Dreaming of Blue Elephants

Blue Elephant saves a dojo from a mob boss

By Mongoose750 (mongoose750@yahoo.com)

[Author's Note: My thanks and gratitude to Andrew Rue for supplying the story idea, characters and synopsis. If anyone has any story ideas they like to send me, either send them to the email address mentioned above, or shrewsberry@juno.com.]

[This story takes place a few months before the story "Debt of Combat."]

Ever since Katie's Korean Karate Klinic had opened on the outskirts of a rundown Chicago suburb, the community had undergone a dramatic change. The community had long carried a reputation for being infested with drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps, and small-time crooks who ruled over the residents who for various reasons would not or could not move out. However, the area was slowly showing signs of life reflecting back to its former glory.

Katie Potts was a product of those streets. The 5'6" Korean-American barely graduated high school; not because of academics, because her parents pushed her to study hard so she could escape the suburb, but because of the battlefield her high school had become. Gangs within the school ran rampant, often preying on innocent victims, and forcing many good students to leave or quit school in fear of their safety or their lives.

Katie did manage to receive a scholarship, but it wasn't sufficient to cover anything other than the initial cost of classes. One day on the campus of Illinois University, Katie was sitting at a table eating lunch and studying when a mysterious woman dressed in black clothes, no shoes, and wearing a black scarf around her head appeared and told her about an organization that will help aid her in her studies and take care of any needed expenses. All she had to do was say yes. It didn't take long for Katie, who was scrimping on a shoestring budget as it was to give her answer. After she agreed to join this group, called the Daughters of Athena, or DOA, she was involved in a lot of hard work, both physically and mentally, but she didn't complain, especially when she saw the results.

By the time she graduated three and a half years later, she emerged with a bachelor's degree in management, a new set of muscles developed from the DOA's weight training program, and a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do. Katie realized she could find a good paying job anywhere in the country, but she found out she had a desire to return back to the community she came from, and make it as pleasant and safe as it once was. The very idea of her parents walking down those crime-ridden streets was not a thought she was comfortable with. So with her new skills, she decided to start a dojo.

With the DOA's funding, Katie got her dojo established, and found she did not suffer from a lack of customers. People were tired of being preyed on by the scum of the street, and they wanted to fight back. Despite the school's success, there was still a problem of the drug dealers and other foes that hung around on the nearby streets. She managed to chase off the dealers near her dojo, but she still had the others to deal with on nearby streets and alleys. The classes were keeping her busy, so she had no time to properly address the situation, and the police were no help either, having written the area off as hopeless. Desperate for a solution, she called the local DOA cell and explained her situation. The cell leader listened to her complaint and told her that what she needed was an enforcer. Give her two days and she'll send her one.

Since the arrival of this "enforcer," the number of drug dealers had decreased drastically. At the same time, the numbers of entries into the emergency room increased. Anyone who saw a drug dealer, pimp, or gangbanger one day would see his or her name in the local newspaper listed in serious condition the next. Prostitutes in the area either left, quit their profession, or occasionally sent on a trip to the emergency room. Most of them however, joined the DOA. The most visible result was people being more comfortable getting out on the street, or having no worries about their children going out to play. In about a month's time, most visible signs of crime had been virtually wiped out.

This big change did not go unnoticed to Sean York, a crime boss in Chicago. He noticed that every dealer he sent to that area didn't stay in business long. About that phenomenon he knew only two things; the trouble started when that karate school sprang up, and the dealers when asked at their hospital beds who did this to them said one word, "Elephant."

One day he picked up the phone and called the dojo, informing the receptionist that he's going to come down and talk to the founder of the school about "a couple of things." He will arrive around eight o'clock that evening and expects the "Elephant" to be there.

It was a cold winter evening as Sean's Limousine drove into the neighborhood. Accompanied by four of his best muscle, he entered into one of the few parts of town where he didn't own the property.

Apparently someone thinks they're this neighborhood's version of Bruce Lee, Sean thought. Whoever he is, my men will fix him up good so he won't be a problem, and my business will improve.

They arrived at the dojo and parked in front. Sean ordered one of his henchmen, the driver, Adam, a 6'6" hulk with a perpetual sneer on his face, to go and take a look inside. After a minute or two, he returned to the car.

"I took a look inside, and all I saw was this tall Asian girl sitting at the desk," he said.

"Must be a receptionist," Sean barked. "Go in and ask her where you can find the "Elephant.'"

Adam went into the dojo again and after another minute or two, the front glass doors exploded as Adam flew out airborne and landed bouncing on the sidewalk in a crumpled and unconscious heap. Sean looked at his men in shock and surprise. He spoke to his other three henchmen.

"That idiot," he growled. "The Elephant was in there with the girl the whole time. How cold he not see a guy in there called the "Elephant?' You three go in and finish our business ' and no loose ends!"

Sean was thinking of giving the Elephant a warning if he was in a generous mood, but after ambushing one of his men like that, now it's war.

"Boss, what about Adam?" One of the men asked.

"What about him? He'll still be there by the time you guys get back. Go!" Sean said.

The three toughs circled around the building to see if they could enter it through different entrances so they could surround their quarry. However this proved ineffective, as the dojo had no windows aside from the front door and windows, which were covered by a large heavy curtain. There was the possibility of entering the dojo from a side building, but the store was closed for the day, and breaking in would be more trouble than it was worth. There was a back door, but it was blocked by a dumpster full of discarded lumber and garbage. The three men met again and quickly transpired that the only way in was through the front, and considering what happened to Adam, it's not like they weren't expected anyway.

Stepping gingerly through the broken glass of the front door, and over the fallen body of Adam, who was still unconscious, they slowly entered the reception area. In the background, they could hear the faint sounds of a class in session as they approached.

"Do you think we'll need to take out a whole class?" Jonah James, otherwise known as "JJ" asked the others.

"Nah, we just need to find this "Elephant' dude, and make an example out of him. A whole class might be too messy. We can always ask the boss when that time comes," Angus McCord, the other tough guy said.

"Anyway, it'll take more than a bunch of people in pajamas yelling at us to take care of the Elephant," Harry Miller, the remaining thug said.

All three quietly chuckled as they entered the receptionist's area. All three were surprised by what they saw.

What they saw was a tall (about 5'10"), slim attractive woman of Asian decent, patiently sitting on a corner of her desk with her legs crossed. She wore a full-length silk-like dress with spaghetti straps that was navy blue with blue flowers silk-screened on it. The dress was split on the both sides, journeying almost all the way up her long legs. Her hair was in a pageboy style, going no farther than a little past her ears. On top were two small tuffs of hair that were held up by blue hairpins. As one looked at her black hair, they could see that there were blue highlights added that reflected back in the light. Her facial features were accented by her blue eye shadow. The thing that drew the most attention about her was her large bare feet that she decorated with blue toenail polish. At a size twelve, they appeared to be out of proportion with the rest of her body, but she didn't seem to mind as she slowly swung them, giving the impression that she was patiently waiting for them.

"All right sweet cheeks, " JJ said, "where is he? Where's the Elephant? We are here to adjust his attitude."

All three men were on their guard, watching and waiting for an attack from a concealed position. The Asian-American beauty uncrossed her legs and pointed her large, yet attractive left foot to the floor as she slid off the edge of the desk. Her straightened toes elegantly touched down onto the hardwood floor as she casually stood up on the very tips of them, like a barefoot ballerina, and she chuckled at the three men.

"I suppose you wouldn't expect something as large as an elephant to stand effortlessly on the tips of their pointed bare toes, would you?" She said. As she stood ramrod straight, she teasingly lifted one pointed foot behind her while doing several pirouettes, perfectly balanced while the toes pressed into the floor.

"But people do call me the Blue Elephant."

The three men looked at one another puzzled at first, not at all believing that this lovely slim beauty was the one who had been beating up on drug dealers and the fourth man of their team. They then relaxed and started laughing at the very notion that she was the mysterious "Elephant." Harry, who was now behind her, was still laughing as he walked closer.

"Yeah, and women call me the Pink Rhinoceros, ha-ha," he said. "I think I'll pick you up and take you out to see the boss so you can tell him about the Elephant before I show you what I mean, ha-ha."

Still standing straight, yet at ease on the tips of her toes, she doesn't even look back as she fired a lightning fast back kick that had the thick sole of her foot slamming full tilt into his face in mid stride. She held her foot out behind her in a fantastic stationary pose as his face slid off her big, dirty, and calloused foot like a fried egg off a non-stick skillet, before crumpling into an unconscious heap where he was stopped.

The last two men looked at each other shocked and surprised as their attitudes changed from that of amusement to that of full on combat. Harry once almost beat a man to death with his bare hands. To see him dropped with one kick from this woman earned their immediate attention, not to mention caution.

JJ pulled out a Billy club and raised it to strike as he ran at her. Blue Elephant stood there unperturbed with her hands on her hips as she lowered herself from her toe tips to her heels with a loud thump against the floor. She paused for a split second to inhale and exhale a quick breath of air.

"Hai!" She said softly.

At the precise moment, she swung her foot from behind her into an explosive front kick that intercepted the Billy club in its downward motion. Incredibly, the iron-hard ball of her foot sheared the hardwood club in half like it was a matchstick. JJ stopped and instinctively looked at the stub of a club still left in his hand. He barely had time to ask himself the question, how did she do tha-

Blue Elephant reached forward and grabbed JJ's hand to pull him forward as she extended her sleek long leg up and over his head so that the tough sole of her foot slapped him in the face with a crescent motion. She began slapping his face, looking more like a speed bag being beat to its stitches.

"Of course no one would expect an elephant to have feet as fast as mine, but an elephant would probably have soles as tough," she said casually. "I've been told that being hit by the callused soles of my bare feet hurts way more than any shoe could. What do you think?"

Blue Elephant stopped to look at her handiwork. She saw with satisfaction the beaten face of her attacker. JJ's face was already black and blue with bruises and puffed out beyond recognition. The nose was broken and the lips were red with blood and no front teeth were visible. She appeared to be impressed with the devastation she inflicted with a few strokes of her foot, and she smiled at the incredible power her bare feet gave her.

"I guess you must agree," she said as she firmly placed her large foot on his face, covering it, and gave a sharp shove that sent his limp body backwards. She turned and faced the last man who was cautious and perhaps a little unsure of his situation.

Angus looked with anguish the devastation that was set before him. He saw before him the woman whom figuratively and literally kicked the behinds of three of his fellow henchmen. Not known for being slow witted, Angus cursed himself for not reacting sooner to help JJ out (Harry was taken out with only one kick), but the act was finished by the time he thought about doing anything.

Angus pulled out a switchblade and flicked it open. No matter how fast she is with those feet, they're no match for my blade, Angus thought.

He took up a defensive posture, circling around and away from her, being mindful to stay out of range of her kicks. Blue Elephant approached him, as if she ignored the fact that he was holding a knife. Angus lashed out at her waist with his knife, but she simply raised her knee high enough so that the knifepoint struck the flattened side of her foot. The knife pressed harmlessly into the tough calluses of her sole and failed to make any cut.

What on earth?

He parried back and forth and tried again and again with greater force, only to have the much faster bottoms of her feet always there to meet her knife. Blue Elephant began laughing, as the duel looked like some bizarre square dance, with the soles of her feet an impenetrable defense to his sharp knife.

Angus finally became enraged at this spectacle and swung the switchblade at her head, which she easily avoided, but it left him open, and her right foot shot up with the tips of her toes slamming up under his jaw. The impact dazed him as he retreated and shook his head. But Angus was a veteran fighter, so he recovered and renewed his attack. However as he resumed his attack at the waist level, his thrusts and parries were much slower.

The tough guy made another thrust with his switchblade, only to have it again strike harmlessly against the sole of Blue Elephant's toughened foot. As he pulled back for another try, the female fighter suddenly dropped low, spun around clockwise, and swung her right foot, the bare heel hitting the inside of Angus' knee. Not prepared for the sudden attack, Angus fell on his back. As he landed, Blue Elephant jumped up and stomped her left foot on Angus' knife hand.

Fingers and knuckles shattered as the full weight of her foot crushed his hand between the knife handle and the hardwood floor. He bellowed in pain as he tried to struggle to pull his hand loose from underneath her foot.

"Shhh, you'll disrupt Katie's class," Blue Elephant said, twisting her foot slightly to add a little more pain to Angus' hand. She then continued her dialogue in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I am sure that there is one thing that both elephants and I like to do . . .and that is to crush and stomp things with our big and powerful bare feet."

And with that, she took her other foot and pushed Angus back to the floor. Next, she took that foot, raised it spreading her long, strong toes, and placed it on his whimpering face. Incredibly, she gripped his face with her large foot like a NBA player would palm a regular-sized basketball with his hands.

Angus tried to twist and turn and pull her foot away from his face, while his moans of pain were muffled by the bottom of her foot, but it was to no avail as she pinned his head to the floor with unstoppable force. He had no choice but to receive the pressure of her foot as she was now standing on his face with her full weight. Angus' free arm was waving wildly in a feeble attempt to get himself free.

Blue Elephant took a measure of sadistic pleasure in hearing the moans and muffled screams from her victim as she slowly suffocated him under her bare foot. She then decided that she wanted to leave something more permanent that better glorified the union of his face to the sole of her foot. Putting even more weight on his face for balance, she moved her left foot off Angus' broken hand, and placed it on his right shoulder. Angus was near the point of unconsciousness at this point from suffocation, so any struggles if any, were feeble.

Once she got herself situated, taking a moment to concentrate, she started to press down on Angus' face. As she applied several hundred pounds of pressure, she could feel facial bones and teeth bend, then break. Blue Elephant stopped to admire her "foot work." She could distinctly see the blue and red imprint of her sole and toes on his face ' something he would see in a mirror for a long time to come if he received hospital treatment soon. She admired her masterpiece and loved the power of her feet. For years she had hardened her hands and more specifically her feet to the point where she could shatter thick glass bottles, hardwood, or brick by stomping her foot on them. She was always curious how effective her feet were on a human skull. Now she knew.

Finished with her handiwork in the dojo, she then shifted her attention to the drug lord outside as she grabbed her overcoat and threw it on as she went out the front door, ignoring the glass that crunched underneath her feet.

Back in his limousine, Sean picked up a drink from the table beside him. He took a sip when he saw a female figure emerge from the building wrapped in a long overcoat with arms crossed in front of her, obviously feeling the sub-freezing temperature of the cold winters night. He was watching her through the passenger back window as she briskly walked across the gravel and broken pavement of the parking lot.

He started to wonder what was going on with his muscle in the building when he noticed something curious about her. He couldn't be sure under the dim glow of the streetlamps, but it looked like she was barefoot! Not that she walked tenderly like someone afraid of hurting their feet on the rocks, she stepped hard and confident like she was wearing shoes or boots. But in the dim light of the parking lot lights, he was sure he saw a bare ankle and foot, thrusting out from under the overcoat with each step.

He then thought to himself that his men must have run across something interesting and sent this woman out from her classes to relay the message. They must have just thrown her an overcoat to put over those pajamas they work out in and told her to get me. They could've let her put some shoes on before they threw her out. As Sean took an extra sip, he wondered if maybe the boys sent her as a "gift." She looked like she could be some warm comfort on a cold night. Maybe I'll take her with me.

His curiosity kept him watching her feet until within a couple of parking spaces he was convinced, but in total disbelief that this woman was walking barefooted like it didn't bother her in the least!

Must be one of those karate tricks they do to stay humble or something, Sean thought. That, or trying to break bricks or something.

It wasn't until he saw her attractive and smiling face with its Asian features that he got his mind back to the business at hand. What did his boys find that was so interesting? And what was this beautiful woman doing out here? Maybe they sent her as a gift, but why didn't they call his cell phone and let him know? He'll give them a call, but first this woman needed to know who he was.

He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his gun, tapping it against his window just to show her he was armed and meant business. She smiled, took a step back and bowed her head. It appeared like she was turning to go back to the dojo.

Wait a minute, Sean thought, what is she supposed to be doing '

There was an explosion that knocked the gun from his hand and showered him with broken glass from the passenger window. Sean instinctively closed his eyes to protect them from the flying glass. When he opened them, he saw in front of him the bare sole of a female foot, unharmed from breaking the window, roughly a foot away from him. In stunned silence he saw the long toes curl back and reveal the tough calloused ball of her foot smack him in the mouth. Even though there was only twelve inches difference between his face and her foot, the impact was enough to make him see stars and taste blood in his mouth.

For a few moments, the whole world appeared to slow down before Sean's eyes. The bare foot withdrew from the limo, and out of the corner of Sean's eye, he saw something shiny on the floorboard of the car. His gun! He made a mad dive toward his weapon ' or tried to. Something grabbed the back of his suit collar, keeping him from moving further. Instead, he found himself being pulled backwards, until he saw an arm snake under his right armpit and give him a sudden yank. Before, Sean was sitting in the heated comfort of his limo, now he was suddenly exposed to the cruel winter elements of the Windy City, the sharp winter winds stinging the cuts on his face from the glass of the broken window. The remaining glass in the car door window was on the bottom, digging painfully into his back. That, along with the cold air brought a abrupt clarity to Sean's mind as he took a quick evaluation of his situation. He felt like he was hanging between heaven and earth, then he realized that he was halfway hanging out of his car, the glass of the car door still digging into his back.

He looked up toward the night sky, and framed in the glow of the streetlamps was the face of his attacker looking down on him. Blue Elephant had a grim grin on her face as she gazed for a moment at her victim. Then she extended her right leg over her head as if she was a ballerina stretching for a performance or performing an impromptu session of yoga. Suddenly she quickly lowered her leg, the foot moving rapidly toward Sean's head.

The ball of Blue Elephant's foot smashed Sean in the left eye. His world exploded in pain. In his current position of teetering over the car door, the force of the kick sent his head heading for the ground. Before his head landed, Blue Elephant using the instep of her left foot, kicked him in the back of his head. The force of the kick sent Sean back up, until she raised her left foot over her head to prepare to strike another blow.

For a couple of minutes, which felt like a painful eternity to Sean, Blue Elephant took advantage of the mobster's body that was balanced just so on the car door. With open-soled ax kicks, she would smack his head down, then deliver a kick to the back of his head, bringing it up to be smacked down again. It was like Blue Elephant was playing a macabre game of soccer with Sean's head as the soccer ball.

Finally Sean managed to gain the presence of mind to cover his face with his hands to offer some protection from the onslaught. Blue Elephant, undeterred by this, swung her right foot down again; only this time she struck her right toes on the side of his throat, less than an inch away from his Adam's Apple. Sean cried out, clutching his injured neck and trying to regain his breath. He felt like someone struck him with an iron rod. Through his pain, he realized if she struck an inch closer, he would've been dead from a smashed throat.

Blue Elephant grabbed Sean by the head, and pulled the rest of him out of the car, abruptly dropping him on the ground when she did so. Before he could think of fleeing, she struck the inside of Sean's left knee with her left heel; not enough to break it, but enough to have him limping for a while. He still scrambled to get up, but Blue Elephant just covered his face with her right foot and slammed his head down to the ground hard.

Dazed and injured, Sean started to shiver from the cold. He turned his head toward his attacker who was standing a foot or so away. He glanced at her bare feet standing on the cold ground, not even affected by the elements. Through his bruised lips, he managed to speak.

"You, you're the Elephant, aren't you?" Sean said weakly.

She smiled politely and replied, "Almost fully correct. I am the Blue Elephant, because I like the color blue. As for the name "Elephant,' I think you can guess why."

"My boys?"

"They're still alive, though they may not be if you don't act fast."

"This was a setup; you were waiting all along."

"My, my," Blue Elephant said sarcastically, "They don't call you the boss for nothing. You are quite correct in your conclusions."

Realizing the gravity of his situation, Sean attempted to bargain. "I can give you whatever you want, just name it," he said.

"Actually, I want three things. One, I want you to leave this dojo alone. It's one of the best things this neighborhood has seen in a long time, and I would hate to see it under attack. Two, you are to send your pushers out of this neighborhood. The more you send, the more that will be sent to the hospital, maybe the morgue. Three, I want $300,000 sent to my account tonight."

"I can get it for you tomorrow, the banks are closed."

"No, you'll give it to me tonight, in the next few minutes."

"What do I get from this?" Sean asked.

"You get to live," Blue Elephant said simply. "In case you didn't notice, there were several ways I could've killed you. I could've stomped down on your throat and watch you choke; I could've slammed my heel into your nose, driving the bones into your brain. I could take that same heel and hit you in the temple; you would've never felt a thing. One good kick, and I could break your neck, or I could smash your ribs and watch your life ebb away from internal bleeding. And that's just with my feet; there's a few more ways I could do it with my hands if it wasn't so cold tonight. Need I go on?"

Sean slowly shook his head. "If I'm gone, someone will come looking for me. That's extortion you're attempting with the money, and you won't kill me, there's too many witnesses." He nodded his head toward a few people from Katie's class that started to filter out of the dojo before Katie beckoned them back in, stopping long enough to drag Adam in with them.

"This dojo is under protection by stronger forces than you. Concerning extortion, you could always go to the police and lodge a complaint; I'm sure they'll be happy to help you. And to tell you the truth, there are a lot of people here who think killing you would be doing them and the rest of the neighborhood a favor."

She pulled out a digital camera and a cell phone. Sean tries to make another attempt at escape, crawling toward his car. Blue Elephant leaps in front of him, and then kicks him in the face, knocking him on his back. She then takes her left foot and pins him to the ground by his neck. Flexing her foot, she constricted his throat, causing him to gasp for air. He starts to feel lightheaded from the lack of blood to the brain.

"I didn't think you needed another demonstration of my "foot power,'" Blue Elephant said tersely. "I'd guess my feet are at least three times stronger than your hands. I don't even have to stand on your neck to crush it; one flex from my foot and you'd be dead. Do we have an understanding?"

Sean managed to croak yes. Blue Elephant relaxes her foot so he could breathe freely again. She shoves the cell phone in his hand.

"Make the call, I will not ask again," she said.

This time, Sean complied. After the transaction was done, Blue Elephant walked over to the limo, pulled out his gun, and emptied the bullets before tossing it at his feet.

"Here's your gun, I believe you were looking for it," she said. "Now I need one more thing, then you're free to go. It looks like they probably called an ambulance for your men, but you'll get to drive away. You're in no position to complain, only in a position to obey. You are to say "I've learned my lesson,' and between every two words, you kiss the bottom of my foot. I don't mean a peck either; I mean a kiss like you give your hooker girlfriends. If you don't do it right, we'll try it again. If it looks to me like you're never going to get it, I'll just smash your face in. Got it? Here we go . . ."

Sean looked at the foot hovering over his face, and realized he had no choice, not if he wanted to see the morrow.

"Just like that, you're going to let him go?" Katie said to Blue Elephant as they sat in Katie's office. Katie let her hair down and changed into her street clothes consisting of a long white T-shirt and straight-leg blue jeans. Like all DOA members, she adopted the barefoot lifestyle, leaving her shoes at home, even during her hometown's frigid winters. She sat in her chair with her feet propped up on her desk. Blue Elephant sat across from her in a chair drinking a cup of hot chocolate. She still had her overcoat on.

"Him, yes," Blue Elephant said. "Since all four of his goons are getting medical attention, they won't be going anywhere. The police have been looking for them anyway."

"You were effective, maybe a little too effective. Did you have to hurt them that badly?"

"I don't know. All I do know was they wouldn't stop at hurting innocent people, and I wanted to make sure they didn't do that. York I didn't hurt badly enough, but that would require crossing a line I do not want to cross. I wonder if I danced close to it tonight. I'll think about it later." She took another sip of hot chocolate.

"You know, there's also the possibility he'll come back after you and this dojo with more goons."

"He could try, but I think he'll have other problems to deal with. That reminds me." Blue Elephant pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed it. "Hey Artemis? Your prey is ready. No, I don't care what you do to him. Well you know you can't do that, our leader won't allow it. Everything else is fair game though. Yeah, you should be able to get a nice trophy from him. No, you don't need to give me the gory details, just give me a call when you're through. By the way, it's rather breezy and cold out there, so dress warmly. Okay, talk to you soon, bye-bye."

"You sent Artemis after him? Boy, you don't play around, do you?" Katie said.

"I thought it was only fitting," Blue Elephant said. "Since he's been a predator to the neighborhood, I'd thought I would send a bigger predator to prey on him."

"That psycho is liable to skin him alive, and wear his hide for a coat."

"True, but at least she's our little psycho. Needless to say, he won't be around to peddle his poison anymore."

"Yeah, that's good news. Artemis, wow. Maybe you should've killed him."

"Then I would deny her of her prey. It turns out he has or rather had extensions of his little syndicate in a few other places, including the hometown where Artemis and I live. Artemis got tired of crippling his dealers, and decided to cripple the source. When we found out we were after the same goon, we came up with a plan. I protect your dojo, and leave Mr. York to her."

"What's the deal with the money?"

"About $100,000 of it will go to a drug treatment center that has an excellent record with their clients. They had a few problems getting support, so the money should help keep them going. The second $100,000 will go to your dojo, at least to take care of the door I helped break, and to use as you see fit. The remaining $100,000 I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll use it to open a dojo of my own back home."

"Well thank you BE, for all your help. You are welcome here anytime. We all owe you a big debt."

"Think nothing of it, Katie, it's the least I could do for a friend. And if the impossible happens and York, or any other thug gives you problems, just call our cell up here, and they'll send you another enforcer who'll take care of it."

"Another enforcer?" Katie said. "What about you, didn't you enjoy your stay?"

"Sure I did, but it's too cold up here! I misplaced my gloves, so I had to fight all those thugs with my feet! No big deal, considering how tough my feet are, but my hands were almost numb after I finished out there. No, I'll be going back home where the climate is better for my hands. Come to think of it, in a few days I have a particular appointment I need to keep with a certain dojo owner. To call him teacher would be a joke, but you don't want to hear about that. I also need to make a call tonight, so I need to be going. I'll drop by in the morning to hand you the check."

The two embraced, said their good byes, and Blue Elephant walked to her car, putting her hands in her pockets to keep them warm. Before she reached for her car door, she felt something in the bottom of each pocket and pulled the items out to see what they were. It was her gloves. She shook her head as she put them on and got in her car.

"Now I find them!" She said to herself.

Epilogue 1

Sean York reached the hotel room where he was staying with a painful limp, and vengeance on his mind. That woman had made the biggest mistake of her life, letting me live, he thought to himself. It was almost as bad being forced to kiss that dirty thing she called a foot. I'll come back when she least expects it, maybe tomorrow, with four, five, or ten more of my men and wipe her and that blasted karate joint off the face of the earth. No one, no one humiliates me and gets away with it, not if they want to continue breathing.

Sean was so busy fuming; he didn't notice at first the fact that his bodyguard didn't meet him at the door. That wasn't like Brock; he always greeted him at the door.

He prepared to call him, when suddenly the lights went out. Sean called Brock's name, but when he received an answer, it was not the one he was expecting.

"Hello," a feminine voice said.

"Who's there? Is that you, Elephant?" Sean said.

"That's Blue Elephant, and no, it's not her. The name is Artemis. You may remember what I've done to some of your employees back in my town."

The cold remembrance of the destruction of his drug operation and dealers in that town not so long ago came to him. Now she decided to go after him. He pulled out his gun that he reloaded before he arrived at the hotel. He looked around in the darkness. If he could get her to keep talking, he might be able to draw a bead on her where he can shoot.

"Yeah, you smashed the face of one of them so bad, his own mom won't recognize him, and another one may not be able to walk again, thanks to you," he said.

"Well the first one, I didn't like his face. As for the second one, he had the nerve to call me "crazy.' Can you believe that?"

Finding the source of the sound, he turned around to fire, only to find his gun hand seized and the wrist twisted abruptly, causing his weapon to fall to the floor. He didn't have long to suffer the pain though, as he found himself landing hard on his back. A new pain from landing on the floor mixed with the recent pain that the glass on his car door did to his back left him momentarily stunned and groaning in misery. A lamp was switched on, and he saw the woman called Artemis hunched over him. This woman was black, almost six feet if not that already, had just enough hair on her scalp to not be bald, and was wearing an Olympic-style black swimsuit with a tank top and legs that stopped at the ankles. Looking at her from the tips of her bare toes to the top of her head, she was the biggest woman Sean had ever seen with very developed muscles visible even through the swimsuit.

Sean started to wonder if he had entered into his own private hell. First, he and his men were almost beaten to death by a woman using only her big feet, now he's encountering a woman who's built so solidly, even his hired muscle would hesitate before encountering her in hand-to-hand combat or a dark alley. He could plainly see how his dealers ended up hospitalized. The thing that made him shudder was not how strongly built she was; it was the look on her face. It was a demonic grin that told him that she loved hurting people. In his profession, it came with the business, but with her, she looked she would enjoy doing it for free, which as far as he knew, she might be. Becoming a possible legal and social problem, Sean didn't hire such sadists into his employ; now one is attacking him. After looking over him the way a student would look over a frog about to be dissected, Artemis spoke again.

"I was told to dress warmly, but your bodyguard was so kind to let me in this nice, comfy room," she said, waving toward a bloody body in the hallway. "He should be in okay shape by the time room service finds him."

"What do you want with me?" Sean asked.

"Why, I'd like to suck the marrow from your bones, but I'm not allowed to do that. I'm sure there's something you have that I want."

Sean didn't think she was the type that could be bargained with, but since she said that . . .

"I can give you money, lots of it!" He said.

"Oh I don't want your money, I just want a trophy."

"A trophy?"

"Yes, something on or a part of your person. Hmmm, that looks nice," she said, appearing to look at his diamond ring.

"You want my ring, you can have it," he said.

"Actually, I was looking at the finger the ring is on." After seeing the shocked look on his face, she continued. "Just kidding. It takes a whole lot of trouble to preserve a human finger. That's okay, I'll think of something before we're through. Let's see . . ."

Without warning, Artemis fired her right fist into the gangster's face. Sean's nose, which was bruised before, was almost broken as blood freely flowed from it. The huntress stuck her finger into the flow of blood, and brought it to her mouth, where she licked it.

"I have tasted your blood, your essence, and it tastes like ' chicken," she said. "It's finger-licking good."

The mobster's eyes grew wide with alarm.

"You're crazy! No, wait, I didn't mean that!" He said, apologizing for invoking the "C" word.

"Apology accepted," Artemis said. "You know, I don't see a reason for us to rush here. Your four men are in the hospital or jail as we speak; your bodyguard isn't in any shape to interfere with us; so we have all night to conduct our tea party. After we finish, I'll send you to a special place where you can have lots of fun."

If Sean York had never known fear, he knew it now. "A special place?" He asked.

"Oh don't worry about it, that's for later. In the meantime, we'll have lots of fun, especially since your blood tastes like chicken."

Artemis grasped Sean's left leg, and started to bend it the wrong way.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just making sure you don't leave our tea party too soon. We have a lot of things to discuss."

"No, I'll stay, I'll be good, I'll give you anything you want, please, please, ahhh!"

Epilogue 2

Back at her hotel room in an area of town closer to Katie's dojo, Blue Elephant pondered for a moment what Artemis was going to do with Sean. After a few seconds, she shook her head to get the thought out of her mind; she's better off not knowing. If that woman's reputation was true, he probably was better off if she finished him off. However, that man needed to suffer for the evil he'd done, and she could think of no one who could better fit the role of a tormentor than Artemis.

Our pet psycho, she thought to herself. And she's a history professor at college too; that's really spooky. Maybe this all was an act, or maybe not. In any case, she reasoned to herself, it's over and she can go home tomorrow to a warmer climate, her friends, and John.

She pulled out her cell phone, checked the time, walked over to the window overlooking the city, and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello baby, you still up?" She asked. "How are you doing? Glad to hear it. Well, I'm done with my mission, my last mission. Am I sure? Yes, I think I'm sure, especially after tonight. I'll explain it all when I get home tomorrow. Yeah I know the DOA has been very good to me, but back when I joined, the ideals were different. I'm not very comfortable with the direction the group is going now; it's not what I signed up for. When I joined, we had higher aspirations; now we have these women who want to go one step short of world domination. No, I'm not exaggerating, a few weeks ago back home, I heard some women discuss how they would like to take over the town. We already own half the town, what more could they want?

"Well all I know is when I joined, we didn't have young punks like Huntress and what did she call her group? The "White Africans,' that's it. We didn't have our members do that nonsense when I started. That reminds me, I'm planning to meet this woman who beat her up recently. Yeah, beat her up good. It was a judo instructor who runs this dojo called "The Iron Foot.' You know a name like that has my attention. Yeah, she popped off to her about how she was going to beat her up, take her man, take her dojo, and all this stuff. Heh, she's not bragging about it now. Her name? Janelle, I believe. Supposed to be an excellent instructor; I guess Huntress found out firsthand. Sounds like a pretty decent person to me.

"That reminds me, I have a particular appointment with a certain instructor of a certain dojo in a few days. If his skills are the same as last time, I'll beat him in no time. There won't be a loose mat to save him this time. I ought to call Jackie and spook him a little bit. Nah, I won't do that, after I finish talking to you, I'm going to bed.

"What do I plan to do now that I'm "retired'? Well first, I'm going to spend more time with you, baby; I get tired of having to run around putting out fires at a moment's notice, leaving you alone. What I'd really like to do is run my own dojo. No, not a dojo for the "baldies,' they have enough dojos to train in. This will be for the general public. Wait, you're saying I shouldn't make a complete break, just be "semi-retired' so I can teach the new folks what the DOA really stands for? That's an idea, I'll think about that. That's one of the things I love about you John, your insight and wisdom on things like this.

"I'm going to go ahead and turn in, but let me tell you what I bought today. It's a bottle of nail polish, blue metallic. As soon as I get home, I'll give my feet a footbath, then you can come over, and we'll have a quiet evening with candlelight, some soft music, and you can paint my toenails with this new stuff. No, I haven't opened it yet, I'm waiting for you to do it, baby. You know I love the way you paint my toenails. Oh, it gets me excited just thinking about it!

"Well I need to go to bed, I have a long drive tomorrow. I can't wait to see you either. I'll see you tomorrow evening at the latest. I love you too, John, bye-bye."

After she turned off the phone, Blue Elephant stretched and yawned, then staggered to the bedroom, dropping her dress on the floor on the way. She was so tired, she didn't bother picking it up. She got into her bed, and as soon as she laid down her head, any concerns about the present day or the day to come vanished with her consciousness.

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