Rosa knew the proper course of action would be to go with the crowd and escape. But she knew these attackers’ type. She knew they would hurt as many people as they could in order to get whatever they wanted. I’m supposed to be retired, she thought. But she already knew that crimefighting ran in her blood.
With a flash of movement, she ran towards the bondage queen. Rosa struck the woman with a long swinging blow that knocked her off her feet. Rosa whisked back into the dressing area. She paused for only a second, ready to strike again.
“Help me!” The words stopped her in her tracks.
Rosa’s eyes scanned the dressing room at metahuman speeds. It took her nearly two seconds to find the source of the voice, a mostly naked woman huddled beneath the dressing table. It took her only a moment to recognize Sexi Bach from her stage performance earlier.
Rosa ran—at human speeds—over to the huddled woman. She bent down beside her and met her eyes. Bach was frightened and a gash on her forehead just below her hairline bled profusely. But she showed no signs of shock. She met Rosa’s eyes without any glassiness and reached out to take a hand as soon as it was offered.
“Come on. We need to get you out of here.”
“How? They could have more people out the back door. Pain and Pleasure have always worked for the highest bidder.”
Rosa didn’t stop now to ask her how she knew the identities of the two metahuman thugs. She didn’t have time for that. She needed to get Sexi Bach outside and to safety so she could help Keith and Mel. She yanked Sexi up off her feet.
“Hold on to my neck.”
To her credit, Sexi didn’t argue. She wrapped her arms around Rosa’s neck. Rosa cradled the dancer’s head against her chest. She took a deep breath and ran.
Six seconds later, they were outside over a quarter of a mile away.
“Find a phone,” Rosa said. “Call the police and an ambulance. You need to get that head injury looked at. I have to go back and help—”
“No, please don’t leave me. Those people back there. I think they might have come for me.”
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