((The second part - much like the first part - contains spoilers to what happened to Liberty Girl when she got to where she was told to go... so be warned about that. However, since the event was quite possibly witnessed by several people to whom most members of the UV team can access easily, here's part two, with three to follow.
Warning though, there's a load of violent action in here, so be warned.))
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Liberty Girl: Scorned (Part Two)
It was just after two in the morning. The breeze blowing from the sea into Crimson Cove was a chilly one, and Linda had lost her coat when the Carnival had set it on fire back in St Martial. Shed also lost her black wig, and her mane of blonde hair didnt lend her the villainous look shed been trying to achieve whilst undercover in the Isles, pretending to be muscle-for-hire by the name of Candy Crash. At least she had the black leather. Rule number one out here seemed to be wear black leather.
Shed arrived early, and was lounging against the shingled wall of a salt-blasted boat-hut, under the shadow of a crumbling porch, surrounded by someones impressively piled collection of driftwood and flotsam. She slid folded papers from the top of her thigh-high boot and looked at the pictures of the brunette that the Carnivals Ring Mistress Mariette had given her, and read the notes as best she could in the moonlight. She didnt need to see them clearly, really shed already read them several times before. The woman in these pictures was a real piece of work and a renegade Carnie to boot. Once she found her, Linda would have no problem at all turning this chick, Leatherette, back over to her former playmates in return for their setting her up with this
what should she call it
rendezvous?
Linda had spent enough time lurking silently in the shadows of Recluses island shanties in the dead of night to recognise the sounds made by streetwalkers and night haunters prowling in leather and metal. She heard that sound now, and slipped the folded papers back into their hiding place inside her boot.
Oh, this just had to be her
she listened to the sounds drifting toward her on the breeze. The creaking of leather. The partially muffled clatter of chains. The click and scrape of heels on cobbles.
If thats not Scorned, its one of the local hookers, opined Linda, stepping from the shadows into the moonlight.
The blonde before her came to a standstill, and stood there, calmly and casually. She was in partial shadow but even so, in this moonlight Linda could see the mask, and make out the grin. Stainless steel chains wrapped around Scorneds chest, arms, waist and fists all sparkled in the moonlight, which shone in patches of silver reflected in straps and leather, steel buckles and glistening boots. You must be the chick whos been asking bout me all over
smiled Scorned. You look... blonder than I imagined.
You know what happens next, Linda told her, calmly. How it goes down is up to you now. It can go easy or it can go hard. Let me tell, though, honey, my hard is very hard indeed
The other blonde made a short chuckling sound and grinned as she shook her head. The reason youre talking so much is
what? Whats your deal? What are you going to suggest I do for you to avoid the horrific beating youre about to threaten me with, followed by the rest of my natural in the Zigg?
Fallen-Star, answered Linda. It was the name Rosa had given her. The name by which Columbia seemed to be going in the Rogue Isles. I dont really want you, Scorned I want her. I want Fallen-Star.
Scorneds smile dropped suddenly. Oh cut the [censored], Linda, she sighed. And dont look so surprised of course I know its you. And youre right I do know what happens next
and it aint gonna be easy at all. Least
not for you
That the Carnival specifically Mistress Mariette - had known her identity was surprise enough
but that this woman knew who she was
Linda was still stunned by the surprise when the cold suddenly enveloped her.
It was bitter
biting. Something like an ice dagger had suddenly pierced the core of her no, not a dagger a hand; a bitter fist of ice seized her heart and fingers colder than the deepest hell gripped and squeezed her soul. It was so cold she gasped for breath and almost dropped to her booted knees on the cobbles
what the hell is this? She turned away from the blonde to look for whatever it was that was freezing her like this.
She didnt have time to see anything, because from the darkness swept a rush of air and faster than Linda could see a glistening black block of leather-sheathed knuckles crashed into the side of her head and sent her spinning across the road. She almost fell, but she didnt. Scorneds wrecking-ball of a fist, swinging up into her belly, made sure she stayed up, one way or another. Staying on her feet was never going to last, though: another wrecking-ball this time a left crunched into her ribs, then the right made a return visit, before something that felt like an 88 millimetre shell boomed into her kidneys. She dropped to her knees, groaning, taken down like a dodo.
More footsteps behind her
stupid, stupid, stupid not to have listened for them before now
and a pair of boots just like Scorneds stepped around her. She heard a voice that she guessed belonged to Scorned, but to be honest she couldnt tell right now. I heard Liberty Girls been building quite a rep
One of the new boots lunged like a piston and buried itself in Lindas midsection, lifting her up off her hands and knees and turning her over onto her back on the cold cobbles. Must be some other Liberty Girl
this ones just
all
wrong
Her body was yelling at her to lie down and curl up, but instead Linda was back on her feet
not her own doing, of course. The new girl, whoever she was and right now Linda didnt care - had hoisted her from the cobbles like she was a big bag of peas and was holding her up from behind, locking her arms. Lindas body felt impossibly heavy with the weight of all the sudden pain shed been gifted, but this new girl was way strong and held her steady even as Lindas legs were threatening to dissolve. Meanwhile the freezing grip on her very core tightened again, and she let out a series of involuntary groans. Someone mustve liked the sound, because suddenly it was raining knuckles and knees and fists and feet and the air was full of her involuntary groans.
The beating went on for quite a while. Well, thats what it seemed like. Although the blows made oddly familiar sounds like a thorough chambermaid plumping up all the pillows in the Waldorf it was quiet. No-one said anything. Except Linda, whose hoarse yelps and hollow woofs escaped on the breeze every time one of those wrecking balls buried itself in her. After what felt like an eternity but was probably less than a minute of working out on her new, blonde, gym equipment, Scorned mustve needed a break. She broke her exercise and lifted Lindas chin with a hand gloved in black leather and steel chain. Poor girl
want to know where your strength has gone? Not mention your handy little instantaneous healing party-piece? Somewhere into her peripheral vision, blurred as it was, Linda caught sight of someone with what looked like blue skin. The air surrounding the fuzzy vision sparkled as frost formed within it. Do you know how expensive it is to hire someone reliable who can manipulate cold thoroughly enough to numb your regeneration power? It aint cheap, babe, let me tell you.
Y
you sh
shouldnt have
Linda managed to force the words. I tho
I thought we said we
we werent buying presents for each other this year
The wrecking-ball struck again. And again. After a few of those, Linda didnt have the breath to do more than grunt as each one thudded into her Villains-R-Us leather bodice.
The gloved fist stopped mashing her for a moment to unfold into a hand and lift her chin up once again. Linda didnt have the strength to lift an eyelid to try and look at Scorneds face, but she could feel the breath. What was that? Strawberries?
Were not going to kill you, Linda. Not tonight. But we are going to make it so you have to go away for a while. Think of yourself as a message. Youre my message to Mariette and her little gaggle of Carnie freaks
and to Bambi and her weird green friends
Scorned experimented with punctuation after that. After every word there was a set of knuckles wrapped in chain, a knee sheathed in leather, an elbow, a foot.
LEAVE! US! THE HELL! ALONE!
There was more, but by then Linda wasnt listening. At some point something hard made a booming sound on her skull and set off the last in a series of coloured lights somewhere behind her eyes. She slipped into darkness, and the pain no longer troubled her. At least, not for a while.
((Again with the spoilers, but like the last part - nothing that can't be teased from witnesses...))
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Liberty Girl: Scorned (Part Three)
If Rosa knew I was doing this without her, shed kill me, Bambi thought, as she peered through the gaps between the planks of the huts doorway. Desiccated by salt and sun and long-dead worms, the door and walls of the flimsy shack would have crumbled virtually to dust had Liberty Girl been flung in that direction. Her assailants were not in much of a mood for tossing around the blonde heroine, just in the mood for holding her steady while they pounded her.
Bambi thought about intervening, but remembered the last time shed seen Liberty Girl, and recalled the pain shed been in when it was Linda doing the pounding. She also saw in Rosas eyes what had happened when Rosa had told Linda the truth about her and Bambi. There were bruises on Rosas body. Bambi knew without having to ask that they were made by Liberty Girls fist and boot.
So Bambi didnt intervene. For the past several days Linda had been tearing such a swathe through the Isles, blood and broken bones in her wake, that tracking her wasnt hard. Bambi watched her from inside a dilapidated shack on the waterfront. Watched her waiting. Watched her confront Scorned. Watched the strange fish-guy zap her with whatever frosty fish-power it was probably something painful, by the looks of things, and which somehow either sapped her strength or completely borked her annoying self-healing power, or both. She watched Fallen-Star hit her from behind, and Scorned hit her from the front. Then she watched them pound her, over and over, until she dropped to the cobbles like a sack of Hamidon goo.
Bambi watched, but she wasnt really interested in the mighty Liberty Girl getting a thumping although that brought its own joy. No. She was much more interested in the thumper than the thumpee. When Bambi had been the one under Scorneds tenderising knuckles, she had been too preoccupied with getting beaten up to take good, clear stock of her assailant. This time she took it all in. The way she moved. The sound of her voice. The joy she experienced in beating Liberty Girl to a pulp.
This time, Bambi knew.
Scorned and Fallen-Star stood over Lindas unmoving form, checking to see she was properly settled by kicking her heavily a few times before they shared a joke that Bambi couldnt hear and started to walk away, down the slope toward the water. Bambi opened the door silently and stepped outside, ready to follow them all night if needs be.
Three of the Verandi familys wiseguys were already all over Liberty Girls fallen body. Like Bambi, theyd been watching the heroines demolition from a quiet hiding place. Now they saw an opportunity to score a point with their bosses. All three of them pulled artillery from their jackets when they saw Bambi step out of the shack. All three of them unloaded their clips at point blank range.
When the smoke cleared, Bambi watched the maniac grins on their faces melt away as realisation dawned. Before anyone could say bulletproof all three goons were out cold. Bambi checked Liberty Girl. Still breathing. Well, you cant have everything.
Scorned and Star were already out of sight and Bambi would have to hurry to catch up although shed have to be very careful to make absolutely sure she wouldnt be seen. Two or three steps later, though
Stay exactly where you are
Under her breath, Bambi swore like a sailor. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at a small, curvy girl in form-hugging red-and-white Longbow spandex and crimson thigh-high boots. Her raptor pack was fizzing quietly as its motor started to cool after landing, and she was pointing a blaster at Bambis back.
What? asked Bambi.
D..dont move
suggested the Eagle.
Bambi looked back down the slope and realised that shed lost her targets. Or what
Rookie? Bambi sighed, turning to step back up the slope toward this latest interruption. You think that toyll do any more good to you than theirs did the three of them? She cocked her head towards the trio of unconscious hoods spread across the cobbled road.
Ignoring the Eagle with the quivering blaster, Bambi stooped to pick up Liberty Girls body. Good for you, she said to the girl. You just took down three Verandi goons all on your lonesome. Should be worth a commendation.
Shaking slightly, the Eagle pointed the trembling business end of her weapon in Bambis face, while she stood, with a trickle of sweat rolling down her temple, watching Bambi toss Liberty Girl over her shoulder. Bambi slapped her cargo on the backside and grinned at the rookie Eagle. Be seein ya!
The girl watched Bambi leap straight up and disappear into the darkness, following her trajectory for a second with her blaster. When she knew she was finally alone, she pulled her commslink to her mouth and took a deep breath. Despatch
? Eagle Thirty-Twenty in Sector Charlie Charlie Four
three for pick-up
((This was put together very quickly to try and fit the compromise between RP and RL circumstances 
I hope it works! ))
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Liberty Girl: Scorned (Part Three)
Whatever Rosa had done, it seemed to be working. Bambi didnt give up any part of herself for Linda; she did it because Rosa had asked her. Bambi healed fast not as fast as Linda would, under normal circumstances, but fast enough. Allowing Rosa to draw some of Bambis living energy to kick-start Lindas recovery was easy.
Dealing with Linda was much less so. The only reason Bambi hadnt tried to put the stubborn heroine back into her sick bed the hard way was because Rosa had got between them. Linda felt exactly the same. It didnt seem to matter now that, having found out that same, hard way that Lulu and Columbia were alive, Linda no longer had a reason to hate Bambi. The two of them just went on wanting to bust each other up anyway.
So
Rosa tried to open a channel of arbitration between them. The two women who attacked you were
well, dead! She couldnt stop herself smiling.
The blonde who did most of the knuckle-work, Bambi added, trying in vain to hide her pleasure in seeing her nemesis in pain, was Scorned. At least, thats the name she goes by these days but I saw her, and I know that was certainly Lulu. Which means I didnt kill her. Like I always said I didnt
And the brunette who worked with her? continued Rosa, shooting Bambi a glance that warned her to behave herself, Well, shes been operating out here in the Isles under the name Fallen-Star but you know thats not all she is you yourself identified her before, on the CCTV footage from that warehouse stunt we pulled shes Columbia, your old mentor.
Which means I never killed her, either, grunted Bambi. Just like I always said I never
Linda tried to ignore Bambi, and continued to lace up the black leather bodice over her bandaged ribs. Well, she grunted, flinching suddenly as the pain in her stomach muscles flared up again, I dont know what kind of hold Lulu has over her, but Roxie Columbia would never go rogue like this, not of her own accord. Someones been screwing up her mind
Rosa and Bambi exchanged glances Someone like
a powerful mentalist? Rosa asked, fishing the papers from the table and passing them to Linda. Whats going on with this picture you had in your boot?
Linda checked the photo and handed it back. I was tipped off about Scorned about Lulus date in Nerva by a Carnival Ring Mistress called Mariette, out of St Martial. She wanted me to bring this renegade Carnie to her in exchange for the info.
Her working name is Leatherette, said Rosa. We didnt know she was renegade Carnival, we just knew she was working with Scorned and that she once tried to kill Bambi. We snatched her, and were holding her here
until last night
Rosa looked at Bambi.
Shes very good at what she does, sighed Bambi, nursing the embarrassment of having been mind-[censored] there was no other phrase for it into helping Leatherette escape.
Well, I guess she is, agreed Rosa, gently mocking Bambis mental susceptibility. Shed certainly be good enough to keep Columbia thinking she was someone else
like Scorneds partner in crime.
Linda picked up one of her black boots, but grimaced with pain as she tried to bend enough to pull the long leather tube over her leg. OK then
since you lost them in Nerva, well have to go back to St Martial to find Mariette again
I lost them
? Bambi stood up, looking like she didnt need much provocation. Pardon me for being too busy saving your [censored]..!
Rosa waved Bambi back to her seat on the table, calming her down. She knelt before Linda and helped her with her boots. Even you need more time to heal, Linda, she said. Well go all of us but not today. You need more time
The sound of something breaking came from the back of the old warehouse. Rosa and Bambi exchanged glances, and Bambi slipped from the table and disappeared toward the back of the building.
We have the neighbourhood peppered with Skulls who owe me, Rosa assured Linda. But if there was a threat, I wouldnt count on them to warn us
Again she was interrupted. This time by a woman yelling. Bambi.
Linda was still unable to move quickly, and so Rosa helped her out of the room and into the main, open space of the dilapidated warehouse. Bambi was there
On her knees, her mouth open in a silent scream, Bambi shuddered in pain the kind of pain only a Carnival Ring Mistress, or a Succubus of the Circle of Thorns, might delight in stabbing into the mind.
It could be either because they were both there. The Ring Mistress giggled like a lunatic on nitrous oxide, standing over Bambis quivering body. The succubus stood beside her, smiling with an almost sexual satisfaction as she drank Bambis pain. Behind them, and to both sides of Linda and Rosa, stood the others. The Carnival and the Circle
together?
We dont have her, Mariette, Linda said, to the Ring Mistress. She was here, but -
Mariette made a movement with her eyes and Linda was silenced by a flurry of yellow fists rushing from behind them. Rosa turned in time to see Linda already badly wounded sink to her knees and fall face-forward onto the concrete floor. A Paragon Protector turned its faceless mask toward her.
We have what we came for, said a hulking Power Tank in a middle-European accent, stepping up behind the Protector. Lets just go.
Crey, too? breathed Rosa. Whats going on?
Never you mind, my pretty, Mariettes voice was like a song.
Rosa didnt see what came next. But it hurt.
((Given that there's a bunch of eager rescuers dashing to the Isles as I type :here's some background to what happened to Libby in the run up to these events. There are some spoilers in here for people who want to wait and find out in the natural course of events, so please be warned - otherwise I figure that once the Unity Vigil team starts digging around in the Isles they'll soon find out what happened.))
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Liberty Girl: Scorned (Part 1)
Concrete and cement that had endured a century of hobnailed industrial footfalls splintered and cracked with a dull toll as the enormous iron-sheathed sledgehammer boomed down upon it. The giant who had swung the huge weapon moaned a battle cry like a wounded phantom, and hoisted it yet again.
Candy Crash flashed out a black leather boot, making a sound like a muffled bell as it slammed into the huge mans iron helmet. The kick snapped the giants head back and sent him tumbling into a shrieking blonde Attendant whose petite frame was robed in colours so bright they made the eyes dizzy. The giant Carnival Strongman didnt get back up, and his huge unconscious frame crushed the Attendant against the concrete where she could do no harm at least for now.
Linda hadnt had much to go on after her explosive row with Rosa, but she had come away with two very useful clues: one was a where St Martial; the other was a who - the Carnival of Shadows. From there it was just a simple exercise in applied physics applying her own physical techniques to every contact and deal-maker she ran across through the Isles. Rosa CCTV footage had proven that Columbia was alive. In her guise as Liberty Girl, Lindas obsession with bringing to justice the murderer of her former mentor had forced clashes of increasing acrimony with her subsequent overlords in Longbow. Even Longbows dismissal of her from their ranks hadnt discouraged her, and in the red-white-and-blue of Liberty Girl she had pursued Columbias killers wherever the clues led her. Now, in her black leather and black wig disguise as the mercenary Candy Crash, knowing that Columbia was alive and linked somehow to the violent criminal Scorned, Linda had torn through half the Isles beating information from whoever she thought might have it. Eventually a whiny sleazeball called Willie Wheeler gave her something on a Carnie princess who was mugging citizens in Peregrine Island. Linda donned her red-white-and-blue for that one, and as Liberty Girl she busted up the gang of muggers, and busted up their Illusionist, too. The Illusionist gave her a name. Mistress Mariette. In St Martial. And so she came to this place this dead factory, rotting on the fringe of Recluses fish-stinking Vegas-by-the-Sea
Candy leapt as another equally huge iron-wrapped hammer shattered the wall beside the spot where shed been standing. She spun in the air and lashed out with another booted leg, this time cracking the side of the second giants helmet and twisting him around. She spun again and drove another kick, this time into his chest, before lifting the whole heavy beast into the air with a ferocious boot to his dented helmet.
Flames engulfed her, and she rolled, sliding out of her burning trenchcoat and flinging it back toward her assailant the burning coat wrapped itself around the white Carnival mask of the flame-haired Seneschal and bought Candy precious time to stamp a finishing blow to the head of the fallen strongman before darting toward the red-headed female and slamming her head into the decaying plaster and cold, hard bricks beside her.
Still there was no time to pause. A harlequin fencer slashed with a streak of blue energy that Candy couldnt dodge in time she grunted as the pain burned between her ribs, but lashed out behind her and grinned as her elbow crashed against a white mask and broke the nose behind it.
Two jugglers, one in scarlet and one in blue, leapt at her from behind a scarlet booted knee rammed her in the small of her back while blue thighs clamped around her head, determinedly trying to twist it from her shoulders. Arching in response to the knee in her back, Candy slipped to her own knees, forcing the blue juggler to fall from her head. The two Carnies stared for a second at the mass of raven-black hair wrapped around the blue jugglers legs, and while they hesitated Candy crashed a kick to the side of the scarlet jugglers head that sent her thudding into bricks and out of consciousness. Too late the blue juggler recovered from her surprise at finding a wig between her knees and had time to no more than gape as the blondes fist lifted her through the air with an uppercut that broke several front teeth.
She stood, panting a little, amidst the fallen Carnies, and cursed as she watched what was left of her expensive leather coat burning on the oily concrete floor of damp, putrid-smelling former factory in this rancid corner of St Martial. She picked up the raven wig that the juggler had torn from her head, and realised that it, too, was ruined.
I guess thats the end of Candy Crash, a voice like tubular bells sounded behind her. Welcome back, Liberty Girl
Linda turned slowly. The Ring Mistress was flanked by half a dozen Harlequin Fencers. This would probably hurt
Dont worry, the beautiful voice lilted again, as the Ring Mistress held up her open palms. Youre far too tired to fight any more lets just chat a while, shall we?
Ring Mistress Mariette, I guess OK, so Im kinda sorta impressed a teeny bit that you know who I am Linda said. Now what the hell do you want to chat to me about, all of a sudden?
Mariette smiled like a prom queen and swayed up to Linda, giggling. Liberty Girl . She mused, tracing patterns with her fingertip on Lindas shoulder as she circled her, wafting an odd scent of magnolia and brimstone, Libby Libby Libby Girlie Girlie Girlie I have to say we dont see you enough in these parts. Its a shame you didnt bring your red-white and blue costume the one with the high white boots I like that one especially
Linda grabbed the womans arm as she turned past her right shoulder. Fine. Ill wear it to your next cocktail party. What do you want?
Mistress Mariette made a kissing noise at Linda from beneath her mask, and held up a hand to hold back the Fencers, who had taken a step forward at Lindas sudden movement. Id like that. But meanwhile she sighed, like a bored schoolgirl. Youve been asking questions about some muscle for hire called Scorned. I guess its not a happy relationship you share ? Linda didnt answer, and so the woman went on: This woman, Scorned she is known to us in fact we know her very, very well
She works for you or so Im told.
Oh nonononono! the Mistress laughed, tunefully, making a sound like the peal of sleighbells. Shes not our friend not at all. In fact if you were to arrest her wed be far from disappointed
Keep this up and cocktails may not be as far off as you think, Linda deadpanned.
Nerva Crimson Cove 2am shell be there. She thinks shes meeting a friend of hers wholl never turn up
Why? Why are you giving me this?
If I give you this then you owe me a favour nonono dont fret, my love this is a favour you can perform Mariette pulled a small fold of papers from her boot, and slid them into the top of Lindas. This is another familiar of ours but this one we want returned to us. Do that, and were B.F.F., you and I She touched the tip of her forefinger to the painted lips of her mask, and then to Lindas own, impassively set lips. The details are all there, my dove now go be heroic for me! She giggled like Christmas once again and waved the Fencers aside, opening a path through which Linda stepped cautiously. As she approached the heavy iron-bound doors of the dead factory she turned, but there was no sign of the Carnival just the fading echo of musical laughter tinkling in the dark distance.
(Edited for a couple of typos)