The Scarlet Dove Issue 14 ~ Pinch the tail and suck the head
Chapter One
The Scarlet Dove began to regain consciousness slowly. The world around her was dark and strangely unstable. Flashes of light made it hard for her bleary eyes to focus on her surroundings. No longer splayed out and bound to a table, she pushed herself to a seated position, even as the ground beneath her shifted and bounced...
...Not the ground,
she realized.
A seat...a backseat, I'm in a car!
The groggy heroine reached up with both hands, pushing her tangled crimson locks back from her unmasked face. Her wrists were bound together, securely tied with...actually, it was difficult to make out what with. Her jaw was beginning to hurt too, and there was a piercing ache between her eyes that was spreading back through her whole head.
Slowly, almost painfully so, the world around her came into focus. She was in the backseat of a long sedan. Through the windows she could see Warden City rushing past. Still disoriented, it was a bit difficult to figure out their location, although clearly not one of the nicer parts of town.
When a bump in the road set her breasts bouncing, Starling realized she was still completely naked. Lifting her arms to cover her chest, she glanced down at the exposed porcelain skin of her curvaceous body. Bits and pieces of the night began to come back to her; being captured and bound by Mendeleev, remembering how the chemist had drugged and fucked her, which led to remembering...
"Creed," she snarled hoarsely.
The driver of the car glanced back over his shoulder, his sharp features grinning. "Ah, she 'wake den?"
"You sonovabitch!" the heroine lunged forward, still groggy but knowing she had little time to spare if she were going to escape.
"Name callin' be rude, cher-HURK!"
The hitman was cut short as the Scarlet Dove whipped her arms over his head, pulling her bonds tightly against his throat.
"Stop the car!" she shouted. "Pull over!"
Squirming and choking, Creed grabbed her wrists with one hand, the other stayed on the steering wheel. He managed to relieve her pressure just enough to cough a shallow breath.
"Don' think I'll stop," he croaked. "Think I'll speed up!"
The gallant heroine leaned back choking him once more. "I don't think so! Stop now!"
Unphased, the hitman gave it some gas and the sedan accelerated. Starling's heart began creeping towards her throat. How could she stop the car?
"I'm not playing with you, Creed," she growled. "Pull over, now!"
The Cajun managed to shake his head, and floored the gas pedal. It was late (or early) and there weren't many other cars on this particular road, but how long could that luck hold out? Or what if they jumped the curb and hit a pedestrian!?
Creed slumped slightly, as Starling tightened her choke, and let one hand fall in his lap. The other pointedly began to slip on the steering wheel, even as the car raced forward, beginning to drift across the lane.
Dammit! I can't let him lose control of the car,
she lamented realizing he wouldn't give in.
We could be killed, or worse hurt someone else...dammit!
"Fine, Creed," she snarled, relinquishing the choke. "You win..."
Immediately he grabbed the wheel and regained control, coughing a few deep breaths. "Nice play though, cher, very nice...but you miscalculate on one point; I got nothin' to lose we die in dis car."
"Well you have to stop eventually," Starling sat back, covering her breasts again and crossing her legs. "When you do, I'm going to thrash you! And take you to Chief Maddox, and you're going back to jail!"
"Maddox?!" Creed cackled, cutting a hard turn that threw the young woman against the car door.
"Watch it, asshole!" she groaned.
"You sexy as hell, but sho is slow on th' uptake!"
The first part of his sentence gave her a little charge, apparently she was not completely free of the stimulating mind-control drugs yet.
I have to be careful,
she thought shaking it off.
If he gives me any direct orders I'm not sure I'll be able to resist them! Hopefully Creed doesn't know about Mendeleev's formula.
"What do you mean?" she asked, regaining her composure. "What uptake?"
"Don'chu remember our conversation before I kill de chemist?"
Starling thought back, she had been heavily drugged and thoroughly plowed at that point, her memory was more than a little cloudy. After a moment, she was able to pull two important points from the haze.
"Mendeleev said that Maddox sent you," she said meekly, sinking into her seat.
"Ahh, now she gettin' it!"
"That's how you keep escaping from jail," she went on. "You've been working for Maddox all along...because Maddox works for Don Scarpone!"
"Heh, not quite but close," he replied. "Jus' dis last time actually, he turn me loose and set me on your trail so I could kill de chemist."
"But why?"
"Didn't ask, didn't care," Creed snorted. "You got de Scarpone's so hemmed up can't none o'dem help me...I be lookin' at de chair if I stay in jail dis time...I give you dat, ma cheri, t'anks to you anyone connected with de Scarpones goin' down in dis town."
It was little consolation for the young heroine at that point. Chief Maddox had used her, and no doubt given the chance he'd pin Mendeleev's murder on her. Not that anyone would shed tears over the death of a meth dealer, but that accusation would change her own narrative from that of a gallant superheroine to an unhinged, homicidal vigilante.
Maybe that was his plan all along,
she thought.
A two birds with one stone scenario. How could I have been so blind?
Creed turned onto a ramp, heading out onto one of the highways encircling Warden City. Starling glanced at the door handle, even with her wrists bound she could easily open it and fly safely away into the night...but she needed a few more answers first.
"You said before that Maddox also killed Mayor Kane," she asked. "Was that true?"
