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Post by dans on Aug 26, 2020 20:58:46 GMT
On the one hand, Doc, it seems weird that he immediately assumes they are the same people. On the other hand, what is the biggest news event in the last 15 years on Earth S in 1986?
Channeling a little Doc Ock, maybe a bit of the Vulture as well. Plus he's a bit out of his head...
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Post by dans on Aug 27, 2020 17:49:28 GMT
Carol (Sunbeam) Clews and Dan Dare / New Life, Old Foe
Stagecoach Robbery
A couple of hours ago...
A 10-year old Lodge B-series van squealed to a halt in front of the Stagecoach Bank on Euclid Avenue and several men, wearing gas masks and carrying machine guns, jumped out and bashed open the bank doors. Two of them tossed things into the lobby, there were some muffled explosions, and then the team rushed inside. As they had expected, everyone in the bank was now unconscious, most of them crumpled to the floor. "OK, boys, just like we planned, grab the cash and let's get outta here!" the leader shouted, as he positioned himself to cover anyone coming through the front door; another crook moved into position to cover other entrances to the room. Three more burst through the locked door to reach the teller stations behind the counters while the rest started rifling through the wallets and purses of the unconscious customers and Stagecoach employees. Screaming curses filled the room when one of the miscreants smashed open the cash tray at the nearest teller position.
"It's flippin' EMPTY! What kind of flippin' crap are they trying to pull here?" Within the next few seconds, his teammates were all similarly shouting and swearing, as they quickly discovered that all the cash trays were empty. At about that same time, the malefactors going through wallets and purses joined the chorus.
"Not even a buck on ANY of them!" "Their wallets are all empty!" "Not even any loose change!" "Geez, somebody cleaned dis place out but GOOD!" "Geeze-lew-eeze, Ralphie, dis sure is spooky! Let's get da hell outta here!" That one sounded panicked, and he wasn't the only one who was feeling freaked out about the situation. "Yeah, da guy what did it might be around still!" Another wasn't ready to break and run, though: "Flippin' smart guys, we otta plug 'em all!"
At that point, Ralphie, the boss, yelled again. "No shootin', Bushrat! Ain't worth riskin' a murder rap for nothin'! Let's just get outta here!" It seemed like the gang agreed; there was no shooting as they raced out of the bank and piled back into the van, but a number of unconscious people would wake up with bumps and bruises, kicked by vicious, angry villains as they made their unhappy exit.
Dapper, the driver, was dumbfounded when his cohort raced from the bank and crammed recklessly into the van, some climbing over the others in their urgent, almost panicked haste. He didn't see any loot, and when Ralphie ordered him to take off, he hesitated - until his boss put the still warm barrel of the machine gun to the back of his neck. Then he slammed the pedal to the metal and the big van lurched away from the curb, cutting off a passing car that had to jam on his brakes and squeal to a halt. Nobody else spoke; for at least a mile the only sounds inside were the heavy breathing of 6 men coming down from almost terrified adrenaline rushes.
Finally Ralphie felt calm enough to talk. "Lease dere was nobody awake ta sound an alarm," Ralphie told his boys. "We outta be inna clear!"
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Post by dans on Aug 27, 2020 21:25:24 GMT
Carol (Sunbeam) Clews and Dan Dare / New Life, Old Foe
Spider Squad
The van exploded with babble. "Who ever heard'a a bank wit no dough?" "All those geezers in fancy, expensive 3-piece suits - and not one of 'em had a single bill in his wallet!" "Day was all just standin' around like normal when we busted in da door. Like nobody knew all the money was gone!" "Ya know, Ralphie, the fuzz is gonna be after us for dis, eben dough we got nuthin' ta do wit it!" "Geez, it's like voodoo or somethin' - what if it comes after us?"
The loudest voice was Dapper, who demanded to know why they'd run out on the biggest bank haul they'd ever attempted and come back broke. He had to hear the story from three different people, with grunted agreement from everyone else, before he believed it. Or maybe he didn't, but he wasn't willing to say so in front of the others- particularly Bushrat, who clearly still wanted to shoot somebody, maybe anybody!
So he changed the subject. "Cheez, take a look at that thing behind us. Whatcha call it, a pregnant station wagon or what? And how old is it?"
Several of the gang turned to look. "A 1956 PMC Sport Wagon," Undertow surprised them by recognizing the truck. "My older brother had one when I was growing up; we probably surfed every beach in Baja in that old thing! Built like a tank! And plenty of room in the bed for a little Beach Bunny fun, if ya know what I mean… That one's sure seen better days, though!"
The pickup truck behind them had indeed seen better times. The big heavy square grill on the front was bashed in and the hood was warped and crinkled and no longer closed all the way. The flat front window was spalled and had a long crack across the top, the paint was faded and peeling, and as they went around a corner, they could see numerous dents and dings in the side - some of them deep and rusty, most of them untouched, and the few that had been partially repaired stood out as splotches of red-brown primer against the faded original robin's egg blue.
Undertow saw a sparkle that must have been a reflection of sunlight from the spalled spot on the window of the truck, then turned to join the conversation of his partners in crime. Kirk, who they had nicknamed Cap'n, was suggesting that they had ought to leave town or at least lay low for a while. "Somebody robbed that bank before we got there, but if anybody connects us to the bank today, you KNOW the coppers ain't gonna believe that."
"Geez, that sucks," Wandahn sighed. "I'm supposed to take Wilma and Betty out for a night on the town Saturday, and I was hoping for a double score - but without this job, I'm flat broke and I got NO chance!"
"Even wit all da dough in the world, a loser like you got no chance with eider of dem babes!" Undertow teased.
While Wandahn snarled at Undertow, the rest of the group just laughed at this as Dapper turned off the side street into the ground level parking garage for a condo building and pulled into an assigned parking spot. No one seemed to notice when the big, old, decrepit Sports Wagon turned in immediately after them and rolled to a stop. The robbers climbed out of the van, a lot more slowly than they'd entered. There was a flash of light, barely visible even in the dimness of the garage - and suddenly, not only did they notice the Sports Wagon, they were stunned to see a man sized spider, crouched between them and the garage entrance! Before they could even yelp in surprise, a beam of light flared out from the left eye of the monstrous arachnid, and they stopped thinking altogether.
"I am the Spider Sinister!" Amazingly, the loud, harsh screeching voice came from the giant spider. Even in their mindless states the bank robbers were affected as if by the scratching of fingernails across a blackboard - they felt chills and uncontrollable shivers until the voice stopped. "And the hypno-ray has made you into thralls at my command!"
Some of them were probably unaware of the meaning of 'thrall' - but the hypno-ray gave them no choice but to do whatever the Spider Sinister demanded of them.
The Spider gave some orders and for a few minutes there was a flurry of activity.
"Take me to your condo!" Ralphie owned a condo in this building that the gang was using as a meeting place; they took him there.
"Bring everything from the bed of my truck here!" Not long before the gang had arrived at the Stagecoach Bank, the Spider had robbed not only the bank but everyone in the bank, and used the hypno-ray to command everyone to forget that the robbery had occurred. The loot - cash and the contents of a dozen or so safe deposit boxes, was in the back of the pickup truck; it wasn't too much longer before it was safely stowed in Ralphie's condo.
"Don this gear!" The spider opened his bag and distributed the items inside. Every robber donned gloves, a backpack, and boots. The boots given him were much too small for Bushrat, but he forced his feet in uncomplainingly when ordered, even as his face screwed up in pain.
"Get in the van, and you, drive where I tell you!" he ordered. In a little while, they were outside a condemned gymnasium building on the campus of the City College of San Diego. Then, they were inside, and the flurry of activity continued.
"Follow me!" The spider swarmed up the wall of the gym, the crooks followed, as the gloves and boots somehow gave them wall-crawling ability. He continued, upside down, across the ceiling, and again they followed. Wandahn's bad luck continued - the piece of ceiling he was clinging to broke free and he plunged 60' to the cement floor. The Spider commanded the rest to ignore their dead comrade, and their training continued.
He showed them how to use the devices in their backpacks - grappling hooks with thin, strong nylon cord, that they could fire up to around 60 feet from built in spring-loaded launchers. They were not very good at this, and they definitely did not improve quickly! It was not long before the Spider's patience for training wore out.
"Back in the van! It's Revengin' time!" He gave Dapper the address for the Daring Duo Detective Agency, and then slouched in the front seat to enjoy the ride - and anticipate his revenge on his hated foes!
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Post by johnreiter902 on Aug 28, 2020 0:02:49 GMT
This is a great, highly detailed look at an old villain returning from retirment
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Post by dans on Aug 28, 2020 1:52:40 GMT
I promise, the heroes will actually appear in the next segment! (well, maybe... but sooner or later, there WILL be heroes!)
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Aug 28, 2020 13:39:08 GMT
He's a creepy villain regardless of his age. Makes me also think of the Impact character Arachnus.
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Post by DocQuantum on Aug 28, 2020 21:23:29 GMT
Looks like you had fun writing the crooks and villain chapters.
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Post by dans on Aug 29, 2020 12:01:25 GMT
Retcon alert! In the segment where Carol and Dan wrap up their day's work in the office and start discussing the proper way to talk to women in the mid-80s, I added the highlighted text below.
"Well, Sweetie Pie, it's been a long, boring day, but if our first client walks through the door tomorrow, we'll be ready!" Dan had just dropped the last empty chest into a storage closet. They had put in a long day - it was dark outside. From experience earlier this week, they were probably the last people in the building.
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Post by dans on Aug 29, 2020 12:49:56 GMT
Carol (Sunbeam) Clews and Dan Dare / New Life, Old Foe
Captured Carol and Dan had been just starting their discussion on the changed status of women in 1983 when the door exploded inwards! The newly painted window shattered; Dan had an instant in which he swore somebody would pay for that before something the size of a football flew in through the door. He dove for the floor behind a desk, tackling Carol on the way. There was a muffled whoomph and he could see the air starting to fill with mist. Both detectives wanted to hold their breath but the impact had knocked the wind out of both of them. Then there was a flicker of light, and they were surrounded by a pale golden aura.
"Jim Barr thinks I've got enough air for about 7 minutes," Carol whispered to her partner. "What do you want to do?"
"They seem to want to capture us. Why don't we let them and find out what they want?" he whispered back.
"Screw that!" she snarled back angrily (but very quietly). "Let's just take them out, turn them in, and hope there's a reward!" She could see out the door from the space under the desk. "Here they come, at least 2."
A tendril of yellow light snaked out and pushed the heavy door closed, hard. It knocked one attacker into each other and for several moments there was confusion as they attempted to disengage. Yellow hands tore their gas masks off and by the time Dan and Carol had donned those donated gas masks, the two crooks had fallen to the floor, unconscious.
"I'll check the hall, you cuff 'em, partner," Dan was already stepping over the fallen bodies. Carol shrugged and smiled, then turned to open the R drawer of their newly-populated file cabinets and pulled out two pairs of handcuffs and some lengths of rope from the various types of neatly organized restraints stored in the drawer. She was just kneeling to cuff the first unconscious bad guy when there was the sound of a scuffle in the hall.
Dan stuck his head cautiously through the door, and looked up and down the hall. It was empty. With his pistol drawn, he stepped through the door - and a human body dropped on him from above, driving him to the ground. Before he could recover, he was whacked solidly on the head with the butt of a machine gun and knocked out. Ralphie looked into the office and saw Carol. He aimed his gun at the body on the floor and spoke loudly. "Don't move, sweetheart, or I fill dis guy fulla lead!"
"Horsefeathers! Doesn't ANYONE know how to speak to a woman?!" Carol swore in exasperation. "So, crumbum, I'm not moving. What comes next?"
"Tow and Rat, get in here and tie her up!" The office's big bay window shattered and Undertow and Bushrat cautiously climbed through from the fire escape. Rat pushed his gun under Carol's chin, while Undertow released his grapple and started pulling thin nylon line from his pack.
"Don't move and don't make no noises, dollface, or you'll be leakin' like a siv," the Rat spoke harshly. He joked with his friend, "Heard that line in a movie and always wanted to use it. Wonder what a siv is, dough?"
"I alwas tout it was some kinda knife," Undertow shrugged. "Never heard'a leaky knife, though."
Ralphie dragged Dan into the office, and took a pair of handcuffs from Carol. "Thanks, babe! You sure is well equipped." He leered at her as he scanned her body several times to emphasize his intended double meaning.
Meanwhile, Undertow was wrapping Carol in the nylon line, forcing her arms to her sides and covering her from her stomach to her hips. Ralphie cuffed Dan's wrists and ankles, then found gags in the R drawer for both their victims.
"Guess dose posters what say "Full Service Detective Agency" are telling the trute," he joked. He pushed Carol into a chair, while Bushrat pulled Dan over against a wall, and Undertow tried to awaken Dapper and the Cap'n by slapping their faces. It didn't take long, in half a minute they were stirring groggily.
Ralphie dropped an envelope between Dan's legs. "Tow, you help the Cap'n. I'se got da Dap. Rat, you take da dame and let's get outta here!" Bushrat picked up Carol, draping her over his shoulder with her legs dangling in front, while Raphie and Undertow provided support for their two unsteady colleagues, and the group slowly staggered from the room to the elevator.
'You guys are going to pay for this!' Carol thought as she was jostled painfully in the uncomfortable carrying position. 'I could have broken free at any time, but one of 'em always had a gun pointing at Dan. So I guess we're going back to Plan A.' She thought back to Dan's earlier suggestion: "Why don't we let them [capture us] and find out what they want?" And she smiled vindictively beneath her gag. 'Well, now that I don't have to worry about them shooting Dan any more, Sunbeam can really cut loose if I need to. Boy are you guys going to pay!'
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Aug 29, 2020 16:49:37 GMT
Nice reasoning by Carol and dialogue for the gangsters.
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Post by dans on Aug 30, 2020 13:33:09 GMT
Carol (Sunbeam) Clews and Dan Dare / New Life, Old Foe
Driving Ms. Carol When they shuffled out of the elevator, first Dapper and then the Cap'n tripped, and they fell heavily to the floor as the two supporting them just dropped them rather than falling with them. The two who fell were mostly recovered by now, and they filled the elevator with nasty words as their teammates helped them to their feet.
"Which wonaya bums tripped me?" Dapper demanded. He pulled a knife from his belt; two machine guns swung to cover him. Nobody admitted tripping, and there was nothing in the elevator to trip over. "You'ze still wobbly from da gas!" Undertow insisted, and that started an argument, but the Dap put the knife away.
"Shaddup, ya loudmouths! Da folks in da next building are gonna hear and call da fuzz!" Ralphie ordered. "Let's get outta here! Keep movin'!" Reluctantly, the five bad guys, carrying one limp hostage, started moving again.
Bushrat stumbled and almost fell as he took his next step. "Cheez, Ralphie, dis bimbo musta etn a whole house! She weights a LOT more dan she looks!" He stopped and made a visible effort to straighten up. Nobody offered to help the Rat as they kept moving, though there were some poorly hidden chuckles. The whole group was tired of his constant bragging about how strong and tough he was; how strong could be be if he had trouble carrying one broad?
Dapper and the Cap'n still appeared to be a little uncoordinated, regardless of their protests, and they stumbled several more times as they exited the building. Dap headed for the van, while the Cap'n got into a very small car and slumped behind the wheel. Fortunately it was parked right in front of the door; they got in without anyone seeing the Rat struggling to carry a bound woman - at least they hoped so! Rat sighed in relief as he dumped her in the front and got in next to her, pulling his pistol just in case. The rest piled into the rear seats.
Dap turned the key, tromped on the gas and it started right up… whoops, no, it didn't! The engine caught, turned over a few times, coughed, and stalled out. The bad guys started swearing again - what ELSE could go wrong tonight?!?! while Dapper stomped on the gas and then savagely twisted they key again. This time the engine caught and roared loudly to life, backfiring and belching a thick cloud of blue smoke. When it smoothed out, Dap pulled them out in traffic, and they were finally away. There was something wrong with the motor - it lost power and started coughing several times on their 10 minute drive across town. Other times, it would suddenly rev by itself and Dapper would have to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident. And there was something wrong with the electrical system - occasionally the overhead light would randomly flicker on for an instant and then off, regardless of what Dapper did with the light switches. The air in the cabin was turning blue with bad guy bad language!
By this time, Carol had awakened, and Ralphie had roughly informed her of her current status - helpless prisoner. Hapless hostage. They were taking her to their boss, the Spider Sinister, as bait for her partner, and she'd better keep her yap shut if she wanted to keep living. Carol was appropriately terrified; she slouched down in her seat and appeared to be shuddering with sobs, which increased in intensity every time the light flickered, the engine coughed, or Dapper had to slam on the brakes.
Suddenly, without warning the radio came on at full volume, blasting the van with ear splitting static. The Rat screamed "What is this flippin' thing, flippin' haunted?" and blasted it three times with his pistol. There was an implosion in the dashboard, some shards sprayed out and Rat, the Dap and Undertow in the back seat all got some cuts on their faces, and then the rest of the team was screaming at the Rat and each other. Carol was wracked by almost uncontrollable shudders.
Finally they reached their destination - the condemned gymnasium on the CCSD campus. Five very unhappy, angry, stressed-out robbers, some of them with blood on their faces, piled out of that van faster than a fart in a tornado. Raphie dragged Carol out - "Rat says you weighs a ton, witch, so you'se just gonna haveta walk, or weasel have to drag ya'!" So walk she did. Even with her arms bound to her waist, she was a lot more steady on her feet than the bad guys!
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Post by johnreiter902 on Aug 30, 2020 15:17:55 GMT
They do seem to be suffering quite a bit of bad luck. I wonder if that is significant?
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Aug 30, 2020 17:44:33 GMT
You've done a good job at making run of the mill gangsters interesting characters.
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Post by dans on Sept 1, 2020 0:11:35 GMT
Carol (Sunbeam) Clews and Dan Dare / New Life, Old Foe
Meet the Spider!
Raphie led Carol into the gym, then left in haste as he spotted the giant spider scuttling across the floor. Carol's eyes widened, and then she… laughed!
"Why - you're Hypno Harry, aren't you? Aka Phoebus Weber, aka the Spider - but best known as California State Prisoner 60134. (See Whiz Comics #22, Oct. 1941) Guess spiders aren't much for changing fashions; you've still wearing the same costume over 40 years later!"
Carol's wisecrack covered a moment of panic: 'I almost succumbed to his hypnosis beam last time!' she screamed in her mind. 'And he's had over 40 years to improve it!' Then she actually heard the wise words she'd chosen so frantically. 'Hold on, Carol - you're not just plain old Carol Clews anymore, YOU'RE improved too, since the last time you fought the Spider. I'll bet there's something my powers can do to protect me!"
She reviewed the tricks she'd pulled on the bad guys with her powers as they brought her here, but none of them seemed likely to affect the Spider Sinister. She'd used her still-not-fully-understood light powers against super villains several times since she'd been rescued from S'ville's misfired time-stop spell; she replayed in her mind all the feats she'd performed, and all the feats she'd seen performed recently by others, heroes and villains, who controlled energy or magic. 'Maybe I can shield my mind…'
"The old costume couldn't do this!" the Spider snarled. He twitched, and was launched flying through the air, landing lightly halfway up the wall. "Or this!" He leaped again, a thread shot from his abdomen and stuck to the rafter and he swung towards her. "I could kill you now with my poison probe..." he jerked his head in her direction, then laughed as he stopped short, and she twisted away from the needle and fell roughly to the floor. "But that doesn't suit my plans, no, not at all. My revenge must include Dan Dare as well, and it must be even more satisfying than killing you now would be. It must cause pain that one of you will live with for the rest of your life! As I've suffered these past 45 years!" He laughed, a harsh, rasping sound that didn't sound at all strange emanating from a giant spider.
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Post by DocQuantum on Sept 1, 2020 0:20:06 GMT
I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but those gangsters sure sound like throwbacks to the 1940s, too. They don't sound like they're from the '80s at all, but speak in a very stereotypical "goon" dialect from gangster movies of the golden age of movies. Will it be revealed that they were also frozen in time?
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