vigilante thrashed helplessly against iron bands of darkness encircling his limbs and sealing his mouth. He had been held like this for about fifteen minutes, forced to see his brave comrade grabbed, savaged, and finally rendered unconscious by the same shadowy forces that restrained him!
Blood vessels near-bursting, he had fought to no avail to be at her side! Now the man Becca called Justice sagged against his bonds in despair! What flight of logic had over come him to have walked into such easy entrapment!
His fear of personal harm was completely washed over by the numbing dread he had felt when a wall of the ebon-drenched building seemed to melt briefly as the limp body of the Defender was somehow dragged inside.
An endless collage of horror filled his mind as he wondered just what was happening to her...
To Be Continued