Tales of the Red Panda: The Crime Cabal Read Online Free PDF Page A

punch-drunk attempt to fight back.
    The Red Panda responded to this sign of life with a blindingly quick
flurry of blows. He was working Moss’ body with a series of crushing uppercuts,
almost holding the big man up in the process. Suddenly, from the corner of his
eye, Tyler could see the lanky form of Tweed Cap pull himself to his feet, a
found length of pipe in his hand. He spit and threw an angry look at the Red
Panda’s back. Tyler drew a breath to cry out a warning to his rescuer, but
before a word came from his lips, he heard a strange sound, like the wind in a
sail, or a kite moving quickly.
    Tyler saw her before Tweed Cap did, descending rapidly from the gaping
darkness above. An unmistakably female form clad in a grey catsuit, her fall
from one of the nearby rooftops turned into a controlled glide by two membranes
that ran down the sides of her costume starting at her wrists and running
beneath her arms and along the length of her legs.
    Tyler’s heart was in his mouth. Could she possibly control this glide?
At the last moment, he was answered by a burble of laughter from the girl.
Tyler stared in amazement. The expression on her face was one of pure joy and
exhilaration.
    Tweed Cap heard the laugh and jerked his head up, but it was far too
late. At the last moment she rolled her legs forward beneath her, the
impossibly strong silks of the gliding membranes billowing forward as she
turned her glide into a fall. At the precise moment, the Flying Squirrel thrust
forward a boot and turned the full force of her motion into a kick to the face
that sent the tweed cap flying from the man’s head.
    The girl turned with the force from the kick, bringing her other leg
around in mid-air to smash against the man’s face from the opposite direction.
Still moving forward through the air with the energy of her glide, she kept
pace as the man fell backwards, bringing up her first foot to make contact with
a short, jabbing kick that sent the front teeth of the would-be robber
clattering to the pavement.
    She was almost out of kinetic energy now. She threw her arms out to
either side and sent her whole body into a spin in mid-air. Tyler couldn’t be
sure, but for a moment he thought he saw some sort of power sparking from the
soles of her feet, as if some energy in her boots gave her an extra boost to
keep her aloft. As she completed her spin, she thrust her left foot out,
breaking Tweed Cap’s jaw with a terrible crack.
    The lanky man fell to the ground like a sack of wet cement. The Flying
Squirrel landed softly, almost as if she had been lowered to the ground. As she
smirked at the prone form before her, she extended her arms to the sides and
made a small motion with her fingers. The gliding membranes retracted into her
suit smoothly and noiselessly, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.
They even passed through her belt, suggesting that it was not the solid piece
it appeared to be.
    Tyler turned his head to the right and saw the Red Panda, standing over
the long-forgotten unconscious form of Moss, watching the girl closely with a
smile on his face. He seemed to catch Tyler’s eye, and suddenly the smile
disappeared.
    “We should go,” he said.
    “Roger that,” said the girl, drawing something small from a pouch on
her belt. It was a police whistle. She blew on it three times, hard. Tyler
could imagine the sound of police boots on their way from every direction.
    The Red Panda struck a flare, bathing the alley in an eerie red light.
Swiftly, he pulled Moss by the arm to where his partner lay and fastened the
two together with a pair of handcuffs. The Squirrel blew the whistle again. The
masked man turned and his eyes met Tyler’s.
    “Are you all right?” he asked.
    Tyler could only nod. The Red Panda pressed something into his hand. It
was a small key.
    “For the bracelets. When the police arrive,” he said seriously.
    “Police?” Tyler could barely speak, his mouth was so dry. He looked
around. The girl