Post by Admin on Jan 2, 2021 20:31:12 GMT
Showcase: The Lady in Blue
New York City, Earth 2, Spring 1989
Monday Evening Newscast
"Leading tonight's news: The for-profit college, Swank College of Commerce and Industry, located on Staten Island, has been destroyed by an apparently previously unknown female super villain." WNTV News at Five Thirty's ultra-attractive female evening news anchor read the headline, and then the view switched from her and her male colleague at the anchor desk to an overhead view of a demolished building, taken from a helicopter. The site was swarming with investigators, some in police and fire uniforms, and there was a crowd of observers in the streets nearby, held back by barriers and police tape.
The male anchor's deep, gravelly voice continued the story as the view zoomed in on the steaming rubble. "At 2 AM last night, this unknown super powered villain broke into the Swank College Building, setting off the burglar alarm. She swept through the entire building, deliberately pulling fire alarms as she did so, while using glowing blue constructs to pick up and carry everyone she encountered inside, mostly night security guards but also a few students working late. She then deposited them outside a safe distance from the doomed building, and when it was empty, she proceeded to use her powers to demolish it. A thorough search of the rubble has determined that no one was injured; everyone was evacuated before she began her demolition."
"From witness descriptions, she appears to be able to fire blue force blasts from her hands, create blue-glowing shields, set off minor explosions, estimated by demolitions experts to be equivalent to a single stick of dynamite, and fly. By the time she was almost finished with her systematic demolition, police had arrived, and after ordering her to stop and being ignored, several of the cops began shooting. A glowing blue shell surrounded the villain, and bullets bounced from this shell, although several times it seemed to shatter and then reform instantly."
The voice-over switched back to the always-sultry voice of the female anchor, as the screen switched to a portrait of the villain, clearly professionally hand drawn and colored.
"Our artist has produced this picture of the new villain after interviews with several eye witnesses. Police have set up a hot line and ask you to call (1-800 HOT LINE) if you have any information about this new super villain." She paused as the number was flashed on the screen below the portrait, which showed a woman in a blue and white costume with a weird helmet with a transparent face shield, with a streamlined armored case strapped to her back. Ridges ran from the pack under her costume up her neck to the helmet, and along the top of her arms to her bulky, futuristic looking gauntlets.
Then she continued: "Police speculate that the villain may be a disgruntled employee or student; though she was silent throughout the demolition, before she vanished into the sky, she hovered over the crowd and spoke, loudly enough to be painful, 'Tell Swanky-dankey that Payback's a Bitch!' As WNTV News viewers may be aware, Ronald Swank is the President of the Swank College of Commerce and..." there was a small delay and a noticeable switch in her position and posture, while her facial expression reflected dismay, as she continued: "... excuse me, Swank College of Commerce and Industry!" ...and the corporation has recently been the subject of a number of lawsuits by ex-students and ex-employees."
The view shifted back to the anchors; the handsome male anchor continued: "News at Five Thirty spoke with Mr. Swank about the attack, though he declined to appear on the program. His response was, quote, 'This is clearly a terrorist attack on the American system of Education, by the enemies of Education. Unfortunately, with our facility destroyed, I will be declaring bankruptcy. Current students should not expect a refund on their tuition until at least after the bankruptcy case has been resolved.'"
The view switched back to the anchor desk, then zoomed on the female anchor... "In other news..." and the broadcast continued.
Continued, Tuesday Evening
"Leading tonight's news is a story related to our lead story from yesterday." There was a trace of humor in the voice of WNTV News at Five Thirty's female evening news anchor and an almost suppressed smile on her face as she announced tonight's lead story. "This morning around 4 AM The New York City headquarters building for the Swank Foundation, the charitable organization founded by self-proclaimed ka-trillionaire Ronald Swank, has been leveled by the same new super villain who destroyed the Swank College building yesterday. This new, so far unnamed villain followed the same pattern as the night before - she broke into the building, used her glowing constructs to evacuate the building, and then methodically demolished it, using a combination of blue battering rams and explosions. Once again she set off security and fire alarms so that by the time she was finished with wrecking the place, first responders had gathered. And once again she proved invulnerable to small arms fire, and fled the scene before the arrival of the city's newest hero, the Blue Bat. And once again, she had some parting words for Swank: 'It ain't over 'til the fat boy sings, Ronnie boy. The 'fat boy' is you, by the way!' So far, News at Five Thirty has not been able to discover the identity of this villain, or uncover her motive for destroying Swank's organizations."
Very early Tuesday Morning
The sun was just coming up. Thomas Wayne, the Blue Bat, had arrived too late again this morning to catch the new villain in her act of destruction, just as he had arrived too late yesterday. But unlike last night, when he had stayed in the shadows and observed the police investigation, tonight he decided to actively join the investigators. After watching the cops for 5 minutes, he knew who was in charge; the Special Investigation team of Wilhelmina “Billie” Gunn and Benny "Tubby" Watts. He'd read quite a bit about them in his unauthorized excursion through the computerized files of the NYPD personnel department. He'd been sure he would encounter them sooner or later; he hoped they were as competent as their files suggested. The strongly built hero in the midnight blue / almost black costume, cowl, cape, and lighter blue bat icon on the chest strode aggressively through the crowd of responders and spectators to approach the team in charge.
'What's BATMAN doin' in New York?! I thought he was dead!' "Ohmigohdit'saghost!" 'Damn pushy bastard. I'm gonna...' that one cut off when the speaker turned around and saw the tall man in the almost black molded full body armor behind him. 'Look, it's the Blue Bat! Isn't he dreamy?' 'Man, Ish jush gotta cut out the shauce!' 'It's the devil! I musta died and gone to Hell'. These were some of the printable exclamations as he pushed people out of the way, usually not very gently.
"Special Investigators Gunn and Watts, I'm the Blue Bat."
"Billie, is this another one of your super-hero friends, like that weirdo green martial artist?" Watts asked his partner. (Tubby met Dragonmage, one of Billie's partners in the team Law's Legionnaires, in Dragonmage: The Dragon of New York). The two cops were not visibly surprised at encountering the Blue Bat; they'd had a few seconds to see him making his way through the crowd. A half dozen other cops nearby turned to the group of three, tense and ready to draw their weapons, but they relaxed as Billie and Tubby didn't take any action against this mysterious figure.
"Never met him before, Tubs... but this is the Blue Bat, the new vigilante in town - a Batman wannabee. And so far, I have to say he's been a contendah, not a pretendah."
Tom wasn't sure whether he should be offended or not, so he settled for wry amusement. "Thank you, Captain Gunn. I've heard good things about the two of you, as well." He turned and swept his hand to indicate the leveled building. "Somebody did some very thorough, competent work here earlier. I want to investigate the ruins without police interference."
"Not gonna happen, Bat guy, too late to send all the cops back home. And we don't want anyone clambering through the rubble; it might collapse on top of you" Billie responded dryly. Before the Bat could respond, there was a crashing sound as something in the pile of wreckage shifted, and a big section suddenly settled several feet, apparently as the basement ceiling under that section collapsed. "See what I mean? Geez, I hope she really got everybody out before she wrecked the place!" Everyone moved back as a massive cloud of dust arose from the pile of debris, but after a few quiet seconds, it seemed like the wreckage had once again stabilized. "But I can give you the next best thing. You and Tubby take a look around the edges - but stay back of the tape. I want him to take some pictures."
Tom wasn't totally happy with this ruling, but with so many people around, he wasn't going to be able to evade surveillance and it seemed like the best deal he was going to get right around now. He also realized that she was right about the danger - if he'd been caught in that collapse, even his armor might not have protected him. And he hadn't been kidding about hearing about Gunn and Watts before - Tubby's crime scene photographs were famous for capturing clues and evidence that had been missed by in-person investigators at the scenes of prior crimes and disasters.
As they slowly circled the pile of rubble that had once been a five story building, Blue Bat used a powerful hand torch to point out things he found interesting, and Watts took photos of those things while Bat studied them intensley. Tubby also selected a number of places and subjects he thought might be significant and took photos of those. Several times, the Bat spent long minutes studying some of the locations Watts selected, which made Tubby feel pretty good. Along the way they talked with several people in the crowd, and asked some of them to talk to the other investigators as well. After an hour, they were back to where Billie and several other cops had been interviewing people who had been carried from the building by the super villain, and others who identified as eye-witnesses.
"Same villain as last night, it appears. A woman dressed in blue and white who can create glowing blue constructs and make them do her bidding, plus surround herself with a bullet-proof shell and fly away. She didn't say much, just sent another warning to Ronald Swank, and then flew off. She apparently dragged reams of printed pages out of the building when she pulled the occupants out, and she took those with her. What did you guys find out?"
The Bat spoke quietly. "Those blue beams of hers can hit hard - they smash through brick and cement like a 10 ton wrecking ball. And she can cause powerful explosions, though they don't seem to be chemical in nature - there is no indication that any heat was released; nothing is burned or scorched. In fact, there is some evidence that these explosions are accompanied by an intense 'burst' of cold. Perhaps similar to what you would expect if a scuba tank exploded, though much more powerful."
"Seems sort of like Green Lantern's power - create glowing energy constructs that she can command, flying, beams of energy, force fields..." Billie mused.
"I'm not sure," Blue Bat replied thoughtfully. "I want to see her in action, but from all the descriptions about her actions I overheard tonight - and because of the explosions - I feel like there is something different about her powers. Similar to, but fundamentally different than those of the Green Lantern."
"Anything else?" Gunn asked the pair, making a note of the Bat's theory.
"Well, I been thinkin', Billie..." Watts replied. "She doesn't seem to be evil, exactly - she's makin' sure she doesn't hurt anyone, and callin' in the fire department just in case somethin' goes wrong while she's wreckin the place. Seems like she's just got a planet-sized mad-on for Swank - and I don't blame her for that. And she seems to be a good planner - she destroyed these buildings in a jiffy and lickety-split got away before any of the super good guys could get here. Pretty smart cookie, if you ask me. And you did... ask me, that is!"
"Any ideas what she'll do next, Blue Bat?" Billie turned to the mystery man with her question. But he had simply... vanished.
Wednesday (Just Before Midnight)
Tetra Di Nitrio, who currently called herself the Payback Bitch, flew through the night sky, surrounded by a streamlined blue shell. She was wearing a blue and white costume, with a large, streamlined metallic pack on her back, gloves that looked like the hands of a Japanese cartoon robot and a helmet which covered half her head, her straight black hair sticking out below the helmet and reaching her neckline. Cables that were embedded in the fabric of the costume connected the helmet to the pack and ran along the top of her arms to the gloves. The shell was nothing more than a virtually transparent glimmer in front of her eyes, and deepened to a totally opaque navy blue else where. From outside, she looked like a slim blue missile.
A year ago, Tetra had been a student at Swank College of Commerce and Industry, a candidate for a PhD in Industrial Chemistry, specializing in the study of gasses. Her thesis adviser had stolen her research and patented the processes she had developed for controlling nitrogen and producing solid nitrogen at room temperature. When she'd complained, lawyers for Swank had pointed out a clause deeply buried in fine print and almost incomprehensible legalese in the contract she'd signed with the for-profit school that allegedly made this legal; when she'd threatened to sue, the school had terminated her contract, released false stories about alleged 'criminal acts' she'd performed during her tenure as a student, produced 'evidence' to back up their stories, and threatened to sue HER for defamation - and pointed out that the school had better lawyers than she'd ever be able to hire. And, to add insult to injury, the school had sued her for the rest of her tuition, and made sure every company that she might consider working for knew this falsified background the college had written for her. She would never work in her chosen profession again... Perhaps the issue that stung her the most was that as part of their faked evidence of her cheating on tests, taking credit for the work of others, and plagiarizing in her publications was that the fake documents the school claimed she had created had TYPOS and GRAMMATICAL ERRORS! 'It's hard to believe how low they went,' she'd often mourned to herself.
It didn't take much searching to turn up several other former students who were in the same boat. She'd decided that she needed to do something about it, and painstakingly developed a thorough, detailed plan for revenge. And tonight, her plan came to fruition!
'Serves them all right that I'm using the technology they stole from me against them!' she laughed in her head. 'Though none of them have the imagination to put my technology to the uses I've adapted it for!' Her processes allowed her to control nitrogen; as the most abundant element in air, comprising almost 80% of the atmosphere, she would never run out of raw materials. She could command atmospheric nitrogen to carry her through the sky, solidify gaseous nitrogen into a blue solid and force it into various shapes and use the constructs in a variety of ways, and mentally compress nitrogen gas to a tiny volume and almost unbelievable pressure and then let that tiny point expand instantly - and explosively. The effects often seemed similar to those produced by Green Lantern's ring, but she used solid nitrogen constructs and her ability to command nitrogen in its gaseous state in place of the green energy produced by his ring.
Tonight she'd complete her payback. Swank had a palatial estate in Brooklyn Heights, often referred to as Swank Acres. 'After tonight, they'll call it Swank Ruins!' she smiled to herself.
After midnight, Blue Bat lurked undetected on the grounds of Swank Acres. Neither the expensive wall or the equally expensive security system was up to the task of keeping him out, or even slowing him down more than a little. Neither defense was designed to detect or deter flying threats; the blue flying woman would have even less difficulty with Swank Acres security than Tom had experienced. In his hidden vantage point he slipped a pair of telescopic goggles from his utility belt and carefully scanned the sky. He expected her in the next few minutes. He reviewed what he knew about her, then reviewed his preparations for dealing with her. He wasn't really used to fighting super powered villains yet; there had only been four superheroes on his Earth of origin, one of whom did her work in France, and only Superman had actually had super human powers, and the super villain population had been similarly meager. He had considered asking Bat-Mite for assistance - for about half a second.
He chuckled with satisfaction when he saw her coming, almost a mile away. His electronic gear, enlarged by Bat-Mite from his own, now vanished 'glimmer universe' (see Family Problems) which was only an inch in diameter, mostly didn't work. The 'semiconductors' in those devices were all quartz, which was inert in this new universe, as silicon had been inert in his home universe. But his optical devices worked as well as ever. He suspected the natural laws were different on the quantum level here, probably because this universe was so much larger than any glimmer universe (~ 1028 times larger). He'd built most of his Bat gear himself; he'd have to relearn a lot of semi-conductor physics before he could rebuild his gadgets here. Meanwhile he'd have to depend on his physical skills and his fighting experience.
Lady in Blue, Meet the Blue Bat
The Blue Bat was not particularly interested in doing battle with the woman in blue. But he wasn't going to let her destroy the Swank estate, either, if he could prevent it. She apparently was settling a grudge, and though she had been careful to avoid hurting people so far, he thought she might not be so careful with the health of Mr. Swank. And destroying property WAS against the law, even for revenge. He needed to get her attention in a non-threatening way, and try to talk to her.
Tetra suddenly found herself illuminated by a small, intense beam of white light that struck her streamlined shell, then tried to track her as she flew. She was able to swerve out of the beam, but it kept tracking; within an instant after she would swerve it would illuminate her again. She looked down along the path of the beam, and on the ground, in an isolated location on the estate she was approaching, she saw a human figure, also illuminated by white light. That person wasn't making any aggressive moves and certainly wasn't trying to hide; as soon as he was sure she'd seen him, the targeting beam was shut off but the figure remained illuminated. It seemed like whoever that was wanted to get her attention, perhaps to talk - or perhaps he didn't have a weapon that could hit her at this range, and he wanted her to come closer. She decided to approach with caution.
As she got closer, she noted that this figure was wearing a black costume of some sort, and was carrying... a flagpole with a small white flag? As she got closer, he stuck the flagpole into the ground and held up both hands, palms out, to show he wasn't carrying any weapons. She could now see the cape, and the lighter blue emblem on the chest. She'd seen this man's picture on the front cover of the New York Post; he was the Blue Bat, allegedly one of the good guys, though he was a very new addition to the super hero lineup and not much was known about him yet. She concentrated intently on her next sequence of actions - she was still not instinctive in the use of her technology-provided powers, and she didn't want to make an error that looked like an attack - or worse yet, made her look clumsy and unskilled! She slowed, rotated her shell to vertical, and slowly settled to earth, dissipating the shell just before it made contact with the ground, so she fell maybe a quarter inch - the best landing she'd ever made yet!
"You're the Blue Bat!" she accused him. "What are you doing here?"
"You've probably already guessed," he replied. "I'm here to keep you from killing Ronald Swank. And," he added as almost an afterthought, "...to protect any other people nearby. And, to prevent any further property damage."
"I'm not planning to KILL him!" she sounded shocked. "I plan to publicly humiliate him." Her tone changed as she scolded him, "You should know by now how careful I am about injuring someone - nobody is in physical danger from me tonight. And I don't think you'll be able to stop me from destroying his estate." Suddenly he was enclosed in a cage of glowing blue bars, set into two glowing blue square planes, one under his feet and the other just above his head. The bars were too close together for the Blue Bat to slip out between them. "Sorry to do this to one of the good guys, but I have other things to do tonight and I can't let you stop me." She turned and flew away, heading towards the mansion.
The Blue Bat grabbed two of the bars and strained, but they didn't budge or bend. He lay down on the blue platform under him and kicked violently at the bars; the heels of his boots were solid and heavy, designed for just such bludgeoning, again, with no effect. He stood up and pulled a flat container from his utility belt. 'Here's hoping my hacking into the Swank College records paid off. There are a lot of pissed off ex-students who might want revenge on Swank, but only a few who had the necessary genius to come up with that blue stuff... Hope you're the one who likes to play with gasses!' Tom mused. He pulled the top from the container, then shook it like a salt shaker on the platform around the base of several bars, then retreated to the far side, crouched down, pressed against the bars and drew his cape around him like a shield. 'Totally unknown, what this reaction will be like...'
There was a sizzling sound, then a minor explosion. Tom waited for a few seconds, then when he looked out, the platform where he'd sprinkled the powder was gone. 'Solid nitrogen, like I guessed; turns out it reacts violently with lithium." He coughed violently and pulled another gadget from his belt, a transparent mask that slipped over his nose and mouth. He continued coughing violently for almost a minute. 'Damn good thing it's not raining, or I might have died from breathing ammonia!' Even his thoughts sounded weak and shaky inside his head. 'I should have been prepared for that, but who could know the humidity was high enough to support a secondary reaction? Solid nitrogen opens a whole new area of chemistry!' He quickly pulled out his miniature first aid kit and popped a cough suppressant lozenge; years ago he'd coughed on a stakeout and blown months of planning when the target was alerted prematurely and managed to escape.
He carefully examined the damage he'd done as he fought his cough and recovered his strength. Several bars were sheared off at the bottom. If he could have bent them out of the way, there would be enough room to escape, but they were as rigid as before. He thought for several seconds, then donned a pair of goggles from his belt. He shook a handful of lithium powder into his hand, wrapped himself in his cape again as best he could, and threw the powder at the same bars, at just above waist height. Again there was a sizzling, another small explosion. His goggles and mask protected him from the new blast of ammonia gas, and he was easily able to fit through the hole he'd made. Now to stop Miss Tetra Di Nitrio!
Tetra suddenly found herself illuminated by a small, intense beam of white light that struck her streamlined shell, then tried to track her as she flew. She was able to swerve out of the beam, but it kept tracking; within an instant after she would swerve it would illuminate her again. She looked down along the path of the beam, and on the ground, in an isolated location on the estate she was approaching, she saw a human figure, also illuminated by white light. That person wasn't making any aggressive moves and certainly wasn't trying to hide; as soon as he was sure she'd seen him, the targeting beam was shut off but the figure remained illuminated. It seemed like whoever that was wanted to get her attention, perhaps to talk - or perhaps he didn't have a weapon that could hit her at this range, and he wanted her to come closer. She decided to approach with caution.
As she got closer, she noted that this figure was wearing a black costume of some sort, and was carrying... a flagpole with a small white flag? As she got closer, he stuck the flagpole into the ground and held up both hands, palms out, to show he wasn't carrying any weapons. She could now see the cape, and the lighter blue emblem on the chest. She'd seen this man's picture on the front cover of the New York Post; he was the Blue Bat, allegedly one of the good guys, though he was a very new addition to the super hero lineup and not much was known about him yet. She concentrated intently on her next sequence of actions - she was still not instinctive in the use of her technology-provided powers, and she didn't want to make an error that looked like an attack - or worse yet, made her look clumsy and unskilled! She slowed, rotated her shell to vertical, and slowly settled to earth, dissipating the shell just before it made contact with the ground, so she fell maybe a quarter inch - the best landing she'd ever made yet!
"You're the Blue Bat!" she accused him. "What are you doing here?"
"You've probably already guessed," he replied. "I'm here to keep you from killing Ronald Swank. And," he added as almost an afterthought, "...to protect any other people nearby. And, to prevent any further property damage."
"I'm not planning to KILL him!" she sounded shocked. "I plan to publicly humiliate him." Her tone changed as she scolded him, "You should know by now how careful I am about injuring someone - nobody is in physical danger from me tonight. And I don't think you'll be able to stop me from destroying his estate." Suddenly he was enclosed in a cage of glowing blue bars, set into two glowing blue square planes, one under his feet and the other just above his head. The bars were too close together for the Blue Bat to slip out between them. "Sorry to do this to one of the good guys, but I have other things to do tonight and I can't let you stop me." She turned and flew away, heading towards the mansion.
The Blue Bat grabbed two of the bars and strained, but they didn't budge or bend. He lay down on the blue platform under him and kicked violently at the bars; the heels of his boots were solid and heavy, designed for just such bludgeoning, again, with no effect. He stood up and pulled a flat container from his utility belt. 'Here's hoping my hacking into the Swank College records paid off. There are a lot of pissed off ex-students who might want revenge on Swank, but only a few who had the necessary genius to come up with that blue stuff... Hope you're the one who likes to play with gasses!' Tom mused. He pulled the top from the container, then shook it like a salt shaker on the platform around the base of several bars, then retreated to the far side, crouched down, pressed against the bars and drew his cape around him like a shield. 'Totally unknown, what this reaction will be like...'
There was a sizzling sound, then a minor explosion. Tom waited for a few seconds, then when he looked out, the platform where he'd sprinkled the powder was gone. 'Solid nitrogen, like I guessed; turns out it reacts violently with lithium." He coughed violently and pulled another gadget from his belt, a transparent mask that slipped over his nose and mouth. He continued coughing violently for almost a minute. 'Damn good thing it's not raining, or I might have died from breathing ammonia!' Even his thoughts sounded weak and shaky inside his head. 'I should have been prepared for that, but who could know the humidity was high enough to support a secondary reaction? Solid nitrogen opens a whole new area of chemistry!' He quickly pulled out his miniature first aid kit and popped a cough suppressant lozenge; years ago he'd coughed on a stakeout and blown months of planning when the target was alerted prematurely and managed to escape.
He carefully examined the damage he'd done as he fought his cough and recovered his strength. Several bars were sheared off at the bottom. If he could have bent them out of the way, there would be enough room to escape, but they were as rigid as before. He thought for several seconds, then donned a pair of goggles from his belt. He shook a handful of lithium powder into his hand, wrapped himself in his cape again as best he could, and threw the powder at the same bars, at just above waist height. Again there was a sizzling, another small explosion. His goggles and mask protected him from the new blast of ammonia gas, and he was easily able to fit through the hole he'd made. Now to stop Miss Tetra Di Nitrio!
Back to the Mission
Tetra gave a mental command via her helmet to the computer in her pack, and her glowing blue flight shell of solidified nitrogen grew around her, several layers thick but created so fast it appeared instantaneous. She commanded the atmospheric nitrogen around her to lift her about a quarter mile into the air, where she hovered, anxiously pondering her next move. She had expected to complete her carefully-crafted Three Day Payback Plan against Swank in three days, before any superheroes took notice of her activities, and then retire the Payback Bitch immediately afterward and return to her chosen profession as an industrial chemist. She'd spent long hours crafting fighting tactics and strategies utilizing the carefully explored and catalogued capabilities of her amazing, incredibly advanced technology, tactics designed specifically for use against opponents without super powers. The cage in which she'd imprisoned the Blue Bat was one of these. It would hold a normal person until she dispelled it, but it would barely slow down even Damage or Skygirl, and Power Girl would bust out of it with no more effort than taking a deep breath.
But... what if there super powered heroes waiting for her tonight?
Tetra was nothing if not stubborn; once she decided on a goal and worked out a plan, she always pursued that goal relentlessly. As well, she was nothing if not precise, and would follow her plan to the letter. What she wasn't good at was improvising. She reviewed the Blue Bat's words and decided he was probably alone, and had probably not alerted anyone in the mansion that he, or she, was here tonight. She would go ahead with her revenge.
But really... what if there WERE super powered heroes around? Her plans for the rest of her life definitely did not include being captured and doing prison time. She was going to need to... change her plans.
She expanded her flight shell to allow her to move around inside it, then reached behind her and touched a button on the side of her pack; a thin compartment opened and she pulled out clear plastic folder holding a typed report of maybe half a dozen pages. The light inside the glowing blue sphere was bright enough to easily read by, the cover page was headlined "Three-Day Plan" and the next line said "The Revenge of the Payback Bitch". She paged through until she reached the Day 3 Table of Contents. Each section consisted of several single spaced paragraphs.
But... what if there super powered heroes waiting for her tonight?
Tetra was nothing if not stubborn; once she decided on a goal and worked out a plan, she always pursued that goal relentlessly. As well, she was nothing if not precise, and would follow her plan to the letter. What she wasn't good at was improvising. She reviewed the Blue Bat's words and decided he was probably alone, and had probably not alerted anyone in the mansion that he, or she, was here tonight. She would go ahead with her revenge.
But really... what if there WERE super powered heroes around? Her plans for the rest of her life definitely did not include being captured and doing prison time. She was going to need to... change her plans.
She expanded her flight shell to allow her to move around inside it, then reached behind her and touched a button on the side of her pack; a thin compartment opened and she pulled out clear plastic folder holding a typed report of maybe half a dozen pages. The light inside the glowing blue sphere was bright enough to easily read by, the cover page was headlined "Three-Day Plan" and the next line said "The Revenge of the Payback Bitch". She paged through until she reached the Day 3 Table of Contents. Each section consisted of several single spaced paragraphs.
Three-Day Plan The Revenge of the Payback Bitch Day 3 Table of Contents Phase 1 (clear the buildings of people) Phase 2 (capture Swank) Phose 3 (wreck the building) Phase 4 (Swank's parade) |
Her bubble filled with a scream: "You gigantic moronic dunce! You missed a gosh darn TYPO!"
Second Encounter of the Blue Kind
Blue Bat raced toward the mansion but slowed as soon as he saw that there was no commotion there. He wheezed and coughed a little, almost but not quite fully recovered from the lungful of ammonia he'd breathed, and used his pause to examine the sky, where he soon discovered Tetra's stationary bubble. As he watched, a blue sphere the size of a cannonball shot from the side of the bubble and quickly splashed down into the East River, then the bubble started drifting down towards Swank's swanky mansion. Bat raced along behind it; when it dissappated and Tetra landed at the ornate front entrance, Bat stepped around from behind her and stood between her and the front door.
"YOU!" she screamed, voicing her rage, frustration, disbelief that he'd escaped her trap, and fear of future imprisonment all in one loaded, shrieking syllable.
"You might want to add a rear view mirror to your flight gear in the future," he said conversationally. And then he frantically dived to one side and the powerful blue beam she shot at him blasted the double doors off their hinges. He rolled and came up behind one of the thick marble pillars; instead of following up her attack she raced through the door and into the house. There was a clear plastic report folder on the porch where she'd landed that hadn't been there before; he picked it up and glanced at the cover before he raced after her. "Hey, Lady in Blue, you dropped your plans!"
Startled, she stopped and turned; his flying tackle hit her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her and they went down in a tangle. Before she could recover, he pulled off her helmet, leaving it hanging down her back, and had her wrists bound behind her in Bat-cuffs. Lights were starting to come on in the house, and he heard concerned voices shouting in some of the back rooms on the ground floor. He picked her up over his shoulder and hurried out the shattered door, moving as fast as he could. She was much heavier than he would have guessed; much of the weight came from the backpack. Still he was 20 yards from the mansion when the bright yard spotlights came on, and they were all aimed at the front of the house - once he was beyond the ring of lights, the darkness seemed even more absolute. It didn't take long to reach the gate he'd tampered with to get in, and they were off the grounds. He dumped her in the passenger seat of his disguised 57 T-bird and drove slowly away.
"I surrender," she said quietly as they approached a precinct police station. And she lapsed into stunned silence when he continued past the station, not long after pulling into a parking place on a well-lighted street. "Aren't you going to turn me in?" she finally asked, sounding unbelieving and hopeful at the same time.
"I've got a little reading to do first." he replied, and pulled out the Three Day Plan. He ruffled through the pages; it quickly became apparent that she'd torn out Phase 1 and Phase 3.
"They're somewhere in the river, shredded," she told him when he asked her about the missing phases.
He read Phase 4 and broke out laughing. He pressed a button on his utility belt; the cuffs clicked open. "You're free to go," he told her. "Don't get caught again!" She didn't move, but her face showed unbelief. "I'm not from around here," he explained. "I don't feel the need to follow the letter of the law. But justice is justice no matter where you're from. I've read everything the Swank school had in its records about you, and you clearly have justice on your side. Don't wreck any more buildings. Now, scat! It's time for me to go home and get some sleep! Here's a head start."
He reached over, pulled her helmet back up over her head, and pressed a button on the steering wheel; a panel instantly slid open in the roof and the passenger ejection seat launched her into the air. With her mental connection to her power-controlling computer restored, she managed to erect her flying shell before she even started falling back to earth. When she looked down, the T-Bird was rolling away to the north. He noted with a chuckle that she was headed back toward Swank Acres. When he got home he set his alarm early; he wanted to make sure he was awake in time for the early newscast.
"YOU!" she screamed, voicing her rage, frustration, disbelief that he'd escaped her trap, and fear of future imprisonment all in one loaded, shrieking syllable.
"You might want to add a rear view mirror to your flight gear in the future," he said conversationally. And then he frantically dived to one side and the powerful blue beam she shot at him blasted the double doors off their hinges. He rolled and came up behind one of the thick marble pillars; instead of following up her attack she raced through the door and into the house. There was a clear plastic report folder on the porch where she'd landed that hadn't been there before; he picked it up and glanced at the cover before he raced after her. "Hey, Lady in Blue, you dropped your plans!"
Startled, she stopped and turned; his flying tackle hit her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her and they went down in a tangle. Before she could recover, he pulled off her helmet, leaving it hanging down her back, and had her wrists bound behind her in Bat-cuffs. Lights were starting to come on in the house, and he heard concerned voices shouting in some of the back rooms on the ground floor. He picked her up over his shoulder and hurried out the shattered door, moving as fast as he could. She was much heavier than he would have guessed; much of the weight came from the backpack. Still he was 20 yards from the mansion when the bright yard spotlights came on, and they were all aimed at the front of the house - once he was beyond the ring of lights, the darkness seemed even more absolute. It didn't take long to reach the gate he'd tampered with to get in, and they were off the grounds. He dumped her in the passenger seat of his disguised 57 T-bird and drove slowly away.
"I surrender," she said quietly as they approached a precinct police station. And she lapsed into stunned silence when he continued past the station, not long after pulling into a parking place on a well-lighted street. "Aren't you going to turn me in?" she finally asked, sounding unbelieving and hopeful at the same time.
"I've got a little reading to do first." he replied, and pulled out the Three Day Plan. He ruffled through the pages; it quickly became apparent that she'd torn out Phase 1 and Phase 3.
"They're somewhere in the river, shredded," she told him when he asked her about the missing phases.
He read Phase 4 and broke out laughing. He pressed a button on his utility belt; the cuffs clicked open. "You're free to go," he told her. "Don't get caught again!" She didn't move, but her face showed unbelief. "I'm not from around here," he explained. "I don't feel the need to follow the letter of the law. But justice is justice no matter where you're from. I've read everything the Swank school had in its records about you, and you clearly have justice on your side. Don't wreck any more buildings. Now, scat! It's time for me to go home and get some sleep! Here's a head start."
He reached over, pulled her helmet back up over her head, and pressed a button on the steering wheel; a panel instantly slid open in the roof and the passenger ejection seat launched her into the air. With her mental connection to her power-controlling computer restored, she managed to erect her flying shell before she even started falling back to earth. When she looked down, the T-Bird was rolling away to the north. He noted with a chuckle that she was headed back toward Swank Acres. When he got home he set his alarm early; he wanted to make sure he was awake in time for the early newscast.
Epilogue
"Good morning from WNTV Morning News at Six Thirty. Our lead story today concerns, once again, Ronald Swank. When the sun came up this morning, pedestrians on 44th Street were stunned to see a cable anchored to a lamppost, leading skyward, with a big sign hanging from it. High over the street, suspended beneath a dozen helium filled balloons, was the figure of a man, almost naked, wearing only a giant diaper and a gag on his mouth. The sign said: "Here's an early balloon entry for the St. Patty's Day Parade. Payback is a Bitch!"