Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Chapter 35 - Time Running Out

—— Warning: This chapter has some hand-to-hand combat violence, on both the giving and receiving end. It gets brutal, so please avoid if that sort of thing bothers you. ——

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"Are we ready for him?" Demarco Dominick asked.

To his right stood a balding scientist in a white lab coat, and across from them stood two muscular guards in gray slacks and shirts. Ethan Moore hung between the two guards, held aloft by their viselike grip on his upper arms. Ethan struggled in their grasp, squirming and kicking his legs. A gag muffled his protests.

"We're ready," the scientist answered. "I've checked his vitals, and confirmed the settings and connections. We've backed off on the power flowing through line four, per the suggestion, and upped number three by 18 percent. All is good. I think this one might do it."

"Any sign of visitors?" Dominick asked, turning to Joe Mathers, his security chief.

"No, sir," Mathers replied. "All the surveillance feeds are quiet."

"Let's get started," Dominick said, and nodded to the two guards holding Ethan.

The guards dragged their prisoner toward the tall glass cylinder in the middle of the room. Ethan pitched and bucked, but he was no match for the burly men. Another scientist held the door to the cylinder open, slamming it shut after the two guards shoved Ethan inside.

Dominick watched the young man jump to his feet and throw his body into the glass door. He bounced off and fell to the floor. After climbing to his feet, Ethan's mouth moved, but no sounds escaped the container. They always protested like this, Dominick thought, like birds flying into glass windows. Here though, the collisions were silent.

"To the control room," Dominick said, and marched out with his workers in tow.

Behind him, Ethan pounded on the walls of the cylinder, panic in his eyes.

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Time was running out. Beth could feel it. Immediately after leaving Dominick's home, she had told Stanley of the warehouse's location and he had called the police. But the police would assemble a strike team, and she couldn't wait for that. So she had left Dominick's home and set out on the interstate, heading north.

After exiting the highway less than an hour later, she drove through the town of Irving and found the warehouse just where Ashley Dominick had placed it. She navigated to the end of the dead end road and spotted the foreboding structure, sitting in a short, low valley that opened ahead of her. Long and rectangular, the building looked older than the nearby town, with fading brick and tall windows covered partly with boards. Despite its age, it still somehow seemed sturdy. Rubble and uneven grass and weeds surrounded it.

Beth turned around and drove away, leaving the building behind her. She took a few minutes to find a discreet parking spot on a side road about a quarter mile from the warehouse. When she was sure she was alone, she removed her jacket, revealing her blue and white costume, and slipped on her gloves, boots, and necklace.

After exiting the vehicle, Sapphire Angel backtracked on foot, staying in the shadows and circling behind the warehouse until she reached the closest of two hills overlooking the building. From her vantage point, she could look down at the structure and stay out of sight. She saw light emanating from the large windows on the structure, but couldn't discern what might be inside.

The old brick building presented a few points of entry for the heroine. She could go in through the garage door and work her way up until she found Ethan. She could also enter through the double door at the top of some stairs above the garage, which would put her on the middle floor of the structure. Her third option would be to enter through one of the many windows.