by qazaq_2000
2/27/00 11:58 pm
Ace investigative reporter Becca Smith finished her piece for the Metro City Herald. The headline read: "Terrorist Attacks Baffle Authorities." For several weeks, cities across the region had been struck by seemingly random acts of sabotage. Power lines had been cut, hackers had scrambled key internet sites, commuter rail lines had been bombed, and over-the-counter drugs had been tampered with. Luckily no one had been seriously hurt yet in any of these outrages, but Becca knew it was only a matter of time before the saboteurs inflicted casualties, whether by accident or design. So far Metro City had not been affected by the attacks, but that was soon to change - and then the terrorists would have Becca's alter ego BANNER to contend with.
Becca already had a hypothesis regarding these wanton acts of sabotage. Banner's friend, Daniel DeLoy, a brilliant scientist whom the sexy superheroine had freed from the evil influence of one of her archenemies, had developed several special computer programs that would allow Banner to rapidly sift through information on the Net to aid in her investigations. Using one of these, Becca had tried to correlate the terrorist events with the movements of any known group. Surprisingly, the best match that turned up was a travelling circus and carnival - the Nonesuch Travelling Carnival All-Stars, who were scheduled to arrive in Metro City next week! "I think I'll attend their show and see what I can find out with a little snooping around!" said Becca to herself.
Opening night for the carnival occurred under a pall of tension as the citizenry remained apprehensive of what attacks the future held. Metro City's mayor decided that the circus and carnival would provide a wonderful opportunity to show that life went on as normal even in the face of the terrorist actions. "And he'll present a tempting target, too!" thought Becca. "It looks like the talents of BANNER will be needed at the carnival tonight!"
2/28/00 12:00 am
The travelling carnival was camped in a large park just outside the Metro City limits, a miniature town of hastily thrown up tents and amusement park rides. The ground between the attractions became like narrow lanes. As Becca walked through the travelling carnival she saw all the traditional carnival entertainments: merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries offering stuffed toys as prizes, a "Hall of Mirrors," bumper cars, fire eaters, jugglers, tilt-a-whirls, and, on one side of the encampment, a huge big top which housed the three ring circus.
Becca approached the big top and handed her ticket to a clown at the entrance to the circus. She found her seat, about a hundred feet away from the Mayor's party, and sat down to watch the show. The circus was in every way a normal circus, complete with old-fashioned animal acts, trapeze artists, and clowns. The sole unusual feature was that this circus was led not by a ringmaster but by a odd, clown-like man in a garish white-and-orange checked suit who every so often would go into the audience and play some practical joke on an audience member. He would giggle in a nervous, high-pitched laugh as he sprayed a victim with water coming out of a trick flower in his lapel, or rip off some unfortunate's toupee to the amusement of the rest of the audience.
When the show was over the audience shuffled out of the big top. Becca followed some distance behind the Mayor's entourage as it wended its way through the bazaar-like maze of amusements and distractions, her eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. She couldn't say why, but Becca's investigative instincts told her there was something awfully fishy about this travelling carnival.
Our heroine didn't have long to wait before her suspicions were confirmed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the outrageously suited circus ringleader hand a cream pie to one of the circus acrobats and point in the direction of the Mayor. "It looks like a harmless prank," thought Becca, "but with everything that's been going on, who knows what's in that cream pie!" Becca looked around for something to throw, and saw a small juggler's ball lying on the ground. She picked it up and threw it at the acrobat assassin. Her aim was true: the ball struck the acrobat in the arm and knocked the pie out of his hand. The acrobat caught Becca's stare and took off toward the circus performers' private area.
2/28/00 12:02 am
"Now's a chance to get to the bottom of this travelling show," thought Becca. "But I think further investigations are a job for BANNER!" Becca ducked behind one of the tents; no one saw her as she took off her street clothes to reveal the sleek silky costume of Metro City's sexy crime fighter. She then ran in pursuit of the nefarious acrobat.
Becca approached the travelling show's off limits area, where the performers had their living quarters and the show had its business offices. The area was fenced off and a sign by the entrace read "Carnival staff only!" Becca tried to pass the gate but was confronted by a small mob of circus people who barred her way inside. "What's the matter, lady? Can't you read the sign? Circus people only in here!" said a clown.
"Please, I don't want to invade your privacy, but an acrobat nearly attacked the Mayor. I have to find him to talk to him!" Becca argued.
"Attacked the Mayor? With what - a pie?" scolded a bearded lady. The circus people all laughed.
"I just want to ask him a few questions - please let me pass!" asked Becca firmly. She didn't want to abuse her superheroine abilities by just running roughshod over the circus' right to privacy. But the crowd was not cooperative.
"We don't want any outsiders coming in here!" shouted a dwarf, to general grumblings of agreement. Just then the circus ringleader appeared in the middle of the throng and pushed his way to the front.
2/28/00 12:04 am
"What's the commotion?" the bizarrely clad performer said as he cast a glance at the costumed figure of Banner. "I'm sorry, we already have a trapeze act," he said and cackled in his high-pitched, nasal laugh.
Becca took the insult in stride. "My name is Banner, and I am looking for an acrobat who tried to toss a cream pie at the Mayor. In light of the recent spate of terrorist attacks, you must be aware that such an action against a public official might not be seen as a laughing matter!"
"I'm sorry, please forgive these good people," the ringleader apologized, as the crowd formed a circle around the sexy superheroine.
"Circus people are a rather suspicious lot; they don't like outsiders poking around in their business. But I will take you on a tour, if that is all right. My name, by the way, is the Prankster, and I am in charge of the Nonesuch Carnival. I am at your service." The Prankster made a low theatrical bow before Banner.
"Thank you, Prankster," replied Becca. "I appreciate your assistance."
"No hard feeling?" asked the Prankster, smiling. "Shall we shake on it?" he added, extending his hand.
"Sure," said Becca, as she reached out to shake his hand. As she clasped his hand Becca felt a massive electrical shock shoot down her arm and through her whole body. "Uhhh," groaned the stricken superheroine as the Prankster would not release his handshake. The villain's electrical attack dazed and weakened the brave Banner, who stumbled to her knees. "What...kind...of trick?" mumbled Becca, surrounded by the circus people. But the Prankster just continued to cackle as his paralyzing grasp continued to afflict our heroine. Becca fell to the ground, out cold, as her adversary finally let go of her hand.
The Prankster lifted his palm to the circus folk, revealing a small metal device that looked like a joy-buzzer. "The Juicer! Gets 'em every time!" he giggled insanely as he looked at the unconscious form of Banner, prostrate in her stars-and-stripes halter top and hotpants and sexy red boots. "OK, people, I think this evening's entertainment is really about to begin. You know what to do!" The circus people closed in on Banner, and carried her off to a dubious future....
2/28/00 12:08 am
Becca finally woke up from her shocking encounter with the Prankster. She found that she was upright, suspended by her arms in a tent, her feet just off the ground. Her wrists were locked in thick futuristic-looking handcuffs straddling a large metal hook at the end of a chain that reached up to a supporting pole of the tent. Her ankles were tied by ordinary white rope. Becca tried to shout but a thick white cloth gag stifled her cries. The captured superheroine tried to use her super strength to break the handcuffs holding her prisoner, but to no avail. At that moment Becca heard the high-pitched voice of the Prankster beside her. "Go ahead, Banner, try to escape. Those handcuffs have special bioelectronics which neutralize your superpowers. I know all about you, and I can't let you interfere with my plans. You were quite right about the pie - it had special psychedelic drugs in it to make the Mayor behave erratically, furthering my efforts to spread disorder. I am a performance artist, and chaos is my medium (tm)!"
Becca struggled helplessly and glared at her captor. The Prankster continued. "Yes, I know that's a rather uncomfortable position to be in, Banner, but the good news is you won't be in it for long. The bad news is that the other side of this tent is a shooting gallery, and sadly they won't know that their quest for a toy prize will mean your demise!" Becca squirmed and mmmpphhed in protest. "Oh, I almost forgot the best part, my dear Banner. Do you know who is heading here to try his luck at target practice? The Mayor! Ironic, isn't it?" Becca's eyes shot daggers of defiance at her insufferable enemy. "Yes, Banner, I suppose you're right - irony is out these days. Oh well, I can't wait to see if the Mayor is still as good a shot as he was when he was police commissioner. Ta ta, my dear, doomed Banner!" the Prankster taunted as he left Banner hanging in her predicament.
Through a small gap in the flaps of the tent Becca could see the Mayor approach the shooting gallery stand. She continued her muffled cries in an effort to warn the Mayor, but could not muster enough noise through her tight gag to attract any attention.
Things looked bad for our heroine as she struggled futilely to free herself from her bonds. The handcuffs held her tight, and her wriggling was all in vain. It could only be a matter of moments before the Mayor would take aim - and then it would all be over.
Is this the end for Banner? Is the Mayor about to be the unwitting instrument of her doom? How will our heroine ever get out of this one? The answers lie in the next chapter....
2/29/00 9:41 pm
In our last episode, Banner's newest enemy, the Prankster, had captured the sexy superheroine and left her hanging by her wrists in one of his circus tents. Becca, moreover, lay in the line of fire of a carnival shooting gallery - and the Mayor, ignorant of Banner's plight, was about to shoot!
Becca twisted in her ties, but the Prankster's specially designed handcuffs had somehow completely neutralized her superpowers; try as she might, Becca could not break free. The Mayor could not see the lithe figure of Metro City's superheroine, dangling helplessly behind the tent flap. Becca tried to cry out, but her pleas for attention were silenced by the tight white cloth gag stuffed in her mouth. Powerless, unable to escape, and running out of time, Becca's mind raced trying to figure out what to do. "There must be a way out!" thought Becca as she desperately strained this way and that in hopeless efforts to escape her bonds. "There's always a way out for a superheroine, isn't there?"
Meanwhile, the Mayor picked up a rifle as the carnival barker announced, "Let's see if His Honor can win a prize. It's very easy, just hit the target at the back of the range! Should be easy for you, Mr Mayor!" The Mayor lifted the rifle to his shoulder, took aim, and...
....and at that moment a drunken carnival spectator accidentally stumbled and crashed into the shooting gallery area, tumbling against the Mayor's back. The Mayor was thrown forward as he squeezed off his shot, and his aim was displaced higher.
"Watch your step!" barked the Mayor, clearly rattled by the disruption. "The shooting gallery is dangerous. I might have accidentally hurt somebody!" he scolded the drunk.
But the Mayor couldn't see that his shot, sent high by the force of the jostling he received, ripped through the tent flap behind which Banner was trapped and struck the Prankster's bioelectronic handcuffs, shattering them and dropping the crime fighter safely to the ground. Our heroine was dazed but safe and free of the Prankster's trap! Becca quickly untied her legs and pulled the gag out of her mouth, but she still felt woozy from the effects of the Prankster's electronic handcuffs. "Now at least I know what Metro City and the country are up against! Better to get out of here, regroup, and plan my next step," she said to herself.
2/29/00 9:42 pm
The next day Becca felt fully recovered from her ordeal at the carnival. It was time to take the next step to thwart the evil Prankster. The first thing to do, she thought, was to find out as much as she could about this Prankster as she could. She used her computer to look into the Nonesuch Travelling Carnival for any information that might help her battle this nest of saboteurs. Once again, her state-of-the-art software enabled her to discover that the Nonesuch Carnival had been founded by Peter Legeste, heir to the Atlantico family fortune.
Atlantico was a huge trading company, with offices all over the world, and still managed by Peter's father Andre. It seems that Peter had proven unable to take over the reins of the company: he was too unstable, too frivolous, too irresponsible to be trusted with such a task. Peter, in fact, had never been able to hold down a real job, but had apparently decided that he wanted to join the circus. The family had indulged him, thinking that at least in the Nonesuch he could do no real harm.
"Well, it seems that Peter Legeste is involved in a lot more than his parents suspect!" Becca said to herself. "Perhaps if I alert his family to some of his nefarious activities, they might be willing to cut off the money that he must surely be using to advance his criminal schemes!"
But at that moment Becca's police band radio picked up a bulletin. The Metro City Armory was under attack! A talk with the Prankster's unwitting family dupes would have to wait: this was an emergency!
Becca transformed once again into the sleek attire of Banner, Metro City's defender. She mounted her Bannercycle and sped off at lightning speed to the City Armory. As she raced to her destination she passed police squad cars and even some detachments of the National Guard who were themselves advancing to help out the Armory's defenders. But the Bannercycle was faster than any of their vehicles, and it was Banner who got to her destination first.
2/29/00 9:45 pm
When she arrived, Becca saw the Armory's guards all knocked out by the terrorist attackers. As she approached the monumental columns and front door of the Armory, she saw the Prankster and several of his circus goons holding a large black case and laughing maniacally as they fled the building. Suddenly the Prankster saw his nemesis. "Banner!" he shouted. "How did you get here so quickly?"
"That's not important," replied Becca. "All you need to know is that you can't clown around with the law!"
"I am not a clown, I'm a comic performance artiste," Prankster insisted, "and chaos is my medium (tm)!"
"Save it for the judge!" retorted Becca. "Just what are you trying to steal?"
"Oh, nothing much, just the latest addition to my little collection of Insanely Powerful Weapons That Should Never Fall Into the Wrong Hands!"
"Your little hobby is going to end here!" Becca averred as she ran toward her adversary.
The Prankster stood his ground. "Oh, my dear Banner, I'd be less eager to tangle with me if I were you. Remember our last encounter?"
Becca bravely replied, "You tricked me then, and tricking me again won't be so easy."
"No tricks this time, Banner," snickered the Prankster as he pulled a dart gun from his suit and fired, the dart striking our heroine in the shoulder. "Just an old fashioned poison dart, and just enough to weaken you, my pretty! Get her, boys!" The Prankster's circus henchmen gathered around Becca as the paralyzing effects of the poison dart quickly incapacitated her. The superheroine tried to escape from the mob of enemies but found that the dart had robbed her of her powers! Once again she was defenseless before the villainy of the Prankster and his legion of goons! The Prankster egged his followers on. "Go on, people, you'll find I've cut her down to size!"
Becca fought desperately but was quickly overpowered by her assailants. Two henchmen pinned the superheroine's arms behind her back and pushed her, struggling helplessly, toward the Prankster. "Not so tough anymore, are we, Banner?" the villain cackled evilly. "You'll find that the toxins from the dart have taken away your powers for a few hours. Or, you might not, depending on how you handle my next practical joke!"
2/29/00 9:48 pm
Becca was caught in the thugs' iron grip. "You have the upper hand now, Prankster, but you'll lose in the end!"
"I'd worry more about your own future than mine, Banner!" the villain sneered.
"Why? What do you intend to do with me?" asked Becca apprehensively.
"Well, let's see," mused her enemy, putting an index finger to his lips and looking up to the sky, "I was thinking maybe a nice dinner, a movie perhaps...not! I think I'd rather have my friends tie you up and place you in dire peril! Boys, go to it!"
The circus henchmen brought out some rope and tightly tied Becca's hands behind her back, then wrapped more cords around her upper arms to further immobilize their helpless captive. The thugs then tied Banner's legs above the knees and at her ankles. All the while The Prankster watched with a cruel smile as Becca was securely bound hand and foot. "You'll regret your life of crime!" Becca promised.
"You're the one who should regret her career choice!"
"From what I have found out about you, Peter Legeste, you have little right to criticize other people's occupations," challenged the captured superheroine.
"So, you have found out one of my secrets. No matter, it won't help you where you're going, my dear doomed detractor!"
"Alliteration is the refuge of the witless," she announced bravely, struggling in her bonds.
"And deducting style points from my banter is a poor substitute for stopping my chaos from spreading!" sneered the Prankster in his high pitched voice. "You can't stop me! This black case contains the most advanced nanite technology made.
Nanites are tiny machines made with microscopic gears. I can program millions of tiny robots the size of houseflies to chew on telephone lines, to eat fiber optic cable, to bring down power lines, or anything else my depraved imagination can dream up! Imagine fighting a saboteur you can't see, or stopping flies impervious to insecticide. With this technology I'll soon be able to bring the communication network of the entire USA crashing to the ground. What chaos I'll wreak! How beautiful it will all look! No one can stop me now! I'm a master of conceptual art!"
"You're no Rembrandt; you're a common crook with a college degree!"
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but Banner really gets in my way! Now, boys, quickly, let's take our prize and our super hostage and get out of here before the whole US Army shows up!" Becca was powerless to thwart her foes as two of the Pranksters thugs picked her up, one by the arms, one by the legs, and carried the squirming superheroine off to their waiting van.
2/29/00 9:51 pm
The villains' van arrived at the Metro City headquarters of the Atlantico Corporation, a high rise office in the center of town.
The Prankster and his evil team of circus performers drove to an underground parking lot and parked in the special executive lot.
smi The Prankster turned to our embattled heroine and said "You need to be quiet for a while!" and taped Becca's mouth shut with thick black masking tape. "OK gang, let's get her up to the roof!"
The motley assortment of circus performers untied Becca's legs while the worst possibilities raced through her mind. Was she to be thrown off the top of the skyscaper?
The small mob and their captive got out of the van and moved to an elevator. "Ah, the special top executive elevator," mused the Prankster. "I think I'll say hi to Uncle Paul on the way up!"
The elevator took them from the underground parking lot straight up to the 60th floor, at which point the elevator doors opened onto a carpeted corporate suite. A man in a business suit stood in the middle of the suite, poring over a financial report.
"Unca Paul, howzit going!" said the Prankster breezily.
The man didn't look up from his report, simply muttering absentmindedly, "Is that you Peter? Everything going all right?"
"Swimmingly, you might say," the Prankster replied jauntily as he, his henchmen, and our powerless heroine walked briskly to a side door leading to a stairwell.
"This may be my only chance at escape!" thought Becca. She screamed into her gag, but all she could produce was a plaintiff mmmpphhff.
"Say something, Peter?" asked Uncle Paul, still obsessively perusing his report.
"Nope, I'm just going to get some fresh air on the roof!" the Prankster announced as his goons pushed the struggling superheroine through the fire door.
"OK, just turn the lights off if you're the last out," mumbled Uncle Paul.
The Prankster and his circus henchmen forced Becca up three flights of stairs to the roof. On the roof Becca could see up close an advertising gimmick that had crowned the Atlantico building for years: a huge mockup of a coffee pot and a coffee cup. Every night at nine o'clock the coffee pot would tip and pour coffee into the cup while a sign lit up reading "Atlantico Coffee: To Make Sure You Miss Your Bedtime."
2/29/00 9:54 pm
The thugs dragged the bound and gagged Becca up to the rim of the giant coffee cup. The Prankster approached his prisoner and ripped the tape from Becca's lips. "How's this for a great practical joke, Banner dear: we toss you into this coffee cup from which you can't get out. We've substituted sulfuric acid for the usual coffee in the pot tonight. At 9 PM the pot will tip and the acid will dissolve Metro City's peskiest crime fighter. Well, whadya think?"
"I think you're despicable," retorted Becca.
"Ouch, that hurts."
"You'll never win, Prankster. I have truth and the law on my side."
"Well, let's see: I have an invincible weapon, unlimited financial resources, an army of fanatical followers, and a cast-iron stomach on my side! I don't exactly feel outgunned here, Banner. Boys, toss her in the teacup! Farewell, Banner, I can't say it's been a pleasure, but destroying you will bring a great deal of satisfaction. To adapt another coffee company's slogan: the best part of nine o'clock is Banner in my cup!" Prankster laughed his nasal, hyena-like laugh as his goons tossed the bound heroine into the giant coffee cup.
Banner twisted in her bonds, but the effects of the dart used to subdue her still depleted her powers.
From deep inside the giant coffee cup she saw her captors disappear behind the rim. Becca flexed her toned arms and luscious legs in more useless efforts at loosening her bonds. From her vantage point she could see the time on another skyscraper's clock: 8:56 PM! "I've got to get out of here!" the imperilled superheroine said to herself. But there seemed to be no means of escape from her peril. Becca continued to twist her bound wrists and pull on the ropes binding her ankles, but her ties only got tighter. Her predicament was hopeless!
Was this curtains for our brave Banner? Would Prankster use the stolen nanite technology to throw the country into chaos? Would the world have to put up with his crummy slogans forever? Or could Banner escape from one of her most dire perils yet?
3/9/00 10:48 pm
When we last left Banner, she had been abandoned by the Prankster's evil circus henchmen tied up and powerless in a giant cup that was part of the Atlantico Corporation's rooftop advertising. A poison dart had deprived her of her superpowers. The dart's toxins might wear off in time, but in a matter of minutes the other part of the advertisement, a giant coffeepot, was scheduled to pour acid into the cup, and dissolve our intrepid crime fighter!
Becca fought her bonds with all her diminished strength, but escape was impossible without her powers. She thrashed furiously but ineffectively in her ties, caught in the giant teacup. "It can't end this way!" thought Becca. "Of all the dangers I have faced, I can't be beaten by a circus clown and this absurd trap!" Meanwhile, the clock on the nearby skyscraper read 8.59 PM.
Becca had less than a minute left! "Got to get away!" thought Becca as she continued to writhe helplessly in her tight bonds.
The giant coffeepot started to tip! The superheroine pressed herself as far as she could against the side of the giant cup, hoping to avoid the first drops of deadly acid. This was too horrible to contemplate!
Suddenly, and miraculously, the lights to the giant Atlantico advertisement went dark, and the deadly coffeepot stopped tipping just as the first few drops of acid started to drop. Becca had no idea what brought her such timely luck, but, thinking quickly, held her bound wrists out to let the acid dissolve the ropes which pinned her arms behind her back. Soon the ropes had burned through, and Becca quickly untied herself, then managed to scramble out of the giant coffee cup.
The sexy superheroine, still weak from the dart, tried to compose herself. Just then, the Prankster and his gang rushed back onto the roof. The Prankster still held his loot from the Armory, the black case of nanite technology.
"Oh, no!" thought Becca, "I'm still weak from the poison dart! I'll have to bluff my way through this!" She mustered her courage and struck a defiant pose.
3/9/00 10:49 pm
The villain had not noticed our heroine yet, for he was speaking to his mob. "How was I to know that light switch ran all the roof lights? Do I look like an electrician? No! I'm a comic performance artiste, and chaos is my medium (tm)!
Here, I just want to see if the coffeepot is still tip..." He then caught sight of a freed, extremely annoyed superheroine confronting him. "Banner! But...but...how did you escape my perfect trap?"
"Your dart didn't last as long as you thought, Prankster!" the brave crimefighter replied as she advanced boldly trying to bluff the villains. "Now I'm going to take you in!"
The circus goons beat a hasty retreat, fleeing back down the stairs. "Hey, wait, come back here!" the Prankster called in a high, nervous voice to his cowardly thugs.
"Now it's just you and me, Prankster," growled Becca, pushing her right fist into her left palm in a menacing display of her displeasure at the villain. "I bet you're out of darts, too."
The villain broke down and panicked, throwing the black case off to the side and running toward the stairs. "Choose between getting me or the case, Banner!" he shouted as he fled down the stairs.
Becca gladly chose the latter, walked over and picked up the case. In her weakened state she'd have been no match for the villains. Instead she saved the day. But the terrorist Prankster was still at large.
3/9/00 10:51 pm
By the time Becca returned the case of top secret nanite technology back to the Armory, she had recovered from the poison dart the Prankster had used to subdue her. Although she had saved the country from a devastating electronic attack, she was no closer to shutting down his wanton acts of terrorism and sabotage for good. The police raided the circus but by the time they had procured the necessary search warrants, the circus thugs had removed whatever incriminating evidence which might have been there. The police had no choice but to let the carnival performers go free.
Becca planned her next moves with Inspector Drake of the Metro City Police. "So the Police Department is staking out the Nonesuch Carnival?" she asked.
"Yes we are, Banner, but this Prankster and the accomplices you described haven't been seen there since you reported your troubles to us. Who knows where he is hiding out now, and who knows if the carnival performers left are in league with him or not. Meanwhile keeping tabs on a carnival the size of the Nonesuch is a drain on police resources. We can't patrol everywhere, and we can't defend every possible terrorist target in the city!"
Becca replied thoughtfully, "You may not have to, Inspector. The Prankster and his circus minions seem to be aiming for more spectacular crimes than before. If they're going after the Armory and top secret technology at high security installations, they're no longer satisfied with small-scale hacking into the Net or random bombings. Maybe we can guess what they'll try next. Can you think of anything obvious, Inspector? Are there any public figures in town? Something high profile?"
The Inspector replied, "No, nothing like that...no, wait a second. I recall that there's a shipment of dangerous chemicals by special train tomorrow! Banner, we have to make sure nothing happens to that train as it moves through the Metro City area!"
"Can't we delay such a dangerous shipment until we've brought the Prankster in?"
"I'm afraid not, Banner," replied the Inspector. "The chemicals are needed in the refinery in Mountainview right now. This just has to go through or a lot of industry in the region will grind to a halt. But we'll be on guard."
"Leave it to me, Inspector - I think it's time to make use of those flying lessons I took a few months ago -- I'll be watching that train from a helicopter, if your department is willing to lend me one!"
"Anything for you, Banner," said Inspector Drake, inwardly thinking of all the grief the pencil pushers would give him when they found out the Police Department had lent a helicopter to someone not under their umbrella insurance policy. "The things I go through," thought Drake.
3/9/00 10:54 pm
The next day the high security train rolled toward the Metro City limits. Banner piloted a helicopter overhead, looking for any sign of trouble.
Yet all was quiet; the Prankster had failed to turn up. Becca followed above the train as it wended its way past the farmland near Metro City, then passed into the rugged hills on the way to Mountainview. "Could I have misjudged the Prankster?" Becca thought.
Events soon showed her instincts to be the right ones, for as the train rounded a bend in the hills and headed into a small valley, several SUVs appeared alongside the rail track, just ahead of the train. As the train caught up to the SUVs, several figures jumped onto the boxcars. The Prankster and his goons were on the attack!
The sexy superheroine swooped down in her chopper to close in on the unfolding scene, as one of the Prankster's minions - the lion tamer -- clambered up to the top of one of the cars. The man held a very odd looking weapon, shaped vaguely like a bulky shotgun. He immediately took notice of Becca helicopter flying above her, aimed the weapon at the chopper, and fired!
Becca tried to dodge the lion tamer's assault, but was shocked when she saw what the gun fired - not bullets, but strands of gooey, stringy material that looked like cotton candy. A few strands hit the helicopter rotors, gumming up the blades and machinery. Becca's helicopter rapidly began to lose altitude and spin out of control! Becca held onto the controls and righted the craft, but the lion tamer fired more strands of sticky cotton candy at the helicopter. Once again the circus performer proved exasperatingly accurate, and the chopper lurched in the other direction and shuddered as it lost aerodynamic stability.
Becca desperately tried to regain control as the helicopter veered back and forth and the lion tamer continued firing at her. It was no use; our heroine was going to crash!
3/9/00 10:57 pm
Becca used her super strength, and natural agility to leap from the chopper as it went into a nosedive. She landed adroitly on the roof of one of the speeding train's boxcars. "Lion tamers, acrobats, bearded ladies - the last few days have cured me of ever wanting to run away to the circus!" Becca wrily observed.
Meanwhile the helicopter sank to the ground and exploded in a ball of fire, forcing two of the Prankster's SUVs to veer away from their pursuit of the train. The crime fighter straightened herself, only to find the lion tamer, on the roof of the next car, turning his aim onto our beleaguered heroine. But thanks to her super speed, Becca was able to dodge the weird cotton candy projectiles and close the distance to the lion tamer.
Becca had made it to the gap between her boxcar and the lion tamer's. The superheroine jumped between the cars, grabbing hold of the steel ladder that extended down the side of the boxcar. Using her super strength, Becca managed to pull a steel bar, one rung of the ladder free. She then flipped herself back up to the roof, and threw the steel bar at the lion tamer's weapon, knocking it out of his hands and over the side of the thundering train. The lion tamer, realizing that he was now unarmed and about to be pulverized by Metro City's sexy superheroine, fled down the ladder at the other end of the box car. Becca ran over to that side of the boxcar in pursuit. She looked down at the landing at the bottom of the car, and saw the panic-stricken lion tamer looking up at her. "It's going to take you a very long time to repay the cost of a helicopter from jail!" Becca threatened.
"Aaaarghhh!" was all that came out of the lion tamer as he saw Banner peering at him from above. He flung himself off the speeding train, onto the grass beside the tracks, preferring the risk of broken bones to Banner's wrath.
Ow, that's got to hurt, thought Becca as she saw the lion tamer hit the ground. But the superheroine couldn't attend to him - she had to stop the other villains on this train. She quickly climbed down the steel ladder and, finding the door to it padlocked, broke open the lock and entered the boxcar. Inside she found the engineer, guards, and other crew of the train. "Thank goodness you're hear, Banner!" exclaimed the engineer. "There are circus people on the train engaged in some elaborate prank. They locked us all in here - but they don't know how dangerous our cargo is! There are dangerous chemical tanks toward the front of the train! You've got to tell them to stop!"
"This isn't a harmless prank," Becca replied, "it is terrorism, and they are all too aware of what you're carrying. But don't worry, I'll stop them!"
3/9/00 11:00 pm
Becca burst the locks on door at the other end of the boxcar, and rushed forward toward the train locomotive. After crossing two cars she opened a door that would take her to the next landings between cars, when she suddenly found herself no more than a few feet away from the Prankster and two of his henchmen! The Prankster was busily turning the large handle that would decouple the front and rear of the train. The two minions, each armed with the weird oversized weapons that the lion tamer had used to shoot down Banner's helicopter, aimed at the sexy superheroine and began to fire. Becca dodged behind the door to avoid a barrage of sticky cotton candy strands. "I can't let the Prankster leave me behind on the rear part of the train while he gets away with the chemicals!" thought Becca. She quickly ran back to the other end of the boxcar, stepped onto the landing outside, then with grace and power jumped up onto the roof of the boxcar. Becca then sprinted forward and looked down to see the Prankster cackling maniacally, having just decoupled the rear of the train. "We're leaving Banner behind, people! Now let's see how much carnage we can create when this train slams into Mountainview!" he yelled to his goons in his high pitched voice. "The mayhem is the message! (tm)"
The boxcars separated, but Becca jumped across the gap and onto the roof of the Prankster's boxcar, leaping over the heads of the dumbfounded villains. "Don't just stand there gape-mouthed, get her!" the Prankster barked. "She'll ruin everything!" The minions, both circus strongmen, lumbered through the door into the boxcar as quickly as they could to catch up to Becca.
They ran toward the door on the forward side of the car, but were slammed into each other when on the other side Becca used her super strength to kick down the door. The strongmen tried to pick up their weapons, but Becca kicked them away and began battling the goons hand to hand. By this time the Prankster had caught up and began exhorting the strongmen, "Get her! You're both bigger than she is - go on, you can do it!"
3/9/00 11:03 pm
Unfortunately for the goons, they were far unequal to the task of subduing the sexy superheroine. Becca's kick knocked out one of the strongmen. She used a jujitsu throw to hurtle the other into the side of the boxcar and incapacitate him. The Prankster was appalled to see Banner make mincemeat of his two strongest minions in a matter of seconds. "N...now, then, don't hurt me, I have rights!" he snivelled as he backed away from Becca.
"You'll get better treatment from me than you deserve, Prankster." Becca made the sort of face you make when you see your sink backed up. "You are just pathetic when you get right down to it: you are just too miserable and wormlike to beat up, even if I hadn't pledged to uphold the law! I'm just going to take you into the police depart...unnghhh!"
Suddenly Becca felt the force of several thick strands of cotton candy as they hit her across her back, then wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her side. Becca turned around to see three more circus performers pointing more of the Prankster's cotton candy guns. A barrage hit our heroine at the waist, the weighty gluey strands wrapping around her body and further trapping her arms. More strands fired at her legs wrapped around her thighs, calves and ankles, and the force of the assault made Becca fall to the floor. In a matter of seconds the tables had been turned, and Metro City's brave crime fighter was now immobilized in sticky cotton candy.
The Prankster strolled over to the fallen superheroine as she struggled in vain to free herself from the sticky candy strands. "Oh, you won't be getting out of that," the evildoer snickered. "It's not really spun candy, of course, but a special polymer invented by Atlantico's chemicals division. You will not escape, my dear," the Prankster added and laughed maniacally.
"That laugh...is really starting to irritate me," Becca said to her adversary as she continued to fight the strands holding her.
"And your propensity for escaping my traps is an ongoing annoyance to me, Banner!" retorted the Prankster. "But no matter, for your luck has run out this time. We're going to leave you here on this train as it hurtles toward Mountainview. When the train derails and crashes the chemicals will devastate the whole area!" The Prankster pulled a walkie-talkie out of his suit pocket and summoned more accomplices in SUVs to drive up alongside the train and allow him to make his getaway.
3/9/00 11:07 pm
Becca stopped her futile struggles for a moment to ask her enemy a question. "Prankster, maybe you can answer something that's puzzling me."
"Huh? What?"
"What's the point of being a 'criminal mastermind' if you have to go through life dressed in weird suits and floppy shoes like a circus clown?"
"I don't wear floppy shoes! And how many times do I have to tell you, I am not a clown, I'm a comic performance artiste. Chaos is my medium!(tm)"
Becca groaned at having to listen to the Prankster's ludicrous slogans.
"Why do you do it? Why do you engage in this terrorist activity? There must be a practical reason why anyone, even someone as sad and twisted as you, would go to such lengths and endanger so many lives!"
The Prankster glanced at his captive with a sly look. "No practical reason, Banner. I have money. I have no agenda, except that of becoming famous for my exploits. The mayhem is the message! (tm) That's an allusion to Marshall..."
"...McLuhan, I know," finished Becca. "You're both bonkers AND patronizing - what a combination! I'll guess you don't get out much on Friday nights."
Just then the Prankster's SUVs caught up to the speeding train. First the goons and then the Prankster managed to climb into the SUV to make their getaway. "You've insulted me for the last time, Banner. You're finished!" the villain yelled as the SUVs pulled away and left Becca to her fate.
Becca strained against the strands immobilizing her, but could not make any progress toward escape. The train continued to hurtle toward Mountainview. It could only be a matter of minutes before the runaway train derailed, spewing toxic chemicals over a vast area. Becca flexed her muscles but even her super strength could not break her bonds. It looked hopeless!
Was this to be the end? Would Becca escape the fiend's trap and save Mountainview? Or would she, too, perish at the hands of the Prankster? The answers lie ahead in our next episode....
3/17/00 12:16 am
In our last chapter, Banner had once again been subdued by the Prankster and his minions. The villains had trapped the valiant superheroine in the sticky, but unbreakable strands of a polymer that resembled cotton candy, then left her in a speeding train, full of toxic chemicals, hurtling toward certain derailment and disaster. Becca, in the sleek silk costume of Banner, struggled in vain to free herself. It was no use! The Prankster's gluey strands held her fast, and all her efforts were to no avail. "Plus it will be murder getting the glue cleaned off my outfit!" thought Becca. "That is, if I escape! But how?"
How indeed could our heroine get free? The boxcar she was trapped in was largely empty. In one corner lay one of the strange, bulky guns that the Prankster's circus allies had used to shoot the "cotton candy" strands used to immobilize her. Becca wiggled and shimmied her way over to the weapon, hoping that it would provide some idea of how to extricate herself. Becca was in luck, for thee was a small switch on the side of the gun labelled "Dissolve." Becca eagerly moved into a position from which she could flick the switch, even with her arms pinned to her side. Then she moved over and pulled the weapon's trigger. A fine mist shot out of the gun; where it touched the strands holding Becca prisoner, they dissolved cleanly and completely. Even the stickiness was removed. In a matter of seconds Becca was free!
But seconds were all the superheroine had to save the day. She rushed forward, broke down the door of the boxcar, and found herself standing before the first of the chemical container cars. The train continued at full throttle toward disaster. Becca using her super speed, climbed atop the first car containing chemicals, and ran over the tops of the cars toward the train engine. She quickly arrived at the head of the train, and rushed into the locomotive. There she saw that the dead man's switch had been propped closed so that the train would not stop.
A quick kick released the switch and the brakes engaged automatically. The train squealed to a dramatic stop just before a sharp curve that would have sent it on its side. Banner had prevented another calamity in the nick of time!
Soon the authorities had converged on the location of the halted train, and Becca allowed the National Guard to take command of the situation. The Metro City Police also arrived, and the Chief of Police walked up to Becca to thank her.
"I'm afraid I lost one of your department's helicopters, Chief," Becca said apologetically. "I hope Inspector Drake doesn't get the bill for it!"
"Banner, you've done such a service to the area that even the pencil pushers wouldn't have the nerve to begrudge Drake or me the loss of a helicopter if an entire town was saved."
"Thanks, Chief."
"No, it is once again we who should thank you, Banner."
Becca thought, "I've had enough being always on the defensive against the Prankster. I think it's time for ace reporter Becca Smith to pay a visit to the Legeste family at the Atlantico Company, to convince them that their heir Peter is a dangerous criminal. If I can get the Legestes involved I can take the offensive in this case for the first time!"
3/17/00 12:18 am
Becca put her plan into action the next day, arranging for an interview with the head of Atlantico operations in the Metro City region, Paul Legeste. Dressed in a provocative red suit as Banner's alter ego, the Metro City Herald's ace reporter Becca Smith, our heroine entered the tall Atlantico skyscraper, which roof was the scene of Banner's desperate battle to escape from the Prankster's acid trap. Becca was to see the Atlantico executive that a few days ago had been so absorbed reading financial reports that he failed to look up to see his nephew the Prankster and his minions dragging a defeated Banner to the roof. "If Paul Legeste is that unaware," Becca mused, "it's going to be a real task making him confront reality. Perhaps I'll have to go straight to Andre Legeste." But she had to try; this was the quickest way to shut down the Prankster's seemingly aimless acts of sabotage.
She took the elevator to the top floor, where a receptionist led her into a meeting room. Paul Legeste was already sitting down at a table in the room and briskly rose as Becca entered the room. The Atlantico executive was tall, thin, with salt and pepper hair and a pointy, vaguely unpleasant face. It soon turned out that Legeste was not one to waste time. There were few pleasantries exchanged before Becca described the criminal activities of Paul Legeste's nephew. But he would hear none of it.
"Miss Smith, Peter is a highly erratic, frivolous young man, one who is simply incapable of the organization required to engineer the crimes you describe."
Becca continued to try to convince him otherwise, but soon Legeste's limited reserves of patience were depleted, and the interview was over. Legeste showed Becca to the elevator bank, and disappeared into his office.
In the elevator on the way down to the ground floor, Becca felt the words of Paul Legeste nagging at her. Legeste was right: Peter a/k/a the Prankster, was obviously not single-minded enough to cause such mayhem throughout the country. Somebody had to be using him. But why?
Becca thought that as Banner she might return to Atlantico headquarters that night to see what she could find out about the family!
3/17/00 12:20 am
That midnight Becca donned the sexy stars-and-stripes outfit of Banner and arrived at the Atlantico building. Remembering the time the Prankster's minions had brought her there, Becca decided to go into the underground parking lot in order to gain access to the building without being seen. Bringing along a flashlight, she found the secret executive elevator and with her super strength forced the elevator doors open.
Becca got off at the top floor, found the offices empty and the lights off. She turned on her flashlight and began to looking for records that would solve the mystery of Peter Legeste, the Prankster. After much fruitless searching, Becca finally found files in Paul Legeste's office that told her everything she needed. There were secret telegrams to foreign embassies in Washington, records of payments made to the Atlantico Company, details of warehouses storing items such as weapons and explosive materials - it was clear that the Legeste family was involved in a major plot against the American government!
Becca had all the evidence she needed - after she explained what was going on to the authorities they could stop whatever dastardly plan they were hatching dead in its tracks. Becca put the files back in their proper place and prepared to leave. The Legestes wouldn't know what hit them.
The intrepid superheroine walked down the corridor to the elevator bank, elated that she had finally cracked this case. But suddenly, a metal gate swept down from an opening in the ceiling, barring her path to the elevators. Becca turned around to run to the stairs but was too late, for another metal gate blocked her retreat. Banner was trapped! Our brave heroine tried to bend the metal bars of the gate, and the thick steel rods were beginning to yield to her super strength, but then smoky gas started to pour out from the ceiling! Becca coughed as the choking vapors began to weaken her. Still she fought valiantly to bend the bars of her surprise prison. The gas swirled around her, numbing her, making her dizzy, until the sexy superheroine fell to the floor, knocked out.
3/17/00 12:22 am
..When she regained consciousness, Becca became aware that she was lying on a table, perhaps an operating table. She was in a large dark room, with a single light over her. She had been tied spreadeagled to metal posts at the corners of the table. While her bonds appeared to be made of the same unbreakable polymer that had been used against her on the train, the posts themselves looked like plain old stainless steel. "These are stupid villains," thought Becca. "Even if I can't break the straps around my wrists and ankles, I can still break those posts and then free myself!"
Becca began to flex her muscles in an effort to escape. The metal posts at the corners of the table began to weaken!
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," instructed the cold voice of Paul Legeste, as he and his nephew the Prankster emerged from the gloom to confront their captive.
"Why not?" Becca asked.
"Because if you break any of those posts you'll also break a circuit that will send ten thousand volts of electricity through you. Not even you can survive that, Banner!"
Not such stupid villains after all, thought Becca dejectedly. She turned her head to the pair of villains and bravely said, "I know all about your little schemes, Legeste. You can't hide behind your demented nephew any more."
"Well, then, if you know all these things, I suppose we are very fortunate that you won't be sharing that information with anyone, aren't we?" sniggered the Prankster.
"Just wait until I get free from your trap, Prankster! You're going away for a long time!"
"Ah, but there's the complication, my dear Banner," Prankster taunted. "You aren't going to go free. In fact, you're not going anywhere!"
"Why? What diabolical plans do you have for me?"
3/17/00 12:23 am
Paul Legeste answered, "Since you know a great deal about the security of the Metro City area, and because we have great plans for using Metro City as a staging area for our next phase, you will tell us everything you know."
Becca twisted in her bonds as she spat out her defiance. "I'll never tell you anything, you fiends! Even if you torture me, I will never give in to you!"
"Banner, Banner, who said anything about torture? Such an ugly idea! Please meet Mr Assan..." A burly man with dark hair and a thick mustache, dressed in army fatigues and a black beret, stepped forward. He nodded and smilled evilly as he saw Banner tied to the table.
Legeste went on. "Mr Assan is a captain in the secret police of a certain Mideast country that the US Air Force bombs from time to time. Naturally this causes some resentment, and Mr Assan's government approached me to see what could be done about it. Thus my nephew's sabotage efforts, which have provided cover for operatives to infiltrate this country. Soon we will be able to paralyze the entire workings of the US and my partners will be able to exact whatever terms they want to as compensation. But to complete the preparations, Mr Assan will use his expertise in truth serums to extract whatever information you have!"
"I can't believe that your brother Andre approves of this," asked Becca.
Paul Legeste started to laugh. "My older brother founded Atlantico years ago, but under me it has grown into a true multinational. We don't just import coffee anymore - we ship worldwide, we finance development projects, we even have an arms dealership to sell the weapons to blow up the dams that we profited in building!"
Legeste continued, "Andre wouldn't approve of this, you're right. He was a very upstanding citizen. But he's been dead for three years - I preserve the fiction of his leadership through a clever splicing of his taped interviews - it's just amazing what digital technology can do these days! And since everyone thinks Andre is still in charge, and since he's above reproach, I can advance my goals without any suspicion at all!"
"You seem to have it all figured out," said Becca sarcastically.
"Almost, my dear Banner," Legeste replied, "And Mr Assan will remove the remaining information I need in just a few minutes. Mr Assan, our guest is all yours."
The grim looking foreigner stepped toward the bound superheroine as Legeste and the Prankster receded into the darkness. As Assan opened a black medical bag, Becca heard a door shut. Our heroine recoiled in horror as Assan pulled out a syringe and some vials, and muttered in a thick accent, "This will not hurt a bit..."
Can Banner escape the clutches of the Legestes? Will she succumb to the interrogation of Mr Assan? Can she find a way out to prevent a catastrophe? The answer lies ahead...
3/19/00 6:10 pm
When we last left Banner, our heroine had been gassed and then tied to an operating table. Legeste had revealed that he was actually the mastermind behind the Prankster's sabotage and that he was in league with a hostile foreign government. One of his foreign contacts, a Mr Assan, had been left alone with the helpless Banner and prepared to interrogate her with a truth serum.
Becca was in a quandary. She could break the metal posts to which she was bound spreadeagled on the table, but if she did so she would set off a fatal electrical current through her. Banner's fiendish captors had found a way to neutralize her superpowers! And yet the brave superheroine couldn't just let Assan use his vile drugs on her! What a predicament!
As Assan prepared his syringes, Becca writhed in her bonds in a reflex of sheer revulsion. "I've got to think of a way out of this!" the sexy crime fighter said to herself.
Meanwhile, the burly, mustachioed Assan fitted a hypodermic needle onto a syringe and filled it with the clear truth serum. He stepped toward his helpless captive. "Now this is improvement over sodium penathol," he explained in a thick foreign accent. "You will be unabled to resist the effects, no matter what special powers you have."
"And then what will you do with me?" demanded Becca.
"After I extract what I need to know, you will be disposable." Assan leaned over the prone, lithe figure of Banner as he prepared to administer the injection.
3/19/00 6:12 pm
Becca had to stall for time. "Wait!" she exclaimed, "you don't have to do this!"
"I don't think you - how you say? - get it," Assan replied. "I enjoy my work... Although it will be the shame to dispose of a such beautiful woman when I am done." The greasy foreign agent leered with a lizard-like intensity at his bound captive, clad in Banner's tight halter top, hotpants and boots.
That's my opening, thought Becca. She had to try to trick the odious spy. "Perhaps we can work something out, Assan. We can cut a deal, then I'll join you. You don't need your truth serum. And I'll even help improve your English grammar."
"Do you think I am the son of the donkey to be fooled? I don't believe in you. You have always been champion of American imperialists."
Becca twisted seductively in her bonds. "Well, that's been because I've not seen a better offer. So perhaps we should negotiate?" Becca sweetly smiled at Assan while her stomach turned.
"No negotiations," said Assan sternly, but his face and his reluctance to administer the needle told Becca that he was far from adamant.
"Oh, come on, Assan," Becca cooed, "what harm could come of a little friendly discussion of the possibilities? You've even got me in a weak negotiating position." Becca tugged at her ties to emphasize her helplessness.
"What do you wish about, Banner? Is it monies? The power?"
"Both, Assan, and also a world where everyone knows proper use of definite and indefinite articles. And I can have it all if I join you and Legeste."
Becca's ridicule of her captor's command of English went far over the foreigner's head. Instead the mention of Legeste made him explode in anger. "Legeste is a fool!" thundered Assan. "He has no idea how majestic are my government's plans. We will bring this country low, and decadents like him will suffer, too!"
"Then when we win, and cast him off, I will take his money and help you rule!" said Becca, desperately hoping her acting was sufficient to deceive Assan. But the foreign agent was not yet convinced.
3/19/00 6:14 pm
"Why shall I listen to you?" asked Assan with a sly voice.
"Well, I've always been attracted to the exotic," Becca answered with false coyness, hoping the oily Assan would be vain enough to take the hint.
"Hmmm, perhaps we can work a thing out," Assan murmured as he put down the syringe. "So tell me, what do you know about the army bases near this city?"
"If we're going to be allies, we have to trust each other. You have me at a disadvantage, Assan. Why don't you untie me?"
The mustachioed spy was uncertain. "I don't know if that is wise, Miss Banner."
"Oh, believe me," purred Becca, "being friends with me is worth it. Come on, Assan, just untie me, please?" I think I'm going to throw up, she thought. Her only hope was that Assan would underestimate her powers and was vain enough to release her from her ties.
"Well, we should start our great alliance, the mother of all alliances, on the right terms, no?" said Assan as he reached over to untie Becca's wrists. "We should get best acquainted," he hinted.
Becca sat up then reached to her boots and untied the knots holding her legs to the table. Once free, Becca swung her legs over the side of the table and smiled at Assan. "That's better," the sexy superheroine said as she massaged her wrists.
"Now, we can start discussing security networks of the Metro City," Assan said. "I have my plans for paralyzing them - perhaps I could show them to you." The odious Assan sidled up next to the sleek superheroine, implying that he had more than terrorism on his mind.
3/19/00 6:17 pm
"Of course, Assan," said Becca as she got up from the table. "Oh, but just one thing you need to know about us American girls..."
Assan looked eagerly at the lithe figure of Banner. "Yes, Banner, what is that?"
"We're very fickle." With lightning speed Becca spun around and kicked Assan hard in the solar plexus, sending him flying across the room.
Becca heard the thud as her former captor slammed into a wall and landed on the floor. Becca walked over to him, found the light switch to the room, and flicked it on.
Assan, crumpled up in a heap at Banner's booted feet, winced at the sudden brightness and groaned in pain. "Nooo..." he mumbled as he became aware of Banner's presence over him.
"I know what you're thinking, Assan," joked Becca. "Women - can't live with them, can't live without them."
Assan muttered something about American tricks and feebly pulled a gun out of his holster. But Becca kicked the weapon out of his hand. The superheroine then dealt Assan one more blow and rendered him insensate. "Guess you'll have to find another date for Terrorist Prom Night," Becca quipped. Now to stop this conspiracy, she said to herself.
Becca smashed down the door to the interrogation room in which she had been held prisoner. Once she stepped into the corridor she realized she was still in the Atlantico building. Guards suddenly seemed to pour out of doorways, armed with guns. But the narrow corridor proved their undoing, since only one or two of them had a clear shot at Banner. Becca, with her super speed, grabbed the nearest guard by his shirt and threw him into the others, knocking them all down like ten pins. Some of the guards got up to fight the superheroine hand to hand but Becca quickly karate-chopped them into submission. Soon all the guards had been herded into a room with the door locked behind them.
3/19/00 6:19 pm
Becca noticed that one of the rooms from which the guards had emerged seemed to be full of TV screens. "It must be the central security room," thought Becca as she ran into it. This was the jackpot. Becca turned a few switches until one of the TV monitors showed Paul Legeste, the Prankster, and some more men in army fatigues talking in a conference room.
The crimefighter soon found a way to turn on a speaker that revealed what the conversation was about.
"So tomorrow my assistants will blow up Metro City Hall!" cackled the Prankster. "Excellent! Chaos is my medium (tm)!"
"Go easy on the lunatic stuff, will you, Peter?" pleaded an exasperated Paul Legeste.
"Why must we endure this clown, this son of a dog!" growled one of the foreign agents to Paul Legeste.
"Now see here, Colonel Omar, that "dog" happens to have been my brother!"
"And I am NOT a clown!" the Prankster chimed in. "I am..."
"...a performing artist! Yes, we know, you keep reminding us!" grunted Omar.
"A comic performance artiste(tm), please!" insisted the Prankster.
"To think the fate of two countries rests on this imbecile!" Omar snarled.
Becca watched the scene with amusement. "I'm glad to see I'm not the only one the Prankster annoys! Now let's see how he handles a practical joke for a change!" Becca said aloud. She flicked a switch and turned off all the lights in the conference room. Over the speakers she could hear the foreign agents yell in a spasm of distrust, while Legeste tried to calm them down. Becca saw the fatigue-suited foreigners enter the corridor swearing angrily while Legeste and the Prankster followed behind.
"That's the top floor corridor to the elevator bank!" Becca realized. She scrambled to find the switch that would slam down the metal gates that had been used to trap her. "Found it!" she shouted triumphantly, throwing the switch and trapping all the villains behind thick metal bars. More shouts from angry voices ensued.
"Get used to it!" Becca said to the screen. "That's what jail is going to look like!"
Becca contacted the police and the FBI, who quickly came to the Atlantico building to mop up. Becca went back to the interrogation room and found a file in Assan's bag detailing all of the foreign operatives planted in the US as part of the villains' master plan. The FBI agent phoned in the information to his colleagues in Washington; soon all the conspirators would be rounded up. Becca asked one of the FBI agents what would happen to the foreigners that the FBI caught. "Oh, I think we'll end up sending them back home."
"You mean you won't punish them here?" asked Becca.
"I think the penalty for failure back in their country will be far worse than anything we can dish out in the US. So it's fitting to send them back!"