Revolution! Part Twenty-One

Ms. Madison heard the laughter of the evil man begin to fill her ears. The men picked her up. One pinned her to the wall, while the other hit her a couple of times. She felt hot blood on her bare skin. Black spots began to spin in on her vision. She spluttered blood, still gazing at the evil man, as he laughed.

"You were wrong!" he mocked her, "I will get away with this! I will have my will, Ms. Madison. I will be the greatest criminal in all of history."

"Never..." Ms. Madison sighed through the pain. "You've...."

Another blow silenced her, driving the breath from her body. She gasped in pain, falling back to the floor, grazing one knee.

"The world will be consumed in fire!" the man continued to rant, looking down at Ms. Madison's helpless form. "You are the first to suffer, but all will suffer before I am done, I, the greatest criminal of all time, Jack the Ripper! You think I am weak, that I will not do as I have sworn! You stupid little blonde, I have no conscience, no reason to hold back from my evil! You will see that before you die - just before you die!"

Ms. Madison tried to get up, but found her strength had deserted her. Someone kicked her, and she fell back on the ground. The evil man's laughter became more strident.

"What she was trying to say," a new voice broke in on the scene, "was that you wouldn't leave when you could watch a helpless girl being tortured. You were always a sucker for that, weren't you, Jack?"

The evil man stopped laughing. There, in the corner of the cell, deep in the shadows, stood the Green Man.