DB Sommer wrote:

Since people have been prodding me lately, I shall once again prove this
isn't dead yet. Mind you, this is just the teaser for the next chapter:

  Let's see if I can't be productive today...

Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at
sommer@3rdm.net.

At Larry F's at:
http://lwf58.tripod.com/fan_fiction/d_b_sommer/index.html

Or R+C books at:
http://dbsommer.rcbooks.org

And also Angcobra is now storing all of my fics, at
http://s5.sexshare.com/~angcobra/dbsommer.html

  That's right, folks! DB Sommer Lite(TM)! Coming soon to a store near you! ;)

Mopping the sweat from her brow with a hand-embroidered silk handkerchief,
Kodachi Kunou gave a satisfied smirk at her handiwork. Finally, it was
finished. It might have taken the better part of the last two days, but the
results were what she had desired. The Iron Rose Mark II armor could now fit
into the attach� case she had especially designed for it. True, the case was
a bit large, actually it was three times the size of a normal attach� case,
but it was necessary. The armor was just too bulky to fit in something
smaller, even with it having been redesigned to be collapsible, as it was
now.

  I trust all the repetition of 'hand' is intentional? :p

  Kodachi: Just you wait, you red-haired hussy, Shiiko will be mine! No, wait... wrong series.

The need to carry the armor around at all times was now a necessary evil.
Recent events, combined with what she had recently learned about the stock
situation concerning Kunou Industries, clearly indicated that someone was
targeting her family's business for a takeover of the most hostile kind.
Kunou Industries' stock was being purchased at an astronomical rate by a
number of different sources. On the surface, it appeared to be little more
than normal, if somewhat healthy, trading. However, when one dug a good bit
deeper, it became obvious that most of the buyers were nothing more than
propped up fronts. The truth was obvious; there was a major player who was
preparing to make the company their own. Kodachi had not yet uncovered who
the mystery person (or persons) calling the shots was, but she had hired a
small army of investigators to discover that person or company's identity.

  Second line, repetition of 'recent'.

It was also obvious that whoever was moving in for the takeover was probably
behind the disappearances of both her father and brother. Neither would have
parted with the company willingly anymore than Kodachi would have. With any
of them at the helm, and with their controlling stock, a takeover would be
nearly impossible. Without them, it would go smoothlessly and save the
person trying to buy the company billions of yen, at least. That was more
than enough motive for any ruthless person or corporation to have the only
potential stumbling block eliminated, or at least try to eliminate them.

  Smoothlessly? You mean seamlessly? Flawlessly? I'm not sure that flows...

After Misuharu Ohama's mysterious assassination attempt failed, a second
effort was made on Kodachi's life. Luckily, security had proven their worth
by catching the would-be bomber before he got to Kodachi's offices. The
attempts were nearly identical. The man had been an employee for Kunou
Industries for nearly two decades and by all accounts was satisfied with his
job and pay. He had a family that he loved dearly. He had no known
outstanding debts and his bank account had the expected amount of money in
it. There was no reason for him to try to kill her. Once the man had been
interrogated, it became obvious his mental condition was similar to Ohama's.
He had fallen victim to some sort of brainwashing as well. And no leads had
turned up on that clue to date either.

  Last sentence, commage? Not sure...

Kodachi had little doubt that it was only a matter of time before this
mystery person attacked her again through another surrogate. It would be up
to her to uncover the identity of her assailant, or more correctly, it would
be up to the Iron Rose to do so. That meant Kodachi needed to keep her armor
close at hand. And the only way to do that was to conceal it. Enter her new
attach� case. She was going to show it off to the world. Once people became
used to her always walking around with it like it was surgically attached to
her, no one would be suspicious that she and the Iron Rose were the same. It
was a great plan.

  Except the entire, "taking off all her clothes and donning the armor in public" thing, but she thought she could get used to that pretty quickly...

She closed the lid on the case. A mental note was made to make the helmet a
little more collapsible, since she had to force the top shut. But now it
looked fine, except the large size of the case. She grabbed the handle and
pulled it off the table it was resting on...

  Have you ever read 'Your Half'?

...And promptly screamed in pain as the case landed squarely on her foot,
the weight of the attach� being far too much for her to carry around.

  Thought so.

As she hopped on one foot while trying to hold the other at the same time,
Kodachi decided that was the final straw. She silently vowed she was
streamlining the armor the first decent chance she got, the additional armor
the current version had be damned. In the meantime, she was going to have to
modify the attach� case again. Maybe some wheels added to the bottom and a
pull cord...

  Or better yet, someone to carry it around for her...

  Repetition of armor? Additional defences, protection, shielding, etc?

Daredevil craned his neck back to stare at this new impending menace that
was threatening the city. From the waist upwards, this strange newcomer was
an imposing sight. Midnight blue armor covered his body like a medieval
knight hell-bent on some glorious crusade. The faceplate was not meant to be
intimidating, with its flat surface and plain features, but that unadorned
look was unsettling in some way to the onlookers, perhaps because it lacked
character of any kind. The musculature of the armor wasn't exaggerated, but
still appeared imposing due to its size and the obvious thickness. All
things considered, it was an impressive appearance that belayed a mysterious
power that implied this man might be someone to be reckoned with.

  First and second instances of 'this' -- 'the' ? Not sure.

  "God, I wish he would wear pants."

Save for the fact his legs were stilts.

  Dang. Close, though. :p

"The Stilt Man!"

  That sounds... usefull. I guess.

"Isn't it obvious?! As you can plainly tell, I am a brilliant inventor whose
unappreciated work in hydraulics, as well as dealing with stupid
pointy-haired bosses and working fifty five hours a week for inferior pay,
has frustrated me to the point that I have decided to embark on a life of
crime! Using my genius in the field of hydraulics, I devised these massive
legs to enable me to get really tall and... hold on! I'm getting tired of
shouting!" The Stilt Man's hydraulic legs, which looked pretty much like two
plain, thick columns with nothing in the way of feet, retracted downward so
that he was only fifteen feet high instead of the previous ninety.

  Tripping could be bad, yes.

While his arms were out of sight behind his back, Daredevil flicked his
wrist and a crowbar fell from out of his voluminous robes and into his
hands. He made it appear he was listening with rapt attention while he used
his body to shield the crowbar from view. He softly played it along the
ground until it caught in the opening he had spotted with his radar sense.
"So, what you're telling me is, your sole superpower is the ability to look
stupid on a pair of adjustable stilts."

  He must have very long arms.

Daredevil could barely refrain from just walking away from the whole thing.
He raged more at the world than the Stilt Man as he began shouting, "Most
super heroes get cool villains! Like pasty faced guys with wicked senses of
humor and laughing gas that can kill. Enigmatic fellows with an affinity for
clever riddles that the hero has to figure out to prevent the crimes. Some
even get an attractive female thief with a cat motif that feels helplessly
drawn to them even while she's in the middle of fighting them. That's what I
want, but what do I get? Weenie race car drivers. Men in frog costumes with
springs in their feet that have the ability to *gasp* jump. Overweight guys
that have bad hair and can glide. An owl is not an intimidating creature to
anything but a mouse, godamnit!"

  Comma before the *gasp* ?

"But with you up there, you can't get to me either," Daredevil pointed out.

Stilt Man's voice took on a sinister bent. At least as sinister as he could
manage with two giant pylons as his legs. "That's easy. All I have to do is
step on you with one of these 'stupid' hydraulic legs, which can press ten
tons under optimal conditions. And these conditions are very optimal,
Darepancake" Stilt Man raised his foot and aimed it right at Daredevil's
stationary form, humming 'London Bridge is Falling Down' as it descended
towards his foe.

  Missing punctuation after 'Darepancake'.

  Also, that ten tons of hydrualic force only works if Stilt Boy weighs more than ten tons. That pressure's going to send him _up_, not his target _down_. Maybe he's not as much of a hydraulic genius as he thinks. :p

"Just like I knew you would," Daredevil sighed as he waited until the last
moment to nimbly leap to the side. As he jumped, he pulled the crowbar
upward and yanked off the manhole cover he had been standing on like a pop
top to a bottle of beer.

  Repetition of 'as'?

Stilt Man had only an instant to allow the horror of what had just happened
to wash over him as he watched his right leg disappear down the hole. There
was no time to extend the errant limb to the bottom as his leg fell into the
equivalent of a five foot gopher hole on a man not wearing stilts. His
downward motion was only arrested by his body hitting the pavement at the
edge of the hole. Or, to be more specific, his crotch hitting the pavement
at the edge of the hole.

  Man. Sucks to be him.

"Needed... more... armor... there," Stilt Man squeaked out as he remained
exactly where he was, tears streaming from his eyes.

  Needed or need? Wait.

  No, don't answer that. Ow. >_<

Daredevil walked up to his opponent, twirling something that looked like it
was from a UFO Catcher machine. "Give up, or do I show you the terrors of my
new weapon, the 'testicular claw'?"

  Is 'UFO Catcher' a name brand? I always thought it was just the type of machine...

"Thought so." Daredevil tossed the UFO Catcher claw aside. And here Cologne
had told him it was stupid to carry something so useless around. But once
you added a terrifying name made up on the spur of the moment, it became a
device of unimaginable horror. Superheroeing was easy. It was like a
courtroom. Have of the fight was won on actual ability, and the other half
was won on delivering a good performance.

  Have -- half

As I said, this was just the teaser. Expect the real meat of the chapter to
start after these two bits. Will post the rest once I get the time to finish
it. Ideally that will be sometime later in the week, but we shall see.

  Yes. Yes we will, won't we? :p

BTW: The sad things is, Daredevil's early foes did tend to be
'unforgettables' like Leap Frog, Stilt Man, and the infamous original
'Hooters' of crime the Owl and his flunkies. And don't ask me about the
'Masked Matador' with his ability to use a red cape to make charging people
miss him. ^_^

  I only remember one or two Daredevil comics, actually, and the one I remember most clearly involved something about vietnam... which tells you how clearly I remember it. -_-

D.B. Sommer