Chapter 14: Iron in the Blood
Colleen Wing tries to breathe gingerly. She hurts too much for deep breaths. Her abused muscles ache, and her lacerated flesh burns. Her throat hurts from being strangled, twice, this evening. Her eyes ache. She looks at her hands, and they shake. She looks at the sleeves of the yellow jumpsuit covering her person after her naked torture session. Beneath her bottom is a comfy purple couch, and beside her on the couch is a blonde woman in office attire. Receptionist Penny O'Neal looks near tears, but the assistant keeps it together for now.
This night, Ms. O'Neal received a phonecall that her employer Nightwing Restorations needed her after hours. And, the intrepid young woman rushed to the office. She loves aiding the Daughters of the Dragon in their adventures (Marvel Comics Presents #80). However, the uneasy office girl reconsiders now her employment. She has seen some real shit in this office tonight, and she is likely another departure in a long line of Nightwing secretaries (see Daughters of the Dragon #1). Penny looks into Colleen's wearied eyes, and she feels anguish for her employers. What they must go through day after day and night after night. It's just overkill.
Warrior Wing looks away from somber O'Neal. The samurai does not want pity. Pity disturbs a warrior's focus. Colleen Wing looks at the harder woman before her instead. Shanna the She-Devil stands stalwart and stately in front of the shocked and the sheepish. As always, the jungle queen is regal in her natural form. She wears but a borrowed tanktop—sans bra—and shorts, yet the hard huntress is a goddess in the flesh in Wing's eyes. Shanna packs shut a first aid kit on a coffeetable. Some bloody gauze and instruments rest upon the nice table's surface. Penny cannot even look at them. She has seen them enough when the materials were working on poor Wing.
"This is a nice med-kit," Shanna observes, "It helps a trained veterinarian greatly when she patches a human patient."
"Thank you. It is a good kit. Misty and I know that we need a good one around here," Colleen murmurs, "We cannot always go to the hospital."
"You should go to the hospital," Penny pleads.
"We can't. We won't" the savage queen corrects the help, "Iron Fist is in danger tonight, so we fighting women need to leave right away. You need to be Colleen's nurse, Penny. Misty and I cannot take her into a slow-moving Manhattan ER. Misty and I cannot summon EMS and police to this office right now. They would have too many questions about Scarecrow's dead body in the next room."
"Yeah, justifiable homicide investigations can get tricky. I know. I used to be a cop," Misty Knight speaks from the desk to the couch's left, "Besides, we fighting women want revenge on Colleen's assailants, and we want it as soon as possible. I wouldn't mind doing to Pavane and Skullcrusher what I did to Officer Smith."
"Thank you for that, by the way. As I told everyone already, Officer Smith knocked me out and dared strip me," Shanna picks up a torn fur outfit from the table, and she begins sewing it back together, "Misty reports that the cops have him and are being kind of rough with him. My inner brute approves." Like an ape-woman, the She-Devil hops upon the table and squats over her work.
O'Neal is a little sickened by this talk of torture. She is a little sickened by the decapitated corpse in the next room. In the dojo, some body lies beneath a blood-stained aquamarine drape. Misty Knight simply pulled down an office curtain and threw it over Ebenezer Laughton. Beside the body, under the sheet, rests a human head. These are dangerous women with whom Penny associates, and Penny feels sorry for this Pavane woman of whom they speak. Apparently, they killed this Pavane woman once, and they are about to again.
O'Neal sees Wing stretch and lean toward the coffee table. The heroine's teeth grit and grind in pain. There is a bottled water. The nurse reaches for it, but her mistress waves her off. Wing gets the bottle and slurps its contents.
"Water is good for you," Shanna encourages, "It will give you your strength back little by little."
"I need my strength back now. I'm coming with you girls," Colleen declares in her mind.
She closes her eyes and concentrates. She must become like a thing of iron that feels neither pain nor fatigue. Eyes closed, Wing listens to Knight warn Rand.
Knight tells the phone upon her desk, "Pavane is alive, which we did not expect. She was fried to a crisp the last time that we saw her. And, she brings friends just like she brought last time when she kidnapped and killed Aguila. She plans to kill you—tonight in fact."
Over the speaker phone, Rand sounds surprised, "Pavane is alive? How is that possible? Do her helpers just help push her around in a wheelchair? Do not tell me that she has a re-assembled, re-animated Crossbow as her valet."
Knight chuckles during these grim times, "Nah, I haven't heard anything about a zombie Crossbow. Apparently, Aguila blew-up and splattered his ass and guts permanently. Instead, Pavane has Hong Kongese criminal Skullcrusher and two other henchmen hounding us in New York. From somewhere, she has gotten new skin that shapeshifts. Pavane is whole and beautiful again. And, the femme fatale is now a shapeshifter. She must feel that her dreams have come true. She has a great patron aiding her revenge mission."
"I know Skullcrusher. He is famously a nobody," Iron Fist comments, "Pavane and he worked together at one time. Both wanted to kill Shang-Chi, MI-6's Master of Kung-Fu, for their master the Cat. They were unsuccessful. Skullcrusher suffered especial humiliation at the deadly hands and feet of Shang-Chi. We elite martial artists are a select circle, and we gossip through the grapevine."
Knight notes, "Well, as a master martial artist, you know one thing. Don't ever underestimate your opponents. Iron Fist has nearly permanently fallen to many nobodies: from the chucklehead Chaka Khan to the deceptively deadly Captain Hero. Pavane and Skullcrusher took down Colleen this evening, and they left her in a bad way. They could do the same to you. Although, Colleen will be okay."
"Easy for you to say," Wing utters beneath furrowed brow.
"Any dogs can be deadly in a pack," the immortal Iron Fist elucidates, "You mentioned that bitch Pavane's pack has two other members. Who are they?"
"One is Scarecrow. Or rather, one was Scarecrow," Knight states.
"Is he incapacitated?" the hero for hire asks optimistically.
"He's dead. Colleen killed him."
"Hmph. That would count as incapacitated then," Rand understates, "If Colleen killed him, this situation—which might lead to the death of Iron Fist—is clearly serious. Who else did Pavane bring? Is Montenegro back?"
"No, he is also dead. Scarecrow said so while torturing our poor girl," Knight states.
"Sweet Christmas," Iron Fist quotes the late Power Man, also dead.
Wing laughs painfully, "That's what Misty said when she discovered me bloody on the floor. I half-wished that my old lover and buddy Luke Cage had returned. But, I was glad that it was Misty. She has been a long-time and close friend."
Danny's voice takes a grave tone, "Killing Montenegro is no small feat. Luke and I never defeated him [see Power Man and Iron Fist #71 & 80]. You ladies and I could not do so when retrieving Aguila."
"I remember. You don't need to tell me. Montenegro hanged me and left me for dead," Knight recalls, "But, he must be dead now. Pavane and her men had Monte's piton gun with them when invading Nightwing Investigations. The Man from the Black Mountain would have only surrendered his favorite toy over his dead body."
"Impressive," Iron Fist is stoic and focused, "Who is Pavane's fourth team member? Perhaps, he is someone capable of taking out Montenegro for her."
"Officer Smith is pretty good. I hate to admit it," Shanna removes her top and shorts and stands nude, and unabashed, before her colleagues. She slips on her mended bikini.
"Who is Officer Smith?" the hero asks the heroines. On unsteady limbs, Colleen Wing rises painfully and stiffly, leaning upon the couch. She eyes the office's desk. Penny is unsure whether to sit Wing back down or to help her walk. Shanna is completing dressing. She mouths "help her" to the discomfited assistant. One strong heroine understands another.
Detective Knight discusses Officer Smith, "Officer Smith is a disguised super-agent of some sort. Shanna encountered him first tonight. As she mentioned, he proved a capable foe. Then, the police impersonator brazenly entered the 12th Precinct and attempted to eliminate me for the night. He also maimed two police officers. In both battles, he used advanced technology. Many criminal masterminds could have outfitted him. Our world has no shortage."
Iron Fist suggests, "Smith could work for either Hammerhead or the Headmen. Like Pavane, each holds a grudge against Heroes for Hire. And, each has the advanced technology to provide Pavane new, shapeshifting skin. Mad industrialist John Lumus is another usual suspect. I doubt that the pesky organization SMILE gave her a new, happy face. They are actually law enforcement."
Knight furthers speculation, "At the precinct, Officer Smith used something much like Ringmaster's Nullatron. Perhaps, the Circus of Crime loaned Smith Ringmaster's hat and Pavane Tarrax the Tamer's whip, and Skullcrusher Fire-Eater's hot apparel. At the zoo, Smith used an electrified net similar to what Spymaster uses. And, he wore body-armor and shot handguns very well like Spymaster."
"He does sound like a spymaster of some sort," Rand notes.
"Whoever he is, Smith is in deep trouble, and we might need to rescue him after saving you," Knight explains, "He hurt two police officers and invaded a police station. Cap. Denny O'Shaughnessy was pissed. I got the impression that O'Shaughnessy might violate Smith's civil rights—amongst other things."
"Hmph. So, Officer Smith might also be incapacitated," Danny notes, "Denny has always had two sides. One moment, he chastises Sgt. Tyrone King for excessive force on armed robbers [see Power Man and Iron Fist #122]. The next moment, he tells Power Man to apprehend cop-killer Glowworm by any means necessary [see Power Man and Iron Fist #123]. Perhaps, we should send Matt Murdock over to the jail to make sure Pavane's man is alright."
"Who in the hell is Murdock to dare imitate goons?" Knight wonders sarcastically, "Besides, I ain't tracking down a lawyer after hours. I have only so much damn time to save you."
Rand chuckles, "Alright, what else do I need to know before my guests arrive?"
Misty communicates, "Pavane is likely wearing a Colleen Wing disguise. The degenerate and her associates seem to have a thing for stripping us this evening. For example, Officer Smith took Shanna's clothes and bound her in them before pursuing me. Pavane took Colleen's robe, pants, slippers, and sword before pursuing you."
Iron Fist's voice is a little angry, "I hope that Pavane thinks herself clever when she arrives in a disguise that I see right through. She deserves to be humiliated just as much as she has humiliated my friends. I am the Living Weapon. And, I shall whip away her façade and excoriate her ego."
"Well, ah, good luck. The proud peacock sounds plucked. Shanna and I will be there soon," Knight concludes the phonecall. "Goodbye. Thanks for calling" is heard. At Misty's elbow, Colleen leans on the desk and opens a drawer. She removes two bottles, one large and one small.
Penny frowns, "Saki and codeine are not such a bright combination. You could die this evening after all."
"I only quaff alcohol and opiate now so that I drink blood and brains from Skullcrusher's skull shortly," Colleen quips.
"Nice," Penny frowns.
Knight lays a gentle hand upon Wing, "Honey, you might need to sit this one out. Just sit with Penny while we two girls get back at the bad guys for you."
"You already did good this evening. You beheaded Scarecrow," Shanna walks toward the dojo. She illuminates the adjacent room and enters it.
Wing plops down on the couch. Pills and drink numb her body and mind. Groggily, she looks at Shanna in the next room. The She-Devil removes a weapon hanging on the wall.
"Colleen, may I borrow this?" Shanna requests, "I'll use it a vengeance upon our foes."
A slack face assents, "You're an animal." The face tries not to drool.
Knight guffaws, "Shanna kinda fucken is. Guess what she told me, Colleen. After escaping that car trunk, she sprinted through Central Park buck-ass naked. She didn't even borrow the car's upholstery. She was just the stitchless strawberry-blonde streaker of Sheep's Meadow, the garmentless galloper of the green, the zipperless zipper, the bouncing beauty, the moving mooner, the buck-naked doe, the. . . . ."
"I am comfortable in my own skin," Shanna grins, "I could grin and bear it while I grinned and bared it. Besides, this is New York City. A naked redhead does not attract that much attention running through the park and the streets."
"These women are too uninhibited" thinks Penny to herself. She shakes her head. Beside O'Neal, Wing's eyes roll. Their gaze falls to the floor upon which Shanna stands. Upon that floor, Scarecrow lies dead. And, Colleen has an idea. She sits drinking and thinking. She thinks that Misty Knight and Shanna Plunder depart soon. Once they do, she will. . . . . ya know, she'll get off the couch. . . . .she'll stand up once she's done getting high. . . . . then, she'll do wicked smart stuff. . . . .big things, man, big wicked things. . . . . This saki is good. She feels pretty pain-free and, like. . . loose. Knight loads her .44 and opens the door. Shanna trots and prances into the hallway. The wild woman seems excited to hunt. Penny wishes that she herself were elsewhere.
Elsewhere, Daniel Rand sits at a desk in the Rand-Meachum building. He is not at the building's top floor, the 40th. Rather, he has chosen an office on a much lower level. It has a wide open conference room abutting it. It has a warehouse just outside the window. The warrior has chosen his location. Beneath his business suit, he wears his Iron Fist colors, and he is ready to fight.
Moments earlier, Daniel Rand called Martina Tereshkova, the building's security director (see Marvel Comics Presents #125-126). He said, "Hey, Martina, it's Mr. Rand. Say, I am expecting two guests any moment now. They are assassins come here to kill me. Please let them through. I shall handle their visit in the office off of the fourth-floor conference room. You need not give them specific directions. Both think that they are pretty goddamed smart, so let the two figure-out where I am. Being sooooo goddamed smart, one of them is disguised as Colleen Wing. The other is wearing something like an S&M outfit or a b-movie barbarian costume. What's that? . . . . . You may assist me once they are here in the office. Otherwise, I have helpers on the way. Misty Knight and Shanna the She-Devil are arriving soon to assist. And, you might encounter another person appearing to be Colleen Wing. . . . . Alright, thank you. Bye-bye."
Soon, the cagey champion hears two expected enemies in the hallway. They try to be quiet. But, the martial arts master swears that he both hears and sees their handsignals. Skullcrusher remains in the hallway, for Skullcrusher is an obvious threat. Pavane will try to be sneaky. She will try to sneak-up like a panther in woman's clothing. Pavane's slippers enter the reception area outside the office. Iron Fist hears their soft scrape. Chairman Rand pretends to write a memo at his desk. His head is down as though he were unaware and defenseless. This foolish foe has entered the dragon's lair, and he wishes her to stupidly stride right up to him. The night predator lets herself through the swinging door at the reception desk. She pads the short length of hallway to the head's office.
Daniel Rand looks up from his desk. Iron Fist sees Pavane. Pavane sees Iron Fist. He beckons her, "Hello, Colleen." She approaches him. Let's settle this.