Post by Admin on May 1, 2021 17:20:45 GMT
 |  |
Encounter with Atoma
IntroductionYou don’t always get the full story about a new mystery villain - but you gotta beat her anyway!
Setting
San Francisco, Ca. : August 14, 1963
Theater District Mugging
It was late in the theater district in San Francisco. A lot of different theaters were letting out, all at around the same time, and the streets were temporarily crowded. Most of the theater goers were elegantly dressed, but even in that crowd, a lot of people were craning their necks to follow Alex Silverstone and Tammi Paige as they walked casually toward the lot where Alex had parked her motorcycle.
Alex Silverstone, a tall, slender blonde with short cropped hair, wore a white tuxedo with red cummerbund and bow tie. She moved with the grace of a long-distance runner, and her appearance was distinctively non-masculine, almost but not quite androgynous. Tammi's outfit, on the other hand, screamed 'female sex appeal' at about a hundred decibels! Her glittery red strapless, tight, low cut gown matched Alex's bow tie exactly. When she moved, the slit skirt revealed her leg to mid-thigh, also showing off her high red heels - which put the top or her head just about at shoulder level for Alex. Her long dark hair hung loosely almost to her waist. And she didn't just walk - she strutted. She was acutely aware that every male within blocks was turning to stare approvingly at her, and she LOVED it!
The pair had a big secret - they were secretly the mystery heroines Palette (Alex) and Miss Music (Tammi), the most prominent heroes in San Francisco, together making up the mystery hero team of AVant Guard. They had hoped to have a quiet night out tonight, or at least, a night out without heroics, but that wasn’t to be…
“Alex!” Tammi tugged insistently on her friend’s arm while projecting her words directly into Alex’s ear. “I can hear somebody in trouble in that alley across the way! It sounds like a mugging!”
Alex could hear nothing unusual in the murmur of the crowd around them, but she trusted her partner’s powers as much as her own. “OK, let’s go! Catch up to me as soon as you can!”
Alex took off at a sprint. Tammi pulled off her heels and then ran after her partner at top speed, heels in one hand, dress pulled up in the other. Her small size made it slightly easier to weave through the crowd than for Alex, and she caught up just as her partner turned into the dark alley. Instantly the walls on either side began radiating a bright light, and the two heroines could easily see a man threatening a young woman with a knife!
An instant later, the man threw his hands to his face and screamed as it was engulfed in a shadow as black as space. “I’m blind!”
And then he slammed his hands uselessly over his ears, as Tammi snarled in satisfaction, “And you’re going to be deaf for a week or so, too!” Alex could faintly hear the roar of a 707, and she knew he was hearing it close up. “Gangway! Comin’ THRU!” Tammi hollered her patented battle cry and launched herself at his unprotected middle, her shoulder aimed at where the impact of her 100 pounds of solid muscle would do the most good.
At that instant, a lasso dropped over the mugger, and a new sound echoed loudly in the alley - the roar of a powerful jet, close above them. The rope jerked taut and pulled the mugger off the ground, and Tammi crashed into his legs, setting him swinging like a pendulum. Alex looked up and focused her eyes intently on a flying woman who was holding the rope and straining to lift the mugger higher into the air. Her flight was erratic, and he slammed into a fire escape on one side of the alley and then the wall on the other as she rose slowly, and then she turned the corner on the other end of the alley. By the time AVant Guard reached the end of the alley, the flier had raised above the height of the surrounding builds, and was headed north across the city, the rescued mugger dangling beneath her.
Alex zoomed in on her as she flew, but there didn’t seem to be anything further to be gained from visual inspection.
By now, a pair of policemen were running into the other end of the alley, so the two women returned to give their own accounts of the incident.
Unknown Foe
“We really ARE AVant Guard, Sergeant Guinn,” Tammi insisted to one of the cops.
“Right. And why would the two of you just be givin’ away your secret identities to everyone, just like that?” he replied skeptically. Although it didn’t seem quite as preposterous as it might - both pairs of women consisted of a tall, short-haired blonde and a short, long-haired brunette.
“Nothing to worry about, Sarge. You won’t remember our IDs within an hour,” Alex winked mysteriously. “Here, let me prove it to you. Here’s the mugger.”
An image of the scene the two women had first encountered began playing on the closest building wall. “Yup, you must be Palette,” the cop agreed. “Don’t know of anyone else who could do that. And you can bet I won’t forget who you are, begging your pardon.” He looked closely at the tableau. “That’s Eric Scwedo. Too bad you didn’t catch him - what happened?”
“Somebody stole him from us!,” Tammi complained loudly. “Whoever it is better look out! AVant Guard is now looking for her - and we always get our girl!” She paused for a second as a confused frown crossed her face. “Or our man.. or whoever we go after!”
“This flying girl lassoed him and carried him off to the north,” Alex interrupted her friend hastily. The scene changed, and they watched the lasso drop, and Tammi bounced from his legs and fell to the filthy pavement, and the dangling mugger slammed into the fire escape and wall.
“Wow, I’ll bet THAT hurt!” Tammi winced. “I’ll bet he wishes she had left him here instead of rescued him. We woulda probably roughed him up a little, but I’ll bet he has some broken bones, now!”
“Bastard deserved it,” the young lady who had been rescued spoke up pointedly. “Bastard!” The cops and heroes all nodded agreement.
“So anybody recognize the flying chick?” the other cop asked.
The image on the wall changed, as Alex zoomed in the flier, rotated her to a standing position, and subtracted the background. Now apparently standing in front of them, back to the wall, was a woman in a white tunic dress, long sleeves ending in red bands, skirt ending about mid-thigh, with a plunging neckline and high collar. She had red boots, and there were red ribbed wings under her arms. She was wearing a white flight helmet with goggles, a weird lens just above her eyes, and red upward pointed wings that extended maybe 3 inches above the top of her head. She either had very short hair, or her hair was tucked up into the helmet. She had on red ankle-high boots, and jets of fire flared from each of the ribs in her wings.
“Doesn’t look like any mystery villain I’ve ever heard of,“ Sergeant Guinn noted.
Tammi, the girl and the other cop all shook their heads in agreement.
“Me, either,” Alex added thoughtfully. “And there’s nothing in the Alliance of Mystery Heroes files.” Palette was well known for her a photographic memory - if she didn’t know who this mystery woman was, she was probably an unknown - until today.
The cops and the girl all promised not to reveal AVant Guard’s secret IDs to anyone, and the two heroines took them at their word. There was really nothing to worry about though - within an hour the three of them had forgotten anything related to the secret identities. The spell cast by their magic bottle had never let them down yet!
Ruined!
Tammi had been relatively subdued during their police interviews, but she had a lot to say on the bike ride home.
“I can’t believe it! Another pair of expensive nylons, ruined!” She blasted a string of curses - having grown up in a traveling circus, she knew a lot of them! “Why can’t the <expletive deleted> bad guys ever strike when we have our costumes on?” Even though the bike was virtually silent, she projected her voice directly into Alex’s ears.
“At least you aren’t wearing silk any longer - and don’t you get your hose for free as part of that leg model contract? Why don’t you just start wearing flats instead of heels?” Alex wasn’t offering much sympathy.
More curses. “Damnit, Stretch, even in heels, I’m already the shortest girl in town! You don’t know what it’s like!”
“It’s no picnic being taller than almost everyone either, Tuneful Titan,” Alex sighed. They’d had this conversation before. “And I know you love being short - there aren’t any tall Olympic gymnasts, you know.” Then, before Tammi could start an argument, she continued: “Anyway, we stopped a mugging and maybe saved that girl’s life tonight!”
“Yeah, but he got away. And it looks like we picked up a new mystery villain enemy, too.” She reflected for an instant, then nodded in satisfaction. “Doesn’t matter if they got away tonight. We’ll get them both and it won’t take us very long. It’s what we do!”
Interlude from Allie Atomic
Dear Diary, today Is August 15, 1963.
Last night, around 11:30 PM in the theater district, those two amazing heroines, Palette and Miss Music, saved me from an evil mugger in an alley behind the Platinum Stage Theatre. I don’t know how they got there, but like, they were there when I needed them! I used to think that mystery heroes were too big shot and snotty to help the “little” people like me, but not anymore! And besides being brave, caring, and heroic, they are both really beautiful. Palette is my favorite, and really nice, but even though she’s my penultimate favorite, that little Miss Music is an incredible BRAT! Palette blinded the bad guy with darkness, and Miss Music blasted him with noise, and I managed to crawl away and watch the rest of the fight. (We learned that word 'penultimate' yesterday in our grammar lesson, it is a cool way of saying 'came in second'. HAH!)
I saved the Daily Leader Sunday supplement about them last year, and they told Jenny Xiu the reporter (my third fave!) that they both got their powers when they were around 20, so maybe someday I’ll get powers too! Neither one wanted powers, but it just sorta happened. A lot people think their powers are really puny and weak, but I think that's what makes them such great heroes!
So even if the magical powers I wish for never happen, I'm still going to be a heroine, just like them! I just got my Pops to agree to karate lessons and then I'll learn to use a shield like that Adventurine girl in Chicago. Anyway, now I know what I want to be when I grow up - one day, I'm gonna be a mystery heroine, just like me and all my friends pretend to be at sleepover parties. Except way better! That's a cross-my-heart pinkie swear promise, dear diary! I already know my name, too - Atomic Allie!
They have ADvant Guard posters at all the Surfside Record Stores - Mums' gonna take me there tomorrow and I'm gonna spend this whole month’s allowance and buy all the posters I can. I’ve already started an Avant Guard scrapbook with pictures and stories out of the paper!
But even my new heroes weren’t able to capture that awful mugger last night. Some stupid flying girl rescued him by carrying him off on a rope. He didn’t get away, though, at around midnight, a nurse at the emergency room of Sausalito hospital found him dumped in the driveway of the hospital, bruised and battered (he DESERVED it!!!), and when they identified him, they called the police. As soon as he’s well enough, they’re going to bring him back here for trial - and my very first act as a mystery heroine is going to be helping send him to prison with my testimony!!!!
Love, Allie Balloo (Atomic Allie to be)
Return of the Mystery Flier
“Race you to the top of the next hill! Loser, who will be YOU, of course, buys milkshakes when we get back. I want chocolate malted, extra large!” Tammi mockingly spoke to her friend Alex. “Even with your long legs and that fancy bike, you haven't got a chance. I'll even give you a head start!” The two women were on an early morning ride with a group of friends in Golden Gate Park
“Just remember, we're running tomorrow!” Alex sighed, exasperated as always by her much shorter friend. Her longer legs did give her a big top speed advantage when they ran, but Tammi's gymnast's muscles made up that advantage when multiplied by the gears on a bike, especially on steep hills. Still, today might be her day - she leaned into the pedals and a couple of seconds later, she was zoomin'!
Behind her, she heard a whoop and a holler - “GANGWAY! Comin' THRU!!!” as Tammi started chasing her friend.
As she pumped even harder, Alex reflected that this race reminded her of the day she and Tammi had first met, back in 1960. Alex had been out on an early morning ride when she'd encountered a half dozen women, all of them Tammi-sized, dressed in USA Gymnastics sweatsuits, on a training ride. She'd later discovered that they were all trying out for the Olympic Gymnastics Team for the Summer Olympics, which would be held in Rome. They'd been laughing and chattering and having a nice, slow, fun ride, but when Alex had passed them, Tammi (of course!) had taken it as a challenge, and suddenly it had become a race between the two of them. Until they'd gone around a bend and Tammi had swerved to avoid a dead body laying in the road, and crashed into Alex, and then they'd both been involved in their first murder investigation! (But not the last, sadly…)
Today, they were passing a wide, empty lawn on the left and a stand of trees on the right when Tammi caught up - and projected her voice into Alex's ear, rather than shouting. “Hey, Stretch! I think we're about to have a visitor - that flying witch who stole the mugger from us!” Alex could just barely make out a noise like a jet airplane far ahead of them - a roar that grew louder at a jet engine pace!
“She's flying low, using the park museum building for cover,” Tammi pointed at a structure ahead of them.
Alex used her zoom-in vision, and was able to locate the flier as soon as she came in sight. The woman had her arms extended toward the cyclists, and two small puffs of smoke from the front of her backpack lengthened into spears aimed directly at them. “Mother Gaia, it's a strafing run! Jump!”
It was indeed the woman who had 'stolen their mugger', a woman dressed in white and red, flying with the aid of tiny jet engines which lined the ribs of the small wings inset under her arms.
Tammi turned sharply, and her bike was out of control when she hit the curb, but she launched herself away, quickly did a flip, and landed running. Alex had noted the trajectory of whatever was approaching them; neither projectile would actually hit her, so instead of jumping, she ducked low and put all her strength, adrenaline-enhanced, into the pedals, and raced forward. There were two explosions in the road behind her, and then the flier roared overhead, and she slammed on the brakes and jumped off her bike, then turned around to face their foe.
There were two small craters in the road, one of them where Tammi's bike had fallen. The flier was pulling up, through a loop with a twist, turning to face them again in preparation for another attack run. Alex knew a number of mystery heroes who could fly, and this woman was was slow and awkward, even in comparison to, say, the Clockwork Parakeet, who flew with the assistance of a bulky, poorly maneuverable rocket pack.
Alex located Tammi and began speaking while moving away from her, trusting that her partner's hearing would allow her to pick up her intel even over the roar of the spine jets. “She’s got two rocket launchers in her backpack, and they only fire dead ahead of her, so if we keep apart and dodge, she probably won’t be able to hit us.”
Meanwhile, she was projecting blackness on the flier’s goggles, trying to blind her, but with no apparent effect. “She's somehow seeing through my illusions,” she added darkly and she dodged from side to side, trying to not get too far separated from her partner.
Tammi unleashed her 'sonic grenade' attack, a sudden blast of 120 db sound centered on the flier's head, also with no effect. “She's ignoring my attacks too!” her voice said in Alex's ear, as clearly as if they were standing side by side in a quiet room.
Just then, the flier launched another rocket, and Alex zagged away from it. It wasn't very well aimed, and it exploded harmlessly in the meadow - harmlessly to Alex, at least, but the Department of Public Works wasn't going to be very happy!
“So, whatta we do now, Stretch? That witch wrecked my bike and I want a shot at her!”
Alex had been trying every light based trick she knew, and was beginning to realize how limited her repertoire of offensive attacks was. The woman ignored illusions projected on the surface of her goggles, whether of light, dark, flashing colors or even images, and images on the ground or nearby trees didn't distract her. Even covering Tammi and herself with the image of empty air didn't work… no matter how they ran and dodged, the flying woman would swing her head from side to side and quickly reorient on one or the other of them. The side to side sway reminded Alex of something…
“Her goggles must be blocking my illusions, and she's using something else to see - I'll bet radar!” she yelled. While she might be right, that still left her without a useful method of attack…
“Yeah, her helmet must be blocking my sounds, too - and it can't be sonar like a bat or I'd be screwing it up. You're probably right… What good are our powers when she can block them so easily?” Tammi sounded frustrated. But Alex knew she hadn't given up - and wouldn't!
“Hey, Stretch, looks like it's up to ME to save the day, like always! Next time she looks my way, you dive into one of those craters. If she's really using radar, you'll be hidden, and she'll have to follow me, then! I'll let her get close and then jump her!”
It didn't seem like the best plan to Alex, but she didn't have another one - not yet, anyway. And Tams wouldn't listen now even if she DID offer another plan - at this point, it was Tammi's plan or nothing.
“OK. Now!” she notified her friend, still trusting in Tammi's hearing powers. She dove into a crater and rolled over, so she could keep some kind of watch on their flying foe - who did a complete 360, apparently couldn't locate Alex in the ground clutter, and re-oriented on Tammi. And let fly another missile.
“Drop, Tams!” Alex shouted, as she figured out where that projectile would likely hit. Tammi flattened to the ground, and the missile roared overhead and exploded only a few feet further ahead, and then the flier passed over Miss Music's downed form. “NOW!” Alex yelled, and at that same exact instant, Tammi popped up from the ground and leaped as high as she could, tracking her attacker by sound, and managed to wrap both arms around their foe's legs.
Alex was on her feet and racing forward even as Tammi latched on. The flier was thrown off balance and twisted wildly, and Tammi had to let go or be severely burned by the jet exhaust, but Alex was able to jump and grab the wings on her helmet, and pull her head down, and she smashed to the meadow. Then some kind of force field pushed out of her costume, shoving Alex away, and the costumed figure rose into the air again, her flight more wobbly and erratic than ever.
As she rose slowly, the flier spoke for the first time, her voice was distorted by an apparent PA system in her helmet, probably as a means to keep her actual voice secret from Miss Music. “You've foiled me this time, AVant Guard - but you haven't seen the last of ATOMA!”
With that, her jets flared to full power and she rose into the sky, seemingly barely in control, leaving behind a jagged contrail. With no way to follow, all the heroines could do was watch her go. And then turn to greet the rest of their biking friends, who were now coming out from the cover of the trees.
We Know Who You Are
“Wow! Alex and Tams are… AVant Guard!” “How could we have missed it before?” “Tammi, can I have your autograph?” “Alex, can you speak to my Brownie troop tomorrow night?” “How did you get your powers?” “Don't worry, we won't tell anyone your secrets!” “Can you introduce me to that dreamy Tom Atomic from Chicago?” “Alex, can you sign my portrait as “Palette” too?” “Tammi, I got sick before you went to the Vegetables concert - can you come over tomorrow and play it back for me?” “Why do you give all your reward money to charities and not your friends?” “Howcome you didn't stop that guy that robbed my house last week?”
In the few instants before they were surrounded by their friends, Tammi winked at her partner. “You know, sometimes I miss that rock star feeling. And then, we have moments like this - and it's fun, and a few seconds later, I'm glad they'll forget who we are in an hour.”
“Yeah, let's enjoy it for a while. And later, we need to start figuring out who the hell she is!”