Re: Red Rock II Chapter 5:- Burning Bridges (A USB Story by Rufusluciusivan and Stormtrooper1990)
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2025 6:56 pm
True story, when I scrolled down the thread, I thought for a moment Stormtrooper had had to split the chapter into three parts, and then I realized it was your long review.meditions142 wrote: Mon Aug 18, 2025 12:30 pm Wow, what a spectacular chapter you two put together. A lot of women ended up getting knocked out in this one!
Loved the Michaela scene was great. Love the idea that with Michaela being a nurse she knew exactly what was going to happen when she felt the hit to the back of her neck. Love that description: "Michaela briefly felt a sharp pain at the bottom of her neck – the nurse in her recognized a swift blow using the cross of a gun. Surgical precision. Such a hit would knock out an adult woman almost instantly. And it did exactly that."
And also love the Epilogue where we find out that Michaela may have found love from her unfortunate situation.
Then loved the scene with Scarlet. The woman is tricked by the uniform and then, even though she doesn't want to, she consents to the fake examination and even the injection because she defers to the authority of a nurse.
Then loved the way Sylvié and Nancy worked together to immobilize the woman and prevent her for getting away as the Laudanum went to work on her.
And loved Sylvié “It’s not poison… Just something to make you sleep…” I also liked how the Laudanum was high quality so it put Scarlet to sleep rather quickly. And a very sexy description of her going out "The woman’s eyes rolled back into her skull, she exhaled one last moan, and fell into a deep sleep." Damn, that's sexy.
Then love the exchange:
“How long will she sleep?"
“Three-to-four hours.”
“No need for ropes then.”
Scarlet is such a perfect victim. Just a pretty young woman doing her job having no idea what is about to be done to her.
I have to say loved the scene with the sentry at the dynamite shed. First off, the set up is great. She is just a local farm girl with no training and also a petite little thing. Love how they size her up and Nancy decides she not too serious of the threat and a good candidate for Sylvié's first solo attempt to knock a woman out.
I love the exchange between Sylvié and Nancy all while the pretty (at least i assume she was pretty) little sentry stood at her post having no idea the plot being discussed to put her to sleep.
“This one doesn’t look particularly dangerous. Probably a local farm girl with the bare minimum of training. Still, if she panics and fires a shot, everyone a mile around will run here and the whole heist will fail. And I won’t be able to sneak behind her stealthily.”
The trail to the shed was indeed devoid of any hiding spot.
“Good old-fashioned bluff it is then.” Sylvié decided.
“We can’t use the routine check-up excuse this time. Those things never happen to a guard when on duty.” Nancy put her laundry basket, and only kept the bucket. “But I’m pretty sure she’ll be happy if a kind nurse and a kinder washer girl bring her some water.”
Sylvié smiled.
“This time, I’ll be the one distracting her. You knock her out.” Nancy added.
“You’re sure? I’ve never knocked out a woman by myself yet – Sand did it for me, and with Scarlet I had your help..”
“That girl’s in your league. She’s not strong and she’s not trained. She’s only dangerous if she grabs her gun.” Nancy retorted with an encouraging smile. “Use the chloroform if you’re worried you may hurt her with the syringe. I’ll step in if you need my help.”
And what a wonderful bluff with the water. Easily tricking the woman. Then Nancy watching ready to step in if necessary but trying to let Sylvié do it herself. I also like that the woman makes the mistake of trying to pry the arms of her attacker off instead of reaching for her gun.
I also like the struggle took a little while because "Chloroform needed some time to knock an adult woman out."
Also another really sexy pass out: "Eventually, the gunwoman’s struggles weakened. Her eyelids fluttered. Her cries for help became slurred moans. Then her eyes rolled back, her eyelids closed, her head lolled forward, and her body slumped into Sylvié’s arms. She had fallen into a deep sleep."
Love Sylvié asking “You want me to use laudanum on her?" but Nancy saying it would not be necessary as they were going to hide her body in the shed and if she was gagged no one would hear her so it was best to save the laudanum.
Then love the idea of Nancy dragging the woman's body into the shed and commenting: Nancy grabbed the small sentry by the legs, and dragged her inside the shed. “A shame she’s too short for us. If not, you could've taken her outfit – I’m not quite sure nurses are a usual sight on the bridge proper.” Love the discussion of about the woman they have just knocked out and are now dragging off her unconscious body. We then get the later comment: “Looks like this one’s lucky. We don’t even need makeshift bonds. She’ll get to keep all her clothes.”
The next sentry scene is also fun. That woman was a much better guard then then previous woman. Still Nancy easily took her out with a bonk on the head with a bucket. And this one got the laudanum to keep her asleep.
I also really liked the scene with the two guards at the bridge. The two women run up to who they think is there superior. Then Sylvié discretely finds out there are only two of them. Then Sand and Nancy skillful knock both women out with neck chops.
Then love the scene with the two women starting to regain consciousness:
“The two guards we knocked out are coming to their senses!” Clinton suddenly warned them.
“The laudanum!” Sylvié exclaimed.
She frantically searched through the bag, then she and Clinton crawled to sedate the two guards. Thankfully, they didn’t need to get up, since the women were lying behind the crates with them. The guards briefly squirmed and moaned, then went still – deeply asleep.
Just such an amazing chapter. So many knockouts. The ones I commented on were not even all of them. And a lot of fun use of laudanum!
I'm glad you liked this chapter. I may not have the same fondness for this chapter as for chapter 4 or chapter 6, but I still like it a lot.As for the behind-the-scenes:
I began working on Chapter 5 with some apprehension - since it is in many aspects very similar to chapter 3 from a narrative standpoint (a more filler-like adventure to show the travel between and to connect two "plot milestones"). Plus, chapter 5 draws its inspiration from a mission of Desperados III that I've always regarded as nice but average - the Eagle Falls Bridge - while most of the other chapters draw their inspiration from my favorites (New Orleans, DeVitt Plantation, and Casa DeVitt for the upcoming chapter 6).
But chapter 5 proved to be a much much smoother experience. Mostly because at that point, the developments of the various characters (most notably Sand and Sylvié) had been mapped out.
We wanted to feature more of McCoy's moveset from Desperados III. Technically, the laudanum injections of chapter 3 are a reference to his syringe - though in Desperados III the syringe is the lethal move, here it is a non-lethal one. But in chapter 3, the laudanum was a one-time tool. So we made sure the heroines get their hands on a "doctor bag" with a steady supply of laudanum this time, and we also added the chloroform - reference to an other of McCoy's moves. Plus, it was a good way to "upgrade" Sylvié - being a non-combatant, Sylvié obviously could not perform sleeper-hold and the likes, so her laudanum and chloroform help her "even the field".
Michaela Quinn - who is meant to be a reference to THE Doctor Quinn as portrayed by Jane Seymour (though this version of Quinn is a nurse instead of a doctor) - is hands down one of my favorite damsels of the series.
Maybe Alice, Josephine, and Jenny are slightly above Quinn - but that's also because they have their group dynamic. If we're talking about individual damsels, then Michaela takes the cake. She's this cute woman whose kind personality matches her good-looking appearance. And she has a positive outlook on life - she's never managed to reach her dream, but instead of becoming bitter she chose to make the most of what she had. Thus, I couldn't resist adding the epilogue in which she ends up getting something positive out of her whole ordeal. There is indeed this running gag of Uniform Stealing bringing couples together.
I indeed love the detail Michaela, as a nurse, is able to recognize a perfectly-executed neck-chop right before falling unconscious.
The other scenes were fun to write because most of them explored the dynamic between Sylvié and Nancy - something I'm glad was touched upon. I'd say that while Sand and Sylvié have a great duo dynamic because they have opposite personalities, Sylvié and Nancy have a great duo dynamic because they have more similar personalities. Both enjoy a good quip from time to time, and they have fun trying to jokingly "one-up" the other in the snark department. Sylvié's character development continues in this chapter - now she begins knocking out the women herself instead of having Sand do it for her. Her moveset is a mix between Kate O'Hara and Doc McCoy. For the "Kate part" of her moveset, we wanted to show the disguise part doesn't necessarily equal seduction - hence why she uses the nurse's authority to fool Scarlet.
Sand has comparatively less to do in this chapter - given the fact chapter 5 is an excuse to explore the dynamic between Nancy and Sylvié. But her scene with the Comanche tracker was a good way to showcase her own character development in my opinion.
My favorite joke was the one with the "smart guard" - how she casually brushes off Sylvié's cover story, only to be casually knocked out by Nancy. Clever and smart are indeed not the same thing. And of course, the joke is a reference to the fact that in Desperados III, Long Coats see through disguises!
The climax was a bit tricky from a USB standpoint, since it's a long action sequence, but featuring these two guards knocked out and sedated came down naturally.
In the saga as a whole, chapter 6 is meant to be one last encore of light-hearted USB fun before the final climax of chapter 7, so stay tuned next week.