by qazaq_2000
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |
One fine spring day Becca Smith, star investigative reporter for the Metro City Herald, was enjoying the Horticultural Exhibition sponsored by the newspaper and held out of doors at Riverside Park. Specialists from all over the world had come to the Exhibition to show exotic plants from all over the globe, from rare flowers of New Guinea to plants from the deepest Amazon jungle, never before seen in the USA. The theme of the show --"Secrets of the Plant Kingdom" - was intended both to entertain the public as well as to teach that so many of the specimens had countless unknown medicinal and commercial uses. Becca was amazed at the range of flora exhibited as well as the magnitude of exciting research into these exotic and often weird-looking plants.
Becca was also, however, on assignment, for several highly unusual developments had attended the Horticultural Exhibition. Even before the show had opened, one of the presenters' trucks containing several rare species of Madagascar flowers had vanished en route to Metro City. A rash of robberies had beset the Exhibition organizers, but cash was never taken - always some plants or a computer disk containing cutting edge research on newly discovered plant species. The editor had assigned Becca straight forward task: find out who would want to sabotage the show.
Who indeed, thought Becca. Could she even be sure the thief's intent was sabotage, as the editor thought? One thing was for sure: whoever the culprit turned out to be would have to deal not only with Becca Smith, journalist, but also her alter ego BANNER, superheroine defender of Metro City.
For now our heroine carefully observed the Exhibition from behind the glasses that served as part of her disguise as Becca Smith. What she could not figure out was how some of the thefts had occurred, since the police now patrolled Riverside Park heavily, while infrared sensors, installed throughout the grounds of the Exhibition itself, would have detected any intruder. So how could the most recent thefts have occurred right in front of the cameras? It was as if a ghost were stealing the Horticultural Show's prize attractions!
Nothing out of the ordinary happened while the show was open during the day. Becca decided that the best thing to do was to return at night - as Banner! One way or another, she'd get to the bottom of this mystery! That night, Becca, in the sleek stars-and-stripes costume of Banner, arrived at Riverside Park in her swift but silent Banner cycle. She dismounted her motorcycle and greeted the police at the gate to the Horticultural Exhibition.
"Nothing unusual to report at all, Banner," said one of the two officers at the entrance. But we're glad you're here to help ."
"Thanks, Officer," the superheroine acknowledged. "I think I'll take a walk around inside the Exhibition grounds, if that's all right. "
"Go right ahead," the policeman replied.
Becca walked along the paths of the Horticultural Exhibition. For a long time all was quiet. Then, far off at the other end of a long, straight pathway, Becca thought she could make out some rustling bushes.
"It seems the thief is making his move," Becca thought to herself. She stealthily crept up on the scene, only to be confronted by an astonishing sight.
At first our heroine thought her eyes must be deceiving her in the darkness, but no, she was really seeing it! A large plant, about 5 ft tall and vaguely resembling a sunflower except for long tendrils that moved like tentacles, was gently pulling a rare Congolese fern out of the ground! The sunflower then moved, or rather walked on its roots toward a cut in the fence surrounding the Exhibition!
Becca was flabbergasted. The surprise of seeing walking plants so shocked her that for a moment she could only watch in rapt fascination. That's why the infrared never picked up the thief, she thought, since a plant won't throw off as much heat as a human being! But Becca could see that the felonious flower was making its escape: beyond the fence the superheroine noticed a black van idling, waiting to make the getaway.
This time, thought Becca, theft won't be so easy! She quickly caught up to the mutant plant and grabbed it by the stalk just below the yellow and brown flower, lifting the renegade plant off the ground. But Becca was in for yet more surprises. The plant turned its "head" to face Banner. A blast of smoky gas erupted abruptly from the sunflower into our heroines face. Becca suddenly felt weak and woozy, and dropped the plant. Becca's head began to spin from the effects of the poisonous plant, and she fell to the ground. She tried to cry out to the police, but they were too far away to hear her. Prostrate and defenseless, Becca's last memory before she blacked out was the sensation of tendrils wrapping around her wrists and of being dragged off into the night. Before she was aware of anything else, Becca heard a voice.
"Ah, my creations have done doubly well tonight. Not only have they acquired the plant I needed for my next genetic experiment, but they have also delivered into my hands the one obstacle to my plans - the beautiful Banner!"
Slowly Becca came around. Where was she? What had happened? Gradually the superheroine became aware of the dismal reality of her situation. Her arms were tied above her head and she was suspended by her wrists from the ceiling of a large room without any windows.
"Not very comfortable, I'm afraid, but I never subscribed to the Geneva Convention myself," said the same reedy voice.
Our heroine turned her head to the left to see her captor. About twenty feet away there stood a weird looking man in a vivid green double-breasted suit. More bizarre than his choice of attire, however, was his green skin and dark green ,almost grass like hair.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I once went by another name but Metro City will come to know me as the Green Thumb."
"That's a very silly name for a supervillain," Becca mocked.
Her adversary became enraged. "It won't seem so silly when my plan is completed, my dear Banner. Oh yes, I know who you are, and factored your meddling into my plans. "
Banner continued to taunt her captor in an attempt to provoke him into a mistake. "And - don't tell me, let me guess, you want to take over Metro City. "
Green Thumb snarled, "Metro City? Oh no, Banner, not just Metro City, not just the USA, but the whole world! "
"Taking over the world. It's always taking over the world," said Becca, mock ruefully.
"Enough disparagement from a superheroine about to feel the first bite of what's in store for humanity!"
Becca didn't think she'd be very happy to discover what her enemy was ranting about, but Green Thumb continued.
"Years ago I was a botanist working on genetically modified plants. One of my experiments went wrong and my human genes were spliced with plant genes. I stand before now you half man and half plant. I can communicate with them, and I have developed some of the mutant strains you have already confronted, like the plant which captured you a few hours ago. These plants are my creations, and they are the future of the earth. They will wage war against the animal kingdom, and return the world to the perfect state it had billions of years ago when there were only no animals on the surface of the globe!"
"OK, I think I've just heard about the most bizarre revenge trip I could ever hope to hear," said Becca. "Thanks for the entertainment, Mr. Thumb, but it's time t o send you to the insane asylum." She began to twist her wrists to loosen her bonds.
"Oh, you won't escape from those ropes," Green Thumb chuckled evilly. "Genetically engineered plant fibers, my dear. They are quite impossible to break. Also ,before you try, a quick look straight down should make you think twice about slipping your bonds. "
Becca looked below her dangling booted legs for the first time. The sight confronting her was appalling! She was tied up and suspended over a deep, wide pit, at the bottom of which were gigantic green plants, each with two fiendish looking pink petals with footlong thorns ringing them.
"You've created mutantgiant Venus Flytrap plants!" Becca exclaimed.
"You go to the head of the botany class, my pretty! "Green Thumb sniggered. Becca realized that he stood twenty feet away in a doorway on the edge of the pit. "Yes, extremely carnivorous plants. You, Banner, are to be their meal tonight, and will be lowered slowly into the pit. The plants are overdue for some dinner, and get very cranky if they aren't fed regularly. Any last words, my dear? "
"I always eat my greens, but I never thought they'd come back to even the score!" Becca bravely quipped. Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a way out of this dastardly peril.
Green Thumb closed the door, leaving our heroine in her plight. Becca strained against the ropes tying her wrists together, but her captor was true to his word: she could not escape. Suddenly Becca felt the rope from which she dangled over the carnivorous plants let out slowly, so that she was gradually being lowered into the pit. It would only be moments before her feet would touch one of the Venus Flytrap petals, which would snap shut like jaws and gruesomely digest our helpless heroine. This looks grim, Becca thought. Was there no way sexy superheroine to escape? Was she destined for an ignominious position on the food chain? Stay tuned as Banner fights her most bizarre adversary yet...
Banner had been captured by a new named Green Thumb. With his uncanny control over plants and his unearthly mutant creations, the villain had knocked our brave heroine out and left her tied up and dangling over a pit of giant carnivorous plants. Becca looked down in horror as the rope from which she was suspended slowly let out and lowered her into the maws of hungry giant Venus Flytrap plants.
No matter how much she struggled, Becca could not free her wrists :she was powerless to break the ropes made of Green Thumb's mutant plant fibers. The superheroine had only moments left. She would never be able to free herself in time! Slowly Becca dropped further in to the pit. Her dangling, booted feet were about to touch one of the Venus Flytrap plants! It looked like the end for Metro City's sexy crime fighter!
"There's only one chance," thought Becca. "I can use my super speed to cheat these plants out of their meal. If I touch the plant's petals and then pull up my legs as quickly as I can, perhaps I can evade the plant as it snaps its 'jaws' shut. It's my only hope!"
Becca prepared herself for her athletic feat .It would have to work the first time. As she was lowered steadily into the thick of the hateful plants she jabbed at the monstrous petals of the Venus Flytrap directly beneath her with her feet. The petals snapped shut with gut-wrenching rapidity, but not before Becca, with her superhuman speed curled her body, bringing her knees up to her chest and her legs out of the maw of the flesh-eating plant. Her plan worked!
Becca had to repeat her daring feat a few more times as she descended slowly into the thicket of carnivorous flowers. Soon she was below the level of the deadly petals, slowly descending through a forest of huge green stalks. But at last she reached the ground, and immediately went to work to extricate her wrists from Green Thumb's bonds.
It took some time, but now that she wasn't dangling from the ceiling Becca, with much tussling and struggle, was eventually able to untie her hands. The freed superheroine immediately searched for a way out of the pit in order to track Green Thumb down and bring him to justice.
Becca quickly found a door. Although the door was locked, one super strong karate blow from Banner reduced it to splinters. Our heroine stared into a long, dimly lit corridor culminating in another door. Becca cautiously advanced into the corridor, mindful of what other traps and surprises Green Thumb might have in store for her.
As she walked carefully and silently along the corridor, Becca noticed windows on the left side of the corridor. Becca looked into one of the windows, and saw that all the windows along the corridor looked into an enormous greenhouse. The superheroine recoiled as she saw the fiendish results of Green Thumb's depraved research. There were all kinds of giant plants, every manner of twisted breeding and grotesque manipulations of genetics.
"I have got to stop this madman before he unleashes these creatures on the world!" Becca thought to herself.
She arrived at the far end of the corridor, smashed down the door and stepped into the next room. The intrepid crime fighter found herself in a small hothouse filled with exotic tropical flowers in every color known to nature. Some of the species Becca could recognize while others were completely unfamiliar to her. The hothouse was so full of plants of various sizes that the whole room seemed like a miniature jungle. Becca picked her way carefully through the foliage until she came to a clear spot, about fifteen feet in diameter, in the middle of the room. There our heroine saw Green Thumb, his back turned to her, tending to his plants.
She leapt into the middle of the clearing and challenged her opponent. "I'm here to stop your schemes, Green Thumb!" she announced bravely.
The archvillain spun around in surprise. "Banner! I thought I had destroyed you!"
"I overcame your fiendish trap, and now I am going to take you into custody. You're deranged and you need help! "
"Don't come near me!" Green Thumb warned. "I don't need your help! I don't need anyone's help. Soon you will all be annihilated by my wonderful plants! "
"Don't say I didn't warn you to come with me quietly, "Becca advised.
"You should have escaped while you could," Green Thumb retorted ominously.
Banner closed in on the supervillain and threw a super strong punch at him. Green Thumb was thrown backwards and fell onto the floor as Becca advanced on him again.
"You'll regret that, Banner," he said as he quickly jumped back onto his feet.
That should have decked him, thought Becca. He is stronger than he looks! Becca attacked again, but this time Green Thumb blocked her blow and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. He then pinned the sexy superheroine's arms as he bear hugged her.
"You will find that you are not the only one with superpowers, my dear Banner!" he cackled.
"But I eat my Wheaties, too!" Becca retorted. She mustered her super strength and flipped the evildoerover her and sent him skidding across the floor.
Once again, Green Thumb got back up, this time more slowly, winded by Becca's fighting prowess. Good, thought Becca, I can wear him down. He's a tough one! She closed once again and jumped into the air to kick the villain. But Green Thumb managed to avoid the blow and scramble to the side. Becca landed gracefully near the edge of the clearing in the hothouse and spun around to face the maniacal archvillain. She had him on the run.
"Give up, Green Thumb!" Becca commanded.
"It is you who should give up," sneered her adversary. "Ever hear of the Cap Throwing Mushroom? "
"No," replied Becca, "Why?"
Suddenly a shower of dusty spores poured down on her, temporarily incapacitating her.
"Ugh," our heroine exclaimed as the spores blinded her and made her cough. Green Thumb seized the moment and pushed Banner toward one of the large jungle trees art the edge of the clearing. Becca's back hit the tree trunk, and before she could clear the spores from her eyes she felt creepers grab her by the wrists and upper arms, pulling her arms above her head and stretching them behind the tree trunk. Then more tendrils wrapped around her thighs, waist and boots, holding her fast to the tree. Our heroine thrashed frantically against the creepers but she was soon totally immobilized by the plant's tendrils.
Green Thumb leered at his lovely captive, clad in her sleek superheroine costume of stars-and-stripes halter top and hot pants, and red leather boots, struggling uselessly against the fibers holding her prisoner.
"Need I even say it, Banner? You will not escape from those restraints. Once again, the plant kingdom shows its superiority to the animal kingdom "
"You're not superior," retorted Becca defiantly, "you're deranged. "
"When I have purged the planet of humanity we'll see who's superior. But, of course, you won't be there to apologize to me and my plant friends ."
"You certainly excel in one respect," said Becca as she exerted herself in more futile attempts to free herself. "You bring a new depth to the meaning of 'reactionary'. For most people that means an Ayn Rand discussion group, maybe a season pass to those Renaissance Fayres, but no, you want to turn back the clock to the Precambrian Era!"
But Green Thumb was enjoying taunting the helpless superheroine "You know, I think I have an even better fate for you than as plant fodder, my dear," he laughed diabolically.
"What are you going to do to me, you fiend?" asked Becca.
"You'll see soon enough," Green Thumb cackled. "While I prepare, I'll let you catch up on your beauty sleep."
He pulled a small pouch out of his green jacket breast pocket, opened it, and blew arust-colored powder into Becca's face. "It's similar to chloroform, but even more effective, and in a handy powder form..." Green Thumb expounded pedantically as blackness overcame the struggling superheroine....
"Ohhh," said Becca as she slowly came to.
"Ah, you're back with us, dear Banner!" chortled Green Thumb. "Not feeling too groggy, I hope? "
Becca realized she was seated in something like a dentist's chair, only her hands were securely tied behind her back, her legs and feet were bound together, and she was strapped into the chair at her waist. She and Green Thumb were in a small room with a single bright light at the ceiling. The sexy superheroine turned her head to look at her captor.
"Even drugged, I still think your green suit looks ridiculous! Ohhh," Becca moaned as a new wave of dizziness from the powder swept over her.
"You are hardly dressed inconspicuously, Banner ,"admonished Green Thumb.
"Yes, but the difference is I look good," Becca managed to quip even in her predicament.
"You think you're so superior," the supervillain growled, "but it is I who shall make you a higher order being! "
"What are you talking about?" asked Becca.
"You are going to join me, my pretty," Green Thumb chuckled.
"I'll never side with you, you madman!" exclaimed Becca.
"Oh, but you won't have any choice, my dear Banner. Observe all the equipment around you." Our heroine's mind cleared enough for her to notice an array of drills and syringes on a system of levered mechanic alarms surrounding the chair to which she was so tightly bound. "I am going to experiment on you, my dear," Green Thumb continued. "This equipment is fully automated with the purpose of transforming your cellular structure. If all goes well, the process will turn you into a plant. If not, well, I'm afraid to say you'll perish horribly. But such are the risks we undertake in the advancement of science. Don't you think so, Banner?"
"I wish there were an SPCA for plants so I could report you," Becca said defiantly.
"Enough of this banter," replied the Green Thumb, as he pulled out a thick silk scarf and tightly cleave-gagged Becca. "Now, as this involves needles and scalpels, it might get a bit, so I hope you'll forgive me if I don't watch. I've set the timer for five minutes; the machines will start after that time."
With that last comment Green Thumb exited the room. Becca writhed in her bonds. Once again, the villain had tied her up with unbreakable plant fibers. Time ticked away as our heroine continued her futile attempts to escape her perilous plight. It was no use! Becca tried turning her wrists but the ropes held firm. She strained her leg muscles but her bonds would not budge. Becca squirmed helplessly as the seconds counted down to her demise. Was this peril to be Banner's last?....
In our last episode, Banner had attempted to apprehend the maniacal Green Thumb. But our gallant heroine had been captured when she fell prey to one of her adversary's unearthly experimental creatures, a giant spore-shooting mushroom that had incapacitated the sexy superheroine long enough for the Green Thumb to imprison her in one of his dastardly traps. Now Becca was tied to a dentist's chair that had been modified into one of Green Thumb's insane contraptions - one that would begin to turn her into a plant after five minutes had elapsed.
Becca looked with alarm at the automated steel equipment that would soon perform indescribable experimental procedures on her, and at the display on a nearby control panel that counted down the seconds to her demise.
Four minutes left. Becca continued to struggle in her bonds to no avail.
"There must be a way out of this! "thought Becca, but she could see no means of escape from her predicament. The fibers of Green Thumb's mutant plants were proving a most effective restraint for the imperiled superheroine; try as she might, Becca could do nothing to loosen the ropes.
Three minutes left. Becca turned her head this way and that, trying to find some tool that she might be able to use to free herself. But the room was empty except for the chair to which she was secured, the cantilevered mechanical arms of Green Thumb's automated nightmare, the light in the ceiling, and the control panel, far out of reach. Becca again strained helplessly against her bonds. It was no use! She couldn't escape!
Two minutes left. The brave but desperate superheroine continued her futile attempts at freeing herself, trying to think of a way out of the ropes. But nothing came to mind.
"If only I had a lighter I could burn my way out of this trap!" Becca thought. "If ever there were a time for a power failure, now would be it!" But alas, the city generators did not suddenly falter.
One minute left! Becca twisted and turned in a frantic but useless gesture. It was curtains for the doomed heroine! Or was it? As Becca thrashed in her bonds, she saw a metal lever on one side of the chair.
"That's it!" Becca rejoiced.
The Green Thumb had tied the superheroine to an actual dentist's chair! That means the lever might be a control for an ordinary dentist chair's hydraulic jack. If only she could reach it in time! Becca writhed and strained against the ropes in an attempt to pull her bound hands over to the side of the chair. The lever was just out of reach! Meanwhile the mechanical arms came to life as the automatic program cranked up. Rotary blades at the ends of some arms began to whir menacingly; syringes and calipers swung into action as the programmed machine prepared unthinkingly to turn our heroine into a plant.
"Got...to...reach...the lever!" Becca thought as she made one final desperate lunge. Her hands brushed the lever, but pushed it just enough to engage the hydraulics of the chair. Becca's chair suddenly elevated a foot and swung around one hundred and eighty degrees, crashing into the delicate surgical implements of Green Thumb's nightmarish machine. The contraption keeled over into a mangled heap onto the floor, shooting off sparks in every direction. Some of the sparks landed on the fibers binding Becca's wrists, burning them just enough for Becca to burst her bonds and free herself.
As she untied her legs and ankles, removed her gag, and freed herself from the strap that held her in the chair by her waist, our heroine's mind raced to come up with a plan to defeat Green Thumb before it was too late.
"First, I've got to know more about his schemes," Becca reasoned. "He seems to paranoid to trust anyone other than his plants; maybe that gives me a chance to investigate here. Then I can figure out what to do! "
Once again Becca stealthily crept through the eerie air of the Green Thumb. Since the sexy superheroinehad been brought in unconscious to this place, she couldn't tell for sure, but the brick, vaulted structure suggested that the villain had occupied the abandoned brewery in the Planter's Hollow district of town.
"Planter's Brewery," thought Becca as she deduced her location, "how apropos. Well, monomaniacs are at least consistent in their choices."
She continued to navigate her way through the gloomy corridors and rooms of the abandoned brewery, always on the lookout for her adversary. But Green Thumb was nowhere to be found. Becca came back to a door leading into the giant greenhouse, and now she recognized it as the old brewery's main factory floor, converted to a new, deadly purpose. A staircase right of the door led upstairs.
Becca climbed the stairs and entered an office overlooking the floor of the greenhouse. The office was filled with notebooks, beakers, vials and other equipment. This was evidently Green Thumb's office. Becca picked up one notebook. In it were notes detailing the manner in which her foe created his hideous mutant plants. As she deciphered the feverish script of the supervillain, the notes revealed that Green Thumb has created several strains of quick growing plants. Some would spread spores that would knock out any human anywhere in the vicinity, others would seek out heat from animals and attack them with a sticky glue then slowly digest them.
The combination was too horrible to contemplate. But the next paper Becca read alarmed her even more, for on it was written: "Low altitude: seeds scattered. Evans Airfield, Midnight, April 17."
That was tonight! Green Thumb was about to unleash this pestilence on an unsuspecting Metro City immediately! What was worse, the villain's absence meant that he was already on his way to the airfield, or already there! There was no time to lose.
Becca knew Evans Airfield: it was an old World War II airfield that still had some old dilapidated hangers but had long been abandoned. She would have to catch up and stop Green Thumb's vicious plot! But first she would need to retrieve the Bannercycle. Luckily, Planter's Brewery was not very far away from Riverside Park. Banner quickly left the brewery and ran back to the park, where she hopped on her Bannercycle and sped off at top speed to the airfield.
Her turbocharged cycle delivered her to Evans Field in a matter of minutes. There she dismounted and quietly approached the main hanger on the old airbase.
Pressing her back against the doorway, Becca surreptitiously looked into the hanger. Inside was a large modern cargo plane with its main cargo door open. Becca could see Green Thumb loading black metal cylinders onto the plane, and could her him cackling madly to himself.
"Perhaps I can sabotage the plane, and at least prevent him from creating a disaster, "Becca hoped.
She entered the hanger and began to cross the hanger floor to get to the plane. But Green Thumb spotted her!
"No! Not you again!" shrieked the supervillain. "Youkeep cropping up like a weed!"
"I know all about your plan," Becca cautioned. "Andthis time it will be just you and me, Green Thumb. Notricks, none of your strange plants."
The villain snickered, "That's what you think, Banner."
Suddenly Becca groaned as she felt the impactof many small darts or quills hitting her in the back.
"I always post a few guards, which you didn't notice.These ones shoot poison quills."
Becca staggered andsank to her knees, weakened by the toxins.
"Oh, justenough to incapacitate you, my dear," Green Thumbcontinued. "I wouldn't want you to miss the fun. In away you'll have the best view of the festivities!"
"You're so evil even your pets shoot women in theback. How low can you go?" Becca retorted, trying toget back on her feet, but collapsing onto the flooragain.
Green Thumb simply laughed and approached theprostrate superheroine. "Get your cheap shots in now,my lovely. Soon I shall be master of the whole planet!"
"You'll never...get...away...with this," promised Becca asthe venom from the quills further debilitated her andshe collapsed onto the floor.
"Well, the toxins must be having an effect, Banner,since you're no longer making sense. Time to get you loaded onto the plane," Green Thumb said, as hedragged our helpless heroine into the plane. There hetied her up hand and foot and finished the loading ofhis cargo. As he continued his work the villain explained his nefarious scheme.
"Each canister hasseeds to produce enough plants to overrun all of MetroCity. I will sow these seeds over the whole county. Within days the citizens of the whole area will beunder attack from my plants. Nothing will stop them. The puny authorities will try to stamp them out butnew plants will keep sprouting up, releasing their seeds, propagating, growing more powerful, until they overrun the state, the country, the continent, and finally the world!"
Becca's mind reeled under the effects of the darts' venom. She was powerless to stop this evil fiend! Soon the Green Thumb had finished loading the cargoplane. He opened the main hangers door wide, then climbed into the pilot's seat. From the pilot's position he could look behind his seat down the length of the plane. He smiled at his cargo: canisters that would destroy Metro City, and the city's champion as his prisoner. The plane took off.
Slowly Becca began to recover,and began to test the ropes binding her, even though she knew that they would be unbreakable. It looked as though Green Thumb held all the cards. Becca's earspopped as the plane gained altitude, then leveled off.
"We've reached 10 000 feet!" the villain announced. Green Thumb put the plane on autopilot, then climbed over his seat to join his cargo and captive in the hold. "Sorry for the accommodation, Banner, but you know what they say, there are no good airlines anymore!"
Still a bit groggy, Becca asked in a subdued voice,"Most airlines tell you where you're going."
Green Thumb roared with sinister gusto. "My dear, Itold you you'd get the best view of the events. I will open these canisters and push them out of the plane,but I'm going to push you out first!"
Becca twisted helplessly in her bonds as her captor's intent became clear. "You don't intimidate me, " she said defiantly.
"Oh, but I really am a gentleman after all," laughedGreen Thumb. "I'm going to give you a parachute." He picked up a parachute pack in the cargo hold and strapped it over Becca's shoulders and around her waist. "There now, all set."
"But how will I pull the rip cord with my hands tied?"asked Becca.
"Do you expect me to do all the work?" thesupervillain cruelly taunted as he opened the sidedoor of the cargo plane.
This really is the end, thought Becca. I can't escape,and even I can't survive a fall from such a height. As she looked around her our heroine saw that a pipe ran down the length of the fuselage. That might control the rudder or the flaps, thought Becca. I still have my super strength, and if I pull the pipe out it might destabilize and crash the plane.
Green thumb picked up the superheroione and stood her against the fuselage of the plane next to the open hatch. The wind howled mercilessly as Becca desperately reached behind her to grab hold of the pipe.
"How well do you know the engineering of thiscargo plane?" asked Becca.
"Enough to fly it. Why?" asked Green Thumb suspiciously as he grabbed our heroine roughly by the shoulders to throw her out of the plane.
As he began to push her toward the door Becca pulled on the pipe with a mighty effort and snapped it! High pressure liquid started to spew out of the rupture and the plane immediately began to careen out of control. Green Thumb suddenly realized his one oversight in his plan.
"You're wearing the only parachute! Gimme that!"he screamed as he clawed at Becca.
But the plane took another unpredictable lurch, throwing Becca out of thecargo hold and into thin air! Becca hurtled toward the ground.
Luckily, when she pulled the pipe apart a small piece of jagged metal had remained in her hands. The superheroine now desperately sawed away at the plant fibers pinning herwrists behind her back. The ground rushed up quickly. But Becca felt the fibers snap! She was free! She pulled the parachute rip cord and watched the whitecanvas open above her.
As she floated to the ground, Becca watched as thecargo plane sank out of the sky and crashed into afield. Green Thumb must have perished in the crash, but Metro City had been saved.
Soon after she landed on the ground, Becca was greetedby the police. The heroine explained what had happened and how they must hurry to seal off the brewery before anyone got hurt. Also, she said, make sure that none of the canisters in the crashed planewere open.
As Becca debriefed the authorities, a rescue worker at the sight of the crash called in on a walkie talkie to the police near our heroine. "Crash site. We found a bunch of cylinders in the wreckage,all intact. There's also one survivor, badly injured.
"Green Thumb," gasped Becca.
To the police she said, "There's your criminal, officer. He's very dangerous."
"He's not in any shape to do anything right now,Banner. We'll take it from here. And...thanks."
Becca nodded, and promised herself a long vacation before her next adventure