Let It Burn: Part 2 (Patreon)

I watch Sister Cinder hit the ground and take off running.  Launching from the top of the building I take to the air and try to stay with her as best I can.  I didn’t have true flight, more of a controlled levitation that I use to push off and glide from building to building.  With me soaring above her Sin dashes down dark streets and through cluttered alleys, leaping fences and parkouring over, under, and around obstacles.  Still far beyond the ability of regular humans Sin had definitely slowed down a step.  No surprise of course, the woman was pushing fifty and having just downed half a bottle of strong spirit certainly wasn’t helping either.  I know I was feeling it, the shattered window and bent street light I had left in my wake was evidence of that.

She might have slowed a bit with age but I knew she was toying with me.  She had always been quicker than me and over the years her craftiness made her a tricky catch in the best of conditions.  In the chaos and dark of this night I knew she could have given me the slip within a minute or two if she really wanted to.  But tonight…she was enjoying the chase as much as I was.  A couple of times she I actually do lose track of her, only to see her appear again from down another street long enough to laugh and tease me and start the chase anew.  Yeah, she was definitely toying with me.

We both knew what this was.  There wasn’t much she could actually get at a physical bank these days that wasn’t traceable or wouldn’t be made worthless by security measures.  And for my part, in the grander scale of this destruction, I couldn’t have cared less about the contents of one bank vault.  Crime and justice had nothing to do with what we were doing.  This one was for sport.  For fun!  One more for old times sake.  As our cohorts wage a war of life and death we two tipsy fools play like we were young again.

Block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood, our chase circles around the periphery of the city keeping us as far from the main fighting as we could get.  The only illumination came from vehicle headlights, fires, or the superpowered light show that occasionally tore through the sky like flashes of prismatic lightning.  We pass right by the panicked citizens, confused cops, and mobs of looters as if they weren’t even there.  At one point I even hear a cry.  “Angel of Justice!  Help us!”  Not tonight dear citizen, not tonight.  

In my mind’s eye it was the old days all over again.  I felt strong and energized and so alive, with a pure mind and a courageous heart, hot on the heels of cruelest and most heinous new villain the city had seen in years.  As Sin acrobatically rolls over the burned out husk of an early 90’s sedan I could actually picture it there as if were brand new off the lot.  Leaping high she crests the high wrought iron fence that surrounded a churchyard and nimbly tip toes across the points at full speed…until she misses a step to tumble with a roll back down the sidewalk.

“Ha!”  I call down to tease.

With a wild grin she blows me a kiss from her glossy red lips then flips me a middle finger in the same motion before sprinting off in a new direction.  I hit the wall of the church hard then thrust my legs to push me after her, my cape fluttering in the acrid air.  With my spirit soaring I watch my voluptuous quarry twist and dash and twirl with a new admiration.  Damn she still looked good!  She filled out that leather looking dominatrix nun outfit as good as she ever did.  Sure, she wasn’t that fit and firm little minx of yesteryear, she was a bit wider and softer and…bouncier in places now, but to my eyes the years only made her more sexy.  With a plunging cleavage, exposed legs and ass hugging booty shorts Sin had always used her hotness to her advantage.  Long fingerless gloves, knee high stiletto heel boots, a small bibbed collar, a short capelet, and of course her nun’s headpiece rounded out the outfit.

She darts sharply around a corner forcing me to swerve and grab a power pole so that I could sling shot down this new street.  As I round the bend I find that she…was gone.  Letting my momentum carry me I glide down the dark street, my head snapping left and right as I wait for her to appear again.  This time however there are no teasing waves or beckoning giggles.  I slow to stop against an old brick tenement building.  Holding onto a ledge to keep me still I scan and listen.  Nothing.

“What is that tricky bitch playing…”  I start to say…until it hits me where in the city we were.

I look behind me.  This building used to be a convent.  Her convent.  That church I had just launched myself from was the one she attended before her order discovered her double life and cast her out.  She had returned to her roots.  Why?  The answer hits me as quick as the question.  Our first battle, our first real one-on-one knock down and drag out battle, had happened in this very neighborhood over thirty years ago.  We had beat the living hell out of each other, and the neighborhood hadn’t faired so well either.  I still bore a scar from that day.  There was no bank, that was just a lure to get me off of that building.

Sin had brought me here to fight.

My gaze drifts off toward the lights and violent sounds in the distance.  It looked like I was a part of this war after all.  Alright then.  So be it.  I crack my neck from side to side.  One more time, this time to the finish.  If I were to fall this night there was nobody I’d rather go out to.

Keeping my height to make it harder for her to ambush me I start to slowly drift up and down the roads and through the parks, every alcohol dimmed sense as sharp as I could make it.  Again and again I jerk toward the sound of a scream or the crash of wood and glass being broken as the mass turmoil that gripped this town played out here as well.  I go to all the memorable spots from our great battle, my mind reliving the experiences as I look on the locales for the first time in years.  I find plenty of memories, but Sister Cinder was nowhere to be seen.

With nowhere else to look I head back toward the towering old church.  That was the one place in this area that had remained untouched in our original fray.  The Sister was a practicing nun back then, fanatical about her faith, and had been sure to steer our melee away from this spot.  As I close in I can just make out the flickering lights of candles rippling across the high stained glass windows.  Drifting up to a broken pane large enough for me to fit through I peer in to see Sin on her knees in prayer below the looming crucifix above the altar.

I slip through the window and float down to the floor.  A few dozen white candles were lit and set out all through the space, the dim flicker of fire giving the art and stained glass and statuary of the yawning nave a downright eerie ambiance.  The place had already been looted of anything of value and vandalized, though I notice the doors have since been barricaded with heavy wooden pews, likely by Sin herself.

I come to land softly on the smooth stone floor I hear Sin whispering her prayer.

“Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

“Amen.”  I finish the player for her.

“Amen.”  She repeats.  With a sign of the cross she rises to her feet, looks up to the weary face of the savior so worn down by the passions he endured, then slowly turns to face me.  The chase had brought a sheen of sweat over her body giving her an ethereal glow in the candle light.  In her intense blue eyes I see that fire from her fanatical youth burning bright once more.  “Bless me Angel for I have sinned.  I have had impure thoughts.”  She hisses through clenched teeth as she whips out her hands to either side, fingers splayed wide, and extends her fiery claws.  “SSSSSS!”

I square up and stare back at her unflinchingly.  Cracking the hard knuckles of my right fist into my left hand and flexing my thick muscles I growl.  “Your wicked soul is for the Lord to judge, but your ASS is mine!  Justice has come for you Sister Sin!”

With claws out and teeth bared she charges me.  “SAAAHHHH!!!”

Fists clenched and jaw clenched I charge her.  “RRRRRR!!!”

We come together in a flurry of claws and fists and grunts and hisses.  While furious and thrown with intent punches are dodged, raking swipes parried, and spinning kicks blocked and our first quick round ends without a blow landed.  We each the others moves nearly as well as our own and our strengths and weaknesses balanced out almost exactly.  I was stronger, tougher, had a slight edge in stamina, and I had my levitation powers.  She was quicker, more nimble, healed faster and of course she had those red hot razor sharp claws.

After this first salvo we turn and start to circle each other as we waited to see who would make the next move.

“You should have stayed on that roof old man.”

“Drawing me out will be your last mistake.”  I dart in with quick double jab.

She slaps them away with ease.  “Slow.  Can’t handle your booze?  I wish I would have known that…NNNFFF!”

A glance hook off of her ribs shuts her up in a hurry.  She goes for a spinning back fist, which I am ready for, only to be taken off guard as she reverses it to crack her opposite elbow across my jaw.

“Rmm.”  I jump back and stretch out my sore jaw.  “Lucky shot.”

We circle each other for a time, each looking for the slightest twitch or opening, before I take initiative on the next round.  She jumps the low sweeping kick that I open with to throw one of her own at my head.  I roll the side and land a clean shot against her side, sending her skittering back and grimacing in pain.  Clawing into the smooth stone floor she brings herself to a stop and darts right back at me.  A barrage of wild swiping claw attacks comes at me which I am able to side step like a matador, leaving me in one piece but my cape in tatters.  With her behind me and an attack imminent I launch myself upward to levitate.  I spin just in time to see that she hadn’t turned back to attack but instead kept running to the nearest long stout wooden pew.  She lifts it from the ground and hurls it at me, catching my legs it sends me careening off until I slam into a stone wall with a grunt.  I quickly come back to earth to have better control of my movements and ready myself for more.

Rubbing her side Sin walks back to the center of the cleared area about fifteen feet from the altar and waits for me.  I straighten up, rubbing a sore leg, and walk back to join her.  I fake that I’m about to stop and make a quip then instead spring for her.  A sweeping kick sends me to the floor and a instant later I feel the stab of one of her stiletto heels jab me hard into a floating rib.  “Fffffuck!”  I hiss under my breath, that hurt like bitch!  I roll away and up to my feet.  Another of her damn heels comes kicking in and I block it with a stiff punch to her ankle.  A loud crack splits the air as bone meets bone.

“Gah!”  She hops back with a limp, hurried she rolls her ankle around to make sure it was good.

Rubbing my sore knuckles I then shake out my hand and ready again.  This warming up scuffle had been a funny one thus far, slower and clumsier than usual.  Each of us was a bit off thanks to the booze, but it affected us both equally so it evened out.

“Surrender?”  I ask, already knowing the answer.

“Ha!  Is that an offer?”

“Never.”

“It will be such a shame to kill you.”  She says as I move in with my fists raised and ready to block whatever might come.

“Hmph!”  I snort.  “You always lose.  Why not just give up your villainous ways?”

“Are you really going to play the fool hero on a lost cause right to the end?  Even now when your city is ruins?  Surely you see how hopeless it always was.”

“Can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

“Perhaps a change of tactics to freshen things up.”  Her ruby lips curl into a devilishly sensual grin as she traces a finger down the pale soft cleavage of her ample bosom.  “Mmm?”

I roll my eyes, it had been awhile since she tried that old distraction.  “Give it up Sin, I know all your cheap moves and your wily tricks.”

“He he he.”  She giggles at some private joke.

I fake another jab then charge forward in a full on bull rush.  I cannot believe my luck as I catch her full on, that whisky must have slowed her reflexes worse than I thought.  With her held in my mighty arms I dash forward at full speed, knowing I had to do this quick before she had a chance to tear me up too bad with those damned claws of hers.  I slam her back into one of the great marble pillars that lined the room.  The stone cracks as her body smashes into it.   She lets out a pained groan.  

Not once during the charge had she tried to escape my grasp or even broken eye contact.  I pause a moment, wondering what she was playing at, and in that pause she presses her lips to mine to kiss me hard, hard like only another super can.  I could smell and taste the smoky sweet of the scotch on her as her plump soft lips mashed into mine.  “Mmmm!”  I hum my surprise before leaping back away from her.  “What the hell?”

“He he he.”  She chuckles as she licks her plump red lips and circles back to the center, stretching her back and rolling her shoulders as she went.  “That was something new.”

“It won’t work.”

She laughs and spins on one foot, arms out wide, then plants down to face me head on.  Her blue eyes flare as I charge once more, my fist hurtling through the air straight at her unmoving face.  What was she doing?  Move god damn it!  MOVE!  My fist stops a mere inch from the tip of her nose.  She hadn’t even flinched!

“What is this?”  I ask angrily.  “Fight!” 

Again she laughs, a deep honest laugh unlike any I’d seen in her before.  “If you insist.”

“GNNGH!”  I double over and stumble back as a knee drives into my gut.  I look up to see to Sin’s right hand swinging in too fast to block or avoid.  I close my eyes and grimace as I ready myself to feel the burning sting of her claws.  Instead what I feel is the rasping rake of regular fingernails instead.  Hands up defensively I hop back.  Four stinging streaks glowed across my cheek and lips but there wasn’t a drop of blood or the smell of singed flesh.

Holding up her hand, claws retracted, she waves at me with a goading giggle.  Her intense leering eyes still glimmered with that inner fire, but it wasn’t the fire I first thought it was.  They pan down and up my body as she nibble her bottom lip hungrily.  She spins on her high heel and walks away from me, her hips and ass swaying seductively.  Her intent to arouse unmistakable.

“A trick.”  I say.

“It must be.”  She says.  “Surely one of my devious plots.”  Stopping she widens her stance, thrusts out her butt and arches her back to look back over her shoulder in a near perfect recreation of the pose the artist gave her on issue 1 of our comic.  Her eye glimmering with evil intent in the candle light she whispers.  “I know I wouldn’t trust me.  He he he.”

“Still sexually repressed?”

“Not repressed Angel, frustrated.”

“So what?”  I say, my tense muscles slowly relaxing.  “You wanna fight or you wanna fuck?”

She gives her butt a little swat.  “Why chose?”

“Both?”  I shake my head.  “You’re nuts.”

“As you well know.”  She croons.  “Come on, hero, you said my ass was yours.  Come and get it, if you can.”

Part 3