Mary Lee had just pulled into her rented garage after driving back to Crystal Bluff from a University of Iowa football game in Iowa City on a Saturday on a beautiful fall day. Some of her friends felt that it bordered on risque (perhaps the wrong side of the border, and perhaps they were a bit jealous) for a single woman to drive close to 100 miles each way and attend a college football game unescorted. A year ago, she would have felt the same way, but her attitudes towards what was 'proper' and what was not had changed a lot since then. Of course, the amazing super powers that had transformed Mary Lee into a 'comic strip adventure girl', Lady Fairplay, helped a lot - but she was also coming to realize that a girl shouldn't have to have super powers just to enjoy some freedom in her life!
It was a bit too warm for her, but she sky was blue and there wasn't a cloud in sight! On US 218 South and when she got to that long flat, straight stretch between Swedesburg and Mt. Pleasant, she'd really opened it up; she could never get enough of driving a bit over 110! She was starting to realize that she had always been a bit of a thrill-seeker - a good part of her shy, timid Mary Lee persona had been created to shield her from her mother's strict disapproval of any 'unfeminine' behavior.
Just before she shut down the car,a hidden peanut bulb recessed in the dashboard had come on, indicating that her police band radio was picking up something - but she hadn't even turned it on today! As she hastily slowed to a stop, she pressed the concealed button that let the police radio play.
"This is Cobalt Chill calling Lady Fairplay! Cobalt Chill calling Lady Fairplay! You don't have to say anything, Mary Lee - I know you're listening! I just wanted to say thank you for all of the Chillbots you've destroyed so far. Every time, I've learned how to make them better - and the one I just finished building is the best yet! To show my thanks, here's a warning: Stay out of my way and let me get my revenge on some people who deserve it. If you try and thwart me again, I may not let you just escape again next time! Your choice dearie! Think it over and make the right choice! This is Cobalt Chill, signing off!"
THAT got her attention! 'SHE won't let ME escape again? Funny - SHE has always been the one who's escaped after I destroy her Chillbots - not me!" Encounters with Cobalt Chill and her Chillbot always had a chilling effect on Mary in either of her identities - and this one was about as chilling as it got! To start with, Cobalt Chill knew that Mary Lee was secretly Lady Fairplay! Nobody other than Dr. Amazo, the scientist who operated on Mary and given her the amazing super powers of Lady Fairplay, and Hiwalani, her trainer, were supposed to know that! And how did Cobalt Chill know how to activate her secret radio?
That was a lot to take in all at once, and Mary was glad her arch foe had not contacted her while she was zooming down 218, trying to break the sound barrier! 'How did she DO that?' was her first anguished mental question. 'Her inventions, the Freeze Gun and the Chillbots. prove she's a technological wizard, like Dr. Amazo. I had better ask him if that might be a clue. 'I did notice that every new Chillbot was tougher than the last one...' She replayed in her mind her first few meetings with her arch enemy… though she was pretty sure Cobalt Chill wouldn’t remember their first encounter…
Two years ago:
Two groups with members of each carrying signs were milling around on the street in front of the Crystal Bluffs Plaza Hotel, set on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. There were stairs at a parking lot at the end of the street leading down to a dock, where a large, elegantly decorated riverboat was docked. It had been there for years; one of the groups was hoping it would remain for many more years, while the other group wanted it gone yesterday or sooner. Signs around the parking lot read: Crystal Bluffs Riverboat Casino.
The groups alternated between loud chants and shouting at each other. An astute observer would quickly figure out that one group consisted of people whose lives had somehow been negatively impacted by gambling, while perhaps most of the members of the other group were people who were related to someone who worked at one of Crystal Bluff's 5 riverboat casinos, which were a major source of employment in the small city. Nobody else appeared to be taking much notice of either group - there was a steady stream of customers arriving and descending the stairs to the riverboat casino, jaunty and expectant, and another steady stream leaving, most of them not nearly as jaunty. The anti-gambling group didn't seem to be affecting business at all - in fact, the management of the various casinos had come to the conclusion that they actually helped business, as people walking by would frequently visit the casinos, 'just to see what the fuss was about'. And almost nobody walked in and didn't walk out with at lease a few less dollars.
There was some kind of commotion on the Casino boat - nobody could down the bluff to see what was causing it, but a lot of people down there were yelling in anger, and then there were some gunshots, and a hissing noise no one had ever heard before. Everyone on the street started looking for shelter, and then someone hidden behind a parked car peaked out toward the river and shouted in astonishment.
"Look at that! What is it?" He couldn't find the words to describe what he saw; no one had ever seen anything like it before...
Rising above the bluff from the dock below was a female human figure, dressed in a blue costume, standing upright on a column of ice that grew taller under her feet and lifted her like an elevator. She was pointing a blue pistol at her feet, which projected a blue ray. As she reached street level, the blue ray snapped off and she strode from the pillar as if she were on a red carpet, the pistol held loosely at her side. She was a slim girl with wide shoulders, wearing a skin-tight low-cut icicle-blue body suit and a mask that covered the back of her head and her face to the nose, leaving only the mouth and chin exposed. Those who saw her closely mentioned that something appeared wrong with her mouth, as if it were set at an angle in her face rather than horizontal. She was carrying a large valise.
There was another gunshot from below; she turned back and fired her pistol, waving the beam around. There were more yells from below, and that strange hissing sound, and then no more shots or shouts. She turned back to the street, which by now was pretty empty, with a lot of people hiding in doors and alleys and behind parked cars. As she walked regally along the street, if she saw anything moving nearby, she would bring up the pistol and fire the blue ray, and wherever that ray hit something, a coating of ice would form.
Suddenly, another woman sprang from a recessed door to bar the way of the woman in blue. She was still carrying a sign, and she swung it like a baseball bat at her target's stomach. The villainess was knocked backward, and she dropped her pistol The other woman leaped on top and for a couple of seconds there was a battle. But the costumed woman was clearly a superior brawler to her opponent, who was also severely hampered by her long, bulky dress, and it wasn't long before the attacker was stunned by an elbow to the jaw. The woman in blue pushed free and grabbed her pistol and rayed the stunned attacker for a short instant, leaving her covered in a clear coating of ice. She then swept the blue beam quickly over everyone who had come out of hiding during the fight, coating each of them, and everything else touched by the beam, in a thin coating of ic.
Then the villain spoke loudly in warning to anyone within earshot - or anyone who read her words later: "She's lucky I didn't freeze her to death, but she won't even have frostbite, if someone breaks her free in less than 5 minutes. And the rest of you should be able to get free before then. But be warned - Cobalt Chill will NOT be so merciful to the next fool who tries to stop me!"
She turned away. She covered the doors and parked cars for another block in ice, then got into a parked "ICE" delivery truck and drove away. The truck was recovered the next day from the Mississippi, north of town, and Cobalt Chill got away that time, scot free!
Mary Lee had indeed not been hurt by her icy imprisonment. But she had certainly never expected to encounter Cobalt Chill again...
Last year:
"The police and I are really going to have to work out a better way for them to contact me," Lady Fairplay thought ruefully. "What if I hadn't read the personals in last night's Eagle-Eye journal? Maybe we could set up some kind of Fairplay Signal, like the police chief and mayor can make a lamp in my house flicker or something..."
She was currently riding in the back of an empty armored truck, which had originally been scheduled to to deliver cash to the AgIowa Bank in Crystal Bluff today. A lot of citizens who did their banking in Crystal Bluff had made heavy withdrawals this week after Cobalt Chill, working with a robot, had hijacked the armored car for the First National Bank of Crystal Bluffs last week, and AgIowa's cash reserves were currently close to the legal lower limit. The actual cash delivery today was being made via another method; Lady Fairplay had not been made privy to the details of the real delivery.
She'd read the story of the hijacking in the Eagle-Eye Gazette. Cobalt Chill had iced over a sharp corner of the road with her ice gun, and the armored truck had slid into the ditch. Though neither the driver or the guard had been seriously injured in the accident, she'd put them both out of action with a coating of ice. And then, according to the driver's story, she'd called on a new accomplice - a blue robot, which had easily torn the back door off the armored truck, after which she'd stuffed her gains into the back of a blue 1932 Ford pickup and driven off - and vanished without a trace. Lady Fairplay's hope, and the hope of the police, was that Cobalt Chill would try again - and she'd find Lady Fairplay ready and waiting!
They were coming to a bend in the road and the truck was slowing, and then Lady Fairply could tell that it was sliding across the road, and then there was a crash and a sudden stop, with the truck titled because the front was in the ditch. And it was suddenly a bit more chilly. This was IT! Cobalt Chill had taken the bait! She looked at the view slit - and she could see a robot approaching the door. The robot spread its arms wide - the telescoped slightly from their original lengths - and then it grasped the sides of the truck. There were amazingly loud screeching and ripping noises as it squeezed, digging handholds into the steel armor, and then even louder, terrifying noises as the entire rear of the armored truck was ripped away.
Before the robot could drop the wrecked and crumpled door, Lady Fairplay lunged forward, knocking the robot backward. It stumbled and fell, with the door on top, which was unfortunate in a way because it prevented her from attacking it directly. So she scooted forward and grabbed the door and attempted to tug it free. The robot released its grip - and she quickly slammed the door back down om the robot like a two-handed fly-swatter, driving it partway into the ground - but apparently not damaging it in any way. As she raised her weapon for another blow, the robot sat up, then stood up before she could react. She changed her attack and swept the door around in an arc, and the robot took a step backward and she missed.
It wasn't really much of a fight. Lady Fairplay was still new to the comic strip adventure girl game and had never fought a robot before, but she was strong and tough and very fast. The robot was also strong and tough and when it moved, it moved very fast. but it often seemed clumsy and its movement were jerky. Sometimes it even stopped moving totally, as if it couldn't see her. She got hit a few times, painfully, but nothing critical.
One of the times it stopped moving, she was suddenly encased in ice; the blue beam she associated with Cobalt Chill’s freeze ray coming from behind her. Then the robot leaped forward and smashed into her before she could turn and look, doing no damage but shattering her icy shell. It wrapped both arms around her and began to squeeze, she spun around and ran as fast as she could, smashing the robot into the side of the armored car. It was partially crushed and released her. She took a step back and when it stepped forward she dropped her shoulder and slammed forward again, again crunching the robot against the side of the truck – which was getting pretty battered by now. The robot had been trying to flail its arms and attack, but without much coordination; she grabbed one arm and spun around twice like a hammer thrower and launched it high into the air.
confused and hesitant and sometimes it just stopped, as if it was unable to see her. , and then during one of the times the robot stopped moving, she leaped at it and tore off its head. This apparently set off a loud siren not far away, the source currently hidden by the bulk of the wrecked armored truck. She stepped to the side for a better view and she was immediately encased in a shell of ice! As soon as she released it, she was again coated in ice. She struggled to turn around, shattering some of the ice as she moved, but it grew faster than she could shatter it. The shell was becoming harder to see through, but not far away, near a blue pickup truck, Lady Fairplay saw Cobalt Chill standing up from behind a folding table and firing at her with the freeze gun. On the table was an open suitcase, which Cobalt Chill scooped up as she continued to fire. The shell of ice surrounding Lady Fairplay got thicker until she couldn't see clearly through it, and she struggled mightily to break free. Suddenly the block shattered, and she could see that the pickup truck was gone.
She could see the driver of the truck encased in ice near the front of the armored truck; apparently he'd tried to escape while she was fighting the robot. Rather than chase the pickup truck, she raced to the side of the downed driver and quickly chipped him free. He was unconscious but shivering; she raced into the surrounding brush and found a bunch of dried sticks, and she raced back to his side and used her super speed to start a fire
