I got some help with dialog from my friend Kate, Thanks, Kate!
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Bulletman and Bulletgirl Spring Comic Extravaganza
Published May 1942
1. Front Cover: Bulletman and Bulletgirl, soaring through the air, holding hands, with the HOLLYWOODLAND sign on a cliff behind them.
First page, full page Panel:
Bulletman logo across the top. Below the logo, to the left, Bulletgirl is zooming down from the sky to the rescue, while a costumed figure is about to press a plunger to detonate a half dozen sticks of dynamite, piled next to the unconscious figure of Bulletman, who is bound to a railroad track. The costumed figure is short and wide, wearing a yellow/brown tunic over chain mail armor and wearing a helmet that looks like a cartoon bomb - the bowling ball with a fuse kind of bomb. There is a mushroom cloud emblem on the chest of the tunic.
Text panel at the top of the page: "A mysterious saboteur is blowing up Hollywood movie production companies. Can even mighty Bulletman and Bulletgirl avert disaster as they meet the menacing mystery of Dr. Boom?"
There is an inset panel at the bottom, the same shape as the bomb/helmet, and in this panel, Jim Barr and Susan Kent are standing on a movie production set, complete with a camera and a director sitting in a director's chair.
There is a text balloon above this panel: "Jim Barr and Susan Kent have travelled to Hollywood, where Jim been hired as a technical consultant on the latest Public Pictures Studio serial thriller:
Mr. Fast vs. The Deadly Menace of Dr. Boom and the Minions of Devastation".
2.MondayThe Crash of the ShrikeA single engine monoplane fighter sporting a single bomb dangling beneath the fuselage climbed above Fort Echo Gulch, a small military proving grounds in a wide valley in the San Gabriel Mountains. The plane was struggling through a sluggish upward spiral in a fight to gain altitude, and several times, it seemed to go out of control, then suddenly, control would be regained. The turns and maneuvers gradually became crisper, though the plane still had problems climbing. Finally, it turned and dove, beginning a strafing run along a dirt road leading out of the base farther into the mountains. Two lines of small puffs of dust rose from the road, and then pellets began pinging off of several armored vehicles parked to the side of the road.
Then the plane slowly pulled out of its dive and released its single bomb, which flew unerringly towards a barn at the end of the road. Just before the bomb hit, a short, wide man, kneeling well away from the strafing, captured the plane in the site of his bazooka and fired. The rocket-propelled shell tore through the air, hit the fuselage of the plane just below the wing, and exploded violently. The wreckage tumbled through the air and crashed behind the barn, while the whistling bomb smashed into the structure's raised stone foundation, crumpled, and fell harmlessly to the ground.
A group of men clustered near the shooter, all but one in US military uniforms, cheered the explosion. A small woman with long, black hair, seated at a collapsible table on which stood what appeared to be a shortwave radio, stood and threaded her way through several large metal boxes, carefully avoiding the spiderweb of wires and cables connecting them to a portable generator. She reached the base of a strange apparatus, a hydraulic lift topped with what appeared to be a dismounted cockpit from a small airplane on a rotating platform. The lift descended and the woman shook hands with the much taller sandy-haired man who climbed out of the cockpit. The two were instantly engaged in a deep discussion of radio theory.
A few minutes later, the group gathered in a conference room to discuss the demonstration. The observers were a panel, evaluating for adoption by the War Department the three new technologies they had just seen demonstrated by their respective inventors.
A few minutes later, several MPs were removing the bazooka shooter, Werner Hauser, from the room as he screamed threats and curses, mostly in German. Hauser had been demonstrating his new explosive compound - which had effectively demolished the small plane. Police chemist Jim Barr, the only civilian on the panel, had asked about the stability of the compound, Hauser had admitted that it became unstable in temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and Major General George Veazey, the War Department's highest ranking officer on the West Coast, had ruled out providing ammunition to the military that might explode on a hot day.
Jim was sure he had seen Anne Cavanaugh, the short, very attractive middle-aged woman before, but couldn't remember when. After she spoke, he was sure he could never have met her before, though… nobody could possibly forget her squeaky voice or her heavy, almost incomprehensible South Sea accent. Her radio jamming device was deemed a modest success, but the range was short and the power limited - and the third hopeful had been able to overcome the jamming several times during the test flight. "We have these trials every few months, Miss Cavanaugh," Veazey told her politely. "I'd be delighted to see you again after you've addressed the issues we've discussed." Cavanaugh wasn't as loud or rude as Hauser had been, but it was clear she wasn't pleased.
Jim Albright was also middle-aged, a few inches over 6 feet, with thinning sandy red hair and apparently in exceptional physical condition. Veazey and the rest of the panel were very excited about his radio remote control system for airplanes, though they also noted some shortcomings. The apparatus was so heavy and bulky that the small plane had been barely able to fly, it was limited to line of sight control, and Albright had barely managed to maintain control through Cavanaugh's jamming. "Go back and work out the kinks, Jim. When you're ready, don't bother to wait for our next trial - please contact Mr. Elrich at the War Department in Washington immediately!" General Veazey encouraged him enthusiastically.
The military members of the panel went back to work, while a luxuriously appointed staff car returned Jim Barr, Jim Albright, and Anne Cavanaugh to Los Angeles.
Unexpected DiversionWhen Jim and Susan had arrived at the Bilmore Hotel in Los Angeles the previous evening after their flight from the East Coast, they had been surprised when they were greeted by Major General Veazey.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jim and Susan. President Roosevelt has asked me to express the sincere thanks of the US Government and the War Department to you for your service as Bulletman and Bulletgirl.” Neither bothered to deny their secret identities, as both had already realized that the top man in the West Coast War Department had more important things to do than to personally greet a pair of ordinary laboratory workers from a police department 3000 miles away.
“It's tough for those of us who remain at home when our friends, family and countrymen are battling the Axis overseas. But it's equally important to live our lives as normally as possible here on the home front for the duration. Your efforts to keep Americans safe on the home front help our men and women in uniform protect our freedom on other shores with their hearts and minds clear of worry about the safety of their loved ones.”
This was actually an uncomfortable subject with Jim and Susan, and other superheroes they knew, such as the Marvels, Ibis, and Mr. Scarlet. They had both often thought that they might be doing more good in the military. It was good to hear that the President and the War Department approved of their domestic activities.
“We both appreciate the thanks,” Jim responded gravely as Susan nodded her agreement. “Why don’t we get right down to business, so you can get back to the business of running the war?”
Veazey had told them that Public Pictures had postponed the start of the filming for a day at the request of the War Department, as Veazey wanted Jim to be part of a panel of experts as some civilian inventors demonstrated new technology potentially of interest to the War Department.
"I'm just a chemist," Jim protested. "I wouldn't be much use outside my field."
"Stuff and nonsense! The gravity helmet is one of the most brilliant and powerful technological innovations of our times!" the general scoffed. "Your insights will be extremely useful."
"Thanks for the invitation, General Veazey. I'm honored to be of service to my country," Jim replied humbly, realizing that it wasn't really an invitation. The postponement of the filming at the War Department's request showed that his participation was virtually mandatory.
"Miss Kent, my daughter Jill has offered to be your hostess and show you around Los Angeles tomorrow. I believe she mentioned a spa visit, shopping, and a silent movie festival. Or you could join Jim at Fort Echo Gulch?"
Susan held up her hands and looked back and forth between them. "On the one hand.." her left, "spa, shopping, movies. On the other hand…" her right, "stuffy meeting full of eggheads" "spa… eggheads… shopping… eggheads… festival… eggheads…" She turned back to Veazey. "It's a tough choice, General, but I'd be happy to meet your daughter and do up the town."
Dangerous Oversight"Sorry I'm late, Susan," Jim greeted his lab assistant in the lobby of the hotel. He hardly noticed that every person in the lobby was watching her, and he missed her scowl when he began telling her about some dangerous explosive that had been demonstrated today, and how he had mentally analyzed the formula, and he thought it should be possible to work out a way to produce a similar compound that was more stable and twice as powerful. The maitre de of the classy, expensive restaurant in the hotel seated them immediately, bypassing several couples who were waiting.
Jim switched to describing Jim Albright's radio remote control apparatus as they were led to their table. He didn't realize that the attention of virtually everyone in the room was fixed on his dinner companion. She was wearing a new casual outfit: navy blue, long sleeve fitted sailor top with white trim cut deeply in a V at the neck, over a modest white skirt, a matched set of earrings, necklace, and bracelet, black silk hose and pearly, open toed white heels that matched her jewelry, and carrying a navy blue beaded clutch. Her hair and nails were perfect, and her smile virtually glowed as she reveled in being the center of attention.
"Your table, Miss O'Hara," the maitre de seated her gracefully, then roughly pulled out Jim's chair. "Sir," he pointed, then dropped the menus on the table, and turned back to Susan. "Would you care to see the wine list, Miss O'Hara?"
Susan smiled at him demurely. "I'm really not Maureen O'Hara, but it is sweet of you to think so! Please, you choose the wine for us, a sweet red dinner wine, thank you." He bustled away. Jim had not noticed the interplay, and as soon as the maitre de left, he was back to talking about Albright and radio controlled airplanes.
He had to stop when the waiter appeared, placing a wine bucket on the table. After taking their orders, the waiter politely addressed Susan. "Miss O'Hara, several of the other diners have asked if you would mind posing for photos or signing autographs for them?"
Jim was startled, and he finally looked at his friend - and he was so stunned his mouth fell open! He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed, but she looked every inch a Hollywood star!
Again she smiled and replied graciously. "Please tell them I'm not Maureen O'Hara, and apologize that I won't be posing or signing autographs. But please thank them for being so sweet."
"As you say, ma'am." He opened the wine, and it was impossible not to notice as a dozen flashbulbs popped capturing Susan's smile as he poured, and then again when she sipped the wine and nodded approval.
"Please ask the other diners, no more pictures tonight," Susan requested politely.
As soon as the waiter left, with a disapproving sniff for Jim, words tumbled from his mouth. "Susan, you are absolutely, totally stunning tonight!"
"Just tonight, eh, you big ape? What about every other night," she huffed dangerously. "You just FINALLY noticed? It is ever so good to know that I rank so high as third in your range of interests. Just barely behind…" she made a V with the first two fingers on her left hand, pushed each one down into her fist with the pointer of the other hand as she counted his sins. "…some dangerous explosive, and an unreliable radio remote controller." Her tone was frost. "Don't worry - I'm keeping track of this stuff in a mental ledger, and there WILL be an accounting. But, if you spend the rest of the evening acting like you're interested in me, not some stupid inventions, it doesn't have to be tonight…"
Jim actually did know how to be gallant, sometimes he just got carried away with other things, and he was a little out of practice. "So, tell me about your day. Your new clothes look GREAT! And you are even more radiantly lovely tonight than you are every other day. Today's activities must have agreed with you."
"That's a good start, Buster Brown. Keep it up and I might promote you up a spot from the bottom of my own list." She smiled. "If you like this outfit, you ought to see the evening dress I bought for when you take me on a tour of the fanciest clubs in Los Angeles tomorrow with Jill Veazey and her boyfriend, actor Harry Bratsberg!"
He hadn't known before this very second about this expensive evening out she and Jill clearly had planned together, but he was wise enough to realize that right now was not a good time to protest.
"If you're more stunning tomorrow than you are tonight, why… hm… you might need your gravity helmet to escape the attention of every man in the city!" He stumbled and stuttered but he got it out.
"Why, thank you, Jim, how gallant of you." She paused, putting her story in order.
It's a Small World"So Jill Veazey showed up in a staff car, just like yours. We had a lazy mid-morning breakfast, and then we went to a silent film festival. It was so much fun, seeing all the famous beautiful actresses I envied so while growing up, and watching those handsome, romantic stars again. To me, there's nothing like a silent movie!" She sighed.
"My favorite of all was Anne Cavanaugh, and they showed two of her movies! She was so beautiful, and so graceful, and she was always laughing and smiling. Did you know she was discovered when she signed on as an extra in
White Shadows of the South Seas when they were filming in Tahiti? The director loved her and brought her back home with him, and she was an instant star in his very next movie.
Tabu: A South Sea Love Story! How exciting that must have been! I wonder what happened to her? After they started making talkies, she had a few bit roles, always as an extra, never speaking, and then she just disappeared."
Jim was startled when he heard Anne's name, but he had the sense not to interrupt until Susan paused. "So THAT's where I saw her before. No wonder I didn't remember her voice! She was in silent films!" He saw that she was waiting for him to say more, so he continued. "I met Anne Cavanaugh today, Susan! She was one of the inventors at the trial today!"
Of course, it was hard to believe such a grand coincidence, but since they'd gained their powers, seeming coincidences had become a big part of their lives, almost as if having powers somehow made them 'bizarreness magnets'. They shared Cavanaugh's description, and her strong Tahitian accent convinced them the woman Jim met must be the actress.
"She must have been going to college the whole time she was a star. She knew more radio theory than any professor or radio engineer I ever met."
Susan wasn't really thrilled that her date was talking so admiringly about another woman, so she soon steered the conversation back to her own adventures today, and they talked about what they might expect at the the studio tomorrow. Neither had ever been on a movie stage before. After dinner they danced for a while, and then headed back to their separate rooms well before midnight - they wanted to make a good impression at the movie company tomorrow!
3.TuesdayUnpleasant EncounterToday was the first day of filming for the next Public Pictures Saturday 12 episode serial,
Mr. Fast vs. The Deadly Menace of Dr. Boom and the Minions of Devastation. Before the filming began, they were introduced to the cast and crew, and given a tour of the studio. They hardly expected the reception they got when their guide showed them to the office of the Director of Special Effects, Werner Hauser. Before introductions could be made, Hauser was on his feet and shouting.
"Charlatan! Get out of my office! You cost me big government contract yesterday! I know compound unstable, und I know how to fix! Because of you, they wouldn't listen!" His English was slow and laborious and heavily accented; his rage was Teutonic. It was only a few seconds before another man entered the room, and Hauser calmed down slightly, but both Jim and Susan had been preparing to ward off an attack from the maddened man.
"Hauser, I've warned you before about your temper. Grab your hat and get out of here now - you're fired!"
A few minutes later, Jim had a feeling of deja view, as several hired security officers escorted Hauser from the studio as he screamed threats and curses, mostly in German.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Miss Kent," the Vice President of Public Relations apologized profusely. "Hauser has been warned several times before. He seems to have grown more angry and closer to violence as the war continues. Just last week, some of his subordinates expressed concern for their safety, and he has recently been seen at some Bund rallies. Frankly, we were just waiting for a good reason to fire his ass. Begging your pardon, Miss Kent?"
Susan nodded, amused. She didn't feel nearly as threatened by an angry screaming man as everyone around her (except Jim) expected she would, and she'd definitely heard worse language before. "Thanks for your concern, Mr. Lasalle. It has definitely been an exciting start to the day. But I think Jim and I are due on the set; we are here on business."
"Indeed, Miss Kent. May I call you Susan? By the way, Susan, has anyone ever told you that you look like Maureen O'Hara, but you have much better eyes! I'd be willing to bet the cameras would simply LOVE you! Have you ever thought about a career in Hollywood?" Lasalle squeezed her her hand, a little longer than she was comfortable with.
Susan answered politely, while Jim fumed. "I don't think I'd enjoy the constant attention, Mr. Lasalle. I'm very happy with my current life."
"Please take my card," he offered it. "I'm not in casting, but I've got pull with a lot of directors; helped several other beautiful young ladies get their first parts. I know a few people who'd love to meet you!"
She took the card. "Thanks for the offer. If I ever change my mind, I'll keep you in mind."
Lasalle kissed her hand, then went back into his office. As soon as he was out of sight, Susan tore his card in half and dropped it in the nearest waste basked, then followed Jim and their guide back to the set.
Take 1The first scenes to be filmed involved the origins of Mr. Fast, and would take place in his police laboratory where a lab accident gave him his super powers. Mr. Fast was already well known to the public from his long running, hugely popular radio series, the "
Mr. Fast / Suzie Whirlwind Adventure Hour". The movie scriptwriters had adapted his familiar origin story but added some exciting elements to make it more interesting to moviegoers.
Jim inspected the laboratory set closely. The set design was loosely based on his description of his own police laboratory back east, with areas set up for chemistry, electronics, ballistics, and instrumentation. Unlike his own lab, there were big, boldly printed labels on everything, labels that would be easily read by the audience in big screen theaters. Some of the labels were outrageously science fictionish: Universal Solvent (Danger), Elemental Transmutation Spectormeter, Crime Scene Automatic Television, Anti-Gravitic Ballistic Trajectory Analyzer, High Speed Digital Computer, Iota Ray Projector, etc. Most of these futuristic gadgets would play important roles later in the movie.
Susan sighed when the swarthy, handsome, but vaguely sinister lead actor Aaron Glynn walked on stage, surrounded by a fawning posse "Isn't he dashing! And so handsome."
"He'd be better cast as the villain," Jim growled. "He doesn't look at all like a hero to me! And just listen to him! He's been signed for this role for over a month, and had the script for a week, and he had all day yesterday if he hadn't read it earlier, but he hasn't looked at it until they called him for the first scene!" In a meeting a few minutes earlier, he'd tried to give Glynn some pointers on being convincing in the role of a shy police scientist who was somewhat of a bookworm, but the actor wasn't interested in advice from a commoner.
Glyyn was carrying a rolled up copy of the script, stabbing the air with it as if it were a dagger and yelling at everyone around him. "This script is garbage! It makes my character sound like an idiot. That bimbo Barri gets better lines than I do!" Flynn was playing the lead, the brilliant but frail police scientist Cary Crabgrass, who gets transformed into the dashing superhero Mr. Fast, while beautiful curvy brunette Lynnette Barri played his lab assistant, Cassie Sassafrass, who could barely stand Crabgrass but would quickly become Mr. Fast's love interest.
Jim stomped away into the studio canteen. Susan followed him, and tried to lighten his mood. "Isn't Hollywood exciting? I'm still thrilled about that silent movie festival yesterday. Anne Cavanaugh and Carole Lombardi were my favorites, and I had such a crush on Tim Mix. It was so good to see them again yesterday. And then, you actually got to MEET Anne Cavanaugh! I almost wish I'd gone with you. And I wish they would cast her in some talkies!"
"It would be too hard to understand her, unless she could lose the accent. Either she's not interested or she's tried and can't. It's too bad, to be famous like that and then fall into obscurity. But Lombardi was even more famous for her talking movies than she was in the silents. And Mix would still be a star if he hadn't passed away. So Cavanaugh seems to be in the minority of silent film actors who couldn't make the transition to the talkies. But she seems to have found herself niche - she knows more radio theory than any 10 professors!"
"But she didn't have much luck yesterday, you and that panel turned her down," Susan pointed out. Then she stopped and listened intently. Faintly, she could make out the screaming of a siren. Before she could comment, another joined in, and then a much louder one, closer.
"It sounds like we might be needed outside," she told her partner.
The two pushed out the rear door of the canteen, shedding clothing as they went, donned their gravity helmets, and the heroic figures of Bulletman and Bulletgirl launched into the air like human rockets. The spotted a police car tearing through the streets to the south, so they headed in that direction. And almost instantly saw that on the campus of nearby Columbus Pictures, a section of one of the buildings had been damaged by an explosion.
There was something in the air above the studio, swooping down toward the giant building that housed most of the stages and sets. Jim put on a burst of speed, but the flier was too far ahead, and it slammed into the building and exploded. Jim pulled out of his dive and was trying to climb away, but the blast wave of the explosion caught him and tossed him even higher into the air, his arms and legs flapping randomly, apparently having been knocked unconscious. Susan raced after him and caught him as he started to fall back to earth. He was just coming round.
"Sue, honey, that was a knockout," he said dreamily, then shook his head and snapped wide awake.
"I don't know what you were dreaming about, but it's a good thing it was me and not some other dame!" she quipped. "Can you fly? We have work to do!" He answered by flying away on his own power. Sue hovered and spun slowly in place, carefully scanning the skies around them. "I don't see any more of those flying bombs. Let's help the firemen!" Both exploded buildings were burning, and the streets around the block were filling with firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances.
The next hour was filled with incredibly hard work, firefighting, a lot of incredibly depressing digging through rubble, interspersed with some rare triumphs as a few survivors were discovered and rescued. Finally the civilian authorities had the scene under control, as much as any disaster scene could be said to be under control, and the sweaty, grimy heroes were able to tell their story to the police and the Civil Air Patrol.
"It was a small single wing airplane about the size of a person, with a propeller in the nose," Jim reported, for about the 12th time. "It was definitely under remote control; I watched it change directions before it finally smashed into the building and exploded. And no, there were no markings on it, no Rising Sun flags and no swastikas."
And finally, the two heroes had had enough. "Look, boys, there's no more we can tell you. We'll be around for a while, so maybe we'll run into you again. See ya!" Bulletgirl lifted into the air, followed by her partner. "I hope nobody missed us!" she joked with her partner as they headed back to the Public Pictures Studio lot. "Wouldn't do for Jim Barr to get fired!"...
"I think once filming is over for the day, Jim Barr is going to head over to police headquarters and see what their lab rats have found out. I wonder if there was anything left of that bomb to study?" Bulletman mused.
There hadn't been much going on while they had been 'out'. Everyone had gone outside to see what was happening, and one of the stagehands had been called by a friend from the rival studio, so everyone had at least heard rumors. It was a somber crew that the production crew eventually managed to gather on the set - everyone knew people who worked for Columbus Pictures, and the news so far had been sketchy at best. Only the producer, director, and Glynn seemed cheerful. Columbus serials were the biggest competitor to those produced here, and the serial currently in production at Columbus,
General Glory vs. the Atomic Mole Men from Mars, was widely expected to be the most thrilling action adventure picture every filmed. Without competition,
Mr. Fast vs. The Deadly Menace of Dr. Boom and the Minions of Devastation would be a blockbuster!
The director could see that there wouldn't be much life from his actors today, so he gave the team the rest of the day off. "But you better come ready for hard work tomorrow, 'cause we're gonna make up for missing a day." He turned to Glynnn. "You damn well better know your lines tomorrow, or you're fired!" Glynnn didn't reply, merely "harumphed", turned and stomped out. The rest of the crew filed out, their moods subdued.
Jim grabbed Susan by the hand. "C'mon, let's get down to police headquarters!"
She pulled away. "This trip is supposed to be a vacation for me, big boy. I'm off for a tour. Not likely you'll be decent for a big night out after spending the rest of the day in the lab; looks like I'm not getting to wear my new outfit tonight. I'll call Jill and beg for a rain check. Don't worry, though, you WILL make it up to me!"
The TourThis afternoon, Susan was taking the Studio Grand Tour; tomorrow she planned to take the tour of the palatial homes of the Hollywood's richest denizens. Even before the tour bus loaded, the guide, a very sexy starlet wannabe, was apologizing that today's tour would have to skip Columbus Pictures. There was a lot of buzz and gossip aboard the bus about it being a Japanese attack, and there were rumors that a flying man and woman had intervened. Most people still believed super powered heroes only existed in the funnies and the serials. There were some worried folks as well, but the tour guide pointed out that there were Civil Air Patrol planes already flying extra patrols, so there was nothing to worry about.
Susan had been a big movie buff growing up, and she'd thought it would be exciting seeing all the studios where her favorites had been filmed, but being Bulletgirl had quite altered her ideas of exciting. The older guy with a beer belly in the seat next to her not very successfully tried to slip his wedding ring into a pocket before she saw it, and his chatter was more of the same she heard practically every time she went anywhere by herself - and sometimes when she was with Jim, too. She wasn't paying much attention to the guide as they walked through the closed and now-empty lot of Paragon Pictures - and she noted a small plane, maybe half a mile away, headed for the studio! She ducked into an empty doorway, and Bulletgirl, still wearing Susan's dress, zoomed into the air!
The incoming plane looked exactly like the one she'd seen earlier. Mounted where the pilot would sit if this had been a manned airplane was a camera, and as soon as she zoomed into its field of vision, the tiny plane made a couple of turns to try and get past her to the studio. She was vastly more maneuverable, and much faster, and quickly, whoever was remotely controlling the plane just gave up and headed straight for the studio. If Bulletgirl tried to stay in front of it, eventually she'd get caught in the spinning propeller, or maybe it would blow up when it hit her. Neither option interested her very much. But she had to stop it somehow!
The camera was fixed; if she was behind it, the pilot couldn't see her. She got behind it, wrapped her arms around the fuselage, and spun in place as fast as she could, three times, then, when she was facing the waterfront, she let go, throwing the plane like a hammer thrower. She'd been worried that the pilot could explode the plane from afar, but apparently not; the plane tumbled across the sky and exploded when it hit the water a hundred yards from shore. There was a geyser of water, but all in all, it was a pretty harmless explosion. Bulletgirl changed into her costume and cruised the skies for a half hour after that, waving at some of the CAP planes, but didn't see any other guided buzz bombs, so she went off to the hotel, hoping Jim would be there to meet her.
Instead, he'd left a message for her at the desk, asking her to meet him at Police Headquarters and providing the address. She was miffed. She'd had to cancel the date with Jill and Harry Bratsberg and now she realized she wasn't going to even get a nice dinner out. The way Jim dressed when he was doing lab work they'd even get thrown out of a cheap diner!
At least he'd remembered to call her, and she thought maybe she might surprise him with some things she knew that he probably didn't know. She asked the hotel to prepare her a couple of sandwiches, overpaid for four bottles of beer from the hotel bar, then stopped at a newsstand where she dug through the racks and purchased the last copy of a 2 month old issue of
Terrific Two, the funnybook shared by Mr. Fast and Suzie Whirlwind. The cover was ripped and the pages had been thumbed through, which is probably why it was still there, and the nice young man running the stand gave it to her for half price.
The Lab
The cops showed her to the lab; she wasn't surprised that Jim was the only police scientist still working, or that he'd made himself at home in someone else's lab. It was much larger than their own lab, but not nearly as well equipped. Which wasn't surprising, as she and Jim (mostly Jim) had built a lot of their own scientific instrumentation. That had actually caused them problems in a case last year when defense attorneys had challenged results from a test by a scientific instrument nobody else had ever heard of yet, calling them 'hand waving voodoo magic'. They'd been forced to provide alternate proof, and eventually, the bad guy was convicted.
Jim was typing when she walked in, much faster than even the best secretary could achieve, and he didn't notice her until she slammed a brown bottle of Schpitz beer on the desk. "I paid half a buck for that beer - you had better drink it and at least pretend you enjoy it! Or else, buster!" she threatened in her sternest voice. "And then you better tell me what's more interesting to you than a date with the hottest flame in Hollywood!" That was the best line she'd heard from that guy on the bus and she really liked it. Too bad he'd been married, and older than her father to boot!
Jim casually popped the top off his beer bottle with his thumb, and she did likewise. He raised the bottle for a toast. "To the hottest flame in Hollywood!" They clinked bottles and took a drink, then Susan set a bag down on the desk. "I brought sandwiches too."
"Not hungry." Jim took another pull from the bottle and went back to typing. He talked as he typed. "The explosion in the flying bomb that caught me was much weaker than the first one, and we recovered some wreckage." His voice dropped to a mumble, barely heard above the clatter of the keys."
Susan began reciting facts. "Radio controlled, with a television camera and transmitter so the pilot knew where to go."
"some shattered vacuum tubes… mutter mutter…"
"Propeller driven by an electric motor and most of the body of the plane is a battery."
"half melted by battery acid… mumble mumble…"
"Contact detonator for the explosives. Explosive force about 3 sticks of dynamite."
"Uh huh… unexploded blasting cap… chitter chatter…"
"Fuselage is mostly aluminum, total weight about 170 pounds."
"Wait! Say WHAT?" He jerked his hands back from the keys as he sat bolt upright. "WHAT did you say? How do you know all that? I haven't even got that stuff down on paper yet!"
"I'm sorry, are you talking to me? It's about time you paid attention!" Susan was definitely miffed. She pointed to the bag of sandwiches. "I can't take you out anywhere tonight; you look like Hobo Willie. But I’m starved, and I want some decent conversation while I eat. And NOT about flying buzz bombs, or police lab work, or Bulletman and Bulletgirl. So are you gonna act like a gentleman or am I gonna have to go share a sandwich with that cute young cop at the front desk? I'll bet he knows how to treat the hottest flame in Holllywood right!"
"But Susan, how do you know so much about…"
She stood, gathered up 3 beer bottles and the sandwich bag. "I saw his badge on the way in, Zack Bannister, I think. I'll see you on the set tomorrow… unless Zack keeps me awake all night!"
"Aw, gee, Susan, I'm sorry. Don't leave, please, what can I do to make it up to you?" He at least
sounded sorry.
"Two things. You can apologize for all the times you went off adventuring as Bulletman and left me behind - and you can promise never to do it again!"
"I'm sorry, I promise, what kind of sandwiches do you have? I'm starved!" When she turned back, he sighed in relief.
"I know you mean it now, and I also know you'll forget in a week, big boy, but I'm half starved too." She laid out the sandwiches, and then took out the tattered issue of
Terrific Two #35. "What do you think about this?" She dropped the open funnybook in front of him. One full page panel showed a detailed breakaway drawing of the buzz bombs they'd encountered earlier, with labels.
"What is this?" Jim was stunned. "How did you find it?"
"I read the Suzie Whirlwind stories every month. She's known as 'the girl who does what she wants', and she's a lot like me. Anyway, when I was tangling with one of these buzz bombs this afternoon, I suddenly remembered seeing this panel a couple of months ago."
"You did WHAT? Susan, those things are dangerous!" Jim exclaimed sternly.
"Too dangerous for a girl, you mean? Piss off, Buster Brown! I've got all the same powers you have, and you'd better not forget it again! And you weren't there to help anyway." Jim raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, and she continued. "So some inventive genius here in Hollywood reads
Terrific Two comics, and decided to build copies of Dr. Boom's buzz bombs - and did a pretty good job of it, too!"
Jim had been about to suggest that the real bombs had been built by the writer or artist for
Terrific Two, but quickly thought better of it. He was realizing that he had better mind his p's and q's or his angry girlfriend might still go check on Zack Bannister!
They discussed the day's events at length and decided that whoever had sent the buzz bombs might not be done yet. Since Jim had to be present at the next day's filming, they decided that Bulletgirl should spend some time patrolling the skies above Hollywood tomorrow. A while later, they departed the police station, bid goodnight to Zack, who never knew he'd been a bone of contention, and strolled back to their hotel, arm in arm.
4.WednesdayTake 2Today was to be the filming of Episode 1, '
The Origin of Mr. Fast'.
In the comics, absent-minded bookwormish Police Scientist Cary Crabgrass was puttering in his police lab in Turquoise, New Mexico, early in the morning before everyone else started work, when his bouncy lab assistant Cassie Sassafrass stuck her head in. "Breakfast in the break room, right now! I stopped at the Desert Diner and got your favorite! " she announced brightly while suppressing a shudder. "Road Runner eggs omelet, smothered in Mexican jumping bean chilli!" (Her own choice was a New Mexico omelet.)
In his rush, Crabgrass forgot to shut down the Iota Ray Projector, and a beam of Iota Rays had passed through the wall and irradiated both Cary and his omelet. A couple of hours later, he'd discovered he had super speed powers, and after a few hours learning to sew, he'd put together a costume and made his first appearance as Mr. Fast!
The script writers had determined that his wouldn't be exciting enough for a serial. The scene started with Cary and Cassie eating breakfast in the break room. Suddenly, there was a loud 'thoom!" sound, and the room shook, and then again and again, each time the thooms becoming louder and the shaking more violent. Something crashed through the wall, and from the debris strode a figure, short and wide, the villain who would soon become Mr. Fast's nemesis, Dr. Boom. 5'6", body covered in gray chain mail, wearing an ugly grayish brown tunic. There was a mushroom cloud emblem on the chest of the tunic, and Dr. Boom wore a spherical black helmet, with a small black cylinder sticking out of the top, and sticking out of that was a sputtering fuse.
"Your forensic lab work put me in prison, Crabgrass, but I've escaped and returned for my revenge!" Dr. Boom announced, in a weirdly distorted voice so loud there must have been an amplifier in the helmet.
Cassie Sassafrass ran screaming from the room. "I don't want to die!"
Boom only laughed. "I don't care about that coward - I want you, Crabby. You're going to suffer before you die - not as much as I suffered in prison, but you're going to die in agony!"
Crabgrass ducked under the table. Boom laughed again, and pointed, and a weird, oscillating sound wailed, and about a second later, the table exploded. Meanwhile, Cassie poked through the hole in the wall, struggling to carry the Iota Ray Projector. She was barely able to aim and fire. There was another weird sound, and after about a second, Dr. Boom suddenly flew across the room and crashed into the wall above the table, then crashed down on the table, which collapsed. Cassie dropped the Iota Ray projector. Dr. Boom was suddenly thrust violently aside, and rising out of the cloud of dust and rubble was Cary Crabgrass.
Jim knew that special effects would be added to the film - a white Spiral of Boom, a kind of ray, would spring from Dr. Boom's hand, the spiral growing bigger until it reached the table, which would be outlined in white for an instant before it exploded, a pulsating red beam would spring from the Iota Ray Projector, reflecting from Dr. Boom's form and illuminating the cloud of dust that had once been the table under which Crabgrass was hiding, and then when Crabgrass exploded from the rubble, his body would be blurry and surrounded by a faint white aura.
"You can terrorize that weakling Crabgrass, but Mr. FAST is a different story!" Glynnn sounded overly pompous to Jim, and for an instant, he wondered if perhaps Bulletman ever sounded the same? Then his interest was drawn back to the scene. There were a number of ropes tied to Dr. Boom, out of sight of the camera, and the stuntman playing the villain was jerked this way and that around the room, while flailing and striking out at the air. A number of other items on the set exploded, and then the villain went flying, smashed into a wall, and slid to the floor. The camera was shut off for a second, Glynnn crossed the room and stood over the slumped body, and the camera was turned on again.
"Well, Dr. Boom, I guess you'll think twice about terrorizing innocent people again! And if you do, you'll have to answer to Dr. Fast!"
"My hero!" Cassie rushed toward the hero.
"CUT! That's a WRAP!" the director shouted!
Bulletgirl on PatrolA lot of people in Hollywood still didn't believe in super heroes or flying people, no matter what the papers, magazines and newsreels said. Today a lot of them changed their minds, when they saw a flying figure cruising slowly above the city. Susan had studied the studio tour map last night and figured out some loops that took her over all the major studios. She took a quick breakfast break at a diner she'd spotted yesterday, and was flattered when the owner offered her a free meal in exchange for letting him take a photo for his celebrity wall, which he promised to have developed today, if she would return tomorrow to autograph it. Of course she would!
Shortly before noon, she had just completed her third loop and seen no signs of any flying buzz bombs. She took a short break, sitting on top of the first O in the big, mountainside HOLLYWOODLAND sign when she heard a distant explosion, in the direction of Warren Brothers Studios. She was there in less than half a minute, and there were a couple of more explosions in that time. With still no sign of buzz bombs.
People were running screaming from the main office building so that's where she went. Inside, she followed a path of devastation towards the main business offices and quickly caught up with... Dr. Boom?
There was no doubt that it was Dr. Boom… same costume, same bowling ball bomb with a sputtering fuse, costume drawn directly from the pages of
Terrific Two comics and identical to the one the stunt double was wearing in the Public Pictures Studios filming going on right now across town. And this version's weapons weren't just special effects.
As Bulletgirl flew into the giant reception room, Dr. Boom pointed at a desk. "Boom!" the word was weirdly distorted and amplified. A glow of white light sprang into existence, the impossible Spiral of Boom, a line of white light that moved in a slow spiral, the spiral glowing in size as it crossed the room and struck a desk. The desk was instantly outlined with a white aura which pulsed once, and then the desk exploded violently with a BOOM! Boom turned, looking for other targets, and saw the female flying detective.
"Ah, Bulletgirl..., I had heard... you were in town.... It's almost sad... that you traveled from... the East Coast... just to meet... your ultimate defeat... in Hollywood. I am Dr. Boom..., sprung straight from... the storied pages... of
Terrific Two comics.... Unfortunately for you... I didn't bring Mr.... Fast with me!... You will have... the honor of being... the first feeble hero... I defeat... in this new world!"
It was difficult to puzzle out what the words, which were distorted, stilted, and overly amplified.
"After he made... his unsuccessful appearances... yesterday..., I was so hoping... your mighty partner... Bulletman... would make a... feeble attempt to... try to interfere... with my plans... for destruction, but I suppose you... will do nicely... for a warmup. BOOM!"
She pointed at her red and yellow-clad foe, and a white nimbus formed around her hand, but before the slow moving Spiral of Boom could grow more than a couple of inches, the Ruby Rockette flashed away. Dr. Boom turned, breaking her connection with the destructive spiral of light, which continued to spin leisurely across the room, expanding and growing dimmer as it moved. Though both combatants were otherwise occupied by then, when it reached the far wall there was a disappointed sigh and a small curved crease was carved into the plaster as the fading light vanished entirely.
Bulletgirl scoffed as she flashed across the room. "You'll be cooling off soon… in JAIL!" Her outstretched fists encountered resistance about a half a foot from Boom, initially barely a tingle and then quickly growing more resistant, and an inch before contact, Boom was tossed backward through the air. She did a strangely slow flip and then landed on her feet.
As she landed, she pointed both arms at her foe, fingers outstretched. "You've forgotten about... my... awesome impact absorbing... force field and... incredible gyro-stabilized... armor," she crowed. "Both hundreds of years... ahead of their time. BOOOOM!"
The white nimbus formed and the Spiral of Boom sprang forth again, much brighter, spinning madly and moving forward much faster than the prior blast. Before the Ruby Rockette could move, it reached her. The leading edge fizzled away several inches from the stunned heroine.
"CURSES! The magnetic properties... of your feeble... gravity helmet.. are interfering with my… Spiral of BOOM!" Boom shouted, then squeezed her hands tightly into fists and shouted again: "KABOOM! Take that, you… you… you statuesque red-clad.. bimbo!"
A brilliant pulse of bright blue raced forward along the spinning spiral towards Bulletgirl, who was now starting to react. The pulse reached the end of the white light, expiring with a loud "Whoomph!" and the heroine felt as if she'd been hit by the stream from a fire hose, and she was knocked backward into the wall.
"BOOM!" A much tighter spiral launched from Boom's hand, striking the corner of the ceiling and wall directly above Bulletgirl, showering her with debris. "We'll meet again, you... red witch!... And I shall not be... as merciful... the next time." The weirdly distorted voice blasted through the room, followed by blue beams accompanied by shouts of "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Three brilliant blue pulses of light exploded against the wall and ceiling and dropped more rubble on the Ruby Rockette, though she was partially shielded by the power of her gravity helmet and her own enhanced strength and endurance. The third blue pulse caused an explosion which blew a hole through another wall.
Dr. Boom paused dramatically near her new exit. "I have achieved... my purpose here..., destroying yet another... of the evil movie production... companies.... The rest should tremble, as... I WILL return!"
Moving quickly, she stepped through into the other room, where she paused and suddenly was lifted several inches off the floor, as small wheels extended from the bottoms of her boots. She leaned slightly forward and started rolling in that direction, quickly gaining speed, and in only instants, she had blown a hole in the outer wall of the building, leaped through, and was racing away from the wrecked studio building at over 60 mph. By the time Bulletgirl was clear of the rubble, and had searched the building for survivors, Dr. Boom had vanished. Later police reports from drivers and pedestrians she'd zoomed by estimated her speed at over a hundred miles an hour, and she'd been headed towards some of the other major Hollywood studios, but though Bulletgirl doubled the speed or her sweeps, Dr. Boom made no more appearances that day.
Villain Talk"Looks like I scared off Dr. Boom for a while this morning," Susan Kent pointed out to her partner at dinner. "But she promised she'd be back, so I expect we'll see more of her tomorrow. I'd feel better if we were both on patrol. I can't be everywhere at once."
"I'll call in sick tomorrow so I can join you," Jim Barr agreed. "Meanwhile, what do we know about the real Dr. Boom, compared to the fictional versions?"
"Real Dr. Boom - Spiral of Boom, slow but powerful, Blue Boom Bang Beam, almost instant but less powerful, Inverse R-squared Force Field, Gyroflex Armor, Retractablectric Roller Skates, Helmet Boomer, remote controlled Boom Buzz Bombs. All pretty much identical to the funnybook versions. We haven't seen super strength, the Boommobile, the Inter-Continental Boom Missile or the Boom Expanding Gyro Jet yet. What about the movie version?"
"I spent most of the afternoon in the Special Effects department discussing just what powers the movie Boom is going to display. They don't plan to use the ICBM, but all the other stuff is in the script. Plus, in the movie, the armor works like a diving suit, a flight suit for high altitudes, and protects from temperature extremes. If that suit could fly, it would make the wearer more powerful than we are!"
Sue laughed nervously. "Let's hope the real-life Dr. Boom hasn't figured out how to copy our gravity helmets yet!"
5.ThursdayBoom Strikes Again!Jim Barr called the studio the next morning, complaining that trying some really spicy Mexican food the night before had upset his weak stomach. None of today's shooting was planned for the lab - the director wanted some outdoor action shots. But he'd better be available tomorrow, regardless of what was on the schedule, or he'd get docked.
The two heroes initially flew solo patrols, keeping in touch via helmet radio, and the patrols were pretty boring. As she had promised, Bulletgirl stopped at the diner around lunchtime to autograph her picture. She was dismayed when a crowd of dozens of people cheered her landing, and then crowded around her, thrusting pencils and wallet sized copies of her portrait and asking for her autograph. Stuck in a crowd of clamoring civilians, she felt like a perfect target for Dr. Boom. She called in her partner, who flew patterns around the diner until she had signed every last photo. She was more than a little annoyed that the owner of the diner had sold those smaller pictures at a nickle apiece and promised his customers that she would sign them, but that was offset but the novelty of Bulletgirl being the center of attention for a change rather than her partner. She drew the line at signing another hundred photos for him to sell later, and insisted that the two of them get a free lunch. And then they were back in the air, on the prowl for Dr. Boom, this time flying as a pair.
Instead, Dr. Boom found them. Sue noticed something moving fast in the air, coming their way. "Bulletman, look!" It had closed significantly in that short time it took her to warn her partner. He looked, and then the two of them were zooming upwards, as a Buzz Boom Bomb closed on them at maybe 350 mph. It started curving upward to follow them.
"Improved model, has a jet or rocket," Bulletman pointed out. "Way faster than the old model." By now, the Human Bullets were flying back in the direction the Buzz Boom Bomb had come from, and the fast moving bomb was skidding through a loop to follow them. "No propeller and no camera sticking out to cause extra drag. Much better design!"
"It's speeding up," Bulletgirl warned. "Can we save the design analysis for later? I think we should split up." She peeled off, and the small jet skidded through another turn, following her. As soon as he saw that, Bulletman dived earthward to find some weapons.
She did some maneuvering, twisting through turns, dives and climbs. As the dogfight continued, the buzz bomb's maneuvering skills improved. The Red Rockette was still faster and more maneuverable, but whoever was flying that plane was doggedly stubborn.
"You know, the last one was only able to see in front of it," she heard her partner musing over her helmet radio. "This one must be using radar; it seems to be able to 'see' in all directions. I wonder what it uses for fuel? It's too small…"
"Dammit, Jim Barr!! This thing is getting closer to me every pass. This new model probably has a remote detonator, too, you know! This isn't a game of aerial tag with the Marvel Family!!" She went vertical, located him, and dived right at him. "How about a little help?" In a straight line dive, she was faster, and pulled ahead a little bit more.
Bulletman realized he was about to be smashed by his partner and then the buzz bomb would likely hit the two of them and explode. He zoomed between her and the buzz bomb, hoping it might chase him instead, but no luck. He circled behind it and gave chase, climbing higher.
He radioed some suggestions to his partner. "Head for the HOLLYWOODLAND sign. If you can hold a steady course for a couple of seconds, I should be able to hit it with one of these stones I dug up. Or you can dodge between the letters if I miss."
"Easy for you to say, buster! You won't be the one trying to thread a needle at 400 mph!" She peppered her complaint with some language she'd probably learned from her father.
"Even if you hit the sign, the gravity helmet should protect you. It's only wood," he reassured her. He was amazed at some of the words that came back at him.
He threw his first rock, which smashed a jagged hole through the right wing tip of the buzz bomb, causing it to roll in that direction. And then it started to tumble, totally out of control, and a few seconds later it crashed into the base of the "W" in HOLLYWOODLAND and exploded. This explosion was much more powerful than those produced by the earlier buzz bombs, and when the smoke cleared, the sign said
'H O L I... ) DLAND',
and the raining debris had started a small avalanche down the side of the mountain.
Bulletgirl swooped down the mountainside to make sure there was no one around who would get caught in the tumbling debris, while Bulletman landed in the crater caused by the explosion, looking for clues. As soon as the hillside stopped moving, Bulletgirl joined her partner - and slapped him hard! His head snapped around - that HURT! That slap would easily have shattered bulletproof glass! Sometimes he forgot that she'd used the anti-crime potion too…
"That's for doing a scientific analysis when my life was in danger! Next time, act first and save the science for later!" She floated back into the sky. "Reminds me, we're still looking for Boom, aren't we?"
"As soon as my head stops ringing," he acknowledged her slap and tacitly apologized for his behavior by not complaining about it. "I tried to tune in on the remote control signals using my helmet radio, and I think Boom's transmitter is this way," he pointed to the east. "And not too far away." He sped up, and then spotted what had to be the Boommobile - a shiny black globe with wheels, as big as a one-car garage - and there was an anti-aircraft gun on a turret sticking out of the top, and it was rapid-firing!
"Ack-ack! Split up!" he warned his partner. They split to the sides and dove, as the ack-ack shells burst behind and above them, filling the volume of sky they would have flown through with puffs of clouds and deadly shrapnel.
"Pretty good shooting, but too slow to hit US!" Bulletman exulted as the two dived below the gun's range.
"Hold on, Bulletman - this looks like a trap to me! Try tossing your other stone at it."
Jim thought that sometimes his partner was overly cautious, but he'd been gently reminded a few seconds ago that right now, she might be a little unhappy with him. He pulled up, even backed off a bit, and threw the rock - and the Boommobile lived up to its name, in a violent explosion which knocked both Bullets tumbling backward through the air.
"What did I tell you, Buster Brown? Saved your can yet again. I sure don't know how you lived through a year as Bulletman without me!"
He wisely decided right now wasn't the right time to argue. Instead, he thanked his partner. "Thanks, Bulletgirl. I need another save right now - I need to make some adjustments to my helmet. Please wrap thins up with the police, then I'll need to work on your helmet too later." He zoomed away, leaving her to to tell today's story - which she was sure she'd have to repeat a dozen times or more in the next couple of hours.
6.FridayTake 3Jim and Susan reported for work early the next day. There were about 3 total hours of lab scenes currently in the script for the 12 episode serial, and the director was hoping to knock them out today. Most of the scenes had nothing to do with science, but mostly focused on Cassie rejecting the advances of Cary Crabgrass while mooning for the attention of Mr. Fast. Every episode included a scene with some variation of Cassie wondering why the bookworm scientist Cary Crabgrass couldn't be more like the dashing super hero Mr. Fast, while Cary mugged to the movie audience with a wink or a shrug, or some clever line.
Jim spent a lot of time talking to the director, objecting to behavior, actions, and words used by the actors. "No professional scientist would ever use language like that with his assistant," after Crabgrass threatened to concoct a love potion and slip it to Cassie Sassafrass with her lunch. "And no super hero, either!". "Stop, look at the labels on those chemicals. When you mix those two particular chemicals, they produce an explosive reaction that releases poisonous vapors! He'd kill the whole police department!" "If he doesn't keep records, his evidence will be laughed out of court!" "You DON'T pour water into acid! You can get burned seriously, or worse, doing that!" "The real Cary Crabgrass in the Dr. Fast comics would NEVER act that way!"
Every issue he raised was ignored. They could have filmed some of the scenes over again, but that would be inconvenient; the dialog followed the script; nobody would notice the science errors; it's a serial, not a documentary, etc. etc., etc…
Finally, Jim simply turned away from the director in the middle of a conversation and stomped off in disgust, announcing his resignation only instants before he was fired. Susan followed him out the door - she'd come along mainly to mingle with the famous, handsome Hollywood stars, but had quickly become disenchanted big-name stars when an actor, widely infamous for his good looks, success with women, virility, and the number of illegitimate kids he acknowledged and abandoned, had followed her into the lady's room. She hadn't told Jim about it because she didn't want the bad press that would follow after a supposedly meek, timid police scientist beat the crap out of a famous Hollywood star.
As they left the studio, there was a tremendous explosion not far away, and the street shook like a minor earthquake. They ducked behind a nearby hedge, and Bulletman and Bulletgirl took to the air an instant later. The were more explosions before they reached International Studios, where they churned out B-rated horror pictures, westerns, and schlock romance movies at a rate of about one a week. Many of Hollywood's current major stars had got their start with International, and a lot of setting stars finished their careers in International Studio movies. If any area in Hollywood could be called low rent, it was the neighborhood around International Studios, which was studded with inexpensive hotels, gas stations, pawn shops, and bars.
People were fleeing the neighborhood, fire alarms were blaring, police sirens were just starting to sound, and there was a cloud of smoke, dust, and falling debris where the main office building had once stood. And as they expected by now, there was Dr. Boom!
"Ah..., how very nice of you... to attend..., Human Bullets!... This shall be our... final confrontation..., and the world will tremble when... they see... how easily Dr. Boom has disposed of... Bulletman and Bulletgirl!" The amplified voice was even louder now, the words more distorted and hard to understand than ever, the speech stilted and delivered in 3 or 4 word 'bursts'.
Final Confrontation"BOOM!" The Spiral of Boom was tighter and moved faster today, and this time it was closer to the color of an electrical spark than pure white. It didn't actually touch Bulletman, but there was a minor explosion a foot from his chest. He felt like Heisman Trophy winner Bob Smith of the Minnesota Gophers after breaking though the line only to smash full speed into a backfield player who failed to wrap up and complete the tackle; he was knocked violently off his flight path and shaken up, but unhurt.
"Damn! Boom must have modified the Boom Spiral since she hit Susan with it," Bulletgirl heard him mutter over the helmet radio.
"Dammed meddler! You must have… modified the helmets… since my encounter… with your… statuesque red bimbo!" Boom thundered over the helmet PA system. "BOOM! BOOM!"
"Quick, Bulletman, BLOCK THAT BOOM!" Bulletgirl yelled over the radio as she flashed to intercept one of the white-blue spirals, which released a disappointed "Whoomph!" as it knocked her around a bit, with no further damage to the building. Bulletman intercepted the other - the new, improved Spirals of Boom were faster than the originals, but still advanced slowly compared to the speed of the Human Bullets. Still, she could fire faster than the Bullets could block. "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The heroes raced back and forth, trying to prevent the destruction of yet more buildings, with who knew how many people hiding inside? "Keep her busy, partner, I'm going to help people evacuate!" Bulletgirl suggested. "Try some Marquis de Queensbury!" She flashed away at top speed, while Bulletman launched himself at Boom like a red missile!
One last Spiral of Boom poofed harmlessly in front of him, and he crashed into the armored villain with both fists. Boom staggered backward two steps, then stopped, swaying slightly, then the armored fists came up, Boom stepped forward, and threw a clumsy punch. Bulletman casually blocked, and then yelped in pain as his blocking arm was slammed aside and the blow hit him like a punch from Brutus, of the Unholy Three, the villain with the strength of 20 men. He bent forward almost double around the punch, and the other armored fist slammed down on the back of his head. He was mostly protected from damage by the gravity helmet, but ended up face down in the rubble.
"BOOM! BOOM!" The Spiral of Boom flashed twice more, and the floor under Bulletman was blasted away, and he began to tumble into the basement. The Spiral of Boom was noticeably dimmer and the explosions less powerful than before. Jim regained control, and zoomed up out of the hole, catching Boom with both fists in the helmet. The villain was knocked up into the air, did a back flip, and made a wobbly landing, swaying slowly but not falling. Now that he was aware of how powerful Boom was, Bulletman was fighting smarter, and a flurry of punches knocked the villain backward. Suddenly, a shaft sprouted upward from the back of Boom's armor, the top unfolded into a propeller, and Boom shot up into the air.
Boom spotted Bulletgirl flying into another building and pointed. "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" Instead of the Spiral of Boom, the Blue Boom Bang Beam flashed three times, and three explosions peppered the wall of roof of that building, which collapsed.
In the rubble, Bulletgirl tried to raise her partner on her helmet radio. "Jim! Half the building came down on me. I need help!" She was being squashed; a heavy ceiling beam had pinned her in place, and there must be tons of rubble on top of that. She was on her hands and knees, and was supporting most of the weight with her bent legs, but it wouldn't be long before she collapsed! But she heard nothing on the radio except a loud wailing, like nothing she'd ever heard before, in response.
Bulletman frantically radioed to his partner, but he too heard nothing but loud wailing. He assumed the worst, and turned to chase the villain, murder in his heart! Boom was now above the street, fleeing. Jim sneered at the best speed the Boom Expanding Gyro Jet could make, easily rocketed past the villain, then dropped down in front.
"DIE! BOOOOOOOMMMM!" the Blue Boom Bang Beam flickered like a strobe light. By the way his helmet reacted, Jim realized he was being shot with a machine gun, the bullets hidden in the pulses of blue light. The gravity helmet deflected the bullets downward, and a shower of explosive bullets rained on the property below - which, fortunately, was abandoned by now, but unfortunately, happened to be a gas station. The explosive bullets set off the buried gas tank, and Dr. Boom flew right into the gigantic fireball, and then there were further explosions as the remaining explosive bullets went up.
Jim was already flying away at the best acceleration the gravity helmet could provide, and he was almost a quarter mile away when he was caught by the blast wave, and tossed higher and farther away. He smashed through the D of the wrecked HOLLYWOODLAND sign, and as he promised Susan, he was (partially) protected by the gravity helmet, and then he hit the mountain side behind the sign and lapsed into unconsciousness.
Buried in the Rubble
Buried in the rubble of the studio, Susan felt the massive explosion, but the debris that was threatening to crush her also did a good job of shielding her. But she was buried under tons of debris, and her legs wouldn't hold out much longer. She had no light and she could feel the rubble pressing around her, and she suddenly realized something she had never before suspected – she was claustrophobic!
“I have to get out of here!” she screamed raggedly to the darkness.
She exerted every ounce of super strength she had to try to rise to her feet, pushing the ceiling beam up, and for a few seconds, it seemed to be working, as she could feel the debris shifting around her. But then, the beam broke and the rubble cascaded down from above, and now she was trapped in an even smaller tomb, this time partially squatting. The weight pressing into her back was threatening to crush her at any second.
‘I’m NEVER going to get out of here,’ she realized in despair. ‘I can’t believe I lived through Dr. Boom’s attack, and now I’m going to smother to death. I wonder how long the air in here will last? Will I suffocate before I get squished flat?’ She sobbed, then stopped abruptly as she suddenly realized what she had just said.
“I lived through Boom’s attack! The gravity helmet protected me!” she shouted inside her seeming coffin. She remembered General Veazey's evaluation of the gravity helmet - "The gravity helmet is one of the most brilliant and powerful technological innovations of our times!"
'If I can't use the gravity helmet to get out of here, I don't deserve to be called 'Bulletgirl!' she thought emphatically. Then, 'Of course, if I don't get out of here, they'll be burying me in a closed coffin and it won't matter what I'm called…'
She considered her options. ‘What would Jim do?’ Then she chuckled. “He’d try to fight his way out, and kill himself before he realized he was being stupid!” That chuckle somehow made her feel better. ‘So all I have to do is something Jim would never think of doing.’
She began reviewing what she knew as if she were a teacher giving a science lesson to her students. ‘The gravity helmet actually controls how gravity affects me, as well as deflecting bullets.’ Something was tugging at the back of her mind. ‘Other than flying and deflecting bullets, Jim ignores the gravity helmet and just depends on his super strength and speed, mostly. He never uses gravity control for anything else…’ and then it dawned on her. ‘Jim would just tell me not to be silly, and to listen to him and do things his way – but he's not here. It's time for me to really start being Bulletgirl, not just a poor girly copy of Bulletman! I can use gravity control in a way he’s never thought of – and I WILL! The gravity helmet can make me lighter – why can’t it make something ELSE lighter?! And if lighter, why not…’
She set about putting her plan into action.
A number of fleeing people had seen the building come down on Bulletgirl. and a few of them were already rushing back toward the devastation to try to help. They fell back in alarm when the rubble began to rumble and shake, and then slowly the pile of debris grew taller in the middle and then fell away to the sides, and then a ragged cheer rose as a blurred red and yellow missile rocketed upward through the geyser of rubble, rising in volume when Bulletgirl abruptly came to an instant halt while she spun in place and scanned the landscape, looking for her partner and Dr. Boom.
She was also yelling her partner's name into her helmet radio, and all she heard was very faint static. The wailing was gone. But one of the changes Jim had made to the helmets last night was a locator beacon, and when she turned it on, her partner's signal came through loud and clear. She spun until she had a line on it, then rocketed away faster than she'd ever flown before, and within seconds, found his unconscious body on the mountainside. She carried him to Veazey's military command post, where Veazey was able to get him into the care of a military doctor who would protect their identities.
7.SaturdayThat's the end of BoomGeneral Veazey, his daughter Jill, and Jim and Susan were sitting in the Veasey's living room, sharing a well-deserved brandy, early Saturday afternoon. Jim had been released from the infirmary that morning.
"A lot of eyewitnesses saw Boom fly into the fireball and then blow up. We didn't find a body, but we did find some shards that seem to be pieces of Boom's armor and helmet. It looks like Boom was almost literally '
hoist by his own petard', or 'blown up by his own cannon'. Other than the Booms in the movie and the funnybooks, we have seen the last of the real Dr. Boom."
"The news will give incredible publicity to the movie," Jill pointed out. "It's too bad you guys aren't involved with it any longer - your names would have been in the credits."
"I don't want to be associated with that schlock!" Jim laughed.
"It seems very strange to me," Susan spoke slowly, still thinking things through, "that Dr. Boom used the same weapons and technology that Werner Hauser, Anne Cavanaugh and Jim Albright demonstrated at your trial. Either one of those three is Dr. Bloom, or Dr. Bloom stole their inventions."
"In fact, we think Werner Hauser was Dr. Boom," Veazey replied. "The same thought occurred to some War Department analysts, so we sent some folks out to talk to the three of them. We found Cavanaugh at Chimera Studios, at an audition for a new movie - she claimed she's spent the last week studying the script, and when my agent quizzed her, she did know her lines, although he had trouble understanding them. I personally talked to Albright; he's back at his lab in Nevada, hard at work on improving his remote controller. I don't believe he could be a villain, anyway - he was a crack pilot back in World War I, and as patriotic and loyal as anyone I know."
"But nobody could find Hauser. His place is a mess, but he didn't pack anything and leave town. We talked to his neighbors - they saw him going in and out all week, but he went out yesterday morning and never came back. We've got his place staked out, and people looking for him, but I don't think we'll find him - I think he got blown up by his own explosive!"
Date Night SurpriseSusan was the only one who wasn't convinced. Her intuition suggested that she wold encounter Dr. Boom again. But they were flying back east tomorrow, and Jill had a big evening planned for tonight, so she didn't spoil the mood.
"I'm really looking forward to going out tonight and showing off my new gown - and all the accessories!" she changed the subject enthusiastically. "Jill, do you think your friend Harry can give Jim some help getting dressed? I don't want him looking like a big ape in Hollywood's finest nightclubs!"
"Actually, Jim and Harry already have an appointment at one of Hollywood's finest haberdashers in an hour," Jill agreed. "And we've got another surprise planned for tonight as well."
No matter how they pestered her, or Harry later, they got no hints. But General Veazey grinned - Harry Bratsberg was acting in his first ever part in the movie To the Beaches of Tripoli, starring Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne, and he'd managed to convince that pair of famous actors to join the nightclub date that evening. Veazey had invited himself and his wife along after he'd heard that; he wanted to see the Bullets' reactions when they met Susan's famous look-alike!