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| Oooookay. I'm closing this Xanga down (i'll leave it up if I ever want
to come back to it, but right now, meh.... it's pretty much dead.)
Please go to "mostlydistrurbed" for xanga updates about me. Yeah that's right, I ramble like a crazy man there!
...least till i have time to revamp this one the way I want to make it more mainstream.
Ok, that about does it. Don't forget to update your subscriptions as well!
Thanks All!!!
-Rj
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| Chapter 34: Cha-cha-cha-changes...
Nerd Man stood on top of the Plymouth Building. His cape whipping in
the wind. It had been a while since he'd been up here, he forgot how
beautiful it was. He watched the air traffic of the city like insects
tending to a hive. The morning sun glistening off their hulls. Looking
down, he saw thousands and thousands of cars going about their daily
business.
He sighed. This was his city. He was it's protector. And he was... almost late for class.
Stepping off the building, Nerd Man plummeted to the ground below,
feeling the wind on his face, he smiled as he fell faster and faster.
At the last second before impact, he rocketed off side ways up 8th
street. Mr. Sechezt was going to have a cow if he was late one more
time. Of course, that did pop a funny image into his head.
--
Gigglester watched as Nerd Man streaked past her. "Well well, look
who's back." She said quietly as she finished putting on her glove. The
creaking and the popping of the leather as she clenched her fists
sounded really really cool. She walked to the edge of the roof and
looked down. She took a deep breath. If this new doohickey didn't work,
she was about to be very very sore.
She pulled, what appeared to be some sort of gun, from her belt. Aiming
the gun at another building, she pulled the trigger. It fired a small
dart/grapling hook with a cable attatched to it. Gigglester listened as
the dart sunk deep into the concrete of the target building. Pulling
another switch, the device began retracting the rope.
Gigglester felt her body be pulled from the roof top as she rocketed
toward the dart that refused to retract. Once she was close enough,
gigglester pulled the trigger again, and the dart instantly let go of
the building and retracted into her weapon. The momentum of the trip
threw Gigglester up past the edge of the building and she landed on the
other roof with the gracefulness of a professional athlete.
"That. was. totally. wicked." Gigglester said, smiling. This added a whole new dynamic to getting around the city.
The Princess landed behind her. "Well, did it work?" She asked.
"Yeah, worked fine. This should help me keep up with you."
"Good. That was the idea. "
Since their encounter with Teddy, the girls had both received an
assortment of new abilities. Where as the Princess used to just be a
genius, she now had the ability to fly and have energy fire from her
hands. She also seemed to have gained an inordinate amount of strength
and become somewhat invulnerable. The Gigglester, in addition to her
intelligence, invlunerability when laughing, and strength, had gained
far more strength from the incident. Which allowed her to pick up
things like dump trucks and hurl them at giant robots. She also seemed
invulnerable now even when she wasn't laughing. To cap things off, her
agility had been knocked off the scale. The only downside was that she
was unable to fly. So this new grappling hook thing was designed to
negate that.
Probably the weirdest ability they both received wasn't physical, but
mental. Neither one were no longer interested in destroying the city.
Though neither one had said that out loud to the other. They both
thought it was just a phase and that ol' hatred would come back. The
Princess often thought if there was something wrong with her, so she
fought it as long as she could. The Gigglester on the other hand hadn't
really questioned it as much.
"By the way, you'll never guess who I saw?" Gigglester said looking over the edge of the building.
"Who?"
"Ol' Blue boy."
"You sure?" The Princess said with a start. "Thought he had left for good. It's been weeks."
"Well if it wasn't him, it certainly seemed like it." Gigglester said
through a chuckle. Suddenly she threw her hands down and had a look of
annoyance "Ug...I need sugar."
"That was random." The Princess said, looking at her friend strangely. Then she realized who she was talking to "Then again...."
| | |
| Chapter 33: Sometimes it's just simple...
It had been weeks since Nerd Man donned the cape and mask. Gigglester
had been running around the city genuinely helping the people, and even
the Princess was getting in on the act. Randall couldn't figure out why
they had switched sides, but he didn't care.
It wasn't because he felt powerless or was injured, he just thought it
better to lay low. Since the destruction of the Invotek robot, the
city had been calling for Nerd Man to step forward and pay for that and
other small instances where things didn't go very smoothly. Seemed the
whole city had turned on him and wanted him to just go away. So Randall
gave them what they wanted, Nerd Man went away.
Randall crossed the street. He was on his way to the grocery store to
pickup tonight's dinner. He wished he could simply fly there, but the
sight of Nerd Man would have the cops down here in minutes.
He made his way past a news stand. "'GIGGLSTER' AND 'PRINCESS' SAVE
SCHOOL BUS" read one headline. "PRINCESS FOILS ROBBERY" was another.
"GIGGLESTER STOPS SUICIDE" read another one. Randall looked over the
newsstand, there had to be at least 10 papers with different headlines,
all showcasing those two. Randall smirked, they never wrote about Nerd
Man like that.
"Hey, Mac!" The newstand owner barked "You gonna buy somethin or what? This ain't no library."
Randall cocked an eyebrow and forked over the 50 cents for the evening
addition of the Post. The one that had the headline "GIGGLESTER STOPS
SUICIDE." Slipping the paper under his arm, he continued on his way.
He didn't take two steps before he heard the sound of a struggle coming
from the alley. Looking to his right, he saw the cause. A kid, not more than 8
years old, was getting hassled by 3 older boys, they had to be at least
15-18. The tallest one had blond hair shaved very short to his head and
wore a long black trench coat. Underneath, Randall could see black
cargo pants and black combat boots. The second one was about as tall as
the first, only his hair was pitch black and longer than shoulder
length. His low cut denim shorts looked like they were getting ready to
fall off his waist. And his yellow jersey seemed to be about three
sizes too big. The third boy wore his brown hair short, and also wore a
trench coat, only his was much more diritier than the first boy. He
also wore black pants and instead of boots, had blck sneakers.
"C'mon, ya little punk, where is it?" The tallest boy snarled. He grabbed the kid by the shirt and shook him.
"I don't know!" The kid said meekly.
"There a problem here?" Randall said stepping into the alley, using his most commanding Nerd Man voice.
"Back off, loser. This is a private matter." Said the black haired boy.
Randall feigned a smile "oh, but you're annoying my little friend here. And I think you should get lost instead."
Randall suddenly realized that if he let these guys go, they were just
going to hurt this kid even more when he wasn't around. He knew he was
going to have to figure something else out.
As if on cue, the black hair boy pulled a knife from his pants, and the
brown hair boy pulled a 9MM hand gun. Randall smiled and quietly
whispered a "thank you."
"Oh, so you're big men with guns and knives and beatin up on a little kid huh?" Randall said.
"Motha F*****! You wanna get yo' a** shot?" The boy in with the brown
hair said. Takin a step toward Randall. Randall didn't budge.
"I'm not worried, you're holding it sideways, you probably couldn't hit
the broad side of a battleship." Randall said, rolling up his newspaper
into a wand.
"oh yeah?" The boy said before firing off several shots. Randall was
right, the kid had no aim, as not one was going to hit him.
Unfortunately, the kid shot into the street, and the bullets were
heading in that direction.
With a blast of laser vision, Randall took care of the bullets at super
speed and then feigned getting shot. He hit the ground hard.
"Oh JESUS! What did you do??" Yelled the black haired kid. "That wasn't supposed to be loaded!"
"Holy! Darrel! What are you doing?!" The blonde haired kid said, still holding the little boy.
The little boy had become very silent, even more afraid than before.
"Foo though he was da sh**. Hmph. Who DA SH** NOW MOTHA F*****?!" The
shooter mocked. He walked over and kicked Randall hard in his side. And
immediately regretted it. "OW!" the boy yelled as he grabbed his foot.
"What's wrong with you?" The blond hair boy asked.
"Think i hit a stone or somethin'" the boy said, hopping on one foot. "Think i broke ma foot."
"Most likely." Randall said, getting up. All 4 boys stared at him, unable to move. The blond let go of the boy, who didn't move.
"N-not possible." The black haired boy said. "He shot you."
"Did he? looks to me like he missed." Randall said, looking over himself then cocking a smile.
"Fine, smart a**. I won't." The boy charged at Randall with the knife,
who easily dodged each stab attempt. Using his rolled up newspaper,
Randall smacked the kid in the head. The second it took for the thug to
realize what happened was all Randall needed as he
disarrmed the kid and slammed him into the wall, knocking him
unconcious.
Before the others could move, Randall crossed the distance to Darrel
and also slammed him into the brick wall. He fell without a word.
Randall turned his head to the final boy who was now running away. With
a burst of speed, Randall appeared in front of the runner who slammed
into him. The boy, now completely wide eyed, tried to run the other
direction, only to find Randall in his way again.
Before the kid could move, Randall grabbed him by the coat and lifted
him up. "You're going to leave that kid alone from here on. You're
going to leave EVERY kid alone. So help me if I ever find you again
harassing or doing ANYTHING, I'll put you THROUGH the brick wall. We
clear?" he said in his most menacing tone.
The boy simply nodded his head, to afraid to talk. Randall threw him
back into the wall, and the kid fell to the ground, but was not
unconcious.
"You ok?" Randall asked the little boy. "What's your name?"
"Y-yes. And I'm Randy" The boy replied, getting up.
Randall smiled "Cool, that's my name too. You sure you're ok, Randy?"
"You're him aren't you?" Randy asked, stopping Randall cold.
"Pardon?" Randall asked him, cocking his head to the side.
"You're Nerd Man aren't you?"
Randall looked at the blond haired kid, still gawking at him, then down to the boy. "What makes you say that?"
"Because no one moves that fast." Randy said.
Randall let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm him. Or I was, anyway."
"Why aren't you in costume?" Randy asked
"City doesn't really want Nerd Man around right now. He went and messed up a bit." Randall said.
"So you gave up?" Randy asked.
"It's not that simple. It's just that-"
"You gave up" Randy finished the sentence.
Randall cracked a smile "No, I just work in secret now."
Randy looked at him puzzled. "Why? People say you're a phony, and are out only to help yourself. That's not true....is it?"
"What do you think?" Randall countered.
"I think they're stupid and wrong." Randy said with a bit of anger in his voice. "So, if they're lying, why are you hiding?"
"It's... just... sometimes, it's better to help people when they don't
know their being helped. This way, if things go badly, no one gets
angry." Randall said, wondering why he was explaining this to a 8 year
old.
"But if you're trying to help, isn't that enough?"
"Not always, I'm afraid. It's complicated." Randall said with a sigh.
"Doesn't look like it to me. Seems pretty simple." Randy said. And
you're Nerd Man! People depend on you." The boy began to have tears in
his eyes.
"No one depends on me, kid."
"But you can't just give up..." The boy said.
Randall stood there for a second, and blinked as realization hit. The
kid was right, he couldn't just give up. No matter if everyone hated
his guts, if the city wanted his head, if everyone was sick of him, he
was still needed. This is what he was supposed to do, and he shouldn't
be hiding cause he was worried of angering a few people. Randall stared
at the boy, wondering how such profound insight can come from such a
young mind.
"You're right." Randall said after a long pause. Randy's eyes suddenly
lit up and he smiled. "Sometimes things are just simple." | | |
| Chapter 32: Stupid Robot
Gigglester was staring after Nerd Man when Miss Hertz came running up to her.
"What are you DOING here?" She hissed.
"Hm? Oh, I wanted to see the robot." Gigglester said, hardly paying attention.
"Well you need to get OUT of here! Go!" Miss Hertz hissed louder.
"Why? I didn't do anything. If anything I helped." Gigglester said, now turning her attention to the teacher.
Before
either could say anything else, Dr. Rosbin came running up with a small
army of technicians behind him. Rosbin's hands were on his head like he
was witnessing his dog getting run over by a car. "Ohhhhh no! He
destroyed it! He said he wouldn't!"
"Uh, psycho Robot nearly took all you out. I'd think you'd want it to be destroyed." Gigglester said, cocking an eye brow.
"Well... yeah... maybe. But this just set us back YEARS in research and development!" Dr. Rosbin countered
"Doctor. Perhaps this is best? Now you can see what made Ivan go rogue." Miss Hertz suggested..
The
Doctor picked up what looked to be something very techincal looking.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to get much out of this thing. Looks like
his hand went right though it's 'black box.' Ew.... is this blood?"
Dr. Rosbin let out a heavy sigh, then suddenly noticed Gigglester standing there. "Uh.. who are you?"
"Uh... The Gigglester?" she said, smiling weakly. She also noticed Miss Hertz taking a subtle step away from her.
"You're not laughing." The Doctor countered.
"You're not funny." Gigglester rebuked.
"What are you doing here?" Dr. Rosbin continued his interogation.
"I uh... saw that the robot was acting kinda funny. So I thought I'd see if I could help?" She said
Dr. Rosbin looked at the robot, then back at her, and folded his arms. "Good Job." he said, both words dripping with sarcasm.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault! How did you allow it to get hacked anyway?" she countered.
Dr.
Rosbin's opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he
simply shrugged and turned back to the technicians who were now
starting to pick up pieces of Ivan.
--
"Stupid robot!"
Randall yelled, looking at his hands. The cuts on them had nearly
healed, but they were still there. Stupid robot.
He threw his
cape on the chair and sat down on his bed. What the heck was Gigglester
doing there? Since when is she helping and not trying to impale him
with some pointy object? WHY did she not listen when he told her to
keep everyone back? Was it so hard to just follow simple instructions?
Why was she alone?
Randall
took a deep breath, too many questions flooded his brain, and he had no
answers. He eyed the costume again and considered putting it back on
and finding her to ask her what exactly she was up to, but decided
against it. Invotek was probably going to be pretty peeved at Nerd Man
for destroying their toy, it'd be best if he wasn't seen around there
for a little while. He'd find her again, and then he would ask.
Randall
flipped on the TV, the 12 Noon news was just coming on. The robot
making top story. The anchor women stood there with the mic in her
hand, giving a recap of the events. Randall's interest piqued as the
camera pulled back a little to reveal Gigglester standing there, next
to the news woman.
"And if it weren't for her heroic efforts,"
she said, indicating Gigglester, "this disaster could've been much
worse than it was. What do you have to say, Gigglester?"
The
Gigglester looked into the camera and blushed a little. "Well, I'm just
like any other citizen. I'm glad I could help. The robot was tough, but
it was no match for The Gigglester!"
Randall's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead and flopped completely down on the bed.
Stupid robot.
| | |
| Chapter 31: ...Till You Have To Tangle With A Giant Robot.
Nerd Man landed next to Gigglester and crossed his arms. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"AHH!"
Gigglester said with a start. She didn't even notice him, she was so
focused on the robot. "Nothing! I'm not doing anything!"
"Right. And
you just happen to be here as soon as this thing goes nuts. Shut it
down. Now. And where's your partner?" he asked, looking around.
"I'm not controlling it! Honest! I came because..." she trailed off and didn't look at him.
"You came because...why?" Nerd Man asked.
"I... I thought I could help?" she said shyly.
Nerd
Man nearly fell over laughing. "Oh you gotta be kidding. You really
think I'm going to buy that? It is FAR to early in the eon for me to be
eating that kinda BS."
"It's not BS!" She said angrily. "I want to help."
"Why?"
"Cause... I do." She said.
Nerd Man looked at her, his eyes widened. "Well I'll be... you're serious aren't you? Why though?"
Before
she had a chance to answer, Ivan had decided to start attacking the
building. Gigglester lost her footing and plummeted down between the
framework of the building. Before Nerd Man could make a move to help
her though, she jumped, summersaulted, hand-springed to right herself.
Nerd Man eyed her... he didn't remember he being that agile.
Turning
his attention from her, he looked at the robot. Since he doubted she
would have the robot attack the place where she was sitting. He decided
to believe her, for now. Taking off he flew down to a hiding Dr.
Rosbin. "Is there anyway I can stop it without beating it to death?"
Dr.
Rosbin looked at him, "Y-yes! There's a central power core in his
chest. If you can get to that and pull it, he will be completely
disabled."
"Get to safety, I'll deal with this." Nerd Man said to the doctors, and flew off to deal with the renegade robot.
Nerd
Man wasn't expecting the robot to be as fast as it was. Before he had a
chance to land a punch, Ivan back handed him into the ground. He had
never been hit that hard. Nerd Man saw stars as he slammed into the
dirt.
"Ow." he said simply as he got up and took off again. And
again the robot moved faster than it let on. It grabbed Nerd Man in the
midsection and threw him through the unfinished building.
This
was getting tiresome. Now mildly ticked, Nerd Man rocketed again toward
the robot. This time he got through and gave a solid punch to it's
midsection. However the robot barely flinched. Nerd Man looked up at
it's head just as Ivan's left hand came down and slammed into him.
Before he knew what was going on, Nerd Man was face down in the ground,
again.
But Ivan wasn't finished. As Nerd Man began getting up,
Ivan brought his right foot down with amazing force on top of the
downed hero. Nerd Man felt one of his ribs crack.
Ivan moved
his foot away and began marching away from the site. Nerd Man slowly
got up. This robot was not going to get away. He launched into the air
and aimed for the back of the robot. Nerd Man was sure he was moving
fast enough, as he had poured on the speed, but Ivan was full of
surprises. He again proved how fast he was by grabbing Nerd Man in mid
flight. Then, Ivan slammed Nerd Man into his knee. Nerd Man fell
to the ground, limp. He could barely move.
As he lay on the
ground, a shadow appeared in front of the morning sun. Nerd Man only
had enough time to realize it was Ivan in mid jump before he landed on
Nerd Man with tremendous pressure. Ivan had landed so hard that a 200
foot crater had formed around the two.
But Nerd Man didn't know that, for he was now unconscious.
Ivan
began marching off again. A dump truck however flew into it's side. The
Gigglester had started her tirade. Ivan stumbled a bit from his impact
with the truck, but that was about all the effect it had. It didn't
even seem to care about Gigglester as it just marched past her.
This
made Gigglester obviously cock an eyebrow. What was she? Chopped liver?
She just chucked a blasted DUMP TRUCK from crying out loud!
Grabbing a crane, Gigglester threw that at the hulking robot.
Ivan
wasn't about to allow himself to hit again by a large object. He caught
the crane in mid air and let it drop to the ground. Now he noticed
Gigglester...who suddenly wished she'd thought out her battle plan just
a tad more.
In an instant Ivan was in range and was bringing his
fist down at Gigglester. But it never connected as a split second
before impact, Gigglester disappeared.
Nerd Man put Gigglester
down about 200 yards from Ivan. She was about to speak but Nerd Man cut
her off, "Keep everyone back." He said and launched himself at Ivan.
Nerd
Man put everything he had into the charge in. Ivan again backhanded
Nerd Man, but unlike last time, Nerd Man drilled through Ivan's hand
and delivered a tremendous blow to his midsection.
Ivan toppled
to the ground, but quickly got back up. It tried to grab at Nerd Man,
but he dodged and delivered a powerful uppercut to the robot's head.
The robot again fell to the ground, but this time Nerd Man didn't let
up, he delivered punch after punch into the robot. It was evident he
was no longer interested in saving this thing at all. He kept punching.
Pieces of Ivan's body flew off after each impact. Nerd Man didn't
notice though, he just kept hitting it.
Soon, blood could be
seen coming from Nerd Man's knuckles, but he kept punching. The Robot
no longer fought back, it simply layed there, motionless. The powercore
had apparently been destroyed.
Nerd Man didn't notice, he just kept punching.
Nerd
Man was still laying blow after blow into the lifeless robot when
Gigglester's shouts finally reached his ears. "I! THINK! YOU! GOT! HIM!"
Nerd
Man spun around to look at her, then at the robot. "What the heck was
all that about? I've been yelling at you for like 5 minutes." She said
Without a word, Nerd Man flew off.
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