Post by dans on Jun 11, 2017 23:08:30 GMT
Pinky the Whiz Kid, the heroic identity of young teenager Melanie Garde, raced through the night on the Scarlet Cycle. ‘I really need to come up with another name for this bike,’ she thought to herself. ‘But the ‘Pink Cycle’ just doesn’t sound very intimidating.’ Though the former Pinky had worn a red costume, which made the Scarlet Cycle appropriate, her costume consisted of a pink mask, pink mini-dress, and calf-high pink leather boots with 2” heels, the highest Brain Butler, her adopted father, would allow her to wear ‘until she was older’. ‘But I’m already older than I was when he said that!’ she groused to herself petulantly. ‘How much older do I have to get?’
She spun the bike through a tight turn in the road, a turn which would have wrecked any bike that didn’t have built in gyroscopic stabilizers. “I sure hope I get there in time to help Rob!” she whispered into the wind. “If only he doesn’t do something foolish and take on that whole gang all by himself before I can get there! And I was done studying anyhow!”
Rob had insisted that she remain at home tonight to study for finals, while he tracked down a gang of clown-themed criminals that had become known in the papers as ‘The Circus of Crime’. He’d apparently spotted them breaking into a jewelry store that wasn’t far from the Butler mansion, and decided he needed some help. So he called her and she was racing to the scene. She’d be there any second!
Rob Butler, the red-clad man of mystery known as Mr. Scarlet, was in big trouble. There were only five of the villainous clowns, and after he’d called Pinky, he’d decided he could take out five by himself – but he’d been wrong. Because it wasn’t actually 5 men he was facing – he was fighting robots. And getting the snot kicked out of him. His signature gas weapon had no effect on the mechanical men, and they were strong enough to rip apart the steel cord he fired from his versatile handgun. They didn’t have any fighting skills, and he could easily land powerful punches which might jar them back a half a step, but they weren’t damaged in any way and they just kept coming. His hands and feet were battered and bruised, and he could no longer keep them back out of striking range. He was being overwhelmed and lambasted when Pinky roared up.
The battered, bruised and barely conscious Mr. Scarlet tried to shout a warning to his partner, but he was unable to utter more than a hoarse croak. But Pinky was wearing night vision contact lenses crafted by Wainright, the Butler’s inventive butler and armorer, and she saw something Scarlett had missed. There was a sixth clown, standing idly in the shadows of a cross street, calmly flipping a handful of brightly colored balls back and forth between his hands in complex patterns as he observed his fellows administrating a dreadful beating to the famous hero.
Pinky ignored her beleaguered partner (and adoptive brother) and careened at top speed directly at the observer, who was just beginning to realize that he’d been detected. One of Wainwright’s inventions, a tube mounted on the front of the bike, spat a tongue of fire, and a weighted, metal-stranded net unfurled as it flew. Before the clown could move, it slammed into him, then wrapped tightly around him. With his arms pinned to his sides, he could no longer keep the balls moving, and they fell to the ground. And the robots pummeling Mr. Scarlet simply stopped moving.
After that, the wrap-up was simple. It turned out that the observer had been controlling the relatively unsophisticated robots through radio transmitters in the balls; subtle variations in the flight pattern of each ball had given them just enough direction that their primitive computers could give them useful instructions.
Rob was a little miffed with his partner, and a little mystified about how she’d known what to do to save the day. After all, she had totally ignored the robots whaling the tar out of him! “How’d you know he was the controller? If you’d been wrong, I might have died!”
“But I wasn’t and he was, and I guess that means I saved your life - you’re very welcome!” the Whiz Kid replied, a little exasperated. Then her voice dropped to a confidential whisper, so the battered Mr. Scarlet had to painfully bend closer to hear her. “Wainright gave me some advice before I left. He told me: ‘When you’re in a fight with clowns, always go for the juggler.’ And as usual, he was right!”
She spun the bike through a tight turn in the road, a turn which would have wrecked any bike that didn’t have built in gyroscopic stabilizers. “I sure hope I get there in time to help Rob!” she whispered into the wind. “If only he doesn’t do something foolish and take on that whole gang all by himself before I can get there! And I was done studying anyhow!”
Rob had insisted that she remain at home tonight to study for finals, while he tracked down a gang of clown-themed criminals that had become known in the papers as ‘The Circus of Crime’. He’d apparently spotted them breaking into a jewelry store that wasn’t far from the Butler mansion, and decided he needed some help. So he called her and she was racing to the scene. She’d be there any second!
***~~~***
Rob Butler, the red-clad man of mystery known as Mr. Scarlet, was in big trouble. There were only five of the villainous clowns, and after he’d called Pinky, he’d decided he could take out five by himself – but he’d been wrong. Because it wasn’t actually 5 men he was facing – he was fighting robots. And getting the snot kicked out of him. His signature gas weapon had no effect on the mechanical men, and they were strong enough to rip apart the steel cord he fired from his versatile handgun. They didn’t have any fighting skills, and he could easily land powerful punches which might jar them back a half a step, but they weren’t damaged in any way and they just kept coming. His hands and feet were battered and bruised, and he could no longer keep them back out of striking range. He was being overwhelmed and lambasted when Pinky roared up.
The battered, bruised and barely conscious Mr. Scarlet tried to shout a warning to his partner, but he was unable to utter more than a hoarse croak. But Pinky was wearing night vision contact lenses crafted by Wainright, the Butler’s inventive butler and armorer, and she saw something Scarlett had missed. There was a sixth clown, standing idly in the shadows of a cross street, calmly flipping a handful of brightly colored balls back and forth between his hands in complex patterns as he observed his fellows administrating a dreadful beating to the famous hero.
Pinky ignored her beleaguered partner (and adoptive brother) and careened at top speed directly at the observer, who was just beginning to realize that he’d been detected. One of Wainwright’s inventions, a tube mounted on the front of the bike, spat a tongue of fire, and a weighted, metal-stranded net unfurled as it flew. Before the clown could move, it slammed into him, then wrapped tightly around him. With his arms pinned to his sides, he could no longer keep the balls moving, and they fell to the ground. And the robots pummeling Mr. Scarlet simply stopped moving.
After that, the wrap-up was simple. It turned out that the observer had been controlling the relatively unsophisticated robots through radio transmitters in the balls; subtle variations in the flight pattern of each ball had given them just enough direction that their primitive computers could give them useful instructions.
Rob was a little miffed with his partner, and a little mystified about how she’d known what to do to save the day. After all, she had totally ignored the robots whaling the tar out of him! “How’d you know he was the controller? If you’d been wrong, I might have died!”
“But I wasn’t and he was, and I guess that means I saved your life - you’re very welcome!” the Whiz Kid replied, a little exasperated. Then her voice dropped to a confidential whisper, so the battered Mr. Scarlet had to painfully bend closer to hear her. “Wainright gave me some advice before I left. He told me: ‘When you’re in a fight with clowns, always go for the juggler.’ And as usual, he was right!”
