Chapter 8:
The outline of a shapely young woman slowly crossed over the tops of the apartment buildings in Hell's Kitchen. Her slow stride was confident and infinitely patient. As she neared the end of one building, she jumped the small five foot gap and landed onto the next. She continued this until she reached a much larger gap. One minute she stood on the ledge. The next, she had dropped down and disappeared into the alley below.
She landed in a kneeling position, one knee against the ground, one hand to steady her. The two muggers stumbled back into the darker part of the alley, startled.
"Who the fuck is you?"
Sirene looked up, a smirk on her raspberry lips. "I couldn't help but overhear that you wanted to dance with the young lady." She ran at one of the muggers, full speed. As she passed him by she took hold of his wrists. Using the momentum she had gathered from running, she leaned back onto her heels and spun the man. When she let go of him he slammed into the brick side of the alley. He hit the bricks with a –SMACK-. After he had peeled off of the wall and fallen she used up the last bit of her momentum and spun on her heel like a graceful ballerina. "Well, sorry to break it to you boys, but dance lessons are closed."
The second, much larger, mugger ran at her. He leaned his head down in an head-butting stance.
Twenty feet. He was stampeding closer. Fifteen feet. She could hear his ragged breath. Ten feet. She could see the beads of sweat on the back of his neck. Five feet. At the last minute she grabbed the dagger from the utility belt around her upper thigh. She slammed one knee into the pavement and detracted the dagger so that it became her Triton. The metal prongs were facing towards the man. Surely, within milliseconds he would come stampeding into its dagger-like corners and impale his stomach. Before he could cause himself any harm, she spun the dagger so that the prongs were closest to the ground and the blunt end was facing up. She thrust the blunt end into the man's stomach. With his momentum and her triton, she sent him flying through the air. He came to land behind her, on his back, the air knocked from his lungs.
"It's pigs like you that give men and New York a bad name." Sirene stood wearily. She brushed her fingertips over the gold shaft of the Triton as she walked over to where the man was lying. He was wriggling like a worm. "And make my job all the more enjoyable."
She kneeled beside him. From the utility belt around her thigh, she retrieved a syringe of clear liquid which she emptied into his arm. His wriggling stopped as his eyelids became heavier and heavier still until they dropped completely. She emptied another, identical, syringe into his friend's arm as well. "Now for the fun to start."
With a heave she dragged the men out towards the entrance of the alley.
An hour passed and Sirene waited patiently on the top of a building overlooking a small public park just outside of Hell's Kitchen. She was waiting for the tranquilizer to wear off. Considering the entire syringe hadn't been emptied in his bloodstream, she calculated that it would only last for an hour or so.
Her calculations had been right on. The two men woke to the roar of laughter. She watched as they regained the use of their limbs. Wide-eyed and frantic, they tried desperately to escape from the hundreds of eyes that followed their naked, flabby bodies. They ran from one end of the park to the other, zigzagging between trees and bushes, their hands covering their frontal areas. All over their bodies, in purple marker, read, "Crime doesn't pay." And "Karma sucks."
One of the naked men tripped on a twig and fell face-first, too full of pride to uncover his privates and catch himself. His friend didn't so much as look back as he cut through the park and continued running down the sidewalk. A police officer standing idly by heard the laughter and saw the naked man running down the sidewalk. He chased after him.
The panicked mugger saw the police officer chasing after him. Fear sent his legs whirling like a windmill. Although driven by fear, the mugger was out of shape and quickly lost his breath. Soon after he was tackled to the ground by the officer.
The other man that had tripped and fallen was getting up. He started running again. Sirene saw this and jumped from the building, holding tight to the corner as she slid to the ground. As soon as her feet touched solid ground again, she was off running after the man in the park.
"Hey, tubby!" She called after him, waving her hand. He turned and saw her. Immediately his face contorted into an image of pure terror and he sped off. "Wait up!"
She pumped her legs until the space between herself and the man began to close in. Five feet away, she jumped onto his shoulders. He fell face first into the dirt. When she stood, she dug the heel of her boot into his back.
A group of kids who had been playing in the park came to stand around Sirene and the fallen mugger.
"Eww! He's naked!" One of the kids screamed, covering their eyes with their hands.
"Did you see that lady tackle him?" Another kid.
"Yeah, no big deal." Another kid spoke defensively, "My daddy can do that!"
Sirene smiled. "Do you think I could have that?" One of the children held a jump rope in their hand.
The child beamed with pride and handed the jump rope over, happy to be helping. Sirene thanked the child and proceeded to hog-tie the mugger so that his ankles were tied tight to his wrists. When Sirene stood the children were giggling uncontrollably.
"Alright kids, you all should go on home. It's getting late." She pointed towards the dark night sky. "And remember: crime doesn't pay. Want to end up like Mr. Naked Guy over here?"
"No!" They screamed in unison. Sirene nodded then ran off as a group of police officers ran up.
Special thanks to those of you have kept up with this story. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me. Hope you've been enjoying it so far.
If there's anything that seems out of place, out of character, or just plain stupid... as always, do tell! I can't improve unless someone points out my mistakes. :)